Medetz House, 36 Király street

Source: Pinterest

Through its 175 years, this building had witnessed not just Pest at the end of the Reform era, the Hungarian people burning with a passion for revolution, Budapest changing into a metropolis, the writer, Gyula Krúdy, who loved to frequent turn-of-the-century pubs, but it also witnessed the siege on Budapest and the street becoming more and more abandoned then more and more popular again. When the first residents moved in, the street was called König Gasse, then it changed into Király street (1874) then Majakovszkij street (1950). Its previous name, Király, was returned to the street in 1990, and it’s been called that ever since.

József Hild, architect, the designer of the house
Source: Wikipedia

The designer of the house was József Hild, the one who contributed greatly in designing the cityscape of Pest in the Reform era, and was also the architect of the cathedral in Eger and partly the basilica in Esztergom. The building under nr. 36 was built in 1846-47, commissioned by József Medetz, who was a tobacco tradesman, referred to as cigar manufacturer in the papers of the time, then later became a member of the city council in Pest. With this house, and other property and house purchases, Medetz wanted to have an income source separate from his regular tradesman career.

In the next 100 years, the house had multiple owner changes, almost as many as shop changes on the ground floor. One of these shops has more significance: in the spring of 1904, two staff members of the Károly Töpper hardware store: Fülöp Petschauer, resident of the house, and Izsák Stark bought the shop from the owner, hoping to have a nice little income for a long time. This came true: the shop was flourishing up until the Great Depression, Petschauer was known as an iron, metal and machinery tradesman, so not even his son, Attila, who was born in December 1904, had wanted for anything.

One famous resident born in the house: Attila Petschauer, Olympic fencing champion
Source: 24.hu

The boy, having born into a wealthy family, concentrated more on sports than studying, and became the pillar of the school fencing team as the student of Barcsay street Madách High School, the city’s first public high school. His talent was recognized by one of the biggest fencing masters of the time, Italo Santelli, having seen him on an introductory competition. He immediately took the boy as his student for free, dropping him straight into the middle of fencing life. As a natural talent, Attila reached success after success on the Hungarian adult championship.

His biggest achievements were not on European grounds, however, but on the Olympics. He was an integral member of the gold medalist fencing team in 1928 in Amsterdam, and in 1932 in Los Angeles. In the individual competitions he first got a silver medal, then later came in fifth. After his permanent resignation in 1932, he began coaching actors in fencing for Hollywood costume dramas, but soon he returned home and became a sports and culture journalist for the paper Est. He even had his own weekly column! He was also an esteemed member of the art world in the city, and one of the main jokesters – dozens of anecdotes testify to this –, putting him into the center of all the events.

The champion fencing team on the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, Attila Petschauer among them (leftmost)
Source: vivomuzeum.hu

Changes through the next few years complicated his life, getting to the point where his great achievements in sports didn’t help him, either: on the Berlin Olympics in 1936 – according to legend – Hermann Göring recognized him and introduced him to his company as the world’s greatest fencer, Miklós Horthy granted him the Signum Laudis, giving him immunity from the Jewish Laws, and still he was sent to forced labor in 1942, never returning from it again.

Back to the house, the council of the Theresatown government decided to sell the building in 1997, sending its fate into a downward spiral. The district first offered it to Király street 36 Ltd., who were obligated to finance the costs of moving the residents into governmental apartments, even though in the end the district took over that part. The deal still fell through.

 

 
Source: 24.hu

We have to wait for the next chapter until 2001: in the beginning of that year, a Dutch company, LEO DEVELOPMENT Investments Ltd. showed interest in the building. As per the paper Népszabadság, they planned to have authentic workshops in the basement and ground floor, where visitors could watch the masters of old and/or extinct professions during work: the tanner, the furrier, the tailor, the shoemaker, the button maker and other craftsmen; there would’ve been a café and a pub inside, while the upper levels would’ve held the rentable apartments, each furnished in the style of different eras. This deal fell through, as well, but apparently József Vajda, the big name for restoring protected monuments, would’ve worked on the plans, too.

The designs for the project in 2018
Source: 24.hu

The following years held nothing but sales attempts, while the condition of the building got worse and worse. In 2007, it was vacated, only the store on the ground floor remaining operational. Eventually, a plan was set into motion to create a hotel out of the boarded up building. The set of plans was given to the government in 2015 and the building permit was given in 2018. No works has been done yet, nothing changed behind the gates, even though the house had been passed twice onto different owners.

  


The current designs for the hotel reconstruction
Source: 24.hu

The future of the house can be seen on the webpage of Triholding Group on design plans and in some nuggets of information published, with no further details given yet. The company wishes to build a breathtaking riverside hotel.

Source: 24.hu

Source: 24.hu