Budapest's Palace District

Józsefváros developed immediately east of the medieval walls of Pest and was originally called Lerchenfeld ('Lark Field')[2] or the Alsó-Külváros (‘Lower Suburb’).

The Szent Rókus Kórház (St Roch Hospital) next door – was opened in 1796, but in its current incarnation offers few clues to its antiquity.

One of the great classical architects of Pest, József Hild, designed one of the earlier buildings in the district, the 1842 Virágfüzéres ház (‘Garland House’) at Baross utca 40.

Lechner's Jewish student Béla Lajta's designed the 1912 Count Széchenyi School of Trade on Vas utca, a striking contrast to most of the Palace District's architecture, fusing modernism, art deco and folk motifs.

A well-known Hungarian-Jewish architectural team also designed Hungary's first department store, the Corvin Áruház, on Blaha Lujza tér.

Construction of the classicist building began in 1915, with the department store finally opening in 1926 (five years later it incorporated Hungary's first escalator).

[11] The external sculptural reliefs were the work of the famous Hungarian-Jewish sculptor Ödön Beck,[12][13] who vanished on 31 January 1945 during the Siege of Budapest.

Between the Múzeum körút and Puskin utca is the Humanities Faculty of Budapest's Eötvös Loránd University,[16] built 1880-3 by Imre Steindl, also the architect of the Parliament building.

In addition, the Semmelweis University's Faculty of Health Sciences and the Hungarian Society of Therapists are housed in the former sanatorium and medicinal baths at Vas utca 17 (see photo).

[26] Kauser also completed the spectacular interior of the Basilica after Miklós Ybl died in 1891[27] and designed the south-eastern quarter of the Kódály körönd, the magnificent quartet of residential palaces on Andrássy út between Oktogon and Heroes’ Square.

These include the Jézus Szíve Jezsuita lélkeszség (the Society of Jesus Convent) at Mária utca 25, the Kollégium Teréziánum of the Miasszonyunkról Nevezett Kalocsai Iskolanővérek Társulata (Terezianum College (student dormitory) of the Society of Our Lady Sisters of Kalocsa School at Mária utca 20[29] and several in Horánszky utca: the Saint Ignatius Jesuit College mentioned above (18); the Divine Saviour's Sisters Saint Anna College (Isteni Megváltóról Nevezett Nővérek Szent Anna Collégiuma)(17);[30] the 1912 Párbeszédháza, the House of Dialogue, the Jesuits' spiritual and cultural centre in Budapest(20) (handed after the communist regime's dissolution of the Jesuit order to the Karl Marx University; ‘the ruined building was returned to the Jesuit order and the order had the building renovated by its hundredth anniversary’);[31] and the Jézus Szíve társasága egyetemi szakkkolegiumá (during World War II the Jézus Szive Népleanyok Társasága (Sacred Heart Society of Folkgirls) was at this address) (14).

The sisters of the Saint Anna College gave refuge to Jewish girls while the Sacred Heart Society of Folkgirls issued protective documents.

The convent in Mária utca hid Jewish men,[32] while the House of Dialogue, according to the plaque outside, ‘hid almost forty deserters and 120 Jews away in the basement and then helped them escape abroad.’ The 1877 Rabbinical Seminary and Budapest University of Jewish Studies on Gutenberg tér (Országos Rabbiképző – Zsidó Egyetem and Alapítvány a Zsidó Egyetemért) is the world's oldest institution where rabbis graduate.

It is considered one of the most important collections of Jewish theological literature outside Israel.’ During the communist period, the rabbinical seminary in Budapest, uniquely in Eastern Europe, continued to operate, attracting students from across the region, including the Soviet Union.

In addition to the main cultural institutions in the Palace District – the National Museum and the Szabó Ervin Library – the Uránia Cinema, at Rákóczy út 21, is also noteworthy.

Still bullet-marked buildings show that the Palace District, like the rest of Budapest, was left scarred by the fighting at the end of the Second World War.

In 1952, it used part of the area to construct a concrete bunker designed to enable the regime to continue broadcasting in case of emergency including nuclear attack.

[49] Two years later, in 1948, the section of Baross utca in front of the library was renamed Szabó Ervin tér[50] Surprisingly, the communist regime did not rename the József körút (Joseph ringroad), named after the Archduke of Austria and Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, as it did the Teréz and Erzsébet stretches of the ringroad, also named after Habsburg monarchs.

In 1962, Rökk Szillárd utca, named after a wealthy 19th century philanthropist, was renamed Somogyi Béla after a leftist journalist murdered by White forces in 1920.

This reputation reflected the dilapidation and poverty especially of the outer part of the district (i.e. east of the Józsefkörút) and the proportionately high population of typically poor gypsies in that area.

[63] It was reported in June 2019 that the Pázmány Péter Catholic University had also acquired the Kéményseprő ház (the ‘Chimney Sweep House’), the classicist building at Bródy Sándor utca 15 built 1851-5 and designed by Károly Hild, brother of the more famous Budapest architect József Hild, which would house the university's central offices.

[67] In April 2018 it was announced that Blaha Lujza tér would undergo a major renovation with green spaces replacing the current car-park area.

At the same time, the 1926 Corvin Áruház (department store) would get a facelift with its communist-era aluminium layer removed and the original façade restored.

[68] Józsefváros deputy mayor Dániel Rádai was quoted in July 2020 saying that reconstruction of the square would start in the spring of 2021, at the same that the restoration of the facade of the Corvin Áruház, which was expected to take eighteen months.

While the plan is currently short on detail, the stated aim will be to reduce road traffic, to give preference to public transport, to provide wider pedestrian areas and better provision for cycling and to plant more trees.

[71] It was announced in July 2021 that the long empty and neglected turn of the 20th century former Hungarian Association of Civil Servants building at Puskin utca 4 would be restored and redeveloped.