Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-26
RECORD FOR WORK
EnormousBui ding Operations
in the United States.
MILLIONS EXPENDED
GAIN OF NEARLY 72 PER CENT IN
WASHINGTON.
Nearly 1850 Buildings Put Up in
Fifty of the Principal Cities
of the Country.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.

| written for The Evening Star and Chicago
| Record Herald
There have been enormous building oper-
ations at various times in various parts of
the world-at st. Petersburg, when Peter
| the Great founded his capital there and
| laid out city of palaces; in Paris, when
| Baron Haussmann regenerated and beauti-
| fed that capital of the world; in Rome,
| during the great boom after the eternal
| city came under the control of the civil au-
| thorities; at La Plata, where the Argentine
| government built a new capital to avoid a
| revolution, and afterWard abandoned it,.
| But none of these enterprises and no others
| that / ever heard of, equaled either in ex-
| tent value the building operations which
| took place in the United States during the
year 1903, when almost 800, 900, 600 was ex-
| pended in the erection of nearly 12SOOO
| buildings in fifty of the principal cities Of
| the United States.
That was undoubtedly the recod year for
| architectural operations in all history, but
| 1902 came very near to 1t, and during those
| two years $I65, 900 was expended in
| stone, brick and mortar, iron and steel, and
| other building materials in the cities re-
ferred to- The greatest boom in New
| York city proper, of course, where $751;
| SS2,71S expended in the erection of 2S77
buildings in 1902, and SS6, J022a was eX-
pended on 1906 buildings in 1903, being an
| average cost Of about $2S,J29 for each build
| ing during the two years. The average for
| 1902 WIS $31 ,242 and for 1903 SIG, 1863
Greater New York, which includes Brook
Ign and other suburban towns, put up $221,-
POI worth of buildings during the two
years. at average cost of something like
$4,000.
Where the Building Was Done.
The largest relative gain was at New
Haven where there was an increase of 81
per cent in 1893 over 1902 in the value of
buildings erected; in Washington, D. c.,
where there was a gain of nearly 70 per
cent and at Atlanta, where there was
gain of 90 Der cent.
Los Angeles, Cal, stands at the head OF
the list in proportion to population, and
ranks with New ork, Chicago, Philadel-
phia, Brooklyn, San Francisco, Pittsburg,
| Boston and St Louis. Each of those cities
put up more than s13,000,OO0 worth of
buildings during the last calendar year.
Washington, D. c., follows closely after
comes a group Of three cities-Minneapolis,
Kansas City and Milwaukee-whch spent
between 100000 and $S,000,0O0
In the 100000 class are Detroit, Sc
attle Buffalo and Cleveland, the thrifty
young giant on Puget Sound having leaped
ahead of cities ten times its age and three
times its population.
Newark stands alone in the 100000
class Denver and Cincinnati are paired
with s',03o,000 while 100000 each are
credite>. to Columbus, Providence, ST. Paul,
Atlanta, indianapolis and Jersey City.
New Orleans, Louisville, Worcester, Ale
gheny, Memphis and Richmond are credit
ed with 100000 each, and the remaining
| eighteen cities are under 100000.
New York, as have told you, has the
highest average value per building, with no
other city near 1t. Boston comes second,
with an average value per building of
s9,457 in 1902 and $5,373 in 1903. In Brook
Ign the average was s9.232 in 1902 and
So 657 in 1903; in Chicago, $3.50 in 1902 and
W ha Nv ",
delphia was 1880 in 1902 and 1858 in
1903. In all of the large cities of the coun-
try the average cost of building was great
er in 1902 than 1t was last year.
In Chicago. which stands next to New
York In totals, twice as many buildings
were erected in 1908 in 1902, but the
value decreased from $4s,242. 800 in 1902. to
SAT ,295, 600 in 1903.
Philadelphia, next in Importance, shows
an increase in both the number and the
value of buildings erected. The total num-
Der In 1902 was S,954 and in 1903, 9257:
while the value increased from 500, 992, 26O
| to $33 ,4S7 I'll, gain of 1165 per cent.
1t is interesting to compare the rank of
the different cities in population with their
ample, which ranks thirty sixth In the order
of population by the census of 1900, stands
number nine In buildings, and Seattle which
is forty,eighth in population, ranks four
teenth. In new buildings. Pittsburg is
eleventh in population and sixth in build
ings. Minneapolis stands nineteenth and
tenth, Kansas City twenty-second and
eleventh, Denver twenty-fifth and eight
zenith, and Atlanta forty-third and twenty
third
Detroit is the only city that is exactly
even, ranking thirteenth in each class, while
Milwaukee is very nearly so, standing
fourteenth in population and twelfth in
buildings.
The Fifty Cities.
You will find the following table very in
teresting, because it contains a list of fifty
cities, arranged according to their expendi-
lures for building purposes during the year
1903, and shows at the same time their
relative rank in population by the census
of 1900: