A city of the primary class shall have the power, by ordinance, to prescribe the thickness, strength, and manner of constructing stone, brick, and other buildings and the number and construction of means of exit and entrance and of fire escapes. A city of the primary class may require the keeper and proprietor of any hotel, boarding house, or dormitory to provide and maintain such kind and number of ladders, ropes, balconies, and stairways, and other appliances, as by ordinance may be prescribed to facilitate the escape of persons from any such building in case of fire.