This Narrow House is only 3 to 5 Feet Wide

I came across a book about narrow houses and searched for photos of what they look like inside. I found this house that is only 5-feet wide at one end and 3-feet wide at the other. The house has 46-square-feet of living space.

It was designed by architect Jakub Szczęsny with Centrala. It doesn’t meet local building codes. They got around that by calling it an art installation, but it is a real livable house.

This street view is from 2014. It is still there, but the most recent street view has a bus in front of it.

The house is in Warsaw, Poland. The address is 74 Zelazna Street.

Look carefully between those two buildings. That is the house, there in the crack. That is actually the widest side. The entrance is on the other side, but Google Maps doesn’t show that side yet.

The Polish Modern Art Foundation operates the house and allows writers to live there temporarily. Israeli writer and filmmaker Etgar Keret was the patron and the first to live there, so it is called the Keret House. He chooses who else can live at the house.

Sometimes it is open for tours.

This is the gate on the other side. This is the narrow end. That window is the living room window.

The gate leads to this space between the buildings. You get into the house using these pull-down stairs.
It looks like a light on the bottom of the house. I bet it gets really dark in that crack.

Here is another view of the stairs pulled down to go in.

Living Room

When the stairs are up, they make the floor of the living room.

The living room is the narrowest space, only 3-feet wide. The iron framework is on the inside, to keep all the space.

They have a beanbag chair. They will fit anywhere.

There are hooks on the wall. It’s good that they are the opposite of pointy, since it is unlikely that you won’t bump them.

There is a pompom mobile hanging from the ceiling. This is a Pajaki chandelier, a traditional Polish decoration made from straw or paper flowers.

This is the window in the living room. There are two windows. They don’t open. The ceiling and walls have translucent glass panels that let in any available light.

This is standing in the living room. Ahead is the dining area, then the kitchen, with the bathroom at the end. The ladder allows you to climb to the bedroom.

All of the ceilings are very high, so as narrow as it is, it doesn’t feel so claustrophobic.

Kitchen

The kitchen has a tiny fridge that holds 2 bottles. There is a stainless steel sink and a flat top stove.

Bathroom

This is the bathroom. There is a sliding frosted glass pocket door, to provide some privacy and keep water from the shower in the ceiling out of the kitchen.

The house uses a “custom water and sewage technology.” It is not connected to the city-provided water systems. The power comes from one of the next door buildings.

Bedroom

The bedroom is up the ladder. The bedroom has the other window. Neither of the windows open.

This end is 5-feet wide. There is a bed, a desk and chair.

The bed, all sorta made.

This view from the bed looking down to the beanbag chair at the end of the living room gives a good idea of the space.

This model from an article by Robert Krulwich on NPR WBUR gives a better idea on how it is all laid out.
The model is from before it was built, so it doesn’t show the glass panel walls.

Living Very, Very Narrowly by Robert Krulwich on NPR, WBUR