Rasoulian House of Yazd

There are beautiful historical buildings in every nook and corner of Yazd City. These buildings make visiting Yazd very enjoyable and memorable. Rasoulian House of Yazd is one of these historical buildings the longevity of which is about 100 years. The reason for naming this work as Rasoulian House is that it belonged to a person by the name of Haj Mirza Kazem Rasoulian. The architect of this house was Mohammad Hossein Mohammad Rahim.

Features of Rasoulian House of Yazd

This house was built in the year 1904 AD when Iran was involved in important political developments, which ultimately led to the change of the ruling dynasty. Although this house was originally a residential place, it is presently used as the building of the Faculty of Art and Architecture of Yazd University and, therefore, this faculty is referred to as one of the most beautiful faculties of Iranian universities.

One of the important points about Rasoulian House of Yazd is the location of the tomb of Mohammad Karim Pirnia, the father of traditional Iranian architecture, in this building. Pirnia passed away in 1997 AD and was buried in this house according to his will. Pirnia, who was born in 1920 AD, had, during his lifetime done a lot of research in the field of traditional Iranian architecture and helped to familiarize everyone with this original art by writing and publishing many articles about it.

Architecture of Rasoulian House

Like many other Iranian mansions, this house includes two different parts of inner and outer ones. The outer part consists of a pond, a hall, a cellar, a windcatcher, and a big sash room with colorful windows. The inner part which was the private section of the house includes three and five-door rooms (called Sedari and Panjdari in Persian), a windcatcher, a room with sash windows, a hall, a pavilion, and a big courtyard with a big pool in the middle. The house also had a bathhouse that was located in between the two parts of the building.

The courtyard of the inner part of the house, which has a beautiful pool surrounded by beautiful trees was used to hold the prayer ceremonies for Imam Hossein (AS), the third Imam of the Shiites. Around this courtyard, the rooms of the mansion are located, all of which, except for the southwest rooms, are built on the same floor. This courtyard is surrounded by many rooms all of which, except for the southwest rooms, are built on one floor.

There is a wide porch in the southwest of the yard and there is a low-height porch in the northeast of the courtyard the awning of which prevents direct sunlight from entering the rooms. In fact, each of the parts in the main courtyard was used according to the direction of placement and the amount of sunlight in every season of the year. The southern part of the courtyard was used in winter, the northern part in summer, and other parts in autumn and spring.

The five-door room (Panjdari) is located between two other rooms and is connected to other rooms through a corridor. The windcatcher of the mansion is placed on top of a room in the southeast of the complex. This room is known as Hozkhaneh (lit. pond room) The location of the windcatcher on the top of this room would allow the air to circulate well in the hot summer days and make the room cooler than other parts of the house.

Since warm air is less dense, it always moves up and the basement is usually cooler than other parts of the house. Therefore, the basements of old houses were a place to store and keep foodstuff. The basement of Rasoulian House was not only a place to store foodstuff, but it was also a place for the family to rest on hot summer days.

Rasoulian House of Yazd was inscribed on the list of Iran’s national cultural heritage in the year 1997 AD.

There are beautiful historical buildings in every nook and corner of Yazd City. These buildings make visiting Yazd very enjoyable and memorable. Rasoulian House of Yazd is one of these historical buildings the longevity of which is about 100 years.