224 Pa. 311 | Pa. | 1909
Opinion by
In 1829 Frederick and Charles Graff were the owners of a piece of land situated on the west side of North Eleventh street, in the city of Philadelphia, extending from a point 121 feet south of Vine street southwardly 218 feet and thence westwardly 183 feet to Madison street, bounded on the north by Graff, now Winter, street and on the south by Branch alley. On this lot of ground there had been laid out, parallel to Eleventh street, ninety-six feet westwardly from it, an alley twenty feet wide, called Brigg street, now known as Jessup street. Rows of residences were erected on Madison street and Eleventh street. The Graffs conveyed their land to various parties, subjecting each lot sold to certain restrictions in favor of the remaining lots on Madison street and Eleventh street. These restrictions were substantially the same in each grant. That portion of the Graff land facing on Eleventh street is now composed of premises Nos. 232 to 254, inclusive. On May 1, 1829, by a deed duly executed and recorded, the Graffs conveyed to Eli B. Fourestier, the appellant's predecessor in title, the premises No. 232 North Eleventh street. In the conveyance it was “understood, conditioned and agreed to by and between the parties” that the said grantee, “his heirs and assigns, shall and will not at any time hereafter erect or build or permit or suffer to be erected or built on the rear end of the lot of ground above described and granted any building or part of a building exceeding nine feet in height, and also that they, the said Frederick Graff and Charles Graff, and their respective heirs and assigns, shall not nor will not at any time hereafter erect or build or permit or suffer to be erected or built on the rear end of their remaining lots of ground on Eleventh street or on the rear ends of their several lots of ground on the east side of the said Madison avenue any building or part of a building exceeding nine feet in height as aforesaid.” The appellant acquired title to his property by deed .dated November 13, 1897. In 1829 and 1831 the Graffs con
Other reasons given for dismissing the bill are that for more than twenty-one years, on some of the lots north of complain
Whether the words “the rear end of the lot” are too vague and indefinite to restrain the erection of a building some feet distant from the western line of appellee’s premises is not the question now before us. We are not now to determine what is embraced in the rear end of the appellee’s lots, or upon what parts of them he may put up buildings of a greater height than nine feet. What he admits that he proposes to do is to erect a brick factory, five stories high, for the manufacture of gas and electric fixtures, which shall occupy the entire space of the lots now owned by him, thirty-eight feet on Eleventh street, thirty-eight feet on Brigg street and ninety-six feet in depth on Graff street. That this is a violation of the building restriction placed upon his premises, and of the covenants of his grantors, cannot be questioned. When he builds up to and on the western or rear line of his lots, he is clearly doing that which is forbidden in his title, and in the face of what he would do the words “rear end of the lot” are not indefinite. The complainant’s property is still a residence, occupied by a tenant, for the benefit of which the building restriction was placed on each lot sold by the Graffs, and it is not to be utterly disregarded by the appellee without the consent of the appellant.