Chapter I: The Buildings, Their Numbers, and Common Materials

The materials of general construction occur in the following percentage proportion to the total number of buildings in the cities stated in the table below:

+--------------+---------+----------+--------+--------+---------+-----------+
| | | | | | | Entire |
| | New | Brooklyn | Staten | Jersey | Hoboken.|Metropolis.|
| | York. | | Isl'd. | City. | | |
+--------------+---------+----------+--------+--------+---------+-----------|
| No. of | | | | | | |
| buildings. | 100,193 | 75,526 | 7,725 | 20,880 | 6,284 | 210,608 |
| Brick and | | | | | | |
| stucco. | 63.2 | 30.9 | 9.5 | 22.8 | 32.7 | 47.9 |
| Frame. | 24.3 | 50.9 | 90.0 | 75.2 | 64.7 | 42.5 |
| Stone. | 11.6 | 9.1 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 2.6 | 9.1 |
| Iron. | 0.9 | 0.1 | .. | .. | .. | 0.5 |
+--------------+---------+----------+--------+--------+---------+-----------+

In New York city proper, the several varieties of stone are used in the following proportion to the entire number of stone buildings:

Brown sandstone 78.6
Nova Scotia sandstone 9.0
Marble 7.9
Granyte 1.8
Ohio sandstone 1.6
Gneiss 0.9
Foreign sandstone 0.1
Bluestone and limestone 0.1

In Brooklyn, the Connecticut brownstone is the variety predominating among the stone buildings (95.7 per cent.), and is employed almost altogether for the fronts of residences. Very few iron buildings occur, but over three times as many stucco fronts as in New York. The frame buildings predominate, particularly in the outskirts, _e. g._, Long Island City (80.5 per cent).

In Staten Island, stone enters in very small proportion into the fronts of buildings, though commonly employed, as in New York and throughout this district, for the dressing of apertures, the walls of inclosures, and other masonry.

In Jersey City, the proportions of the materials are much as in Staten Island. The selection of the dark trap from the Heights behind the city, for the construction of many fronts or entire buildings, is a local feature of interest.

In Hoboken, the same general features prevail as in Jersey City.

The annual reports of the Committee on Fire Patrol of the New York Board of Fire Underwriters, for the years 1881 and 1882, have yielded the following statistics, which, so far as they go, closely approximate my own:

Number of buildings.
South of Canal Street 10,553
Between Canal and Fourteenth Streets 26,700
Between Fourteenth and Fifty-ninth Streets 33,815
Between Fifty-ninth Street and Harlem River 18,746
------
Total 89,814

The materials of construction for this district, which does not include the 23d and 24th Wards, north of the Harlem River, are reported as follows:

Brick, with stone trimmings, and, in part,
with stone facings 64,783
Brick and frame 3,616
Frame 21,415