These photos show holdout houses giving the finger to redevelopment

Eminently contrarian domain

A holdout or “nail house” in Shanghai, China, in 2010. (Drew Bates)

Most people whose homes are threatened by development take the buyout, if hesitantly. The alternative, to fight, is often too overwhelming, a battle that would almost certainly end in defeat. Thankfully there are a few stalwarts who accept the herculean task of standing up to the man, channelling their rage and frustration into pragmatic action—a spiteful retort to stifling systems of state-sponsored redevelopment and commercial real estate.

In the U.S., we’re familiar with eminent domain as the process by which government can appropriate private property for public use, like a new freeway or bridge, or as easement for areas deemed to be “blighted.” But over time, the courts have come to recognize an expanded view of “public use” to include things like sports stadiums, which supposedly bring benefit to the communities they disrupt. Usually in these cases residents are paid to vacate their homes for market, or above market, rates, along with a hardship fee. But a sense of place can be worth more than money. And since at least the turn of the 20th century, some tenacious tenants have been clinging to their homes with the only bargaining chip they have—they were there first.

George Bellows, The Lone Tenement, 1909. (National Gallery of Art)

Holdouts can be found anyplace that urban expansion clashes with longtime residential communities. But their visibility in the modern city is pronounced, no doubt a symptom of density and growth, and the constant struggle between commercial and residential interests. In 1909, George Bellows painted The Lone Tenement, a picture so true to its moment that it almost reads as reportage. In it, the eponymous apartment building is seen standing solitary in an empty field, cast in shadows by the girders of a nearly completed Queensborough Bridge. The winter scene was typical in New York at the time, where some examples of successful early holdouts can still be seen today.

In China, where urban expansion and infrastructure have been raging at a breakneck pace for the past few decades, holdouts draw national attention for the dramatics of stubborn residents and developers alike. Known colloquially as “nail houses,” Chinese holdouts are respected for their unwillingness to give in—like a nail that wont be hammered down.

A holdout occupied the “million-dollar corner” of Macy’s Heralds Square department store in New York City in 1907 (left) and today (right) where the current owner leases advertising space to the retail giant. (Wikimedia)

The Atlantic City home of Vera Coking in 1991. Coking underwent years of offers and intimidation from casino developers looking to acquire her home. It finally sold in 2014 and was promptly demolished. (Jack Boucher/HABS via Library of Congress)

“Spite mounds” during the regarde of Denny Hill in Seattle, 1909.

A nail house stands in the middle of a road in Nanning, Guangxi province, China in 2015. Land seizures by local officials over years of booming property development have been a problem in China. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

The last house of an old neighborhood stands alone in a future Shanghai World Expo 2010 parking lot, under Nanpu bridge in Shanghai, China in 2010. The house was destroyed a few days later. (Lucas Schifres/Getty Images)

A nail house stands in the middle of a newly-built road in Wenling, Zhejiang province, China in 2012. The house was later bulldozed after its owners agreed to accept compensation of 40,000 USD. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

The Gate Tower Building in Osaka, Japan in 1992. A kind of reverse holdout, the owner of the original property had planned to redevelop when a new highway was already under preparation. Protracted negotiations resulted in a compromise where an owners allowed an offramp to pass through the fifth, sixth, and seventh floors of the building, rather than relinquish the property to eminent domain. (Wikimedia)

The Austin L. Spriggs “spite house” in Washington DC. Spriggs refused to sell to developers who owned the rest of the block while his home was squeezed by condos and offices on either side. (Flickr)

Edith Macefield‘s 108-year-old farmhouse in the Ballard section of Seattle. Macefield turned down a 1 million dollar offer in 2006. Condos were erected on either side of the home, which in the process became a symbol for gentrification in the city. (Flickr)

Holdouts in New York often become part of the urban fabric, like this video shop on 8th Avenue (left) or a stately Queen Anne in Washington Heights (right). (Ephemeral New York)

A Shanghai nail house awaits the inevitable in 2010. (Drew Bates)