10 buildings that were built or modified out of spite
Every now and then buildings are built not out of necessity or passion, but out of spite. These so-called grudge houses are built or modified with the specific intention of annoying the neighbors. Although their original purpose is to annoy, they occasionally become tourist attractions. Here are 10 of the most interesting (and sometimes strange!) buildings that were modified or built out of spite.
Related: 10 Creepy Ghost Towns Left Behind by the Soviet Union
10 Carbisdale Castle in Scotland
In 1889, Mary Caroline Blair married George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 3rd Duke of Sutherland. She became the Duchess of Sutherland, much to the dismay of his family. It should come as no surprise that when he died in 1892, his will was contested. In an attempt to secure a significant inheritance, the Duchess burned documents, but she was found guilty of the crime and spent six weeks in prison.
The family decided to buy her off by giving her money to build a castle, as long as it was outside their estate. Feeling slighted, the Duchess bought a plot of land on the edge of the estate and had her castle built on a hill overlooking their land so that it would be visible from large parts of their property. In addition to a hateful backstory, the castle comes with 20 acres of land and a lake.[1]
9 Wonder House in New York, USA
In the early 20th century, real estate developer John Randall was irritated to learn that a rival developer had plans for a grid layout in Freeport, New York, which he opposed. He had to act quickly if he wanted to stop them, so he had a grudge house built in one day on a triangular piece of land that was right in the way. This move forced the developers to bend the road to accommodate the already built house.
Today, a marker near the house reads: “Built in a day to withstand the efforts of a competitor in a real estate development race. This forever changed the layout of Lena Avenue and added Wilson Place. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that Randall opposed the planned subdivision because “a straight line would reduce his plot of land and make it worthless.”[2]
8 The Cake House in Connecticut, USA
Gaylordsville, Connecticut, is home to a dilapidated grudge house that resembles a five-story wedding cake. The strange house was built in protest by Jan Pol after authorities took custody of his 15-year-old foster daughter and her baby in 1961. Pol was accused of fathering the baby himself, which he vehemently denied. In addition to erecting the cake-like building along Route 7 in protest, he also published a book, Jan Pol: The passage of my life (1977), to give his version of events.
Commenting on his foster daughter’s pregnancy, he says, “I couldn’t chain the girl up and always watch what she was doing.” No criminal charges were filed against him, but custody was never reinstated. He had hoped that he and his wife would be reunited with the girls and that they would all be able to live in the house, but that never happened.[3]
7 The Equality House in Kansas, USA
In 2012, a photo of nine-year-old Josef Miles standing outside the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, holding a sign that read “God hates no one” went viral. This was in response to members of the Church aggressively protesting the funerals of veterans, their logic being that the soldiers died defending a country that supports homosexuality, which the Church strongly opposes.
Aaron Jackson, co-founder of the charity Planting Peace, saw the photo and upon looking at it discovered that a house across the street from the church was for sale. “I’m going to buy that house and paint it the color of the pride flag,” he concluded. That house had already sold, but another house nearby, at the corner of 12th and SW Orleans streets, was available, so he picked it up for $81,000.
Contractor Mike McKessor, a military veteran, agreed to do the paint job because “I don’t like them [Westboro] messing with veterans.” It is called the ‘Equality House’ and is used as an information center for planting peace. Westboro told CNN that they “thank God for the sodomite rainbow house. It is right across the street from the only church that loves people enough to tell them the Biblical truth about the filthy, soul-destroying, nation-destroying sin of sodomy… The Sodomite Rainbow House helps shine a bright light on this!”[4]
6 Marino Crescent in Ireland
James Caulfield, the Earl of Charlemont, was particularly fond of the picturesque view from Marino House in Clontarf, Dublin, which took in its extensive gardens and the sea beyond. He even built a summer house nearby, Casino in Marino (“Casino” in this context means “little house,” not “gambling den”), to better enjoy the view.
Caulfield was therefore annoyed when he found out that property developer Charlie Ffolliott was going to build a crescent of houses that would partially block his sea views. He tried to stop Ffolliott by overcharging him for the toll road that had to be used to bring building materials to the site. As a result, Ffolliott was forced to bring the materials in by sea on a barge, so he retaliated by deliberately blocking the earl’s view as much as possible.
Ffolliott made the two central houses in the crescent larger than the rest because they were in the direct line of sight of the earl’s living room, and although the houses look elegant from the front, from the earl’s perspective they are at the back deliberately irregular, with windows of different sizes and random outbuildings. The houses were completed in 1792 and in 1847 number 15 served as the birthplace of Dracula author Bram Stoker.[5]
5 Hollensbury Spite House in Virginia, USA
At 523 Queen Street, Alexandria, Virginia, stands one of America’s smallest houses, known as Hollensbury Spite House. The two-storey house is currently painted bright blue and is only just over 2 meters wide and 11 meters deep. There are a few variations on the story behind the construction of the tiny house. Yet all versions agree that it was built in 1830 by brickmaker John Hollensbury, who lived at 525 Queen Street.
The most popular origin story is that Hollensbury was fed up with the noise of people and carriages passing through the alley. It is suggested that his neighbor was the perpetrator of the carriage noise. So he decided to put an end to it by filling the small space with a house. Wear and damage from carriage wheels can be seen on the inside of the building, as the brickwork remains exposed.
Alexandria’s Old Town is also home to three other similar houses built into alleys, but none are as small as Hollensbury’s creation.[6]
4 Alameda Spite House in California, USA
The grudge house in Alameda, California, is another one with an unclear history. The house is 16 meters long, but only 3.5 meters wide at its widest point and is very close to the neighboring house. It was certainly built in 1908 by Charles Froling, but his reason for doing so is not certain.
The most common backstory is that the city of Alameda seized much of Froling’s land to build Crist Street. His neighbor wasn’t willing to endanger their land at the time, so he pitched the house to block their sunlight. However, the home’s current owner, Jennifer Jacobson, says Crist Street actually already existed. She believes the house was built because of bad blood between two brothers.
Supposedly the brothers inherited the land, and one sold the vast majority of it while the other was absent, prompting the jilted brother to build the meager estate on the land that remained. But Jacobson admits, “I haven’t been able to verify any of the stories, so I’m not sure what the real history is.”[7]
3 Wainhouse Tower in England
The greatest folly in the world is the 84 meter high Wainhouse Tower in Halifax, Calderdale. John Edward Wainhouse owned a paint factory and had to build a chimney to prevent plumes of smoke from settling in the town. Wainhouse had a long-standing feud with Sir Henry Edwards, who lived near the factory. So he decided to use the chimney to his advantage.
Edwards had boasted that his Pye Nest estate was completely private and not visible from other houses in the area. So Wainhouse pettily built his chimney bigger than necessary and added a viewing platform at the top to overlook the estate and put an end to Edwards’ boasting. The ornate tower was completed in 1875 and actually features two viewing platforms. The first can be reached by climbing 369 steps, while the second, which is not open to the public, goes up 405 steps. The tower was ultimately never used as a chimney.[8]
2 The resentment in Lebanon
The thinnest building in Lebanon, known as ‘The Grudge’ (‘al-Ba’sa’ in Arabic), is a testament to how far sibling rivalry can go. The building, found in Beirut, is essentially a glorified wall – measuring 4.3 meters at its widest point, but narrowing to just 0.6 meters at the other end – blocking the view of the building behind it.
Urban planner and architect Sandra Rishani began researching the building’s history when she heard about it from her father. According to him: “There were two brothers who each inherited a plot of land. Let’s call them plot A and plot B. Unable to agree on the development of the two parts, as plot B was partially reclaimed by the road infrastructure, the owner of plot B decided to develop the tiny piece of land himself. In this way, he hoped that his building would block his brother’s view of the sea, reducing the value of his land.”
Built in 1954, the sleek building happened to be designed by two other brothers, architects Salah and Fawzi Itan (who were on better terms with each other). Although the building is now vacant, it was once occupied and each floor was divided into two apartments. The rooms are in a row, with each room becoming narrower.[9]
1 The Kavanagh Building in Argentina
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and there’s no better proof of that than Porteña Corina Kavanagh, who built a skyscraper in Buenos Aires out of spite. The story goes that Corina fell in love with the son and heir of the aristocratic Anchorena family. His parents disapproved of their relationship and ended it because, although she was wealthy, she was not of nobility. Corina decided to take revenge by building the tallest building in South America (at the time of its completion in 1936), right where it would hinder the family.
The Anchorenas lived in a palace on the San Martín Plaza and had built a large church on the other side of the square, the Basilica del Santísimo Sacramento, which they could see from their windows. Corina placed her Art Deco and Rationalist style Kavanagh building, which is 120 meters high, directly opposite the church, blocking the family’s view.[10]