The Botoșani Chamber of Commerce, officially the Botoșani Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture (Camera de Comerț, Industrie și Agricultură Botoșani), is housed in the former Manea House, a late 19th-century residence in Botoșani. The house belonged to Antonel Manea, a wealthy landowner with estates in several parts of Botoșani County and the son of jurist Andrei Manea, a prominent member of the city’s Armenian community.
Antonel Manea lived here with his family in one of the larger private residences of the city. The house was entered from both the street and the courtyard, with a series of reception rooms and Manea’s office opening from the front hall. Farther inside were the dining room, bedrooms, living rooms, kitchen and service spaces, while carved interior doors brought from Vienna and gilded ceramic stoves added to the decoration. The property also included a large garden, orchard and vineyard, together with separate accommodation for household staff.
Manea’s only daughter died as a child, and his wife died during the 1930s, leaving him without direct heirs. After his death, the property passed to the state. During the 1950s, the house was divided into accommodation for several families before later taking on an institutional use.
The Botoșani Chamber of Commerce itself dates back to 1868, when it was established to represent the commercial interests of a city whose economy depended heavily on regional trade. Its activity continued into the first half of the 20th century, including support for the creation of a Grain and Commodities Exchange in 1926, before Romania’s chambers of commerce were dissolved in 1949. The present Botoșani chamber was re-established in 1990 and now uses the former Manea House as its headquarters.
The house is a broad, single-story residence raised above a high basement, with a long symmetrical façade and regularly spaced rectangular windows. Classical detailing frames the openings and runs along the cornice, while the shallow roof keeps the emphasis on the horizontal proportions of the building.
