In Tbilisi, the organization Tpilisis Hamkari (Tbilisi Guild) actively campaigned to save the building known as Imeli, constructed in 1938 on Rustaveli Avenue. The building’s architect was Alexey Shchusev, and it originally housed the Tbilisi branch of the Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute—its name Imeli comes from the Russian abbreviation (Институт Маркса, Энгельса, Ленина). Over the years, the ownership and functions of the building changed several times. Between 1992 and 1995, it housed the Parliament of Georgia; later, the Constitutional Court and then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The building was listed as a cultural heritage monument in 1997 but was removed from the list in 2007 and sold a week later to Capital Invest.

With permission from Tbilisi City Hall, construction of a 34-story building began behind Imeli in 2011. The project was completed in 2016 and became the Biltmore Tbilisi Hotel.

The first reports of public dissatisfaction appeared in October 2009. As Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported on October 3, “the architectural community became alarmed over the fate of the iconic Imeli building after the investor began demolishing its right wing. The professional outcry soon turned into a street protest.”

On March 31, 2010, a protest organized by Tpilisis Hamkari was held in front of the Imeli building. Participants formed a human chain and demanded that the Ministry of Culture restore the building’s status as a cultural heritage monument. Another rally took place on August 19, 2011, after activists learned that demolition work was being planned. Tsira Elisashvili, one of the leaders of Tpilisis Hamkari, recalled that Imeli’s architect was the same person who designed the mausoleum for the Soviet leader in Moscow: “He was a world-class architect whose works of the 19th and 20th centuries met modern standards and stood the test of time.”

Alexander Elisashvili, head of Tpilisis Hamkari, stated during the August 28 protest: “If we lived in a rule-of-law state, several officials would already be in prison for allowing the building to reach this condition. They removed the roof, cut a hole between the floors to let water seep in, and even cut the water pipes. Construction workers told us that if this building hadn’t been built during Beria’s time, no structure could have endured such damage.”

According to members of Tpilisis Hamkari, the demolition of Imeli’s left, four-story wing was carried out illegally, and a large part of the remaining roof was also removed.

Protests demanding the preservation of the building continued for years. Eventually, a multi-story complex was constructed behind the historic structure, forming part of the Biltmore Tbilisi Hotel. The original Imeli façade facing Rustaveli Avenue, however, was preserved.