Baloshin States

The Wilson, Creditul Minier and Pherekyde buildings on Bd. N. Balcescu, are landmark buildings in Bucharest and among the best known works of architect State Baloșin (1885-1953). Despite a rich career spanning almost 40 years, and although his buildings are easy to spot as they bear his name inscribed in a corner of the façade, information about the architect is still scarce.

State ^Baloșin1 was born on September 16, ¹⁸⁸⁵² in the village of Negoiești, Mehedinți County, "the youngest of 11 children of a peasant family. He attended primary school in Baia de Aramă and high school in Craiova, where he was a scholarship holder and a teacher, giving lessons to support himself. Determined to progress on his own, he went to Bucharest to study at the Higher School of Architecture, while at the same time working at the Ministry of Finance to support himself. He graduated in 1915.

He was unmarried and had no children. He worked tirelessly in the Ministry of Finance, where he showed skill and initiative. He started as a simple draughtsman, then became an architectural conductor, deputy chief, head of section, head of department, head of service, inspector of architecture, deputy director and from 1940 director and from 1940 director until 1945, when he retired, but he practiced his profession until the early ^1950s3.

He did not forget the deprivation and misery he experienced as a child, he did not forget the pig's troughs, the frostbite and the cold, he did not forget the onion cakes in the book-salts, the daily food he learned with in his primary school, but he helped the destitute in the Ministry of Finance and beyond."

"As an architect he designed for the Ministry of Finance: the headquarters of some financial administrations, of some tax offices and customs offices, the rest house for the employees of the Ministry of Finance, and outside the ministry he also worked for state institutions such as: the House of Constructions, various town halls in the provinces, he designed the plans of the embassy in Sofia, the plan for the systematization of the cities of Turnu-Severin and Galati, monuments of the heroes of the First World War" among which we mention: the monument of Mateiaș (together with arch. D. Ionescu-Berechet), the monument of the heroes of Cerna in the park of Turnu-Severin, the monument of the heroes of Slobozia-Vlașca, the mausoleum of the heroes of Giurgiu, the monument of the Declaration of Padeș, etc..

"As a private architect he realized 50 houses in the country, among the 300 designed for the workers of the ASTRA company in Brasov, 5 blocks of worker's housing for the workers of the paper factory in Prundul Bârgăului - Bistrița and the same for the paper factory in Busteni, many other houses in the country", among which we mention those realized for his family in Padeș, Craiova and the villa in Băile Herculane.

In Bucharest he designed both single-family houses and small extensions, as well as 6-11 storey apartment blocks, most of them realized together with the L and K Schindl company, 80 houses for civil servants in Elefterie Park, 10 houses for civil servants in Bonaparte Park, etc... ⁴

State Baloshin has succeeded in giving his architecture a modern, often complex expression, often complex, nuanced with refinement. His buildings demonstrate a maturity of thought while retaining elements of an aesthetic tradition. He approached both the neo-Romanesque and modern styles, which were easily assimilated by the architect. The landmark buildings for the capital designed by State Baloșin in the first half of the 1930s are representative embodiments of modernism. Located on the main boulevards of Bucharest, they are dominated by the modernist current, contributing to the aesthetic, functional and compositional value of the arteries on which they are located. The use of the vertical and horizontal geometry of the existing plots on Magheru-Bălcescu and Calea Victoriei boulevards, major axes in the urban composition of Bucharest, is remarkable.

Blocul Creditul Minier, Bd. N. Bălcescu 16 at the corner of Batiștei 1-3 (72 apartments), built in 1933, is a "residential building with shops on the ground floor - a typical Cubist architectural program. Which, in the late 1930s, finalized the shape of the north-south axis. A taller corner volume (to signal the intersection with a side street) - repeated emphasis along the avenue and Art Deco detailing tempers the angularity of an overly uncompromising modernist line^."5

Wilson Palace or Rural Credit Building, Bd. Bălcescu 25 corner with Dem. Dobrescu 13 (120 apartments): "Less explicit after the modification of the corner element damaged by the earthquake in 1977, the architecture of this building of apartments, shops and offices reinforced the formula of the intersection building at the time, flattering the positioning on two streets with a higher vertical accent"^.6

The Pherekyde block, Bd. Bălcescu 24 (120 apartments), historical monument, Colței Palace, Bd. I. I. I. C. C. Brătianu corner with Ion Ghica Street (1935), Alimănișteanu Palace, Bd. Brătianu corner with Strada Doamnei, Cișmigiu Palace, Intr. Victor Eftimiu 9 (1933), Berceanu Block, str. Brezoianu 29A (60 apartments and studios - 1933), General Algiu Block, str. Brezoianu 29 C corner with Intr. Rigas (40 apartments - 1933), Palatul Băncii Sindicatului Agricol Ilfov, Calea Victoriei 58-64 and Strada Academiei 35-37 (1936), the building on Ion Câmpineanu 22, or the one on Bulevardul Dinicu Golescu 9A.

The real estate advertisements of the time in the newspaper Universul presented the advantages and satisfaction of living in the "grandiose appartement palace" on Wilson Street or in the Algiu, Cișmigiu Palace blocks which have "unique position and exceptional outlook", "spacious shops with basements, apartments, small and large, studio flats with kitchens for offices and living quarters. Ultramodern comfort, insulation against noise, balconies to all apartments, all outbuildings, garages, parking lots, bathrooms, radiator, garbage disposal, mechanical laundry, electricity, aerial gas, passenger and freight elevators. Affordable prices starting from 225.000 lei or 175.000 lei".

State I. Baloshin was a member of the Society of Romanian Architects, the Corps of Architects and the College of Romanian Architects. In his ^will7 the architect left his entire library and archive of projects to the Institute of Architecture "Ion Mincu", "as testamentary heir he is entitled to the following assets: a plan file Ministry of Finance, a file Administration Sector II, Bucharest, 469 different scrolls of ^plans8, 103 files with plans and different documents, 641 different books, magazines and brochures, which all made up the library of the deceased".

NOTES:

1.The information comes from the memo written in 1956 by State Popescu, the architect's nephew, made available to ARHITECTURA magazine, together with period photographs, through the kind permission of Mrs. Cristina Russu.

2. Membership card of the Romanian College of Architects no. 451/1933.

3. The membership card of the Romanian College of Architects no. 451/1933 was endorsed in 1948 and 1949.

4. The short time available for researching this subject did not allow a detailed documentation of all the buildings realized by the architect State Baloșin in Bucharest. I list here only a few of his buildings: 21 Barbu Delavrancea St., 37 Armenească St., 53 Popa Tatu St., 14 Popa Petre St., 13 Țărușanu CFR Park, 13 Țărușanu CFR Park, 43bis-45 Romei St., 44 Cobălcescu St., 13 Washington St., 3, 7, 9 Haga St., 4 Tufișului St., 22 Arhiereu Calist St., 22 av. Mircea Zorileanu lot 32, Bd. Basarab 9, str. Sovata 25, str. Mihail Cornea 4, Parcul Ferdinand str. C 23, str. Gl Angelescu 107, str. Carol Davila 80, Societatea Reconstrucția, Calea Victoriei 2-4, str. Ceres 12, Parcul Cornescu, strada A nr. 14, str. Sârbească 8, str. Luterană 27, Parcul Principele Carol, str. av. Petrescu 12, Mihai Vodă 44, str. dr. Grigore Mora 28, str. Banat 1, Calea Moșilor 25, str. Stupinei 21, Bd. Ghica 328, Parcul Doamna Oltea, Aleea C, parcela 146, str. Paleologu 20, str. Gherase 70, str. dr. Leonte 2, str. Pitar Moși 21, str. Vasile Conta 20.

5. Bucharest, architecture and modernity. Un ghid adnotat, Mariana Celac, Octavian Carabela, Marius Marcu-Lapadat, Editura Simetria, București, 2005,

p. 54,

6. Bucharest, architecture and modernity. Un ghid adnotat, Mariana Celac, Octavian Carabela, Marius Marcu-Lapadat, Editura Simetria, București, 2005,

p. 56.

7. Certificat de moștenitor, Notariatul de Stat al Capitalei R.P.R., Raionul Gh. Gheorgiu-Dej, file 512/1953, document made available to ARHITECTURA magazine through the kind permission of Mrs. Cristina Russu.

8. The State I. Baloșin archive donated by the architect in 1954 to the "Ion Mincu" University of Architecture and Urbanism was not available for research.