Former “Petre Zaharescu” Private High School (today “Centromedica”)

FORMER "PETRE ZAHARESCU" PRIVATE HIGH SCHOOL (TODAY "CENTROMEDICA") Petru Zaharescu (1867-1954) was born in Buzău and attended the Matei Basarab High School and the Faculty of Sciences in Bucharest, majoring in mathematics. He was a secondary school teacher in Buzău, a high school teacher in Brăila and Caracal. Between 1899 and 1931, when he retired, he was a teacher and, for a time, the principal of the "Alexandru Hâjdeu" High School in Buzău and principal of the Boys' Industrial Technical School (the future Boys' Industrial High School) in Buzău. He served as general inspector for secondary education, technical advisor at the Ministry of Education and general inspector of primary and normal education and teacher of mathematics at the Buzău Theological Seminary. He initially worked as a conservative politician. Later, he became a member and president of the People's Party, also being the prefect of the county between March 1920 and December 1921. As a scientist, he lectured at the local branch of the Athenaeum and is the author of several works, including Tobacco. The action on smokers and recommendations for reducing its effects (1905), About calendars (1906), Memoir of the secondary teaching staff (1907), The material situation of teachers and foremen in secondary education (1910) and Towards the reform of the peasant school (1916). He is the author of school textbooks (mathematics and geography) and a map of Buzău county. At the time when the great playwright Ion Luca Caragiale lived in Buzău, owning a restaurant in Buzău Train Station between 1894 and 1895, the teacher Petre Zaharescu was one of his friends. In 1934 he founded the "Petru Zaharescu" Theoretical High School for boys, in the buildings no. 14 and 17 on Emil Teodoru Street (today Tudor Vladimirescu Street), properties of his family, which in 1936 he assigned to his sons Paul and Constantin Zaharescu. The high school initially operated with four classes, so that in 1943 it had accreditation for all 8 high school classes. In 1948, the high school and the buildings in which it operated were transferred to the state, and the family was evicted to another home, in conditions unsuitable for a decent life. Until 2016, the Kindergarten with extended program no. 1 developed its activity here.