A graduate from Moscow and Munich, a therapist and a psychiatrist, and a Doctor of Philosophy Antanas Gylys returned to Lithuania in 1924, where he began teaching at the Faculty of Theology and Philosophy at Vytautas Magnus University. A. Gylys left the university in 1934 and built a modern hospital where he began providing private medical services. The hospital was one of the most modern institutions of its kind in Lithuania, “having a luxurious hydro-helium and physiotherapy division packed with machines and equipment”. The division provided therapy and treatment of nervous disorders. The modernity of the medical equipment went neck and neck with that of the building’s architecture (according to non-conclusive data, it was designed by architect Leonas Ritas). Despite being built on one of the most modern streets of Kaunas at that time, the building still stood out because of its asceticism and functionality. The facade was spiced up by an asymmetric shape of the building. One characteristic of the urban culture was the viewing platform on the top floor, under the roof, which overlooked V. Putinskis Street and the New Town. During the Soviet period there was also a health institution located up there. Quite a lot of the original interior has still survived until today (including a fully-functional Swiss elevator Schindler).
Vaidas Petrulis