Faurest, Kristin: Ten spaces - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2010)

Teleki László tér

it’s in such abnormal condition, neglected, awash in mud and filth in summer and winter alike, to the point that it's simply unapproachable."

In 1893 tram lines were built on Népszínház utca, then in 1896 the tracks connecting Teleki tér to Könyves Kálmán körút were laid. In the early 20th century there was a lot of furniture on offer, including neo-baroque and rococo sets manufactured in the Viennese factories. In 1906 there were 9 workshops and 237 businesses in Teleki tér, a number exceeding all addresses in the district but Baross utca and József körút. There were no factories there, which was unusual for the time.

In keeping with the neighbourhood’s general poor economic conditions, overcrowding in the flats around Teleki tér was common in the 1880s and 90s, well up through the 1920s. More than a third of Teleki residents lived in such conditions, including in flats created in cellars — a much higher proportion than in the rest of the district. Illiteracy was the highest in Józsefváros - in the last years of the 19th century 40 percent of those over 10 years old could not read or write. Teleki’s market, like its neighbourhood, was never upscale or luxurious — a 1913 description had the following to say:

"Anything that comes out of the Teleki tér market can only be described with one word: cheapness... Here in the tents and booths a person can get anything that’s necessary for running a poor household. Clothes, shawls, clean hats, travelling trunks, big shawls for women, watches, foldable iron beds, pillows, mattresses, neckties and brooms — it's like a modern department store, but nonetheless all the stuff is junky. This is one part of Teleki. The other, and which is perhaps more important and more interesting: the exchange. The big building where the peddlers gather to exchange their stuff, drive up or drive down the prices, buy and sell among themselves, and where there’s even a snack stand, just like in the stock exchange."

Descriptions of the Teleki market contemporary with the First World War are nothing short of harrowing. There were no police or security — as one daily newspaper article noted in September of 1917, this was perhaps for the best given that no regulations whatsoever were observed. The fruit was filthy, dusty, cheaply displayed. The most popular lunch would be corn on the cob, dry bread wrapped in newspaper and fried dough. Hundreds would

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