436
BUILDING
have a storage capacity of over 21,000,000 bushels as against the 7,000,000 bushels of that time. The coal trade of Buffalo, which in 1875 was in its infancy, has now become a great feature of the lake commerce; for of the 5,000,000 tons of anthracite coal received in 1899, 2,700,000 tons were shipped to the west by vessel. 3,000,000 tons of bituminous coal were also received by rail in 1899, though only a small amount was shipped. The lumber imports by lake were 230,000,000 feet in 1899, and in the same year over 1,500,000 tons of iron ore were brought from Lake Superior to the port of Buffalo. For the protection of this lake commerce and the increase of the harbour facilities the United States has built an outer breakwater of stone and cement almost four miles in length, and costing over $2,000,000. This breakwater and the new post-office, a huge granite pile with a tower over 200 feet in height, are the most noticeable of the newer public improvements. The two public libraries are also among the newer public buildings which decorate the city. The Grosvenor library, for reference only, has over 55,000 volumes, while the Buffalo library has 160,000 volumes. The public school system has grown with the growth of the city. In 1900 there were two high schools with an average attendance of 2228 scholars. The district or grammar schools numbered sixty, with an average attendance of 38,462. There were 114,396 persons of school age (5 to 20 years inclusive). Out of 97,938 males of voting age (21 years and over), 5168 were illiterate (unable to write), of whom 4813 were foreignborn. Buffalo has always been greatly admired for its broad and spacious streets, almost all of which are handsomely shaded. The streets in the residential portion are mainly occupied by detached houses, largely built of wood and surrounded by lawns and gardens. This system of building and a remarkably cool summer climate have given Buffalo its reputation as a delightful place of residence, and have attracted visitors from all parts of the world. In 1901 the Pan-American Exposition was held from May to November in the park and adjoining lands to the north of the city. It was on a scale eclipsed only by the Expositions at Chicago and Paris. Two of the buildings were permanent additions to the attractions of the park, namely, the Albright Art Gallery and the New York State building, which is to house the collections of the Buffalo Historical Society. It was during a visit to the Exposition on 6th September that President McKinley was assassinated by Czolgosz. At the south end of the city, on the lake shore protected by the new breakwater, stands the great steel plant of the Lackawanna Steel Company. Tho property owned by this company, which is capitalized at $20,000,000, extends more than a mile along the shore and its newworks are intended toemploy over 6000 men. Much of the power used in Buffalo is from electricity generated at Niagara Falls, some 20 miles away, and most of the residences are heated by natural gas brought from the Canadian and Pennsylvania gas fields. The park system in Buffalo comprises 1000 acres and contains 20 miles of boulevards. Of the total population in 1900, 248,135 were native-born and 104,252 foreign-born, 350,586 white and only 1801 coloured, of whom 1698 were negroes. The healthfulness of the city is attested by its low deathrate of 14‘8 per thousand in 1900. (g. e. m.) Building'.—The most important development in building since the article on that subject in the ninth edition of this work was published has been in the direction of steel construction, and it is with this that the following article will deal. The very tall buildings which are such prominent objects in the principal cities of the United States are the natural and logical result of the
introduction of new materials and devices, and of the application of modern science to the solution of the problem of economical construction (see Plate). Apart from the aesthetic considerations to which have been due the construction of spires, towers, domes, high roofs, etc., the form and height of buildings have always been largely controlled by a practical consideration of their value for personal use or rental. The cost of buildings of the same class and finish is in direct proportion to their cubic contents, and each cubic foot constructed is commercially. unprofitable which does not do its part in paying interest on the capital invested. Until the latter half of the 19th century, these considerations practically limited the height of buildings on city streets to five or six storeys. The manufacture of the wrought-iron “I” beam in 1855 made cheaper fireproof construction possible, and together with the introduction of passenger lifts (see Elevators) about ten years later led to the erection of buildings to be used as hotels, flats, offices, factories, and for other commercial purposes, containing many more storeys than had formerly been found profitable. The practical limit of height was reached when the sectional area of the masonry of the piers of the exterior walls in the lower storey became sufficiently great, in order to support safely the weight of the dead load of the walls and floors and the accidental load imposed upon the latter in use, to affect seriously the value of the lower storeys on account of the loss of light and floor space. This limit was found to be about ten storeys. Various devices were successively made to reduce the size of the exterior piers. In 1881 the walls of a very large courtyard were constructed by building a braced cage of iron and filling the panels with masonry, a system of construction which had been used in the early part of the century for a tall shot-tower erected in the city of New York. Subsequently several buildings were erected in which the entire weight of the floors and roofs was carried by a system of metal columns placed against the inner surface of the exterior walls. The walls thus supported no load but their own weight, and were tied to the inner cage formed by the wall columns, interior columns, girders, and floors, by anchors arranged to provide for the shrinkage of masonry in drying out which always occurs to a greater or less extent. By the use of this form of construction buildings were carried to the height of eighteen or nineteen storeys. The first building used for tenants, in which the entire construction including the exterior walls was carried by a metal frame, was erected in Chicago in 1883. With the introduction of cheap structural steel, this system (known as the steel cage construe- tion tion) came rapidly into use. The dimensions of the exterior piers ceased to control the height of the building, which was limited alone by the possibility of securing adequate foundations, and by a consideration of the amount of floor space which could be devoted without too great loss to a system of passenger lifts of sufficient capacity to afford rapid access to all parts of the building. The advantages that led to the very rapid introduction of this system were not only the power of greatly reducing the size of the piers, but the enormous facility afforded for rapid construction, the small amount of materials relatively used, and the proportionately small load upon the foundations, and the fact that as the walls are supported at each storey directly from the cage, the masonry can be commenced at any storey independently of the masonry below it. It is a disadvantage of the system that defects of proportion, material, or workmanship, which would be of less moment in an old-fashioned construction, may become an element of danger in building with the steel cage, while the possibility of securing a
