Cathedral Plaza Bucharest, Modern skyscraper in central Bucharest, Romania.
Cathedral Plaza is a 19-storey, 75-metre building at the corner of General Berthelot and Luterană streets, beside Saint Joseph Cathedral. Its lower facade is clad in light grey or white rectangular panels with narrow vertical windows, while the upper floors show an exposed grid of dark steel or concrete beams and open floor plates. A yellow construction crane stands alongside it. The building was completed in 2010 but never opened.
The project was launched in 1998 on land bought by the American investment fund Miller Global, with Willbrook Management as developer and architect Vladimir Arsene as designer. Construction ran from 2006 to 2010, but the building was never commissioned. In July 2011 the Suceava Court of Appeals ruled it illegal, and in July 2022 Bucharest City Hall issued a demolition order.
The building's name comes from its position beside Saint Joseph Cathedral. From 2006, Catholics protested the project: on 25 May 2006, bells rang simultaneously in Catholic churches in Bucharest, Iași, Timișoara and other cities, and believers formed human chains around churches.
The tower stands at the corner of General Berthelot and Luterană streets, beside Saint Joseph Cathedral. It was never opened, so there is no interior to visit; the structure is seen from the surrounding streets. A demolition order was issued in July 2022, but the ECHR ruled that legalising the building takes priority over demolition.
The building has been caught in legal disputes since completion, which have affected its operating status to this day. This unusual situation means the tower remains largely inactive despite being fully constructed.
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