Pál Ritoók
"One of our Finest Embassies"
"How good it is to know that it now passes with so much
appreciation from one successor generation to another."
Sir John Birch, former Ambassador
The building housing the British Embassy is one of the finest bank buildings erected in Hungary at the beginning of the 20th century. The present building was initially built as headquarters for the National Savings Bank, which was established by the Pest National First Savings Bank Association in 1894. Since the bank soon grew in importance in the banking world, there was a natural need for headquarters whose location, size, appearance and architectural quality were in keeping with its image and its aspirations.
The building
The five-storey block was built on a corner site, where Harmincad Street and Erzsébet Square meet. The style can be described as Neo-Classic, characteristic of several bank buildings at the beginning of the 20th century. In its architectural form, this building is an obvious expression of the idea that bank and exchange buildings are Temples or Palaces of Money. This idea dates back to the 18th century when architects of the French Revolution or others influenced by them designed customs and exchange buildings after Greek temples. This architectural glorification of the power of money was followed by a series of bank buildings in the Neo-Classical style in the 19th century.
Apart from the porticoed main entrance and the side entrance on the left in Harmincad Street both streetfronts are identical. The façades are articulated by one-window wide corner projections which embrace the two five-window wide middle parts. The windows are flat-arched except for those on the first floor, which have semicircular endings on the middle parts and basket handle arches on the projections. This treatment is to highlight the first floor, which is the piano nobile and the mezzanine floors, containing the most important reception rooms. The ground and the mezzanine floors and, higher up, the second and the third floors are separated by cornices. The rustication of the ground floor refers to the base of an antique temple upon which the edifice stands, supported in our case by six fluted engaged columns between the corner projections on both sides. These attached columns standing on pedestals link three floors. The main cornice with a parapet decorated as a balustrade runs above the third floor. The parapet links the corner towers which are one storey higher than the building. The main cornice in front of the stepped corner towers is topped by a triangular pediment, flanked by urns on pedestals. A tinned mansard roof covers each wing of the building.
The wings are built around a central courtyard along the limits of the lot ex-cept for the western wing, which is slightly pushed towards the centre forming a narrow rectangular courtyard on its western side.
The architectural iconography of the Hazai Bank refers loosely to the forms of a Classical Greek temple, which was typical of the design of bank buildings around the turn of the century both within and outside the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The in antis type portico embraced by two Doric columns is the prostyle, while the vestibule also decorated with Doric columns is the pronaos of the temple.
The sanctuary that is the naos or the cella, containing the cult statue would be the cashiers hall, which is the main attraction of the building with its coffered prismatic glass ceiling. Four bronze chandeliers hang from the centre of the four corner-coffers of the nine-partite ceiling. Even during the day, natural light can be increased by a series of electric lamps hidden in the double steel-glass roof. Although the architectural details of the hall refer rather to Empire style and not directly to the classical roots, the transparent glass ceiling supported by pillars and pilasters can be regarded either as a virtual roof aperture above the cult statue as in a Classical temple, or as a compluvium, which is an opening in the centre of the roof of an atrium in a Roman house. The corner towers topped by attics decorated with urns can be regarded as towers of a fortress.
Wealth, happiness and welfare, the ideal results of proper banking, are displayed directly in decoration by classical symbols: cornucopia, putti playing with garlands of fruit and flowers, ramheads, festoons. Safety, credibility are expressed by rustication and wrought iron grills which imitate the appearance of a castle. Reliability was also expressed by the use of a classical architectural language that avoids extravaganza.
The same ideas are expressed in an indirect, thus more sophisticated way by expensive materials (marble, gilded bronze, glass) and well-chosen colours (gold, white, red, pink, black). The effect of these elements was strengthened by the partially invisible facilities provided by modern engineering. The steel frame of the building was for safety reasons. Reinforced concrete was used in the basement against flood, fire and burglary and in the shell of the mansard roof to create solid and fireproof spaces. The building was provided with central heating: steam was used on the ground floor and hot water on the upper floors. The glass ceiling of the banking hall was cooled by sprinkled cold water pumped from two wells located in the basement of the neighbouring apartment block of the bank. The building was cleaned with help of central facilities. It was a novelty at the time that the sockets of the electric lamps were not in the walls but sunk into the floor covered by copper lids. The building had 50 direct telephone lines and 150 extensions. The pneumatic post had 21 stations.
The furniture of the bank came from the Thék Factory. The bank's guiding principle of design here complied with the general aim of the factory which was to find timeless forms, fashionable and practical at any time. This requirement was met by the furniture of the banking hall which remained in its original setup in the hall until 1947.
Reinforced concrete structures, steel frame, heat control, mixture of natural and electric lighting, paternoster, lift, coupled with fast and safe banking aided by telephone and pneumatic post and security against fire and burglary. All these factors were in the building so as to emit the idea of state-of-the-art banking.
After the political stabilization created by the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, economic development speeded up. The boom was especially strong in flour-milling, in railways and construction. The centre of the latter was, of course, Budapest. The realization of major urban planning schemes (the Ring Road and the Andrássy Avenue) and the construction of several new public buildings (the Opera, Parliament, etc) and hundreds of apartment blocks could not have taken place without the concentration of manpower and skills in engineering, construction-methods, fittings, furniture design and production and, at the turn of the century, in electrical engineering. This was the age when most of the firms (Oetl, Seenger, Mann József és Fia, Neuschlosz, Thék, Melocco, Haas és Somogyi, Jungfer, Holitscher etc), which participated in the construction of Hazai Bank, established themselves in prestigious places in the building industry. Thus the architectural and engineering perfection of the building is no surprise.
The site
After the Turks left Hungary at the end of the 17th century, the area north of the medieval town walls of Pest was barely built up. Illustrated charters of membership of the various guilds of Pest and Buda show only a few buildings marking the landscape. Here was one of the three cemeteries of the town with the Schneider Chapel. Here were the Salt Office and Warehouse, the Tobacco Warehouse, the town inn ("schwabisches Wirthshaus") and the Harmincadhivatal (in German "Dreissigstamt", "One Thirtieth Office") which was the office dealing with customs duties. The square south of this building was named Harmincad Square, later Theatre, later still Gizella, and finally Vörösmarty Square. Later the short street leading east from the office was named Harmincad Street.
In 1785 a new market place was needed outside the townwalls of Pest. The final decision on the location of the square (the present Erzsébet Square) was taken in April 1789 and the first new lots around the square were auctioned in June of the same year. The uniform 225 square-fathoms lot of the present embassy building was purchased at the first auction, since its location at the southwestern corner of the square placed it very close to the city.
A map drawn in 1810 by Johann Lipszky shows that each lot around the New Market Place had already been built on by that time. The wings of the house which occupied the site of the present embassy were built around a courtyard. A description of Pest from 1844 mentions that there were already only three two-storey buildings around the Market Square. We may suspect that around 1810 there were several of them along with single-storey buildings as well.
The Address Book of Pest published in 1827 listed owners according to housenumbers. The owners of the house in Lipótváros at the corner of "Dreisigstgasse and Wienergasse" (the present Harmincad and Bécsi Streets) were the heirs of one Joseph Fronek, a glazier, who became a burgher of Pest in 1796.
In 1830 Móric Ullmann purchased the house. He was admitted to the burghers of Pest in 1825 by virtue of being a landlord. He was an early capitalist in Hungary, who had made his wealth out of the tobacco trade. He also dealt with wool and corn and he had enormous investments in landed estates.
A devastating flood hit Pest in 1838. Although Theatre Square (the present Vörösmarty Square) was flooded and the Derra House on the northwestern corner of the Market Square collapsed, the house on the site of the present embassy escaped heavy damage. According to a map which recorded the flood damage and destruction in the town, the building was not demolished by the Danube.
The first good representation of the building previously on the present site was made by Rudolf Alt, who produced a lithograph series on the town in 1845. One of them, "The New Market", shows the houses on the site of the present Hotel Kempinsky, all of the houses on the western side of the square and a few buildings on the northern side. Our house is a three storey building. The Erzsébet Square front has eight windows on each floor in a uniform fenestration. The building is covered by a pitched roof. Since the building is in the background of the picture, only the sign-boards are discernible on the front. The neighbouring buildings are also three-strorey high with the exception of three four-storeyed houses on the northwestern side of the square. There is a two-storey building at 4 Erzsébet Square. It is a witness to an older time when one- and two- storey buildings were most typical in Pest.
There is a fine water-colour by Simon József Kölbl dated 1849 and showing the bombardment of Pest by Austrian artillery during the siege of Buda, which was held by the Austrians. The drawing shows the Market Square from the northwestern corner looking south. The market stands and the roofs of the houses on the southern side are burning. Although the western side is also visible because of a trompe l'oeil, it is very difficult to recognize the house on the corner of the square and Harmincad Street.
Four archival photographs document the further life of the building which preceded the present one. Three of these photographs are due to the fact that Károly Koller had his photographic atelier in the building next door at 4 Harmincad Street. Károly Koller gained recognition in the second half of the 19th century and his studio was granted the right to use the title of Imperial and Royal Photographer in 1873. Indeed, the Emperor himself visited the studio at least twice. In both cases Francis Joseph was photographed in front of the studio as he was leaving the building. The first visit took place in the early 1880s. The picture was taken from the present Gerbeaud building and the building on the corner of Harmincad Street is also visible. This picture shows a three storey Neo-Classical town house with the uniform fenestration typical of Pest in the first half of the 19th century. It was more or less in the state it was represented in by the 1845 Rudolf Alt lithograph.
The second visit of Francis Joseph to Koller's atelier took place in 1888, when the Emperor was photographed by another photographer named Ferenc Lux. The main difference between the two photographs taken on the second visit compared to the previously mentioned photograph is that the corner building was topped by another floor and the corner was provided with rustic quoining. There is a view taken of Deák Square by György Klösz around 1890-92 where this four-storey building in the background is also visible behind the trees of Erzsébet Square. After the turn of the century, this four- storey building of early 19th century origins ceded place to the new headquarters of the Hazai Bank Rt.
In 1911, the Vállalkozók Lapja (Bulletin of Builders) published a notice which reported the acquisition of a lot between 8 József Square and 5 Erzsébet Square by the Hazai Bank Rt for the purpose of erecting the headquarters of the bank. In fact, another lot was also purchased by the bank south of the that one. Together they formed an L-shape site. Initially, the bank wished to build its headquarters and an apartment block adjacent to it
The architect
An architect named Károly Rainer was commissioned to design the building. Although he had few reference buildings, all of them proved that he was capable of meeting the bank's needs.
He was born in 1875 in Szeged and graduated from the Budapest Technical University in 1897. He worked in the office of Rudolf Dick in Vienna, then in the offices of Győző Czigler and Alajos Hauszmann. He participated in several competitions, often with success. After a long study tour across Europe, he set up for himself in 1906. The Workers' Insurance Bank in Szeged was built to his design in 1907.
Although Rainer is not a well-known architect, some of his works are defining elements of the centre of Pest up to the present. Probably the best-known ensemble is Haris Close, a series of apartment houses along a newly opened private street connecting Váci Street and the present Petőfi Sándor Street. The commission for this project was gained through a 1909 competition. Although some already well-established architects were invited to participate, Rainer won the competition and the project was realized in 1911.
Probably Haris Close served as the best reference for the commission of the Hazai Bank. The specific task of the Haris Close project was to design the façades of a whole street in the centre of the shopping area. There are some details which are repeated in Rainer's later works. The relief-type decoration of the entrance doors with Doric engaged columns on the Haris Close Apartments is orchestrated in full plasti-city on the porch of the Hazai Bank. The architect used another motif too, the concave diamond-pointed rustication of the façades of Haris Close in the preliminary design for the courtyard façades of the Hazai Bank.
Including Hazai Bank, Rainer designed four buildings around Erzsébet Square. It is a rare opportunity for an architect to design four buildings around one of the most important squares of a city. The Mocsonyi Apartments on the corner of Erzsébet Square and Sas Street (today 18 József Attila Street) were finished in 1909. The Apartment House of the Hazai Bank next door to the future headquarters was designed in 1911. Rainer's Cziráky Court (1912), which created a passage between József Nádor Square and Erzsébet Square, was another contribution to the development of the urban fabric.
Besides some other apartment buildings in Budapest, Rainer designed the Headquarters and Apartments of the Timisiana Bank in Temesvár (Timis,oara, Romania) in 1911 and the Hotel Europa in Nagyszeben (Sibiu, Romania) in 1912. These were the main works which preceded or were engaged in parallel with the design of the headquarters of the Hazai Bank Rt at 6 Erzsébet Square.
The characteristics of Rainer's style are easy to recognize in his competition entries and his realized projects. The shaped gables with the colonnaded loggias on the upper floors and the high-pitched roofs attest to an Art Nouveau touch. In the 1910s his style closes to Neo-Classicism and sometimes it may be called Empire. The Hazai Bank building is one of the best examples of this change and it is probably his best building. Despite the conservative appearance, the layout of his buildings is harmonious.
Principles and procedure
The perspective drawing of the bank published in the Révai Encyclopaedia in 1911 shows a building which is similar to the existing one, except that the Erzsébet Square façade is narrower than that of Harmincad Street. It means that the original design of the bank was for the rectangular corner lot on the south. The façade of the building represented on the perspective is different from the existing one in a few details. The groundfloor windows are round-arched, and keystoned, and the rock-faced rustication is more apparent than that of the actual building. There are other deviations from the later design in the roof zone. Originally pyramidal roofs were planned to stress the corner towers. Balustrades were built above the main cornice instead of the original dormer windows.
The initial plan also published in the Révai Encyclopaedia showed some guiding principles of the design. The architect decided to locate the apartment block of the bank and the bank itself in two separate buildings because of their different needs. It is strikingly obvious that the two most important parts of the bank building had a defining role in the design. The reinforced concrete vaults in the basement protect the wealth of the bank and that of the clients. Since the mirrors of the security system placed at an angle of 45o in the corners of the control corridors around the vaults favoured a rectangular plan with chamfered corners, the architect treated this form as a crucial element. The wealth of the bank and that of the clients require the highest protection, thus Rainer placed the vaults in the centre of the lot and in the basement. The cashiers hall is the other important part of a bank building, because clients personally do their transactions in this space mainly. Thus, Rainer placed the cashiers hall just above the basement vaults repeating its chamfered rectangular layout. The wings which encircle the ground-floor cashiers hall were erected on the same plan.
The bank required easy access, and only three steps separate the ground floor from street level. A lucid arrangement of the office rooms was also needed in order to help clients find their way about easily. This was done by the axially placed vestibule and the centrally located cashiers hall next to it. Easy access to other offices was provided by the main staircase, the lift and the paternoster, each connected to the vestibule. There were two other criteria for the design. The groups of office-rooms, where clerks worked in close co-operation, had to be positioned as tightly as possible in order to speed up procedures. Besides that, proper natural and electric lighting was needed. Thus the street and courtyard fronts and their fenestration was applied to the most rational grouping of desks. A corridor ran around the courtyard in an L-shape in the street-wings, where rooms were lit through the façade windows. There were no corridors in the narrow northern wing. These rooms were accessible either from the western or from the eastern street wing, and took advantage of sunlight coming from the south. The western wing contained a zig-zag corridor connecting the second side staircase with the first side staircase.
Soon a decision was taken to add a 6.5m wide stripe from the lot lying north to the bank's lot, thus making the latter an almost square (31.56 x 32.71 meters) corner site. This enabled the architect to design the back of the building, especially the cashiers hall and the courtyard more generously.
The final drawings with which the architect applied for the building permit were signed on 12 April 1912. The series of 1:100 scale drawings are excep-tional in several aspects. This is a complete set containing carefully rendered street elevations, floorplans and sections. The floorplans from basement through groundfloor, mezzanine, floors 1–3 up to mansard and roof are all meticulously drawn. The engineering details places of lamps, telephones and stations of the pneumatic post. Besides the function of the rooms, these drawings mark the furniture and even the names of persons who were to use the various rooms and suites like "Director Kelemen". These data allow one to reconstruct how the building was used. Only minor details of the completed building deviate from the final project.
On 13 November 1913, an engineering project for the boiler house of the heating system was handed in to the building authorities for permission.
Thus presumably the construction work had been in progress by that time. The per-mission "to use all rooms of the five-storey high bankbuilding on Erzsébet Square under lot No. 689" was given by the authorities on 9 June 1914. This meant that construction needed two and a half building seasons (from spring to autumn), which was not an exceptionally short time relative to the construction time for other larger contemporary buildings.
Further life of the building
The building was so adequately designed for all the needs of the bank that only few changes were needed in 1921: some partition walls were altered on the second floor. This was designed by Rainer himself.
Unfortunately very few images recorded the everyday life of the Hazai Bank. The picture-album of the Pesti Napló published for the 80th anniversary of the newspaper included an image showing the cashiers hall with clients around 1930. Although there were some differences in the layout of the counters, the furniture remained unaltered.
The building was damaged in the Second World War. Photographs taken in 1945–46 show that the top of the tower on the southeastern corner and the roof north of it had simply disappeared after being hit by a bomb. Although the tinned roof was supported by a reinforced concrete shell, it could not stand up to the damage. Windows were destroyed and broken and the building was burnt out. Some broken tiles on the courtyard fronts are memories of the war even now.
Soon after the end of the war, the bank started to restore its headquarters. With the careful work carried out by the original firms, most of the building regained its earlier shape. Thus the present visitor owes a lot to the Haas and Somogyi firm, which restored the glass roof of the cashiers hall. In 1946 the Hazai Bank Rt merged with the Pesti Hazai Első Takarékpénztár Egyesület (Pest First National Savings Bank Association), which was nationalized in 1948.
Pál Ritoók
is a researcher at the Museum of Architecture of the National Board for the Protection of Historic Monuments. His field of research is 19–20th century architecture.
