Buildings not to be raised or built upon in visions of this act. Alterations in buildings to be made subject to And before tilators, cornices, gutters, shall be made, constructed, framed, and covered, with cast or wrought iron, tin, copper, zinc, or other metal, or stone, slate, brick, cement or mortar, or other incombustible material.] SECT. 21. No building already erected, or hereafter to be built, in said city shall be raised or built upon in such manner that were such violation of pro- building wholly built or constructed after the passage of this act it would be in violation of any of the provisions of this act. any building built of stone, brick, or iron, or any wooden building with or without a brick front, in any part of said city, shall be enlarged, raised, altered, or built upon, the same shall be first examined by the said inspector to ascertain if the building or buildings, or either of them, are in a good and safe condition to be enlarged, raised, altered, or built upon; and no such buildings as aforesaid shall be enlarged, raised, altered, or built upon, until after such examination and decision; and the decision of said inspector under such examination shall be final and conclusive in the premises, except as hereinafter provided, and shall be made without delay. approval of inspector. Referees to settle questions and owner. SECT. 22. The inspector of buildings shall have full power to pass which arise be upon any question, arising under the provisions of this act, relative to tween inspector the manner of construction, or materials to be used in the erection, alteration, or repair, of any building in the city of Boston, and he may require that plans of the proposed erection, alterations, or repairs, shall be submitted for inspection before issuing his permit: provided, however, that should any question arise between the inspector of buildings and the owner or architect of any building, or should the owner or architect object to any order or decision of said inspector, the matter shall be referred to a committee of three persons, who shall be either architects or master-builders, one to be chosen by the inspector of buildings, one by the owner or other interested party, and these two shall choose a third, and the decision of these referees, submitted in writing, shall be final and conclusive in the premises. Penalties for violation of provisions of this act. 1871, 280. 1873, 298, § 10. Penalties may be recovered in an action of tort. PENALTIES. SECT. 23. If any person or persons, whether owner or owners, contractor or contractors, builder or builders, shall begin to erect, construct, build, or alter, any building or structure within the city of Boston, without first obtaining a permit from the inspector of buildings of said city, such person or persons shall forfeit and pay the sum of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars for each and every such offence; and if any person, or persons, as aforesaid, shall proceed to complete any building or structure in the city of Boston, without having the same inspected as by law required, or shall violate any or either of the provisions of this act, or of the act of which this act is an amendment thereof, for the violation of which no other penalties are therein or herein before provided, he or they shall forfeit and pay not less than one hundred dollars and not more than one thousand dollars for each and every such violation, and the further sum of one hundred dollars for each and every week that he or they shall maintain any building or structure in violation of any provision of this act, or of the act of which this act is an amendment, or of any other act in amendment thereof. All penalties under this act shall be recoverable by the city of Boston in an action of tort. If any person or persons, whether owner or owners, contractor or contractors, builder or builders, shall erect or alter any building or structure in the city of Boston, in violation of any or either of the provisions of this act, or of the act of which this act is an amendment, or of any amendment thereof, it shall be lawful for the supreme judicial court, or any justice thereof, either in term be issued by su time or in vacation, to issue forthwith an injunction restraining such Injunction may person or persons from further progress in said work, until the facts preme judicial of the case shall have been investigated and determined; and if it court. shall appear to said court or to any justice thereof, upon such investigation, that such building or structure does not in all respects conform to the provisions of this act, and of the act of which this act is an amendment, and of all amendments thereof, said court or justice shall issue an injunction to restrain the continuance of the work upon such building or structure, and shall order the removal, within a time to be fixed by said court or justice, of so much of said building or structure as may be decreed by said court or justice to be in violation of the provisions of this act, or of the act of which this act is an amendment, or of any act in amendment thereof. apply to passen Boston and SECT. 24. The provisions of this act shall not apply to the pas- Provisions not to senger-stations of the Boston and Lowell, and Boston and Providence, ger-stations of railroad corporations, now in process of erection in the city of Boston; Lowell, and but such precautions shall be provided for protection against, and for Boston aud the extinguishment of, fire, under the penalties of this act, as the railroad corporinspector of public buildings shall require. Providence, ations. competent to and not to be SECT. 25. The inspector and assistant inspectors of the depart- Inspector to be ment for the survey and inspection of buildings in the city of Boston perform duties, shall be able and experienced architects, builders, or mechanics, com- engaged in any petent to perform all the duties of the office to which they are ap- other business. pointed, and such inspectors shall not be employed or engaged in any other vocation, or be interested in any contract or contracts for building or for furnishing materials. SECT. 26. This act shall take effect upon its passage. December 14, 1872. [1871, 280; 1872, 260; 1873, 298, 338; 1876, 69, 176; 1882, 101, 252; 1883, 155, 173.] AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A GRADE IN THE CITY OF BOSTON. Be it enacted, etc.: feet above mean established in SECTION 1. The board of aldermen of the city of Boston shall establish Grade of twelve in said city a grade not less than twelve feet above mean low water; low water to be and no person shall, in said city, after such grade is established, con- Boston. struct any cellar or basement cellar of any dwelling-house or other s. & O. p. 147. building below such grade, or use or occupy any cellar or basement cellar constructed below the same: provided, that the board of Proviso. aldermen may, by license, subject to revocation at any time by them, authorize cellars to be constructed in buildings used exclusively for storage or business purposes, so much below said grade as they shall designate in each license. SECT. 2. If any person constructs, uses, or occupies, any cellar or Penalty. basement cellar in violation of section one of this act, said board of aldermen shall order the owner or occupant of such cellar or basement cellar to so alter and construct it as to conform to the requirements of said section; and if such owner or occupant fails to comply with such order within ten days after service thereof, as provided by the following section, said board shall so alter such cellar or basement cellar, and all necessary expenses incurred thereby shall constitute a lien upon the land wherein such cellar or basement cellar is constructed, and upon the buildings upon such land, and may be collected in the manner provided by law for the collection of taxes upon Orders to be made in writing. cial court may restrain by injunction, etc. real estate; and the city treasurer of said city may purchase such land or land and buildings, in behalf of said city. SECT. 3. All orders under the preceding section shall be made in writing, and served upon said owners or occupants or their authorized agents, as prescribed by section nine of chapter twenty-six of the Supreme judi- general statutes, for the service of orders of boards of health; and the supreme judicial court, or any justice thereof, in term time or vacation, may by injunction or other suitable process in equity, restrain any person or corporation from constructing, using, or occupying, any cellar or basement cellar in violation of the provisions of section one of this act, and may enforce such provisions, and may order and enforce the abatement or alteration of any cellar or basement cellar constructed, used, or occupied, in violation thereof, so as to comply with said provisions. SECT. 4. This act shall take effect upon its passage. December 18, 1872. Boston may erect wooden buildings for hospital pur poses. Proviso. AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE ERECTION OF WOODEN BUILDINGS IN THE CITY Be it enacted, etc.: SECTION 1. The city of Boston is hereby authorized to erect, under directions of its board of health and inspector of buildings, any wooden buildings within the city, for hospital purposes, the same to remain only so long as said board deems it necessary: provided, that every such hospital shall be constantly guarded outside by a competent force of at least three of the police of said city. SECT. 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage. January 28, 1873. Grant of lot of land in Boston, free of rent. land. 1873.. - CHAPTER 174. AN ACT IN ADDITION TO "AN ACT INCORPORATING THE MASSACHUSETTS Be it enacted, etc.: SECTION 1. Perpetual right is granted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to hold, occupy, and control, free of rent or charge by the commonwealth, for the uses and purposes of said institute, a parcel of land situated, in that part of Boston called the Back Bay, Description of and described as follows: a lot in the form of a trapezoid, lying at the intersection of Boylston street and Huntington avenue, bounded by said street and avenue, and on the west by abutting land, as laid down on the selling plan of the commissioners on public lands, and containing thirteen thousand one hundred and ninety-four square feet; said lot to be subject to the limitations and stipulations relative to lands of the commonwealth on the south side of Boylston street, and to be reserved from sale forever. Right granted SECT. 2. The right hereby granted to said institute shall be held subsubject to stipulations contained ject to the same stipulations in relation to membership, the reception in former acts. of pupils, the erection of a building, and the care of the lot, as are created and established by the several acts relating to said institute. SECT. 3. In case said institute appropriates said lot of land to any purpose or use foreign to its legitimate objects, then the commonwealth, after due notice given, may enter upon said lot and take pos Land to revert to commonwealth if not used for legitimate objects. session thereof, and the right of the said institute to the use, occupa- AN ACT CONCERNING SEWERS AND DRAINS IN THE CITY OF BOSTON. Be it enacted, etc:: water-courses poses. SECTION 1. The board of aldermen of the city of Boston may, for Streams and the purposes of sewerage and drainage, take and divert the water of may be diverted any streams or water-courses within the limits of said city, and devote for drainage purthe same to the purposes aforesaid; and may take all necessary land 9 Cush. 233. to widen, deepen, or straighten, the channel of such water-courses, and pave, enclose, and cover, the same. SECT. 2. In taking said water-courses or lands for the purposes Proceedings as aforesaid, the said board of aldermen shall proceed in the manner re- for highways. in taking land quired by law in cases where land is taken for highways; and persons suffering damage in their property shall have the same rights and remedies for the ascertainment and recovery of such damages, as are Damages. provided by law for the ascertainment and recovery of damages for lands taken for highways. SECT. 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage. April 16, 1873. 1873. CHAPTER 207. AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE COMMISSIONERS ON PUBLIC LANDS TO SELL A Be it enacted, etc.: a school-house SECTION 1. The commissioners on public lands are authorized to Commissioners sell and convey to the city of Boston a lot of land on the Back Bay in may sell land for said city, for the purpose of erecting a school-house thereon, upon to the city of such terms and conditions as the governor and council shall approve. SECT. 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage. Boston. AN ACT IN ADDITION TO AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE UNION FREIGHT RAILROAD COMPANY. Be it enacted, etc.: deliver passen other railroads. SECTION 1. The Union Freight Railroad Company is authorized To receive and and required to receive and deliver passenger cars at each of its con- gers at its connections with the tracks of other railroad corporations made pur- nections with suant to the provisions of its charter, and to haul such cars over its road at its established rates; provided, that nothing in this act shall be Proviso. construed as affecting any legal rights of the Commercial Freight and Marginal Freight Railway Companies. SECT. 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [1872, 342; 1876, 229.] April 25, 1873. May expend abled firemen, Repeal of 1854, 375. 1880, 107. May conduct waters of Muddy river in a more direct line to Charles river. Damages. 1872, 267, § 3. Drains and sew ers of Boston into the new channel. AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE CITY OF BOSTON TO APPROPRIATE MONEY Be it enacted, etc.: SECTION 1. The city of Boston may expend a sum not exceeding three thousand dollars annually, for the relief of firemen disabled, and of the families of firemen killed, in the service of the city. SECT. 2. Chapter three hundred and seventy-five of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and fifty-four is repealed. 1873. CHAPTER 260. April 30, 1873. AN ACT RELATING TO THE CHANNEL OF MUDDY RIVER IN BROOKLINE. Be it enacted, etc.: SECTION 1. The town of Brookline may make a new channel within its own territory to conduct the waters of Muddy river in a more direct line to Charles river, and for this purpose the real estate of any person may be taken. The proceedings shall be the same in all respects as in laying out of town ways; and all persons suffering damage in their property, by reason thereof, shall have the same rights and remedies for the ascertainment and recovery of such damages as in the case of the laying out of town ways. SECT. 2. Drains and sewers of the city of Boston now dischargmay be extended ing into Muddy river above the point at which the boundary line between Boston and Brookline, running from Charles river southerly along the easterly line of Saint Mary's street extended, strikes the present channel of Muddy river, may be extended by said city through any lands or ways in said city or town into the new channel provided for by this act, the cost of such extension to be reimbursed to said city by said town; and said city shall have the right to enter new drains or sewers through said lands or ways into the new channel to the same extent that it now has the right to enter the same into the present channel of Muddy river. SECT. 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage. May 2, 1873. Charlestown annexed to Boston and to become part of Suffolk county. SECTION 1. All the territory now comprised within the limits of the city of Charlestown, in the county of Middlesex, with the inhabitants and estates therein, is annexed to and made part of the city of Boston, in the county of Suffolk, and shall hereafter constitute a part of the county of Suffolk, subject to the same laws, municipal regulations, obligations, and liabilities, and entitled to the same privileges and immunities in all respects as the said city of Boston: provided, however, that until constitutionally and legally changed, Election of rep said territory shall continue to be, for the purpose of electing members of the house of representatives, part of the county of Middlesex, constituting the first, second, and third, representative districts thereof; for the purpose of electing a senator, the first Middlesex senatorial Proviso. resentives, senator, councillor, and mem ber of congress. |