Ferkai András: Shopfronts - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1996)

1930s. According to the plaque on the door, the construction was carried out by the firm of Haas & Somogyi.

This narrow frontage built on the fagade of a neo-Clas- sical building actually reminds us of a doorway. The incredibly slim shop window mounted on a bronze structure is framed with white limestone and the recessed front door is set into it asymmetrically. Above the cornice of the shop window, embossed on brass plates, the meandering pediment of the old shopfront can be discovered with rose motifs and their trailers, typical of the floral style of Art Nouveau. The same style characterizes every detail of the interior - lightness and elegance of a French flair are apparent in the interior from the mosaic floor, the wooden panelling with mirrors and inlays, and the built-in furniture to the stuccoed ceiling and the symbolist paintings (by Lajos Márk) on the two side walls. The interior of this singularly intact and beautiful construction is certainly well worth viewing.

The shopfront of Jónás Hecht & Son’s menswear whole13