Or maybe not. This is a picture of the bell tower at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The tower is exempt from the District's maximum height law, being an example of the "spires, towers, domes, minarets, pinnacles" exception.
The District's original height restriction law limited buildings to be no higher than the Capitol, until a revised height law in 1910 did away with the fixed maximum. The 1910 rules (which are also still in effect), states that no new building may be more than 20 feet taller than the width of the street in front of it. That's why you don't see highrise buildings here in Washington DC.
All this talk of dome heights has led me to reminisce about a time not too long ago when we had to memorize certain inane facts as part of a big mental game... "The chapel dome is 192 feet high, sir!". Oops, I meant to say "the chapel dome is 193 minus one feet high, sir!". Check it out... it's in Reef Points (Table Salt section, I think).
