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RECORD AND GUIDE March 5, 1904 Apartment House Interiors. Less has been written descriptive of the interiors of apartment houses than of their planning and construction. Their planning is a problem which means the utilization of a given area to the best advantage. Their construction is chiefly determined by law. The interiors, aside from the arrangement of rooms, are deserv¬ ing of attention. Individual taste has greater scope here than on the exteriors, and the interiors, too, are more subject to change of style than the exteriors. Face, or pressed brick in various colors with stone trim (usually Indiana limestone) and metal cornices are now exclusively used in apartment house con¬ struction. Of course, the whole structure depends upon the amount of available capital, but there Is a growing tendency to elaborate the interior rather than the exterior. As much thought and money may be expended upon an apartment as upon a pri- vite dwelling, A private dwelling may have no improvements, conveniences or luxuries that an apartment may not possess. The best apartment houses are almost palatial. Entrance doors are of bronze or wrought iron and heavy glass. Public halls have tile floors, marble wainscoting and stucco ceilings, or ceiling of plaster relief -n'ork, sometimes highly gilded. The lighting effects are often beautiful. Groups of electroliers of bronze or polished brass with translucent, opaque or opalescent globes are used, or incandescents may be concealed behind a ceiling cove and the hall be illuminated indirectly. A feature is made of the elevator enclosures of bronze or wrought iron. If wood Is used for the trim here, it is hardwood, but since there is a tendency to reduce to a minimum the amount of combustible material, the trim is often of polished marble. Upper halls are not so elaborate. Elevator enclosures are of wrought iron in simple designs; walls may be covered with art burlap; the trim is usually of oak. The apartments themselves show a diversity of materials and styles of decoration and furnishing. Much depends upon the per¬ sonal choice of the occupant. There is telephone, messenger call, fire alarm, electric bell system, steam heat with automatic tem¬ perature regulator and electric light and gas fixtures. The trim is of hardwood, and usually cabinet trim, in plain oak, quartered, birch or maple. Oaks are sometimes stained to produce certain de¬ sired effects of style to match the furniture, especially in dining- rooms; black for the "Flemish" effect, dark brown for tbe "Mis¬ sion" style, etc. Birch is often stained or "mahoganized." Even North Carolina pine is used and covered -with while enamel paint to produce the "Colonial" effect. The walls are covered -^'ith art burlap or the one-tone, the so-called cartridge, paper. The floors of the parlor or reception room and the dining-room are usually parquette floors, while those of the other rooms have hard¬ wood centers with or without parquette borders. Bathrooms have tile floors, tiie or marble walls, open or sanitary plumbing, porcelain tubs and often separate shower baths. The best apartm.ents have also servants' bathrooms. Kitchens are fur¬ nished with gas ranges, refrigerators, porcelain sinks and dumb¬ waiters; they have tiled floors and sometimes tile wainscotings. Laundries are on the roof or in the basement and are equipped with steam dryers. In the less expensive apartment houses—the average buildings, the six-story, tbree or four-family types on plots 50x100. that cost about $65,000—the entrances are less elaborate, the details less fine. These are the chief differences. Flat houses, which, after all. differ from apartment houses more in location than anything else, have no elevators, no electric lights, and none of the little luxuries, but in decoration and furnishing they are much the same as apartment houses of average cost. riaterial Market. BRICK. Mr. William K. Hammond, president of the Manufacturers' Association, remarked yesterday that as the outlook was not for a season of brisk building, there was some talk jf raking measures to prevent an over supply, and probably some action would be taken to protect the reasonable interests of manufac¬ turers, but no meeting had yet been called. With the weather gradually moderating, there are occasionally two or three good days for bricklaying, which builders having urgent contracts take advantage of. Numerous carts hauling brick were noticed in the streets yesterday and the day before, and probably before the river opens the visible supply will be exhausted. Yesterday only two cargoes remained unsold in the wholesale market, all the rest of the local stock being in the hands of dealers at their yards and In fifteen or twenty boats. President Hammond advises, as there is no question but that the local supply will be exhausted ere the up-river yards can be¬ gin to ship, that builders who cannot put off operations should at once secure a supply sufficient to last them for several weeks. . The probability of a sharp increase in prices is strong. Con¬ tractors are now paying about $10,50 per thousand, delivered. Last spring's schedule was from $6 to $6.25, delivered. Some cargoes can be expected from Long Island, but scarcely any from Staten Island, where all the available stock will be needed for the local trade. The ice cap on the Hudson is still hard and fast, and though no one can foretell what the weather will do, the general expectation Is that the flrst of April will scarcely see clear sailing to Haverstraw Bay. C. Clayton Bourne has leased the brickyard at Pishkill next north of the one operated by him for several years past. The yard leased is at present occupied by Mr, Dinan and is owned by the Verplanck estate. The present occupant has expended con¬ siderable money on the yard, and Uriah Washburn of Haver¬ straw, John 'McNamara of Fishkill and Wm. H. Hilton of New¬ burgh were recently agreed upon by Mr, Bourne and Mr. Dinan to appraise the amount to be paid by Mr. Bourne for the im¬ provements. The Dinan yard is the most northerly one of the string of four or flve brick yards north of Fishkill. LUMBER. The National Wholesale Lumber Dealers' Association had a pleasant convention in Washington this week. On Tuesday the members were received at the White House in a body, and ad¬ dressed by the President, and on Wednesday night Secretary Corteiyou, Secretary Shaw and several Senators addressed them at a banquet. At Wednesday's session of the convention Chair¬ man R. W. Higbie presented the report of the committee on railroad transportation, and explained the dissastisfaction ot some of the delegates on account of alleged unfair treatment by the railway systems. After the reading of the report a resolu¬ tion was adopted establishing a transportation bureau for the protection of members of the association and the collection of claims. The afternoon session was devoted to the consideration of amendments to the by-laws and the election of officers. The association elected the following officers to serve for the ensuing year. Lewis C. Blade, Saginaw, Mich., president; Lewis Dili, Baltimore, flrst vice-president; J. 'M. Hastings, Pittsburgh, sec¬ ond vice-president; F. W. Cole, New York, treasurer; G. F. Terry, Ne-iv York, secretary; J. F. McKelvey, New Tork, general coun¬ sel. FINISHED IRON AND STEEL. Baltimore work is developing rather slowly for the structural steel trade, and may at no time equal the high expectation. A keen competition for the ferry conlracts yet to be given out here is reported, though there is a strong likelihood now, after the recent successful eft'orts of the Newport News Shipbuilding Company, that outsiders will get the lion's share. At present the tonnage of structural work going out is not heavy, though there are en¬ couraging features, as builders in various flelds who had put off the idea of going on with their enterprise this year, are now ask¬ ing proposals for furnishing material. Wire rods are the basis of the wire industry, and wires are every(\'here in the building world. In 1890 this country produced only 457,099 gross ions of rods, but in 1902 the output of rods was 1,574,293 tons. Doubtless, in a few years the annual ton¬ nage of wire rods will exceed those of steel rails, which, in 1902, was twice as much, but in 1890 was four times greater. HARDWARE DEALERS' MEETING. The second annual convention of the New Tork State Associa¬ tion of Retail Hardware Dealers will be held In Rochester on March S, 9 and 10, at the Chamber of Commerce. The headquar¬ ters of the association will be at the Whltcomb House. A meet¬ ing of the directors will be held on Tuesday morning, 8th inst. In the afternoon the convention will formally open al 2 o'clock. Two sessions will be held on Wednesday the 9th, and as much of thse sessions as may be required will be devoted to a discussion of the relations of jobbers and manufacturers and their traveling salesmen and the retail trade. The formal addresses at the morning session will be by representatives of Russell & Erwin Mfg Company, P. & P. Corbin, Reading Hardware Company, Sargent & Co., Tale & Towne Mfg. Company, and other manu¬ facturers. There will also be a general discussion for the good of the association. Both sessions on Thursday will be of an ex¬ ecutive character. STONE AND ITS COUNTERFEITS. The artificial stone men are growing in number and Influence. Into every populous center their products are being invited, and are continually multiplying. The American Stone Co., of 1 Madison av, has been reorganized under the name of The New York Cement-Stone Co., and re¬ taining the same officers. The officers are Philip P. Barrington, president; Corydon T. Purdy, vice-president; Louis H. Scott, sec¬ retary-treasurer. A quarry product tbat is coming into prominence in thia mar¬ ket is Medina stone, -which, appearing here in the latter part of 1902, was specified and furnished for 150,000 ft. of curb and 50,- 000 sq, yds. of paving blocks last year, a portion of which were used in paving the approaches lo the new Wiiliamsburgh Bridge, Medina stone was also furnished for several building jobs, among -which were the Second Naval Battalion Armory in Brooklyn, No. 160 Broadway, Manhattan, and the fire-engine house at 164th st. and Intervale av.. Borough of the Bronx,' and the prospects are that the sales for building purposes wilt be considerably larger this year than the previous year. In regard to curbing, it is expected tbat there will be a considerably larger demand for Medina stone than last year, as orders are already booked to nearly the extent of last year's business. Tbe de¬ mand for paving blocks is also active. Coming in two colors, a light grey and a dark pink, 'Medina stone is a hard sandstone with remarkably enduring qualities for paving blocks, and a distinctive and attractive appearance for walls. Tille to the land needed for the approach to the Willis Avenue Bridge from the Southern Boulevard will vest In the city on