I absolutely love these skinny homes. Would love to live in one someday!

These photos remind me (on a different scale) of the Mexican Embassy in Washington, DC. They had a relatively narrow lot available with a historical brick building next door. The architects built up in the existing lot, then over above the brick building.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Embassy_of_Mexico_United_States.JPG

I found a better photo:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mexicanembassywashingtondc.jpg

http://www.zillow.com/howto/FamousUnique.htm We have our own Spite house, here in Alameda!

Cool. The English homes seem to be more just narrow street fronts verses truely skinny homes.

Terry -- I know the embasy well --those are just facades (for the brick townhouses) -- the rest was demolished for the new building. Incidentally, it was designed as a "spec" building, but the Mexican Embassy agreed to lease it.

Most of Philadelphia is made up of really narrow houses!

What, nothing from the mecca of skinny houses - Amsterdam??

Looks like the key to success is using as much glass as possible in the exterior walls. The Philadelphia house, which doesn't have a big window, seems to be the most claustrophobic.

Love them all don't know if I would like to live in one though maybe vacation...
they remind me of the safe house in Harry Potter

I'd feel as if I were trapped in a coffin. Good grief!

Kiera, you're so right... Holland, some parts of Belgien and the north of France (where I live) all have entire towns made of narrow houses.

I own a 4,5m-wide, 3 stories high house from 1950. I can tell you it's a challenge to get organized and to archieve a good flow, but it's doable. The main problem is the light. Oh, and what to do with all those stairs ! At least, it's good for the body...

Amsterdam!
With stairways inside with risers bigger than threads and threads where you can barely put the first third of your foot on...
http://photos.travelblog.org/Photos/74220/290729/s/2528669-Amsterdam-Stairs-0.jpg

In Amsterdam there are a few of those houses. I believe there was a time where owners of a house where taxed based on how wide/narrow it was. (I think they counted the windows).

wow, I'm going to stop complaining about my rowhouse (12.5" wide on the first floor) now. Compared to these, it's a castle!

you guys should have included the home of my architect!!
Doug Sandberg
check THIS out!
http://sandbergarchitecture.com/projects.asp

Ayleen
www.wonderwallinteriors.blogspot.com

This post reminds me of why I moved out of a studio apartment. The apartment was adorable: I put down white carpet, placed some mirrors strategically, and put the bed on its side so it would serve as a sofa.

At the end of the day, it was still a studio apartment. It was hard to organize everything into two small closets, my eating space just didn't do the job, and I had to fight with my sweaters to use the stereo.

My current one-bedroom is not nearly as cute, but I have two sitting areas (the living room and the dining room). I can sit down to eat at a table and even fit six to dinner. My sound system is in the living room and easily accessible, my sweaters are in the bedroom closet. I invented a dedicated broom closet by putting a screen up in front of a corner and then using broom and vacuum hose holders and even got skinny shelves in where I put the tools and light bulbs and such.

I love that a lot of AT is about small apartments and I've learned a lot here. But one thing life taught me is that there is no way this normal grown-up can live in a studio and not have tools mixed in with the crockery or underwear with the CDs. To those of you who have mastered the art: kudos. To the rest of us: well, there is such a thing as too little space.

I drive by the Spite house quite often and always wondered how it looks inside. Thanks for the link!

I don't know what this says about my mind, but my first thought when I saw the Spite house (Alexandria) was that to roll a body up in that carpet, you'd have to be certain its height did not exceed the apartment's width.
Yeeeeah.

The house in Japan looks like a plain white box and far from lived in and the light is fantastic.

*meant to say BUT the light is fantastic

When I was in high school, a friend lived in a 12 ft. wide rowhouse in Locust Point, Baltimore. On my first visit I hyperventilated from claustrophobia. But after a my third visit, I didn't even notice. Growing up on the Chesapeake, I imagined I was on a boat and it seemed spacious.

I live in Amsterdam..my studio is 2.15 METERS wide, and 12 meters long. It's horrible to decorate..and that's an understatement.

My first home was a 12.5 ft. wide row house, and I didn't think I was living in a skinny house, but I guess I was. It was an end unit with 17 windows and two turrets, and to this day, it is still my most favorite home.

My studio apartment is 13 feet wide. While it isn't that big of a deal in the 12x13 "main room" (i.e. living room, dining room, study, bedroom, etc), the 6ftx6ft galley kitchen is pretty epically small.

love this post !