Alameda Spite House

Alameda Spite House

As the result of a dispute between neighbors, the house on the left, was built to spite the neighbor (on the right) blocking their view. As you can see, the first floor of the "Spite" House is not much wider than an automobile. Located in Alameda, California.

Lat. 37.761848 Lon -122.240040

Created by: Pinetree3.

Tools Used: Canon PowerShot S1 IS, Picasa2

Created on: May, 2005

Image Views: 3,889

Average Views per Day: 3.6

Image Number: 12561

Comments:

Steve from across street from Spite house on Dec 28, 2007 at 12:50 PM said:

Great comments... only one I know is wrong - the spite house does not block view of bay for original house. Spite house is on east side of original house and blocks view of Oakland hills.

TravlynWomyn from Bushkill, PA - for awhile on Jul 7, 2007 at 12:10 AM said:

Great image, Alex and a fantastic read by all the contributors. How terrific to get input from the current owners and a relative of the former tenant. Thank you everybody for bringing this image alive for all of us. Vicki

jsimonic from the boston spite house on May 14, 2007 at 9:13 PM said:

How narrow is your house?

Dudley Stadler from Louisiana on Oct 13, 2006 at 7:29 PM said:

These stories are indeed quite interesting. I love it. I thought it was only one house when I first saw it.

Alex D. from Alameda, CA on Oct 7, 2006 at 7:20 AM said:

Here is a link to the HGTV website with information about the story on the house including Episode number and dates/times.

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/shows_hwth/episode/0,,HGTV_24598_44526,00.html

Matt from Dickinson on Oct 2, 2006 at 3:37 PM said:

This is a pretty good website but I didn't find what I was looking for but thanks anyway

SanDee Darcey from Tracy, Calif. on Sep 17, 2006 at 5:50 PM said:

Garret-- Do you know what the title of the show is? I checked the HGTV web site but there are several shows. Thank You

Garret from Across the street (Crist) on Sep 16, 2006 at 8:56 PM said:

HGTV is supposed to air their show on Oct 1, 2006. I do not know the exact time.

J.Jacobson from Alameda on Sep 12, 2006 at 4:55 PM said:

Alex did not listen.It was never "said" that the spite house owner went mad and killed herslf.It was the woman in the big house next door who became distressed that all the windows were blocked on that side of her house and she feared her rooming house business would be affected.She had more problems than this,of course.

The tv show has not aired yet proably in the next month or so.

SanDee Darcey from Tracy, Calif. on Sep 12, 2006 at 2:53 PM said:

To JJacobson in the "Spite House" It is good to see a nice color on the house finally. I never liked the brick red color. I am hoping to come back to Alameda in the near future and would love to see the inside of the house once again. I haven't been inside the house since my Grandmaother passed away in 1968. The house was in real bad shape then. I really wish my Aunts hadn't sold it.

Alex D. from Alameda, CA on Sep 6, 2006 at 6:33 PM said:

San Dee,

I suspect the story about your grandmother going mad, probably grew from local gossip to explain why the house was abandoned for a period of time.

I was told the HGTV special was scheduled to be on sometime in August, but I never saw it. I suggest the next time you are in Alameda, you stop by the house and drop in on the current owners Jennifer and Jim.

They are nice people, very accomodating and interested in the house's history. They have done some recent rennovating and I am sure they will be happy to show you around.

SanDee Darcey from Tracy,Calif. on Sep 6, 2006 at 7:29 AM said:

Your welcome, I had no idea that people thought my Grandmother went mad. She was very religous but i don't recall any stoies of exorcisms in the house. I do know that she had a few too many cats.The only time I was in the house was shortly after her death. I have been back to the house several times but have never been inside. I wish really that my Aunts hadn't sold ot, but it was too costly to repair I guess. My Grandmothers name was Elsie Darcey. I hope to go out there again soon. I plan to visit the Alameda Museum. They have told me they have a small section on the house so I would like to see that. Do you know when that special ran on HGTV? I missed it, never have watched that station. Also do you do a lot of research on this house? Thank You SanDee Darcey

Alex D. from Alameda, CA on Sep 6, 2006 at 1:58 AM said:

Thanks for the clarification. There are many stories and myths about this house, it is good to get a few facts. It is especially nice to hear it from someone close to the source.

SanDee Darcey from Tracy,Calif. on Sep 5, 2006 at 5:36 PM said:

To Alex D.--As to the woman who supposedly went mad because the house was haunted. My Grandmother did not go mad and she died of old age. She stopped living in the house because she had to be placed in a home. The house fell into disaray because no-one was living there. My aunts sold it after her death in 1968.

Alex D. from Alameda, CA on Jul 20, 2006 at 5:38 AM said:

Based on the previous comment, I took the opportunity to visit the Spite House again and met the owners. It is their opinion, that the previous story is one of several legends about the history of the house. Based on their research, they believe that a the original owner of the first house had a small parcel of the land adjacent to the house, and thought to be useless because it was too small. In an effort to raise some additional money they sold the piece of land to an enterprising individual who turned out to be a carpenter. That person, began building on the site, which evolved into a dispute, and ended with the completion of the Spite house.

But the story gets more interesting...The house later came into the possession of a woman. She believed the house to be haunted. Furniture was found moved around, etc. She became quite agitated by the haunting. More than three exorcisms were conducted at the site. She later abandoned the house, which fell into disrepair. It is said that she ultimately went mad and committed suicide.

Later the house was sold again to the owner of the larger house next door and rebuilt. A connecting passageway was built between the two homes. The smaller of the two houses (the "Spite House") became a party house with a bar taking up most of the lower floor.

About 8 years ago the current owners purchased the house and have been rennovating. In fact, the house has been repainted on the outside since this picture was taken.

I suspect that every local historian has a different version of the story.

It turns out that there are several "spite" houses located around the country. This one claims to be the narrowest freestanding structure among them.

This August, there will be a show on HGTV devoted to the house.

Bob H from Manteca CA on Jul 18, 2006 at 7:36 PM said:

The actual dispute was between brothers. Story goes that a man had two sons, one was estranged. When the father died, he split the property between the sons, giving the sliver to the estranged son knowing he wouldn't be able to do anything with the space. To prove the father wrong, the son built this house to block the view of the bay from the favored son's house - out of spite.

jjacobson from in the spite house on Dec 13, 2005 at 11:36 AM said:

Nice photo.There are tourists to our house almost everyday,j

Shutterbug from Maine on Jul 4, 2005 at 8:42 AM said:

Nice Picture and story, hard to believe anyone would do that, very interesting.

Carol

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