The Romanian story of Constanța begins on November 23, 1878, and the seaside town goes into another era of its history. After the old Kustenge becomes a Romanian city, following the Treaty of Berlin, and the responsibility of the small town is handed over to the Romanian officials, in the old fortress of Tomis a page of premieres opens: the first Romanian administration, the first Romanian prefect, the first Romanian port on the Black Sea , the first bridge over the Danube, the first tourists to come to the baths or… the first Administrative Palace of Constanța.

The former Kustenge was only an Ottoman fair, with less than 8,000 souls (with 2,000 fewer inhabitants than the Mihail Kogălniceanu commune in Constanța, for example). Turks, Tatars, Greeks, Armenians, Bulgarians, Germans, Jews or Romanians all faced the same problems.

The lack of drinking water, brought by the ravages of the weather from the Ottoman taps located five kilometers from the city, where today lies the Tomis Nord district, the small streets dusty in the sun and muddy in rainy weather, the unlit streets or the lack of city infrastructure were things that created a chasm between the big cities of the Old Kingdom and the small settlement on the shores of the Black Sea.

For the first Romanian administration of Constanța, installed by the prefect Remus Opreanu on December 12, 1878, things were not at all simple.

Mayor Anton A. Alexandridi, together with the first Communal Council, composed of Basilio Gombo, Ali Kadâr Efendi, Bohor Seni and Hafus Regep Efendi, had to try, in an administratively turbulent period for the new Romanian city, to align , as far as possible, the little Kustenge to the rules and level of the Old Kingdom. The Constanta administration had to contradict, through its achievements, the rumors of the time, that the new territory entered within the country's borders, poorly developed, with a steppe appearance, has poor chances for the future and can not compensate, in any way, the loss of the three counties. from southern Bessarabia, following the War of Independence.

The problems of Constanța Vechi were many, and the first Romanian administration had to take care of various segments: lack of drinking water, danger of collapsing clay banks, unpaved streets, architectural chaos and heterogeneity of nations from everywhere, with their own customs and traditions, urban infrastructure, all in -a context in which the legal framework had to be adjusted from scratch. Apart from all this, there was a lack of opportunities to trade on a large scale, right here, in a seaport.

For all this, the prefect Remus Opreanu made available to the Greek Anton A. Alexandridi, the first mayor of Constanța, a workspace in an Ottoman mansion at the intersection of Traian and Tomis streets (today Sulmona).

The building, mostly used as the prefect's residence, housed, in addition to the mayor and the City Council, the police, pre-trial detention, firefighters, but also a space for archaeological pieces, a room that was, at that time, the first museum in Constanța . A real Babylon of institutions and characters, but this is a distinct imprint of the administrative tradition at the seaside since, even today, in the building that houses the City Hall, many others live.

On the place where today is the “Mihai Eminescu” high school, and during the 20th century there was another school and the “Mircea cel Bătrân” gymnasium, the Constanta administration took a look and took the first steps.

In his two terms, held between 1878 - 1880 and 1882 - 1883, the first mayor of Constanța, Anton A. Alexandridi, who completely disappeared from the memory of the city and whose name is not found anywhere in Constanța today, succeeded to lay, together with the prefect Remus Opreanu, the cornerstone of the Constanța administration and to draw the main administrative lines of Constanța.

From one of the rooms of the old two-storey Ottoman mansion, the Greek Alexandridi approved, together with the Communal Council, in 1879, the "Regulation for the Internal Administration of the Urban Commune Kiustenge", a set of rules referring to the cleanliness of the city, traffic teams or setting fines. The 8000 inhabitants of the city had to quickly forget the libertine, specifically oriental customs of the old Ottoman space and to align themselves with the new realities of the new territory that became part of the Old Kingdom.

Two years later, the attention of the local administration turned to the urban segment and also imposed rules. If in 1881 the mayor Panait Holban fixed differentiated taxes for constructions, depending on the street on which each one was located, whether it was paved or not, the same Alexandridi obtained the approval, a year later, "Regulation for constructions and alignments". Under the awning roof of the same Ottoman mansion, located at the intersection of Trajan and Tomis streets, was thought, at the end of the nineteenth century, the set of rules that would build one of the most cosmopolitan European cities in the interwar period. In 1882, the city's first urban policy began, which will result, half a decade later, in a spectacular display of bold architectural styles and an extremely elegant and modern town.

The materials from which the courtyards were fenced and from which the houses were to be built were regulated, the width of the streets, the height regime of the buildings, the color of the buildings, as well as their architectural details were specified, down to the smallest detail.

Unlike the democratic period of Constanța after 1989, these specifications did not remain only on paper, the local administration not being, at that time, to give fines or even to demolish buildings. Not even Mihail Kogălniceanu could violate Alexandridi's norms, when he finished his first house in Constanța, covered with cobwebs. The law clearly specifies: only marble or stone.

In 1883, when the mayor was Panait Holban, in his second term, the administrative mansion of Constanța caught fire. In the absence of major funds, the mayors of the city stayed, until 1896, in rent, through various buildings, all lacking the space and comfort necessary for an institution.

The activity of the administration was no different from today, and the scandals and gossip in the cafes were not lacking. With large plots of land in the possession of the local government, the auctions for their sale took place on a conveyor belt. Great was the struggle between the landowners and merchants of Constanța, Armenians, Romanians, Jews or Greeks, for the offer of arsini made available by the City Hall of Constanța at that time. With amounts between 1 and 3 lei arshin (71 square cm), the offers were debated for a long time by the Communal Council. As the old Ottoman regime had not tried for centuries to clearly establish rules and titles, the lots in the city, on the seafront or in the surrounding area proved to be extremely tempting.

Another great project disputed between the walls rented by the Constanta administration in the first half of the last decade of the 19th century was to establish the foundation of what is today the great tourist city of Constanta. The arrangement of the bathrooms was thought of at that time, and in 1885, the mayor Panait Holban instituted the first tax for the visitors of the city, who came to the beach.

And, in parallel with these more or less minor administrative concerns, after the administration repurchases from the English company Danube- Black Sea Railway Company Limited 65 ha of land in the city, the Constanța-Cernavoda railway, houses and warehouses, railway stations, the telegraph line, depots and repair shops begin the first turmoil for the arrangement and modernization of the port.

The Romanian administration had proved, in almost 20 years since it took over the reins of Constanța, through the proposed projects and the installation of the new order in the cities, that the city, at the turn of the centuries, can become a main point on the map of Romania. The sleeping and forgotten Ottoman settlement took the shape of a future big city. It was still in its infancy, true, but it had great prospects. The population had grown significantly, the political class by the sea had become effervescent and involved in the affairs of the city, with a fierce zeal to legitimize itself in front of Bucharest and to align itself with the claims of the Old Kingdom. The city already had two first-class hotels: one, named after King Carol I and which housed, among the tourists who came to the baths, even the royal family, and another, Regina, from whose attic Eminescu wrote to Veronica Micle, at the beginning of the years. '80s of the nineteenth century. The small town came alive, the Greek and Armenian cafes and the pubs held by people from all over Europe and the Levant were more and more lively, trade in Constanța was coming to life and the inhabitants had already become accustomed to people coming on holiday to the sea.

However, although the local administration of Constanta had made great strides towards progress, there was still no Administrative Palace. The journey of the hosts and the lack of a vase label of the mayors of the city had to stop. A building that would become the property of the Communal Council and the services of the mayor's office, which would give the Constanta administration a status, was urgently needed. The mayors of Constanța had to get rid of the rent period.

The problem has been raised since 1886 by Mayor Panait Holban, but the city's urgent shortcomings and priority funds for infrastructure and the development of the little Kustenge make the project to build an Administrative Palace take shape only after a decade.

Mayor Mihail Coiciu, who pastored the city of Constanța for almost 8 years, took care, in his third term, of building the first Communal Palace of Constanța.

The project was great for those times. The idea of building the city's first administrative building caused a stir on the beach. What will be the project, where will it be located, who will build and, especially, who will create the concept?

All these things were widely debated, both among the officials of the time, and among the Turks, Greeks, Romanians, Jews or Armenians gathered on the street corners of Constanța at the end of the 19th century.

The petitions submitted by the citizens, referring to this subject, were read by the mayor Coiciu, and will be analyzed in the meetings of the Communal Council. Such a large investment and such an important moment for Constanța had to be debated in the smallest details, and the democratic exercise proved to be alive at that time, the demands and opinions of the inhabitants being important for the mayors.

But, of all these aspects, the biggest turmoil stopped on the place where the Administrative Palace was to be built. The first proposed option: Marc Aureliu Street, in front of the current Museum of National History and Archeology.

Only the inspiration of the Constanta officials at that time made the first City Hall of Constanța stand today. On the place where the construction of the Communal Palace was originally proposed, the Torosian Houses were built a few years later, at the beginning of the 20th century. They disappeared from the city's memory, and probably the same fate could have befallen the Communal Palace, after, in 1985-1986, following the desire of the leading couple Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu to look at the sea in Ovidiu Square, the Armenian's houses were demolished.

By 1894, everything had been decided. The future Communal Palace was to be built in November 23rd Square, the then building, with a symbolic name, which evoked the moment of Constanța's entry into the modern Romanian world. The architect who was to take care of the project was Ion Socolescu, the builder had been appointed Ștefan Pisculici, and the painter and decorator of the French building August Perrier.

So, on November 20, 1896, in the former square on November 23, where the Bulgarian greengrocers, the Turkish and the Tartar grasshoppers, the frugal Armenians and Greeks lay their goods, in the space full of vegetable debris, garbage and household hustle and bustle, right at the edge of the old courtyard. Hunkiar and beyond the walls of the old Ottoman fortress, near the Greek slum and at the northern end of the city at that time, was inaugurated the first Administrative Palace of Constanța, the current Museum of Folk Art. Ten years of Constanta administration followed in a new house.

The architect Ion Socolescu left one of the most interesting administrative buildings in Romania. Apparently, from the former 23 November square but also from the sides, the first Constanta City Hall definitely brings the Orthodox cathedral. The entrance led to the space occupied by the old British-built railway station, almost four decades earlier, and looked directly at the new Royal Palace, inaugurated by King Carol I and Queen Elizabeth. A building with basement, ground floor, first floor and attic, extremely elegant and well proportioned, with a spacious office for city mayors and equipped with a splendid meeting room of the Local Council, painted in gold on the ceiling with geometric and floral motifs by the French August Perrier.

Above the main entrance, the door through which the petitioners and officials entered, there is a large trilobate arch, in a brace, and on the entire façade there are decorative panels in relief. The decorative motifs at the level of the cornice are painted, announcing, revolutionary, the Art Nouveau current. The balcony is made of solid masonry, supported on massive columns, with capitals specific to Romanian religious art. What gives the building a specificity is the extraordinary play of color on the facade: bright red and white, in particular. Most believed and gave as an original model a religious project. Nothing more false. The facade of the first Administrative Palace of Constanța respects exactly a style, “King Carol I”, from the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the next century, which we find in several of the public, state buildings of the time. Especially railway stations and administrative buildings, but sometimes also churches (such as the “Silver Knife” Church, in Bucharest). We can establish that Ion Socolescu designed a building that could be seen, from all sides, from the windows of the Royal Palace and that, therefore, he thought of a style characteristic of the reign of King Carol I, with enough neo-Romanian and even oriental motifs, of inspiration. Arabic. The play of color, red and white, on the façade, however, is not related to a religious improvisation but, rather, to the desire to be noticed by the King. The sides have sober exterior decorative motifs, the windows being high and rectangular.

It is the only place in the country where, in the same space, there is a royal building and an administrative headquarters, this happening three decades after Carol's accession to the throne and almost two decades of Romanian rule in Dobrogea. Neither in Bucharest nor in Sinaia has such an urban partnership been established and this may denote a special interest of the Royal Family in the evolution of a city seen as a child of the soul.

The City Hall courtyard, opening to the Royal Palace and the British railway station, was closed with a decorative brick and iron fence and the pavement was made of solid brick and not the usual cubic granite stone found on the city streets.

The building of the first City Hall of Constanța was intended to be an exceptional architectural achievement and a functional building. The first observation, both for the chibits of a century ago and for us now, is that it was not provided with a reception, ballroom or concert hall. Neither the mayors, nor the City Council, nor the architect or the contractors knew that King Carol I did not taste the receptions or waste too much, and watchful eyes, looking from the windows of the Royal Palace to the City Hall, were enough.

From 1896, all sales of land in the city are authorized from this building, from here all authorizations given to hoteliers and restaurants are issued. Also from the new Communal Palace, it is planned to continue the development of the urban infrastructure and, also from here, the Constanta officials, together with the political class from the seaside, convince Bucharest and finalize the status of Dobrogea and Constanța by sending representatives to the country's legislature.

In 1901, from the office on the floor of the Communal Palace, Ion Bănescu thinks and develops the Romanian area of Constanța, expands the city to the north and thus creates the connection between the old city and the new virgin area that will become the zero point of spa tourism on the Black Sea. : Mamaia. In 1906, the year in which the Administrative Palace will change its destination, Ion Bănescu takes one of the last decisions in the Administrative Palace and inaugurates the Mamaia resort.