A Debreceni Déri Múzeum Évkönyve 1948-1956 (Debrecen, 1957)

Sápi Lajos: A városrendezés kezdetei Debrecenben a XIX. század elején

Bey inning of the city-regulation in Debreeen in the early 19th century Louis Sápi At the end of the 18th century Debrecen was the greatest city of the country in regard of the number of its inhabitants though, as it is witnessed by contemporary travellers, it was far from giving the impression of a city at all. It had mostly one-storied houses built of mud, unburnt brick or wood and there were very few brick or stone houses. They were covered with reed or thatch. Pavement and canalisation were lacking in the streets. In 1770 there stood 2775 dwelling houses in the city with 2748 proprietors, and 2002 families were living in rented quarters. The city numbered 33 public buildings. In the medieval, disorderly part of the city the houses were crammed together. tThe combustible roofing, lack of fire-extinguishers and water greatly contributed о the disastrous conflagrations ravaging so often all over the city. In the last decades of the 18th century the municipal administration issued a number of orders on supreme governmental instructions to prevent conflagrations but those were not carried out. As a consequence of the great conflagration in 1797, about 200 houses were demolished. Following the conflagration, in 1799, the municipal administration issued the first regulation on bulding with the main aim of preventing fire. The regulation, however, proved to be of little avail in 1802, when about 1500 houses, including the Reformed College and the medieval St. Andrew Church fell victims to fire. Prompted by the disaster, a detailed fire-defence and building statute was drawn up in the very same year ordaining the use of solid and fireproof material for building, giving also instructions for regulating the streets. After the conflagration the municipal administration started a large-scale building activity, the private enterprise, however, did not keep pace with it and, besides, the directions were totally ignored. Up to 1804 there were only 62 dwelling houses built, and a four fifth of them was made of unburnt brick or mud-plastered hedge. The orders issued in the following years were of little greater success, and the fire of 1811 partly demolished that part of the city which had been burnt down nine years before. At the rebuilding of the houses in the demolished part of the city the official instructions were carried out and successfully enforced in the following decades so that the modern view of the city began to take shape. 133