As the surrounding area incorporated into Berlin in 1861 as Tempelhofer Vorstadt had become a densely built-up suburb, in 1879 Guido von Madai, president of the royal police, decreed a maximum height of buildings in the adjacent streets to uphold the visibility of the monument. The year before it had been elevated through a basement structure of . The ordinance, however, was annulled by the groundbreaking 1882 Kreuzberg judgement of the Prussian Royal administrative court, stating that the police had exceeded its authority to ensure public security.