Signs, awnings and curtains in a historic zone: where they go, how big and the seventeen prohibited

It is Rule 10.2.10 of Chapter 10.2 of Joint Regulation No. 9473, titled Signs, Curtains and Awnings in Historic Sites and Zones. It covers the location, size and type of signs permitted, the list of prohibited signs, the signs not requiring a permit, the legal non-conforming sign, the installation of curtains and awnings, the prohibited types, the design and materials permitted, the location, the sizes and types to be permitted, and the legal awning and curtain. This site already has a guide on the general sign and advertisement rules for a business; this is the historic version, which is stricter and governs where the business sits in a historic site or zone or on a block surrounding a plaza de recreo.

The rule applies to signs, curtains and awnings in historic sites and zones. The permit for their installation, per the chapter’s general permit list, may be applied for by tenants with the owner’s prior written approval. And no sign, awning or curtain is installed on a property without the written consent of the property’s owner, tenant or authorised representatives. Danger signs, temporary ones for not more than sixty days, construction-works ones, sale or rental ones, and emblems or stickers about hours and services may be installed without obtaining a permit, subject to compliance with the chapter’s rules.

• Placing signs attached to the front façade, only on the ground floor, and one only per façade per establishment; corner buildings with two front walls on different streets may have one on each façade.Verified against the official source
• That the maximum thickness of every sign be five centimetres or two inches.Verified against the official source
• That the sign under an opening’s lintel span its whole width occupying at most a fifth of its height, and that the sign over the openings not exceed a fifth of the opening’s height between its upper line and the sign’s.Verified against the official source
• Not installing any sign, awning or curtain on a property without the written consent of the property’s owner, tenant or authorised representatives.Verified against the official source
• That awnings have a metal frame, be fixed on the opening’s interior side and be fragmented where the openings have columns or colonnades dividing them.Verified against the official source
• That the awning’s horizontal projection not exceed a third of the height of the opening where it will be installed nor the pavement’s width, and that the awning not sit lower than seven feet six inches from the building’s floor level to the valance’s lower edge.Verified against the official source
• That awnings be of a single colour, with no graphic design or texture, and that all awnings and curtains on the same façade or building be the same colour and design, not varying by local or business.Verified against the official source

• The curtain’s or awning’s manufacturer certification that they comply with the regulation’s provisions, which must accompany every installation permit application.
• The written consent of the property’s owner, tenant or authorised representatives, without which no sign, awning or curtain is installed.
• For a legal non-conforming sign: the permit issued when it was installed under the regulation in force at that date, whose absence is prima facie evidence that the installation lacks legal authorisation.

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   Step 1: Where the sign goes: front façade and ground floor

   Signs are placed attached to the front façade. No sign may be placed on side, rear or party-wall façades, or on balconies, galleries and roofs. Establishments with two front walls on different streets in corner buildings may be authorised one sign on each façade; those with a single front wall towards the streets get one sign only. And signs are permitted only on the building’s ground floor: one sign per façade per establishment is permitted, sited within the area of the solid masses — the bajofondo — and not over the ornamental elements, except on rusticated façades, where it goes over the rustication.

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   Step 2: How big it can be: the fifth and the two inches

   Installation follows these parameters. Under the openings’ lintel, on boards or plaques, spanning the whole width and occupying at most a fifth of its height. On the façade’s solid mass, signs of individual letters, boards or plaques are permitted, without hiding or altering the architectural or ornamental elements. Over the openings, sited horizontally, without hiding or altering those elements and — except for individual letters — not exceeding the opening’s width, with a maximum height between the opening’s upper line and the sign’s of a fifth of the height of the opening over which it sits. And the maximum thickness of every sign is five centimetres or two inches.

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   Step 3: Nothing hung, nothing displayed in the opening

   Showcases, billboard-type advertisement boards, and fixed or mobile elements for advertising or for exhibiting and selling products attached to the façades or on the pavements are not permitted. Nor is the placement of any kind of commercial attention-drawing element permitted, such as but not limited to lanterns, dolls, pennants and others. And exhibiting merchandise hung or placed in the façades’ openings is not permitted. There are two exceptions worth knowing: theatres and cinemas may keep and improve their original marquees and signs of historic value, which may be modified to carry the property’s current name; and signs that do not comply with the chapter’s provisions may remain provided that, after evaluation, they are considered of historic value and harmonise with the building’s architectural character and scale.

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   Step 4: The seventeen prohibited signs

   The list is long and worth reading in full: cross-street signs; abandoned signs; signs perpendicular to the façade; flag-format signs, except state and federal institutions’ flags where required; signs on trees, telephone or street-lighting posts or in public-road easements; animated signs; rotating or moving signs, except those forming part of the original of a property of historic and architectural value; intermittent signs; signs on metal supports or turrets, whether on façades, roofs, courtyards or pavements; signs on blind walls, fences or coverings of vacant plots; signs on continuous plaques along the façades, on the railings or above the balconies, galleries or cornices; signs in cloth, cardboard or any other material placed or hung on the façades, from façade to façade over the streets or between posts, trees, street lamps and porticos, even temporarily — only temporary signs announcing cultural activities are accepted, which may be in cloth and must present graphic and constructive quality; signs that may hide, alter, distort or modify the architectural and ornamental elements on historic properties’ façades; billboard-type or digital advertisement boards; signs in the form of metal boxes exceeding two inches thick, and if illuminated the illumination must be indirect; and signs in a light-box format.

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   Step 5: The vinyl on the display window

   Among the signs prohibited for affecting driving are also commercial advertisements of every kind, and that includes — the regulation says — the mesh or advertising stickers covering part or all of the display windows with visuals alluding to the use or the repetition of the name and logo. There is a caveat: the glass may have opaque plastic for privacy. But if that element is used as signage for the use, it must comply with the chapter’s rules on the location, size and type of signs. Also prohibited are signs with reflectors or neon lights installed directly on the façade, or lights that may dazzle or affect drivers, though the regulation clarifies that this does not prohibit the use of reflectors, lights or fittings that technological advances permit without affecting drivers’ safety or the setting’s integrity.

6. 6

   Step 6: The signs that need no permit

   Five kinds may be installed without obtaining a permit, subject to compliance with the chapter’s rules. Danger signs, kept upright and conserved while the danger lasts. Temporary signs for a period of not more than sixty days, removed as soon as their validity ends. Construction-works signs informing about the works, attached to the façades or on provisional fences: those on fences are placed attached parallel to the public road, on the stretch of fence facing the road, but may never project into the right-of-way easement; they may be installed within a term of not more than two months before the works begin and stay for as long as the works are in real and effective construction, and once finished they must be eliminated. Property sale or rental signs: one real-estate sale or rental sign is permitted on the building’s front wall not exceeding one square metre in size, without illumination, one per property, placed attached to the wall parallel to the public road, on the main façade or on the balcony railing. And emblems or stickers on doors or display windows informing about operating hours or services offered, such as accepting credit cards.

7. 7

   Step 7: The legal non-conforming sign and what cannot be done to it

   A sign is considered legal non-conforming only where it was installed complying with the regulation in force at the date of its installation, the corresponding permit was issued, and that sign does not comply with the chapter’s provisions. Every sign existing legally at the regulation’s effective date that does not meet its requirements must be erased, suppressed, eliminated or conformed, after obtaining an installation permit. Legal non-conforming signs may never be varied, enlarged, improved or in any way altered, unless to conform them; that does not exempt the owner from maintaining the sign. Every legal non-conforming sign destroyed partly or wholly by fire, explosion, earthquake, hurricane, any act of nature or other causes may not be rebuilt or repaired unless it conforms, after obtaining the permit. The absence of the installation permit is prima facie evidence that the installation lacks legal authorisation. And every sign not meeting the safety requirements is removed immediately.

8. 8

   Step 8: Curtains and awnings: inside the opening

   In historic sites and zones, the installation of curtains and awnings is permitted in the openings of doors and windows, as well as in the openings of balconies and terraces. Curtains are installed on the openings’ interior side, between columns, and fixed to the upper inner part of the balcony’s beam or lintel; they hang freely without visible elements for their lower fixing. Awnings have a metal frame and are fixed on the opening’s interior side, and must be fragmented where the openings have elements such as columns or colonnades dividing them. And as for location, no awning or curtain may be installed over façade details and reveals hiding or distorting their value, nor may it be installed without the written consent of the property’s owner, tenant or authorised representatives.

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   Step 9: The prohibited awnings and curtains

   Prohibited curtains: cross-street type; those running along one or more façade openings or on fragmented balconies, galleries or terraces, without respecting each existing opening’s individuality; and those that may hide, alter, distort or modify the eligible properties’ architectural and ornamental elements. Prohibited awnings: those attached outside the façade openings, placed on the reveals of doors and windows; those running along one or more openings or on balconies and galleries fragmented by columns or pillars; those that may hide, alter, distort or modify the architectural and ornamental elements; those of wood, aluminium, plastic or any similar material; and any curtain or awning that by its siting may divert attention or obstruct the visibility of those driving or threaten public safety, including awnings whose horizontal projection obstructs drivers’ view, those with reflectors or lights that may dazzle them, and illuminated box-type awnings, with or without illumination — that is, those whose lower part is closed forming a volume and not a light element.

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    Step 10: Awning design, size and height

    Every curtain or awning must be designed to the best engineering practice, and every installation permit application must be accompanied by the manufacturer’s certification that they comply with the regulation. No propaganda or advertising, brands or details of products or services may be lettered on the surface. The typology is simple and easy to install; curtains must be roll-up; canvas or similar cloth is permitted in making the awnings; the awning’s sign typography must be simple and easy to read, with no voluminous typography; and the awning or curtain must harmonise with the building and the urban image. The awning’s horizontal projection must not exceed a third of the height of the opening where it will be installed, nor the pavement’s width, and the awning may not sit lower than seven feet six inches from the building’s floor level to the lower edge of the valance, or of the inclined area where there is no valance. The lower valance is preferably straight, without undulation or ornamentation. And as for sizes, under the lintel of the entrance, window and display-window openings of the ground floor and the upper levels, the awning spans the whole width of the opening occupying at most a third of its height.

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    Step 11: A single colour for the whole façade

    Awnings are of a single colour, with no graphic design or texture. All awnings on the same façade or property are the same colour and design, and curtains likewise equal among themselves; every awning and curtain on the same façade or building is the same colour, and the colour and design do not vary by local or business. That last phrase surprises businesses sharing a building: each local cannot put up its brand’s awning. As for lettering the awnings: with a single awning, the three valances or the inclined area and the side areas are lettered; with two or more, the front valance or inclined area of all of them and the outer side valance of the end awnings; and if a sign is attached to the façade, only the outer side valance of the end awnings is lettered.

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    Step 12: A warning about the Special Guidelines

    There is a detail in the official document that we report without resolving. Section 10.2.10.1 says that where Special Ordering Guidelines exist that are more precise than or contradict what this chapter specifies, the provisions established here apply: that is, the chapter’s rules govern. That is the opposite of what the same chapter’s other rules say — those on intervention, accessory buildings and public spaces — which say that where Normas Especiales de Ordenamiento exist that are more precise or contradict, the Special Rules apply. We reproduce the sign rule as printed and flag that it points the opposite way from its neighbours. If your zone has adopted special guidelines or rules, ask OGPe or the ICP which governs before designing the sign.

The permit to install signs, awnings and curtains is applied for before OGPe, before an Authorised Professional or before the Permit Office of an Autonomous Municipality with Hierarchies I to III, and carries the ICP’s prior recommendation like every permit in the chapter. A tenant may apply for it with the owner’s prior written approval. The application to install a curtain or awning must be accompanied by the manufacturer’s certification that they comply with the regulation.

• Installing a sign perpendicular to the façade: it is expressly prohibited in historic sites and zones.
• Putting the sign on a side, rear or party-wall façade, on a balcony, in a gallery or on the roof.
• Installing the sign on an upper level: they are permitted only on the ground floor.
• Ordering a sign more than two inches thick, or in a light-box format.
• Using direct illumination when the regulation requires indirect illumination on metal boxes.
• Covering the display window with advertising vinyl or mesh with the name and logo repeated.
• Hanging cloths from façade to façade, even temporarily, when only those announcing cultural activities are accepted.
• Exhibiting merchandise hung or placed in the façade’s openings.
• Putting up lanterns, dolls or pennants as commercial attention-drawers.
• Installing an awning of wood, aluminium or plastic, or a box-type awning closed underneath.
• Attaching the awning outside the opening or letting its projection exceed a third of the opening’s height or the pavement’s width.
• Leaving the awning lower than seven feet six inches from the floor.
• Having each local put up a different-coloured awning on the same façade.
• Filing the awning installation application without the manufacturer’s certification.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Oficina de Gerencia de Permisos (OGPe)

  OGPe

  docs.pr.gov

• Permit Management Office

  ogpe

  ogpe.pr.gov

• Puerto Rican Institute of Culture

  icp

  www.icp.pr.gov