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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 17, 1910)
4' THE BEE: OMAHA, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 1010. Building and Construction Mmr.- r I, 1 I BRICKSTRUCTU RES INCREASE General Tone of Building: it Being Rapidly Improved. PACED BRICK IS POPULAR Manr of New Hnraft of Omaha Art Mad Mora Beaatlfnl hy the Ise of itrlLh Material. Omaha urami to ba destined to become a cltjr of brick houses, If the present Increase In , brick construction continues. That there has been of lats In the west marked Increase In the use of brick for building purposes In apparent to the most casual observer. Brick Is the oldest known building material. Its worth has never been subject to serious doubt or debate. No other manufactured product suitable for structural purposes presents to the artisan the same complete, Integral, ready-to-use unit. A brick comes from the kiln a finished article. It la loaded Into the car and trans ported to customer. When unloaded at the building site It la precisely the same as when the burner pronounced It "done." Now alone Is required the skillful hand of the mason to give It place In the fall, held only by a bond of mortar to bear Its hoavy loHd and perform Its function, hav ing been woven Into that fabrlo called ma sonry, the most dependable, most pliable, most durable and therefore the most de sirable construction known to modern building science. - Other materials have come and gone but brick lives on forever, free from uncer tainties, Independent of that element known as "human fallibility," Impossible of cheat ing or being cheated, the perpetual building material. And It Is this reliability that In greatest measure account for the Impreg nable postlon held by brick as a building material. Omaha Is reputed as being con servative, safe and sane In Its preference as to types of construction. Omaha la Progressive. Omaha architects are distinctly progres siva and well Informed and as yet they have not "fallen" for the lure of Quick, flimsy, uncertain and so-called cheap modern meth ods which have prevailed In many cities. Massive piers and foundations of masonry support our best buildings; foundations whose broad footings rest secure upon the solid earth, never to yield a hair's breadth r.o matter what winds or waters or con flagrations may rage. But Omaha Is not typically a city of brick as la Denver, whose ordinances pro hibit frame construction within Its limits. The builder In Omaha can build most flimsy If he so wishes. For this- very reason It Is a credit of Investors responsible for the business and other Important buildings, not overlooking residences, that masonry Is common rather than uncommon. J. C. HARMS COMPANY General Contractors REINFORCED CONCRETE WORK A SPECIALTY ! OMAHA orrxoz I3 BAMOa BUELDIHO sis MonriB orricx a wabskovu a, 4 a. ktbttx btmhht OMAHA. NEB. HUGH MURPHY CONTRACTOR PAVING AND PUBLIC WORKS OMAHA. NEB. HOWARD KENNEDY SCHOCXi 1910. V' J" 1-r--i tjfi ' ' r t :;. .a . s t - if tt m !:. . ... J i a ; ... I una - -m4 ;i I , -vj. n . - i - t Figures are not available with which to present In dollars the value of the brick work In buildings erected In Omaha within a period of ten years, but to any one who has kept open an observing eye, It Is easily apparent that the Increase In tha use of brick has been marvelous. In no department of masonry Is thts fact so noticeable as In the use of face brick for residences. Here, as In no other sort of construction, Is the tendency toward the use of brick so well emphasised, because Omaha has been accustomed to see frame dwellings erected by the hundreds with hardly a single brick house to break the monotony. Many Brick Residence. A drive through the streets of the resi dence sections of Omaha will open the eyes of any doubter. Falracres, for example. Is a brick settlement. Not one of tha many beautiful homes erected In this most charm ing suburb Is of frame. Masonry has a complete monopoly In Falracres, The Field club district, which started out to be a frame community, has undergone a striking change of heart, and In addi tion to the numerous handsome all-brick residences are a dozen or more half-brick (shirt waist) houses or stucco exteriors, in which fine face brick have been used In a conspicuous and generous manner. Perhaps the most striking example of artlBtlc all-brick work In the Field club district. If not In the whole city, is the now almost completed English style brick residence of R. K. Sunderland at Thirty seventh and Pacific. This house has at tracted much favorable comment, largely because of the tapestry effect worked Into the exterior walls of fine masonry. And what is true of these sections applies to every Important residence part of Omaha, The use of brick la Increasing be cause brick has merit superior to other building materials. The cost of building of brick is commonly thought to be very high. This is a mistake. To build of brick veneer does not cost to exceed 20 per cent more than frame. Sup pose, therefore, the contemplated Invest ment In a frame house Is J0.O0O. If the builder adopts the brick type of house the cost may run up to $6,000. Where will the extra 1,000 oome from? It Is undeniable that building and loan associations would rather Increase the loan to the amount necessary to change from frame to brick than to carry the lower risk on the cheaper construction. Insurance Is less on the brick struoture. The comparative cost of repairs and upkeep discounts the frame Investment at the start. Ocoupants of the brick house enjoy comforts quite unknown to those who Inhabit the frame building. Passerby praise the looks of the most mod est brick house. Increase In Valves. Building lota usually Increase in value quite perceptibly In ten years' time. , IT th building is frame, the depreciation Is not less than the Increase in land value a flat loss of such increase to the owner. IT the building la of brick the Idea of depreciation is hardly suggested to the buyer. The owner therefore saves cost of upkeep, re pairs and worry and also saves and realises the natural Increase In the value of the realty. A brick property is always saleable, while a frame property frequently falls to attract a buyer except at heavy loss. It Is these facts which are turning the minds of Omaha home builders to the use of brick and Omaha is destined to be a city of beautiful brick buildings. Another factor In this change of Ideas on the part of builders Is the recent develop ment In the art of making fine brick. To day 100 colors, kinds, styles arid shapes of face brick are available where none but smooth, dry press red, buff and grey were formerly offered. Progressive brick manu facturers and dealers are In a large meas ure responsible for the presmt gener.il Interest In brick as a building material. There has been of late a decided Increase in the use of brick thuughuut the entire west, but It is only the beginning of an age in which brick will be the generally up proved and accepted construction muter. al. tured to fill the contracts which are se cured at the Omaha office. The business carried on by most of the Omaha firms is essentially a contracting business. These firms send representatives to the lettlngs which are held by the vari ous county boards of aupervlsors and town shrip trustees and commissioners and the fortunate bidder closes a contract to fur nish to that county or township all the bridges they msy require during the per iod, generally a year, at a certain price per lineal foot for each kind of bridges. Then as the counties or townships call upon the firms for bridges, they, In turn, place a contract for their manufacture with some iron and steel manufacturing company. Time was when practically all the bridges, large cr small In this section of the United States, were made of wood and this con dition still holds largely true of Nebraska. It Is only very recently that the bridges In this state, even those over the Platte, began to be constructed of steel. In most of the other states, however, steel has, In the last decade, come rapidly to the front as a bridge building material, especially In Iowa where only the smallest bridges are made of wood. It looked for a time, a few years ago, as though concrete, with its rapid development, would supplant the most costly steel in bridge construction work, but it now shows much less indica tion of doing so. Today concrete Is used much with steel for the building of such parts of the bridge as the floor or sub structure, but for the remainder of the ; bridge It has not proved satisfactory. ! There are reasons for this. The main reason Is that in many parts of the country j the facilities for making concrete work cheaply are not at hand. Such work re-1 quires an abundance of gravel and sand I and when It Is not present, for every cubic I yard of concrete construction, about 500, pounds of material must be shipped which, as will readily be seen, cuts down consld- erably Its advantage over steel from the : standpoint of cost. j Another thing which has worked against the adoption of ooncrete more universally Is the fact that in many places contracts have been let for concrete work to Irre-; sponsible or poorly equipped contractors i who have, by faulty building or by the use of too little or too poor cement, given the whole concrete business a "black eye" with those who use bridges. The local contractors do not confine their attention, In most cases, to bridge work. The Western Bridge and Construction com pany, for example, make foundations and Is just now completing a foundation for the street railway company at Fifth and Jones streets. The Standard people devote a good deal of attention to steeel culvert pipe and to steel construction work of all kinds such as water tanks, jail linings and fire escapes. It Is in the culvert pipe line that ooncrete Is giving steel Its strongest com petition, these days, In places where ma terial suitable for concrete Is abundant. The amount of contracting business which passes through the various Omaha bridge firms will total between tl.GOO.OOO to 12,000,000 In value for a year. The amount of steel consummed and lumber used Is enormous. One of the companies which reports a yearly business of approximately $500,000, uses 300,000 tons of steel and about 3,000,000 feet of lumber In the same period. And the business is every year Increasing; on this point, local manufacturers are agreed, but as to the amount of that in crease their guesses vary. One especially optimistic bridge man places his firm's Increase for this yesr at 30 per cent, but moat of the manufacturers are a bit more conservative In their estimates. The bridge contracting companies in the local field are the Canton Bridge company, which has a branch office here in the Paxton building, the Standard Bridge com pany In the City National bank building, the Western Contractors" Supply company In the Brandels building, the Nebraska Bridge Supply and Lumber company In The Bee building, and the Western Bridge and Construction company, also located In The Bee building. FAIR WARNING ON FIREWORKS Kansas Clr Plans to Head Off the Deadly Noise on Fonrth of Jely. A new ordinance for the regulation of the sale and use of fireworks the Fourth of July Is to be Introduced In the council of Kansas City by Alderman Louis Oppensteln. The ordinance will be a copy of the Chi cago law. It Is the purpose to enact It now so that dealers may be prepared be fore laying in their stocks for next year. It is believed the Oppensteln ordinance will be accepted, fnder the terms every dealer must make application for a license before June IS, setting forth wher the fireworks are to be for sale. Toy pistols, toy cannon, blank cartridges, firecrackers exceeding two inches In length, torpedoes exceeding three-fourths of an Inch In diame ter, chloride of potash and sulphur, and any explosive more powerful than black gun powder are barred. A feature of the ordinance that Is ex pected to make It effective Is a provision that every dealer taking out a special license- for the fireworks must put up a cash bond of $2i0 which may be forfeited when he violates any provision of the ordi nance. No dealer is allowed to sell fire works prior to the first dsy of July and after the Fourth. No device for exploding other substance than the oommon black gunpowder for the purpose of making an unusually loud ex plosive Is permitted. The fire warden Is to have supervision of the place and man ner of keeping and displaying fireworks stocks. The storing and sale of firework! is prohibited In the following places: Where paints, oils or varnishes are man ufactured or kept for use or sale. In carpenter shops or drug stores; In buildings where kerosene or other product of petroleum Is aold or In any building In whloh dynamite, gun cotton, nitro glycerin, petroleum or any of Its products or compounds containing any of the said substances are kept or sold. In any building or place where tar, pitch, rosin, turpentine, hay, cotton or hemp it manufactured, stored or kept for sale. In any building Illuminated by any arti ficial light other than gaa or electricity. In any building In which dry goods of any kind or other light materials of a com bustible nature, except flags, paper lan terns, paper balloons or decorations are kept on the mum floor and within fifty feet of any firecrackers or other fire works offered or exposed for sale-Kansas City Star. Division. Tommy Pop. does the earth gr round T Tommy's Pop Tee. my son, but It wouldn't If it was divided among all tha people who want It Philadelphia, Record. Caldwell & Drake Contractors Douglas County Court House Now under construction by this firm: j Contraot Price Lebanon, Ind. Court House , ....$246,000.00 Springfield, Mo. Woodruff Office Building 300,000.00 Springfield, Mo. MoDaniel Office Building . ....... 120,000.00 Springfield, Mo Frisco E. E. Office Building ?t 100,000.00 Springfield, Mo. Sansone Hotel 60,000.00 Tulsa, Ark. Tulsa Hotel , 876,000.00 Canfield, Ohio Hospital ..M...... 112,000X0 1, r ! - 7. 1 krf : A k' 7 1 V I a 1.7 t'l Now under construction. $1,200,000. Court House, Youngstown, Ohio. Three of Omaha's Modern Fire Proof Buildings Constructed by Our Reinforced Concrete Specialists 5 ij-ij W. K. FAgtmiSiar Omaha, Contractor. i. e js i x 1 Interior, Hearing Compl.tlon, Showing Oonorste Construction. AI.SaVr O. AJUBMO, Omaha, Designing and Supervising Englnasr. MORE BRIDGES MADE OF STEEL tharnrter of Modern Brldares Are t'hnniced n. the Tears noil Hound More PermHnent. Competing with the bridge contractor of Minneapolis, Kansas City and the concerns situated In the western cuast cities (or the bridge building trade of the great western country, the Omnha concerns have always managed to Utid a great deal more thun their share of the contracts, and In fact have supplied the greater part of the bridges which span the rivers and creeks of Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota and even of Kansas and Wyoming. Omaha has no firms which manufacture bridges in the city, although the Standard Bridge company maintains manufacturing plants st Red Oak. la., Plattsmouth, Neb., and at one or two other points. At these places the bridges are manufac- " ,f,;:.tiU:i IP. GUTH ARCHITECT DESIGNER OF Dreibus Candy Co. 8 Building. Krug Brewing Co.' Bottling Dept. Omaha Casket Co. Haubens Building. :!'s:5: I1) I lr---' (all ViTg I IE ! I 1 I til HE """J'-W't .. j17-l )Jf 1 fitC!! Pr--,rflFryftr ' j I & H J IrrfMwP I Let Us TvLjmhh Your plana ror lijlL ITTlf3' s5?v Reinforced Construction. yyySijf"! 1 mmMmmm h HEN BISCUIT CO. TM CA arsons 1 & BSie GENERAL CONTRACTORS QM AH A I 'it tn . j! mmmm0 ttM .,&M aw" f The Development of the Cement In. dustry during the past decade is one of the marvels of the age. During this time concrete has come to be recognized as the ideal building material for heavy work, on account of its moderate cost, durability and the many possibilities it allows for moulding into various forms of arch itectural beauty. We specialize in concrete construction work. Cement Construction Insures a Fireproof Building, i I IL Pf Pi Pnxlon Block I- f i .