Üllői út 14 is an Art Nouveau apartment house built in 1907 and designed by Gyula Fodor. Interestingly, this house connects Üllői út with Baross utca and has the same door and relief at both entrances. In the past, these kinds of passages were quite common, and I once read an article published in the 1930s describing how it was possible to walk for hours in the center of Pest while spending only very little time on the streets and going from one house to another. Nowadays, most of these passages are closed, and only the inhabitants can go through.

At the top of the building, there is a golden eagle bearing the name “Aranysas Udvar” which translates to “Golden Eagle Court.” This name is derived from a hotel that once stood here, originally named “Zum Kaiser Napóleon” before being changed to “Zum Goldenen Adler” (To the Golden Eagle). The name pays homage to the French Imperial Eagle, a symbol carried into battle by Napoleon’s Grande Armée during the Napoleonic Wars. The old hotel was demolished, but the new house retained its name.

The beautiful golden reliefs representing a woman in a tunic are at both entrances and are the work of Simon Ney.

Gyula Fodor is among my favorite Hungarian architects, and I have already posted about some of his other buildings: Rózsa utca 29, Csokonai utca 8, and Falk Miksa utca 13.