A 'spite house' said to have been built by a man for his ex became an icon. Now it's the center of a demolition battle.

The Pink House, a landmark in Newbury, Massachusetts, was planned to be torn down.THOMAS H MITCHELL/Getty Images/

• A "spite house" in Massachusetts was set to be torn down until residents stepped in.
• The US Fish & Wildlife Service, which owns the home, wants to remove it to better support wildlife.

An abandoned house, whose weather-beaten pink paint is pale and peeling, stands alone in the marshes of coastal Massachusetts.

The Pink House, as locals have dubbed it, sits on the side of a highway that leads to the beaches of Plum Island, a barrier island in the Atlantic Ocean about 50 miles north of Boston.

Locals told Business Insider that the Pink House has been a roadside sign of a good day to come at the beach for almost 100 years.

The unassuming "spite house" — said to have been built in 1925 by a divorcé ordered to build a replica of his marital home for his soon-to-be ex-wife — is at the center of a battle between the federal agency that owns it and wants to tear it down and locals who want to save it.