Renovation of the Széchenyi Manor House

THE HISTORY OF THE BUILDINGS:

Monok and its environs was the property of the Monaky dynasty in the 1500s, and later, after the heirs – two daughters – got married, the manor was in divided ownership by the Andrássy and Thököly families. In the 18th century, the manor was again united under the proprietorship of the Andrássy family. The manor house was built in this period, presumably in the early 1700s as the bailiff’s house and later entered the ownership of the Széchenyi family through marriage. In 1936, Aladár Széchenyi rented it out for a gendarmerie station, hence the name ’gendarmerie barracks’, which has been in use until recent times. In the period since World War II, it has had several functions: it was a surgery for doctors and then for district nurses, a daycare centre and a primary school, while in the most recent times, it was used as storage facility for the settlement. The annex served as a place of rest and centre for communal workers and as a workshop for maintenance workers.

Before the renovation started, the buildings were converted and had become dilapidated virtually beyond recognition, waiting for a more fortunate future. The windows overlooking the street were replaced in the 1950s to three-panel windows, which were a standard type during socialism, with only one original window remaining on the side, serving as a model during the restoration project. The vaulted arcades were walled in, an extension with a flat roof was added at the entrance from the garden, while some of the rooms were divided by partition walls. The capital of the large chimney was damaged by frost, and the tiled roof collapsed in several places.

THE RENOVATION OF THE BUILDINGS 

MANOR HOUSE

The Széchenyi Manor House has a design typical of the Hegyalja region but with a unique ground-plan and massing. Its six rooms are arranged in a U shape, accompanied by arcades along its full length from the side of the garden, and all of this is covered by a gabled roof ’turned in’ at its two longer ends. The 80 cm-thick stone walls support a brick arched ceiling in every room, while brick arches and vaulting rest on the thick stone pillars of the arcaded ‘porch’. The strong roof structure has a truss design with three vertical posts, almost lending it an industrial character.

The ground-plan of the building follows the typical design of small manor houses, except that here the two middle rooms on the side of the garden are missing from the octopartite design, and so does the anteroom and kitchen ensemble. The building was originally not constructed as a classical residential manor but as the house for the bailiff, his offices and other rooms that were necessary. The staff did the cooking elsewhere, presumably in a separate external kitchen. The ground-plan also reveals that unlike many manor houses in the Hegyalja region, this one was not the result of the extension of a tripartite farmer’s house. The regular ground-plan, the high-quality implementation and the precise roof structure suggest that the manor house was built according to thorough architectural-engineering designs.

During the renovation project, the extensions and the walls that were added later were demolished, thus reconstructing the original string of large spaces and the vaulted arcades. In the guest rooms, the architects wanted to preserve the full sight of the vaulting, restored to its original state, therefore they placed the shower and sink units in the interior, and only the toilet has walls. The vaulted arcades were largely left open, with only one glass-walled entrance hall being added. The windows and doors were restored based on the surviving original pieces, and the same was done in the case of the facade, the roof and the chimney.

WELLNESS HOUSE



The annex must have been built for the kitchen function and the staff at the same time as the manor house. This building was restored to its original state. The three ground-floor rooms have been given the functions of an entrance hall, a breakfast room and a wellness unit, while two attic spaces now house two guestrooms.