Calvinist Experimental Farm and College, Bábony

From the mid-1930s onward, rural and agricultural architecture became the central focus of Kós’s work, followed in the 1940s and 1950s by his teaching activity at the agricultural school in Cluj and by the planning of cooperative farms. The built core of the experimental farm consisted of the linear arrangement of various barns and stables. Each of the ancillary buildings represented a model of modern agricultural architecture developed by the architect himself. The second phase of construction would have been an additional L-shaped school building. In the center of the thus only partially enclosed courtyard stood a several-hundred-year-old Calvinist bell tower, which Kós had rescued when the nearby old village church was demolished. Following the damage of 1944, the complex was permanently destroyed around 1945–1946.

Kós Károly described his own agricultural practice as follows:

“I stated that with my ‘mini-farming’ I also set myself the goal of giving some impetus to the region: Kalotaszeg. This goal would have been served by the agricultural school planned at Bábony and its associated training farm. Here we wanted to teach the people of Kalotaszeg that more can be obtained from poor, weak, and limited land than what their fathers had been able to achieve. Like many of my plans, this too came to nothing. Only the economic part was built, and we established the orchard, which did succeed. The construction of the school section itself did not take place because of the war.”

(Benkő Samu: Conversations of Benkő Samu with Kós Károly, Kriterion, Cluj, 1978, p. 60)

Excerpts from Kós Károly: Proposal on industrial and agricultural schools (Minutes of the Kalotaszeg E.H.M., general assembly of December 12, 1934).

On the establishment of agricultural schools, Kós writes:

“Encouraged by these visible and successful initiatives [Agricultural schools: Cristuru Secuiesc, 1932; Radnót, 1933; Târgu Secuiesc, 1934], I once again began to urge the establishment of a Kalotaszeg agricultural school. The immediate impetus came from the availability, a year or two earlier, of a remaining estate for sale within the territory of Kalotaszeg, equipped with buildings and appearing sufficiently suitable, as well as from the fortunate circumstance that, in promoting the school, I found understanding and supportive collaborators among several Kalotaszeg friends, above all in the person of the local Calvinist pastor…” (p. 300)

The first attempt was unsuccessful, but another estate was eventually acquired, because:

“…a few understanding Transylvanian gentlemen, who held dear the economy, culture, and material future of our Hungarian people, placed at my disposal the half million lei which I had indicated as necessary, but also sufficient, for the purpose of securing the first and most important condition for establishing a Hungarian agricultural school in Kalotaszeg: the purchase of a suitably sized and appropriate property. I need only add that the gentlemen who made this sum available wish to remain anonymous…” (p. 301)

The old Calvinist wooden bell tower of Bábony stood at the center of the complex. The second construction phase intended to close the courtyard (the school wing) was never realized. After the damage of 1944, the complex was permanently destroyed around 1945–1946.