Earthquakes, wars, as well as local people’s peace time will have turned some interesting pieces of architecture into rubble. Let us see some of this city’s black and white stories. And no, I am not referring here to those years.

Sturdza Palace. The palace was accomplished in 1901 on the site of the former Niculcea Inn, in Victoria Square. It was designed by Architect Iulius Reiniqke in 1897. It was a luxurious palace, belonging to Prince Grigore Sturdza, the son of former Moldavian King, Mihai Sturdza. Richly decorated, featuring heteroclite facades, that blended in elements of different styles and epochs, and endowed with fancy furniture, the palace was one of the landmarks of the city. The prince died in 1901 however and the palace hosted the Foreign Affairs Ministry afterwards. It was demolished after WW2 (in 1946). Near the site where the old palace used to exit there was raised the palace of the Romanian Government, following the plans drawn by Architect Duiliu Marcu (1937). GPS - N44 27.188 E26 05.187 (approx.)

Simu House. Simu Museum was inaugurated in 1910, being Bucharest's first private museum at the time. The purpose was to present the history of European and Romanian art in an especially designed building, raised after the plans drawn by Architect Cincu (the building was set in the shape of a Greek temple). It had 5 sections: Roman, Greek, Romanian, Renaissance and Byzantine art. In 1917 Simu Family donated their museum (hosting about 1200 exhibits) to the Romanian Government. The house was demolished by the communist regime in 1964, to make place for one of the two twin concrete buildings along Bălcescu Avenue, across the street from Patria Cinema and Nottara Theatre. A couple of memorial plaques have been installed near the site of the former museum by the City Hall, behind the Eva Building; it actually stood in on the site of the actual parking lot in front of the block of flats. just opposite Patria Cinema (ARO Building). GPS - N44 26.543 E26 05.910

Hotel de France. In 1855 Ioan Petru Manof built an inn consisting of a few houses, which were afterwards turned into a hotel - "Otelul de Franța", as it was called until 1860. In 1881, Manof's son-in-law built a new structure instead, the Hotel de France; it would be called Grand Hotel de France and Grand Hotel Lafayette (given the proximity of the Galleries Lafayette, the actual Magazinul Victoria - see my special tip on it).The hotel was bought in 1912 by Eugen Ghica. It was then called Grand Hotel Victoria, respectively Hotel Victoria during the communist regime. It was seriously damaged during the 1977 earthquake, and it was demolished in 1979. The site remained empty until 1995, when the misplaced building of Bancorex (nowadays Bucharest Financial Plazza) was dropped there from Planet Mars.

GPS - N44 25.959 E26 05.815

Note: These pictures were not - obviously - taken by me. I have found them on various sites, and I believe all of them are scans, respectively copy’n paste works. If anyone feels I have violated a copyright rule, please let me know. I shall immediately delete the respective photo provided I see hard evidence of its property.