Story highlights The author writes about her ties to the doomed Plasco building, which her grandfather built

She writes that her grandfather, who grew up poor in Tehran's Jewish ghetto, wanted to modernize Iran

Shahrzad Elghanayan, a freelance news photo editor, is writing a book about her grandfather, Habib Elghanian, who built the Plasco building. The views expressed are her own.

(CNN) The mission to put out the fire that engulfed the iconic Plasco building in central Tehran ended in the sudden collapse of the 17-story structure and the deaths of more than 20 firefighters. The towering inferno of death and destruction shocked and saddened Iranians and exiles around the world.

Watching the scene unfold on television last Thursday made my heart sink. For along with the tragic loss of life, a part of Iran's history was lost, and so was a part of my very own history.

The Plasco was built by my grandfather, Habib Elghanian, and his brothers to become, upon completion in 1962, Tehran's first high-rise on the capital's skyline. The brothers named the building after their pioneering plastics manufacturing company, PlascoKar.

The building was as famous as, say, the Chrysler and Empire State buildings but more analogous to New York's earliest skyscraper, the Woolworth Building.

Shortly after Plasco was finished, a Shiite cleric named Mahmoud Taleghani protested over the idea that a Jewish family is the owner of Iran's tallest building.

The entrepreneurial brothers had built the commercial high-rise on land near Tehran's bazaar and fitted it with a one-of-a-kind shopping mall and commercial office space. Visitors would go to the rooftop of the 17-story building and enjoy 360-degree breathtaking view of Tehran.

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