Housing

Housing in UK, USA and Czech Republic is very different. First of all I would like to tell you something about housing in USA.

___________________________________________________________________________

In US there are many different sizes and styles of apartments and houses, in every city, small town, and village. The early settlers in America usually made houses out of wood, because the lands were covered with thick forests. As the country began to develop, houses were made of wood, brick, or stone. After World War II the US government tried to help every returning soldier find work and buy his own little home. Then, owning your own home became an ever bigger symbol of individual rights, independence, and the ability to live your own life exactly in the way you choose.

In cities and towns, people own private homes or apartments. In small towns, and the countryside, they might own an apartment or home, a farm, or a ranch. The way you decorate your home both inside and outside – whether artistically, traditional or modern, or quite crazily – is a very important statement of your individuality. Not many Americans own a summer cottage; they would think that Czechs who do must be very rich. However, almost every American can own his own home – a symbol of freedom for them.

__________________________________________________________________________

When Britain was a country of farms, most people lived in cottages in small villages. We still have many cottages in country villages today, which may have been built as early as the 15^th or 16^th centuries. Many have thatched roofs and are built from local materials. They are quaint and picturesque. They have small cottage gardens growing traditional English flowers and herbs for cooking.

As the country became industrialized, many people moved to the towns, which were growing larger and larger. Rows of small houses joined together were built for the workers. These are called terraced houses and were built in the 19^th century. People lived very close together and there were few toilets and poor sanitation, but there was still a feeling of community. When these terraces in the cities got very old, many were called “slums”. They were unfit for people to live in, so they were pulled down in the 1960s, and high-rise blocks of flats were built instead. But people didn’t like living away from their community, and within 30 years these were replaced with new low-rise housing. One type of house that is very low-rise, with all the rooms on one floor, is called a bungalow. Old people like these houses and like to retire to a bungalow by the sea.

In the suburbs people who had a little more money bought a bigger house with a garden. These houses, called detached houses, stood alone, surrounded by a large garden. After WWI suburban houses were built joined together in twos and were called semi-detached houses. Most British people live in one of these today. The houses all look very much alike, and sometimes they share a central chimney. Semi-detached houses usually have small front and back gardens, which are famously very tidy, with small lawns and flower borders.

Most British people expect to buy a house at some time in their lives. In the last few years, house prices have become very high. Even the smallest, old terraced cottage (a row of small houses joined side by side) can now cost well over 150,000 pounds. If the terraced cottage was a fisherman’s cottage near the sea, you could add beautiful English village, you could add another 50,000 pounds to that price. Wages in Britain are quite high but the cost of living here is high too, so borrowing enough money to buy a small house is now almost impossible – no wonder so many British people are in debt!

Useful:

Apartment house/building

            – a big building containing many apartments (block of flats in BrE)

Ranch house

– a flat, long house, “modern” (here, “ranch” means the style, not that it is located on a

Ranch)

Split level

– a “modern” house like a ranch house, but with one part 2 stories tall

Two-story house

– a square house with 2 floors, 6 – 12 rooms

Duplex

– one house split into two, either side by side or upstairs and downstairs (semi-detached

In BrE

Bungalow

– a small, wooden house, maybe 2-4 rooms

Trailer

– a long truck with many windows and no engine. Used as a home and usually found in small towns or the countryside. Many trailers are put close together (in Britain there are caravan parks, whore people live in caravans).