CONTENTS Public No. 196, 61st Cong., Approved, June 1, 1910. Public No. 329, 61st Cong., Approved, Dec. 30, 1910. Public No. 156, 62d Cong., Approved, May 20, 1912. Public No. 153, 66th Cong., Approved, Mar. 1, 1920. Public No. 262, 68th Cong., Approved, June 7, 1924. Public No. 445, 68th Cong., Approved, Feb. 21, 1925. Public No. 127, 69th Cong., Approved, Apr. 16, 1926. Public No. 175, 71st Cong., Approved, Apr. 29, 1930. Page Columbia. [H. R. 19070.] An Act To regulate the height of buildings in the District of Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the date of the approval of this Act no combustible or nonfireproof building in the District of Columbia used or occupied or intended to be used or occupied as a dwelling, flat, apartment house, tenement, lodging or boarding house, hospital, dormitory, or for any similar purpose shall be erected, altered, or raised to a height of more than four stories, or more than fifty feet in height above the sidewalk, and no combustible or nonfireproof building shall be converted to any of the uses aforesaid if it exceeds either of said limits of height. SEC. 2. That from and after the date of the approval of this Act no combustible or nonfireproof building in the District of Columbia used or occupied or intended to be used or occupied for business purposes only shall be erected, altered, or raised to a height of more than sixty feet above the sidewalk, and no combustible or nonfireproof building shall be converted to such use if it exceeds said height. SEC. 3. That all buildings in the District of Columbia, including buildings of every kind, class, and description whatsoever, excepting churches only, hereafter erected, altered, or raised in any manner as to exceed sixty feet in height shall be fireproof or noncombustible and of such fire-resisting materials, from the foundation up, as are now or at the time of the erecting, altering, or raising may be required by the building regulations of the District of Columbia. Hotels, apartment houses, and tenement houses hereafter erected, altered, or raised in any manner so as to be three stories in height or over and buildings hereafter converted to such uses shall be of fireproof construction up to and including the main floor, and there shall be no space on any floor of such structure of an area greater than two thousand five hundred square feet that is not completely inclosed by fireproof walls, and all doors through such walls shall be of noncombustible materials. Every building hereafter erected with a hall or altered so as to have a hall with a seating capacity of more than three hundred persons when computed, as provided by the building regulations, and every church hereafter erected or building hereafter converted for use as a church, with such seating capacity, shall be of fireproof construction up to and including the floor of such hall or the auditorium of such church as the case may be. SEC. 4. That additions to existing combustible or nonfireproof structures hereafter erected, altered, or raised to exceed the height limited by this Act for such structures shall be of fireproof construction from the foundation up, and no part of any combustible or nonfireproof building shall be raised above such limit or height unless that part be fireproof from the foundations up. Towers, spires, or domes, hereafter constructed more than sixty feet above the sidewalk, must be of fireproof material from the foundation up, and must be separated from the roof space, choir loft, or balcony by brick walls without openings, unless such openings are protected by fireproof or metal-covered doors on each face of the wall. That full power and authority is hereby granted to and conferred upon every person, whose application was filed in the office of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia prior to the adoption of the present building regulations of said District, to construct a steel fireproof dome on any buildings owned by such person, in square three hundred and forty-five of said District, as set forth in the plans and specifications annexed to or forming a part of such applications so filed, any other provision in this Act contained to the contrary notwithstanding. And the inspector of buildings of said District shall make no changes in said plans and specifications unless for the structural safety of the building it is necessary to do so. Every theater hereafter erected and every building hereafter converted to use as a theater, and any building or the part or parts thereof under or over the theater so erected or the buildings so converted, shall be of fireproof construction from the foundation up and have fireproof walls between it and other buildings connected therewith, and any theater damaged to one-half its value shall not be rebuilt except with fireproof materials throughout and otherwise in accordance with the building regulations of the District of Columbia. SEC. 5. That no building shall be erected, altered, or raised in the District of Columbia in any manner so as to exceed in height above the sidewalk the width of the street, avenue, or highway in its front, increased by twenty feet; but where a building or proposed building confronts a public space or reservation formed at the intersection of two or more streets, avenues, or highways, the course of which is not interrupted by said public space or reservation, the limit of height of the building shall be determined from the width of the widest street, avenue, or highway. Where a building is to be erected or removed from all points within the boundary lines of its own lots, as recorded, by a distance at least equal to its proposed height above grade the limits of height for fireproof or noncombustible buildings in residence sections shall control, the measurements to be taken from the natural grades at the buildings as determined by the commissioners. No building shall be erected, altered, or raised in any manner as to exceed the height of one hundred and thirty feet on a business street or avenue as the same is now or hereafter may be lawfully designated, except on the north side of Pennsylvania avenue between First and Fifteenth streets, northwest, where an extreme height of one hundred and sixty feet will be permitted. On a residence street, avenue, or highway no building shall be erected, altered, or raised in any manner so as to be over eighty feet in height to the top of the highest ceiling joists or over eighty-five feet in height at the highest part of the roof or parapet, nor shall the highest part of the roof or parapet exceed in height the width of the street, avenue, or highway upon which it abuts, diminished by ten feet, except on a street, avenue, or highway sixty to sixty-five feet wide, where a height of sixty feet may be allowed; and on a street, avenue, or highway sixty feet wide or less, where a height equal to the width of the street may be allowed. The height of a building on a corner lot will be determined by the width of the wider street. On streets less than ninety feet wide where building lines have been established and recorded in the office of the surveyor of the district, and so as to prevent the lawful erection of a building in advance of said line, the width of the street, in so far as it controls the height of buildings under this law, shall be held to be the distance between said building lines. On blocks immediately adjacent to public buildings or to the side of any public building for which plans have been prepared and money appropriated at the time of the application for the permit to construct said building, the maximum height shall be regulated by a schedule adopted by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia. Buildings hereafter erected to front or abut on the plaza in front of the new Union Station provided for by Act of Congress approved February twenty-eighth, nineteen hundred and three, shall be fireproof and shall not be of a greater height than eighty feet. Spires, towers, domes, minarets, pinnacles, pent houses over elevator shafts, ventilation shafts, chimneys, smokestacks, and fire sprinkler tanks may be erected to a greater height than any limit prescribed in this Act when and as the same may be approved by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia: Provided, however, That such structures when above such limit of height shall be fireproof, and no floor or compartment thereof shall be constructed or used for human occupancy above the top story of the building upon which such structures are placed: And provided, That pent houses, ventilation shafts, and tanks shall be set back from the exterior walls distances equal to their respective heights above the adjacent roof. SEC. 6. That no wooden or frame building hereafter erected, altered, or converted for use as a human habitation shall exceed three stories or exceed forty feet in height to the roof. SEC. 7. That for the purposes of this Act the height of buildings shall be measured from the level of the sidewalk opposite the middle of the front of the building to the highest point of the roof. If the building has more than one front, the height shall be measured from the elevation of the sidewalk opposite the middle of the front that will permit of the greater height. No parapet walls shall extend above the limit of height. SEC. 8. That buildings erected, altered, or raised or converted in violation of any of the provisions of this Act are hereby declared to be common nuisances; and the owner or the person in charge of or maintaining any such buildings, upon conviction on information filed in the police court of the District of Columbia by the corporation counsel or any of his assistants in the name of said District, and which said court is hereby authorized to hear and determine such cases, shall be adjudged guilty of maintaining a common nuisance, and shall be punished by a fine of not less than ten dollars nor more than one hundred dollars per day for each and every day such nuisance shall be permitted to continue, and shall be required by said court to abate such nuisance. The corporation counsel of the District of Columbia may maintain an action in the supreme court of the District of Columbia, in the name of the District of Columbia, to abate and |