Bucharest City Hall is housed in a beautiful building lying across from Cişmigiu Park on Regina Elisabeta boulevard. This is where the good and bad decisions regarding Bucharest are taken. The edifice was built during the years 1906 to 1910 after a design by architect Petre Antonescu and used to house the Ministry of Public Works. The city hall was installed here after WWII when the building, severely damaged by the bombings, was reconstructed and enlarged by Petre Antonescu. This is a fine example of the Neo-Romanian style of architecture, which was very popular in Bucharest at the beginning of the 20th century. The Neo-Romanian was the answer to the attempts of creating a national style in Romanian architecture. It blends together elements from the local peasant architectural tradition with Byzantine and Ottoman elements and late Italian Renaissance themes. If you want to read more about this style, you can find an excellent article here.
Nov 192009
I knew about nothing about Neo-Romanian but looking at this building I thought: this is Romanian, not French or anything else!
Just browsing the text linked I understood the elements that I unconsciously linked to a Romanian style: something Byzantine in the arches, some traditional elements in the roofs.
Beautiful building, more a Ministry than a City Hall. Thank you very much for the precious link, I'm going the read it carefully!
Interesting architecture. It definitely reflects some of Romania's history, the people that have settled the area and the people who've invaded and ruled your country. I'm impressed that it's still in good condition.