Evening star., 1948-03-18
Empire Report
10 Spur Action
On Inspections
Gen. Young Studies
Findings to Tighten
Up in Office
By Jerry o'Leoy, Jr.

By Jerry o'LeoY, Jr.
The report of the Commissioners
special board Of inquiry into the
Empire Building collapse calls for
Corrective action" within the
Building Inspectors office, Engi-
neer c ON m missioner Gordon r.
Young said late yesterday.
Such measures will be recon-
mended as soon as he completes a
careful study Of the boards 1ind-
ings.
Gen. Young characterized as
''poor staffwork" the efforts of the
Building Inspectors ONCE In 1882,
when the last In a series Of cuts was
made into the key irst-hoor wall
of the Inflated building at Ninth
street and New York avenue NV
1.-THE report indicates two bulls
were made by the Building Inspec-
tors office in 1884,. Gen. Young
declared, First, no qualified strtc-
tural designer or engineer went to
the Empire Building to see If the
permit drawings for the alterations
were correct. We now know these
drawings failed to show the enorm-
Gus weight carried by the first-floor
wall, or pier.
Had these drawings shown the
bearing nature Of the pier, the de-
sign would have been redesigned.
Wrong Rubber Stamp.
Secondly, a rubber stamp ap-
propriate to another situation en-
tirely was used on the permit, and
it was never discovered that the
pier was made OF soft brick and
masonry when, 1t actually should
have been constructed Of hard-burn
brick"
Gen. Young said the rubber
stamp specifying hard-burn brick is
used for alterations when 1t is nee
essary to erect such pier. In this
case, he explained, the soft brick
wall already was standing and was
being shortened.
The special board of inquiry, In
its report to the city heads yester-
day, blamed the December 16 col
lapse on the fact that the pier
crumbled Under its overload. and
brought down the other seven
stories Of the building in heap OF
r,lbble. Four persons were killed
and IL injured.
Report Held Excellent"
Gen. Young. who selected the
board, said the report is excellent
He added the board has earned
the gratitude Of the Commissioners
and the community. The board
chairman was Stewart Beall, engi-
neer. He was assisted by Building
Inspector Robert n. Davis, Assist
ant Corporation Counsel Chester
H. Gray, A. Hamilton Wilson, archi-
tect, and w. B. Clenamer, builder.
In its report, the board did moi
fix the degree of responsibility foa
the collapse because of the involves
ment OF 50 many persons" It spe-
ficially named these employees of the
building inspectors Office as having
handled the 1882 alterations which
saw the pier shortened to q width
of 5 feet inches; Hugh Dollins
engineer computer, and inspectors
Oscar Estep and William Newman
When the Empire was built in 1898
the wall was 80 feet long.
Drawings accompanying a permit
on February l, 1882, for the altera-
tions to the pier, the report said
contained q note inserted by iMr
Dollins to the effect that piers un.
der beams (are1 to be of hard
burned brick and one-third cement
sand mortar"
The drawing failed to indicate the
true conditions existing in regard
to construction loads above the sec
ond floor and failed further to in
diate the true loading conditions
as they occurred at the second floor
level, according to the report. Gen.
Young said he does not know who
prepared the drawing on which the
permit was based.
The actual work was done by the
late Moss C. Lee, a contractor, the
report said, adding that he per-
formed the work indicated on the
permit drawing, but did not rebuild
the pier in accordance with Mr..
Dollins' note. The report says the
field inspections reports made by
Mr.. Estep and Mr.. Newman indicate
the work was performed in accord
ance with the drawings.
Meanwhile, Coroner A. Magruder
Macdonald is studying a copy of
the boards report. He would not
say whether he plans to hold in
quests into the deaths resulting from
the collapse.