On 18 May, World Museum Day, the Hungarian Museum of Architecture and the Documentation Center for the Protection of Monuments (MÉM MDK) moved into the renovated Walter Rózsi Villa , according to the news published on the website of the Hungarian Academy of Arts. For its MÉM MDK, established in 2017 in its current form, the building at 10 Bajza Street is a special place not only because it is the first independent exhibition space, but also because it is the first modernist villa to be visited and exhibited. introduce modernist architecture between the two world wars.

Walter Rózsi Villa became the first independent exhibition place of the Hungarian Museum of Architecture and the Historical Protection Documentation Center (Photo: Nyirő Simon / MMA)

The villa was originally designed for opera singer Walter Rózsi and his family by József Fischer, an outstanding figure in Hungarian modernist architecture. An important task in the design was also given to Fischer's wife, Eszter Pécsi, who was the first Hungarian static engineer, and she was responsible for the reinforced concrete structure of the building. The villa was completed in 1936 in half a year, which would still be a feat today.

In every element of the three-storey building, modernist conceptions and modern thinking can be caught up. While the facade facing the street is closed, the facade of the garden is open. As the news on the MMA page shows, the rooms on the ground floor that they tried to hide from the eyes of the guests were located: the kitchen, the pantry, the garage, the service rooms and the janitor's apartment. On the first floor, the central role was given to the salon, as guests were welcomed here. Finally, on the second floor were the scenes of the private sphere: the bedrooms, the children's room, the wardrobes and the bathrooms. According to the modernist conception, total comfort and hygiene were basic requirements for a residential building. This is due to the large windows that let in plenty of natural light and the terrace accessible from the rooms.

Total comfort and hygiene were a basic requirement for a modernist house (Photo: Nyirő Simon / MMA)

After World War II, a new hospital for the Ministry of the Interior was established from the sanatoriums in the neighborhood of the villa, which took the name of Otto Corvin. The modernist villa was nationalized in 1949 and then functioned first as a hospital nursery and later as a pediatrician's office. During this time, the building was remodeled several times, with the stairs leading from the first floor to the garden being demolished. The hospital moved out of the building complex in 2009. The already mentioned 2017 government decision decided that the Hungarian Academy of Arts (MMA), which also maintains the MÉM MDK, will become the owner of 9–13 Városligeti avenue, the building complex of the former BM hospital. As the first step in this, Walter Rose Villa was reborn in the MMA investment.

The opening exhibition presents modernist architecture between the two world wars (Photo: Nyirő Simon / MMA)

The modernist villa, open from 19 May, is the Stage and Living Space. It await its guests with an opening exhibition entitled Modernist residential houses in Hungary 1928–1945, which tries to present the characteristics of the architecture of the period and the basic concepts along which modernist residential houses were designed - read the news published on the MMA website.

Source: mma.hu

Cover photo: Walter Rózsi Villa has opened its doors (Photo: Nyirő Simon / MMA)