Ferkai András: Housing Estates - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2005)

The Civil Servants' Estate

■ Street on the Civil Servants' Estate With a comer house from the early 20th century

confusion. Uniting the different houses is "the light Italian Renaissance style,” as Bobula described the simple historicist appearance of the architecture characterised by yellow-brick and plastered sections on the facades. There is a German Renaissance gable here and a "Swiss” Romantic verandah or a cut-and-carved roof- gable there, without any of them breaking the unity of effect enhanced by the beautiful rich vegetation so characteristic of the estate. That greenery was a prime consideration is shown by the fact that the Architectural Bureau of the municipality itself drew up a plan for the planting of trees coming in a different species in each street. That is why Bíró Lajos utca is flanked with maple trees, Reguly Antal and Bláthy Ottó streets with robinias, Benyovszky utca, Elnök utca and Rezső tér with plane trees, Delej utca with hackberry, and Villám utca with horse chestnut.

In 1888, the Society requested the municipality to grant another piece of land with identical conditions. By then, the majority of the city commissioners had come to oppose granting the request. The Budapest Board of Public Works did not approve the idea of supporting the construction of detached houses and colonies of houses, either. They were weary of extensive urban development, of the high expenses involved in building streets and installing public utilities. It was also deemed wasteful to support the better-off who were exclusively able to afford detached houses. Although the request was twice passed by the general assembly, the minister of the interior vetoed the decision on both occasions. The Society then submitted a memorandum to the Ministry of the Interior and the Prime

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