Vartan Hovanessian

Vartan Hovanessian (1896 in Tabriz – 1982 in Tehran) was an Iranian Armenian architect and leading figure in architectural practice and philosophy.

He was born in Tabriz. After high school graduation, he developed an interest in design and worked as carpet designer in a German-owned carpet-weaving workshop in Tabriz before moving to Tehran, where he began a career of teaching. By the end of World War One, he took a trip to Paris to study painting in a school for fine arts, but shifted, after a while, to architecture. Holding a degree in architecture, he returned home after 17 years and worked notably in the fields of civil engineering and building architecture. He, Aka Architecture Vartan, stood out as a prolific and well-known designer of his time and made prominent constructions like "Ferdowsi Hotel", "Central Building of Sepah Bank", and "Sa'ad Abad Royal Palace". His architectural triumph includes the construction of several movie halls including the "Metropol" and "Diana" movie-theaters. He died in 1982.