Béla Lajta

Béla Lajta (Bela Leitersdorfer until 1907) (Budapest, 1873. January 23. – Vienna, 1920. October 12.) Hungarian architect.

Career

Lajta finished his degree at the Budapest Technical University and worked breifly under Alajos Haszmann before spending one and a half years in Italy, mainly Rome. During that time, he also worked in painting and sculpture. After this he worked in Berlin and London. He returned home in 1899 to take part in a competition to design a synagogue which he won first prize in. His first work in 1900 was the Bard music shop on Kossuth Lajos street, finished in 1900. Odon Lechner was a notable influence on him at this time. They worked together on a number of projects, namely the Kozma street Israelite cemetary's Schmidl crypt. He designed a number of buildings in the Hungarian offshoot style of seccessionism, the most notable being Rozsavolgyi house in Budapest on Szervita square. After a serious illnees he died at a comparatively young age.