Three Narratives Surrounding the Cluj Tobacco Factory

In 1921, the (Romanian) State Monopolies Régie acquired a revenue house that was turned into employee housing for the Tobacco Factory in Cluj. This article unravels bits of local history that linked, for 40 years, this building to the destiny of the factory.

The first narrative follows the top-down relation between governments and the tobacco monopoly that fed the treasuries of five successive administrations, and which managed the Tobacco Factory in Cluj. The second narrative follows the involvement that the factory, or better yet its workers, had in the day-to-day life of the city. The third narrative zooms in on the living conditions and the mutations that occurred during these 40 years within the studied building and among its residents. Gradually, more people were to be housed here. Living conditions deteriorated, as apartments were successively subdivided and the number of tenants increased. As a consequence, by the 1970s the building had reached its highest density. Thus, the article investigates the hows, the whens and the whys in the life of a building which mirrors the socio-cultural scape changes of both the factory and the city. Modern industrialization left an indelible mark on it.