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 98851_Studia Iranica_2015_2.indd 277 9/03/16 07:57 278 W. F L O O R StIr 44, 2015 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. 98851_Studia Iranica_2015_2.indd 278 9/03/16 07:58 H O T E L S I N I R A N 279 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. 98851_Studia Iranica_2015_2.indd 279 9/03/16 07:58 280 W. F L O O R StIr 44, 2015 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.