Dear readers,
I would like to invite you to a thematic walking tour this Saturday 15 April 2023, on the subject of the late phase of the Neo-Romanian architectural style, which unfurled mainly in the fourth and the fifth decades of the c20th, a period when this order peculiar to Romania reached a crisis in terms of expression, mitigated by a fascinating synthesis with the Art Deco, Mediterranean and Modernist styles. The tour takes two hours, between 12.00h – 14.00h, and it may be of interest to those of you visiting the city as a tourist or on business, looking to find out more about its enchanting historic architecture and identity.
The modern construction technologies that emerged in the roaring twenties affording the development of light, airy structures expressed in the Art Deco and Modernist architecture, were quite antithetical to the traditionally ornate, heavy-built Neo-Romanian style edifices, as typical to its early and mature phases. That led to a crisis within this indigenous architectural order, threatened also by the high popularity among the public of the international modern styles or other fashionable building types, such as the Mediterranean inspired designs, which were all the rage in Bucharest during the 1930s. The Neo-Romanian style managed to survive and even thrive, until the watershed of the Second World War, through fascinating syntheses especially with the Art Deco, Mediterranean and to a lesser extent with the Modernist designs. That evolution encompasses what I term as the late phase of Romania’s national architecture, its expression in the global building fashions of the 1930s and ’40s. The tour aims to present a number of telling examples from that phase of stylistic development, found in Kiseleff area of north-central Bucharest, which has the highest density of such edifices in town, and thus chart a captivating chapter of Romania’s national style’s development and of Bucharest’s historic architecture.
Book by emailing v.mandache@gmail.com or using the comments section of this post. The deadline for registrations: Friday 14 April, 20.00h (Bucharest hour). You will be informed of the meeting place after booking. Minimum three participants, maximum ten.
I look forward to seeing you at the tour,
Valentin Mandache, architectural historian (tel: 0040 (0)728323272)
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I endeavour through this series of periodic articles to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania and its wider region in the south east Europe, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of architectural history and heritage.
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If you would like to find out about the architectural style and history of a period house in Romania, which you intend to acquire, sell, renovate in its historic spirit or restore, I would be delighted to offer you professional consultancy in that direction. To discuss your particular plan please see my contact details in the Contact page of this weblog.
Valentin Mandache, architectural historian 