REAL  ESTATE







AF/D





%\  BUILDERS





NEW YORK,  OCTOBER  23, 1915





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I      COURT   HOUSE   CONSTRUCTION   URGED     |





The Carrying Charges to Date Would have Met the Cost
of the Foundations—Adamson Report Answered in Detail





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THE Court House Board has sent a
communication to the Board of Es¬
timate and Apportionment asking im¬
mediate and final approval of the plans,
specifications and contract for the new
Court House.

It calls attention to the delay since the
plans were submitted on June 18, and
shows that the carrying charges and
other expenses occasioned have already
amounted to $557,460, which "wasteage
exceeds the cost of the construction of
the foundations of the new building."

The board transmits for the informa¬
tion of the Board of Estimate and Ap¬
portionment, certain reports made to the
Court House Board by its advisors,—
the consulting architect, Walter CoqJ<,
the architect; Guy Lowell, the consult¬
ing engineer; E. P. Goodrich and the
architect's consulting engineers, Daniel
E. Moran, Clark, MacMullen and Riley
and C. E. Knox.

Criticism of the Adamson Report.

One of these reports is in reply to the
objections raised by the Director of the
Bureau of Contract Supervision, Tilden
Adamson, last summer. The board's ex¬
perts allege in great detail that Adam-
son's report was "a confused mixture of
mis-statements and erroneous conclu¬
sions, predicated upon rnis-interpreta-
tions of the plans, specifications and con¬
tracts," that "most of the figures cited
are not correct," that "his statitstical data
has been misapplied," and that he has an
"entire misunderstanding of the subject."
The experts allege that nearly every
statement in the report is erroneous, and
that in fact the plan has no suggestion
of the various extravagances charged.
There is declared to be no luxurious
clubs; the library is planned to contain
216,868 volumes instead of 2,000,000.
No Luxuries for Judges and Lawyers.

The space for employees is about one-
half of that provided in the Municipal
Building; no luxuries are provided for
the jud.ges or the lawyers; there is only
one auditorium instead of ten, as sug¬
gested; there is no palatial dining-room;
there is no Bar or Buffet; the private
robing room complained of is simply an
office connected with each Court; there
are no luxurious baths or fountains;
there is no indication of elaborate dec¬
oration; there are no railroads in the
building, and the business of the courts
is increasing very greatly and not de¬
creasing as was charged. It is shown
that almost every figure in his report
is erroneous or miscalculated.

The experts reproduce the plans sub¬
mitted by Adamson, so as to show "a
large number of rooms in his plan to be
either wholly or mostly in the dark and
without natural ventilation," and state
that "his scheme is an entire mutila¬
tion of the Court House design," and
that "it is quite impossible to consider
the scheme seriously."

The experts state "In view of the many
cases of misstatement and of false con¬
clusions contained in the director's re¬
port, we feel most puzzled to understand
his attitude. In a great many cases it
would seem to be that, not of a profes-







GUY   LOWELL,
Architect   of    the    New    Court   House.

sional critic, but of a professional fault¬
finder; and in some, we cannot avoid
the conclusion that it is one of hostility
to the whole scheme, a hostility quite
independent of any examination of the
design."

Accommodations Detailed.

An additional report is transmitted
containing comparisons in great detail
of the court house accommodations with
the previous plans for this building, with
existing conditions and with other court
houses in this country and Europe.
These comparisons show that room sizes
are very moderate, and that considering
the necessary number of courtrooms, the
accommodations, cubeage and cost are
very economical. It is noted in the re¬
port that the cost of the site for the
Royal Law Courts in London was $12,-
000.000, and that the building, which con¬
tains 19 courts, as against 56 courts in
New York, cost $3,650,000. _

The report contains a history of the
growth of law libraries in this country
and in Europe, which shows that the
larger of them considerably exceed 100,-
000 volumes at the present time, and
have grown at the rate of 400 per cent,
in the last 22 years, a percentage of
growth which exceeds the growth of the
New York Public Library in that period.
It shows that the great courts in Europe
and this country have very large law
libraries connected with them which are
increasing very ranidly in number of
books.

Estimates  of Cost.

A third report was submitted contain¬
ing the estimates of cost made in detail
by the Quantity Survey Company and
by the engineers, as follows:

Building  proper.............$7,814,132.54

Mechanical   equipment......   1,347,225.00

Elevator equipment.........     330,000.00

Total    cost    exclusive    of

furniture   and  fixtures.....$9,491,357.54'





This cost of 41c. per cubic foot is
shown to be comparable with the cost
of the larger court houses in this coun¬
try.

Cubical  Contents  Reduced.

The Court House Board states that it
has succeeded in having the cubical con¬
tents of the building reduced by 18 per
cent, since the original plans were sub¬
mitted; but that at the same time, the
usable room area in the building as com¬
pared with the total floor area has been
increased by 20 per cent. It shows that
the highest estimate of cost under the
original competition plans of $14,000,000
has been brought down to $9,491,357.54,
the detailed estimate of cost under the
revised  plans.

The board agrees with the experts that
"it would be unwise to reduce to any
material degree the accommodations
provided; that the use of certain rooms
must be left to the future to determine
and that any economy must be effected
by a careful revision of the specifica¬
tions," which has been done. Attention
is also called to the increased business
of the courts and the large increase
which will result from the revised Con¬
stitution.

The board calls attention to the fact
, that any delay, which will ensue, if the
plans of the building are modified, will
cause a wasteage because of carrying
charges and expenses of over $2,000,000,
and suggests that unless action is
promptly taken these losses will con¬
tinue to accumulate, until the cost of the
building, which must sooner or later be
completed, will be twice as much as es¬
timated.

Immediate  Appropriations Asked.

In a letter, addressed to Mayor
Mitchel, and signed by the members of
the Court House Board, it is urged that
the city undertake the work as soon
as possible and that appropriations for
the entire cost of the work be made at
once so as to enable a single, simple
form of contract to be let, and the work
completed within a reasonable time, for
it is contended that by using this method
a   considerable   saving  will   be   effected.

The board states that it has been
greatly concerned to make every pos¬
sible revision in the plans and speci¬
fications in order that the building may
be constructed in accordance with the
general approved design at the least
possible cost, consistant with the re¬
quirements of the courts, having in view
the necessity of erecting a court house
suitable for the needs of future genera¬
tions and a building of monumental dig¬
nity as demanded by the people of the
city.

Courts Inconvenienced.

It is also pointed out that delay in
proceeding with this work has caused
great inconvenience to the courts and
to the many thousands of citizens using
them and that the delay involves the
city in a very considerable loss, by the
carrying charges of the site and by the
failure to avail of low prices in the
building market.