History of U.S. Building Codes

In early America, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson encouraged the development of building regulations to provide minimum standards that would ensure health and safety. The key events in the evolution of building codes in the United States include the following:

1631 – City of Boston fire prevention ordinance bans wood chimneys and thatch roof coverings.

1678 – City of Boston building laws require slate or tile roofs and brick walls.

1788 – Old Salem (now Winston-Salem, NC) writes first known formal US Building Code.

1844 – The London Building Act of 1844 required drainage improvements, sufficient street widths to ensure adequate ventilation, regulation of explosives, and required inspectors be appointed to supervise the act. The Metropolitan Building Office was established in 1845.

1859 – Baltimore passes its first building code.

1865 – New Orleans enacts a law requiring inspections of public places.

1867 – Due to the large influx of immigrants over the years and barely tolerable living conditions in tenement buildings, the City of New York enacts a “Tenement Housing Act”. This act requires fire escapes and a window for every room.1875 – As a result of the Chicago fire of 1871 the City of Chicago enacts ordinances regulating building construction and fire prevention.

One of the first building modern era building codes, the National Building Code, was developed in 1905 by the Fire Underwriters Association and with the intent that it become a national code. It was directed towards protecting the building rather than the people in the building. National codes that focused on the safety of the occupants (fire exiting, fire alarms, isolation of hazards) were not developed until the 1930’s and 1940’s. The creation of the National Building Code led to the formation of organizations of building officials. By 1940, the United States had three regional code organizations, each with its own code: the BOCA Standard National Code, the SBCCI Standard Code, and the ICBO Uniform Code. As noted earlier, these three organizations and their codes were consolidated into the International Code Council (ICC) and the first set of “I-codes” was published in 2000. These codes include the International Building Code (IBC), the International Residential Code (IRC), the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), as well as mechanical, plumbing, fire and other codes.