Veszter Gábor: Villas in Budapest. From the compromise of 1867 to the beginning of World War II - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1997)

The Schiffer Villa. Repeated transformation; a second floor and an annex haue been added. VI., Munkácsy Mihály utca 19

tined for the exclusive use of the family, was built in one of the side streets off Andrássy út rather lavishly as far as building space was concerned. It was erected on a plot measuring 1800 square metres in a period when the surrounding plots of around 1600 square metres were being divided and small family houses were being demolished to make way for the construction of three-storey apartment villas. Schiffer’s gesture was all the more remarkable as the villa stood much further away from the street than the regular distance of five metres generally observed in the neighbourhood.

The exterior of the Schiffer Villa was striking due to its puritan character. No decoration had been designed by the architect József Vágó for the faqade, which was covered with slabs of limestone - no ornamentation, no framing around the windows, not even window sills. The only plastic articulation resided in the half-column separating the narrow windows of the semi-circular right side, a motif taken up again on the left-side facade for the huge hall window. The interiors were by no means as plain. All rooms, from entrance hall to bathroom, were

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