Tag: Neo-Romanian Style Window

“Round” Neoromanian windows

Valentin Mandache

The round and pseudo-round windows are a rare apparition within the decorative register of the Neo-Romanian architecture. They are rather an Art Nouveau style characteristic, as in the cases that I found throughout Bucharest, mentioned at this link. For the Neo-Romanian design, the round window is certainly an Art Nouveau echo from its seminal early stage of development in the last decade of the c19th until the mid-1900s. The two pseudo-round windows presented in the photographs bellow are such echoes vigorously reverberating in the early 1930s. I like the interesting juxtaposition of two church inspired motifs: that of the triptych/ holy trinity seen in the tree main window sectors together with that of the rope, obvious in the first image and implied in the second.

"Round" Neo-Romanian window, early 1930s house, Patriarchy Hill area, Bucharest (©Valentin Mandache)
"Round" Neo-Romanian window, early 1930s house, Gradina Icoanei area, 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.

Amber glass decorated Neo-Romanian style window

Valentin Mandache
Neo-Romanian style window, mid-1920s house, Kiseleff area, Bucharest (©Valentin Mandache)

This is a delicate and also impressive Neo-Romanian style window, where the main visual effect is given by the small rhomboidal amber coloured glass panes that define the casement at regular intervals. Other well designed elements are the double arch of the wall opening, the two Neo-Romanian columns flanking the window and the grape vine and leaf motif panels that decorate its apron. The whole assembly excellently suggests the romantic medieval ambiance, which is a feature of this architectural order, of the times of yore when these lands were part of the restless borderlands between the christian and worlds of the Middle Ages.

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I endeavour 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 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.

Semicircular Neo-Romanian style window

Valentin Mandache
Semicircle shape Neo-Romanian style window, house dating from early the 1930s, Piata Romana area, Bucharest (©Valentin Mandache)

The semicircular window is a relatively frequent design element of the Neo-Romanian style houses, decorating usually the street side wall of the the living room. Its shape reminds of the origins of this style in the European Art Nouveau current that started to unfold in the last decade of the c19th, when national-romantic styles, such as the Neo-Romanian, were developed in many of the newly independent or emerging states across the continent. The semicircle shape and the two main mullions also indicate that the initial source of inspiration for this design is the Diocletian or thermal type window, first used in ancient Rome for the baths built by that emperor.

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I endeavour 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 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.

Early Neo-Romanian style window

Valentin Mandache
Early Neo-Romanian style window, dating from the 1890s, Armeneasca area, Bucharest. (©Valentin Mandache)

The window and the building which it adorns date from the last decade of the c19th, a period when the Neo-Romanian architectural style was still in its infancy. I documented in previous blog articles a number of such exquisite houses, which display decorative and structural features from that fascinating formative period, click here or here to access some examples. This particular window displays an interesting transition between between elements peculiar to the Little Paris style (French c19th historicist styles interpreted in a provincial manner in the late c19th Romania), such as the two classical like columns or the flower garland rim, and Wallachian church and Ottoman decorative elements, where most conspicuous are the type of the broken arch crowning the top of the window and the repeating leaf motif decorating the pediment.

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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.

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

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.

Semicircular Neoromanian Style Window from the 1920s

Valentin Mandache
Neo-Romanian style semicircular window adorning a mid-1920s house in the Cotroceni area of Bucharest. (©Valentin Mandache)

The semicircular shape of the Neo-Romanian style window depicted in the photograph above, together with its adorable wood frame carvings and multicoloured stained glass design, betray the Art Nouveau connections of this architectural order. The Neo-Romanian style is a national romantic artistic expression in architecture that emerged in this country at the end of c19th and resolutely conserved its Art Nouveau-like decorative register well after the dawn of this movement, as this mid-1920s window abundantly confirms that fact.

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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.