The aptly nicknamed Skinny House at 708 Gladys Avenue (corner of 7th Street) in the Rose Park neighborhood of Long Beach, California, United States, is a narrow three-story house that has been cited by both the Guinness Book of World Records and Ripley's Believe It or Not as the nation's skinniest house.[1] [2]
The yellow-stuccoed house was built on a lot measuring 10feet by 50feet in 1932 by Newton P. Rummonds, who received the land as a repayment for a $100 loan one year earlier.[3] [4] [5] He built the 860square feet house after someone bet him that he could not build a habitable house on such a small lot.
In 1959, it was discovered that the house had leaned 4inches to the north and was straightened. The Skinny House is a registered city landmark of Long Beach, California, as of 1983.[6] [7]
Public interest lawyer William John Cox maintained his law practice in Skinny House between 1977 and 1981, including his prosecution of the Holocaust denial case.
The house was featured in a segment of The Early Show.[8]