The Generala Palace (Palatul Generala) is a historic building and the former Palace of the Generala Insurance Company on University Square in the old town of Bucharest.
The building was designed in a Beaux-Art style by the architect Oscar Maugsch who took inspiration from the buildings on Boulevard Hausmann in Paris. The construction took place between 1906 and 1908 on the location of the old garden of Suţu Palace.
The building initially housed one of the first insurance companies in Romania, Societatea Generală de Asigurări Generala, which was founded in Brăila in 1832. The company focussed mainly on the insurance of goods during naval transport and its main shareholder was the Marmorosch Bank which was located nearby on Strada Doamnei. The company flourished when it could quickly expand its territory after the First World War and due to its strong financial position the worldwide financial crisis of the 1930s hardly affected the company. In 1948, when Romania had turned into a Communist state, the company was nationalized.
Until 2019, Banca Comercială Română (BCR) had its headquarter in the Generala Palace after which it was temporarily used for art exhibitions. At the end of the same year the building was sold to an investment fund for an amount of 28 million euros.
Generala Palace forms an architectural ensemble with the Industrial Credit Palace built later in 1934-1935. Both buildings form a hemicycle opposite the University of Bucharest.
