HISTORICAL TENEMENTS OF BUDAPEST: A TYPOLOGICAL APPROACH

The stock of the historical tenement houses is the major architectural heritage of Budapest, built largely during the long 19th century, a testimony to a prosperous period in the Hungarian history. These buildings are all unique, yet their massing over an area of 13 km2 forms a unified street and townscape. The purpose of the study is to analyze and create an architectural typology for this important heritage of the Hungarian capital. As main research methods, architectural measurements and GIS-based data gathering were used, the data processed by mathematical analysis. More than 2000 buildings were examined in various details to create basic typological schemes. The schemes defined in the research support the understanding and protection of heritage values. The examined data contains the mass and spatial design, including the site layout, the location of courtyards, the materials and structures, the principles of facade design and styles used. The latter, although closely linked to the building and underlying structures, deserves special attention, as these ornaments define the face of the building and therefore of the Budapest streetscape. As a main result, a summarizing visual matrix is introduced, with new stylistic terminology and periodization applicable to tenement buildings of Budapest. Concerning geometry, it was concluded that the frame-type, Neo-renaissance style tenements are most frequent of the stock, which projects the complex requirements for future large-scale rehabilitation.