On the site of the present-day Marcali Department Store there was a residential building built in the 18th century, owned by joiner Jakab Lángi in 1859, and by master shoemaker Annók around 1900. It was demolished in 1925, and a new residential building was built in its place by master builder Gergely Csomós on the order of the restaurant-keeper István Schwetz from Budapest. In 1983-84, the ÁFÉSZ Department Dtore was built on its site.
In the northern neighborhood of the Schwetz House was the house of funeral director Márton Sváb, later Ede Lángi, which was rebuilt around 1926. One of the two shops built on the street front was the grocer’s shop of Béla Lángi.
At the end of the 19th century, the northern neighbor of the Lángi House was the house of the hospital director Manó Szaplonczay, on the site of which in 1897 Ferenc Sztelek Jr. built a residential building. Master builder Gergely Csomós and his family lived in it until the building was demolished following nationalization. A block of flats was built on the site of the Lángi- and Csomós Houses.
The northern neighbor of the Csomós House was the house of baker József Kahlenberger, inherited by his son.
The next owner was the tailor Izidor Rozenspitz, followed by László Kandler, who opened a confectionery shop and in 1952 rebuilt the house to its present form, which became a nationally renowned business. In the northern neighborhood of the Kandler House stood the house of Mihály Gvárdián and later that of his son Károly. They ran a butcher shop between 1855 and 1941. On the corner of Rákóczi and Kossuth streets, the house of Adolf Königsberg and Károly Geiszler stood in the mid-19th century, later there was a grocer’s shop (Sattler, Singer), then Károly Wilheim’s hardware store, and finally the grocer’s store Fisher. A two-storey apartment building was built on the site of the two houses in the 1950s.
1.| The house of hospital director Manó Szaplonczay (in the middle) (Ink-drawing of László Csomós, 1960s)
2.| Residential building of master builder Gergely Csomós (Photograph: László Csomós, 1931)
3.| Residential house of Funeral Director Ede Lángi (Photograph, 1927)
4.| The northeastern part of Rákóczi street in 2022 (Photograph: József Ilácsa)
5.| Detail of a panoramic image from the northeast side of Rákóczi Street (Photograph, 1970)
