The amazing house that goes unnoticed by thousands of passersby every day without them realizing it’s there

In the centre of the city of Porto in Portugal is a fascinating house – but thousands walk past it every day without noticing. 

Casa Escondido, the “narrowest house” in the city, measures just 1.5 meters wide and is situated snugly between the Igreja dos Carmelitas and Igreja do Carmo churches.

The building looks like one enormous church at a first glance – but it’s actually three separate buildings. 

The house is incredibly slim, resembling more of a wall with its plain green door and two windows, camouflaging it in its surroundings.

The unique structure featured in tonight’s episode of George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces on Channel 4, where the host took viewers inside. 

Built in 1768, the property was surprisingly spacious, with a living room, bedroom, study and bedroom – looking like something out of Harry Potter. 

Upon entering, George marveled, “This is truly remarkable.” He observed that the front door is slightly over a meter wide, appearing to open just a fraction to create a bit more space.

Inside was an impressive spiral staircase, as the building spread out over three floors.

George explained that the church on the left was built for Carmelite nuns in the seventeenth century, with the church on the right for monks in the eighteenth century. 

The ‘secret house’ in between was supposedly built to separate the monks and nuns – while other local rumours suggest it could have been down to legal regulations stating that two churches couldn’t share a wall. 

George explained: ‘What’s amazing is that inside, it’s so simple. You’ve got two decorative churches either side, and in between is just whitewashed walls, timber flooring. It’s like being in a monk’s cell.

‘Thousands of people must walk past this building every single day and have no idea that that’s there.’

The property was inhabited until the 1980s by chaplains, artists, doctors and the church’s caretaker. 

Despite the pared-back interior, visitors can soon find themselves in the opulence of the church simply by walking through a curtain.  

Curious travellers can even take a look for themselves, with tickets costing five euros including access to the museum. 

Last week, George was left speechless by the ‘best’ campervan renovation he’d ever seen. 

Back in 2019, James Catling had left his job as a property developer to follow his lifelong dream of restoring old Airstream silver bullet campervans in Oxfordshire. 

He’d flown to Boston in the hope of claiming one of the most priceless models of them all – a 1947 Airstream, currently the seventh oldest in the world. 

His find was incredibly rare – with original Airstream signs on the back and front, only used in the first few years of their production. 

But battered and lacking in its famous shine, the prized find needed hours of work and ‘deep pockets’ to restore to its original state. 

The episode witnessed James polishing the metal to make it look brand new, adding 800 new rivets and new panels, all while staying within his £40,000 budget. 

And when George returned to see the final result at the end of the episode, he was simply blown away. 

‘This looks absolutely amazing,’ he said, adding it was ‘the best’ he’d ever seen ‘without a shadow of a doubt’. 

George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces airs at 9pm on Tuesdays on Channel 4.