The Ana and Marinache Popescu House (Casa Ana și Marinache Popescu) is a historic residence in central Călărași, built in the late 19th century for a wealthy merchant and landowning family. Located on Strada 13 Decembrie, the restored house now serves as the headquarters of the Călărași County Directorate for Culture.
Marinache Popescu, a merchant and landowner in the former Ialomița County, built the residence with his wife Ana around 1890. After their deaths, their heirs donated the property to Călărași Municipality in 1923, requesting that it be used as a girls’ school or public library. The building subsequently housed Girls’ Primary School No. 3, but its educational function ended during the communist period, when it became the headquarters of a Communist Party department. It later accommodated a kindergarten and an industrial design institute before passing to the county cultural administration in 1981.
The house was designed in an eclectic architectural style, with an elevated main floor, richly ornamented facades, and a grand entrance staircase with two symmetrical curved flights. Inside, the entrance hall and former reception rooms retain decorated ceilings with painted stucco and floral and geometric motifs. The property also includes a smaller building originally used for carriages and horses, with decorative detailing that complements the main residence.
After decades of deterioration, both buildings underwent extensive structural repairs and restoration, completed in 2011. The project restored the exterior terracotta ornaments and uncovered decorative wall paintings concealed beneath later plaster and paint. The restored property houses the County Directorate for Culture, the local branch of Romania’s Ministry of Culture responsible for protecting and overseeing cultural heritage.
