Toma T. Socolescu (20 July 1883 in Ploiești – 14 October 1960 in Bucharest, Romania) was a Romanian architect. He was one of the influencers of Romanian architecture from the early 20th century through World War II. He devoted his whole life to his region of Prahova and particularly to the city of Ploiești. He will also contribute greatly to the cultural life of his country. He devoted his whole life to the development of Prahova County and, in particular, the city of Ploiești, founding the Nicolae Iorga Library and the Prahova County Art Museum "Ion Ionescu-Quintus", contributing at the same time to the cultural life of Romania. Among the most important designed constructions are the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist, the Central Market Hall, the Palace of Justice, the Palace of Business Schools, the Bank of Credit Prahova (Creditul Prahovei) and the Scala cinema, all in Ploiești. He was mayor of Ploiești between December 1919 and March 1920, and in 1927 he moved to Păulești, a municipality of which he was mayor between 1938 and 1945 and whose infrastructure he developed. During the Communist period, refusing to join the Communist Party and considered a "class enemy", his family was persecuted by the Securitate, he has been expelled from his house in Păulești and all his properties have been confiscated. He moved to Bucharest, where he died in 1960.

Biography

Toma T. Socolescu marked the face of modern Romanian architecture until the Second World War, both by leaving a substantial legacy, both in terms of remarkable constructions, foundations of a cultural nature, and literature related to Romanian architecture and its evolution. It is still a benchmark in the world of architecture and art. More than a dozen of his works have been classified as historic monuments.

Education and travels

Son, grandson and nephew of an architect, his career choice was not easy. After a happy and fulfilled childhood, his father suddenly disappeared on November 22, 1897, then his mother, three years later, the same day, he became an orphan at the age of 17 and in charge of his four brothers and sisters. Toma T. has a great talent for drawing and devotes his free time to drawing during his last three years of high school. Eager to know, he took advantage of his father's large library and inherited his drawing talent. Despite the catastrophic financial situation of the family, the dispersion of his brothers and sisters taken in by the Socolescu uncles and cousins, and the unfavorable economic situation for architects at the end of the 19th century in Romania, he succeeded in forcing destiny and following his passion for art and architecture, taking advantage of free higher education, in this time. He finished high school in 1901 at the lyceum St Peter and St Paul of Ploiești and then enrolled at the Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism, then known as the National School of Architecture. He was a student of Ion Mincu, the leading expert in Romanian architecture at the beginning of the 20th century. In June 1911, he graduated with honors, specializing in civil and religious architecture and Romanian archaeology. He returned to this institution to teach architectural theory from 1929 to 1947. He began his career as a designer at the Central Post Office in Bucharest in 1904. In 1906 he was hired as a designer by a large workshop of architects dedicated to building the infrastructure of the 'Romanian General Exhibition of 1906'. Carol Park was specially designed for this event by the French landscape architect Édouard Redont. The exhibition ran from 6 June to 23 November 1906 in Bucharest. The event was organized by the Romanian Government in honor of the 40-year reign of Carol I of Romania. This opportunity put him in contact with leading artists and architects of the time and is credited with having a decisive impact on the rest of his career. His travels to Vienna, Constantinople and Budapest in 1913, to Italy (15 December 1923 to 20 February 1924, and January 1937) and to France represented significant milestones in his life. In these places he found inspiration for his work in Romania.

World War I

He was drafted into the 47th Infantry Regiment in 1916, where he was assigned to the Bucharest transport regiment and sent to the "Danube Defense Group" (Grupul Apărării Dunarii). There, with other architects and engineers, he was responsible for bridge demolition operations during the Moldavia retreat. He built hospitals and sanitation facilities, hoping to combat typhus, which was wreaking havoc on the Romanian army. Around 1917 he joined a battalion of mountain troops. The retreat of the Romanian army to Moldavia gave him the chance to discover the rural and religious artistry of various Romanian regions. Clutching his notebook, he produced many drawings of folk art and traditional architectural styles that would later inspire him. Two reproductions of his watercolors of houses in Chișinău (Bessarabia) were published in 1926. In 1941 he wrote an article on the Romanian ancient art of Bessarabia, and illustrated it with his own watercolors.

Architectural and urbanistic work

Socolescu was one of the leading advocates and a staunch defender of the Romanian national architectural style, also referred to as Neo brâncovenesc or Neo Romanian style. He was inspired particularly by the Brâncovenesc style. He worked to improve Ploiești's appearance and to develop public buildings for all of county of Prahova. His strong interest in archaeology led him to study and preserve many old houses and churches, and to publish essays and surveys on this subject. He played a key role in the management of the Society of Romanian Architects, and participated in his hometown's cultural and social life. He served as Mayor from December 1919 to March 1920. The artistic component of architecture was fundamental to him and he was very critical of architecture that was unrelated to art, especially to traditional Romanian art. He decried a sharp increase in the number of architecture students lacking the necessary artistic talent. In his memoirs, he chastised architects active from the 1920s through the 1940s, who, according to him, neglected architecture's artistic foundations. He also denounced the projects which took only land use into account and noted the lack of hygiene in houses built between 1930 and 1950, while the buildings in France, Austria and Germany of the same period were much more advanced. In his editorials, he wrote against property speculation and the immediate search for profit that led to poor construction and "soulless" buildings. In The Architecture of Ploiești, A Historical Study (1938), Socolescu wrote: "'We live in a confusing time, in which it seems that nobody knows what he wants. From this is derived this chaos of so-called modern buildings, resulting in a time when science, engineering calculations and a quasi-superficiality of architectural knowledge have overtaken a sacred beauty that was cultivated over the centuries that have preceded us, standardizing everything and thus creating cold and clumsy works of civilization on the ruins of those of culture, those which have given us the tradition and spirit of this people raised in the cult of beauty.'"

In Ploiești

He served as mayor of Ploiești immediately after World War I, as well as the county's chief architect. He had to handle all major supply problems in the city. He was the primary instigator of the expansion of the city's boundaries, to include the refineries located in the periphery that allowed the city to benefit from the tax base they provided. The budget tripled and reached a level that allowed large infrastructure projects. He planned major changes in the city, including the construction of the Central Market Hall of Ploiești, and acted as urban planner. Many architectural projects that were not completed during his short term were finished by the mayors that succeeded him. Throughout his life, he improved town planning and hygiene for the city of Ploiești. From 1932 to 1935, in collaboration with architects Ion Davidescu and S. Vasilescu, he developed a systematic plan of the city. This plan gave more weight to green-space, traffic and railway and generally to allow for orderly growth. The plan provides for urban development and optimal population density, allocation for public and cultural institutions, schools and green-spaces. It also details the rules that defined land-use plans. He developed similar plans for the towns of Câmpina and Mizil. These projects were enforced until the Communist takeover in 1945.

In Păulești

He settled into the commune of Păulești in 1927. He was its mayor between February 1938 and January 1945, a term interrupted by the Legionary Movement regime between November 1940 and February 1942. His second term was shortened by the Rădescu government in January 1945. In five and a half years, he built several buildings, bridges and public monuments, including the town hall, the primary school and the public baths. He created landscaped areas for the municipal park, called Parcul cu castani (the park with chestnut. A chestnut tree-lined avenue cut across the park and led to the cemetery. He had hoped that an amusement park and an ornamental pond could be built to provide a large relaxing green space (Păulești is located 7 km from Ploiești). The project began around 1930, but was not completed before the Second World War. It was revived under the name of Parc Pădurea Păulești in 1995. After many legal disputes between the city and the construction company, the project was halted and then re-activated in July 2007. Work resumed in 2009. In 2007, in recognition of the benefits provided by the architect, the commune college was renamed Arhitect T T. Socolescu. In May 2011, another ceremony was held in his honour, unveiling a bust in his image that was installed in the school's courtyard.

Cultural and artistic work

To support the culture life of his city, he launched initiatives that equipped Prahova County with its first museum and cultural institutions. Supported by Ploiești and Nicolae Iorga, he founded its first history museum, its first public library and its first museum of fine arts.

Regional Museum of Prahova

In 1914, aided by Nicolae Iorga, to appeal for the intervention of Ion Duca, then Minister of Education, he saved an historic house dating from the 18th century from destruction, preserving it in its original form: the coppersmith dealer house of Hagi Prodan (Casa Hagi Prodan). In 1919, as County Architect in Chief, he founded a small regional ethnographic and religious art museum in that house. It was the city's first museum, initially called Muzeul Județului or Muzeul Prahovei. After a public appeal and fundraising campaign, he collected art from across the county, with the help of priests and teachers. The museum was stocked with furniture, clothing and icons forgotten in the region's attics. During the period 1940–1944, the museum's inventory was eventually lost or stolen and replaced with other objects collected by Professor Nicolae Simache, assisted by Socolescu. Known as the Muzeul Hagi Prodan since 1953, the museum was renamed on 18 June 2005: Casa de Târgoveț din Secolul al XVIII-lea – al XIX-lea.

Popular University Nicolae Iorga

As a political and cultural companion of Nicolae Iorga, Socolescu actively participated in Summer courses (Known from 1920 as Universitate Popularã N.Iorga) that Iorga established in 1911 in Vălenii de Munte. In addition to completing the plans of the classrooms, Socolescu regularly participated as a speaker along with other professors and prominent figures from Romanian cultural and political life. Socolescu was a regular speaker, among other professors and prominent figures of Romanian cultural and political life. The renown and popularity grew to such an extent that the openings of the Summer courses attracted leading politicians and ministers. King Ferdinand of Romania, Prince Carol II of Romania and Princess Elisabeth of Wied attended Iorga's lectures. On 17 August 1938, Maria Tănase sang for the closure.

Popular Library Nicolae Iorga

In 1921 he founded the Biblioteca Populară Nicolae Iorga, originally installed on the municipal baths' right wing. Heading the Management Committee, he expanded the library collection with help from donors. In the same place, on the ground floor, he developed an art gallery by collecting Western European artists' reproductions as well as original Romanian oils and watercolors. Inaugurated on 20 March 1921, it originally held 1,250 volumes. By 1937, more than 11.000 books and more than 3,500 publications were available free of charge to its 8,000 registered readers. Socolescu donated over 250 volumes from his collection.

Museum of Fine Arts

He founded and developed an art gallery by collecting reproductions of Western Europe artists as well as original Romanian oils and watercolors, on the ground floor of the same building. For this purpose, he was helped by a group of Ploiești intellectuals including lawyer, art collector and politician Ion Ionescu-Quintus, the historian Dumitru Munteanu-Râmnic, as well as by city mayors including Ștefan Moțoiu, who provided substantial financial support. Created around 1930, within the framework of the Cultural Foundation Nicolae Iorga, the pinacotheca subsequently became the Ploiești Art Museum. It was inaugurated by Socolescu in November 1931 The wopening speech is reproduced in extenso in Amintiri. It was only in 1965 that the museum would be moved to the current building: the Ghiță Ionescu palace, former County Prefecture. In Arhitectura în Ploești, studiu istoric and Monografia orașului Ploești, appear photographs, a list of all the exhibited painters, as well as some remarkable works present in the museum in 1938. The latter was then installed in the old municipal baths. Some oils and watercolors by Toma T. Socolescu, which the latter donated to the museum, still exist, as do some works by the artist Toma Gh. Tomescu, but are currently on display in the museum.

Other cultural activities and foundations in Prahova

Communist period

He refused to integrate into the Communist-sponsored organization of architects, and was considered as an enemy of the people and was persecuted by the Communist authorities. His property was nationalized in the 1950s. He was not allowed to practice as an architect and was expelled from his Păulești estate on 21 February 1952. He moved in with his son Toma Barbu Socolescu in Bucharest. The Socolescu family was harassed by the Securitate almost until his death in 1960. Left without an income, he worked until the age of 74 at the Institute of Urban Planning and Construction (ISPROR). From 1953, within the framework of Institutul Central pentru sistematizarea orașelor și regiunilor (ICSOR) he was seconded to the Department of Historical Monuments for four years. On 12 February 1957, he was forced to retire on a reduced pension. Socolescu nevertheless continued to protest projects that he considered to be against his idea of architecture. Socolescu published many writings. He deliberately did not claim credit for all of his works. To protect other families, his memoirs omitted some details during the communist regime. The Securitate particularly attacked wealthy families of the interwar period and seized their property and jailed many Romanians.

Legacy

Toma T. Socolescu is still studied at the Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism and is still considered as an architectural eminence in Romania. Until recently no reference to Socolescu was visible in the streets of Ploiești or the capital. A Technical High School in Ploiești is named after his father, while a Technical College for architecture and public works in Bucharest is named after his uncle. A street is named after his father in Ploiești. However, since 21 October 2010 and the 50th anniversary of his death, he has come out of oblivion. Other ceremonies Articles published in the local press in 2009 and 2010: any of his works were destroyed partly by the American bombardments of 1943–44, that were especially harsh in Ploiești, and more were razed by Nicolae Ceaușescu's policy of systematization that removed all traces of the soul of Romanian architecture. Many surviving properties were returned to him in a degraded state, such as his manor house in Păulești, or his building in Ploiești, which was disfigured during the 1950s. His house of Păulești is on the regional list of Historic Monuments, after 45 years of neglect by the state. Built by another architect with no link to the Socolescu style, it was returned to the heiress in a much damaged state. Stripped of its land, and of its ornamental garden (organized by Socolescu), it lost most of its original beauty and harmony. The estate was sold by the family in August 2010. His Ploiești apartment house suffered badly during 1944. It was nationalized in 1950 and disfigured by a rehabilitation. It was partially returned to the family in 2006. Most of the finest edifices of Ploiești, including several built by the Socolescus, were demolished in the 1970s and 1980s, under pretext of structural weakness due to the earthquakes of 1940 and 1977. After 1949 Socolescu devoted his spare time to his memoirs. He continued to work on the project until 1960. In 2004, after more than fifty years of neglect by various Romanian institutions, his family published the first part of his memoirs called Amintiri (the only part he had finished) which covers the period from his birth up to 1924. The Fresco of architects who have worked in Romania in the modern era from 1800 to 1925, a far more important work, was completed in 1955 and also published in 2004 by his family. His book dedicated to the architecture in Ploiești, Arhitectura în Ploești, studiu istoric, published in 1937, was recognized by the Romanian Academy. The first page of a small booklet he wrote in French in 1941 sums up his credo: "'La puissance créatrice de notre peuple est complètement prouvée par son bel art populaire plusieurs fois millénaire ainsi que par l'architecture plus récente de nos églises, habitations princières et voïvodales. La Création étant le but suprême d'un peuple, c'est par notre apport personnel que nous justifierons notre existence de demain. En Architecture, il ne faut pas à tout prix rechercher le nouveau et nous garder des formules sacro-saintes, comme par exemple: il faut être de son temps. L'architecte ne peut rester en arrière, il a au contraire pour mission d'entraîner ses contemporains dans sa marche vers le progrès. L'architecture ne peut être internationale, elle doit être conservatrice et suivre évolutivement la chaine des traditions d'un peuple. La construction et la décoration, formant l'une le squelette, l'autre l'enveloppe, doivent se compléter et satisfaire aux deux exigences impérieuses: la logique et le sentiment. Un grand penseur européen H. Keyserling, croit que notre peuple est appelé à ressusciter l'art byzantin, qui est à la base de notre Église et de notre architecture et que par une reprise de nos traditions d'art, de l'esprit duquel a jailli l'art de notre passé, nous devons diriger nos pas vers une renaissance moderne de nos arts plastiques.'" Toma T. Socolescu died on October 14, 1960, in Bucharest, at the home of his son Toma Barbu Socolescu, leaving the second part of his memoirs unfinished (period after 1924). He is buried in the Socolescu family vault at Bellu Cemetery in Bucharest.

Official duties, titles and public responsibilities

Socolescu had a limited political commitment. His service as mayor, municipal councilor and deputy allowed him to advance cultural, urban planning or architecture projects. His links with Nicolae Iorga led him to take responsibility within the Nationalist-Democrat Party. He developed relationships and friendships with people from other political sides, such as Ion Ionescu-Quintus from the National Liberal Party. His only national political action was his support for the bill regarding the Organization of the Corps of Architects and the Romanian Register of Architects in 1932. Adopted by parliament, a royal decree of application was signed on 15 July 1932. His official positions include:

Genealogy

The Socol family of , formerly part of Făgăraș or Țara Făgărașului is a branch of the Socol family of Muntenia, which lived in the county of Dâmbovița. A 'Socol', great boyar and son-in-law of Mihai Viteazul (1557–1601), had two religious foundations in Dâmbovița county, still existing, Cornești and Răzvadu de Sus. He built their churches and another one in the suburb of Târgoviște. This boyar married Marula, daughter of Tudora din Popești, also known as Tudora din Târgșor, sister of Prince Antonie-Vodă. Marula was recognized by Mihai Viteazul as his illegitimate daughter, following an extra-marital liaison with Tudora. Marula is buried in the church of Răzvadu de Sus, where, on a richly carved stone slab, her name can be read. Nicolae Iorga, the great Romanian historian and friend of Toma T. Socolescu, found Socol ancestors among the founders of the City of Făgăraș in the 12th century. In 1655, the Prince of Transylvania George II Rákóczi ennobled an ancestor of Nicolae G. Socol: "Ștefan Boier din Berivoiul Mare, and through him his wife Sofia Spătar, his son Socoly, and their heirs and descendants of whatever sex, to be treated and regarded as true and undeniable NOBLEMEN.", in gratitude for his services as the Prince's courier in the Carpathians, a function "which he fulfilled faithfully and steadfastly for many years, and especially in these stormy times [...]". Around 1846, five Socol come to Muntenia, from, in the territory of Făgăraș. "'Five brothers crossed the mountains, all builders, from the Făgăraș region, a village at the foot of the mountains,, where the name of Socol is still widespread today, and where one of their ancestors is said to have come from Munténie, namely from the region of Târgoviște, which is the home of the Socol family, being to this day, near Târgovişte, Valea lui Socol (the Socol Valley), as well as their two founding churches, in Răzvadu de Sus and Cornești. '" One of the brothers was architect Nicolae Gh. Socol (??-1872). He settled in Ploiești around 1840-1845, and named himself Socolescu. He married Iona Săndulescu, from the Sfantu Spiridon suburb. He had a daughter (she died in infancy) and four sons, two of whom became major architects: Toma N. Socolescu and. The lineage of architects continues with Toma T. Socolescu, and his son Barbu Socolescu. The historian, cartographer and geographer evokes, in 1891, the presence of Romanian boyars of the first rank Socoleşti, in Bucharest, descendants of Socol from Dâmbovița. Finally, Constantin Stan also refers, in 1928, to the precise origin of Nicolae Gheorghe Socol : "'At the foot of the Carpathians, on the right bank of the stream of the same name, lies the commune of [...], one of the oldest villages in the Olt household [...]. The inhabitants are composed of serfs and former boyars. [...], and the Romanian boyar families were: Socol, Boyer, Sinea and Răduleț, soldiers with border guard privileges.[...] The G. Streza Socol family gave birth to Nicolae Socol, a graduated architect from Vienna, who settled in the town of Ploeşti with several of his brothers around the middle of the last century"

Architectural contests

Socolescu won many prizes in architectural design competitions:

Architectural achievements

Socolescu signed his works on the rooftops by a stylized reversed lily often made of zinc or copper. The signature is visible on many of his works.

In Ploiești

In 1912, Socolescu had worked on the old St John the Baptist church. According to his plans, the main dome was elevated 5 meters. The work was carried out between 1923 and 1939. The cathedral honors the dead of the First World War and is part of a national-religious momentum. The steeple is classified as an historical monument. Only the 60 m bell tower and the first part of the work were completed, stopped by the war. The project for the rest of the building that would replace the existing church remained unfulfilled until work resumed in 2008, inspired by Socolescu's plans. The facade is particularly unique to the time, and two monumental statues line the entrance. The interior's furniture is remarkable. The pre-project, and the plans of the cathedral, were published in the 1925 and 1926 issues of Arhitectura.

In Prahova county

Archaeology and heritage conservation

Socolescu had pursued a specialty in Romanian archaeology. He was interested in architectural history and preservation of architectural heritage. In addition to the renovation of old churches, he worked several times with Nicolae Iorga from 1919 onwards to protect remarkable ancient edifices. His projects included:

Other achievements

Ploiești

Prahova county

Bucharest

Other counties

Unbuilt works

Of Socolescu's ten contest wins, only two were built: the Creditul Prahovei and, partially, the Palace of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Many other projects were not built, including:

Publications

Newspaper articles

He published in Ploiești, Iași and Bucharest newspapers on issues including architecture, town planning, local politics and culture. He was the subject of numerous articles. The following list is not exhaustive, and states when Socolescu is not the author.

Painting and architecture exhibitions

Sources

Notes and references