The former Dobler Market and Garni Hotel, 16 Király street

Source: epiteszforum.hu

The story of the property under 16 Király street has become a bit complicated. According to the earliest data we could find, the Bácsi Court stood here once, and was considered the ugliest place of Király street. Later, Leó Antal Polczer had a two-story, classicist apartment house built by the plans of József Hild, which was finished in 1842. Our next closest stop in the story is 1861: Terézia Wagner freelancer commissioned for a pavilion-like shop in the courtyard, which was drawn up by Károly Hild.

József Hild, the architect of the house built in place of "bácsi court"
Source: Wikipedia

The L-shaped Polczer House, or as they called it still: “bácsi court”, was bought in 1869 by János Dobler building contractor, so he could expand his property up to Két Szerecsen (currently Paulay Ede) street by joining it with the neighbouring building, a much narrower house on the Fleischmann-property. According to the 23^rd July 1872 issue of “Fővárosi Lapok”, Vilmos Freund architect had the house built and they started construction of the Dobler Market and Garni Hotel the same year, which was now occupying 16 Király street and 11 Paulay Ede street and calling it “Grand Hotel Dobler”.  Freund, who had studied under Gottfried Semper, was one of the greatest representative of Historical Architecture in Budapest, and this building of the Italian neo-Rennaissance was his first independent construction.

Vilmos Freund, the designer of Dobler Market
Source: kozterkep.hu

What makes this story confusing is that there is data of a plan from 1872 for this property, which was created by József Limburszky. There is a record of this on Hungaricana Cultural Heritage Portal, but the plan itself is not attached. The two-story house was basically built as a connecting house, which was from then on was called Dobler Market by the citizens, even though the commissioner went bankrupt, through no fault of his own, in 1875. This new, special market building was the connection between the current Paulay Ede and Király streets, similar in function to the former Haris Market between Váci and Petőfi Sándor streets and the Gozsdu Court between Király and Dob streets, built much later.

After the bankruptcy, dr. Lajos Földessy took over the building, but he sold the property because of lack of funds. In the end the house was bought by the General Austrian Land Credit Institute, with the exception of the northern wing on Paulay Ede street, separately registered in the cadaster of the land. After the transaction, the bank decided to fully reconstruct the house.  As per the plans of Gyula Bukovics, the 125 meter long connecting house was divided two octagonal inner courts, each 6 meters wide.

 
Source: epiteszforum.hu

The Paulay Ede street façade had two, the Király street one had three stories, both of them with 5-5 axises. The Király street side had cobble stone walls on the ground floor, while the first and second floors were connected with large semi-columns. The “piano nobile” was the first floor, the windows closed with triangular gables. The second floor openings were simply framed, and the string course between the second and third floors protruded out heavily. The top level of both facades had twin windows typical of Freund, even in his later works. These ones, however, were unusually big: they filled out the space between the axises.

The complex has three wide, long open courtyards and four octagonal, glass-roofed, connecting halls. Out of the latter, the two center ones were larger. The connecting hallways have support elements Palladio motifs: the arches were supported by pairs of columns on the inside and pillars on the outside. The latter elements are decorated with disc ornaments. Only the floor plans remain in the Budapest Archives for the ground floor and mezzanine. Rooms and kitchens came one after the other on the ground floor. In the third octagon from the Király street entrance were several shops, while the mezzanine had the laundry rooms, storerooms and an office. The upper levels had the apartments.

The floor plan of the mezzanine
Source: epiteszforum.hu

The neo-Renaissance house, still known as Dobler Market, newly unveiled in 1876 – though other sources say 1890 – was always known as a dangerous and dirty building, but its fame wasn’t because of the laundry rooms, ironing rooms and the shroud-making shop of Ármin Baumgarten, but the Ármin establishment, written about by Gyula Krúdy. The Ármin establishment, or Etablissement Ármin, was an entertainment center: it had musical comedies, the Styrian singer Anna Rieder, the Jewish dance quartet of the Singer brothers. Even the most well-known Hungarian singer and actor of the time, Károly Baumann loved to stand on stage with his couplets. The entertainment was taken so seriously here, that they even offered the services of cheaper “escorts” for the guests – however, the place closed down in 1896 due to lice infestation.

The demolishing of Dobler Market in 1975
Source: fortepan.hu

   
Ganz Transelektro Co. office
Source: urbface.com

In the second healf of the century, thanks to the overpopulation of the Jewish quarter, the Dobler Market housed 443 people in 1882. Although the first floor was occupied by the Titen Emesz Jewish orthodox prayer house, the building had other famous residents, as well. Pál Tenczer, the Keszthely Member of Parliament, lived here since 1879. He established the Hungarian Israelite Society, the weekly journals “Hungarian Youth” and “Hungarian Israelite”, the latter being the advocate and fighter for Jewish emancipation. The apartment house – with the exception of the Paulay Ede street wing – was demolished in 1975 for reasons of public safety. In its place, in 2003 the office of Ganz Transelektro Co. was opened.

    
Source: barcelo.com

In 2019, a four-star hotel was unveiled under nr. 16, called Barcelo Budapest. The reconstruction began in April 2017, went on for two years, and the Spanish company signed a 25 year lease with Sunbelt Developer Team. During the renovation, the original building was demolished to its concrete structure, built a seventh and a partial eighth floor and a new wing. As they planned the interior design, they took into account not just the regulations, but the unique atmosphere of Király street and the needs of the guests. The hotel has 180 rooms, and started its operation with 20 staff members.

 
Source: pestbuda.hu, trip.com

Sources: falanszter.blog.hu, epiteszforum.hu, welovebudapest.com, pestbuda.hu, archives.hungaricana.hu