The legislative authority of a municipal corporation may regulate the erection of houses and business structures and prohibit the erection of buildings within such limits as it deems proper, unless the outer walls are constructed of noncombustible material, and, on the petition of the owners of not less than two thirds of the ground included in any square or half-square, may prohibit the erection thereon of any building, or addition to any building more than ten feet high, unless the outer walls are made of iron, stone, brick and mortar, or of some of them, and may provide for the removal of any building or additions erected in violation of such prohibition.