See that tiny blue house wedged in between the white and red ones? It was built in 1830 and is only 7 feet wide. (And here I complain about my family room being too narrow!) The Spite House, as it’s called, has two stories but only 325 square feet. It even appears to be considerably shorter than its neighbors.
Ripley’s Believe It or Not! named it the narrowest house in America. According to a New York Times article:
Structurally, it’s more of an enclosed alley than a house — the brick walls of older houses on either side form the painted brick walls in the living room. It’s called the Spite House by some because John Hollensbury, the owner of one of the adjacent houses, built it in 1830 to keep horse-drawn wagons and loiterers out of his alley.
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The home’s current owner, Jack Sammis, was interviewed about it on Oprah and told her that back when it was still an alley, there “was walking traffic and also carriage traffic—if you look closely on the walls, you can see the indentations where the wagon wheels would brush up against the wall.”
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The owner says it was “quite a challenge” to make a kitchen (above and below) work in the tiny space allotted. The kitchen has a freezer, fridge, four-burner stove, and an oven. There’s also extra storage space under a bench seat and extra cabinets in the corner. You can see where they tucked a small microwave on a shelf under the stairs in the photo below:
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There’s definitely a lot of family togetherness in the Spite House! They don’t use this as their full-time residence, however, preferring to think of it as their “pied-a-terre.” The owner purchased it for $135,000 in 1990.
Photo above shows the upstairs landing. On Oprah, decorator Nate Berkus said The Spite House “has so much soul.” The backyard “garden” space (below) is as narrow–and charming–as the rest of the house.
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Thanks to Maya for bringing this house to my attention first. Check out
Springtree Road to see what interesting things she’s taking photos of today. All photos shown in this post are the copyright of
The New York Times, the
Oprah Show, and Alexandria Daily Photo.
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If You’re Hooked on Unusual Houses:
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March 3rd, 2008 | Tags: historic homes, House Tour, Nate Berkus, odd news, Oprah, small spaces, spite house, virginia | Category: Historical Homes, Tiny Houses
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March 3rd, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Hello, thanks for leaving a comment on my blog. I’ve been enjoying yours for a while–I love gawking at houses and I really love that you show interior photos, since those are the parts I never get to see in real life (when driving past cool houses). I hope you don’t mind me linking to your blog again because some of these houses are too neat not to share.
March 3rd, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Hi, Aubrey! Thanks for stopping by–and for writing such nice things about Hooked on Houses on your blog (http://shinercircus.blogspot.com ). I really, really appreciate it. Hope to see you again here soon!
March 3rd, 2008 at 7:37 pm
I used to live in this neighborhood! Thanks for sharing about this cool house!
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Really?! How interesting! Did you ever get to go inside?
March 4th, 2008 at 10:30 am
This house makes me feel warm and cozy. I’m pretty hooked on shows like Small Space Big Style and websites like yours and Apt Therapy because it’s full of ideas for what you can do with limited space.
March 4th, 2008 at 10:40 am
So cute! I think I saw that on Oprah. Love tiny places like that.
March 5th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
I love how they have utilized ever square inch, but I’m getting claustrophobic just looking at the photos! lol
March 10th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
My family is Dutch. Such narrow houses are common in The Netherlands. Steep stairs, large windows, and space efficiency are in order. It’s like living in a sailboat. No space goes to waste. Yeah Spite Houses!
March 19th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
There is more info on spite houses at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spite_house
March 19th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Thanks, Bill! I enjoyed reading about other Spite Houses.
April 14th, 2008 at 11:01 am
[...] This was the only bed in the place. I was stumped as to where the 11 children slept. There wasn’t even enough floor space for them all! I mean, it was even smaller than the Spite House. [...]
July 24th, 2008 at 8:00 am
[...] was up half the night researching real estate listings in that area. There was a house the size of the Spite House (at least it looked that small from the outside) that just sold for $600,000. So it’s safe to [...]
July 27th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
I would loose (what’s left!) my mind in that house!
Nikki
August 7th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
If you want to see a really small house, you should see the one in Conwy,Wales in the UK. It is called ( The smallest house in Great Britain ) and you will find it under that name.It is 3.05 meters by 1.8 meters.and was once inhabited by a 6 foot tall man.
August 20th, 2008 at 10:38 am
I’d hurt someone, like myself, if I lived in this place. Seven feet wide? How painful
September 10th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
its absolutely amazing what people can do with spaces,…..for me smaller spaces r a bigger challenge……
October 8th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
I pass by this house every day on my way to work. I LOVE it, but had no idea it was the narrowest house in America. It was great to learn some of the history and see the inside shots. Thanks!!
November 10th, 2008 at 10:47 am
I love this! I had seen it somewhere and was dying to take the time to look inside. Even better than expected! Thanks for all of your great work! I love to stop by and see your fun posts! Great big smile on my face for a Monday morning :). xo, J
December 14th, 2008 at 2:09 am
So many houses like that in Tokyo! (with the limited space and high prices)
December 14th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
That is fascinating! I can only imagine the challenges of living there!
December 15th, 2008 at 6:06 am
It’s amazing how spaces(big or small) don’t matter to creative minds. I simply love this idea. - Rekha
December 17th, 2008 at 7:41 am
Wow, $135 in Alexandria. I bet it’s worth a lot more now. I would have considered that a “risky” investment, because of the lack of a stand alone structure.
December 19th, 2008 at 11:57 am
Wow! I love the idea, but I just don’t think that I could live in such a small house! It’s amazing how they adapted the space to work for them!
December 20th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Talk about compact living! The house is really cute actually!
December 21st, 2008 at 7:58 am
this house is really neat.they did a great job decorating with amount of space they have.i love the narrow garden its really cute and looks relaxing.there is a house here in the town i live in that is really small.just alomost like this one only one story.
December 27th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
That house would be spot on for me. Perfect, in fact.
December 28th, 2008 at 12:43 am
there is a house in the town I grew up in (Frederick, Maryland) called “The Tyler Spite House” — it was built out of spite as well.
Interesting history!