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Sarah in Romania
30 juillet 2008

More news on Casa Nenitescu

Casa_Nenitescu1Dear Everyone,

The more I dig, the more I find, and the more depressed I get. The owner, says Dan Ghelase, President of Artrad, is a Spanish Real Estate company who bought it with view to demolish in order to construct a 'spectacular' (??) twenty storey building in its place. No, no, noooooo!!!!! He also adds the following:

Casa_Nenitescu2"I - with my ngo ARTRAD stopped this happening by introducing a legal demand strasking for classification as an object of Historical Architectural Patrimony, adressed to DCCPCNB and the Culture Ministry. Adding the pressure in the mass media (even reports of TVR1), DCCPCNB adopted a relatively fast decision to accept, but without even the minimal compulsory measures...
For these reasons I must push for help from the Academy and universal associations (Costin Nenitescu was a great name in European Chemistry - member of the Academy. The house was the project of a well known architect - Dim.Harjeu - in Romanian neoclassic style in 1904 and the first owner was Costin's father Dumitru, minister, Bucharest's mayor and head of the Liberal Party)..."

Casa_Nenitescu3What's more, the house stands just 100m from the Association of Architects, who haven't, strso far, lifted a finger.... So what's to be done?

Dr. Clementina Timus posted the following comment for which I thank her very strmuch: "A possibility would be that the Romanian Academy organize a memorial house of one of the most important scientists , moreover the President of The Academy Prof. Ion Haiduc is expert in Chemistry. Another aspect that is also important is the property title of the house, the inheritance status. For such houses the City Hall has to enjoy the priviledge of public interest for keeping traditional values, but unfortunately the rulesstr are not respected, because private interest is higher than the public one."

Yes, of course. making money for both parties, ie. the investor and the seller (the Roumanian government or otherwise) is faaaaar more important than preserving cultural richness and paying homage to memories.

So, there, a little more background. Now I understand better. Of course a Spanish firm wouldn't give a toss about such historical importance, interested only in making money. Str. Scoalei is in a great location, bang in the centre of Bucharest with all the local amenities close at hand. Heavens knows if I was house-hunting, it'd be impossible to refuse a flat in that area with the right price. It's a double edged sword: Roumania is selling off and thus losing its historic heritage to business men as they're the ones with the cash. Most of them are foreign investors with no idea of what they are destroying from an emotional and historical point of view, and care even less. If they remain in the hands of Roumanian owners, most of the houses fall to bits or stand neglected for there isn't the money to renovate them and return them to their former glory. The Roumanians who can afford such houses often kitschify them (Gigi Becali and Marcel Butuza are prime examples). Money and intelligence just don't seem to go together these days.

You foreign investors and fatcats out there, this is a message for you: If you must buy a property in Roumania (and why shouldn't you, it's a beautiful country - and prices are now higher than Paris!), then please respect the historical and sentimental importance, the right of the Roumanian people to preserve their links with the past and the future of this city. How dreadful that it be turned into something similar to  Dubai of the East, instead of the Micul Paris of the interbellum era it used to be. The destruction of patrimony and heritage is down to you, the development of profound richness on a cultural level also. Choose your bag, and may you sleep at night, for, at the moment, I'm definitely having difficulty.

Sarah

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