The Hollensbury Spite House in Alexandria, VA is renowned for being the smallest house in the United States. This historic home measures just 7 feet wide and about 25 feet deep, and 325 square feet in total across its two floors. The bright blue house is famous for being one of the narrowest houses in the world. It is also famous because it was supposedly built out of rancor by John Hollensbury, who was sick of horse-drawn carriages flying down the alley and crashing into the walls of his house.
The Spite House, constructed in 1830, is located on Queen Street, in the Old Town district of Alexandria, Virginia. It has been nicknamed the 'House of Spits' due to its origin story. It is said that John Hollensbury, the owner of one of the adjoining houses, built it to keep horse-drawn wagons and marauders out of his alley. The second floor of the building's story tells that Hollensbury and his neighbor, who lived at 521 Queen Street, were once good friends, but because the neighbor's carriage damaged the Hollensbury house and a break in their friendship in the late 1820s, Hollensbury decided to build the small house.
He also hired Hannan to redesign the interior space, and Hannan lived in the house during the year it was being renovated. The exterior of the house is painted bright blue and a cast-iron fireproof shield hangs on the façade, a feature added in the 19th century to indicate that an owner had paid the local fire company to extinguish any fires that might occur in the house. Sammis said the house looked pretty good when he bought it, but he wanted to give it back a more original look. Odland told the Post that when he moved to the house down the alley from his large residence next door, he had to take off some of his clothes in order to keep all his books. Sammis' wife, commercial real estate agent Colleen, had been interested in the house before they were married. The couple married the following year and, after their reception, they organized an event in the house attended by about 25 people, using the small garden and patio to accommodate everyone. The third and final story is that Hollensbury built a playhouse for her two daughters, Julia and Harriett, and that one of them later lived in the house as an adult.
The narrow building measures 2.3 m (7 ft 6 in) wide and is often called the thinnest house in America. I recently saw this house on Home & Garden TV and the husband now lives there full time while the son lives there part time. The Hollensbury Spite House is a unique piece of history that has been preserved for generations to come.
