Budafoki Street and surroundings was a scarcely populated area in the 1910s with various shops and vendors. 35 Budafoki Street stood alone for some time and one of the empty plots was even used as an ad hoc cemetery.

The building was designed by Lipót Németh. The ground floor was designated for shops and services as well as the caretaker’s home while upper floors for apartments.

One of the renowned residents was painter Ede Balló (1859-1936), who studied from Bertalan Székely and János Gregus. After three years of scholarship abroad he attended Gyula Benczúr’s school and worked as an art teacher. He copied works of Roman, Spanish and Dutch painters. His own works included portraits of notable figures of his time. He had more exhibitions in the Art Hall, the Ernst Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts.

Another tenant was Prodam Guido (1882-1948) Italian-Hungarian pharmacist, airplane designer, a pioneer of Hungarian aviation. He was the first to fly over the Adriatic Sea. He crashed his plane when landing and fell into the sea. He built a new plane after his accident in Rákosmező and passed a pilot exam only in 1912. Following WW2 he used all his wealth to develop Hungarian aviation.

Photographer Béla Hollenzer (1910-1970), the master of technical photos also lived here. He was he one to document the grand investments of the Rákosi era. Old Hollenzer was famous in the house for walking down to the air raid shelter during WW2 wearing elegant clothes and a top hat. Other famous residents of the house opposite include actress Zita Szeleczky Zita or ethnographer Pál Péter Domokos. Old Péter was remembered as a hardworking man sometimes working by night. Once as he got old and could not leave his home Csángós from Transylvania visited him and sang in front of his window.