Eszter Pécsi (March 8, 1898 – May 4, 1975) was the first female Hungarian architect and a structural engineer. She designed a number of iconic buildings in Hungary, Austria and America.
Early life and education
Eszter Pécsi was born Eszter Pollák on March 8, 1898, in
Kecskemét
Kecskemét ( , sk, Kečkemét) is a city with county rights central part Hungary. It is the eighth-largest city in the country, and the county seat of Bács-Kiskun.
Kecskemét lies halfway between the capital Budapest and the country's th ...
to Mór Pollák, a flour merchant, and Sarolta Szántó (née Schäfer). She was one of seven children and money was tight. The family changed its name to Pécsi in 1900. Two of Pécsi's sisters, Vilma and Margit, became doctors, a third, Berta, became a teacher. A brother, Illés, graduated in engineering in 1913.
Pécsi attended the
Royal College of Technology in
Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg () is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Prussia, it is best known for Charlottenburg Palace, the ...
,
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
, between 1915 and 1919. In 1918, the Hungarian government passed laws enabling women to study at universities, so in 1919 Pécsi returned to Hungary to complete her education at
Királyi József Műegyetem (
Budapest University of Technology and Economics
The Budapest University of Technology and Economics ( hu, Budapesti Műszaki és Gazdaságtudományi Egyetem or in short ), official abbreviation BME, is the most significant university of technology in Hungary and is considered the world's olde ...
). She graduated on 8 March 1920, her twenty-second birthday, the first Hungarian woman to qualify as an architect. Pécsi was one of the first four women to study at the university, alongside Marianne Sternberg-Várnay, mechanical engineer Villma Máhrer and Irma Simonyi-Hajós.
Early career
After graduation, Pécsi worked for a decade in the Guth and Gergely architectural engineering offices in Budapest, being promoted to senior designer after a few years at the company.
Her work during this time included designing the articulated reinforced concrete arches of the
Alfréd Hajós Swimming Pool in
Margitsziget
Margaret Island ( hu, Margitsziget ; german: Margareteninsel; tr, Kızadası) is a long island, wide, ( in area) in the middle of the Danube in central Budapest, Hungary. The island is mostly covered by landscape parks, and is a popular recrea ...
. It was the first indoor swimming pool in Hungary and the largest in Europe at the time, covered by five reinforced concrete beams with a span of 31 meters and an internal height of 14 meters. The pool was the brainchild of
Alfréd Hajós
Alfréd Hajós (1 February 1878 – 12 November 1955) was a Hungarian swimmer, football player and manager, and architect. He was the first modern Olympic swimming champion and the first Olympic champion of Hungary. No other swimmer ever won s ...
, a Hungarian architect and Olympic swimmer who described it as ''"The large hall, bridged by huge reinforced concrete arches, has an extremely impressive effect on the viewer, these arches span the wide space without any intermediate supports."''
Pécsi also worked on the foundation of the central (turbine lake) turbine in
Bánhida
Bánhida (in German: ''Weinhild'') is the oldest quarter of the city of Tatabánya in north-western Hungary. Inhabited since ancient times, excavations in this area have uncovered finds from the Bronze Age and the Roman era. It is hypothesized ...
during these years.
Marriage and partnership
On 3 December 1922 Pécsi married modernist architect József Fischer,
and had two sons, György and János, who both grew up to become architects.
The couple were both members of the
Congres Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne (CIAM), which played a key role in the expansion of modernist architecture.
From 1931 to 1948 the couple ran an architectural firm together.
During this period, Pécsi designed and engineered significant floating reinforced concrete slabs and tower foundations, as well as higher-than-usual steel frame structures, working as a structural engineer with many of the period's leading Hungarian architects, including Fishcher and
Farkas Molnár. Her work, with original structural solutions, included the Fiumei út emergency hospital, and the Kútvölgyi út hospital, the first high-rise high-rise buildings in Budapest. She also worked on several modern houses.
During World War II, Hungary was part of the
Axis powers
The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...
. Pécsi's husband was conscripted into but eventually deserted the army in 1944, when
Germany invaded Hungary. The couple's home was used to shelter fugitives, which endangered the family, as did Fischer's desertion.
After the war, Pécsi inspected the bomb-damaged buildings in the capital and directed the reinforcement work on the cracked roof of the
National Theater.
Hungarian businesses were
nationalised in 1948, and from 1949 she was an employee of the Design Office of the Ministry of Metallurgy and Mechanical Engineering (KGMTI) and then chief structural engineer. She worked on the rail manufacturer
MÁVAG
MÁVAG (''Magyar Királyi Államvasutak Gépgyára''; ''Hungarian Royal State Railroads' Machine Factory'') was the largest Hungarian rail vehicle producer. MÁVAG company was the second largest industrial enterprise after the Manfréd Weiss Steel ...
's forging workshop (ensuring continuous operation without any factory closures). She designed a special foundation around and above the obsolete timber-framed hall in the plant, so that old parts could be demolished. She also wrote several articles.
Politics and the Hungarian Revolution
Pécsi and her husband were both members of the ''Magyarországi Szociáldemokrata Párt'' the
Social Democratic Party of Hungary
The Social Democratic Party of Hungary ( hu, Magyarországi Szociáldemokrata Párt, MSZDP) is a social democratic political party in Hungary. Historically, the party was dissolved during the occupation of Hungary by Nazi Germany (1944–1945) ...
. Fischer was chosen as a candidate for the party in the 1939 general election, and was chairman of the architects’ group within the party.
The party was suppressed under Soviet rule.
The
Hungarian Revolution of 1956
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...
was a nationwide
revolution
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
against the
Hungarian People's Republic
The Hungarian People's Republic ( hu, Magyar Népköztársaság) was a one-party socialist state from 20 August 1949
to 23 October 1989.
It was governed by the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, which was under the influence of the Soviet U ...
and its
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
-imposed policies, lasting from 23 October until 10 November 1956. Pécsi became a commissioner, involved in the uprising. During the revolution, her home became a meeting place for Social Democratic politicians. Her husband József Fischer was elected to the leadership of the
Social Democratic Party of Hungary
The Social Democratic Party of Hungary ( hu, Magyarországi Szociáldemokrata Párt, MSZDP) is a social democratic political party in Hungary. Historically, the party was dissolved during the occupation of Hungary by Nazi Germany (1944–1945) ...
when it revived during the revolution. On 3 November, Fischer was appointed as state minister in the coalition government as the party's nominee. The next day, the Soviets invaded Hungary and the revolution was crushed within a week. Fischer went into hiding for a time. In 1957, as part of the reprisals and clamp down by the Soviet authorities, Pécsi was dismissed from her job because of her involvement in the revolution.
Life outside Hungary
In 1957, Pécsi left Hungary without her husband and lived in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
for two years, where she worked for the Krapfenbauer architectural firm and designed the structural plans for the city's first downtown multi-storey car park near the Vienna Opera House.
Her husband was dismissed from his job in 1959 and made an application to emigrate and join her, but this was denied for seven years.
Pécsi then moved to
New York, where one of her sons had settled. She joined the architectural company Farkas & Barron as a structural engineer, then worked with
Marcel Breuer
Marcel Lajos Breuer ( ; 21 May 1902 – 1 July 1981), was a Hungarian-born modernist architect and furniture designer.
At the Bauhaus he designed the Wassily Chair and the Cesca Chair, which ''The New York Times'' have called some of the most i ...
the Hungarian architect-designer, and a leader in the
Bauhaus
The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 20 ...
movement. Pécsi later became a Fellow of SOM (
Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer John Merrill. The fir ...
), one of America's leading architectural firms, and was part of the team which drew up structural plans for the city's tallest reinforced concrete frame building at the time, the
Hotel Americana, later known as the Sheraton. She also designed the structural plans for high rise buildings at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
.
Her husband was finally able to join her in 1964, having had to wait over seven years for a passport to be granted.
In 1965, Pécsi was awarded the “Best Structural Engineer of the Year” award for the special foundations method she invented which allowed high-rise buildings to be built on the banks of the Hudson River.
Between 1959 and 1970 she also lectured at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, th ...
.
In 1970 Pécsi became paralysed following due to a severe stroke. Nursed by her husband, she died on 4 May 1975 in New York City. Her ashes were taken back to Hungary and placed in
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
's
Farkasréti Cemetery
Farkasréti Cemetery or Farkasrét Cemetery ( hu, Farkasréti temető) is one of the most famous cemeteries in Budapest. It opened in 1894 and is noted for its extensive views of the city (several people wanted it more to be a resort area than a c ...
.
Her granddaughter Zsuzsanna Szabóné Fischer also became a structural engineer.
Commemoration
A plaque was placed on her birthplace in Kecskemét in 2000 and on the wall of the couple's house in Szent István Park in Budapest in 2001.
A room was named after Pécsi at the
Budapest University of Technology and Economics
The Budapest University of Technology and Economics ( hu, Budapesti Műszaki és Gazdaságtudományi Egyetem or in short ), official abbreviation BME, is the most significant university of technology in Hungary and is considered the world's olde ...
, on the 100th anniversary of her graduation with an engineering degree.
References
External links
hungarlingva biografio
hungarlingva biografio kun fotoj
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pecsi, Eszter
Hungarian academics
Hungarian civil engineers
20th-century American architects
20th-century Hungarian architects
20th-century women engineers
American women architects
Hungarian women architects
Hungarian women academics
Hungarian emigrants to the United States
Budapest University of Technology and Economics alumni
1898 births
1975 deaths
People from Kecskemét
New York University faculty
Burials at Farkasréti Cemetery