Klotild Palaces

The Klotild Palaces (in the Budapest vernacular: “Klotild” and “Matild”) are two distinctive English Neo‑Baroque, eclectic buildings located in the 5th district of Budapest, on the Ferenciek Square (officially under numbers 34 and 36 Váci Street). The two houses, standing opposite each other, are placed symmetrically before the bridge; when viewed from Kossuth Lajos Street they form the symbolic gateway of the Elisabeth Bridge.

The ornate façades and rich ornamentation of the two palaces are characteristic of contemporary architectural trends. The central tower and dome of the buildings stand out against the city skyline and are characteristic features of the Ferenciek Square. The interior spaces of the building are also characterized by elegant and refined design, including the marble staircase and the decorative public areas.

History

At the turn of the century following the millennium, at the initiative of Princess Klotild Maria, wife of Prince József Károly, a competition was announced for the construction then known as the Kígyó Square project, after the plots freed up where houses demolished in the 1880s for the planned construction of the new Elisabeth Bridge were located.

The commission was awarded to Ferenc Ferenczy and Kálmán Giergl, who participated in the design of many famous buildings in Budapest. The palace represents the turn‑of‑the‑century eclectic style, which combines elements of Neo‑Baroque and Art Nouveau. The houses were built at roughly the same time as the bridge, between 1899 and 1902. The steel structure of the twin buildings was clad in carved stone cladding. Their windows were made at the workshop of Miksa Róth. The 48‑metre‑high towers are adorned with an enlarged replica of the prince’s crown. They were the first buildings in Budapest equipped with an elevator. The stoves were supplied by the Zsolnay tile factory of Pécs. The Second World War severely damaged both buildings. The northern palace was restored only after 1950, following the design of the southern one.

From 1901 the Belvárosi Café operated in the south building. Gyula Krúdy wrote most of the Sindbad stories here. After the Second World War this café was the first to open in the capital. From the second half of the 1960s a self‑service restaurant operated in its place. Today there is a casino there, with a restaurant above it.

For decades the BÁV antiquities shop operated in the north palace; today the five‑star Buddha Bar Hotel is located there.

The two buildings were declared monuments in 1977, after being renovated externally in 1968.

Current

North building

The Hungarian Post founded Klotild Ltd. in November 2001, which was purchased in 2002 by an Italian company named Sifim, a member of the Beghelli group. The Klotild Real Estate Development Ltd. was created for the renovation of the building; its owner is Graziano Beghelli. During the eight‑year works from 2003, the plans were modified four times as a result of surveys, concept changes, contractor changes and the selection of the tenant and interior designer, and finally from the end of 2009 Market Zrt. carried out the general construction.

The historic building housed a boutique hotel, the Buddha‑Bar Hotel Budapest Klotild Palace operated by Mellow Mood Hotel and owned by Sameer Hamdan and Zuhair Awad, between 2012 and 2019.

At the end of 2018 the building was purchased by a Qatari businessman through Aba Gate Ltd. The building has been under renovation since then.

South building