Lalehzar: the Front Line of Tehran’s Modernization(The Street as the Modernity Diffusion Frame from the City into the Society)

modernization movement in the world; 

The construction of Lalehzar street is one of the first governmental actions in Iran to join this line. The idea claimed is that the lived history of Lalehzar street is a precise reflection of the modern definition which transformed it from a garden street into an urban public space. The changes in the facades of buildings, the installation of urban furniture, paving of roads and the strengthening of street functionalities such as the construction of hotels, cafes and theaters are among the significant facts of this process. Lalehzar street, which was first built in the Qajar era in order to create a place of leisure in the city for courtiers and financiers, was transformed into a public space for residents during the first Pahlavi period and allowed people to devote time and to participate in the flow of urban life.

Reading the perceptual role of the urban modernization process in the formation of modern Tehran’s society under the 1st Pahlavi, based on the physical developments of Lalehzar street.

By distinguishing four interventions being “decoration”, “alignment”, “facadization” and “monumentalization” considered as the main measures of urban modernization, Lalehzar Street is examined through an iconographic approach and the hints of the interventions mentioned are analyzed in it.

The emergence of an “urban ambiance” rising from the modernization of rue Lalehzar which is different from the general culture of the society; As well as the fact that modernization in Iran began with rue Lalehzar, define the main results of the research.