Year: 1871

The late disastrous fire at Chi.


cago, which has elected the active


sympathies of the entire civilized


world, has taught one lesson that


ought not to be forgotten. All


buildings for business purposes,


such as banking and warehousing,


ought to be constructed 50 as to be


fire proof-we mean roally fire.


proof. In the accounts rendered OF


this fire we read that supposed fire.


proof buildings were swept away


with the same facility that common


structures were, when in fact had


they been SO constructed as to re-


sist the progress of the fire, the


conflagration would have been stop


ped at an early moment, and the
wholesale disaster prevented. Is


it not possible to erect really y fire.


proof buildings? This great fire


should lead engineers and architects


to look into the question Of render


ing buildings really tire-proof. The


composite iron and brick structures


with wooded window castings,


though guarded with iron shutters,


cannot be depended upon. The


iron shutters once heated set fire
to the surrounding work, and then


the fate Of the building is settled
the inside castings and flooring,
filed with oil, paint and varnish,
soon become mass of flame, and


each successive story becomes igni-
ted from the fact that the flooring


is not SO made as to resist the fire
below. The French architects have
a way of imbcdding the iron or
other floor stringers and beams in a
mass Of concrete mixtures that ef-
fectually resists fire, and though
the fire should entirely burn out the
contents Of one story, the one above
is not harmed. The mixture and
the manner of its application have
been described in a former number
of this paper, and American busi-
ness men ought to take hint from
the good results Of foreign practice.
We shall be slow to admit that it is
impossible to render buildings fire.
proof, though the prevailing taste
for fancy ornamentation and show,
inside and out, is a great hindrance
in the way Of securing safety. We
are told by architects that the great
disaster which has overtaken the
business quarters OF Chicago is
quite as likely to be repeated in
Boston, New York and Philadelphia
or any other large city; that the
great mass Of buildings used for
banks, Offices and warehouses, are
in no sense tirc-proot, and that it
only needs conjunction Of circum-
stances like that which destroyed
Chicago to lay the business portion
of any of our large cities in ruins.
If this is true, and we have no
reason to doubt it, it is true that
our methods of building should be
reformcd-that we should secure
permanence and safety, even though
something Of show and beauty
should be sacrificed. Render a
building tire-proof, and the insur-
ance risk is nil. That this security
is attainable was shown at one of
the great fires of San Francisco,
where a banking building was the
only one saved; though surrounded
by other buildings all destroyed by
the flames, there was not a paper
burned, not q record lost. Take
the annual premiums which are
new paid on what are CALLED first
class risks, and add to them the
twenty per cent. which underwri-
ters now propose to charge, the
capital they represent, added to the
cost Of construction, would render
these buildings actually tire-proof,
50 that practically there would be
no need Of insurance at all. We
know of no subject of more impor-
lance to the entire public than this
matter of securing immunity from
ire in the great business centres.
The lesson at Chicago is a severe
,ne to it's citizens, and warning
% all others.