Architect: MAROSI Miklós
The 79-room, 3-4 star boutique hotel, a classic bed and breakfast, has been built in a quarter of Budapest nicknamed Chicago, close to the Eastern Railway Station. The textured effect of the brick facing and the vertical divisions of the facade, fitting the eclectic streetscape, and the glass walls of the ground floor lobby have created an exciting communication with the pedestrian walkway towards Baross Square.
The neighborhood of the hotel, the famous and infamous Chicago quarter in Pest, had been developed in the 1880s in a surprisingly short time. The knickname of the area might have referred to the dense and speedy building up of the area, the network of streets at right angles to each other and the characteristic greyness of the buildings, although some people thought that the common characteristic of the two locations was the lack of public safety. The original atmosphere of the quarter and the uniformity of its same age buildings have been preserved to this day. The flat-roofed building of the 3-4 star boutique hotel consists of a basement, a ground floor and six storeys. The court wing of the L-shaped building is adjacent to the fire wall on the left. The Nefelejcs Street facade has been carefully elaborated in order to fit the eclectic streetscape. It has a contemporary image, it does not pretend to be historical but it is not ostentatious either. The vertical divisions on the front, including the delicate textured effect of the brick cladding and the discreet offset of the attic, have been designed to enrich the view as seen from the street in a foreshortened perspective.
In the medium-sized, fully air-conditioned hotel, the guest rooms are accessible from the ground floor lobby through the elevator-staircase block. There are two basic types of rooms: the 12 to 14 square metre double rooms with shower are located in the middle of the building, the larger 15 to 16 square metre double rooms with bathtubs in the bathrooms are located on the sides, the latter can accommodate an extra bed for children. The rooms are classically furnished doubles with double beds, high headboards, night tables, wall mounted desks with seats and quality curtains. The service areas include offices, storerooms and a small kitchen, supplying the coffee shop where the breakfasts are served. The reception, the lobby and the coffee shop are nicely lighted by recessed lights, modern chandeliers and desk lamps of high quality. This part of Erzsébetváros has the smallest green area percentage in Budapest, therefore it is especially significant, that the hotel has a garden in the courtyard with a flowing water feature that the guests of the lobby-bar can also enjoy sitting on the garden terrace.
Location: Budapest VII., Nefelejcs utca 6. Built: 2011 Architect: MAROSI Miklós Associate architect: SIMKÓ Gábor Interior architect: SCHINAGL Gábor Landscape architect: HAVASSY Gabriella Area: 4053 m2
