

Is this the most spacious 425-square-foot apartment on the Upper West Side? It's definitely a contender. Owner Huxley Somerville is a finance exec who bought the space for $95,000 in 1994, telling the Times he saw it as an ugly duckling. A compartmentalized duplex on the fourth and fifth floors of a 73rd Street walk-up, it had a distinct living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and terrace across multiple levels. Despite the condition, he and his wife lived there until '97, then rented it out, till their tenant eventually left, too.

So, almost 15 years post-purchase, they decided to overhaul the recent-college-grad pad into a pied-a-terre, hiring Specht Harpman Architects to do the job. A dramatic renovation worth $400,000 later, and the space is functional, high-ceilinged, and surprisingly open, with ample light from the rooftop terrace that streams down into the living space thanks to a bedroom cantilevered over the kitchen and bathroom by the entryway. "In a small apartment, most things have to do double duty," Harpman said. The coffee table, for example, rises into a full-height dining table, and extra chairs are stored under the stairs. While it's not the tiniest apartment in the city, as Bloomberg claimed, it certainly is a small space done right.

· The Most Spacious 425-Square-Foot Apartment on the UWS [Curbed]

· Watch the Dramatic Transformation of an NYC 'Micro Loft' [Curbed]

· Microdwellings archive [Curbed]