| The Pink House | |
| Architectural Style: | American Foursquare |
| Location: | 60 Plum Island Turnpike Newbury, Massachusetts |
| Coordinates: | 42.7963°N -70.8302°W |
| Completion Date: | 1922[1] |
| Floor Count: | 2[2] |
The Pink House is an uninhabited historic house and popular photography and painting subject located at 60 Plum Island Turnpike, Newbury, Massachusetts, United States.[3] [4] 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.[5] [6] The house is considered by many to be a local icon and is the subject of a grassroots campaign to buy back the property from the refuge to preserve the house.[7]
The house's notoriety is in part due to a popular local urban legend about its creation.[8] [9] 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.[10] [11] For this reason, the building is often listed as an example of a spite house.[12] [13]
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.[14] 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.[15] After initially proposing demolition in 2016, the refuge agreed to postpone to explore alternatives and give time to find a suitable land transfer.[16] In 2018, refuge staff met with members of Essex County Greenbelt, a conservation organization, to discuss the option of a land transfer. [17]
In November, 2023, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service announced plans to demolish the Pink House in the coming months following a period of public comment, citing nearly eight year of unsuccessful land transfer attempts, rising maintenance costs of the degrading building, and the refuge's duty to preserve wildlife.[18] In the proposal, they announced plans to replace the Pink House with a public observation platform to view the salt marsh.[19]