Tag: Art Nouveau

Tour: Art Nouveau Bucharest

Tour: Art Nouveau Bucharest

Valentin Mandache

Dear readers,

I would like to invite you to a thematic architectural tour, this Saturday 8 April 2023, between the hours 12.00h – 14.00h, on the subject of the exceedingly interesting, but somehow elusive Art Nouveau architecture of Bucharest. The proposed cultural excursion may be of interest to any of you visiting the town as a tourist or on business, looking to find out more about its fascinating historic architecture and identity.

The innovative and flamboyant Art Nouveau current that emerged at the end of c19th, as a reaction to the rigidity of the historicist styles, had also an important impact in Fin de Siècle Romania. One of its notable influences was the articulation within its coordinates of the local national style, known today as Neoromanian, in a similar manner with how other emerging national styles in the rest of Eastern Europe expressed themselves in Art Nouveau fashions. There are just a handful of buildings in town expounding the international Art Nouveau design as a whole, a number of them examined and admired within this Read more →

Art Nouveau letter box plate

Valentin Mandache
Art Nouveau letter box plate dating from the 1900s, Mosilor area, Bucharest (©Valentin Mandache)

Bucharest is an interesting Art Nouveau province, located at the geographical and in many aspects architectural periphery of this style. That is why the Art Nouveau designs occur mostly fragmentary, in small bits and pieces on buildings that display overall conservative c19th historicisit styles or on some early Neo-Romanian edifices. That makes them less visible for the the untrained eye, constituting one of my favourite past-times to spot them. The letter box plate from the image above is one of those discoveries, adorning the Little Paris style doorway of a 1900s house in Mosilor area of Bucharest. Its lettering style renders, somehow in a provincial Art Nouveau manner, the free flowing plant leaves so peculiar for this style, making it quite evocative for the manifestation of this current in this part of the world.

Grand Art Nouveau style remodelling project in Chisinau

Valentin Mandache

Chisinau (Kishinev), the capital of the Republic of Moldova, is blessed with a fascinating mix of period architecture dating mostly from the second part of c19th and the first half of the c20th, reflecting the evolution of architectural tastes of the Russian Empire, Romania and the Stalinist Soviet Union. The city contains a number of attractive Art Nouveau style edifices, the most spectacular being a recent remodelling of a Fin de Siècle house, which I encountered during my recent Chisinau trip. The edifice is mentioned on the well documented website “Centrul Istoric al Chisinaului“, which is a comprehensive database of architecturally valuable buildings in the historical centre of the Republic of Moldova’s capital. At the entry detailing the house, which was compiled before the start of the remodelling project, is mentioned that the façade used to be Art Nouveau (named “modern” in the terminology of the Moldovan architects), but completely erased of its decoration during the vicious 1990s post-Soviet property boom. It seems that in the intervening time an enlightened proprietor has decided to bring something back from the edifice’s former glory, as the photographs, which I was able to take from the street, amply testify. In my opinion is a tasteful remodelling and it might also be in the spirit of the original decoration that adorned the house, as I believe the owner had access to old plans and photographs from which the contemporary designer could guide him/her/self. It reminds me of another Art Nouveau project from scratches which takes place in Bucharest, which I documented in 2010 on this blog. I believe that this particular instance is a positive development for Chisinau, and the post-Soviet world, in raising the awareness and appreciation about the local architectural heritage that suffered so much during the two world conflagrations of the c20th, the Soviet era or the most devastating for heritage last two decade since the Soviet empire fell.

Grand Art Nouveau style remodelling project, Pushkin Street, Chisinau (©Valentin Mandache)
Grand Art Nouveau style remodelling project, Pushkin Street, Chisinau: first floor balcony decoration (©Valentin Mandache)
Grand Art Nouveau style remodelling, Pushkin Street, Chisinau: detail of the pediment decoration, 1st floor balcony (©Valentin Mandache)
Grand Art Nouveau style remodelling, Pushkin Street, Chisinau:  detail of the pediment decoration, 1st floor balcony (©Valentin Mandache)
Grand Art Nouveau style remodelling, Pushkin Street, Chisinau: window pediment decoration (©Valentin Mandache)
Grand Art Nouveau style remodelling, Pushkin Street, Chisinau: pilaster capital (©Valentin Mandache)
Grand Art Nouveau style remodelling, Pushkin Street, Chisinau: detail of doorway pediment decoration (©Valentin Mandache)

1900s decorative tiles for birthday celebration

Valentin Mandache
1900s decorative tiles, Ana Aslan Institute, Bucharest (©Valentin Mandache)

Today is my birthday and I would like to celebrate it with a photographic array of decorative tiles dating from the 1900s, embellishing the façade of Ana Aslan Institute in Bucharest. The tiles display characteristics peculiar to the Art Nouveau style, one of my favourites. Bellow is a photograph of Diana and me taken yesterday, Sunday, in the near evening hours, after we had a nice celebratory dinner, followed by a walk in the beautiful Icoanei Garden area, surrounded by spring flowers and the soothing sunlight so characteristic of this season and latitude.

Birthday celebration, Bucharest, Icoanei Garden, April 2012

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Art Nouveau gate

Valentin Mandache
Art Nouveau style gate dating from the1900s, Mosilor area, Bucharest (©Valentin Mandache)

This article is on the theme of today’s architectural tour on the Art Nouveau style of Bucharest. The photographs present a rare Art Nouveau style gate found during one of my tours last year. It is in a quite run down state, but still preserves its design details from the 1900s period. I like the gate handle and the decorative lock plate, which in a nutshell convey the air of those times.

Art Nouveau style gate dating from the 1900s, Mosilor area, Bucharest (©Valentin Mandache)

Art Nouveau balcony

Valentin Mandache
Art Nouveau style balcony, 1900s apartment house, Izvor area, Bucharest (©Valentin Mandache)

I am planning an Art Nouveau architecture tour for this Saturday, announcement to follow. I hope that this image of a Bucharest Art Nouveau style balcony would act as a foretaste for that event. The ironwork of the balcony contains abstract representations of flower motifs. Also Art Nouveau are the plaster decorations embellishing the window openings. Unfortunately the attractive over a century old design of this apartment house is diminished by the air conditioning units affixed without any regard for aesthetics, a situation encountered at every step and corner in Bucharest. The air conditioning units are still seen as a high status symbol (as the satellite dishes not long ago) by the local property owners and consequently are “flagged” with impunity even on the best period buildings of this city.

Art Nouveau ironwork ornaments

Valentin Mandache

This is quite an extensive example, for Bucharest, of Art Nouveau ironwork, in a city where the Art Nouveau details are frequently of  modest dimensions and usually part of larger structures expressed mainly in Little Paris or Beaux Arts styles. The building in this instance, located in the Dorobanti area, displays a series of other Art Nouveau features, such as on its main doorway (not visible here), window opening decorations or columns. However, the ironwork is the most remarkable among them and of a good quality design, pleasing to the eye. The entrance awning rests on two “free flowing” long leaf motif corbels, while the attractive stairs balustrade displays abstract motifs recycled from traditional Japanese drawings, a main source of inspiration for this style. As everywhere in Bucharest, there are aggressive renovations and modern “improvements”, like the white plastic frame double glazing and the air conditioning unit, which obliterated original architectural elements, damaging the visual value of this building.

Art Nouveau ironwork ornaments, 1900s house, Dorobanti area, Bucharest (©Valentin Mandache)
Art Nouveau ironwork ornaments, 1900s, house, Dorobanti area, Bucharest (©Valentin Mandache)
Art Nouveau ironwork ornaments, 1900s house, Dorobanti area, Bucharest (©Valentin Mandache)
Art Nouveau ironwork ornaments, 1900s house, Dorobanti area, Bucharest (©Valentin Mandache)

Images from today’s architectural tour: Art Nouveau Bucharest

Valentin Mandache
Art Nouveau Bucharest: images from today's Historic Houses of Romania tour (©Valentin Mandache)

Art Nouveau lettering

Valentin Mandache

The Art Nouveau style architecture is a bit of a rara avis in Bucharest. My periodical walking tour “Art Nouveau Bucharest” endeavours to survey an ample proportion of those elements embellishing the city. I thus feel rewarded when from time to time I find the odd Art Nouveau gem here and there, as is the case with the two letter rendering examples presented in the photographs bellow. The first one, with the name of the old Agricultural Bank, Banca Agricola or “Agricola”, as it was habitually known one century agao, was quite hard to spot, on top of a backstreet building façade in the CEC area of central Bucharest. The second Art Nouveau lettering example is on the floor of the western entrance of Amzei Church, a peculiar Art Nouveau – Byzantine design by architect Alexandru Savulescu in 1901. It welcomes the churchgoers with the saying “Sa fim credinciosi” (“Let’s be faithful/ believers”). Both examples are delicate signals to the indifferent contemporary passer-bys  from a long gone and beautiful epoch.

Art Nouveau lettering: the name panoply for "Banca Agricola" ("The Agricultural Bank") dating from the 1900s, CEC area, Bucharest (©Valentin Mandache)
Art Nouveau lettering: "Let's be faithful" on the pavement at the western entrance of Amzei Church, dating from 1901, Bucharest (©Valentin Mandache)

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I endeavour through this series of periodic articles to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of European architectural history and heritage.

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

1900s Ploiesti doorway

1900s Ploiesti doorway

Valentin Mandache

I found in one of my occasional trips to Ploiesti last summer, a well preserved house dating from the 1900s in a style halfway between neo-baroque and neoclassical, which was also embellished with a splendid wrought iron doorway that displayed some interesting Art Nouveau motifs. The area endowed with the amplest such design was the upper window of the doorway, presented in the second photograph bellow. It shows a flowing, whiplash shape, flower motif typical of the Art Nouveau decorative panoply. The house is illustrative for the urban architecture of the first decade of the c2oth Romania, when the historicist style buildings also encompassed and often seamlessly integrated fashionable Art Nouveau elements, as is the case with this doorway assembly.

The doorway of a 1900s Ploiesti house (©Valentin Mandache)
Art Nouveau style ironwork decorating the upper window of a 1900s doorway in Ploiesti, southern Romania (©Valentin Mandache)

***********************************************

I endeavour through this series of periodic articles to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of European architectural history and heritage.

***********************************************

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