Carol II and interwar Bucharest

King Carol II (1930–1940)

Carol II returned to the country on 6 June 1930 and became king on 8 June, in place of his son, Mihai.¹² In his first years he reigned as a constitutional monarch. On 10 February 1938 he suspended the Constitution and established a regime of personal authority, known as the royal dictatorship. The new Constitution, of February 1938, strengthened his powers.²³ His reign ended on 6 September 1940. The act he signed then was not, strictly speaking, an abdication, but “an act delegating power in favour of his son, Mihai”.¹

The King and the Prime Minister

Carol II supported the group of “young liberals” led by Gheorghe Tătărescu. In this way the King wanted to weaken the influence of the Brătianu family over the National Liberal Party.⁴ After the assassination of Prime Minister I. G. Duca, Tătărescu became Prime Minister on 3 January 1934. He remained in office until 28 December 1937.⁵ Carol recalled him to office in November 1939, for his second term.⁵

In 1937, Romania and Poland, as allies, exchanged visits at the highest level:

• 7 June 1937. The President of Poland, Ignacy Mościcki, arrives in Bucharest. For three days he holds “political talks with the King, Prime Minister Tătărescu and Foreign Minister Antonescu”.⁶
• 26 June – 1 July 1937. Carol II and Mihai make the return visit, to Warsaw and Kraków.⁶

The sources on these visits do not mention meetings in the house on Polonă Street. Nor does the street’s name come from the alliance of the 1930s: Polonă Street already existed in 1893.⁷

The capital of Greater Romania

At the 1930 census, Bucharest had 639,040 inhabitants.⁸ The nickname “Little Paris” is older than this era. It comes from the Belle Époque, around 1900, not from the 1930s.⁸⁹

Between 1929 and 1934, the mayor of the capital was Dem. I. Dobrescu. After the Tătărescu government came to power, he was succeeded in March 1934 by the Liberal Alexandru Gh. Donescu, who was mayor until January 1938.¹⁰ In February 1934 the committee that drew up the Master Plan for Systematisation was appointed. Its members included the architects Duiliu Marcu and G. M. Cantacuzino.¹¹ The plan was approved in 1935. A phrase associated with Mayor Donescu has survived from the period: “Greater Romania is making itself a capital… the capital is the face of the country”.¹²

The buildings of a decade

Year	Building	In brief
1934	Telephone Palace	Built between 1929 and 1934 on Calea Victoriei.13
early 1930s	ARO-Patria Building	Designed by Horia Creangă on Brătianu Boulevard, a landmark of Bucharest modernism.14
1935	Luna Bucureștilor	The first edition of the great exhibition, in Parcul Carol. From 1936 it moved to the new park at Herăstrău.15
1936	Village Museum	Opened on 10 May 1936, in the presence of the King.16
1936	Miorița Fountain	Designed by the architect Octav Doicescu, with mosaics by Milița Petrașcu, who created the fireplace in the salon of the Tătărescu House.17
1936	Carlton Building	A block of 14 levels and 47 m, designed by G. M. Cantacuzino and Vasile Arion. It collapsed in the earthquake of 10 November 1940.18
1936	Arch of Triumph	Its present form, in stone, was inaugurated on 1 December 1936.19
1937	Royal Palace	The new palace, designed by Nicolae Nenciulescu after the fire of 1926.20
1939	Hotel Ambasador	Opened on 4 May 1939, on Magheru Boulevard.21

Mediterranean villas and Polonă Street

In the same decade, the villa districts of Bucharest filled with houses in the Mediterranean style, with white render, arches, clay roof tiles and Neo-Romanian details. The architect Mădălin Ghigeanu identified about 470 buildings of this kind in Bucharest.²² One of the most important architects of the style was Alexandru Zaharia, co-author of the Tătărescu House.

Polonă Street is part of a protected built-up area, formed on the old Ioanid parcelling of land. On the same street, Neo-Gothic, Neo-Romanian, Art Deco and modernist villas stand side by side.²³ Here, at number 19, Arethia Tătărescu built the family house, authorised in 1935.²⁴²²

The Tătărescu family’s guests

The Prime Minister’s daughter, Sanda Tătărescu-Negropontes, recounted that distinguished guests came in summer to the family’s estate at Poiana, in Gorj: “in summer Elena Văcărescu, Martha Bibescu, Milița Pătrașcu came to us, but also many politicians, among them King Carol II, Valentin Bibescu, Titulescu”.²⁴ Of the house in Bucharest, the architect Mădălin Ghigeanu said: “I know that this house has known Elena Văcărescu, Martha Bibescu, King Carol II, who often came to visit”.²²

The end of an era

The year 1940 closed the decade:

• June 1940. Romania cedes Bessarabia and northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union, and the Tătărescu government falls on 4 July.⁴
• 6 September 1940. Carol II hands power to his son, Mihai, and leaves the country.¹
• 10 November 1940. The earthquake brings down the Carlton Building on Brătianu Boulevard.¹⁸

After the war, the communist regime nationalised the great houses of interwar Bucharest by Decree No. 92 of 20 April 1950.²⁵ The house at 19 Polonă Street was confiscated, and Gheorghe Tătărescu was arrested in May 1950.

Notes and sources

1. „Carol al II-lea al României” [Carol II of Romania], Wikipedia (Romanian). ro.wikipedia.org ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. „Carol II of Romania”, Wikipedia (English). en.wikipedia.org ↩ ↩²

3. „1938 Constitution of Romania”, Wikipedia (English). en.wikipedia.org ↩

4. „Gheorghe Tătărescu”, Wikipedia (English). en.wikipedia.org ↩ ↩²

5. „Gheorghe Tătărescu”, Wikipedia (Romanian). ro.wikipedia.org ↩ ↩²

6. Bogusław Kubisz, „Prietenia împărtășită. Vizitele reciproce ale șefilor de stat ai Poloniei și României” [Shared friendship. The reciprocal visits of the heads of state of Poland and Romania], Historia. historia.ro ↩ ↩²

7. „Catedrala Sfântul Vasile din București” [St Basil’s Cathedral in Bucharest] (the plot on Polonă Street, attested in 1893), Wikipedia (Romanian). ro.wikipedia.org ↩

8. „București” [Bucharest], Wikipedia (Romanian). ro.wikipedia.org ↩ ↩²

9. „De ce era Bucureștiul numit «Micul Paris» în perioada Belle Époque” [Why Bucharest was called “Little Paris” in the Belle Époque], Primăria Municipiului București [Bucharest City Hall]. bucuresti.ro ↩

10. „Lista primarilor Bucureștiului” [List of mayors of Bucharest], Wikipedia (Romanian). ro.wikipedia.org ↩

11. Cincinat Sfințescu, his work as a civil servant (the Master Plan committee, 1934). sfintescu.ro ↩

12. „Alexandru Gh. Donescu”, Wikipedia (Romanian). ro.wikipedia.org ↩

13. „10 lucruri de știut despre Palatul Telefoanelor” [10 things to know about the Telephone Palace], Historia. historia.ro ↩

14. „Blocul ARO - Patria” [The ARO - Patria Building], Wikipedia (Romanian). ro.wikipedia.org ↩

15. „Luna Bucureștilor, odă citadinului” [Luna Bucureștilor, an ode to city life], Historia. historia.ro ↩

16. „Muzeul Național al Satului «Dimitrie Gusti»” [The “Dimitrie Gusti” National Village Museum], Wikipedia (Romanian). ro.wikipedia.org ↩

17. „Fântâna Miorița” [The Miorița Fountain], Wikipedia (Romanian). ro.wikipedia.org ↩

18. „Blocul Carlton” [The Carlton Building], Wikipedia (Romanian). ro.wikipedia.org ↩ ↩²

19. „Arcul de Triumf din București” [The Arch of Triumph in Bucharest], Wikipedia (Romanian). ro.wikipedia.org ↩

20. „Palatul Regal din București” [The Royal Palace in Bucharest], Wikipedia (Romanian). ro.wikipedia.org ↩

21. „Hotel Ambasador”, Wikipedia (Romanian). ro.wikipedia.org ↩

22. Interview with the architect Mădălin Ghigeanu about the Tătărescu House, B365, 8 December 2022. b365.ro ↩ ↩² ↩³

23. „Expoziție de palate prețioase pe Polonă” [An exhibition of precious palaces on Polonă], B365, 30 November 2025. b365.ro ↩

24. „Sanda Tătărescu-Negroponte, o poveste de viață mărturisită” [Sanda Tătărescu-Negroponte, a life story in her own words] (recording by Adrian Majuru, 2004), e-antropolog, 29 November 2012. e-antropolog.ro ↩ ↩²

25. Decretul nr. 92/1950 pentru naționalizarea unor imobile [Decree No. 92/1950 on the nationalisation of certain buildings], Buletinul Oficial [Official Bulletin] No. 36 of 20 April 1950. cdep.ro ↩