bg Shumen

Vasil Velchev House

- Haralan Angelov Street 2 -
The construction of the residential building, which was built somewhere at the beginning of the 20th century, was executed according to the design that was created by the Czech architect Toma Varhota. It was built for the Bulgarian manufacturer and industrialist, Vasil Velchev, who was born in 1884 in . In 1904, after completing primary education, he began to deal with grain trade and construction at Hitrino station. In 1919, he founded a joint-stock industrial construction company in Shumen for the production of furniture, veneers, and plywood. He became the chairman of the branch association of grain growers in Shumen, a member of the board of the Shumen Brewery, chairman of the Trade Association in Shumen, and a member of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of . He was the founder of the Napredak factory for roof tiles and fine ceramics in .

Jews from were interned in in 1943, and Vasil Velchev assigned 32 of them to the Napredak factory, providing them with transportation to Kaspichan every day. He pays them higher wages than the Bulgarian workers, regardless of the fact that they are less qualified. When the local police chief demands that the Jews be fired, he refuses to comply. After the coup of , 1944, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He served a total of 4 years and died a few days after being released.
Vasil Velchev
The southern side of the building, which is built as a mix of the architectural styles of Eclectic and Art Nouveau, is topped with some beautiful ornamentation. Underneath the that separates the attic from the rest of the building, you can see some , as well as a frieze that contains some . The building features loads of and some adorned with an ornament consisting of circles. The balcony that's located on the southern side of the building is secured with a wrought iron railing, which is embellished with loads of .