When undertaker Nicholas Yung refused to sell his lot to railroad tycoon Charles Crocker,—who wanted to buy up the entire block to build a megamansion—Crocker sought revenge. He constructed a 40-foot-tall "spite fence" in 1876 to obstruct any light or view Yung would have from his windows. The wall stayed up until 1904—that's 28 years!—when Nicholas Yung's descendants sold his property to Crocker's descendants.