Melik-Azaryants House

The Melik-Azaryants House is a large apartment building on Rustaveli Avenue, built in 1912–1915 according to the design of architect Nikolai Obolonsky for entrepreneur Aleksandre Melik-Azaryants. The building is one of the most famous examples of Art Nouveau architecture in Tbilisi and is easily recognized by its towers, flowing facade lines, and rich decorative ornamentation.

Aleksandr Melik-Azaryants was a prominent industrialist and owner of the Syunik copper smelting plant. According to one version, the construction of the house was connected not only with his business activities, but also with personal tragedy: the death of his daughter Tagui in 1904. Researchers associate the decorative wreaths and garlands on the facade with her memory. After the establishment of Soviet power, the house was nationalized, the luxurious apartments were divided into communal flats, and Melik-Azaryants himself was left with a small room in the basement of his own house. Once one of the richest men in Tiflis, he died here in poverty in 1923.

Today the building remains a residential house. Shops, cafes, and offices operate on the ground floors. Owing to its location on complex terrain, the building appears lower from the avenue than from the neighboring streets, making it one of the most unusual edifices in the historic center of Tbilisi.