§ 53. Fire-escapes. Every fire-escape erected after April eighteenth,\nnineteen hundred twenty-nine, shall be located, arranged, constructed\nand maintained in accordance with the following provisions:\n 1. Access to a fire-escape shall be from a living room or private hall\nin each apartment or suite of rooms at each story above the entrance\nstory, and such access shall not include any window of a stairhall.\n a. Such room or private hall shall be an integral part of such\napartment or suite of rooms and accessible to every room thereof without\npassing through a public hall.\n b. When one or more living rooms of any apartment are rented to\nboarders or lodgers, every such room shall be directly accessible to a\nfire-escape without passing through a public hall, and for separately\noccupied living rooms access to fire-escapes shall be direct from such\nrooms without passing through a public hall or any other separately\noccupied room, except as may be permitted for dormitories in section\nsixty-six.\n c. Access to any fire-escape shall not be obstructed by sinks or\nkitchen fixtures or in any other way. Iron bars, grilles, gates, or\nother obstructing devices on any window giving access to fire-escapes or\nto a required secondary means of egress shall be unlawful unless such\ndevices are of a type approved by the board of appeals and are installed\nand maintained as prescribed by the board; provided, however, that in a\ncity having a population of one million or more, such devices shall be\nof a type approved, installed and maintained as prescribed by the fire\ncommissioner, or as previously approved and prescribed by the board of\nstandards and appeals of such city, except as otherwise provided by said\ncommissioner.\n d. Every such fire-escape shall be accessible to one or more exterior\ndoors or windows opening from the room, apartment, suite of rooms or\nother space which it serves as means of egress, and such window or door\nshall be two feet or more in clear width and two feet six inches or more\nin clear height. The sill of any such window shall be within three feet\nof the floor.\n 2. A required fire-escape may be erected in any of the following\nplaces:\n a. On a wall facing a street or yard;\n b. In a court of a non-fireproof multiple dwelling to serve an\napartment or suite of rooms which does not contain any room fronting\nupon a street or yard, or in any inner court thirty-five feet or more in\nits least horizontal dimension, provided the fire-escape does not\nproject more than four feet from the wall of the dwelling and is\ndirectly connected at the bottom of such court with a fireproof\npassageway at least three feet wide and seven feet high leading directly\nto a street unless the court itself leads to a street;\n c. In any outer court eighteen feet or more in width and thirty feet\nor less in length;\n d. In any outer court more than eighteen feet in width the length of\nwhich does not exceed its width by more than seventy per centum;\n e. In any outer court ten feet or more in width at every point and\nsituated on a lot line;\n f. In any outer court seven feet or more in width at every point which\nis situated on a lot line and extends from a street to a yard;\n g. In a recess on the front wall of a multiple dwelling, provided the\nrecess does not exceed five feet in depth, is used solely for\nfire-escape purposes and has seventy-five per centum or more of its area\nopen to the street, and is otherwise unenclosed and open at the top. No\nsuch recess shall be counted as a part of the unoccupied area of the\npremises or be construed as a court unless its entire area is open to\nthe street.\n 3. No fire-escape may project more than four and one-half feet into a\npublic highway from the lot line of the multiple dwelling it serves.\nEvery part of such fire-escape shall be at least ten feet above any\nsidewalk directly below.\n 4. a. Every fire-escape shall be constructed of open balconies and\nsta
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