Historic Porch Railing Height

You may be able to get a variance however especially on a house with a grandfathered porch or historic designation.
Historic porch railing height. For example new york state residential building code regulations state that for landings porches and balconies more then 30 inches off the ground railings of at least 42 inches in height are required. Inadequate spacing can lead to tragedy. Changing the height can affect the traditional victorian proportions and scale. Porch railing codes are designed to protect you and your family from being injured.
Your historic railing is perfectly legal since it is grand fathered to. To quote old house guy the height of your porch railing will determine if your house has curb appeal or is just a clown house. Porch railing height of 3 feet or more will destroy the look of your house and all your hard work and he goes on from there in a snarky and opinionated way but with plenty of examples demonstrating his points. Safety regulations for railings differ by country city and state.
When a historic porch is so deteriorated that a substantial portion must be replaced modern building code requirements are usually triggered. The porch is no exception. Most new front porch railings or remodeling must comply with local code requirements. If your porch floor is over the heights stated the code requires a balustrade porch railing.
The most common porch elements affected by code requirements are railing balustrade height baluster spacing stair geometry and structural system. If you need to replace a railing keep in mind that the historic height was often as low as 30 and would fail today s building codes in many places.