The New House 
Fireproof construction, in the full sense of the 
term as we know it and would like to have you under¬ 
stand it, means not only the elimination of wood, 
but the avoidance of materials that, though not 
combustible, are damageable and indeed destructible 
by fire and heat, or if we have to use them, then so 
protecting them with materials that are not so dam¬ 
ageable, that is, brick and terra-cotta and tile, that 
fire cannot get at these damageable parts. Under 
the heading of such destructible materials are gran¬ 
ite, all stones, steel, iron, cement, slate, marble, 
glass. The ideal building is one whose materials 
have in their manufacture passed through far greater 
heat than that to which they can ever be subjected 
in any conflagration, however intense. If stone 
and granite have to be used, then place them in 
the lower storeys of buildings, where they are not so 
easily assailed by flames in adjacent structures. 
Fire, you know, always tends upwards and augments, 
in degrees Fahrenheit, as it progresses—to a certain 
point. If steel is to be used in structural members, 
beams, columns, etc., then it has to be encased in 
cement and a protecting covering of fireproof tile. 
Good judgment as well as skill has to be used in the 
construction of buildings. Little of that material, 
I mean good judgment, is used in the construction 
of houses. Some few cottages, costing about four 
thousand dollars, have recently been built in Pitts¬ 
burgh, that were made thoroughly fireproof. But 
people are beginning to awaken to the necessity for 
doing something of that kind, as is clearly evidenced 
to me by the interest with which they read about 
fireproof construction of 
homes whenever anything 
is written on that sub¬ 
ject, and in the letters I 
am daily receiving from 
people groping about, 
wanting something better 
than they now have, but 
knowing not what to 
settle upon. 
An ideally fireproof 
house is one whose outer 
walls are of brick, or tile; 
indeed, even the com¬ 
monest brick can be cov¬ 
ered with stucco and 
made very attractive. 
Strange, indeed, how very 
little enameled brick is 
used; few materials more 
beautiful can be given 
such a variety of color, 
are as effective or cost 
less than that splendid 
brick. If external orna¬ 
ment be much desired, 
then make the decorations of terra-cotta, or molded 
cement; even the latter is far preferable to stone 
or granite, which go all to pieces in a good hot 
fire. Cover the roof with tile, or if you can’t 
stand that expense, and like the shingle effect of 
your forefathers, use an asbestos shingle that looks 
for all the world like wood, costs but a trifle more, 
lasts forever, requires no painting, and is better 
than any slate, or tin, or composition that has yet 
been put upon the market. I he interior partitions 
should be of fireproof tile. It is easier to plaster, 
it takes less of it, besides being fireproof and adding 
greatly to the warmth of the house in winter and 
coolness in summer, not to mention that there can 
be no cracks in the plaster and no settling or un¬ 
sightly shrinking. The floors should be constructed 
of wide span tile construction, no steel beams are 
required, the floors are sound proof, absolutely 
vermin proof, substantial and easily constructed. 
I he finished floor should be cement, or tile, or 
marble if you can afford it, or of asbestos—anything 
in preference to wood, that is unsanitary as well as 
a fruitful means of carrying fire from room to room. 
1 he interior finish should be plastic as much as 
possible. Soon we will have doors, sash, baseboards, 
etc., made of asbestos that looks just like wood and 
costs in most cases less than the wood it imitates. 
But if that will be too radical a step forward for you, 
then use wood in your interior finish, but use it 
sparingly, 
avoid all 
those pan- 
Second Floor 
Ground Floor 
FLOOR PLANS OF TYPE C 
49 
