Building in the Old Center put up for sale for 3 million euros. The connection he has with Mihai Eminescu
In the heart of the Old Center of Bucharest, the building of the former Hotel Kiriazi, where the poet Mihai Eminescu also spent his time, is looking for a new owner. Built in 1882, the hotel, now dilapidated, is for sale for 3 million euros, offering 50 rooms and over 1,000 square meters of land, but also an authentic page in the history of the capital.
Kiriazi Hotel. PHOTO: Archive
The hotel is located at the corner of Blănari and Băcani streets, next to the famous Hanul cu Tei, and represents one of the historic landmarks of the Lipscani neighborhood. Today, the building bears the marks of time: the plaster is falling, the windows are broken, and the inner courtyard, once full of footsteps and voices, is now deserted.
Built by Dr. G. Kiriazi, an influential figure of the era, the hotel was built on the site of the former Inn of Zamfir, a property that later came into the possession of the Sărindar Monastery until the secularization of the monastic assets in 1863. Kiriazi successively bought the lands and, between 1882 and 1884, built an elegant hotel with decorated facades and tall windows, keeping the typology of the urban inn: the rooms and the living temporary travelers organized around a sheltered inner courtyard.
The cultural and social center of Bucharest
Hotel Kiriazi quickly became a landmark of the capital. Shops and commercial spaces operated on the ground floor and basement, and guest rooms and temporary housing on the upper floors. In the premises was Birtul Ștefănescu, a bohemian place frequented by Mihai Eminescu, and the newspaper “Voința Națională”, an influential publication of the time, had its headquarters in the building. The walls of the hotel witnessed political debates, literary conspiracies and bourgeois ambitions, turning the building into a true cultural and social center of the era.
From glory to degradation
With the nationalization in 1950, Hotel Kiriazi lost its identity. The rooms have been re-compartmentalized, the facades have suffered degradation, and insufficient interventions have erased the original details of the construction. Today, the building is classified as a historical monument, group B, but its restoration requires extensive and expensive works. Heritage specialists argue that its authenticity and exceptional position in the Old Town gives it rare real estate and cultural potential.
Dramatic stories from the past
The hotel also carries less happy memories. In 1931, a young woman, Teodora Iosif, tried to commit suicide by jumping from the second floor, being later transported to Colțea Hospital with serious injuries. In 1940, another young woman was found nearly dead in her room after taking a large amount of tincture of iodine as a result of abuse. Such tragic events underline that Hotel Kiriazi witnessed the tumultuous and contrasting life of Bucharest in the past.
An architectural gem awaiting a new destiny
In a real estate market where the Old Center is becoming increasingly dense and commercial, Hotel Kiriazi represents a rare opportunity: the restoration of a historical monument of significant cultural and architectural value, in the heart of a neighborhood with huge touristic and cultural potential.
The old hotel stands as a testimony of an elegant and cosmopolitan Bucharest, waiting for someone to restore its former glory.
