May IS,'1912
RECORD AND GUIDE
1057
and Class D is for dwellings and tene¬
ments of all other residence buildings
not specified in Class C.
The code requires that such portions of
the first story as are occupied for stores
or other business purposes in buildings
hereafter erected more than fifty feet
high shall be enclosed by fireproof par¬
titions. That portion of the floor situated
above stores or other spaces occupied for
business purposes shall be fireproof. Mr.
Veiller of the Tenement Plouse Commit¬
tee of the Charity Organization thought
this w^as an unnecessary hardship on own¬
ers, because it was unnecessary to require
fireproof construction here. Compara¬
tively few fires originated in stores. An
investigation of tbe origin of sixty thou¬
sand fires in this city show'ed that less
tiian ten per cent, started in stores.
Twenty-five per cent, started in cellars.
Class E includes factories, lofts, market
buildings, office buildings, i^rinting houses,
restaurants, stables, stores, Tvarehouses
and workshops. Buildings of this class
musl be of fireproof construction if over
seventy-five feet high. If over thirty feet
high the construction of the floor over the
lowest story must be fireproof. Mr. Veil¬
ler considered the requirement contained
in the last sentence as unnecessary.
Class F buildings comprises carbarns,
foundries, light and power plants, rail¬
road freight stations, icehouses and spe¬
cial industry buildings. Ail buildings of
this class shall be fireproof.
Section 17 specifies that the fire limits
shall be as established by the Board of
Aldermen, and no change was suggested.
All buildings hereafter erected must
have uncovered spaces for liglit and air
to get in. These spaces must be open to
the sky from the top of the,second story
window sills and must be in accordance
with a table of measurements printed in
Section IS.
Seclion 19 limits the maximum floor
area between firewall's to a specifled num¬
ber of square feet when fronting on one,
two or more slreets. Most buildings when
built fireproof are left unrestricted, but
non-fireproof buildings fronting on bui
one street cannot bave more than five
thousand square feel O'f area between fire¬
walls, and when fronting on two streets,
7,500 square feet of area between firewalls.
Under Section 20 every sleeping-room
must have a window opening upon a
street, yard or court, and such rooms
must be at least eight feet and six inches
'high for at least two-thirds of their area.
They must not be less than seven feet in
width and have an area of not less than
seventy square feet, except that in hotels,
the area shall not be less than eighty
square feet.
MOTION PICTURE THEATRES.
New Code of Regulations Pending—Pre¬
pared By Mayor's Committee.
The Folk ordinances relating to motion
piciure theatres were reported with
amendments to the Board of Aldermen
this week by the Laws and Legislation
Commiltee and then recommitted for fur¬
ther amendment. By an oversight, the
enacting clause had been omitted. The
ordinances were prepared by a commit¬
tee appointed by Mayor Gaynor, and have
the approval of many church clubs and
settlement workers. The report of the
committee, embodying the proposed ordi¬
nances, will be found printed in full in
the City Record of Thursday, May 16.
Under the terms of the new code an
applicant for a motion picture license
must fiie plans and specifications of the
building with the 'Superintendent of
Buildings, and the latter's certificate of
approval, when obtained, with the Bureau
of Licenses. If the building is an existing
one it will at once be inspected by the
Bureau of Buildings, the Fire Depart¬
ment, the Department of Water Supply.
Gas and Electricity and the Department
of Health. If the building is hereafter to
be erected, the plans must show fully ah
exits, passageways, flre-escapes and
aisles; the arrangement of seats, size of
floor beams, walls supports etc., the lo¬
cation and construction of the enclosure
for the motion picture light and machin¬
ery, a diagram of the lot or piot, showing
outlets from all exits, and such other de¬
tails as may be required by the Superin¬
tendent of Buildings.
Motion picture theatres are not here¬
after to be constructed in frame build¬
ings within tiie firo limits, nor in hotels
or lenements. There must be two separate
exits, 'One at the front and one at the
rear. Where the main floor of the thea¬
tre accommodates more than three hun¬
dred people, there must be three sets of
exits. No exit must be less than five
feet in width and the main exit not less
than ten feet wide.
A gallery may be permitted, but in no
case shall it have a capacity to exceed
twenty-five per cent, of the total seat¬
ing capacity of the theatre, and the exit
from the gallery must in no case lead to
the main floor. A gallery must have at
least one line of fire-escapes.
N'O aisle must be less than three feet
wide in the clear. The rows of chairs
must not be less than thirty-two inches
apart and must be flrmly screwed to the
floor. The floor must bear a Ifveload of
not less than ninety pounds to the square
foot. Toilets separate for the sexes must
be provided, and portable fire apparatus
according to a given list.
Theatres must be heated in cold weather
and ventilated al all times. Under certain
conditions artificial ventilation will be re¬
quired.
Existing places of entertainment seating
three hundred persons or less, where mo¬
tion pictures are exhibited in conjunction
with any other form of entertainment,
must comply with the provisions of sec¬
tion 109 of the Building Code covering
theatres sealing more than three hun¬
dred persons,
A motion picture theatre is deemed to
be any public hall or room in the city of
New York in which motion pictures are
exhibited, in which the capacity does not
exceed 600, and in Tvhich there is no stage
or scenery. An open-air motion picture
theatre shall be deemed any public spacu
or iplace in the open-air of the city in
which motion pictures are exhibited and
in which tiiere is no stage or machinery.
In open-air motion picture theatres,
aisles must be four feet wide, or wider,
in the discretion of the Bureau of Li¬
censes. There must be at least two sep¬
arate exits remote from each other, and
no exit must be lass than five feet wide.
•Seats must be stationary with bocks thir¬
ty-two inches apart. Floors must be con-'
slructed of wood W'ith sleepers or of con¬
crete. A gravel fioor may be substituted
with permission of the Bureau of Licen¬
ses. Chairs must be securely fastened
together and at least four rows to one
frame.
SUBWAY COMPROMISE.
Status of Steinway Tunnel.
The Interborough Rapid Transit Com¬
pany has asked for a conference between
its Counsel. Counsel Iq the Commission
and the Atlorney-(3eneral to consider the
status of the litigation over the Steinway
Tunnel. This tunnel which runs from
42nd Street, Manhattan, under the East
River to Long Island City, has been prac¬
tically completed for the last four years,
but has never been operated- It is held
by trustees of the New York and Long
Island Railroad Company, which is con¬
trolled by the Interborough Rapid Tran¬
sit Company, but who have no franchise
for its operation-
Some time ago, at the request of the
Conimission the Attorney-General started
suit to oust the trustees from the posses¬
sion of the tunnel and to turn the same
over to the City, Since that time the
Interborough Rapid Transit Company has
made a proposition to build certain por¬
tions of the proposed dual system of rapid
transit extension and to operate the same
and other lines, to be built by the Cily.
A part of this proposlion is to turn over
the Sleinway Tunnel to the City for a
consideration of $3,000,000, the tunnel ac¬
cording to the company's estimate having
cost about .$8,000,000 to build- Under the
proposed dual plan it is to be connected
with the existing subway and operated as
a part of the subway system. In view of
this proposition, the Interborough Com¬
pany thinks that tlie ouster suit, started
by the Attorney-General, should be sus¬
pended and has asked for the conference,
before mentioned, to consider this ques¬
tion. Tbe Commission has not yet acled
upon the request.
Architectural League's Officers,
At the annual meeting of the Archi¬
tectural League of New York, these offi¬
cers were elected for the ensuing year.
President, Breck Trowbridge; first vice-
president. Robert I- Aitkin; second vice-
president, George W. Breck; executive
committee for term expiring May, 1915.
Owen Brainard, Aymar Embury 2d and
Joseph Howland Hunt; for the term end¬
ing May, 1913. Isidore Konti, John Almy
Tompkins, Louis David Vaillant, and for
term expiring May, 1914, Birch Burdette
Long, Horace Moran and Stowe Phelps,
—The New York Times Building Com¬
pany has secured from the Title Guaran¬
tee and Trust Company a building loan
of $600,000 for one year on the eleven-
story Times Annex, to be erected on a
plot 143x112.5 'feet on the north side of
43rd street, just west of Broadway,
A New Plan Will Be Carried Out If the
Courts Do Not Stop It.
A joint meeting of the special commit¬
tee on Transit of the Board of Estimate
and Apportionment and the Public Service
Commission for the First District was
held at the office of the commission at
3 P. M., May 14, and was attended by
Borough Presidents McAneny, Cromwell
and Miller, Chairman Wilcox, Commis¬
sioners Maltbie, Eustis and Williams. The
meeting was called for the purpose of
considering certain routes in connection
with the dual- rapid transit system for
the City of New York which had not
been heretofore agreed upon.
It was agreed by the conferees that the
Public Service Commission would send to
the Board of Estiniate and Apportionment
and that the committee would T&commend
the adoption of the following routes, upon
the terms hereinafter specified:
1- That a line be laid out for the Inter¬
borough Rapid Transit Company through
Park place, Spruce or Beekman street and
William .street, to a connection witb the
William Street Eoule, and through Old
Slip, under the East River to Clarlc street,
Brookly-n, and along Clark street, Brook¬
lyn, to 'a conneclion with the present In¬
terborough line at Borough HalL
2. That a route be laid out for the
Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company from a
point near Morris street, under private
property, Whitehall street and the East
River to Montague street and along Mon¬
tague street and Willoughby street to a
connection with the Fourth Avenue Sub¬
way at DeKalb avenue-
3. That a route be laid out from the
present Nassau street route, which is al¬
ready legalized, from a point near Pearl
and Broad streets, through Broad street
to a connection with the "Whitehall s'treet-
Monlague street line.
4. That a route be laid out between the
Steinway Tunnel and the Queensboro
Bridge Plaza Ihrough and over Sunnyside
Yard of the Dong Island Railroad Com¬
pany, and thence through Davis street
and Ely avenue.
5- That a route be laid as an elevated
railroad from a point on Fourteenth
street-Union squai-e route at or near the
junction of Bushwick and Johnson av¬
enues, in Brooklyn, over Johnson avenue
and private property to Wyckoff avenue,
through Wyckoff avenue and private
property to a connection with the Broad¬
way Elevated Line of tlie Brooklyn Rapid
Transit Company at Broadway, East New
York-
6- That a route be laid out beginning
at Fulton street, near the present Fourth
Avenue Subway, thence through Fulton
street to St. Felix street and under the
property of the Long Island Railroad
Company and through private property to
Flatbush avenue where a connection can
be made with the route alre-ady adopted
on Flatbush avenue.
7. That a route be laid out commencing
at a point on Fourth avenue, near 3Sth
street, where convenient connection may
be made with the present Fourth Avenue
Subway; thence running througii the
property of the South Brooklyn Railway
Company to Tenth avenue by subway,
thence by elevated railroad over Tenth
avenue; thence over New Utrecht avenue
to a point near Slst slreet, and thence
througii private property to S6th street;
thence through S6th 'Street to a point where
connection can be made with the elevated
railroad route to Surf avenue. Coney
Island, already laid out and adopted.
8- That a route be laid oul beginning
at a point near 3Sth street and Ninth
avenue where connection can conveniently
be made with the last-described line, con¬
tinuing along 37th street to Gravesend av¬
enue as an elevated railroad and thenco
along Gravesend avenue as an elevated
railroad to Surf avenue. Coney Island.
9. That a two-track route be laid out
from a point in the Fourth Avenue Sub¬
way, near 6oth street, along, under or
near tlie line of G5th street and un'der the
bay to a point on Staten Island near tho
foot of -Arrietta street, with spurs to St.
George and 'Stapleton to provide proper
connection with the transit facilities on
Staten Island ,
10- That a route be laid out on Boston
road, near 179th street, where a conven¬
ient connection can be made with present
subway througii private property and the
property of the New York, Westchester
and Boston Railway Compa-ny, between its
land at Bronx Park to a connection with
the "Vt^ite Plains avenue route at Bur¬
chell avenue-
11.' A physical connection is lo be made
between the Manhattan Bridge Line and
the Broadway Line at Canal street, the
additional cost necessary for this change
to be borne by the Brooklyn Rapid Tran-