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From Wikipedia:you may be interested in Spite houses, which are usually quite narrow!Spite houseThe Skinny House in Boston, Massachusetts was reputedly built by a man who inherited only a small patch of land, to spite his neighbour by blocking his viewA spite house is a buildingconstructed or substantially modified to irritate neighbors or any party with land stakes. Spite houses may create obstructions, such as blocking out light or blocking access to neighboring buildings, or can be flagrant symbols of defiance.[1][2]Because long-term occupationis not the primary purpose of these houses, they frequently sport strange and impractical structures.Spite houses are considerably rarer than spite fences.[1]This is partially attributable to the fact that modern building codesoften prevent the construction of houses likely to impinge on neighbors' views or privacy, but mostly because fence construction is far cheaper, quicker, and easier than home construction.[3]There are also similar structures known as spite wall or blinder wall.ExamplesEditThe Old Spite House of Marblehead, Massachusetts in 1912In 1716, Thomas Wood, a sailmaker, built a house in Marblehead, Massachusetts, that subsequently became known as 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.[4]Another explanation is that the ten foot (3 meter) wide 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' view.[5] The Old Spite House is still standing and occupied.[5]The McCobb Spite House at Deadman's Point in July 1960.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".[6] Upset about his loss, McCobb built a house directly across from the McCobb mansion to spite his stepbrother.[6] The National Park Service's Historic American Buildings Surveyphotographed and documented the 1925 move of the McCobb Spite Houseby barge from Phippsburg to Deadman's Point in Rockport, Maine.[7][8][9]The Tyler Spite House in Frederick, Maryland. It is located at the southern terminus of Record StreetIn 1814, Dr. John Tyler, an eminent 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.[10] The city made plans to extend Record Street south through Tyler's land to meet West Patrick Street.[10] In fighting 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.[10] To spite the city, Tyler immediately had workmen pour a building foundation, which was discovered by the road crews the next morning.[10][11]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.[12] To prevent people from using the alleyway, Hollensbury constructed a 7-foot (2.1 m) wide, 25-foot (7.6 m) deep, 325-square-foot (30.2 m2), two-story home using the existing brick walls of the adjacent homes for the sides of the new house.[12] The brick walls of the Hollensbury Spite House living room have gouges from wagon-wheel hubs, and the house is still standing and occupied.[12]The Skinny House in Boston is considered 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.[13][14] Each had previously inherited land from their deceased father.[13]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.[13] When 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.[13] The outside of the house spans 10.4 feet (3.2 m) and tapers to 9.25 feet (2.82 m) in the rear.[13]In 1880, Adam Schilling owned a tract of 80 acres (32 ha) adjoining the town of Hiawatha, Kansas.[15] Schilling sold three-quarters of an acre of this land, on which a house eventually was built and became owned by James Falloon.[15] Together, the 80 acres (320,000 m2) 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.[15] 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.[15]The Richardson Spite House in 1895The Richardson Spite Housein New York City at Lexington Avenue and 82nd Street was built in 1882[16] 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 was a functional (albeit impractical) apartment building with eight suites, each consisting of three rooms and a bath.[17]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 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.[18]At some point before 1898, a home was erected in Salem, Massachusetts, to "cut off the view of a neighbor".[19] After the owner died, his heirs agreed in 1898 to have the Salem Spite House torn down to avoid a "vexatious lawsuit with the obnoxious neighbor".[19]In the 19th century, a Collinsville, Connecticut, butcher feuded with his neighbor.[20] To spite his neighbor, the butcher built between their adjoining houses a narrow, two-story structure with windows covered by Venetian blinds.[20] 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 the neighbor's home and block the neighbor's view of the butcher's property at will.[20][21] The butcher's son got along with the family next door and eventually tore down the Collinsville Spite House.[20]Developer John Randall's unusual "Freeport Spite House" or "Miracle House" blocked a rival developer's plan for the route of Freeport, New York's Lena Avenue.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 housevirtually overnight on a triangular plot at the corner of Lena Avenue and Wilson Place to spite the grid designers.[22][23] The Freeport Spite House is still standing and occupied.[22]The Alameda Spite House, July 2008At 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.[24] 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 the tiny strip of land left to him.[24] The Alameda Spite House is still standing and occupied.[24] He cantilevered the front-facing second story to maximize floor space while avoiding encroachment on zoning setbacks.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.[25] The children asked to erect a monument in the churchyardin memory of Joseph's 41-year tenure at the church.[25]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.[25] 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.[25] The Edleston Spite House is still standing and occupied, and has MCMIV (1904) over the front door.[25]O'Reilly Spite House, West Cambridge, MA, June 2009In 1908, Francis O'Reilly owned an investment parcel of land in West Cambridge, Massachusetts, and approached his abutting land neighbor to sell the land for a gain.[26] After the neighbor refused to buy the land, O'Reilly built a 308-square-foot (28.6 m2) building, measuring 37 feet (11 m) long and only 8 feet (2.4 m) wide to spite the neighbor.[26] The O'Reilly Spite House is still standing[26] and is occupied by an interior decorating firm as of mid-2009.[27]The Sam Kee Building, built in 1913 in Vancouver, British Columbia, is a spite house. The city widened the street and took a large part of Mr. Kee's land who then built a 4-foot-11-inch (1.50 m) wide building on the remaining very small parcel of land.Before 1914, the Austro-Hungarians who ruled Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina wanted land in the Sarajevo Old Town districtto build a city hall and library.[28] 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.[28] 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.[28]The Sarajevo Spite Houseoperates today as a restaurant called Inat Kuća(which means "Spite House").[28]Alley view: the thin end of the Montlake Spite House (left) and the house it blocks from 24th.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.[29][30]In 1925, according to one common story, a Montlake, Seattle, Washington neighbor made an insultingly low offer for a tiny slice of adjoining land.[31] Out of spite for the low offer, the builder built an 860-square-foot (80 m2) house that blocked the neighbors' open space.[31]However, there are other stories about how the house came to be, making its origins murky.[32] The house is 55 inches (1.4 m) wide at the south end, and 15 feet (4.6 m) wide at the north end.[31][32]The Montlake Spite House is still standing and occupied.[31][32]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 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.[33]In the 1950s, two Virginia City, Nevada neighbors got into a dispute.[34] 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.[34] The Virginia City Spite House is still standing and occupied.[34]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 the request 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 60cm at the narrowest and four meters at the widest. It is known as Al Ba'sa (The Grudge) and formerly as The Queen Mary due to its resemblance to a ship.[35]Film producer George Lucashad wanted to construct 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,[36] Lucas himself rejected that characterization.[37]The Equality House in Topeka, Kansas in 2016.The Westboro Baptist Church, located in Topeka, Kansas, is a hate group known 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.[38] It was named the 'Equality House' and has received worldwide attention and media coverage.[38] In 2016, Planting Peace acquired the house next door to the Equality House and painted it the colors of the transgender pride flag.[39] The houses provide shelter to volunteers[38] and a community garden.[40]

This is an incident that happened in 2008 in Bangalore. It didn't happen to me but to a close friend of mine from my workplace. And what I am giving you is the 1st person eye witness account of ir.I had this friend from office "Samrit". He was a couple of years elder to me but still unmarried (I was too). He called me to his house to help him with his car. He had bought one about 2.5 years before. Irony was he didn't know how to drive. He had employed a driver for a while who absconded a few month ago. So the car was ln his garage for months together without being used.I had been driving since I was 18, and knew the basics of a car's anatomy. I went to his home, got the car started (after geting the battery charged). Samrit was happy. I told him he should use the car a little to keep it in running condition. He was like 'Can you help me with that?'. I said ok. And we decided to take the car to Mysore (about 190km / 4 hr drive from Bangalore). We took his car, me in the driver seat. We reached My sore at lunch time. Had lunch and it was time to return back. 'Samrit' got a little excited and conveyed his wish to drive. I said OK (it was his car, not that I had much choice) but only under he condition that he listens to everything I say and drives as per my instructions. Samrit agreed. He was excited, I was a little scared.My instructions were simple.Keep on the left most lane (that's the slowest lane in India) of the 3 lane expressway.Go at a speed <= 40kmph.Brake when I tell you toNo overtakingWear your seatbelts (this was not mandatory then)So Samrit started driving and I sat beside him with one of my hands on the hand brake (just in case). And I realized that as time passed by he started getting confident about his driving and would try to break the rules I had laid down. He surely hated the seat belt because it would poke him. But I was firm and he realized that. Only leeway I allowed him was to get at 60kmph (from 40kmph). We were still the slowest car on the road (cars speed at 120kmph and all on this road). We reached Bangalore in 5.5-6 hrs time. We reached his house, I parked his car (he was still not confident about that) and left home in my bike. All was well, Samrit felt accomplished.The week after that, another friend of ours from work (Anand) came to us and expressed his desire to go for a movie (after work) to a place called Marathahalli (East Bangalore). This used to be a God Foreskin place then. Commuters would get mugged almost regularly in that stretch of road at night. I was totally against the idea, but gave in because of coercion from Samrit and Anand.I landed up at Samrit's house after work. And we took off in his car. Within 10 mins, Samrit desired to drive. He was brimming with confidence from the previous weeks experience. I told him that city driving was way different from highway driving. And he will have to listen to me and follow all my instructions like he did last week and only then would he be able to make it. He agreed. And this time he was very sincere too and the traffic was crazy. We reached the multiplex where Anand was waiting for us with the tickets. He had come in his Honda City. We watched the movie. It must have been around 1:30 am when we left. Anand wanted to get a smoke and have a tea. So he headed for what's called the India Nagar flyover (now domlur flyover on the old airport toad) . We followed Anand in Samrit's car . Samrit was in the drivers seat again.Anand had sped much ahead of us, and when we reached he was already waiting for us with 3 cups of tea from the tea vendor (who was selling tea from a flask inat ached to the back of his cycle). There were a bunch of other people too. As soon as we went near Anand,, he handed one cup to each of us and then announced to us that he could not find a smoke here so he had to go somewhere else and Anand left.We finished our tea. (It tasted like crap) and got into Samrit's car. Again with Samrit on the drivers seat. I wish to mention here that Samrit had problems taking a U TURN on the right hand side.I asked Samrit to take a U Turn and follow the same route back home. He would not because he could not. My strategy was to keep him away from the busy city roads which wiuld be brimming with speeding vehicles ferrying BPO employees.Samrit responds to me -"tell me a route where I only have to turn left).Me - OK. Then take the next left. And please wear your seat belt.Samrit - No. Seatbelts is a discomfort. And it's not mandatory..I am comfortable with driving now. I drove back from Mysore itself last week. I am good at this now. I don't need a seatbelts.Similar conversation cotinues for 2-3 more mins.FinallyMe - Samrit please wear you seatbelts. Else stop the car right now and drop me here.Samrit - I can't do this while I am driving.Me - then stop the car and do it.Samrit - you ate such a nuisance.Me - fine I am. But it's for your safety.Samrit - finally puts on the seat belt wig out stopping the car. The car swerve's slightly but everything is fine within 2 secs. Happy ?Me - Good for you.Then we get into a simply lit road (Hosur Road from Garuda mall side). We are about to cross the Bangalore Military School T junction. The amazing thing about this road was that there was NO MEDIAN to stop traffic in the opposite direction coming onto your lane. Samrit was speeding unusually he was at >60kmph. I adked him to slow down but he would not listen to me. That's when Samrit spots another car in front of him. This fellow is on the right lane of a 2 lane road. And that's when the traffic light is turning from green to amber. And Samrit started a accelerating crossed 60kmph. It looked like Samrit wanted to overtake the car in front of him as well as cross the traffic signal before it turned red. It sort of became an implicit competition for him as if he had something to prove to himself and me.It was dimly lit if not pitch dark. We must have easily reached 100kmph. He was about to overtake the car in front of him, but that fell wouldn't give any leeway. So Samrit went even faster right on the middle of the road and that's when we saw a newly constructed median made of huge concrete blocks 2ft x 1.5ft x1.5ft. And it started only after the T junction (this was never there 10-15 days before). And as it was new it was not painted too. We went and rashes into it. The other car sped away without even being bothered about our accident.All this in a matter of seconds.We had ploughed into the median, broke 2 huge concrete blocks and 1/2 of 3rd one. So from 100kmph to 0 kmph in 1.5mtrs in 2 secs.Samrit had crashed his head on the steering wheel. I could see blood gushing out of his nose. He was conscious although in shock and was complaining of pain in the chest (a broken rib maybe).I had injured my left wrist (muscle trauma) and I felt a weird pain (like that of being squeezed by some giant machine) across my chest due to the strangulation because of the seatbelts. I was fine otherwise.I looked at Samrit again. He was fine. Just a broken nose. THE SEAT BELT SAVED HIM.It stopped his head from crashing into the steering wheel. It saved him from dying that day.It was just 5 mins before that I had insisted on him vehemently to wear his seat belt. What if he would have not listened. Lots of thoughts went across my mind.People passing by thought we were dead. At that time of the night I could only think of calling up 'Anand' who I was sure awake and only a couple of mins away.Anand did respond he came to the accident site, rushed Samrit to HOSMET hospital. Where we got to know of the broken nose. There was no broken ribs in the chest. It was just strangulation trauma.Anand also arranged for a crane from the Hyundai service station to tow the vehicle away to the nearest service station.By that time the tow crane arrived, I got some people passing by to help me out with pushing the car to the side of the road. I even had to manage some policemen who showed out of nowhere to enquire if there were any casualties (dead people).A weird night, a freak accident, a life saved.Samrit has never spoken about the accident to me ever after that. He got married and moved to Singapore. He has 2 children now. We are friends on Facebook.I moved to Dell 3.5 years back in the look out for greener pastures.Anand is a good friend still wit IBM. We came close after that. We talk once in a couple of months.Simple message to everyone. PLEASE WEAR SEATBELTS WHILE TRAVELLING IN A CAR.Godspeed.

They werent meant to be funny. They were meant to be scary. To intimidate. To represent kapa or deamons if your of an english backround. While we may sometimes see them as funny looking from a modern perspective, when seen sitting in a display case; you have to remember that our context is different that the peoples whom were meant to see these masks.Imagine your living in a small town area, working the land. Maybe with others like you, or members of your family. Theres a rolling fog setting in, and you hear strange sounds coming your way in the distance. The sounds of horses, and the russleing of brush, and armor; that you likely can't identify the sound of, as your not a soldier.Suddenly out of Fog comes a siloute. Something along the shape of a combination of hourse and man. Finally it breaks threw the fog. A huge half human, yet not human. No a deamon like creature, riding a big and powerful horse, and carrying large banners. Armed with bows and arrows, along with a huge curved blade, and a second blade on his belt, and hes heading your way with an evil look in his eye. A look that doesnt even see you. No, hes focused on getting to the village leader and slaughtering any who resist. Hes angry because you and your friends in your town, are supporting a different clan; a different warlord, whos become his enemy. As that warlord is the enemy of his lord.You may have been pressed into service. But it doesnt matter. Your an after thought, and hes coming threw your town, whether you want him to or not. If you resist, he will kill you. And hes not alone. He has friends. Allies. And they are of like mind.Now if your this villager, do you stick around and comment on his funny mask? Or do you run at the sight of this deamon coming your way?Chances are, if your even remotely sane, and have any drive to preserve your own life, that you run. Hide if you must. But you'd be nuts to challenge him. your only a human. But everything you've seen screams hes something far more. A samuri. And from living in this time, you already inately understand that for a commoner to challenge a samuri is death.Thats exactly what he wanted. And its what he wants from all his enemies. From your feudal lord, the leader of his enemies, clear down to you, the commoner. He believes that should count yourself blessed to be in his presense, and stay in your place. As he is a samuri, born to serve his lord above all else. And he does not tollerate disrespect, or threats to his lord.It was a different time. Nothing like our lives now. It wasn't a democracy. It was the waring states period in fudal japan. You would know them by stories. And by the history of your times. So, you wouldnt likely find them all that funny then. Only respect and fear them. As thats how you stayed alive, and safe. They were Samuri, and their swords stroke, was the final word.