Zádor Anna: Neoclassical Pest - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1993)

the number of significant cathedrals erected, i.e. Esztergom, Eger, Szatmárnémeti-not to mention the numerous palaces and mansions-we have to admit that this accusation is not altogether well founded. The functionary class, which made up the majority of the intellectuals at that time, and which consisted mainly of the middle ranks of the nobility, preferred to live in seclusion on their estates. They lived in good or modest circumstances, depending on their estates. It is for this reason that this period used to be referred to as the period of the county court judge or, pejoratively, the era of idleness. As we can see above, there was no idleness in the country. There was, however, a class involved in industry and trade, which formed the base for further gradually accelerating economic development.

It was in our period that the almost one-hundred-year- old Trade Board of Pest felt that the time had come to have worthy headquarters built. The later but better known name of the building is Lloyds Palace. In 1827, following several years of preparation, construction began based on plans prepared by József Hild and under his supervision. This building (one of the most successful structures of the period) on the southern side of the present Roosevelt tér-known at the time as Kirakodópiac (Landing Market)-was almost finished by 1830. With its batter, which largely protrudes from the main body of the building and is joined by a colonnaded passage on the ground floor, the building is aristocratic, serene and dignified. It has been the home of a Mational Casino, a café and a stock exchange; the ceremonial hall on the first floor, as with the one in the National Museum, was the scene of numerous significant events. In 1851 it became the property of the Lloyd’s Company of Pest, hence its name. Unfortunately, this building of rare beauty was seriously damaged during the siege of Budapest, and was demolished in 1948 on the grounds that it was too dangerous. Perhaps, the hasty decision to destroy the building was influenced by the disproportionately high cost its reconstruction would have involved.

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