"Stinks of urine"

Trump’s birthplace is rotting away

This is what the birthplace of US presidential candidate Donald Trump looks like.(Bild: Paramount Reality USA)

Cats besiege the New York property of US presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Normally, the birthplaces of US presidents are converted into museums - or at least placed under a preservation order. Not so in the case of Donald Trump's childhood home in the New York suburb of Queens. Much to the annoyance of the neighbors, the house is rotting away and is inhabited by stray cats.

The two-storey "eyesore" - in the words of neighbor Deborah Ayala-Braun on "Curbed" - was purchased in 2017 by the investment company Trump Birth House LLC for 2.14 million dollars. The company wanted to make a fortune with short-term rentals and advertised: "Live in the house where baby Donald moved in with his parents Fred and Mary Trump from 1946."

Dozens of stray cats live on the property.(Bild: Paramount Reality USA)

But interest in the Tudor-style building, where the ex-president spent the first four years of his life, has left much to be desired, especially in the last four years. According to Ayala-Braun, more than a dozen stray cats live in the front garden: "It smells terribly of cat urine." A sign indicates that the animals are not allowed to be taken home (see picture above).