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Zagreb after Austria-Hungary – Architecture and Urban Development in 1918-1924

Having lost the role of a political center after the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, the position of Zagreb in the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes considerably changed in comparison to the period before 1918. Despite that, and despite various national and social conflicts that had certain negative impacts on the city’s development, demographic and economic growth was nevertheless very fast. Although it was not the country’s capital, Zagreb soon grew into a major economic, commercial, cultural and educational center in the new state. The city’s rapid growth was facilitated by the establishment of numerous new banking and insurance companies, the construction of industrial facilities and the foundation of new higher education and other public institutions. During the 1920s, the city’s population increased by almost 90%, and the number of housing units doubled. The changed political framework did not leave any significant imprint on the urban environment. Legacies of the former state did not suffer extreme eradication, though there were some changes. Immediately after the dissolution of the Monarchy, Austro-Hungarian state symbols were removed from almost all public buildings and later, names of certain streets were changed. Even though Zagreb sustained no damage during the First World War, building activities and urban growth were almost entirely brought to a halt. After the war city witnessed a new construction boom driven by the inflation of the Krone and a shortage of housing that encouraged entrepreneurs to invest into the construction of residential and commercial buildings with the goal of preventing the loss of capital due to a sudden drop in the value of the currency. Great immigration led to the emergence of “wild” settlements and an unplanned growth of the city. Urban planning by city building administration was in the early 1920s primarily focused on eastern parts of Zagreb where huge new quarter (eastern part of the Lower Town) was built. In the field of architecture dominant stylistic tendencies from the period prior to the First World War (primarily modernized Neoclassicism and the Vienna Secession that transformed into Art Deco) remained as such in the early 1920s. This can be attested by numerous commercial and public building projects: J. Holjac’s Wiener Bankverein (1921-23), H. Ehrlich’s Slavic (Mortgage) Bank (1921-23), A. Baranyai’s Croatian General Transport Bank (1922-26), V. Kovačić's Stock Exchange Palace (1923-27), I. Fischer's City Savings Bank (1923-31), D. Sunko’s Hotel Esplanade (1922-25), R. Lubynski's Central Office for the Insurance of Workers (1925-28). They were all designed by the Zagreb based architects that were given the opportunity, after the dissolution of the Austria-Hungary, to design buildings all over the new state unhindered by architectural studios from Vienna and Budapest.

Zagreb, Architecture, 1920s, Neo-Historicism, Neoclassicism, Art-déco, Austria-Hungary, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, Janko Holjac, Hugo Ehrlich, Aladar Baranyai, Viktor Kovačić, Ignjat Fischer, Dioniz Sunko

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