Some homes or buildings exist in inexplicable places simply because the homeowners refused
to sell.
From a mysterious old lady to a house in the middle of the street, here are 7 of the most
stubborn homeowners in the world.
7.
Edith Macefield
In Seattle, Washington, a new mall complex threatened to take over the home of an 84-year-old
woman named Edith Macefield.
She was offered $1 million dollars for her home, which she had bought in 1952.
However, she refused.
In a letter, Edith claimed her mother dragged her “all the way from England” to look
at the small house near Ballard Bridge.
Her mother apparently had never had a home of her own, so Edith bought it for her.
Perhaps this is the explanation as to why she held onto it so tenaciously.
Construction moved forward and the mall was simply built around her little property.
The foreman of the construction project, Barry Martin, befriended Edith.
He helped her with her groceries, medications, and took care of her until she died in 2008
of pancreatic cancer.
She was 86.
It’s believed that her story inspired the Pixar film, Up.
The home, which Edith called Whitewood Cottage, is now referred to as the Macefield House,
the Ballard House, or the Up House, and was left to Barry Martin on Edith’s death.
He searched the home, looking for clues of Edith’s past, but only came up with more
questions.
In life, she claimed all sorts of strange stories, like riding in a hot air balloon
with Hitler and being a spy during World War II.
Supposedly, she was married three times and there were three marriage certificates from
three different countries but none had official seals.
One especially puzzling artifact is a green notebook containing autographs, notes, and
poems from actors, musicians, and directors, ranging from Charlie Chaplin to Katherine
Hepburn.
Taylor Bowie, a Seattle antiquarian and avid fan of old actors and musicians, examined
the autograph book and said at least two-thirds of the signatures are authentic.
In 2009, Martin sold the house to a businessman for $300,000 and used the money to pay for
his children’s college education.
However, according to its Facebook page, the mildew-ridden Macefield House still stands.
Edith’s legacy, however, doesn’t end here.
Every year in Seattle since 2013, there has been a festival called the Macefield Music
Festival to celebrate the memory of one determined and mysterious woman.
6.
The Yang House
At the three-storey building in Yichang, Hubei province, China has fallen victim to its own
rapid urban development.
Owned by a man named Yang, it stands in the middle of a construction site of a high-tech
park at the bottom of a pit.
He and his family have refused to move during a two-year battle with the local government.
Yang claims his home was originally built in the 1990s was renovated in 2005.
In 2012, when he couldn’t agree to a relocation compensation amount with authorites, the developer
cut off water and electricity to the home.
He’s petitioned the City Council numerous times but to no avail.
They did briefly leave the home for rented housing when Yang’s daughter-in-law gave
birth but economic reasons forced them to move back.
Cracks have since appeared in their home and there is serious danger of mudslides occurring
during heavy rain.
There is also danger that heavy rain could flood the home.
They collect water from a river more than a kilometer away.
For light, they use candles and lamps.
The last bit of news about this home comes from 2015, so it can only be assumed that
the Yang family still live at the bottom of their pit.
5.
The House in the Middle of a Road
Luo Baogen and his wife watched as all their neighbors moved out after accepting relocation
compensation from the government.
However, the couple felt the compensation would not be enough to rebuild a new home.
So, they refused and continued to live in their home in the city of Wingling in Zhejiang
province.
In China, it is illegal to demolish a property without agreement from the tenants.
This left the developers in a bind.
They needed to build the highway, which leads to the Wenling railway station, but they couldn’t
force the couple out.
So, they reached a compromised.
Most of the rooms around their apartment have been left untouched while the rest of the
complex was demolished.
Then, the road was built around them, turning the remains of the complex into the world’s
strangest island.
Baogen now owns the land underneath the complex, ensuring he and his wife cannot be forced
out.
4.
Austin Spriggs
Austin Spriggs was called a holdout against commercialism.
He owned a townhouse in Washington D.C. surrounded by construction and appeals to sell.
Starting in 1980, developers began offering millions of dollars for his property but Spriggs
continued to turn them down, hoping for an even more outrageous offer.
Eventually, developers began building around him, leading eventually to a Macefield like
situation: a small townhouse surrounded by towering buildings.
Locals appealed to Spriggs to sell, worried that his obstinacy would bring down the market
value of the entire block.
A broker pleaded with him to sell, saying that this was like hitting the lottery.
One company offered 2.7 million dollars!
Yet, Spriggs persevered, wanting an ever larger payday.
Then, in 2006, developers stopped making offers.
Spriggs tried to turn the rundown home into a restaurant.
However, the family's plan died during renovations, when workers discovered a crack in the foundation.
A real estate agent claims the crack was later repaired.
However, Spriggs became embroiled in a dispute with Adams National Bank, which claims that
the Spriggs family defaulted on a $1.3 million loan.
In despair, they put up the home on the market with a price tag of nearly two million.
However, local developers turned up their noses and refused to make offers.
In 2011, the bank foreclosed on the property.
A partnership of two developers bought it for a measly 800,000 dollars, only to sell
it to an investor for 3.88 million.
I guess Spriggs should have sold when he had the chance.
3.
Ishmael Bermudez
A Native American man in Miami has refused offers of $1.8 million because he believes
his home rests on sacred ground.
Ishmael Bermudez, 65, also known as Golden Eagle, has been excavating the backyard of
his home for almost 50 years and claims it is a mystical place sacred to the Tequesta
tribe.
He says he will never sell unless the garden, where he discovered a natural spring, is protected.
The house, covered in murals, looks out of place surrounded by high-rise buildings and
heavy traffic.
It sits only two blocks from busy Brickell Avenue.
Bermudez claims he found evidence of the earliest native inhabitants of the area in his garden
and calls it the “Well of Ancient Mysteries”.
He told the Miami Herald that over the last fifty years of excavation, he has discovered
artifacts used in ancient rituals, humanoid fossils, and prehistoric objects, as well
as the spring itself.
As of 2015, the property itself is valued at $2 million and that number is rising.
But to Bermudez, the property is worth more than any price.
What he wants is a museum or archaeological landmark to rest on that spot.
What inspired such devotion, though?
When he was 12, his sixth-grade teacher told him to search for one of the springs the Tequesta
drank from before they escaped from the Europeans during colonization.
It was possibly the most life changing homework assignment ever given.
Bermudez promptly began digging in his back yard but it wasn’t until he was 19 that
he discovered the pure water spring close to a mango tree
Archaeologists have visited the home and in the 1990s, mere blocks away, an ancient Tequesta
site was uncovered.
Archaeologists confirmed that some of the items Bermudez found are part of the Tequesta
culture and other items really do come from prehistoric shells.
For now, he remains on his spot and is adamant he’ll never move until the city promises
to preserve the spot for future generations.
2.
Macy’s
Most people know about Macy’s, the department store based in New York City.
What you may not know is that it’s huge store was built around a holdout.
The Million Dollar Corner on 34th and Broadway is a five-story building that received its
name when it sold for a record-setting $1 million in 1911.
Why such an incredible price?
The purchaser wanted to prevent Macy’s from declaring itself the largest store in the
world.
The idea was that Macy’s would give up on the corner and move on.
Instead, they just built around the building.
To this day, Macy’s doesn’t own the property.
It’s crowned with a giant sign that reads “The World’s Largest Store” but it Macy’s
doesn’t own it.
A different company owns it and they allow Macy’s to use the exterior of the building
for advertisement.
I guess that original guy’s plan didn’t work out so well after all.
1.
Speigelhalter’s Jewelry Store
In East London there was a place called Wickham’s Department Store and was located on Whitechapel’s
Mile End Road.
Yes, the Whitechapel of Jack the Ripper but this was many decades later.
In the late 1920s, the owners of Wickham’s had expanded to occupy the whole block save
for one lot, which was occupied by Spiegelhalter’s Jewelry Store, and sat in the center of the
street.
Wickham’s wanted to rebuild their sprawling department store and planned an extensive
expansion and remodel.
Wickham’s offered numerous prices for the lot but the Spiegelhalter brothers refused
to sell.
Their stubbornness led to a bizarre situation: the Wickham’s store, complete with a colonnaded
façade and imposing clock tower, had to be built in two halves with Spiegelhalter in
the center.
Wickham’s, feeling inspired by the stubbornness of Spiegelhalter, did not alter the size of
the right wing of the halved building when they learned they weren’t going to be able
to buy the land.
So, even if they had acquired the land during the building process, the result would never
have been symmetrical.
The remnants of this architectural weirdness still exist to this day, in fact.
Wickham’s eventually closed in the late 1960s and Spiegelhalter’s followed in 1982.
The two Wickham’s buildings now house Foxcroft & Ginger and a Sports Direct.
The Spiegelhalter section remains derelict and roofless.
Who do you think won this developer’s quarrel?
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