“The Spite House” in Alexandria, Virginia

March 3, 2008

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.

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:

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.

spiteupstairs.jpe

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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Big thanks go to Maya for forwarding the NYT article about the Spite House to me. Check out Springtree Road to see what interesting things she’s taking photos of today.

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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 Houses, Check Out:

Toronto’s Little House, which is even smaller than this one!
Dolly Parton’s childhood home in the mountains of Tennessee.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s William P. Boswell house in Indian Hill, Ohio.
Cobble Court, a French-Norman-inspired estate.
Mark Twain’s Tiffany-decorated mansion in Hartford, Connecticut.
Stokesay Court, the estate used in the Keira Knightley film “Atonement.”
Coco Chanel’s elegant Parisian apartment at 31 Rue Cambon.
A House as Big as Utah (the opposite of this one!).

Entry Filed under: Historical Homes. Tags: historic homes, House Tour, Nate Berkus, odd news, Oprah, small spaces, spite house, virginia.

12 Comments Add your own

1. Aubrey | March 3, 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.
2. hookedonhouses | March 3, 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!
3. Tracey | March 3, 2008 at 7:37 pm

I used to live in this neighborhood! Thanks for sharing about this cool house!
4. hookedonhouses | March 3, 2008 at 8:01 pm

Really?! How interesting! Did you ever get to go inside?
5. fat stylist | March 4, 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.
6. Melissa @ The Inspired Room | March 4, 2008 at 10:40 am

So cute! I think I saw that on Oprah. Love tiny places like that.
7. Melody from ~Pennies In My Pocket~ | March 5, 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
8. Ms. Place | March 10, 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!
9. Bill Hoagington | March 19, 2008 at 4:37 pm

There is more info on spite houses at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spite_house
10. hookedonhouses | March 19, 2008 at 6:35 pm

Thanks, Bill! I enjoyed reading about other Spite Houses.
11. Dolly Parton’s Chil&hellip | April 14, 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. [...]
12. Wish You Were Here! &laqu&hellip | July 24, 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 [...]

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“The Spite House” in Alexandria, Virginia

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