Manu - Auschnitt House (Bucharest) | interesting place

 house, interesting place

Nicknamed at the time of its completion as ‘la maison le plus superbe dans le voisinage’, the house or rather palace was built by Magistrate Iancu Manu, following Grigore Cerchez’s plans. It was set in Louis 14 style and inspired closely by Biron Hotel (currently hosting Rodin Museum) in Paris. The story has it that in 1930, upon his return to the throne, King Carol the Second intended to host Elena Lupescu, his mistress in the house but eventually gave up and bought another villa in the neighbourhood (an unconfirmed story has it that he bought the Filipescu - Brâncoveanu House). Major industrialist and Elena Lupescu’s financial adviser Max Auschnitt (with over 16,000 employees and a 1 billion lei capital at the time) bought the house in 1932, turning it into a venue for parties. Auschnitt left the country in 1946 and the house was then confiscated by the Communist regime (1948) and hosted Prime Minister Petru Groza, then the Embassy of Argentina. After 1989 the house was returned to Auschnitt Family that inherited it and in 2006 it was bought over by a controversial, rich real estate player and politician, George (commonly known as Gigi) Becali which had it restored; the building cost Becali 7 million Euros and the restoration works another 1.5 million. The over 20 rooms were decorated in period style, with 24 carat gold-plated walls, tassel curtains, fluffy carpets, large scale chandeliers. The result came complete with rather overdone gold-plated plaster decorations, an impressive entrance and kitschy interiors boasting of excessive, kitschy decorations. A self-claimed religious figure, Gigi Becali completed the interiors with larger than life Biblical scene paintings and icons and the front garden with a gold-plated crucified Jesus. Architectural lights emphasize the house at night, but there is a glitz there too, as they change colour. It nowadays has various purposes, such as Becali’s office, his party’s headquarters (Partidul Noua Generație, En. the New Generation) and a press conference venue for Steaua Football Club where Becali used to be the major shareholder but renounced at them in favour of his nephews facing corruption charges.