The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-06-09
Contractors All Over Country
Marvel at This City's
Great Growth
SOLID, SUBSTANTIAL
IMPROVEMENTS. TOO
People Have Confidence in
the Future and are Pull
ing for a Greater City
With a Vim
Ry j, V. DRENER.
Secretary Of the Builders ExchnnS01

To write story concerning the
most important industry in the city o.
Richmond at the present time, Names {
IL. the building industry -Mould-Le
uuire more space imam can he given
ae this time To begin with, the nlar-
velous amount OF building in ttlss city
has attracted the attention of, / m1EHt
say, the entire country. Contractor
from ali parts arc attracted to ken
mond by the large amount OF bulid-ss
ing. When | say building, l mean
work Of sofid. substantial characters
amounting to hundreds OF thousan11
OF dollars
For instance. under course or cons
struction at the present writing ara
Murphy's hotel. "a contract amounts
ing. to halt d million dollars. wares
ho1faes and factory buildings for the
British American Tobacco Companys
Ltd, tn cost being about two nun
dred and fifty thousand dollars; tina
new home of the chamber of con-
rnerce, located at the corner OF Sixth
and Main streets First Virginia regi~
ment arn1ory building, Seventh and
Marshall streets; Ruegers hotel
Ninth and Bank streets; Lyric theatre
building Ninth and Broad streets.
Much Work Going On.
And Just here, allow me to remark
that this section around The Capito.
Square Is becoming on. of the most
beautiful parts of our magnificent city,
There are vast quantities of residences
work being done in ali parts OF the
city, as q glimpse at the records ut
the exchange or at the office of tho
building inspector win show. There
is much work nearing completion. the
new. postoffice building, First National
bank building Life Insurance Conn
pany of Virginia building. huge fac-
tory for the Kline Motor Car CONF
pany an Industry attracted TO Rich-
mond because Of the unlimited possi-
bilities of our city The Virginia
Railway and Power company are
doing much work, among the more
important their office building at
Seventh and Franklin streets. and
their power house at the foot Of
Twelfth street.
The city of Richmond itself has
caught the fever of building. az IL
known, by erecting modern schools
houses In all parts OF the city. Il hand-S
, some school at Madison and Cary
streets, another at Cedar and Fuchs
anan streets, and plans are being pres
| pared for new building at Twepty-
third and Grace streets, and another
in the West End 10 be known AS the
| Sidney school. There are also mar
| ket buildings being erected at Seven-
! feenth and Franklin to replace the
| old fish" market. and plans are being
prepared for another one to take the
| place Of the present one located be-
I tween Main and Franklin on Sevens
( teenth street.
Brick In Demand.
Much has been said regarding the
scarcity of brick. but don't let's COM
plain, this only shows the vast amount
of work being done, and just give our
brick manufacturers a short time In
| which to catch up with the unprece-
dented demand and all will work
smoothly.
! The subeoptra ctors&Hof n@ isfehn10nd-
cannot be equaled anywhere else for.
their strict attention TO business and
I their manner and method OF dotnE
business, all OF them being WE'LL
equipped To do the best work in their
respective lines anywhere in the
South, and ut this time having prac-sI
tIcally- all As-lycr!s- they caH-halsasc--
The general contractors Of Richmufd
need no recommendation to the pub
He; the class OF work they do stands
for itself, and cannon be excelled.
Reinforced concrete is fast becom.
Ing an important factor IN the build-
8 =
ing erected OF this MAGICAL will bear
witness, Saniong the more important AZ
seven story warehouse being erected
at sBeividere and Main streets.
Steady Growth.
Several years ago people were say.
In that the building boom" would
soon stop, To begin with, there is no
building boom In this city; it Is sim
ply a steady growth due To the fact
/ that h~e. rnnfji.stten
I city ever since IL was a city and IN
4 long as ii will remain a city. nuda5
! Richmond. today. ooinpares very fav-N
orablv with cities much larger. an sk5
glance AT building reNorts from other
CITIES will show. Amour the list 0&a
bidders on different classes of warl
! will be found the Mares OF some az
the country, who have BEE
attracted to Richmond by the heft9S
class of work being dor~ by the Com
( ira ctcrs OF this civ q statement tl16&
Will be borne orr by simply lo0kina
MT any list of bidders on governing ~
work. where will be found the nnr1
/ of Richmond contractors showing kh1E
! the class OF work done In this IA
I Is eual to anv done in this country.
i While speaking of government wx1g
| 1t viii be well TO call ~~sntion t0A
sli~ht Incident that occurred d o1SQ2
while ago. Bids We're asked for on
new postofffce building ana bnrAASt
engraving and printing. IL be erA<
( ia Washington. each contract amUG
! inc 10 nearly two million dOf
1 Among the names Of three bidders
submitted bids was the name n
Richmond contractor. and thia
contractor lost the work by III
small figure which will af4OTr
/ CONTINUED on Feurth paa ssy