Los Angeles herald., 1906-07-15
ARE REMOOELING
THE CITY HALL
THIRD FLOOR is UNDERGOING
GREAT CHANGE
Gloomy Old Structure, Too Small for
Present Needs, Is Being En-
Iarged Gradually to Meet
Demands

During the last week the gloomy old
pile dignifed by the name of city hall
has been shaken from it's lethargic rev.
cries of glories gone and forgotten,
save only by this hoary UNCOVERED
relic of an age of grating in building
construction. The sound Of the ham,
mer has echoed through its dimly lit
corridors and the ripping saws have
nearly driven the bats in the belfry
into nervous prostration. The entire
third floor of the city hall is undergo
ing such a thorough reconstruction as
the old hall has never known before.
The third floor was occupied by the IL
brary department until a few months
ago when the library was moved to
more commodious quarters in the an
mex of the Homer Laughin building.
Since then the board of public works
has undertaken to utilize this space for
the benefit of departments that have
been so badly cramped for so long that
they have become distorted.
Departments Need More Room
Not only does nearly every depart
ment in the municipal government
scheme need more room for effective
work. but there are a number of de-
partments maintained outside the city
hall in office rooms, for which rent
must be paid every month. During the
past fiscal year this rent has amounted
to more than $1,000 a month, and the
finance committee has urged the board
to hurry the work of reconstruction so
that this drain on the city treasury will
not be continued during the next fiscal
year. The work of reconstruction is
expected to be completed within the
next thirty days
The contract for this work was let
to Peter keenan, for S4100. The first
thing the contractor did was to knock
big windows in the sides of the build
ing and let in light where darkness had
held full sway. Not less than twenty
windows have been added in this way
to the third story. These windows
have made 1t as light as day and the
bats that formerly infested the garret
of the city hall building have been
forced to seek other quarters. A long
row of windows in the room that was
formerly used as the reference depart
ment of the library has introduced a
| flood of northern light that in the
! opinion of City Engineer Stafford has
made it one of the best draughting
| rooms in California. 1t will be used for
this purpose.
Many Improvements Planned
department and a portion of the fiction
department of the former library, will
be fitted up for the city attorney. This
will give plenty of room for the city's
law library and will greatly relieve the
present cramped quarters that the city
attorney and his assistants are forced
to occupy on the second floor
The portion of the former fiction de-
partment, which is not included in the
suite to be allotted the city attorney,
Will be fitted up for the use of the city's
civil service department, which now
occupies elegant quarters on the fifth
floor of the Wilcox building What
was formerly the reading room of the
library will be used by Building Super
intendent Backus. All the rest of the
third floor will be devoted to the use
of the city engineer.
The rooms now used by the city at
torney an, the city engineer on the
second floor will be changed a little
The city attorneys rooms will be given
to the council for committee rooms, for
since the board of public works has
taken possession of the former COM
mittee rooms the council has had no
place to hold it's secret delibera tions.
The city engineers rooms will be di-
Vided among the city electrician and
the assessment and opening and widen
ing departments that are now crowded
into little corners in the street de-
partments rooms. The room now used
by the city engineer as a draughting
room will be given to the library de-
partment for a newspaper file room.