Csepely-Knorr Luca: Barren Places to Public Spaces. A History of Publick Park Design in Budapest 1867-1914 (Budapest, 2016)
Public Park design in Budapest during the second half of the 19th Century
Erzsébet királyné Street with Kápolna Square, while the other was planned to create links with the Gyömrői, Maglódi and Jászberényi Streets. The extremely important second part of the plan contained the street and building lines for the so-called Felsőrákosi meadows. The major central element of this gridiron plan would have been the newly-regulated, 48 yard wide watercourse of the Rákos stream. The plan also contained smaller parks and other public green spaces as well. The major 3.5 hectare large main square was planned to be at the so-called Fehér Road underpass. The grandiose and very forward-thinking plan was not realised; only Népliget Park was built, in two phases. In 1909 the senior engineer at the Municipal Engineering Department, Ferenc Devecis, devised a plan to link together Városliget Park and Népliget Park, through the so-called Pékerdő and the racecourse area. According to the plan, the central area of the latter would have been landscaped as well.193 Unfortunately, this less grandiose plan was not executed either. The city and its river - embankments and bridges “Visitors cannot enjoy the two long, well-constructed banks of the Danube, ornamented by flowers and trees, enough. They give Budapest its main metropolitan style."194 The promenades on the river bank had started to be built before systematic city development started to deal with the issues of urban greenery; Pest’s first promenade was developed there. The promenade also appeared in the plans by János Hild, as we noted earlier, with a much wider layout. The actual building of the embankments started in 1850, first by the Danube Steamboat Company on the northern and southern part of the Chain Bridge, and later by the city of Pest as far as todays Petőfi Square. On the southern side, because of the need to fill in certain spaces to build the embankments, a wide promenade evolved, which became a popular open space for strolling in the mid-19th century.195 The planting of trees to adorn this promenade already appeared in Széchenyis writing. Nevertheless, the area was subdivided into building plots, and by the 1870s, a row of Vigadó Square with the ‘Hangli’ kiosk, photograph by György Klösz around 1890 / HU BFL XV.19.d.l - 8/37 50
