Villa Havas, Historical villa in Óhegy, Hungary

Villa Havas is a classical residential mansion in Óhegy featuring extended side wings and a distinctive protruding rear section. The structure displays a layered architectural composition that reveals how additions and modifications were incorporated over time.

József Havas, a lawyer and Pest city councillor, bought vineyard plots from 1834 and obtained the building permit on 31 March 1856; the villa was probably designed by Károly Hild. Havas opened Hungary's first cognac factory on the neighbouring plot, then sold both in 1859 to Jakab Perlmutter. Antal Dreher bought the brewery and villa in 1862, and after the brewery's success the villa was extended in 1872 to Frigyes Feszl's plans, with a rear addition by József Hubert in 1907.

The villa's name comes from Havas József, the lawyer and Pest city councillor who built it; it is also called the Dreher-villa after Antal Dreher, who bought the estate with its brewery in 1862. Until the Second World War it was reserved for the sitting director-general of the Dreher breweries. Since 2008 the stripped building can be visited once a year, together with the Kőbánya cellar system.

The villa opens once yearly for free guided tours arranged by the local municipality, allowing visitors to see both the building and connected underground spaces. Plan to visit during the organized tour window and wear comfortable shoes, as the site sits on sloping terrain with multiple levels.

The cognac distillery was not in the villa itself but on the neighbouring plot, which Havas opened the same year the building permit was issued. The villa stayed with the Dreher brewery's directors until World War II, and most of its original tiled stoves, one per room, are still usable.