_House-Wrecking._--The property between Ninth and Tenth Avenues was covered
with buildings, 94 in number, used as dwelling and apartment houses and
church properties, and it was necessary to remove these before starting the
construction. Most of the property was bought outright by the Railroad
Company, but in some cases condemnation proceedings had to be instituted in
order to acquire possession. In the case of the property of the Church of
St. Michael, fronting on Ninth Avenue, 31st and 32d Streets, the Railroad
Company agreed to purchase a plot of land on the south side of 34th Street,
west of Ninth Avenue, and to erect thereon a church, rectory, convent, and
school, to the satisfaction of the Church of St. Michael, to hand over
these buildings in a completed condition, and to pay the cost of moving
from the old to the new buildings, before the old properties would be
turned over to the Railroad Company.

The house-wrecking was done by well-known companies under contract with the
Railroad Company. These companies took down the buildings and removed all
the materials as far as to the level of the adjacent sidewalks. The
building materials became the property of the contractors, who usually paid
the Railroad Company for the privilege of doing the house-wrecking. The
work was done between April and August, 1906, but the buildings of the
Church of St. Michael were torn down between June and August, 1907.

The bricks were cleaned and sold directly from the site, as were
practically all the fixtures in the buildings. The stone fronts were broken
up and left on the premises. Some of the beams were sold on the premises,
but most of them were sent to the storage yards. Some of the lath and
smaller timber was sold for firewood, but most of it was given away or
burned on the premises.

_Contracts and Agreements._--The main contract, awarded to the New York