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Old fund (pre-war and pre-revolution buildings), year built: the end of the 19th century- 1940
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- Old apartment buildings of bearing-wall construction
- New apartment buildings of bearing-wall construction; year built :70-90-es.
- Neo-classical Stalin-era buildings (“Stalinka”), year built: the middle of 30-es – 1960
- * Khrushchev-era apartments (“Khrushchevka”), year built: 1956-1985.
- Solid-cast brick-built buildings, year built: from the middle of 90-es to present day.
This type of buildings called as Old fund by real estate agents includes pre-revolution buildings the basis of which is formed by brick-built or timber walls, brick-built or stone foundations, timber floors and interior constructions. These buildings are divided into "elite” which are situated in the central city streets and squares and "common”. As a rule elite buildings were looked after better that’s why there are a lot of reconstructed buildings with new steel beams and floor structures instead of timber ones. Common buildings on a large scale are old tenement buildings, the buildings of former credit unions, reconstructed barracks with overstories of all kinds and other types of buildings. You can check in the technical certificate on the flat whether the reconstruction was made, or when and what was changed.
The peculiarities of this type of buildings: there is no typical planning. You can notice some kind of similarity in old tenement buildings but unduplicated: a great amount of small area rooms, corridor-type arrangement, walk-through ill-lighted kitchen and the only toilet at the end of the corridor. There are posh entrance halls, rather wide stair openings and marble stairs in former estates and mansions.
Advantages: good location of such buildings – as a rule in the city centre; thick exterior walls, sometimes up to 1 meter.
Disadvantages: worn out utility systems, bad condition of stairs, entrance halls, attic floors and roofs in most buildings of old fund. Difficulties and sometimes impossibility of architectural replanning of the flat. Great difficulties with replacement of utility systems. If the examination of the building wasn’t made, it is impossible to learn its resistibility and ruggedness; the estimation can be made only approximately.
Recommendations while buying: Check the building itself very carefully, go down below stairs and up to the attic floor, inspect the windows and doors as well as examine all the documents and technical description of the flat and the building. If no reconstruction and renovation was made, in most cases it means that you will not be able to change something and will have to content yourself with the existing condition. You can only do a facelift of the flat. Be especially attentive if the flat real arrangement differs from what you see in the technical certificate – to legalize nonauthorized replanning is quite difficult sometimes. The inflated value of flats located in the city centre is imposed by the market and doesn’t reflect their real values as real estate units.
The peculiarities of this type of buildings: there is no typical planning. You can notice some kind of similarity in old tenement buildings but unduplicated: a great amount of small area rooms, corridor-type arrangement, walk-through ill-lighted kitchen and the only toilet at the end of the corridor. There are posh entrance halls, rather wide stair openings and marble stairs in former estates and mansions.
Advantages: good location of such buildings – as a rule in the city centre; thick exterior walls, sometimes up to 1 meter.
Disadvantages: worn out utility systems, bad condition of stairs, entrance halls, attic floors and roofs in most buildings of old fund. Difficulties and sometimes impossibility of architectural replanning of the flat. Great difficulties with replacement of utility systems. If the examination of the building wasn’t made, it is impossible to learn its resistibility and ruggedness; the estimation can be made only approximately.
Recommendations while buying: Check the building itself very carefully, go down below stairs and up to the attic floor, inspect the windows and doors as well as examine all the documents and technical description of the flat and the building. If no reconstruction and renovation was made, in most cases it means that you will not be able to change something and will have to content yourself with the existing condition. You can only do a facelift of the flat. Be especially attentive if the flat real arrangement differs from what you see in the technical certificate – to legalize nonauthorized replanning is quite difficult sometimes. The inflated value of flats located in the city centre is imposed by the market and doesn’t reflect their real values as real estate units.
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