An architectural gem lies in downtown Budapest, only steps away from Szabadság tér. Just walk past the American Embassy's slightly intimidating fence and guards, and try to catch the opening entrance door of 2 Perczel Mór utca. If you manage to do so, you will enter a place that will leave your jaw on the floor. The ceiling is painted in vibrant colours, simultaneously evoking Moorish aesthetics, synagogues, and churches. Catch a sneak peek through the beautiful photos of Budapest-based photographer Krisztián Bódis.
The street 'Perczel Mór utca' was built in the late 1890s, paying homage to a hero of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848–49. Number 2 was constructed in 1899, designed by László Gyalus, who is also behind a villa nicknamed mini-Hogwarts. The facade is Neo-Roman but the interior, featuring lofty ceilings and ornate decorations, showers you with the sensation of roaming a church.
However, don't be fooled by the marble and columns, this building was always meant to be an apartment house. And a very modern one at that! In its heyday, it boasted the city's most modern lift and housed 6-bedroom apartments on the first floor – all 4-4,3 metres high. Going up, the height and the size of the flats decreased, not that it would have dampened our enthusiasm to move in right away. Flick through the photos of Krisztián Bódis to see why!
And here's another fascinating fact: the building's ground floor once was home to a renowned confectionary named King. Legend has it that their sumptuous cakes were in such demand that they catered to royals and aristocrats. However, in 1905, City Coffee House took over.
