Legislative Authorities

Height of Building Act 1910 D.C. Code § 6-601.5

(D.C. Code § 6-6010.5 (West 2001)), as amended by Act of May 16, 2014, Pub. L. 113-103, 128 Stat. 1155 (2014)).

The Height of Buildings Act imposes maximum heights on buildings within Washington, DC. It is implemented through the District’s Zoning Regulations for private property and through NCPC’s review of development proposals on federal property. On business streets, the act limits building height to the width of the street plus 20 feet with an absolute maximum of 130 feet except on the north side of Pennsylvania Avenue between First and Fifteenth Streets, NW where the act permits a maximum height of 160 feet. On residential streets, the act limits building heights to the width of the street minus 10 feet to a maximum height of 90 feet or 60 feet on streets with a width of 60 to 65 feet.

The act allows certain architectural features and penthouses and mechanical structures to extend above the maximum permitted height allowed by the act. Penthouses and buildings encompassing mechanical equipment can exceed the height limits of the act provided they are set back one foot from the exterior wall of the building on which they sit for each one foot of structure height. A 2014 amendment to the Height Act authorized the use of penthouses extending above the limits of height permitted by the act for human occupancy but limited the height of human occupied penthouses to one story 20 feet in height or less.