Steiner Palace
| Steiner Palace | |
|---|---|
Palatul Steiner | |
 | |
 | |
| Former names | Palace of the Discount Bank |
| Alternative names | Gingerbread House |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Szecesszió |
| Location | Timișoara, Romania |
| Coordinates | 45°45′26″N 21°13′39″E / 45.75722°N 21.22750°E |
| Construction started | 1908 |
| Completed | 1909 |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 3 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Marcell Komor Dezső Jakab |
The Steiner Palace, formerly the Palace of the Discount Bank and popularly the Gingerbread House,[1] is a historical building in Timișoara, Romania, located at 1 Gheorghe Lazăr Street, at the crossroads between Union Square and Vasile Alecsandri Street.
History
[edit]On the site where the Steiner Palace stands today there once existed a different building which dates back to 1752. The previous two-story building was the home of Wenzl Lechner, the urban magistrate and city hall council of Timișoara's German community.
In 1908, the wealthy Jewish businessman and Timișoara local, Max (Miksa) Steiner, purchased the building to convert it into a bank and apartment dwelling. Steiner never actually lived in the building, choosing instead to live in the Steiner Palace that he owned in the Fabric district of the city.[1] Max Steiner built his vast wealth by owning and operating the Max Steiner Factory. The factory produced and provided the city with bone meal and animal charcoal.
The Steiner Palace was built according to the plans of architects Marcell Komor and Dezső Jakab, disciples of Ödön Lechner.[2][3] The plan of the building was made between 1905 and 1906, and the construction took place between 1906 and 1908, with the construction permit being approved on 12 September 1908, and the works completed on 13 August 1909, according to some sources.[2]
After he purchased the palace, Miksa had it enlarged, redesigned, and added an extra story to it. The first floor of the building was occupied by what was known as the Discount Bank of Southern Hungary (Hungarian: Délmagyarországi Leszámitolóbank), of which Max himself was a director and founding shareholder of.[4] The top floors contained expensive lavish apartments that were rented out by wealthy lawyers, doctors, and merchants.
Today, the Steiner Palace is occupied by tenants who rent the upper-level apartments and headquartered by the National Liberal Party on the ground floor.
Architecture
[edit]
The building has three floors. It has facades on both streets. The one on Vasile Alecsandri Street is shorter, but more decorated than the one on Gheorghe Lazăr Street, which is longer and more sober.[2]
Komor and Jakab designed the Steiner Palace using the avant-garde, Hungarian Secession style, made popular by their mentor Lechner. The Lechner pioneered Hungarian Secession style favors curved shapes over straight lines and an abundant use of gilded ceramics.[5] This style is notably apparent on the Steiner Palace as it has no columns, pillars, or straight lines, it has numerous bow windows, and it contains a semicircular arched front. The palace is adorned with beautiful Zsolnay ceramics brought over from the world famous Zsolnay factory in Pécs, Hungary.[1] In the use of curved, arched elements and colored ceramics many specialists see a clear Gaudian influence.[6]
What particularizes this building is the fortunate combination between the early, floral elements of the Secession style, represented by the tiles on the facade and the play of curved avant-corps, with the geometric, more rigid decoration, present both on the facade and especially in the interiors.[7]
The building contains numerous intriguing motifs that were said to have been inspired by Hungarian folklore. The facade of the palace corresponds to the last most evolved phase of the Secession style. It incorporates expressive and abstract plastic language with wavy shapes and details and does not use any classical elements. The top of the palace's facade contains a colored relief tile that has the design of a beehive in it. Beehives were characteristic of bank buildings of the time, they symbolized great wealth and fortune.[1]
References
[edit]
- ^ a b c d Moldovan, Mihai-Claudiu (21 September 2020). "Palatul Miksa Steiner". Heritage of Timișoara.
- ^ a b c Iszlai, Erika (25 September 2021). "Descoperă povestea palatului Miksa Steiner, fostul sediu al Băncii de Scont". TION.
- ^ Opriș, Mihai (1987). Timișoara: mică monografie urbanistică. Bucharest: Editura Tehnică. p. 225.
- ^ Geml, Josef (2016). Vechea Timișoară în ultima jumătate de secol (1870–1920). Timișoara: Cosmopolitan Art. pp. 308–309.
- ^ Pintilie, Ileana (1994). "Elemente introductive în arhitectura Sezession din Timișoara". Studii și comunicări. 2. Arad: Muzeul de Artă: 91–106.
- ^ "Timișoara, Banca de Scont". Welcome to Romania.
- ^ Mihoc Andrásy, Diana; Ciobotaru, Dan Leopold (2001). "Palatul Max Steiner din Timișoara. Observații istorice și arhitectonice" (PDF). Analele Banatului, S.N., Arheologie–Istorie. 9: 729–740.
