Housing Estate of Workers Society in Warsaw’s Grochow

Abstract

Housing Estate of Workers Society in Warsaw’s Grochow is one of the characteristic examples of functional low-cost housing for the poor blue-collar families in the period between the Great War and World War II. Small cheap housing for workers was to provide proper health conditions for its residents and was a part of a global movement and formed the continuation of activities already initiated in the 1920s by the Warsaw Housing Cooperative. Despite its distinguish form the Grochow Housing Estate is considered as poorly researched subject. The main goal of this text is: on the basis of archival studies to recreate the entire shape of the housing estate along with social infrastructure objects, where only half of the buildings were carried through. We want to indicate the exact origins of exceptional architectural forms of the unit such as connectors and verticals analyzing not only anti-aircraft protection rules which were applied during the unit’s building but also a complex proprietary status of the adjacent allotments and difficult ground conditions in comparison with other implementations of this type of housing. Comparison of unrealised projects objects with the objects implemented together with Forsa old becomes the basis for the challenge by appearing in all sources of architects, allowing also an indication of the reasons which led them to this by assigning.