Ödön Lechner
| Ödön Lechner | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Eugen Lechner August 27, 1845 Pest |
| Died | June 10, 1914 (aged 68) Budapest |
| Other names | "Hungarian Gaudí" |
| Alma mater | Schinkel academy |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Buildings | Headquarters, National Bank of Hungary Museum of Applied Arts (Budapest) |
Ödön Lechner (born as Eugen Lechner, 27 August 1845 – 10 June 1914) was a Hungarian architect, nicknamed the "Hungarian Gaudí".
Lechner was one of the early representatives of the Hungarian Secession movement, called szecesszió in Hungarian, which was related to Art Nouveau and Jugendstil in the rest of Europe. He decorated his buildings with Zsolnay tile patterns inspired by old Magyar and Turkic folk art. The Magyar were a people that came from the east, which explains the eastern-like appearance of Lechner's buildings. He combines this with the use of materials modern for his time, such as iron.
His work was submitted in 2008 for inclusion on the World Heritage List.
Lechner was born and studied architecture in Pest and later, from 1866, under Karl Bötticher at Berlin's Schinkel Academy. After finishing his studies in Berlin, Lechner departed on a one-year tour and study in Italy. In 1869 he went into a partnership with Gyula Pártos and the architecture firm received a steady flow of commissions during the boom years of the 1870s, when the construction of buildings lining the ring roads on the Pest side of the Danube occurred. The commissions the partners received were primarily apartment houses in which Lechner worked in the prevailing historicist style, drawing on neo-classical influences from Berlin and the Italian renaissance.
In 1875 Lechner's wife died, not long after their marriage. He ceased his activities with the partnership and went to Paris, where between 1875 and 1878 he worked under Clement Parent. At this time he was able to familiarise himself with the emerging art nouveau style. He took part in the design and renewal of seven castles. From 1879 he returned to work as before in Hungary and after a trip to London between 1889 and 1890 his style moved away from historicism to embrace the more modern trends of the day. Lechner ended the partnership in 1896 and received fewer commissions as an independent architect. In 1906 he published a summary of his views in the journal Művészet. Lechner's final commission was for the Gyula Vermes house in the fifth district of Budapest in 1910–11.
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