Due to the outbreak of World War II, and the delayed construction of metro line 2, the southern side of Kossuth Square and the building located at Kossuth Square 4-6 was never finished according to the original design plans. Instead, by 1972, an office building was erected here according to the plans of Hungarian architect Béla Pintér, and a metro station was installed below. The limestone-and-glass elements and the layout of the façade were always considered too modern and out-of-place by city residents, and the building never really fit into this environment that surrounds the Gothic Revival Parliament building, especially after the complete reconstruction of Kossuth Square in 2014. Thus, there has long been a demand for this building’s renovation.
Even though this edifice never boasted the most embellished façade in Budapest, its interior holds several intriguing design elements, like an impressively carved stone column that features classic Hungarian characters and motifs in the main lobby; while exact plans for the interior design are unknown for now, we hope that this column may be preserved and will remain on display in the building after the renovation is completed.
The current design plans reach back to the original ideas from 1928 of architect Dezső Hültl, giving the building a new façade that is tailored to suit the style of the whole square. The edifice will be connected to the Parliament building via an underground corridor that aims to cease above-ground security checks, and to place them as far away from the Parliament as possible. This way, the daily work of the Members of Parliament will be eased by free movement between the two buildings.The renovations on Kossuth Square are all part of the Steindl Imre Program, which also aims to see the Museum of Ethnography’s building regain its original function of housing the highest court of Hungary, the Curia. This way, the original organizing principle of the square will be restored with all three branches of power represented in Kossuth Square – the legislative, executive and judiciary – through the buildings of the House of Parliament, the Ministry of Agriculture – as well as the Ministry of Justice – and the Curia by the end of the decade.
Although the reconstruction of Kossuth Square 4-6 is scheduled to continue through most of 2018, the good news for Budapest commuters is that the M2 metro station beneath the building is planned to reopen much sooner than that, perhaps even by the end of summer 2017.
