The headquarters of the Imre Kertész Institution: the Eisele Mansion, 46 Benczúr street

Source: bparchiv.hu

Thanks to its new function, the mansion under 46 Benczúr street is back to its former glory. The Eisele family, whose name was given to the building, was one of the most prominent artisan family of the turn-of-the-century. József Eisele, furnace manufacturer, had left his factory, established in 1861, to his sons: Vilmos, József Jr. and Ödön in 1900, who had already been partners with their father. Out of them, Vilmos married the daughter of a publisher and bookseller highland family, Mária Kilián. They bought the property on the then-called Nagy János street in December 1908, but not in the factory owner’s name, but his wife’s, for 90 000 crowns. The mansion was designed in 1910 by Guido Hoepfner and Géza Györgyi. Hoepfner has already been working with Györgyi for years, who he had met during the constructions of the Buda Palace in Alajos Hausmann’s office. The plans of the mansion were approved on 28^th June 1909 by the Metropolitan Public Works Council.

 
The designers of the mansion: Guidó Hoepfner (left) and Géza Györgyi (right)
Source: magas-tatra.info, Wikipedia

  
The layout plans of the mansion
Source: bparchiv.hu

The house has a unique character amongst the Hungarian Art Nouveau architecture. Visitors can take in many exciting details from the inside and outside of the three-floor mansion. Its main facade is divided by closed and open balconies, and geometric art nouveau ornaments - the stone and wrought-iron shapes of the fence fits the style of the building, too. The ground floor was for the reception rooms: the entrance under the stairs leads to the wood-paneled hall, its medieval-style, old atmosphere enhanced by the robust fireplace on the opposite side. On the street side, there was the living room (“reception room”) and study (“owner’s room”), while on the other side a glass door lead to the bright conservatory with glass walls and mettlachi floor tiles, which lead to the terrace.

 
Before renovation
Source: epiteszforum.hu, bparchiv.hu

Since the weight of the house uses almost full capacity of the lot, instead of a garden or green surfaces, the residents and guests could only use these intimate places for relaxation. The dining room can be accessed from the conservatory and the terrace, and it has a fireplace reminiscent of the comforts of Dutch aristocratic residences. The barrel-vaulted ceiling of the former dining room is divided by meticulously created stucco decoration. This room had a new style of the era, the English Arts and Crafts movement predominates the place with the English Neo-Gothic tools.

   
Before renovation
Source: epiteszforum.hu, bparchiv.hu

Here stands the fire-red Bogányi piano, whose design is in stark contrast with the old interior. The room also contains secret wall cabinets and details, and a small room could be accessible, where a dumbwaiter was put for events. Originally, there was a dumbwaiter in the building, but it wasn’t indicated in the plans by Hoepfner.

    
Source: epiteszforum.hu

From the hall, a single-railed wooden staircase leads upstairs, where large bedrooms and a guest room can be found. The upstairs balconies are attached to the two large, street-side bedrooms. The residential sections had up-to-date bathrooms, but their original looks are unknown thanks to the later renovations. The service rooms - kitchen, servants’ rooms, storeroom, laundry room, ironing room and mangle - were in the basement and the attic, while in the back of the house on the ground floor were the carriage house and the stables, with the hayloft and the rooms of the coach-driver. Today, this part contains the apartments of researchers. These look out onto the small back garden, where there’s an original stone table with a lion’s paws and a freshly installed fountain.

     
Source: epiteszforum.hu, bparchiv.hu, kerteszintezet.hu

After the nationalization in 1952, the building functioned as the headquarters of the Chemical Workers Association then as a nursing home for decades. During this time, the old furniture was picked out and taken away by others, and the house was only renovated in the 1980s-90s in an unprofessional way. Since then it remained as the property of the Capital City Government, up until 2017, which is when 46 Benczúr street was bought by the Central- and Eastern European Historical and Cultural Research Foundation.

  
Source: epiteszforum.hu

The renovated building became the focus of the theme as a historical building, the Central- and Eastern European Historical and Cultural Research Foundation preserves the legacies of not just the Nobel-prize winner writer, Imre Kertész, the one whose name is currently on the mansion, but also Arthur Koestler, György Petri, János Pilinszky and János Sziveri, as well. Legacies of Hungarian writers and poets, who focused most of their works on life in a dictatorship, the totalitarian oppression, and on the drama of survival. In the garden of the now four-floor house bronze busts of Richárd Juha can be found. Not too long ago, the institute took in the legacy of György Pressburger, Italian writer, journalist, translator, who was born in Hungary.

      
Forrás: epiteszforum.hu, kerteszintezet.hu, meonline.hu

During the complete renovation, most of the original ornaments - slightly reminiscent of the world of Hoffmann, Moser and Mackintosh - were recreated by Tihamér Szalay and Anett Ficzere in their former glory. The biggest achievement was effectively using up the original historical structure while properly creating the means of the current function of the building. This, however, needed the demolition of the roof and attic, but they constructed a beautiful auditorium for the bigger events, lit from above.

 
Source: epiteszforum.hu

The street-side facade hides a smaller meeting room, too. The openings are perfect replicas of the originals, although the windows are missing a cross-divider here and there. The servants’ stairs were changed, putting an elevator in the center, making the whole building easily accessible. In the flooded basement rooms lined with saltpeter there had been gas pipes hanging down, now the archives with mobile shelves are here and the rooms were the digitalization is done.

The renovated building was opened in 2020 in a ceremony as the new headquarters of Imre Kertész Institution. The institute awaits not just researchers, but a wider audience with literary and artistic events and it regularly announces researcher and translator scholarship programs.

 
Source: epiteszforum.hu, kerteszintezet.hu

Sources: Magyar Építőművészet, bparchiv.hu, epiteszforum.hu