Lindenbaum Houses, 94-96 Izabella street

Source: kozterkep.hu

One of the most decorated art nouveau style apartment buildings in Budapest, the narrowest house in the city – both of these “mosts” are from the rich repertoire of Frigyes Spiegel. The architect, born over 155 years ago, was a renowned artist of his time, who also created beautiful works as an interior designer and designer of façade ornaments.

   
Drawings of the various ornaments of the houses
Source: kozterkep.hu

As an architect, he established a firm together with Fülöp Weinréb in December 1893, their office was on Elizabeth Boulevard. They split up the workload, so Spiegel was mainly the designer, while Weinréb acted as the organizer and the executor of their projects. During their cooperation, they have designed many apartment buildings, mostly on the Pest side.

 
The Lindenbaum Houses: Lindenbaum House, 94 (left) and 96 (right) Izabella street
Source: pestbuda.hu, kozterkep.hu

One of the most famous art nouveau creations of Spiegel’s works is the two Lindenbaum houses next to each other under 94-96 Izabella street, commissioned by Móric Lindenbaum wholesaler. The three-floored buildings, filled with colourful, gold-plated façade ornaments, were built in 1896-97, with Fülöp Weinréb as executor here, as well.

   
Source: pestbuda.hu, kozterkep.hu

The bigger house under nr. 94, which is currently in proper condition, has blue, green and yellow as dominant colours, while the smaller house, which looks terrible, had reds and greens. Both buildings had many gold-plated ornaments, including suns, stars and peacocks, surrounded by a lot of fauna and flora. The element Earth is represented by stylized trees, peacocks of earthly vanity, snakes, and two women, who are reaching towards the sun but are held back by snakes; the Air is symbolized by the sun, the moon and the stars, lines of birds and the figures of day and night; the Water by fish, corals and crabs; the Fire by fire-breathing dragons.

   
Source: pestbuda.hu, kozterkep.hu

Today, only two of the four elements can be found (Earth and Air), since Water and Fire had been on the worn-down house. On the level of Earth, there are beautiful ornaments depicting the Tree of Life in Eden with two apples and the snake, but there are also dogs and peacocks, too. On the level of Air, passersby can see birds flying towards the suns and beautiful gold stars, and there are even silver figures of women, who represent the Moon. The windows on the ground floor are surrounded by lilies and colourful flowers, and above the floor runs a strip of relief, with seven green trees on it. The three larger lime trees refers to the name of the Lindenbaum family (Lindenbaum is ‘lime tree’ in English).

Contrast between the two houses
Source: 24.hu, kozterkep.hu

The neighbour, the half as big nr. 96 Izabella street, has none of its previous ornaments, other than some fragments, although the once gorgeous façade could be perfectly restored using the drawings of the architect and archived photos as reference. The ground floor and mezzanine was once occupied by shops, but the ornaments were on the same line with its sibling. Under the first-floor windows were the motifs of Water, and two floors above were of Fire – the latter only has one single dragon and some fragments of wings remaining. One apartment of this building held the office of the Democratic Association of Hungarian Women after World War II, but no famous person had lived here, according to current sources that could be found.

    
Source: kozterkep.hu

Today, both houses are listed buildings, so there is a chance for a renovation of the other house.

Source: kozterkep.hu

Sources: pestbuda.hu, 24.hu