POINT OF CONTACT OF THREE WARSAW DISTRICTS: ŚRÓDMIEŚCIE, MOKOTÓW AND OCHOTA IN THE INTERWAR PERIOD – IMPACT OF OWNERSHIP RELATED DIVISION UPON THE TYPE OF IMPLEMENTED ARCHITECTURE

AGATA WAGNER

The incorporation of Warsaw suburbs in 1916 and the resumption of independence in 1918, and therefore the restitution of its capital status together with the related requirements, resulted in dynamic changes of the city. In this article, the author analyses the area being te point of contact of three districts of Warsaw: Śródmieście, Mokotów and Ochota, primarily based on the ownership criterion of the land, types of land use and implemented architecture. Tracking back changes and processes that influenced this region allows the author to conclude that the fundamental ownership division into state and city land is linked with the type of erected developments. The urban land was dominated by residential developments, primarily in the form of housing cooperatives. The land owned by the State Treasury hosted public utility buildings, in particular of scientific character, in line with town planning guidelines that provided for the development of the Science District by Pole Mokotowskie. From state land one should distinguish the areas belonging to the army, where both public utility and residential buildings were erected within the Army Quartering Fund (AQF). From the architecture point of view the erected complexes, as well as individual buildings, represent characteristic, frequently outstanding, examples of changes taking place in Polish architecture during thirty years (twenties, thirties and forties). This covers forms designed in the first years after resumption of independence, referring to Polish historic architecture, simplification and modernisation of classic composition and innovative modernistic designs deriving from structural and functional circumstances, based on modern material, construction and composition solutions. It should be emphasised that the army as an investor involved outstanding architects, frequently connected with the Architecture Faculty of the Warsaw University of Technology, creating innovative works in Warsaw and Polish architecture.

Key words: Warsaw, Pole Mokotowskie, architecture of the twenty-year interwar period, modernism