Henrieta Delavrancea

Henrieta Delavrancea (1897–1987) was a Romanian architect and one of the first female architects admitted to the Superior School of Architecture in Bucharest, but because of the suspension of her classes during World War I, she was not the first female to graduate. She was one of the best known women architects in Romania and a significant contributor to the modernist school of Romanian architecture, until state-controlled design in the communist era curtailed individuality.

Biography Henrieta Delavrancea was born on 19 October 1897 in Bucharest, Kingdom of Romania to Maria Lupaşcu and Barbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea Because her family was from the upper levels of society and her father was both a politician and a literary figure, Delavrancea grew up surrounded by noted members of Romanian society. One of those early mentors was Ion Mincu, one of the best known Romanian architects and proponents of preservation of national identity in architecture. In 1913, she enrolled in the High School of Architecture, in a class of twenty, with only one other woman, Marioara Ioanovici.

During World War I, she served as a nurse On the other hand, Delavrancea designed her first home, called the "German House", in 1921, before she finished school, while living in Nehoiu.

In Bucharest one of her notable designs was a new modernist facade to the Capitol Theatre on Queen Elisabeta Boulevard, built in 1938. The design originally included a striking off-centre vertical fin, highlighted by neon. Her villa for Professor Victor Vâlcovici, at 44 London Street, built in 1937–38, with its clean lines and prominent curved corner window, is one of the most often reproduced images of modernist houses in Bucharest.

After World War II, she worked on conservation and restoration projects. During the communist era, she worked for 19 years on the design team of the Ministry of Health, In 2011, a book entitled Henrieta Delavrancea Gibory - arhitectură 1930-1940 edited by Militza Sion featured drawings and buildings by Delavrancea-Gibory.

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