The house bearing the name of a famous local family and the former landlords of Keszthely is the oldest secular building in the town. Among the simple houses made of plain materials and dwelled by peasants, larger stone or brick edifices built by rich citizens must have defined the mediaeval townscape. One such building was the mansion, built by the Pethő family in the 15th century that used to stand in the place of today’s Festetics Palace, and another one was a residential building they also used in the main street of downtown Keszthely, formerly referred to as Keszthelyi Street. Even after the Ottoman rule, in the late 17th century, only three stone edifices are mentioned in documents, which include these two. The current Baroque building boasting archways and erected above the medieval construction, dates back to the 18th century. The facade of the building, quite dissimilar to other adjacent buildings, indicate the former width of the street and determines the character of the streetscape.
The history of Keszthely and the Pethő family of Gerse was closely related for about 300 years since the beginning of the 15th century. The Pethős were the landlords of Keszthely with exclusive supremacy until 1600 but later, via the family’s female heirs, the estate was divided between several noble families. The greatest part of the estate was owned by János Pethő, whose lands were purchased by Kristóf Festetics in 1739 who soon became the sole owner of lands in Keszthely. They also acquired the Pethő house as part of this transaction.
From the beginning of the 18th century, the local Jewish community was growing steadily. Their prayer house was operating in the former Pethő house already in 1769 later to be replaced by a synagogue. The prayer house, built in eclectic style, still stands at the back of the courtyard. In WWII, this site was selected to function as a ghetto.
The other eponym of the building, Károly Goldmark was born in this house in 1830; his father worked here as a cantor of the community. The commemorative plaque on the wall of the building has an excerpt from the Queen of Sheba, one of the composer’s most famous operas.
