Szablyár Péter: Step by step - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2010)
A multi-step block of flats in the Tabán
a frame on a human scale to the architecturally over-developed hillside of what used to be Nyárs-hegy (Spit Hill, today’s Naphegy or Sun Hill), whose mass is now indicated mostly by the buildings heaped upon one another over it. (Enhancing the effect is the fact that with its appearance the building neutralises that of the robust social- realist edifice that today houses the Budapest Chamber of Commerce and Industry and VÁT1 Hungarian Nonprofit Limited Liability Company for Regional Development and Town Planning.) Placed on the list of protected monuments by the Minister of Education and Culture in 2009, the block was built to designs by Lajos Schmidt, a talented architect who died a premature death at 42 (1931-73), on the sloping expanse between Nap Hill and Gellért Hill in 1966 (by the General Architectural Designs Co — ÁÉTV, 1964). Schmidt seized the auspicious moment that still allowed for the construction of high-quality residential buildings before cheap, mass-produced prefab housing became the norm. The six-storey complex comprises two sections on the Orvos lépcső (Physicians' Stairs) side and one on the Gellérthegy utca side. Within each section, flats are arranged on a split-level basis opening from intermediate-storey landings. The complex is accessible from both street fronts. The building whose structure is made up of ferro-concrete walls of 12-centimetre, uniform, width and monolith ceilings includes well-designed flats affording a unique view. On placing the building on the list of protected monuments, the authorities pointed out the favourable arrangement of masses, the rational design of the floor plans and the positive contribution the building made to the cityscape at large. Standing by a small, well-shaped pool in the narrow front garden on the Orvos lépcső front is a well-sculpture, a couple of seals carved by Frigyes Matzon (1909—86) into black labradorite. The master occupying a pre-eminent position in Hungary's sculpture donated his oeuvre to the town of Várpalota, where nearly 130 of his works are on display in a memorial exhibition. Historic ceremonial stairs, central staircases Sets of ornamentally-arranged stairs of an immediate and powerful effect, functioning, on the outside or inside of a building, as ceremonial stairways assumed central importance in the Renaissance. Such stairs first appeared in luxury-loving Italy before becoming a characteristic feature of Spanish architecture. While the prevailing type of external stairs in the Gothic period was single-flight sets aligned with the facade, Renaissance and Baroque architecture had a preference for freestanding, 25
