N. Kósa Judit - Szablyár Péter: Underground Pest - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2002)

Fish, flesh and fowl down below - the cellars of the Central Market Hall

not to be less than three metres, and that there should be proper ventilation, illumination and drainage. Special provisions were made for the inclusion of a tunnel in the designs, through which goods delivered via the embankment on the Danube could be loaded into the cellars. Sufficient space for two narrow- gauge railway lines and a footpath were to be left in the tunnel.

The design competition was won by Samu Pecz. The architect was commissioned in January 1893 and stalls in the new building first opened on 1 February 1897. It is not surprising that considerations of economy necessitated certain alterations to the design before construction work started. As far as the underground area was concerned, the foundations were reduced from 1.2 metres to i metre, the roof was made of brick vaults and the planned-for granite edge- stones of the basement were dispensed with. The cooling area of the basement was considerably reduced and the fish tank planned for the same section was also scrapped.

The tunnel to the embankment almost fell victim to cost-cutting, too, as the city council put off deciding to have it built together with the docks on the embankment until the final phase of the construction. However, the works were very soon tested when a flood wave reached the city. The inundation of the cellar level could only be prevented by constructing two walls planks filled with clay pounded down in between.

■ A grocery where the /former ótore-homei were

<5