678





RECORD AND GUIDE





October 12. 1912.





BOARD  OF EXAMINERS.

Its   Jurisdiction   Settled   in   Important
Cases—Fireproofing  Questions.

Provisions relating to fireproofing
form the bpsis of the greatest number
of appeals to the Board of Examiners
from the decisions of the Superintend¬
ent of Buildings in Manhattan. Of
these appeals a large number are on the
question whether the interior trim of
buildings over twelve stories in height
should be made of incombustible ma¬
terials or of wood treated to render it
fireproof as required by Sec. 105 of the
Building Code.

The Manhattan bureau has consist¬
ently held that a so-called pent house
on the roof of a twelve-story building,
whether it covers an area equal to the
story below or not, if used for other
purposes than the bulkhead of stairs or
the enclosure of tanks, elevator machin¬
ery or ventilating apparatus, must be
considered as a thirteenth story, and
places the building within the require¬
ments of section 105 above noted. It is
the exemption from these requirements
that has constituted the basis of the
large proportion of the appeals above
referred to.

Supt. Miller says the number of _ap-
peals with reference to exit facilities
also seem large. A good many of them
are in connection with requirements for
emergency courts for theatres. A ques¬
tion raised by the Manhattan bureau as
to the authority of the Board of Exam¬
iners to grant appeals in such cases was
decided by an opinion of the Corpora¬
tion Counsel to the effect that the mat¬
ter was quite within the jurisdiction of
the board.

A notable case that was appealed dur¬
ing 1911 and which became the basis of
litigation to determine the jurisdiction
of the Board of Examiners, was the ap¬
peal taken by the Greeley Square Hotel
Company, owners of the Hotel McAlpin,
from the action of the Manhattan bu¬
reau with respect to the required un¬
covered area in the proposed new hotel
at Broadway and 34th street. The ap¬
plication was disapproved by the bureau
for the reason, among others, that a
greater lot area was to be covered than
is permitted by Section 10 of the Build¬
ing Code. The area of the lot iii ques¬
tion is about 31,(X)0 square feet, of
which all was to be covered in the lower
stories and about 83 per cent, in the up¬
per part where the sleeping rooms are.

Supt. Miller maintained in this case
that under Sec. 10 of the Building Code
only about 51 per cent, of the lot area
may be covered above the first story.
The appeal was granted by the Board
of Examiners, but conditioned on cer¬
tain changes in the lower stories.

Because of the opinion of the Corpor¬
ation Counsel in the case of the St.
Regis Hotel in 1904, an approval of the
plans for the Hotel McAlpin was still
withheld by the Manhattan bureau, in
spite of the granting of the appeal. The
applicants took the matter to the Su¬
preme Court and secured a writ of man¬
damus directing the approval of the
plans (all other objections having been
satisfactorily met) and establishing the
jurisdiction of the Board of Examiners
in this matter.

Although questions such as the above
have arisen from time to time, the rela¬
tions of the Board of Examiners and
the Manhattan Bureau of Buildings have
been most amicable as Supt. Miller tes¬
tifies in his latest annual report. In
forwarding papers in any appeal it is
the practice of the bureau to state its
reasons for disapproval and to quote the
provisions of law on which such disap¬
proval is based. Only in rare cases does
a representr.tive of the bureau appear
before   the   board   to   urge   the   disap¬





proval of an appeal. On the other hand,
it happens occasionally that the board
requests the appearance of the Superin¬
tendent either to further state or ex¬
plain his grounds of disapproval or to
furnish additional information.





White Granite for Western Union
Building.

George H. Bickford, general manager
of the Woodbury Granite Co., has closed
a contract for the stonework of the new
Western Union building to be erected
at the corner of Broadway and Dey
street, with a rear wing extending to
Fulton street. The facades will be com¬
posed of Bethel white granite, twenty-
nine stories high. Carved Doric col¬
umns will adorn the lower three stories





WASHINGTON IRVING SCHOOL.

Will Cost Less to Build Than Other
Public Edifices, and Will Be Safe.
The cost per cubic foot for construct¬
ing the Washington Irving High School
for Girls will be very low compared
with the cost of other fireproof public
buildings. The Bronx Court House will
cost 70 cents per cubic foot, and the
Municipal Building, 65 cents per foot,
according to statements in. the Board
of Estimate. At the office of the super¬
intendent of buildings of the Board of
Education it was stated this week that
the Washington Irving High School will
cost but 19 cents per cubic foot.

The total cost of the building, exclu¬
sive of the land, and not including the
heating, ventilating and electrical work.





rj-'-.







Irvmg Place.                                                                             C. B.  J.  Snyder,  Architect.

FIRST PICTURE  OF THB WASHINGTON   IRVING  HIQH   SCHOOL.





and above this level eight sets of Ionic
columns, each rising three stories, will
further enrich the structure. Theodore
N. Vail, the president of the company,
was born among the granite hills of
Verrhont where the Bethel white gran¬
ite will be quarried. He knows the ad¬
vertising value of a beautiful building.
The Woodbury Granite Company's con¬
tract calls for the entire granite exterior
of the building delivered and set in
place. Marc Eidlitz & Son, 489 Fifth
avenue, are the general contractors and
William Welles Bosworth, of 527 Fifth
avenue, is the architect. The building
will be erected in sections and the exist¬
ing Broadway building will not be torn
down until the rear section in Dey street
is completed.





—Track-laying for the new trolley
line that is to be built on Queens Boule¬
vard from the Queensboro Bridge to
Jamaica will probably be started within
a week or ten days.





will be $1,068,386. The furniture bill
will total $70,000. Eight floors, with an
average surface of 21,500 square feet,
will provide ninety-six class rooms, or
a total of one hundred and thirty-five
working units.

Ten segregated fireproof stairways
will be available in an emergency, be¬
sides the elevators. While the building
will not be entirely fireproof, according
to the latest definitions of the term, it
will be classed as such under the law.
The floors will be surfaced with wood,
but the trim will be kalameined, or metal
covered. The desks will have wood
tops.

"But in case of fire in any room, you
could shut the door and let the flames
burn themselves out without any other
damage being done to the building," it
was said.





—Flushing's new railroad station will
have two stories of brick and granite,
92x39 feet. It will be situated on Grove
street,  110 feet from Main.