Gábor Eszter: Andrássy Avenue – Our Budapest (Budapest, 2002)
What was built instead of the Five Hornet, was a row of five buildings. The one in the middle, at No. 39, housed the Theresa Town Casino. The only thing that marked it off the rest of the blocks in the street was its facade with its wellbalanced proportions. The designer, Gusztáv Petschacher, was commissioned as the winner of a closed competition in 1884. On the ground floor was the famous restaurant of one Petánovics, while the first floor was occupied by the rooms of the club; the second floor was reserved, here too, for rented flats. The main staircase led to the banqueting hall on the first floor, which overlooked the rear in Two Saracens’ Street. The trough vault of the two-storey high hall was decorated with Károly Lotz's fresco The Apotheotit of Budapest, which featured the symbols of civilian professions as well as the centrally positioned allegory of the city. The banqueting hall was spared in 1909 when Sámuel Goldberger had his new Parisian Department Store built in the place of the Theresa Town Casino since the original facility of the same name was burnt down in Rákóczi út. That was how the elegant, historic interior, the Lotz Hall. ■ The Parisian Department Store -1909 (No. 39 Andrátty út) 25
