Contact details
Foundation for Industrial History of Győr
Address: 9021 Győr,
Szent István út 10/a
Phone:
+3696520274
Fax: +3696520291
E-mail:
ipartortenet@ipartortenet.hu
More...
Szent István út 10/a
Phone:
+3696520274
Fax: +3696520291
E-mail:
ipartortenet@ipartortenet.hu
Map
Hungarian Lace Factory Ltd.
| Address of the memorial site, route planning | ||
| What can we see at the memorial site? | ||
| Brief overview | ||
| Detailed company history | ||
| Interesting facts | ||
| Literature, references | ||
| Related gallery |
| ADDRESS OF THE MEMORIAL SITE, ROUTE PLANNING |
| WHAT CAN WE SEE AT THE MEMORIAL |
The former Gardénia Lace Curtain Factory is now home to a shopping mall called Dunacenter. The 6,500 m² center, located next to Highway 1, near the Vienna-Budapest highway exit, was opened in October 2009.
Source: https://dunacenter.com/about us/
Street view:
| BRIEF OVERVIEW |
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The first Venetian lace factory in Hungary was founded in Győr by the English lace manufacturer Frank Tatham in 1911. In 1913, the Hungarian Lace Factory Co. operated at full capacity: 7 weaving machines and 50 people. The range of its products was constantly expanding: after the initial production of Venetian lace and lace fabrics, in 1923 the First Hungarian Lace Curtain Factory Co. started making lace curtains, and later carpet production and tulle weaving. During the war years, they produced bandage materials, and after nationalization, onion and potato sacks were woven in the Gardénia Lace Curtain Factory. From the 1960s, they began producing synthetic curtains, and later expanded their range with jacquard products. The company is credited with developing the soil-absorbing finishing process (Soilreease). The leading company in the domestic lace and curtain manufacturing industry exported to more than thirty countries around the world, and its number of employees exceeded 800 in the 1990s. After successful years, the textile industry downturn also affected the factory. In 2008, its liquidation began. On the 100th anniversary of the lace curtain factory's founding, in 2011, the Gardénia brand name was purchased by Rovitex Homedeco Group. |
| DETAILED COMPANY HISTORY |
In his submission to the Hungarian Minister of Trade on 4 March 1910, Nottingham lace manufacturer Frank Tatham requested state benefits and state aid for the lace factory to be established in Győr, as provided for in the industrial support laws. The factory to be established was planned to have a weaving plant with 10 English-made lace looms, as well as a bleaching and finishing plant. The city of Győr – under certain conditions – provided the English entrepreneur with nearly 12 thousand m² of free land and a 15-year exemption from local taxes, but it was stipulated that after the permit was granted, Frank Tatham Limited Rt. was obliged to build and start up the factory within one year.
Hungarian Iron Merchant, June 18, 1911
In the first volume of the Compass 1912 Finanzielles Jahrbuch, published in Vienna in 1911, Frank Tathem's name is already listed as the director of Győr.
Source: https://portal.zedhia.at/
The Hungarian Lace Factory Co. Ltd. plant was completed by the summer of 1912, and production reached full capacity in 1913. On the ground floor of the two-story building, the lace factory started with 7 second-hand weaving machines, contrary to the contract. The lace was adjusted, cut and darned on the first floor, and dried on the second. The dyeing and finishing plant, combined with the boiler house, formed the other facility of the factory.
Honi Ipar, June 1913. No. 11. p. 18.
The factory employed 50 workers, although the joint-stock company had agreed to employ 50-60 men and 60-80 women. After the outbreak of World War I, the first floor of the main building was used as military accommodation, and later the wounded were housed here. Production was hampered by a shortage of raw materials, and they only produced in one shift. Their products met wartime needs: they wove bandage materials and produced materials for face veils from caterpillar silk. The factory went bankrupt and the factory was closed in 1917. The English owners left in 1919 and sold the company.
In 1922, an Austrian entrepreneur bought the factory and restarted it under the name Győri Csipkegyár Rt. At that time, Venetian lace and lace fabric were produced. In 1923, curtain production began with the purchase of two curtain machines, which also appeared in the company's name: Első Magyar Csipkefüggönygyár Rt. Further developments brought new results. The main site of the Első Magyar Egyesült Csipkefüggöny, Csipke és Hímzőgyár Rt. was in Budapest, with a branch office in Győr. Carpet and towel production also began in Győr. After a successful period, the company went bankrupt again during the Great Depression, and only in 1935 did the new owner manage to restart the business under a new name – Gardénia Csipkefüggöny és Szövőgyár Rt. In the meantime, in accordance with market demands, the embroidery machines were shut down and tulle production took precedence. In the second half of the 1930s, production in the factory was running at full capacity, with the number of employees reaching 120.