Budapest Architectura 1900 [antikvár]

TURN OF THE CENTURY BUILDINGS IN BUDAPEST On the basis of houses and other buildings of cultral value still standing today and in a condition which enables them still to convey an aesthetic meaning, this book offers an insight into the state of architecture as practised in Budapest at the beginning of our century. The buildings which have been selected for this purpose reflect the trend in architectural style at the turn of the century. A style which in everyday Hungarian is known as "secession". Of the hundred or so buildings illustrated here, some will be seen to be of considerable cultural significance whilst others are examples representative of the average. The individual buildings are illustrated by means of photographs to show their present state, as well as by copies of the original plans obtained either from the archives or from technical journals published at that time. The brief description accorded to each building is preceded by details of the address in Budapest, the purpose which the building originally served, the architect's name, and the date of either building or planning. The buildings shown in this book were all erected during the years between 1896 and 1916. Namely within the last two decades of the contrary yet very rich epoch of the shaping of modern Hungary. From the point of view of economic and cultural - including architectural - interests the most significant legacies of that period are concentrated in Budapest. At this point we should consider at least briefly the unprecedented process - namely the amalgamation of the three as yet insignificant towns of Pest, Buda, and Óbuda - by which Budapest was created at the beginning of the 19th century (1873) to become one of the 10 most important cities in Europe. In 1 807 the Vienna government commissioned János Hild to draw up a city development plan for Pest to regulate the modernisation and growth of that town. Under the auspices of the national awakening, the "reform age" Hungarian politicians of later decades became keen on the idea of a genuine national capital incorporating Buda - which had historical status - and Pest - which was meanwhile developing and becoming industrialised at a fast speed. But the era which began so promisingly with the building of factories, the opening of the first railway link (Pest-Vác 1846), and the first permanent bridge (Széchenyi-Chain Bridge) across the Danube 5