Wągrowiec is a city with medieval origins, on which the Prussians made their mark in the urban space. The invaders, on the outskirts of the existing town, created a space at the turn of the 19th and 20th century, which with its architectural grandeur was to overshadow the historic centre of the county town. In the free Poland of 1918, until the present day Kościuszko Street has played an important role in the life of the city, despite its predomi-nantly Prussian architecture. It is there that institutions important to the inhabitants are located (town hall, district office, court or schools). During the communist era, leisure played a very important role in the country's internal politics, which is why resorts were built both in the wilderness - disregarding the lack of utilities - and in the vicinity of the historic urban fabric, i.e. wherever leisure potential was perceived (e.g. a lake). In the 1960s, in the wave of construction of leisure centres in Wągrowiec, a modernist cen-tre was built on Lake Durowskie and an amphitheatre was built in the neighbourhood of the historic buildings. In the article the author presents the history of Wągrowiec, Kościusz-ko Street. She discusses modernist architecture and its relationship with the surroundings, and analyses its influence on the original shape of the street. She shows the current ap-pearance of the centre.