Béla Wellisch’s printing house was operating in this building. The newspapers, periodicals, books and postcards made here had all contributed considerably to the development of the cultural and social life of Szentgotthárd at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The old publications of this printing house can still pop up in libraries and second-hand bookshops.
The house also worked as a publishing house run by Béla Wellisch, then by his son and a staff of nearly two dozens of people. The weekly magazine called Szent-Gotthárd had been made here between 1895 and 1914 and its editors had come from among the most excellent intellectuals of the town. The printing house had done a pioneering work in publishing the literary and scientific works of local authors. In 1895 the first book written in the Wendish language and a few years later the first almanac in Wendish language were published.
After the printing house moved in 1930 to the Kálmán Széll square (at this new location it was nationalised in 1949 and practically terminated), this building had become the headquarters of the local craftsmen’s association. In 1925 the building sections in the yard started functioning as the Mother and Infant Welfare Institute of the National Stefánia Association supplemented with a doctor’s surgery and a waiting room. After World War2 the building was used by the Ministry of the Interiors as a club, and then by the „Tie Factory” of the Hungarian Silk Industry.
Today there are various shops in the building.
Address of the building’s location:
Szentgotthárd Deák Ferenc u. 5.
