After the 1953 flooding disaster in the Netherlands had destroyed many homes, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Denmark and Finland gifted more than 800 prefab houses as emergency replacements. Over 300 of these homes still exist and are lived in to this very day.

13 comments

  1. Next week will be the 70 year anniversary of the “watersnoodramp”, a disaster that killed 1836 people and destroyed 3300 homes. It resulted in the construction of one of the seven modern wonders of the world, the delta works.

    The “geschenkwoningen” that remain are now an interesting curiosity. Houses made of wood are quite uncommon in the Netherlands, and many of them have a distinctly foreign style. For the time these houses were rather luxurious, which likely would’ve helped discourage any potential replacement. Now many municipalities are considering giving these homes a monument status, so it seems likely they will remain for many years to come.

  2. Side-note, France apparently also gifted a single house, though I am unable to find any info on this house or whether or not it still exists.

  3. I lived in a house that was much the same as those, a bit bigger. Built in the 30’s.

    Still there, but now on sale, we emptied it out last summer.

  5. Ah, famous rintamamiestalo (house of infantry veteran). We in Finland have thousands of these.
    I currently live in one, built 1948 and fully renovated early 2000. Mine speciality is that it is built of logs like older houses.

  8. The ones in the picture look like pretty normal norwegian homes to me. Especially in the area south of Oslo you can see similar houses very often.

    Newer homes look a bit differently, the ones in the picture are the old style ones from 30+ years ago but wooden houses in Norway are a normal thing given the climate. It’s cheaper and it keeps you warmer.

  13. I’m suprised finland gave then for netherlands as for years almost everything we made were given for soviet union as war reparations

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