Standard Form, Chicago Restrictive Covenant, 1927

 Appendix A
 Standard Form, Restrictive Covenant,
 Drafted for Chicago Real Estate Board
 by Nathan William MacChesney
 of the Chicago Plan Commission, 1927.
 
 
 AND, WHEREAS, the
parties hereto feel that the restrictions and covenants
hereinafter imposed and created are for the best interests of
all the parties hereto and of the property hereinbefore
described.
 
 IN CONSIDERATION of the
premises and of the mutual covenants hereinafter made, and of
the sum of Five Dollars ($5.00) in hand paid to each of the
parties hereto by each of the other parties hereto, the receipt
of which is hereby acknowledged, each party as owner of the
parcel of land above described immediately under his name, does
hereby covenant and agree with each and every other of the
parties hereto, that his said parcel of land is now and until
January 1, 1949 and thereafter until this agreement shall be
abrogated as hereinafter provided, shall be subject to the
restrictions and provisions hereinafter set forth, and that he
will make no sale, contract of sale, conveyance, lease or
agreement and give no license or permission in violation of such
restrictions or provisions, which are as follows:
 
 1. The restriction that no part of said premises shall in
 any manner be used or occupied directly or indirectly by
 any negro or negroes, provided that this restriction shall
 not prevent the occupation, during the period of their
 employment, of janitors' or chauffeurs' quarters in the
 basement or in a barn or garage in the rear, or of
 servants' quarters by negro janitors, chauffeurs or house
 servants, respectively, actually employed as such for
 service in and about the premises by the rightful owner or
 occupant of said premises.
 
 2. The restriction that no part of said premises shall be
 sold, given, conveyed or leased to any negro or negroes,
 and no permission or license to use or occupy any part
 thereof shall be given to any negro except house servants
 or janitors or chauffeurs employed thereon as aforesaid.
 
 The covenants, restrictions, and agreements herein contained
shall be considered as appurtenant to and running with the land,
and shall be binding upon and for the benefit of each party
hereto and may be enforced by any of the parties hereto by any
permissible legal or equitable proceedings, including
proceedings to enjoin violation and for specific performance;
provided, however, that in any action brought to set aside any
deed made in violation of any of the provisions of this
agreement, it shall be a good defense thereto that prior to the
institution of such suit, the title to the premises then in
question had become vested in, and was then owned by, a
corporation or a white person, for value; and provided, further,
that the lien of no mortgage or trust deed in the nature of a
mortgage shall be impaired or invalidated by reason of the
breach of any of the provisions of this agreement, whether any
such breach shall have occurred prior or subsequent to the
recording of any such mortgage or trust deed; and provided,
further, that nothing contained in the foregoing provisos shall
in any manner impair the right of any person or persons
interested to enforce at all times and against all persons the
restrictions in this agreement contained prohibiting the use
or occupation of all or any part of said premises by a negro or
negroes.
 
 This agreement and the restrictions herein contained shall be
of no force or effect unless this agreement or a substantially
similar agreement, shall be signed by the owners above
enumerated of seventy-five per centum of the frontage above
described, or their heirs or assigns, and recorded in the
office of the Recorder of Deeds of Cook County, Illinois, on or
before March 31, 1929. Provided, however, that if the owner of
any of said parcels or any part thereof shall be under
disability, as, for example, that of minority, or for any other
reason shall not have the power to execute this agreement, as,
for example, when the title is held, without such power, by
testamentary trustees or other fiduciaries, the frontage so
owned shall be treated as though the owners thereof had power to
sign, and had signed this agreement, for the purpose of
determining whether this agreement becomes effective or not
under the provisions of this paragraph.
 
 It is understood that for convenience a number of counterpart
or concurrent instruments have been prepared, of even date
herewith, the text of each of which is substantially the same as
that of this instrument, and that the execution of any one of
such instruments shall have the same effect as the execution of
this instrument by the same person would have, and it is
understood that parties to this agreement shall include not only
those persons who shall sign this instrument but also all
persons who shall sign any of said counterpart or concurrent
instruments, and that this instrument and all of said
counterpart or concurrent instruments shall constitute one
agreement. It being contemplated that changes in ownership may
occur between the date which this instrument bears and the date
when it shall become effective, or that there may possibly be
some misrecital of ownership herein contained, it is further
understood that the execution hereof by the person who shall be
the owner of any of said parcels of land at the time of such
execution shall have the same effect as though such person had
been the owner thereof on the date hereof and was so described
herein, whether the recital of ownership herein contained be
made to conform to the facts at the time of execution or not. And
if, in order to conform to the facts as to ownership at the time
of execution, the recital of ownership in any of said
instruments shall be made different from that contained in the
others, that difference shall not prevent all of such instruments
from being construed to be substantially similar to each
other.
 
No restriction imposed hereby shall be abrogated or waived by
any faliure [sic] to enforce the provisions hereof no matter how
many violation or breaches may occur.
 
This agreement and the restrictions herein expressed may be
abrogated at any time on or after January 1, 1949, by the
written agreement of the owners of sixty per centum of the
frontage owned by the parties who shall sign this agreement, as
herein set forth, such abrogation to be effective from and after
the date of delivery and recording of such written agreement.
Provided, however, that if the owner of any of said parcels or
any part thereof shall be under disability, as, for example.
that of minority, or for any other reason shall not have the
power to execute such abrogation agreement, as, for example,
when the title is held, without such power, by testamentary
trustees or other fiduciaries, the frontage so owned shall be
treated as though the owners thereof had power to sign, and had
signed, such abrogation agreement, for the purpose of
determining whether such abrogation agreement becomes effective
or not under the provisions of this paragraph.
 
 The invalidity of any restriction hereby imposed, or of any
provision hereof, or of any part of any such restriction or
provision shall not impair or affect in any manner the validity,
enforceability or effect of the rest of this agreement.
 
Pronouns herein employed in the masculine gender shall be
construed to include the feminine and neuter genders, and the
word "party" or "persons" to include natural and artificial
parties or persons.
 
The term "negro: as used herein shall include every person
having one-eighth part or more of negro blood, or having any
appreciable admixture of negro blood, and every person who is
what is commonly known as a colored person.
 
In any case where there is a recorded lease of any parcel of the
property described herein for a term ending more than five years
after any given date the owner of the reversion and the owner of
the lease- hold estate together shall be deemed to be the owners
of such parcel on such given date within the meaning of this
contract, and whenever the signature of the owner of such parcel
shall be required on such given date under the provisions
hereof, the signatures of both shall be required, provided that
whatever interest any signer of this instrument owns in any of
said property shall be bound by the provisions hereof. Lessees
under unrecorded leases on any given date and under leases for
terms ending less than five years after such given date shall
not be regarded as owners within the meaning of this contract.
 
The undersigned spouses of owners of land herein described join
herein for the purpose of signifying their assent hereto and of
subjecting their rights of dower, if any, to the restrictions
and provisions imposed hereby.
 
Time is of the essence of this contract and all the terms,
conditions and provisions hereof.
 
The covenants, restrictions and agreements herein contained
shall be binding on, and for the benefit of, and may be enforced
by and against, each party hereto, his successors and assigns,
and the heirs, executors, administrators and successors of them
respectively.
 
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have hereunto set their
hands and seals the day and year first aforesaid.
 
SOURCE: Thomas Lee Philpott, THE SLUM AND THE GHETTO: NEIGHBORHOOD
 DETERIORATION AND MIDDLE CLASS REFORM, 1880-1930.
 New York: Oxford University Press, 1978.
 Appendix A, 407-410.
 

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