F. Mentényi Klára szerk.: Műemlékvédelmi Szemle 1995/1-2. szám Az Országos Műemléki Felügyelőség tájékoztatója (Budapest, 1995)

TANULMÁNY - Plank Ibolya - Csengel Péter: Mai Manó fényképészeti műterem- és bérházának építéstörténete

Ibolya PLANK-CSENGEL - Péter CSENGEL THE ATELIER OF THE IMPERIAL AND ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHER MANÓ MAI Budapest, 20 Nagymező Street The three-storeyed palace-like atelier of the photographer Manó Mai (1855-1917) was built by the plan of the architects Rezső Nay and Sándor Strausz in 1894, in one of the most densely populated parts of the district Therese-town (Terézváros). The builder was a famous master in Pest, József Mann. The actual building process was preceded by the collection of the permissions of the demolition of the one-storeyed building standing on the 3763 lot number, Nagymező street site and the building of a modern atelier at the beginning of 1893. The second application of Manó Mai from 2nd February, 1893, with the modified plans was accepted by the Council of Communal Work of Budapest. The building realized was a combination of the plan versions. The elegant building was rather quickly built; the permit of stay was made on 31st July, 1894. The atelier was receiving guests from the second half of that year, it is also proved by the date of the ceiling fresco painted by Albert Raudnitz in the mezzanine. The building was purchased from the Mai family in 1930 by Sándor Rozsnyay with the plan of building a night-club. The Arizona night club was opened on 16th December, 1932, with building in the court and using the shops of the ground-floor. With this the atelier function of the building did not exist any more, although the facades and interiors were only slightly changed. The night club Arizona was less fortunate. Its famous technical equipment and interior decoration was totally destroyed. It existed till 1944, then two years later Lajos Básti's Literary Variety was placed here. From 1948 on it was used as a store-room, then it was the showroom of the National Market Research Institute, from 1979 the Thalia Theatre became the owner of the ground-floor. The first floor apartments of Manó Mai were used at first as a Ballet School, then from 1967 till now the offices of the Automobile Association are to be found here. In the autumn of 1994 the mezzanine rooms were bought by the Hungarian Museum of Photography. The house standing very near to Andrássy street has an extremely beautiful Neo-Renaissance facade, reflecting French influences. The ground-floor facade is covered with greenish-yellow glazed majolica ornaments made in the Zsolnay factory. On two sides of the entrance wooden show-cases with Art Nouveau gables were placed. In front of the three-axes first floor facade there is a wide, balcony with balusters. On the second floor the atelier window is appearing as a by-window