Gozsdu udvar, Budapest

Gozsdu udvar is a connected passage-and-courtyard complex, not a single building: seven original buildings gather around six linked courtyards, with the main route joining Király Street and Dob Street. The complex was designed by architect Győző Czigler and built for the Gozsdu Foundation between 1900 and 1901. Its founder was Emanoil Gojdu, a Romanian lawyer whose will established the foundation behind the project.

Look at the passage itself: it threads together residential buildings with ground-floor shops, cafés, bars, galleries and other venues. The original complex contained thirty-nine shops and sixty-one apartments, and its commercial life once included goldsmiths, engravers, jewellery dealers and textile sellers. From November 1944 to January 1945, all seven original buildings formed part of Budapest’s Jewish Ghetto.

The complex later deteriorated, but its basic spatial arrangement survived wartime damage and subsequent alterations. Reconstruction and restoration took place between 2002 and 2008, bringing the courtyards and façades into their present form while retaining the mixed residential and commercial use. Today, the linked courtyards make this passage distinctive: you can move through a sequence of enclosed spaces while the surrounding buildings continue to house homes, shops and places to eat and drink.