Vul. Ozarkevycha, 4 – The Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Hospital

2nd half of the 18th c. – a single-storied residential building with a cooper’s workshop is constructed (has been preserved).
1884 – the single-storied building is reconstructed: the walls are raised and a new tile roof is made.
1903 – the single-storied building, constructed by the metropolis (ecclesiastic province) in 18^th century, is adapted to function as the hospital of the People’s Hospital Society (architect Ivan Levynskyi). The hospital is arranged in the residential part of the building.
1938 – a new four-storied building of the hospital is constructed on the place of the old brewery under a project of architect Oleksandr Pezhansky. A project of metal net fence from P. Skargi street is designed by engineer Yuriy Pyasetskyi
1941 – a garage adjoining the northern wall of the neighbouring house number 6 is built (engineer Limberger).
1946 – the hospital is transformed into the Third communal hospital of Lviv; a pharmacy and a morgue are located in the old single-storied building.
1985 – some repair works are conducted in the hospital.
1992 – the hospital resumes its status as the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytskyi Ukrainian Hospital.
2000 – a memorial plaque to Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytskyi is placed on the façade (artist Roman Petruk).

The Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky hospital (the former People’s Hospital) was founded in 1903 to provide free medical assistance for all residents of Lviv and whole Galicia, making no difference as to their denomination and ethnicity. It was on the initiative of Yevhen Ozarkevych, a well-known physician, that the idea to create such a hospital emerged. The idea was supported by Ukrainian public organizations and societies as well as physicians (Mykhailo Kotsiuba, Sofia Morachevska, Petro Sushkevych), priests (canon Bohdan Piurko, canon Ivan Chapelsky, catechist Ivan Rudovych), politicians (Kost Levytsky, Osyp Onyshkevych, Mykhailo Hlydzhuk) and others.

The statute of the People’s Hospital Society was approved in January of 1903. Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytskyi took the institution under his patronage and granted it with a plot of land on the slope of the Sviatoyurska (St. George’s) mountain on P. Skargi (now Ozarkevycha) street 4. This plot belonged to the oldest property of the Basilian St. George’s monastery called the St. George’s jurydyka of Yavorshchyna which was created in 1550 (a jurydyka was a settlement right outside or, less commonly, an enclave within a royal city, that was independent from the municipal laws and rulers but instead remained under the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastic or secular lord who owned it). It is known that there was an old wayside inn, with two common rooms, bedrooms, and a stoop, in the jurydyka in 1766. The jurydyka had twelve houses, including those of a Gypsy blacksmith and a cobbler. In the second half of the eighteenth century a brewery and a residential stone building with a wing were constructed by the metropolis (ecclesiastic province) at Yavorshchyna. In the wing, a cooper’s workshop was located, where beer barrels were produced, as well as a stable with a manger. This building has been preserved till our days. The brewery was leased by some Jews. In 1854, on the order of Ivan Kolinkivskyi, a beerhouse (Bierstube) was added to the brewery (Brauhaus) and given conscription number 81 2/4 while the residential house with the workshop (Wohnhaus) was given conscription number 82 2/4. A vaulted ice-house was built close to the brewery in 1867 (constructor Shchebliovsky, architect Jakiv Shvedzitsky). After the brewery was built up in 1879, Bichna (Side) Horodotska street leading to the Sviatoyurska mountain started to be called Pyvovarska (Brewer’s). In 1884 the residential house was reconstructed: the walls were raised and a new tile roof was made; a wood storehouse was arranged in the wing instead of the stable. In 1885 Pyvovarska street was renamed P. Skargi, though the brewery functioned till the end of the nineteenth century.

It was at once decided to adapt the existing residential house, built in the second half of the 18^th century, for the hospital. Dr Yevhen Ozarkevych, the People’s Hospital director, invited Ivan Levynskyi, a well-known Ukrainian architect, constructor and entrepreneur, who designed a project of reconstruction which was approved on 12 May 1903; according to this project, the hospital itself was to be located in the residential part of the building while the wing was to remain a storehouse. Out-patient departments (those of internal diseases, children’s diseases, surgery, oculist’s, ear diseases, dermatology) were arranged in seven big rooms or halls. In the prewar period the patients were treated there free of charge regardless of their ethnic origin. The institution was opened on 1 July 1903. Dr Yevhen Ozarkevych was permanent director of the People’s Hospital from the outset and till his death in 1916. After him, the hospital was headed by Dr Bronislav Ovcharskyi; after the war, it was Dr Sylvestr Drymalyk, and Dr Ivan Kurovets after the latter. The popularity of the out-patient hospital was constantly growing among the population of Galicia, as well as the number of patients who applied for assistance. The Society planned to construct a new building which would meet the needs of the hospital. The first steps were done by Ivan Kurovets and continued by his successor, Dr Tyt-Yevhen Burachynsky (from 1931).

The new building of the People’s Hospital was constructed on the place of the old brewery in the beginning of 1938 (architect Oleksandr Pezhanskyi). Dr Tyt-Yevhen Burachynskyi was assigned director; he suggested that the institution be called the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytskyi Ukrainian Hospital. The hospital had about 100 beds and three departments, those of internal diseases (headed by Marian Panchyshyn), surgery (Tyt-Yevhen Burachynskyi), and gynaecology (O. Podolynskyi).

The single-storied building, which had functioned as the first People’s Hospital since 1903, remained in the structure of the hospital. In 1938 a project of metal net fence from P. Skargi (now Ozarkevycha) street was designed by engineer Yuriy Pyasetskyi.

After the 1939 Soviet occupation the People’s Hospital as the newest and best equipped hospital of Lviv was assigned for the treatment of the communist party high-ranking functionaries, the Red Army commanders, the NKVD servicemen and their families.

During the German occupation the hospital continued to function. A garage adjoining the northern wall of the neighbouring house number 6 was built in 1941 (by engineer Limberger).

In 1946, after the Greek Catholic Church was abolished, the People’s Hospital was transformed into the Third communal hospital of Lviv, having preserved the old medical personnel that consisted of nuns. The Soviet occupation authorities realized, that the latter were exceptionally devoted, and condoned the ideological differences. A pharmacy and a morgue were located in the old single-storied building. Some repair works were conducted in the hospital in 1985.

After Ukraine declared independence, the hospital resumed its status as the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytskyi Ukrainian Hospital. On 6 June 1994 the hospital was handed over to the curia of the Lviv archeparchy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church; a memorial plaque to Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky was placed on the façade (artist Roman Petruk).