Szablyár Péter: Step by step - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2010)

The Rebirth of styles - the stairs of Historicism

glass windows. Beside the impressive conference rooms and ceremonial halls, the executive offices and employee cubicles representing with their relative appearance the hierarchies prevailing in the world of banking, it is the ceremonial staircase that leaves the deepest impression on the visitor who has entered the building after passing the security checks.

The staircase in Újvárosháza (the City Council Chamber)

The pride of the City Council Chamber (Váci utca 62—64), built in Historicist style to plans by Imre Steindl to house the governing bodies of an already unified Budapest, is its staircase constructed with cast iron pillars and dynamic landings. The iron structures were made in Antal Oettl’s factory. Ascending the five-flight stairway reminiscent, in its overall effect, of Baroque palaces but adorned with Gothic ornaments, one can enter the ceremonial hall whose walls are decorated with Károly Lotz's frescos.

■ £le$y ca&t in iron: the Újvároiháza Maircaie

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