During its heydays in the inter-war period, the Neo-Romanian architectural style has been applied to most types of buildings from domestic, commercial, civic to industrial and military. The image above shows an imposing garage, a rare category of Neo-Romanian industrial architecture, which I located last winter in the Victoriei area of Bucharest. The design is characteristic of the late 1920s Neo-Romanian style types. That was a period when more modern and slender design patterns started to be employed by the local architects, as a consequence of the wider availability after the Great War of modern construction materials and techniques, such as steel, reinforced concrete or sizeable glass surfaces. I like the citadel aspect of the building, a hallmark of the Neo-Romanian style and its division into a ground-floor garage/ workshop area, offices on the first floor and probably living quarters on the second floor. The presence of probable living quarters makes me consider that the building initial destination might have been that of a fire station and only later turned into a standard garage. The edifice today is the property of the Romanian National TV, a state company, as seen from the logo painted on the main doors, a fact which probably saved it from the hands of the rapacious property developers that have ravaged the historic architecture of the surrounding area during the boom of the last decade, with the complicit approval of the usually corrupt city authorities.
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I endeavor through this daily series of daily articles 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 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.
Valentin Mandache, architectural historian 