34 COMMISSION ON BUILDING DISTRICTS 



permit a dormer set back 5 feet from the street line to occupy 75 feet at 

 its base and to come to a point 75 feet above the height limit at the street 

 line. This rule will weave in with the general set-back provisions and 

 whichever are less drastic in any particular case will govern. 



If the area of a building is reduced so that above a certain level it 

 covers only 25 per cent, of the area of the lot, a street wall above such level 

 may be carried to any height provided it is distant 75 feet from the center 

 of the street ; but for every one per cent of its full possible length that 

 such street wall is decreased, it may come 4 inches nearer to the center of 

 the street. This will permit a building on an interior lot facing a street or 

 open space of 150 feet or more in width to build a tower across the whole 

 front of the building provided it does not cover more than 25 per cent, of 

 the lot. Similarly on a street 100 feet wide a tower can be built across 

 the whole front of the building provided it sets back 25 feet from the street 

 line. Or if a building has a 200-foot frontage on a 100-foot street, a tower 

 with a 50-foot frontage can be built on the street line. If a building is on 

 a corner each street wall of the tower is governed by the width of the 

 street on which it faces. A tower on the corner of a 150-foot street and 

 a 60-foot street would have to set back 45 feet from the 60-foot street line. 

 If, however, the tower frontage on the 60-foot street were only one-quarter 

 of the total building frontage on such street the tower could be erected 

 within 20 feet of the street line. This exception in favor of towers applies 

 to street walls only and other walls of the tower must conform to the gen- 

 eral yard and court provisions wherever applicable. (See Figure 146.) 



Where a building would be pocketed between buildings in excess of 

 the prescribed height within 50 feet on either side or directly across the 

 street, its height may be increased by the average excess height of such 

 surrounding buildings. This will permit a building thus pocketed to secure 

 a fair portion of the light and air that would otherwise be monopolized by 

 the buildings already erected. (See Figures 147, 148.) 



The only district in which a height of two and one-half times the street 

 width is proposed is in the office and financial section in lower Manhattan. 1 

 A height of two times the street width is allowed for the remaining por- 

 tions of the more intensively developed commercial and industrial sections 

 in a broad belt through the center of the Island from the lower office and 

 financial section to 59th Street. An exception is made for a portion of the 

 Fifth Avenue section where limits of one and one-quarter and one and one- 

 half times the street width are proposed. A height of two times the street 

 width is also allowed for a narrow belt along a large portion of the water- 

 front of Manhattan and along the Fast River waterfront of Brooklyn. 

 Queens and The Bronx : also for a small area around the chief office and 

 business center of Brooklyn. In the two-times districts on a 60- foot street 

 the building can go up to 120 feet or about 10 stories at the street line and 



^he Resolution adopted July 2?. 1916, also creates a small t\vo-and-one4ialf 

 times district on the Brooklyn waterfront. 



