Los Angeles herald., 1908-06-21
MILLION A MONTH
IN NEW BUILDINGS
RECORD IS CONSTRUCTION BY
THE MILE
NEW HOMES MULTIPLY BY HUN
DREDs EVERY MONTH
Other Cities Of the Country Qat-
stripped by Los Angeles in Every
Important Enterprise--Fig-
ures in Brief

1t is the boast of the promoters oA
the best interests of Los Angeles that
I'VE build by the mile" and the rec
ords show that the claim is well
founded and subetantiated by the facts
as they emanate from the office of the
chief inspector of buildings of the de-
partment of public works.
1t was Mr.. Metcalf, who said when
he was secretary of the department of
commerce and labor, that, owing to the
phenomenal growth of Los Angeles In
population, the percentages of increase
generally used for estimating cannot
be applied to this CITY, The same dec
laration might have been applied
justly to the matter of permanent i'm
provement If the department had gone
into detail. During the last four or
five years the expansion of Los Ange-
les in the erection of splendid business
blocks, hotels and educational instltu-
tions, and the building of homes in the
city and in the suburbs, has been mar
VelouS in steadinesS and amazing in
extent. And yet our home people are
not surprised, only highly gratified,
sometimes stopping long enough to
wonder If building on such a large
scale will ever know period of COM
parative inactivity.
We surely do build by the mile IL
| Jou AiCoSdiC LlIC IIOHLdBO OL lIl6 new
business blocks and the sites of the
thousands of beautiful homes that
adorn the streets and avenues.
| Comparisons are tedious and confus-
ing, The records show that the build
ing operations for the past three or
four years have been on an average of
over a million dollars a month in
valuation, while there were months
when the valuation went as high as
$2000,000, and frequently as high as
| $14000000 and $15, ,000
For the year 1907 over $14,000,O00 was
put into new structures In 1903 and
1904 the improvements aggregated over
$13,O00,000 for each year; for 1905 the
amount was $15,931,6O7; FOR 1906 it was
SIS, ,502, 446.
The business district Of Los Angeles
has been in a large measure trans
formed within a few years by the erec-
ton of towering structures of the
modern type. Included in the list Of
those recently completed may be men,
toned the splendid Temple Auditorium,
the Polytechnic, the International Ex-
change and Savings bank, the Security
b-ilding, the Crosse building, the Hotel
Alexandria, the l. w. Hellman build
ings, the Central building, the Wright
& Calender building, the Pease Bros
store building, the Trustee building,
the Johnson building, the Kerckhoff
building and the Norton block, the
Greater Hamburger department store,
the largest building of it's kind west of
Chicago, and countless flats and apart
ment houses of great value and perfect
fireproof construction.
Active Home Building
Naturally the erection of dwelling
houses for every year almost in the
history of Los Angeles has far ex-
ceeded that of business houses. For
many months the average number of
permits for building of homes has ex-
ceeded $50, sometimes the number GO
ing as high as 500 and 600. Even dur
ing the dullest periods of the years of
the recent past, and there are really
no dull times in Los Angeles as COM
pared with the history of other cities
in the country, there has been no ces-
sation in the construction of homes. 1t
| is the aim and purpose of everybody
who has a family to possess a home in
| this favored cline, and consequently
homes multiply with marvellous rapid
| ity. They spring UP in every direction,
from the mountains to the coast, and
real estate operators are kept con-
stantly on the move acquiring fresh
acreage for the opening of new tracts
to meet the demands of the public.
These homes are the enterprises that
add to the population and wealth Of
the city, and assure the permanency
of the metropolis OF the Land of the
Afternoon" as an industrial and COM
mercial center.