Full text of "The building law of the city of Boston : being Acts of 1907, chapter 550, as amended, also general and special acts relating to buildings and their maintenance, use and occupancy"

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THE BUILDING LAW OF THE
CITY OF BOSTON.

BEING ACTS OF 1907, CHAPTER- 550, AS AMENDED,

ALSO Special acts relating to Buildings

AND Their Maintenance, use and

Occupancy.

City of Boston

PRINTING DEPARTMENT

1914

THE BUILDING LAW OF THE
CITY OF BOSTON.

CHAPTER 550, ACTS OF 1907 — AS AMENDED.

An Act Relative to the Construction, Alteration
AND Maintenance of Buildings in the City
OP Boston.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Section 1. There shall be in the city of Boston a
department to be called the building department, which
shall be under the charge of the building commissioner.
The commissioner, who shall have had at least five years'
experience as an architect, a builder, or a civil engineer,
shall be appointed by the mayor, for a term of five years.
He shall receive such salary as shall be fixed by the city
council, with the approval of the mayor.

The present officers and employees of the building
department, except the board of appeal, shall hold their
several ofl&ces and positions until removed or discharged
according to law.

The commissioner may, with the approval of the mayor,
appoint such number of inspectors, employees, and assist-
ants as the city council shall, from time to time, determine.
No person shall be appointed as inspector of construction
who has not had at least five years' experience as a builder,
civil engineer, or architect, or as a superintendent or fore-
man or a competent mechanic in charge of construction.

The commissioner may appoint as his deputy an inspec-
tor in the department who shall, during the absence or
disability of the commissioner, exercise all the powers of
the commissioner. No officer or employee connected with

4 City of Boston Building Law.

the department shall be interested in the doing of work
or the furnishing of material or appliances for the con-
struction, alteration, or maintenance of any building, or
in the making of plans or of specifications therefor, unless
he is the owner thereof or a member of a board within the
building department. No such officer or employee shall
be engaged in any work which is inconsistent with his
duties or with the interests of the department.

[1913, c. 704, sect. 1.]

The clerk of the department shall, under the direction
of the commissioner, keep a record of the business of the
department, and the commissioner shall submit to the
mayor a yearly report of such business. The records of
the department shall be open to public inspection. The
commissioner may require plans and specifications of any
proposed structure or for the alteration of any structure
or building to be filed with him, duplicates of which, when
approved by the commissioner, shall be kept at the build-
ing during the progress of the work. Such duplicates
shall be open to the inspection of any inspector in said
department.

The commissioner shall grant permits for the construc-
tion, alteration, removal or tearing down of buildings or
structures, and for plumbing, gas fitting, and the setting
and maintenance of steam boilers and furnaces when
applications for the same are made and filed in conformity
with law.

All permits issued by the commissioner shall be on
printed forms approved by him.

If the commissioner finds that the terms of a permit
are being violated, he may, after notice mailed to the per-
son to whom the permit was issued, order the whole or
any part of the work, which is being done under the permit,
to be stopped, and such work shall not be resumed until
the terms of the permit have been complied with.

All appUcations for permits under the provisions of this

City of Boston Building Law. 5

act shall be in writing, on forms furnished by the depart-
ment. The commissioner may require the material facts
set forth in the same to be verified by the oath of the
apphcant; he may also require, in his discretion, a survey
of a lot on which any proposed building is to be erected
to be filed with the application. Every application shall
state the name and address of the owner.

Sect. 2. The commissioner, or one of his inspectors,
shall examine as often as is practicable every building
in the course of construction or alteration, and shall
make a record of all violations of this act and of all other
matters relative thereto. The publication of such records
with the consent of the commissioner shall be privileged.

Sect. 3. The commissioner, or one of his inspectors,
shall examine any building reported as dangerous or
damaged, and shall make a record of such examination,
stating the nature and estimated amount of the damage,
and the purpose for which the building was used, and in
case of fire the probable origin thereof; and shall examine
all buildings in respect to which apphcations have been
made for permits to raise, enlarge, alter, or repair, and
shall make a record of every such examination.

Sect. 4. The commissioner, or one of his inspectors,
shall inspect every building or other structure or anything
attached to or connected therewith which he has reason
to believe is not provided with sufficient means of egress
in case of fire satisfactory to the commissioner, exists
in violation of any provision of this act or is unsafe or
dangerous to life, limb, or adjoining buildings, and if he
finds it not provided with sufficient means of egress in
case of fire satisfactory to the commissioner, or to exist
in violation of any provision of this act, or unsafe or dan-
gerous, he shall forthwith in writing notify the owner,
agent, or any person having an interest therein, to secure
the same, to provide sufficient means of egress in case of
fire or to comply with the provision of this act which is

6 City of Boston Building Law.

being violated, and shall affix in a conspicuous place upon
its external walls a notice of its dangerous condition or
of its condition as a fire-trap or of its being a common
nuisance within the provisions of this act. The notice
shall not be removed or defaced without his consent.

[1914, c. 205, sect. 1.]

The commissioner may with the written approval of
the mayor order any building which in his opinion is
unsafe, not provided with sufficient means of egress in
case of fire or exists in violation of any provision of this
act, to be vacated forthwith.

[1914, c. 205, sect. 1.]

Sect. 5. The person notified as provided in the pre-
ceding section shall provide sufficient means of egress in
case of fire satisfactory to the building commissioner, or
shall comply with the provision of this act which is being
violated, or shall secure or remove said building, struc-
ture, attachment or connection forthwith. If the public
safety so requires, the commissioner, with the approval
of the mayor, may at once enter the building or other
structure which he finds unsafe or dangerous, the land on
which it stands or the abutting land or buildings, with
such assistance as he may require, and secure the same, and
may erect such protection for the public by proper fence
or otherwise as may be necessary, and for this purpose
may close a public highway.

[1914, c. 205, sect. 1.]

Sect. 6. There shall be in said department a board
to be called the board of appeal. Said board shall con-
sist of five members appointed by the mayor in the fol-
lowing manner: One member from two candidates, one
to be nominated by the Real Estate Exchange and Auction
Board and one by the Massachusetts Real Estate Ex-
change; one member from two candidates, one to be nom-
inated by the Boston Society of Architects and one by
the Boston Society of Civil Engineers; one member from

City of Boston Building Law. 7

two candidates, one to be nominated by the Master
Builders Association and one by the Contractors and
Builders Association; one member from two candidates
to be nominated by the Building Trades Council of the
Boston Central Labor Union; and one member selected
by the mayor. These appointments shall be subject
to confirmation by the board of aldermen. The appoint-
ments first made shall be for the terms of one, two, three,
four, and five years, respectively, so that the term of one
member "shall expire each year. All subsequent appoint-
ments shall be for the term of five years. Vacancies shall
be filled in the same manner in which original appoint-
ments are made. Each member of said board shall be
paid ten dollars per day for actual service but not more
than one thousand dollars in any one year. No member
shall act in any case in which he is interested, and in case
any member is so disquaUfied, or is absent from illness or
other cause, the remaining members shall designate a
substitute. »

[1910, c. 631, sect. 1.]

All the members of said board shall be residents of or
engaged in business in Boston.

Every decision of the board shall be in writing and shall
require the assent of at least three members.

Sect. 7. An applicant for a permit whose application
has been refused may appeal therefrom within ninety
days. A person who has been ordered by the commis-
sioner to incur any expense may within ten days after
being notified of such order appeal therefrom by giving
to the commissioner notice in writing of his appeal. Such
notice or a certified copy thereof shall at once be trans-
mitted by the commissioner to the board of appeal. After
notice given to such parties as the board shall order, a
hearing shall be had, and the board shall afiirm, annul, or
modify said refusal or order. The board may vary the
provisions of this act in specific cases which appear to

8 City of Boston Building Law.

them not to have been contemplated by this act although
covered by it, or in cases where manifest injustice is
done, provided that the decision of the board in such a
case shall be unanimous and shall not conflict with the
spirit of any provision of this act.

The decision shall specify the variations allowed and
the reasons therefor, and shall be filed in the office of the
commissioner within ten days after the hearing. A
certified copy shall be sent by mail or otherwise to the
applicant and a copy kept publicly posted in the office
of the commissioner for two weeks thereafter. If the
order or refusal of the commissioner is affirmed, such order
or refusal shall have full force and effect. If the order
or refusal is modified or annulled, the commissioner shall
issue a permit in accordance with such decision.

The provisions of this section shall also apply to any
similar action or order of the commissioner of wires, under
the provisions of chapter two hundred and sixty-eight of
the acts of the year eighteen hundred and ninety-eight,
or of any amendment thereof or addition thereto, except
that in respect thereto the words "commissioners of wires"
shall be substituted for the word "commissioner."

Sect. 8. Methods of construction or maintenance
equivalent to those required by the provisions of this act
may be allowed with the written consent of the commis-
sioner and the board of appeal specifying the same. A
record of the required and the equivalent method allowed
shall be kept in the office of the commissioner.

It shall be the duty of the board of appeal to submit
to the mayor on or before the first day of February in
each year a report giving a summary of all decisions of
the board, together with such recommendations for
revision of the law as may seem to them advisable. The
commissioner shall cause the report to be printed as a
separate document for public distribution.

Any requirement necessary for the strength or stability

City of Boston Building Law. 9

of any proposed structure or for the safety of the occu-
pants thereof, not specifically covered by this act, shall
be determined by the commissioner, subject to appeal.

Sect. 9. The building limits of the city of Boston as
they now exist shall continue until changed by ordinance,
and the city council may by ordinance from time to time
extend and define said building hmits, and may establish
other limits in any part of the city within which every
building built after the establishment thereof shall be of
the first or second class. This restriction shall not apply
to wharves, nor to buildings not exceeding twenty-seven
feet in height on wharves, nor to market sheds or market
buildings not exceeding such height, nor to elevators for
the storage of coal or grain, if the external parts of such
buildings, elevators, or other structures are covered with
slate, tile, metal, or other equally fireproof material, and
the mode of construction and the location thereof are
approved by the commissioner. Temporary structures
to facihtate the prosecution of any authorized work may
be erected under such conditions as the commissioner
may prescribe. Single and two-family dwellings not to
be occupied, or intended, arranged, or designed to be
occupied, by more than two famihes, may be built of
third class construction in all parts of the city of Boston
not included in the building Umits of said city as they
existed prior to the twenty-second day of September
in the year nineteen hundred and thirteen; but no such
building shall occupy more than sixty per cent of the area
of the lot upon which it is situated, and all such buildings
shall be constructed with pitched roofs not less than
thirty degrees with the horizontal.

[1914, c. 782, sect. 1.]

Sect. 10. The provisions of this act shall not apply
to bridges, quays, or wharves, nor to buildings on land
ceded to the United States or owned and occupied by
the Commonwealth, nor to the Suffolk County court house,

10 City of Boston Building Law.

jail, or house of correction, nor to railroad stations, nor to
portable school buildings erected and maintained by the
schoolhouse department, nor to voting booths erected and
maintained by the board of election commissioners.

Except as otherwise provided by law, the provisions
of this act shall not be held to deprive the board of health,
the police commissioner, the board of street commissioners,
the board of park commissioners, the board of examiners
of gas fitters, the commissioner of wires, or the fire com-
missioner of the city of Boston of any power or authority
which they have at the date of the passage of this act,
or of the remedies for the enforcement of the orders of
said boards or officers; unless such powers, authorities,
or remedies are inconsistent with the provisions of this
act; nor to repeal any existing law, not herein expressly
repealed, except so far as it may be inconsistent with the
provisions of this act.

Definitions.

Sect; 11. In this act the following terms shall have
the meanings respectively assigned to them: —

First Class Building: — A first class building shall con-
sist of fireproof material throughout, with floors con-
structed of iron,' steel or reinforced concrete beams, filled
in between with terra-cotta or other masonry arches or
with concrete or reinforced concrete slabs; wood may be
used only for under and upper floors, windows and door
frames, sashes, doors, interior finish, hand rails for stairs,
necessary sleepers bedded in the cement, and for isolated
furrings bedded in mortar. There shall be no air space
between the top of any floor arches and the floor boarding.

Second Class Building: — All buildings not of the first
class, the external and party walls of which are of brick,
stone, iron, steel, concrete, reinforced concrete, concrete
blocks, or other equally substantial and fireproof material.

Third Class Building: — A wooden frame building.

City of Boston Building Law. 11

Composite Building: — A building, partly of second class
and partly of third class construction.

Foundation: — That part of a wall below the level of the
street curb, or, if a wall is not on a street, that part of
the wall below the level of the highest ground next to the
wall, or, if so construed by the commissioner, that part of
a party or partition wall below the cellar floor.

Height of a Building: — The vertical distance of the
highest point of the roof above the mean grade of the curbs
of all the streets upon which it abuts, and if it does not
abut on a street, above the mean grade of the ground
adjoining the building.

Party Wall: — A wall that separates two or more build-
ings, and is used or adapted for the use of more than one
building.

Partition Wall: — An interior wall of masonry in a
building.

Thickness of Wall: — The minimum thickness of such
wail.

Story of a Building: — That part of a building between
the top of any floor beams and the top of the floor or roof
beams next above.

Basement: — That story of a building not more than
forty per cent of which is below the grade of the street.

Cellar: — That part of a building more than forty per
cent of which is below the grade of the street, and in third
class* buildings that part of the building which is below
the sills.

Gas fitting shall mean the work of putting together any
fittings, pipe or fixtures or other appliances which are to
contain gas for heat, light or power purposes and will be
subject to inspection under existing laws.

Requieements for all Buildings.
Sect. 12. No building, structure or foundation shall
be constructed or altered without a permit, and such

12 City of Boston Building Law.

work shall be done in accordance with drawings bear-
ing the approval of the commissioher.

Every structure in process of construction, alteration,
repair or removal, and every neighboring structure or
portion thereof affected by such process or by any excava-
tion, shiall be sufficiently supported during such process.

The commissioner may take such measures as the public
safety requires to carry these provisions into effect.

All buildings shall have leaders sufficient to discharge
the roof water in such a manner as not to flow upon any
public way or any neighboring property. Such leaders
may project into a public way not over seven inches.

Every chimney flue shall be carried to a height sufficient
to protect adjoining buildings from fire and smoke, and,
unless the roof is covered with incombustible material,
shall extend at least four feet above the highest point of
contact with the roof.

Every permanent building more than twenty feet high
having a flat roof shall have permanent means of access
to the roof ^f rom the inside by an opening not less than
two feet by three feet, with a fixed stepladder.

Every building shall have, with reference to its height,
condition, construction, surroundings, character of occupa-
tion and number of occupants, reasonable means of egress
in case of fire, satisfactory to the commissioner, except
that in all factories or workshops hereafter built or altered,
of second class construction, where ten or more persons
are employed above the second floor, one exit shall con-
sist of a fireproof stairway enclosed in incombustible
material. No building hereafter erected shall be occupied
or permitted to be occupied until said means of egress
have been provided in accordance with plans and draw-
ings approved by the building commissioner.

[1912, c. 369, sect. 1.]

Water pipes in every building shall be properly pro-
tected from frost.

City of Boston Building Law. 13

All chimneys of masonry construction shall have walls
at least eight inches thick, or be constructed of four-inch
brick waUs with a suitable flue liuing.

Every building used for habitation shall have such
number of water-closets as the board of health may
require; every building where persons are employed shall
have at least one water-closet for every twenty persons
therein employed, and in any building where both sexes
are employed, separate accommodations shall be furnished
for men and women. Every enclosure containing one or
more water-closets shall be provided with adequate
ventilation to the outer air either by window or by suitable
light shaft.

In every first and second class building all of the outside
finish shall be of incombustible material, except window
and door frames, and except finish about show windows
in the first story. Where store fronts are carried up more
than one story the columns and lintels shall be of, or
finished with, incombustible material; but in no case shall
store fronts be carried more than two stories, unless the
same are constructed and finished throughout with fire-
proof material, except window and door frames.

Every ventilating flue shall be constructed of, or lined
with, incombustible material.
/ Every floor in second class buUdings shall have its beams
/ tied to the walls and to each other with wrought-iron
straps or anchors at least three eighths of an inch thick
by one and one half inches wide, and not less than eighteen
inches long, so as to form continuous ties across the
building not more than ten feet apart. Walls running
parallel, or nearly parallel, with floor beams shall be
properly tied once in ten feet to the floor beams by iron
straps or anchors of the size above specified.

Every wooden header or trimmer more than four feet
long, carrying a floor load of over seventy pounds per
square foot, shall, at connections with other beams, be

14 City of Boston Building Law.

framed or hung in stirrup irons, and joint-bolted. All
tail beams and similar beams of wood shall be framed or
hung in stirrup irons.

All walls, piers and columns acting as supports below
the first floor of all buildings hereafter built shall be of
masonry or metal. In all buildings hereafter erected,
where outside means of egress are to be constructed, the
building commissioner may order, when he deems it neces-
sary, all the window openings in the same to be protected
by metal frames and sash and wire glass, and all doors
leading to such outside means of egress and the frames of
the same to be of metal or metal covered. If doors are
glazed, they shall be glazed with wire glass. Every
kitchen, kitchenette or room used or adapted to be used
for cooking purposes either by coal, gas or oil stoves, in
every building hereafter erected, remodelled or enlarged,
shall be not less than eight feet in the least dimension.
Every such kitchen, kitchenette or room to be used for
cooking purposes shall be lighted and ventilated by window
openings in an external wall direct to the open air, and
such window openings shall equal in size in the aggregate
at least one eighth of the area of the floor of such room.
When gas, coal or oil stove ovens, broilers or water heaters
are connected to a ventilating flue, the flue shall be con-
structed of brick walls not less than eight inches thick,
or with walls four inches thick lined with terra-cotta flue
lining at least one inch thick. The building commissioner
may order the basements of any mercantile building
hereafter erected to be provided with a system of auto-
matic sprinklers, approved by him as to location, arrange-
ment and efficiency.

[1914, c. 782, sect. 2.]

Pkohibitions.

Sect. 13. No alteration or repair of a wooden building
within the building limits shall be made without a permit

City of Boston Building Law. 15

from the commissioner, and no permit to increase the
height or ground area of such a building shall be granted,
nor shall a permit for alterations or repairs be granted if
the estimated cost of the proposed alterations or repairs
exceeds one haK of the cost of a like new building.

No wooden building, outside the building limits, shall
be moved to any position within the building limits.

No recess or chase shall be made in any external or party
wall so as to leave the thickness at the back less than eight
inches.

No roof or floor timber entering a party wall shall have
less than four inches of soHd brickwork between it and the
end of any other timber.

No part of any roof shall be constructed in such a manner
as to discharge snow, ice, or other material upon a public
street or alley.

No elevated staging or stand for observation purposes
shall be constructed or occupied upon the roof of any
building.

No chimney shall be corbelled from a wall more than
the thickness of the wall.

No chimney shall be hung from a wall which is less than
twelve inches thick.

No masonry shall rest upon wood, except piles and mud
sills.

No part of any floor timber shall be within two inches
of any chimney.

No studding or furring shall be within one inch of any
chimney.

No furnace or boiler for heating shall be placed upon a
wooden floor.

No smoke pipe shall project through any external wall
or window.

No steam, furnace, or other hot air pipes shall be carried
within one inch of any woodwork, unless such pipes are
double or otherwise protected by incombustible material.

16 City of Boston Building Law.

No combustible partition shall be within four feet of
the sides and back or within six feet of the front of any
boiler, carrying a pressure of over ten pounds, unless the
partition is covered with incombustible material which
extends to the full height of the partition from the end or
back of the boiler to at least five feet in front of it. In
such case the distance shall be not less than two feet from
all the sides and five feet from the front of the boiler, and
all lath and plaster and wooden ceiling beams over the
boiler and to a distance of not less than four feet in front
of all such boilers shall be covered with incombustible
material.

[1914, c. 782, sect. 3.]

No observation stand shall be constructed or maintained
except in accordance with plans approved by the com-
missioner.

No closet of any kind shall be constructed under any
staircase leading from the cellar or basement to the first
story.

No boiler shall be placed or maintained under any
pubHc way.

No part of any structure, except cornices, permanent
awnings, string courses, window caps and sills, bay windows,
under such terms, conditions, regulations and restrictions
as may be required by the mayor and board of aldermen,
and outside means of egress, as otherwise provided, and
signs as provided in chapter three hundred and fifty-two
of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five,
shall project over any pubhc way or square. No cornice
or bay witidow shall so project more than three feet; nor
more than twelve inches over a way of a width of thirty
feet or less.

No building within forty feet of the property of any
adjoining owner shall be erected for or converted to use
as a stable, unless such use is authorized by the board of

City of Boston Buildlistg Law. 17

health after a public hearing. Written notice of such
hearing shall be given to the adjoining owners, and pub-
lished at least three times in at least two newspapers
published in Boston, ten days at least before the
hearing.

No material other than brick, tile, slate, metal, asbestos
shingles or slag shall hereafter be used to cover or roof any
building, or the tops and sides and outsides of the frames
of any dormer window, or any other projection of the roof
of any building, except wooden cornices on wooden frame
buildings, but on flat roofs composition or tar and gravel
may be used or such other quality of fire-resisting roofing
as the commissioner may authorize. Nothing in this
section shall be construed to prohibit the use of materials
approved by the commissioner for repairing any roof now
covered with wooden shingles, provided, that the building
is not altered in height or otherwise generally reconstructed,
nor to prohibit covering with such approved materials
the roofs of buildings less than sixteen feet in height.

[1914, c. 782, sect. 3.]

No part of any first or second class building hereafter
erected, except the eaves and cornices, shall be nearer than
five feet to the line of any adjoining lot on any side on
which such building has any opening in the outer wall
thereof unless all such openings are protected by wire
glass set in metal frames and sash.

Materials.
Strength of Materials.
Sect, 14. The stresses in materials hereafter used in
the construction of all buildings, produced by their own
weight and the loads herein specified, shall not exceed
the limits assigned in the following paragraphs of this
section: —

City of Boston Building Law.

(a) Timber.
Unit Stresses in Pounds per Square Inch.

n Extreme
Fibre of
Beams.

Shearing
Along
the Grain.

White pine and spruce

1,000

250

White oak

1,000

150

600

Yellow pine (long -leaved)

1,500

100

500

Stresses due to transverse loads combined with direct
tension or compression shall not exceed the extreme fibre
stresses given above.

In computing deflection, the modulus of elasticity shall
be taken as follows: —

Pounds per
Square Inch.

White pine, 750,000

Spruce, 900,000

Yellow pine (long-leaved), . . . 1,300,000

White oak, 850,000

Columns {centrally loaded).
For wooden columns with flat ends, where L is the
length of the column, D is its least diameter, the average
stress per square inch on a cross-section shall be limited as
follows: —

Average Stress per Square Inch.

White Pine
and Spruce.

Long-leaved
Yellow Pine.

White Oak.

0 to 10

630
595
560
525
490

900
850
800
750
700

810

10 to 15

705

15 to 20

720

20 to 25

675

25 to 30 .

630

City of Boston Building Law.

No column shall be used with a greater unsupported
length than thirty times its least diameter.
For excentric loads see section sixteen.

(b) Wrought Iron and Steel.

Unit Stresses in Pounds per Square Inch.

Wrought
Iron.

Steel.i

Extreme fibre of rolled beams or shapes

Tension

12,000
12,000
12,000
9,000
15,000
18,000

16,000
16,000

Compression in flanges of built beams

Shearing (see below for bolts)

16,000
10,000

Direct bearing, including pins and rivets

Bending on pins

18,000
22,500

Modulus of elasticity

27,000,000

29,000,000

For compression members twelve thousand for iron and
sixteen thousand for steel, reduced according to the follow-
iag formula: —

12,000 (or 16,000 for steel).

1 +

20,000 r2

in which L is the length of the column in inches, and r is
the radius of gyration ia inches taken around the axis
about which the column will bend (for free columns, the
least radius of gyration).

The stresses due to transverse loads combined with
direct tension or compression shall not exceed the extreme
fibre stress given above for rolled beams and shapes, or
in case of built members the above tension and compression
stresses (see section sixteen).

Compression flanges of beams shall be proportioned to
resist lateral flexure unless properly stayed or secured

1 These stresses (except for rivets) are for steel having an ultimate
tensile strength of from fifty-five thousand to sixty-five thousand
pounds per square inch, an elastic limit of not less than one half the
ultimate strength, and a minimum percentage of elongation in eight
inches of one million four hundred thousand, divided by the viltimate
strength.

City of Boston Building Law.

against it. If the ratio of unsupported length of flange to
width of flange does not exceed twenty, no allowance need
be made for lateral flexure. If the ratio is seventy the
allowable stress on the extreme fibre shall be one half of
that above specified, and proportionally for intermediate
ratios.

Shearing and bearing stresses on bolts shall not be
higher than eighty per cent of those allowed by the above
table. All connections in skeleton buildings, all splices
in steel trusses and girders, and all connections of such
trusses and girders to the sides of steel colunms shall, if
possible, be made by means of rivets rather than by bolts.

Unit Stresses in Pounds per Square Inch.

Extreme fibre stress, tension, . . . 3,000

Extreme fibre stress, compression, . . 16,000

Cast iron shall not be used for colunms in buildings of

more than seventy-five feet in height, nor in cases where

the value of the length divided by least radius of gyration

exceeds seventy.

Cast Iron Columns {centrally loaded and unsupported
laterally) .

2.2

10
20
30
40

o) ti o

bfl o3-r3

11,000
10,700
10,400
10,000

03 o

PI -►^rl-s
^>P

fto

CO I-!

® 53 °

50,
60.
70,

9,800
9,500
9,200

City'of Boston Building Law. 21

(d) Stone Work, in Compression.

Stresses in Tons of Two Thousand Pounds per Square Foot.
First quality dressed beds and builds, laid solid in mor-
tar of one part Portland cement to three parts sand, or
one part natural cement to two parts sand.

Granite, 60

Marble and Limestone, 40

Sandstone, 30

In cases where poorer mortar is used, to avoid stain
from cement, stresses shall be less than above, and must
be approved by the building commissioner.

(e) Brickwork in Compression.
Stresses in Tons of Two Thousand Pounds per Square Foot.
(1.) For first class work of hard-burned bricks, including
piers in which the height does not exceed six times the
least dimension, laid in: —

(a) One part Portland cement, three parts sand, by

volume, dry, 20

(6) One part natural cement, two parts sand by

volume, dry, 18

six parts sand, by volume, dry, .... 12

(d) Lime mortar, one part lime, six parts sand, by

volume, dry, 8

(2.) For brick piers of hard-burned bricks, in which the
height is from six to twelve times the least dimension: —

Mortar (a), 18

Mortar (6), 15

Mortar (c), 10

Mortar (d), 7

(3.) For brickwork made of "light-hard" bricks, the
stresses shall not exceed two thirds of the stresses for like
work of hard-burned bricks.

22 City of Boston Building Law.

(/) Concrete.

When the structural use of concrete is proposed, a
specification, stating the quahty and proportions of mate-
rials, and the methods of mixing the same, shall be sub-
mitted to the building commissioner, who may issue a
permit at his discretion and under such further conditions,
in addition to those stated below, as he sees fit to impose.

A. In first class Portland cement concrete, containing
one part cement to not more than six parts mixed properly
graded aggregate, except in piers or columns of which the
height exceeds six times the least dimension, the com-
pressive stress shall not exceed thirtj'' tons of two thousand
pounds per square foot.

B. In piers and columns of first class Portland cement
concrete, containing one part cement to not more than
five parts mixed properly graded aggregate, where the
height of the pier or column is more than six times and
does not exceed twelve times its least dimension, the
compressive stress shall not exceed twenty-five tons of
two thousand pounds per square foot.

By ''aggregate" shall be understood all the materials
in the concrete except the cement. Cinders concrete shall
be used constructively only for floors, roofs and for filling.

Rules for the computation of reinforced concrete col-
umns may be formulated from time to time by the building
commissioner with the approval of the board of appeal.

In reinforced concrete beams or slabs subjected to
bending stresses, the entire tensile stress shall be assumed
to be carried by the steel, which shall not be stressed
above the limits allowed for this material. First class
Portland cement concrete in such beams or slabs, con-
taining one part cement to not more than five parts mixed
properly graded aggregate, may be stressed in compres-
sion to not more than five hundred pounds per square inch.
In case a richer concrete is used, this stress may be

City of Boston Building Law. 23

increased with the approval of the commissioner to not
more than six hundred pounds per square inch.

In reinforced concrete the maximum shearing force upon
the concrete, when uncombined with compression upon
the same plane shall not exceed sixty pounds per square
inch, unless the building commissioner with the consent
of the board of appeal shall fix some other value.

If the imbedded steel has no mechanical bond with the
concrete, its holding power shall not exceed the allowable
shearing strength of the concrete.

(g) In Genekal.

Under the prescribed loads, beams shall be so propor-
tioned that the deflection shall not exceed one three
hundred and sixtieth (3-50) of the span.

Stresses for materials and forms of material, not herein
mentioned, shall be determined by the building commis-
sioner. Provision for wind bracing shall be made wher-
ever it is necessary, and all buildings shall be constructed
of sufficient strength to bear with safety the load intended
to be placed thereon, in addition to the weight of the
materials used in construction.

No cutting for piping or any other purpose shall be done
which would reduce the strength of any part of the struc-
ture below what is required by the provisions of this act.

Quality of Materials.
Sect. 15. All materials shall be of such quality for
the purposes for which they are to be used as to insure,
in the judgment of the building commissioner, ample
safety and security to life, limb and neighboring property.
The building commissioner shall have power to reject all
materials which in his opinion are unsuitable, and may
require tests to be made by the architect, engineer, builder
or owner to determine the strength of the structural mate-

24 City of Boston Building Law.

rials before or after they are incorporated in a building,
and may require certified copies of results of tests made
elsewhere from the architect, engineer, builder, owner or
other interested persons.

Hollow cast iron columns, if used, shall be shown by
measurements and tests satisfactory to the commissioner
to be of practically uniform thickness, and free from
blow holes.

Mortars.

All mortars shall be made with such proportion of sand
as will insure a proper degree of cohesion and tenacity,
and secure thorough adhesion to the material with which
they are used, and the building commissioner shall con-
demn all mortars not so made.

(a) Mortar below the level of water shall be no poorer
than one part Portland cement and three parts sand;

(6) Mortar for first class buildings shall, for the lower
half of their height, be no poorer than one part natural
cement to two parts sand; and, for the upper half, no
poorer than one part of natural cement, one half part of
lime, and three parts of sand;

(c) Mortar for second class buildings and for such parts
of third class buildings as are below the level of the side-
wallc, shall be no poorer than one part of natural cement,
one of lime, and four of sand;

(d) Mortar for third class buildings, above ground,
shall be no poorer than one part lime and four parts sand.

The building commissioner may allow lime mortar in
setting stone where cement will stain.

Concrete,

Concrete shall be used immediately after mixing; it

shall not be placed in the work after it has begun to harden;

and it shall be deposited in such manner and under such

regulations as to secure a compact mass of the best

City op Boston Building Law. 25

quality for the proportions used. Forms shall remain
until the concrete has hardened so as to be able to carry-
its load safely, and shall be removed without jar.

The commissioner may require an applicant for a
permit for the structural use of concrete to have an
inspector satisfactory to the commissioner at all times on
the work while concrete is being mixed or deposited, and
such inspector shall make daily reports to the commissioner
on the progress of the work.

Cement.

Cement shall conform to the specifications of the
American Association for Testing Materials, as modified
from time to time by that association.

Reinforced Concrete.

Reinforced concrete slabs, beams or girders, if rendered
continuous over supports by being unbroken in section,
shall be provided with proper metal reinforcement at the-
top over said supports and maj'- be computed as con-
tinuous beams, as hereinafter described.

The modulus of elasticity of the concrete, if not shown
by direct tests, may for beams and slabs be taken as one
fifteenth that of steel, and for columns one tenth that of
steel.

The reinforcing metal shall be covered by not less than
three fourths inch of concrete in slabs, and by not less
than one and one half inches of concrete in beams and
columns.

Methods of Computation.

Sect. 16. Beams or girders of metal or reinforced con-
crete shall be considered as simply supported at their
ends, except when they extend with unbroken cross-
section over the supports, in which case they may be
considered as continuous.

26 City of Boston Building Law.

The span of a beam shall be considered as the distance
from center to center of the bed plates or surfaces upon
which it rests. If it is fastened to the side of a column,
the span shall be measured to the centre of the column.

In slabs, beams or girders continuous over supports,
provision shall be made for a negative bending moment
at such supports equal to four fifths of the positive bend-
ing moment that would exist at the centre of the span if
the piece were simply supported; and the positive bend-
ing moment at the centre of the span may be taken equal
to the negative bending moment at the support.

In the case of a slab of reinforced concrete with parallel
ribs or girders beneath, the rib or girder may be considered
to include a portion of the slab between the ribs, forming
a T-beam. The width of the T-beam on top shall not
exceed one third the span of the rib nor the distance from
centre to centre of the ribs.

Reinforced concrete columns shall be proportioned on
the assumption that the concrete and the steel are
shortened in length in the same proportion. The steel
members shall be tied together at intervals sufficiently
short to prevent buckling.

If a column is loaded excentrically or transversely, the
maximum fibre stress, taking account of the direct com-
pression, the bending which it causes, its excentricity and
the transverse load, shall not exceed the maximum
allowable stress in compression.

If a tension piece is loaded excentrically or transversely,
the maximum fibre stress, taking account of the direct
tension, its excentricity and the transverse load, shall not
exceed the maximum allowable stress in tension.

An excentric load upon a column shall be considered
to affect excentrically only the length of column extending
to the next point below at which the column is held
securely in the direction of the excentricity.

City of Boston Building Law. 27

If a piece is exposed to tension and compression at
different times, it shall be proportioned to resist the
maximum of each kind, but the unit stresses shall be less
than those used for stress of one kind, depending upon
the ratio and the relative frequence of the two maxima.

Net sections shall be used in proportioning steel tension
members, and in deducting rivet holes they shall be taken
as one eighth of an inch greater in diameter than the rivets.

The length of a steel compression member between
supports in any direction shall not exceed one hundred
and twenty times its radius of gyration about an axis
perpendicular to that direction.

The webs of plate girders shall be proportioned to resist
buckling in cases where they are not supported laterally,
according to the formula: —

15.000
1 d2

3,000 t2

in which t = thickness of web, in inches; d = clear,
unsupported dimension horizontally or vertically, which-
ever is the lesser.

In proportioning the flanges of plate girders, one eighth
of the gross area of the web may be considered as available
in each flange. If the length of the top flange unsupported
laterally exceeds twenty times its width, the allowable
stress shall be reduced, as in the case of rolled beams.

Pins shall be computed by assuming the forces in the
bars to act at the centre of the bearing areas.

In riveted trusses the centre of gravity lines of members
coming together at a joint shall, if possible, intersect at a
point. Excentricity due to a non-fulfillment of this rule
shall be allowed for in the computations. The centre of
gravity of the rivets connecting one piece to another shall,
in general, lie as nearly as practicable in the centre of
gravity line of the piece.

28 City of Boston Building Law.

Classification.

First and Second Class Buildings.
Sect. 17. Every building hereafter erected more than
seventy-five feet in height, or hereafter increased in height
to more than seventy-five feet, shall be a first class build-
ing. Every second class building hereafter erected and
more than four stories in height, and any second class build-
ing now in existence and increased in height to more than
four stories, shall have the first floor and the basement
and cellar stories of first class construction. Every hotel,
tenement house and lodging house hereafter erected
covering more than three thousand five hundred square
feet or more than five stories in height, shall be a first
class building; and every building altered or enlarged and
occupied or to be occupied as a hotel, tenement or lodging
house to be in excess of sixty feet in height, or in excess of
three thousand five hundred square feet in superficial area,
or in excess of five stories in height, shall be a first class
building. Every building hereafter erected within the
building limits to be occupied as a permanent schoolhouse
shall be a first class building. Every building hereafter
erected as a theatre and every building hereafter altered
to be occupied as a theatre shall be a first class building.
Every building hereafter erected for, altered to or con-
verted to use as a moving picture house shall be a first
class building. All other buildings may be of second or
third class construction.

[1914, c. 782, sect. 4.]

Except as herein otherwise provided, new buildings
adapted for habitations, and not more than five stories
in height, may be erected of second class construction,
but no such building shall exceed three thousand five
hundred square feet in superficial area or sixty feet in
height. The first story or basement, or both the first
story and basement, in such buildings, so constructed,

City op Boston Building Law. 29

remodelled or enlarged, may be used for mercantile pur-
poses, provided, that the first floor and the basement and
cellar stories shall be of first class construction, and any
stairway leading from the first floor to the basement or
from the basement to the cellar shall be enclosed in
masonry walls not less than eight inches thick or with two-
inch solid metal and plaster partition, with self-closing
fireproof doors at the top and bottom of said stairways.

[1914, c. 782, sect. 4. ]
New buildings, of concrete, concrete blocks or brick,
not over three stories in height, adapted for the occupancy
of a single family and having a superficial area of not
more than twelve hundred square feet, may be con-
structed with external and party or division walls of
eight inches in thickness: -provided, however, that where
the party wall of a building thus constructed joins or
becomes the party wall of another such building, the floor
timbers in each of such buildings shall be so spaced or
protected that their ends shall not approach nearer than
within eight inches of each other.

Restriction of Areas.

Any first class building used above the first floor as a
warehouse or store for the storage or sale of merchandise
shall have all vertical openings protected by fireproof
enclosures. Such enclosures shall, if enclosing stairs or
escalators, have automatic doors, and all glass in said
enclosure shall be wire glass.

Such buildings shall so be divided by brick walls built
like party walls with the same openings allowed, that no
space inside such buildings shall exceed in area ten thou-
sand square feet, except that when any such building has
a frontage of not less than fifty feet on each of two streets,
such space may exceed ten thousand square feet in area,
provided that buildings in which such extension of area
beyond ten thousand square feet is permitted shall have

30 City of Boston Building Law.

automatic fire sprinklers installed, and means of ingress
and egress satisfactory to the commissioner and the board
of appeal.

Second class buildings used above the first floor as
warehouses or stores for the storage or sale of merchandise
shall so be divided by brick walls, built like party walls
with the same openings allowed, that no space inside
such buildings shall exceed in area ten thousand square
feet, and no existing wall in any second class building shall
be removed so as to leave an area of more than ten
thousand square feet, nor shall any existing wall, separat-
ing areas which combined would exceed ten thousand
square feet in area, have openings cut in it greater in
area or number than is allowed by this act for party
walls.

Every second class building more than three stories
high and used above the first floor as a warehouse or store
for the storage or sale of merchandise shall have all
vertical openings for elevators and stairways, air or
light shafts, through its floors protected by fireproof
enclosures. Such enclosures shall be supported on fire-
proof supports and framing, and shall, if enclosing stairs
or escalators, have automatic doors, and all glass in said
enclosures shall be wire glass.

No building used above the first floor for the storage
or sale of merchandise shall have less than two means of
egress from every story, one of which means may be either
an outside fire escape or through a brick wall closed by
automatic doors into a building of the same class; except
that an independent monumental stairway extending from
the basement to the second floor may be constructed.

Buildings for Manufacturing Purposes.
Buildings outside the building limits and adapted
exclusively for manufacturing, storage, mechanical or
stable purposes, may be built under such conditions as

(

City of Boston Building Law. 31

the commissioner shall prescribe. If of wood such build-
ings shall not exceed forty-five feet in height.

Construction.
Height.

Sect. 18. No building, structure or part thereof
shall be of a height exceeding two and one half times the
width of the widest street on which the building or struc-
ture stands, whether such street is a public street or place
or a private way, nor exceeding one hundred and twenty-
five feet in any case. The width of such street, place or
private way shall be measured from the face of the build-
ing or structure to the line of the street on the other side.
If the street is of uneven width, the width shall be the
average width of the part of the street opposite the build-
ing or structure; if the effective width of the street is
increased by an area or setback, the space between the
face of the main building and the lawfully established line
of the street may be built upon to the height of two and
one half times the width of the street.

All buildings or structures hereafter erected in any part
of the city shall be subject to the restrictions imposed by
chapter four hundred and fifty-two of the acts of the year
eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, by chapter five
hundred and forty-three of the acts of the year nineteen
hundred and two, by chapter three hundred and eighty-
three of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and five,
and by chapter four hundred and sixteen of the acts of
the year niaeteen hundred and seven, so far as the restric-
tions imposed by said acts relate to the districts described
therein; and shall also be subject to any restrictions
lawfully imposed by the park commissioners of said city.

Excavations.

Sect. 19. All excavations shall so be protected, by
Bheet piling if necessary, by the persons causing the same

32 City of Boston Building Law.

to be made, that the adjoiniiig soil shall not cave in by
reason of its own weight. It shall be the duty of the owner
of every building to furnish, or cause to be furnished, such
support that his building shall not be endangered by any
excavation: provided, that the owner of any building
which is endangered by an excavation carried by an
adjoining owner more than ten feet below the grade of
the street may recover the expense so caused of supporting
such building from the persons causing such excavation
to be made. All permanent excavations shall be pro-
tected by retaining walls. In case of any failure to
comply with the provisions of this section the commis-
sioner may enter upon the premises and may furnish such
support as the circumstances may require. Any expense
so incurred may be recovered by the city from the persons
required by law to furnish the support.

Piling.

Sect. 20. All buildings shall, if the commissioner
determines that piluig is necessary, be constructed on
foundation piles which, if of wood, shall be not more than
three feet apart on centres in the direction of the wall,
and the number, diameter and bearing of such piles shall
be sufficient to support the superstructure proposed. The
commissioner shall determine the grade at which the piles
shall be cut. The commissioner may require any apphcant
for a permit to ascertain by boring the nature of the
ground on which he proposes to build, and he may require
an inspector satisfactory to the commissioner to be at all
times on the work while piles are being driven, who shall
keep an accurate record of the length of each pile, the
weight and fall of the hammer, and the penetration of
each pile for each of the last two blows of the hammer.

Plain concrete piles shaU be made in place by methods
which are reasonably certain to secure perfect, full sized
piles. Reinforced concrete piles if properly designed to

City of Boston Building Law. 33

resist the shock of driving, and if driven with a cushion
to lessen the shock or by a water jet, m^ be molded,
allowed to harden, and then driven in place.

In case concrete piles are used, whether reinforced or
not, their bearing power shall be determined by putting
in one or more test piles and loading them after the con-
crete has hardened. The load allowed shall not be more
than one half the load under which the pile begins to
settle. In no case, however, shall the load on a concrete
pile exceed that specified herein for concrete in columns.
Concrete for piles shall have not more than five parts of
properly made and mixed aggregate to one part of Port-
land cement; and the aggregate shall all be capable of
passing through a one inch ring.

All wood piles shall be capped with block granite
levellers, each leveller having a firm bearing on the pile
or piles which it covers, or with first class Portland cement
concrete, not less than sixteen inches thick, above the
pile caps, containing one part of cement to not more than
six parts of properly graded aggregate of stone and sand,
the concrete to be filled in around the pile heads upon the
intervening earth.

Foundations of First and Second Class Buildings.

Sect. 21. Foundations of first and second class
buildings may be of brick, stone or concrete. The thick-
ness shall be as stated in section twenty-three. Founda-
tions of rubble stone shall be allowed only under buildings
less than forty-five feet in height and for a depth of less
than ten feet.

The walls and piers of every building shall have a
foundation, the bearing of which shall be not less than
four feet below any adjoining surface exposed to the
frost, and such foundation, with the superstructure
which it supports, shall not overload the material on
which it rests.

34 City of Boston Building Law.

Cellars.
Sect. 22. The cellar of every building, where the
grade or nature of the ground so requires, shall be suffi-
ciently protected from water and damp by a bed at least
two inches thick over the whole, of concrete, cement and
gravel, tar and gravel, or asphalt, or by bricks laid in
cement. No cellar or basement floor of any building
shall be constructed below the grade of twelve feet above
mean low water, unless such cellar is made waterproof to
the satisfaction of the commissioner. All metal founda-
tions and all constructional metal work underground shall
be protected from dampness by concrete, or by other
material approved by the commissioner.

Thickness of Walls.

Sect. 23. Except as provided in section seventeen,
the external walls above the foundation of houses for
habitation of first or second class construction, and not
exceeding sixteen hundred square feet in area and not
over three stories high, shall be not less than eight inches
thick for external walls and not less than twelve inches
thick for party walls. In case any part of such building
is adapted for any use other than habitation, all walls
shall be not less than twelve inches thick. All other
houses for habitation, not exceeding five thousand feet in
superficial area and not exceeding five stories or sixty-five
feet in height, above the basement, shall have all walls
not less than twelve inches thick.

The external and party walls of every building of the
first or second class, except houses for habitation, less than
sixty-five feet in height shall be twelve inches thick in the
upper two stories not exceeding twenty-five feet in height.
In the section of two stories, but not exceeding twenty-
five feet next below, the walls shall be sixteen inches thick.
In the next lower section of three stories, but not exceeding
thirty-seven feet, the walls shall be twenty inches thick,

City of Boston Building Law. 35

and in each succeeding section of three stories, but not
exceeding thirty-seven feet or any part thereof, the wall
shall be four inches thicker than the section next above it.
The foundation walls shall be at least four inches thicker
than the required thickness of the walls of the first story.
The thickness herein given shall apply to all masonry
walls unless they are reinforced by a frame or skeleton of
steel.

In reckoning the thickness of walls, ashlar shall not be
included unless the walls are at least sixteen inches thick
and the ashlar is at least eight inches thick, or unless alter-
nate courses are at least four and eight inches to allow
bonding with the backing. Ashlar shall be properly held
by metal clamps to the backing or properly bonded to the
same.

Anchors.

Sect. 24. All walls of a first or second class building
meeting at an angle shall be securely bonded, or shall be
united every five feet of their height by anchors made of
at least two inches by half an inch of steel or wrought iron,
well painted, and securely built into the side or partition
walls not less than thirty-six inches, and into the front
and rear walls at least one half the thickness of such walls.

Brickwork — Bonding.
Sect. 25. Every eighth course, at least, of a brick wall
shall be a full heading or bonding course, except where
walls are faced with face brick, in which case in every
eighth course at least every other brick shall be a full
header.' No diagonal header ties shall be used.

Vaulted Walls.
Sect. 26. If the air spaces are headed over and the
walls are built solid for at least three courses below the
floor and roof beams, walls, if of brick, may be built hollow.

36 City of Boston Building Law.

They shall contain, exclusive of withes, the same amount
of material as is required for solid walls, and the masonry
on the inside of the air space in walls over two stories in
height shall be not less than eight inches thick, and the
parts on either side shall be securely tied together with
ties not more than two feet apart in each direction.

Walls Framed with Iron or Steel.

Sect. 27. Walls may be built in part of iron or steel or
with a reinforced concrete or metal framework. In such
metal framework the beams and girders shall be riveted to
each other at their respective junction points. If columns
made of rolled iron or steel are used, their different parts
shall be riveted to each other, and the beams and girders
resting upon them shall, if possible, have. riveted connec-
tions to unite them with the columns. If cast iron columns
are used, each successive column shall be bolted to the
one below it by at least four bolts not less than three
fourths of an inch in diameter, and the beams and girders
shall be bolted to the columns. At each line of floor or
roof beams, lateral connections between the ends of the
beams and girders shall be made in such manner as
rigidly to connect the beams and girders with each other
in the direction of their length.

All party walls of skeleton construction shall have cur-
tain walls of brick, not less than twelve inches thick.

All outside walls of skeleton construction shall have
curtain walls which may be of masonry, terra-cotta, con-
crete, or reinforced concrete, constructed and supported
under such conditions as the commissioner shall prescribe.

If the metal or Other framework is so designed that the
enclosing walls do not carry the weight of floors or roof,
then the walls shall be of masonry or concrete construction
and shall be thoroughly anchored to the iron skeleton,
and whenever the weight of such walls rests upon beams
or columns, such beams or columns shall be made strong

CiTT OF Boston Building Law. 37

enough in each story to carry the weight of wall resting
upon them without reliance upon the walls below them.

Party Walls Above Roof.
Sect. 28. In buildings less than forty-five feet in height
all party walls shall be built to a height at least twelve
inches above the roof covering, and shall be capped with
stone, cement or metal securely fastened to the masonry.
In all other buildings such walls shall be carried thirty
inches above the roof.

Walls — Cornices.
Sect. 29. Where a wall is finished with a stone cornice,
the greatest weight of material of such cornice shall be
on the inside of the face of the wall. All cornices of second
class buildings shall be of brick or covered with fireproof
material, and the walls shall be carried up to the boarding
of the roof; and where the cornice projects above the roof
the masonry shall be carried up to the top of the cornice
and covered with metal, like parapet walls.

Piers and Hearths.

Sect. 30. Piers and walls shall have caps or plates,
where they are needed, sufficient properly to distribute
the load.

Hearths shall be supported by trimmer arches of brick
or stone; or shall be of single stones at least six inches
thick, built into the chimney and supported by iron beams,
one end of which shall be securely built into the masonry
of a chimney or of an adjoining wall, or which shall
otherwise rest upon an incombustible support. Brick
jambs of every fireplace, range or grate opening shall be
at least eight inches wide each, and the backs of such
openings shall be at least eight inches thick. Hearths
and trimmer arches shall be at least twelve inches longer
on either side than the width of such openings, and at

38 City of Boston Building Law.

least eighteen inches wide in front of the chimney breast.
Brickwork over fireplaces and grate openings shall be
supported by proper iron bars, or brick or stone arches.

Walls — Doorways in Party Walls.

Sect. 31. Openings for doorways in party walls shall
not exceed one hundred square feet each in area, and each
opening shall have two sets of fire doors separated by the
thickness of the wall, hung in a manner satisfactory to
the commissioner, except that the aggregate width of all
openings in any story shall not exceed fifty per cent of the
length of the wall in which such openings occur. Openings,
not exceeding one hundred and forty-four square inches,
constructed and protected as shall be approved by a
writing signed by the fire commissioner, and filed with the
commissioner, may be permitted in any wall or floor.

Fire Protection.

Sect. 32. All structural metal supporting or forming
part of the frame, floors, roof or columns of any building,
except as otherwise exempted in this act, shall be protected
against the effect of heat.

This protection shall consist of concrete, or of porous
terra-cotta or brick set in cement mortar. When block
construction is used, it shall be clamped in place with steel
clamps, or wrapped securely with number twelve galvan-
ized-iron wire or metal lathing in such manner as to hold
each block in place, and shall be plastered with lime or
other mortar at least three fourths of an inch thick in
addition to the protection.

The protection on all floor and roof beams shall be at
least one inch thick, on all floor and roof girders and on
all beams carrying masonry at least one inch thick on top
and two inches thick elsewhere, on all columns carrying
only floors three inches, and on all columns built into or
carrying walls four inches.

City of Boston Building Law. 39

If terra-cotta blocks are used for protection, such blocks
may be hollow, but each face shall be solid, and no flange
shall be less than one inch thick.

- Plaster on wire or metal lath shall not be considered as
a fire protection for steel or iron structural members, but
may be used with an air space under arches as a suspended
ceiling, provided that such arches have at least one inch
of thickness of fireproofing under the flanges in addition
to such ceiling, and that the metal lath and plaster are
suspended separately from the arches and are not less than
one inch below the same.

All protection shall be applied directly to the metal
work and shall not be broken into nor interrupted by any
pipes, wires, chases or conduits of any kind.

About isolated columns on the exterior of buildings, the
thickness of protection may be reduced to one inch, when
the same is covered with an outer shell of cast iron or steel.

When a column or girder is formed of built-up shapes,
the spaces between flanges shall be filled solid with pro-
tecting material, but this protection need not extend more
than one inch beyond the edges of projecting angles, bars
or channels. The protection shall cover all lugs, brackets,
braces, etc.

The metal work of all trusses carrying masonry or floor
loads shall be protected, as hereinbefore described, but
said provisions shall not apply to trusses which carry
roof load only.

When a wall or partition is formed with a framework
of angles, channels, or other built-up shapes, and such
wall or partition is filled in flush with both faces of the
frame with terra-cotta blocks, additional protection may
be omitted.

The above requirements as to fireproofing shall not
apply to iron or steel in second or third class buildings in
any case in which the use of wood without fire protection
would be permissible under this act.

40 City of Boston Building Law.

In work in connection with alterations of existing
buildings, the character and amount of protection for
steel and ironwork shall be made satisfactory to the
commissioner.

In positions where the protection of isolated or exposed
columns is likely to be broken or damaged by trucks or
merchandise, there shall be outside of the protection a
guard at least five feet high of iron or wood, bound with
wire or steel so as to be self-supporting.

Spaces between and behind all studding or furring shall
be filled solid with bricks and mortar or other fireproof
material for a space of five inches in height above the
floor beams or plaster grounds. Spaces between the
strap furring on brick walls shall be filled solid with
mortar for five inches below the bottom of the floor beams.
The spaces between stringers of stairs and joists of land-
ings, unless unceiled or of fireproof construction, shall be
stopped solid with wood, brick or terra-cotta or other
approved material as often as twice in each flight of stairs.
The spaces between floor beams on bearing partitions
shall be stopped in a similar manner.

In every building of second or third class construction
each floor shall be thoroughly stopped by a continuous
layer of asbestos fabric, magneso calcite or other fire-
resisting material approved by the commissioner.

The tops of all heating furnaces and smoke pipes shall
be at least one foot below the nearest wooden beams or
ceiling. All ceilings immediately over a furnace or boiler,
and for six feet on each side thereof, and all ceilings over
indirect radiators shall, except under fireproof floors, be
metal lathed and plastered.

All hot-air register boxes in the floors or partitions of
buildings shall be set in soapstone or equally fireproof
borders not less than two inches in width, shall be made of
tin plate, and shall have double pipes and boxes properly
fitted to the soapstone. Hot-air pipes and register boxes

City of Boston Building Law. 41

shall be at least one inch from any woodwork, and register
boxes shall be fifteen inches by twenty-five inches, or
larger, and their connecting pipes shall be two inches
from any woodwork. If indirect hot water or indirect
steam heat is used, the commissioner may modify or
dispense with the foregoing requirements.

All vent or smoke pipes for stoves, furnaces or heaters,
not including gas stoves, hereafter installed, shall be
placed not nearer than twelve inches to any lath, plaster
or board partition, ceiling or woodwork. Where such
pipes pass through a lath and plaster or board partition,
they shall be protected by ventilated metal collars at
least six inches larger in diameter than the pipe. Where
such pipes enter the chimney, the opening into the same
shall be protected by a metal collar built at least four
inches into the brickwork of the chimney. No such pipe
shall pass through the. roof or exterior wall of any build-
ing. Such pipes, when within eighteen inches of a ceiling,
shall be protected by having the ceiling over them, and
at least two feet wide, wire-lathed and plastered, or by
having a shield of metal of the same width hung from the
floor timbers, and at least six inches distant therefrom.
Vent pipes to gas stoves, if placed nearer than three
inches to any woodwork or lath and plaster partition,
shall be protected with incombustible material.
[1914, c. 782, sect. 5. ]

Fireproof Partitions.

Sect. 33. Partitions in buildings of first class con-
struction shall be constructed of plastering applied to
metal lathing, or to plaster boards, or to hollow blocks
composed of cement, plaster, or terra-cotta. When
block construction is used it shall be seK-supporting
above all openings, thoroughly bonded and set in Portland
cement. The blocks shall start from the floor and shall
be continuous to the floor above, except that in the upper

42 City of Boston Building Law.

story, where there is a space between the ceiHng of the
top story and the roof, these partitions need not extend
above the ceihng. If plastered on both sides the blocks
shall be not less than four inches thick up to a height of
fifteen feet, and shall be increased one inch for every
additional eight feet or fraction thereof. The thick-
ness of webs shall be not less than three fourths of
an inch.

If partitions are not plastered on both sides, the thick-
ness of blocks shall be one inch greater than as specified
above.

Timbers in Walls of Second Class Buildings.
Sect. 34. The ends of all wooden floor or roof beams
in second class buildings shall enter the wall to a depth
of at least four inches. When the wall is eight inches
thick it shall be corbelled or the beams shall be hung in
metal hangers; and the ends of all such beams shall so be
shaped or arranged that in case of fire they may fall with-
out injury to the wall.

Alteration of Existing Buildings.

Sect. 35. Any building, except those of third class
construction within the building limits, having not more
than five floors above the mean grade of all the sidewalks,
may be altered, remodelled or enlarged for use as- a house
for habitation using second class construction.

The first story or basement, or both the first story and
basement, in such buildings may be used for mercantile
purposes, provided that the walls and ceilings surrounding
the area so used shall be fire-stopped to the satisfaction of
the commissioner. ,

The height of any such building shall not be increased
unless the walls and foundations conform to the provisions
of this act. The number of stories of such a building shall
not exceed five above the cellar or basement.

City of Boston Building Law. 43

Every such building, more than thirty-three feet in
height, so altered, remodelled or enlarged, shall be pro-
vided with at least two independent exits satisfactory to
the commissioner.

Every such building, so altered, remodelled or enlarged,
shall have, in addition to the exposure on the widest street,
an exposure as long as the average width of the building,
upon a space open from the ground to the skj^, at least
ten feet wide for the first three stories, and increasing in
width five feet for the next two stories. If the proposed
building is more than five stories in height, said space
shall be twenty feet: provided, that if the basement and
first story are adapted or enlarged for use for mercantile
purposes, the exposure required by this section shall not
apply to that part of the building; and provided, also, that
sufficient space be retained on the lot for the storage of
ashes or garbage.

Such exposure may be either upon private or public
ways, or upon land which is dedicated for the use of the
building, and may be divided and placed as approved by the
building commissioner.

These spaces shall remain undiminished so long as the
building is used for habitation.

If the building is situated on the corner of streets or
private ways not less than ten feet wide the commissioner
may approve the omission of the whole or part of this
additional exposure.

If in the opinion of the commissioner the alteration
proposed to be made in a building is of such extent as,
when done, to produce a practically new structure or to
impair the stability or increase the fire risk of the structure
as a whole, then the whole structure shall be made to
conform to the provisions of this act for a new structure
of the same class. A building damaged by fire or other
casualty may be repaired or restored so as to conform to
its original condition, or may be reconstructed in some

44 City op Boston Building Law.

or all of its parts, so as to conform to the requirements of
this act for new buildings, as the commissioner may-
specify in his permit.

Every living room in a building adapted for habitation
shall have a window on the open air of an area not less
than ten square feet and distant in a three story building
not less than six feet from any opposite wall; distant in
a four story building not less than eight feet from any
opposite wall; distant in a five story building not less than
ten feet from any opposite wall. This shall not apply to
the construction of third class buildings, except the
provision for a window on the open air of an area.

The exposure required under this section shall apply
to all buildings hereafter constructed adapted for habita-
tion, except as is otherwise provided for tenement houses.

Floors — Loads.

Sect. 36. All new or renewed floors and stairs shall
be so constructed as to carry safely the weight to which
the proposed use of the building may subject them, and
every permit granted shall state for what purpose the
building is designed to be used; but the least capacity
per superficial square foot, exclusive of materials, shall
be: —

For fioors of houses for habitation, fifty pounds.

For office floors and for public rooms of hotels and
houses exceeding five hundred square feet, one hundred
pounds.

For floors of retail stores and public buildings, except
school houses, or for light manufacturing, one hundred and
twenty-five pounds.

For floors of schoolhouses, other than floors of assembly
rooms, sixty pounds, and for floors of assembly rooms, one
hundred and twenty-five pounds.

For floors of drill rooms, dance halls and riding schools,
two hundred pounds.

City of Boston Building Law. 45

For floors of warehouses and mercantile buildings, at
least, two hundred and fifty pounds.

For flat roofs, forty pounds.

For stairs, landings, platforms and fire escapes, seventy
pounds.

The loads not included in this classification shall be
determined by the commissioner.

The full floor load specified in this section shall be
included in proportioning all parts of buildings designed
for warehouses, or for heavy mercantile and manufacturing
purposes. In other buildings, however, reductions may
be allowed, as follows: for girders carrying more than one
hundred square feet of floor, the live load may be reduced
ten per cent. For columns, piers, walls and other parts
carrying two floors, a reduction of fifteen per cent of the
total live load may be made; where three floors are carried,
the total live load may be reduced by twenty per cent;
four floors, twenty-five per cent; five floors, thirty per
cent; six floors, thirty-five per cent; seven floors, forty
per cent; eight floors, forty-five per cent; nine or more
floors, fifty per cent.

The commissioner may prescribe the maximum loads
which may be imposed upon the floors of existing buildings.

No use or occupation of a building for a purpose other
than that for which it is designed to be used, as set forth
in the permit upon which it was erected, and no change
in the use or occupation of a building which will increase
the floor load beyond the capacity prescribed for such use
and occupation shall be made unless upon application
therefor the commissioner shall issue a permit on condition
that the proposed use will not endanger the safety of the
building or the health or safety of the occupants thereof.
[1914, c. 595, sect. 1. ]

Shutters.
Sect. 37. In all first or second class mercantile or
manufacturing buildings over thirty feet in height, out-

46 City of Boston Building Law.

side openings in party walls, or in. any rear or side wall

within twenty feet of an opposite wall or building, shall

have metal frames and sashes and shall be glazed with

wire glass or shall be protected by shutters. Such shutters

shall be covered on both sides with tin or shall be made of

other substantial fireproof material, and hung on the

outside, either upon independent metal frames or upon

metal hinges attached to the masonry, and shall be made

to be handled from the outside, and one such shutter in

each room shall have a protected hand-hole eight inches

in diameter.

Elevators.

Sect. 38. Elevators and hoists for freight which do
not run above the first story may be constructed without
fireproof enclosures. Freight and passenger elevators may
be placed in areas or hallways where the same are con-
tinuous and unbroken, such elevators to be protected by
metal grille. Except as above provided, all shafts for
elevators, hoists, dumb-waiters, lifts, light and ventilating
shafts or other air ducts shall be constructed of fireproof
material. The tops of all such shafts shall be covered with
fireproof material unless the shaft extends above the upper
floor of the building, and in that case the shaft shall be
carried at least three feet above the roof and shall be
covered with a skylight. Such shafts, if for freight or
passenger elevators, shall be of brick at least eight inches
thick, or of metal covered on both sides with at least one
inch of plaster appHed immediately to the metal, or with
some other equally substantial fireproof material.

Every opening into a shaft or hoistway shall be pro-
tected by seK-closing gates, rails, trap-doors, or other
equivalent devices.

Every elevator shall be provided with a safety attach-
ment to prevent the falling of the car. The machinery
over the elevator shall have underneath it a grille suffi-
cient to protect the car from falling material.

City of Boston Building Law. 47

Every opening into an elevator shaft or hoistway and
every opening through a floor, other than a stairway, shall
be closed when not in use.

All elevator shaft openings, other than openings into
passenger elevator shafts, shall be furnished with metal
covered or incombustible doors, hung in a manner satis-
factory to the commissioner, and shall be provided with
iron thresholds. Wire glass panels may be used in such
doors. Outside windows or openings of every elevator
shaft shall have three vertical iron rods, painted red,
equally spaced off in such window or opening.

Freight elevators shall be equipped with a suitable
danger signal to warn people of the approach of the
elevator.

The space between the car and door of each landing
shall be not more than two inches.

No elevator shall be used in any building until the same
is approved in writing by the commissioner.

In case any freight or passenger elevator is not con-
structed or furnished in compUance with this act, or has
become unsafe, the commissioner shall post a conspicuous
warning and prohibition at each entrance to such elevator.
It shall thereafter, until a new written permit is given by
the commissioner, be a penal offence hereunder to operate
the said elevator, or to remove or deface the said notice.

Freight elevastor wells hereafter built on the line of the
external wall of a building shall be so constructed that there
shall be no recess in the outer wall along the whole line of
the same, and that no more than four inches space shall
be allowed between the platform of the car and the outer
wall. The side of the platform and the line of the door-
way shall be flush with the well-way, and the door openings
from the said elevator well into the building shall be placed
at least six inches back from the face of the well, so as to
allow space enough for self-closing gates to operate between
the door and the well opening. Outside openings to freight

48 City of Boston Building Law.

elevators shall be protected by self-closing slatted gates,
"vertical," with spaces not wider than two inches between
the slats.

All elevators running at a speed of more than one hun-
dred feet a minute, shall be operated by competent persons
not less than eighteen years of age, and no other person
shall operate or have the care or charge of such an
elevator.

No elevator shall be operated by or placed in charge of
any person under sixteen years of age.

No elevator shall hereafter be installed in any building
without a permit having been granted therefor, and the
applicant shall submit a plan showing the proposed location
of the shaftway, the area and situation of the machine
room, and the said plan shall be filed as part of the records
of the department. All elevators hereafter installed shall
be located so as to give easy and safe access to all the prin-
cipal parts of the machinery for inspection and repairs.

All passenger elevators hereafter built operated by drum
and cables, shall have an overspeed governor to prevent
the car from descending at overspeed, and all passenger
and freight elevators shall have a slack cable device to
stop the machinery in case the car is held up or the cables
part.

If any accident shall occur to any elevator affecting life
or limb or damaging any part of the machinery or running
parts of the elevator, it shall be the duty of the engineer
or superintendent in charge immediately, before any
repairs are made, or any broken pieces are removed, to
notify the commissioner of the accident, before the elevator
is operated again, so that the cause of the accident may be
determined, any faulty construction remedied, and satis-
factory repairs made.

All elevator cables hereafter installed that pass through
bevelled sockets, the ends returning and refitting into the

City op Boston Building Law. 49

same, shall have in addition lead or babbitt metal poured
into the ends of the socket, to prevent the possibility of
the cable's shpping.

All manufacturers of elevators shall be required to test,
in the presence of an inspector, the safety devices of every
elevator installed before the same is turned over to the
owners for use, and the commissioner shall be notified by
the manufacturer at least twenty-four hours before such
test is made. An inspector may require a test of the safety
device of any elevator if in his judgment the same is
required.

The commissioner may require additional safeguards on
elevators, if in his judgment the condition, use or sur-
roundings of the elevator demand them.

The commissioner may, with the approval of the mayor,
appoint competent elevator inspectors in addition to
those already detailed, one for every one thousand
elevators and hoist ways in the city of Boston.

Wooden Buildings.

Sect. 39. Every wooden buUding hereafter erected or
enlarged, outside of the building limits, shall have a
foundation of rubble, block granite or brick or concrete,
carried up to the surface of the ground, and no round or
boulder stone shall be used. Every such foundation, if
of brick or concrete, shall be at least twelve inches thick,
and if of granite shall be at least eighteen inches thick,
and if of rubble shall be at least twenty inches thick, and
shall be laid at least four feet below any surface exposed
to frost and upon the solid ground or upon pUes properly
spaced.

Every such wooden building hereafter erected or
enlarged, the sills of which do not rest directly upon a
foundation as above described but on an underpinning,
shall have such underpinning made of brick, stone or

50 City of Boston Building Law.

concrete, and the underpinning, if of brick or concrete,
shall be at least twelve inches thick, and if of stone shall
be at least sixteen inches thick.

, Every wooden building hereafter erected on soft or
marshy land and used for a workshop or other like
purpose, or as a temporary structure, may, if the
commissioner approves, rest upon mud sills or blocks
or on piles.

Every wooden building hereafter erected or enlarged
shall have all its parts of sufficient strength to carry the
weight of the superstructure, shall be built with sills,
posts, girts, studs and plates properly framed, mortised,
tenoned, braced and pinned in each story. The posts
and girts shall be not less than four inches by six inches
in cross section, and the studs shall be not more than
twenty inches on centres, and no ledger board shall be
used in any structure.

[1914, c. 782, sect. 7.]

Sect. 40. No wooden building hereafter erected, to be
used as a habitation, shall be more than three stories nor
more than forty feet in height above the first floor line;
nor shall any part of such a building, eaves and cornices
excepted, which is to be occupied by three or more families
be placed nearer than five feet from any adjoining lot
lines, and if built on land of the same owner it shall not
be nearer than ten feet from any other building; nor shall
any part of such wooden building, which is to be occupied
by less than three famihes and is less than three stories
in height, be nearer than five feet from the line of any
adjoining lot; nor shall any lot line be moved nearer than
five feet from any wooden building, or, if built on land of
the same owner, nearer than ten feet from any other
building, eaves and cornices excepted, unless in either
case the wall on the side toward such lot or adjoining build-
ing is constructed as a brick or concrete wall not less than

City of Boston Building Law. 51

eight inches thick and carried twelve inches above the
roof, all openings therein to be protected by wire glass
set in metal frames and sash. Wooden buildings hereafter
constructed to form a block of two or more houses shall
have brick or concrete party walls between adjoining
houses, which shall be not less than eight inches thick,
shall be carried twelve inches above the roof and shall be
capped with a metallic covering.

No wooden building hereafter erected to be used in
whole or in part as a habitation shall exceed twenty-two
hundred square feet in area, and no such existing building
shall be enlarged to exceed twentj^-two hundred square
feet in area. No wooden building hereafter erected to be
used for purposes other than habitation shall exceed forty
feet in height above the first floor line, and no such build-
ing, except buildings erected for the purpose of storing
ice, which shall not be erected within five hundred feet of
any other building, shall exceed twenty-two hundred feet
in area unless the external parts are covered with incom-
bustible material approved by the commissioner, and no
such building shall exceed five thousand square feet in
area in any event: provided, however, that nothing in this
section shall be construed to affect the provisions of
section nine of this act; and no such existing building
shall be altered or enlarged to exceed forty feet in height
above the first floor line or twenty-two hundred square
feet in area, unless the external parts of the whole build-
ing are covered with incombustible material approved by
the commissioner, or to exceed five thousand square feet
in area in any event.

Wooden buildings erected for purposes other than
habitation shall not be situated within five feet of the
line of the lot unless the side wall on such line or lines
be of brick or concrete, carried above the roof at least
twelve inches and capped with a metallic covering. All

52 City of Boston Building Law.

openings in sucli outer walls shall be protected by wire
glass set in metal frames and sash.

[1913, c. 704, sect. 2; 1914, c. 248, sect. 1; 1914, c. 782, sect. 8.]

Flooring during Construction.

Sect. 41. If, in the erection of an iron or steel frame
building, the spaces between the girders or floor beams
of a floor are not filled and covered by the permanent
construction of such floors before another story is added
to the building, a close plank flooring shall be placed and
maintained over such spaces during construction. If
and when such flooring cannot be used without serious
interference with the work of construction, such provision
shaU be made to protect the workmen from falling materials
as will be satisfactory to the commissioner.

Additional Requirements for Tenement Houses.

Definitions.

Sect. 42. Certain words are defined as follows: —

(1.) A tenement house is any house, building, structure
or portion thereof, occupied, or adapted for occupation,
as a dwelling by more than three families living independ-
ently of one another and doing their cooking upon the
premises, or by more than two families above the first
story so living and cooking. A family living in a tene-
ment house may consist of one or more persons.

An existing tenement house is any building erected
as such or converted to such use or as altered for such use
or so used before the passage of this act, and any building
adapted for such use, provided that a permit was issued
for the erection of said building before the passage of this
act.

A tenement house hereafter erected is any tenement
house other than an existing tenement house as above
defined.

City op Boston Building Law. 53

(2.) A corner lot is a lot situated at the junction of two
or more streets, or of two or more streets and alleys or
open passageways not less than fifteen feet in width.

(3.) A yard is an open unoccupied space on the same
lot with a building and between the extreme rear Hne of
said building and the rear hne of the lot.

(4.) A court is an open unoccupied space other than
a yard on the same lot with a building. An inner court
is a court not extending to a street, or alley, or open
passageway, or yard. An outer court is a court extending
to a street, or alley, or open passageway, or yard. A vent
court is an inner court for the hghting and ventilation
of water-closets, bathrooms, pubHc halls, and stair halls
only. An intake is a passageway connecting an inner
court with a street, or alley, or open passageway, or yard.

(5.) A shaft, whether for air, light, elevator, dumb-
waiter, or any other purpose, is an enclosed space within
a building, extending to the roof, and covered either by
a skylight or by the roof. A vent shaft is a shaft used
solely to ventilate or hght water-closet compartments or
bathrooms.

(6.) A pubhc hall is a hall, corridor, or passageway not
within an apartment.

(7.) A stair hall includes the stairs, stair landings, and
those parts of the pubhc hall through which it is necessary
to pass in going from the entrance floor to the roof.

(8.) An apartment is a room, or suite of two or more
rooms^ occupied or suitable for occupation, as a residence
for one family.

(9.) Repairs means any renewal of any existing part
of a building, or of its fixtures or appurtenances, which
does not lessen the strength of the building.

Fire-escapes.

Sect. 43. In all tenement houses hereafter erected
more than three stories in height, and in every building

54 City of Boston Building Law.

hereafter enlarged and occupied or to be occupied as a
tenement house, more than three stories in height, there
shall be provided one of the following means of egress in
addition to the main and rear staircases; but if the first
named means of egress is provided it may be considered
as a rear staircase and no means of egress other than this
and the main staircase need be provided :

(1.) An enclosed stairway consisting of iron or rein-
forced 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 satis-
faction 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.

(2.) Iron balconies connecting with adjoining build-
ings or with adjoining parts of the same house separated
from each other by a brick, terra-cotta or concrete parti-
tion 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.

(3.) Exterior fire escapes of iron with iron grated
floors, and capable of bearing a load of seventy pounds

City of Boston Building Law. 55

per square foot. The stair treads shall be of iron,
and the pitch of the stairs shall not exceed sixty
degrees.

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.]

Bulkheads and Scuttles.

Sect. 44. Every tenement house of the first or second
class hereafter erected shall have in the roof a fireproof
bulkhead with a fireproof door to the same, and shall
have fireproof stairs with a guide or hand rail leading to
the roof, except that in such tenement houses which do
not exceed sixty-five feet in height, such bulkheadfi may
be of wood covered with metal on the outside and plastered
on metal lathing on the inside; provided that the door
shall be covered with metal on both sides.

Every other tenement house shall have in the roof a
bulkhead or scuttle. No scuttle shall be less in size than
two feet by three feet, and all scuttles shall be covered on
the outside with metal, and shall be provided with stairs
or stationary ladders leading thereto and easily accessi-
ble to all tenants of the building, and kept free from encum-
brance, and all scuttles and ladders shall be kept so as
to be ready for use at all times. No scuttle shall be situated
in a closet or room, but all scuttles shall be in the ceiling
of the pubhc hall on the top floor, and access through the
scuttle to the roof shall be direct and uninterrupted.
Scuttles shall be hinged so as to readily open. Every
bulkhead hereafter constructed in a tenement house shall
be constructed as provided for tenement houses hereafter
erected and shall have stairs with a guide or hand rail

56 City op Boston Building Law.

leading to the roof, and such stairs shall be kept free from
encumbrance at all times. No lock shall be placed on
any scuttle or bulkhead door, but either may be fastened
on the inside by movable bolts or hooks. All key-locks
on scuttles and on bulkhead doors shall be removed. No
stairway leading to the roof in a tenement house shall be
removed.

Sect. 45. Every tenement house hereafter erected shall
have a main staircase of fireproof material, extending
from the entrance floor to the roof, and with a pent house
constructed of incombustible -material. The said stair-
case shall not extend below the entrance floor level and
shall be enclosed in brick, terra-cotta or concrete walls, or
by two-inch solid metal and plaster partitions. All door
openings into suites shall have metal covered self-closing
doors and metal covered frames. Public halls therein
shall each be at least three feet wide in the clear, and
stairs shall be at least three feet wide between the wall
and the stair rail.

Each stairway shall have an entrance on the entrance
floor from a street or alley or open passageway or from
an outer court, or from an inner court which connects
directly with a street or alley or open passageway. All
stairs shall be constructed with a rise of not more than
eight inches, and with treads not less than nine inches
wide and not less than three feet long in the clear. Where
winders are used all treads at a point eighteen inches
from the strings on the wall side shall be at least ten inches
wide.

In every tenement house all stairways shall be provided
with proper balusters and railings kept in good repair.
No public hall or stairs in a tenement house shall be
reduced in width so as to be less than the minimum width
prescribed in this section.

Public halls, stairs, elevator, light and ventilating

City of Boston Building Law. 57

shafts and basements in all tenement houses hereafter
erected more than three stories in height and having more
than eight suites, and the basements of all such existing
tenement houses shall be provided with a system of
automatic sprinklers approved as to location, arrange-
ment and efficiency by the building commissioner.

Public halls and stairs in all tenement houses now
existing or hereafter erected more than three stories
in height, and having more than eight suites, shall be
provided with proper and sufficient Ughts to be kept
lighted during the night.

In every existing tenement house, and in every tene-
ment house hereafter erected more than three stories in
height, and having more than eight suites, all elevators,
vent and dumb-waiter shafts, shall be enclosed in the base-
ment in masonry walls not less than eight inches thick,
or with two inch solid metal and plaster partitions, with
a fireproof seK-closing door; and if in any such buUding
a stairway leads from the first floor to the basement, such
stairway shall be inclosed in masonry walls not less than
eight inches thick, or with two inch solid metal and plaster
partitions, and shall lead directly into a passageway
inclosed in masonry walls of the same thickness, which
passageway shall be not less than four feet wide and may
have one fireproof self-closing door leading into the base-
ment from said passageway, and shall connect with a
street, alley or outer court through a self-closing door
not less than three feet wide.

[1914, c. 782, sect. 10.]

Stair Halls, Construction of.

Sect. 46. In tenement houses hereafter erected which
do not exceed five stories above the cellar or basement or
sixty-five feet in height the stair halls shall either be con-
structed with iron beams and fireproof filling or shall be

58 City of Boston Building Law.

filled in between the floor beams with at least five inches
of cement deafening. In such houses the stairs may be of
wood, provided that the soffits are covered with metal
laths and plastered with two coats of mortar, or with
good quality plaster-boards not less than one haK inch
in thickness made of plaster and strong fibre, and all
joints made true and well pointed, and provided that such
stairs are furnished with firestops.

Stair Halls, how Enclosed.

Sect. 47. In second class and third class tenement
houses hereafter erected, the stair halls may be enclosed
with wooden stud partitions, if such partitions are covered
on both sides with metal laths or with good quality plaster-
boards not less than one half inch in thickness, made of
plaster and strong fibre, and all joints made true and well
pointed, and provided that the space between the studs
is filled in with brick and mortar or other incombustible
material to the height of the floor beams.

Entrance Halls,
Sect. 48. Every entrance hall in every tenement
house hereafter erected shall be at least three feet six
inches wide in the clear, from the entrance up to and
including the stair enclosure, and beyond this point at
least three feet wide in the clear, and shall comply with
all the conditions of the preceding sections of this act as
to the construction of stair halls, except that in a fireproof
tenement house hereafter erected the entrance hall may
be enclosed with terra-cotta blocks not less than four inches
thick and angle-iron construction, instead of brick walls.
If such entrance hall is the only entrance to more than
one stairway, that portion of said hall between the entrance
and the stairway shall be increased at least eighteen
inches in width in every part for each additional stairway.

City of Boston Building Law. 59

Cellar Ceilings.
Sect. 49. In all tenement houses of the second or
third class hereafter erected, the cellar and basement
ceilings shall be lathed with metal laths and plastered.

Partitions, Construction of.

Sect. 50. In all tenement houses of the second or
third class hereafter erected all stud partitions which rest
directly over each other shall run through the wooden
floor beams and rest upon the cap of the partition below,
and shall have the studding filled in solid between the
uprights to the depth of the floor beams with suitable
materials.

Wooden Tenement Houses.
Sect. 51. Outside of the building limits, tenement
houses not exceeding three stories in height above the
basement, nor eighteen hundred square feet in area, may
be erected of wood. No wooden tenement house shall
be increased in height so as to exceed three stories above
the basement or cellar.

Shafts.

Sect. 52. All elevator or dumb-waiter shafts hereafter
constructed in any tenement house shall be fireproof
throughout, with self-closing doors at all openings at
each story. But nothing in this section shall be so
construed as to require enclosures about elevators or
dumb-waiters in the well-hole of stairs where the stairs
themselves are enclosed in walls of incombustible materials,
and are entirely constructed of fireproof materials as
hereinbefore provided. Every vent shaft hereafter con-
structed in any tenement house shall have an intake
of at least the dimensions provided for vent courts
in section sixty-one, and shall be of the same minimum
dimensions; and the skylight covering such vent shaft

60 City of Boston Building Law.

shall be raised at all points at least one foot above
the top of the walls of such vent shaft, and the
space between the top of said walls and the skylight shall
remain at all points open and unobstructed except for
such supports essential to the stability of the skylight, as
may be approved by the commissioner.

Bakeries and Fat Boiling.

Sect. 53. No bakery and no place of business in which
fat is boiled shall be maintained in any tenement house
which is not fireproof throughout, unless the ceiling and
side walls of said bakery or of the said place where fat boil-
ing is done are made safe by fireproof materials around
the same, and there shall be no openings either by door
or window, dumb-waiter shafts or otherwise, between said
bakery or said place where fat is boiled in any tenement
house and the other parts of the building.

Other Dangerous Businesses.

Sect. 54. All transoms and windows opening into halls
from any part of a tenement house where paint, oil, spirit-
uous liquors or drugs are stored for the purpose of sale or
otherwise shall be glazed with wire-glass, or they shall be
removed and closed up as solidly as the rest of the wall.
There shall be between any such hall and such part of
said tenement house a fireproof self-closing door.

Light and Ventilation.
Yards.
Sect. 55. The requirements for yards hereinafter pro-
vided shall be deemed sufficient for all tenement houses.

Except in those cases hereinafter provided for, there
shall be, behind every tenement house hereafter erected,
a yard extending across the entire width of th» lot, and

City of Boston Building Law. 61

at every point open from the ground to the sky unob-
structed, except by fire-escapes or unenclosed outside
stairs.

The depth of said yard shall be measured from the
extreme rear wall of the house to the rear line of the lot,
and at right angles to said line, except that where there is
an alley or open passageway in the rear of the lot the
depth of the yard may be measured to the middle of said
alley or open passageway. On an irregular lot of several
depths, where there is more than one rear line to the lot,
such yard may extend across the entire width of the lot
in sections, provided that each section of the yard is in
every part and at every point of the minimum depth here-
inafter prescribed. Where the side lines of a lot converge
toward the rear, the depth of the yard shall be such as to
give it an area equal to the greatest width of the yard
multiplied by the depth hereinaiter prescribed.

Except on a corner lot, the depth of the yard behind
every tenement house hereafter erected fifty feet in height
or less shall be not less than twelve feet in every part. All
yards without exception shall be increased in depth at
least one foot for every additional ten feet of height of the
building, or fraction thereof, above fifty feet.

Except as hereinafter otherwise provided, the depth of
the yard behind every tenement house hereafter erected
upon a corner lot shall not be less than six feet in every
part. But where such corner lot is more than twenty-
five feet in width, the depth of the yard for that portion
in exoess of twenty-five feet shall be not less than twelve
feet in every part, and shall increase in depth as above
provided.

Whenever a tenement house is hereafter erected upon a
lot which runs through from street to street, or from a
street to an alley or open passageway, and said lot is one
hundred and fifty feet or more in depth, said yard space

62 City of Boston Building Law.

shall be left midway between the two streets, and shall
extend across the entire width of the lot, and shall be not
less than twenty-four feet in depth from wall to wall,
and shall be increased in depth at least two feet for every
additional ten feet in height of the building, or fraction
thereof, above fifty feet.

When a tenement house hereafter erected does not front
upon a street, a public alley, or a passageway, not less
than fifteen feet wide, the requirements in this section as
to yards shall apply to the front of such tenement house
as well as to the rear. Neither the yard behind one
tenement house nor any part thereof shall be deemed to
satisfy in whole or in part the requirement of a yard in
front of another tenement house.

Cases in which no Yard shall be required.

Sect. 56. No yard shall be required behind a tenement
house hereafter erected upon a lot which abuts at the rear
upon a railroad right of way, a cemetery or a public park.

No yard . shall be required behind a tenement house
hereafter erected upon a lot entirely surrounded by streets
or by streets, alleys or open passageways, not less than
fifteen feet in width, or by such streets, alleys, and passage-
ways and a railroad right of way, a cemetery or a public
park.

No yard shall be required behind a tenement house
hereafter erected upon a lot less than one hundred and
fifty feet deep and running through from street to street
or from a street tc an alley or open passageway not less
than fifteen feet in width, or upon a corner lot adjoining
a lot less than one hundred and fifty feet deep and running
through from street to street, or from a street to such an
alley or open passageway.

No yard shall be required behind a tenement house
hereafter erected upon a corner lot adjoining a lot more
than one hundred and fifty feet deep and running through

City of Boston Building Law. 63

from street to street or from a street to an alley or open
passageway not less than fifteen feet in width; but if
there be no yard, an outer court upon such corner lot
shall extend from the street along the Hne of such adjoin-
ing lot to a point in line with the middle line of the block;
the width of said court to be not less than the width of
court prescribed in the ensuing paragraph.

No yard shall be required behind a tenement house
hereafter erected upon a corner lot adjoining two or more
lots any one of which bounds upon a single street, or
alley, or open passageway not less than fifteen feet in
width; but if there be no yard an outer court upon such
corner lot shall extend froni the street, or from such alley
or open passageway along a lot line either to the extreme
rear of an adjoining lot or to the extreme rear of said
corner lot: 'provided, that the width of said court measured
from the lot line to the opposite wall of the building, for
tenement houses fifty feet or less in height, shall be not
less than six feet in every part, and for every additional
ten feet of height of the tenement house shall be increased
ODe foot throughout the whole length of said court.

Courts.
Sect. 57. No court of a tenement house hereafter
erected shall be covered by a roof or skylight, but every
such court shall be at every point open to the sky unob-
structed. Except such courts as are provided for in
section fifty-six, all courts, except for fire-escapes, may
start at the second tier of beams.

Outer Courts.
Sect. 58. The provisions of this section shall apply
only to tenement houses hereafter erected. Where one
side of an outer court is located on the lot line, the width
of the said court, measured from the lot line to the opposite
wall of the building, for tenement houses fifty feet or less

64 City of Boston Building Law.

in height shall not be less than six feet in every part; and
for every ten feet of increase or fraction thereof in height
of such tenement houses, such width shall be increased
one foot throughout the whole length of the court, and
except where the court runs through from the yard to
the street, said width shall never be less than one eighth
of the length of the court.

Where an outer court is located between wings or parts
of the same building, or between different buildings on
the same lot, the width of the court, measured from wall
to wall, for tenement houses fifty feet or less in height shall
not be less than twelve feet in every part, and for every
ten feet of increase or fraction thereof in the height of
the said building, such width shall be increased two feet
throughout the whole length of the court. The depth of
such courts shall never exceed four times their width.

Wherever an outer court changes its initial horizontal
direction, or wherever any part of such court extends Jn
a direction so as not to receive direct Ught from the street
or yard, or from an alley, or open passageway not less than
fifteen feet in width, the length of that part of the court
shall never exceed its width, such length to be measured
from the point at which the change of direction begins.
Wherever an outer court between parts of the same build-
ing is twelve feet or less in depth, its width may be one
half its depth, provided that such width is never less than
four feet in the clear. This exception shall also apply
to every offset or recess in outer courts. And no window
except windows of water-closet compartments, bath-
rooms, or halls shall open upon any offset or recess less
than four feet in width.

Inner. Courts.
Sect. 59. The provisions of this section shall apply
only to tenement houses hereafter erected. Where one
side of an inner court is located on the lot line and the

City of Boston Building Law. 65

building does not exceed iBfty feet in height, the least
width of the court shall be not less than eight feet, and
the area of the court shall be not less than one hundred
and twenty-eight square feei. For every ten feet or
fraction thereof of increase in the height of the building
above fifty feet the minimum width of such inner courts
shall be iacreased by one foot, and the area thereof shall
never be less than twice the square of such minimum
width. Where an inner court is not located on the lot
line, but is enclosed on all four sides, and the building does
not exceed fifty feet in height, the least width of said court
shall be not less than sixteen feet and the area not less
than two hundred and fifty-six square feet. For every
ten feet, or fraction thereof, of increase in the height of
said building above fifty feet, the minimum width of such
inner courts shall be increased by two feet, and the area
of the court .shall never be less than the square of such
minimum dimension.

Vent Courts.

Sect. 60. Inner courts used solely for the lighting
and ventilation of water-closets, bathrooms, public halls,
or stair halls, or for interior fire-escapes, may be con-
structed in any tenement house, and shall be not less
than fifteen square feet in area, nor less than three feet
in the least horizontal dimension for buildings fifty feet
or less in height. For every increase of the feet or fraction
thereof in the height of such buildings the least dimension
shall be increased by one foot, and the area by not less
than eight square feet.

Intakes.
Sect. 61. Every inner court in a tenement house
hereafter erected shall be provided with one or more
horizontal intakes at the bottom. Such intakes, in vent
courts, shall be not less than four square feet in area, so
arranged as to be easily cleaned; in other inner courts they

66 City of Boston Building Law.

shall be not less than three feet wide and seven feet high,
and there shall be at least two open grille doors, containing
not less than fifteen square feet of unobstructed openings,
one at the inner court and the other at the street or yard
as the case may be.

Nothing contained in the foregoing sections concerning
outer and inner courts shall be construed as prohibiting
windows in walls that cut off the angles of such courts,
provided that the running length of the walls containing
such windows does not exceed six feet.

Buildings on the Sajne Lot with Tenement Houses.

Sect. 62. No tenement house shall hereafter be so
enlarged or its lot so diminished, and no building of any
kind shall be hereafter so placed upon the same lot with a
tenement house, as to decrease the minimum depth of
yards or the minimum size of courts or yards prescribed
in this act for tenement houses hereafter erected.

Rooms, Ligiding and Ventilation of.

Sect. 63. In everj^ tenement house hereafter erected
there shall be in each room, except water-closet compart-
ments and bathrooms, windows of a total area of at least
one eighth of the floor area of the room, opening directly
on a street or public alley or open passageway not less
than fifteen feet wide or upon a yard or court of the dimen-
sions hereinbefore specified, or upon a railroad right of
way, cemetery or public park; and such windows shall be
located so as properly to light all parts of the room.
The top of at least one window shall be not less than eight
feet above the floor, and the upper half of it shall be made
so as to open the full width.

Every alcove in every tenement house hereafter erected
shall be provided with an opening into a room, such
opening to be equal in area to eighty per cent of that side
of the alcove in which the opening is located; and the

City of Boston Building Law. 67

alcove shall have at least one window of not less than
fifteen square feet of glazed surface opening as provided
in this section.

Rooms, Size of.

Sect. 64. In every tenement house hereafter erected
all rooms, except water-closet compartments and bath-
rooms, shall be of the following minimum sizes: In each
apartment there shall be at least one room containing
not less than one hundred and twenty square feet of
floor area and provided with a chimney flue and thimble,
except where said room is furnished with heat from a
central heating apparatus, and every other room shall
contain at least ninety square feet of floor area. Each
room shall be in every part not less than eight and one
half feet high from the finished floor to the finished ceil-
ing; provided that only one haK of an attic room need
be eight and one half feet high.

No portion of a room in any such tenement house shall
be partitioned off so as to form a room not conforming to
the provisions of sections sixty-three and sixty-four, or so
as to form an alcove not conforming to sections sixty-
three and seventy.

Public Halls.

Sect. 65. Except as otherwise provided in section
sixty-six, in every tenement house hereafter erected,
every public hall shall have at least one window opening
directly upon a street, a public aUey or open passageway
not less than ten feet in width, a railroad right of way, a
cemetery or a public park, or upon a yard or court or a
vent court as provided in section sixty. Either such
window shall be at the end of said haU, with the plane
of the window substantially at right angles to the axis of
the hall, or there shall be at least one window opening
as above prescribed in every twenty feet in length or
fraction thereof of the hall ; but this provision for one win-

68 City of Boston Building Law.

dow in every twenty feet of hall-way shall not apply to
that part of the entrance hall between the entrance and
the first flight of stairs, provided that the entrance door
contains not less than five square feet of glazed surface.
At least one of the windows provided to light each public
hall shall be at least two feet six inches wide and five
feet high, measured between the stop beads.

Any part of a hall which is shut off from any other
part of said hall by a door or doors shall be deemed a
separate hall within the meaning of this section.

Windows for Stair Halls, Size of.

Sect. 66. In every tenement house hereafter erected
the aggregate area of windows to light or ventilate stair
halls on each floor shall be at least fifteen square feet:
provided, however, that when there shall be, within the
space enclosed by the stairway and its landings, from the
second story upward, an open area for light and ventilation
whose least horizontal dimension shall be equal to the
width of the stairs, but in no case less than three feet,
then the windows required in sections sixty-five and
sixty-six may be omitted.

There shall be in the roof, directly over each stair well,
in all tenement houses hereafter erected, without windows
as above provided, a ventilating skylight provided with
ridge ventilators, having a minimum opening of forty
square inches, or else such skylight shall be provided with
fixed or movable louvres. The glazed roof of the skylight
shall not be less than twenty square feet in area.

Privacy,
Sect. 67. In every apartment of four or more rooms
in a tenement house hereafter erected, at least one water-
closet compartment shall be accessible without passing
through any bedroom.

CiTT OF Boston Building Law. 69

Basements and Cellars in Tenement Houses and other
Buildings.

Sect. 68. In tenement houses hereafter erected no
room in the basement or cellar shall be occupied for living
purposes, unless all of the following conditions are complied
with: —

(1.) Such room shall be at least eight and one half
feet high in every part from the floor to the ceihng.

(2.) There shall be appurtenant to such room the use
of a separate water-closet, constructed and arranged as
required by section sixty-nine.

(3.) Such room shall have a window or windows open-
ing upon the street, an alley or open passageway not less
than fifteen feet in width, a railroad right of way, ceme-
tery or public park or upon a yard or court. The total
area of windows in such room shall be at least one eighth
of the floor area of the room, and one half of the sash shall
be made to open full width, and the top of each window
shall be within six inches of the ceiling.

(4.) The floor of such room shall be damp-proof and
waterproof, and all walls surrounding such room shall be
damp-proof.

No room on any floor of any house or building now
existing or hereafter erected, which floor is in whole or
in part below the highest point of the curb of a public
street or way in front and within twenty-five feet of the
outside wall, and no room on any floor thereof, which
floor is in whole or in part below the highest point of the
ground adjacent to such building and within fifteen feet
thereof, shall be occupied for sleeping purposes unless
all of the following conditions are complied with: — ■

(a.) Such room shall on at least one side abut on an
outside wall of said building for a space of at least seven
feet.

(6.) Such room shall have a window or windows open-

70 City of Boston Building Law.

ing directly upon an open space not less than fifteen feet
square, and open from the ground to the sky without
obstruction; such window or windows shall have a total
area of not less than ten square feet and not less than one
eighth of the floor area of said room, and both halves of
the sash of each window shall be made to open to their
full width, and the top of each window shall be within six
inches of the ceiling.

(c.) At least sixty per cent of the area of any such
room shall be above the level of the highest point of the
ground within fifteen feet of the outside wall or walls of
said room and in which the windows above required are
situated.

(d.) The floor of such room and all walls surrounding
such room shall be damp-proof and waterproof.

(e.) Such room shall be at least eight feet six inches
in height in every part, from floor to ceiling: provided,
that in tenement houses erected prior to the first day of
August, nineteen hundred and seven, and in other houses
and buildings erected prior to the first day of June, nine-
teen hundred and fourteen, it shall be sufficient if said room
is seven feet in height over at least four fifths of its area.

(/.) There shall be appurtenant to such room a water-
closet, constructed and arranged as required by section
sixty-nine, and used solely by the occupants of said room
or by the household of which said occupants are members.

(g.) No such room shall be occupied for sleeping pur-
poses without a permit from the board of health, such
permit to be posted in a conspicuous place in the main
room of the apartment. A record of all such permits
shall be kept in the office of the board of health.

[1914, c. 628, sect. 1.]

Water-closets in Tenement Houses hereafter erected.

Sect. 69. In every tenement house hereafter erected
there shall be a separate water-closet in a separate com-

City of Boston Building Law. 71

partment within each apartment of four or more rooms.
Where apartments consist of less than four rooms there
shall be at least one water-closet for every three rooms,
and on the same floor with said rooms. Every such
water-closet shall be placed in a compartment completely
separated from every other water-closet, and such com-
partment shall be not less than two feet and four inches
wide, and shall be enclosed with plastered partitions, or
some equally substantial material, which shall extend to
the ceihng. Such compartment shall have a window,
opening directly, or through a straight horizontal shaft of
the same dimensions as the window and not .more than
four feet long, upon a street, a railroad right of way,
cemetery or pubhc park or a yard or alley or open passage-
way not less than four feet wide, or upon a court vent or
upon a covered passageway not more than twenty feet
long and at least twenty feet wide, and twenty feet high.
Every such window shall be at least one foot by three
feet between stop beads; and the whole window shall be
made so as to open readily. When, however, such water-
closet compartment is located on the top floor and is
lighted and ventilated by a skylight over it, no window
shall be necessary, provided that the roof of such skylight
contains at least three square feet of glazed surface and
is arranged so as to open readily. Nothing in this section
in regard to the separation of water-closet compartments
from each other shall apply to a general toilet room con-
taining several water-closets, hereafter placed in a tene-
ment house, provided that such water-closets are supple-
mental to the water-closet accommodations required by
law for the use of the tenants of the said house. Nothing
in this section in regard to the ventilation of water-closet
compartments shall apply to a water-closet hereafter
placed in an existing tenement house, to replace a defective
fixture in the same position and location. No water-closet
shall be maintained in the cellar of any tenement house

72 City of Boston Building Law.

without a permit in writing from the board of health;
and said board shall have power to make rules and regula-
tions governing the maintenance of such closets. Every
water-closet compartment in any tenement house shall be
provided with proper means of lighting the same at night.
If fixtures for gas or electricity are not provided in such
compartment^ then the door of such compartment shall
be provided with translucent glass panels, or with a
translucent glass transom, not less in area than four
square feet. The floor of every such water-closet com-
partment shall be made waterproof with asphalt, tile,
stone or some other waterproof material; and such
waterproofing shall extend at least six inches above the
floor on all sides of the compartment except at the door
opening, so that the floor can be washed or flushed
without leaking. No drip trays shaU be permitted.
No water-closet fixtures shall be inclosed with any
woodwork.

Lighting and Ventilation of Existing Tenement Houses.
Sect. 70. Excepting water-closet compartments and
bathrooms, wherever a room in any tenement house has a
window or windows of less than nine square feet of glazed
surface opening on a street, a railroad right of way, ceme-
tery, public park, alley or open passageway not less than
ten feet in width, such window or windows shall be enlarged
and provided with the above mentioned glazed surface,
and wherever such room does not open as above provided,
or opens upon an alley or open passageway less than ten
feet in width or upon a shaft or upon a court less than six
feet in its least dimension, then such room shall be pro-
vided with a sash window communicating with another
room in the same apartment, having windows of at least
the superficial area prescribed for the windows of rooms
in tenement houses hereafter erected and opening on a
street, a railroad right of way, cemetery, pubhc park or

City of Boston BuiliJing Law. 73

alley or open passageway at least ten feet in width, or on a
court or courts at least equivalent to the courts required
in sections fifty-eight and fifty-nine; and such new sash
window shall contain not less than fifteen square feet of
glazed surface and shall be made so as to open readily.
One wall of every alcove in an existing tenement house
shall be provided with an opening equal in area to eighty
per cent of the wall. No tenement house shall be so
altered as to reduce the provisions for the light and venti-
lation of any room or alcove or pubHc hall or stair hall
below the requirements of this act.

Skylights.

Sect. 71. In every existing tenement house there shall
be in the roof, directly over each stair well, a ventilating
skylight, pro\dded with ridge ventilators and also with
fixed or movable louvres or movable sashes. But this
section shall not apply to any tenement house now having
windows as provided in section sixty-five or a bulkhead in
the roof over the main stairs, which bulkhead is provided
with windows made so as to open readily, and with not
less than twelve square feet of glass in the top of the bulk-
head. All skylights hereafter placed in any tenement
house shaU conform to the provisions of section sixty-six.
All the existing dome lights or other obstructions to sky-
light ventilation shall be removed.

Where the pubhc hall in an existing tenement house is
not provided with windows opening as provided in section
sixty-five, and where there is not a stair weU as provided
in section sixty-six, aU doors leading from such public
hall into apartments shall be provided with translucent
glass panels of an area of not less than four square feet for
each door; or such public hall may be Kghted by a window
or windows at the end thereof with the plane of the win-
dow at right angles to the axis of the haU, said window
opening upon the street, a railroad right of way, cemetery,

74 City of Boston Building Law.

public park, or an alley or open passageway at least ten
feet in width, or upon a yard or court of the dimensions
hereinbefore provided.

Water-closets in Existing Tenement Houses.

Sect. 72. In existing tenement houses the woodwork
enclosing the space underneath the seat of all water-closets
used in common by two or more families shall be removed
and such space shall be left open. The floor or other sur-
face beneath and around such closet shall be maintained
in good order and repair, and the floors made waterproof
to the satisfaction of the board of health.

Every such water-closet shall be located in a compart-
ment completely separated from every other water-closet,
and such compartment shall be ventilated to the satis-
faction of the board of health. There shall be provided
at least one water-closet for every three families or for
every nine rooms in every existing tenement house.

Water Supply.

Sect. 73. In every tenement house hereafter erected
there shall be in each apartment a proper sink with
running water.

Every existing tenement house shall have water fur-
nished in sufficient quantity at one or more places on each
floor occupied by or suitable to be occupied by one or more
families. The owner shall provide proper and suitable
tanks, pumps or other appliances to receive and to dis-
tribute a sufficient supply of water at each floor in the
said house at all times of the year, during all hours of the
day and night.

The woodwork enclosing sinks located in the public
halls or stairs shall be removed, and the space underneath
the sinks shall be left open. The floors and wall surfaces
beneath and around the sink shall be maintained in good
order and repair.

City of Boston Building Law. 75

Drainage of Courts and Yards.

Sect, 74. In every tenement house all courts, areas,
intakes and yards shall be properly graded, drained and
paved or otherwise surfaced to the satisfaction of the
board of health.

Receptacles for Garbage and Ashes.

Sect. 75. The owner of every tenement house shall
provide therefor suitable, covered, water-tight receptacles
satisfactory to the board of health, for ashes, rubbish,
garbage, refuse and other matter. No person shall place
ashes, rubbish, garbage, refuse or other matter in the
yards, open areas or alleys connected with, or appur-
tenant to, any tenement house except in suitable recep-
tacles provided for the same.

[Repealed so far as inconsistent with 1907, c, 550, sect. 128; as
amended by 1913, c. 586, sect. 1.]

Powers of the Building Commissioner.

Sect. 76. The commissioner shall not dispense with
any of the requirements of sections forty-two to seventy-
five, inclusive.

Theatres.

Definition.

Sect. 77. Every building hereafter erected so as to
contain an audience hall and a stage, with curtain, mov-
able or shifting scenery, and machinery, adapted for the
giving of plays, operas, spectacles or similar forms of
entertainment, and of a size to provide seats for more
than five hundred spectators shall be a theatre within
the meaning of this act. No existing building not now
used as a theatre shall be altered and used as a theatre,
unless it conforms to the provisions of this act for a new
theater.

76 City of Boston Building Law.

Construction.
Sect. 78, Every theatre hereafter built shall be of
fireproof construction throughout, except that the floor
boards may be of wood, and the steel work of the stage,
of the fly galleries, and of the rigging loft need not be
fireproof ed.

Open Courts.

Sect. 79. Every theatre built in a block not on a
corner shall have an open court or passageway on both
sides extending from the proscenium line to the line of
the street on the front, or, in case the building abuts on
a street both in front and rear, these passages may extend
from the line of the front of the auditorium to the line
of the rear street. These passages shall be at least six
feet wide throughout their length, and shall not be closed
by any locked gate or doorway. They shall immediately
adjoin the auditorium, or a side passage or lobby directly
connected therewith. These passages shall be open to the
sky opposite the whole depth of the auditorium, but may
be carried out to the street front or rear through passages
enclosed by brick walls or other fireproof material equally
efficient, and covered by a solid brick vault at least eight
inches thick, each passage to be not less than eight feet
wide and ten feet high throughout.

Sect. 80. Every theatre built upon the corner of two
streets shall have one inner court on the side of the build-
ing away from the side street, such court to be of the
same description as the courts provided for in the preceding
paragraph.

Stores, etc.

Sect. 81. Nothing in this act shall be construed to
prohibit the use of any part of a theatre building for
stores, offices, or for habitation, provided that the parts
so used shall be built with exits to the street entirely
distinct from the rest of the building and shall be

City of Boston Building Law. 77

separated from the rest of the building by soHd par-
titions or walls, without any openings in the same.

Floor Levels.
Sect. 82. In all theatres, the entrances shall be not
more than one step above the level of the sidewalk of the
main street, and the stage shall be not more than five
feet above the said level.

Proscenium Wall.

Sect, 83. The stage of every theatre shall be sepa-
rated from the auditorium by a wall of fireproof construc-
tion, which wall shall extend the whole width of the
auditorium and the whole height to the roof of the portion
occupied by the stage. There shall be no openings
through this wall except the curtain opening, one doorway
each side behind the boxes, and one doorway which shall
be located at or below the level of the stage. The door-
ways shall not exceed twenty-one superficial feet each,
and shall have standard fire-doors hung in a manner
satisfactory to the commissioner. The finish or decora-
tive features around the curtain opening of every theatre
shall be of fireproof material.

Curtain.

Sect. 84. The proscenium or curtain opening of every
theatre shall have a fire resisting curtain reinforced by
wire netting or otherwise strengthened. If of iron, or
similar heavy material, and made to lower from the top,
it shall be so arranged as to be stopped securely'- at a
height of seven feet above the stage floor, the remaining
opening being closed by a curtain or valance of fire-
resisting fabric.

Stage Floor,

Sect. 85. The part of the stage floor, usually equal to
the width of the proscenium opening, used in working

78 City of Boston Building Law.

scenery, traps or other mechanical apparatus, may be of
wood, and no flooring used thereon shall be less than one
and one eighth inches in thickness.

Ventilators.

Sect. 86. There shall be one or more ventilators near
the center, and above the highest part of the stage of
every theatre, of a combined area of opening satisfactory
to the commissioner, and not less than one tenth of the
area of the undivided floor space behind the curtain at
the stage floor level. The openings in every such venti-
lator shall be closed by valves or louvres so counter-
balanced as to open automatically, which shall be kept
closed, when not in use, by a fusible link and cord reach-
ing to the prompter's desk, and readily operated therefrom.
Such cord shall be of combustible material, and so arranged
that if it is severed the ventilator will open automatically.

Skylight coverings for ventilators shall have sheet metal
frames set with double-thick glass, each pane thereof
measuring not less than three hundred square inches, or
shall be protected with wire glass. If wire glass is not
used, a suitable wire netting shall be placed immediately
beneath the glass, but above the ventilator openings.
Illuminating fixtures over the auditorium shall be sus-
pended and secured in a manner approved by the com-
missioner.

Glass on illuminating fixtures over the auditorium shall
be secured from danger of falling as the commissioner
shall require, but in no case shall any glass more than six
inches in diameter or length be hung over the auditorium
unless protected from falling by a wire netting or similar
device satisfactory to the commissioner.

Seats in Auditorium.
Sect. 87. All seats in the auditorium excepting those
contained in boxes shall be spaced not less than thirty

City of Boston Building Law. 79

inches from back to back, measured in a horizontal
direction, and shall be firmly secured to the floor. No
seat in the auditorium shall have more than six seats
intervening between it and an aisle, on either side.

The platforms for seats in balconies and galleries shall
nowhere have a greater rise than twenty-one inches, nor
be less than thirty inches from back to back.

Aisles.

Sect. 88. All aisles on the respective floors in the
auditorium, having seats on both sides of the same, shall
be not less than thirty inches wide where they begin
and shall be increased in width toward the exits in the
ratio of one inch to five running feet. Aisles having
seats on one side only shall be not less than two feet wide
at their beginning and shall increase in width, the same
as aisles having seats on both sides.

Changes in Level.

Sect. 89. All changes in the levels of the floors of such
buildings, except under stairways, from story to story,
and except the necessary steps in galleries and balconies
rising toward the exits, shall be made by inclines of no
steeper gradient than two in ten within the auditorium,
and rising toward the exits, and one in ten for all others.

Lobbies.
Sect. 90. Preceding each division of the theatre there
shall be foyers, lobbies, corridors, or passages, the aggre-
gate capacity of which on each floor or gallery shall be
sufficient to contain the whole number to be accommo-
dated on such floor or gallery in the ratio of one square
foot of floor room for each person.

Stage Doors.
Sect. 91. There shall be not less than two exit doors,
each not less than three feet in width, located on opposite

80 City of Boston Building Law.

sides of the stage, and opening directly upon a street,
alley, court, or courtway leading to a public throughfare.

Room Exits.
Sect. 92. All rooms in theatres for the use of persons
employed therein shall have passages to at least two
independent means of exit.

Doors to Open Outward.
Sect. 93. All doors of exit or entrance shall open out-
ward, and shall be hung so as to swing in such a manner
as not to become an obstruction in a passage or corridor,
and no such doors shall be fastened so as to be inoperative
when the building is occupied by an audience.

False Doors.
Sect. 94. No mirrors shall be so placed as to give the
appearance of a doorway or exit, hallway, or corridor,
nor shall there be any false doors or windows.

Main Floor and First Gallery Exits.
Sect. 95. A common exit may serve for the main floor
of the auditorium and the first gallery, provided that its
capacity be equal to the aggregate capacity of the outlets
from the main floor and the said gallery; and provided
that the lowermost run of any exit leading from a gallery
shall not open directly at right angles with the central
axis of a common exit unless there is a clear space or
landing of at least one and one quarter times the width
of the exit between the foot of such exit and such centre
line or nearest exit doorway.

Exits.
Sect. 96. Two distinct and separate exits shall be
provided for each gallery and balcony above the main
floor; and the same shall be located on opposite sides of
the galleries.

CiTT OF Boston Building Law. 81

All gallery or balcony exits shall start with a
width of not less than four feet at the uppermost
gallery.

Exits from balconies and galleries shall not com-
municate with the basement or cellar.

Aggregate Width of Exits,

Sect. 97. The aggregate width of all the exits pre-
viously described shall be estimated on a basis of not less
than twenty inches for every one hundred persons for
whom seats are provided in the sections of the auditorium
served by the respective exits.

Emergency Exits.

Sect. 98. In addition to the exits previously described
there shall be one exit from each side of each gallery,
balcony, and main floor of auditorium, at least five feet
wide, leading to exterior balconies not less than four feet
wide and twenty feet long on each side of the auditorium.
From such balconies there shall be staircases extending
to the ground level, which may be counterweighted, with
risers of not over eight and one half inches and treads of
not less than nine and one half inches, exclusive of nosing.
The aggregate width of these emergency stairs shall be
not less than ten inches for every one hundred people
served thereby, no single stairs being less than thirty
inches wide. If counterweighted, these stairs shall be
lowered during all performances.

Where all such stairs are in an interior court, each run
shall be covered by a light awning of iron.

Nothing herein shall prohibit the building of emergency
stairs and exits inside the walls of the building, provided
that they are surrounded by a fireproof partition not less
than four inches thick separating the exits and stairways
from the audience room or auditorium.

82 City of Boston Building Law.

Additional Requirements.

Sect. 99. The commissioner shall have power to require
a greater number or capacity of exits than is herein pre-
scribed.

In every theatre there shall be over every exit, on the
inside, and over every opening to a fire-escape, on the
inside, an illuminated sign, bearing the word "exit" or
''fire-escape," respectively, in letters not less than four
inches high. The lights for the exit signs, passages, stairs,
lobbies, auditoriums, rear of auditoriums, balconies,
galleries, and for the balconies and stairs outside the build-
ing, shall be so arranged that they can be turned on or off
independently of the means provided on the stage or in
any part of the building in the rear of the proscenium wall.
Every exit sign shall be kept illuminated, and every outside
balcony and fire-escape shall be kept well lighted during
the performance, except outside exits during a performance
before sunset.

Plans showing the exits and stairways shall be legibly
printed so as to occupy a full page of every programme or
play-bill.

In said buildings there shall be such number of gas pipe
outlets as the commissioner may require, fitted with no
less than two gas burners. Such burners shall be inspected
and tried at least once in every three months by inspectors
of the department, to ascertain if they are in proper work-
ing order. The inspector shall make a report of each visit,
stating the condition of the burners and the action of the
inspector in regard to them.

The commissioner shall have authority to order any
defect in the working of such burners as are necessary for
public safety to be remedied.

So much of this section as applies to the inspection
of gas burners shall apply to buildings now used as
theatres.

City of Boston Building Law. 83

Stairs.

Sect. 100. The cut of the stair stringers shall not
exceed seven and one-half inches rise, nor be less than ten
and one half inches tread. There shall be no flights of
stairs of more than fifteen or less than three steps between
landings.

Landings of Stairs.

Sect. 101. Every landing shall be at least four feet
wide. When straight stairs return directly on themselves,
a landing of the full width of both flights, without any
steps, shall be provided. The outer line of landings shall
be curved to a radius of not less than two feet to avoid
square angles. Stairs turning at an angle shall have a
proper landing without winders introduced at the turn.
No door shall open immediately upon a flight of stairs,
but a landing at least two feet wider than the width of
the door opening shaU be provided between such stairs
and such door. When two side flights connect with one
main flight, no winders shall be introduced, and the width
of the main flight shall be at least equal to the aggregate
width of the side flights.

Hand Rails.

Sect. 102. All enclosed stairways shall have, on both
sides, strong hand-raUs, flrmly secured to the wall, about
three inches distant therefrom and about three feet high
above the stairs.

All stairways eight feet and over in width shall be
provided with a central rail of metal or hard wood, not
less than two inches in diameter, placed at a height of
about three feet above the centre of the treads, supported
on wrought metal or brass standards of sufficient strength,
securely bolted to the treads or risers of the stairs; and
at the head of each flight of stairs, and on each side of

84 City of Boston Building Law.

the landing, the post or standard shall be at' least six
feet in height, and the rail shall be secured to the post.

Measurements for Width of Stairs.

Sect. 103. The width of all stairs shall be measured in
the clear between the hand-rails.

No winding or circular stairs shall be permitted.

Radiators Forbidden in Passageways.

Sect. 104. No coil or radiator or floor register shall be
placed in any aisle or passageway used as an exit; but
all such coils and radiators may be placed in recesses
formed in the wall or partition to receive the same.

No boiler, furnace, engine or heating apparatus, except
steam, hot water or hot air pipes or radiators, shall be
located under the auditorium or under any passage or
stairway or exit of any theatre.

Sprinklers and Standpipes.

There shall be at least two two-inch high-service stand-
pipes on the stage of every theatre, with ample provision
of hose nozzles at each level of the stage on each side, and
the water shall be kept turned on during the occupation
of the building by an audience. The said pipes shall in
no case be sealed, and shall have two gates, one above the
other, with a proper test or waste valve; the lower gate
to be kept open at all times. The proscenium opening of
every theatre shall be provided with a two and one half
inch perforated iron pipe, or equivalent equipment of
automatic or open sprinklers, so constructed as to form,
when in operation, a complete water curtain for the whole
proscenium opening, and there shall be for the rest of the
stage a complete system of fire apparatus and perforated
iron pipes, automatic or open sprinklers. Such pipes or
sprinklers shall be supplied with water by high pressure
service, and shall be at all times ready for use.

City of Boston Building Law. 85

Places of Public Assembly.

Sect. 105. Every building hereafter erected with a
hall or assembly-room to contain a public audience of
more than eight hundred persons, or with more than one
superimposed gallery or balcony, shall be of fireproof con-
struction throughout; except that halls or assembly-
rooms, the mean level of the main floor of which is not
more than five feet above the grade of the adjacent street,
,may have roofs of second class construction.

Every building hereafter erected with a hall or assembly-
room to contain an audience of more than six hundred
persons, the main floor of which is raised more than
fifteen feet above the level of the principal street upon
which it faces, shall be of fireproof construction
throughout.

The capacity of a hall or assembly-room shall be esti-
mated on the basis of six square feet for each person.

If several halls or assembly-rooms are provided in one
building, their aggregate capacity shall be considered as
determining whether or not the building shall be of fire-
proof construction, unless the several halls are enclosed
by or separated from each other by fireproof walls, with
fireproof doors in the same, in which case the building
may be of second class construction.

No existing building shall be altered to contain a hall
or assembly-room exceeding the foregoing dimensions,
unless the whole building as altered shall conform to the
provisions of this act.

All seats in places of public assemblage shall be spaced
as hereinbefore provided, and, while such places of public
assemblage are occupied by an audience, shall be secured
in such manner as will be satisfactory to the building
cormnissioner of the city of Boston. No temporary seats
or other obstructions shall be allowed in any aisle, passage-
way or stairway of a place of public assemblage, and no

86 City of Boston Building Law.

person shall remain in any aisle, passageway or stairway
of any building during any performance.
[1912, c. 370, sect. 1.]

Every existing building containing a hall or assembly-
room to which admission is not free, and to which the pro-
visions of chapter four hundred and ninety-four of the
acts of the year nineteen hundred and eight, relative to
the licensing of public entertainments apply, shall have
all the ways of egress from such building sufficiently
lighted, and lighted in a manner satisfactory to the building
commissioner, while the hall or assembly room is occupied
by an audience.

[1913, c. 50, sect. 1.]

Moving Picture Shows.

Sect. 106. All moving picture shows shall be subject
to the provisions of chapter one hundred and seventy-six
and of chapter four hundred and thirty-seven of the acts
of the year nineteen hundred and five, and of any amend-
ments thereof or additions thereto now or hereafter made.

Exits, Etc.
Sect. 107. Every building hereafter erected contain-
ing a hall or assembly-room shall conform to all the afore-
said requirements as to exits, stairways, exit lights, aisles,
and seats which apply to theatres, subject to such excep-
tions as the board of appeal shall approve.

Roof Gardens.

Sect. 108. Nothing herein contained shall prevent the
placing of a roof garden, art gallery, or rooms for similar
purposes above a theatre, provided the floor of the same
forming the roof over such theatre shall be constructed
of fireproof materials, and shall have no covering boards
or sleepers of wood. Every roof over such garden or other

Ci^Y OF Boston Building Law. 87

rooms shall have all supports and rafters of steel, and, if
covered, shall be covered with glass or fireproof material,
or both.

^xit% from Roof Gardens.
Sect. 109. Exits from roof gardens may communicate
with stairs leading from the auditorium of the theatre,
but they shall be at least, four in number, not less than
four feet six inches wide, and distinct and separate from
each other from roof to street.

Summer Theatres.

Sect. 110. Summer theatres, if buUt without the
building limits, and located thirty feet distant from any
other building or structure or adjoining lot lines, and of
no greater seating capacity than seven hundred and fifty
persons, and not more than one story high, without bal-
conies, or galleries, may be canstructed as follows: -^

The auditorium, without a cellar or basement, with
open sides of double the number of exits as hereinbefore
provided, opening directly into the surrounding courts or
gardens at the grade level, and the adjoining dressing-
rooms, may be of wooden construction, but the stage
shall be enclosed in brick walls not less than twelve inches
thick, or shall be plastered on metal lathing throughout:
provided, that the openings leading to the dressing-rooms
shall be provided with fire doors.

Otherwise, all protective features and arrangements
shall comply with all previous sections of this title.

Existing Theatres.

Sect. 111. All stairs of theatres shall have throughout
proper hand-rails on both sides firmly secured to walls or
to strong posts and balusters. Stairways twelve feet or
more wide shall have one or more intermediate rails not
more than eight feet apart and properly supported.

88 City of Boston Building Law..

No boiler, furnace, engine or heating apparatus, except
steam, hot water or hot air pipes or radiators, shall be
located under the auditorium nor under any passage or
stairway or exit of any theatre.

In every theatre there shall be over every exit, on the
inside, and over every opening to a fire-escape, on the
inside, an illuminated sign, bearing the word "exit" or
"fire-escape," respectively, in letters not less than four
inches high. An emergency arc light or its equivalent
shall be installed in the auditorium, which light or Ughts,
exit lights, and all lights in halls, corridors, or any part
of the building used by the audience, except the general
auditorium lighting, shall be fed independently of the
stage lighting, and shall be controlled only from the
lobby or other convenient place in the front of the house.
Every exit sign shall be kept illuminated and every outside
balcony and fire-escape shall be kept well lighted during
the performance, except outside exits during a performance
in the daytime and before sunset.

[1909, c. 313, sect. 1.]

The exits and openings to fire-escapes of all theatres
shall open outward and have fastenings on the inside only.
They shall be unfastened during every performance and
shall be so arranged that they can easily be opened from
within. Plans showing the exits and stairways shall be
legibly printed so as to occupy a full page of every pro-
gramme or play-bill.

No temporary seats or other obstructions shall be
allowed in any aisle, or stairway of a theatre, and no person
shall remain in any aisle, passageway or stairway of any
such building during any performance.

[1908, c. 336, sect. 1.]

The proscenium or curtain opening of every theatre
shall have a fire-resisting curtain of incombustible mate-
rial, reinforced by wire netting, or otherwise strength-

City of Boston Building Law. 89

ened. If of iron, or similar heavy material, and made to
lower from the top, it shall be so arranged as to be
stopped securely at a height of seven feet above the stage
floor, the remaining opening being closed by a curtain
or valance of fire-resisting fabric. The ciirtain shall be
raised at the beginning and lowered at the end of every
performance, and shall be of proper material, construction
and mechanism.

There shall be one or more ventilators near the center
and above the highest part of the stage of every theatre,
of a combined area of opening satisfactory to the building
commissioner, and not less than one tenth of the area of
the proscenium opening. Every such ventilator shall
have a valve or louvre so counterbalanced as to open
automatically, and shall be kept closed, when not in use,
by a fusible hnk and cord reaching to the prompter's
desk, or any other place easily reached from the stage
level and readily operated therefrom. Such cord shall be
of combustible material, and so arranged that if it is
severed the ventilator will open automatically.

[1909, c. 336, sect. 1.]

There shall be at least two two-inch high-service
standpipes on the stage of every theatre, with ample
provision of hose nozzles at each level of the stage on each
side, and the water shall be kept turned on during the
occupation of the building by an audience. The said
pipes shall in no case bo sealed and shall have a gate and
check valve and shall have a test valve placed between
the gate valve and check valve. The proscenium open-
ing of every theatre shall be provided with a two and
one half inch perforated iron pipe or equivalent equip-
ment of automatic or open sprinklers, as the commis-
sioner may direct, so constructed as to form when in
operation a complete water curtain for the whole pro-
scenium opening, and there shall be for the rest of the

90 City of Boston Building Law.,

stage a complete system of fire apparatus and perforated
iron pipes, automatic or open sprinklers. Such pipes or
sprinklers shall be supplied with water by high pressure
service, and shall be ready for use at all times.

11909, c. 336, sect. 1.]

Plumbing.

Definition of Terms.

Sect. 112. The following terms shall have the mean-
ings respectively assigned to them : —

"Repair of leaks" shall mean such repairs as are
necessary to protect property, but do not involve any
extensive change in construction.

''Y-branches" shall mean a branch at sufficient angle
to direct the flow and prevent backing up.

"Air pipes" or "back air pipes" shall mean air pipes
from traps that extend toward the main soil pipe or the
outer air and connect with not more than three traps.

"Vent pipes" shall mean general lines of back air
pipes connecting with more than three fixtures.

"Drain" shall mean that part of the drainage system
of a building extending through basement or cellar to
sewer.

"Soil pipe" shall mean that part of the drainage sys-
tem of a building, of four inches or more internal diameter,
between basement or cellar and the highest fixture in
the building.

"Ventilation pipe" shall mean the extension of the soil
pipe from the highest fixture to and through the roof.

"Surface drain" shall mean a connection with drain
in the basement to allow egress of surface water or overflow.

"Fixture" shall mean any receptacle or outlet placed
for the purpose of disposing of waste water or other matter,
and connecting with the waste, soil or drain pipe of a
building.

City op Boston Building Law. 91

Registration.

Sect. 113. No plumber shall engage in or work at the
business of plumbing unless he shall first have registered
his name and place of business in the office of the commis-
sioner, and no person shall by display of sign or plumbing
material, or otherwise, advertise as a plumber unless he
shall have been registered or licensed as such. Every
master plumber shall conspicuously display his certificate
or hcense within his place of business. Notice of any
change in the place of business of a registered or licensed
master plumber shall immediately be given by him to
the commissioner.

Notices.

Sect. 114. Every plumber, before doing any work in a
building, shall, except in the case of repair of leaks, file in
the office of the commissioner a plan or sketch of the work
to be performed; and no such work shall be done in any
building without a written permit from the commissioner.

Connection with Sewer or Drain.
Sect. 115. The plumbing of every building shall be
separately and independently connected outside the
building with the public sewer, if such sewer is provided,
or with a proper and sufficient private drain or sewer laid
outside of the building, and if a sewer is not accessible*
with a proper cesspool. Several buUdings may have a
common sewer connection if such connection is approved
by the commissioner and the superintendent of sewers.

Inspection and Tests.
Sect. 116. Pipes or other fixtures shall not be covered
or concealed from view until approved by the commis-
sioner, who shall examine or test the same within two
working days after notice that they are ready for inspec-
tion. Plumbing shall not be used unless, when roughed
in, the wastes, vents and back air pipes and traps are first

92 City of Boston Building Law.

tested by water or sufficient air pressure in the presence
of an inspector, when such testing is practicable.

Soil and Waste Pipes and Traps.

Sect. 117. The waste pipe of every independent sink
basin, bath-tub, water closet, slop-hopper, urinal or other
fixture shall be furnished with a separate trap which shall
be placed as near as practicable to the fixture which
it serves. A sink and set of three wash-trays may be
connected to the house drain through one five inch round
trap, when the outlet of the sink is not over three feet
six inches from the nearest outlet from the wash-trays;
and in such case the trap shall be above the floor. The
outlet from each fixture shall enter the trap separately.
Not more than four wash-bowls or sinks in a continuous
line may be connected to the house drain through one
five inch round trap. Two or more fixtures on the same
level with not more than two feet of waste pipe and con-
necting into the soil or waste pipe not more than eighteen
inches below the top water line of the trap, shall not
require other vent than the continuation of the soil or
waste pipe full size for its whole length. Lateral branches
of soil or waste pipe, if more than twenty feet in length,
shall be extended through the roof undiminished in size.
All connections on lead waste and back air pipes and of
lead pipes to brass ferrules and soldering nipples shall be
full size wiped soldered branch, round or flange joints.
Soil and waste pipes shall have proper T-Y or Y branches
for all fixture connections. No connection to lead bends
for water-closets or slop sinks shall be permitted, except
the required back air pipe where a continuous vent is not
practicable.

Earthenware traps shall have heavy brass floor plates
soldered to the lead bends and bolted to the trap flange,
and the joint made gas tight with red or white lead.
Rubber washers for floor connections shall not be used.

City of Boston Building Law. 93

Back Air Pipes, Vents, Etc.
Traps shall be protected from siphonage or air pressure
by special iron or brass air pipes of a size not less than the
waste pipes they serve; back air pipes shall not be con-
nected to the trap or branched into the waste pipe, except
where a continuous vent is not practicable, but a suitable
non-siphon trap may be used without a back air pipe
upon the approval of the commissioner. Back air pipes
shall enter the waste pipe within eighteen inches from
the trap and shall be a continuation of the waste pipe.
Lead air pipes may be used only for short connections
where they are exposed to view. Air pipes for water-
closet traps shall be connected to the highest point of
bend or trap, and may be of two inch bore if for not more
than three fixtures and less than thirty feet in length; if
for more than three fixtures or more than thirty feet in
length they shall be of three inch bore. Air pipes shall
be run as direct as practicable and if one and one half
inches or less in diameter shall not exceed thirty feet in
length. Two or more air pipes may be connected to-
gether or with a vent pipe; but in every such case the
connection shall be above the top of the fixture. The
trap for the upper fixture on a line of soil or waste pipe,
within five feet of the stack in a horizontal line, shall not
require a special air pipe, unless the outlet is branched
into a stack more than eighteen inches below the top
water fine of the trap. Diameters of vent pipes shall be
not less than two inches for main vents through less than
seven stories; three inches for water-closets on more than
three floors, and for other fixtures in more than seven
stories. All vent pipes shall be increased one inch in
diameter before passing through the roof. Vent lines
shall be connected at the bottom with a soil or waste
pipe or with the drain, in such a manner as to prevent
accumulation of rust scale and properly to drip the water
of condensation. Offsets shall be made at an angle of not

94 City of Boston Building Law.

less than forty-five degrees. Soil pipes or iron waste
pipes, vents and back air pipes, shall be supported by
clamps to the woodwork, iron drive hooks to brick walls,
or bolted clamps to iron girders.

All traps, except for water-closets, not provided with
special air pipes shall be suitable non-siphon traps and
shall have at least a four inch water seal. Round traps
shall be not less than four inches in diameter and eight
inches long, and made of eight-pound lead. All trap
screws shall be water sealed.

Chemical Laboratories.

Fixtures and waste pipes in chemical laboratories shall
be installed in accordance with plans approved by the
commissioner.

Stables.

The drainage of stable fixtures shall be constructed
according to plans approved by the commissioner.

Sect. 118. In buildings where a spries of bathrooms
or kitchens are located directly over each other and have
a common soil or waste pipe, the back air pipe required
shall be a vent line connecting with each outlet branch
close to the water-closet connection or outlet from the
sink trap, each branch vent to connect to vent line above
the top of the highest fixture on each floor, the vent line
to connect to main vent line above the top of the highest
fixture in the building.

In the case of batteries of water-closets or other fixtures
the special air pipe from each trap may be omitted, pro-
vided that the soil or waste pipe, undiminished in size, is
continued to a point above the roof or revented into the
main soil pipe system above the top of the uppermost
fixture.

The commissioner shall prepare explanatory sketches
showing the method of construction described in this
section.

City of Boston Building Law. 95

Refrigerator Wastes and Drip Pipes.
Sect. 119. All drip or overflow pipes shall be extended
to some place in open sight, and in no case shall any such
pipe be connected directly with the drain pipe. No waste
pipe from a refrigerator or other receptacle in which
provisions are stored shall be connected directly with
a drain or other waste pipe. The waste pipes from all
other fixtm-es shall be connected directly with a drain pipe.
Refrigerator wastes connecting with two or more stories
shall be supphed with a trap on the branch for each floor
and extended through the roof.

Water-Closets, Etc.

Sect. 120. Every water-closet or line of water-closets
shall be supplied with water from a tank or cistern, and
shall have a flushing pipe of not less than one and one
quarter inches in diameter. Privy vaults shall be of brick
and cement of a capacity of not less than fifty cubic feet,
of easy access, convenient to open, and clean, and water
tight. The inside shall be not less than two feet from the
next lot and from any pubHc or private way.

Sect. 121. The diameters of soil and waste pipes shall
be not less than those given in the following table: —

Inches.

Soil pipes, 4

Main waste pipes, 2

Main^ waste pipes for kitchen sinks on five or more

floors, 3

Branch waste pipes for laundry tubs, . . . . li

Branch waste for kitchen sinks 1|

Branch waste for urinals, 1|

No branch waste for other fixtures shall be less than, Ij

Except that, with the approval of the commissioner, a
three inch soil pipe may be used for one water-closet where
it is not practicable to use a four inch pipe.

96 City of Boston Building Law.

Ferrules, Clean-outs, Etc.

Brass ferrules shall be of the best quality, bell-shaped,
extra heavy cast brass, not less than four inches long and
two and one quarter inches, three and one half inches, and
four and one half inches in diameter, and of not less than
the following weights: — •

Diameters. Weights.

2| inches, 1 pound 0 ounces.

3| inches, . . . . . .1 pound 12 ounces.

4| inches, 2 pounds 8 ounces.

One and one haK inch ferrules shall not be used.

Soldering nipples shall be of heavy cast brass or of brass
pipe, iron pipe size. If cast, they shall be of not less than
the following weights:

1| inches, 0 pounds 8 ounces.

2 inches, 0 pounds 14 ounces.

2 1 inches, 1 pound 6 ounces.

3 inches, 2 pounds 0 ounces.

4 inches, 3 pounds 8 ounces.

Where clean-outs are used, the screw cap shall be of
brass, extra heavy, and not less than one eighth of an inch
thick. The engaging parts shall have not less than six
threads of iron pipe size, and shall be tapered. Clean-outs
shall be full size of trap up to four inches in diametel", and
not less than four inches for larger traps.

The screw caps shall have a solid square or hexagonal
nut, not less than one half inch high, with a least diameter
of one and one half inches. The bodies of brass clean-out
ferrules shall be at least equal in weight and thickness to
the calking ferrule for the same size of pipe.

The use of lead pipes is restricted to short branches of

City of Boston Building Law.

the soil and waste pipes, bends and traps, and roof con-
nections of inside leaders. ''Short branches" of lead pipe
shall mean not more than: —

5 feet of IJ inch pipe.
5 feet of 1 1 inch pipe.
4 feet of 2 inch pipe.
2 feet of 3 inch pipe.
2 feet of 4 inch pipe.

The pipe shall be
thickness and weight

not less than the following average
per linear foot:

Diameters.

Thicknesses.

Weights per
Linear Foot.

11 inches

— —

2.50 pomids.

1-| inches

.14 inch

2.68 pounds.

2 inches

.15 inch

3.61 pounds.

2| inches

.20 inch

5.74 pounds.

3 inches

.21 inch

7.54 pounds.

3| inches

.22 inch

9.00 pounds.

4 inches

.23 inch

10.66 pounds.

4^ inches

.24 inch

12.34 pounds.

5 inches

.25 inch

14.50 pounds.

6 inches

.28 inch

18.76 pounds.

7 inches

.30 inch

23.27 pounds.

8 inches

.32 inch

28.18 pounds.

9 inches

.34 inch

33.70 pounds.

10 inches

.36 inch

40.06 pounds.

11 inches

.37 inch

45.02 pounds.

12 inches

.37 inch

48.98 pounds.

Brass pipe for soil, waste, vent and back air pipes shall
be thoroughly annealed, seamless, drawn brass tubing, of
not less than number thirteen Stubbs gauge.

No slip joint or unions shall be used on traps, waste,
vents or back air pipes. Threaded connections on brass
traps shall be of the same size as pipe threads for the same

City of Boston Building Law.

Diameters.

1| inches

2 inches
2 1 inches

3 inches
3 1 inches

4 inches
4| inches

5 inches

6 inches

size of pipe, and shall be tapered. Connections between
lead and iron shall be made by brass sleeves or screw
nipples wiped to the lead and calked or screwed into the
iron.

The following average thicknesses and weights per
linear foot shall be used : —

Thicknesses Weights per

imcKnesses. Linear Foot.

.14 inch 2.84 pounds.

.15 inch 3.82 pounds.

.20 inch 6.08 pounds.

.21 inch 7.92 pounds.

.22 inch 9.54 pounds.

.23 inch 11.29 pounds.

.24 inch 13.08 pounds.

.25 inch 15.37 pounds.

.28 inch 19.88 pounds.

Cast Iron Pipes, Etc.

Cast iron pipes shall be uncoated, sound, cylindrical
and smooth, free from cracks and other defects, of uniform
thickness and of the grade known to commerce as ''extra
heavy." If buried under ground they shall be coated
with asphaltum or red lead.

Pipe, including the hub, shall weigh not less than the
following average weights per linear foot: —

Diameters.

Weights

per Linear

Foot.

Diameters.

Weights

per Linear

Foot.

2 inches

3 inches

5| pounds.

91 pounds.
13 pounds.
17 pounds.
20 pounds.

7 inches (not stock size),

8 inches

27 pounds.
33 1 pounds.

10 inches

45 pounds.

12 inches

54 pounds.

6 inches

All joints shall be made with picked oakum and molten
lead run full, and be made gas tight. No cement joints

City of Boston Building Law.

nor connections between iron and cement or tile pipe or
brick drains shall be made within any building.

Wrought Iron Pipe.

Galvanized wrought iron pipe shall
the following thickness and weight per

Diameters.

1| inches

2 inches
2| inches

3 inches
3^ inches

4 inches
4| inches

5 inches

6 inches

7 inches

8 inches

9 inches

10 inches

11 inches

12 inches

Thicknesses.

.14 inch
.15 inch
.20 inch
.21 inch
.22 inch
.23 inch
.24 inch
.25 inch
.28 inch
.30 inch
.32 inch
.34 inch
.36 inch
.37 mch
.37 mch

be of not less than
linear foot : —

Weights per
Linear Foot.

2.68 pounds.

3.61 pounds.

5.74 pounds.

7.54 pounds.

9.00 pounds.
10.66 pounds.
12.34 pounds.
14.50 pounds.
18.76 pounds.
23.27 pounds.
28.18 pounds.
33.70 pounds.
40.06 pounds.
45.02 pounds.
48.98 pounds.

The threaded part of the pipe if less than one and one
half inches long, shall be of the thickness and weight
known as "extra heavy" or "extra strong."

Fittings on wrought iron vent or back air pipes shall be
galvanized, recessed, cast iron threaded fittings. Fittings
for "Plumber's tubing" shall be heavy weight, with
sharp threads.

Fittings for waste or soil or refrigerator waste pipes of
wrought iron or brass pipe shall be galvanized, cast iron,
or brass, recessed and threaded drainage fittings, with
smooth interior waterway and threads tapped, so as to
give a uniform grade to branches of not less than one
quarter of an inch per foot.

100 City of Boston Building Law.

All joints on wrought iron or brass pipe shall be screwed
joints made up with red lead, and any burr formed in
cutting shall carefully be reamed out.

Drain Pipes, Etc.

Sect. 122, Drain and connecting ventilation pipes,
vents and back air pipes shall be of sufficient size, and
made of extra heavy cast iron pipe if under ground, and
if above ground shall be made of extra heavy cast iron,
galvanized wrought iron of standard weight, or of not
less than number thirteen Stubbs gauge brass pipe within
the building, except that lead pipes may be used for short
connections exposed to view. Cast iron drains shall
extend not less than ten feet from the inside face of the
wall, beyond and away from the building.

Drain pipes above ground shall be secured by irons to
walls, suspended from floor timbers by strong iron hangers,
or supported on brick piers. Proper man-holes shall be
supplied to reach clean-outs and traps. Every drain
pipe shall have a fall of not less than one quarter inch per
foot, and shall be extended from a point ten feet outside
the inside face of the wall, unobstructed, to and through
the roof, undiminished in size, and to a height not less
than two feet above the roof, and not less than one foot
above the top of any window within fifteen feet, and not
less than eight feet above the roof if the roof is used for
drying clothes or as a roof garden. The drain pipe shall
be supplied with a Y branch fitted with a brass clean-out
or with an iron stopper, if required, on the direct run, at
or near the point where the drain leaves the building.
Changes in direction shall be made with curved pipes,
and all connections with horizontal or vertical pipes shall
be made with Y branches. Saddle hubs shall not be used.
All drain pipes shall be exposed to sight within the build-
ing, if such exposiu-e is practicable, and shall not be
exposed to pressure where they pass through the wall.

City of Boston Building Law. 101

Steam ExhausU, Etc.

No steam, or vapor, or water of a temperature over
one hundred and thirty degrees Fahrenheit shall be dis-
charged from any premises into any sewer, drain or catch-
basin, nor shall any matter or thing be discharged into
any sewer which may tend to cause an obstruction of the
public sewer or a nuisance or a deposit therein or any
injury thereto.

All high pressure steam boilers shall be connected with
a blow-off tank of a capacity not less than thirty per
cent of the largest boiler connected with such tank. The
location of and the connections to said blow-off tank
shall be subject to the approval of the superintendent of
sewers.

No steam exhaust or steam drip, unless it be provided
with a cooling tank of a capacity approved by the super-
intendent of sewers, or unless it be connected with the
blow-off tank, shall connect with any drain leading to
the sewer. Every blow-off tank shall be supplied with
a vapor pipe not less than two inches in diameter, which
shall be carried above the roof and above the highest
windows of the building.

The superintendent of sewers may require such addi-
tional means for cooling the blow-off tanks by the injec-
tion of cold water or otherwise as may be necessary to
reduce the temperature of the water passing from the
blow-off tank so that it shall not exceed one hundred and
thirty degrees Fahrenheit.

Special Traps, Etc.
Sect. 123. Every building from which, in the opinion
of the superintendent of sewers, grease may be discharged
in such quantity as to clog or injure the sewer, shall have
a special grease trap satisfactory to the superintendent
of sewers. Every building in which gasoline, naphtha or
other inflammable compounds are used for business pur-

102 City of Boston Building Law.

poses shall be provided with a special trap, satisfactory
to the superintendent of sewers, so designed as to prevent
the passage of such material into the sewer, and ventilated
with a separate pipe rising to a point four feet above the
roof. All non-siphon traps shall be of a type approved
by the commissioner. The waste pipe of every wash
stand for vehicles shall be provided with a sand box of
sufficient capacity.

The waste pipe from the sink of every hotel, eating
house, restaurant or other public cooking establishment,
shall be connected to a grease trap of sufficient size,
easily accessible to open and clean, placed as near as
practicable to the fixtures that it serves.

Rooj Leaders and Surface Drains.

Sect. 124. Rain water leaders when connected with
house drains shall be suitably trapped and, within the
proposed surface drainage area, shall not be connected at
the top of the stack, nor extended down through the
interior of the building, except by special permit from the
commissioner. Wherever a surface drain is installed in
a cellar or basement, it shall be provided with a deep seal
trap and back water valve. Drain pipes from fixtures in
cellars and basements liable to back flow from a sewer
shall be supplied with back water valves.

Hazardous Buildings and Appliances for Power and

Heat.

Sect. 125. No building shall be used for a grain elevator
or for the storage or manufacture of high combustibles or
explosives, or for chemical or rendering works, without a
permit from the commissioner, and no engine, dynamo,
boiler or furnace shall be placed in any building without
a permit from the commissioner. Every application for
such permit shall be in writing, shall be filed with the

City of Boston Building Law. 103

commissioner, and shall set forth the character of the
building, the size, power and purposes of the apparatus,
and such other information as the commissioner may
require. The commissioner may, after an examination
of the premises described in the application, and after
hearing the applicant and any objectors, issue a permit
for placing a boiler or furnace on such premises, upon such
conditions as he shall prescribe, or he may refuse such per-
mit. If the apphcation is for anything other than a boiler
or furnace the appHcant shall publish in at least two daily
newspapers pubhshed in the city of Boston, and on at least
three days in each, and, if so directed by the commissioner,
shall also post conspicuously on the premises, a copy of
the application, and shall deliver copies thereof to such
persons as the commissioner may designate.

If no objection is filed with the commissioner before the
expiration of ten days after the time of the first publication
of notice, or within ten days of the delivery and first post-
ing of the notice, if such delivery or posting is required,
the commissioner shall, if the arrangement, location, and
construction of the proposed apparatus is proper, and in
accordance with the provisions of this act, issue a permit
for the same. If objection is filed, the application shall
be referred to the board of appeal, which may, in its dis-
cretion, require the deposit by the objector of a reasonable
sum as security for the payment of the costs.

After such notice as the board shall order it shall hear
the same, and shall direct the commissioner to issue a
permit, under such conditions as it may prescribe, or to
withhold the same. If the permit is refused, the applicant,
and if it is granted, the objectors shall pay such costs as
the board may order.

The commissioner may, from time to time, after public
notice and hearing, prescribe conditions on which any or
all boilers or furnaces may be maintained in buildings, and,
if any person interested objects to such conditions and

104 City of Boston Building Law.

appeals from his decision establishing the same, the appeal
shall be referred to the board of appeal, and thereupon
said board shall prescribe the conditions.

Combustible Materials.
Sect. 126, No building adapted for habitation, nor
any part thereof, nor the lot upon which it is located, shall
be used as a place for the storage, keeping or handling of
any combustible article, except under such conditions as
may be prescribed by the fire commissioner. No such
building nor any part thereof, nor of the lot upon which it
is located, shall be used as a place for the storage, keeping
or handling of any article dangerous or detrimental to life
or health, nor for the storage, keeping or handling of
feed, hay, straw, excelsior, cotton, paper stock, feathers
or rags.

[Superseded by 1914, c. 795, sects. 6, 7.J

Enforcement of Act.
Sect. 127. Every structure and part thereof and
appurtenant thereto shall be maintained in such repair as
not to be dangerous. The owner shall be responsible for
the maintenance of all buildings and structures. The
lessee under a recorded lease shall be deemed the owner
under the provisions of this act.

Powers of the Board of Health.

Sect. 128. The board of health may by vote limit the
number of occupants who shall be permitted to dwell in
any building or in any part or parts thereof. They shall
cause a copy of any such vote to be served upon the owner
of the building, his agent, tenant or other persons having
the charge thereof. If the owner, agent, tenant, or other
persons having charge of said building allow or permit
more people than are permitted by said vote to occupy

City of Boston Building Law. 105

the building or any part or parts thereof, said board may
order the premises to be vacated, and they shall not again
be occupied without the permission of the board, and the
owner, agent, tenant or other persons having charge of
said building shall forfeit not more than twenty dollars
for every day during which he violates such order. The
board may make such further regulations as to over-
crowding, ventilation, the construction of water-closets,
the lighting of hallways, and the occupation of buildings
or parts thereof, not inconsistent with other laws, as they
may deem proper. Said board may permit rooms in
private stables to be occupied for sleeping purposes by
grooms and coachmen.

No person shall place ashes, rubbish, garbage, refuse or
other matter in the yards, open areas or alleys connected
with or appurtenant to any such building except in suitable
receptacles provided for the same.

Every building used for habitation by more than two
families and every lodging house shall be carefully in-
spected at least twice a year under the direction of the
board of health, and whenever said board has made an
order concerning such a building a reinspection shall be
made within ten days after the board has been informed
that the order has been complied with.

[1913, c. 586, sect. 1.]

Enforcement — Jurisdiction in Equity.

Sect. 129. Any court having jurisdiction in equity or
any justice thereof shall, upon the application of the city
by its attorney, have jurisdiction in equity: —

To restrain the construction, alteration, repair, main-
tenance, use or occupation of a building, structure or other
thing constructed or used in violation of the provisions of
this act, and to order its removal or abatement as a
nuisance :

106 City of Boston Building Law.

To restrain the further construction, alteration, repair,
maintenance, use or occupation of a building, structure or
other thing, which is unsafe or dangerous;

To restrain the unlawful construction, alteration, repair,
maintenance, use or occupation of any building, structure
or other thing;

To compel compliance with the provisions of this act;

To order the removal by the owner of a building, struc-
ture or other thing unlawfully existing, and to authorize
the commissioner, with the written approval of the mayor,
in default of such removal by the owner, to remove it at
the owner's expense.

Any person, the value of whose property may be
affected by any decision of the board of appeal, may have
the action of said board reviewed by the court by any
appropriate process, provided that proceedings are
instituted within thirty days after the date of such
decision.

The person applying for the review shall file a bond
with sufficient surety, to be approved by the court, for
such sum as shall be fixed by the court, to indemnify and
save harmless the person or persons in whose favor the
decision was rendered from all damages and costs which
they may sustain in case the decision of said board is
afl&rmed.

In case the decision of the board is affirmed the court,
on motion, shall assess damages, and execution shall
issue therefor.

Any person having any duty to perform under the
provisions of this act may, so far as may be necessary for
the performance of his duties, enter any building or
premises in the city of Boston.

Jurisdiction at Law.
Sect. 130. The municipal court of the city of Boston,
concurrently with the superior court, shall have jurisdic-

City of Boston Building Law. 107

tion throughout the city of prosecutions and proceedings
at law under the provisions of this act, and also of all
provisions of law relative to plumbing and gas-fitting.

Procedure.

Sect. 131. Upon the entry of any case brought under
the provisions of this act the court shall, at the request
of either party, advance the case, so that it may be heard
and determined with as little delay as possible.

Nuisance.

Sect. 132. A building or structure which is erected or
maintained in violation of the provisions of this act shall
be deemed a common nuisance without other proof thereof
than proof of its unlawful construction, and the commis-
sioner may abate and remove it in the same manner in
which boards of health may remove nuisances under the
provisions of sections sixty-seven, sixty-eight and sixty-
nine of chapter seventy-five of the Revised Laws.

Whoever violates any provision of this act, or whoever
builds, alters, or maintains any structure or any part
thereof in violation of any provision of this act, shall be
punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars,
except as hereinbefore provided.

[1913, c. 586, sect. 2.]

Repeals.
Sect. 133. So much of chapter four hundred and nine-
teen of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and ninety-
two and of all acts in amendment thereof as is unrepealed
is hereby repealed. So much of any other act as is incon-
sistent herewith is hereby repealed.

Sect. 134. This act shall take effect upon the first day
of August in the year nineteen hundred and seven.

[Approved June 22, 1907.

108 City of Boston Building Law.

CHAPTER 4, ACTS OF 1873.

An Act to Authorize the Erection of Wooden Build-
ings IN the City of Boston for Sanitary Purposes.

Be it enacted, etc.:

Section 1. The City of Boston is hereby authorized
to erect, under directions of its board of health and
inspector of buildings, any wooden buildings within the
city, for hospital purposes, the same to remain only so
long as said board deems it necessary: provided, that every
such hospital shall be constantly guarded outside by a
competent force of at least three of the police of said city.

Sect. 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

[January 28, 1873.

CHAPTER 129, ACTS OF 1889.

An Act Relating to Buildings in the Public Parks
OF THE City of Boston.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Section 1. The park commissioners of the city of
Boston may erect in the parks of said city that now are
or hereafter may be under their control, except the
common, public garden and pubhc squares, structures
for the shelter and refreshment of persons frequenting
such parks, aud for other park purposes, of such materials
and in such places as in the opinion of the fire commis-
sioners of said city do not endanger buildings beyond the
limits of the park. Section sixteen of chapter fifty-four
of the Public Statutes and chapter three hundred and
seventy-four of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and
eighty-five shall not apply to such buildings.

Sect. 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

[Approved March 18, 1889.

City of Boston Building Law. 109

CHAPTER 323, ACTS OF 1891.

An Act Relating to the Location, Laying Out, and
Construction of Highways in the City of Boston.
As Amended by Section 4, Chapter 418, Acts of
1892.
Section 9. If any building shall hereafter be placed or
erected in said city at a grade other than the grade there-
for, recorded in the ofl&ce of the city surveyor, and which
the city surveyor shall furnish on the request of the owner
of the land on which the building is to be placed, or if any
building shall be placed or erected within the boundaries
of any way shown on any of the plans hereinbefore pro-
vided for, after the filing of the plan as aforesaid, and not
removed at the expense of the owner when required by
said board of street commissioners, no damage occasioned
to the estate, of which the land on which the building
was so placed formed a part at the date of the first adver-
tisement of the first notice given by said board, relating to
the plan on which any part of said estate is shown, or to
any part of said estate, by any subsequent estabhshment
of any grade of any highway or by any subsequent change
of any grade of any highway, shall be recovered by, or be
paid to, the owner of the whole or of any part of such
estate.

Sect. 11. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

[Approved June 16, 1892.

CHAPTER 352, ACTS OF 1895.

An Act Relative to Advertising Signs and Struct-
ures Encroaching on Public Ways in the City
OF Boston,

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

No person shall place or maintain any sign or adver-
tising device upon any post in any public way in the

110 City of Boston Building Law.

city of Boston other than by painting; nor place or main-
tain upon any building or other structure any sign pro-
jecting into any such way more than one foot, nor any
other thing projecting into any such way more than four
feet, nor any sign or other projection the lowest part of
which is less than ten feet above the sidewalk thereof,
except that any awning, lamp, illuminated sign, and the
fixtures thereof, the lowest part of which is not less than
seven feet six inches above the surface of the sidewalk,
may, until the right to maintain the same is revoked, be
maintained as it is at present, or, if hereafter placed, be
maintained as specified in any permit issued therefor
by the officer appointed to have charge of the repairs of
such ways; and any person violating any of the preced-
ing provisions for more than five days after he is notified
by said officer that he is so doing shall be punished by a
fine of two dollars for each day that such violation con-
tinues after said notice. [Approved May 2, 1895.

CHAPTER 463, ACTS OF 1897.

An Act Relative to Filing in the Registry of Deeds
Notice of the Pendency of Certain Actions.
Section 13 of chapter 126 of the public statutes is hereby
amended by inserting after the word "estate", in the second
line, the words; — or the use and occupation thereof or the
buildings thereon, — so as to read as follows; — Section 13.
No writ of entry, petition for partition, or other proceeding,
either at law or in equity, affecting the title to real estate,
or the use and occupation thereof or the buildings thereon,
shall have any effect as against persons other than the
parties thereto, their heirs and devisees, and persons hav-
ing actual notice thereof, until a memorandum containing
the names of the parties to such proceeding, the court in
which it is pending, the date of the writ or other commence-

City of Boston Building Law. Ill

ment thereof, the name of the city or town in which the
real estate Hable to be affected thereby is situated, and a
description of such real estate sufficiently accurate for
identification, is recorded in the registry of deeds for the
county or district in which such real estate is situated;
but this section shall not apply to attachments, levies of
execution, or proceedings in the probate courts, nor to
any case which is pending on the fifteenth day of June in
the year eighteen hundred and seventy-seven.

[Approved June 4, 1897.

CHAPTER 452, ACTS OF 1898.

An Act Relative to the Height of Buildings on and
NEAR Copley Square, in the City of Boston.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Section 1. Any building now being built, or hereafter
to be built, rebuilt or altered in the city of Boston, upon
any land abutting on St. James avenue, between Clarendon
street and Dartmouth street, or upon land at the corner
of Dartmouth street and Huntington avenue, now occu-
pied by the Pierce building, so called, or upon land abutting
on Dartmouth street, now occupied by the Boston Public
Library building, or upon land at the corner of Dart-
mouth street and Boylston street, now occupied by the
new Old South Church building, may be completed, built,
rebuilt or altered to the height of ninety feet, and no
more; and upon any land or lands abutting on Boylston
street, between Dartmouth street and Clarendon street,
may be completed, built, rebuilt or altered to the height
of one hundred feet, and no more; provided, however, that
there may be erected on any such building, above the
limits hereinbefore prescribed, such steeples, towers,
domes, sculptured ornaments and chimneys as the board
of park commissioners of said city may approve.

112 City of Boston Building Law.

Sect. 2, The provisions of chapter three hundred and
thirteen of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and
ninety-six, and of chapter three hundred and seventy-nine
of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and ninety-seven,
so far as they Hmit the height of buildings, shall not be
construed to apply to the territory specified and restricted
in section one of this act.

Sect. 3. The owner of or any person having an interest
in any building upon any land described in section one of
this act, the construction whereof was begun but not
completed before the fourteenth day of January in the
current year, who suffers damage under the provisions of
this act by reason or in consequence of having planned
and begun such construction, or made contracts therefor,
for a height exceeding that limited by section one of this
act for the locality where said construction has been
begun, may recover damages from the city of Boston for
material bought or actually contracted for, and the use
of which is prevented by the provisions of this act, for
the excess of cost of material bought or actually contracted
for over that which would be necessary for such building
if not exceeding in height the limit prescribed for that
locality by section one of this act, less the value of such
materials as are not required on account of the Imitations,
resulting from the provisions of this act, and the actual
cost or expense of any re-arrangement of the design or
construction of such building made necessary by this
act, by proceedings begun within two years of the passage
of this act, and in the manner prescribed by law for obtain-
ing payment for damages sustained by any person whose
land is taken in the laying out of a highway in said city.

Sect. 4. Any person sustaining damage or loss in his
property by reason of the limit of the height of buildings
provided for in this act, may recover such damage or loss
from the city of Boston, by proceedings begun within
three years of the passage of this act, and in the manner

City of Boston Building Law. 113

prescribed by law for obtaining payment for damages
sustained by any person whose land is taken in the laying
out of a highway in said city.

Sect. 5. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

[Approved May 23, 1898.

CHAPTER 457, ACTS OF 1899.

An Act to Limit the Height of Buildings in the
Vicinity of the State House.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Section 1. Any building now being built or hereafter
to be built, rebuilt or altered in that part of the city of
Boston which Hes within the following described territory,
to wit : — Beginning at the corner of Beacon street and
Hancock avenue, thence continuing westerly on Beacon
street to Joy street, thence continuing northerly on Joy
street to Myrtle street, thence continuing easterly on
Myrtle street to Hancock street, thence continuing
southerly on Hancock street and Hancock avenue to the
point of beginning, — may be completed, built, rebuilt or
altered to the height of seventy feet measured on its
principal front and no higher : provided, however, that there
may be erected on any such building above the limits
hereinbefore described, such chimneys and ornamental
features as the commissioner of buildings of the city of
Boston may approve, but said ornamental features shall
not be such as to increase the interior capacity of said
buildings.

Sect, 2. If and in so far as this act, or proceedings to
enforce it, may deprive any person of rights existing under
the Constitution, any such person now owning land within
the district above described, sustaining damages in his
property by reason of the limitations of the height pro-
vided for in this act of any building on or to be placed on
such land may recover from the Commonwealth such

114 City of Boston Building Law.

damages, as determined by a jury of the superior court
for the county of Suffolk, on his petition therefor filed in
the office of the clerk of said court within one year after
the passage of this act, such determination and payment
of the damages to be made under the same rules of law,
so far as applicable, as govern the determination and
payment of damages for the taking of lands for highways
in said city.

Sect. 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

[Approved June 2, 1899.

CHAPTER 543, ACTS OF 1902.

An Act Relative to the Improvement of the State
House and to the Height of Buildings on Beacon
Street and Bowdoin Street in the City of
Boston.
Section 1. Any part of any building abutting on or
within forty-two feet of Bowdoin street between Allston
street and Beacon street may be completed, built, rebuilt
or altered to the height of one hundred feet above the
highest grade of that part of said Bowdoin street on
which the building abuts as such grade has been changed
and established by the governor and council and no
higher, and any part of any building on or within ninety-
five feet of Beacon street between the Claflin building,
so-called, and Park street may be completed, built, rebuilt
or altered to the height of seventy feet above the highest
grade of said Beacon street and no higher: provided,
however, that there may be erected on any such building,
such chimneys, pipes, water tanks, elevator houses and
ornamental features which shall not increase the interior
capacity of said building as the governor and council may
approve.

Sect. 2. Any person owning land on or within forty-

City of Boston Building Law. 115

two feet of Bowdoin street, between Allston street and
Beacon street, or on or within ninety-five feet of Beacon
street between the Claflin building, so-called, and Park
street, whose property is damaged more than it is benefited
by the improvement of the State House, consisting of the
limitation of the height of buildings on said land, the
laying out and grading of said streets, the removal of
buildings between Hancock street and Bowdoin street,
the reconstruction and extension of the State House and
the construction of the park between Bowdoin street and
the State House, may, within two years after the passage
of this act, and not afterward, file in the office of the
clerk of the superior court for the county of Suffolk, his
petition for a jury to determine such damage, and a jury
of said court shall thereupon determine the question,
under the rules of law, so far as they are appHcable, under
which damages for the laying out of highways under the
Revised Laws are determined. If the jury find that the
petitioner is damaged more than he is benefited by said
improvement they shall determine the amount of the
difference, and the Commonwealth shall pay the same;
and if the jury shall not so find, judgment shall be entered
for the Commonwealth, costs taxed and execution issued
therefor against the petitioner as in civil cases. The city
of Boston shall repay to the Commonwealth all damages
which the state shall be required to pay for the change of
grade of Bowdoin street made under authority of the
governor and council, and for all expenses incurred in
making such change.

Sect. 3. Section two of chapter three hundred and
eighty-two of the acts of the year nineteen hundred, as
amended by section one of chapter five hundred and twenty-
five of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and one,
is hereby further amended by striking out all of said
section two after the word "Commonwealth", in the
seventeenth fine, so as to read as follows : Section 2. The

116 City of Boston Building Law.

governor and council may lay out said land for use as a
park, with driveways, walks, grass plots, curbing and
railing; may close Mount Vernon street from Beacon
street to the state house arch; may construct a new
approach to the state house from Bowdoin street and from
Beacon street; may build retaining walls and fences;
may change the grade of Mount Vernon street from Joy
street to the state house as they shall deem to be most
advantageous for an approach to the state house; may
change the grade of Bowdoin street from Beacon street
to Ashburton place so that the street will be substantially
level in that part, and may widen Bowdoin street at any
part to a width not exceeding fifty feet; may grade and
construct said streets and relay the sewers, pipes, tubes,
conduits and wires therein wherever necessary, and may
provide for the proper storage of coal for the use of the
Commonwealth .

Sect. 4. Section three of said chapter five hundred
and twenty-five is hereby repealed.

Sect. 5. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

[Approved June 28, 1902.

CHAPTER 242, ACTS OF 1904.

An Act to Regulate Public Lodging Houses in
Certain Cities.

Section 1. In cities of over fifty thousand inhabitants
every building not licensed as an inn, in which ten or
more persons are lodged for a price of twenty-five cents or
less for each person for a day of twenty-four hours, or for
any part thereof, shall be deemed a public lodging house
within the meaning of this act.

Sect. 2. The officer or board having charge of the
police in any such city may license persons to keep public

City of Boston Building Law. 117

lodging houses therein. No fee shall be charged for such
license, and it shall expire on the thirtieth day of April
next after the granting of the same. Every such license
shall specify the street or other place and the number of
the building, or give some other particular description
thereof, where the licensee shall exercise his employment;
and the license shall not protect a person exercising his
employment in any other place than that so specified.

Sect. 3. No such license shall be granted in any such
city until the inspector of buildings thereof, or the other
officer or board having authority to administer the laws
and ordinances in regard to the construction of buildings
therein, has certified that the building is provided with
sufficient means of escape in case of fire, and that suitable
appliances are provided for extinguishing fires and for
giving alarm to the inmates in case of fire; and such
officer or board may from time to time require such altera-
tions to be made or such additional appHances to be
provided as may in his or their judgment be necessary for
the protection of life and property in case of fire.

Sect. 4. No such license shall be granted in any such
city until the board of health thereof has certified that
the building is provided with a sufficient number of water
closets and urinals, and with good and sufficient means of
ventilation; and the said board may from time to time
require the licensee thoroughly to cleanse and disinfect all
parts of said building and the furniture therein, to the
satisfaction of such board.

Sect. 5. In every public lodging house a register shall
be kept in which shall be entered the name and address of
each lodger, together with the time of his arrival and
departure, and such register shall at all times be open to
the inspection of the police.

Sect. 6. The keeper of every public lodging house shall
at all times, when so required by any officer of the building

118 City of Boston Building Law.

department, of the health department, or of the poHce
department, give him free access to said house or any part
thereof.

Sect. 7. Whoever keeps or holds himself out as keeping
a public lodging house without being duly licensed as here-
inbefore provided, and whoever is concerned or financially
interested in any public lodging house, the keeper of which
is not so licensed, shall be punished by a fine not exceed-
ing one hundred dollars; and every keeper of a public
lodging house who violates any provision of this act
shall be punished by a fine of one hundred dollars,
and the licensing board shall immediately revoke his
license.

Sect. 8. Chapter four hundred and fourteen of the
acts of the year eighteen hundred and ninety-four is hereby
repealed.

Sect. 9. This act shall take effect on the first day of
June in the year nineteen hundred and four.

[Approved April 20, 1904.

CHAPTER 129, ACTS OF 1911.

An Act to Regulate Public Lodging Houses in
Certain Cities.

Section 1. The provisions of chapter two hundred and
forty-two of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and
four, regulating public lodging houses in cities of over fifty
thousand inhabitants, shall also apply to all buildings in
said cities maintained for furnishing lodging to transient
persons, and not licensed as an inn, in which ten or more
persons are lodged, notwithstanding that no price is
charged for lodging.

Sect. 2. This act shall take effect on the first day of
June in the year nineteen hundred and eleven,

[Approved March 11, 1911.

City of Boston Building Law. 119

CHAPTER 333, ACTS OF 1904.

An Act Relative to the Height op Buildings in the
City of Boston.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Section 1. The city of Boston shall be divided into
districts of two classes, to be designated districts A and B.
The boundaries of the said districts, established as here-
inafter provided, shall continue for a period of fifteen years,
and shall be determined in such manner that those parts
of the city in which all or the greater part of the buildings
situate therein are at the time of such determination used
for business or commercial purposes shall be included in
the district or districts designated A, and those parts of
the city in which all or the greater part of the buildings
situate therein are at the said time used for residential
purposes or for other purposes not business or commercial
shall be in the district or districts designated B.

Sect. 2. Upon the passage of this act the mayor of the
city shall appoint a commission of three members to be
called "Commission on Height of Buildings in the City of
Boston." The commission shall immediately upon its
appointment give notice and public hearings, and shall
make an order establishing the boundaries of the districts
aforesaid, and, within one month after its appointment,
shall cause the same to be recorded in the registry of deeds
for the county of Suffolk. The boundaries so estabhshed
shall continue for a period of fifteen years from the date
of said recording. Any person who is aggrieved by the
said order may, within thirty days after the recording
thereof, appeal to the commission for a revision; and the
commission may, within six months after its appointment,
revise such order, and the revision shall be recorded in the
registry of deeds for the county of Suffolk, and shall date
back to the original date of recording. The members of
the commission shall serve until the districts have been

120 City of Boston Building Law.

established as aforesaid; and any vacancy in the commis-
sion caused by resignation, death or inability to act shall
be filled by the mayor, on written application by the
remaining members of the commission or of ten inhabitants
of the city. The members of the commission shall receive
such compensation as the mayor shall determine.

Sect. 3. In the city of Boston no building shall be
erected to a height of more than one hundred and twenty-
five feet above the grade of the street in any district desig-
nated A, and no building shall be erected to a height of
more than eighty feet above the grade of the street in any
district designated B. These restrictions shall not apply
to grain or coal elevators or sugar refineries in any district
designated A, nor to steeples, domes, towers or cupolas
erected for strictly ornamental purposes, of fireproof
material, on buildings of the above height or less in any
district. The supreme judicial court and the superior
court shall each have jurisdiction in equity to enforce the
provisions of this act, and to restrain the violation thereof.

Sect. 4. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

[Approved May 13, 1904.

[Order of December 3, 1904-]

June 7, 1904, the mayor of the city of Boston,
under the provisions of chapter 333 of the Acts of 1904,
appointed the Commission on Height of Buildings in the
city of Boston, and they on July 5, 1904, made an order
in accordance with the provisions of said chapter, which
order is recorded in the Suffolk Registry of Deeds, Book
2976, page 45.

Order of July 5, 1904, as amended and revised by order
of December 3, 1904.

A. The boundaries of the Districts A, hereby estab-
lished, are as follows, to wit:

1. Beginning on the northerly side of that part of the
said city known as East Boston at the Chelsea Street

City of Boston Building Law. 121

Bridge, thence running southeasterly, southerly and
southwesterly through the centre of Chelsea street to
Eagle square, thence westerly through said Eagle square
and the centre of Eagle street to Glendon street, thence
northerly through the centre of said Glendon street to
Condor street, thence westerly through the centre of said
Condor street to Border street, thence southerly and
southwesterly through the centre of said Border street to
Sumner street, thence southeasterly through the centre
of said Sumner street to Orleans street, thence south-
westerly through the centre of said Orleans street to
Marginal street, thence southeasterly and easterly through
the centre of said Marginal street to Jeffries street, thence
northeasterly through the centre of said Jeffries street to
Maverick street, thence northwesterly through the centre
of said Maverick street to the location of the Boston,
Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad, thence northerly and
northeasterly along the said Railroad to the property of
the said city known as Wood Island Park, thence south-
easterly along the line dividing the said property of the
said city from the property of the East Boston Company
and the property of the Commonwealth to the harbor,
thence southwesterly, westerly, northwesterly, northerly,
northeasterly, and easterly along the said harbor and
Chelsea creek, around the said East Boston to the point
of beginning at said Chelsea Street Bridge; meaning to
include in the said District A all those portions of wards
one and two of the said city, as now established by law,
which are situated within the boundary line hereinbefore
described.

2. Beginning on the southerly side of that part of the
said city known as Charlestown at the Charlestown Bridge,
thence running northwesterly through the centre of said
bridge and the approaches thereof to a point on said
approaches immediately over the centre of the arch con-
necting Warren avenue with Water street, thence north-

122 City of Boston Building Law.

easterly through the centre of said Water street to the
property of the United States known as the United States
Navy Yard, thence northwesterly along the southwesterly
boundary line of said property of the United States to
Chelsea street, thence northeasterly through the centre
of said Chelsea street to Medford street, thence north-
westerly and westerly through the centre of said Medford
street to the junction of said Medford street. Bunker
Hill street and Main street, thence northwesterly through
the centre of said Main street to the property of the said
city known as the Charlestown Playground, thence north-
easterly along the southeasterly boundary of said Play-
ground to the Mystic river, thence easterly, southeasterly,
southerly and southwesterly along said Mystic river and
the harbor around said Charlestown to the point of begin-
ning at said Charlestown Bridge; meaning to include in
the said District A all those portions of Wards three, four
and five of the said city as now established by law, which
are situated within the boundary line hereinbefore
described.

3. Beginning on the easterly side of that part of the
said city known as the city proper at the Congress Street
Bridge, thence running southeasterly across said bridge
to that part of said city known as South Boston, thence
northeasterly, easterly, southeasterly, westerly, southerly
and easterly around the northerly part of said South Boston
and the Reserved channel, so-called, to the point on the
southerly boundary of said Reserved channel where Q
street extended northerly would meet the said channel,
thence southerly through the centre of said Q street to
East First street, thence westerly through the centre of
East First street to I street, thence southerly through the
centre of said I street to East Second street, thence
westerly through the centre of said East Second street to
the junction of said East Second street, Dorchester street
and West First street, thence northwesterly through the

City of Boston Building Law. 123

centre of said West First street to Dorchester avenue,
thence southerly through the centre of said Dorchester
avenue to Dexter street, thence westerly through the
centre of said Dexter street to EUery street, thence
southerly through the centre of said Ellery street to
Southampton street, thence westerly through the centre
of said Southampton street to Massachusetts avenue,
thence northwesterly through the centre of said Massa-
chusetts avenue to Albany street, thence northeasterly
through the centre of said Albany street to East Dedham
street, thence northwesterly through the centre of said
East Dedham street to Harrison avenue, thence north-
easterly through the centre of said Harrison avenue to
Troy street, thence southeasterly through the centre of
said Troy street to Albany street, thence northerly through
the centre of said Albany street to Broadway, thence
northwesterly through the centre of said Broadway to
Washington street, thence northwesterly across said
Washington street and through the centre of Pleasant
street to Piedmont street, thence westerly through the
centre of said Piedmont street to Ferdiaand street, thence
northwesterly through the centre of said Ferdinand street
to Columbus avenue, thence southwesterly through the
centre of Columbus avenue to a point where a line passing
along the boundary line between the estates now num-
bered 352 and 356 on Boylston street and extended south-
easterly would meet said point on Columbus avenue,
thence from said point northwesterly along said Hne and
between said estates above mentioned to a point in the
centre of Boylston street opposite or nearly opposite the
westerly boundary of the lot on which the Arlington
Street Church now stands, thence easterly through the
centre of said Boylston street to Tremont street, thence
northerly and northeasterly through the centre of said
Tremont street to Park street, thence northwesterly
through the centre of said Park street to Beacon street,

124 City of Boston Building Law.

thence northeasterly through the centre of said Beacon
street to Bowdoin street, thence northerly through the
centre of said Bowdoin street to Cambridge street, thence
westerly through the centre of said Cambridge street to
Staniford street, thence northerly through the centre of
said Staniford street to Green street, thence northwesterly
through the centre of said Green street to Leverett street,
thence northwesterly through the centre of said Leverett
street to the Charles river at Craigie Bridge, thence north-
easterly, easterly, southeasterly, southerly and south-
westerly by the said Charles river and the said harbor
around the said city proper to the point of beginning at
said Congress Street Bridge; meaning to include in said
District A the whole of ward six and all those portions
of wards seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen,
fourteen, fifteen and seventeen of the said city, as now
established by law, which are situated within the boundary
line hereinbefore described.

B. The boundaries of the Districts B hereby estab-
lished are as follows, to wit:

1. All those portions of said wards one and two which
are situated outside the line beginning and ending at said
Chelsea Street Bridge hereinbefore established as the
boundary of one of said Districts A.

2. All those portions of said wards three, four and five
which are situated outside, the line beginning and ending
at said Charlestown Bridge hereinbefore established as the
boundary of one of said District A.

3. The whole of wards sixteen, eighteen, nineteen,
twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-
four and twenty-five of the said city, as now established
by law, and all those portions of said wards seven, eight,
nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen and
seventeen which are situated outside the line beginning
and ending at said Congress-street Bridge hereinbefore
established as the boundary of one of said Districts A.

City of Boston Building Law. 125

Meaning to include in the said Districts B all those
portions of the said city not included in the Districts
hereinbefore established as Districts A.

Wherever in this order the words "harbor," "river,"
"creek" are found, the same are intended to mean the
furthest line towards deep water on said harbor, river or
creek respectively on which the erection of wharves or
other structures is permitted by the State and United
States authorities.

[CHAPTER 383, STATUTE OF 1905.]

An Act Relative to the Height of Buildings in the

City of Boston.
Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Section 1. Within thirty days after the passage of this
act the mayor of the city of Boston shall appoint a com-
mission of three members to determine, in accordance
with the conditions hereinafter provided, the height of
buildings within the district designated by the commis-
sion on height of buildings in the city of Boston as district
B, in accordance with chapter three hundred and thirty-
three of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and four.

Sect, 2. Said commission shall immediately upon its
appointment give notice and public hearings, and shall
make an order estabHshing the boundaries of or otherwise
pointing out such parts, if any, of said district B, as it
may designate in which buildings may be erected to a
height exceeding eighty feet but not exceeding one hundred
feet, and the height between eighty feet and one hundred
feet to which buildings may so be erected, and the condi-
tions under which buildings may be erected to said height,
except that such order may provide for the erection of
buildings as aforesaid to a height not exceeding one hundred
and twenty-five feet in that portion of said district B
which lies within fifty feet from the boundary line separat-

126 City of Boston Building Law.

ing said district B from the district designated by the com-
mission on height of buildings in the city of Boston as
district A in accordance with said chapter three hundred
and thirty^three, provided said boundary line divides
the premises affected by such order from other adjoining
premises both owned by the same person or persons, and
within sixty days after its appointment shall cause the
same to be recorded in the registry of deeds for the county
of Suffolk. Any person who is aggrieved by such order
may, within sixty days after the recording thereof, appeal
to the commission for a revision; and the commission may,
previous to the first day of January in the year nineteen
hundred and six, revise such order, and the revision shall
be recorded in the registry of deeds for the county of Suffolk
and shall date back to the original date of recording.
The boundaries so established shall continue for a period
of fifteen years from the date of the recording of the order
made by the commission on height of buildings in the city
of Boston under chapter three hundred and thirty-three
of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and four. The
members of the commission shall receive such compensa-
tion as the mayor shall determine.

Sect. 3. Within such parts of district B as may be
designated by the commission as aforesaid (which may,
except as hereinafter provided, include any parts of said
district B affected by prior acts limiting the height of
buildings) buildings may be erected to the height fixed by
the commission as aforesaid, exceeding eighty feet but
not exceeding one hundred feet, or one hundred and twenty-
five feet as hereinbefore provided, and subject to such
conditions as may be fixed as aforesaid by the commis-
sion; but within the following described territory, to wit:—
Beginning at the corner of Beacon street and Hancock
avenue, thence continuing westerly on Beacon street to
Joy street, thence continuing northerly on Joy street to
Myrtle street, thence continuing easterly on Myrtle

City of Boston Building Law. 127

street to Hancock street, thence continuing southerly
on Hancock street and Hancock avenue to the point of
beginning, no building shall be erected to a height greater
than seventy feet, measured on its principal front, and
no building shall be erected on a parkway, boulevard or
public way on which a building line has been established
by the board of park commissioners or by the board of
street commissioners, acting under any general or special
statute, to a greater height than that allowed by the order
of said boards; and no building upon land any owner of
which has received and retained compensation in damages
for any limitation of height or who retains any claim for
such damages shall be erected to a height greater than
that fixed by the limitation for which such damages were
received or claimed.

Sect. 4. No limitations of the height of buildings
in the city of Boston shall apply to churches, steeples,
towers, domes, cupolas, belfries or statuary not used for
purposes of habitation, nor to chimneys, gas holders,
coal or grain elevators, open balustrades, skylights, venti-
lators, flagstaffs, railings, weather vanes, soil pipes, steam
exhausts, signs, roof houses not exceeding twelve feet square
and twelve feet high, nor to other similar constructions such
as are usually erected above the roof line of buildings.

Sect. 5. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

[Approved May 8, 1905.

[Order of July 21, 1905.]
Buildings may be erected on streets exceeding sixty-
four (64) feet in width, to a height equal to one and one-
quarter times the width of the street upon which the
building stands; and, if situated on more than one street,
the widest street is to be taken, the height to be measured
from the mean grade of the curbs of all the streets upon
which the building is situated, and not exceeding one
hundred (100) feet in any event.

128 City of Boston Building Law.

If the street is of uneven width, its width will be con-
sidered as the average width opposite the building to
be erected.

The width of a street shall be held to include the width
of any space on the same side of the street upon which a
building stands, upon or within which space no building
can be lawfully erected by virtue of any building line
established by the Board of Street Commissioners or the
Board of Park Commissioners acting under general or
special laws.

All streets or portions of streets upon which buildings
may be erected on one side only shall be considered as of
a width of eighty (80) feet as to that portion upon which
buildings may be erected on one side only.

In the case of irregular or triangular open spaces formed
by the intersection of streets, the width of the street
shall be taken as the width of the widest street entering
said space at the point of entrance.

No building shall, however, be erected on a parkway,
boulevard or public way on which a building line has been
established by either of said Boards acting under general
or special laws to a height greater than that allowed by
said general or special laws, nor otherwise in violation of
Section 3 of said Chap. 383, Acts of 1905.

No building shall be erected to a height greater than
eighty (80) feet unless its width on each and every public
street upon which it stands will be at least one-half its
height.

Nothing in this order shall be construed as affecting any
condition or restriction imposed by deed, agreement or by
operation of law on any property in said Districts B.

The said Commissioners further provide that buildings
may be erected to a height not exceeding one hundred and
twenty-five (125) feet in that portion of the District B as
established by the Commission on Height of Buildings in
its order dated December 3, 1904, recorded with Suffolk

City of Boston Building Law. 129

Deeds, Book 3008, page 129, which Hes fifty (50) feet
westerly from the boundary line running from Colmnbus
avenue to the centre of Boylston street, separating said
District B from District A, as established by said order;
'provided, however, that said portion of District B is owned
by the same person or persons who own the adjoiaiag
premises in District A.

Revised Order of November 20, 1905.

1 . So long as the property owned by the city of Boston
on Dalton, Belvidere and Scotia streets, bounded 205.5 feet
on Dalton street, 250 feet on Belvidere street, and 184 feet
on Scotia street, be said measurements more or less, shall
be used for a Mechanic Arts High School, any building or
buildings thereon may be erected to a height of one hun-
dred (100) feet.

2. Add at the end of the third paragraph the words:
"or by the Commonwealth or City," so that the concluding
part of said paragraph shall read, "established by the
Board of Street Commissioners or the Board of Park Com-
missioners acting under general or special laws or by the
Commonwealth or City."

3. After the tenth word in the fourth paragraph insert
the word ''lawfully" so that said paragraph shall read:
"All streets or portions of streets upon which buildings
may lawfully be erected, etc."

CHAPTER 450, ACTS OF 1904.

An Act Relative to the Licensing and Inspection of

Theatres and Public Halls.
Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Section 1. In this act the term "theatre" shall mean
a building or part of a building in which it is designed to
make a business of the presentation of dramatic, operatic
or other performances or shows for the entertainment of

130 City of Boston Building Law.

spectators, which is capable of seating at least four hun-
dred persons, and which has a stage for such performances
that can be used for scenery and other stage appliances.
The term '' public hall" shall mean any building, or part
of a building, excluding theatres, armories and churches,
containing an audience or assembly hall capable of seating
four hundred persons, and used for public gatherings.

Sect. 2. In Boston the mayor, and in all other cities
and towns the chief of the district police, shall be the officer
to issue licenses for theatres and public halls. The terms,
conditions and form of each license shall be prescribed by
the licensing officer, and all licenses shall expire on the
first day of August in each year. Licenses shall be issued
upon application: ^provided, that the applicant shall have
complied with all provisions of law in respect to the theatre
or public hall for which a license is sought.

Sect. 3. Licensees shall be responsible, civilly and
criminally, for non-compHance with laws applicable to
the building covered by the license, and for non-compliance
with the conditions of the license, and for any misrepre-
sentation in the application. The licensing officer shall
cause a complete inspection of all theatres and public halls
to be made once in each month and as much oftener as
practicable.

Sect. 4. Every inspection shall cover all details
relating to the condition of the building as regards the
safety of life and property, and the inspector shall make a
signed report as to all such details upon a tabulated inspec-
tion blank, the form of which shall be determined by the
licensing officer. The forms of such blanks may be
adapted to the conditions of each class of buildings included
in the provisions of this act, but they shall be such as to
enable the inspectors to report a rating on the points and
in the form hereinafter specified, and shall include a
detailed table of legal requirements, with a statement as
to compliance or non-compliance with each. All inspectors

CiTT OF Boston Building Law. 131

inspecting theatres during the month shall collate the
report of their inspections and rate each theatre or public
hall on the following points in the following form: —

1. Comphance with existing laws, non-comphance in
any particular to be specified.

2. The following ratings of each building as to the
safety of the audience in the judgment of the inspectors
in the light of improved methods of insuring safety.

Condition, whether

poor, fair, good Remarks,
or excellent.
a. Structural condition.

6. Facility of escape of audience.

c. Heating apparatus.

d. Water supply.

e. Lighting apparatus,

/. Condition of fire apparatus.

g. Condition of sprinklers.

h. Curtains.

i. Protection against neighborhood hazard.

j. General condition of appliances and apparatus.

k. General condition of stage.

Rating as a whole.

With regard to safety of audience.
And such other points as in the opinion of the licensing
officer may be suitable. These reports and ratings shall
be signed by the inspectors and rendered to the licensing
officer on the last day of every month, and shall give the
date of, all inspections made during the month, with such
remarks upon the condition of each theatre and public
hall as may be suitable to give notice of danger or to give
confidence in the safety of such buildings. After each
inspection of a theatre or public hall, the inspector shall
post a notice in conspicuous type in the entrance to such
theatre or hall in the following form: —

"This theatre (or hall) has been inspected by official
inspector (name of inspector) on (date)."

132 City of Boston Building Law.

Sect. 5. The licensing officer may call upon any depart-
ment, board and officer in the city or town where a build-
ing is situated to cause a competent inspection thereof to
be made, on any matter as to which the licensing officer
desires information, and to report such inspection,
together with recommendations relating to such building,
to the licensing officer, and it shall be the duty of such
department, board or officer, when so requested, to cause
such inspection and report to be made. Each department,
board and officer may inspect buildings included within
the provisions of this act at any time, and report inspec-
tions and recommendations to the licensing officer, who
shall take such action thereon as he may see fit.

Sect. 6. The full inspection reports shall be kept on
file by the licensing officer, but, except as hereinafter pro-
vided, they shall not be open to examination by the public
until the expiration of one month from the time when
they were rendered, except with the consent of the licensing
officer. Each licensee shall be entitled to examine the
full reports of his own building at any time. The licensing
officer shall make a full report annually of the condition
of all theatres and public halls,' and the report shall be a
public document, open to examination by the public at all
times. The reports of inspectors shall be public records
of matters of public interest, and a fair publication of
these reports, or part thereof, or comment thereon, by any
person, in newspapers or otherwise, shall be privileged.

Sect. 7. The licensing officer may, in his discretion, in
case of emergency, suspend inspections for a period not
exceeding one month, and may when in his opinion the
circumstances warrant, after the first monthly inspections,
issue a permit exempting a public hall, but not a theatre,
from regular inspection for not more than six months, on
condition that he be notified by the licensee of any sub-
stantial change in the conditions. Such permit shall not
prevent inspection at any time during the period specified.

City of Boston Building Law. 133

Sect. 8. A certified copy of the monthly ratings and
conclusions of the inspectors in respect to any Ucensed
building shall be delivered or mailed by the hcensing
officer to the licensee at the building. If any inspector
shall report that the laws or the conditions of the Ucense
are not complied with by any licensee, it shall be the duty
of the licensing officer to notify the licensee, fixing a time
within which he shall comply with the law and the condi-
tions of the license. If, at the expiration of such time
there has not been such compliance, the licensing officer
shall give a hearing to the licensee, and if upon investiga-
tion he shall find that there is cause, he shaU revoke the
license. The licensing officer shall have power, if, in his
opinion, the public safety requhes it, to order any theatre
or public hall to be closed pending a hearing upon the
revocation of the license for such building, and any person
failing to comply with such order may be punished by fine
not exceeding one thousand dollars.

Sect. 9. Any licensee may post upon his premises a
certified copy of the complete table of ratings and con-
clusions relating to the building covered by his license,
but he shall not post an incomplete copy of such table.

Sect. 10. Except in Boston, whoever is aggrieved by
any order or decision of a licensing officer may apply to a
judge of the superior court sitting in equity for the county
in which the building affected by such order or decision is
situated, for the appointment of a board of appeal of three
disinterested persons to examine the premises and hear
the parties and render a decision in writing and under
oath, to be filed in the office of the clerk of courts in said
county within ten days after such hearing, and the majority
of said persons shall decide whether the whole or a part of
the order or requirement shall be complied with, and the
Hcensing officer shall make his order or decision conform
to the decision of the said board of appeal. If the decision
is not unanimous the dissenting member of the board

134 City of Boston Building Law.

shall file a written statement of his reasons, under oath.
The compensation of the members of such board of appeal
and the taxation of costs in such cases shall be governed
by sections twenty and twenty-one of chapter one hun-
dred and four of the Revised Laws. In Boston the appeal
shall be to the board of appeals as provided in sections
twelve and thirteen of chapter four hundred and nine-
teen of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and
ninety-two.

Sect. 11. Any court having equity jurisdiction may,
upon the application of the licensing officer, enforce by
any suitable process or decree, the provisions of this act
and any order or requirement of any person made by
authority of this act.

Sect. 12. Any person having any duties or powers
under this act may in the performance of his duty enter
any building included within the provisions of this act and
any person who wilfully obstructs his entry may be
punished by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars.

Sect. 13. Any person having any duty to perform
under this act in connection with the licensing or inspection
of buildings who wilfully makes any false statement or
report or any false record of any statement, report or
rating as to any building shall be punished by a fine of
not more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment
for not more than one year. Any licensee under this act
who wilfully makes any false statement or representation
in his application for a license shall be punished by a fine
of not more than one thousand dollars or by imprison-
ment for not more than one year.

Sect. 14. Any officer or person having any duty in
any way connected with the inspections provided for by
this act, who requests for himself or another, or accepts
or uses any ticket or pass or privilege or admission, to any
theatre or public hall, for which he is to pay or has paid
either nothing or a price less than that demanded of the

City of Boston Building Law. 135

public generally, and any owner, proprietor, manager,
lessee, agent or employee of any theatre or public hall,
or any other person who issues, delivers, offers or allows
any such ticket, pass, privilege or admission to any such
officer or person or to any other person at the request,
solicitation, procurement, or with the connivance of any
such officer or person shall be punished by a fine of not
less than one hundred nor more than one thousand
dollars.

Sect. 15. So much of section one hundred and seventy-
two of chapter one hundred and two of the Revised Laws
and of any other act as is inconsistent herewith is hereby
repealed, and all local ordinances, by-laws and regulations
of any kind inconsistent herewith are hereby annulled.
The penalty provided in section one hundred and seventy-
three of said chapter one hundred and two shall apply
to all acts specified in said section one hundred and seventy-
three and done without a Ucense under this act.

Sect. 16. This act shall take effect on the first day of
September in the year nineteen hundred and four.

[Appj'oved June 9, 1904-

CHAPTER 347, ACTS OF 1905.

An Act to Prohibit the Obstruction of Means of
Egress from Buildings.

Section 1. Any article or thing placed upon a fire
escape or an outside means of egress of any building is
hereby declared a common nuisance. Any court authorized
to issue warrants in criminal cases may, upon complaint
under oath made by any poHce officer that any article or
thing is placed or maintained upon a fire escape or outside
means of egress of any building, issue a warrant to bring
such article or thing when found before a court having
jurisdiction of the same, and all articles or things seized

136 City of Boston Building Law.

under the authority of such a warrant shall be disposed of
as provided in sections three to eight inclusive of chapter
two hundred and seventeen of the Revised Laws relative
to articles seized under clause eleven of section one of
said chapter. Any owner, lessee, tenant or occupant of
any building who maintains or permits to remain upon any
fire escape or outside means of egress of any building any
article or thing for more than twenty minutes shall be
punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars.
The existence of any article or thing upon a fire escape or
outside means of egress of any building shall be prima facie
evidence that such article or thing was so placed, main-
tained or permitted to remain by the occupant of the
premises having access from said building to said fire
escape or outside means of egress.

Sect. 2. Every stairway of every building shall be kept
free and unobstructed, and any person who permits any
article or thing to remain in any stairway of any building
in such a manner as may impede the egress of any person
lawfully in said building, or the egress of any person law-
fully entitled to enter said building shall be punished by
a fine of not more than five hundred dollars. The existence
of any article or thing in any such stairway in any.building
shall be prima facie evidence that it was placed or per-
mitted to remain therein by the owner, lessee, tenant or
occupant of the building.

[Approved April 28, 1905.

CHAPTER 437, ACTS OF 1905.

An Act to Regulate the use of the Cinematograph
IN Churches and Other Public Buildings.

The provisions of chapter one hundred and seventy-six
of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and five, being
an act entitled "An Act to regulate the use of the cine-

City of Boston Building Law. 137

matograph," shall apply to the use, keeping, exhibition
and inspection of cinematographs which are to be used,
kept or exhibited in any church or other pubHc building,
whether such use, keeping or exhibition is on premises
licensed or not licensed for entertainments.

[Approved May 23, 1905.

CHAPTER 416. ACTS OF 1907.

An Act Relative to the Height of Buildings on
Rutherford Avenue in the City of Boston.

Section 1. The width of Rutherford avenue in the
Charlestown district of the city of Boston, between Chap-
man street and the Mystic river tracks of the Boston and
Maine RaUroad crossing the northerly part of said avenue,
shall be considered as eighty feet in respect to the height
of buildings that may be erected on the southwesterly and
westerly side of said avenue, between the points mentioned,
so as to permit the erection of buildings to the height of
one hundred feet, as provided for buildings erected on
streets of the width aforesaid in district B by the com-
mission appointed on height of buildings in the city of
Boston, under chapter three hundred and eighty-three of
the acts of the year nineteen hundred and five.

Sect. 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

[Approved May 16, 1907.

CHAPTER 463, ACTS OF 1907.

An Act Relative to the Licensing of Theatres and

Public Halls in the City of Boston.

Section 1. In Boston the mayor shall be the officer to

issue Ucenses for theatres and public halls, and he may

require such changes in the structural condition of any

138 City of Boston Building Law.

building before issuing a license, as, in his opinion, the
public safety requires, but no changes shall be ordered in
excess of the statutory requirements then in force for a
new building of like character. Whoever is aggrieved by
any order or decision of the mayor in respect to changes
that he may require in the structural condition of any
building before issuing a license as aforesaid shall have
the right of appeal to the board of appeals established
by chapter four hundred and nineteen of the acts of the
year eighteen hundred and ninety-two, or to any similar
or succeeding board of appeals which may hereafter be
established for the city of Boston. Said board on receipt
of the appeal shall within five days thereafter examine the
premises and hear the parties and render a decision in
writing within ten days after such hearing, and the ma-
jority of the board shall decide whether the whole or a
part of the order or requirement made by the mayor in
respect to structural changes shall be complied with, or
whether a license for said building shall be issued; and the
mayor shall make his order or requirement in respect of
structural changes and the issuing of said license conform
to the decision of said board. If the mayor has granted a
license as aforesaid he shall not revoke or suspend the
same except by giving five days' written notice to the
licensee of his intention so to do, and his reasons therefor,
and if the licefisee is aggrieved by said notice of revoca-
tion and said reasons he may appeal to the board of
appeals, who shall within five days from date of his appeal
examine the premises and hear the parties, and render
a decision in writing within three days after such hearing;
and the majority of the board shall decide whether the
license shall be revoked, and the mayor shall make his
action conform to the decision of the board and shall not
revoke the same without the approval of the board.
Sect. 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

[Approved May 28, 1907.

City of Boston Building Law. 139

CHAPTER 254, ACTS OF 1909.

An Act Relative to Entertainments Given in
Private Dwellings.

Section one hundred and seventy-tkree of chapter one
hundred and two of the Revised Laws, as amended by
section five of chapter four hundred and sixty of the acts
of the year nineteen hundred and four and by section one
of chapter three hundred and nine of the acts of the year
nineteen hundred and seven, is hereby further amended
by adding at the end of the section the words : — or to
entertainments given in a private dwelling, except in
apartments thereof having a seating capacity of four
hundred or more, — so as to read as follows: — Section 173.
Whoever offers to view, sets up, sets on foot, maintains,
carries on, publishes or otherwise assists in or promotes
any such exhibition, show or amusement, without such
license, shall be punished by a fine of not more than five
hundred dollars for each offense. The provisions of this
section and of the last preceding section, however, shaU
not apply to pubHc entertainments by religious societies
in their usual places of worship for a religious or charitable
purpose, or to entertainments given in school buildings
by, or for the benefit of, the pupils thereof, and under the
supervision of the principal or teacher in charge of the
school classes therein, or to entertainments given in a
private dwelling, except in apartments thereof having a
seating capacity of four hundred or more.

CHAPTER 284, ACTS OF 1910.
An Act Relative to the Construction, Alteration,
Inspection, and Maintenance of Buildings in
THE City of Boston.
Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Section 1. It shall be the duty of the building com-
missioner of the city of Boston to enforce all provisions

140 City of Boston Building Law.

of law relative to the construction, alteration, inspection
and maintenance of buildings which are or may be appli-
cable to said city, heretofore enforced by the district
police, except the provisions of chapter four hundred and
sixty-five of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and
seven, relative to the inspection of steam boilers, the
provisions of chapter three hundred and seventy of the
acts of the year nineteen hundred and four, as amended
by chapter two hundred and eighty of the acts of the year
nineteen hundred and five and by chapter five hundred and
two of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and eight,
relative to the keeping, storage, use, manufacture, sale,
handling and transportation of explosive or inflammable
fluids or compounds or other explosives, the provisions
of chapter four hundred and thirty-three of the acts of
the year nineteen hundred and four, relative to the powers
and duties of the detective department of the district
pohce in connection with the investigation or prevention
of fires, and the provisions of chapter five hundred and
fourteen of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and
nine, and acts in amendment thereof or in addition thereto,
relative to labor, so far as the provisions of said chapter
are enforced by the district police.

Sect. 2. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent here-
with are hereby repealed.

Sect. 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

[Approved March 25, 1910.

CHAPTER 571, ACTS OF 1910.

An Act to Authorize the Collection of Fees for
Permits and Licenses Issued by Departments op
THE City of Boston.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Section 1. The heads of the various departments of
the city of Boston may establish, subject to the approval

City of Boston Building Law. 141

of the mayor, reasonable fees or charges for the issuance
of permits and licenses by said departments: provided,
however, that the charge for a permit to make excavations
in any street or sidewalk shall not exceed fifty cents.

Sect. 2. The authority given in the preceding section
shall not deprive any of the officials named in section
twenty-eight of chapter four hundred and eighty-six of the
acts of the year nineteen hundred and nine of any authority
given therein to fix the charges for permits and hcenses.

Sect. 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

[Approved May 26, 1910.

CHAPTER 129, ACTS OF 1911.
An Act to Regulate Public Lodging Houses in

Certain Cities.
Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Section 1. The provisions of chapter two hundred
and forty-two of the acts of the year nineteen hundred
and four, regulating public lodging houses in cities of over
fifty thousand inhabitants, shall also apply to all buildings
in said cities maintained for furnishing lodging to transient
persons, and not licensed as an inn, in which ten or more
persons are lodged, notwithstanding that no price is
charged for lodging.

Sect. 2. This act shall take effect on the first day of
June in the year nineteen hundred and eleven.

[Approved March 11, 1911.

CHAPTER 342, ACTS OF 1911.
An Act to Regulate the Construction of Garages

IN THE City of Boston.
Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Section 1. A garage hereafter erected within the fire
limits of the city of Boston shall be of first class construe-

142 City of Boston Building Law.

tion. A garage hereafter erected in any other part
of that city shall be either of first or second class
construction.

Sect. 2. By the term ''garage" is meant a building
or that part of a building wherein are kept five or more
automobiles or motor cars charged with or containing a
volatile inflammable liquid for fuel or power. Wherever
hereafter any part of an existing building is converted
into a garage, the garage shall be deemed to embrace all
the building not separated from the garage proper by
fireproof construction satisfactory to the building com-
missioners, and such building or part of a building shall
be of first class construction.

Sect. 3. By the term "volatile inflammable liquid"
is meant any liquid that will emit inflammable vapor at a
temperature below one hundred degrees Fahrenheit, when
tested in the open air.

Sect. 4. The penalty for violation of this act shall be
a fine of not less than ten and not more than fifty dollars
a day, so long as the violation continues.

[Approved April 27, 1911.

CHAPTER 259, ACTS OF 1912.

An Act Relative to the Construction of Garages
IN THE City of Boston.

Existing buildings upon premises numbered 337 on
Newbury street, in Boston, are exempt from the provisions
of chapter 342, Acts of 1911, but only while such build-
ings remain of their present size and in their present loca-
tion: provided, however, that no part of said buildings
shall be used as a dwelling.

[Approved March 18, 1912, and took effect.

City op Boston Building Law. 143

CHAPTER 280, ACTS OF 1913.

An Act to Authoeize the Mayor of the City of
Boston to Grant Permits for Special Moving
Picture Exhibitions in Churches, Halls or
Other Buildings.
Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Section 1. The mayor of the city of Boston may
grant permits in writing for special exhibitions of moving
pictures in churches, halls or other buildings in that city
which, in his opinion, are in safe condition for said
exhibitions, and he may prescribe regulations for the
proper conduct of the same: provided, however, that such
special exhibitions shall be subject to the laws of the
commonwealth and the regulations of the district police
relating to the use of the cinematograph or similar
apparatus.

Sect. 2. A fee of two dollars shall accompany each
application for a permit hereunder.

Sect. 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

[Approved March 12, 1913.

CHAPTER 572, ACTS OF 1913.

An Act Relative to Building Lines in Cities and

Towns.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Section 1. Section one hundred and three of chapter
forty-eight of the Revised Laws is hereby amended by
striking out the words "parallel to, and," in the third
line, by striking out the word "twenty-five" in the fourth
line, and inserting in place thereof the word: — forty, —
and by inserting after the word "line," in the ninth line,

144 City of Boston Building Law.

the following: — and except that buildings or parts of
buildings existing at the time of the establishment of the
building line may be permitted to remain and to be main-
tained to such extent and under such conditions as may-
be prescribed in the vote establishing such building line, —
so as to read as follows: — Section 103. If the city council
of a city or if a town accepts the provisions of this section
or has accepted the corresponding provisions of earlier
laws, a building line not more than forty feet distant
from the exterior line of a highway or town way may be
established in the manner provided for laying out ways,
and thereafter no structures shall be erected or maintained
between such building line and such way, except steps,
windows, porticos and other usual projections appur-
tenant to the front wall of a building, to the extent pre-
scribed in the vote establishing such building line, and
except that buildings or parts of buildings existing at the
time of the establishment of the building line may be
permitted to remain and to be maintained to such extent
and under such conditions as may be prescribed in the
vote establishing such building line. Whoever sustains
damage thereby shall have the same remedies therefor as
for damages sustained by the laying out of a town way.
Sect. 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

[Approved May 2, 1913.

CHAPTER 577, ACTS OF 1913.

An Act to Regulate the Erection and Maintenance

OF Garages in the City of Boston.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Section 1. In the city of Boston no building shall be
erected for, or maintained as a garage for the storage,
keeping or care for hire of automobiles until the issue of a
permit therefor by the board of street commissioners of

City of Boston Building Law. 145

the city after notice and a public hearing upon an appHca-
tion filed with said board. The application for the permit
shall be made by the owner of the parcel of land upon
which such buUding is to be erected or maintained and
shall contain the names and addresses of every owner of
record of each parcel of land abutting thereon.

Sect. 2. The notice required by the preceding section
shall include a copy of the appHcation and an order of
said board specifying the time and place of the public
hearing, and shall be given by pubUcation once in each
week for three successive weeks in some one newspaper
regularly published in said city, and by mailing by prepaid
registered mail a copy to every owner of record of each
parcel of land abutting on the parcel of land on which the
building proposed to be erected for, or maintained as a
garage is to be, or is situated, and the cost of such notice
and proceedings shall be borne by the applicant.

Sect. 3. At the time and place specified in the notice
for the hearing the said board shall hear all parties inter-
ested, and after giving consideration to the interests of all
owners of record notified, the general character of the
neighborhood in which is situated the land or building
referred to in the apphcation, and the requirements of
public convenience, shall determine whether or not the
application shall be granted and a permit issued.

Sect. 4. The provisions of this act shall not apply to a
building maintained as a garage for the storage, keeping
or care for hire of automobiles at the time of the passage
of this act, but any enlargement of, or addition to any such
building shall be subject to the provisions of this act.

Sect. 5. Whoever erects or maintains a garage in viola-
tion of this act shall be subject to a fine of not less than
ten nor more than fifty dollars for every day during which
such violation continues. [Approved May 2, 1913.
[1912, c. 259; 1911, c. 342.1

146 City OF Boston Building Law.

CHAPTER 680, ACTS OF 1913.

An Act Relative to Signs, Awnings and Other Pro-
jections IN Public Ways in the City of Boston.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Section 1. The board of street commissioners of the
city of Boston is hereby authorized to grant permits, to
fix the fees therefor, not exceeding one dollar for any one
permit, and to make rules and regulations for the placing
and maintaining of signs, advertising devices, clocks, mar-
quees, permanent awnings, and structures projecting into,
or placed on or over the public highways of said city, and
to prescribe penalties for a breach thereof not exceeding
five dollars for each day during which such sign, advertis-
ing device, clock, marquee, permanent awning, or structure
is so placed or maintained contrary to the rules and regu-
lations made by the board of street commissioners after
five days' notice to remove the same has been given by
the said board, or by a police officer of said city.

Sect. 2. All signs, advertising devices, clocks, marquees,
permanent awnings and structures authorized by the board
of street commissioners as provided in the preceding sec-
tion, shall, after the passage of this act, be subject to the
requirements of the building commissioner of the city of
Boston as to their construction and physical connection
with the buildings to which they are to be attached.

Sect. 3. This act shall not apply to the poles, wires,
conduits and appurtenances necessary to the operation of
steam railroads, street railways, gas, electric light, heat
and power companies, or to companies engaged in the
business of transmission of intelligence by electricity or
other agency.

Sect. 4. Chapter three hundred and fifty-two of the
acts of the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five, and all
other acts and ordinances, or parts thereof, inconsistent
herewith are hereby repealed.

City of Boston Building Law. 147

Sect. 5. This act shall take effect three months after
its passage. [Approved May 19, 1913.

CHAPTER 729, ACTS OF 1913.
An Act Relative to Dry Houses in the City of Boston.
Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Section 1. No bmlding or part of a building hereafter
erected or altered in the city of Boston shall be used for
kiln drying lumber unless such building or part of a build-
ing is of fireproof construction approved by the building
commissioner.

Sect. 2. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent here-
with are hereby repealed.

Sect. 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

[Approved May 29, 1913.

CHAPTER 540, ACTS OF 1914.

An Act Relative to the Qualifications of Inspectors
OF Masonry Construction Employed by the
Commonwealth or by Counties, Cities and
Towns.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Section 1. Persons employed by the commonwealth,
or by the metropolitan board or commission, or by any
county, city or town, as inspectors of masonry construction,
shall have had at least three years practical experience in
masonry construction, but shall not be required to have
technical knowledge as engineers, architects or draftsmen,
unless they have other duties for which such knowledge
is necessary. The provisions of this section shall apply
only to persons whose principal duty is the inspection of
masonry construction, consisting of stone, brick or sub-
stitutes therefor.

148 City of Boston Building Law.

Sect. 2. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent here-
with are hereby repealed.

Sect. 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

[Approved May 19, 1914-

CHAPTER 287, ACTS OF 1914.

An Act Relative to the Business op Plumbing.
Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Chapter five hundred and thirty-six of the acts of the
year nineteen hundred and nine is hereby amended by
striking out section ten and inserting in place thereof the
following new section: — Section 10. Every person engag-
ing in the business of plumbing as a master plumber, or
working at the business of plumbing as a journeyman
plumber, not having been registered or licensed as herein
provided; and every person engaging in or working at
the business of plumbing in a city or town where he has
been forbidden so to do under the provisions of section
four of this act; and every person engaged in the business
of plumbing as a master plumber or employing plumber
who engages or employs any person to work as a journey-
man plumber who has not been registered or licensed as
provided by this act; and every person violating any pro-
vision of this act or any rule or regulation made hereunder
shall be punished by a fine not exceeding fifty dollars for
each offence. [Approved April 2, 1914-

CHAPTER 566, ACTS OF 1914.

An Act to Prohibit the Locking of Doors of
Buildings in Which Operatives are Employed.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Chapter five hundred and fourteeen of the acts of the
year nineteen hundred and nine is hereby amended by

City of Boston BxnLDiNG Law. 149

striking out section ninety-three a.nd inserting in place
thereof the following new section: — Section 93. No out-
side or inside doors of any building in which operatives are
employed shall be so locked, bolted or otherwise fastened
during the hours of labor as to prevent free egress. Any
person having charge of any such building or of any room
thereof, any exit door of which shall be found to bo so
locked, bolted or otherwise fastened during the hours of
labor as to prevent free egress, shall be punished by a fine
of not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than five
hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than
one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

[Approved May 22, 1914.

CHAPTER 782, ACTS OF 1914.

An Act to Ajmend the Building Law of the
City of Boston.

Section 6. Elevators hereafter installed shall be pro-
vided with such shaftway enclosures and doors as may be
required by the regulations of the Massachusetts board
of elevator regulations. All shafts for light and ventila-
tion and skylights over such shafts shall be constructed
of like materials and in a like manner as required for
elevator shafts, and all window openings in the same, ex-
cept in exterior walls, shall be protected by metal frames
and sash and wired glass.

Sect. 11. The provisions of this act, so far as
they are the same as those of existing statutes, shall
be construed as continuations thereof and not as new
enactments.

Sect. 12. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent here-
with are hereby repealed, but nothing herein contained
shall be construed to modify the powers and duties con-
ferred and imposed upon the board of appeals by sections

150 City of Boston Building Law.

six, seven and eight of chapter five hundred and fifty of
the acts of the year nineteen hundred and seven.

Sect. 13. This act shall take effect ninety days after
its passage. [Approved July 7, 1914-

CHAPTER 786, ACTS OF 1914.

An Act Exempting a Certain Parcel of Land in the
City of Boston from Restrictions as to the
Height of Buildings.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Section 1. The parcel of land situated in the city of
Boston bounded by Washington street, Lovering place,
Harrison avenue and Asylum street is hereby exempted
from the provisions of chapter three hundred and thirty-
three of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and four
and chapter three hundred and eighty- three of the acts
of the year nineteen hundred and five, relative to the
height of buildings, and is relieved from the restrictions as
to height placed thereon by the commissioners on the
height of buildings in the city of Boston acting under the
authority of said statutes: provided, however, that nothing
herein shall authorize the erection on said parcel of a
building exceeding one hundred and twenty-five feet in
height above the grade of the sidewalk on Washington
street in front of said parcel, nor the erection of any
building thereon except in accordance with a permit duly
granted therefor by the building commissioner of the
city of Boston.

Sect. 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

[Approved July 7, 1914-

City of Boston Building Law. 151

CHAPTER 791, ACTS OF 1914.

An Act Relative to the Operation op the Cinemato-
graph AND TO THE EXHIBITION OF MOTION PICTURES.

Be it enacted, etc., as folloivs:

Section 1. No cinematograph, or similar apparatus,
involving the use of a combustible film more than ten
inches in length, shall be kept or used for the purpose of
exhibiting such films in or upon the premises of a public
building, public or private institution, schoolhouse, church,
theatre, special hall, public hall, miscellaneous hall, place
of assemblage, or place of pubHc resort, until such cine-
matograph or similar apparatus has been inspected and
approved by an inspector of the building inspection depart-
ment of the district poHce, who shall have placed thereon
a numbered metal tag; nor until a booth, or enclosure,
which has been inspected and approved by such an
inspector and his certificate issued therefor, has been
provided for said apparatus; nor until such precautions
against fire as the chief of the district poHce may specify
have been taken by the owner, user or exhibitor therefor :
provided, however, that no such cinematograph or similar
apparatus shall be operated with oxyhydrogen gas, so-
called, or with limelight. In addition, in the city of Boston,
the location of any booth or enclosure surrounding said
apparatus, shall be approved by the building commis-
sioner, who may order such additional precautions against
fire as he may deem necessary.

Sect. 15. Any person, firm, corporation or association
of persons, keeping or using a cinematograph or similar
apparatus contrary to the provisions hereof, or in violation
of any rule or regulation made by the chief of the district
police, or, in the city of Boston, in violation of any regula-
tion or requirement made by the building commissioner in

152 City of Boston Building Law.

accordance with the provisions hereof, shall be punished by a
fine of not less than fifty nor more than five hundred dollars.
Sect. 16. Chapters five hundred and sixty-five and
five hundred and sixty-six of the acts of the year nineteen
hundred and eight; chapter two hundred and eighty-one
of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and nine; chapters
forty-eight and four hundred and forty of the acts of the
year nineteen hundred and eleven; chapter one hundred
and eighty-two of the acts of the year nineteen hundred
and twelve and all acts and parts of acts inconsistent
herewith are hereby repealed. [Approved July 7, 1914-

CHAPTER 28, REVISED LAWS.

Sect. 16. In a city which by a vote of its city council,
or in a town which by vote of a town meeting, accepts
this section, or has accepted the corresponding provisions
of earlier laws, the board of park commissioners may, in
accordance with the provisions of section one hundred and
three of chapter forty-eight, establish a building line
distant at no point more than twenty-five feet from any
exterior line of a parkway, boulevard or public way on
which a park abuts; and the extreme height to which
buildings upon such parkway, boulevard or public way
may be erected shall be seventy feet exclusive of such
steeples, towers, domes, cornices, parapets, balustrades,
sculptured ornaments, chimneys and roofs as such board
may approve. Whoever sustains damage by the estab-
lishment of such building line shall have the same remedy
therefor as if his land were taken for the laying out of a
highway.

[1896, c. 313r 1897, c. 379.]

CHAPTER 33, REVISED LAWS.
Sect. 19. A fence or other structure in the nature of a
fence which unnecessarily exceeds six feet in height and is

City of Boston Building Law. 153

maliciously erected or maintained for the purpose of
annoying the owners or occupants of adjoining property,
shall be deemed a private nuisance. Any such owner or
occupant who is injured either in the comfort or enjoyment
of his estate thereby may have an action of tort for dam-
ages according to the provisions of chapter one hundred
and eighty-six.

[1887, 348; 148 Mass. 368, 407; 150 Mass. 482; 162 Mass. 544.]

CHAPTER 48, REVISED LAWS.

Building Line.

Section 103. If the city council of a city or if a town
accepts the pro^asions of this section or has accepted the
corresponding provisions of earlier laws, a building line
parallel to, and not more than twenty-five feet distant
from, the exterior Une of a highway or town way may be
estabhshed in the manner provided for laying out ways,
and thereafter no structures shall be erected or maintained
between such building line and such way, except steps,
windows, porticos and other usual projections appurte-
nant to the front wall of a building, to the extent prescribed
in the vote establishing such building Une. Whoever
sustains damage thereby shall have the same remedies
therefor as for damages sustained by the laying out of a
town way.

[Chap. 462, of 1893.]

CHAPTER 101, REVISED LAWS.
Section 1. In a city or town in which the city council
or the inhabitants accept the provisions of this and the
four following sections or have accepted the corresponding
provisions of earlier laws, the mayor and aldermen or
selectmen, after notice in writing to the owner of a burnt,
dilapidated or dangerous building, and a hearing, may

154 City of Boston Building Law.

adjudge it to be a nuisance to the neighborhood, or
dangerous, and may thereupon make and record an order
prescribing the disposition, alteration or regulation thereof^
The city or town clerk shall deliver a copy of the order to
a constable, who shall forthwith serve an attested copy
thereof upon such owner, and make return of his doings
thereon to said clerk.

Sect. 2. An owner who is aggrieved by such order
may, within three days after the service thereof upon
him, apply to the superior court for a jury. The court
shall issue a warrant for a jury, which shall be impanelled
by the sheriff within fourteen days after the date of the
warrant in the manner provided in chapter forty-eight;
or, instead thereof, if the applicant for a jury so elects
and after such notice as the court shall order to the adverse
party, it shall order a trial to be had at the bar of the
superior court, in the same manner as other civil causes
are there tried by jury.

Sect. 3. The jury may affirm, annul or alter such
order; and the sheriff, if the trial is before him, shall
return the verdict to the next sitting of the court for
acceptance; and the verdict, whether before the sheriff
or in the superior court, being accepted, shall take effect
as an original order.

Sect. 4. If the order is affirmed, the applicant shall
pay the costs; if it is annulled, he shall recover damages
and costs against the city or town; and if it is altered,
the court may render such judgment as to costs as justice
shall require.

Sect. 5. The mayor and aldermen of a city or select-
men of a town shall have the same power and authority
to abate and remove any such nuisance as is given to the
board of health of a city or town by the provisions of
sections sixty-seven, sixty-eight and sixty-nine of chapter
seventy-five.

[1855, c. 469, sects. 1 to 6; G. S., c. 87, sects. 1 to 4; 128 Mass., 36,

347.]

City of Boston Building Law. 155

CHAPTER 104, REVISED LAWS.
Section 29. The keeper of a hotel, boarding or lodging
house or family hotel containing one hundred or more
rooms, and being four or more stories high, shall have
therein at least two competent watchmen, each properly
assigned, and each on duty between the hours of nine
o'clock at night and six o'clock in the morning. The
keeper of every hotel, boarding or lodging house or family
hotel containing fifty or more but less than one hundred
rooms, and being three stories high, shall have between
said hours at least one competent watchman on duty
therein. In all such hotels, lodging houses or family
hotels, the halls and stairways shall be properly lighted at
night, and a red light shall be kept during the night at
the top and bottom of each flight of stairs; and one or
more proper alarms or gongs, capable of being heard
throughout the house, shall always remain easy of access
and ready for use in each of said buildings to give to the
inmates warning of fire. The keeper of every such hotel,
boarding or lodging house or family hotel shall keep a
notice descriptive of such means of escape conspicuously
posted in every sleeping room.

[1883, c. 251, sect. 1; 1884, c. 223, sect. 2.]

Sect. 32. Whoever neglects or refuses to provide
watchmen as required by the three preceding sections
shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand
dollars for each offence, and whoever violates any of the
other provisions of said sections shall be punished by a
fine of not less than fifty nor more than five hundred
dollars.

Sect. 52. The supreme judicial court or the superior
court shall have jurisdiction in equity to restrain the
illegal placing, maintenance or use of any building, struc-
ture or other thing. It may, upon the petition of a city or
town, by its attorney, for such relief, require the removal
of any such building, structure or other thing by the

156 City of Boston Building Law.

owner, and may authorize the city or town, in default of
such removal by the owner, to remove it at his expense.
The provisions of this section shall apply to all such
structures or other thing so placed which were maintained
or used prior to, as well as after, the second of May in
the year eighteen hundred and ninety-nine. Upon such
petition, the defendant shall be presumed to have acted
without a license or authority until he proves the
contrary.

[1899, c. 326, sect. 52, as amended.]

CHAPTER 9, ORDINANCES OF 1912.

CONCEKNING CONTROL OF BuiLDING OPERATIONS.

In the Year One Thousand Nine Hundred and Thirteen.
Be it ordained hy the City Council of Boston, as follows:

Section 1. All persons who shall hereafter take per-
sonal charge or control of the work of construction, altera-
tion, removal or tearing down of buildings or structures
in the City of Boston shall be qualified by education,
training, or experience for the performance of that duty
in a manner which shall preserve public safety and con-
form to the laws, ordinances, rules and regulations relating
to the construction, alteration, removal or tearing down of
buildings or structures in the City of Boston.

Sect. 2. The qualifications of such persons shall be
determined by a board of examiners as hereinafter pro-
vided; and no permit for the doing of work described in
section one of this ordinance shall be issued by the build-
ing commissioner unless the application for a permit
therefor contains the name, address and signature of a
person who is duly licensed, as hereinafter provided, to
take personal charge or control of such work; provided,
however, that a permit may be granted if no person Ucensed

City of Boston Building Law. 157

as aforesaid has been named in the appUcation therefor
whenever the work in question is of minor importance,
and, in the opinion of the building commissioner, stated
in writing with his reasons therefor upon the appHcation
for such permit, the work is of such simple character that
its execution will not endanger the safety of the public, or
of any person engaged thereon.

Sect. 3. There shall be in the building department a
board to be called the board of examiners. Said board
shall consist of three members to be appointed by the
mayor in accordance with the provisions of sections nine
and ten of chapter four hundred eighty-six of the acts
of the year nineteen hundred nine. Each member shall
receive ten dollars forWery day or part thereof of actual
service but not more than one thousand dollars in any
year. The first appointments shall be for one, two and
three year terms, respectively, and succeeding appoint-
ments shall be for terms of three years.

Sect. 4. The board shall, as soon as practicable after
the appointments of the members have become operative,
meet and organize by the selection of a chairman and a
secretary; and shall hold examinations, under reasonable
rules and regulations adopted by it, of persons desiring
to be registered as qualified to have charge or control of
the construction, alteration, removal, or tearing down of
buildings or structures. The first examination shall be
held within thirty days after the date of the organization
of the board, and shall be advertised once a week for three
successive weeks in the daily papers published in the City
of Boston, and in the City Record. Due notice of subse-
quent examinations shall be posted in the ofl&ces of the
building department and of the board of examiners and
published in the City Record.

The board shall establish various classes of persons to
be registered, shall determine the qualifications required

158 City of Boston Building Law.

for each class, and after examination shall register in
each class the persons found to possess the requisite
qualifications therefor. The name and address of each
person so found to be qualified, with the designation of
the class in which he is registered, shall thereupon be
certified by the board to the building commissioner who
shall make a record of the same which shall be open to
public inspection.

Sect. 5. Any person who shall by afl&davit, together
with such other evidence as may be required by the board,
show to the board that prior to the passage of this ordi-
nance he has had charge or control of the construction,
alteration, removal or tearing down of buildings or struc-
tures in the class in which he applies to be registered, and
shall satisfy the board that he is qualified by education,
training or experience to have charge or control of such
work, may, without any other examination, be registered
in said class and be ce];tified to the building commissioner
as a person qualified within such class.

Sect. 6. The building commissioner, upon the pay-
ment of a fee of two dollars, shall issue a license to each
person certified by the board, and such license shall not
be transferred. The fees received by the board and by
the building commissioner shall be paid over to the city
collector at least once a week.

Sect. 7. A person who has been duly licensed as afore-
said shall be entitled to have charge or control of any
work described in section one of this ordinance, in the
class in which he is registered, until his license is revoked
or suspended by the building commissioner upon the order
of the board. No license shall be revoked or suspended
except upon proof of charges, filed with the board by the
building commissioner or other person, specifying that
the licensee has been careless or negligent in the perform-
ance of his duty in connection with work under his charge
or control, or has caused or permitted a violation of the

City of Boston Building Law. 159

building laws in connection therewith, or that such laws
have been violated in connection with such work when
the licensee knew, or, in the exercise of due diligence,
should have known, that such violation had occurred.
Upon learning of such carelessness, or neglect of duty, or
of such violation of law, the building commissioner shall
file charges with the board and prosecute the same. Upon
the filing of such charges by the building commissioner,
or other person, the board shall give to the licensee notice
of a hearing upon the charges, which shall be held by the
board not less than seven days after the date of said
notice. The notice shall be by personal service or by
registered mail and shall state the time and place of the
hearing and contain a copy of the charges. At such
hearing the licensee may be represented by counsel, and
the building commissioner may be assisted by a repre-
sentative of the law department of the city.

Sect. 8, If, for any cause, a person licensed as herein
provided, shall cease to have charge or control of any
work described in section one of this ordinance before
such work is finished, the work shall stop until another
person duly Ucensed for the doing of such work has been
placed in charge thereof.

Sect. 9. Whenever the board shall determine that a
sufficient numbqr of persons has been licensed in the
various classes, it shall post notice of such determina-
tion in the ofiices of the building department and of
the board and publish the same in the City Record. No
person shall, by reason of an3^thing contained in this
ordinance, be denied a permit by the building com-
missioner or suffer any penalty until after the expiration
of thirty days from the date of said publication in the
City Record.

Sect. 10. Whoever violates any provision of this
ordinance shall be punished by a fine of not more than
fifty dollars for each offence.

160 City of Boston Building Law.

Sect. 11. This ordinance shall take effect upon its
passage.

In City Council, January 27, 1913.

Passed. James Donovan, City Clerk.

Approved January 28, 1913.

John F. Fitzgerald, Mayor.

A true copy.

Attest :

James Donovan, City Clerk.

Ordained by authority of chapter 713, Acts of 1912.

CHAPTER 4, ORDINANCES OF 1913.
Concerning the Building Limits.
In the Year One Thousand Nine Hundred and Thirteen.
Be it ordained hy the City Council of Boston, as follows:

Section 1. Section twenty-seven of chapter forty-
five of the Revised Ordinances of 1898 is hereby amended
by striking out said section and inserting in place thereof
a new section, as follows :

Section 27. The building limits referred to in section
nine of chapter five hundred and fifty of the acts of the
year 1907 are hereby extended, defined and established
as follows :

All that portion of the city which is included within
a line beginning at the intersection of the boundary lines
between the City of Boston and the cities of Somerville
and Everett; thence by the boundary lines between the
City of Boston and the cities of Everett and Chelsea to
the intersection with the centre line of Trumbull street
extended northerly; thence by said centre line of Trum-
bull street extended, the centre line of Trumbull street
and said centre line extended southerly to the Harbor
line; thence by said Harbor line to its intersection with

City of Boston Building Law. 161

the easterly line of Pier No. 5 belonging to the Boston
and Albany Railroad Company; thence by a straight
line across Boston Harbor to its intersection with the
Harbor line at the easterly corner of Pier No. 1 in South
Boston; thence by the Harbor line in the northerly,
easterly and southerly portions of South Boston to an
angle in said Harbor line nearly opposite the intersection
of the centre line of Columbia road with the centre line
of location of the Old Colony Raihoad; thence by a
straight line to the said intersection; and bj^ the centre
lines of Columbia road, Blue Hill avenue, Seaver street,
Columbus avenue, Atherton and Mozart streets, Chest-
nut avenue, Sheridan, Centre and Perkins streets. South
Huntington avenue, Castleton street and the centre
line of said Castleton street extended to the boundary
line between the City of Boston and the town of Brook-
line; thence by said boundary line to a point therein
one hundred feet southwest of Washington street in the
Brighton district; thence by a line parallel to and one
hundred feet southwesterly from the centre line of Wash-
ington street to an angle formed by the intersection
of said line with the extension of a line parallel to and
one hundred feet northwesterly of the centre line of
Market street; thence by said extension and said line
parallel to and one hundred feet northwesterly of the
centre line of Market street to a point one hundred
feet south of the centre line of Western avenue; thence
by a line parallel to and one hundred feet south of the
centre line of Western avenue and said line extended to
a point in the boundary line between the City of Boston
and the town of Watertown south of Watertown Bridge,
so called; thence by said boundary line and the boundary
lines between the cities of Cambridge and Somerville to
the point of beginning.

Also those portions of Ward 26 upon or within one
hundred feet of the following named streets and squares:

162 City of Boston Building Law.

Everett square, so called; Fairmount avenue from River
street to the Neponset river; River street from the loca-
tion of the Boston & Providence Railroad to Winthrop
street; Hyde Park avenue on the easterly side from
the northerly side of Oak street to Everett street; Hyde
Park avenue on the westerly side from the northerly
side of Pine street extension, so called, to a point on said
Hyde Park avenue opposite the southerly line of Everett
street; Harvard avenue from River street to Winthrop
street; Maple street from River street to a point one
hundred and eighty feet southerly therefrom; Central
avenue from River street to Winthrop street; Davison
street from Fairmount avenue to a point three hundred
feet northeasterly therefrom; Grove street; Pierce street
from Fairmount avenue to a point three hundred feet
northeasterly therefrom; Knott street from Fairmount
avenue to a point three hundred feet easterly therefrom;
Railroad avenue from Fairmount avenue to a point
three hundred feet northeasterly therefrom; Station
street from the Neponset river to a point three hundred
feet northeasterly from Fairmount avenue; Walnut
street from Fairmount avenue to a point three hundred
feet southwesterly therefrom; Maple street from Fair-
mount avenue to a point one hundred and twenty-five
feet westerly therefrom.

This ordinance became operative July 1, 1914.

Index.

163

INDEX.

References in this Index are to Pages and Sections of the Existing Law.

Note. — When an asterisk (*) is placed before a figure, see, also,
regulations of 1914 for escalators and elevators for the Common-
wealth of Massachusetts.

When a dagger (f) is placed before a figure, see sect. 4, chap. 806,
Acts of 1913.

Page. Section,
ACCESS TO ROOFS.

permanent means of, required 12-55 12-44

ACCIDENTS, ELEVATOR.

to be reported to Building Commissioner 48 * 38

ADJOINING PROPERTY.

commissioner may enter to secure unsafe building. 6 5

to be supported 12 12

AIR DUCTS.

of fireproof material 46 38

"AIR PIPES"— PLUMBING.

definition of 90 112

requirements of 93, 94 117, 118

AIR SPACES.

in walls 35 26

AISLES, PUBLIC BUILDING.

must conform to requirements for theatres 86 107

no obstructions or temporary seats in 85 105

persons not to remain in 86 105

AISLES, THEATRE. .

persons not to remain in 88 111

regulations for 79 88

ALCOVES IN TENEMENT HOUSES.

fight and ventilation; opening into 66 63

ALTERATION.

construction, inspection and maintenance of build-
ings, chap. 284, 1910 139

ALTERATION OF EXISTING BUILDINGS.

general regulations for 42, 43 35

164 Index,

Page. Section.
ALTERATIONS.

affecting stability or fire risk 43 35

bmlding to be examined when application is made. . 5 3

limit of cost of wooden building, in limits 15 13

permit required for 4-11 1-12

prohibitions relating to 15 13

what constitutes 43 35

ALTERATIONS AND REPAIRS.

permits required for 14 13

ALTERED.

what buildings may be, for second-class habitation . . 42 35

ALTERED BUILDINGS.

height not increased 42 35

maximum munber of stories 42 35

ANCHORS.

for floors 13 12

for walls 35 24

provision for 35 24

"APARTMENT."

in tenement houses defined 53 42

APPEAL, BOARD OF. (See Boakd op Appeal.)

appointment; terms; vacancies; qualifications; de-
cisions; reports, etc 6,7,8 6, 7, 8

APPEALS.

mode of procedure 7 7

time limit 7 7

APPEAL FROM BOARD OF APPEAL 106 129

APPLIANCES FOR POWER AND HEAT.

hazardous buildings, regulations for 102, 103 125

APPLICATION FOR PERMIT.

form of 4 1

sworn to 5 1

to bear name and address of owner 5 1

ARC LIGHT.

for emergency in existing theatres 88 111

AREA OF FLOORS.

maximum undivided 29 17

AREA OF WOODEN BUILDINGS.

not to be increased, in alteration, in some cases 15 13

AREAS.

buildings, restriction of 29 17

ART GALLERIES.

may be placed above theatres 86 108

Index. 165

Page. Section.

ASHES.

receptacle, tenement house 75 75

space to be provided 43 35

ASHES AND GARBAGE.

tenement house, receptacles for 75 75

ASHLAR.

when reckoned in thickness of wall 34 23

ASSEMBLY, PLACES OF PUBLIC.

capacity; must be fireproof; general requirements.. . 85, 86 105

ASSEMBLY ROOMS.

capacity, dimensions, etc 85 105

ASSISTANTS, BUILDING DEPARTMENT.

appointed by conunissioner 3 1

AUDITORIUMS, THEATRE.

heating apparatus under 84 104

seating regulations for 78 87

AUTOMATIC DOORS.

in stair shafts 29 17

AWNINGS.

projection allowed 16 13

BAKERIES AND FAT BOILING.

prohibited in tenement houses; exceptions 60 53

BAKERIES IN TENEMENT HOUSES.

fireproofed 60 53

BALCONIES.

tenement house, requirements of 54, 55 42

BALLOON FRAMING.

not allowed 50 39

"BASEMENT."

definition of 11 11

BASEMENTS.

tenement house, requirements for 69, 70 68

BAY WINDOWS.

projection allowed 16 13

who fixes projection 16 13

BEACON STREET.

height of buildings on, chap. 543, 1902 114

BEAMS.

steel, tied lengthwise 36 27

wood, in walls of second-class buildings 42 34

BEAMS AND GIRDERS.

computations relating to 26, 27 16

166 Index.

Page. Section,
BLOW-OFF PIPES.

how connected 101 122

BOARD OF APPEAL.

annual report 8 8

appointed by Mayor, on nominations 6 6

appeals from, to be heard in equity courts 106 129

composition, etc 8 6

decisions of, to be in writing 6 6

to specify variations allowed 6 6

applicants to have copy of 7 7

summary of, ih annual report 8 8

hearings on appealed cases 7 7

may vary provisions of this act 7 7

may vary provisions of building law 7 7

members of, how appointed 6 6

terms of 6 6

compensation of 6 6

not to act when interested 6 6

to be Boston men 6 6

reports, annual, to mayor 8 8

to contain summary of decisions 8 8

to be printed separately 8 8

to hear appeals on setting engines and dynamos. . . . 103 125

to approve egress for large areas 30 17

vacancies in, how filled 6 6

who may appeal to 7 7

BOARD OF EXAMINERS OF GAS FITTERS.

not affected by this act 9 10

BOARD OF HEALTH.

may limit number of occupants in any building .... 104 128

not affected by this act 9 10

powers of, defined 104, 105 128

BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS.

not affected by this act 9 10

BOARD OF STREET COMMISSIONERS.

not affected by this act 9 10

BOARDS, CITY, CERTAIN.

authority of, not curtailed by this act 9 10

BOILER.

permit required for placing 102 125

BOILERS AND FURNACES.

hazardous buildings, public hearings on 103 125

not to be placed on wooden floors 15 13

or under public ways 16 13

or under certain parts of theatres 104-111 84-88

Index. 167

Page. Section.

BOLTS.

in connections, when used 20 14

BONDING.

of walls at corners 35 24

BONDING BRICKWORK.

provision for 35 25

BOOTHS, VOTING.

not affected by this act 9 10

BORING OF SOIL.

may be required 32 20

BOULEVARDS.

building lines on, sect. 16, chap. 28, R. L 152

BOWDOIN STREET.

height of buildings on, chap. 543, 1902 114

BRACKETS.

under steel beams, fireproofed 39 32

BRICKWORK, BONDING,

provision for 35 25

BRICKWORK IN COMPRESSION.

stresses of 21 14

BRIDGES, QUAYS, ETC.

not affected by this act 9 10

BUILDERS.

licensed, to control building operations, chap. 9,

Ord. 1912 156

BUILDING COMMISSIONER.

appointment of 3 1

authority and powers of ... .3, 4, 5, 6 1. 4, 5

has power to reject materials 23 15

may appoint deputy; powers of 3 1

may enter any building or premises 106 129

may require duplicate plans to be kept at building ... 4 1

may require plans and specifications 4 1

may stop work for violation of permits 4 1

may order unsafe buildings vacated 5 4

may take measures for pubhc safety 12 12

not to dispense with tenement house restrictions 75 76

quahfications required of 3 1

salary of, fixed by City Council 3 1

term of oflBce 3 1

to approve plumbing of chemical laboratories 94 117

to approve elevators 27 38

to approve stable drainage 94 117

to examine all buildings in course of construction 5 2

to examine buildings dangerous, damaged or unsafe. . 5, 6 3, 4. 5

168 Index.

Page. Section.
BUILDING COMMISSIONER.

to keep records of violations 5 2

to have charge of Building Department 3 1

to post notice of unsafe elevators 47 38

to prescribe conditions for buildings outside limits. . . 30 17

to submit annual report to Mayor 4 1

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION. (See separate sub-
jects.)

equivalents in methods of, may be allowed 8 8

height, excavations, cellars, waUs, etc., regulations

for 31 18

BUILDING DEPARTMENT.

commissioner to be in charge of 3

how appointed 3

term of office 3

qualifications reqiiired 3

salary of, fixed by City Council 3

may appoint inspectors, employees and assistants, 3

clerk to keep records open to public 4

employees to retain positions until removal or dis-
charge 3

inspectors, qualifications required of 3

officers, commissioner, salary, term, etc 3

may enter buildings and premises 106 129

not to engage in other business 3

not to furnish material 3

not to be financially interested 3

present, to hold office until removal or discharge . . 3

requirements and restrictions of 3

records to be open to pubUc inspection 4

under charge of commissioner 3

BUILDING EGRESS.

to be satisfactory before occupancy 12 12

BUILDING INSPECTION.

commissioner, or inspectors, to examine aU buildings

in course of construction 5 2

BUILDING LAW, 1907.

approved June 22 107 134

in effect August 1 107 134

exceptions and exemptions from provisions of 9 10

equity courts given power to enforce 105, 106 129

law courts given jurisdiction in law cases 106 130

not to deprive certain city boards and officers of

power 9 10

106

129

107

132

Index. 169

Page. Section.
BUILDING LAW, 1907.

not to deprive other departments, etc., of authority
already held

officials may enter building and premises

(^"^^ violators of, may be fined $500

- BUILDING LAWS.

amendments thereto, chap. 782, 1914 149

BUILDING LIMITS.

present to continue until changed 9 9

City Council may change, extend and define 9 9

outline of, chap. 4, Ord. 1913 160

BUILDING LIN^E.

in public ways, sect. 103, chap. 48, R. L., and chap.

572, 1913. 143, 153

BUILDING LINES.

on parkways, boulevards, etc., chap. 28, sect.

16, R. L 152

BUILDING MATERIALS. (See separate subjects.)

combustible, not to be kept in habitable buildings . .

commissioner has power to reject

method of computing strength of

quahty of mortar, cement and concrete

strength of; tables of stresses 18, 19, 20, 21

BUILDING OPERATIONS.

control of, chap. 9, Ord. 1912 156

BUILDING PERMITS. (See, also, Pekmits.)

apphcations for 4

how and by whom granted 4

if terms of, are violated commissioner may stop work, 4

must be on approved printed forms 4

requirements for 4

BUILDING PROHIBITIONS.

list of general 14 13

BUILDING, OCCUPATION OF.

not until means of egress are provided 12 12

"BUILDING, STORY OF."

definition of 11 11

BUILDINGS.

classes of, defined

height of, defined

regulations for

inspection during construction

outside finish of

not covered by law

104

126

,21

170 Index.

Page. Section.
BUILDINGS.

not affected by fire limits 9 9

for manufacturing purposes outside limits, maximum

height 30 17

on same lot with tenement house 66 62

in public parks, chap. 129, 1889 108

height of in Boston, chap. 333, 1904, and chap. 383,

1905 119,125

height of on Copley square, chap. 452, 1898 Ill

height of on Rutherford avenue, chap. 416, 1907. . . 137
construction, alteration, inspection and maintenance

of, chap. 284, 1910 139

burned, dilapidated, dangerous, nuisances, chap.

101, R. L 153

occupation or use of, not to be changed without per-
mit from commissioner 45 36

prohibitions relating to alterations of wooden build-
ings 14 13

moving, wooden buildings 15 13

repairs, wooden buildings 15 13

requirements for all 12 12

commissioner may enforce 12 12

restriction of areas 29 17

record of violations to be kept 5 2

BUILDINGS, ALTRATION OF EXISTING.

general regulations for 42, 43 35

BUILDINGS, CERTAIN, OUTSIDE LIMITS.

commissioner to prescribe conditions for 30 17

BUILDINGS, CLASSIFICATION OF.

first and second classes 28 17

BUILDINGS, COMPOSITE.

definition of 11 11

BUILDINGS, DANGEROUS OR DAMAGED.

commissioner to examine and make record 5 3, 4

BUILDINGS, EXPOSURES.

regulations for, when remodelled, etc 42, 43 35

BUILDINGS, FEDERAL.

not affected by this act 9 10

BUILDINGS, FIRST-CLASS.

definition of 10 11

BUILDINGS, HAZARDOUS. (See Hazardous
Buildings.)

appliances for heat and power in 102, 103 125

must have permits 102 125

hearings on 103 125

Index. 171

Page. Section.
BUILDINGS, OCCUPANTS OF.

board of health may limit momber of ; . . . 104 128

BUILDINGS, PUBLIC. (See Public Buildings.)

must conform to regulations for theatres 86 107

BUILDINGS, SECOND-CLASS.

definition of 10 11

BUILDINGS, STATE.

not affected by this act 9 10

BUILDINGS, THIRD-CLASS.

definition of 10 11

BUILDINGS UNLAWFULLY CONSTRUCTED.

deemed nuisances 107 132

abatement and removal of 107 132

BUILDINGS, WOODEN.

general regulations for construction of 49, 50, 51 39, 40

height of 50, 51 40

not to be moved within building limits 15 13

proximity to other buildings 50, 51 40

BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURES.

owner responsible for maintenance of 104 127

responsibility of lessees 104 127

BULKHEADS AND SCUTTLES.

tenement house, requirements for 55 44

BURNED BUILDINGS.

chap. 101, R. L 153

CAST IRON.

strength 20 14

CEILINGS.

fireproof, furred down 39 32

in tenement house cellars metal lathed and plastered, 59 49

over furnances, boilers, etc., to be protected 40 32

CEILINGS, CELLAR.

tenement house, construction of 59 49

"CELLAR."
definition of 11 11

CELLARS.

requirements for 34 22

ceilings, tenement house, construction of 59 49

protected from dampness 34 22

lowest, without waterproofing 34 22

CEMENT.

required qualifications for 25 15

non-staining, may be used 21 14

172 Index.

Page. Section.
CEMENT.

to conform to standard specifications 25 15

CHASE.

required thickness outside 15 13

CHEMICAL LABORATORIES.

plumbing of, to be approved by conunissioner 94 117

CHEMICAL WORKS.

require permit 102 125

CHIMNEY FLUES.

height of 12 12

lining required 13 12

CHIMNEYS.

floor timber not to be within two inches of 15 13

restrictions relating to 15 13

thickness of walls . ; 13 12

how much to be corbelled 15 13

hung from 12-inch wall 15 13

CHURCHES.

use of cinematograph in, regulation for, chap. 437,

1905 136

moving picture exhibition in, Mayor to grant per-
mit for, chap. 280, 1913 143

CINDER CONCRETE.

where allowed 22 14

CINEMATOGRAPH.

regulation for use of, chap. 437, 1905, and chap. 791,

1914 136, 151

operation of, chap. 791, 1914 151

CITY COUNCIL.

to fix salary of building commissioner 3 1

CITY OFFICERS, CERTAIN.

authority of, not curtailed by this act 9 10

CLASSES OF BUILDINGS.

definitions of , 10 11

CLASSIFICATION.

of buildings 28 17

CLEAN-OUTS, FERRULES, ETC.

required diameter and weight of 96 121

CLERK, BUILDING DEPARTMENT.

duties of, defined. 4 1

CLOSETS.

under staircases, restrictions 16 13

COLUMNS.

cast iron, restrictions 20 14

Index. 173

Page. Section.

COLUMNS.

cast iron, how tested 24 15

cast iron, parts bolted 36 27

cast iron, strength 20 14

eccentric loading, how figured 26 16

exterior, isolated, fireproofed 39 32

~ reinforced concrete, rules for strength fixed by com-
missioner 22 14

reinforced concrete, requirements 26 16

to be fireproofed and how 38, 39 32

reduction of floor loads : 45 36

wheel guards on 40 32

steel, parts riveted 36 27

steel, strength, formula 19 14

wood, strength 18 14

to be of masonry or metal, when 14 12

COMBUSTIBLE MATERIALS.

not to be kept in habitable buildings 104 126

storage of 104 126

COMBUSTIBLE ROOFING.

not permitted 17 13

COMMISSIONER.

experience required, appointment, etc 3 1

salary, how fixed 3 1

appoints inspectors, employees, etc 3 1

discretion as to concrete permits 22 14

power to reject materials 23 15

in charge of department 3 1

may abate as a nuisance a building in violation of

law 107 132

shall placard buildings:

(a) not provided with sufficient egress 5 4

(b) where violations of building law exist 5 4

may allow "equivalent" methods 8 8

may allow Ume mortar for stonework 24 15

may appoint elevator inspectors, one for each 1,000

elevators 49 38

miay secure unsafe buildings 6 5

may support at dangerous excavations 31 19

may order unsafe building vacated 5 4

may regulate location of steam and hot water pipes

from woodwork 41 32

may require a4ditional safeguards on elevators 49 38

174

Index.

COMMISSIONER.

may require alterations to conform to rules for new
buildings

may require borings for foundations

may require fire damage repairs to conform to rules
for new buildings

may require inspector of piling

may require more exits in theatres

may require oath to application

may require plans and specifications

may require tests of cast-iron columns

may require tests of materials

may require inspector on concrete work

to determine necessary egress

to determine necessity for temporary floors

to determine quality of materials

to determine requirements for strength not covered
by this act

to determine stresses not here given . ,

to fix floor loads not specified

to fix gas outlets in theatres

to make rules for reinforced columns

to grant permits

to print Board of Appeal report 8

to inspect unsafe and dangerous buildings 5

to issue permits for alteration and repair of wooden

buildings 14

to issue permits for hazardous buildings 102

to issue permits for engines, boilers, etc 102

to issue permits for plumbing 91

to issue permits in accordance with decisions of

Board of Appeal 7

to make record of violation 5

to notify owners or agents of unsafe and dangeroxis

buildings 5

not to waive tenement requirements 75

or inspector to examine all buildings being con-
structed or altered, dangerous or damaged, or

when permit has been requested 5

' powers in case of violation 4

to pass on exits in altered habitations 43

to pass on exposure in altered habitations 43

to pass on secm-ing of seats in halls, etc 85

to post notice of dangerous elevators 47

Page.

Section.

13
125

125
114

4
76

2,3

105
*38

Index. 175

Page. Section.

COMMISSIONER.

to prepare sketch of typical plumbing 94 118

to prescribe conditions for maintaining boilers and

furnaces 103 125

to prescribe conditions for certain buildings outside

V ~ fire limits 30 17

^o prescribe conditions for temporary structures. ... 9 9
to prescribe conditions for curtain walls in steel

frame buildings 36 27

to prescribe fireproofing of steel in alterations 40 32

to prescribe maximum floor loads, existing buildings, 45 36

to submit annual report 4 1

to take measures for public safety 12 12

to approve drawings for aU work 12 12

to approve drawings for egress 12 12

to approve elevators before used 47 * 38

to approve egress for extra large areas 30 17

to approve plumbing, chemical laboratories 94 117

to approve plumbing, stables 94 117

to approve stresses in reinforced concrete 22 14

to approve stresses in stonework 21 14

to approve smaU openings in walls, etc 38 31

to approve supports for vent shaft skylight 59 52

to approve use of wood in foundations 50 39

to fix grade for cutting piles 32 20

to decide if piling is necessary 32 20

to determine cause and remedy for elevator accidents, 48 * 38
to record examinations to raise, enlarge, alter or

repair 5 3

COMMISSIONER, BUILDING. (See Building
Commissioner.)

appointment, qualifications, term, salary, etc 3 1

COMMISSIONER, FIRE,

not affected by this act 9 10

COMMISSIONER OF WIRES.

not affected by this act 9 10

provisions of sect. 7 apply to 7 7

governed by decisions of Board of Appeal . 7 7

COMPOSITE BUILDINGS.

definition of 11 - 11

COMPUTATION.

of concrete, steel, methods 22 16

COMPUTATIONS, BUILDING MATERIALS.

methods of 23 16

176

Index.

Page. Section.

CONCRETE.

and reinforced concrete piling 32 20

and blocks for walls, single family house 29 17

capping for wood piles 32 20

composition and strength 22 14

inspector to make daily reports 25 15

modulus of elasticity 25 15

protection for metal underground 34 22

reinforced composition and strength 22 14

requirements for use 24 15

specifications to be submitted 22 14

regulations for use of 22 14

required qualifications of 24 15

stresses of 22 14

CONCRETE, REINFORCED.

required qualifications of 25 15

CONSTRUCTION.

alteration, inspection and maintenance of buildings,

chap. 284, 1910 139

general 31 18

permit for : . . 4 1

to be supported i 12 12

CONSTRUCTION, BUILDING. {See separate sub-
jects.)

height, excavation, cellars, walls, etc., regulations for, 31 18

first and second class buildings 28 17

equivalents may be allowed by appeal board and

commissioner . 8 8

CONTINUOUS BEAMS.

how figured 25 15

CONTROL.

building operations, by licensed builders, chap. 9,

Ord. 1912 156

of exits, etc., lights in theatres 82, 88 99-111

of ventilators in theatres 78, 89 86-111

COPLEY SQUARE.

height of buildings on, chap. 452, 1898 Ill

CORBELLING.

of walls for joists (8-inch walls) 42 34

CORBELS, CHIMNEY.

restrictions relating to 15 13

'CORNER LOT."

definition of , , , 53 42

Index.

177

Page. Section,

CORNICE.

of second-class buildings, material and construction, 37 29

CORNICE STONE.

to balance 37 29

projection allowed 16 13

CORRECTION, HOUSE OF.
^"~^ not affected by this act 9 10

COTTON, PAPER STOCK, ETC.

not to be kept in habitable buildings 104 126

COURTHOUSE, SUFFOLK COUNTY.
not affected by this act 9 10

COURT, MUNICIPAL,
given jurisdiction in law proceedings 106 130

COURTS, AREA.
theatres must have open 76 79, 80

COURTS, EQUITY,
given jurisdiction to enforce provisions of this act . . 103-107 129-131

"COURTS," TENEMENT HOUSE.

drained 75 74

definition of 53 42

general regulations for 63 57

inner, provision for 64 59

not to have roof or skylight 63 57

outer, provision for 63 58

vent, regulations for 65 60

CURTAIN WALLS.

in steel frame buildings, thickness 36 27

CURTAINS.

theatres must have fireproof 77 84

CUTTING FOR PIPING,
restrictions concerning 23 14

DAMAGED BUILDINGS.

commissioner to examine, and make record 5 3,4

may be restored to original condition or conform to

rules for new biiildings 43 35

DAMPPROOFING.

cellar bottom 34 22

DANGEROUS BUILDING.

to be placarded 5 4

DANGEROUS BUILDINGS.

commissioner to examine, and make record 5 3, 4

chap. 101, R.L 153

178 Index.

Page. Section.
DANGEROUS BUSINESS.

in tenements 60 54

DANGEROUS OR UNSAFE BUILDINGS.

to be inspected and owner notified, notice posted;

owner to secure or remove 5, 6 4, 5

power of commissioner 6 5

DECISIONS, BOARD OF APPEAL.

applicants to have copy 7 7

must be in writing 7 7

specify variations, etc 7 7

DEFINITIONS.

certain words relating to tenement houses 52, 53 42

DEFLECTION OF BEAMS.

allowable 19 14

DEMOLITION.

permit for 4 1

DEPARTMENT, BUILDING.

organization of 3 1

DEPUTY BUILDING COMMISSIONER.

appointment of 3 1

powers of 3 1

DILAPIDATED BUILDINGS.

chap. 101, R. L 153

DISTANCE FROM LOT LINE.

tenement house 61 55

{8ee, also, yards, inner and outer court) 63, 64 58, 59

wooden buildings 50, 51 40

DIVISION OF FLOOR AREAS.

by walls 29 17

DOORS.

stage, in theatres, provision for 79 91

in operative buildings, not to be locked, chap. 566,

1914 148

DOORS IN PARTY WALLS.

size, etc 38 31

"DRAIN."

plumbing, definition of 90 112

for cellar floor to have trap, etc 102 124

DRAIN PIPES.

lay out, support, details 100 122

DRAINS, SURFACE.

must have seal trap and back-water valve 102 124

DRAINAGE OF COURTS AND YARDS.

tenement-house, to satisfaction of board of health. . 75 74

Index. 179

Page. Section.
DRAINAGE FITTINGS.

certain, miist be galvanized, etc 99 121

DRAINAGE, STABLE.

commissioner to approve fixtures for 94 117

DRY HOUSES.

, regulation for, chap. 729, 1913 147

^DUMB WAITER SHAFTS.

in tenement houses to be fireproof ed 59 52

to be of fireproof material 46 * 38

DWELLING,
private, entertainment in, chap. 254, 1909, amending

sect. 173, chap. 102, R. L 139

DYNAMO.

application to be published 103 125

permit required 102 125

ECCENTRIC LOADING OF COLUMNS.

how figured 26 16

EGRESS.

means of, in case of fire 12 12

from tenement houses, provision for 54, 55 43

stores and storage buildings 30 17

outside, window openings to be protected when and

how .• 14 12

buildings, not provided with sufficient, to be plac-
arded 5 4

commissioner to approve before occupancy 12 12

for large areas to be approved 30 17

outside, projection of 16 13

for second-class factories and workshops 12 12

two means, mercantile buildings 30 17

two means, for altered buildings over 33 feet high. . 43 35

ELEVATOR CABLES.

how attached 48 * 38

operators, minimum age 48 * 38

safety attachment required 46 * 38

shaft openings how protected and to be kept closed, 46 * 38

shaft, grille vmder machinery 46 * 38

shaft, space between car and walls 47 * 38

shaft windows to have bars 47 * 38

shaft, fireproof construction 46 * 38

shaft, height above roof 46 * 38

shaft in tenement houses to be fireproofed 59 52

180 Index.

Page. Section.
ELEVATOR SHAFTS.

tenement house, regulations for 59 52

no recess in outer wall 47 * 38

not more than 4 inches between car and walls 47 * 38

to be of fireproof material 46 * 38

to have skylights 46 * 38

ELEVATORS.

accidents to be reported 48 * 38

inspectors may be appointed -. 49 * 38

manufacturers required to test 49 * 38

permits for, how obtained 48 * 38

to be approved by commissioner before being used . . 1 47 * 38

unsafe, commissioner to post notice 1 47 * 38

who may operate them 48 * 38

for coal or grain, not restricted by building limits ... 9 9

freight, construction of shaft and doors 46 * 38

freight gates in outside doors 47 * 38

freight not above first story without fireproof in-

closure 46 * 38

freight, to have danger signals 47 * 38

governor and slack cable device required 48 * 38

in areas and hallways to have grille 46 * 38

in case of accident, commissioner to be notified .... 48 * 38

not to be used until approved by commissioner .... 47 * 38

permit required and plans to be approved 48 * 38

located to give easy access to machinery 48 * 38

to be tested by manufacturer in presence of inspector, 49 * 38

imsafe, penalty for use 47 38

ELEVATORS AND HOISTS.

general regulations for 46, 47, 48, 49 * 38

fireproof inclosures for 46 * 38

exceptions 46 * 38

EMPLOYEES, BUILDING DEPARTMENT.

to be appointed by commissioner 3 1

to retain positions until removal or discharge 3 1

ENCLOSURES.

fireproof for elevators and hoists 46 * 38

ENFORCEMENT OF BUILDING LAW.

Equity and law courts given jurisdiction 105, 106 129, 130

ENGINE.

application to be published 103 125

permit required for placing 102 125

ENGINES.

not to be placed under certain parts of theatres 84-88 104-111

Index.

181

Page. Section,
ENLARGED.

what buildings may be 42 35

ENLARGING BUILDINGS.

application for 4 1

to be examined . 5 3

ENTERTAINMENT.

in private dwelling, chap. 454, 1909, amending sect.

173, chap. 102, R. L 139

ENTRANCE HALLS.

tenement-house, construction of 58 48

EQUITY COURTS.

given jurisdiction under this act 105 129

EQUIVALENTS.

in methods of construction and maintenance may be

allowed 8 8

ESCALATOR SHAFTS.

to be fireproofed 29 17

EXAMINATION OF BUILDINGS.

dangeroxis or damaged 5 3

vmder application to alter, etc 5 3

under construction, when made 5 2

EXAMINERS OF GAS FITTERS.

not affected by this act 9 10

EXCAVATIONS.

general regulations for 31 18, 19

how and by whom protected 31 19

responsibility for cost of supporting 31 19

retaining walls for 31 19

EXCELSIOR, COTTON, ETC.

not to be kept in habitable buildings 104 126

EXEMPTION.

special, from restriction of height of buildings,

chap. 786, 1914 150

EXEMPTIONS,

from provisions of this act 9 10

EXHAUST PIPES,

steam, how connected 101 122

EXHAUSTS, STEAM.

regulations pertaining to 101 122

EXHIBITION.

moving pictures, special, Mayor to grant permit,

chap. 280, 1913 143

EXISTING TENEMENT HOUSES.

defined 52 42

reqiiirements for lighting and ventilation 72-74 70-72

182

Index.

EXISTING THEATRES.

general regulations for 87, 88

EXITS.

in altered habitations, two required 43

EXITS, ETC., LIGHTS.

in theatres, control and supply of 82-88

EXITS, PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

must conform to regulations for theatres 86

EXITS, ROOF GARDEN.

requirements for 87

EXITS, SIGNS.

in existing theatres 88

EXITS, THEATRE.

general regulations for 79-82

EXPLOSIVES AND COMBUSTIBLES.

buildings for manufacturing, require permit 102

EXPOSURE.

for altered habitations, amount 43

for altered habitations, if on corner, may be omitted, 43

in altered habitations, not to apply in mercantile
stories 43

in altered habitations, not to be diminished 43

to apply to new buildings (except tenements) 44

EXPOSURES.

required for existing buildings altered 43

FAMILY.

definition, for tenement houses 52

FAT-BOILING.

place must be fireproof ed 60

prohibited in tenement houses 60

exceptions 60

FEATHERS, RAGS, ETC.

not to be kept in habitable buildings 104

FEDERAL BUILDINGS.

not affected by this act 9

FEED, HAY, STRAW, ETC.

not to be kept in habitable buildings 104

FEES.

for permits and licenses, authorized, chap. 571, 1910, 140
FENCE.

erected to annoy, etc., prohibited, chap. 33, R. L. . . . 152

fire escapes 53, 54, 55

Section.

Ill

99-111

107

109

111

91-99

125

35
35

35
35
35

53
53
53

126

Index. 183

Page. Section.
FERRULES, CLEAN-OUTS, ETC.

reqviired diameter and weight of 96 121

FIRE.

means of egress in case of 12 12

J'IRE-ESCAPES.

in mercantile buildings 30 17

interior and exterior in tenement houses 54, 55 43

minimum load 45 36

' obstruction of, to be removed by Fire Hazard
Commissioner. {See Sect. 13 D, c, 795, 1914.)

stores and storage buildings 30 17

in what they shall consist 54, 55 43

theatres, outside to be lighted 82-88 99-111

FIRE COMMISSIONER.

not affected by this act 9 10

FIRE DAMAGE.

how restored 43 35

FIRE DOORS.

in party walls, size, etc 38 31

shafts, stores, warehouses 29 17

FIRE STOPPING.

between stair stringers 40 32

in alteration work in first story and basement, mer-
cantile 42 35

in studding and fiu-ring 40 32

of bearing partitions 40 32

of floors 40 32

to be approved by commissioner 40 32

FIRE WALLS.

above roof 37 28

FIREPLACE,
construction 37 30

FIRE PROTECTION.

general requirements for 38, 39, 40 32

FIREPROOF ENCLOSURES.

for shafts in first-class warehouses 29 17

FIREPROOF PARTITIONS.

how to be constructed 41 33

in first-class buildings 41 33

FIREPROOF STAIRWAYS.

in mercantile buildings 29 17

FIREPROOF WINDOWS,
in mercantile and manufacturing buildings 46 37

184 Index.

Page. Section.

FIREPROOFING.

regulations for 38, 39, 40 32

of beams, girders, etc 38 32

of stair halls in tenements 57 46

of steel and iron in alterations, as approved by com-
missioner 38 32

FIRST-CLASS BUILDINGS.

definition of 10 11

warehouse to have fireproof enclosures and automatic

doors 29 17

what buildings to be 28 17

FITTINGS, DRAINAGE.

must be galvanized, etc , 99 121

"FIXTURE."

plumbing, meaning of term 90 112

FLOOR ANCHORS.

floor anchors 13 12

FLOOR AREAS.

undivided, maximum 29 17

FLOOR JOISTS.

distance between ends 15-42 13-34

distance from chimney 15 13

in party walls 29 17

FLOOR LOADS.

for existing buildings, commissioner to fix 45 36

full loads to be used in certain bmldings 45 36

minimum 44 36

reduction for girders, columns, piers and walls 45 36

FLOOR OPENINGS.

to be kept closed 46 38

FLOOR TIMBER.

not to be within two inches of chimney 15 13

FLOOR AND ROOF JOISTS.

minimum bearing 42 34

on corbels or hangers 42 34

splayed at ends 42 34

FLOORS,
how fire stopped in second and third class con-
struction 40 32

security of, required 13 12

small openings in, to be approved by commissioner, 38 31

theatre, required levels of 77 82

stage, requirements for 77-79 85, 89

to be constructed to carry proposed leads safely .... 44 36

Index. 185

Page. Section.

FLOORS OF EXISTING BUILDINGS.

conunissioner to prescribe maximuin loads for 45 36

FLOORS, LOADS.

least capacity for 44 36

-FLOORS, WOODEN.

V^furnaces and boilers not to be placed on 15 13

FLOORING DURING CONSTRUCTION.

regulations for 52 41

FLUES, CHIMNEY.

height of 12 12

lining required for certain 13 12

FLUES, VENTILATING.

must be of incombustible material 13 12

FORMS FOR CONCRETE.

when and how to be removed 25 15

FOUNDATION.

construction or alteration of, requires permit 11 12

depths below front 38-49 31-39

for first and second class buildings, materials 33 21

for wooden buildings, material and thickness 49 39

metal in, protected with concrete, etc 34 22

metal work in, protected from dampness 34 22

not to overload soil 33 21

of rubble stone, when used 33 21

walls, thickness 34 22

"FOUNDATION."

definition of , 11 11

regulations for 31 18

FOUNDATIONS, FIRST AND SECOND CLASS
BUILDINGS,

general regulations of 33 21

FRAME OF WOODEN BUILDING.

described 50 39

FURNACE.

distance below ceiling 40 32

permit required for setting 4-103 1-125

FURNACES AND BOILERS.

hazardous buildings, public hearings on 57 125

not to be placed on wooden floors 15 13

under certain parts of theatres 77, 78 104-111

FURRING.

distance from chimney 15 13

fire stopped, where and how 40 32

not within one inch of chimney 15 31

186 Index.

Page. Section.
FURTHER REQUIREMENTS.

for strength determined by commissioner 8 8

GARAGES.

erection and maintenance of.

chap. 259, 1912 142

chap. 342, 1911 141

chap. 577, 1913 144

GARBAGE.

receptacle in altered habitations 43 35

GARBAGE AND ASHES.

tenement-house, receptacles for 75 75

GARDENS, ROOF. {See Roof Gardens.)

above theatres, provisions for. 86 108

GAS FITTERS, BOARD OF EXAMINERS OF.

not affected by this act 9 10

"GAS FITTING."

definition of 11 11

municipal court given jurisdiction in law cases 106 130

permit for • 4 1

GAS PIPE OUTLETS.

theatre, two required 82 99

inspection of 82 99

GATES IN STAGE STANDPIPES.

of theatres 77-89 104-111

GIRDERS AND BEAMS.

computations relating to 26, 27 16

GONGS.

in hotels, lodging houses, etc., when required, sect.

29, chap. 104, R. L 155

GRAIN ELEVATORS.

not affected by building limits 9 9

require permit for use 103 125

GRANITE.

stresses of — 21 14

HABITABLE BUILDINGS.

combustible materials not to be housed in 104 126

HABITATIONS.

first story or basement may be used for mercantile

purposes 28 17

when to be first, second or third class ... 28 17

Index.

187

Page. Section.
"HALL, PUBLIC."

tenement house, defined 63 42

requirements for 56 45

"pALL, STAIR."

"^ tenement house, defined 53 42

~^~ construction of 57 46

HALLS.

capacity of 85 105

general requirements for 85, 86 105

must be fireproof when 85 105

moving picture exhibition in, Mayor to grant permit

for, chap. 280, 1913 143

HALLS, ENTRANCE.

tenement house, construction of 58 48

HALLS OR ASSEMBLY ROOMS.

aisles to be kept clear 85 105

arrangement of seats, passages, etc 85 105

biiildings altered, for, conform to law 85 105

construction, requirements 85 105

exits, same as for theatres 86 107

seating capacity, how reckoned 85 105

seats secured during performances 85 105

HANDRAILS.

theatre stairs, requirements for 83 102

HANGERS OR STIRRUP.

for joists 14 12

HAY, STRAW, ETC.

not to be kept in habitable buildings 104 126

HAZARDOUS BUILDINGS.

appliances for power and heat 102 125

hearings on boilers and furnaces for 103 125

must have permits 102 125

application, hearings, etc 103 125

HEADERS AND TRIMMERS.

rules for 14 12

HEADERS, WOODEN.

requirements for 13 12

HEALTH, BOARD OF.

may limit number of occupants in any building .... 104 1 28

not to be affected by this act 9 10

powers of, defined 104 128

188 Index.

Page. Section.
HEARINGS, PUBLIC.

hazardous buildings and appliances for power and

heat 103 125

HEARTHS.

size and how supported 37 30

HEARTHS AND PIERS.

regulations for 37 30

HEAT AND POWER.

appliances for, in hazardous buildings 102 125

HEATING APPARATUS.

theatre, under auditoriums, regulations for 84 104

HEIGHT.

of altered buildings not to be increased 42 35

of buildings to width of street 31 18

of buildings special acts governing 31 18

maximum, for all bmldings 31 18

"HEIGHT OF BUILDINGS."

definition of 11 11

regulations for 31 18

in Boston.

chap. 333, 1904 119

chap. 383, 1905 125

Copley square.

chap. 452, 1898 Ill

vicinity of State House, limited.

chap. 457, 1899 113

on Beacon street and Bowdoin street.

chap. 543, 1902 114

special exemption.

chap. 786. 1914 150

HEIGHT OF WOODEN BUILDING.

if altered not to be increased in some cases 15 13

HIGHWAYS.

construction of, laying out of.

chap. 323, 1891, amended by chap. 418, 1892 109

HOISTS AND ELEVATORS.

fireproof enclosures for 46 * 38

exceptions 46 * 38

HOTELS.

watchman, lights, gongs, etc., in, sect. 29, chap. 104,

R. L 155

HOUSE OF CORRECTION.

not affected by this act 9 10

HOUSES, TENEMENT. {See Tenement Houses.)

Index. 189

Page. Section.
ILLEGAL STRUCTURES.

may be ordered removed by Superior or Suprem^e

Judicial Court, sect. 52, chap. 104, R. L 155

use of, maintenance of, or placing of, may be
-^ restrained by Superior or Supreme Judicial Court,
V_ sect. 52, chap..l04, R. L 155

INJUNCTION.

Superior or Supreme Judicial Coiui; may issue, to
restrain, placing maintenance or use of illegal
structures, sect. 52, chap. 104, R. L 155

INNER COURT.

defined 53 42

for tenement house, size 64 59

INSPECTION.

of concrete work 25 15

elevators 48 * 38

alteration, construction and maintenance of build-
ings, chap. 284, 1910 139

theatres and public haUs.

chap. 450, 1904 129

chap. 463, 1907 137

INSPECTION, BUILDING.

commissioner, or inspectors, to examine aU buildings

being constructed or altered 5 2

INSPECTION, PLUMBING.

work must be approved 91 116

INSPECTOR.

of masonry construction, qualification of, chap.

540, 1914 147

INSPECTORS, BUILDING.

appointed by commissioner 3 1

may enter any building or premises 106 129

qualifications required of 3 1

to examine all buildings for which permits have been

requested 5 3

to examine dangerous and damaged buildings 5 3

to examine imsafe or dangerous buildings 5 4

to make record of violations 5 2

to post notice on unsafe or dangerous buildings 5 4

to post notice of violations 5 4

to post notice of insuflScient egress ■ 5 4

190 Index.

Page. Section,

INSPECTORS, ELEVATOR.

commissioner may appoint 49 * 38

INTAKE.

defined ■ 53 42

for tenement houses, size, etc 65 61

in tenement houses, size and skylight over 59 52

tenement house, provision for 65 61

IRON, WROUGHT AND CAST.

strength of 19 14

JAIL, SUFFOLK COUNTY.

not affected by this act 9 10

JOINT BOLTS,
where required 14 12

JOISTS.

in 8-inch party wall, 8 inches apart 29 17

not to enter 8-inch walls 42 34

floor and roof, in walls of second-class buildings 42 34

JURISDICTION.

given courts of equity 106 129

law 106 130

KITCHENETTE.

least dimension of 14 12

LABORATORIES, CHEMICAL.

plumbing of, to be approved by commissioner 94 117

LADDERS.

to roof scuttles 12-55 12-44

LANDINGS, STAIR.

theatre, required dimensions of 83 101

LAW COURTS.

given jurisdiction under this act 106 130

LAWS.

certain former acts applicable 31 18

LEAD PIPES.

size and weight, pl\imbing 97 121

LEADERS.

capacity required 12 12

how connected 102 124

where not to discharge 12 12

Index. 191

Page. Section.
LEADERS, ROOF.

projections of 12 12

requirements for 102 124

"LEAKS, REPAIR OF."

plumbing, definition of 90 112

LESSEE UNDER RECORDED LEASE.

deemed owner of building or structure 104 127

LESSEES.

when responsible for maintenance 104 127

LEVELLERS.

block granite on wood piles 32 20

LICENSED BUILDERS.

to control biiUding operations, chap. 9, Ord. 1912 . . 156
LICENSES.

fees for authorized, chap. 571, 1910 140

LICENSING.

theatres and public halls, chap. 450, 1904, and chap.

463, 1907 129, 137

LIGHT AND VENTILATION.

of existing tenement houses 72 70

of rooms in tenement houses 66 63

of stairhalls in tenement houses 68 66

tenement house, provision for 60-62 55

LIGHT SHAFTS.

of fireproof material 46 * 38

LIGHTING, TENEMENT HOUSE.

board of health may regulate 105 128

LIGHTS.

in hotels, lodging houses, etc., when required, sect.

129, chap. 104, R. L 155

LIGHTS, EXIT.

public buildings must conform to theatre require-
ments 86 107

LIMESTONE.

stresses of 21 14

LIMITS.

building, outUne of, chap. 4, Ord. 1913 160

LINING, CHIMNEY.

when required 13 12

LIVE LOADS.

for various buildings 44 36

LOADS, FLOOR.

provision for, in constructing 44 36

192 Index.

Page. Section.
LOADS, FLOOR.

commissioner to prescribe maximum for existing

buildings 45 36

LOBBIES, THEATRE,
requirements for 79 90

LODGING HOUSES,
public, regiilation for, chap. 242, 1904, and chap. 129,

1911 116,141

watchman, lights, gongs, etc., sect. 29, chap. 104,

R. L 155

MAINTENANCE OF BUILDINGS.

owners and lessees, responsibility of 104 127

MAINTENANCE, METHODS OF.

equivalents may be allowed by appeal board and

commissioner 8 8

MANUFACTURING BUILDINGS.

outside limits, maximum height and area 30 17

MARBLE. BUILDING.

stresses of 21 14

MARKET BUILDINGS.

restrictions of sect. 9 not to apply to 9 9

MASONRY, BRICK AND STONE.

not to rest on wood 15 13

exceptions 15 13

MASONRY CONSTRUCTION.

qualifications of, inspector of, chap. 540, 1914 147

MATERIALS.

quality of 23 15

MATERIALS, BUILDING. {See Building Ma-
terials.)

strength of 17-22 14

stresses, tables of 17-22 14

MATERIALS, COMBUSTIBLE.

not to be kept in habitable buildings 104 126

MERCANTILE PURPOSES.

first story and basement of habitations may be used

for 29 17

METAL.

window frames and sash 45 37

METAL WORK.

in foundations, protected from moisture 34 22

Index. 193

Page. Section.
METHODS OF COMPUTATION.

strength of building materials. 17-22 14

METHODS OF MAINTENANCE.

equivalents may be allowed by appeal board and

commissioner 8 8

MORTAR, LIME.

to prevent staining stone 24 15

MORTARS.

required qualifications of 23 15

MOVING BUILDINGS.

prohibitions relating to , 15 13

wooden, within building limits prohibited 15 13

MOVING PICTURE SHOWS.

subject to chapters 176 and 437, 1905 86 106

MOVING PICTURES.

exhibition of, chap. 791, 1914. 151

exhibitions, special, mayor to grant permit for, chap.

280, 1913 143

MUD SILLS.

allowed to support masonry 15 13

NEIGHBORING STRUCTURES.

to be supported ^. . 12 12

powers of commissioner in such cases 12 12

NIPPLES, SOLDERING.

required diameter and weight of 96 121

NOTICE.

on dangerous or unsafe buildings not to be i emoved . . 5 4

NUISANCES.

buildings unlawfully constructed declared to be ... . 107 132

abatement and removal of, chap. 101, R. L 107, 153 132

OAK, WHITE.

strength of 18 14

OBSERVATION STANDS.

commissioner must approve plans of 16 13

on roofs prohibited 16 13

OBSTRUCTIONS.

in aisles, etc., of public buildings, of theatres 85 105

OCCUPANTS OF BUILDINGS.

board of health may limit number of 104 128

194

Index.

Page. Section.
OCCUPATION.

of buildings forbidden until egress is provided 12 12

OCCUPATIONS OF BUILDINGS.

not to be changed without permit 45 36

OFFICE FORCE OF DEPARTMENT.

how appointed 3 1

OFFICERS, BUILDING DEPARTMENT.

may enter buildings and premises 106 129

not to engage in other business 3 1

not to f lu-nish materials 3 1

not to be financially interested 3 1

requirements and restrictions 3 1

to serve until removal or discharge 3 1

OFFICERS, CITY, CERTAIN.

powers of, not curtailed by this act 9 10

OFFICES, STORES, ETC.

in theatre buildings 76 81

OPENINGS.

of 144 square inches or less in walls and floors,

approved by commissioner 38 31

OPENINGS IN DIVISION WALLS.

area and number restricted 30 17

OPERATIVE BUILDINGS.

doors in, not to be locked, chap. 566, 1914 148

OUTER COURT.

defined 53 42

in tenement houses, size, etc 63 58

OUTSIDE FINISH.

in first and second class buildings, materials 13 12

OVERCROWDING, TENEMENT HOUSES.

board of health may regulate to prevent 104 128

OWNER.

to protect against excavation 31 19

OWNERS.

responsible for maintenance of buildings and struc-
tures 104 127

PAPER STOCK, COTTON, ETC.

not to be kept in habitable building 104 126

PARK COMMISSIONERS.

not affected by this act 9 10

PARKWAYS.

jbuilding lines on, sect. 16, chap. 28, R. L 152

Index.

195

Page. Section.
PARTITION WALL.

defined.. 9 11

PARTITIONS, BEARING.

to be firestopped 38 32

thin fireproof 39 32

PARTITIONS, FIREPROOF.

how to be constructed 41 33

PARTITIONS, TENEMENT HOUSE.

construction of 59 50

PARTY WALL.

doors in, size, etc 38 31

all buildings, thickness ^. 34 23

in single family houses, first and second class, thick-
ness 29 17

in steel frame buildings, thickness 36 27

in wooden buildings, thickness and height above roof, 51 40

small openings in 38 31

definition of 11 11

above roof 37 28

prohibition concerning 15 13

PASSAGEWAYS, PUBLIC ASSEMBLAGE.

no temporary seats or obstructions in 85 105

no persons to stand in during performance 85 105

PASSAGEWAYS, THEATRE.

radiators, floor registers, etc., not to be placed in 84 104

PENALTIES.

for not providing watchmen, Ughts, gongs, etc., in
hotels and lodging houses, sect. 32, chap. 104,
R. L 155

PENDENCY.

notice of, filed in Registry of Deeds, chap, 463, 1897, 110

PERMIT.

for concrete work 22 14

to state, proposed use of building 44 36

PERMITS.

fees for authorized, chap. 571, 1910 140

what work requires them 4-14 1-13

who issues 4 1

PERMITS AND APPLICATIONS.

in what form 4 1

PERMITS, BUILDING.

applications for 4 1

requirements of 4 1

196

Index.

PERMITS, BUILDING.

applicants may appeal to board of appeal

action thereon

building commissioner shall grant, for construction. .
if terms are violated commissioner may stop work . . .

to be on approved printed forms

required for all buildings

PERMITS, OTHER THAN BUILDING.

required for alterations

boilers, steam

elevators

furnaces

gas fitting

plumbing

commissioner to grant, on application

PICTURE SHOWS, MOVING.

subject to chapters 176 and 437, acts 1905 86

PIERS.

reduced floor loads , used for 45

to be of masonry or metal, when 14

to have caps and plates 37

PIERS AND HEARTHS.

regulations for 37

PILES.

allowed for supporting maaonry 15

boring may be required previously 32

commissioner to decide on necessity 32

commissioner to determine grade for cutting 32

concrete, allowable load 32

concrete, how tested 32

distance apart along wall 32

inspector may be required 32

inspector to keep records 32

number bearing and diameter to be sufficient 32

of concrete and reinforced concrete, how made and

driven 32

regulations for 31, 32

to be capped with granite or concrete 32

under wooden buildings on marshy land 50

PINE, WHITE AND YELLOW.

strength of 18

PINS.

how computed • 27

Page.

Section,

*38

114

106

36
12
30

20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20

18, 20

Index. 197

Page. Section.

PIPES.

hot air, minirQum distance from woodwork 40 32

smoke, distance from ceiling 40 32

steam or hot water, distance from woodwork 41 32

wires, etc., not to be built into fireproofing of steel,

etc 39 32

PIPES, BACK AIR.

plumbing, requirements for 93 117

PIPES, BRASS.

diameter, thickness and weight required 95 121

PIPES, CAST-IRON.

diameter and weight required 98 121

PIPES, DRAIN.

requirements relating to ^_^ 100 122

PIPES, LEAD. i^L

plumbing, restricted to short branches . .' 97 121

required diameter, thickness and weight 97 121

PIPES, REFRIGERATOR AND DRIP.

plimibing, regulations for 95 119

PIPES, SMOKE.

not to project through walls or windows 15 13

PIPES, SOIL.

plumbing, requirements for 92 117

required diameters for 95 121

PIPES, STEAM, ETC.

not to be within one inch of woodwork 15 13 "

restrictions concerning 15 13

PIPES, WASTE.

pliunbing, requirements for 92 117

required diameters for ■ 95 121

PIPES, WROUGHT-IRON.

diameter, thickness and weight required.. 99 121

PIPING.

cutting for, restrictions relative to 23 14

distance from woodwork 15 13

PLACARD.

(a) unsafe elevators, etc 47 38

(b) vmsaf e buildings, etc 5 4

(d) buildings where, egress is insufficient 5 4

PLANS AND SPECIFICATIONS.

building commissioner may require 4 1

duplicates to be kept at buildings 4 1

observation stands, commissioner must approve. ... 16 13

198 Index.

Page. Section.
PLANS AND SPECIFICATIONS.

open to inspection of inspector 4 1

to be filed with application 4 1

PLASTER BOARD.

on partitions in first-class buildings 41 33

on stair walls in tenement houses 57, 58 46, 47

PLASTERING.

on fireproof partitions, thickness 41 33

PLATE GIRDERS.

data for figuring 27 16

PLUMBERS.

must be registered or licensed. 91 113

must get permits 91 114

notify commissioner on changing place of business. . 91 113

PLUMBING.

"air pipes," definition of 90 112

requirements for 92-94 117, 118

back water traps 102 124

clean-outs, required diameter and weight of 96 121

connection with sewer or drain 91 115

definition of terms used in 90 112

"drain," meaning of 90 112

drain pipes, details of construction 100 122

drain pipes, requirements for 100 122

drains, surface, must have seal trap and back-water

valve 102 124

exhausts, steam, regulations for 101 122

ferrules, clean-outs, etc 95 120

ferrules, reqiiired diameter and weight of 96 121

fittings, drainage, must be galvanized 99 121

"fixture," definition of 90 112

grease and oil traps if required 101 123

inspection and tests of work 91 116

laboratory, to be approved by commissioner 94 117

leaders, roof, requirements for 102 124

"leaks, repair of," meaning of 90 112

municipal court given jurisdiction in law cases 106 130

nipples, soldering, required diameter and weight of, 96 121

pipes, back air, requirements for 93 117

brass, required diameter, thickness and weight. . . 95 121

cast iron, required diameter, thickness and weight, 98 121

lead, required diameter, thickness and weight. ... 97 121

restricted to short branches 96 121

Index. 199

Page. Section.
PLUMBING.

refrigerator and drip, regulations for 95 119

soil and waste, requirements for 92 117

required diameter of 95 121

vent, definition of 90 112

wrought iron, required diameter, thickness and

weight 99 121

relative to business of, chap. 287, 1914 148

roof leaders, requirements for 102 124

soil and waste pipes, sizes required 95 121

soil and waste pipes, traps and fittings 92 117

"soil pipe," definition of 90 112

soldering nipples, required diameter and weight of . . 96 121

special traps for gasolene, naphtha, etc.^^ 101 123

stable drainage fixtures to be approved b^ commis-
sioner .^ 94 117

"surface drain," meaning of 90 112

must have seal trap and back-water valve 102 124

terms used in defined 90 112

tests and inspection of work 91 116

to be inspected and approved 91 116

traps, requirements for 92, 93, 94 117

special, when required 101 123

"vent pipes," definition of 90 112

"ventilation pipe, " definition of 90 112

vents, requirements for 93 117

wash stand for vehicles, sand box for 101 123

waste pipes and traps, provisions for 92 117

water-closets, requirements for 95 120

water-closets, water supply for 95 120

" Y-branches," definition of 90 112

POLICE COMMISSIONER.

not affected by this act 9 10

PORTABLE SCHOOL BUILDINGS.

not affected by this act 9 10

POSTS.

wood, strength of 18 14

POWER AND HEAT.

appliances for, in hazardous buildings 102 125

PRIVACY IN ACCESS TO WATER-CLOSETS.

in tenement houses 68 67

PRIVATE BUSINESS.

prohibited for department employees 3 1

200 Index.

Page. Section.

PRIVATE DWELLING.

entertainment in, chap. 254, 1909, amending sect.

173, chap. 102, R. L 139

PRIVY VAULTS.

construction and size 95 120

PROHIBITIONS, BUILDING.

complete list of 14 13

relating to alterations, repairs and moving 14 13

PROJECTIONS OVER PUBLIC WAYS.

restrictions relating to 16 13

PROSCENIUM WALLS.

theatres must have 77 83

PROTECTION.

in case of excavation 31 19

PUBLIC ASSEMBLY.

places of, requirements, construction 105

PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

aisles, passageways and stairways must be clear .... 85 105

aisles, passageways and stairways, no person to stand

in during performance 85 105

aisles of, must conform to requirements for theatres, 86 107

cinematograph, use in, regulations for, chap. 437,

1905 136

exits of, must conform to requirements for theatres, 86 107

exit lights must conform to requirements for theatres, 86 107

obstruction in aisles, etc ^ 85 105

seats must conform to requirements for theatres ... . 86 107

seats temporary, not allowed in aisles, etc 85 105

seats to be secured 85 105

stairways must conform to requirements for theatres, 86 107

PUBLIC HALL,
defined 53-67 42-65

PUBLIC HALLS,
in existing tenement houses, lighting and ventilation, 73 71

in tenement houses, lighting and ventilation 67 65

PUBLIC HALLS AND THEATRES.

chap. 463, 1907 137

inspection and licensing of, chap. 450, 1904 129

PUBLIC HEARINGS.

on hazardous buildings and appliances 103 125

PUBLIC LODGING-HOUSES.

chap. 129, 1911, regulation for, chap. 242, 1904. . .116, 141

PUBLIC PARKS.

buildings in, chap. 129, 1889 108

Index.

201

Page. Section.

PUBLIC SAFETY.

commissioner may take necessary measures 12 12

power of, relating to 5 4

PUBLIC WAYS.

boilers not to be placed under 16 13

building line on, sect. 103, chap. 48, R. L 153

chap. 572, 1913 143

chap. 680, 1913 ......... 146

signs and stru-ctures encroaching on, chap. 352, 1895, 109

PUBLIC WAYS AND SQUARES.

projections over, regulations for 16 13

PUBLICATION.

of records of violations, privileged 5 2

Q- n^

QUALITY OF MATERIALS. '

generally 23 15

who determines 23 15

QUAYS, WHARVES, ETC.

liot affected by this act. 9 10

RADIATORS.

theatre, forbidden in passageways 84 104

RAGS, FEATHERS. ETC.

not to be kept in habitable buildings 104 126

RAILROAD STATIONS.

not affected by this act 9 10

RAISING OF BUILDINGS,

examination to be made or application to raise 5 3

RECESS, OR CHASE.

requirements relating to 15 13

RECORDS OF DEPARTMENT.

open to public inspection 4 1

- distance from woodwork 41 32

how made and protected 40 32

minimum size 41 32

REGISTRATION OF PLUMBERS.

registration of plumbers ■. 91 113

REGISTRY OF DEEDS.

notice of pendency in chap. 463, 1897 110

REINFORCED CONCRETE.

beams and slabs, strength. 22 14

202

Index.

REINFORCED CONCRETE.

beams, how much of slab included

beams, metal for, if contiiiuous

columns, requirements

covering of steel

frame for walls

REJECTION OF MATERIAL.

power of commissioner

REMODELLED.

what buildings may be

REMOVAL OF BUILDINGS.

permit for

REMOVAL WORK.

to be supported

"REPAIR OF LEAKS."

plumbing, meaning of

REPAIR OF WOODEN BUILDINGS.

within limits, permit required

REPAIRS.

defined

limit of cost, to be called such

REPAIRS AND ALTERATIONS.

permits required for

REPAIRING OF BUILDINGS.

examination to be made on application

REPEALS.

chap. 419, 1892, and all acts inconsistent repealed. .
REPORT. (Annual.)

board of appeal to Mayor

of commissioner

to be printed separately

REQUIREMENTS.

for all buildings

RESPONSIBILITY FOR MAINTENANCE.

of owners and lessees

RESTRICTION.

of areas

RESTRICTIONS.

tenement-house, commissioner not to dispense with,
RETAINING WALLS.

for excavation

RIVETED JOINTS.

rules for

when to be used

Page. 1

Section.

112

107

133

11-14

104

127

Index. 203

Page. Section.
RIVETING.

of steel columns 36 27

of steel frame 36 27

RIVETS.

use of 20 14

ROOF GARDENS.

above theatres, provisions for 85 108

exits required for 87 109

ROOF LEADERS.

requirements for 102 124

ROOF LOAD,
minimum , 45 36

ROOFING.

to be brick, tile, slate, etc •'•^'jl ^'^ ^^

of shingles not permitted 17 13

ROOFS.

not to discharge on street or alley 15 13

observation stands not to be erected on 16 13

permanent m.eans of access to 12 12

ROOMS, TENEMENT HOUSE.

lighting and ventilation of 66 63

size of, regulations for 67 64

RUTHERFORD AVENUE.

buildings on, height of, chap. 416, 1907 137

SALARIES.

building commissioner 3 1

members of appeal board 6 6

SANDSTONE.

stresses of 21 14

SANITARY BUILDINGS.

of wood, chap. 4, 1873 108

SCHOOL BUILDINGS, PORTABLE.

not aflfected by this act 9 10

SCUTTLES.

in roof, where required 55 12-44

SCUTTLES AND BULKHEADS.

tenement house, requirements for 55 44

SEALING OF STANDPIPES.

on stage of theatres forbidden 84-89 104-111

SEATS, PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

must conform to requirements for theatres 86 107

204

Index.

Page. Section.

SEATS, THEATRE.

arrangement and space for. ..,.,.... 78 87

SECOND-CLASS BUILDING.

defined 10 11

what buildings to be 28 17

SETTING OF BOILERS AND FURNACES.

permit for 4 1

"SHAFT."

definition of \ 53 42

SHAFT .ENCLOSURE.

fireproof, how supported 30 17

in first and second class warehouses and stores to

have fireproof enclosures 59 52

to be of fireproof material 46 * 38

SHAFTS, ELEVATOR.

tenement house, regvilations for 59 52

SHEET PILING.

where used , 31 19

SHINGLE ROOFS.

not permitted 17 13

SHUTTERS.

on what buildings, how constructed and where placed, 45 37

provision and requirements for 45 37

SIGNS.

projection allowed. 16 13

SIGNS AND STRUCTURES,
encroaching on public ways.

chap. 352, 1895 109

chap. 680, 1913. . . 146

SINGLE FAMILY HOUSE.

thickness of walls 29 17

SINKS IN EXISTING. TENEMENT. HOUSES..

woodwork to be removed • 110 73

SKELETON CONSTRUCTION,
method 36 27

SKYLIGHT.

not over court in tenement house 63 57

over elevator shafts 46 * 38

over stair haU in existing tenement house 73 71

over stair haU in tenement house 68 66

over vent shafts in tenement houses 59 52

tenement-house, regulations for ,73 71

SMOKE PIPE,
at least 1 foot below ceiling 41 32

Index. 205

Page. Section.
SMOKE PIPE.

not to project through wall or window 15 13

regulations for 41 32

"SOIL PIPE."

plumbing, definition of 90 112

SOIL AND WASTE PIPES AND TRAPS.

plumbing, requirements for 92-94 117

SOLDERING NIPPLES.

required diameter and weight of 96 121

SPAN OF A BEAM.

defined 26 16

SPECIFICATIONS AND PLANS.

commissioner may require 4 1

duplicate to be kept at building 4 1

observation stands, commissioner must" approve. .. . 16 13

SPRINKLERS.

automatic, commissioner may order in basements of

mercantile buildings hereafter erected 14 12

if installed, larger undi^'ided area allowed 29 17

SPRINKLERS AND STANDPIPES.

theatre, regulations for 84 104

SPRUCE.

strength of.... 18 14

STABLES.

distance from adjoining buildings 16 13

outside limits maximum height and area 30 17

public hearings for 17 13

restrictions relating to location of 16 13

STABLES, DRAINAGE OF.

fixtures to be approved by commissioner 94 117

STAGE DOORS.

theatre, requirements for 79, 80 91-94

STAGING OR STANDS FOR OBSERVATION.

not to be erected on roofs 16 13

STAIR HALL.

defined 53 42

in tenement houses, construction 57, 58 46, 47

STAIR SHAFTS.

in first-class stores and warehouses, to be fireproofed,

automatic doors 29 17

STAIR STRINGERS.

to be fire stopped 40 32

STAIRS.

in tenement houses, dimensions 56 45

206 Index.

Page. Section.
STAIRS.

fireproof, to roof bulkhead 55 44

minimum load for 45 36

constructed to -carry loads safely 45 36

to roof to be kept clear 55 . 44

STAIRS, THEATRE.

how to be constructed , 83, 84 100-103

STAIRS AND PUBLIC HALLS.

tenement house to have lights, when 57 45

STAIRWAYS AND HALLS.

in tenement houses 56, 57 45

STAIRWAYS, PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

must conform to requirements for theatres 86 107

persons not allowed to stand on, during performance, 85 105

STANDPIPES AND SPRINKLERS.

theatre, regulations for 84 104

STANDS, OBSERVATION.

not to be erected on roofs 16 13

commissioner must approve plans of 16 13

STATE BUILDINGS.

not affected by this act 9 10

STATE HOUSE.

vicinity of height of buildings, Umit of, chap. 457,

1899 113

STATIONS, RAILROAD.

not affected by this act 9 10

STEAM EXHAUSTS.

regulations pertaining to 101 122

STEEL.

fireproofing of 38, 39 32

in foundations, protected 34 22

in reinforced concrete, strength 22 14

need not be fireproof ed where wood could be used . . 39 32

tensile strength of 19 14

STEEL AND IRON.

in alteration work to be fireproof ed as required by

commissioner 40 32

STEEL COLUMNS.

parts to be riveted 36 27

STEEL FRAME.

be riveted 36 27

STEEL FRAME CONSTRUCTION.

methods 36 27

Index.

207

Page. Section.
STIRRUP IRONS.

when and where required 14 12

STONEWORK IN COMPRESSION.

restrictions relating to 21 14

STOP ORDER.

how issued 4 1

STORAGE BUILDING.

outside limits, maximum height and area 30 17

STORE FRONTS.

how protected 13 12

outside finish of 13 12

STORES.

first class, to have fireproof shafts and automatic

doors /77|.. 29 17

STORES, OFFICES, ETC. '

in theatre buildings 76 81

STORES AND STORAGE BUILDINGS.

fire-escape, requirements for 30 17

"STORY," BUILDING.

definition of 11 11

STRAW, HAY, FEED, ETC.

not to be kept in habitable building 104 126

STREET COMMISSIONERS.

not affected by this act 9 10

STREET WIDTH.

how measured 31 18

STRENGTH.

of materials 17-23 14

sufficient to carry dead and live loads in all cases. . . 17 14

STRESSES.

not prescribed to be fixed by conunissioner 23 14

STRESSES, BUILDING MATERIALS.

tables of 18-23 14

STRING COURSES.

projection allowed 16 13

STRUCTURAL METAL.

to be fireproofed and how 38 32

STRUCTURES, TEMPORARY.

commissioner may prescribe conditions for 9 9

STUDDING.

not to be placed nearer than one inch to chimney . . 15 13

to be fire stopped 40 32

208 Index.

Page. Section.
SUMMER THEATRES.

outside building limits, how may be constructed,

capacity 87 110

SUPPORT BY CITY FOR DANGEROUS EXCA-
VATIONS.

cost may be recovered 31 19

SUPPORT WORK.

and adjoining property 12 12

SUPPORTING WORK.

power of conamissioner . 12 12

SUPPORTS. . .

below first floor, to be of masonry or metal 14 12

"SURFACE DRAIN."

must have deep seal trap and back-water valve .... 102 124

plumbing, meaning of 90 112

SURVEY OF LOT.

required 5 1

TABLES, STRESSES.

showing strength of building materials 18-23 14

TEARING DOWN

permit for 4 1

TEMPORARY FLOORS.

during construction 52 41

TEMPORARY SEATS.

in public building 85 105

in theatres 88 111

TEMPORARY STRUCTURES.

commissioner to prescribe conditions for 9 9

in connection with other work, commissioner to fix

conditions 9 9

when permitted 9 9

TENEMENT HOUSES.

"apartment," definition of 53 42

ashes, receptacles for. 75 75

bakeries and fat boiling in, prohibited 60 53

basenaents, requirements for ' 69, 70 68

bulkheads, construction of 55 44

cellar ceiUngs, construction of 59 49

" corner lot," definition of ■. 53 42

" courts," definition of 53 42

general regulations for 63 57

inner, regulations for 64 59

Index. 209

Page. Section.
TENEMENT HOUSES.

outer, regulations for 63 58

vent, regulations for 65 60

dangerous business in, regulated 60 54

defined 52 42

definitions of certain words 53 42

drainage of courts and yards 75 74

egress, provision for, in case of fire 53-55 43

elevator shafts, regulations for 59 52

entrance balls, construction of 58 48

existing, lighting and ventilation 72 70

fire-escapes, construction of 53—55 43

in what they shall consist 53-55 43

general, regulations for 53-55 43

internal and external .^_^. 54, 55 43

garbage, receptacles for I. . L 75 75

hereafter erected to have fire-escapes 53 43

intakes, provision for 65 61

light and ventilation, provision for ; 60, 61 55

lighting, board of health may regulate 105 128

not to be enlarged to decrease size of yard 66 62

other buildings on same lot 66 62

outside limits, restrictions 59 51

overcrowding, board of health may prevent 104 128

partitions, construction of 59 50

"public hall," definition of 53 42

"repairs," definition of 53 42

rooms of, lighting and ventilation 66 63

size of 67 .64

size of yard 66 62

scuttles, construction of 55 44

"shaft," definition of 53 42

skylights, regulations for 73 71

stair hall, definition of 53 42

stair haUs, construction of 57 46

stairs and public halls 57 45

to have bulkhead or scuttle 55 44

ventilation, board of health may regulate 106 128

water-closets, requirements for 70-74 69, 72

water supply, regulations for 74 73

windows in pubUc haUs of 67 65

for stair halls 68 66

wooden, limit of height and area 59 51

"yard," definition of 53 42

210 Index.

Page. Section.

TENEMENT HOUSES.

yards, requirements and regvilations for 60-63 55, 56

where not required 62 56

TENEMENT-HOUSE REQUIREMENTS.

commissioner not to dispense with 75 76

TERMS USED IN PLUMBING.

meaning of, defined 90 112

TERRA GOTTA PARTITION BLOGKS.

thiclcness of blocks and webs 41 33

TESTS, ELEVATOR.

manufacturers must make 49 *38

TESTS OF MATERIALS.

may be required 23 15

TESTS, PLUMBING.

work must be approved 91 116

THEATRES.

aisles, regulations for 79 S8

aisles, passageways, etc., persons not to remain in

during performance 88 111

arc light in auditoiium in existing theatres 88 111

art galleries above, regulations for 86 108

auditoriums, heating apparatus under 84 104

balcony and gallery platforms for seats, size 78 87

boilers, engines and heating apparatus under theatres, 84-88 104-111

control of exits, etc., lights 82-88 99-111

courts and passages, size, etc 76 79

curtains, must have fireproof 77 84

doors to open outward 80 93

existing, if altered, to conform to new law 75 77

existing regulations for exits 88 111

exit passages 76 79

exit plans on program 82 99

exit signs 82-88 99-111

exits 79-82-88 91-99

111

exits, location, width, etc 80-82 95-99

exits to be marked by signs, etc 82 99

false doors and mirrors not allowed 80 94

fire-escapes, outside to be lighted 82-88 99-111

fireproof construction required 76 78

floor and stage, levels of 77 82

floor levels, changes by inclines 79 89

foyers, lobbies, coriidors, passages, capacity required, 79 90

gas outlets, number, to be inspected and tested .... 82 99

Index. 211

Page. Section.
THEATRES.

gas pipe outlets required 82 99

gates in stage standpipes 84-89 104-111

handrails, stair, requirements for 83 102

heating apparatus under theatres 84-88 104-111

inspection, gas pipe outlets, required 82 99

landings, stair, required dimensions of 83 101

lighting fixtures over auditorium, protected from

faUing 78 86

lighting, independently fed or governed system in

auditorium, halls, etc 82-88 99-111

Ughts for exits, etc 82-88 99-111

lobbies, requirements for 79 90

obstructions or people in aisles or stairways S8 111

open courts required .^^ 76 79, 80

opening outward of doors .^ 80-88 93-111

plans on program 82-88 99-111

proscenium wall, construction and openings 77 83

piosceniimi walls required 77 83

curtains required 77 84

pubUc buildings must conform to requirements for . . 86 1 07

radiators forbidden in passageways of 84 104

roof gardens may be above 86 108

room exits for employees 80 92

seats in auditorium, requirements for 78 87

skylight over stage 78 86

sprinklers, automatic, required 84 104

stage doors must be provided 79 91

floors, requirements for 77 85

stage floor, construction 77 85

stairs, construction, dimensions, handrails, etc 83, 84 100-103

stairs, how to be constructed 83 100

standpipes required 84 104

stores, offices, etc., tmder 76 81

temporary 88 111

"theatre," definition of 75 77

to be fireproof construction except certain portions, 76 78

ventilators, requirements for 78 86

THEATRES AND PUBLIC HALLS.
inspection and licensing of.

chap. 450, Acts 1904 129

chap. 463, Acts 1907 137

THEATRES, CONSTRUCTION OF.

general regulations relating to 75 77

212 Index.

Page. Section.
THEATRE EXITS.
general regulations for 79-82 91-99

THEATRES, EXISTING.

general regulations for 87-89 111

THEATRES, SUMMER.

outside building limits, how may be constructed. ... 83 100

THICKNESS OF WALLS.

defined 9 11

for all buildings 34 23

for one-family houses 29 17

in steel frame buildings 36 27

when ashlar included 34 23

THIRD CLASS BUILDINGS.

definition of 10 11

size and location of window on area 44 35

TIES.

steel beams in direction of length 75 77

TIMBERS.

in walls, how to be treated (second class bmldings) . . 42 34

TRAPS, PLUMBING.

requirements for 92-94 117

TRAPS, SPECIAL.

grease, inflammable compounds, non-siphon 101 123

TRIMMER.

arches 37 30

TRIMMERS, WOODEN.

hung in stirrup irons, when 14 12

TRUSSES, RIVETED.

center of gravity line 27 16

need not be fireproof ed, when 39 32

UNDERPINNING FOR WOODEN BUILDINGS.

materials and thickness 50 39

UNSAFE BUILDINGS.

commissioner may order vacated 6 4

commissioner to post notices on 6 4

commissioner may take down or shore up 6 5

owner to take down or secure 6 5

to be placarded 5 4

UNSUITABLE MATERIAL.

commissioner has power to reject 23 15

Index. 213

Page. Section.
VACANCIES.

in board of appeal, how filled 6 6

VACATE BUILDINGS,
commissioner may.

(a.) when unsafe or dangerous 5 4

(&.) where violation exists 5 4

(c.) where egress is insufficient 5 4

VACATED.

building to be, when ordered by commissioner with

approval of Alayor 5 4

VALVES.

of stage standpipes in theatres 84-89 104-111

VAULTED WALLS. ^

regulations for i. 35 26

VENT COURT.

defined 53 42

VENT COURTS.

for tenement houses, size, etc 65 60

"VENT PIPES."

plumbing, definition of 90 112

regulation for 41 32

VENT SHAFTS.

defined 53 42

of fireproof material 46 38

in tenement houses to have intakes and skylights. . 59 52

VENTILATING FLUES.

must be of incombustible material 13 12

to stoves, broilers or heaters to be of brick 14 12

"VENTILATION PIPE."

plumbing, definition of 90 112

VENTILATION, TENEMENT HOUSE.

board of health may regulate. 105 128

VENTILATORS, THEATRE.

requirements for 78 86

VENTS.

plumbing, requirements for 93 117

VIOLATIONS OF BUILDING LAWS.

to be recorded 5 2

VIOLATIONS OF PERMIT.

action to be taken 4 1

VIOLATORS OF BUILDING LAWS.

may be fined $500 107 132

214

Index.

Page. Section.
VOTING BOOTHS.

not affected by this act 9 10

WALLS.

general regulations for construction of 31 18

framed with iron or steel 36 27

proscenium, theatres must have 77 83

to be of masonry or metal, when 14 12

8 inches thick to be corbelled for joists 42 34

floor loads reduced in figuring 45 36

if steel frame, how constructed 36 27

in steel frame building, thickness 36 27

party i above roof, height and finish 37 28

not to be removed to enlarge floor areas over limit ... 30 17

small openings in 38 31

thickness, single family house 29 17

to be bonded at angles 35 24

to restrict areas, within limits 29 17

WALLS ABOVE ROOF, PARTY.

requirements for 37 28

WALLS, CORNICES.

regulations for 37 29

WALLS, CURTAINS.

party and outside, must have 36 27

WALLS, PARALLEL.

to be properly tied 13 12

"WALLS, PARTITION."

definition of 11 H

"WALLS, PARTY."

definition of 11 H

must have curtain 36 27

openings for doorways in 38 31

wooden buildings to have, when 51 40

"WALLS, THICKNESS OF."

meaning of, defined 11 H

regulations relating to 34 23

WALLS, VAULTED.

regulations for 35 26

WASTE PIPES AND TRAPS.

plumbing, requirements for 92 117

WATCHMAN.

in hotels, etc., when required, sect. 29, chap. 104,

R. L 155

Index.

215

Page. Section.

WATER-CLOSETS.

immber required

requirements for

tenement house, provisions for

ventilation of

in existing tenement houses, number and ventilation,

in existing tenement houses, woodwork to be re-
moved

in tenement houses, access to

in tenement house cellar, permit from Board of
Health

in tenement houses, floors to be waterproofed

in tenement houses, number, lighting, ventilation . .

number, in buildings where persons are employed . .

number, in habitations

separate for men and women

water supply for

WATER PIPES.

protection from frosts

WATER SUPPLY.

tenement house, requirements for

WATERPROOFING CELLARS.

when required

WHARVES AND BUILDINGS THEREON.

not restricted by building limits

not subject to building laws

WHARVES, MARKET BUILDINGS, ETC.

restrictions of, sect. 9 not to apply to

WHARVES, QUAYS, ETC.

not affected by this act

WHEEL GUARDS.

on columns

WIDTH OF STREET.

how measured

WIND BRACING.

provision for, required

WINDERS ON STAIRS.

width

WINDOWS.

habitable buildings, regulations for

tenement house, in public halls

for stair haUs

68-70

74
68

72
72
72
13
13
13
95

9
9

44
67
68

129

67,69

72
67

69
69
69
12
12
12
120

9
10

18
14
45

216 Index.

Page. Section.

WINDOWS.

in first and second class mercantile and manufactur-
ing buildings within 20 feet of opposite wall to

have metal frames and wire glass 45 37

in existing tenement houses 72 '70

in living rooms of habitations, distance from opposite

waU 44 35

size 44 35

third-class buildings exempt 44 35

WINDOW CAPS AND SILLS.

projection allowed 16 13

WINDOWS IN ELEVATOR SHAFTS.

to have red iron bars 47 * 38

WINDOWS IN TENEMENT HOUSES.

basement rooms 69 68

courts, exception 65 61

public halls 67 65

size and location 66 63

of water-closets, bathrooms, halls on court of what

minimum size ' 64 58

WIRE GLASS.

in automatic doors, stair shafts 29 17

WIRES, COMMISSIONER OF.

not affected by this act 9 10

provisions of sect. 7 apply to 7 7

WOOD.

in foundation of wooden buildings on marshy land. 50 39

WOOD CONSTRUCTION.

allowed vmder masonry, when. 15 13

WOOD POSTS.

strength 18 14

WOODEN BUILDINGS.

allowed within building limits, for:

(a) buildings on wharves not exceeding 27 feet in

height 9 9

(b) market sheds not over 27 feet in height 9 9

(d) temporary structures to facilitate building

operations 9 9

(e) dwellings for one and two families, under

certain restrictions 9 9

construction of, general regulations for 49 39

description of frame 50 39

for sanitary purposes, chap. 4, 1873 108

Index. 217

Page. Section.

WOODEN BUILDINGS.

foundations for 49 39

habitations, distance from lot line and next building, 50 40

habitations, maximum height, niimber of stores .... 50 40

height of, requirements 50, 51 40

not habitations, distance from lot line 51 40

proximity to other buildings 50, 51 40

regulations concerning 49-51 39, 40

tenement houses, limit of size and area 59 51

when to have brick party walls 51 40

within limits, not to be enlarged 15, 42 13, 35

WOODEN HEADERS.

requirements for 13 12

WOODEN TRIMMERS.

requirements for 13 12

WORK.

requiring permit 11 12

WROUGHT IRON.

strength of 19 14

"Y-BRANCHES."

plumbing, definition of 90 112

YARD.

for tenement house, not to be built on 66 62

size, etc 61-63 55, 56

to be drained 75 74

"YARD."

definition of 53 42

YARDS, TENEMENT HOUSE.

general regulations for 60-62 55, 56

when not required 62, 63 56

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Full text of "The building law of the city of Boston : being Acts of 1907, chapter 550, as amended, also general and special acts relating to buildings and their maintenance, use and occupancy"

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