Masonry Magazine September 1965 Page. 23
A Research Study
Building Codes In Urban U.S.A.
By Joseph Platzker, New York, N.Y.
This is a Research Study made by Mr. Platzker involving Building Codes of 1,910 communities with a total population of 100,000,000.
There are all shades of opinion about building codes and their usefulness, even in 1965. Opinions range from those of staunch supporters who feel that building codes are priceless assets to all communities and that they should periodically updated in order to be most effective to the opinions of those who feel that they are painful nuisances and needless complications. And there are cities in which no agency is authorized to issue building permits. Frequently the bottleneck is in the Municipal or Town Council Chambers. The champions of the past have not been replaced by enough champions of today and the days speed. Even in Ohio, which has a fine State Building Code, the City Engineer of one codeless city told me that "although there have been several attempts to obtain authorization for the use of either the National Building Code or the Ohio State Building Code, it has met with little success.
However, I have found numerous examples where constant plugging brought good results. Take Amherst, Massachusetts (home of Amherst College) for example: its Fire Chief, George A. Cavanaugh, pressed for the enactment of a building code in each annual report after he became Fire Chief in 1947. His town now has the BOCA code, and he feels quite happy about it. I am sure the town is equally pleased.
As of January 1, 1965, all communities in the United States with populations of 10,00 or more have building codes-except 52 communities scattered through 14 states. This has been my finding after a study of 1,910 communities with a total population of 100,000,000 people. This study also discloses shifts now under way from one code to another and appeals from communities that want help in the building code field.
Four Major Codes
Twenty-five years ago, the nation's four major building codes served slightly more than 10% of our urban communities. Ten years ago, they reached 30%. Now they reach 58.5%. Distribution of the users is as follows:
| | No. of Users | % of Users | No. of States |
|-------------------------|--------------|------------|---------------|
| Uniform Building Code | 409 | 21.0% | 26 |
| National Building Code | 337 | 18.0% | 34 |
| BOCA Code | 182 | 9.5% | 20 |
| Southern Building Code | 196 | 10.0% | 13 |
| | 1,124 | 58.5% | |
State Building Codes are in effect in eight states. These states, and the number of users of the code within each state, are as follows: Connecticut, 19; Indiana, 44; Massachusetts, 6; New Jersey, 14; New York, 57; North Carolina, 36; Ohio, 54; Wisconsin, 42. The total number of users of these codes is 272.
Four "major" small Building Codes are also in effect, as follows: South Florida Building Code, 13; Regional Building Code (Ohio), 8; Suburban Building Code (Illinois), 4; Mid-west Building Code 3.
This survey clearly indicates the importance of the Uniform Building Code in the urban United States. Of the 409 communities served by this code, 241 are in the West, 44 are in the Northwest, 53 are in the Southwest, 66 are in the Midwest, 2 are in West Virginia, 2 are in New England, and 1 is in the South. The number of communities in each of the 26 states served by the Uniform Building Code appears in the following table.
| | | | |
|-------------|----|-------------|----|
| Alaska | 3 | Arizona | 9 |
| California | 195| Colorado | 20 |
| Connecticut | 1 | Hawaii | 6 |
| Idaho | 11 | Illinois | 4 |
| Iowa | 16 | Kansas | 5 |
| Massachusetts| 1 | Michigan | 19 |
| Minnesota | 16 | Mississippi | 1 |
| Montana | 10 | Nevada | 5 |
| New Mexico | 15 | North Dakota| 2 |
| Oklahoma | 1 | Oregon | 18 |
| South Dakota| 3 | Texas | 9 |
| Utah | 12 | Washington | 19 |
| West Virginia| 2 | Wyoming | 6 |
Although the National Building Code serves more states than any other code, it adherents are fewer than those of (continued on page 24)
ASONRY September, 1965
23