{{short description, 1958 textile factory fire in Manhattan, New York
The Monarch Underwear Company fire occurred in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, New York City at 623
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
on March 19, 1958. Twenty-four people were killed in a loft fire, between
Houston Street
Houston Street ( ) is a major east–west thoroughfare in Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs the full width of the island of Manhattan, from FDR Drive along the East River in the east to the West Side Highway along the Hudson River i ...
Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
, March 20, 1958, pg.1. and fifteen more were injured. Six of the injured were hurt when they leaped from the building and missed fire nets. The conflagration began in the third floor textile printing plant of an edifice in which the workrooms of several businesses were located. Ten corpses were found underneath work benches of the Monarch Underwear Company, on the fourth floor. The fire started at 4:30 p.m. and lasted one and a half hours. It began in a processing oven of the S.T.S. Textile Company.
The building was located a few blocks from Washington Place, near Greene Street, the former locale of the
Triangle Shirtwaist Company
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, on Saturday, March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city, and one of the deadliest in U.S. history. The ...
.''24 Killed In Broadway Loft Fire'',
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
Robert F. Wagner Jr.
Robert Ferdinand Wagner II (April 20, 1910 – February 12, 1991) was an American politician who served three terms as the mayor of New York City from 1954 through 1965. When running for his third term, he broke with the Tammany Hall leadership ...
asked for legislation to prevent fires like the one at 623 Broadway. Wagner and
New York City Fire Commissioner
The New York City Fire Commissioner is the civilian administrator of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), appointed by the Mayor of the City of New York. There have been 34 commissioners excluding Acting Fire Commissioners, and 38 commission ...
Edward F. Cavanaugh both stated that the structure did not violate fire and building codes. Wagner called on the New York City Council to enact necessary ordinances quickly. Among those he suggested were the installation of automatic fire sprinkling systems, the building of
fireproof
Fireproofing is rendering something (structures, materials, etc.) resistant to fire, or incombustible; or material for use in making anything fire-proof. It is a passive fire protection measure. "Fireproof" or "fireproofing" can be used as a n ...
partitioning walls in lengthy rooms, the construction of full ceilings in loft buildings,
and making it mandatory that each worker be given a
fire drill
A fire drill is a method of practicing how a building would be evacuated in the event of a fire or other emergencies. In most cases, the building's existing fire alarm system is activated and the building is evacuated by means of the nearest a ...
.''Mayor Asks Laws To Prevent Fires In Loft Buildings'', New York Times, March 21, 1958, pg. 1.