Origins of the emergence of new commercial spaces in the first Pahlavi era Case Study: City of Qom

The history of popular architecture of Iran has rarely been a subject of academic inquiry. During transitional period of modernity (from late Qajar dynasty to the early Pahlavi era) some small commercial complexes emerged in larger cities of Iran that were largely distinct from traditional elements of Bazaars specially Tymchehs, but they were not completely copied from European examples. Here through interpretative-historical research method and based upon original documents and contextual reasoning, the roots of emerging of such mediatory commercial architectural patterns are studied. Three foreign patterns are discussed as model for these commercial examples: Badestens of Ottomans, Russian passages and Parisian arcades. Other than some internal factors are also analyzed and amongst them are demolition of houses for new street, conflicts of Reza Shah with bazaar merchants, the role of travelers to the West, the impact of new architectural technologies and the extension of traditional architectural patterns. The effectiveness of every factor is studied and documented for the examples of the city of Qom.