bg Ruse

Joseph Dainelov House

- Knyazheska Street 35 -
The construction of the residential and commercial building started in 1884 and was completed in 1886. It was built according to the design of the Armenian architect . An Italian artist was called in to decorate the walls and halls. Many of the construction materials are supplied from abroad. It was built for the Bulgarian merchant, publicist and public figure Joseph Genov Dainelov. He was born in 1839 in Ruse, in the family of the Ruse innkeepers Geno and Maria Dainelov. In 1857 he moved to where he became a junior partner in the trading company of and . Later on, he became a participant in the struggle for an independent Bulgarian church and a collaborator in the cultural and propaganda activities of . After his permanent return to Ruse in 1867, he became a longtime member of the Bulgarian municipality in the city, the school board, and the diocesan council. After the , he briefly became district chief during the Provisional Russian Government, a member of the Ruse Court of Appeal from 1879 until 1880, and chairman in multiple cities in Bulgaria. He died on November 16, 1891, in Ruse.
Joseph Genov Dainelov
The house was inhabited from 1931 to 1942, by the Mayor of Ruse, Rusko Pophristov, who was born in 1888 in the village of . He graduated from the Ruse Boys' High School and the Faculty of Law at the University. After his return to Ruse, he began practicing law and became actively involved in the political life of the city as a supporter of the narrow socialists. He got elected by the Communist majority in the municipal council as the second Mayor of the Ruse commune on March 24, 1921. He remained in this position until August 6, 1921. In 1925 he was sentenced to 15 years in prison but was pardoned. After the German attack on the Soviet Union, he was sent to a concentration camp. In the first days after the change on , 1944, Rusko Pophristov again became Mayor of Ruse as a representative of the Workers' Party. Due to bad health, he resigned as Mayor on February 8, 1945. He died on January 14, 1952, in Sofia.
Rusko Pophristov
In the lead sheet mansard roof of the Neo-Classical and Neo-Renaissance building, you'll see dormers of different sizes. Above the round shaped that are crowned with a Corinthian , you'll see a , which supports the roof above it. Above the windows on the second floor, you'll either see a straight or a swan neck . Under the latter windows, you'll be able to admire a , which contains a total of five . These same windows, as well as the one on the corner, are flanked by foliage and five . The same amount of guttae are placed underneath the corbels that support the cornice, which is located between the first and second floor. The technique of is used in the stone blocks on the first floor, which gives it a nice contrasting feeling compared to the second floor.
An old postcard showing the building on the left