Budapest Grand Boulevard: Most beautiful 100-year-old buildings!

The Great Boulevard is one of the most important routes in downtown Budapest, passing through the inner districts, the Northern border of Újlipótváros and the Northern border of Lipótváros, Terézváros, Erzsébetváros, Józsefváros and Ferencváros. Today, tram lines 4 and 6 run in the middle road, which is Europe’s busiest tram line with 200,000 passengers a day.

The boulevard is 4.1 kilometres long, and its average width is 45 metres. The first stages of construction were in 1872-1883, and the finishing leg was in 1897–1906. In between the two construction periods, hundreds of houses were built and opened for the public. Join us an see the best and most interesting ones.

Houses

Szent István körút 14. – Víg theatre

Vígszínház is one of the most popular and most spectacular theatres in Budapest. The Vígszínház building was built in 1896, in just one year, according to the plans of the Vienna Fellner and Helmer offices. Behind the building, there was a swampy area at the time. A dazzling turn-of-the-century Budapest and new centres of citizenship, Lipótváros and Újlipótváros, were built around the corner. The building is characteristic of late historicism. The architect couple Fellner and Helmer also introduced a structural solution inside the theatre building that distinguishes their buildings from previous theatres and was suitable for meeting the social representational needs of the late 19th century.

Architect: Ferdinand Feller and Hermann Helmer

Year of construction: 1896

Szent István körüt 17

Several noble contractors participated in the construction of the former Lipot Boulevard 17 building.

The house was completely ahead of its time, equipped with a person and a lorry,  gas and electric lighting, gas stoves, as well as handy and comfortable equipment. The maid’s quarter and the laundry room were located on the fourth floor or above because climbing the stairs was the ‘privilege’ of the maids. The average size of the apartments ranged from 100 to 150 square metres. Civic flats could be up to 250 square metres. Often, several generations lived in one house.
The apartments on the first floor were considered the best and most valuable ones. Often, the balcony belonged to these apartments alone. Most of the houses had a porter’s apartment, who watched any inbound people. In some houses, already after 10 o’clock, the house had to be silent. Lifts often operated with keys and only carried passengers up. There were also elevators that worked with change or coins.