tall skinny houses

     There are a lot of tall skinny houses here in Philadelphia. Many are three stories, but not even as big as an ordinary townhouse. They were built tall and skinny because property taxes were assessed according to the "frontage" of the lot--that is, how wide it was, or how much space it took up on the city street. So the taxes on a tall skinny house were lower than taxes on a wider house with fewer stories.