HISTORICAL BUILDINGS

1940, 1960

State index: 1․6․67

Architects: Mikael Mazmanyan, Hovhannes Margaryan, 1940

Architects: Mikael Mazmanyan, 1960

One of the largest printing complexes in Yerevan, located at the intersection of Koryun, Teryan, Isahakyan, and Gevorg Kochar streets.

In the 1930s, the "Haypethrat" publishing house and printing house operated in the building of the House of Culture. Therefore, in 1934. the task was set to create a press palace complex to concentrate publishing and printing activities, as well as related institutions (large hall, library, creative workshops).

Construction began in 1936. The two-story, 100 m long section on Teryan Street, with a colonnade facade rising on a massive base and the main entrance, was completed in 1940. The remaining parts, including the Polygraphists’ Club (at the corner of Isahakyan and Kochar streets), were built in 1960.

Originally, an open colonnaded passage from Koryun Street led to the inner courtyard.  In 1965, it was demolished and replaced by a 9-story administrative building. The volume on the Isahakyan street side is four-story, the architectural forms are simpler. The side parts are emphasized by open colonnades. The volume on Kochar street is three-story.

The palace complex housed the publishing houses "Haypethrat", "Soviet Writer", "Arevik", "Nairi", "Hayastan", "Haygirk", the State Committee for Press Affairs, Publishing and Book Sale of the Armenian SSR, the Myasnikyan Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia.

In the section of the Polygraphists' Club is the Yerevan Drama Theater. In the section on Teryan Street, on the site of today's "Yerevan Inn", there was a polygraph factory, where 13 volumes of the "Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia" and many other books were printed. Tuff and basalt were used as building materials.

In 1928-1935, the great poet Yeghishe Charents worked at the "Hayastan" publishing house. A memorial plaque was installed on the Teryan Street side in 1965 (architect Levon Eloyan). A memorial plaque with the same content was erected on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Charents' birth in 1997.

The Palace of Books is one of the typical structures of Soviet Armenian architecture of the early 1930s, when new architectural values ​​were created using traditional national architectural forms and themes. The Palace of Books features both classical-traditional and 1920s constructivist solutions.