At the beginning of his career, before the First World War, as a leading figure of the so-called 'Young Ones', he created several masterpieces of Hungarian architecture, and later built a home for himself and his family in Staná, in the Kalotaszeg region of Transylvania. Simply known as Crow Castle, his house is now a place of pilgrimage.

The statelyhomewasbuiltbetween 1844 and 1850 byCount George Károlyi (1802-1877) in neo-classicalstyle. The architectwas the Austrian Heinrich Koch, assistedbythe Young Miklós Ybl, wholaterbecameone of hungary'sgreatarchitects of thecentury. Itunderwent a major refurbishing in the 1910 years, whenGeorge,'sgrandson, Count Joseph Károlyi (1884-1934), inheritedit and wantedtomakeit more suitabletothe "modern life" of thattime.