ulica Mała, Stalowa, Kowelska

Praga’s Hollywood

We can start our walk in Mala Street, which was laid out in the second half  of the 19th century on private land owned by Ludwik Walusinski. Here you can see houses from the late 19th century (such as 1 Mała St., 10 Mała St.), the beginning of the 20th century (such as 11 Mała St.) or from the years 1911-1913 (such as 13 Mała St.). Filmmakers often choose this street because the tenement houses preserved here are the perfect background for the films which take place in pre-war Warsaw or during the [German] occupation. In one of the tenements at 7 Mała Street lived Paweł Elsztein – a person of great merit for Praga who popularised its history and was also a participant of the events he described. Mała Street and its buildings have appeared in many films and TV series, among which we can mention “The Pianist” after which an advertisement for toothpaste painted on the gable wall of a tenement house at  12 Mała Street remained in the landscape.

As we reach the end of Mała Street, we need to turn left to get to Stalowa Street. The street was laid out in the 19th century and it had various names depending on the period and section: Nowopraska, Fabryczna, Nowostalowa. In 1916 the whole street was renamed to Stalowa Street. At the junction of Konopacka and Stalowa Streets, on the pavement at No. 14, there is the Praga Walk of Fame. Eight panels with a star on them commemorate persons of merit for Praga, including the founding father of Nowa Praga [New Praga], Ksawery Konopacki.

As we walk down Stalowa Street and  reach Środkowa Street, we find ourselves in front of Ksawery Konopacki’s house at 11/13 Strzelecka Street. The building, called a palace, starred in the documentary film “Ksawery Konopacki – an unknown story” made in 2021 for the TuPraga Community Centre. As we walk down Strzelecka Street, we turn into Kowelska Street. It was laid out in the 19th century as Wspólna Street, which – as the name suggests – was a street shared by the settlements of Ksawery Konopacki and Joachim Kurakowski. At No. 6 there is a tenement house which starred in the “Dom” [House] TV series. The remnants of the film decoration, including the pediments above the windows, can still be seen on the façade of the building today.

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ulica Mała, Stalowa, Kowelska