1843-] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



215 



manufactory or warehouse, containing only one floor, and not exceeding 12ft. 

 above the footings to the top of the wall. 



It will be seen hereafter, in consequence of the additional thick- 

 ness of the walls for fourth rate buildings to what they now are, that 

 it will be a very serious detriment to the construction of small houses 

 with only two stories, of which there are many thousands in the vici- 

 nity of London, and which we consider far better for the poorer inha- 

 bitants than having several families huddled together in one house 

 containing numerous rooms; we therefore propose to meet this class 

 of dwellings, and have them rated on the fifth class of buildings, for 

 which purpose we propose to add to this clause the following words : 

 Every dwelling house mh-ch shall not hare more than two floors, and 

 nhich shall vol exceed the height of 20 feet. 



12. Sixth Rate. — Every building 20ft. from any street or alley, and 

 detached from any house, or building, or ground, not in the same possession, 

 50ft. The walls or inclosures (except chimneys) may he built of any mate- 

 rials, but if of brick or stone, shall be built according to their height, of the 

 thickness required for the five preceding rates. 



13. Seventh Rate. — Every building for the purpose of trade, or the 

 collection of toll, detached, 15ft. from any other building, and which does 

 not cover more than 100ft. square of ground, and is not higher than 12ft. 

 from the ground to the highest point of the roof, may be inclosed with any 

 materials except roof and chimney. 



14. Eighth Rate. — " All churches, chapels, and places of public worship, 

 theatres, exhibition-rooms, aud other buildings whether included in the afore- 

 said rates or not, used either solely or at stated periods tor purposes of 

 public business, instruction, debate, diversion or resort, and also all brew- 

 eries, distilleries, manufactories or warehouses which shall be more than 50ft. 

 high, and also all dwelling-houses which shall contain more than seven 

 floors or seventy (eighty) feet high : all such buildings to be built with 

 party and external walls 4£ in. thicker, and when the carcase is built, the 

 owner shall give 21 days' notice to the surveyor and to the official referees, 

 who shall survey the saiil buildings, and within 7 days certify their approval 

 of the same; or in case any part shall appear defective or insufficient, notice 

 to be given in writing within 7 days to the owner, who shall forthwith alter 

 aud strengthen such defective or insufficient parts, and shall not cover up 

 any such parts, until such surveyors and referees shall be satisfied. 



128. And upon completion of such building, the owner, shall give 21 days' 

 notice to the surveyor, and such surveyor, together with the official referees 

 shall survey the same, and shall certify that such building has been built to 

 their satisfaction , and such certificate shall be immediately filed by the clerk of 

 the peace, and then it shall be lawful to use such building, and if used before 

 the certificate is satisfied, the owner or occupier shall, on conviction before 

 two justiecs, forfeit not less thau five pounds, nor exceeding five hundred 

 pounds daily (! !) until the filing of the record of such certificate. Provided 

 always, " that if within 20 days from the assessing of such penalty such cer- 

 tificate of satisfaction shall not have been filed as aforesaid, such house or 

 building shall be Uable to be abated as a nuisance, under the powers in this 

 act contained." — 



(129.) The surveyor's fee for surveying such building, in addition £ . s. 

 to a first rate fee . . .'. . . . . ..10 10 



First rate fee . . . . . . . . . . ..77 



To each of the referees who shall have assisted in the supervision, 

 and signed the certificate £10 10s. (three referees) . . 3110 



49 7 

 And it is doubtful whether the official referees could not claim a farther 

 fee, for clause 130, says — 



" They shall in addition to the fees before mentioned have, and be entitled 

 to, the following fees " 



For every survey 



For every certificate 



For every award 

 the amount of the fees being at present left blank. We have now 

 enumerated the leading features connected with this precious piece 

 of legislature, regarding the eighth-rate of building, and we know 

 not words strong enough to express our disapprobation of clauses 

 most monstrous, whether we regard the exorbitant penalty of £500 

 a day, or the litigious spirit which breathes through all the clauses, or 

 the extortionate fees which they propose. As clause fourteen now 

 stands, it contemplates every school, literary institution, beer shop, 

 public house, or tavern, all being places of public instruction, diver- 

 sion or resort; banks, insurance offices, or in fact the offices of any 

 joint-stock company, coming, it is to be supposed, under the class of 

 buildings devoted to public business, are all to be classed within this 

 rate of building; and it will be difficult to construe what is and what 

 is not a building for public business. Although the district surveyor 

 is appointed to inspect the works as they proceed, and stop them if 

 they be not constructed to his satisfaction, yet when the building is 

 covered in he has still, in conjunction with the referees, the power of 

 ordering any part of the building to be taken down. If we are to 

 have district surveyors, we must suppose them to be persons capable 



of performing their duties, and if so, why have the two special sur- 

 veys directed to be made at the time of covering in the building, and 

 when it is finished ? The clause does not either compel the surveyor 

 or referees to file their certificates with the clerk of the peace, and we 

 cannot, therefore, think that any part of the clauses regarding the 

 eighth rate of building will be allowed to remain in the bill, but be 

 expunged in to/o, as they ought to be, for the clauses of the rates and 

 thicknesses of the walls is quite sufficient for all the purposes that 

 the public have a right to expect for their protection: besides that, 

 the proposed clause entails a delay of nearly, if not quite, two months 

 in giving notice and waiting for the certificates. The effect of this 

 delay in the case of a railway station will be palpable to our readers, 

 very often entailing the postponement of the opening of the line until 

 another season. As to the fee of 49/. 7s., what the church commis- 

 sioners, the national school society, and the friends of education will 

 say to it we scarcely know ; 500/. is often the extent of the money 

 which can b' expended on a place of worship, school, or literary in- 

 stitution, and a tax of 10 per cent, on this amount is to be imposed. 

 Where the architect often is not paid, and always insufficiently, it is 

 rather too bad that money should be wasted on surveyors. 



16. Attached buildings to be separately rated, and the external walls to be 

 of the rate of which such attached building would he, if not so attached, hut 

 so far as regards the party walls, shall be held to be of the rate of the build- 

 ing of the highest rate to which such party walls shall adjoin when such 

 attached building shall be completed. 



This part relating to party walls is rather ambiguous, we suggest, that 

 those words in italics be omitted, and that the words " on either side of" 

 be introduced, instead of " to which." 



Thickness of Walls. — It must be recollected, in reading over the num- 

 ber of the floors, that the lowest floor of the building is reckoned the first 

 floor, and in consequence of our proposal (see ante) that the rooms in the 

 roofs of dwellings shall be counted, we suggest that the party walls above the 

 upper room floor of the first and second rate buildings need not be so thick 

 as provided, we have therefore given in italics our own propositions, and also 

 an alteration for the thickness of the party walls of third rate buildings. 



49. Footings of External and Party Walls. — Footings to he nine 

 inches thicker than the walls above, and four courses high, and the top 

 twelve (six) inches below the surface of the lowest floor, or six inches below 

 the surface of the lowest ground. 



50. First Rate external walls, 1ft. lOiin. thick, from footings to under- 

 side of the fourth floor, and 1 ft. 5 in. from thence to the top of the gutter 

 plate, and the remainder 8.J in. 



51 and 52. Second and third rate external walls from footings to the un- 

 derside of the second floor 1 ft. 5 in. thick and from thence to the gutter 

 plate 13 in. and remainder 8£ in. 



53. Fourth Rate external walls from footings to top of gutter plate (of 

 upper room floor) 13 in. and remainder %\ in. 



51. Fifth Rate external walls to have 2 course of footings, and 1ft. Gin. and 

 lft. l^in. thick, and above the footings %\ in. thick. 



79. Party Walls of first or second rate from footing to the underside of 

 the second floor, 1 ft. 10 J in. thick, and thence up to the top (of the upper 

 room floor) of 1 ft. 5 in. [and thence up to the top of such party «>a«13 in.) 

 and the party wall of the third rate from footing to the underside of the 

 fourth (third) floor 1 ft. 5 in. and from thence to the top, 13 in. 



80. Party walls of fourth and fifth rate to be 13 in. thick above the foot- 

 ings, excepting in a warehouse of the fourth rate, when it is to be 1 ft. 5 in. 

 thick to the ceiling of the lowest floor. 



56 and 82. Materials of External and Party Walls. — To these 

 clauses we must call the special attention of our readers. They are to be 

 built solid, of good sound well-burnt bricks or good sound stone, excepting 

 such iron work as may be required for bonds and corbels, and excepting the 

 ends of girders and bresummers, or tiers of door cases to warehouses, and 

 the frames of doors and windows in external walls, all of which shall be fixed 

 at the distance of 4 in. from the external face of such wall ; and excepting 

 such wood and iron work in the lowest or first floor and in the ground floor 

 as may be required for brestsummers, girders and story posts, and excepting 

 in party walls, flues, and such iron work as may be required to carry the 

 ends of girders, brestsummers, trimming joists, and principal timbers of roofs, 

 and the ends of all such girders, brestsummers and other timbers (in party 

 walls) shall be carried upon iron shoes or stone corbels, built into the wall 

 at least two-thirds of the thickness thereof to receive them, as shall aho_ all 

 trimming joists laying against such party wall. In another clause (-17; it 

 enacts that every girder or brestsummer which shall have a bearing on a 

 party wall shall be laid upon iron or stone templates 6 in. thick, and the end 

 of every such girder or brestsummer shall not he fixed into, and shall not 

 have its bearing solely on the party wall, but shall be supported by a brick 

 or stone pier, or iron column or timber story post, fixed on a solid foun- 

 dation. 



Now let us consider the serious effects of these two clauses; as 

 they now stand, no place bricks can be used in any part, the conse- 

 quence of which will be that the. brick-makers will have great diffi- 



lty in disposing of them, and must therefore increase the price of 

 "ock bricks. We consequently suggest the insertion of the words in 



