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A small town house with battlemented gables, built in the mid-nineteenth century in a Romantic style with Gothic detail. It is a listed monument, and it now forms the street front of part of the Hotel President.
At a glance
Hold utca 5 is a two-storey residential house built round a U-shaped courtyard in a continuous street front in Lipótváros. The Hungarian monument register dates it to 1854–1855 and names Ferenc Brein as its builder. Its street front is one of the more unusual in the district: two narrow projecting bays, each crowned by a crenellated gable on pointed-arch corbels, with bands of Gothic blind tracery along the cornices. Stars of David are set above two of the first-floor windows. The house stands opposite Ödön Lechner’s Postal Savings Bank and is part of the Hotel President at Hold utca 3–5.
Key facts
- Where: Hold utca 5, 1054 Budapest, District V (Lipótváros), Hungary
- Builder and date: Ferenc Brein, 1854–1855, according to the monument register
- Style: Romantic, with Gothic detailing (gótizáló-romantikus)
- Protection: listed monument (műemlék), register number (törzsszám) 15442
- Plan: two storeys above the ground floor, built round a U-shaped courtyard; street front of 1-1-3-1-1 window bays
- Current use: part of the Hotel President (Hold utca 3–5), opened as a hotel in 2009 and last rebuilt in 2016
- Coordinates: 47.50383, 19.05287 · open in Google Maps
History
The house was built in 1854–1855, according to the monument register, which names the master builder Ferenc Brein. The register classes it as gótizáló-romantikus, Romantic with Gothic features, and the façade shows why: pointed arches, blind tracery and gables with battlements on a small residential building.
The later history of the house is known mostly through the hotel that now includes it. The Hotel President began as the Hotel Hold, named after the street. The Gastroguide account of the hotel says it grew in three stages. The first addition was “the Jewish bath, whose memories can still be seen on the façade”; the second was a neighbouring residential building. The Stars of David on the front of number 5 fit this account. We have not found an independent source that confirms the ritual bath or its dates, so it is reported here as the hotel’s own account.
The hotel opened under its present name in 2009, and the last rebuilding took place in December 2016. According to the same account, architectural details from earlier periods came to light during the works and were restored. The listed street front of number 5 stayed in place, and the new hotel floors rise behind it.
What you see
The photograph shows the whole street front of number 5, painted a pale cream. There are two floors of windows above the ground floor. Two narrow bays, one on each side of the three central windows, project slightly and rise into small gables with battlements. Under each gable runs a row of little pointed arches on corbels. A band of Gothic blind tracery follows the main cornice across the whole width. Blind tracery also runs along the sill cornice of the second floor.
In both projecting bays the first-floor window has an iron balcony, and above it a semicircular panel holds a six-pointed Star of David. The ground floor has tall windows under ornamented lintels. At the centre is the gate, a wooden double door in a moulded surround. Behind the old house rise the Hotel President’s modern floors, a white block with the hotel’s name and a glazed top storey. The contrast between the two is the clearest view of how the hotel was built.
Practical information
- The house is part of a working hotel, the Hotel President. The street front can be seen from Hold utca at any time.
- The best view is from the pavement in front of the Postal Savings Bank opposite.
- Ten minutes are enough; the street also has the Postal Savings Bank and the Hold utca market hall.
Getting there
The nearest metro station is Arany János utca on line M3, a few minutes’ walk to the east. From St Stephen’s Basilica it is about five minutes on foot, and Szabadság tér (Liberty Square) is just round the corner.
Nearby
- Royal Postal Savings Bank (Lechner), Ödön Lechner’s Secession bank, a few metres away on the same street.
- Glass House (Budapest) on Vadász utca, a few streets away.
- St Stephen’s Basilica, about five minutes’ walk south.
Sources
- Műemlékem.hu, Lakóház, Hold utca 5: listed monument, register number 15442, “two-storey Gothic-Romantic house, Ferenc Brein, 1854–1855”, with a description of the façade (blind tracery, crenellated gables, pointed-arch corbels, gate).
- Gastroguide, Hotel President (2018): the hotel’s origins as Hotel Hold, the three-stage growth including the former Jewish bath, the December 2016 rebuilding.
- Hotel President, About: the hotel’s own account of a residential complex that housed a Jewish bath, reopened as Hotel President in 2009, at Hold utca 3–5.
- Wikimedia Commons: the photographer’s description of the listed house at Hold utca 5 and the Hotel President.
- OpenStreetMap / Nominatim: position, returned as Hotel President, 3-5, Hold utca, Lipótváros.
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