In Staten Island, stone enters in very small proportion into the fronts of buildings, though commonly employed, as in New York and throughout this district, for the dressing of apertures, the walls of inclosures, and other masonry.
In Jersey City, the proportions of the materials are much as in Staten Island. The selection of the dark trap from the Heights behind the city, for the construction of many fronts or entire buildings, is a local feature of interest.
In Hoboken, the same general features prevail as in Jersey City.
The annual reports of the Committee on Fire Patrol of the New York Board of Fire Underwriters, for the years 1881 and 1882, have yielded the following statistics, which, so far as they go, closely approximate my own:
| Number of buildings. | |
|---|---|
| South of Canal Street | 10,553 |
| Between Canal and Fourteenth Streets | 26,700 |
| Between Fourteenth and Fifty-ninth Streets | 33,815 |
| Between Fifty-ninth Street and Harlem River | 18,746 |
| ——— | |
| Total | 89,814 |
The materials of construction for this district, which does not include the 23d and 24th Wards, north of the Harlem River, are reported as follows:
| Brick, with stone trimmings, and, in part, with stone facings | 64,783 |
| Brick and frame | 3,616 |
| Frame | 21,415 |
II. THE BUILDING STONES, THEIR VARIETIES, LOCALITIES, AND EDIFICES CONSTRUCTED OF EACH.
An exceedingly rich and varied series is brought to our docks, and the number and variety are constantly increasing. A few of the more important may be here mentioned.
Freestones (Carboniferous sandstone), commonly styled "Nova Scotia stone," or "Dorchester stone," in various shades of buff, olive-yellow, etc., from Hopewell and Mary's Point, Albert, N. B., and from Wood Point, Sackville, Harvey, and Weston, N. B., Kennetcook, N. S., etc. A very large number of private residences in New York and Brooklyn, etc., the fences, bridges, etc., in Central and Prospect Parks, many churches, banks, etc.