Toma Barbu Socolescu


Toma Gheorghe Barbu Socolescu was a Romanian architect, son of Toma T. Socolescu and grandson of Toma N. Socolescu. A functionalist against his will, he was compelled to conform to the directives of communist Romania.

Biography

He was awarded two third-place medals, in construction and ornamental drawing, and later, in the first class from November 4, 1936, he received a second-place medal for a rendered project.
Graduated in architecture from the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts of Paris in 1939, he was admitted to the 2nd class on July 10, 1934, winning two 3rd medals in construction and ornamental design, then to the 1st class on November 4, 1936, winning a 2nd medal for a submitted design. Before and during his studies, Toma Barbu Socolescu worked on the interior design of the transatlantic liner Normandie in 1932-1935 in Roger-Henri Expert's studio.
His first steps were taken alongside his father Toma T. Socolescu, in the 1940s, with whom he worked on several projects in the Prahova Judet: plans for a locomotive depot in Ploiești as well as the urban development plans for Câmpina and Mizil. His first position was as a university assistant at the Ion Mincu Institute of Architecture in 1939, a post he held until 1951. According to his statement in his registration file with the Directorate of Higher Education in 1940, he was then serving a 12-month term in the Romanian army with the rank of second lieutenant.
He made his entire career in industrial architecture and large civilian buildings. From 1942 to 1945, he was Design Architect at the C.A.M, a position he would still assume from 1949 to 1951 at the IPC. From 1952 to 1958, he was chief design architect at the Institute of Design for Industrial Constructions, while also working externally for the Ministry of Local Economy, building canteens, housing and administrative pavilions. He pursued his expertise as chief design architect at the Institute of Design for Petroleum Refineries or Institutul de Proiectari pentru Instalatii Petroliere from 1958 to 1960. Finally, from 1960 to 1967, he worked as a consultant architect at the Institute of Design for Food Industries or Institutul de Proiectare al Industriei Alimentare.
He ended his career as a professor at the Technical School of Architecture and Town Building of Bucharest, from 1967 to 1970.
Barbu Socolescu built a number of industrial projects, including a large-scale canning factory at Ovidiu near Constanța, from 1959 to 1965, a site which would later house the country's first Pepsi-Cola plant.
Also a painter, he exhibited his watercolors at an exhibition organized by the Union of Architects of the Socialist Republic of Romania in Bucharest in 1954.
Toma Barbu's career was more modest than his abilities would have suggested, as his family suffered political persecution. The Romanian political police monitored him for much of his career, as they did his father. He was prosecuted for hostile expressions against the State and summoned several times by the Securitate. As he was not considered a danger to the regime, no further action was taken.

Architectural contests

  1. 1937: First prize for the sketch competition on a casino project decided by the Astra Română rafinery, in Ploiești, co-designed with his father Toma T. Socolescu.
  2. April 1938: 1st mention at concours Paul Delaon, Paris.
  3. 1943: Mention in the competition for the administrative grouping of UCEA factories in Făgăraş.
  4. 1964: Award of the Architecture and Building State Commission for the canned vegetables factory of Ovidiu, Constanța County.

Memberships

He was a member of several groups of architects:

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, 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 Barbu's father 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.
One of the brothers was architect Nicolae Gh. Socol. He settled in Ploiești around 1840-1845, and named himself Socolescu. He married Iona Săndulescu, from the Sfantu Spiridon suburb. He had a daughter 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 :




Architectural achievements

Civil and industrial construction

Almost all of Barbu Socolescu's projects are in the industrial field, particularly in the food industry.
  • Slănic Salt Mine Employee Housing Building, Prahova County, in 1942.
  • Social complex and canteen of the municipality of Ghimpați, Giurgiu County, in 1942.
  • Tobacco manufacturing and fermentation warehouse of the Cassa Autonomă a Monopolurilor Regatului României in Râmnicu Sărat and Târgu Jiu, in 1943.
  • Salt deposit at Ocna Mureș, Alba County, in 1943.
  • Administrative premises, staff accommodation and warehouses from Cassa Autonomă a Monopolurilor Regatului României in Fălticeni, Suceava County, in 1943.
  • Oil factory in Craiova, in 1949.
  • Cement plant of Bicaz, 1951.
  • Various works for the Medgidia and Fieni cement plants: mechanical workshop, cement paste tank, canteen, administrative pavilion, in 1951
  • Many other industrial constructions until 1966, including a vegetable canning factory in Ovidiu, near Constanța.
  • A slaughterhouse in Ploiești, 1958.
  • A canning factory in Tecuci, 1958.
  • Several other industrial buildings until 1966, including the large Ovidiu vegetable canning factory at Ovidiu near Constanța in 1962. The project actually stretched from 1955 to 1966. In 1966, the plant was expanded to accommodate a Pepsi-Cola bottling line, one of only two production units in the country, the other being in Bucharest. The factory went bankrupt in 2005 and was dissolved.
The entire factory has been emptied of its machine tools, and only the building and its metal structures remain clearly recognizable, despite extensions and modifications. It is located in a square bounded by the strada Tulcea and the strada Intrarea petrolului.

Conceived but unimplemented architectural projects