Par. 1. - Every house for habitation, except a single family dwelling, hereafter erected more than three stories in height or covering an area of more than thirty-five hundred square feet shall have a staircase, designated by the commissioner, of incombustible material extending from the entrance to the roof and with a pent house constructed of incombustible material. And the said staircase shall not extend below the entrance floor level, except as an exit to the outside and shall have no opening into basement or cellar and shall be enclosed in walls constructed of incombustible material. In addition to the above staircase, all such buildings shall have a staircase enclosed as described in section forty-seven. All door openings from all stair enclosures shall have metal or metal covered self-closing doors and metal or metal covered frames. Public halls therein shall 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.

[1921, c. 289, sect. 7.]

Stairway Entrances - Risers - Treads - Windows

Par. 2. - 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.

Balusters. Rails

Par. 3. - 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 prescribed in this section.

Tenement House Sprinklers

Par. 4. - In all tenement houses of second and third class construction, hereafter erected, being more than three stories high and containing more than ten suites, the basements or cellars, kitchenettes, stairway enclosures and elevator, light ventilating and dumb-waiter shafts shall be provided with a system of automatic sprinklers approved as to situation, arrangement and efficiency by the building commissioner.

Par. 4a. The building commissioner may require the basement or cellar of a tenement house of first class construction, more than three stories high and containing more than ten suites, where in his opinion a fire hazard exists, to be equipped with a system of automatic sprinklers approved by him as to situation, arrangement and efficiency.

Par. 4b. Basements or cellars in existing tenement houses of second and third class construction, being more than three stories high and containing more than ten suites, shall be provided with a system of automatic sprinklers approved as to situation, arrangement and efficiency by the building commissioner.

Par. 4c. The building commissioner may in his discretion also require that all doors leading from rear stairway enclosures on each floor of such tenement houses shall be suitably protected by fire proofing material.

Par. 4d. In existing tenement houses of first, second and third class construction more than three stories high and containing more than ten suites, where the first floor is of first class construction and in any such tenement house in which any stairway, enclosure, elevator, fight, ventilating or dumb-waiter shaft is fireproof, as defined in section thirty-three, as amended by section fourteen of chapter one hundred and seventy-nine of the Special Acts of nineteen hundred and eighteen, the commissioner may-waive the provisions of this section in respect to automatic sprinklers, except in cases, where, in his opinion, a fire hazard exists.

Note - Sect. 45, pars. 4, 5 and 6, operation of to be suspended if accepted by Mayor, until March 1, 1921. Chap. 645, acts of 1920, Mayor did not accept.

[1921, c. 476, sect. 1.]

Halls and Stairs to be Lighted

Par. 5. - 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 light to be kept lighted during the night.

Shafts to be Inclosed

Par. 6. - In every tenement house now or hereafter existing which is more than three stories high and has more than eight suites, all elevator, vent and dumb-waiter shafts and stairways shall be enclosed in the basement or cellar by masonry walls not less than eight inches thick, or by two-inch solid metal and plaster partitions, with fireproof self-closing doors.

[1914, c. 782, sect. 10; 1915 c. 352, sect. 4, Special Act.] [1920, c. 440, sects. 1 and 2.]