People create buildings for all kinds of different reasons. You could be designing your dream home, creating a public space, or producing a commercial or industrial facility. We’ve got experience with all of them and give clients the chance to work with the best architects in London. However, sometimes motivations aren’t as positive. There are some situations where people create “spite architecture”. We want to have a look at that today.
What is it?
As you can tell from the name, the idea here is people build with spite as their motivation. They may do it to make a point, to get back at neighbours or family members, or simply to cause irritation. Surprisingly though, some of these buildings can become iconic.
Some examples
One of the most famous examples is in Beirut, Lebanon. It is known as Al Ba’sa, which translates to The Grudge. The story is two brothers were feuding over land they inherited. One brother built a home on a tiny sliver of the site in 1954. It is the thinnest house in the city, just 60cm at the narrowest point and 13 feet at the widest. The goal of the building was to block the other brother’s sea views. It also hurt the value of that property. Even more impressively, Ba’sa is a tourist attraction today in one of the prime spots in Beirut.
An older example is Inat Kuca or Spite House in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The property dates back to 1879. The story is that the Austro-Hungarian monarchy wanted to build a new town hall on the original site of the property as part of their beautification of the city. However, the owner refused to make way for the building unless his home was carefully dismantled and rebuilt on the other side of the river. Incredibly, the monarchy agreed and today Inat Kuca is a symbol of not just spite but also courage.
The most impressive piece of spite architecture is probably the Kavanagh Building in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The skyscraper is 33 storeys tall. It was built in 1936 after the Anchorena’s, an aristocratic family, forced Cora Kavanagh to break off a relationship with a member of the family because she was not an aristocrat. The skyscraper blocked the family’s view of their church from their palace. At the time it was also the tallest building in Latin America. Even better, today it is a beloved landmark as well as a National Historic Monument of Argentina.
In the UK there is a great example in Calderdale, West Yorkshire. The 77m tall Wainhouse Tower was a response to dignitary Sir Henry Edwards. He had been boasting of his estate and how private it was. So, his neighbour John Wainhouse built the tower in the 1870s with a viewing platform to overlook it and annoy Edwards.
Do you need help from architects in London?
The whole idea of spite architecture is interesting because it shows that buildings can have a great deal of power. However, the ideal thing would be to create structures that don’t cause problems like overlooking or blocking views.
If you want to design a property with help from leading architects in London, you should speak to us. We have plenty of experience so we can deliver the most innovative solutions.