The Cantacuzino-Pașcanu Palace (Palatul Cantacuzino-Pașcanu) is a historic boyar residence in central Iași, now home to the city’s Registry Office. Dating from the late 18th century, it served as a residence of the Cantacuzino-Pașcanu family for about a century before becoming Iași City Hall in the early 20th century.
The palace was built in an area long occupied by important residences of the Moldavian elite. Local historical accounts place it on the site of houses once belonging to Princess Ruxandra, daughter of Prince Vasile Lupu, although the surviving building belongs to a considerably later period. Under the Cantacuzino-Pașcanu family it developed as a substantial urban palace on the former Ulița Sfântul Ilie, surrounded by the dense aristocratic properties that once characterized this part of Iași.
Unlike the more elaborate 19th-century palaces elsewhere in the city, the building retains the solid proportions of an older Moldavian boyar residence. It has two principal levels, with brick arches and vaulted rooms on the ground floor and a monumental internal staircase connecting them. Despite later changes of use, much of this basic arrangement survived, helping preserve the character of the former residence.
After negotiations with the Cantacuzino family, the municipality acquired the palace and transferred Iași City Hall here in the years around 1911-1912. Architect Nicolae Ghica-Budești prepared alterations to the ground floor so that the former residence could accommodate municipal offices. The building remained the seat of the city administration until 1969, when the municipality moved to the Roznovanu Palace.
For a period afterward, rooms in the former palace were used by several Iași newspapers and cultural publications, including Flacăra Iașului and Cronica. In 2005 it became the city’s Registry Office, returning the building to a public civic role. A bust of Moldavian prince and scholar Dimitrie Cantemir stands in the garden in front of the palace, where it was installed during the 1970s.
