When real estate developers come knocking, it seems that the majority of homeowners are willing to move out for the right price – but then there are some who take a stand and refuse to give up their homes no matter what. Called “holdouts” in some parts of the world and “nail houses” in others, these strong-willed folks decided that they weren’t going to move…so the developers had no choice but to build around them.

Dog Fight: Portland, Oregon

In 2005, attorney Randal Acker purchased a small Queen Anne Victorian home in downtown Portland, Oregon from which to operate his practice. The very next year, developers started buying up all of the property around the building. When they knocked on Acker’s door, they could never have guessed what was in store for them.

Acker calls the building The Figo House, named after his dog who is in turn named after Portuguese soccer player Luis Figo. Although the lawyer’s specialty is in commercial litigation, he resolved to commit as much time as necessary to eminent domain law to save this little piece of Portland history. In 2008, the developer resolved to leave Acker and the Figo house alone – but that didn’t mean they would scrap their construction project. They built a huge Portland State University residence hall around the Figo house – and amazingly, there seem to be no hard feelings on either side.

The construction of the hall to the west of the Figo house was limited to two stories so it would not block the view of the sunset, and a large courtyard lies behind the house, giving the law office plenty of natural light. PSU officials and representatives from the construction company building the residence hall even stopped by with cookies for Acker on the day they broke ground on the project. In 2011, as a nod to the situation’s similarity to the movie Up, Acker proudly flew 400 helium balloons from his chimney, adding a cheery note to this charming story which could only happen in Portland.

Middle-of-the-Motorway Nail Houses: Guangzhou, China

When city planners wanted to connect the road network to a new tunnel under the Pearl River, they needed to make space by clearing some residences from the area. What those planners failed to plan for, however, were the three families who would refuse to leave their homes.

As reported by China Daily, the plans for the four-lane flyover went ahead anyway – with the holdout households right in the middle. While we can’t imagine it’s pleasant for those families to live right in the middle of all that traffic noise, we definitely appreciate the gumption that it takes to stand your ground, even when bulldozers are right outside of your door.

The Little Jeweler That Wouldn’t Give Up: London

Anyone who has passed the former Wickhams Department Store in London’s East End has probably noticed a rather odd feature: a tiny building that seems to be stuck into the big store’s facade. That little store has a fascinating past and might be one of the greatest real estate holdout stories ever. It was formerly Spiegelhalters Jewellers, a family business dating back to the early 19th century.

In 1892, Spiegelhalters acquiesced to Wickhams when the larger store wanted to expand; the jewelers moved their shop down the street. When Wickhams wanted to expand again in the 1920s and again asked Spiegelhalters to move, the store owners refused. Wickhams, not to be thwarted in their quest for domination of Mile End Road, adjusted the architecture of their gigantic building so that it would wrap around the little jeweler’s shop.

The result was somewhat humorous – the “central” tower had to be moved to one side of the little shop, and the hole in the facade threw off the symmetry of the building. But Spiegelhalters held tight and managed to outlast the Goliath that had overshadowed them for decades. Wickhams closed in the 1960s and Spiegelhalters remained in business until 1982. In early 2015, developers again wanted to knock down the little building but were thwarted by thousands of signatures on a petition to save the shop. Sadly, all that remained of it at that point is the facade – but even that little piece of the original Spiegelhalters is a cherished landmark that Londoners won’t soon let go of.

Next Page - Click Below to Read More:
Relentless Residents 10 More Households That Refuse To Move

More than the sum of its parts, the conceptual swappable-piece mobile phone design that went viral but is now being backed by Google-owned Motorola and is suddenly much closer to becoming a reality. Instead of recycling your cell, imagine switching in new pieces as needed to customize, repair and upgrade the same device indefinitely.

Dutch design student  Dave Hakkens set off a chain reaction when he released his initial concept video online featuring Phonebloks, a simple but powerful idea for future-proofing mobile phones and creating an open ecosystem around such devices.

Motorola, meanwhile, was already working on a free, open-hardware device (think: Android for physical objects) along similar lines, and have now teamed up with this suddenly-famous designer. Like app makers in the digital marketplace, developers of physical components can make their own puzzle-piece parts for the devices.

Thunderclap helped Hakkens reach a huge audience quickly, with fans lending their social reach to promote the idea. Engineers, technicians and designers around the world showed interest in Hakkens’ design immediately as he racked up tens of millions of video views. He then began shopping around for partners to work on the project.

For its part in the partnership, Motorola brings technological research, experimentation and expertise to the table. In turn, Hakkens has built a huge fan following, showing his ability as innovator, designer and marketer.

Project Ara, Motorola’s name for the overarching and ongoing project, will be deployed along the same lines as Google Glass to beta testers. The first Phonebloks will be released to a limited audience who will in turn provide suggestions and feedback on the devices.

China is full of strange stories of so-called ‘nail houses’ – homes of people who refuse to move to make way for a large development project. Still, this one was particularly unique: its owners held out while a whole major motorway was constructed on all sides.

Situated in Wenling, its owner Luo Baogen refused the compensation deal offered to him and the owners of over 400 nearby properties.  After a full year of waiting with his wife as they were hemmed in by highway, they finally accepted an improved offer from the government and moved.

In another similar situation, owner and occupant Wu Ping refused an offer (one out of nearly 250 in that case) to move, and found herself surrounded by a sunken pit as shopping mall developers began excavating prior to constructing a new shopping center. Structures in this situation are dubbed ‘nail houses’  because, like a nail wedged deep into a board, they can be stubborn and difficult to remove.