Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-04-21
The Progress Of Building in the
Suburbs.
THEERECTION OF CITY HOUSES OF WOOD
Exaggerated Statement as to the
Number Of Vacant Dwellings.
SOME ROVEM EN- T s

Inc material progress Oh the uuA
ing the present season will be largely along
the line Of the erection Of houses and OF
improvements of kindred character. 1t is
not expected that there will be any great
activity in the sale of land either in acres
or in city lots. The transactions in subur-
| ban land. however, always form a feature
of the market. as the demand for such prop
erty is constant one. The volume of the
demand naturally is apt to vary when one
year is compared with another, but the i'm
petus of suburban, settlements has attained
such force that 1t cannot be checked en-
! tirely by even financial depression. People
! must continue to live and they must have
homes, and it is from this ever fruitful
source that the market for suburban prop
erty as well as for city property Is main
| tanned year in and year out
The importance of suburban life, especial
ly at this time of the year. can be more
readily appreciated by one who seeks a tenn
porary home beyond the limits of the city.
There is, of course, to be found in the sub
urbs, as well as in the city, the usual IA
cilities of modern life. namely, hotels and
boarding houses and houses for rent and for
sale, furnished and unfurnished. 1t is sur
prising and, no doubt, in many cases, un-
pleasantly so, to find that this entire list Of
accommodations is pretty well absorbed by
those admirable but at the same time pro-
voking people who always make their ar
rengements for the summer in the dead Of
winter, and for the winter in the heat Of
summer, with the exasperating result, at
least to others. that they get what they
| want. The suburbs have been pretty well
secured by this class of persons. but there
is still provision for the belated ones.
Frame Houses in The City.
! The building regulations Of the District no
doubt, present a well-digested and skillful
summary of all the necessary municipal
"can'ts'' and "don'ts." At the same time
some surprising things can take place be-
neath the protecting wings Of these omnis-
cient regulations. For example, it is well
known that it is contrary to the building
regulations to erect a frame house within
the fire limits; yet these same regulations
J permit the erection of frame buildings
within the aforesaid limits. 1t happens in
this way. A man owns a frame house of
one or two stories In height with, perhaps a
pitched roof which provides a third or added
story. The weather boarding may be worn
and dilapidated and the house may present
| rather weather-beaten appearance. The
| owner concludes to renovate the structure
and at the same time enlarge and modern
lie 1t, so he makes anapplication at the Of
| nee OF the building inspector for a permit to
! make repairs.
One of the inspectors employed by the
office is sent to look over tie premises. and.
| IL, in his opinion, the house is not deterior-
i ated in value more than 80 per cent of its
original cost, the permit must issue. With
| the permit once in his possession, the own
| er can proceed to erect what is substantial
| ly a new structure. He strips off the wealth.
! er boarding, he tears off the roof leaving
the frame standing: If there are beams in
the framework that are not in good condi-
| ton, he can replace the timber with new;
| then he can continue the frame work up an
| additional story, put on a fiat tin roof, cover
| the front and the sides and rear of the
building with new weather boarding. and he
can even erect an entire new structure, two
| stories high In the rear, which is known as
a back building; When the work is COM
pleted, 1t would be difficult for an expert to
| determine whether the house was entirely
new or not
Regard for Limited Means.
1t is well known at the building inspectors
office that this use of the privileges afforded
by the building regulations to the owners of
frame houses is not only possible, but is of
actual occurrence 1t is also known that
the regulations could be amended so as to
prevent these practices, but no proposition
has been made looking to the amendment,
| because, as one of the officials in the Office
| of the building inspector said recently, it
| would be hardship on people of moderate
| means. He explained that frame houses
are owned. as a rule, by persons of linn
tied means, and, If they are required to
tear their houses down instead of repairing
them and go to the expense of putting up
! brick stone houses that in many in
stances they would be forced to sell their
| property.
Number of Vacant Houses.
There is no means of accurately ascertain
ing the number OF houses that are vacant
in this city at any one period. whether such
a period extends over six months or a year.
1t is probably due to the fact that no one
absolutely knows that there have been so
many statements put out to the number
| of vacant houses in the city, In such a
! case, one mans opinion is as good as
another's. The only way to find out is to
| count the houses, and so far no one has
come forward to say that he has made this
| enumeration. There are people who state
! with a good deal of confidence that there
| are. such and such a number of vacant
| houses in the city, and when they are asked
| how they have reached this exactness of
| knowledge, they are apt either to say that
| so and so has told them or else that they
| have driven through several streets and
noted the number of houses standing vacant
and have based their calculations for the
whole city on such Information.
| One of the most exaggerated estimates
of the character above indicated places the
number of unoccupied houses at 5000 Mr.
Harry Keller of this city has made
some interesting calculations which demon
strate much better than mere assertion
/ the abSurdity of such an estimate. lie saws.
IF one would take the pains to make an
estimate of the area covered by 5000 houses
Re would be convinced of the entire i'm
probab ility of such a statement being true
and should he walk through the vast dis
trict which would contain 5000 houses he
would be amazed 1 make this calculation.
IL you please. There are $3.50 feet to a
mile Allowing 90 feet to a house, there
would be 26i houses TO a mile Allowing
300 feet to a square, there would be nearly
IL squares to a mile, without allowing for
the intervening streets So that, If any
street beginning at North Capitol street
and going west to Goth street, was built
up solid allowing three squares for streets)
there would be but 52S houses I'm a street
a mile long built up on both Sides Then il
would take about ten of such streets to
contain 5000 houses"
Didn't Know the Difference.
One of the well-known architects in this
city had a rather amusing experience the
other day. He received a note from a per-
son whose name he was not familiar with
requesting him to call at an address given
to consult in regard to the erection OF a
house. He obeyed the summons went to
the address designated and was received
by a lady, who said that she would like
him to make an estimate of what he would
charge to erect a house for her
He stated. in reply, that he was not a.
contractor or builder, but was an architect
and that his work was confined to the
drawing of the plans.
She expressed her surprise saving that
she thought he was an architect or builder
and H..