This year, the District 1 Local Council approved initiating the purchase the "Dinu Lipatti" House, a historical monument in critical condition, but administrative hurdles within the Bucharest City Hall are delaying the building's rescue. In this interview with Ioana Țintea, Cristian Tudose, local councilor at the District 1 City Hall explains, in an interview with Ioana Țintea, the current situation and the actions taken so far.

Mr. Cristian Tudose, last time you were interviewed by our station, you were telling us about the District 1 City Hall initiating the purchase of the "Dinu Lipatti" House, a historical monument found on Lascăr Catargiu Boulevard, no. 12. What is the state of the building and of the administrative process at the moment?

I'll start by briefly recounting the history of the building up to the present day. The building, as you know, belonged to the Lipatti family, to Dinu Lipatti's father, Theodor Constantin, and was inherited by the Lipatti family after his death. It was nationalized in 1950 by Decree 92. At the time, the owner was pianist Dinu Lipatti's brother, Valentin Lipatti. Following the nationalization, a procedure was initiated for the residential dismantling of this buiding according to the norms that were in effect at the time for all nationalized buildings. As such, it resulted in seven residential areas that were distributed to various owners, according to the needs of the time. To get closer to the relevant part, in 1997 the building was retroceded through a court decision and order of Bucharest's mayor, Viorel Lis, to Dinu Lipatti's brother, Valentin Lipatti, who, given that both the pianist Dinu Lipatti and his mother were deceased, was the only living heir. That was the moment the current issue of the "Dinu Lipatti" House started. In 2025, the City Hall was notified by a bailiff's office that this building was up for sale in a public auction. The parts that were being sold were the core parts of the building, which included the ground floor, two apartments of two and four rooms each, and this made up 95% of the building's surface area. There were also several adjacent spaces, in the basement and attic that had already been sold and kept by other owners. These surfaces which were, like I said, 95% of the building's surface area, were to be auctioned off to recover debts from the owner at the time. And so, the District1 City Hall entered a race against the clock to save the "Dinu Lipatti" House, to return this cultural and architectural landmark to the public by creating the "Dinu Lipatti" Memorial House, as this year marks 75 years since the death of the great pianist.

The Sector 1 City Hall fulfilled everything required by cultural heritage laws and engaged in discussions with the bailiff, as well as the Ministry of Culture and the Bucharest City Hall, in order to exercise the right of pre-emption of authorities regarding heritage buildings with cultural value and historical monuments.

The Ministry of Culture passed the right of pre-emption to the Bucharest City Hall. Following the District 1 City Hall's proposal to purchase this building for the Bucharest City Hall, the City Council's approval will be issued for the express power of attorney of District 1 to purchase the "Dinu Lipatti" Memorial House in the name of the city of Bucharest.

A first Decision regarding the purchase of the "Lipatti" House was issued by the Council in March 2025. The Bucharest City Hall requested clarifications regarding the cadastral situation and owners of the "Lipatti" House. What followed was a period of surveys and clarifications in every aspect requested by the Bucharest City Hall, conducted in detail by the District 1 City Hall's specialized apparatus and with the bailiff's aid, with the goal of elaborating the City Council's draft decision. After resolving every aspect regarding cadaster and heritage, on 21^st July 2025, the District 1 City Hall adopted Council Decision 161, in accordance with the Bucharest City Hall's specialized apparatus's every requirement to be able to formulate and issue the purchase agreement for the "Dinu Lipatti" House.

Following five consecutive meetings of the examination committee regarding the exercise of the right of pre-emption by the city of Bucharest on historical buildings, and the substantiation report regarding the protection of historical buildings approved by the Bucharest's Mayor, the debate and approval by the Bucharest City Council of the draft decision regarding the purchase of the building for and in the name of the City of Bucharest by the District 1 City Hall was decided. Again, this was happening back in September.

Now, after more than two and a half months and three City Council meetings, this draft decision was only elaborated and submitted for debate to the City Council by the specialized apparatus. In the meantime, the owner of the building started, without being granted an authorization an illegal, superficial so-called "renovation" of the building's façade, which looks quite miserable, as anyone who crosses "Lascăr Catargiu" Boulevard can attest.

So, we find ourselves in a situation where you can find the "Dinu Lipatti" House in the "Rental" section of a real estate website as an office or restaurant space, and the bailiff told the District 1 City Hall that the auction date of the "Dinu Lipatti" House is on November 27^th, 2025.

Because of the lack of interest of the Bucharest City Hall, we're witnessing the degradation, or even the disappearance, of this heritage building which represents the cultural legacy of the great pianist Dinu Lipatti. On December 2^nd we'll be commemorating 75 years since his passing.