D. D. Maican Manor

Summary

A Brâncovenesc-style manor in Varlaam (Gura Teghii commune, Buzău County), built in 1903 by Italian craftsmen for Colonel Dumitru Dumitrescu Maican and the commune's only listed monument. Owned by the Romanian Academy, it is derelict, and the commune has taken it into administration to prepare restoration as an ethnographic museum.

Legal status

Nationalised under the communists; owned by the Romanian Academy; taken into administration by the Gura Teghii council for 10 years without rent ↗

History

Dumitru Dumitrescu-Maican, a retired colonel, bought the Persescu and Borănescu estates in the Bâsca valley and promoted the area as a tourist and health resort, reportedly with a restaurant and orchestra. He also had fir trees planted on the Tega hill to hold back flood-borne boulders. The manor in Varlaam bears his name. Local press and a tourism site say it was built in 1903 by Italian craftsmen for him. It was nationalised under the communists and housed a medical dispensary; it is now owned by the Romanian Academy and stands unused and derelict. In late 2025 the Gura Teghii council took it over for 10 years under an agreement with the Academy, and in 2026 it obtained ministry funding for design studies, with an ethnographic museum planned.

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