Jellinek House, 61 Csengery street

Source: fortepan.hu

The building under 61 Csengery street was built as per the plans of the Román brothers in 1913, Miklós and Ernő, in „late art nouveau” style. The commissioners, the Jellinek brothers – János, doctor, Tivadar, judge and Ede, doctor – wanted it built as an apartment house. The building stood out from all the surrounding houses, partly because it was one floor taller than the rest, and partly because of its style.

 
Miklós Román and Ernő, the architects of the building
Source: epiteszforum.hu (privately owned), kozterkep.hu

The building of the Jellinek brothers – monumental compared to the usually three-floored, historic-style houses around it – was a late art nouveau, four-floored apartment house guarded by puttos and guard dogs reminiscent of Mexico and the Aztecs. Its style became popular from the 1900s due to French influence, but in this case the building was done with an unusual, fraction-lined cour d’honneur solution, creating an entrance with its “own road” among the ground-floor shops.

Source: kozterkep.hu, utcakep.blogspot.com

The house is under multiple protections: the local government granted it local protection in a regulation. But of course, the best protection comes from the guard dogs and puttos sitting on top of the pillars on each side of the entrance's “private road” – a cute little boy each, flanked by two guard dogs on his sides. Both puttos are smiling encouragingly and the dogs are docile, but it’s clear that they are actually guarding the house.

 
Source: kozterkep.hu

The architects, Miklós Román (Rennenberg) and his brother Ernő Román (Rennenberg) were the followers of Béla Lajta, which is not a surprise, since Miklós had worked in Lajta's office, before he established a separate office with his brother, which had operated from 1905 to 1926.

The special feature of the house is its new construct. The building is surrounding a front yard (or French yard). This construct, due to French influence, gained popularity from 1905. Just like with their earlier projects, they used ornaments taken from Hungarian folklore, like parabolic arches and embroidery-style motifs, while the arched windows of the mezzanine are framed with egg ornaments, alternating with stylized, folkish flower motifs.

  
Source: utcakep.blogspot.com

The buildings outside look isn’t the only unique feature, the entrance to the inner courtyard is one, as well. First, we “descend to the depths” under the staircase, than we rise back to the courtyard, which looks even grander this way. It is defined by a gallery with wrought-iron rails decorated with leaf motifs, and a loggia in front of the staircase, which ends in a glass battlement.

 
   
Source: utcakep.blogspot.com

The constructions of the era took into account the building of the so-called servants’ stairs. On each floor, the poor flats had one communal restroom, found in the staircase landings. What is interesting is that more light found its way to the servants’ stairs than the main staircase. The hallways are still paved with the same flower-patterned tiles that were so popular in the past century.

Source: utcakep.blogspot.com

The late art nouveau apartment house of the Román brothers was turned into a yellow-star house in 1944, and currently it is a listed building.

Source: kep-ter.blog.hu

Sources: kozterkep.hu, lathatatlan.ovas.hu