Spite fence

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Portion of the April 1878 panoramic photograph of San Francisco by Eadweard Muybridge showing the spite fence constructed by Charles Crocker

A spite fence is an overly-tall fence typically constructed between adjacent lots by a property owner who is annoyed with, or wishes to annoy, a neighbor or who wishes to completely obstruct the view between lots. The fence usually serves no otherwise reasonable purpose to the owner. ("Spite" means anger or maliciousness directed towards someone or something.) State and local governments often have fence height restrictions to restrict the construction of spite fences, though constructing a fence whose appearance just happens to annoy the aesthetic sensibilities of a neighbor is often permissible.

1 San Francisco
2 New York
3 Philadelphia
4 See also
5 References
6 Further reading
7 External links

[edit] San Francisco

Charles Crocker, a railroad investor and owner of a house on Nob Hill built a high fence around his neighbor's house in the hope of persuading his neighbor to sell having spoiled his view. The neighbor was a German undertaker called Nicolas Yung; Crocker was unsuccessful in purchasing the house until Yung had died. The height of the fence meant supporting buttresses had to be used.^[1] The work features in the April 1878 panoramic photo of San Francisco by Eadweard Muybridge.^[2]

[edit] New York

William Waldorf Astor's mansion was next door to that of his aunt, Caroline Webster Schermerhorn Astor, on the block later occupied by that building. William and his aunt did not get along well. William decided to replace his mansion with a hotel, the original Waldorf Hotel. The building not only towered over his aunt's home, it also had no windows at all on the side facing the mansion... thus becoming the "Walled-off" Astoria, a three-dimensional spite fence resulting from an Astor family feud.^[3]

[edit] Philadelphia

Several Major League Baseball parks have been located in places where it was possible for neighbors on rooftops to watch the games freely. Some club owners responded by building "spite fences" to block the view, at some point after the park's original construction (as opposed to Fenway Park or League Park, which had tall fences from the beginning). For example, this was done at various times at Bennett Park, West Side Park and Wrigley Field. The most notorious of these fences was at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. This action may have brought short-term financial gain to the Philadelphia Athletics, but in the long run, by setting the team apart from the neighborhood, it harmed both the builder as well as the target of the construction the wall^[4] - the unintended and frequent result of building a spite fence.

[edit] See also

Spite house

[edit] References

^ The Spite Fence. Panorama of San Francisco. The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. Retrieved on 2008-03-26.
^ Famous San Francisco Panorama (annotated). Retrieved on 2008-03-26. The spite fence appears near the Charles Crocker Mansion and the Gen. David Colton/Collis Huntington Mansion on California Street. It looks much like a building in its own right. (There are two panoramic photos on this page. The second photo contains arrows pointing to streets and other features, including one arrow that points to the spite fence. You have to scroll to the right to see the entire photo. In the first photo, the one without arrows, the spite fence is about one-eighth the way into the photo from the left edge. In the second photo, the one with arrows, the spite fence is about three-quarters the way in.
^ Jonathan, Goldman (1980). The Empire State Building Book. St. Martin's Press, p.14.
^ Kuklick, Bruce (1991). To Every Thing a Season: Shibe Park and Urban Philadelphia, 1909-1976. Princeton University Press, pp.73-76. ISBN 069102104X. Retrieved on 2008-03-26.