Mazovia's unknown landmarks: A gym like a manor

Sat, 07/03/2021

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Poland, Mazovia, Brwinów. Big, historical architecture, representative character, alone in a wide open space, surrounded by abundant greenery: Houses that at first glance look like a manor, and yet were built for a completely different purpose, there are more than you might think. One such building can be found in the small Polish town of Brwinów near Warsaw.

A gym like a mansion

Leon Warkus - an athlete and employee of the Warsaw-Vienna Railway - founded a branch of the "Gym club Falcon" (Polskie Towarzystwo Gimnastyczne "Sokół") in Brwinów in the 1920s. This patriotic gymnastics movement had its roots in the Czech Republic in the mid-19th century, but also spread to other Eastern European countries. In Poland, Sokół contributed significantly to the popularity of the sport. The club reached its active peak in the interwar period, before the movement's members were persecuted by the Wehrmacht during World War II.

In the beginning, the athletes met outdoors to carry out their activities. Towards the end of the 20s, with the help of several loans, Warkus finally had this club building built, which later received the name Dom Zatrudy.

Although the house is one of the most prominent buildings in the city, it is hardly noticed today. Many commuters from Milanówek or Podkowa Leśna who work in Warsaw drive past it every day without knowing anything about the building's history: It has been empty for a long time and was also for sale for a long time. But there is now apparently a new owner was the statement of a resident in Podkowa Leśna.

In December 2020, the house is still abandoned, defying wind and weather. Perhaps the new owner will succeed in making a piece of the town's forgotten local history visible or tangible again.

Trivia about the House Warkusa

This historic sports hall disguised as a manor house is not quite so far-fetched: at the end of the 19th century, there was actually a grange on this site. The owner was Stanisław Wilhelm Lilpop, who sold the property to Leon Warkus in the early 1920s.

The setting received national attention in 2020, when it became the filming location for a music video by a Polish rapper and hype arose on social media about the location, which is kept anonymous in the video.