Csepely-Knorr Luca: Barren Places to Public Spaces. A History of Publick Park Design in Budapest 1867-1914 (Budapest, 2016)
The Beginnings - The Urban Development of Pest-Buda and their Public Green Spaces Prior to the unification
Public green spaces in Pest before 1873 Before the 18th century the city of Pest, which was densely built up within the city walls, had no suburbs. During the 1700s the city council started to distribute land outside the walls and in the 1730s these had started to be divided into gardens and orchards. Shordy after the so-called Upper and Lower suburbs were formed, the gardens of these areas were further divided into building plots and became built up. In the middle of the century the removal of the fortification walls had been started. In 1783 Emperor Joseph II moved the Council of Lieutenancy and its offices from Pozsony (today Bratislava, Slovakia) to Buda, and also appointed Archduke Joseph as palatine. The archduke soon recognised that both the natural and the economic characteristics of the city of Pest were outstanding and he decided to transform it into a beautiful city worthy of being a provincial centre.27 At the beginning of the 19th century the baroque garden of the Károlyi family was the only sizable green space in the downtown of Pest, but it was not open to the public.28 The first public walk in Pest was created in 1789, on the bank of the Danube between the pontoon bridge29 approximately where the green area is in front of today s Vigadó.30 The planting of the Lime and Robinia trees was started by the city of Pest expressly to create a public promenade for its citizens. A picture in Ferenc Leyrer s 1803 book depicts the small promenade with the benches, which became a popular location for Pester citizens.31 The municipality rented the area with a rolling contract of three years. One of the tenants was Jakab Fischer and János Kremnitzer, the latter being the runner of the nearby coffee house. The changing tenants Károlyi Palace and Garden on the 1873 cadastral map of Budapest HU BFL XV.16.e.2Sl/23 Plan of Károlyi Garden in Pest, last third of the 18th century HU MNL-OL T 20 No. 101/4 The first promenade in Pest at the bridgehead of the Danube pontoon bridge Joseph Leyrer, Die Stadt Pesth und ihre Gegend. Pest, 1803 / BFL Library 13
