[yathern]

It's similar in many places in Europe, where you see houses laid out like this:

http://c8.alamy.com/comp/F56ABW/old-and-narrow-houses-in-str...

Your property size, and subsequent taxes were decided based on how much of the road you took up, ie the width of the house. This practice dates back surprisingly far (1500s?)

[jason_slack]

oh, that kind of "this". I was thinking the walls were thin. Width meaning taller and skinnier....lol

[yathern]

Haha I was thinking the same thing - until I remembered some trivia I learned on a recent trip to Germany