Plan for the facade of Árkád Bazár

The corner building that was once called “Árkád Bazár” can be found in Budapest, at 22–24 Dohány Street. The construction of the pre-modern building of flats and shops started in 1908, designed by József and László Vágó. Ferenc Illés, the client, wanted to raise a new representative building in the inner city for his toy shop on Kerepesi út, founded in 1859 as a venture of “Kismarty and Illés.” He could also ensure a secure income to maintain the quality of the toy business with the rents of the flats. The Vágó brothers used the latest techniques, and provided the house with a concrete structure, which also meant that they could ensure a lighter appearance, reflecting the function of the building. The playful, linear, figural decoration of the front was intended to enhance the connection between function and décor. A few sketches of part of the decoration, signed by Géza Nikelszky, have survived. The 1:10 designs contained detailed text references as to the suggested colours. The U-shaped drawing leads us into a boy's wonder world. Two boys in soldier hats chasing rings, smile at each other in front of bastions and towers of toy building blocks. Between them, there is a small monkey riding a rocking horse, a kitten, and a regiment of tin soldiers. This arrangement is repeated twice on the building, enframing the pair of windows of the arcade at the bottom levels. The other drawing shows the toys of girls: different dolls with their little lady. Again, repeated twice, these ornaments fill the rectangular fields on the front, next to the windows mentioned above. Below the pictures, the initials of the building “ÁB” appear, surrounded by discs with birds.