Ugly House Photos

I went on vacation to Iceland for a week in late August & early September.  Of course, I’m always interested in homes.

The Skogasafn Museum in Skogar, Iceland (south Iceland) is chock full of old items from the 1800s to 1900s.  They also have old houses for visitors to check out.  I’ll share a few with you today.

Many of the older homes in Iceland are built with stone walls and sod roofs.  This is the entrance to a communal room, where residents ate, slept, & worked.  It was built around 1895.

From the front door, we look to the right and see two beds.

Then to the left, we see two more beds.  Short length too.  Really short.

Panning further to the left, we see the opposite side of the room, with another adult bed on the right, and a baby’s bed on the left.

Looking to the left again, we see a preparation table.

Many of the rooms/homes were built in a line.  There might be a tack room for animals, a metal crafting/smithing room, and living quarters.

This is a separate kitchen/cooking room from 1880.  I can’t imagine how they did it all, especially in Icelandic winters when it’s dark 21 hours of the day.

This farm house was built in 1919.  Common in southeast Iceland and east Iceland, farm houses had the cowshed (middle section) under the bedroom and main living area to keep it warm in winter.  This home was occupied until 1970, then restored in 1989 for the museum.

Another view of an older Iceland home with stone walls and sod roof.  Iceland itself is very green.  Lots of sheep and horses.  And glaciers and waterfalls.

A more modern kitchen, from the early 1900s.

Nice looking well-maintained home built in 1898 in the big city of Reykjavik, Iceland.  Notice how the two small upper windows are open?  I found this at almost every house and apartment building in Reykjavik.  And this is when late August temperatures are around 54 degrees F (12C).  A home owner told me that electricity is super cheap in Reykjavik.  Their electricity comes from thermal heat (volcano heat!!); steam-generated power plants.  And the homes have radiator heat with hot steam.  The owner said his electric bill is about $40US/month.  The houses can be toasty warm, so they open windows to cool them down.  Water is hot, hot, hot.  Almost scalding hot.

Tiny house in Reykjavik, Iceland.  I saw this while walking around town.  Squeezed between two other homes.