Toma Gheorghe Barbu Socolescu
Toma Barbu Socolescu, around 1930.
Born	(1910-07-10)July 10, 1910 Ploiești, Kingdom of Romania
Died	July 21, 1977(1977-07-21) (aged 67) Bucharest, Socialist Republic of Romania
Nationality	Romanian
Other names	Barbu Socolescu
Alma mater	École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts
Occupation	Architect
Years active	1932–1969
Father	Toma T. Socolescu
Relatives	Toma N. Socolescu (grand-father), Ion N. Socolescu [ro] (great-uncle)
Awards	Paul Delaon Prize, 1st mention (1938) ; Prize from the State Commission for Architecture and Construction for a canning factory in Ovidiu 1964
Buildings	Ovidiu canning factory (later Pepsi-Cola)
Design	Functionalism

Toma Gheorghe Barbu Socolescu a Romanian architect, son of Toma T. Socolescu and grandson of Toma N. Socolescu, functionalist in spite of himself, he had to espouse the directives of the Socialist Republic of Romania.

Graduated in architecture from the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts of Paris in 1939.^[1] He was admitted to the 2nd class on July 10, 1934, winning two 3rd medals in construction and ornamental design, then to the 1st class on November 4, 1936, winning a 2nd medal in rendered design.

Before and during his studies, Toma Barbu Socolescu worked on the interior design of the transatlantic liner Normandie in 1932-1935^{[1][2][e 1]} in Roger-Henri Expert's studio.

His first steps were taken alongside his father Toma T. Socolescu, in the 1940s, with whom he worked on several projects in the Prahova Judet: plans for a locomotive depot in Ploiești as well as the systematization plans for Câmpina and Mizil.^{[3][e 2]} His first appointment was as a university assistant at the Ion Mincu Institute of Architecture (Bucharest) in 1939, a post he held until 1951.^[1][2] According to his declaration in his registration file with the Directorate of Higher Education in 1940, he was then on 12 months' military service with the rank of second lieutenant in the Romanian army.^[3]

He spent the rest of his career working on industrial architecture and large-scale civil buildings.^{[d 1]} From 1942 to 1945, he was Design Architect at the C.A.M (Cassa Autonomă a Monopolurilor Regatului României),^[4] a position he would still assume from 1949 to 1951 at the IPC (Institute of Design and Construction). From 1952 to 1958, he was chief design architect at the Institute of Design for Industrial Constructions (IPCI), while also working externally for the Ministry of Local Economy,^[5][2] building canteens, housing and administrative pavilions. He pursued his expertise as chief design architect at the Institute of Design for Petroleum Refineries or Institutul de Proiectari pentru Instalatii Petroliere (IPIP SA) from 1958 to 1960. Finally, from 1960 to 1967, he worked as a consultant architect at the Institute of Design for Food Industries (IPIA) or Institutul de Proiectare al Industriei Alimentare.^{[6][e 1]} He ended his career as a professor at the Technical School of Architecture and Town Building (Școala Tehnică de Arhitectură și Construcția Orașelor) of Bucharest, from 1967 to 1970.^{[7][6][d 1]}

Barbu Socolescu built a number of industrial projects, including a large-scale canning factory at Ovidiu near Constanța, from 1959 to 1965, a site which would later house the country's first Pepsi-Cola plant.^{[e 2][d 1]}

Also a painter, he exhibited his watercolors at an exhibition organized by the Union of Architects of the Socialist Republic of Romania in Bucharest in 1954.^{[6][e 2]}

Toma Barbu's career was more modest than his abilities would have suggested, as his family suffered political persecution. The Romanian political police monitored him for much of his career, as they did his father. He was prosecuted for demonstrations hostile to the State and summoned several times by the Securitate.^{[e 1]} As he was not considered dangerous to the regime, the prosecution had no follow-up.^[8]

1. 1937: First prize for the sketch competition for a casino project for the Astra Română refinery, in Ploiești, co-directed with his father Toma T. Socolescu - Ploiești.^{[2][e 3]}
2. April 1938: 1st mention at concours Paul Delaon - Paris.^[1]
3. 1943: Mention in the competition for the administrative grouping of UCEA factories in Făgăraş.^{[d 2]}
4. 1964: Award of the Architecture and Building State Commission for the canned vegetables factory of Ovidiu, Constanța County.^{[d 3][6][e 2]}

He was a member of several groups of architects:

• Student and alumni association of the Paris École nationale et supérieure des Beaux-arts or Grande Masseof the School of Fine Arts since 1932.^[1]
• Société des Architectes Diplômés par le Gouvernement Français^[9] since 1939.^[1]
• Society of Certified Architects and Corporation of Romanian Architects in 1939.^[6]
• Society of Romanian Architects from 1939 to 1946.^[6]
• Architects Union of Romanian Socialist Republic since 1953.^[6]

The Socol family of Berivoiul-Mare [ro], formerly part of Făgăraș or Țara Făgărașului is a branch of the Socol family of Muntenia, which lived in the county of Dâmbovița. A 'Socol', great boyar and son-in-law of Mihai Viteazul (1557–1601), had two religious foundations in Dâmbovița county, still existing, Cornești and Răzvadu de Sus. He built their churches and another one in the suburb of Târgoviște. This boyar married Marula, daughter of Tudora din Popești, also known as Tudora din Târgșor,^[10] sister of Prince Antonie-Vodă. Marula was recognized by Mihai Viteazul as his illegitimate daughter, following an extra-marital liaison with Tudora. Marula is buried in the church of Răzvadu de Sus, where, on a richly carved stone slab,^[11] her name can be read.

Nicolae Iorga, the great Romanian historian and friend of Barbu's father Toma T. Socolescu, found Socol ancestors among the founders of the City of Făgăraș in the 12th century.^{[b 1]} In 1655, the Prince of Transylvania George II Rákóczi ennobled an ancestor of Nicolae G. Socol: "Ștefan Boier din Berivoiul Mare, and through him his wife Sofia Spătar, his son Socoly, and their heirs and descendants of whatever sex, to be treated and regarded as true and undeniable NOBLEMEN.",^{[b 2]} in gratitude for his services as the Prince's courier in the Carpathians, a function "which he fulfilled faithfully and steadfastly for many years, and especially in these stormy times [...]".^{[b 2][b 3]} Around 1846, five Socol^{[b 4]} come to Muntenia, from Berivoiu Mare [ro], in the territory of Făgăraș.

"Five brothers crossed the mountains, all builders, from the Făgăraș region, a village at the foot of the mountains, Berivoiul-Mare [ro], where the name of Socol is still widespread today , and where one of their ancestors is said to have come from Munténie, namely from the region of Târgoviște, which is the home of the Socol family, being to this day, near Târgovişte, Valea lui Socol (the Socol Valley), as well as their two founding churches, in Răzvadu de Sus and Cornești^{[a 1][c 1]}."

One of the brothers was architect Nicolae Gh. Socol (??-1872). He settled in Ploiești around 1840-1845, and named himself Socolescu. He married Iona Săndulescu, from the Sfantu Spiridon suburb. He had a daughter (died in infancy) and four sons,^{[a 2][c 2]} two of whom became major architects: Toma N. Socolescu and Ion N. Socolescu [ro]. The lineage of architects continues with Toma T. Socolescu, and his son Barbu Socolescu.

The historian, cartographer and geographer Dimitrie Papazoglu [ro] evokes, in 1891,^{[e 4]} the presence of Romanian boyars of the first rank Socoleşti, in Bucharest, descendants of Socol from Dâmbovița. Finally, Constantin Stan also refers, in 1928, to the precise origin of Nicolae Gheorghe Socol :

"At the foot of the Carpathians, on the right bank of the stream of the same name, lies the commune of Berivoiul-Mare [ro] [...], one of the oldest villages in the Olt household [...]. The inhabitants are composed of serfs and former boyars. [...], and the Romanian boyar families were: Socol, Boyer, Sinea and Răduleț, soldiers with border guard privileges.[...] The G. Streza Socol family gave birth to Nicolae Socol, a graduated architect from Vienna, who settled in the town of Ploeşti with several of his brothers around the middle of the last century^{[e 5]}."

• Interior decoration of the liner Normandie in 1936, under the direction of professor of architecture Roger-Henri Expert.^{[1][e 1]}

• Villa of Dr Gheorghiu in Breaza, Prahova County, in 1940.^{[1][d 1]}

Almost all of Barbu Socolescu's projects are in the industrial field, particularly in the food industry.^{[e 6][6][2][d 1]}

• Slănic Salt Mine Employee Housing Building (Salina Slănic), Prahova County, in 1942.
• Social complex and canteen of the municipality of Ghimpați, Giurgiu County, in 1942.
• Tobacco manufacturing and fermentation warehouse of the Cassa Autonomă a Monopolurilor Regatului României^[4] in Râmnicu Sărat and Târgu Jiu, in 1943.
• Salt deposit at Ocna Mureș, Alba County, in 1943.
• Administrative premises, staff accommodation and warehouses from Cassa Autonomă a Monopolurilor Regatului României^[4]in Fălticeni, Suceava County, in 1943.
• Oil factory in Craiova, in 1949.
• Cement plant of Bicaz, 1951.
• Various works for the Medgidia and Fieni cement plants: mechanical workshop, cement paste tank, canteen, administrative pavilion, in 1951
• Many other industrial constructions until 1966, including a vegetable canning factory in Ovidiu, near Constanța.
• A slaughterhouse in Ploiești, 1958.
• A canning factory in Tecuci (Romanian Moldavia), 1958.^{[e 7]}
• Several other industrial buildings until 1966, including the large Ovidiu vegetable canning factory (later Munca Ovidiu) at Ovidiu near Constanța in 1962^{[d 3]}. The project actually stretched from 1955 to 1966. In 1966, the plant was expanded to accommodate a Pepsi-Cola bottling line,^{[12][d 1]} one of only two production units in the country, the other being in Bucharest. The factory went bankrupt in 2005 and was dissolved.^[13] The entire factory has been emptied of its machine tools, and only the building and its metal structures remain clearly recognizable (in April 2024), despite extensions and modifications. It is located in a square bounded by the strada Tulcea and the strada Intrarea petrolului.

• Astra Refinery Casino, Ploiești, carried out with his father, Toma T. Socolescu, in 1937^{[2][e 3]}..
• Orthodox Church of Predeal in 1956 or 1957, another project carried out with his father.^{[b 5][e 8]}

• (in Romanian) Petrescu, Gabriela (2024). ARHITECȚII SOCOLESCU 1840-1940, Studiu monografic [SOCOLESCU ARCHITECTS 1840-1940, Monographic study] (in Romanian). Bucharest: Editura Simetria. ISBN 978-973-1872-55-1.^[14]

• (in Romanian) , Arhitectura journal,^[15] published by the SOCIETY OF ROMANIAN ARCHITECTS,^[16] published from 1906 to 1944. During the Communist period, it changed its name twice: Arhitectura RPR from 1960 to 1968, then Arhitectura again from 1968., București, published from 1906 to 1944.^[17] During the Communist period, it changed its name twice: Arhitectura RPR from 1960 to 1968, then Arhitectura again from 1968.

• (in English) International Who's who in Art and Antiques - Second Edition, Ernest Kay (Directeur Editorial), Great Britain, Melrose Press Ltd, 1976, 525 p. ISBN 0-900332-37-9.

• UAR Archives (Union of Architects of Romania) - UAR documentary archives (available on site on request).
• Archives of the Paris School of Fine Arts / AGORHA - Plateforme de données de la recherche de l'Institut national d'histoire de l'art / Dictionnaire des élèves architectes de l’École des beaux-arts de Paris (1800-1968) Dictionary database, Paris.
• Ion Mincu Architecture and Urbanism University Library, Bucharest.
• Socolescu family's archives (Paris, București) including a photographic collection.

• Technical College of Architecture and Public Works Ioan N. Socolescu [ro].

• Arhitectura journal (contemporary edition) : Thematic dossier dedicated to industrial heritage, including an article by Ioana Irina Iamandescu (The International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage), Deputy director of the National Heritage Institute, responsible for historical monuments, dated Octobre 2018 - Patrimoniul industrial în România - despre stadiul inventarierii specializate.

• National Heritage Institute (Institutul Național al Patrimoniului), specialized page on industrial heritage: Patrimoniu industrial și tehnic.

• (a) (in Romanian) Socolescu, Toma T. (1938). "Preface by Nicolae Iorga". Arhitectura în Ploești, studiu istoric [Architecture in Ploești, historical study] (in Romanian). Bucharest: Cartea Românească. 16725.

• (b) (in Romanian) Socolescu, Toma T. (2004). Amintiri [Memories] (in Romanian). Bucharest: Editura Caligraf Design. ISBN 973-86771-0-6.

• (c) (in Romanian) Sevastos, Mihail (1937). Monografia orașului Ploești [Monograph of the city of Ploești] (in Romanian). Bucharest: Cartea Românească.

• (d) (in Romanian) SOCIETY OF ROMANIAN ARCHITECTS (SAR),^[16] journal of architecture Arhitectura, published from 1906 to 1944. During the Communist period, it changed its name twice: Arhitectura RPR from 1960 to 1968, then Arhitectura again from 1968.

• (e) (in Romanian) Petrescu, Gabriela (2024). ARHITECȚII SOCOLESCU 1840-1940, Studiu monografic [SOCOLESCU ARCHITECTS 1840-1940, Monographic study] (in Romanian). Bucharest: Editura Simetria. ISBN 978-973-1872-55-1.

• Other notes and references :