{{short description|Deadliest porch collapse in U.S. history}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{use mdy dates|date=July 2021}} {{infobox event | title = 2003 Chicago balcony collapse | image = Lincolnparkporchcollapse.jpg | caption = The balcony, the day after it collapsed | date = {{start date and age|2003|6|29}} | location = Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | type = Porch collapse | deaths = 13 | injuries = 57 }} On June 29, 2003, an overloaded balcony collapsed during a party in a Chicago, Illinois, apartment building, killing thirteen people and seriously injuring fifty-seven others. It was the deadliest porch collapse in American history.
The ensuing investigation was highly critical of the way the balcony was built, finding a large number of errors in its construction which ultimately resulted in the collapse. However, the building's owner, LG Properties, and its president, Philip Pappas, blamed overcrowding on the balcony for its complete structural failure but took steps to strengthen the balconies at other properties to prevent a recurrence of the disaster. As part of such efforts, the balcony involved in the collapse was rebuilt.
The accident resulted in sweeping inspections of similar structures across Chicago, with 1,260 cases being acted on by the city authorities.
==Background== The porch was attached to the rear of an apartment building located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of the city's North Side.<ref name="BBC">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/3029492.stm Chicago balcony collapse kills 12] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070612095316/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/3029492.stm |date=2007-06-12 }} - BBC News - Obtained March 30, 2007.</ref> The second and third floors were being used as a party venue at the time of the collapse.<ref name="BN">[http://archives.tcm.ie/breakingnews/2003/06/29/story104301.asp I thought I'd die, says balcony collapse woman] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929153611/http://archives.tcm.ie/breakingnews/2003/06/29/story104301.asp |date=2007-09-29 }} - BreakingNews.ie - Obtained March 30, 2007.</ref> Most of the party-goers were in their early 20s, and knew each other from their days at New Trier High School and Lake Forest High School of Chicago's North Shore suburbs.<ref name="BBC"/> One witness says she warned other people in the building that the balconies were unsafe,<ref name="BN"/> but another later said that "it looked like it was newly built. It looked sturdy."<ref name="CBS"/>
==Collapse== About fifty people were on the top wooden balcony at the time of the collapse.<ref name="USAToday"/> According to one witness, the sound of splintering wood was heard immediately before the collapse,<ref name="BBC"/> which occurred shortly after midnight.<ref name="BN"/> The collapse started on the third floor, pulling down other balconies below.<ref name="BBC"/> The first, second, and third floor balconies all collapsed into the basement below, carrying a total of approximately one hundred people among them.<ref name="CBS">[http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/12/15/48hours/main588736.shtml Without Warning, Chaos - Who's To Blame For A Chicago Porch Collapse That Killed 13 People?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070217111404/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/12/15/48hours/main588736.shtml |date=2007-02-17 }} - CBS News - Obtained March 30, 2007.</ref> Several people were also trapped in a basement stairwell.<ref name="BN"/> Survivors helped to pull victims out from under the debris of the balconies, and rescue workers had to use chainsaws to free others.<ref name="BBC"/> One of the survivors was a nurse, and had started a rescue effort before emergency services arrived.<ref name="CBS"/> The Chicago Fire Department supplied the main rescue effort.<ref name="CBS"/> Eleven people were killed in the collapse, with two more subsequently dying while hospitalized; fifty-seven people were injured.<ref name="BBC"/><ref name="USAToday">[https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-07-02-porch-collapse_x.htm City officials sue Chicago building owner over porch collapse] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629111511/http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-07-02-porch-collapse_x.htm |date=2011-06-29 }} - ''USA Today'' - Obtained March 30, 2007.</ref>
==Investigation== Initial inquiries suggested that the collapse was probably due to overcrowding.<ref name="BBC"/> This was backed up by neighbors, who told authorities that the balconies were designed to hold only between twenty and thirty people.<ref name="BBC"/> Chicago's fire chief said that "It appears to be a case of too many people in a small space."<ref name="CBS"/> Norma Reyes, the city's building commissioner, said "I have no indication of any substandard problems or insufficiencies with the porch at this time. The buildings are not made for large assemblies and parties."<ref name="CBS"/>
However, it was ultimately determined that poor construction was to blame. In 1998, a permit was issued to owner LG Properties to install furnaces, air conditioners and water heaters in the building, but not to build the balcony.<ref name="USAToday"/> The balcony jutted out eleven feet from the building, one foot farther than permitted by city codes, and had an area of {{convert|231|sqft|m2}}, {{convert|81|sqft|m2}} larger than permitted.<ref name="USAToday"/> The balcony also had inadequate supports,<ref name="USAToday"/> was floored with undersized lengths of wood, and was attached to the walls with screws that were too short.<ref name="CBS"/> However, the City of Chicago's Inspectional Services Department visited the site over five times and never noticed or cited the code violations noted above.{{citation needed|date=January 2013}}
==Aftermath== Three days after the disaster, the city sued the owners and managers of the building in the Housing Court due to a number of breaches in building regulations. Those named in the complaint included LG Properties, the company's president Philip Pappas, and George Koutroumos, the contractor who built the balcony.<ref name="USAToday"/> The city was reportedly seeking $500 per violation for each day the structure was in existence, totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars, and a court order for the replacement of the balcony.<ref name="USAToday"/> The apartment block was legally uninhabitable until the balconies were replaced, as the balconies had provided mandatory emergency exits.<ref name="USAToday"/> The city's Buildings Department inspected 42 other buildings owned or managed by Pappas and/or LG Properties for similar violations.<ref name="USAToday"/> The city also claimed that 21 other buildings owned by Pappas had similar problems.<ref name="CBS"/> They did, however, note the fact that he had since made "dramatic improvements" to all 21 porches.<ref name="CBS"/>
In the aftermath of the disaster, Chicago inspected a large number of similar structures to ensure they were safe, with 500 cases being turned over to the city's Law Department for court action, and 760 cases referred to administrative hearing officers.<ref name="inspections">[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 City steps up porch checks in year since tragedy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070320171502/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 |date=2007-03-20 }} - Chicago Sun-Times - Obtained March 30, 2007.</ref>
Pappas continued to blame overcrowding for the disaster.<ref name="CBS"/> An undercover press investigation discovered all his properties now display notices forbidding parties on the balconies.<ref name="CBS"/> Pappas also claims that a police report says two unnamed witnesses informed a paramedic that they saw several people "jumping up and down" on the balconies shortly prior to the collapse.<ref name="CBS"/>
In 2005, the city of Chicago filed a negligence lawsuit against two of the survivors, William Fenton-Hathaway and John Koranda. The city alleged that the balcony collapse occurred after defendants Fenton-Hathaway and Koranda "intentionally and negligently" began jumping up and down on the porch.<ref>http://media.www.dailyvidette.com/media/storage/paper420/news/2005/02/08/News/City-Blames.Men.For.Porch.Collapse-856122.shtml{{Dead link|date=April 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
No criminal charges were filed and Pappas was fined a total of $108,000 as a result of the collapse.<ref name="CBS"/> Twenty-seven families sued Pappas and the city over the accident.<ref name="CBS"/> The balcony was rebuilt afterwards, this time with metal.<ref name="CBS"/>
==In popular culture== The disaster inspired the 2005 season finale of the ''ER'' television show, titled ''"The Show Must Go On"''.<ref name="ER">[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=10A50699A4674ACF&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM 'ER' heroics in porch collapse enhance Carter's farewell] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070320171553/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=10A50699A4674ACF&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |date=2007-03-20 }} - ''Chicago Sun-Times'' - Obtained March 30, 2007.</ref>
==See also== *Berkeley balcony collapse
==References== {{reflist}} {{coord|41.9288|-87.6470|type:event_region:US-IL|display=title}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chicago Balcony Collapse}} Category:Building and structure collapses in 2003 Category:2003 disasters in the United States Category:Building and structure collapses in the United States Category:Disasters in Chicago Category:2003 in Chicago Category:June 2003 in the United States Category:North Side, Chicago