| Sobieskiego 100 "Spyville" (Polish: "Szpiegowo") | |
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 Interactive map of Sobieskiego 100 "Spyville" (Polish: "Szpiegowo") | |
| General information | |
| Status | Completed |
| Type | Residential |
| Architectural style | Modernist |
| Location | 100 Sobieskiego Street,Warsaw, Poland |
| Coordinates | 52°11′51″N21°02′26″E / 52.19737°N 21.04056°E /52.19737; 21.04056 |
| Construction started | 1977 |
| Completed | 1978 |
| Owner | Warsaw City Council |
| Technical details | |
| Material | Concrete |
| Floor count | 11 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architects | Janusz Nowak Piotr Sembrat |
| Other information | |
| Number of suites | c. 100 |
Sobieskiego 100, nicknamed "Spyville" (Polish: "Szpiegowo"), is a housing complex located at 100Sobieskiego Street in theSielce neighborhood of theMokotów district ofWarsaw, Poland. It was developed during the time of thePeople's Republic of Poland in the late-1970s as accommodation forSoviet diplomats. The complex was widely rumoured to be inhabited byspies, giving rise to its nickname.
Following thecollapse of the Soviet Union, its ownership (along with that of several other buildings used by the Russian Embassy) was the subject of a longstanding dispute.[1]
In 2022, in the context of the ongoingRussian invasion of Ukraine, the long-abandoned complex was seized from theGovernment of Russia by Polish authorities and transferred to theWarsaw City Council which pledged to use it for the benefit ofUkrainian refugees in Warsaw.
In 1974, theSoviet Union and thePolish People's Republic entered into an agreement to grant one another rights to land in Warsaw andMoscow respectively to provide residential accommodation for diplomats. Moscow was granted nine sites across Warsaw, including a plot of land at 100 Sobieskiego Street; however, the ownership agreement relating to this plot was reportedly nevernotarised and so the property formally remained the property of the Polish Treasury.[2]
Sobieskiego 100 is located on Warsaw'sRoyal Route, adjacent to Park Sielecki.[3] It was designed by the Polish architects Janusz Nowak and Piotr Sembrat. Construction commenced in 1977 and the complex was completed in 1978. It comprises twomodernistconcrete tower blocks (linked by an aerial bridge) that provided approximately 100 "spacious"apartments along with ancillary uses such as akindergarten,telephone exchange,barber,sauna,basketball court, andmovie theater. The taller block is 11 storeys.[2][3][4][5] The complex is surrounded by a steel fence along with a "moat-like" pond to the east. It has been described as "a daring example of avant-garde modernism".[3]
Sobieskiego 100 provided accommodation for employees of the Embassy of Russia in Poland and their families, as well as businesspeople visiting from the Soviet Union. The residents of the complex departed in the mid-1990s, although it continued to be fenced and guarded.[3] In 1998, the property was briefly leased to the firm "Fart".[6] From the mid-2000s until 2017, a nightclub catering to Russian passport holders, "Club 100", operated in the complex.[3]
Sobieskiego 100 gave rise to variousurban legends, including that it "was a spy base andsafe house for theKGB, that it was home to a hugeradio communication station, that it was occupied by theRussian mafia and even that there were mysterious underground tunnels and its cellars were used as a makeshift prison".[3] There were rumours of "secret rooms, safes full of cash and an arsenal of spying equipment".[5] After residents left the complex, it became a popular destination forurban explorers.[3]
In 2012, theMinistry of Foreign Affairs and Warsaw City Council terminated the agreement and demanded the return of the property.[7] TheGovernment of Russia asserted ownership of the property and declined to pay rent. In October 2016, a Warsaw court issued adefault judgment ordering the Government of Russia to hand the property back to Poland.[2] In April 2017, the same court ordered the Government of Russia to pay 7.8 million złoty of back rent.[3]
In April 2022, abailiff acting for theMayor of WarsawRafał Trzaskowski took possession of the complex. The move was protested by Sergey Andreyev, the Russian ambassador to Poland, who stated that a diplomatic site had been illegally occupied.[8] Trzaskowski stated that Sobieskiego 100 would be used to "serve the Ukrainian community". Initially, it was envisaged that the complex would be used to provide accommodation for refugees from Ukraine stemming from the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[4]Andrii Deshchytsia, theAmbassador of Ukraine to Poland, stated that Ukraine would request to lease Sobieskiego 100 and suggested it could be used for a school or Ukrainiancultural center.[9]
Due to the disrepair of the buildings, engineers assessed the condition of the buildings to determine whether they could be refurbished or whether they needed to be demolished.[4] In February 2023, deputy mayor Tomasz Bratek announced that the building was not expected to require to be demolished.[10]
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