The ground floor and the first floor of the building at 44 Bajza Street will be renewed, according to the Public Procurement Notice . The three-storey Art Nouveau palace was built in 1899 according to the plans of Zoltán Bálint and Lajos Jámbor, on behalf of land and factory owner Sámuel Baruch. (The Léderer Palace at 42 Bajza Street, next door, was also designed by the these architects, as were many of the buildings that shaped the cityscape at the turn of the century in Budapest).

The state-owned palace features a richly decorated façade and a carved stone entrance gate. The historicist frames of the façade, the Art Nouveau stone carvings and stucco, and its rich plant ornamentation with plastered surfaces are a valuable contrast. The loggia design on the third floor is typical of the Transylvanian manor houses. The staircase of the palace is impressive, with rich Art Nouveau stucco ornaments and arched wrought-iron railings.

The apartment building of Sámuel Baruch on 44 Bajza Street, around 1899 (Photo: FSZEK Budapest Collection)

Walter Crane, an English artist and craftsman, made a month-long trip to Hungary and Transylvania in 1900, and according to Crane, the palace at 44 Bajza Street is the most beautiful house in the Hungarian capital.

Later in the 20th century, the condition of the interiors deteriorated greatly, the Art Nouveau stucco was broken, and it was also seen that multiple purity paintings obscured the original artistic elements, and unprofessional repairs transformed the elements of the building.

The ground floor and first floor of the Art Nouveau palace will be renovated in the first phase of the works (Photo: googlemaps.com)

Therefore, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has decided to restore the building, during the first phase of which the restoration of the ground floor and first floor rooms is expected. The work announced in the public procurement procedure is made up of three parts, such as architecture (silicate paints, enamelling of wooden surfaces, parquet laying), mechanical engineering (renovation of drinking water supply), and replacement of power cables.

The Bulgarian-Hungarian Primary School and Gymnasium of Hriszto Botev is located in the palace of Sámuel Baruch, which closed in 2011 after 93 years of operation. The house has since housed the Bulgarian Bilingual National Kindergarten and the Bulgarian Minority Language School.

Cover photo: The renovation of the palace under the protection of monuments, built according to the plans of Zoltán Bálint and Lajos Jámbor in 1899, was timely (Photo: Both Balázs / pestbuda.hu)