Gerle János: Palaces of Money - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1994)

It is not really small depositors who visit the building of the Postal Savings Bank, but its supporters and opponents, its enthusiasts and mockers. I can hardly think of any other building in the architecture of Hungary which has been the object of as feverish interest as this building.

These lines by Ödön Qerő (Művészet, 1908) are as topical today as they were at the time, for the building the passage describes is a crucially important specimen of the characteristically Hungarian version of Art Nouveau and as such is a shrine of pilgrimage for professionals. Little of its interior beauty survives, as the greatest sensation, the glass dome above the cashier’s hall, was taken down as early as the thirties, and its Lechner-designed furniture has also disappeared piece by piece. The present owner, the Hungarian National Bank, is planning to restore the interior to its original condition as has already been done to the facade. The restoration of the hall would be a singular task worthy of international attention. Glass ceilings of this kind are usually constructed of two layers-the interior and spectacularly decorative ceiling is thus protected from humidity, overloading and accidents by another, external, structure, from which the inner layer is suspended. Lechner, with the great courage and candour characTHE CASHIER’S HALL OF THE POSTAL SAVINGS BANK WITH A SECTION OF THE ORIGINAL GLASS DOME AND LeCHNER'S FÜRNITÜRE

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