Venetian Echoes in Inter-war Bucharest Architecture

The assorted mix of architectural styles of inter-war Bucharest contains, apart from its main components, the Neo-Romanian, Art Deco and Modernist orders, a series of interesting architectural trends and creations of a more peculiar expression, such as what I call the “inter-war Venetian style”. It became popular in the 1930s at a time of intense cultural links with Italy (Romania even maintained a research institute in Venice, set up in 1930) and evolved from the Venetian Renaissance component of the stylistic background on which the Neo-Romanian architecture was initially based. A good example is the house in the photograph above, that displays crisp, well balanced Venetian style details such as thin columns, Venetian type capitals, balcony’s latticework decoration, etc. I especially like the way how the slender column of the balcony, supporting an airy pergola, breaks the monotony of the façade and smoothens the contrast between the group of tall columns in the background and the short height of the balcony fence, an excellent visual solution that highlights the talent of the local inter-war architects.

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I endeavor through this daily image series to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of European architectural heritage.

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If you plan acquiring a historic property in Romania or start a renovation project, I would be delighted to advice you in locating the property, specialist research, planning permissions, restoration project management, etc. To discuss your particular plan please see my contact details in the Contact page of this weblog.