Fabó Beáta - Gall, Anthony: I came from the East to a City of Great Palaces. Károly Kós, the early years 1907-1914 (Budapest, 2013)
Kós' First Steps as an Independent Architect
H Sketch design 1908 Magyar Iparművészet, 1908.3. The Bartóky-family on a hilltop nearby Zebegény possession of Péter Jékey THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH OF ZEBEGÉNY 1908-1909 The charms of Zebegény ‘In February Dénes Györgyi asked me to urgently make the sketches for a small Catholic church to be built in Zebegény. The holiday-makers visiting Zebegény in the summer (Györgyi himself among them) would like to see a church built in Hungarian style.’KOSmh&2-‘In late spring I was officially commissioned to prepare the designs for the Zebegény church and oversee the construction works. Two of my colleagues, also holiday-makers in Zebegény, were assigned to help me: Béla Jánszky and Dénes Györgyi. However, my fellow architects did little to influence the work in progress (which I didn 't the least mind). The only moment added by Jánszky was the overall shape of the uppermost part of the tower and its roof, which were constructed according to the modifications by Jánszky rather than my original design - which, I think, made the result all the more satisfactory.’KOSI991:96~9Z ‘I was always a welcome visitor to these two families - it was I, without a relative or acquaintance in Budapest, who received and felt via these two families an immediate warmth, a friendliness as well as an opportunity to experience that higher degree of culture which had been absent for me in Budapest until that time (but also there was a maiden at each household - one (Györgyi) a blonde, blue-eyed emotional creature, the other (Bartóky) a black haired, black-eyed, intelligent, lively and laughing, chuckling small devil. I got to know each of them quite well. And as the summer arrived, and the population of Zebegény swelled, I came to know through these families their friends and acquaintances who holidayed there, together with their weekend guests. All were well-mannered, well-dressed, and generally public servants of various culturally orientated state and municipal institutions, who - at least that was how I felt - were happy to have the promising young architect - so openly patronised by Kálmán Györgyi and József Bartóky - among their midst. And of course this did a lot for my pride, and I did my best to feel at home in this slightly aloof and highly-strung community.’KOS 1991:96~97 The first sketches were made in February 1908, with the participation of Dénes Györgyi. The actual designs Kós made jointly with Béla Jánszky, between 10 September 1908 and 24 May 1909. Construction works were carried out between autumn 1908 and 1 September 1909. The builder, Károly Melczer jr., also built Crow Castle. The prehistory of the project Beginning in 1907 a series of sketches show experimentation with the architectonic coupling of a steep gable roof and a sheer main facade - in these sketches the composition of the main elevation is already a very close approximation of the constructed church. A notable detail in Kós' sketch of a small church from 1907 is the asymmetric position of the tower within the main elevation and the arching shape of the main gate and the windows next to it. The final shape of the side facade with the covered entrance became another signature component of the designs for the Zebegény Church, even if much less dominantly so. From the first sketches to the completed work The early sketches for the project reformulate the small stone Romanesque style village church, enclosed by a stone wall and churchyard with wooden graveposts. These characteristics were preserved in the interior as well as the side elevations of the constructed version of the church. Restriction of the rubblework to the base of the church and the strictness of the main facade are departures from the rustic character of the original sketch as is the absence of the surrounding wall in the final version. Kós himself later remarked that he considered the constructed version (with the tower according to Jánszky's modifications) superior to the original version. The stained glass windows were also designed by Kós, while the interior decoration were done by Aladár Körösfői-Kriesch, founder of the Artists' Community in Gödöllő, and his students, in 1914. The final version of the church with its simple, asymmetric main elevation can be compared with similar projects from other countries, such as the Cathedral of Tampere by Lars Sonck (1902-1907). Design for a small church, 1907 Magyar Építőművészet, 1910.12. 62
