Comments by "SomewhereInRussia" (@SomewhereInRussia) on "Russian TYPICAL (Soviet) Apartment Tour: Could You Live Here?" video.

  1.  @Blobocop  This soviet panel design was influenced by French architect Le Corbusier and German architects too. A lot of documentation was taken by the Soviets from Germany after WW2.
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  2. Not everyone in the Soviet Union received a free apartment. People have been waiting for this for decades. Some like my family had to pay a lot of money for a "cooperative apartment".
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  3. In the USSR, land for a dacha was usually received for free from the employer (600-1200 sq.m.). Then everyone paid to build themselves a summer house, a fence, a well, a barn and so on.
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  4.  @jsmythib  Today anyone can buy land for money.
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  5. Yep. It can seem to be cozy and cheap today. But! Back then they waited for decades to get their free apartment. They even waited for decades to get a phone line. Cars were rare and overpriced. And so on.
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  6. Not everyone in the Soviet Union received a free home. People have been waiting for this for decades. Some like my family had to pay a lot of money for a "cooperative apartment".
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  7. There are no locks on the interior doors. Only the bathroom and toilet can be locked from the inside.
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  8. Owner means owner. The owner of this particular apartment received the right to live here under the communists in the 1970s (cheap social rent of a state apartment). In the 1990s, the owner received the right to privatize it for free to become the real owner. Now it is his property. He can live here as long as he wants, renovate, rent out, sell, donate, bequeath. Utilities are ~$70/month, property tax is ~$50/year. That's all he have to pay.
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  9. There is low crime here. No shoplifting, and elementary school kids go home from school on their own.
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  10. Some houses at that time were built from large precast concrete slabs, some from bricks. Brick houses are valued higher.
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  11. Yes, this is Khrushchevka. Perhaps this is a later version, Brezhnevka in honor of secretary Brezhnev. Because the earlier apartments were smaller and had 4 apartments on each level. The later apartments are more comfortable and larger and have 3 apartments on each level.
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  12. These apartments were built for young and healthy people. The owner became older, but the house is still the same. It is not suitable for older people or people with disabilities.
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  13. Yes, this happens. But you can install an automatic valve on each radiator.
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