REAL   ESTATE







BUILDERS





AND







NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 20, 1913





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OWNERS' OBJECTIONS TO BUILDING CODE





Cannot See the Need of Fire Towers For Office Buildings and Hotels — Re¬
duction of Wood Trim Would Stop Construction of 12-Story Apartments.





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Till'; .il)jcctions which the .\llied Real
Estate Interests have raised to the
amended building code that is now the
subject of revision by the Building Com¬
mittee of the Board of Aldermen for
the most part break into new ground.
Special importance attaches to the ob¬
jections also because they express the
views of the parties most directly affect¬
ed by the new regulations, namely, the
owners  and  builders.

From the brief which President Allan
Robinson of the Allied Interests has sub¬
mitted to Chairman Herbst of the com¬
mittee it is learned that the opinion is
held that the requirement in the amended
code for tower stairways in office build¬
ings and hotels is unnecessary. The
floor spaces in such buildings are divided
into so many small units by fireproof
partitions that the spread of flames and
smoke is prevented; and, besides, the
number of persons usually occupying a
given area in any building of either type
is less than half the number to be found
occupying a similar amount of space in
a   loft   or   factory   building.

While it is not denied that tower stair¬
ways may be necessary for manufactur¬
ing Ijuildings, it is said to be obvious
that they should not be required for
olfice buildings and hotels. The Herbst
code specifies that "every building" more
than one hundred feet in height shall
have  a   tower   stairway.

Required Number of Exits.

The number and width of stairways
required in a building is to be determined
from the number of persons occupying
a floor computed on the basis of each
full twenty-two inches of stairway, ex¬
cepting that in any building where a
system of automatic sprinklers is in¬
stalled the number and width of stair¬
ways may be computed upon the basis
of twenty-one persons for each twenty-
two inches of width of stairway; and
excepting that when horizontal exits are
provided the number and width of re¬
quired stairways for floor areas above
the first floor may be diminished to a
certain point on the basis of fifty per¬
sons for each twenty-two inches of width
of horizontal  exit.

The argument made against fire tow¬
ers being demanded for office buildings
and hotels, and outlined above, is also
held by the .'Mlied Interests to be applic¬
able against this requirement for stair¬
way widths. While the basis of
computation might be on the safe side
for factories, it would be absurd to make
the same regulation apply to hotels and
office buildings.

"It will further be noted that no al¬
lowance is made for elevators as exits.
The popular agitation regarding fire ex¬
its and stairs has been brought about
by conflagration and disasters in fac¬
tories  and   industrial   buildings,   but   no





fatalities due to fires in office buildings
or hotels have occurred in buildings
where the standard of the building has
been up to or approximately near the
present requirements of the code as to
fireproofing.

"The higher average intelligence of
the occupants of office buildings and
hotels should be considered as against
that of the occupants of manufacturing
buildings and factories.

"The chief cause of disasters in fac¬
tories has been due to panic and to the
fact that the passages and spaces are
obstructed or locked, whereas in hotels
and offices halls and corridors are well
defined and are always kept clear.

Elevators Should Be Considered.

"Elevators in these buildings should
be considered as means of exit, particu¬
larly in view of the proposed amend¬
ment to the code, permitting not more
than two elevators in one shaft. The
testimony of fire-fighters has been that
the majority of people escape from fire¬
proof buildings by means of the ele¬
vators, and that the stairs are used only
as the last resort and after most of the
occupants of the building have fled.

"We have made some investigation
along the line of the number of occu¬
pants in office buildings and find as fol¬
lows: The average space per occupant
in general offices is about 100 square
feet, and in a number of cases even as
low as 75 square feet per occupant with¬
out undue congestion. Mr. R. P. Bolton
quotes a table in his book on elevators:
Stock Brokers' Exchange firms, of 1 to
100 square feet; shipping, railroad and
draughtsmen. 1 to 105; lawyers and
small offices. 1 to 110; city departments,
public offices and insurance offices, 1 to
115; banks and large corporations, 1 to
120; real estate and general business, 1
to 125.

"If the proposed clauses above men¬
tioned should become law the effect
would be ruinous to office buildings and
hotels.

"We suggest that Sections 18 and 19
be amended by differentiating office
buildings and hotels, that the number of
stairways and their width for such build¬
ings be based on entirely different
figures from that of factories and other
manufacturin.g buildings, and that ele¬
vators where not more than two in a
shaft and are separated from stairways
by fireproof partitions and doors, be
considered in part at least as means of
exits.

Fire Areas and Fire Walls.

"We further su.ggest that office build¬
ings and hotels be divided into fire zones
or areas of 7.500 square feet each,
divided hy fire walls; that openings in
fire walls shall be equipped with auto¬
matic closing fire doors, and that one
stairway be required for each zone area.





"This, we believe, would give fire pro¬
tection to the occupants of hotels and
office buildings greatly superior to any¬
thing proposed, and yet would not con¬
fiscate rentable space, and would require
only a rea'sonable number of stairways
in a building. The number of stairways
in a building of great height, such as
the Woolworth Building, might possibly
have to be increased. This should be
considered by your committee, but the
general principle of fire zones with ver¬
tical stops makes a building fireproof
and panic-proof and should be incor¬
porated in the code. At the present time
the new Factory Law requires just such
vertical stops and fire zones in factory
buildings."

Under the amended code no woodwork
or other combustible material may be
used in the construction of any fireproof
building when it exceeds one hundred
feet in height. The Allied Interests
advise that this section (103) be changed
to  read  as  follows:

"No material which is combustible
when finally installed shall be used in
constructing any fireproof building,
except that when the height of the
building does not exceed 150 feet,
wooden floors and their sleepers, and
the grounds, bucks, nailing blocks,
doors, window-frames and sashes with
their jambs, trim and casings, kitchen
and pantry dressers, shelving, ward¬
robes, ice boxes, floor base and wain¬
scot and all wall moulding of
non-fireproof material may be permit¬
ted, except that the total aggregate
vertical section of wooden wainscot,
chair rail and wood cornice shall not
be greater than one-quarter the hei.ght
of the room in which it is installed."

Will Increase Costs Excessively.
The reasons assigned for the proposed
change are that the new code as drawn
will increase the cost of buildings be¬
yond all proportion to the benefits to be
derived   therefrom:

".'\s under the Tenement House Law a
building may be erected to a height only
one and one-half times the width of the
street; the excess cost involved in build¬
ing over 100 feet high would mean that
very few, if any, twelve-story buildings
would be built on avenues and corners,
but that the owners would, instead,
choose side street lots where they could
build nine-story buildings to a height
of 90 feet and come under the less
stringent  provisions.

"We believe it very desirable to have
avenues and corners improved with
buildin,gs of this size rather than side
streets, and any legislation tending to
retard the improvement of avenue and
corner lots would inevitably have the
effect of reducing market values and in
time assessed valuations throughout the
city.

(Continued on page 536.)