Târgoviște Financial Administration - former National Bank
The building is an interwar construction in neo-Romanian style, with slight art-nouveau influences on the facade, being built according to the plans of the architect Statie Ciortan (1876-1940). Given the fact that very few know who the architect Statie Ciortan was, it is appropriate to make a brief review of his activity. The architect was born in 1876, in Mehedinți county and graduated in 1904 the Bucharest School of Architecture, where he had Ion Mincu and Ermil Pangratti (1864-1931) as teachers, owing to them his inclination to neo-Romanian style. He was chief architect and director of the technical department within the Ministry of Finance, his activity being completed with that of professor at the Higher School of Architecture in Bucharest, between 1929-1932 he led the Romanian Society of Architects, and in 1932 he was appointed dean of the Romanian Corps of Architects (until November 15, 1940).
As director of the technical department within the Ministry of Finance, the architect Statie Ciortan designed many tax collection offices, both in Bucharest and in the country. Among the buildings designed are the Ploiești Financial Administration, the current Ploiești Tribunal and the Ploiești Court, the Pitești City Hall building, the former Bucharest Customs Post Office, the State Printing House which housed the Official Gazette and currently the National Archives of Romania, the mansion Luca Niculescu from Balotești, the former rest home of the Ministry of Finance in Predeal, the headquarters of the Financial Administrations in Buzău and Câmpulung, the Customs Building in Botoșani, the Mariana villa in Sinaia, as well as numerous homes in Bucharest.
Returning to the imposing building located on IC Vissarion Street in Targoviste, it should be added that in 1913 the new building was mentioned in the city plans, drafted by Stefan Septville, serving as the headquarters for the city's Financial Administration for a long time, and until 1992, the ground floor of the building was operated by the National Bank of Dâmbovița Agency.
Article author, Cornel Mărculescu
