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The second of the potential truths surrounding the construction of this tiny tenement is rooted far more in a neighbor's grudge. Legend has it that Mr. Hollensbury and his neighbor who occupied the home at 521 Queen Street were good friends early on in their relationship. However, as they continued to live next to each other, they began to have more frequent disagreements due to their close proximity to one another. Too large to properly fit in the alley, it frequently scraped the side of Mr. Hollensbury's home, damaging the brick he had worked so hard to make and build into his home. Their neighbor friendship continued to sour until the mid to late 1820s when, due to an unknown dispute, Mr. Hollensbury couldn't take it anymore.
Northend Spite House Boston Exterior
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Spite homes are often built as a means to annoy neighbors who may have wronged the homeowner. Spite houses can serve as a block to sunlight or a pretty view, an architectural eye sore, or a mere inconvenience. The Tyler Spite House is not nearly as small as the previous spite houses mentioned here and that’s because its construction wasn’t about views or neighborly disputes. Erected in 1832 by a man named John Tyler, this brick house was born from a property dispute. Legend has it that Tyler constructed the house to thwart the construction of a road that the city planned to build directly through his property. Today, this tiny house stands as an enduring symbol of one man’s determination to assert his property rights in a clever yet terribly spiteful way.
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Many spite houses in existence were built at a time when building codes weren’t as fine-tuned. As historic properties, they are often grandfathered in legally, despite not being up to modern day code. Some cities and counties around the United States are starting to amend their housing codes to accommodate smaller and narrower homes. The narrowest house in North America is the Hollensbury spite house in Alexandria, Virginia, mentioned above.
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Its most recent sale was on Jan. 18, 2022, when the house was purchased for $1.14 million. The interior of the Seattle spite house contains a lavish kitchen complete with a quaint nook and small windows above the sink. The living room is filled with natural light and guarded by the oval-shaped, bright white door. The O’Reilly spite house in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was originally built to satisfy a vendetta between neighbors.
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From the ingenious space utilization to the architectural defiance of norms, these houses encapsulate the resilience and determination of their creators. Their narratives reveal not only architectural innovation but also the emotional and social context in which they were conceived. The personal accounts shared by those involved in the preservation efforts shed light on the significance of these structures in preserving the heritage and character of Alexandria, VA. The Hollensbury Spite House stands out for its unique design elements, with a striking facade and an interior layout that defies conventional architectural norms.
Don't forget to visit the Lapham-Patterson House, a Victorian marvel near downtown. If you're still on the lookout for destinations, check out our favorite fall girlfriend getaway destinations and the South's most charming walkable girlfriend getaways, too. And if you're on the road at Christmastime, explore our picks for the best small towns for Christmas in the South—perfect locales to visit during the holiday season with your friends and family. If you find yourself with some free time, I strongly recommend paying a visit. The area boasts captivating cobblestone streets and colonial buildings that exude an enchanting charm, transporting you back in time.
The interior of the Georgetown spite house is architecturally historic, with a great deal of charm. The red wood floors, white walls, and charcoal black chimney surround a very open floorplan on the lower level. The house is complete with a kitchen, living room, sun room, and multiple bedrooms. In 1925, another neighborly feud served as the catalyst for the creation of the Montlake spite house. As the story goes, the original owner of the 3,090-square-foot parcel of land that the house was eventually built on was approached by his neighbor who wanted to buy this land. Spite homes are also used as rental properties for tourists, office buildings for companies who want to occupy a small space, coffee shops and bars, accessory dwelling units, and a myriad of other ways.
Exploring Spite Houses
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The Hollensbury Spite House (Alexandria, Virginia)
The Spite House (in blue), built in 1830, is 7 feet wide, about 25 feet deep and a whopping 325 square feet in two stories. It is located on Queen Street in the Old Town district in Alexandria, Va., just across the Potomac from Washington. The Spite House was built in 1830 by John Hollensbury, a city council member and brickmaker who owned the houses either side.
The final story we've uncovered is one of a much more favorable circumstance surrounding the construction of the humble home. Though not as scandalous as spite inspired construction, I actually like this one the best. Though I've not been able to uncover their exact ages, Mr. Hollensbury had two daughters in the early 19th century. Mr. Hollensbury loved his daughters very much and wanted to spoil them as best he could. As I mentioned, Mr. Hollendbury had success in Alexandria as a brick maker, so he leveraged his profession to spoil his daughters in the best way he knew how.
Out of his tremendous spite for these unwanted loiterers and passers by, Mr. Hollensbury constructed the tiny home to thwart the nuisance and provide he and his daughters with a good night's sleep...at last. Mr. Sammis said that the house was in pretty good shape when he bought it, but that he wanted to take it back to a more original look. So a friend, Matt Hannan, who had redone the patio space for him, took on the interior as well, adding period details and highlighting original elements like the brick walls and the wood floors. Mr. Hannan put the heating and cooling system in the tiny attic space and moved the water heater out of the kitchen and into an upstairs closet. Hollensbury’s seat on the Common Council might have given him the audacity to just build it without asking permission.
The story is that there were two brothers who owned a plot of land, while one brother was away at war the other brother built a large home on the land that left the absent brother a very small portion. When the brother returned to find just a sliver of the property left for him he built the Skinny House to block his brother’s view and the light into his home. Individuals can contribute $10 to SCAN at /playhouse to win this one-of-a-kind playhouse. The winner will be drawn on April 24, 2024, in conjunction with Spring2ACTion, Alexandria’s annual day of giving.
Born out of anger, revenge, or pure stubbornness the Spite House is a home that was built for no other reason than to spite a neighbor or government that made the owner’s life hell. In 2011, two local bloggers shared another story they heard about the origin of the Spite House. In this telling, Hollensbury, an Alexandria brickmaker, decided to use the bricks he had made in his profession to build his two daughters a small playhouse in the alley next to their home.
The soldier is said to have returned from war and built the narrow house out of spite, blocking his brother's views and sunlight. As you go through the front door, you enter the living room, with its charming exposed ceiling beams, painted brick walls and mantel, creating a faux fireplace the sofa and armchair group around. Hollensbury didn't work too hard on the structure of The Spite House – if anything he merely blocked the alley at either end, using the brick walls of the existing houses to provide the side walls. The gouges made by the wagon wheels were never repaired, and add character of the living room walls, something that's appreciated by the owners, who renovated it around 10 years ago. No matter the catalyst their friendship was irreparably fractured and Mr. Hollensbury could no longer stand being neighbors with the man he had developed such spite for.
In an area where space is a rarity and narrow or small homes are everywhere you turn (our house is only 15' wide), what does is take to claim the "bragging" rights for most miniature maison? Well, it takes some creative use of space and a neighborly grudge, or at least that's one story we've heard. Nearly two centuries later, it’s still an iconic part of Alexandria’s architecture. The Atlas Obscura Podcast is a short, daily celebration of all the world’s strange and wondrous places.
Whichever story is true, the scenario involving a man who built a home out of spite is the one that has made the Hollensbury Spite House a local landmark. It is one of four spite houses in Alexandria, the others being built in the 1800s as well. This kind of structure can be called an alley house or a tiny house, but Hollensbury’s motivations earned it the title of the Spite House. According to Visit Alexandria, it’s the skinniest historic home in the United States — although the recent tiny house movement means that smaller modern homes may be out there. What does the tiny house community have to do with feuds between neighbors?
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