„Од академизма до ауторске архитектуре: стваралаштво Фрање Урбана у Београду (1924−1937)“

Abstract

Архитекта Фрања Урбан спада у групу страних градитеља који су у Београд дошли после Првог светског рата, оставивши трајан допринос његовом урбаном развоју и архитектонском обликовању. Фрања Урбан је дошао из Чехословачке посредством веза са ашкенаском јеврејском заједницом и од 1926. до своје преране смрти 1937. године радио је као приватни архитекта специјализирајући се у домену стамбене и индустријске архитектуре. Иако богатог градитељског опуса, о Фрањи Урбану до сада није објављен ниједан монографски чланак који би расветлио и валоризовао његово стваралаштво на тлу Београда, а и шире. Овај рад је настао као резултат вишегодишњег истраживања Урбановог живота и рада и представља први покушај да се његов опус сагледа у оквирима новије српске архитектуре.

Czech and Slovak architects have been present upon the Serbian scene since as far back as the middle of the nineteenth century. Architect Franja Urban, like many of his compatriots, came to Belgrade in search of work in early 1924. He was born on 15 December 1889 in Bertotovce, near Prešov, in present-day Slovakia, and died on 28 November 1937 in Belgrade. During his short but fruitful career in Belgrade, he left behind a legacy of over 50 buildings, a fact which testifies to the importance of his architectural opus. While he had been certified as an architect in Belgrade since 1926, the first projects that he signed off on as their author date to 1927. After undertaking several commissions for members of the Jewish community, in 1928 he designed three important corner buildings, with such works proving to be common among his projects. In the period from 1926 to 1931, his architecture was dominated by eclectic elements, which is most evident in his use of wide shallow-fluted stylized lesenes and discreet decoration of facade planes between windows. The most successful achievement from that phase is the commercial and residential building of Đoko Cvetković, built between 1931 and 1933. From 1931, Urban began to create in the spirit of modernism, and designed several factories. In 1934, he developed a project for a new gas plant for the AGA-Ruše company, as well as a plan for the landscaping of the factory complex. Although ample evidence exists of his ability to successfully develop projects with a touch of modernism, Franja Urban would continue to execute works in the eclectic style until the end of his career. Among these, the villa for the merchant Milan Tomić (1933) and the building of the merchant Borislav Ristić (1934) stand out. From 1935 until his death, Urban worked on architectural designs, with these being characterized by Modernist linear decorativism, with Art Deco embellishments. His most monumental achievement from this phase was the residential building of rentier Hrisanta Balugdžić, dating to 1935. Among his most successful realizations are the residential buildings of Vladimir Bublik (1935)and Albert Šic (1936), the house of Olga Milošević (1936) and the Dom Hadžija Roksande i Lazara Knjaževčana building (1936). Although Urban’s works were signed off with a recognizable author’s stamp, and his manuscripts are characterized by an extremely specific handwriting and drawing style, a number of works exist that are suspected to have been authored by him, and likewise project sketches of which he is certainly the author but which bear the signature of another architect. The most significant issue of authorship relates to the Sukkat Shalom Synagogue, whose real author is considered to be Milan Šlang; an individual who never completed his architectural studies. There are also several buildings for which the project documentation has not been preserved, and which can be claimed to be Urban’s only through stylistic attribution. The personality and work of the architect Franja Urban have long remained little-known to domestic historiography, a fact that has been compounded by the negative criticism his works received from contemporaries, as well as by numerous ambiguities about his life and career. Urban was exclusively engaged in private practice, declining to participate in competitions, and, on the basis of a richly realized opus, it can be concluded that he was considered a sought-after architect who successfully implemented the wishes of his clients, while simultaneously managing to achieve an authentic artistic expression.