Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1922-02-02
BUILDERS LIST SIX
CAUSES FOR CRASH
Expert Says $1O0 Would Not
Have Called Him to
Theater Seat.

architects and builders for the col
lapse of the knickerbocker Theater
Saturday night. They are:
Hollow-tile walls without anchor
age backbones or uprigh steel beams,
which supported the roof trusses and
formed the ultimate support for the
weight of the roof and everything
on it.
Materials-steel, concrete and other
requisites-whfch some investigators
declare were found SO per cent lack
ing in quality and construction.
Absence Of supporting pillars or
uprights of sufficient strength be-
meath the roof and balcony.
Lack of the required number of
riyets or units-in some cases these
only four being placed where six
should have been.
The superimposed weight of many
tons on the roof caused by the install
latfon OF a huge motor and ventila-
tion system.
The six or seven-inch resting place
OF the main truss on the hollow tile
wall-which. it is believed, bore the
weight of the major portion of the
roof.
Would Have Avoided House.
here who worked on the Knicker-
booker Theater in the ornamental
iron work line. but who previously
had been engaged in some of the
early large building operations in
Washington, who says he could not
have been paid to sit through a per-
formance at the Knickerbocker.
He is William A. Morrison of 1924
30th street.-the man who contracted
for and put up the Colorado building,
one of Washington's first large Office
buildings, still listed as one of the
was the contractor and builder for
the first floor of the. New National
Museum, the marine barracks, the On
tario apartments and a number of
other large structures.
Situation Seen NJ Bad Here.
Here's what he says about building
generally in Washington: ~
teen years quite some few buildings
in Washington have not been put up
with as much consideration for safety
as to get by the building regulations
as fheapIy as possible. The situa-
ton now Is as bad, or worse, than
ever.
II am not an engineer, but I'm
practical builder Of the old school,
and I know when support Is needed
to keep buildings together.
"Possibly-probably- plans OF
the engineer putting up the Knicker-
booker Theater were all right. That
is not for me to say and I'm not ex-
pressing an opinion one way or an
other on it. Possibly a six or seven
inch hollow tile support for six or
seven toni don't know how much
the truss weighed exactly-is all
the building any more than I could
help. for it didn't look good to me
You cuold not have paid
me 500 to sit through a performance
there"
Another Explanation.
Here's another explanation from
man who was formerly in the hollow
tiling or fireproofing business,
which is a typical summary Of the
stand of many of the architects and
builders of the city on the Knicker-
booker crash:
Referring to the cause of the
Knickerbocker Theater roof collapsirg,
the writer would call your attention to
the photograph shown on page of
The Star of January 81.
please note hollow tile or terra Gotta
shown plainly as forming greater por-
tion Of wall. A close inspection of
your photograph will show that this
tile has apparently crushed under the
load at certain points, particularly at
q point on the illustration about two
inches above lower marginal line. This
looks like faulty design.
"The writer lis of the opinion that if
he I1e,
and not upon steel columns or heavy
brick plaster, it would cause such an
ACCIDENT as occurred.
Had the trusses been anchored to
steel columns aDd the rivets or bolts
sheared. this fact would easily be as
certained. as the broken rivets or
bolts would be easily discernible. but
from the picture it does not look as
though such a thing occurred"
Would Examine Walls.
He also advises-the examination of
the terra Gotta in the walls before
razing as we'll as an investigation
into the concrete.
Other points noted include the pos
sibility that non-anchored walls
opened the way for a spread when the.
roof buckled.
The start Of the collapse, it is be-
lieved by members Of the ,investigat-
ing committee of the American As
sociation of Engineers. according to
a statement of a member of that COM
mittee today, probably took place
from a point slightly in the rear of
the orchestra musicians pit. This
would indicate the approximate loca-
tton of the motor and fan of the ven-
tilating system, which crashed down
into the worst tumble of the entire
debris. The downward crash of the
fan and motor, with the portion of
the roof Immediately beneath them,
it is thought, pulled the center or
main truss Off the plumbline and the
rest of the upper structure followed.