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

organic part of this simple composition. At night neon tubes mounted on the end surfaces of the letters provided illumination for the sign. Around the time when the political system changed, the company had a new image designed. As a result, the old sign thought to be out-dated has been replaced by a new one made of copper, written in italics and set on a green stone surface. The new sign in itself is acceptable but its position above the modern shopfront creates an affected and dissonant effect.

Another remarkable shopfront built in the 1930s has also remained in sound condition like that of Haas & Czjzek. In 1935 a retail embroidery and household textiles store opened at 4-6 Teréz körút in District VI. The firm was established by Erzsébet Herzman and Mariska Goldberger in 1922. By conjoining the first two letters of their first names, they created the mysterious acronym ERMA. Their business began to thrive only when Mariska married the textile merchant Gyula Rózsa. In 1935 they decided to open a larger new shop at a busier location. That was when they acquired a former restaurant on the corner of Nagykörút (Great Boulevard) and Hegedű (today Dohnányi Ernő) utca and had it transformed by the builder-industrial designer Pál Rákos. The new shop turned out to be a lavish store - really huge windows and a spacious and elegant interior. The construction and the necessary replacements were

The ERMA household textiles store at 4-6 Teréz körút, VI

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