In the mid-1970s, Soviet authorities decided to build youth centers in the capitals of all the Soviet republics. The aim of these centers, known as Youth Palaces, was to create a platform that would bring together young people to socialize, make connections and have their own space for entertainment and cultural development. The important task of creating Yerevan’s Youth Palace, also known as Kukuruznik, was entrusted to architects Artur Tarkhanyan, Hrach Poghosyan and Spartak Khachikyan. This wasn’t their first collaborative project. The trio had worked on numerous projects together before and would embark on more afterward, composing Yerevan’s architectural soundscape with buildings like the Zvartnots International Airport, Rossiya Cinema (Ayrarat) and many more.

“At that time, there were no means to show the sketch size of the Youth Palace, so we lined up the caps of food cans and built the other halls out of paper, and showed the photo to the people who were supposed to approve it. These were happy days. Artur Tarkhanyan and Spartak Khachikyan were among our greatest architects. We lived like a family, like brothers. That [architecture] was our whole life,” recalls Hrach Poghosyan.

The initial plan of the complex included a hotel, night club, restaurant and swimming pool. Later, they built a sports area, a registrar for civil marriages (known as the Chamber of Solemn Registration of Marriage) and two concert halls with 1000 and 300 seats each. The restaurant on the top floor was one of the main attractions of the Palace, as its floor rotated allowing people to enjoy a 360 degree view of the city. The construction budget was provided by Moscow and all spending was carefully monitored. According to Poghosyan, the final budget was 9.5 million rubles (approximately $5 million today).

The Youth Palace opened its doors in 1979 and had all its amenities functioning by the mid-1980s. There were long lines of people at the entrance. Some would be dancing in the night club, some would be on their first date, while a couple would be getting married at the chamber of marriage. For almost a decade, the Youth Palace was the epicenter, the beating heart of Yerevan.

Following the Spitak earthquake of 1988 and Baku pogroms of 1990, for several years, the Youth Palace also served as a shelter for the victims of the earthquake as well as the Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan. What was once a hub for cultural activities and entertainment came to be associated with abandonment and loss. Eventually, in 2004, the Youth Palace was sold to Eduard Avetisyan, the head of Avangard Motors LLC. Despite Poghosyan’s attempts to preserve the building, Yerevan City Hall gave permission to demolish it on the grounds that the building wasn’t safe or functional anymore. Avetisyan justified the decision by claiming that the quality of the building wasn’t adequate and “the hotel rooms couldn’t meet modern standards.” He added, “If it was a historic building built 600 years ago, I would definitely keep it, but we are talking about a building built in the 70s.”