Lost in Plovdiv

The idea for this article arose somewhat as an anecdote, after the invitation to a wedding under the hills explicitly stated that the guests gather in front of the House of the Newlyweds. Then one of the guests from another city asked in amazement why everyone needed to gather in the apartment, and we, Plovdiv residents, had to explain that here a large part of the public buildings have remained with their names from earlier times. Here are some of the more famous ones that we simply call House of...

Boris Hristov House of Culture

It was built in the late 1950s as the Labor House of the General Trade Union and became known as the Stefan Kiradzhiev Trade Union House. After 1989, it was popularly known as the Syndicate House. In 1998, by decision of the Council of Ministers, the building was given to the syndicates, who later provided it for use by the municipality for cultural activities.

Since 2011, it has been named after the great opera singer Boris Hristov, and in 2013 it was officially opened by the then mayor under the hills after extensive renovation. Today, a number of theater and opera productions and various cultural and social events take place here.

House of Science and Technology

The building was erected to house the Scientific and Technical Unions during Socialism. It was built in the mid-1980s and is interesting with its visible concrete columns and beams that support the wide terraces. In the 1990s, Lucky Cinema was housed there, which later closed, and a few years ago, the building housed the only art cinema in Plovdiv, LUCKY House of cinema. Next door in the building is Club Fargo, which also hosts many cinema events, and on the ground floor is the Bee Bop Café, where many quality blues, jazz and other concerts take place, as well as various theater productions.

House of the Newlyweds

By www.svatbaiukrasa.com - www.svatbaiukrasa.com, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

The House of the Newlyweds was built in 1962 by order of the municipality. The building was designed by the architects Matei Mateev and Dimka Taneva.

The building is two stories high, with beautiful large windows with painted ornaments on them, metal windows, marble floor and stairs, brass railing and a large lobby. On the second floor is the ritual hall, a place for congratulations, a room for the newlyweds and administrative premises.

On the first floor, there is the Wedding Registration Office, a shop for wedding accessories. Civil marriages, child namings, golden and silver weddings take place here and the archive for the last 100 years of marriages under the hill is also located here.

Party House

The Party House is one of the most visible buildings in Plovdiv. The tall building dominates the landscape in the central part of the city, where most neighboring buildings are lower. In addition, it blocks the view from the main pedestrian street to the Rhodopes.

The archives say that it was designed in 1965-1966 in the Planning Organization of the city of Plovdiv by the famous Bulgarian architects Vladimir Rangelov, Lubomir Bonev, Milcho Sapundzhiev, Georgi Karayanev, Kolyu Kolev.

Prof. Stancho Belkovski was a consultant. Designers of the structures were the engineers Lyuben Sofkarov who designed the high body and Drago Alexiev who designed the low body. The Mother Party House was commissioned in April 1969.

On the 9th floor, the steps of the first secretaries of the District Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party still echo - Comrade Drazha Valcheva, Comrade Ivan Panev and Comrade Pantelei Patchov. Urban legends say that on this level they enjoyed a huge study, with a meeting room and a private recreation room.

At the moment, the 12-storey building is inhabited by municipal and state offices, and its low body houses a concert hall.

Youth House

Built in the 1970s, the Youth House is one of the most interesting examples of the boldest "brutalism" - the architectural style in which visible concrete elements are the main emphasis. Very often, these buildings have impressive construction solutions - for example, above the main entrance at the Youth House, there is a huge concrete volume that seems to hang in the air. The building was built with a project by the architect Veselin Rakshiev and became the home of the Plovdiv Municipal Council about 10 years ago.

In addition to these popular names, older Plovdiv residents also use:

• Mother and Child House (it was located opposite the church of St. Petka)
• House of the deceased (located at the Central Cemetery, and you can learn more if you visit the most unusual tour in Plovdiv)
• House of the Newborn (this is the current Lotus next to the House of the Newlyweds)
• House of Beauty (the building on the right if you are coming from Main Street towards the Pedestrian Bridge)

The interesting thing about some of them is that during the time of socialism they were connected with the seizure of the functions of the church (House of the Newborn, House of the Deceased, House of the Newlyweds).

What other buildings and "houses of" can you think of?