Famous Budapest Buildings: Párisi udvar

Parisian Arcade (Párisi udvar) located at Petőfi Sándor utca 2 is one of the most impressive buildings the Hungarian capital is so famous for.

The name of the building Párisi udvar comes from the Paris Street next to the building.
Built between 1909 and 1913 on the plot that used to be one of the most expensive ones at that time.
The building was commissioned by Central City Savings Bank which wanted to have a serious façade without excessive ornamentation.
Well, their concept of excessiveness was obviously very different from today’s.
The tender was won by German-born architect Henrik Schmahl who also designed numerous buildings and villas in Budapest, including <a href="http://www.urania-nf.hu/az_epulet.php#" target="new">Uránia Cinema</a>.
The dimly lit interior passageway with its impressive glass dome offers the atmosphere of Oriental bazaar. Except, you don’t find many (open) shops here, for some reason the arcade is not popular with shop owners these days.
The glass dome seen from inside.
And from outside.
Floor tiling.
Switches from probably 50s.
The roof covered with green and red majolica tiles looks like glittering cake icing. The majolica tiles and glazed bricks are also used in façade.
The staircase in apartments part.
The hexagonal shaft with mosaic windows used to house an elevator that, unfortunately, didn’t survive (now, it is a ventilation shaft.) According to elderly tenants it was a very elegant lift with mirrors and benches.
The building is not in its best condition today, especially inside, but it's impossible even to imagine how much it would cost to properly restore it.
Naturally, to build it cost a fortune, and it is rumored that architect committed suicide because of huge overspending during construction.
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By Sosna on 06 Sep 2010. Updated on 07 Oct 2012
Parisi visit?

Great research, thanks. I'm going to Budapest next August. Can everyone go inside the building as you show on your photos? I'm really interested in architecture and Buenos Aires is close to Budapest in its fin de siecle eclecticism.

You can&#039;t go inside, unless

You can't go inside, unless you know someone in the building.
Here we just saw a door open for a minute and went in. Little did we know! To get out one needed a key, and we spent some time there waiting for someone to go out. So, these photos are very rare indeed.

But BP has been very lucky to have so many architects to try their things here, and even without going inside it is truly special. Enjoy your time in Bp!

Superb Building

We visited this building just yesterday, a door was open and a lady on the street said we could go in, the beauty was so stunning that I cried. It is the greatest tragedy that people paying for sightseeing tours are not shown this absolutely amazing place. People seemed to be coming and going freely, there was a security guard there but he sat in a chair the whole time and did not mind us taking photos. Look for this when your are in wonderful Budapest, loved it so much!!!

By AussieGoer (not verified) on 18 Aug 2012