Evening star., 1948-03-17
Empire
Continued From First Page.)

five inches high extending the full
length of the pier.
5. During 1947 redecoration of the
City Finance Ofhce-which occu-
pied the first floor at the time OF
the collapse-an opening was cut
vertically into the north face of the
pier to accommodate electrical con-
duits and outlets.
6. A new metal lath and plaster
ceiling was installed in the City
Finance office in 1947, adding ap-
proximately ton to the load al
ready carried by the pier.
7. A plumbing leak occurred in
the second floor above City Finance
on the Sunday before the collapse,
and the volume of water was suf-
fcient to have caused a partial or
possibly complete saturation of the
pier.
EnIarging Opening Principal Cause.
The board concluded that the
water leak would have had no ap-
preclable effect on a pier properly
designed and constructed.
I'm the opinion of the board, the
principal cause of the failure of the
pier was the enlargement of the
opening in 1882, and the failure at
that time to provide support con-
forming with code requirements"
the civilian experts report declared.
The result of this work was to
leave the pier even more over bur-
dhnpd than II haI hanr
and to create a condition which was
susceptible to deterioration. The sat-
uration of the pier had the effect of
dlSlntegrating the lime-mortar and
some of the soft brick of which it
was constructed, and in concert with
the vibration formed the last link
in chain of circumstances leading
to the collapse"
Shortly after the inquiry got un-
der way, Nick Papanicolas, owner
of the building, walked out on the
hearings. He claimed the entire
investigation was an attempt to
clear the building inspectors Office
of responsibility and fix the blame
on him.
II uuT Recommendations.
The board, headed by Stew art
Beall, a structural engineer, is made
up of Building Inspector Robert H.
Davis, Assistant Corporation Coun-I
sci Chester H Gray, A. Hamilton
Wilson. architect, and w. B. Glenn
mer. builder.
The board made four recon-
70
That structural engineers be reg
istered by a Board of Registration.
That general contractors be Ii
cenSed by Board of Examination, |
and that they be required to post
a bond conditioned on faithful per-
formance of all work in compliance /
with the building code. |
That the director of inspection
be empowered to require that the
design of buildings involving the !
public safety be prepared only by
registered architects and structural
engineers and constructed by Ii
cenSed general contractors.
That the public be advised that .
any signs of disintegration or weak
ness in buildings should be immedi-
ately investigated and measures
taken to prevent possible collapses.
The investigators admitted their
recommendations would have no
effect on existing buildings in un-
sound condition. but said they would
minimize future failures.
33 Foot Wall Cut to 5 Feet.
The board found that the central
wall referred to in its report was
33 feet long when the Empire Build
ing was constructed in 1893 When
the building collapsed last Deem
ber. the board said, successive cuts
in the wall at both ends had short
ened it to pier only feet 3 inches
long by Is inches wide
In addition, the board reported
that five permits for alterations in
the seven-story apartment house
were missing when the investigators |
began searching District Building |
inspection files for records of the |
buildings history.
There was no penetration through .
the key wall before 1907. evidence
before the investigators showed. A
year later, however, openings were
cut through both ends of the wall