Black Adler Inn, Baia Mare

The Black Adler Inn (Romanian: Hanul Vulturul Negru) is located in the historical center of Baia Mare, Northwestern Romania.

According to the historical sources, the inn existed already in 1736, when it was mentioned for the first time as being property of the town. Its name was inspired probably by the coat-in-arms of the Habsburg family and in the documents of the time it appears also as Fekete Sas (in Hungarian), Aquila Nigra (in Latin) or Schwarzes Adler (in German).

The inn had rooms, a pub, and a games room (pool, cards, ninepins). At the floor of the northern wing were the ballroom and the concert hall. The inn was leased each year, the tenants having to restore the building and to guarantee the quality of services offered. Because the wooden building was degrading, the town restored it in 1784 and build another wing (the architect was János Gáspár Huzel). In 1802 was built a floor and the facade was modified in neo-classical style. In 1870 the in was modernized in neo-Renaissance style.

In 1925 the building became the headquarters of the City Hall and in 1950 here moved also the Courthouse. In 1970 the City Hall moved into a new building, and in 2003-2004 the former inn was renovated and transformed into a business center. The building has a L shape, with basement, ground floor, and floor. In the wall of the inn were discovered medieval carved stones, obviously reused as masonry material. These stones came, most probably, from St. Stephen's Church (14th century), that in the early nineteenth century was already ruined. The main facade of the building has 11 articulated goals. In the first goal from the center was opened the access into the basement, whose door had a stone frame as the handle of a basket, and unfortunately was closed during recent rehabilitation.

In the old central axis - the fifth goal from the center - opens the main gate of the inn, having the shape of a basket handle. The stone arch is decorated with a bunch of grapes, indicating that the building is an inn. To the spacious patio of the inn opens a string of arches from the ground floor and first floor east wing. Some of these arches were closed prior the last renovation. On the ridge rises a wooden tower.

The Black Adler is one of the most significant historical buildings in the central square of Baia Mare.

Photos from here