81: Blinded By The Spite: The Richardson Spite House

Spite Houses: The architectural equivalent of a middle finger. They’re structures or dwellings designed specifically to piss someone off. This week, Norm does a deep dive into a truly ridiculous spite house, built and owned by an eccentric millionaire named Joseph Richardson.

It all started when a man made an offer on Joseph’s 5-foot wide, 102-foot deep tract of land in New York City. Joseph was so offended by the man’s (completely reasonable) offer, that he built an odd, skinny structure right next to the man’s beautiful apartment building. And the wildest part of it all? Joseph Richardson lived in his spite house for fifteen years.

Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, Norm pulled from:
Alpern, Andrew. Holdouts!: The Buildings That Got in the Way. McGraw-Hill, 1984.
Documentary History of American Water-Works. “Biography of Joseph Richardson.” http://www.waterworkshistory.us/bio/Richardson/index.htm.
Find a Grave. “Joseph C. Richardson (1814-1897).” https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/58229813/joseph_c-richardson.
Miller, Tom. “The Lost 1882 ‘Spite House’ -- No. 1218 Lexington Avenue.” Daytonian in Manhattan, August 27, 2012. https://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-lost-1882-spite-house-no-1215.html.
New York Architecture. “New York Architecture Images - Spite House.” February 1, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120201111125/http://www.nyc-architecture.com/GON/GON005.htm.
New York Daily Herald. “Corporate Elections.” April 8, 1873.
New York Daily Herald. “Marriages and Deaths.” July 14, 1872.
New York Daily Herald. “The City Railroad Bills.” February 12, 1873.
New York Herald. “Financial and Commercial.” March 12, 1874.
New York Herald. “Railroads in Utah.” January 27, 1875.
New York Herald. “‘Uncle Ben’ Richardson Dead.” February 22, 1889.
New York Times. “Calls Them Embezzlers.” March 20, 1895.
New York Times. “Joseph Richardson Dead.” June 9, 1897.
New York Times. “Joseph Richardson Dying.” April 16, 1897.
New York Times. “Meeting of the Directors of the Union Pacific Railroad.” March 7, 1873.
New York Times. “Mr Richardson’s Faculty.” June 14, 1897.
New York Times. “Mr. Richardson’s Funeral.” June 12, 1897.
New York Times. “Richardson Will Contest.” November 18, 1897.
New York Times. “Richardson’s Money Gone.” December 23, 1897.
New York Times. “Spite House Case Dismissed.” November 1, 1900.
New York Times. “Stormy Railroad Meeting.” October 19, 1877.
New York Times. “Struck in the Tunnel.” August 21, 1888.
New York Tribune. “Evicted, Goes to Country.” August 21, 1910.
New York Tribune. “Rapid Transit Schemes.” September 22, 1875.
The Universe of Discourse. “The Spite House.” https://blog.plover.com/tech/spite-house.html.
The World. “Strange Heirs of Joseph Richardson.” June 13, 1897.
Utah Rails.Net. “The History of Utah’s Railroads, 1869-1883.” https://utahrails.net/reeder/reeder-chap6.php.
Valentine’s Manual of Old New York. The Chauncey Holt Company, 1921.

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