Neo-Baroque Palace, Hungary

This Neo-Baroque Palace in Hungary, built at the dawn of the 20th Century, features stunning architecture. The main highlight of this building is the four-story tall courtyard. Additionally, the 1950s elevators are also quite photogenic.

Lesser photographed areas of the building include some of the apartment spaces. This includes one room with a beautiful large window, marble-inlay walls and detailed ceiling mouldings. In addition, the main marble staircase was interesting and challenging to photograph.

We visited this location towards the end of the Hungary “Seeing Red” 2019 Tour.

History of the Hungarian Neo-Baroque Palace

The Neo-Baroque Palace dates back to the early 1900s. Originally, this was the headquarters of a nautical freight transport company. The companies primary import was coffee. Their main export was Hungarian flour, which they shipped all over the world. The palace has over 5000 square metres of floor space, spread over four floors. There is also a spacious central courtyard.

This haulage company ceased trading shortly after World War One. They only inhabited the Neo-Baroque Palace for two decades. Subsequently, the building served as bank offices. In addition to office space, bank staff also lived here in serviced apartments.

The palace has seen diverse and sporadic use over the intervening decades. A French cafe once operated on the ground floor. Additionally, it has also been used as a travel agent, orthodontist, and pediatric clinic.

In the years after World War Two, the interior was partitioned off to form smaller spaces. During the 1950’s Communist era there were further interior modifications. At this time the wrought-iron elevators were installed.

Today, this dramatic Neo-Baroque Palace is largely abandoned. It falls further into disrepair as each year passes. There is the occasional apartment or storage room on the upper levels. In 2019, plans emerged to renovate this space into apartments, offices and shop space.