Fabó Beáta - Gall, Anthony: I came from the East to a City of Great Palaces. Károly Kós, the early years 1907-1914 (Budapest, 2013)
Kós' First Steps as an Independent Architect
The Palmhouse was placed just off the street at one of the corners and to make it even more conspicuous, it had an entrance gate opening to the street. Invertebrates, fish, amphibians and reptiles were placed on the other side of the lake (Crocodile House/ Terrarium, Aquarium). Monkeys and apes received a central position to reflect their significance. To give this fact even more emphasis, the Monkey House was a large, richly decorated building, with the open-air cages on its southern side for more warmth. There was a small open space in front of the Monkey House with light-structured, smaller buildings on either side, with fenced off courtyards for smaller rodents and insect-eaters (House of Small Rodents) to one side and smaller marsupials opposite (Kangaroo House). Squirrels were also placed near by. The so-called Small Rock was intended for arctic animals (seals and polar bears), living in open-air kennels on the northern side of the rock. ‘For the cliff-like abutment not to appear barren, we set a small Norwegian House on its southern slopes, aligned with the grand avenue of trees. This house is furnished not for residential purposes but serves as a small hunting museum’. (Lendl: Magyar Építőművészet, 1909. 6. 7.) There were plans for using the enormous, 30-meter-long cavity inside the Big Rock for creating a display of stuffed or otherwised preserved specimens. Smaller and medium sized felines (jaguars and panthers), being typically tropical or subtropical species, were provided a house for the winter [the House of Small Predators). The open field at the foot of the Big Rock was to accommodate large ruminants (bisons, buffaloes, types of deer, giraffes and cattle), with more modest buildings on its northern side for horses, zebras, hogs, camels and lamas. A Dairy canteen was set up to present dairy products. One of the most impressive buildings was meant for Pachyderms, with a Turkish-style tower, a high tiled dome and lavish decoration. The planning and the construction process Planning the general appearance of the zoo as well as the placement of the individual pavilions were assigned to the two young architects. At least 16 of the buildings are known to have been jointly designed by the two of them, which were subsequently built in the 1909-1912 period. Fifteen of these can still be seen again today. The sketches made by the architects would always depict the entire composition of the given part of the landscape, while the style and technical parameters of the drawing do not in any way suggest a difference between a 17th century Transylvanian image and a sketch made in 1908 in Budapest. The little area bordered by the City Park on one side and the railway lines on the other was successfully turned into a mini-Transylvania, despite all the distance separating it from the real Transylvania in space as well as time. The sketch designs were completed by September, 1908, the first plans for approval by March 1909, while the final designs were made during 1909-1910. Most buildings were the result of Kós and Zrumeczky's joint efforts, so it's rather difficult to decide which pavilion was designed by which of them. Most of the buildings were constructed during 1909 and 1910 (see Table for details). In the summer of 1910 Kós left the office, leaving the remaining planning and overseeing work to Zrumeczky. We don't know whether after this point he was in any way involved in overseeing the construction or designing some of the details. In his autobiography he doesn't mention returning to the zoo any time soon after this, neither to do more work nor for the opening ceremony or as a visitor. The reconstruction of the zoo was finished in 1912. ‘In addition to providing us with a handsome wage, our time and responsibilities were regulated in such a way as to allow us the opportunity and time to undertake ongoing and new tasks, even outside of the capital. (...) Since the pavilions of the Zoo - designed together with Zrumeczky - were more or less finished by the middle of the summer of 1910, and since only one of us was needed to direct the remaining work on furnishings and fixtures, and considering that Zrumeczky received the commission for planning the garden pavilion of the neighbouring Gundel Restaurant, and since my tasks undertaken in Kolozsvár and Marosvásárhely involved not only making the designs but also responsibilities on site, therefore we agreed that Zrumeczky would stay with the Zoo until its completion and I would leave the work behind and go on my way! H The Ostrich house FÁNK fotógyűjtemény KI The Buffalo and Bison House under construction, circa 1910 Private collection US The Palm House from the Lake FÁNK fotógyűjtemény SS Left: The Small rodents' House, South View Beáta Fabó 89
