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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
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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
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#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.
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Daja Lindeman 6 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
“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.
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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.
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#18
Hiding An Ugly Belgian House Are We?
#19
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Stijn Cornelis 6 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.
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#23
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#25
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#26
Belgium Is A Work Of Art
#27
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#28
When You Go Back To The Future
#29
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#30
Facade So Ugly The Tree Died
#31
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Let’s All Just Try And Be Decent 6 years ago
When the downstairs needs metals shutters, that's never a good sign
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#33
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#34
When You Stop Halfway The Reveal Because You’ve Seen Enough
#35
Not Sure If Roof Or Tiny Hat
#36
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Jean-Francois Brisson 6 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
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#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?
#45
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#46
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#47
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Stijn Cornelis 6 years ago
I don't see how that's ugly... I find it quite charming. It clearly used to be an old windmill (on the right) with the owner's house stuck on the left.
#49
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#54
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At Least It Has Air Conditioning
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When It’s 38 Degrees Outside And You’re Ready For Winter
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Adopted The Neighbours Garage
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Marlene Ricker 6 years ago
The one on the right is obviously trying to take over the one on the left. Very slowly so they don't notice.
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The Side Effect Of Being Ugly
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I Meant Tall, Not High
#74
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Ready To Adopt An Ugly Belgian Houses
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#78
Double Trouble
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Better To Have A Hole In Your House Than A House In Your Hole?
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My Kingdom For A House!
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When You Wanted To Order 2 Windows And 1 Door But Were High And Ordered 2 Doors And 0 Windows
#89
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It’s So Ugly It’s In Prison
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Ugly. But I See There Are Two Sides To This Story
Marlene Ricker 6 years ago
Why couldn't they at least match the bricks, even just a little closer?
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Now Is The Time! Ugly Belgian Houses With 50% Extra Ugliness
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Jenica Thomas 6 years ago
Like playing with lego and you don't have enough of the same colored blocks.
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What do you think ?
Fien 6 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 6 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.
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Fien 6 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 6 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.
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