Pasarét: the leafy modernist villa quarter

Stops along the way

Things to notice.

1. 01

   1

   Pasaréti tér and the Franciscan church

   Start in the square where Gyula Rimanóczy's 1934 Saint Anthony church, its bus terminus and the surrounding shops were designed as one modernist set-piece. Stand in the middle and see how the brick tower, the colonnade and the bus stand all rhyme.

   01

   Pasaréti tér and the Franciscan church

   Start in the square where Gyula Rimanóczy's 1934 Saint Anthony church, its bus terminus and the surrounding shops were designed as one modernist set-piece. Stand in the middle and see how the brick tower, the colonnade and the bus stand all rhyme.

   ◉Street View
2. 02

   2

   Napraforgó utca experimental estate

   A short walk north, the 1931 'Sunflower Street' colony — twenty-odd small modern houses by the period's best architects, built as a Hungarian answer to Stuttgart's Weissenhof. Walk the curving street slowly; the gardens have softened the lines, but the ideas are still legible.

   02

   Napraforgó utca experimental estate

   A short walk north, the 1931 'Sunflower Street' colony — twenty-odd small modern houses by the period's best architects, built as a Hungarian answer to Stuttgart's Weissenhof. Walk the curving street slowly; the gardens have softened the lines, but the ideas are still legible.

   ◉Street View
3. 03

   3

   Gábor Áron utca villas

   Back south through streets of interwar villas — flat roofs, ribbon windows, the occasional ocean-liner curve. No single one is a monument; the pleasure is the run of them under the trees. Read the dates over the doors.

   03

   Gábor Áron utca villas

   Back south through streets of interwar villas — flat roofs, ribbon windows, the occasional ocean-liner curve. No single one is a monument; the pleasure is the run of them under the trees. Read the dates over the doors.

   ◉Street View
4. 04

   4

   Lóránt utca and the hillside gardens

   The lane climbs into the wooded slope where the villas get larger and the city falls away below. Quiet enough to hear birds. Pick a bench at a bend and let the morning sit for a minute.

   04

   Lóránt utca and the hillside gardens

   The lane climbs into the wooded slope where the villas get larger and the city falls away below. Quiet enough to hear birds. Pick a bench at a bend and let the morning sit for a minute.

   ◉Street View
5. 05

   5

   Hidegkúti út villa run

   Drop back down through more leafy garden plots toward the square. Embassies and old Buda families hide behind some of these hedges; the brass plates tell you which. The shade barely breaks the whole way.

   05

   Hidegkúti út villa run

   Drop back down through more leafy garden plots toward the square. Embassies and old Buda families hide behind some of these hedges; the brass plates tell you which. The shade barely breaks the whole way.

   ◉Street View
6. 06

   6

   Pasaréti tér — coffee to finish

   Close where you started, with a coffee in the square under Rimanóczy's tower. The 5 and 29 buses run from the terminus straight back down to Széll Kálmán tér and the M2.

   06

   Pasaréti tér — coffee to finish

   Close where you started, with a coffee in the square under Rimanóczy's tower. The 5 and 29 buses run from the terminus straight back down to Széll Kálmán tér and the M2.

   ◉Street View