Shared offices in Kanazirev's house
Translated from original article by Standart published on 14th of December 2019
The building at 82 Hristo Botev Blvd. is the third shared space of Networking Premium after the houses on Str. Rakovski and Vitosha Blvd. Each of them has its own style. While the office on Rakovski symbolizes the 21st-century digital, the Kanazirevs' house preserves the spirit and traditions of old Sofia. It was officially opened two weeks ago. The founders of Networking - Emil Shekerdzhiiski, an Israeli entrepreneur, investor, and Trifon Mihailov, also an entrepreneur and investor, said that the purpose of the shared workspace is to make the participants feel like family.
When the brother's Peter Kanazirev and Ivan Kanazirev were forced by their revolutionary activities to flee Mehomiya (today's Razlog), they decide to settle in Yuchbunar district in Sofia. They could hardly believe that their heritage in the capital would be resurrected after 107 years. The manufacturers, co-founders of the chemical industry in Sofia and Burgas, bought a magnificent three-story house at 82 Hristo Botev Blvd. It was built in 1912 according to a project by Karl Heinrich for the family of Pencho Dimitrov. However, another legend says that the old Kanazirev wanted a cozy and spacious home in which his sons could live together. Thus, each of them is applied to one of the floors, each floor has a separate entrance. Their soap factories in Sofia, Varna, and Burgas, which even produce for the army, quickly made them one of the richest people. But at the same time - and in one of the largest donors supporting education especially in Razlog, where there was no school at the time and the brothers were forced to study away from home. The Kanazires give 300,000 gold levs for the maintenance of a private class, for the construction of a district administration, for the construction of a warehouse for tobacco processing, and others.
They provide good teachers for the students, pay their salaries, buy textbooks and aids and cover all administrative costs. Today, the school in Razlog, which is already a high school, bears its name, and the children's results are one of the highest in the country.
Over the years, the building at 82 Hristo Botev Blvd. "experiences" everything. Sofzhilfond accommodates tenants on a standard rent, the facade collapses. There is no mention of the old shine for a long time. To this day, when the house has been beautifully restored by the owners of the shared workspace - Networking Premium. They are captivated by the architecture and decide to breathe new life into it. The only difference after the restoration is that this is no longer a house where everyone has a strictly defined place and everything is shared.
What does a shared workspace actually mean? His goal is to unite people with different businesses and interests who want to escape from the gray and sterile office or work at home and become part of something much more social and meaningful. The shared office offers the comfort of home and all the comforts of a modern office.
Networking Premium retains the spirit of the house, the lavishly painted ceiling on the second floor, and some furniture but changes the purpose - turn the home into a place that unites, despite the differences. The most significant is the last floor - the maid's floor, where the Kanazirevi servants lived in the past. Now the attic is a great place for relaxation, as well as for presentations and cocktails. It even has a discreet hammock that any member of the shared office space can relax.
Therefore, each of the three locations has amenities such as free drinks, a kitchen, heating, cleaning, multimedia, and event rooms. All members have the opportunity to organize their events in the halls and to invite their clients to the conference halls for business negotiations or to the rooms for confidential meetings. Mihailov was even on the verge of leaving Bulgaria.
The goal of Networking Premium is to support startups, freelancers, innovations, and businesses in all areas. Therefore, it creates an environment in which every entrepreneur feels supported, encouraged, and even advised by professional entrepreneurs and investors. But most importantly, in times of alienation and selfishness, it breaks down barriers and makes friends.
The brothers sent soap and wagons of sugar to Razlog. In the Razlog region, everybody knows the history of the Kanazirevi family, thanks to which city the city prospered, and education rise in a cult. The family is mostly associated with the manufacturers Peter and Ivan, who is 1917 to benefit from 300,000 gold levs for a school in the city, brought up years later as a genius poet Nikola Vaptsarov, and the great arch. Alexander Barov, designed the National Palace of Culture, Universiade Hall, Boyana Residence, and the whole new center of Blagoevgrad. Few, however, know that there are four brothers.
Petar Kanazirev was born in 1870 in Mehomiya. In 1885 he graduated from the Bulgarian boys' High School in Thessaloniki and engaged in trade. In 1903 he took part in the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising. Ivan, who was born two years later, received his lower secondary education and at the end of 1896 became secretary on the grounds of Gotse Delchev in his father's house committee of the IMRO. From 1897 he was chairman of the revolutionary committee, until 1901 when he was expelled by the Turkish authorities in Sofia. There, together with Peter, they founded a soap company. Their factory is called Thessaloniki. They receive awards for exhibitions in Europe. Kanazirev brothers did not forget their homeland for a moment. He constantly sent soap to people in Razlog and wagons with sugar through September station.
The other two Kanazirev brothers were Vladimir and Vladislav, born in 1879 and 1876. Vladimir was a Bulgarian officer, chief of staff for introduction, then a military attack in Paris, where he met an American woman and left for the United States. He died in 1962 in New York. Vladislav Kanazirev is also a merchant and a revolutionary. After the Liberation in 1912, he became mayor of Razlog.
Image by newspaper Standart