Comment by ch4s3

> Most of the building codes were written in blood

I don't know about most, but some were written to make certain types of cheap dwellings illegal because society didn't approve of the people living in them like single-room occupancy dwellings. They're perfectly safe, but lawmakers didn't like the poor people living in them.

Some are also out of date with other solves for the same problem, like NYC's rules around needing 2 staircases for buildings over a certain size. Pretty much everyone agrees its no longer necessary.