Hungarian Review, 1978 (24. évfolyam, 5-12. szám)

for a great semi-circular boule­vard around Pest which would have passed straight through the existing station. Agreement on the new West Sta­tion was reached between the City of Pest and the railway company on January 5, 1873. Soon after the company’s clerk of the works, Dr. Ágoston Seress, produced the plans, and four big contractors were invited to tender for the building work. It was Gustave Eiffel and Company of Paris who landed the contract, and construc­tion began in 1875. The steel frame was designed by Theophil Seyrig, the Eiffel com­pany’s own engineer. Most of the steel members were cast in Paris, but some came from the Ganz foundry in Budapest. The new steel-framed hall of the station was the fifth largest in the world when it was built: the entire building covers 14,390 square metres and the steel frame weighs 1,500 tons. The hall itself is 146 metres by 42 metres and has room for only six tracks. The roof is 25 metres high at the centre and 15 metres at the sides. Narrow cast­­iron columns divide the fayade into nine glazed strips. To the left and right the faqade is flanked by three-storey blocks in composite style, each with a tower. Another 15 platforms are outside the main building—116 trains a day leave the station. When the West Station opened on October 28, 1877, it was the first real terminus building in the capital. Since then it has been in use for more than a hundred years; the building’s huge size and the air pollution from it have caused problems sometimes reaching critical proportions. The idea of moving the station out of the city centre was mooted more than once, but each suggested solution has finally had to be rejected. Just recently, serious signs of corrosion have been noticed in the steel roofbeams and columns, and they are in urgent need of atten­tion. The authorities invited ten­ders for the restoration work on the steel frame. Forty-three de­signs were received, to several of which the jury gave awards, and some have been purchased for use on the project. Meanwhile, work has started on the reconstruction of Marx Square in front of the station, and the building of stage three of the new North-South Metro is also immi­nent, so that the proposed restora­tion of the West Station fits in well with the general plans for the area. Most Budapest people are relieved to know that the plans allow the original historic charac­ter of Eiffel’s building to remain as a landmark in the centre of the city. The great project will be com­pleted in three stages; first the rearrangement of the square, then the opening of the new Metro station, and lastly the reconstruc­tion of the West Station. By 1985, Budapest’s first railway terminus will have had its face­lift and stand ready for the next hundred years. János Bertalan & Dr. Béla Barti The original Nyugati (West) Station in a contemporary woodcut; it was re­placed by Eiffel's station buildings in 1875-77 The new buildings under construction (1877) Marx Square as it will be

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