The Erdõdy Castle in Vörösvár

The township of Rotenturm an der Pinka - ci-devant Vörösvár - lies along the Pinka in Burgenland, just 20 kilometres from Szombathely. In the middle of the village, in a deserted park stands an especially beautiful architectural creature of the Hungarian Romanticism, the Erdõdy Castle as a masterpiece of Antal Wéber. The building is historicising by mixing the styles from some architectural elements like the column of the carriage passage shown above to the composition itself. However, the building is basically differentiated from the style-mixing historicism of the close of the 19^th century by the fact that every architectural unit is still part of a suite with the traditional formal logic, with traditional proportions

Neo-Gothic Church Designs by Antal Hofhauser: Roman Catholic Churches in Bátaszék, Budapest and Békéscsaba

Antal Hofhauser was a descendant of an old stonemason family in Buda. Sacral architecture played an important role in lifework. There is good reason to suppose that his work and position as a teacher played a very important role, increased his authority and the appearance of his entries was far more beautiful than that of other entries. Teaching certain subjects for long decades enabled him to vary the already existing solutions easily. His authority and his good reputation from previous principals may have helped him on several occasions, that he was able to win assignments from the second rank, or a supervisor position. Based on his studies in Vienna and his interest in urban architecture, he always adapted his churches to the current situation and possibilities. Not too inventively, but fulfilling the principals requirements, he varied and vested the fundamental towered, longitudinal, Latin-cross-shaped, which had one or three naves, a polygon-closed sanctuary and was canonised from the Middle Ages, with well-known elements chosen from medieval styles. This layout, and similar constructions, like fundations can also be observed in the case of Bátaszék and Békéscsaba. Based on the cover he used in general, his style could be called "Backsteingotik" (Brick Gothic), however, the forms he used and the building materials he replaces evoke the architecture of French territories instead

The adaptations of the true-to-form survey method

The following study is about the method of surveying historic buildings applied by the Department for History of Architecture and of Monuments of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. The true-to-form architectural survey is based on the method used in ``Bauforschung´´, the building archaeology practice developed and widely used in Germany. In this context, survey is not only a tool of documentation but is considered as a research method in itself. The authors discuss the importance of the on-the-spot analysis of the building and the role and place of architectural survey in the whole process of monument preservation, as well as the possible adaptation of the method presented under different circumstances. The examples are stages of the monument documentation work carried out on the Cathedral of Saint Michael in Alba Iulia (Gyulafehérvár), Romania

Friedrich Lóránd építész (1891–1947) = Lóránd Friedrich Architect (1891–1947)

Tanszékünk, a Budapesti Műszaki és Gazdaságtudományi Egyetem Építészmérnöki Karának Építészettörténeti és Műemléki Tanszéke idén – 2020-ban – ünnepli alapításának 150. évfordulóját. A legendás professzortársak – mint Wälder Gyula, Hültl Dezső, Kotsis Iván, Sándy Gyula, … – mellett kevesebb figyelmet kapott az eddigi kutatásokban a csendesebb személyiségű Friedrich Lóránd, aki 1942-től az Újkor tanszék professzora, az 1946/47-es tanévben a Mérnöki és Építészmérnöki Kar dékánja volt. Életművének teljes körű feltárása még a kutatás további feladata, életrajzának és munkásságának vázlatos összefoglalására teszünk most kísérletet elsősorban sajtókutatás alapján. Our department (the Department of History of Architecture and Monument Preservation, Faculty of Architecture, Budapest University of Technology and Economics) celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. Beside the legendary professors like Gyula Wälder, Dezső Hültl, Iván Kotsis, Gyula Sándy, etc., Lóránd Friedrich has not been in the focus of research. He was the professor of the Renaissance and Baroque Department from 1942 and was the dean of the Faculty in the school year 1946/47. The complete cognizance of his oeuvre is the objective of further research. We make an attempt to give a sketchy summary of his biography and life-work based primarily on press analysis

Wéber Antal könyvtára

A XIX. században jelentősen megnőtt a kiadott építészeti témájú könyvek száma, köszönhetően a sokszorosítási - metszési, litográf - technikák fejlődésének is. A korábbiakhoz képest gyorsabb tájékoztatást jelentettek az építészek számára Magyarországon a havonta megjelenő építészeti szakfolyóiratok, a magyar nyelvű Építési Ipar és a német nyelvű Budapester Bauzeitung. Ezek az építészeti könyvek és folyóiratok nagyrészt szerepelnek könyvtáraink állományában, azonban nehéz megítélni, hogy az egyes építész műveltsége milyen széles körű lehetett, ha nem ismerjük a nagy mesterek személyes könyvtárait. A Budapesti Műszaki és Gazdaságtudományi Egyetem Központi Könyvtárában szerencsésen megmaradt Wéber Antal könyvtára, ennek áttekintésével közelebb kerülhetünk a XIX. századi építészeti szakirodalom mélyebb megismeréséhez

Design Competition for the Fonciére Palace, Andrássy Avenue, Budapest – A Pivotal Moment

The subject of this article is the building history and urban significance of the former ‘Fonciére Palace’1 at 2 Andrássy Avenue, Budapest. It is a five-storey building facing three streets, built in neo-renaissance style in 1882. It became a listed building in 2013, and is important in the life’s work of Adolf Feszty. The stage by stage analysis of the of the design competition is of considerable importance, as the competition was a turning point in the developing architectural culture in early 1880s Budapest. Feszty’s role in the competitions’ history is discussed in this article. Architects’ reaction to the building’s emphasized urban situation became the competition’s key issue. Feszty’s solution to this was a monumental cupola on the corner, which was damaged during World War 2 and later pulled down. The absence of the cupola radically decreases the building’s architectural values. The present form of the palace is lacking; its effect on the urban landscape is much less impressive