Was it a dream? Imagine waking up in a charming dworkowy style house. It’s the 1930s in Warsaw’s Osiedle Posłów i Senatorów PPS, also known as Kolonia Praussa.
This unique enclave was born from a vision. It aimed to provide affordable housing with an aesthetic appeal for members of the Polish Socialist Party. We are standing in what was once the remote outskirts of Grochów. Now it is Praga-Południe.
In the 1920s, the Spółdzielnia Mieszkaniowa “Domy Spółdzielcze” developed this area. They built 28 single-family homes. These homes reflected the Polish manor house style popular at the time. Professor Witold Matuszewski designed the estate. His challenge was to create modern homes that were inexpensive to build.
Kolonia Praussa quickly became a close-knit community. Residents knew each other. They socialized often. A watchman guarded the area at night. The outside world felt distant. The working-class homes near Szaserów Street seemed foreign to some residents.
This wasn’t just any neighborhood. Prominent figures called Kolonia Praussa home. Kazimierz Pużak, a Sejm member and WWII resistance leader, lived here. Tomasz Arciszewski, a PPS politician and Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile, also resided here. Anna Szemiothowa, curator at the National Museum, hid valuable coins in her home during the occupation. Roman Kutyłowski, a transatlantic line director, cultivated a vast iris collection.
Remarkably, Kolonia Praussa survived World War II with minimal damage. The war left a mark, though. A bomb damaged a house on Płowce Street. After the war, the estate was nationalized. Today, most houses are privately owned.
Each house had modern amenities for the time. These included gas, electricity, and telephone connections. Sewage was managed with individual septic tanks. The houses were heated by tile stoves. The streets were once paved with cobblestones and lined with trees.
The name Kolonia Praussa honors Ksawery Franciszek Prauss. He was a Minister of Religious Denominations and Public Education and a PPS activist.
Osiedle Posłów i Senatorów PPS stands as a testament. It shows the power of community and architectural vision. It offers a glimpse into a unique chapter in Warsaw’s history.