The Asher Family
The Sephardic community of Bucharest was one of the most economically dynamic communities in the Romanian capital
Steliu Lambru, 06.06.2026, 14:00
The Sephardic community of Bucharest was one of the most economically dynamic communities in the Romanian capital. Among its prominent figures is the Ascher family. Felicia Waldman, a professor of Jewish history at the University of Bucharest, is the one who knows this family’s story.
Felicia Waldman: “David Ascher, who lived from the late 18th century to the mid-19th century, was an Austrian subject, although he was born in Bucharest. He registered as an Austrian subject to benefit from the protection of the Austrian agency. He ran a business importing clothing from England, goods he brought in via Constantinople or even directly from British ports. It was a business he had inherited from his father and which he later passed on to his sons. According to the 1838 census, David Ascher and his wife Leah had five children at the time: Solomon, Avram, Isaac, Jacob, and Lazarus. In 1873, Isaac, who had since changed his name to Isidor, moved to Paris. Abraham moved to Vienna, where he died in 1891, while his son Albert chose Paris, where he is listed in the 1881 census. We can speculate that Jacob died in childhood.”
Two of the Ascher brothers set up a business that became famous in Bucharest at the time.
Felicia Waldman: “In 1876, the two brothers who remained in Romania, Lazăr and Solomon, founded Banca București (Bucharest Bank) together with eight other enthusiasts. But the banking venture ended after only six years. It didn’t work out, there were already too many banks at the time. Albert Ascher, Abraham’s son, founded a fashion store in 1880 at 11 Lipscani Street, which, after expanding in 1885 with a second location in the Dacia-Romania Palace at 3 Lipscani Street, began to bear the now-famous name, Au bon goût. By the early 1890s, Au bon goût was already a major business in need of a suitable location. No sooner said than done. Ascher purchased a plot of land at 8 Lipscani Street, across from Carada Street, which at the time had a different name. The site stretched all the way to Stavropoleos Street. In November 1893, the merchant applied to the city hall for a permit to build an apartment building on the site. It was a large structure, covering 621 square meters. The two-story building with an attic was erected the following year according to the plans of architect Filip Xenopol.”
The business expanded, and partners joined the Ascher brothers.
Felicia Waldman: “The two Au bon goût shops were moved to a single location in this building. The new store had entrances on both streets, Lipscani 8 and Stavropoleos 11, and occupied most of the building’s ground floor. We do not know under what circumstances, in 1895, Ascher left the business by selling his share to the Levi brothers, with whom he had previously partnered. At that time, Ahile and Albert Levi formed a new partnership that owned the Au bon goût stores. We do not know exactly how much of the property Ascher had sold to the Levi brothers when he left the business. What is certain is that a century ago, the Au bon goût firm did not own the entire building in which the store was located, but only the section facing Stavropoleos Street. The rest of the building belonged to Henri and Leonie Mayer. Therefore, following a decision made by the company’s Board of Directors in February 1920, the remainder of the building was purchased from the Mayers.”
As it always happens, a well-known brand is incorporating other names, not only those of the founders.
Felicia Waldman: “After in 1904, Au bon goût had been chanced into a limited partnership, in 1905 the stakeholders, no longer connected with the Ascher family, were to open inside the building a commission house in partnership with the bank Marmorosch-Blank. That commission house eventually changed into an import-export society. The society moved to another location in 1924, after the building had been demolished. So, what we have there today is no longer that building, which became unpractical to the new owner Jean Chrissoveloni, who built here his famous bank, which lasted until today.”
The second Ascher generation would be a remarkable presence in the Bucharest’s business world.
Felicia Waldman:” Solomon Ascher, one of David Ascher’s five children, used to be an emblematic figure of Bucharest. Besides his clothing business, as he used to have many shops in Hanul cu Tei, a trade area exclusively dealing in clothing, back in 1874 he bought the former Hagi Tudorachi inn. As early 1869, the Hagi Tudorachi inn was renamed the Trade Passage and is the present ARCUB headquarter on Lipscani street wrongly named the Gabroveni Inn. A series of banks had their offices there and Marmorosch-Blank opened their fourth branch here. From his marriage with Sara, Solomon Ascher had six children. In Sara’s death certificate we found a notification, which could be funny unless it wasn’t macabre: ‘drowned in the Danube, and brought back to Bucharest from Vienna’. One of the girls, Sofia was married to Leon Manoach, a representative of the Manoach family. Sofia and then her oldest son Emanuel managed to keep the Hanul cu Tei until WWII.”
The third Ascher generation wrote its own history.
Felicia Waldman:” A son of Solomon’s, Moreno Ascher, was owner of one of the houses in the Trade Passage. It appears in older pictures, but it is actually no longer there. It used to be at Lipscani 74. Moreno also owned the house on Lipscani 90, which also included another Sephardic house, La Papagal, which belonged to Albert Farhy. It was another Sephardic fashion company, which was connected to the Ascher family.”
The history of the Sephardic community in Bucharest also gave the Romanian capital the name of Ascher. Today, it is a genuine presence through the heritage of places and buildings.
(MI&bill)
