BEHAVIOR OF INDIVIDUAL STRUCTURES. 89 
templates that were subjected to the heat were badly spalled and shat- 
tered, and one or two of them had failed sufficiently to permit the 
ends of the girders to settle an inch or more. I also noticed a num- 
ber of places in the walls of the building where the fire had evidently 
found its w r ay into the interior of unfilled joints through very small 
and tortuous passages. 
The hall of records was connected with the city hall by means of 
an arcaded corridor. The building was circular and all the floors 
above the first were pierced so that they practically formed galleries. 
The beams supporting these upper floors or galleries were of steel, 
set radially and supported at their inner ends by girders carried on 
a peristyle of 12 circular cast-iron columns, which had no fireproof 
covering of any sort, The floor arches were segmental arches of 
common bricks. The lower flanges of the beams were exposed, but 
the evidence indicated that there must have been a suspended ceiling 
of some sort below the fireproof floor construction, although it was 
impossible to determine its nature. It is probable that it was carried 
on combustible supports of some kind, which have totally disap- 
peared. As the records had been carried away from this building 
before the fire reached it the heat within it was not very intense and 
the interior of the structure was standing in a comparatively undam- 
aged condition, except for finish. The exterior walls, however, were 
badly shattered by the earthquake. The window shutters were of 
iron, and if they had remained in place, considering the situation of 
this building, would probably have kept the fire out. As indicated 
in the view, however, the earthquake wrenched some of these shutters, 
with their surrounding masonry, entirely out of the wall, thereby, 
of course, leaving easy access for the flames. 
As previously stated, it is my opinion that to remove the debris 
and restore the city hall, including the hall of records, to its original 
condition would cost as much as the entire building cost in the begin- 
ning. As it was so badly damaged by the shock it would apparently 
be w T ise to remove it altogether and build a structure of another type 
designed to resist earthquakes, 
COWELL BUILDING. 
No special interest attaches to the Cowell Building, except that it 
seems to have been more flimsy than the average. It had unprotected 
steel work and girders and wooden- joisted floors. The effect of fire 
on the unprotected steel work is well illustrated in PI. LI. U. 
CROCKER BUILDING. 
The Crocker Building had a steel frame and hollow-tile fireproof- 
ing. Some of the tile arches had totally collapsed, and over large 
