The Floreasca neighborhood is today one of Bucharest’s most sought-after and elegant areas—a fascinating blend of old and new, of history and modernity, of aristocracy and cosmopolitan urban spirit. Few remember, however, that less than a century ago, Floreasca was considered one of the city’s slums, a “Cinderella” of the capital, where mud, disease, and garbage were part of everyday life. From the noble estate of the Florescu family to the glass-and-steel skyscrapers of today, the story of Floreasca is a true urban chronicle of Bucharest’s social, architectural, and moral transformation.

From Noble Estate to Bucharest Outskirts

The name of the neighborhood comes from the old estate of the Florescu family, one of Wallachia’s most influential boyar families. In the early 17th century, on the site of the current neighborhood, there was the village of Florești, divided into three sections: Lower Florești, Middle Florești, and Upper Florești. 

The estate was vast and fertile, covered with orchards and gardens. One of the notable members of the family, Antonache Caliarch-Florescu, former ban of Craiova, built a beautiful manor here, surrounded by gardens and fruit trees, near the Colentina hill.

The last heir of the family, Alexandru Emanoil Florescu—an important politician and close ally of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza—left the estate to his ex-wife, Elena Cornescu, after their divorce. She played a crucial role in the later development of the area, selling plots of land that laid the foundation of the Floreasca neighborhood. 

The streets of that time bore the family’s name: Manu Street, Cornescu Street, and Rosetti-Bălănescu Street. After Elena Cornescu’s death in 1916, the estate was purchased by the Chrissovelloni Bank, which later sold it in smaller lots in 1922. On the site of former sand pits and garbage dumps, horse-racing tracks were built, and later, the Dinamo Stadium and Floreasca Park appeared.

Interwar Floreasca: Between Luxury and Misery

During the interwar period, Floreasca was a neighborhood of striking contrasts. On one side, luxurious houses in the Neo-Romanian architectural style were built for upper-class civil servants and the urban elite. On the other, makeshift shacks and unhealthy living conditions dominated the poorer areas, inhabited by laborers and tuberculosis sufferers.

The Communal Society for Affordable Housing, founded in 1908, played a key role in shaping modern Floreasca. Inspired by the “garden city” concept, it began developing the Cornescu parceling—a residential area intended for Romania’s civil servants. 

Architects Dimitrie Mohor and Ion D. Trajanescu designed houses featuring porches, balconies, and trilobed window frames, architectural elements characteristic of the Neo-Romanian style.

However, the prices were far from “affordable” for the working class, ranging between 600,000 and 1,000,000 lei. The houses had up to seven main rooms, servant quarters, and garages—rare luxuries in Bucharest of the 1920s. 

Notable owners included sculptor Ioan Dimitriu-Bârlad and accountant Moscu. Facades adorned with sculpted female faces or busts of artists such as Raphael and Michelangelo became architectural symbols of the area.

In stark contrast, other parts of Floreasca were mockingly called “the Venice of Bucharest,” due to the absence of a sewage system. After heavy rains, the streets flooded, and residents moved around in makeshift boats. In 1930, locals complained to the authorities about the sheep herds grazing in “the Floreasca pit,” a notorious site described as a “permanent source of infection and disease.”

The First Steps Toward Modernization

Despite these conditions, Bucharest was beginning to modernize. In 1934, the Bucharest Emergency Clinical Hospital was opened, followed by the inauguration of the Ford Romanian Assembly Plant (Ford Română S.A.R.) in 1935, the first large-scale Ford assembly line in Eastern Europe. Even King Michael I worked there as an unskilled laborer. The first cars assembled were Ford V8-48 models with closed four-door bodies.

In 1936, under King Carol II, Lake Floreasca was created—a 70-hectare artificial lake that became part of a larger hydro-technical system including Lakes Herăstrău and Tei. Around the lake, villas began to rise, turning the area into one of the greenest and most desirable in the city.

The Socialist Era: “A City for the Working People”

After 1950, Floreasca entered a new stage. The communist regime demolished the shacks and built over 100 apartment blocks, most of them four stories high. These modest yet modern dwellings were allocated to exemplary workers, loyal civil servants, and second-tier party officials.

The infamous garbage pit was filled and transformed into a clean, organized residential area. A 1958 propaganda film produced by Sahia Studios proudly proclaimed: “Behold the former Floreasca pits! The air smells of fresh mortar and brick. We live, think, and build under the shadow of cranes. We live in new times, for new people, building a bright future for the proletariat.”

The neighborhood was enriched with amenities: a cinema, a swimming pool, a skating rink, shops, and generous green spaces between buildings. Floreasca became a model of socialist urbanism—an ideal “green neighborhood,” representing the harmonious coexistence of man and nature in the city.

Contemporary Floreasca: Glass, Steel, and Luxury

After the fall of communism, Floreasca entered another phase of transformation. As the real estate market boomed, former public lands were returned to private owners—sometimes through dubious legal processes. 

In 2013, Sky Tower was inaugurated, the tallest building in Romania, standing 137 meters high with 37 floors. That same year, the first buildings of the One Floreasca Lake complex were completed, followed by One Floreasca City and One Tower, all built on the former Ford factory site.

These developments radically changed the face of the neighborhood, bringing it to the level of the most exclusive residential areas in major European capitals. Apartments overlooking the lake became symbols of modern Bucharest luxury, while the bars, restaurants, and clubs along Calea Floreasca attract thousands of visitors every day.

However, rapid development also brought controversy. Some plots of land, originally designated as public green spaces, were illegally retroceded and built upon. The Floreasca Civic Initiative Group continues to demand the demolition of illegally constructed buildings on these lands.

Floreasca Between Memory and Modernity

Today, Floreasca perfectly embodies the history of Bucharest itself. It has been a noble estate, a slum, a socialist housing project, and now a high-end residential district. Calea Floreasca, Barbu Văcărescu, and Rahmaninov Streets are vibrant arteries—symbols of a city that never sleeps.

The area still preserves traces of its layered past: old boyar street names, interwar villas, and hidden gardens behind tall fences. Lake Floreasca, once surrounded by mud and waste, is now an oasis of tranquility and refinement.

In just a century, Floreasca has gone from the acrid stench of garbage to the aroma of freshly brewed coffee from its elegant cafés overlooking the lake. It is a story “fit for the movies,” where past and present coexist—a story of contrasts, resilience, and rebirth.

Floreasca is not merely a neighborhood. It is a living metaphor for Bucharest itself—an ever-changing city that never ceases to reinvent its identity.

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