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NEW YORK STATE
MULTIPLE DWELLING LAW
Chapter 713 of the Laws of 1929, as amended
ARTICLE 7-B
JOINT LIVING-WORK QUARTERS FOR ARTISTS,
OR GENERAL RESIDENTIAL OCCUPANCY OF LOFT,
COMMERCIAL OR MANUFACTURING BUILDINGS
Section 275. Legislative findings.
276. Definition of an artist.
277. Occupancy permitted.
278. Application of other provisions.
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Sec. 275. Legislative findings.
It is hereby declared and found that in cities with a population
in excess of one million, large numbers of loft, manufacturing,
commercial, institutional, public and community facility
buildings have lost, and continue to lose, their tenants to more
modern premises; and that the untenanted portions of such
buildings constitute a potential housing stock within such cities
which is capable, when appropriately altered, of accommodating
general residential use, thereby contributing to an alleviation
of the housing shortage most severely affecting moderate and
middle income families, and of accommodating joint living-work
quarters for artists by making readily available space which is
physically and economically suitable for use by persons regularly
engaged in the arts.
There is a public purpose to be served by making accommodations
readily available for joint living-work quarters for artists for
the following reasons: persons regularly engaged in the arts
require larger amounts of space for the pursuit of their artistic
endeavors and for the storage of the materials therefor and of
the products thereof than are regularly to be found in dwellings
subject to this article; that the financial remunerations to be
obtained from pursuit of a career in the arts are generally
small; that as a result of such limited financial remuneration
persons regularly engaged in the arts generally find it
financially impossible to maintain quarters for the pursuit of
their artistic endeavors separate and apart from their places of
residence; that the cultural life of cities of more than one
million persons within this state and of the state as a whole is
enhanced by the residence in such cities of large numbers of
persons regularly engaged in the arts; that the high cost of land
within such cities makes it particularly difficult for persons
regularly engaged in the arts to obtain the use of the amounts of
space required for their work as aforesaid; and that the
residential use of the space is secondary or accessory to the
primary use as a place of work.
It is further declared that the legislation governing the
alteration of such buildings to accommodate general residential
use must of necessity be more restrictive than statutes
heretofore in effect, which affected only joint living-work
quarters for artists.
It is the intention of this legislation to promulgate statewide
minimum standards for all alterations of non-residential
buildings to residential use, but the legislature is cognizant
that the use of such buildings for residential purposes must be
consistent with local zoning ordinances. The legislature further
recognizes that it is the role of localities to adopt regulations
which will define in further detail the manner in which
alterations should be carried out where building types and
conditions are peculiar to their local environment.
Sec. 276. Definition of an artist.
As used in this article, the word "artist" means a person who is
regularly engaged in the fine arts, such as painting and
sculpture or in the performing or creative arts, including
choreography and filmmaking, or in the composition of music on a
professional basis, and is so certified by the city department of
cultural affairs and/or state council on the arts.
Sec. 277. Occupancy permitted.
Any building in any city of more than one million persons which
at any time prior to January first, nineteen hundred seventy-
seven was occupied for loft, commercial, institutional, public,
community facility or manufacturing purposes, may,
notwithstanding any other article of this chapter, or any
provision of law covering the same subject matter (except as
otherwise required by the local zoning law or resolution), be
occupied in whole or in part for joint living-work quarters for
artists or general residential purposes if such occupancy is in
compliance with this article. Such occupancy shall be permitted
only if the following conditions are met and complied with.
1. (a) The exterior walls of the building shall be non-
combustible and have a fire-resistive rating of at
least three hours unless the exterior wall or walls,
measured on a horizontal plane perpendicular to said
exterior wall or walls, is a minimum of thirty feet
distant in a direct unobstructed line from another
structure, except that a wet pipe sprinkler system,
with maximum sprinkler spacing of four feet, must be
provided along such wall or walls to protect exposed,
unrated columns or beams at the interior of the wall in
non-fireproof buildings.
(b) Window openings in exterior walls shall conform with
the limitations of table 3-4 chapter twenty-six of the
administrative code of the city of New York, unless
such windows are fire protected and provided with
either a minimum of one sprinkler head per window or
window automatic closing devices, acceptable to the
department of buildings.
2. The building
(a) is of fireproof construction, as provided in section
one hundred one of this chapter, or is of class two
construction, as provided by the requirements of the
building code and regulations of the city of New York
in effect prior to December sixth, nineteen hundred
sixty-eight; or
(b) if non-fireproof, does not exceed a height of six
stories, and eighty-five feet measured to the ceiling
of the highest floor in a depth of one hundred feet; or
does not exceed a height of seven stories, and eighty-
five feet and a depth of one hundred feet and is wet
sprinklered throughout; and has a maximum floor area
between the two hour rated partitions constructed in
accordance with section C26-504.2 of the administrative
code of the city of New York of:
(i) three thousand square feet; or
(ii) five thousand square feet if the building is six
stories or less in height and is fully wet
sprinklered; or
(iii) five thousand square feet if the building is
seven stories in height and is fully wet
sprinklered and has a stand pipe system; or
(iv) ten thousand square feet if the building is
fully wet sprinklered and has one hour rated
ceilings.
(c) complies with the requirements of table 3-4 chapter
twenty-six of the administrative code of the city of
New York for J-2 occupancy.
3. Any part of the building may be occupied for manufacturing
and commercial purposes (as permitted by local zoning law or
resolution), provided, however, that only the second story
and below may be occupied for uses listed as medium fire
hazard in rules of the board of standards and appeals
implementing the labor law unless the entire building is wet
sprinklered; in addition, high fire hazard occupancies shall
not be permitted in any portion of the building.
4. All areas occupied for manufacturing or commercial purposes
shall be protected by an approved wet-pipe automatic
sprinkler system. Such wet-pipe automatic sprinkler system
shall extend to and include public hallways and stairways
coincidentally serving residential occupancies.
5. All occupancies or tenancies shall be separated by a
vertical fire separation, extending to the underside of the
floor above and having a minimum fire-resistance rating of
at least one hour and conform in all respects with
applicable zoning regulations. No separation shall be
required between the working and living portions of a joint
living-work quarters for artists.
6. The building (a) complies with all requirements imposed on
old-law tenements by sections two hundred twelve and two
hundred sixteen of this chapter and on converted dwellings
by sections one hundred eighty-five, one hundred eighty-six,
one hundred eighty-eight, one hundred eighty-nine, one
hundred ninety, one hundred ninety-one and one hundred
ninety-four of this chapter, in addition to those provided
in section two hundred seventy-eight of this article and (b)
complies with the standards of lighting, ventilation, size
of rooms, alcoves and balconies contained in section C26-
1205.0 through and including sections C26-1205.5 and C26-
1205.7 of the administrative code of the city of New York,
except as otherwise provided in paragraph (d) of subdivision
seven of this section.
7. Minimum light and air standards for joint living-work
quarters for artists or general residential portions of
lofts or manufacturing and commercial buildings altered to
residential use shall comply with the following:
(a) Portions of such buildings which are occupied
exclusively as joint living-work quarters for artists
as permitted by local law shall comply with the
following:
(i) The minimum size of a joint living-work quarters
for artists shall be twelve hundred square feet
of interior space, except as otherwise
authorized by the zoning resolution of the city
of New York, for units occupied for residential
purposes on or before January first, nineteen
hundred eighty-five.
(ii) Joint living-work quarters for artists shall
conform to the standards for light and
ventilation of sections C26-1205.0 through and
including section C26-1205.7 of the
administrative code of the city of New York.
(b) Portions of such buildings which are occupied
exclusively as residential units as permitted by local
law shall comply with the following:
(i) Every dwelling unit shall have one or more
windows:
A. which open onto a street, a court with a
dimension of fifteen feet perpendicular to
the windows and one hundred square feet
minimum area above a setback or a thirty foot
rear yard; or
B. for corner lots or lots within one hundred
feet of a corner, where the minimum
horizontal distance between such windows
opening onto a rear yard and the rear lot
line is at least twenty feet; or
C. for interior lots, where the minimum
horizontal distance between such windows
opening onto a rear yard and any wall
opposite such windows on the same or another
zoning lot is at least twenty feet and not
less than a distance equal to one-third of
the total height of such wall above the sill
height of such windows; but need not exceed
forty feet; or
D. for interior lots where the minimum
horizontal distance between such windows
opening onto a rear yard and any wall
opposite such windows on the same or another
zoning lot is at least fifteen feet and the
minimum size of such dwelling unit is twelve
hundred square feet; or
E. in no event shall the distance between such
windows and the rear lot line be less than
five feet; and
F. yards and courts may be existing or may be
new in buildings seven stories or less in
height.
(ii) The minimum required ratio of window area
opening onto a street, rear yard, or court to
the floor area of every living room shall:
A. be ten percent where the floor area of such
living room is less than five hundred square
feet; or
B. decrease, by one percent for every one
hundred square feet greater than five hundred
square feet of floor area of such living
room, to a minimum of five percent; and
C. in no event shall the distance between such
window area and the rear lot line be less
than five feet; and
D. at least fifty percent of the required window
area shall be openable.
(c) Ventilation of spaces other than living rooms,
including enclosed work spaces for joint living-work
quarters for artists shall be either in accordance with
this section or in accordance with the administrative
code of the city of New York.
(d) No building converted pursuant to this article shall be
enlarged, except where the underlying zoning district
permits residential use. Such an enlargement shall be
in conformance with the bulk regulations for conforming
residential use for new construction and shall be in
conformance with the provisions of section twenty-six
of this chapter. No interior floor area enlargement
shall be permitted except that a mezzanine with a
minimum headroom of seven feet shall be allowed within
individual dwelling units, provided that the gross
floor area of such mezzanine does not exceed one-third
of the floor area contained within such dwelling unit.
No mezzanine shall be included as floor area for the
purpose of calculating the minimum required size of a
living room or a dwelling unit or for calculating floor
area devoted to dwellings. For the purpose of this
article a mezzanine may be constructed above the level
of the roof of a building as long as the aggregate area
of roof structures does not exceed one-third of the
total roof area and the roof structures conform with
applicable building code requirements.
(e) The kitchen located within dwelling units and having a
floor area of fifty-nine square feet or more shall have
natural ventilation as prescribed in sub-article 1205.0
of chapter twenty-six of the administrative code of the
city of New York. Open kitchens shall be considered as
part of the adjacent space where forty percent of the
area of the separation between the spaces is open and
without doors. If the floor area of the combined space
exceeds seven hundred fifty square feet, a separate
bedroom shall not be required. When the floor area is
less than fifty-nine square feet the kitchenette shall
be ventilated by either of the following:
(i) Natural means complying with sub-article 1205.0
of chapter twenty-six of the administrative code
of the city of New York and further that the
windows shall have a minimum width of twelve
inches, a minimum area of three square feet, or
ten percent of the floor area of the space,
whichever is greater and be so constructed that
at least one-half of their required area may be
opened. When the space is located at the top
story, the window or windows may be replaced
with a skylight whose minimum width shall be
twelve inches, whose minimum area shall be four
square feet or one-eighth of the floor area of
the space, whichever is greater and which shall
have ventilation openings of at least one-half
of the required area of the skylight.
(ii) Mechanical means exhausting at least two cubic
feet per minute of air per square foot of floor
area. Where doors are to be used to separate the
space, the lower portion of each door shall have
a metal grill containing at least forty-eight
square inches of clean openings or in lieu of
such grill, two clear opening spaces may be
provided, each of at least twenty-four square
inches, one between the bottom of each door and
the floor and the other between the top of each
door and the head jamb.
(f) When bathrooms and toilet rooms are ventilated by
natural means, the natural ventilation sources shall
comply with sub-article 1205.0 of chapter twenty-six of
the administrative code of the city of New York and
shall have an unobstructed free area of at least five
percent of the floor area. In no case shall the net
free area of the ventilation sources be less than one
and one-half square feet. When bathrooms and toilet
rooms are vented by mechanical means, individual vent
shafts or ducts constructed of non-combustible
materials with a minimum cross section area of one
square foot shall be utilized, the exhaust system shall
be capable of exhausting at least fifty cubic feet per
minute of air. Means shall be provided for egress of
air by louvers in doors, by undercutting the door, or
by transfer ducts, grills or other openings. Toilet
exhaust systems shall be arranged to expel air directly
to the outdoors.
(g) A single station smoke detector shall be installed
immediately outside each sleeping or bedroom area of
each dwelling unit. Such device shall be designed and
installed so as to detect smoke and activate an alarm,
be reasonably free from false alarms and provide
visible indication that the alarm is energized. Such
device shall be directly connected to the lighting
circuit of the dwelling or rooming unit with no
intervening wall switch and shall provide a warning
signal clearly audible in all sleeping quarters with
intervening doors closed. Cord connected installations
or smoke detectors which rely exclusively on batteries
are not permissible. Such devices shall either be
approved or listed by an acceptable testing service or
laboratory.
8. All openings from apartments leading into a public hall or
corridor shall be provided with fireproof doors and
assemblies with the doors self-closing. Partitions between
apartments on each floor shall be one hour fire rated
partitions. All windows opening on fire escapes shall be
provided with wire glass, unless such windows are protected
by a wet pipe sprinkler head with a minimum of one head per
window.
9. Such buildings, in regard to egress, shall comply with the
following:
(a) In a non-fireproof building there shall be:
(i) one independently enclosed stairway and a fire
escape from each dwelling unit; or
(ii) where the building is fully wet sprinklered and
not in excess of seventy-five feet in height and
not exceeding five thousand square feet in
building area one independently enclosed
stairway from each dwelling, and an
independently enclosed hallway, of one hour fire
rating where there are two or more tenants on a
floor; or
(iii) a sprinklered enclosed hallway with access to
two independently enclosed stairs.
(b) In a fireproof building, there shall be:
(i) an enclosed hallway and two independently
enclosed stairs; or
(ii) an enclosed hallway and one independently
enclosed stair and a screened exterior stair in
conformance with section two hundred sixty-eight
of the labor law with all glazed openings
thereon equipped with wire glass; or
(iii) for buildings not exceeding seven stories or
seventy-five feet in height, egress conforming
with the provisions of paragraph (a) of this
subdivision; or
(iv) egress conforming with the provisions of section
one hundred two of this chapter.
(c) No more than two dwelling units shall open directly to
a stair without an intervening enclosed hallway.
(d) Enclosed hallways shall have a one hour fire rating.
(e) Enclosed stairways shall be:
(i) one hour fire rated in non-fireproof buildings
four stories or less in height; or
(ii) one hour fire rated and sprinklered in non-
fireproof buildings six stories or less in
height; or
(iii) one hour fire rated in non-fireproof, fully
sprinklered buildings seven stories in height;
or
(iv) two hour fire rated in all other cases.
(f) The travel distance to the means of egress shall comply
with the administrative code of the city of New York.
(g) Wooden stairs permitted by section one hundred eighty-
nine of this chapter may be retained only if, in
addition to meeting all of the requirements set forth
therein, they are within a fully wet-sprinklered
enclosure, and the stair and landing soffit are fire
retarded, notwithstanding any other provisions.
(h) Every required stair shall extend through the roof by a
bulkhead, except that a scuttle may be used if the
dwelling does not exceed four stories and except that
no bulkhead or scuttle is required where the roof is a
peak roof with a pitch of more than fifteen degrees.
(i) Mezzanines shall be provided with a stair at least two
feet six inches wide terminating not more than twenty
feet from an exit door or fire escape, and all portions
of such mezzanines shall be not more than fifty feet
from such exit door or fire escape.
10. In buildings in excess of two stories in height, stairways
shall be provided with skylights at least twenty square feet
in area, glazed with plain glass with a wire screen over and
under and provided with fixed or movable ventilators having
a minimum open area of one hundred forty-four square inches.
In lieu of the skylight and ventilators, a window of equal
area may be provided with fixed louvers having a minimum
open area of one hundred forty-four square inches installed
in or immediately adjacent to the window.
11. Except as otherwise provided in this article, all shafts
shall be enclosed with incombustible material of two hour
fire rating and comply with the administrative code of the
city of New York, provided, however, existing shaft
enclosures constructed in part of combustible material may
be retained if upgraded to obtain a two hour fire rating.
12. Every kitchen or kitchenette or cooking space in such
building shall comply with the requirements imposed on
multiple dwellings erected after April eighteenth, nineteen
hundred twenty-nine by section thirty-three of this chapter.
13. Such building shall comply with all requirements imposed on
multiple dwellings erected after April eighteenth, nineteen
hundred twenty-nine by title three of article three of this
chapter.
14. All interior iron columns in unsprinklered buildings shall
be protected by materials or assemblies having a fire-
resistive rating of at least three hours. Where sprinklers
are provided for an exterior wall as provided in subdivision
one of this section or in a fully wet sprinklered building
such columns shall be protected by two sprinkler heads
located eighteen inches or more away and each on opposite
sides of such column but no further than four feet. Such
sprinklers shall be provided at any interior column where
fire protection is omitted in non-fireproof buildings.
15. The elevator shafts in such buildings shall be enclosed with
incombustible material of two hour fire rating, except that
existing elevator shaft enclosures constructed in part of
combustible material may be retained if upgraded to obtain a
two hour fire rating; and have fireproof doors and
assemblies with (a) the doors self-closing; or (b) a
vestibule the walls of which shall be of non-combustible
material and have a minimum two hour fire resistive rating,
with self-closing fireproof doors and be fire-stopped; or
(c) where the elevator is manually operated in fully
sprinklered buildings have fireproof doors, with approved
interlock devices.
16. The requirements and standards prescribed in this section
shall be subject to variation in specific cases by the
commissioner of buildings, or the board of standards and
appeals, of such city under and pursuant to the provisions
of paragraph two of subdivision b of section six hundred
forty-five and section six hundred sixty-six of the New York
city charter.
Sec. 278. Application of other provisions.
1. The provisions of this article apply to buildings with
residential, mixed or joint living-work quarters or artists'
occupancy as herein provided and to such buildings only. In
addition to the provisions of this article, the following
enumerated articles and sections of this chapter shall, to the
extent required therein, apply to such buildings:
Article 1. Introductory provisions: definitions
2. Miscellaneous application provisions except
subdivision two of section nine
8. Requirements and remedies
9. Registry of names and service of papers
10. Prostitution
11. Laws repealed; saving clause; effect
Section 28. Two or more buildings on same lot
29. Painting of courts and shafts
31. Size of rooms, subdivision six only
37. Artificial hall lighting
53. Fire-escapes
55. Wainscoting, subdivision two only
56. Frame buildings and extensions
57. Bells; mail receptacles
58. Incombustible materials
59. Bakeries and fat boiling
60. Motor vehicle storage
61. Business uses (except paragraph c of
subdivision one and subdivision three)
62. Parapets, guard railings and wires
2. Failure to comply with any provision of this chapter other
than this article and the above enumerated articles and
sections shall not be grounds for refusal of a certificate
of occupancy or compliance.
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