The New York herald., 1922-01-29

"1'hc history OF building inspection In
the borough OF Manhattan dates back
to 1862. completing with this year sixty
years Of activity. When first inau-
gurated. building inspection was under
the Jurisdiction OF bureau of the Fire
Department. and the enforcement OF
building requirements continued under
such direction until 1892. when. by the
enactment Of Chapter 275. Laws of 1892.
Department of Buildings was Gre
ated. to which was transferred tho ju-
risdiction of the matters relating to
building heretofore administered by
the Bureau OF Inspection OF Buildings
OF tho Fire Department. At the same
time all matters under the control OF
the Board OF Health In regard to light.
ventilation. plumbing and drainage
were delegated to the new department.
This arrangement prevailed till 1898.
when the consolidation of the five bor-
oughs into the city OF New York was
effected. With this change came n now
Department of Buildings, headed by
the Board OF Buildings. consisting OF
three commissioners. one of whom had
jurisdiction over the boroughs of Man.
haitian and The Bronx. In 1907 there
was n general reorganization IN the
city government under the present
Greater New York charter. by which
the present BUREAU OF buuulnBS, Win
the superintendent as its head. was
given jurisdiction in tho borough of
Manhattan alone.
with the present conditions IL possible
only for the period including the first
six years of the table dS6S-1S7s). when
the city OF New York still consisted
solely Of the island of Manhattan. In
1874 portion OF what Is now The Bronx
was annexed to the city of New York.
as the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth
wards. From that time on. the figures
In the table include the operations OF
Manhattan Island and such portions of
the present borough OF Tho Bronx as
were at these different periods q part
OF the city Of New York.
THE second period of eight years
us73 to 1ssD brings US up TO the time
when a general revision OF the building
laws was made by the Legislature. From
that time on, the periods which have
been selected arc each ten years long
and represent successive decades OF
building operations fitting In with the
time when the activities were trans
ferred TO the department OF buildings in
1892 and when the reorganization Great
Ing the separate borough bureaus was
effected In 1902.
only once before In the history OF
the bureau was tho total cost of build
ing operations for 1921 exceeded by that
of any other year. That was in 1909,
when the total operations for the bor-
ough OF Manhattan were sii4, ,332, 2l2. The
nearest approach TO tho 1891 figures
were those OF the year before, 1920, at
sl3s, ,iso 563. These statements apply even
considering the years preceding 1909
when the figures for the entire city
(Manhattan and The Bronx are in
cluded.
Taking new buildings apart from the
| total operations, to find an excess over
| 1921, we must go back 10 the year 1900
again, the most active year the borough
of Manhattan or the former city ever
experienced, when the estimated cost of
new buildings amounted to S13l .2i6,tS
and to 1906, the year Just following
the opening OF the first subway. when
they totalled si24.7f 1861. Once during
tho period when The Bronx operations
were included the new building opera
tions included those of 1921. namely. In
1899 the year In which the first building
code as city ordinance was enacted
and to anticipate which many applica-
tions were filed for buildings which were
never actually constructed. Another
comparatively active year was that Of
1901. when the operations were increased
to q great extent Just preceding the
enforcement of the present tenement
house law.
"Generally speaking. there had been
n gradual advance in the value OF build
Ing operations as shown by the figures