Kościuszko Square

The most prominent example of socialist realist architecture in Wrocław is Kościuszko Square and its immediate surrounds, called the Kościuszko Housing District (Kościuszkowska Dzielnica Mieszkaniowa). Modelled on the Marszałkowski Housing District built in Warsaw in 1950-1952, the estate was capable of housing 4000 people and even included a few shops, a restaurant, and a cafe - not something to be taken for granted in communist Poland. Construction started in 1954 and concluded four years later, by which time the Stalinist era was over, and socialist realism was no longer the preferred architectural style.