Page 45 - Sajo ENG
P. 45
1928
FÉNYES VILLA
42 Simonyi Road, Debrecen
Sajó designed this villa at the request of a respected resident of the city, criminal
lawyer Dr Jenő Fényes. Also known as a playwright and poet, he was a generous
patron too: he co-founded an orphanage and supported the arts and sports in
the city with his brother, Endre, who was also a lawyer.
Dr Jenő Fényes had the once luxurious two-storey villa built as a summer home
but later had it adapted to winter use too. The design’s most prominent elements
are the protruding stepped stone decoration around the street front entrance
and the horizontally banded plasterwork flanking the windows. The pointed
angle of the skylight above the entrance is one of Sajó’s signature solutions,
along with the wrought-iron protective grille of the entrance, the window boxes
and the zigzag motifs of the fence. The interior decorations of the villa, such
as the fountain in the entrance hall, were demolished when orders were given
for the building to be divided. Only a few original parts of the villa survived:
the doors and windows, the wrought iron elements, the remains of the garden
pool and three small sculptures representing Fényes’ daughters, which once
decorated the pool.
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