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The old and new days of the Paris Department Store in Budapest
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Világjáró Magazin tells us the story of Sámuel Goldberger, who dared to dream big and opened the Paris Department Store at Andrássy street 39. However, he could not enjoy his creation for too long, as WWI broke out a couple of years later.
The Paris Department Store’s name is Párisi Nagy Áruház in Hungarian but was previously known as Divatcsarnok. It is a well-known shop on Andrássy street, but its story actually began at Rákóczi street, which was known back then as Kerepesi street. The famous textile mill owner, Sámuel Goldberger opened his first shop in 1898, which became the first shop in Budapest, where both the lower middle class and the better-waged workers could afford to buy pins, hats and even stationery.
Losses followed by great success
Goldberger sold his merchandise at a low price, the news of which spread like wildfire and in the next couple of years he had to open more and more shops in the apartment block. In the meantime, he clumsily ignored the safety regulations, and due to a blow-out, his famous Paris Department Store – which already employed 150 people at the time –
burnt down in August 1903.
Fourteen people died in the fire, among them the wife of Henrik Goldberger, who was one of the owners.
photo: egykor.hu
The entrepreneur recovered quickly from this huge moral and material loss and ventured even further. He’s been dreaming about opening a department store since he visited the shopping complexes in Vienna, Berlin and Paris in his youth. He found the perfect place for his new shop at Andrássy street 39. The Neo-Renaissance palace, built in 1885, was home to the Terézváros Casino until then. Sámuel and his brother took up the task of renovating the Casino in 1909. He acquired the money for the grandiose plans from selling the remainder of the shops. Zsigmond Sziklai was in charge of drawing up the design plans and Gusztáv Petschacher (the designer architect of the original Casino) with the execution of the plans.
The side of the building looking on Andrássy street was demolished and in its place, a ferroconcrete structure was built. This structure was still new back in those days.
Thus, the first Hungarian modern store was brought to life in 1911.
The building had a gallery, a single-area organisation, six stories and a roofed glass aula. The guests were amazed by the marble pillars, the gilded stairwell, the colourful glasses of the windows, and the glass walls and mirrors of the elevators. From the roof garden of the building, one could admire the view of Budapest, and in wintertime, the area was used as a skating rink. Still, the jewel of the store was the ballroom from the Casino days, the walls of which were lavishly decorated by painters Károly Lotz and Árpád Feszty.
This was a tremendous improvement in quality compared to the previous Paris Department Store. The inventory changed according to this, now aiming for upper-middle-class customers.
The ruins after the war
Goldberger’s dreams of a luxury store were quickly torn apart by the onset of the war. However, even before WWI broke out, solvent customers were becoming much harder to find, while
As one looks back into the past of Budapest one can notice that this town was build, destroyed, rebuild and -again- destroyed and finally rebuild again. Hopefully for the very last time because the city is and the buildings are beautiful and clean again. It is a good feeling to be back in Budapest, the city that I visited since 1966 and I have seen a lot of changes from that period on.
Nobody can say that Hungarian people are only making profit from the EU-subsidies. Really nobody, that is to say if they have (some) brains and a (little) knowledge of the Hungarian history. The Hungarian people have learned their lessons well and they are proud of their country and so am I. I live in Holland but I prefer to stay in Budapest as many times as possible!
It is a great nation, they have great and brave leaders, they stand for their own people, something that cannot be said of Dutch ‘representatives’.