Town Hall of Senta

Name of the building Town Hall of Senta
Current name same
Town, location 1 Glavni Square, Senta
GPS coordinates N 45° 55′ 51.91″, E 20° 05′ 22.16
Date of construction 1913–1914
Stylistical characteristics Late Art Nouveau

Architect

Builder

Contractor

Frigyes Kovács, an architect from Budapest.

The town council of Senta commissioned the building.

Constructor was Antal Szeila, a Budapestian entrepreneur, who had a   prosperous workshop in Senta in 1906.

Monument classification It has been ranked as a monument of great significance.

The original function of the building

Changes

The two-storey Town Hall was built to be the town’s administrative and commercial centre, and since then, it has preserved its original function. In 1914, the register office and other offices moved in. The U-shaped building consists of three wings, and its fourth front is closed up by a lower building which was built for shops. Currently, a commercial facility can be found here. The central wing accommodates the ceremonial hall and other representative function rooms of the town’s public administration. The lateral wings offer home to the town’s historic archives, the Post Office and the Office of Land Registry.

Description and qualities of the building

The Town Hall of Senta is a monumental building, which was built on a vast ground with four wings, embracing its central courtyard. The windows and pilasters on the upper floors appear in a harmonious rhythm on two levels, bringing metropolitan dimensions and spirit in this small town by the River Tisza. The vaulted portals of the outlets on the ground floor, the central projecting part and the peculiarly executed side tower grant dynamism to the monotonous and strictly fashioned facade. The middle part with its projecting arcades on the ground floor, the expressed column-like decoration and its dome constructed in tiers appears as if it wished to break away from the weighty, massive block of the building and to jump over the road separating it from the park. This prominent wing gives home to the bright and spacious assembly hall, the most important room of the Town Hall. The square-grounded, vast tower of the building, whose tip is a step-like construction, is profusely decorated with peculiarly shaped columns.

References

MZZSK Subotica, Zaštitar I – zbornik zaštite nepokretnih kulturnih dobara, Subotica 2006, 110, 111.

Valkay Zoltán, Zenta építészete, Fórum kiadó, 2007

 Map of Senta >>