Chimaeras houses

The Ilie Niculescu-Dorobanțu Residence – Historic Monument

The large windows with stone carved stone menholes in the French neo-Gothic style, the openwork details of the terraces and windows, the cornices, the gargoyles, the silhouettes of the towers, the interplay between the carved stone and the brick in different shades, laid in a rhomboidal pattern, the high stone plinth, the stained-glass windows, all give the Niculescu-Dorobanțu building the distinction and elegance of an imposing residence from the early 20th century. The Niculescu-Dorobanțu building is included in the List of Cultural Monuments of the R.P.R. drawn up in 1955, position 18, and in the LMI 2004, position 1413, code B-II-m-A-19131, and is today in danger of collapse. While the main façade to the north impresses with its constructive and decorative elements, the façade to the south reflects the seriousness of the building's real situation.

In a memo written in 1988 by engineers M. Mironescu and A. Bortnowschi, they specified that: "the very high subsidence on the south façade caused a deformation with vertical breakage of the window and door openings and the inclination of the terrace area. The subsidence of the interior south-facing mullion and breakage of the buiandrug breakage, the subsidence of the masonry pier led to the breakage of the buiandrug breakage. The subsidence is due to heavy damping in the infill area on which the building is partially founded.

Structurally, it was observed: the accentuation of the cracks and fissures recorded by the INCERC expertise of 1971; diagonal damage to some of the masonry spalls; accentuation of the displacement, the tendency of separation of the various areas of the building; detachment with a tendency to collapse of the two lateral gables in the bridge area; that the wooden floors above the ground floor show advanced decay due to rotting of the main resistance elements (beams) and secondary elements (ceiling, slats, rebar, beams); the roof structure shows local rotten areas (rafters, roof rafters)"^1.

Almost 30 years have elapsed since this expert's report without any consolidation work having been carried out, which was intended to: "ensure the building's resistance capacity by means of reinforced concrete studs on the ground floor and first floor, reinforced plaster on the ground floor and part of the first floor, ensuring the vertical structural elements of the building work together, eliminating the tendency for the component elements - concrete floor slabs and tie rods above the ground floor - to separate, strengthening the foundations in the subsided area, metal tie rods upstairs, and strengthening the interior"^2.

On the contrary, the demolition of the House of Spiru Haret in 2014 and the construction of an 8-storey building in the immediate vicinity worsened the precarious condition of the resistance structure.

What is certain is that this building had been in trouble since 1940, as Ilie I. Niculescu-Dorobanțu wrote to his nephew Nicolae Pillat in 1941: "I am still living here, in an apartment that I have fitted out for myself on the basement. I would no longer be able to stay upstairs because the bedroom ceiling was destroyed by the earthquake and the wall facing the garden is about to fall, with a five to eight centimetre drop. The house was badly damaged by the earthquake"^3. Following the death of the last owner in 1943, the building was bequeathed to the "Ion C. Brătianu", to be transformed into the "Ilie, Tațiana and Ion Niculescu-Dorobanțu" Museum, having "effects, shares and objects with which to start and maintain the museum, intended in particular to collect the family memories and possible acquisitions of other people", said George Marinescu, director of the "Ion C. Brătianu" Așezământului "Ion C. Brătianu", at his funeral on November 11, 1943.

Between 1948-1957, the canteen of the employees of the Ministry of Metallurgic Industry and Machine Building functioned here. In 1956, at the insistence of the Directorate of Historical Monuments, which considered the building to be "one of the most valuable in the capital in terms of architectural art", the building was transferred to the Ministry of Culture and Education. At that time, ICSOR "carried out works of consolidation of the foundations/underpinnings and interior fittings in order to create conditions for the proper development of theoretical and specialized education"^4. Thus, in 1958, both in the Spiru Haret house and in the Niculescu-Dorobanțu house, the Technical Choreography Middle School began to operate, where 300 students were studying.

Each of the Brătianu family's residences in Bucharest is special and has a story that is both charming and sad, starting with the choice of architect, style, interior design and ending with the subsequent functions. If architect Petre Antonescu designs the residences of Ionel C. Brătianu, Dinu Brătianu and Vintilă Brătianu. The Brătianu sisters have different tastes: Sabina Cantacuzino prefers Paul Gottereau, Măriuța Pillat Ion D. Berindey, and Tațiana Niculescu-Dorobanțu Grigore Cerkez.

Thus, on May 14, 1910, the plans of the house in 9 Verde Street were submitted for authorization. The plans drawn up by the architect Grigore Cerkez specified: "a building with 2, 3 and 4 storeys, of massive wall, covered with tiles", with a surface area of 668.29 square meters"^5. The plan of the residence is irregular. The large, well-lit, one-storey house had a summer dining room, summer pantry, kitchen, cellar, pantry, pantry, office and servants' quarters on the ground floor. Towards the street, on the ground floor, was the antechamber and study, a large hall, and towards the garden, the parlor, flower shop and dining room, then the office, pantry, servants' quarters and a bathroom. The ground-floor vestibule, lit by stained-glass windows, is originally decorated with sculptures to enlarge the space, and has two staircases. Upstairs, facing the street, were the study room and library, then a sitting room with large neo-Gothic-style windows, and, facing the garden, the lady's and gentleman's rooms, both with a shared bathroom and access to the terrace. The lady's room led into the children's room, followed by the governess's room, a bathroom and the service staircase. The work began in 1910 and was completed after 1923, according to family correspondence.

From the correspondence of the Brătianu sisters we learn various small details about the construction of the Niculescu-Dorobanțu residence. In a letter dated May 9, 1910 to Măriuța Pillat, who was living in Paris at the time, Tațiana confessed: "I cannot say yet, but I think we will have a very beautiful house in the Louis XII style, with carved stone and exposed brique"^6.

To decorate the interiors, Tațiana preferred Romanian carpets and other traditional Romanian objects, but especially objects bought in antique shops in Paris and Munich or in Spain, from where she brought pieces of furniture, tapestries, bibelots, statuettes, etc. In August 1911, while in Karlsbad for her annual cure, and intending to continue her trip to Munich and Paris, she asked her sister Sabina for addresses of ^antique dealers7. On September 3, 1911, he wrote to her from Munich: "I have been to antique dealers, but they have nothing for me, that is for the style of the palace, which is done in the French Gothic style and has fine carvings, I found at Gregor's two bahuts, but not to compare with Ionel's, they are more of dwellings. At Böhler's, where I found very fine things, especially Renaissance, I also saw two fine Gothic bahuts, one of which had paintings and sculpture, and the other only sculpture, each 2,500 marks. At Holbing's I found nothing but saints. He gave me the address of the Hess House, which he sells the whole of, and which contains a whole Gothic room. (...) I'm sorry I didn't end up with you here, because you have more authority, I don't dare to"^8.

A year later, on November 7, 1912, we learn from the letter to Marionette that Tatiana was furnishing "Nicol's parlor and study, the dining room and the buffet being finished. In a month's time, the part where we are sitting now will be just finished. I won't speak of the other. I hope to have it by summer or fall. Tomorrow we'll just move into our colored room, so that I can arrange Ion's"^9.

A month later he announced to her that "the chauffeur has arrived, but in my new house, no progress. It seems that the workmen have all fallen asleep and the architect with them"^10. On February 8, 1913, Tatiana complained: "Our house is not moving forward at all, remaining as it was when we arrived here"^11.

On September 25, 1913, Tatiana wrote a letter to Sabina Cantacuzino in France: "I won't talk to you any more about the castles on the Loire, I am dazzled by so many beauties and I am very proud to find that, without any possible comparison with them, my house is very beautiful. Unfortunately, because of the narrow street, the palace seems cramped"^12.

In the 1939 photographs of the Niculescu-Dorobanțu residence, we can see the drawing rooms, the study, the dining room, all of which were designed as "showpieces" and bear witness to the good taste of Tațiana, who wanted "everything to be perfect", as she told her friends: "I will show you such and such a room when it will be completely furnished"^13.