Paris Grand Department Store, 39 Andrássy Road

Source: pestbuda.hu

The history of the three-floor, neo-renaissance building under 39 Andrássy Road goes all the way back to the birth of the Boulevard. During the road and building constructions in the 19th century the Theresatown Casino was built up, of which the most famous attraction was the large ballroom planned by Gusztáv Petschacher and decorated with frescoes from Károly Lotz and Árpád Feszty. The building has an entrance under 54 Paulay Ede street. The facade facing Andrássy Road was done in art nouveau style, while the one on Paulay Ede street bears motifs of the neo-renaissance.

 
The Paris Department Store captured on old postcards
Source: MESZL Budapest Collection, pestbuda.hu

Customers were given excellent, polite service, the most unreasonable wishes were fulfilled, so after a while the store was visited by more people from the countryside, as well. Goldberger gradually expanded, by the turn of the century he had 148 employees. They started a delivery service, too, to ease the pressure from the salesclerks’ shoulders, but this just further boosted the customer traffic.

  
The interiors of the Paris Grand Department Store and the architect, Gusztáv Petschacher
Source: pestbuda.hu, pinterest.com, Wikipedia

Safety wasn’t a matter of concern in the busy store, and in 1903 a fire broke out due to a short-circuit, claiming the lives of 14 people, one of them the wife of one owner, Henrik Goldberger, and most of the goods. (This was the first time a jumping sheet was used in Budapest to rescue people stuck on the upper floors, but 12 people failed the jump, unfortunately.) Goldberger quickly got back on his feet after the fire, and decided to buy the Petánovics House on Andrássy Road for his new department store, with the late Theresatown Casino.

 
The first Paris Grand Department Store on Rákóczi Road before the fire (left) and after (right)
Source: egykor.hu

The original idea was to renovate the building, but in 1909 the workers had to realize that the four-floored house needed serious reconstruction. The foundation was not suitable and the materials used were poor quality. So instead of renovation, they decided to demolish and rebuild the building.

Goldberger left the planning to Zsigmond Sziklai and the execution to the architect of the original Casino, Gusztáv Petschacher. While they built the art nouveau palace with the unique curved facade, the atrium interior, the glass roof and the terraced layout, they learned from the previous fire, so it was made out of the then unique material in Europe: reinforced concrete, and adhered to the fire safety regulations. They established a generator system in case of power outages and installed the most modern fire alarm system. Because of the poor foundation, only the ballroom with the frescoes of Károly Lotz and Árpád Feszty could be preserved.

  
The Lotz Hall back then, its frescoes painted by Károly Lotz (left) and Árpád Feszty (right)
Source: MESZL Budapest Collection, Wikipedia

The customers were awed by the marble columns, gold-plated staircase, Zsolnay ornaments, glass windows of Miksa Róth and the glass-walled, mirrored elevators, on the rooftop there was a restaurant and a viewing platform with a view to the mountains of Buda, while during winter they operated a skating rink.

 
Source: welovebudapest.com, Wikipedia

The Paris Grand Department Store had a sensational opening on 3rd March 1911. The paper “Népszava” wrote this about the first metropolitan department store of Budapest: “The monumental palace shines at the beginning of Andrássy Road amongst the other buildings, like the jewellery around the neck of a proud dame.”

The prices were scaled to this, as well, the employees had courses on the arts of smiling and servicing. Thanks to the economic crisis after World War I, by 1924 the Paris almost went bankrupt. The Goldbergers changed to store into a limited company, the different departments were rentable separately, only the advertising and the opening hours were unified. So it was a little bit like the current shopping malls, a lot of shops operated in one place at the same time.

  
The interior of the Department Store in the 1930s (left) and the 2000s (right)
Source: pestbuda.hu, induljelegyuton.hu, vjm.hu

By this time everything was sold, stepping back to the bazaar-style. As the cheapest shopping centers of the capital city, the traffic got better and the store brought in profit. At around 1930, 4-500 employees worked here. The building survived the siege of Budapest in relatively good condition, then it was nationalized, but it was only used as a book storage.

It only got back its original function on 2nd January 1957, and opened its doors again on the then “Népköztársaság” (People’s Republic - ed.) Road as “Divatcsarnok” (Fashion Hall - ed.) (At the same time the Paris Department Store was open, there was already a department store called Hungarian Fashion Hall in the middle of the 1900s under 74 Rákóczi Road, and was a competitor to the Paris until its 1948 nationalization.)

  
The Fashion Hall-era
Source: nullahategy.hu, fortepan.hu

On the day of the opening the queue reached the Theresatown Church and the first lucky customer was given a gift. The building, part of the chain Centrum Department Stores, was renovated in 1963-64, changed, expanded by one floor and in 1967 became a listed building.

After the regime change, the Fashion Hall went bankrupt with Centrum Department Stores and closed its doors for good in 1999. Its condition got worse with time. The building owned by the Treasury Property Directorate was bought by the ORCO real estate company, based in Luxembourg, to build a luxury shopping center. However, the huge reconstruction works to achieve such a grandiose idea was not approved by the preservation committee.

  
A Lotz-terem és a Café Parisi
Source: index.hu, vjm.hu, welovebudapest.com

Eventually, the Paris Grand Department Store was renovated with the plans of János Tiba, who based his design on a detailed historical research, returning the original grandeur, leaving the facade and Lotz Hall unchanged.

  
Source: welovebudapest.com, vjm.hu

Only one thing was modified on the structure, the terrace facing Paulay Ede street got a polygonal glass dome. During the renovation between 2007 and 2009, the building was turned into an office building, and the ground and first floors were occupied by the Alexandra bookstore. In 2018 a future park moved in (Andrássy Experience Center), and on the rooftop you can still have an excellent view and delicious drinks, thanks to 360 Bar. In 2019 the Café Parisi joined the tenants in Lotz Hall, bringing back the café ambience to this wonderful interior. Since 2021 the building has not been open to visitors, only the rooftop is accessible.

Source: pestbuda.hu

Sources: mult-kor.hu, pestbuda.hu, Wikipedia, Világjáró (vjm.hu)