Mihăilescu House

MIHĂILESCU HOUSE The building was built in 1930, in cubist style, according to the plans of the renowned architect Marcel Iancu. Marcel Iancu was born on the 24th of May 1895, in Bucharest, Romania and died on the 21st of April 1984 in Israel. He was a Romanian-Jewish Israeli painter, architect and essayist. He graduated in 1917 from the Academy of Architecture in Zürich and studied painting with Iosif Iser. He was one of the initiators of the Dada art movement. In 1922 he returned to Romania, being one of the promoters of avant-garde art. He was part of the circle led by the poet Ion Vinea, who edited the magazine "Contimporanul" (1924-1936) and participated with works in exhibitions organized together with the sculptor Milița Petrașcu and the painter Margareta Sterian. He published, together with the architects Horia Creangă and Octav Doicescu, a manifesto named: "Towards an architecture of Bucharest", a plea for a modern capital. In 1941 he settled in Palestine under the British mandate, and after the establishment of the state of Israel he asserted himself as a teacher and animator of cultural life. In Romania, he was the author of some architectural works, some of which are included in the List of Historical Monuments. The new architecture, promoted by Marcel Iancu, simplified the architectural volumes and gave up symmetry and its laws. Together with his brother Iuliu, he founded and managed the architectural firm "Office of Modern Studies" through which he created over 40 buildings, until they left for Palestine in 1941. Marcel Iancu is also the author of the projects of the Kiseleff Strand and the mountain sanatorium Dr. Popper/Bucegi" from Predeal.