Earlier this week I was heading into Georgetown to deliver a large order of custom made Obama prints I'd put together for a client, and figured I'd spend a few hours walking around and seeing if I could find the smallest, narrowest rowhouse. I purchased a rowhouse shell in Baltimore last year that I turned into a 4BR/4Bath, 2,500 sq ft rental that measures approximately 12'-6" wide on the first floor, and yet doesn't feel that cramped; I began to wonder how small they get!Doing some googling beforehand turned up some interesting results:
A Washington Post article spotlights an '11 Foot Wide Wonder' that Marilyn Stern of Myres/Stern Architecture/Design purchased two years ago and remodeled.
11' wide... a little narrower than my 12'-6" house, but I kept looking....
This Washington Post article pointed me towards a house on 30th St. NW that was jsut shy of 11' wide, image taken from google maps' street view here... still looking for a smaller one...
While walking down P St in George town I happened upon this ugly little thing that couldn't be more than 8' or 8'-6" wide. Small, hideous, loud.... like a dirty moped screaming down your street at night. It's pictured here on google street view with a for sale sign and an original Mini Cooper out front. likely the owners. Can it get any narrower?
Back at home I found an article telling the tale of a 7' wide 'spite house' in Alexandria, VA, a 10 minute drive from my house. This house is 2 stories, 25' deep for a total square footage of 350.Article and images from apartmenttherapy.com:
A photo of the house circa 1924:
What is a spite house?According to wikipedia, its a structure built to annoy someone, blocking out light or access to a neighbor; flamboyant symbols of defiance. We have found the architectural equivalent of the middle finger. Love it!
They are usually built on narrow lots, what was formerly thought of as 'leftover space' or alleys, even access ways.
I'll be looking for these in every city I go to now!
Posts
4 comments:
Great post! Spite houses are on our radar now as well. Paris has some clever ones.
Thanks to the Zoning Code these lots are unbuildable now.
We've got a much larger spite house than most here in Milwaukee. It's actually mansion-sized, but it's got a good story behind it.
I took a photo of it. A friend of mine explains the spite situation in the comments there.
You can see the house on Google Maps Street View here. Judge Downer's house is the blueish one to the left. The Spite House is in the middle of the frame and the Hinton house is to the right (where Franklin Pl begins).
i'm not really sure how these qualify as spite houses, except maybe the very vivid ones. they are smaller, so don't block light (except as infill, maybe on the sides), views or dwarf other homes. spite house are really supposed to "one up" the other homes, dwarf them or really make an overt point in some way in order piss the neighbors off. these may piss off neighbors for removing their side yards, but they were allowed to be built there at the time. I could argue the smaller homes are really at a disadvantage ... in any case, they do seem more unique.
Post a Comment