Smallest Home In UK Stands At 72 Inches Wide And Requires Specially Designed Furniture

Aug 14, 2021 by apost team

The Smallest House is just 6ft (72 inches) wide and it is the smallest home in the UK. The tiny property is located in Conwy, North Wales and is also known as the Quay House. The home contains just two rooms - one upstairs and one downstairs and has a plumbing set-up under the stairs.  Jan Tyley owns the house and keeps it running as a tourist attraction for six months out of the year. However, this year she has to open a little later than planned due to pandemic restrictions.

Many other of the world's smallest homes are often created as spite houses to annoy their neighbors. This is not the case for The Smallest House which was created with good intentions. It was built as an infill between the cottages on either side of it. Its back wall is the town of Conwy's medieval town wall and was built at the same time as nearby Conwy Castle between 1283 and 1289. Conwy Castle and the village’s walls were built at the request of King Edward I, following his conquest of Wales.

The property was last occupied by a tenant fisherman named Robert Jones in 1891. Soon after it was declared unfit for habitation, along with the neighboring properties. Robert Jones was rumored to be 6ft 3in tall and the ceilings were too low for him to stand up in. Jones worked with a local newspaper to get the home deemed the smallest house in the UK so it wouldn’t get demolished. His plan worked! Keep reading to learn more about this interesting property.

Tourists will recognize The Smallest House as it is painted a vivid red and there is a Welsh lady in traditional clothing that stands outside when the house is open. She tells visitors about the history of the house. Visitors can go in, but can't go upstairs to safeguard the building's structural integrity. However, you can view the upstairs bedroom from a step ladder. Admission costs £1.50 for adults or £1.00 for children.

Tyley said of the house, “It has been in my family for five generations. My great-great-grandfather bought it in 1891 as a letting property. But nine years later the council told him it was too small to be a house and they wanted to pull it down.” She added, “Luckily, he was good friends with the editor of the local newspaper, who started a campaign to find out if it was the smallest house in the country.”

A build-your-own furniture company called Snug reached out to the homeowner to see if one of their sofas could fit into the house. Tyley thought it would be an interesting challenge. “I wanted to be there when they tried to fit the sofa - I wasn’t going to miss that,” she said. 

The sofa was able to fit and there were plenty of pictures taken with visitors sitting on it. Sadly, the couch cannot remain in the house. Tyley explained, “We have upwards of 50,000 people visiting every year and it’s hard enough for them to move around as it is.” The home holds the Guinness Book of World Records for being the smallest house in the UK and has maintained that record for 100 years. Hopefully, the property can open back up for visitors again soon.

apost.com

What do you think of this tiny house? Would you want to go visit it? Let us know and be sure to pass this along to your loved ones.