Jónás Hecht and Son’s Wholesale Textile Shop, warehouse and storefront
Description
The decoratively yet monumentally concieved storeront at 15 Szent István Square was added to the wholesale textile shop of Jónás Hecht and Son in late 1907, to adorn the ground floor offices where in fact no retail activity was taking place. The light green tiles, the stylised riveting of the embossed brass flashing and the window dividers as well as the lettering of the shop sign bear a strong resemblance to the storefront of Schmidl’s Exotic Goods finished a year before on the other side of the very same block. The differences, however, are more noteworthy: this shopfront features highly detailed, folk art inspired ornamentation. The eozin-tile ornaments of the pillars between the windows must have been modelled after the stove tiles or carved gates of the Kalotaszeg region, while the relief motif on the swathe of brass above them comes from textile design.
Bibliography
Vadas Ferenc: Hecht Jónás és fia textil-nagykereskedése, raktárépület és portál. In: Gerle János - Csáki Tamás (szerk.): Lajta Béla. Budapest, Holnap, 2013. 128-131. p.
