A man builds an a building just to block the oceanfront view from his brother's house
If you're an only child, you've probably wondered from time to time what it would be like to have siblings. Most people would tell you that having siblings is rewarding: they're there for you when you need them, and it makes family gatherings worth going to. Others, however, may tell you that having siblings is a nightmare.
Let's take these two brothers from Beirut, Lebanon, for example. They are known throughout the entire world for their sibling rivalry. What first started out as a family dispute became a full-blown vendetta, although not in the way anyone would ever expect.
via Atlas Obscura
Sandra Rishani - Beirut the Fantastic
Who hasn't dreamt of owning a house with an oceanfront view? For the older brother of the family, this wasn't just a dream; it was a reality. Envious of his older brother's beach house view, the younger brother began devising a plan of how he could take that joy away from him. To understand why the younger brother was so bitter towards his older brother, let's backtrack for a minute.
Sandra Rishani - Beirut the Fantastic
We're now in the year 1954, when the two brother's father died. Their father was a pretty wealthy man and so had acquired quite a bit of land over the years. Instead of splitting everything up evenly between the two sons, the father decided to give most of it to his older son, his favorite. The younger son was thus left with a very small, triangular piece of land, which was almost too small to build anything on. He didn't keep that from stopping him though. His part of the property was right in front of his brother's house, the one with the oceanfront view. He built his building tall and wide enough to - that's right, you guessed it - block his brother from being able to see the ocean from his house. The brother made his intentions pretty clear, too, considering certain parts of the building are only 2 ft wide!
Sandra Rishani - Beirut the Fantastic
Although the younger brother's house wasn't ideal to live in, he was able to achieve his main objective: blocking his brother's view of the ocean. The building today is known as the "Al'Basa", or "The Grudge" in English. Needless to say, his older brother's house lost a lot of value, given it no longer had that oceanfront view that everyone goes crazy for.
The younger brother may have achieved his goal, but at what cost? The building looks more like a wall than an actual house. In any case, the house has become a cultural staple in Beirut as many tourists make it a stop in their itinerary when they visit the Lebanese city.
For many years, the building was a brothel, but in recent years has become a shelter for families who have been uprooted from their homes by war. It's difficult to say how much longer the building will be around. It however should be a lesson to us all that we should never stay mad at our siblings. Who knows what kind of vendettas they might have planned for us!
Sandra Rishani - Beirut the Fantastic
