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There’s nothing like seeing photos of horrible and ugly architecture to perk up your spirits. You look at those ugly buildings and you think to yourself, “2020 might be a horrible year and things are going to hell but at least my life’s better than these trainwrecks.” If you’re a fan of architectural disasters, then you have to check out the Ugly Belgian Houses social media pages, run by local Hannes Coudenys. His project of taking snaps of ugly houses in Belgium is loved by a lot of people and he jokes that it’s turned into almost a “cult.”

Hannes told Bored Panda that a big part of his growth online has been the fact that he's been doing a project for Belgian TV. "I ring the door and ask them if they know they are on this page. In the end, I tell them it's my website." You can check out Hannes' videos right here. He's still working on them and around 25 new ones are in the making.

You can check out Bored Panda’s earlier awesome posts featuring Ugly Belgian Houses right here and here. But before you do that, scroll down, upvote your fave horrendous buildings, and read on for our freshest interview with Hannes.

More info: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr | YouTubeBook

#1

Reminds Me Of 'The Scream' By Edvard Munch And That's Exactly What I'm Doing

Reminds Me Of 'The Scream' By Edvard Munch And That's Exactly What I'm Doing

uglybelgianhouses Report

#3

Go Home House, You’re Drunk

Go Home House, You’re Drunk

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Hannes told Bored Panda that there is a problem with becoming too big, too fast. This has lead to some architectural drama on his social media pages. People have been clashing there because they have different opinons about experimental architecture and classical Belgian farmstyle buildings. "I never wanted to shame experimental [buildings]," Hannes said.

He told us that his book sales have been doing great and it's already become a cult classic in Belgium. "A lot of tourists buy the book when they visit. We sold about 20,000 copies which is quite big in our small country of 10 million people."

Hannes said that going outside was easier during the coronavirus lockdown. "We could go outside for walks and runs so that [taking pictures of houses] was the only thing I could do."

#4

I’m Not Supporting This. Just Like Those Columns

I’m Not Supporting This. Just Like Those Columns

uglybelgianhouses Report

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xianjaguar avatar
XianJaguar
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

LOL...pretty sure those are there to protect the glass doors from cars running of the road. We have the same pillars in front of my work to keep cars from running into the building.

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Mshauri Mazuri
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The house looks like a face with the column being like the teeth

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EA
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Looks like the house is giving you the middle finger

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#6

The Roof, The Roof, The Roof Has Expired

The Roof, The Roof, The Roof Has Expired

uglybelgianhouses Report

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Tomasz Jackowski
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

this one took me by surprise, I saw the first photo and was like "oh no...", but then I kept scrolling and it turns out there was another photo which made it even worse :V

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“We all love to hate ugly Belgian houses,” Hannes told Bored Panda in an earlier interview. However, he added that it’s not just Belgium that’s full of wacky architecture.

“Poland has terrible architecture, as a lot of people have let me see,” Hannes said. He also pointed out that Belgium has lots of great architecture, too (so it’s not all dreary and grim down there). “I like the work of Gijs van Vaerenbergh, Vens-Vanbelle, De Vylder Vinck Taillieu, Vincent van Duysen.”

More than 107k people follow Hannes’ Ugly Belgian Houses page on Facebook while his fan count on Instagram has grown to 101k (it was 76.8k in October 2019).

#8

When You Discover There’s An Ugly Belgian House Under Your Ugly Belgian House

When You Discover There’s An Ugly Belgian House Under Your Ugly Belgian House

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According to Hannes, Belgians have a weird interpretation of what makes a house look good. “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.”

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He added that regulations in Belgium are quite liberal and people love to design their own quirky dream houses. However, some house owners were angry that Hannes featured photos of them online.

Tempers flared. Lawyers got involved. And Hannes gave in and shut down his blog. Fortunately, he relaunched it back in 2013. Now he asks people to contact him directly if they don’t like seeing their weird homes being poked fun at online.

#12

Keep Your Distance People

Keep Your Distance People

uglybelgianhouses Report

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#17

When Your House Is A Penis But You’re Not Allowed To Show It

When Your House Is A Penis But You’re Not Allowed To Show It

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#20

The Architect Had A Vision (Problem)

The Architect Had A Vision (Problem)

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anj avatar
Anja Schmidt
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"we had some metal leftovers ..." or maybe in areas where´sa lot of snow ...

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#21

If I Ever Shoot The Movie ‘Two Alfa Romeo’s & Julia’ I Know Where To Go

If I Ever Shoot The Movie ‘Two Alfa Romeo’s & Julia’ I Know Where To Go

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Francis
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

not the most beautiful house, but not as bad as all the others...

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#27

We All Live In A Yellow Submarine

We All Live In A Yellow Submarine

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#30

Aircotecture

Aircotecture

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Note: this post originally had 69 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.