New-York tribune., 1909-11-02
COURTS In DANGER
BUILDING CRUMBLES.
$780, 900 Needed to Repair
Centre Street Structure.

the contrary. quarter OF a million of dol
lars will have to be spent TO make the
Criminal Courts Building safe for oc-
cupancy. Although it has been known
for several years that the building. the
cornerstone of which was laid when Hugh
Grant was Mayor of the city and Richard
Croker the boss, was unsafe. the extent
of the danger was not really known until
yesterday. An engineer and inspector from
the Buildings Department went over the
building yesterday. and while they refused
to express themselves in detail it was
learned that this vast sum of money would
have TO be spent to keep the building from
collapsing.
Buildings Superintendent Eoorhis said
yesterday that he had been through the
building with Rudolph c. Miller, consulting
engineer in charge. and that the latter had
recommended that measures be taken at
once 10 strengthen the weaker parts. Fol
lowing the visit. work was begun to brace
UP the arches in the middle OF the build
ing. so that there would be no chance
that the cave-in would ccrae before cleo
ton.
Following Voo-his's visit a rumor gained
circulation in the building that the col
lapse might come at any minute, and the
Buildings Department was beseged by
anxious occupants. who wanted the real
facts. Commissioner Murphy was not at
all pleased by the rumor and denied en-
rhatically that the building was in anv
such condition
The building has not been condemned
he said. and no report has been sent to
this office recommending such an action
cannot imagine how such story started
for it is all poppycock"
The cornerstone of the Criminal Courts
Rullding was laid in 1890. when Hugh J.
Grant was Mayor. Thomas F. C;iIrov was
holding the same office when the structure
vas finished. while the two Controllers who
ofhciated during the construction were
Theodore W. Myers and AshbeI p Fitch
The site of the building formerly the
Old Collect Pond and the front part of the
building was erected on piles, while the
back part was built on the sand founda-
ton. When the subway was built through
Centre street the water was gradually
drained off, leaving very finsy founda-
tiOn.
When the subway trains started running
the jar began to work on the building, and
soon small cracks appeared, which
grew larger every day. Some snoring was
done from time to time. but, while 1t helped
for time, the good not lasting. Now
the building is a mass of cracks and
breaks. Huge blocks of granite have
broken in two like paper. and a piece of
paper pasted over one of these cracks at
night will be found broken in the morning,
showing the rapidity with which the build
ing is settling. From the mezzanine floor
u the roof there is a crack several inches
wide, and arches over the various starways
are split. Pipes are continually bursting.
and in many places the ceilings have fallen
oil are on the point of doing so.
From time to time the pipes con-
trolling the hydraulic elevators have
broken. putting the lifts out of COM
mission and soaking the masonry Not
alone in the Criminal Courts Building has
the jar of the subway been shown, for a
giant crack has appeared In one OF the
granite walls surrounding the Tombs. In
the building some of the composition PHI
lars, which were supposed to be marble
and were paid for as such, now appear 10
be soft plaster Even some of the Snoring
pillars have begun to show the strain that
has been put on them, while in some places
on the marble floors cracks an inch
wide that run clear across the building.
while the floors themselves slant at all
sorts of angles.
1t was found necessary two years ago to
tear out all the lighting wires in the
building and relay them. there was dam
ger of fire. Windows and doors longer
fit. Last March the building settled at
an alarming rate. and one night Edward
Cooper, the janitor, woke up to find that
bursting pipes had flooded the building and
compelled him to vacate his quarters. Some
repairing was done then, and attempts
were made to belittle the work of destruc-
tion that was going on.
The Criminal Courts Building cost the
taxpayers OF New York 100000 on the
day that it was completed. At the lay
ing OF the cornerstone Mayor Grant told
of the great pains that had been taken
10 make the building a source of pride
to the city and. with the other speakers,
prophesied that the building would stand
for years and years and that in it the poor
and the rich would be treated alike.
There are two tablets in the building one
of which reads:
Criminal Courts Building, 1S&0-IS93 Con-
structed under the Department of Public
Works. Thomas F. Gilroy Commissioner
of Public Works. 1890; Michael J. Dady.
Commissioner of Public Works, 1893: Ar
thur NJ. Thom. James w. Wilson, John I.
SChaarschmidt, Associate Architects. Con-
tractors, Dawson & Archer. Patrick X.
Iantry, Jackson Arch Iron Works, q. y.
Evans Construction Company. the Mitchell
Vance Company, James Fay. Eugene L.
Mclean. Engineer of Finance Department;
William q. Bergen, Superintendent of De
partment of Public Works"
After the close of the courts in the
building this afternoon Judges OSullivan
Swami and Grain. of the Court of General
Sessions went to the second mezzaniue
floor and looked at the crack in the wall.