Sándor BAUMGARTEN, as architect of the Cultural Ministry, designed and built hundreds of school buildings throughout the country. Following his collaboration with Ödön LECHNER, Baumgarten carried out projects in the manner of his master, using sinuous and decorative brick columns and divisions.
Consequently Baumgarten became the most prolific adherent and propagator of Lechner´s architectural style. Among his most significant buildings in Budapest is the School for the Blinds (1899-1904), which represents a transition between Neo-Gothic architecture and Lechner´s style. The interior design, especially the assembly hall and its stained-glass windows which numbers amonst the largest continuous painted glass surfaces in Hungary, are certainly worth a closer look. (Source: Budapest Architectural guide - 20th century, 6Bt, 1997)

www.vakisk.hu

© Papp Tímea, KÖH

The Palace of the Gresham Insurance Company (the latter Apartment and Retail Complex) was the most luxurious apartment development in the capital, built with the utmost precision and level of luxury directly upon the axis of the Lánchíd (Chain Bridge). The designers were Zsigmond QUITTNER and József VÁGÓ; the sculptural ornamentation is the work of Géza MARÓTI, Ede TELCS, Miklós LIGETI, Ede MARGÓ and Szigfrid PONGRÁCZ. The stain-glass windows of the staircase opening from sky-lit passages were designed and carried out by Miksa RÓTH. The whole building is characterised by the three dimensional, sculptural handling of novelly formed elements. (Source: Budapest Architectural guide - 20th century, 6Bt, 1997)
Today it functions as a Four Seasons Hotel.

www.fourseasons.com/budapest

© Hack Róbert, KÖH

The building is a unique masterpiece of Art Nouveau architecture, a prime example of the endeavours of late 19th-century architecture to create a distinctive Hungarian style. The museum, founded by the Hungarian parliament in 1872, was the third museum of applied art in the world. The building, designed by Ödön LECHNER and Gyula PÁRTOS, opened to the public in 1896 as the closing event of the millennium celebrations of Hungarian state foundation. Its solutions clearly reflect Lechner´s effort to create an unmistakably Hungarian style of architecture by incorporating features of Oriental architecture and Hungarian folk arts into the dominant European style.
The magnificent green and yellow ZSOLNAY tiles of its roof and dome make the Museum of Applied Arts a popular and striking landmark on Budapest´s skyline. (Source: Szabó Virág: Szeretettel vár az Iparmüvészeti Múzeum, 2010)

www.imm.hu

© Horváth Edina, KÖH

The building is the master-work of Béla LAJTA´s early career (1908), illustrating the unity between Northern-European tradition and the Hungarian search for National Architecture based upon vernacular traditions. Biblical quotations set amongst folk art motives are carved on the wooden entrance gate, making them accessible to blind children. The gates, gate-rails, terrazzo-facings, carved wooden roof details preserve the architect´s special decorative style. The homogeneous brick-facing allows the integration of symmetrical and asymmetrical elements within one monumental unity. The entrance is a parabolic arch, a motif repeated in certain of the windows. Use of this motif was widespread throughout Scandinavia and in Hungary. (Source: Budapest Architectural guide - 20th century, 6Bt, 1997)

Today it is the Center for Children and Young People with Disabilities.

www.mozgasjavito.hu

© Bartha Levente