Buza Péter - Gadányi György: Towering Aspirations - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1998)
As suggested above, Emil Gerstenberger was a master builder mainly undertaking construction assignments. He had come to Hungary from Saxony in the late 1870s upon receiving news of the great Tisza flood and the large- scale reconstruction work in its wake. About a decade later he moved to Budapest, where he was employed by the noted architect Ignác Alpár to work on a variety of projects, including the construction of the Vajdahunyad Castle in the City Park. However, he first built his own house on what was then Csömöri út (today Thököly út). The most interesting peculiarity of this strange building is its dome- topped turret. The master positioned it in such a way that the house should and yet should not have it. The tower overlooks the courtyard, showing and hiding itself at the same time. By the turn of the century the family had begun to outgrow the villa whose proportions were those of a modest detached house. It was not only because of the enlarged family, but also on account of the growing family fortune that Emil Gerstenberger began to deem it not extravagant to own a veritable palace. With the assistance of Ignác Alpár, he built his many-towered romantic castle-house on the Rózsadomb hill in 1906. It was from this residence that he managed his successful business for another ten years only to move house when a prospective buyer would promise to be truly worthy of his palatial home. The successful candidate was none other than Prince Dr Joseph Francis, grandson of Arch-Duchess Klotild (owner of the tower-topped apartment house in Váci utca) and a prominent member of the fashionable society of Pest. However, custom did not allow him to purchase anything from a “commoner”. Therefore he asked Count Erdődy to buy the property, and then pass the virtually royal house to him, the genuine royalty. This is what indeed happened and in 1924 when the prince led Anna the Royal Princess of Saxony to the altar he could take her home to a palace passed on by a mere count. Here she was able to see to her affairs amidst the luxurious furniture of the Gerstenbergs. This unusual story concludes our admittedly incomplete survey of the Pest-Buda towers and domes. The tale of this fashion has reached its fulfilment, arriving at the point where the tastes of royalty served as a standard by which the bold bourgeoisie dared measure its aspirations. 55
