Extra attributes of the cache

‘Friendship’ Estate is probably one of most pleasant places for a walk in the whole city. The atmosphere of this place is unique - the buildings look a bit like manors, and the area may bring associations to a holiday camp from communistic times in Poland. The district is full of green, it is idyllic and calm, differently than the surrounding districts with blocks of flats. The district was founded in 1952 as a place to live for Soviet workers, who were employed by the construction of Palace of Culture. An unconfirmed information says that some of the houses were brought here from the disassembled former German prisoner camp (Stalag) I B “Hohenstein” near Olsztynek in northern Poland. Supposedly, some inhabitants found later German inscriptions on the buildings’ elements. Other version reports that it was not a prisoner camp, but a pre-war estate.

The aim was to create a self-sustainable estate, so that its inhabitants had no need to walk outside. The full social facilities were provided here - canteen, library, cinema. The workers were transported to the construction of Palace of Culture by buses. Simple workers lived it big, one-floored houses, and small one-family houses were constructed for engineers. A canteen was situated in a separate building, as well as the bathhouse, one for the whole estate. Nearly all buildings were made of wood, this is why they are sometimes called Finnish houses.

After the construction of Palace of Culture was finished and Soviet workers moved out, the estate was handed over to Warsaw’s high schools. The big houses became student dormitories, and university workers with families moved to former engineers’ houses. Most of the buildings held those functions until today. Only the function of former social building changed - today they have mainly commercial use.

The building the cache is connected with is a former canteen. In the time when Palace of Culture’s workers used to live in the estate, it was a place where meals were provided to all of them. Today, when there is no longer demand for such function, the building is of commercial use.

The building is quite monumental, it is full of architectural details - semi-circled windows, small roofs, and a colonnade from the western side. Unfortunately, the quality of materials used for the construction was not very high and today the whole building is in rather poor technical condition. Also, lots of advertisements, attached to it from every side, do not make it look better. Despite that, the building is really interesting and original.

There are some shops and private companies near the cache. So it is better to grab the cache when they are already closed (so in the evening or at night).

The cache is one of the series "Friendship Estate". The other caches are:

Friendship Estate - Workers' Houses
Friendship Estate - Engineers' Houses
Friendship Estate - Bathhouse
Friendship Estate - Playground
Friendship Estate - Workers' Club

and the final cache:
Friendship Estate - Final

Please note down the number from the logbook ! It will be necessary to find the final cache !