Iconic TV house made famous by BIG BROTHER left to ruin after being abandoned
Familiar to millions of television viewers, an iconic property that starred in some of the country’s most-watched serials and reality shows has been revealed to be languishing in decay.
Appearing in the likes of Pułapka, Top Model and the Netflix hit 1983, the stylish villa is, however, arguably best-known by the public as the Big Brother house.
The video begins outside, with an audibly stunned Justyna Żak expressing her disbelief at the state of the plot.
Designed in 2013, and only completed in 2016, the property – located about 20 kilometres south of Warsaw – has now gone viral after a former Big Brother contestant revisited the house only to discover it in a state of ruin.
Viewed 5.4 million times, Justyna Żak’s Tik Tok video has since become an internet sensation after the popular influencer took to social media to post her findings.
Żak and other former contestants revisited the house to coincide with the fourth anniversary of her initially entering.
Conceptualised by the Warsaw-based practice 77 Studio Architektury, the house has now been put up for auction with a starting price of PLN 300,000 after being seized by bailiffs.
According to them, an extension added to the property didn’t match the original building plans and was therefore considered an ‘unlawful’.
Further exploration unmasks the full extent of the house’s demise.
Considered one of the country’s most innovative dwellings when it was built, internet rumours suggest that it was originally commissioned by a couple who split up soon after the housewarming.
Passed onto a new owner, the running costs were supposedly so high that it was rented to TVN to offset the running bills.
Quickly, it enjoyed short-lived favour with producers and it’s habitants included contestants from the seventh season of Top Model. In 2018, it also appeared in Poland’s first Netflix original, the award-winning thriller 1983.
The house in its prime.
However, it’s most high profile role was about to come, that being as the Big Brother house. Though first screened in 2001, Big Brother took an 11-year sabbatical before returning in 2019.
For this much-publicised comeback, a new house was selected and a record audience tuned in to watch the twenty-one contestants file inside it on March 17th. Over the next three-months, the show was played 26 million times on the Player website.
Finishing joint 10th, Żak and other former contestants revisited the house to coincide with the fourth anniversary of her initially entering.
Boasting a floor area of just under 1,000 sq/m, features include an indoor swimming pool, seven bathrooms, floor-to-ceiling windows and a pine wood façade so as to blend into the surrounding landscape.
Lasting just over four minutes in length, the video begins outside, with an audibly stunned Żak expressing her disbelief at the state of the plot. This, though, soon turns to surprise after she happens across a murky set of ponds still containing living goldfish.
“Do you remember me,” she exclaims, clearly dumbfounded that they have managed to survive.
Inside, further exploration unmasks the full extent of the house’s demise. Stripped bare and covered with graffiti, the devastation is emphatic. “Shock,” Żak concludes.
Żak couldn’t hide her shock at the state of the property.
However, such has been the attention awarded to the video by Poland’s tabloids and internet community, hopes have been raised that the property can be rescued.
These have been further fanned by Paweł Naduk, the architect behind the project: “We knew for some time that it had been abandoned and that its condition had been deteriorating, but even so I didn’t expect that it had been left unsupervised.
“It’s good that it’s now getting attention as there’s now a chance to save it,” he continued. “We hope that an investor is found that can restore it to its former glory. For our part, we’re willing to cooperate so as to bring it back to its splendour.”
When she finds a murky set of ponds still containing living goldfish. She asks: “Do you remember me,” clearly dumbfounded that they have managed to survive.
Boasting a floor area of just under 1,000 sq/m, features include an indoor swimming pool, seven bathrooms, floor-to-ceiling windows and a pine wood façade so as to blend into the surrounding landscape.
Authored to evoke the sight of an amphibian raising its head from above the waterline, the story of the rise and fall of this spectacular property has hooked more than just Poland’s TV addicts.
Captivating urbex fans, architecture lovers and Poland’s fleet of social media starlets, all will now be watching to see if this modern folly can rid itself of its apparent hex.
