spite fence
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. ("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.
San Francisco
Famous San Francisco Spite Fence. In this 1878 panoramic photo of San Francisco taken from Nob Hill, 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.)
New York
As described in the book, The Empire State Building, there was a family feud among the Astors, the bluebloods of New York. William Waldorf Astor's mansion was next door to that of his aunt, Caroline 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 a three-dimensional spite fence.
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). This was done at various times at Bennett Park, West Side Park and Wrigley Field, for example. The most notorious of these was at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. As detailed in Bruce Kuklick's To Every Thing a Season, this action may have brought short-term financial gain to the Philadelphia Athletics, but in the long run it harmed both the builder and the target of the construction - the unintended and frequent result of building a spite fence.
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