The world’s skinniest buildings – from 2ft-wide ‘revenge’ house to New York skyscraper and UK flats ‘just big enough for a toilet’

BRISTOL, UK: Approaching the property side on, this block of flats looks almost uninhabitable with the slither of wall pictured measuring up at only 3ft(0.9m)-wide, and only just big enough for a toilet cistern, local man Andy Bollan previously told MailOnline. But the skinniest part of the building opens out into a wedge shape for more space at the back

TOKYO: In 2015, Japanese studio YUUA Architects & Associates managed to slot a four-storey house (left) into an 8ft(2.5m)-wide space between two existing buildings, and named it ‘1.8m [6ft] Width House’ – due to the width of the rooms inside (right)

SICILY, ITALY: In Petralia Sottana lies Casa du Currivu, an impossible-to-live-in house with walls measuring just 3ft(0.9m)-wide. According to local legend, the house was built in the 1950s by someone who simply wanted to block their neighbour’s view of the Madonie mountains, following a dispute. For this reason, it’s been known as the ‘House of Spite’ ever since. According to Sicilian Post, the house is ‘worthless’ and virtually empty inside, with a floor and staircase ‘so tight that two people could not enter it together’

BEIRUT, LEBANON: A spiteful local is said to have purposely erected the country’s skinniest building in 1954, to ruin his brother’s seafront view following a dispute over inheritance. The house – known as ‘The Grudge’ – is just 2ft (0.6m) at its narrowest point and 14ft (4.3m) at its widest and located in Beirut’s Manara neighbourhood. Despite its small dimensions, the building can be lived in and includes rooms, a kitchen, windows and sweeping seafront views of the Mediterranean – and is, ironically, now one of Beirut’s most valuable properties

VALENCIA, SPAIN: La Estrecha, meaning ‘Narrow One’, is just 3.5ft(1.1m)-wide. Located in Valencia’s Plaza Lope de Vega, the five-storey building was originally built as a family home, with each floor made up of a single room. In the 1980s, the property became part of the restaurant next door, when a wall was knocked down, but the front door was preserved so it still looks like a different building

WARSAW, POLAND: Keret House (left) was built in 2012, as a memorial to Israeli filmmaker Etgar Keret’s family, who were killed in the Holocaust. He became the first tenant. The two-storey building measures 3ft (0.9m) at its thinnest point and 5ft (1.5m) at its widest, and has one bedroom (right), a kitchen, a bathroom and a living area, as well as two non-opening windows. Since Etgar moved out of the house, it’s become open to travelling writers wanting to stay a night

AMSTERDAM: The Netherlands’ capital city is known for its narrow houses along the canals, and one of the skinniest is Singel 166, which has been there since 1634. The front of the house is 5.9ft(1.8m)-wide, but the house goes 52.5ft (16m) back, expanding to a width of 16.4ft (5m). According to That Dam Guide, the building was known as the ‘long, narrow way between the whitewood worker and the butcher’s’ in the 1700s, but it’s now a privately-owned residence. Picture courtesy of Creative Commons picture licensing

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO: With a width of approximately 5ft (1.5m), La Casa Estrecha (‘The Narrow House’) was used as an alleyway, before being given a roof and facade to be used as a house by architect Antonio Alvarez, who welcomes tourists in. According to Discover Puerto Rico, the house looks out onto San Juan’s bay and ‘on a sunny day, you can see all the way to the town of Cataño and the mountain range in the distance, including the island’s tallest peak: Cerro Punta’

VANCOUVER, CANADA: The Sam Kee Building has the Guinness World Record for being the world’s narrowest commercial building, and even has a sign saying ‘Skinniest in the World’ on the side. Located near Vancouver’s Chinatown, the two-storey building’s ground floor is 4.9ft(1.5m)-wide, while the upper floor spans 6ft (1.8m) due to its overhanging bay windows

NEW YORK: The world’s skinniest skyscraper, Steinway Tower (pictured centre), opened in 2022. The 84-storey building, sat on Billionaires’ Row in midtown Manhattan, has a height-to-width ratio of 24:1, standing at approximately 1,428ft(435m)-tall – but only 57ft(17m)-wide. This means it’s also one of the tallest residential towers in the world, edged out by next-door neighbor Central Park Tower, which stands at 1,550ft (472m). The building overlooks Central Park and features 60 apartments – starting at $7.75million (£6.25m) for a studio, and going up to $66million (£53.2m) for the penthouse apartment

LONDON: This block of flats in South Kensington, at 5 Thurloe Square, is 6ft (1.8m) at its narrowest point, but that hasn’t deterred buyers, as a two-bed apartment in the block sold for £775,000 ($960.9k) in 2023. Known as ‘The Thin House, it was built by William Douglas between 1885 and 1887 on an area of land leftover from the construction of South Kensington tube station, and was originally used as artist studios