New York Palace (Budapest)
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Grand Boulevard (Budapest)
Nagykörút or Grand Boulevard is one of the most central and busiest parts of Budapest, a major thoroughfare built by 1896, Hungary's Millennium. It forms a semicircle connecting two bridges of the Danube, Margaret Bridge on the north and Petőfi Bridge on the south...
Erzsébet körút part, under Erzsébet körút 9-11, in the 7th district
Erzsébetváros
----Erzsébetváros is the 7th district of Budapest, situated on the Pest side of the Danube. The inner half of the district was the historic Jewish quarter of Pest. The Dohány Street Synagogue, the largest functioning synagogue in Europe, is located in this district. Currently it is the most...
of Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
. Built by the New York Life Insurance Company
New York Life Insurance Company
The New York Life Insurance Company is one of the largest mutual life-insurance companies in the United States, and one of the largest life insurers in the world, with about $287 billion in total assets under management, and more than $15 billion in surplus and AVR...
as a local head office, its Café in the ground floor named New York Café was a longtime center for Hungarian literature and poetry, almost from its opening on October 23, 1894 to its closure in 2001, to reconstruct it into a luxury hotel, as it is now. The café was also reopened on May 5, 2006 in its original pomp, as was the whole building.
Building history
The New York Life Insurance CompanyNew York Life Insurance Company
The New York Life Insurance Company is one of the largest mutual life-insurance companies in the United States, and one of the largest life insurers in the world, with about $287 billion in total assets under management, and more than $15 billion in surplus and AVR...
assigned architect Alajos Hauszmann
Alajos Hauszmann
Hauszmann Alajos was an Austro-Hungarian architect, professor, and member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.-Life:...
, to plan the company's hall building in Budapest. Hauszmann, with Flóris Korb
Flóris Korb
Flóris Korb Hungarian architect.-Career:After finishing his studies in Berlin, he returned to Budapest to work under Alajos Hauszmann for fourteen years, during which time he took part in designing the New York Palace.In 1893 he entered into a partnership with Kalman Giergl which resulted in many...
and Kálmán Giergl
Kálmán Giergl
Kálmán Giergl , a significant figure in Hungarian eclectic architectural style. A member of the Györgyi-Giergl artistic family.- Family background :...
planned a four story eclectic
Eclecticism
Eclecticism is a conceptual approach that does not hold rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but instead draws upon multiple theories, styles, or ideas to gain complementary insights into a subject, or applies different theories in particular cases.It can sometimes seem inelegant or...
palace, with a café
Café
A café , also spelled cafe, in most countries refers to an establishment which focuses on serving coffee, like an American coffeehouse. In the United States, it may refer to an informal restaurant, offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches...
on its ground floor. The building and the café opened on October 23, 1894. The statues and other ornaments on the front side of the building, as well as the ground floor café's 16 imposing devilish faun
Faun
The faun is a rustic forest god or place-spirit of Roman mythology often associated with Greek satyrs and the Greek god Pan.-Origins:...
s, each one beside the café's sixteen windows, are the works of Károly Senyey.
The building was nationalized during the communist era. After the collapse of socialism, the palace was bought by Italian Boscolo Hotels
Boscolo Hotels
Boscolo Hotels is an Italian hotel chain, part of the Boscolo Group.-History:1978: Start of Boscolo hotels with first hotel in Sottomarina, called "Real"1980: Boscolo Tours was founded; it develops travel agency activities...
in February 2001. The building was totally renovated, and reopened on May 5, 2006 as a 107 room luxury hotel, with the Café, also totally renovated, on its ground floor.