Erdey Sanatorium (Schöpf-Merei Hospital)

The current Schöpf-Merei Hospital building was created by the final merger of two old hospitals in 1968.
In the part of the hospital block facing Bakats Square, the Erzsébet Homeopathic Hospital, founded by Count Józsefné Zichy in the last decades of the 19th century, was originally in operation. At that time, the ground-floor, six-roomed institution treated poor and incurable patients for a modest fee. By 1905, however, the foundation had grown so strong that it was decided to build a new, larger hospital on the neighbouring site on Knézich Street, which had been purchased in the meantime. The new two-storey, two-winged building, with a low, neo-Baroque wing, was designed by Emil Tőry. The right wing houses the Sisters of the Order of St. Vincent de Paul, while the left wing houses the waiting and consulting rooms, wards, patients' rooms, kitchens, pantries, bathrooms, storerooms and the resident doctor's quarters. In the centre of the rear wing was the beautiful chapel with Baroque decoration, which has been the victim of internal alterations. In its courtyard, a pleasant promenade with benches and covered arbours was created for the patients. Also in 1906, Gyula Erdey, a gynaecologist, had a private sanatorium built at 10 Bakáts tér, on the site next to the homeopathic hospital designed by Emil Tőry, based on the plans of Géza Márkus, who designed the exclusive clinic in the progressive style of the turn of the century. Its original appearance - completely altered by frequent renovations - is now only preserved in old photographs.
The hospital building was first leased in 1913, then bought by the capital a few years later and became part of the St Stephen's Hospital network, where it was used as an obstetrics and gynaecology ward. This was replaced in 1935 by the Eötvös Loránd Radiology and X-ray Institute of the Budapest Metropolitan Municipality, which operated in the building until 1949, when it was nationalised. The following year, it was merged with the Knézich Street Hospital under the name of the National Oncology Institute, which in turn moved to Buda, to Kék golyó Street, three years later. The Bakáts Square hospital block housed the district's surgical, internal medicine and obstetrics departments for a while, from 1953-68, before the two hospitals were merged again to form the Schöpf-Merei Ágost Hospital and Maternity Centre, which has been operating here for almost three and a half decades. The once exclusive complex has become an almost frightening sight with its facade, its cluttered interior and its cluster of shed-like auxiliary buildings, which have become out of place as a result of the renovations. From an architectural point of view, the block is unsalvageable, but its renovation is essential, as the state of the building is almost threatening the work that is being done there. It is the first incubator in the country to be installed at the entrance to the hospital.