Event

120 years of existence - Society of Romanian Architects

From the past of the Society of Romanian Architects

architect Cristofi P. Cerchez - 1941

... It was in the fall of 1900. I had just come from abroad and Burcuș, Petculescu and others arrived with me. I wore a big Italian hat, they wore top hats. I hadn't heard much about architects in Romania, just a few names. There were plenty of foreigners in the country: French, Germans, Italians, even Hungarians. Among the French were Gottereau, who built the Mint, Blank built the Ministry of Estates, Galeron built the Athenaeum and so on. Among the Italians, the one who did most of the work was Iuliu Magni, brought in by Nicolae Filipescu to build the Bucharest City Hall. From him we still have the Central Seminary (Bragadiru), the primary school at Șosea, the house of Eng. Mironescu and so on.

Not knowing that there was a small Society of Romanian Architects in Bucharest, a few colleagues and I decided to set up a club of architects in the country, regardless of nationality: after all, we were architects and naturally, at the meetings, we would not discuss anything other than professional matters.

I don't waste time and after an agreement with some colleagues we print and convene an assembly of all the architects in the Romanian country, one evening around 9 o'clock in the Edison room, where Mircea is today.

More than 100 architects responded and took part in the Assembly, among them I noticed the above mentioned and others. When we were in the midst of discussions and plotting the future, I found myself being pulled by Burcuș,

who tells me to adjourn the meeting, because I'm expected at the home of the architect Socolescu, at Rosetti.

I say a few more words to the assembly, postponing it for another time, and together with Burcuș, Petculescu, Chiriachide and others we set off for the place indicated.

At the biuro's door were waiting for us persons unknown to me: Ion Socolescu, Alexandru Săvulescu, Toma Dobrescu, Mandrea, Ciocârlan, Nedelescu and others - about a dozen in number. They were members of the Society of Romanian Architects, of whom I had no knowledge, few in number, but Alexandru Săvulescu, who built the Post Palace.

A few very enlightening words made me give up the project of the Architects' Club, which I had envisioned, and to join this Society with love.

And it was beautiful in this Society. Once a week - on Fridays - we all got together and discussed nice things.

A sort of a cenacle, like that of the Literary Conversations in Iasi (Bolta Cold). The difference was that the gatherings in Iași were held in the atmosphere of the Bolta Reci, which then warmed them up, whereas in our place they were held in a modest room without any pretensions.

And there was another difference: at the Bolta Rece they discussed literature and politics. At our place, on the other hand, they discussed architecture, the beautification of cities, technical and other matters. Naturally, there were jokes and adventures.

I seem to see Toma Dobrescu with a cap on his head, he would come, sit on a chair, bang his cigar on the table and shout: Zaario! Make me a coffee. Maimarolu, who had made the Military Circle, used to tell jokes; for example, he told us how he and two other guys went to Constanta, boarded the ship Princess Maria and set off to see Constantinople. As soon as they sat down on the ship they started to play cards, and they played them all the way, all the time they were in port in Constantinople, all the time they were back in port in Constanța and... they never saw Constantinople.

As more interesting things Socolesccu told us, how he built a two-story house in Ploiești and how in the spring he sees the house with the top floor behind the walls of the ground floor. He kept thinking, what could that be? The good foundation, the good roof, what was it? The parquet had beaten the floors very thick and very stuck to the walls of the rooms, without "luft". The winter came, the house had no windows, the floors swelled up and the walls were kicked out.

Professional things were also discussed, and the most professional was the stone that the architects hit the hardest, the testing stone of courage. King Carol I, a lover of the country from the very beginning, aware of the past of our Voievozilor Voievozilor, whose seats he occupied, decided to repair the old monasteries, such as the Monastery of Argeș, St. Nicholas Domnesc and Three Hierarchs of Iasi, and others. Not knowing the qualities of the Romanian architects, he turns to Revoil, the president of the French Academy, to recommend an architect skilled in the restoration of monasteries, and Revoil recommends Lecomte de Nouy, as being capable in such works. The work began and finished beautifully, but the disgruntled architects waged a ferocious campaign against the restorations done by foreigners and... even against the king, although the king had been perfectly deliberate; perhaps the suggestion had been made by a politician.

Especially since our architects had proved their competence: Băicoianu had beautifully restored several churches in Moldavia, Gabrielescu had restored the Goliei Tower in Iași.

But since Grigore Alexandrescu, the poet, was alive at the time and had the unfortunate inspiration to write the poem "The Axe and the Forest", the axe-tails were immediately found and the fate of some architects was sealed.

It's as if I'm saying to him: "Hey, Iancule! - to Socolescu - you want to go to architecture school in Bucharest. Hey! Let us settle it first - for about 10-20 years, and then let's do it; they'll eat us up.... Yes, you couldn't talk to Socolescu... and the school was set up; the teachers, them, the elders - without pay, without anything; they paid for the premises, the heating and all the expenses.

And they were also initiated in Romanian architecture: Socolescu had created a particular type of architecture, which had also caught on with the people: they called it "Socolescu style". In any case a more accurate word than the Florentine style of today, which has nothing to do with Florence any more than I have to do with China.

Săvulescu also produced a few operas, Dobrescu did the Hagi Tudorache house on the Șosea, Mincu did the Bufetul, the Central School for Girls and others. The foreigners also fell in love with the Romanian style and Magni made the primary school at Șosea.

Well? These people, apostles in the true sense of the word, they who left themselves for country and nation, they who had a character of all beauty, when Delavrancea entrusted Mincu with the making of the Bucharest City Hall project, instead of gossiping as is customary, they gathered in corpore and presented themselves to the mayor, thanking him for the beautiful initiative that the mayor had taken, to entrust the plans to Mincu.

Well these people who as I said set up the school, none of them had any access to the school. Not a single teacher was fired by Mincu, who wasn't very combative on the issue of historical monuments either.

But there is a God above, their great figures, as long as a Romanian lives on Romanian soil, their memories will not be forgotten.

Society has moved on, schools have moved on.

How saddened I was when at a banquet (an agape of the Society) one of the best, a former colleague of the new generation, now recently dead, under the impression of a "queue", he who did not fit into his character, in the middle of the table addressed with harsh words Ion Socolescu, who was almost ostracized by the new generation, his product after all, seeking to humiliate him.

Temperament of a revolutionary, in the face of righteousness I get up, I address a few kind words to Socolescu, and to my colleague who clearly did not know Socolescu in the true sense I also say a few rather nice, non-violent words to him, ending with a word: Hey! Mr. C.! ... mountains are not known up close, they are known at a distance... Perhaps you will get to know Socolescu later.

From that evening on, we all got on well, and with my friend C. we remained the best of friends, until the hour of his death.