Telegraph Hotel

On Rustaveli Avenue in the middle of Tbilisi stands a Soviet-era post and telegraph office, now recast as the Telegraph Hotel. Built in the 1970s from volcanic Bolnisi tuff, the place carried the weight of its time — civic, heavy, oppressive even. The severity still sits in its bones. When Neri&Hu were asked to give it new life, they opted to keep that weight instead, cutting little fractures that made it feel lighter, letting the city back in: openings at street level, a courtyard at the center, a place for community. The new building is a space for connection. Restaurants, lounges, and a bar surround the courtyard. The materials remain blunt and textured: board-formed concrete, dark timber, and steel. Then a flash of marble or brass interrupts, a reminder that warmth can live inside austerity. It’s new charter is simple enough: once a place for messages, now a place for connection. Courtyard dinners, late drinks, and community jazz nights hit differently echoed off Soviet stone. And in a world of interchangeable luxury hotels, Telegraph still feels anchored to Tbilisi, carrying the weight of its history and turning it into something the city can gather around again.