Low villas with column porticoes ring small radial squares, and the 2009 film Popiełuszko used St. Stanislaus Kostka Church for its parish scenes.
What Żoliborz looks like
sits at the centre of a web of radial streets and star shaped squares, its metro entrance set back under a stand of trees at one corner. Trams run along Słowackiego Street on the square's north side, past three and four storey blocks of rendered plaster in white, grey and ochre.
runs past a row of symmetrical villas from the 1920s, high pitched roofs and column porticoes set behind hedges rather than walls. A few blocks east, is ringed by ten individually designed houses built between 1922 and 1925, the trees at its centre now grown well above the rooflines.
The cooperative housing block at Słowackiego 38 to 46 stands four storeys in beige rendered plaster, its balconies and window surrounds picked out in white under a red tile roof. stands close to the square, its twin spires and plastered walls set behind a low iron fence, with a crosswalk and parked cars along the kerb out front.
holds a lake ringed by willow trees at the district's northern edge, and paths for cyclists and runners continue along the Vistula riverbank beyond it. A seasonal urban beach and a run of bars open there each summer.
Shot in Żoliborz
The 2009 film Popiełuszko used St. Stanislaus Kostka Church for the parish where Father Jerzy is assigned in the story. The same production also used Krakowskie Przedmieście Street and Bankowy Square elsewhere in the city.
Popiełuszko. Wolność jest w nas (Popieluszko: Freedom Is Within Us), 2009
St. Stanislaus Kostka Church
Father Jerzy is shown assigned to this parish in the film's account of his life, and the production filmed at the church itself for those scenes. The same production also used Krakowskie Przedmieście Street and Bankowy Square elsewhere in the city. Street View
What Żoliborz can double for
Hampstead Garden Suburb, London, England
Hampstead Garden Suburb follows the same low density, tree-lined avenue model that Żoliborz's own officers' quarter was built on, laid out by Raymond Unwin with hedges instead of walls between the villas. Central Square groups two brick churches around a green much as Plac Wilsona sits at the centre of the radial streets here. Lutyens' twin church spires and the red brick, pebble-dashed fronts look unmistakably English, so keep them out of a wide establishing shot. Try searching tree-lined avenue now.
Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England
Welwyn Garden City dates from 1920, the same decade as the officers' quarter here, laid along a broad tree-lined boulevard called the Parkway with wide grass verges on both sides. Its neo-Georgian brick terraces look more formally planned than the rendered villas on Śmiała Street. The Parkway's civic buildings and brick terraces are a giveaway in a wide shot, so a tighter frame on an ordinary side street holds the illusion better. Try searching tree-lined boulevard now.
Forest Hills Gardens, Queens, New York City
Forest Hills Gardens follows the same low density, curving street layout as the streets here, planned around Station Square rather than a series of radial squares. Its stucco walls and red clay tile roofs carry Tudor Revival details the plain rendered villas here do not. The clock tower and brick arcades at Station Square have no equivalent here and would give the location away in any wide shot. Try searching stucco walls tile roofs now.
