{"id":6384,"date":"2015-05-19T12:43:02","date_gmt":"2015-05-19T20:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/?p=6384"},"modified":"2015-05-29T18:42:33","modified_gmt":"2015-05-30T02:42:33","slug":"id-there-really-a-law-in-washington-d-c-that-no-building-can-be-as-tall-as-the-washington-monument","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2015\/05\/19\/id-there-really-a-law-in-washington-d-c-that-no-building-can-be-as-tall-as-the-washington-monument\/","title":{"rendered":"Is There Really a Law in Washington D.C. That No Building Can Be As Tall As the Washington Monument?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends related to architecture and whether they are true or false. Click here<\/a> to view an archive of the architecture urban legends featured so far.<\/p>\n

ARCHITECTURE URBAN LEGEND<\/span><\/u>: There is a law in Washington D.C. that states that no building be as tall as the Washington Monument.<\/p>\n

A common “fact” that gets bandied about often when visiting the District of Columbia is that there is a law that states that no building in Washington D.C. be as tall as the Washington Monument.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Is that true?
\n<\/p>\n

It IS true that there are no buildings in Washington D.C. as tall as the 555 foot tall Washington Monument, and it is also true that the heights of buildings within the district ARE restricted. However, the two are not necessarily connected.<\/p>\n

I say “necessarily” because, yes, since there IS a restriction on the heights of buildings, then, by extension, there is, in fact, a law that keeps buildings shorter than the Washington Monument. The law just happens to not invoke the monument at all.<\/p>\n

The original Height of Buildings Act was passed by the United States Congress in 1899 (in response to the building of the Cairo Hotel in 1894, the 164 foot building was surely only the first in a number of buildings designed to, well, scrape the sky), and at the time, it used the United States Capitol, not the Washington Monument, as its measurement.<\/p>\n

This was later adapted by the 1910 version of the Act (D.C. Code \u00a7 6-601.05), which is the current version.<\/p>\n

Under the current law, buildings are restricted to be no taller than 20 feet higher than the width of the adjacent street (with further restrictions the closer you get to the White House). There have been a few exceptions made over the years, mostly for religious buildings. <\/p>\n

So yes, due to the law, the Washington Monument remains the tallest structure in Washington D.C., but that is coincidence, not intention. <\/p>\n

The legend is… <\/p>\n

STATUS<\/span><\/u>: False, but in practice, True<\/p>\n

Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future installments! My e-mail address is bcronin@legendsrevealed.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends related to architecture and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the architecture urban legends featured so far. ARCHITECTURE URBAN LEGEND: There is a law in Washington D.C. that states that no building be as tall as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[25,28],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7MjBq-1EY","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6446,"url":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2009\/04\/19\/architecture-urban-legends-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":6384,"position":0},"title":"Architecture Urban Legends History","date":"April 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Here are quick descriptions of each of the previous editions of Architecture Urban Legends Revealed. To see if they are true or false, you have to click on the link! 1. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was originally designed as a school project at Yale! 2. Architects William Van Alen and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Archives"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4659,"url":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2013\/04\/29\/was-the-campus-of-the-university-of-albany-originally-designed-to-be-used-in-arizona\/","url_meta":{"origin":6384,"position":1},"title":"Was the Campus of the University of Albany Originally Designed to be Used in Arizona?","date":"April 29, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends related to architecture and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the architecture urban legends featured so far. ARCHITECTURE URBAN LEGEND: The campus at the University at Albany in New York was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Architecture Legends Revealed"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6072,"url":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2014\/11\/13\/did-a-radio-show-accidentally-air-a-re-run-complete-with-the-breaking-news-bulletin-from-the-original-episode\/","url_meta":{"origin":6384,"position":2},"title":"Did a Radio Show Accidentally Air a Re-Run Complete With the Breaking News Bulletin From the Original Episode?","date":"November 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends related to radio and the people \"behind the microphone,\" so to speak, and whether they are true or false. RADIO URBAN LEGEND: A daily Washington D.C. radio show accidentally played a re-run episode complete with a breaking news\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Grab Bag Legends"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4655,"url":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2013\/04\/26\/discover-the-bizarre-race-to-see-who-would-have-the-tallest-skyscraper-in-the-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":6384,"position":3},"title":"Discover the Bizarre Race to See Who Would Have the Tallest Skyscraper in the World!","date":"April 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends related to architecture and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the architecture urban legends featured so far. ARCHITECTURE URBAN LEGEND: Architects William Van Alen and H. Craig Severance engaged in a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Architecture Legends Revealed"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4653,"url":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2013\/04\/25\/was-the-vietnam-veterans-memorial-originally-designed-as-a-school-project\/","url_meta":{"origin":6384,"position":4},"title":"Was the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Originally Designed as a School Project?","date":"April 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends related to architecture and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the architecture urban legends featured so far. ARCHITECTURE URBAN LEGEND: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was originally designed as a school project\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Architecture Legends Revealed"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3713,"url":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2012\/07\/24\/music-urban-legends-revealed-was-a-frank-zappa-instrumental-album-given-a-parental-warning-advisory\/","url_meta":{"origin":6384,"position":5},"title":"Was a Frank Zappa Instrumental Album Given a Parental Warning Advisory?","date":"July 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about music and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the music urban legends featured so far. 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