The Alecu Balș House (Casa Alecu Balș) is an early 19th-century Neoclassical residence on Strada Cuza Vodă in central Iași and the oldest surviving part of the former Notre Dame de Sion Complex. Dating from around 1815, it was originally a residence of the prominent Balș family.
The house stood near the former Town Hall Square, in an area where the Balș family owned extensive property and played a visible role in the civic and social life of Iași. The nearby Church of Saint Demetrius-Balș was one of their foundations and became a burial place for members of the family. The residence itself was probably built by Constantin Balș before passing to his son Alecu Balș, whose name it retains.
Its large upper-floor salon also became a setting for notable cultural gatherings. In 1816, Gheorghe Asachi organized an early Romanian-language theatrical performance here, while Franz Liszt performed in the house during his visit to Moldavia in January 1847. On that occasion Alecu Balș invited the celebrated cobza player Barbu Lăutaru and his musicians, leading to the well-known encounter between Liszt and one of the leading figures of Moldavian traditional music.
The building retains the restrained character of an early 19th-century aristocratic residence. Its long Neoclassical façade is arranged symmetrically, with tall upper-floor windows separated by pilasters and a triangular pediment above the central section. A passage through the ground floor leads toward the courtyard, while the former principal salon survives upstairs as the Eduard Caudella Hall.
During the second half of the 19th century, the property passed to the Sisters of Notre Dame de Sion and became the nucleus of the educational and religious complex they developed across the site. The congregation incorporated the former residence into its growing institution while constructing additional school, residential, and religious buildings around it.
Following the end of the Notre Dame de Sion institution, the buildings took on new roles in music and arts education. Alecu Balș House is now shared by the George Enescu National University of Arts and the Moldova Philharmonic, with the university Rectorate and Eduard Caudella Hall upstairs and Philharmonic spaces on the ground floor.
