Herzog Mansion, 39 Andrássy Road

Source: MESZL Budapest Collection

The Herzog Mansion under 93 Andrássy Road has given a home in the 20^th century for the art collection of Baron Mór Lipót Herzog, hence the name. The man starting up the Pest branch of the Herzog family tree: Mózes Löbl. The true rise came to them thanks to the youngest son, Péter, in 1886 he and his children were given the “csetei” title and nobility, then in 1904 he was made baron. Péter Herzog and his wife remained Jewish like the ancestors their whole lives, their funeral was done according to Israelite customs. His three kids married into nobility and baron families, taking up Christianity.

The Herzog-family at around 1930 (The head of house, Mór Lipót, is sitting on the right)
Source: restitucio.org

It was a long road to get from the four-roomed, rented highway apartment to the Herzog Mansion built in 1885 on 93 Andrássy Road and its grand interior, since the four-roomed apartment had a modest, civic style. It was the opposite of the Andrássy Road mansion of Mór Lipót Herzog, which held the internationally deemed first class picture collection. Its origin goes back to the actions of Marcell Nemes, who bought his collection with Mór Herzog’s money then tried to auction them off before the war to satisfy his debtors demands, but the auction ended up in failure and the most beautiful pieces got into Herzog’s ownership. Even though he had to part with a few items at the end of the ‘20s, Herzog could claim one of the most valuable picture collection as his own - in his own house.

 
Source: gentlemansreview.hu, restitucio.org

Baron Mór Lipót Herzog had about 2500 art pieces in his private collection in its heyday. There were items from world-renown masters, El Greco, Lucas Cranach, Corot, Renoir among others. Mór Lipót Herzog started his interest in art pieces via the influence of another famous art collector of the era, Marcell Nemes (1866-1903). The wealth of the Herzog family - mostly from tobacco production - made it possible for them to buy the then not that well-known or rare pieces from the international art market.

 
Source: restitucio.org, kulturpart.hu

After the death of Mór Lipót, the mansion on Andrássy Road, was left to the oldest son, András. After the death of the baron in 1934 his wife, then after her death in 1940, the three children: Erzsébet, István and András inherited the art collection. As the danger of the war got worse, they hid the items in safe rooms of the banks in Budapest and the countryside. However, the German Nazi and the Hungarian Arrow Cross Party found most of them, and delivered them to the Buda headquarters of Adolf Eichmann SS officer, the Hotel Majestic. Some of the paintings were sent to Germany before the soviet siege of Budapest, others were given to the Museum of Fine Arts.

 
Source: Hungaricana, gamma-am.hu

When the members of the Herzog family returned for their properties, most of them could not be found and what they did, they got very few of them back. The same year they filed for the first lawsuit for the art pieces, and the legal battle, after the 11 verdicts from judge’s courts of seven countries and many appeals, is still going on after more than 70 years. The currently in progress case has started in 1999, and is about 12 art pieces, these are in the Museum of Fine Arts, the National Gallery, the Museum of Applied Arts and the Technical University of Budapest.

   
Source: gamma-am.hu

The mansion was built by Péter Herzog wholesaler as a family home. The house was planned by Rezső Lajos Ray in 1885, then was rebuilt in 1914 for Baron Mór Lipót Herzog in neo-baroque style, with an ornamented entrance in the center, balconies with wrought-iron rails, and a facade jutting out in a semi-circle. The mansion stands out amongst the early Hungarian neo-baroque buildings, which also had motifs of the renaissance.

 
Source: gamma-am.hu

The facade of the Herzog Mansion shares the same style as a house in Vienna, the Waltzer House on 38 Heugasse (now: Prinz-Eugen Strasse). Since the date of construction on Pest is very close to the presumed date of construction in Vienna (1888), it’s hard to say which building was the model for which. What is certain is that the two buildings have the same model or are closely related to each other.

  
Source: gamma-am.hu, portfolio.hu

The building, injured in World War II, was seized by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the ‘50s, then after many owner changes, the Budapest Exchange (BÉT) occupied the mansion from 2007 to 2012. The close to 3000 m2 house went through a large-scale interior renovation to satisfy the strict technical demands of BÉT. Besides the impressive outside and the protected exclusive historical meeting room, an underground parking lot and an inner garden makes the building unique. If anyone can get into the Herzog Mansion, they should definitely check out the ornamented main staircase and the memorial plaque of the big stock market master, André Kostolany.

Source: fovarosi.blog.hu

Sources: fovarosi.blog.hu, bet.hu, MTVA Archive, restitucio.org, Budapesti Negyed (Budapest Quarter - ed.) 1. (1993/1), blikk.hu, Doctoral thesis of József Rozsnyai (Neo-baroque architecture in Hungary during the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy era, with special attention to the works of Arthur Meining architect - 2011)