Grace Gold’s death from a falling piece of masonry in 1979 led to New York City’s facade inspection law.
Those of us in the engineering and architecture industry in New York City are fully familiar with the Facade Inspection and Safety Program (FISP), formerly known as Local Law 11/98 and in its original form, Local Law 10/80. But while many buildings industry professionals know about the facade inspection law, fewer know about the person whose tragic death was behind it.
That person was Grace Gold, a 17-year-old freshman student at Barnard College who was killed in 1979 when a loose piece of masonry fell from a building on Broadway and 115th Street. Grace’s death led to the original facade inspection law, New York City’s Local Law 10 of 1980, which required buildings taller than six stories to have their street-facing facades inspected for unsafe conditions every five years by a qualified engineer or architect.
The law was amended in 1998 by Local Law 11, which requires any facade taller than six stories, not just those facing a street, to be inspected. The amended law also mandates that at least one street-facing facade be inspected hands on (rather than just visually) from a scaffold or other means of support.
To honor the memory of Grace and promote public safety measures such as the facade inspection law, Grace’s sister Lori Gold has established the Grace Gold Memorial Scholarship Fund at Barnard College. Last Thursday at a fundraising breakfast at Barnard that RAND attended, we listened to stories about Grace’s short but inspiring life and how her tragedy has resulted in a safer city.
The RAND team at the Grace Gold Memorial Scholarship Fund breakfast.
Lori spoke movingly about her sister, a fun, kind, and gifted girl who excelled in music and loved to volunteer and help others. Grace's promising young life cut short by a preventable accident helped spur the New York City Council to pass Local Law 10/80 the year following her death.
Also speaking at the fundraiser was Norman Weiss, a professor at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University, whose efforts and support were instrumental in helping Lori establish the scholarship. The keynote speaker was Donald Friedman, PE, President of Old Structures Engineering, PC, who discussed notable building failures over the past two centuries and the lessons learned, which have led to today’s much safer building codes.
Later that afternoon and just a few blocks away, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held to rename the west side of Broadway between 115th and 116th Streets Grace Gold Way.
For more information on the Grace Gold Memorial Scholarship, which will be awarded annually to Barnard College students pursuing a career in architecture, urban design, journalism, or a related field, please contact Lori Gold at lorigold1504@nullgmail.com.
RAND is proud to support the Grace Gold Memorial Scholarship Fund to honor Grace's memory and legacy. Having conducted more than 3,000 facade inspections since our founding in 1987, we are dedicated to our role in helping keep New York City buildings safe.
Stephen Varone is President and Founder of RAND.
