bg Ruse

Solomon Blaustein House

- Pirot Street 5 -
The residential and commercial building was built in 1896 and was designed by the Austrian construction technician Ivan Mayor. It was built for the Jewish merchant Solomon Chaim Blaustein and his wife Rosalie, with whom he had two daughters, Milana and Judith. He was born on February 2, 1860, in Ruse and became rich from buying and selling postage stamps. He travels to and back at his own expense and the government gives him a free place in the Bulgarian pavilion to exhibit his collection of postage stamps. He was dressed in a Bulgarian national costume, with a bagpipe and a cup in his hands, and surprised the visitors by sipping wine from the cup.

In 1883 his wife Rosalie opens the first fashion house for women's and children's hats called Au Chicago. In 1896 they opened a hotel called in the newly built building. The hotel had a restaurant and a cabaret, where singers and dancers from Austria, Serbia, and Romania performed. Noisy entertainments scandalized the pious wives of Ruse and after four years, under the pressure of public opinion, the hotel and cabaret were closed.
A print of the building
The building, which is built in the Neo-Renaissance style, contains a strip of underneath the , which is located between the third and second floor. The two , which can be admired on the second floor, contain a statue of a female that is wearing a basket on their head. On the same floor, you'll be able to see a balcony, which is secured with a stone balustrade that contains . The two supportive corbels underneath the balcony are embellished with and . The half vase like structure underneath the balcony features a on the bottom of it. The beautiful spectacle underneath it, which is framed with an motif, contains a that's feeding two . The building features six more mascarons that resemble the Greek god . Above these mascarons you'll see two that are adorned with three guttae. The column of stone blocks underneath the mascaron is decorated with the technique of .
The beautiful spectacle that contains the putto that's feeding two griffins.