Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1902-02-14
1 WRECKER OF BUILDINGS
BUSINESS MADE NECESSARY BY
ARCHITECTURAL CHANGES.

A Comparatively New Calling the Dl-
rect outgrowth of improvements
Which Have Transformers New
York In Two Decades.
At hearing which took place re
Gently in a downtown law Office a wit
ness was asked. What is your bust
ness~ tM
Il am a wrecker."
Banks or vessels?" said the funny
lawyer.
Buildings" coolly answered the
witness.
The building wreeking business Is
a comparatively new one in New York,
and is the direct ourgrowth of the
extensive architectural improvements
which have transformed the city of
New York in the last two decades.
When a piece of property is purchased
nowadays for the purpose of erecting
on it a new business building or apart
ment house the owner, is usually anx-
ious to have the plot cleared for the
builder, and in most instances even
the foundations are taken out. so that
new and more massive masonry may
be constructed. 1t was the custom
before the days of the wrecking con-
Germs to give the builder the contract
to take down the cid structure on
the site on which the new one was
to be erected. and. while some of the
material was saved the greater part
Of it was carted away as fuel, junk or
rubbish. The wrecking concerns to
whom the demolition of buildings is
now intrusted know the value of old
building material. and usually find a
market for the heaps of debris which
look valueless to the layman.
One must be an all around mechanic,
a builder and a judge of values" said
a man who makes his living by tear
ing down buildings, ito be. a success
full wrecker. It's nothing to pull
down a house and save the big pieces.
such as stone steps, sills ard lintels.
carved mantelpieces and inside fit
tinGs. That was enough in the days
when there was no competition, but
nowadays We must save every foot
of pipe. the ordinary woodwork. and
even the nails out of the floors to get
even on close bargains"
Much Of the material which comes
from the wrecked buildings is sold on
the SPOT and carted away by the pur-
chasers. but large quantities of all
kinds Of building material are stored
in yards, where they are easy OF ac-
cess when the customer who wants
ready made doorsteps or well seasoned
brick may come to buy. Sheds are
provided for the storage of doors.
counters. wainscoting. window frames,
flooring and trim. and racks and bins
contain iron and lead pipe. gas and
water fixtures, and nearly every item
in the line of builders hardware.
One of the largest wrecking con-
tracts Of the year is the one which is
now under way on the block bounded
by Fifty first and Fifty-second streets
and Park and Madison avenues. The
building which is being demolished.
was, until recently, occupied as a Ro-
man Catholic orphan asylum. The
concern having charge of the demoli-
ton Of the building gave a round sum
for the privilege, and agreed to have
the block cleared in fifty working
days. The Madison avenue front
show that the work OF destruction is
progressing rapidly but one must
go into the court, behind the scenes.
to get an idea of the work which is
being done. There one sees great
piles of all kinds of building material
which at first glance appear to be piled
Unfortunately into shapeless
stacks. On closer inspection one sees.
however. that the flooring has a place
for Itself; that doors. sashes, columns.
beams and other parts of the vanish
ing structure have places set aside for
their temporary storag; that men are
at work cleaning the brick and stones.
ard that wagons are taking away great
quantities OF metal from the east side
of the Enclosure, where men weigh the
bent and twisted pieces that have out
lived their usefulness and are valuable
now only as junk.
One or the wreckers when asked
whether the amount paid for the old
building would be realized from the
wreckaEe said: 1T would be a bad
Job II VIC did not get that back. In
addition TO what we paid for the build
ing it Will cost us more than SIS. 900 to
take it down. and. although the work
has just begun, we are already getting
much OF our money back. The rapid
transit people bought all the timber.
We get 81 ton for the junk iron. four
cents pound for the lead and thirteen
cents a pound for copper. Bricks are
worth about 81 a thousand and the
bricks frcl building like this are
as good rs new, we have no difficulty
in realizing 1878 and 81 for them.
cleaned and delivered. This building
contains about six million bricks. OF
this amount about one million will
be lost in breakage and count, but
even then at 1915 a thousand we
would realize slS,750 on the one item
of bricks. New York Tribune.