University of Pittsburgh - Owl Yearbook (Pittsburgh, PA)

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.■nrrfn SunJt : Rev. Louis Varga, John Beneze, Dr. Samuel Gomory, F. J. Fullavtar. Mrs. Joseph Urban. George Zimmerman, Mrs. Louis deMarkus. The Hungarian Room displays a striking contrast with a ceiling of brilliantly decorated squares offset by fine-grained oak veneer walls. Ornamentation is worked into the veneer walls by use of specially-grained panels and inserts of typical Hungarian carvings. The wood door is also heavily-carved. Hungarian embroidered window drapes add a dash of color to the somber strength of the room. The chairs arc upholstered in blue leather, and arc carved with distinctive Magyar motifs. 24

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 Stern endeavor which no arduous task can shake To the hidden fount of truth attains!” These words, as Schiller wrote them in German, arc emblazoned in red, gold, and blue letters, on the walnut panel above the professor's dias in the German Room. Together with a quotation from Goethe, which is above the bookcase at the other end of the room, it typifies the spirit which the room, in early German Renaissance style attempts to catch. Walnut paneling, richly carved, inlaid, forms the basic treatment of the large room. On the wooden ceiling beams, which separate the ceiling paneling, arc placed the colored crests of fourteen prominent German cities. Carved crests—those of the two oldest German universities, Heidelberg, 1385, and Leipzig, 1409—surmount the entrance arches, which arc supported by carved walnut columns. Above the blackboards and panels runs an archtravc in which arc carved the names of twenty famous philosophers, poets, artists, musicians, mathematicians, and scientists who have contributed to the greater German culture. The furniture in the room is made of walnut. The floor consists of quartered oak planks pegged, rather than nailed, down. Visitors have found the most interesting feature of the German Room to be the six intarsia panels or inlays which are on the doors and cabinets of the room. On the doors are scenes from Rothenburg and Nuremburg, while the closet panels show scenes of four famous characters from German literature: Lorelei, Parsifal, Siegfried, and Hcidcn Roslein. The six wrought iron chandeliers follow the general Renaissance style of the room and were made in Germany. In each alcove at the ends of the room arc two wrought iron wall brackets. The German Room was designed by the Pittsburgh architect, Frank Linder. 23

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THE HUNGARIAN ROOM The Hungarian Room was designed by Denes Gyorgyi, who won first prize in a limited competition among Hungarian architects sponsored by the Hungarian Ministry of Education. Professor Gyorgyi, who also designed the Hungarian Government building at the International Exposition in Brussels, has said of the room: It is designed in complete agreement with Hungarian character, but with the American viewpoint of practical utility in mind. The simplicity of the general atmosphere of the room is offset by the brilliant dashes of color which have been added. The walls of the room arc of fine grained oak veneer, arranged into geometric panels, with an oak wainscoting carved with nineteenth century Hungarian designs. The carved oak door is one of the architectural and artistic gems in the Hungarian Room. The door displays several Magyar patterns and, waist high, the name of the country both in English and the Magyar language. The parquet floor is representative of Hungarian style. The five scats of a bench in the rear of the room arc upholstered with robin's egg blue leather. The twenty-five student chair backs are hand carved with distinctive Magyar motifs. The blue chairs arc matched by the blue cloth used in the lining of the cupboard. Additional color is found in the highly ornamented squares, with a red background, which form the ceiling. The decorations on the squares arc characteristic of Hungarian peasant art. Along the upper edge of the walls arc carved phrases from the Hungarian national hymn. The letters, filled in with red, form a binding border for the broad expanse of plain oak wall. Cream-colored curtains, embroidered in Hungarian style, and red over-drapes cover the windows in this room. At some later date a native wall tapestry depicting a phase of Hungary's cultural achievement will be hung on the back wall.