Gábor Eszter: Andrássy Avenue – Our Budapest (Budapest, 2002)
a gable. Below it are the motto and the date oh construction. Although the villa hat been rebuilt with a Aigni/jicant extension added to the back, the main fapade has fortunately been preserved in its original form." The above was recorded in 1932. Since then the green tile has disappeared from the roof, the contrast between the red-brick and the stone covering has been hidden beneath a plaster coating, and all that survives of Petschacher's portrait is the severed neck. The gable from above the projecting balcony has also disappeared. There is no trace remaining of the garden exit, a feature mentioned by Ervin Ybl, the pergola terrace on the left or the carved gable ornaments above the windows. In return for all that as it were, the street front has been given a second floor and an attic. Towards the courtyard an annexe was built in 1901. Originally, the villa contained one two-storey apartment. After reconstruction a separate flat was formed on each floor, whose bedrooms and auxiliary rooms are in the new annexe. As many other villas on Andrássy út, this one, too, was designated as office space, wherein the increasing pressure for space was met with further additions and conversions. Stepping into the courtyard or peering in through a window, one will be faced with a four-storey building on a regular housing estate. It is amazing what ambitious ignorance is capable of achieving! Although no external walls were ■ The Weninger Villa (No. 126 AndráMy út) 55
