Location of Work.—The area covered by the work of the TerminalStation-West is bounded as follows: By the east line of NinthAvenue; by the south side of 31st Street to a point about 200 ft.west of Ninth Avenue; by a line running parallel to Ninth Avenueand about 200 ft. therefrom, from the south side of 31st Street tothe boundary line between the 31st and 32d Street properties; by thisline to the east line of Tenth Avenue; by the east line of TenthAvenue to the boundary line between the 32d and 33d Street properties;by this line to the east line of Ninth Avenue. The area is approximately6.3 acres.
House-Wrecking.—The property between Ninth and Tenth Avenueswas covered with buildings, 94 in number, used as dwelling and apartmenthouses and church properties, and it was necessary to removethese before starting the construction. Most of the property was boughtoutright by the Railroad Company, but in some cases condemnationproceedings had to be instituted in order to acquire possession. In thecase of the property of the Church of St. Michael, fronting on NinthAvenue, 31st and 32d Streets, the Railroad Company agreed to purchasea plot of land on the south side of 34th Street, west of Ninth[304]Avenue, and to erect thereon a church, rectory, convent, and school,to the satisfaction of the Church of St. Michael, to hand over thesebuildings in a completed condition, and to pay the cost of movingfrom the old to the new buildings, before the old properties would beturned over to the Railroad Company.
The house-wrecking was done by well-known companies under contractwith the Railroad Company. These companies took down thebuildings and removed all the materials as far as to the level of theadjacent sidewalks. The building materials became the property ofthe contractors, who usually paid the Railroad Company for theprivilege of doing the house-wrecking. The work was done betweenApril and August, 1906, but the buildings of the Church of St. Michaelwere torn down between June and August, 1907.
The bricks were cleaned and sold directly from the site, as werepractically all the fixtures in the buildings. The stone fronts werebroken up and left on the premises. Some of the beams were sold onthe premises, but most of them were sent to the storage yards. Someof the lath and smaller timber was sold for firewood, but most of itwas given away or burned on the premises.
Contracts and Agreements.—The main contract, awarded to theNew York Contracting Company-Pennsylvania Terminal on April28th, 1906, included about 502,000 cu. yd. of excavation (about 90%being rock), 17,820 cu. yd. of concrete walls, 1,320,000 lb. of structuralsteel, 638,000 ft., B.M., of framed timber, etc., etc.
This contract was divided into two parts: "Work In and UnderNinth Avenue" and "Work Between Ninth and Tenth Avenues," andunit prices were quoted for the various classes of work in each ofthese divisions. The prices quoted for excavation included placingthe material on scows supplied by the Railroad Company at the pierat the foot of West 32d Street, on the North River; there was a clausein the contract, however, by which the contractor could be required tomake complete disposal of all excavated material at an additional u