In creating the National Capital Park and Planning Commission by act of April 30, 1926, Congress provided that purchases of lands made thereunder shall have the advice of the Commission of Fine Arts. During the years all proposed purchases have been approved. The two Commissions have acted harmoniously in the work of developing the District of Columbia according to carefully devised plans for parks, playgrounds, and highways. The first project that came before the Commission of Fine Arts, in 1910, was the Lincoln Memorial. The memorial during a period of 12 years had the continual attention of this Commission, and since its dedication on May 30, 1922, it has been recognized as one of the great memorials of the world. In the past 15 years the row of beautiful white marble buildings near the Lincoln Memorial have been built, as also the new Department buildings on Constitution Avenue. These are a part of the great public buildings program that is in progress in the National Capital. [Illustration: THE CENTRAL COMPOSITION OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL] CHAPTER XVI ZONING OF THE CAPITAL Our first President, by proclamation of October 17, 1791 (illustrated on page 21), established a height restriction of 40 feet on buildings in the new Capital. Although not a regulation by zones, it might have been the beginning of a zoning policy if the growth of the Capital had been foreseen. However, the restriction was suspended under President Monroe in 1822, and it was not until 1910 that a comprehensive height regulation became effective. The act of 1910 established height limits, depending upon the width of adjacent streets. The first zoning ordinance for an American city was adopted by New York City in 1916. The World War held the problem of zoning our cities in abeyance. Washington was zoned by the act of 1920. Since then fully 1,500 towns and cities throughout the United States, ranging from 5,000 to 6,000,000 (New York City) in population, have adopted zoning ordinances.