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

tőire” style. Designed by Jakab Girth Jr, specimens of the interior wooden wall panelling, the furniture, the couches and the chairs are still visible in the various parts of the hotel. The elegant hotel with its superior furnishing was deservedly praised on the pages of contemporary papers and magazines. (The highly professional and circumspect owners employed every aspect of modern technology from lifts to a central system of vacuum cleaning.)

The hotel saw its heyday between the two world wars under the management of Mihály Gellér, who was awarded the title of chief government counsellor in 1935 in recognition of his outstanding achievement in the field of catering.

In 1930, the Astoria had 85 single and 60 double rooms. That was the year when the first major reconstruction was carried out to plans by Gábor Forgó, and it is by and large the shape the building received at that time that can be seen today. In 1940 the garret space was also built in. The entrance has often been relocated in recent decades, and in the 1960s the famous café was also moved.

The hotel was frequently the scene of high drama in the 20th century. In 1918 it was used as the headquarters of the National Council led by Count Mihály Károlyi. Novelist Gyula Krúdy gave a vivid account of the bustling life and vibrant atmosphere of the hotel in his contemporary reports. In the spring of 1919 the top officials of

The Hotel Astoria

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