Shared description
Thimble Hall
Thimble Hall is in the Guinness Book of Records as the smallest detached house in the world. It was bought in September 1999 by the ice-cream makers Fredericks of Chesterfield.
It is an 18th century grade II listed building that has previously been a butcher's and a shoemaker's, an antique shop, and in the late 1800's was home to a family of eight!
It is 12ft high with two floors, each room measuring 8ft 1in by 7ft 1in. There is an electricity supply but no water or gas. A ladder leads from the ground floor to the upper, which is only 5ft 8in tall.
Last used as a home in the early 1930s, Thimble Hall fell into a state of disuse and disrepair, eventually being classified as a "building at risk", in 1996.
In 1999 Thimble Hall was put up for sale with a suggested a price guide of £5,000 to £15,000. But Thimble Hall sold for £39,500; price per square foot this was comparable with properties in Mayfair and Knightsbridge. Bids came in by telephone from Hong Kong, Athens and New York but even Uri Geller was outbid when the hammer fell to the Chesterfield ice cream firm of Fredericks. This family firm is still in the hands of descendants of the Italian founder who came to England to seek his fortune in 1875, walking 1,000 miles from Parma to Sheffield.
It is an 18th century grade II listed building that has previously been a butcher's and a shoemaker's, an antique shop, and in the late 1800's was home to a family of eight!
It is 12ft high with two floors, each room measuring 8ft 1in by 7ft 1in. There is an electricity supply but no water or gas. A ladder leads from the ground floor to the upper, which is only 5ft 8in tall.
Last used as a home in the early 1930s, Thimble Hall fell into a state of disuse and disrepair, eventually being classified as a "building at risk", in 1996.
In 1999 Thimble Hall was put up for sale with a suggested a price guide of £5,000 to £15,000. But Thimble Hall sold for £39,500; price per square foot this was comparable with properties in Mayfair and Knightsbridge. Bids came in by telephone from Hong Kong, Athens and New York but even Uri Geller was outbid when the hammer fell to the Chesterfield ice cream firm of Fredericks. This family firm is still in the hands of descendants of the Italian founder who came to England to seek his fortune in 1875, walking 1,000 miles from Parma to Sheffield.
by Peter Barr
Created: Thu, 29 Oct 2009, Updated: Sat, 12 Oct 2019
1 image uses this description:
Shared descriptions
This shared description
The 'Shared Description' text on this page is © copyright 2009 Peter Barr.
Shared descriptions are specifically licensed so that contributors can reuse them on their own images, without restriction.
About shared descriptions
These Shared Descriptions are common to multiple images.
For example, you can create a generic description for an object shown in a photo, and reuse the description on all photos of the object. All descriptions are public and shared between contributors, i.e. you can reuse a description created by others, just as they can use yours.
Explore images
View images using this "Thimble Hall" Shared Description
View images mentioning the words [Thimble Hall] anywhere in text
Links for SK210642
This description is located in SK210642.
Other shared descriptions
Descriptions nearby
Related descriptions
- Haddon Hall
By Julian P Guffogg. Used on 17 images
The above selections are automatic and approximate, it might not always select closely matching descriptions