Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-11-27
THE PHILLIPS BLOCK.
Stories Of Its Unsafeness Found to
be Incorrect.

stories Of Its Unsafeness Found T.
be Incorrect.
An article appeared in yesterda
mornings Times concerning the Phillip
Block, stating that the cracks in the in
terror walls indicated dangerous con
dition of things; that the front wall
were settling, and that any inspector o
buildings would not hesitate to condemn
it as unsafe.
The architect and contractor of the
building were seen yesterday by repre-
sentative of the HERALD. Statements o1
this sort are very easily made, but theil
exact truth is a matter of no small con.
sequence to the public. The reporter
Was taken through the building, and the
cracks which formed the subject of the
complaint WEI shown o him. They n IL
Gated by their direction and position
that the timbers of the interior were un-
dergoing a considerable shrinkage, but no
evidence whatever was found that the
exterior walls were settling.
"The wood used in the interior work !"
said the contractor, Mr.. S. Grant, twas OBJ
tained last winter at time when sea-
soned timber was very hard to get. Some
of it was greener than it should have
been, and q certain amount of shrinkage
was inevitable. The building is very
large, and good deal of weight is sup
ported through the floors, although it is
properly distributed. When you take
four floors of a total solid depth
Of forty-four inches of Oregon
pine there is room for more than a half
an inch of shrinkage, and there is not
even that much indicated by the cracks.
Did you ever see a new building of this
size or sEaller without plenty of such
cracks as these? p"
The openings in the plastering referred
to were found to extend at an angle from
The corners of the rooms fronting on the
sides of the building. If the settling had
been of the front wall the cracks would
have been vertial, and would have been
in the corners Of the room showing that
the front walls had broken away from
the partitions. No such cracks as these
were to be found any where. On the
corner where the Phillips Block Joins the
Bummiller Block on the north, the
plastering was found to be perfectly in
tact, showing that the new wall had not
fallen away from the old.
The architect of the building, Mr..
B. j. Reeve, said that he knew
that the work done by the contractor was
of satisfactory sort, but that the shrink
age Of the joists of the floor was newt
able. Instead of the timbers being
weakened by mortising they had
been fastened with iron stirrups,
and of these more were used than
was required by the contract. He knew
nothing about the patter of the elevator
which was referred to in the article ex-
cept that he had heard some complaint
as to the way it was worked.
No cracks of any kind were to be found
in the front wall and no evidence Of any
sort that it was settling. One of the
first proofs of this and one Which not in
frequently shows itself in large new
buildings would be the cracking of the
plate glass in the front windows, which
shows no symptom OF coming to pass.
General Manager Dan McCool, of the
Santa Fe, whose Office is in the front
corner of the building on the top floor,
pooh -poohed the story when he was con-
whatever" said he, "and am not with
out good deal of experience as an
architect. If the front walls were sink
ing it would show in the corners and in
the Jennings of the floors. I have ex-
amined the foundations and find nothing
out of the way anywhere. The only
fault l have to find with the building is
that the elevator is not a satisfactory
one."
Upon reasonably thorough investiga-
ton it appeared that the story was some
thing of the sensational order, such as
is frequently started about new build
ing of considerable size and weight.