The house was built in the late 1920s for banker Dimitar Ivanov and his wife Nadezhda Stankovic. Inside, the emphasis is on the red marble fireplace in the reception hall. There is a podium for musicians, as well as crystal glasses on the interior doors. There are several bedrooms, beautiful terraces, a spacious study room and servants’ quarters. None of the furniture has been preserved, but it is known that high-class citizens of Sofia at that time preferred furniture from Central and Western Europe.
The exterior features a large front yard facing the street, separated from the sidewalk by a beautiful wrought iron fence. A triple staircase leads to the entrance of the house, but the presence of special carriage gates on either side of the yard is always impressive. Even today, I can imagine a carriage with invited family members entering the yard of the house through one gate, with the horses and carriage staying in the space behind the house, specially designed for that purpose, while they wait for the reception to end and leave again through the other gate.
The Ivanov banker’s family lived happily in the house, at least until 1944. After the war, the property was nationalized and initially housed the Romanian embassy. Later, the house was a commercial representation of the USSR in Bulgaria, as well as the headquarters of the administration of various communist structures of unclear purpose.
In the 1990s, the house was restored and returned to the heir of the first owner, banker Dimitar Ivanov. Since 2004, the property belongs to Lukoil director Valentin Zlatev, who has not yet shown any connection with this cultural monument. The beautiful house, once in ruins for decades, is now sadly abandoned.
