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Illustrated Hanbook for Historic Commercial Buildings <br />28 <br />Figuring out how <br />its structure works <br />Construction techniques <br />This drawing shows a typical structural system used in early 20th-century <br />commercial buildings like the Monarch Printing Building. The exterior brick <br />walls are load-bearing, which means they support much of the weight of <br />the building, including the floors and the roof wooden joists and beams. At <br />the center, a row of metal columns on the first floor help support the floor <br />above and reduce the span of the beams. At the base, a concrete basement <br />forms the foundation, anchoring the structure and helping protect it from <br />moisture below ground level.