Földes Mária: Ornamentation - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1993)
novel frontal arrangement, the exceptionally happy balance of its vertical and horizontal divisions, the proportions pleasing to the eye, the varied employment of brick and plaster covering, or the brick-architecture, which was to become a characteristic feature of Lech- ner and his followers’ style from this point on. We could also mention of the sparingly used ornamentation, so uncharacteristic of the period, as it is only the entrance which is accentuated by the slightly protruding central projection and the ornamental stairway leading up to it. This economy characterizes the whole building from the ground-plan to the arrangement of the interior spaces. Rather than adding to the list, we should lose ourselves in the beauty of the small details, discover for ourselves the original ideas of ornamentation, and allow the peculiar effect of the whole building to work on us. The major ornamental motifs are made up of coloured ceramic mosaic embedded in the plaster surfaces : the bouquets flowing out of the wonderful vases in the fields beneath the main cornice, and the pigeonheaded ornaments level with the string-course have been restored to their original, beautiful, colours. In the glinting sunshine we can notice the white pyrogranite window frames, too. The wavy string-course, which forms medallion-shaped fields of plaster, is repeated with the playful line of the moulded main cornice. A very small ornamental motif and yet a fantastic idea are some ceramic bees on the brick pilasters, slowly proceeding towards their destination, and yellow ceramic hives placed at the top of the pilasters. It is with this that we realize that the building, which is almost unadorned at the base, near the middle of the facade becomes increasingly richer and more ornamental. What actually makes this building so beautiful is what we can feel, rather than see. And then there is the roof! Ödön Lechner dreamed of a wonderful roof and realized it-a roof whose beauty and lavish ornamentation is only hinted at by a motif or two peering across the main cornice. On the coloured glazed covering, on the crest and the ridge of the yellow tile roofing, there appear some bright yellow griffins, a wing here or there, and bull-head motifs evoking the world of legend. From below we can also see part of a 50
