Evening star., 1902-08-20
Building in the District.

The people of Washington are doing
their share in the building up of the capi-
tai The annual report of the inspector of
buildings shows that during the twelve
months ending June 80 last District citizens
had engaged in construction and repair
operations costing a total of SS,310, ,240 the
highest point ever reached in the history
of Washington. and 100000 more than
was expended similarly during the pre-
ceding year. Apart from the proof of
local prosperity which the figures af-
ford they are important in disclosing that
the tide has turned from the building of
large apartment houses in favor Of the
erection Of individual dwellings While
there were 154 of the formor class or
buildings constructed during the fiscal
year ending June 80, 1901. there were just
100 less this year, the single dwellings ag-
gregating very nearly 900.
The character of the dwellings erected
during the pas. few years has steadily inn
proved. A glance through the annual re-
ports of the inspector will amply demon
strate this fact. Thus, during the fiscal
year 1895 there were erected ,O67 brick and
frame dwellings at an average cost OF
So $50; fiscal year 1895, 1,006 dwellings,
average cost S3,151: fiscal year 1897, 732
dwellings, average cost S3,391; fiscal year
1898 600 dwellings, average cost S3,15O;
fiscal year 1899, 913 dwellings, average
cost s. S24 fiscal year 1900 $50 dwellings,
average cost SO. 905; fiscal year 1901, I34
dwellings, average cost S3,241; fiscal year
1902 500 dwellings, average cost S4,l3S.
Thus in eight years the average cost OF
dwellings has risen 40 per cent. This
means not alone that numbers of unusually
fine dwellings have been erected here os
homes for wealthy residents. but that the
average home of the permanent District
citizen is becoming better.
1t is noteworthy that the number of
dwellings. 1.067 in 1895, diminished with
but a single fluctuation to the beginning of
fiscal year 1901, reaching in 1900 the low
mark of $50, although in that year the
average of cost was So, ,9O5. next highest to
this years high-water mark Coincidental
with this fall was the increase in the NUM-
Der of apartment houses from three in 1895
TO fffty-eight in 1900, followed by 154 last
year. The conclusion is inevitable that the
large supply of flats and apartments check
ed the home-building tendency of the peo-
pie and that the high average of dwelling
cost was due to the handsome homes erect
ed by wealthy residents, rather than to
high average of cost in the modest dwell
linSS. Ihe sudden loss OF loo IN the NUM-
Der of apartments last year over the year
previous is significant, therefore, as indi-
eating perhaps a return to the progression
toward a city of individual homes of good
character.
It is Furthermore significant that of the
sG7s7 4o5 put into new buildings last year
So. .494 626 was spent in what is still techni-
cany termed the county" meaning that
% lIvip
urban boundaries. Nothing could more en-
phaticalIy point to the necessity and JUS
tice of the legal elimination of this restrict
i've line, so false in fact and so unjust in
it's Determinations against the home
makers who are carrying Washington out
into the pleasant reaches of the suburban