Schneider Mansion, 7 Eötvös street

Source: abtl.hu

Eötvös street was a side road of the Theresatown district in the reform era, known also as Szeg, Szög and even Zug street. Its current name is worn since 1874.

Vencel Schneider, from Pilzen, a trader of yeast, was successful enough to have a mansion-style house for his family, suitable for representation needs, as well. The property on Eötvös street was a part of a plot complex of about 15 acres (17 000 square meters – ed.) in the 18^th century, which was divided in 1869. The ~0.23 acre (259 square meters) property then had the current building constructed on by Schneider from 1878 to 1879.

János Bobula, the architect of the mansion
Source: Wikipedia

The designer and executive builder was János Bobula, an architect from Poland, born into a highland Hungarian family, and he was also a “publicist, alderman and politician”, too. He most likely made the plans for his father-in-law, József Pozdech and his six daughters, but it later went to Schneider. Bobula was the one who had the houses of the Boulevard constructed, and also the high schools on Barcsay and Trefort streets. His taste was defined by his love for the Italian renaissance, which was put into the plans of the house on Eötvös street.

 
Source: Wikimedia Commons

The two-story, U-shaped building had 9 rooms, 2 antechambers, 3 kitchens, 1 pantry, and 2 bathrooms on the ground floor (without the flat of the housekeeper), and 11 rooms, 3 antechambers, 1 kitchen, 1 pantry and 1 bathroom on the first floor. There was also a basement, a scullery and wood storeroom, and stables and a carriage house in the yard. The entrance was symmetrically put on the axis of the streetside wall, where the façade is reminiscent of the Italian cinquecento mansion architecture. From the shallow loggias of the first-floor projections, it was possible to see the cityscape up to the Boulevard. The building's stone-paved first-floor facade is broken by five identical, semi-circular windows, decorated with female figures on both edges of each window.

  
Source: magyarvelemeny.com, Wikimedia Commons

Through the two-winged gate, decorated with six wooden panels, we can reach an L-shaped, roofed, stucco-ornamented gateway. The main staircase is accessible from here, which has stone steps with wrought-iron rails leading up to it. On the first floor, the staircase area expands into a vaulted hallway towards the courtyard, where we can reach the north wing – built at a later date, and not protected by the city. The streetside wing of the first floor has a row of representative rooms.

The south side of the hall has a narrow expansion, which is bordered by two Corinthos columns with twisted bodies and golden vines around them. This opens up to the space intended as a chapel containing the painted glass window depicting Empress Maria Theresa. This area was never a real sanctified, sacred space. Opposite this room is an oval-shaped room, probably the smoking room, the sidewall divided into eight sections by pillars in plaited style.

The room accessible from the south of the hall has a large, richly decorated ceiling, one of the most beautiful, similarly styled decorations from the neo-baroque of Pest back in the day. Such a neat room in a mansion wing was unusual, so its original function is unknown.

 
 
Source: sulinet.hu, abtl.hu, Wikimedia Commons

From the hall, we can reach the middle room of the streetside wing, which is richly decorated on its walls and ceiling in the neo-rococo style and has a beautiful fireplace. This room was possibly used as a reception room, parlour room or music room.

The “parlour room” has two doors on the sides to corner rooms. The northern room, originally a library or study, is currently the head director’s office, whose beauty is the dark-brown wood covering its walls and the bookcase. The southern corner room, however, has a more modest, but still very elegant interior. Also worth mentioning are the handles of the decorated, nicely-shaped doors and windows on the first floor. The facades of the walls on the courtyard are different on each side – the openings of the mezzanine are slender. There is a loggia on the east side, divided by windows.

  
Source: abtl.hu, Wikimedia Commons, archivportal.hu

The building has reached its real mansion look, after multiple owner changes, at the turn of the last century. According to the people’s memory, Gábor Baross, the “iron minister” has also lived here once, and that the building was also called the Teleki Mansion at one point. The validity of these is unproven.

From the 1930s, the mansion turned into an office space for the various departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Then after 1945, Gábor Péter established the predecessor of ÁVO here, The Budapest branch of the Department of Political Law Enforcement (Politikai Rendészeti Osztály). Later the passport department of the State Security Division (ÁVO) resided here, then from 1985 the head council of the Dózsa Sport Association of Újpest (Újpesti Dózsa Sportegyesület) operated here. Since 1999, the mansion has been the home of the headquarters of the Historical Archives. The mansion is in excellent condition.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Sources: sulinet.hu, abtl.hu