this post was submitted on 18 Mar 2026
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These were highly desirable at the time. Most people lived in old houses with a bathroom in the staircase or even outside, coal fired oven heating in some rooms, ancient windows, bathtub in the kitchen, etc. The government wasn’t investing in renovation or improvements of old buildings, so they kept falling apart.
The new Plattenbauten (commie blocks) had central heating, warm water, modern windows, modern bathrooms, shopping, healthcare, and schools nearby, parking spots, public transport connections, etc.
People would marry and have kids early to be eligible to be assigned a newly built apartment instead of continuing to live in a deteriorating house from the late 1900s, that had last been renovated in the 1930s.
I remember similar things about the Krushchevkas in the Soviet Union.
It's funny what can be a step up. And how recently our quality of living was... much lower than it is now. In capitalist countries as well as former ML countries.
Commieblocks do have a certain eyesore quality with their monotony though, almost as bad as middle class suburbia, lmao
As someone who has lived many years in a similar concrete building, I do not think I will ever truly understand how a basic rectangular building can ever be an "eyesore" as long as they are cleaned and maintained. I like their simplicity and honest brutalist architecture. The rooms are often spacious and very easy to utilize for whatever you want to place in the rooms and have some of the best views in the cities they are in. And best of all: they offer great modern homes for many residents on a comparatively small slab of land unlike traditional houses.
Yeah, living in one as a child was awesome. All your friends were close by, school was really close, there were play areas nearby and other infrastructure things like health centers etc as well. Biggest complain of mine is the boring color, but that was later changed when it got renovated in the early 2000s.
Don't you do brutalism like that
Brutalism is about making concrete EDIFICES that TOWER OVER THE SURROUNDS like the SKELETON OF AN ANCIENT BEAST
I lived in buildings like those for a while and they were pretty good; besides what you mention, public transportation and shops/amenities were in walkable range. Of course this wasn't 70s East Germany though...