Old Spite House, Marblehead, MA , in 1912 In 1716, Thomas Wood, a sailmaker, built a house in
Marblehead, Massachusetts, that subsequently became known as the Old Spite House. One possibility is that it was inhabited by two brothers who occupied different sections, would not speak to each other, and each refused to sell to the other. Another explanation is that the house, just tall enough to block the view of two other houses on Orne Street, was built because its owner was upset about his tiny share of his father's estate and therefore decided to spoil his older brothers' views. The Old Spite House is still standing and occupied. Upset about his loss, McCobb built
a house directly across from the McCobb mansion to spite his stepmother.
Tyler Spite House, Frederick, MD . It is located at the southern terminus of Record Street. In 1814,
John Tyler, an
ophthalmologist and one of the first American-born physicians to perform a
cataract operation, owned a parcel of land near the courthouse square in
Frederick, Maryland. The city made plans to extend Record Street south through Tyler's land to meet
West Patrick Street.
Hollensbury Spite House, Alexandria, VA In 1830,
John Hollensbury's home in
Alexandria, Virginia, was one of two houses that directly bordered an alley that attracted an annoying lot of
horse-drawn wagon traffic and loiterers. To prevent people from using the alleyway, Hollensbury constructed a , , , two-story house using the existing brick walls of the adjacent houses for the sides of the new one. Each had previously inherited land from their deceased father. Schilling sold three-quarters of an acre of this land, on which a house eventually was built and became owned by James Falloon. and demolished in 1915. It was four stories tall, 104 feet (31.7 m) wide, and only five feet (1.5 m) deep. Joseph Richardson, the owner of the plot, built it after the owner of an adjacent plot, Hyman Sarner, unsuccessfully tried to purchase the land. Sarner considered the plot useless by itself and offered only $1000; Richardson demanded $5000. After the deal fell through, Richardson had an apartment building constructed on his land. It was a functional (albeit impractical) apartment building with eight suites, each consisting of three rooms and a bath.
Waldorf Hotel, New York City In the early 1890s, in the
Astor family,
William Waldorf Astor's mansion was next door to that of his aunt,
Caroline Webster Schermerhorn Astor, on the block later occupied by the
Empire State Building. He and his aunt did not get along well, and William replaced his mansion with a hotel, the original
Waldorf Hotel, in 1893. The building not only towered over his aunt's home, but also had no windows at all on the side facing the aunt's mansion.
Salem Spite House, Salem, MA At some point before 1898, a house was erected in
Salem, Massachusetts, to "cut off the view of a neighbor". After the owner died, his heirs agreed in 1898 to have the
Salem Spite House torn down to avoid a "vexatious lawsuit with the obnoxious neighbor". To spite his neighbor, the butcher built between their adjoining houses a narrow, two-story structure with windows covered by
Venetian blinds. The butcher's son got along with the family next door and eventually tore down the
Collinsville Spite House. The
Freeport Spite House is still standing and occupied. To spite both the city and an unsympathetic neighbor, Froling built a house deep, long and high on the tiny strip of land left to him. The children asked to erect a monument in the
churchyard in memory of Joseph's 41-year tenure at the church.
O'Reilly Spite House, Cambridge, MA , 2019 In 1908, Francis O'Reilly owned an investment parcel of land in
West Cambridge, Massachusetts, and approached his abutting land neighbor to sell the land for a gain. After the neighbor refused to buy the land, O'Reilly built a building, measuring long and only wide, to spite the neighbor.
Sam Kee Building, Vancouver The
Sam Kee Building, built in 1913 in
Vancouver, British Columbia, is a spite house and one of the narrowest commercial buildings in the world, considered the narrowest by
Guinness World Records. The city widened the street and took a large part of Kee's land, who then built a building on the remaining very small parcel of land.
Sarajevo Spite House, Sarajevo Before 1914, the
Austro-Hungarians who ruled
Sarajevo in
Bosnia and Herzegovina wanted land in the
Sarajevo Old Town district to build a city hall and library. The land had a house on it and, despite the offering of money to the owner, he refused and continued to refuse even when told that he had to move. The Pink House was demolished in 2025.
Montlake Spite House, Seattle, WA In 1925, according to one common story, a
Montlake, Seattle, Washington neighbor made an insultingly low offer for a tiny slice of adjoining land. Out of spite for the low offer, the builder built an house that blocked the neighbors' open space. The house is wide at the south end, and wide at the north end. As of 2025, the Montlake Spite House was still standing and occupied.
Skinny Building, Pittsburgh, PA The
Skinny Building is only 5 feet 2 inches (1.57 m) wide, rivaling the Sam Kee Building in Vancouver, which is considered the narrowest commercial building by
Guinness World Records. Its narrow lot was created in 1903 by a street widening project, and the building itself was constructed in 1926 by Louis Hendel (c. 1874–1945), partly out of spite for neighboring business owners who complained about him obstructing the sidewalk with his fruit-selling business. The building is still standing, and is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places as a contributing property in the
Fourth Avenue Historic District.
Kavanagh Building, Buenos Aires In 1934, Corina Kavanagh, of Irish descent, commissioned the building of a skyscraper in
Buenos Aires, the
Kavanagh Building, at the time the highest skyscraper in Latin America. Local legend holds that Kavanagh sought to arrange a marriage between one of her daughters and the son of the Anchorena family, one of the wealthiest and most traditional aristocratic families of the country; the Anchorenas, however, refused. Out of revenge, she had her high-rise building built between the
Anchorena's palace and the church the family had erected on the opposing side of the
adjoining square.
Virginia City Spite House, Virginia City, NV In the 1950s, two
Virginia City, Nevada, neighbors got into a dispute. When one of the men built a new house, the other bought the lot next to it and built a house less than from his neighbor's house in spite to deprive the neighbor of both view and breeze.
George Lucas' Grady Ranch, Marin County, CA Film producer
George Lucas wanted to construct a movie studio on land that he owned in
Marin County, California, but, after years' opposition, abandoned the project in 2012. Instead, he decided to construct a low-income housing development. While some sources have speculated that the low-income housing proposal was to spite the high-income residents in the wealthy county, Lucas himself rejected that characterization.
Equality House, Topeka, KS The
Westboro Baptist Church of
Topeka, Kansas, is infamous for its
anti-LGBT picketing. The humanitarian charity
Planting Peace purchased a house across the street from the church and, in 2013, had it painted to match the colors of the
rainbow pride flag. It was named the '
Equality House' and has received worldwide attention and media coverage. The houses provide shelter to volunteers
Victoria Hotel, Amsterdam The
Victoria Hotel in
Amsterdam,
Netherlands, is designed around two older properties, whose owners refused to sell. Located at 45 - 47 Prins Hendrikkade, the hotel was unable to purchase the two buildings due to high prices. This was explored in the Dutch book and subsequent film
Publieke werken (
Public Works). The film is also known as
A Noble Intention (2015).
Hess Triangle, New York City, NY The
Hess Triangle, got a lot of traction over viral videos showcasing how the government built roads around the house that refused to sell its property. This makes a very peculiar scene where the house is surrounded by roads that will most likely have vehicles running and it looks comical to outsiders. ==See also==