No 26 Kuldīgas Street

No 26 Kuldīgas Street around 1900

No 26 Kuldīgas Street in 2014

This plot of land was established in 1860, when it was separated from the large plot of land belonging to Falkenhof on № 15 Kuldīgas Street, which occupied both sides of Kuldīga Road. In 1860, Itzig Edelberg bought it and built the first house here, which in 1873 was sold for 1,600 Rubles to a wife of Court Cerk Auguste Vogel.

The house shown in the postcard was probably built between 1873 and 1881, when Vogel sold her house to Baroness Henriette von Korff, born von Roenne, not for 1,600 Rubles anymore, for the amount of which she had bought the property, but for 4,500 Rubles.

On September 28, 1893, a new purchase for 4,500 Rubles was entered in the Land Register in the name of Aizpute Private Hospital. Seller - Baroness von Korff, buyers - Baroness Isalia von der Osten - Sacken, Baron Leo Buchholz, Baron Cecil von Behr. However, the 1902 activity report of the Aizpute [German] Charity Society states that the hospital started its operation on October 5, 1890.

The official name of the hospital was Aizpute Private Nurses' Hospital, which was financially maintained by the owners of the manors around Aizpute and managed by the directorate of the three nobles.

It should be mentioned that it also served as an infection hospital. Here, for example, smallpox patients were also treated.

In 1901, the hospital consisted of 7 rooms, 3 of which were four-room wards, one for women and two for men. There was also a room for the rich, a room for those with communicable diseases and an operating room, as well as a staff room.

In 1914, the hospital had 14 beds.

It operated as a private hospital until the German occupation during the First World War, when it became a district hospital run by Pastor Hermann Seiler. It continued to work like this even after the First World War, when it was taken over by the Aizpute District Council at the beginning of 1919, and then by the Town Council. However, as both the hospital premises and the equipment were privately owned, a rent had to be paid. Since October 15, 1921, the tenant of the hospital was the Aizpute Town Council. The authorized person of the legal owners living in Germany was Adolf Sedding, the hospital's doctor and Director. Presumably, therefore, in the the State Address Directory for 1922 it can be read that in Aizpute there is “Dr. Sedding Hospital”.

In 1924, the hospital had 15 beds.

The Minutes of the Meeting of the Audit Commission of the Town Council of July 18, 1929 provide clear evidence about how this hospital was managed.

„Examining the hospital on the spot, the commission finds that the hospital building and premises are completely unsuitable for the hospital's requirements. The house is very old and sinking, therefore it is impossible to put the fore windows, and the internal windows do not close properly either. Built-in heaters are badly damaged and do not retain heat, there is no ventilation in the premises. The barracks of contagious diseases are cold and humid even during the summer. In one corner you can smell the lavatory, which is located under the floor. The lavatory is not ventilated and is placed next to the kitchen and gives an odor to the kitchen and adjacent rooms. Operating room is small, dark, the walls are not painted in oil paints. The hospital staff must walk through the operating room to their living quarters. The bathroom is extremely narrow and kitchen dark.

It is not possible to build a building for the most basic requirements.

The medicine cabinet was located in the corridor and was not locked, so it is accessible to every patient. There is also another unlocked medicine cabinet in operating room.

No books are kept in the hospital about the products used by the hospital. There are also no standardized product amounts.”

On January 1, 1932, Aizpute Town Hospital became a District Hospital, but legally it was considered the property without the owner. Dāvids Čakarnis, a doctor from Aizpute - Apriķi - Laža parish, was elected the manager of the hospital.

The hospital consisted of about one third of a hectare of fruit and vegetables garden, one single-storey building with a hospital (4 wards with 16 beds for general patients and a separate room in the wing with 6 beds for contagious diseases, nursing room, office, ambulance, kitchen, laundry, janitor's apartment, corridor, attic), and a single household building. The autopsy rooms had a place in a firewood barn without lighting, heating and water.

In 1933, the real estate at № 26 Kuldīgas Street became state property. The issue of ownership belonged to the Liepāja Regional Court, which declared the State of Latvia as the sole heir in the person of the Ministry of Finance. In the same year, Aizpute District Council bought this property from the state for 3,000 Lats and two years later sold to the Latvian congregation of the Aizpute Evangelical Lutheran Church for 4,500 Lats. The hospital ceased its activities in this house on April 1, 1935.

The activity report of Aizpute Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1935 reads: “Acquisition of the parish house brought a lot of activity to the life of the parish.

... In order to adapt the hospital building to the needs of the parish, it was extensively repaired, one wall was removed, new doors were installed, painted according to the advice of the artist J. Audriņš, who also donated a large painting "Water of Life" to the parish hall, .. as well as the necessary equipment was purchased: harmonium of the 12 registers, benches, cabinets, tables, clothes hangers, etc., as well appropriate lighting was as installed.”

However, the congregation also lacked funds to maintain this property, so it was sold, and in 1940 it was bought by the official of the Aizpute War District Jūlijs Kazaks and his wife Karlīne Kazaka. Today, the owner is their daughter Rigmore Kazaka.

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