LOCATION 1: Tbilisi City Assembly building on Liberty Square

What you see now looks a lot like a modern European city. The central roundabout has a 40-meter column crowned by St.George the dragon slayer, in action. But only a couple of centuries ago this was a gardened and unpopulated area outside the main city walls.

The development of the square began in the 1800s. The very first prominent building here was built in 1851 – Tbilisi Opera house. 23 years later it was almost completely destroyed by a fire. Currently there are only two thing that left now from that famed house.

Some say that back then "they" adorned the entrance to the Opera, and lit the path leading inside, with lamps attached to their tops.

What are "they"?

tap on the word HINT below if you struggle with the answer

LOCATION 2: Beginning of Tabidze street

Make your way to Galaktion Tabidze street to discover the poshest district of 19^th century Tbilisi. This street, a lot like today, was one of the busiest in the area, full of small shops, cafes and workshops.

One of the trade establishments located on this street was “the Caucasian Partnership in Trade of Pharmaceutical goods” (CPTPG). It had stained glass windows from the floor to the ceiling. The building was owned by then famous merchant Yakov Gurgenov (сyrillic transcription: Яков Гургенов).

Locate this building’s current address

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LOCATION 3: Galaktion Tabidze street

Continue up Tabidze street and check out fascinating examples of classic architectural pieces along your way.

A very special house is located at 3/5 Tabidze str. This house was built in 1913 and was the largest building in the area. In addition to grand rented apartments, many different commercial enterprises of the time were located here – shops, newspaper offices, medical surgery, and a cozy café called “Cup of tea”. Some sources say that a company named Steamship Partnership “Caucasus and Mercury” had their office here too.

This house belonged to one of the richest men in the whole of the Russian Empire, Alexander Mantashev. An oil tycoon and philanthropist, he commissioned this building to stand out against the architectural backdrop of Sololaki. The architect handled the task admirably. Because of its size and form, locals had their own name for this building…

How did they call it?

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LOCATION 4: Giorgi Leonidze street

Now return back down Tabidze Street towards Liberty square and turn left onto Leonidze Street. Its former name was Sololaki, meaning that this once was the main road into the district.

Just like today, this street was a very busy one, with numerous trade shops, pharmacies, artisan workshops and shoemaker corners, etc. There was even a large bank called Tiflis Mutual Credit Society.

The former address of the Bank’s building (that stands out by its fascinating “modern” design style and the Atlases holding the sky above the entrance) was 7, Sololaki street. But after numerous renovations and changes over time, the current address of the house has been changed.

Locate the building’s current street number

LOCATION 5: Giorgi Leonidze street

Continue your journey up Leonidze Street. Now it’s almost completely tree-lined, providing shade from the sun and shelter from the rain. Years ago this wasn’t the case. It was nicknamed “Warm Street”, as it was sunny throughout the day.

Stop at 8, Leonidze Street. You may want to observe it from the opposite side of the road. The beautiful three-storey building was built in 1902 by the German-Tbilisian pharmacist Ferdinand Otten to accommodate his large family, a laboratory and his own pharmacy. “Otten’s Pharmacy” was famous throughout Tbilisi, and the name continued to be used among locals for many years after his death in 1930.

The building to this day remains a pharmacy and is now a branch of the GPC chain. The interior has undergone dramatic changes though. No longer can you admire the fresco paintings on the walls and ceiling nor enjoy the huge thermometer or listen to the chiming of an old clock. But there are still antique wardrobes with original patterns, drawers with beautiful handles and counters that retain the memory of their first owner. And some old pictures to evoke the past.

What word was used on an outside signboard of the “Otten’s pharmacy”?

tap on the word HINT below if you struggle with the answer

LOCATION 6: Geronti Kikodze street

Now move further up the road and turn left onto Kikodze Street. Walk along the right-hand side (for better views). The architectural styles on this street are extremely diverse. And so are the stories.

In 1908 one of the most prominent inhabitants of this street (his official title was “Honorary Citizen”) and successful merchant was I. Kharazov. His family faced an extraordinary drama. Their son was kidnapped by the area's chief detective of the gendarmerie and several other accomplices. They returned the teenager for a 17,000-ruble ransom. Later the gang was exposed and exiled from the territory of Tiflis province.

Kharazov’s house design is still one of the most sophisticated in Sololaki. From 1915 the building accommodated a men’s gymnasium. After 1923 it became an Evening School of Soviet Working Youth. Today it is a school.

Find the house and enter the School number

LOCATION 7: At 6, Kikodze street

Keep walking along Kikodze Street. By now your eyes are already getting used to all the century-old architecture, and it’s very easy to miss one extraordinary house at Number 6. At a distance you will realize that this is not simply a house, but rather a mansion. This amazing piece of urban design represented a mix of Western European and Eastern architectural popular elements of that time.

It was also a unique house in terms of contemporary engineering solutions. For example, some sources say that it was the very first residential building in Tbilisi with a built-in heating system (original steam holes under first floor windows are still operational). And for sure it was the only house that had sliding wooden blinds on each window, those days very much trending in Europe. Most of them are still present.

The house belonged to local magistrate Markoz Dolukhanov. Rumour has it that he ordered a design that would reflect his interest in all 4 cardinal points of the world. Architects came up with a symbolic compass pointing in four directions.

Name that design element

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LOCATION 8: At 9, Kikodze street

Kikodze Street is full of riddles. And so is our journey 🙂

Move further up the street and stop at Number 9

You may enter the main hallway through the antique door. A wrought-iron staircase, decorated in the Baroque and Renaissance style with floral designs, has become the adornment of the building’s lobby.

This is by far the most mysterious building in the area. There is no information whatsoever about who built this house and who first lived here. The only documented fact is that this building was rented by the Consulate of Estonia, during the short period of time that Georgia was independent from the Russian Empire but had not yet fallen to the Red Army (1918 till 1921).

There is also a popular story among local guides that this 1890 building was once a Gentlemen’s Club of late 19^th century Tbilisi. And although there are no records to prove it, many would show an unusual decorative element on the entrance door’s metallic grille. Supposedly it points to the purpose of the building – a Gentlemen’s Club!

Name that element

tap on the word HINT if you struggle with the answer

LOCATION 9: At 11, Kikodze street

Congratulations! You’re half-way through!

A few metres along at 11 Kikodze Street, there is a house famously known as the “Italian Villa”. for its stunning stone gallery and cozy front courtyard. During the early Soviet period it was known as the “House of the Party Elite”, because of its inhabitants.

You can’t miss this house. It is too important for this, too arrogant, too complex. Everything is excessive about this building, exaggerated and over the top. Nothing is half-hearted. The balcony, is luxurious and arched. The exterior decoration, is rich and almost royal. There is even a terrifying lion bas-relief above the main door.

A true architectural diamond of the area, this Art Nouveau house was built in 1914 for the merchant Arkadiy Saponyants who was a fabrics manufacturer. Armenian in origin, Saponyants decided to alter, or rather translate his surname into Russian. “Sapon” in Armenian is – soap. And the Russian translation became his official name, which he proudly immortalized on the exterior of the building with new initials.

Find and enter them in

LOCATION 10: At 27, Lado Asatiani street

Let’s keep going!

Continue to the end of the street, and turn left onto Lado Asatiani Street. This road was here long before Sololaki was built and served as the main transport route from the uphill village of Kodjori to Tbilisi. Villagers would bring their produce to sell at the local bazaar.

Keep to the right side while walking down this street for a better view of the house located on the opposite side at Number 27. This oriental-style mansion of the oil industrialist Nikolai Kalantarov was built in 1908.

Nevertheless, can you guess what current Tbilisi theater is mentioned in the legend?

LOCATION 11: Still on Lado Asatiani street

Before we continue our journey down Machabeli Street, there is one task left on Asatiani for you to complete. It’s relatively easy, so won’t take a lot of time 🙂

110 years ago, one of the houses opposite Kalantarov’s mansion belonged to one of the famous medical doctors of Tiflis. His name was Alexander Magikyan. His specialities were gastrointestinal diseases and pediatrics.

Can you locate his house?

tap on the word HINT below if you struggle with the answer

LOCATION 12: Machabeli street

We hope that you’re having fun solving this “Stories of Sololaki” quest tour with us!

Now, make your way down Machabeli Street, and stop at Number 13. An outstanding industrialist, winemaker and philanthropist David Sarajishvili lived here. His brandy, which a Russian Emperor fell in love with and awarded David an Order, is still the most popular and one of the best in Georgia.

The house was built in 1905. The facade is in the Art Nouveau style, which was very fashionable at that time. The interior decoration varies: there are rooms in Baroque, Moorish and Art Nouveau styles. Sarajishvili was a great admirer of art, and kept a large collection of sculpture and paintings. Regular literary evenings were held with writers, poets, artists and musicians.

In 1921, young Georgian writers succeeded in getting the new Soviet authorities to transfer the house into the hands of artists, and here the Writer’s House of Georgia was opened. It still functions today.

The current house address is number 13. But it wasn’t so when the building was built.

What was its original street address number?

LOCATION 13: At 11, Machabeli street

Move further along Machabeli Street. One of the most prominent inhabitants here was Bolshevik and Soviet apparatchik Lavrentiy Beria. Before becoming the longest-living, ruthless and most influential chief of the Soviet secret police (later known as KGB) under Joseph Stalin, Georgian-born Beria served as Chief Secretary of the Communist Party of Georgia.

His office was located inside house Number 11. Today part of it is a residential building, while another part is the office of the National Olympic Committee of Georgia.

Rumor has it that on the day Beria was eventually arrested in Moscow, his local Tbilisi driver drove his official Cadillac inside a Machabeli Street courtyard on the opposite side, and abandoned it. You won’t believe it, but the luxury vehicle is still there.

Locate the car and enter its number plate (digits only) 🙂 

LOCATION 14: Galaktion Tabidze street

Make your way onto Galaktion Tabidze Street again. For this, first turn right from Machabeli onto Lermontov Street. Keep on walking towards hotel IOTA and then turn right onto Tabidze Street.

In July 1889 a group of St. Petersburgh lawyers launched a Life Insurance Society called L’URBAINE, with branches in most major cities of the Russian Empire. Tbilisi was no exception. Their office is located somewhere on this street. It occupied the first floor of a newly built 3-story Art Nouveau style building.

No one can tell now if it was their intention. But it seems a strange coincidence that part of the building’s façade (with the Life Insurance company inside) was decorated with something that looks very much like the opposite to life – an urn for ashes. Or maybe the owner of the house, attorney at law Arshak Kusikov, just liked playing chess, and this is simply a chess pawn… Why not a chess queen then? ☺ This is just one of the many unanswered questions in the history of Sololaki.

Unlike it, our next question can easily be answered.

Locate this houses' address

LOCATION 15: At 24, Tabidze street

Continue walking up Tabidze Street. We’re approaching an urban story of an architectural “battle” between two Tbilisians of that time. Pay close attention to two houses facing each other under numbers 23 and 24.

The dispute was about who had the most beautiful and fashionable home. It was clear then, and it is now, that number 24 won the contest. Fascinating mascarons on the facade, a frieze and a graceful balcony on the corner left the competition standing.

Look how beautiful this house is!

Number 23 had nothing left but to humor his neighbor by saying that he had the better view from his window - looking onto the better house! ☺.  And, in order to anchor this funny fact, he added a decorative element onto his own house, mocking his competitor.

What is that element?

tap HINT below if you struggle with the answer

LOCATION 16: At 30, Lado Asatiani street

And now we’re back again onto Asatiani Street.

On the opposite side, there is another architectural gem of Sololaki - a three-story mansion of the famous German Siemens family. This house appeared on 30, Asatiani Street at a time when these famous industrialists were laying telegraph lines from London to Calcutta, through the Caucasus.

All five brothers (including Werner, the founder of the SIEMENS brand) came to Georgia at different times, and the two younger ones, Walter and Otto, lived in Tbilisi until the end of their days. In his memoirs, Werner Siemens describes Tbilisi with German precision and laconicism: “Tiflis, in fact, consists of two cities: upper European and lower Asian, and both are sharply demarcated from each other. European Tiflis proudly calls itself the Asian Paris, or at least claims this title.”

Not everyone knows that initially world-famous SIEMENS was created as a partnership of two progressive engineers. And hence the title of the company included two names instead of one. And while living and operating in Georgia the company was known under its initial name.

Can you find an indication of the second name in the company’s title? Type it in.

tap HINT if you struggle with the answer

LOCATION 17: At 28, Lado Asatiani street

And over to our last challenge on this Quest! You're doing a great job! 🙂 

This building on 28, Asatiani street was built in Neo Gothic style, very rare even for Tbilisi of that time, in 1905. Prominent industrialist, wine, champaign and cognac producer Maxim Ananov commissioned this building and then gave it for free to the 3^rd Women’s Gymnasium.

Over time, the women boarding house turned into an ordinary school. It is almost impossible to walk past the building without noticing it.

If you walk behind the school from its left side you may see a small 2-story house made of the same red brick, styled in the same fashion, and even having the same street number address. It turns out that this miniature building used to form a common educational complex together with the main building. Gymnasium’s academic staff used to reside here. Today it’s just a residential building with no connection to the current school.

Inspired by the world-famous fiction, local people now a have a funny nickname for the School's building, based on both its appearance and the function.

What do you think it is?