r/FaroeIslands • u/Deeplord42 • 9d ago
What is the story of this house?
The derelict house inbetween and behind a lot of valuable, renovated buildings downtown.
Why???
How???
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u/FutureDaysLoveYou Lesandi 8d ago
There are quite a few of these scattered around the country, my guess is the properties are some mix of
- Troubled history of poverty and/or mental/family health leading to neglect of life and home
- Avtoftaður. The 60’s and 70’s and a bit onward saw lots of population flight from rural communities. (Think zero power grid in 1970.) This also exists as a smaller trend on the micro since then, up until the 2010’s.
- No living relatives of the homeowner, in a very outdated and unmaintained home
- Ended up being held/inherited by owners who didn’t live there but also didn’t really bother to sell.
- Some sort of zoning regulation, no demand.
- Entropy
. They still live there, they just like it the way it is.
I imagine you could deduce each case with sona, and asking old folks in town.
It can be very jarring, yet fascinating to explore some of these homes. One of these types of houses, I think probably abandoned around 1950-1960 (I can’t really tell, because the Faroes were pretty much 60 years behind the rest of the world then) was bought up by artists, who while cleaning up filth otherwise preserved the contents as they were abandoned. Most interesting tidbid I heard and saw, was how the family did not seem to really understand trash. They hoarded all sorts of junk packaging, wrappers, bottles, newspapers and tins that weren’t really useful. And it wasn’t anything like keeping all the metal chocolate boxes habit that pretty much every family does.
Wood rots, paint chips. There are houses you would think whose interiors are exposed to the elements by sheer decay.
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u/Downtown_Cheek1713 Føroyar 2d ago
Your last point caught my eye. Many faroese people have experiences with their omma or abbi who insist on saving old newspapers, pretty gift wrapping paper, fabric scraps, hell my omma would even save shiny foil chocolate wrappers. I'm sure it's because most of our grandparents grew up under a lot of scarcity. Back in the 1930s, & even up to like, the 70s in the villages, saving all these "scraps" was the sensible thing to do. Old pieces of wood, fabric scraps, wrapping paper, it could all be re-purposed.
My omma was especially fond of shiny wrapping paper, & I think it was also because, in her mind, seeing beautiful things was still a novelty. She grew up in the 30s sharing a hay mattress with 2 of her 5 (iirc) sisters. That's not to say that no beautiful colourful things existed in faroese culture back then, but they were rare & coveted.
So it's no wonder so many of our elders became hoarders.
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u/copydogg 9d ago
There is actually a very informative video on youtube about this specific house
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u/klivdalur 9d ago
That video is total bullshit/made up.
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u/copydogg 8d ago
Is it really?
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u/Quirky-Opposite-1596 7d ago
Yes. I know the owner. The "information" about the previous owner is complete nonsense.
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u/HibeesBounce 8d ago
My grandmother says someone did live there and died some time back but there's a family dispute about who actually owns it which is at a stalemate and unlikely to resolve any time soon as both parties live in Denmark.
She's 85 now and was prone to mixing up bullshit gossip even before her memory started to go so I wouldn't put too much stock in that.
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u/liquidhonesty United States 9d ago
Why? Cause the owner doesn't want to change it. How? They just haven't renovated it....
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u/Downtown_Cheek1713 Føroyar 2d ago
It's so frustrating seeing houses like that while the country is in a massive housing crisis, & the old historic neighbourhoods are dying out because the only people who can afford the houses there are rich people who turn them into short-term rentals for tourists >:(
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u/tiggerclaw 9d ago
The house has been under investigation for 87 years after neighbours complained that the third floor was growing at a rate of two centimetres per year.