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BUILDERS
AND
NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 15, 1913
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LIMITATION OF BUILDING HEIGHT ASSURED
No Determination Yet of the Question of Dividing the City Into Fixed Zones,
But Some Plan For Protecting Residential Neighborhoods Is Probable.
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FROM the progress reports that
have come from the Heights of
Buildings Commission it seems assured
that the commission has practically de¬
cided that a limitation upon the height
of buildings to be erected in this city
is practical, economically advisable and
legally permissible. Further than this
it is believed that the commission has
virtually resolved not to recommend an
absolutely horizontal line for the limi¬
tation, but instead a method by whicli
allowances will be made for tower
buildings, especially at corners and
prominent places.
It is understood that the prevailing
opinion favors a normal limitation pred¬
icated upon the width of the street, with
further allowances for setbacks.
In regard to the proposal for dividing
the city into permanent zones, while no
definite determination has been arrived
at in the commission, it is considered
doubtful, if not quite improbable, that
the commission will advise an absolute
division of this nature, but some ac¬
tion may be recommended that will have
the ultimate eflfect of sparing well de¬
fined residential neighborhoods from
undesirable invasion..
Informal intimations have come from
members of the commission that, if the
Board of Aldermen does not grant the
legislative relief desired, the State Leg¬
islature will be asked to enact the neces¬
sary laws.
The chairman of the commission, Ed^
ward M. Bassett, of Brooklyn, stated
this week that height limitation is not of
doubtful legality. Presumably the com¬
mission has definitely taken a stand on
that point, notwithstanding that a pre¬
vious corporation counsel once advised
the Board of Estimate that an ordinance
limiting the building height would be
unconstitutional.
"Practically every great city of the
world, including those of this country
outside of New York City, has limited
the height of buildings," declared Chair¬
man Bassett. "And the courts have al¬
most without exception upheld such
limitations. If our city should today
take steps in this direction it would be
nearly the last city in the world to come
into line."
Is New York Different?
"Some say that New York is not like
any other city and that where space is
so limited buildings should be allowed to
go any height. Is this true?"
"There is ten times more space in
lower Manhattan covered with low
buildings than is covered with high
ones," answered Mr. Bassett. "The
theatre, retail shopping and hotel dis¬
tricts, built up with tall structures,
are almost infinitesimal on the map
of Manhattan, which is commonly
thought of as the congested borough.
Tunnels and bridges under and over the
EDWARD M. BASSETT.
Clialiman Heights ot Buildings Commissiou.
surrounding rivers will soon make New
York city a round city, the same as
London, Berlin and Paris, and it can¬
not claim exemption from rational treat¬
ment on the ground that it differs from
any other city in the world. This is not
to say that its problems are the same
as in other cities, or that the remedies
can be copied from elsewhere. Each
city presents its own peculiar problems
and good sense demands a remedy
adapted to its particular needs. Copying
is usually a mistake."
"Some consider that restricting the
height of buildings in New York city is
locking the barn door after the horse
has been stolen?"
"To some extent this is true in the
lower end of Manhattan and here and
there alon,g its backbone; but what shall
we say of all the other parts of this
great city where high buildings do not
prevail and where in some future age
there may be a development of which
we do not now even dream?
Street Capacity.
"Street capacity in lower Manhattan
has much to do with the problem. In
fairness to all land-owners in the south¬
ern end of the city, can the city allow,
the continuation of the building of sky¬
scrapers? Where would it stop? The
streets will hold just so many people
in rush hours and no more. Lower
Broadway and Nassau street are now
crowded nearly to the limit three times
a day. If a hundred more buildings the
size of the Woolworth and New Equit¬
able buildings should be erected and
filled with tenants, the streets would not
hold the traffic, to say nothing of the
dangers of panic conditions. When
that day came, the city would have to
prohibit anything except very low build¬
ings in the district. This would almost
amount to confiscation, but what other
alternative would there be? Every year
makes it more impossible to widen
streets. Then, too, come the difficulties
of transportation. There is a limit to
the number of subways that can be
built through this district. If all of the
workers capable of being housed in the
new Equitable Building should go to
the subway at once it would take twenty
minutes for all of the trains, express an(i
local, to transport them, if devoted ex¬
clusively to their service.
About Natural l^aws.
"Some say that the whole question
in lower Manhattan should be left to the
working of natural laws. They say with
much truth that there is an economic
limit of height for buildings, and if own¬
ers transcend it they get hurt. It is well
known that the cost of construction per
cubic foot becomes much higher as ad¬
ditional stories are added, also that more
space must be set aside for elevators. A
modern office building that does not give
quick elevator service is doomed from
the start. To give quick service groups
of elevators must run express to a cer-j
tain height. .A.11 of this requires addi¬
tional space and an office building that
is a mere shell of offices around a great
elevator system cannot produce a fair
return.
"It is a popular fallacy that office
buildings pay in proportion to their
height. The reverse would be quite as
near the truth. But apart from the fore¬
going considerations, which ought to
impose natural limits on heights, how
can a community protect itself against
the new experimenter who is determined
to put up a building higher yet, or who
decides to leave a monument in the form
of a hi.gh building, or who desires to
put up a conspicuous advertisement,
charging the loss to his advertising
account? Corporations have done these
things, as welF"as individuals.
"I blame nobody. The law allows it.
The question is whether the time has
not arrived when, for the benefit of the
community and for the sake of equal
treatment to all land owners similarly
situated, the city should enforce a
measure of protection in a field where
private protection is impossible."
What Some Cities Are Doing.
In the mass of information collected
by the Heights of Buildings Commis¬
sion, which was appointed by the Board
of Estimate upon motion of George Mc¬
Aneny. Borough President, the ques¬
tion of districting stands out as imoor-
tantly as any other detail upon which
the experts in city planning who have