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

Szent István park

ually down from the embankment where it was the broadest, to penetrate into the city fabric up to Hollán Ernő utca. The plan prescribed a frameshaped order of construction with adjoining courtyards for the surrounding blocks. It also pre-determined the allotment of masses and heights for the buildings to overlook Szent István Park by assigning a virtually finished facade for each, which was to be strictly adhered to by the designers of the individual buildings. It is because of these regulations that the park neighbourhood has such a broadly homogeneous appearance, this in spite of the fact that about io architects were directly involved in its design. Although flats here were accessible to a few, the park, with its fresh river breeze, was open to everyone.

Of course, practically no place in Budapest has enjoyed the same name for its entire life. Old names for the park include Lipótvárosi park as well as Rakovszky park, named for Iván Rakovszky (1885-1960) who was a lawyer, interior minister, and MP influential in the shaping of the district and the landscaping of Margaret Island (Margitsziget). The park got its present name from the city on June 16, 1937. The area acquired a significant Jewish population as it developed, and the high quality houses with their beautiful views attracted middle to petit bourgeoisie intellectuals and officials.

Plans called for a large building to close the square's eastern side at Csanády utca but this was never realized. One of the defining buildings of the square is the large Lutheran church at the end of Pozsonyi út. Part of what makes the park so vibrant is that the ground floors were designed to accommodate businesses serving the residents - such as shops, patisseries and coffee houses — on human-scaled streets, and each house had at least one facade facing in a highly favourable direction in terms of light or view. Modern, not particularly elegant materials were used — linoleum in the stairways, and the door handles were frequently aluminium, not brass or copper - yet still, the quality of the design is striking.

For many years, Szent István park lost its original elegance, but fortunately, the green space was given a high-quality renovation in 1998 by landscape architects Katalin Hlatky, Judit Tátrai and Iván Nagy. The designers sought to retain everything that was valuable about the original, taking special care to keep, for example, the venerable old hedge of mulberry

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