Peasant - king, or the court etiquette of the "White House"
The personal office of the Party's President, Bolesław Bierut, used then by the subsequent KC PZPR First Secretaries - Edward Ochab, Władysław Gomułka and Edward Gierek, was located on the first floor, in the passage from Książęca Street. In the era of Gierek, in the beginning of the 1970s, the office was reconstructed into the conference rooms, with Gierek himself moving to the first floor of the eastern wing of the building. Those newly arranged interiors hosted consecutive First Secretaries: Stanisław Kania, Wojciech Jaruzelski i Franciszek Rakowski.
The fifth floor witnessed plenary sessions of KC PZPR. However, during the Gomułka era, once a year on 31 December the floor changed its nature. From the party activists meeting and debating place, it changed then into a ball room for the New Year's Eve party. As the legend has it, Władysław Gomułka - famous for his thrifty nature, changed on this very day into a big spender and allowed himself to smoke a whole cigarette at a time, while usually he would use a single cigarette for two smoking sessions. In fact, "comrade Wiesław" used to smoke cigarettes named „Nowe” ("New"), which were twice shorter than the other brands on the market. Thus, an outside observer could have an impression that the First Secretary takes out of his cigar case half-smoked cigarettes he was saving for the second helping...
The way of moving around the building by particular persons was regulated by rigid rules. Bierut and later Ochab used to enter the building by a separate entrance situated in the corner of the streets Książęca and Nowy Świat (present entrance B). There each of them would get into a lift operated by a lift attendant using a crank, and get upstairs to his office, avoiding thus the necessity of meeting anybody he would not like to meet on his way. The lift used by the First Secretaries had exits for two opposite sides only on the ground and the first floor, with a single exit to the staircase on all the remaining floors. Also Gomułka had the exclusive right to use the entrance B and at that time the lift was operated by his aide. Since the times of Gierek the First Secretary of KC PZPR entered the building by the main entrance.
There is one more staircase in the "White House" that could be used by the First Secretary only. Its narrow steps led from the first floor office downstairs, a bit under the main hall level. From there, through a separate corridor one could enter to a small cinema room. Today the place is used by the CBF tenants.
The main entrance to the building could be used only by the KC Secretaries, members of the Political Bureau, and, of course, members of the KC PZPR. Other persons employed in the building were using the present entrance C. Clients and invited guests were entering through the pass desk from Nowy Świat Street. There, after obtaining a pass, they entered the particular floor by the present staircase C and further on to the location indicated on the pass, using the corridors encompassing the building on the second, third and fourth floor.
The internal courtyard of the House of Parties was entered only by the limousines of the KC Secretaries, as well as of the Members and Deputy Members of the Political Bureau. Lower-ranked comrades, like the regional secretaries, could only leave their cars at the pillars at the Jerozolimskie Alleys side.
The hierarchy of party positions was also reflected in the interior of the rooms. Different design was reserved for a KC Instructor, different for a Division Manager and still different for KC Secretaries. However, some more resourceful residents of the building were able somehow build for themselves a really comfortable nest, away from the first floor occupied by the highest ranks - in spots where the First Secretary's aids were not visiting too often. A necessary equipment of almost every room was a metal cabinet. In addition, more important persons were obliged to have a small safe. It is also worth mentioning that the members of the Political Bureau and Deputies, who were not at the same time KC Secretaries, had no offices in the "White House".
During the whole PZPR rule, there were two events when everyone could enter the building without control and any pass. In 1956, in the main hall the body of Bolesław Bierut was displaced for public. People willing to make sure whether Bierut had really died, were entering the terrace by the stairs from the National Museum side, then passed the coffin placed on a platform near the present entrance A and finally they left the building through the main entrance.
The building could also be visited by everyone who accepted an invitation for an open meeting with youth held in January 1989, in the KC PZPR canteen. This meeting was the first official signal that the authority was wiling to and would talk to the society not only with the use of the oppression apparatus. It was also a try to make credible the secret talks lead by people gathered around Andrzej Stelmachowski with the KC PZPR Secretary Józef Czyrek. The consequence of this canteen meeting were the later events of the Round Table.