Francis Harford Mackenzie, known among Serbs as Frensis Makenzi was a big friend of Serbia and Belgrade. He was of Scottish origin, the British Embassy’s official, a wealthy and well-educated man, a philanthropist… He designed and urbanised a part of Vracar municipality - space around a street that bears his name today. Actually, the whole area between today’s Njegoseva street, Slavija and St Sava plateau was named after him - Englezovac (meaning ‘ an Englishman’s place’, although he was Scottish!).
In 1879. Mackenzie bought this area from Stojan Simic, son of the president of the Serbian Parliament. He dried the area and made plots of land for sale. He also built his house where the famous “Slavija” cinema was built after World War II. Today, this place is a public parking lot.
This area used to be a swamp where Belgraders went hunting wild geese and other wildfowl.
Mackenzie was known as “the kindest, the most just and merciful among men”. He spent thousands of pounds supporting widows and orphans of Serbian soldiers. On a plot of land in Englezovac a small St Sava church was first built and later the magnificent Church of St Sava - the biggest Orthodox church in the world.