We’ve all heard of weird apartment move-in stories, though this one certainly takes the cake for 2023. An apartment in Newcastle, U.K., gained significant attention on TikTok this past week due to its unique design, which resembles a never-ending hallway.
A viral video shared by TikTok’er @cringedgg showcases the apartment, revealing a series of closed doors lined up in narrow passageways. It’s an eerie sight.
Traditionally, when you think about your standard apartment layout, you think about a foyer or entrance leading to an open living room, with other hallways branching off to different closets and bedrooms. This was certainly not that style of apartment.
In the TikTok video, you get highlights of just how distinctive this apartment is. It’s almost a Chris Nolan-style piece of property, where the hallways and doors create a unique “Inception” like an illusion.
When @cringedgg steps out of the end of one hallway, he seamlessly enters another. You get this strange and uninterrupted flow of interconnected spaces without any rhyme or reason.
The video starts inside the hallway of your typical-looking apartment building. They proceed to their own unit, unlocking the door to unveil what gives off a surprising resemblance to the hallway they had just entered.
With a text overlay in the clip, you can see @cringedgg saying, “Did I accidentally rent a hallway instead of an apartment?”
The video reveals a sequence of compact corridors and distinct doors within the building, all of which seem to be partitioned to provide individual privacy for each room.
Another little piece of overlay text appears over the video, stating, “The most ordinary apartment in Newcastle,” followed by a skull emoji.
Of course, plenty of viewers were quick to express their disbelief in this strange and psychedelic apartment layout, considering it far from conventional.
“Looks like some kind of torture house you create in The Sims,” one TikTok user joked.
Other users were nothing short of intrigued about the apartment, and many people kept asking to see behind the doors in the hallways. One user even commented, “Show us what’s behind those doors right now!”
Some other armchair experts commented about the apartment’s structural issues, noting that trying to bring any large furniture in through these hallways must have been a nightmare. We mean, just think about trying to move a big couch in there. A grand piano? Forget about it!
One user commented, “Trying to get a mattress in there would be absolutely crazy.”
What we didn’t expect to hear was that a few other Newcastle locals said this was a pretty typical apartment layout you’d find in the area. Another user noted, “Yup, this is your average Newcastle layout. God, I hate it here. Definitely need to get away.”
Of course, this apartment isn’t the first wild-looking apartment that’s gone social media viral. In fact, a New York City apartment went completely viral in 2021 for having a weird mismatch of rhombus-shaped room arrangements and walls.
Anyone that has ever lived in New York City knows that there’s no shortage of strange-looking apartments, and with the advent of social media, we’re starting to see more and more of them. According to the City Signal, a lot of this has to do with the outdated city legislation for housing.
In 1901, the city of New York passed the Tenement House Act. This forced the city’s building owners to install kitchen sinks and pipes in the apartments of their tenants. The problem was that many of these building owners didn’t know the first thing about building, which is why so many appliances with running water were put into just about any place that they could fit.
In fact, according to the City Signal outlet, this is one of the biggest issues with outdated Tenement buildings.
The Chronicle Live outlet noted that Newcastle is actually one of the best places for young Millennials on a budget looking for homes. Of the 20 major metropolitan cities in the U.K., it’s the second cheapest.
We’re guessing this recently viral apartment may have been more conducive to multiple renters when it first came about, as these extra hallways provided more privacy.
