Evening star., 1934-09-29
PERMITS GRANTED
WITHIN DISTRICT
TOTAL S1,247,678
New York, First, Is Boosted
by sa,oOo,oOO Institu.
tionaI Building.
U. S. FIGURES DROP
SLIGHTLY FROM JULY
Value, However, Shows Big Gain
Over August, 1933-Dwelling
Units Decrease.

Sloughing of the shackles of de-
preston which long had bound it,
the building industry in Washington
is moving forward with lengthy
strides, it was revealed this week in
figures placing it second only to New
York in estimated values of con-
struction authorized during August.
In capturing second place on the
national list the Capital City moved
up from sixth position, passing Chi
cago, Boston, Los Angeles and New
Haven in a single jump.
Compilation of building permits by
the Bureau of Labor Statistics gives
the District a total of 81 247,678. This
is slightly more than per cent in
crease over the aggregate of Sl,l99,-
148 for July, which was announced
last month by Commissioner 1sador
Lubin, head of the statistics bureau,
who also made public the August
figures.
Sixth in Numbers.
During last month there were 430
authorizations for new buildings, al
terations or repairs, as against 429
in July. In point of number of
buildings affected by the projected
operations Washington ranks sixth
in the Nation, being surpassed by
New York, Los Angeles, Baltimore,
Boston and Detroit. in the order
named.
So far as the increase in number
of operations is concerned, Wash
ington was somewhat below the aver
age increase for the entire country,
which is computed to, be IL per cent.
The value of authorized work
throughout the country dropped 0.9
per cent, as compared with July,
Lubin's figures show.
Washington's prominent position
in the statistics bureaus list, which
includes the 121 leading cities of the
UniteS States, was attained without
the aid of any unusually large prof.
ects such as boosted the figures for
several other cities.
Other Projects Large.
These included a s5O00OO apart
ment house and 100000 institu-
tional building in New York, a
sI,00O,000 public building in Indian
apolis, a S34O,o 900 amusement build
ing in Toledo, a 100000 deep-water
terminal in Columbia, S. c., and a
100000 Office building in Mobile,
Ala.
The largest permit issued in the
District last month was for work to
cost $145,897. This went to the Elec-
trical Workers Benefit Association
for construction of an addition to its
headquarters, at 1900 Fifteenth street.
Nationwide totals of the Bureau
of Labor Statistics were computed
on a basis of permits issued in 752
cities of population in excess of TO-
900. The value of these permits is
estimated at s45,11o,292. July's fig
ure was 45,497,8s6.
Gain Over Last Year.
Although August showed a slight
drop in comparison with July, ma
tional estimated cost total is an in
crease of 2O1 per cent over the same
month in 1888. The number of fam
lily dwelling units provided decreased
Ill per cent, however, comparing
August, 1894, with August of the pre-
vious year. The construction of
1883 of these dwelling units was au-
thorized.
The permits considered cover build
ing construction only. The data does
not include such other types of con-
struction as road building, river, har-
Dor and flood control work. Included
in the building permit figures, how
ever, are the number and cost Of
public buildings for which contracts
are awarded by Federal and State
governments. In August the value
of such public building was S2,59l,-
971, while in July it totaled $780,
476. This decrease alone accounts
for all but S179,099 of the drop reg
istered throughout the country in all
classes of construction from July to
August.
Repair Figures Gain.
The advance being made by con-
struction industry in the District also
was emphasized week ago when the
Federal Housing Administration re-
leased figures showing that permits for
repair work here during August ex-
ceeded those issued for the same
month last year by greater percent
age than those of any major city in
the country. During the month, 290
repair project permits, valued at SAT-
053 were issued, compared with 221
projects, valued at $l43, ,766 in August,
1893.