DISTRICTING RESOLUTION" ANNOTATIONS 2/ 5 



yard is intended to allow flexibility in placing accessory buildings without 

 increasing these percentages. 



Sec. 16, Par. {a). In this rule it is assumed that within 55 feet of a 

 street a building can usually be lighted directly from the street. If a block 

 is 110 feet deep through from street to street it is hardly appropriate to de- 

 mand rear yards but when blocks become deeper than that rear yards become 

 more and more necessary (see Figure 156). Ou a lot 60 feet deep a rear 

 yard would be 5 feet deep; on a lot 65 feet deep in a B or C district a 

 rear yard would be 6 feet 6 inches deep ; on a lot 80 feet deep under 

 similar conditions a rear yard would be 8 feet deep and so on. If a 

 block were 200 feet through from street to street and two lots were back 

 to back with one another, one of them 50 feet deep and the other 150 feet 

 deep, no rear yards would be required for either building except that the 

 building on the lot 150 feet deep would have to conform to Paragraph (d) 

 of this same section. Xo rear yard is required on a corner lot. 



Sec. 16, Par. (b). The statement that the rear yard need not exceed 

 10 feet at the base means that the depth of 10 feet at the base required 

 on a lot 100 feet in depth need not be exceeded in lots of greater depth. 

 In any building which occurs in a residence district, even though it be a 

 club or a school, a required rear yard would have to run down to the ground 

 except that garages and other out buildings may occupy 40 per cent of the 

 required rear yard space but they must not be over one story high. How- 

 ever, an exception would be allowed for the apse or choir of a church which 

 would allow it to occupy 40 per cent of the rear yard up to a height of 30 

 feet above the curb level. 



Sec. 16, Par. (d). Under the Tenement House Law a building over 

 70 feet deep which runs through the block or from street to street not on a 

 corner has to be built around a rear yard and thus the building is divided 

 into two entirely separate units. In mam' non-residential buildings this is 

 impracticable and therefore it is provided that if a building runs through 

 the block from street to street it must contribute to tire light and air of the 

 common rear yard spaces in the center of the block by giving up on each 

 side an unoccupied space above the ground story equal at least to an inner 

 court in area but differing from an inner court in that the least dimension 

 need be no greater than that required for an outer court I see Figure 157). 

 If, however, this court is necessary for light and air under Sec. 17, para- 

 graph (a) it should be at least of the dimensions required for inner courts. 

 Sec. 16. Par. (e). In various instances, particularlv in Manhattan, 

 existing loft, warehouse and even office buildings, have been erected, some- 

 times to 12 stories or more in height, with rear vards considerably less in 

 depth than would be required under this resolution. In fairness to a person 

 who would erect a new building back to back with such buildings this section 

 will permit him to make his rear yard about the same as the average of his 

 back to back neighbor's yards. In determining such an average of back to 

 back yards, a rear yard as large or greater than that required under this 

 resolution, would be reckoned as though it were of the size here required. 

 Above the top of an existing building its rear yard would be reckoned as 

 though it were of the required size. A rule to compute the average width 

 of existing yards could appropriately be adopted by the Board of Stand- 

 ards and Appeals. In a building 150 feet high in a B district the minimum 

 size of such a rear yard must be in any case at least 12 feet 6 inches in 

 least dimension at the top. which is the minimum width of an outer court 

 at such level ('see Figure 158). 



