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.

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.

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. The house can be added as an extension to the Icoanei - Batiștei walk.

Librecht House (currently known as the University Club / Ro. Casa Universitarilor). The building was raised in the 1860s for Cezar Librecht, Director of the Post Company during the rule of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza. When the prince stepped down in 1866, Librecht left the country and the house was bought over by Marshal Gheorghe Filipescu’s Family. Confiscated by the Communist government, it was granted to the professor guild in town, with a few reading rooms, conference halls, a cinema and a restaurant being set in. 2007 saw it given to the University of Bucharest, which maintained its meeting and dining function; it is often used as a wedding venue. The structure is set in Eclectic style, putting together Romantic and Neo-Gothic patterns; note the line of crenels surrounding the building in the upper part of the facade. High ceiling rooms radiate from the main ground floor lobby; their windows are made of Bohemia crystal. Note the fountain in the garden that gives one a glimpse of the elegance that once ruled over this part of town, which hosted many of the rich and famous at the time. The house lies on the route of the Icoanei - Batiștei walk.

Storck House belonged to a family of sculptors and painters: Cecilia and Frederic Storck. It was designed by the artists themselves, assisted by Architect Alexandre Clavel, and built between 1911 and 1913. The structure was raised in Anglo-Flemish style with visible structure beams and Pompeian red painted walls. It hosts works of art done by Sculptor Frederic Storck and his wife, Painter Cecilia Cutescu Storck, as well as by sculptors Karl and Carol Storck, Frederic’s father and brother. A special note goes to the impressive frescoes done by Cecilia Storck and Karl Storck’s bas-reliefs. The museum also hosts Medieval religious art items, as well as watermarks done by Carol Popp de Szathmáry, among Romania’s first professional art photographer and among the first in Europe at the time. 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), website here.

Manu - Auschnitt House. Nicknamed at the time of its completion as ‘la maison le plus superbe dans le voisinage’, the house or rather palace was built by Magistrate Iancu Manu, following Grigore Cerchez’s plans. It was set in Louis 14 style and inspired closely by Biron Hotel (currently hosting Rodin Museum) in Paris. The story has it that in 1930, upon his return to the throne, King Carol the Second intended to host Elena Lupescu, his mistress in the house but eventually gave up and bought another villa in the neighbourhood (an unconfirmed story has it that he bought the Filipescu - Brâncoveanu House). Major industrialist and Elena Lupescu’s financial adviser Max Auschnitt (with over 16,000 employees and a 1 billion lei capital at the time) bought the house in 1932, turning it into a venue for parties. Auschnitt left the country in 1946 and the house was then confiscated by the Communist regime (1948) and hosted Prime Minister Petru Groza, then the Embassy of Argentina. After 1989 the house was returned to Auschnitt Family that inherited it and in 2006 it was bought over by a controversial, rich real estate player and politician, George (commonly known as Gigi) Becali which had it restored; the building cost Becali 7 million Euros and the restoration works another 1.5 million. The over 20 rooms were decorated in period style, with 24 carat gold-plated walls, tassel curtains, fluffy carpets, large scale chandeliers. The result came complete with rather overdone gold-plated plaster decorations, an impressive entrance and kitschy interiors boasting of excessive, kitschy decorations. A self-claimed religious figure, Gigi Becali completed the interiors with larger than life Biblical scene paintings and icons and the front garden with a gold-plated crucified Jesus. Architectural lights emphasize the house at night, but there is a glitz there too, as they change colour. It nowadays has various purposes, such as Becali’s office, his party’s headquarters (Partidul Noua Generație, En. the New Generation) and a press conference venue for Steaua Football Club where Becali used to be the major shareholder but renounced at them in favour of his nephews facing corruption charges. It lies on 1-3 Aleea Alexandru, just off Piața Victoriei along Aviatorilor Avenue; it lies behind a tall fence with an imposing gate.

Filipescu - Brâncoveanu House. One of the rich landlords of his time, Alexandru Filipescu - Vulpache built the house in 1916. It was meant to replace the older Ion Filipescu-Vulpe House. The house was built between 1908 and 1915, following Roger Bolomey’s plans. It lies in the largest private park in the city, surrounded by old trees; the park was arranged at the time by a Belgian landscape architect. Alexandru Filipescu died the same year when the house was completed and the property was inherited by Constantin Basarab Brâncoveanu, another rich landlord and Alexandru Filipescu’s cousin. Constantin Brâncoveanu made a few loans backed with the property in the 1930s; as he could not return the loan in time, the house and the adjacent park were confiscated and eventually bought over by the City Hall; it is supposedly the villa bought by King Carol the Second for his mistress Elena Lupescu in 1930. It nowadays hosts the PDL (En. the Democrat - Liberal Party), one of the main political parties in Romania. The Neo-Romanian style house features unplastered brick walls, an archway both on the ground first floor and is topped by a square tower opposite Aviatorilor Avenue. On the same property there are two smaller houses, greenhouses, a guardian cottage and a fountain. It lies on 1 Aleea Modrogan, close to the Piața Victoriei.

Princess Woroniecka’s Residence (also known as Woroniecki Palace). Following the plans of a trendy 1930 architect, Alexandru Zaharia (his real name was Zusman), the property was built in Venetian style with Florentine inserts for Princess Adina Woroniecka (1889-1975), being completed in 1940. Initially married to Romanian Prime Minister Take Ionescu (1919-1922), Adina Olmazu then was a lady in waiting to Queen Maria and eventually became Polish Prince Jan Korybut Woroniecki’s wife (1928); the price acted as Ambassador of Poland in France and then stepped back from diplomacy. Among the property’s highlights there are the Venetian colonnades holding richly decorated arcades, the Neo-Corinthian columns around the door; also note the family coat of arms above it. During the Communist regime the palace was typically confiscated, while the princess was allowed to live only in the former kitchen until she died in 1975. The palace then (1975-1978 and 1994-2003) hosted the art collection donated to the Romanian government by Painter Hrandt Avakian and his sister Beatrice Avakian in 1971. After 2003 the property remained unused and restoration works would be welcome.

Casa Doina. Built in Neo-Romanian style, the restaurant opened in 1892, following Architect Ion Mincu’s plans. The plans had been meant by Mincu for the Romanian stand at the World Exhibition in Paris of 1889. As it lay in a green area popular with local people going for Sunday strolls and picnics, but also along one of the new (at the time) and fashionable avenues in the city, it was initially called the Bufetul de la Șosea (En. the Tavern by the Street). The decoration is of local inspiration, with carved wood columns and glazed tile work. The upper part of the facade has a frieze with Romanian vineyard names and a corniche showing arches and leaves inspired by the Brâncoveanu architecture. The property has a cellar, a main dining hall and a pleasant, large verandah on the first floor. In summer there is a relaxed terrace on the Kiseleff side of the building, complete with a fountain. The restaurant lies on 4 Kiseleff Avenue.

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.