Mokotowska is a former road to the village of Mokotow, developed since the late 18th century. Today it runs from Polna Street to Hoża Street and Trzech Krzyży Square. It is a remarkably diverse street whose buildings have survived the destruction of the war in about 70 per cent. The section between ul. Piękna and Plac Trzech Krzyży suffered the least damage - solid tenement houses from the Warsaw building boom of the 1880s and early 1900s. Mokotowska and southern Mokotowska were destroyed in the war. A fragment of Mokotowska and the southern

Śródmieście survived the war in relatively good condition, because during the Warsaw Uprising this part of the city was at the back of the front. By the end of the Rising, some tenements were in the hands of the insurgents and others were in the hands of the Germans, so they could not use artillery and aviation, for fear of firing on their soldiers. This does not mean that the street escaped post-war demolition and insertions of new buildings. The section from Polna Street to Zbawiciela Square was the most affected by the war and post-war changes. Especially on the even side. During the Uprising, the buildings of the Hipolit Wawelberg and Stanisław Rotwand Mechanical and Technical School at 2-4 Mokotowska St., dating from 1896, were burnt down. In 1949, only the main and northern pavilion was rebuilt in a completely new form for the Main Board of the Trade Union of Workers of Construction, Ceramics and Related Professions. The new facades with modest detailing are on the borderline between modernism and socialist realism. The building now serves as offices. The Contemporary Theatre, on the other side of the street at No. 13, occupies the former Most Holy Saviour parish building, only partially rebuilt. Noteworthy in this section of the street is the Pod Niedźwiedziem (Under the Bear) building at No. 8, built in 1904 to a design by Leon Wolski for Ick Ajzensztadt. Already at the beginning of hostilities in 1939, a bomb damaged the building, but the damage was repaired quite quickly. After the war, the tenement became state property, at which time most of the Art Nouveau decorations were removed during renovation, including that of the Bear, from which the tenement took its name. In 2007, the Polish heirs recovered it and immediately sold it to the Fortalicja Czemierniki foundation. In 2009, the residents were evicted due to the dilapidated state of the building and plans for a general renovation. The new owner restored the front elevation to its pre-war appearance. On the corner of Zbawiciela Square and Mokotowska Street at No. 12 is another unique tenement house, designed by Aleksander Jablonski-Jasieńczyk (Methodist) in 1910. At the time, it was the tallest residential house in the city: it had 8 floors and 38 metres, because that was the height of the water pressure at the time. Today, it houses a Methodist chapel and English school. Behind the neighbouring magnificent building at No. 14, after the war, there were burnt-out tenements, which were demolished to make way for a deliberately 'kicked up' building from the street frontage, a social-realist building which today houses the Faculty of Education of the University of Warsaw. In the place of the demolished pre-war buildings, on the section from Koszykowa to Szopena Street, on the even-numbered side, there are post-war buildings. On the other hand, the palace of the Union of Sugar Producers, dating from 1886, at no. 25, is a relic of courtly buildings from the times when this part of Warsaw was still a green suburb. It was not until the construction of the Warsaw-Vienna Railway station at the intersection of Jerozolimskie Avenue and Marszałkowska Street that large urban developments expanded southwards. After the First World War, the manor house was taken over by the Zjednoczenie Cukrowników (Union of Sugar Producers) and rebuilt. In 1945, the palace was renovated for the Club of Working Intelligentsia of the Union of Youth Fighters. Since 1971, it has housed the Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. In turn, 40 Mokotowska Street is an example of post-war destruction of eclectic tenement houses. The ornate front elevation was scrapped in the 1940s and was only restored during renovations in the 21st century. A curiosity is the one-storey Kraszewski house at No. 48, built in 1860 to a design by Lancie for Leopold Kronenberg. The writer Jozef Ignacy Kraszewski lived here in 1861-1863. From 1956, the famous Hybrydy student club was located here. These are just a few examples illustrating the post-war fate of this remarkably interesting street in Warsaw's southern district of Śródmieście. During the walk, I will also talk about other buildings, both historical and contemporary (such as the Metalexport office building).

Mokotowska Street is also a valuable open-air museum of Warsaw urban engineering from the early 20th century. In 1915, Mokotowska's roadway was paved with treated granite blocks and enclosed with solid wide curbs of red Scandinavian granite. In the interwar period, from Piękna Street to Plac Trzech Krzyży, the street was paved with black basalt cubes from Janova Dolina in Volyn. Between 2007 and 2010, Zarząd Terenów Publicznych (Public Land Management Board) began renovating the surface and pavements on the section from Plac Trzech Krzyży to Piękna. During the renovation, after removing a layer of worn-out asphalt, perfectly preserved pre-war basalt paving blocks were discovered. Thanks to the activity of monument enthusiasts from the Association of Guardians of Warsaw's Cultural Heritage "ZOK" and their successful cooperation with the then director of ZTP Renata Kaznowska, the cube preserved under the asphalt surface was used to pave driveways and parking spaces. The historic kerbs were left in place. These details contribute to the unusual and unique pre-war atmosphere of this street. The urban complex of Mokotowska Street has been entered in the register of monuments.

The walk will start at the former Rotwand School (Mokotowska 4) and end at Trzech Krzyży Square.