IASI/ The concession to wealthy concessionaires of historical houses will help reverse
their current decay and return them to their former glory.

Can the lawful owners repossess their confiscated properties that are now registered with the national cultural patrimory as historical landmarks? Finally, the City Hall in the town of Iasi, with the approval of the Town Council, decided to evict the tenants living in houses, registered with the national cultural patrimony, that have been slowly falling into ruin due to many years of neglect. Most of these tenants are shady city dwellers, gypsies, with no civic responsibility, who have become accustomed to always be on the receiving end. More than fifty such houses are in a severe state of neglect despite being real architectural treasures, and having been inhabited in the past by some of the prominent historical figures of the Romanian public life. Here and there, one can still see plaques identifying some of these memorial houses. A few of these landmarks are irreversibly damaged and probably require demolition for public safety reasons.

The City Hall will buy a whole newly built apartment building to provide housing for all evacuees from these historical buildings in order to proceed with this long overdue eviction measure. A few families have already been provided with new housing. However, some tenants refuse to relocate because of the very desirable location in downtown Iasi of the buildings they rent. These tenants of many decades, with no prior urban tradition in Iasi, and with no interest in the preservation of the city and its history are now becoming unreasonably demanding. But they never bothered to either build their own houses, or to take care of those provided to them for free... or almost for free.

At the time, the cocession of the delapidated Beldiman House to a private university stirred up a huge controversy (among the local journalists as well) although the deal was conditioned by a clause requesting the concessionaire to fix the dwelling. Subsequently, it proved to be a success as the Beldiman House, given in a dejected state, was returned to its former glory following extensive structural repairs now, the house is a beautiful addition to the historical Pacurarilor Street. Hopefully, the new preservation initiative coming from the City Hall will restore other similar historical houses to their former dignity as a reminder of the elegance and prosperity enjoyed by the city in the past.

Last but not least, we must also add that some of the houses that were confiscated by the communist authorities many years ago from their lawful owners were registered as historical landmarks by mistake. The former owners of these houses often still reside as tenants on their confiscated property together with other, unrelated tenants. This mistaken identification of some of these confiscated houses as historical landmarks prevents their lawful owners from repossessing them. We covered such stories in the past. Each case of a historical building listed into the national cultural patrimony needs to be professionally reviewed with the goal of correcting all mistakes.

Author: Vasile Iancu

Translated by
Alexandru C. Bageac, M.D.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Harvard Medical School