Walking through the streets of Budapest, you probably don’t realise that on the other side of hidden doorways, lush gardens bloom within residential courtyards. Star photographer Krisztián Bódis peeked into a few communal gardens to capture a real cavalcade of colour.
A glimpse of greenery amid urban concrete, be it a little space for flowers or walls running with wild grapes, is always welcome, but some apartment houses in Pest go the whole hog. Benches, fountains and thousands of plants embellish the lives of the lucky residents who live there. Although you can’t usually just walk into these courtyards, these photographs by Krisztián Bódis show you what you’re missing.
VI.Teréz körút 25
The traffic-swamped Nagykörút would be the last place you would expect to find the most beautiful courtyard in Pest, but Teréz körút 25 takes the prize. This building designed by Henrik Schmahl with its loggia design, arches, columns and wild grapes falling from the balconies could be a renaissance palace, but it was actually created as a residential building. The same architect designed seven other houses on this stretch of the Nagykörút, as well the Uránia Film Theatre and the Párizsi udvar.
VII.Rákóczi út 4
IX.Ráday utca 47
V.Október 6 utca 3/Sas utca 4
The plot on the corner of Sas utca 4 and Október 6 utca was created when the land was divided at the end of the 1700s, and József Hild of Basilica fame designed residential Blüchdorn House and garden for this irregular site. The building was remodelled several times then its roof burned down in 1880, when it was renovated according to the plans of eminent villa builder Antal Weber.
VI.Ó utca 6
VI.Liszt Ferenc tér 10
From busy Liszt Ferenc tér, this courtyard overgrown with trees lies behind gateway of No.10, where is fountain nearly two metres high was designed by Miklós Ybl of Opera House fame. It originally stood on Jókai tér and was brought here due to town planning.
VI.Király utca 34
VII.Dob utca 33
VIII.Bródy Sándor utca 22
VI.Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út 17
