Skinny House

According to the Guinness Book of World of Records, a home located on Gladys Avenue in Long Beach is the skinniest house in the United States. It was originally built in 1932 on a dare. Newton Rummond acquired a 10-foot by 50-foot parcel of land as payment for a $100 debt during the Depression. His friends bet him that no habitable residence could be built on the lot, so he set out to prove them wrong.

The result was this three-story house, appropriately nicknamed "Skinny House." Its foundation measures 10 feet by 38 feet. The half-timber exterior is representative of Old English Tudor architecture, and it contains some 860 square feet of floor space. The building first gained fame when it was featured in Ripley's Believe-It-Or-Not as the nation's narrowest home. It was later designated as an historic landmark by the City of Long Beach.

In 1959, some reconstruction was undertaken to straighten the Skinny House to vertical when it discovered that it leaned four inches north. The home has had a number of owners over the years, all of whom agree that the layout and design are much more comfortable and convenient than might be expected.

The Skinny House is located at the corner of Gladys Avenue and Seventh Street. The address is 708 Gladys Avenue, Long Beach, California 90804-4819.