An unexpected surprise in the hot drink of the 5-story purple creature – whoops a yellow thingy –, while always wandering Mr. Balloon-Head pops up on the top floor, and watches a cute couple having a romantic time on a striped picnic blanket with envious eyes. While a block away, believe it or not, the celebrated blue dancer trio dances desperately on the smooth skin of a bald giant. Madness, everywhere! The curious characters of Daniel Labrosse take over the buildings of Budapest for an entire year here, on HYPEANDHYPER! Look at the picture, and try to find David with a light bulb instead of a head this time in Palatinus House!
“Palatinus House on Jászai tér is one of my favorite buildings in Újlipótváros. Back when I was in elementary school, and my grandma took me home from school, I always begged her to take the tram instead of the subway, partly because this way I could get a clear view of Palatinus on tram 4-6, while travelling through Margit Bridge from Buda to Pest. I found it odd that the lights were always on in the evenings, but I never saw anyone leave or enter the building, so I imagined all the strange creatures that could have lived in it.
At the age of sixteen, I drew a purple giant into the center of the building, whom I also portrayed in this illustration. The rest of the residents came naturally: the dancing flowers, the guy eating breakfast on a snake’s back, the snail taking a coffee and cigarette break, the red-hooded tagger, the octopus watering flowers, the crowing cock, the roly-polies chasing each other and the couple having a picnic on the roof.
I don’t really think about why they are there, on the contrary, many times I draw so many characters on my illustrations that I forget who’s where, and then when I look at them again I discover “new” details. When this happens, I imagine who these characters are, what their name and story is, and so on. In the majority of my drawings, I focus on individuality and this is my goal in this series, too. I like to portray the “oddities” of people, anything that makes them special” – Dani tells us about his drawing made of Palatinus House.
Your task this time: find David with a light bulb instead of a head!
Palatinus House
Built in 1911 based on the designs of Emil Vidor, Palatinus House was one of the most modern buildings of its time. The impressive building located between Pozsonyi út and Újpesti Quay offered light and spacious, 2-3-5 room apartments, it had a central vacuum cleaner operating with tokens, as well as thermal district heating coming through cables from Margaret Island.
Unfortunately it was gravely damaged during the World War, and lost a part of its towers, which never got replaced. None of the former multi-room apartments remained intact either: they were divided into smaller flats. On top, they even built in the French courtyard on the side facing the bank of the river in the fifties, which has been standing abandoned for decades now. Some say that the former restaurant was connected with the party headquarters of the time (“White House”) with an underground channel.
In our one-year-long article series titled Budapest by Labrosse, the special characters of Daniel Labrosse take over iconic buildings of Budapest here, on HYPEANDHYPER! Come, take a look and play with us!