The Paint Job That Enraged London's Super-Rich

Can re-painting your house be deemed an act of aggression? A ruling by a London borough this week suggests that it actually can. In a fresh twist on the tradition of the Spite House, a house owner in London’s uber-rich Kensington area has been accused of repainting her house façade purely as a way of annoying her neighbors.

Owner Zipporah Lisle-Mainwaring (yes, this is a real person, not a character from a Downton Abbey parody) had her street frontage redecorated in fury after neighbors successfully fought her remodeling plans. The 71-year-old had intended to partly demolish her home and add a two-floor mega-basement beneath the street—creating what’s locally known as an “iceberg home”—but was shot down by local protest. Her scheme frustrated, she retaliated by covering her house with lurid red stripes, dazzling to the eye and offensive to received English ideas of understated good taste.