Budapest's Palace District

Budapest's Palotanegyed (Palace District) forms an inner part of Pest, the eastern half of Budapest. Known until the communist period as the ‘Magnates’ Quarter’,[2] it consists of the western part of the city's Eighth District, or Józsefváros (Joseph Town), which was named on 7 November 1777[3] after Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria (1741-1790), who reigned 1765-1790 (1780-1790 as King of Hungary). (Vienna's Eighth District, the Josefstadt, was also named after him, but long after his reign, in 1850). Józsefváros developed immediately east of the medieval walls of Pest and was originally called Lerchenfeld (‘Lark Field’)[4] or the Alsó-Külváros (‘Lower Suburb’). The Palotanegyed's borders are the Múzeum körút to the west, Rákóczi út to the north, the József körút to the east and Üllői út to the south.

Ca. 1830s map of Gämsen (Zerge) - meaning ‘’Chamois’ - later Horánszky utca. The street was established in 1828 between Stadtgutgasse (later Föherceg Sándor and then Bródy Sándor utca) and Frühlingsgasse (later József utca and then Krúdy utca). It appears to have been named after the ‘Zur Gämse’ building to the west of the northern intersection, which records show was built by a Michael Mayer sometime after he bought the land in 1759. The name ‘Zur Gämse’ suggests it may have been a tavern. The area was mostly vineyards and kitchen gardens[1]
Late 19th century view of Saint Rokus church (1711) and hospital (1796), Gyulai Pál utca 2
The National Museum (1837-47), Múzeum körút 14-16
1831 map of the Pest Palace District. It was in German only. Note extensive greenery.
1896 Street map of the Palotanegyed
The Old Parliament (Régi Képviselőház) (1866), Bródy Sándor utca 8

History
Eastern side of Cálvin tér, 19th century
The 1857-58 National Stables designed by Miklós Ybl, originally between the Károlyi and Eszterházy Palaces, and demolished after World War II
The Károlyi Palace (1865) after it became the Italian Embassy
The 1875 Nemzeti Színház (National Theatre), on the corner of Rákóczi út and Muúzeum körút, moved in 1908 to the Népszínház (People’s Theatre) on Blaha Lujza tér, which was then renamed the Nemzeti Színház. Demolished for ‘fire safety’ reasons in 1913
Nemzeti Színház (National Theatre), corner of Rákóczi út and Múzeum körút, 1875
The 1875 People's Theatre (Népszínház), renamed the National Theatre (Nemzeti Színház in 1908). Demolished in 1965.
The 1877 Budapest Rabbinical School and Jewish University
The 1880-90 Sacred Heart Jesuit Church, Lörincz Pap tér
The Károlyi palota at Muzeum utca 11 probably around 1876 with its neighbour Almassy House under construction. The heraldic crest at the top has since disappeared
Adolf Greiner's 1892 apartment building at Horánszky utca 27. It replaced an earlier two-storey building designed in 1869 by prolific Palotanegyed architect Antal Gottgeb[5]. At one point the building was owned by the well-known actress and operetta singer Irén Zilahy (born Káposvár 1904), who was killed in her villa at Himfy u 5 in Budapest’s 11th district during a US air raid on 3 April 1944[6][7]

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Garden of the Károlyi Palace, Eszterházy utca (now Pollack Mihály tér), 1881
Adolf Greiner's 1892 apartment building at Horánszky utca: the servants' stairwell
Rear of the Károlyi Palace, Eszterházy utca (Pollack Mihály tér), 1890
The Baross Cafe (right) on the corner of Krúdy utca and the József körút ca. 1898. The site is now occupied by a Penny Market
Gates to the garden of the Kárloyi Palace, Eszterházy utca (Pollack Mihály tér) in the 1890s
Rear of the Károlyi Palace, Pollack Mihály tér, in 2019
Interior of the Baross cafe, probably between the wars
Eastern side of Cálvin tér, early 20th century
Troops at József Körút 53 in 1905
The Gutenberg Otthon (1907)
Corner of Baross utca and the József körút, 1940
The former Cafe Spolarich at 37-39 József körút, on the corner of Kis Sáletrom utca, in the 1930s. In its place is now a post office.
Cafe Spolariich, 37-39 József Körút 37-39, on the corner with Kis Sáletrom utca
Dr Pajor's Sanatorium and Medicinal Baths, Vas utca 17, ca.1910-20. The architect was Dezsö Hültl, who designed many central Pest buildings around the turn of the 20th century, including the fine Hültl Palace at Belgrád rakpart 27. Miksa Róth designed the building’s decorative glass.
Sándor utca, later Bródy Sándor utca, 1934. The building in the middle on the right is the current headquarters of Hungarian Radio.
The view from the same spot on Bródy Sándor utca, formerly Sándor utca, in 1934, in July 2018
The Fechtig House (1873), which originally housed Cafe Schodl, which in 1885 became today's Múzeum Café and Restaurant[8]
The Corvin Áruház (department store) (1926), Blaha Lujza tér, next to the People's Theatre (Népszínház), in the 1930s
The Muzéum kávéház, probably around the turn of the 20th century
Corner of Horánszky and Krúdy utca in the 1930s
The Muzéum kávéház, early 20th century
Maria utca 20, 1920
The Dreher Beer cellar and garden which operated at Eszterházy u. 6 (now Puskin u.) 1932-41. Built around 1810, it is the oldest-known building in the Palace District other than the St Roch chapel and hospital. It operated in the post-war period as the Hotel Pannonia, later as a car park and is now derelict[9][10]
The Dreher Beer Garden, Eszterházy u. 6 (Puskin u.), 1932-41
The Dreher Beer Garden, Eszterházy u. 6 (Puskin u.)- View from the entrance
The Eszterházy u. 6 Beer Cellar in 1939
The Dreher beer hall at Eszterházy u 6: a Transylvanian-style room in 1941
The Dreher beer hall at Eszterházy u 6: part of the interior in 1941
Béla Lajta’s 1912 Count Széchenyi School of Trade on Vas utca
Béla Lajta’s Count Széchenyi School of Trade - stained glass
Béla Lajta’s Count Széchenyi School of Trade - the lift
The 1890s Uránia Cinema, Rákóczy út 21
The Uránia National Film Theatre at Rákóczi út 21: one of the cinemas
Probably early 20th century Hungarian Secession building on Baross utca
Corner Krúdy utca and Mária utca (next to the church), 1909
The Fiume Café, József körút 43, in 1936-38
1940 Fiume café menu (Magyar Kereskedelmi és Vendéglátoipari Múzeum)

The two-metre great flood of 1838 caused the collapse of 900 buildings in the Józsefváros, with only 250 surviving.[11][12] The few buildings in the Palotanegyed which survive from before 1838 include the Szent Rókus-kápolna (Chapel of St Roch - the patron saint of plague sufferers), built in 1711 in the hope of warding off the plague then devastating Pest, on the site of an early Christian, possibly 4th century, chapel. The oldest known building in the Palace District, it was rebuilt in 1945 after being destroyed in World War II - and then was damaged badly again in 1956. The Szent Rókus Kórház (St Roch Hospital) next door - was opened in 1796, but in its current incarnation offers few clues to its antiquity.

A major impetus for the area's development after the great flood was the construction at its western end of the magnificent neo-classical Hungarian National Museum between 1837 and 1847, designed by the Viennese-born architect Mihály Pollack, after whom the square behind the museum is named. Meetings of the upper house of the Hungarian parliament, established as part of the compromise which founded the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary in 1867, were held in the National Museum until the opening of the new Hungarian parliament building in 1904. The rest of Hungary's original parliament was established next door to the museum at Főherceg Sándor utca (Archduke Alexander Street) (today Bródy Sándor utca) 8. This street was named in honour of Hungary's Habsburg Palatine, or Viceroy, during the years 1790-95, Archduke Alexander Leopold of Austria, in 1840.

The building, completed in 1866, was designed by one of 19th century Budapest's great architects, Miklós Ybl, who also designed the Opera House and the Basilica, as well as five of the Palotanegyed's palaces (Festetics, Pálffy, Károlyi (on Pollack Mihály tér), Bókay and Odescalchi/Degenfeld-Schomburg). Today the old parliament building houses the Italian Cultural Institute.

Between 1860 and the outbreak of the First World War, members of the dual monarchy's aristocratic and mercantile elite - many of whom were members of parliament - built around 36 city palaces or mansions in the same area.[13] The Károlyi family built four palaces in the district, Count János Zichy and his family three, while the Bánffy and Wenckheim families each built two. The district's palaces were mostly constructed in the streets surrounding the Museum (today's Bródy Sándor utca, Pollack Mihály tér, Muzeum utca, Reviczky utca and Ötpacsirta utca. But a number were also built further east, including on today's Lőrinc pap tér, Gyulai Pál utca, Horánszky utca, Szentkirályi utca and Trefort utca. The other residential buildings constructed in the Palace District around the same time were designed mainly for middle or upper-middle class occupants.[14] The term 'palota' ('palace') is used more elastically in Hungary (and in much of Continental Europe) than in the English-speaking world. In the Palotanegyed it refers to everything from genuine palaces (such as the Wenckeim Palace, now Szabó Ervin Library) for aristocratic families, to buildings with generously-proportioned apartments for the wealthy upper-middle classes (such as the Emich Palace on Horánszky utca).

The Palace District is also notable for one of Budapest’s two surviving buildings designed by the famous Viennese architects Fellner & Helmer, the István Károlyi or Károlyi-Csekonics palace at Múzeum utca 17. (The other is the Vígszínház on the Szent István körút).

One of the great classical architects of Pest, József Hild, designed one of the earlier buildings in the district, the 1842 Virágfüzéres ház (‘Garland House’) at Baross utca 40. At the time of writing it was dilapidated and set to be unsympathetically renovated with a large roof extension.[15]

Most of the Palotanegyed’s architecture echoes that of the Viennese Franz-Joseph era from the 1840s until World War One. However there are also a number of buildings in the Hungarian Secession style, championed most famously by Ödön Lechner, notably the Gutenberg Otthon and several buildings on Vas utca, Baross utca and Krúdy utca. Lechner’s Jewish student Béla Lajta’s designed the 1912 Count Széchenyi School of Trade on Vas utca, a striking contrast to most of the Palace District’s architecture, fusing modernism, art deco and folk motifs. Its rich interior decoration, remarkably, survived World War II.

One of the lesser-known architects who designed buildings in the Palotanegyed's pre-World War One boom period was another Jewish architect, Adolf Greiner (born Losoncz, now Slovakia, 1847, died Budapest 1931). He designed the Újpest synagogue, built 1885-86, and a number of inner Pest apartment buildings in the 1890s, including the four-storey building at Horánszky utca 27, built in 1892.[16][17]

The Palace District contains important educational and cultural institutions. Between the Muzéum körút and Puskin utca is the Humanities Faculty of Budapest’s Eötvös Loránd University,[18] built 1880-3 by Imre Steindl, also the architect of the Parliament building.[19] The central administration and many of the departments of the city’s Semmelweis University (of medicine) occupy the block between Üllöi út, Baross utca, Maria utca and Szentkírályi utca.[20] They had appeared on maps by 1896 and are of a similar style to the nearby Eötvös Loránd University buildings. In addition, the Semmelweis University’s Faculty of Health Sciences and the Hungarian Society of Therapists are housed in the former sanatorium and medicinal baths at Vas utca 17 (see photo). The Pázmány Péter Catholic University[21] occupies two buildings on Szentkírály utca, while the German-language Andrássy University is housed in the Festetics Palace.[22] The Arts and Humanities Faculty of the Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church of Hungary[23] is at Revitczky utca 4 and plans to expand ts presence in the Palotanegyed, into the former Károlyi palaces between Reviczky utca and Muzéum utca once their current redevelopment has been completed.

Schools in the district include the Széchenyi School of Trade on Vas utca, the Eötvös Loránd University Trefort Ágoston teacher-practicing High School on Trefort utca,[24] and three on Horánszky utca - the Benda Kálmán Arts and Social Sciences College[25] (part of the Károli Gáspár University); the Vörösmarty Mihály Gimnázium[26] the Saint Ignatius Jesuit College.[27]

The main church in the district is the mainly neo-Romanesque Jézus Szíve templom (Church of the Sacred Heart), on Lörincz Pap tér, which was built 1880-1890 to the designs of József Kauser.[28] Kauser also completed the spectacular interior of the Basilica after Miklós Ybl died in 1891[29] and designed the south-eastern quarter of the Kódály körönd, the magnificent quartet of residential palaces on Andrássy út between Oktogon and Heroes’ Square.[30] The area around the Jézus Szíve templom has long been known as the ‘little Vatican’ for its numerous institutions connected with the Catholic Church. These include the Jézus Szíve Jezsuita lélkeszség (the Society of Jesus Convent) at Maria utca 25, the Kollégium Teréziánum of the Miasszonyunkról Nevezett Kalocsai Iskolanövérek Társulata (Terezianum College (student dormitory) of the Society of Our Lady Sisters of Kalocsa School at Maria utca 20[31] and several in Horánszky utca: the Saint Ignatius Jesuit College mentioned above (18); the Divine Saviour’s Sisters Saint Anna College (Isteni Megváltóról Nevezett Nővérek Szent Anna Collégiuma)(17);[32] the 1912 Párbeszédháza, the House of Dialogue, the Jesuits' spiritual and cultural centre in Budapest(20) (handed after the communist regime’s dissolution of the Jesuit order to the Karl Marx University; ‘the ruined building was returned to the Jesuit order and the order had the building renovated by its hundredth anniversary’);[33] and the Jézus Szíve társasága egyetemi szakkkolegiumá (during World War II the Jézus Szive Népleanyok Társasága (Sacred Heart Society of Folkgirls) was at this address) (14).

These institutions played a heroic role in helping persecuted Jews after the German occupation of Hungary in March 1944. The sisters of the Saint Anna College gave refuge to Jewish girls while the Sacred Heart Society of Folkgirls issued protective documents. The convent in Maria utca hid Jewish men,[34] while the House of Dialogue, according to the plaque outside, ‘hid almost forty deserters and 120 Jews away in the basement and then helped them escape abroad.’

The 1877 Rabbinical Seminary and Budapest University of Jewish Studies on Gutenberg tér (Országos Rabbiképző - Zsidó Egyetem and Alapítvány a Zsidó Egyetemért) is the world’s oldest institution where rabbis graduate. It also contains a synagogue.[35] Its construction was financed by the Emperor and King Franz Joseph, and was originally named after him. (He visited it a month after its opening in November 1877). After the German occupation of Hungary in March 1944, the rabbinical institute was seized by the SS and turned into a prison. Adolf Eichmann used it as a base to organise the deportation of Hungarian Jews, mainly to Auschwitz.

According to the Wikipedia article on the institute, an important part of its library was seized by the Nazis. ‘3000 books were dispatched to Prague, where Eichmann planned the construction of a "Museum of an extinct race" in the former Jewish quarter. Only in the 1980s were the books discovered in the cellar of the Jewish Museum of Prague and brought back to Budapest in 1989. ‘The library remains a source of pride for the university. It is considered one of the most important collections of Jewish theological literature outside Israel.’ During the communist period, the rabbinical seminary in Budapest, uniquely in Eastern Europe, continued to operate, attracting students from across the region, including the Soviet Union.

In addition to the main cultural institutions in the Palace District - the National Museum and the Szabó Ervin Library - the Uránia Cinema, at Rákóczy út 21, is also noteworthy. Designed by Henrik Schmahl in a hybrid Venetian Gothic-Moorish style, it opened in the mid-1890s initially as a cabaret theatre. Restored in 2002 to its original glory, four years later the Uránia was awarded the European Union’s heritage protection prize, Europa Nostra, for outstanding restoration.[36]

World War II and Communism
The Corvin Department Store, Blaha Lujza tér, 1940
Evening at the Civil Servants’ Club (Tisztviselö Kaszinó), Eszterházy (Puskin) utca 4, 1940
Ball at the Károlyi Palace (Múzeum utca 17), 1940
Ball at the Károlyi Palace (Múzeum utca 17), 1940
Troops departing for the front along the József körút past the National Theatre, 1942
German foreign minister Ribbentrop at the Nagykörút/Rákóczi út intersection, 8 Jan 1942
Soviet troops on the Józsefkörút, looking south towards Üllöi út, 1945
Soviet troops on the corner of the Józsefkörút and Üllöi út, 1945
The intersection of the Józsefkörút and the inner section of Baross utca, 1945
Corner of Üllöi and Szentkírályi streets, 1945
Wartime destruction, Kálvin tér
Queue for horse meat at Rákóczi tér, 1946
Blaha lujza tér, 1947
1948 communist-era plan for redevelopment of the Palace District, which would have seen all buildings except the National Museum demolished.
St Rokus Chapel, 1952
Rákóczi út from Vas utca, 1952
Corner of Rákóczi út and Múzeum körút in 1953
Kálvin tér, 1953
The Lord Rothermere Fountain on Szabó Ervin tér in 1954
The Corvin Áruház (department store) (1926) in the 1950s
The Corvin Áruház (department store) (1926), after it was clad in aluminium in 1967
Captured Soviet tanks, Polláck Mihály tér, 1956
The Hungarian coat of arms painted onto a captured Soviet tank, 1956
A Soviet tank passing the ‘Chimney Sweep’s House’, Bródy Sándor utca, 1956
Damage to Szentkírályi utca 34, at the intersection with Múzeum utca, 1956
The Magyar Rádio Palace after 1956 fighting
Damage to the Magyar Rádio building, 1956
Damaged St Rokus Chapel, 1956
Soviet tank in Mikszáth Kálmán tér, 1956
Makarenko (Horánszky) utca 10 in 1960, a later-demolished building replaced by one which now houses a tapas bar
Grocery shop at Szentkírályi utca 17 (still there under new management) during the communist years
The 1969 building which replaced the National Stables, one of the Palotanegyed's mercifully few relics of the communist era - and slated for demolition.
The Szabó Ervin Library, the former Wenckheim Palace, in 1971 - many years before the area around it was pedestrianised
Krúdy Gyula utca, 1978
Mikszáth Kálmán tér in the 1970s

Still bullet-marked buildings show that the Palace District, like the rest of Budapest, was left scarred by the fighting at the end of the Second World War. The damage was particularly bad around the Nagykörút and Kálvin tér. But while buildings on the former were reconstructed more or less to their original state, on Kálvin tér many of the fine 19th century buildings on both sides of the square were demolished. More damage in both parts of the Palace District was inflicted during the 1956 uprising and the subsequent Soviet attack.

The communist regime neglected the district's buildings and committed some great acts of vandalism, especially the demolition in 1965 of the city's National Theatre, until 1908 the Népszínház (People's Theatre - or Volkstheater) on Blaha Lujza tér.[37] This building, much loved by Budapesters, had been constructed in 1875[38] to the designs of Fellner & Helmer. The loss of the National Theatre still seems to leave a gap on Blaha Lujza tér. A street on the eastern side of the József körút which led to the Népszínház is still called Népszínház utca. In 1948 the regime also demolished the National Stables behind the Museum in 1948, replacing them in 1969 with a modern office block unsympathetic to its grand surroundings.

As the post-war communist regime consolidated its grip, the names of a number of streets and institutions in the Palotanegyed were changed. In 1946 Főherceg Sándor utca (Archduke Alexander Street) was renamed Bródy Sándor utca.[39]Sándor Bródy (writer) (1863-1924) was a Jewish-born novelist, dramatist, and short-story writer who was 'among the first in Hungarian literature to focus attention on the urban proletariat, and the first to introduce the coarse and pungent vernacular of the big city into literary works'.[40] In the same year the metropolitan library in the former Wenckheim Palace was named the Szabó Ervin Library in honour of Ervin Szabó, a revolutionary socialist who translated the works of Marx and Engels into Hungarian and who in 1911 had been appointed the library's director.[41] In 1949, Eszterházy utca and Ötpacsirta utca were renamed Puskin utca.[42] Two years later, in 1948, the section of Baross utca in front of the library was renamed Szabó Ervin tér[43] Surprisingly, the communist regime did not rename the József körút (Joseph ringroad), named after the Archduke of Austria and Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, as it did the Teréz and Erzsébet stretches of the ringroad, named after female Habsburg monarchs. In 1950,[44] Horánszky utca, named after Dual Monarchy-era Hungarian member of parliament and trade minister Nándor Horánszky,[45] was renamed Makarenko utca, in honour of Soviet educational theorist Anton Makarenko.

Of the Palotanegyed’s eleven or so cafés which existed during Budapest’s pre-war heyday, all except one vanished.[46] The one survival, the Muzéum, though it calls itself a café-restaurant is today only a restaurant.

Since 1989

Despite the occasional acts of disdain and vandalism shown by the communist regime towards Budapest's historical fabric, the vast majority of the Palotanegyed's pre-World War II buildings survived war, revolution, Soviet occupation and the socialist decades. At the same time, by the early post-communist period, the Józsefváros had acquired a reputation amongst Hungarians as the poorest and most crime-ridden of the Pest districts. This reputation reflected the dilapidation and poverty especially of the outer part of the district (i.e. east of the Józsefkörút) and the proportionately high population of typically poor gypsies in that area. This reputation coloured perceptions of the whole of Józsefváros, including, probably unfairly, the Palotanegyed. It was ironic given that historically the area had been one of the wealthiest parts of the city.

One of the early decisions of the post-1989 democratic authorities was to restore some pre-communist streetnames. Horánszky utca and Ötpacsirta utca reappeared although Bródy Sándor utca, Puskin utca and Szabó Ervin tér remained unchanged. The 1930 statue of Count Nandor Zichy in front of what was his palace on Lörinc Pap tér returned.

Palotanegyed map (2009) showing existing and planned road/footpath reconstruction
The elegant entrance of Bródy House, in the Tauffer Palace, Bródy Sándor u. 10

Since the mid-1990s, the Palotanegyed's fortunes have steadily recovered. Many of the district's palaces have been restored, and slowly but surely other buildings are following suit. Local and international investors have seen that the area combines charm and inner-city convenience. And the Józsefváros local government has made much progress rebuilding the district's streets to make pedestrian-only areas, widen footpaths, rationalise parking, plant more trees and generally smarten the area up. As of February 2020, areas completed include Reviczky utca, Ötpacsirta utca, Mikszáth Kálmán tér, the area between the Szabó Ervin library and Calvin tér, Lőrinc pap tér, Maria utca, Kőfaragó utca, Gyulai Pál utca, Horánszky utca, much of Krúdy utca, Gutenberg tér, Bródy Sándor utca between the Múzeum körút and Horánszky utca and Rökk Szillárd utca. The mainly pedestrian area along Krúdy utca between Mikszáth Kálmán tér and Lőrinc pap tér thrives with restaurants and cafes in a way that wouldn't have been imagined before the 1989 changes.

In May 2018 the Józsefváros council announced that funds had been also been allocated for reconstruction of sections of Szentkirályi utca and that Puskin utca, Trefort utca and Somogyi Béla utca would also be renovated.[47][48] In April 2019 the council reported that the street reconstruction project would be undertaken as part of the third phase of the Europe Inner Cities programme and would comprise, in addition to work now completed on Bródy Sándor utca and Rökk Szilárd utca, Szentkirályi utca between Bródy Sándor utca and Mikszáth Kálmán tér. Trefort utca and Pollack Mihály tér 'could also be renovated in the future'[49]

In July 2016 the media reported that the Hungarian National Museum’s gardens would get a facelift, that three buildings belonging to Hungarian Radio - the former Károlyi and Eszterházy palaces on Pollack Mihály tér and the Magyar Rádio palace at Bródy Sándor utca 5-7 - would be renovated and used by the National Museum; that the two communist-era Hungarian Radio buildings on Pollack Mihály tér would be demolished; and that the green spaces around the original palaces would be restored.[50][51] The National Museum garden restoration project was completed in April 2019.[52]

But there was a change of plan and on 3 March 2020 the national government proposed legislation transferring ownership of the Hungarian Radio buildings in the Palotanegyed which were given to the National Museum in 2016, with the addition of Szentkírályi utca 25/A, 25/B and 27, to the Pázmány Péter Catholic University.[53] The Parliament approved the plan on 31 March.[54] Tamás Tóth, secretary of the Bishops’ Conference, was quoted in the media saying it was important that the Pázmány university occupy the new properties as soon as possible, but that they would require renovation and that the process could take years.[55][56][57] It was reported in June 2019 that the Pázmány Péter Catholic University had also acquired the Kéményseprő ház (the ‘Chimney Sweep House’), the classicist building at Bródy Sándor utca 15 built 1851-5 and designed by Károly Hild, brother of the more famous Budapest architect József Hild, which would house the university’s central offices.[58]

In April 2018 it was announced that Blaha Lujza tér would undergo a major renovation with green spaces replacing the current car-park area. At the same time, the 1926 Corvin Áruház (department store) would get a facelift with its communist-era aluminium layer removed and the original façade restored. Works were originally scheduled to be completed by the end of 2019, but the new Józsefváros council, elected in the October 2019 local elections, delayed the work while it reviewed the plans.[59] Józsefváros deputy mayor Dániel Rádai was quoted in July 2020 saying that reconstruction of the square would start in the spring of 2021, at the same that the restoration of the facade of the Corvin Áruház, which was expected to take eighteen months. He also foreshadowed the reconstruction of so far unreconstructed streets in the Palace District, firstly Szentkirályi utca.[60]

In July 2018 the council announced that thirteen Palotanegyed apartment buildings would be renovated alongside the reconstruction of sections of Bródy Sándor utca, Rökk Szilárd utca and Szentkirályi utca. The works were due for completion by the end of 2019. As of February 2020, the reconstruction works had not yet started on Szentkírályi utca.[61]

The Palotanegyed Palaces
  • The Kauser House (Gerster Károly, 1860), Gyulai Pál utca 5. Built for János Kauser, a stonemason and sculptor.
  • The Festetics Palace (Miklós Ybl, 1862), Pollack Mihály tér 3. Today the Andrássy Gyula Budapest German-language University.
  • The Károlyi Palace (Miklós Ybl,1865), Pollack Mihály tér 10. On the left of the building are the National Stables, demolished after the war and replaced with a five-story building in 1969.
  • The Eszterházy Palace (Sándor Baumgarten, 1865), Pollack Mihály tér 8. 1946-1948 residence of the Hungarian President; today houses Hungarian Radio's Marble Room.
  • The Palffy Palace Budapest, Miklós Ybl, 1867), Ötpacsirta utca 4/Reviczky utca 2. Built for Count János Palffy. Today the Metropolitan Szabó Ervin Library Music Collection.
  • The Bókay Palace (Miklós Ybl,1870), Múzeum utca 9. Built for Built for János Bókay, a doctor.
  • The Gottgeb House (Antal Gottgeb, 1870), Gyulai Pál utca 13. Built by Gottgeb, a master builder, for himself.
  • The Márffy-Mantuano Palace (Antal Gottgeb, 1871), Horánszky utca 4. It was later the residence of Austro-Hungarian diplomat in Rome Rezsö Márffy-Mantuano. [62] His daughter, Judit Márffy-Mantuano de Versegh et Leno, later Judith Hare, Countess of Listowel, was born on the family estate at Kaposvár, Hungary, in 1903. She married William Hare, 5th Earl of Listowel in 1933.[63]
  • The Keglevich Palace (Ferenc Dötzer, 1871), Bródy Sándor utca 9. Built for Count István Keglevich, a Member of Parliament.
  • The Zichy House (Antal Skalnitzky, 1871), Múzeum utca 15. Built for a member of Count János Zichy's family.
  • One of the district's four Károlyi Palaces (József Pucher and Antal Skalnitzky, 1871), Múzeum utca 11. Built for Count István Károlyi. Today used by the Hungarian State Railways (MÁV) Symphony Orchestra.
  • The Bánffy apartment building (bérház) (Károlyi Berg, 1871), Reviczky utca 7. Built for Count György Bánffy.
  • The Bánffy Palace (Miklos Bánffy, 1873), Reviczky utca 5. Built for Count György Bánffy.
  • The Baron Fechtig House (Antal Skalnitzky, 1873) at Bródy Sándor utca 2. Built for Baron Nándor Fechtig. The ground floor houses the Múzeum Café and Restaurant, which has been in business (initially under the name Schodl) since the 1870s.[64]
  • The variously known Odescalchi or Degenfeld-Schomburg Palace (Miklós Ybl,1874), Bródy Sándor utca 14.[65] Built for Count Ágost Degenfeld-Schomburg.
  • The variously-named Hadik Palace or Hasenfeld House (János Kauser, 1875), Múzeum utca 7. Built for Count János Zichy.
  • The Dessewffy Palace (Antal Weber, 1876), Bródy Sándor utca 4.
  • The Almassy House (Antal Gottgeb, 1877), Ötpacsirta utca 2. Built for Kálmán Almássy. Today the headquarters of the Hungarian Architects' Association
  • One of the four Károlyi Palaces in the district, known as the István Károlyi or Károlyi-Csekonics Palace (Fellner and Helmer, 1881), Múzeum utca 17. Built for Countess Károlyi, wife of Count István Károlyi.
  • One of the Palotanegyed's two Wenckheim Palaces (György Dániel, 1889), Reviczky utca 4. Built for Baron Béla Wenckheim. From 1934 it was owned by Countess Széchenyi, wife of Count Antal Széchenyi.
  • The Wenckheim Palace (József Pucher, 1890), Szabó Ervin tér 1. Built for Count Frigyes Wenckheim. Since 1931 Budapest's municipal library.
  • One of the district's four Károlyi Palaces (Artúr Meinig, 1890), Reviczky utca 6. Built for Count Sándor Károlyi.
  • The Pulszky Palace (Arnold Nefanei, 1890) at Puskin utca 12/Trefort utca 1. Built for Ferenc Pulszky, the then-owner of the National Museum.
  • The Hunyady Palace (Artur Meinig, 1892), Trefort utca 3. Built for Count Imre Hunyadi. For many years the Józsefváros district centre for medical specialists, but as of July 2018 apparently empty.
  • The Prónay Palace (Fridrich Lóránt, 1890), Trefort utca 2. Built for Gézá Rakovszky. Today the Hotel Mercure Budapest Museum.
  • The Tauffer Palace (Ernő Schannen, 1892), Bródy Sándor utca 10. Built for Dr Vilmos Tauffer, an obstetrician.
  • The Törley Palace (Rezső Ray, 1895), Bródy Sándor utca 16. Built for József Törley, champagne magnate.
  • The Pejacsevich Palace (Elek Hofhauser, 1896), Reviczky utca 3. Built for Count Tivadar Pejacsevich Tivadar, Ban of Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia
  • The variously-named Liebner or Darányi Palace (Sándor Stärk, 1896), Lőrinc pap tér 3. Built for then-agriculture minister Ignác Darányi.
  • The Emich Palace (Ferenc Novák, 1896), Horánszky utca 16. Built for royal courtier and owner of the Athenaum printworks Gusztáv Emich as three enormous apartments, one on each floor.[66][67] Sold in 1913 to Count Aurél Dessewffy, judge and Speaker of the-then House of Magnates.
  • The Keszlerffy Palace (József Huber, 1897), Bródy Sándor utca 6. Built for János Keszlerffy, who was connected by marriage to Count György Károlyi.
  • One of the district's three Zichy Palaces (Lipót Havel), 1897), Lőrinc pap tér 2. Built for Count Nándor Zichy. Today the Hotel Palazzo Zichy.[68]
  • One of the district's three Zichy Palaces (Gyula Kauser, 1899), Szentkirályi utca 16 ). Built for a member of Count Nándor Zichy's family. Today an apartment building.
  • The Gschwindt Palace (Sándor Tóth, 1901), Puskin utca 19/Bródy Sándor utca 12. Built for György Gschwindt, a wealthy businessman.
  • The Hadik-Barkóczy Palace (Ede Lux, 1912[69]), Múzeum utca 5. Built for Count Endré Hadik-Barkóczy.

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  2. Karl Baedeker, Austria-Hungary, London, 1900, p.339
  3. "Barangolasok a Zerge utcaban a zerge ház". emlekezzbudapest.blog.hu.
  4. "Barangolasok a Zerge utcaban a zerge ház". emlekezzbudapest.blog.hu.
  5. "1869 design for Zerge (Horánszky) u. 27".
  6. "Ziláhy Irén".
  7. "Ziláhy Irén száz éve születtet".
  8. "Múzeum Kávéház és Étterem".
  9. "Sörkatakomba".
  10. "Sörözökert a város közepén".
  11. Rácz Attila ed, Palotanegyed Most, Jelen, Jövö, Józsefváros Önkormányzat, 2012, p.38
  12. Maja and Reuben Fowkes, "Eighth District Seeks its Aristocratic Roots", Time Out Budapest April 2009, http://beyondbudapest.hu/kepek/TimeOut.pdf.
  13. Rácz Attila ed, Palotanegyed Most, Jelen, Jövö, Józsefváros Önkormányzat, 2012
  14. See, for example, the descriptions of József körút 37-39 and Krúdy Gyula utca 12 in Lajos Csordás, Walks Along the Great Boulevard, Budapest, Vince Books, 2008, pp. 166 and 170
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  19. Annabel Barber, Budapest, Blue Guide, 2018, p.228
  20. "Semmelweis University".
  21. "Pázmány Péter Catholic University".
  22. "Andrássy Universität Budapest".
  23. "Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church of Hungary".
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  29. Barber, Ibid., p.155
  30. Barber, Ibid., p.201
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  50. "Felujitjak a Pollack Mihály téri epuleteket".
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  52. "Budapest's National Museum garden reopens". WeLoveBudapest EN. April 18, 2019.
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  54. "Eldölt: Költözik piliscsabai kampuszáról a Pázmány". March 31, 2020.
  55. "A fövárosba költözik Pázmány Péter katolikus egyetem piliscsabai resze is". March 31, 2020.
  56. "Utolsó séta? Körkép a Magyar Rádió legendás épületeiről". June 16, 2020.
  57. "Közel kilencmilliárdot szánnak az új Pázmány-campus tervezésére". July 31, 2020.
  58. "Hová lett a Bródy Sándor utca Keménysepröje". June 27, 2019.
  59. "Budapest plans to make Blaha Lujza tér green and accessible". WeLoveBudapest EN. April 12, 2018.
  60. "Fokusz a városfejlesztési témák" (PDF). July 15, 2020.
  61. Önkormányzat, Józsefvárosi. "Újabb fejlesztések a Palotanegyedben". jozsefvaros.hu.
  62. "Nemzeti Casino Évkönyve 1938" (PDF).
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  65. hu:Palotanegyed; name="mszp8.hu">"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2010-10-10.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  66. hu:Emich Gusztáv (zoológus)
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  68. "Hotel website" (PDF). www.hotel-palazzo-zichy.hu. Retrieved 2019-08-12.
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