The Schiller Villa by Jozsef Vago: An Interior Extraordinaire

The Schiller Villa was built in 1910-1912 by the renowned Hungarian architect Jozsef Vago for Miksa Schiffer, a railway engineer, entrepreneur, and art patron.  Vago conceived the villa as a gesamtkunstwerk, or a "total work of art."  He designed the exterior (which is greatly changed from its original appearance) and the interior (which has been restored based on contemporary photographs).  The interior is meant to highlight the best art in Hungary:  major artists working in a Hungarian tradition, including Kernstock Karoly (who designed the stained glass windows), the painter Rippl-Ronai, and Miklos Ligeti who contributed a sculpture.  All the design details of the house were Vago's and were based on traditions in Hungarian folk art.

Stained glass windows predominate in the villa:

Tiles by Zsolnay.

Sculpture by Miklos Ligeti

And myriad architectural details, all created by Vago.

This house survived by a series of accidents.  It is currently the Museum of Tax and  Excise.  I think most people come to view the building though.  It is one of the very few extant Art Nouveau interiors not only in Hungary but Europe as a whole.  It is not well  known--doesn't appear in most of the tourist guides.  So it is a true hidden treasure. 

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The Vago Brothers. Hungarian Architecture

We were in Oradea, Romania in 2009, when we first saw this little modernist gem. It is the Darvas-LaRoche House and it was designed by two brothers, Joseph and Laszlo Vago in 1910-1911.  Though Joseph and Laszlo Vago were born in Oradea, then part of Hungary, the Darvas LaRoche House is more Vienese than Hungarian.  Except for the statue (which itself is definitely not Hungarian) the building has no figural aspects.

The studs are meant to suggest rivets rather than embroidery knots.  

The Vago brothers also designed another house in Oradea, this one decorated with incised naturalistic figures and playful tiles.

When we went for one of our first walks in Budapest, we stumbled on one of the most famous buildings of the Vago Brothers, the toy shop,Arkad-Bazaar (1908-1909), on Dohany Utca on the edge of the Jewish District.

The Vago Brothers also designed the building (1907) for the Hungarian book printers and typefounders organization on what is now Gutenberg Ter. The building was meant to include apartments, shops and offices.

It has many of their characteristic features.

While the outside of the building is somewhat dilapidated, the inside is said to have been restored.  (Though getting inside these buildings is a major challenge.)

Later on a walk on Népszínház Utca, armed with a page pointing out many notable buildings, we came across one un-noted building that we immediately recognized as by the Vagos.

It is a wonderful feeling and a special kind of "knowing" to become familiar enough with an architect's style to be able to recognize their buildings.  (Admittedly the Vagos' style is unique.)  

The Vago brothers went on to buildm separately and together, other buildings in Budapest, including working on the famous Gresham Palace, now a fabulous Four Seasons hotel.  Many of their buildings, unlike the marvelously restored Gresham Palace, are quite dilapidated.  They collaborated until 1911.  Laszlo Vago (1875-1933) worked with other architects on city planning projects.  Jozsef Vago went on to work with Odon Lechner.  He also designed the beautiful Schiffer villa in Budapest,  A Marxist socialist, he emigrated to Switzerland and Italy.  He tried later to return to Budapest, but by then anti-semitic laws made working as an architect impossible.  He then emigrated to France and worked in urban planning.