Icomos híradó különszám (A 37. Egri Nyári Egyetem előadásai 2007 Eger, 2007)

Nebojsa Camprag BUILT HERITAGE IN THE SECOND PLAN, GROUND-FLOOR HOUSES OF URBAN TYPE IN SUBOTICA, SERBIA Ground floor houses of urban type in Subotica developed during the three main periods; 1. The first period ended in the 80's of the 19

th century, 2. The second period covers the last thirty years of the 19

th century, 3 The third period covers the beginning of the 20

th century until the 1

st World War. 1782 was officially year when citizens of Subotica started massively to build these house forms - that was the year when first royal commesair Űrményi Mihály came, in order to supervise the architectural rebirth of Subotica. Some of the citizens attached one or few rooms on the existing base of their simple pannonian houses, right on street line, and primitive urban-type houses were formed by this way. Real first ground-floor houses were built in so called provincial baroque style till the beginning of the 19

th century, when houses in neo-classical and neo-romantism style prevailed. They were characterized with traditional construction, modest dimensions, less number of multi functional rooms and by absence of toilet. Facades were out of decoration and with small wall openings, so the whole architecture was simple and common. Some new designs showed up soon, such as the house of wealthy citizen Grgo Mukic in neo-romantism style (Johannes Scultety, 1861) that defined further basic characteristics of the type, that was changed only by variation through the next century. The second period covers the last thirty years of the 19

th century, that was characterized by higher functional organization and toilet as its more frequent part. The structure mostly retained its traditional form and materials, except few rare examples, where iron I section supporting elements were introduced. The most popular architectural styles influenced redesign of the facades in eclectic form with neorenaissance and neobaroque elements, but didn't introduced significant spatial organization changes. The main examples of this period are the house of merchant Vilmos Tauszig, from 1882, that was redesigned in 1907 by Marcel Komor and Jakab Dezső, and the house of Mihály Gereb, lawyer, designed by Jakab Dezső in 1894, that had combined residential and business function. The third period covers the beginning of the 20

th century until the 1

st World War. The ground-floor houses of this period included mostly flats in which bathroom became an imperative. Rooms were completely functionally defined, but as functional segregation continued further more, some of the rooms with completely new function were introduced. The influence of secession style was very strong - international and later also Hungarian national variation of the style, but at the far beginning of the 1

st World War, some of the elements of future international modernism style could be spotted, that brought completely new spatial organization. Ground-floor houses of Subotica are unfortunately constantly being under improper interventions and devastations. Extreme examples considers their complete removal from the urban tissue, without previously evaluation or valorisation undertaken, even whole blocks of houses of this type are vanishing. Instead of pure vandalism of thoughtless destruction, a stronger strategy is needed, that would consider correct valorisation within this architectural type, with the result of clear vision about preservation of built heritage and it's values, and about how cities of the region should preserve it's traditional character and shape for the future. The first photo of Subotica from 1870, showing today's Republic Square, with primitive ground-floor houses in so called provincial baroque style.