Fő utca 12,, Art Nouveau architectural structure in downtown Kaposvár, Hungary
The Anker-ház stands at Fő utca 12 in downtown Kaposvár, on a trapezoidal plot between Megyeház utca and Irányi Dániel utca. The Secessionist palace has a near-rectangular plan with a corridor courtyard, and its upper facade carries 2–3 tympana decorated with beehives on each side. The inner glass roof was made by the Haas és Somogyi workshop of Budapest.
The structure was originally built as a residential building for the Somogy County Savings Bank according to designs by architect Andor Pilch. It was subsequently named after the Anker Insurance Company, which operated in the building.
The beehive reliefs on the timpani of the facade symbolize thrift, a reference to the building's original owner, the Somogy County Savings Bank, not to the Anker Insurance Company that later gave the building its name. Similar beehive motifs appear on other Kaposvár bank buildings from the same period.
The building sits at a street corner in the downtown area and is easily accessible on foot. Visitors can view the exterior from the street and observe the architectural details from different angles.
Rózsa Ignác was a locksmith, not a tiler: the wrought-iron work on the Anker-ház came from his Kaposvár workshop. The parquet flooring and the 20,000-korona strongroom were the only jobs given to outside firms, while the joinery was done by local carpenters Szarka János, Rigó János and Pojtner József, and the iron goods came from the Darnay family.
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