Tanurdžić Palace
Tanurdžić Palace is the city's largest palace. Its longest part belongs to Modena Street, one side wing to Zmaj Jovina Street, while the other wing and the hotel belong to Ilija Ognjanović Street. It was built in 1934 for Nikola Tanurdžić, a wealthy merchant from Novi Sad, and designed by architect Đorđe Tabaković. When the famous merchant Nikola Tanurdžić (Stari Bečej, 1887 – Novi Sad, 1969) decided to build a palace in the very centre of the city as a legacy by which he would be remembered, he probably did not imagine how much fame and dominance it would achieve within the architectural-urbanistic centre of Novi Sad. In the competition announced in 1930, Đorđe Tabaković was chosen out of over 400 registered architects. Aware of the magnitude of the planned construction project, he visited several European cities together with Tanurdžić to learn about the latest construction achievements of that time. The project was completed in 1933 while the construction of the palace lasted from 1934 to 1936.
Within the palace, there were 14 commercial properties and 36 comfortable apartments. However, the most attractive was the apartment on the corner of the first floor (area of 300 m²), specially designed for the Tanurdžić family. Immediately before the outbreak of the Second World War (1939), Nikola Tanurdžić added to the palace the modern Rex Hotel also designed by Tabaković. The construction of the extension lasted until 1941 and is visually in complete harmony with the previously erected building.
The palace of Nikola Tanurdžić was nationalized in 1949. Due to the new needs of the city for additional tourist facilities, in 1981, the space of the Putnik Hotel (former Rex Hotel) looking at Ilija Ognjanović Street was expanded according to the design of architect Milan Marić. One of the residents of the palace was the famous writer Aleksandar Tišma, who immortalized it in his novel The Book of Blam.
Images
