BEHAVIOR OF INDIVIDUAL STRUCTURES. 45 
The worst damage appeared to be in the interior walls of hollow 
tile, which were very extensively cracked, especially on the first 
and second floors. The plaster finish on the hollow-tile partitions 
strengthened them very considerably. One portion of the mosaic 
ceilings of the corridors on the main floor was laid in Portland- 
cement mortar on a flat tiled arch and was badly cracked; another 
portion, laid in Portland cement against wire lath plastered, was 
undamaged. In the mail-handling room the end wall was moved 
out of plumb by the earthquake, and the enameled-brick covering of 
several columns was shaken off. The only damage done by fire was in 
the district-court room, in the north corner of the third floor, which 
caught from without and was burned out, together with two adjacent 
rooms on the northwest front. On the northeast end of the first floor 
the exterior stonework was also spalled by fire. 
A very considerable amount of damage was done by the dynamiting 
of near-by buildings, which was so severe as to smash the glass and 
blow out the window and door frames. In many places the marble 
wainscoting on the opposite side of the corridor was shaken loose. 
Probably 20 per cent of the injury done to the building is in the 
glass, marble, and finish. The building is substantial, and the mate- 
rials and workmanship are first class. 
RIALTO BUILDING. 
The eight-story Rialto Building, at the southwest corner of Mis- 
sion and New Montgomery streets, had a steel frame and reenforced 
cinder-concrete floors. The partitions were of hollow tile and the 
ceilings of suspended expanded metal, plastered. The columns were 
fireproofed with two layers of plastered expanded metal for all floors 
except the basement, where only one layer was used. The corridors 
had mosaic floors, and the stairways were of cast iron with marble 
treads. 
The building was considerably racked by the earthquake and was 
further damaged by fire and dynamiting (PL XL VIII, B). The 
fire was only moderately hot, but was sufficient to destroy the fire- 
proofing of two columns in the northeast corner of the basement, so 
that they failed by buckling (PI. XL VIII, A), causing extensive 
wrecking of the upper floors. The failure of the column protection 
was caused by the expansion of a pipe inside of it. The terra cotta 
around the entrance to the building was cracked by the earthquake. 
ST. FRANCIS HOTEL. 
The twelve-story St. Francis Hotel, in West Union square, at the 
corner of Geary and Powell streets, was of a modern type, having a 
steel skeleton, reenforced-concrete floors, with suspended ceilings plas- 
