PAPERS On Michal Milan Harminc – Builder and Architect of the Central European Region Specifics of the Biographical Historiography of Architecture Jana Pohaničová Architects and builders working in the territory of He ranks among the most productive architects not Peter Buday the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and its successor only in Slovakia, but also in Central Europe. How- states in the late 19th and early 20th century repre- ever, in this context his work has not yet been ade- sent a particular phenomenon of the historiography quately evaluated. of Central European architecture. Research on their Michal Milan Harminc was born on 7 October, life and work is difficult due to the large territorial 1869 in Kulpín, near Bački Petrovac (Serbia), and scope of their „opus“. Almost the entirety of Central died on 5 July 1964 in Bratislava. His father was Europe and often other countries became sites of a carpenter. After graduating from elementary their activities. From this point of view, the person- school in Kulpín (1875 – 1881) and German school ality of builder and architect Michal Milan Harminc in Bulkes, he studied at the German Business Acad- (1869 – 1964), one of the doyens of Slovak architec- emy in Novi Sad. At the young age of 17 he left for ture, is an interesting topic for research. He is known Budapest with a clear vision of becoming a suc- as an architect of both the nineteenth and twentieth cessful builder, architect and businessman. He first centuries, an excellent eclectic whose work exhibits worked as a carpenter for the building company a wide range of styles and typologies. It combines „Neuschloss and sons“ (1886 – 1890). After com- the legacy of historical styles with the impulses pleting his military service, he gained employment of modernism and functionalism. Impressively, in the office of J. N. Bobula, the only Slovak builder between 1887 and 1951 he completed nearly 300 in Budapest at the time. Between 1894 and 1896, buildings in the territory of the former Austro-Hun- Harminc worked for the company „Schikedanz and garian Empire, including what was then Czechoslo- Herzog“, where he participated in the most impor- vakia (now the Slovak Republic) and other successor tant architectural projects related to the Millennial states (Hungary, Serbia, Romania and also Ukraine). celebrations. 28 ALFA 2 ¦ 2013 On Michal Milan Harminc – Builder and Architect of the Central European Region On April 1, 1897, he established his own indepen- view during the sixty years of his activity in archi- Bratislava – Carlton-Savoy Hotel, dent design and construction office in Budapest. tecture throughout the vast region of Central and historical postcard: M. Dulla´s private collection Nationality was always an issue close to his heart. Eastern Europe. Thanks to his many realized struc- Harminc tirelessly declared his Slovak national- tures of various typological kinds, we see a parade of ity through his awareness-raising activities and the different styles beginning with historicism, moving propagation of Slovak folk art, and he was a patron through romantic reminiscences of medieval archi- of young Slovak students in the Hungarian capital. In tectural styles, episodic echoes of secessional Seces- 1904 he married Anna Holcová, a Slovak from Žilina, sion-Art Nouveau and folk inspiration, and end- and in the same year he completed his masonry and ing with the monumental forms of modernism and carpentry master test. He acquired his builder’s title functionalism at the close of this masterful eclec- in Budapest (1908) and worked all over Austria- tic’s career. Harminc’s creative approach should be Hungary. He settled down in Slovakia in 1916 and admired for the appropriateness of style choice in opened his office there, first in Liptovský Sv. Mikuláš relation to the typological kind, for the transparency (1916 – 1919) and then in Nový Smokovec (1919 – and logic of the layout contexture and for his sense 1922). From 1922 until 1951 he lived and worked in of interior creation, as well as for his sensibility to Bratislava. He died there at the age of 95.1 the scale of the surroundings, for his contributions Only with great difficulty can we find in the his- to urban planning , for his excellent construction tory of Slovak architecture someone with as exten- knowledge, his understanding of the details of con- sive a portfolio as Michal Milan Harminc. His unique- struction and, importantly, his craftsmanship. ness lies mainly in the rich typological and stylistic Based on the changes in Harminc’s architectonic variety of his works, which can be understood as an view that took place throughout his career, his work inevitable reflection of his changing architectonic is categorized into three periods: ALFA 2 ¦ 2013 29 PAPERS Bratislava – Agricultural Museum (Slovak National Museum), historical postcard: M. Dulla´s private collection – the so-called “Budapest period”, connected with Harminc’s work. In this context, we can cite the Pal- historicizing themes in his work, ace Sanatorium of Dr. Szontágh in Nový Smokovec – the period of “modern official monumentalism,” (1917 – 1926) and three buildings in Bratislava – the rooted in eclecticism as well as in the emerging Tatra Banka Palace (1923 – 1925), the Museum of modernism, Agriculture (1925 – 1928) and the Carlton-Savoy – the functionalist period.2 Hotel (1927 – 1928) – all of which are the work of an Today, 116 years after the beginning of the indepen- architect and builder of European calibre. dent creative „flight“ of the doyen of Slovak archi- However, research next needs to focus primarily tecture, and looking to the more than three hundred on M. M. Harminc’s least explored but very produc- architectural works that Harminc gave birth to in the tive Budapest period. As the latest research shows, territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (predomi- it presents a qualitatively equal part of his diverse nantly in Slovakia and Budapest), we can conclude work. This period is also one of the key areas of that he successfully fulfilled his dream of becoming focus for a research grant project at the Institute a respected builder and architect. However, within of History and Theory of Architecture and Monu- the field of Slovak and European historiography ment Restoration of the Faculty of Architecture at of architecture his work is only partially mapped. the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, A number of theorists and historians of architecture to be realised during the years 2011 to 2013. (Grant have tried to evaluate the life work of the man who VEGA No. 1/0417/11: M. M. Harminc – from historism was probably the most productive Slovak architect to the modernity and functionalism. Head of project: and builder to date, but his typologically and stylis- Jana Pohaničová. Jana Pohaničová and Peter Buday, tically heterogeneous legacy still offers opportuni- a member of the research team, are the authors of ties for deeper study. Until recently, special atten- this text.) tion was focused mainly on the architect´s period The portfolio of Harminc’s Budapest period (1887 – associated with modernity and functionalism. 1916) offers an architecturally first-rate and typologi- The fact is that many of the buildings created cally extensive set of buildings, abundant in variations during his period of „monumental modernism“ are on historical architectural styles. These structures are remarkable. The original style of his structures from located throughout the region of the former Austria- this period is characterized by the harmony between Hungary, mainly in Budapest and Slovakia. This legacy modernism and the legacy of historical styles. Varia- and to a large extent the bravura with which he took tions on antique motifs transformed into simplified over the richness of forms of earlier styles, brought Michal Milan Harminc, ALU SNK Martin, SH7_1 shapes, refined materials, and precise attention to him to pragmatic eclecticism, which became the basic detail in construction, were mainly responsible for principle of his work not only in this period but also the quality of his work during this time and gave it throughout his career. Typology-wise it is dominated the stamp of monumentality. Respectability, solem- by sacral works for various denominations, headquar- nity and presentability became the common denom- ters for banks and financial institutions, and residen- inator uniting different kinds of his structures, tial structures (city palaces, villas, apartment build- including both residential buildings (villas, apart- ings), as well as industrial compounds (tanneries), ment buildings) and public buildings (sanatori- medical facilities, museums, schools and occasionally ums, museums, administration buildings, as well as also sepulchral works.3 sepulchral structures). Their architectural qualities The key realizations of his work in Slovakia from also enhanced the phenomenon of town formation this period include the Evangelical Church of the and urban planning, which rank among the most Augsburg Confession in Pribylina (1901 – 1902), distinctive features of this exceptional period of the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary in Černová 30 ALFA 2 ¦ 2013 On Michal Milan Harminc – Builder and Architect of the Central European Region (1905 – 1907), the Evangelical Church of the Augs- burg Confession in Prietrž (1906 – 1907), Stodo- la’s Villa in Liptovský Mikuláš (1902 – 1903), two structures in the town of Martin – the first build- ing of the Slovak National Museum (1906 – 1908) and Tatra Banka (1910 – 1911), and bank houses with Slovak investment capital – Slovenská Banka in Ružomberok (1901 – 1902) and in Trstená (1903), Ľudová banka in Nové Mesto nad Váhom (1904 – 1906) and in Vrbové (1906), and Slovenská hospodárska banka in Trnava (1914). In the last two years, our grant project was based on both archival and “in situ” research, as well as on the consistent study of architect´s estate in the col- lections of Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava.4 However, with few exceptions, the collections con- tain only documents from Slovakia.