Attempts to make a junction between identity and modernity in the 19th-century architecture of Iran have left this question unanswered: Is “Westernization” the sole narration of modernization in the architecture of Iran?? A review of primary sources and architectural evidence of the Qajar era (1789-1925) proves otherwise: it was shaped by alternative narratives in defining modernization far from those prevalent in the West. To assert this claim, the research investigates the 19th-century architecture of Azerbaijan, where the Qajar ruler invested abundantly in modernizing the built environment through architecture. The general approach of this research to theory development is an abductive analysis of data with a bottom-up and iterative, interactive, and comparative approach to create a theory. The Qualitative-Quantitative mixed methodology is used for data gathering and analysis. In the article’s first part, the Russo-Persian War is considered the most important factor in arousing the need to start the process of modernity in Iranian architecture. The second part examines important military, administrative, and residential buildings. It is demonstrated that Iranian architecture of the time was influenced by a suite of complete yet interrelated factors from both within and outside. In the end, the article suggests an alternative model for defining modernity in light of Iranian early modern architecture.