Is this the smallest apartment in America? $800 a month 'shoebox studio' in Manhattan is just 78 square foot

By PAUL BENTLEY

Tiny: Mr Tyler works from home, even though the apartment is so small

If you find your apartment a bit claustrophobic at times, spare a thought for this young New Yorker.

Architect Luke Clark Tyler designs grand houses for clients from his tiny 78 square foot shoebox apartment.

There is no space for a kitchen, or bathroom, and he had to build a bed from scratch because it is too narrow to fit full-sized ones inside.


The smallest? Mr Tyler's place is perhaps the tiniest apartment in America


Handy: Mr Tyler likes having such a small place - so he can rest his feet on the walls


The bed doubles as a sofa - and as a storage unit for clothes and odds and ends.

With no kitchen, a microwave is hidden away with his shoes and a fridge is built into the desk at which he spends most of the day working.


Proud: Mr Tyler shows off his closet/ toiletry cabinet/shoe rack/kitchen cuopboard


He keeps toiletries in his closet and shares a bathroom with three other apartments.

Set in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen, the location couldn't be better, which might explain why Mr Tyler spends so much on so little space.


Crammed: The microwave sits next to the sneakers, beneath a printer, which is next to the cutlery and below his clothes


His rent is $800 a month, which is cheap for the area but extortionate considering the cost per square footage ratio.

The average rental price per square foot in a studio is $72 but Mr Tyler is paying almost twice as much at $123.07.

Mr Tyler, who downsized from a 96 square foot apartment, remains upbeat, seeing the apartment as conveniently snug, rather than constricting.


Clever: The self-made sofa doubles as a bed to save space


Ingenious: The sofa, which doubles as a bed, triples as a storage unit!


Inconvenient: If Mr Tyler want running water, he has to use the bathroom he shares


Location: The apartment is set in the heart of Hell's Kitchen in Manhattan


'I just use it as an excuse not to buy an Ottoman because... I can just prop my feet right up on the wall,' he said.

Mr Tyler, 27, keeps books, cutlery, plates, cleaning products, spices, a microwave, sneakers, clothes and his toothbrush in one small cupboard.

Despite the limited supply of space, he still has a 'man drawer'.

'Having lived in both the largest shelter in the South East as well as the largest slum in East Africa, I don’t think living small is a challenge,' he said.

'So we can call it anything; a room, a hallway, a live-in-closet, but to me it’s just home.'



source: dailymail