The eight-floored building was built in 1894 on the order of the the photographer, Manó Mai.  In 1931, Sándor Rozsnyai (a musical director) and is wife Mici Rozsnyai (née Senger, known as Miss Arizona) bought the building from the family. They built the three-floored Arizona club in the yard, which had been empty until then.  This remained open until 1944, when the owners were probably killed by Hungarian or German Nazis. After the war, the building served a variety of purposes such as a school or a presentation hall.  From the early 1960s the Budapest branch of Hungarian Automobile Club used it over a period of 30 years.

The Hungarian Association of Photographers was able to start buying the property rights from the residents. The Mai Manó Gallery opened on the half-floor in 1995 and the Hungarian House of Photography opened on the first and second floors on March 18th, 1999 (and was launched by the novelist/photographer Péter Nádas).