​

The “Architect’s House” is an individual house located in the center of the city of Stara Zagora, in Central Bulgaria.

Hristo Dimov was a local architect and this is his personal house. He studied architecture in Prague at the beginning of the 20th century, participated in the Balkan wars and then came back to Bulgaria, where he opened an architectural practice in Stara Zagora. He was renowned as an architect, professor and public personality. His studio was located in the house itself until his death in 1983.

The current tenants made contact with me and asked me to inspect the house and propose a restoration strategy for it. The goal was to preserve the authenticity of the building and the spirit of the place.

Architect Hristo Dimov’s house is a good example of building principles from the early 20th century. Originally built in 1923 and extended in the 1930s by the architect himself, the house shows the significant evolution of its creator’s architectural style, which changes from eclectic to definitely modernist. The extension is easily identifiable, although the whole composition remains semantically connected.

Today the house constitutes an integral part of local cultural heritage.

Work on conservation couldn’t be done at one go as we had hoped, but we persevered and progressively managed to consolidate all damaged parts of the façade, stop water infiltrations and repair many elements of joinery.

Currently, the Architect’s house is a famous place for culture, music and arts. It keeps the spirit of the place alive and appreciated by local people.

My study of Architect Hristo Dimov’s house constituted my graduation project for the Architectural heritage preservation masterclass and was successfully defended before an international jury in 2014.

​

​

 

Here’s the entire project:

 

​

​

 

​

​