Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-12

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. tO.-Already
It is quite apparent that reinforced
concrete is to enter largely In the re-
construction Of san Francisco. There
| Is scarcely a block i'm the down town
burned district that will not soon boast
Of at least one reinforced concrete
building, for they are to be seen on
every hand in various stages OF con-
struction. The fve-story Flannery
building, on the corner of Geary and
Market streets, is the first structure of
this kind to be occupied. The Freeborn
Estate company is erecting three
story office building a few blocks be-
| low on Market and at the corner of
Davis and Market the Lichstein Realty
company's three-story office building
has reached the second story The
Hooker Estate company is putting up
a four-story concrete building on Bat
terry, between Pine and Bush, and E.
w. Hopkins a seven-story structure on
Pine and Leidersdorf South of Mar
ket two pretentious office buildings are
rapidly rising. One is the eight-story
Bride Investment company building,
on Mission street, near Third, and the
other Is the Morton L. Cook building,
on the west corner of Second and
Minna.
The most notable reinforced concrete
building which has yet been announced
| for San Francisco is to be erected on
| the corner of Fourth and Market
streets, the site of the old Flood build
ing. 1t will be nine stories high and
will cost 81, 100000. It's exterior, for the
first two stories, will be veneered with
ceramic tile in rich browns. Above the
second story the entire front Will be
faced with cream colored glazed terra
Gotta in rich detail. The corridors and
Hobbies will be finished in imported
marbles, and six electric high speed
elevators will be installed. All the Of
fees and stores will be trimmed in
mahogany. A splendid law library will
be installed in the building for the use
of the attorneys who may be tenants.
The building will have a complete
heating, lighting and power plant, suf-
| ficient to provide for the needs of all
the neighboring buildings.
One remarkable feature of this con-
crete structure, as pointed out by the
architect, Charles F. Whittlesey, is the
fact that nine stories are made possi-
BILE within the limit of height to which
concrete buildings are restricted by the
city ordinance-102 feet. The first story
will have a height of twenty feet, the
second twelve feet, and the other sto-
ries ten feet each. BY an ingenious
arrangement of the structure, the fact
that the roof is of concrete makes 1t
possible to dispense entirely with an
attic story.
Reinforce. concrete experts declare
that no other construction will stand
fire and earthquake as well as rein
forced concrete. And according to in
vestigations made by the California
promotion committee 1t would seem
that the facts bear out this assertion.
1t Is we'll known, for example, that the
museum at Stanford university was
built seventeen years ago of rein
forced concrete being the first build
ing of lis kind in California. AS COM
pared with our modern methods, it was
a very crude example of reinforced
concrete construction. Nevertheless, 1t
stood the earthquake admirably. One
statue was thrown from the top and
all the marble statuary in the interior
was toppled to the floor and broken.
The pictures on the walls were swung
with their faces to the wall. However,
the building sustained no damage, not
even being cracked in the slightest ex-
tent The girls dormitory was also of
concrete construction except in the
roof. The roof was badly damaged,
but the remainder of the building was
but slightly injured.
In San Francisco, the Belsins ware
house was constructed with brick walls
and reinforced concrete for all other
parts, such as floors, girders and in
terror columns. This building sustained
practically no damage either from fire
or earthquake. At the time of the
quake the building was under con-
struction, and but two stories had been
completed. The first story had already
been filled with inflammable merchan-
disc, which was entirely consumed.
The building was not damaged in the
| least.
There were many other buildings in
| San Francisco having reinforced con-
crete floors. The national board of fire
underwriters report of the San Fran
cisco disaster shows that less than 5