“On many an evening before the ‘bleak times’ set upon us, we spoke in the company of her husband, the outstanding editor of an economic journal Dr. Géza Radó, in the cozy atmosphere of the Bajza Street home. Rózsi Walter liked to talk at length on the phone and give brief interviews.”

This is how István Albert recalled the past in a 1992 issue of Operaélet (Opera Life). According to this, Rózsi Walter, who was the prima donna of the Opera House in the 1930s, liked to talk on the telephone for a long time. The Est (Evening) newspaper reported on the 25th of March 1936 that the opera singer, who was just in the process of building a villa, wanted her change of address to appear in the new telephone book. This is when it came to light that her future home did not have a street number yet, and the street did not even have a name. Until 1936, Bajza Street only ran from Podmaniczky Street to Vilma királynő Road (the present-day Városligeti Avenue). The Capital Board of Public Works prescribed uniform development for the new section running to Damjanich Street, and the architect Dr. Iván Kotsis prepared a massing plan. Rózsi Walter herself petitioned for the newly opened road to be given a name.

Fanni Magyaróvári

 

Rózsi Walter’s telephone in her bedroom, 1936,
HMA MPDC Monument Protection Documentation Center, Photographic Archives