PolitiFact - No, American flag house wasn’t painted by flag-waving Marine in spat with neighbors

Branden Spear, a contractor and the owner of the property, told PolitiFact that he painted the exterior of the house red, white and blue in 2012 following a dispute with Cambridge’s Historic Preservation Commission. He was frustrated with the commission at the time because local building inspectors had objected to the windows he was using to restore a nearby property he had purchased across the street.

"The problem started with the neighboring property," Spear said. "After buying the property, I started to replace the existing vinyl windows, and I saw a commission came to me and said they had to go back to original wood windows. This would increase the cost to around $30k!"

"The flag house was done up for fun against the commission," Spear continued. "The house has 45 stars, just like the year it was built (in the) early 1900s."

Spear said that he is not a Marine, and that he has never had any trouble with neighbors over the American flag, as the Facebook post claims.

He also discussed the inspiration behind the house during a local news segment in 2019.

Escher said she knew of no provision in the city about flying the American flag.

False claims about the house, like the ones circulating on Facebook, have been around for years and tend to crop up around national holidays, AFP Fact Check reported.