The Merlin Theatre (Merlin Színház) was Budapest’s home for English-language drama from 1991 until it closed in 2011. It occupied a 1928 Art Deco former transformer station at Gerlóczy utca 4, a few steps from Deák Ferenc tér in District V. The building stood empty for over a decade before a 2022–23 city renovation returned it to cultural use. This page is an independent history of the venue.
Independent resource. merlinbudapest.org is not the theatre’s official site and has no connection to its founders, the Budapest municipality, or the building’s current operators. We sell no tickets and hold no box-office or booking information. For the venue operating at Gerlóczy utca 4 today, contact the City of Budapest.
Quick facts
| Name | Merlin Színház / Merlin Theatre (also “Merlin International Theatre”) |
| Address | Gerlóczy utca 4, 1052 Budapest, District V (near Deák Ferenc tér) |
| Founded | 1991, by Tamás Jordán and Kati Lázár |
| Building | 1928 Art Deco transformer station by architect Virgil Borbíró |
| Known for | English-language theatre, the International Merlin Jazz Club, late-night club programming |
| Closed | 2011; building empty until renovation began in 2022 |
| Today | Renovated (HUF 413 million, completed 2023) as a city-run cultural and community space |
A power station turned playhouse
The building at Gerlóczy utca 4 opened in 1928 as the Belváros district’s electrical transformer station, designed in Art Deco style by the architect Virgil Borbíró. It fed downtown Pest’s grid until the late 1950s, then passed through decades of mixed civic use before anyone thought to put a stage in it. The industrial bones — a tall hall, a plain masonry face on a quiet side street — are what later gave the theatre its character (Pestbuda, 2022).
1991: Jordán, Lázár, and a new kind of theatre
The Merlin Színház opened in 1991, founded by the actor-director Tamás Jordán and the actress Kati Lázár. Alongside its own productions it ran an acting workshop (the Merlin Színészképző Műhely) and made a point of hosting independent ensembles — according to the Hungarian Wikipedia entry, the internationally successful Krétakör company was among those it supported. Jordán directed the theatre until 2003; Kati Lázár co-led it in its first years, and László Magács took over the direction from 2003. The founders, resident companies and productions have their own page.
Budapest’s English-language stage
For most of its life the Merlin was the most reliable place in Budapest to see drama performed in English — a rarity in the 1990s and 2000s, and the reason much of the city’s expatriate community knew the address (We Love Budapest, 2020). Touring companies from abroad appeared regularly; the Hungarian Wikipedia entry lists visitors from the Russian physical-theatre group Derevo to the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Jazz club, DJ nights, and the late years
Theatre was never the whole programme. The building housed the International Merlin Jazz Club, and the venue’s own website from the late 2000s — preserved in the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine — shows a weekly diet of jazz talks, DJ residencies and club nights (Hypnosis, Blast from the Past, Sunday Session) alongside the stage work, plus a bar with its own drinks menu. In its final years the Merlin was as much a downtown club as a playhouse.
The EU cultural centre years
In 2004 the theatre staged bEUgró, a cultural showcase for the European Union’s new member states, and in 2005 European Commission President José Manuel Barroso opened the Merlin European Union Cultural Centre in the building. From 2007 the “Merlin Energia” programme brought scientists and artists — including Nobel laureates — to the Gerlóczy utca stage (per the Hungarian Wikipedia entry).
2011: closure, then an empty decade
The Merlin closed in 2011, twenty years after it opened. The building — last renovated in 1995 — then stood empty for over ten years, its future debated in a series of municipal plans (Pestbuda, 2022). A 2020 city proposal linked its revival to the relocation of the Budapest Gallery (We Love Budapest, 2020).
What stands at Gerlóczy utca 4 today
On 11 July 2022 the city signed a renovation contract worth a net HUF 413 million, adding a roughly 200-square-metre terrace while keeping the known Merlin spaces, with completion timed for Budapest’s 150th unification anniversary in 2023 (Pestbuda, 2022). The renovated building has since been presented by the city as an experimental cultural and community space for concerts, dance, theatre, exhibitions and conferences (150.budapest.hu; Én Budapestem, 2023). As of August 2026 we have found no public record of a permanent operator carrying the Merlin name; the theatre itself was not revived; what survives in photographs is mapped in our archive guide.
Timeline
- 1928 — Building opens as the Belváros electrical transformer station (architect: Virgil Borbíró).
- late 1950s — Taken off the electrical grid.
- 1991 — Merlin Színház founded by Tamás Jordán and Kati Lázár.
- 1995 — Last renovation of the theatre era.
- 2003 — László Magács succeeds Jordán as director.
- 2005 — Merlin European Union Cultural Centre opened by José Manuel Barroso.
- 2011 — The Merlin closes; the building falls empty.
- 2022 — Renovation contract signed (11 July, net HUF 413 million).
- 2023 — Renovation completed for Budapest’s 150th anniversary; building returns as a city cultural space.
Sources
- Merlin Színház — Hungarian Wikipedia
- Pestbuda (EN): The renovation of the former Merlin Theater building begins (14 July 2022)
- We Love Budapest: The Merlin Theatre and the New Budapest Gallery to be revived (23 January 2020)
- 150.budapest.hu: Megújult a Merlin épülete
- Én Budapestem: Megújult a Merlin (18 October 2023)
- merlinbudapest.org, archived 2006–2011 — Internet Archive Wayback Machine
Facts checked 14 August 2026 against the sources above. Spotted an error? Use the Report a problem link in the footer — corrections go to the top of the queue.