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Who lives there?
View from the Tate Modern of glazed luxury apartments
Photo: Hannah McKay / REUTERS
Residents of glass-enclosed apartments across from London's Tate Modern have won a lawsuit against the art museum in their fight for more privacy.
According to media reports, the residents of the luxury apartments on the banks of the Thames in London had already taken legal action several years ago because, according to them, “hundreds of thousands of visitors” to the Tate Modern were able to look into their apartments from the viewing platform.
They asked the museum to set up a screen or block parts of the platform - but lost the first two instances.
In February 2020, a court dismissed the lawsuit, advising residents to "lower their sunshades," the BBC reports.
The platform was opened in 2016.
It offers visitors to the museum a panoramic view of London - and a direct view of the plaintiffs' glazed apartments.
Five local residents had filed suit the year after the inauguration.
»Like in the zoo«
After the trial failed in the first instance, the residents went to the Supreme Court, which agreed on Wednesday: Any normal person would "feel like in a zoo" under these circumstances, Judge George Leggatt said, according to the British news agency PA.
The affected apartments are under surveillance every day.
It is also not a mandatory part of the Tate Modern's museum operations to allow visitors to look outside from the platform.
The case is now being referred back to the High Court for a concrete solution for local residents.
lmd/dpa