Toma Barbu Socolescu

Toma Barbu Socolescu
Toma Barbu Socolescu, around 1930.
Born	10 July 1910 Ploieşti, Romania
Died	21 July 1977 Bucharest, Romania
Nationality	Romanian
Alma mater	École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts
Occupation	Architect
Awards	Price Paul Delaon 1938 - 1st mention
Design	Functionalism

Toma Barbu Socolescu a Romanian architect, son of Toma T. Socolescu^[1] and grandson of Toma N. Socolescu, functionalist in spite of himself, he had to espouse the directives of the Socialist Republic of Romania.

Biography

Architecture graduate of the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in 1939, Toma Barbu Socolescu will work during the time of its studies on the interior of the transatlantic liner SS Normandie. University Assistant at the Ion Mincu Architecture Institute (Bucharest) in 1939, he became the Architect Designer for the Design Institute for Industrial Buildings until 1952.

Drawing of Toma Barbu Socolescu (fontains) - 1st mention at Delaon Price in 1938.

From 1952 to 1958, he will serve as Chief Architect Designer at the Design Institute dor Oil Refineries Institutul de Proiectari pentru Instalatii Petroliere IPIP SA).

From 1958-1960, he will be acting as Architect Advisor at the Architecture and Buildings Design Institute for Food Industries & Consummers Cooperative Societies.

Professor at the Technical School of Architecture and Town Building (Şcoala Tehnică de Arhitectură şi Construcţia Oraşelor) from 1960 to 1967^[2] He will come back to architectural design between 1967 and 1969, during which he produced many civil and industrial buildings, including a Pepsi-Cola plant in 1966.

Painter, he exhibited his watercolors in an exhibition organized by the Union of Architects of the Socialist Republic of Romania in Bucharest in 1954.

Contests

1. April 1938: 1st mention at concours Paul Delaon - Paris.
2. 1964: Award of the Architecture and Building State Commission for the canned vegetables factory of Ovidiu, Constanţa^[3] - Romania.

Drawing of Toma Barbu Socolescu (gardens) - 1st mention at Delaon Price in 1938.

Official duties, titles and public responsibilities

He was a member of several groups of architects:

• Society of Certified Architects and Corporation of Romanian Architects in 1939.
• Society of Romanian Architects from 1939 to 1946.
• Architects Union of Romanian Socialist Republic since 1953.
• Société des Architectes Diplômés par le Gouvernement Français^[4] since 1939.

Sources

• Socolescu family's archives (Paris, Bucharest) including a photographic collection.
• Romanian universities and schools archives.

Related articles and links

• Technical College of Architecture and Public Works Ioan N. Socolescu.
• Ion Mincu Architecture and Urbanism University Library.
• Romanian architecture.

Notes and references

1. Source Family Socolescu: he will make a more modest career than its capabilities did foreshadowed, subjected to political persecution which his family will suffer.
2. The school changed its name several times until 2001 when it eventually bore the name of his great-uncle Ion N. Socolescu : ro:Colegiul Tehnic de Arhitectură și Lucrări Publice Ioan N. Socolescu.
3. The factory failed in 2005 and has been liquidated. The factory has been emptied of its machines and tools. In June 2010, The building and it iron structure still remains: - (Romanian) Romanian newspaper article from Romania Libera of 24/06/2005.
   - (Romanian) Romanian newspaper article from Romania Libera of 28/10/2005.
   - (Romanian) Romanian newspaper article from Ziua de Constanţa of 18/11/2005.
   - (Romanian) Romanian newspaper article from Uups of 09/06/2010.
4. French association : Society of Architects Graduated by the French Government.