Témák

Condominiums in the form of associations appeared in Budapest and began to spread in the first decades of the 20th century. This new type of housing was set on its path by a public employee interest group, the Országos Tisztviselő Szövetség (National Association of Officials), in 1907, and the first condominiums were created as cooperative building associations in the wake of this between 1907 and 1914. The defining framework for the spread of condominium formation was cooperative association by public employees, but business enterprises appeared alongside this almost immediately. Already in 1909-1910, banks and corporations involved in building construction joined in the erection of condominiums, but the majority that were built before the First World War were the result of cooperative associations. This new form of ownership was called a condominium association, a building construction association, a condominium joint-ownership association, or simply a condominium.

“This morning we went and looked over the apartment carefully one more time. It is in terrible condition. However, I am particularly happy about this, because due to this they will re-plaster it, while Palatinus usually only repaints otherwise. […] However, we have to have it sprayed and they are not providing a stove for the bathroom.” “It is not possible to bargain with them for anything, they only do what they see fit. E.g. the sink is in terrible condition like everything, but they will not provide another one to replace it because it does not have any holes and so it is usable. They will paint the apartment, repair the doors and windows, spackle cracks, and install stoves where there are not any. The rooms are not really big, but they do have good walls.”

(BFL XIII.33 Letter of Magda Balogh to Géza Balthazár, 24 October 1939)

“Along with a single, large common room, we should instead strive for many separate small bedrooms or dens at the same time, so that everybody, not just the adults, but also the male and female children should be given the opportunity for separation. This is because the most basic requirement of life is a properly functioning family organism. The feeling of individuality is what every family member can bring into their own room and its furnishings.”

(Barátosi-Szabó, Ferenc: Családiház és kislakásproblémák [The Problems of Family Homes and Small Apartments]. A Magyar Mérnök és Építész-Egylet Közlönye, 1933, 17–18, 102.)

The thought and actions aimed at reforming housing in large cities took a new direction after the First World War. While up until that point the housing reform movement was primarily a matter for experts in social politics and doctors, starting in the 1920s it became primarily a matter for architects. The idea of housing reform in the period between the two world wars no longer meant the socio-political creation of an institutional system for housing matters, but the architectural practice of experimentation with floorplans.

At the end of the 1920s, the Hungarian advocates of modern architecture saw the possibilities to reform the multi-dwelling building and apartment types through the practice of building around the edge of the city block, or in other words the method of perimeter development, differentiated from building around the edge of the lot. However, after only a few years had passed, these same architects did not consider perimeter development proper. Articles piled up in the professional journals on architecture around 1932-1933 that judged perimeter development to be outdated and urged a switch over to row development. Starting from this point, row versus perimeter development became one of the constant topics in architectural writings for more than a decade, while the official regulations did not or were very slow to follow the demands of the architects that were reworked over and over.

“The few steps separating the stove and the kitchen cupboard from one another may seem like nothing, but actually mean several thousand kilograms of extra work annually for an already overburdened mother and homemaker in today’s concept of human energy savings.”

(“Konyha-problémák” [Kitchen Problems], Magyar Iparművészet, 1928, 46.)

“Today, everything is travelling on the path to rationalization. Work, play, sports, and politics are all following this evolution, so housing must also be connected sooner or later to this spirit of the times. […] Everything is being rationalized, so the rationalization of private life is unavoidable because this is the only way for families to maintain or improve their standard of living."

(Wossala, Sándor: A modern városrendezés és építkezés a berlini építési kiállítás világításában [Modern Urban Planning and Construction at the Berlin World Construction Exposition]. Városi Szemle, 1931, 5, 779.)