The Gresham Palace (''Gresham-palota'') is a building in
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
,
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
; it is an example of
Art Nouveau architecture. Completed in 1906 as an office and apartment building, it is today the Four Seasons Hotel Budapest Gresham Palace, a luxury hotel managed by
Four Seasons Hotels
Four Seasons Hotels Limited, trading as Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, is an international luxury hotel and resort company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Four Seasons currently operates more than 100 hotels and resorts worldwide.D ...
. It is located along the
River Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...
, adjacent to Széchenyi Square and the eastern terminus of the
Széchenyi Chain Bridge
The Széchenyi Chain Bridge ( hu, Széchenyi lánchíd ) is a chain bridge that spans the River Danube between Buda and Pest, the western and eastern sides of Budapest, the capital of Hungary. Designed by English engineer William Tierney Clark ...
.
History
The site was once occupied by
Nákó House, a
neo-classical palace built in 1827. In 1880, the
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
-based
Gresham Life Assurance Company bought the property, at a time when it was illegal for insurance companies in
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...
to invest money in stocks, but rental income was an acceptable and legal investment. The company later decided to build its foreign headquarters on the site, and decided that they needed a grander setting for them. They commissioned local architects
Zsigmond Quittner and Jozsef Vago to design the new structure, and in 1904, they began construction of the Gresham Palace, which was completed in 1906 and opened in 1907.
It was named after the 16th-century English financier
Sir Thomas Gresham
Sir Thomas Gresham the Elder (; c. 151921 November 1579), was an English merchant and financier who acted on behalf of King Edward VI (1547–1553) and Edward's half-sisters, queens Mary I (1553–1558) and Elizabeth I (1558–1603). In 1565 ...
, the founder of the
Royal Exchange in London.
Originally, the palace served as an office building as well as a residence for senior staff of the Gresham company. During the occupation after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...
used the building as a barracks. Eventually, it became decrepit and was used as an apartment building during the
People's Republic of Hungary
The Hungarian People's Republic ( hu, Magyar Népköztársaság) was a one-party socialist state from 20 August 1949
to 23 October 1989.
It was governed by the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, which was under the influence of the Soviet U ...
. In 1990, following the end of the communist regime, the national government presented the palace to the city of Budapest.
Oberoi Hotels
The Oberoi Group is an award-winning luxury hotel group with its head office in New Delhi, India. Founded in 1934, the company owns and operates 32 luxury hotels and two river cruise ships in 7 countries, primarily under its Oberoi Hotels & Re ...
entered into an agreement to manage a hotel in the building in 1991, but ensuing legal battles with residents of the building caused Oberoi to drop out in 1995.
In 1998, Gresco Investments Ltd acquired the building and received approval from the Budapest Heritage Board to reconstruct it as a luxury hotel while retaining its original
Art Nouveau architecture.
Gresco raised $85 million for renovations and in 1999 Four Seasons agreed to oversee the reconstruction and manage the new property.
In 2001, the building was bought by the Irish investment company Quinlan Private. They extensively rebuilt the structure as a luxury hotel, restoring such original details as a large staircase,
stained glass, mosaics, ironwork, and winter gardens. The hotel reopened in June 2004.
In November 2011, the hotel was bought by the State General Reserve Fund of
Oman
Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...
, though Four Seasons continues to manage it. It currently has 179 guest rooms, including 17 suites.
References
External links
*
Gresham Palace at funiq.hu
{{Coord, 47, 29, 59.09, N, 19, 2, 52.73, E, region:HU_type:landmark, display=title
Art Nouveau apartment buildings
Art Nouveau architecture in Budapest
Art Nouveau commercial buildings
Art Nouveau hotels
Buildings and structures in Budapest
Four Seasons hotels and resorts
Hotel buildings completed in 1906
Hotels in Budapest
1906 establishments in Austria-Hungary