For the low low price of 19 500 000 NOK, or roughly 2 million USD, you can live in this tacky, asymmetrical, compacted, almost Trump-ian gold and marble basement crammed onto an average sized lot in Fredrikstad. And it's not even in a central or particularly high-end neighborhood.
With all its columns, four (not two, that fits four) car garage, messy roof and the creative solution they came up with to bring air and light to the basement, it certainly does not belong among the typically modest, Norwegian wooden houses. At 550 square meters, it is more than twice the size of what's considered a large house in Norway, and almost five times the size of a normal home in Fredrikstad.
For context, Fredrikstad is Norway's fifth largest city situated in the Norwegian "rust belt" equivalent of Østfold close to the Swedish border. It is a hot-spot for poor social outcomes with a grand population of 85 000 people, and an average income of about 390 000 NOK, which is a little above half the national median income.
The day someone buys this, I want to go ring their doorbell and ask what they actually ended up paying for it, for it sure as hell won't be 19 500 000 NOK.
The first photo wasn't as terrible as I was expecting.
Then you see inside and other angles... I wish them the very best of luck offloading something that heinous.
This house belongs in Katy, TX.
I was thinking New Jersey.
I can't imagine how much that marble just radiates cold. Ugh. It's like a mausoleum.
I was thinking: that much marble? in Norway? but then I can't read Norwegian so maybe it's geothermally heated or something.
Norwegian building code actually dictates that every room intended for human occupation (living rooms, bedrooms etc.) must have a heating source, and since the rooms that have visible heating all have water radiators, I assume there's water-borne underfloor heating everywhere fed by the electric boiler under the basement stairs.
Heating this house probably costs around 30 000 NOK/month as the tons of windows + brick walls combo means it loses a lot of heat, even if properly insulated. It's got energy grade E, which is pretty bad, so the insulation isn't exactly top of the line. Underfloor water heating has three settings: Off, Low, High.
So, to keep the air at a comfortable temperature in winter, you'd have to turn the underfloor heating at its high setting. Doing that will significantly increase the risk of mold and water damage, especially around the windows of that vent structure above the basement. Norway is cold and damp, basement air is hot, which means condensation form around the coldest surfaces.
It puts the resident between a rock and a hard place. Do you turn up the heating to a comfortable indoor temperature and risk serious damage to your home, or do you turn it down and suffer in a 10 C house?
From a Norwegian perspective, this is utterly shit design.
Edit: I was right. There's already rot. I checked the additional info in the link to the realtor's pages, which said this: "Spesialrom > 1.Etasje > Kjølerom > Overflater og konstruksjon - Det er påvist skade som følge av angrep av fukt/råte." - Which in English is: Specialty cooling room first floor: Damages on surfaces from damp/rot.
awesome! I love me some facts, and this is a bunch of them.
especially the follow-up detective work 🤩
That rot is going to make this almost impossible to sell to anyone who actually knows anything about houses. I almost, almost feel sorry for the owners.
Who currently owns it is public information, and it's a member of Fredrikstad's one notoriously rich family. It's cartoonish, really. Basically Fredrikstad's answer to Doug Dimmadome from Fairly Odd Parents.
They bought it in 1999, and in 2002, they had that basement dug out and all the marble installed. This was probably a somewhat reasonable house from the 1980's economic boom era like its neighbours before that.
it seems very clos to the border with one neighbour and over the border on the north side. So potential issues there? not something i would want when paying 19m for a house.
So much money spent on ugly.
it's not as hideous as I expected, mostly just ... bland.
I did lol in a couple of places though. the white bannister handrails on top of the black wrought iron, and the basement boardroom(?) with the white couch and black candles.
I’m definitely not a fan of the whole Dubai/Temu-Belgravia vibe but to be fair:
This doesn’t look like a normal neighbourhood. Check out no 5 or no 24 on the same street, and even those houses which are more typical certainly don’t seem modest.
This is 2025. Triple-glazing + 40cm/16” insulation + underfloor heating and you won’t know what the outside temp is without checking the thermometer. Although that energy rating of ”E - Orange” suggests your utility bill will also give you decent idea 🤣
I’m sorry but I find it pretty cool. Especially that ground-level cupola thing.
you should be sorry.
upvoting both of you.
To be Trumpian level tackiness it needs lots more gold, especially around the toilets.
Surprised to see the US isn't suffering the scourge of 'open concept' all alone.
Interesting. It’s like the outside doesn’t match the inside
Are people in Norway shorter than average? Maybe it's the perspective, but that claw-foot tub looks like I wouldn't be able to straighten my legs sitting in it, and I'm practically a Hobbit. I like the round tub but hate the sloped ceiling directly overhead.
I like the staircases but can't help imagine various grandkids and pets getting stuck.
Why do people put cloth furniture in kitchens? Doesn't it absorb all those kitchen smells?
The bath is a tacky reproduction of an old style bath designed to be seated in rather than lying in. It's from a time where your valet washed you by tipping cans of hot water over your head.
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I loved the chandelier right over the bed 😂😂😂
There are things I really like about this, and then there are things that just make me shake my head.
Looks quite cramped for being that large.
It's not the worst McMansion I have seen, but the tiny plot size in a city with relatively low real estste prices fits the concept perfectly (in addition to the marble).
So I don’t hate it as much as I thought I would. Most of it could be changed out DIY except those floors.
Det ser ut som det ble bygget av en amerikansk entreprenør.
Ja'ass, det eneste som plasserer det som et norskt 90-tallsbygg er den kjipe takhøyden.
Does Norway have a lottery? This feels like somebody winning the lottery and building something ostentatious in their hometown.
Vad i svarte Lars Backer!
I could imagine the floor getting wet and the owners sliding down the stairs and breaking their necks.
All that money is now clean after going through the real estate washing machine
Paying 19 mill for that house is something you do while having drunk FAR too much out of Glomma than is humanly safe.
Not only is the house hysterically gaudy even by US standards, it's mindblowing in terms of your typical Norwegian house. Hell, this is gaudy on a completely different level, even compared to places like Fritzøehus.
I wouldn’t consider that a McMansion, but rather a proper mansion. I think this would fit better in r/ATBGE. (except the front door being offset to the side… arrrrgh!)
Would I want to live in it? - No.
However, I think this could look quite nice if the interior wasn’t so overloaded.
What a tragic waste of a perfectly good gazebo.
Looking forward to seeing it on Ekte Husmødre i Fredrikstad.
Looks like Americans moved there and are hell bent on replicating the country they left at every touch point