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Victorian-style house in Poland?


JakeRyan
10 Dec 2019 #1
If you've been to the UK you've probably seen the Victorian brick terraced houses. Do you think building a small Victorian-inspired house in Poland would be cheap? Or turning a detached house in the Victorian style? Or buy one of those increasingly common new terraced houses and customizing it? Which would be my cheapest option to have a Coronation Street-like dwelling with crown-shaped chimney pots and all? Victorian terraced houses being small I think a detached one in that style would take a very small piece of land.
JakeR
11 Dec 2019 #2
I think in Polish you call it dom szeregowiec or szerego'wki.
A feauture I'd like to have is living room with stairs in it leading to the upper floor where the bedrooms and the bathroom are (a no no for most people but I don't like cramped hallways). Here's the floor plan: let-right.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Floorplan_Floorplan1-346.jpg
mafketis 37 | 10,894
11 Dec 2019 #3
think building a small Victorian-inspired house in Poland would be cheap?

I doubt it. It would make more sense to look at floor plans that are easily available and choose the one that's closest to what you want, especially if you don't speak Polish.

I speak Polish and shudder at the thought of trying to explain an exotic building plan to Polish builders.

Put 'plan szeregowca' into google images and look at what comes up.
OP JakeRyan
11 Dec 2019 #4
Sure, it woupd be easier to make an already existing house have a British-inspired look. Just add flower wallpaper, retro furniture and crown shaped chimney pots. Are you allowed to modify a house/apartment you pay a mortgage for in Poland though?
mafketis 37 | 10,894
11 Dec 2019 #5
If the house is being built you can negotiate some changes. A friend's first apartment purchased while being finished had some walls and doors moved around from the original plan, so ... yes.
Atch 22 | 4,125
12 Dec 2019 #6
Just add............crown shaped chimney pots.

It's not that simple Jake. The proportions of a two up-two down Victorian terrace are completely different, the size of the windows, the pitch of the roof etc. Sticking a couple of crown shaped chimney pots on top of a modern Polish house won't give you the same look.
mafketis 37 | 10,894
12 Dec 2019 #7
completely different, the size of the windows, the pitch of the roof etc.

Exactly, can you imagine trying to get Polish builders to build such a thing?

The only possible option would be if some British company is trying to sell British style houses in Poland (like the 'Canadian' houses some years ago). But I don't think Polish people like British home design any more than they like the food..
OP JakeRyan
12 Dec 2019 #8
^if you pay why not? They did purple crazy shaped flats in the 90s.
Atch 22 | 4,125
12 Dec 2019 #9
Which the builders built from instructions provided to them by architects and structural engineers. Unless you can provide your builder with detailed plans in Polish and you can pay them extra, for the extra trouble of building something they're completely unfamiliar with, then it's not going to happen. Builders in Poland just like the UK want straightforward, in, out, Bob's your uncle, Fanny's your aunt no hassle jobs.
OP JakeRyan
12 Dec 2019 #10
Oh I bet many of them have lived in such houses. ;)
Atch 22 | 4,125
12 Dec 2019 #11
Lived in, not built - different kettle of fish entirely. I think these are the guys you need:

youtube.com/watch?v=T1UHwZS3FE8
OP JakeRyan
14 Dec 2019 #12
A British house in a non-Western (non Multicultural) society seems great. I'd rather be an exotic foreigner rather than one of the many immigrants.
mafketis 37 | 10,894
14 Dec 2019 #13
in a non-Western (non Multicultural) society seems great

Poland by and large looks to the west. It hasn't drunk the multi-culti cool-aid but it's far less homogenous than it used to be and British people aren't considered exotic... weird and misguided in many ways, but not exotic.

Do what you want but the people that live here think the idea of trying to build an outwardly looking British house here is.... kind of..... how do I put this?..... Daft? Yes, that's it. Daft.
cms neuf 1 | 1,791
15 Dec 2019 #14
I have a brick place myself - there are plenty such farmhouses available especially in Mazury and Kujawy plus the west of the country. There are also a few Coronation St style terraces in places like Bytom, Chorzow, Zabrze.

To build from scratch would be expensive - my guess at least 30 percent more than a normal place and if it looks eccentric then it will be difficult to sell in the future (a problem with any custom built house).

The most expensive thing for me was finding tiles that match a brick house and then finding a tiler who knows how to do that kind of place - I replaced the roof and it was the best part of 50k zloty and was several months work.
JakeR
15 Dec 2019 #15
I'm OP and despite liking (original) British culture I'm actually Bulgarian. :)
It's not daft, it's original. That's the point. In fact before you ask why don't go live in the UK if I like their houses that much:

1. It's too multiculti now, not truly British anymore.
2. That makes locals feel uneasy about Eastern Euros like me.
3. I lived in Holland and I think those brick houses look better in places where there aren't too many of them like Poland. Too many of them like in the UK, Ireland and Holland looks too boring. Poland actually has a larger difference between houses and many are painted (too many unpainted brick houses give cities a bit darker, grittier vibe). Same reason why I wouldn't live in Spain - there are almost only blocks of flats/high rises there (even in their seacoast!) -- too much of anything is not good for me. Poland's a great middle ground with lots of blocks/apartment buildings but also almost as much houses. So Poland has more architectural diversity imo.

I actually saw brand new terraced houses I think in Lublin or Rzeszow and they do have the staircase going directly to the ground floor living room as in some British houses (makes sense as a wall to make a little hall way would take space). I think faux-brick tiled coating might work on such a house.

I'd also love to get a teasmade as I love tea. :) Btw on a side note, is there a typical Polish device that is not found in other cultures? Russians have the samovar, we have the chuskopek (an oven with the sole function for roasting peppers).

Btw if it was that daft there wouldn't be so many new terraced housing developments in Poland. Far more than here in Bulgaria. And yes, I bet most Poles don't know many Bulgarians. So I'd be kinda similar, kinda exotic. Like I was in Bratislava but not in Prague where it's overcrowded with tourists and expats that locals are fed up. It was like disneyland with Americans weating guns acting like they own the place and too many signs in Russian. No wonder the locals have become cold and rude. I'd avoid Krakow for the same reasons.


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