Postatakarékpénztár, Budapest

Postatakarékpénztár is a former savings-bank headquarters, and the building now houses the Hungarian State Treasury. It opened in 1901, designed by Ödön Lechner and Sándor Baumgarten in the Hungarian interpretation of Art Nouveau. Notice the roofline, where richly coloured Zsolnay ceramic tiles and majolica create a lively surface; the projecting forms are capped with towers carrying Indian-inspired endings.

Beehive motifs decorate the gable, expressing saving and accumulation through the building’s imagery. The cash hall once had an innovative glass dome, but that feature was removed during the 1930s and replaced with a different roof. Lechner also designed the original furnishings; only two benches survived their replacement in the same decade. The building is regarded as a prominent Art Nouveau monument in Budapest and forms part of a World Heritage site.