Study the above detailed image that was taken from the 1878 Muybridge panoramic view of San Francisco.
The odd structure (that I’ve highlighted) which appears behind the Huntington mansion is the famous Crocker spite fence.

Charles Crocker owned the entire city block that his enormous mansion was built on, except for a single lot of property near the corner of Taylor and Sacramento Streets. A mortician named Nicholas Yung owned and lived in a two-story home on the lot. Crocker offered to buy the property but Yung kept raising the price with no intention to sell. Crocker was enraged, and directed his carpenters to build a forty-four foot high wooden fence around three sides of  Yung’s property. This Crocker “Spite Fence” was a famous landmark in its day. Crocker even had the fence painted lavender as a further dig at Yung.  Nichlolas Yung, despite having no views or sunlight in his home, was not swayed and extracted his own spiteful form of revenge on Crocker.  Yung built a ten-foot long coffin with a skull and crossbones on the lid. He displayed it on his rooftop facing Crocker’s mansion so that mighty Mr. Crocker would have to look at it every day.   

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