Overlooked Rural Architectural Heritage of the Second Polish Republic

Abstract

In the Interbellum, in farms emerging on government lands for subdivision, there were erected within 1-2 construction seasons, according to typical projects, new farmhouses. It was one of the elements of the agricultural policy of the then Minister of Agriculture, Juliusz Poniatowski, hence the farm buildings, which were raised in the 30s of the twentieth century, primarily in Pomerania and Greater Poland, were commonly called "Poniatówki". The construction and farmhouse lending system were scheduled for the parcelants, flood victims from southern Poland, highlanders from the overpopulated areas and other smallholders and landless farmers. Wooden objects erected with prefabricated elements can be considered as the first prefabricated buildings on Polish lands. "Poniatówki" are an overlooked and wasted certificate of a successfully prognosticating settlement action for impecunious people, based on a system of construction, lending and enfranchisement never used before. The endorsed by Juliusz Poniatowski process of transformation of Polish agriculture from peasant and landlord model to the farm model, inter alia, by subdivisioning landlord's estates, introducing merging of lands and enlarging the peasant farms, was a task for at least one generation period. "Poniatówki" are still present in the landscape of the Polish countryside, but if real emergency actions are not taken, in a few years, they may remain only in photographs, names, places and... marketing activities of design and construction companies offering new "Poniatówka" cottages.