bright painted house - Bill Salvatore, Realty Excellence East Valley - Arizona Elite Properties

Where’s the Love? 5 Homes Built Out of Spite

We found this article both head-shaking and amusing and thought you would too. Enjoy!    ~~Bill

By Suzanne De Vita

Home is where the heart is…not. Spite houses—homes built to draw the ire of onlookers—have been a gesture of contempt for centuries, directed toward neighbors, local authorities, developers and other adversaries left wondering, “Where’s the love?”

Take a look at some of the most obnoxious spite homes below. Turns out good fences don’t make good neighbors!

The Froling Spite House

Located on a spit of land in Alameda, Calif., a city between Oakland and San Francisco, this 10-feet deep home was erected around the early 1900s by Charles Froling, whose dreams of building a home were dashed when the city seized the majority of the land to make way for a street.

The Hollensbury Spite House

At (an imposing) 325 square feet, this 1830 Alexandria, Va., home was built by John Hollensbury, owner of the neighboring properties pictured above, to prevent horse-drawn carriages and ne’er-do-wells from accessing the alley between the homes.

The Randall Spite House

Constructed in the 1800s by developer John Randall, this Long Island, N.Y, home, located in Freeport, sits on a triangular plot of land outside the parameters of a grid set by a rival builder.

The Skinny Spite House

Situated in the North End of Boston, Mass., this post-Civil War era home has more than one origin story. Locals say the entry-less home, 10.4 feet at its widest, was built by a soldier left with a sliver of land after his brother took the lion’s share of their father’s inheritance.

The Montlake Spite House

Constructed in 1925, this 860-square-foot home (left, yellow) in Seattle, Wash., is shaped like a slice of pie. Depending on who you ask, the home may have been built by an insulted land owner after a low-ball offer from the neighbor, or by a jilted divorcée left with a slice of land by her ex-husband.

This post was originally published on RISMedia’s blog, Housecall. Check the blog daily for winning real estate tips and trends.

Reprinted with permission from RISMedia. ©2016. All rights reserved.

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