Mr. SCOFIELD. Mr. Byrns, answering your question about leasing for five years, the provision is "not exceeding five years." Mr. BYRNS. I assumed that it was. Mr. SCOFIELD. It is for a period not exceeding five years from the date of completion, at an annual rental of $92,000. That is this building at Eighteenth and G Streets. Mr. BYRNS. I wanted to know whether it was contemplated to rent it for five years. Mr. SCOFIELD. The owners of the Monroe Court Building wanted a five-years' lease on that, but we got them down to three years; that is, we told them that we could only get appropriations from year to year, and that we would ask for an appropriation for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1918, and at the same time ask that Congress authorize us to enter into a lease for two years more at the same annual rental. The CHAIRMAN. When will that building be available? COMMERCE BUILDING Co., BOARD ON ADDITIONAL SPACE FOR THE WAR Department, WASHINGTON, D. C. GENTLEMEN: Responding to your inquiry as to the real estate appraisement of the property and of the building value referred to in our proposal to you of June 29, 1917, would say the appraisement, which is presumed to represent twothirds of the value of the property, amounts to $25,866. This property, portion of which was bought by us some time ago, represents an actual investment to us of over $90,000. The estimated cost of the buildings is as follows: 1,966,000 cubic feet, at 40 cents_ Architectural fees.. Loan fees, carrying charges, etc. Total building value_. Land value_-- Total investment______ $798, 000 40, 000 30,000 868,000 90,000 958, 000 Our estimate of the cost to us of the taxes and insurance is $12,800. Our agent has been in touch with practically all of the large loaning companies in Philadelphia, New York, and throughout New England to arrange for our first-mortgage loan on the property, but has hed very little success and is of the opinion that the loaning companies consider this investment as representing a temporary requirement only of the War Department, consequently it appears inpossible for us to secure a first-mortgage loan without having at least a 10-year lease; consequently we would be obliged if, in making your request for necessary legislation, you will stipulate that the lease should be for a period of 10 years. Very truly, yours, VICTOR J. EVANS, Per JAMES BAIRD. (Referred to the Assistant and Chief Clerk. W. E. Kruesi, captain, Office Quartermaster General.) NAVY ANNEX. The CHAIRMAN. You are asking to be authorized to take over the unexpired portion of the lease on the Navy Annex at an annual rental of not exceeding $40.000. Mr. SCOFIELD. The way that came about was this The CHAIRMAN (interposing). Why do you make it $40,000, when the annual rental is $35,000 and something? Mr. SCOFIELD. I though it was $40,000. The CHAIRMAN. What do we pay for the Navy Annex-$35,000? Mr. SCOFIELD. They have a separate appropriation, or a separate provision, I think. The CHAIRMAN. I find that $40,000 is the rental of it. How much space is in that building? Mr. SCOFIELD. 88,000 feet. Capt. KRUESI. That is close to net. It is close to 88,000 feet net. The CHAIRMAN. The only one of these buildings that you would get immediately would be Capt. KRUESI (interposing). Monroe Courts. Mr. SCOFIELD. At Fifteenth and M Streets NW. Capt. KRUESI. Yes, sir. We can get that by the 15th of August. He said at the time, that was two weeks ago, that if he could know at once, we could get it on the 15th of August, or six weeks from then. The CHAIRMAN. How long would it take to get these other buildings? Capt. KRUESI. It would take seven months to get the building at Eighteenth and G-that is, they would not promise it sooner than seven months. We might get the Darby Building, which is to be repaired at a cost of $15,000, in about six weeks. That is a Government-owned building on Fourteenth Street. Col. HARTS. We thought we could probably get that in about a month. The CHAIRMAN. That is your own building? Col. HARTS. Yes, sir. Mr. GILLETT. You are liable not to get the appropriation for a month. Capt. KRUESI. All of these figures are based on the time that the appropriation is made. The CHAIRMAN. Now, as to the Navy Annex Building? Mr. SCOFIELD. We can get that whenever they move out, and they expect to move out about next March. The CHAIRMAN. What will you do in the meantime? Mr. SCOFIELD. We have supplied the immediate needs in the Darby Building and the Monroe Courts Building. Capt. KRUESI. Then there is the building we propose to erect on the square. That would be ready in 60 days from the time of the appropriation. That would provide a very large amount of space, 150,000 feet, on the Government-owned square between Fourteenth and Fifteenth Streets and C and D Streets. CONSTRUCTION OF TEMPORARY BUILDING ON FOURTEENTH, FIFTEENTH, C, AND D STREETS NW. The CHAIRMAN. Now, you are asking $150,000 for the construction of a temporary building or buildings on the Government-owned square south of Pennsylvania Avenue between Fourteenth and Fifteenth Streets and C and D Streets. You expect to get what for that amount? Capt. KRUESI. One hundred and fifty thousand feet, net. The CHAIRMAN. What is to be the character of this building? Capt. KRUESI. That is to be a temporary wooden structure with a sprinkler system for protection against fire. It would be a wooden building, two stories high, without elevators. I have a blue print of the proposed ground plan here. Of course this is exceedingly crude. It will be a building with a front and four wings running back. The CHAIRMAN. Is that considered safe? Col. HARTS. If I may interrupt there a moment, that estimate was based on cost figures of that date, but we have made an investigation recently into costs. We have been figuring on the same contract during the past week or two and we find that costs have so much increased that those figures are entirely too small. The market for lumber has been so depleted and the cost of steel and those things has so increased that those figures would probably have to be doubled now or you would have to add at least 50 per cent now in order to get the buildings constructed. The CHAIRMAN. The Census Office Building is a two-story brick building, and Congress was simply overwhelmed with protests against it because it was a fire trap. Col. HARTS. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. That is a brick building, and now you propose to erect a wooden building. Col. HARTS. Yes. sir. The CHAIRMAN. In which to house how many employees? Mr. GILLETT. If you put in a sprinkler system, that will make it safe, will it not? Col. HARTS. There is another thing about this building: It is something of a fire trap, but it will be in a block in which it will not be in contact with any other buildings. The records of this office will have to be taken away from these buildings and placed elsewhere. This is to be a place for doing the ordinary current work. The great demand is to get space. We have not enough space, and this is an opportunity to get space at a cheap cost. The CHAIRMAN. Was any inquiry made as to the possibility of getting the old Census Office Building? Col. HARTS. No, sir. Mr. GILLETT. Is that occupied now? The CHAIRMAN. It is partly occupied by some of the courts. We have had 3,000 persons employed in the census. Col. HARTS. We have been all over the situation so far as buildings are concerned, and have examined all of the buildings in the city that were available. We have eliminated about three-fourths of the buildings suggested for examination, and have suggested only the buildings that promise to give the best returns to the Government. The requirements of the situation are so important and so urgent in the different bureaus of the War Department that something has to be done very quickly, because in some rooms they are so badly overcrowded that the people have been going to the hospitals sick. The CHAIRMAN. Could any other form of construction than wood be used in that building? Col. HARTS. Yes, sir; hollow tile could be used. It would be the next cheapest material to wood, but it would cost two or three times as much as we are asking for. The CHAIRMAN. Do you think this would cost $300,000? Col. HARTS. Pretty nearly that. I was going to ask to-day to have the estimate increased by 50 per cent, adding $75,000 to the estimate, which we think will do, but if this is going to go beyond the 1st of September, then the estimate will probably have to be changed again, because we do not know how long it will be before we can start. On plumbing and some other furnishings at the White House the prices are going to be 20 per cent higher after the 1st of September. The CHAIRMAN. The estimate here is $150,000, and the question is whether some other form of construction could be utilized that would be safer, and whether in that event you could erect a three-story building? Col. HARTS. The question of elevators would then come in. We thought two stories was as high as could be conveniently used without elevators. Mr. CANNON. Could you protect it fairly well by a sprinkler system? Col. HARTS. Yes, sir. We expect it to be used for at least three years, and possibly four years, and we thought it good economy to suggest this construction and use a sprinkler system. The CHAIRMAN. What I had in mind was whether there was a different type of construction that would be to some extent fire resisting and more secure. Col. HARTS. You could put up the outside walls of hollow tile, which would give some protection. Then, there is the question of the roof, which is the most vulnerable part of a building. If you put on a fireproof roof and put in fireproof floors you would increase the cost immensely, because that would mean steel supports for the floors and for the roof. This is to be a building of wooden posts and wooden walls. There would be ordinary clapboards on the outside, which would give protection from the heat outside, and it could be heated in the wintertime. CENSUS BUILDING. Mr. GILLETT. Did you look at the Census Building or consider that at all? Col. HARTS. No, sir. Mr. SCOFIELD. That is too far from the War Department. Mr. GILLETT. It is no farther than the M Street building. Mr. SCOFIELD. The Census Building is at First and B Streets. Mr. GILLETT. And it is about a mile up to 15th and M Streets, is it not? Mr. SCOFIELD. No, sir. We walked it at a moderate pace inside of 10 minutes-about eight minutes. The CHAIRMAN. You will have the building occupied by the Southern Railway down here? Mr. SCOFIELD. We have already rented the building known as the Walker-Johnson Building, now occupied by the Southern Railway Co., near the Union Station. The CHAIRMAN. That is farther away than the Census Building. Mr. SCOFIELD. But that is for a complete bureau, or for a complete activity of the department. The CHAIRMAN. The Census Building accommodated 3,000 employees. You could put several complete activities in that. Mr. SCOFIELD. I did not know that the Census Building was vacant. The CHAIRMAN. It is partly occupied, but it might be possible to move the courts out of there and let you go right in it. Mr. GILLETT. There always seemed to be a great prejudice against that Census Building. Mr. SCOFIELD. It was very hot, and there was complaint about the sufferings of the clerks there. The CHAIRMAN. There was a good deal of complaint of every character in order to get out of it. Mr. SCOFIELD. We had great difficulty in getting them away from the War Department. We had great difficulty in getting them down to the Land Office, and we had to establish a Ford bus service. REPAIRS TO BUILDING AT 506 FOURTEENTH STREET NW.-DARBY BUILDING. The CHAIRMAN. The next item is, "For repairs and necessary alterations to Government-owned building situated at 506 Fourteenth Street NW., recently damaged by fire, fiscal year 1918, $15,000." Mr. SCOFIELD. That is the Darby Building. The CHAIRMAN. How much space do you get there? Mr. SCOFIELD. 14,000 feet. Capt. KRUESI. It amounts to a little over $1 a foot, but that is the capital charge. If the building is used for two years, the cost is 50 cents per foot. The CHAIRMAN. Will you completely overhaul it? Mr. SCOFIELD. It was gutted by fire. This also includes painting, putting in toilets, cutting windows for more light, etc. STATE, WAR, AND NAVY DEPARTMENT BUILDING. INSTALLATION OF ADDITIONAL BOILER. The CHAIRMAN. You are asking $15,000 for the installation of an additional boiler in the State, War, and Navy Department Building for heating and lighting the Mills Building. How is it heated now? Mr. SCOFIELD. They have a plant there now. When we leased that building I knew that when the Navy Department was in there they had a connection between the War Department Building and that building, and that it was heated and lighted from the War Department very cheaply. I have found that since that time the load on the heating and lighting plant of the War Department has increased so largely that the Superintendent of the State, War, and Navy Department was not able to heat and light the Mills Building without an additional boiler. The CHAIRMAN. Why not use the plant that is in the building? Mr. SCOFIELD. We can use it, but the Superintendent of the State, War, and Navy Department Building. Col. Harts, thinks that he can do it very much more cheaply in this way. If we occupy the building for three years, the saving would pay for the boiler. |