bg Varna

Anglo-Bulgarian Anonymous Company Building

- Zhitna Street 4 -
The construction of the administrative and commercial building, which was built in 1896, was commissioned by the Armenian merchant Sarkis Kuyumjian to house his Anglo-Bulgarian Anonymous Company. Sarkis settled with his family in in 1892, and later in , due to the repression against the Armenians in . In Ruse, he deals in textiles and became the manager of the Anglo-Bulgarian Anonymous Company, which was engaged in the production of umbrellas and sales of haberdashery products with branches in Varna, Plovdiv, and . In their shops, they sell goods like hats, pocket watches, flower vases, and much more. Around 1901, Sarkis moved to together with his family, where he opens a weaving factory. Before he moved, he donated a huge part of his properties to the Armenian Church in Ruse.
Sarkis Kuyumjian and his family
A restoration took place in 1912 that transformed the building into a factory for Varbanov, which was carried out by a design that was created by the Bulgarian architect . Somewhere between 2020 and 2022, a complete renovation took place that has given the building back its former shine.
An advertisement published by the Anglo-Bulgarian Anonymous Company on March 2, 1912, in a local newspaper
The symmetrical building, which is built in the Neo-Renaissance style, features two strips of , one of which is decorated with foliage. A lovely is placed between each of the dentils of this last-mentioned strip. A pointed is placed above all of the second floor windows, which are all supported by two . Between two of the pediments, you can admire a , which contains the intertwined Latin letters E.B.X.C., and underneath it the year 1896.
An old photo shows the building