Green Environment for Green Discussions

Located in a small street of District II in Budapest, shaded by robust trees, a middle-sized villa gives home to the Dutch ambassador’s residence. The building has an intriguing historical background. The story of the occupants of the house is a bit of a mirror of Hungary’s recent history.

Changing famous hands
The house was built in the early 1930s as a family home for a Jewish couple Mr. and Mrs. József Braun who perished in 1944. The original house comprised just the current ground- and lower ground floors. In 1940, a garden room with a terrace above it was added. After the war, the building was nationalized, presumably in 1948, and then, it was divided into four flats to house military personnel. In the 1990s, the house was taken over by the Hungarian Army and used by ‘comrades’ of the communist party of Hungary. At some later stage, General Bertalan Farkas, the Hungarian army officer famous for visiting the Russian Mir space station in the 1980s as part of the USSR’s friendship program and thus, being the first Hungarian in space, and later a politician, moved into the house. He bought it from the Army in 1998.

Restoring to original character
The current owners began a refurbishment project in late 2005, which took nearly two years to complete. This included the total reconfiguration of the existing house to bring it back to its original character, as well as the addition of a new first floor, to create a spacious family home. As part of this process, the original staircase was removed from its previous location (in what is now the kitchen), refurbished and reinstalled in its current location. Every single room in the house was changed in one way or another.

Diplomats take over
Later on, the garden was redesigned with flower beds laid in front of the house and along the east side of the building. Following the owners’ decision to move their family back to their native Austria in 2012, the house was rented to the French ambassador for one year while his residence underwent a major refurbishment, and then to a Hungarian businessman. The Kingdom of the Netherlands took over the tenancy in 2015, and the house became the official ambassadorial Residence on my arrival to Budapest as the Ambassador of the Netherlands in September 2017.

Representing the Netherlands
The significance of the residence is that it is the place to represent The Netherlands. I enjoyed that so much. In pre-COVID times, we sometimes had dinners attended by as many as 35 people. That required quite some internal moving to fit everything in. However, we were always able to do in a stylish way. Indeed, pre-covid, it was sometimes as crowded as a popular café. I have some great colleagues working at the residence with lots of experience and creativity, so we can always present ‘lekker’ dinners, nice flower arrangements and create a hospitable environment. We use the residence extensively. Lots of Hungarians of all walks of life have joined us and, of course, also many form the Netherland, like ministers, writers, business people and artists. We organize very diverse events, ranging from circular economy, promoting a speak-up culture, fostering a healthy lifestyle are more political discussions.
And, of course, I very much enjoyed living at the residence, first time since I am 18 that I live in a house with a garden. I have a spacious apartment in the heart of Amsterdam, and thus, being able to receive so many people in a beautiful house in a leafy area was an honor.