Csepely-Knorr Luca: Barren Places to Public Spaces. A History of Publick Park Design in Budapest 1867-1914 (Budapest, 2016)
Public Parks and Public Park design in the Second Half of the 19th Century
Plan of "Longford” carpet bedding / A Kert, 1897. p. 405. / ADT Stylistic precedents for Hungarian public park design The landscape architectural compositions of the turn of the 19th century were influenced by various stylistic changes; while historicism and eclecticism were decisive, János Stirling and József Sisa analysed the influence of art nouveau and Secession styles as well.91 The use of renaissance and baroque ornaments, and the merging of these with the classical elements of the romantic English landscape style, characterised historicism in Hungary, along with the renewal of formal elements, in parallel with pan-European movements. In England, the rediscovery of the formal had already appeared at the beginning of the 19th century in the work of designers such as Humphry Repton,92 Sir Charles Barry93 and William Andrews Nesfield.94 Humphry Repton, was the most successful designer of the period, who introduced the term landscape gardener. In his designs, he started to propose more formal elements into his gardens - contrary to the solutions of classical English landscape gardens - according to the functions of the different parts. His principles of utility, convenience, order and symmetry were "derived from the grand tradition of architectural theory going back to Vitruvius”.9S Barry’s ‘Italian Gardens’ were inspired by the details of the Italian renaissance and baroque. In the parterres designed by Nesfield, the designs of the 17th century French gardens were re-interpreted. These formal elements were soon spread in public parks as well, according to the general taste of the period. Renaissance formal elements inspired Sir Joseph Paxton, one of the most prolific designers of the period, when designing the characteristic terraces and steps in the Crystal Palace Park in Sydenham, which gave new surroundings for the Crystal Palace, which had originally been built in London’s Hyde Park in 1851.96 These geometrical elements became more prevalent in British public parks due to the followers of Paxton. Nesfield’s designs for London further expanded these stylistic changes into the context of urban design as well. Through his work for the Botanical Gardens at Kew, the Garden of the Royal Horticultural Society and Avenue Gardens in Regent’s Park, the profession, which originally dealt with the needs of private commissioners, turned towards the need of the public; Nesfield used a new term to describe it: landscape architecture.97 In Germany historicism was introduced by the already-mentioned Peter Joseph Lenné and his pupil Gustav Meyer. Meyer’s book, 'Lehrbuch der schönen Gartenkunst’, originally published in 1860, was a summary of his and Lenné’s design principles. In his book, a characteristic element of Meyer’s historicism is that he published examples in nominal styles such as ‘Greek’ or ‘gothic’. These formal elements became more frequently used in his gardens, and started to overshadow and change the ideal landscapes and picturesque compositions.98 Meyer’s stylistic principles appeared in his public park designs too, providing a precedent for the Hungarian examples as well. The appearance of exotic plants from the Far-East (alongside the emergence of exotic Eastern artworks) in the open spaces of Europe was a decisive new phenomenon too. According to Raymund Rapaics it resulted in the appearance of collection-gardens’ or ‘naturalisation gardens’, with the collection of exotic plants becoming the major design principle.99 The period is therefore often deemed the time of the ‘collection gardens’ in Hungary, shaped by the use of exotic, cross-bred flowers and palm varieties. These plants were on display in the fashionable flower beds of public spaces. According to Gerhard Richter, the spread of the fashion of carpet beds can be linked to Hermann von Piickler Muskau’s book discussed earlier, the 'Andeutungen über Landschaftsgärtnerei’.'00 As claimed by Piickler, carpet beds would create a link between the formal elements around the mansion and the informal landscape-style parts of the park. However, this element became fashionable very quickly in urban areas as well, and at times was created at the expense of other features. Stirling and Sisa state that the use of unusual colour such as purple, and the creation of complicated ornaments can be linked to the principles of Art Nouveau.101 According to Sisa the polychrome ornaments on the facades of the Hungarian Art Nouveau buildings derive from the same principles. In Hungary, the understanding of the social role of urban green spaces and the extensive attention to the wider questions of urban greenery became widespread at the end of the 19th century, after some isolated forward-looking ideas such as the principles of Heinrich Nebbien or the ideas of István Széchenyi. The analysis and adaptation of foreign examples, and the quick answers to the changing needs of society, resulted in an exemplary evolution of design theory and highly complex public parks. However, it is important to note that at the time when theoretical writings started to appear in Hungary, in the other countries of Europe these design principles had already been developing for a century, since the publication of Hirschfeld s book. Foreign publications described highly complex design theories for public parks. However, these principles developed in various directions in different countries. The next chapter will give an overview of these tendencies. "Modern carpet bedding” / Kertészeti Lapok, 1890. p. 91. / ADT "Modern carpet bedding” / Kertészeti Lapok, 1890. p. 93. / ADT 28
