Pink House (Newbury, Massachusetts)

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The Pink House
The Spite House.jpg
The Pink House as seen at dusk
Pink House (Newbury, Massachusetts)
General information
Architectural style American Foursquare
Location60 Plum Island Turnpike
Newbury, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°47′47″N70°49′49″W / 42.796300°N 70.830223°W / 42.796300; -70.830223
Completed1922 [1]
Demolished11 March 2025
Technical details
Floor count2 [2]
The house on the way to Plum Island Newbury Pink House on the way to Plum Island.jpg
The house on the way to Plum Island

The Pink House was an uninhabited historic house and popular photography and painting subject in Newbury, Massachusetts, United States. [3] The house was built in 1925 and was privately owned until it was sold to Parker River National Wildlife Refuge for $375,000 in 2011. [4] [5] The house was considered by many to be a local icon and was the subject of a grassroots campaign to buy back the property from the refuge to preserve the house. [6] In March 2025, after a decade of debate and legal challenges, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service demolished the house with intentions to restore the property to a wildlife habitat with partial public access.

Contents

Preservation movement

The house was built in 1925 and was privately owned until it was sold and became part of the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge in 2011. [7] The refuge, which had originally planned on using the property for seasonal staff housing, completed a preliminary environmental survey of the building in 2014, finding asbestos-containing building materials. [8] In 2015, amid community concerns the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge would demolish the property, a group founded by local residents was formed to advocate for the preservation of the house. [9] After initially proposing demolition in 2016, the refuge agreed to postpone to explore alternatives and give time to find a suitable land transfer. [10] In 2018, refuge staff met with members of Essex County Greenbelt, a conservation organization, to discuss the option of a land transfer. [11]

In November 2023, the Fish and Wildlife Service announced plans to demolish the Pink House in the coming months following a period of public comment, citing nearly eight years of unsuccessful land transfer attempts, rising maintenance costs of the degrading building, and the refuge's duty to preserve wildlife. [12] In the proposal, they announced plans to replace the Pink House with a public observation platform to view the salt marsh. [13]

On October 30, 2024, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey announced that the Pink House's demolition would be placed on hold. [14] On February 28, 2025, the USFWS announced plans to proceed with demolition, and on March 11, 2025 the building was razed. [15] [16]

Origin legend

The house's notoriety is in part due to a popular local urban legend about its creation. [17] [18] The story suggests the house's location was a result of a divorce in which the wife demanded an exact replica of their Newburyport house, but failed to specify the location, resulting in the spiteful husband building it on the edge of town, in the Great Marsh with saltwater plumbing. [19] [20] For this reason, the building is often listed as an example of a spite house. [21] [22]

Pink House at sunset Newbury Pink House.jpg
Pink House at sunset

References

  1. ↑ Sargent, William (October 5, 2016). "Group rallies to save 'Pink House'". Wicked Local. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  2. ↑ "Public Comment Period for Pink House Environmental Assessment". U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. November 2023. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
  3. ↑ Henderson, Dyke (October 2, 2015). "Saving 'the pink house'". The Daily News of Newburyport. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  4. ↑ Henderson, Dyke (December 16, 2015). "Spotlight falls on 'pink house'". The Daily News of Newburyport. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  5. ↑ Rogers, Dave (September 14, 2018). "Land swap talks involving Pink House under way". The Daily News of Newburyport. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  6. ↑ "About Us". Support The Pink House. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  7. ↑ Tenser, Emily Maher, Phil (March 12, 2025). "'The Pink House,' a Massachusetts landmark, torn down Tuesday morning". Channel3000.com. Retrieved March 13, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ↑ Sullivan, Jim (November 2, 2023). "Refuge plans to tear down Pink House". Newburyport News. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
  9. ↑ O'Brien Coffey, Jeanne (March 5, 2016). "Saving Plum Island's Pink House". Northshore Magazine. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  10. ↑ Henderson, Dyke (September 30, 2016). "Preserving the Pink House". The Daily News of Newburyport. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  11. ↑ Rogers, Dave (September 18, 2018). "Little progress after Pink House meeting". The Daily News of Newburyport. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  12. ↑ O'Brien Coffey, Jeanne (November 1, 2023). "National Wildlife Service Explores Demolition of Newbury's Iconic Pink House". North Shore Magazine. RMS Media Group, Inc. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
  13. ↑ "Environmental Assessment for Pink House Removal" (PDF). U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
  14. ↑ Tenser, Phil (October 30, 2024). "Demolition of 'The Pink House,' a Mass. landmark, on hold". WCVB. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
  15. ↑ McKenna, Charlie. "Iconic North Shore Pink House to be torn down, despite long quest to save it". Masslive. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
  16. ↑ Mancini, Ryan (March 11, 2025). "Iconic North Shore Pink House demolished, 100 years after it was built". MassLive. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
  17. ↑ Bolick, Kate (December 11, 2015). "Plum Island's Pink House Inspires a Real Estate Fantasy". The New York Times. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  18. ↑ Bilis, Madaline (December 15, 2015). "Five Spite Houses in New England". Boston Magazine. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  19. ↑ Reynolds, Christopher (August 19, 2019). "Startled by Manhattan Beach's emoji house? Let me tell you about spite houses and my lunch in Sarajevo". the Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  20. ↑ Kaharick, Whitney. "Plum Island Pink House". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  21. ↑ Sisson, Patrick (December 14, 2015). "Spite Houses: 12 Homes Created With Anger and Angst". Curbed. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  22. ↑ Kiger, Patrick J. (August 8, 2016). "10 Things Done Completely Out of Spite". How Stuff Works. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
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