Completed as its final form in 2019, the Paris Hotel Court is an architectural legend with a rich history of evolution. The original building, referred to as Brudern-has, was built in 1817 as a neoclassical shopping arcade on one of Budapest’s oldest squares, Ferenciek tere. Though it was modeled after the famous Passage des Panoramas in Paris, no one at the time could have known that this name was a foreshadowing of what the building would become.
Its next evolutionary stage began when the building was acquired by Belváros Savings Bank in 1907 and set to be mostly demolished and rebuilt by 1913. It was still titled as the Brudern-has and housed the shopping arcade on its lower levels, which was then titled Párisi udvar, or Paris House.
Though the building survived two world wars, the façade was eventually damaged during the Uprising of 1956 and further more during an attempted renovation in the 1960s, which left the office spaces unused, and many of the shops in the arcade slowly deserting for new locations.
This was when, in 2015, the building was purchased and set to undergo major renovations, with the final goal to be transformed into a luxury hotel for the public to enjoy. Archival plans and photos were used to restore the original Moorish and Gothic features, keeping the building’s original charm while updating the structural integrity of the framework. “The architectural goal—apart from reconstruction and revival of the splendor of the past—was to create an inspiring and contemporary transcript of such hidden treasures within the framework of a functionally sound building.” Due to the precise work that needed to be done, this reconstruction lasted longer than building the original structure itself, and finally was completed in 2019.
The highlights of the Paris Hotel Court continue to be the sparkling glass dome and passage that gave the building its name. Its ornate features date back to an era when facades and designs were made up of custom-made elements prepared in workshops, and each were carefully restored to make the whole space feel like a jump back in time. It is these details that make the Paris Hotel Court a legendary historical destination for both locals and visitors from all over the world.
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