The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-12-30
NEW RECORD. IS ABOVE ALL COMP PAR|SON
In Immediate Past Groups Of Years Fall Short Of Enor- nous Stride Registered By Twelve Months Closing OPTIMISTIC INSPECTORS PREDICTIONS ARE VERIFIED Discounting Sundays And Holidays, Birmingham Built A Home Every Working Hour During Year

Birmingham greatest building year of all time will close with more than S12166.946 invested in new structures according to figures com piled Saturday by City Building h. spector J. E. Spencer.
 These figures represent 4.9S5 per- mits. issued for construction of 5i5o3 buildings. The grand total will go still higher before the books for the year finally close Monday evening.
 The years record is an increase of nearly s5,OOO,O00 over 1922-a showing that will not be surpassed this year in any other southern city, according to Inspector Spencer.
 Buildings went dp in the Magic City in 1923 at the rate of IS a day. and the average daily investment was $40.55G.50.
 Almost half of the buildings were residences, marking tn year about to close as Birminghams greatest home building period. Permits were issued for 23 new apartment houses and the remaining 2.S14 permits were for stores, offices and other buildings.
 December the closing month. hung up a record far in advance of that for any previous December in his tory. A total of 334 permits were is- sued for erection of 453 buildings at q cost of $1,451500.
 The 2.666 permits issued during the year for new homes called for a total outlay Of $5.31S.242, Inspector Spencer's records showed.
 C. I. Kendriell, chief clerk to In- Ispector Spencer, points out that the act ual amount spent on new con- struction during the year probably ] exceeded the official totals on his books by thousands of dollars, inas- much as it is the custom to issue permits on the basis of approximately lthree-fourths of the actual value Of the buildings to be erected. o O o
 Amazing strides.
 The amazing building strides made i in Birmingham during the last 2S years are shown by the old records ! in Inspector Spencer's office. In 1900 la tctal- of 503 permits were issued for construction valued al $1,190,000 Dur i ing each succeeding year the number | of permits and the construction values jumped steadily until in 1910 total of sill permits valued at ' $S,524.053 were issued.
 In 1920 the city hung up a building record of S4,3S3.7S4. In 1921 the totals jumped to $6659.O92. In 1922 the ! total was S7.491, ,O20. and Inspector Spencer at the beginning of 1923 pre- dfcted that the $10, 000,000 mark would be reached by the end of the year. But from the very first of the year the totals began showing sen sational increases, and Saturday night. with one day left to go, the $12.000,000 mark had been passed with several thousand dollars tt spare, Inspector Spencer was jubilant over the years showing. He remarked that no person in Birmingham would have dared a few months ago tc predict that the total would pass $16,0o0. .000.
 eve have accomplished the i'm. possible" he said, ''and the totals show that Birmingham is growing faster than any other city in the south. In 1924 I expect to set new high record and pass every southern city, including Atlanta, in construc- tion.
 D. E McLendon, president of the city commission, declared the mag nificent record for the year showed conclusively that Birmingham is headed fast toward a population of a half million.