luxury properties for sale Bucharest, Romania

The French Street connects Piata Unirii with Calea Victoriei; it appears in documents since 1649 when it was known as Curții Street; over time the name varies - one part of it was Podul cel Mare din Curtea Veche (1763), Podul Curtea Veche (1804) and Uliţa Curții Vechi (1854), the other - Uliţa cea Domnească in 1690 or Işlicarilor & Boiangiilor Street in 1804. Under Constantin Brâncoveanu the street becomes as long as we know it today. The French name comes from the time when the French consul resided on it. The street was also called Carol until 1947 and then 30th December. After the 1989 revolution, it became Iuliu Maniu and since 2007, when a boulevard was named after the politician, it has become French Street again. It is one of the first lit and paved streets in the city, but also the one that entered history as the place where the great fire of 1847 started, when over 2000 buildings disappeared; the fire broke out thanks to the son of a stolnic (local clerk) who played by shooting his father's gun into the thatched attic. On this historic street, at no. 58, in 1938, Schrems Broderie, a weaver, and Karmann I – Carol, a dentist, were operating (it seems that Lev Tolstoi lived at no. 12 in 1854 when accompanying the Russian troops to Wallachia). Today, at no. 58, there is an elegant building with tall glass sheets and wrought iron balustrades that rhythmically punctuate the facade; denticles, short half-columns and other vegetal and geometric elements complete it. The building has two commercial spaces on the ground floor and 14 apartments on the upper floors, with areas between 38-113 sqm. The attic (384 sqm) and the cellar (211 sqm) generously complement the surfaces. Access is allowed by four different stairs leading to the inner courtyard. Only one apartment is currently rented, the building being in need of repair and renovation works. The original corner stoves, paneling on the ceilings and double doors with glass windows are the only ones still fighting the fading today, stubbornly preserving the spirit of past eras. However, the potential is huge considering the positioning one minute away from the Manuc Inn; the building can become a boutique/apart-hotel or apartments for rent/resale, after consolidation. Photo: Tudor Prisecaru

Built in 1913 by merchant Ghiţă Popescu, the house on Speranţei street hides between its walls the charm of one of the central and chic streets of the capital. Located between Carol Boulevard and the Italian Street, it appears with this name in the city plans from the end of the nineteenth century. On this street there was the first home of Mihai Eminescu after his arrival in Bucharest in 1877. Ioan Slavici states that it was a spacious room with a wide anteroom in an old eighteenth-century house. From this street, the poet walked down to the editorial office of the conservative newspaper, Timpul, located on Calea Victoriei, writes Alexandru Ofrim in Old Streets of Nowadays Bucharest. And Mihai Eminescu is not the only important figure in the history of this area. The founder of the Romanian neurosurgery school, Dumitru Bagdasar, also lived on Speranţei Street. Unfortunately, the last decades have affected the elegance of the buildings in the area. However, the house of merchant Ghiţă Popescu is the exception. Nationalized after the 1960s, when owned by Dr. Elias Haim, the residence had over time landlords who have cherished it and who invested a lot in its conservation and restoration - a careful work that turned it into an architectural jewel today. The over 400 square meters of the property on Speranţei street, built on SB+GF+F+A, have recently undergone a meticulous renovation process. After a six-month work, under the coordination of the designer Irina Neacsu, the semi-basement has been transformed into what can be considered one of the most beautiful offices in Romania. Numerous pieces of personalized furniture, British accents in an eclectic setting, digitally drawn wallpapers and then printed on paper, the floor heating, are just a few of the elements that give uniqueness and charm to the property. In fact, it is a modern reinterpretation of a building dominated by classic architectural features specific to the beginning of the nineteenth century Bucharest. The modern terrace offers a wide panorama of the Armenian area of the capital, a landscape dominated by inter-war avant-garde, modernist buildings, along the Neo-Romanian and Eclectic style properties. The villa is available for rent as well.

The house at 9 Verde Street (today Gheorghe Manu street) was built between 1911 and 1923, initiated by Tațiana Niculescu-Dorobanțu. One of the four daughters of Ion C. Brătianu, Tațiana (1870-1940) married in 1900 Ilie I. Niculescu-Dorobanțu (1873-1943), liberal political figure and prefect of Ilfov. Through their properties will also feature the Darvari manor, close to Bucharest. The plans designed by architect Grigore Cerchez (Cerkez) specified „a building with 2, 3 and 4 levels, massive walls, covered with tiles”, occupying 668,29 square meters. In a letter from 9th of May 1910 addressed to her sister Măriuţa Pillat, then in Paris, Tațiana confessed: „I believe we will have a truly beautiful mansion, Louis XII style, with carved stone and exposed brique”. On 25 September 1913, Taţiana was in France, writing to Sabina Cantacuzino: „The castles on Loire I am not even mentioning, I am amazed by so much beauty and very proud to realize that, without possible comparation to these, my house is very beautiful. Unfortunately, the narrow street makes the palace look crammed.” To furnish the interior, Tațiana chose Romanian traditional art objects and pieces from Antique shops in Paris and Munich. From Spain she brought furniture and tapestries. She wanted everything to be perfect and told her close friends: „I will show you this room only when it is completely furnished.” The imposing building bears the allure of a Gothic cathedral, with exquisite constructive and decorative elements: the exposed brick façade, in several shades of red, the towers’ silhouettes, the entrance portal, the imposing windows, with carved stone elements in Neo-gothic fashion, the cornices, gargoyles, stained glass windows and pointed arches that mark the exterior and interior. In his will, Ilie I. Niculescu-Dorobanțu donated the building to the Ion C. Brătianu Establishment, provided that it became the museum „Ilie, Tațiana and Ion Niculescu-Dorobanțu”. Between 1948-1957, the house hosted the canteen of the employees of the Minister of Industry. In 1956, following the pressures of the Direction of Historic Monuments, that considered the building „one of the most valuable in the Capital from an architectural point of view”, it was classified as part of the heritage of the Ministry of Culture and Education, undergoing consolidation works. Starting 1958, it hosted the Technical school of choreography, with 300 students. Today, more than one century after its construction, the impressive Gothic Revival residence maintains its mysterious allure, fascinating the passers-by with its imposing dimensions and unique construction details, crafted by one of the most important Romanian architects. Sources: Simina Stan, „Reședința Ilie I. Niculescu-Dorobanțu, monument istoric”, în Revista Arhitectura, iulie 2015 Narcis Dorin Ion, ”Memoria unui oraș – București”, ed. Institutul Cultural Român, București, 2012