József Fischer was born on the 12th of April 1901 in Budapest. He turned 35 in the year when the villa was built, and by that time he had spent several years actively designing and coordinating public life in the profession. Fischer was a participating member of the Hungarian chapter of CIAM, the International Congresses of Modern Architecture. The chapter, which was founded in 1929, was led by Farkas Molnár, and strove to create quality housing guided by social principles. They wanted to ensure healthy and hygienic living conditions for as broad a section of society as possible, so in the spirit of economy they gave thought to the tasks of minimal dwelling and mass construction of residences. Fischer also played an active role in the work of the group.
However, the reality at the beginning of the 1930s dictated that modern architects instead regularly design villas, family homes and weekend houses that fulfilled commissions from the elite intelligentsia. Fischer’s residential homes were outstanding examples of Hungarian modern architecture, such as the home designed for the experimental housing project on Napraforgó Street (1931) and the Hoffmann Villa on Szépvölgyi Road (1933–1934), which were also published in foreign periodicals.
Fischer had definite ideas about a genuinely up-to-date dwelling. In his article “Designer and Client” that was published in January of 1936, he openly stated his opinion about the relationship between the client and architect, and who had the final word in the design process (Tér és Forma [Space and Form], 1936, no. 1, 30–31). Although he recognized that in certain cases the architect in fact had to make compromises, he still argued that a good building is created if the designer is allowed to work. After all, Fischer wrote that doctors also “treat cases in their own way, not according to the demands of the patients.” According to Fischer, the architect designs with forethought, taking into account the aims of the client as well as considerations that the client might not think about on their own. Fischer confidently professed that “I have never had a client for whom I would have deviated from my own conception due to their wishes.” He also wrote here that “I have had clients who brought to me a building plan with a mansard roof and they got a freestanding building on pillars with a flat roof. There have been those who have wanted a roof at all costs, but then the view opening from the roof terrace was their greatest joy.” Fischer’s words were published immediately prior to the beginning of construction at the Rózsi Walter Villa, and he did not make a liar of himself with the design of this house. He designed for the Radó-Walter couple and their old-fashioned tastes a residence that was in all ways modern, set on pillars with a flat roof and a roof terrace.
Ágnes Anna Sebestyén
Family homes and villas designed by József Fischer, from left to right:
Family home at the experimental housing project on Napraforgó Street (Budapest, 2nd District, 20 Napraforgó Street, 1931, source: the Spanish periodical Viviendas, 1934, no. 29, 7.)
Hoffmann Villa (Budapest, 2nd District, 88/b Szépvölgyi Road, 1933–1934. HMA MPDC Hungarian Museum of Architecture, photograph: Olga Máté)
Rózsi Walter Villa (Budapest, 7th District, 10 Bajza Street, 1936. HMA MPDC Monument Protection Documentation Center, Photographic Archives)