history - Part 2

Little House in Spokane

Here is our little house story in Spokane, Washington. In the spring of 2006 I was walking through my neighborhood, as I had done so many times over the years and for some reason I really noticed this small, tired and neglected building with its Mission Revival architecture, very unusual … Read more

Little House in History

by Kent Griswold

A.M. one of the Tiny House Blog’s regular readers has discovered some really neat historical homes in some old publications and has started sending them to me. I wanted to share with you one that really caught my eye. Here is what A.M. has to say: This little house is … Read more

1950’s Grapes of Wrath Tiny House Trailer

by Kent Griswold

At only $600, and it’s obviously in terrible condition, but it’s an interesting bit of history, and looks very similar to what many are building today! This Grapes of Wrath tiny house trailer was discovered by Cheryl Spelts on the Inlad Empire craigslist. Here is the actual listing: THIS IS … Read more

The Tiny Cottages of Faubourg Marigny

by Christina Nellemann

The French Quarter of New Orleans usually gets most of the attention for its architecture, stylish balconies and lively street life, but a small neighborhood just east of the Quarter has a selection of some of the best Creole and Classic Revival cottages in New Orleans. In addition, many of them are tiny.

My husband and I recently went to New Orleans to visit with family and we rented a small apartment in the Fauborg Marigny area of the city. It’s only a few blocks from the French Quarter, but it feels like a different city altogether. The vibe is more historical and bohemian and less touristy and Bourbon Street-y. The main road is Frenchman, which is called the “local’s Bourbon Street”, and is known for its great restaurants, coffee shops and jazz clubs. Because the neighborhood is on higher ground, it escaped the worst of the Katrina flooding.

Tiny Houses of the Historic Northwest

by Kent Griswold

Zol Fox emailed me an interesting article showing some of the logging history of the Northwest and included in the email a couple of pictures of tiny houses built from hollowed out logs. The size of the trees that were taken down in the Northwest 150 years ago is something … Read more

Bridge Tender Houses

by Christina Nellemann

I recently got back from a trip to Europe to visit family and kept my eye out for tiny houses across the pond. What caught my attention in downtown Copenhagen, Denmark was a steel and copper bridge tender house. My husband and I actually peaked into the windows and contemplated if we could buy one of these things and spend our days watching the traffic and bicyclers speed past. These particular bridge tending homes are now being used as municipal offices, but I think most of these types of buildings would make great tiny houses along the lines of a lighthouse…utilitarian and beautiful.

Copenhagen, Denmark. Photo by Harry Thomas/Silver Monkey.net

In the past, bridge tenders were needed to run the electronics and machinery that raised and lowered bridges on major rivers, waterways and railroad bridges. The machinery was kept in a small house near or on the bridge and the bridge tender would spend most of their time in the house, or even lived there. Their jobs consisted of controlling and monitoring traffic around the bridges, keeping the bridge and the raising/lowering mechanism in good condition and running telegraph machines and other communications. Most bridge tender houses were usually built by government departments of transportation.