In 1879, he was appointed in the Direction of Public Buildings, part of the Bulgarian Ministry of Internal Affairs, and became Chief Architect of Razgrad, later court architect of Knyaz Alexander of Bulgaria and his successor Ferdinand. During his thirty years of work in Bulgaria, he designed and constructed numerous remarkable public and residential buildings, mainly in Sofia. In 1908 he returned to Austria-Hungary and retired in Salzburg, but briefly returned to Bulgaria between 1911 and 1914 until his work in the country was discontinued after World War I.
Works
This is an incomplete list of selected works by Friedrich Grünanger.
regional government building and palace of Knyaz Alexander (co-work), today the Rousse Regional History Museum (1879–1882); first governmental building in Bulgaria built for the purpose after the Liberation in 1878
first navy watchtower and meteorological station in Bulgaria (1883)
Royal Palace of Bulgaria (today housing the National Art Gallery and the National Ethnographic Museum) (1880–1882). In 1893/4–1895 built the three-storey east wing and shaped the palace's current appearance
two-storey private house with a mansard for Anna Pulieva (1899)
Sarmadzhiev House: private house for Haralambi Sarmadzhiev (today Turkish ambassadorial residence)
Sofia Spiritual Academy (today Sofia University Faculty of Theology); co-work with other architects
Sofia Seminary with the St John of Rila Church (1902–1914)
Stern, Marcella, “Architekt Friedrich Grunanger”, Österreichische Architektureinflusse in Sofija um die Jahrhundertwende, Sofija, 1998, S. 22–24, 48, 58–59, 68, 81–86, 93.