This is a relatively well preserved example of wagon type house (built on a narrow strip of land, of an oblong shape, with the entrance placed on its length, hence the “wagon” shape) in the Little Paris style. That architecture flourished in the La Belle Époque period in Bucharest and many other Romanian towns, being a picturesque local interpretation in a provincial manner of French and other c19th Western historicist styles, grafted on local traditional Ottoman Balkan structures. The house in this photograph was recently mended and crudely painted over with modern DIY store sourced paints. I am glad the proprietor preserved the old window wooden frames and used plain metal sheet for the roof, as this type of house was usually covered. The building preserves its old glazed entrance, with some quaintly coloured glass panes still in place.
Some of Bucharest’s period houses still boast their picturesque insurance plates, as is the case of the dwelling presented bellow. These started to appear in a noticeable number during the first decade of the c20th, once the city adopted proper urban planning rules and developed a fire service able to cover the whole area of the city. It was a sign of civic responsibility and also of status, because paying insurance rates was something which only a minority of the citizens could afford in those times.
The insurance of a house was very advisable in Bucharest, a crowded city, with many wooden structures, which already faced a devastating conflagration, the Great Fire of Bucharest of 1847. Once a proprietor insured his house, the insurance company affixed a metallic plate with the company logo on the street façade of the edifice. The lettering style and spelling of Bucharest’s name are typical for the 1890s – 1910s period.
The building is wagon type house and dates from 1912, as inscribed on its pediment, a prosperous year for Romania, after the great world recession of 1907 and just before the Second Balkan War in which Romania participated directly. That brief period of prosperity and solid urban and architectural development went up in smoke during the expensive Balkan conflagration and the immensely more devastating First World War, when Bucharest fell under the occupation of the Central Power armies.
The construction year of the house, 1912, inscribed on its entrance pediment is contemporary with the period when the lettering style of the insurance plate and and the way how Bucharest’s name is spelled was in use.
The well designed Little Paris style house and its insurance plate described in this article constitute a bit of a bright spot within the uneven and precarious historical development of this city and country, located in one of the most unstable geopolitical regions of c20th Europe.
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 Contactpage of this weblog.
The city of Targoviste in southern Romania contains an excellent selection of period architecture houses, reflecting the styles and architectural evolution of Romania’s provincial towns in the last century and a half. Some of the most interesting examples are those displaying mixed styles, such as the buildings presented in the photomontage above and the slide show bellow the text, exhibiting a delightful synthesis between the Little Paris and the Neo-Romanian architectural designs. That picturesque architecture has been created by the local skilled builders and craftsmen, who transposed in vernacular the prestigious and fashionable styles of their time. The usual occupants of this type of dwelling, which in the high density and land scarce area of Bucharest are known as “wagon houses“, were the families of the the small merchants and state employees (policemen, clerks, teachers, etc.) that constituted the emerging provincial middle classes of Fin de Siècle Romania.
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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 Contactpage of this weblog.
Valentin Mandache, architectural historian 