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

The “Marc” shoe salon at 27 Teréz körút, VI

constructed the original arched apertures on the ground floor, but chose to break with the currently popular method of reconstructing ashlars, worn flat a long time ago, which involves re-casting them in plaster. Instead, he recreated the effect of an ashlar base with the help of a crude brick crust in such a way that he recessed every fifth row of brick after pointing deeply the four rows in between. He made it obvious that the layer of bricks was mere covering by breaking it in a zigzag along the apertures; thus the real plane of the wall appears behind the bricks. He indicated where the keystone of the arched apertures used to be with a negative element - recessed chromium plates. He overrides the traditional effect, updating it by using a material which is uncommon in such a situation and by deliberately creating an applied character. The same duality appears on the shop window in the arched aperture and on the entrance. Both are made of wood and topped traditionally with a cornice, but at the same time they are full of unique playful details emphasizing the contemporariness of the frontage.

So Reimholz avoided being nostalgic by constantly contrasting the old and the new. His method was the same when contrasting the original walls and ceiling of the shop, all painted grey, with the new structures (white brick walls and iron structures, and striped iron columns) built into it within a different frame of reference. While “Marc” was the only shoe shop in Budapest selling Western goods, it re45