Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 89, no. 2305]: May 18, 1912

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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-