New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-11-21
NEWHoRK md BoSroS BUILDINGS

NEW- YORK md BOST'Oh BUILDINGS
Whether this city is in peril Of such a dis
aster as has overtaken Boston, is the question
which our citizens have had most frequently
upon their lips during the last ten days. TO
answer this inteligently we must consider the
conditions which specially favored the spread
of the Boston fire. and compare them with
our own. Before this occurrence We had no
reason to suspect that the Boston Fire Depart
ment was inferior TO that OF NeW-YOrf, and
no comparison which we can now make should
lead us to hope that under similar circum-
stances our Fire Department would be more
efficient or successful. We must compare the
buildings of the burned district OF Boston,
their contents, and their surroundings, with
those that are in general most nearly similar
in this city.
Closely crowded as was tho dry goods in
terest in Boston there are localities in this
city where equal values Of similar materials
are concentrated within equally small areas.
The burned streets OF Boston were not much
narrower than ChUrch-st, nor the buildings
taller. We are not without Mansard roofs,
though happily they are not so frequent here
as they were there: it is said, however, that
good proportion Of our Man5lrds are not the
mere wooden shells veneered with slate which
are now the subjects of universal eXecratlOn.
But the Boston roofs were continuous,
in blocks. The party walls in the rOof-stOry
were, we are assured, in the majority OF in
stances not over eight inches and in very few
cases over twelve inches thick; so that the
timbcrs of adjoining houses met in this
upper story, or, at the best, had scant
four inches between them. 1t is further
stated that even these thin walls were not
always carried above the roofing We have
the word of an insurance man who has just
returned from careful examination Of the
burned district, that the Mansard roofs Of
row of buildings adjoining it are not divided
by any coping; constitute, in fact, con-
tnuOus roof. We hope, nay, we believe, that
there is no instance of similar recklessness in
this city. 1t is also currently reported that
large proportion Of the burned buildings were
rooted with composition - i. e., pitch, paper,
and gravel, which is tolerably fre-prOOf to
cinders falling upon it, but, when fired from
beneath, adds to the blazing material which
spreads the flames. Such roofing on the best
buildings is not as frequent here as in East
ern cities.
There are smaller matters which may have
added their quota to the result, and this Is
case where small matters may be as important
as larger ones. Ii is probable that what is
known here as "the Boston ceiling" was there
as much the rule as it is here the rare excep-
ton. 1t consists of narrow boards, and its
appearance is preferred by Eastern architects
to a plastered ceiling; but it catches fire
Il
the Orders. The insurance rate on buildings
without ceilings is always increased; board
ceiling is, if anything, worse than none. The
Boston buildings are said TO have had no iron
shutters, front or rear. Ours, by law, must all
have rear shutters of iron. One of our largest
dry goods houses, after the Chicago fire, had
iron blinds fitted to the outside windows, even
to the side of the building facing West Broad
way, one of the widest streets in this city.
Ii the provisions of ON laws in respect to
the construction of buildings had never been
evaded if there had been no loophOle through
which by fear or favor or a judges opinion a
builder could escape punishment for putting
up an or 12-inch wall where one of 16 inches
is required; for the insertion of timbers in
such party walls, still further diminishing
their effective thickness; for constructing a
wooden story where the statute requires at
least an iron frame for substituting various
makeshifts which have no merit but
their cheapness, for the building materials
specified by law; and were there a system of
subsequent inspection compelling rebuilding
wherever the intent of the law had been
evaded by permits or Otherwise-we might
flatter ourselves with q little comparative
security. But we know that there are wooden
Mansard shells on some of our handsomest
structures; we know there are s-inch party
walls in certain blocks of buildings; and we
are tobias specimen of what can be
done under our present system-that
there is a brick building within half-a-
mile of the City Hall, which has no sidewalks
whatever The floor timbers of each story are
sustained on small brick pillars built up from
the ground. The sidewalks of adjoining
buildings conceal the fraud. The third story
was added some time after the first and second
stories were completed, so that there must
have been two opportunities for the farce of
inspection and permit. 1t is to meet this
state of affairs, and more especially with
respect to the upper stories of tall structures,
that we need prompt action report of all
buildings defective in any way-permits or no
permits-and such alterations as shall make
them, as nearly as possible, safe.
"
HENS.