February 5, 1916





RECORD  AND  GUTOE





223







BUILDING material movements this
week showed a tendency upon the
part of builders to wait and see what the
price movement in the first week in Feb¬
ruary was going to be. Hardly a change
in levels took place, so far as formal lists
were concerned, but there were several
instances where inquiries were answered
subject to immediate acceptance. One
was in the brick market where a price
was made on a load at $8.25 a thousand,
anotlier was in the case of a special lot
of moJding sand where a five-cent slide
was made on quantity and another in a
lumber movement concerning a grade
of oak.

Offsetting these three instances were
four where spot prices were made at
slightly above list figures now ruling.
One was on cement for late spring and
early summer delivery. The advance
•was not stated, but it was intimated that
it was above five cents. Another case
where prompt acceptance of a quotation
made in response to an inquiry was urged
was in the case of a certain form of rein¬
forcing material. All steel and iron quo¬
tations are being made on condition of
immediate acceptance and many of the
hardware lines in jjobbers' hands are
almost as tightly held.

Architects taking figures on new oper¬
ations have found in the recent past that
owners were showing a disposition to
hold off speculative operations until the
complexion of the spring building move¬
ment could be determined and particu¬
larly whether there was going to __be
trouble in getting fuel at manufacturmg
centers pending the adjustment of the
wage scales at the coal mines. Assur¬
ances made in Indianapolis that the men
would not walk out on April 1 gave many
builders reassurance that conditions
would remain undisturbed and that only
slight advances, if any, might be e.x-
pected before spring specifications
were in.

As the general building materials
market in the metropolitan district now
stands, the aggregate gain in prices for
all basic materials, outside of steel,
copper, tin, iron and allied commodities,
shows a .gain of only 3.8 per cent, above
those ruling last year at this time. The
principal gain accrues from the rise in
the price of cement and common brick.
Incidental factors are crushed stone,
glass and fireproofing terra cotta block.
With structural steel, iron, copper and
tin included, the aggregate gain reaches
10.5 per cent.

It is apparent, therefore, that the price
movement of building materials entering
into speculative operations is not suf¬
ficient to warrant postponing operations
and in sections where actual demand
exists small operations will continue to
proceed  to  completion.

As for types of buildings requiring
steel and considerable metal concrete
reinforcement, there is an increasing
demand and it is held by some architects
that this is so insistent as to make cer¬
tain kinds of construction imperative re¬
gardless of the added cost. For in¬
stance, it was pointed out, that there is
an actual dearth of moderate sized office
space in the Greeley SquSre section.
There is an increasing demand for loft
building space in the central business
zone oif Newark. Factory building is
active, as far as prospective operations
are concerned, in both Queens and
Brooklyn. Bronx, on the other hand, is
developin.g a moderate sized small build¬
ing movement.

The height of the building material
price    movement    has    not    j'et    bee^i

RECORD AND GUIDE QUOTATION





reached, according to some authorities
in the trade. There are many dealers
and distributors who believe that it has
gone high enough, but when Portland
cement manufacturers say they are doing
a summer business in their product,
brick manufacturers are contemplating
starting operations earlier than usual this
year and steel companies are taking busi¬
ness   subject   to   late   third-quarter   and





end-of-the-year    delivery    except    when

high premiums are paid, it leads many
conservative houses to believe that de¬
spite the high price of good materials
the building movement this spring and
summer will be equal to, if not greater,
than that of 1913. Some even go so far
as to look for a repetition of the volume
of business taken in 1912 during the
spring of  1916.





COMMON BRICK.





Movement    Here    Shows    Strength   as
Season Advances.

ACCORDING to information at hand,
the brick market closed strong this
week, with prices remaining firm at $8.50
and $9.50 a thousand. There were two
cases reported where lower prices were
offered, but the tendency is to conserve
the present supply and to make sure that
there is an adequate quantity on hand
in the local wholesale market, especially
until the river opens again to navigation.

The Cornell Towing Company got a
fleet of ice bar,ges up as far as Round-
out early in the week when the warm
weather permitted it, but since the cold
snap developed, these barges have been
no more successful in gettin.g back again
than have been the brick barges in get¬
ting out of Haverstraw.

Announcement was made of the retire¬
ment from the staff of the Greater New
York Brick Company of John C. Mc-
Namara and  \Villiam H.  Barnes.

Official   transactions   for  Hudson   River  brick

covering the week ending Thursday. Jan. 27, in

the wholesale market, with  comparison  for  the

corresponding period last year, follow:

1916.

Open   Barges,   left  over,   Friday   A.   M.,

Jan.   2S—14.

Arrived.   Sold.

Friday,   Jan.   28..................11           4

Saturd.iy,   Jan.  29................    0           0

Monday.   Jan.   31.................    0           8

Tuesday,  Feb.  1..................    7           3

Wednesday,   Feb.  2...............    0           0

Thursday, Feb. 3.................    0            2

Total........................... 18          17

Reported en route, Friday. Feb. 4—0.
Condition of market, firm.     Prices :  Hudsons.
$8.50   and   $9;   covered   Hudsons,   .$9   and   $9.50
asked ;  Raritans. $8..50 and $9  (wholesale dock,
N.   Y.) ;    (for   dealers'   prices   add   profit   and
cartage) : Newark, 8.75 and .$9.75  (yard).    Car¬
goes left over Friday A. M., Feb. 4—31.    Cov¬
ered   sold,   5.     Covered,   0.     Left   over  covered
barges,  8.    Open barges  left over,  15.
1915,
Left over, Friday A. M., Jan. 29—6.

Arrived.    Sold.

Friday,   Jan.  29..................    0           0

Saturday,   Jan.  30................    0           0

Monday,  Feb. 1...................    5            0

Tuesday,  Feb. 2..................    0           0

Wednesday, Feb. 3................    0           0

Thursday,  Feb.  4.................    0           0

Total...........................    5           0

Condition of market, weak. Prices: Hudson,
.$5.75 to $6, firm ; Newark, yard, $6.75 to $7.25,
nominal. Left over Friday A. M.. Feb. 5—08.
Covered. 3. Covered sold, 1. Left over cov¬
ered barges, 40. Left over open barges, $8.
OFFICIAL   SUMMARY.

Left   over.   Jan.   1,   1916...................    29

Total No. bargeloads arrived. Including left

over bargeloads, Jan. 1 to Feb. 3, 1916.. 107
Total No. bargeloads sold Jan. 1 to Feb. 3,

1916   ...................................    'i^

Total No. bargeloads left over Feb. 4, 1916 31
Total No. bargeloads left over Jan. 1, 1915 .64
Total No. bargeloads arrived, including left

over,  Jan.   1  to  Feb. 4,  1915............    92

Total No. bargeloads sold Jan. 1 to Feb. 4,

1915   ...................................    24

Total No. bargeloads left over Feb. 5, 1915   68

------PLAN FILINGS.

Week ending.





Manhattan......    1^

Bronx...........    1*

Brooklyn.......    48

Queens.........    71

Richmond......     12





Feb. 5, 1915.
No.        Cost.





Feb.4, 1916.





$2,567,000
450.500
562.000
177..325

98.850





No.

8
11
89
79
11





Cost.
$720,500
1.58.000
661,200
2.54.100
7.520





Totals........   165   $3,855,675    198   $1,801,380





Tile—Vitrified tile is in good prospective
demand. The opening up of large hotel
operations here is partly responsible for
this condition. The plant of the Mata-
wan Tile Company at Matawan, N. J.,
was about one-fourth destroyed by fire
last Saturday night, but according to
\V. B. Cherry, of the company, provision
has been made for taking care of all its
contracts in this city and vicinity. The
loss was about $40,000. The plant will
be  immediately  rebuilt.

In the faience department a develop¬
ment for this spring and summer is
under way, calling for this material in
large volume. Emil Kohler, secretary of
this company, in speaking of the changed
conditions in this department this week,
said:

".Architects in this day are looking
more and more to character in building
construction. Foreign marbles are hard
to get. That makes for greater demand
for ceramic ware and since there is a
growing tendency toward the embodi¬
ment of color in decorative schemes, the
faience trade of this company is figur¬
ing on a larger volume of work than has
been reported in some years."

Linseed Oil—In this department there
is a steady strength that bespeaks heavy
demand. Prices continue to rule at 73
and 76 cents.

Structural Steel—Current quotations
moved to 2.169c (a) 2.569c, indicating
a further heavy demand. Many con¬
tractors seeking accommodation for
prompt deliveries have to pay high prem¬
iums. Tlie Hinkle Iron works has taken
tlie contract for the Tishman apartments
on 70tli street, taking 400 tons. ' Some
projected operations calling for struc¬
tural steel have been temporarily with¬
drawn, according to fabricators, but these
withdrawals featured operations calling
for material out of stock. It was stated
in the trade that the new pier sheds at
46th street and North river will require
aljout 2,000 tons of steel. The bids are to
he opened on February 11.

Building—The strength of the ce¬
ment market may be estimated from the
following statistics: From private
sources derived from nearly 100 cities
in this country, projection of new build¬
ings showed an increase in the third
quarter of 1915 of 7.6 per cent.; October,
November and December showed a gain
of 51.6 per cent. In the third quarter
of 1915 the plan filings in Manhattan,
Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens was 9 per
cent, ahead of the preceding quarter,
and in tlie fourth quarter there was a
gain of 102.9 per cent.

The first quarter of last year showed
a shortage of 14 per cent, in pian filings.
This had been reduced to 5.9 per cent,
shortage in the second quarter, when the
third quarter developed a gain of 7.6 per
cent., and closed the year with a gain
of 51.6 per cent. Building projections,
according to the private sources referred
to, covering a hundred cities, in the
fourth quarter of 1914 totalled in esti¬
mated value $114,000,000. In the fourth
quarter of 1915 the total estimated value
reached $174,000,000. The total value of
building operations in 1914 was $657,000,-
000, as^against $693,000,000 in 1915.





S   ARE   ACCEPTED   AS   OFFICIAL  BY   BUILDING    MATKRIAX    EXCHANGES.