Between Beaux-Arts, tradition, and modernism: the École des Beaux-Arts and the expression of Iranian national identity through architecture (1926--1941)

Abstract

During the interwar era, Beaux-Arts teaching methods and architecture had an influence beyond Europe through the agency of architects trained in Paris but travelling and working internationally. One of those nations that absorbed the Beaux-Arts influence was Iran – a country that was modernising in essence and appearance, and the new ruling government founded by Reza Shah (r. 1926--1941) had a vested interest in constructing a new sense of national identity through architecture. While the architecture of the Reza Shah era and its connection to national identity has become of increasing interest to scholars, the outstanding role of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in this vital process of modernisation and nation-building has largely remained unexplored. However, this thesis does not aim to analyse buildings designed by the Beaux-Arts graduates in Iran as merely a result of their Beaux-Arts education. The emergence of Iranian nationalism was the result of native desires supported by Iranian intellectuals, those in favour of elevating Iran from its backward and fragile status to a modern country. In the context of Iranian nationalism, architecture found a significant place and became inextricably linked to the government tendency to express a modern identity. For that reason, a profound investigation of the socio-political context of the Reza Shah era and how notions of Iranian culture and tradition were redefined and modernised throughout that period are integral to architectural discussions throughout this research project.This research, which identifies a convergence between the Beaux-Arts and Iranian nationalism, is notably built on the following questions: how did the unique nationalist context of interwar Iran and the political structure of the Reza Shah government influence the architecture of the Beaux-Arts graduates? What sort of architectural practices were transferred from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts to Iran, and how did those practices help to express a nationalist ideology during Reza Shah’s reign? Three Frenchmen, namely Andre Godard (1881--1965), Maxime Siroux (1907--1975) and Roland Marcel Dubrulle (1907--1983), and Iranian, Mohsen Foroughi (1907--1982), were each exposed to the modern movement to different degrees, with varying knowledge of and interest in Iranian culture, tradition, and architecture. So how did each Beaux-Arts graduate absorb the Beaux-Arts interwar practices and eventually transform those practices in the Iranian context? In order to address these questions, this research has selected a particular set of buildings located on the main campus of the University of Tehran – the first Iranian modern university designed by the abovementioned four Beaux-Arts diplomes from 1934 to 1940 – as the case study. Through comprehensive analysis of firsthand documents, architectural drawings, and archival photographs, this thesis will contribute to a deeper understanding of Iranian interwar architecture, and also the particular status of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in the dissemination of concepts of modernity outside Europe.