Tag: Snagov

Neo-Romanian Style Boathouse

Valentin Mandache
Neo-Romanian style boathouse, within the grounds of the Scroviste Royal Palace, north of Bucharest. 1920s photograph. (source: Romanian National Archives)

This is the only Neo-Romanian style boat house of which I am aware. The photograph dates from the mid 1920s, showing it during construction, in the finishing stages. The main Neo-Romanian diagnostic elements are the roof finials and the wooden poles and arches similar to those embellishing peasant house verandas in the villages of southern Romania. The structure was built on the shore of the lake Snagov, north of Bucharest, within the grounds of the Scroviste Royal Palace gardens, for sheltering small private boats belonging to members of the Romanian Royal Family. The gardens were designed by the landscape architect Friedrich Rebhun (famous in late c19th and early c20th Romania for designing the Cismigiu public gardens in Bucharest or the Pelesh Royal Castle park in Sinaia and many other commissions). I very much like the reflection of the boathouse in the placid surface of lake Snagov, thus greatly enhancing its gracious lines. I believe that the construction has vanished many decades ago, probably during the years after the communist regime took over the palace and radically “modernised” it according to the uncouth tastes of the then presidential couple, Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu. The palace is still in use nowadays by the Romanian presidency and the Ceausescu era design alterations are still very much appreciated by the actual nouveau riche political elite of Romania.

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

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 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.

Arts and Crafts House within Royal Palace Grounds

Valentin Mandache
A guest house inspired from the Romanian peasant type dwellings, built in the 1920s and located within the Scroviste royal palace grounds, on lake Snagov shore, North of Bucharest. (©ANR/ Valentin Mandache)

The image above shows one of the guest houses from within the grounds of Scroviste royal palace, on the shore of Snagov lake. It is a design combining the peasant house and Neo-Romanian architectures within a peculiar Arts and Crafts matrix (see my earlier post on Romanian Arts and Crafts architecture for details). The house has a ground floor pergola made from wooden poles carved with ethnographic motifs. Similar type carved poles adorn the extended first floor veranda. The palace gardens were landscaped by Fr. Rebhun, a talented and prolific Austrian landscape architect, very active in Romania in those decades, with many completed royal and public park commissions (Royal Pelesh Castle gardens, Cismigiu Park in central Bucharest, etc.) . What I like in this instance in terms of landscape architecture is the pergola with climbing roses, the house nestled between two imposing trees and the peasant stone stone cross at the base of the right hand tree, which together with the wonderful architecture of the house and its special location on the shore of a prairie lake constitute a metaphor of the Romanian peasant life and country’s natural landscape, an excellent product of those very creative decades of early c20th in this country.

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

I endeavor through this daily image series to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of European architectural heritage.

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

If you plan acquiring a historic property in Romania or start a renovation project, I would be delighted to advice you in locating 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.