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Horia Creangă (20 July 1892 – 1 August 1943) was a Romanian
architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
and key figure of the
modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
movement in
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
. Described as "the true founder of the modernist age" in his native county, he is best known as the designer of the first large scale
modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
building in Romania, the ARO building on Magheru Boulevard,
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
, completed in 1931.


Early life

Born in Bucharest on 20 July 1892, the grandson of the famous Romanian writer Ion Creangă, he studied at the Bucharest School of Architecture in 1916 before attending the
École des Beaux-Arts ; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centu ...
in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, graduating in 1925. His mentor, Gustave Umbdenstock, then secured a position for him in the Romanian Nord Railway company,Machedon and Scoffham, 52. and in late 1926, he returned to Romania with his wife Lucia.


Career

Creangă was one of the first architects in Romania to adopt the basic elements of modernist design, in designs which progressed rapidly from complex stepped forms in his first projects of the late 1920s to simple unadorned volumes, or dominant horizontal and vertical massing in the 1930s. This evolution is evident in his villas designed from 1929 to 1930, progressing from the blocky volumes elaborated with statuary and sculpture of the
Cornel Medrea Cornel Medrea (; March 8, 1888–July 25, 1964) was a Romanian sculptor. Biography Artistic studies He was born on March 8, 1888, in Miercurea Sibiului, then in Szeben County, Kingdom of Hungary, now Sibiu County, Romania. After moving with his ...
Villa in 1929 to the spare unadorned cubic volume of the Ion Miclescu Villa, completed the next year. In 1929 Creangă, in collaboration with his brother, Ion, and his wife, won the competition to design the ARO building for the Asigurarea Românească insurance company, a multi-use building including shops, offices and apartments, and eventually a cinema. Completed in 1931, after the design was simplified into simple bold horizontal and vertical masses, it is the first important large scale modernist building completed in Romania., and established Creangă's career. In 1935, he opened an office with architects Haralamb Georgescu and Nicolae Nedelescu, working primarily for three clients: ARO insurance, Malaxa industries, and Bucharest City Hall.Machedon and Scoffham, 53. For these clients Creangă designed industrial, office and residential buildings, notably including the Malaxa Industries factories (1930–1940), becoming one of the most respected modernists in industrial architecture. The ''Encyclopedia of 20th Century Architecture'' states that "..despite the austerity of Creanga's modernist vocabulary, he reached a remarkable expressive force that remained unequaled in the production of the industrial architecture." Throughout the 1930s, he designed numerous villas and small apartment buildings, as well as public buildings like the Stadionul Republicii. His Malaxa Factories and the Malaxa-Burileanu Building, with bold horizontal lines, unadorned surfaces and large areas of glass, are the most clearly
Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...
influenced buildings in Romania. His large scale work of the later 1930s however showed an influence of the stylised classical of Italian architecture of the 1930s, such as the formal façades, with fine vertical ribs of the ARO Palace Hotel in
Brașov Brașov (, , ; , also ''Brasau''; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the county seat (i.e. administrative centre) of Brașov County. According to the 2021 Romanian census, ...
and the Cultural Palace in
Cernăuți Chernivtsi (, ; , ;, , see also #Names, other names) is a city in southwestern Ukraine on the upper course of the Prut River. Formerly the capital of the historic region of Bukovina, which is now divided between Romania and Ukraine, Chernivt ...
. Creangă's work was not uncontroversial. The ARO building which made his reputation and influenced the embrace of Modernism in Romania was fiercely criticized as well. His works were not published by mainstream Romanian industrial publications until the late 1930s.Machedon and Scoffham, 57. Creangă was married to fellow architect Lucia Dumbrăveanu, with whom he had a daughter, Mihaela Creangă-Mihăescu. He owned two apartments in , where he lived and had his workshop. His career was cut short by his death when he was only 51.


Selected projects

Drawn from the article on Horia Creangă from the ''Century of Romanian Architecture'' website, and ''Romanian Modernism 1920–1940'' * Teatrul Giulești (now Opera Copiilor), Calea Giulești, Bucharest (1927–29) * Corneliu Medrea Villa, Andrei Mureșan Street 2, Bucharest (1929) * Villa Ion Miclescu, 56 Paris Street, Bucharest (1930) * ARO Building, 12-14 Magheru Boulevard, Bucharest (1930–1931); Patria Cinema added 1934–35 * Dr. Petru Groza Villa,
Deva Deva may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Deva, List of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition monsters, an ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' 2nd edition monster * Deva, in the 2023 Indian film ''Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefir ...
(1929–1931) * Villa Thomas, 15 Iatropol Street, Bucharest (1931) * Villa Alexandru Bunescu, 12 Aleea Alexandru, Bucharest (1932) * Anton Davidoglu apartments, Dacia Boulevard corner
Piața Spaniei Piața Spaniei ("Spanish Plaza") is a small square in Sector 2, Bucharest, near and Grădina Icoanei. In the middle of the square there is a bust of Miguel de Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra ( ; ; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – ...
, Bucharest (1932) * Republic Stadium, Bucharest (with Haralamb Georgescu) (1933–1939), demolished 1988 * Elena Ottulescu apartments, 12 General Gheorghe Manu Street, Bucharest (1934–1935) * Vila Elizabeta Cantacuzino, Aleea Alexandru nr. 15, Bucharest (1936) * ARO Apartment Building, 91-93
Calea Victoriei Calea Victoriei (''Victory Avenue'') is a major avenue in central Bucharest. Situated in Sector 1, and having a length of , it leads from (which runs parallel to the Dâmbovița River) to the north and then northwest up to Piața Victoriei, w ...
, Bucharest (1936–1938) * Malaxa (later
FAUR FAUR S.A. is an industrial engineering and manufacturing company based in Bucharest, Romania. History FAUR was founded by Nicolae Malaxa in 1921 under the name MALAXA. Main activities were the repairing of rolling stock, manufacturing steam loc ...
) Factory, auto factory, pipe factory, administration and entrance, Bucharest (1930-1939) * Malaxa-Burileanu Building, 35 Magheru Boulevard, Bucharest (1935–1937) * Low cost housing complex, 52-58 Șoseaua Iancului, 4-24 Victor Manu Street, Bucharest (1937) * National-Cultural Palace, Teatral'na Ploshcha (Theatre Square),
Cernăuți Chernivtsi (, ; , ;, , see also #Names, other names) is a city in southwestern Ukraine on the upper course of the Prut River. Formerly the capital of the historic region of Bukovina, which is now divided between Romania and Ukraine, Chernivt ...
, (now Chernivtsi,
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
) (1937–40).Laurențiu Dragomir, ''Monumente istorice și de arhitectură din ținutul Cernăuților'', p.59
/ref> * ARO Palace Hotel, Brașov (with Haralamb Georgescu) (1937–1939)


Gallery

File:Halele Obor - arhitecti Horia Creanga Haralamb Georgescu.jpg, Central Market,
Obor Obor is the name of a square and the surrounding district of Bucharest, the capital of Romania. There is also a Bucharest Metro station (on the Bucharest Metro Line M1, M1 line) named Obor metro station, Obor, which lies in this area. The dis ...
, 1936–50 File:Aro Palace.JPG, ARO Palace,
Brașov Brașov (, , ; , also ''Brasau''; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the county seat (i.e. administrative centre) of Brașov County. According to the 2021 Romanian census, ...
, 1937–39 File:Bucuresti, Romania, Blocul ARO-PATRIA, B-II-m-A-19116 (2).JPG, ARO Block,
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
, 1930–31 File:BlocAro.JPG, ARO Apartments,
Calea Victoriei Calea Victoriei (''Victory Avenue'') is a major avenue in central Bucharest. Situated in Sector 1, and having a length of , it leads from (which runs parallel to the Dâmbovița River) to the north and then northwest up to Piața Victoriei, w ...
, 1936–38 File:Bloc Malaxa-Burileanu - văzut dinspre vest.JPG, Malaxa-Burileanu Building, Bucharest, 1935–37 File:Чернівці, пл. Театральна, 3.jpg, National-Cultural Palace, Theatre Square,
Chernivtsi Chernivtsi (, ; , ;, , see also #Names, other names) is a city in southwestern Ukraine on the upper course of the Prut River. Formerly the capital of the historic region of Bukovina, which is now divided between Romania and Ukraine, Chernivt ...
, Ukraine, 1937–40


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Creanga, Horia 1892 births 1943 deaths Architects from Bucharest École des Beaux-Arts alumni Modernist architects Romanian industrial designers