TEHRAN – Kakh-e Morvarid (“Pearl Palace”), once a summer royal residence in Karaj some 30 km westward Tehran, is scheduled to undergo some rehabilitation works, a provincial tourism chief has said. 

A budget of 9 billion rials (about $215,000 at the official rate of 42,000 rials) has been allocated to the project; IRNA quoted Abbas Nuri as saying on Sunday. 

In collaboration with Karaj Municipality, the project will be involving repairing the palace’s dome to prevent it from further damages, the official added. 

Also known as Shams Palace, the monument was constructed from 1966 to 1968 under the administration of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, by American architect William Wesley Peters as a residence for princess Shams Pahlavi, elder sister of Mohammadreza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran.

The expense of building this palace that is located in the popular region of Mehrshahr, which is famous for its pleasant climate, summed up to one million dollars at the time.

The palace covers an area of one hundred and eleven hectares. The structure of the building is made from cement and the sky; it looks like a flounder fish that is holding a pearl. All architectural spaces are built under a spiral roof with various skylights in the shape of pearl beads. In the northern corner of the palace and the outer area of its lake, it has been designed and built in the shape of flounder fins. 

The small lake of the palace surrounds the structure from three sides. The lake has been built deep enough for boating. The palace includes various spaces such as halls, offices, movie theater, pool, snooker club, rare bird sanctuary, and bedrooms. One of the most important parts of the palace is the Sadaf (oyster) room, which has various decorations and is made in a spiral shape.

The historical place was inscribed on the National Heritage list in 2002.

ABU/AFM