Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-05-16
NEW BUILDING REGULATIONS.
Amendments Adopted by the District Com
missioners at Today's Meeting.

At the morning session Of the board Of Com
missioners today the Commissioners took up
for consideration the amendments to the build
ing regulations proposed and recommended
by Building Inspector Entwise and passed the
same
The amendments we're substitutes for para
! graph IL of section 2 and all of section 10,
which are revoked.
The action of the board was merely formal,
as the new amendments have been carefully
considered by each Commissioner.
The new regulations provide az follows:
Section 10. Every bnilding hereafter erected
and every building hereafter altered to be used
as a theater or public place Of amusement, in
shifting scenery, curtains and machinery.
shall be brick building OF fire.
resisting construction throughout, except floor
ing, 80 far as tlle nature of its Use will permit;
shall have the highest part of the main auditor
Jun floor not more than four feet above
the sidewalk; shall have at least one
frontage the street avenue,
| with openings for exits not less than one-third
OF the frontage Of the building, and
shall have the DOORS halls. corridors, lobbies,
| stnirwsys. passages aid aisfes wide, direct
and no constructed and arranged as to afford
| cary sgress for the OCCUPANTS under all cir
| cGnstances; all exits and entrances shall far
rs practicable be identical, and shall have all
| uOoIs open OutNdFu ana Oh buCu NNttn may
be deemed sufficient by the Commissioners Of
tho District of Columbia. Such buildings
shall have sufficient stairWays and OF
such width and location as may
! be deemed by said Commissioners sniff
! cient for exit under pressure from panic or
! fire or other cause. The aisles next TO the walls
OF the building shall not be less than three feet
/ WIDE. All other aisles shall not be less than
| three feet six inches wide at the end near the
| stage, and gradually incIea in width toward
I he Wit IN Ui1t f,f hyQ feGf inch
at the end next to exit without any projection
| into them. No temporary seats other OBJ
struction shall be allowed in any isle or pass
| ageway Of exit or entrance, nor shall any person
| be allowed to stand in them. All exits from
| any such building shall be open for the use OF
every departing audience.
| z 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 ex-
| its, shall be made by inclines of no sleeper
| gradient than two in ten within the auditorium
| and rising toward the exits, and in ten for
| all others.
3. All stairways shall be composed of iron,
| stone or other ncombustble material The
| risers shall not be more than seven and half
inches, nor the goings less than ten and half
inches. No windows shall be used in any stair
| way for entrance or exit. All stairways must
| be constructed with secure handrdils or brick
dividing walls sufficient in construction to pre-
| vent accident in case of heavy pressure.
4. All partitions inclosng Hobbies and cor
| ridors or separating them from auditorium
shall be Of brick masonry or heavy stud |
! ding brick nCgged throughout or other
wise made non-combustible. Every ap-
! proach exit through any other building shall
have solid brick walls and floors and ceiling of
| approved incombustibe and fre-resistiDg ma
terials. There shall be no opening through said
walls, floors or ceilings
| S. No boiler, furnace or heating apparatus,
| except steam pipes and radiators, shall be To-
Gated under the auditorium or stage under
| any passage or stairway Of exit.
6. All lights shall be electric incandescent. The
| lights at rear of auditorium and all passages
and stairways shall be independent of the |
| lights in other parts Of the house and SO ar
| ranged that they cannot be turned off from the
| stage or platform.
Z. All doors from auditorium to lobbies and
| stairways shall be metal, covered wood and
self-ciosing. There shall be Iobbies adjoining
| each division of the auditorium, the floor sur
faces of which shall be equal to onethird of the
| floor of the adjacent auditorium.
| 8. The stage shall be separated from the au- |
ditorium by Il brick wall not less than seventeen
inches thick or its equivalent the entire width
| of the building and topped out at least four
feet above the roof over the auditorium. There
| shall be no openings in this wall except
| the curtain opening and not more than two
others to be located at the level or below the
| stage. These latter openings shall not exceed
| twenty-one superficial feet each with timed
! wood and self-closing doors, securely hung to
| rebates in the brick work. The wall over the
curtain opening shall be carried by brick
arch Of sufficient capacity and secured at each
side of the opening to prevent motion by thrust
| of arch.
Paragraph provides that water plugs shall
| be placed each side of the stage and fly
| floors, with sufficient hose attached to reach
| any part Of the building. and that two-inch
perforated pipe supplied at each end by a
| main controlled by valves from the stage
be placed over the curtain opening to form.
| when in service, a water curtain or automatic
| curtain be used. Paragraph 10 provides that
all roof trusses. scenery curtains and exposed
wood work be thoroughly covered or saturated
with fre-resisting material.
| Paragraph IL provides that all property shops
| and wardrobes be separated from the stage all-
| ditorium and dressing room by a solid brick
wall not less than thirteen inches thick, and
that all doors opening to the stage be timed
and self-closing.
The twelfth paragraph relates to the quarters
| of employees. which must be located in secure
positions and have two exits and be built of
| fire-resisting materials.
| Paragraph ID provides that one more VEN
| tilators be constructed above the highest por-
ton of the stage and equal in combined area of
| opening to one-tenth of the area Of the stage
| floor.
| The fourteenth paragraph gives the building
inspector authority to serve written notice upon
| the manager or lessee Of any theater
directing him to make any change
looking to the greatest possible security
! to the public good and ventilation. subject to
| appeal and determination by commission APP
] pointed az in the manner of dangerous and de-
| fective structures.
Hereafter, according to paragraph Is, when
| application is made for q permit to construct or
reconstruct edifces of the character referred TO
in this section, except churches and places
| of instruction, the written permission Of a
majority of the residents and owners OF prop
ertv in the square in which said building is to be
located shall be filed with the inspector of
buildings.
Paragraph l6 closes the new regulations
with proviso that whenever galleries are con-
structed all pillars, joists beams used in the
construction of the came must be made Of iron
and deadened.
| Visiting the Bull Run Battlefields.
Gen. Grant, assistant secretary Of war; Gen.