To those from the Western hemisphere, it’s always fascinating to hear that some homes and businesses from the times of the Greek philosophers still have inhabitants, and then you remember that the Western hemisphere is itself not without its own examples, for example some Mexican villages still have temples from the times of the Mayans.
Both where I’m from and where I live in western Europe are the oldest buildings 14th-century churches.
I come from England but now I live in Western Canada. The oldest building is apparently a little wooden schoolhouse from the mid-1840s.
The likely oldest standing building in Canada is from 1637, a Jesuit mission house.
Mo’okini Heiau on the Island of Hawaii. 13th or 14th century.
The oldest building in this city is a two-room (originally) cottage that dates back to 1841. It’s not the first permanent structure built here, but it’s the oldest still standing.
Our-dear-lady-church. Build circa 1250. Well preserved, still in use
One of the churches still has some original buildings from around 1740. Old for the us, not so old for Europe.
That would be a cabin that dates to the mid-1800s now preserved as a museum.
Its very hard to find anything in the lower 48 and Canada (Your right, Mexico has a lot more preserved sites) that are older that 400 years old. I was recently out in southern Utah and there are petroglyphs around Moab, some depicting horses which dates them to no earlier than the mid-1600s. Others are believed to be significantly older.
Meaning Ive seen something in the US that is older than your mum. /s
Most of the old buildings (usually churches / cathedrals) here have been built upon and changed over the centuries so what you see above ground is still old, but it’s not - at least comparatively - ancient.
I’m in England. I may or may not be in a town that has something like that, but even the places that don’t have something are within a couple of hours’ drive of somewhere that does.
I will say that where I am is listed in the Domesday book, but that isn’t saying much to be fair.
Where I live, homes were still built of mud, bamboo and straw 40 years ago, so not much has survived. The oldest stuff around are the ruins of the cane sugar refinery, and that was built in just 1856. So no old stuff really
Slovakia? /s
Mayotte, indian ocean
Random Austrian town with a couple hundred inhabitants, our Church is about 900 years old. So glad it didn’t get bombed, lots of churches were destroyed through English bombs in ww2 since civilians were seeking shelter there (in response to Germany bombing English cities, also killing lots of civilians there).
Must be the church St. Pancratius, built somewhere between 1100 and 1120.
The second-oldest building here is probably the remains of the castle of the poem “The castled crag of Drachenfels” by Lord Byron.
Oldest house is 1702. Definitely not super-old, there were earlier structures, but this is the oldest one left standing.
I couldn’t find the oldest building overall, but the oldest surviving house was built in 1716. While my city was settled earlier, it was essentially a “boom town” of the early Industrial Revolution in the US
