It was named after one of the greatest British politicians of the 19th century, an ardent defender of the Bulgarians. William Gladstone was Prime Minister of Great Britain four times. His proposed electoral reforms, including the Representation of the People Act of 1884, greatly increased the number of people eligible to vote. He is known for his support for the Bulgarians and his efforts to solve the Irish question. In 1876-77, it was Gladstone who was the figure of the greatest scale in England and Europe, who drew attention to Bulgaria.
Between 1881 and 1883, he defended the Tarnovo constitution and opposed its repeal, because he considered the Bulgarians to be politically mature and capable of democratic governance. In 1885, he fully supported the Act of Unification and warned the governments of neighboring countries not to oppose the "free will" of the Bulgarian people.
At the very beginning of the street are the Tsar-Simeon’s garden, the largest city park under the hills, as well as the large exhibition hall Gallery 2019. Right opposite it is number 1 - the House of Science and Technology. The building was erected to house the Scientific and Technical Unions through Socialism. It was built in the mid-1980s and is interesting with its visible concrete columns and beams that support the wide terraces.
In the 1990s, Lucky Cinema was housed there, which later closed, and a few years ago, the building housed the only art cinema in Plovdiv, LUCKY House of Cinema. Next door in the building is Club Fargo, which also hosts many cinema events, and on the ground floor is Bee Bop Café, where many quality blues, jazz and other concerts take place, as well as various theater productions.
Perhaps the most densely located barbershops under the hills are in this part of the street. They are literally door to door, but there are customers for everyone. They opened their doors in recent years, when the trend in the shaping and maintenance of men's beards gradually revived.
The truth is that the history of the barbers under the hills dates back to many years ago, when Turkish times they even pulled teeth in some barbershops.
We continue our walk, and on the way to Ruski Blvd., we also find the infamous Cosmos cinema, for which money has been allocated for repair and reconstruction this year.
To the left, shortly before the intersection, rises the building of the Boris Hristov House of Culture. It was built in the late 1950s as the Labor House of the General Professional Union and became known as the Stefan Kiradzhiev Trade Union House. After 1989, it was popularly known as the Syndicates’ House. In 1998, by decision of the Council of Ministers, the building was given to the trade unions, which later provided it for use by the municipality for cultural activities. Today, a number of theater and opera productions and various cultural and social events take place here.
Once across, directly opposite the shopping center is the imposing building of the Commercial High School. The idea to build it was born in 1911, when the prominent Plovdiv public figure Stefan Obreykov proposed the conversion of an existing fund into a target fund for construction of a Commercial High School. 10 years later, a competition was announced, won by architects Dimitar Popov and Lazar Nanchev. The municipality provided land, and a donation campaign was announced for the additional funds. Construction began in 1926, and the building was completed in 2 years. In 1945 it was converted into a military hospital, then used by the newly opened State University, and after 1947 it was returned to the high school.
Behind it is the building of Hristo Botev Professional School of Architecture and Woodworking, better known among Plovdiv residents as Darvoto. The school was also created on the initiative of Stefan Obreykov, and the construction of the current building was started in 1931 with a project by the architects Svetoslav Grozev and Dimitar Popov. Thanks to Stefan Obreykov's son - Obreyko Obreykov, the school participated in the first Plovdiv Sample Fair, and in 1936 won a gold medal at the International Brussels Fair.
We continue our walk to the end quite calmly and at a slow pace, and in this part of it you can most often come across offices, shops, and at the very end, next to Vasil Aprilov Blvd., several photocopying studios.
The possible extension of Gladstone St is a topic that is often discussed in the city under the hills, since in terms of traffic it is one of the busiest arteries in Plovdiv. However, the truth is that this would be quite difficult and probably expensive to do because of the multitude of properties that would need to be expropriated. In the summer of last year, the City Council gave the green light for expansion, but in the end the ball was passed to the next rulers.
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