BEHAVIOR OF INDIVIDUAL STRUCTURES. 103 
cisco combined. It is my personal opinion that the results would 
have indicated to private owners the availability of a desirable form 
of fire insurance at moderate cost on which but one premium would 
have to be paid. 
The post-office building was so carefully and intelligently designed 
and so well executed, and, all things considered, gave so good an 
account of itself, that it seems a little presumptuous to suggest 
wherein it could be made better. Yet I believe that if the granite 
had been solidly backed with good brickwork and even more heavily 
anchored to the steel frame, if the frame had been more completely 
and heavily braced, and if all the interior partitions had been of 
solid brickwork, the structural damage would have been much less; 
and even the greater weight on the foundations might have been an 
advantage rather than otherwise. Mr. Roberts estimates the total 
damage as about $400,000. Of this damage more than one-fourth, 
much of which was caused by the dynamite, is charged to marble 
finish and plate glass. The cost of the building was about $2,500,000. 
RIALTO BUILDING. 
The Eialto Building was a steel-frame structure, with expanded- 
metal and cinder-concrete slabs, expanded-metal and plaster column 
covering, and furred expanded-metal ceiling. It had two main wings, 
in each of which it is said attempts were made to dynamite the build- 
ing, the explosions causing the collapse of a portion of the interior 
structural work. A hole in the roof was produced by the same cause. 
PI. XL VIII, B, a view of the southeast corner of the building, shows 
a portion of this damage at close range, and is submitted to show the 
effect of dynamite on a steel-frame building. 
The fact that the building was dynamited makes it impossible to 
draw any useful conclusions as to its fire-resisting qualities; but there 
seems to have been only a moderately hot fire in this building, and the 
lireproofi ng, while seriously damaged, was not a total failure as a 
result of the fire alone. The north front was badly racked by the 
earthquake, resulting in many cracks in the walls. The south front 
of this building was also damaged by the earthquake; the intersecting 
diagonal cracks in the walls were plainly visible. A considerable 
amount of face brickwork was thrown off on this front, probably 
owing to the fact that it was laid without bond. 
ST. FRANCIS HOTEL. 
The new St. Francis Hotel, which had been occupied but a short 
time, had a sandstone front and was supported by columns pro- 
tected with cinder concrete. These columns were entirely undam- 
aged, although a section near the upper end of each column which 
