Újlipótváros ("New Leopold Town") is a neighborhood in the 13th

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much 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 south, Croatia and ...

. It is located north to

Lipótváros Lipótváros (, ) is a traditional neighbourhood in the city centre of Budapest, named after Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, King Leopold II. It is one of the two neighbourhoods of Belváros-Lipótváros, District V, the other one being Inner Ci ...

("Leopold Town") neighbourhood of the 5th District, with the

Szent István Boulevard Nagykörút, also Grand Boulevard or Great Boulevard (also called "Big Ring Road", "Grand Ring Road", "Great Ring Road"), is one of the most central and busiest parts of Budapest, a major thoroughfare built by 1896, Hungary's Millennium. I ...

(''Szent István körút'') separating it from its southern neighbor,

. It lies east of the river

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

, west of

Terézváros Terézváros (, English: Theresa Town, German: Theresienstadt) is the District VI of Budapest, and was named after Queen Maria Theresa in 1777, who visited the neighbourhood 26 years earlier in 1751. The territory was first inhabited in the earl ...

, and south of Vizafogó. Unlike most other neighborhoods in the 13th district, Újlipótváros is considered part of the Budapest city center.

History

Previously an industrial area, it was rebuilt as a

residential A residential area is a land used in which houses, housing predominates, as opposed to industrial district, industrial and Commercial Area, commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include ...

district from the late 1920s. Almost all of the

building A building or edifice is an enclosed Structure#Load-bearing, structure with a roof, walls and window, windows, usually standing permanently in one place, such as a house or factory. Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions, a ...

s were built between 1927 and 1944. This makes Újlipótváros quite different from the other parts of the

inner city The term inner city (also called the hood) has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Soc ...

, which were mainly built before

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, mostly in the last three decades of the nineteenth century. The very first buildings of Újlipótváros (the so-called "Palatinus houses") are notable exceptions, these were built in 1910–1911, and represent an interesting mixture of

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

and other contemporary styles
1
It has been a popular

middle-class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Commo ...

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...

residential district ever since it was built. Between the wars it was especially popular among middle-class citizens of

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

origin and this is partially true even today, according to recent

sociological Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociology was coined in ...

research
2
The area closest to the river Danube is the most expensive, spacious and pleasant, especially the buildings around Szent István park, which is located on the riverside. Some of these buildings (especially the so-called "Dunapark houses") are regarded by many as one of the best examples of

modernist architecture Modern architecture, also called modernist architecture, or the modern movement, is an architectural architectural movement, movement and architectural style, style that was prominent in the 20th century, between the earlier Art Deco Architectu ...

in Hungary.

Bauhaus in Budapest

The style of the district is often described as "

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...

", though this is not precise (the inner parts of the district are very densely built-up, and this was sharply criticized by Bauhaus architects in the thirties as pseudo-modernist architecture, with buildings featuring modernist-like facades, but bad structure), it is true that in this district one can find perhaps the best display of modern Hungarian architecture. Some of the building stock and the

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and pri ...

has been renovated in the last fifteen years, including Szent István park. The district has quite serious problems with

parking Parking is the act of stopping and disengaging a vehicle and usually leaving it unoccupied. Parking on one or both sides of a road is often permitted, though sometimes with restrictions. Some buildings have parking facilities for use of the bu ...

and over-crowdedness, especially in the narrower streets of its inner parts. Its main street is ''Pozsonyi út'', a

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

-lined

street A street is a public thoroughfare in a city, town or village, typically lined with Building, buildings on one or both sides. Streets often include pavements (sidewalks), pedestrian crossings, and sometimes amenities like Street light, streetligh ...

close to the

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

with a lot of

restaurants A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in app ...

bookstores Bookselling is the commercial trading of books, which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, book people, bookmen, or bookwomen. History The foundi ...

and shops.

History

Bauhaus in Budapest

See also