Residents living in flats overlooked by the Tate Modern on London's Southbank have lost their High Court bid to stop "hundreds of thousands of visitors" looking into their homes from the art gallery's viewing platform.
The owners of four flats in the Neo Bankside development on London's South Bank claim the use of the platform represents a "relentless" invasion of their privacy.
But the board of trustees of the Tate Gallery said the platform provides "a unique, free, 360-degree view of London" and argue that the claimants could simply "draw the blinds".
Mr Justice Mann dismissed their claim at a hearing in London, saying: "These properties are impressive, and no doubt there are great advantages to be enjoyed in such extensive glassed views, but that in effect comes at a price in terms of privacy."
Following the verdict the flat owners' legal team said its clients "will have to continue to live with this daily intrusion into their privacy.
In a statement Natasha Rees, Partner and Head of Property Litigation at Forsters, who acted for the five residents, said: "We are considering an appeal to the Court of Appeal."
A Tate spokesman said the "viewing platform is an important part of Tate Modern's public offer and we are pleased it will remain available to our visitors".
He added: "We continue to be mindful of the amenity of our neighbours and the role Tate Modern has to play in the local community. We are grateful to Mr Justice Mann for his careful consideration of this matter."
In his judgment, Mr Justice Mann said that the "complete (or largely complete) view that one has of the living accommodation from the viewing gallery" was "because of the complete glass walls of the living accommodation".
He said the residents were "occupying a particularly sensitive property which they are operating in a way which has increased the sensitivity".
The judge said that it was "plain that some remedial steps could be taken" by the residents, saying that "the owners could lower their solar blinds" or "could install privacy film (or) net curtains".
Mr Justice Mann continued: "It is unusual for a nuisance claim to be met by the defendant saying that the claimant could take remedial steps to avoid the consequences of the act, but this is an unusual case."
The five claimants sought an injunction requiring the gallery to prevent members of the public observing their flats by "cordoning off" parts of the platform or "erecting screening".
At a hearing in November, their barrister Tom Weekes QC said the Tate was "operating a public viewing platform so as to encourage (hundreds of thousands of) visitors" to look into his clients' homes.
But Guy Fetherstonhaugh QC, for the Tate, said the claimants were seeking "to force the defendant to close a valued resource, and deny to the public the right to use the viewing platform for its intended purpose, merely to give the claimants an unencumbered right to enjoy their own view".
In her witness statement to the court, one resident Lindsay Urquhart said: "It breaks my heart to think that on the rare occasion that I have forgotten to draw the blinds, and my daughter has been in the kitchen or living room, that people have been able to film and photograph my little girl in her own home and to upload the images onto the internet for anyone to see."
She added: "I feel as though my life revolves around the viewing platform's opening hours."
The gallery’s 10th floor public balcony extension, the top floor of the new Switch House, was opened in June last year and boasts views of London’s skyline including across the River Thames, St Paul’s, Canary Wharf and the Wembley Stadium.
Neo Bankside, a four-storey glass-fronted block of flats, was built shortly before the Tate’s Switch House.
