Catargiu Plaza (Romana) finally received its own representative building in 1923,
the Commercial Academy, relocated from Palace Plaza. The curved facade was
a reaction to the shape of the plaza, and, in its further turn, determined the
next delimiting constructions to follow the same principle.
The Palace Plaza and University Square saw little interventions in the first
years of this period, although they were the subjects of various studies and
possibilities of development. Cincinat Sfintescu^2 , Romanian civil engineer and
urban planner, consistently elaborated and published thoroughly documented
proposals for beautifying Bucharest and its central public spaces. A civic
center, with administrative buildings, ministries, an Opera House, theatres,
and quarters for the Municipality were absolutely necessary for a modern
capital, and both Palace Plaza and University Square qualified as possible
hosts. Moreover, a new, larger, underground and better distributed railway
system also needed planning, and the Market Halls could have been the perfect
position for a central and even coverage.
In 1936, the Academy Square lost the prospect of becoming the academic
and cultural cluster of the capital, centre of Latin origin and continuity, as two
administrative buildings defined its margins: Palace of Industrial Credits and
Palace of Insurance Society.
Rotating political power did not allow for concrete implementations of any of the
aforementioned studies. Systematizations of public spaces only occured at the
shift towards autarchical lead, in 1938, when Charles II disolved the Parliament
Maria Duda
Fig. 8
Victoriei Plaza,1911. In black,
the representative buildings
(left), Catargiu Plaza (Romana),
1911 (right).
(Duda)