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Modernism in a suburb of Budapest

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Budapest’s city bus number 5 goes from Blaha Lujza Square in central Pest to Pasareti Square in the suburb of Pasaret, which is northwest of the historic heart of Buda. The bus route terminates at a circular piazza – Pasareti Square – and parks next to a curved, single-storey bus station which occupies the northwest quadrant of this circular area. The elegantly simple, clean lined bus station looks as if it were built only a few years ago, but it was not. Designed by Gyula Rimanóczy (1903-1958), it was built in 1937, and it is one of several Modernist buildings that can be viewed in the leafy suburb of Pasaret.

Close to the bus station on the northeast quadrant of the circular piazza, there is another building designed by Gyula Rimanóczy. Constructed between 1931 and 1934, it is Pasaret’s parish church of St Anthony of Padua. When we were in Budapest, many churches were locked closed except on Sundays. Luckily for us, on the Saturday morning we visited Pasaret, the church was open, and we were able to enter. We were amazed by the beauty of its interior, which is kept in immaculate condition. Although it was constructed over 90 years ago, this church is one of the best twentieth century churches I have visited, comparing very favourably with the reconstructed Coventry Cathedral and Le Corbusier’s church at Ronchamp.

The spacious, tall, well-lit church is filled with details designed by Rimanóczy, and works of art created by his contemporaries. These are summarised in a Hungarian Wikipedia article (https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasar%C3%A9ti_t%C3%A9ri_templom), which provides a good idea of the richness of the building’s decorative features, and is translated as follows:

“The stained glass windows are the work of Lili Árkayné Sztehlo (1934). The pulpit (with the symbols of the four evangelists) and the original altar reliefs are the work of Béla Ohmann (1934). The Heart of Jesus altar (1934), the Saint Joseph altar (1939) and the Stations of the Cross reliefs (1939 ) were created by Éva Lőte. The wood-carved reliefs of the Virgin Mary altar and the Saint Francis chapel, together with the marble altar, are the work of István Karle Bicskei (1935). The altar of St. Teresa dates from 1942 (created by Jenő Zoltán Hallgass), and was donated by Rimanóczy. Gyula Rimanóczy designed even the smallest details, such as all the light fixtures (the text of the eight beatitudes described in the New Testament can be read in the middle of the “wall sconces” on the eight columns, which are still visible today), the holy water tank, the candlesticks, and the communion chalices. The goldsmiths István Iván and Jenő Hadina made the goldsmiths ‘ works of art. The statue of Christ Falling to the Ground in front of the tower was donated to the Franciscan order in 1931 by the sculptor Sári Somló before the church was built . The four bells of the church date from 1935 (from the Budapest workshop of László Szlezák) …”

Despite the wealth of artwork and decorative detail, the church feels uncluttered and airy. It is a gentle modern structure, not a brutal one. It feels wonderfully peaceful and calming being within it. It is a church that unlike many gothic and baroque edifices does not feel oppressive; it is a place in which to contemplate peacefully.

Pasareti utca, the main road of the suburb, continues northwest from the church and the bus station, reaching a bifurcation after just over 500 yards. A small road, Napraforgo utca, begins at the bifurcation. All the 22 houses along this short thoroughfare were built between 1930 and 1931 in the Modernist style. This estate was inspired by those modern model housing estates already built in countries including Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Switzerland. When looking at the houses in Naproforgo utca, it is not difficult to detect the influence of leading design institutions such as the Bauhaus, which functioned in Germany from 1919 until 1933.

The history of the Naproforgo utca estate is concisely related in a website (https://www.offbeatbudapest.com/features/how-the-bauhaus-shaped-architecture-in-budapest/) from which I have extracted the following:

“The most interesting large-scale housing development of the early 1930s was in Napraforgó utca, a leafy suburb on the outskirts of Budapest. The private developers, Fejér & Dános, hired a motley crew of 18 leading architects that included both the radically modern Molnár and the notoriously conservative university professor, Gyula Wälder, to build 22 small houses for middle class families.

The project was a success and all houses were sold soon after its completion in 1931. The charming side street was flanked by two-story, flat-roofed family homes, each slightly different but fitting into a modern aesthetic. The houses were sun-filled and came with fully equipped kitchens and bathrooms. Unfortunately, some of them have since been neglected, parceled up, or unrecognizably rebuilt. In recent years, locals have started to appreciate the legacy of Napraforgó utca – there are many walking tours, for example – and made a conscious effort to protect its buildings.”

The architects of the buildings in the street are listed at https://modernism-in-architecture.org/buildings/napraforgo-street/, which also includes brief summaries of their biographies. One of those who oversaw the planning of the estate was Farkas Molnar (1897-1945), who had been a member of Germany’s Bauhaus in the 1920s. However, as an article (https://www.artmagazin.hu/articles/archivum/napraforgo_utca) translated from a Hungarian website revealed, though Modernist, some conventionality was retained in the design of the buildings on the estate:

“The model estate thus shows the diversity that is typical of Budapest’s modern architecture in general. The floor plans of the buildings corresponded to the basic type of European family houses of the time, with the service rooms and living room on the ground floor, the bathroom and several bedrooms on the first floor – in terms of spatial connections and spatial organization, the houses showed little of the functionalist character of modern architecture. Most of the facades were not strictly modern in style or inspired by Bauhaus, many used brick cladding, art deco or historicizing formal elements (such as house number 9 by Róbert K. Kertész, house number 16 by the Tauszig and Róth designers, or house number 22 by Béla Baráth and Ede Novák). At the same time, the construction created an opportunity to demonstrate new building materials, structures (sliding windows, built-in wardrobes), and less common mechanical solutions (such as air heating), since the houses of the model estate were opened to visitors – just like in the case of the Werkbundsiedlungs [experimental modernist housing estates built in Central Europe]. This form of communication with potential buyers and the idea of ​​the “model estate” continued in practice in the 1960s, for example in the Óbuda Experimental Housing Estate. Despite the different perceptions of the architects, the image of the street consisting of nineteen buildings became harmonious; on the similar-sized plots (with one exception), single-storey, smaller-than-usual family houses were built, mostly with carefully matured proportions, consisting of cubist masses, mostly with flat roofs, and without traditional decoration. In addition to the uniform fence and street lamps, the sight of the geometric gardens consisting of square plant islands designed by the gardener László Solty also contributed to the uniform image of the street.”

Despite these observations, I felt that the edifices on Naproforgos utca have a distinctly Modernist appearance or ‘flavour’.

We walked along the street, viewing the buildings, each of which has a label outside it giving the name of its architect. Most of them seemed to be in good condition, but a couple looked as if they need considerable care and attention.  Each of the two-storey dwellings still look contemporary although they were built more than 90 years ago, and I would be happy to live in any of them. Halfway along the street, there is a small, rectangular public garden. At one end of this, there is a memorial bearing the date ‘1932’ and a list of the architects involved in the designing of the buildings on the estate.

During visits made to Budapest prior to our latest in September 2026, I have often visited the Pasaret district, mainly to visit elderly friends, one of whom is now aged 104, who lived on the main road leading to Pasareti Square, and also once to view the house where the composer Bela Bartok lived between 1932 and 1940. However, it was only during our latest trip to Budapest that I spotted in a guidebook published in 2001 that Pasaret is the home of some interesting, attractive 1930s Modernist architecture.

 

 

Almost thirty years have passed since our last meeting

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Pasaret is a suburb of Budapest on the left – Buda – bank of the Danube River. In September 2026, my wife and I revisited this leafy area for two reasons, one of which I will recount below. I will write about the other in a future essay.

In September 1974, a conference, The Nafplion Colloquium on Research Programmes in Physics and Economics, was held in Napflion, Greece. My father, an economist, was one of the organisers and participants of this conference that celebrated the works of the Hungarian philosopher Imre Lakatos (1922 – February 1974; see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imre_Lakatos ). My mother, my sibling, and I were invited to join the delegates and their partners at the event. Imre’s recently widowed partner, Gillian, was present, as were his friend the historian of mathematics and philosopher Arpad Szabo (1913-2001) and his wife Klari, who lived in Budapest. Although much older than me, I enjoyed their company during the two weeks we spent together in Napflion.

In the early 1980s, I was about to make my second visit to Budapest. Before I went, I contacted Gillian, who had visited Hungary several times and gave me some contacts in the city, including those of Arpad and Klari. After arriving in Budapest, I got in touch with the Szabos, and they invited me for dinner at their flat in the Pasaret district of the city. We got on very well, and each time I visited Budapest, I used to visit them and enjoy their generous hospitality. They spoke superb English, and Klari was an excellent cook.

In 1985, when I was living in Gillingham, Kent, Klari sent me a letter. In it she wrote that she was teaching two young men, teenagers, English. Back then, Hungarians were able to travel outside to Soviet bloc but were only allowed to carry with them an extremely small amount of ‘hard currency’ – about 200 US dollars every five years, if I recall correctly. In view of this and the high cost of living in the UK, she wondered whether I would be able to accommodate the two lads at my home for a month. Although I did not know them from Adam – so to speak – I agreed because I trusted Klari’s judgement. It was quite a risk agreeing to host two people, whom I knew nothing about, but I am glad I did. A and K turned out to be delightful, appreciative guests.

After their stay, I used to visit them in Budapest, usually staying with A’s family and later in his own apartment. A has remained in Hungary, and K is now successfully established in the USA.

Between 1997 and 2026, we did not visit Budapest. I kept in touch with A and K, but lost contact with the Szabos in Pasaret.

In September 2026, we decided to visit the Pasaret district to view something of architectural interest, which I will write about in the near future. As our local bus sped along Pasareti Utca – the main thoroughfare that runs through Pasaret, we passed a house that looked familiar. It reminded me of the house where the Szabos lived, but I was not suren if it was that one. After seeing the architecture we had come to view, I rang our friend A to see if he remembered the Szabo’s address, which was where, many years earlier, he used to attend the private English tuition given by Klari. He supplied the address, and we walked there.

The house, which now bears a plaque commemorating Arpad Szabo, is a small apartment block surrounded by a garden. Two women were standing in it. We mentioned Klari, and one of them, who spoke English, pointed at the correct entrance, telling us that Klari, who was now 104 years old, lived there. I was delighted to discover that she was still alive.

We rang the doorbell several times, but there was no reply. An elderly lady, who lives in the flat below that of Klari, invited us into her flat. She only spoke Hungarian, but was keen to meet us. A retired violinist, we could not get her to understand that we would like to have Klari’s telephone number. We left, happy to know that Klari is still living, but sad not to have met her.

The following day, A came into Budapest to collect us in his car to have lunch with his family in the hills outside Buda. When we told him about our abortive attempt to meet his old teacher Klari, he suggested we drove there, and tried the bell again. This time, we were successful. One of Klari’s daughters let us in, and there in her immaculate flat whose walls are lined with shelves filled with books, stood Klari, looking much as she had sone when we last met her almost 30 years ago. She invited the three of us into a small room, which A remembered as being the one in which his English tuition used to take place.

Klari, who is about to celebrate her 104th birthday, is a little frail, but her memory and mind are in an excellent state. She recalled all kinds of small details about me, my parents, other people who had been at Napflion, and my wife, who visited her in 1997. It was a wonderful meeting – One which I had thought would have had the tiniest chance of occurring.

While we were chatting, one of her daughters mentioned that only the evening before, they had been talking about us. Our unannounced, spontaneous visit must have seemed unbelievable. One thing they recalled about our last visit made when our child still wore nappies – diapers – was that my wife changed her in front of the Szabos on their living room floor. Clearly, this had made a great impression on them at the time.

We spent 6 days in Budapest this September, and each one of them was highly enjoyable. Our best experience, which was one we were least expecting, was finding Klari again and spending time with her and her daughters.