WILLEM FLOOR

HOTELS IN IRAN, 1870-1940

SUMMARY

For centuries travellers in Iran stayed overnight in caravanserais. From about 1800 they also could do so in chapr-khnas, while since the 1860s they could lodge in European- type hotels, first in Tehran and later also in other towns. In the 1870s, the Iranian government built some modern roadside inns, which had no lasting impact, whereas the hotels found wide applications, in particular after 1920. In this article, the introduction and distribution of European-type hotels in Iran is discussed as well as of another new type of lodgings, that of the garage-motel, usually in the form of converted caravanserais.1 Keywords: Q j r; Pahlavi; hotels; motels; modernization.

RÉSUMÉ

Des siècles durant, les voyageurs en Iran s’arrêtaient pour la nuit dans des caravansérails. Depuis 1800 environ, ils pouvaient également utiliser des chapr-khna et, à partir des années 1860, des hôtels de type européen d’abord à Téhéran et plus tard dans d’autres villes également. Dans les années 1870, le gouvernement iranien a fait construire un certain nombre de maisons d’hôtes modernes le long des routes, initiative qui n’a pas eu d’impact durable, tandis que les hôtels ont trouvé des usages variés, en particulier après 1920. Le présent article s’intéresse à l’introduction et à la diffusion des hôtels de type européen en Iran, ainsi qu’à l’apparition d’un type différent de logement pour voyageurs, le motel-garage, habituellement des anciens caravansérails reconvertis. Mots clés : Q j r ; Pahlavi ; hôtels; motels ; modernisation. * * *

Pre-modern Iran did not boast of European-type hotels prior to the mid- 1870s. Before the advent of this form of lodging travellers in Iran either slept in a caravanserai, in a private home, or in the open air (under a tent). The caravanserais offered free lodging, basically a roof over one’s head and no food service, and thus, were a far cry from the inns and hostelries

1 With thanks to Behnam Aboutorabian (Tehran) for his critical reading and identi- fication of one of the early hotels of Tehran in one of Sevrugin’s photographs.

277 STUDIA IRANICA 44, 2015, pp. 277-314

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that European travellers were accustomed to in seventeenth century Europe.2 According to John Fryer, writing in the 1670s: Coming to our Inns [caravanserais], we have no Host, or Young Damosels to bid us Welcome, nor other Furniture than Bare Walls; no Rooms swept, nor Cleanly Entertainment, Tables neatly Spred, or Maidens to Attend with Voice or Lute to Exhilarate the Weary Passenger; but instead of these, Apartments covered with Dung and Filth; Musick indeed there is of Humming Gnats pricking us to keep an unwilling Measure to their Comfort: So that there is neither Provision for Man or Beast, only an open House, with no enlivening Glass of Pontack, or Poniant Cheer to encourage the Badness of the March; but every Four or Five Pharsangs, i.e. Parasangae, a German League, on the King’s High way, a Caravan Ser Raw, as dirty as Augeus his Stable, those before always leaving the next comer work enough to cleanse where they have been; that after coming in Tired, they are more intent to spread their Carpets for Repose, than remove the incrustated Cake of Sluttery, the constant Nursery of Flies and Beetles, they often bringing their Horses into the same Bed-Chamber.3

MEHMN-KHNAS In the nineteenth century, an additional place to spend the night, while en route between cities, was the chpr-khna. In 1890, there were 172 of these post-houses.4 They were of a standard design, i.e. a square, or rectangular, walled enclosure, around a courtyard, with a stunted square tower over the gateway, built of mud with a frontage of about thirty feet, the walls rising to half that height. Post-houses, or rather post-stables, had not much to offer to the traveller, apart from a roof over his head and relay horses. In the beginning of the nineteenth century the situation seems to have been more traveller-friendly. “Each station has part of house for accommodation, the rooms furnished with carpets, namads [felt covers- WF], bedding and pillows. The station master prepares victuals for the traveller if required, for this he has to pay, unless he has an order specifying that he is to be supplied with food en route.”5 However, this situation soon changed to a very basic service, viz. a roof over one’s head. As in the case of caravanserais there was no charge for staying in the post-

2 On traveling in Iran during the seventeenth century, see Floor 1999; Id. 2012. 3 Fryer 1909-15, II, pp. 178-179, III, pp. 26-28; see also Herbert 1929, p. 51, who, though more complimentary, also remarked that service could not be relied upon. 4 Curzon 1892, I, p. 247, note. 5 Johnson 1818, p. 172. However, in 1834, Fraser found that the fare offered was rather meager. Fraser 1838, I, p. 377, 379.

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house. Only the horses were supplied, saddle and tack had to brought. With the growth of a system of modern road communication the old system of chpr-khnas underwent a sudden change, which slowly began as of 1879, but accelerated after the constitutional revolution of 1906.6 In the 1870s, in addition to the caravanserai and the chpr-khna, another kind of roadhouse became popular and widespread, the so-called mehmn-khna. This kind of traveller’s lodging should not be confused with the mehmn-khnas that are mentioned at the beginning of the Q j r period, which were but another name for chpr-khnas or post-stations.7 The first versions of this new form of public roadhouse were found on the Resht-Tehran-Qom road, which road was built and operated by a Russian Company stretching from Resht to Qom,8 and therefore, Cresson called them the new Russian mehmn-khnas or rest-houses. These are neat stone structures, two stories high, built at convenient stopping-places all the way from Resht to Teheran. The first floor is freely open for the accommodation of poorer travellers, while the rooms of the second story, more luxuriously appointed, are hired for a small sum. On the walls of each room hangs a notice in French, Russian, and Persian, giving a list of the articles it contains and the price of each one of them. This serves to discourage the frugal habits of Persian travellers, who might otherwise burn up the (to them) superfluous chairs and tables as firewood.9

Food was the traveller’s own affair, although the innkeeper might offer to prepare a Persian dish. According to Browne, these modern mehmn-khnas were constructed to emulate European hotels at the order of N ser al-Din Sh h after he returned from his first trip to Europe in 1873.10 This is borne out by E‘tem d al-Salaneh who mentions that these rest-houses were built by Amin al-Sol n at great cost. The construction cost of the mehmn-khnas and road amounted to 80,000 tumns.11 Most hotels in Europe and the USA at that time might be described as establishments that provided a room with one or more bed, one or more

6 For a detailed discussion of the chapr-khna system, see Floor 2001. 7 Johnson 1818, p. 187, 185; Keppel 1827, II, pp. 99-100 (Hamadan). 8 As of 1906, similar mehmn-khnas or rest-houses were to be found on the Russian road that connected Qazvin with Hamadan. The road boasted of eight rest-houses, all except two, were connected by telephone with Hamadan and Qazvin. However, supplies were difficult to obtain at the rest-houses, because these were built far from villages. Political Diaries 1990, I, p. 397. 9 Cresson 1908, pp. 48-49. 10 Browne 1970, pp. 85-86. 11 E‘tem d al-Salana 1345, p. 545.

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chairs, a small table, a cupboard and washstand for a daily fee; food services were not necessarily included or available. Although the manner of operation and the services offered by the mehmn-khnas satisfy this description of most hotels extant in Europe at that time, many Europeans were rather critical of the quality of their amenities. This was because the class of Europeans that visited and/or worked in Iran were mostly accus- tomed to stay in first-class hotels that provided luxury, comfort, clean- liness, and prompt service as well as a place to receive people and to socialize. This was not the case in Iran. Also, the mehmn-khnas were not the same everywhere and the one in Qazvin was really the best of them all, according to all reports.12 Iranians were rightly very proud of this establishment as it was the most lavishly built of its kind. According to Mirz Moammad oseyn Far h ni: The guest-house for the city of Qazvin is located in the midst of a pleasant and built-up area. One of its gates fronts an avenue across from the ‘Ali Qapu. The busiest area of Qazvin is along this avenue. The telegraph office is also next to the guest-house. An attractive garden is bordered by a wooden fence. There is a pool in the middle of the garden. The building has an upstairs and a downstairs. The lower level consists of rooms, coffeehouses, and the kitchen. Some of its rooms have a little furniture and serve as lodgings for ordinary travellers; some are dwellings for the employees. As for the upstairs, it contains eight rooms which are all neat, clean, painted, and have orosi windows. Their painted doors and the furnishings are clean and nice. The rooms on the second storey are reserved for distinguished guests. Next to the yard of the guest-house is another enclosure which [serves as] the corral, stable, and tool shed. The different craftsmen stay and work there: fifty-six blacksmiths, fifteen carpenters, six saddlers, and two farriers. They make all sorts of calashes, droshkies, tarantasses, and so on, with great skill.

As for the workers and horses at this guest-house, a detailed description is appended: the overseer “Mirza ‘Abdol-‘Ali, son of Aqa Baqer Arbab”; secretary and accountant (two people); moneychanger (one person); servants (five people); Iranian- and European- [style] cook (one person); chief of the stable (one person); stable workers such as drivers and so on (twenty-five people).13

12 For example, Bricteux 1908, p. 43; Curzon 1892, II, p. 37. 13 Farahani 1990, p. 11.

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Fig. 1: The mehmn-khna in Qazvin built by N er al-Din Sh h after 1873 (after Feuvrier 1900, p. 112)

Other mehmn-khnas were located at, for example, Sh h b d, es rak, es r, Kahrizak, Yengi Em m, Qal‘eh-ye Moammad ‘Ali Kh n, ‘ li- b d, and Qom. Although we have no descriptions of these others guest- houses they must have been of a similar size, because N er al-Din Sh h had his harem lodge at them while en route. The one at Qom had a small kolh-ferangi or bower in the garden, while that at Yengi Em m was an old caravanserai.14 Europeans differed in opinion about the new mehmn-khnas. They had both advantages and disadvantages, according to Browne. They were built in pleasant tree covered gardens, had Europeans beds, chairs and tables and food could be ordered. However, the reverse side was the high cost and the insolence of the staff as compared with the courtesy of the villagers. In short, the mehmn-khna “has all the worst defects of a

14 E‘tem d al-Salana 1345, pp. 545-547, 632-634, 638, 723; ‘Eyn al-Salana 1376, I, pp. 65-66, 301-03, 443-444; id. II, pp. 1182-1183, 1462, 1610; Browne 1970, pp. 179-180 (Sh shgerd, Hasan b d), 182 (‘Ali b d). For Hedin’s experience at the mehmn-khna of Nikpey, see Hedin 1920, I, pp. 138, 140.

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European hotel without its luxury.”15 Browne was not the only one who held this opinion. Mrs. Hume-Griffith, a missionary wife opined: They are supposed to be run after the plan of a European hotel! Beds are supplied, and sometimes a tooth-brush and comb! The traveller is shown into a room in which the beds are kept ready for all passers-by: it is not thought necessary to change the bedding too often! The furniture consists of a washstand, table and couple of chairs, and everything is dirty as can be. I much prefer the ordinary caravansarai. … The chappa khanehs, or post-houses, are often a trifle cleaner than the caravansarai.16 Other European travellers were more moderate and even appreciative of the services offered at the mehmn-khnas, especially the one at Qazvin. Orsolle, who stayed there in 1885, called it a government-owned inn, where all the furniture was European. In the rooms there were an inkwell, paper and pens on the table, further embroidered slippers and even a toothbrush on the marble washstand. Its director or mokhtr received the guests, informed them about dinner and asked whether they wanted champagne. Its cellars allegedly had the best kinds; domestic wine was also available. In the evening the governor and his suite came to relax in the guest-house’s garden.17 In 1890, Dr. Feuvrier, N er al-Din’s physician reports that the Qazvin guest-house had many rooms with the barest furniture, “but the traveller nevertheless will find this a luxury, compared with his previous experience.”18 [mais le voyageur venu jusqu’ici ne doit pas moins les trouver luxueuses, car il n’a pas dû être gaté sous ce rapport depuis bien des étapes]. Travellers who stayed at the Qazvin guest-house around the same time continued to differ in their appreciation. In 1900, the world traveller Landor found it to be “by far the best rest-house on the road to Tehran, with large rooms, clean enough for Persia, and with every convenience for cooking one’s food. Above the doorway the Persian lion, with the sun rising above his back, has been elaborately painted, and a picturesque pool of stagnant water at the bottom of the steps is no doubt the breeding spot of

15 Browne 1970, pp. 86-87; for other locations of the mehmn-khna, see also Id. pp. 179-180 (Sh shgerd, Hasan b d), 182 (‘Ali b d). Wills 1893, p. 395 (“I find what I expected, a very fine house, with bare walls, enormous charges, and impudent and dishonest servants. I should be very sorry indeed to put up there. I thrashed one fellow as it was for putting out his tongue; the rest at once became polite.”). 16 Hume-Griffith 1909, pp. 132-133. For a contemporary photograph of the guest- house see Rosen 1926, p. 175. 17 Orsolle 1885, p. 187. 18 Feuvrier 1900, pp. 109-111 (referring to the lack of comfort of a chpr-khna), 112 (photo).

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mosquitoes and flies, of which there are swarms.”19 In 1905, Claude Anet called it a unique chpr-khna; unique because it had rooms, beds, and at any time food at modest rates.20 Two years later, Hone and Dickinson, two British travellers, described the Qazvin guest-house as follows: “the great bare chambers of the caravanserai [sic], and especially the dining hall, filled with row upon row of empty ginger ale bottles and biscuit tins, still linger in our memory. Somehow this caravanserai, where one could get more than eggs and tea to eat, and which is the nearest approach to a native hotel on native lines in Persia, seemed to us the most inhospitable and horrible of shelters.”21 In 1910, the American Jackson considered that the Qazvin guest-house was “the best of its kind in all of Persia and has spacious quarters for fairly comfortable lodging and ample accommo- dations for numerous relays of post-horses, but it does not possess sufficient attraction to induce the stranger to prolong his stay more than is necessary.”22 In Baedeker’s 1914 travel guide the rest-house Qazvin is listed as “tolerable.”23

Fig. 2: Qazvin, the mehmn-khna built by the Sh h’s order (after Rosen 1926, p. 175)

19 Landor 1903, I, pp. 73-74. 20 Anet 1906, p. 137. 21 Hone & Dickinson 1910, p. 44. 22 Jackson 1910, p. 444. 23 Baedeker 1914, p. 499

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According to Bricteux, the mehmn-khna at Rey had nice rooms and a garden; here the elite of Tehran came to have tea parties.24 Qom also had an excellent mehmn-khna, which was outside the city and, according to Jackson, “had a veranda, a large sleeping-room furnished with a table and a bed, and there was a kitchen, where I found a saucepan.” Arrack was served, but had to be fetched from the bazaar.25 Tehran also boasted of a large number of mehmn-khnas, but in this case these were not road-houses, but rather hotels, one of which was the mehmn-khna-ye Irn (L lehz r), where occasionally theatrical plays were performed.26 By 1930, there was a total of 49 mehmn-khnas in Tehran, 80% of which were located in two city quarters, while in three city quarters there were none (see Table 1).

Table 1: Number, staff and geographical distribution of mehmn-khnas in Tehran (1930). Quarter / Unit / Manager / Servant / Boy / pdu Worker categories dokkn ostd krgar Ark – – – – Dowlat 27 20 95 7 asan b d 13 13 39 7 Sangalaj 4 3 3 1 Qan t b d 1 2 2 1 Moammadiya – – – – Sharq – – – – B z r – – – – ‘Udl j n 2 2 7 1 Shahr-e Now 2 2 – – Total 49 42 146 17 Source: Shahrd ri-ye Tehr n, Slnma-ye dovvom, Tehran 1310/1931, pp. 80-81.

HOTELS European-type hotels (mehmn-khna-ye ferangi), or rather hotels managed by Europeans, were the next addition to the lodgings that Iran offered travellers. What marked these hotels off from the mehmn-khna was, leaving aside that initially they were managed by Europeans, that they offered rooms that were clean, had some amenities (heating, water, bed linen, towels), and served (often European-type) food at fixed hours as

24 Bricteux 1908, p. 78. 25 E‘tem d al-Salana 1345, p. 638; Bricteux 1908, p. 295; Curzon 1892, II, p. 10; Jackson 1910, p. 414. 26 Kuhest ni-nezh d 1381, I, pp. 111-112.

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well as offering the hotel’s facilities for social purposes (parties, theatrical performances, bar, meeting place). It is also of interest that those establish- ments that were owned by Iranians and wanted to be considered to be more prestigious than a mehmn-khna, styled themselves ‘hotel.’

Tehran In 1865, the Dutch traveller Lycklama à Nyeholt, stated that there was no hotel at all in Tehran.27 What he meant was that an establishment along the lines of a European hotel, which indeed did not yet exist in Tehran or in Iran for that matter. The first such establishment is reported in 1872 and it must have started between 1866 and 1872. In that last year, the British traveller Marsh reported that in Tehran there was “a place they called hotel, which was only an ordinary house,” managed by Mr. Prevôt, the Shah’s former confectioner.28 Mr. Prevôt was a native of Strasbourg, either of French or Swiss extraction, where his father had a fencing school. After leaving France, Prevôt lived for many years in Odessa, where he married and made a living as a fencing instructor. In 1864, Prevôt came to Iran, where he was employed as confectioner by N er al-Din Sh h until he was dismissed at the insistence of the olam. He then became the conces- sionaire of petrol illumination of Tehran and finally made his living as hotelier and also having a shop with French products.29 The hotel is variously referred to as Hotel Prevôt or Hotel de France and, for at least one decade, was the only European hotel in Tehran and was located in Khiy b n-e ‘Al ’ al-Dowla a.k.a. Avenue des Légations in the so-called European quarter.30 The various travellers who stayed there give different accounts of the quality and attractiveness of its service. According to Mme Dieulafoye, the hotel (mehmn-khna-ye ferangi) was nothing but a café in a white-washed and clean looking building managed by a Frenchman. Visitors entered through a dark passage into a courtyard, with a small garden and a water-tank that was dry. The garden was usually filled with flowers, flanked by walls, followed by a colonnade of pillars to protect the rooms against the sun. After having passed through the garden there were two clean apartments consisting of a small and close bed and sitting-room. According to Marsh, its walls “were covered with stucco, mixed with pounded mica, which, when lighted up, gave a curious glitter to the walls.”31 The Belgian traveller Orsolle opined that “the rooms were of a Dutch cleanliness, and I was agreeably surprised to find that they

27 Lycklama 1865, II, p. 176. 28 Marsh 1877, p. 67 (M. Provost [sic]). 29 Feuvrier 1900, pp. 132-133; Browne 1970, p. 90 (Prevost); Dieulafoye 1887, p. 119. 30 Both Orsolle 1885, p. 208, and Binder 1887, p. 385 31 Dieulafoye 1887, p. 119; Marsh 1887, pp. 67-68; Feuvrier 1900, pp. 132-133.

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had beds, real beds covered with white sheets, a first similar luxury since Tiflis.”32 [des chambres d’une propreté hollandaise où nous sommes agréablement surpris de trouver de lits, de vrais lits garnis de draps en belle toile blanche: depuis Tiflis nous avons perdu l’habitude d’un pareil luxe!] The Japanese ambassador Yoshida Masaharu, who stayed in Hotel Prevôt in 1881, observed that it was not expensive, very clean, served European food only, with European furniture, although from the outside it looked Iranian. Apart from a bedroom, the hotel also offered a reading room with newspapers and a billiard room. Although managed by a European, the staff was entirely Iranian.33

Fig. 3: Hotel Prevôt in Tehran, ca. 1900 (© Myron Bement Smith Collection: Antoin Sevruguin Photographs. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. Gift of Katherine Dennis Smith, 1973-1985)

The hotel also offered dinner, where usually a variety of Europeans were to be found and French was the common language used. In 1885, one waiter was Danish and the other was Iranian, according to Orsolle, who added that the food was excellent, although marred by the sharp voice of Mme Prevôt, who was scolding her two daughters and the Iranian servant, the

32 Orsolle 1885, p. 208. 33 Yoshida 1373, p. 160 (with thanks to Behn m Aboutorabian for this reference).

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unfortunate asan Kh n.34 However, the American globetrotter Harry de Windt, who had stayed in French inns and hotels all over the Globe had a different opinion. He wrote that in Tehran he was: compelled to swallow food that would have disgraced a fifth-rate gargotte [cheap eating-house] in the slums of Paris. Perhaps Monsieur Prevôt had become ‘Persianized;’ perhaps the dulcet tones of Madame P., whose voice, incessantly reminded one of unoiled machinery, and commenced at sunrise only to be silenced (by exhaustion) at sunset, disturbed him at his culinary labours. The fact remains that the cuisine was, to any but a starving man, uneatable, the bedroom which madame was kind enough to assign to me, pitch dark and stuffy as a dog- kennel.35

By 1887, a second hotel was open for business in Tehran, which was known as Hotel Albert, after the man who had founded and operated it. Not much is known about either this hotel or its owner; Browne reports that, according to Mr. Ziegler it was less clean and comfortable than Hotel Prevôt, and, based on his own inspection, it was “smaller, less commo- dious and on the whole inferior, but the rooms much cheaper.” It probably was closed in 1893, because in 1894 E‘tem d al-Salana notes in his Diary that hotel Albert was a very nice building with an excellent spring and he was interested in buying it.36 This seems to imply that the hotel had already closed. Moreover, in 1887 a Russian traveller reports that in his view there was no good hotel in Tehran such as understood in Europe. He mentioned the hotel managed by Mme Prevôt, while the other one was operated by a former servant of Mr. Albert, who had married a Jewish woman from Odessa. The Russian traveller further opined that both establishments were a rip-off, because the price of the rooms as well as of the wine was much too high.37 This date of 1893 of the closure of Hotel Albert seems to be correct, because in 1894 Hotel Prevôt did not exist anymore as it had been taken over and was managed by Mr. Wright, “an Englishman, who originally came to Persia as the Prince Zille Sultan’s gardener, and his wife.”38 In 1900, there still were only “two hotels in Tehran, and several European and Armenian restaurants. The English hotel is the best,—not a

34 Orsolle 1885, pp. 208-209 (At dinner were M. Andrieux, chief gardener of the Shah, M. Botin, chief of the Mint, a Greek merchant, and three Austrian instructors). 35 De Windt 1891, pp. 101-102; Binder 1887, pp. 385-387 also noted that Mr. Prevôt was more agreeable than his wife. 36 Browne 1970, p. 90; Id., Browne Diaries, I, p. 100; E‘tem d al-Salana 1345, p. 1156. 37 Anonymous 1363, pp. 38-39. 38 Collins 1896, p. 268.

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dream of cleanliness, nor luxury, nor boasting of a cuisine which would remain impressed on one’s mind, except for its elaborate monotony,—but quite a comfortable place by comparison with the other European hotels of Persia. The beds are clean and the proprietress tries hard to make people comfortable.” As in the case of Hotel Prevôt, at dinner many Europeans flocked to its dining table, but instead of French, now many languages were spoken. Sometimes the Shah’s favourite pianist came to enliven the evenings “with some really magnificent playing.” The place was also occasionally used for wedding parties when much beer “(glycerine really, for beer does not stand a hot climate, unless a large percentage of glycerine is added to it)” and champagne was drunk.39 In 1903, according to Bricteux, the only hotel of Tehran was to be found in the Avenue des Légations, apart from two Armenian gargottes (cheap inns or cook-shops). One of these Armenian inns may have been what allegedly became the Hotel N deri (Kh. Jomhuri, between Kh. Fer- dowsi and Seyyom-e Tir), which was opened by Mr. Kachik, an Armenian from Baku, at the turn of the twentieth century. The surviving European hotel was the former Hotel Prevôt, then known as the English Hotel, which was managed by Mrs. Wright. Its rooms were clean and comfortable and everything would have been perfect, or so found Bricteux, if the former excellent French kitchen had not been inadequately replaced. It was an oasis in Tehran for foreigners, and strict formality was the iron rule. There were only people of standing staying there.40 By 1905 the ownership of the English Hotel, which had warm water, had apparently changed hands, because it was managed by a certain Mme Reitz.41

39 Landor 1903, I, pp. 80-82. The first European-type restaurant with tables and chairs in Tehran was established around 1875. E‘tem d al-Salana 1345, p. 20. 40 Bricteux 1908, p. 49; [http://www.bidoun.org/magazine/07-tourism/hotel-naderi- tehran-gone-is-mrs-kakoubian-by-negar-azimi/]. However, according to Iranshahr- pedia, Hotel N deri was built under Re Sh h. [http://iranshahrpedia.ir/fa/indexer#limit:50|page:1|infix: |] 41 Anet 1906, p. 151; Hone & Dickinson 1910, p. 80. From the roof of the English Hotel one had a beautiful view of Tehran, see Mustafa 1904, p. 56, no. 25. However, in 1911 its telegram address still was: Wright. Küss 1911, p. 30 (adds section).

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Fig. 4: Newspaper adds for the English Hotel, Hotel du Parc, and Hotel de France (after Küss 1911, p. 23, Advertisment section).

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By 1907, another European hotel had opened in the European quarter, the Hotel de France (Kh. ‘Al ’ al-Dowla), with 10 rooms (10-15 qrns) offering French cuisine (lunch and dinner each 5 qrns), piano, billiards and a café, which was managed by Mme Barnéoud.42 By 1910, additional hotels were functioning such as the recently opened Hotel du Parc (Kh. adr-e A‘am opposite B gh-e Amin al-Sol n), which advertised itself as the best hotel (mehmn-khna) of Tehran. However, Baedeker described it as a modest lodging. It offered European bathrooms, music every evening, a selection of newspapers in all [sic] languages as well as a dark room for developing photos. Both English and German was spoken.43 Furthermore, there was the Grand Hotel in the Kh. L lehz r, built by a Caucasian Russian named Baqerov. In addition, there were two or three other hotels, viz. the Park Hotel and Schultzki, which was under German management. The former was located at Chah r-r h-e Kont, the latter in Kh. B gh-e Vahsh or Kh. Lokhti, which later became Kh. Sa‘di. These two hotels could not compete with the Grand Hotel as to space and the size of the garden. Another new hotel was the modest Hotel de l’Europe, managed by Mr. Hadwiger (food at 6 to 8 qrns).44 Finally, there still was the English Hotel as well as the pension facility offered by the Club de Téhéran (entry fee 200 qrns, monthly fee 50 qrns, and an introduction needed by a member), which was also located in the Kh. ‘Al ’ al-Dowla.45 Not everybody was pleased with the quality of these establishments. The baroness de Warzée, who had to stay for a few days at one of these hotels, wrote that “The hotels in Tehran are little better than the post-houses on the road, and are generally provided with a gambling hell; the habitués of such a hell are Europeans of the lowest class.”46 In 1914, according to Baedeker, Tehran had three hotels that were all classed as “unpretentious.” In addition to Hotel de Paris (owned and managed by the Frenchman Fernand Varnet), formerly the English Hotel, although still having an English cuisine, there was the Hotel de France with 10-15 rooms (breakfast and dinner each 5 qrns) and Hotel de l’Europe (déjeuner 6 and dinner 8 qrns), which was especially frequented

42 D’Allemagne 1911, IV, pp. 248, 265. M. Barnéoud had a bookshop in the Kh. ‘Al ’ al-Dowla, presumably in the hotel given that they both share the same address. Küss 1911, p. 28 (advertisement section). In 1914, Hotel de France was managed by the Frenchman R. Aufraise. Hotel de l’Europe was also known as Hotel Hadwiger. Gouvernement de France 1914, p. 114. 43 Küss 1911, p. 30 (advertisement section); Baedeker 1912, p. 480 (with thanks to Behn m Aboutorabian for this reference). 44 Shahri 1386, IV, p. 462. 45 Baedeker 1912, p. 480; Gouvernement de France 1914, p. 114. 46 de Warzée 1913, p. 31.

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by Russians and Austrians. They were all located in the Kh. ‘Al ’ al- Dowla or Rue des Légations.47 It is not clear whether the hotels (Park and Schultzki) that Baedeker listed in 1912 had ceased to exist, but they are not mentioned in later sources. In 1914, the American traveller Moore, stayed at “the little Hotel de Paris, kept by the former Shah’s French chauffeur. It is modest but comfortable accommodations, and its good coffee and milk with real bread and butter, seem to me the height of luxury.”48

Fig. 5: Newspaper adds for the Astoria Hotel and Grand Hotel (after Ebtehaj 1931, Add section).

Although in 1927, Hotel-Cafe N deri was opened, which later became a well-known water hole for Iranian intellectuals,49 according to Norden, in 1928 the [European] traveller had “the lavish choice of three hotels; one under French, one under Polish, and the third under Persian management. I went to the last. It proved to be modern in that there was a bathroom, but hot water was obtainable only after several hours’ notice. ... The clientele was chiefly made up of Persian gentlemen in abas, who played chess after the meal.”50 The latter hotel mentioned by Norden was the Grand Hotel, the leading hotel of Tehran at that time. Of one of the other two, probably

47 Baedeker 1914, p. 501; Gouvernement de France 1914, p. 114; Bird 1921, p. 386 (“Hotel de Paris on Ala al-Dowla Ave.; its entrance was thronged with beggars.”) 48 Moore 1915, p. 223. 49 [http://www.bidoun.org/magazine/07-tourism/hotel-naderi-tehran-gone-is-mrs- kakoubian-by-negar-azimi/]; [http://iranshahrpedia.ir/fa/indexer#limit:50|page:1|infix: |] 50 Norden 1928, p. 239.

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the Hotel de Paris (formerly the English Hotel), Miss Alexander opined that one “hotel in Tehran, though an old established one, is hardly to be recommended, so I need not to give its name. It was dirty, which is unusual in Persia, the attendance bad, and the food poor,” while the rooms were not comfortable. Later, therefore, she went to Hotel de France, “which was very much nicer in every way, had a good cuisine, and where one can comfortable stay.”51 In the early 1930s there were six better hotels in Tehran, viz. the Astoria, the Grand Hotel (in Kh. L lehz r), the Berliner Hof, the Palace (in Kh. Istanbul), the Hotel de France and the Hotel Ziya (in Kh. ‘Al ’ al- Dowla), the Jah n-nam (Kh. Pahlavi) and the Royal. The Astoria offered jazz every evening as an attraction52 and it was considered to be Tehran’s most fashionable restaurant and hotel. However, Miss Miller, commented that “I understood, when I saw the place, why foreigners, sojourning in Teheran, prefer pensions to hotels.”53 Miss Miller herself stayed at a pension of which there were a number in Tehran offering full board for 80- 100 tumns/month (early 1930s); most of them had clean rooms and nice gardens. These included, pension Europe (Kh. N deri), pension Nord (Kh. Sh h), pension Paris (Kh. Sani‘ al-Dowla), pension Stump (Fisher b d, outside the city at that time), pension Coq d’Or, which was kept by M. and Mme Pitrau, the Swiss pension (Shemir n), and the pension managed by Mme Tavernier, who also had “a large hotel in the hills.”54 By 1935, hotels were still not considered to be up to European stan- dards, but they were improving, in particular in Tehran. Here some new hotels had opened such as Hotel Ferdowsi (Kh. Ferdowsi), which offered private bathrooms, running water in each room at a daily rate of 40 to 70 riyls; food was about 22 riyls per day. Also, Hotel N deri (Kh. N deri), which had rooms with running water at 30 to 60 riyls per day (food 22 riyls per day and 10% service), while Hotel Rey (Kh. Istanbul) had rooms with running water at 30 to 40 riyls per day and food at about 16 riyls.55 In 1937, new hotels had opened or old hotels had renamed themselves. The Grand Hotel was now named Khayyam (rooms at 30 to 40 riyls, food at

51 Alexander 1934, p. 49; Kirsch 1927, p. 226 (in 1926, the owner was a Pole. Kirsch ate at a table with a white cloth and was served by a waiter in a blue dress with gilt buttons), 235. 52 Ebtehaj 1931, p. 130; Lingeman 1930, p. 10 (“full pension can be obtained in the better hotels for about Krs. 25 or 8 s. per day.”); Alexander 1934, p. 54 (Kh. L leh- z r boasts of 2 hotels). 53 Miller 1934, p. 237. 54 Ebtehaj 1931, pp. 130, 133; Lingeman 1930, p. 10; Simmonds 1935, p. ix; Gray 1938, p. ix ; Byron 1937, p. 67; Miller 1934, pp. 115, 148, 161. 55 Simmonds 1935, pp. viii-ix.

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about 30 riyls), and Hotel de France was renamed Darius (rooms at 15-30 riyls, food about 20 riyls). In addition, there was the newcomer Palace Hotel (rooms at 20-40 riyls, food about 20 riyls) and Hotel Rey (Kh. Sh h b d) with rooms at 20-30 riyls and food at about 20 riyls. The rates of the other hotels had increased somewhat.56

Fig. 6 : Newspaper add for the Pension Europe (after Ebtehaj 1931, Add section).

Other cities Tehran was not the only city that had European-style hotels. In particular in the 1920s and thereafter more of such hotels were established in Iran. Ebteh j, the author of a 1931 travel guide to Iran, informed his readers that: Hotels in Persia are not luxurious and as up-to-date as those in Europe. Nevertheless, in the principal cities and towns, second class hotels that are fairly comfortable are always found. In most of the provinces arrangements for accommodating the tourists are often inadequate. ... The cuisine, as compared with European hotels generally speaking is inferior, but the provisions in general such as mutton, game, fowl, vegetables and fruits are abundant and excellent.57

Indeed the service and/or appreciation thereof differed per hotel and/or traveller as is clear from the comments from patrons of these hotels offered here. I present the data on these various hotels per city in alphabetical order, for easy reference. –Ahvaz In the 1930s, this growing town was the home to the Hotel Central, Grand Hotel, Hotel Eslami, Hotel Mohammadi, Hotel Iran, Hotel Golshan and Hotel Qu. Although nothing is known about these hotels, their

56 Gray 1938, p. ix. 57 Ebtehaj 1931, p. 110.

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increasing number in the 1930s was a function of the nearby burgeoning oil industry.58 –rk In r k or Sol n b d there was the Hotel America or Hotel d’Amérique, which was owned by an Armenian woman, as well as other unnamed hotels. Reitlinger reported that “My room was plastered with posters of different trusts, glorifying that miserable godhead of the collec- tivist, the machine. Apart from a bed, the furniture consisted of a wireless set of Russian origin but of native construction. Its wires straggled all over the walls of the miserable cell, and even dangled from the roof. After a few hours’ struggle it would be possible to hear a jazz band on Kharkoff. After several days’ hard labour the same tune in Hilversum or Schenectady.”59 –Ardabil In 1930, there was here the Hotel Baharestan.60 –Astar In the early 1920s, the teahouse served as a hotel, but by 1930 there was Hotel Vahabof and Hotel Abazari in Astara.61 –Babol In 1930, there was the Grand Hotel.62 –Bandar-e Gaz In 1930, the existence of a hotel, but not its name is reported.63 –Borujerd By 1930, there was the Hotel Central and a few years later Filmer reported that in the center of Borujerd was the Hotel of Holiness which had excellent kebabs. He also noted that “the rooms appeared clean, although not in the style of the Ritz or the Plaza.”64 In 1940, the Hotel Ferdows in Borujerd was “a square of small rooms constructed around a patio with a cement pool in its center and flowerbeds” with rose-bushes.65

58 Ebtehaj 1931, p. 157 (Grand, Central); Simmonds 1935, p. ix (Eslami); Gray 1938, p. ix; [http://iranshahrpedia.ir/fa/indexer#limit:50|page:1|infix: |]. 59 Reitlinger 1932, pp. 49-50 (the cities mentioned were radio stations which could be heard worldwide via short wave radio); Ebtehaj 1931, p. 163. 60 Ebtehaj 1931, p. 220. 61 Schmidel 1926, p. 111; Ebtehaj 1932, p. 219. 62 Ebtehaj 1931, p. 208. 63 Ebtehaj 1931, p. 210. 64 Ebtehaj 1931, p. 162; Filmer 1936, p. 42. 65 Koelz 1983, p. 212.

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–Bushehr According to Mrs. Merrit-Hawkes, referring to the situation in 1934, “There is no hotel in Bushire and the local substitute is both odiferous and insectiferous. I believe missionaries have stayed there, but that’s all right for them as they are spending eternity in heavenly mansions.”66 At that time, the local hotels were the Imperial Airways rest house, which offered the best accommodation; in addition there were the Shimkhani and Akbar Brothers hotel as well as the Kazeruni guest-house (3 km out of town near the airfield; daily about 50 riyls) and Apcar (near the Customs; daily about 35 riyls).67

Fig. 7: Kazeruni guest-house at the airport of Bushehr (© Private collection, Bushehr).

–Chlus The location of the unnamed hotel in Ch lus was attractive. “A hotel and a sanitarium, with numerous bungalows as dependencies, have been built around the sulphur springs at Ab-i-Garm.”68 –Dezful In 1930, there was here the Hotel Ararat. 69

66 Merritt-Hawkes 1935, pp. 1-2. 67 Ebtehaj 1931, p. 184; Simmonds 1935, p. ix; Gray 1937, p. ix. 68 Filmer 1936, p. 322. 69 Ebtehaj 1931, p. 160.

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–Dorud This was a new town 45 km south-east of Borujerd, which in 1939 was said to have an Armenian-owned hotel, but Koeltz preferred camping in the field. When he returned one year later he lodged in a wretched five- room building in an orchard.70 –Enzeli In the 1930s, there was the Grand Hotel, “a nice looking house, with a good cuisine, but the rest of the appointments were rather sketchy.”71 This hotel was close to the Customs and in 1934 rooms were available at 20 riyls; food at about 14 riyls per day.72 Miss Miller did not avail herself of its services, but stayed at the house of a Swiss lady.73 In addition, in 1929, there was a Hotel de France in Enzeli.74 –Hamadan The Hotel de France was probably opened in the early 1920s, if not earlier, for in 1927 a British officer reports that in Hamadan a French-run hotel was situated in a lovely garden. In 1930, Reitlinger had a pleasant experience in this Hotel de France, which was located in a dark blind alley. He wrote that it was “the only hotel in Persia that comes up to the Euro- pean expectation. To be asked as a matter of course at what time one wants tea and hot water in the morning is rare in high Asia.” Miss Alexander had a similar experience and wrote: Hotel de France was “a pretty place and comfortable hostelry, situated in a charming garden full of shady trees.” A few years later, Koelz, who did not report the name of the hotel in Hamadan, wrote “the hotel had a clean room with a stove, carpeted with overlapping rugs of good quality. Though there seemed to be no other guests, they were able to give us the usual requisites of comfort, even wine.”75 In 1930, there also was a Hotel de Paris and in 1937, Hotel Elvand with a daily rate of about 40 riyls,76 while there also was a new and modern government hotel named Bu ‘Ali.77

70 Koelz 1983, pp. 84, 213. 71 Alexander 1934, p. 43; Lingeman 1930, p. 10. 72 Simmonds 1935, p. ix; Gray 1938, p. ix (daily, about 50 riyls). 73 Miller 1934, p. 269. 74 Lingeman 1930, p. 10. 75 McCallum 1930, p. 222; Lingeman 1930, p. 10; Reitlinger 1932, p. 41; Alexander 1934, p. 32; Simmonds 1935, p. ix (daily about 50 riyls); Koelz, p. 193; von Bohlen-Hegewald 1939, pp. 178-79. 76 Ebtehaj 1931, (address section); Gray 1938, p. ix. 77 [http://iranshahrpedia.ir/fa/indexer#limit:50|page:1|infix: |]

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–Isfahan In about 1926, Norden stayed in Hotel d’Isfahan where many Iranians were staying, perhaps related to the fact that it was on the eve of Nowruz. The hotel was clean and well kept. He noted that in the Chah r B gh Avenue “old-time palaces of the rich have now become hotels” and there were indeed other hotels. According to Ebtehaj in 1930, there was a Hotel Chah r B gh and a Hotel Ir n, while other travellers report staying in Hotel d’Amérique, which was opposite the Madrasa-ye M dar-e Sh h Sol n oseyn. According to Reitlinger, it was “an exotic wooden struc- ture combining Russian timber Palladianism with native traditions. It has a bathroom, the work of a gifted amateur, a Russian officer abandoned at Ispahan during the War.” Nevertheless he experienced that it offered relative warmth and comfort. Miss Alexander found it “a nice little hotel well managed by Armenians, very clean, which can well be recommended, and which has a charming garden.” However, she added that Hotel d’Ame- rique, which existed at least since the early 1920s, was the only hotel in town, where she stayed in “a most spacious chamber with three beds, but only one wash basin and jug, a small table and three hard chairs. Some pegs on the wall and two rugs completed the furniture. It was clean even if a trifle nude.” However, in 1935, there was another hotel called Hotel Ferdowsi (daily about 50 riyls), located in a broad three-lane street. Koelz was “shown into a pleasant room, and a cheerful maid came promptly and lighted the fire, while a youth put in a stronger light bulb.”78 In 1937, Hotel Cyrus (daily, 40-50 riyls) is mentioned, while at that time there also was a Hotel Jah n.79 –Kermnshh In 1930, in this city, the American travel Reitlinger observed that “On the edge of the town, among Armenian garages and shops, stands the Hotel Bristol. ... It far exceeded my expectations. A pane or two might be broken in the bedroom window, but were made up for by the heat of a stove, lit at once by a venerable Georgian housemaid, a relic of feudal Russia. In the saloon, a carpeted place of luxury decorated with steamship posters and coloured Swiss views, was a dignified coterie [of Greeks] listening to a gramophone.”80

78 Norden 1928, pp. 222-24; Reitlinger 1932, pp. 62, 135; Government of Iran 1964, I, pp. 923-924; Alexander 1934, pp. 71-72, 118; Lingeman 1930, p. 10 (Hotel d’Amerique); Ebtehaj 1931, p. 195 plus address section; Simmonds 1935, p. ix; Koelz 1983, pp. 47-48. 79 Gray 1938, p. ix (hotel Ferdowsi daily, 45-50 riyls); Kush n 1379, p. 113. 8080 Reitlinger 1932, pp. 30-31; Lingeman 1930, p. 10; Gray 1938, p. ix (daily, about 50 riyls). Kirsch 1927, p. 221, probably stayed at the same hotel, although he does not

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A few years later, Miss Alexander stayed at the same hotel which she called Kerm nsh h’s principal hotel. She was less positive of the amenities offered than Reitlinger. The rooms themselves were clean and the beds comfortable, but my advice to newcomers is to make a thorough survey of one’s room on arrival, and to see that all the necessities are there which we, as Europeans, may require. For it is annoying to return later to find that there is no towel, or only the damp leavings of the last occupant, that the jug is empty or the basin dirty. The tooth-glass is often absent, as is the key of the door, while it is easier to make the servant wrestle with the stubborn whims of the window, which refuses either to open, or lets in cold blasts of air, than to do it oneself. ... The public room of the hotel consisted of a large dining-room-lounge (this arrangement is usual in Persia). At one end it is equipped with small tables and chairs, the manager’s desk, and a few shelves which formed the bar; while at the other was a large table on which papers were strewn, some more chairs and a gramophone as well as a wireless installation which gave forth at intervals, music and unintelligible talks from Moscow and Baku. Habitués strolled in for meals, dinner being seldom served before half-past eight, they remained late, however, often till midnight, chatting with the manager, or listening to the gramophone or radio.81 Balfour and his party, who stayed in the same hotel and in the same year as Miss Alexander found the hotel pleasant and comfortable enough, “though the ladies found it hard to resign themselves to its complete lack of sanitation.” The amenities offered was also to their liking and Balfour found his stay sufficiently pleasant to include a description of his experience in Hotel Bristol. There was a cosy dining room with garish pictures of Swiss peasant scenes on the walls. Two naked, painted Atlases held on their shoulders golden globes with the faces of clocks, and a table was stacked, not with cheap magazines and handbooks, but with copies of the National Geographic Magazine. We had an excellent dinner of soup, meat and spinach, rice as light as only Persian rice can be, with a sharp sauce, chicken, fresh fruit cup, amber Persian wine to drink and a fizzy Russian mineral water.82

mentions it name, only that its owner was an old Greek. He further noted that the rooms were clean. 81 Alexander 1934, p. 23. 82 Balfour 1935, p. 88.

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When one of Balfour’s companions told the owner that his hotel was superior to many they had stayed in on their journey from the UK, he said, as a matter of course: “Yes, you are now in a civilized country.”83 In 1935, Hotel Bristol was no more, but was now styled as: ‘Grand Hotel ex Bristol’ or just Grand Hotel with rooms at about 50 riyls per day. In 1937, in addition, there was the Hotel Hallal Bala, with a daily rate of about 50 riyls.84 Finally, a Hotel Bisestun is mentioned at that time.85 –Khorrambd In 1930, there was here a hotel of which the name is not reported.86 –Khorramshahr, see Mohammara. –Lhejn Apart from the name nothing is known about Hotel Savoy and Hotel Europe that were in this town.87 –Mku Here was a mehmn-khna, which in 1930 was occupied by soldiers, who had to vacate the premises before travellers could lodge there.88 In 1939, there was an inn, but it is unknown whether it was the same or another establishment.89 –Margha In 1930, there was here the Hotel Azerbaijan.90 –Mashhad Bricteux reports that in 1905 he learnt that a rich Iranian had estab- lished a hotel in Mashhad. This was probably Hotel Loghanteh, which existed in 1930 in addition to the Grand Hotel.91 In 1936, Christopher Sykes reported the existence of the Hotel de Paris, while there also was a Hotel Pars. In 1937, also two hotels are mentioned, viz. Hotel Bakhtar that had rooms with running water at a daily rate of 35 to 50 riyls and Hotel Pars, which daily charged about 40 riyls. There is no mention of Hotel de Paris.92 In 1940, Koelz stayed in an unnamed hotel in Mashhad

83 Ibid. 84 Simmonds 1935, p. ix; Gray 1938, p. ix; Hinz 1938, p. 18 (he admired the prints showing scenes in German Jugendstil as well as adds recommending Junker’s gas- fired bath-oven and to visit Germany). 85 [http://iranshahrpedia.ir/fa/indexer#limit:50|page:1|infix:
 |] 86 Ebtehaj 1931, p. 162. 87 Reitlinger 1932, p. 170; Ebtehaj 1932, p. 206. 88 Reitlinger 1932, p. 210. 89 Maillart 1947, p. 57. 90 Ebtehaj 1931, p. 218. 91 Bricteux 1908, p. 176, n. 1; Ebtehaj 1931, p. 168 plus address section. 92 Byron 1937, p. 240; Gray 1938, p. ix.

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that he considered to be “a creditable institution and has an entertaining cabaret of dancers and singers. One of the performers is a huge girl who exe- cutes Russian-looking dances very well, and one is a mute girl who does clever dances in pantomime.”93 –Mashhad-e Sar Beyond the name nothing is known about the Hotel Orient.94 –Mohammara In 1930, there was here the River Grand Hotel.95 –Ormiya In 1930, this town boasted of having “the unassuming Hotel Ikbal, in whose praise I say nothing,” wrote Reitlinger.96 –Qasr-e Shirin In 1940 this border town had a modest hotel, “with rooms covered with carpets and beds.”97 –Qazvin In 1873, it is reported that the agent of Baron Reuter obtained lodgings at a small French hotel in Qazvin, about which establishment no other reports exist.98 It would seem that in the 1930s there were two hotels in Qazvin, one of which was the old mehmn-khna. Reitlinger described it as “a hotel of peculiar grimness, which was once the only hotel in Persia. The dining room at least was a place of animation, full of Armenians playing dominoes, and by some caprice of Asiatic fortune it contained a pile of back numbers of Punch and Bystander.”99 According to a later British visitor, Teague-Jones, the hotel was a shabby hostelry and in no sense a modern hotel. “The room was bad, but it might have been worse. There was one wooden bedstead and one of iron. ... The bulb was dirty and flyblown and gave out a pallid flickering light.”100 The other hotel was the Grand Hotel. Miss Miller described it as “a very nice place, owned and managed by a Parsi” and Miss Alexander called it “a quaint little place.”101

93 Koelz 1983, p. 119; [http://iranshahrpedia.ir/fa/indexer#limit:50|page:1|infix: |]. 94 Ebtehaj 1931, p. 207. 95 Ebtehaj 1931, p. 156. 96 Reitlinger 1932, p. 194; Ebtehaj 1931, p. 216. 97 Koelz 1983, p. 201. 98 Collins 1925, p. 156. 99 Reitlinger 1932, p. 177-178. 100 Teague-Jones 1990, pp. 82-84. 101 Miller 1934, p. 253; Alexander 1934, p. 39; Simmonds 1935, p. ix (inclusive daily about 40 riyls); Gray 1938, p. ix (40 riyls p. d.).

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–Qom The only (unnamed) hotel in Qom in 1934 had not much to recommend itself. “The room contained two filthy carpets, a filthier chair and the filthiest table.” The porters who took the luggage up “demanded a month’s wages!”102 –Rasht As of the 1890s, Rasht boasted of an “Armenian hotel-European style,” named Hotel d’Europe, which Cresson qualified as the so-called ‘European Hotel.’ It was also advertised as the Swiss hotel. In 1900, the British world traveller Landor entered this hotel via “an appallingly dirty flight of steps.” When the owner showed him the room that allegedly was the best one, Landor, after having seen the other ones, agreed, because the others “were decidedly not better. The hotel had twelve bedrooms and they were all disgustingly filthy. True enough, each bedroom had more beds in it than one really needed, two or even three in each bedroom.” It was clear that the pillow cases, bed sheets and towels were not regularly changed and sequentially used by more than one guest. As a result, they were so dirty that Landor preferred his own bedding that he placed on the floor and slept there. The hotel had no less than three large dining rooms decorated with moth-eaten stuffed birds and German oleographs with offensive scenes. The dinner, purportedly prepared by a former cook of the shah, was so bad, that Landor “felt very, very sorry for the poor Shah, and more so for one’s self, for having put up at the hotel.”

Fig. 8: Newspaper adds for the Hotel Europe in Rasht (left, after Küss 1911, p. 23; right, after Ebtehaj 1931, Add section).

The price for this enervating experience was considerable, because the daily charges were as high “as one would pay at the very first hotel in London, New York, or Paris, such as the Carlton, the Waldorf, or Ritz. Only here one got absolutely nothing for it except very likely an infectious

102 Merrit-Hawkes 1934, p. 253.

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disease, as I did. In walking bare-footed on the filthy matting, while taking my bath, some invisible germ bored its way into the sole of my right foot and caused me a great deal of trouble for several weeks after. Animal life in all its varieties was plentiful in all rooms.”103 The hotel continued to exist during the next few decades. In 1906, it is reported that at the Meyd n of Resht the Hotel d’Europe was owned by a Greek. The premises were rather rickety, “but had quite an air of Western gentility.”104 In 1911, the hotel advertised itself as having been renovated and being ex-Albert.105 By 1930, Rasht even boasted of at least two hotels, which were all on the Kh. Pahlavi, where, on one side of the Meyd n, “two rival hotels confront each other, both built of a bright terra-cotta material. They are called the Savoy and the Carlton, or the Ritz and the Claridge, I forget which. ... The interior of the hotels is of a monastic simplicity; in the one I finally chose there was less soiled bed-linen in the corridor and the proprietors were Greek.”106 The two hotels referred were the Hotel Metropole and the Hotel d’Europe, while there also was a hotel Esl mi at that time.107 In 1935, two other hotels are mentioned, viz. Hotel d’Iran (about 45 riyls daily all included) and Hotel Sava (about 40 riyls daily all included).108

–Shhsuvar In this small town there was an unnamed hotel that was a modest inn, basically “a wooden cabin with an outside staircase and verandah, incons- picuous from the others and very clean. A boy was sent for who opened the upper room and attended to our wants. Beside two little cup-boards containing each a bunk there was a larger room with a table and benches and two wooden bedsteads; this was the whole mehmn-khna. Everything being very small and made of Mazanderan pine, it was like going aboard a yacht.”109 –Sari In 1930, it was home to the Grand Hotel and Hotel Europe.110

103 Landor 1903, I, pp. 38, 40-43, 112; Cresson 1908, p. 42; Baedeker 1914, p. 498 (“Resht: Hotel d’Europe with 10-15 rooms, dinner 5-7 qrns”). 104 Hone & Dickinson 1910, p. 22. 105 Küss 1911, p. 23 (advertisements section). 106 Reitlinger 1932, p. 171; Ebtehaj 1931, p. 122. 107 Lingeman 1930, p. 10; Ebtehaj 1931, address section. 108 Simmonds 1935, p. ix; Gray 1938, p. ix (Hotel d’Iran, 40 riyls p. d.). 109 Reitlinger 1932, p. 164. 110 Ebtehaj 1932, p. 209.

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–Shiraz In 1930, there were at least four hotels in Shiraz, to wit: Hotel Fars, Grand Hotel, Hotel Central, and Hotel Nowbahar.111 However, there was yet another hotel in Shiraz, in fact, according to Mrs. Merrit-Hawkes, the Hotel Sa‘di (Kh. Zand) was its principal hotel. It was approached by a long flight of steps which divided in two, curving imposing to the first floor. ... For Persia, it was really quite a nice hotel; below the stairs there is a billiard table whose green top is still almost emerald and has only enough cuts to make playing a little more exciting. At the top of the grandiose entrance is the ‘Dinnin Room,’ with the prices in Persian, and outside every window is a nice blue enamel label stating the number of beds in each room. All the time I was at the hotel beds were constantly going in and out of the windows, trying, presumably, to make a compromise between the legal schedule and the fluctuating number of guests. An hour after my arrival the ‘Dinnin Room’ became the dormitory of nineteen Persian actors and actresses who slept on the floor on quilts. In order that no one might see what was happening inside, the lower parts of the numerous glass doors were whitewashed. [There was a garden in front and at the back] the front pond was round, and that behind was heart- shaped, with more goldfish. ... A servant was hanging my laundry on the orange trees and my servant was washing my early tea set [in the pool, while] the waiter was scrubbing his hands and face only a yard away.112

Koelz who stayed in the mehmn-khna-ye Sa‘di in 1939 reported that “They did not like the look of us and gave me a little room in a corner which the sun hadn’t reached at noon. It had no stove, and the day [March 13] was bitter cold. They had no place where the men could cook, so when the driver of the truck that brought us said he knew a garden a kilometer away, we reloaded our effects and drove off.”113 The Hotel Fars, in the Kh. Sa‘di, facing the Karim Khan Zand citadel, was “the oddest of hotels, even for Persia. The entrance to the Hotel Fars is hard to find; in an identical row of narrow and filthy shop doors a minute chalked notice-board alone announces it. But when the ill-smelling stairs are climbed, there is a long and spacious verandah, and beyond the verandah a perilous length of narrow sloping tin roof, and beyond this another verandah yet more spacious, so that the Hotel Fars, for all its being

111 Ebtehaj 1931, p. 186. 112 Merrit-Hawkes 1934, pp. 49-51; Gray 1938, p. ix (35-40 riyls p. d.). 113 Koelz 1983, p. 62.

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invisible, is a very large hotel.”114 Miss Alexander is more positive about this hotel than Reitlinger. She describes it as “a tiny place. Its entrance was up an extremely steep flight of stone steps, in a street that runs at right angles to the Bagh-i-Sheikh, and were the principal shops are located. One having reached the first floor, European guests are led along a balcony, then up a step and on to a flat roof. This has to be crossed, and a further balcony is reached, which is the best part of the hotel, and connects four nice bedrooms. The balcony is wide, and made an excellent place to sit, especially during the evenings after dinner.”115 In 1935, there also was the Hotel Ferdowsi (daily about 50 riyls) as well as Kh na-ye K zeruni or Hotel Jam (Kh. Anvari).116 –Solnbd, see r k. –Tabriz In 1930, Tabriz boasted of three hotels, the Grand Hotel, the Europe and the Rez ya, according to Ebtehaj. According to Reitlinger, the Grand Hotel stood out because of “its comatose jazz band and a fly-haloed permanent Russian hors d’oeuvres reposing on a buffet.”117 However, Miss Alexander reported that the Grand Hotel was said to be the only hotel in Tabriz, one that she did not find to be conducive to a long stay. Its sparsely furnished bedrooms were moderately clean, but its only public sitting room was the small dining-room, which also served as a manager’s office, bar and club, to any who might come and use it all hours of the day, and well into the night too. [It was cheap, the cooking good,] though the menu limited, but sundry Russian dishes, such as Borstch, were to be had. ... The sanitation of the hotel was perhaps the worst we had encountered, and in the bedrooms the wash-stands were unique contraptions. On what might be called a small cupboard, the height of a chest of drawers, was a mottled stone basin. Above it as attached a metal tank with a slab of the mottled stone to screen it. In the middle was a tap, with three spouts, one being a tiny shower which sprinkled the basin below. The thing worked like the old-fashioned wash-basins on a ship, but here the basin had no stopper, only a hole, so that, all washing had to be done as the water trickled out of the tap, before it passed swiftly down the hole into the pail inside the cupboard. It was not an easy way to wash nor did one feel very clean after the process.118

114 Reitlinger 1932, p. 103. 115 Alexander 1934, p. 101; Gray 1938, p. ix (daily, 25-50 riyls). 116 Simmonds 1935, p. ix; [http://iranshahrpedia.ir/fa/indexer#limit:50|page:1|infix: |]. 117 Reitlinger 1932, p. 183; Ebtehaj 1931, p. 143. 118 Alexander 1934, pp. 139-40.

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In 1935, there also was the Hotel Jahan-nama (daily about 50 riyls), while in 1940, in addition, there was the hotel Ferdowsi, “as pleasant a place as one could expect to find. The rooms were large, new and clean, with running water and pleasant attendants, but no apparent heating appa- ratus. That is no surprise in a country where fuel is so scarce.”119 Further- more, Hotel Homa as well as modern government establishment, Hotel Pars and Hotel Pars-e Now (Bony d-e Pahlavi) are mentioned.120 –Yazd In 1939, there was a mehmn-khna “with a nice room with a huge Kirman rug shared with two dozen long-haired Persian cats; the rug and the cats are all colors.”121 –Zhedn This border town had two hotels in 1930, viz. Hotel Malick [sic] Mahmud Ali and Grand Hotel.122 –Zanjn In 1936, this town had a Grand Hotel.123 –Others A separate category of lodgings were the rest-houses of the Indo- European Telegraph Department (IETD), which were normally occupied by its staff. However, there was room for traveling staff, while in the 1930s when the IETD and its successor was winding down its business (it handed over all its assets to Iran in 1931) travellers who had contacts with the company were allowed to stay in empty rest-houses. However, this was not a regular option for travellers and one that was not available anymore at the end of the 1930s.124

GARAGE-MOTELS In towns without hotels, people could often get a guest-room in a garage or they could rent a room in a guest-house, a private house or camp in the field. This development was due to the sudden increase in the number of cars in Iran, in particular of lorries, after 1918, which led to the establish- ment of many garages in all and between the major towns of Iran. These

119 Simmonds 1935, p. ix; Gray 1938, p. ix (Jahan-nama, about 30 riyls p. d.); Koelz 1983, p. 161. 120 [http://iranshahrpedia.ir/fa/indexer#limit:50|page:1|infix: |] 121 Koelz 1983, p. 43. 122 Ebtehaj 1931, p. 166. 123 Byron 1937, p. 51. 124 Alexander 1934, pp. 85-86 (Dehbid), 114 (Sivend), 117 (Ab da), 125 (Qom), 135 Miy na); Reitlinger 1932, pp. 85, 126, 137.

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garages were a kind of forerunner of the motel, because they served the lodging and vehicular requirements of both professional lorry drivers as well as incidental travellers. Alexander describes the one at Qar-e Shirin as follows: A large garage, once a caravanserai, its big courtyard now filled with lorries, where formerly camels and donkeys used to rest among the bales of merchandise. The aforetime stables, their doors giving on to the inside square of the court, now had large wooden doors, and were used for lock-up garages. Above ran a gallery, on to which opened rooms, affording accommodation for the passengers of the conveyan- ces that plied along the road.125

Such embryonic motels were found in, for example, Miy na (garage Darakhsh n), Shushtar, Sabzav r (garage Rowsh ne’i), K zerun, K sh n, Kerm nsh h (garage Ziy ), and Khoy.126 According to Reitlinger, in 1930, the tremendous caravanserai at Deh Bid was “one of the very few in Persia still in use.”127 However, his contemporary traveller Christopher Sykes disagreed. He wrote that Caravanserais refused to be ousted by modern transport. Garages are everywhere, certainly. But they reproduce the old plan. This consists of a quadrangle, as big as an Oxford college, and defended by huge doors. Near the doors, beside the arched entrance, are rooms for cooking, eating, communal sleeping, and the transaction for business. Round the other three sides are rows of smaller rooms, which resemble monastic cells, and accommodation for horses and motors. Comfort varies. Here, in the Garage Massis [Sh hrud] I have a spring bed, a carpet, and a stove, and have eaten a tender chicken, followed by some sweet grapes. At Damghan there was no furniture at all, and the food was lumps of tepid rice.128

However, Sykes was mistaken, for what he assumed to be a garage built according to the plan of a caravanserai was but the conversion of such a building into a modern garage cum lodgings to serve the needs and requirements of drivers of motor vehicles and other travellers. This is clear from what Miss Constance Alexander reported about such ‘motel-garages.’

125 Alexander 1934, pp. 18-19. 126 Ebtehaj 1931, pp. 110, 143-44, 159, 172; Reitlinger 1932, p. 201; Lingeman 1930, p. 10 (“In places where there are no hotels rest houses are often to be found where a clean room can usually be obtained for 5 s. or so, including supper and breakfast. The traveller has, however, to supply his own bedding”). 127 Reitlinger 1932, p. 132. 128 Byron 1937, p. 78.

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Furthermore, at Khorram Darra (Khamsa district) on the road to Tabriz, an Armenian also had converted a caravanserai into a garage. In the second court were small rooms for drivers or passengers, while up a steep stairs, was the principal guest room. It stood on the flat mud roof like a box, and was the ‘upper chamber,’ only used when distin- guished guests stayed at the garage ... [It was] a small room, fourteen feet by ten perhaps, with three tables and two chairs. The two larger tables, which were oblong, about seven feet long by four wide, turned out to be beds, but all that distinguished them from a table was that there was a small rail four inches high at one end. They were very clean and I a not sure that they had ever been slept on before. The ladies of the proprietor’s establishment, wife and daughters we supposed, brought up new-looking cotton quilts, blankets and pillows, to make the beds into a sort of divan. They also produced rugs, a large brass samovar, basin and oil lamp ... There were four windows to this tiny place, as well as a glass-panelled door, and over none of them was there the vestige of a curtain, so we pinned up some towels that we had brought with us.129 Next came Miy na, where one could overnight in an Armenian garage, while at Karacham n, also on the road to Tabriz, there was an Armenian garage, which according to Reitlinger, was “of greater dinginess than the ordinary, which calls itself Hotel Demavend, and displays a painting of the mountain.”130 Miss Alexander slept in this ‘motel’ just after its conversion and she wrote that in a small village of Karachman, another caravanserai had just been converted into a garage by an Armenian. It had “a room that was cleanly whitewashed, which had two table-like beds, a small table and a couple of chairs. A large brass samovar and basin were also provided.”131 In Shiraz, Miss Miller spent the night at a hotel that “was the quaintest caravanserai we have visited. … The ground floor was a sort of court round which the hotel was built. There was a garage for motor-cars and a place for horses, riding-camels and riding-mules belonging to the guests. The accommodation for humans was on the upper floor. ... Curtains of light material at the doors afforded the only privacy we enjoyed. The art of knocking at a door before entering had not yet been acquired by the hotel staff. ... A water-boy placed a goatskin of fresh water at each door.”132

129 Alexander 1934, p. 130. 130 Reitlinger 1932, pp. 180-181. 131 Alexander 1934, p. 136. 132 Miller 1934, p. 193.

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WHO USED HOTELS? According to Reitlinger, Iranians used traditional form of lodgings such as caravanserais and khans, while “government officials and wealthy travellers claim the hospitality of private houses. The hotels, owned by Armenians and Greeks, are used only by foreigners and the Christian business community.”133 However, he was mistaken as the above descrip- tions by various other European travellers show. Certainly, initially foreigners may have been the main patrons of European-owned hotels, but this had changed by the 1930s. Not only were there more Iranian-owned hotels, but the Iranian elite also made more use of them than before. Apart from greater mobility, due to the increased use of motor vehicles over increasingly better and more roads, there were several reasons for this.

Fig. 9: The new hotel in R msar (after Jaroljmek 1951, p. 209).

As noted above, some of these hotels were not only used as lodgings, but also to have wedding and other parties. In particular the Grand Hotel in Tehran played an important role in the cultural life of Tehran, because its main hall was regularly used to stage numerous theatrical performances.134 The same held true for other hotels such as in 1935, Hotel Iran (Tehran/Tajrish) and Hotel d’Amérique and Hotel Jahan (Isfahan).135 Furthermore, as noted above, people came to some of these hotels to meet

133 Reitlinger 1932, p, 51. 134 Floor 2008 for a discussion. 135 Mir Ans ri 1381, II, p. 149; Government of Iran 1964, I, pp. 923-924; Kush n 1379, p. 113 (Jahn Hotel in Isfahan).

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with other people, drink at the bar, listen to the radio and/or gramophone, and/or enjoy the entertainment (dancing, singing, etc.). As a result, the government of Iran, as part of its modernizing policy, in the mid-1930s started its own program of building modern hotels such as the Darband Hotel (Tehran) and in 1937 the new and up-to-date hotels at R msar and Nima-ye K ra-ye Kal rdasht at Ch lus (rooms about 100 riyls per day), while a similar hotel was opened in 1938 in B bol Sar.136

DISCUSSION Iranian travellers who for centuries spent the night usually in caravan- serais, as of the early 1800s also were able to use the chpr-khna or post-horse relay houses. As of the mid-1870s, mehmn-khnas or guest- houses were added to this menu. These guest-houses initially were only built as roadside establishments, hence some Europeans called them chpr-khna or caravanserai. As the mehmn-khna offered the same basic accommodation and services as second and lower-class hotels in Europe this institution may be considered to be the first hotels in Iran. Therefore, it is not a surprise that the same term also was used to refer to hotels in Iranian cities, whose number increased over time (see Table 1). However, Europeans did not consider the mehmn-khna a hotel, at best they dubbed it a hostelry, an inn, or a roadhouse. Europeans travellers, accustomed as they mostly were to first-class hotels in Europe, initially only considered lodgings owned and managed by Europeans or Iranian Christians in Iran as hotels, be it that they had critical remarks about some of them as well. The main reason for these sometimes fussy and discerning observations was the European state-of-mind that expected certain stan- dards to be met, such as cleanliness, patron-oriented service, water, and privacy, in short comfort. Having recently emerged from a long history of a life in Europe that was characterized by lack of hygiene and cleanliness, Europeans set high store by this commodity, which they found sorely lacking in Iranian hotels. There was a general complaint about dirty bed linen and towels, which often still bore the marks of the use by previous occupants of the same room. Also, the rooms and its furniture generally were dirty and grimy, the result of a general lack of a sense of hygiene among the Iranian public in general. In 1934, when Mrs. Merrit-Hawkes was staying in Hotel Sa‘di in Shiraz, she noted that the hotel employed two female servants, who did the work that the male ones did not do. The two women had no idea about hygiene or when asked how to clean windows, because they spit on a dirty

136 Gray 1938, p. ix; [http://iranshahrpedia.ir/fa/indexer#limit:50|page:1|infix: |]. For a photo of the hotel at R msar, see Jaroljmek 1955, p. 209.

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rag rather than using a clean cloth and water.137 Often water was not available in the rooms. Reitlinger was baffled by this and suggested the following reason for this. Because non-Moslem Iranians could not enter the bathhouses they had learned to do without. “The traveller in Persia may, therefore, find himself lodged in a room where there is a tooth-brush, a sponge, and three kinds of soap, but no way of getting water.”138 His explanation, of course, is erroneous, but not his frustration as one would expect water when soap etc. are made available. It is also clear that in most case water was either in the room, by whatever primitive mechanism, or it would be made available, when you asked for it or even unasked. Lack of privacy was also a phenomenon that baffled and bothered European travellers, who did not understand why any person, authorized or not, could just walk in your room without knocking. This feeling was reinforced by the fact that doors had no locks, or if they did had no key, while when the rooms had windows that curtains might be missing.139 European travellers also were bothered by the behaviour of the hotel servants, who were sometimes quite impolite and pushy in the manner in which they asked to be remunerated for their services. In Qom, Mrs. Merrit-Hawkes even had to call the police to be rid of their intrusive behaviour.140 Reitlinger generalized this feeling when he wrote that “An equal discomfort is the blousy, untrained hotel servant, in rags and supported by the charity of guests. The travellers will have to put up with greasy thumbs on his plate and glass.”141 The greasy thumb was a symbol for the food that was often served at the European-type hotels. Most travellers very much liked Iranian food, which, more often than not was not served in many of these hotels. Reitlinger wrote that “the food, a kind of Western fare is lamentable. Instead of the savoury pilavs and kibabs of the country, a hunk of boiled goat and some half raw spinach stalks impersonate the roast beef of England; there is also that general evil of the Near East, a far-reaching result of the British occupation of India–caramel custard.”142 Henry Filmer held the same opinion. When he was staying in Hotel d’Amerique in Sol n b d, no kebabs were available, “only very bad cutlets swimming in grease,” but there was plenty of Iranian wine. He was more pleased with his stay in the hotel in Borujerd that served excellent kebabs.143

137 Merrit-Hawkes 1935, p. 51. 138 Reitlinger 1932, pp. 50-51. 139 Reitlinger 1932, p. 52; Miller 1934, p. 193. 140 Merrit-Hawkes 1934, p. 253 141 Reitlinger 1932, p. 52. 142 Reitlinger 1932, p. 53 (with photo). 143 Filmer 1936, pp. 35, 42.

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Mrs. Merrit-Hawkes was amused by the fact that “People had meals in their rooms, in the passages, on the verandah, in the garden.”144 Despite all these critical and amusing, or should I say bemusing, obser- vations European travellers had a good time in Iran and often were only too glad to find a room in a hotel after a long and uncomfortable journey. Their critical observations are partly due to being disappointed in not getting the comfort they expected as well as the fact that they had to fill their pages with interesting and amusing, to their readers that it, anecdotes, as they had to sell their books after all. They also were free with their praise when they really enjoyed the comfort and service of a hotel such as that of Hotel de France in Hamadan. Miss Alexander, who was a very observant and critical commentator said it best when, looking back at her travels through Iran, she wrote that the European traveller needed “a good stock of patience, a fine sense of humour, and the wish to find out things for one self... The Persian is a most obliging person, especially to the traveller, ready to fall in with his fancies, even though they naturally seem strange to him.”145

Willem FLOOR 6060 California Circle, Appt. 308 Rockville, MD 20852 U.S.A.

[email protected]

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