South Downtown, Warsaw

South Downtown (Polish: Śródmieście Południowe) is a neighbourhood in Warsaw, Poland, located in the Downtown district. It is mainly a mid-rise residential area, predominantly consisting of tenements and multifamily residential buildings, as well as office and commercial spaces.

The area includes the Marshal Residential District housing estate, designed in the 1950s in the socialist realistic style. There are also numerous historic tenements, some dating to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The two tallest skyscrapers, designed in the International Style, are LIM Center and Chałubińskiego 8 (170m and 150m respectively). South Downtown also includes green spaces, such as part of Mokotów Field park complex and Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły Park. The campus and most faculty buildings of Warsaw University of Technology are located there. Cultural institutions include the National Museum in Warsaw, the Mausoleum of Struggle and Martyrdom and the Museum of the Earth of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The neighbourhood includes three historic Roman Catholic churches, the Church of the Holiest Saviour, St. Alexander Church, and Saint Apostles Peter and Paul Church. South Downtown also includes the Seym and Senate Complex, which houses the lower and upper houses of the Parliament of Poland. There are also headquarters of numerous government ministries and agencies, and foreign embassies. The Politechnika station of the M1 line of the Warsaw Metro is also located in the neighbourhood.

The area of South Downtown began developing in the 18th century from small suburban towns, including Bielino, Bożydar-Kałęczyn, and Nowogrodzka. Between 1768 and 1770 the Stanisław Axis was developed which is a series of roads and urban squares which connect the city with the Ujazdów Castle. In 1770, fortification lines, known as the Lubomirski Ramparts, were erected surrounding the city. In 1791, the area was incorporated into the city of Warsaw.

Development continued in the 19th century, especially following the opening of the Vienna Station in 1845. It led to the construction of luxury tenements, with restaurants, stores and services in the area. In 1898, the Warsaw University of Technology was founded. In 1910, in the southwest part of the neighbourhood, the Mokotów Aerodrome was opened.

In 1939, while the city was under German occupation during the Second World War, the section of South Downtown centred on Szucha Avenue was turned into the Police District, a restricted area housing the Security Police and the Gestapo. During the Warsaw Uprising, from 1 September 1944, the area became a battleground of German forces and Polish participants of the Home Army. Following the defeat of the uprising, the population was evicted, and a large portion of the city was razed, including South Downtown, which had already been heavily destroyed. The neighbourhood and many of its historical buildings were rebuilt after the war.

Followed the end of the conflict, new housing estates were built, as well as the Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły Park. Between 1970s and 1990s, development continued with the complex of skyscrapers, multistorey stores and apartment buildings named the West Wall. It included two skyscrapers, Chałubińskiego 8 and LIM Center, opened in 1975 and 1989. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the area of the former Mokotów Aerodrome was developed into a large urban park, the Mokotów Field. In 1995, the Politechnika station of the Warsaw Metro opened.