Tag: Campulung Arges

Architect, builders crew and proprietors on a 1928 building site

Valentin Mandache
The architect Constantin Nanescu, builders crew and proprietors on a building site in 1928 Campulung Muscel, Romania. (fragment of an old postcard, private collection)

The above postcard fragment is a fascinating snapshot of Romanian social, economic and also architectural history from the inter war period. It depicts the main parties in a building project for a shop (“Magazinul Staicu” according to the information on the back of the pc) that took place in 1928 in the city of Campulung Arges, southern Romania. The couple on the right are the proprietors, the person in the middle with a hat, tie and smoking, holding the plan is the architect Constantin Nanescu (better known among his contemporaries for his nickname “Cotone”), surrounded by the builders crew (the foreman between the couple and the architect, the bricklayer also holding the plan, the carpenter together with a young apprentice on the left hand side of the photograph). The postcard was intended as a medium for advertising the architect’s services, whose contact details are prominently displayed on a billboard in the foreground. It was most probably sold at the local bookshops and newsagents, thus spreading the word about the architect among other potential local clients. I like the obvious professional pride and sense of optimism (ironically the Great Depression of 1929 – 33 was just one year away) displayed by all the personages depicted in this memorable image, a fact reflected in the high quality architecture and building workmanship existent in inter-war Romania, which made possible the creation of many wonderful Neo-Romanian, Art Deco and modernist style edifices. I believe that the architectural style of this particular shop was Neo-Romanian, very popular in the late 1920s Campulung. (Many thanks to Mr Daniel Bobe, a native of Campulung, for supplying this postcard image).

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I endeavor through this series of daily 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 a historic property in Romania or start a renovation project, I would be delighted to advice you in sourcing the property, specialist research, planning permissions, restoration project management, etc. To discuss your particular plan please see my contact details in the Contactpage of this weblog.

Fin de siècle villa in Campulung Arges: architect identification controversy – Video-analysis

Valentin Mandache

In this video I analyse whether or not the architect Ion Mincu, the initiator of the Neo-Romanian style, is the designer of Villa Mirea in the town of Campulung Arges, southern Romania. I discuss the characteristics of Mincu’s architectural design by analysing two of his most important creations- Lahovary House and the Causeway Buffet in Bucharest and conclude that Mincu could in fact be the designer of anther edifice in Campulung, namely Villa Apostol Mirea (notice the similarities between the names of the two buildings, a fact which possibly led to the actual confusion in identifying the architect). The photograph is by Daniel Bobe, a native of Campulung; the old postcards- private collection.

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I endeavor through this daily series of 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 a historic property in Romania or start a renovation project, I would be delighted to advice you in sourcing 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.

Campulung-Arges: An Architectural Pot-Pourri

Valentin Mandache
The historic architecture of Campulung-Arges and its environs, southern Romania (photos: Daniel Bobe, old PCs: private collection, montage: Valentin Mandache)

The city of Campulung in the county of Arges has been for a brief period in the c14th the first capital of the Principality of Wallachia, the core of modern Romania. The landscape setting of this urban centre and its satellite villages is one of outstanding natural beauty, in a valley within the Sub-Carpathian piedmont, dominated by the craggy peaks of the Transylvanian Alps. It is located on the old trade route between Wallachia and the Saxon towns of Transylvania, part of the important continental commercial road that linked in the Middle Ages central Europe to the markets of Constantinople and later those of the Ottoman Empire. The rich cultural traditions of the local communities and the propitious location for economic development have produced a beautiful historic architecture abundantly seen in that of the peasant houses, the well preserved old aristocratic villas or in the emblematic buildings that house local government authorities or industrial establishments. The architectural styles are diverse and range from specific ethnographic Romanian, Ottoman Balkan to c19th Alpine chalet, Art Nouveau, Neo-Romanian, Art Deco and even International Modernist. In an attempt to impart a glimpse from that amazing architectural heritage I have put together here a photomontage and a slide show of contemporary photographs and old postcards. The photographs were kindly supplied by Daniel Bobe, a Campulung citizen who has indeed very good reasons to be proud of his city’s 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 sourcing 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.

Identical Symmetric Houses at a Crossroad in Campulung-Arges

Valentin Mandache
Identical houses of a symmetric design, dating from mid-1930s, in Campulung-Arges (Photography: Daniel Bobe)

Recently one of my readers, Mr. Daniel Bobe, who is a student in Bucharest has very kindly offered to make, during the just passed Easter break, a series of architectural photographs in the area of his home town in Campulung Arges in Southern Romania. I was always fascinated by the architecture of Arges county, especially in the region of the first two capitals of the principality of Wallachia: Campulung and Curtea de Arges. It is a zone with a powerful local identity and rich architectural tradition that goes back to the Middle Ages.  Daniel has sent me a wealth of images from Campulung, which will make the object of a few blogposts. Herein is an interesting example of 1930s architecture that uses Neo-Romanian and Art Deco outlines and elements of a group of four (4) identical houses, two of which are shown in the above montage, situated at the corners of the same crossroad. Each of these buildings have in their turn a symmetrical design, which is especially suited for situations when the building is located on a street corner as is the case here. I like the architectural play of diverse symmetries in this set up: one in the simple symmetry of each individual house and another in the multiple symmetry of the group of the four identical edifices mirroring each other across the street corners, which brings dynamism and enlivens this otherwise mundane crossroad.

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I endeavor through this daily series of images and small 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 a historic property in Romania or start a renovation project, I would be delighted to advice you in sourcing 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.