Historical Evolution
In February 1926 the law for the organization of the City of Bucharest was adopted. As a result, Bucharest was divided into four sectors: Yellow, Black, Blue and Green.
Thus, the four sectors became independent legal persons, with distinct budgets. In those years, the sectors were managed by a Communal Council, which elected the mayor and his two assistants, the deputy mayor and the secretary. Following this fundamental law, there was an obvious administrative decentralization.
This legislative organization was maintained operational until March 27th, 1936, when a new law was adopted in this respect. Several changes were made in sector management. A unique budget for Bucharest, while regulations, instructions, decisions were assigned to the competence of the Municipality. Furthermore, the collection of additional taxes (quotas) from the Ministry of Finance was also carried out by the Municipality bodies, and the sector mayor no longer fulfilled the tasks that normally fell upon the first contriver of a urbane residence, but became a mere administrator.
In the period between the two World Wars, the City of Bucharest had four sectors: the Yellow, the Black, the Blue and the Green and 13 suburban communes (former rural settlements), namely Băneasa, Colentina, Fundeni, Pantelimon, Principele Nicolae, Dudeşti-Cioplea, Popeşti-Leordeni, Şerban- Vodă, Militari, Roşu, Regele Mihai, Griviţa and Lupeasca.
The sector town councils did not have, at the time, their own head offices, neither did the General City Hall, which had kept relocating from one place to another. The Town Hall of the Black Sector operated in a building on Calarasi Street; between 1935 and 1936 the Town Hall of the Yellow Sector built itself a stately head office, that had offices, theatre halls and modern shops on the ground floor and constituted a distinct architectonical entity; the Town Hall of the Green Sector (currently the Town Hall of Sector 1) built a large estate on a plot of land purchased in Banu Manta. The Town Hall of Sector 1 was the only Town Hall in Bucharest erected downright from foundation up, for this prices purpose, between 1927 and 1936. The building has a Florentine carriage, with a sumptuous staircase, 50 offices, one grand marble hall for council meetings and festivities, and a 56m tower, the highest in the town. The work of architects N. Georgescu and G. Cristinel, it continues to exist today and shall continue to fulfill the role of sector town hall, once the consolidation and refurnishing works currently carried out by the local administration, are completed.
The Administration of the City and of the suburban communes was led by the General Council and Capital Mayor, acting as city chief. The General Council consisted of the elected mayors and council members from the four sectors, the mayors of the suburban communes and the council members who had a consultative voting right. During the government of Marshall Ion Antonescu, the four „colors” were abolished, but several months later, the former organization form was resumed. Following August 23rd, 1944, Bucharest was divided into three sectors, differentiated with the help of colors (sector I – Yellow, sector II – Black, sector III – Blue). The installation of a new political regime in 1947 brought about changes in the city administrative organization as well. In 1950, pursuant to the law enacted by the Great National Assembly of the People’s Republic of Romania, the country’s territory suffered a new territorial and administrative division: regions, districts, cities and communes. The City of Bucharest was structured into eight districts, namely: I. V. Stalin, 1 Mai, 23 August, 16 Februarie, Tudor Vladimirescu, Nicolae Bălcescu, V. I. Lenin, Griviţa Roşie. The current Sector 1 corresponds to the territory that used to be under the administration of the I. V. Stalin and Griviţa Roşie districts. In 1968, the eight districts that Bucharest was divided into turned back to being sectors, the City of Bucharest comprising eight sectors at the time, 12 suburban communes and 23 villages. Later, in 1979, the 8 sectors of the Capital were downsized to 6 sectors, the ones that exist today.
Following 1989, the laws of the local administrative power, the authorities of the General City Hall, the Mayor and General Council were distinguished from the authorities of the 6 Sector Town Halls, the Mayors and the Sector Local Councils.
Neighborhood
Covering the larges area in the northern part of the Capital and extending all the way to Câmpia Vlăsiei in Ilfov county, towards localities such as Otopeni, Snagov, Mogoşoaia, Buftea, Chitila, Sector 1 stretches along 70 sq.km and has a population of approximately 230.000 inhabitants. Sector 1 is situated in the north-western part of the City of Bucharest and is bordered by sectors 2, 3, 5 and 6.
Starting from the vicinity of kilometer 0 downtown Bucharest, just like all the other sectors, Sector 1 is delimited on the Western side from Sector 6 (through Calea Giuleşti and Calea Plevnei), while in the Eastern part it is delimited from Sector 2 (along Calea Floreasca), and to the South it is bordered by sectors 3 and 5.
The Sector of Parks and Green Spaces
The area of Sector 1 is dominated by a flat plain-like relief, crossed to the North by the smooth waters of the Colentina River, with large meanders that made possible the development of the Străuleşti, Griviţa, Băneasa, Herăstrău and Floreasca lakes. On the large plain named Câmpia Vlăsiei, once covered by thick forests that protected Bucharest to the north, several isles of forest have remained, along the Bucureşti-Ploieşti Road, as well as the Băneasa, Tunari, Snagov forests, now set up as leisure spots.
Sector 1 fully deserves its name of Green Sector. Here you can find the largest area of green space per inhabitant of all administrative zones of the Capital.
The Kiseleff, Cişmigiu, Herăstrău, Bazilescu, Operei, Regina Maria Parks are just a few of the green “jewelry” of Sector 1, where the residents of Bucharest can spend their free time and breathe fresh air, far from the bustle of the big city.
Cultural and Urban Pearl of the Capital
Most specialist, be they architects, historians or literati, but also average citizens, share a high esteem for the value of the cultural and architectural heritage of Sector 1 which they consider to be the cultural and urbane pearl of Bucharest. In Sector 1, you breathe culture with every step you take, there are museums, theatres, statues, monuments or religious buildings. The Romanian Athenaeum, the Arch of Triumph, the Barbu Ştirbei Palace, the Kretzulescu Palace, the House of Vernescu, the „Dimitrie Gusti” Natioanl Village Museum, the „George Enescu” National Museum, the National Art Museum of Romania, the “Grigore Antipa” National Museum of Nature History, the Museum of the Romanian Peasant, the Caşin Monastery, the Odeon Theatre, are only some of the "jewels" owned by Sector 1, “the Capital of the Capital”.
