One of the best way of approaching a city and its life beat is by stepping inside its houses. Mostly located in residential quarters and not in the very centre, the places I am listing here used to belong to artists or art collectors. OK, these are not ‘ordinary’ people (whatever that means), but I still find it interesting to visit these houses again and again.

Melik House is the oldest civilian building in the city, being greatly preserved in a small garden. Nowadays it hosts some of Theodor Pallady's paintings. It was built in 1760 by a merchant and sold in 1815 to Armenian Hagi Kevork Nazaretoglu which restored it in 1822. It was preserved in the initial shape and structure to this day. The house preserves the elements of a traditional Wallachian peasant house (high cellar, glass covered veranda). It would remind one of similar structures in Sarajevo or Pristina.

It lies on Str. Spătarului nr. 22 (close to the crossing of Calea Moșilor with Carol I Ave.):

http://www.mnar.arts.ro/ro/muzsatelit/pallady.php

Be careful if taking pictures, the guard is the typically communist moron, invoking some regulation of the Ministry of Culture, and saying one is not allowed to shoot pictures even from the sidewalk. GPS - N44 26.348 E26 06.814

Dumitru Minovici House was built in Gothic English style in 1939, after its owner bought many pieces of old Western art (stained glass windows, a chimney, statues, a whole library, old tables and chairs, paintings); the interesting thing is that he had the house built to fit these items and hence the harmonious display. Add here a charismatic, very knowledgeable guard (thank you a lot, Ion) that will tell you many things about the exhibits (in Romanian only unfortunately). Next to this house there is the beautiful Dr. Nicolae Minovici House built after Architect Cristofi Cerchez's plans in the style of an Oltenia cula with wonderful Brâncoveanu decorations, closed for a desperately needed restoration nowadays; GPS - N44 29.059 E26 04.517

Dumitru Minovici House lies on Str. Dr. Nicolae Minovici nr. 3 (close to București Băneasa Railway Station), http://www.minovici.ro/. The guard is very knowledgeable and helpful if nicely asked.

GPS - N44 29.052 E26 04.476

Storck House belonged to a family of sculptors and painters. It was designed by Architect Alexandre Clavel and built between 1911 and 1913. Inspired by German architecture, the building hosts impressive frescoes done by Cecilia Storck, sculptures done by Frederic Storck and bas-reliefs by Karl Storck. The house (especially its interiors) comes as an unexpected surprise in a quarter of villas where French architecture prevails.

It lies on Str. Vasile Alecsandri nr. 16 (10 minutes off Romană Square), http://museum.ici.ro/mbucur/romanian/muzeul.htm. GPS - N44 27.061 E26 05.667

Zambaccian House. Krikor Zambaccian (1889 - 1962), Armenian business man, gathered art objects for four decades and placed it in this especially built house. The house was built in the 1930s and it was expanded in 1957. In 1946 the owner donated it to the government: 165 paintings, 71 graphics, 40 sculptures and 16 pieces of furniture. One can admire here an impressive collection, including the only Cezanne in Romania, as well as paintings by Luchian, Tonitza and Pallady.

It lies on Str. Muzeul Zambaccian nr. 21A (close to Dorobanți Square),

http://www.mnar.arts.ro/ro/muzsatelit/zambaccian.php. GPS - N44 27.654 E26 05.461

Theodor Aman House lies along C. A. Rosetti Street, which goes just East of Calea Victoriei in front of the Royal Palace. Theodor Aman (1831-1891) studied in Paris and then became director of the National School of Belle-Arte in Bucharest; he was a painter, a sculptor and an engraver.

The house (under restoration in February 2008) hosts sculptures done by Aman on the facade; they depict Leonardo and Michelangelo. The building hosts a museum (to be open again soon), exhibiting many of Aman's works of art; historic theme paintings, portraits, engravings, pieces of furniture. GPS - N44 26.415 E26 05.888 (8 C. A. Rosetti Street)

Macovei House. Ligia and Pompiliu Macovei bought this house in 1952 from a Jewish merchant that had a hat store on the same street. The house was probably raised at the end of the 19th century or just before WW1. The couple restored the house and started collecting art objects, especially from France and Italy, where Pompiliu Macovei acted as UNESCO Ambassador. All pieces of furniture and items were put together in order to make a prolific environment for Ligia Macovei, a painter. Some pieces of furniture were designed by Pompiliu. The house hosts, among others, English furniture, French Art Deco tables, paintings by Ciucurencu, Pallady, Ghiață, Grigorescu. In 1988 the couple donated the collection to the Village Museum, so as to save it from immediate demolition which had overwhelmed a wide part of the city.

The house was closed the last time I passed by, but even so, it is well worth seeing it from the outside at least, on the way to Carol Park (36 Strada 11 Iunie). GPS - N44 25.287 E26 05.735

Avakian House. There are more such houses, like Beatrice and Hrandt Avakian House (especially beautiful dwelling), Theodor Aman House or Gheorghe Buzdugan House (nowadays hosting Cornel Medrea's sculpture collection); Avakian House is closed waiting for renovation, Aman House is going to reopen soon (see above), while Buzdugan is open to the public. Go explore them! GPS - Avakian House N44 27.549 E26 04.903 (19 Ion Mincu Str.); Aman House GPS - N44 26.415 E26 05.888 (8 C. A. Rosetti Str.); Gheorghe Buzdugan House N44 26.612 E26 05.392 (16 General Budisteanu Str.).

The Old Maps and Books House. The house was built by an Armenian in Italian Renaissance style, then it hosted a couple of embassies. It was turned into a museum during the rule of PM Adrian Năstase, and it hosts a collection of 750 maps donated by Adrian and Daniela Năstase. There are maps dating from 1500 to 1930, old engravings, sketches depicting the rural life in Romania. The cartographic works belong to famous authors: Hubert Jaillot (1693), Mercator, Ortelius, Ioan Honterius. The museum is the fourth in the world by the number of old maps. The collection is brilliantly exhibited, with well lit and taken advantage of items and with a righteous use of space (a welcome exception in this country, together with the National Art Museum and the Art Collections' Museum). GPS - N44 27.418 E26 05.571 (39 Londra Str.)