HISTORICAL BUILDINGS

1925-1927

The building is located at the intersection of Nalbandyan and Tumanyan Streets. The central section of the residential building is three stories high, while the side wings are two-story structures. It also has a semi-basement floor. The building’s expressiveness is emphasized by its concave form, the stairways at the entrances of the central section, the open balconies of the side sections, and its original white exterior color (now pink).

During the last years of his life, the great composer, conductor, teacher, public figure, People’s Artist of the Armenian SSR, and classic of Armenian music, Alexander Spendiaryan (1871–1928), lived on the second floor of the three-story section of the building.

On November 25, 1967, a house-museum was opened in the building. The exhibition presents Spendiaryan’s life and creative work, as well as his connections with figures of Armenian literature and art, the world-renowned Armenian marine painter Hovhannes Aivazovsky, Russian writer Maxim Gorky, and composers Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Alexander Glazunov, and Anatoly Lyadov.

Among the exhibits are his violin, conducting baton, manuscripts of musical works, photographs, documents related to the formation of the Armenian Symphony Orchestra, and numerous personal belongings.

The permanent exhibition also includes the unique musical instrument “Spendiarophone,” the only one of its kind in the world in both form and sound. It was created in 1905 according to Spendiaryan’s concept for the symphonic composition The Three Palms.

A memorial plaque dedicated to Al. Spendiaryan is mounted on the building’s wall (architect: Oleg Shokaryov), and a granite memorial monument stands in front of the building (1979, architect: Stepan Kyurkchyan, sculptor: David Babayan “Yerevantsi”).