Architecture Commons^™

Abandoned buildings are premium assets for reclamation, innovation, and urban growth. Such opportunities

exist in Tehran’s oldest downtown corridor of Lalehzar. Lalehzar was Tehran’s first modern street in the early twentieth century. Toward the middle of the century, Lalehzar became the country’s hub for cinema and theatre goers. This important street today is a dilapidated shopping district that contains Iran’s main retail corridor for electrical appliances. Lalehzar’s decline is mostly a result of its close-down as an entertainment ward between the 1950s and 1970s. The street currently houses numerous rundown, boarded-up, and empty buildings. The jewels of Lalehzar’s buildings are …