Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1915-07-11
TELLS ALL ABOUT
new LINE OF WORK
Hugh Wallace Points that Building
Manager Is Now an Efficient Man
Instead Of Head Janitor.
MANY DUTIES TO LOOK AFTER

"A building manager Is no longer merely
a head janitor." said Hugh Wallace. In
opening a talk on Building Manage
ment" before the Omaha Real Estate
Exchange.
wallace IL to be the manager ~ the new
First National bank building when Il IL
completed. at sixteenth and Farnam
streets This n TO be a fourteen-story
structure.
Mr.. wallace has recently visited in Chi
oago and other large cities. where he
made a study of the building manage
nlent work with a View OF getting valu-
able pointers for his coming work in
Omaha
mo, a building manager is not a head
ianitor any more he said. ION the
other hand, he must be a very efficient
man and an expert In several lines. lie
must be necessarily a salesman. as he has
a great many rooms to rent and he must
see that they are rented all the time.
lie must be an architect, for he must plan
the rooms 70 suit the peculiar needs OF
his tenants; he must be an interior dec
orator. for he must look after the special
decoration for the different rooms TO suit
the tastes Of his respective tenants; he
must BE- a purchasing agent. for he must
purchase all the supplies for the building,
from coal TO soap. and he must be. above
all. financier, for he is expected to
make the building pay"
Comparison of BuiIdinEs.
Mr.. wallace compared the large, mod
eru office building 10 . small city. he
} pointed cut that many Of the large office
buildings are like q small city In that
they have their own police force. power
systsm. sewage and fire system, and
have all the problems OF the purchase of
supplies Of various kinds that the small
city has. besides having to employ labor
Of every class. Just a. the city does
The speaker told OF some special feat
ures worked out by some of the building
managers Of the larger buildings OF the
east. such as publishing a building d.
reotory. which Is always up to date,
showing alphabetically who is in the
building. their business, and the constant
changes in offices; the publication by ono
manager Of a daily building paper. telling
all the news of the building, and the use
of express checks that are dropped into
chute by tenants who have an express
package they want 20 send out.
Asked whether these buildings were
paying Mr.. Wallace said he had been told
that some Of them paid nc more on the
investment that a savings bank interest.
while others are said TO be paying u per
cent on the investment
II. O. LOOMS talked briefly on the
Height OF skyscrapers." and advocated
a restriction that would limit the height
OF buildings.
Cities that have no restriction in this
respect" asserted Mr.. Loomis. have now
very ragged and ugly skyline.
Omaha should have a restriction on
the height OF its buildings. and have It
soon. Eight to twelve stories would
perhaps be good limit II. instead of
being built 30 high. buildings were spread
over q little more ground 1t would be
much better for the whole city. The Ex-
change should take this matter up with
the city council. or perhaps a state law
on the subject would be better"