10 Hyde Park Place

Located across the street from the expansive 350-acre, historic Grade I-listed urban Hyde Park, sits what is widely acclaimed to be the smallest house in London. At just three feet and six inches wide, the building is narrower than most wardrobes. Although pictures of the interior aren't publicly available, it is said to contain just two rooms connected by a ladder.

The building was constructed in 1805 in the alleyway between the substantially larger 9 and 11 Hyde Park Place. One commonly cited claim is that the house was used to block grave robbers from accessing a cemetery to the rear, although the generally more accepted explanation is that it was built as the servants’ quarters for one of the adjacent mansions.

Through most if its existence, the building had a very different appearance. The front facade was flat, and the design around the door looked more Victorian in appearance. After World War II, the Tyburn Convent acquired the property, as well as 9 Hyde Park Place. The curved brick facade was added as part of general exterior renovations to the buildings in the 1990s.

Today, the interior of the building is locked and inaccessible to the general public. However, it is still possible to walk by this building and admire its quirky place within London’s urban landscape.