Komor, Marcell (1868 - 1944)

Architect. Marcel Komor was born in Pest, the son of rabbi Salamon Kohn. He graduated from the Technical University in 1891 and started work in the office of Győző Cziegler (1850–1905), subsequently working with Alajos Hauszmann (1847–1926) and, from 1895, Ödön Lechner, with whom he was involved in the interior design work for the Museum of Applied Arts. In 1897, he started a partnership with Dezső Jakab (1864–1932), and their practice ran for twenty years, until 1918. They designed many blocks of flats, banks and public buildings. Among their most outstanding work are projects in Marosvásárhely (Târgu Mureş, Romania) – the Town Hall (designed 1905–1906, built 1907–1909) and Palace of Culture (1911–1913); in Szabadka (Subotica, Serbia) – the Synagogue (1901–1902) and Town Hall (designed 1907, built 1908–1910); and in Nagyvárad (Oradea, Romania) – the Black Eagle (Fekete Sas) Hotel (designed 1906, built 1907–1908). In their art, they consistently retained a commitment to the national style created by Lechner, which they developed and extended. Marcell Komor’s first furniture is known from the Christmas Exhibition of the Applied Arts Association in 1898, a dining suite with lavish application of Lechner-like Hungarian motifs. The same motifs appeared on the furnishings of the Synagogue in Szabadka. The carved and painted forms and motifs he used for the furnishings of Szabadka Town Hall are simpler and more stylised, lying closer to folk art. Between the two world wars, he mainly worked on his own. In November 1944, as he was being deported, he died in Sopronkeresztúr.