Architect Henrieta Delavrancea

He had 4 extraordinary daughters who, in their turn, influenced the Romanian culture. His oldest daughter, Cella Delavrancea, was a great and long-lived pianist and writer, who died at the age of 103. Margareta, his second daughter, was a graduate of letters and philosophy, his third daughter Niculina, also known as Pica, was a physician, while his youngest daughter, Henrieta, known as Riri, born in 1894 and dead in 1987, was one of the first women architects of Romania.

Barbu Stefanescu-Delavrancea's wife, Maria Lupascu, was also an intellectual, a graduate of philosophy and mathematics, who was a role model for her daughters. She was also an amateur pianist. Between 1912 and 1927, when she retired, she was the director of the Central Girls' School. Henrieta Delavrancea's first thoughts about architecture are linked to this school, whose building, preserved to this day, is one of the masterpieces of architect Ion Mincu, who is considered the founder of the Neo-Romanian style.

A friend of Barbu Stefanescu-Delavrancea, Mincu was a regular presence in their house, as Cella Delavrancea wrote in her memoir book. Henrieta Delavrancea wanted to be an architect ever since her childhood, when she was just a first grader. She was only 6 and she never changed her option about what she wanted to become in life. She started studying architecture in 1913 at a time when only three other women before her had dared choose that profession.

Due to WWI she had to continue her studies by mail, and ended them only in 1927. Meanwhile, in 1919, she married with engineer Emile Gibory in Paris. When she retuned to Romania in the 1920s, Henrieta Delavrancea started to work as an architect and her first projects were influenced by the Neo-Romanian style created by her mentor, architect Ion Mincu. Despite Mincu's influence, Henrieta stood out thanks to her original take on architecture and she managed to create her own style in Romania's inter-war architecture, inspired by vernacular forms, as Simina Stan, a researcher in architecture history, has told us:

Simina Stan: "There are two or three buildings designed by Henrieta at the beginning of her career, in 1927, with Neo-Romanian influences. One such building is a house located in the Cotroceni area of Bucharest, on Dr. Lister street. For the rest of her projects, she created a type of architectural vernacular style, in the sense that she created a traditional style of urban architecture. This style can be identified on the houses that she designed in several resorts on the Black Sea Coast, in Constanta, Eforie Sud and Balcik (on the Bulgarian coast). Henrieta Delavrancea also designed the former city hall of Balcik, which now shelters the city's History and Archeology Museum. All in all, she designed around 20 villas, of which only 12 or 13 have stood the test of time."

In Balcik, Henrieta Delavrancea Gibory also designed several parts of Queen Marie's palace on the seashore. It was there that she built the Rangers' Pavilion and the Queen's Tea Pavilion, which Queen Marie's used to call her "small Mount Athos" as it was erected at a certain height, giving the impression that it floated among the clouds. In Bucharest, Henrieta continued to design private houses, as well as public buildings, such as the façade of the Capitol cinema building, which, due to its innovative style, resembled the architecture specific of New York. Simina Stan has the details:

Simina Stan: "In Bucharest, we should start by presenting her house located on Mihai Eminescu Street, at no. 149. The house of her sister, Cella, was located in the same yard. It Henrieta's her first project in Bucharest. In Balcik she started working in 1932 and she continued for about six years. She started this stage in her life at around 40. At the same time, she worked for the Fundeni Hospital in Bucharest and for the Institute of Medicine in Colentina Neighborhood."

            In 1932, Henrieta Delavrancea-Gibory made the blueprint of the palace in Snagov, designed for Prince Nicolae, the brother of King Carol II. In the 1970s the building was expanded at the order of Nicolae Ceausescu, to serve as his residence for various official meetings. After 1948, when the communists took over power in Romania, Henrieta Delavrancea -Gibory continued designing buildings and restoring hospitals and medical buildings. She also worked on restoring a number of old churches. She died in 1987 when Cella turned 100. An important collection of detailed sketches and blueprints was found in her house, proof of the fact that she worked on a big number of projects and that she was highly meticulous in doing her job.