HEIGHT DISTRICTS 35 



above that height by setting , back 12 feet can go 4 stories higher. On a 

 100-foot street the building can go up 200 feet, or about 16 stories at the 

 street line, and above that height with a 12-foot set back can go 4 stories 

 higher. 



The high building problem in lower Manhattan was carefully studied 

 by the Heights of Buildings Commission. The existing conditions and the 

 reasons for limitation are stated by that Commission in part as follows : 



" The high building problem is at present confined chiefly to a 

 comparatively small portion of the lower half of the island of Man- 

 hattan. The average building height in the Borough of Manhattan 

 is 4.8 stories. Ninety per cent of the buildings do not exceed a height 

 of 6 stories. The buildings over 10 stories in height constitute only 

 a little over one per cent of the total. Out of a total of 92,749 build- 

 ings, there are but 1,048 buildings over 10 stories in height; 90 build- 

 ings over 17 stories; 51 buildings over 20 stories, and only 9 build- 

 ings over 30 stories. 



"The Building Code requires that all buildings over 150 feet in 

 height be thoroughly fireproof. The buildings themselves cannot 

 burn because there is nothing combustible in their construction. All 

 high buildings are equipped with standpipes and ample tanks at 

 various levels and many of them with automatic sprinklers. Doors 

 and windows between rooms and between rooms and corridors are 

 fireproof so that fire can be confined to a single room. There are 

 many interesting examples of such fires. 



" The fact remains, however, that tall buildings are not neces- 

 sarily safe. The rooms are often filled with highly inflammable ma- 

 terial. Unless doors are closed, fire may easily spread to other rooms. 

 The draft up the chimney-like elevator wells may pull the flames 

 across the corridor, and the flames, fed by the grease on the elevator 

 guides, may be carried to upper floors. Under such conditions the 

 danger of panic among the employees of the building would be very 

 real, and the higher the building the greater the danger. 



" The fire department cannot fight a fire from the outside more 

 than 85 to 100 feet above the ground. Above that they must rely on 

 the standpipes in the building. If the standpipe does not work, or if 

 the fire is so near the standpipe as to render its use impracticable, the 

 fire department becomes helpless. No fatal fire in a modern high 

 building has yet occurred, but it is not an impossibility. 



" In case of general panic or catastrophe causing the occupants 

 of all offices in all buildings in the high building district to seek the 

 streets at once, a serious situation would present itself. It would be 

 impossible for all the occupants of all the buildings abutting on 

 certain streets to move in the street at one time, even though the 

 street were cleared of all other traffic, pedestrian, vehicular and sur- 

 face car, and absolutely free from all obstructions so that the entire 



