Dipping into his savings and salary, he decided that it was time to turn his dreams into reality. He was going to renovate the house.
His friends and family laughed at him. Even the agents that were supposed to help him mocked him. But he didn't listen to them. As the house neared completion, he made one glaring realization.
Charlestown, Boston
After the passing of Liam Presley's grandfather, the only thing left in his name was a derelict house situated in Charlestown, Boston.
The house was unique. It was unlike anything he had ever seen in person. When he first saw it, he had to choke back a cry. This was not because it was a beautiful house, it was because he felt like his grandfather had betrayed him.
Warren Family
Liam was a thirty-year-old man and he was the youngest of the Warren family in Boston. The Warrens were an influential family that had their roots in the country's liberation for more than four hundred years.
Liam had always felt that being a Warren was a burden. His life was always under scrutiny from the public eye and his family, but little did he know that this would change very soon.
The Call
Despite it all, Liam knew that he was lucky. He appreciated and did not take for granted the luxury that came with being a Warren. He was able to attend a good school and he had gotten a great start in his architecture career. But something was about to happen that would change his life forever.
One evening, Liam wasn't home. He received a call from his mom, bearing some news about his grandfather, who had been ailing for a while. Liam didn't know what to expect, so he decided to answer the phone. But this news would shatter his world.
He Passed Away
She informed him that his grandfather had passed away. Time paused for Liam as he held the phone to his ea, unable to move. He tried to speak, but nothing came out. Out of his entire family, he had been the closest to his grandfather. He had always looked up to him because of everything he had accomplished in life.
His grandfather was the reason why he became an architect because he was one too. Because of him, Liam grew to love everything that came with designing houses. Liam never expected his death to impact him this much.
Laid To Rest
A few days later, his grandfather was laid to rest alongside his forefathers in a beautiful and emotional ceremony. After this, his lawyers read his will and informed Liam that he had left him something.
When he had just received the news, Liam was furious that his grandfather had left him a derelict house in Charlestown when the rest of his family received better ends of the deal. But once he visited the house, he realized what his grandpa's motives really were.
Disappointed
It was a 1,165 square feet skinny house with chipped paint and broken windows. He cringed when he saw the lawn. It was overgrown and it was clear that no one had been there in many years. To make matters even worse, the wood was rotting away and the house didn't appear to have any furniture inside.
Liam unlocked the front door and stepped inside. His heart was broken by what his grandpa had left him. He turned on his heels, ready to leave until he noticed something about the place that made him raise an eyebrow.
A Gem
The architecture was unlike anything he was used to. That was when he realized that it was a time capsule from the 18th-century.
His jaw dropped as he looked around, taking in every inch of the place. That was when he realized what his grandfather had done. He mentally thanked him for leaving this gem in his name. But then Liam had an absurd idea that would turn everything around.
Prove Them Wrong
“I’ll renovate it, make it a passion project to honor grandpa,” Liam told himself. That evening he rushed home and started setting everything into motion. For the next two years, he would renovate the house.
Dipping in his savings and salary, he poured everything into the renovations. His family and friends mocked him for it as realtors told him that he was wasting his time. He was determined to prove them wrong.
Honoring Him
For months he poured his heart and soul into the renovations. He kept the house's original motif, going as far as tracking down 18th-century furniture to boost the house’s style. As he approached the end of his renovations, people started taking notice
They laughed at him for two years straight, but he stayed committed to honoring his grandfather the best way he could.
It’s Done
Liam successfully finished the house, creating a time capsule to the 18-century with his design language. By then, he was the talk of Charlestown, a man who’d gone above and beyond to restore a house as an honor to his grandpa, who taught him everything he knew.
The buzz spread throughout Boston, and soon enough, respected realtors came asking to acquire the house from Liam. Would he give it up?
A Million Dollar Reality
The house Liam had renovated was ten feet wide. It fit perfectly with the neighborhood and had the best aesthetics in the entirety of Charlestown.
When he finally decided to sell it at auction, he had no idea how big the selling price would go. By the end of the auction, the highest bid was $1.25 million, a price that left Liam speechless. But there was more.
Celebrating Lost Times
The buyer informed Liam that they weren’t necessarily going to live in the house but turn it into a museum to showcase the town’s heritage. They would populate it with more 18th-century furniture, paintings, and sculptures and open it to the public eye as a landmark site.
Regardless of what they were to do with the home, they would keep its original name. Would he accept such a deal?
The Right Thing To Do
Liam consulted with his family about letting the house go, and they all agreed that he should follow his heart. He’d started this journey angry at his grandpa for leaving him a derelict house, and now it was about to sell for more than a million dollars.
Liam weighed everything and saw it would be best to sell the house. Although he’d grown attached to it over the years he’d spent renovating it, he knew it would be the best way forward. But was this the right thing to do?
Making The Decision
Liam was caught between wanting to keep the house for himself and letting the public have it to celebrate his family’s legacy. As he sat pondering the matter, he realized that he’d felt this same way when he heard his grandpa’s lawyer read the will.
He’d been selfish then, and that wouldn't be the case here. He called the buyer and set everything in motion, knowing that wherever his grandpa was now, he was proud of all Liam had done. But how had an absurd 10-foot-wide house come to be in the first place?
An Impulse Purchase
Liam’s grandpa was a lover of oddities. When he’d seen the skinny house, he’d immediately fallen in love with it. He bought it on a whim, intending to fix it up and restore it to its former glory.
He loved the house’s strange history and story. But, unfortunately, his ailing health prevented him from carrying out the renovations he had dreamed of.
Unique History
The house was extremely unusual, and it had been built with a very particular purpose in mind: revenge. The man who had built it made sure that he made life very difficult for one particular group of people in his neighborhood.
Placement was very important to Lewis Sharp, so much so that the house was so unpractical that livability seemed like an afterthought.
Peace And Quiet
Lewis Sharp had lived in the 1830s, and was a hardworking man. He loved nothing more than to arrive home from a long day of work, pour himself a stiff drink, and relax for the evening.
But one thing always stopped him from enjoying his peace and quiet in the evenings, and soon he was at his wits’ end.
Spark Of Brillance
Sharp was plagued by the noise of people loitering in the adjacent alleyway, and the sounds of broken bottles and late night brawls would float straight up into his upper-story window at night.
More so, he was sick and tired of the loud clip-clop of the horse-drawn carriages as they clattered under his window. One day, he hatched a genius plan.
Revenge
Sharp began to cackle wildly to himself. He knew just what he would do to stop the infernal noise and get even. But was it legal?
He didn’t care about the logistics, he would do it anyway. He was going to stop the traffic if it was the last thing he ever did. They were all going to pay.
Making Them Pay
Sharp quickly put his plan in action and started to build. The alleyway was narrow, but he would make it work. No wagon would ever drive through here again, he thought gleefully.
He hated traffic, and never wanted to hear it from his window ever again. Then, he ran into a complication.
Historical Stunt
The alleyway was public property, and Sharp was not permitted to build on it. But, he absolutely had to go through with his masterful plan for revenge.
He used his position as a chairperson on the council board to get his way and pull off one of history’s biggest pranks — and leave his mark on the neighborhood forever.
Listing
More than 200 years later, Liam’s grandpa Charlie Warren saw the auction listing for Lewis Sharp’s house and knew he just had to buy it. It was an impractical and architectural oddity, but he had to have it.
He had passed the historic “Spite House” for years on his way to his office, but he was never prepared for what he saw inside.
Unprepared
Many house flippers would advise that redecorating and fixing old houses can become huge complicated projects and eat away at your savings.
Fully aware of this and the fact that he bought this tiny “Spite House” on a whim, Charlie was not prepared for what was to come. Knowing that he was also getting on in years, he just hoped he’d be able to finish what he’d taken on.
Unfulfilled Dream
At the age of 60, Charlie Warren had become so enamoured with the “Spite House” that he made the impulse decision to spend all his savings on it. He kept it secret from his relatives and planned to do the renovations himself, but he’d been too optimistic about his health.
Within six months, his eyesight failed Soon after, he was forced to move into a care facility. The skinny house stood crumbling for another ten years - untouched until Charlie’s passing.
Saving Space
Liam had done an excellent job of highlighting original elements of the house, leaving the brick walls and wooden floors intact.
He had made changes to make the home more space-efficient, such as moving the heating and cooling system to a tiny attic space, and installed space-saving cabinets to accommodate a water heater and even a stacked washer-dryer unit.
Holed Away
The house had a distinctive 18oos feel to it, and is also reminiscent of being in the cabin of a ship.
In fact, it is so similar that Liam considered renting the house out to people who are about to embark on ocean cruises so that they can get used to living in such a small space.
Breathtaking Achievement
Liam stunned everyone with what he was able to achieve. He had dedicated himself to redecorating his grandfather’s house and simultaneously make sure that it resembled the period it dated back to. The results of his achievement were breathtaking.
Not only had Liam honoured his grandpa in the best way he knew how, he had made the town a little more magical.
A Monument
The residents of the town all love the house and the Liam enjoyed introducing new people to his humble abode before he sold it. Most people express amazement and the skinny house elicits an immediate reaction.
It’s become somewhat of a tourist attraction and there is even memorabilia like pictures on napkins and cards that show old scenes of the town on the walls.
The House That Spite Built
Lewis Sharp’s stunt to divert traffic was unprecedented. The house he built in the alleyway was only 10 feet wide — 1,165 square feet spread over two stories.
The house was built using the adjacent houses’ walls, and the gouges from the wheels of the carriages that Sharp had hated so much can still be seen on the living room wall today.