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Belgian Guy Documents Ugly Houses He Sees And They’re So Bad, It’s Hilarious (45 New Pics)
Disclaimer: I love Belgium. I love its vast fields, pleasant parks, and deep forests. I love its awesome playgrounds, playful ducks, and friendly people. I love its architecture, cozy buildings, and impressive castles. Having lived there for three years, during which I attended the Brussels American School (hi to all of my classmates; go Brigands!), I have a deep and nostalgic appreciation for the country. It’s the place that turned me into who I am today and the country where I learned my very first words in English.
So you can bet your bottom dollar that I turned my full attention to Hannes Coudenys when I heard that he posts pictures of ‘ugly’ Belgian houses on the internet. Now, Coudenys and I disagree about Belgian architecture: what he calls ‘ugly,’ I find to be ‘quaint.’ However, nobody can deny that he finds very intriguing examples of Belgian architecture.
Scroll down, upvote your fave ‘ugly’ buildings, and share them with your friends and family. Be sure to let us know in the comments if you’re on my or Coudenys’ side when it comes to Belgian buildings. Beautiful or horrifying? That’s for you to decide. After you’re done with this list, check out Bored Panda’s previous article about Coudenys and ‘ugly’ (aka misunderstood) Belgian houses.
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#1
Aah Weekend
#2
Angrytecture
#3
Insane The Spain
In an interview, Coudenys told Bored Panda that his project is ‘loved’ and he joked that it has turned into a kind of a ‘cult.’ “We all love to hate ugly Belgian houses,” he said, drawing attention to the fact that “Poland has terrible architecture, as a lot of people have let me see.”
However, not all is grim in Coudenys’ world. He noted that there are examples of good architecture in Belgium: “I like the work of Gijs van Vaerenbergh, Vens-Vanbelle, De Vylder Vinck Taillieu, Vincent van Duysen.”
#4
When You’re Trying To Watch Something On Pornhub But Those Spam Windows Pop Up
#5
Mayday Mayday! The East Wall Is Sinking!
#6
My House When You Came In The Backdoor
Coudenys’ hobby has grown into a phenomenon: he has more than 104,000 followers on Facebook and 76,800 fans on Instagram.
In a previous interview, Coudenys told Bored Panda that some Belgians have a peculiar understanding of what constitutes good architecture: "Normally, if you like architecture you like good houses, but in Belgium, there’s a lot of ugly architecture. So I started taking pictures of it.”
"Because regulations are quite liberal and we love to design our own quirky dreamhouse," Coudenys explained. He added that lots of home-owners were angry that their houses were being mocked online.
#7
The Sky Is Limited
#8
If Snake And Tetris Made A Baby
Daja Lindeman 5 years ago
There used to be a garage, and a normal door where the red brick is now. They repurposed the building
#9
When Your House Tried To Be Beautiful
A B C 5 years ago (edited)
Yep, same here. Except that part of the house would be near collapsing.
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Shayne O'Neill 5 years ago
I can tell you what this is. Theres a thing that developers sometimes do where they want to demolish a building but the heratige authorities say no. So the developers offer to keep the fascade while demolishing anything behind it. Well money talks and so they do this. And what you see in the photo is the end result. My home town is filled with these monstrosities
Andy Hinds 5 years ago
This is actually a rebuilt house with the old fascia preserved. They did this to the old Ovaltine factory in King's Langley, England. The factory closed and the front fascia was clssed as a losted building so they knocked the factory down and built flats in its place but the building retained the old facia, complete with the Ovaltine logo.
Stannous Flouride 5 years ago
This was common in Britain in days past. Time Team did couple of excavations on Elizabethan and Victorian houses that had been "touched up" after the owners came into wealth.
Andy Hinds 5 years ago
They did this to the old Ovaltine factory in King's Langley, England. The factory closed and was demolished but the front wall is classed as a listed building so they built new flats on the old factory floor area whilst eaving the front of the building untouched.
Nathalie Langevin 5 years ago
That would be an ugly girl trying to look better by pumping her lips!
“I received emails from lawyers and eventually gave in, stopping the blog altogether. I can understand the negative reactions in a way... It's the house of their dreams and I am demolishing it!" the Belgian revealed.
#10
Even The Neighbours Are Scared
#11
D. I. Why?
#12
Pablo Picasa
Coudenys isn’t the only critic of Belgium’s architecture. According to Culture Trip, if you’re in Belgium and want to see the country’s ugliest buildings, you would do well to visit the Ghent Market Hall, the Wiels Museum in Brussels, and the Tour Paradis in Liège.
Also be sure to see the ‘Book Tower’ in Gent, Leuven’s Sint-Maartensdal Towers, the seat of the Humanist Democratic Center in Brussels, the Radisson Blu Astrid Hotel in Antwerp, and The Water Tower in Ghent. Even I have to say that a few of these buildings make my inner artist cringe.
#13
‘Make It Look Like A Sad Elephant’ Said No One Ever. Oh Wait A Belgian Did
#14
Please Explain
#15
Why Carve Pumpkins For Halloween?
#16
What The Flying Duck
#17
Mohawkitecture
#18
Hiding An Ugly Belgian House Are We?
#19
When You’ve Got The Cheapest Street In Monopoly But You Bought Two Hotels
#20
When Windows 10 Keeps Randomly Crashing And Freezing
Stijn Cornelis 5 years ago
Fun fact: till the end of the second world war you had to pay taxes acording to the number of windows and doors your house had (pretty common in Europe). With bricked off windows as a result.
#21
What Is That Thing?
#23
The Floor Is Lava
#24
When You See Yourself In The Mirror
#25
Ceci N’est Pas Une Fermette
#26
Belgium Is A Work Of Art
#27
When Your Architect Needs An Adblocker
#28
When You Go Back To The Future
#29
This Is An Emergency, Somebody Call The Akropolice
#30
Facade So Ugly The Tree Died
#31
Close But No Cigar. Or Is It?
Let’s All Just Try And Be Decent 5 years ago
When the downstairs needs metals shutters, that's never a good sign
#32
Windows Paint
#33
Shades Don’t Always Make You Look Cool
#34
When You Stop Halfway The Reveal Because You’ve Seen Enough
#35
Not Sure If Roof Or Tiny Hat
#36
When Your Architect Has A Black Out
Jean-Francois Brisson 5 years ago
We have some of these here sometimes, it has water pipes inside that absorb solar radiation to heat your floors or whatever.
#37
You Cant Leave Your Hat On
#39
When Your Keyhole Is Swollen And Red, You Better Go See A Doctor
#40
When You Don’t Know What Hit You
#41
It Must Have Cost An Arm And A Leg
#42
Must Be Really Into Garage Sales
#44
So, Who Was Ugly First?
Add New Image
What do you think ?
Fien 5 years ago
The Guy is doing a television show where he goes to the houses he photographed and say Sorry to the owners. It's great!
Rissie 5 years ago (edited)
I love how he's genuinely sorry he hurt their feelings. But doesn't change his mind about the way he thinks about their homes. And he's right.
Load More Replies...
Random Panda 5 years ago
I think the guy posting these has a too wide definition of ugly. Nearly half of these are pretty cool (or at least normal-looking).
Rissie 5 years ago (edited)
Belgium has a notorious rep for tasteless architecture. The thing is, it's a lot of faux historical building styles and al mixed up with very dull basic buildings. And usually together it looks like a huge mess. Sorry neighbors. It does...
Load More Replies...
Kenny Kulbiski 5 years ago
You can live in these fairly comfortably it looks like. Unusual isn't the same as ugly. Ugly is some broken down tenement. Looks like a first world problem.
Holly Allen 5 years ago
Bizarre looking but so much more interesting than all the houses in the neighborhood looking exactly alike
Lindy Mac 5 years ago
Upon reflection on how to prevent this sort of thing from continuing I suggest that all architects and contractors HAVE to post their name on the corner of the house for a specified number of years. Knowing that they will be affiliated with some gawd awful designs they will refuse to design and build them... problem solved! You are welcome.
Joanne Hudson 5 years ago
Its all so dark and gloomy and I feel like pulling my elbows closer to my body.
Jane Alexander 5 years ago
Re; #38 Why does my comment not appear? I posted again and they let me know it posted twice, but it still doesn't show up. I commented 'Pun intended?' -maybe they haven't figured it out yet?
Lyone Fein 5 years ago
I feel like this whole article sums up the entire concept of the EU perfectly: a mishmash of ideas and cultures that don't really fit together, look ugly next to one another, don't actually have anything in common, and don't even function in any practical way as a single unit......but you know we'll be damned if we take any of it down to start over, or to fix it because it took us so long to get us this far as it is.
Eva Bryson 5 years ago
Thank God for building codes and design requirements! What an ugly place to live.
Methusalhem 5 years ago
Well got to say being from BE myself, we have a certain freedom to built our houses how we like. A Belgian is born with a brick in his stomach is the saying here. :) There are ugly houses, but there are also very beautiful houses too. Maybe we should start making photo's about those..... :)
Fien 5 years ago
The Guy is doing a television show where he goes to the houses he photographed and say Sorry to the owners. It's great!
Rissie 5 years ago (edited)
I love how he's genuinely sorry he hurt their feelings. But doesn't change his mind about the way he thinks about their homes. And he's right.
Load More Replies... Random Panda 5 years ago
I think the guy posting these has a too wide definition of ugly. Nearly half of these are pretty cool (or at least normal-looking).
Rissie 5 years ago (edited)
Belgium has a notorious rep for tasteless architecture. The thing is, it's a lot of faux historical building styles and al mixed up with very dull basic buildings. And usually together it looks like a huge mess. Sorry neighbors. It does...
Load More Replies... Kenny Kulbiski 5 years ago
You can live in these fairly comfortably it looks like. Unusual isn't the same as ugly. Ugly is some broken down tenement. Looks like a first world problem.
Holly Allen 5 years ago
Bizarre looking but so much more interesting than all the houses in the neighborhood looking exactly alike
Lindy Mac 5 years ago
Upon reflection on how to prevent this sort of thing from continuing I suggest that all architects and contractors HAVE to post their name on the corner of the house for a specified number of years. Knowing that they will be affiliated with some gawd awful designs they will refuse to design and build them... problem solved! You are welcome.
Joanne Hudson 5 years ago
Its all so dark and gloomy and I feel like pulling my elbows closer to my body.
Jane Alexander 5 years ago
Re; #38 Why does my comment not appear? I posted again and they let me know it posted twice, but it still doesn't show up. I commented 'Pun intended?' -maybe they haven't figured it out yet?
Lyone Fein 5 years ago
I feel like this whole article sums up the entire concept of the EU perfectly: a mishmash of ideas and cultures that don't really fit together, look ugly next to one another, don't actually have anything in common, and don't even function in any practical way as a single unit......but you know we'll be damned if we take any of it down to start over, or to fix it because it took us so long to get us this far as it is.
Eva Bryson 5 years ago
Thank God for building codes and design requirements! What an ugly place to live.
Methusalhem 5 years ago
Well got to say being from BE myself, we have a certain freedom to built our houses how we like. A Belgian is born with a brick in his stomach is the saying here. :) There are ugly houses, but there are also very beautiful houses too. Maybe we should start making photo's about those..... :)
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