In the summer of 1910, the firm Baruch J. and Sons purchased the plot of land located at the intersection of today’s Sf. Ioan Street and Republicii Boulevard. The plot had a surface of 250 square fathoms (or square klafters in German) and Johann Baruch paid 584 Austro-Hungarian kronen for each square fathom, thus a total of 146,000 kronen. A few months later, the firm bought an extension of 130 square fathoms at a considerably lower price of only 107.7 kronen per square fathom. In total, the plot of 380 square fathoms costs 160,000 kronen. But the purchase posed a number of administrative problems. The two plots had belonged to the military administration and had been the object of an exchange with the town hall. The exchange agreement stipulated that if the plots were ever put up for sale, the military administration would have a right of pre-emption (first right to buy the property). Failure to follow the legal procedure led to an administrative deadlock that was not resolved until the end of the First World War.
It was not until 1926 that the construction of the current building began, but with an aesthetic that was typical of Timișoara’s architecture around the year 1910. It is quite possible that the project was drawn up during that time, but the administrative issues and the geopolitical situation delayed the construction. In the mid-1920s, the Weisz clothing company obtained the building permit for that plot, marking the start of the construction works. This was followed by permits for sewage (19 October 1926) and water connections (4 November 1926), then a permit for a lift (22 January 1927). In 1928, the Weisz company put the building up for auction. It was won by lawyer Dr Frigyes Hajdú Weisz for 21 million lei. Other participants in the auction included the insurance company Adria. Even if the building was erected in the second half of the 1920s, from a stylistic point of view, it can be classified as belonging to the Secession movement, having all the ingredients typical of Timișoara’s architecture around the year 1910. The building has a monumental appearance, it consists of a basement, commercial ground floor and four floors with residential apartments, and has three facades facing the street: a main facade facing Victoriei Square, and two side facades facing Regele Mihai I Boulevard and Sf. Ioan Street. The hierarchical differentiation of the three facades is achieved by the placement of a decorative tower, clad in metal sheet, above the facade facing Victorei Square, as well as through the use of a monumental three-storey high bay window with a slightly flattened curvilinear pediment at the top. Within this pediment, there is a bas-relief of two silhouettes facing the viewer depicting women leaning on and picking fruit from the horn of plenty. Within the same bay window, we notice a series of decorative panels, just above the second-floor windows, depicting basreliefs of children with floral garlands. The interior of the building is modest, with few decorative elements.
The general morphology of the building suggests that it may have been the work of the city’s head architect at the time, László Székely, who designed several buildings in the area. Going through the archives, we have also found the name of engineer Adalbert Szladek in connection with the construction of the building, but his role is unclear. Adalbert Szladek was an engineer from Lugoj, best known for his role in running the Muschong Brick and Tile Company, which he took over after the death of his father-in-law, Jakob Muschong.