0198 The Restricted Design Competition for the New York Life Insurance Company Building in Budapest

A Late Nineteenth-Century International Design Competition in Central Europe

  • Katalin Marótzy (Author)
    Department for the History of Architecture and of Monuments, Budapest University of Technology and Economics

    Katalin Marótzy holds a Master’s degree in architecture (2001, Budapest University of Technology and Economics) and completed here studies as a Specialist Engineer in the Preservation of Monuments (2005, BUTE). In 2007 she earned her PhD with a study on the work of the 19th-century Hungarian architect Antal Wéber. She currently is an assistant professor at the Department for the History of Architecture and of Monuments of BUTE. Her research areas are architectural history and theory in the 19th century, true-to-form survey methods and building archaeology.

  • Márton Székely (Author)
    Department for the History of Architecture and of Monuments, Budapest University of Technology and Economics

    Márton Székely received his Master’s degree in architectural engineering in 2012 from the Faculty of Architecture, Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BUTE). Before graduating from BUTE, he studied history of architecture and reconstruction methods at the Sapienza University in Rome (2010/11). After graduation he worked on reconstruction projects of notable historical buildings in Budapest. From 2014 to 2017 he attended the Csonka Pal Doctoral School at BUTE. He is now finishing his PhD with a study on the architectural design competitions in late 19th-century Hungary. Besides his research work he is also a visiting lecturer and practical course consultant at the Department for the History of Architecture at BUTE.

Identifiers (Article)

Abstract

Rapid industrialization and urbanization in Europe and the United States introduced new building types and new methods of construction, leading to important changes in the architectural landscape of major cities. Public and corporate construction proliferated, and design competitions were called upon to identify architectural projects that best suited the needs of a particular state institution or private company. Although initially these competitions were open to all members of the architectural profession, towards the end of the nineteenth century, their format changed to be more effective, with only a restricted number of architects competing for the commission. The present paper focuses on the competition for the New York Life Palace in Budapest and sheds light on its connections with the international trends.

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Language
en
Keywords
Hungary, Budapest, turn of the century, historicism, design competition