The Past and Future of Abbatoir, Budapest

Text: Tamás Ulrich

It is a sad experience to see the disappearance of a characteristic ensemble of buildings which is a sight of Budapest. It was built after an industrial design and opened in 1872 to house the abbatoir. This detailed, eclectic-style building was also a listed historic structure that slept itself into the non-existing digital photo-album of the Hungarian man-made heritage. At the time of its construction, it was still a modern contemporary design architecture, and it even had its own ornamental water-tower, but, unfortunately, time eroded the 19th-century buildings as a rule, and the conversions in the socialist era and the lack of ownership left deeper and deeper marks on them in the past 20 years. At last, the machines appearing to demolish the structures in early spring executed everything that had been left till then. The relics of the past, these appr. 150 year old building stock has proven to be worthless for those who ordered and assigned the demolition.