Seat of the archive
The seat of the Province is located in a building constructed according to the design of Teodor Łapiński in 1925-1926.
In 1927 the building was purchased by Countess Teresa Wodzicka, the wife of Prince Kazimierz Lubomirski, a deputy of the Galician Seym and the first deputy of the Polish Republic in Washington. The prince died in 1930, and his wife left for Brazil before the outbreak of World War II, where she stayed for the rest of her life.
The villa was inherited by the eldest of their four children, Prince Henryk Lubomirski, who joined the Society of Jesus in 1936. It was through him that the building became the property of the Order.
The villa was destroyed after the fall of the Warsaw Uprising. Most of the interior and the roof burned down, only the façades remained in good condition.
After the war it became possible to rebuild the villa. The design was prepared by Jerzy Gieysztor. Since the purpose of the building was to change, therefore the villa was adapted to new needs: a chapel was arranged and living quarters were prepared for the reception of the Polish Primate. In 1946 Primate August Hlond decided to move the capital of Primate to Warsaw and chose the villa at Narbutta St. fpr his seat, where he resided until his death in 1948.
In the first years of his successor, Primate Stefan Wyszyński, the villa underwent further developement. Stairs leading to the veranda were built on the rear façade, a fence was erected on the foundation from the side of ul. Narbutt, and the hall on the ground floor of the villa was converted into a chapel. After Primate Wyszyński moved his residence out in February 1949, the building served the faithful of the newly established parish of St. Stephen for the next half a century, until 1999, when the church of St. Stephen was erected where villa's gardens once were.
Currently the building houses administrative rooms, offices and the archives of the Province.