Reed huts, merchant homes and stone mansions might be popular kind of houses you find in Egypt but for Nigerian house types, it’s a different architectural landscape.
We will take a look at some of the most popular Nigerian house types in Africa’s most popular nation as well as specific parts of Lagos where you can find these houses.
High-rise Buildings
These are tall buildings that are equipped with elevators and usually has at least six stories. In Nigeria, you can find them as apartment buildings or used for commercial purposes especially when used as corporate offices.
In Lagos, high-rise buildings are usually found in posh neighbourhoods like Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Ikeja, Lagos Island and some parts of Lekki.
Some of the most popular high-rise buildings in Lagos include the UBA House located in Marina, the Union bank building; also found in Marina, Elephant House located in Marina as well and the Eko Court, which is a residential building. The Eko Court A and Eko Court B both are located on Victoria Island and stand 289 ft tall.
Terraced Houses
Terraced houses fall under the category of Nigerian house types that are in high demand, which explains why you’ll tend to find more of them springing up within different neighbourhoods in Lagos.
These houses exhibit a style of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century. For terraced houses, a row of identical houses share side walls. In essence, a terraced house is a house built as part of a continuous row in a uniform style.
In some countries and cities, they are referred to as row houses, row homes or linked houses. Similar to Nigeria, terrace houses are also very common all over the world
Interested in renting or buying an apartment in a terraced house?
Take a tour of terraced houses available for rent
Take a tour of terraced houses available for sale
Duplexes
A duplex is a residential building divided into two apartments. This includes two-story houses having a complete apartment on each floor and also side-by-side apartments on a single lot that share a common wall.
You should note that a similar structure that has 3 or 4 floors are called triplex and fourplex respectively.
Quite a number of duplexes can be found in virtually almost all neighbourhoods in Lagos; from Ikeja through Lekki, Ikoyi, Ajah, Surulere and Yaba, duplex houses are not hard to find.
Take a tour of duplex houses available for rent
Take a tour of duplex houses available for sale
Bungalows
A bungalow is a low house having only one storey or, in some cases, upper rooms set in the roof, typically with dormer windows (windows that project vertically from a sloping roof).
Bungalows are largely affordable to maintain and cut across several neighbourhoods in Lagos and the rest of Nigeria.
Take a tour of bungalows available for rent
Take a tour of bungalows available for sale
Townhouses Make the List of Nigerian House Types
A townhouse refers to units that look like a detached home, which are attached in a multi-unit complex. Let us break this down for you. Townhouses have identical homes joined into a row of houses. To make it easier, just picture a line of houses that share walls and are all identical in every imaginable way including architectural design and height.
They are commonly found in estates in Nigeria as well as private and government-powered housing schemes.
Take a tour of townhouses available for rent
Take a tour of townhouses available for sale
Mansion
A mansion is a large impressive house. Factor this into the lavish taste of wealthy Nigerians and what you have is different types of mansions in different parts of the country.
Real estate agents consider mansions to be houses that have a minimum of 8,000 square feet of floor space. Mansions are quite subjective by definition but experts believe that a true mansion must be owned by an iconic and extremely wealthy person.
A mansion is expected to have entertainment facilities, dedicated leisure space, lavish grounds as well as outstanding building materials and finishes.
Nigeria has its fair share of mansions and the MKO Abiola mansion in Ikeja is an example in terms of size. It has a football field, a tennis court and many other features that characterise a mansion.
Penthouse
By definition, a penthouse refers to an apartment, house or other accommodation that is located on the roof of a building. A good example of a penthouse is an exclusive, luxurious and expensive apartment on the 25th floor of a 25-story building. As a result of its position on the top of the building, it provides its occupant with an expansive view of the city.
Container House
More companies have ventured into the transformation of shipping containers into affordable homes for Nigerians. The long-term goal is to create more container homes and mobile homes.
Mud Houses
Mud houses are still prevalent in many rural areas in Nigeria where such homeowners use mud, palm fronds, raffia matting, straw and wood to build their houses. For the roof of the house, you can use straw and mats that are made from raffia palm leaves.
Wooden Houses
There are slums in Lagos that build houses on water using mostly wood. Such houses can be found in Makoko. This slum area had an estimated population of about 100,000 people as at 2015
Final Thoughts
These are the Nigerian house types that you are likely to come across on a ride through the city of Lagos as well as other popular cities and rural areas in Nigeria.
By the way, what kind of house do you currently live in?
