Imre Vecsey (1820–1878)

Builder of Debrecen

The most noteworthy master builder of Debrecen in the 19th century was the descendant of an old cívis family, with several pastors and teachers among his ancestors. He, however, was orphaned early in life and so had only finished his primary studies at the College when he became a mason’s apprentice, learning specialised drawing at Pál Beregszászi’s School of Drawing. Between 1840 and 1846 he travelled through Bohemia, Moravia and Germany to gain practical experience. During his travels he gradually cultivated his architectural taste, and favoured the features of Romanticism over the dominant style of Classicism. Returning to Debrecen he quickly rose in ranks owing to his diligence and up-to-date professional knowledge, becoming a master builder and securing several orders from the municipality. He built and designed some of the first industrial plants of bourgeois Debrecen, including the István steam mill and the sugar works, the abattoir and the stud farm, the army barracks, various schools and kindergartens, some churches in Hadház and Sáránd, and several private homes, from cívis houses to multistorey merchants’ homes in Piac Street.

As a master builder his most important work was the construction of the theatre, and as an architect the building of the Böszörmény grammar school. Although as a decent cívis he invested his income in vast lands and real estate so that his fortune could support his two sons until the end of their lives, the efforts he made for his hometown attest to the vision of a modern European citizen, putting first the good of the community. In his last will he bequeathed his farmstead and land situated at the end of Csapó Street to the Reformed Church to be divided into lots and secured for the construction of a church.