bg Ruse

Viennese House

- Pridunavski Boulevard 2 -
The construction of the residential building began in 1885 and lasted until 1900 and the design came from the Austrian architect . It was originally built for the French entrepreneur Andre Turio but was sold to merchant Ivan Stoyanov in 1902. It was constructed by the Italian master builder Anton Kargarota who used Pirgovo stone for the facade and the ornamentation. The stairs leading to the main entrance were made of marble delivered from Italy, the glazed tiles arrived from Germany, and the flat glass for the windows was from America. Two Italian artists decorate the salons with frescoes in the style, and the bedrooms are covered with expensive hand-painted wallpaper.

After the nationalization of the building in 1944, it was turned into a Natural History Museum, a ceremony center where newborn babies were named, and an administrative building of the duty-free zone.
An old postcard showing the building on the right
The most eye-catching part of the Neo-Baroque building is the on the northwestern corner of the building. It's placed at a 45 degree angle relative to the rest of the building and is crowned with a bell shaped dome with a on top of it. On the side that's facing northwest, you can see a monogram with intertwined Latin letters I.S. of one of its owners, Ivan Stoyanov. A bit further down you can see a that's flanked by two rectangular shaped that are crowned with Corinthian .

Another eye-catching feature is the majestic hip roofed dome on the north side of the building with on top of it. The huge dormer is decorated with a , , , an motif, and floral ornaments. On both sides of the dormer, you can see a stone balustrade that contains and underneath it, you can see an open segmental . Some more segmental pediments can be seen above the windows, in this case there closed instead of open and contains some beautiful floral ornaments. The , which is located above the segmental pediments is adorned with foliage.

The main entrance door is flanked by rectangular and round shaped pilasters that are also crowned by Corinthian capitals. Above the circle top window, within the , you can see two . One of them is holding a basket with fruits and vegetables and the other one a torch. The whole premises is surrounded by a beautiful wrought iron fence.
Another old postcard showing the building on the right