Dick Apartment House - 1 Jókai street

Source: fortepan.hu

The northeast border of Theresatown had been the Fabrik Gasse since the end of the 18^th century, translated into Hungarian as Gyár street, the name known since the 1780s. This name became official in 1874 by the approval of the Metropolitan Public Works Council. The citizens of Pest in the Reform era considered this street as a natural border; past this line lay the outskirts with gardens, croplands and holiday homes. During the 19^th century, the city continued expanding, turning this part into a civilian environment, which was helped by the planned construction of the Grand Boulevard. By the beginning of the 20^th century, it was time to change the street name and in 1925 – on the 100^th anniversary of the birth of Mór Jókai – it took the name of the great storyteller, which is still its current name. This was also a wide street between the Váci and Király streets; some think that it ran in the place of the former moat or canal.

Today, it seems unbelievable that once the Jewish Hospital stood on 1 Jókai street from 1842 to 1889. On the property reaching past the Boulevard, a few houses from the current Kodály Circle, the patients strolled and rested in the large garden. Besides the well-equipped hospital and its wards on the ground and first floors, the apartments of the staff and doctors were found here. The hospital was constructed from public donations and during its operation it treated 30 thousand inpatients and 230 thousand outpatients without religious discrimination, and Franz Joseph then later Queen Elizabeth also visited it.

The property was bought in 1840 by the Israelite Religious Community of Pest, where they commissioned József Hild for a one-story hospital in 1842. During the planning of the Boulevard the city appropriated the garden, so the Community decided to move its gardenless and already too small hospital to a new place.

 
Source: pestbuda.hu, Facebook

The property, shrunk to one-third of its size, was bought by dr. Vilmos Dick dentist and owner of many houses. In 1895 – in place of the one-story building – he had an elegant, four-story, neo-Baroque apartment house, fitting in with the houses of the Boulevard and the time of the millennium, hiding a glass roof, too. The plans were signed by József Gutwillig (1856-1934), the famous apartment house designer of the time. The corner house, clearly visible from Jókai Square, has a balanced, rustic architecture, a unique corner construction with a powerful arch, arched portal arrays on each street sides on the ground floor, balconies with ballustrades resting on stone consoles on the first floor. It is decorated with small sculptural elements, lion and angel heads.

On the Jókai street side, the second and third floor windows in the center are framed by half-pillars – enhancing the entrance. The façade on both sides ends with parapets, and has mansard roof above it. On the area stretching by the street is a closed yard with unusual spatial effects, while the main staircase is simpler, despite the elegant look, and opens from the yard. According to Attila Déry’s research, and also the book Additions to the History of the Inner Theresatown (1982), by the City Protection Association lead by Mihály Ráday, the ceiling of the staircase was decorated by a fresco depicting Fortuna, painted by Károly Lotz. This, unfortunately, is hidden under many layers of plaster, no longer recoverable: after World War II and water damage in 1947, it was gradually scraped off, making it lost forever.

Source: lathatatlan.ovas.hu*

The house had many apartments, which were occupied mostly by Jewish citizens, then it became a yellow star house in 1944. In August the same year it was protected by the Swedish Royal Embassy. On the first and second floors operated the first Swedish Passport Bureau. During the Holocaust, Raoul Wallenberg also had an office here, protected by the Swiss Embassy until 8^th January 1945, then during a raid by the Arrow Cross, several hundred Jews were taken from the house. The most famous resident of this house was one of the greatest viola players of the Hungarian classical music, Pál Lukács, who introduced the teaching of the instrument to the Music Academy, and was rewarded with the Exceptional Musician- and the Kossuth-awards. His name is on a memorial plaque on the wall of the building.

 
dr. Gyula Földes, a resident of the house during World War II (left) and nowadays (right)
Source: centropa.org, section from a Youtube video

The tragedy that happened on the night of 7^th January 1945, where several hundred Jews were taken, tortured and shot by the Arrow Cross, just ten days before Pest was liberated, is remembered on a marble memorial plaque by the entrance, put up in 2006. One person who stayed here, Gyula Földes, recounted his days in the house and the horrible night:

„The Jókai street house, where we moved, was the property of Fonciére Insurance, their office was on the second floor. It stayed there even when the house became a yellow star house from June 1944. From the end of October 1944 [read: the rise of Arrow Cross], however, it became a refuge for the staff of the Swedish Embassy, under diplomatic protection, during Raoul Wallenberg’s operation. The apartment on Jókai street was smaller with three rooms.

My father, mother, brother, aunt and uncle Károly lived here besides me. While Wallenberg was still active, the apartment was already too crowded, with 20-25 people living there. By this time, my family was occupying one room. There were Christian residents, too, who remained in the house – the housekeeper, too. On the night of 7^th January 1945, thanks to the “good will” of the housekeeper, the Arrow Cross appeared. […] I was 11 years old then. The whole crowd – or at least everyone mobile, because those who weren’t, were shot on sight, as usual – was taken to 14 Városház street, an Arrow Cross house. When Wallenberg found out about this, he came after us, so the next day we were taken to the ghetto [read: Budapest Ghetto], to the house on 54 Akácfa street. In the next days, my father and uncle were taken to the Danube, and were shot.”

In the staircase there is another plaque. This was put up much earlier, in 1947 by the survivors in memory of their relatives.

Source: lathatatlan.ovas.hu*

„The house of the taken hundreds” today is under the protection of the district. In the mid-2000s, the Theresatown Government planned to have 15 apartments built in the loft of the building, timing the handover for the end of 2022 or the beginning of 2023. The project started in September 2021, but in June 2022 a part of the roof collapsed, injuring many people.

 
The design plan for the 15 apartments in the loft (left), interrupted by the roof collapsing. It's suspected that the fire in June 2022 caused the collapse (right)
Source: hvg.hu, index.hu

Source: 24.hu

Sources: lathatatlan.ovas.hu*, 24.hu, pestbuda.hu
*The website is no longer accessible, but an archived version can be found here: Wayback Machine - 1 Jókai street (Hungarian) Because the website is no longer in use, most of the inside pictures are, unfortunately, lost. - ed.