Downs

Plaintiffs instituted this action for a permanent injunction to restrain defendant from completing a store building upon lot 27, block 9, in tract 2072, commonly known as Wellington Square, situate in the city of Los Angeles, said tract consisting of approximately eight contiguous blocks, forming a rectangular-shaped area containing 397 lots. In the year 1912 it was subdivided and laid out for residential purposes, restrictive covenants running with the land being inserted in all deeds by which parts of said tract were conveyed, prohibiting until the year 1960 the construction of any structures but residences in the restricted area. Said lot 27 is a border lot which abuts West Adams Street and faces an unrestricted area. It was purchased by defendant in 1920 arid he concedes the validity of the restrictive covenants and that he took said lot subject thereto.

Plaintiffs, owners of certain lots in the tract, allege that the erection of a store building on said lot by defendant would be in violation of said restrictive covenants; would depreciate the value of plaintiffs’ property and lower the class of the neighborhood, all to their damage.

Defendant contends that the character of…

I dissent. The tract known as “Wellington Square,” lying along the Wellington Road about five miles from the heart of the city of Los Angeles, was laid out, subdivided, and sold about fourteen years ago as a restricted residence district, to be used for residence purposes only, as expressed in the deeds to purchasers of residence lots therein. These deeds contained the covenant “That no apartment house, .flat, lodging house, store, hotel or any other than a first-class private residence, with or without the customary outbuildings, including a private stable or garage, shall be erected, placed or permitted on said land or any part thereof.” There were further specific restrictions touching the minimum cost of residences to be erected therein, their distance from the front line of the premises, regulating the location of outbuildings and the height of hedges, fences, copings. or walls, and prohibiting signboards, advertising boards or banners within said restricted area. The lots and tracts of land therein were sold to many purchasers, subject to the foregoing restrictions of the deeds of each, including the defendant herein, and these purchasers or their transferees have during the…