Built between 1912 and 1923 with a project made by Arh. Arghir Culina (Arman-Vlach from Hrupiste- Greece), Hotel Cismigiu was Hotel Palace from 1923 until 1948; in 1948 the communist regime nationalized it and changed its name into Hotel Cismigiu. It continued operating as a hotel until 1989 when it became a residence for students. It was closed in 1995. The original owner of the building succeeded to recover the property of the building from the Romanian state and to sell it to the Spanish developer Hercesa in 2004.

From the original building only the facades were preserved and backed from the inside, as the traditional solution with an exterior supporting scaffolding could not be implemented due to the seismic regime of Bucharest. A network of concrete beams and pillars, attached to the original masonry  wall, was connected through iron beams with an inner line of concrete pillars built behind the facade.

After building the new structure, the original roof of the building became a penthouse floor. For the upper floors, the biggest challenge was to accommodate the parking dimensions with the rhythm of the existing windows on the historical facades and also, with the hotel scheme of central corridor with rooms on both sides.

The ancient facades were renovated so the building preserved its original image while in the inner court, the new facades have a modern architectural language. A streched canvas was installed in order to cover the bad situation of the buildings behind.

Today Hotel Cismigiu is a complex building with a garage at the basement for 36 places, two retail spaces (a restaurant and a library) at the ground floor, the Instituto Cervantes on more than half of the ground floor, the entire mezzanine and half of the first floor, a conference center for the other half of the first floor, 66 apartments from the 2^nd floor until de 5^th floor and a restaurant on the top of the 5^th floor.

• Year: 2010-2012
• Market: Hotel, Office, Civic, Restoration, Interior Design
• Built area: 8,500 sqm
• Local Architect: Porf. Dr. Arh. Emil Barbu Popescu, Arh. Elena Saricu