We Icelanders lived in turf houses for more than a thousand years. There were still turf houses in Reykjavík in the 1930’s and in the countryside they were still being used as farm houses as recently as the 1970’s, although that was of course becoming really rare. But up until the turn of the 20th century 80% of Iceland’s population lived in rural area and practically all of them lived in turf houses. Most of the Icelandic turf houses that have been preserved are the ones that would have been totally fancy and luxurious in their time, with a wooden façade and wooden floors. But that’s not how the common Icelander lived. Here we see a much more humble abode, a commoner’s house.