Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-10-29
THE TOWNS AROUND.
Their Rapid Growth One Of the Sig
nificant Signs of the Times.
OLD PITTSBURG SPREADING OUT.
Popularity of Apartment Houses, Which
May Become Local Feature.
A NEW METHOD OF LAYING FLOORS

The country in close proximity to Pitts
burg is full of bustling towns, and all of
them are growing as fast, or faster, than the
city proper. Ten years ago gentleman
who had recently removed from Allegheny
to Edgewood, had occasion to stop at Will
kinsburg, and was compelled to inquire of
Station Agent K eihl where the town was.
II was strung along Penn avenue and could
not be seen from the station. Now all the
ground around the station, as far out as
Mckee woods. and up and down the railroad
from Edgewood to Brushton, is covered with
houses. In ten years the population of Will
kinsburg has more than Quadrupled. 1t is now
about 5000,
This is only one instance of the rapid growth
of the suburbs. Other towns have done almost
as well as Williamsburg in the same time. On
the east there will soon be compact body of
buildings from the city line to Braddock, or
Wilmerding, recently christened East Pitts
burg, and on the west as far down as Sewick-
ley. If capitalists will only build cheap, COM
Portable houses there will be no difficulty to
find people to fill them. Give PIttsburg a
chance to grow.
As time passes and land in the cities becomes
more valuable than at present. flats or apart
ment houses will be recognized as a necessity.
They will afford the only practical solution of
the difficulty of sheltering large numbers of
people unable to buy land upon which to build.
This matter has received considerable atten-
tion in Pittsburg within the past year or two,
where land is becoming scarce and dear. result
ing in high rents and scanty accommodations.
and, from present indications, it is safe to say
that two or three flats will be built next year to
test the practicability of the system in this
city. If these should prove financial success,
more will follow. From the high character of
the gentlemen interested in the project it is
reasonable to believe that success will crown
their efforts.
Flats are popular wherever they have been
introduced, and there is nothing to justify the
opinion that they would be a failure here.
Within few years they have become feature
in Washington. The building of the Portland
apartment house there few years ago was re-
garded as somewhat risky experiment, but it
was a success from the beginning, and the town
is now provided with so or 40 other buildings of
a similar kind. The newest as well as the most
elegant and commodious of these structures is
the Shoreman, just completed for Vice Presi.
dent Morton, on the site of the old Hooper
mansion, which was bought by Mr.. Morton
when he was q Representative in Congress
The building is seven stories high, and covers
eastern front of 126 feet, and southern front
of Ill feet. 1t is regarded as absolutely fire.
proof. and the arrangements for light and ven-
tilation are perfect. That there was a demand
for such building is shown by the scramble to
obtain apartments and the fact that many ap-
plicants must be disappointed Besides other
tenants the Shoreman will shelter little col
ony of Senators and Representatives
The same is true of New York, Boston, Phil
adelphia, Chicago and other cities East and
West where flats have been introduced. Ap-
plications for apartments are made long before
the buildings are completed That they are a
financial success is shown by the fact that the
average profit onSuch investments is stated to
be II per cent
A curious method of laying floors has
been adopted in France, and has obtained
wide application. 1t consists in putting down
flooring, not as hitherto on sleepers, but in en-
bodying the boarding in asphalt. The new
floors are used mostly for ground stories Of
barracks and hospitals, as well as for churches
and courts of law. The advantages of this
flooring, which only requires an even bed on
which to rest, are said to be that dampness
from below and its consequent rot is prevent
ed. Floors may be cleaned quickly and with
the least amount of water, insuring rapid dry
ing. Vermin cannot accumulate in the joints.
The further claim is made that unhealthy ex-
halations from the soil cannot penetrate into
living rooms. Asphalt being lmpermeable to
damp, rooms become pure even if they are
not vaulted underneath. In buildings with
several stories, as in hospitals. the vitiated air
of the lower rooms cannot ascend, an object
which it has hitherto not been possible to at
tain by any other means known.
In a recent issue of a German newspaper at
tention is directed to the fact. observed in some
of the streets of Frankfort-on-the-Main,G Ger
many, that the asphalt pavement in the immedi-
ate neighborhood of large gas mains is rapidly
by escaping gas, deep cracks being
formed. This has been found to be particularly
marked at places where the underlying layer of
beton was imperfect, due to the interruption Of
the work over night while laying If this be
true 1t furnishes an additional reason for pre-
venting the escape of gas from the mains in
cities of this country, which has given so much |
trouble by explosions In sub ways and sewers.