Although the state party that defined this building’s function and the system of government that formed the context for its creation are now in the past, the architectural quality of this model of Margit Pázmándi’s party headquarters transcends its own era, commemorating the only Hungarian female architect to have won the Ybl Award twice.
The married couple of Margit Pázmándi and Csaba Virág were amongst the most active and best known figures in Hungarian architecture in the second half of the 20th century. Csaba Virág (1933–2015) was a leading figure in Hungarian public life throughout his lifetime. His progressive works that stimulated people on the street to think about architecture include the MTI news agency headquarters in the Naphegy district, the Kálvin Square office buildings and the recently demolished National Electrical Distribution Center in the Buda Castle district. To this day, Margit Pázmándi (1930–1995) is the only female architect to have won the Ybl Award twice, and her rich life’s work constitutes a chapter of Hungarian modernism with an individual voice. Her most important works include the reconstruction and expansion of the Kútvölgyi Hospital and its associated buildings, the apartment house at 1 Hegyalja Road, the Budapest headquarters of the Workers’ Militia and the addition to the Cardiac Hospital in Balatonfüred. The couple was also active in collaboration with one another. They entered numerous competitions together, although little of their joint work was actually constructed.
In 2010, Csaba Virág bequeathed to our institution the items of outstanding significance from the perspective of both architecture and cultural history that were created during the careers of himself and Margit Pázmándi, and these make up a special section in the model collection of the HMA MPDC Hungarian Museum of Architecture.
We have no precise information about the origins of this model, but it is most likely that it was made around 1975 on the orders of Pázmándi’s employer, the General Building Design Company (Általános Épülettervező Vállalat – ÁÉTV), for presentation purposes as a part of the design process. The building itself was erected between 1975 and 1979 at the intersection of Váci Road and Róbert Károly Boulevard as a part of the new center under development for the Angyalföld workers district. Today it is the headquarters for the Budapest and Pest County Administration of the Hungarian State Treasury.
There is a reason why this model is appearing in the Artwork of the Month series just now. The former 13th district party headquarters is one of the 12 post-war buildings that 12 designated architectural studios are providing ideas for re-use and reconsideration as a part of the Othernity, Reconditioning Our Modern Heritage project at the Hungarian pavilion of the 2021 Venice Biennale of Architecture. Due to this, the photograph of this model will also appear at the exhibition in Venice curated by the author of this article, which will be open to visitors between 22 May and 21 November 2021.
Dániel Kovács
Photographs: Zsófia Nyirkos
