Tenement Houses

Par. 1. - Except as provided in section thirty-five, in all tenement houses hereafter erected of the first or second class more than three stories in height and in every building hereafter enlarged and occupied or to be occupied as a tenement house more than three stories in height, there shall be provided at least one of the following means of egress in addition to the staircases, but if the first named means of egress is provided no means of egress other than this and one other staircase need be provided, and every suite shall have direct access to both such means of egress.

[1921, c. 289, Sect. 6.] Par. 2. - (1.)] An enclosed stairway consisting of iron or reinforced concrete stairs, and stair landings, each not less than three feet in width in the clear, surmounted by a pent house not less than eight feet high. The stairway shall extend from the roof to the level of the ground, and shall open into either a street or passageway leading to a street; the said stairway shall be lighted to the satisfaction of the building commissioner and enclosed in walls of brick, stone, terra-cotta or concrete, and said walls may be within or without the line of the main wall of the building, but access to said stairway shall be only by doors through an external wall to balconies leading to the same, except at the roof where access to said stairway may be directly from the roof.

Par. 3. - (2.) Iron balconies connecting with adjoining buildings or with adjoining parts of the same house separated from each other by a brick, terra-cotta or concrete partition wall in which there are no openings except such as are protected with fireproof self-closing doors, and every suite above the first floor, shall have direct access to at least two means of egress, one of which shall be an enclosed stairway. The said balconies shall be not less than thirty inches wide and capable of sustaining a load of seventy pounds per square foot; railings shall be of iron, stone, terra-cotta or concrete, and three feet high, or higher if in the opinion of the commissioner a greater height is required for safety.

Par. 4. - (3.) Exterior fire escapes of iron with iron grated floors, and capable of bearing a load of seventy pounds per square foot. The stair treads shall be of iron, and the pitch of the stairs shall not exceed sixty degrees.

Par. 5. - Balconies shall be at least three feet four inches wide, and the stairs at least twenty inches wide. There shall be a landing at the foot of each flight, and at the level of the second floor there shall be cantilever ladders. The rails on all horizontal balconies and on the stairs shall be at least two feet ten inches high at all points.

[1914, c. 782, sect. 9.]