The original villa building was built in 1908, in one of the most beautiful spots of Balatonfüred, with a quality and architectural design worthy of the location. The owner, Béla Töttösy, a curia judge from Egyházasfalvi, as an admirer of Ferenc Rákóczi II, had his summer house built and named after his house in Rodosto. The villa, with a panoramic view of Lake Balaton, was built as a ground floor owner’s apartment and a separate entrance on the first floor. The most ornate parts of the building were the ground floor veranda, the columned, dummy terrace railings, the ornate capitals of the arches, the rhizalites and the delicate cornice forms. In addition, great emphasis was placed on the wrought iron balustrading of the staircase, the design of the external and internal stone staircases and the landscaping of the park around the building.
The property was bought by János Iklódy Szabó, Member of Parliament, from Béla Töttösy in 1917. Presumably as part of the divorce settlement, the property later became the property of his ex-wife, who in 1919 deeded it to her children as a gift.
The building was bought and renovated by Alice Grüner in 1927. During this renovation and extension, the ground floor was given a plaster-and-tile façade and part of the strongly Mediterranean-influenced balustrades were tamed into a solid parapet. The architectural design of the villa building was then transformed into a clean, symmetrical eclectic bourgeois building.
During the Second World War, in May 1944, the widow Grüner Simonne, who lived in the house, as well as her daughter, the widow Dr. Vilmos Vilmos Grüner Etelka and her granddaughter Eva Sefer were deported. The Bánó couple survived the Holocaust, presumably having left in time to go abroad.
Unfortunately, the history of the cottage after the Second World War followed the usual scenario, the property was declared “unmanageable” and passed to the state, and then it was converted into emergency housing.
The municipally-owned property was returned to private ownership in 2021 and the Petit Bois story began. Following a complete renovation and extension, the hotel opened in December 2024.
Come and discover this wonderful building!
