Prakfalvi Endre: Architecture of Dictatorship. The Architecture of Budapest between 1945 and 1959 - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1999)

A new change in style, observable from 1955 onwards and manifesting itself in a return to Modernism (and thus in a break with the forms of Socialist Realism), quickly gained ascendancy in the field of school building. The work of Kamill Kismarty-Lechner deserves special mention in this connection. His eight-classroom building in Soroksár (28 Sodronyos utca, district XXIII) was a trend-setter with its innovative design, which included a pupils’ lounge. In his Csepel school building (9 Szárcsa utca, district XXI) he used a raised, terraced fagade where the classrooms are placed behind large glass surfaces with their shorter sides turned away obliquely to improve illumination (1959).

Of the welfare institutions of the earlier years, mention should be made of creche No. 7 of the ÁVH (State Security Authority) on Felvinci út, district II (Zoltán Farkasdy, from

1952 onwards; in the garden is the statue of a nursery teacher, and there is an ornamental well by Margit Kovács inside the building) and another creche-cum-nursery- school accommodating 100 infants on Erdőalja út in Csepel. The latter’s architect was György Tőkés (1953), who had designed the cultural complex for the pioneer camp on Csillebérc út (1952). The cultural centre built for the Hungarian Optics Factory (MOM) in the “plan year”

1953 (18 Csörsz utca, district XII; Károly Dávid) is one representative of its type that proclaims, in its form, the spirit of Modernism; the dome of the construction tops a huge parqueted dance hall, where the employees of the factory can unwind and enjoy themselves after a good day’s work,

The lounge of the former Rákóczi Ferenc II Cadet School

46