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115-536: The Hollensbury Spite House is a spite house located at 523 Queen Street in Alexandria, Virginia . The narrow building measures 7-feet 6-inches (2.3 m) wide and is often called the skinniest house in the United States. The house has drawn international attention, being covered by numerous news outlets, and was once featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show . It is frequently visited by tourists who often pose in front of

230-422: 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 860-square-foot (80 m ) house that blocked the neighbors' open space. However, there are other stories about how the house came to be, making its origins murky. The house is 55 inches (1.4 m) wide at the south end, and 15 feet (4.6 m) wide at

345-473: A Union Army soldier. Later that month, on August 27, another large incursion of 600 to 800 Confederate soldiers clashed with Union soldiers at Ball's Crossroads, Hall's Hill, and at the present-day border between the Falls Church and Arlington. A number of soldiers on both sides were killed. However, the territory in present-day Arlington never fell under Confederate control and was not attacked. In 1870,

460-610: A below ground rapid transit system, now the Washington Metro , which included two lines in Arlington. Initial plans called for what became the Orange Line to parallel I-66 , which would have mainly benefited Fairfax County . Arlington County officials called for the stations in Arlington to be placed along the decaying commercial corridor between Rosslyn and Ballston that included Clarendon. A new regional transportation planning entity

575-831: A cash contribution, in order to obtain the highest allowable amounts of increased building density in new development projects, most of which are planned near Metrorail station areas. A number of the county's residential neighborhoods and larger garden-style apartment complexes are listed in the National Register of Historic Places and/or designated under the County government's zoning ordinance as local historic preservation districts . These include Arlington Village, Arlington Forest, Ashton Heights, Buckingham, Cherrydale, Claremont, Colonial Village, Fairlington , Lyon Park, Lyon Village, Maywood, Nauck , Penrose, Waverly Hills and Westover. Many of Arlington County's neighborhoods participate in

690-466: 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 12 inches (30 cm) from his neighbor's house in spite to deprive the neighbor of both view and breeze. The Virginia City Spite House is still standing and occupied. In 1954, a thin wedge-shaped building was erected by architects Salah and Fawzi Itani on a 120 sq m plot in Beirut , Lebanon at

805-636: A group of parents of both white and black students to end segregation. Black pupils were still denied admission to white schools, but the lawsuit went before the U.S. District Court, which ruled that Arlington schools were to be desegregated by the 1958–59 academic year. In January 1959 both the U.S. District Court and the Virginia Supreme Court had ruled against Virginia's massive resistance movement, which opposed racial integration. The Arlington County Central Library's collections include written materials as well as accounts in its Oral History Project of

920-515: A hotel, the original Waldorf Hotel in 1893. The building not only towered over his aunt's home, but it also had no windows at all on the side facing the aunt's mansion. At some point before 1898, a home 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

1035-663: A house eventually was built and became owned by James Falloon. Together, the 80 acres (320,000 m ) were well-suited to add to the town of Hiawatha, but Falloon refused to sell his three-quarters of an acre at the low price Schilling offered. To spite his neighbor, Schilling then built a cheap tenement house on his own property 13 feet (4.0 m) from Falloon's with the "idea of rendering Falloon's home obnoxious and unendurable to Falloon and family" by renting to people Falloon might find objectionable. The Richardson Spite House in New York City at Lexington Avenue and 82nd Street

1150-503: A long-range benefit. Citizen input and county planners came up with a workable compromise, with some limits on development. The two lines in Arlington were inaugurated in 1977. The Orange Line's creation was more problematic than the Blue Line's. The Blue Line served the Pentagon and National Airport and boosted the commercial development of Crystal City and Pentagon City. Property values along

1265-581: A marriage between one of her daughters and the son of the Anchorena family, one of the wealthiest and traditionalist 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 . In the 1950s, two Virginia City, Nevada neighbors got into

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1380-416: A model revitalization for older suburbs. In 1965, after years of negotiations, Arlington swapped some land in the south end with Alexandria, though less than originally planned. The land was located along King Street and Four Mile Run. The exchange allowed the two jurisdictions to straighten out the boundary and helped highway and sewer projects to go forward. It moved into Arlington several acres of land to

1495-494: A movie studio on land that he owned in Marin County, California . After facing years of opposition, Lucas 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. The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas ,

1610-514: A narrow rowhouse in Baltimore , Maryland , saw a listing in the newspaper that the Spite House was for sale, the first time it had been on the market in 25 years. Later that day he signed a contract to purchase the home for $ 130,000. According to Sammis, "I used to walk by it every day when I worked near [the house], and when it was listed in the paper, I knew right away what house it was. I bought it

1725-490: A new city near Ctesiphon for the 30,000 inhabitants whom he had captured; he modeled this city after the original Antioch, but was said to have had forced his new subjects to live in their old homes and workplaces. He called this new city Veh-Antiok-Xusrō , or literally, "Better than Antioch, Khosrau built This." In 1716, Thomas Wood, a sailmaker, built a house in Marblehead, Massachusetts , that subsequently became known as

1840-433: A prime little situation just adjoining or tight in front. This done, we wait until the palace is half-way up, and then we pay some tasty architect to run us up an ornamental mud hovel, right against it; or a Down-East or Dutch Pagoda, or a pig-sty, or an ingenious little bit of fancy work, either Esquimau, Kickapoo, or Hottentot. Of course, we can't afford to take these structures down under a bonus of five hundred per cent upon

1955-414: A property owner had paid the local fire company to extinguish any fires that might happen at the house. After entering through the narrow front door, there are exposed ceiling beams and painted walls in the living room. There is also a black wooden mantel above a faux fireplace along with a couch and chair. Behind the living room, a small cupboard and microwave are under the narrow wooden stairwell. Beyond

2070-568: A restaurant called Inat Kuća (which means "Spite House"). In 1922, The Pink House was built in Newbury , Massachusetts . According to local legend, as per the terms of a divorce settlement, a man was required to build an exact replica of his house for his now ex-wife, but since the wife had failed to specify where the house be built, he built in the Great Marsh on the edge of town with saltwater plumbing. In 1925, according to one common story,

2185-474: A rich old hunks, or prodigal heir, or bankrupt corporation, gets into the notion of putting up a palace, there is no such thing in the world as stopping either of them, and this every intelligent person knows. The fact in question is indeed the basis of the Eye-Sore trade. As soon, therefore, as a building project is fairly afoot by one of these parties, we merchants secure a nice corner of the lot in contemplation, or

2300-504: A right of passage through that alley, it probably did. I think that story has an interesting appeal on a walking tour, but I think it's probably a bit exaggerated." According to local historians, the Hollensbury Spite House was later used as a school and then reverted to residential use, with one family reportedly fitting a bed and crib in the small bedroom. In 1990 businessman Jack Sammis, who founded IMN Solutions and grew up in

2415-467: A spite house. One story of its creation tells that in 1874, two brothers in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts , got into a dispute. Each had previously inherited land from their deceased father. While the second brother was away serving in the military, the first brother built a large home, leaving the soldier only a shred of property that the first brother felt certain was too tiny to build on. When

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2530-504: A third of Arlington County's population. Over the course of the century, the Black population dwindled. Neighborhoods in Arlington set up racial covenants and forbade Blacks from owning or domiciling property. In 1938, Arlington banned row houses, a type of housing that was heavily used by Black residents. By October 1942, not a single rental unit was available in the county. In the 1940s, the federal government evicted black neighborhoods to build

2645-639: A white-collar transplant population mostly of Northern stock. While a population of white-collar government transplant workers had always been present in the county, particularly in its far northern areas and in Lyon Village, the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s saw the complete dominance of this group over the majority of Arlington's residential neighborhoods, and mostly economically eliminated the former working-class residents of areas such as Cherrydale, Lyon Park, Rosslyn, Virginia Square, Claremont, and Arlington Forest, among other neighborhoods. The transformation of Clarendon

2760-406: Is a claw-footed bathtub with a shower in the rear room. Additional storage space, including closets for the stacked washer and dryer and water heater, lines the narrow hallway that leads to the bedroom. There is a large window in the bedroom overlooking Queen Street. A television is inside one of the painted cabinets that are on either side of the window and the double bed is laid out sideways, with

2875-558: Is a frequent stop on guided tours of the Alexandria Historic District and tourists frequently stop to take photos of or in front of the house, stretching their arms out to show how small the building is. On occasion people knock on the front door to ask if they can take a tour of the house. According to Sammis "It's on napkins and cards that show Old Town scenes. It’s always on the Christmas tour." The Hollensbury Spite House

2990-506: 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 4-foot-11-inch-wide (1.5 m) building on the remaining very small parcel of land. Before 1914, the Austro-Hungarians who ruled Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina wanted land in

3105-447: Is far cheaper, quicker, and easier than home construction. There are also similar structures known as spite walls or blinder walls. Construction of spite houses or spite fences is considered illegal in those countries which follow the civil law . It is considered as abuse of rights , and in some countries, like Finland, it is explicitly prohibited by law. In A.D 541 following his conquest of Antioch, Sassan Emperor Khosrau I built

3220-439: Is in nearby Arlington . The Spite House is the couple's favorite property, with Colleen saying "I deal with commercial spaces, and this house is so different. I love the idea of it — that something like this can exist. It makes the world a little more magical." The house is most often used for friends or clients of the couple as a type of bed and breakfast . The space was once rented by a couple who had made plans to travel around

3335-458: 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. In 2016, Planting Peace acquired the house next door to the Equality House and painted it

3450-540: Is now Dorothy Hamm Middle School, with the admission of black pupils Donald Deskins, Michael Jones, Lance Newman, and Gloria Thompson. The U.S. Supreme Court 's ruling in 1954, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka , Kansas had struck down the previous ruling on racial segregation Plessy v. Ferguson that held that facilities could be racially "separate but equal". Brown v. Board of Education ruled that "racially separate educational facilities were inherently unequal". The elected Arlington County School Board presumed that

3565-523: Is one of four spite houses in Alexandria, which most likely were built as alley houses to save on costs. The oldest of the other spite houses is 205 King Street, which was built around 1812 and measures 11-feet 9-inches (3.6 m) wide. It has served as a private residence, cobbler's shop, and boutique store. The house located at 403 Prince Street measures 7-feet 9-inches (2.4 m) wide. It was built sometime before 1883, most likely by Samuel Janney, who bequeathed

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3680-457: Is particularly striking. This neighborhood, a downtown shopping area, fell into decay. It became home to a vibrant Vietnamese business community in the 1970s and 1980s known as Little Saigon . It has now been significantly gentrified. Its Vietnamese population is now barely visible, except for several holdout businesses. Arlington's careful planning for the Metro has transformed the county and has become

3795-562: Is still standing and occupied. In 1806, Thomas McCobb, heir to his father's land and shipbuilding business, returned home to Phippsburg, Maine , from sea to discover that his stepbrother Mark had inherited the family "Mansion in the Wilderness". Upset about his loss, McCobb built a house directly across from the McCobb mansion to spite his stepbrother. The National Park Service 's Historic American Buildings Survey photographed and documented

3910-416: Is that Hollensbury built a playhouse for his two daughters, Julia and Harriett, and that one of them later lived in the house as an adult. The neighbor's house at 521 Queen Street was at some point demolished after the alley house was built and the current building was constructed in 1870. At one point the alley house was connected to the original house built by Hollensbury. When the buildings were separated

4025-446: Is that Hollensbury grew tired of people loitering in the alley as well as the horse-drawn wagons, which left gouges on his home's exterior wall with their wagon-wheel hubs. He bought the alley lot at 523 Queen Street for $ 45.65 and in 1830 built a small house out of spite measuring 7-feet 6-inches (2.3 m) wide and 25-feet (7.6 m) deep to prevent others from further damaging his walls and to reduce noise. The reasoning behind constructing

4140-442: 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. John Hollensbury, a brickmaker and city council member in Alexandria, Virginia , lived in a home on Queen Street that was built in 1780 and stood next to an alley. There are three stories on how the small building next to Hollensbury's house came to be. The best known story

4255-598: Is water. It is the smallest county by area in Virginia and is the smallest self-governing county in the United States. About 4.6 square miles (11.9 km ) (17.6%) of the county is federal property. The county courthouse and most government offices are located in the Courthouse neighborhood. Since the late 20th century, the county government has pursued a development strategy of concentrating much of its new development near transit facilities, such as Metrorail stations and

4370-651: Is within the National Cemetery, the National Park Service presently administers the House and its grounds as a memorial to Robert E. Lee. Confederate incursions from Falls Church , Minor's Hill and Upton's Hill , then securely in Confederate hands, occurred as far east as the present-day Ballston . On August 17, 1861, 600 Confederate soldiers engaged the 23rd New York Infantry Regiment near Ballston, killing

4485-461: The 2020 census . If Arlington County were incorporated as a city, it would rank as the third-most populous city in the state. With a land area of 26 square miles (67 km ), Arlington County is the geographically smallest self-governing county in the nation. Arlington County is home to the Pentagon , the world's second-largest office structure, which houses the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense . Other notable locations are DARPA ,

4600-607: The British Crown were awarded to prominent Englishmen in exchange for political favors and efforts as part of the county's early development. One of the grantees was Thomas Fairfax for whom both Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax are named. The county's name was derived from Henry Bennet , the Earl of Arlington , which was a plantation along the Potomac River , and Arlington House ,

4715-623: The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in Georgetown , which was farther inland and on the northern side of the Potomac River next to Washington, D.C. Members of Congress from other areas of Virginia used their influence to prohibit funding for projects, including the Alexandria Canal , which would have increased competition with their home districts. Congress also prohibited the federal government from establishing any offices in Alexandria, which made

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4830-493: The City of Alexandria was legally separated from Alexandria County by an amendment to the Virginia Constitution that made all Virginia incorporated cities (though not incorporated towns ) independent of the counties with which they had previously been a part. Confusion between the city and the county of Alexandria having the same name led to a movement to rename Alexandria County. In 1896, an electric trolley line

4945-648: The Drug Enforcement Administration 's headquarters, Reagan National Airport , and Arlington National Cemetery . Colleges and universities in the county include Marymount University and George Mason University 's Antonin Scalia Law School , School of Business , the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution , and Schar School of Policy and Government . Graduate programs, research, and non-traditional student education centers affiliated with

5060-689: The Rosslyn neighborhood, was completed. At the time of completion, the Turnberry Tower was the tallest residential building in the Washington metropolitan area . In 2017, Nestlé USA chose 1812 N Moore in Rosslyn as their U.S. headquarters. In 2018, Amazon.com, Inc. announced that it would build its co-headquarters in the Crystal City neighborhood, anchoring a broader area of Arlington and Alexandria that

5175-523: The Sarajevo Old Town district to build a city hall and library. The land had a home on it and, despite offering the owner money, he refused and continued to refuse even when told that he had to move. When the officials threatened him, he moved the house and rebuilt it, piece by piece, on the other side of the Miljacka river, as a way of spiting the officials. The Sarajevo Spite House operates today as

5290-478: The U.S. state of Virginia . The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C. , the national capital. Arlington County is coextensive with the U.S. Census Bureau 's census-designated place of Arlington. Arlington County is the eighth-most populous county in the Washington metropolitan area with a population of 238,643 as of

5405-528: The University of Virginia and Virginia Tech are also located in the county. Corporations based in the county include the co-headquarters of Amazon , several consulting firms , and the global headquarters of Boeing , Raytheon Technologies and BAE Systems Platforms & Services . Present-day Arlington County was part of Fairfax County in the Colony of Virginia during the colonial era . Land grants from

5520-592: The 1925 move of the McCobb Spite House by barge from Phippsburg to Deadman's Point in Rockport, Maine . 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 . In fighting

5635-424: The 350-square-foot (32.5 sq m) two-story house and a walled rear garden and patio area, measuring 7 feet (2.1 m) wide and 12 feet (3.7 m) deep. As of 2022, the land is valued at $ 381,150, and the building is valued at $ 220,524, with the total property value being $ 601,674. The exterior of the house is painted bright blue and a cast-iron fire shield hangs on the façade, a feature added in the 19th century to note that

5750-511: The Arlington County government's Neighborhood Conservation Program (NCP). Each of these neighborhoods has a Neighborhood Conservation Plan that describes the neighborhood's characteristics, history and recommendations for capital improvement projects that the County government funds through the NCP. Arlington is often spoken of as divided between North Arlington and South Arlington, which designate

5865-571: The Civil War ended, the Abingdon estate's heir, Alexander Hunter , filed a federal lawsuit to recover the property. James A. Garfield , a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives who was a brigadier general in the Union Army during the Civil War and later became the 20th President of the United States , was an attorney on Hunter's legal team. In 1870, the U.S. Supreme Court found that

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5980-528: The Civil War, the U.S. federal government confiscated the Abingdon estate, which was located on and near the present Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport , when its owner failed to pay the estate's property tax in person because he was serving in the Confederate States Army . The government then sold the property at auction, and the purchaser leased the property to a third party. In 1865, after

6095-500: The Coty v. Ramsey Associates, Inc. case of 1988 ruled that the defendant's spite farm constituted a nuisance, granting the neighboring landowner a negative easement. Spite houses, as well as spite farms, are considerably rarer than spite fences . This is partially attributable to the fact that modern building codes often prevent the construction of houses likely to impinge on neighbors' views or privacy, but mostly because fence construction

6210-442: The Metro lines increased significantly for both residential and commercial property. The ensuing gentrification caused the mostly working and lower middle class white Southern residents to either be priced out of rent or in some cases sell their homes. This permanently changed the character of the city, and ultimately resulted in the virtual eradication of this group over the coming 30 years, being replaced with an increasing presence of

6325-530: 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 refused to sell to the other. Another explanation is that the ten-foot-wide (3 m) 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

6440-528: The Pentagon and make room for highway construction. In 1908, Potomac was incorporated as a town in Alexandria County, and was annexed by Alexandria in 1930. In 1920, the Virginia legislature renamed the area Arlington County to avoid confusion with the City of Alexandria which had become an independent city in 1870 under the new Virginia Constitution adopted after the Civil War. In the 1930s, Hoover Field

6555-426: The U.S. federal government had illegally confiscated the property and ordered that it be returned to Hunter. The property included the former residence of Confederate General Robert E. Lee 's family at and around Arlington House , which had been subjected to an appraisal of $ 26,810, on which a real estate tax of $ 92.07 was assessed. Likely fearing an encounter with Union officials, Lee's wife, Mary Anna Custis Lee ,

6670-688: The University of Virginia. This campus was subsequently renamed University College, then the Northern Virginia Branch of the University of Virginia, then George Mason College of the University of Virginia, and finally to its present name, George Mason University . The Henry G. Shirley Highway, also known as Interstate 395 , was constructed during World War II , along with adjacent developments such as Shirlington , Fairlington , and Parkfairfax . In February 1959, Arlington Public Schools desegregated racially at Stratford Junior High School, which

6785-614: The Virginia legislature to approve such a transfer, known as retrocession . On February 3, 1846, the Virginia General Assembly agreed to accept the retrocession of Alexandria if Congress approved. Following additional lobbying by Alexandrians, Congress passed legislation on July 9, 1846 , to return all the District's territory south of the Potomac River back to Virginia, pursuant to a referendum, and President James K. Polk signed

6900-470: The address for the alley house became 523 Queen Street and the older home built by Hollensbury was given the address 525 Queen Street. A building code enforcement architect for Alexandria studied the alley house, which was built using the existing walls of the two adjoining houses, and thinks the story of it being built out of spite is exaggerated and that it was probably intended for additional living space: "Whether that made somebody angry who thought they had

7015-401: The alley adjoining his house and to prevent wagon-wheel hubs from damaging the house's exterior walls. This is the most commonly known story as to why the house was built, but there are also two other possibilities, the first being due to a dispute with his neighbor, and the second as a gift to his two daughters. Whichever story is true, the scenario involving a man who built a home out of spite

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7130-460: The alleyway, Hollensbury constructed a 7-foot-wide (2.1 m), 25-foot-deep (7.6 m), 325-square-foot (30.2 m ), two-story home using the existing brick walls of the adjacent homes for the sides of the new house. The brick walls of the Hollensbury Spite House living room have gouges from wagon-wheel hubs, and the house is still standing and occupied. The Skinny House in Boston is considered

7245-564: The borders of the area that eventually became Arlington, but the citizens in Washington, D.C., were no longer considered residents of Maryland or Virginia, which represented the end of their federal representation in Congress. Prior to retrocession, residents of Alexandria County expected the proximity of the federal capital to result in higher land prices and the growth of regional commerce. The county instead found itself struggling to compete with

7360-422: The building and is also included on local history tours. The house is 350 square-feet (32.5 sq m) but also includes an outdoor patio and garden, providing additional entertaining space. Because of its narrow front door and small interior space, the house is decorated with smaller furniture pieces and antiques. The building's namesake, John Hollensbury, reportedly built the house in 1830 to stop people loitering in

7475-457: The church. The church refused permission, asserting that the churchyard was full but that the family could donate their land to the church and then build a monument on part of it. Feeling slighted, the family immediately set about building themselves a house on their land with a 40-foot (12 m) column erected next to the churchyard so it towered over the trees. The Edleston Spite House is still standing and occupied, and has MCMIV (1904) over

7590-523: The city, Tyler discovered a local law that prevented the building of a road if work was in progress on a substantial building in the path of a proposed road. To spite the city, Tyler immediately had workmen pour a building foundation, which was discovered by the road crews the next morning. In 1830, John Hollensbury's home in Alexandria, Virginia , was one of two houses that directly bordered an alley that attracted an annoying amount of horse-drawn wagon traffic and loiterers. To prevent people from using

7705-493: The colors of the transgender pride flag . The houses provide shelter to volunteers and a community garden . Edgar Allan Poe 's " The Business Man ", (written in 1839 or 1840) includes the following passage in the voice of Peter Proffit, a confidence trickster who describes himself as a legitimate businessman. Proffit's attempted scam is to build a spite house and extort his neighbors to pay him to tear it down. (He calls this line of business 'the Eye-Sore trade'.) Whenever

7820-403: The county less important to the functioning of the national government. Alexandria was a center for the slave trade ; Franklin and Armfield Office in Alexandria was once an office used in slave trading. Rumors circulated that abolitionists in Congress were attempting to end slavery in the District, an act that, at the time, would have further depressed Alexandria's slavery-based economy. At

7935-415: The county. In 2024, Arlington County circuit court judge David Schell overturned this zoning change after a small group of NIMBY homeowners filed a lawsuit against the county. Schell ruled that Arlington County did not study the potential impacts adequately. Arlington County is located in Northern Virginia and is surrounded by Fairfax County and Falls Church to the west, the city of Alexandria to

8050-740: The desegregation struggle in the county. During the 1960s, Arlington experienced challenges related to a large influx of newcomers during the 1950s. M.T. Broyhill & Sons Corporation was at the forefront of building the new communities for these newcomers, which would lead to the election of Joel Broyhill as the representative of Virginia's 10th congressional district for 11 terms. The old commercial districts did not have ample off-street parking and many shoppers were taking their business to new commercial centers, such as Parkington and Seven Corners. Suburbs further out in Virginia and Maryland were expanding, and Arlington's main commercial center in Clarendon

8165-712: The duration of the Civil War, the Confederacy claimed the whole of antebellum Virginia, including the more staunchly Union-supporting northwestern counties that eventually broke away and were later admitted to the Union in 1863 as West Virginia . However, the Confederacy never fully controlled all of present-day Northern Virginia . In 1862, the U.S. Congress passed a law that required that obligated owners of property in districts where active Confederate insurrections were occurring to pay their real estate taxes in person. In 1864, during

8280-629: The family residence on that property. George Washington Parke Custis , grandson of First Lady Martha Washington , acquired the land in 1802. The estate was later passed down to Mary Anna Custis Lee , wife of Robert E. Lee , a Confederate general during the American Civil War , and then later seized by the U.S. federal government in a tax sale. The property later became the Arlington National Cemetery . Present-day Arlington County and most of present-day Alexandria were ceded to

8395-405: The federal district was a square, measuring 10 miles (16 km) on each side, totaling 100 square miles (260 km ). In 1791 and 1792, Andrew Ellicott and several assistants placed boundary stones at every mile point. Fourteen of these markers were in Virginia, and many of the stones are still standing. When Congress arrived in the new capital from Philadelphia , one of their first acts

8510-574: The federal territory's borders to the southeast in order to include the existing town of Alexandria. In 1791, Congress , at Washington's request, amended the Residence Act to approve the new site, including the territory ceded by Virginia. The amendment to the Residence Act prohibited the "erection of the public buildings otherwise than on the Maryland side of the River Potomac." The initial shape of

8625-414: The first day it was shown." Sammis wasn't sure what to do with the building after he bought it: "I knew I wouldn't live in it full time. It just seemed like too good of an opportunity to pass up." Sammis hired interior design consultant Matt Hannan from Quicksburg, Virginia , to redesign the rear walled patio area. He also hired Hannan to redesign the interior space, with Hannan living in the house during

8740-429: The formation of West Virginia as a state, which comprised what then 51 counties in the northwest part of the state that favored abolitionism. Largely as a result of the economic neglect by Congress, divisions over slavery, and the lack of voting rights for the residents of the District, a movement grew to return Alexandria to Virginia from the District of Columbia. From 1840 to 1846, Alexandrians petitioned Congress and

8855-606: The front door. In 1907 there was a "spite" church in Brooklyn , New York. It was built to take advantage of a law that forbade the operation of saloons within a certain distance of churches. Saloon owners brought suit against the church, arguing that the church was not a real church and no worship was practiced. The saloon owners won the case. In 1908, Francis O'Reilly owned an investment parcel of land in West Cambridge, Massachusetts , and approached his abutting land neighbor to sell

8970-474: The grid designers. The Freeport Spite House is still standing and occupied. At the turn of the 20th century, the city of Alameda, California , took a large portion of Charles Froling's land to build a street. Froling had planned to build his dream house on the plot of land he received through inheritance. To spite the city and an unsympathetic neighbor, Froling built a house 10 feet (3.0 m) deep, 54 feet (16 m) long and 20 feet (6.1 m) high on

9085-643: The high-volume bus lines of Columbia Pike . Within the transit areas, the government has a policy of encouraging mixed-use and pedestrian- and transit-oriented development . Some of these " urban village " communities include: In 2002, Arlington received the EPA 's National Award for Smart Growth Achievement for "Overall Excellence in Smart Growth ." In 2005, the County implemented an affordable housing ordinance that requires most developers to contribute significant affordable housing resources, either in units or through

9200-400: The house and its unusual size earned it the nickname "Spitehouse." The second story of the building's history is that Hollensbury and his neighbor who lived at 521 Queen Street were at one time good friends, but due to the neighbor's carriage damaging Hollensbury's house and a fallout in their friendship in the late 1820s, Hollensbury decided to build the small house. The third and final story

9315-584: The house and the adjoining property to his son, Henry. The fourth spite house is located at 1401 Prince Street. It measures 8-feet 2-inches (2.5 m) wide and unlike the others, it's a one-story building. The house was constructed sometime in the 1890s and has been incorporated into the adjoining building. The Hollensbury Spite House is located at 523 Queen Street in Old Town Alexandria and measures 7-feet 6-inches (2.3 m) wide and 25 feet (7.6 m) deep. The lot measures 356 square feet (33 sq m), which includes

9430-436: The house, I had read about the house, but I had never seen it." The couple married the following year and had a post-reception event at the house with around 25 people in attendance, utilizing the small garden and patio to accommodate the crowd. As of 2008, the couple uses the house mostly as a weekend retreat during the summer months, where the two can walk to the farmer's market, restaurants, and parks. Their primary residence

9545-452: The land for a gain. After the neighbor refused to buy the land, O'Reilly built a 308-square-foot (28.6 m ) building, measuring 37 feet (11 m) long and only 8 feet (2.4 m) wide to spite the neighbor. The O'Reilly Spite House is still standing and is occupied by an interior decorating firm as of mid-2009 . The Sam Kee Building , built in 1913 in Vancouver, British Columbia ,

9660-429: The legislation the next day. A referendum on retrocession was held on September 1 and 2, 1846, and the voters in Alexandria voted in favor of the retrocession by a margin of 734 to 116, while those in the rest of Alexandria County voted against retrocession 106 to 29. Pursuant to the referendum, President Polk issued a proclamation of transfer on September 7, 1846. However, the Virginia legislature did not immediately accept

9775-505: The neighbor's home and block the neighbor's view of the butcher's property at will. The butcher's son got along with the family next door and eventually tore down the Collinsville Spite House . Also in the 19th century, a Freeport, New York , developer who opposed all of Freeport being laid out in a grid, put up a Victorian house virtually overnight on a triangular plot at the corner of Lena Avenue and Wilson Place to spite

9890-696: The new federal government by Virginia . On July 16, 1790, the Congress passed the Residence Act , which authorized the relocation of the capital from Philadelphia to a location to be selected on the Potomac River by U.S. President George Washington . The Residence Act originally only allowed the President to select a location in Maryland as far east as the Anacostia River . President Washington, however, shifted

10005-609: The north end. The Montlake Spite House is still standing and occupied. 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

10120-454: The obnoxious neighbor". In the 19th century, a butcher in Collinsville, Connecticut , feuded with his neighbor. To spite his neighbor, the butcher built between their adjoining houses a narrow, two-story structure with windows covered by Venetian blinds . The wooden building located between 23 and 25 River St. was the width of a standard stairway and allowed the butcher to block the sun to

10235-482: The owner of the property, chose not pay the tax in person. She instead sent an agent on her behalf, but Union officials refused to accept it. As a result of the 1862 law, the U.S. federal government confiscated the property, and transformed it into a military cemetery. After the Civil War ended and his parents died, George Washington Custis Lee , the Lees' eldest son, initiated a federal legal action in an attempt to recover

10350-503: The political boundaries of Alexandria County. During the American Civil War , Virginia seceded from the Union following a statewide referendum on May 23, 1861; the voters from Alexandria County approved secession by a vote of 958–48. The vote indicates the degree to which its only town, Alexandria, was pro-secession and pro-Confederate. Rural county residents outside Alexandria were largely Union loyalists and voted against secession. For

10465-400: The prime cost of our lot and plaster. Can we? I ask the question. I ask it of business men. It would be irrational to suppose that we can. In season 10 of Curb Your Enthusiasm , Larry David opens coffee shop Latte Larry's as a "spite store" to get revenge on the neighboring store, Mocha Joe's. Arlington, Virginia Arlington County , or simply Arlington , is a county in

10580-423: The property. In December 1882, the U.S. Supreme Court found that the U.S. federal government illegally confiscated the property without due process, and the property was returned to Custis Lee. In 1883, the U.S. Congress purchased the property from Lee for its fair market value of $ 150,000, whereupon the property became a military reservation and eventually Arlington National Cemetery . Although Arlington House

10695-442: The request of a man wanting to spoil the sea view of his brother after they failed to agree to jointly develop their neighboring plots. The street facade appears to be an ordinary apartment building, but is 60 cm at the narrowest and four meters at the widest. It is known as Al Ba'sa (The Middle Finger) and formerly as The Queen Mary due to its resemblance to the cruise ship . Film producer George Lucas had wanted to construct

10810-477: The retrocession offer. Virginia legislators were concerned that Alexandria County residents had not been properly included in the retrocession proceedings. After months of debate, on March 13, 1847, the Virginia General Assembly voted to formally accept the retrocession legislation. In 1852, the Virginia legislature voted to incorporate a portion of Alexandria County as the City of Alexandria, which until then had been administered only as an unincorporated town within

10925-469: The same time, an active abolitionist movement arose in Virginia that created a division on the question of slavery in the Virginia General Assembly . Pro-slavery Virginians recognized that if Alexandria were returned to Virginia, it could provide two new representatives who favored slavery in the state legislature. Some time after retrocession, during the American Civil War , this division led to

11040-465: The sections of the county that lie north and south of Arlington Boulevard . Places in Arlington are often identified by their location in one or the other. Much consideration is given to socioeconomic and demographic differences between these two portions of the county and the respective amounts of attention they receive in the way of public services. Arlington ranks fourth in the nation, immediately after Washington, D.C. , for park access and quality in

11155-639: 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 . In 1934, Corina Kavanagh, of Irish descent, commissioned the building of a skyscraper in Buenos Aires , the iconic Kavanagh Building , at the time the highest skyscraper in Latin America. Local legend holds that Corina Kavanagh sought to arrange

11270-456: The size of the front door, large furniture could not be brought in, so Hannan purchased smaller pieces from local antique stores. Sammis' wife, commercial real estate agent Colleen, had been interested in the house before the two married. While having dinner with friends in 2006, Colleen learned that Jack owned the Spite House: "I said: 'Wait a minute. You own the Spite House?' I had heard about

11385-442: The soldier returned, he found his inheritance depleted and built a wooden house at 44 Hull St. to spite his brother by blocking the sunlight and ruining his view. The outside of the house spans 10.4 feet (3.2 m) and tapers to 9.25 feet (2.82 m) in the rear. In 1880, Adam Schilling owned a tract of 80 acres (32 ha) adjoining the town of Hiawatha, Kansas . Schilling sold three-quarters of an acre of this land, on which

11500-484: The south of the old county line that had not been a part of the District of Columbia. On September 11, 2001 , five al-Qaeda hijackers deliberately crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon , killing 115 Pentagon employees and 10 contractors in the building, and all 53 passengers, six crew members, and five hijackers on board the aircraft. The coordinated attacks were the most deadly terrorist attack in world history. In 2009, Turnberry Tower, located in

11615-432: The southeast, and the national capital of Washington, D.C. to the northeast across the Potomac River , which forms the county's northern border. Minor's Hill and Upton's Hill represent the county's western borders. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the county has a total area of 26.1 square miles (67.6 km ), 26.0 square miles (67.3 km ) of which is land and 0.1 square miles (0.3 km ) (0.4%) of which

11730-421: The stairwell is a galley kitchen featuring a sink, a four-burner gas range, a small refrigerator and freezer under the counter, and tall cabinets with open shelving. There is a built-in bench at the end of the kitchen counter that when pulled out, provides a fourth seat at the small dining table. Behind the kitchen is the rear entrance featuring French doors that leads to the patio and garden. Once upstairs there

11845-627: The state would defer to localities and in January 1956 announced plans to integrate Arlington schools. The state responded by suspending the county's right to an elected school board. The Arlington County Board , the ruling body for the county, appointed segregationists to the school board and blocked plans for desegregation. Lawyers for the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) filed suit on behalf of

11960-501: The tiny strip of land left to him. He cantilevered the front-facing second story both to maximize floor space and preclude encroachment on zoning setbacks. The Alameda Spite House is still standing and occupied. In 1904, the family of a deceased Joseph Edleston owned a plot of land next to the churchyard of St. Mary's in Gainford, England . The children asked to erect a monument in the churchyard in memory of Joseph's 41-year tenure at

12075-519: The wall acting as the headboard. Spite house Spite houses may deliberately obstruct light or block access to neighboring buildings, or might be flagrant symbols of defiance. Although, in the US, homeowners generally have no right to views, light, or air, neighbors can sue for a negative easement . In instances regarding a spite build, courts are far more likely to side with the neighboring parties which may have been affected by that build. For example,

12190-444: The world on a cruise ship and wanted to know if they could handle living in a confined space for an extended period. The Hollensbury Spite House, which is a local landmark, is often called the skinniest house in the United States and was once featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show . It has been featured in articles on the world's smallest houses by CBS News , Architectural Digest , Bloomberg News , and The Guardian . The house

12305-408: The year it was being renovated. Original details such as the wooden floors and brick walls were highlighted and architectural features that reflect the time it was built were also added. The heating and cooling system was moved to the attic and the water heater, which had been in the kitchen, was moved to an upstairs closet. A stacked washer-dryer unit was also installed in an upstairs closet. Due to

12420-520: Was a functional (albeit impractical) apartment building with eight suites, each consisting of three rooms and a bath. 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

12535-493: Was built from Washington, D.C. through Ballston ; Northern Virginia trolleys were a significant factor in the county's growth. In 1920, the trolley was named Arlington County , named after Arlington House , the home of the American Civil War Confederate general Robert E. Lee later seized by the Union in a tax sale, is located on the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery . In 1900, Blacks were more than

12650-460: Was built in 1882 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

12765-554: Was declining, similar to what happened in other downtown centers. With the growth of these other suburbs, some planners and politicians pushed for highway expansion. The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 would have enabled that expansion in Arlington. The administrator of the National Capital Transportation Agency, economist C. Darwin Stolzenbach, saw the benefits of rapid transit for the region and oversaw plans for

12880-495: Was established on the present site of the Pentagon; in that decade, Buckingham, Colonial Village, and other apartment communities also opened. World War II brought a boom to the county, but one that could not be met by new construction due to rationing imposed by the war effort. In October 1949, the University of Virginia in Charlottesville created an extension center in the county named Northern Virginia University Center of

12995-518: Was formed, the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority. Arlington officials renewed their push for a route that benefited the commercial corridor along Wilson Boulevard, which prevailed. There were neighborhood concerns that there would be high-density development along the corridor that would disrupt the character of old neighborhoods. With the population in the county declining, political leaders saw economic development as

13110-482: Was simultaneously rebranded as National Landing . By 2020, single-family detached homes accounted for nearly 75% of zoned property in Arlington. In 2023, the Arlington County city council unanimously approved a modest zoning change to permit sixplexes (so-called " missing middle " housing) on lots previously zoned exclusively for single-family homes. The change reversed exclusionary zoning laws that were initially erected to keep low-income people and minorities out of

13225-619: Was to pass the Organic Act of 1801 , officially organizing the District of Columbia and placing the entire federal territory, including present-day Washington, D.C., Georgetown , and Alexandria under the exclusive control of Congress. The territory in the District was organized into two counties: the County of Washington to the east of the Potomac River and the County of Alexandria to the west. It included almost all of present-day Arlington County and part of present-day Alexandria. The Act established

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