I don’t remember when I first heard the name Marcel Iancu. It was probably in one of the countless times when I got lost on the streets of Bucharest with people who knew better than me, and who would later teach me to see him, love him, and further seek the man who first adorned modernist Bucharest.
Who is Marcel Iancu, then?
Born on May 24, 1895, in Bucharest, Marcel Iancu was hailed as the spiritual leader of Romanian modernism. He studied architecture at the Polytechnic Institute and the Academy of Architecture in Zurich. After spending some time in Parisian circles, he eventually returned to Romania, where, alongside Horia Creangă and Octav Doicescu, he published the manifesto “Towards an Architecture of Bucharest,” advocating for avant-garde and a modern Bucharest.
In the 1920s, alongside Ion Vinea, he served as the editor-in-chief of the publication Contimporanul, the most influential avant-garde cultural magazine. The articles published always centered around modernism, whether it was manifested in literature, painting, or, as seen here, architecture.
“During 1925-26, every Tuesday, in my house in Bucharest, those who attempted an escape from the stale forms of the past would gather. In these gatherings of Spirit and art, so many works were planned that scandalized, impressed, and initiated new currents in literature, painting, and theater. Above all and everyone, the personality of Marcel Iancu predominated, to whom I believe modern Bucharest is indebted.”
Statement by Dida Solomon-Callimachi (actress), 1934, “Clopotul” magazine.
The imprint of Marcel Iancu
Marcel Iancu designed the first modernist buildings in Bucharest, becoming exemplary structures. He was strongly influenced by cubism, constructivism, and the eccentric and revolutionary Le Corbusier, continually seeking a new architectural style characterized by a comfort that “pays no tribute to wealth.” He challenged the architectural status quo through straight lines and perfect simplicity.
“In the neighborhood, the house I built made a sensation. The priest, the commissioners, and the residents were convinced that I had built a ‘laboratory’ and that it was placed in their neighborhood.”
Marcel Iancu, about one of his first houses.
Marcel Iancu extensively employed glass and bare wrought iron, stripped of ornaments and intricacies, creating buildings where geometry played a discreet role. Elements such as porthole windows, masts, terraces, and straight roofs or rooftop terraces are frequently observed.
Functionality is the central characteristic of modernism in general, diametrically opposed to classical architecture, essentially serving as a reaction to it. However, who could ever gaze upon or step into a modernist building and not be fascinated?
In my eyes, Marcel Iancu crafted the most perfect urban residential space: spacious, bright, simple, airy, defined by absolutely emblematic curved lines and warmed by the use of wood in floors and sliding transitions between rooms.
He primarily designed in the Armenian and Jewish neighborhoods, among others. Some of the buildings signed by Marcel Iancu include:
- Clara Iancu Building, where he also resided and named after his wife
- Jean Juster Villa
- Jean Fuchs Villa, first modernist building built in Bucharest
- Solly Gold Building
- Frida Cohen Building
- Bazaltin Building
- Hassner Villa
- Jacques Costin Building
- Paul Iluță Villa
- Poldi Chapier’s lawyer’s house
In 1935, Marcel Iancu stated that “to love the past does not mean to paralyze life”.
His constructions were predominantly residential, and what I find he achieved alongside the great modernists of his time, such as Victor Brauner, Horia Creangă, or Burah Zilbermann, was to convey to the people of that era the idea of a communal living space that does not compromise on quality or its own form of beauty. “To say that a new house should no longer have a roof, nor gutters, is even more naive than claiming that moderns only build in crystal or reinforced concrete. Romance can be poured into concrete, and cast iron can take on the forms of the Renaissance”.
Due to the political situation, in 1941, Marcel Iancu left Romania and settled in Palestine (since 1948, Israel).
