Gellert hotel street art Photograph

Construction on the Hotel Saint Gellért started in April 1911.[2] The hotel was named for Saint Gellért (St. Gerard Sagredo) the first bishop of Hungary in the 11th Century. The 176-room hotel was designed by Hungarian architects Ármin Hegedűs, Artúr Sebestyén and Izidor Sterk.[3] Work on the hotel slowed due to World War I, and it did not open until 26 September 1918,[2] just as the war was ending and the Austro-Hungarian Empire was descending into chaos. The hotel was commandeered for military use throughout 1919, during the Aster Revolution. Once Hungary was established as an independent country, the hotel proved so financially successful that it was expanded in 1927 with 60 more guest rooms and an outdoor artificial wave pool built on the site of the hotel's gardens.[4] Noted Hungarian restaurateur Károly Gundel took over management of the hotel's restaurants in 1927 as well.[4] In 1934, the "thermal bath" was added, in place of the hotel's glass-domed Winter Garden.[2]