the "Skinny House" in Arlington finally sold! (salon, apartments)

[zugor]

It's not the only 'skinny' house around. I'm familiar with one in Alameda, CA and here's an article about "Spite Houses".

Spite house - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[arielmina]

OMG that Princess St house is like a dollhouse it's so small! How much was it listed for out of curiosity?

[lchoro]

nice view from the bathtub

DC Metrocentric » Inside Clarendon’s Thin House

[DCguy03]

Originally Posted by statecollege

I am not familiar with the house, but I am curious on the history behind its narrow width. Property size restriction? I would think the county would have a minimum lot size for building a home. Perhaps it's built on an pre-existing home's foundation and is grandfathered. Anyone in the know?

Apparently the house got a lot of press earlier this year...this should explain it:

What’s the Skinny? - Housing Complex - Washington City Paper

In 2003, builder Clarke Simpson purchased the lot on Barton Street and knocked down the small home there. He expected to build two bungalows in its place, but he needed a zoning variance. He wanted to stretch one of the homes five feet wider, from 12 feet to 17 feet.
Two houses down the street got built with the variance, so he didn’t anticipate a problem.
Then he met the neighbors, who were tired of seeing two houses packed in where one used to be...
he told them: “I would build a modern skinny house. They didn’t believe me. They said, ‘Are you threatening us?’ I said, ‘No, I’m telling you I’m going to build a modern skinny house if you don’t give me the variance,’”

It's interesting that the house is being rented...I think that it is a cool/unique house to look at, and it is pretty big (almost 3,000 sq.ft) it just doesn't seem that usable for a family in the long-term...especially for $1 mil.

But I remember that they were originally asking 1.125 mil in early '09...the developer has got to be losing money on this one

[checking out]

The Spite House | Old House Web Blog

[robbobobbo]

I remember when they knocked down one house on 11th near Barton and put two skinny length-wise houses on the lot. Reading above, looks like this developer wanted to do the same.

This business about developers (or owners) fighting their neighbors about their plans, then doing something spiteful reminds me when I rented a house from a guy in N Arlington who had his house plans nixed by the community, so he dug up to whole back yard and left it bare dirt out of spite, and let the house go unpainted, unfixed. Cheap rent for me, though!

[robbobobbo]

Originally Posted by arielmina

OMG that Princess St house is like a dollhouse it's so small! How much was it listed for out of curiosity?

I don't know. The hard-sale time I remember was when it was on the market previously, when it sold in 2005. At that time, it sold for $535,000. I believe it took more than a year on the market. I noticed it was up for sale again this or last year, but I didn't take a look this time.

It's very cute, has a spiral iron staircase to a single-room upstairs (if I recall from the open house years ago). If it were just me and my wife, I could live in it.

[DCguy03]

Originally Posted by robbobobbo

If it were just me and my wife, I could live in it.

I think that the biggest problem with buying a skinny house wouldn't be living in it -- it would be trying to sell it eventually.

Seems like they'd be better off as rentals...since two people could live comfortably in one, but it wouldn't be as useful to a family with kids.

Guess that's why the Barton St. one is being rented...

[robbobobbo]

Just found it, near Pershing. Used to do laundry at that shopping center.

If you look at Google Street View, the house isn't built yet. They've put down some foundation, and you could mistake it for work being down in someone's driveway!

N Barton St, Arlington, VA 22201 - Google Maps

[DCguy03]

That shopping center is a mystery to me...when I moved to the area ~1.5 years ago they were just closing it down.

They just closed down all of the shops, put a big fence around it, and haven't done a thing for 1 year now. The whole complex is starting to be overgrown w/ weeds and just looks unsightly. It's right in the Skinny House's backyard.

Speaking of which, does anyone know what is going on with that little shopping center? I'm wondering if someone had plans but financing fell through.