Hotel Furnica is a large historic building on Strada Furnica in Sinaia, a short walk from the Peleș Royal Estate. Despite its present name, the complex was not originally built as a hotel. Designed by Karel Liman and inaugurated in 1912, it was created as part of the service infrastructure of the royal domain, combining staff accommodation, a laundry and the new royal stables.
The complex included around 40 rooms for servants and technical employees, while the stables could accommodate 24 horses. Liman gave these practical buildings the same architectural care seen elsewhere on the royal estate, with steep roofs, substantial masonry, stone-framed openings and decorative timber details that allowed the ensemble to fit naturally into the character of Sinaia’s royal quarter.
After the monarchy was abolished, the former service complex was adapted for tourism and became known as Hotel Furnica. It operated for many years as a hotel and restaurant, and during the communist period also carried the name Vila Dunărea. Its original function gradually became less obvious as the building became established as part of Sinaia’s accommodation scene.
Seen from Strada Furnica, the scale and carefully designed façades make the complex look much more like a purpose-built grand hotel than a former service building. Its history reveals another side of the royal estate, where even the stables, laundry and staff quarters were treated as substantial architectural elements rather than purely utilitarian structures.
