Mansion in Hungary for sale at a surprisingly low price

A mansion which has been standing empty since 2000 is for sale in Mátyásdomb, Hungary. The Lonkai mansion which stands in a small village located just about 28 kilometres from Lake Balaton, is for sale for slightly more than HUF 48 million (about EUR 121 thousand).

Although, it requires extensive renovation, the mansion looks quite good even in its neglected condition, feol.hu reports. The two-storey building has 14 rooms, and is 670 square metres.

The mansion’s history

The story of the mansion dates back more than 100 years. It was built by Ármin Lonkai in 1902. Lonkai started to rent the land, which was still marshy and swampy at the time, in the late 1800’s. Although not much information of the construction has survived, the design of the mansion itself shows that the builder tried to reflect the architectural characteristics of the period, notes the historical portal mult-kor.hu.

Aside from the eclectic design elements, there are also a few details of the Art Nouveau style from the turn of the century, but as a whole, the decoration of the building is more reminiscent of Baroque style mansions,

the portal explains.

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In addition, Lonkai was not only responsible for building the mansion. After draining the marshlands, he also started an agricultural business on the large land he rented. Thanks to the successful agricultural activity, the local area began to prosper considerably. Among other improvements, a steam mill, a school and even an economic railway line were built in the area.

The Lonkai family managed the land for 58 years. After the family’s lease on the land expired in 1938, the building served a variety of purposes. After nationalisation, the mansion was home to a cinema, a community centre, and at one time even a tannery.

According to feol.hu, the last owner of the mansion was the company named Fővárosi Kézműipari Vállalat (Capital City Crafts Enterprise). The company operated a sewing factory here until 2000. However, from that year on, there was no owner of the building, so it has been completely empty ever since.

What does the future hold for the mansion?

In 2014, there was already an attempt to sell the mansion for HUF 22 million (EUR 55,5 thousand), but there were no buyers. The mansion, which once surely had better times, was already in need of renovation at the time. Although, this was of course already included in the price.

Yet, given the relatively low price, there may be a chance that an investor could save the otherwise imposing building. After all, it should not be forgotten that it is now also well-priced. Because, as feol.hu puts it, the current price of HUF 48 million is equivalent to the price of a fairly large panel apartment.

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Source: feol.hu, mult-kor.hu, urbanista.blog.hu