HISTORICAL BUILDINGS
ALEXANDER SPENDIARYAN’S RESIDENTIAL HOUSE AND HOUSE-MUSEUM
1925-1927
The building is located at the
intersection of Nalbandyan and Tumanyan Streets. The central section of the
residential building is three stories high, while the side wings are two-story
structures. It also has a semi-basement floor. The building’s expressiveness is
emphasized by its concave form, the stairways at the entrances of the central
section, the open balconies of the side sections, and its original white
exterior color (now pink).
During the last years of his
life, the great composer, conductor, teacher, public figure, People’s Artist of
the Armenian SSR, and classic of Armenian music, Alexander Spendiaryan
(1871–1928), lived on the second floor of the three-story section of the building.
On November 25, 1967, a
house-museum was opened in the building. The exhibition presents Spendiaryan’s
life and creative work, as well as his connections with figures of Armenian
literature and art, the world-renowned Armenian marine painter Hovhannes Aivazovsky,
Russian writer Maxim Gorky, and composers Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Alexander
Glazunov, and Anatoly Lyadov.
Among the exhibits are his
violin, conducting baton, manuscripts of musical works, photographs, documents
related to the formation of the Armenian Symphony Orchestra, and numerous
personal belongings.
The permanent exhibition also
includes the unique musical instrument “Spendiarophone,” the only one of its
kind in the world in both form and sound. It was created in 1905 according to
Spendiaryan’s concept for the symphonic composition The Three Palms.
A memorial plaque dedicated to
Al. Spendiaryan is mounted on the building’s wall (architect: Oleg Shokaryov),
and a granite memorial monument stands in front of the building (1979,
architect: Stepan Kyurkchyan, sculptor: David Babayan “Yerevantsi”).
