Juhász Gyula - Szántó András: Hotels - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1999)

1912. Each floor had its communal bath, though 12 rooms were equipped with their own bathrooms and each and every room had hot and cold water. Every

romrnitt

couch was covered with a genuine Persian rug. The building was fitted with a modern system of electric lights to summon room service, an internal telephone exchange, lifts, and a laundry on site. The lobby featured wooden wainscoting reminiscent of English interiors, and was lit by a bronze chandelier. The former courtyard was covered with a double-layered, heat-proof glass top. The lower layer of this was assembled from the finest cut- glass prisms. Beneath this topping was the restaurant, where the light of Venetian chandeliers was reflected in large wall-mirrors.

The hotel soon had its own circle of regular patrons largely made up of well-to-do visitors from the provinces. With the depression of the twenties left behind, the new manager, Aladár László, realised that he could no longer base his business exclusively on wealthy patrons, so he set up the affordable and yet quality Szondi Beer Hall in

Haranghy’s painting of the Britannia, decorated

WITH HIS OWN PICTURES, ON A POSTCARD

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