Zádor Anna: Neoclassical Pest - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1993)
street-lighting) necessary for the functioning of the town, people submitted applications-mostly for private houses-which conformed to the desired unified architectural look both in the old town centre and in the newly opened streets. According to requirements, cornices were to be built at the same height, facades were to be flush with one another, and builders were to adhere to several other criteria concerning the aesthetic features of the houses. The Construction of Churches Since in the eighteenth century there were already several Catholic churches in Pest, it is not surprising then that the first church to have been erected in our period was the Evangelical church, which can still be seen in Deák tér. The construction of this simple yet noble building began according to the plans of master builder János Krauss in 1799. However, construction was often interrupted due to lack of funds. Following the master’s death, Pollack became his successor. The domeless church was built by 1805, and its interior finished in 1808. With its solemn atmosphere, the hall painted white and gold with neither gallery nor apse represented a new approach in the history of Evangelical church architecture. (Today, in place of the original barrel vault, a coffered ceiling can be found in the church; galleries have been added so that the church can seat more people, and the facade has also been changed. The impressive entrance formed by a Doric peristyle was built by József Hild in 1856.) The long- stretching adjacent building of a school with the calm rhythm of its articulations still exists today, and it, together with the church, consecrated in 1812, exemplifies how impressive in its simplicity and majestic in its beauty early neoclassicism can be. It was in the middle of the same period that the church of the other Protestant denomination, the Reformed Church, was built. The planning and construction (1816) of the freely expanding building in Kálvin tér was supervised by József Hofrichter (1779-1835), who, due to his excellent abilities, was more celebrated than the other masters. Work on the church progressed so slowly that by the time of the master’s death neither the 9
