Los Angeles herald., 1906-10-13
MAY CONSTRUCT
TEST BUILDINGS
BRICK AND CONCRETE MEN
DISAGREE
Both Sides Anxious to Build Struc-
tures of Each Material and Have
Them Subjected to Severe
OrdeaIs

For an hour or more yesterday after
noon the hordes of the brick and con-
crete men waged battle of oratory on
the floor of the council chamber before
special meeting of that body, and in
the end with the council agreed to a.
two weeks delay in which all could
agree. The cause of all the trouble is a
section in the new building ordinance
that reads as follows:
THE external walls of reinforced con-
crete buildings shall be constructed
OF brick, stone or concrete, Where
brick, stone or concrete is used for walls
for the exterior or interior of buildings.
whether bearing or curtain walls,
whether the same shall be reinforced
with steel or not, the thickness of such
walls shall be the same as masonry
walls"
This section the concrete men take
exceptions to. They claim that 1t is
entirely in favor Of the brick men and a
discrimination against the concrete
men, They argue that Of the walls are
reinforced with steel bars there is no
necessity for the thickness Of the con-
crete to equal that of brick that is not
reinforced by steel.
walls May Be Calico
Attorney Seward A. Simons. who an
peared for Carl Leonardt. one of the
most extensive users of reinforced con-
crete of any of the builders of the city.
showed this point in. an argument with
Attorney Walter Haas, who appeared
for the committee that had drawn up
the ordinance.
In the course of his speech Mr.. Haas
declared that when a building was con-
structed of steel and concrete the steel
itself was sufficient to support the
weight placed upon it and that it made
no difference IL the walls were of calico
''If that is the case" said Mr.. Simons
triumphantly, why does the ordinance
require that when reinforced by steel
the concrete walls shall be of an equal
thickness with those OF brick? If calico
walls would suffice why may not the
thinnest kind of concrete walls be used
when reinforced with concrete?''
In answering this question Mr.. Haas
took refuge behind the fact that the
committee appointed to draw UP the or
dinance were men of the brightest
standing in the building world of Los
Angeles and that as this committee had
presented its report the council must
either accept it or imply that the COM
mittee either did not know it's business
VI WSIS SuDulleu ny IuSTCeIldTy motives.
Want to Build Samples
The concrete men, especially Harrison
Albright, who built the Homer Laugh
lin building and has under construction
81, 900, 900 worth of reinforced concrete
buildings, were anxious that both the
concrete men and the brick men build
two sample structures to be subjected
to all kinds of tests that might be
found feasible and that the ordinance
be based on these tests. Joseph Simons,
one of the leading brickmakers, readily
agreed to this, and it is probable that
something Of the kind will be done.
The concrete men pointed to build
ings still standing in San Francisco
after the earthquake and fire as ex-
amples of what reinforced concrete
would stand.
They declared that concrete was inn
pervious to fire and a non-conductor Of
heat.
Both brickmen and concrete men had
photographs of various buildings, most
of them taken in San Francisco after
the disaster to show the relative values
of these materials. The brick men
showed that much damage had been
done to the concrete buildings, and the
concrete men had equally convincing
photographs of damage to brick build
inRS,