Here at Tru Log, we know that tiny cabins are all the rage right now.
But did you know that, far from being just a recent fad, tiny cabins have been around for centuries? In fact, there have been notable tiny cabins built for a few remarkable figures in history– just take a look at the cabin built by Peter the Great of Russia to serve as his temporary palace in St. Petersburg!
The cabin, clocking in at just around 710 square feet of floor-space, beats out many other tiny homes for size (the average tiny house is between 100’-400’ square.) But, hey– that’s a privilege you get when you’re the Tsar of Russia, right?
Log Cabin for a Tsar
The cabin itself was used as the temporary palace of Mr.-The-Great as he built St. Petersburg in the early 1700’s. It features all of the comforts that a Tsar could want, including a full dining room, and real glass panes on the windows (which were a serious luxury at the time.) Though inspired by Dutch architecture, Peter’s temporary palace had no ready supply of Dutch-style bricks during its construction, and so the builders resorted to painting red and white lines on the wooden walls to approximate the look.
The Original Tiny Home
Still preserved today, the original tiny-home-palace serves as a reminder that you don’t have to think big to live small, though it certainly adds a little style to a tiny-home living situation when you’re building said cabin for the Tsar. Of course, if you’re looking to live in a tiny home (which a surprising amount of people are– take a look at this infographic from Tiny Life for some tiny-home numbers) you don’t have to make it into a palace fit for a Tsar. Some other priorities, like running water and good insulation, should probably take precedence.
Design for a tiny-home style cabin has come a long way since the early 1700’s. If you’re interested in designing and building your own tiny getaway, you’ve got a lot of excellent options on build-out and construction. Resources like this checklist from thetinylife.com can really help focus on the necessities if you’re planning on making a tiny-cabin getaway for yourself. Likewise, you can take a look at pre-built tiny homes that, while they’re not built for Russian royalty, might make you feel like a king.
Living in a tiny home isn’t for everyone. A lot of people prefer the space to stretch their arms and give themselves a little wiggle-room. But for having the option to head for the hills and spend some time in a home away from home, a tiny house can provide some wonderful simple living. Just ask Peter the Great!
