Up in the air: 100-year-old Tbilisi building saved from destruction

A unique 100-year-old building in Georgia's capital Tbilisi has been saved and is set for repair after an unprecedented technical feat by a Dutch development company saw the historic house hoisted 3.4m above ground for restoration works.

The house at 18 Ialbuzi St near Old Town suffered years of neglect and over time sank into the ground due to lack of maintenance before its plight caught the attention of SOCAR Energy Georgia - a company with its head office next to the decaying site.

In an effort to preserve and reconstruct the building, Dutch experts from Bresser Eurasia were invited to assess and carry out necessary engineering works. The company, known for its expertise to relocate, jack and restructure of foundations, gained praise after it successfully relocated a historical building in Baku, Azerbaijan in April.

The Tbilisi building will be renovated while its future is determined by a special group of experts.

Technical works at the Tbilisi site saw the historic house lifted 3.4m onto pylons – the first such case for urban development projects across Europe - to make it level with the adjacent highway.

Tbilisi City Assembly member Alexander Elisashvili commended the unique technical achievement on social media on Tuesday:

A remarkable fact! Well done to SOCAR and the development company Confidence Group for preserving Tbilisi's historical building.”

The future of the house following its renovation is still to be determined however Minister of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia Mikheil Giorgadze said the building would be granted the formal status of cultural legacy monument.

Giorgadze added a special group of architects and restoration experts were working to develop a project regarding the building’s future fate.

The Ministry and the National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation were very active in the reconstruction project, with the two state organisations rescinding a 2014 permit for removal of the historical house before cooperating with SOCAR to save the house.

Built by Polish architect Aleksander Szymkiewicz somewhere between 1900 and 1905, the house initially served as a residence of wealthy early 20th Century Tbilisi trader Mikheil Tamamshev.

Szymkiewicz had close professional and personal ties with Georgia; he worked in Tbilisi during the late 19th Century to create a number of important buildings including the Supreme Court of Georgia, Shota Rustaveli State Academic Theatre and the iconic Soviet-era Funicular on the city's hills.

The Polish architect died in Tbilisi in 1907 and is buried in Georgia's capital.