Some Object Lessons from San Francisco 
A portion of the burnt district of San Francisco. From the street in the foreground to the bay in the distance it is 
nearly three miles. The foreground is the top of Nob Hill. A is the Fairmont Hotel, D the wrecked palace of a 
millionaire, J a refugee camp in the grounds of the latter, C the New Chronicle, E the Call, K the beginning of China¬ 
town and B the tower of the Ferry House, one of the few things left at the water’s edge 
contracted the foolish hahit of imagining that encas¬ 
ing our steelwork in tile or concrete absolves us from 
doing anything further to prevent fire, that we have 
been given an “immunity hath,” so to speak, and by 
that one act that, at most, can but preserve intact 
the steel skeleton, we need do nothing further to 
stay the ravages of the dreadFdestroyer. 
San Francisco copied us in that notion. She is 
paying the penalty, and in the course of time every 
one of our Eastern cities will do the same to a greater 
or less extent. The best of San Francisco’s build¬ 
ings, twenty at most, were damaged from 5 per cent 
to 60 per cent of their cost—and that nearly alto¬ 
gether by fire. The total damage by earthquake in 
the burned district did not exceed ^10,000,000. 
And that quake has proved one thing that engineers 
have generally contended and that the layman has 
always doubted, and that is that the tall buildings, if 
at all well built "and set upon reasonably good founda¬ 
tions, are no more affected by the severest quake 
than those of one or two stories; and, indeed, the 
heavier the structure (on a sufficient base) the safer 
Mutual Savings Bank Building. The effect of fire on 
stonework. The terra-cotta gables were undamaged 
Effect of fire on the Call Building. The terra-cotta 
dome is intact 
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