62 HEIGHTS OF BUILDINGS COMMISSION 



Indianapolis 



In 1912 the City Council of Indianapolis passed an ordinance limiting 

 the maximum height of all buildings erected in the city at 200 feet. An 

 ordinance of 1905 limits the height of buildings erected on Monument 

 Place at 86 feet. Monument Place is the circular street encompassing the 

 Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument. It has a diameter of about 600 feet and 

 an outside circumference of about 1,880 feet. The constitutionality of the 

 ordinance has never been tested in the courts. 



Washington 



Washington is districted for height limitation purposes under an act 

 of Congress applicable to the District of Columbia. The regulations are 

 more stringent than those of any other city in this country, with the possible 

 exception of Boston. The limitations in the business section are a trifle 

 more lenient than those in Boston, but in the residence section they are more 

 rigid. All streets are designated as either business streets or residential 

 streets. No building may be erected on a business street to a greater height 

 than the width of the widest abutting street increased by 20 feet, subject, 

 however, to an absolute limit of 130 feet. An exception to this regulation 

 is made in two instances. Buildings on the north side of Pennsylvania 

 Avenue, between First and Fifteenth Streets, are allowed an extreme 

 height of 160 feet. Buildings fronting or abutting on the plaza in front of 

 the new Union Station may not exceed a height of 80 feet. On the resi- 

 dential streets the maximum height limit is 85 feet, subject to certain pro- 

 visions. The height may not exceed the width of the street diminished by 

 10 feet on streets more than 70 feet in width. The height may not exceed 

 60 feet on streets between 60 and 70 feet in width. The height may not 

 exceed the width of the street on streets less than 60 feet in width. The 

 constitutionality of these regulations does not appear to have been tested. 



Regulation of Open Spaces in Richmond, Virginia 



By an act of the General Assembly of Virginia, passed March 14, 1908, 

 councils of cities and towns are authorized, among other things, " to make 

 regulations concerning the building of houses in the city or town, and in 

 their discretion ... in particular districts or along particular streets, 

 to prescribe and establish building lines, or to require property owners in 

 certain localities or districts to leave a certain percentage of lots free from 

 buildings, and to regulate the height of buildings " (Acts, 1908, pp. 623, 

 624). By virtue of this act, the City Council of Richmond passed an ordi- 

 nance " that whenever the owners of two-thirds of the property abutting 

 on any street shall, in writing, request the committee on streets to establish 

 a building line on the side of the square on which their property fronts, the 

 said committee shall establish such line, so that the same shall not be less 

 than five feet nor more than thirty feet from the street line." 



