His travels to Vienna, Constantinople and Budapest in 1913, to Italy (15 December 1923 to 20 February 1924, and January 1937) and to France represented significant milestones in his life.

His strong interest in archaeology led him to study and preserve many old houses and churches, and to publish essays and surveys on this subject.

He also denounced the projects which took only land use into account and noted the lack of hygiene in houses built between 1930 and 1950, while the buildings in France, Austria and Germany of the same period were much more advanced.

From this is derived this chaos of so-called modern buildings, resulting in a time when science, engineering calculations and a quasi-superficiality of architectural knowledge have overtaken a sacred beauty that was cultivated over the centuries that have preceded us, standardizing everything and thus creating cold and clumsy works of civilization on the ruins of those of culture, those which have given us the tradition and spirit of this people raised in the cult of beauty.

He planned major changes in the city, including the construction of the Central Market Hall of Ploiești,[c 1] and acted as urban planner.

The plan provides for urban development and optimal population density, allocation for public and cultural institutions, schools and green-spaces.

He had hoped that an amusement park and an ornamental pond[c 3] could be built to provide a large relaxing green space (Păulești is located 7 km from Ploiești).

During the period 1940–1944, the museum's inventory was eventually lost or stolen[citation needed] and replaced with other objects collected by Professor Nicolae Simache, assisted by Socolescu.

In addition to completing the plans of the classrooms,[b 8] Socolescu regularly participated as a speaker along with other professors and prominent figures from Romanian cultural and political life.

[b 11] In the same place, on the ground floor, he developed an art gallery by collecting Western European artists' reproductions as well as original Romanian oils and watercolors.

[a 4] He founded and developed an art gallery by collecting reproductions of Western Europe artists as well as original Romanian oils and watercolors,[a 5] on the ground floor of the same building.

[21] From 1953, within the framework of Institutul Central pentru sistematizarea orașelor și regiunilor (ICSOR) he was seconded to the Department of Historical Monuments for four years.

[citation needed] The Securitate particularly attacked wealthy families of the interwar period and seized their property and jailed many Romanians.

Other ceremonies[25] were held from 2009 to 2011, including the installation of a bust[26] in front of the Central Market Hall of Ploiești and the naming of the adjacent park, for the architect.

[27] any of his works were destroyed partly by the American bombardments of 1943–44, that were especially harsh[28] in Ploiești, and more were razed by Nicolae Ceaușescu's policy of systematization[29] that removed all traces of the soul of Romanian architecture.

[36] His book dedicated to the architecture in Ploiești, Arhitectura în Ploești, studiu istoric, published in 1937, was recognized by the Romanian Academy.

[4] The first page of a small booklet he wrote in French in 1941[37] sums up his credo:[38] "La puissance créatrice de notre peuple est complètement prouvée par son bel art populaire plusieurs fois millénaire ainsi que par l'architecture plus récente de nos églises, habitations princières et voïvodales.

L'architecte ne peut rester en arrière, il a au contraire pour mission d'entraîner ses contemporains dans sa marche vers le progrès.

His service as mayor, municipal councilor and deputy allowed him to advance cultural, urban planning or architecture projects.

A 'Socol', great boyar and son-in-law of Mihai Viteazul (1557–1601), had two religious foundations in Dâmbovița county, still existing, Cornești and Răzvadu de Sus.

Nicolae Iorga, the great Romanian historian and friend of Toma T. Socolescu, found Socol ancestors among the founders of the City of Făgăraș in the 12th century.

[b 16] In 1655, the Prince of Transylvania George II Rákóczi ennobled an ancestor of Nicolae G. Socol: "Ștefan Boier din Berivoiul Mare, and through him his wife Sofia Spătar, his son Socoly, and their heirs and descendants of whatever sex, to be treated and regarded as true and undeniable NOBLEMEN.

The historian, cartographer and geographer Dimitrie Papazoglu [ro] evokes, in 1891,[e 1] the presence of Romanian boyars of the first rank Socoleşti, in Bucharest, descendants of Socol from Dâmbovița.

Finally, Constantin Stan also refers, in 1928, to the precise origin of Nicolae Gheorghe Socol : "At the foot of the Carpathians, on the right bank of the stream of the same name, lies the commune of Berivoiul-Mare [ro] [...], one of the oldest villages in the Olt household [...].

The project for the rest of the building that would replace the existing church remained unfulfilled until work resumed in 2008, inspired by Socolescu's plans.

His projects included: Of Socolescu's ten contest wins, only two were built: the Creditul Prahovei and, partially, the Palace of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Socolescu, also an architect, having finished his studies in Vienna, was a descendant of a family that, through a distant ancestor, had obtained a noble rank, in 1655, from G. Rakoczy.

The original document written in calfskin, in Latin, with gold letters and the family emblem in colors, laced and bearing the princely seal in red wax, is in the possession of Major S. Socol, former mayor of the city of Făgăraș, where he lives."

(Translated from Romanian)"N. G. Socolescu (Socol, in Ardeal) came to Muntenia from the Berivoiu Mare [ro] commune, located at the foot of the mountains in the Făgăraș region, and settled in Ploiesti, together with his five other brothers, - around the revolution, around 1846, - namely in Sf.

He married Ioana, born Săndulescu, from the same suburb, and his name appears among the founders in the parish registers; and as was customary at the time, I believe he was also buried there - although the searches I made were unsuccessful - in 1872."