Karácsony Rita - Hültl Dezső

The works of the architect Dezső Hültl (1870-1945), art university teacher, still define Budapest's cityscape today, just think of the neo-baroque buildings on both sides of the Pest end of the Erzsébet Bridge: the Budapest Piarist Gimnázium és Rendház complex or the multi-storey residential building at 27 Belgrád rakpart. His name is not well known nowadays, even though the Hültl office, which existed between 1902 and 1945, was one of the most successful architectural offices of the era. He was recognized not only as a designer in the profession, but also as an instructor: for more than four decades, he assumed an outstanding role in the training of architecture students. The peak of his teaching career was his appointment as rector in 1930, which time coincided with the breakthrough of the modern architectural concept in Hungary. The then nearly sixty-year-old professor reacted to the changes both as head of department and as a planning architect: at the end of the 1920s, both the Hültl office and the Department of Modern Architecture began to open up to modern architecture. As a result, the oeuvre is a vivid example of the transition between styles. From the book, we can find out how Hültl got from neo-baroque architecture, which also used Art Nouveau motifs, to simplified, quieted historicization, to "conservative progress", and - as far as possible from the perspective of such a long time - the personality of the professor of architecture emerges in front of us beyond his professional activities.