The present study aims to depict the history of one of the most beautiful neighbourhoods of Bucharest, Cotroceni, following the stylistic evolutions of the architecture of buildings constructed during the interwar period and later, in the 1950s and 1960s. The Neo-Romanian domestic architecture is interwoven in this residential area with elements of pure modernism or of the Art Deco style, through the creations of important names in the domain: Horia Creangă, Haralambie Georgescu, Tiberiu Niga, Jean Văleanu and others. After the changing of the political regime, small-sized apartment buildings following the formula of cheap, semi-detached or terraced houses, appeared around the neighbourhood. The analysis will look at the faces of this neighbourhood and its changes of physiognomy, comparing today’s pictures with Willy Pragher’s photographs, taken in the first half of the last century.

Fig. 1. Dr Joseph Lister Street, seen from Țăcălie hilltop (today’s Romniceanu Park), as a companion-piece to W. Pragher’s photo dated March 1941. Cf. Abt. Staatsarchiv Freiburg, W 134 Nr. 030234b. Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg. Photo: Cristina Bogdan (February 2019).

Fig. 2. The Pragher house, 67 Dr Lister Street, photographed by W. Pragher on 21 November 1939.

Fig. 3. The house where W. Pragher lived, 67 Dr Joseph Lister Street – as it stands today. Photo: Cristina Bogdan (February 2019).

Fig. 4. Sf. Elefterie Nou [St Eleutherius the New] Church, photographed from the same vantage point as W. Pragher’s, dated 13 March 1941. Cf. Abt. Staatsarchiv Freiburg, W 134 Nr. 030288. Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg. Photo: Cristina Bogdan (January 2019).

Fig. 5. Villa designed in Art Deco style by the modernist architect Jean Văleanu, 1 Dr Victor Babeș Street. Photo: Cristina Bogdan (February 2019).

Fig. 6. Villa in Neo-Romanian style, 2 Dr Victor Babeș Street. Photo: Cristina Bogdan (January 2019).

Fig. 7. Modernist building, 14 Dr Joseph Lister Street. Photo: Cristina Bogdan (January 2019).

Fig. 8. Art Deco gate, 11 Dr Joseph Lister Street. Photo: Cristina Bogdan (January 2019).

Fig. 9. Twin villas, designed by architect Petre Boico, 20-22 Louis Pasteur Street. Photo: Cristina Bogdan (February 2019).

Fig. 10. Plaque identifying the architect who designed the villa (Petre N. Boico, licensed architect), 20 Dr Louis Pasteur Street. Photo: Cristina Bogdan (February 2019).

Fig. 11. Peacocks facing each other, in a decoration on the neo-Romanian style villa (recently restored), 16 Dr Mihail Obedenaru-Gheorghiade Street, designed by the first female architect of Romania – Maria Virginia Andreescu Haret (1894-1962). Photo: Cristina Bogdan (February 2019).

Fig. 12. Doves facing each other, feeding on a grape. Element in the window decoration, at 27 Dr­ Joseph Lister Street. Photo: Cristina Bogdan (February 2019).