ABSTRACT
American mining engineer Herbert Hoover became US Secretary of Commerce in March 1921. One of his early actions was to establish a “Building Code Committee” (BCC) with a goal of improving the productivity of house construction using a code “developed upon scientific data”. In July 1922, the BCC reported its “Recommended Minimum Requirements for Small Dwelling Construction”. As well as being the first U.S.A. national code, it was the first code to include details on “doing better”. The code is complete in 18 pages with 43 clauses, supported by a 71 page explanatory appendix. This paper explores the development of the BCC and its publications, including the small dwelling code 1922 and 1932 editions. Other code organizations made extensive use of the BCC publications, but even this could not stop the “modern code muddle” as described by a 1964 author. Ultimately it led to the modern, nation-wide International Building Code.
