Bucharest: The Architectural Angle

Oh, Bucharest

It's always hard to write about your home city or country as you'll always be a bit subjective, but I will give it again my best shot. Bucharest is a city of contrasts. You can find both super fancy neighborhoods to very poor ones. But you surely have some beautiful old buildings that have an incredible architecture that are often overlooked. I want you to get to know these buildings and nothing else. If you have the time, try to see beyond the top 10 touristic attraction in a city. Go off the beaten path to better understand the culture of the people. 

I was home a while back as I had to renew my ID, yes, we have to go back and there is no emergency option to get your ID in like 2 days or so, the fastest way is 1 week if you can prove you need to be somewhere else, or at least that's what I've been told at the police station I am registered. This gave me some extra time to spend than I normally have over the super quick and short weekends I go home for. I tried to use my time wisely so I went through an exploring marathon of different place I have not really paid attention to when I was still at home. Sometimes you need to be away to realize what makes your home town so special beyond family, friends & all the memories you gained from when you were growing up. 
So, I won't make this any longer and let's look together what I discovered through the approx 20 km I explored while at home on a sunny day.

1. Piata Victoriei towards the museum of maps & old books 

My first photo is of Vila Oromolu building that I don't remember as a child as it went through a lot of lets call them administrative problems. The building is listed as a historic monument and is the only building that survived the urbanization plans of the Victory square. You can find it at the address: Bulevardul Aviatorilor numărul 8 and today it is an Event Center called Qreator by IQOS. 

Entering Paris street, on the right hand side you find this gorgeous house, I wish I had more details about it 

Further down on the left hand side you can find a new flower shop, it looks so cute their #tag means #wecollectsmiles 

On Paris with Louis Blanc street you get another beautiful house.  

Going back on Paris, you can see on the left side, this hobbit looking house :)

Reaching Quito Square you find in the center the Air Monument built by Emil Ludovic Gove in 1934 and dedicated to the second pilot of Romania Mircea Zorileanu. 

2. The museum of maps and old books till Piata Romana

Set in a 1930 built villa, the museum of maps and old books is the biggest you can find in Europe 

Heading further towards Piata Romana you will cross Calea Dorobanti and then turn right. This is a bit of  walk.

Piata Romana is one of the main squares in Bucharest where some of the main avenues of the city meet. But before giving you a "tour"of Piata Romana, lets walk a bit towards Piata Victoriei as a few meters into Lascar Catargiu Boulevard you will find the former house of  Dinu Lipatti a Romanian pianist and composer who died 33 due to Hodgkin's disease. To get an idea of his work, you can listen to one of his first compositions "Les Tziganes"

Dinu Lipatti's house can be found at Bld Lascar Catargiu #12 and was built in 1902 being the work of the architect Petre Antoescu. It is a typical house of Bucharest of the XIX century having baroque accents with beautifully decorated windows and doors. 

Going back to Piata Romana you can find the Economics University: Academy of Economic Studies (ASE). This is one of the most important universities in Bucharest. The building is considered an architectural and historical monument of the 19th century heritage. A funny legend (which changed with time) says that " the moment that the ball from the cupola of the building will fall, it represents the first student (feminine) that was a virgin at the end at her studies"  

Right next to the ASE building you have the Gheorghe Petrascu House. It was built 1913 to the design of the architect Spiridon Ceganeanu in a Neo-Romanian style. The facade features remarkable ornaments of enameled ceramics while the interior paintings belong to the painter himself. 

3. Piata Romana till Calea Victorie 

The next Stop on the architectural route of Bucharest is Macca House that can be found on Strada Henri Coanda 11. It is currently the headquarters of the Vasile Parvan Architectural Institute. It is considered one of the most beautiful houses in Bucharest. It was built 1891 by the swizz architect John-Elisee Berthet for Petru Macca and his wife Elena. 

This type of architecture is based on baroque elements having classic influence, romantic paintings and Neo-Gothic furniture. It's a mix of styles. 

Unfortunately, although requested, the building was never refurbished. When you enter you have the feeling that find yourself in a complete different era. Although the architectural elements are gorgeous you instantly get a sort of abandonment feeling. It's a pity that this is happening and hopefully the house will get the money it needs for a proper restoration. 

The garden in front of the building has a collection of statues without heads. It is unclear what they represent, but add to the abandonment feeling of the place 

On the way to my next stop i found some other worth sharing architectural elements of the streets of Bucharest. On General H. M. Berthelot at number 24 you can see a very typical architecture from the Maramures area. It is a wooden gate. Unfortunately i have no records why this rural architecture has been used by the owners of the yard. It looks so lost in between all the concrete around. 

Another house that I found interesting, mainly because of all the plants that are covering it can be found on on Putul cu Poli #11 Street right across of my next point of interest. 

My next stop was the house of Constantin Tanase on Putul cu Plopi #10. Constantin Tanase was a Romanian actor and writer for stage, a key figure in the revue style of theater in Romania.  There is extremely limited information about the house available online and as the house looks to be abandoned it is also hard to ask inside. What I could find online is that it is a house built somewhere before 1900 and was used as a house of the great actor between 1922 - 1945. The house was put for sale by the current owners back in 2014 but there is no update whether it was sold or not in the meantime. 

The house seems to pass mainly unnoticeable by people passing by or working in the area maybe also because the only reference that is made is on a small marble stone next to one of the 2 columns of the door of the house. 

Online, but only in Romanian you can find a small video about the house put together by the national television some years ago. you can follow this link to watch it. 

At the end of the same street at the cross with Stirbei Voda you can also spot 2 houses that offer very nice architectural lines. 

4. Calea Victoriei

Calea Victoriei in itself is a street filled with wonderful buildings and I love to just take a walk every now and then. In this part of my itinerary (as the whole street is 2.7 km) I will highlight some of the buildings starting at the intersection with Ion Campineanu street. First being the Novotel Hotel. I am sure that some people will completely not agree with me, but I think that the current building which hosts the Novotel Hotel, does not look that bad. It is an interesting blend between the old and the modern. Actually the glass building was built on a similar looking entrance as the one of what it used to be the National Theater. The old building of the theater has been partially destroyed during the German bombing of 1944 and the government at that time decided to demolish it completely. 

The original building was built by Joseph Heft an Austrian architect between 1846-1852. You can find some picture of what it used to be here. The current building was finalized at the end of 2006. 

For my next mention it is not a positive note, as there is nothing that makes this place attractive. Still hoping that by being added to different blogs and mentions across the internet, one day it will be refurbished and properly used. i am talking about the English Passage. It connects Calea Victorie to Academiei street. It was built at the bottom of the former  Resch House built by the Austrian jeweler Josef Resch. It was first a hotel, but due to the very small rooms it was transformed in a  brothel, which was quite popular in its day and later on during the communist times was transformed in apartments.  

Nowadays it looks completely abandoned although it is not. I am happy i was with a friend when taking pictures as it looked a bit creepy, not to wonder it was used as a film location for one of the Dracula movies. 

Right next to it you find Victoria Passage. It of course also connects Calea Victoriei with Academiei street and was built by "Imobiliara" company at the beginning at the XX century. Nowadays it's a popular Instagram location due to the colorful umbrellas that have been added a few years back

Odeon Theater one of the best-known performing arts venues in Bucharest and it can be also found on Calea Victoriei. In 1993, it won the Romanian Theater of the Year Award.
The theater was built in 1911, and previously housed the Comedy Theater of the Romanian National Theater. It is part of a complex that includes a building with apartments and stores (to its north) and the Majestic Hotel (to its south) (Source)

Casa Capsa is a historic restaurant in Bucharest, Romania, first established in 1852 now also a hotel. The French-inspired confectionery of Casa Capsa soon established a continent-wide reputation. The business expanded in 1881 to a full-service restaurant, at a time when quality restaurants along Western European lines were still quite a rarity in Romania. Casa Capsa invented the all-chocolate Joffre cake in honor of a visit to Romania by Joseph Joffre after the war

Hotel Capitol has a long history starting in 1600, but I won't give you here all the details. After it burned down in 1911, architect Arghir Culina redesigned it and shortly after it becomes together with Cafe Royal one of the most frequented placed for writers and artists. It was in 1976 after several renovations, the building turns into "Capitol Hotel", a modernized hotel building that still holds the seal of history and the initial architectural details.
You can find more details under link from which a summary is presented above. And old pictures can be found under the hotel's website, text in Romanian. 

Palace of the National Military Circle was built in 1911 by architect Dimitrie Maimarolu using French neoclassical style. The beneficiary was the Officers' Circle of the Bucharest military garrison, which was founded in 1876. (Source) The edifice, although not finished, was seriously damaged during the First World War; after the restoration and end of construction works, it was inaugurated, on 4th of February 1923 in presence of King Ferdinand I and Queen Maria of Romania among other important personalities of the time. (Source) 

Macca Villacrosse Passage connects Calea Victoriei and a smaller street opening onto the the old center of Bucharest. Campineanu Inn (Romanian: Hanul Campineanu) once stood in the place nowadays occupied by the passage. The old Inn was bought by Petros Seraphim, who gifted it to two of his daughters as dowries. Daughter Polixena married in 1843 Xavier Vilacrosse, Chief Architect of Bucharest, 1840-1848, the Inn renamed after him. Daughter Anastasia married Mihalache Macca, who built luxury shops on their part. In the late 1880s, the city decided to buy the sites to build a Western style passage to relieve congestion. It was designed by architect Felix Xenopol, and opened in 1891. [...] Pasajul Macca-Vilacrosse hosted the first Stock Exchange House of Bucharest. (Source) 

The CEC Palace, is one of my favorite buildings in Bucharest. It looks so beautiful. It currently houses the headquarters of the national savings bank. Work started on June 8, 1897 and was completed in 1900. The project was designed by the architect Paul Gottereau, a graduate of the Ecole nationale superieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris; construction was supervised by the Romanian architect Ion Socolescu. (Source) 

Across the CEC palace you can find the National Museum of Romanian History which is inside the former Postal Services Palace. The building was authorized, in 1892, and the architect, Alexandru Savulescu was sent with the postal inspector, Ernest Sturza, to tour various postal facilities of Europe for the design. The final sketches were influenced primarily by the postal facility in Geneva. Built in an eclectic style, it is rectangular with a large porch on a high basement and three upper floors. The stone facade features a portico supported by 10 Doric columns and a platform consisting of 12 steps spanning the length of the building. There are many allegorical sculptural decorative details . (Source)

Around the Dambovita River 

This not an easy one but I will try to collect as many details I can find. Currently known by the name of United Nations Square it was the former Operetei Square.  Some of the elements around it or close by are listed and detailed below. 

Lahovari Fountain commemorates George Em. Lahovari who was killed in a duel by Nicolae Filipescu as he published some articles where he was attacking the political view of Filipescu. The fountain was ordered by the princess Zoe Sutu in 1903, and built by the sculptor Carol Storck. 

Agricola - Fonciera Palace Bucharest and the Romanian House are 2 of the buildings that makes you picture the Bucharest from before. They are also know as the gloriete due to the architectural details at the top of the buildings. Both were built around the year 1926 by architect Paul Samarandescu (Agricola- Fonciara) and Petre Antonescu (The Romanian House). The architecture of both buildings  reflects the change in the French architecture style from art nouveau to art deco. 

Dominita Balasa Church on Sfintii Apostoli 60 Street, is a neo-romantic and neo-Byzantine style building, large, showing a cross-shaped plan, plus a polygonal apse of the altar. Built in 1885, the church is named after Constantin Brancoveanu's sixth daughter, who built an earlier church on the site in 1744, but which burnt down soon after. In 1751 a second church was built; but that was also later damaged, during an earthquake in 1838 but only 40 years later it was replaced by the current, orange-coloured, Neo-Romanesque building. (Source) 

Although founded on tears and suffering, Balasa Church is a celebration church, with no funerals ever being held here. The church was listed as a monument of architecture, on the official list of historical monuments. (Source) 

Carol Park Area

It was a complete new area for me to explore, as i leave far away from this Park, but as I wanted to get to know Bucharest a bit better I thought it's an important area to explore. I will let you enjoy some of the architecture of the area. 

Although not unknown, as less know thing about the park is that it hosts  Vlad the Impaler castles, it was built in 1906 at request of King Carol I for the 40 years celebration of his reign. It is the copy of the Poienari Castle from Arges County. 

The Old Town 

Hanul Lui Manuc - is considered the oldest operating hotel in Bucharest and a must try restaurant if you want to explore the authentic Romanian cuisine. 
The Inn's story starts in 1806 when it was built on Bucurs land, on the riverside of Dambovita. Its architecture, unlike the other inns of that time, stood out through its unicity. The founder was Emanuel Marzayan, better known as Manuc Bey. He was a far-famed merchant, diplomat and innkeeper which was considered as one of the richest landlords in the Balkans.

From here a long history of different owners start, you can read more on the Inn's website 

After significant investments and reconstruction efforts made by the Cantacuzino family, Manuc's Inn, one of the most renowned attractions of Bucharest in the 19th century, came back to life, carrying a history of over two hundred years. The yard pavement and the wooden beams were replaced in order to restore the original Brancovenesc style.

Old Princely Court - like a lot of other places to my shame this was the first time that I realized we have a old fortress in the center of Bucharest 

Built in 1459 it is one of the former residences of Vlad the Impaler, the Romanian ruler who sparked the Dracula legends. During his reign, Mircea Ciobanul repaired the palace, and defined the limits of the city. His palace became the economic nucleus of Bucharest, surrounded by the houses of traders and craftsmen known as the Lipscani. Matei Basarab repaired the palace during his reign, so that it was "completely rebuilt...amazingly elegant" with a "charming aspect, much finer and gayer".Constantin Brancoveanu rebuilt and extended the palace using stone, including a great marble staircase at the entrance. The court is currently a museum and can be visited. (Source: I apologize as I am missing the link)

And next to the Princely Court you can also see Saint Anton church which is the oldest church of the city having kept it's original form. "Built on the place of a former wooden church which burnt up, restored after another fire in 1847, and over again in 1934, by the Commission of Historical Monuments, the church was conceived in the Wallachian architectural style of the 16th century it singles out by its harmony and balance of proportions. The decoration of its facades is made of face brick stripes alternating with plaster stripes. At cornices, a series of small decorated niches and buttresses which support the outer walls remind one of the Moldavian style of architecture, a fact which may be associated with the influence exerted by Lady Chiajna, Mircea Ciobanul's wife and daughter to Petru Rares" (Source) After the 1847 fire it was restored by renewed Austrian architect Johann Schlatter and received a neoclassical facade. The church got its original appearance back after it was restored by the Romanian architect Horia Teodoru between 1928 and 1935 (Source)

Stavropoleos church Bucharest, opened 1724 is an Eastern Orthodox monastery for nuns in central Bucharest, Romania. Its church is built in Brancovenesc style.

The name Stavropoleos is a Romanian rendition of a Greek word, Stauropolis, meaning "The city of the Cross". One of the monastery's constant interests is Byzantine music, expressed through its choir and the largest collection of Byzantine music books in Romania. (Source)

It is characterized by its beautiful stone and wood carvings, of which the finest are on the main doors. The courtyard outside (beautiful on a sunny afternoon) has a curious collection of tombstones dating from the 18th century, and you might often see skilled craftsmen working on restoring them. (Source)

Between Piata Universitatii and Izvor Park 

There are several old houses around this area, but I don't have any details about their history. It's a pity as they are part of the old Bucharest the one that was referred to like the Little Paris. i will add them below, maybe one day i will gather more details and will be able to provide an update.  

Casa Melik is considered to be the oldest house in Bucharest and it hosts today the Theodor Pallady Museum. Built in 1750 by the Armenian merchant Hagi Kevork Nazaretoglu is the only merchant house opened to the wide public. 

The house presents the traditional Romanian architecture with the upper floor porch with closed windows, the interior wooden staircase and the roof with wide eaves.   For the interior you can read my post about some of the Bucharest Museums.

And some more houses on the way back 

Calea Victoriei from Casino Vernescu till Piata Victoriei 

The architecture of the Revolution Square can be found in my post: A glimpse of Bucharest 

Ghica - Gradisteanu Palace was built by architect Jean Berthet in 1884. 

George Enescu National Museum in Cantacuzino Palace. Was built by architect Ion D. Berindey in French Baroque/Art Nouveau style. 

Built in 1901-1903 for Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino, mayor of Bucharest and former prime-minister. After his death, the building was inherited by his son Mihail G. Cantacuzino, who died prematurely in 1929. Mihail's wife Maria remarried in December 1939 with music composer George Enescu. The building- known as Cantacuzino Palace at the time - hosted the Presidency of the Council of Ministers in the eve of World War II. After the death of George Enescu in 1955, his wife stated in her will that the palace would host a museum dedicated to the artist. In 1956, 'The National Museum George Enescu' was established. (Source)

In the back of the Cantacuzino Palace you can find the Memorial house of George Enescu. 

Who was Geroge Enerscu? George Enescu was a Romanian composer, violinist, pianist, conductor, and teacher, seen by many as Romania's greatest musician. (Source) 

Cesianu House (1892) is an example of the reconditioning of an older residence, from the period of 1846-1850 and is one of the few aristocratic residences of the Belle Epoque Bucharest which remains faithful to its original design. (Source) 

Romanian Government Palace can be found in the Victory Square. Built in 1937, it serves as the headquarters of the Prime Minister of Romania and his cabinet. The palace was built under the supervision of Duiliu Marcu (1885-1966), student of the Bucharest Superior School of Architecture (1906) and of Paris Ecole de Beaux-Arts (diplomat in 1912). The monolithic structure materializes an austere expression of the neoclassical style. (Source)

But things are getting more and more New York style and the high glass buildings are slowly taking over the city. Hopefully the mix will stay as much as possible in line with the old architecture. 

Bucharest is not made just out of old grey communistic apartment buildings but it has a lot of impressive architecture with influence from around Europe but probably mainly France. This is another reason why back in the days Bucharest was also called Little Paris. I hope this post helps you get a different view about the city, and I will just add that this is just a little part of it, the rest is up to you to discover.