These people really held a grudge and their grumpiness has left a lasting impression.
While some might annoy their neighbours temporarily with towering hedges or eye-watering paintwork, these folk took their feuds so seriously, they actually built Spite Houses!
Nowadays, regulations mean such structures are unlikely to be built- although in the UK there’ve been some memorable straw castles and duck houses that try to bend the rules.
But the human capacity for bearing a grudge has left its mark on the world.
From weird shaped buildings to stinging epitaphs here are 11 places around the world deliberately designed to annoy friends, family or the authorities.
Alexandria Spite House, Virginia
The city is so proud of this bright blue house in Queen Street it even features on Christmas decorations.
At seven foot wide it’s the narrowest house in America, and was supposedly built by John Hollensbury, who was tired of horse-drawn carriages coming down the narrow street and hitting the walls of his house.
The city is home to several other ‘alley-houses’, built to make the most of small spaces, but they don’t seem to have any horrible history.
O’Reilly Spite House, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Francis O’Reilly was an entrepreneur and businessman who liked to get his own way.
When a neighbour refused to buy a parcel of land Francis had bought as an investment, he went ahead and built a tiny house there in 1908.
It’s still in use today as an office, because at just 308 square foot it’s not exactly spacious.
Skinny House, Boston
Four storeys high but only 10 feet across at its widest point, the Skinny House was built somewhere around 1874, when two brothers inherited land from their father.
While one was away serving in the military, the other constructed a large home, leaving only a shred of land for his sibling.
When the soldier returned, he built a tiny house, to spite his brother, blocking the sunlight and ruining the view.
The house stands near the top of Copp’s Hill, just across from the city’s historic burial ground.
Oh and if you’re interested it’s currently on the market for a cool $1.2M!
Al Ba’sa (The Grudge), Beirut
Another brotherly spite house, Al Ba’sa is a little over 13 feet at its widest point, and just around 2 feet at its narrowest.
When the brothers inherited a portion of odd-shaped land they couldn’t decide on a fair split. One decided to stake his claim putting a house that fitted his portion exactly, completely blocking his brother’s ocean view in the process.
It looks more like a wall than a place to live, but it’s had its share of tenants over the years.
Under the current planning rules the land is too small for re-development so Al Ba’sa is likely to exist for years to come – a truly long-lasting grudge.
Adamsville Spite Tower, Rhode Island
Not just a house, but a whole tower, supposedly built out of spite. The facts are, as is so often the case with spite houses, in dispute.
It was certainly built in 1905 by Dr John Hathaway and his second wife Claudia Church.
Some say it was deliberately positioned after a row with Hathaway’s best friend Abraham Manchester. It blocked the line of sight between Abraham’s store and home so he couldn’t see when his family signalled that his dinner was ready!
Others say it came about after an unhappy love affair.
The boring story is probably the truth.
The three storey structure is a water tower built on the site of a well. It once had a well-house, water tank and accommodation for the Hathaway’s chauffeur.
Alameda Spite House, California
This one’s a double whammy – managing to piss off both the authorities and a neighbour in one fell swoop.
Charles Froling inherited land in the San Francisco Bay area and planned to build his dream house there.
Enter the city of Alameda authorities who teamed up with Froling’s neighbour to take a large portion of the plot to create Crist Street.
Undeterred, Froling went ahead and built his house anyway – ten foot wide, fifty-four foot long and twenty foot tall. He even named it Spite House.
Not a dream house but a nightmare for his neighbour!
The Pink House, Plum Island, Massachusetts
An abandoned house sits on the edge of a salt marsh, attracting photographers and anyone with an interest in love-lives gone wrong.
Local legend says the house was built during a particularly messy divorce.
The soon-to-be-ex-wife stipulated the husband should provide an exact replica of the family home for her to live in.
He agreed to the deal but put it in the most isolated place he could find, out of pure spite.
Today there’s a society of volunteers devoted to keeping the house alive and researching its real story.
It seems the house has seen more happy times than grudges, but there definitely is a tale of family discord at its heart.
Whatever the truth, the Pink House is now alone and uninhabited, except for the local wildlife.
Freeport Spite House, New York
In 1906 developer John Randall was so opposed to idea of the town being laid out in a grid that he put up a Victorian house almost overnight.
The town designers had to concede and amend their plans.
The so called ‘miracle house’ still stands on the triangular plot at the corner of Lena Avenue and Wilson Place.
Sam Kee building, Vancouver
This is possibly the narrowest commercial building in the world, but was it built out of spite or business sense?
Wealthy businessman Mr. Chang Toy, who was also known as Sam Kee, bought a standard sized lot in 1903. But in 1912 Pender Street was widened, taking away 24 feet of the above-ground portion.
Legend says someone bet Chang Toy that he couldn’t use the land for anything, so he commissioned architects to design a narrow, steel-framed building at street level with an overhanging top floor.
Challenge accepted!
The basement housed public baths, the ground floor offices and the top floor living quarters. And so Sam Kee carried on trading.
Today it’s a tourist attraction and insurance office.
Hendel building, aka Skinny Building, Pittsburgh
Challenging Sam Kee for the world record title of narrowest commercial building is the work of Louis Hendel.
He built his 3 storey emporium to spite neighbours who’d complained about him selling fruit on the sidewalk.
At just over 5 feet wide it’s totally impractical and the upper floors haven’t seen much use, but the ground floor’s been home to a number of businesses over the years.
The Dove Tavern, London
The world of bookbinding and printing seems an unlikely breeding ground for spite and revenge, but this pub in Hammersmith has the evidence.
The inn’s been around since the seventeenth century and has seen a lot of life.
Charles II romanced Nell Gwynne there, Rule Britannia was composed at the bar (perhaps during a boozy sing-a-long session) and writer AP Herbert put it in his book The Water Babies, thinly disguised as The Pigeons.
But it’s the commercial conflict of a pair of printers that gave birth to its biggest feud.
Thomas James Cobden-Sanderson wanted to create the most beautiful font ever and set up The Dove’s Press, with partner Emery Walker. They named the printing press and the font after their local boozer.
The Dove’s Font was, indeed, beautiful and the Dove’s Bible printed in 1904 was acclaimed as a work of art.
But soon their business relationship broke down. Rather than let his former pal inherit a going concern, Thomas began to throw his typeface bit by bit into the River Thames. By 1917 it was all gone.
Fast forward to 2014. Designer Robert Green got permission for a dive in the Thames and 150 pieces of the original printing blocks were recovered.
His digital facsimile of the font can now be seen while sipping a pint at The Dove.
And today an original Dove’s Bible is extremely rare and very valuable.
Would you build a house or destroy your life’s work to spite someone?
Where to next?
• Postcard from Cornwall
• Les Machines de L’ile, Nantes
• Global Convoy – on the road to adventure