LAJOS TISZA OFFICE BUILDING

The history of the building under the address 1-5 Bálint Balassi Street is inseparable from the Parliament. The boiler room on the plot provides the heating of the Parliament, and in the tenement building official representatives and office clerks used to live. The building – same as the Parliament – was built from the plans of Imre Steindl, but after it has been completed in 1902, it suffered several modifications which weren’t advantageous. In the past years the building was renovated entirely, the original condition of the façade and the shape of the roof was restored. The general designer work was carried out by Bánáti + Hartvig Architecture Office.

Before the unfortunate modifications carried out in the 20^th century, in WW2 ammunition explosion caused great damage in the roof structure. In that time, the building wasn’t renovated in its original form. During the restoration an upper level was built, the gablet roof was brutally truncated, later the statues were removed together with their niches, this way Steindl’s vision didn’t predominate on the façade.

In the last years the building went through an external- and internal reconstruction process, in order to recover the shape of Steindl’s façade. The level built in the 1940s was demolished, this way the front wall is related to the Parliament again. It was very advantageous for the work, that some important execution plans were accessible from the original plans. Although the drawings do not represent every detail, but the Parliament building itself which served as reference, helped to understand the archive documents.

The renovated interior of the building serves for offices of the National Assembly’s Guards, and the residence of the all-time president of the National Assembly was created on the highest level.