Metropolitan Buildings Act 1772
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1772 c. 73 |
| Year | 1772 |
(12 Geo. 3) C A P. LXXIII.
'W H E R E A S the several Actsof Parliament now in Force for regulating Buildings and Party Walls, and for preventing Mischiefs happening by Fire, for providing Fire-engines, and obtaining a sufficient Supply of Water at Fires, and for paying Rewards to Persons assisting at Fires within the Cities ofLondon and Westminster , and the Liberties thereof, and other the Parishes, Precincts, and Places within the Weekly Bills of Mortality, the several Parishes of Saint Mary-le-bone and Paddington, Saint Pancras , and Saint Luke at Chelsea , in the County of Middlesex , and the Provisions, Regulations, and Restrictions, made and specified in and by the said several Acts, have, in many Respects, been found insufficient to answer the good Purposes intended thereby: And whereas it will tend to the Safety of the Inhabitants, and prevent great Inconveniencies to Builders and Workmen employed in Buildings within the Cities and Liberties, Parishes Precincts, and Places, if some of the said Acts were repealed, and the good and wholesome Laws and Provisions therein contained were re-enacted and reduced into One Act, with certain further Regulations, Amendments, and Provisions respecting such Buildings, and for the preventing Mischiefs by Fire as aforesaid; may it please Your Majesty that it may be enacted;' and be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That from and after the Twenty-fourth Day of June , One thousand seven hundred and seventy-two, in all Buildings to be built within the said Cities, Liberties, Parishes Precincts, and Places, and every of them, the Rules, Directions, and Restrictions herein-after prescribed shall be duly observed by all Persons therein concerned; and that no House or other Building shall be erected within the Limits aforesaid, but such as shall be pursuant to such Rules and Orders of Buildings as are herein-after particularly appointed, any Law, Statute, or Usage to the Contrary notwithstanding; (that is to say), That all Fronts and Rear Walls of every House or Tenement, for Habitation, to be built as aforesaid, within the Limits aforesaid, shall be built of Brick or Stone, or of Brick and Stone together, (except found Square Bond Timbers, Door Cases, and Window Frames, Shutters Story Posts, and Breast-summer Fronts to the Ground Floor Story, and Cornices to the Breast summer Fronts); and that all the Front Walls of every such House or Tenement for Habitation shall be carried up to the full Height of Eighteen Inches above the Gutter, and coped with Stone, Tile, or Brick, and not otherwise; and that from and after the said Twenty-fourth Day ofJune , One thousand seven hundred and seventy-two, every House or Tenement for Habitation, which shall be so erected and built, shall have Party Walls between House and House, or other Buildings, wholly of Brick or Stone, or of Brick and Stone together, (all necessary found Square Bond Timbers only excepted); and that such Party Walls between House and House, shall be built, One Half thereof on the Soil or Scite of each of the said Houses; and that every Party Wall, or Flank, or Side Wall of every such House or Building, the Expence of building and finishing of which House shall exceed the Sum of One hundred and twenty Pounds, shall be of the Thickness of Two Bricks and One Half in Length, or One Foot and Nine Inches at the least in the Cellar or lowest Story, and of Two Bricks in Length, or One Foot Five Inches, and One Half of an Inch, from thence upwards to the Garret Floor, and from the Garret Floor upwards One Brick and an Half in Length, or Thirteen Inches; and shall be carried up of such last-mentioned Thickness to the full Height of Eighteen Inches above the Roof of Gutters adjoining thereto; and to every House or Tenement for Habitation, the Expence of building and finishing of which House shall not exceed the Sum of One hundred and twenty Pounds, every Party Wall, and every Flank or Side Wall, shall be of the Thickness of One Brick and an Half in Length, or Thirteen Inches in the Cellar, or lowest Story, and from thence upwards, shall be carried up of the Thickness of One Brick in Length, or Nine Inches, to the full Height of Eighteen Inches above the Roof or Gutters adjoining thereto; and that all and every the Bricks which shall be used in every such Party Walls shall be good, found, hard, and well-burnt Bricks, and none other; and that no Timbers (except the Girders, Binding, and Trimming Joists, and the Templets under the same, and all such necessary Bond Timbers as aforesaid) shall be laid into any such Party Wall, or Flank, or Side Wall as aforesaid; and that no Timbers of the Roof shall be laid into any such Party Wall, or Flank, or Side Wall, (except the Purloins or Kirbs thereof, and Gutter Plates), and that no Girder, Binding, or Trimming Joists, shall lie more than Nine Inches within such Party Wall, Flank or Side Wall, and that no Girder, Binding, or Trimming Joists, in Houses or Buildings adjoining to each other, shall meet or be laid opposite to each other, and that the Sides thereof shall be at least Nine Inches distant from each other; and that there shall be Five Inches at the least of solid Brick-work left at or between the Ends of all Lentils, Wall Plates, and Bond Timbers, to be hereafter used in any such Buildings as aforesaid.
II No Bow Windows to be made; Exception for Shops.
II. Provided always, and be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That no Bow Window or other Projection shall be built, made, set up, or affixed in, to, against, or before any House or other Building, situate in any publick Street, Lane, or Place, fronting any such Street, Lane, or Place, (except for the Convenience of a Shop or Shops only; and where any such Window, or other Projection, shall be so made, set up, or fixed for the Convenience of a Shop or Shops, the same shall not project or extend forwards more than Five Inches from the Upright of the House or Building to the Front of the Stall-board, in any Street, Lane, or Place, which shall not be Thirty-two Feet wide, nor more than Ten Inches from such Upright to the Front of the Stall-board, in any Street, Lane, or Place, being more than Thirty-two Feet wide; and that no such Projection, in any Case shall be carried higher than the Ground Story, or Story next above the Level of the Street, Lane, or Place of the House or other Building, in, to, against, or before which the same shall be made or placed; nor shall any Roof over any Projection by this Act allowed to be made or set up, be higher than the Sill of the One Pair of Stairs Window of such last-mentioned House or Building; and that no Timber Building, Projection, or Erection whatsoever, (otherwise than as aforesaid), shall be built or erected in the Front or Rear, or on the Top of any House or Building; any Custom or Usage to the Contrary notwithstanding.
III Proviso.
III. Provided always, That nothing in this Act contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to interfere with, or make void any of the Powers heretofore given by any Act of Parliament to the Commissioners of Sewers, Lamps and Pavements, for the City ofLondon , and the Liberties thereof.
IV Gateways, &c. to be left for Carriages to pass to Wharfs.
'IV. And whereas in the building of Houses or other Buildings near or adjoining to the RiverThames , it may be proper and convenient to erect or leave Archways, or other Gateways, for Carts and Carriages to pass under the said Houses, or some Part or Parts of some of them, to Wharfs near or adjoining to the said River, and to place or fix Breast-summers into the Walls of such Part or Parts of such Houses, so extending over or across such Archways or Gateways;' be it therefore enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful to and for the Builder of the Party Wall or Party Walls of any House or Houses, or other Buildings, near or adjoining to the said River, within the Limits aforesaid, to make or leave Archways or Gateways for Carriages to pass to the said Wharfs, in such Part of the Ground and Cellar Floors, or either of them, of any such House or Houses, or other Buildings, and to place and fix a proper Breast-summer or Breast-summers, over any such Arched-way or Gate-way; an Thing herein contained, or any Law, Statute, or Usage to the Contrary notwithstanding.
V Walls across Gateways to Wharfs to be One Brick and Half thick.
V. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That every Wall and Walls to be erected or set up upon any Breast-summer, over any such Arched-way or Gate-way, shall not be less than One Brick and an Half, or Thirteen Inches thick; any Thing herein contained to the Contrary notwithstanding.
VI In what Cases 2d Builder may use Party or End Walls.
VI. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful to and for any Person or Persons, who shall build against any such Party Wall or Party Walls, Flank or Side Wall or Walls...
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