Prince Barbu Știrbey’s villa, Mamaia
- 1930. Architect Mario Stoppa. Architect Mario Stoppa designed the Royal Palace of Mamaia, the Italian Church in București (Magheru Boulevard) and coordinated the rehabilitations of the royal palace of Săvârșin and of the royal palace in Cotroceni (1940-1941).
- Mamaia, lot 10, square 41. The alley that separates the Barbu Știrbey Villa from the Royal Palace of Mamaia was called Ecrene Alley. Ecrene is the last Romanian village on the frontier with Bulgary, several kilometers away from Balcic, on the shore of the Black Sea, during the Romanian administration of Southern Dobrogea (1913-1916 and 1918-1940).
The villa of Prince Barbu Știrbey was finished in 1930. Barbu Știrbey (1872-1946) was prime minister (1927), minister, member of the Romanian Academy, administrator of the Crown’s Domains, emissary of the Opposition in the negotiations with the USA and Great Britain, in Cairo, in the Second World War, member of the Romanian Delegation to the negotiations of the Armistice Convention in Moscow (12th of September 1944), the grandson of domnitor Barbu Știrbey of Wallachia (1849-1856) and the closest friend of Queen Maria of Romania (1875-1938).
The villa is built in the Art Deco style, with a semi-basement, ground floor and an upper floor, being used as a vacation home. The distinctive element is the minaret, identical to that of the Tenha Juvah Palace in Balcic, built by Queen Maria. Also in the Art Deco style are the hardware maintained in good condition and the exterior decorations. The immobiie was built by Marina Știrbey, the daughter of Barbu Știrbey, as he was forced by King Carol II (1930-1940) to go into exile.
