Józef Szalay, who took over Szczawnica from his father in 1839 and who erected the first spa buildings, is considered to be the creator of the first spa buildings. In 1876, he donated the spa to the Krakow Academy of Arts and Sciences, which was bought by Count Adam Stadnicki in 1909. In the 1930s, the interest in Szczawnica grew. Adam Stadnicki travelled around European resorts where he learned modern treatment techniques. Upon his return, he expanded and modernised the spa and in 1934–1936, on the site of one of the oldest spa houses in the country called 'Zamek', he built a modern inhalatorium designed by Stanisław Dziewolski, the owner of Krościenko nad Dunajcem. Pneumatic (pressure) chambers supporting the treatment of bronchial asthma and emphysema – the first such modern equipment in Poland –was installed there as along with inhalation devices manufactured by Inhabad, a German company  from Berlin. The furniture was brought from the Warsaw workshop of Jarnuszkiewicz & Co. and the carpenter's shop in Nawojowa, and the water supply system was installed by Kumer and Torba, a company from Rabka. During World War II there was a secret weapons and ammunition store in the attic of the sanatorium. Before the Germans could blow up the building – a plan they did not carry out –its employees hid the sanatorium’s valuable equipment until the end of the war. In 1948 the sanatorium was nationalised and re-privatised in 2005;today it belongs to the Uzdrowisko Szczawnica Company. It is a magnificent modernist building with a white façade, surrounded by park larches and magnolias, in the main hall of which features a plaque commemorating Adam Stadnicki.