Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction 9 --
Chronology 15 --
A City of Dreams 17 --
The Middle Ages 18 --
The Tsarist Period 21 --
The Provincial Modern 22 --
A Palimpset 22 --
The Subsequent Era 23 --
Origins of the Dream 25 --
Creation of the Pink City: Under Socialist Skin 27 --
The Tamanyan Era 29 --
Style 29 --
Influence 32 --
Armenian Constructivism 32 --
Emergence of the Cityscape: Nationalism with a Taste of Totalitarianism 33 --
The Golden Era of Soviet Modernism 42 --
Less is Impossible: Jim Torosyan 48 --
Contradictions 49 --
The Death of Modernism 52 --
Stories 52 --
Deconstruction 56 --
Northern Avenue 61 --
A Reverie That Never Came True. The Cafésjian Museum: From Competition to Reality 70 --
Another Reverie: “Armenian Culture Started to Develop Outside of Armenia” – Karen Balyan 72 --
Churches 72 --
Renaissance through Destruction 73 --
Conclusion 75 --

Buildings and Projects 77 --
Tour 1: Republic Square --
Government House --
Central Post Office --
Armenia Mariott Hotel --
Ministry of Foreign Affairs --
History Museum of Armenia and the State Picture Gallery --
Republic Super Metro Station --
Tour 2: Abovyan Street --
Arno Babajanyan Concert Hall --
TsUM (Central Department Store) --
SIL Plaza Department Store --
Yegor Khazadyan House --
Yegiazaryan Mansions --
AOKS Building --
Charles Aznavour Square --
Moscow Cinema --
Moscow Cinema Summer Hall --
Grand Yerevan Hotel --
Stanislavski Russian Theatre --
Olympic Committee of Armenia Headquarters --
Hovhannes Tumanyan Memorial House --
Yerevan State Medical University --
Yerevan State Medical University, Heratsi Complex --
Tour 3: Hanrapetutyan Street --
Dashnatsutyun Party Headquarters --
Persian Consul Residence --
Tour 4: Shahumyan Square --
Nikolaevsky Cathedral --
Hotel Sevan --
New Building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs --
Agricultural Bank --
Ameriabank --
Central Bank of Armenia --
Elite Plaza Business Centre --
Congress Hotel --
Tour 5: Along the Hrazdan Gorge --
Yerevan City Hall --
House of Moscow --
Yerevan Plaza Business Centre --
Gabriel Sundukyan State Academic Theatre --
Yerevan Ararat Brandy Factory --
Victory Bridge --
Yerevan Brandy Factory --
Hrazdan Stadium --
Karen Demirchyan Complex --
Tour 6: Mashtots Avenue --
The Matenadaran --
House of Actors --
Nairi Cinema --
The Cascade --
France Square --
Yerevan Opera Theatre --
Museum of Modern Art --
Covered Market --
Blue Mosque --
Sewing Factory --
Tour 7: Paronyan and Proshyan Streets --
YerGES Residential Building (The Chess House) --
Dvin Hotel --
Tour 8: Baghramyan Avenue --
American University of Armenia --
House of Writers --
Aram Khachaturyan Memorial Building --
Residence of Haykanush Danielyan --
Constitutional Court --
Embassy of the People’s Republic of China --
Embassy of Syria --
House of Architects --
National Assembly --
National Academy of Sciences --
Presidential Palace --
Marshal Baghramyan Metro Station --
British Embassy --
Tour 9: The Boulevard Ring and more --
Poplavok Café --
Book Centre --
Yeritasardakan Metro Station --
State Chamber Theatre of Yerevan --
Youth Theatre --
National Security Headquarters --
Tigran Petrosyan Chess House --
Tekeyan Centre --
Yerevan State University --
Public Radio of Armenia --
Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium --
Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral --
Rossiya Cinema --
Milimetrovka Residential Building --
Tour 10: Beyond the Centre
Tigran Mets Avenue --
Yerevan Railway Station --
Zvartnots International Airport --
Tigran Mets Publishing House --
Cold Storage Facility --
Komitas Pantheon --
Komitas Museum-Institute --
Hayrenik Cinema --
Yerablur --
“Non-mass-produced Panel Housing” --
Mergelyan Institute --
AMTC Building --
Complex of Research Institutes --
ArmenTel Headquarters --
Polytechnic Institute --
Mayr Hayastan Monument Complex --
Monument to the Fiftieth Anniversary of Soviet Armenia --
Yerevan Factory of Sparkling Wines --
House Museum of Khachatur Abovyan --
Erebuni Museum --
Readings on Yerevan: --
The Spirit of the City by Karen Balyan --
Vernacular Architecture in Modern Yerevan: 1850 – 1950 by Andrey Ivanov --
The Pursuit to Capture Yerevan’s Urban Identity by Roberto Conte --
Yerevan Summer by Yuri Avvakumov --
Spitak: The Last Petrified Soviet Utopia by Katja Doose --

Yerevan and Mount Ararat - which is within clear view - occupy significant places within Armenian culture, even allowing that today's capital once lay elsewhere prior to the devastating earthquake of 1679 and also that Mount Ararat now falls within Turkish territory. Natural catastrophes together with the genocide of 1915 are etched deeply into the identity and consequently the architecture of Armenia. This architectural guide traces the history of Yerevan on the basis of street outlines which played such a decisive role in determining how construction would develop. Armenian Constructivism, the national style, Soviet Modernism and the role of the Armenian diaspora are all themes which find expression in narrative form. An additional excursion takes the reader off to Spitak which was destroyed by an earthquake in 1988 and was supposed to be rebuilt elsewhere as the last model city of the Soviet Union. This architectural guide therefore concludes with questions about the essential nature and character of the modern Armenian city too.