How old is the oldest building in the town you live in?
To those from the Western hemisphere, it's always fascinating to hear that some homes and businesses from the times of the Greek philosophers still have inhabitants, and then you remember that the Western hemisphere is itself not without its own examples, for example some Mexican villages still have temples from the times of the Mayans.
The western hemisphere isn't just the Americas. It includes half of europe...
There are quite a few people in the western hemisphere that don't even bat an eye when they walk past a 1000 year old building on their way to work every day.
For me the oldest building is just a random house from the 13 century.
The western hemisphere isn’t just the Americas. It includes half of europe…
"Half" is stretching it. More like a slice: UK, Ireland, Iceland, Portugal, Spain and a slice of France.
I know what you mean. The oldest building i pass every day is from dates from 1250, but compared to the parts of Europe rich in architecture that's not really very old...
A local church is about that old (or it's at least that old, the oldest record of it is from 1262). But there might just be a barn or a windmill that's much older and nobody knows because at that point it's actually medieval and record keeping wasn't great back then.
I live in New England and I'm gonna guess either the 1700s school house or one of a couple buildings I suspect are log cabins. Those could go back to around 1650
The oldest building in/around Vienna is believed to be the Roman stone quarry in Leithaprodersdorf. It dates back to the Roman era, around 43 AD.
The oldest continuously inhabited building in Vienna is generally considered to be the Griechenbeisl, a historic restaurant located in the Innere Stadt district. It has been in operation since the 15th century.
I live in a young city, so its from 1407.
LAFITTE'S BLACKSMITH SHOP BAR, circa 1730
"Fitte" is a norwegian word for pussy, so apparently that was all it took to get a giggle out of me today.
Surprise surprise, it's a church. Riddarholmen Church built in the 13th century.
Well there's a park with some ruins from the Roman occupation, which founded this settlement in 79AD. If you count them, that's 1945 years... if not, apparently there are some churches between 800 and 900 years old that still contains some parts of the original Norman construction, although they have been altered since
First or second century for the Roman baths. They're not in a great state though.
The student dorm I lived in was built as a monastery in 1491.
My current home town still has a guard tower built by the Romans.
If you're talking white people, technically cooks cottage (built 30 years before the first fleet) but it was brought over and reassembled in the 1930's lol
Indigenous, probably the eel traps / farming system. That's 9,000 years old iirc
Or if you're up in the top end, there's Nawarla Gabarnmung which dates to about 44kya. Some natural rock pillars in the shelter, others modified and others still constructed or relocated.
I know about the cottage and that is a pretty sneaky one haha... What's the eels thing?
I actually don't know. The area I now live in was partially wiped out by the tsunami in 2011 closer to the coast. We definitely have some buildings that are a few hundred years old that are still in use. Different parts of Japan have older, but it's almost always a Ship of Theseus sort of situation.
I live in Athens, and the oldest home still standing is about 500 years old (start of 16th century)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Windmill,_Brisbane
It was built in the 1820s
I grew up in the Western US, so I’m a big… fan of this underwhelming 1820s business.
My dad lives in a house that the oldest rooms date from around 500 years ago lol. It would be very had to tell by just looking at the house, since it's been updated and expanded over the centuries.
We don't even know if it really is that old, but from figuring it out from some renovations and the position in the town, it's a good guess.
Houses weren't typically built with durable materials. Only fancy buildings could afford to be.
I live around the Yorkshire moors. There are dry stone walls up there which are up to 600 years old. I love walking up in the hills and thinking about that.
Had to look it up, but "most probably" built between AD 1000–1050. Love that it's old enough that we're not entirely sure...
The first Roman fort on the site of the castle was likely built around 55AD.
Probably less than 100 years, I live in New Zealand....
Early 1800's. I grew up in a house that was built in 1905.
Domtrapphuset, the cathedral staircase house, built sometime between 1280 and 1330 AD. The cathedral the staircase (currently) leads to was finished in 1435.
Hello fellow swede :)
The oldest extant building is circa 1832, so 192 years old - not much compared to some places but doing well for an Australian building.
Perth?
True story - I moved from Scotland to Perth when I was 6. A few months later I visited Tranby House, one of the oldest buildings in Perth at around 1830. I remember thinking to myself that our house in Scotland before we moved was older than that (circa 1800)
Canberra actually - it's an old dairy building that's part of Duntroon (one of the original homesteads of the region but more well known for being where RMC/ADFA is). It pre dates Canberra by a good bit though since development of the city only really began to gain traction in the 1920s.
1130, St Margarets Chapel.
I think it is an old church from around 1100. The oldest residential house is much younger, about 1550.
The oldest building near where I live was believed to be built in 1640.
Nice trick to make ppl revel city they live in and possibly most of these ppl walk past it on semi regular basis so......
It was built in the early 12th century.
I used to live in Regensburg, one of the northernmost Roman garrisons. So, the oldest remaining building (stone wall) is almost 2000 years old.
Weve got Roman era ruins I think, but I cant find any info on the oldest standing building. Probably from the 13th-14th century.
I believe the first building here was contracted around 1920-40
The tower of the old church was build around 1150, The rest of the church was build about 250 years ago.
We have 1168. Big splurge on ecclesiastical building in the 1100s.
We have a church in Berlin that was built in 1220-1230
Used to live in an old house that was already in official documents since the revolution. So not too bad. Walls were so thick...
I lived "close" to Siem Reap and the oldest building is 900 year olds (Angkor Wat)
A church built in the mid 1500’s is the oldest building in my current town. I used to live in a farmhouse that was built in the early 1600’s.
Most sources suggest 1100s
Skara brae. 3150 bc
1310 it's a small house (max. 10m wide) in the town centre. Today it's part of the library of the University hosting different exhibitions. It's called Günter Grass Archiv in Göttingen, Germany.
Spanish mission church 1782
Bremen Cathedral's oldest part is from 1044, but there was a wooden church structure there in 789 until it was completely burned down by raiding Saxons.
There's some debate on the age of the old parish church where I live. It was either built on the 7th century or 1078
There are archaeological finds of buildings from more than 9000 years ago (oldest in the region).
There's a church that was finished sometime during the 1200s and is preserved in its original form in the municipality, but technically it's not within town limits.
The main church was also initially built around that time but was rebuilt in the late 1700s - nothing of the original remains.
The cellar of a royal farm still remains, which was built in 1552, though it's more a ruin than a building.
A castle/royal manor was built in 1652, and although it has been renovated and expanded in the early 1700s, parts of the structure are still from the original.
So, I suppose it depends on what you're looking for.
Smederevo Fortress - 1428.
I live in the countryside so there ain't a lot...
Excluding ruins, 11XX. The exact dates aren't really known
My grandma has a house, where a part of it was built by the romans
142 years.
Interesting that it was moved to a different lot in 1986.
And looks like any other house, just with fancy window frames.
I like that you figured out the city I was referring to. Not that I made it that hard.
I think the oldest building would be the castle that eas first officially mentioned in 1004 AD and the first parts of the castle were built way before that.
1240 apparently https://en.czech-unesco.org/13_8874_old-town-hall-brno/
An old church going back to the early 1800s, though that's misleading.
The old part of the church is still there, but it's been updated and expanded over the years so that the foundation under one part is all that's original now.
Gamle Aker Kirke, church from 1150 (Oslo).
My home town has a building built originally in 1220. It is still in use by a pub. That's over 800 years old!
is it called "Seáns Bar" by any chance? 😁
The oldest building would be the cathedral built between 1628 and 1633 although the city walls were built between 1613-1618 and are still standing and complete
We've got a pub from 1552 still standing and operating as a pub
We've got Roman ruins from 79AD too, but obviously they're not still a building really
The town I live in burned down almost completely in 1787, so most historic buildings in the city were built after that. The city wall is probably the oldest structure, but it's unknown when it was originally built. The oldest building with a known year of construction is most likely the church that was built in 1246.
Proper building was built at the end of 19th century. There is an old well that is a few hundred years old and the ruins of a Roman villa from about 2000 years ago.
A castle built in 1526. It’s still in use, but it’s a museum and restaurant now.
I'm not sure if it's THE oldest one, but Aarhus Cathedral is quite old, having elements from all the way back from the 1100s.
Still young compared to the city itself, though: Aarhus was originally founded in the 700s
Aarhus, in the middle of the street
Other way around, but thanks for the trip down memory lane, pun intended 😁