Gresham Palace
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TheGresham Palace(Gresham-palota) is a building inBudapest,Hungary;it is an example ofArt Nouveauarchitecture. Completed in 1906 as an office and apartment building, it is today theFour Seasons Hotel Budapest Gresham Palace,a luxury hotel managed byFour Seasons Hotels.It is located along theRiver Danube,adjacent to Széchenyi Square and the eastern terminus of theSzéchenyi Chain Bridge.
History
[edit]The site was once occupied byNákó House,aneo-classicalpalace built in 1827. In 1880, theLondon-basedGresham Life Assurance Companybought the property, at a time when it was illegal for insurance companies inGreat Britainto invest money in stocks, but rental income was an acceptable and legal investment. The company later decided to build its foreign headquarters on the site, and decided that they needed a grander setting for them. They commissioned local architectsZsigmond Quittnerand Jozsef Vago to design the new structure, and in 1904, they began construction of the Gresham Palace, which was completed in 1906 and opened in 1907.[1]It was named after the 16th-century English financierSir Thomas Gresham,the founder of theRoyal Exchangein London.
Originally, the palace served as an office building as well as a residence for senior staff of the Gresham company. During the occupation afterWorld War II,theRed Armyused the building as a barracks. Eventually, it became decrepit and was used as an apartment building during thePeople's Republic of Hungary.In 1990, following the end of the communist regime, the national government presented the palace to the city of Budapest.
Oberoi Hotelsentered into an agreement to manage a hotel in the building in 1991, but ensuing legal battles with residents of the building caused Oberoi to drop out in 1995.[1]In 1998, Gresco Investments Ltd acquired the building and received approval from the Budapest Heritage Board to reconstruct it as a luxury hotel while retaining its originalArt Nouveauarchitecture.[2]Gresco raised $85 million for renovations and in 1999 Four Seasons agreed to oversee the reconstruction and manage the new property.
In 2001, the building was bought by the Irish investment company Quinlan Private. They extensively rebuilt the structure as a luxury hotel, restoring such original details as a large staircase,stained glass,mosaics, ironwork, and winter gardens. The hotel reopened in June 2004.[3]In November 2011, the hotel was bought by the State General Reserve Fund ofOman,though Four Seasons continues to manage it. It currently has 179 guest rooms, including 17 suites.
References
[edit]- ^ab"Gresham Palace Budapest par Palace Hotels de the World.com".palacehotelsoftheworld.com.Archived fromthe originalon 2020-02-18.Retrieved2014-03-20.
- ^"Four Seasons".
- ^Timmons, Heather (27 February 2005)."Budapest's Four Seasons Hotel, Gresham Palace".The New York Times– via NYTimes.com.
External links
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