Holló Szilvia Andrea: Budapest's Public Works - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2010)
Tha Gas Works colony
In the museum arranged on the premises of the city’s first gashouse in Köztársaság tér, visitors can acquaint themselves with the more than 150-year history of Budapest’s gas works. Credit for starting the collection is due to Géza Gömöri, former deputy general manager of the Gas Works, who ordered that the old appliances be gathered together when the utility went from town gas to natural gas. The Gas Works colony Although originally only the officer corps and those the non-commissioned officers and guards obliged to reside on the premises were meant to be provided with onsite residence, it was in the interest of the city that the employees of the factory working in three shifts enjoy appropriate housing conditions. It was for that reason that the money saved on the construction budget of the manufacturing plant be spent on building houses for a workers' colony. The clerical workers' housing estate was built on an eight-acre plot, while the one for the manual workers occupied an area two and a half times larger; the former was designed by Kálmán Reichl and Rajmund Holetschny, the latter by László Balogh. The clerical employee’s estate comprises nine blocks, four of which on the sides as well as the former director’s residence being single-storey buildings with the middle ones rising two storeys high. The distance from the director’s house, the floor-space, and the number of residential rooms (the director's boasting five) symbolised the position occupied in the corporate hierarchy. The buildings have largely retained their original layout and appearance with the bungalows having yellow, the taller buildings and the director’s residence red brick facing. Each of the seventeen apartments was equipped with a bathroom, the rooms had wooden parqueting, the kitchens featured stone flooring, and separate laundries were installed to enhance the comfort. Domestics helped the residents with the housework, a chaise was made available for the shopping, and the tennis court next to the formal garden was convertible into a skating rink in winter. The modest-sized railway station next to the clerical employees' housing estate has a two-storey central unit and two single-storey auxiliary buildings. Of the 109 flats on the workers' colony, 78 had two rooms while the others were either one-room or in a few cases three-room. Only the latter came with their own bathrooms, as tenants of smaller flats had to share common showers and tub baths. There were also four attic rooms. The workers’ flats had modern conveniences, too, including running water, flush toilets, gas and, later, electric lighting, gas stoves and shared laundries. The residential rooms had jointed flooring, and the kitchens had cemented floors. Every garden had a tool shed, and each flat came with a chicken 27
