Klotild-palota, Budapest

The two distinctive English neo-Baroque eclectic buildings known as the Klotild Palaces are located in the V. district of Budapest, in Ferenciek Square. Seen from Rákóczi út, they form the symbolic gateway to the Elisabeth Bridge.

At the turn of the century following the millennium, at the initiative of Archduke Joseph Charles's wife, Archduchess Maria Klotild, a tender was launched for the construction of the then known as Snake Square, after the planned construction of the Elizabeth Bridge had led to the purchase of the land vacated by the demolition of houses in the 1880s.

The contract was awarded to Flóris Korb and Kálmán Giergl. The houses were built between 1899 and 1902. The twin buildings were covered with carved stone cladding. The glass windows were made in the workshop of Miksa Róth. The 48-metre-high towers are decorated with an enlarged copy of the crown of the Archduke. They were the first in Budapest to have an elevator. The stoves were supplied by the Zsolnay tile factory in Pécs.

The two houses, facing each other, are mirror-symmetrical in front of the bridge.

On the ground floor there are cafés, shops, galleries, and upstairs offices and apartments.

They were badly damaged in the Second World War. The northern palace was only restored after 1950, following the pattern of the southern one.