Áurea Ana Palace Hotel, Budapest

Architect: Ádám Sylvester
Text: Tamás Ulrich
Photos: Tamás Bujnovszky

Two buildings built in the 19th century in Budapest have woken up from their Cinderella dreams and are reborn in their original glory now. It is true that this is the end of a long and laboursome process with the result of contributing to the satisfyingly growing list of restored historic buildings in the Inner City of the Hungarian capital. Ádám Sylvester and his architects office started design work for the hotel in Akadémia Street in 2004. Construction permit was first issued in 2008, but the global economic crisis hindered it and the project was postponed. The year 2015 saw the restart of the tendering process followed by the construction itselt with a deadline 18 months later, which eventually turned out to be 34 months and this February at last Áurea Ana Palace Hotel was opened. Close to the Danube bank in Pest, at the end of Akadémia Street towards Kossuth Square in a genuinely stylish environment, it is a new unit of the Spanish Eurostars Hotels chain. One structure of the complex was built in 1847 in the revivalist Classicist style with a courtile, and was used as a residential building till the 1920s. The other, more representative block was built by Franz Joseph I, and housed the Austrian Delegate in charge of affairs the Monarchy, and also hosted balls and other important events of social life in Budapest. After World War I it was home to the embassy of Austria, then after the 1920 it was the headquarters of the National Socialist Party, and then that of the Hungarian Communist Party. Thanks to careful and thorough excavations and restoration work on the historic building, it is now fully restored and awaits to be filled with its new function.

Leading architect: Prof. Ádám Sylvester DLA – Tér 4 Sylvester Ltd.
Architects: Juli Capella, Miquel Garcia, Pamala Könsgen – Capella Garcia Arquitectura Barcelona, Prof. Ádám Sylvester DLA, Márton Nagy – Tér 4 Sylvester Ltd.
Interiors: Pamala Könsgen, Borbála Nagy – Capella Garcia Arquitectura Barcelona
Structure: András Bartos – Statplan Ltd.
HVAC: Géza Porosz – Porosz and Son, Balázs Varga – Mevaplan Ltd.
Electrical engineering: Ilona Nyári – Libellalux Ltd.
Monument history expert: Ilona Tahi Tóth
Main contractor: Market Építő Ltd.