Cseri Miklós, Füzes Endre (szerk.): Ház és ember, A Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum évkönyve 15. (Tanulmányok Füzes Endre 70. születésnapja alkalmából. Szentendre, Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum, 2002)
BALASSA M. IVÁN: A FAKSZ-házaktól a szocialista faluig. Népi építészet a 20. században
Iván Balassa M. ARCHITECTURE OF THE HUNGARIAN VILLAGE IN THE 20™ CENTURY The research of the village architecture doesn't go beyond the turn of the 19—20 th centuries - at least in Hungary. It has several theoretical and practical reasons, such as the opinion that the traditional peasant way of life remained till the First World War. An other reason is the otherwise untrue - idea that "the village people build themselves" cannot be maintained any more since foremanbuilders used to be engaged in construction in villages as well, i.e., artisans with some training. The beginnings of the vernacular architecture of the 20 th century go back to the previous century, when buildings, following town models, began to appear in the villages. It was a spontaneous process but the conscious ambition started also to take shape. The Hungarian Secession derived a lot from the folk art but almost nothing from the folk architecture. Having recognised this fact, a number of architects began to study the village buildings and to plan houses for the villages. The work of Ede THOROCZKAI WIGAND is distinguished as well as the work of young architects from Transylvania, with the leading personality Károly KÓS. The First World War, the loss of the war, the Trianon Peace Treaty, which caused the loss of a third of Hungary's territory and all this bringing forth a material and intellectual depression, interrupted this positive trend. At the same time, a good opportunity was left out in the Hungarian village: lots of houses were built in the 1920s due to bank credits following a land reform. Authorities imposed here little regulations. The development in the good direction, which just got under way before the war, was not completed. Hungarian modern architects, members of the Hungarian group of the C.I.A.M. turned to the village, mainly out of social concern at the end of the 1930s. They attempted to reform village architecture. A devastating flood in 1940 and a social family supporting movement (in Hungarian: ONCSA) gave opportunity to the reform. There were remarkable architectural results, the number of buildings, however, was not too big. The ONCSA designs were used for a while after the Second World War but following the "socialist reorganisation of the Hungarian village", and also because these plans had a national character, new plans were drafted. At this time, there was not much construction activity in the villages. The situation changed from the 1960s. Life improved in the villages due to the detention of the co-operative system. Since the peasants could not invest in land or machinery, a kind of prestige architecture began. The plans of modern houses, worked out for various public applications, could not help in this process. The villages were transformed finally and irrevocably, first of all, because the peasant was no more farmer but agricultural labourer. The end of the process cannot be foreseen. We have a rough idea what will be the architectural consequences of the fact that the agriculture is again in the hands of privates, but we can state that houses are constructed in conformity with the international taste of the consumer society.
