Behind the Loffice scenes - the location
August 9th

The high street of the quarter
Named after one of the most influential pioneer of the electrical technology, Déri Miksa street has been hiding lots of potential for a long time. This pretty wide street - creating an important axis of the Boulevard, market hall and the health center - is unavoidable for any person living here. The Municipality of Józsefváros has recognised these values and is investing in a grand refurbishment of the street. “The Main Street of Csarnoknegyed” will gain attraction with lots of new greens, nicer walkways, climate- and pedestrian-friendly solutions. The renovation is expected to be finished by the end of 2022. Check out the detailed plans here.
The “modern house”
The building at 6 Déri Miksa street was built in 1929 as a private investment of a 45-apartment building with commercial premises. The architect, Imre Szőke is well known for his apartment buildings in the 13th district & is among the Bauhaus pioneers of the decade. The imprints of the new architectural approach of the ’20s & ’30s is apparently present on the Déri Miksa building as well - the oldest inhabitants of the area still refer to it as the ‘modern house’. We learnt from one of our neighbour that the underground garage of the building was one of the most well-equipped contemporary parking lot of the 30s. An electric turning ramp was installed to take the cars to their dedicated space so the drivers didn’t have to manoeuvre at all. The parking equipment was demolished since & during the privatisation the garage was handled separately from the rest of the building. Today it’s used by the municipality for storage purposes.

The Panton era
Not only the people who lived here but decorators, window-dressers & other creative professionals - alongside teachers, students & inhabitants of the neighbourhood - were regular visitors of the building for decades. The reason all these people knew this address is due to one of the biggest supplier of stationery & creative printing industry products: the Panton stationery store chain that was operating on the ground floor of the house. The founder, Zsuzsa Alpárné built her family business from the late 80s & it grew into one of the most important paper material provider. In the photo above we took in June, Zsuzsa is saying goodbye to 33 years spent in her Déri Miksa shop. In the new Loffice, amid these same walls, if you look close enough you’ll be able to find some references to its history.