Boston’s skinny house, which everyone thinks was built out of spite, is worth over $1 million. Take a look inside.

• A 10-foot-wide Boston home rumored to have been built out of spite sold for $1.25 million in 2021.
• One explanation is that a man built it after finding his brother took up most of their shared land. 
• The origin story is likely an urban legend, but the 1,000-square-foot space is certainly charming.

A 10-foot-wide home in Boston — which a 2005 Boston Globe article called the city’s skinniest — last sold for $1.25 million in 2021.

Many local legends attempt to explain the origins of Boston’s skinny house, located on Hull Street in the city’s North End.

There are various versions of the myth, but one of the most popular was rehashed in a 2015 Boston magazine article. The house is said to have been built as a result of a land dispute between brothers in the mid-1800s. The skinny-house builder was a soldier who, after returning from war, was angry that his brother had built an expansive property on land they’d both inherited and wanted to annoy him as punishment.

While the spite-filled origin story was one of the things that attracted onlookers and commenters after the skinny house hit the market in 2021, there is substantial evidence that pokes holes in that version of events.

Nonetheless, two things are almost certainly true: the house is old, and it’s pretty quirky. See for yourself.