The Primrose Hill of Bucharest

I have been accused of painting Bucharest in a bad light, which is not hard to do as compared to many other capital cities in Europe it is a bit of a dump. However in an attempt to balance the output of this blog I went for a walk in one of its more upmarket areas. Cotroceni is a residential area of Bucharest, situated just west of the centre on one of the only hills in the city. Because of this it could be refered to as the Primrose Hill of Bucharest, a desirable area populated by the well to do. You won't find Liam Gallagher or Kate Moss wandering the streets but you will find some great and varied architecture, from the late 19th to the early 20th century. Classical, art deco and modernist buildings sit side by side. The Romanian Modernist movement is my favourite style in this city. Horia Creanga, one of Romania's modernist pioneers said 'our modern architecture springs from the general needs of the time and not from the pleasure of imitation'.

I was appalled however to see that some of this beautiful architecture has been abused by it present occupants who have replaced the original windows with Termoplan (PVC double glazing). Un-fucking-believable! The Romanians are obsessed with this ugly substitute and you see it on many buildings from Communist blocks to grand villas. As if this isn't bad enough when the windows arrive they have plastic tape over the PVC which is usually left on. To finish of the aesthetic attack, insulating foam is often seen oozing out betwwen the window and ajoining wall. Oh oh, here I am slagging off the locals again so I better stop and show some photos.