(1) No sign shall be erected or maintained beyond the building line over, on, or in any of the streets of the City except in conformity with the provisions of this Section. Any sign which does not so conform is hereby declared a public nuisance.

(2) Prohibited Areas.[472] No person shall erect or maintain any sign extending beyond the building line:

(a) on City Hall, or any street immediately bounding City Hall, and on either side of Broad Street from Arch Street to Chestnut Street;[473]

(b) on any street immediately bounding Logan Square;

(c) on any tree guard, or support thereof, or on any utility pole on any street.[474]

(3) Real Estate Signs. No person shall erect or maintain any projecting sign which denotes any property as vacant, for sale, for rent, or otherwise available for disposition on Market, Chestnut, Walnut, Locust, Spruce, and Pine Streets, between the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers.

(4) Maximum Projection.[475] No sign erected or maintained on:

(a) Market Street, between the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers shall project:

(.1) more than 12 inches except that any occupant of any building, or part thereof, may maintain or erect one illuminated sign projecting 5 feet if the sign is of neon or interior light type only, all of the sign is at least 14 feet above the sidewalk, and the sign does not exceed 150 square feet of surface area; except further, that any commercial establishment which occupies not less than 100 front feet of a City block may erect one illuminated sign projecting not more than 9 feet from the building if the sign is of neon or interior light type only, all of the sign is at least 60 feet above the sidewalk, the sign does not exceed 100 feet in height, nor 600 square feet, and the prior written approval of the Department of Licenses and Inspections and the Art Commission is obtained.

(b) Chestnut Street between the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers shall project more than 18 inches.

(c) either side of Germantown Avenue from the 4100 block of Germantown Avenue to Northwestern Avenue shall project more than 12 inches. This requirement shall not apply to existing signs.[476]

(5) No sign erected or maintained anywhere else in the City shall project;

(a) more than 6 inches when the lowest part thereof is less than 7 feet above the sidewalk;

(b) more than 2 feet when such part of the sign is between 7 feet and 10 feet above the sidewalk;

(c) more than two-thirds the width of the sidewalk over which such sign projects to a maximum of 10 feet, when such part of the sign is more than 10 feet above the sidewalk.

(6) Maximum Area.

(a) Subject to the provisions of § 14-1902(8)(b), no projecting sign shall be erected or maintained which contains a total gross area of more than 800 square feet.

(b) No swinging sign shall be erected or maintained which contains a total gross area of more than 50 square feet, 25 square feet on each face.
(c) No temporary sign shall be erected or maintained which contains a total gross area of more than 150 square feet, 75 square feet on each side.

(d) The total area fronting on any one street of any single building or structure in which any wall sign or signs may be erected or maintained shall not exceed 800 square feet, except that if such building or structure has a frontage on any one street in excess of 50 feet and/or exceeds 50 feet in height, the total area may exceed 800 square feet by 17 square feet for each foot of frontage in excess of 50 feet and/or each foot of height in excess of 50 feet.

(e) Any person owning, operating or maintaining any building or structure so situated shall comply with the requirements of § 14-1902(8)(d) and shall insure the compliance of his tenants with such requirements by lease or otherwise.