Every once in a while I will post something on architecture--not a lot, because shop talk can sometimes get even more dull and tedious than the rest of the stuff here--but today is an interesting date in the development of modern architecture.

On Saturday evening, March 25, 1911, a garment factory housed on the top three floors of the ten story Asch Building in New York City caught fire. The resulting panic to escape resulted in the deaths of 146 workers, the vast majority of whom were immigrant girls and women. The tragedy at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory highlighted the grim side of the garment business, leading to a broad range of labor reforms as well as the creation of a wide variety of new life safety codes intended to address the safety of factory and mill workers.

A great site detailing the fire can be found here, via Cornell University's Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives, and an interesting and touching personal view of the fire can be had at New York State Senator Serphin Maltese's website. (The senator lost a grandmother and two aunts in the fire).
posted by Terry at 10:03:00 AM