"Maids' rooms"... Living in the smallest apartments in Paris has an unexpected advantage

The “maids’ rooms” in Paris, also known as “Chambres de Pont,” are among the smallest apartments that can be rented in the French capital. Originally built to accommodate domestic workers, some are less than 100 square feet.

These rooms are hidden on the upper floors of some of Paris's most luxurious buildings, and often offer stunning views of the city. As of 2022, there are still more than 90,000 of these small apartments spread across Paris.

Saskia Vandoorne from Ofoq News visited one of these apartments. Anatoly Novikov is an engineering student and has made this place his home for the past year.

He pays about $800 a month for rent, which is high for the space, but still less than the cost of most apartments in Paris. Novikov sees it as a trade-off. “In engineering, there are no perfectly good solutions, only trade-offs,” he said.

The trade-off here, for him, is “giving up space in exchange for location.” It's not just Parisians willing to live in these tiny residences, tourists do too, paying up to $140 per night to stay in the heart of Paris.

She bought the apartment of her dreams, but it is reserved until the occupant dies