The Restoration Project of the Railway Station Building in Kenderes

Architect: Ferenc Pálinkás
Text: Péter Garai
Photos: Zsolt Hlinka

Although it was rendered as superfluous for the operations of the railway here, yet another railway station building has survived the threat of deterioration: it is the formerly almost unknown Kenderes now joins the „company” of ornate waiting rooms of the Western Railway Station of Budapest and that of Gödöllő too. Built in 1887, the railway station building was extended by Miklós Horthy, governor then, in the town of Kenderes where he lived at the time and then he had his summer resort. It was built in 1927 and then extended in 1931 by adding a storey and an ornate waiting room for the governor himself. The building of the railway station was qualified as a protected historic building in 2017 as a result of a governmental decree. During the restoration project the overall image of the building was significantly clarified: from the roof, which was given a shell of ceramic similar to the original slate roofing, the ’multitude” of tall and slender chimneys has been removed. The articulating components and the fields have been systematically distinguished by colouring, whilst the former dark brown palette has been replaced by re-manufactured contemporary doors and windows made of larch with a green tint more typical of the historical era. The traces of the ornamental paintwork revealed in the interiors have been conserved and left in fragmentary conditions. The renovation of the building has been completed by the rehabilitation of the premises.

General design: MÁV Zrt.
Architect: Ferenc Pálinkás
Fellow architects: Gergely Soós, Szilvia Flachner, Eszter Csákvári-Varga
Structure: Zoltán László, Krisztián Főző
HVAC: László Hegyi, László Gergely, Tibor Gregó
Electrical engineering: Ádám Turi, Zsolt Gálos
Outdoor lights: József Liptay, Tatjana Dadanszka
Environment: Renáta Ágnes Tóth
Outdoor public utilities: Ottó Katona, András Kovács
Geotechnology: László Rózsa
Interiors: Balázs Kéry – Kroki Stúdió
Monument preservation expert: Anna Antal Dobosyné
Monument framework expert: Dr. Piroska Arany
Painting restoration experts: Izabella Maracskó, Judit Hegedűs
Sculpture restoration expert: József Sütő
Metal restoration expert: Attila Páhi
Traffic, roads: Károly Vasas
Insulation: Richárd Reisch, Miklós Vaszary, Ildikó Szabadi Somfayné, György Méhes
Technical coordination: MÁV Zrt. BLI MLO Debrecen
Monument preservation management: Adrienn Csák, Béla Sisa
Client: Nemzeti Fejlesztési Minisztérium
Main contractor: ÉPKAR Zrt.