Wekerle Estate

Wekerle Estate is a rectangular shape garden suburb (size about 1.3x1.3 km) in Kispest, the 19th district of Budapest. Wekerle Estate is one of the nicest examples of the Garden City Movement founded by Ebenezer Howard. The estate is named after dr. Sándor Wekerle, prime minister of Hungary, who initiated the building of the workers’ estate from public funds in 1908.

In 1908 public invitation to tender was announced for the design of the estate’s layout and for the type designs of the houses. Construction works started in 1909 on a green field and until the start of World War I 3400 homes were constructed. Construction works restarted after the war and finished in 1928. By that time 1007 houses and 4412 flats were built. The houses were built based on 48 type designs. The one level buildings are comprising of 2, 3 or 4 flats, while the two level buildings of 6, 8, 12 flats.

Apart from dwellings two churches, four schools, six kindergartens, 4 bakeries, as well as police station, restaurant, cinema, post office were built on Wekerle Estate. In the centre of the Wekerle Estate is situated the main square. A separate invitation to tender was issued for the design of the square and the neighbouring houses. The main square was constructed in accordance with the design and instruction of the winner architect Károly Kós, who designed the second and third buildings as well as the gate on the East side of the square. Today the square is bearing his name.

Gallery

Copyright ©: Text and photos by Károly Teleki Industrial Heritage Hungary

Source: 1) Wekerle: A visitor’s guide. Tamás Nagy, Judit Somlói (editors). Wekerle Community Association. Budapest, 1914. (ISBN 978-963-88969-4-0).