Calvinist Parsonage in Óbuda

“Zrumeczky approached me with the news that we might receive a commission for the design, site supervision, and accounting of the Reformed parish building and prayer hall in Óbuda—if we were willing to undertake it jointly. […] Thus I came to my first major (joint) commission in the capital.”

— Károly Kós: Autobiography, ed. Samu Benkő, Szépirodalmi Könyvkiadó–Kriterion, Budapest–Bucharest, 1991, pp. 83–84.

In the spring of 1908, Károly Kós and Dezső Zrumeczky received a commission from the Óbuda Reformed Parish, whose curator was Kornél Neuschloss, in whose office Zrumeczky was employed at the time. The design and construction of the parsonage proceeded in parallel with the works on the Zebegény church—also carried out by Kós together with recently graduated fellow students from the Technical University. The division of architectural design tasks was a characteristic feature of the activities of the Fiatalok (Young Architects) group. The success of the project contributed to Neuschloss, a highly influential municipal figure, recommending them for the design of the Zoo buildings.

In the building erected directly adjacent to the church, the articulation characteristic of Kós’s later works already appears: a rustic plinth clad in rubble stone, light wall surfaces broken by mostly simple window openings, and varied roof forms covered with tiles. These elements are complemented here by a projecting balcony with a wooden balustrade, protected from rain by the overhanging roof above.

The floor plan creates two distinct courtyard spaces. From the street, the first courtyard is defined by a stone-and-slat fence and a chestnut tree, from which covered, porch-like entrances open. The living rooms are located on the eastern (street-facing) and southern (courtyard-facing) fronts, while the service spaces (kitchen, servant’s room, etc.) occupy the northern wing. Separate apartments for the ministers and their families were arranged on both levels, with additional small studio apartments on the ground floor. The congregation hall—later modified and provided with a separate entrance—adjoins the L-shaped residential wing. The interior includes several stained-glass windows designed by Károly Kós.

At a later date, a new roof structure was added to the prayer hall, and an additional storey was constructed above it.