2026
The Building at the Corner of Graf Ignatiev No. 46
The building was constructed approximately between 1910 and 1912, during a period of intensive bourgeois development in Sofia, although its architect remains unknown it can be architect Kiro Marichkov (not confirmed by any source). A historical account of Graf Ignatiev Street dates the building to this period and connects it to the Moysev family, who lived and worked there.
Designed as an eclectic residential and commercial building, its façade is defined by timber-framed windows, mould ornamentation and wrought-metal balconies, many of which remain barely intact today. Yet beneath these surviving decorative elements, the building fabric is progressively deteriorating: exposed brickwork, damaged render and crumbling balcony structures now hang directly above the pavement below. What the officials describe though inspection, there is as mentioned fallen and detached plaster, damaged architectural decoration, deformed timber windows, cracks in the masonry, corroded metal elements and partially rotten timber construction.
With its sharp edges, the building stands strongly on the corner between Graf Ignatiev Street and Tsar Shishman Street. All of this exists in a state of constant ruin, yet one closely observed by practitioners from both the architectural and legal professions. Documents suggest that the condition of the building is far worse on the inside than what can be perceived from the outside.
Fate and Suspense
It is a building awaiting its possible demise, and I am glad that I managed to catch it on time before that potentially happens. Despite all of this, commercial activity on the ground floor continues to prosper, standing in sharp contrast to the compromised upper floors, gradually weakened by the weight of time. The restaurant and shop still operate at Graf Ignatiev 46 today.
The ground floor has more to it than it initially shows. Historical memories describe the property as belonging to the Moysev brothers, migrants from Macedonia. Ilia and Spiro operated a grocery shop, while their brother Spas ran a bakery known locally as the bakery of “Bay Spas.” The brothers and their families lived in the same building, worked there and also rented parts of it to others. Later, the ground floor became associated with other forms of public life: the well-known "Divite Petli" drinking establishment was once located at Graf Ignatiev 46, while for many years there was also a mekicharnitsa, remembered especially by students from the nearby schools.
It therefore becomes an important conjunction point of social infrastructure: commerce at street level survives while the domestic architecture above it slowly collapses. The relationship between living and working was already embedded in the building historically, the families who operated the businesses also inhabited the house itself.
Nowadays, the building remains at the centre of a complex discussion about what should happen to it. Different owners, with different interests, continue to compete and pull the strings around what could become an unjust and untimely death of a building that holds considerable historical value for the community and for the image of Sofia’s city centre. In 2021, one of the owners formally requested that a municipal commission assess the building and expressed the intention to dismantle the three floors above the parterre. Other co-owners of the ground-floor commercial spaces complained about the lack of maintenance and the deterioration caused by the temporary roof and drainage.
The conflict later moved directly into the legal system. In 2022, the Chief Architect of Sofia ordered the owners to secure the building and prepare projects for reconstructing the roof, strengthening the structure and restoring the façade. That order was challenged, and in March 2024 the Administrative Court of Sofia City cancelled it. The court considered that the municipality had not sufficiently established how the required repairs could actually be carried out, while the court-appointed structural expert concluded that the building could not simply be repaired or strengthened in the manner required. Importantly, however, the judgment did not itself grant permission to demolish the building.
At the same time, another process has been taking place around its cultural value. Sofia Municipality had already proposed Graf Ignatiev 46 for individual immovable-cultural-property status. Then, in January 2025, the Ministry of Culture officially identified it as the “Residential and Commercial Building of Ilia Moysov” and stated that a separate administrative procedure for granting it individual cultural-property status had been initiated. Therefore, rather than having a decided fate, the building remains somewhere between structural danger, possible removal, conservation and institutional protection (something stereotypical for this city and most buildings of that age).
Deterioration is already part of its documented past. It has lived from one regime to another, carrying different functions, owners and transformations with it. I would be slightly careful with saying that neglect has been documented since the 1970s: the historical blog contains older photographs and memories of the building, but I have not found an official source proving that its present state of neglect had already begun specifically then.
Today it appears almost as a pure example of an organism moving towards its end. Just like in other examples documented through this project, the building is covered by numerous wires, improvised interventions and practical, cheap replacements that appear to hold together or work around its gradual decay. The colour of the façade itself has also been refreshed over time, yet there isn't any public information that I have found to describe the true colour of the facade, whether yellow, ochre or something else.
And so the question remains: what are the next conservation or demolition procedures following the court judgment, and what will eventually happen to the building? For now, its fate remains unresolved in the publicly available documentation I have been able to verify. More official information will be updated here soon.
Beaneath the Ruin
The architectural drawing becomes a phenomenon of capturing the true spirit of this building. As I have done before, several layers have been used to implement different material states on top of one another. We begin with the exposed brick, barely recognisable in its fragmented presence. Afterwards, we move towards the remaining plaster, then the ornamentation, continuing further to the balconies and the eaves of the newly placed roof structure. At the end, we fall back and dig deeper towards the recessed levels around the windows, and then to the windows themselves. We even move behind the building and into its surrounding urban infrastructure.
A new structure of dystopian nature is formed in the place of the commercial area of the building, no longer fully accessible, but blocked, while keeping the barely stable upper façade in place through a montage of bland metallic structures. In the final layer, pipes and wires cross and hang over this beautiful yet neglected façade, one deeply embedded in nearly one hundred years of history.
This piece is a drawing collage that was made with black and white Ink on polyester layers and mylar layers. Photograph made by the author.
Dimensions: 395 mm (h) x 475mm (w)
References:
1. Pavlina D., “Улица ‘Граф Игнатиев’ – между ‘Раковски’ и ‘Патриарха’,” Блогът на Павлина Д., originally published 3 July 2019, updated May 2024.**
https://pavlinad.wordpress.com/
tag/%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%84-
%D0%B8%D0%B3%D0%BD%D0%B0
%D1%82%D0%B8
%D0%B5%D0%B2/
2. Mariyana Marinova, “‘Спомени за шест софийски улици’ от Вера Мечкарова,” Regional History Museum - Sofia, E-Bulletin, 2023.
https://e-bulletin.sofiahistorymuseum.bg/
images/pdf/2023/10_Mariyana_Marinova_new.pdf
3. Administrative Court Sofia City, Decision №1551, 11 March 2024, administrative case №2475/2023.
https://mc.government.bg/
files/10762_Uvedomlenie%20-%20Han%20Krum%20-%2013%2001%202025.pdf
4. Sofia Municipality, heritage-status update for the central city area.
https://www.sofia.bg/
bg/web/guest/w/glavniat-arhitekt-na-sofia-zdravko-zdravkov-
predstavi-aktualizacia-na-nedvizimite-kulturni-cennosti-na-cast-ot-teritoriata-na-stolicna-obsina-
5. Ministry of Culture, notice dated 13 January 2025.
https://mc.government.bg/
files/10762_Uvedomlenie%20-%20Han%20Krum
%20-%2013%2001%202025.pdf