Historical Reconstruction Based on Cash Tabs

Text: Eszter Baldavári

The summer of 2021 saw the start of a large-scale digitization and collection handling project in the Museum of Hungarian Architecture and the Documentation Centre of Monument Protection. Besides the digital copying of approximately 4,000 items of the museum department, including plans, photographs, documents, the staff of the museum also made a data base of each object. A significant portion of this task involved the processing of Ödön Lechner’s heritage, including his 65 plans and 15 photos. Simultaneously with Lechner’s heritage, also the collection derived from Artúr Sebestyén was processed, during which the author of this article made a data base of the cash tabs which the architect and Lechner jointly used between 1908 and 1910. Besides their shared projects, also the activities of their office could be reconstructed, which also highlight further historic details of interest. Monographies of Ödön Lechner’s oeuvre often states that Béla Jánszky or Sándor Baumgarten started their careers in his office, and also that Lipót Baumhorn was his employee here for ten years. But where exactly was this office of Lechner, and was Lechner actually the senior architect of this office or not?