bg Sofia

Bulgarian Engineering and Architectural Society Building

- Georgi Stoykov Rakovski Street 108 -
Thirty architectural bureaus participated in a competition for the design that was used for the construction of the administrative building. The bureau of the Bulgarian architects and Boris Rusev became the winner. It was built for the Bulgarian Engineering and Architectural Society, which was founded on February 2, 1893, in Sofia. The first preparatory meetings took place in 1892 and it aims to unite Bulgarian architects and engineers in a professional association. Very soon after that, the question arose to purchase a building to house the meetings of the society. This task was taken up by the chairman and two of its members, and , who envisioned the construction of a building on the same site where the current building now stands. The building was first bought by the three colleagues at their own risk and was later ceded to the society after they approved the sale at a meeting held on the 28th of April.
The building that was bought
During the 1910s, Bulgaria was involved in the , the , as well as the , which were difficult times for the entire technical class as well. During these difficult times, the members of the society fulfilled their duties to the fatherland but did not seize their activities and kept on being useful to both its members and the state. In 1920 the society announced and produced the competition for the new building, and the first prize was awarded to the architectural bureau of Goranov and Rusev. The second prize went to a project of architect , and the third prize was given to a project of the architects and .
The winning project
For more than three years, the society has been working to collect the funds for the construction of the building, and it came to a point where the foundations of the building could be laid with the collected sums. On September 26, 1926, the first foundation stone of the building was laid. Bishop Paisius of Znepol gave a meaningful speech in which he emphasized the importance of the day on which the foundations of the building are laid. Prime Minister stepped to the foundation stone and before hitting it with a hammer, he gave a speech in which he pointed out that not only the hopes for a future of technical and construction in Bulgaria will be connected with this building but also its past. After knocking on the foundation stone by the Prime Minister, the Minister of Railways, Posts, and Telegraphs, and the Minister of Commerce, Industry, and Labour knocked on the foundation stone, after which the Chairman of the Society delivered his speech.
Speech was given by one of the speakers at the laying of the foundation stone
The construction of the building was completed and consecrated on February 23, 1930. A cafe and restaurant with a gallery are housed on the first floor and in the basement, there's a hunter's cellar with appropriate furniture and decor. On the second floor, a spacious hall was built where meetings, concerts, and balls were held. The hall has an excellent acoustic, which makes it a good and much-needed concert hall. A library and administrative offices are located on the third floor and on the upper floor there are some hotel rooms for the visiting engineers and architects from the province.
The building during its construction in August 1928
The symmetrical Neo-Classical building features a huge , which is supported by four and secured with a balustrade that contains . The four , which are either straight or round shaped and stretch all the way from the second until the fourth floor, are all crowned with an Ionic . The , which are surrounded by two and placed within the three fragments, which are located between the second and third floor windows, contain the initials Б.И.А.Д.(B.I.A.D.). The pointed that are placed above the third floor windows are supported by two corbels that feature a made out of a ribbon and hung onto three . Some rectangular windows with cut-out corners are placed on the floor that can be seen between the two . Underneath one of the cornices, a strip of is placed, of which some of the separate dentils are supported by a corbel.
The building somewhere in the 1930s