W Budapest Hotel

The 151-room, five-star hotel, located on a UNESCO World Heritage site, has been renovated in accordance with strict heritage conservation standards and in full compliance with the relevant legislation. In an unprecedented way, the building combines the desire to preserve the past with the most modern design solutions to create perfect harmony.

The plans for the building at 25 Andrássy út in Budapest, known as the Drechsler Palace, were commissioned by the Pension Institute of the Hungarian Railways (MÁV) and designed by Ödön Lechner and Gyula Pártos in 1883. It was named after its most notable tenant, Béla Drechsler, who owned a café and a restaurant on the ground floor.

The neo-Renaissance building was completed in 1886 and was used as an apartment building for the client. The ornamentation of the building includes elements that use 19th century railway symbols, referring to the owner. Ödön Lechner, who personally supervised the construction of the building, also had an eye on the Opera House opposite. He considered it important that the new building should harmonise with, rather than rival, the building designed by Miklós Ybl, which had opened its doors to the public shortly before, in 1884. From 1946 to 2002, the palace housed the Hungarian Dance Academy (formerly the Hungarian Ballet Institute).

After many years of abandonment and dilapidation, one of Budapest’s most iconic historic heritage buildings has been renovated and rebranded as the W Budapest Hotel, operated by the Marriott hotel chain. The 151-room, five-star hotel, located on a UNESCO World Heritage site, has been renovated in accordance with strict heritage conservation standards and in full compliance with the relevant legislation.

The tens of thousands of stucco and stone decorative elements (restored by stonemasons and restorers) have been returned to their original places. The two decorative towers, destroyed in previous decades, have also been restored. An architectural and construction masterpiece is the glass covering of the interior courtyard, which makes the hotel’s lounge area even more welcoming. For the first time in Hungary, an innovative technology was needed that would allow the double curved glass surface to be fixed to the metal facade of the inner courtyard, while preserving the special saddle shape. The static support of the double curved glass surface is provided by a highly flexible bar chain system, which also gives the 64 glass panels an airy, floating effect.