Old Mokotow (, ) is a neighbourhood, and a City Information System area, in Warsaw, Poland, located within the northwestern portion of the Mokotów district. The area is part of its western half, known as the Upper Mokotów. The neighbourhood is a residential area, predominantly consisting of mid- and high-rise apartment buildings. Old Mokotów also includes the campuses of the SGH Warsaw School of Economics and the Warsaw University of Technology. The neighbourhood has several historic buildings, including the Szuster Palace, a Gothic Revival palace residence from 1774, and the Mokotów Tollhouses, two neoclassical tollhouse pavilions from 1818. It also features the Church of the Ascension of the Lord from 1904, which belongs to the Lutheran denomination. The neighbourhood is also served by the M1 line of the Warsaw Metro underground rapid transit system, with the Racławicka and Pole Mokotowskie stations.
The oldest known records of the village of Mokotów, originally known as Mokotowo, date to 1367, when it was a small farming community. In the 14th century, Mokotów received the Kulm law privileges. It was raided and destroyed by the Swedish Imperial Army in 1656 during and following the siege of Warsaw in the Second Northern War. In the 18th century Mokotów came to prosperity with the development of numerous manor houses, villas, and palaces for wealthy landowners and townspeople. It was demolished and plundered by the soldiers of the Imperial Russian Army during the Kościuszko Uprising in 1794. It began to rebuild in the 1810s. In the 19th century, Mokotów became a popular holiday village, with numerous guesthouses, health and recreation facilities, restaurants and inns developing in the area. On 13 January 1867, the village became the seat of government of the rural municipality of Mokotów. The expansion of the village was halted in the 1880s, with the construction of sets of fortifications to its south in 1883 and 1892. In 1892, the Warsaw Mokotów narrow-gauge station was opened next to the Union of Lublin Square, where it operated until 1935.
At the turn of the 20th century, the land of Mokotów was partitioned and sold for housing development. In the 1910s, following the decommissioning of the nearby fortifications, the area began rapidly developing with the construction of tenement houses, especially alongside Independence Avenue and Puławska Street. The village of Mokotów, together with the rest of its municipality, was incorporated into Warsaw on 8 April 1916. In 1910, the Mokotów Aerodrome was established to the north of the village, featuring dirt runways. It became the city's first aerodrome and operated until 1947. During the Warsaw Uprising in the Second War War, the German officers conducted a series of executions on local population, and displaced thousands of residents from the area. A large portion of the building in the neighbourhood were destroyed during the fighting and in its aftermath, with the neighbourhood redeveloping after the war. Between 1947 and 1952, a housing estate with modernist apartment buildings was developed in its north. Another housing estate, known as Osiedle Batorego, was developed in the southeast in the 1960s. In 1995, the M1 line of the Warsaw Metro was opened crossing the neighbourhood, with the Racławicka and Pole Mokotowskie stations.
Toponomy The name Mokotów most likely comes from the name of its former owner Mokot or Mokoto, which with addition of the suffix -ów, translates to Mokot's place. A hypothesis proposes the person's name originates from a Middle High German word mocke, meaning "clumsy" and "uneducated". The modern neighbourhood is referred to as Old Mokotów (), as a historical location of the village with said name, within the larger city district of Mokotów.Kwiryna Handke: Dzieje Warszawy nazwami pisane. Warszawa: Muzeum Historyczne m.st. Warszawy, 2011, s. 286. . (in Polish)Z. Klimek (editor): Słownik etymologiczno-motywacyjny staropolskich nazw osobowych, vol. 5, Kraków 1997, . (in Polish)
History Until the 19th century
Several hoes made from animal horns from the Linear Pottery culture, dating to around 2500 BCE, were discovered near Sobieskiego Street, within the area of the modern Old Mokotów.Józef Kazimierski, Ryszard Kołodziejczyk, Żanna Kormanowa, Halina Rostowska: Dzieje Mokotowa. Warsaw: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1972. (in Polish)
The oldest known records of Mokotów, originally known as Mokotowo, date to 1367, when it was a small farming community paying tithe to the town of Zegrze. It was placed near a road connecting Warsaw and Czersk, now known as Czerska Street. Its farmlands stretched approximately between current Mokotowska, Polna, Rakowiecka, Odyńca, Żwirki i Wigury, Piaseczyńska, Sobieskiego, and Belwederska Streets, while the village centre was probably originally placed in the area of Boryszewska and Dolna Streets and the Eye of the Sea pond. Some documents from 15th century suggest that a nearby settlement in modern Wierzbno might have been deserted and incorporated into Mokotów.
Probably after the agricultural reform in the 14th century, or even prior to that, Mokotów had been granted the Kulm law privileges and became property of the Duke of Masovia. Its farmlands were managed in the three-field system. The village sold its produce to Jazdów, and after it was destroyed in a 1262 raid by Lithuanians, it switched to serve Warsaw instead. It led to several farmers of Mokotów growing small fortunes, some even having residences on the outskirts of the city, at Senatorska and Długa Streets. In the 13th century, the farmlands of the village had an area of 25 Chełmno voloks, or 420 hectares. It paid a lease of 28 groschen, an equivalent of a bushel of wheat flour or a wheelcart of hay, similar to other villages belonging to the Duke of Masovia. Additionally, each volok of its farmland were taxed with 13 bushels of rye, and customary tributes in the form of 2 capons, one goose and 30 eggs. Three voloks, which, respectively, belonged to the advocate, the vicars of the St. John Archcathedral in Warsaw, and merchant Jerzy Baryczka. In 1611, the later briefly housed Vasili IV, the Tsar of all Russia, and his brother Dmitry Shuisky, while they remained imprisoned by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Mokotów's prosperity ended with the economic decline in the countryside in the early 17th century. Between 1619 and 1620, only its 13 voloks were inhabited, including the three still exempt from taxes. The burden on the remaining farmers in oats, poultry, and eggs was doubled, and in 1645, another volok was established, with payment in the form of military conscription. In 1652, the cultivated area of the village had further decreased to 11 voloks. Mokotów, together with the surrounding it settlements, was raided and destroyed by the Swedish Imperial Army in 1656 during and following the siege of Warsaw in the Second Northern War. In 1661, only five voloks were cultivated. In 1678, a portion Mokotów was acquired by the politician and nobleman Stanisław Herakliusz Lubomirski, together with the nearby Służew and Służewiec. He previously already owned a portion of one of the tax-exempt voloks in the village.
Between 1768 and 1770, an urban layout of streets, known as the Stanislavian Axis, was developed on the initiative of king Stanisław August Poniatowski. It connected Old Warsaw and its satellite towns, with the Ujazdów Castle. It involved five roundabouts, later developed into urban squares, one of which was the Union of Lublin Square, located to the north of the village of village of Mokotów.Eugeniusz Szwankowski: Ulice i place Warszawy. Warsaw: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1970, p. 232. (In Polish). In 1770, the Lubomirski Ramparts, a series of dirt ramparts were erected around Warsaw and its satellite towns, to decrease the spread of the plague during its second pandemic.Eugeniusz Szwankowski: Warszawa. Rozwój urbanistyczny i architektoniczny. Warsaw: Państwowe Wydawnictwa Techniczne, 1952. (in Polish)Anna Berdecka, Irena Turnau: Życie codzienne w Warszawie okresu Oświecenia. Warsaw: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1969, pp. 238–239. (in Polish) The tollhouses were established at the entrances and exits to the agglomeration, on the roads crossing the rampart lines. One of them was placed at on Union of Lublin Square, with two pavilions placed on both sides of the current Puławska Street.Andrzej Karpiński: "Biedota miejska wobec klęsk żywiołowych", Rocznik Warszawski XVI. Warsaw: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1981, p. 90. . (in Polish)Encyklopedia Warszawy. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 1994, p. 732. . (in Polish) In 1818, the buildings at the square were replaced with two neoclassical pavilions, called the Mokotów Tollhouses.Encyklopedia Warszawy. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 1994, p. 569. . (in Polish)Juliusz A. Chrościcki, Andrzej Rottermund: Atlas architektury Warszawy. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Arkady, 1977, p. 208. (in Polish) The plague, which was expected to reach the city in 1771, was instead halted by a harsh winter. In 1794, during the Kościuszko Uprising, the ramparts were enforced with cannons placed in front and behind them, forming parts of the city fortifications during the siege of Warsaw the same year.Andrzej Zahorski: Warszawa w Powstaniu Kościuszkowskim. Warsaw: Wiedza Powszechna, 1985. . (in Polish) In 1825, the ramparts were renovated, to aid in enforcing duty collection at the city boundaries. The ramparts were removed in 1875, following the abolishment of the duty fees from entiring the city.Stefan Kieniewicz: Warszawa w latach 1795–1914. Warsaw: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1976, p. 181. (in Polish)
The village came back to prosperity again in the 18th century, with the development of numerous manor houses, villas, and palaces for wealthy landowners and townspeople. One of them was the Szuster Palace, built in 1774 for Elżbieta Izabela Lubomirska. In 1779, an extensive garden complex, now forming the Eye of the Sea Park, centred around the lake it was named after, was developed to the east of the residences. Several brickworks were also opened in the area, the largest being founded before 1779, at the Warsaw Escarpment, near the current Skolimowska Street.
19th century and the early 20th century Mokotów was demolished and plundered by the soldiers of the Imperial Russian Army during the Kościuszko Uprising in 1794. It began to rebuild in the 1810s. In the 19th century, Mokotów became a popular holiday village, with numerous guesthouses, health and recreation facilities, restaurants and inns developing in the area. By the end of the century, the garden next to the Szuster Palace was turned into the Promenade amusement park, with a luxury restaurant, circus, and open air there among other attractions. It operated until the outbreak of the First World War, and again, from its end until the beginning of the Second World War.