Batthyány Mansion, 13 Teréz körút

Source: pestbuda.hu

One of the nicest looking neo-renaissance buildings of Budapest was built near Oktogon, commissioned by a landowner in Egyed of Sopron County, Count Géza Batthyány, who married his distant relative, the daughter of the executed prime minister, Count Lajos Batthyány. Their home under 13 Theresa Boulevard was planned by the famous architect of their age, Alajos Hauszmann. Hauszmann also had the (not at all exaggarated) world-famous New York Palace and the Palace of Justice under his belt among others, and he also took part in the reconstruction of Budavár Castle in the 19th century. The Batthyánys had the one condition, though, that number 13 should be the copy of Palazzo Strozzi in Firenze.

 
Count Géza Batthyány circa 1865 (left) and Alajos Hauszmann architect circa 1910 (right)
Source: MESZL Budapest Collection, Hungarian National Museum Historical Photo Department 

Count Géza Batthyány bought two properties on Theresa Boulevard, next to Oktogon. One of them he wanted to be a mansion for his family, while the other was to be an investment as a three-floored apartment house. In that era, the capital city and the state gave a quite large tax allowance for the construction of apartment houses in Budapest.

Source: pestbuda.hu

The mansion was built for the count in 1885*, plans drawn up by Alajos Hauszmann. The construction was managed by Hugó Vahl build master. As per the wishes of the count, Hauszmann modelled the main facade after one of the textbook examples of the Italian renaissance palatial architecture, the Palazzo Strozzi in Firenze. Hauszmann was against a straight-up copy of the Italian palazzo, but Batthyány wouldn't budge on that, so he designed a scaled down version of Palazzo Strozzi instead.

However, the insides are remarkably eclectic. The furnishing of the row of rooms, which was composed of the great parlour room facing the boulevard and the men's and women's salons opening from there, reflects the attraction the Batthyánys had for art collecting. Count Géza Batthyány was one of the founding members of the "Műbarátok Köre" (Circle of Art Lovers - ed.) with his wife, Emma Batthyány - the daughter of Count Lajos Batthyány - and they assembled a large collection.

 
Palazzo Strozzi in Firenze (left) and Batthyány Mansion in Budapest (right)
Source: 24.hu, budapest100.hu

The original, the Palazzo Strozzi was planned by Benedetto da Maiano and they began construction in 1489. Many people think this palazzo is one of the finest among the palazzos of Firenze. A cursory glance would show that Hauszmann just straight-up copied da Maiano's work. However, while the original has nine axes and the gate is in the center of the front wall, the Batthyány Mansion has seven axes and the gate is on the left of the front wall.

 
Source: 24.hu

The facade wall follows the Tuscan model, having been built from ashlar square stones, and the string-course, projecting from the facade and on consoles, and the windows mimick the Palazzo Strozzi. Unlike the palazzo, though, the Batthyány Mansion is not a separate, stand-alone building, but is flanked on two sides by the neighbouring houses, so those walls didn't have to match the front. While the facade is renaissance style, the staircase rails are rococo, but the metal ornaments outside fit in.

  
Source: 24.hu

The mansion in Budapest has two floors only on the streetside, the other wings got just one floor each. The front wall has the wrought-iron rings for tethering horses and the lanterns called "laterna", just like its Tuscan counterpart. And with that, the copying of Palazzo Strozzi ends here.

Hauszmann had more liberty in designing the courtyard and the insides, but the vision of the Batthyány family still appeared in the end result. Zsigmond Justh wrote an article for the weekly paper "Ország-Világ" (Country-World - ed.), in which he mentioned the pomp and style of the French king, Louis XV, coming to life during his look-around shown by Countess Batthyány.

The courtyard and the next-door building was connected by a passageway so the carriages arriving to balls and receptions could easily get through. Each of the three levels on the front had been created for the family's residence. The servants' quarters, the kitchen, the stables, the carriage house and the service-stairs were put into the ground and first floors of the courtyard wing. The stairs of this wing connected the various back levels from top to bottom.

 
Source: pestbuda.hu

The waiting hall, the main staircase and the flatlet for Géza Batthyány Jr. was on the ground floor of the streetside wing next to the gate. These and the gateway were designed to give a transition from renaissance to baroque. The ground floor foyer held a family portrait in a large baroque frame. An Eastern-style embroidery was also seen there, brought back by prime minister Lajos Batthyány from his Eastern travels in the reform era. The main staircase was covered in grey marble.

Visitors reaching the upstairs could step into the three parlour rooms (men's salon, the grand parlour room, women's salon). They were painted in different colours - light blue, olive green and „fraise ècrasèe” (a shade of red). In the old photographs, you can see the magnificent furniture of these rooms. The representative main staircase only lead up to the first floor, the second floor, used only by the count and his family, was only accessible via " beautifully carved redwood stairs" (spiral stairs), one in each of the study rooms of the count and the countess. The second floor held the bedrooms, the "toilette, bathroom, gardrobe and breakfast rooms.”

 
Source: budapest100.hu

According to the article "The construction works of 1886 in Budapest" in the weekly paper "Építő Ipar" (Building Industry - ed.), that year had the Batthyány Mansion as one of the biggest constructions of the capital city, #13 in the list of buildings regarding to construction expenses.

33 years after finishing the building, on 21st March 1919, the communists took over Hungary and Council Republic was proclaimed. The mansion was occupied and used as headquarters by József Cserny and his men, a group of Red Terror. They started their operations from the mansion to keep the people of Hungary in fear, and the basement bore witness to many victims being tortured and murdered during their 133-day-long reign of Red Terror.

Source: pestbuda.hu

Cserny and his men found magnificent and comfortable abodes in the mansion, which was the complete opposite of the equality and the denial of the bourgoise communism preached. Although, this isn't the only time in history where Bolshevists were caught to be attracted to luxury and enjoy the decadence and comfort of aristocracy. Behind closed doors, the terrorists stored weapons, ammunition and explosives. After the Batthyány family moved out, the Frankfurter General and Life Insurance Inc. took their place.

 
Source: budapest100.hu

Today the mansion functions as a wedding hall, but some departments of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences also has offices here.

Source: wikimapia.org

Source: szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu, pestbuda.hu, 24.hu, gyujtemeny.imm.hu

*According to some sources in 1884 - ed.