Visualisation of the new project of the former maternity hospital. (source: Zochova 7)
Investors do not rush into reconstructing older buildings, especially when it comes to national cultural monuments. There reason is simple and twofold - the Monument Board and high financial demands. In many cases, they end up caught between two fires.
On one hand, the board demands the preservation of the original character of the building, on the other, there is the budget. This is also why many historical buildings are abandoned.
Examples of successful reconstructions are few. One of them is to be implemented in the centre of Bratislava.
Former maternity hospital
Now the centre of attention is the building of the former maternity hospital at 7 Zochová Street. Built between 1882 and 1884 according to the design of the architect Ignác Feigler Jr, a century later it was declared a national cultural monument.
It has been associated with medicine since the beginning. There was a school for midwives, and accommodation for doctors as well. However, many residents of Bratislava knew it mainly as a maternity hospital.
The Health Ministry decided to close the hospital in 2003. "The large Zochova maternity hospital has 112 beds, with an average of no more than 35 patients and 800 births per year. A medic on an internship could not have seen a birth," then minister Rudolf Zajac defended his move.
