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The classicist-style house at 27 Király Street was originally built as a hotel. The wrought-iron balcony of the former hotel, named "ZUR STADT PEST" (To the City of Pest), is a European curiosity.

While the left-hand (northern) short section of the curved railing bears the year of construction of the house (1833), its street facade advertises the German name of the inn (ZUR STADT PEST), while the right-hand (southern) side bears the monogram of the builder (I.T.C.). The three ornate inscriptions are separated by four caducei, the winged messenger's staff of Hermes, the Greek god of merchants, travelers, and thieves.

The Merkúr café opened in the basement of the house in 1891. The restaurant quickly became famous because its owner, Mór Ungerleider, purchased the cinematograph projector, invented by French engineers Auguste and Louis Lumière in 1896, to hold Hungary's first moving picture screenings in the property's long courtyard.

It may sound unbelievable today, but in the early days of cinema, audiences were still seated on both sides of the screen. The film reel snaked from the projector into a wastebasket. The scratches on the film were so successful that by 1909 there were 46 cinemas in Budapest, and by 1913 there were already 114.

In 1908, Mór Ungerleider founded his film production company, Projektograph Rt., with actor József Neumann. The company not only represented foreign film studios in Hungary, but also built the capital's first cinemas.

Ungerleider also supported film production in Kolozsvár (now Cluj Napoca, Romania). His film studios produced more than 80 feature films and sketches until the communist nationalization in 1946.

As head director of his companies, he employed Mihály Kertész, who, after making 47 Hungarian feature films, directed another 22 films in Austria and Germany, and 106 more American films during his Hollywood career that began in 1926 under the name Michael Curtiz.

As a world-renowned director, he was nominated for an Oscar four times, but only received the gold statuette in 1944 for his now-legendary film "Casablanca," starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Americans still love his films "Yankee Doodle Dandy," made for Independence Day, and "King Creole," starring Elvis Presley.