Intercontinental Hotel
The Intercontinental, an axis mundi of Bucharest, is one of capital’s representative places. It is the highest building in Piata Universitatii, one of the central points of the city. The hotel used to be a meeting place for statesmen during the communist regime, and is also the main battle point of the 1989 Revolution. Romanians gather around here when their favorite soccer team wins and whenever a politician feels the need to address the public personally, as President Basescu recently did.
Built in 1970, the Intercontinental Hotel can be thought of, metaphorically speaking, as the first skyscraper in Bucharest. Until that year, the highest building was Foisorul de Foc (42 m). Casa Scanteii (now Casa Presei Libere) and Palace of the Parliament were also built in the 70’s. Considering the medium high of the building from the center is of 20 meters, these types of buildings stand out and refresh the contrasts that define our city.
The Intercontinental took the place of another hotel, Carlton, destroyed by the 1940 earthquake. The architects that handled the project were Dinu Hariton, Gheorghe Nadrag, I. Moscu and Romeo Stefan Belea, which chose “combining a massive volume with a strong vertical (…), well positioned as the end of the perspective from Piata Unirii” (Mariana Celac, Octavian Carabela, Marius-Marcu Lapadat - Bucharest - architecture and modernism).
What’s interesting is that even from the beginning, the hotel was a part of the international chain of Intercontinental hotels. Today, the Paunescu brothers own it. The hotel has a new director that wants a complete renovation, “a dramatic increase in standards”, an investment of 15 million dollars.
Today the Intercontinental hotel is number 6 is in the chase for the highest building in the capital, 10 meters shorter that the BRD tower. The hotel is 77 meters tall, and this is how the world looks from its 25th floor:
