Gerle János: Palaces of Money - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1994)

The nature of the business undertaken by the various banks was indicated by their strange-sounding names:

The Institution for General Provision United with the First Hungarian-Austrian Savings Bank, The Savings and Credit Association of Artisans, The First Austro-Hungarian Pest Savings and Advance- payment Society of the Clerical Association, The Budapest Cattle Market Cashier Co., Construction and Settlement Bank Co., Credit Bank for the Discounting of Industrial Invoices, etc.

The only “suggestive” proper nouns used are the names of Hermes and Mercury. The overwhelming majority of financial institutions worked in rented offices, later often in rooms subleased in the new bank buildings, located in Lipótváros or the inner city. Budapest’s “City”, the area most densely scattered with banks, is marked by József nádor tér, Dorottya utca and Nádor utca.

The more significant constructions were only started at the turn of the century; from the preceding period the reconstruction of the former “Wurm House” (no. 6 Dorottya utca) to plans by Alajos Hauszmann is worth mentioning. What survived a former rebuilding of the Hungarian Discounting and Exchange Bank are the fine glass windows of Miksa Róth (designed by Géza Maróti) and the elegant portals on the street front in the present head office of Technoimpex. The Hungarian General Savings Bank with apartments on its upper floor was built around 1898 at the corner of Nádor utca and Fürdő (today József Attila) utca. Mór Jókai, the famous writer, was among the members of the board of directors. One of Budapest’s first Art Nouveau buildings, the bank, designed by Artúr Meinig, featured a ceramic bee hive on its facade. The building can once again be seen in its original splendour due to reconstruction commissioned by Credit Bank, the present owner. The gate made by wrought iron master Gyula Jungfer is also worthy of attention.

And it is only now that we come to consider the proper subject matter of this volume-buildings used exclusively as banks. Earlier ones opened either in the rooms of already existing buildings or, because the small number of their employees did not yet require the spaces above the area of the central cashier’s hall, were located in buildings originally designed to include other institutions or apartments.

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