Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-02-13
D.C.BU|LD|NC TOTAL.
/ 9Th AMONG CITIES
Construction in January
Foots Up s3,72s, es0-0th-
er Gains Are Noted.

Washington started out the year by
taking ninth place among the large
cities Of the country in point OF
building construction. The end Of
January gave the District value In
new buildings of S3,,2S.9SO.
Los Angeles. San Francisco. Seattle
and Pittsburgh showed a considerable
increase. and New York City showed
the tremendous gain Of more than
S11 900, 900 during last month. A num-
her of Southern cities We're seen Tor
the first time among the leading 20
cities in point of new building.
January building permits in 42o
cities promise a larger volume or
building in many parts of the country
this Spring than was indicated at this
time last year. according TO the ma
fional monthly building survey OF s.
W. Straus & Co.. made public yester-
day. 4 gain of 9 per cent this Janu-
srv is comparable with a loss Of 3i2
per cent last January.
General Report "Spotty"
While the new year thus begins with
total volume greater than for any
previous January. the general report
Is somewhat spotty. In many States
the issue of permits was considerably
less than during the same month last
year.
The 400 cities covered in the S w.
Straus 4 Co. survey issued S26e,6lo,-
IT'S of building permits as compared
with S247 .079 COS in January. 1925.
The % leading cities had gain OF
Is per cent comparable with very
slight increase last January. The IS
leading cities also reported 6S per cent
Of the total.
At the same time these increa ses
were not evenly spread among the
larger ceuters of population. New
York Detroit. Philadelphia. San Fran
cisco. Seattle and the cities Of the
South. which are still holding their
building activities, practically repre-
sent the gain for the country.
Chicago, Washington. Boston and
other cities, which were very active
last January, this year showed de-
creases. The South. IS cities in IL
States reporting, had q gain of GO
per cent. In the East 1913 cities had
a gain, but only on account of New
York City's gain of Is per cent, all
horoughs participating. In 1873 CEN
trail cities, including Chicago. there
was a loss; in Sc Pacific Western
cities there was q. loss, despite gains
in San Francisco and Seattle. Los
Angeles had a loss of more than
t4,000,000.
States Showing Gains.
The States which showed January
gains were New York. New Jersey,
Pennsylvania. Kansas. Michigan.
Missouri. Montana. Arkansas. Flor
ida, Georgia. Louisiana. MISSISSIPPI,
North Carolina. Tennessee, Texas,
Washington and Idaho.
The South. with the advent of the
new year. has intensified its phe-
nomenal building activities. The j.
strictly Southern States made a gain
In January of 90 per cent over jan
uary year ago. This was the high
est increase since October and indf-
Gates that the volume of southern
building will he we'll sustained during
the coming Spring. The total for the
IS leading Southern cities was S42,
5s6.446, against s25,259,7S9 in January,
1925
While active conditions were re-
ported throughout the South, the
spectacular building gains in Florida
Were the outstanding feature. The
Is principal cities in that State re-
ported permits issued of S1s994 1876,
compared with $5,755,056 last JAN
uary, a gain Of 230 per cent Sub
stantial gains were recorded in At
lanta, New Orleans, Shreveport, Ashe-
willie, High Point, Winston-S Salem,
Knoxville. Memphis, Nashville. ANA
Iillo, FL Paso. Fort Worth, Houston.
San Antonio. Wichita Falls, Norfolk
and Richmond. OF the IL Southern
States included in the report, show
ed gains over the same month a year
ago.
The 25 leading cities. in volume of
permits, had gain of So per cent,
with a total of $35.504.174 against
S19 ,055 .001 in January. 1925. Houston
captured the lead from Miami. with
gain of 40 per cent and total Of
$500 .o43. Miami was a close second,
with s3.43l $50. a gain of o24 per cent
over January last year. Fort Laud-
erdale climbed from twentieth to
third position. with a total Of 5000
$40, and a gain of 13.43 per cent. St.
Petersburg rose from sixth position
TO fourth. Coral Gables dropped
from fifth place to sixteenth, but had
rose from seventh to fifth place, San
Antonio from eighteenth to sixth, At.
lanta from sixteenth to seventh, Fort
Worth from seventeenth to eighth
Jacksonville from fifteenth to ninth,
Knoxville from twenty.fourth to tenth
and Lakeland from nineteenth to
eleventh.
Showing in IS Cities.
The table shows rs cities reporting
largest volume Of permits for January
1926, with comparisons:
!. New York ........... Sso.545457
Z. Chicago ......-...-.. 1892 900
3. Detroit ;:.............. 10.4es54t
4. philadelphia ........ 1.55s.b2(
8. Los Angeles ..... 6.97325s
8 san Francisco 3.504
:. Seattle ,.......... 5000 66(
g. Pittsburgh ........ 3792 15s
e. Washington. D. c. ...... 3.72s.ae(
10. Houston ........... 350a54s
IL. Miami ......... 343l ,35t
IL. Mount Vernon ........ 1901 S7t
u. Boston ..... 324o. o%t