84 THE SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE AND FIRE. 
due to the buckling or rupture of a lower-story column by the fire. 
In the east wing of the old building the terra-cotta fireproofing had 
suffered, to a considerable extent, the typical damage which is de- 
scribed in connection with the Aronson Building (p. 78) and in the 
general discussion of the subject (p. 72). Many floor tiles had lost 
their lower webs. 
The new Chronicle Building (also shown in PL XXX, B) was 
badly racked by the earthquake from the point where it rose above 
the neighboring buildings to the top. It seems to have been pro- 
vided with knee braces tending to stiffen it in a direction parallel 
to the Kearney street front. In the first story, at any rate, there 
were some diagonal braces in the steel work of the north wall. The 
worst damage was to the masonry of the Kearney street front; the 
shattering of this masonry can be observed by a close inspection of 
PI. XXX, B. This building was unfinished. It had hollow-tile 
fireproofing, including partitions. The burning out of the window 
trim and of whatever combustible matter may have been in the 
building, caused a good deal of damage to the hollow-tile floors, 
especially near the windows, where the lower webs came off almost 
completely. 
The old Chronicle Building seems to have suffered very little 
from the earthquake, notwithstanding it must have acted as a buttress 
for the new building. 
CITY HALL AND HALL OF RECORDS. 
The new city hall in San Francisco (PL XXXI), together with 
the hall of records, which adjoins it and which formed practically 
a part of one and the same structure, was a massive brick building 
with steel floor beams. This building had corrugated-iron floor 
arches, leveled up with concrete. There were some naked cast-iron 
columns where the span from wall to wall was too great for the 
beams. All interior partitions of any importance were of brick and 
rather heavy. In the basement and subbasement the corrugated-iron 
arches were left exposed. Everywhere else there was a ceiling car- 
ried on a form of metal lathing consisting of sheets of metal crimped 
so as to form dovetailed grooves or ribs; the plaster, being pressed 
up against this lathing and into the dovetailed grooves, was enabled 
to hold on by the key thus formed. The girders in the building were 
protected by a wrapping of this metal lathing finished on the exterior 
with plaster. The brickwork in the city hall was made of a very 
good quality of common bricks. The mortar appeared to be lime 
mortar gaged with cement, and was distinctly superior to lime mortar 
pure and simple. The workmanship was also above the average. 
The bricks were not as well laid as they might be, yet it was not poor 
