2003 — June 29, Apartment Building Balcony Collapse, Lincoln Park, Chicago, IL–13

— 13  AP. “City officials sue Chicago building owner over porch collapse.” USA Today, 7-2-2003.

— 13  Chicago Sun Times (Spielman). “City steps up porch checks in year since tragedy.” 6-29-2004.

— 13  Chicago Tribune. “2003 Lincoln Park porch collapse kills 13.” 6-10-2013.

— 13  DeckFailure.com. “2003 Collapse Injures 57 – Kills 13.”

— 13  Ford. “2003: Chicago Balcony Collapse.” Univ. of TX, Learning from Building Failures.

— 13  Leung. “Without Warning…Who’s to Blame…Porch Collapse that Killed 13 People?”

— 12  Emergency & Disaster Management Inc. “Chicago Disasters.”

 

Narrative Information

 

Chicago Tribune, 2013: “On June 29, 2003, a third-level porch behind an apartment building at 713 W. Wrightwood Ave. in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago collapsed under the weight of an estimated 114 people, killing 13 and injuring more than 50.” (Chicago Tribune. “2003 Lincoln Park porch collapse kills 13.” 6-10-2013.)

 

Ford: “On June 29, 2003, there was a large party filled with Chicagoan young professionals taking place at an apartment building in Lincoln Park neighborhood on Chicago’s North Side.  The apartment building had first, second, and third story balconies. There were large congregations of young adults out on the second and third floor balconies that night enjoying the festivities and a warm summer night in Chicago.

 

“About fifty people were on the third floor balcony when, shortly after midnight, the balcony collapsed.  The balcony came down taking the second and third floor balconies down into the basement with it.  After the wreckage was scoured and all people were recovered and accounted for it was determined 11 people had died (two more died of injuries) and 57 more people were injured.

 

“The collapse caused much controversy in Chicago, especially over the company LG Properties, the company which owned the property and had the balconies built.  Part of the blame went to overcrowding with many people saying the balconies should not have had more than thirty people on it at one time. However, poor construction was ultimately to blame.

 

“…the porch was built illegally without a permit. There were also a multitude of building code violations: The balconies jutted out a foot farther from the building than codes allowed, the area was 81 square feet larger than was permitted, the supports were inadequate, the floor was built with undersized lengths of wood, and the screws used to attach the balcony to the wall were too short.

 

“After an investigation, it was found that 21 other buildings owned by Philip Pappas, president of LG Properties, also had similar violations. Pappas was fined $108,000 for the building code violations. In addition, Pappas was sued by 27 affected families. In the end, the balcony was built with steel and obeyed the building codes.

 

“This incident could have been avoided and thirteen young people would not have lost their lives that night had the owners and contractors gotten a permit and built within the parameters of the building codes.  Though the balcony collapsed due to overcrowding and overloading, it could have withstood that loading had it been soundly built.” (Ford. “2003: Chicago Balcony Collapse.” Learning from Building Failures. Univ. of TX Arch. Engineering pgm., Spring 2014.)

 

Sources

 

Associated Press, Chicago. “City officials sue Chicago building owner over porch collapse.” USA Today, 7-2-2003. Accessed 10-25-2015: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-07-02-porch-collapse_x.htm

 

Chicago Sun Times (Fran Spielman). “City steps up porch checks in year since tragedy.” 6-29-2004. Accessed 10-25-2015 at: http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=CSTB&p_theme=cstb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=103B8DC8F7F75DFC&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM

 

Chicago Tribune. “2003 Lincoln Park porch collapse kills 13.” 6-10-2013. Accessed 10-25-2015 at: http://galleries.apps.chicagotribune.com/chi-130610-lincoln-park-2003-porch-collapse-pictures/

 

DeckFailure.com. “2003 Collapse Injures 57 – Kills 13.” Accessed 10-25-2013 at: http://www.deckfailure.com/FChicago13.html

 

Emergency & Disaster Management Inc. “Chicago Disasters.” Accessed 1-22-2008 at:  http://www.emergency-management.net/chicago_di.htm

 

Ford, James Madison. “2003: Chicago Balcony Collapse.” Learning from Building Failures. University of Texas Architectural Engineering program student project, Spring 2014. Accessed 10-25-2015 at: https://buildingfailures.wordpress.com/2003/02/06/2003-chicago-balcony-collapse-balcony-overloading/

 

Leung, Rebecca. “Without Warning, Chaos. Who’s to Blame for a Chicago Porch Collapse that Killed 13 People?” CBS News 48 Hours. 12-15-2003. Accessed 10-25-2015 at: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/without-warning-chaos/