Mokotowskie Rogatki Mokotowskie, two small buildings located in the southern part of Unia Lubelska Square in Warsaw, are one of the most important examples of late-classical urban architecture from the early 19th century. Built between 1816 and 1818 to a design by the eminent architect Jakub Kubicki, they performed a control and sanitary function and marked the southern border of the city. At present, these over-two-hundred-year-old monuments are in rather poor condition and require proper management and restoration.
Mokotow’s turnpikes were part of Lubomirski’s trenches – the earthen ramparts that surrounded Warsaw from 1770. These buildings, erected on the initiative of Marshal Stanisław Lubomirski, were intended to protect the city against epidemics, mainly plague, by limiting and controlling the movement of people and goods. The turnpike buildings were located at the outskirts of the main roads, serving as toll booths for entering the city and as sanitary control points.
Plac Unii Lubelskiej in 1917. Source: Museum of Warsaw
The first turnpikes in Warsaw were built in Praga and Golędzinów, and later on the left bank of the Vistula, including Czerniaków and near the Belvedere. Only a few of the former 18 turnpike buildings have survived to this day, including two Mokotow ones at Unii Lubelskiej Square and two at Grochowska Street in Praga.

Mokotow’s turnpikes are two symmetrically placed buildings of classical form, with two-column porticoes in the Doric style. Their slightly curved elevations were designed to harmonise with the circular shape of Unii Lubelskiej Square. The buildings are characterised by elegant simplicity and functionality, corresponding to their original purpose.
The Western Corner at the end of the 1970s and today. Source: “Spotkania z Zabytkami” No. 4 (14) 1983 and whiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
One of the pavilions housed the police caretaker, who was the representative of the Municipal Office, and the other the tax collector, who collected entry fees to the capital. The buildings were at the same time symbolic “city gates”, the boundaries of which remained in force until 1916, when Warsaw was administratively enlarged.
Today, the tollgate buildings stand on the border of two districts: Mokotów and Śródmieście. Their functions have changed over the years. In the second half of the twentieth century, they no longer played a controlling role and their space was rented for commercial purposes. They housed, for example, the traffic control room of the Municipal Transport Works or public toilets.
The eastern corner has for the last few years housed the Sue Ryder Museum, established by the foundation named after her. It is currently closed to the public due to damage to the plasterwork and flooding of the interior. The west corner, on the other hand, has recently hosted various eating establishments, including a Thai restaurant and a sushi bar. The building is currently abandoned. In both cases, the limited space and proximity to busy streets present challenges for their contemporary development.
In 1965 Mokotow’s turnpikes were entered in the register of monuments. Despite this, their technical condition requires constant care and investment. The Śródmieście District Office has announced the renovation of the damaged plasterwork and the restoration of the historical appearance of the façade. Mokotów’s street corners are a unique example of urban infrastructure that has survived almost two centuries of Warsaw’s turbulent history.
Source: passa.waw.pl, tvn24.pl
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