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29 March 2024

Smallest house in Brussels up for auction

A woman walks past the smallest house in Brussels (C) on a street just off Brussels' main square. (REUTERS)

Published
By Reuters

Cosy might be the best word to describe the smallest house in Brussels, which is about to go up for auction.

The centuries-old former furniture workshop and creperie a stone's throw from the Belgian capital's picturesque central square is just 2.75 meters wide and has a ground floor only 1.75 meters (5 foot 9 inches) across.

"There's a lot of interest and there are also a lot of tourists who want to see it," said Claude Rotsart de Hertaing, a Brussels pensioner who works part time showing prospective buyers around houses.

The dilapidated five-floor Belgian townhouse, just off the central Grand Place square, has "La plus petite maison de Bruxelles" (The smallest house in Brussels) written across a faded wooden sign above the entrance.

It is not Europe's narrowest however, which tourist officials in Slovakia believe could be a 1.3 meter wide house in its capital Bratislava.

The Brussels house, squeezed between a pizzeria and a souvenir shop, has floors each of about 16 meters squared, apart from the ground floor which is even tighter as it has a pathway running to a courtyard down the side.

On one floor it has a potentially inviting fireplace, but you might singe your knees if you sat facing it on an armchair.

The house will be auctioned on February 6, starting at a price of 146,200 euros ($194,700).