Bucharest, just like any other
\nEuropean capital that underwent several periods of modernisation, has a rich
\nand diverse tangible and intangible heritage, which is also visible in
\narchitecture. Bucharest’s architectural makeover and evolution started in the
\nlast quarter of the 19th century, after the country gained state
\nindependence in 1877-1878 and proclaimed the monarchy in 1881. One of the most
\ninteresting buildings which were erected in early 20th-century Bucharest
\nwas the Pompiliu Eliade House. It has gone through all stages of a building:
\nefforts to build it, falling into oblivion and disrepair, and attempts to
\nrehabilitate and refurbish it. Together with editor Silvia Colfescu we’ll take
\na glimpse at the history of this unique building.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The
\nhouse is located at 74 Splaiul Independen\u021bei Boulevard, at the junction with Ha\u0219deu
\nStreet. The beneficiary of the building was a prominent personality of Romanian
\nliterature, Pompiliu Eliade, a humanist with great cultural merits in Romania
\nat that time, and a friend of Bogdan Petriceicu Ha\u0219deu. The house has a special
\nblueprint, with a central octagonal hall and four wings to the cardinal points,
\ndrawn by Ha\u0219deu himself, who was friends with Eliade and suggested to the
\nlatter that this blueprint was beneficial to the dwellers. The house was later
\ndesigned by Henri Susskind, who also built the Veterinary Medical School,
\nopposite the road, jointly with entrepreneur Schindl. Susskind, an Austrian
\nbaron, was married to a Romanian, general N\u0103sturel Herescu’s niece. The house
\nwas built after the family contracted a loan, much like all prominent people of
\nthose times used to do, to have beautiful houses in Bucharest. At that time,
\npeople didn’t accumulate wealth overnight. Spiru Haret built his home on Verde Street
\nbased on a loan, just like Pompiliu Eliade. He lived there with his wife and
\ntwo children until he passed away. After his death, his wife could no longer
\nreimburse the loan and the house was taken over by the bank. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
An architectural gem was created
\nthanks to the friendship between Ha\u0219deu, an overwhelming personality and Pompiliu
\nEliade, a very clever humanist. Here is Silvia Colfescu again with further
\ndetails. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The
\nhouse is truly special. It’s an example of Romantic, Wagner-style architecture,
\nit looks like a castle. Actually, it looks very much like Iulia Ha\u0219deu’s castle
\nin Campina, with Art Nouveau decorative elements. Further away, on the bank of
\nDambovita River, one can see a similar house, but there is no other resembling
\nhouse in Bucharest. The original fence had been persevered intact until a
\ncouple of years ago, so it stood the test of time for 100 years, until the
\ngates vanished overnight, as scrap iron sold very well. Pompiliu Eliade died in
\n1914, his wife left the house, took the kids and moved to Paris. The house was
\ntaken over by the bank which didn’t know exactly what to do with it. It kept it
\nfor a while and tried to turn it into a student hostel. In the end, it was
\nbought by a jurist, Anton R\u0103dulescu, who had two kids and a well-off family
\nwhich took utmost care of the house. Initially, the stories were not separated,
\nso Anton R\u0103dulescu built such a board to make the building more efficient. He kept
\nthe apartment on the upper floor for his daughter, as a future wedding gift,
\nand he lived on the ground-floor with his wife and son. His daughter married Grigore
\nOlimpiu Ioan, a journalist by profession, who studied in Paris, and they lived
\non the first floor. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
After the end of WWII, the house
\nstarted to fall into disrepair, once the communists seized power. Silvia
\nColfescu. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Everything was wonderful, the
\nhouse was well taken care of, it was one of the most beautiful houses in
\nBucharest, until the moment of liberation. It was back then that many owners
\nwere stripped of their properties and the population started being clustered. Many
\npeople from villages across the country were urged to go to towns and take over
\nthe leadership of the country. Consequently, accommodation had to be found for
\nthem. Bucharest had 500,000 inhabitants and all of a sudden their number
\nskyrocketed. Where to accommodate people if not in the houses of those who had
\nplenty of space? Cold shivers are running down my spine even now, when I think
\nabout those things. Various bizarre figures were lodged in the house we are
\ntalking about, among whom a man who used to have his relatives from the
\ncountryside over. Well, they came in a horse-drawn carriage which they used to
\npark near the house, in the courtyard. There was also a party activist whose
\ngreatest merit was to steal the jurist’s pickles one day. The esoteric,
\noctagonal hall, could not be used for accommodation purposes, and all the other
\nrooms were full. The hall, where the guests were once welcomed, where tea was
\nonce served and people talked pleasant things, was now the room where pickles
\nwere preserved. Each epoch had its characteristic elements. These are the
\ncharacteristics of that epoch, a horse drawn carriage in a Wagner-style courtyard
\nand pickles in the octagonal hall. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
After the owners’ death, their son
\nin law, the only legatee, was forced to sell an apartment and soon after 1989
\nto sell the whole building to a businessman. Then, he left for Paris. Abandoned
\nby the new owner, the house was gradually vandalised. However, those who lived
\nabusively in the house have recently been evacuated and the building has been
\nfenced. Architecture lovers hope the house will now be included in a project to
\nbring it back to life. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of the oldest buildings in the capital city<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":169116,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45210],"tags":[45262,45503,45504],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-169115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rri-encyclopaedia","tag-bogdan-petriceicu-hasdeu","tag-pompiliu-eliade","tag-silvia-colfescu"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n