John A. Roebling's Sons Co. and Early Concrete Floors in New York City, 1890s - 1910

Abstract

Around 1892, John A. Roebling’s Sons Co. introduced one of the first concrete fireproof floor systems to be used in the United States. The floor was designed to span between I-beams in steel-frame buildings. Made with stiffened wire-cloth manufactured by a Roebling’s Sons Co. subsidiary, it was marketed as a lighter, cheaper alternative to terra cotta tile and brick arches. New York City’s building code required tall buildings to be fireproof; however, the code in the 1890s did not allow concrete floors, and this hobbled the firm’s floor business there. In the early twentieth century, after much political intrigue, the code was revised to allow concrete floors, and a great variety of concrete systems came on the market. For a short time the Roebling firm was the main contractor for concrete floors in the United States, and its floors proved their worth in several disastrous building fires and urban conflagrations. But eventually the business succumbed to competition and closed in 1914. Nevertheless, many buildings with Roebling floors are still standing. Background to the invention of the Roebling concrete fireproof floor The 1885 revision of New York City’s building code required for the first time that tall buildings be fireproof. The revised code responded to concerns, most especially from fire insurance underwriters, that the city’s new tall buildings – rising beyond the reach of firefighting capabilities – were fire hazards. Fearing the multiplication of these buildings sowed the seeds of urban conflagration, underwriters lobbied for restrictions on building height. And New York lawmakers obliged them, but rather than limiting heights, they required that all new buildings over 70 feet be fireproof. This meant that all structural materials going into such buildings had to be noncombustible, specifically, made of iron, clay or stone. The building code was revised several times from 1885 to the early twentieth century, and the fireproofing requirements were extended to a variety of building occupancies. For example, the 1892 code called for hotels, theaters, hospitals, asylums, and schools over 35 feet tall, as well as any building over 85 feet, to be fireproof (Fryer 1892). These fireproof construction requirements, along with similar ones adopted by other cities in the 1880s and 1890s, had the effect of creating a new, large market for noncombustible building products. This demand – for fireproof floors, roof decks, and partitions, and for means to protect structural metal – drew many firms into the business. One of these was the John A. Roebling’s Sons Company (JARSCo).