. A history of the earthquake and fire in San Francisco; an account of the disaster of April 18, 1906 and its immediate results. t cracking. Perhaps the most striking example of the de-struction of brickwork is found in the case of theCity Hall. Certainly the pictures of the ruins mightseem to indicate that the earthquake was a destruc-tive force of tremendous power, but the impressionso conveyed is a false one. Indeed, only half of thebuilding suffered any serious damage at all—thedome and the Larkin street wing. Apart from thequestion of graft and poor construction (the dam-aged and the unda
. A history of the earthquake and fire in San Francisco; an account of the disaster of April 18, 1906 and its immediate results. t cracking. Perhaps the most striking example of the de-struction of brickwork is found in the case of theCity Hall. Certainly the pictures of the ruins mightseem to indicate that the earthquake was a destruc-tive force of tremendous power, but the impressionso conveyed is a false one. Indeed, only half of thebuilding suffered any serious damage at all—thedome and the Larkin street wing. Apart from thequestion of graft and poor construction (the dam-aged and the undamaged portions were built bydifferent administrations) the reasons for the down-fall of the building can almost be seen at a tall framework of the dome, rising straight andsheer and almost unbraced, within the surroundingbrickwork, almost proclaims in itself how its sway-ing back and forth knocked down the latter, just asthe swaying of the dome on the Stanford UniversityGymnasium wrecked that edifice. The City Halldome, broad-based and sturdy in appearance, wasbut a sham. Its tremendously heavy brick walls and. Photos by AitkenChimney Tops Shifted by Earthquake THE DAMAGE BY THE EARTHQUAKE 205 concrete columns supported nothing, and bracednothing; the slender frame derived no strength fromthem in any way. On the Larkin street wing thesame story may be read; massive brick walls andmxonumental concrete columns—uselessly huge,shamefully top-heavy—are tied together at the roofby only the flimsiest and most trivial trusses; it issmall wonder that when the earthquake set themswaying they broke away and fell. In much of the damage to brickwork in SanFrancisco poor workmanship and poor materialswere only too apparent. Falling brick fell apart asthey struck the ground; the mortar, dry andcrumbly, had clearly been of the poorest many buildings, where zigzag cracks appearedbetween bricks, the mortar only too plainly had nocohesive power at all. In others, and e
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