The artwork of the month for April is issue number 1 of 1937 of the leading professional architectural journal during the interwar period, Tér és Forma (Space and Form). This issue featured the Rózsi Walter Villa, which was opened last week following its rehabilitation. This periodical, which was considered the mouthpiece of Modernism, was edited by the architect Virgil Bierbauer, who regularly devoted one issue every year to the Hungarian group of CIAM (the International Congresses of Modern Architecture). The designer of the Rózsi Walter Villa, József Fischer, was also a prominent member of this group that was formed in 1929, and he regularly published his buildings and essays in the pages of Tér és Forma. This issue presented the Modernist buildings, primarily residences, that the members of the Hungarian group of CIAM had designed in the preceding period. The Rózsi Walter Villa, referred to as “the villa of an opera singer” leads off the series of Hungarian buildings presented here. The rich photographic materials display the more closed street-front façade as well as the garden façade opening onto the yard with balconies and large windows in both the light of day and lit up at night. The pictures taken of the salon, the conservatory, and the roof terrace provide a glimpse into the private spaces of the home as well. Amongst these, the original negatives and enlargements of the photographs taken by Zoltán Seidner are preserved in the Photographic Archives of our institution.
The Rózsi Walter Villa will open its doors to the general public next month, on the 18th of May.
Ágnes Anna Sebestyén
