A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Studia Historica 4. (Szeged, 2001)

FÁRI Irén: Polgári villák Szatymazon a 19. század végén

IRÉN FARI MIDDLE CLASS VILLAS IN SZATYMAZ AT THE CLOSE OF THE 19TH CENTURY The settlement of Szatymaz is located 10 kilometres from the city of Szeged. It used to come under the administration of the city of Szeged, but in 1950 it gained the status of an independent settlement. The centre of the sprawling settlement was established around the railway station (1854), and the area surrounding the bathing pool (1907). Wealthy citizens from Szeged began purchasing property in the sandy region of Szatymaz from the first half of the 19th century. In 1880, phylloxera decimated the mountain vineyards, but had no effect on the vineyards located in this sandy region. Owing to this, the prices of vineyards located in the sandy region increased. A large number of holiday homes, built in the second half of the 19th century, can still be seen today in Szatymaz. The construction of these country villas was not seen as significant or well documented, therefore the present dissertation is an important historic contribution to this subject. There were no established traditions for the construction of villas in Hungary, Country houses with courtyards, built by the nobility in the 18th and 19th centuries, were the forerunner of the present holiday homes. The middle classes which constructed these holiday homes copied exteriors representative of a noble country lifestyle. The basic floor plan of the villas followed the classic country mansion layout with its simple, square design, and with the rooms located along one side. The larger buildings were usually divided into five or six rooms, located in two rows. In spite of their similarity in structure, the buildings can be characterised by the variety of their external designs. This dissertation presents the villas at Szatymaz with the help of a photographic record taken at the location, and construction documents from the archives. As the construction floor plans have became lost over time, we can only imagine the size and layout of some of the buildings, based on the text discovered in the documents.