The thinnest building in Lebanon and probably one of the narrowest in the world is located in Manara, Beirut. Called The Grudge, or as people call it in Arabic, Al Baa’sa, the construction of this building has a long history.
Two brothers each inherited a plot from their father. Road infrastructure partly reclaimed one of the areas.
So the owner of that plot built a thin building in 1954 on the available 120-square-meter piece of land so that it blocks his brother’s building sea view, which will eventually lead to the decrease of his sibling’s plot.
Initially, the building was yellow. It was recently painted in pink to beautify the area. The building, which is also called The Queen Mary, has the form of a ship: it’s wide from one side and narrow from the other.
There are two apartments on each floor. Also, the rooms of the apartments vary a lot in sizes.
During the Lebanese Civil War, one apartment was used as a brothel while another one housed a family seeking refuge.
The Grudge is currently blocking the beautiful Mediterranean Sea view of a German school.
According to current building and zoning laws, constructions cannot occur on this plot if the Grudge gets demolished. Why? Because the land is smaller than the minimum area size on which buildings are allowed to be constructed.
It certainly looks like a piece of art! The full story is written by Sandra Rishani and can be found here.
