Noble's Manor

“…I quietly reminded (Pogány) that my final examination assignment had been a ‘country gentleman’s manor house,’ which Professor Schulek had graded as ‘excellent’; to which he caustically replied: ‘Yes, but an aristocratic palace is not a Székely petty noble’s homestead.’”

— Samu Benkő (ed.): The Biography of Károly Kós, 1991, pp. 75–76.

The response to the design brief is formally generous, richly detailed, and conceived in a romantic spirit. A linear sequence of rooms is terminated by a single gable, while the adjacent entrance tower forms one side of a rectangular, walled courtyard. The courtyard solution—characteristic of the architect’s early designs (e.g., Manor House on a Hillside)—demonstrates a sense of grandeur through playful articulation and the addition of mansard roofs, bastions, loggias, terraces, and porches.

Stone remains the primary material for the plinth, staircases, terraces, and the defining arches framing the entrances. Approaching carriages pass through the gate flanked by massive stone piers and stop in front of the tower. The roof of the open entrance porch simultaneously serves as a terrace for the upper floor. As one approaches the manor, the view is dominated by the ensemble of bastions and attic rooms, as well as a small chapel—elements that later also appear in the design of the Székely National Museum.

From the entrance hall opens the main hall, which forms the core of the building. Among the rooms opening onto the courtyard are the museum and the dining room. Along the outer zone of the ground floor runs a sequence of halls and salons, all opening onto a large terrace extending the full length of the building. The interior furnishings designed by the architect convey a sense of monumentality: mythological scenes and wall paintings depicting medieval castles, along with stained-glass windows, were intended to bring this vision to life. Intimate scale is introduced through small alcoves and corners, each with its own bench, tapestry, and fireplace. The intended lifestyle of the future inhabitants is suggested by the jugs and plates displayed on the walls of the dining room.

While the irresistible influence of Finnish architecture—such as Lars Sonck’s Telephone Company Building in Helsinki (1904–1905), with its arcades, columns, towers, and mansards, and the Finnish National Museum in Helsinki by Gesellius, Lindgren, and Saarinen (1904–1910), particularly in its exterior form—is evident in this design, the project also belongs to a broader current of romantic reinterpretations of medieval castles and churches, realized predominantly in stone. This approach was characteristic of late 19th- and early 20th-century North American, Scandinavian, and Scottish architecture (e.g., J. B. Pirie and John Morgan: Rubislaw House, Queen’s Road, Aberdeen; F. R. Schock: C. W. Potter House, 130 Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, 1890–91; Harald Boklund and August Lindvall: Teleborg Castle near Växjö, 1900). Comparable parallels can also be drawn with existing Transylvanian castles, such as Vajdahunyad Castle, which occupies a central place in Kós’s interpretations in his essay The Architecture of the People of Transylvania.

Competition announcement date: 3 July 1907

Results announced: 2 March 1908

Jury members: Alajos Hauszmann, Dezső Hültl, Károly Rainer, Virgil Nagy, Samu Pecz