The sweet, and at times dark, story of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute’s beautiful headquarters on one of Warsaw’s most fashionable streets is interwoven into the histories of Warsaw’s industry and science, architectural trends and urban developments.
The history of the small palace at 25 Mokotowska Street in Warsaw began in 1877. A single-storey country house was then erected on this site for Kazimiera Ćwierciakiewiczowa, née Kaczyńska. The street was already a fashionable address in the capital: from the 1830s onwards, palaces and manor houses belonging to wealthy families sprang up along it, and ever larger, more stylish tenement blocks were built. Paving the first section (between Trzech Krzyży Square and Piękna Street) in 1820 certainly aided the street’s development; in the following decades, the southern part of the street, which until recently had been dominated by cultivated fields, was also built up. In the 19th century, Warsaw, like all European capitals, underwent dynamic change: the metropolitan area expanded, and businesses of all sizes flourished, capitalising on the achievements of the Industrial Revolution.
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Confectioners’ Palace in Warsaw (Pałacyk Cukrowników) in Warsaw, 1926, photo: Grażyna Godziejewska / National Digital Archives (NAC)
These developments also affected the development of plot number 25 on Mokotowska Street. In 1907, Mieczysław Kaczyński, an heir to the Kaczyński family, together with his business partner, Wacław Cywiński, opened a printing house and lithographic workshop here. Shortly afterwards, Jan Kaczyński set up a leather bag manufacturing business on the premises. However, the building did not retain this function for long. In 1910, the building was leased to the Management Board of the Lublin Sugar Works, which decided to establish its prestigious headquarters there. Just over a decade later, the sugar manufacturers owned the site, and construction of new buildings was underway on the plot. According to some sources, the Kaczyński family’s buildings were completely demolished, and Tadeusz Zieliński, an architect and lecturer at the Warsaw University of Technology, designed a small mansion with two side outbuildings in their place. The project was completed in 1926. Even though no physical traces of the Kaczyński family’s buildings have survived, their layout has been preserved. While most houses on Mokotowska Street maintain a continuous frontage, the mansion at number 25 is set back from the street and preceded by a gate. This is likely a remnant of the country house of Kazimiera Kaczyńska Ćwierciakiewiczowa, built set back from the street in accordance with the rules governing such residences and preceded by a garden and a driveway. This flexible layout also suited manufacturing activities. Preserved to this day, it makes this complex an unusual feature amidst the dense, frontage-oriented, city-centre development.
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Confectioners’ Palace in Warsaw (Pałacyk Cukrowników). Headquarters of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, photo: Bartek Syta / IAM
Thanks to the Lublin sugar manufacturers, the site developed into the appearance we recognise today. Tadeusz Zieliński designed the main building: a three-storey structure with a basement, built on a rectangular plan and topped with a gable roof. He also planned two-storey outbuildings on either side, flanking the courtyard. The next stage of the site’s development came in the 1930s, when Mieczysław Broniewski, director of the Sugar Industry Bank, became the estate’s owner. He commissioned the architect Antoni Jawornicki to design the modernisation of the buildings, with the aim of transforming them into a private family residence. So, from a modest manor house surrounded by industrial buildings, the site became an elegant urban estate. The main building’s central axis was emphasised by a pseudo-risalit crowned with a triangular gable, featuring a balcony with an ornate balustrade at first-floor level and smaller ones on either side on the second floor. The outbuildings featured prominent cornices. The buildings were adorned with Neo-Rococo details, including ornate window frames, bas-relief garlands, and volute corbels supporting the balconies, among other features. Cupid sculptures appeared at the tops of the gable walls of both outbuildings (on the left, the cupid is accompanied by hares; on the right, by goats). Fortunately, elements of the main building’s interior, such as the floors, woodwork and staircase, have survived to this day.
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Pałacyk Cukrowników w Warszawie, detal, fot. Domena publiczna
W czasie II wojny światowej w pałacyku mieściły się biura gestapo, toteż zabudowania nie zostały znacząco zniszczone. Po wojnie budynek miał kilku gospodarzy – mieściła się tu siedziba Klubu Inteligencji Pracującej Związku Walki Młodych czy Centralny Ośrodek Szkolenia Partyjnego PZPR, później obiekt stał się domem dla matematyków: działo tu Międzynarodowe Centrum Matematyczne im. Stefana Banacha oraz Instytut Matematyczny Polskiej Akademii Nauk. W 1977 roku pałacyk z dziedzińcem i ogrodzeniem został wpisany do rejestru zabytków. W 2000 roku prawo własności do obiektu odzyskali spadkobiercy dawnego właściciela. To oni odsprzedali budynek obecnemu właścicielowi, powstałemu w tym samym roku Instytutowi Adama Mickiewicza, który w zabytkowym kompleksie ma siedzibę do dziś.
