Land Title & Trust Co. v. Franklin National Bank

2 Pa. D. & C. 379, 1922 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 291
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County
DecidedSeptember 22, 1922
DocketNo. 8118
StatusPublished

This text of 2 Pa. D. & C. 379 (Land Title & Trust Co. v. Franklin National Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Land Title & Trust Co. v. Franklin National Bank, 2 Pa. D. & C. 379, 1922 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 291 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1922).

Opinion

Bartlett, J.,

— . . . Upon the pleadings and testimony we find the following

Facts.

1. The plaintiff, Land Title and Trust Company, a Pennsylvania corporation, owns the property on the west side of Broad Street, between Chestnut and Sansom Streets, in the City of Philadelphia." The property extends west on Chestnut Street 100 feet, thence southerly about 90 feet, thenee westerly 20 feet, thence southerly to Sansom Street at a point 120 feet west of Broad Street.

2. On the northerly part of this property, i. e., the Chestnut Street comer, the plaintiff, in 1897, erected a fifteen-story office building, known as the old Land Title Building. On the southerly part of the lot, i. e., the Sansom Street comer, there was erected, in 1902, an office building, known as the new Land Title Building. The new building occupies the property extending west on Sansom Street, 120 feet from Broad Street. The new building is 321 feet 71 inches high. On the west wall of the building, wholly upon plaintiff’s premises, are a large number of windows.

3. The plaintiff and defendant each operates in connection with its banking institution a high office building. The plaintiff’s building is on Broad Street, Philadelphia, extending from Chestnut Street to Sansom Street. The Chestnut Street end of plaintiff’s building is sixteen stories high; the Sansom Street end twenty-three stories high. Defendant’s building is on Chestnut Street, 54 feet west of plaintiff’s building, and extends from Chestnut Street to San-som Street. The Chestnut Street end of the building is one story high; the [380]*380Sansom Street eighteen Stories high. Between plaintiff’s and defendant’s building is a two-story moving-picture theatre.

4. The defendant, the Franklin National Bank, owns the property situated on the south side of Chestnut Street, at a distance of 174 feet west of Broad Street; containing in front or breadth on Chestnut Street 54 feet, and extending southward to Sansom Street, keeping the same breadth between linea parallel with Broad Street.

6.On this property the defendant, in 1916, erected a building, of which the front part, on Chestnut Street, is one story high, and the rear part, on San-som Street, is eighteen stories high. The Sansom Street building is 275 feet high. The defendant started its occupancy of this building in March, 1917.

6. Between the defendant’s building and the new Land Title Building is a property 54 feet wide, formerly occupied by Kugler’s restaurant, and now by a moving-picture theatre. The building is two stories high.

7. Immediately west of the defendant’s building is the Crozer Building, which is ten stories high.

8. The top of the smoke-stack and the steam exhaust pipe of the Franklin Building are on the level of the twentieth story of the Land Title Building, and about 58 feet from it.

9. When the defendant built its eighteen-story building, it extended the stack of the Crozer Building to a point above the roof of its own building, that is, to a point on a level with the twentieth floor of the Land Title Building, and about 116 feet from it. The Crozer stack is carried on a framework of the Franklin Building.

10. When the wind blows from the west or southwest, and occasionally when it blows from the northwest, if the stack on the defendant’s building is emitting gas or dirt, such gas or dirt is carried towards the plaintiff’s twenty-three-story building, and if the windows are open, some of the gas or dirt is carried into certain of the offices on the higher floors of the building. Except when the wind is blowing from these directions, the gas or dirt from defendant’s stack is not carried towards plaintiff’s building.

11. When the wind blows from the west, .southwest, and occasionally from the northwest, if the defendant’s stack is emitting gas or dirt, such gas or dirt is carried toward the plaintiff’s building, and, in some instances, has caused headaches, sore throats to employees of some of the tenants, and also deposits of dirt in the offices, but other buildings located to the south and west in the immediately vicinity, when operating their stacks, do the same.

12. Complaints of the dirt and dust have been made by some of the tenants to the plaintiff, but no tenant has removed from plaintiff’s building as a result of the alleged nuisance; on the contrary, rentals have been materially increased, and no loss thereof was shown by the evidence on the part of the plaintiff.

T3. When the wind blows from the northwest and southeast, smoke and dust is carried toward the plaintiff’s building from other buildings in the vicinity, as shown by the testimony in this case.

14. The defendant’s furnace and boiler equipment is modern in every respect.

15. There is no allegation or evidence either of negligence or malice in the operation of defendant’s furnaces and boilers.

16. From the testimony, the only .suggestion made by the plaintiff to the defendant for the purpose of lessening the annoyance to the plaintiff’s tenants arising from the location of defendant’s stack is, that the defendant [381]*381erect on the top of its building a steel stack approximately 100 feet high, in lieu of its present stack. Such a stack would extend to a point approximately 30 feet higher than plaintiff’s twenty-three-story building.

17. From the testimony whether a stack such as plaintiff suggests would prevent the annoyance to plaintiff’s tenants is a matter of conjecture and exceedingly doubtful. Air currents now carry the smoke and dirt from defendant’s stack down several stories below the top of the stack.

18. A stack such as the plaintiff suggests could be stayed only by the use of guy-wires running from a point about one-third down from the top of the stack and fastened to the steel structure of the building.

19. A structure such as the plaintiff suggests would be extremely dangerous and hazardous, not only to the employees of the defendant, but also to the general public and adjoining buildings.

20. The safety of a structure such as the plaintiff suggests is doubtful.

Discussion.

The plaintiff’s twenty-two-story building was erected in 1902 at the northwest corner of Broad and Sansom Streets, and title thereto was taken by plaintiff on Dee. 31, 1919, from Sydney F. Tyler, surviving trustee of the Elkins-Widener estates.

In 1916 the defendant erected its office building on the southerly end of its lot, 174 feet west of the northwest corner of Broad and Sansom Streets, 54 feet west of the southwest corner of the plaintiff’s building. This building is eighteen stories high and occupies but a portion of the lot, the front of said lot being occupied by its banking-rooms.

A two-story building between the plaintiff’s building and the defendant’s building is erected on a lot 54 feet wide and occupied by a moving-picture theatre.

On the top of defendant’s eighteen-story building is erected a smoke-stack, necessary in size to carry on its business and the running of its plant, and it is equipped with all modern heating apparatus. The present stack on defendant’s building is 58 feet from the Land Title Building and extends in height to about the ceiling of the twentieth floor of the plaintiff’s building.

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Bluebook (online)
2 Pa. D. & C. 379, 1922 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 291, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/land-title-trust-co-v-franklin-national-bank-pactcomplphilad-1922.