Mystery Hotel, Budapest

Architects: Dr. Mihály Zoltán Oláh – Konstruma Mérnöki Iroda Kft.
Interior design: Zoltán Varró
Text: Eszter Götz
Photos: Zsolt Batár

Started at the beginning of 2019, the reconstruction project of the elegant turn-of-the century tenement palace standing at the corner of Podmaniczky Street in Budapest was completed after a long and eventful period. The building formerly was home to the Hungarian free masonry movement. In the year 1894, an architectural design contest was published for the headquarters of the Hungarian Symbolic Main Lodge, and the designer of the winning scheme, Vilmos Ruppert architect was also an initiated master of the Order. The centre was inaugurated in 1896 during the summer solstice. The U shaped floor plan housed a public café and restaurant on the ground floor, the ornate grand staircase starting behind the entrance lead on to the club rooms on the first floor, the ritual rooms, the offices, and the library room. On the third floor, the height of the two wings are different: the order received a grand hall with two-storey interior height to house its main ceremonies, the ceilings and the lateral walls were decorated with Egyptian-style paintings. In the early 2000s, the building was purchased by an international hotel chain, but the recession starting in 2009 put an end to the project. The new owner just completed the remodelling of the building after the concept of interior architecture true to the architectural reconstruction. Zoltán Varró designer slightly completed the free masonry history with the character of the fashion films about the mystic companies and the compulsory tools of the topic-based luxury hotels whilst also treating the duality of historic authenticity and contemporary visuality in a sensitive way.

Architect: dr. Mihály Zoltán Oláh – Konstruma Mérnöki Iroda Kft.
Interior design: Zoltán Varró
Assistant architect: Zsolt Szabó
Structure: Dezső Hensler, Lajos Vámos
HVAC: Zsolt Kálmán, András Balogh, Mihály Hégli
Electrical engineering: Gábor Somogyi