Why New York's bolt-on fire escapes lasted a century before the ban
In 1860 New York required fireproof stairways or exterior escapes after a tenement fire killed ten people, even for existing buildings. Bolting steel to the facade was simply cheaper than rebuilding stairs inside.
Practical Engineering traces the fire escape from a cost shortcut to a ban for new construction in 1968, with the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire in between, where an exterior escape buckled under the crowd.
Commenters argue over whether to miss them: one says everything else about fire safety got better, another would still risk a rusty escape over a blocked stair.
A cost shortcut that became the standard
The video essay argues that building codes have momentum: an early rule shapes construction for a century.
- 1860: after a tenement fire killed ten, New York required fireproof stairways or exterior escapes, even in existing buildings.
- 1881: after a Philadelphia mill fire trapped 35 people, the Franklin Institute judged external escapes to have "comparatively little value".
- 1911: the Triangle Shirtwaist fire killed more than 140.
- 1923: the National Fire Protection Association recommended banning outside stairs, but few adopted it.
- 1949: the National Building Code allowed exterior escapes with minimum sizes.
- 1968: New York banned them for new construction, replacing them with enclosed, fire-rated stair towers.
The author's second example is an elevator: an Arizona fire inspector's proposed size amendment helped make US elevators roughly three times costlier than in other developed countries, pushing some owners toward walk-ups.
The thread: did the escape deserve to die?
"Everything related to fires got better: more and better smoke and CO detectors, interior sprinklers, regulations around flammable clothes, bedding and mattresses, reduced smoking rates, increased awareness, faster response times" — a commenter
A different instinct came from someone who would keep both exits.
"If the main stairs do turn out to be impassable for some reason despite the new measures, I'd much rather have the option to risk taking an external fire escape even if it might be rusty or blocked by clutter." — a commenter
A London tech lead remembered his Victorian school's cast-iron escape being cut off:
"Apparently it was unsafe and someone decided it wasn't needed because there were two other stairwells."
Both arguments turn on how likely the main stair is to fail; since 1968 the code's answer has been to fire-rate that stair and drop the backup.
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