Building Codes
Sharing a Bit of the History of Building Codes
Scott Simianer
January 20, 2014
A few years ago I wrote about the Code of Hammurabi, the first known building code, created in ancient Babylon in 1760 BC. It was basic but strict building regulations. During the adoption process of the 2012 ICC building codes I stumbled onto another piece of history that I found interesting.
In 1753 a group of Moravians, members of a Protestant religious denomination from the region formerly known as Moravia, now a part of modern Czechoslovakia, originally emigrated and settled in Pennsylvania. They eventually purchased a 100,000-acre site in North Carolina and named this area Wachovia. In 1766 they founded the Town of Salem in the heart of their new territory, now known as Winston-Salem.
The German-speaking Moravians practiced a communal life-style and all material affairs of the territory were controlled by the Community Conference that was made up of all members of the community. This Conference elected the Aufseher Collegium (Town Council,) which, in turn, appointed a person to fill the salaried position of town warden (a city planner of sorts).
Twenty-two years after founding Salem, the Moravians adopted a formal set of building regulations. During those 22 years, approximately 20 buildings had been erected, mostly without problems, however, the increasing number of outside builders made it necessary to regulate the construction of buildings. These regulations addressed such issues as fire hazards, health and safety concerns, drainage, zoning, privacy, construction standards, the filing of plans and code enforcement. Those basic regulations were a precursor to today’s more complex codes.
The ‘resolution’ establishing building codes is far too lengthy to re-print in this column, but the first paragraph reads, in part, as follows: “… It often happens, due to ill-considered planning, that neighbors are molested and sometimes even the whole community suffers. For such reasons, in well-ordered communities, rules have been set up. Therefore our brotherly equality and the faithfulness which we have expressed for each other necessitates that we agree to some rules and regulations which shall be basic for all construction in our community so that no one suffers damage or loss because of careless construction by his neighbor, and it is a special duty of the Town Council to enforce such rules and regulations.”
The original Town Council minutes were written in German and a translation is provided courtesy of the History Department of the University of North Carolina and the translation can be viewed in its entirety at www.broward.org/CodeAppeals/Pages/CodeNewSalem.aspx . It does make for some interesting reading. In order to know where you’re going, sometimes its helpful to see where you’ve been.
Though there have been obvious advances in public safety, construction methods and technology in the last 226 years, it is interesting to see how the reasoning then correlates so closely with the reasoning of current governing bodies in their pursuit of providing for public health and general welfare and the safety to life and property from fire and other hazards attributed to the built environment.
Good luck and good building in this new year of 2014.
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SOURCE: rapidcityjournal.com