The Novaya (“New”) рotel was located near the Gagripsh restaurant—one of the first buildings in the city of Gagra.
It was called “Novaya” in contrast to the nearby Vremennaya (“Temporary”) рotel, which had been built two years earlier.
Novaya hotel is notable for being the first structure in Gagra constructed from concrete.
The building’s design was the work of Alexander Yakovlevich Dubov (1877–1964), one of the few Russian architects who had mastered concrete construction technology. The construction, also overseen by Dubov, began in the second half of 1903.
By early 1905, all six floors of the Novaya Hotel had been completed, and 37 rooms were already furnished and ready for occupancy.
The rooms were equipped with comfortable and elegant furniture from well-known European manufacturers.
Each room had a balcony and was fitted with a telephone.
From the fifth floor, there was access to a vast open veranda built above the fourth-floor rooms.
The veranda was surrounded by tall railings and decorated with clusters of plants, among which tables with Chinese umbrellas were arranged.
Two roads led to the hotel, a lower one to the first floor and an upper one to the fifth.