The Art and Architecture of Victor Bohm (1900–1981)

Abstract

The art and architecture of modernist architect and architectural theorist Victor Bohm (Bőhm Viktor, Böhm Viktor) are rare examples of modernism. At the same time, they were unusual for a provincial city—Miskolc (Hungary)—far from the modernist hub Budapest. Bohm worked in Miskolc during the 1930s, created numerous extraordinary buildings and shaped the skyline of this industrial town. He emigrated to the United States in 1939. The architectural language of his Hungarian designs followed modernist trends, a tendency less evident in his American projects. His buildings received architectural awards, and he has become known as a designer of medical and commercial buildings. He was a pioneer in the study of the relationship between architecture and psychology and sought to understand how an architectural design affects people and how the architect’s identity is manifested in their works. None of Bohm’s Hungarian buildings are protected; most of his buildings in Miskolc were demolished. The present study attempts to preserve his modernist, Hungarian legacy.

1. Introduction

The art and architecture of Victor Bohm (Bőhm Viktor, Böhm Viktor) are rare examples of modernism and singular expressions in a provincial city—Miskolc (Hungary)—situated far from the modernist hub, Budapest, in the 1930s. Bohm worked in Miskolc at that time and created extraordinary buildings that shaped the industrial town’s identity. He emigrated to the United States in 1939. The architectural language of his Hungarian designs followed modernist trends less evident in his American buildings, interiors and murals. His buildings received architectural awards, and he became known as a designer of medical and commercial buildings. His pioneering study, Cubes and Man: A Psychological View of Architecture, published in 1969 with a foreword by Richard Neutra, examines the relationship between architecture and psychology in order to explain how architectural design affects people and how an architect’s identity is manifested in their work using his own work as examples.

Tragically, Bohm’s first building (1931) is slated for demolition, and the search continues for other extant buildings in order to show the significance of his work in the context of Hungarian modernism and to preserve his legacy since none of his buildings are currently protected.

Identification of Bohm’s buildings in Miskolc was complicated by several factors. Although Bohm made a list of his Hungarian projects when he emigrated to the United States in 1939, he only noted the type of building and name of the contractor, making them difficult to identify. A list in the Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County Archives noted the address of Bohm’s buildings and their year of construction, but the contractor names often conflicted. Thus, reconciling the two lists presented a challenge. Helpful, however, is the fact that during the 1930s, the architectural magazine Tér és Forma (Space and Form) published photos and floor plans of several Bohm buildings in Miskolc (Figure 1).

Research on the work and life of Victor Bohm is not complete yet. Based on the results, we can state that his first realised building, the tenement house at 5 Gusztáv Csengey street, built in 1931, has significant value, among the others, such as the 1 Farkas Jenő street (both in Miskolc). The 5 Csengey house is sentenced to demolition by the time of writing this article, although the building would be worth protecting because of its designer, its style, its construction date and the integrity of the eastern side of the street.

The study summarises the oeuvre of an architect and theoretician awarded an honorary doctorate in 1970, well known in the United States of America but forgotten in his homeland, Hungary. It aims to position the works in Hungary in the local architectural history of Miskolc and the Hungarian history of architecture.

These efforts might ensure that his remaining designs do not face such a fate as 3 Horváth street in Miskolc—demolished, 5 Csengey street—got an official decision for demolition, and the former studio of the photographer Hugó Barna at 16 Déryné street—rebuilt (among others). But to face recognition as the award-winning restoration of Victor Bohm, the former Rifkin & Grannick store (Trenton, NJ, 102 West State St., USA), renovated by Thomas Edison State University, became one of the university’s headquarters.

The current aspiration of the monuments’ protection in Hungary is the public recognition of architecturally valuable works made after 1945, to make these buildings accepted by society and decision-makers and not face demolition. We would think that in the case of modernist architecture between the two world wars, which is in many ways more traditional and fits better into the cityscape, this paradigm shift has already taken place, but on a national scale, this is not yet the case. The present study is only the first step on the path to change.

2. National Architectural Aspirations in Hungary in the 1930s and the Miskolc Case

The period between 1920 and 1930 was decisive for modern European architecture, although its impact was delayed in Hungary. The Bulletin of the Hungarian Association of Engineers and Architects (Magyar Mérnök- és Építész–Egylet Közlönye) in November 1923 reported on the first major exhibition at the Bauhaus in Weimar.

“This exhibition is more complete than this year’s summer architecture department at the Kunstausstellung in Berlin, because, with the participation of foreign countries, it gives a picture of the struggle that modern architecture has waged for the new style over the last ten years. Almost all the notable fighters of the new architecture met each other for the first time here. (…) Among the Hungarians, Alfréd Forbát presents the interesting experiments of a cast-concrete house simulating a variety of programs, a small residential house and a raw sketch of a one-kitchen house in Pécs, while Molnár F. Farkas issued a residential house called the red-cube”.

(Magyar Mérnök- és Építész–Egylet Közlönye 1923, p. 170)

In 1927, Farkas Molnár (1897–1945) returned to Hungary from his study trip in Germany as a trained architect and a member of the Bauhaus in Weimar. He brought back the basics of new architecture1 (direct translation of ‘új építészet’ in Hungarian), which he presented at the exhibition of the Budapest Technical University: “He designs smooth and inexpensive type houses—avoiding any unnecessary decoration” (Magyar Mérnök- és Építész–Egylet Közlönye 1927, p. 134).

Although the era brought many innovations not only from the side of the Bauhaus but also from Le Corbusier, starting with Le Corbusier’s five points of new architecture (Cinq points de l’architecture moderne, 1923) to the housing estate of Deutscher Werkbund (Weissenhofsiedlung, 1927), the then-contemporary Hungarian literature had rarely dealt with new architectural trends.

The period between 1928 and 1932 is considered the beginning of modern architecture in Hungary, although architects understood modern architecture quite differently: they saw modernity in the adaptation of technical and technological innovations. In Towards the New Pantheon (Az Új Pantheon felé), Pál Ligeti (1985–1945) outlined the beginning of a new era of construction as early as 1926.

The first edition of the architectural magazine Tér és Forma, published in May 1928, facilitated the breakthrough of avant-garde architecture into the Hungarian public consciousness and architectural scene. Dr. Virgil Bierbauer (Borbíró) (1893–1956) was the magazine’s first editor. He promoted the new architecture that was rapidly becoming international and publicised new architectural endeavours. In an editorial in the first issue, Bierbauer introduced a new direction in architecture. The title of his article referred to the change of attitude: “Art of construction—Art of space” (Bierbauer 1928, pp. 1–4). That same year, Bierbauer wrote an article that considered the current state of Hungarian architecture, what would be required to successfully promote it, and what factors hindered its acceptance (Bierbauer 1929, p. 317).

The reception of contemporary architectural manifestos (whether in Hungary or abroad) was mixed. In 1928, however, the establishment of the CIAM (Congrès internationaux d’architecture moderne) under the leadership of Le Corbusier called for international cooperation in new architecture, thereby marking a turning point in Europe. In 1929, at the 2nd CIAM Congress in Frankfurt, Die Wohnung für das Existenzminimum (Housing for the subsistence minimum) was the main topic. Afterwards, the Hungarian participants formed the Hungarian Committee of the CIRPAC (Comité international pour la résolution des problèmes de l’architecture contemporaine), the executive body of the CIAM. Among the founders were Marcel Breuer and Farkas Molnár. In 1930, they turned for support to Kunó Klebelsberg, Minister of Culture, whose response was: “New architecture is an expression of the new spirit, and I consider it right that the Hungarian young generation, in addition to respecting national traditions, should also deal adequately with the aspirations of the new architecture” (Gróf Klebelsberg 1930, p. 161). His statement provided a purpose for new architectural endeavours.

In 1931, the Hungarian Society of Engineers and Architects met to discuss the need for modern family houses and housing estates. Tér és Forma published the history and concept of its prototype housing estate (Napraforgó utcai kísérleti lakótelep) in 1931 (Bierbauer 1931, pp. 305–16). The article included a site and the floor plan with photographs of the experimental villas to which several Bauhaus-trained architects contributed.

The era was all about architectural novelties, although technological innovations rarely followed the developments of building structures in Hungary. The villa Delej in Budapest, designed by the Bauhaus-trained architect Farkas Molnár together with Pál Ligeti in 1929 (Budapest 1st district 11 Mihály street, 1929), is an example of this architectural paradox. The architects tried for the first time to integrate the new architecture’s design principles already accepted in the Western countries into the Hungarian environment. Although the design and the spatial layout were innovative, the building materials and structures applied were traditional.

Villa Delej (1929) acts as a counterpart of Victor Bohm’s proto-modern works from 1931, as the early new architecture (modernist architecture) in Hungary tried to achieve forms of modernism with traditional building materials and structures. The row house at 5 Csengey Gusztáv street in Miskolc, designed by Victor Bohm in 1931, is an early example of the architectural and structural paradox of new architecture in Hungary. The year 1931 is remarkable because of the establishment of the pioneering modernist housing estate in Budapest.

The literature often considers the city of Pécs as one of the strongholds of modernism in Hungary outside Budapest—the Bauhaus representatives Marcel Breuer and Farkas Molnár were born there. Miskolc is not mentioned in this aspect at all, although, from 1928, from the early years of Hungarian modernism, numerous buildings were built following the design ideas and functionalism of the new architecture, as they called the modernism-functionalism in Hungary. One of the pioneering modernist architects in Miskolc was Victor Bohm. His works earned recognition from the leading architectural journal of the time, Tér és Forma (editor-in-chief was Virgil Bierbauer/Borbíró from 1933 to 1943). Between 1932 and 1934, the journal published floor plans and façade photographs of the modernist buildings designed by Victor Bohm. The proto-modernist architectural language he implemented in Hungary is less reminiscent of his American works influenced by Richard Neutra and Frank Lloyd Wright—as Bohm suggests in his book from 1969.

Bohm visited the XII. International Congress of Architects and Architectural Design Exhibition held in Budapest. The architectural ideas of Bohm were indirectly influenced by the CIRPAC and the emerging new architecture, Modernism, together with its well-known representatives, such as Alfréd Forbát and Farkas Molnár. However, the direct influences came from the participants of the XII. International Congress: according to the Morning Journal (Reggeli Hirlap), in 5 December 1930 (Reggeli Hirlap 1930, p. 8), a planned exhibition in Miskolc will present the pieces of the Hungarian exhibitors of the XII. International Congress in the City Hall from 7th to 14th December. Dr Sándor Hodobay, patron of the exhibit and mayor of Miskolc, opened the exhibition on 7th December and Virgil Bierbauer, secretary-general of the International Congress, made a presentation on the new architectural aspirations with illustrative images. In the article of Victor Bohm on the Architectural Exhibition in Miskolc, he discussed the Hungarian exhibitors (representatives of the new architecture) of the Budapest exhibition. Bohm wrote there that people of the era had a misconception about architecture, or predominantly there was no opinion formed at all, and the essence of architecture was reflected in the façade only.

Modernist architecture prospered in Miskolc in the 1930s. The exhibition confirmed two significant aspects of the success of the new architecture in the city:

• Victor Bohm, the most significant modernist architect in the city, followed the then-contemporary trends and embraced the new architectural aspirations, already from the beginning of the emerging movement. He studied at the University of Technology in Vienna until 1929. The end of his school years was the beginning of the new architecture, and the influence of his teachers towards modernism was inevitable.
• During the mayorship of dr. Sándor Hodobay (1880–1957) the modernism conquered the town. In the 1930s, the movement transformed the townscape. The mayor was open to novelties (as he proved in the exhibition), and the tax exemption for new buildings starting from the 1920s fostered the new architecture, although, in this period, both traditional (Baroque revival) and modernist buildings were built.

The work of Victor Bohm only partially followed the town planning endeavours starting from 1920 in Miskolc. The urban regulation plan by László Warga determined the transformation directions of the townscape until 1948. The Speyer Bank Loan facilitated the implementation (Dobrossy 1996, pp. 423–50), and it resulted in significant changes in the building stock and infrastructure.

Although the then-contemporary newspapers (Miskolczi Napló 1918), Esti Hírlap, Miskolczi Újság, Vasárnap dealt with the new questions of urban development in Miskolc from the 1920s onwards only in short news2, we can still use these to track the architectural development of the city and point out the focus points that were present together with the urban development vision formulated in 1921. There was a growing demand for refugee accommodation due to the high number of Hungarian refugees who came to Miskolc from the former territories of Austria–Hungary after the decisions of the Trianon treaty in 1920. Between 1924 and 1938, 3000 residential houses were built, and between 1931 and 1939, the number of constructions decreased steadily (

Table 1. From 1931 onwards, the number of completed buildings with an issued residence permit. The number of dwellings is in brackets. Ground floor (GF); the number of floors (S); rebuilt (actual reconstruction or extension of the building for residential purposes). Source: (Felsőmagyarországi Reggeli Hirlap 1940, p. 5).

Year/S.	1931	1932	1933	1934	1935	1936	1937	1938	1939
GF	175(231)	140(183)	112(148)	81(7?)	111(139)	115(136)	104(143)	99(134)	41(54)
1 S.	8(20)	7(16)	5(12)	5(12)	3(9)	4(9)	9(18)	3(17)	4(9)
2 S.	3 (22)	0	0	1 (5)	3.S.1 (11)	3(10)	4(20)	3(15)	1(6)
Rebuilt	36 (69)	34 (62)	42 (74)	22 (36)	22 (35)	61(143)	53(102)	64(134)	31(57)

) when Bohm’s construction activity bloomed.

Only a few new public buildings were built during the 1930s. The postal palace—on a plot bordered by Kazinczy and Horváth street—is one of them. The Heroes’ square, opposite Kazinczy street and the postal palace (Figure 2), was referred to as the most beautiful part of Miskolc after the competition of the building in 1937. The neo-Baroque façade was made according to the plans of Gyula Wälder in 1937.

The so-called Deszkatemplom (Wooden church) in Miskolc, dating from 1724, was completely degraded by 1937 and faced demolition. The church was rebuilt according to the plans of Bálint Szeghalmy (1889–1963) and consecrated in 1938. It can be considered the only outstanding public building of Miskolc from the 1930s, although it is more like an architectural curiosity due to its rural style.

The Baroque period shaped the image of the centre of Miskolc, and the (re)constructions of the following periods did not change it significantly. The neo-Baroque building of the Borsod-Miskolc Credit Bank on the high street (Széchenyi street) fits into the street view characterised by older buildings. The palace was designed by Lajos Kozma in 1930 and opened in 1931. On the Széchenyi street, however, we still come across modernist-functionalist buildings nowadays. In the 1930s, the number of modernist buildings and store window designs used to be even higher.

In Miskolc, different architectural movements lived side by side in the 1930s and 1940s, but the neo-Baroque was dominant in the case of public buildings, villas and tenement houses. Another movement was the functionalist modern, with representatives of the style as Alfréd Bloch and Lajos Stimm, Viktor Bőhm, id. Béla Horváth, László Menner, and Béla Stern.

3. Bohm, the Pioneering Modernist in Miskolc

Victor Bohm (Bőhm Viktor or Böhm Viktor), son of Nándor Böhm wholesaler in Miskolc and son of Fanny Gutmann, studied in Brno in 1921/1922. In 1927 he obtained a degree in architect-engineering at the Technische Hochschule in Vienna. He received a degree in architecture and engineering at the Budapest University of Technology via diploma nostrification in 19303. According to István Száva (1921–2012)4, architect and descendant of Bohm, “he learned from professors [in Vienna] who strongly supported Bauhaus”. Based on Bőhm’s original study records, Max Theuer (1878–1949) and Karl Mayreder (1856–1935) can be identified as his professors. Despite the research, there is no written evidence about the personalities who supported Bauhaus and had such an influence over the young Bőhm that he also found his architectural language in Modernism.

He carried out the remodelling of the interior of the Pannónia café and barroom in Miskolc in 1929. The Morning Journal’s article considered his work to be refined and modern (Reggeli Hirlap 1928, p. 2).

From 5 June 1929, he worked as an architect in his own office (independent companies of design and construction, company ID numbers: 8638/vb.1929 and 84/vb.1934) until 5 June 1939, when he left Hungary. At the end of his Hungarian career, his main office was in Miskolc, 15a Kazinczy street, in a two-story tenement house designed by him (Figure 3 and Figure 4). From 30 July 1933, he was an alternate member of the Miskolc-Diósgyőr department of the Hungarian Association of Engineers and Architects. On 26 July 1937, Victor Bohm became elected member of the Budapest Chamber of Engineers (Budapesti Közlöny 1937, p. 2).

Bohm worked with Lajos Kozma, the designer of the building, on the headquarters of the Borsod-Miskolc Credit Bank in 1930. Fejér and Dános—Mór Feldmann construction company, established exclusively for the construction of the headquarters with contractors from Budapest and Miskolc, constructed the building.

Fejér and Dános built the pioneering modernist housing estate at Napraforgó street in 1931; Mór Feldmann was a renowned architect/contractor in Miskolc, and Lajos Kozma was one of the leading modernist architects in Hungary before World War II.

Bohm’s name did not appear on the plans. Based on the newspaper articles and his records, Kozma and Bohm worked together—Bohm acted as the supervisor architect (Magyar Jövő 1931, p. 5). The building was completed in 1931 in the neo-Baroque/neo-Classicist hybrid style. It was the official style of the public buildings in Miskolc and a favoured style of private housing. Kozma was the leading figure in neo-Baroque architecture before he found his architectural language in modernism. The architectural theorists call the movement as Kozma-Baroque. The façade of the Borsod-Miskolc Credit Bank with the tympanum columnar avant-corps is a reinterpretation of the Baroque and Classicist design, while the interior design is modern with the atrium-like cash register, without the façade-like overdecoration. The Morning Magazine listed and praised the contractors and craftsmen involved in the work: “Viktor Bőhm, mechanical engineer [mistake: architect—remark by the Author], whose cultural polish can be seen in the recent constructions in Miskolc” (Reggeli Hirlap 1931, p. 4). However, Bohm was still at the beginning of his career at the time.

In 1931, Bohm designed his first realised building in the Gusztáv Csengey street. The façade design of his realised plan (Figure 5) is symmetrical, already adapting the design to the architect’s ideas of modernist architecture formulated in 1933.

The eastern side of the Gusztáv Csengey street, with its buildings’ façades, is a cultural–historical curiosity, a unique and unified imprint of the architectural history of Miskolc between the two world wars, despite the diversity of the façades and the different architectural language of the architects/designers of the buildings. The residential and tenement houses on the street are almost a representative overview of the architecture of Miskolc between the two world wars: the modernist house number five designed by Viktor Böhm; the no. 11 in a neo-Baroque style designed by Mór Feldmann; Bloch and Stimm’s three houses were also on the street at Csengey street 9, 15 and 4 (Bereczki 2019, pp. 142–43).

The then-contemporary architectural magazine Tér és Forma published the ground floor, first-floor plan and the photograph of Bohm’s tenement house in 1932 (Tér és Forma 1932a, p. 80). The magazine published the 15 Csengey by Bloch and Stimm in 1934 (Tér és Forma 1934, p. 293).

Despite the diverse architectural language of the eastern side of Csengey street (Figure 6), the street has retained its overall uniform appearance since the 1930s. The building façades are an imprint of the architectural attempts of the 1930s. The street was a narrow, alley-like extension of Kálvin street before the urban regulation in the 1920s. It was widened and revalued between 1922 and 1927.

Gusztáv Csengey street was an upscale street indicated by its inhabitants and buildings, most of which are primarily residential houses or a combination of residential and tenement purposes. Based on the original documents, dr Ármin Szabó, chief physician of the town, ordered the design and construction of the residential and tenement house (5 Csengey) in 1931. According to the site plan and the report, the southern neighbour was Károly Tóth, and the northern neighbour was dr Imre László. Dr Ármin Szabó received building permission for the residential and tenement house on 20 April 1931. The engineer and architect Victor Bohm designed the building, and Lajos Hevesi constructed it. On 29 September 1931, the builder applied for the completion certificate and occupation permit. The permit was granted after an on-site inspection by the city’s engineering office.

The Tér és Forma published the photograph and floor plan of the building in 1934 (Figure 7).

The façade has undergone some changes compared to the original plans during the construction in 1931. The solid parapet balcony, which is a novelty of the period, was made with traditional building materials (brick, reinforced concrete, cement-slabbed cladding), and there is an artificial stone top without waterproofing on the railing. The original idea was to have the balcony panel with an open parapet and a metal railing, but the modified design, marked in grey on the façade drawing (Figure 5), was implemented. The architect designated the south side as the entrance, with a rectangular window above the door on the original plan. The altered design presents a wooden-framed circular window with a railing (three parallel metal bars above the entrance). There is a gable roof behind the parapet façade wall.

The façade design of the 1931 building is symmetrical, adapting the design to the initial idea of Bohm’s proto-modern architecture (the symmetrical façade was rare in modernism).

The façade proportions of the west front (Figure 8), adapted to the construction of the regulation line of the street (development in an unbroken row), do not resonate with the design of the façade of the east side facing the inner yard with a hanging corridor. The difference between the ground level on the western and eastern side is 2–3 m. The west (street) side includes a basement and footing zone with windows, and the east (garden) side is an open courtyard.

As the decaying façade also reveals, the construction combines traditional building materials (brick, timber, wooden casement windows) and then-contemporary trends (using a solid parapet balcony, reinforced concrete, and cement-slab cladding, with a stone-free artificial stone slab on the railing). In the 1930s, reinforced concrete buildings were quite common, but the structural material of the 5 Csengey is solid brick masonry with reinforced concrete balconies and a hanging corridor. The intermediate slabs are reinforced concrete between steel I beams placed at a distance of ~2–2.4 m. The topmost floor is a traditional timber structure, and the joists are covered by planks on the top and bottom. The roof is a traditional timber structure with tile covering. The solid parapet balcony gives a characteristic appearance, although the original idea was a balcony with an open parapet and metal railing. Behind the closing parapet wall of the façade is a gable roof that is not visible from the street. Therefore, we would think of flat roof construction.

Bohm engaged Erna Deutsch in December 1932, and the pair held their wedding on 29 January 1933, in the Kazinczy Street Temple (Reggeli Hirlap 1933a, p. 9), the Orthodox Synagogue, which still stands today. The Deutsch family owned several properties. Later, the architect’s real estate developments were assisted by his wife, mostly legally and financially5. Bohm did not only deal with the design process, but he was also a real estate developer (Figure 5). He advertised his condominiums in the columns of the then-contemporary press from 1933: real estate for rent or sale in Miskolc or Miskolctapolca (the spa resort of Miskolc) offered in a modern house under construction.

Bohm, like his contemporaries, considered it essential to represent his architectural ideas through his buildings and via writing. His articles justify the architectural expression he chose. They set out the principles of his creative activity, to which he adhered even during the years of immigration. He grounded his pioneering ideas about the relationship between architecture and psychology in his 1933 essay published in the Morning Journal (Reggeli Hirlap): “The direction of modern architecture sought the harmony of the beautiful and the expedient. In its solution, we can find the development and unification of all aesthetical and utility needs. And at the same time, while ignoring all frippery, it [modernist architecture—remark by the author] created a style of artistic representation that does not subordinate the man to the building but embosses individuality in lines, ideas, and material. (…) Nowadays, the modern-designed house is no longer the backstage of the need for a human home but is closely linked to the needs of human life and reveals the individuality of the architect and builder. (…) The modern design produces complete artistic unity and individualism and satisfies social needs when working with modest means. Simplicity is not a compulsion but a noble aesthetic ideal. Thriftiness is not a constraint, but a thorough knowledge of the nature, usability, purpose and expediency, scale and quantity of the material” (Bőhm 1933, p. 14). His approach echoed in his works between 1929 and 1939 (statement based on his identified buildings): the original floor plan and two façade photographs of a row house next to Hotel Lido in Miskolctapolca appeared in the 2nd issue of Tér és Forma in 1934, on page 58 (Figure 1). The condominium, which appears on the postcards as Lido pension, is presumably discussed in January 1933 in the Morning Journal. “The construction is epoch-maker in the development of Tapolca [Miskolctapolca today—remark by the Author] according to the information published in our issue today. The construction of a condominium/attached house, based on the plans of the architect Viktor Böhm will carry out with great interest. The building will have the most modern living space with all comforts” (Reggeli Hirlap 1933b, p. 9). The architect refers back to the holiday home in his 1969s book: “Rhythm is attractive to our senses. Repetition in music is one form rhythm, and it has a certain architectural analogy. We delight, rather than despair, in the sameness of these modern attached houses. The basic design is an interesting one, and the repetition of it creates a particularly pleasant environment” (Bohm 1969, p. 32).

From 1931, he designed and built several buildings for residential and tenement purposes, condominiums in Miskolc and Miskolctapolca, and he designed shop portals and shop windows. In the 1930s, a few new shop windows in Széchenyi street (high street of Miskolc still nowadays) indicated the modern style, including the shop window of the Golden Lion Pharmacy he designed (today rebuilt to traditional late 19th-century style). The two store windows published in Tér és Forma (Tér és Forma 1932b, p. 151), the Golden Lion Pharmacy and Cordatic Pneumatics Store (Figure 9) are also mentioned in the L’altra modernità nella cultura architettonica del XX Secolo published in 2015 (Ordasi 2015, p. 67).

In 1934, Bohm’s two buildings appeared in the Tér és Forma: the apartment house of the present-day 16 Arthúr Görgey road in Miskolc (former 4 Csabai Gate) and the 16 Déryné street former studio and the residential house of the photographer Hugó Barna (Figure 10). Bohm designed the atelier and residential building in 1932, but in 1941, Béla Stern constructed the floor extension and removed Bohm’s corner piece next to the entrance. Nowadays, the building is unrecognisable, almost entirely rebuilt.

Tér és Forma published about ten designs (realised buildings and portals) by Victor Bohm.

“The construction that came to a halt during the war, the temporary boom in the immediate aftermath of the war, the high price fluctuations of the building materials, the compelling need for frugality, and the scarcity of housing estates were all reasons that contributed to the new style. In general, these reasons can be divided into two groups: purely beauty and purely utility” (Bőhm 1933, p. 14). The philosophy of the architect about modernist architecture, which he followed during his career, can be summarised as follows (based on his article in the Morning Journal, Bőhm 1933):

• Modern architecture realises the harmony of beautiful and practical (aesthetics and usefulness);
• By neglecting decoration, “it created a style of artistic appearance that does not subordinate the man to the building, but embosses individuality in lines in ideas and material” (Bőhm 1933, p. 14);
• The modernist building is closely connected to human needs and also shows the individuality of the architect and builder;
• The modernist architecture brings high-quality aesthetic taste in line with technical innovations;
• The direction of modernist architecture not only satisfies theoretical needs (aesthetics, comfort) but is also reasonable in terms of budget;
• The modernist designer outlines the structure of the building from the inside out (not the other way around) so that it adapts to the budget (uses cheaper instead of more expensive material where intended);
• Economical construction with modern equipment, efficient use of materials provided by advanced technology (application of reinforced concrete);
• Determination of dimensions for load-bearing structures and thermal insulation: thinner walls (mentioning Weissenhof in Stuttgart as an example);
• “(…) simplification in itself is not yet modernist design. (…) The modern design produces full artistic unity and individualism and satisfies social needs, even when working with modest pieces of equipment” (Bőhm 1933, p. 14).—gives the example of a condominium in Miskolctapolca, where he designed ten summer flats on an area of about 719 square meters.

Victor Bohm also designed villas in Miskolctapolca, but we have little information about them. His only known preserved villa building is located in Jenő Farkas street nearby the extended green area, the People’s garden (Népkert) in Miskolc.

In 1872, the need for a public garden emerged in Miskolc, and the city map from 1885 made by Károly Adler shows a separated small garden. The garden’s boundaries remained unchanged until the beginning of the 20th century. The construction of the Elizabeth Hospital began in 1900, which changed the image of the area, and the city developed further towards Hejőcsaba. The perpendicular street system in the territory between the garden and the hospital dates to the early 20th century.

Dr Ignácné Balla and Dr József Klein ordered a villa design from Victor Bohm, who then designed and constructed the building (Figure 11). They received the building permit on 2 July 1937. On 6 November 1937, they applied for the occupancy permit and received it at the end of the year. The residential house has been faithfully renovated and still serves as a residential building.

There are few buildings like this in Miskolc that clearly bear the characteristic features of the modernism of the 1930s, such as cleanliness, a semi-circular balcony, a flat roof (which was sometimes only a visual trick and the architect kept the gable roof), a metal railing and the design of windows.

Figure 11. 1 Jenő Farkas street. Architect: Victor Bohm, 1937. Source: MNL BAZML IV. 1906/b. 2701/1938.

Figure 11. 1 Jenő Farkas street. Architect: Victor Bohm, 1937. Source: MNL BAZML IV. 1906/b. 2701/1938.

The residential house at Jenő Farkas street has a stone footing, a plastered facade and a flat roof, and the living area has a semi-circular design (Figure 12).

The identified, still-standing buildings of Victor Bohm in Miskolc, Hungary:

• 1931: 5 Gusztáv Csengey street (dr Ármin Szabó);
• 1932: 16 Déryné street (Hugóné Barna);
• 1932–1934: 16 Artúr Görgey street (Deutsch Erna) Figure 13 and Figure 14;

• 1933: 2 József Kiss street, Miskolctapolca;
• 1933: 3 Mihály Munkácsy street (Dr Zsigmond Soltész—Erzsébet Kun);
• 1933: 12 Régiposta street (Endre and Béla Reiner) Figure 15 and Figure 16;

Figure 15. 12 Régiposta street. Street façade. Architect: Victor Bohm, 1932–1934. Source: Lovra 2021.

Figure 15. 12 Régiposta street. Street façade. Architect: Victor Bohm, 1932–1934. Source: Lovra 2021.

Figure 16. 12 Régiposta street. Original elevation drawing of the street façade. Architect: Victor Bohm, 1932–1934. Source: MNL BAZML IV. 1906/b. 4246/1933.

Figure 16. 12 Régiposta street. Original elevation drawing of the street façade. Architect: Victor Bohm, 1932–1934. Source: MNL BAZML IV. 1906/b. 4246/1933.

• 1937: 1 Jenő Farkas street (Dr Ingnáczné Balla—dr József Klein);
• 1937–1938: 15 Ferenc Kazinczy, today 13. (Viktorné Böhm);
• 1937: 6 János Szendrei street (Herman Schwartz—Pál Szegő).

In 1936, the Association of Israelite Women organised the harvest fair at the Korona Hotel in Miskolc. As the Upper Hungary Morning Newspaper (Felsőmagyarországi Reggeli Hírlap) writes: “The construction of the artistically structured fairgrounds belongs to the architect Viktor Böhm, who presented a large number of audiences gathered at the fair the most beautiful and original ideas from his talent repository”(Felsőmagyarországi Reggeli Hírlap 1936, p. 4). In May 1936, he won a competition to design an Israelite cemetery mortuary and prayer house (not realised). Past and Present (Mult és Jövő) published the design ideas on page 138 of the May 1936 issue of the Jewish magazine, where he also discusses the new architecture in the adjacent text. His article is entitled Modern Architecture of Temples.

Victor Bohm understood and applied the theoretical and practical principles of the new architecture, which he adopted very early on, from 1928 in his interior design and 1931 onwards in his architectural plans. His studies in Brno and Vienna gave a strong base for his knowledge of modernism from the beginnings of the modernist movement in Hungary.

The architectural press of the time also recognised his work: images of his buildings appeared in the columns of Tér és Forma. He was a practising modernist architect, and in his studies, newspaper articles and presentations promoted the principles of the new architecture.

Victor Bohm’s work in Miskolc and Miskolctapolca in the 1930s makes it worthwhile to place it in the local and Hungarian architectural history. The local impact on the townscape of Miskolc in the 1930s is indisputable. The architect built his first design in the same year as the pioneering modernist housing estate in Napraforgó street, Budapest, was erected. His later works (until 1939) represent more mature versions of modernism. Despite all these qualities and facts, his works are unknown (forgotten), underrated and facing a high risk of being demolished or rebuilt in Hungary.

During his career in Hungary until 1939, he touched on many areas of architectural design. We know the list of buildings (types) and contractors because he created a list after his emigration in 1939 to gain eligibility in the United States as a certified architect, and he also made a list in 1979, including his main designs in Hungary and in the United States. Despite that, the number of his identified works in Hungary is about one-third of his realised designs, not including the unrealised buildings (Figure 17).

4. Bohm, the Successful Architect and Pioneering Architectural Theorist in the US

The World’s Fair (New York, Queens Flushing Meadows) was held in New York in 1939/40 and opened on 30 April 1939 (Cosgrove n.d.). The theme of the world fair was the World of Tomorrow, with the two monumental modernistic structures, Trylon and Perisphere (together known as the Theme Center of the fair), designed by architects Wallace Harrison and J. Andre Fouilhouxall. The fair’s futuristic machine-age focus on all the endeavours in the last years of the Great Depression and on the verge of World War II. Victor Bohm visited the world exhibition in 1939, and then he did not return to Hungary for forty-one years (until 1980). Meanwhile, he lost his 1937-born daughter in the Shoah, divorced Erna Deutsch and started his new family in immigration.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army to settle down and acquire American citizenship, and he was in PVT (Private) rank. He made caricatures and sketches, and he received architectural duties (Figure 18) after recognising his artistic talent in the Army. He could not officially work as an architect until 1943.

He became a teacher at the Leonardo Da Vinci Art School (130 East 16th St. N.Y.C.), where he taught the Monument Designing course from September 1940. The head of the school was the sculptor Onorio Ruotolo (1888–1966). He founded the Leonardo da Vinci Art School on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1923. The school was established to teach art to the immigrant community in New York.

Bohm also gave special lectures besides his official teaching duties: in December 1940 on functional architecture and in February 1941 on the cities of tomorrow (the topic influenced by the World’s Fair in 1939). Although he taught classical architecture/art, he dealt with topics that he already favoured as a young architect, modernism and functionalism in these lectures.

Victor Bohm was able to work as an architect in the United States from December 10, 1943, as he got a licence in several states in the United States (entitlement number: No. 5447). He was a member of the New York Society of Architects from 4 May 1944. The architect applied for membership in the American Institute of Architects (A.I.A.) in late 1944, when his office was at 1650 Broadway, New York. Joseph D. Weiss (1896–1973) and Henry Otis Chapman, Jr. (1898–1967) recommended him to the American Institute of Architects’ membership. He became a member on 10 January 1945 and an emeritus member in 1970 (AIA Historical Directory of American Architects n.d.).

In 1944 (when Bohm applied for the membership), Joseph Douglas Weiss had known Bohm for four years. Weiss designed nursing homes and hospitals. He acted as a partner in the office of the Weiss Whelan Edelbaum Webster. He was born in Budapest and graduated there as well, and he studied architecture in Amsterdam, then earned a master’s degree in architecture from Columbia University. In 1971, he became an appointed member of the President’s Committee on Housing of the White House Conference on the Aging. His book, Better Buildings for the Aged, was published in 1969 (New York Times 1973, p. 34).

The influence of Joseph Douglas Weiss on Bohm’s later architectural career is indisputable because of his achievements in the design of social institutions. Bohm’s speciality was the hospital design and planned social institutions providing round-the-clock care. Highlights in this field include Lemberger Home for Aged, Brooklyn (1954); Windsor Park, Nursing Home, Brooklyn (1956); Lily Pond Nursing Home, 152 Lily Pond Avenue, Staten Island, New York (1959); Doctors Hospital (116 beds), 1050 Targee St., Staten Island, N.Y. (1960–1961)—Staten Island Hospital (1963, first prize); New Drop Medical Building (1961–1962). From 1943, he planned about twenty health care institutions.

The second issue of the Architectural Record, February 1965, analysed the modern solutions of Doctors Hospital (Figure 19) from the point of view of the relationship between architecture and its related applied art to the functionality of floor plan design. In Victor Bohm’s 1969 volume, Cubes and Man: A Psychological View of Architecture, he writes: “The arrangement of this hospital avoids the usual maze of rooms found in most hospitals. (…) The architect concentrated the treatment and diagnostic departments at the front of the lower level, thus taking advantage of natural light. (…) The overall effect of this design is to create a feeling of peace for patients, staff and visitors” (Bohm 1969, p. 68).

In addition to hospitals, he also worked on the reconstruction, planning and interior design of stores and shops. The interior design included built-in furniture design and the furnishing of the entire store.

In 1948, he completely rebuilt the Rifkin & Grannick Department Store (Figure 20) and, after modernising its exterior and interior, won first prize in the Second Annual Store Modernization Show out of 66 entries and received a USD 250 first prize for best local modernisation completed between 1 January 1947 and 1 June 1948. Gruber Brothers supplied the lighting equipment (Electrical Consultant 1948, p. 32).

In his leaflet STORES and SHOWROOM (1960)—in addition to the pictures of several shops—Bohm summarised in ten points the basic principles for store designing:

• “Attractive storefront for identity and to invite the shoppers
• Appealing show windows
• Organizing the sales space
• Groupings of merchandise to ensure sufficient stock
• Comfortable traffic flow
• Proper lightning
• Color to create a distinctive atmosphere;
• Proper decorative background to set off merchandise
• Psychological aspects;
• Last but not least, budgeting to achieve an increase in volume of business. The investment paid back in a very short time”.

The list includes Morlee Kiddies Store (Trenton, NJ, USA), Havenson’s Men’s Wear Store (Trenton, NJ, USA), Daly’s Ladies’ Wear (South Broad St. Trenton, NJ, USA), Hurley Tobin Department Store Jewellery Dept. (Trenton, NJ, USA), Polsky Men Wear Store (Burlington, New Jersey), Emily Shop Ladies Wear (New York, NY, USA), Rifkin and Grannick Ladies Wear Store (102 W. State St. Trenton, NJ, USA), Kuhl Candy Store (3 East State St. Trenton, NJ, USA), Capitol Motors Show Room (625 S. Broad St. Trenton, NJ, USA) and Original NY Furrier (Trenton, NJ, USA).

The interior design of the Hurley Tobin’s Department Store Furniture Department (Trenton, NJ, USA) won an international exhibition award (Figure 21). The July 1948 issue of Retail Management magazine wrote about Hurley-Tobin Co.’s new modern business, designed by Bohm. The article entitled Selling with lighting. Among others, the Progressive Architecture magazine has written about the remodelling of the Rifkin and Grannick Ladies Wear Store.

In addition, he designed schools and residential buildings, and his own home (Pennsylvania, Yardley) served as an educational example for young architects on how to create a functional yet liveable home. Bohm’s second wife, Anita Bohm, was also involved in the design work. Linda, their daughter, followed the artistic path and became a photographer. Their Yardley family house also features Victor and Anita Bohm. “Bohm’s wife of 27 years, Anita, is an architectural designer who helps him on many projects. They have painted together, and their home is filled with work of arts on which they have collaborated” (Brown 1976, p. 8).

In his book, Cubes and Man, Victor Bohm does not keep a distance between the architect and the reader. Although the illustrations in the volume are black and white, it also provides several colour images of the interiors and façade of his family home in Yardley, PA (Figure 22). The design was influenced by Philip Johnson, Richard Neutra and Frank Lloyd Wright, as the analyses of the architects’ house designs suggested indirectly (pp. 39–42). “Set on the axis of a triangular lot, this glass-walled home was designed according to the inner dynamics of home life, providing both physiological and psychological comfort. The use of transparent materials integrates the interior with its natural surroundings” (Bohm 1969, p. 44).

On 17 November 1955, he was elected a member of The New York Academy of Sciences: “Bohm, Victor, A.I.A., Psychology of Art. Architect. New York, N.Y” (Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences 1955, p. 183).

He was one of the pioneers in studying the relationship between architecture and psychology. “The world of Vienna is where he was born [false information—remark by the Author] and schooled, and where it was possible for him to meet Sigmund Freud. A statement by Freud that ‘architecture is molded on the human body and human soul’ aroused in Bohm an interest in psychology. This interest led directly to his style of working which applies psychology to architecture and to art. Bohm says that the habits and nature of man have to be studied in order to create an environment for him” (Brown 1976, p. 8). He was looking for the answer to how the building affects human beings and how the designer and owner appear as individuals in the building process. In his 1969 volume, Cubes and Man: A Psychological View of Architecture, he also dealt with the issue of harmony and disharmony, the relationship between art and architecture and science. His approach, which he sets out in the volume, may also have been influenced by his relationship with Richard Neutra, who also wrote the preface. Neutra believed that architecture was the instrument of bringing back the harmony between man and nature and the man with himself. In his residential buildings, he kept in mind that they should reflect the lifestyle of their residents. Bohm and Neutra also studied in Vienna years apart, although their similar architectural approach bound them together.

In the foreword, Neutra writes: “To get rid of the likes-and-dislikes idea, to honor the ‘subjective report’ of a patient-client as a psychosomatically inclined physician or psychoanalyst would is the way to guide design in the future. (…) Mr. Bohm meets me and my ideas laid down in essays written over many years in the wilderness. Instead of one cry, we need a literature to show different facets and approaches, to lead design and architecture into a discipline on current terms and base it on modern research concerned with man” (Richard Neutra’s Foreword in Bohm 1969, p. 1). His words are statements in the pioneering architectural and scientific discipline, the architectural psychology, which was a common interest of him and Bohm.

In Cubes and Man, Bohm discusses the relationship between architectural psychology through his work and that of other architects. In the appendix, we can find the thoughts of Albert Szent-Györgyi (1893–1986), the Hungarian origin Nobel-prize winner biochemist, and Salvador Dalí (1904–1989), among others, who also praised Bohm’s book.

Albert Szent-Györgyi’s praise in English is in the accompanying document of the book (translated by Bohm): “CUBES AND MAN gives a serious deep impression of the vibrating and ever searching spirit of our time. As I search for the meaning of life among molecules, you in turn search for your answers in form and space. We both seem to be quite similar for both of us express the spirit of our time”.

The original Hungarian letter by Szent-Györgyi is in the personal archive of Pál Száva. The translation: “(…) which is a great expression of the vibrant and searching spirit of our time. It makes a serious and profound impression. I am looking for the meaning of life among molecules, Mr Bohm in space and form. There is no significant difference between the two. We are both expressions of the spirituality of the age” (translation by the author).

Victor Bohm’s book explores his thoughts and also the design of some of his buildings and interior design solutions. It deals with the relationship between architecture and the cooperating applied arts (murals and oil paintings, stained glass windows as building elements, mostly pieces made by the architect).

On 29 March 1970, he was inaugurated as an honorary Doctor of Humanities for his architectural work at Philathea College, London, Ontario, Canada. On 26 May 1970, Dr Victor Bohm was awarded a Certificate of Merit for his achievements in the psychological study of architecture and won his place in the Dictionary of International Biography Volume 7 (based on original documents from the personal archive of Linda Bohm).

Bohm’s first artistic appearance was in 1918 (he was an eighth grader at the local Roman Catholic high school at the time); his caricatures at a children’s exhibition proved to be of outstanding quality, a sensation as the local press stated about Victor Bohm’s caricatures (Miskolczi Napló 1918, p. 3). In 1927, his caricature book Gefrorene Musiker (Frozen Musician) was published in Vienna (Vienna, 1927). The title refers to Arthur Schopenhauer’s phrase, “Architecture is frozen music”. The caricatures are about his professors at the Technical University of Vienna. He explored the relationship between architecture and the connecting applied and fine arts by making wall mosaic, sgraffito, mural and stained-glass window designs. He began to take oil painting seriously in his older age, and his style followed the abstract and cubist movement and forms.

“To Victor Bohm, a ‘building speaks’. It tells about the history and the people of the time in which it was built. That is why he feels it is important not to copy past periods. The buildings built today should speak for now, not times past. He feels that people are comfortable with harmony. Therefore, the proper environment will be flowing and serene, without discord or disharmony”.

(Brown 1976, p. 8)

Bohm, Victor A.I.A. Hungarian architect, living in the USA, on 13 June 1980, held a lecture to the young architects entitled “The Impact of an Architect on People—the Relationship between the Architect and Psychology”, organised by the Association of Hungarian Architects. The lecture was in Budapest. He came back to Hungary after 41 years. After his engagements and trip to Hungary, he returned to the United States and died on 2 February 1981.

János Bonta wrote the commemoration in 1981, which appeared in Hungarian Architecture magazine (Bonta 1981, p. 61).

In 1959, an article established his reputation as an American–Hungarian talent. Simon Szerényi wrote an article for the Emberek (Men), a Hungarian weekly in New York. On the cover of the 22 August 1959 issue was the title: The Hungarian architect Bohm Victor, one of the brilliant pride of American-Hungarian talent, won the USD 30,000 prize. “(…) we present BOHM VICTOR, an architect from New York, who has achieved extremely serious and GREAT SUCCESS in ARCHITECTURE, who is among the top ten architects in AMERICA according to the official statements of American architecture magazines and engineering journals (…)” (Szerényi 1959).

The protestation should be accepted with some reservations, even though Bohm has achieved great success in the United States. Perhaps it is an exaggeration to have been ranked among the top 10 architects. To the best of our knowledge, official or non-official documents do not support this statement.

Bohm carried the spirit of modernism from the end of the 1920s and brought it to the architectural scene in Miskolc, a medium-sized city in Hungary. He was then one of the few architects who designed buildings using the tools of modernism. Miskolc developed dynamically in the first decades of the 20th century, surpassing Košice (now Slovakia) in 1910. After the collapse of Austria–Hungary, it took over its regional role. Bohm emigrated in 1939, but between 1931 and 1939, he created a significant number of custom-designed buildings in Miskolc and Miskolctapolca to meet the needs of his clients, and then his career pinnacled in the United States of America. He actively published and proclaimed the aesthetic and functional principles of modern architecture. Bohm took an active part in American and Hungarian public life. He lectured on the relationship between architecture and psychology at the Association of Hungarian Architects in Budapest, Hungary, in 1980.