Pacello

Plaintiff, City and County of San Francisco, appeals from a judgment in favor of defendants in an action seeking to abate an alleged public nuisance.

Statement of Facts

The subject structure had originally been built in 1925, authorized by a permit to construct a residential, one-family, two-story building. From 1929 on the building had the separate unit in it and it had two addresses. A 1921 zoning ordinance authorized two-family dwellings in R-l districts as a permitted use (under certain conditions).

Defendants, the Pacellos, purchased the property, 152-154 Madrid Street on August 25, 1961. The property then consisted of a principal unit comprising the second-story level and an occupied housekeeping unit in the rear portion of the first or ground floor level, all a part of the original building.

On August 31, 1966, defendants applied for a building permit to “apply asbestos siding to rear” of their “existing two family dwelling.” The permit was approved on condition that defendants apply for a permit to demolish the ground floor unit. On September 14, 1966, defendants filed a building permit application to apply asbestos siding and to “legalize building as a…