They say revenge is a dish best served cold. If that means a massive, unflattering statue of your ex that will last hundreds of years, so much the better
Donald Trump isn’t a man to let bygones be bygones. The US president has now had his nemesis, former FBI director James Comey, indicted on corruption charges – and supporters claim he’s only just started getting back at his political enemies.
But is the Orange Manbaby missing a trick? For true connoisseurs of pettiness, only ‘spite architecture’ really does the job. Here we meet the people who wanted their grudge set in stone…
Hell cat
In Riga, Latvia, one man’s public strop became an unofficial symbol of the city. According to legend, it all started in the early 1900s, when a businessman was turned down for membership of the local merchant’s guild.
The furious trader, whose name has been lost to history, got his own back by building a medieval-inspired mansion opposite the Great Guild headquarters. High on the rooftops, he commissioned two sculptures of angry-looking cats – their backsides pointing directly towards his foes.
It’s said that the Great Guild did not take it well and eventually sued to have the moggies turned away from their building. But the 1909 ‘Cat House,’ designed by architect Frederick Scheffel, is still a popular tourist destination.
Trouble and strife
Also in Riga – home of angry buildings – stand the art nouveau creations of early 1900s architect Mikhail Eisenstein. And it’s fair to say he seemed to have a problem with women.
From all over the spectacular facades of his buildings, female faces glare down at passers-by. But they don’t exactly look friendly. Their expressions range from angry to sad and disgusted.
In one notable exception, at 2a Albert Street, two naked ladies are seen cheerfully dancing and waving torches. But look down and you notice that they’re standing on agonised male faces.
Eisenstein is said to have been inspired by his wife Yulia, who left him in 1909 after having an affair with a general. After their 1912 divorce, his work became far less prolific.
Losing the plot
Over in Beirut, Lebanon, a sliver-thin building is known to the locals as Al Ba’sa (The Grudge). Standing just two feet wide at its narrowest point, it was built in 1954 as a magnificent act of spite.
According to a story shared by locals, it started when two brothers inherited a beachfront plot of land from their dad. They couldn’t agree on how to split it – and to make matters worse, part of it was taken into road infrastructure.
Eventually, one of them built The Grudge with the sole purpose of blocking the other’s sea view and devaluing his land. It spans 14 feet at its widest point and has been used as a brothel and to house refugees.
Brick pain
In Sarajevo, Bosnia, a 17 th century property is known to the locals as Inat Kuca (Spite House). Now a popular restaurant, it’s located on the left side of the Miljacka River – but it wasn’t always.
It was built on the opposite bank, where the Austro-Hungarian government started work on a new city hall in 1892. They demolished several houses in their way, before reaching one owned by a stubborn old man called Benderija.
He flatly refused to move, even after being offered more money than the building was worth. Then in 1895, he finally agreed to the extravagant price of a sackful of gold ducats – but on one condition.
The authorities would need to move the house, brick by brick, and rebuild it on the other side of the river. Benderija apparently sat, smoking cigarettes, to watch the whole operation.
Over the rainbow
The Westboro Baptist Church is famous for its charming slogan “God hates fags.” Members have been known to picket funerals, including that of gay Wyoming student Matthew Shepard, who was murdered in a 1998 hate crime.
The anti-gay obsessives are based in Topeka, Kansas, where charity worker Aaron Jackson bought a house in 2012 – directly opposite their headquarters. To show his objections to their shocking views, he decided to paint it in the colours of the rainbow flag.
Aaron insisted he wasn’t “trying to start a war,” while Westboro branded his home “a monument to glorify sin.” It is now a local landmark known as Equality House and the headquarters of charity Planting Peace.
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