The Buildings People Built to Avoid Taxes
- The Editors at Very Cool Facts
- Nov 13
- 2 min read
How Architecture Outsmarted the Taxman
Every time a government creates a rule, someone quietly starts designing a workaround. Today, that means paperwork. For our ancestors, it meant altering the shape of their homes to slip past the taxman.
Here are some of history’s most committed acts of architectural mischief.
Amsterdam taxed buildings by the width of their facade, so every extra inch was expensive. Homeowners responded by building houses that were narrow in front and surprisingly deep in back.
Inside, the staircases were narrow, steep, and deeply unfriendly to furniture. The fix was simple. Add a roof hook, haul furniture up the outside, and pretend the staircase was mostly decorative.
People in Amsterdam still move their furniture this way, often hoisting it over the streets and canals.
In 1696, England decided sunlight was a taxable luxury and charged homeowners by the number of windows in their home.
Wealthy households were supposed to pay more. Instead, people bricked up perfectly good windows, and in some cases painted fake ones so the house wouldn’t look as if it had given up on life.
Meanwhile, several medieval Italian cities taxed buildings by the amount of ground they covered. Height didn’t matter.
Families built upward, racing one another for the tallest tower. Some were impressive, others less so.
Many are still standing in places like San Gimignano, quietly judging modern zoning laws centuries later.
Taken together, these buildings prove that legislation fades, but human creativity has a much longer shelf life.
P.S. Your home called. It asked for this book.
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