Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1891-10-10
CHEAP BUILDINGS.
Editor stones Views on Contempo-
rarY American ArchiIecIure.

Editor stones Views on Contempo-
rary American Architecture.
I From the New York Journal of Commerce.
The massive structures that adorn Wall
street, and the buildings of like character
recently erected elsewhere in this city and
in Brooklyn, are in no danger of collap-
sing whether they are inspected by the city
authorities or are left to the care and in
telligence of their owners. They are only
designed for offices, and yet they would
hold on every floor all the heavy storage
that could be placed therein, and would
bear up printing presses and other work
ing machinery without as much as a trem-
or in the walls. The buildings that fall
are those which have been flimsily built or
altered to admit more light and available
space, or are used for a purpose not in the
mind of the builder at the time of their
original construction.
There was period of revolt from the
old fashioned methods of building during
which houses and stores were put up both
in city and country without much consid
Grafton as to their security. The massive
walls, the huge timbers hewn by hand and
lOScIucT rs ucelkucu 10 Will
stand a siege, did very well in the country
where light and air from the four sides
were found to be sufficient for all practical
purposes. But in the city where the
whole available space was occupied and
ground became precious, the materials
took up, it was thought, too much of the
room, and the center of the building was
dark and close. So there followed lighter
structures, with no heavy timbers and
with as many openings for light as could
be provided for, and have any sort of a
foundation for the roof. These did very
well for offices, but were totally unfit for
storage, much less would they answer for
the sustenance of machinery for mechani-
cal purposes.
As we have said, the recent tendency In
city architecture is toward moro massive
structures for business purposes, but
dwellings are often put up with an inside
frame of wood no heavier than would have
been deemed sufficient a century ago for
an ordinary hen house. The outer walls
conform for the most part to the require
ments of the building law as to the num-
Der of bricks, but in many cases these are
not held together by cement that is of
any practical use. If good sand was pro-
vided the small proportion OF lime would
make an adhesive mortar of some utility,
but a very little examination of the work
now in progress in the cheaper structures
which are going up in this city and vicini-
ty, especially in the outer wards, win
| show that the earth in the mortar bed is q
poor apology for sand, and the mixture in
which the bricks are laid serves little 9TH
or purpose than to fill the "chinks" and
present the resemblance of a solid wall.
The inside wooden supports for floors
and partitions are often of the frailesi
kind nailed together, and held by little
more than courtesy until the edifice IL
completed. In the country this is pecu.
liarly dangerous, for it needs heavy
framework to Withstand the fury of the
wind as it sweeps across the fields. Some
one asked an old New England mechanic
who had recently spent q year or two Al
the West, how he liked the cyclones and
tornadoes that made such destructive worl
in that region. He replied that the windi
were stronger and came with greater forc'