A town palace built at the end of the nineteenth century for Count Nándor Zichy and his wife in Józsefváros, the district behind the National Museum where the aristocracy built its city houses. It is a listed monument and is now a hotel.
At a glance
The Zichy Palace occupies the corner of Lőrinc pap tér, Mária utca and Krúdy Gyula utca in the Palotanegyed, the “Palace District” of Józsefváros. It was built for Count Nándor Zichy (1829–1911) and his wife, Countess Lívia Zichy, and was completed in 1899 by the master builder Lipót Havel. Építészfórum describes it as a mature example of Neo-Baroque architecture, with details on its façades and in its interiors taken from eighteenth-century Baroque buildings. After nationalisation it was divided into small flats. It was placed under monument protection in 2007–2009, and it now houses the Hotel Palazzo Zichy.
Key facts
- Where: Lőrinc pap tér 2 (also Mária utca 28 and Krúdy Gyula utca 13), 1088 Budapest, District VIII (Józsefváros, Palotanegyed), Hungary
- Client: Count Nándor Zichy (1829–1911) and Countess Lívia Zichy
- Builder: Lipót Havel, master builder; Építészfórum notes that the name of Antal Hofhauser also appears on the façade design
- Date: completed in 1899 according to Építészfórum and Greetings from Budapest; the Wikipedia list of monuments and a Commons description give 1897
- Style: Neo-Baroque
- Protection: listed monument (műemlék), register number (törzsszám) 16267 according to the Hungarian Wikipedia list of District VIII monuments; temporary protection 2007, final listing from 15 March 2009 according to Építészfórum
- Current use: Hotel Palazzo Zichy, a four-star hotel
- Coordinates: 47.49013, 19.06887 · open in Google Maps
History
In the last decades of the nineteenth century the streets behind the Hungarian National Museum filled with the town houses of the aristocracy. The area became known as the Palotanegyed, the Palace District. Count Nándor Zichy built here for his wife, Countess Lívia Zichy. The palace was completed in 1899 under the direction of the master builder Lipót Havel, according to Építészfórum and the Budapest heritage blog Greetings from Budapest.
It was not a single grand residence. Each of the two upper floors held a separate apartment, with its own service rooms reached from the courtyard. The service entrance and the coach houses faced Krúdy Gyula utca, and the stables opened onto the courtyard. According to Greetings from Budapest, the second-floor apartment was later the home of Emma Károlyi.
At the end of the 1940s the palace was nationalised. It was divided into many small rented flats and slowly fell into disrepair. Temporary monument protection followed in 2007, and final listing in 2009. The architect Kristóf Szmetana then converted the building into a four-star hotel. The most valuable interiors were kept, among them the grand staircase and the decorated entrance hall, and the courtyard was covered with a transparent, pyramid-shaped glass roof.
What you see
We have not found a free photograph of the palace that we could publish, so this section is based on the written sources rather than on an image. The building is a corner block with fronts on three streets. One front faces Lőrinc pap tér; across Mária utca stands the Jesuit Church of the Sacred Heart. Its façades are Neo-Baroque, with details drawn, according to Építészfórum, from Baroque buildings of the eighteenth century.
Inside, the restoration kept the grand staircase and the decorated entrance hall. The old courtyard, round which the service rooms of the apartments were arranged, is now covered with a glass pyramid and serves as part of the hotel. From the square the palace can be seen together with the bronze statue of Count Nándor Zichy by Antal Orbán, set up in 1930.
Practical information
- The building is a working hotel, the Hotel Palazzo Zichy. The façades can be seen from Lőrinc pap tér, Mária utca and Krúdy Gyula utca at any time.
- The listed interiors belong to the hotel and are not a public museum.
- The Palotanegyed is best seen on foot: the palace fits into a walk between the National Museum and the Museum of Applied Arts.
Getting there
The nearest metro stations are Kálvin tér (lines M3 and M4) and Rákóczi tér (line M4), each within about ten minutes’ walk. Trams 4 and 6 on the Grand Boulevard stop at Harminckettesek tere, also a short walk away.
Nearby
- Hungarian National Museum, the neo-classical museum at the western edge of the Palace District.
- Museum of Applied Arts, Ödön Lechner’s museum on Üllői út, south of the palace.
- The Jesuit Church of the Sacred Heart, across Mária utca.
Sources
- Építészfórum, Hotel Palazzo Zichy: completion in 1899 by Lipót Havel, the Hofhauser name on the façade design, Neo-Baroque style, the two apartments, nationalisation in the late 1940s, protection in 2007 and 2009, the hotel conversion by Kristóf Szmetana.
- Greetings from Budapest, Gróf Zichy Nándorné palotája: the palace completed in 1899 under Lipót Havel, the separate apartments, the coach houses and stables, Emma Károlyi, nationalisation, protection from 2007.
- Hungarian Wikipedia, list of monuments of District VIII: Zichy-palota, listed monument 16267, Lőrinc pap tér 2, Mária utca 28, Krúdy Gyula utca 13, “built in 1897, Neo-Baroque”.
- Műemlékem.hu, Zichy-palota: entry for Lőrinc pap tér 2, recorded there under local protection (decree 54/1993), which predates the national listing.
- Wikimedia Commons, Zichy Palace3.jpg (description only; the image is too small to publish): the former Zichy Palace, 1897, Lipót Havel, built for Count Nándor Zichy, today Hotel Palazzo Zichy.
- OpenStreetMap / Nominatim: position, returned as Zichy-palota, 2, Lőrinc pap tér, Palotanegyed, VIII. kerület.
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