The Muszyński and Urbanowicz Villa, located at 6/8 Klonowa Street in Warsaw, is an exceptional example of luxury functionalism in interwar architecture. The property, built between 1935 and 1936 to a design by respected architect Bohdan Pniewski, combines elegance, modernity and functionality and draws on the aesthetics of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
The building was created with two owners in mind – lawyer Stefan Urbanowicz and engineer Leszek Muszyński. The villa was divided into two separate parts, each with its own entrance and spacious flat. Pniewski used a functional layout, dividing the interiors into a low ground floor intended for offices, a high ground floor serving a representative function and a residential floor.
The façade of the building and its fence were covered with rustic sandstone panels, which gave the whole building a prestigious character. The façade is characterised by numerous faults, curves and details in the modernist style. Original square panels with openings have been set into the plane of the porch wall, which add lightness and uniqueness to the façade. Recreational terraces have been designed on the flat roof of the building, and a garden has been laid out to the rear of the property.
The villa on Klonowa Street in 1936 and 2024. Source: Digital Library of the Warsaw University of Technology and whiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
The villa’s interiors are decorated with Polish marbles such as “Dębnik”, “Barwinek” and “Raclawice”. Attention is also drawn to the alabaster partition wall, which acts as a screen separating the living room from the dining room. This harmonious marriage of luxury and functionality makes the villa one of the most interesting examples of Polish interwar architecture.
After World War II, the villa was taken over by the State Treasury. In 1989, management of the building passed to the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland. During the presidency of Lech Wałęsa, half of the building (no. 8) was returned to the descendants of Stefan Urbanowicz. The other half (no. 6) was purchased by the State and for years served as an office building, leased successively to the Polish Business Council and then to the Lewiatan Confederation.
The villa in the 1990s and today. Source: “Spotkania z Zabytkami” No. 4 (146) 1999 and whiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
Over the years, part of the property, numbered 8, came back under the administration of the State Treasury and was subordinated to the Ministry of Defence. Currently, this part of the building houses the offices of the Stołeczny Zarząd Infrastruktury MON. In 1991, the villa and its surrounding fence were entered in the register of monuments, which underlined its importance as an exceptional example of modernist architecture in Poland.
The Muszyński and Urbanowicz Villa is a testimony to the architectural craftsmanship of Bohdan Pniewski and a symbol of Warsaw’s elegance and modernism of the 1930s. Despite its changing fate, the building has retained its unique features, becoming an important element of Warsaw’s cultural heritage.
Source: warszawa1939.pl, polityka.pl
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