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Slim pickings in the Big Apple

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Catherine Deshayes

This is the ultimate location, location, location story - the house may only be three foot wider than the average man but its location in New York's Greenwich Village meant that the world's slimmest house has just sold for whopping £1.3 million - so just what do you get for your money?...

I know New York prices have been squeezed of late but this is ridiculous. Number 75 1/2 Bedford Street in NY's trendy, bohemian Greenwich Village is barely wider than your living-room sofa.

It's the narrowest house in New York and has become a modern tourist attraction in its own right - not least because it was once home to Carey Grant. It's all star status and fabulous location has ensured it's just sold for £1.3 million, despite its diminuative size.

The building was built in 1873 and has an eclectic history - it was once used as a shoemaker's shop and a sweet factory, before becoming home to poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, anthropologist Margaret Mead, actor John Barrymore, cartoonist William Steig and of course Carey Grant. Not all at the same time, obviously - at just 9.5ft wide and 30ft deep, that would be a stretch (and several decades) too far.

The house's unique size is due to the fact it was built after its neighbours simply to fill in a carriage entrance way leading to the stables behind the next-door property. The three-story structure boasts plenty of light with large windows in the front and back and a skylight, so it won't be dark and gloomy despite its teeny size.

If you aren't heading stateside anytime soon, why not check out another skinny offering - Britain's smallest pub, The Nutshell in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, measures just 15ft by 7ft. The words pint sized spring to mind...

Check out properties for sale all across the Big Apple at http://usa.themovechannel.com/