Inside Britain’s ‘skinniest home’ measuring just 3 FEET wide that leaves neighbours baffled – but it’s hiding a secret
BRITAIN’s “skinniest home” which measures just three feet wide has a secret hidden inside.
At first glance, the incredibly narrow building in Bristol looks like you would have to be two-dimensional to live there.
Approaching the property side on it looks almost uninhabitable with a tiny slither of a wall measuring up at just three feet wide.
The block of flats on New Station Road in Fishponds is one of the city’s unsung optical oddities.
And the skinniest area of the three-storey property is only just big enough for a toilet cistern.
Its unique appearance has caused a stir online and has both baffled and amused neighbours in the local area for years.
But Britain’s “skinniest” home is not all it seems.
However, when you view the property from a few different angles you notice that it has an almost triangular “wedge” shape.
The other side of the block of flats is much wider than the tapering narrow side, meaning the property is certainly not as cramped the whole way along.
Emma, who lives across the road and moved to the area around 18 months ago, told MailOnline: “The first time we saw it, we thought it was so odd. It doesn’t quite look like it’s supposed to look.
“And we’ve always thought, for ages, ‘What room is in that tiny little bit?'”
The slimmest part of the building opens out into a wedge shape which some say is reminiscent of the Flatiron Building in New York.
The skinniest area of the Bristolian block of flats is only just big enough for a toilet cistern, local man Andy Bollan said.
He estimated it must be around a minuscule one metre wide with the bathroom seemingly in the “skinniest” section of the building.
One local, who wished to stay anonymous, told the outlet: “Probably the only similar building I’ve seen like that is the Flatiron Building in New York.
“I don’t think it’s an eyesore, I just don’t know how people can live there, it’s so small!”
The narrowest point of the Flatiron, at the very top, is only six feet wide, only slightly more than the Fishponds flats’ slimmest part.
The property was even at the centre of a discussion on a local Facebook group last week with a picture of it getting more than 200 comments and 700 reactions.
Many locals said the post was the first time they had been made aware of the unusual building, despite living in Fishponds for years in some cases.
Others exchanged jokes about the building with one saying: “Saves a fortune in carpet and wallpaper.’
Another added: “It’s the eighth strangest thing about the Ponds.’
Some chimed in saying: “It’s only a problem in high winds”, and, “Wish I could be that skinny”.
Andy Watson, 59, says he had rented a flat in the building for 19 years, but only noticed the strange perspective about three years ago, when his brother visited and pointed it out.
Mr Watson told BristolLive: “The thing is I rarely walk from that direction – I usually come from the other side, from Fishponds Road.
“My brother found it quite amusing because it’s a weird shape. I was a bit annoyed with myself for not noticing it, because it’s part of where I live.
“I have noticed that kind of architecture elsewhere in Bristol. The corners of some streets are very narrow.”