The settlement of the area began after the suppression of the revolution and war of independence in 1848–49; aristocrats, nobles and the wealthy upper middle class, who mostly lived in the countryside, began to have luxurious palaces and mansions built by renowned architects as their permanent residences in Pest. Most of the buildings were built between 1860 and 1900. The area is now part of Budapest’s District VIII.
The House of the Poet
The façade of No. 19 Maria Street contains beautiful plaster decoration. The Greek god Hermes looks down amongst the lush plant and fruit garlands with recurring elements such as palm leaves and wreathes in the restrained and elegant decoration. The entrance, as well as the ground floor windows, are protected with intricate wrought ironwork. We can also see rich decoration on the central balcony. However, the appearance is deceptive, despite the door decoration that seems to be a coat of arms, the house was not inhabited by a member of the traditional aristocracy, but by entrepreneurs and merchants.
A modest, one-story house stood on the site until 1870. György Urházy acquired it and in 1870 erected a new, two-storey building on the site. The current impressive three-storey house was completed a little later in 1899.
Writer György Urházy began his career at the same time as the poet Sándor Petofi (Hungary’s national poet), and although his name ultimately did not enter the literary canon, his career was successful. It’s unusual for a poet to be able to design and construct his own house, but Urházy realised newspaper writing could bring significant professional and financial success. His career as a journalist began in the 1840s in Kolozsvár. The pied-a-terre is located on the second floor of the building. The apartment was easily split into two with the addition of a single wall. As was the custom in these 19th Century apartments, there was a separate service door into the kitchen. This was reinstated and the old kitchen converted into a studio guest apartment.
The Living / Kitchen room looks east over Maria Street. There are original doors from 1899 leading to the kitchen to the west and the Master Bedroom to the south. New simple wall moulding was introduced to add scale to the room and a nod to the lost mouldings from the original design. The mouldings were designed to frame the client’s art collection. The art is generally placed to the extreme right hand side to create a rhythm. The furniture ranges from 1970s Italian to restored Parisian flea market finds. Eames chairs surround a custom glass table. There is a Czech writing desk from
Team:
Architects: ORIGINATE
Photographer: Bence Szabó
