Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-09-10
THAT AWFUL HOLE.
The Council Owns an
Elephant.
THE FUTURE CITY HALL.
An Excavation Which is Liable
to Prove Monument
Of Grief"

There is an excavation on the corner
Of Second and Spring streets which,
aside from its unsightliness, seems limo
cent enough. II appears, however, that
this hole, made oa the beginning OF a
stately ediiice, TO be known as tho New
City Hall. Is liable to remain in its pre-
sent state for some time to come.
Below is given the proceedings Of a
special meeting OF Council held last
night on tho hall question. A brief
statement Of the matter may not be
amiss. The City Council appropriated
s65, 900 for building suitable city ball
Plans were advertised for and a Com
mittee on Buildings was appointed.
| Plans and specifications presented by
Caukin, Boriug h Haas were adopted,
and tho Council ordered the excavation.
| The committee decided that the Sl2,OUO
premium to be derived from sale OF city
bonds should be added to the cost OF the
building After the shanties on the lot
were removed and the excavation was
begun it came to be realized what vast
expanse Of ground WINS to be covered.
| Councilman Frnnkenfeld, short time
| ago asked il the proposed city hall could
be completed for $50, 900 and was met
with the startling answer from mem
Der of the committee that 1t would cost
$50. 900 to put up the walls and roof in
the building. This caused panic IN
| the Council aud many we're the questions
propounded. 1t was finally aseertained
that there had been prepared by the arch.
fleets an entirely new set OF plans and
| specifeations and the whole Council
| naturally desired to know something oil
the matter. Hence the meeting last
night, ,
The following members were present:
| Messrs. Frankenfeld, Goss. Holbrook,
Jones. Stearns, Velsir, Willard. Perry.
Mr., Stearns was called to the chair
and announced that as it was legal
holiday no business could be transacted,
but that the architects Of the City Hall
could be heard from and give Their ex'
PLANTATION as to why the final cost OF the
City Hall is to exceed so largely the es'
innate made by the architects.
MIR. Jones said he would like to have
the architects make their estimate OF the
| final cost of the building.
Architect Caukin said the building
under the plan could not be built for
legs than Sl50.000 aud this sum only
gives o plain interior finish and the
building woald not be fire proof but
.,slow burning" Twenty or thirty
thousand dollars more might be ex-
pended and the building be not greatly
improved. 1t is large building accord
ing to the plan. Eighty thousand dol
lars will put tue building under root.
The cornice will be OF galvanized iron
and rather disgraceful, but it saves
$1,000 BY substilu Jog it for terra Gotta.
Messrs. Holbrook and Perry, both
iron men, asked if galvanized iron was
not as durable as terra Gotta. Mr.. Eau
kin answered mo" most emphatically.
This was a farcer to the iron dealers
and they seemed to be seriously contem
plating adding terra Gotta to Their
stock in trade. The arc hitects held
that terra Gotta would not change its
color or gather moss.
Mr.. Jones asked If the building could
be finished for Sl50,000.
The architect said it could, but Si0,'
900 additional could be put on the in
terror and not be noticed. He said at
the figures he mentioned soft woods
would have to be used, instead of hard,
and that it would be very plain build
ing.
Mr.. Stearns asked if there was any.
thing further that the Council wanted
A. k<aw T,a,,, a a 20 hi aptg
i Mr.. Perry said: Eyes; let them tell
Us where we are to get the money from
to put up the building.
Mr.. Holbrook said he thought the
suggestion of fine HERALD, to go in with
the county end build city hall in con-
junction with the new court house
should be adoped. This was not favor
ably received.
MIR. Jones said he had been anxious
for this meeting on one account; he
wanted to ascertain from the architects
why il was that they furnished plans Tor
a $50 900 building when they were dis.
tinctly instructed to furnish plans for
s65. 900 building. He said that at per
cent. of the cost of building, which the
architects were to receive, they would
Get for the S65, 900 building S3250, while
for the $3.50, 900 building they would get
$500. He wanted to know what basis
TO settle on with the architects, and
said as the Council has not the money
to erect $4,000 structure, and had
not ordered plans for such building, 1t
was waste of time to consider them
ave were" he said, "to put up good
building for S65, 900, and now we hear
tAat even for Slso,000 we can put up
one only in the cheapest hlmsiest man
ner"
Architect Haas said that the originally
prepared S65, 900 plans would not cover
The ground properly, that there was
great dissatisfaction regarding them,
that they did not, after all, suit some
gentlemen of the committee, particularly
one member, and the architects had
presented the new plans.
Mr.. Jones said the Council had not
ordered them.
Architect Caukin said it was pretty
well understood by the committee that
the building shouId cost Sl5O,OO0.
Mr.. Frankenfieid said he was perfect
~ astonished that any member OF the
Cooncil should go into ssch a scheme.
He said il was well understood that Vt
the outside there was only T7 600 TO
spend for a city hall, and why this sum
had been exceeded he did not know.
MIR. Gloss said the Council was in
fix, and the only thing he saw was to let
the building committee advise some way
out of it. A mistake had been made
and should be rectified. This thing OF
putting up four walls and ROOT TO
stand es .Monument of Grief before
thepeople wouldn't do, They didn't have
the money to complete the building.
Architect Haas said tlat building ma
terial and labor had Increased 20 per
cent. since the building was projected
Mr.. Goss denied this.
Mr.. Perry said he didn't know how
the Council ever got into such a scrape'
They had an elephant on their hands,
He always knew that no more than
SS5, 900 could be raised.
Mr.. Frankenfield wanted the plans
modified to SS5, 900.
The architects serenely smiled at TINS
proposition. =, A.,
MIR. Stearns Indignantly denied that
he had put up any job, but II the Coun'
Gil wanted TO cover the city ball lot
money would have to be invested.
Mr.. Frankenfield said that the archi.
tects should have advised the Council OF
the cost of the building before the exca'
walton was commenced.
Mr.. Holbrook said that the architects
we're trying to put the elephant on the
building committee, and vice versa. The
whole thing should go to the building
committee.
stearns said he did not feel in any way
responsible for the way things had
shaped themselves,
Suggestions were made as to the pro.