Garden-City Podkowa Leśna


Podkowa Leśna (literal meaning - "Horseshoe Grove", in full: Miasto-ogród Podkowa Leśna - "Garden-City Podkowa Leśna") is a town in central Poland, in Grodzisk Mazowiecki County, (Masovian Voivodeship). The town is located not far from Warsaw in a beautiful setting of the Młochowskie Forests. Forests surround the town from three sides (the east, the south, and the north).


The area where is situated Podkowa Leśna, since 1861 belonged to industrialist and hunter Stanislaw Lilpop. The creation of the town was connected directly to the Electric Railroad. The line was constructed and operated under the original name "Elektryczne Koleje Dojazdowe" (Electric Commuter Rail) by a privately owned electrical power industry consortium "Siła i Światło" (Power and Light) established with the participation of British capital shortly after Poland regained independence after World War I in 1918.


"Garden-City Podkowa Leśna" was based on 19th century Garden City conception designed by Ebenezer Howard.  The specific urban plan of Podkowa Leśna was designed by A. Jawornicki and was based on the concentric streets-alleys around the train station. There was also a city park designed. The author of the project was a well-known Warsaw gardener L. Danielewicz. Danielewicz has designed the park with tennis courts, and winter sports grounds and a sports pavilion. The town was developed quickly. Before the Second World War, many beautiful villas were built.


Today the Garden-City of Podkowa Leśna has an interesting collection of villas dating back to the interwar period, along with newly built mansions.


The trademark of Podkowa Leśna is a beautiful building of former Casino in the City Park. It was built in 1928. The Casino is now home to the Podkowa Civic Initiative Center, whose mission is to encourage and energise cultural outreach programs. In the neighbourhood os former casino is located the charming wooden villa named “Aida”.  It was built by the Lilpops around the year 1900 when the entire area of today’s Podkowa was still a vast hunting ground. In the 1920s the famous Polish poet and writer Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz spent Summer months here, regularly receiving guests – notable among them literati from that period’s influential group of poets known as “Skamander”.


In Podkowa Lesna there are many other beautiful wooden and masonry villas. In 1981 Podkowa Leśna was registered in the register of monuments. There is a great place to spend one day and to know that beautiful town. It is best to get there by the suburban railway, which today is called the Warsaw Commuter Railway (Polish: Warszawska Kolej Dojazdowa)


*  *  *
This post is linked at:
Labels:
Location: Podkowa Leśna, Poland

Comments

  1. OdnowionaJa26/1/18 2:55 pm

    Wspaniałe miejsce. Piękna architektura i roślinność. Świetne zdjęcia. Brawo. Serdecznie pozdrawiam i życzę udanego weekendu. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Photo(Geo)grapher29/1/18 2:53 pm

      Dziekuję za miłe słowa w komentarzu do mojego wpisu :-) Życzę miłego tygodnia

      Delete
  2. The Furry Gnome27/1/18 3:47 am

    Nice to see a new post! Looks like a very nice 'garden' town.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Małgosia i Piotr28/1/18 3:49 pm

    Podkowa Leśna to bardzo malownicza miejscowość, pięknie wyszła na zdjęciach. Pozdrawiamy i cieszymy się ze wznowienia aktywności :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Photo(Geo)grapher29/1/18 2:57 pm

      To prawda, że ostatnio jakoś mniej zajmowałem się fotografią... Potrzebna mi była chwila odpoczynku i nabrania dystansu, oraz... nowy aparat, z którym właśnie zaprzyjaźniam się ;) Pozdrawiam

      Delete
  4. NCSue30/1/18 12:22 am

    Nice shots!
    Thanks for joining the party this week at https://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2018/01/fun-with-textures-in-photoshop.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. likeschocolate30/1/18 9:43 am

    What a cute little town. Love the houses! They are so interesting!

    ReplyDelete
  6. K V V S MURTHY30/1/18 1:59 pm

    What a beautiful place with woods and nice houses..!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Su-sieee! Mac31/1/18 3:14 am

    Your photos give me a good sense of the beauty and quietness of living among the woods.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Jim2/2/18 10:59 am

    Love these shots. Especially the trams.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Lady Fi2/2/18 8:15 pm

    Fabulous shots.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Spare Parts and Pics2/2/18 8:30 pm

    What a beautiful little town! Love those old homes and the train cars.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous2/2/18 9:41 pm

    Haven't seen your url for a while, and glad to see you are still blogging! Love the second capture, as well as the bright one of the trains.
    You used to link to All Seasons -we still open the link from Sunday through Wednesday evening 7 pm, Pacific time. Hope you'll come and visit us soon!
    In case you do not have the link on hand, it is artworksfromsjeshastg (dot) wordpress (dot) com.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Carol @Comfort Spring Station2/2/18 10:43 pm

    A beautiful area full of lovely old buildings.

    ReplyDelete
  13. betty-NZ3/2/18 8:30 am

    These are some fantastic buildings! I love the looks of them with the different styles. The rest of the scenery is just as gorgeous and the trains are really brightly painted.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Pat Tillett8/2/18 3:13 am

    It's a great looking building. Nice to see your post...

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I will be very much appreciate all your comments and insights. Thank you.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Most Popular Articles

Azalea and Rhododendron Park in Kromlau, Germany

Image
Kromlau is a small and charming village located in the municipality of Gablenz, Germany, less than 6 kilometres from the Polish border. In Kromlau is one of the largest landscape parks in Saxony. The park lies in the Muskau Arch area (learn more at:   Muskau Arch - UNESCO Global Geopark ).  The park is a beautiful example of an English garden and has many small ponds and lakes. The Azalea and Rhododendron Park in Kromlau was commissioned by Friedrich Herrmann Rötschke, the knight of Kromlau, in the middle of the 19th century.  The Rötschke's landscape park was created after location of Fürst-Pückler-Park in Muskau ( lick learn more at: Muskau Park - World Heritage Site ) . The "little Pückler" spared a little bit of money. Rare woody plants, mythological and rococo statues, basalt caves as well as a bow bridge of stone blocks and basalt stone were design elements of his park. He also built the hunting lodge in the park and surrounded it with flower beds. 
Keep reading

Malbork - the world's largest brick castle

Image
Malbork is a town in northern Poland in the Żuławy region (Vistula delta). There is located an impressive Medieval castle. This biggest brick castle in the world and the largest castle of the Gothic period is one of Europe's most imposing fortresses - "the largest pile of bricks north to Alps". The castle in Malbork was built by the Teutonic Order after the conquest of Old Prussia. The work was started in 1274 on the southeastern bank of the river Nogat. The fortress was named Castle of Mary - Marienburg in German. In 1309 the castle and the city became the capital city of Teutonic Order's state. High Castle surrounded by moats and walls and became the office of Grand Masters and the order's highest officials. Middle Castle become house of lower rank brothers and guests. There was also a Great Refectory infirmary for older and ill brothers. In 14th and 15th century was build third segment - Lower Castle - armory, granary, storehouse, as well as St. Lawrenc
Keep reading

Mountain ranges in Poland

Image
Tatra Mountains and Pieniny Mountains Poland is a relatively low-lying country. More than 90% percent of its territory lies ca 300 m above sea level, but there are three main mountain ranges located mainly in the southern part of the country. They run in a direction from west to east and include the Carpathian Mountains (Carpathians), the Sudety Mountains (Sudetes), and the Świętokrzyskie Mountains (Holy Cross Mountains).  All of these mountain ranges, except for the Świętokrzyskie Mountains form a natural southern border of Poland. Sudetes Śnieżka (1603 m a.s.l.)  - the highest peak of Karkonosze Mountains Sudetes (Sudety Mountains) The Sudetes stretches from eastern Germany along the south-western Poland. The highest peak of the range is Śnieżka in the Karkonosze Mountains (Giant Mountains) on the Czechia-Poland border, which is 1,603 metres in elevation. The Sudetes are usually divided into Eastern Sudetes (in Poland are two ranges: Golden Mountains and Śnieżn
Keep reading

Former industrial empire of Izrael Poznański in Łódź, Poland

Image
Spinning mill (today hotel) and main gate of former Poznański's factory   The beginnings of the Poznański textile factory  Izrael K. Poznański was born on 25 August 1833 in Aleksandrów near Łódź, as the youngest son of Kalman Poznański. A year later, the Poznańskis moved to Lódź. In 1851 he married Leonia Hertz, daughter of the clerk of Jewish hospitals in Warsaw. This marriage enriches Izrael Poznański’s, a master of „weaving profession” at the time, fortune by a manufacturer worth 500 roubles. Main gate of the former Poznański's factory He started to work for Karol Scheibler's company in Łódź. However, he was gradually setting out to accomplish his greatest project - the construction of a great factory. From 1871 Poznański began to buy out the green-licks between Ogrodowa, Stodolniana (now: Zachodnia) and Podrzeczna Streets. The construction of Poznański’s industrial complex began in the 70s of 19th century. The first building was a weaving mill with a saw-t
Keep reading

Externsteine - magical rock formation, Germany

Image
During travelling through the scenic Teutoburg Forest in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalianear, you can find the picturesque group of rocks a few kilometres from the town of Horn-Bad Meinberg. Its name - Extersteine - usually translates as stones of the ridge. This is a highly unusual rock formation. In an area otherwise devoid of large rocks, the soaring, slender columns of Externsteine stand out as they rise sharply and with no little majesty from the surrounding landscape. The 13 sandstone pillars have been ornamented over the millennia by human hand. Yet the true origins of the star stones can be discovered through geology. The unusual geological formation consists of a hard, erosion-resistant sandstone (so-called Osningsandstein), laid down during the early Cretaceous era about 100 million years ago. Thousands of years of erosion have washed the rocks from the surrounding soil and then were formed the surface of the stone. The rock formation stretches for seve
Keep reading

Rupea Citadel: One of Transylvania’s top Medieval fortress

Image
Rupea Fortress is one of the most interesting medieval castles in Transylvania, Romania. The name of the citadel comes from Latin rupes meaning " stone ". Guarded by thick strong walls, the impressive and huge fortress is located on top of of 120 m-high basalt massive and it is perfectly visible from the scenic road Sighisoara-Brasov. It is a refuge castle, also known as a peasant citadel with four areas reinforced with polygonal towers, two interior courtyards and three defence towers. Rupea Citadel has the form of an ascending spiral (snail shell). The castle is built on four premises: Upper citadel, Middle citadel and Lower citadel. Rupea Citadel is one of the oldest archaeological sites in Romania, the first signs of human settlements dating from the Paleolithic and early Neolithic. There was a fortified city in the Dacian time. According to the legend - Decebal, the last Dacian King, took his life on the hill. He cut his throat with a single move of his
Keep reading

Viscri - picturesque Saxon village in Transylvania, Romania

Image
Fortified churches in Transylvania  Romania is a beautiful and very interesting country. You can admire there magnificent scenery and a lot of splendid architectural monuments. Very interesting and picturesque architectural objects are fortified churches in Transylvania region. There are more than 100 of well preserved fortified churches from the 13th to 16th centuries. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Villages with Fortified Churches in Transylvania are seven villages founded by the Transylvanian Saxons. They are characterised by the great variety of architectural styles. They are dominated by fortified churches and characterised by a specific settlement pattern that has been preserved since the late Middle Ages (see also: Fortified Church in Hărman, Romania ). Fortified church in Viscri - UNESCO World Heritage Site One of the most interesting Saxon fortified churches is located in the village of Viscri. The village is located in the centre of Romania, close t
Keep reading

Modlin Fortress - the largest fortification complex in Europe

Image
Not more than 34 km north of Warsaw, on the territory of Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki, in the fork of the Vistula River, the Narew River and Wkra River, is located Modlin Fortress, one of the largest fortresses in Poland and all of Europe. The fortress is a monument of defensive architecture of international significance. In Europe, only Verdun can compete with it.  Defence barracks Residential buildings History of Modlin Fortress The first fortifications around Modlin were built during the Swedish invasion in the 17th century, but the beginnings of the most impressing fortress in Europe falls in the first half of 19th century when Napoleon Bonaparte recognised the strategic importance of the area. In 1807 Emperor of the French ordered the construction of new fortifications. His military architects began to expand the fortress to both sides of the River Narew at the estuary into the Vistula to secure his leadership in Eastern Europe.  Officer's Cassino
Keep reading

Most Recent Articles

See Also