Csepely-Knorr Luca: Barren Places to Public Spaces. A History of Publick Park Design in Budapest 1867-1914 (Budapest, 2016)
Public Park design in Budapest during the second half of the 19th Century
Keresztéiy Ilsemann, Plan for landscaping Parliament Square / HU BFL XV.17.d.lS14.a. 5/2.3 final plans for the square, and had also recommended the planting of small trees in front of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Palace of Justice building, so that these “would not disturb the architectonic effect of the monumental buildings".301 In the same year the journal reported that the Municipal Parks Department, led by Ilsemann, had specified the costs of the construction at 86,000 forints, and mentioned that the laying out of the square would start in the spring the following year (1897).303 This did not happen as, at the time when the area on the southern side was being created with the erection of the equestrian statue of Gyula Andrássy in 1904, various articles mentioned that the green spaces in front of the main facade had only just been finished. The plans for the eastern part of the square were created by the Municipal Engineering Department, and the Engineering Department of the Board of Public Works, liaising with Imre Steindl and the committee responsible for the construction of the building.304 Usemann’s plans for the park are known from the same year, and the construction is proven by the cadastral city maps of 1908, which show an equivalent layout.305 The plan kept Steindl’s idea for the eastern part of the square: a mostly symmetrical layout with informal lines, reminding the viewer of the informal style of English landscape gardens. Both the formal layouts and the spatial arrangement of the square were similar to the Rathauspark in Vienna. Both green spaces fit well into the typical squares of the period, which were called 'miniature English gardens’ and were highly criticised.306 Previouslyanalysed designs by Ilsemann shed light on the fact that, with his progressive style, for smaller green spaces he preferred formal, geometrical solutions. Tire stylistic appearance of the square in this case can be justified for two reasons. Firstly, he took his cue from Steindl’s principles, and secondly, it was a rather large-scale project and, as we will see in the following chapters, Ilsemann mostly used Meyer s informal style while designing large-scale green spaces. In 1900 the city’s leaders decided to place the equestrian statue of former Prime Minister Gyula Andrássy in Parliament Square (today Kossuth Square). This focussed professional debate on the site. The well-known urban Rathauspark, Vienna / August Czullik, Wiener Gärten im fahre 1S90. Vienna, 1890 / Kew Gardens Library designer of the time, Antal Palóczi,307 published his plans for the square in this year.308 Although these were not realised, it draws attention to the designtheoretical debates of the period, which were similar to those in Vienna. Palóczi disapproved of the creation of a “park-like" arrangement for the square. He wanted a more "architectural, forum-like" layout, so as to intensify the monumental appearance of the building, while in contrast, the informal, parklike layout was deemed to make a square pleasing, an effect that did not live up to the importance of the Parliament.309 In opposition to the English landscapestyle plans by Steindl and Ilsemann, Palóczi recommended formal layouts. Palóczi argued that to place the equestrian statue on the main eastwest axis of the square was not the right solution, as it would emphasise the deflection of the axis of the building from that of Alkotmány Street. His concept, therefore, was based on the north-south axis, recommending the placing of two equestrian statues instead of only one. Today s arrangement 99
