Boarding School for Blind Children founded by Ignác Wechselmann and Zsófia Neuschloss
Description
The first significant public institution designed by Lajta was commissioned by the Jewish Congregation of Pest and financed from the foundation established by the last will of master builder Ignác Wechselmann. The first planning drawings of the building were made in 1905 then another, modified version was handed in in 1907. The opening ceremony was held in December, 1908. The long construction period overlapped with a formative stage in Lajta’s artistic development, which saw the articulation of a new attitude to wall surfaces and large masses, emerging fully fledged in the building of the Parisiana night club and the trade school in Vas Street. Compared to the first version of the plans displaying a larger number of ornamental motifs and being more romantic both in details (the tower and the mass of the gym hall) and in general effect, the large flat surfaces and the more concentrated ornamentation of the final version suggest simplification and purity. The building is characterised by solemn grandiosity rather than romanticism. The detached, T-shaped, high-roofed four-storey brick building shows the influence of R. Norman Shaw, A. Messel, E. Saarinen and E. Wood. The generous architectural composition is adorned with folk art ornamental motifs. The wooden gate of the parabolic-arched porch with its shepherd carvings and Old Testament excerpts, the wrought iron fence with animal figures and lines of Hungarian poetry spelled out in Braille, the internal terrazzo and the wrought iron railing of the staircase can still be seen, while many details of the original furnishing have been lost. Wechselmann’s Institute for the Blind is unique among the buildings that sprang up as a result of the Magyarizing architectural tendency of the turn of the century – at the time when it was built, no other building in Budapest combined such monumentality with so pure and powerful examples of using the ornamental resources of Hungarian folk art.
Ferenc Bor
Bibliography
Gerle János - Csáki Tamás (eds.): Lajta Béla. Budapest, Holnap Kiadó, 2013. 121 - 127. p.
