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INDKX   TO    VOLUMK   XXIII, 


JANUARY -JUNE,  1888. 


Abadiano  Collection.    The,  152 
Aboukir.    Reclaiming  Lake,  230 
Accidents.    Building,  63 

"          Exhibition  for  the  Preven- 
tion of,  284 
ACCIDENTS  :  — 

at  a  N.  Y.  Apartment-house  Fire,  158 
from  Electric  Wires,  289,  301 
Fall  of  a  floor  at  Bellefoute,  Pa.,  229 
"      '•         at  Columbus,  O.,  229 
"      "         in   Course    of   Demoli- 
tion, 253 

Midland  Hotel,  Kansas  City,  136, 145 
Advertising.      Returns  from,  121,   143, 

156 

Afghanistan  Wind-mills,  48 
African  Pile-dwellings,  288 
Air  of  Theatres.    The,  204 
Albany  Assembly-Chamber  Vault.  The, 

71,  74,  191,  270 
Alcoholic  Stimulants,  266 
Alexander.    The  Sarcophagus  of,  132 
Alley-ways  in  Baltimore,  135 
Aluminium,  299 

"  Amateurs'  Guide  to  Architecture,"  117 
American  Architect.    Returns  from  Ad- 
vertising in  the,  121,  143, 156 
"       Architecture  Winning  Atten- 
tion Abroad,  122 

A.  I.  A.  and  the  Grant  Monument  Com- 
petition. The  N.  V. 
Chapter,  142 

"  "       N.  Y.  Criminal  Courts 

Competition,  96,  168, 
203 
"       Meeting  of   Chicago  Chapter, 

168 
"       Proceedings  of  the  New  York 

Chapter,  46,  95, 142,  203 
American  Methods.    French  and,  62 
"        Monuments.    Some,  199,  219, 

269,  279 

"        Public   Health   Associations 

Prize  Essays.    The,  181,  215 

"        vs.    French    Architectural 

Training,  238 
Ammonia  on  Animal  Life.    Effect  of, 

288 

Amoy,  China,  164 
Analysis  of  Water.    Sanitary,  226 
Ancient  and  Modern  Light-Houses,  87, 

173, 11)5,  220 

Andrtf.    The  Captors  of  Major,  262 
ANECDOTES  :  — 

Boycott.    Horrors  of  the  Irish,  247 
Church.    Building  the  Wrong,  146 
Girl  of  Grit.    A,  179 
Walnut  Log.    A  Valuable,  150 
Watchman  frozen  in  Bitumen.    A,  180 
Antiquities.    Aztec,  152 

Demand  for,  290 

"  Italian  Export  Duty  on,  61 

Apartment-house.    Burning  of  an,  158 
Apprentice  cannot  join  a  Union.  An,  12 
Arbitration.    Disadvantages  of,  194 
Arcade  Railway.    The  New  York,  229 
Archaeological  Notes,  69 

A  RC  II  .ECOLOGICAL  :  — 

Arizona.    Hurled  Cities  in,  1 
Aztec  Antiquities.  127,  152 

"     Calendar  and  Sacrificial  Stones. 

The,  127 

Babylonia.  Excavation  at,  98, 132, 230 
Babylonian  Records,     Discovery  of, 

98,230 
Bath  Discovered.    Ancient,  312 


ARC H. to  LOGICAL  :  — 
Bells.    Old,  164 

Bureau  of  Ethnology.     Fourth  An- 
nual Report  of  the,  18,  43 
Campagna.    Drainage  of  the,  156 
Cerigo.   Schliemann'8  Explorations  in 

132 

Fayum.    Mr.  Petrie's  Finds  in  the,  309 
(iallo-Roman  Architecture,  175,  189, 

M 

Habitations  at  Paris  in  1889.     Pro- 
posed Exhibition  of  Human,  134 
Mithras   at  Rome.     Discovery  of   a 

Chapel  dedicated  to,  69 
Mound  Builders.    Dr.  Davis  and  the, 

264 

Paphos.    Explorations  at,  ISO 
Pompeii,  289 

Pottery.    Ancient  American,  43 
Roman  Sanatorium.    A,  71 

"       Statues.    Discovery  of,  288 
"       Wall  of  London.    The.  281 
Romanesque  Architecture,  307 
Sarcophagus  of  Alexander.    The,  132 
Sidon.    Discoveries  at,  86 
Statue  of  Buddha  at  Nara,  Japan,  47 
Submerged  Chinese  City.    A,  72 
Subterranean  Chapel.    A,  192 
Susa.    Discoveries  at,  290 
Tomb  of  Daniel.    The,  60 
Tunnels.    Some  Ancient,  290 
Yucatan.    Discoveries  in,  239 
Architect.    The  Office  of  Supervising, 

98,  99, 148 
"         Owner  and    Builder  Before 

the  Law,  267 
ARCHITECTS:— 
Commission.    The  Uniform  Rate  of 

an,  13 

and  Building  Committees,  35 
Compulsory  Examination  of  English, 

10,  26,  110,  139,  186,  218,  296 
Guarantee   the   Cost   of   Buildings'.' 

Should,  312 

Law  in  Relation  to,  114 
and  Material-men,  299 
in  Rome.    Registration  of.  62 
Mutual  Defense  Society.  The  French , 

194 

AECHITECTUBAL  :  — 
Autobiographies,  134 
Books,  179 
Journals,  11.  133 
League.    Annual  Meeting  of  the,  35 

Exhibition.    The,  17,  29 
"         and  the  Competition  for  the 

Grant  Monument,  142 
"          and  the  Competition  for  the 
New     York    Criminal 
Court*.    The,  83 
"          Reunion  of  the,  227 
Training.    American  »s.  French,  238 
"  L'  Architecture,"  131 

ARCHITECTURE  :  — 

at  the  Royal  Academy,  268 

"       Salon,  2117 
Gallic,  175, 189,  282 
in  Baltimore,  82 
"  Philadelphia,  75 
Lacks.    What  our,  304 
Proportion  in  Styles  of,  153 
"A  Short  History  of"  117 
"  The  Amateur's  Guide  to,"  117 
William  Morris  on  Modern,  251 
Winning  Attention  Abroad.    Ameri- 
can, 122 


Arizona.    Burled  Cities  in,  1 
Army  a  Blessing.    Our  Small,  179 
Army-Engineer  and  our  Public  Build- 
Ings.    The,  292 
Arsenic  In  Clay,  215 
Art  Commission.    A  National,  37, 109 
"    and  Congressional  Legislation,  128 
"    of  House-Building.    176,189,201 
"    Institute.    The  Chicago,  30 
"    Japanese,  190 

"    Museum,  Boston.    Addition  to,  33 
"    Side  of  Architecture.    The,  26 
Artesian  Wells  in  Paris,  180 
Artistic  Metal  Work,  241 
"Artists,"  242 

"         Legends  of,  227 
Artists'  Colors,  12 

"       Pot-Boilers,  144 
Asphaleia  Company.    The,  97, 110 
Association  of  Austrian  Engineers  and 

Architects.    Proposed,  242 
Athletic-Club  Building,  Boston.    137 
Austrian    Engineers    and    Architects. 
Imposed   Association    of, 
242 

"         Heating-Apparatus.    An,  122 
Autobiographies.    Architectural,  134 
Automatic  Fire-Escape.    An,  203,  254 

"         Glass-blowing,  254 
Autumn  Journeys  in  Mexico,  305 
Aztec  Antiquities,  127, 152 

"     Calendar  and   Sacrificial  Stones. 
The,  127 


Babylon.    The  Business  Records  of,  98 
Babylonia.     American  Expedition  to, 

132 

Bacteria  In  the  Human  Body,  254 
Baku.    The  Waste  of  Oil  at,  239 
Ballooning  with  Compressed  Hydrogen, 

242 

Baltimore.    Dwelling-houses  in,  83 
"  Heater.    The,  157 

"  Letters  from,  27,  82,  136 

Band-saw  for  Large  Logs,  71 
Bastile.    The,  58 

Bath.    Discovery  of  an  Ancient,  312 
"       One  Danger  of  the,  277 
"       The  Turkish.  273 
Bath-rooms.    Hungarian.  97 
Baths.    Gallo-Roman,  176,  190 
Bavarian  Wrought-lron  Work,  241 
Bay-windows.    Copper,  80 
Bearing-capacity  of  New  York  Subsoil. 

The,  47 

"       power  of  Piles.    The,  24 
Beer  in  Mortar.    The  Use  of,  110 
Bells.    Old,  164 
Berlin  Exhibition  for  the  Prevention  of 

Accidents,  284 

Storage  Warehouse.    Fire  in  a,  13 
"      Woodworking     Establishments, 

86 

Bidders.    A  New  way  to  swindle,  74 
Birmingham,  Eug.    Burning  of  a  Stor- 
age Warehouse  at,  146 
Bitumen.    Almost  Frozen  in,  180 
Black-walnut  Stain.    A ,  302 

"  Timber  In  Ohio,  38 

Blow-pipe  Flame.    A  New,  181 
1  in.-kHifs  New  Picture,  286 
Boilers    for    House-heating.       Green- 
house, 157 
Books.    Architectural,  179 

"        on  Construction   and  Decora- 
tion, 11 


Books   that  Architects    might    write, 

134 

BOSTOK  :  — 

Art  Museum.    Addition  to  the,  34 
Athletic-Club  Building.    New,  137 
Court-House.    The  New,  33,  80 
Electtic  Light-Station  Fire.    An,  266 
Hotel  Boylstou.    The,  80 
Illustrations  of  Public  Buildings,  238 
Letters  from,  33,  79,  137, 188 
New  Buildings  in,  183 
Public    Library    Drawings.     Exhibi- 
tion of  the  New,  132 
State-House.    The  Dome  of  the,  71 
Statues  by  Mr.  Donaguoe,  34 
Water-colors  by  J.  L.  Smith  at  the 

Art  Museum,  70 

Bottle-making  by  Machinery,  254 
Boycott.    Horrors  of  the  Irish,  247 
Boycotting  in  Cincinnati,  294 
Boyle's  "  Stone  Age  "  Group,  78 
Breath.    The  Active  Poison  in  Human. 

192 

Brasses.    Exhibition  of  Rubbings  of,  58 
Brescia.    The  Siege  of,  271 
Brick-burning  with  Oil.  300 
Brick-fronts.    Restoring  Faded,  144 
Bricklaying  in  Frosty  Weather,  66,  110, 

253 

Bricks  of  Altiniim.    The  Unbaked,  98 
Bridge.    Failure  of  a  Paris,  146 
"         Firth  of  Forth.  167 
"        Novel  Way  of  Moving  a,  186 
"         over  the  Hudson  River  at  New 

York.    Proposed,  50 
"         Spans,  72, 156. 167 
TbMgp*   of    Large   Span.     Brick   and 

Stone,  72, 156 

Brighton.  The  "  Chain  Pier,"  239 
British  Interest  in  our  Strikes,  275 
Bronze.  Casting  in  Steel  and,  252 

"         in  Japan.     Monumental  Use 

of,  178 

"         Metals,  290 

"         of  the  Vendome  Column.    120 
Bruno's  Work.    The  Late  Professor,  239 
Buddha  at  Nam,  Japan.    Statue  of,  47 
Buenos  Ayres.    Competition  for  a  Par- 
liament-House, 168 
"          "         Harbor  Improvements, 

179 

Buhot's  Etchings.    Felix,  91 
Builder  Before    th«  Law.     Architect. 

Owner  and,  267 
Builders'  Rules  for  Estimates.  National 

Association  of,  143, 193 
BUILDING:  — 
Accidents,  63 
Art  of  House,  175, 189,  201 
Contracts.    Forms  of,  193 
In  Chicago,  147 
"  Cincinnati,  232 
Journals.    Increase  in,  133 
Laws  in  Chicago,  138 
Movers,  215 
News.    Reporting,  300 
Plan  Associations,  138 
Practice.  United  States  Government, 

5,  165,  210,  260 
Safe,  7,  81, 104, 159,  207,  255 
Speculations  in  Rome,  223,  266,  302 
Bureau  of  Ethnology.    Fourth  Annual 

Report  of  the,  18,  43.  66 
"        "  Fine    Art    for    the    United 
States.    The  proposed,  37, 
109 


IV 


TJie  American  Architect  and  Building  News'.  —  Index. 


[VOL.  XXIII. 


Cabl«  across  the  Lnan  River,  China,  35 
Cain's  "  Lioness  and  Cuba,*'  75 
Calendar  and  Sacrificial  Stones.     The 

Aztec,  127 

Campagna.    The  Drainage  of  the,  156 
Canada.    Letter  from,  2»1 
Canadian  Forms  of  Building  Contracts, 

193 

"        Parcels-Post.    The,  12 
Canal.    The  Corinth,  298 
Old  Mexican,  43 
"        Panama,  74,  158,  252 
"Canals"  of  the  Planet  Mars.    The,  251 
Canopy    for   Ureenough's    "  Washing 

ton,"  28M 

Capitol  Kotunda.    Decorations  of  the,  62 

"      to  Troy.    Moving  the  Albany,  72 

Capitols.    Defects  In  Stato,  71,  71,  l!ll, 

270 

Captors  of  Andre.    Memorial  to  the,  202 
"Carbonnatronofeu,"    The,  122 
Carolina  Clay-Eaters,  214 
Carpenter-work,  260 
Cartridge.    The  Water,  31 
Casting  in  Steel  and  Bronze,  252 

"       the  Veudome  Column,  120 
Castings.    Loss  from  Defective,  157 
Cathedral  lit  by  Electricity.    A,  215 
"         Liverpool,  295 

New  York  Kpiscopal,  77,  119, 

206 

Cavour  Monument,  Turin.    The,  124 
Ceiling.    To  replace  an  Old,  203 
CEMENT:  — 
Concrete,  277 

for  the  Congressional  Library  Founda- 
tions.   Rejection  of,  49,  S3 
Iron  Slag,  182, 242 
on  Lead.    The  Action  of,  97 
Substitute  for  Hydraulic,  120 
Tariff  and  the  Price  of,  134 
Century  of  British  Art.    A,  57,  78 
Cerigo.    Schliemann's  Explorations  In, 

132 

Cesspools  for  Houses,  202 
Ceylon.    The  Sigiri  Rock  at,  204 
"Chain  Pier,"  Brighton.    The,  239 
Chairs.    Sale  of  Historical,  253 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  Cincinnati,  232 
Chapel.    A  Subterranean,  192 
Charnay-Lorillard  Collection.    The,  152 
Chelsea  ware.    A  bit  of,  72 
Chemists.    The  Kisks  of,  192 
CHICAGO  :— 

Art  Institute.    The,  30, 136, 142,  292 
bridge.    Moving  a,  186 
Building  foundations,  147 
Club-houses,  142 
Houses,  140,  232 

Letters  from,  30,  76, 135, 186,  232,  292 
McVicker's  Theatre.    Decorations  of, 

47,  70,  118 

Ottlce-bttildlngs  in,  88 
Strikes  in,  186 

Chimneys.    The  Uses  of  Tall,  38 
China.    The  Popu  atlon  of,  24 
Chinese  Cities,  104 

"       City.     Reappearance  of  a  Sub- 
merged, 72 

Printing-house.    An  Old,  252 
Cholera  from  Impure  Water,  201 
"  Christian  Art  in  Ireland."    "  Early," 

237 
Church  Architecture,  304 

"      A  Draughty,  155 
Churches.    Iron,  47,  60,  71 

Paris,  31,  221 
Cincinnati.    Architecture,  303 

Convention  of   Master- 

Bullders,  37,  76,  143 
Letters  from,  31,  76,  138, 

232,294 

Cistern  Water.    Lower  Organisms  in,  48 
City  Architect  of  London.    The,  11 
City-Hall.    Proposed  open  Square  about 

the  Philadelphia,  138 
Clay-eaters.    Carolina,  214 
Cleaning  Metal  and  Stone-work,  240 
Clergy's  Oversight  of  the  Poor.    The 

English,  169 

Club-houses  in  Chicago,  142 
Club  in  N.  Y.    Proposed  Women's  Co- 
operative, 229 

Cochin-China.    Pall  of  a  Meteor  In,  182 
Coc.hrane,  Archt.    Death  of  John  C.,  13 
Coffee.    Consumption  of  Tea  and  266 
Color.    The  Decorative  Use  of,  243 

of  Furniture,  245 
Colors.    Artists',  12 
Column  likely  to  Escape  Dry.rot.     A, 

Combination  of  Iron-makers.    The,  85 
Combustibility  of  Iron,  96 
Combustion.     Spontaneous,    177,    238, 

248,  264 
Commercial  Schools  Abroad,  14 

Spirit  in  Architecture.    76 
Commission.    A  National  Art,  37, 109 
A  Question  of,  134 
on  a  Party-wall.    The,  95 
Suit    for    an    Architect's, 

217,  265,  289 

Uniform  rate  of  an  Archi- 
tect's, 13 
Commissions.    The  Question  of  Higher, 

78 
Compensation.     The  Uniform  rate  of 

an  Architect's,  13 
COMPETITION  :  — 
for    Clock    Tower.     Architectural 

League's,  35,  % 
the  Grant  Monument,  142 


COMI'KTITION  :  — 

for     the  Indiana  Soldiers'  and  Sail- 
"          ors'  Monument,  50,  191 
"      the  N.  Y.  Criminal  Courts.    The 

S3,  95,  108,  2113,  205 
"      the  Parliament-House,   Buenos 

Ayre§,  158 
"      the    Richmond,    Va.     Masonic 

Temple,  217 

"      in  New  York.    School-house,  50 
"      Tennessee.    A  Church,  85 
Competitions.    Limit  of  Cost  In,  131 
Compulsory    Examination    of    English 
Architects.    The,  10,25,110,  139,  186, 
218,  295 

Comstock  Mines.    The,  132 
Concrete.    Cement,  277 
"  Concrete."    "  Notes  on"  130 
Coney  Island  Hotel.    Moving  a,  169,  294 
Congress  and  our  Public  Buildings,  80, 

98,  99,  148,  301 

Congressional  Library.    Report  on  the 

Construc- 

tion  of   the, 

49,83 

"  "          Our  Senators 

and  the,  118 
"  .  "          The    Size    of 

the,  286 

"  "          Threatened 

Stoppage  of 
Work  on  the, 
301 

Connogocheague,  187 
Constitutional  Monument  at  Philadel- 
phia.   Proposed,  217 
Consulting-Architect.    Who  pays  the? 

179 

Contract  Labor.    Importation  of,  2,  205 
Contractors.    Responsibility  of,  206 
Contracts.    Forms  of  Building,  193 
Convention  of  M aster-Builders.     The, 

37,  76,  143 
Cooperative  Club  for  Women  in  N.  Y. 

Proposed,  229 
Copper  Bay-windows,  80 

•      The  Rise  in  the  Price  of,  61 
Copying  Objects  of  Art,  25 
Corinth  Canal.    The,  298 
Corrections,  118,  264,  275 
Corrosion  of  Iron.    Protection  against, 

61 

Cost  in  Competitions.    The  Limit  of,  131 
"    of  a  Snial  I  Dwelling-house  in  Paris. 

The,  215 

"    "  Buildings.    Estimating  the,  214 
Cottage.    A  Model  poor  Man's,  206 
Counterfeit  Antique  Furniture,  218 
Court-house.    The  new  Boston,  33,  80 
Crematory  at  Paris.    The  new,  41 
Criminal  Courts  Competition.    The  N. 

Y.,  83,  95,  168,  203,  205 
'Cubing  Out,"  214 

Currents.    Nature  of  Electric,  289,  301 
Curtailing  too  Lofty  Buildings,  251 
Cushing's  Discoveries  in  Arizona.  Mr.,  1 
"  Cyclopaedia."     "  Alden's  Manifold," 
118 


Daly  and  Labrouste.    M.  Cesar,  182 

Dam  on  the  Panama  Canal,  252 

Dangerous  Wall-papers,  249 

Daniel.    The  Tomb  of,  60 

Darley,  Artist.    Death  of  F.  O.  C.,  177 

David  d'Augers's  Statue  of  Jefferson 
219 

Davis,  Archaeologist.    Death  of  Dr.  C. 
H.  254 

Deafening  a  Dance-hall  Floor,  47 
"          Floors,  47,  146,  155 

Death's-Head  in  Central  American  Art, 
36 

Decoration  for  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  Paris. 
Interior,  62 

Decorations  of  the  Capitol  Rotunda,  62 
"  McVicker's   Theatre, 
Chicago.  The,  47, 70, 118 

Decorative  Use  of  Color.    The,  243 

Defense      Society.       The     French 
Architect's  Mutual,"  194 

Delorme.    Philibert,  94 

Demolition.    Accident  during,  253 

Department  of   Public  Works    in  the 
United  States.    A,  247 

Deterioration  of  Marble  Roofs,  1 

Detroit  Architectural  Sketch-Club,  250 
"       River-Tunnel.    The,  283 

"  Diamond  cut  Diamond,"  300 

"Diettonnaire  de  I' Amf.ublement  el  de 
la  fJtcoration."    Havard's,  68 

Dieulafoy.    Finds  of  M.  and  Mine.,  290 

Disappearance   in  America  of  an  His- 
torical Painting  by  Etex,  60 

Discoveries  in  the  Fayum  309 

"          at  Rome.    Recent,  69 
"  Sidon,  86 
"  Susa,  290 

Discovery  of  Roman  Statues,  288 

Dismissal  of  an  Architect.    Unjustifi- 
able, 227 

Domes,  SO 

Douaghoe's  Statues.    Mr.,  34 

Door  in  Wind     To  cure  a,  275,  300 

Door-knobs,  289,  290 

Downing,  the  Landscape-Gardener,  3 

Drainage  of  the  Campagna.    The,  156 

Draughts  in  Churches,  155 

Draughtsmen's  independent  Work,  277 

Dry-rot,  64, 118, 185 

"  l>u  Cerceau."    *'  Zcs,"  45 

Duty  on  Antiquities.    Italian  Export,  61 
"  Works  of  Art.    The  61, 128 

Dwelling-house  in  Paris.    The  Cost  of 
a  small,  215 

Dwelling-houses.    The  Question  of 
Raising  the  Commission  on,  76 

Dwellings  for  the  Poor.    Improved,  206 


Early  Settler  Memorials,  262 
Edinburgh  Theatres.    The  Air  of,  204 
Education  in  France.    Technical,  223 
Efluonne,  the  Universal  Solvent,  192 
Egg-hatching  in  Egypt,  264 
Eggs.    The  Manufacturing  Uses  of,  233 
Eiffel  Tower.    Elevator  for  the,  12 
ELKUTRIC  :  — 

Club  in  New  York.    The,  122 
Light.    The  Inventor  of  the,  240 
Light  station.    Fire  in  an,  266 
Lighting.     Fire  Risks  of,  287 
Railroads,  233 

Shocks.    A  Protector  from,  231 
Wires.    Dangers  of,  289,  301 
Electricity.    Cathedral  Lighting  by,  215 

"  and  Sewage,  93 

"  Elementary  Graphic  Statics,"  35 

"  Schools.     The    Planning 

of,  14 

Elevator  for  the  Eilt'el  Tower.    The,  12 
Elevators  in  London  Hotels.    Hydrau- 
lic, 107 
Engineer    and   onr   Public    Buildings. 

The  Army,  292 
ENGINEERING  :  — 

Bridge.    Novel  Way  of  Moving  a,  186 
"         Firth  of  Forth,  167 
"         over  the  Hudson  River  at 
New  York.    Proposed,  50 
Bridges  of  Large  Span.     Brick  and 

Stone,  72,  156 
Cable  Across  the  Lnan  River,  China, 

35 

Canal.    The  Corinth,  298 
"  Canals  "  of  the  Planet  Mars.    251 
Dam  on  the  Panama  Canal.  252 
Drainage  of  the  Campagna.    The,  156 
Harbor    Improvements.      Buenos 

Ayres,  179 

Lock-gates  for  the  Panama  Canal,  158 
Moving  a  Coney  Island  Hotel,  169,  294 
Niagara.  Using  the  Water-power  of, 

134 

Panama  Canal.    The,  74,  158,  212,  252 
Quicksand.    Conquering  a,  132, 168 
Quicksands.    Bridging,  168 
liaising  of  the  Great  Yarmouth  Town- 
hall.    The,  166 

Reclaiming  Lake  Abonkir,  230 
"          the  Zuyder  Zee,  145 
River  and  Harbor  Works  in  the  U.  S., 

247 

Ship-railway.    A  Venetian,  271 
Tunnel.    The  Detroit  Kiver,  283 

"         The  Toquixquiac,  276 
Tunnels.    Some  Ancient,  290 
Vinci's  Invention  of  Lock-gates.    Da, 

158 

Water-supply  for  Paris.    New,  179 
Engineer's  Club  of  Philadelphia,  203 

"         Society  of  Western  Pa.,  203 
English  Clergy  and  the  Poor.    The,  169 

Workman.    A  Sagacious,  288 
Englishman  on  American  Architecture. 

An.  235 
Episcopal  Cathedral.    The  New  York, 

77, 119,  206 

Essays  on  Public  Health.    Prize,  181 
Estimates,  214 

"  Adopted  by  the  National  As- 
sociation of  Builders. 
Rules  and  Conditions  for, 
143,  193 

Etex's  lost  Historical  Picture,  60 
Ethnology.    Fourth  Annual  Report  of 

the  Bureau  of,  18,  43,  66 
Examination    of    English    Architects. 

The,  10,  25,  110,  139,  186,  218,  295 
EXHIBITION  :  — 
of   Architectural    Drawings    at    the 

Penna.  Academy,  138 
of  Boston  Public  Library  Plans,  182 
of  1889.    The  Paris,  134 
of  Water-colors  at  Chicago,  136 
Munich  International  Art,  12 
for  the  Prevention  of  Accidents,  284 
Exhibitions  in  London,  295 
Expansion  of  Terra  cotta.    The,  86 
Expert  ?    Who  should  pay  the,  95 
Explosion  of  an  Ammonia  Tank,  288 

"         "  a  Water-heater,  120 
Explosions  in  Underground  Conduits, 

110 

Explosives.    Careless  Handling  of,  182 
Extras.    A  Question  of,  24 

"         to  an  Outsider.    Letting,  11 


Faded  Brick-fronts.    Restoring,  144 
Fall  of  a  Floor  at  Bellefonte,  Pa.,  229 

"      "        "     at  Columbus,  O.,  229 
Fayum.    Mr.  Petrie's  Finds  in  the,  309 
Fences  for  Government  Buildings,  211 
"  Fences,  Gates  and  Bridges,"  34 
Filtration.    The  Rate  of,  312 
Fine  Art  for  the  United  States.    Pro- 
posed Bureau  of,  37, 109 
"  Finish"  in  Art.    Mr.  Ruskin  on,  60 
Fire-escape.    An  Automatic,  203,  254 
Fireproof  Construction,  13 
Fireprooflng  Theatres.    Aids  to,  97, 110 
Fire-regulations  In  Chicago,  136 
FIRES:  — 
from  Electric-lighting,  287 

'    Rats  gnawing  Matches,  144 
"    Spontaneous    Combustion,    177. 
238,  248,  264 

in  1887  and  1888,  97, 181 
"  1887.    Theatre,  86,  158 
'  Berlin.    Precautions  against,  86 
"  Paris  in  1887,  264 
"  Russia.    Incendiary,  145 
on  Shipboard  177,  248 
Peculiar  Origin  of,  21 
FIRES:  — 

Apartment-house,  New  York,  158 
Berlin  Storage  Warehouse,  13 
Electric-light  Station,  Boston,  266 


FIRES  :  — 
St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  Buffalo,  N.  Y., 

229 
Storage  Warehouse  at  Birmingham, 

Eng.,  146 

Theatre  at  Oporto,  158 
Union  Square  Theatre,  140 
Firth  of  Forth  Bridge.    The,  167 
Floor  Accidents,  229 

"     Beams  and  Girders,  7,  Dl 
"     Beams  and  their  Price.    Iron,  85 
"     Construction.    Warehouse,  11 
Floors.    Accidents  to,  63,  229 
"        Deafening,  146,  155 
"         Painting  and  Varnishing,  122 
"        Strengthening  Old,  281 
Fondaco  del  Turchi,  Venice.    14,  97 
Force.    Keely's  New,  1 
Fort  of  Golconda.    The,  155 
Foundations.    Accidents  due  to  Faulty, 

<i3 

"  in  Chicago.    Building,  147 

France.    Technical  Education  in,  223 
French  and  American  Methods,  62 
"      Architectural  Training.  Ameri- 
can vs.  238 

"  at  the  Post-Office,  298 
Frescos  at  the  Pantheon,  222 
Frosty  Weather.  Bricklaying  in,  26, 

110,  253 

Fumes.    Getting  rid  of  Noxious,  38 
Furnace.    A  Remarkable,  121 
Furniture.    Color  of,  245 

"  Counterfeiting  Old,  218 


Gallo-Roman  Houses,  175, 189,  282 

Garbage.    Burinng,  203 

Gardening.    Landscape,  3 

Gas  Explosions.    Various  Kinds  of,  110 

"   in  England.    Natural,  96 

"   Sixteen-cent,  267 

"   Tar  and  its  Uses,  36 
"  Gavarni,"  274 
Gelatine  Prints  of  the  "  Villard  House," 

25 
German.    Notes,  286 

"          Technical  Society  of  N.  Y., 

191 

Germs  of  Disease  in  Water,  225 
Gillmore,  Engineer.     Death  of   Genl. 

Q.  A.,  181,  212 

Girard  College.    The  Marble  Eoof  of,  1 
Girders.    Floor  Beams  and,  7,  51 
Girl  of  Grit.    A,  179 
Girls.    Technical  Training  for,  265 
Glasgow  Tenement-houses.    The,  169 
Glass-blowing  by  Machinery,  254 
Glass  for  Optical  Instruments.    A  New, 
144 

"     In  Ancient  Times,  176 
Godin.    The  Death  of  M.,  66 
Godwin,  Architect.  Death  of  George,  73 
Godwin's  Collection  of  Chairs.    Sale  of 

the  late  George,  253 
Golconda.    The  Fort  of,  155 
Gold  Mines  in  Manchuria,  309 
Gothic  Detail  in  Boston.    Some.  137 
Government  Building  Practice.   United 

States,  5,  165,  210,  260 
"  Claimant's  Story.    A,  3C 

Grand  Theatre,  London.     Burning  of 

the,  57 

Grant  Monument  Competition.  The,  142 
"  Great  Eastern's  "  Fate.    The,  28 
Greek  Numismatists.    Stories  of  Two, 

238 

"      Outlines,  295 
Greenhouse  Boilers  for  House-heating, 

157 

Grit.    A  Girl  of,  179 
Ground-rents.    Baltimore,  135 

"      testing  Apparatus.    A  Faulty, 

11,  59,  71 
Guarantee    the    Cost    of    Buildings? 

Should  Architects,  312 
Guild  of  St.  George.    The,  276 
Gypsum  for  Masonry.    The  Use  of,  122 

Habitations.    Exhibition  of  Human,  134 
Hair-ropes,  209 

Hale.    Memorials  to  Nathan,  171, 183 
Harbor  Improvements  in  Buenos  Ayres, 

Hardlng's  Books  on  Drawing,  59 
Hardware.    House,  285 
Heating-apparatus.    An  Austrian,  122 

Heine  System  of  House,  230 
"        Hot-water,  157 
Heine  System  of  House-heating.    230 
Hello-chrome  Prints.    Our,  133 
Historical  Painting.    Disappearance  of 

an,  60 
"         Society's  Old  Masters.    The 

N.  Y.,  196 
"  History  of  Architecture."    "  A  Short" 

Holbein  Madonna.    The,  42 
Homes.    Art  in  American,  109 
Hospital-building.    A  new  Form  of,  278 
Hotel.    Moving  a  Coney  Island,  169,  294 
Hotel  de  Ville,  Paris.    Interior  Decora- 
tion for  the,  62 
Hot-water  Heating,  157 
Houdon's  Bust  of  Washington,  304 

Statue  of  Washington, 249, 304 
House  building.  The  Art  of,  175, 189,201 
hardware,  269 
heating  in  Various  Ways,  157 

The  Heine  System  of,  230 
"      The  Model,  190,  200 
Houses  in  Chicago,  140, 232 

"  Philadelphia.    Old  Stone,  28 
Medieval,  282,  307 
Hydraulic  Cement.    A  Substitute  for 

120 

Elevators  in  London  Hotels, 
167 


JAN.  -JUNE.,  1888.]      The  American  Architect  and  Building  News. — Index. 


Hydrogen.    Ballooning  with  compress- 
ed,  242 


I'Anson.    Death  of  Edward,  86 

Ice  Bombarding  a  Town,  IT'.i 

Illustrations   of    Huston   Public  Hand- 
ings, 23S 

linages  in  Japan.     Bronze,  ITri 

Importation  of  Contract  Labor.    The. 
.',  21 M 

Incendiary  Fires  in  Russia,  145 

Incubation  in  Egypt.    Artificial,  264 

Indian  i'ictogrrtphg,  18 

lncliai.il  Soldier*'    and   Sailors'   Monu- 
ment Competition.    The,  90,  191 

Indicator.    Pure  Air,  152 

Industrial  Nation  of  the  Future.    The 
United  States  the  (ireat,  179 

Insurance  losses  in  18H8.    Heavy,  181 

"  lut>  r'/ur  Decoration,"  226 

Inventor  of  tin-  Klectrlo-Llght.   The,  240 

Iron  and  Steel.    Protecting,  <>l 
"    Churches,  47,  60,  71 
"    Combustibility  of,  96 
"     Construction.     Kireprooflng,  13 
"     Non-corrodible,  L'H,  -'tH 
"     Protecting  American,  s.-, 
"    work.    Bavarian  Wrought,  241 
"        "     for  Government   Iluildings, 
165 

Italian  Cities  —  Turin,  111,  123 

"       Export  Duty  on  Antiquities,  Gl 

Italy.    Theatre  Construction  in,  37 

Jackson  on  the  Compulsory  Examina- 
tion of  Architects.    Mr.  T.  G.,  10,  25 
Japan.    Bronze  Images  in,  178 

"         Mr.  Menpesrs  Pietures  of,  234 
Japanese  Pictures,  190 
Jefferson.    Memorials  to  Thomas,  200, 

219 

Jottings  about  the  United  States,  235 
Journals.    Architectural,  11, 133 

Increase    in    Architectural 
and  Building,  133 


Kansas  City.    Midland  Hotel  Accident, 

136, 145 

Keeiy  Motor.    The,  1 
Kiteon,  Sculptor.    Death  of  J.  W.,  146 


Labor.    Importation  of  Contract,  2,  205 

"      Troubles.    Six  Years',  23 
Labrouate  and  "Truth  in  Art,"  182 
Landscape-Gardening,  3 
Largest  of  Modem  Buildings.    The,  286 
Ijaundry.    The  Mexican,  5K 
"  Lav)  of  Building  and  Ihiildinys"  226 
Law.     Architect,  Owner   and  Builder 

before  the,  267 
"       In  Relation  to  Architects,  114 

"    The  Profession  of,  228 
I/ead.    The  Action  of  Cement  on,  97 
LKGAL : — 
Apprentice  cannot  join  a  Union.    An, 

Architect,  Owner  and  Builder  before 

the  Law,  267 

Contract  Lain  cr.  The  Importation  of,  2 
Law  in  Relation  to  Architects,  114 
Letting  Extras  to  an  Outsider,  11 
Lien  Laws  in  Virginia  and  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,  231 
Mechanics'  Lien  Law  In  Penn.,  75 
'*  Mutual    Defense    Society."     The 

French  "Architects."  194 
Relations  of  an  Architect  to  a  Build- 
ing-committee.   The,  35 
Responsibility   for  Damages  by   the 
Kail  of  a  Floor  from  concealed  De- 
fects, 253 
Suit  for  an  Architect's  Commission, 

217,  265,  289 
"      "    Damages   because    of    bad 

Uuderpining,  206 
"   Fees  on  Preliminary  Draw- 
Ings,  231 

Tolman  vs.  Phelps,  73 
Trespass.    A  Case  of,  287 
Van  Beer's  Suit  against    alleged 
Counterfeiters  of  his  Paintings,  -jui. 
215 

Legends  of  Artists,  227 
Legislation.    Art  and  Congressional,  128 
Letters  from  Baltimore,  27,  82, 135 
"     Boston,  33,  79, 137, 188 
"     Canada,  291 
"         "     Chicago,  30,  76,  135, 186. 232, 

292 
"     Cincinnati,  31,  76,  138,  232, 

m 

"     London,  139, 186,  295 
"     New  York,  29,  77 
"     Philadelphia,  28,  75,  293 
"         "     Washington,  187  321,  282 
Liberty  Statue  on  the  Capitol.    The,  180 
Library  Plans.    Exhibition  of  the  New 

Boston  Public,  182 

Lien  Law  in  Penn.    The  Mechanics',  75 
Lien  Laws  in  Virginia  and  the  District 

of  Columbia,  231 
Light-Houses.     Ancient   and  Modern, 

87,  173,  195,  220 

Lightning.    Pervasiveness  of,  142 
Limit  of  Cost.    Disregarding  the,  131 
Lincoln  Building  in  Boston.    The,  189 
"  Lioness  and  Cubs."    Catn's,  75 
Liverpool  Cathedral.    The,  295 
Lock-gates  for  the  Panama  Canal,  158 
Lofty  Buildings.    Curtailing  too,  251 
Logs.    Band-saw  for  Large,  71 
LONDON : — 

British  Museum.     Japanese  Art   at 
the,  190 


LONDON  :  — 
"  Century   of    British    Art "    at  the 

Gronvenor  Gallery.    "A,"  57,  78 
Exhibitions.    Various,  295 
Grand  Theatre.    Burning  of  the,  57 
Grosvenor  Gallery.    The,  187 
Historic  Furniture.    Sale  of,  2T<3 
Hyde  Park  Apartment  house.    295 
letters  from,  10,  :,7,  i.;:>.  HI;,  2U5 
Menpes'i  Japanese  Pictures.   Mr.  -j:;i 
Metropolitan  Board  of  Works  Scan- 
dals, 139,  1*7 
Hail  way  Traffic  of,  230 
Koiuan  Wall.    The,  251 
Koyal  Academy.    The,  246,  208 
Sewage  of.    The,  9:! 
St.  Paul's.    New  Reredos  at,  140,  295 
Theatres  in  the  16th  Century,  28H 
Water-colors  at  the  Koyal  Society,  234 
Westminster  Abbey.    Vandalism  at, 
• 

Lots  iu  Baltimore.    House,  135 

Ixjutherboure.  the  Scene-painter,  216 

Lowering  a  Cnurch,  215 

Lucigen,  '•' 


Madonnas  of  Darmstadt  and  Dresden. 

The  Holbein,  to 
Madrid.    National  Theatre,  24 
Manchuria's  Gold  Mines.  309 
Manganese  on  Steel.    Effect  of,  319 
Manufacturer.    A  celebrated  Art,  215 
Marble  Roof  of  Girard  College.    The.  1 
Maria  Theresa  Monument,  Vienna,  251, 

297 

Mars.    The  "  Canals  "  of  the  Planet,  251 
Mary  Washington's  Monument,  199 
Masonic   Temple    Competition,    Rich- 
mond, Va.,  217 
Masonry  In  Frosty  Weather.    Laying, 

56. 110,  253 
"          Strength  and  Stability  of,  91, 

113 

"         Use  of  Gypsum  for,  122 
Massachusetts  State-house.    The  Dome 

of  the,  74 
Master-Builders'    Association,  Boston, 

143 
Convention.   The,  37, 

76, 143 

Matches.    Rats  and,  144 
Material-men  and  Architects,  299 
Mayas.    Myths  from  the.  239 
Mcvicker's    Theatre,   Chicago.     The 

Decorations  of,  47,  70,  118 
Meat.    The  Preservation  of  Fresh,  194 
Mechanics'  Lien  Law  in  Penn.    The,  75 
Medlteval  Houses,  282,  307 
Memorials.    Early  Settler,  262 

to  Nathan  Hale,  171, 183 
"  Thomas  Jefferson,  200, 

219 

"  William  Penn,  269 
"  "  Israel  Putnam,  279 

Menpes's  Japanese  Pictures.    Mr.,  234 
Metal-work.    Artistic,  241 
Meteor  in  Cochin-China.    Fall  of  a,  182 
Meteorological  Observations,  74 
Metropolitan    Board  of    Works  Scan- 
dals, 139, 187 

Mexican  Laundry.    The,  58 
Mexico.    Autumn  Journeys  in,  305 
"          Aztec  Antiquities  in,  127 
"         Old  Canal  found  in,  43 
Microbes  in  the  Human  Body,  254 
Middle-Ages.      Open-timber   Roofs   of 

the,  15,  39,  65 

Midland  Hotel,  Kansas  City.    Tin-  Ac- 
cident at  the,  136. 146 
Mineral  Baths.    Old  Boman,  71 
Mines.    Marvels  of  the  Comstock,  132 
Ministers  subject  to  the  Contract-Labor 

Law?    Are,  2.  205 
Minute.    The  Work  of  a,  275 
"  Misfit"  Architecture,  138 
Mitchell,  Author.    Death  of  Lacy  M., 

169 
Mithras    at    Rome.     Discovery    of    a 

Chapel  dedicated  to,  69 
Model  house.    The,  190,  200 

"      in  Place  of  the  Statue.    A,  209 
Modern   Light-houses.      Ancient   and, 

87, 173, 195,  220 

Montreal  and  its  Inhabitants,  291 
Monument  at  Philadelphia.    Proposed 

Constitutional.  217 
"  Commemorating    the   N  e  - 

gro's    Part   In    the   Civil 
War.    Proposed,  2 
to  Maria  Theresa,  Vienna, 

261,  2»7 

"  "  Mary  Washington,  199 

"  "  Mozart.    A,  204 

Monuments.    Proposed,  227 

Some  American,  199,  219, 

269,279 
to  Thomas  Jefferson,  200, 

219 

"  In  Turin,  123 

Morally-infirm.     Chances  for  the,  275, 

300 

Morris  on  Modern  Architecture.    W.  251 
Mortar.    Effect  of  Gypsum  on,  122 
"         in  Frosty  Weather.   Use  of,  56, 

110,253 
Mosaic,  265 
Motor.    The  Keely,  I 
Mound-builders.    Dr.  Davis  and  the,  254 
Moving  the  Hotel  Brighton,  169,  294 

"  "  New  York  Capitol  to  Troy  ,72 
Mozart  Monument  at  Vienna.  The,  204 
"  Mutual  Defense  Society."  The 

French  "Architects,"  194 
Munich  International  Art  Exhibition,  12 
Myths  from  the  Mayas,  239 


Nail.    Testing  a  Coated,  57 


National  Association  of  Builders'  Kulus 
for  F.  s  1 1  - 
mates,  14:1, 193 

"  "  '•  Builders  of  the 

United  states, 
Conven  1 1  on 
of  the,  37,  76 

Natural-Gas  Business.    The,  2D7 
"         "    Fire  fron 
"         "    In  England,  % 
Negro    in    the   Civil    War.     Proposed 

.Monument  to  the,  2 

Nesfield,  Architect.  Doath  of  W.  E., 206 
NRW  YORK:  — 

Arcade  Railway.    The  New,  229 
Bridge  over  the  Hudson  River.    Pro- 
posed, 50 
Criminal   Courts  Competition.     The 

New.  83.  96,  168,  203,  205 
Electric  Club.    The  New,  122 
Episcopal  Cathedral.    The,  77. 119,200 
Fire  in  an  Apartment-house,  158 
Grant  Monument  Competition,  142 
Historical  Society's  Old  Masters,  196 
Letters  from,  2»,  77 
Subsoil.    Hearing-capacity  of,  47 
Technical  School*  for  Girls,  265 
Trinity  Church  arraigned  for  Viola- 
tion of   the  Contract-labor 
Law,  2,  205 
"       School,  208 

Union  Square  Theatre  Fire.    The,  141! 
Women's   Cooperative   Club.      P  r  o- 

posed,229 

Niagara.  Using  the  Water-power  of,  134 
Nltro-glycerine.    Careless  Handling  of, 

182 

Nobel,  the  Oil  King.    Lndwlg,  239 
Non-corrodible  Iron,  241,  264 
Notes  from  German  Sources,  286 
Notes  of  Travel,  88, 140,  147,  303 
Notre  Dame,  31 
Numismatists.  Stories  of  two  Greek,  238 

OBITCARY  :  — 

Cochraue.    John  C.,  Architect,  13 
Darley.    F.  O.  C.,  Artist,  177 
Davis.    Dr.  E.  H.,  ArchsBologtft,  264 
Gillmore.    Genl.  Q.  A.,  Engineer,  181 
(iodwln.    George,  Architect,  73 
I'Anson.    Edward,  Architect,  86 
Kitson.    J.  W.,  Sculptor,  146 
Mitchell.    Lucy  M.,  Author,  16!) 
Netfleld.    W.  E.,  Architect,  206 
Pfeiffer.    Carl,  Architect,  241 
Pirsson.    J.  W.,  Architect,  133 
Qnestel.    C.  A.,  Architect,  86 
Sturgis.    John  11.,  Architect,  73 

Octagon    House,    Washington,    D.    C. 

53. « 

Office-buildings  in  Philadelphia.     New, 

293 

Oil  at  Baku.    The  Waste  of,  239 
"    Burning  Brick  with,  300 
"    Stains.    Removing,  192 
Old  Masters   of  the   New   York   His- 
torical Society.    The,  1% 
Olmsted,  F.  L.    Landscape-Gardener,  4 
Opening  for  an  Architect.    An,  131 
Open-timber  Roofs  of  the  Middle-Ages, 

15,  39,  66 

Oporto.    Burning  of  a  Theatre  at,  158 
Optical  Instruments.    A  new  Glass  for, 

144 

Orientation  of  a  House.    The,  190 
Origin  of  Fires.    Peculiar,  21 
Oscillation  of  Chimneys,  286 
Overcrowding  of  the  Poor.    The,  169 
Owner   and  Builder    before   the  Law. 

Architect,  267 
Oxford.    Exhibition  of  Sketches  of,  187 


Paint  for  Floors.    The  best,  122 
Paintings  at  the  New  York  Historical 

Society.  196 

Palace  of  Justice.    The  Brussels,  286 
Panama  Canal.    The,  74,  158,  252 
Pantheon,  Paris.    The,  221 
Paphoe.    Explorations  at,  180 
Parcels-Post.    The  Canadian,  12 
PARIS  :  — 
Artesian  Wells,  180 
Churches,  31,  221 
Crematory.    The  New,  41 
Dwelling  house.    Cost  of  a  Small,  315 
Eiffel  Tower.    Elevator  for  the,  12 
Exhibition  of  1889.    The,  134 
Fires  In  1X87,  264 
Gossip,  41,296 
Hotel  de  Vllle.    Interior  Decoration 

for  the,  62 

Mansut's  Book-shop.    Mere,  168 
Pont  d'Arcole.    Collapse  of  the,  146 
Puvis  de  Chavanncs's  Exhibition,  42 
Salon.    The,  298 

Sorbonne.    Changes  near  the,  168 
Ste.  Genevii-ve,  Paris,  221 
Vendome  Column.    The,  120 
Water-supply  for.    New,  179 
Parliament -house,     Buenos     Ay  res. 

Competition  for  a,  158 
Partnership.    Paying  Premium   for  a, 

312 

Party-wall.    The  Commission  on  a,  95 
Patching  Stone.    Compound  for,  12 
Paulding   and    his   Companions.     Me- 
morials to,  262 
Paving  in  Cincinnati,  31 

"      Roadways  and  Curbing,  6 
Payment  of  Consulting- Architects,  179 
Penn.    Memorials  to  William,  269 
Pennsylvania  Academy  Exhibition    of 

Architectural  Drawings,  138 
Pension  Office,  Washington.    The,  292 
Persian  Antiquities,     value  of.  290 
Petrie's  Finds  in  the  Fay9.ni.    Mr.,  309 
Petroleum.    Russian,  239 


Pfeiffer,  Architect.    Death  of  Carl,  241 
Phelps.    Tolman  r.».,  73 
Phidias.    A  Story  about,  227 
PHILADELPHIA:  — 
Architecture  in,  28,  75 
City-hall.    The  New,  138,  270 
Girard  College.  The  Marble  Roof  of,  1 
House*  In  Old  Stone,  28 
Lett«r  from,  28,  75,  138,  293 
OOce-bulldlngs.    New,  293 
Pennsylvania  Academy  Exhibition  of 

Architectural  Drawings,  138 
Propodcd  Constitutional  Monument, 

217 

Sculpture  for  Falrmount  Park,  75 
Strike  of  Marble-workers,  283 
"  1'hotoyraiihy."  •  •  Quarter  CtnlMTf  eta," 

" 

Pictograpbs.    Indian,  18 
"  Pleta.'f    lluckiiu's,  286 
Pile-dwellings  In  Africa,  288 
Pile*.     Action  of   Sea-water  on  Cast- 
iron,  M 

"        Bearing-power  of,  24 
Pirsson,  Architect.    Death  of  J.  W.,  133 
Plans.    Ready-made  house,  138 
Plaster  Boarding,  60 

"       Celling.    Falling,  203 

"       Model    In    Place   of    the   Real 

Statue.    Unveiling  a,  209 
Plumbing,  H7K 
Poison  In  Human  breath.    The  Active, 

192 

Pompeii,  189 
Pont  d'Arcole,  Paris.    Collapse  of  the, 

146 

Poor.    Improved  Dwellings  for  the,  206 
"       English  Clergy's  work  for  the, 

169 
"       of  Glasgow.    The  Overcrowded, 

169 

Population  of  China.    The,  24 
Portland  Cement.    The  Price  of,  134 
Posillppo  Tunnel.    The,  290 
Pot-boilers.    Artist's,  144 
Pottery.    Ancient  American,  43,  66 
Power  of  the  World.    The  Steam,  146 
Premium  for  a  Partnership.  Paying,  312 
Preservation  of  Fresh  Meat.    The,  194 
Preservatives  of  Timber,  64 
Prices  of  Iron  and  Steel.  Keeping  up,  85 
Princess  Christian's  Translation  of   a 

Book  on  Sanitation,  230 
Printing-house.    An  old  Chinese,  252 
Prize  Essays  of  the  American  Public 

Health  Association,  181 
Profit-sharing.    An  Instance  of,  157 
Proportion  In  Style*  of  Architecture,  153 
Proportions  of  Statue*.    The,  227 
•'  Protecting"  American  Artists,  128 

"         Cements,  134 
Iron  and  Steel,  61 

Protection  of  American  Iron.    The,  86 
Protector  from  Electric-Shocks.    A, 231 
Protest  against  the  Terms  of  the  Grant 
Monument    Competi- 
tion, 142 

"  the  Terms  of  the  New 
York  Criminal  Court* 
Competition,  83,  95, 
168,  203 

Providence,  R.  I.,  Sewerage  System.  261 
"Public  Buildings"  Raid  on  the  Treas- 
ury.   The,  80,  98, 
99,148 
"          The  Washington, 

188 

"        Libraries    In    Ancient    Baby- 
lonia, 229 
"        Library  Plans.    Exhibition  of 

the  new  Boston,  182 
"        Works    Department    In    the 

United  State*.    A,  247 
Pueblo  Pottery,  43,  66 
Pure  Air  Indicator,  152 
Putnam.    Memorial*  to  Iirael,  279 
Puvis  de  Chavannes's  Work.    Exhibi- 
tion of,  42 
Pyramid  of  Hawara.    The,  309 

Questel,  Architect.    Death  of  C.  A.,  RC 
Quicksand.     Conquering  a,  132 
Quicksands.    Fathomless,  168 


Race  St.,  Cincinnati,  31 
Raft*.    Great  Timber,  22 
Railroads.    Electric,  233 

Snow-guards  for,  192 
Railway  In  New  Yoik.    Arcade,  229 
Proposed  Trans- Asian.  266 
"        Traffic  of  London.    The,  230 
Raising    the   Great   Yarmouth   Town- 
hall,  166 

Rat*  and  Matches,  141 
Heal  Estate  Panic  in  Rome,  223,  26G,  302 
Reclaiming  Lake  Aboukir,  230 
"  the  Zuyder  Zee,  145 

"  Jlecollectioni."    Sir  G.  G.  Scott'*,  134 
Redwood  Planks  and  Veneers,  38 
Registration  of  Architect*  and  Engin- 
eers in  England.  Pro- 
posed, 10,  26, 110, 139, 
186,  218,  296 

"  Architects  In  Rome,  62 
Relation*  of  Architect   and  Building- 
committee.    The,  35 
Reporting  Building  News,  300 
Reredos  at  St.  Paul's  Cathedral.    New, 

140 

Research  In  Chemistry.    Risks  of,  192 
Responsibility  of  Contractor*,  206 
"  llnlaininff  Walltfor  Eartk,"  34 
RKVIKWS:  — 

"Alden's  Manifold  Cyclopedia,"  118 
'•Amateur's  Guide  to  Architecture," 

117 
"L' Architecture, ,"131 


VI 


TJie  American  Architect  and  Building  News. — Index. 


[VOL.  XXIII. 


REVIEWS  :  — 
"  L'Art  de  batir  sa  Maison."  175,  189, 

201 

"  Barnet's  Essays  on  Art,"  202 
"Delorme.   Philibert,"  94 
"  Uictiowiaire  de  I' Ameuolement  et  de 

la  Decoration."    Havard's,  68 
"  Dit  Cerceau."    ".£es,"45 
'*  Early  Christian  Art  in  Ireland,"  237 
"Elementary  Graphic  Statics,"  38 
"Fences,  Gates  and  Bridges,"  34 
"Gavarni,"274 
"Interior  Decoration,"  226 
"  Law  of  Building  and  Buildings,"  226 
"Monographs  of  American  Architec- 
ture—Trinity Church,  93 
"Notes  on  Concrete,"  130 
"Photography,"     "Quarter  Centnry 

in,"  260 

"Retaining  Walls  for  Earth,"  34 
"Short  History  of  Architecture,"  117 
"  Stone,"  250 
"  Technology  Architectural   Rcvltw." 

131 

"  Ter  Borch."    "  Gerard,"  154 
"Travels  in  Tunisia,"  310 
Richardson  and  the  Queen's  Gold  Medal 
of  the  R.  I.  B.  A.  H.  H., 
139 
"          Commissions   Received   by 

the  Late  Mr.  H.  H.,  14 
Richardson's  Use  of  Landscape-Garden 

ing.    H.  H.,  4 
Richmond,  Va.,  Masonic  Temple  Com 

petition.  217 

"    Old  State-house  at,  249 
River  and  Harbor  Works  in  the  Unitec 

States,  247 
Roman  Sanatorium.    A,  71 

"       Wall  of  London.    The,  251 
Romanesque  Architecture,  307 
ROME : — 
Mithras.     Discovery    of    a    Chapel 

dedicated  to,  89 

Registration  of  Architects  in,  62 
Real  Estate  Panic  at,  223,  266,  302 
Vandalism  in  Modern,  223,  266 
Hoof  of  Glrard  College.    The  Marble,  1 
"     Trimmings  for  Government  Worn, 

211 
Roofs  of  the  Middle-Ages.  Open-timber 

15,  39,  65 

Ropes  made  of  Hair,  209 
Rose-hedges  as  Snow  guards,  192 
Kotch  Travelling-scholarship.    The,  178 
Royal  Academy.    The,  246,  268 

Students'  Work,  10 

Rules   and   Conditions    for   Estimates 
Adopted  by  the  National  Association 
of  Builders,  143, 193 
Ruskin  on  Architecture.    Mr.  26 

"  "Finish."    Mr.,  60 
"        "  Iron  Churches.    Mr.,  60 
Ruskin's  Guild  of  St.  George,  276 
Russia.    Incendiary  Fires  in,  145 
Russian  Petroleum,  239 


SAKITARY  :  — 

Wall-papers.    Dangerous,  249 
Water.    Analysis  of,225 

"         Drinking,  201 
Scene-painters.    The  First  of,  216 
Schliemanu's  Explorations   in  Cerigo, 

132 

Schmitz.    Bruno,  50 
Scholarship    Examinations.      R  o  t  c  h 

Travelling,  178 
School-house  Competition  in  New  York. 

The,  50 

Schools.    Planning  Elementary,  14 
Sea-water  on  Cast-iron  Piles.    Action 

of,  84 

"  Uses  of,  213 

Senate  and  our  Public  Buildings.    The, 

80,  98,  99,  148 
Senators  and  the  Congressional  Library. 

Oar,  148 

Servandoni,  the  Scene-painter,  216 
Settler  Memorials.    Early,  262 
Sewage.    Electricity  and,  93 
Sewerage  System.    Forcing  a  Town  to 

adopt  a,  105 
"         Providence,  R.  I., 

261 

Ship-railway.    A  Venetian,  271 
Sidon.    Discoveries  at,  86 
Sigiri  Rock.    Climbing  the,  204 
Sites  for  Houses.    The  best,  202 
Six  Years'  Labor  Troubles,  23 
Sizes  of  Planks  and  Boards.    The,  38 


Sacrificial  Stones.    The  Aztec  Calendar 
and,  127 

Safe  Building,  7,  51, 104, 159,  207,  255 

Salon.    The,  296 

Samos.    The  Tunnel  at,  290 

Sanatorium.    A  Roman,  71 

SANITARY  :  — 
Air  of  Theatres.    The,  204 
Bath-rooms.    Ventilation  of,  277 
Cesspools  for  Houses,  202 
Cistern  Water.  Lower  Organisms  in,  48 
Dwellings  for  the  Poor.    206 
Electricity  and  Sewage,  93 
Flushing  Drains  with  Sea-water,  213 
Garbage.    Burning,  203 
Orientation  of  Houses.    The,  190 
Plumbing,  278 
Princess  Christian's  Translation  of  a 

Book  on  Sanitation.    The,  230 
Prize  Essays  on  Public  Health,  181 
Pure  Air  Indicator,  182 
Soils  for  Building  on.    Healthful,  202 
Sewerage.    How  a  New  England  town 

secures,  205 

Tenement-houses.  Improving,  169 
Vapors.  The  Dispersal  of  Foul,  38 
Ventilation  of  Houses.  The,  202 

Practical    and   Theoreti- 
cal, 121 


Slag.    Uses  of  Iron,  182,  242 
Smithmeyer'g  Work   on   the  Congres- 
sional Library.    The  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives and  Mr.,  301 
Smith's  Water-colors  at  the  Boston  Art 

Museum.    J.  L.,  70 
Snow-guards.    Rose-hedges  as,  192 
Soil  of  Chicago.    The,  147 
Soil-pipes.    Iron  vs.  Lead,  278 
Soils  for  Building  on.    Healthful,  202 
Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Monument  Com- 
petition.   The  Indiana,  50, 191 
Solvent.    Efluonne,  the  Universal,  192 
'Sophocles."    Mr.  Donaghoe's  Statue 

of,  34 

Sorbonne,  Paris.    Changes  near  the,  168 
Southern  Competition.    A,  85 
Spans.    Bridge,  72, 156, 167 
Specifications  for  Government  Build- 
ings, 5 
Speculative  Building  in  Rome,  223,  266, 

Spontaneous  Combustion,  177,  238.  248 

264 

Staining  Pine  in  Imitation  of   Black- 
walnut,  302 

Stains.    Removing  Oil,  192 
Stairs  for  Government  Buildings,  211 
Standing  Armies.    Expense  of  179 
State-house  at  Richmond,  Va.    Old  249 
Statue  of  Buddha  at  Nara,  Japan,  47 
Statues  by  Mr.  Donaghoe,  34 
Proposed  Public,  227 
Steam-power  of  the  World.    The  146 
Steel  and  Bronze.    Casting  in,  252 

'     Protecting  Iron  and,  61 
'  Steeple  Jack."    Adventure  of  a  72 
St.  Genevieve,  Paris,  221 
St.  George.    The  Guild  of,  276 
Stillman,  W.  J.  48 
Stimulants.    Alcoholic,  266 
"  Stone  Age  "  Group.    Boyle's,  75 
Stone.    Compound  for  Patching,  12 
Storage  Warehouse  in  Berlin.    Burn- 
ing of,  13 
a  t    Birmingham, 
E  n  g.     Burning 
of  a,  146 

stories.    Weakness  in  Design  of  79 
St.   Paul's   Cathedral,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
Burning    o  f, 
229 

London.    New 
R  e  r  e  d  o  s  at, 

Streetpaving  in  Cincinnati,  31 
Street-watering  with  Sea- water,  213 
Strength  and  Stability  of  Masonry,  91 

113 

Strengthening  Old  Floors  251 
st-ike  of  Philadelphia  Marble-workers, 


Sturgis,  Architect.  Death  of  John  H.,  7 
Styles  of  Architecture.    Proportion  in 

153 

Submerged  Chinese  City.    Finding  a  7 
Subsoil.  Bearing-capacity  of  New  York 

47 

Subterranean  Chapel.    A,  192 
Suggestion.    A  really  good,  299 
Suit  for  an  Architect's  Commission  217 

265,  289 
"  Fees  on  Preliminary  Drawings 

"      "   Recovery  of  Drawings,  73 
Supervising  Architect.    The  OrBce  of 

98,  99,  148 

Support  of  the  Church.    A,  23 
Susa.    Discoveries  at,  290 
Swedish  Glass.    The  New,  144 
Swindling  Bidders.    A  new  Way  of,  74 


Strikea  in  Cincinnati.    Building,  294 
"  the  United  States,  23,  275 
"   West.    The,  186 


Tariff  and  the  Price  of  Cement.  The,  134 

1     on  Works  of  Art.    The,  128 
Tarver's  Model  Theatre.    Mr.,  170,  215, 

Taxes  for  Four  Centuries.    No,  216 
Tayloe    Mansion,    Washington,    D.    C. 

Tea  and  Coffee.    Consumption  of,  266 
Technical  Education  in  Europe,  14 
"  France,  223 
School  for  Girls  In  New  York 

265 

Technology  Architectural  Review  131 
lenenieut-houses.    Overcrowded  169 
Tennessee.    A  Competition  in  86 
Tensile  vs.  Compressive  Stains,  49 
"TerBorch."    "  Glrard,"  154 
Terra-cotta.    The  Expansion  of  85 
Testing  Cement  for  the  Foundations  of 

the  Congressional  Library,  49  83 
Tests  for  Masonry,  92, 113 
Texas  Capitol.    The  Dome  of  the,  74 
Iheatre  Construction.    Improved,  37, 97 

in  Italy,  37 

Fire.    The  Union  Square,  146 
Fire-escape.    A,  203,  254 
Fires,  57,  86, 146, 158 
in  1887,  86,  158 
Madrid.    The  National  24 
at  Oporto.    Burning  of  a,  158 
Mr.  Tarver's  Model,  170,  215  284 
Theatres.    Air  of,  204 

Old  London,  288 
Thefts  of  Valuable  Coins  238 
Timber-rafts.    Great,  22 

Roofs  of  the  Middle-Ages.  Open, 

15,  39,  65 

Tolman  vs.  Phelps,  73 
Tomb  of  Daniel.    The  60 
Toronto,  291 

T     '         Court-house  Competition,  291 

Tower.    Elevator  for  the  Eiffel  12 

1  own-hall.    The  Underpinning  of  the 

Great  Yarmouth,  166 
Trade  Surveys,  12,  24,  36,  48,  60  72  84 
96   120,144,  156,  168,180    192,  204    216 
228,  240,  252   264,  276,  288,  300,  312'         ' 
Irans-Asian  Railway.    A  possible  266 
Translation  of  a  Book  on  Sanitation  b 

the  Princess  Christian,  230 
Travel.    Notes  of,  88,  140, 147,  303 
Treasury.     The   "Public    Buildings' 

Raid  on  the,  80,  98,  99, 148 
Tree-planting  Extraordinary  252 
Trespass.    A  Case  of,  287 
Troy.    Moving  the  Albany  Capitol  to  72 
„  i,..in  Art."    Labrouste  and,  182 
"Tunisia."    "  Travels  in,"  310 
Tunnel.    The  Detroit  River  283 

A  Long,  276 

Tunnels.    Some  Ancient,  290 
Turin,  111,  123 
Turkish  Bath.    The,  273 
Turpentine  In  Oil-painting,  287 
lyphoid  Fever  from  Impure  Water  201 


United  States  Proposed  Bureau  of 
Fine  Arts  for  the,  37, 
109 

"        Public  Works  in  the, 
247 


Van  Beers's  alleged  Works,  204,  215 
Vandalism  at  Westminster  Abbey,  228 

"          in  Modern  Rome,  223,  266 
Vault  of  the  Albany  Assembly-Chamber, 

The,  71,74,  191,270 
Vendome  Column  Paris.    The,  120 
Venetian  Ship-Kailway.    A,  271 
Venice.    The  Fondaco  dei  Turchl,  14, 97 
Ventilation  of  Bath-room?.    The,  277 
"  Houses.    The,  202 
Practical  and  Theoretical, 

121 

Venus.    Statues  of,  180 
Vera  Cruz.    From  Mexico  to,  305 
Versailles  in  Decay,  300 
Vienna.    Maria  Theresa  Monument.  251. 

297 

Mozart  Monument  at,  204 
Villard  House."    Gelatine  Prints  of 
the,  25 
Vinci's  Engineering  Inventions.     Da., 

Viollet-le-Duc's.    Some  Letters  of,  236 

r-pers.    Dangerous,  249 

Walnut-log.    Value  of  a,  156 
Warehouse-floor  Construction   11 

Varning.    A,  227 
Washington.    Hondon's  Bust  of,  304 

Houdon's  Statue  of,  249 
Washington's  Monument.  Mary  199 
WASHINGTON  :— 

Art  Exhibition  in,  231 

Canopy  for  Greenough's,  288 

Capitol  Rotunda.    Decorations  of  the, 

.    The,  49,  83, 


n  by 


Underpinning.    Damage  from  bad,  206 
of  the  Great  Yarmouth 

Town-hall.    The  166 
Union  Square  Theatre  Fire.    The  147 
United   states    Government    Buildina 
Practice,  5,  166    210 
260 
Jottings  about  the,  235 


CLUB-HOUSES. 

Design  for  a  Club-house.    Geo.  F.  Ham- 
mond, Architect,  630 
"    Country  Club-house.    Hu- 
bert  Westell,  Archt.,  651 
forN.  Y.  Athletic  Club's  Coun- 
try Club-house,  Sedgemere  L 
I.    Geo.  M.  Huss,  Archt.,  649 
Marlon    Social    Club-House,    Marion 
Mass.    W.  G.  Preston,  Architect,  637 
Review  Club-house,  Chelsea,  Mass    W 
A.  Norris,  Architect,  652 

DETAILS. 

Doorway  on  Commonwealth  Ave.  Bos- 
ton Mass.  McKim.Mead 
&  White,  Architects,  639 
(del.) 

"  Gloucester     St.,     Boston 

Mass.  Peabody  &  Stearns, 

Architects,  643  (Oel.) 

to  House  of  Nathaniel  Thayer 

Boston,   Mass.      Sturgis  & 

Brigham,  Archts.,  652  (Gel.) 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

[The  figure,  refer  to  the  number  of  the  journal,  and  not  to  the  page  1 

nteliece.  " 


Indian  Name  of.    The,  187 
Letters  from,  187,  231,  292 
Liberty  Statue  on  the  Capitol,  180 
Pension  Office.    The,  292 
Planning  of.    The,  188 
Public  Buildings,  188,  392 
Tayloe  Octagon  House.    The,  6 
Waste  of  Oil  at  Baku.    The,  239 
Water-cartridge,    The,  31 
Water-colors  at  the  Royal  Society,  ton- 
don,  234 

by  J.  L.  Smith  at  the  Bos- 
Art  Museum,  70 
Drinking,  201 

Heater.    Explosion  of  a  120 
Lower  Organisms  in,  48 
Pails  full.    Device  for  Keeping 

Power  of  Niagara.    Using  the,  134 
Sanitary  Analysis  of.    The,  225 
Supply  for  Paris.    A  New,  179 
Waterfalls.    The  World's  Big,  12 
Weather  Predictions,  74 
Wells  in  Paris.    Artesian,  180 
The  World's  Deepest,  71 
Western  Association  of  Architects,  35 
Pennsylvania   Association    of 

Architects,  58 

Westminster  Abbey.    Vandalism  at,  228 
William  I  as  an  Art-patron,  286 
Wind.    To  Cure  a  Door  in,  275,  300 

Mills.    Afghanistan,  48 
205  Ma88'    SeweraSe  System  for, 

Wires.    Dangers  from  Electric,  289,  301 
Woman's  Work,  265 
Women's   Cooperative    Club    In    New 
York.    Proposed,  229 

Woodworking  Establishments.    Berlin 

86 

Wrought-iron  Work.    Bavarian,  241 


Mantelpiece.    James  R.  Hhind,  Archi- 
tectj  Dio 

£•  £•  Hart>  Minneapolis,  Minn.    L.  S 
Bufflngton,  Architect,  642 
Old  Colonial  Work  in  the  South.  Drawn 
by  Glenn  Brown,  628 
652St°ne  Portals>  Stockholm,  Sweden, 

Part  of  the  Facade  of  the  University 

Salamanca,  Spain,  631  y> 

Tayloe  Mansion,  Washington,  D.C.,  628 

DWELLINGS. 

Bachelor's  Home,  St.  Louis,  Mo.  Eames 
&  Young,  Architects  637 
iel?S  H,OU8ea  »'  Passaic,  N.  J.,  Lucil- 
le p'  w°Vr  •'  ?n<l  Larchniont,  N.   Y. 
F.  E.  Walhs,  Architect,  640 
Design  for  a  City  Front.    E.  R.  Tilton 
„  Architect,  628 

"    Country   House.      Hubert 
«•  Westell,  Architect,  651 

Twenty-foot    House.      F 
W.  Beall,  Architect,  642 ' 


HOUSE  AT  :  — 
Carpenter  Station  P.  R.  R.     Cope  & 
Stewardsou,  Architects,  652 

IIi.  J'  K'  Taylor.  Archt.,  639 
i          arbor,  N-   H.      Longfellow 
Aldeu  &  Hariow,  Architects,  646 


Stead,  Ar- 
-  Dietrich, 


F  :  — 

H°n-  J/  C.  Abbott,    Montreal,  Can 
80" 


°'/iAl1ams'  Bo»ton,  Mass.    Peabody 
D  wttST'  Ar«aitects,  646  (Ge/.)     J 

w[.-J?'8hA0p',Lenol['  Ma88'    "•  Neill 
Wilson,  Architect,  634 

r   PHV.C'  G>  Brandt'  Cllnton,  N.  Y. 
Q.  E.  Cooper,  Architect,  633 


Yarmouth  Town-hall.    The  Underpin- 
ning of  the  Great,  166 


Zuyder  Zee.    Reclaiming  the,  145 
Zuni  Culture  Growth,  66 


HODSE  OF  :  — 
H.  E.  Brewster,  Utica,  N.  Y.    W  II 

Symouds,  Architect,  646 
Mrs.  J.  D.  Cameron,  Washington    D 
C.    Hornblower&  Marshall,  Archi- 
tects, 639 

J.  H.  Carter.    W.  H.  Symonds,  Archi- 
tect, 629 
P.  E.  Chitlman,  Philadelphia,  Pa.    J. 

C.  Worthington,  Architect,  633 
G.  K.   Cooper,  Utica,   N.  Y.     G.  E. 

Cooper,  Architect,  633 
A.  N.  Elliott,  Philadelphia,    Pa.     J 

C.  Worthington,  Architect,  636 
Henry    Endicott,    Cambridge,    Mass 
Chamberlin  &  Whidden,  Archts.,645 
T'  L;,Freeman.    W.  H.  Symonds, 
Architect,  629 

James  Hackett,  Carpenter  Station, 
P.  R.  R.  Cope  &  Stewardson,  Ar- 
chitects, 652 

E*:Gov-  John  M.  Hamilton,  Chicago, 
111.    S.  M.  Randolph,  Architect,  639. 
*.B.  Hart,  Minneapolis,  Minn.    LS 
Bufflngton.  Architect,  642 


-  JUNE.,  1888.]       The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.  — Index. 


vii 


ll.irsK   OF:  — 

Gardner  O.  llubbard,  noar  Washlng- 
ington,  D.  C.    Allen  &  Kenway,  Ar- 
chitects, 646 
lion.  A.  u.  Lane,  Birmingham,  Ala. 

Kdouanl  SiJel,  Architect,  633 
T.  C.  l.eake,   Kichmond,  Va.     M.  J. 

Dimmock,  Architect,  652 
Brainier     Matthews,      Narragansett 
I'I.T,  R.  I.    G.  A.  Freeman,  Jr.,  Ar- 
chitect, 649 
James  McKay,   Pittsburgh,  Pa.    W. 

S.  Kraser,  Architect.  i;:;;i 
H.  R.  Smith.  Kansas  City,  Mo.      W. 

\V.  Polk  &  Son,  Architects,  632 
Nathaniel     Thayer,     Boston,    Mass. 
Sturgis  &  Brigham,  Architects,  653 
(Gel.) 
Gorham  Thurber,    Providence,  R.  I. 

K.  I.  Nickerson,  Archt.,  649  (Gel.) 
C.  F.  Wash  burn,    Worcester,    Mass. 
Rosslter  &  Wright,  Architects,  630 
House  on  Berkeley  St.,    Boston,  Mass. 
Peabody  &  Stearns,  Archi- 
tects. 640  (';./.  i 

"  "  Hereford  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 
Shaw  &  Hunnewell,  Archi- 
tects, 647  (Oel.) 

Houses  for  E.  M.  &  W.  W.  Bliven.  Yon- 
kers,  N.  Y.  F.  F.  Ward,  Ar- 
chitect, 634 

"      on  Commonwealth  Ave.,    Bos- 
ton, Mass.    C.  B.  Atwood,  Ar- 
chitect, 642  {(lei.) 
Melrose  Hall,  Oak  Lane,  Pa.    Harrison 

Albright,  Architect,  64!) 
Sketch  for  an  Artist's  Country  House, 

by  J.  G.  Howard,  645 
"      of  House  for  T.  E.  Jones.    E.  G. 

W.  IXetrich,  Architect,  628 
Study  for  a  Suburban    House.      A.  J. 
Norton,  Architect,  639. 

ECCLESIASTICAL. 

Andrew  Presbyterian  Church,  Minne- 
apolis, Minn.  W.  H.  Hayes,  Archi- 
tect, 634 

Basilica,  Quebec,  Canada,  636  (Oel.) 
Cathedral  of  Notre  Dame,  Ottawa,  Can. 

638  (Gel.) 
Christ  Church,  Herkimer,  N.  Y.    B.  W. 

Gibson,  Architect,  635 
Church  at  Dublin,  N.  H.    Andrews  & 

Jaques,  Architects,  645 
"       "    Guadalupe,  Mexico,  639 
••       of  Notre  Dame,  Montreal,  Can., 

629  (OeJ.) 

||       "  St.  John  the  Baptist,  Que- 
bec, Can.     J.  F.  Peachy, 
Architect,  631  (Qel.) 
"       "  St.  Pierre,   Montreal,   Can. 

633  (OeJ.) 

"       Chapel  &  Parish-house  of  St. 
. I o] HI'S.  Jamaica  Plain,  Mass. 
Appleton  &  Stephenson,  Ar- 
chitects, 637 
Cloister  of  San  Domingo,  Salamanca, 

Spain,  628 
Congregational  Church,  Elizabethtown, 

N.  Y.    B.  W.  Gibson,  Architect,  645 
Design  for  Eliot  Church,  Newton,  Mass. 
Hartwell    &    Bichardsou, 
Architects,  646 

•'        "  B.  C.  Church  of  St.  Augus- 
tine, Brooklyn,  N.  Y.    B. 
L.  Dans.  Architect,  637 
Kmannel    Baptist   Church,    Brooklyn, 
'   N.  Y.    F.  H.  Kimball,  Architect,  644 

Interior  of  same,  644  (Oel.) 
First  Congregational  Church,  Appleton, 
Wls.    W.  H.  Hayes,  Archt.,  634 
"     M.  E.  Church,  Wlfkes-Barre,  Pa. 

Bruce  Price,  Architect,  649 
La  gran  Madre  di  Dio,  Turin,  Italy,  638 
Lutheran  Church,  Los  Angeles,  Cal.  E. 

A.  Coxhead,  Architect,  647 
St.  Stephen's  Church,  Olean,  N.  Y.    B. 

W.  Gibson,  Architect,  632 
The  Superga,  Turin,  Italy,  638 

EDUCATIONAL. 

Design  for  Barnes  Hall,  Cornell  Uni- 
versity, Ithaca,  N.  Y.  Rossiter  & 
Wright,  Architects,  636 

Harvard  Medical  School  Building,  Bos- 
ton, Mass.  Ware  &  Van  Brunt,  Ar- 
chitects, 632  .(;,/.) 

I.  D.  Farnsworth  School  of  Art,  Welles- 
ley  College,  Wellesley,  Mass.  Botch 
&  Tilden,  Architects,  643 

Laval  University,  Quebec,  Can.,  650 
(Qel.) 

Pennsylvania  College,  Gettysburg,  Pa. 
J.  A.  Derapwolf,  Architect.  643 

Pillsbury  Science  Hall,  Minneapolis, 
Minn.  L.  S.  Bumngton,  Archt.,  630 

State  Normal  School,  Moor  head,  Wls. 
J.  Walter  Stevens,  Architect,  649 

FOREIGN. 

Aztec  Calendar  and  Sacrificial  Stones, 

City  of  Mexico,  Mex.,  638 
Bank  of  Montreal,  Montreal,  Can.,  651 

(Oel.) 

Basilica,  Quebec,  Canada,  636  ('.'./.) 
Belfry  of  City-Hall  at  Brieg,  Germany, 

642 
Cathedral  of  Notre  Dame,  Ottawa,  Can., 

638  (Oel.) 

Church  at  Guadalupe,  Mexico,  639 
"       of  Notre  Dame,  Montreal,  Can., 

629  (Oel.) 

"  "  St.  John  the  Baptist,  Quebec, 
Can.  J.  F.  Peachy,  Archi- 
tect, 631  (OeJ.) 


Church  of  St.  Pierre,    Montreal,  Can., 

633  (Gel.) 
bolster  of  San  Domingo,  Salamanca, 

Spain,  628 
Entrance  to  Drill-shed,  Quebec,  Can. 

Derome  &  Tache,  Archts.,  634  (del.) 
;rand  Opera-Hoiue.  Paris.     After  an 

Ktching  by  J.  A.  Mitchell,  631 
House  ol   Hon.  J.  C.  Abbott,  Montreal, 

Can.     Hutchesson  &  Steele,   Archi- 
tects, 645  ( Oel.) 

Interior  of  the  "  Bardo  "  at  Tunis  C2it 
Kent  Gate,  Quebec.  Canada,  041  (fit I.) 
La  gran  Madre  di  Dio,  Turin,  Italy,  638 
javal    University,  Quebec,    Can.,   650 

("el.) 

Mediasval  Castle,  Turin,  Italy.  638 
Part  of  thu  Facade  of  the  University, 

Salamanca,  Spain,  631 
Rath-bans,   Breslau.    Germany.    After 

n  Ktching  by  B.  Mannfeld,  653 
_.,yal  Palace,  Turin,  Italy,  838 
Street  In  St.  Ltzler,  Ariege,  France,  633 
The  Superga,  Turin,  Italy.  638 

"    Valentino,  Turin,  Italy,  638 
Westminster     Palace,     London,    Eng. 

After  an  Etching  by  Felix  Buhot,  635 

(Qel.) 

GELATINE. 

American  Unitarian  Association  Build- 
ing. Boston,  Mass.  Peabodr  &  Stearns, 
Architects,  630 

Bank  of  Montreal,  Montreal,  Can.,  651 
Basilica,  Quebec,  Canada,  636 
Cathedral   of    Notre    Dame,   Ottawa, 
Can.,  638 
hurch  of  Notre  Dame,  Montreal,  Can., 

629 

"       '•  St.  John  the   Baptist,  Que- 
bec, Can.     J.  F.  Peachy, 
Architect,  631 
"        "  St.  Pierre,   Montreal,  Can., 

633 

Doorway  on  Commonwealth  Ave.,  Bos- 
ton, Mass.  McKim,  Mead 
&  White,  Architects,  639 
||  "  Gloucester  St.,  Boston, 
Mass.  Peabody  &  Stearns, 
Architects,  643 

"         to  House  of  Nathaniel  Thayer, 
Boston,    Mass.     Stnrgls    & 
Brigham,  Architects,  052 
Entrance  to  Drill-shed,  Quebec,  Can. 

Derome  &  Tache,  Architects,  634 
Ericson,   Boston,  Mass.    Monument  to 

Lelf,  628 

Harvard  Medical-School  Building,  Bos- 
ton, Mass.  Ware  &  Van  Brunt,  Ar- 
chitects, 632 

House  of  Hon.  J.  C.  Abbott,  Montreal, 
Can.  Hutchesson  &  Steele, 
Architects,  646 

"  "  C.  F.  Adams,  Boston,  Mass. 
Peabody  &  Stearns,  Archi- 
tects, 646 

"  ••  Nathaniel  Thayer,  Boston, 
Mass.  Sturgis  &  Brigham, 
Architects,  663 

"  •'  Gorham  Thurber,  Providence, 
B.  I.  E.  I.  Nickerson,  Ar- 
chitect, 649 

"  on  Berkeley  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 
Peabody  &  Stearns,  Archi- 
tects, 640 

!•  "  Hereford  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 
Shaw  &  Hunnewell,  Archi- 
tect.,  647 

Houses  on  Commonwealth  Are.,  Bos- 
ton, Mass.    C.  B.  Atwood,  Archt.,  642 
Interior  of  Emanuel  Baptist  Church, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.     F.  H.  Kimball,  Ar- 
chitect, 644 

Kent  Gate,  Quebec.  Canada,  641 
Laval  University,  Quebec,  Can.,  650 
New   Public   Library,     Boston,    Mass. 

McKim,  Mead  &  White,  Archts.,  648 
Potter  Building,  Boston,  Mass.    S.  J. 

F.  Thayer,  Architect,  637 
Westminster    Palace,     London,    Eng. 
After  an  Etching  by  Felix  Buhot,  636 

HOTELS. 

Design  for  Dedham  Inn,  Dedham,  Max. 

Wheelwright  &  Haveu,  Archts.,  661 
Greene's  Inn,  Narragansett  Pier,  B.  I. 

W.  G.  Preston,  Architect,  631 
New  Kent  House,  Chautanqoa,  N.  Y. 

E.  A.  Kent,  Architect,  663 

Senter  House,  Centre  Harbor,  N.  H. 

F.  W.  Stiokney,  Architect,  634 

The  Tavern,  Decatnr,  Ala.  L.  B. 
Wheeler,  Architect,  629 

INTERIORS. 

Emanuel  Baptist  Church,  Brooklyn,  N. 
Y.  F.  H.  Klmball,  Archt.,  644  (Oel.) 

LIGHT-HOUSES. 

Light-house,  Mobile  Bay,  Ala.,  642 

on  Fowey  Bocks,  Fla.,  635 

MERCANTILE. 

Bank  of  Montreal,  Montreal,  Can.,  651 

(Gel.) 

Building  for  the  "Pioneer  Press,"  St. 
Paul,  Minn.    S.  S.  Beman,  Archt.,  645 
Design  for  N.  Y.  Life  Ins.  Co.  Building, 
St.   Paul,    Minn.      J.    W. 
Stevens,  Architect,  633 
"        '•    U.  S.  Trust  Co.  Office  Build- 
ing,    New     York,    K.    Y. 
Babb.Cook  &  Willard,  Ar- 
chitects,  638 


Design  for  a  Business  Block,  by  A.  B. 

Sturges,  631 
Logan  Offices,    Philadelphia,  Pa.    Cope 

aStewardson  Architects,  029 
Masonic     Building,     Pittsburgh,     Pa. 
Shepley.    Butan  &  Coolidge,  Archi- 
tects, 642 

New  Premises  for  United  States  Trust 
Co.,  New  York,  N.  Y.    B.  W.  Gibson, 
Architect,  651 
Potter  Building,  Boston,  Mass.    S.  J.  F. 

Thayer,  Architect,  637  (OeJ.) 
Store  for  De  Coster  &  Clark,  St.  Paul, 
Minn.    J.  W.  Stevens,  Ar- 
chitect, 635 
1       ••  M.  E.  Mayall,  St.  Paul,  Minn. 

J.  W.  Stevens,  Archt.,  636 
Study  for  a  Store  Building,  St.  Paul, 
Minn.    Gilbert  A  Taylor,  Archts.,  645 
Warehouse  for    Bosenheim,    Frankeu- 
thal  &  Goldstein,  St.  Louis,  Mo.     A. 
F.  Bosenheim,  Architect,  638 

MISCELLANEOUS.; 

Artec  Calendar  and  Sacrificial  Stones, 

City  of  Mexico,  Mex.,  638 
Belfry  of  City-Hall,  Brieg,  Germany,  642 
Bells.    Some  Old,  641 
Bird's-eye  View  of  Copley  Square,  Bos- 
ton, Mass.,  650 

Construction  of  Floors  In  a  Flour  Ware- 
house,   Philadelphia,    Pa.       W.   B. 
Powell,  Architect,  628 
Design  for  Home  for  Little  Wanderers, 
Boston,    Mass.     E,  C. 
Fisher,  Archt.,  653 
"        "  a  Country  Stable.     Walter 

Cope,  Architect,  636 
"        "  a  Village  Clock  Tower.    T. 

F.  Walsh,  640 
Entrance  to  Drill-shed,    Quebec,  Can. 

Durome  &  Tache,  Archts.,  634  (Qel.) 
Fast-Day  Sketches  at  Hlngham,  Mass., 

by  W.  W.  Bosworth,  643 
Furniture  designed  by  Charles  E.  Lau- 

derkin.  642 

Gate-Lodge  for  the  Eastern  Point  Asso- 
ciates, Gloucester,  Mass.     Appleton 
£  Slephensou,  Architects,  642 
Interior  of  the  "  Bardo  "  at  Tunis,  629 
Kent  Gate,  Quebec,  Canada,  641  (Qel.) 
Medieval  Castle,  Turin,  Italy,  638 
Plans  for    Apartment-houses.      E.    T. 

Potter,  Architect,  645 
Royal  Palace,  Turin,  Italy,  638 
Street  In  St.  Llzier,  Ariege,  France,  633 
The  Valentino,  Turin,  Italy,  638 
Trusses  over  Court-room  in  the  U.  S. 
Court-house,  Rochester,  N.  Y.     W. 
A.  Freret,  Architect,  632 


MONUMENTAL. 

Designs  for  the  Indiana  Soldiers'  and 
Sailors'  Monument.     S.    S.  lieman, 
Glenn    Brown,    Walt  &  Cutter,   Ar- 
chitects. 647 
Ericson,  Boston,  Mass.    Monument  to 

Lelf,  628  (ilct.) 

Pro  I  'atria.    Lefeuvre,  Sculptor,  643 
Statue  of  Louis  Philippe    and   Marie 

Amelle,  644 
||        ••  Marie     Antoinette    at     St. 

Denis,  France,  644 
Tomb  of  Leonardo  Bruni  in  Santa  Croce, 

Florence,  652 

"     "  Machiavelli,  Santa  Croce,  Flor- 
ence, Italy,  644 
"     "  Mazarin,      Louvre,      Paris, 

France,  644 

"     "  Richelieu    in    the    Sorbonne, 
Paris,  652 

PUBLIC. 

Design  for  City-Hall,  Cambridge.  Mass. 
Chamberlin  & 
Whidden,  Ar- 
chitects, 651 

•  •        "  "          Minneapolis, 

Minn.  Long  & 
Kees,  Archi- 
tects, 641 

i'        ii  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  De- 
troit, Mich.  J.  W.  Stevens, 
Architect,  634 
•i        "  Town-Hall.    Band  &  Taylor, 

Architects,  653 
Nelson  Memorial  Hall,  Kingston,  Pa. 

Kipp  &  Podmore,  Architects,  629 
Public  Library,  Boston.  Mass.   McKim, 
Mead  &  White,  Architects,  648,  650 
(Oel.) 
Bath-haus,   Breslau,  Germany.     After 

an  Etching  by  B.  Manufeld,  653 
Town-Hall  and   Library,    Winchester, 

Mass.    Band  &  Taylor,  Archts.,  646 
U.  8.  COUBT-HOUSK  &  POST-OFFICB:  — 
Los  Angeles,  Cal.    637 
San  Antonio,  Texas.    641 
etc.,  Williamaport,  Pa.    637 
Springfield,    Mass.      W.   A.    Freret, 

Architect,  637 

Westminster  Palace,  London,  Eng. 
After  an  Etching  by  Felix  Buhot,  636 
(Oel.) 

RAILROAD. 

B.  &  A.  R.  R.  Station,  Springfield,  Mass. 
Shepley,  Satan  A  Coolidge,  Archi- 
tects, 640 

Bailroad  Station  at  Charlotte,  N.  C.  W. 
M.  Poiudexter  & 
Co.,  ArchtB.,  644 


Railroad  Station  at  Como,  N.  J.  Cope 
&  Stewardson,  Ar- 
chitects, 636 

Tower  of  New  Station  for  Canadian 
Pacinc  R.  U.,  Montreal,  Can.  Bruce 
Price,  Architect,  661 

SOCIETY. 

American  Unitarian  Association  Build- 
ing, Boston,  Mass.  Peabody  &  Stearns, 
Architects,  630  (Oel.)  - 
Design  for   Masonic  Hall,    Pittsburgh, 
Pa.      Blckel    &    Brennan, 
Architects,  662 

"  "  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Building,  Provi- 
dence, R.  I.  Howard  Hop- 
pin,  Architect,  63*. 

Designs  for  Proposed  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Build- 
Ing,  Providence,  R.  I.    Stone,  Carpen- 
ter &  Willson  Architects,  636 
Y.  M.  C,  A.  Building,  San   Diego,    Cal. 
•  K.  A.  Coxhead, 

Architect,  636 
"          Utloa,  N.  Y.     W. 
H.       Symonds, 
Architect,  663 

INITIAL  CUTS. 

[Then  figure $  refer  to  the  page  of  text, 
not  to  the  platei.] 

Bay,  Leek  Town-hall,  10 

Bear  286 

Braslers,  21,  23 

Bridge  near  Canluo,  298 

Bull,  296 

Capitals,  22,  41,  42,  67,  68,  93,  189,  235, 

Cartouche,  234 

Cathedral,  Brechln,  Scotland,  286 

"          Turin,  112 

Chapel,  Spring   Grove  Cemetery,  Cin- 
cinnati, O.    S.  Hannaford  &  Sons,  Ar- 
chitects, 303 
Chimney,  297 
Church  near  Meiningen,  246 

"       of  the   Redeemer,   Lexington 
Mass.     E.  A.  P.   Newcomb 
Architect,  268 
"       Toft  Monks,  Eng.,  213 
Circular  Chapel,  Cunanlt,  France   175 
Cornice,  248 

Doorhead,  Isle  of  France,  147 
Doorways,  177,  228 
Dormers,  99,  113,  201 
Eagles,  166,  177. 190 
Kntrance  Gateway  and  Bridire.  212 
Fire-dogs,  66,  63 
Font,  80 
Grotesque,  309 
Hale  Monument,  Coventry  ,  Conn. 

Henry  Austin,  Architect,  171 
1     Statues  of  Nathan,  183, 184 
House  at  Dol,  Brittany,  223 
11  Les  Enfants  du  Rhone  "  by  Pagny   196 
Light-houses  87,  173,  174, 196, 196,  220, 

Lion,  148 

Lookout  Tower  near  Eisenach,  247 

Mantel,    Van    Bensselaer   Mansion 

Albany,  N.  Y.,  127 

Mt.  Cents  Tunnel  Monument,  Turin  125 
MONUMENT  TO:  — 
Cavour,  Turin,  128 
(iambetta,  219 
Joan  of  Arc,  172 
Mary  Washington,  199 
Massimo  d'  Azeglio,  Turin,  123 
Mazzini,  219 
Micca,  Turin,  123 
The  Bros.  Calroli,  262 

'    Duke  of  Genoa,  Turin,  124 
|'    Empress  Josephine,  199 

"Green  Count,"  Turin,  123 
"    Sardinian  Army,  Turin,  123 
Monuments  to  Jefferson,  200 
Mosque  in  Algiers,  267 
Mural  Tablet.     Design  for,  M.  N.  Cut- 
ter, Architect,  152 
Office-Building,  Chicago.  John  Addlson 

Archt.,  90 
J.  J.  Panders, 

Opera-House,  Chicago.    Cobb  &  Frost 

Architects,  88 

Oriel,  Bath-haus,  Halberstadt,  243 
Ornaments,  249,  270,  273 
Pedestal,  223 
Plctographs.    Indian,  19 
Porch,  Gloucester  Cathedral,  304 

Leicester  Eng.,  299 
Porte  St.  Denis,  Paris,  210 
"  Pro  Patria"  by  Mercie,  183 
Putnam's  Tomb,  279 
"  Quand  Memo  »  by  Mercie,  186 
Receiving-vault,  Detroit,  Mich.     W  E 

Brown,  Architect,  91 
Staircase,  Lubeck.  246 
Statue  of  William  Penn,  269 
Statues  from  the  Tomb  of  Maximilian, 

Innspruck  279,  280,  281 
Store  at  Buffalo.    I.  H.  Kent,  Archt.,  69 


Synagogue,  Turin,  111 

Tailpieces,  3,  5,  81,  78, 1M 

Tomb.    Arabian,  2GO 

Totem-posts.    Indian,  20 

Towers,  17,  111,  233.  236 

Treaty-stone.    The,  270 

Turrets,  31,  114 

Tyler-Davidson    Fountain,    Cincinnati 

Ohio,  303 

Ulna,  Vera  Cruz  305 
Washstand.    Old  German,  128 


viii 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News. — Index. 


[VOL.  XXIII. 


GOTHIC  SPIKES  AND  TUWEKS. 

[Published  only  in  tlu  /itijirrial  Kditicrn.~] 
ALL  SAINTS  :  — 

Aldwinkle,  (35:; 

Easton,  lira 

Lelghtou  Buzzard,  639 

Stamford,  662 
CATHEDRAL:— 

Chichester,  630 

Gloucester,  634 


CATHEDRAL : — 
Norwich,  639 
Salisbury,  KID 
York,  652 

St.  Andrew,  Backwcll,  647 
"  Dennis,  Silk  Willoughby,  630 
"  Fimbarr,  Fowey,  647 
"  George,  Alethwold,  043 
"  Giles,  Wrexham,  630 
"  Gregory,  Welford,  643 
"  Helen,  Broughton,  639 


St.  Lawrence,  Evesham,  634 
"  Margaret,  Crick,  643 
ST.  MART  :  — 
Bloxham,  639 
Kliightou,  634 
Mosham,  643 
Thornbury,  652 

St.  Mary  Magdalene,  Oxford,  643 
"      "  "  Tauntou,  639 

"      "     the  Virgin,  Fairford,  647 
"      "       "        "      Houghton,  643 


St.  Mary  the  Virgin,  Oxford,  634 

"  Michael,  Uflingtou,  630 

"  Nicholas,  Islip,  634 

"  Oswald,  Ashboume,  639 

"  Patrick.  Patrington,  643 

"  Peter,  Kettering,  647 

"  Vincent,  Caythorpe,  639 

"  Wilfred,  Brayton,  643 
SS.  Cuthbert    and    Mary,     Chesler-le- 
Street,  643 

"   Probus  and  Grace,  Probus,  647 


INDEX    BY  LOCATION. 

[The  flgures  refer  to  the  number  of  the  journal,  and  not  to  the  page.] 


Appleton,  \Vis.     First  Congregation 
Church.    W.  H.  Hayes,  Archt..  634 
Birmingham,  Ala.     House  of  Hon.  . 
O.  Lane.    Edouard  Sidel,  Archt.,  63* 
BOSTON,  MASS:  — 
American      Unitarian      Associatio 
Building.     Peabody  &  Stearns,  A 
chitects,  630  ( Oel.) 

Bird's-eye  View  of  Copley  Square,  6E 
Competitive    Design   for   Home  fo 
Little  Wanderers.     E.   C.  Fishe 
Architect,  653 

Doorway  on  C  om  mon  wealth    AT 
MoKim,  Mead  &  White 
Architects,  639  (Gel.) 
"         "  Gloucester  St.     Peabod 
&  Stearns,  Architect 
643  (Gel.) 

"        to     House     of     Nathani 
Thayer.     Sturgis  &  Brig 
ham,  Archts.,  652  (Gel.) 
Harvard    Medical-Sohool     Building 
Ware  &  Van  Brunt,  Architects,  63 
(Gel.) 

House  of  C.  F.  Adams.     Peabody  i 

Stearns,  Archts., 646  (Gel. 

"      "  Nathaniel  Thayer.     Sturgi 

&   Brigham,  Archts.,  65 

(Gel.-) 

"     on  Berkeley  St.     Peabody   & 

Stearns,  Archts.,  640  ( Gel. 

"      "  Hereford  St.    Shaw  &  Hun 

newell,  Archts.,  647  (Gel. 

Houses  on  Commonwealth  Ave.     C 

B.  Atwood.  Architect,  642  (Gel.) 
Monument  to   Leif  Ericson.     Ann 

Whitney,  Sculptor,  628  (Gel.) 
New  Public  Library.    McKim,  Mead 

&  White,  Archts.,  648  (Gel.)  650 
Potter  Building.      S.  J.  F.  Thayer 

Architect,  637  (Gel.) 
Breslau,  Germany.      The   Rath-haus 
After  an  Etching  by  B.  Mannfeld,  653 
Brieg,  Germany.  Belfry  of  City-hall,  642 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  Competitive  Design  for 
K.  C.  Church  of  St. 
Augustine.       R.    L. 
Dans,  Archt.,  637 
"  "      Emanuel   Baptist 

Church.    F.  H.  Kim- 
ball,  Architect,  644 
Interior  of  same,  644 

(Gel.) 

Cambridge,  Mass.  Competitive  Design 
for  City-Hall. 
Chamberlin  & 
Whidden,  Archi- 
tect*, 651 

"  House  of  Henry  En- 
dicott.  Chamberlin 
&  Whidden,  Archi- 
tec  18,645 

Carpenter  Station,  P.  R.  R.  House. 
Cope  &  Steward- 
son,  Archts.,  652 

•    "  "        P.  R.  R.     House   of 

James   Hackett. 
Cope   &  Steward- 
sou,  Archts.,  652 
Centre  Harbor,  N.  H.     Senter  House. 

F.  W.  Stickney,  Architect,  634 
Charlotte,  N.  C.    Railroad  Station.    W. 
M.  Poindexter  &  Co.,  Architects,  644 
Chantauqua,  N.  Y.     New  Kent  House. 

E.  A.  Kent,  Architect,  653 
Chelsea,  Mass.  Review  Club-house.  W. 

A.  Norrls,  Architect,  652 
Chicago,  111.  House.    J.  K.  Taylor,  Ar- 
chitect, 639 

"  "  House  of  Ejc-Gov.  John  M. 
Hamilton.  S.  M.  Ran- 
dolph, Architect,  639 


Clinton,  N.  Y.    House  of  Prof.  H.  C.  G 

Brandt.    G.  E.  Cooper,  Areht.,  633 
Como,  N.  J.     Railroad  Station.     Cop 

&  Stewardson,  Architects,  636 
Decatur,   Ala.      The   Tavern.     L.   I 

Wheeler,  Architect,  629 
Dedham,  Mass.     Design  for   Dedhan 
Inn.     Wheelwright  &  Haven,  Archi 
tects,  651 

Detroit,  Mich.    Competitive  Design  fo 
Museum  of  Fine  Arts.  J.  W.  Stevens 
Architect,  634 
Dublin,  N.  H.    Church.     Andrews  & 

Jaques,  Architects,  645 
Elizabethtown,  N.  Y.     Congregatioua 

Church.    R.  W.  Gibson,  Archt.,  645 
Florence,  Italy.  Tomb  of   Leonardo 
Hruni    In    Santa 
Croce.  652 
"     Tomb  of  Machiavelli  ii 

Santa  Croce,  644 

Fowey  Rocks,  Fla.    Light-house,  635 
Gettysburg,    Pa.      Pennsylvania   Col 

lege.    J.  A.  Dempwolf,  Archt.,  643 
Gloucester,  Mass.     Gate-Lodge  for  the 
Eastern  Point  Associates.     Appleton 
&  Stephenson,  Architects.  642 
Guadalupe,  Mexico.    Church,  639 
Herkimer,  N.  Y.     Christ  Church.    R. 

W.  Gibson,  Architect,  635 
Hinghain.  Mass.    Fast-Day  Sketches  by 

W.  W.  Bosworth,  643 
Ithaca,  N.  Y.    Design  for  Barnes  Hall, 
Cornell    University.      Roasiter   & 
Wright,  Architects,  636 
Jamaica  Plain,  Mass.     Church,  Chapel 
and  Parish-house  of  St.  John's.    Ap- 


-  . 

pleton  &  Stephenson,  Architects,  637 
Kansas   City,   Mo.      House   of   H.  R. 

Smith.  W.  W.  Polk  &  Son,  Archts.,  632 
Kingston,  Pa.     Nelson  Memorial  Hall. 

Kipp  &  Podmore,  Architects,  629 
-archmont,  N.  Y.    House.    F.  E.  Wal- 

lls,  Architect,  640 
/enox,  Mass.     House  of  D.  W.  Bishop 

H.  Neill  Wilson,  Architect,  634 
Litchfield,  Conn.    House.  F.  E.  Wallis 

Architect,  640 

Little  Harbor,  N.  H.    House.    Longfel- 
low,   Alden   &   Harlow,   Architects, 

<>n<lon,  Eng.  Westminster  Palace. 
After  an  Etching  by  Felix  Buhot,  635 
(Gel.) 

os  Angeles,  Cal.  Lutheran  Church.  E. 
A.  Coxhead,  Archi- 
tect, 647 

"  U.  S.  Court-House 
and  Post-Oflice.  W. 
A.  Freret,  Archi- 
tect, 637 

larion,   Mass.      Marion   Social   Club- 
house.   W.  G.  Preston,  Architect,  637 
lexico,  Mex.    Aztec  Calendar  and  Sac- 
rificial Stones,  638 
IINNEAPOLIS,  MINN.  :  — 
Andrew   Presbyterian  Church.      W 

H.  Hayes,  Architect,  634 
Competitive    Design    for   City-Hall. 

Long  &  Kees,  Architects,  641 
House  of  F.  B.  Hart.     L.  S.  Buffine- 

ton,  ArchiUct,  642 
Pillsbury  Science  Hall.  L.  S.  Buffing- 

ton,  Architect,  630 
obile  Bay,  Ala.    Light-house  642 
ONTREAL,  OAN.:  — 
Bank  of  Montreal,  651  (Gel.) 
Church  of  Notre  Dame,  629  (Gel.) 

"  St.  Pierre,  633  (Gel.) 
House  of  Hon.  J.  C.  Abbott.    Hutch- 
esson  &  Steele,  Archt*.,  645  (Gel.) 


MONTREAL,  CAN.  :  — 
Tower  of  New  Station  for  Canadian 
Pacific  R.  R.     Bruce  Price,  Archi- 
tect, 651 
Moorhead,  Wis.    State  Normal  School. 

J.  Walter  Stevens,  Architect,  649 
Morristown,    N.   J.       House.      Bruce 

Price,  Architect,  647 
NARRAGANSETT  PIER,  R.  I.:  — 
Greene's  Inn.    W.  G.  Preston,  Archi- 
tect, 631 
House  of  Brander  Matthews.    G.  A. 

Freeman,  Jr.,  Architect,  649 
NKW  YOKE,  N.  Y.:  — 
Competitive  Design  for  U.  S.  Trust 
Co.  Office-Building.    Babb,  Cook  & 
Willard,  Architects,  638 
New  Premises  for  United  States  Trust 

Co.    R.  W.  Gibson,  Archt.,  651 
Newton,  Mass.    Competitive  Design  for 
Eliot  Church.    Hartwell  &  Richard- 
son, Architects,  646 

Oak  Lane,  Pa.     Melrose  Hall.     Harri- 
son Albright,  Architect,  649 
Olean,  N.  Y.    St.  Stephen's  Church.  R. 

W.  Gibson,  Architect,  632 
Ottawa,  Can.  Cathedral  of  Notre  Dame. 

638  (Gel.) 

Paris,  France.    Grand    Opera-H  o  u  s  e . 
After  an  Etching  by 
J.A.Mitchell,  631 
"         Tomb  of   Richelieu   in 

the  Sorbonne,  652 
"         Tomb  of  Mazariu  in  the 

Louvre,  644 

Passaic,  N.  J.    House.    F.  Wallis,  Ar- 
chitect, 640 

PHILADELPHIA,  PA.:  — 
Construction   of    Floors  in  a  Flour 
Warehouse.     W.  B.  Powell,  Archi- 
tect, 628 
House  of  P.  E.  Chillman.  J.  C.  Worth- 

ington,  Architect,  633 
"      "  A.  N.  Elliott.    J.  C.  Worth- 

ington.  Architect,  636 
The  Logan  Offices.     Cope  &  Steward- 
son,  Architects  629 
PITTSBURGH,  PA.:  — 
Design  for  Masonic  Hall.    Bickel  & 

Brennan,  Architects,  652 
House  ol    James   McKay.       W.    S 

Fraser,  Architect,  639 
Masonic  Building.    Shepley,  Rutan  & 

Coolidge  Architects,  642 
=>rovidence,  R.  I.  Design  for  Y.  M.  C. 
A.  Building.    How- 
ard Hoppin,  Archi- 
tect, 630 

'     House   of    Gorham 
Thurber.      E.   I. 
Nickerson,    Archt 
649  (Gel.) 

'  Proposed  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
Building.  Stone, 
Carpenter  &  Will- 

QUEBEC,  CAN,-    "*'  Architects-  •» 
Church  of  St.  John  the  Baptist.    J. 

F.  Peachy,  Architect,  631  <Oel.) 
Entrance  to  Drill-shed.     Derome  & 

lache,  Architects  634  (Gel.) 
G™nIJ  Battery  and  Laval  University, 

650  (Utt.) 

Kent  Gate,  641  (Gel.) 

The  Basilica,  636  (Gel.) 
Richmond,  Va.    House  of  T.  C.  Leake 

M.  J.  Dimmock,  Architect,  652 
Rochester,  N.  Y.    Trusses  in  the  U.  S. 

Court-House.    W.  A.  Freret,  Archi- 

t  <'<'{,    632 

Salamanca,  Spain.  Cloister  of  San  Do- 
mingo, 628 


Salamanea,  Spain.    Part  of  the  Facade 

of  the  University,  631 
San  Antonio,  Texas.  U.  S.  Court-House 
and  Post-Offlce.   W.  A.  Freret,  Archi- 
tect, 641 
San  Diego,  Cal.     Y.  M.  C.  A.  Building 

E.  A.  Coxhead,  Architect,  635 
Sedgemere,  L.  I.  Design  for  N.  Y.  Ath- 
lecic     Club's     Country    Club-house 
George  M.  Huss,  Architect,  649 
Springfield,  Mass.  B.  &  A.  R.  R.  Station. 
Shepley,  Rutan    & 
Coolidge,       Archi- 
tects, 640 

U.  S.  Post-Office,  etc. 
W.  A.  Freret,  Ar- 
chitect, 637 
St.  Dems,  France.     Statue   of    Marie 

Antoinette,  644 
'    Lizier,  France.    Street,  633 
'    Louis,  Mo.  Bachelor's  Home.  Eames 
&  Young,  Archts.,  637 
'    House   near.     Eames   & 
Young,      Architectsts 
636  v 

'  Warehouse  for  Rosen- 
heim,  Frankenthal  & 
Goldstein.  A.  F. 


ST.  PAUL, 
Building  for  the  "  Pioneer  Press  "  S 

S.  If  email,  Architect,  645 
Design  for  N.  Y.  Life  Ins.  Co.  Build- 

ing.   J.  W.  Stevens,  Archt.,  633 
Store  lor  Be  Coster  &  Clark.     J.  W 

Stevens,  Architect,  635 
"       "   M.  E.  Mayall.     J.  W.  Stev- 

ens, Architect,  635 
Study  for  a  Store  Building.     Gilbert 

&  Taylor,  Architects,  645 
Stockholm,  Sweden.  Old  Stone  Portals, 

Tunis,  Africa.  Interior  of  the  "Bardo," 

TURIN,  ITALY  :  —  L 

La  gran  Madre  dl  Dio,  638 
Mediaeval  Castle,  638 
The  Royal  Palace,  638 
"    Superga,  638 

'    Valentino,  638  '' 

Utica,  N.  Y.  House  of  H.  E.  Brawster. 
W.  H.  Symonds,  Archi- 
tects, 646 
House  of  G.  E.  Cooper    G 


M?°PAerii^-ltect'63;* 
.  M.  C.  A.  Building.    W 

,.-  t"  653 

H°.'?8e-    Robert  Stead,  Architect  639 
of  Mrs.  J.  D.  Cameron.   Horn- 


Ganer  G- 


near. 


Tayloe  Mansion,  628 
Washington,    Pa.HHouse.     E.    G  -W 
Dietrich,  Architect,  651 


chitect,  635 
Winchester     Mass.      Town-hall     an 


.  Bliven.    F.  F.  Ward,  Archt.,134 


THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  AND  BUILDING  NEWS. 


VOL.  XXIII. 


Copyright,  18?8,  by  TICKHOB  *  COKPAMT,  Boston,  Man. 


No-  628. 


JANUARY  7. 1888. 

Entered  at  the  Pont-Offlce  at  Boston  M  teoond-olaw  m»tt«r. 


SUMMARY: — 


Mr.  Ciishing's  Discovery  of  Buried  Cltiw  in  the  Giliv  liivor 
Valley.  —  The  Perishing  of  the  Miirlile  Hoof  of  (iirurd 
College,  riiil:ulel]>liia.  —Mr.  Keely  discovers  a  new  "  Force." 

—  The  Iin]n>rt:iii<iii  of  Contract  Labor.  —  Movement  to  com- 
memorate the   Negroes'   Part  in  the  Civil  War 1 

I, \M.SI  M'i:  (J  vi:i.rvix<i. —  III 

1  MII .1.  ST.VTKS  (iovKitNMKNT  BL-II.DIXG  PRACTICE.  —  VIII.      .     .       6 

ILLUSTRATIONS:  — 

Lcif  F.ricson,  Boston,  Mass. — Construction  of  Floors  in  a 
Flour  Warehouse,  Philadelphia,  Pa.  —  Sketch  of  House  for 
T.  E.  Jones,  F.sq.  —  Design  for  a  City  Front.  —  Mantelpiece. 

—  Closter   of   Santo    Domingo,    Salamanca,    Spain.  —  The 
Tnyloe  Mansion,  Washington,  1).  C 6 

SMI,   P.I  ii.i.iM.-.— XXI 7 

LONDON  NOTES 10 

COMMUNICATIONS  :  — 

A  Faulty  Ground-testing  Apparatus.  — Letting  Extras  to  an 
( tutsider.  —  Books.  —  Architectural  Journals.  —  Warehouse 

Floor  Construction 11 

NOTES  AND  CLIPPINGS 12 

TRADE  SURVEYS 12 


TTR.  FRANK  GUSHING,  the  young  ethnologist  who 
I XI  became  by  adoption  a  Zuni  Indian  in  order  to  study  the 
^  habits  and  history  of  the  sedentary  or  Pueblo  tribes,  is 
now  engaged  in  an  exploring  expedition  among  the  ruins  of 
the  great  aboriginal  settlements  in  Arizona.  It  has  long  been 
known  that  a  certain  river-valley,  now  a  desert,  was  once  filled 
with  flourishing  towns,  and  the  curious  remains  of  houses  which 
occupied  the  terraces  along  the  valley  have  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  tourists,  but  no  one,  before  Mr.  Gushing,  has  had  leisure  to 
excavate  among  the  ruins.  Guided  by  his  knowledge  of  the  cus- 
toms of  the  existing  tribes  from  the  same  stock,  Mr.  Cushing's 
researches  have  been  very  fruitful,  and  he  has  found  proofs  of 
the  occupation  of  the  valley  at  a  very  remote  period  by  a  popu- 
lation of  something  like  a  quarter  of  a  million.  To  support 
this  population,  the  desert  tract  was  irrigated  by  open  canals, 
cut,  in  many  places,  in  the  rock,  and  extending  over  a  length 
of  about  three  hundred  miles.  A  race  rich  enough  and  civilized 
enough  to  build  three  hundred  miles  of  canals  to  irrigate  its 
fields  must  have  accumulated  a  considerable  amount  of  portable 
property,  and  a  great  number  of  specimens  of  pottery,  stone 
implements  and  skeletons  have  been  found  and  sent  East. 
Curiously  enough,  the  excavations  afford  abundant  evidence 
that  the  towns,  instead  of  falling  gradually  into  decay,  were 
destroyed  by  a  series  of  earthquakes.  The  walls  have  been 
thrown  outward  and  the  roofs,  which  were  of  concrete,  sup- 
ported on  wooden  beams,  have  fallen  in,  and  in  many  cases  the 
skeletons  of  the  occupants  have  been  found  as  they  were  struck 
down  in  the  act  of  escaping.  One  skeleton  in  particular  affords 
a  curious  glimpse  of  the  circumstances  of  a  catastrophe  which, 
as  Mr.  Gushing  thinks,  took  place  before  the  building  of  the 
Pyramids  of  Egypt.  It  is  that  of  a  young"  girl,  and  was  found 
surrounded  by  sacrificial  offerings,  close  to  an  altar  in  a  cave  in 
the  side  of  the  mountain,  which  seems  to  have  been  used  as  a 
sacred  place.  We  must  presume  that  ethnologists  keep  their 
imaginations  in  subjection  and  reason  from  nothing  but  facts, 
but  of  these  they  seem  to  have  discovered  so  many  that  the 
expedition  is  convinced  that  this  Toltec  Iphigenia,  after  several 
shocks  of  earthquake,  was  sacrificed  as  a  supreme  offering  to 
the  offended  gods,  and  it  thinks  that  on  the  return  of  the  citi- 
zens to  their  homes  after  this  appalling  ceremony,  another 
shock,  more  violent  than  any  that  preceded  it,  overwhelmed 
them,  leaving,  perhaps,  none  to  tell  the  tale.  It  is  a  curious 
illustration  of  the  almost  indefinite  persistence  of  tradition 
among  ignorant  races  that,  although  this  catastrophe  must  have 
occurred,  apparently,  about  seven  thousand  years  ago,  the 
Indians  of  the  neighborhood  still  speak  with  dread  of  the  mali- 
cious spirits  who  dwell  in  the  heights  above  the  valley,  and 
their  fears  gained  from  the  whites  the  name  of  the  Superstition 
Mountains  for  the  range  long  before  anything  was  known  of 
the  tragedy  which  had  been  enacted  in  their  shadow. 


FEW  weeks  ago  it  was  found  that  water  was  coming 
through  the  marble  slabs  which  form  the  roof  of  the 
Girard  College  building  in  Philadelphia,  and  on  looking 
for  tin-  I-.IIIM-  it  was  found  that  the  surface  of  the  stone  was 
somewhat  seriously  disintegrated,  and  that  the  corrosion  had 
extended  into  the  joints.  The  walls  and  columns  showed  no 
sign  of  brin^  allected.  and  after  consultation  with  a  well-known 
Philadelphia  architect,  Mr.  Windrim,  who  readily  explained 
the  phenomenon  as  being  the  result  of  the  superficial  decom- 
position, o£ -the  marble  by  the  sulphurous  acid  contained  in  the 
Philadelphia  atmosphere,  and  brought  to  the  roof  by  rain,  the 
directors  of  the  College  decided  to  cover  the  stone  with  tin. 
Of  course,  the  newspaper  reporters  seized  upon  the  circum- 
stance as  a  text  for  the  most  startling  fancies.  One  of  them 
announced  that  pieces  of  marltle  "  an  inch  square "  from  the 
College  roof  "  could  be  crushed  between  the  fingers,"  and  asked 
gravely  whether  the  citizens  of  Philadelphia  might  not  "awake 
some  morning  after  a  rain-storm  to  discover  a  mass  of  slaked 
lime  in  the  middle  of  Penn  Square,"  in  place  of  the  present 
City-hall,  following  up  this  lugubrious  thought  with  the  sug- 
gestion that  it  might  some  time  "  become  necessary  to  erect  a 
huge  canopy  of  tin  to  house  the  Public  Buildings."  It  is 
rather  amusing  to  think  of  putting  a  tin  canopy  over  a  marble 
building  to  "  protect "  it,  but  apart  from  this,  the  way  in  which 
the  Girard  roof  was  affected  is  interesting.  With  most  marbles, 
exposed  as  in  this  case  for  forty  years,  corrosion  would  have 
proceeded  much  farther,  and  it  might  have  been  necessary 
before  now  to  replace  the  whole  roof,  but  Dr.  Walter  was  one 
of  the  best  judges  of  building  marble  that  ever  lived,  and  the 
walls  and  colonnades  of  the  structure  are  probably  safe  for 
ages.  Whether  it  would  be  possible,  with  any  marble,  to  make 
a  fiat  roof  which  would  withstand  the  acid  rain  of  a  great 
manufacturing  city  for  forty  years  is  extremely  doubtful.  The 
marble  roof  of  Milan  Cathedral  must  in  places  be  five  hundred 
years  old,  but  most  of  it  probably  dates  only  from  the  beginning 
of  the  present  century,  and  it  is  constantly  under  repair,  while 
the  atmosphere  of  Milan  is  far  purer  than  that  of  Philadelphia. 
For  some  reason  an  exposed  horizontal  surface  of  stone  de- 
teriorates far  more  rapidly  than  a  vertical,  or  even  a  somewhat 
inclined  surface.  In  old  graveyards,  even  in  the  pure  air  of 
the  country,  the  top  of  a  marble  tomb-cover  or  horizontal  tablet 
of  any  kind,  which  is  more  than  a  hundred  years  old,  is  gen- 
erally powdery  with  decomposed  carbonate  of  lime,  and  leaves 
white,  chalky  marks  on  the  clothes  or  fingers,  while  the  vertical 
surfaces,  particularly  if  protected  slightly  by  a  projecting 
cornice,  retain  their  polish  indefinitely.  Dr.  Walter's  opinion 
was  that  dolomite,  or  marble  containing  magnesia,  like  that 
"found  near  New  York,  and  in  many  other  places,  resists 
weathering  far  more  efficiently  than  the  pure  limestone  marbles, 
and  he  always  used  the  dolomitic  varieties  in  his  own  work. 


'7TN    EXTRAORDINARY   exhibition    took   place    a   few 
F\  days  ago  in  Philadelphia,  where  the  stockholders  of  the 
Keely  Motor  Company  held  a  meeting,  swallowed  without 
a  murmur  the  largest  and  most  highly-flavored  doses  of   im- 
pudence, to  call   it  by  no  worse  name,  that  have  ever  been 
offered  to  that  long-suffering  corporation,  and  finally  adjourned, 
after  voting  to  raise  more  money  to  go  on  with  the  "  investiga- 
tions "  for  which  they  have  already  contributed  so  much.     If 
we  recollect  rightly,  the  last  important  stockholders'  meeting 
was  made  joyful  by  the  announcement  that  within  a  few  weeks 
a  locomotive,  propelled  by  "  sympathetic  vibrations,"  would  be 
j  running  regularly  on  one  of  the  Pennsylvania  railroads,  and 
|  that   other   machinery,   employing    the   same   motive   power, 
would  be  put  in  operation  as  fast  as  it  could  be  put  together. 
Years  have  elapsed  since  then,  but  no  sympathetic  locomotive 
has  ever  yet  moved  on  a  railroad  in  Pennsylvania  or  elsewhere, 
nor  has  the  vibratory  force  been  utilized  for  any  service  which 
has  brought   income   to   the   corporation ;  yet,  instead  of  an 
apology  for  this  trifling,  the  official  communication  from  the 
j  great  inventor  to  the  stockholders  who  have  maintained  him  so 
long  in  luxury  for  so  many  years  is  said  to  have  contained  the 
announcement  that  as  the  company  "had  not  for  years  fur- 
nished him  any  money  to  carry  on  his  experiments,"  he  had 
resumed  "the  exclusive  ownership  of  his  inventions."  and  had 
!  "been  obliged"  to  form  a  new  association  with  these  inven- 
j  tions  as  its  basis,  and  "  to  issue  and  sell  certificates  of  stock  in 
I  the  new  company "  in  order  to  raise  the  money  he  wanted. 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  Mews.    [VOL-  XXIII. -No.  628. 


This  astounding  message  to  the  officia    meeting  of  a  corpora- 
tion whose  stockholders  have  expended  two  hund  red and  hfty 
thousand  dollars  on  their  great  principal  s  pa  tents   an 
periments,"  seems  to  have  attracted  the ,  attention  of  no   o  e 
except  the  retiring  President,  who  mildly  remarked  that 

>ped  that  in  all  these  new  transactions  "the  interests  of  the 
±en  shareholders  would  be  guarded,"  but  did  not  mention 
how  he  would  propose  to  guard  them  from  a  persor, ,  whc .had 
according  to  his  own  statement,  appropriated  all  the  interest 
they  had,  and  sold  them  to  some  one  else.  A  much  greater 
sensation  was  excited  when  Mr.  Keely's  counsel  read  the  other 
portion  of  the  report,  in  which  it  was  announced  that  alter 
reaching  the  point  of  promising  to  drag  locomotives  around  by 
sympathetic  vibrations,  and  actually  showing  a  coffee-mill  at 
work,  attached  to  a  "  vaporic  generator,"  he  was  baffled  by  a 
mechanical  difficulty  that  was  impossible  for  him  to  overcome, 
and  had  since  then  devoted  his  attention  to  the  construction  of 
a  "sympathetic  liberator,"  which  will  transmit  an  "uplifting 
expansive  force"  of  twenty-five  thousand  pounds  per  square 
inch  through  a  wire,  and  now  occupies  all  his  attention,  in 
his  own  opinion  the  success  of  this  "new  departure  would  be 
greater  than  the  most  sanguine  of  his  adherents  had  anti- 
cipated, but,  although  he  was  expecting  to  receive  in  a  few 
weeks  some  machinery  which  would  go  far  toward  perfecting 
his  discovery,  he  "would  not  venture  to  predict  how  soon  his 
work  would  be  concluded."  As  a  confirmation  of  this  interesting 
statement,  his  counsel  read  a  supplementary  report,  drawn  up 
by  himself  at  Mr.  Keely's  request,  in  which  he  expressed  the 
opinion  that  the  great  inventor  "had  reached  the  sphere  of 
perfect  vibratory  sympathy."  This  cheered  the  stockholders 
to  such  a  degree  that  they  immediately  raised  the  appropria- 
tion for  expenses,  without  waiting  to  inquire  whether  it  was 
they  or  the  shareholders  of  the  other  company  that  the  great 
man  proposed  to  be  in  "vibratory  sympathy"  with  for  the 
future,  and  then  adjourned,  to  wait  with  patience  for  the  appear- 
ance of  the  "sympathetic  liberator"  in  the  mechanical  world. 


[  from  foreign  parts  to  render  a  definite  service  is  clearly  for- 
bidden, and,  unless  the  plea  can  be  made  that  the  cure  of  souls 
on  Mr.  Warren's  plan  is  a  new  and  useful  industry,  we  do  not 
see  how  the  Trinity  parish  can  escape  a  heavy  fine.  A  still 
more  interesting  phase  of  the  matter  is,  however,  to  be  found  in 
the  glimpse  which  it  gives  us  of  the  possibilities  of  the  future 
unless  the  statute  law  is  soon  repealed  .or  modified.  As  the 
law  now  stands,  not  only  the  English  clergymen,  who  are  toler- 
ably numerous  in  this  country,  but  the  foreign  opera-singers, 
dancers,  actors  and  actresses,  lecturers,  pianists  and  other  musi- 
cians, professors,  teachers  and  artists,  who  come  by  invitation 
and  promise  of  reward  to  instruct  and  delight  us,  are  here  in 
defiance  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  and  must,  according 
to  those  laws,  be  shipped  back  at  once  to  their  native  country 
by  the  United  States  marshal,  if  he  can  catch  them,  while  those 
persons  who  invited  them  to  come  here  are  subject  to  severe 
punishment.  There  is  no  difference  between  the  cases  of  these 
persons  and  the  Canadian  ship-carpenters  who  were  made  to 
experience  the  rigor  of  the  statute  a  year  or  two  ago.  Our 
native  songsters  and  divines  have  just  as  much  a  right  to  pro- 
tection against  foreign  competition  as  the  Detroit  boat-builders 
or  the  New  England  weavers,  and  the  arrest  and  expulsion 
from  the  country  of  Colonel  Mapleson's  opera  troupe,  for  exam- 
ple, with  the  exile  to  the  Dry  Tortugas  of  a  few  impresarios 
and  church  committees,  would  teach  the  bloated  aristocrats  of 
the  country  a  lesson  in  regard  to  the  claims  of  native  and  natu- 
ralized talent,  which  seems  as  yet  to  have  been  thoroughly 
learned  only  by  the  working-classes. 


CURIOUS  illustration  of  the  truth  of  General  Grant's 
maxim,  that  the  best  way  to  get  a  bad  law  changed  was  to 
enforce  it  rigidly,  is  furnished  by  a  case  now  on  trial  in 
New  York.  Every  one  knows  something  of  what  is  called  the 
"contract  labor  law,"  by  which  American  citizens  are  for- 
bidden, under  heavy  penalties,  to  engage  foreigners  to  come  to 
this  country  to  work  for  them,  an  exception  being  made  only 
in  cases  where  the  imported  laborers  are  experts  in  an  art 
which  has  not  previously  been  practised  in  the  United  States 
and  which  the  citizens  of  that  enlightened  country  will  have  an 
opportunity  of  learning  from  the  new-comers.  Apparently,  the 
law  had  its  origin  in  the  desire  of  unthinking  legislators  to 
please  some  of  their  recently-naturalized  constituents,  who  had 
a  dull  notion  that  they  would  be  in  some  way  the  gainers  by 
shutting  the  gates  through  which  they  had  themselves  entered 
and  monopolizing  the  trade  which  they  professed,  but  its  princi- 
pal effect  has  been  to  enable  mischief-makers  to  annoy  such 
manufacturers  as  might  show  enterprise  or  public  spirit  enough 
to  wish  to  raise  the  standard  of  skill  in  their  business  or  to 
defend  themselves  against  Union  tyranny.  Within  a  short 
time  it  has  occurred  to  some  one  that  the  law  applies  to  labor- 
ers in  other  fields  than  that  of  manual  toil,  and  that  a  consider- 
able commotion  might  be  caused  by  trying  its  virtues  with 
regard  to  people  belonging  to  trades  in  which  it  is  not  the 
fashion  to  surrender  one's  common-sense  into  other  people's 
keeping.  With  this  view,  an  attack  has  lately  been  made  upon 
the  Corporation  of  Trinity  Church  in  New  York.  The  Trinity 
wardens  have,  it  seems,  recently  engaged  as  assistant  in  the 
church  a  young  English  clergyman,  who  has  already  entered 
upon  his  duties.  Innocent  as  this  transaction  seems,  it  involves, 
as  we  now  learn,  and  as,  in  fact,  cannot  be  denied,  a  flagrant 
violation  of  the  statute.  If  the  wardens  had  wished  to  do  their 
duty  as  good  citizens,  they  should  have  gone  to  Castle  Garden 
and  watched  for  emigrants  with  white  neckties,  and  when  they 
saw  one  of  prepossessing  appearance,  have  accosted  him,  pro- 
mising him  suitable  wages  for  his  labor.  They  would  then 
have  been  blameless,  and,  as  fast  as  their  new  priests  disap- 
peared with  such  portable  property  as  might  be  at  hand,  they 
could  have  engaged  new  ones  until  the  supply  of  clerical  emi- 
grants was  exhausted.  This  method  of  hiring,  although  per- 
haps not  satisfactory  at  all  points,  is  permitted  by  the  law,  but 
any  attempt  at  getting  persons  of  known  character  to  come 


TJ  CANVASS  is  being  made  of  the  colored  population  of  the 
rj  country  for  the  purpose  of  raising  funds  for  the  erection  of 
'  a  monument  to  commemorate  the  part  which  the  African 
race  took  in  our  Civil  War.  While  it  would  be  unfortunate  to 
distinguish  in  general  by  the  accident  of  ancestry  among  the 
patriotic  citizens  who  took  up  arms  in  defence  of  what  they 
considered  to  be  their  country,  the  position  of  the  colored  popu- 
lation in  relation  to  the  great  struggle  was  a  peculiar  one.  If 
they  had  not  lived  in  one  section,  under  conditions  which  were 
unknown  in  the  other  section,  the  war  would  have  been  impos- 
sible, and  as  one  of  the  results  of  it  was  to  change  profoundly 
the  condition  and  prospects  of  the  race  in  America,  there  is 
certainly  good  reason  for  wishing  to  commemorate  a  series  of 
events  which  changed  four  million  slaves  into  freemen  and 
citizens  and  called  thousands  of  colored  men  to  arms,  to  fight 
heroically  for  the  cause  which  had  become  their  own.  To  use 
a  common  simile,  the  four-years'  war  was  to  the  negroes  some- 
thing what  the  Exodus  from  Egypt  was  to  the  Israelites,  and, 
although  the  children  of  Israel,  after  the  crossing  of  the  Red 
Sea,  had  to  wander  forty  years  in  the  Wilderness  before  reach- 
ing the  Promised  Land,  and  it  will  probably  be  more  than  forty 
years  from  the  date  of  the  Emancipation  proclamation  before 
the  colored  people  of  the  South  acquire  full  recognition  of 
their  rights  as  citizens,  nevertheless,  the  beginning  of  the  pil- 
grimage is  an  event  which  should  never  be  forgotten,  and  the 
Joshuas  and  Aarons  of  the  movement,  while  the  memory  of 
them  is  fresh  in  the  minds  of  their  followers,  ought  to  be 
honored  with  permanent  memorials.  The  intention  of  the 
leaders  of  the  movement  is  to  raise,  if  possible,  a  million  dol- 
lars, and  erect  with  the  money  a  monument  at  Washington 
which  shall  consist  of  a  central  design  commemoratory  of  the 
part  taken  by  the  colored  race  in  the  war,  surrounded  by  memo- 
rials of  the  individuals  most  distinguished  in  the  emancipation 
movement.  If  properly  managed,  this  scheme  ought  to  be  one  of 
the  most  successful,  from  an  artistic  point  of  view,  of  those  which 
the  war  has  suggested.  After  the  iron-foundries  began  keeping 
soldiers'  monuments  in  stock,  whatever  sentiment  had  once 
attached  to  those  structures  evaporated,  and  it  is  a  rare  thing 
to  be  able  to  extract  an  idea  from  the  compositions  of  granite 
obelisks  and  deformed  lay-figures  which  occupy  the  most  promi- 
nent positions  in  our  larger  towns,  but  the  theme  of  the 
colored  men's  monument  is  full  of  suggestions.  Fortunately, 
there  is  never  likely  to  be  more  than  one,  so  that  the  designer 
of  it  will  not  suffer  the  annoyance  of  seeing  his  ideas  caricatured 
elsewhere,  but  with  the  strange,  wild  history  of  the  Southern 
slaves  in  1863-64  to  inspire  him,  it  would  be  strange  if  a  man 
of  decent  abilities' could  not  evolve  a  monument  which  should 
excite  more  attention,  at  least,  than  anything  of  the  kind  which 
now  exists  in  Washington. 


JANUARY  7,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


LANDSCAPE   GARDENING.1  —  III. 


"Arrcn  L/A.RT. 


*TJS  it  is  difficult  for  the  student  of  landscape-gardening  to  find 
f~\  teachers  in  the  more  artistic  departments  of  his  work,  there  is 
/  all  the  more  reason  why  he  should  master  the  teachings  of 
books.  The  literature  of  the  art  is  not  so  large  as  might  be 
expected,  nor  am  I  at  all  competent  to  draw  up  a  catalogue  which 
would  show  its  actuat*4xtent.  Hut  even  a  partial  list  of  prominent 
works  may  be  useful,  so  great  seems  to  be  the  ignorance  of  the 
public  witli  regard  to  them.  These,  then,  are  a  few  of  the  books 
which  may  be  studied: 

MOKKL —  "  Theorie  ties  jardins." 

GIRAUDIX  —  "  Composition  des  paynage*." 

HORACE  \VALPOLE  —  u  Essay  on  Gaidening." 

HIRSCHFELD —  "  Theorie  de  I'art  des  jardins." 

PRINCE  DE  LIGXE — "  Coup  d'ceil  sur  lielozil." 

GILPIN  —  "  Forat  Scenery;  "  "Practical  Hints  on  Landicape- 
Garileniny." 

WHATELY  —  "  Observations  on  Modem  Gardening." 

WKIVERT  —  "  Die  schoene  Landbaukun.it." 

BAUMGARTXKK —  "  Idees  pour  la  decoration  des  jardins." 

SIEGEL —  "  Description  des  jardins  modernes." 

REPTOX —  "Theory  and  Practice  of  Lind.icape-Gnrdening  "  ; 
"  Fragments  on  Landscape-Gardening " ;  "  Sketches  and  Hints  on 
Landscape-Gardening." 

CURTKN*  —  "  Essai  sur  le.i  jardins." 

LOUDOX —  "  Treatise  on  Forming  Country  Residences." 

UVEDALE  PKICE  —  "  On  the  Picturesque  "  (Edited  by  Sir  J.  Dick 
Lander.) 

TIIOCIN  —  "Plans  raisonnes  des  jardins." 

LABORDK  — "  Description  des  nouveaux  jardins  de  France." 

SEELEY  —  "  Description  of  Stowe." 

MASON  —  "Essay  on  Gardening." 

LAUGIER  —  "  Essai  sur  I' architecture." 

CHAMUEKS — "  Dissertation  on  Oriental  Gardening." 

All  these  are  books  which  date  from  the  last  century  or  from  the 
first  quarter  of  our  own.  It  is  needless  to  name  works  of  earlier 
origin  than  these.  They  deal  of  course,  with  those  more  formal 
developments  of  the  art  which  are  infinitely  beautiful  when  well 
managed  in  the  right  place  and  the  study  of  which  is  essential  to  the 
cultivation  of  the  student's  mind  and  taste,  but  which  from  a  practi- 
cal point  of  view  are  less  helpful  to  him  than  those  later  develop- 
ments to  which  the  word  landscapes  may  more  truthfully  l>e  applied. 
And  besides,  they  are  works  of  classic  reputation  which  will  be  found 
in  any  catalogue  that  contains  architectural  treatises  of  the  same 
period.  Architecture  and  gardening  were,  in  truth,  so  closely  united 
in  the  seventeenth  century  that  books  which  deal  with  the  one  art 
very  often  deal  with  the  other  too. 

Between  the  year  1820  and  times  which  may  be  called  our  own, 
few  treatises  upon  the  art  seem  to  have  been  written.  The  best  of 
all  recent  books  —  indeed,  I  think  the  most  illuminative  of  all  extant 
books  —  is  the  work  of  M.  Edouard  Andre  already  referred  to  — 
"  L'Art  des  jardins."  A  few  others  are : 

ROBINSON  —  "Parks  and  Gardens  of  Paris" :  "  The  Wild  Gar- 
den." 

VITET  —  "  Etudes  sur  t'ltistoire  de.  .'art,"  Vol.  IV. 

CIIOULOY  —  "  L'Art  di:s  jardins." 

MEYEK  —  "  Lehrbuch  der  sclioenen  Gartenkunst." 

Rupiticti-RoHERT —  "La  Flore  Ornementale." 

ANDRIJ: —  "  Un  mois  en  Kussie." 

SMITH  —  "Parks  and  Pleasure  Grounds." 

KKNNIOX —  "  Trees  in  Landscape." 

LOUDON  — "Encyclopedia  of  Landscape-Gardening." 

KOCH  —  "  Dendrologie." 

DOWNING  —  "  Landscape-Gardening  "  (Edited  by  Sargent)  ;  "  /Ju- 
ra/ Essays" ;  "  Villa  and  Cottage  Architecture." 

SCOTT — •"  The  Art  O'~ Beautifying  Hume  Grounds." 

WKIDICNMANN  —  "Beautifying  Country  Homes." 

KERN  —  "Practical  Landscape-Gardening." 

These  last  four  authors  are  Americans  and  their  works,  therefore, 
are  especially  interesting  to  the  student  who  must  work  amid  the 

1  Continued  from  page  2frJ,  Xo.  623. 


same  conditions.  Scott's  book  has  already  been  referred  to.  Al- 
though intended  primarily  for  the  amateur  it  will  be  very  helpful  to 
the  professional  student  if  he  absorbs  the  principles  it  lays  down  ami 
looks  with  a  discriminating  eye  at  its  many  illustrations.  These  last, 
however,  cannot  always  be  accepted  as  patterns  of  excellence,  nor 
are  the  author's  applications  of  his  theories  always  as  good  as  the 
theories  themselves.  Of  his  constructive  work  I  cannot  speak,  but 
his  book  seems  to  reveal  a  man  with  more  intelligence  than  taste  — 
one  who  mentally  recognizes  what  is  right  but  is  not  always  able  to 
tell  the  best  from  the  less  good  in  sneuial  cases.  Weidenmann's  and 
Kern's  books  I  have  not  read,  but  M.  Andre  cites  them  with  respect. 
Downing's  are  extremely  good — quite  invaluable  to  the  American 
beginner.  Some  day,  when  this  art  is  understood  and  valued  as  it 
should  l>c,  Downing's  will  be  recognized  as  one  of  the  gruat  names  in 
the  intellectual  history  of  America.  A  pioneer  in  what,  if  not  an 
actual  wilderness,  was  a  wilderness  of  ignorance,  bad  taste  and 
indifference,  he  showed,  alike  in  his  writings  and  his  practical  results, 
the  true  spirit  of  an  artist  and  the  true  instincts  of  a  man  of  intelli- 
gence, education  and  taste.  The  places  he  laid  out  or  altered  — 
especially  along  the  Hudson  River  —  are  still  among  the  very  best  in 
the  country;  and  almost  all  the  good  work  which  has  since  been 
done,  including  Mr.  Olmsted's,  may  be  traced  back  to  his  inspira- 
tions, while  such  measure  of  popular  interest  and  good  taste  as  we 
can  lay  claim  to  lias  almost  altogether  sprung  from  the  same  source. 
!  Twenty  years  ago  his  books  were  on  every  one's  shelf  and  it  would 
be  well  if  as  much  could  be  said  to-day.  In  architecture  his  tasto 
was  about  on  a  level  with  that  of  his  time  —  which  is  to  say,  was 
pretty  bad.  Yet  even  as  regards  architecture  he  had  a  good  influence 
in  so  far  that  ho  first  in  his  generation  drew  popular  attention  to  its 
claims.  And  as  regards  landscape-gardening  his  ideas  were  far 
ahead  of  his  time  —  and  are  still  far  ahead  of  ours  if  we  may  judge 
ideas  by  average  results. 

Koch's  "Dendrologie"  is  a  collection  of  lectures  which  treat  in 
part  of  certain  classes  of  trees,  but  also  contain  an  interesting  sum- 
mary of  the  history  of  landsca|X!-gardening  in  all  ages  of  the  world. 

Outside  of  books  like  those  I  have  mentioned,  there  are  many 
others  of  many  periods  which  it  will  profit  the  student  to  acquaint 
himself  with.  The  love  of  Nature  is  as  old  as  the  world,  and,  strange 
though  it  may  seem,  expressed  itself  for  ages  in  a  love  for  cultivate,! 
Nature  before  the  attractions  of  wild  scenery  were  perceived.  Litera- 
ture which  descants  upon  these  latter  charms  is  of  comparatively 
modern  origin,  but  literature  which  speaks  or  sings  the  praise  of 
gardens  begins  almost  as  far  back  as  history  takes  us.  Roman 
literature,  for  example,  as  I  need  hardly  sav,  is  full  of  it,  and  though 
such  writing  gives  the  student  no  practical  instruction,  it  profits  by 
awakening  enthusiasm  and  stirring  his  artistic  sense.  Then,  as  we 
come  farther  down  in  time,  we  find  a  great  deal  of  writing  which 
has  a  more  definite  though  not  exactly  a  practical  bearing  upon 
modern  work.  So  poetic,  so  idyllic  in  its  nature  is  the  landscape- 
gardener's  art  (specially  so-called  as  distinguished  from  the  formal 
gardening  art  of  elder  days),  that  we  have  no  real  right  to  be  sur- 
prised when  we  find  that  before  it  actually  began  it  was  preached 
and  foreshadowed  by  poets  and  essayists.  The  first  great  garden  on 
the  true  landscape  pattern  of  which  we  know  was  not  created  in 
tangible  shape,  but  was  pictured  in  "Paradise  Lost."  And  from 
Milton's  day  onwards  far  into  the  eighteenth  century,  we  find  the 
poets  and  essayists  teaching  the  landscape-gardener  how  he  should 
conceive  and  sometimes  how  he  should  execute  his  tasks.  Bacon, 
Pope,  Addison,  Mason,  White  of  Selborne,  Thomson,  Gray,  Delille, 
Rousseau  and  Goethe  all  have  written  many  pages  which  should 
have  a  fertilizing  influence  upon  the  student  if  he  has  a  soul  to  be 
stirred  as  well  as  a  body  to  be  nourished  by  his  art. 

Numberless  English,  French  and  German  books  of  practical  as 
distinct  from  artistic  or  poetic  bearing  have  been  published  during 
the  past  twenty  years.  A  few  of  them  may  be  cited  as  guides  to  the 
finding  of  others,  although,  of  course,  some  are  more  valuable  to 
foreign  than  to  American  readers : 

DE  LAMBERTYE  —  "  Conseils  aux  habitants  des  campagnes." 
DECAISNE  ET  NAUDIX  —  "  Manuel  de  I'amateur  des  jardins." 
JACQUES  (and  others)  — "  Manuel  general  des  plantes." 
CAIUIIEIIE  —  "  Traite  general  des  coni feres."  « 

RcwiNsox —  "Alpine  Flowers"  giving  advice  about  rock  work, 
etc.) 

VILMOKIX  ET  ANDRIEUX —  "  Les  F/eurs  de  pleine  terre." 

ANDR^  —  "Plantes  a  feuillage  ornemcntal." 

Du  BRKUIL —  "Cours  d' arboriculture" ;  "  Arbres  et  arbuitteaux.' 

A  NDI:  E  —  "  Les  Plantes  de  terre  de  bruyere." 

STEWART —  '•  The  Planter's  Guide." 

TUOMSOX  —  "Handy-Book  of  the  Flower-Garden." 

And  to  these  and  such  as  these  may  be  added  books  on  the  princi 
pies  of  color  like  those  of  Chcvreuil  and  of  Root. 

More  American  works  of  similar  kinds  must  exist  than  I  have 
chanced  to  hear  about.  I  can  only  suggest  that  it  would  be  well  to 
supplement  strict  botanical  works  by  those  like  Emerson's  "  Trees 
and  Shrubs  of  Massachusetts,"  which  describes  the  aspect  as  well  as 
the  characteristics  of  each  species  in  a  very  clear  and  suggestive 
way.  Professor  Sargent's  catalogue  of  the  Jesup  collection  of 
American  woods  is  also  extremely  useful  as  giving  in  compact  shape 
not  only  a  full  list  of  all  our  native  trees,  but  also  the  average  sizes 
which  they  attain  and  the  geographical  limits  within  which  they  are 


The   American   Architect  and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  628. 


at  home.1  American  literature  as  well  as  English  also  offers  a  num- 
ber of  works  of  a  descriptive  sort  which  should  please  and  inspire 
though  they  may  not  actually  teach  the  student.  The  love  of  Nature 
and  the  habits  of  observation  shown  in  the  writings  of  Thoreau,  for 
instance,  and  at  the  present  moment  of  Charles  Abbott  and  John 
Burroughs  may  do  much  to  cultivate  the  same  qualities  in  the  reader. 
It  may  seem'  a  strange  and  it  certainly  is  an  unfortunate  fact  that 
there  is  to-day  no  periodical  which  either  gives  the  landscape-gar- 
deWr  theoretic  counsels  or  enables  him  to  follow  what  is  being  done 
in  the  world  in  his  profession.  Such  journals  as  the  Revue  Horli- 
cole,  the  Revue  tie  I'  horticulture  tielge  et  elranoere,  the  Hamburger 
Garten  uml  Blumenzeitung,  the  Journal  of  Horticulture,  the  Garden 
dm/  the  Gardener's  Chronicle,  confine  themselves  alt  igether  within 
the  limits  which  their  titles  suggest.  Even  the  first-named,  although 
edited  by  M.  Andre,  does  not  treat  of  landscape  art,  but  merely  of 
some  of  the  materials  by  means  of  which  it  works.  In  our  own 
country,  when  Downing  was  alive,  his  words  alone  sufficed  to  give 
artistic  value  to  the  periodical  for  which  he  wrote  —  the  Horticultu- 
rist, if  I  am  not  mistaken.  But  to-day  we  are  no  better  off  than  our 
neighbors. 

To  turn  away  now  from  books  to  the  living  world,  a  word  or  two 
may  be  added  with  regard  to  sketching  from  Nature.     Practice  in 
this  direction,  if  within  the  student's  power,  is,  of  course,  useful  not 
only  as  facilitating  the  execution  of  his  working  plans,  and  teaching 
him  how  to  record  the  characteristics  of  those  actual  sites  with  which 
he  will  be  called  upon  to  deal,  but  also  as  training  his  eye  to  valm 
the  nicer  relations  of  outlines,  colors  and  masses.     But  I  think  hi 
should  guard  himself  against  putting  too   high  a  value  upon  hi 
sketches  after  they  are  made.     They  will  differ  from  the  works  o 
professed  painters  in  being  records  of  Nature's  casual  results  insteae 
of  careful,  artistic  adaptations  —  idealizations  —  of  those  results;  an 
as  such  they  are  likely  to  be  far  less  rich  in  suggestions  with  regarc 
to  the  effects  he  himself  must  secure  when  he  begins  actual  work 
Moreover,  too  great  a  love  for  the  generalized,  undetailed  charm 
proper  to  a  sketch  may  foster  a  tendency  to  generalize,  and,  so  to 
say,  sketch  too  much  when  he  addresses  himself  to  concrete  prob- 
lems.    As  has  been  said  before,  the  landscape-artist  must,  like  the 
painter,  think  first  and  most  of  his  general  effect  ;  but  the  care  which 
he  must  give  to  all  matters  of  detail  is  far  greater  since  his  public 
cannot  be  kept   at   a  given   distance,  and,  therefore,  each   feature 
in   his  composition   is   likely  in   its  turn   to  become  a  foregrounc 
feature.     But  he  has  a  quite  modern  helper  which  may  profitably 
supplement  his   pencil.     It   seems    to   me   that  photography   from 
Nature  offers  him  an  exc  ellent  means  of  study,  as  well  as  an  invalu- 
able means  of  storing  up  hejpful  memoranda.     While  photographing, 
as  well  as  while  drawing  from  Nature,  he  will  learn  to  see  the  differ- 
ence between  good  composition  and  bad,  between  effective  and  in- 
effective massing,  between  the  changes  wrought  by  different  kinds  of 
illumination,  between  "  variety  in  unity  "  and  a  mere  heterogeneous 
accumulation  of  features.     He  will  also  gradually  acquaint  himself 
with  the  characteristic  forms  and  manners  of  growth  of  the  various 
species  of  plants.     And  the  pictures  he  produces,  being  much  fuller 
of  detail,  will  furnish  him  with  a  more  valuable  store  of  suggestions 
for  his  future  work  than  any  amount  of  sketches  he  may  liable  to 
produce.     And  then,  not  every  one  can  learn  to  sketch,  while  every 
one  can  learn  to  photograph.     Nor  is  it  a  very  costly  or  laborious 
pursuit,  since  a  small  portable  camera  for  instantaneous  work  will 
serve  quite  well  enough. 

The  most  important  general  counsel  which  can  be  given  a  student 
is  to  avoid  all  disposition  to  that  narrowness  of  taste  which  will  end 
by  making  him,  as  an  artist,  a  man  of  set  ideas,  narrow  schemes  and 


mannerisms. 
is  in 


er-isms.  Appropriateness  is  the  prime  virtue  in  landscape  as  it 
architectural  work.  But  there  is,  perhaps,  even  more  danger 
that  the  landscape-gardener  will  sin  against  it  than  that  the  architect 
will  —  even  more  danger  that  he  will  become  a  mannerist.  The 
"  styles  "  into  which  his  art  may  be  divided  are  as  distinct  as  archi- 
tectural styles ;  but  the  distinctions  between  them  are  more  subtile, 
they  pass  more  insensibly  into  each  other,  and  it  takes  a  very  sensi- 
tive taste  to  decide  when  the  one  should  be  employed,  and  when  the 
other,  or  when  the  best  result  may  spring  from  a  combination  of 
several  kinds  ot  effect  in  the  different  parts  of  a  large  composition. 
A  landscape  is  not  a  park,  nor  a  park  a  garden,  nor  a  garden  a  lawn 
nor  a  lawn  a  shrubbery,  nor  a  shrubbery  a  front-yard ;  nor  is  the' 
aspect  which  each  should  wear,  or  the  sentiment  it  should  express  by 
any  means  always  the  same.  But  there  are  no  set  rules  which 
mark  off  the  one  from  the  other,  nor  any  formulas  by  means  of  which 
even  a  "  correct "  treatment  may  be  arrived  at.  Great  as  may  be  the 
diversity  between  an  architect's  different  problems,  the  diversity  be- 
tween a  landscape-gardener's  is  still  greater ;  it  may  be  called  in- 
tact, coextensive  with  the  actual  number  of  his  tasks.  No  two  sites  are 
ever  exactly  the  same,  and  to  secure  appropriateness  of  effect  the  site 
must  be  as  careful  consulted  as  the  buildings  which  may  be  planned 
to  stand  upon  it,  or  the  pecuniary  resources,  tastes  and  occupations 
of  the  client.  Moreover,  the  elements  out  of  which  he  must  create 


his  work  of  art  are  not  codified  as  are  the  architect's.  When  he 
wants  to  design,  every  tiniest  detail  as  well  as  every  great  feature  must 
be  settled  upon  by  himself.  He  is  thus  the  freest  of  all  artists,  but 
in  his  very  freedom  lies  the  danger  that  he  will  become  a  mannerist. 
It  requires  very  catholic  tastes,  sensitive  perceptions  and  conscienti- 
ous alertness  of  enthusiasm  to  ki-ep  him  from  "getting  round"  his 
ever-varying  difficulties  by  clinging  to  some  single  kind  of  effect,  re- 
peating some  two  or  three  features,  and  narrowing  his  almost  un- 
manageably rich  vocabulary  down  to  a  small  list  of  plants  to  be  com- 
bined and  recombined  with  small  regard  to  perfect  fitness.  If  he 
proceeds  thus  he  may  produce  fairly  good  work  now  and  then,  but 
will  often  produce  very  bad  work,  and 'never  work  which  is  quite  as 
good  as  it  ought  to  be.  Even  such  a  broad  preference  as  that  which 
would  say,  "  Natural-seeming  effects  are  better  than  formal  effects  " 
ought  not  to  be  indulged.  That  effect  is  best  which  is  most  appro- 
priate, and  when  architecture  comes  prominently  into  the  scheme, 
formality  of  the  sort  which  means  even  clipped  trees  and  trimmed 
hedges  and  discreetly  colored  pattern-beds  may  be  the  right  tiling, 
and  an  attempt  at  a  landscape  effect  may  be  as  wrong  —  though  hardly 
as  vulgar  —  a  thing  as  is  the  formality,  for  example,  of  those  hide1 
ously  colored  pattern-beds  which  in  the  Public  Garden  of  Boston  ruin 
what  ought  to  be  a  landscape  effect  of  the  utmost  purity,  peace  and 
softness. 

In  conclusion  I  may  return  to  what  I  said  in  my  first  article  about 
the  influence  which  the  architect  may  exert  upon  the  progress  of  this 
sister-art.  Too  often  in  the  past  he  has  been,  although  unconsciously 
no  doubt,  its  foe.  Every  time  an  architect  has  insisted  upon  placing 
his  building  as  he  thought  it  would  show  to  the  best  advantage  with- 
out narrowly  considering  how  the  whole  place,  whether  great  or 
small,  might  be  treated  to  the  best  advantage,  he  has  sinned  against 
both  his  client  and  the  art  of  landscape-gardening,  while  the  chances 
are  that  he  has  defrauded  himself,  too  —  that  had  he  consulted  other 
rights  than  iiis  own,  his  building  would  eventually  have  profited. 
Simply  to  be  conspicuously  placed  is  not  always  for  a  building  to  be 
well  placed,  though  in  many  cases  its  designer  seems  to  have  thought 
as  much. 

Something  more  is  needed  than  that  an  architect  should  advise  his 
client  to  call  in  a  landscape-artist  when  his  own  work  has  been  done. 
Even  this  advice  is  not  so  often  given  as  one  might  think  —  too 
frequently  he  seems-  to  believe  that  an  artist  is  needed  for  every 
building,  but  that  Nature,  chance  and  the  client  are  competent  to  man- 
age trees  and  water  and  surrounding  surfaces  and  distant  views. 
Each  artist  is  equally  needed,  and  the  chief  need  is  that  they  should 
work  together  from  the  very  outset.  If  the  landscape-gardener  has 
studied  architecture  as  he  should,  he  is  at  least  as  competent  as  the 
architect  to  decide  where  a  building  should  be  placed  to  look  well 
from  a  distance ;  and  if  he  understands  his  own  art,  he  is  far  better 
able  to  decide  where  it  should  be  placed  in  order  that  the  outside 
world  shall  look  well  from  its  windows  —  quite  as  important  a  con- 
sideration to  its  owners.  Moreover,  he  alone  can  see  the  best  sug- 
gestions of  the  site  with  regard  to  the  laying-out  of  approaches  ami 
the  establishment  of  all  minor  constructions,  while  his  advice  may  be 
very  helpful  even  in  the  question,  what  sort  of  an  architectural  de- 
sign will  best  suit  the  locality?  An  architect  ought  to  be  willin<r  to 
make  great  personal  sacrifices,  if  it  is  proved  to  him  that  great  benefit 
to  general  beauty  in  the  common  result  will  follow;  but  very  often  no 
such  sacrifices  will  be  needed.  Very  often  such  slight  modifications 
of  his  wishes  as  the  stubbornest  spirit  would  not  object  to  makinf 
may  result  in  all  the  difference  between  a  weli-laid-out  place  with 
convenient  dependencies  and  beautiful  views,  and  a  botched  place 
whose  owners,  if  they  have  eyes  to  see,  will  be  perpetually  tormented 
by  the  thought  of  what  so  easily  might  have  been.  Moreover,  in  cer- 
tain things  which  are  actually  of  an  architectural  sort  the  landscape- 
gardener  should  be  allowed  to  aid  with  a  very  free  hand in  all  of 

,hose  which  come  in  close  contact  with  natural  features.  Piazzas, 
;erraces,  external  stairs,  steps  and  seats,  summer-houses,  boat-houses' 
bridges,  balustrades  and  boundary-walls  should,  whenever  possible 
be  built  with  his  assistance. 

AVhenever  we  find  ourselves  considering  what  are  the  duties  of  the 
architect  towards  other  arists,  or  how  he  should  try  to  perfect  his 
own  results  by  incorporating  theirs,  we  find  ourselves  thinkim'  of 
Or.  Kichardson  as  a  shining  example  of  rectitude.  He 


was  con- 


stantly turning  to  Mr.  Olmsted  for  advice,  even  in  those  cases  where 

seemed  as  though  it  could  have  little  practical  bearing  upon  his  de- 

"??•    .      d  wllere  ll  could  have  more  conspicuous  bearing  he  worked 

him  as  a  brother-art  ist  of  equal  rank  and  of  equarrights  will, 

nmsel  .     I  he   Town-Hall   at  North  Easton  may  be   cited  as  one 

sample  of  the  extraordinary  success  which  can  spring  from  such  co- 

operation, and  Mr.  Richardson  was  never  tired  of  explaining  how  in- 

valuable in  this  case  had  been  Mr.  Olmsted's  assistance. 

bo  firm  a  grasp  of  the  essentials  of  architectual  excellence  as  Mr 
Jlmsted  possesses,  and  so  true  a  taste  with  regard  to  architectural 

Im  I  l\a''ef'  •      T'T'  excePtional-     Bl>t  something  akin  to  them 
liou  Id  be  striven  for  by  every  student  of  landscape-gardening  as  one 
the  prime  requirements  of  his  art.     Few  landscape-gardeners  can 
"ope  ever  to  put  themselves  as  noblv  on  record  with  regard  to 

°° 


bot 
tions  of  the 


d  >-  —  ntly  done  inthos 
at  Washington  which  are  to  be  lar-elv  credited 
a"'1  hls  oversight.  But  they  must,  at  'east  put 
on  record  as  intelligent  assistants  in  the  architectural 
schemes  of  others  if  they  would  merit  the  name  of  artist  n  1  efr 
own  department.  On  the  other  hand,  with  the  best  will  n  the  worW 


,  1888.] 


Tfie   American    Architect   and   Jiidldiny   News. 


not  every  architect  will  always  be  able  to  secure  competent  assistance 
of  tin;  sort  I  have  ile-rril>  'd.  Mr.  Richardson  had  Mr.  Ohusted 
living  :it  his  gates,  and  .Mr.  Richardson  had,  too,  a  singular  power  of 
jicr-uadiirj:  his  clients  to  do  whatever  he  thought  best.  For  fear 
that  such  advantages  as  the«e  may  lack  —  and  as  things  stand  just 
now  with  the  art  of  land«M[i'--_';inlening  they  often  must  lack  — 
would  it  not  be  well  if  every  architectural  student  should  gain  fome 
knowledge,  of  the  sister-craft,  at  least  as  regards  the  general  artistic 
principles  upon  which  it  rests,  and  the  main  things  it  requires  of  a 
building  when  elsewhere  placed  than  in  a  city  street? 

M.  G.  VAN  KKNSSKI.AKR. 


UNITED  STATES  GOVERNMENT  BUILDING  PRAC- 
TICE.*—VIII. 

PAVING,    ROADWAYS    AND    CURBIX&. 


P 


AVING  for  sidewalks  and  for 
streets    and    roadways,    made 
of  almost  every  material  known 
and   used   for  the    purpose   in  the 
United  States  has  been  used  by  the 
Government  around   its  buildings. 
The  kind  of  material  is  determined 
frequently  by  what  is  most  in  use 
in  the  particular  locality  for  which 
the  work  is  required,  the  character 
or  expensiveness  of  the  building  for 
which  it  is  needed,  or  by  the  amount 
of  money  available  for  the  work. 
— _^  For    paving  of    sidewalks,    the 

or  AAMENS  materials  most  often  used  are  artifi- 
cial stone  and  brick,  and  for  paving  roadways,  streets,  etc.,  Belgian 
blocks,  concrete  and  macadam. 

Bids  are  received  in  one  lump-sum  for  all  the  work  on  the  ap- 
proaches, including  sidewalks,  driveways,  walks,  curbing,  fence-cop- 
ing, grading,  sodding,  etc.  Fence-coping,  grading  and  sodding  have 
been  treated  in  previous  papers. 

SPECIFICATION. 

The  plan  of  approaches  shows  clearly  the  paved  sidewalks,  drives, 
walks,  roadways  ami  the  lines  of  curbing,  etc. 

Excavating.  —  All  excavating  for  sidewalks,  roadways,  curbing, 
etc.,  to  be  performed  by  the  contractor  to  the  proper  depth ;  also, 
any  filling-in,  grading,  ramming,  etc.,  that  may  be  necessary  for  the 
proper  execution  of  the  work.  . 

Brick  Paving.  —  Brick  paving  to  be  with  good  hard  paving-bricks, 
sound  and  square,  laid  flat,  herring-bone  fashion,  on  a  bed  of  sand 
from  4"  to  6"  deep.  [Some  soils  require  a  deeper  bed  of  sand  and  in 
some  places  in  addition  a  bed  of  furnace-clinkers,  cinders,  etc.,  is  put 
down  before  the  sand.]  After  the  bricks  are  laid  and  graded  (which 
should  be  about  1"  in  10')  to  drain  water  to  curb  or  to  its  proper 
outlet,  the  entire  surface  must  be  covered  with  sand,  which  must  be 
left  to  work  into  the  joints  or  swept  over  the  bricks  until  the  joints 
are  thoroughly  filled ;  or,  to  make  a  better  pavement,  the  joints 
should  be  grouted  in  liquid  mortar  and  the  sand  spread  over 
afterwards. 

Where  gutters  are  to  be  formed  with  brick,  the  bricks  in  the 
centre  should  be  laid  lengthwise  and  the  joints  should  always  be 
grouted  in  liquid  cement-mortar.  Where  extra  thickness  of  wearing 
surface  is  required,  the  bricks  may  be  laid  on  edge  and  grouted  or 
covered  with  sand  as  before. 

Brick  and  Cement  Pavement.  —  A  pavement  made  of  brick  and 
cement  is  often  laid  by  the  Government  in  Southern  cities.  It  has  a 
base  of  furnace-clinkers  or  clean  sharp  sand  4"  deep  rammed  and 
packed  solid,  on  which  brick  is  laid  flat  to  an  even  surface ;  after 
being  well  wet,  all  the  interstices  to  be  thoroughly  grouted  with 
liquid  cement-mortar ;  another  layer  of  paving-brick  is  laid  flat  on 
top,  breaking  joint  both  ways  with  ^"  thick  layer  of  mortar  between 
the  bricks,  and  the  top  layer  also  grouted  in  liquid  mortar.  The 
wearing-surface  to  be  J"  thick  cement-mortar,  composed  of  one  part 
cement  and  one  part  of  finely-crushed  granite  or  sand.  When  the 
wearing-surface  for  this  pavement  has  been  laid  of  the  cheaper 
grades  of  cement,  it  has  not  stood  well,  but  when  laid  of  good  Port- 
land cement,  it  makes  a  good  pavement. 

Stone  Flagging.  —  Where  stone  flagging  is  used,  it  is  to  have  a 
base  of  sand  not  les;  than  4"  deep.  The  flagging  may  be  Milestone 
from  3"  to  5"  thick  or  granite  or  limestone  from  6"  to  10"  thick,  the 
stones  generally  to  be  rectangular  in  sizes  from  2'  x  4'  to  5'  x  10' ;  to  be 
properly  dressed  at  corners  to  fit  against  curbing,  etc ;  the  backs  to 
be  roughly  pitched  off  to  a  fair  surface,  and  the  joints  to  be  square 
from  the  top  and  to  fit  close;  the  top,  if  of  Milestone,  to  be  the  split 
surface,  smoothed  or  planed  off ;  if  of  granite,  to  be  good  pean- 
hammered  work,  and  if  of  limestone,  to  be  sawed,  square-drove  or 
tooled  work ;  all  the  flagging  to  have  a  regular  grade  to  curb,  to  be 
jointed  in  cement-mortar,  and  also  grouted  full  with  liquid  mortar. 

Concrete  anil  Artificial-stone  Pavements.  —  All  concrete,  asphalt 
and  artificial-stone  pavements  to  have  for  a  base  a  bed  of  concrete  from 
G"  to  10"  deep,  composed  of  five  parts  by  measure  of  clean,  small, 


1  Continued  from  No.  268,  page  623. 


broken  stone  (not  larger  than  2"  in  diameter),  brick-bats,  furnace- 
slag  or  cinders,  one  part  uf  go  id  American  cement,  and  two  parts  of 
clean,  sharp  sand,  laid  in  same  manner  as  concrete  for  foundations. 

Cement  Floor.  —  For  cellar  floors  and  sidewalks  the  wearing-sur- 
face may  be  |"  to  1^"  thick,  composed  of  one  part  by  measure  of 
Portland  cement  and  one  part  sand. 

Asphalt  Paoement. —  Asphalt  is  used  for  the  wearing-surface  for 
floors,  sidewalks  and  driveways.  For  floors  and  sidewalks  it  is  made 
from  J"  to  1J"  thick,  and  for  driveways  it  is  made  from  1J"  to  2" 
thick.  It  is  composed  of  two  parts  by  measure  of  asphalt  (unmixed 
with  the  products  of  coal-tar),  with  twenty  per  cent  of  heavy  petro- 
leum oil,  five  parts  of  sand,  one  part  of  |>owdcred  carbonate  of  lime, 
and  one  part  of  pitch.  The  concrete  base  must  bo  perfectly  dry 
before,  the  wearing-surface  is  laid  on,  which  must  be  properly 
crowned,  graded,  rammed  and  rolled.  A  surface  is  also  sometimes 
made  of  about  five-eighths  sand  three-eighths  asphalt. 

The  street  pavement  in  the  District  of  Columbia  is  usually  made 
on  a  6"  base  of  concrete,  with  a  cushion  coat  of  asphalt  $''  thick, 
and  wearing-surface  of  asphalt,  petroleum  oil,  sand,  pitch,  etc.,  of 
above  proportions  2"  thick. 

A  rtificial-Stone  Pavement.  —  AH  artificial  stone  is  practically  the 
same,  the  principal  ingredients  being  Portland  cement,  crushed 
stone  and  sand.  In  the  ordinary  pavements  clean,  sharp  sand  is 
usad  instead  of  crushed  stone.  The  pavements  known  in  the  mar- 
ket as  granolithic  and  flintolithic  have  crushed  granite  and  flint  chips 
respectively  mixed  with  the  cement.  The  base  is  composed  of  small 
dry,  broken  stone,  etc.,  from  4"  to  8"  thick,  rammed  and  packed 
solid ;  on  this  base  Portland-cement  concrete  2 J"  thick  is  laid,  com- 
posed of  two  parts  stone  to  one  part  of  mortar,  which  is  to  lie  o  ic 
part  cement  and  one  part  sand.  The  finishing  coat  to  be  1^"  thick 
of  clean,  crushed  stone-chips  or  clean,  sharp  sand  and  best  English 
or  German  Portland  cement,  mixed  in  equal  parts ;  to  be  laid  in 
alternate  blocks  of  from  2'  to  6'  square,  with  {"  indentations  on  the 
surface  except  at  joints,  which  will  have  a  smooth  border  1A"  or  2" 
wide.  It  is  this  blocking  or  lining  off  the  pavements  which  Schil- 
linger  claims  his  patent  covers,  but  which  is  not  yet  decided  by  the 
courts. 

Macadamized  Roadways.  —  The  cheapest  roadway  laid  by  the 
Government  is  macadam,  constructed  of  a  layer  from  8"  to  12"  thick 
of  small,  broken  stone  suitable  for  road-metal  of  a  size  to  pass  through 
a  2"-diameter  ring  and  finished  with  coarse  gravel  properly  crowned 
and  rolled.  The  walks  not  used  for  driveways  should  have  a  layer 
of  coarse  sand  about  1"  thick  on  top  of  gravel.  The  writer  has 
seen  some  very  excellent  macadamized  roads  made  of  broken  lime- 
stone without  any  gravel  or  sand  ;  in  a  few  years  the  wear  of  usage, 
assisted  by  the  action  of  the  weather,  has  made  a  solid  and  compact 
bed  almost  like  a  mass  of  concrete,  with  few,  if  any,  loose  stones. 
Streets  of  this  description  may  be  seen  in  the  towns  of  Lexington, 
Va.,  and  Paducah,  Ky. 

Belgian-block  Pavement.  —  The  bed  of  roadway  to  be  built  of  4" 
of  gravel  or  broken  stone  (this  first  bed  is  frequently  omitted)  on  top 
of  this  is  placed  4"  of  sand.  The  blocks  to  be  hard  and  durable 
granite  or  limestone  from  6"  to  12"  long,  3"  to  5"  wide  and  6"  deep, 
to  be  close-jointed  with  projections  of  not  over  A,"  and  to  be  laid  at 
right  angles  to  line  of  roadway,  and  each  block  to  be  thoroughly 
rammed  and  bedded ;  each  course  to  be  of  blocks  of  uniform  width, 
and  so  laid  that  all  longitudinal  joints  shall  be  broken  by  a  lap  of  at 
least  2".  The  pavement  to  be  proi>crly  crowned  and  graded,  and  to 
have  depressions  forming  gutters  at  curbs. 

The  entire  pavement  is  to  have  all  the  joints  thoroughly  filled  with 
clean,  hot  gravel,  and  the  blocks  carefully  rammed  to  a  firm  unyield- 
ing bed.  The  joints  to  be  filled  with  the  melted  residuum  of  coal-tar 
of  the  proper  consistency  heated  to  300°  Fahrenheit,  and  poured  into 
the  joints  while  the  gravel  is  still  hot,  until  they  will  receive  no  more ; 
the  whole  is  then  to  be  covered  with  sand,  and  when  the  tar  is  hard 
and  dry  the  sand  to  be  swept  off. 

Cobble-stone  Paoement.  —  This  pavement  should  have  a  4"  bed  of 
sand,  the  stones  are  irregularly  shaped  boulders,  but  should  have  an 
average  depth  of  from  4"  to  6",  and  not  exceed  6"  on  the  face,  they 
should  be  crowned  higher  than  other  pavements  and  have  gutters 
against  curbs,  the  sides  formed  of  cobble-stones  and  the  centre  about 
8"  wide  of  hard  paving-bricks  set  on  edge.  The  interstices  between 
the  stones  to  be  filled  with  fine  gravel,  and  the  whole  covered  with 
sand  and  left  until  it  thoroughly  works  in.  It  is  best  not  to  remove 
the  sand  until  after  a  good  rain. 

Gutters.  —  All  roadways,  drives  and  walks  should  have  gutters 
built  against  the  curbing,  at  each  side  where  practicable,  properly 
connected  to  iron  or  tile-drains  carrying  the  water  off;  where  the 
pi|>es  are  likely  to  become  clogged  with  refuse,  the  outlets  to  be  pro- 
perly protected  by  gratings  or  wire  screens. 

Gutters  for  macadamized  or  cobble-stone  pavements  are  frequently 
built  of  brick  laid  flat  or  on  edge  on  a  bed  of  concrete  or  sand.  All 
gutters  should  have  the  joints  fully  grouted  with  tar,  asphalt,  or 
liquid  cement. 

Curbing.  —  All  sidewalks  are  to  have  a  stone-curbing  separating 
them  from  the  roadway  and  drives,  and  there  must  also  be  a  curbing 
between  the  grass  and  .sidewalks,  drives  and  walks,  with  gutters  to 
prevent  water  from  grass  flowing  across  same. 

The  cheapest  kind  of  curbing  is  of  bricks  set  on  end,  which 
should  be  in  perfect  line,  and  have  no  projection  above  the  sod  on 
one  side  or  the  wals  on  the  other,  depending  upon  the  purpose  for 
which  it  is  wanted.  Stone-curbing  may  be  of  granite,  limestone  or 


The   American   Architect   and  Building   News.     [VOL.  XXI1L  —  No.  628. 


blue-stone,  and  seldom  of  freestone  or  sandstone,  it  should  extend 
deep  enough  in  the  ground  to  avoid  all  danger  of  dislocation  by  frost 
If  of  blue-stone  it  is  usually  made  4"  thick,  and  if  of  granite  or  lime- 
stone from  G"  to  10"  thick,  and  in  as  long  lengths  as  practicable;  to 


-aimm'iT.        I. 
bevelled  to  conform  to  grade  of  sidewalk.     The  curbing  to  be  set  in 


. 
perfect  alignment,  and  to  the  required  grades. 


and 
etc  , 

measured. 

Gutters  are  estimated  by  the  lineal  foot,  giving  description  as  to 
materials  and  construction;  and  curbing  also  by  the  lineal  foot, 
giving  kind  of  stone  and  dimensions,  with  quantity  of  face-dressing 
necessary. 

COST. 

The  prices  given  per  unit  are  for  the  completed  work,  including 
excavating  and  base  unless  otherwise  stated. 

The  cost  of  stone  flagging  is  dependent  entirely  upon  the  locality 
and  the  kind  of  stone. 

Granite  at  St.  Louis,  10"  thick,  cost,  per  square  foot SI. 00 

'*  "  Augusta,  Me.,  <>"  rough,  cost,  per  square  foot .30 

Limestone  at  Jackson,  Tenn.,  4"  thick,  cost,  per  square  foot 45  to  .50 

"  "  "  "  C"  "  "  "  "  "  .60 

The  cost  of  artificial  stone,  concrete  and  asphalt  depends  upon  the 
locality,  as  to  tools,  implements,  etc.,  being  convenient  for  the  work 

Artificial  Stone  (Gravel),  at  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.,  cost,  per  sq.  ft S.18 

"      (Crushed  Stone),  at  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.,  cost,  per  eq.  ft.         .28 
"      (Granolithic),       "  "  "          "       "       " 

"  Greensboro',  N.  C.,        "       "       " 
"  Jackson,  Tenn., 
"  Memphis,  Teun., 

The  cost  of  excavating  and  base  must  be  added  to  the  following 
prices  per  square  foot,  which  are  for  the  facing  only 

Asphalt  facing,  3"  thick,  at  Philadelphia,  cost 

Mastic      "        1"     "       "  Cincinnati,       "     : 

(Seyssel),  1"  "        "Philadelphia,   "      

(Vuhwohlen),  1"  thick,  at  Philadelphia,  cost 

(Neufchatel),!"     "        "  "  "     

Concrete  and  asphalt,  8J"  thick,  streets  in  Washington, 


cost,  per 


S  .09 
.14 

.10 
.22 

.11  to  .13 
.25 

2.30 
1.80 
.60 


.45 


DM'  J  *•«»•• 

Concrete  and  asphalt,  C"  thick,  ttreets  in  San  Francisco,  cost,  per 

sq.  yd 

Concrete,  composed  of  small  stones,  sand,  an     tar,  at  Concord 

N.  H.,  cost,  laid  hot  3"  thick,  per  sq.  yd 

Concrete,  composed  of  small  stones,  sand,  and  tar,  at  Concord, 

N.  H.,  cost,  laid  cold,  3"  thick,  per  f q.  jd 

Concrete,  composed  of  small  stones,  sand    and  tar    at  Concord 

N.  H.,  cost,  laid  hot  6"  thick,  per  sq.  yd ' 

Brick-paving  costs,  per  square  yard .'         .75  to  1  00 

Double  layer  of  brick  and  cement  costs,  per  sq.  yd - 1  80  to  2  09 

Macadamizing  f-»  to  10"  thick,  costs,  per  sq.  yd.  (depending  on  the 

nearness  of  the  stone) " .3510  " 

Cobble-stone  pavement  cofrts,  per  sq.  yd 

Belgian-block  pavement  "         "       " 

Limestone  blocks  at  Terre  Haute  costs,  per  sq.  vd..: 

Granite  blocks  at  Philadelphia         "         "        " 

"  st.  Louis       • :::::::: 

Gutters  cost  about  the  same  as  the  above  materials  with  a  slight 
addition  for  shaping  them. 

Curbing  for  sidewalks,  etc. ,  costs,  per  lineal  foot  ...  8    75  to  2  25 

Limestone  curb,  6"  x  2',  at  Kansas  City,  cost jg 

'      6"  x  2'  6",  at  Jackson,  Teun..  cost..  l\n 

"    c"  x  3'      "      "  ••    '   «  yS 

Granite          "      8"  X  3'        "  New  Orleans,         "    ..  200 

BluesU.ne     "     4"  x  20"     "  Concord,  N.  H.,     "    '.".".  .45 

JAS.  E.  BLACKWELL. 

ITo  be  continued.! 


.60  to  71 

2  75  to  3  50 

o'-s 
3.60 


[Contributors  are  requested  to  send  with  their  drawings  full  and 
adequate  descriptions  of  the  buildings,  including  a  statement  of  cost.] 

LEIF   ERICSON.      BOSTON,   MASS.      ANNE    WHITNEY,  SCULPTOR. 

[Gelatine  Print,  issued  only  with,  the  Imperial  Edition  ] 
THIS  statue,  slightly  more  than  life  size,  cast  in  bronze  and  SHD- 
>•  ported  on  a  red  sandstone  pedestal  near  the  entrance  to  the  new 
park  was  unveiled,  October  29,  1887.     The  inscription 

LEIF, 
THE   DISCOVERER, 

SON   OF   ERICK, 

WHO   SAILED   FROM   ICELAND 

AND    LANDED   ON   THIS    CONTINENT 

A.  D.  1000 

gives  a  brief  explanation  of  its  presence. 

CONSTRUCTION   OF    FLOORS   IN   A    FLOUR   WAREHOUSE,  PHILADEL- 
HIA,   PA.      MR.   W.   B.   POWELL,   ARCHITECT,   PHILADELPHIA,  PA. 

SEE  Mr.  Powell's  letter  elsewhere  in  this  issue. 


SKETCH   OF    HOUSE    FOR    T.    E.   JONES,    ESQ.        MR.     E.    G.    W.     DIET- 
RICH,   ARCHITECT,    NEW   YORK,    N.    Y. 

DESIGN     FOR     A     CITY     FRONT.      MR.     E.     R.     TILTON,      ARCHITECT, 
NEW   YORK,  N.  Y. 

MANTELPIECE.        MR.   J.    R.   KHIND,   ARCHITECT,    MONTREAL,    CAN. 

CLOISTER   OF    SANTO    DOMINGO,    SALAMANCA,    SPAIN. 
THE  TAYLOE  MANSION.      THE  OCTAGON  HOUSE,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

TJISHOP  MEAD,  in  his  "  Old  Churches,  Ministers  and  Families  of 
J<J  Virginia,"  tells  us  that  William  Tayloe  emigrated  from  London 
to  Virginia  in  1C50.  John  Tayloe,  his  son,  who  was  a  member 
of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  founded  the  noted  estate  of  Mount  Airy, 
Virginia.  He  had  twelve  children,  one  of  whom,  Col.  John  Tayloe, 
built  the  old  Octagon  House.  The  Tayloes  intermarried  with  the 
Corbins,  the  Lees,  the  Washingtons,  the  Carters,  the  Pages  and 
nearly  every  other  prominent  family  of  Virginia.  The  mother  of 
Col.  John  Tayloe,  of  the  Octagon,  was  a  daughter  of  Governor  Plater 
of  Maryland,  and  his  wife  was  Anne,  daughter  of  Benjamin  Ogle, 
Governor  of  Maryland. 

For  those  days,  Col.  John  Tayloe  (commissioned  by  Washington 
in  the  Revolution)  was  a  very  wealthy  man,  having  at  the  age  of 
twenty  an  income  of  nearly  sixty  thousand  dollars  a  year,  and  when 
the  Octagon  was  built  he  had  an  income  of  seventy-five  thousand  a 
year.  His  eldest  son,  .John,  was  in  the  Navy  and  was  distinguished 
n  the  battles  of  the  "  Constitution "  with  the  "  Guerriere,"  and  the 
'  Cyane  "  in  the  Levant. 

The  memoirs  of  Benjamin  Ogle  Tayloe  state  that  Colonel  Tayloe 
was  an  intimate  friend  of  General  Washington,  and  it  was  on  the 
advice  of  the  General  that  the  Octagon  was  built  in  Washington 
City,  Colonel  Tayloe  having  previously  determined  to  build"  his 
winter  residence  in  Philadelphia. 

The  house  was  commenced  in  1798  and  was  completed  in  1800. 
During   the  process  of   erection,    General  Washington  visited  this 
building,  as  he  took  a  lively  interest  in  it,  being  the  home  of  his 
friend  and  one  of  the  most  superior  residences  in  the  country  at  the 
time.     After  the  war  of  1812,  the  British  having  burned  the  White 
House,  James   Madison    occupied  the   Octagon  for  some  time  and 
during  his  occupancy  the  Treaty  of  Ghent  between  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain  was  signed  by  him  in  February,  1815,  in  the  cir- 
cular room  over  the  vestibule,  shown  on  the  plan  iii  illustrated  plate. 
At  this  period  Colonel  Tayloe  was  distinguished  for  the  unrivalled 
splendor  of  his  household  and  equipages,  and  his  establishment  was 
renowned  throughout  the  country  for  its  entertainments,  which  were 
given  in  a  most  generous  manner  to  all  persons  of  distinction  who 
visited  Washington  in  those  days,  both  citizens  and  foreigners.     Jn 
this  list  would  be  included  such  names  as  Jefferson  (Washin"ton  had 
passed  away  before  its  completion),  Madison,  Monroe,  J.  Q.  Adams, 
Decatur,   Porter,    Webster,    Clay,    Calhoun,    Randolph,    Lafayette, 
jteuben  and  Sir  Edward  Thornton,  British  Minister  and  father  of 
the  recent  British  Minister,  and  many  others  of  less  distinction  than 
the  ones  named.     Colonel  Tayloe  died  in  1828  and  his  death  to  a 
certain  extent  terminated  the  splendid  hospitalities  of  the  Octagon 
which  had  covered  a  period  of  nearly  thirty  years. 

Ibis  house  is  well  built  of  brick,  trimmed  with  Aquia  Creek  sand- 
n6'  ni    i        is  trianSular  in  form  and  fenced  in  by  a  hMj  brick 
wall.     Ihe  kitchen,  stable  and  out-houses  are  built  of  brick  for  the 
accommodation  of  servants  and  horses,  Colonel  Tayloe  beino-  a  noted 
turfman  and  keeping  many  fine  running  horses.     The  buildin"-  and 
walls  conform  accurately  to  the  street  lines,  showing  that  the  streets 
were  accurately  laid  off   even  at  that  early  day.'    The  interior  is 
e  aborately  finished,  the  doors  and  shutters  being  of  mahogany  and 
11  in  an  excellent  state  of  preservation.     All  the  work  in  the 
circular  vestibule  coincides  with  the  circumference  of  the  tower,  the 
ioors,  sash  and  glass  being  made  on  the  circle,  and  all  are  still  in 
ig  order,     ihe  parlor  mantel,  illustrated  on  plate,  is  made  of  a 
me  cement  composition  and  is  painted  white.     The  remains  of  <*old- 
f  show  in  some  of  the  relieved  portions.     The  figures  are  excel- 
-nt    evidently  having   been   modelled   by  some  good  artist.     The 
el  in  the  bed-room  is  of  wood,  the  ornamentation  bein~  putty 
Sh.    1  ff°m   *       T't   °f   BieltiMd   on   papier-mache,   !  learn 
date  w*        ff        m"?dS  °f  makin§  the  Plastic  ornaments  at  that 
-e  was  putty,  commonly  used  on  mantels  or  flat  work   where  they 
not  carved  in  the  wood,  (this  is  the  material  with  which  most 
Colonial  work   is  ornamented)  papier-mache,  carton-pierre, 
(1  plaster.      Carton-pierre  was  a  composition  of  whitino- 
the  or      ap",and,7as  llanl  and  eas%  polished,  and  I  am  inclined  to 
mnmn  t.l,.t  .!,„  parlor  and  dining-room  mantel  in  the  Tayloe 
The  oldest  cabinet-makers,  and  I  have 
',  are  entirely 


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Old  Colom&J   Work 
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JANUARY  7,  1888.] 


American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


the  shape  shown  in  the  sketch,  that  and  all  timbers  visible  being 
hewn.  Two  old  east-iron  wood-stoves  still  stand  in  the  niches  pre- 
pared for  them  in  the  vestibule.  There  is  an  old  negro  living  whose 
duty  it  was  to  keep  thorn  supplied  with  fuel. 

Dr.  William   Thornton  was  the  architect.     Dr.  Thornton   was  a 


Truss  in  Roof  of  The  Octexbon. 

very  interesting  character  and  is  deserving  of  a  separate  article.  I 
hope  at  some  time  to  be  able  to  put  the  matter  I  have  in  shape  for 
publication.  GLENN  BROWN. 


SAFE  BUILDING.— XXI.i 

FLOOIt    BEAMS    AND    OIKDKRS. 


n  SLICE 
(n-i)  SLICE 


SLICE 


2  ml 


«  . 

•  Tl 

•f 

f~ 

X  " 

~r 

ci 

$ 

»  » 

—"l^sPf? 

v.  X 

Moment 
of  Inertia. 


THE 

writer 
has  so  often  been 
asked  for  more  in- 
formation as  to 
the  meaning  of 
the  term  Moment 
of  Inertia  that  a 
few  more  words 
on  this  subject 
may  not  be  out  of 
place. 

All  matter,  if 
once  set  in  mo- 
tion, will  continue 
in  motion  unless 
stopped  by  grav- 
ity, resistance  of 
the  atmosphere, 
friction  or  some 
—  -KI  other  force ;  sim- 
i  *  ilarly,  matter,  if 
once  at  rest,  will 
by  some  external  force. 


Fig.  1 1  9. 

no    remain    unless    started    into   motion 

Formerly  it  was  believed,  however,  that  all  matter  had  a  certain  re- 
pugnance to  being  moved,  which  had  to  be  first  overcome,  before 
a  body  could  be  moved.  Probably  in  connection  with  some  such 
theory  the  term  arose. 

In  reality  matter  is  perfectly  indifferent  whether  it  be  in  motion 
or  in  a  state  of  rest,  and  this  indifference  is  termed  "Inertia."  As 
used  to-day,  however,  the  term  Moment  of  Inertia  is  simply  a  symbol 
or  name  for  a  certain  part  of  the  formula  by  which  is  calculated  the 
force  necessary  to  move  a  body  around  a  certain  axis  with  a  given 
velocity  in  a  certain  space  of  time ;  or,  what  amounts  to  the  same 
thing,  the  resistance  necessary  to  stop  a  body  so  moving. 

In  making  the  above  calculation  the  "  sum  of  the  product  of  the 
weight  of  each  particle  of  the  body  into  the  square  of  its  distance 
from  the  axis  "  has  to  be  taken  into  consideration,  and  is  part  of  the 
formula ;  and,  as  this  sum  will,  of  course,  vary  as  the  size  of  the 
body  varies,  or  as  the  location  or  direction  of  the  axis  varies,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  express  it  so  as  to  cover  every  case,  and  there- 
fore it  is  called  the  "Moment  of  Inertia."  Hence  the  general  law 
or  formula  given  covers  every  case,  as  it  contains  the  Moment  of 
Inertia,  which  varies,  and  has  to  be  calculated  for  each  case  from  the 

'  Continued  from  page  266.  No.  023. 


known  size  and  weight  of  the  body  and  the  location  and  direction  of 
the  axis. 

In  plane  figures,  which,  of  course,  have  no  thickness  or  weight,  the 
area  of  each  particle  is  taken  in  place  of  its  weight ;  hence  in  ail 
plane  figures  the  Moment  of  Inertia  is  equal  to  the  "  sum  of  the  prod- 
ucts of  the  area  of  each  particle  of  the  figure  multiplied  by  the 
square  of  its  distance  from  the  axis." 

Moment1  op  fiv       Thus  if  we  had  a  rectangular  figure  (119)  b  inches 
ertia.  wide  and  d  inches  deep  revolving  around  an  axis 

M-N,  we  would  divide  it  into  many  thin  slices  of  equal  height,  say 
n  slices  each  of  a  height  =  2.  X. 

The  distance  of  the  centre  of  gravity  of  the  first  slice  from  the 
axis  M-N  will,  of  course  be  =  J.  2.  X.  =  1.  X 

The  distance  of  the  centre  of  gravity  of  the  second  slice  will  be  = 
3.X, 

that  of  the  third  slice  will  be  =  5.  X, 
that  of  the  fourth  slice  will  be=  7.  X, 
that  of  the  last  slice  but  one  will  be=r  (2  n —  3).  X. 
and  that  of  the  last  slice  will  be  =  (2  n  —  1).  X 
The  area  of  each  slice  will,  of  course,  be  =  2.  X.  b ;  therefore  the 
Moment  of  Inertia  of  the  whole  section  around  the  axis  M-N  will 
be  (see  No.  536,  p.  163), 

t  =  2.  X.  b.  (I.  X)'  +  2.  X.  b.  (3.  X)'+  2.  X.  6.  (5.  X)'-f 

2.  X.  6.  (7.  X)=  +  eto +  2.  X.  b.  [(2n  — 3).X> 

2.  X. 


•  — »-L.    -r  -  -r-'+f'+etc 4-(2n  — 3)J 

+  (2»-l)'] 

now  the  larger  n  is,  that  is  the  thinner  we  make  our  slices,  the 
nearer  will  the  above  approximate : 


-«.»•*! 

Therefore,  as :  2.  X.  n  =  rf  we  have,  by  cubing, 

8.  X*.  n*  =  rf> ;  inserting  this  in  above,  we  have  : 


3  3 

The  same  value  as  given  for  f  in  Table  I,  section  No.  29.  Of 
course  it  would  be  very  tedious  to  calculate  the  Moment  of  Inertia  in 
every  case  ;  besides,  unless  the  slices  were  assumed  to  be  very  thin, 
the  result  would  be  inaccurate ;  the  writer  has  therefore  given  in 
Table  I,  the  exact  Moments  of  Inertia  of  every  section  likely  to  arise 
in  practice. 
Moment  of  The  Moment  of  Inertia  applies  to  the  whole  .«ec- 

Resiatance.  tion,  the  "  Moment  of  Resistance,"  however,  applies 
only  to  each  individual  fibre,  and  varies  for  each ;  it  being  equal  to 
the  Moment  of  Inertia  of  the  whole  section  divided  by  the  distance 
of  the  fibre  from  the  axis. 

(Sir)  Now  to  show  the  connec- 

tion of  the  Moments  of  In- 
ertia and  Resistance  with 
transverse  strains,  let  us 
consider  the  effect  of  a 
weight  on  a  beam  (sup- 
ported at  both  ends). 

jj  If  we  consider  the  beam 

as  cut  in  two  and  hinged  at 
the  point  A  (where  the 
weight  is  applied),  Fig.  1 20 ; 

further,  if  we  consider  a  piece  of  rubber  nailed   to  the  bottom  of, 

each  side  of  the  beam,  it  is  evident  that  the  effect  of  the  weight  will 

be,  as  per  Fig.  121. 

Examin- 
i  n  g       this 

closer  we  find  that  the  cor- 
ners of  the  beams  above  A 

(or  their  fibres)  will  crush 

each  other,  while  those  below 

A,    are    separated    farther 

from   each   other,   and    the 

piece  of  rubber  at  B  greatly 

stretched.      It    is    evident,  Fig.  121. 

therefore,  that  the  fibres  nearest  A  experience  the  least  change,  and 


Fig.    I  20. 


Effect  of  load 
on  beam 


GLOSSARY  OF  SYMBOLS.  — The  following  letters, 
in  nil  mats,  will  be  found  to  express  the  same  mean- 
ing. unte/>s  flistinctltt  otherwise  stated,  viz.:  — 
a    —  arva,  in  square  Inches. 
b    —  breattth,  in  inches. 
c    =  constant  for  ultimate  resistance  to  compression, 

In  pounds,  per  square  Inch. 
ft   —  d>  i>Hi.  in  inches. 
•    =  constant  for  mottulus  of  elasticity,  in  ponnds- 

ineh,  that  is,  pounds  per  square  inch. 
/   =  factor-nf-safetu. 
g    =  constant  for  ultimate  resistance  to  shearing,  per 

square  Inch,  acrofs  the  grain. 
g,  :=  constant  for  ultimate  resistance  to  shearing,  per 

square  inch,  lengthwise  of  the  grain. 
h    =  height,  in  inches. 

i     =  moment  of  inertia.  In  inches.    [See  Tahle  I.] 
k    =  ultimate    modulus  of  rupture,  in   pounds,  per 

square  inch. 

/     =:  lent/th.  In  inches.  • 

m  =  moment  or  bending  moment,  In  pounds-inch. 


n  =  rmisfnnl  In  Rankine's  formula  for  compression 
of  long  pillars.  [See  Table  I.] 

o    =  the  centre, 

p  =  the  amount  of  the  left-hand  re-action  (or  sap- 
port)  of  be>ms,  In  pounds. 

q  —  the  amount  of  the  right  hand  re-action  (or  sup- 
port) of  beams,  in  pounds. 

r    •=  moment  of  resistance,  in  inches.    [See  Table  I.] 

.«    —  ft  mi  a.  In  pounds. 

t  =  constant  for  ultimate  resistance  to  tension.  In 
pounds,  per  square  Inch. 

«    =  uniform  load,  in  pounds. 

I)     =  stress.  In  pounds. 

IP   =  loful  at  centre.  In  pounds. 

x,  y  and  z  signify  unkuoiri;  quantities,  either  In  pounds 
or  Inches. 

i!    =  intnl  deflection.  In  Inches. 

pi  =  square  of  the  radius  of  gyration,  In  Inches.  [See 
Table  J.I 

>    =  diaimter,  in  Inches. 

t    =  radius,  in  Inches. 


it    «  3.U150,  or,  say,  3  1-7  signifies  the  ratio  of  the  cir- 
cumference and  diameter  nf  a  circle. 

If  there  are  more  than  one  of  each  kind,  the  second, 
third,  etc.,  are  Indicated  mith  the  Knman  numerals, 
as,  for  Instance,  a,  n,,  an,  am.  etc.,  or  b,  fr,p  A,,,  !>,„,  etc. 

In  taking  moments,  or  bending  moments,  strains, 
stresses,  etc..  to  signify  at  what  point  they  are  taken 
the  letter  signifying  that  point  Is  added,  as,  fur  In- 
stance :  — 

m    =  moment  or  bending  moment  at  crnirr. 

point  A. 


m. - 

mx  = 

s     =  strain  at  centre. 

>B   =  "     point  fi. 

Sx    =3  "       point  X. 

v     =  stress  at  centre. 
ra  =.  •'     point  D. 

rx  =  "     point  A". 

w   =  load  at  centre. 
W*  =  "    point  A. 


VoiMt  It. 
point  X. 


The   American    Architect   and  Building   News.      [You  XXIlI.-No.  628. 

: — ^ ^~ ™ *^~ "^^"^^^^^"" ~    " 


Fig.  123. 


that  the  fibres 
along  the  upper 
edge  are  com- 
pressed or  A  B 
is  shorter  than 
before;  on  the 
other  hand  the 
fibres  along  C 
D  are  elongated 
or  in  tension, 


and  C  D  is  longer  than  before ;  if  we  now  take  any  other  layer  of 
fibres  as  E  F,  they  — being  below  the  neutral  (and  central)1  axis  A-l 
—  are  evidently  elongated;  but  not  so  much  so,  as  C  D  :  and  a  Ji 
thono-ht  will  clearly  show  that  their  elongation  is  proportioned  to 
the  Elongation  of  the  fibres  C  D,  directly  as  their  respective  dis- 
tances from  the  neutral  axis  X-Y.  It  is  further  evident  that  the 
neutral  axis  X-Y  is  the  same  length  as  before,  or  its  fibres  are  not 
strained;  it  is,  therefore,  at  this  point  that  the  strain  changes  from 
one  of  tension  to  one  of  compression. 

In  Fig.  124  we 
have  an  isometrical 
view  of  a  loaded 
beam. 

Rotation  Let  us 
arotVaiaa"fs."now  con- 
sider an  infinitesi- 
mally  thin  (cross) 

section  of  fibres  A  B  . 

C  D  in  reference  to  their  own  neutral  axis  M-N.  It  is  evident  that 
if  we  wore  to  double  the  load  on  the  beam,  so  as  to  bend  it  still  more, 
that  the  fibres  along  A  B  would  be  compressed  towards  or  would 
move  towards  the  centre  of  the  beam ;  the  fibres  along  D  C  on  the 
contrary  would  be  elongated  or  would  move  away  from  the  centre  of 
the  beam. 

The  fibres  along  M-N,  being  neither  stretched  nor  compressed, 
would  remain  stationary. 

The  fibres  between  M-N  and  A  B  would  all  move  towards  the  cen- 
tre of  the  beam,  the  amount  of  motion  being  proportionate  to  their 
distance  from  M-N  ;  the  fibres  between  M-N  and  UC  on  the  contrary 
would  move  away  from  the  centre  of  the  beam  the  amount  of  motion 
being  proportionate  to  their  distance  from  M-N  ;  a  little  thought 
.  therefore,  shows  clearly  that  the  section  A  B  C  D  turns  or  rotates  on 
its  neutral  axis  M-N,  whenever  additional  weight  is  imposed  on  tb/1 
beam. 

This  is  why  we  consider  in  the  calculations  the  moment  of  Inertia 
or  the  amount  of  resistance  of  a  cross-section  as  rotating  on  it 
neutral  axis. 

Now  let  us  take  the  additional  weight  off  the  beam  and  it  wi 
spring  back  to  its  former  shape,  and,  of  course,  the  fibres  of  the  in 
finitesimally  thin  section  A  B  C  D  will  resume  their  normal  shape 
that  is,  those  that  were  compressed  will  stretch  themselves  again 
while  those  that  were  stretched  will  compress  themselves  back  to 

their  former  shape  and 
position,  and  those  along 
the  neutral  axis  will  re- 

£1 j  J . — _  main   constant ;    or,   in 

f\  other  •  words,  this  thin 
layer  of  fibres  A  B  C  D 
can  be  considered  as 
a  double  wedge-shaped 
figure  A  B  A,  B,  M  N 
D  C  D,  C,  (Fig.  125) 
the  base  of  the  wedges 
becoming  larger  or 


e  whatever  resistance  it  has  at  that  point  to  the  resistances 
f  the  fibres  of  the  section  or  wedge  to  compression  and  tension. 
Now  considering  the  right-hand  side  of  the  beam  as  rigid,  and  the 
ection  A  B  C  D  as  the  point  of  fulcrum  of  the  external  forces,  we 
ave  only  one  external  force  p,  tending  to  turn  the  left-hand  side  of 
,e  beam  upwards  around  the  section  A  B  C  D,  its  total  tendency, 
fleet  or  moment  m  at  A  B  C  D,  we  know  is  m  =  p.  x  (law  of  the 

to  resist  this  we  have  the  opposition  of  the  fibres  in  the 
ABA  B  M  N  to  compression  and  the  opposition  to  tension 
f  the  fibres  in  the  wedge  D  C  D,  C,  M  N.     For  the  sake  of  conyen- 
ence  we  will  still  consider  these  wedges,  as  wedges  but  so  innnites- 
nally  thin  that  we  can  safely  put  down  the  amount  of  their  con- 
ents  as  equal  to  the  area  of  their  sides,  so  that  — if  A  B  =  o  (the 
width  of  beam)  and  A  D  —  d  (the  depth  of  beam)  —  we  can  safely 

j.   d 

all  each  wedge  as  equal  to  o.  —  . 

Now  as  the  centre  of  gravity  of  a  wedge  is  at  £  of  the  height  from 
ts  base,  or  §  of  the  height  from  its  apex  (and  as  the  height  of  each 

ved^e  is  =  - }  it  would  be  =  1  •  4  =  4  f rom   axis  M  ~  N'     Th° 

2  /  3      2         d 

moment  of  a  wedge  at  any  axis  M-N  is  equal  to  the  contents  of  the 
ved"-e  multiplied  by  the  distance  of  its  centre  of  gravity  from  the 
axis?  the  whole  multiplied  by  the  stress  of  the  fibres,  (that  is  their 
resistance  to  tension  or  compression).  Now  the  contents  of  each 
dge  being  =  b.  — ,  the  distance  of  centre  of  gravity  from  M-N  = 

—  ,  and  the  stress  being  say  =  s,  we  have  for  the  resistance  of  each 
3 
wedge 

,    d     d 
=  o.  —  .  — .  s 
2      3 


=  -^-.s 
6 

Now  if  the  stress  on  the  fibres  along  the  extreme  upper  or  lower 
edges  =  k  (or  the  modulus  of  rupture),  it  is  evident  that  the  average 

stress  on  the  fibres  in  either  wedge  will  =  —  ,  or  s  =  -^   (for  the 

stress  on  each  fibre  being  directly  proportionate  to  the  distance  from 
the  neutral  axis  the  stress  on  the  average  will  be  equal  to  half  that 

on  the  base).     Now  inserting  A  for  s  in  the  above  formula,  and 

multiplying  also  by  2,  (as  there  are  two  wedges  resisting),  we  have 
the  total  resistance  to  rupture  or  bending  of  the  section  A  B  C  D 
(A,  B,  C,  D,) 


Fig.  I  25. 

smaller  as  the  weight  on  the  beam  is  varied. 

Resistance  of        ^ow  to  PrO(;eed  to  the  calculation  of  the  resistance 

Wedge,  of  this  wedge.     It  is  evident  that  whatever  may  be 

the  external  strain  on  the  beam  at  the  section  A  B  C  D,  the  beam 


1  As  a  rule  the  neutral  axis  can  be  safely  assumed  to  be  central,  but  it  is  not 
necessarily  so.  In  materials,  such  as  cast-iron,  stone,  etc.,  where  the  resistance 
of  the  fibres  10  compression  and  tension  varies  greatly,  the  axis  will  be  far  from 
the  centre,  near  the  weaker  fibres. 


Now,  by  reference  to  Table  I,  section  No.  2,  we  find  that  -^~  = 

Moment  of  Resistance  for  the  section  A  B  C  D ;  therefore,  we  have 
proved  the  rule,  that  when  the  beam  is  at  the  point  of  rupture  at  any 
point  of  its  length  the  bending  moment  at  that  point  is  equal  to  the 
moment  of  resistance  of  its  cross-section  at  said  point  multiplied  by 
the  modulus  of  rupture. 

Where  girders  or  beams  are  of  wood,  it  becomes  of  the  highest 
importance  that  they  should  be  sound  and  perfectly  dry.  The  for- 
mer that  they  may  have  sufficient  strength,  the  latter  that  they  may 
resist  decay  for  the  longest  period  possible. 

Formation  of         Every    architect,   therefore,   should    study   thor- 
wood.  oughly  the  different  kinds  of  timber  in  use  in  his 
locality,  so  as  to  be  able  to  distinguish  their  different  qualities.     The 
strength  of  wood  depends,  as  we  know,  on  the  resistance  of  its  fibres 
to  separation.     It  stands  to  reason  that  the  young  or  newly  formed 
parts  of  a  tree  will  offer  less  resistance  than  the  older  or  more  thor- 
oughly set  parts.     The  formation  of  wood  in  trees  is  in  circular  lay- 
ers, around  the  entire  tree,  just  inside  of  the  bark.     As  a  rule  one 
layer  of  wood  is  formed  every  year,  and  these  layers  are  known,  there- 
fore, as  the  "  annular  rings,''  which  can  be  distinctly  seen  when  the 
trunk  is  sawed  across.     These  rings  are  formed  by  the  (returning) 
sap,  which,  in  the  spring,  flows  upwards  between  the  bark  and  wood, 
supplies  the  leaves,  and  returning  in  the  fall  is  arrested  in  its  altered 
state,  between  the  bark  and  last  annular  ring  of  wood.     Here  it  hard- 
ens,  forming   the   new  annular   ring.     As   subsequent   rings    form 
around  it,  their  tendency  in  hardening  is  to  shrink  or  compress  and 
harden  still  more  the  inner  rings,  which  hardening  (by  compression) 
is  also  assisted  by  the  shrinkage  of  the  bark.     In  a  sound  tree,  there- 
fore, the  strongest  wood  is  at  the  heart  or  centre  of  growth.     The 
heart,  however,  is  rarely  at  the  exact  centre  of  the  trunk,  as  the  sap 
flows  more  freely  on  the  side  exposed  to  the  effects  of  the  sun  and 
wind ;  and,  of  course,  the  rings  on  this  side  are  thicker,  thus  leaving 
the  heart  constantly  nearer  to  the  unexposed  side. 
Heart-Wood.  From  the  above  it  will  be  readily  seen  that  timber 

should  be  selected  from  the  region  of  the  heart,  or  it  should  be  what 
is  known  as  "  heart-wood."  The  outer  layers  should  be  rejected,  as 
they  are  not  only  softer  and  weaker,  but,  being  full  of  sap,  are  liable 
to  rapid  decay.  To  tell  whether  or  no  the  timber  is  "  heart-wood  " 

8 


JANUARY  7,  1888.] 


TJie   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


9 


one  need  hut  look  at  the  end,  and  sec  whether  it  contains  the  centre 
of  tin-  ring's.  No  bark  should  ho  allowed  on  timber,  for  not  only  has 
it  no  strength  itself,  hut  the,  more  recent  annular  rings  near  it,  arc 
about  us  valueless. 

Medullary  Rays.  In  some  timbers,  notably  oak,  distinct  rays  are 
noticed,  crossing  the  annular  rings  and  radiating  from  the  "centre. 
These  are  the  "medullary  rays,"  and  are  elements  of  weakness. 
Care  should  be  taken  that  they  do  not  cross  the  end  of  the  timber 
horizontally,  as  shown  at  A  in  Fig.  126,  but  as  near  vertically  as 
]M)ssible,  see  li  in  Fig.  127.  The  beautiful  appearance  of  quartered 
oak  and  ot  her  woods  is  obtained  by  cuttins;  the  planks  so  that  their 
surfaces  will  show  slanting  cuts  through  these  medullary  rays. 


Seasonin 


Ml   timber  cracks  more  or  less  in  seasoning,  nor 


cracks,  need  these  cracks  cause  much  worry,  unless  they  are 
very  deep  and  long.  They  are,  to  a  certain  extent,  signs  of  the 
amount  of  seasoning  the  timber  has  had.  They  should  be  avoided, 
as  much  .is  possible,  near  the  centre  of  the  timber,  if  regularly 
loaded,  or  near  the  point  of  greatest  bending  moment,  where  the 


Fit.  I  3«. 


Fig.  127.         Fig.  128.  Fig.  159.          Fig.  1 30.       Fig.  131. 


loads  are  irregular.     If  timber  without  serious  cracks  cannot  be  ob- 


umun)  mm  uo  IIOL  weaken  uie  umoer.     uut  Horizontal 
D,  Fig.  129),  are  decidedly  so,  and  should  not  be  allowed. 
Knots.  Knots  in  timber  are  another  element  of  weakness. 

They  are  the  hearts,  where  branches  grow  out  of  the  trunk,  if  they 
are  of  nearly  the  same  color  as  the  wood,  and  their  rings  gradually 
die  out  into  it,  they  need  not  be  seriously  feared.  If,  however,  they 
are  very  dark  or  black,  they  are  sure  to  shrink  and  fall  out  in  time, 
leaving,  of  course,  a  hole  and  weakness  at  that  place.  Dead  knotsj 
—  that  is,  loose  knots,  in  a  piece  of  timber,  mean,  as  a  rule,  that  the 
heart  is  decaying.  Knots  should  be  avoided  at  the  centre  of  a  beam, 
regularly  loaded,  and  at  the  point  of  greatest  bending  moment,  where 
the  loads  are  irregular.  The  farther  the  knots  (and  cracks)  are 
from  these  points  the  better. 

Wind-shakes.  Timber  with  "  wind-shakes  "  should  be  entirely 
avoided,  as  it  lias  no  strength.  These  are  caused  by  the  wind  shak"- 
ing  tail  trees,  loosening  the  rings  from  each  other,  so  that  when  the 
timber  is  sawed,  the  wood  is  full  of  small,  almost  separate  pieces  or 
splinters  at  these  points. 

A  timber  with  wind-shakes  should  be  condemned  as  unsound. 
A  timber  with  the  rings  at  the  end  showing  nearly  vertical  (E 
Fig.  130)  will  be  much  stronger  than  one  showinc  them  nearly  hori- 
zontal.    (F  Fig.  131.) 

Signs  of  sound  To  tell  sound  timber,  Lord  Bacon  recommended 
ber-  to  speak  through  it  to  a  friend  from  end  to  end.  If 
the  voice  is  distinctly  heard  at  the  other  end  it  is  sound.  If  the 
voice  comes  abruptly  or  indistinctly  it  is  knotty,  imperfect  at  the 
heart,  or  decayed.  More  recent  authorities  recommend  listening  to 
the  ticking  of  a  watch  at  the  other  end,  or  the  scratching  of  a°pin 
on  its  surface.  If,  in  sawing  across  a  piece  it  makes  a  clean  cut,  it 
is  neither  too  green  nor  decayed.  The  same  if  the  section  looks 
bright  and  smells  sweet.  If  the  section  is  soft  or  splinters  up  badly 
it  is  decayed.  If  it  wets  the  saw  it  is  full  of  sap  and  green.  If  a 
blow  on  timber  rings  out  clearly  it  is  sound;  if  it  sounds  soft,  subdued, 
or  dull,  it  is  very  green  or  else' decayed.  The  color  at  freshly-sawed 
spots  should  he  uniform  throughout ;  timbers  of  darker  cross-section 
are  generally  stronger  than  those  of  lighter  color  (of  the  same  kind 
of  wood.) 

The  annular  rings  should  be  perfectly  regular.  The  closer  they 
are,  the  stronger  the  wood.  Their  direction  should  be  parallel  to 
the  axis  throughout  the  length  of  the  timber,  or  it  will  surely  twist 
in  time,  and  is,  besides,  much  weaker.  Where  the  rings  at  both 
ends  are  not  in  the  same  direction  the  timber  has  either  twisted  in 
growing,  or  has  a  "wandering  heart,"  —  that  is,  a  crooked  one. 
Such  timber  should  be  condemned.  Besides  looking  at  the  rings  at 
the  end,  a  longitudinal  cut  near  the  heart  will  show  whether  h  has 
grown  regularly  and  straight,  or  whether  it  has  twisted  or  wandered. 
Thu  weight  of  timber  is  important  in  judging  its  quality.  If  spec- 
imens of  a  wood  are  much  heavier  than  the  well-known  weight  of 
that  wood,  when  seasoned,  they  may  be  condemned  as  green  and  full 
of  sap.  If  they  are  much  lighter  than  thoroughly  seasoned  speci- 
mens of  the  same  wood,  they  are  very  probably  decayed. 
Methods  of  Tredgold  claims  that  timber  is  "  seasoned  "  when 

Seasoning;,  it   has  lost  one-fifth  of   its   original   weight   (when  I 
green);  and  "dry"  when  it  has  lost  one-third.     Some  timbers,  how-  j 
ever,  lose  nearly  one-half  of  their  original  weight  in  drying.     Many 
methods  are  used  to  season  or  dry  timber  quickly. 
_  The  best  method,  however,  is  to  stack  the  timber  on  dry  ground 
(in  as  dry  an  atmosphere  as  possible)  and  in  such  a  position  that  the 
air  can  circulate,  as  freely  as  possible  around  each  piece.     Sheds  are 

9 


built  over  the  timber  to  protect  it  from  the  sun,  rain,  and  also  from 
i«e\ere  winds  an  far  as  possible. 

Timber  dried  slowly,  in  this  manner,  is  the  liest.  It  will  crack 
somewhat,  but  not  so  much  so  as  hastily  dried  timber.  Many  proc- 
esses are  used  to  keep  it  from  cracking,  the  most  effective  being  to 
bore  the  timber  from  end  to  end,  at  the  centre,  where  the  loss  of 
material  does  not  weaken  it  much,  while  the  hole  greatly  relieves  the 
strain  from  shrinkage.  Some  authorities  claim  that  two  years'  ex- 
posure is  sufficient,  though  formerly  timber  was  kept  very  much 
longer.  But  evtn  two  years  is  rarely  granted  with  our  modern  con- 
ditions, and  most  of  the  seasoning  is  done  after  the  timber  is  in  the 
building.  Hence  its  frequent  decay.  There  are  many  artificial 
methods  for  drying  timber,  but  they  are  expensive.  The  best  known 
is  to  place  it  in  a  kiln  and  force  a  rapid  current  of  heated  air  past  it, 
this  is  known  as  "kiln-drying."  It  is  very  apt  to  badly  "  check  "  or 
crack  the  wood.  To  preserve  timber,  besides  charring,  the  "  creo- 
soting  "  process  is  most  effective.  The  timber  is  placed  in  an  iron 
chamber,  from  which  the  air  is  exhausted ;  after  which  creosote  is 
forced  in  under  a  high  pressure,  filling,  of  course,  all  the  pores  which 
have  been  forced  open  by  the  suction  of  the  departing  air.  Creo- 
soted  wood,  however,  cannot  be  used  in  dwellings,  as  the  least  appli- 
cation of  warmed  air  to  it,  causes  a  strong  odor,  and  would  render 
the  building  untenantable. 

Manner  of  1°  shrinking  the  distance  between  rings  remains 

shrinkage,  constant,  and  it  is  for  this  reason  that  the  finest 
floors  are  made  from  quartered  stuff;  for   (besides   their   greater 
beauty),  the  rings  being  all  on  end.  no  horizontal  shrinkage  will  take 
place ;     the     width   of 
boards    remaining    con- 
stant, and  the  shrinkage 
being  only  in  their  thick- 
ness;   neither    will    tim- 
ber shrink  on  end  or  in 
its  length.     Figures   132 
Fig.  i  3J.         and  133  show  how  tim- 
ber will  shrink.     The  first  from  a  quar- 


tered log,  the  other  from  one  with  parallel 
cuts.     'I  he   dotted   part  shows  the  shrinkage. 


Fig.  133. 

—   , — ---  —     ..,...,,.._..      The  side-pieces  G 

in  Fig.  133  will  curl,  as  shown,  besides  shrinking.  By  observing  the 
directions  of  the  annular  rings,  therefore,  the  future  behavior  of  the 
timber  can  be  readily  predicted.  Of  course,  the  figures  are  greatly 
exaggerated  to  show  the  effect  more  clearly. 

Decay  of  M  tlle  heart  is  not  straight  its  entire  length,  the 

Timber,  piece  will  twist  lengthwise.  Shrinkage  is  a  serious 
danger,  but  the  chief  danger  in  the  use  of  timber  lies  in  its  decay. 
All  timber  will  decay  in  time,  but  if  it  is  properly  dried,  before  be- 
ing built  in,  and  all  sap-wood  discarded,  and  then"  so  placed  that  no 
moisture  can  get  to  the  timber,  while  fresh  air  has  access  to  all  parts 
of  it,  it  will  last  for  a  very  long  time ;  some  woods  even  for  many 
centuries.  In  proportion  as  we  neglect  the  above  rules,  will  its  life 
be  short-lived.  There  are  two  kinds  of  decay,  wet  and  dry  rot.  The 
wet  rot  is  caused  by  alternating  exposures  to  dampness  and  dryness ; 
or  by  exposure  to  moisture  and  heat ;  the  dry-rot,  by  confining  the 
timber  in  an  air-tight  place.  In  wet  rot  there  is  "  an*  excess  of  evap- 
oration ;  "  in  dry  rot  there  is  an  "  imperfect  evaporation."  Beams 
with  ends  built  solidly  into  walls  are  apt  to  rot;  also  beams  sur- 
rounded solidly  with  fire-proof  materials  ;  beams  in  damp,  close,  and 
imperfectly  ventilated  cellars;  sleepers  bedded  solidly  in  damp  mor- 
tar or  concrete,  and  covered  with  impervious  papers  or  other  male- 
rials;  also  timbers  exposed  only  at  intervals  to  water  or  dampness,  or 
timbers  in  "  solid  "  timbered  floors. 

Dry  rot  is  like  a  contagious  disease,  and  will  gradually  not  only 
eat  up  the  entire  timber,  but  will  attack  all  adjoining  sound  wood- 
work. Where  rotted  woodwork  is  removed,  all  adjoining  woodwork, 
masonry,  etc.,  should  be  thoroughly  scraped  and  washed  with  strong 
acids. 

Ventilation  Where  wood  has,  of  necessity,  to  be  surrounded 

necessary,  with  fireproof  materials,  a  system  of  pipes  or  other 
arrangements,  should  be  made  to  force  air  to  same  through  holes, 
either  in  the  floors  or  ceilings,  hut  in  no  case  connecting  two  floors ; 
the  holes  can  then  be  made  small  enough  not  to  allow  the  passage  of 
fire.  Where  the  air  is  forced  in  under  pressure  it  would  be  advisa- 
ble at  times  to  force  in  disinfectants,  such  as  steam  containing  evap- 
orated carbolic  acid,  fumes  of  sulphur,  etc. 

Coating  woodwork  with  paint  or  other  preparations  will  only  rot 
the  wood,  unless  it  has  been  first  thoroughly  dried  and  every  particle 
of  sap  removed. 

Cross-bridging.  Timber  must  not  be  used  too  thin,  or  it  will  be  apt 
to  twist.  For  this  reason  floor-beams  should  not  be  used  thinner 
than  three  inches.  To  avoid  twisting  and  curling,  cross-bridging  is 
resorted  to.  That  is,  strips  usually  2"  X  3"  are  cut  between  the 
beams,  from  the  bottom  of  one  to  the  top  of  the  next  one,  the  ends 
being  cut  (in  a  mitre-box),  so  as  to  fit  accurately  against  the  sides  of 
beams,  and  each  end  nailed  with  at  least  two  strong  nails.  The  strips 
are  always  placed  in  double  courses,  across  the  beams,  the  courses 
crossing  each  other  like  the  letter  x  between  each  pair  of  beams. 
This  is  known  as  "herring-bone"  cross-bridging.  Care  should 
be  taken  that  all  the  parallel  pieces  in  each  course  are  in  the  same 
line  or  plane.  The  lines  of  cross-bridging  can  be  placed  as  frequently 
as  desired,  for  the  more  there  are,  the  stilfer  will  be  the  floor.  About 
six  feet  between  the  lines  is  a  good  average.  Sometimes  solid  blocks 
are  used  between  the  beams,  in  place  of  the  herring-bone  bridging 


10 


The   American   Architect  and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  628. 


Cross-bridging  is  also  of  great  help  to  a  floor  by  relieving  an  individ- 
ual beam  from  any  great  weight  accidentally  placed  on  it  (such  as 
one  leg  of  a  safe,  or  one  end  of  a  book-case),  and  distributing  the 
weight  to  the  adjoining  beams  Unequal  settlements  of  the  individ- 
ual beams  are  thus  avoided.  Where  a  floor  shows  signs  of  weakness, 
or  lacks  stiffness,  or  where  it  is  desirable  to  force  old  beams,  that 
Stiffening  cannot  be  well  removed,  to  do  more  work,  two  lines 

weaKTloors.  of  slightly  wedge-shaped  blocks  are  driven  tightly 
between  the  beams,  in  place  of  the  cross-bridging.  The  beams  are 
then  bored,  and  an  iron  rod  is  run  between  the  lines  of  wedges,  from 
the  outer  beam  at  one  end  to  the  outer  beam  at  the  other,  and,  of 
course,  at  right  angles  to  all.  At  one  end  the  rod  has  a  thread  and 
nut,  and  by  screwing  up  the  latter  the  beams  are  all  forced  upwards, 
"cambered,"  and  the  entire  floor  arched.  It  will  be  found  much 
stronger  and  stiffer;  but,  of  course,  will  need  levelling  for  both  floor 
and  ceiling.  Under  the  head  and  nut  at  ends  of  rod,  there  must  be 
ample  washers,  or  the  sides  of  end  beams  will  be  crushed  in,  and  the 
effect  of  the  rod  destroyed. 

Girders,  which  cannot  be  stiffened  sideways,  should  be,  at  least, 
half  as  thick  as  they  are  deep,  to  avoid  lateral  flexure. 
Framing  of  ^"  usmS  wooden  beams  and  girders,  much  fram- 

oeams.  ing  has  to  be  resorted  to.  The  used  joints  between 
timbers  are  numerous,  but  only  a  very  few  need  special  mention 
here.  .Beams  should  not  rest  on  girders,  if  it  can  be  avoided,  on  ac- 
count of  the  additional  dropping  caused  by  the  sum  of  the  shrinkage 
of  both,  where  one  is  over  the  other.  If  framing  is  too  expensive, 
bolt  a  wide  piece  to  the  under  side  of  the  girder,  sufficiently  wider 
than  the  girder  to  allow  the  beams  to  rest  on  it,  each  side.  If  this 
is  not  practicable  bolt  pieces  onto  each  side  of  the  girder,  at  the  bot- 
tom, and  notch  out  the  beams  to  rest  against  and  over  these  pieces. 
The  bearing  of  a  beam  should  always  be  as  near  its  bottom  as  possible. 
If  a  beam  is  notched  so  as  to  bear  near  its  centre,  it  will  split  longi- 
tudinally. Where  a  notch  of  more  than  one-third  the  height  "of 
beam,  from  the  bottom,  is  necessary,  a  wrought-iron  strap  or  belt 
should  be  secured  around  the  end  of 'beam,  to  keep  it  from  splitting 
lengthwise. 

If  framing  can  be  used,  the  best  method  is  the  "  tusk  and  tenon  " 
joint,  as  shown  in  Figs.  13J,  and  135.  In  the  one  case  the  tenon  goes 
through  the  girder  and  is  secured  by  a  wooden  wedge  on  the  o"ther 

side;  in  the  other   it  goes 

in  only  about  a  length  equal 
to  twice  its  depth,  and  is 
spiked  from  the  top  of  gir- 
der. The  latter  is  the  most 
used.  By  both  methods  the 
girder  is  weakened  but  very 


Which  for  wrought-iron  (Table  IV.)  becomes. 

Thickness  of  ,, —         " 

Stirrup-iron       * 


(71) 


16000.  x 

Where  y  =  thu  thickness  of  stirrup-iron,  in  inches. 
Where  s  =  the  shearing  strain  on  end  of  beam,  in  lb(. 
Where  z  =  is  found  by  formula  (69). 

Providing,  however,  that  y  should  never  be  less  than  one-quarter 
"*•  thick. 

Louis  DECOPPET  BERG. 

fTo  be  continued.1 


Fig.  134. 


little,  the  principal  cut  being  near  its  neutral  Fig-  l35' 

axis,  while  the  beam  gets  bearing  near  its  bottom,  and  its  tenon  is 
thoroughly  strengthened  to  prevent  its  shearing  off.  The  dimen- 
sions given  in  the  figures  are  all  in  parts  of  the  height  of  beams. 
Headers  and  trimmers  at  fire-places  and  other  openings  are  fre- 
quently framed  together,  though  it  would  be  more  advisable  to  use 
"stirrup-irons."  The  short  tail-beams,  however,  can  be  safely 
tenoned  into  the  header. 

In  calculating  the  strength  of  framed  timber,  the  point  where  the 
mortise,  etc.,  are  cut,  should  be  carefully  calculated  by  itself,  as  the 
cutting  frequently  renders  it  dangerously  weak,  at  this  point,  if  not 
allowed  for.  For  the  same  reason  plumbers  should  not  be  allowed 
to  cut  timbers.  As  a  rule,  however,  cuts  near  the  wall  are  not  dan- 
gerous, as  the  beam  being  of  uniform  size  throughout,  there  is  usu- 
ally an  excess  of  strength  near  the  wall. 

Stirrup-irons.  Stirrup-irons  are  made  of  wrought-iron  ;  they  are 
secured  to  one  timber  in  order  to  provide  a  resting°place  for  another 
timber,  usually  at  right  angles  to  and  carried  by  the  former.  They 
should  always  lap  o'ver  the  farther  side 
of  the  carrying  timber,  to  prevent  slip- 
ping, as  shown  in  Fig.  136. 

The  iron  should  1  e  sufficiently  wide 
not  to  crush  the  beam,  where  resting  on 
it ;  the  section  of  iron  must  be  sufficient 
not  to  shear  off  each  side  of  beams. 
The  twist  must  not  be  too  sudden,  or 
it  will  straighten  out  and  let  the  carried 
timber  down.  To  put  the  above  in  for- 
mulae we  should  have  : 


Y'ES-I 
firs 


From' 
Leek  Toum  Hall. 


LONDON  NOTES. 

LOXDOX,  December  17,  1887. 
ESTERDAY    the 
first  pitched  battle 
was    fought    b  e- 
tween  the  promoters  of 
the   Architects'    and 
Engineers'  Registration 
Bill,  which  is  going  to 
b  e     introduced    into 
Parliament    next    ses- 
sion   by   Colonel    Dun- 
can, II.   A.,  M.   P.,  and 
their   opponents.     The 
object  of  this  movement 
is,  no  doubt,  pretty  well- 
known.      There   are   a 
large  number  of  archi- 
tects  in   England   who 
feel    that    architecture, 
as    a    profession,   does 
not    receive    that   pro- 
tection  from  the  State 
that  it  deserves.     They 
point  to  the  sister  pro- 
fessions    of     law     and 
medicine,  and  say,  with 
much  justice,  that   the 
honor    and    dignity   of 
these  professions  is  up- 
held by  a  State  Regula- 
tion whereby  no  person 


Fig.  136. 

for  the  width  of  stirrup-iron  (x) 


Width  of 

Stirrup-irons. 


6. 


(7) 


(69) 


Where  x—  the  width  of  stirrup-iron,  in  inches. 
ried.  =        Shea"nS  Strain' in  lbs''  on  end  of  beam>  °e.ing  ear- 

Where  6  =  the  width  of  beam  being  carried,  in  inches. 
Where  (j]  =  the   safe   resistance,  in   pounds,  to   compression, 


across  the  fibres,  of  the  beam,  being  carried. 

For  the  thickness  of  stirrup-iron  "we  should  have : 


y  = 


1.x.[  SL 


(70) 


10 


...  .  .  vmuicuy   uu  person 

may  publicly  practise,  without  having  previously  passed  a  qualifyin" 
examination. 

Therefore  thase  professions  are  kept  clear  of  quacks,  and  the 
public,  when  it  employs  a  lawyer  or  a  doctor,  feels  confident  that  it 
is  not  throwmg  its  money  away  upon  mere  charlatans,  persons,  in 
tact  incompetent  to  carry  out  what  they  profess. 

The  other  side  reply  that  it  is  quite  impossible  to  compare  such 
protessions  as  law  and  medicine  with  architecture.  Architecture 
they  say,  is  an  art,  not  a  profession.  Our  companions  are  the' 
painter  and  the  sculptor,  not  the  engineer  and  surveyor,  and  it  is 
manifestly  impossible  to  satisfactorily  conduct  an  examination  in  a 
subject  winch  is,  after  all,  merely  a  matter  of  taste.  Therefore  to 
impose  a  uniform  qualifying  examination  in  architecture  is,  first  of 
all,  impossible ;  and,  secondly,  even  if  it  were  practicable,  would  be 
most  undesirable.  "  We  have  in  England,"  say  they,  "a  delightful 
freedom  in  design,  and  we  have  only  to  point  to  France  to  show  you 
what  injurious  effects  are  produced  by  this  stiflin"  of  individual  en- 
terprise, and  of  liberty  in  design."  And  so  the  fight  ^oes  on. 

Ihe  meeting  last  flight  was  promoted  by  the  Architectural  Asso- 
ciation, and  was  held  in  the  Council  Chamber  of  the  Royal  Institute 
of  British  Architects.  The  room  was  crowded  to  excess,  and  araon^ 
those  present  I  noticed  Mr.  Arthur  Cates,  the  Chairman  of  the 
Board  of  Examiners  for  the  Obligatory  Examination  in  Architecture, 
Irofessor  Kerr,  of  King's  College,  Mr.  Roumien  GotHi,  Leader  of 
the  Registrationists,  and  many  other  gentlemen  of  high  standin-  in 
the  profession.  Ihe  eminent  Oxford  architect,  Mr.  T.  G.  Jackson 
M.A.,  opened  the  discussion  on  behalf  of  the  anti-Reo-istrationists 
with  a  most  able  paper,  abounding  in  neat  hits  and  telling  arguments, 
n  which  he  strongly,  almost  vehemently,  opposed  the  institution  of 
qualifying  examinations.  He  resumed  his  seat  amid  rounds  of 
ringing  applause.  Speaker  after  speaker  followed,  but  there  was  no 
doubt  on  which  s,de  the  feeling  of  the  meeting  was;  indeed,  the 
students  were  at  times  a  trifle  too  demonstrative  in  their  hostility  to 
he  Reg.stratiomsts.  It  was  a  little  amusing,  though,  to  see  the  neat 
wa>  in  which  responsible  speakers  steered  clear  of  the  difficult  sub- 
ift,  and  1  question  very  much  if  last  night's  meeting  was  more  than 
a  preliminary  skirmish  before  the  fight.  There  are  exciting  times 
before  us,  we  may  be  sure. 

I  went  to  the  Royal  Academy  the  other  day  to  see  the  exhibition 

of  the  Academy  students'  work  for  the  past  year.     There  was 

large  and  fashionable  gathering,  but  as  Jal  thl  palnti,!'.  we  e    he 

chief  attract,™      "No  doubt  these  are  all  yery  clever,"  laid  a  lady 

o  me  when  looking  at  the  architectural  drawings,  "but,  you  know 

I  really  don't  understand  them.     Let's  go  and  look  at  thupictur  "s." 

lie    subject    set    for    the   Gold    Medal    and    £200    'I 'ravellm- 

Studentdup  was  a  Railway  Station !     Could  any  one,  in  his    en  ef 

havebeheved  it  possible  that  the  august  body  It  Burlington  House 

would  have  descended  to  so  matter-of-fact,  a  subject.     This  is  a  "  si<m 


JANUARY  7,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


11 


of  the  times,"  with  a  vengeance.  The  difficulties  of  the  problem 
were  very  courageously  attacked  in  several  eases,  but  the  huge  iron 
roof  proved  too  much  for  most  of  the  competitors.  One  or  two  tried, 
with  more  or  leas  success,  to  treat  it  architecturally,  but  the  majority 
hopelessly  gave  it  up,  and  we  were  cdilied  by  most  ingenious  at- 
tempts to  decorate  the  segmental  end  of  the  roof.  The  prize  was,  I 
think,  fairly  won  by  Mr.  behultz,  though  the  decision  of  the  judges 
met  with  a  good  deal  of  criticism. 

The  competition  for  an  oil  painting  upon  the  suggestive  word 
"  Captives,"  produced  a  most  interesting  collection,  the  early 
Britons  and  their  Roman  masters  being  the  favorite  subject.  One 
most  attractive  picture  depicted  a  first-class  railway-carriage  con- 
taining a  forger  who  had  just  been  arrested,  and  his  wife,  while  the 
detective  in  the  corner,  was  sharply  watching  (over  the  top  of  his 
newspaper)  the  struggles  of  his  prisoner  to  free  himself  from  the 
"bracelets."  Altogether  the  exhibition  was  pronounced  to  be  highly 
satisfactory. 

On  Thursday,  the  Corporation  of  the  City  of  London  elected  a 
city  architect,  in  the  place  of  the  late  Horace  Jones,  who  received 
his  knighthood,  it  will  be  remembered,  when  the  Prince  of  Wales 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  new  bridge  which  is  to  be  thrown  across 
the  Thames  at  the  Tower.  As  the  salary  and  emoluments  of  the 
office  are  considerable,  there  was  a  sharp  competition.  Mr.  Alex- 
ander Peebles,  an  architect  well-known  in  the  "  City,"  succeeded  in 
gaining  the  appointment.  Mr.  Charles  Barry,  son  of  Sir  Charles 
Barrv,  who  designed  the  Houses  of  Parliament,  and  Mr.  W.  H. 
Crossland,  architect  to  the  Royal  Holloway  College,  taking  the 
second  and  third  places  respectively.  "CmEL." 


A  FAULTY  GROUND-TESTING  APPARATUS. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  While  waiting  in  the  Baltimore  depot  at  Washing- 
ton I  made  the  following  notes,  which  I  send  to  you : 

While  in  Washington  last  Saturday  I  noticed  the  machine  being 
used  to  test  the  soil  under  the  footings  for  the  new  Government  Library 
building  of  which  you  recently  spoke  editorialy,  and  it  seemed  tha't 
from  the  way  it  was  constructed  that  it  would  give  unsatisfactory 
results  unless  the  greatest  care  was  used  in  operating  it,  and  even 
then  I  should  think  it  would  be  inaccurate.  It  was  not  in  operation 
when  I  saw  it.  Reference  to  the  accompanying  sketch  will  explain 
what  follows. 

The  platform,  loaded  with  bars  of  iron,  rests  upon  two  I-beams, 
each  I-beam  resting  upon  five  or  six  supports  flanging  out  to  a  broad 
base.  The  load  was  placed  directly  over  four  of  the  supports,  but  it 
was  not  evenly  distributed  over  the  platform.  Now  what  impressed 
me  was  this :  as  soon  as  any  one  of  these  four  supports  begins  to 


settle,  the  load  is  thrown  upon  the  supports  not  under  the  load  and 
in  amount  inversely  as  the  distance  of  the  support  from  the  centre  of 
gravity  of  the  load,  but,  as  the  soil  may  vary  slightly,  settlements 
might  occur  under  some  of  the  supports  which  would  make  it  impos- 
sible to  tell  which  ones  carried  the  load  and  consequently  how  much 
load  there  was  upon  each.  Although  it  would  take  more  time,  I 
should  think  that  more  satisfactory  results  could  be  obtained  by 
having  a  larger  base  and  only  one,  and  thus  testing  one  point  at  a 
time.  Very  respectfully, 

CLARENCE  O.  AREY. 


LETTING  EXTRAS  TO  AN  OUTSIDER. 

MONTREAL,  CAN..  December  15, 1887. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  I  would  be  obliged  if  you  think  proper  to  give  an 
answer  to  the  following.  On  the  following  question,  A  is  the  archi- 
tect, P  the  proprietor,  and  C  the  contractor. 

P  gives  a  building  contract  for  a  certain  amount,  say  $50,000,  to  C. 
Later  on  P  wishes  to  give  some  new  works,  say  cupboards  and  the 
like.  He  orders  A  to  ask  a  couple  of  tenders  for  said  work,  one  to  C 
and  one  to  an  outsider.  Then  the  tenders  are  in  and  it  happens  that 
the  outsider  is  very  much  the  lower  on  some  items,  though  higher  on 


others,  and  on  the  whole  comes  a  little  lower  than  C,  say  some  $50 
on  $1,000  or  job.  P  had  some  idea  to  give  part  of  the  job  to  one 
and  part  to  the  other  according  to  their  prices,  but  A  had  no  diffi- 
culty in  dissuading  him  from  that,  but  P  sticks  to  giving  the  extra  con- 
tract to  the  outsider,  while  A  thinks  that  is  not  absolutely  fair.  There 
is  no  ill  feeling  between  A,  P  and  C,  the  only  thing  is  that  A  would 
not  wish  to  look  too  much  interested  in  C,  but  desires  to  give  him  full 
justice,  and  P,  representing  a  committee,  feels  as  if  ho  had  to  be 
positively  legal.  The  answer  I  wish,  if  you  have  the  kindness  to  give 
it,  should  not  be  on  the  legality  of  P's  intentions,  but  on  the  dignity 
to  be  observed  on  such  matters.  I  remain,  sirs, 

Your  obliged  servant,  J.  V. 

[THE  answer  to  this  question  depends  in  some  degree  on  the  wording  of 
the  contract.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  ordinary  courtesy  among  mechan- 
ics would  give  the 'contractor  for  the  building  the  preference  in  any  extra 
work  that  might  be  required.  This  does  not  mean,  however,  that  he  can 
get  an  extravagant  price  for  It,  and  most  architects,  instead  of  getting  esti- 
mates from  two  or  three  parties  for  the  extra  work,  and  thus  putting  them- 
selves in  the  predicament  of  havjng  either  to  accept  the  contractor's  price, 
which  they  may  consider  too  high,  or  give  the  work  to  an  outsider,  with  the 
prospect  of  hard  feeling  and  annoyance,  find  it  better  to  order  all  extra 
work  to  be  done  by  the  general  contractor,  without  stipulation  beforehand 
as  to  the  price  further  than  that  usually  contained  in  the  contract,  that 
extra  work  shall  be  paid  for  "  at  a  fair  and  reasonable  valuation."  and 
trust  to  their  own  authority  for  seeing  this  stipulation  complied  with.  To 
illustrate  this  point :  We  once  had  some  work  done  by  a  rather  sharp  con- 
tractor. A  little  extra  work  was  necessary,  and  the  owner  asked  us,  rather 
against  our  judgment,  to  <;et  an  estimate  from  the  contractor  before  ordering 
it.  We  did  so,  and  the  contractor  estimated  the  work  at  eighty-five  dollars. 
The  re.il  value  was  about  fifteen  dollar*,  and  If  we  had  been  permitted  to 
order  It  without  question,  we  should  have  refused  to  certify  for  more  than 
this,  and  the  contractor  would  probably  have  accepted  It  without  objection. 
His  previous  estimate  of  eighty-five,  however,  made  it  difficult  to  order  him 
to  do  the  work  without,  by  implication,  agreeing  to  his  price,  while  an 
order  to  do  the  work  for  fifteen  would  have  provoked  a  quarrel  at  once. 
We  were  obliged  to  escape  from  the  dilemma,  therefore,  by  notifying  him 
that  his  offer  was  not  accented,  and  allowing  him  to  finish  his  contract, 
sending  some  one  else  after  he  had  got  through  to  make  the  needed  change, 
lu  the  case  of  which  onr  correspondent  speaks,  P,  as  acting  for  others,  is 
quite  right  in  thinking  it  important  for  him  to  accept  the  lowest  tender  for 
tne  work,  but  we  think  that  A  would  be  justified  in  saying  that  the  annoy- 
ance of  having  two  mechanics  in  the  building  would  be  worth  nearly  the 
difference,  and  C  might  well  afford,  in  consideration  of  not  being  dis- 
turbed, to  reduce  his  price  to  that  of  the  other  man.  —  EDS.  AMERICAN 
ARCHITECT.  I 


BOOKS. 

ROCHESTER,  N.  Y. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs:  —  Will  you  be  kind  enough  to  inform  me  what  would 
be  the  best  books  to  purchase,  one  of  them  a  general  treatise  on 
Architecture  of  a  constructional  nature  —  also  a  good  book  on  In- 
terior Decoration.  I  would  like  the  latest  publications.  Could  you 
give  me  the  cost  and  author  of  each,  and  where  to  be  obtained? 

Yours  truly,  F.  A.  BROCKETT. 

["Building  Superintendence"  by  T.  M.  Clark,  published  by  Ticknor  & 


---------  ------  .....          ......  -------  .„„ 

T.  Tryon,  published  by  W.  T.  Conutock,  price  $3.  —  Eos.  AMERICAN  AR- 

CHITECT.] 


ARCHITECTURAL  JOURNALS. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs:  —  Kindly  assist  a  student  by  giving  names  of  archi- 
tectural publications  in  France,  Spain,  Italy,  Germany  and  Russia, 
and  names  of  publishers.  Names  of  journals  published  in  other 
countries  (not  English)  will  also  be  "  thankfully  received." 

Very  respectfully,  F.  W.  FITZPATRICK. 

[Revue  Generate  d"  Architecture;  Moniteur  des  Architectes  ;  Encyclo- 
pedia d'  Architecture  ;  Bulletin  Mensuel  de  la  Societi  Centrale  de»  Archi- 
tectes; LaSemuine  del  Conttructeurt  ;  La  Construction  Moderne,  all  of 
Paris.  Deutsche  Bavzeitung,  Berlin  :  Weiner  Sauindustrie  Zeitung, 
Vienna  ;  Architectonische  Rundschau,  Stuttgart  ;  Zodtchy,  St.  Petersburg; 
are  among  the  most  important.  —  Eos.  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT.] 

WAREHOUSE  FLOOR  CONSTRUCTION. 

PHILADELPHIA,  PA.,  December  12,  1887. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sin,  —  In  your  last  issue  I  notice  under  heading  of  "A 
Poorly-constructed  Floor"  several  diagrams  of  post  and  girder  con- 
struction, which,  from  the  lack  of  proper  precaution  in  the  propor- 
tioning and  placing  of  its  parts,  is  decidedly  dangerous  by  reason  of 
the  timbers  forming  the  girders  deflecting  laterally  and  severally 
crushing,  as  in  this  case  they  have  done  and  will  continue  to  do 
beyond  hope  of  repair.  The  system  here  attempted  is  one  of  the 
best  that  can  be  devised  for  continuous  girders  of  wood,  but  the  parts 
require  the  nicest  adjustment  to  ensure  stability.  The  element  of 
shrinkage  needs  to  be  taken  into  account  and  parts  so  connected  and 
designed  as  to  admit  of  tightening  up  from  time  to  time.  I  take 
pleasure  in  sending  you  blue  prints  [see  Illustrations]  of  the  con- 
struction of  a  five-story  flour  and  grain  warehouse  built  hi  this  city 
under  my  supervision  when  architect  for  the  Pennsylvania  R.  R.  Co. 
The  load  per  square  foot,  including  weight  of  construction,  runs  as 
high  as  three  hundred  pounds.  Yours  truly, 

W.  BLEDDYN  POWELL. 


11 


kef  ItTs  obtamed  from  the  precious  lapis  lazuli,.  »d  commands  a 
fah  ilous  nrice  Chinese  white  is  zinc.  Scarlet  is  iodide  of  mercury, 
InTcmnfbTr!- or  native  vermilion,  is  from  quicksilver  ore.-^e* 
Orleans  Picayune.  

THE  WORLD'S  BIG  WATERFALLS. -According  to  Dr.  Wertsch,  the 
highest  waterfalls  are  the  three  Krimbs  Falls,  in  the  upper  x-rmzgau 
S,  have  a  total  height  of  1148  feet.  The  three  falls  next  in  height 
are  found  in  Scandinavia  —  the  Verme  Foss,  in  Romsdal,  984  feet,  M 
Vettis  Foss  on  the  Sogne  Fjord,  853  feet;  the  Rjuken  Foss,  in  Thele- 
narken  804  feeP  WHh  a  decrease  in  height  of  218  feet,  the  three 
VeUno  Falls  591  feet,  near  Zerni,  the  birthplace  of  the  historian 
Tachus,  fo  low  next  and  are  succeeded  by  the  three  Tessa  ialls  in  the 
Val  Formazza  541  feet.  The  Gastein  Falls,  in  the  Gastem  Valley  4f 
fee  are  mfdway  between  the  Skjaggedal  Foss,  in  the  Hardanger  i  jord, 
424  feet  and  the  Boring  Foss,  in  the  same  fjord.  The  great  Amo  Cas- 
cade near  Tivoli,  315  Srt,  appears  small  by  the  side  of  the  foregoing 
still  larger  than  the  Falls  of  the  Elbe  in  the  Riesengebirge,  which 
are  on  y  148  ff et  ££h.  If  the  width  of  the  falls  is  taken  into  consider- 
ation, the  most  imposing  are  those  of  the  Victoria  i  alls  of  the  Zam- 
besi which  are  394  feet  high  by  a  width  of  8,200  feet.  A  ong  way 
be  ind  con  e  the  Niagara  Falls,  177  feet  high  and  1,968  feet  wide  The 
third  largest  fall  is  that  of  the  Rhine  at  Schafflmusen,  148  feet  wide, 
bv  only  38  feet  high.  The  highest  waterfalls  mentioned  cannot  com- 
pare with  those  gigantic  falls  as  regards  cubic  contents.  —  Iron. 

THE  EIEVATOR  FOR  THE  EIFFEL  TOWER. —A  curious  elevator  has 
been  proposed  for  use  in  the  Eiffel  tower,  which  it  is  proposed  to  erect 
in  Paris  for  the  next  exhibition.  The  tower  is  to  be  984  feet  high  and 
none  of  the  ordinary  forms  of  elevators  could  be  used  with  safety. 
The  plan  proposed  is  to  construct  in  the  interior  of  a  cylindrical  tower 
a  spiral  railway  track,  on  which  shall  run  a  truck  occupying  the  whole 
interior  space.  This  circular  truck  carries  a  double-decked  car  which 
is  raised  by  the  latter's  revolution.  Motion  is  communicated  to  the 
truck  by  an  endless  cable  driven  by  a  stationary  engine.  This  cable 
passes  through  the  car  and  runs  over  a  series  of  friction-pulleys,  winch 
communicate  their  motion  to  the  trucks  through  a  worm-gear  and 
spur-wheel.  The  weight  of  the  elevator-car  is  supported  by  the  wheels 
of  the  truck,  and  these  are  only  to  be  revolved  by  the  worm-gear. 
Consequently,  if  anything  should  happen  to  the  cable,  the  car  would 
not  descend,  but  would  remain  stationary  until  the  persons  in  the  car 
started  the  gear,  and  would  then  only  descend  as  long  as  motion  con- 
tinued to  be  given  to  it.  The  cable  is  run  at  a  high  speed,  which  the 
gear  reduces,  and  thus  it  is  possible  to  use  quite  a  small  cable  to  give 
motion  to  a  car  containing  two  hundred  people.  —  Iron. 

COMPOUND  FOR  PATCHING  STONE.  —The  restoration  of  some  of  the 
most  important  stone  structures  in  Paris,  such  as  the  colonnade  of  the 
Louvre,  of  the  Pont  Neuf,  and  of  the  Conservatoire  des  Arts  of  Me- 
tiers has  been  mainly  accomplished  by  means  of  a  metallic  cement 
invented  by  Professor  Brune.  It  consists  of  a  powder  and  a  liquid,  the 
first  composed  of  two  parts  by  weight  of  oxide  of  zinc,  two  of  crushed 
limestone  of  a  hard  nature,  and  one  of  crushed  grit,  the  whole  inti- 
mately mixed  and  ground,  ochre  in  suitable  proportions  being  added  as 
a  coloring  matter.  The  liquid  employed  consists  of  a  saturated  solution 
of  zinc  in  commercial  hydrochloric  acid,  to  which  is  added  a  part  by 
weight  of  hydrochlorate  of  ammonia,  equal  to  one-sixth  that  of  tha 
dissolved  zinc,  and  this  liquid  is  diluted  with  two-thirds  of  its  bulk  of 
water.  In  using  the  cement,  one  pound  of  the  powder  is  mixed  with 
two  and  a  half  pints  of  the  liquid.  The  cement  hardens  very  quickly 
and  is  of  great  strength.  —  Exchange. 

THE  CANADIAN  PARCELS-POST.  —  As  there  appears  to  be  an  im- 
pression that  the  new  parcels-post  to  be  established  on  the  1st  of  Febru- 
ary between  Canada  and  the  United  States  is  to  be  confined  to  corre- 
spondence, books,  etc.,  it  may  be  as  well  to  state  that  it  is  to  include 
merchandise.  The  maximum  weight  will  be  five  pounds,  and  the  rate 
12  1-2  cents  per  pound.  —  Montreal  Witness. 

MCNICII  INTERNATIONAL  ART  EXHIBITION.  — This  Exhibition  will  be 
held  in  the  Royal  Crystal  Palace  at  Munich.  It  will  be  opened  on  the 
1st  of  June,  1888,  and  will  continue  open  until  the  end  of  October. 
Works  of  art  of  all  countries  in  the  departments  of  painting,  sculpture, 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.      [You  XXIII.  -  No.  628. 

— — — • ~~—~^^^^^^^^  • 

architecture  drawing,  and  reproduction  are  admitted  Works  of  art- 
fnduVtry  if  they  arc  entitled  by  artistic  invention  and  execution  to  be 
cons  dored as  works  of  art,  will  also  be  admitted,  but  only  on  the  spe- 
;Ti  vita  ion  of  the  Central  Committee,  or  by  the  Collective  Commis- 
sioners The  Central  Committee  defray  the  expenses  of  transport  of  all 
works  of  art  approved  by  a  jury  of  admission.  All  applications  must 
e  received  by  the  Central  Committee  (Luitpoldstrasse,  Nr.3,  Munclien) 
by  the  15th  of  March  next,  but  no  work  of  art  must  arrive  at  Munich 
before  the  1st  of  April.  

AN  APPRENTICE  CANNOT  JO.N  A  UNION. -In  the  County  Courts  to- 
day Jud-e  Baily  gave  a  boy  apprentice  in  a  glass  factory  one  week  m 
wWcl,  to  return  to  work  or  suffer  sentence.  The  boy's  defence  was  that 
he  supposed  he  was  discharged  because  he  had  joined  a  labor  union, 
which  had  entered  upon  a  strike.  Judge  Baily  decides  that  an  appren- 
tiee  cannot  join  a  union. 


IN  the  six  cities  of  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Cmcago  St.  Louis,  Kansas 
City  and  St  Paul,  the  estimated  increase  in  this  year's  building  operations 
over  the  oast,  and  it  is  largely  guess-work,  is  put  at  between  twenty  and 
twenty-five  million  dollars.  In  three  of  the  Western  cities,  architects  and 
buUders  have  received  instructions  to  push  work  a  little  sooner  than  usual. 
Manufacturers  of  building  material  in  several  Western  cities  have  already 
secured  contracts  for  material  and  supplies  to  be  furnished  during  the 
coming  spring  and  summer.  Several  railroad  companies  have  also  bought 
liberally  of  lumber,  brick,  stone  and  other  material  to  be  used  m  the  con- 
struction of  work  agreed  upon.  These  are  favorable  indications  and  they 
certainly  point  to  an  active  resumption  of  work  in  the  spring.  All  that  has 
been  said  m  the  trade  and  financial  columns  of  daily  and  weekly  papers  has 


money-lenders,  especially  in  real  estate  and  land  schemes,  which  seem  to 
be  multiplying  of  late  rather  than  declining.  There  is  an  abundance  of 
money  available  for  Western  borrowing  farmers  and  Southern  borrowing 
planters  Builders  who  have  important  house-building  schemes  in  hand  are 
encouraged  by  local  capital  throughout  the  West  and  in  some  parts  of  the 
South  During  the  month  of  December,  a  great  many  requirements  were 
made  out  by  railroads,  manufacturers  and  buyers  of  material  of  one  kind 
or  another,  and  these  requirements  will  take  the  shape  of  orders  this  month. 
There  is  a  slight  downward  tendency  in  prices,  but  it  may  disappear  at  any 
moment.  A  slight  decrease  in  the  volume  of  business  is  noted  day  by  day 
and  week  by  week  as  against  twelve  months  ago,  but  this  is  not  regarded 
as  of  anv  moment.  The  stocks  of  material  for  working  up  in  the  hands  of 
manufacturers,  the  stocks  of  supplies  iu  the  hands  of  railroads,  and  the 
stocks  in  the  hands  of  jobbers  and  retailers  are  all  lighter  than  business 
experience  and  prudence  require,  but  consumers  prefer  to  run  with  light 
stocks  chiefly  because  of  the  enormous  producing  capacity  of  the  country 


of  an  over-supply.  A  few  reasons  for  this  confident  belief  against  an  over- 
supply  can  be  given  in  a  few  words.  First,  the  volume  of  money  is  suffi- 
cient to  keep  enterprise  actively  engaged.  Railroad  expansion,  while  it  has 
gone  a  little  beyond  immediate  requirements,  is  below  the  requirements  of 
twelve  months 'hence  in  three-fourths  of  the  territory  in  the  United  States. 
Railroad-builders  recognize  this  fact.  Then,  a  great  demand  is  already 
springing  up  for  river  and  lake  crafts,  a  fact  which  cannot  be  too  strongly 
dwelt  upon.  Then,  again,  the  demand  for  materials  and  supplies  for  shop- 
work,  mill-work,  factory  and  foundry  work,  is  a  factor  which  is  under-esti- 
mated by  all  excepting  the  few  whose  business  it  is  to  follow  up  and  solicit 
work  of'  this  character.  The  machinists,  the  founders  and  the  manufac- 
turers of  the  country  know  better  than  editors  and  financial  reviewers  the 
real  extent  and  depth  of  the  coming  demand  for  supplies.  Bankers  are 
preparing  weekly  clearing-house  exchanges  from  thirty  and  forty  cities,  and 
weekly  aud  monthly  returns  from  one  hundred  railroads  and  more,  and  are 
noting  the  weekly  list  of  commercial  failures,  and  the  volume  of  freight- 
traffic  over  the  trunk  lines,  but  there  are  other  and  more  important  matters 
to  be  looked  at  in  order  to  have  a  proper  understanding  of  the  real  tenden- 
cies at  work  beneath  the  surface  of  trade.  The  country  is  not  really  over- 
producing, and  there  is  not  any  danger  of  over-production  in  sight,  yet  an 
apparent  over-production  may  develop  itself  within  ninety  days.  If  it  does 
it  will.  The  merchant-steel  workmen  are  endeavoring  to  advance  wages 
ten  per  cent.  Bituminous  miners  in  some  parts  of  the  West  are  demanding 
a  recognition  of  the  old  basis  of  wages  made  at  Columtvus,  0.,  and  the  refu- 
sal to  recognize  it  may  probably  »sult  in  the  suspension  of  work  in  several 
localities.  Neither  the  supply"  of  coal  or  prices  can  be  affected  by  any 
probable  action  of  miner?  in  the  West,  because  of  the  great  increase  in  the 
number  of  mine  openings.  Several  Western  railroad  companies  have 
within  the  past  four  months  developed  their  own  sources  of  supply,  and 
most  of  the  railroad  companies  west  of  the  Mississippi  are  now  following 
this  policy.  The  anthracite  miners  went  on  strike  this  week  and  declare 
their  ability  to  remain  out  six  months.  The  production  of  both  anthracite 
and  bituminous  coal  is,  according  to  present  estimates,  about  eight  million 
tons  ahead  of  188(5.  The  anthracite  miners  have  been  the  victims  of  oppres- 
sion and  injustice  beyond  the  lot  of  the  average  workman,  and  public  sen- 
timent in  Pennsylvania,  where  the  conditions  are  understood,  and  in  some 
other  sections,  seems  to  be  largely  with  them.  A  Wall  Street  paper  it 
authority  for  the  statement  that  next  year's  building  'operations  in  New 
York  will  ri-ach  sixty-five  million  dollars.  Very  heavy  disbursements  this 
mouth  will  help  to  ease  up  the  money  market  and  possibly  improve  collec- 
tions, which  for  some  weeks  past  have  been  rather  difficult.  Brokers  and 
manufacturers  expect  an  improvement  in  the  volume  of  business  during 
this  month,  and  the  conditions  of  the  country  seem  to  fully  warrant  the 
expectation.  In  a  general  way  stocks  are  light.  The  textile  manufacturers 
are  crowded  in  the  cotton-producing  line.  Makers  of  machinery  in  the 
New  England  and  Middle  States  are  mostly  busy,  and  about  fifteen  to 
twenty  per  cent  of  the  capacity  will  work  overtime  for  a  few  weeks.  The 
iron  and  steel  mills  throughout  the  West  resumed  full  time  on  Tuesday. 
Throughout  the  South  that  industry  continues  to  be  exceptionally  prosperous. 
On  some  railroads  in  the  West  large  discharges  of  men  have  been  made  by 
way  of  guarding  against  the  anticipated  demand  for  an  advance. 


S.  J.  PARKHILL  &  Co.,  Printers,  Boston. 


12 


THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  AND  BUILDING  NEWS. 


VOL.  X*l 


Copyright,  18>8,  t>y  TICKMOB  ft  COMPANY,  Boston,  Mam. 


No-  629. 


JANUARY  14. 1888. 

Entered  at  the  Poet-Office  at  Boston  as  second-claw  matter. 


SUMMARY : — 

Burning  of  a  Storage- Warehouse  in  Berlin.  —  Death  of  John 
C.  Cochrane,  Architect. — The  Uniform  Rate  of  Compensa- 
tion of  Architects.  —  Practical  Utility  of  the  Rule.—  Instruc- 
tions as  to  Planning  Elementary  Schools. — The  Fondaco 
dei  Turchi,  Venice.  —  Commercial  Schools  Abroad.  ...  13 

Ol'KN-TIMBKK    HOOFS    OF    THK    MIDDLE    AGES. 1 15 

TIIK  Tiiiiii)  EXHIBITION  OF  TIIK  ARCHITECTURAL  LEAGUE.  ...     17 
ILLUSTRATIONS  :  — 

The  Church  of  Notre  Dame,  Montreal,  P.  Q.  — The  Tavern, 

Decatur,  Ala.  —  The  Nelson  Memorial  Hall,  Kingston,  Pa.  — 

The  Ix>gan  Offices,  Philadelphia,  Pa.  —  Houses   for  J.   H. 

Carter,  Esq.,  and  for  George  L.  Freeman,  Esq.,  Utica,  N. 

Y.  — The  Interior  of  the  Bardo,  Tunis 18 

FOURTH  ANNUAL  REPOJBT  OF  THE  BUREAU  OF  ETHNOLOGY. — I.  .     18 

PECULIAR  ORIGIN  OF  FIRES 21 

THE  GREAT  NOVA  SCOTIA  RAFT  AND  ITS  PROGENITORS 22 

Six  YEARS'  LABOR  TROUBLES 23 

COMMUNICATIONS  :  — 

The  Bearing-power  of  Piles.  —  A  Question  of  Extras.      ...     24 

NOTES  AND  CLIPPINGS 24 

TRADE  SURVBYS 24 

IT  is  a  satisfaction  to  find  that  the  Americans  are  certainly 
giving  lessons  to  the  rest  of  the  world  in  matters  of  construc- 
tion, if  not  of  art.  Perhaps  the  art  will  come  later.  Not 
long  ago  a  great  fire  took  place  in  Berlin,  totally  destroying  a 
structure  composed  wholly  of  brick  and  iron,  and  built  with  the 
solidity  characteristic  of  German  work.  The  building  was  a 
storage-warehouse  for  the  great  Berlin  express  company,  and 
was  about  a  hundred  feet  wide,  and  a  hundred  and  fifty  long, 
six  stories  high,  with  a  small  court-yard  in  the  centre.  A 
heavy  brick  wall  divided  it  through  the  middle,  and  the  floors 
were  all  made  with  brick  arches,  turned  between  iron  beams, 
which  rested  on  the  walls,  and  on  ranges  of  iron  girders,  sup- 
ported by  cast-iron  columns.  The  doors  in  the  partition-wall 
were  of  plate-iron.  We  have  learned  by  experience  the  vulner- 
able points  of  such  a  structure,  but  to  the  Germans,  un- 
accustomed to  destructive  fires,  it  must  have  seemed  as  fireproof 
as  it  would  have  to  us  thirty  years  ago.  Five  months  after  the 
building  was  substantially  completed,  one  or  two  temporary 
openings  were  made  in  the  third  story  floor,  for  the  purpose  of 
finishing  some  part  of  the  work,  and  while  these  were  still  open, 
an  accident  occurred,  by  which  fire  was  set  to  some  goods 
stored  in  the  third  story.  The  flaming  brands  immediately  fell 
through  the  holes  in  the  floor,  setting  fire  to  the  goods  in  the 
next  story  below,  which  were  mostly  cotton  and  woollen 
materials,  and  although  the  fire-engines  arrived  in  five  minutes 
after  the  fire  started,  they  were  too  late  to  be  of  any  service. 
Five  minutes  seems  a  short  time  for  a  fire  starting  in  a  little 
bundle  of  dry  goods  to  accomplish  the  destruction  of  a  huge 
building,  in  the  construction  of  which  there  was  not  a  trace  of 
inflammable  material,  but  no  sooner  had  the  nearest  bales 
become  kindled  than  the  iron  beams  over  them,  quickly  heated 
by  the  flames,  expanded,  violently  wrenching  the  girders,  and 
in  many  cases  breaking  off  the  capitals  of  the  columns.  In'this 
effort  the  beams  themselves  were  bent  and  twisted,  letting  the 
brick  floor-arches  fall ;  and  so  quickly  did  this  effect  occur  that 
many  of  the  floor-arches  had  fallen  out  before  the  engines 
arrived,  five  minutes  from  the  setting  of  the  fire.  The  collapse 
of  the  arches  not  only  opened  a  passage  upward  for  the  flames, 
but  piled  broken  cases,  torn  cloth  and  other  combustibles,  in 
the  best  condition  for  speedy  kindling,  upon  the  blazing  goods 
beneath,  and  the  west  half  of  the  structure,  in  which  the  fire 
first  caught,  was  soon  a  mass  of  flames.  The  eastern  half  was 
cut  off  by  means  of  the  iron  doors,  all  of  which  had  been  duly 
closed,  but  these  soon  became  red-hot  from  the  action  of  the 
fire  behind  them,  and  in  that  way  set  fire  to  goods  lying  againgt 
them,  and  they  also  soon  warped  enough  to  let  the  flames 
through,  and  hasten  the  effect,  so  that  in  one  hour  from  the 
first  alarm  little  remained  of  the  western  half  of  the  building 
but  the  tottering  outside  walls,  a  large  portion  of  which  had 
already  fallen,  while  the  three  upper  stories  of  the  eastern  half, 
notwithstanding  the  brick  partition  wall  and  the  iron  doors, 


were  totally  destroyed,  and  the  lower  stories  nearly  ruined  by 
the  fall  of  the  upper  floor-arches.  On  examining  the  place 
after  the  fire,  it  was  found  that  out  of  one  hundred  columns 
which  originally  held  the  floors,  thirty-eight  had  been  thrown 
completely  out  of  their  places,  while  thirty-four  more,  although 
they  remained  standing,  were  so  broken  or  bent  as  to  be  use- 
|  less,  the  only  ones  still  fit  for  service  be.ing  those  in  the  lower 
stories  of  the  eastern  half  of  the  building.  The  girders  were 
formed  of  iron  beams,  eighteen  inches  deep,  and  these  were  in 
some  places  twisted  like  corkscrews  by  the  strain  which  they 
had  undergone.  An  expert  commission  was  immediately  ap- 
pointed to  study  into  the  causes  of  the  fire,  and  made  a  report 
expressing  the  opinion  that  no  building  could  henceforth  In; 
considered  fireproof  unless  the  flanges  of  iron -beams,  and  all 
portions  of  iron  columns,  were  "covered  by  some  non-conduct- 
ing material,"  as  "  is  now  commonly  done  in  such  structures  in 
the  great  cities  of  the  United  States  of  America." 


TJR.  JOHN  C.  COCHRANE,  of  Chicago,  an  architect  of 
\oL  high  reputation  all  over  the  country,  died  last  month  at 
his  residence,  after  a  short  illness.  Mr.  Cochrane  was 
born  iu  New  Hampshire  in  1833,  and,  after  completing  his 
education,  removed  first  to  Chicago,  and  then  to  Davenport, 
Iowa,  where  he  entered  upon  a  very  successful  practice.  In 
1864  he  returned  to  Chicago,  and  has  been  prominent  in  pro- 
fessional matters  in  that  city  ever  since.  His  best-known 
building  is  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  but  he  designed  many 
churches  and  private  dwellings,  showing  a  refinement  of  taste 
which,  at  the  time  when  he  first  began  his  work,  was  par- 
ticularly valuable  in  the  West.  He  will  be  greatly  missed  in 
the  profession  and  in  society  in  a  large  part  of  the  West. 


BOTH  the  Builder  and  the  liritigh  Architect  have  of  late  had 
a  good  deal  to  say  about  the  uniform  rate  of  commission 
which  is  maintained  among  architects  all  over  the  world. 
To  them,  as,  indeed,  to  a  great  many  thoughtful  persons  in  the 
profession,  there  seems  to  be  a  good  deal  that  is  objectionable 
in  a  rate  of  compensation  which  is  the  same  for  the  consum- 
mate artist  as  for  the  young  beginner  or  the  ignorant  pre- 
tender to  professional  knowledge.  In  the  interest  of  art,  both 
of  them  think  it  a  misfortune  that  a  man  capable  of  making 
perfect  examples  of  architectural  art  should  be  condemned  by 
the  rule  on  which  his  compensation  is  based,  either  to  disregard 
the  beautiful  ideals  floating  through  his  mind  and  get  through 
his  work  with  the  same  expenditure  of  thought  that  his  soul- 
less competitor  next  door  would  bestow  on  it,  or,  if  he 
chooses  to  follow  art  for  art's  sake,  to  be  obliged  to  do  so  at  his 
own  expense,  since  no  higher  remuneration  is  provided  for  the 
author  of  a  beautiful  building  than  of  an  ugly  one.  It  must  be 
confessed  that  there  is  a  good  deal  to  say  on  this  side  of  the 
subject,  but  there  is  another  side  which  is  well  presented  in  a 
letter  to  the  British  Architect  by  Mr.  Basil  Champneys.  In 
this  letter,  although  Mr.  Champneys  admits  that  the  architects 
who  study  their  work  like  true  artists  are  very  inadequately 
paid  by  a  five  per  cent  commission,  and,  moreover,  that  it  is 
rather  an  anomaly  that  the  most  experienced  men  should  be 
paid  at  the  same  rate  as  beginners,  he  considers,  nevertheless, 
that  there  are  advantages  in  the  present  system  which  should 
not  be  rashly  given  up.  As  to  the  artistic  part  of  the  work,  he 
believes,  at  the  outset,  that  this  is  never  paid  for  directly  at  all. 
No  matter  how  consummate  an  artist  a  man  may  be,  he  is  paid 
for  designing  and  putting  up  a  building  which  is  reasonably 
convenient  and  will  not  fall  down.  If  he  accomplishes  this,  he 
is  entitled  to  his  full  fee,  and  the  idea  that  if  he  studies  iu 
masses  and  proportions,  refine*  its  details  and  seeks  inspiration 
for  its  decoration,  he  is  entitled  to  be  paid  any  more,  has  not 
as  yet  occurred  to  the  public,  whatever  the  profession  may 
think  about  it.  For  the  present,  moreover,  Mr.  Champnevs 
thinks  that  this  state  of  things  is  inevitable.  A  time  may  come 
when  the  public  will  understand  architectural  art  and  pay  for 
it  directly,  but  it  is  now  practically  incapable  of  recognizing 
such  art  when  it  is  offered  them,  and  would  be  quite  as  likely 
to  be  taken  in  by  the  outcries  of  an  advertising  architectural 
buffoon  as  by  the  pure  and  deeply-felt  beauty  of  a  master's 
work,  so  that  whether  we  wish  it  or  not,  we  must  content  our- 
selves with  what  he  calls  the  wholesome  position,  that  we  must 
do  the  best  we  can  for  art  because  we  love  it  and  not  because 
we  love  money. 


14 


The  American  Architect  and  Buildiny  Hem.     [Voi~  XXlIl.-No.  629. 


— - 

IMPLY  as  a  practical  matter,  however,  the  five  per  cent 
uleis  worth  holding  on  to  until  something  better  can  be 
Generally  accepted.  It  is  true  that  under  it  the  beginner 
receives  the  'same  proportionate  fee  as  his  abler  or  wiser  rival, 
but  the  beginner's  commissions  are  usually  tew  and  ot  no  g ™t 
importance,  while  his  experienced  neighbor  is  kept  constantly 
busy  with  work  involving  the  expenditure  of  large 
that  the  hitter's  income,  at  the  same  percentage  is  many  times 
as  great  as  that  of  the  younger  man.  Besides  th,  ,  the  same 
rule  brings  about  an  indirect  compensation  for  artistic  capacity 
and  study.  Although  the  public  cannot  say  what  it  likes  a, 
is  easily  misled  by  every  one  with  a  new  architectural  nostrum, 
in  the  end  it  usually  comes  back  to  what  is  pretty,  unassuming, 
and  interesting,  .in  other  words,  to  what  is  artistic,  and  the  man 
who  tries  hard  and  successfully  to  make  his  work  artistic  is 
generally  rewarded  by  having  plenty  of  employment,  while  the 
ill-trained  and  unfeeling  designer  of  vulgar  and  commonplace 
buildings,  although  he  gets  as  large  a  percentage  on  his  com- 
missions as  the  artist,  has  fewer  of  them,  and  will  have  still 
less  as  the  public  taste  advances.  The  physicians,  who  main- 
tain uniform  rates  of  fees  for  general  practice,  find  it  advanta- 
geous to  do  so,  the  income  of  the  abler  ones  being  increased  to 
their  satisfaction  by  the  greater  number  of  their  patients;  yet 
they  need  to  study  their  cases  quite  as  much  as  architects  do 
their  designs,  and  the  architects  have  an  advantage  over  them, 
that  their  compensation  increases  with  the  importance  as  well 
as  the  number  of  their  commissions,  while  physicians,  unless 
they  happen  to  be  specialists,  receive  the  same  amount  for  a 
visit  to  an  overfed  child  as  to  a  patient  in  mortal  extremity. 
Where  a  doctor  chooses  to  devote  himself  to  a  certain  branch, 
and  attains  recognized  skill  in  it,  he  can  claim  a  much  higher 
rate  of  fees  as  a  professed  specialist,  and  this  is  already  to  some 
extent  the  case  in  architecture.  The  late  Mr.  Richardson,  for 
example,  was  rarely  content  with  five  per  cent  commission,  and 
found  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  seven  and  one-half,  even  for 
buildings  of  great  importance,  and  much  more  for  many  struc- 
tures which  young  architects  would  be  glad  to  undertake  at  the 
usual  rate.  ^ 

'TT  SET  of  instructions  for  the  planning  and  fitting  up^  of 
f\  public  elementary  schools  has  been  published  by  the  Eng- 
'  lish  Education  Department.  An  English  primary  school 
is  so  completely  different  in  nearly  every  respect  from  one  of 
ours  that  the  rules  for  planning  them  are  of  no  very  great 
value  to  us,  but  there  are  some  interesting  points.  The  stan- 
dard width  for  schoolrooms  is  less  than  with  us,  the  rules  speci- 
fying eighteen  to  twenty  feet  where  long  desks  accomodating 
four  or  more  children  are  used,  or  twenty-two  feet  where  double 
desks  are  preferred.  This  seems  rather  surprising  to  our 
notions,  the  long  desks,  or  forms,  having  been  obsolete  in  our 
schools  for  thirty  years,  while  even  double  desks  are  now  con- 
sidered objectionable,  and  in  the  best  American  schools  each 
pupil,  even  in  the  primary  departments,  has  his  tiny  single 
desk  to  himself.  The  elasticity  of  the  specified  dimensions, 
again,  strikes  us  as  rather  strange.  .  If  eighteen  feet  is  wide 
enough  for  a  schoolroom  seated  in  a  certain  way,  twenty  feet 
must  be  too  wide,  and  if  twenty  feet  is  right,  a  width  of  only 
eighteen  must  mean  constant  crowding  and  annoyance  to  the 
pupils.  The  convenient  and  comfortable  dimensions  of  desks 
and  aisles  have  with  us  long  been  settled,  and  the  dimensions 
of  a  schoolroom  are,  in  well-planned  buildings,  just  such  as  to 
contain  the  desired  number  of  desks  and  aisles,  without  super- 
fluous space  and  without  robbing  any  part  of  its  standard 
dimensions.  In  regard  to  the  height  of  rooms,  the  Pinglish 
code  seems  to  have  borrowed  something  from  the  recent  French 
and  German  rules,  and  demands  that  all  school  and  class  rooms 
shall  be  at  least  twelve  feet  high  from  floor  to  ceiling,  provided 
the  area  does  not  exceed  three  hundred  and  sixty  superficial 
feet.  If  the  area  is  between  this  and  six  hundred  feet,  the 
height  must  be  thirteen  feet,  and  if  larger  than  this,  it  must  be 
fourteen  feet  as  a  minimum,  no  maximum  being  specified.  If  a 
schoolroom  is  ceiled  on  the  collar-beam  and  lower  part  of  the  raft- 
ers, the  distance  from  the  floor  to  the  wall-plate  must  be  at  least 
eleven  feet  and  to  the  collar-beam  three  feet  more.  Roofs  open 
inside  to  the  ridge  are  not  favored,  and,  if  used,  must  be  venti- 
lated from  the  ridge  and  covered  with  impervious  material. 

OOME  of  our  readers  may  remember  Signer  Boni's  account 

kj  of  the  Fondaco  dei  Turchi,  published  in  November,  1885. 

One  front  of  this  building  was  restored  some  years  ago,  but 

the  other  has  remained  until  recently  in  the  condition  in  which  it 


was  put  after  it  was  abandoned  as  a  public  resort,  and  its  arcades 
bricked  up  to  fit  it  for  a  place  of  storage,  and  is  well  known  to 
architects  by  photographs,  either  under  its  own  name  or  the 
absurd  one  which  is  often  given  it  by  the  foreign  photographers 
of  the  "  Palace  of  Lucretia  Borgia,"  the  fact  being  tlfat  if  this 
lady  ever  saw  it  at  all,  which  is  by  no  means,  certain,  it  must 
have  been  at  least  five  hundred  years  old,  and  in  a  state  of 
disrepair  highly  unsuitable  to  the  dwelling  of  a  cardinal's 
daughter.  As  a  result  of  the  passion  for  polishing  up  and 
repairing  old  buildings,  which  is  just  now  very  prevalent  in 
Venice,  the  remaining  front  of  the  Fondaco  dei  Turchi  has 
just  been  restored  with  such  thoroughness  that,  as  Signer  Boni 
says,  there  is  no  longer  any  hope  •'  of  finding  any  part,  even 
the  smallest,  which  we  may  look  upon  with  confidence  as  a 
relic  of  the  ancient  palace."  As  the  restored  front  was  much 
the  more  interesting  of  the  two,  its  restoration  is  certainly  a 
loss  to  picturesque  architecture,  and  the  remains  of  the  Vene- 
tian Byzantine  are  now  so  few  in  number  that  it  seems  a  pity 
to  have  any  of  them  falsified  by  the  restorer's  chisel  and  scra- 
per. 


ft' 


MONG  the  good  things  accomplished  by  the  Congress  for 
the  Advancement  of  Technical  Education  which  met  at 
Bordeaux  last  year  one  of  the  best  was  the  public  notice, 
given  in  an  excellent  report,  presented  for  the  commercial 
section  by  Mr.  Merckling,  of  the  importance  of  the  schools  for 
commercial  education  which  are  now  in  operation  in  many 
places  on  the  Continent.  In  Germany,  the  leader  of  all  coun- 
tries in  most  matters  of  education,  the  first  thought  of  those 
who  see  a  prospect  open  for  the  development  of  a  new  industry 
is  to  prepare  a  course  of  instruction  intended  to  fit  persons  for 
pursuing  the  new  employment  with  advantage,  and  the  result 
of  the  Imperial  policy  of  extending  German  influence,  where- 
ever  possible,  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  has  been  to  create  a 
great  demand  for  schools  in  which  young  men,  as  a  preparation 
for  employment  in  the  new  commercial  enterprises,  can  learn 
book-keeping,  the  principles  of  finance,  and  commercial  law, 
besides  such  foreign  languages  as  will  be  most  useful  in  an  ex- 
tended business,  and  the  details  of  certain  branches  of  manu- 
facturing, if  manufactured  goods  are  likely  to  occupy  an  im- 
portant place  in  the  future  merchants'  affairs.  In  response  to 
the  demand,  such  schools  or  courses  of  instruction  have  sprung 
up  everywhere,  and  the  consequence  is  that  as  the  German 
manufacturers,  through  their  enterprise  in  establishing  techni- 
cal schools,  have  succeeded  in  making  themselves  first  in  the 
markets  of  the  world,  and  even  sell  their  goods  in  immense 
quantities  to  the  French,  their  chief  competitors,  so  the  Ger- 
man merchants'  clerks,  equipped  with  the  training  of  their  new- 
schools,  find  their  way  to  profitable  employment  all  over  the 
world,  and  are  met  with  in  great  numbers  in  England,  where 
their  business-like  habits,  and  their  usefulness  in  the  foreign 
trade  which  forms  a  large  part  of  the  affairs  of  most  great  Eng- 
lish merchants,  gives  them  an  immense  advantage  over  the 
native  clerks.  Following  the  example  of  the  Germans,  the 
French  have,  in  a  quiet  way,  done  much  recently  to  promote 
commercial  education,  and  schools  for  the  purpose  of  providing 
such  education  have  been  established  at  Paris,  Lyons,  Mar- 
seilles, Havre  and  Bordeaux,  while  prizes,  in  the  shape  of 
scholarships  for  foreign  travel,  are  offered  by  the  Government 
to  the  most  industrious  and  successful  pupils.  A  new  experi- 
ment has  also  been  tried  in  France,  in  the  opening  of  education 
of  this  kind  to  girls,  Lyons  having  a  commercial  school  for 
girls,  as  well  as  one  for  boys,  while  in  Paris  the  great  muni- 
cipal school  for  girls  has  a  commercial  section.  Considering 
how  large  a  part  of  French  retail  business  is  carried  on  by 
women,  it  is  certainly  desirable  in  every  way  that  the  same 
opportunities  for  preparing  themselves  to  manage  it  successfully 
should  be  open  to  them  as  to  the  other  sex,  and  the  Congress 
adjourned  with  a  special  recommendation  of  the  girls'  commer- 
cial schools  to  the  attention  of  the  public,  and  the  wish  that 
other  cities  might  follow  the  example  of  Paris  and  Lyons. 
Before  the  next  meeting  of  the  Congress,  which  is  to  be  held 
in  St.  Petersburg  in  1888,  it  would  be  interesting  to  collect  in- 
formation in  regard  to  our  own  commercial  schools  and  busi- 
ness colleges,  to  which  both  sexes  in  this  country  owe  so  much. 
In  some  respects  their  curriculum  is  very  limited  in  comparison 
with  that  of  the  German  schools ;  but  our  clerks  and  salesmen 
have  little  use  for  foreign  languages,  and  the  best  of  our  busi- 
ness colleges  teach  what  they  undertake  to  impart  with  re- 
markable success. 


JANUARY  14,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


15 


OPEN-TIMBER  ROOFS  OF   THE  MIDDLE   AGES.— I. 

"AlLarchitecture  is  but  a  glorified  roof.**  —  llugkin. 

"There  are  few  features  of  Medireval  art  In  this  country  to  which  attention 
could  be  more  profitably  directed  than  the  roof;  for,  whether  applied  to  secular 
or  ecclesiastical  buildings,  the  framed  and  carved  wooden  rout  is  essentially 
English  in  execution  and  application,  and  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  appro- 
priate manifestations  of  our  national  art."  —  Fergitsion. 

H  E  builders  of  the 
Middle  Ages 
have  left  us  many 
proofs  of  their  skill, 
but  none  more  inter- 
esting than  those  re- 
vealed by  a  study  of 
their  open-timber 
roofs.  Certainly  it  is 
in  these  if  anywhere 
that  the  Mediaeval  ar- 
chitects succeeded  in 
doing  what  they  have 
always  been  credited 
with  doing,  namely, 
boldly  recognizing  and 
accepting  forms  im- 
posed by  the  e  x  i  - 
gencies  of  construc- 
tion, and  then,  by  ar- 
tistic decoration,  en- 
deavoring to  render 
them  beautiful  and  har- 
monious. In  this  re- 


Fig,  i. 


Notre  Dame,  Mantes,  Prance.      [After  Jo  -nson's 
"  Specimens  of  Early  French  Architecture."] 


spect  these  roofs  afford  excellent  examples  of  successful  applica- 
tions of  the  principle  of  "  ornamental  construction." 

In  design  these  roofs  were  not  always  scientific,  but  in  execution 
they  were  invariably  excellent.  In  the  earlier  periods  it  must  be 
admitted  that  much  was  done  that  cannot  be  admired  either  from  a 
constructive  or  an  artistic  point  of  view.  It  may  be  said  of  these 
unsuccessful  efforts,  however,  that  they  are  of  exceeding  interest  as 
showing  the  many  difficulties  encountered  and  overcome,  and  thus, 
when  contrasted  with  the  beautiful  works  of  later  times,  serve  not  to 
detract  from  but  rather  to  heighten  our  admiration  for  those  remark- 
able specimens  of  Mediaeval  art. 

To-day,  practical  questions,  such  as  expense,  acoustic  properties, 
etc.,  tend  to  prevent  anything  like  general  use  as  in  the  period  of 
Gothic  Revival,  but  it  is  still  to  be  said  that  "  no  form  of  wooden 
covering  is  so  good  in  the  internal  effect  as  the  high-pitched,  open 
roof  with  its  massive  timbers  crossing  and  recrossing  in  perspective 
and  giving  mysterious  shadows  and  half  lights  above."  l 

ABSENCE    OF    EARLY    EXAMPLES. 

A  very  noticeable  feature  in  the  history  of  wooden  roofs  is  the 
absence  of  early  examples,  especially  on  the  Continent,  The  num- 
ber of  examples  previous  to  the  fourteenth  century  is  surprisingly 
small,  though,  considering  the  perishable  nature  of  the  material,  it 
might  be  urged  that  the  existence  of  any  examples,  not  the  lack  of 
many,  should  occasion  surprise.  The  existence  of  so  few  examples 
may  be  accounted  for  in  several  ways.  It  is  largely  due,  of  course, 
to  the  inflammable  nature  of  the  material.  Though  time  and  decay 
were  not  without  their  effects,  fire  was  a  far  more  destructive  agent. 
One  needs  but  to  read  the  early  history  of  the  great  cathedrals  to 
learn  how  frequent  and  disastrous  were  the  conflagrations  of  those 
days.  The  labor  of  years  was  often  lost  in  as  many  hours.  A  mate- 
rial with  which  this  was  not  only  possible  but  even  probable,  naturally 
came  to  be  held  in  more  or  less  contempt.  Moreover,  this  prejudice 
against  timber  construction  was,  no  doubt,  encouraged  by  that  great 
body  of  workers  in  stone,  the  Freemasons.  Thus,  not  only  were 
many  specimens  actually  destroyed,  but  also  many  others  were  not 
erected  because  of  their  liability  to  such  destruction.  On  the  Conti- 
nent, except  in  Normandy,  it  is  found  that  stone  vaults  were  mostly 
used,  wooden  roofs  being  merely  for  the  protection  of  vaulted  ceilings, 
and  composed  of  large,  roughly-squared  timbers,  which  were  framed 
for  the  work  they  had  to  do  without  regard  to  their  appearance 

(^  l)- 

SUPERIORITY   OF    ENGLISH    ROOFS. 

In  Normandy,  as  just  intimated,  wooden  roofs  did  not  give  way  to 
stone  vaults  to  the  same  extent  that  they  did  in  other  parts  of  the 
Continent.  As  early  as  the  eleventh  century  the  Normans  had  made 
considerable  progress  in  the  construction  of  timber  roofs.  Taken  in 
connection  with  several  others,  this  fact  is  of  considerable  signifi- 
cance. Why  is  it,  for  instance,  that  timber  construction  received 
more  attention  in  Normandy  than  elsewhere  on  the  Continent  ?  Why 
is  it  that  the  English  roofs  should  be  so  vastly  superior  to  those  of 
the  Continent,  in  fact,  being  unsurpassed  for  variety,  richness  and 
beauty?  An  explanation  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  race 
origin  of  the  English  and  Normans  is  the  same  and  is  altogether 
different  from  that  of  the  French.  Moreover,  the  original  Normans 
or  Northmen  were  a  great  sea-faring  people,  a  nation  of  sailors  and 
ship-builders.  Now,  before  the  Iron  Age  to  be  a  nation  of  ship- 
builders was  to  be  a  nation  of  carpenters.  The  original  Britons 
were  Northmen  —  Angles,  Saxons,  Jutes.  After  the  death  of  Alfred, 


1  From  an  article  on  the  "Architectural  Treatment  of  the  Boof,"  Builder, 
December  16, 1876. 


England  was  conquered  by  the  Danes  or  Norsemen,  and  shortly 
afterward  c.ime  the  Norman  Conquest.  The  English,  thus  having 
the  same  race  origin  as  the  people  of  Normandy,  naturally  had  the 
same  race  characteristics.  Moreover,  the  insular  position  of  the 
English  was  not  without  its  influence  on  their  national  character. 
The  English  were  thus  a 
carpentering  people,  and  to 
this  element  of  their  char- 
acter it  is  easy  to  ascribe 
their  superiority  in  timber 
construction  to  the  French, 
who  inherited  no  such  na- 
tional trend  of  mind. 

This  explanation  finds 
confirmation  in  the  history 
of  English  Gothic  architec- 
ture, a  singular  feature  in  , 
the  development  of  which 
is  the  constant  progress 
from  the  forms  of  masonry 
to  those  of  carpentry.  The 
whole  course  of  English 
vaulting  is  in  fact  a  grad- 
ual -approximation  to  pan- 
elling, which  is  essentially 
a  characteristic  treatment 
of  wood.  Fan-vaulting  is 
quite  as  easily  executed  in 
wood  as  in  stone.  An  ex-  Fi_  2- 

ample  of  a  wooden  groin  -wooden  Groined  Roof.  Warmington,  England, 
vault  is  given  in  Fi<*ure  2.  (1260).  [After  Itickmau's  "  English  Architect- 
Such  a  result  certainly  be-  vrai  styitt."} 

speaks  a  carpentering  turn  at  mind.  The  development  of  English 
open-timber  roofs  will,  therefore,  be  the  subject  for  detailed  con- 
sideration, the  French  examples  receiving  merely  incidental  atten- 
tion as  they  serve  to  illustrate  intermediate  steps. 

WOODEN    ROOFS   OF    ANTIQUITY. 

Before  taking  up  the  English  roofs,  however,  it  will  be  worth 
while,  perhaps,  to  briefly  consider  what  had  been  done  in  this  direc- 
tion previous  to  the  Mediaeval  period.  The  earliest  and  simplest 

form  of  wooden  roof  is  that 
known  as  the  tie-beam.  In 
this  form  of  roof  (Fig.  3), 
two  inclined  rafters  are 
framed  together  at  the  top, 
while  they  are  held  together 
below  by  a  horizontal  beam, 
called  the  tie-beam,  which 
serves  to  counteract  the 

Fig.  3.  tendency  of  the  rafters  to 

spread  apart  below  and  ex- 
ert an  outward  thrust  on  the  walls. 

Very  little  is  known  about  wooden  roofs  as  used  by  the  ancients : 
no  examples,  of  course,  remain,  but,  though  it  has  been  held  on  this 
account  that  they  had  none,  it  is  probable  that  they  were  of  this 
simple  tie-beam  description.  There  is  no  evidence  of  progress  in  the 
construction  of  timber  roofs  until  the  later  days  of  the  Roman 
Empire.  Vaults  were  then  erected  that  required  centres  of  no  mean 
construction,  and  basilicas  were  built  which  required  roofs  of  large 


Fig.  4. 
The  Basilica  of  St.  Paul,  Rome.    [After  Tredgold.] 

span.     The  Ulpian  basilica  is  considered  a  typical  specimen  of  those 
with  wooden  roofs.     This  was  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  wide  and 


Fig.  5. 
Ste.  Sabine,  Rome.    [After  Hubech.] 

divided  into  five  aisles.     The  central  one,  nearly  ninety  feet  wide, 
was  covered  with  a  wooden  roof  of  semi-circular  form.4   Built  largely 

1 A  restored  section  of  this  basilica  is  to  be  found  oil  page  317,  Vol.  1  (Fergussou) . 


16 


The   American   Architect  and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  629. 


after  Roman  models,  the  wooden  roofs  of  the  Early  Christian  basili- 
cas may  fairly  be  taken  as  representing  Roman  forms  and  methods. 
The  common  forms,  king  and  queen  post  trusses,  are  shown  in  the 
accompanying  figures,  viz.,  4,  5,  G  and  7. 

These  examples  show  just  about  how  far  the  construction  of  tim- 
ber roofs  had  advanced  be- 
fore the  Middle  Ages.  It  is 
evide»t  that  the  principle  of 
the  truss  was  well  under- 
stood. The  use  of  iron 
straps,  bolts,  etc.,  which  are 
not  found  in  the  Mediaeval 

roofs,   was   almost    necessi- 
tated by  the  enormous  spans 

which  were  covered,  some  of 

these  being  twice  the  width 

of  the  average  Gothic  nave. 

Moreover,  in  most  instances, 

these  roofs   were  intended 


the  span  was  increased  to  any  extent,  the  tic-beam  had  a  tendency  to 
sag.  This  sagging  was  prevented  in  the  first  instance  by  making 
the  tie-beam  of  very  large  dimensions.  The  massiveness  so  charac- 
teristic of  all  early 
roofs  is  sometimes 
attributed  to  the 
abundance  of  ma- 
terial at  hand,  but 
it  would  seem  to 
have  been  quite  as 
much  the  result 
of  methods  of  de- 
sign  then  i  n  [ 


J 


Fig.  10. 
[Viollet-le-Duc.] 


ditional  weight  on  the  trusses,  concealed  them,  and  consequently  no 
attempt  was  made  at  artistic  design  or  decoration. 

CLASSIFICATION   AND   DESCRIPTION   OF   ENGLISH   TIMBER   ROOFS. 

The    different  varieties   of   English   open-timber   roofs   may   be 
arranged  in  the  order  of  their  development  as  follows: 

A.  Tie-beam  Roofs.    J  Trussed.'     -  Single  Frame. 

I  Lntrussed.  — Double  Frame. 

B.  Roofs  without  Tie-beams  : 

1.  Trussed  Rafter.  —  Untrussed.  —  Single  Frame. 

2.  Hammer-Beam.      )  ™          ,        •_ 

3.  Collar-braced.        j  Trussed.     —Double  Frame. 

Another  classification  would  be  this : 
(<0    Hoofs  from  which  the  thrust  or  pressure  is  vertical. 
(6)    Roofs  from  which  the  thrust  or  pressure  is  oblique 
(a)  and  (6)  of  the  latter  correspond. to  (.4)  and  (B)  of' the  former 
classification.      Practically^everything   except    the  tie-beam    roof 

comes  in  the 
second  class 
(V)  unless  an 
exception  is 
made  of  the 
low-pitch  roof 
of  the  late  Ter- 
pen  d  i  c  u  1  a  r 
period,  the 
thrust  of 
which  was  ap- 
proximately 
vertical. 

(A)     Tie- 
Beam    Roofs. 
—  The     s  c  i  - 
ence  of  truss- 
ing which  had 
been   so    suc- 
cessfully    ap- 
Slied    by   the 
Romans    was 
lost     durins 


vogue.  In  the  ' 
course  of  time  this 
tendency  to  deflec- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  tie-beam  became  the  source  of  much  difficulty  and 
resulted  finally  in  the  introduction  of  the  king-post  as  a  tie  (Fig.  11). 
The  first  attempt  to  brace  the  rafters  was  decidedly  unsatisfactory. 


the      Dark 

rViollet-le-Duc.]  Ao-es.    In  the 

theoretically  perfect  truss,  the  load  should  produce   no"  transverse 
strain  on  any  part,  and  the  pressure  transmitted  'o  the  abutments 
should  be  vertical. 
These    two  .  essential  N 

principles  of  the  truss  .  ^    •# 

are  not  recognized  in 
the  early  Mediaeval 
roof.  The  real  func- 
tions of  the  king-post 
and  tie-beam  are  often 
wholly  misconceived. 
For  example,  the  king- 
post is  frequently 
found  as  an  upright 
strut  supported  by  the 
tie-beam  (Figs.  8  and 
9). 

The    primitive  form 
of  Mediaeval  roof,   ac- 

Fig.  9. 


Fig.  II. 

[Viollet-le-Duc.l 

The  manner  in  which  this  was  accomplished  is  shown  in  FiVure  19 
The  curved  struts  which  were  introduced  to  stiffen  the  rafters  were 
themselves  supported  by  the  tie-beam.  Additional  strength  WM 
given  to  the  rafters,  but  it  was  secured  at  the  expense  of  "the  tie! 

beam.      It   was 
not   long,   how- 
ever,   before 
this  method  was 
abandoned  and 
a  better  one  de- 
vised.    By  sim- 
p  1  y    reversing 
the  position    of 
the    struts  and 
framing     them 
into    the    king- 
post instead  of 
the  tie-beam,  a 
transverse 
strain  was  con- 
verted   into     a 
tensile  one  and 
a   scientifically- 
constructed 
truss    was     ob- 
tained     (F  i  a 

MS). 

Most  of  these 
roof  s  were 
d  o  u  ble-framed, 
that  is  to  say, 


Fig.  13. 
[Viollet-le-Duc.] 


composed  of  two  sets  of  rafters.      The  «  common  "  raTter«"'wM,.h 
ceived  the  roofing  material,  rested  on  a  framin"  of  •' puriins  »  that 

naTr  TIT"1  t  ^"^  "^^  *>'  hea^  truSSCS>  ^  «P  K 
pair  of  large  rafters  known  as  "principals."     Such  a  method  of  ™ 

struetion  made  the  roofs  very  heaVy  and  necessitatedthe  u^e  of  verv" 


a'-T^™^ 

trussed  m  the  latter  case  when  it  is  suDDortpd  »t  int  te.cl'mcally.  said  to  be 
rafters  ("principals")  which  are  stronglyPt°ed  and  b™o£  #  V"' of  larSe- 
between  these  "trusses  »  are  spanned  hamate ?4,nZn  ") SaSS*  "  ^^ 


Fig.    14. 
rViollet-le-Duc.] 

S5SSKS<;a3*isAw  -— 
8aaaasjs=s!affrt«s4£ 


JANUARY  14,  1888.] The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


17 


ishcd,  and  the  less  transverse  strain  there  had  to  be  provided  for, 
the  smaller  the  timbers  and  the  lighter  the  framing  could  be. 

Two  methods  of  stiffening  the  rafters  and  at  the  same  time  lessen- 
ing their  effective  thrust  on  the  walls  merit  attention.  One  effect  of 
increasing  the  inclination  of  the  roof  was  to  increase  the  vertical  dis- 
tance from  the  inner  edge  of  the  top  of  the  wall  to  the  under  side  of 
the  rafter  (a,  Fig.  15).  By  inserting  a  vertical  strut  here  and  fram- 
ing the  lower  ends  of  both  strut  and  rafter  into  a  horizontal  shoe 


Fig.  15. 


Fig.  16. 


[VioIlet-le-Duc.] 

(c,  Fig.  15),  not  only  was  greater  stiffness  given  to  the  rafter,  but  its 
thrust  was  made  more  nearly  vertical.  The  shoe  (c)  was  sometimes 
made  the  end  of  the  tie-beam. 

When  short  and  separate,  as  in  Figure  1 7,  the  tie-beam  was  raised 
or  arranged  as  in  Figure  16.  Both  of 
these  examples  (15  and  16)  are  French. 
That  shown  in  Figure  17  is  English  and 
differs  only  in  the  method  of  fixing  the 
shoe-piece  to  the  wall.  In  England,  the 
tie-beam  roof  was  never  used  to  any  extent, 
and  even  when  it  was,  the  proper  func- 
tion of  the  tie-beam  seems  to  have  been 
misapprehended.  It  was  generally  made 
quite  independent  of  the  other  timbers  ;  it 
was  really  nothing  but  a  heavy  beam  laid 
across  from  wall  to  wall  and  used  as  a  sort 
of  foundation  from  which  to  build  the  roof. 
To  prevent  the  deflection  which  such  usage 
would  develop,  the  beam  had  to  be  made 
of  very  large  section.  In  effect  this  was 
very  heavy  and  depressing,  and  so,  as  Mr. 
Street  says,  "  the  old  architects  were  con- 
stantly varying  their  designs  with  the  ob- 
ject of  improving  the  construction  of  their 
roofs  and  very  often  with  a  view  to  dis- 
pensing with  the  tie-beam,  which  in  many  cases  was  felt  to  be  an 
eye-sore."  For  example,  it  was  almost  invariably  cambered  in  order 
to  prevent  any  appearance  of  sagging,  which  is  the  case  with  a 
perfectly  straight  tie- 
beam  (Figs.  8  and  9), 
and  accordingly  the 
latter  is  of  rare  occur- 
rence. As  a  further 
means  of  overcoming 
this  disagreeable  effect, 
curved  braces  were 
often  introduced  (Fig. 

<r: 


Fig.  17. 


Tie-beam   roofs 
very    low    pitch 


rf 


were 

used  in  the  Perpendicu- 
lar period.  Frequently 
the  pitch  is  so  low  that 
it  is  obtained  by  merely 
cambering  the  tie-beam. 


Fig.  18. 
Outwell  Church,  England.    [Brandon.! 

The  tie-beam  roof  has  no  disturbing  effect  on  the  substructure  and  is 
simple  in  its  construction.  For  utilitarian  purposes,  it  is  the  best 
form  and  probably  the  most  economical.  "  It  can  scarcely  be  con- 
sidered as  conducive  to  architectural  effect,  however.  This  is  ob- 
tained when  the  tie-beam  is  dropped  and  the  roof  may  be  said  to 
spring  from,  not  merely  rest  on  the  walls.  The  structure  then 
becomes  a  complete  whole ;  walls  and  roof  are  dependent  on  one 
another;  the  roof  becomes  a  part  of  the  architecture,  not  a  mere 
covering  laid  on." 1 

ITo  be  continued.! 


IF  our  readers  have  wasted  half  as  much  time  as  we  have  in  trying 
to  find  some  definite  illustration  which  we  know  was  published  in  this 
Journal  at  some  indefinite  past  time,  they  will  be  glad  to  know  that  the 
Decennial  Index  of  Illustrations  in  the  American  Architect  is  now  ready  in 
book  form. 

1  Prom  au  article  on  "Architectural  Treatment  of  the  Hoof  "  —  Builder,  1876. 


7c*VER.cy.5TPERE 


THE    THIRD  EXHIBITION  OF    THE  ARCHITECTURAL 
LEAGUE. 

HE  third  of  the  annual  exhi- 
bitions of  architectural  draw- 
ing which  have,  fortunately 
for  the  profession,  been  carried 
out  by  the  energy  of  the  New 
York  Architectural  League,  is  to 
be  found  in  new  and  very  pleas- 
ant quarters  on  the  ground  floor 
of  the  new  building  on  Fifth 
Avenue,  between  the  Stewart 
Mansion  and  the  Caswell  House, 
the  old  University  Club,  which 
has  just  l>een  erected  for  the  use 
of  a  few  artists  and  a  well-known 
firm  of  picture-dealers.  Although 
not  quite  so  brilliantly  illumi- 
nated by  day  as  the  old  galleries 
on  Twenty-third  Street,  thelight 
is  pleaeantcr,  and  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  rooms  better  adapted 
to  give  effect  to  the  collection. 
Under  these  favorable  circum- 
stances the  exhibition  presents 
an  appearance  which  we  may 
well  call  remarkable,  and  in  the 
brilliancy  and  variety  of  the 
JOU.T  VEZELAY,  drawings  shown,  the  skill  with 
•"«>•"  »"-*«"•  which  they  are  arranged,  and  the 

piquant  interest  of  many  of  the  delightful  designs,  the  New  York 
collection  far  surpasses  the  architectural  portion  of  the  Royal  Acad- 
emy exhibition  in  London  or  that  of  the  Salon  in  Paris.  Not  long 
ago  one  of  the  English  professional  journals  warned  its  British 
readers  that  their  American  cousins  had  nothing  to  learn  from  them 
in  respect  to  clever  sketching,  and  that  if  they  did  not  look  to  their 
laurel*,  they  would  see  them  transferred  across  the  water,  and  the 
exhibition  of  the  present  year  certainly  indicates  that  the  Americans 
mean  to  get  a  good  place  when  the  start  in  the  artistic  race  is  made. 
As  compared  with  the  exhibitions  of  previous  years,  the  present 
one  is,  as  a  whole,  agreeably  marked  by  the  absence  of  those  obtru- 
sive, elaborate  and  depressing  colored  drawings,  in  which  a  painter 
has  done  his  best  to  infuse  interest  into  a  commonplace  design, 
which  not  long  ago  formed  the  staple  of  such  collections,  and  the 
unquestionable  tendency,  which  this  fact  indicates,  of  the  younger 
architects  to  draw  and  render  their  designs  themselves,  is  fulfof 
promise  for  the  future  of  their  art.  It  is  true  that  they  are  not 
always  very  successful  in  their  renderings,  and  many  consumptive, 
raw  and  sprawly  sketches  mingle  with  the  others,  but  an  architect 
learns  more  and  advances  faster  by  making  a  bad  drawing  of  his 
own  design  than  by  "  directing  "  the  efforts  of  the  most  accomplished 
artists  in  the  evolution  of  his  idea. 

To  begin  at  the  beginning,  the  catalogue  of  the  exhibition  is  this 
year  a  little  treasure,  free  from  the  grotesque  proof-reading  which 
characterized  the  former  ones,  exquisitely  printed  and  illustrated, 
and  bound  and  arranged  with  perfect  taste.  A  large  part  of  it  is 
given  up  to  advertisements,  but  it  is  none  the  worse  for  that,  and 
the  finances  of  the  League  are  considerably  better,  so  much  so,  in 
fact,  that  the  continuance  of  the  yearly  exhibitions  is,  we  understand, 
assured,  through  the  success  of  the  catalogue,  in  lightening  the  bur- 
den of  expense  which  they  entail.  If  we  might  make  a  suggestion 
which  would  make  the  next  year's  catalogue  perfect,  it  would  be  that 
the  illustrations  should  comprise  a  few  reproductions  of  such  beauti- 
ful decorative  works  as  the  committee  was  this  year  fortunate  enough 
to  secure. 

The  most  conspicuous  drawings  to  be  seen  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
entrance-door  are  those  made  by  Mr.  Joseph  Pennell  for  the  Century 
Company,  to  illustrate  Mrs.  Van  Rensselaer's  papers  on  the  English 
Cathedrals.  With  most  of  the  visitors  these  seem  to  be  the  favorites 
of  all  the  drawings  in  the  room,  and  they  are  indeed  masterly,  but  we 
must  confess  that  we  did  not  find  them  quite  as  interesting  as  we 
expected.  Some  are  in  India-ink  wash  and  some  in  pen-and-ink,  the 
latter,  which  are  splendidly  executed,  and  in  some  portions  show  a 
good  deal  of  that  delicious  tenderness  which  we  have  learned  to 
prize  so  highly  in  Mr.  Pennell's  smaller  works,  being,  to  our  mind, 
preferable  to  the  washed  drawings  which  have  an  uncomfortable  air 
of  having  been  drawn  from  phetographs.  Besides  the  main  group 
of  these,  others  are,  with  a  clever  purpose  of  relief  by  their  broad 
black  and  white  surfaces,  scattered  among  the  smaller  sketches  in 
various  parts  of  the  room.  A  considerable  part  of  the  colored  draw- 
ings and,  of  course,  many  of  the  best,  are  by  Mr.  Louis  C.  Tiffany, 
whose  clever  sketches  from  nature  form  brilliant  spots  over  the  best- 
lighted  wall.  Next  to  some  of  these,  which  follow  the  large  Pennell 
group,  the  most  interesting  drawing  is  a  pen-and-ink  sketch  of  a 
Romanesque  doorway,  executed,  we  think,  for  a  Chicago  club-hou.se 
by  Messrs.  Burnham  &  Root.  This  is  reproduced  in  the  catalogue, 
and  has  already  been  given  in  the  Inland  Architect  and  copied  in°the 
London  Builder,  and,  as  a  design,  no  less  than  as  a  masterly  draw- 
ing, well  deserves  the  high  praise  bestowed  upon  it  by  the  editor  of 
the  Builder.  Near  this  is  a  clever  sketch  of  a  proposed  alteration  by 
Mr.  James  Brown  Lord,  drawn  by  Mr.  T.  Rockwood  Cutler  in  body 


18 


TJie  American   Architect  and  Building  News.     [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  62 


color,  with  a  little  transparent  color  in  the  shadows  and  clouds,  on 
rough  brown  paper.  Although  very  sketchy,  the  bare  paper  show- 
ing through  in  many  places,  the  lines  are  firmly  put  in,  so  that  there 
is  no  uncertainty  as  to  the  forms  intended  and  the  effect  is  excellent. 
In  No.  46,  near  by,  Mr.  William  Convers  Haxlett  gives  a  pretty  pen- 
and-ink  drawing,  somewhat  in  Mr.  Wright's  manner,  of  a  country 
house.  This  is  one  of  several  by  the  same  architect,  who  is  compara- 
tively a  new  contributor  to  professional  exhibitions,  but  who  is 
honored,  and  justly,  by  having  two  of  his  works  in  the  present  one 
reproduced  in  the  catalogue. 

We  look  rather  eagerly  for  specimens  of  the  work  of  Messrs. 
Rossiter  &  Wright,  and  are  happy  enough  to  find  several,  some 
drawn  by  Mr.  Wright,  and  others  by  Mr.  Rossiter.  It  is  needless  to 
say  that  all  are  strikingly  pretty,  both  in  design  and  drawing,  but  we 
look  with  confidence  to  find  some  special  treasure  among  them,  and 
find  it  in  a  colored  sketch,  No.  129,  of  a  house  in  Connecticut,  by 
Mr.  Rossiter.  Such  drawings  as  these  of  Mr.  Rossiter's  and  Mr. 
Cutler's  seem  to  us  nearly  the  perfection  of  architectural  sketches  in 
color.  More  finished  drawings,  unless  of  large  buildings,  are  apt  to 
sacrifice  either  the  architecture  to  the  color,  or  vice-versa,  and  less 
finished  ones  often  leave  the  architecture  so  indeterminate  as  to 
come  barely  under  the  head  of  architectural  drawings  at  all.  Among 
the  impressionist  works  of  this  sort  in  the  exhibition,  the  most  con- 
spicuous are  perhaps  some  drawn  by  Mr.  Clarence  S.  Luce,  either 
for  himself  or  Mr.  George  Martin  Huss.  It  is  needless  to  say  that 
all  these  are  pretty  and  taking  at  a  distance,  but  on  closer  examina- 
tion the  design  appears  wanting.  Some  lines  are  there,  not  always 
tending  to  an  accurate  vanishing  point,  but  they  are  far  between, 
and  might  mean  almost  anything.  This  is  the  more  disappointing, 
as  all  Mr.  Luce's  lines  are  precious,  and  one  does  not  wish  to  see 
them  economized. 

We  have,  unfortunately,  only  space  to  mention  a  small  portion  of 
the  works  shown,  but  must  notice  a  beautiful  study  for  a  tower,  by 
Mr.  John  Calvin  Stevens,  of  Portland,  which  well  deserves  its  re- 
production in  the  catalogue,  and  a  drawing  of  an  hotel  at  Orange 
Mountain,  New  Jersey,  made  by  Mr.  Hazlett  for  Mr.  Arthur  1). 
Pickering,  which  is  singularly  picturesque  and  brilliant,  both  as  a 
drawing  and  design. 

Mr.  Cass  Gilbert  has  also  a  pretty  interior,  sketched  in  pencil  on 
tinted  paper,  with  a  little  color  over  it,  and  a  rather  similar  one,  of  a 
country  house,  heightened  with  white,  and  Mr.  Stevens  also  some 
clever  sketches,  particularly  one  of  a  picturesque  tower,  which  sug- 
gests Mr.  Kirby.  Both  this,  and  a  pair  of  slight  drawings  of  a  stone 
country  house,  by  Mr.  Wilson  Eyre,  of  Philadelphia,  are  filled  with 
the  spirit  of  picturesque  architectural  grouping,  which  seems  to 
flourish  better  in  America  than  in  any  other  modern  country.  As. 
contrasted  with  these,  we  find  an  interesting  series  of  school  designs, 
made  at  the  Paris  School  of  Fine  Arts  by  Mr.  Richard  M.  Hunt"  as 
well  as  geometrical  drawings  of  the  new  portion  of  the  Louvre,  made 
by  him  as  assistant  to  Lefuel.  Just  beyond,  we  find  sketches  of  the 
successful  design  for  the  Madison  Square  Garden,  by  Messrs.  McKim, 
Mead  &  White,  showing  the  famous  tower  which  is  destined  to 
become  one  of  the  architectural  landmarks  of  New  York,  if  it  meets 
with  the  study  which  such  an  object  claims  from  its  designer.  This 
reservation  is  perhaps  the  more  judicious,  as  the  interior  sketch  of 
the  same  building,  which  is  shown  near  by,  in  an  apology  for  a 
drawing  by  Mr.  Hoppin,  has  the  air  of  having  been  designed  in 
about  fifteen  minutes,  and  drawn  in  about  fifteen  more,  without  even 
the  preliminary  ceremony  of  stretching  the  paper,  which  is  drawn 
and  "  cbckled  "  in  all  directions  in  consequence. 

At  this  point  we  arrive  at  the  entranco  door  of  the  Loan  Ex- 


paintings,  stamped-leather 
hangings,  and  so  on,  which  ought  to  have  a  separate  description 


[Contributor,  are  requested  to  send  with  their  drawings   full  and 
adequate  descriptions  of  the  buildings,  including  a  statement  of  cost.] 

THE   CHURCH   OP   NOTRE   DAME,    MONTREAL,  P.  Q. 
[Gelatine  Print,  issued  only  with  tlie  Imperial  Edition  ] 

10'00°  Pcrsons  was  built  of  limestone 


, 


'  eso 

measures  2o5  feet  in  length  and  144  feet  in  width. 


THE   TAVERN,   DECATUR,   ALA.      MR.   L.    B.   WHEELER,    ARCHITECT, 
ATLANTA,   GA. 

cos!  SIK^OOO.111^  Wh°Se  interi°r  1S  t0  bC  decorated  by  Tiffany,  will 

THE    NELSON    MEMORIAL   HALL,    KINGSTON,    PA.      MESSRS.    KIPP    & 
PODMORE,   ARCHITECTS,   WILKES-BARRE,   PA. 

Tins  building  is  to  cost,  about  $22,000. 


THE     LOGAN     OFFICES,     PHILADELPHIA,      PA.         MESSRS.     COPE     ,t 
8TEWARDSON,   ARCHITECTS,    PHILADELPHIA,    PA. 

HOUSES    FOR   J.    H.    CARTER,  ESQ.,  AND   FOR    GEORGE    L.    FREEMAN, 
ESQ.      MR.    W.    H.   SYMONDS,    ARCHITECT,    UTICA,   N.    Y. 

THE   INTERIOR    OF    THE   BARDO,    TUNIS. 


FOURTH    ANNUAL    REPORT    OF    THE    BUREAU    OF 
ETHNOLOGY.  — I. 

PICTOGRAPHS    OF    THE   NORTH    AMERICAN   INDIANS.  1 

0NE  of  the  bright  pages  in  the 
record  of  what  may  be  called 
the  higher  functions  of  our 
national  Government  is  to  be  found 
in  its  fostering  of  scientific  in- 
quiry. We  still  perpetuate  the 
iniquity  of  according  to  foreign 
authors  no  rights  under  our  laws, 
and  thereby  discouraging  native 
literature  to  the  utmost ;  we  have 
made  an  exorbitant  tariff  for  for- 
eign works  of  art,  and  thereby 
done  our  best  to  retard  the  aes- 
thetic development  of  our  country ; 
but  in  its  promotion  of  scientific 
investigation  our  Government  has 


CATHEDRAL 


in Tcovigrtuuu  uur  viuve; 
long  since  merited  the  admiration  of  the  intellectual  world. 

It  seems  particularly  appropriate  that  a  republic  designed  on  the 
grandest  scale  yet  known  to  be  a  government  of  man,  by  man  and 
for  man  — to  change  slightly  the  phraseology,  though  not  the  purport, 
of  a  familiar  saying  —  should  make  a  special  feature  of  the  science 
of  mankind,  the  youngest,  and  yet  the  greatest  of  the  natural  sciences, 
comprehending,  in  fact,  all  the  others,  and  uniting  them  to  its  service 
The  work  of  the  National  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  as  a  department  of 
the  Smithsonian  Institution  at  Washington,  is  probably  greater  and 
more  elaborate  than  any  similar  work  conducted  under  the  auspices 
or  patronage  of  any  other  Government,  and  for  its  magnitude,  as 
well  as  its  quality,  we  are  indebted  to  the  scholarly  mind  and  the 
energy  of  its  director,  Major  J.  W.  Powell.     The  aboriginal  races  of 
America  offer  the  richest  field  for  ethnological  investigation,  and  the 
results  are  certain  to  be  of  high  practical,  as  well  as  scientific,  value 
Through  the  study  of  the  so-called  savage  races,  both  in  their  livino- 
aspect  and  in  the  light  which  familiarity  with  present  conditions 
throws  on  their  archaeological  remains,  we  have  the  best  key  to  a 
knowledge  of  human  nature  in  the  abstract,  for  it  affords  us  the  in- 
dispensable means  of  beginning  at  the  very  foundation  which   is 
necessary  in  all  studies.     We  shall  thereby  be  enabled  to  penetrate 
to  the  inner  recesses  of  human  action,  motive  and  thought,  and  thus 
gain  the  means  for  the  solution  of  many  a  mysterious  problem.     It  is 
impossible  to  overestimate  the  importance  of  giving  this  knowledge 
into  the  keeping  of  the  wisest  men,  and  therefore  necessarily  the 
leaders,  of  the  great  nation  which  is  to  be  composed  of  nearly  all 
races  of  earth  fused  in  a  common  crucible,  and  where  the  greatest 
problems  of  humanity  are  destined  to  be  wrought  out.     For  the 
primitive  aspects  of  many  questions  of  human  nature  and  conditions 
which  are  vexing  us,  or  are  destined  to  vex  us  — such  as  the  socio- 
logical problem  — we  have  but  to  look  to  the  wild  races  that  still  in- 
habit our  territory,  and  to  the  records  of  centuries  that  they  have 
left  in  the  soil  throughout  the  land  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific 
and  from  the  great  lakes  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,     Here  to  well- 
trained  eyes  are  opened  chapters  of  knowledge  which  will  brin-r 
about  the  correct  understanding  of  many  weighty  questions 

The  recently  published  "  Fourth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of 
Ethnology  has  a  value,  in  this  respect  which  makes  it  worthy  of  its 
predecessors.  Its  elaborate  illustration  partially  accounts  for  the 
delay  m  its  appearance  (it  is  for  the  year  1882-83),  but  its  character 
makes  us  eager  to  see  the  four  succeeding  volumes  now  in  hand.  It 
also  makes  us  feel  the  importance  of  instituting  some  system  by  which 
the  scientific  publications  of  the  Government  can  be  made  more 
accessible  to  those  who  are  most  capable  of  appreciating  them.  In 
the  first  place,  it  should  be  a  rule  to  send  the  reports  to  every  public 
and  incorporated  library  in  the  country,  and  to  every  higher  educa- 
tiona  institution,  while  the  proposed  plan  of  having  the  volumes 
placed  on  sale  should  be  carried  out.  They  are  now  largely  dis- 
tributed by  Congressmen,  like  seeds  from  the  Agricultural  Depart- 

SoaswinV.0rSW  constituents-  and  in  great  measure  are  pearls  cast 
before  swine.  We  are  aware  that  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology  makes  a 
special  effort  to  get  its  publications  into  the  right  hands  bu^t  1  e^e  is 

neOn     fit     a.    TOmilo*.    atrcstn™*    tf**,    *!,,.     ,]•     4.      'I         ..  5?       ,, 

tlie  distribution  nf  all  •.•<•;,.,, i  ;<:,.  „.....]..  of 


»       '        °f  th.e.Bllreau  °f  Ethnology  makes  a  large 
volume  of  532  pages,  comprising  six  papers  by  three  contributors 

' 


— j    „.   ..„„,„  are  colored,  and  564  firrures  in 
.--..,  ^^u-cu  wood-engraving  and  proccss-work.     The  papers 
cons,st  of  an  elaborate  preliminary  essay  on  "  Pictographs  of  the 


'ByGarrickMallery. 


It).  629.        IMERUMN  IKGHITEGT  ^ND  BUILDING  fE 

CuraraHT  IBiBIVTI'^HOR  I  B 


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GOFOnSHT 1M6OTTTCHIOS  I  O 


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-  K1PP  6  PODM°RE  •  ARCHITECTS  - 


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CQPYETCHT  IMB'Vr  UOtBOt  ft  » 


fiiatag  C>  i;«m 


JANUARY  14,  1888.] 


TJie   American   Architect  and  Building  Neva*. 


19 


North  American  Indians,"  by  Lieutenant-Colonel  Garrick  Mallery; 
Three  Essays  on  Keramics,  by  Mr.  William  H.  Holmes —  "Pottery  of 
tin-  Ancient  Pueblos,"  "Ancient  Pottery  of  the  Mississippi  Valley," 
and  "Origin  and  Development  of  Form  and  Ornament  in  Kcramic 
Art;"  and  "A  Study  of  Pueblo  Pottery  as  Illustrative  of  Zuiii  Cul- 
ture-* i row tli,"  by  Frank  Hamilton  Gushing. 

These  papers  are  a  credit  to  American  ethnological  scholarship, 
and  should  furnish  food  for  reflection  to  the  dominant  element  in  the 
American  Institute  of  Archaeology,  which  is  disposed  to  see  no  field 
but  that  afforded  by  classical  ground  in  the  Old  World,  and  which 
we  feel  inclined  to  hold  resjwnsible  for  the  certainly  not  creditable 
fact  that  the  latest  number  of  that  beautiful  quarterly,  the  American 
Journal  of  Archctolnyy,  should  contain  but  one  page  of  notes  con- 
cerning America  amidst  dozen  of  pages  about  the  Eastern  Continent. 
The  publication  thus  belies  it*  name,  for  there  is  next  to  nothing 
"American"  about  it,  and  such  open  disregard  for  its  most  appro- 
priate field  is  adapted  to  give  it  an  amateurish  appearance  in  the 
eyes  of  European  scientists.  We  are  not  disposed  to  underestimate 
the  importance  of  classical  archaeology,  which,  however,  constitutes 
but  a  very  small  proportion  of  the  whole  field.  In  fact,  our  very  re- 
gard for  the  classical  work  makes  us  see  the  importance  of  the 
American,  which  affords  peculiar  opportunities  for  gaining  the 
knowledge  of  the  conditions  out  of  "whicn  grew  the  exquisite  blossom 
and  fruit  of  classical  culture,  and  which  is  therefore  essential  to  a 
proper  understanding  of  that  culture. 
Neither  do  we  urge  a  cultivation  of 
the  American  field  by  Americans  for 
so-called  "  patriotic  "  reasons,  but  be- 
cause it  is  our  legitimate  territory, 
lyin"  before  our  very  door  and  be- 
neath our  feet.  The  disposition  to 
regard  classic  archaeology  as  alone 
worthy  of  pursuit  by  scholars,  is  a 
survival  of  the  archaic  habit  of  sci- 
entific exclusiveness  long  since  re- 
placed by  the  enlightened  point  of 
view  that  all  branches  of  a  science, 
and  all  sciences,  are  as  interdepend- 
ent for  a  correct  understanding  of 
each  other  and  of  any  one,  as  are  all 
the  different  parts  of  any  organism 
to  the  existence  of  the  whole  and  of 
each  of  those  parts.  Therefore  the 
classic  spirit  can  only  be  truly  un- 
derstood in  its  highest  value  and 
significance  in  the  light  of  the  eth- 
nology and  archaeology  of  primitive 
peoples. 

Major  Powell's  thoughtful  com- 
ments on  these  papers  aid  very  ma- 
terially to  an  assimilation  of  their 
meaning  and  conclusions,  as  well  as 
an  understanding  of  the  preceding 
work  of  their  authors  which  led  up 
to  these.  Colonel  Mallery's  paper 
is  the  longest,  occupying  the  great- 
er part  of  the  volume  with  345  pages, 
including  illustrations.  It  is  worthy 
of  mention  here  that  this  paper  so 
interested  Mr.  Francis  Galton  that 
he  conceived  and  carried  into  ex- 
ecution the  idea  of  making  a  series 
of  pictographic  medallions,  each  de- 
voted to  a  leading  or  significant 
event,  symbolically  illustrated,  in 
one's  life,  and  this  he  suggested  as  a 
new  and  fascinating  field  for  the  ex- 
ercise of  amateur  artistic  talent. 
Such  a  set  of  medallions  might  be 
modelled  or  engraved,  and  repro- 
duced in  metal,  making  a  beautiful 
chain  or  necklace  to  be  preserved  as  an  heir-loom,  or  given  as  a 
family  present.  The  idea  seems  an  admirable  one,  and  amateurs 
should  be  grateful  for  it. 

Colonel  Mallery  has  for  some  years  made  a  specialty  of  the  study 
of  sign-language  among  the  Indians,  and  his  present  researches  in 
pictography  are,  it  may  be  easily  perceived,  intimately  associated 
with  the  former,  since  the  graphic  representation  of  ideas  is  naturally 
akin  to  their  representation  in  gesture-speech,  the  same  fundamental 
principles  underlying  both.  As  Major  Powell  remarks,  "  both  of 
these  modes  of  conveying  ideas  and  facts,  by  one  of  which  they  are 
also  recorded,  prevail  among  the  North  American  Indians  with  a 
development  beyond  that  found  among  any  other  existing  peoples, 
and  therefore  the  study  of  both  developments  among  them  is  most 
advantageous  when  combined."  Colonel  Mallery  has  accumulated 
an  enormous  quantity  of  material  on  the  subject,  and  this  paper, 
voluminous  as  it  is,  is  but  preliminary  to  the  undertaking  of  an  ex- 
haustive monograph.  The  present  paper  is  therefore  confined  to  a 
presentation  of  experiences  and  results,  serving  the  almost  vitally 
ini|x>rtant  purpose  of  communicating  to  others  already  interested  in 
the  subject  the  amount  and  character  of  the  information  so  far 


Indian   Pictograph 


obtained.  Their  cooperation  is  thus  enlisted,  and  their  own  in- 
vestigations arc  promoted  by  the  suggestions  received  from  the  im- 
portant work  of  another.  The  working  up  of  theories  is  postponed 
until  the  collection  and  comparative  study  of  the  materials  gathered, 
has  been  far  advanced  towards  completion. 

Here,  therefore,  pictographic  characteristics  are  explained  and 
classified,  and  suggestions  are  made  for  the  collection,  description 
and  study  of  specimens.  The  following  editorial  summary  by  Major 
Powell  gives  a  concise  statement  of  the  character  of  the  paper : 
"The  author  has  first  stated  the  distribution  in  North  America  of 
pictures  on  rocks,  either  painted  or  incised,  or  both,  with  a  few  illus- 
trative comparisons  from  foreign  countries.  He  has  then  enumerated 
the  instruments  used  at  different  times  in  pictography,  together  with 
the  coloring  matters  employed  and  the  methods  of  application.  The 
materials  upon  which  pictographs  are  made  are  discussed,  the  objects 
being  divided  into  natural  and  artificial.  The  first  division  includes 
many  objects,  consisting  chiefly  of  stone,  bone,  living  trees,  wood, 
bark,  skin,  feathers,  gourds,  horse-hair,  shells,  earth  and  sand,  and 
the  human  person.  Designs  upon  the  human  person  are  in  paint 
and  by  tattooing.  Under  this  head  much  information  is  presented  for 
the  first  time,  and  it  is  compared  with  some  recently  published 
accounts  of  the  process  in  the  Pacific  Islands.  The  subject  is  then 
considered  with  reference  to  the  special  purposes  for  which  picto- 
graphy has,  in  fact,  been  employed  by  the  North  American  Indians. 

They  are:  1,  Mnemonic,  embracing 
order  of   songs,  treaties,  war  and 
time;  2,  Notification,  comprising  no- 
tice of  departure  and  direction,  of 
condition,  warning  and   geographic 
features,  claim  or  demand,  messages 
and  communications,  and  record  of 
expeditions;   3,  Totemic:   this   em- 
braces tribal,  gentile   and   ]>ersonal 
designations,  insignia  and  tokens  of 
authority,  personal  names,  property- 
marks  and  status  of  individuals,  and 
signs  of  particular  achievements;  4, 
religious,  comprising  mythic  person- 
ages,  shamanism,  dances  and  cere- 
monies, mortuary   practices,  grave- 
posts,  charms  and   fetiches ;  5,  Cus- 
toms and  habits,   requiring   details 
rather  than  classification ;  6,  Tribal 
history;     7,    Biographic,   in    which 
are  examples  giving  continuous  rec- 
ord of  events  in  a  life,  and   other 
cases  of  particular  exploits  and  oc- 
currences.    The   manner  in  which 
pictographs  have  long  been  employed 
by   the    North   American   Indians, 
showing  their  advance  from  simple 
objective  representations  to  true  ide- 
ographs, is  then  discussed,  and  in- 
stances are  given  of  their  expression 
of    abstract    ideas  of  emblems  and 
if  symbols.     Indications  for  classi- 
fication are  noted  by  identifying  the 
pietographers  through  their  general 
style  of  type,  and  through  the  pres- 
ence of  characteristic  objects.  Modes 
of  interpretation  are  recommended, 
with  cautions  originating  in  experi- 
ence.    Attention  is   invited   to  the 
important  bearing  of  conventional- 
ization, hints  are  given  for  avoiding 
errors,  and,  finally,  practical  sugges- 
tions are  submitted  intended  to  as- 
sist  investigation    and   simplify   its 
record.     Under  every  heading  sev- 
eral examples  appear,  with  requisite 
graphic  illustrations." 
Colonel  Mallery's  opportunities  for  beginning  the  study  of  picto- 
graphs were  exceptionally  fortunate.     His  first  studies  were  uixm 
the  remarkable  pictorial  chart,  with  which  he  became  acquainted  in 
the  winter  of  1876,  represented  to  be  a  history  of  the  Dakota  Indians, 
but  which  he  ascertained  was  not  strictly  historic,  its  purpose  being 
to  designate  successive  years  by  the  most  remarkable,  or  rather  the 
most  distinguishable,  events   that   occurred  in  each.     It   therefore 
became  useful   chiefly  as   a   calendar.     His   next   study  was   sign- 
language,  affording  instructive  parallels  with  the  Dakota  calendar 
and  with  other  forms  of  pictography.     His  point  of  view  on  ai>- 
proaching  the  subject  was  therefore  the  most  simple  and  direct.     In 
the  words  of  Major  Powell :  "  There  was  in  him  no  bias  towards  a 
mystic  interpretation,  or  any  predetermination  to  discover  an  occult 
significance  in  pictographs,  whether  on  rocks,  skins  or  bark.     The 
probability  appeared,  from  his  actual  experience,  that  the  interpreta- 
tion was  a  simple  and  direct,  not  a  mysterious  and  involved  process, 
and  the  course  of  his  studies  natura'ly  tended  to  ascertain,  collocate 
and  compare  facts,  but  to  eschew  suppositions.     At  the  same  time 
the  author  by  no  means  denies  or  forgets  that  poetry  and  imagina- 
tion may  be  discerned  in  the  Indian  pictographas  as  well  as  in  their 


__ 

gesture-speech  and   in  their 

lad  illustrates  by  example,  given 


. 

farricas  to 


I  HHl ,     ill      G>      *^1J      *  .     , 

have  been  adopted  as  emblems,  with  some 

the  secret  religious  associations  long  known  to  _-.       - 

the  tribes.     This  admission  is  not,  however,  to  allow  ot  resort  to 

mvstie  symbolism  as  a  normal  mode  of  interpretation.     In  the  ex- 

knTwn  to  him,  simply  as  facts.  When  a  pictograph  h» [appeared 
fro°n  intrinsic  or  extrinsic  evidence  to  convey  an  idea  beyond  i 
obT°ct  vHy,  the  fact  has  been  noted.  Decisive  extrinsic  evidence  n 
each  case  s  required  for  the  adoption  of  mystic  symbolism  as  tie 
true  mode  of  interpretation.  By  this  method  of  treatment  the  sub- 
iect  of  picto-rraphs  has  been  rescued  from  the  limbo  of  morbid  fancy 
]to  be  marshalled  with  proper  place  in  the  evolutionary  order  of 

hUMai'orUptolweil  is  right  in  his  characterization  of  the  straining  after 
mystical  interpretations  which  has  so  long  characterized,  P^haps, 
the  greater   part   of   the  attempts   to   study   pictographs,  and   the 
methods  laid  down  in  this  paper  are  the  rational  ones  which  should 
be  pursued  by  all  serious  investigators.     At  the  same  time,  however, 
it  appears  likely,  in  view  of  the  important  part  which  esoteric  organi- 
zations play  in  the  life  of  the  In- 
dians, that  pictographic   devices 
have  an  esoteric  significance  to  a 
greater  extent  than  perhaps  Maj- 
or Powell  is  inclined  to  admit.  A 
valuable  line  of  research  would 
be  to  pursue  the  lines  upon  which 
devices  have    grown  in  signific- 
ance from  a  simple,  direct   and 
evident  meaning  to  a   complex, 
involved    and     esoterically    em- 
blematic meaning.   To  this  end  a 
comparison   with   the  growth  of 
symbolical  meanings  in  the  eso- 
teric organizations  of    our  own 
civilization  will  be  of   exceeding 
importance. 

The  study  of  pictographs  is 
one  of  the  most  important  factors 
in  throwing  light  upon  the  ways 
and  methods  of  thought  charac- 
teristic of  primitive  man,  and  it 
is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that 
for  their  correct  study  it  will  be 
found  to  be  an  absolute  necessity 
for  the  student  to  enter  into  and 
for  the  time  being  completely 
identify  his  own  mind  with  the 
habits  of  thought  peculiar  to 

Srimitive  man.  The  failure  to 
o  this  and  the  insistence  upon 
carrying  over  to  the  examination 
of  savage  institutions  our  own 
civilized  modes  of  reasoning  and 
viewing  their  growth  in  the  light 
thereof,  is  one  of  the  most  fruit- 
ful sources  of  the  multitudinous 
fallacious  conclusions  that  have 
characterized  ethnological  re- 
search— conclusions  hardly  more 
erroneous  than  those  reached 
from  the  hasty  generalizations 
of  the  traveller  who  deems  him- 


We   American    Architect  and^BM^News.      [You  XXIlL-No    629. 

wde  of  record  was  an  invention,  and  not  probably  a  very  old  inven- 
tion as  it  has  not,  so  far  as  known,  spread  beyond  a  definite  district 
or  been  extensively  adopted.  Had  it  been  of  great  antiquity,  it 
would  probably  have  spread  by  intertribal  channels  beyond  the 
Dakotas,  where  alone  such  charts  have  been  found  and  are  under- 
stood It  has  been  suggested  that  the  idea  might  have  come  from 
contact  with  the  whites,  either  missionaries  or  traders,  but  this  seems 
improbable.  "Instead  of  any  plan  that  civilized  advisers  would 
naturally  have  introduced,  the  one  actually  adopted  — to  individual- 
ize each  year  by  a  specific  recorded  symbol  or  totem,  according  to 
the  decision  of  a  competent  person,  or  by  common  consent  acted  upon 
by  a  person  charged  wither  undertaking  the  duty  whereby  confusion 
was  prevented  — should  not  suffer  denial  of  its  originality  merely 
because  it  was  ingenious  and  showed  more  scientific  method  than  has 
often  been  attributed  to  the  northern  tribes  of  America."  In  the 
Lone  Do"  chart,  "the  careful  arrangement  of  distinctly  separate 
characters  in  an  outward  spiral  starting  from  a  central  point  is  a 
clever  expedient  to  dispense  with  the  use  of  numbers  for  noting  the 
years,  yet  allowing  every  date  to  be  determined  by  counting  back- 
ward or  forward  from  any  other  that  might  be  known." 

The  name  "  Winter-counts"  comes  from  the  fact  that  the  Dakotas 
naturally  count  their  years  by  winters,  the  season  in  their  high 
levels  and  latitudes  practically  lasting  more  than  six  months,  and 
they  say  that  a  man  is  so  many  snows  old,  or  that  so  many  snow- 
seasons  have  passed  since  an  occurrence.  A  few  instances  of  the 
method  of  designation  may  be  given.  The  characteristic  event  of 

the  winter  of   1800-01  was,  ac- 
cording  to   Lone  Dog,  the   fact 
that  thirty  Dakotas   were   killed 
by  Crow   Indians.      The   device 
signifying  this  consists  of  thirty 
parallel  black  lines  arranged  in 
three  columns  of  ten  lines  each, 
the  outer  lines  being  united.     In 
the  chart   made   by   Lone    Dog, 
such   black   lines  always  signify 
the  death  of  Dakotas  killed  by 
enemies.     The  next  winter   has 
for  a  device  the  head  and  body 
of     a    man    covered    with     red 
blotches,    and    it    signifies    that 
there   was   an   epidemic   of    the 
small-pox   in   the   nation.      One 
record   calls   it  the  "  Small-pox- 
used-them-up-again  winter."  The 
succeeding  winter  is  designated 
by  a  figure  of  a  horse-shoe,  which 
means  that  at  that  time  the  first 
shod  horses  were  seen  by  the  In- 
dians, and  the  season  is  therefore 
known  as  the  "  Brought-in-horse- 
shoes  winter."  As  a  last  instance 
may  be  taken  the  winter  of  1876- 
77    in   the   chart   made   by   the 
Flam*.     That  was  the  winter  of 
Custer's  defeat,  and  in  his  com- 
ments on  Lone  Dog's  chart,  pub- 
lished in  1877,  Colonel  Mallery 
remarked:  "The  year   1876  has 
furnished  good  store  of  events  for 
his  choice,  and  it  will  be  interest- 
ing to  learn  whether  he  has  se- 
lected as  the  distinguishing  event 
the  victory  over  Custer,  or,   as 
of  still  greater  interest,  the  gen- 
eral  seizure   of  ponies,  whereat 
the  tribes,  imitating  Rachel,  weep 
and  will   not    be   comforted   be- 
cause they  are  not."     It  turned 

out  that  two  of  the  counts  selected  the  event  of  the  seizure  of  the 
ponies,  and  none  of  them  yet  seen  make  any  allusion  to  the  defeat 
of  Custer.  This  is  a  striking  fact.  The  disposition  of  our  own  race 
would  of  course  be  to  chronicle  a  victory  of  such  great  importance, 
but  a  misfortune  appears  to  have  been  a  more  memorable  event 
with  the  Dakotas.  It  would  be  interesting  to  see  if  this  tendency 
were  a  general  trait  of  Indian  character.  Colonel  Mallery's^paper 
includes  a  valuable  and  elaborate  communication  from  Dr.  W'illiam 
II.  Curbusier,  assistant  surgeon,  U.  S.  A.,  on  the  subject  of  Dakota 
winter-counts,  containing  much  of  special  value  and  importance. 

Under  the  head  of  pictographs  upon  the  human  person,  there  is  an 
interesting  contribution  by  James  G.  Swan  on  "Tattoo  Marks  of  the 
Haida  Indians  of  Queen  Charlotte  Islands,  B.  C.,  and  the  Prince  of 
Wales  Archipelago,  Alaska.  Some  errors  of  Hubert  H.  Bancroft's 
history  in  this  respect  are  corrected ;  errors  inevitable  in  a  work, 
valuable  though  it  is,  largely  the  result  of  compilation.  Tattooing  is 
almost  universal  among  the  Haidas,  but  few  white  people  who  have 
come  into  contact  with  them  are  aware  of  the  extent  to  which  it 
prevails.  "It  should  be  borne  in  mind,"  says  Mr.  Swan,  "that 
during  their  festivals  and  masquerade  performances  the  men  are 
entirely  naked  and  the  women  have  only  a  short  skirt  reaching  from 
the  waist  to  the  knee  ;  the  rest  of  their  persons  is  exposed  and  it  is 
at  such  times  that  the  tattoo-marks  show  with  the  best  effect  and  the 


Indiar   Totem-Poitt. 


Ul  I-UC       UIVWUM         W**W     VAVV-111LJ       UAUI 

self  competent  to  "  size  up  "  an  alien  people  on  the  basis  of  the  most 
superficial  observations. 

Fifty-seven  pages  of  Colonel  Mallery's  paper  are  devoted  to  a 
description  of  the  calendar-charts  or  "  winter-counts  "  of  the  Dakota 
Indians,  and  among  the  illustrations  is  a  beautiful  colored  lithograph 
of  the  famous  Lone  Dog  calendar,  painted  on  a  buffalo  robe  by  the 
Indian  of  that  name,  and  representing  the  seventy-one  winters  begin- 
ning with  1800-01.  This  is  the  chart  which,  as  aforesaid,  attracted 
the°attention  of  Colonel  Mallery  to  the  subject.  This  was  the  first 
attempt  ever  heard  of  among  the  Indians  west  of  the  Mississippi  to 
establish  a  chronological  system.  This  chart  and  its  purpose  was 
found  to  be  well  known  throughout  the  Dakota  nation,  and  various 
copies  as  well  as  similar  charts  were  afterwards  discovered. 

It  is  believed  that  the  chart  originated  in  the  habit  maintained  by 
Lone  Dog  ever  since  his  youth,  with  the  counsel  of  the  old  men  and 
authorities  of  his  tribe,  of  deciding  upon  some  event  or  circumstance 
which  should  distinguish  each  year  as  it  passed,  and  when  such  deci- 
sion was  made  marking  what  was  considered  to  be  its  appropriate  sym- 
bol or  device  upon  a  buffalo  robe  kept  for  the  purpose.  The  robe  was 
at  convenient  times  exhibited  to  other  Indians  of  the  nation,  who 
were  thus  taught  the  meaning  and  use  of  the  signs  designating  the 
several  years  in  order  that  with  the  death  of  the  recorder  the  know- 
ledge might  not  be  lost.  Colonel  Mallery  holds  that  the  peculiar 


JANUARY  14,  1888.] 


TJie   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


21 


rank  and  family  connections  known  by  the  variety  of  designs.  Like 
all  the  other  toast  tribes,  the  II nidus  are  careful  -not  to  permit  the 
intrusion  of  white  persons  or  strangers  to  their  Tomanawos  ceremo- 
nies, and  as  a  consequence  but  few  white  ]>eople,  and  certainly  none 
of  those  who  have  ever  writen  about  those  Indians,  have  been  pres- 
ent at  their  opening  ceremonies  when  the  tattoo-marks  are  shown." 
To  illustrate  this  tattooing  and  its  relations  to  other  features  of 
Haiila  design,  a  view  taken  at  Massett,  Queen  Charlotte's  Island,  of 
the  carved  columns  (totem  posts)  in  front  of  the  chief's  residence  is 
given  and  also  representations  of  the  tattoo-marks  on  two  women  and 
their  husbands.  "  It  is  an  interesting  question,"  says  Mr.  Swan,  "and 
one  worthy  of  careful  and  patient  investigation,  Why  is  it  that  the 
Haida  nation  alone  of  all  the  coast  tribes  tattoo  their  jtersons  to  such 
an  extent,  and  how  they  acquire  the  art  of  carving  columns  which 
bear  such  striking  similarity  to  carving  in  wood  and  stone  by  the 
ancient  inhabitants  of  Central  America,  as  shown  by  drawings  in 
Bancroft's  fourth  volume  of  '  Native  Races '  and  in  Mabel's  '  Inves- 
tii/ntlon  in  Central  and  South  America  f  .  .  .  The  tattoo-marks,  the 
carvings  and  heraldic  designs  of  the  Haida  are  an  exceedingly  inter- 
esting study,  .  .  .  they  seem  to  me  to  point  to  a  key  which  may 
unlock  the  mystery  which  for  so  many  ages  has  kept  us  from  the 
knowledge  of  the  origin  of  the  Pacific  tribes." 

SYLVESTER  BAXTER. 


PECULIAR  ORIGIN  OF  FIRES. 


W 


THEN  it  is  considered  that 
there  is  not  a  process  or 
method  of  manufacture 
which  does  not  contain  more  or 
less  the  possibility  of  a  cause  of 
fire,  and  that  these  various  proc- 
esses differ  one  from  another  in 
the  relative  hazard,  then  it  will  be 
conceded  that  there  Is  scarcely  an 
element  in  the  whole  range  of 
manufacture  which  is  not  in  a  like 
manner  a  factor  in  the  question 
of  safety  and  of  insurance.  The 
larger  amount  of  losses  is,  as 
would  naturally  be  assumed,  due 
to  oil,  both  in-consequence  of  its 
imperfect  use  on  journals  and  the 
hot  bearings  which  result  from  a 
lack  of  proper  lubrication.  In 
the  mechanical  processes  of  dye- 
ing and  bleaching  there  is  a  great  deal  of  chemical  action,  which 
at  times  results  in  ignition.  With  such  rapid  machinery  as  that  of 
the  picker-room  in  cotton  and  the  dusting-room  in  paper-mills,  there 
is  great  liability  of  sparks ;  such  sparks  are  the  antecedents  of  fires 
which  occur  among  the  light,  textile,  fibrous  material  found  in  such 
machines,  and  enormous  fires  occur  from  other  causes  which  cer- 
tainly entitle  them  to  be  classified  as  among  instances  of  proverbial 
happening  of  the  unexpected. 

One  large  insurance  company  in  America  declares  that  their 
aggregated  payments  for  fires  caused  by  lanterns  have  reached 
nearly  $2,000,000.  The  causes  of  these  fires  from  oil  are  threefold, 
and  they  are  all  included  in  what  an  underwriter  would  call  the  pre- 
ventable cases  of  fires.  The  use  of  lard  or  sperm  oil  of  the  very 
dubious  purity  generally  offered  in  the  market  is  always  attended 
with  a  crusting  wick,  and  many  a  watchman  or  repairing-laborer  in 
the  night  has  unwittingly  started  fires  caused  by  opening  the  lantern 
and  picking  the  wick  to  remove  the  crust  in  order  to  get  a  better 
flame.  For  such  lights,  more  satisfactory  results  are  obtained  by 
the  use  of  what  is  known  as  the  signal  oil,  which  consists  of  a  mix- 
ture of  animal  oil  and  mineral  oil.  In  many  places  the  instructions 
of  the  manager  that  the  lantern  should  never  be  opened  except  in 
the  boiler-room  or  some  similar  place  of  safety  are  carried  into  exe- 
cution by  placing  spring-locks  on  the  lantern,  which  cannot  be  opened 
except  by  a  key  hung  up  in  the  boiler-room. 

Other  fires  are  caused  by  a  lamp  dropping  out  of  a  lantern  ;  any 
type  of  lantern  where  the  lamp  is  placed  in  at  the  bottom  is  liable  to 
such  an  accident,  notwithstanding  the  method  of  construction  may 
be  such  as  to  guard  against  that  difficulty  when  new.  In  some  lan- 
terns closed  at  the  bottom/  the  globe  at  the  top  is  removed  in  such  a 
way  that  the  hand  reaches  down  to  the  light.  In  others,  the  lamp 
of  the  lantern,  although  at  the  bottom,  is  secured  in  its  place  by  a 
hinge,  so  that  at  worst,  in  case  of  any  mishap,  it  would  only  swing 
down  and  not  fall. 

The  tubular  lanterns,  made  solely  for  burning  kerosene,  have  been 
the  source  of  a  great  many  fires  by  reason  of  poor  methods  of  con- 
struction. They  are  soldered  by  an  easily-fusible  alloy,  and  when 
such  lanterns  are  hung  up  in  places  of  unnsual  warmth  and  the  light 
turned  up  somewhat  higher  than  usual,  the  upper  part  of  the  lantern 
sometimes  is  heated  sufficiently  to  melt  the  solder  so  that  it  falls  apart. 
This  is  an  accident  entirely  inexcusable  when  it  is  considered  how 
readily  lanterns  are  constructed  without  depending  upon  the  soldered 
joint  for  the  attachment  of  the  handle  to  the  body  of  the  lantern, 
but  use  rivets,  locked  joints  in  sheet  metal,  and  eyes  bent  in  wire 
guards. 

A  curious  lantern-fire  resulted  in  the  burning  of  an  American  mill, 
and  at  the  same  time  subjected  an  innocent  person  to  an  unjust  sus- 


picion. The  facts  were  that  the  mill  very  suddenly  burned  at  an 
early  hour  of  the  morning,  the  only  direct  evidence  upon  the  case 
being  that  of  the  watchman,  who  testified  that  while  making  his 
round  he  entered  the  upper  portion  of  the  mill,  finding  the  room  in 
flames,  but  beyond  control.  There  were  many  details  of  circum- 
stantial evidence  connected  with  the  fire  which  convinced  the  under- 
writers that  the  fire  was  incendiary  in  its  origin,  and  this,  coupled 
with  the  fact  that  the  mill  had  not  been  financially  prosperous  for 
some  time,  and  also  that  the  proprietor  did  not  possess  a  reputation 
above  suspicion  in  commercial  affairs  as  to  strict  integrity,  diverted 
a  great  amount  of  suspicion  towards  him.  This  suspicion  was  not 
sustained  by  any  direct  evidence  inculpating  him  witli  incendiarism, 
yet  the  underwriters  refused  to  insure  a  second  mill  which  was  re- 
built on  the  ruins  of  the  first.  Fifteen  years  later  the  proprietor  of 
the  mill  was  awakened  in  the  middle  of  the  night  by  a  message  from 
a  priest  who  was  receiving  the  confession  of  the  watchman  now  on 
his  deathbed,  and  related  to  the  priest  that  he  had  accidcntly  set  the 
mill  on  fire  by  breaking  his  lantern  against  a  machine ;  fearing  that 
he  would  be  put  in  prison  for  the  act,  he  had  disclaimed  all  knowl- 
edge respecting  the  origin  of  the  fire.  At  a  later  day,  learning  how 
suspicion  liad  adverted  to  his  employer,  ho  dared  not  state  the  truth, 
although  the  crime  had  haunted  his  conscience  for  all  those  years. 
The  priest  refused  to  administer  the  rites  of  the  church  until  the 
watchman's  confession  had  been  repeated  to  the  proprietor. 

Water  is  generally  referred  to  as  the  ideal  antagonist  of  fire,  and 
yet  there  are  many  instances  where  water  has  caused  fires,  as  in  the 
case  of  a  mill  in  Rhode  Island,  U.  S.,  where  the  supply  of  water  to 
an  overshot  wheel  was  regulated  by  an  immense  gate,  called  a  leather 
apron,  used  in  former  days  for  that  type  of  water-wheel.  During  the 
night  a  sudden  storm  raised  the  water  in  the  river,  and  imposed  an 
unusual  pressure  against  the  leather  apron,  which  had  become  old 
and  unsound,  broke  it,  let  a  flood  upon  the  water-wheel  revolving  it 
with  unusual  velocity,  and  ignited  the  mill  in  several  places  on 
account  of  the  friction  of  the  hot  bearings.  Another  instance  was 
that  of  a  Connecticut  mill,  where  the  flood  raised  the  river  to  a 
sufficient  height  to  cover  the  first  floor  of  a  machine-shop  to  the 
depth  of  about  two  feet.  The  water  rose  very  rapidly,  and  there 
being  a  large  amount  of  iron-turnings  commingled  with  wood-chips 
on  the  floor  of  the  machine-shop,  the  iron-turnings  oxidized  so  rapidly 
that  the  heat  of  the  process  ignited  the  wood  and  started  a  fire  which 
cost  the  underwriters  $30,000. 

Fires  produced  by  the  action  of  water  upon  lime  are  so  frequent 
as  not  to  require  especial  notice  in  this  reference  to  fires  outside  of 
the  expected  and  well-known  causes. 

Streams  from  hose  used  in  extinguishing  fires  would  not  ordinarily 
be  classed  among  the  causes  of  fire,  yet  such  results  have  occurred 
is  at  least  two  instances.  In  the  one,  a  stream  upon  a  small  fire  also 
met  some  lime  in  a  neighboring  building,  starting  a  fire  which  did 
not  attract  attention  until  it  reached  an  extent  threatening  serious 
results.  The  other  instance  was  in  a  large  store  in  Philadelphia, 
where  the  stream  of  water,  charged  with  carbonic  acid  gas  discharged 
from  an  extincteur  upon  a  small  fire,  also  served  as  an  electric-con- 
ductor, and  started  another  fire  from  the  arc-lighting  system. 

The  oxidation  of  iron-turnings  is  quite  frequently  the  cause  of 
mysterious  fires,  igniting  sheds  used  for  storing  scrap  around  iron- 
working  establishments.  There  have  been  numerous  fires  in  the 
roofs  of  foundries  caused  by  explosions,  of  melted  iron  thrown 
violently  against  the  roof  when  by  any  mishap  the  iron  came  in  con- 
tact with  water. 

The  foundations  for  a  light  building  upon  a  very  yielding  soil  were 
arranged  by  placing  posts  down  in  tubs  of  iron-turnings  set  in  the 
earth  in  proper  situations,  and  then  pouring  over  the  iron  a  solution 
of  salt  in  water.  The  iron-turnings  rusted  into  a  solid  mass,  but  the 
process  was  carried  on  so  quickly  that  the  heat  of  oxidation  charred 
the  lower  ends  of  the  posts,  holding  them  firmly,  and  also  served  as 
as  an  antiseptic  treatment,  diminishing  the  liability  to  decay. 

The  combustibility  of  iron  is  quite  noticeable  in  tack  factories, 
where  the  tacks  are  polished  by  attrition  against  each  other  on  re- 
volving cylinders,  and  the  fine  comminuted  dust  is  so  easily  combus- 
tible that  it  has  served  as  the  source  of  several  fires  that  were  started 
from  some  slight  accident  like  dropping  a  match  or  exposure  to  an 
open  light. 

Certain  forms  of  fireworks,  known  as  parlor  fireworks,  obtain  some 
of  their  most  beautiful  effects  from  the  combustion  of  fine  iron.  The 
sun,  on  the  other  hand,  also  serves  its  purpose  as  a  factor  of  insur- 
ance. For  its  rays  have  been  time  and  again  concentrated  upon 
combustible  matter  by  bull's-eyes,  in  such  a  form  that  they  crudely 
acted  as  a  double  convenx  lens  when  placed  over  doors.  It  is  also  a 
frequent  incident  in  physical  laboratories,  that  large  double  convex 
lenses  are  left  in  such  position  that  the  sun  will  reach  them  in  time 
and  start  fires.  In  fact  as  a  protection  against  such  accidents,  these 
lenses  should  always  be  covered  with  a  cloth  bag  when  not  in  use. 
Dishes  of  tinned-iron  for  domestic  use  have  also  concentrated  the 
rays  of  the  sun,  as  any  concave  mirror  might,  upon  combustible 
matter;  and  it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  two  considerable  fires  in 
America,  one  at  Lynn  an  1  the  other  at  Sheboygan,  were  both  caused 
in  this  manner  by  the  tin-dishes  in  the  window  of  an  ironmonger's 
shop.  There  are  other  fires  caused  by  peculiar  circumstances  com- 
parable to  that  of  the  "  arrow  shot  at  random  reaching  the  joint  of 
the  armor ;"  as,  for  instance  a  hotel-keeper,  at  Biddeford  was  so  re- 
joiced at  the  election  of  President  Cleveland,  that  he  set  off  a  num- 
ber of  fireworks  in  front  of  his  hostelry  in  honor  of  the  event.  A 


22 


Tfie   American   Architect  and  Building  News.      [VOL.  XXIII. -No.  629. 


rocket  shot  up  into  the  air  and  descended  in  a  vertical  direction  into 
the  dust  chimney  of  a  cotton-mill  in  the  vicinity.  Reaching  the  bot- 
tom of  the  shaft,  it  exploded,  igniting  the  dust-room  and  starting  a 
serious  fire.  Sparks  are  sometimes  the  cause  of  fires  as  a  result  ol 
the  most  unexpected  circumstances.  In  an  establishment  making 
table-knives,  a  milling-machine  which  finished  the  outside  ot  tne 
knife-handles  was  cleared  of  dust  by  a  large  tube  projecting  down 
from  the  room  above  and  connected  to  an  exhaustive  blower  in  the 
attic.  An  emery-wheel  which  had  been  in  the  same  position  for  a 
number  of  years,  situated  about  twenty  feet  from  this  milling-machine, 
struck  a  spark  ao-ainst  a  window;  thence  glancing  back,  it  rebounded 
some  twenty  feet  igniting  the  dust  in  the  lower  part  of  this  tube. 
The  flame  was  carried  by  the  blower  to  the  room  above  and  through 
a  hole  in  the  roof,  causing  a  destructive  fire  which  was  not  known  to 
the  occupants  of  the  room  until  au  alarm  had  been  given  by  those 
who  had  seen  it  from  the  outside  of  the  building. 

In  another  instance,  a  spark  from  an  emery-wheel  struck  the  win- 
dow in  front  of  the  wheel ;  this  glancing  back  to  the  belt  rebounded 
again,  and  entered  a  crack  between  the  upper  part  of  the  window- 
frame  and  the  masonry  of  the  building  and  ignited  the  impalpable 
dust  situated  there,  an  accident  which  had  never  occurred  before, 
although  that  machine  had  been  in  the  same  position  subject  to  daily 
use  for  over  twenty  years.  Although  sparks  from  grinding-wheels 
frequently  ignite  combustible  matter,  yet  it  is  a  very  difficult  thing  to 
do  the  same  thing  designedly  even  by  holding  fine  matter,  as  cotton 
card-waste,  in  a  line  of  the  sparks  as  they  are  thrown  off  from  the 
wheel.  There  have  been  numerous  fires  in  cotton-mills  caused  by 
sparks  from  the  dull-axes  used  in  chopping  hoops  of  cotton-bales,  and 
yet  it  would  be  considered  an  impossibility  if  one  were  to  take  the 
task  of  setting  the  cotton  on  fire  in  this  manner.  A  carpenter,  while 
nailing  a  board  to  the  ceiling  in  a  picker-room  of  a  jute-mill,  struck  a 
nail  on  one  side  so  that  it  glanced  across  the  room,  entering  the  feed- 
ing-apron of  a  jute-picker  and  struck  a  spark  which  ignited  the 
stock,  passing  through  the  picker,  and  thence  spreading  to  a  very 
severe  fire. 

The  capability  of  steam-pipes  to  set  fire  to  wood  will  doubtless 
continue  to  be  a  moot  question  in  the  face  of  conclusive  evidence  to 
the  contrary,  merely  because  such  fires  cannot  be  produced  at  will. 

A  few  years  ago  a  steam-pipe  covering  composed  of  wood-pulp  and 
ground  wool- waste  was  extensively  introduced  into  American  markets 
with  the  result  of  being  ignited  quite  frequently  by  hot  steam-pipes. 
There  have  been  a  few  instances  of  the  ignition  of  hair-felt  used  for 
such  non-conductors ;  in  the  course  of  investigation  upon  some  fires 
of  that  class,  it  was  found  that  while  the  hair-felt  was  not  combustible 
at  ordinary  temperatures,  yet  when  it  had  been  warmed  to  higher 
temperatures  it  was  quite  readily  combustible.  Fires  are  of  frequent 
occurrence  in  drying-rooms  heated  by  steam-pipes  for  seasoning  small 
bits  of  lumber  used  in  the  decorative  portions  of  cabinet-work,  under 
circumstances  which  do  not  permit  any  hypothesis  of  spontaneous 
combustion,  because  the  wood  at  that  time  has  not  received  any 
treatment  from  oils  or  varnishes. 

A  mill  in  Providence,  R.  I.,  was  burned  by  a  fire  originating  from 
the  steam-pipes  in  an  unlooked-for  manner.     At  the  time  of  its  con- 
struction, the  proprietor  exercised  great  care  that  all  pipes  should 
be  free  from  direct  contact  with  the  woodwork,  but  when  the  steam 
was  let  into  the  pipes  the   expansion  increased   their   length   and 
pushed  their  end  against  the  wood  partition,  which  was  eventually 
set  on  fire.     Although  the  fact  of  fires  originating  from  steam-pipes 
is  well  established,  there  is  still  some  obscurity  as  to  the  exact  sub- 
jects which   produce  such  combustion.     It  is  well  known  that  the 
ignition  point  of  charcoal  bears  a  certain  ratio  to  the  temperature  of 
carbonization  ;  the  lower  the  temperature  the  more  readily  combusti- 
ble the  aharcoal,  and  this  fact  is  made  use  of  in  producing  charcoal 
for  the  manufacture  of   some   grades   of   gunpowder  by   means  of 
superheated  steam.     Yet  applying  the  data  which'  have  been  pub- 
lished upon  the  subject,  it  will  be  readily  seen  that  the  ignition  point 
of  charcoal  produced  at  even  the  temperature  of  boiling  water,  is  in 
excess  of  the  heat  of  steam  at  the  highest  working-pressure,  and  yet 
there  are  instances  of  fires  produced  by  steam-heating  pipes  at  pres- 
sures as  low  as  ten  pounds  and  also  from  the  heat  from  the  tiers 
containing  hot  water  used  in  bleaching.   It  seems  probable,  however, 
that  the  charcoal  which  is  ignited  under  these  conditions  is  not  that 
charcoal  which  has  been  carbonized  by  direct  contact  with  steam- 
pipes,  but  rather  that  which  has  been  carbonized  by  radiation  from 
steam-pipes,  and  therefore,  at  a  materially  lower  temperature  than 
that  of  the  pipe,  and  then  by  some  changes  this  charcoal  is  brought 
into  absolute  contact  with  the  iteam-pipes.     Fires  from  spontaneous 
ignition  of  oily  waste  are  so  alarmingly  prevalent  that,  as  such,  an 
allusion  to  them  has  no  place  in  a  list  of  peculiar  fires.     The  intro- 
duction of  mineral  oils  for  lubrication  has  tended  to  reduce  this  class 
of  fires  materially,  as  the  paraffin  oils  will  not  oxidize  at  ordinary 
temperature,  and  when  commingled  with  animal  or  vegetable  oils  in 
proportions  varying  from  one-third  to  one-half,  it  wil^lso  prevent 
such  oxidations  of  the  other  oils  contained  in  the  mixture. 

A  watchman  in  the  locomotive  works  in  Boston  was  very  much 
alarmed  when,  one  evening,  the  safety-valve  of  the  boiler,  which  was 
used  only  for  heating  in  winter,  began  to  blow  off,  and  he  learned 
that  there  was  a  dangerous  pressure  of  steam  in  the  boiler  and  a 
fierce  fire  upon  the  grates.  After  the  fire  was  dulled  by  a  stream  of 
water,  the  matter  was  investigated,  and  it  was  found  that  the  furnace 
under  the  boiler  had  been  a  receptacle  for  a  lot  of  small  bits  of  wood 
in  the  cleaning  up  of  the  boiler-room  which  followed  a  spasm  of 


order  on  the  part  of  the  boiler-tenders ;  then  later,  some  other  per- 
son threw  some  oily  waste  matter  into  the  furnace-door  as  the  best 
method  of  getting  rid  of  a  dangerous  article.  A  beetle  flying  into  a 
mill  at  night  became  caught  in  a  bit  of  sliver  and  straightway  Hying 
into  the  gas-jet,  dropped  and  started  a  fire  among  the  contents  of  the 
card-room.  In  another  instance,  a  can  of  cotton-sliver  in  a  cotton- 
mill  was  found  to  be  on  fire,  and  investigation  afterwards  revealed 
the  fact  that  the  can  was  in  contact  with  the  belt  over  the  pulley, 
and  the  friction  of  the  belt  on  the  outside  of  the  can  produced  enough 
heat  to  ignite  the  cotton.  There  are  records  of  several  similar 
instances.  The  blow-off  pipe  of  a  boiler  burst,  causing  a  back 
draught,  and  the  flames  coming  out  of  the  doors  of  the  boiler-furnace 
set  the  roof  on  fire. 

On  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  an  exhaust  blast-tube  of  a  locomo- 
tive turned  around,  so  that  it  blew  a  blast  in  the  reverse  direction 
into  the  furnace  of  the  boiler,  and  the  flames  bursting  out  of  the  fur- 
nace door  set  the  cab  on  fire,  driving  the  engineer  and  fireman  from 
their  post  to  a  refuge  in  the  water-tank  of  the  tender.  The  engineer, 
under  circumstances  of  great  bravery,  came  out  and  reversed  the 
engine,  saving  the  train  from  a  total  wreck,  although  he  paid  his  life 
as  a  forfeit  for  his  bravery. 

One  of  the  most  peculiar  fires  resulting  from  a  sequence  of  unhappy 
circumstances  was  that  of  a  storehouse  connected  with  a  mill  in 
Vermont,  U.  S.  Oil  is  transported  on  American  railways  in  tank- 
cars,  in  which  a  cylindrical  tank  about  five  feet  in  diameter  and 
twenty-five  feet  in  length  is  secured  upon  a  platform-car.  One  of 
these  cars  was  standing  upon  the  siding  of  a  railway  near  the  store- 
house, when  one  of  the  rear  cars  of  a  freight-train  passing  by  on  the 
main  track  jumped  the  switch  at  the  siding.  Numerous  persons  had 
observed  that  this  rear  car  had  a  hot  bearing,  which  had  already 
ignited  the  oil  on  the  journal,  and,  as  it  tore  away  from  the  train  and 

E lunged  down  into  the  oil-car,  breaking  the  iron  tank,  the  flames 
•om  the  hot  bearing  ignited  the  oil  running  out  from  the  broken 
tank  on  to  the  ground,  and  surrounding  the  storehouse,  burned  it 
down. 

These  fires  are  all  from  an  American  source  of  information,  and 
while  the  conditions  may  not  be  the  same  to  repeat  the  identical 
results  in  all  instances  among  any  industries,  yet  it  is  none  the  less 
true  that  destruction  of  property  is  quite  frequent  from  unexpected 
causes,  which  are  nevertheless  preventable  in  their  nature.  —  Engi- 
neering. 

THE  GREAT  NOVA  SCOTIA  RAFT  AND  ITS  PROGENI- 
TORS. 

HEN  we  last  week  again  drew 
attention  to  the  monster  raft 
which  left  Nova  Scotia  on  the  5th 
inst.  for  New  York,  we  excused  the  brev- 
ity of  our  comments  on  the  speculation 
till  we  knew  whether  or  no  the  huge 
quantity  of  timber  chained  together 
would  reach  its  destination  or  come  to 
grief,  as  we  had  our  apprehensions  of  the 
adventure  being  a  risky  one,  and,  as 
many  expected,  it  has  so  far  come  to 
grief  that  it  is  adrift  on  the  open  ocean, 
PROM  entirely  at  the  control  of  the  elements. 
DECRHUR5T  CHURCH.  An  easterly  gale  sprang  up  on  Sunday, 
'  the  18th,  and  in  latitude  40°  16',  longi- 
tude 70,  the  tow-line  parted,  and  the  raft  was  lost,  and  when  last 
seen  was  drifting  in  a  southerly  direction. 

In  the  accounts  of  the  disaster  yet  to  hand  no  mention  is  made  of 
the  steersman  —  or  was  there  none  ?  If  so,  the  voyage  must  have 
been  hopeless  from  the  first,  as  in  a  contrary  wind  or  a  cross-current 
it  would  be  impossible  to  keep  an  elongated  mass  of  material  as  this 
presented  from  coming  athwart  without  something  in  the  shape  of  a 
helm.  The  towing  appears  to  have  been  set  down  as  too  easy  a  job, 
and  it  is  evident  proper  provision  was  not  made  to  meet  one  of  the 
land-gales,  or  rather,  hurricanes,  which  are  so  frequently  encoun- 
tered along  the  Atlantic  coast. 

If  it  was  worth  while  to  build  a  raft  on  such  a  gigantic  scale,  it  was 
certainly  false  economy  to  put  it  under  the  management  of  one 
steamer.  This  vessel,  called  the  "  Miranda"  may  have  been  of 
sufficient  power  to  have  towed  the  raft,  but  when  the  connection  was 
severed  by  the  parting  of  the  tow-line,  all  control  was  gone  till  the 
gale  subsided,  and  the  chance  of  clawing  hold  of  this  floating  island 
of  wood,  with  seas  running  mountains  high,  became  no  light  under- 
taking. The  catastrophe  might  have  assumed  a  less  serious  form 
had  two  tugs  been  employed,  as  when  one  line  parted  there  would 
have  been  the  other  holding  on,  affording  time  for  the  other  to  again 
lend  her  help. 

We  shall  not  be  a  bit  surprised,  however,  to  hear  that  the 
"  Miranda  "  haf  again  picked  up  the  raft,  which,  of  course,  in  fulfil- 
ment of  her  contract,  she  will  go  in  search  of  directly  the  gale  moder- 
ates. One  would  have  thought  that  a  prudent  commander,  as  soon 
as  his  line  parted,  would  have  run  down  to  leeward  of  the  sea-washed 
mass,  and  there  ridden  out  the  storm  in  comparative  comfort,  the 
huge  pile  of  timber  forming  a  splendid  breakwater. 

In  severe  gales,  where  there  is  danger  of  a  ship  straining,  it  is  not 
unusual  for  those  in  charge  to  get  all  the  spare  spars  lashed  together 
and  launch  them  overboard,  secure  with  a  strong  line,  and  allow  the 


w 


JANI-AKY  14,  1888.]  The    American    Architect   and  Building   News. 


23 


ship  to  drift  to  leeward,  slacking  up  till  the  spar*  or  raft  is  suffi- 
ciently far  to  windward  to  hreak  the  force  of  the  sea. 

We"  cannot  understand  why,  in  the  storm,  the  "  Mirnmln  "  con- 
tinued to  tow  ;  she  should  have  slacked  up  and  saved  the  strain  on 
her  calilcs,  keeping  as  near  the  raft  as  she  safely  could,  hut,  of 
course,  there  may  have  Iwen  circumstances  of  which  we  know  nothing 
that  made  it  expedient  for  the  steamer  to  look  to  her  own  safety, 
and,  perhaps,  after  all  it  was  a  case  of  abandoning  the  raft  instead 
of  the  tow-rones  parting.  This  view  has  some  coloring  in  it  from  the 
fact  that  a  United  States  man-of-war  is  said  to  have  been  sent  in 
search  of  the  "  raft,"  but  if  the  "  Miranda"  had  not  broken  down, 
we  cannot  see  why  she  was  not  quite  as  capable  of  looking  after  the 
raft  as  any  other  vessel. 

In  1792  a  raft  containing  about  1,000  tons  of  timber  was  built  at 
Swan  Island,  in  the  Kennebec,  by  Dr.  Tupper,  a  somewhat  noted 
eccentric  character.  It  was  made  by  tree-nailing  square  timber 
together  in  the  form  of  a  ship's  hull,  and  was  ship-rigged,  the  inten- 
tion being  to  send  her  across  to  England.  At  that  time  no  manu- 
factured lumber  was  admitted  to  the  ports  of  Great  Britain ;  hence 
the  timber  in  the  raft  was  simply  squared  with  the  axe,  to  make  it 
stow  well.  The  ship  or  raft  fay  at  Bath  for  some  time,  it  being 
difficult  to  get  men  to  go  in  her.  She  finally  went  to  sea,  however, 
carrying  a  small  vessel  on  her  deck.  But  oft  the  Labrador  coast  her 
crew  became  frightened  by  bad  weather  and  abandoned  her.  She 
was  afterwards  boardwd  by  men  from  a  passing  vessel  and  found  to 
be  in  good  order,  and  it  was  suspected  that  she  was  deserted  without 
sufficient  cause.  Two  other  similar  attempts  were  made  from  the 
Kennebec,  and  both  vessels  went  safely  across,  but  foundered  on  the 
English  coast,  under  the  same  suspicions  of  fraud  as  in  the  case  of 
tin  "Tupper  ship.  In  1825  the  ship  "Baron  of  Renfrew"  was 
launched  at  Quebec,  having  made  a  previous  unsuccessful  attempt, 
when  stopped  on  her  way,  owing  to  the  grease  being  consumed  by 
fire  from  friction.  She  was  towed  down  to  the  Island  of  Orleans 
and  anchored.  Her  dimensions  are  given  as  follows :  Length,  309 
feet;  breadth,  60  feet;  depth,  38  internally  and  57  externally;  ton- 
na"e,  5,888  tons;  draft  when  launched,  24  feet;  cargo  on  board 
when  launched,  4,000  tons  of  timber.  She  was  ship-rigged,  with  four 
masts,  and  was  perfectly  flat-bottom,  with  a  keel  of  about  12  inches, 
wall-sided,  sharp  forward  and  rather  lean  aft,  and  looked  more  like 
a  block  of  buildings  than  a  ship.  She  sailed  in  August,  1825,  draw- 
ing 36  feet  of  water,  in  command  of  a  Scotchman,  a  half-pay  lieu- 
tenant in  the  British  navy.  October  27,  the  "Baron  of  Renfrew" 
drove  on  shore  on  the  coast  of  France,  near  Calais,  and  went  to  pieces. 

It  is  evident  there  are  too  many  contingencies  attached  to  rafting 
timber  across  the  ocean  to  make  it  probable  that  any  such  method  of 
transport  will  ever  become  general  even  if  this  Nova  Scotia  raft 
ultimately  reaches  its  destination. 

For  the  information  of  those  of  our  readers  who  may  not  have  re- 
tained the  particulars  we  gave  of  this  extraordinary  structure,  we 
may  mention  that  the  raft  consists  of  twenty-seven  thousand  trees, 
bound  together  by  a  series  of  chains  which  connect  those  around  the 
outer  edge?  with  a  larger  central  chain,  running  lengthwise  along  the 
mass.  The  shape  of  the  raft  resembled  that  of  a  cigar,  its  length 
being  five  hundred  and  sixty  feet,  greatest  diameter  sixty-five  feet, 
the  weight  of  the  raft  being  eleven  thousand  tons.  The  total  cost  of 
the  raft,  including  timber,  construction  and  transportation,  is  about 
thirty  thousand  dollars.  The  raft  has  the  capacity  of  seventy  large 
schooners,  and  the  usual  freight  charges  alone  for  this  amount  of 
timber  are  twenty-five  thousand  dollars.  Two  other  rafts  of  the 
same  size  are  now  being  built  in  Nova  Scotia. 

This  mighty  mass  of  timber,  though  estimated  by  some  of  our 
American  contemporaries  to  be  equal  in  weight  and  dimensions  to 
the  still  "living,"  but  not  for  long,  wonder  of  the  world,  the  "Great 
Eastern,  falls  far  short  of  the  bulk  and  capacity  of  that  Leviathan 
steamship,  and  we  are  well  within  the  mark  when  we  state  that  the 
big  steam  vessel  could  stow  all  the  trees  in  the  Nova  Scotia  raft  and 
a  score  of  bin-  shiploads  besides,  her  burden  being  22,000  tons,  and 
her  length  700  feet,  and  breadth  over  all  87  feet.  The  raft,  it  will 
be  observed,  falls  far  short  of  this,  and  is  a  long  way  removed  from 
exceeding  the  largest  ship  afloat,  one  of  Her  Majest's  ironclad  fleet, 
the  "Northumberland,"  being  over  12,000  tons,  if  we  take  the  actual 
burden,  which  in  comparing  with  a  raft  of  solid  timber  it  is  only  fair 
to  do.  Those  who  have  been  out  at  sea  in  bad  weather  will  fully 
understand  the  magnitude  of  the  task  the  shippers  of  this  huge  mass 
of  timber  undertook,  and  those  who  have  invested  in  the  venture  will 
wait  with  bated  breath  the  news  which  passing  vessels  which  have 
sighted  the  floating  mass  will  bring.  To  vessels  ignorant  of  its  com- 
position the  first  sight  will  lead  them  to  the  conclusion  that  they 
must  have  got  out  of  their  reckoning,  whilst  some  amongst  the  super- 
stitious might  think  that  they  had  met  with  the  great  sea-serpent  at 
last.  It  will  not  surprise  us  to  hear  some  more  legends  of  that  great 
unknown  animal  conveyed  to  us  by  those  whose  glasses  have  been 
pointed  in 'the  direction  of  the  "raft,"  when  the  weather  was  misty 
or  a  gale  blowing  that  gave  them  no  opportunity  of  taking  more  than 
a  flying  look.  — -  Timber  Trades  Journal. 


A  SUPPORT  or  THE  CHURCH.  —  A  gentleman  generous  in  his  contribu- 
tions for  church  purposes,  but  not  regular  in  his  attendance  upon  pub- 
lic worship  was  wittily  described  by  a  clergyman  as  being  "  not  exactly 
a  pillar  of  the  church,  but  a  kind  of  a  flying-buttress,  supporting  it 
from  the  outside."  —  Errhantje. 


SIX  YEARS'   LABOR  TROUBLES. 

HE  Boston  Herald  pre- 
sents the  following  ab- 
stract of  Commissioner 
Carroll  D.  Wright's  third 
annual  rej>ortof  the  Bureau 
of  Labor,  which  relates 
entirely  to  strikes  and  lock- 
outs for  the  period  of  six 
years,  ending  December 
31,  1886.  It  gives  the 
result  of  the  first  general 
.  investigation  ever  made  by 
any  nation  of  the  facts  concerning  strikes  and  lockouts  for  any 
extended  period  or  for  any  wide  extent  of  territory.  The  report 
covers  about  seven  hundred  printed  pages  and  gives  the  details  of 
each  strike  and  lockout  occurring  in  the  United  States  during  the 
period  named.  It  exhibits  the  facts  belonging  to  each  industrial 
disturbance  for  each  locality  where  trouble  was  found,  without 
attempting  to  establish  or  decide  upon  the  connection  between  them. 
The  following  table  shows  the  number  of  strikes  occurring  during 
each  of  the  last  six  years,  the  number  of  establishments  involved  and 
the  average  number  of  establishments  involved  in  each  strike  : 

Average  Mo.  of  estab- 
Eatabliahmenta     lUbruenU  involved 


•mr  Cfrrr 


Years. 
1881.... 
1882.... 
1883  .. 
1884 

ISK.-V... 

1886.... 


Strikes. 
471 
434 
478 
443 
648 
1,412 


In  each  ttrike. 
6.2 
4.6 
M 
U 
U 
T.O 


Totals 3,903  22,336  6.7 

.  In  1887  there  were,  according  to  the  best  information  obtainable, 
853  strikes,  details  of  which  are  not  available.  The  report  shows 
that,  during  the  six  years  covered  by  the  investigation,  New  York 
had  the  largest  number  of  establishments  affected  both  by  strikes  and 
lockouts,  there  being  for  the  former  9247  and  for  the  latter  1528. 

The  building-trades  furnished  6060  of  the  total  number  of  estab- 
lishments engaged  in  strikes.  The  total  number  of  employe's  involved 
in  the  whole  number  of  strikes  for  the  entire  period  is  shown  to  have 
been  1,318,624.  The  number  of  employes  originating  the  strikes 
was  1,020.832.  The  number  of  employe's  in  all  establishments  before 
the  strikes  occurred  was  1,662,045,  while  the  whole  number  employed 
in  the  establishments  involved  after  the  strikes  occurred  was  1,636,- 
247,  a  loss  of  25,798.  There  were  103,038  new  employes  engaged 
after  the  strikes,  and  37,483  were,  brought  from  other  places  than 
those  in  which  the  strikes  occurred. 

In  2182  establishments  lockouts  were  ordered  during  the  period 
named.  In  these  there  were  173,995  employe's  before  the  lockouts 
occurred  and  169,436  after,  while  the  number  actually  locked  out 
was  159,548.  There  were  13,976  new  employe's  secured  at  the  close 
of  the  lockouts  and  5682  were  brought  from  other  places  than  those 
in  which  the  lockouts  occurred. 

"  It  should  be  remembered,  however,"  says  the  report,  "  that  these 
figures  do  not  represent  the  actual  number  of  individual  establish- 
ments or  different  employes  engaged,  as  in  many  cases  there  have 
been  two  or  more  strikes  or  lockouts  affecting  the  same  establish- 
ment in  the  same  year.  In  such  cases  the  establishments  and  the 
number  of  employe's  engaged  are  duplicated." 

Of  the  whole  number  of  employes  involved  in  strikes  during  the 
six  years  88.56  per  cent  were  malne  and  11.44  per  cent  females.  Of 
thos'e  in  lockouts  during  the  same  period,  68.78  per  cent  were  males 
and  31.22  per  cent  females. 

An  examination  of  the  tables  appended  to  the  report  shows  that 
New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Massachusetts,  Ohio  and  Illinois  represent 
74.74  per  cent  of  the  whole  number  of  establishments  affected  by 
strikes  throughout  the  country  and  90.80  per  cent  of  the  lockouts. 
These  five  States,  it  is  stated,  contain  49  per  cent  of  all  the  manufac- 
turing establishments  and  employ  58  per  cent  of  the  capital  invested 
in  mechanical  industries  in  the  United  States.  Of  the  22,336  estab- 
lishments in  which  strikes  occurred,  in  18,342  or  82.12  per  cent  of 
the  whole  strikes  were  ordered  by  labor  organizations,  while  of  the 
2,182  establishments  in  which  lockouts  occurred  1,753  or  80.34  per 
cent  were  ordered  by  combinations  of  managers.  Of  the  whole  num- 
ber of  establishments  temporarily  closed  for  business,  13,443  or 
60.19  per  cent  were  on  account  of  strikes;  on  account  of  lockouts, 
62.60  per  cent.  The  average  duration  of  stoppage  on  account  of 
strikes  was  23.1  days  and  for  lockouts  28  days. 

The  results  of  the  strikes,  so  far  as  gaining  the  objects  sought  are 
concerned,  are  shown  to  be  as  follows:  Success  followed  in  10,407 
cases,  of* 46.59  per  cent  of  the  whole;  partial  success  in  3,004,  or 
18.45  per  cent  of  the  whole,  and  failure  followed  in  8,910  cases,  or 
39.89  per  cent  of  the  whole.  By  lockouts  564  establishments, 
or  25.85  per  cent  of  the  whole,  succeeded  in  gaining  their  point;  190, 
or  8.71  per  cent  partly  succeeded,  and  1,305,  or  59.80  per  cent,  failed. 

As  to  the  causes  or  objects  of  strikes,  it  is  shown  that  increase  of 
wages  was  the  principal  one,  42.44  per  cent.  The  other  leading 
causes  are  given  as  follows:  For  reduction  of  hours,  19.45  per  cent; 
against  reduction  of  wages,  7.75  per  cent ;  for  increase  of  wages  and 
reduction  of  hours,  7.67  per  cent;  against  increase  of  hours,  62  per 
cent.  Total  for  the  five  leading  causes,  77.83  per  cent.  All  other 
causes,  22.17  per  cent. 


24 


The  American  Architect  arul  Bmldirw  "News.       [Vot.  XXIII.  -  No.  629. 


Disclaiming  absolute   accuracy,   the   report   gives  .the  .losses   of 


bb*  strfkes  and  lockout  in  24,518  e-tablUhmonU,  or  an^cr^  loss 
of  $3  445  to  each  establishment,  or  of  nearly  $40  to  each  stuKcr 
"nvolved.  The  assistance  given  to  striker,  for  the  •"•I**!^" 
far  as  asccrtainable,  amounted  to  $3,325,057  ;  to  those  suffering  from 
lockouts,  $1,105,538,  or  a  total  of  $4,430,595.  These  amounts,  how- 
ever, the  commissioner  says,  are  undoubtedly  too  low. 

The  employers'  losses  through  strikes  for  the  six  years  amounted 
to  $30,732,653;  through  lockouts,  $3,432,261,  or  a  total  loss  to  the 
establishments  involved  of  $34,164,914. 

The  tables  also  show  that  the  chief  burden  of  strikes  was  borne  by 
13  industries,  viz.  :  Boots  and  shoes,  352  establishments  ;  brick-laying, 
478;  building-trades,  6,060;  clothing,  1,728;  cooperage,  484;  food 
preparationsri,419;  furniture,  491  ;  lumber,  395  ;  metals  and  metal- 
lic ioods,  1,595;  mining,  2,060;  stone,  468;  tobacco  2,9o9  trans- 
portation, 1,478.  These  represent  89.35  per  cent  of  the  whole  num- 
ber subjected  to  strikes.  In  lockouts,  five  trades  bore  80  per  cent  of 
the  whole  burden,  as  follows:  Boots  and  shoes,  155  establishments; 
building  trades,  531;  clothing,  773;  metals  and  metallic  goods,  76, 
and  tobacco,  226,  or  a  total  of  1,761. 

Beside  completing  the  field-work  for  this  report  and  the  compila- 
tion of  the  information,  the  Bureau  has  carried  on  almost  to  comple 
tion  the  investigation  begun  last  year  concerning  the  moral,  physic: 
and  economical"  conditions  of  the  workingwomen  of  great  cities,  and 
has  continued  its  investigation  into  the  cost  of  the  distribution  ot 
great  staple  products.  It  has  also  undertaken,  according  to  Congres- 
sional instruction,  the  collection  of  statistics  of  marriage  and  divorce 
in  the  United  States,  a  report  of  which  may  be  submitted  before  the 
close  of  the  present  session  of  Congress. 


THE  BEARING-POWER  OF  PILES. 


CLAY  CENTER,  KANSAS,  Dec.  27,  1887. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  — In  your  issue  of  Dec.  3,  1887.  you  speak  about  a 
paper  on  the  bearing-power  of  piling,  read  by  Mr.  Ira  O.  Baker 
before  the  Western  Society  of  Civil  Engineers  and  published  in  the 
Journal  of  the  Association  of  Engineering  Societies.  I  have  lost  the 
address  of  the  Journal  named.  Would  you  please  give  me  the  ad- 
dress and  number  containing  the  above  article. 

Respectfully  yours,  HENRY  S.  MADDOCK. 

[WK  do  not  know.  Our  article  was  suggested  by  a  reprint  of  the  paper 
in  »  pamphlet,  which,  we  fear,  has  found  its  way  to  the  waste-basket.— 
EDS.  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT.] 

A  QUESTION  OF   EXTRAS. 

ASHLAND,  Wis.,  January  7,  1888. 

To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  :  — 

Dear  Sirs, — Will  you  kindly  advise  me  what  is  customary  in  the 
East  in  settlement  of  the  following  bill  of  extras.  After  the  contract 
is  let,  client  orders  a  system  of  indirect  steam-heating  to  be  used  in 
the  building,  this  necessitates  the  building  of  54  flues  8''  x  8"  square 
16'  4"  high  in  the  centre  brick  wall,  the  flues  being  put  in  at  the  time 
the  wall  was  built.  The  contractor  completes  the  flues  according  to 
orders,  and  brings  in  a  bill  for  $75  for  extra  work.  Client  demurs 
and  refers  bill  back  to  architect  for  adjustment.  Would  the  amount 
of  bricks  saved  be  taken  into  account  in  settlemei't  with  contractor. 
I  have  a  very  decided  opinion  regarding  the  matter,  but  would  like 
your  advice  before  giving  it.  Hoping  this  may  be  of  common  in- 
terest to  more  than  one  young  man, 

I  remain  yours  respectfully,  H. 

[IT  Is  customary  to  consider  the  saving  of  bricks  in  the  flues  as  offset  by 
the  extra  trouble  of  forming  the  flues  properly,  so  that  under  ordinary 
circumstances  there  would  be  no  difference  in  cost  between  a  solid  wall  and 
one  containing  flues.  In  this  case,  however,  there  may  have  been  special 
difficulty  in  arranging  so  many  flues,  or  the  contractor  may  have  been  put 
to  some  extra  personal  trouble  by  the  change,  for  which,  of  course,  he  is 
entitled  to  be  paid.  —  EDS.  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT.] 


THE  SPANISH  NATIONAL  THKATRE,  MADRID. — An  historical  play- 
house is  soon  to  disappear  from  Madrid.  The  Spanish  National  Thea- 
tre, which  is  over  300  years  old,  is  unsafe  through  age,  and  must  be 
pulled  down  to  make  place  for  a  new  building,  with  all  modern  im- 
provements. It  was  originally  built  by  the  monks  for  the  performance 
of  miracle  plays,  and  afterwards  housed  an  Italian  pantomime  troupe. 
The  performances  took  place  in  the  day,  as  the  so-called  theatre  was 
only  a  walled  enclosure  where  the  spectators  stood  promiscuously  in  a 
paved  court-yard.  When  Philip  IV  succeeded,  early  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  a  regular  theatre  was  built,  where  boxes  or  raised  seats  were 
assigned  by  royal  order  to  distinguished  personagei,  and  an  entrance 




fee  of  three  duros  was  charged.    The  masterpieces  of  Calderon  and 
Lope  de  Vega  were  produced  on  this  stage.  —  N.  1 .  Evening  Post. 

THE  POPULATION  OF  CHINA.— The  authorities  of  Pekin  have  re- 
cently taken  a  census  of  the  Empire,  and  as  it  was  for  taxing  purposes 
the  proneness  to  disbelieve  in  the  large  estimates  must  be  modified  ac- 
cordingly The  figures  returned  by  the  village  bailiffs  make  the  popu- 
lation 319  383,501),  which  together  with  the  estimates  of  five  provinces 
omitted  makes  the  aggregate  about  392,000,000.  These  figures  arc  in- 
dependent of  the  population  of  Corea,  Thibet  and  Kashgar.  As  the 
population  of  India  exceeds  250,000,000  the  Hindoos  and  Chinese  con- 
stitute more  than  half  the  entire  human  race.  —  London  Junes. 


THE  anthracite  coal-strike  is  causing  some  inconvenience  to  manufae- 


settled.    The  rolling-mills  i 

supply  of  which  is  not  affected  at  presedt  by  the  strike.  1'ig-iron  remains 
nominally  unchanged,  although  some  companies  which  are  pretty  well  sold 
up  have  nominally  advanced  prices  50  cents  per  ton.  'Ihere  are  no  stwks 
to  speak  of,  consumption  having  kept  pretty  close  track  on  production. 
Standard  No.  1  is  821-$22;  standard  No.  2,  $18-819;  standard  forge,  $17- 
818  The  pig-iron  makers  do  not  feel  in  the  least  concerned  over  the  situa- 
tion and  naturally  apprehend  a  little  stiffening  of  prices.  There  is,  of 
course,  a  possibility  that  demand  may  slightly  fall  off  because  of  the  in- 


85  at  furnace,  and  heavy  contracts 'have  been  placed  within  the  past  few 
davs.    Bituminous  coal  is  also  in  active  demand.     Iron  and  steel  making 


will  go  on  as  usual  unless,  the  supply  of  coke  and  soft  coal  should  eive  out. 
There  is  fear,  of  course,  that  the  Wyoming  anthracite  region,  now  in,  may 
come  out,  and  that  the  Clearfield  region,  now  at  work,  may  seize  this 
opportunity  to  strike  for  the  contested  Columbus  scale,  and  that  the  Con- 
nellsville  coke-makers  may  take  another  rest,  but  the  manufacturing  in- 
terests are  hoping  to  escape  all  these  threatened  evils  through  the  accept- 
ance by  the  Reading  Company  of  arbitration,  a  measure  which,  it  must  be 
said,  is  particularly  offensive'to  them.  The  bar,  plate,  sheet  and  all  other 
iron-mills  throughout  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  are  at  work  with  fair 
orders  and  good  prospects  for  the  winter.  An  immense  consumption  of  Iron 
will  take  place  this  year.  Locomotive-building  was  25  per  cent  grentrr  in 
1887  than  1886,  and  car  building  was  nearly  one  bundled  per  cent  greater. 
This  activity  mav  not  be  repeated  this  year,  but  we  do  not  apprehend  much 
of  a  falling  off.  "Steel-rails  are  quoted  firm  at  $32  at  mill  Very  few  orders 
are  arriving.  Buyers  want  supplies  for  next  year  at  830  and  831.  Wages 
have  been  quite  generally  reduced,  and  buyers  think  this  reduction  ought 
to  allow  a  little  reduction  in  prices.  We  have  been  heavy  buyers  of  foreign 
material  fora  year,  and  our  dependence  is  not  at  end.  although  just  now 
very  little  foreign  business  is  being  done  on  account  of  the  upward  tendency 
of  prices  abroad.  A  great  deal  of  railroad-building  will  be  done  despite  the 
pessamistic  assertions  to  the  contrary.  The  general  trade  outlook  is  good, 
and  we  feel  certain  that  we  will  have  an  excellent  year.  Tariff  discussions 
do  not  create  »s  much  unrest  as  might  be  supposed.  The  industries  have 
had  timely  notice,  and  they  are  preparing  to  defend  themselves.  The  heavy 
distribution  of  lumber  which  was  keut  up  since  May  1  until  the  close  of  the 
season  will  probably  be  renewed  early  in  the  spring.  Much  as  may  be  said 
against  the  wisdom  of  prosecuting  railway  construction  upon  a  large  scale, 
the  building  of  railroads  will  continue  to  absorb  an  enormous  amount  of 
capital,  iron,  steel,  lumber  and  building  material.  Nothing  hut  a  sweeping 
panic  can  check  enterprise,  and  prevent  the  building  of  cities  and  towns, 
the  opening  of  mines,  and  the  building  of  manufactories  large  and  small  all 
over  the  country.  The  impulse  has  been  given,  and  newspaper-writing 
cannot  check  it.  The  fact  that  the  volume  of  monev  is  steadily  increasing, 
and  that  there  is  confidence  in  our  monetary  system  and  that  the  people  at 
large  have  confidence  in  the  permanency  of  healthy-trade  conditions  all  go 
to  strengthen  the  belief  that  the  business  for  1888  will  be,  if  not  larger  than 
last  year,  at  least  as  large  in  the  aggregate.  In  some  directions  there  will 
be  no  doubt  a  falling  off.  In  other  directions  there  will  be  an  expansion. 
Averaging  the  probabilities  we  may  safely  say,  fully  as  much  money  will 
be  expended  this  year  as  last,  and  enterprise  will  have  as  many  inviting 
opportunities  open  to  it.  It  may  be  too  soon  to  say  that  labor  will  not  be 
troublesome,  and  especially  in  view  of  recent  disturbances  in  Pennsylvania 
and  elsewhere,  but  if  the  instances  which  could  be  specified  were  examined 
into,  it  would  be  found  that  there  are  special  causes  at  work  to  aggregate 
labor  and  make  it  apparently  despotic  for  the  time  being.  Taking  labor  all 
through  there  is  a  stronger  conservative  feeling  than  ever,  and  a  clearer 
comprehension  of  the  underlying  intimate  relationship  between  employers 
and  employed.  The  prospects  for  the  early  spring  trade  are  certainly 
favorable.  Farm-products  have  a  higher  range  of  values.  The  lumber 
dealers  throughout  the  country  are  holding  their  present  supplies  of  lumber 
for  higher  prices.  The  lumber  manufacturers  in  the  Northwest  and  South 
are  preparing  to  so  act  that  they  will  not  check  the  healthful  influence  at 
work.  In  regard  to  lumber  itself,  there  will  be  a  much  heavier  demand  for 
hard-wood,  and  manufacturers  are  already  preparing  for  it.  A  largn 
amount"  of  oak  is  being  taken  out  and  prepared  for  the  mill.  It  is  con- 
sidered in  lumber-trade  circles  there  is  no  probability  of  an  over-supply  of 
oak  on  account  of  the  heavy  demands  from  furniture  manufacturers,  car- 
builders  and  general  consumers.  Walnut  has  perhaps  seen  its  best  days  in 
the  East,  but  the  demand  throughout  the  West  will  absorb  all  the  surplus 
stocks,  if  there  are  any,  and  leave  prices  at  their  high  notch.  There  is 
.1  great  deal  of  inquiry  for  cherry,  mahogany,  poplar  and  ash,  and  the 
probabilities  are  that  these  woods  will  hold  their  own  without  any  difficulty. 
Cypress  is  also  coming  in  for  a  variety  of  purposes,  as  well  .is  North  Caro- 
lina sap.  Yellow-pine  will  crowd  its  way  farther  to  the  front  against  com- 
petitors. From  reports  received  from  brick  manufacturers  in  different 
parts  of  the  country  it  is  impossible  to  form  an  intelligible  opinion  as  to  the 
probable  course  of  prices.  Brick-makers  insist  upon  and  will  receive 
higher  prices.  They  are  making  ample  preparations  for  an  increasing 
supply,  and  the  mamifacturers  of  brick-machinery  are  also  receiving  orders 
for  additional  machinery  and  are  filling  extensive  orders,  so  that  so  far  as 
these  indications  go,  it  would  seem  the  supply  of  brick  will  be  equal  to  all 
demands. 

S.  J.  PARKHILL  &  Co.,  Printers,  Boston. 


THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  AND  BUILDING  NEWS. 


VOL.  xxni. 


Copyright.  1K»8,  by  TinxoR  A  COMPANY,  Ballon,  M»M. 


No.  630. 


JANUARY  21, 1888. 

Entered  *t  the  1'iMtrOfflea  at  Bucton  u  Moond-elmm  i 


SUMMARY   — 

Tin-  Gelatine  Print  of  tin-  Fin-place  in  tin-  "  Villaril  House." — 
How  Owners  of  Objects  of  Art  might  do  Rood.  —  The  Com- 
pulsory Examination  of  English  Areliitfcts. — Mr.  T.  G. 
Jackson's  Paper  on  this  Subject. — The  Art  Side  of  Arch- 
itecture and  its  Professors 

LETTER  FKOM  BALTIMORE 27 

LETTER  FROM  PHILADELPHIA 28 

LETTER  FROM  NEW  YORK 29 

LETTER  FROM  CHICAGO 30 

ILLUSTRATIONS : — 

American  Unitarian  Association's  Building,  Boston  Mass. — 
Gothic  Spires  anil  Towers,  I,  II,  III. —  House  for  C.  F. 
Washburn,  Esq.,  Worcester,  Mass.  —  Competitive  Design 
for  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Building,  Providence,  H.  I.  —  Pillsbury 
Science  Hall,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  —  Competitive  Design  for. 

a  Club-house.  —  Calendar  for  the  Year  1888 .30 

LETTER  FROM  CINCINNATI i 

PARIS  CHURCHES.     VII.  —  Notre  Dame .31 

LETTER  FROM  BOSTON 

BOOKS  AND  PAPERS.   "-, 34 

SOCIETIES :     ...    35 

COMMUNICATION  :  — 

The  Relation  of  an  Architect  to  a  Building-Committee.   ...    35 

NOTES  AND  CLIPPINGS 30 

TRADE  SURVEYS 36 


WE  find  ourselves  in  the  very  uncomfortable  position  'of 
being  obliged  to  apologize  for  the  commission  of  an 
alleged  wrong  which  we  quite  innocently  have  had  a 
hand  in.  We  feel  called  on  to  apologize  because  we  readily 
perceive  that  a  grievance  is  felt  and  we  speak  of  an  alleged 
wrong  partly  because  it  rests  on  allegations  that  are  disputed, 
and  partly  because  we  feel  that  the  offence,  if  one  exists,  was 
committed  innocently.  Soon  after  the  publication  of  the 
view  of  the  fireplace  in  the  "  Villard  house,"  we  received  a 
letter  from  the  architects  of  the  building,  which  declared  that 
they  and  the  present  owner  of  the  building  were  "  incensed  " 
at  this  publication,  that  the  photographer  from  whom  we 
obtained  the  negative  had  "  uo  moral  right  to  dispose  of  "  the 
views,  and  begging  us  to  "take  some  proper  action  in  the 
matter."  This  we  have  done  by  telling  our  printers  to  destroy 
the  edition  of  plates  of  another  view  in  the  same  house  — 
already  printed  for  issue  next  week  —  and  applying  to  the 
photographers  for  an  explanation  from  their  point  of  view, 
which  they  furnish  by  writing  that  while  they  regret  the  con- 
troversy they  do  not  feel,  inasmuch  as  they  "  obtained  full  per- 
mission from  the  residents  to  photograph  "  the  rooms,  that  they 
have  done  any  one  a  wrong.  Since  all  the  parties  to  this  con- 
troversy are  known  to  us  as,  in  Mark  Antony's  words,  "  honor- 
able men,"  we  do  not  propose  to  carry  our  investigations 
farther.  It  is  not  our  part  to  inquire  into  the  right  of  the 
"  residents  "  to  accord  permission  any  more  than  it  is  to  dis- 
cover whether  the  negatives  were  made  before  or  after  the  ac- 
quisition of  the  property  by  the  present  owner.  We  can  only 
regret  that  any  one  has  been  annoyed  and  that  we  have  been 
subjected  to  loss.  We  cannot,  however,  shut  our  eyes  to  the 
fact  that  an  interior  view  i.=  not  a  thing  that  can  be  secured 
surreptitiously  with  a  detective-camera  and  a  drop-shutter. 

O  PEAKING  about  photographs,  we  wish  we  had  the  gift 
|i^  of  knowing  beforehand  whether  the  proprietors  of  interest- 
ing objects  would  be  pleased  or  displeased  at  having  their 
beauties  held  up  to  the  admiration  of  the  public.  There  are 
thousands  of  such  things,  belonging  to  private  owners,  the  rep- 
resentation of  which  in  such  a  publication  as  this  would  do 
great  good  in  showing  persons  denied  access  to  museums  and 
collections  of  art  what  was  really  worthy  of  admiration ;  but, 
although  perhaps  the  majority  of  owners  are  perfectly  willing 
to  be  of  service  to  the  public  in  this  way,  the  objections  of  the 
other  sort  take  so  pronounced  a  form  that  we  are  always  a 
little  afraid  to  mention  the  subject  at  all  to  persons  whom  we 
do  not  know. 

fllE  current  numbers  of  the  English  professional  journals 
contain  a  good  deal  about  a  matter  which  is  now  engross- 
ing to  an  extraordinary  degree  the  attention  of  architects 
all  over   the  world.     It  is  true  that -they   are   by  no   means 


agreed  on  the  subject,  and  we  find  earnest  and  able  men 
arrayed  on  both  sides,  but  the  fact  that  instead  of  pursuing  each 
his  own  way,  independent  and  unmindful  of  all  the  rest,  as  was 
the  rule  twenty  years  ago.  nearly  ull  the  architects  worthy  of 
the  name  in  England,  France  and  America  are  now  interesting 
themselves  in  a  question  of  professional  policy,  is  one  on  which 
the  world  is  to  be  congratulated.  In  the  agitation  of  this 
matter  —  the  compulsory  examination  of  architects  —  the 
French  seem  to  have  taken  the  first  step,  with,  however,  less 
success  than  the  English,  who,  while  their  brethren  across  the 
Channel  were  applying  in  vain  to  the  Government  to  establish 
such  an  examination,  took  the  very  efficient  preliminary  step 
of  requiring  all  applicants  for  admission  to  their  own  principal 
professional  society  to  pass  an  examination  prescribed  by  that 
society.  The  results  of  this  movement  have  been  so  valuable 
that  a  very  influential  group  of  the  younger  men  in  the  profes- 
sion have  drawn  up  a  bill  to  be  presented  to  Parliament,  pro- 
viding that  after  a  certain  date  any  person  wishing  to  practise 
the  profession  of  architecture  must,  after  passing  not  less  than 
five  years  as  apprentice,  to  a  registered  architect,  present  him- 
self for  examination,  and,  on  passing  such  examination  in  a  satis- 
factory manner,  shall  have  his  name  registered  as  an  architect ; 
and  that  after  the  Act  goes  into  operation,  any  unregistered 
person  calling  himself  an  architect  shall  be  liable  to  a  fine  of 
twenty  pounds  for  the  first  offence  and  fifty  pounds  for  each 
subsequent  one ;  that  no  public  body  shall  give  any  professional 
appointment  to  an  unregistered  person  ;  that  his  certificate  shall 
have  no  legal  value,  and  that  he  shall  not  have  the  aid  of  the 
.law  in  recovering  compensation  for  professional  work.  This  is 
very  nearly  the  same  as  the  law  of  most  civilized  countries  in 
regard  to  the  practice  of  medicine,  but  as  there  is  no  great 
school  of  architecture  in  England,  a  term  of  apprenticeship  is 
substituted  for  the  course  of  study  in  a  medical  school  which  is 
required  of  physicians. 


TTFIIIS  proposition,  although  supported  by  a  great  many  archi- 
J[  tects  of  high  reputation,  has  been  violently  assailed  by 
others  and  by  some  of  the  professional  journals,  the  Builder, 
in  particular,  forgetting  its  usual  dignity  in  a  rather  personal 
attack  upon  the  "  small  clique  "  of  people  who  have  taken  the 
trouble  to  bring  the  matter  before  the  public,  while,  as  men- 
tioned lately  by  our  English  correspondent,  so  distinguished  an 
architect  as  Mr.  T.  G.  Jackson  recently  read  a  long  paper 
before  the  Architectural  Association,  drawing  quite  a  dreadful 
picture  of  the  results  which  would  follow  from  the  enactment 
of  the  measure  proposed.  Leaving  the  merits  of  the  case  out 
of  the  question,  we  must  say  that  the  promoters  of  the  bill  in 
England  have  so  far  much  the  advantage  in  point  of  logic  over 
the  opposite  party.  They  know  what  they  think  is  needed, 
and  their  measure  is  obviously  framed  so  as  to  accomplish  what 
they  consider  desirable,  while  their  opponents  seem  to  find 
nothing  better  to  meet  them  with  than  gratuitous  predictions  of 
all  sorts  of  frightful  things  which,  as  they  say,  will  follow  from 
the  passage  of  the  bill.  Even  Mr.  Jackson's  paper,  the  most 
earnest  and  convincing  that  has  yet  appeared  on  the  subject, 
begins  with  a  glaring  petitto  prlncipii  in  its  very  title,  which 
calls  it  an  essay  "  on  the  Proposal  to  make  Architecture  a 
Close  Profession  by  Imposing  the  Test  of  Examination,"  just 
as  if  examinations  i'or  which  any  one  could  be  a  candidate  were 
not  the  best  means  of  opening  instead  of  closing  a  profession  to 
all  who  were  qualified  to  pursue  it ;  and  goes  on  with  arguments 
which  give  a  singular  ideaof  its  author's  Oxford  training  in  logic. 
"  Evidently,"  it  says,  "  the  bill  proposes  to  adopt  the  restric- 
tions of  the  old  trade  guilds  and  modern  trade  unions."  It  in 
curious  to  see  these  linked  together,  but  to  compare  a  measure 
which  expressly  provides  that  all  persons  who  reach  a  certain 
standard  of  attainment  shall  be  admitted  to  a  profession,  with  the 
rules  of  bodies  whose  cardinal  principle  in  their  bad  days  was, 
and  is  now  to  some  extent,  to  cut  off  competition  by  limiting  the 
number  of  persons  admitted  to  them,  without  regard  to  the 
qualifications  of  the  candidates,  seems  about  as  questionable  as 
the  assertion  which  follows,  that  the  result  of  the  bill  "  would 
be  that  there  would  be  fewer  architects  to  share  the  same 
amount  of  work,  and  that  poor  men,  however,  well  qualified, 
would  be  left  on  the  outside  of  the  door,  while  a  golden  shower 
of  premiums  would  fall  on  those  who  are  on  the  right  side  of 
it ; "  and  "  as  the  same  fortunate  persons  are  to  have  the  sole 
right  to  hold  public  appointments,  it  is  easy  to  see  who  would 


eoWen  shovvers  into  the  laps  of  those  who  have  a  ready  taken 
Eir  diplomas.  In  fact,  the  bugbear  of  the  exclusion  of  the 
poor  but  worthy  person  who  wishes  to  be  a  physician,  in  favor 
oi  his  rich  rival  who  can  afford  to  pay  tuition  fees,  has  been  so 
recently  trotted  around  several  of  our  own  States,  m  which 
aws  for  the  regulation  of  the  practice  of  medicine  were  under 
con  ideration,  that  another  of  the  same  genus  ,s  perhaps  more 
readily  recognized  here  than  in  England,  and  it  may  be  a  com- 
fort to  our  friends  across  the  water  to  learn  that  the  tribe  has 
here  proved  to  be  quite  harmless. 


'TT  GOOD  deal  more  is  to  be  said  in  favor  of  Mr  Jackson  s 
/I  forebodings  lest  a  compulsory  examination  should  be     de- 
'        trimental  to  the  pursuit  of  architecture  as  a  fine  art. 
examination  proposed  would,  he  said,  •' open  still  wider  the 
breach  which  unfortunately  divides  it  from  the  sister  arts  of 
painting  and  sculpture,  and  in  so  doing  would  condemn  it  to  a 
lifeless  monotony  and  hopeless  unprogressiveness.  _    ;  Believe 
me"  continued  this  sincere  and  thorough  artist,  "it  is  m  the 
extending  of  an  architect's  skill  into  the  decorative  arts,  in  the 
closer  union  of  himself  with  other  artists,  in  the  cultivation  of 
the  power  to  ornament  his  own  handiwork,  and  so  of  mtroduc- 
ino-  consistency  and  harmony  into  what  otherwise  is  a  mere 
ian^le  of  jarring  notes  struck  by  unsympathetic  hands,  that  the 
hotTe  of  architecture  among  us  lies.     The  true  brethren  of  the 
architect  are  the  painter  and  the  sculptor,  not  the  surveyor  and 
the  engineer,  and  those  are  no  longer  true  friends  of  our  art  who 
would  try  to  persuade  us  otherwise."     We  are  sure  that  every 
one  who  cares  for  his  profession  will  subscribe  enthusiastically  to 
this  view,  and  it  is  a  pleasure  to  see  it  so  earnestly  upheld  by 
a  man  who  adds  to  it  his  belief  that  "  there  can  be  no  good 
architecture  without  good  building,"  and  who  has  shown  him- 
self to  be  a  consummate  master  in  both ;  but  we  cannot  help 
marvelling  that  any  one  should  reason  that  because  an  architect 
should  be"  an  artist,  therefore  a  person   could  not  be  a  good 
architect  if  any  one  tried  to  find  out  whether  he  knew  anything 
or  not     For  ourselves,  we  believe  with  all  our  heart  that  an 
architect  should  be  a  perfect  artist,  trained,  as  Mr.  Jackson 
well  says,  to  skill  and  knowledge  in  the  arts  of  both  painting 
and  sculpture,  as  well  as  deeply  versed  in  that  most  subtile  and 
difficult  of  all  the  arts  of  expression  which  he  himself  professes  ; 
but  that  the  true  way  to  educate  such  artists  is  never  to  put 
them  to  any  tests,  and  that  the  best  way  to  select  them  is  to 
take  without  question  their  own  statement  as  to  their  genius, 
we  are  not  prepared  to  admit.     On  the  contrary,  the  curse  of 
art  among  English-speaking  nations  has  been  for  two  centuries 
the  impunity  with  which  quacks  have  been  permitted  to  parade 
their  inventions,  with  beating  of  tomtoms  and  blare  of  trumpets, 
under  the  label  of  art.     So  far  as  the  English  are  concerned, 
there  is  good  reason  for  believing  them  to  be  in  their  inmost 
souls   the  most   artistic  people   in  the  world    yet  their  very 
virtues  have  been   made  the  means  of   deluding  them.     Un- 
fortunately for  them,  one  art,  that  of  letters,  is  not  susceptible 
of  much  change,  and  the  English  mind  is  always  open  to  its 
charm.     Knowing  this,  the  man  who  wishes  to  bring  about  a 
revolution  in  artistic  fashions  devotes  himself,  not  to  devising 
something  more  beautiful   than  has  been,  done  before,  but  to 
getting  the  books  and  newspapers  to  say  that  what  he  has  done 
Ts  the  most  interesting,  or  aesthetic,  or  spiritual  thing  in  exist- 
ence.    Then    the  English    public   rushes    to    admire  the  new 
wonder,  and  finding  it,  in  general,  ugly,  concludes  that  what 
it  liked  before  must  be  bad,  and  that  conscience  requires  it  to 
prefer  ugliness,  and,  it  is  needless  to  say,  real  art  goes  into  an 
eclipse   until    that   particular  cloud  passes  over,  generally  to 
suffer   a   new  eclipse   immediately  after.     What   architect  of 
mature  years  cannot  verify  this  by  thinking  of  the  Ruskin  in- 
fluence?    Many  years  ago,  under  Barry  and  the  other  great 
architects  of  the  early  part  of  the  century,  London  began  to  be 
beautified  with  a  considerable  number  of  noble  compositions, 
not  particularly  original,  for  even  their  authors  were  tied  down 
to  the  Italian  Renaissance  which  their  books  told  them  was  the 
purest  of  styles,  but  well  studied  and  good.     Then  arose  Mr. 


[VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  630. 

Ruskin,  and  launched  at  them  the  most  brilliant  rhetoric  that 
has  ever  been  written  iu  any  language.     He  denounced  their 
unoffending  pediments  in  phrases  which  brought  conviction  to 
all  who  read  them ;  he  held  up  their  classical  frets  and  festoons 
to  irresistible  scorn,  and  described  the  Venetian  or  Lombard  or 
French  Gothic,  according  to  his  varying  fancy,  m  terms  which 
brought  tears  of  tenderness  to  the  eyes,  and  enthusiasm  to  the 
heart     Immediately  all  the  traditions,  the  learning,  the  tastes 
and  examples  of  the  architects'  offices  were  thrown  overboard, 
and  their  owners  trooped  to  Northern  Italy,  not  to  learn  what 
was  good,  that  being  a  liberty  which  they  would  have  shud- 
dered at  the  idea  of  allowing  themselves,  but  to  discover  and 
copy  what  would  please  Mr.  Ruskin.     We  all  remember  the 
result.     Those  of  us  who  are  old  enough  can  recollect  the  ad- 
miration with  which  we  beheld  the  rows  of  pinched  little  win- 
dows with  cusps,  the   polychromatic  "  wall-veils "  of   red  and 
black  bricks,  and  the  extraordinary  towers  with  which  our  pre- 
decessors did  homage  to  the  great  rhetorician  who  had  washed 
their  souls  away  by  his  floods  of  eloquence  on  matters  which  he 
knew  very  little  about ;  and  we  can  probably  recall  also  the 
sensation  of  scales  falling  from  our  eyes  when  disenchantment 
came,  and  we  looked  at  what  had  been  done  and  saw  how  bad  • 
it  was.     Then  Mr.  Norman  Shaw  and  Mr.  Nesfield  published 
their  beautiful  volumes  of  sketches,  and  the  world  turned  to 
French  Gothic  as  the  correct  thing.     Mr.  Norman  Shaw  him- 
self, it  is  true,  left  the  rest  to  learn  the  fashion  from  his  book, 
and  devoted  himself  to  designing  houses  which  were  simply 
beautiful,  without  being  in  this,  that  or  the  other  styles,  but, 
though  other  people  saw  his  work  and  loved  it  immediately, 
they  were  too  intent  on  "  correctness  "  to  follow  him,  and  the 
French  Gothic  from  the  conscientious  ones,  with  the  ugly  non- 
descript from  the  careless  and  unfeeling  ones,  held  the  field 
until  the  delights  of  the  Queen  Anne  were  unfolded  in  another 
book,  and  the  architectural  world  hurried  off  to  measure  and 
copy  moulded  brickwork  and  Dutch  orders.     What  went  on  in 
this  country  meanwhile  we  hardly  venture  to  describe,  but  the 
general  result  was  that  a  hundred  years,  which  might  have 
been  used   for  filling  two  countries  with  beautiful   buildings, 
were   thrown  away  in   dragging   architecture   at   the  ^  tail   of 
literary  whims.     It  is  time  for  a  change,  and,  to  our  mind,  the 
surest  way  of  accomplishing  it  is  not,  as  Mr.  Jackson  thinks,  to 
let  every  one  exalt  his  own  conceits  as  the  purest  architecture, 
and  prevent  any  one  from  applying  a  test  to  them,  but  to  sub- 
ject the  would-be  designer  of  buildings  to  some  sort  of  inquiry 
as  to  his  real  artistic  knowledge.     We  should  not,  any  more 
than  he,  wish  to  have  a  candidate  for  entrance  into  the  pro- 
fession judged  by  the  designs  he  might  make  at  an  examina- 
tion.    It   is  universally  acknowledged  among  architects  that 
liberty  in  this  respect  ought  to  be  allowed  to  every  aspirant ; 
but  Mr.  Jackson  himself  tells  us  that  "  the  hope  of  architecture 
lies  in  the  extending  of  the  architect's  skill  into  the  other  de- 
corative arts,"  and,  this  being  so,  why  should  not  the  capacity 
of  a  candidate  for  responding  to  that  hope  be  tested  by  inquir- 
ing into  his  skill  in  those  other  decorative  arts  ?     According  to 
the  theory  which  we  hear  often  repeated  by  those  who  fear 
that   art   would   lose   by   the   examination    of   architects,  the 
scientific  part  of  the  examination  is  useless,  since  architects  do 
not  use  mathematics,  physics    or  chemistry,  and   the    artistic 
attainments  of  the  candidate,  which  are  the  most  important, 
cannot  be  determined  in  that  way ;  or,  in  other  words,  skill  in 
the  management  of  light  and  shade,  form  and  color,  being  as 
essential  to  an  architect  as  an  artist,  it  is  necessary  that  he 
should   never  be  asked   any  questions  about  his   training   in 
them.     Moreover,  as  Mr.  Arthur  Cates  well  remarked,  during 
the  discussion  which  followed  Mr  Jackson's  paper,  one  of  the 
chief  uses  of  an  examination  is  to  point  out  to  students  what  it 
is,  in  the  opinion  of  the  best  masters  of  their  time,  necessary 
for  them  to  learn  in  order  that  they,  too,  may  be  set  in  the  way 
of   attaining  to  eminence,  and  to  prevent   them,  while   inex- 
perienced and  ignorant  of  the  quality  of  the  art  which  they 
desire  to  profess,  from  wasting  their  time  on  useless  or  mis- 
leading  studies ;    and    if   training    in    drawing,    painting   and 
modelling  is,  as  we  all  agree,  very  desirable,  it  is  all  the  more 
important  that  the  student  should  have  some  standard  in  those 
arts  set  before  him,  to  which  he  must  attain,  not  by  talking  in 
a  patronizing  manner  about  them,  as  is  now  the  ordinary  way, 
but  by  practising  them  diligently  under  good  instruction,  until 
he  can  show  by  his  work  in  them  that  he  has  reached  that 
knowledge  of  their  resources  which  he  needs  as  an  essential 
part  of  his  equipment  for  the  practice  of  that  art  which,  in  a 
sense,  comprehends  them  all. 


JANUARY  21,  1888.] 


The   American    Architect   and  Building   News. 


27 


CAUSES  WHICH    HAVE    IIIKFF.KKX Tl ATED 

TIIEGKOWTH  OK  BALTIMORE  FIIOM  THAT 

OF  OTIIElt  CITIES. 

fT  is  doubtless  somewhat  trite  to  observe  that 
in  architecture  we  find  a  continuous  process  of 
evolution,  perhaps  in  a  more  marked  degree 
than  in  any  other  art  or  science,  or,  indeed,  than 
in  anything  on  the  face  of  the  earth  that  bears  the 
impress  of  man's  mind  and  hand  and  that  is  not 
merely  the  result  of  a  simple  action  of  Nature.  True,  from  time  to 
time,  and  particularly  in  later  days,  there  have  appeared  here  and 
there  creations  certainly  striking,  but  apparently  the  result  of  mere 
whim ;  they  were  things  born  without  parentage,  inheriting  no  char- 
acter and  leaving  no  issue.  Hence,  the  true  architectural  status  of 
any  given  epoch  or  locality  can  hardly  be  intelligently  understood  or 
criticised  without  a  certain  degree  of  knowledge  of  what  has  pre- 
ceded it,  under  such  influences  as  changes  in  historic,  social,  commer- 
cial or  climatic  conditions,  and  it  is  only  with  this  preparation  that 
we  should  undertake  any  architectural  description  or  criticism,  not 
only  of  schemes  of  gruat  archaeological  research,  which  are  bringing 
to  light  ruined  cities  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth  or  the  depths  of 
the  sea,  telling  marvelous  tales  that  we  involuntarily  consign  to 
the  age  of  legend  an.l  romance,  but  we  may  apply  like  methods  with 
like  results  to  a  very  limited  circle  of  time  and  space  and  to  very 
recent  years  —  to  our  own  new  world  of  America,  to  our  own  nine- 
teenth century.  So  rapid  have  been  the  changes  in  the  conditions 
that  have  affected  our  city  architecture  in  the  past  hundred  years, 
that  what  it  is  to-day  is  a  very  different  thing  from  what  it  was  in 
the  year  eighteen  hundred,  or  even  fifty,  or  indeed  twenty-five 
years  ago,  a  difference  almost  as  great  as  what  would  formerly  mark 
a  period  of  several  centuries  or  two  distinct  nationalities. 

There  is  a  certain  amount  of  both  profit  and  interest  in  looking 
back  some  half  century,  more  or  less,  at  what  were  the  prevailing 
tvpes  in  any  one  of  our  Eastern  cities,  and  noting  the  several  steps 
that  have  led  us  (up  or  down)  from  then  to  now.  New  York,  Phila- 
delphia, Baltimore  and  Boston,  ranking  in  population  in  this  order, 
were  then  our  only  cities  that  had  rightly  any  claim  to  the  name,  the 
place  of  second  in  importance  being  probably  disputed  between  the 
Puritan  and  the  Quaker,  while  such  respectable  towns  as  Albany, 
Richmond  and  Charleston  were  already  some  distance  in  the  rear, 
the  national  capital  little  more  than  a  group  of  public  buildings 
slowly  rising  in  distant  view  of  each  other,  and  our  great  Western 
prodigies,  at  the  best,  merely  precocious  infants. 

One  might  possibly  question,  however,  if,  in  the  confusion  of  these 
rapid  transitions,  any  of  our  cities  could  rightly  lay  claim  to  any 
"  architectural  status,"  and  also  might  pardonably  ask  what  the  sub- 
ject has  to  do  with  a  letter  from  Baltimore,  presumably  meruly  on 
matters  of  current  interest,  more  or  less  local.  It  is  simply  from  the 
fact  that  we  are  writing  of  a  city  which  we  cannot  but  feel  does  not 
to-day  in  many  respects  hold  quite  the  architectural  rank  she  should, 
and  that  perhaps  she  once  did,  among  her  neighboring  sisters  nearest 
her  equal  in  size  and  importance.  The  extent  of  her  building  trans- 
actions, on  the  other  hand,  is  often  boasted  of,  or,  at  least,  regarded 
as  satisfactory,  and  in  1880,  she  was  within  her  corporate  limits 
about  co-equal  in  population  with  Boston.  Fifty  years  ago  or  more 
the  difference  was  rather  one  of  degree  than  of  kind,  that  is  (with 
some  few  exceptions)  the  best  things  in  and  around  Baltimore  were 
quite  as  good  in  their  way,  quite  as  substantial  and  well-designed,  as 
the  best  in  and  around  New  York,  and  this  notably  the  case  in 
dwelling-house  architecture,  and  the  dwelling  is  really  the  architec- 
tural type  that  tells  the  story  of  a  people  more  accurately  than  any 
other,  being  the  clearer  exponent  of  their  habits  and  tastes,  in  that 
it  is  more  intimately  associated  with  their  lives  than  any  public 
building,  secular  or  religious. 

While,  then,  we  find  the  generation  of  our  grandfathers  living  in 
the  steep  and  narrow  but  well-paved  streets  of  Boston  in  houses 
usually  built  of  brick,  frequently  combined  with  granite  and  very 
solid  in  construction,  among  whose  characteristic  features  were  the 
deeply-recessed  "stoops"  (leaving  no  unprotected  steps  projecting 
onto  the  sidewalks)  and  the  rapidly-developing  "  swell  front  "  — 
severely  devoid  of  any  decoration,  or  else,  in  the  more  pretentious 
examples,  exhibiting  very  interesting  bits  of  classical  and  colonial 
detail,  and  all  more  or  less  the  natural  result  of  local  conditions; 
while  we  may  note  all  this  in  the  sturdy  old  New  England  city,  we 
find  a  decidedly  different  type  of  house  prevailing  in  New  York, 
Philadelphia  and  Baltimore,  but  a  much  greater  similarity  in  the 
style  of  things  between  those  three  cities  themselves.  Here  the  mate- 
rial was  also  generally  brick  and  laid  in  "  Flemish  bond,"  but  marble 
as  a  rule  taking  the  place  of  granite.  Broad  steps,  with  iron  rails, 
projected  upon  the  sidewalks,  or  else  we  had  the  low  front  door  of 
the  "  English  basement."  "  Swell  fronts  "  were  rare  exceptions,  the 
houses  here  were  somewhat  broader  and  lower  than  in  Boston,  and 
there  was  more  ornamental  detail  of  gootl  classical  proportions  often 
expanding  into  very  artistic  bits  of  decoration. 

In  New  York  the  most  distinctive  feature  has  always  been  that 


everything  is  perhaps  a  little  bigger  and  rather  more  of  it  than  else- 
where, ;m  element  that  was  largely  developed  with  even  less  com- 
incii  lulilc  IT.-II|;S  in  the  succeeding  hrownstone  age.  In  Philadel- 
phia, we  have  always  had  the  almost  unbroken  flatness  of  the  entire 
city,  tlie  uniformly  narrow  streets  and  prevailing  sameness  of  the 
hnii<es,  with  the  marked  local  characteristics  of  the  solid  white 
wooden  outside  shutters.  While  in  Baltimore  we  find  a  great  diver- 
sity of  hill  and  level  land,  wider  streets  and  more  variation  in  the 
treatment  of  the  house-front.  The  uniformly  wide  streets,  and  that 
rather  in  the  driveway  than  in  the  sidewalk,  were  in  some  parts  of  the 
city  uncalled  for  by  the  amount  of  tradic  passing  through  them,  often 
on  the  side  of  steep  hills  that  were  not  inviting  to  vehicles,  an.l 
being  but  badly  paved  with  cobble  stones  (till  within  the  last  few 
years)  not  infrequently  gave  good  grounds,  in  some  spots  at  least, 
for  the  rumor  that  grass  grew  in  their  midst.  The  difference  in  the 
class  of  houses,  with  conspicuous  exceptions,  was  likewise  rather  that 
of  degree  than  of  kind,  the  more  pretentious  and  ex|>ensive  being 
simply  larger,  and  that  rather  in  the  number  than  in  the  size  of 
their  rooms,  and  containing  richer  details  of  interior  finish.  Balti- 
more, unlike  her  more  Northern  sisters  had  no  suburbs  of  pleasant 
towns  about  her,  nothing  to  correspond  to  Cambridge,  Brooldine, 
Koxbury  and  Charlestown,  that  cling  to  the  outskirts  of  Boston :  her 
streets  gradually  lost  themselves  in  the  country,  after  degenerating 
into  rather  unattractive  highways,  chiefly  occupied  by  mechanics' 
houses  and  factories  —  some  dozeuor  so  of  the  principal  avenues  sud- 
denly converting  themselves  into  the  old-time  turnpike  road,  and, 
to  the  North,  South  and  West  stretching  themselves  out  through 
most  attractive  country  toward  neighboring  points  of  more  or  less 
importance,  whilu  to  the  East  lay  the  rather  uninteresting  and  thinly 
populated  low-lands  around  the  shores  of  the  river  and  bay.  These 
main  roads  for  many  miles  wound  on  three  sides  of  the  city,  branched 
off  into  a  perfect  net-work  of  picturesque  lanes,  recalling  in  many 
respects  the  rural  charms  of  their  English  prototype,  and  led  to 
innumerable  country  seats  of  various  descriptions  — "  Colonial," 
'•  Italian,"  "  Gothic  "  and  "  vernacular  "—  from  the  simple  country 
home  of  five  or  ten  acres  within  sight  of  the  city  spires  to  the  more 
distant  farms  of  many  hundreds,  where  many  of  the  citizens  spent 
their  summers,  and  many  made  their  homes  for  the  entire  year. 

There  were  no  local  railroads,  the  through  lines  had  few  stations 
near  town,  and  horse-cars  were  unknown,  hence  access  was  obtained 
to  all  this  charming  country  only  by  private  conveyance,  or  by  a  few 
most  aggravatingly  slow  and  accommodating  lines  of  stages  or  omni- 
buses, while  the  main  highways  were  thronged  with  huge  canvas- 
covered  market-wagons,  drawn  by  four,  six  or  eight  horses  —  bearing 
rows  of  tingling  bells  in  their  harness  that  could  be  heard  half  a 
mile  away  —  which  brought  the  country  produce  of  every  description 
into  the  city.  Yet  with  these  somewhat  primitive  characteristics 
Baltimore  proper  never  had,  even  long  before  the  days  of  which  we 
are  now  speaking,  anything  of  a  rural  town  aspect,  like,  for  example, 
her  very  ancient  and  interesting  neighbor,  Annapolis,  who  for  many 
years  had  been  regarding  her  rather  id  the  aspect  of  a  commercial 
parvenue  of  somewhat  mushroom  growth.  Once  you  touched  her 
boundaries  you  found  yourself  in  streets  that  were  all  paved  with 
bricks  and  cobble-stones,  systematically  laid  out  and  closely  built: 
few  and  far  between  were  the  houses  that  were  surrounded  by  a 
garden,  though  not  uncommonly  those  of  the  better  class  had  re- 
served a  side-garden  of  the  width  of  the  adjacent  city  lot,  inclosed  by 
a  brick  wall  and  usually  with  the  view  to  future  building  improve- 
ments ;  in  one  or  two  streets  was  to  be  found  the  arrangement  of  high 
terrace  as  it  still  exists  in  Mt.  Vernon  Street,  Boston,  but  what 
usually  is  known  as  the  row  of  "Terraces"  or  "  Villas  "  was  nowhere 
seen,  and  frame-buildings,  except  of  very  anciont  date,  did  not  exist 
within  the  city  limits. 

Such  was  Baltimore  half  a  century  ago.  She  is  something  very 
different  to-day.  Not  that  the  transformation  is  anything  abn  irmal, 
or  due  to  anything  more  than  the  natural  development  of  a  pros|>er- 
ous  modern  city,  indeed  her  progress  has  not  been  so  rapid  as  that 
of  some  of  her  sisters,  and  from  the  rapid  growth  of  Western  towns 
and  the  all-embracing  policy  of  Boston  toward  her  surroundings,  in 
1880  she  had  fallen  from  the  third  to  the  sixth  place  in  the 
scale  of  population,  and  that,  too,  in  regarding  Brooklyn  as  only  an 
outgrowth  of  New  York.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  census  returns 
only  include  the  area  within  her  old  corporate  boundaries,  which 
have  not  been  extended  for  many  years,  and  which  have  long  been 
so  far  overrun  that  they  now  have  only  a  legal  but  no  visible  exist- 
ence, and  a  Bill  is  at  this  time  in  preparation  for  the  Legislature  to 
extend  the  limits,  and  to  add  from  fifty  to  a  hundred  thousand  to  her 
population.  Already  her  streets  extend  far  out  into  what  was  a 
few  years  ago  picturesque  and  sometimes  almost  wild  country,  and 
various  lines  of  steam  and  horse-cars  connect  her  with  her  rapidly 
developing  suburban  towns.  We  need  not  follow  the  changes  that 
moved  her  centre  of  social  fashion  from  Battle  Monument  Square  up 
to  the  now  central  Mt.  Vernon  Place  and  far  beyond,  that  gave  her 
the  six  hundred  acres  of  the  beautiful  Druid  "Hill  Park  for  her 
pleasure-ground,  and  that  has  made  her  conspicuous  as  a  literary, 
musical  and  art  centre  in  the  new  light  of  her  University,  her  libraries, 
her  Peabody  Institute  and  her  Walter's  Gallery ;  but  must  not  fail 
to  consider  these  elements  in  a  community  as  important  factors  that 
necessarily  influence  its  architecture,  botli  directly  and  indirectly, 
and  in  a  future  letter  we  can  look  more  closely  at  what  are  particular 
subjects  of  architectural  interest  that  exist  in  the  city  as  creations  of 
to-day,  or  of  the  last  few  years.  L«o.  N. 


ArcMect  and  Suilding 


LOTIIFULNESS     IN    ADOPTING 

THE    MODEUN    OKDEK   OF   THINGS. 

—  EXCELLENCE  OF  THE  BUILD- 
ERS.—  OLD  STONE  HOUSES  OF  THE 
COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

IN  none  of  the  older  cities  of  this  coun- 
try has  the  architectural  awakening  of  the 
last  siven  years  produced  such  striking 
results  as  in  Philadelphia.  Not  only  has 
the  actual  amount  of  building  done  increased  steadily  since  18«°'  — 
the  year's  record,  indeed,  showing  over  seventy-five  hundred  build- 
ino-s  or  one  and  three-fourths  times  as  many  as  were  erected  in  iNew 
York  during  the  same  time  — but  many  of  these  are  distinctly  good 
from  an  architectural  point  of  view.  Some  of  them,  in  fact,  are  of  the 
very  best  type,  and  many,  even  among  the  worst,  show  an  amount 
of  daring  in  design  that  would  have  amazed  and  very  likely  shocked 
the  dwellers  in  the  then  universal  red-brick  and  white-marble  houses 
that  have  made  the  streets  of  Philadelphia  proverbial  for  their  mono- 
tony. This  very  monotony,  by  its  contrast  with  the  variety  of 
treatment  in  the  new  style,  only  serves  to  emphasize  the  change  that 
is  beim*  wrought.  It  took  a  long  time,  to  be  sure,  for  this  change  to 
be  felt?  In  order  to  appreciate  its  nature  and  extent,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  take  a  rapid  glance  at  the  past  history  of  local  building. 
Long  after  New  York  and  Chicago  had  built  and  filled  their  huge 
office-buildings,  the  general  opinion  was  that  such  structures  were 
not  needed  here  where  the  business  part  of  the  city  was  so  spread 
out  that  there  was  no  demand  for  great  height,  and  where  the  pro- 
fessional men  were  supposed  to  prefer  their  offices  in  buildings  hav- 
ing some  pretensions  to  antiquity.  Then,  too,  the  often-quoted  pro- 
vincialism, or,  let  us  say,  ultra-conservatism  of  Philadelphia's 
prevented  them  from  taking  anything  like  a  general  interest  in  archi- 
tecture until  some  time  after  the  Bostonians  had  begun  to  dot  the 
reclaimed  land  of  the  Back  Bay  with  beautiful  houses  and  to  regard 
the  great  fire  in  the  light  of  an  artistic  windfall. 

Another  thing  that  kept  Philadelphia  behind  the  other  large  cities 
was  the  excellence  of  its  builders.  Instead  of  going  to  an  architect, 
it  had  been  the  immemorial  custom  for  one  when  about  to  build  a 
house  to  consult  a  builder.  And  no  wonder.  These  builders,  capa- 
ble men  and  admirably  trained,  had  for  the  most  part  inherited  the 
trade  of  their  fathers  and  with  it  a  name  and  a  reputation  that  they 
could  not  afford  to  lose.  The  prospective  house-builder,  then,  had 
no  hesitation  in  leaving  everything  to  one  of  these  men,  who  would 
allow  him,  if  his  lot  were  a>  wide  one,  to  have  rooms  on  both  sides 
of  a  dark  entry  ;  if  the  lot  were  narrow,  on  only  one,  while  the  entry 
was  darker.  The  front,  of  course,  was  exactly  like  its  neighbor's. 
This  plan  was  so  inevitable  that  one  can  find  dozens  of  houses  on 
corner  lots  with,  say,  twenty-five  feet  of  the  orthodox  type  of  front, 
furnished  with  outside  shutters  and  marble  steps  on  one  street  and 
on  the  other  sixty  feet  of  blank  wall.  This  extraordinary  piece  of 
planning  is  to  be  met  with,  it  is  true,  in  other  cities,  but  never,  I 
think,  with  such  depressing  frequency  as  in  Philadelphia.  And  this 
in  the  city  where  Mr.  Notman  was  building  churches  whose  justness 
of  proportion  and  purity  of  style  gave  them,  until  in  comparatively  late 
years,  a  place  in  the  front  rank  of  American  ecclesiastical  architec- 
ture, and  where  Mr.  Walter  was  designing  Moyamensing  Prison  and 
Girard  College,  examples  of  consistent  architecture  that  are  better 
and  better  appreciated  in  the  midst  of  the  Babel  of  styles  that  how 
surrounds  them.  For  now  at  least  the  charge  of  Philadelphia's 
monotony  is  no  longer  hard  to  refute  :  a  three-minutes'  walk  in  the 
down-town  streets  will  show  the  astonished  visitor  Greek  and  Roman 
temples,  relics  of  eighty  years'  standing,  hemmed-in  by  picturesque 
buildings  of  the  most  original  character,  whilst  examples  more  or  less 
pure  of  Gothic,  Moorish,  Italian,  Renaissance,  American,  Classic, 
Romanesque,  Egyptian  and  modern  French  stand  shoulder  to 
shoulder  in  a  bewildering  perspective.  And  cropping  out  here  and 
there  are  quiet  little  bits  of  Colonial  work,  for  here,  as  elsewhere,  the 
revival  of  that  unostentatious  style  is  exerting  a  strong  influence. 
No  one  can  predict  how  long  this  fashion  will  continue,  or  whether, 
on  the  other  hand,  it  may  not  be  something  more  permanent  than  a 
fashion.  It  has  already  done  good  service  in  that  it  has  brought 
about  more  or  less  harmony  between  the  creations  of  different  archi- 
tects who  are  less  apt  than  formerly  to  build  adjoining  houses  of 
inharmonious  colors  and  clashing  styles.  It  may,  of  course,  be  said 
that  an  architect's  work  loses  in  individuality  when  confined  within 
such  narrow  limits  as  a  style  like  this  imposes,  but  the  old  saw  is 
still  a  good  one,  that  an  artist's  hand  is  easy  to  recognize  through 
whatever  medium  he  may  choose  to  employ.  In  suburban  work, 
especially,  there  would  seem  to  be  a  particular  reason  why  this  style 
should  run  a  good  chance  of  being  more  permanent  than  the  jig-sawed 
Gothic  of  I860  or  than  the  later  parodies  on  Queen  Anne.  For 
there  are  still  left  on  the  outskirts  of  the  city  numbers  of  ante-Revo- 
lutionary houses  with  an  air  of  having  grown  up  with  the  country 
such  as  no  other  type  of  house  can  boast.  It  is  a  matter  of  dispute 
whether  association  may  not  be  the  secret  of  their  real  charm,  but 


that   charm   undoubtedly  exists,  and    it   is  one   that   appeals  very 
stronMv  to  most  people. 

The  "houses,  then,  whose  character  some  of  our  architects  are 
striving  to  impress  upon  their  own  work  have  some  local  peculiari- 
ties that  may  be  worth  noting.  In  the  first  place,  they  are  almost 
invariably  of  stone;  there  are  very  few  brick  ones  outside  the  city 
and  wooden  walls  were  never  thought  of  by  the  early  builders,  and 
verv  naturally,  for  the  soft  gray  local  stone  that  is  easily  split  into 
lintels  and  sills  or  steps  six  or  eight  feet  long,  if  necessary,  is  found 
all  over  this  part  of  the  country.  No  wonder  then  that  the  frame 
houses,  exquisite  though  they  may  be  in  design,  that  have  been 
lately  built  in  the  suburbs  fill  the  general  public  with  admiration, 
perhaps  but  certainly  with  wonder  that  a  man  should  be  willing  to 
live  in  a  house  that  can  never  be  as  completely  in  harmony  with  the 
landscape  as  one  built  of  the  stone  that  is  a  part  of  it,  and  that,  from 
the  nature  of  the  material,  requires  that  inadmissable  rejuvenator,  a 
fresh  coat  of  paint,  for  a  painted  house  becomes  shabby,  but  never 
mellow,  by  neglect  of  this  concealer  of  old  age,  and  a  shingled  wall 
either  stained'or  unstained  becomes  black  and  spotty  after  a  dozen 
years'  exposure  to  the  moist  inland  air.  These  old  country  seats, 
then,  had  enormously-thick  walls,  the  stones  in  them  laid  flat  and 
well,  with  very  wide  mortar-joints.  The  more  pretentious,  of  course, 
have  the  face  of  dressed  stone  or  are  pebbled-dashed  or  stuccoed  in 
the  usual  ways.  If  stuccoed,  the  tint  is  usually  buff,  which,  with  the 
quoins,  window-heads  and  doorways  of  white  marble,  gives  a  very 
satisfactory  effect.  I  have  in  mind  a  house  of  this  character  where 
a  broad  pair  of  marble  pilasters  have  their  bases  at  the  water-table 
and  their  capitals  at  the  third  story. 

The  smaller  houses,  and  they  are  by  no  means  the  least  attractive, 
were  often  whitewashed  over  the  rough  stonework.  It  may  be 
objected  that  this  is  a  very  effectual  way  of  destroying  all  local 
color  and  perhaps  it  is,  but  frequent  whitewashing  year  after  year 
by  successive  generations  has  gradually  filled  the  deeper  hollows 
between  the  stones  and  rounded  the  too  jagged  projections,  result- 
ing in  a  most  delightful  surface.  Here  and  there,  in  cottages  of 
tins  class,  may  be  found  a  hint  for  breaking  a  monotonous  wall  that 
weather-boards  necessarily  preclude,  and  that  is  the  embedding  in 
the  masonry  of  a  stray  bit  of  carving  or  even  of  a  prettily-veined 
slab  of  marble.  The  carving,  for  that  matter,  is  generally  execrable, 
although  one  can  sometimes  find  a  fragment  from  the  hand  of  those 
Italian°  workmen  who  were  so  universally  employed  for  fine  work  in 
marble,  wood  and,  with  sorrow  be  it  said,  in  putty  at  the  beginning 
of  the  last  century.  The  long  pent-eaves,  with  their  plastered  soffits, 
that  give  such  a  delightful  air  of  comfort  and  solidity  to  the  houses 
on  a  village  street,  are  much  better  appreciated  by  the  architects 
than  by  the  owners  of  the  present  time,  many  of  whom,  with  about 
as  much  reason  as  a  man  who  should  cut  off  his  eyelashes,  are  pull- 
ing down  these  picturesque  protectors  against  the  storms  of  winter 
and  the  summer's  sun. 

If  I  have  dwelt  at  such  length  on  the  advantages  of  the  old  Penn 
sylvania  house  for  this  part  of  the  country,  it  is  because  the  prefen 
revival  of  Colonial  architecture  seems  to  have  taken  a  strong  hold  on 
the  community.  If  it  is  to  be  the  prevailing  style  for  some  years  to 
come,  why  not  have  it,  at  least,  consistent?  We  are  lucky  enough  to 
have  before  us  examples  of  early  work  that  were  the  result  of  adapt- 
ing as  well  as  possible  the  materials  at  hand  to  the  ideal  aimed  at. 
This  result  is  a  local  style  of  some  beauty  and  undeniable  practical 
fitness.  Why,  then,  should  not  those  of  our  architects  who  work  in 
this  vein  take  up  the  style  where  the  colonists  left  off  and  adapt  it 
to  their  present  aims,  instead  of  building  expensive  houses  of  wood 
(that  came  to  be  used  in  New  England  for  exactly  the  same  reason 
that  stone  was  used  here  —  its  cheapness)  because  the  owner  wants 
his  house  to  look  like  So-and-So's  at  Mt.  Desert,  or  covets  for  his  own 
cottage  the  delicious  silver  gray  that  the  salt  air  has  given  to  the 
Newport  shingles? 

THE  "GREAT  EASTERN'S"  FATE.  —  The  "  Great  Eastern,"  the  big- 
gest ship  ever  built  since  the  world  began,  a  living  monument  to  the 
skill  and  enterprise  of  the  English  nation,  constructed  on  the  River 
Thames  within  a  few  miles  of  the  biggest  city  on  the  surface  of  the 
globe,  is  at  length  to  be  broken  up  for  old  iron.  We  can  hardly  be- 
lieve it,  and  till  the  work  of  demolition  lias  actually  begun  we  shall 
still  cherish  the  hope  that  some  other  destiny  will  await  her.  It  will  be 
recollected  that  this  ship  was  designed  by  Brunei,  the  younger,  in  1858, 
at  Millwall,  the  constructor  being  Scott  Russell,  was  launched  after  con- 
siderable delay  sideways  into  the  Thames,  and  afterwards  employed  in 
the  passenger  trade  between  New  York  and  Queenstown.  She  assisted 
to  lay  the  first  Atlantic  cable,  but  after  many  vicissitudes  was  found  to 
be  too  costly  to  keep  employed,  her  expenditure  being  always  in  excess 
of  her  earnings.  She  was  first  intended  for  a  transport,  being  capable 
of  carrying  20,000  troops,  but  the  authorities  never  had  occasion  to  use 
her.  During  the  Civil  War  in  the  States  President  Lincoln  made  an 
offer  for  her,  but  it  came  to  nothing,  and  now,  after  so  many  ups  and 
downs,  she  is  to  go  to  the  ship-breakers,  having  been  purchased  by  a 
firm  of  metal  brokers  for  .£10,000.  She  is  now  lying  in  the  Clyde, 
where  the  work  of  destruction  is  arranged  to  commence.  If  this  is 
carried  out  no  greater  phenomena  of  the  nineteenth  century  will  appear 
in  the  historical  records  than  the  construction  and  destruction  of  this 
leviathan  steamship. —  Timber  Trades  Journal. 


JANUARY  21, 1888.]  The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


29 


REFLECTIONS    BUOOESTKD    BY  THE  EXHIBITION 
OF  THE  ARCHITECTURAL  LEAGUE. 

HK  Third  Annual  Exhibition  of  the  New 
York  Architectural  League  suggested  cer- 
tain considerations  as  to  the  tendencies  and 
prospects  of  our  present  architectural  art  which 
it  may  l>e  interesting  to  note  hefore  the  recollec- 
tions of  it  be  gone.  Many  of  the  best-known 
architects  sent  drawings,  and,  as  a  whole,  the 
exhibition  may  be  considered  fairly  representative,  since  it  served  to 
indicate  the  general  drift  of  our  architectural  designing,  while  at  the 
same  time  it  showed  very  clearly  some  of  the  dangers  that  surround 
the  course  of  all  good  art  and  that,  necessarily,  seem  to  threaten  the 
younger  men. 

Compared  with  similar  exhibitions  abroad,  there  was  a  praise- 
worthy absence  of  pompous,  over-finished  drawings.  There  was 
nowhere  to  be  seen  that  kind  of  elaborate  rendering  of  which  the 
prodigious  labor  is  almost  painful  to  contemplate.  In  its  place  was 
shown  throughout  a  great  knowledge  of  the  short-cuts  in  rendering, 
with  a  snap  and  vigor  of  draughtsmanship,  frequently  a  telling  use 
of  color,  and  almost  invariably  an  effective  play  of  values  that 'gave 
to  the  whole  exhibition  an  air  of  cheerfulness  and  artistic  vitality 
that  was  most  agreeable.  There  was  also  a  propriety  of  design,  a 
successful  adaptation  of  the  architectural  treatment  to  the  surround- 
ings, and  an  evident  comprehension  of  the  artistic  problem  in  each 
case  to  be  solved,  that  were  all  indicative  of  great  general  improve 
nient  in  our  architecture,  considered  as  a  fine  art. 

The  very  exuberance,  however,  shown  in  the  methods  of  presenting 
the  subjects,  and  the  clever  artifices  of  draughtsmanship  have  their 
disadvantages  as  well  as  their  more  visible  good  qualities.  The  chief 
of  these  disadvantages  is  that  the  clever  drawings  are  very  apt  to 
misrepresent  the  subject,  be  that  subject  a  bit  of  interior  detail  or  a 
sketch  of  a  cottage  in  the  fields.  They  can  be  deceptive  in  that 
while  the  cottage,  for  example,  as  seen  by  this  attractive  drawing, 
looks  a  graceful  and  picturesque  structure,  yet  it  may,  perhaps, 
appear  in  execution  only  a  commonplace  effort  after  all. 

The  good  draughtsman  has  it  in  his  power  to  invest  the  drawing 
of  even  the  baldest  construction  with  an  apparent  amount  of  interest 
that  the  actual  building  may  lack  by  reason  of  the  hardness  of  the 
lines,  the  uncompromising  stiffness  of  the  planes,  or  an  unsympathe- 
tic coldness  that  is  ever  to  be  feared,  but  all  of  which  the  drau^hts- 
man  can  disguise  by  his  rendering.  That  effective  little  toucn  of 
intense  black  in  the  angle  of  the  gable  will  be  replaced  in  the  most 
exasperating  way  by  a  prosaic  shadow  running  smoothly  down  to 
the  eaves  and  persistently  refusing  to  get  itself  bunched  up  to  empha- 
size the  peak  as  it  should  "  according  to  the  plans  and  specifications." 
So  frequently  is  skilful  rendering  a  great  and  misleading  factor 
that  many  of  the  bestmanaged  competitions  have  been  freed  from 
its  influence  in  pure  self-defence,  by  excluding  all  rendering  whatso- 
ever and  going  back  to  simple  outline  as  the  only  means  of  getting 
an  unbiassed  comparative  idea  of  different  schemes.  In  fact,  "  chic  " 
must  necessarily  be  discarded  for  purposes  of  study  whenever  a 
piece  of  work  is  attempted  with  a  serious  intent  to  make  it  unusually 
good,  drawing  and  architecture  being  entirely  dissimilar  things.  It 
has  even  been  true  in  great  ages  of  painting  that  the  greatest  mas- 
ters, though  always  full  of  subtlety  of  hand  and  facility  of  execution, 
have  ever  kept  these  in  their  true  position  as  accessories  only  to  the 
general  effect  and  to  the  higher  end  in  view.  Decadence  has  set  in 
as  soon  as  the  greater  object  has  been  lost  sight  of  in  the  mazes  of 
manual  dexterity.  It  may  even  be  contended  that  a  building  which 
will  not  look  handsome  when  inartistically  drawn  will  be  unlikely  to 
look  so  in  execution,  no  matter  how  striking  the  brilliant  drawing 
may  make  it  appear.  For  purposes  of  study,  therefore,  the  client 
should  desire  the  apotheosis  of  the  office-boy,  since  it  is  often  such 
unimaginative  drawing  as  his  that  represents  the  effect  of  the  exe- 
cuted work  on  the  unprofessional  eye. 

Too  much  praise  cannot  be  given  to  the  beautiful  drawings  of 
many  who  use  their  gifts  in  the  true  way,  making  them  stepping- 
stones  to  higher  things.  The  good  draughtsmanship  of  these  men 
assists  to  a  better  knowledge  of  what  thev  would  attempt,  and  by 
its  very  picturesqueness  serves  as  a  fruitful  mine  of  suggestions  in 
then-  endeavor  to  attain  their  ideal. 

The  most  encouraging  sign  of  the  exhibition  was  not  that  any 
particular  men  had  made  such  great  strides  in  advance,  though  this 
was,  happily,  true,  but  that  the  general  practice  has  made  a  very 
real  progress  in  the  right  direction.  In  the  direction,  that  is  to  say, 
of  work  that  fulfils  the  necessary  requirements  of  well-ordered  and 
sensible  structures,  together  with  those  higher  and  more  abstruse 
qualities  of  beauty  and  aesthetic  fitness  which  are  necessary  to  be 
attained  before  such  work  can  be  regarded  as  entering  into  the 
higher  realms  of  artistic  effort.  Did  our  advancement  rest  only  on 
the  work  of  a  few  men,  there  would  be  little  hope,  for  a  long  time, 
of  our  getting  within  even  measurable  distance  of  the  great  ages,  since 
these  were  always  the  result  of  many  minds  working  together  and 
by  their  mutual  influence  and  corrections  tending  toward  some  gene- 


ral result,  fortunately,  however,  this  small  number  of  drawings  is 
enough  to  show  that,  with  all  the  individual  differences  and  some- 
times caprices,  there  is  undoubtedly  a  pretiy  clearly-defined  unitv  of 
object,  for  to  make  the  building  suitable  for  its  purpose  and  to  make 
t  look  so  are  surely  among  the  elements  of  good  architecture,  and 
these  qualities,  though  long  unattained,  are  now  oftencr  attained, 
and  what  is  of  great  consequence,  are  almost  always  striven  after. 

We  can  see  also,  getting  clearer  and  clearer  every  year,  a  general 
tendency  toward  such  Dualities  of  design  in  architecture  as  shall  be 
compatible  and  harmonious  with  the  highest  efforts  of  paintin"  and 
sculpture;  getting  from  them  their  best  results,  so  that  while  the 
paintings  and  sculpture  shall  decorate  and  enliven  the  architecture, 
the  architecture  shall  perform  its  highest  function  in  unitin"  these 
adding  to  their  dignity  and  largeness  of  effect,  and  formin-  with 
them  one  magnificent  whole. 

All  this  must  necessarily  be  viewed  by  the  light  of  the  criterion  of 
exce  lence,  and  the  present  age  is,  in  many  ways,  the  poorest  of  all 
in  the  accumulated  traditions  that  go  to  make  such  a  criterion 
Ancient  races  invariably  made  large  use  of  color  a  factor,  but  go 
strangely  does  this  strike  the  modern  mind,  that  only  within  com- 
paratively late  years  has  it  been  fully  admitted  that  the  Greeks  were 
actually  in  the  habit  of  overlaying  even  white  marble  with  color, 
fcvery  little  while  some  fresh  piece  of  evidence  has  been  surprising 
the  world,  by  showing  their  practice  in  this  respect,  such,  for  ex° 
ample,  were  the  completely  colored  statues  found  in  Athens.  The 
almost  unbroken  line  of  tradition  and  evolution  from  the  earliest 
dawn  of  art  to  the  Renaissance,  seems  to  have  nearly  stopped  then 
and  we  can  only  learn  the  principles  of  our  predecessors  from  close 
study  of  incomplete  examples.  But  the  use  of  color  in  architecture, 
r  rather  the  actual  conception  of  a  true-colored  architecture  is 
something  of  which  the  higher  conditions  are  nearly  absent  from  the 
practice  of  to^lay. 

Some  sketches  made  in  Japan,  were  among  the  most  precious 
things  in  the  exhibition  when  regarded  in  their  relation  to  all  that 
the  world  ought  to  know  about  the  possibilities  of  colored  architec- 
ture, but  of  which  it  has,  unfortunately,  lost  so  much  valuable 
tradition.  Ihese  sketches  show  us  how  rich,  and  yet  dignified,  while 
really  in  good  taste  even  the  smallest  structure  can  be  when  colored 
on  principles  to  which  the  weight  of  many  experiences  gives  an 
authority  not  to  be  expected  from  inexperience.  A  little  shelter 
over  a  well,  a  few  posts  upholding  a  roof  —  that  is  all :  it  is  simply 
carved,  but  magnificently  colored  and  gilded  till  it  looks  like  some 
bird  of  paradise  resting  on  the  green  lawn  among  the  shady  pines. 
Our  best  efforts  seem  but  amateurishly  timid  after  one  has  been  im- 
pressed by  the  charm  of  such  work.  Marvellous  as  is  the  interior  of 
ht.  Marks  at  Venice,  yet  it  cannot  be  considered  as  an  isolated 
artistic  effort ;  the  smaller  churches  of  its  day,  without  such  a  wealth 
and  overabundance  of  rare  marbles  at  their  command,  must  yet  have 
attained  to  a  great  beauty  of  color,  otherwise  there  could  not  be 
developed  the  experience  necessary  to  make  of  St  Mark's  such  a 
masterpiece.  How  different  seem  these  conceptions  of  a  buildinf 
entirely  colored,  with  all  its  statues  and  bas-reliefs  and  paintings 
thus  brought  into  unity  and  forming  all  together  one  tremendous 
effect,  from  that  of  a  mass  of  white  marble,  glaring  in  the  sunshine  and 
chilling  in  the  rain,  such  as  would  be  the  Greek  temple  so  far  as  our 
actual  traditions  picture  it. 

With  all  the  recent  advance  in  architecture,  it  is  quite  evident  that 
there  is  a  long  path  yet  to  be  travelled  before  the  work  in  this  country 
can  attain  to  the  standard  of  much  that  was  done,  and  done  in  the 
natural  course  of  things  in  past  centuries. 

Even  now  a  sketch  of  old  work  is  to  be  distinguished  at  a  glance 
among  sketches  of  modern  work.  The  old  designers  seemed  to  get 
more  frequently  at  a  complete  solution  of  how  to  unite  dignity  with 
grace,  and  not  stray  into  the  pitfalls  of  affectation  on  every  side 

Our  young  men  coming  back,  as  most  of  them  do,  from  abroad, 
with  natural  enthusiasm  for  what  they  have  seen  and  studied,  set  at 
once  about  emulating  the  spirit  of  that  work.  Many  of  the  designs 
show  evident  traces  of  this  desire,  which  is  surely  one  in  the  r£ht 
direction.  But  underlying  the  whole  question  are  the  general  prin- 
ciples, from  the  expression  of  which  the  old  work  derives  a  ereat 
part  of  its  charm. 

The  manor-houses  of  France,  for  example,  arc  picturesque  in  the 
extreme,  with  their  varied  outlines,  bold  massing  and  exquisite 
arrangements  of  detail,  all  making  an  effect  that  seldom  fails  to  be 
igreeable  when  seen  with  its  proper  surroundings  of  every  kind. 
But  many  of  the  characteristics  of  similar  examples  would  be 
utterly  incongruous  when  appropriated  for  our  buildings.  If  a 
modern  dwelling  be  made  to  look  forbidding  and  inhospitable  no 
matter  how  cleverly  done,  it  certainly  cannot  be  in  harmony  with  the 
best  side  of  our  present  life.  It  offends  us  because  we  are  no  longer 
obliged  to  live  shut  up  in  gloomy  fortresses,  and  fascinatin^  as°at 
the  moment,  it  may  be  to  twist  the  facts  into  such  an  appearance,  a 
more  mature  consideration  will  condemn  the  effort  as  essentially  in- 
artistic. The  Italian  Renaissance,  even  admitting  it  to  have  been 
fostered  by  desire  to  imitate,  and  by  admiration  of  classical  models 
was  very  far  from  attaining  literally  such  a  result. 

The  men  of  the  Renaissance  had  in  mind  a  persistent  conception 
of  what  would  be  appropriate  to  the  time,  and  used  classical  devices 
while  imprinting.this  character  on  their  work :  and  it  should  not  be 
otherwise,  for  the  world  had  changed,  had  grown  older,  and  saw 
.lungs  from  a  different  of  view  — and  so  the  most  classical  work  of 
the  early  cinque  cento,  when  the  tutelage  of  Rome  and  Greece  wa» 


30 


The  American   Architect  and  Building  News.     [VOL.  XXIII.-No.  630. 


direct,  as  yet  something  in  it  that  is  not  antique,  but  **"**«*' 
the  thoughts  and  habits  of  a  different  race  of  men  and  a  ch anged 
condition  of  life.  This  ever  holds  good,  acd  the  really  art.stic work 
must  be  that  which  interprets  what  is  best  in  the  thoughts  and  lives 
of  our  time,  not  that  which  reproduces  most  quaint  conceits 

Having  few  traditions  coming  to  us  as  the  heritage  of  the  past 
there  must,  to  take  its  place,  be  more  careful  study  of  the  buildings 
which  incorporate  our  lost  birthright. 


THE  ART  INSTITUTE,  ITS  WORK,  ITS  EQUIP- 
MENT  AND   ITS   BUILDING. 

HE  formal  opening  a  comparatively-short 
time  since  of  the  new  Art  Institute 
Building  marks  in  art  matters  the  long- 
est step  forward  that  has  ever  been  taken  in  Chicago,  and  from 
Chicago's  influence  as  a  great  centre  it  certainly  records  a  most 
important  epoch  in  the  history  of  art  in  the  West.  The  opening 
evening,  in  spite  of  wind  and  weather,  was  still  in  every  way  a  most 
notable  success ;  friends  of  art,  not  only  in  Chicago,  but  elsewhere, 
loaned  many  choice  works,  which,  with  the  possessions  of  the  Insti- 
tute itself,  formed  a  most  splendid  collection  for  the  first  exhibition. 
In  this  building,  aside  from  the  permanent  collection  —  even  now  well 
worth  a  visit— ^it  is  intended  to  have  a  constantly-changing  exhibit,  as 
well  as  several  annual  exhibitions  of  more  or  less  importance. 
Already  one  gentleman  has  offered  a  perpetual  annual  prize  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  and  two  more  of  like  amount  are  being 
arranged  by  friends  of  the  Institute.  These,  together  with  special 
schoof  prizes  for  work  of  the  students,  form  a  liberal  commencement 
of  a  prize  fund.  The  collections  are  open  to  the  public  every 
week  day,  and  the  constant  stream  of  visitors,  especially  on  Saturday 
(the  free  day)  testifies  that  people  thoroughly  appreciate  the  advan- 
tages furnished. 

Five  or  six  years  ago  a  small  brick  building,  now  a  wing  of  the 
present  edifice,  was  built,  but  it  was  recognized  as  a  fact  that  in  all 
probability  a  good  many  years  would  elapse  before  any  steps  would 
be  taken  towards  the  construction  of  the  main  building.  However,  a 
young  and  prominent  Board  of  Trade  member  put  himself  at  the  head 
of  the  movement  and,  early  and  late,  advocated  the  cause  of  the  Insti- 
tute. He  went  among  the  rich  citizens  and  because  of  his  own  wealth 
and  position  and  by  the  generosity  with  which  he  himself  gave,  he 
fairly  forced  money  from  the  pockets  of  many  who  possibly  might  not 
have  been  as  generous  to  a  poorer  or  more  humble  petitioner.  So  at 
last,  thanks  to  his  zeal  and  energy,  the  building  is  now  finished  and 
thrown  open  to  an  appreciative  public. 

The  collection  of  antique  casts,  due  to  the  generosity  of  a  Chicago 
lady,  will  be  the  finest  in  the  entire  United  States.  Already  there 
have  been  numerous  presents  of  pictures  and  works  of  art,  and  whis- 
pers of  more  that  are  to  come  are  heard  on  every  side,  so  that  the 
Art  Institute,  with  its  more  than  three  hundred  pupils,  will  certainly 
very  shortly  have  a  tremendous  influence  on  art  not  only  in  Chicago 
but  in  the  entire  West. 

With  its  large  window-openings  and  its  pointed  roof,  the  building 
itself  is  in  general  outline  decidedly  pleasing,  although  its  form  is 
certainly  not  that  of  one's  preconceived  ideas  of  an  art  building,  since 
it  might  with  equal  good  judgment  be  taken  for  a  club-house  or  even 
a  produce-exchange.  The  architects,  Messrs.  Burnham  &  Root, 
have  combined  the  different  reds  of  the  stone  and  the  tile  roof  into 
an  extremely  harmonious  whole,  but  the  selection  of  a  torso  to  do 
duty  as  a  finial  seems  decidedly  questionable.  On  account  of  height 
all  its  beauty  —  if  by  chance  it  has  any — is  lost,  and  the  poor  muti- 
lated legs  sticking  out  over  the  sidewalk  involuntarily  cause  one  to 
wonder  how  far  the  feet  must  have  projected  beyond  the  building- 
line  before  they  were  broken  off  by  the  city  authorities.  In  fact,  the 
greater  part  of  the  carving  on  the  exterior  of  the  building  is  simply 
atrocious ;  such  work  would  scarcely  pass  muster  on  a  warehouse, 
but  when  it  is  put  upon  a  building  that  is  supposed  to  represent  all 
that  is  best  in  art,  and,  by  its  very  position,  does  stand  as  the  typical 
representative  of  sculpture,  it  becomes  decidedly  sickening.  The 
plain  stone  would  have  exemplified  better  the  old  saying  about  beauty 
unadorned.  Numerous  medallions  of  celebrated  artists  are  used  as 
ornaments  and  it  is  commonly  reported,  and  many  people  mention  it 
with  apparent  pride,  that  these  did  not  have  to  be  made  by  any  regu- 
lar sculptor,  but  were  done  by  a  common  stone-cutter  and  that 
he  had  nothing  to  do  them  from  but  small  wood  engravings !  Cer- 
tainly it  is  to  be  earnestly  hoped  that  for  the  honor  of  Chicago 
sculptors  they  had  nothing  to  do  with  them,  for  a  worse  lot  of  carica- 
tures were  never  seen. 

As  regards  the  interior  of  the  building,  it  would  seem  as  if  that 
careful  study  had  not  been  spent  upon  it  that  the  subject  demanded. 
At  present  a  certain  portion  of  the  building  is  used  for  purposes  not 
connected  with  the  Institute,  and  this  condition  of  affairs  will  proba- 
bly exist  for  a  good  many  years,  if  not  always.  Under  these  circum- 


stances,  it  would  have  been  extremely  desirable,  if  not  a  necessity,  to 
arrange  the  plan  so  that  once  inside  the  building,  these  parts 
should  be  somewhat  separated,  though  capable,  at  need,  ot 
beinc  thrown  together,  but  nothing  of  the  kind  was  done.  W  hen 
the  buildinn-  was  occupied,  this  difficulty  at  once  became  apparent, 
and  recently  a  turn-stile  was  put  up  in  the  already  much-crowded 
and  cramped  vestibule.  This,  of  course,  keeps  out  people  who  have 
no  business  in  the  galleries  of  the  first  floor,  but  at  the  same  time  it 
deprives  the  public  of  the  stairs  and  forces  them  to  use  the  elevator. 
However,  this  is  apparently  by  no  means  satisfactory,  for  the  eleva- 
tor-boy explains,  with  apparent  great  glee,  that  unscrupulous  people 
«o  to  the  second  floor  on  the  elevator  and  then  as  soon  as  he  is  out 
of  si"ht  slip  through  the  railing  that  separates  the  museum  depart- 
ment' from  the  rooms  on  that  floor,  and  so,  after  inspecting  these 
galleries,  boldly  march  down  the  stairs  into  the  galleries  on  the 
entrance  floor.  As  many  of  the  upper  rooms  are  rented  to  clubs  and 
associations,  naturally  liable  to  come  and  go  in  crowds,  an  elevator 
of  considerable  capacity  should  have  been  provided,  but  a  smaller 
and  more  cramped  one  than  that  actually  installed  scarcely 
exists  in  the  city.  When  entering  the  galleries,  people  are 
naturally  obliged  to  leave  canes,  umbrellas,  etc.,  at  the  door 
—  in  this  case,  very  literally  at  the  door,  as  there  is  no 
sign  of  a  cloak-room.  They  are  left,  sometimes  checked,  sometimes 
not,  standing  up  against  the  basement  stair-rail,  where  they  can  be 
conveniently  clawed  out  either  by  oneself  or  by  a  long-suffering  small 
boy,  who,  under  the  circumstances,  cannot  possibly  arrange  the 
checks  in  numerical  order.  Similarly,  the  means  of  getting  from  the 
new  building  to  the  old  portion  appears  to  have  received  no  atten- 
tion, and,  in  fact,  no  other  impression  can  be  left  upon  one's  mind 
than  that  after  arranging  four  or  five  rooms  upon  the  first  floor  (and 
these  are  very  nicely  arranged)  the  rest  was  obliged  to  work  itself 
out  for  the  sake  of  the  exterior,  no  attention  being  paid  to  the  smaller 
but  very  important  necessities  of  the  building  and  the  comfort  of  the 
people  who  were  to  occupy  it. 

The  success  of  the  Western  draughtsmen  in  the  recent  Architec- 
tural League  exhibit  at  New  York  is  extremely  gratifying  to  the 
younger  members  of  the  profession  here,  and  the  draughtsmen  of 
Chicago  are  much  elated,  although  they  only  came  in  second  best. 
The  encouragement  thus  received  will  surely  bear  fruit  in  more 
of  our  designers  taking  part  in  such  friendly  competitions  and  in 
helping  to  break  down  the  feeling  that  many  Western  men  have, 
that  the  people  of  the  East  are  narrow-minded  and  not  willing  to 
give  the  "  Wild  West "  even  the  justice  that  is  their  due. 


[Contributors  are  requested  to  send  with  their  drawings  full  and 
adequate  descriptions  of  the  buildings,  including  a  statement  of  cost.'] 

AMERICAN  UNITARIAN  ASSOCIATION'S  BUILDING,  BEACON  STREET, 
BOSTON,  MASS.  MESSRS.  PEABODY  A  STEARNS,  ARCHITECTS, 
BOSTON,  MASS. 

[IleUo-Chrome,  Issued  only  with  the  Imperial  Edition  ] 

GOTHIC  SPIRES  AND  TOWERS,  I,  II,  III. —  SALISBURY  CATHE- 
DRAL ;  ST.  GILES,  WREXHAM  ;  CHICHE8TER  CATHEDRAL  ;  ST. 
MICHAEL'S,  UFFINGTON  ;  ST.  DENNIS,  SILK  WILLOUGHBY,  ENG- 

[Issued  only  with  the  Imperial  Edition.] 

HOUSE    FOR   C.    F.   WASHBURN,    F.SQ.,   WORCESTER,    MASS.      MESSRS. 
ROSSITER   &   WRIGHT,    ARCHITECTS,    NEW    YORK,    N.   Y. 

T  TATERIALS,  brick  and  light  and  dark  Longmeadow  stone, 
I  XL  tcrra-cotta"  Roof  of  black  slate  with  red  slate  bands  and  hips. 
J  Entrance  porch,  stone.  Interior  handsomely  finished  in  hard 
woods.  Cost,  $40,000  ;  now  building. 

COMPETITIVE     DESIGN     FOR     THE    Y.    M.   C.    A.   BUILDING,     PROVI- 
DENCE, R.  I.      MR.  HOWARD  HOPPIN,  ARCHITECT,  PROVIDENCK,  R.  I. 

THIS  design,  to  which  was  awarded  the  second  place,  was  to  have 
been  carried  out  in  yellow  brick  with  brownstone  finish. 

PILLSBURY   SCIENCE    HALL,    MINNEAPOLIS,  MINN.      MR.    L.    S.    BUF- 
FINGTJN,   ARCHITECT,    MINNEAPOLIS,    MINN. 

COMPETITIVE   DESIGN    FOR    A    CLUB-HOUSE.        MR.    GEORGE    F. 
HAMMOND,   ARCHITECT,    CLEVELAND,    O. 

CALENDAR    FOR    THE    YEAR    1888. 


to.  630 


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JANUARY  21,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


31 


INCINI^ATI 


THE     NEW     STREET-PAVING. RACE 

STKEET   AND  ITS   BUILDIM;>. 

DURING  the  past  year  this  city  has 
taken  advanced  ground  and  now 
presents  to  the  traveller  many  mat 
ters  of  interest  that  were  not  to  bo 
seen  a  year  or  two  ago.  In  the  first 
place,  it  has  now  what  is  essential  to  give  character  and  tone  to  every 
first-class  city  —  well-paved  streets.  This  work  was  commenced  some 
two  years  ago,  and  during  that  time  there  have  been  paved  twenty 
miles  of  streets  with  granite  blocks  and  six  miles  with  asphalt,  and 
most  o!  the  citizens  are  considerably  provoked  because  they  did  not 
reverse  the  order  of  things  and  have  twenty  miles  of  asphalt  and  six 
miles  of  granite,  as  everywhere  the  asphalt  gives  the  greatest  satis- 
faction on  account  of  its  smoothness,  durability  and  noiselessness. 
The  work  of  both  grades  seems  to  have  been  well  done  and  reflects 
credit  alike  on  the  engineers  who  have  had  charge  of  and  the  contrac- 
tors who  jMjrformed  the  work. 

It  is  to  the  asphalt  paving  that  Race  Street  owes  its  wonderful 
improvements.  Two  years  ago  this  street  —  except  for  the  Shillito 
Building  erected  by  Mr.  McLaughlin  some  five  years  ago — was  con- 
sidered a  by-street  with  very  little  business  on  it ;  now  it  is  by  all 
odds  fast  becoming  the  most  important  street  of  a  retail  character  in 
the  city.  Buildings  of  the  better  class  are  springing  up  on  every 
hand,  and  as  it  is  the  only  street  in  the  city  paved  with  asphalt  from 
Fourth  Street  to  the  Hills,  a  distance  of  about  two  miles,  and  is, 
moreover,  without  street-car  tracks  its  entire  length,  it  is,  of  course, 
much  sought  after  as  a  drive  by  all  vehicles  having  business  in  its 
vicinity. 

Among  the  buildings  on  this  street  that  command  your  attention 
is,  first  and  foremost  —  on  account  of  its  great  size  if  nothing  else  — 
the  dry  goods  house  of  the  John  Shillito  Company,  with  which 
our  readers  are  familiar,  as  it  has  been  described  and  illustrated  in 
the  American  Architect  on  a  former  occasion.  Opposite  to  the  Shil- 
lito Building,  Mr.  Hannaford  is  putting  up  a  neat  freestone  front  for 
the  Frank  Estate :  the  building  is  about  one  hundred  feet  front,  is 
six  stories  high,  capped  with  a  galvanized-iron  cornice,  and  has, 
moreover,  the  inevitable  two-story  cast-iron  front  of  which  Mr.  Han- 
naford seems  so  fond  of  late  that  he  has  used  it  without  stint,  in 
season  and  out  of  season,  until  it  has  grown  somewhat  into  the  nature 
of  an  architectural  "chestnut." 

A  few  doors  farther  up  the  street  Mr.  Rapp  is  building  for  Mr. 
Scarborough  a  six-story  stone-front  store  about  thirty  feet  wide, 
somewhat  Norman  in  design,  and  a  decided  step  in  the  right  direc- 
tion. The  two-story  iron-front  business  must  be  contagious,  as  Mr. 
Rapp  has  it  in  his  building,  and,  in  looking  at  this  and  other  build- 
ings of  recent  erection,  one  wonders  if  the  new  law  actually  requires 
that  all  stores  shall  have  two  stories  of  iron.  This  feeling  is  further 
enhanced  by  the  fact  that  just  below  the  buildings  above  mentioned 
Mr.  McLaughlin  has  a  fine  building  on  the  corner  of  Sixth  and  Race 
Streets,  about  one  hundred  feet  square,  with  the  two  stories  of  iron, 
and  one  feels  as  though  light  could  have  been  obtained  from  the 
front  side  without  so  much  ironwork.  The  building  is  of  pressed 
brick  and  presents  a  very  fine  appearance. 

The  Lincoln  Club-house,  by  Mr.  Hannaford,  farther  up  the  street 
(corner  of  Eighth)  is  of  pressed  brick  and  stone,  and  is  decidedly  a 
good  thing. 

Just  in  front  of  tb.3  Club-house,  and  standing  in  the  middle  of  the 
street,  is  the  recently  unveiled  statue  of  the'late  President  James  A. 
Garfield.  As  this  is  the  first  public  statue  erected  in  this  city,  and 
is,  moreover,  in  such  a  prominent  place,  it  is  very  unfortunate  that 
so  good  a  statue  should  stand  on  so  bad  a  pedestal.  Mr.  Charles 
Neihaus  executed  the  statue,  but  did  not  design  the  pedestal,  and  the 
result  of  this  effort  goes  to  prove  that  while  the  stone-cutter  a  n 
generally  execute  a  contract,  it  is  not  safe,  as  a  rule,  to  leave  him  to 
design  anything  whatever. 

The  Phoenix  Insurance  Company's  building,  owned  by  the  Emerys 
and  designed  and  built  by  Mr.  Hannaford  some  years  ago,  and  one  of 
best-designed  buildings  in  the  city,  is  of  pressed  brick  and  stone. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  Race  Street  is  fast  becoming  a  fine  street, 
and  this  is  further  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  value  of  property  has 
nearly  doubled  in  value  in  a  comparatively  short  space  of  time. 

CART. 


THE  WATER-CARTRIDGE.  —  Reviewing  mining  inventions  during  the 
past  year  Mr.  Andre1,  in  the  Colliery  Guardian,  says  that  the  water-cart- 
ridge has  undergone  important  development  in  the  year  that  is  now  at 
an  [end.  In  its  present  state  it  constitutes  a  safeguard  to  the  miner 
worthy  of  his  confidence,  and  it  seems  that  a  combination  of  the  water- 
shield  with  explosives  would  afford  in  a  fiery  mine  the  nearest  approach 
to  absolute  safety  it  is  reasonable  to  hope  for.  The  water-shield  is 
largely  used  in  England,  but  it  has  made  but  little  headway  on  the 
Continent 


FP°A  CHI 


AKtr    THE   BUILDER. 


PARIS  CHURCHES.1  — VII. 

NOTRE    DAME. 

HE  origin  of  Nfltre  Dame 
i-  fiivclii|H-d  in  mystery. 
Whether  the  first  bishop 
of  Paris,  St.  Denis,  or  Diony- 
sius,  was  the  Areopagitc  spo- 
ken of  by  St.  Paul  and  sent 
by  the  fourth  bishop  of  Rome, 
St.  Clement,  to  preach  the 
Gospel  to  the  Parisians,  or 
whether  he  was  another  per- 
son of  the  same  name  who  was 
sent  into  Gaul  in  the  third 
century  and  martyred  during 
the  Decian  persecutions,  there 
is  no  evidence  of  any  value. 
But  it  is  certain  that  the  first 
bishop  of  Paris  liore  this  name 
and  that  he  suffered  martyr- 
dom with  his  two  companions, 
Rusticus  and  Eleutherius,  on 
the  summit  of  the  hill  now 
called  Montmartre. 

Under  the  Roman  domin- 
ion, Paris  was  comprised  in 
the    fourth    Lyonnaise  divi- 
sion, of  which  Sens  was  the 
metropolis.     Hence,  the  bish- 
^AAtRSArm.E^iGops  of    Paris  acknowledged 
•HE  BUILDER.*  the   archbishops   of  Sens  as 

their  primate  until  1622,  when 
at  the  request  of  Louis  XIII,  Pope  Gregory  XV  raised  the  see  into 
an  archbishopric.  The  succession  has  consisted  of  one  hundred  and 
nine  bishops  and  fifteen  archbishops,  eight  of  whom  have  been 
cardinals.  Besides  St.  Denis,  there  have  been  six  canonized  :  Mar- 
cel in  the  fifth  century,  Germain  in  the  sixthcentury,  Cdran,  Landry 
and  Agilbert  in  the  seventh  century,  and  Hugues  in  the  eighth  cen- 
tury. No  less  saints  are  the  uneanonized  martyrs  of  our  own  times  : 
Stbour,  who  was  stabbed  by  a  discontented  priest  in  St.  Etienne-du- 
Mont;  Affre,  who  was  shot  upon  a  barricade  in  1848,  and  whose 
last  words  proved  him  to  be  a  worthy  follower  of  his  Master  : 
"  Puisse  man  sang  elre  le  dernier  verse.1'"  and  Darboy,  the  liberal- 
minded,  who  was  shot  as  a  hostage  by  the  fanatics  of  his  own  party. 
In  former  times,  the  entry  of  the  new  bishop  into  his  episcopal 
city  was  accompanied  by  much  gorgeous  ceremonial.  All  the  muni- 
cipal officers  mounted  on  horsec,  went  to  meet  him  at  the  Abbey  of 
St.  Victor.  Thence  they  processioned,  with  the  prelate  seated  on  a 
white  palfrey,  to  the  abbey  church  of  Ste.  Genevieve,  from  which  he 
was  taken  chaired  by  his  vassals,  to  the  Rue  Neuve-Notre-Dame, 
where  he  met  the  dean  and  canons  of  the  cathedral.  After  taking 
the  oath  to  uphold  the  privileges  of  the  church  and  to  observe  the 
engagements  entered  into  by  his  predecessors,  he  was  installed  and 
received  the  homage  of  the  chapter.  Mass  was  then  said  and  at  the 
conclusion  he  was  conducted  to  his  palace,  where  he  gave  a  sumptu- 
ous entertainment. 

In  1674,  Louis  XIV  conferred  the  lands  of  St.  Cloud,  Creteil, 
d'Ozouer-la-Ferriere  and  d'Armenticre  upon  the  archbishopric,  a 
donation  valued  in  the  last  century  at  a  revenue  of  140,000  livres. 
The  chapter  of  Ndtre  Dame  was  one  of  the  most  important  in  the 
kingdom.  Its  revenue  amounted  to  180,000  livres  and  its  jurisdic- 
tion extended  to  the  Hdtel  Dieu  and  the  churches  which  were  called 
le.i  filles  de  Notre-Dame.  These  were  St.  Merry,  the  Holy  Sepul- 
chre, St.  Benoit  and  St.  Etienne-des-Grcs.  Four  other  colleges,  St. 
Marcel,  St.  Honore  and  St.  Opportune,  bore  the  title  of  Jilles  de 
Varchei-eque.  The  enciente  of  the  cathedral  enclosed  two  churches, 
St.  Aignan  and  St.  Jean-le-Rond,  and  a  garden  at  the  eastern  end, 
which  the  chapter  called  le  terrain  and  the  people,  Motte  auz  Pape- 
lards. 

The  cathedral  is  now  open  on  all  sides,  and  the  coup  d'ceil  is  very 
fine  when  seen  from  the  Parvis  Xotre  Dame  3  or  from  the  garden,  but 
to  obtain  this  effect,  many  interesting  buildings  have  been  sacrificed 
—  the  cloisters,  St.  Jean-le-Rond,  St.  Christophe,  the  episcopal  palace, 
the  oldest  parts  of  the  Hotel  Dieu,  and  the  Hdpital  des  Knfants 
Trouve's,  and  the  chapel  built  in  the  fourteenth  century  by  Oudart 
de  Mocreux. 

Some  remains  of  altars  of  the  time  of  Tiberius,  dedicated  to  Jupi- 
ter, which  were  found  under  the  choir,  seem  to  suggest  that  the 
Christian  church  was  built  upon  the  site  of  a  Roman  temple,  or  that 
the  latter  was  converted  into  a  church  by  the  early  Christians,  as 
was  done  at  Rome,  Ravenna  and  other  places.  But  the  earliest 
authentic  record  of  a  church  in  Paris  is  in  the  life  of  St.  Marcel, 
where  we  find  that  in  the  fourth  century  one  stood  at  the  eastern 
extremity  of  the  island.  This  is  supposed  to  have  been  rebuilt  by 
Childebert  I  at  the  instance  of  St.  Germain,  for  it  is  not  probable 
that  the  building  described  by  Fortunat,  bishop  of  Poitiers,  as  rich 
in  marble  columns,  glass  windows,  and  magnificent  ornaments,  could 
have  been  the  original  edifice.  Indeed,  a  discovery  made  in  1847 


1  Continued  from  Ko.  624,  pace  278. 

1  From  time  immemorial,  the  space  to  the  west  of  the  church  was  called  Par- 
vitparaduui,  the  terrestral  paradise  which  led  by  the  celestial  Jerusalem 


The   American   Architect  and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXI II.  — No    630. 


seems  to  prove  this.     During  some  excavations  in  the  place  du  Par 
vis    it  was  found  that  some  Roman  houses  had  been  destroyed  to 
make  room  for  the  foundations  of  Childebert's  church,  and,  together 
with  the  Roman  remains,  were  marble  cubes,  which  formed  the  pave- 
ment, three  columns  in  Aquitaine  marble,  and  a  Corinthian  capita 
in  white  marble.     The  Christians  of  the  fifth  century  adhered  to  the 
stvle  of  building  adopted  by  the  Romans  for  their  basilicas  ;  in  fact 
as  is  well  known,  the  basilicas  were  frequently  adapted  to  Christian 
worship.     Hence,  it  is  but  probable  that  Childebert  looked  to  Rom! 
for  the  design  of  his  church. 

From  the  sixth  to  the  twelfth  centuries  there  is  no  record  of  N6tre 
Dame,  but  Gregory  of  Tours  and  d'Aymoin,  toward  the  end  of  the 
sixth  century,  speak  of  two  churches  close  together,  but  distinct  from 
one  another  —  the  one,  St.  Etienne,  to  the  south  of  the  present 
church,  the  other,  Ste.  Marie,  towards  the  northeast.  A  rather 
doubtful  tradition  attributes  certain  works  of  construction  in  the 
church  to  bishop  Erchenrad  I  during  the  reign  of  Charlemagne. 
But  it  is  known  that  in  829  the  celebrated  Council  of  Paris  was  held 
in  the  nave  of  St.  Etienne,  and  in  857  the  other  church,  Ste.  Marie, 
was  burned  by  the  Normans,  the  bishop,  fine"e,  being  able  to  save 
only  the  former  church.  In  the  twelfth  century,  archdeacon  fitienne 
de  Garlande,  who  died  in  1142,  made  some  important  restorations  to 
Notre  Dame,  and  Suger,  the  great  abbot  of  St.  Denis,  gave  it  a 
stained-glass  window  of  great  beauty  —  probably  similar  to  those  in 
his  own  church.  So,  too,  the  early  Capetian  monarchs  frequently 
visited  this  nooa  ecclesia  (as  it  was  called  to  distinguish  it  from  St. 
Etienne)  and  presented  it  with  valuable  ornaments. 

We  now  come  to  the  building  of  the  present  church.  Maurice  de 
Sully,  the  seventy-second  bishop  (1160-96),  had  scarcely  mounted 
his  episcopal  throne,  when  he  determined  to  rebuild  his  cathedral  by 
joining  the  two  existing  churches,  and  upon  his  epitaph  in  the  abbey 
church  of  St.  Victor  he  was  accredited  as  the  builder  of  Notre 
Dame.  On  April  21,  1163,  at  the  instance  of  Abbot  Hugues  de 
Monceaux,  Pope  Alexander  III  consecrated  the  recently-constructed 
apse  of  St.  Germain  des  Pres,  and  it  is  also  affirmed  that  he  laid  the 
first  stone  of  the  new  cathedral  in  the  same  year.  In  1182,  the  high 
altar  was  consecrated  by  Henri,  the  pope's  legate,  and  three  years 
later,  Heraclius,  patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  who  had  come  to  Paris  to 
preach  the  third  crusade,  officiated  in  the  choir.  Geoffrey,  count  of 
Bretagne,  son  of  Henry  II  of  England,  who  died  in  1186,  was  buried 
before  the  altar  of  the  new  cathedral,  and  towards  the  end  of  the 
century,  the  wife  of  Philippe-Auguste,  Isabelle  de  Hainault,  was  laid 
near  the  same  place.  When  Maurice  de  Sully  died,  the  church  could 
not  have  been  completed,  as  he  left  5,000  livres  towards  the  leaden 
roofing  of  the  choir.  Indeed,  the  western  facade  was  only  com- 
menced towards  the  end  of  the  episcopate  of  Pierre  de  Nemours, 
1208-19,  although  the  work  had  been  continued  during  the  time  of 
his  predecessor,  Eude  de  Sully,  1197-1208.  According  to  1'abbe 
Lebeuf,  the  remains  of  the  old  church  of  St.  Etienne  were  demolished 
to\?ards  the  end  of  the  year  1218  to  make  room  for  the  southern  part 
of  the  facade,  and,  amongst  other  finds,  were  some  fragments  of  the 
saint's  tomb.  The  west  front,  as  high  as  the  gallery  which  connects 
the  two  towers,  was  probably  finished  about  the  year  1223,  when,  to 
make  them  harmonize  with  this  rich  faQade,  it  was  determined  to 
rebuild  the  portals  of  the  transepts.  An  inscription  at  the  base  of  the 
southern  porch  attests  that  on  the  second  day  of  the  Ides  of  February, 
1257,  Master  Jean  de  Chelles  commenced  this  work  in  honor  of  the 
mother  of  Christ,  St.  Louis  being  then  king  of  France  and  Renaud 
de  Corbeil  bishop  of  Paris.  And,  in  spite  of  certain  documents 
amongst  the  archives,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  little  porte  rouye  and 
the  first  chapels  on  both  sides  of  the  choir  belong  to  the  same  period 
and  were  the  work  of  the  same  architect,  for  they  are  quite  similar 
in  style  and  are  built  of  the  same  stone. 

The  original  design  of  the  church  did  not  comprise  the  chapels  on 
the  flanks  of  the  nave,  which  somewhat  spoil  the  effect  of  the  exte- 
rior, and,  in  this  respect,  the  cathedral  of  Paris  cannot  be  compared 
to  those  of  Reims  and  Chartres,  which  have  no  chapels  between  the 
buttresses.  They  were  added  to  Notre  Dame  in  1270,  Jean  de 
Pans,  archdeacon  of  Soissons,  having  bequeathed  100  livres  for  their 
construction.  The  chapels  of  the  chenet  were  finished  at  the  end  of 
the  thirteenth  or  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century.  An  inscription 
at  the  entrance  of  one  of  them,  St.  Nicaise,  placed  upon  the  pedestal 
of  a  statue  of  Simon  Matiffas  de  Buci.  recorded  that  this  chapel  and 
the  two  next  were  founded  by  the  bishop  in  1296  and  that  the  others 
were  added  subsequently.  This  precious  relic  was  discovered  at  St 
Dems  amongst  a  number  of  others  from  different  churches  One  of 
these  gives  the  name  of  Canon  Pierre  de  Fayel  as  the  donor  of  200 
livres  towards  the  histoires  which  surround  the  choir  and  some  new 
glass,  and  another  £ives  the  name  of  the  sculptor  of  these  same  his- 
toires,  the  Masters  Jean  Ravy  and  Jean  le  Bouteiller,  who  carved  them 
in  Uol.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  great  churches  of  the  Middle 
Ages  were  more  the  work  of  the  people  than  of  the  nobility,  and  thus 
we  find  that  the  armorial  bearings  upon  old  glass  or  upon  the  pedestals 
of  statues  are  mostly  those  of  the  different  trades-guilds-the  bakers 
the  butchers,  the  woollen-drapers,  the  furriers,  and  the  like  These 
i'nnwne8  'or  in'S  °r  ™  *  C°rp°rate  ^  en"ohed  the  old  churches 
All  the  six  doors  of  Ndtre  Dame  bear  distinctive  names -the 
por «,  du  Juijement,  de  la  Vierffe  and  Ste.  Anne  at  the  west  end-  the 
portes  ,lu  clyre,  St.  Marcel  and  Rouye  at  the  east  end.  The  e  are 
all  a  mass  of  exqmsite  sculpture,  but,  unfoftunatelv,  a  "reat  deal  is 
modern  work.  The  central  portal  of  the  west  front'in  particular  was 


wrecked  by  Soufflot  in  1771  in  order  to  increase  its  width  for  pro- 
cessions ;  it  is  one  of  the  many  examples  to  prove  the  fact  that  the 
stupidity  of  man  has  done  more  harm  to  old  buildings  than  time  or 
even  disastrous  riots  or  revolutions.  In  1773  and  1787,  so-called 
restorations,  by  architects  who  ought  to  have  known  better,  still 
further  mutilated  the  church.  Nothing  gives  a  visitor  to  Ndtre 
Dame  a  better  notion  of  the  richness  of  its  sculptures  than  mountin" 
to  the  gallery  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  whence  he  obtains  a  full  view 
of  the  roof  and  the  galleries,  with  their  numerous  pinnacles,  crockets, 
images,  finials  and  gargoyles. 

The  interior  is  imposing,  though  somewhat  heavy  in  character ; 
and  although  the  nave  and  choir  were  sixty  years  in  construction, 
there  is  scarcely  any  difference  in  style,  except  in  the  details.  There 
is  a  certain  clumsiness  about  the  great  round  shafts  of  the  nave,  but 
the  carving  upon  the  angles  of  the  plinths,  and  of  the  capitals  help 
to  relieve  this  effect.  Most  of  the  capitals  are  ornamented  with  ex- 
amples of  the  flora  of  Parisian  fields.  At  the  west  end  is  a  gallery 
now  occupied  by  the  great  organ,  but  which  formerly  was  the  stage 
where  miracle-plays  were  performed.  The  choir  is  by  far  the  most 
beautiful  part  of  the  church ;  and  being  filled  with  stained-glass,  it 
has  not  that  painfully  cleaned-up  appearance  which  is  the  result  of 
over-restoration.  Some  parts  of  it,  the  bays  which  separate  the  side- 
aisles  from  the  crossings,  are  of  the  fourteenth  century ;  and  the 
little  angels  blowing  trumpets  which  surmount  the  archivolt,  are 
beautiful  specimens  of  sculpture  of  that  period.  The  capitals  of 
some  of  the  choir  columns  being  the  oldest  in  the  church  (the  early 
part  of  the  twelfth  century)  are  very  rich  in  the  quaint  style  of 
decoration  delighted  in  by  Medieval  artists  —  masses  of  foliage,  with 
heads  of  grotesque  animals  peeping  out,  and  biting  off  the  leaves 
and  flowers.  One  capital  (between  the  seventh  and  eighth  southern 
chapels)  is  interesting,  as  showing  the  transition  between  the  use  of 
personages  and  animals,  and  that  of  foliage  only,  which  was  customary 
in  the  later  period.  The  subject  is  very  unecclesiastical,  as  was  so 
often  the  case  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  —  two  Harpies, 
male  and  female,  with  human  heads  and  bird  bodies,  issuing  out  of 
the  foliage.  Much  of  this  is  treated  in  the  most  realistic  manner, 
and  we  find  specimens  of  the  oak,  the  ivy  and  the  trefoil. 

In  many  of  the  chapels  are  double  piscinas ;  from  one,  the  water  in 
yhich  the  priest  washes  his  hands  before  mass,  is  ejected  by  a  pipe ; 
'rom  the  other,  used  after  mass,  the  water  descends  into  the  ground. 
They  are  ornamented  with  carved  canopies. 

The  Lady  chapel,  or  chapel  of  the  Compassion,  and  the  two  on 
either  side,  are  painted  and  gilded,  a  good  deal  of  the  old  coloring  hav- 
ng  survived  as  a  guide.  There  is  some  good  carving,  and  in  front  of  the 
•abernacle  hang  seven  lamps  of  elegant  design.  These,  added  to  the 
>eauty  of  the  stained-glass,  make  this  end  of  the  church  far  the  most 
>eautiful  part. 

The  alto-reliefs,  alluded  to  above,  by  Jean  Ravy  and  Jean  le  Bou- 
-eiller,  are  against  the  wall  behind  the  stalls  of  the  choir.  Formerly 
hey  were  continued  across  the  jube  and  all  round  the  choir ;  but, 
unfortunately,  when  the  choir  gates  were  constructed,  these  sculp- 
ures  were  sacrificed.  The  subjects  are :  1,  the  Visitation ;  2,  the 
Appearance  of  the  Star  to  the  Shepherds ;  3,  the  Nativity ;  4,  the 
Adoration  of  the  Magi ;  5,  the  Massacre  of  the  Innocents ;  6,  the 
Flight  into  Egypt ;  7,  the  Presentation  in  the  Te  liple  ;  8,  Christ  dis- 
juting  with  the  Doctors;  9,  the  Baptism  of  Christ;  10,  the  Marriage 
n  Cana;  11,  the  Entry  into  Jerusalem;  12,  the  Last  Supper;  13, 
Christ  Washing  St.  Peter's  Feet;  14,  the  Mount  of  Olives.  Ou  the 
ube  were  the  mysteries  of  the  Passion  and  the  Resurrection.  It  is 
o  the  Cardinal  de  Noailles,  that  we  owe  its  destruction.  On  the 
outh  side,  the  subjects  are  of  later  date  (fourteenth  century)  :  1, 
Christ  appearing  to  the  Magdalen ;  2,  to  the  Three  Maries ;  3,  the 
Apostles  running  to  the  Sepulchre;  4,  the  Journey  to  Emmaus;  5, 
Christ  appearing  to  the  Disciples ;  6,  to  St.  Thomas ;  7,  to  St.  Peter 
)n  the  Sea  of  Tiberias ;  8,  Another  Appearance  to  the  Disciples ;  9, 
he  Charge  to  preach  the  Gospel  in  all  Lands.  Jean  Ravy  was 
epreseuted  kneeling  with  joined  hands  in  the  last  of  these  alto- 
ehefs.  The  whole  was  finished  by  Jean  le  Bouteiller  in  1351  ;  and 
t  is  recorded  that  a  part  was  a  votive  offering  in  honor  of  God,  of 
he  Virgin  Mary,  and  of  Monseiijneur  St.  Etienne,  given  by  Guil- 
aurae  de  Melun,  Archbishop  of  Sens  — one  of  two  bishops  of  the 
namewhooccupiedtheseeinl317-29and  1344-96  respectively.  The 
culptures  are  all  colored  and  gilt.  A  very  good  cast  of  them  all 
may  be  seen  at  the  Crystal  Palace  near  Lond'on. 

Ihe  choir  remained  intact  until  1638,  when  Louis  XIII,  puttin" 
us  kingdom  especially  under  the  protection  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
egistered   that    unfortunate   vow,   that   he   would   consecrate    the 
anctuary  of  JSdtre  Dame  to  the  fulfilment  of  it.     "A  fin,  que  la  pos- 
6rite  ne  puisse  manquer  a  suivre  nos  volonte's  a  ce  sujet,  pour  monu- 
ment  et  marque  incontestable  de   la   consecration  presente  que  nous 
aisons,  nous  ferons  construire  de  nouveau  le  grand  autel  de  I'eglise 
"attiedrale  de  Part*,  avec  tine  imaye  de  la  Vierge  qui  tienne  entre  sea 
ras  cetie  de  son  precieux  Jils  descendu  de.  la  croix,  et  oil  nous  serons 
"epresentes  aux  pieds  du  fils,  et  de  la  mere,  comme  leur  offrant  notre 
•ouronne  et  notre  tceptre."     Louis  XIII  died  in  1643,  before  he  was 
able  to  accomplish  his  marvelous  design;  but,  unfortunately,  his  son, 
s  AI V,  was  only  too  ready  to  embellish  buildings  in  the  bad 
uste  of  his  times,  and  so  the  altar  is  disfigured  by  a  descent  from  the 

oss  by  Nicholas  and  Guillaume  Couston,  and  a  pair  of  kneeling  kings 
>n  each  sule  by  Coyzevox.  The  altar  itself  with  its  bronze  angels  was 

ven  by  Napoleon  in  1803,  to  replace  those  destroyed  during  the 
revolution.  The  statue  of  the  Virgin  on  a  pillar  at  the  entrance  of 


JAXUARY  21,  1888.] 


TJie   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


33 


the  choir,  had  the  reputation  of  working  miracles.  It  was  thrown 
down  at  the  revolution,  but  was  found  later  at  St.  Denis  and  re- 
placed ill  Notre  Dame.  Such  is  its  history,  but  whether  it  is  the 
identical  one,  it  is  impossible  to  say.  Jn  any  case  it  is  mainly  of  the 
same  date  as  the  church,  which  cannot  bo  said  of  the  reliquaries  in  the 
treasury  which  are  also  supposed  to  have  survived  the  revolution. 
That  many  sculptures  were  saved  by  a  deputy  named  Chaiimette,  and 
by  Ale.xandre  Lenoir,  as  works  of  art  worthy  of  preservation,  is  a 
well-known  fact ;  but,  unfortunately,  reliquaries  were  of  more  value 
as  metal,  and  most  of  them  passed  through  the  melting-pot  into  coin- 
age for  the  bankrupt  national  treasury  —  the  reliquaries  shown  at 
the  cathedral  are  mere  modern  imitations  of  those  they  profess  to  be, 
and  which  were  formerly  in  the  Ste.  Chapelle.  Of  the  glass  which 
dated  back  to  the  twelfth  century,  little  remains  but  fragments  in 
the  apse,  and  the  three  great  rose-windows.  These  repeat  the  imagery 
of  the  three  great  doors,  which  proves  them  to  be  contemporary  with 
the  stonework  which  surrounds  them,  and  are  most  magnificent 
specimens  of  Mediaeval  glass.  The  bells  have  been  no  less  un- 
fortunate, for  out  of  the  original  thirteen,  only  one,  the  bourdon 
(and  largest)  remains.  It  weighs  over  thirteen  tons,  and  was 
founded  by  N.  Chapelle,  J.  Gillot,  C.  Moreau  and  Florentin  le  Guay 
in  1400,  when  it  was  presented  to  the  church  by  Jean  de  Montaigu, 
and  named  after  his  wife,  Jacqueline  de  la  Grange.  In  1686  it  was 
re-founded  and  received  fresh  names,  those  of  Emmanuel-Louise- 
Therese  d'Autriehe.  In  like  manner,  the  tombs  were  mostly  de- 
stroyed, and  those  saved  by  the  exertions  of  citizens  Chaumette  and 
Lenoir,  have,  since  the  dispersion  of  the  objects  placed  in  the 
Museum  of  the  Petits-Augustins,  found  a  home  elsewhere.  Indeed, 
there  is  nothing  in  Notre  Dame  which  strikes  one  as  venerable  but 
the  glass,  so  unmercifully  has  every  portion  been  scraped  and 
cleansed.  That  it  wanted  it  after  the  pollution  it  received  by  the 
1 793  fanatics,  there  can  be  no  doubt ;  but  at  the  same  time  one  can- 
not but  regret  that  it  was  necessary.  All  Viollet-le-Duc  undertook 
was  well  done,  and  he  was,  no  doubt,  the  first  amongst  the  restorers 
of  Gothic  buildings  of  this  century.  Nevertheless,  it  may  be  a  mat- 
ter of  opinion,  a  debatable  point,  whether  so  much  restoration  was 
necessary.  There  is  nothing  poverty-stricken  in  the  work  at  Notre 
Dame  or  at  the  Ste.  Chaj>elle,  or  at  St.  Denis,  such  as  we  find  at  Si. 
Albans ;  Viollet-le-Uuc  would  never  have  dreamed  of  making  an  entire 
new  front  to  a  church,  evolved  out  of  his  poor  nineteenth-century 
inner-consciousness ;  such  an  act  would  have  appeared  to  his  artistic 
mind  the  height  of  Vandalism.  But  there  is  a  difference  between 
repairing  and  restoring,  and  we  may  wish  that  our  old  churches  were 
treated  to  less  of  the  latter  system.  By  all  means  repair  the  ravages 
of  age  where  absolutely  necessary ;  but  let  the  work  of  each  succeed- 
ing age  that  has  come  down  to  us  remain.  There  is  something 
monstrous  and  appalling  in  the  conceit  of  a  man,  who  pulls  down 
Perpendicular  work,  and  rebuilds  in  the  "  original "  Early  English  or 
Norman,  because,  forsooth  the  two  styles  do  not  harmonise. 

S.  BEALE. 


ATTENTION  RECENTLY  GIVEN  TO  PROPOR- 
TION IN  DESIGN. — THE  NEW  COURT- 
HOUSE.  THE  ADDITION  TO  THE  ART 

MUSEUM. —  DONAGHUE'S  STATUES. 


w 


fHAT  a  pity  it  is  that  sound  and  sense 
are  not  always  in  harmony,  that  each 
design  from  the  hand  of  an  architect 
cannot  have  applied  to  it  some  word  or  phrase 
which  would  express  its  character  conclusively  and  at  sight.  What 
sort  of  word  would  it  be  that  could  carry  with  it  a  realizing  sense 
of  the  incongruities,  the  vagaries,  the  thoughtlessness  of  most  of  our 
present  architecture  —  a  word  that  would  condemn  and  stigmatize 
justly  and  not  with  mere  ridicule? 

It  is  this  necessary  lack  of  acknowledged  definition  that  allows 
indiscriminate  criticism  and  eulogy  alike.  Where  there  is  no  stand- 
ard, words  lose  their  value.  Yet  it  seems  that  it  should  not  be  so 
hard  a  matter  to  find  some  general  terms  or  reasons  for  worth  or 
worthlessness  which  should  be  applicable  to  all  design.  It  is  plain 
that  a  building  is  an  organism  more  or  less  complicated  and  can  be, 
in  a  general  way,  compared  with  other  organisms,  and  is  subject  to 
similar  adjectives.  The  life  of  a  building  is  dual;  it  must  satisfac- 
torily fulfil  its  purpose  of  utility  and  its  duty  of  character.  The 
question  of  utility  is  never  an  open  one;  the  question  of  character 
changes  with  each  subject  and  with  every  mind  that  approaches  the 
subject.  There  are  surely  buildings  equally  useful,  of  good  and  of  bad 
character,  and  there  are  still  others  which  are  monstrous.  Physical 
and  moral  monstrosity  is  repulsive.  Monstrosity  in  architecture 
should  be  equally  so,  but  the  natural  impulse  of  recoil  is  doubted 
because  it  cannot  be  fully  defined.  But  the  same  reasons  for  repul- 
sion are  in  both,  that  is  hick  of  relative  proportions  and  uncertainty 
of  outlines  and  of  purpose  —  the  very  qualities  that  make  or  mar  a 
building  and  of  which  we  hear  nothing,  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
every  piece  of  alleged  architecture  is  labelled  as  belonging  to  some 


classified  style  and  criticism  is  disarmed.  Styles  are  at  most  but  the 
costumes  of  architecture,  and  a  scrupulous  adherence  to  them  smacks 
somewhat  of  archaeology. 

This  desultory  meandering  of  thought  wag  suggested  by  the  si'_'lit 
of  several  buildings  either  recently  completed  or  in  process  of  erec- 
tion that  seemed  to  give  promise  of  a  better  understanding  of  things. 
These  buildings  are  as  follows :  the  Algonquin  Club-house,  the  Coch- 
ran  house,  two  light-colored  stone  houses  on  Beacon  Street,  K.  H. 
Stearns's  new  store  on  Temple  Place,  and  a  small  building  near  thu 
entrance  to  the  Providence  H.  K.  depot.  The  qualities  of  these 
buildings  will  only  be  mentioned  in  the  most  general  way  in  this 
letter,  as  the  details  and  materials  of  each  will  be  taken  up  later. 
They  all  have  this  in  common,  that  thev  are  simple  throughout  and 
esjiecially  so  in  sky-lines.  This  alone  is  refreshing.  After  the  usual 
tortured  silhouettes  that  cut  against  the  western  sky  in  the  Back 
Bay  district,  it  is  a  pleasure  to  see  a  straight  line  of  any  length. 
They  depend  upon  proportions  and  not  upon  projections,  and  espe- 
cial study  has  been  given  to  the  relative  proportion  of  openings  to 
wall-surfaces.  None  of  these  buildings  have  descended  to  the  bar- 
barism of  using  rock-face  stone,  that  announcement  of  cheap  mate- 
rial and  curtailed  labor  that  is  so  prevalent.  The  quietness  of  the 
simple  skylines,  the  dignity  of  the  cornices  (so  few  buildings  lately 
have  ever  shown  that  a  cornice  meant  more  than  a  necessary  gutter), 
the  sense  of  stability  and  inertia  in  the  unbroken,  horizontal  courses, 
are  all  qualities  of  much  greater  value  than  the  would-be  picturesque. 
round  arches,  the  rock-face  facets,  and  the  restless  carving  of  the 
usual  work.  It  matters  not  whether  these  buildings  are  Classic  or 
something  else,  except  for  the  matter  of  detail.  All  architecture 
partakes  of  a  classical  character  when  it  is  studied  carefully  and 
refined,  for  it  is  to  study  and  refinement  that  Classic  architecture 
owes  most  of  its  value.  The  use  of  precedent  always  raises  the  cry 
of  "  affectation,"  but  it  is  apparent  that  we  wear  shoes  similar  to 
those  of  our  ancestors  except  that  we  have  discarded  the  buckles, 
and  affectation  in  clothes  usually  means  the  conspicuous  parade  of 
a  new  conceit  rather  than  the  suggestion  of  an  old  habit.  Perhaps 
it  may  be  the  same  in  architecture. 

There  are  two  important  works  going-  on  in  Boston  that  ought  to 
receive  an  expression  of  general  opinion  to  create  much  more  interest 
than  they  seem  to  do.     They  are  the  Boston  Court-house  and  the 
addition  to  the  Art  Museum.     The  Court-house  has  been  carried  on 
with  activity,  and  is  now  on  the  Pembcrton  Square  facade  at  the 
height  of  one  story.     It  at  once   invites  criticism.     The  Commis- 
sioners in  selecting  the  plan  now  being  carried  out,  showed  most  ex- 
cellent judgment  so  far  as  the  plan  was  concerned.     As  published  in 
their  report  it  is  a  masterly  plan  —  of  great  possibilities.     The  eleva- 
tions showed  less  study,  and  created  a  hope  that  they  would  undergo 
material  changes  and  be  simplified.     Of  the  details  it  was  impossible 
at  that  time  to  judge.     The  long  series  of  windows  on  Pemberton 
Square,  the  flanking  pavilions  and  the  entrances  if  they  could  only 
be  deprived  of  a  few  unnecessary  ornaments  which  it  would  be  better 
and  cheaper  to  omit,  had  in  them  an  excellent  scheme  of  composi- 
tion.    The  precedent,  the  Brussels  Town-hall,  was  most  unfortunate 
as  it  is  a  very  mongrel  and  bad  piece  of  design,  but  this  precedent 
had  been  markedly  improved  upon.     With  such  a  start,  there  was 
great  hope  in  the  result.     It  does  not  seem  that  this  hope  is  being 
sustained.     It  seems  to  be  a  popular,  and  at  the  same  time  a  very 
erroneous  impression,  that  if  the  plan  of  a  building  is  good,  and  if 
sufficient  money  is  appropriated,  the  result  must  be  of  value  in  pro- 
portion to  the  sum  expended,  no  matter  in  how  unskilled  a  manner 
the  artistic  work  is  developed.     In  all  professions  except  architec- 
ture, a  critical  case  requires  an  expert,  and  perhaps  a  consultation. 
In  this  case,  the  public  are  in  the  same  position  as  the  lawyer's 
client  or  the  doctor's  patient.     The  case  is  critical.     Here  is  a  build- 
ing to  stand  not  for  this  generation,  but  for  many  successive  genera- 
tions.   It  will   not  be  compared  with  past  work,  but  with   future 
work,  and  the  standard  of  excellence  has  risen  sufficiently  in  the  last 
ten  years  to  justify  the  expectation  that  this  progress  is  only  the 
faint  beginning  of  a  much  more  general  appreciation  of  excellent 
things,   and  o?  fine   art   and   architecture.     Every  good   building 
erected  is  an  epoch.     It  is  a  thing  to  point  to  as  a  standard  for 
achievement.     We  have  few  enough  of  such  standards.     Every  build- 
ing that  fails  to  meet  the  higher  requirements,  the  better  taste  of  the 
progressing  time,  is  an  obstacle,  and  will  be  felt  every  successive  year 
to  be  a  thing  that  cumbers  the  earth,  and  at  last  to  be  a  shame  and  a 
disgrace.     It  is,  therefore,  no  longer  a  question  of  policy  or  of  pre- 
ference.    The  Commissioners  and  architect  have  devised  an  excellent 
plan,  but  they  have  not  obtained  the  requisite  skill  to  carry  out  the 
facades  as  they  should  be  in  the  matter  of  proportion  and  detail. 
This   is   no  easy  matter.     It  requires  not  onlv  a  training  that  is 
essentially   academic,   but   a   sense   of   refinement   and   a   personal 
quality  of  work  which  is  most  exceptional.     But  it  is  obtainable,  and 
it  is  manifestly  the  duty  of  the  public  to  request  the  Commissioners 
to  obtain  it.     The  architect  has  so  carefully  studied  and  carried  out 
his  plan,  that  it  is  not  justice  to  himself  for  him  to  allow  the  develop- 
ment of  the  exterior  to  be  any  less  able.     If  he  is  to  be  known  in  the 
future,  it  will  be  by  the  artistic  merit  of  the  buildins;,  and  not  by  its 
suitability  to  the  requirements  of  the  latter  end  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  ereatly  as  that  may  be  desirable  at  the  present  time.     It  in 
no  way  depreciates  from  his  dignity  or  ability  as  an  architect  if  he 
covets  the  assistance  of  men  with  different  talents.     No  man  can 
carry  such  a  work  single-handed,  but  it  most  'seriously  behooves  all 
concerned  to  see  that  the  present  commonplace  detail  and  unstudied 


The   American   Architect  and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIJI.  — No.  630. 


proportions  of  the  first  story  of  the  Court-house  are  not  repeated  a 
the  building  ascends. 

We  understand  that  Mr.  Cabot  has  been  appointed  advisory  arclii 
tcct  on  the  Court-house,  which  is  a  very  decided  step  in  the  righ 
direction.     Only  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  his  advice  will  be  followed 
implicitly,  and  not  hampered  by  preconceived  ideas. 

In  regard  to  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts  :  the  present  building  is 
to  be  enlarged  by  the  addition  of  a  wing  upon  Dartmouth  Street,  bj 
another  corresponding  wing  at  the  other  end,  and  by  a  building  con 
necting  the  extremities  of  these  wings  and  parallel  with  the  present 
Museum.  These  additions  will  materially  increase  the  available 
floor-space  of  the  Museum,  but  even  when  completed,  there  will  be 
lack  of  room  for  the  proper  disposition  of  the  material  the  Museum 
has  at  its  command,  and  still  further  additions  will  be  necessary. 
It  is  partly  for  this  reason  and  partly  from  the  artistic  standpoint 
that  the  following  remarks  are  made.  The  decoration  of  the  present 
building  is  in  terra-cotta  and  the  principal  motive  of  the  architecture 
is  an  arcade  in  Victorian  Gothic,  with  twisted  and  belted  columns, 
decorated  voussoirs,  ball-flowers,  crockets,  label-mouldings,  canopies, 
weathered  buttresses,  pinnacles  and  finials.  These  various  and 
varied  motives,  which  require  the  nomenclature  of  Parker's  Glossary, 
are  expensive  and  have  been  a  constant  source  of  annoyance. 

It  is  said  that  terra-cotta  is  not  to  be  used  in  the  new  wings,  and 
it  is  a  subject  for  congratulation  that  this  "  on  dit "  is  authentic. 
The  great  fault  with  the  Art  Museum  (apart  from  the  garishness  of 
its  color,  which  will  become  subdued  in  time)  has  been  its  lack  of 
dignity  and  scale  caused  by  an  overproportion  of  ornament.  The 
opportunity  has  now  arrived  to,  at  least  in  part,  remedy  this  fault. 
The  new  facades  can  be  made  simple,  frank  pieces  of  architecture, 
relying  upon  their  relative  proportions  alone  for  their  worth.  There 
is  no  objection  to  using  the  present  facade  as  a  rich  mask  for  a  sim- 
pler mass  of  building  behind. 

There  are  many  precedents  for  this  treatment  —  Pavia,  for  exam- 
ple, and  the  west  fronts  of  many  of  the  Lombard  churches,  as  com- 
pared with  the  courts  and  walls  behind  them.  The  great  Ospedale 
at  Milan,  which  possibly  gave  a  suggestion  for  the  use  of  terra-cotta 
in  the  Museum,  is  much  more  dignified  and  noble  and  has  much  more 
plain  wall-space  in  proportion  to  its  openings  and  ornamentation. 
There  is  only  one  case  that  occurs  to  us  of  a  facade  where  the  terra- 
cotta has  anywhere  nearly  the  same  proportion  to  the  brickwork  that 
it  has  on  the  Museum.  It  is  a  small  house  in  Mantua  and  it  is  by  no 
means  the  best  of  the  houses  of  its  class. 

The  exterior,  also,  should  in  some  way  endeavor  to  express  the 
interior,  and,  with  the  varied  uses  to  which  the  rooms  will  be  put,  it 
is  difficult  to  do  this  with  so  inflexible  a  motive  as  this  Gothic  arcade 
and  buttresses.  And  while  we  are  being  disagreeable,  a  word  might 
be  said  about  the  detail.  Some  twelve  or  thirteen  years  ago  "  Col- 
ling's  Art  Foliage  "  was  a  standard  work.  It  was  even  in  greater 
demand  than  "  Talberl's  Furniture,"  and  was  equally  bad.  Its  chief 
characteristics  were  a  staccato  system  of  light  and  shade  and  a  love 
for  disagreeable  angles  and  for  granulated  beasts.  It  was  during 
the  heyday  of  this  work  and  under  the  direct  influence  of  its  author 
that  the  Museum  was  built.  Time  has  adjudged  the  book  valueless. 
Whatever  treatment  the  new  fapades  of  the  Museum  may  receive, 
let  us  hope  that  the  disintegrated  design  derived  from  '•  Calling's 
Art  Foliage,"  will  not  form  a  part  of  it. 

There  are  now  at  Horticultural  Hall  three  statues  by  Mr.  Douaghue 
which  deserve  at  least  a  passing  glance,  if  not  more  than  that. 
Sculpture  should  stand  in  very  close  relation  to  architecture,  and  it 
is  not  .especially  to  our  credit  that  it  has  not  done  so.  What  few 
attempts  we  have  made  to  associate  sculpture  with  architecture, 
though  far  from  being  discouraging,  have  not  been  so  signally  suc- 
cessful as  to  encourage  a  following.  The  difficulty  has  been  twofold 
—  lack  of  sense  of  proportions  in  the  architect  —  lack  of  concentra- 
tion of  idea  in  the  sculptor.  The  examples  of  sculpture  that  are 
everywhere  about  us,  not  alone  groups,  but  isolated  figures,  are  each 
and  all  doing  too  many  things  at  once,  the  action  is  diffused,  the 
energy  is  dispersed.  In  all  the  best  sculpture  of  the  Greeks,  the 
motive,  the  action,  or  the  repose  of  the  statue  is  single  and  unmis- 
takable, and  not  dissipated  in  a  number  of  little  side-thrusts  that 
only  serve  as  distractions.  Each  statue  is  a  unit  or  group.  Per- 
haps with  us  it  is  the  natural  result  of  the  complex  nature  of  our 
surroundings  that  wrongs  our  work  so.  Be  that  as  it  may,  Mr 
Donaghue  has  so  far  concentrated  his  idea  in  each  of  these  statues 
that  it  is  unmistakable.  They  have  the  same  merit  relatively  with 
other  modern  American  work  that  the  characters  of  great  novelists 
which  become  personalities  to  us,  have  to  the  numberless  story-ghosts 
of  the  petty  novelettes.  Whether  the  idea  is  one  worth  bein°  con- 
centrated is  another  matter.  Taking  these  statues  in  what  see'ms  to 
us  the  prder^of  their  merit,  i.  e.,  " Sophokles "  —  the  "Boxer"  — the 
"Hunting  Nymph  "  — apart  from  the  simplicity 'of  action  in  each  — 
there  are  many  things  worth  study.  The  Sophokles  is,  properly 
enough,  etudied  from  the  Greek.  The  head  strongly  resembles  the 
Hermes  head.  But  the  influence  of  M.  Falguiere  is  "felt  as  a  sort  of 
galvanic  shiver,  that  stirs  and  spasmodically  animates  the  limbs. 
There  is  an  inward  twist  to  the  left  heel,  a  tense  line  in  the  left  leo- 
which  though  it  may  add  vivacity  to  the  general  action,  makes  it  lose 
in  dignity.  The  strong  inclination  of  the  figure  to  the  ri<rht,  tends 
to  heighten  this  accentuation  of  the  real  over  the  ideal.  To  what  ex- 
tent this  can  be  carried  without  losing  more  than  is  gained,  is  purely 
a  matter  of  individual  opinion;  for  our  own  part,  we  prefer  to  thir,k 


of  the  youth  Sophokles  with  the  dignity  of  victory  in  his  step,  not 
with  the  elation  of  conquest. 

In  the  "  Boxer  "  the  torso  and  legs  are  certainly  well  done.  The 
man  stands  easily  and  well.  The  head  and  arms  express  brutality, 
swagger  and  insolent  confidence.  If  that  is  what  the  sculptor 
wished,  he  has  certainly  attained  it  —  but  whether  it  is  worth  the 
doing  is  an  open  question. 

In  the  "Hunting  Nymph"  a  very  original  and  daring  conception 
has  been  well  carried  out.  She  is  leaping  down  the  mountain-side, 
with  her  weight  thrown  back  upon  the  right  leg,  the  left  thrown  for- 
ward and  downward,  and  in  mid-air —  her  eyes  following  the  arrow 
which  has  just  left  her  bow,  the  right  hand  raised,  falling  after 
having  released  the  bow's  ring.  Her  drapery  is  flying  backward 
with  the  rush  of  air  past  her  from  the  speed  of  her  descent,  the 
whirling  lines  serve  to  check  the  apparent  fall  of  her  body  downward. 
It  is  all  done  so  well,  there  is  so  much  spirit  in  it,  the  drapery, 
though  perhaps  a  little  heavy,  is  so  carefully  studied  that  it  seems 
a  thankless  task  to  be  a  carping  critic —  and  yet,  it  is  doubtful  if  any 
statue  which  represents  suspended  continuous  action  is  ever  lasting 
in  the  pleasure  it  gives.  It  is  a  good  motive  for  a  statuette,  for 
something  on  such  a  small  scale  that  the  lack  of  quantity  has  to  be 
balanced  by  a  more  sensational  quality —  not  for  a  statue.  We  would 
like  to  say  more  about  this  difference  between  a  statuette  and  a  statue, 
but  will  have  to  postpone  any  subject  with  such  vistas  in  it  for  the 
present  —  hut  we  have  what  we  think  are  fairly  good  reasons  for 
believing  that  the  extent  to  which  a  statue  should  go  in  action  is  to 
represent  the  intervals  of  rest  between  a  series  of  actions,  not  the 
suspension  of  an  action  itself.  The  technique  of  these  statues,  the 
evident  facility  in  modelling  and  getting  the  results  desired,  is  most 
refreshing  after  the  platitudes  of  statuary  that  are  to  be  seen  all  over 
the  city.  Certainly  here  is  an  able,  trained  man,  who,  if  he  will 
only  omit  the  little  tang  that  is  so  often  felt  in  a  Frenchman's  work, 
like  the  burr  in  a  dry-point  etching,  and  will  give  us  the  clean,  skil- 
Eul  strokes  without  the  burr,  should  be  most  heartily  bade  Godspeed. 


II  ANDY  little  volume  recently  issued  deals  with  retaining  walls 
for  earth.1     It  is  one  of  those  works  which  are  almost  a  neces- 
sity  in  an  engineer's  library,  and  are  often  quite  valuable  to  an 
irchitect;  and  the  volume  in  question  is  so  complete  and  exhaustive 
n  its  nature  that  architects  would  find  it  useful  in  many  ways.     The 
>ook  claims  to  be  an  attempt  to  present  the  subject  in  a  simple  man- 
ner, and  to  show  by  a  few  examples  the  simplicity  of  the  application 
of  the  formulas  to  actual  constructions.     The  author  wisely  states  in 
lis  preface  that  the  reader  who  does  not  care  to  follow  the  theory 
mtil  he  is  persuaded  of  its  practical  value  in  application  can  skip  the 
brm  ulas  and  turn  to  the  problems  in  the  second  portion  of  the 
volume,  which  deal  entirely  with  applications  of  the  deduced  formulas, 
t  is  a  treatise  which  partakes  more  of  the  nature  of  an  extract  from 
he  transactions  of  some  engineering  society  than  of  the  text-book 
irder,  but  it  is  none  the  less  valuable  in  its  special  field. 

Mr.  Howe  is  very  rigid  in  his  formulas,  but  he  does  not  entirely 
icglect  the  practical  teachings  of  experience,  and  he  cites  part  of  a 
discussion  upon  the  old  question  whether  a  competent  engineer  could 
iot  guess  at  the  section  necessary  for  a  re  tain  ing- wall  much  easier 
ban  he  could  calculate  it.  While  his  arguments  in  favor  of  using 
he  formulas  are  not  the  most  conclusive,  still  he  shows  that  there 
ertainly  is  no  harm  in  making  sure  of  one's  rough  calculations.  He 
nakes  a  very  sensible  statement  in  one  place  in  regitrd  to  tables  of 
etaining-walls  such  as  are  given  by  works  of  the  character  of  Traut- 
vine,  saying  that  they  are  of  little  practical  value,  excepting,  per- 
laps,  in  as  far  as  they  relate  to  rectangular  walls  and  a  level  ^arth- 
urface,  and  adds  that  the  numerous  tables  giving  the  calculated  rn- 
uired  thickness  of  retaining-walls  to  three  places  of  decimals,  stand 
n  the  same  scientific  basis  and  have  the  same  practical  value  as  the 
feather  records  for  the  year  in  old  Moore's  almanac. 

ANOTHER  work  of  a  very  different  character  deals  with  the  sub- 
set of  fences  and  gates,2  claiming  to  be  a  practical  manual  of  the 
ubjects.  It  is  a  capital  book  for  a  farmer  or  any  one  who  has 
o  look  after  an  estate.  It  is  not  at  all  scientific  or  artistic,  how- 
ver.  The  gates  and  bridges  illustrated  are  purely  practical  and 
lomely  enough  to  suit  any  one,  but  the  work  tells  all  there  is  to  be 
old  on  the  subject,  and  commends  itself  to  the  man  of  hard,  prac- 
ical  ideas,  who  is  going  to  make  a  thing  right  first,  and  make  it 
wetty  afterwards.  One  would  hardly  imagine  that  a  volume  could 
36  evolved  from  such  themes.  The  author  states  in  his  preface  that 
he  building  and  maintenance  of  farm-fences  in  the  United  States 
tiave  cost  more  than  the  valuation  of  all  farm-buildings,  a  fact  which 
eems  a  sufficient  raiion  d'etre  for  so  comprehensive  a  book.  The 
author  has  aimed  at  a  work  which  will  show  the  evolution  of  the 
B  from  a  road-barrier  of  logs,  brush  or  sods  to  the  latest  improved 


'«»  *  ,         A  V      av,er!      .     owe, 
«arUn.'C  New  York:' 0.flud2Tco. 


theory  as  developed  bv  Professor  Jacob 
.owe,  C.  E.    New  York:  John  Wiley  &  Sou. 

A  practical  manual.    Edited  by  George  A. 


JANUARY  21,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect   and  Building  News. 


85 


forms  of  barbed  wire.  The  illustrations  to  the  number  of  294  an 
mainly  representations  of  fences,  uati-s  and  bridges  in  actual  use.  It 
does  not  go  into  the  subject  of  bridges  any  farther  than  would  be 
called  for  in  and  about  a  large  farm,  giving  only  the  ordinary  forms 
an  1  a  few  bridges  which  pretend  to  be  artistically  rustic,  but  whicl 
are  irretrievably  ugly.  A  number  of  elever  devices  are  illustrates 


in  the  way  of  gates,  one  of  which  seems  to  us  so  sensible  that  we  have 
reproduced  it  herewith.  The  author  described  it  as  a  cheap,  light, 
durable  gate  which,  in  over  twenty  years'  use  has  never  sagged, 
though  standing  in  a  thoroughfare  between  three  farms,  and  also  in 
th«  years  past  used  for  access  to  a  saw-inill  —  a  gate,  which,  it  is 
claimed,  could  not  possibly  sag. 

A  WORK  which  has  lain  on  our  shelves  for  some  time  is  the  treatise 
on  "  Graphical  Statics,"  by  Professor  Ricker.1  The  matter  embodied 
in  this  book  represents  essentially  the  course  of  study  in  graphical 
statics  pursued  by  the  students  of  the  School  of  Architecture  in  the 
University  of  Illinois,  and  is  the  result  of  a  good  deal  of  study  and 
condensation  from  all  available  sources,  and  re-arrangement  by  Pro- 
fessor Ricker  in  the  form  in  which  it  now  stands.  To  those  who  are 
acquainted  with  the  author,  it  will  go  without  saying  that  the  work 
is  thorough  and  exhaustive ;  a  book  to  be  studied  consecutively  and  not 
dabbled  into ;  one  that  gives  everything  on  the  subject  that  is  worth 
studying.  It  is  not  as  compact  and  concise  as  Greene's  work  on  the 
subject,  but  it  is  more  thorough,  and  as  a  reference-book  is  much 
more  available.  Professor  Ricker's  work  is  written  for  beginners, 
while  at  the  same  time  it  is  fully  abreast  with  the  most  recent  in- 
vestigation. Having  to  deal  with  immature  minds,  the  author  has 
been  led  to  use  a  simplicity  of  arrangement  and  a  consecutiveness  of 
subject-matter,  which  makes  it  very  easily  followed.  There  .are 
good  definitions  of  some  of  the  terms.  For  instance,  he  defines 
the  moment  of  a  force  as  the  measure  of  its  tendency  or  power  to 
rotate  its  plane  about  the  centre  of  rotation.  Another  definition  is 
of  the  Moment  of  Inertia  which  he  describes  as  a  numerical  quantity, 
whose  value  depends  on  both  the  form  and  the  area  of  the  figure,  and 
which  is  always  represented  in  formulas  by  the  symbol  I.  This  de- 
finition is  less  happy.  We  doubt  if  any  one  has  a  very  clear  idea  of 
what  the  moment  of  inertia  really  means.  We  confess  to  being  com- 
pletely befuddled,  ourselves,  though  we  know  how  the  quantity  is 
used  in  formulas  and  appreciate  its  importance,  but  an  exact  com- 
prehension of  the  factor  is  a  task  from  which  most  architects  are 
quite  ready  to  shrink.  Professor  Ricker  gives  in  his  work  some  very 
good  tables,  both  graphical  and  numerical,  and  the  book  is  greatly 
increased  in  value  by  an  admirable  general  index.  The  author  has 
supplemented  the  purely  theoretical  side  of  the  question  by  discus- 
sions of  large  trusses  and  details  of  joints,  showing  by  diagrams  how 
the  members  are  put  together  and  how  joints  are  formed,  always  a 
dark  subject  for  the  beginner.  For  a  single  problem  which  will 
illustrate  the  practical  nature  of  the  book,  the  one  on  page  77  is 
about  as  good  as  could  be  selected;  a  problem  calling  for  a  semi- 
circular truss  of  eighty  feet  clear  span,  with  a  depth  of  ten  feet  at 
the  top,  and  divided  into  twelve  panels  by  radials ;  trusses  sixteen 
feet  between  centres ;  radials  to  be  in  tension  and  to  be  of  iron  rods, 
if  possible ;  diagonals  to  be  in  compression  and  to  be  wooden  timbers 
in  any  case ;  upper  and  lower  chords  of  truss  to  be  built  up  of  plank, 
bent  to  the  curve  and  firmly  fastened  together.  We  venture  to  say 
that  when  the  student  has  conquered  such  a  problem  as  this,  he  will 
have  nothing  to  fear  from  any  truss  to  be  encountered  in  ordinary 
architectural  practice. 

Professor  Ricker  has  worked  out  some  formulas  for  the  lengths  of 
members  of  various  trusses  which  he  claims  are  original.  They  are 
somewhat  clumsy  on  account  of  the  complication  of  terms  involved, 
but  for  bridge-work  would  be  very  useful.  Taken  all  together,  the 
work  is  calculated  to  give  one  a  very  clear  idea  of  graphical  statics, 
and  to  make  one  who  will  study  it  carefully,  thoroughly  at  home  with 
the  subject. 

A  REMARKABLE  ENGINEERING  FEAT  has  just  been  carried  out  in  China 
in  the  face  of  unusual  physical  obstacles.  This  was  the  stretching  of  a 
steel  cable  of  seven  strands  across  the  Luan  river  by  Mr.  A.  de  Linde, 
a  Danish  civil  engineer,  aided  only  by  unskilled  Chinese  labor.  The 
cable  is  strung  from  two  points  4,648  feet  apart.  The  height  of  one 
support  is  447  feet  above  the  present  level  of  the  river,  and  the  second 
support  737  feet  above  it.  The  vortex  over  the  water  is  78  feet.  The 
Chinese  cable  is  the  longest  but  one  in  the  world.  The  telegraph 
air-cable  across  the  Kistna  has  a  span  of  5,070  feet ;  two  similar  cables 
across  the  Ganges,  one  2,900,  and  the  other  2,830  feet.  A  third  line  of 
1,135  feet  crosses  the  Hooghly,  and  in  the  United  States  there  is  one 
over  the  Missouri  of  2,000.  —  Invention. 

i"  Elementary  Graphic  Statist  and  tne  Contraction  of  Tnuied  Koo/t."  A 
manual  of  theory  and  practice;  by  N.  Clifford  Kicker,  M.  Arch.,  etc.  New  York: 
William  T.  Comstock. 


T1IK    ARCHITECTURAL    LEAGUE. 

HE  annual  meeting  took  place  January  9,  when  the  following 
officers  were  elected : 

John  Beverly  Robinson,  President;  Frederic  Crowninshield, 
Vice-President :  For  Members  of  Executive  Committee,  J.  D.  Hun- 
ter, II.  O.  Avery,  C.  I.  Berg. 

The  Secretary  read  a  report  showing  ninety-eight  active  members 
and  thirty-one  non-resident,  and  much  other  statistical  information  as 
to  papers  read,  etc. 

The  retiring  President  Mr.  J.  Du  Fais,  made  a  report  showing 
what  Cad  been  accomplished  during  the  year. 

The  Treasurer's  report  showed  the  League  in  good  financial  con- 
dition notwithstanding  a  deficit  in  the  exhibition  accounts  of  over 
$600.  There  was  a  profit  on  the  catalogue  of  over  $600. 

Attendance  at  meetings  sixty-eight.  Mr.  Robinson's  speech  upon 
his  election  was  one  of  the  best  short  speeches  ever  listened  to  by  the 
members. 

THE  following  were  the  awards  in  the  "  Memorial  Bell  and  Clock 
Tower  "  Competition  for  the  gold  and  silver  medals  of  the  Architec- 
tural League :  the  gold  medal,  James  A.  MacLeod,  Minneapolis, 
Minn. ;  the  silver  medal,  William  B.  Mundie,  Chicago,  HI. ;  honora- 
ble mention,  Julius  Harder,  New  York,  N.  Y. ;  William  C.  Noland, 
Philadelphia,  Pa. ;  Timothy  F.  Walsh,  Cambridge,  Mass. 

Forty-four  sets  of  designs  were  received  and  forty-three  considered, 
one  —  signed  with  a  monogram  composed  of  two  E's  —  being  thrown 
out  for  non-compliance  with  the  conditions. 

RICHARD  M.  HUNT, 
CHARLES  F.  McKiM, 
RTJSSELL  STURGES, 
JOHN  Du  FAIS, 
CHARLES  I.  BERG, 
WILLIAM  C.  HAZLKTT,  Chairman. 

Please  note  that  the  authors  of  one  design  and  one  with  cipher  — 
three  circles  interlacing  forming  trefoil,  are  not  known  and  should 
send  addresses  to  Charles  I.  Berg,  Secretary,  10  West  Twenty-third 
St.,  New  York  City.  C.  I.  BERG,  Secretary. 

WESTERN   ASSOCIATION   OF    ARCHITECTS. 

D.  H.  BURNHAM  has  resigned  as  Chairman  of  Committee  on 
Uniform  Contracts.  S.  A.  Treat  has  been  appointed  in  his  place. 

NORMAND  S.  PATTON,  Secretary. 


THE    RELATION    OF    AN    ARCHITECT    TO  A    BUILD- 
ING-COMMITTEE. 

BALTIMORK,  January  14, 1888. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  Can  you  refer  me  to  any  case  in  which  the  power  of 
Church  Building-Committees  over  Architects  has  been  defined,  or 
state  any  facts  relative  thereto?  A  committee  appointed  me  their 
supervising  architect,  according  to  written  statement,  "  in  usual  pro- 
fessional manner."  The  contract  with  builder  is  in  usual  form, 
orders  to  be  given"  as  work  progresses,  on  certificates  that  it  is  done 
according  to  plans  and  specifications,  the  architect  having  the  right 
by  specifications  to  give  verbal  orders.  Now  comes  the  rub :  I  have 
seen  good  reason,  during  the  building  operations,  to  make  several 
deviations  from  written  or  drawn  statements,  not  affecting  design  or 
cost,  and  adding  to  the  goodness  of  the  work.  I  am  ordered  by 
committee  in  writing  to  change  all  such  proceedings  and  to  do  sev- 
eral things  against  my  better  judgment,  one  of  which  I  explained  my 
isons  for  not  doing  and  which  I  have  learned  since  the  drawings 
were  prepared,  it  is  impossible  to  do  satisfactorily.  They  still  insist. 
Is  an  architect  to  be  governed  by  a  committee  in  matters  of 
detail,  or  is  he,  in  his  professional  capacity,  to  act  as  a  free  agent  ? 
[  may  say  also,  that  this  committee  has  refused  to  pay  my  second 
order  to  the  builder,  just  given  him,  because  it  is  averred,  I  cannot 
state  that  the  work  is  done  by  plans  and  specifications.  The  builder 
ias  given  several  things  without  additional  cost,  and  there  have  been 
several  extras  ordered  by  committee  and  now  in  building.  An 
answer  in  American  Architect,  to  which  I  subscribe,  as  soon  as  you 
conveniently  can  will  oblige  me  greatly.  I  am,  Gentlemen, 

Yours,  etc.,  T.  BUCKLER  GHEQUIER. 

[COMMITTEES  whose  acts  are  liable  to  review  by  others,  generally  object, 
with  considerable  reason,  to  deviations  from  plans  or  specifications  officially 
approved,  and  it  is  but  courteous  on  the  part  of  the  architect  to  consult 
them  in  cases  where  he  thinks  changes  advisable,  even  though  the  contract 
may  authorize  him  to  vary  from  the  drawings  and  specifications  without 
first  obtaining  their  consent.  At  the  same  time,  if  be  thinks  it  necessary  to 
make  changes,  either  with  or  without  their  consent,  the  law  unquestionably 
gives  him  the  right,  as  the  expert  to  whom  the  conduct  of  the  building  is 
nt  HIM  nl,  to  do  so  at  his  best  discretion,  unless  the  contract  provides  other- 
rise,  and  not  only  this,  bnt  it  requires  him,  as  a  part  of  his  duty  to  his  em- 
ilnvers,  to  make  such  changes  on  his  own  responsibility  in  time  to  prevent 
ivil  consequences  from  neglecting  them,  and  to  remonstrate,  clearly,  and 


36 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.       [VOL.  XXIII.—  No.  630. 


with  the  authority  belonging  to  his  professional  position,  aeamst  any  pro- 
ceeding of  his  principals  which  seem  to  him  likely  to  compromise  the  saletj, 
or  convenience  of  their  building.  We  remember  hearing  once  of  a  French 
case  where  the  architect  was  directed  by  his  client  to  have  certain  change 
made  in  a  building  in  process  of  construction.  He  obeyed  the  order  to  t 
letter,  and  the  building  was  injured  in  consequence  ;  and  the  court  held  thi 
architect  responsible  for  the  damage,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  his  province 
as  an  expert  to  foresee  the  consequences  of  the  change,  and  his  duty  as  a 
trusted  adviser  to  warn  his  client  of  evil  results  which  the  latter,  as  a  non 
professional  man,  could  not  be  expected  to  anticipate.  This  great  and 
necessary  authority,  however,  we  must  repeat,  ought  not  to  be  used  by  II 
architect  to  the  annoyance  of  his  clients.  Many  contracts  provide  that  the 
orders  for  changes  given  by  the  architect  shall  be  subject  to  the  consent  of 
his  principal,  and  he  ought  never  to  forget  that  he  is  employed,  not  to  fol- 
low his  own  ideas  at  some  one  else's  expense,  but  simply  to  carry  out  the 
wishes  of  his  client  in  the  skilful  and  prudent  manner  of  which  he  is  sup 
posed  to  be  master.  Whether  the  client's  object  is,  or  is  not,  best  secured 
bv  leaving  a  good  deal  of  liberty  to  the  architect  is  another  question,  but 
w'e  should  say  that  one  who  took  the  negative  view  of  it  would  be  sustainec 
by  the  courts  in  requiring  his  architect  to  carry  out  any  ideas  which  did  not 
endanger  the  stability  or  durability  of  the  building,  or  obviously  expose  its 
designer  to  ridicule  or  loss  of  professional  reputation.  — EDS.  AMEHICAN 
ARCHITECT.! 


A  GOVERNMENT  CLAIMANT'S  PATHETIC  STORY.  —  It  seems  to  us  that 
every  one  who  lias  a  printing-press  at  command  should  use  it  to  bring 
about  the  righting  of  a  wrong  by  informing  some  portion  of  the  public 
that  needless  injustice  is  being  done  which  it  will  cost  the  public  nothing 
to  set  straight.  W.  C.  Reed  of  San  Francisco,  a  Government  claimant, 
tells  the  following  story  in  a  petition  which  was  presented  to  Congress 
recently,  and  has  just  been  printed  by  order  of  the  Senate : 

In  the  year  1855  he  chartered  a  vessel,  loaded  it  with  marine  stores, 
investing  his  entire  fortune  in  the  enterprise,  and  set  sail  for  Simoda, 
Japan,  to  establish  himself  in  business  in  accordance  with  the  treaty 
negotiated  by  Commodore  Perry.  He  carried  the  necessary  passport 
and  papers,  but  despite  treaty,  passport,  and  papers  he  was  refused 
permission  to  land.  He  called  upon  Commodore  Kodgers,  commanding 
the  American  naval  forces,  who  assured  him  of  his  right  to  do  as  he 
had  contemplated  and  who  lent  his  best  efforts  to  secure  him  in  the 
right.  After  several  months  of  diplomacy  the  Emperor  made  a  posi- 
tive refusal  to  permit  the  landing,  and  he  turned  homeward.  Commo- 
dore Rodgers  wrote  him  officially  as  follows :  "I  have  sufficient  forces 
at  my  command  to  enforce  your  rights,  but  I  am  not  commissioned  to 
declare  war  with  the  Japanese  Government.  I  must  therefore  ask  you 
to  withdraw  and  return  home.  I  report  your  case  to  my  Government, 
to  whom  I  refer  you ;  but  in  doing  so  I  am  American  enough  to  believe 
that  it  will  fully  indemnify  you  against  your  great  loss."  Reed  re- 
turned to  find  himself  §30,000  in  debt  for  his  vessel,  with  no  market  for 
the  stores  he  had  on  board.  He  therefore  sent  the  ship  to  the  Okhotsk 
Sea  to  find  a  market,  but  she  foundered  on  the  way  and  he  lost  every- 
thing. He  now  sets  forth  that  for  thirty  years  he  has  been  a  petitioner 
for  the  redress  assured  him  by  Commodore  Rodgers.  He  says  the  De- 
partment of  State  has  declared  his  claim  valid,  and  once  it  has  been 
passed  upon  favorably  by  the  Senate  and  once  by  the  House,  but  never 
by  both  during  the  same  Congress.  He  is  informed  that  there  is  a 
fund  of  more  than  $1,000,000  in  the  possession  of  the  State  Department, 
being  accrued  interest  on  the  Japanese  indemnity  fund,  which  no  one 
claims.  "Shall  I,"  he  concludes,  "an  old  man  now  in  want,  fail  of 
my  rights  because  too  poor  and  too  feeble  to  vigorously  urge  my  claim  t 
May  I  riot  with  hope  and  propriety  ask  of  Congress  to  adjust  my  claim, 
take  prompt  action,  and  cause  to  be  refunded  the  money  so  wrongfully 
wrested  from  me  1  I  am  the  sole  survivor  of  the  expedition.  Both  of 
my  Captains  are  dead.  Commodore  Rodgers  is  dead.  My  partner,  T. 
T.  Dougherty,  is  also  dead." 

GAS-TAR  AND  ITS  USES.  ^On  this  subject  the  Chemical  Trades' 
Journal  reminds  us  that,  besides  the  manufacture  of  varnishes,  gas-tar 
is  largely  used  in  the  manufacture  of  roofing-felt.  The  best  factories, 
however,  partially  distil  the  tar,  collecting  the  more  valuable  products,' 
but  there  is  no  reason  why,  when  tar  is  cheap  enough,  it  should  not  be 
used  in  its  virgin  state.  The  felt  is  passed  through  the  hot-tar  and  the 
excess  squeezed  out  by  rollers,  which  also  causes  the  tur  to  permeate  the 
interior  of  the  felt.  Tarpaulin  and  packing-cloth  is  generally  made 
with  wood-tar,  but  in  some  instances  gas-tar  has  been  substituted,  but 
with  no  apparent  advantage,  as  the  latent  coloring  matters  of  the  tar 
have  sooner  or  later  caused  damage.  The  vapors  from  a  tar-distillerv 
are  well  known  to  cause  paper,  cloth  and  other  textile  materials  to  take 
a  rosy  hue,  chiefly  due,  we  suppose,  to  the  volatile  bases  present,  while 
pine  wood  in  its  new  condition  is  deeply  stained  a  deep  yellow.  When 
once  formed,  these  colors  are  very  permanent,  and  care  should  be  taken 
that  coal-tar  is  not  used  where  it  is  likely  to  do  damage.  We  have 
been  informed  that  gas- tar  may  be  employed  for  use  in  the  "lucigen" 
and  "luminator"  lights  with  as  much  ease  and  safety  as  creosote.  If 
this  be  so,  there  is  another  outlet  for  tar,  which,  up  to  the  present,  has 
been  neglected.  We  fear,  however,  that  warm  tar  would  have  to  be 
employed,  as  cold  gas-tar  does  not  find  its  way  very  readily  through 
small  apertures.  There  are  now  many  —.  very  many  —  of  these  lights 
in  existence,  and  it  would  be  a  very  easy  matter  to  get  a  trial  made 
with  tar  in  one  of  them. 

THE  DEATH'S  HEAD  IN  CENTRAL  AMERICAN  ART.  —  One  of  the  most 
common  symbols  that  we  find  in  Central  America  is  the  death's  head 
says  the  American  Antiquarian.  It  is  seen  sculptured  upon  the  side  of 
the  altars ;  also  at  the  top  of  the  idol  pillars.  It  is  also  seen  painted  on 
pottery  vases,  and  many  other  ornamental  articles.  It  assumes  a  great 
variety  of  shapes,  and  sometimes  is  so  complicated  as  to  be  with  diffi- 
culty recognized.  Stephens  speaks  of  rows  of  death's  heads  of  gigantic 
proportions,  as  seen  half-way  up  the  sides  of  the  pyramid  at  Copan 


He  has  also  pictured  an  altar  seven  feet  square  and  four  feet  high,  with 
a  death's  head  sculptured  on  the  side  of  it  at  the  same  place.  In  this 
figure  we  see  two  bulging  eyes,  two  large  front  teeth  and  the  nostrils, 
and  recognize  the  general  shape  of  the  skull.  There  is  a  resemblance 
between  the  eye  of  the  skull  and  that  of  the  god  Tlaloc,  and  the  ques- 
tion is,  whether  the  skull  was  not  intended  to  symbolize  this  personifica- 
tion of  a  Nature  power,  as  Tlaloc  was  the  god  of  the  weather.  In  con- 
trast to  this  are  the  heads  and  faces  which  Stephens  describes  as  having 
such  a  remarkably  serene  expression.  One  is  at  a  loss  to  understand 
why  there  should  be  such  a  contrast,  but  it  shows  that  there  was  a  de- 
sign. Everything  in  the  sculpture  of  this  ancient  people  was  significant. 
The  death's  head  was  made  at  least  as  terrific  as  possible ;  and  the  other 
head  and  face  as  placid  as  stone  could  make  it,  and  the  impression  on 
the  worshippers  must  have  been  marked. 


IF  trade  probabilities  for  midsummer  and  later  were  to  be  based  upon 
facts  and  statistics  and  trade  probabilities  as  they  appear  at  present  writing, 
they  would  be  of  a  favorable  character.     The  latest  utterances  of  large 
manufacturing  and  buying  interests  are  that  there  is  a  strong  probability 
of  a  withholding  of  orders  for  the  next  six  weeks.    Even  if  these  proved 
true,  it  does  not  argue  anything  against  a  healthy  activity  throughout  the 
year.    For  reasons  which  some  authorities  attempt  to  set  forth,  there  is 
just  now  a  disposition  to  hold  back  large  orders,  and  one  of  these  alleged 
reasons  is  the  uncertainty  involved  in  the  proposed  discussion  over  tariff 
duties.    The  people  at  large  are  probably  very  little  influenced  by  this. 
Confidence  is  strong  in  the  consuming  capacity  and  the  necessities  of  the 
country,  and  the  belief  is  general  that  mills,  shops,  factories  and  mines 
will  be  kept  busy  throughout  the  year  in  supplying  these  necessities.   There 
Is  one  position  taken  by  the  railroad  authorities  which  is  entitled  to  some 
respect,  but  the  fact  lies  in  giving  it  too  much  consideration,  namely,  that 
during  the  past  two  years  future  railway-building  requirements  have  been 
sufficiently  met,  that  new  territory  has  been  sufficiently  covered,  and  that 
there  are  now  very  few  probabilities  of  outside  parties,  as  big  railway  man- 
agers call  them,  coining  in  to  construct  competitive  lines  between  the  Alle- 
gheny Mountains  and  the  Pacific  Coast  in  order  to  use  them  as  nagging 
instrumentalities  against  strong  corporations.     It  is  true  that  during  the 
past  years  especially  a  very  large  amount  of  Western  railroad  building  was 
designed  to  forestall  competition,  but  the  limit  of  this  kind  of  railroad  build- 
ing has  been  reached,  yet  how  much  of  it  will  be  done  it  is  hard  to  say,  but 
those  who  carefully  follow  the  projection  of  roads  and  the  movements  of 
railroad  magnates  in  Boston  and  New  York  are  aware  of  the  fact  that  a 
large,  amount  of  railroad  building  will  at  least  be  undertaken  during  the 
coming  summer  and  fall.    This  enterprise  will  not  manifest  itself  early  in 
the  season,  as  those  engaged  in  it  desire  to  see  how  things  go  before  risking 
the  expenditure  of  the  necessary  millions  in  this  new,  and  for  the  time 
being,   non-paying  enterprise.    The  possibility  of  its  heavy  construction, 
however,  should  be  taken  into  consideration  now,  in  order  to  form  a  correct 
estimate  of  business  probabilities  for  another  year.    A  great  deal  of  mine- 
ral and  timber  territory  is  to  be  opened  throughout  the  country.     Much  of 
this  territory  will  be  opened  by  lines  from  ten  to  fifty,  or,  at  longest,  one 
hundred  miles  in  length.    The  railroad  companies  having  these  schemes  in 
hand  so  far  have  said  very  little  about  them.  and.  therefore,  prophets  of 
the  business  situation  overlook  this  factor  and  underestimate  the  probable 
volume  of  business  in  steel  rails,  and  in  iron,  steel  and  timber  generally. 
The  proof  that  there  is  a  great  deal  of  business  of  this  kind  in  ambush  is  to 
be  found  in  the  fact  that  inquiries  for  large  amounts  of  railway  material 
and  lumber  have  been  made  in  Pennsylvania,  Ohio  and  Chicago,  and  that 
half  bargains  or  options  have  been  entered  into  for  a  supply  of  material 
during  the  summer.    It  is,  therefore,  soon  to  say  that  while  business  proba- 
bilities in  the  railroad  direction  are  not  very  bright,  the  actual  results  when 
the  season  is  at  its  end  may  be  surprising.    Yet,  to  make  things  safe,  it 
must  be  said  that  this  contemplated  building  may  not  be  undertaken  and 
certainly  will  not  be  unless  the  situation   later  in   the  season  shall  jus- 
tify it.    House-building  will  be  begun  on  as  large  a  scale  as  last  year  and 
in  several  places  on  a  larger  scale.    The  improvement  in  this  direction  will 
be  manifested  in  smaller  manufacturing  cities  and  towns.    Where  house- 
building was  undertaken  in  one  place  on  a  large  scale  last  spring,  it  will  be 
undertaken  in  three  or  four  this  year.    There  is  a  very  urgent  need  for 
small  houses  for  laboring  men  in  all  newly-developed  sections.    A  good 
uany  companies  have   been  formed  to  build  these   houses,  and   they  are 
generally  composed  of   manufacturers   who  are  interesting  builders  and 
capitalists  with  them.    In  addition  to  these,  it  is  evident  that  there  will  be 
i  great  deal  of  building  of  churches  and  charitable  institutions.    Several 
Western  cities  have  arranged  for  the  building  of  fine  market-houses.     It  is 
;he  intention  of  a  good  many  large  and  small  municipalities  to  spend  money 
n  improved  pavements.     A  great  deal  of  roofing  material  is  also  under  con- 
tact, and  all  kinds  of  building  material  will  be  quite  active.    Our  advices 
:rom  a  number  of  Western  architects  are  of  a  rather  favorable  character. 
The  great  anthracite  coal-strike  at  present  writing  is  still  threatening.    The 
teading  Railroad  authorities,  for  some  wise  reason,  perhaps,  are  strongly 
opposed  to  concessions,  but  high  commercial  authorities  give  it  out  that  the 
vages  demanded  will  be  quietly  paid  rather  than  let  the  strike  spread. 
The  iron  and  steel  makers  are  all  busy  in  a  moderate  way.    There  is  no 
rushing  demand,    The  lumber  manufacturers  are  pursuing  the  log»iiig 
operations  in  every  part  of  the  lumber  field.    The  hardware  manufacturers 
of  the  New  England  States  are  all  working  industriously.    A  good  many 
new  buildings  will  be  started  early  in  the  spring  in  Connecticut  and  Massa- 
chusetts    A  large  amount  of  house  and  shop  building  will  be  done  durin"- 
he  coming  year  in  the  New  England  States,  but  most  of  it  will  be  bv  way 
>f  enlargement  of  existing  capacity.    The  textile  manufacturers,  especially 
n  cotton  goods,  are  much  pleased  over  the  slight  advance  of  one-half  per 
ent  m  print  and  cotton  goods  and  expect  to  be  able  to  maintain  it  through- 
>ut  the  year.     The  textile  manufacturing  interests  as  a  whole  are  in  good 
nape.    The  good  management  of  the  Southern   interests  is  leading  to 
urther  investment  of  capital  in  the  projection  of  new  enterprises  and  the 
•nlargement  of  old  establishments,    A  good  many  labor  strikes  are  threat- 
ned.    Manufacturers,  in  view  of  the  possible  decline  in  prices,  do  not  feel 
ike  yielding  to  the  demands  for  an  advance.    There  will  be  no  serious  dis- 
mployment  of  labor  during  the  winter.  The  manufacturers,  bi*  and  little 
re  more  willing  than  they  ever  have  been  in  vears  past  to  permit  a  mode- 
ate  accumulation  of  stocks.    There  is,  however,  no  disposition  to  accnmu- 
ate  beyond  what  prudence  dictates,  that  is  to  say,  there  will  be  nothing 
iKean  overproduction  in  any  line  of  trade. 


S.  J.  PARKHILL  &  Co,,  Printers,  Boston. 


THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  AND  BUILDING  NEWS. 


VOL.  xxiii. 


Copyright.  1888,  by  TICKNOR  &  COMPANY,  Boston,  MUM. 


No.  631 


JANUARY  28, 1888. 

Entered  at  the  I'i>it-Offico  at  Boston  u  «econd-cla««  natter. 


SUMMARY: — 

The  Proposed  Bureau  of  Fine  Art  for  the  United  States. — 
The  Second  Annual  Convention  of  the  National  Association 
of  Builders  of  the  United  States  of  America.  — Theatre  Con- 
struction in  Italy.  —  Tall  Chimneys  and  their  increasing  use. 
—  The  Size  of  Redwood  Planks.  —  The  Value  of  Redwood 
Stnmpage  for  Veneers 37 

Ol'KN-TIMBEK    ROOFS   Of   THE    MIDDLE    AaKK. II .39 

PARIS  Gossip 41 

ILLUSTRATIONS  :  — 

Church  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  Quebec,  Canada.  —  "Greene's 
Inn,"  Narragansett  Tier,  H.  I.  —  The  Paris  Opera-house. — 
Business  Block,  Cleveland,  O  — Detail  of  Facade  of  the 

University,  Salamanca,  Spain 42 

THE  HOI.BKIN  MADONNA 42 

FOURTH  ANNUAL  RETORT  OF  THE  BUREAU  OF  ETHNOLOGY.  —  IL  .     43 

BOOKS  AND  PAI-EKS. 45 

SOCIETIES :     ...    46 

COMMUNICATIONS  :  — 

Who  makes  Iron  Churches'!  —  The  Decorations  of  McVick- 
er's  Theatre,  Chicago.  —  The  Bearing  Capacity  of  New  York 

Subsoil.   .    .     , 47 

NOTES  AND  CLIPPINGS 47 

TRADE  SURVEYS 48 


IT  seems  likely  that  the  proposition  which  has  more  than  once 
been  made,  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  should 
establish  a  Bureau  of  Fine  Art  to  have  charge  of  transac- 
tions by  the  public  authority  requiring  a  knowledge  of  this  sub- 
ject, may  be  definitely  brought  before  Congress  at  the  present 
session.  While  we  should  be  very  sorry  to  see  an  official 
board  interfering  with  the  teaching  or  practice  of  any  sort  of 
fine  art  in  this  country,  it  is  certainly  not  to  our  credit  that  the 
most  pitiable  examples  to  be  found  in  it  of  bad  taste,  and  of 
gross  ignorance  and  indifference  in  regard  to  subjects  which 
even  here  are  considered  to  form  a  necessary  part  of  a  decent 
education,  are  those  presented  by  the  works  which  are  executed 
for  the  people  of  the  United  States  by  direction  of  the  supreme 
legislative  authority ;  and  the  provision  of  some  sort  of  official 
board  of  reference,  to  whom  might  be  referred,  as  is  now  done 
in  New  York,  the  question  of  the  suitability  of  proposed  plans 
for  decorating  the  public  property,  would  be  an  excellent  thing. 
At  the  same  time,  we  have  very  little  expectation  ef  seeing  any 
such  measure  adopted  at  present.  A  large  proportion  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States  are  at  present  in  a  condition  of 
such  absolute  ignorance  of  everything  relating  to  the  fine  arts 
that  they  cannot  conceive  that  there  is  anything  about  the  sub- 
ject that  they  do  not  know,  and  this  element  is  well  represented 
in  the  national  legislature.  Moreover,  with  all  of  us,  promo- 
tion to  a  position  of  authority  is  apt  to  bring  with  it  a  sensa- 
tion of  omniscience  which  naturally  finds  itself  more  at  ease  in 
dealing  with  matters  of  taste  and  feeling  than  those  which  are 
concerned  with  scientific  realities,  so  that  legislators  who  suffer 
occasional  wounds  to  their  complacency  through  mishaps  about 
their  representations  of  fact  are  likely  to  be  all  the  more  tena- 
cious of  their  privilege  of  asserting  themselves  in  matters  where 
their  opinions  cannot  be  so  effectually  controverted.  We  all 
remember  the  governor  who,  when  it  was  suggested  that  it 
might  be  well  to  have  an  expert  opinion  on  the  plans  of  a  new 
State-house  which  was  to  be  carried  out  under  his  administra- 
tion, replied,  with  asperity,  that  he  "  would  rather  trust  his  own 
opinion  than  that  of  any  four  architects  in  the  United  States," 
and  that  the  plans  suited  him ;  and  this  is  too  widespread  a 
feeling  among  politicians  to  be  easily  overcome.  Indirectly, 
perhaps,  the  result  might  be  brought  about  more  easily  in 
another  way.  It  is  often  proposed  to  hold  the  executive  and 
the  legislative  branches  of  our  Government  more  closely  to 
their  duties  by  giving  the  members  of  the  Cabinet  seats  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  where  they  will  be  ready  to  answer 
questions  as  to  their  acts.  Whatever  effect  this  change  might 
have  in  other  matters,  it  would  be  highly  advantageous  to  the 
public  administration  of  the  fine  arts.  While  Congress  is 
impersonal  and  irresponsible,  and  can  with  impunity  appropri- 
ate enormous  sums  of  public  money  to  buy  worthless  pictures 


executed  by  fascinating  females  with  curls,  a  Cabinet  minister 
could  be  brought  to  account  at  once,  and  an  interpellation  in 
the  French  manner,  addressed  to  a  high  executive  officer  on 
the  floor  of  the  House  by  a  clever  political  opponent,  on  the 
subject  of  a  Vinnie  Ream  contract,  or  gome  similar  transaction, 
would  be  a  lesson  which  would  not  need  to  be  often  repeated. 


l  IE  programme  for  the  Second  Annual  Convention  of  the 
National  Association  of  Builders  of  the  United  States  of 
America  has  just  been  issued,  and  promises  a  most  interest- 
ing meeting.  The  Convention,  which  naturally  is  composed  of 
delegates  from  the  various  exchanges  and  other  builders'  asso- 
ciations, with  their  wives,  who  are  thoughtfully  invited  as 
guests  of  the  Association,  meets  in  Cincinnati  on  Tuesday, 
February  8th.  The  session  continues  three  days,  but  delegates 
are  invited  to  remain  over  another  day,  Friday,  in  order  to 
enjoy  the  hospitality  of  the  members  of  the  local  organization. 
In  addition  to  the  regular  business,  which  is  likely  to  be  this 
year  of  great  importance,  provision  has  been  made  for  the  read- 
ing of  three  papers,  one  on  "  Improvements  and  Advances  made 
in  Stone-cutting,"  by  Mr.  Charles  F.  Cheney,  of  Boston,  the 
second  on  "  Improvements  and  Advances  made  in  Carpentry," 
by  Mr.  William  Goldie,  of  Chicago,  and  the  third  on  "  Improve- 
ments and  Advances  made  in  Roofing,"  by  Mr.  E.  E.  Scribner, 
of  St.  Paul.  These  subjects,  treated  by  experts,  make  the 
convention  interesting  to  the  outside  world,  as  well  as  to 
builders  and  architects,  and  the  latter  will  be  hardly  less  curious 
to  hear  the  discussions  on  the  reports  of  the  Committees  on 
Uniform  Contracts,  on  Uniformity  in  Lien  Laws,  and  on  Rules 
for  Estimating  Work,  which  are  to  be  made  at  this  session. 
Provision  has  been  made  for  securing  rooms  for  delegates  at 
the  Gibson  House  in  Cincinnati,  but  in  order  to  make  sure  of 
these  the  names  of  delegates  should  be  sent  at  once  to  the 
Secretary,  Mr.  William  H.  Sayward,  Boston,  as  well  as  to  Mr. 
L.  H.  McCammon,  Secretary  of  the  Builders'  Exchange,  corner 
Sixth  and  Vine  Streets,  Cincinnati. 


TITHE  Italian  Government  has  attacked  the  subject  of  theatre 
•"X  construction  in  a  new,  and,  we  think,  the  only  effectual  way. 
In  a  circular  addressed  to  all  the  prefects  of  the  Kingdom, 
it  calls  attention  to  a  new  and  brief  regulation,  under  which 
every  theatre  hereafter  built  or  altered  must  be  entirely 
isolated,  and  possess  on  each  front  one  or  more  doors  giving 
access  from  the  floor  directly  to  the  street.  Besides  these, 
there  must  be  at  least  two  doors  leading  from  the  outside 
directly  to  two  or  more  staircases  communicating  with  the 
boxes.  These  doors  must  be  exclusively  reserved  for  the  use 
of  the  spectators  in  the  boxes.  It  is  forbidden  to  build  more 
than  three  tiers  of  boxes  above  the  ground-floor,  but  one  gallery 
may  be  added,  on  condition  that  it  is  served  by  two  staircases 
and  at  least  two  outside  doors,  exclusively  belonging  to  it.  All 
stairways  and  corridors  must  be  wide  and  convenient,  and  all 
doors  must  open  outward ;  and,  for  the  benefit  of  the  actors,  a 
door  must  open  directly  from  the  back  of  the  stage  to  the  street. 
It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  such  a  theatre  as  this  regu- 
lation prescribes,  and  only  such  a  one,  is,  if  constructed  of  solid 
materials,  such  as  are  used  in  Italy,  practically  safe,  without 
the  use  of  iron  or  asbestos  curtains,  sprinklers,  automatic  ven- 
tilators, or  any  other  of  the  ingenious  but  unmanageable  devices 
which,  it  must  be  said,  serve  mainly  to  delude  audiences  into  a 
false  sense  of  security.  Whether  it  will  be  pleasing  to  the 
theatrical  managers  is  another  question.  For  a  theatre  with 
three  tiers  of  boxes  and  a  gallery  it  will  be  observed  that  the 
minimum  number  of  outside  doors  permitted  is  eight,  and  as 
the  law,  unless  intended  to  be  simply  a  farce,  must  provide  that 
all  these  shall  be  kept  open  during  a  performance,  the  manage- 
ment will  be  compelled,  unless  some  method  of  ticket-taking 
not  yet  in  use  shall  be  invented,  to  maintain  ticket  sellers  and 
takers  at  each  entrance,  to  the  serious  detriment  of  the  profits. 
In  addition  to  this,  the  requirement  that  the  structure  shall 
stand  on  an  isolated  lot  will  drive  the  builders  of  theatres  to 
the  most  costly  sites,  in  place  of  the  comparatively  inexpensive 
ones  which  are  now  utilized  for  such  purposes,  and  the  inter- 
est account  will  be  correspondingly  increased.  These  consid- 
erations will  undoubtedly  lead  to  resistance  on  the  part  of  man- 
agers to  the  regulation,  and,  if  it  is  enforced,  to  the  diminution 
of  the  number  of  theatres  in  Italy,  but  between  the  blessings 


38 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.    [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  631. 


of  having  theatres  numerous*  and  having  them  safe,  we  imag- 
ine that  the  public  will  in  the  end  prefer  the  latter. 


WE  doubt  if  many  persons  know  what  the  highest  buildings 
in  Great  Britain  are,  or  what   they  are  used  for.     At 
present,  the  loftiest  structure  in  the  British  Islands  is 
the  chimney  of  a  fertilizer  factory  in  Glasgow,  which  rises  to 
the  height  of  four  hundred  and  sixty-six  feet  above  the  ground. 
The  motive  of  its  construction  is,  it  seems,  as  unromantic  as  the 
object  itself.     The  factory  happened  to  be  situated  in  the  midst 
of  a  dense  population,  which,  before  the  new  chimney  was 
built,  complained  bitterly  of  the  stench  from  the  burned  bones 
and  offal  used  in  the  manufacture  of  the  fertilizer.     The  pro- 
prietors did  not  wish  to  move  their  business  to  a  less  thickly 
settled  region,  so,  when  the  remonstrances  of  the  neighbors 
became  so  pressing  that  they  could  no  longer  be  disregarded,  a 
compromise  was  made  by  which  the  manufacturers  undertook 
to  discharge  the  foul  vapors  from  their  processes  so  far  above 
the  heads  of  the  citizens  as  not  to  be  troublesome;  and  the 
chimney  was  built  to  effect  this  object.    The  celebrated  chimney 
of  the  Saint-Rollox  Chemical  Works,  also  in  Glasgow,  which 
is  four  hundred  and  forty-six  feet  high,  and  was  for  many  years 
the  highest  building  in  the  world  except  the  Great  Pyramid, 
was  also  constructed  for  the  purpose  of  discharging  acid  vapors 
out  of  the  way  of  the  townspeople,  rather  than  with  the  idea 
of  gaining  a  strong  draught  for  the  furnaces.     It  seems  from 
an   interesting  article   by   Dr.  Hector  George,  in  Le   Genie 
Civil,  that  the  use  of  very  high  chimneys  is  likely  to  become 
more  general,  as  their  advantages  are  better  known.     For  the 
present,  it  appears  to  be  impracticable  to  get  rid  of  noxious 
fumes  from  manufacturing  processes.     The  combustion  of  coal 
alone  not  only  sends  into  the  air  enormous  quantities  of  car- 
bonic acid,  but  of  sulphurous  acid,  a  suffocating  and  poisonous 
gas,  of  which  nearly  two  million   cubic  feet   are   discharged 
every  day  by  the  chimneys  of  Manchester  alone.     Associated 
with  these  vapors,  in  places  where  soft  coal  is  burned,  are 
usually  many  tons  of  unconsumed  carbon,  in  the  shape  of  soot, 
which  forms  the  most  obvious,  though  not  the  most  deleterious 
ingredient  of  a  smoky  atmosphere.     Not  long  ago  great  efforts 
were  made  in  manufacturing  countries  to  suppress  the  smoke 
fumes,  by  requiring  the  use  of  "  smoke-consuming  grates  "  and 
other  devices,  but,  according  to  Dr.  George,  these  are  almost 
abandoned,  experience   having   shown  that   careful   firing,  in 
which  the  coal  is  spread  evenly  and  thinly  over  the  grate  bars', 
will  do  more  to  prevent  smoke  from  it  than  any  consuming  de- 
vice yet  invented.     In  fact,  the  interesting  competitive  tests 
between  stokers,  with  the  pressure  exerted  upon  them  by  their 
employers,  who  sometimes  deduct  from  their  wages  a  part  of 
all    fines   imposed  for  allowing   smoke   to   escape   from   the 
chimney,  have  made  a  change  in  the  practice  of  that  modest 
profession,  and  furnaces  are  now  so  managed,  with  the  ordinary 
appliances,  as  to  throw  off  no  unconsumed  carbon.     The  in- 
combustible gases,  however,  are  discharged  in  greater  volumes 
than  ever,  scattering  sulphuric,  nitric,  carbonic,  hydrosulphuric 
and  hydrochloric  acids  through  the  atmosphere ;  and  the  best 
method  of  obviating  bad  effects  from  them  is  found  to  be  by 
exposing  them  to  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  dilution  and 
condensation  before  they  reach  the  earth  by  pouring  them  out 
into  the  atmosphere  at  as  great  a  height  as  possible.     One  of 
the  sources  of  noxious  vapors  which  Dr.  George  mentions  is 
new  and  curious.     It  appears  that  the  demand  for  artificial  hair 
in  Europe  is  now  so  great  that  it  cannot  be  supplied  from  the 
home  markets,  and  great  quantities  of  human  hair  are  imported 
from  Japan,  China  and  India.     Naturally,  the  black  locks  of 
the  Asiatics  do  not  match  well   with  that  of   the  European 
customers  of  the  Paris  wig-makers,  and  it  is  necessary  to  color 
them,  which  is  done  by  boiling  them  in  nitric  acid  until  they 
are  bleached  to  the  required  tint.     This  process  develops  quan- 
tities of  nitrous  acid  vapors,  which  are  suffocating  to  the  per- 
sons engaged   in   the  work,  although   not  very  dangerous  to 
those  at  a  distance. 


EVERY  one  has  seen  some  of  the  wide  planks  of  redwood 
which  occasionally  appear  in  the  Eastern  markets,  but  few 
persons  outside  of  California  know  the  gigantic  dimensions 
in  which  redwood  lumber  may  easily  be  obtained  from  mills 
which  possess  machinery  capable  of  sawing  it.     We  remember 
seeing  once  a  solid  redwood  plank  five  feet  wide,  which  was 
the  admiration  of  the  building  portion  of  the  town  for  a  time ; 


but,  according  to  the  California  Architect,  this  was  small  com- 
pared with  some  to  be  had  in  the  vicinity  of  the  redwood 
forests.  Not  long  ago  the  managers  of  a  State  fair  in  Cali- 
fornia sent  circulars  to  the  saw-mills,  inviting  exhibits  of  red- 
wood planks.  In  response  to  this  a  certain  mill  sent  a  "  good- 
sized  "  plank,  which  measured  six  feet  in  width.  Hearing  of 
this,  the  proprietors  of  another  mill  worked  up  some  planks 
eighty  inches  wide,  and  sent  samples  for  exhibition ;  and  soon 
afterwards  a  third  establishment,  the  McKay  mill,  forwarded  a 
lot  of  perfectly  clear,  sound  planks  and  boards,  varying  in 
width  from  ten  to  eleven  feet.  If  there  were  any  special  de- 
mand for  such  enormous  pieces  of  this  unrivalled  timber,  they 
would  be  more  frequently  seen,  but  the  wood  construction  of 
the  world  has  for  a  thousand  years  been  based  on  the  assump- 
tion that  sawed  sticks  measuring  more  than  twelve  inches  in 
breadth  or  depth  of  section  would  be  costly,  and  difficult  to 
obtain ;  and  a  new  system  must  be  made  to  suit  the  materials 
of  the  Pacific  coast,  or  the  redwood  logs  will  continue  to  be 
subdivided  into  pieces  approaching  in  size  the  Eastern  lumber. 
On  the  other  side  of  the  water,  the  standard  of  size  for  framing 
timber  is  still  smaller  than  with  us.  If  we  are  not  mistaken, 
few  mediaeval  cathedrals  on  the  Continent  contain  a  stick  larger 
than  eight  inches  square  in  cross-section,  and,  although  English 
timber  was  of  larger  dimensions  a  thousand  years  ago,  there 
would  be  little  difference  now. 


IN  regard  to  the  same  matter  of  redwood  lumber,  another 
article  in  the  California  Architect,  in  the  shape  of  a  letter 
from  a  manufacturer  of  furniture,  gives  a  suggestion  which 
ought  to  be  valuable.     This  gentleman,  having  worked  red- 
wood of  all  sorts,  has  found,  as  might  be  expected,  that  the 
lumber  from  the  root,  or  from  the  trunk  just  above  the  root,  is 
far  more  beautiful  in  figure,  and  more  suitable  in  other  respects 
for  his  purpose,  than  that  taken  from  the  upper  portion  of  the 
tree.     In  consequence  of  this  observation,  he  has  been  accus- 
tomed to  visit  farms  in  the  redwood  district,  from  which  the 
timber  had  been  cut,  and  offer  to  remove  the  stumps.     These, 
in  most  cases,  have  been  left  in  the  ground,  the  cost  of  extract- 
ing them,  or  blowing  them  to  pieces  with  gunpowder,  having 
deterred  both  the  lumberman  and  the  farmer  from  meddling 
with  them,  while  the  latter,  remembering  the  spruce  stumps  of 
the  East,  has  comforted  himself  with  the  expectation  that  they 
would  soon  rot  away.     Unfortunately  for  this  theory,  the  red- 
wood is  very  durable,  and  as  a  quarter  of  a  century  has  passed 
over  many  of  the  stumps  without  producing  any  symptom  of 
decay  in  them,  the  farmers  have  become  tired  of  ploughing 
around  them,  and  are  glad  to  accept  a  proposal  to  take  them 
away.     On  his  side,  the  furniture  manufacturer  finds  himself 
abundantly  supplied  with  the  material  he  likes  best,  at  the  cost 
of  getting  it,  and  finds  it,  when  worked   up,  so  useful   and 
popular  that  he  seriously  asserts  that  by  proper  treatment  the 
stumps  alone  on  a  farm  in  the  redwood  region  "  can  be  made 
to  bring  more  money  than  the  price  of  the  land  and  the  value 
of  the  timber  which  has  been  cut  from  it."     Extravagant  as 
this  claim  seems,  the  experience  of  the  farmers  in  the  black- 
walnut  district  of  Ohio  indicate  that  if  not  entirely  reasonable 
now,  it  is  likely  to  be  so  before  many  years.     Hundreds  of 
Ohio  farmers,  who  have  toiled  half  their  lives  in  clearing  their 
land  and  "  improving "  it  by  cultivation,  would  be  far  richer 
to-day  if  they  had  never  touched  it  at  all;  and  if  there  had 
been  any  with  taste  and  foresight  enough  to  leave  some  clumps 
of  the  beautiful  black-walnut  trees  to  diversify  their  farms,  and 
had  used  a  little  forestry  science  in  managing  them,  they  would 
by  this  time  have  found  the  crops  from  the  uncleared  land  by 
far  the  most  valuable  resource  of  the  estate.     To  us  there  is 
something  sad  in  the  sight  of  an  agricultural  region,  which  has 
once   been    enthusiastically   and    laboriously   denuded   of    its 
forests,   reverting,  as  southeastern   Massachusetts   now   is,  to 
the  slow  and  painful  cultivation  of  the  same  forest-trees  which 
were  cleared  away  with  such  zeal  by  the  men  whose  grandsons 
can  find  no  more  profitable  crops  to  grow  on  the  farms  which 
they  have  inherited  than  the  very  trees  which  their  ancestors 
exterminated  with  axe  and  fire.     Moreover,  the  descendants  of 
the^  Pilgrims  are  glad  to  sell  the  knotty,  defective  product  of 
their  "  second  growth  "  forests  for  one-third  the  price  that  the 
timber  from  their  grandfathers'  trees  would  bring  if  it  had  been 
let  alone,  and  the  Ohio  farmers,  when  they  return  to  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  black-walnut,  as  they  probably  will,  are  likely  to 
get  a  similar  lesson  on  the  value  of  moderation  in  throwing 
away  one's  present  blessings  for  the  sake  of  making  room  for 
possibilities  of  fortune  of  some  other  kind. 


JANUARY  28,  1888.] 


The    American   Architect   and   Building   News. 


39 


li 


OPEX-TIMBER  ROOFS  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES.1— IL 

(B)    Roofs  without   Tic-Iieam.t. 

I  f  I'  E  invention  of  roofg  with- 
out tie-beams  is  sonictiinrs 
said,  however,  to  have  re- 
sulted from  tin-  substitution  of 
stone  vaults  for  wooden  roofs. 
This  statement  is  obviously 
based  on  the  assumption  that 
the  vaults  rose  above  the  level 
which  would  be  occupied  ordi- 
narily by  the  tie-beam  (Fig. 
19).  The  cathedral  of  Autun 
and  the  churches  of  lieaunic  and 
Sanlieu  are  cited  by  Viollet-le- 
Duc  as  examples  of  this  kind 
of  vaulting.  Such  construction, 
f>*-  "•  however,  was  exceptional.  In 

[After  vtollet-le-Due.]  tjje  vagt  majority  of  instances 

the  vaulted  ceiling  will  be  found  to  rise  no  higher  than  the  feet  of  the 
rafters.     A  typical  example  is  that  given  in  Figure  1,  [No.  630.] 
Roofs  without   the   tie-beam  are  of  rare   occurrence  in  France. 


FIJ.  21. 
[Alter  Viollet-le-Dne.] 


Fig.  20.  a.  Fig.  20,  ft. 

[After  Viollet-le-Duc.] 

Like  the  Romans,  the  French  never  made  much  of  a  departure  from 
the  simple  king  or  queen  post  truss.     In  the  roof  over  the  Episcopal 

Palace  of  Auxerre  there 
are  some  trusses  without 
the  tie-beam  (Fig.  20,  a 
and  6).     This  roof  is  no- 
ticeable for  its  steepness, 
its    lightness,    and    ele- 
gance, and  also  for  the 
introduction   of  inclined 
cross-braces,      which 
throw  the  framing  into  a 
system   of    triangles, 
thereby  greatly  increas- 
ing its  rigidity.     But  if 
we  wish  to  see  good  ex- 
amples of  roofs  without 
the  tie-beam,  we  must  go 
to     England. 
"Si  nous  voul- 
ora    voir    ties 
char  pe  ntes 
app  a  re  ntes 
dont    I'ecarte- 
men  t      e  si 
maintenusans 
entrails,  el  au 
mo  ye  n  d'un 
sysleme    d'as- 
semblage   dif- 
ferent de ceux 
que     nous 
venons     d' ex- 
aminer, ilfaut 
oiler   en  An- 
gleler  r e' ' 
(ViolleHe- 
DucJ.      The 
English  roofs 
Fig.  22.  of  the  Gothic 

Malvern  Abbey.    [After  Viollet-le-Duc.]  period      are 

generally  without  the  horizontal  tie-beam,  and  for  nicety  of  execution 
and  elegance  of  form  are  unsurpassed. 


(/J  1 )  Trussfd-Rafler  Hoof*.  —  In  order  to  get  rid  of  the  tiu-heatn, 
says  Viollet-le-Duc,  the  Anglo- Xonn  ins  hail  to  solve  this  problem, 
viz.,  to  give  to  the  triangles  .4  and  B  (Fig.  21)  a  common  base,  CD. 
When  this  was  done  the  tie-beam  could  be  dispensed  with.  The 
roof  over  Malvern  Abbey  (Fig.  22)  is  a  good  example  of  one  solu- 
tion of  this  problem.  The  merits  of  this  design,  however,  are  more 
than  counterbalanced  by  its  defects.  Extravagance  of  material  is 
not  a  feature  of  any  good  design.  Due  regard  must  be  had  for  econ- 
omy in  the  sense  that  all  material  used  in  addition  to  the  amount 
required  for  stability  should  be  offset  or  com|>ensaU;d  for  by  the 
attainment  of  some  d'esired  effect,  as  dignity  or  grandeur.  The  end 
should  justify  the  means.  In  a  good  timber  roof,  for  example, 
strength  and  lightness  must  be  combined,  the  one  being  essential  to 
safe  construction,  the  other  to  artistic  effect. 

The  heavy  and  oppressive   effect  of   the  early  roofs  has   been 

referred  to.  The 
roof  at  Malvern  Ab- 
bey is  an  example  of 
one  of  the  first  at- 
tempts to  overcome 
this  defect,  but  the 
construction  of  this 
roof  calls  for  an  ex- 
cessive amount  of 
timber,  making  it  so 
heavy  that  it  could 
never  be  used  for 
anything  but  a  small 
span.  Moreover,  it 
was  expensive  to  a 
degree  that  may  be 
fairly  considered  inad- 


Fig.  23. 
[After  Tredgold.] 


1  Continued  from  No.  629,  page  17. 


equate  to  the  result  obtained.  The  tie-beam  was  dispensed  with,  but 
at  too  great  a  sacrifice  of  economy,  and  the  depressing  effect  of  the 
tie-beam  roof  had  been  only  partially  done  away  with. 

The  practical  solution  of  the  problem  was  found  in  what  is  known 
as  the  "trussed-rafter"  roof,  which  was  much  used  in  the  Early 
English  and  Decorated  periods.  The  general  scheme  of  its  construc- 
tion is  shown  in  Figure  23.  Every  pair  of  rafters  is  provided  with 
a  collar-beam  and  braces.  The  latter  may  be  straight  or  curved  and 
above  or  below  the  collar-beam.  The  trussed-rafter  roof  is  distin- 
guished from  all  other  roofs  without  tie-beams  in  that  it  is  a  single- 
framed  roof  —  that  is,  one 
in  which  every  pair  of 
rafters  is  trussed,  there 
being  neither  purlins  nor 
principals.  There  is,  thus, 
no  really  characteristic 
form  for  this  roof.  In 
practice,  however,  it  must 
be  necessarily  a  simple 
one,  for  anything  elabo- 
rate, repeated  as  it  would 
have  to  be  with  every  set 
of  rafters,  would  prove 
very  expensive  and  at  a 
certain  point  a  different 
kind  of  roof  would  recom- 
mend itself  as  giving  a 
better  effect  with  the  same 
amountof  material.  Where  Hg- 24. 

the  braces  are  curved,  the 

effect  of  "an  arched  ceiling  is  obtained,  and  if  in  this  case  the  roof 
be  sheathed,  a  wooden  barrel-vault  is  produced.  Polygonal-shaped 
ceilings  (often  called  wagon-headed  roofs)  are  of  more  frequent 
occurrence.  The  trussed-rafter  roof  thus  admits  of  great  variety  in 
treatment  inasmuch  as  it  is  purely  a  question  of  taste  where  the 
ceiling  shall  be  put.  (See  Figs.  24,  25,  26.)  Brandon  hold>  to  the 

opinion  that  originally 
none  of  the  roofs  of  the 
trussed-rafter  form  were 
intended  to  be  sheathed. 
In  modern  roofs,  how- 
ever, it  is  oftener  done 
than  not. 

(B  2)  Hammer-B earn 
Roofi. — The  general  prin- 
ciples of  hammer-beam 
construction  are  shown  in 
Figure  27,  in  which  HH 
are  the  hammer-beams, 
W  W  the  wall  pieces,  BB 
hammer-beam  braces,  .s'.s' 
hammer-beam  struts,  C 
collar-beam,  etc.  The  or- 
Fig.  25.  dinary  form  which  this 

roof  takes  is  shown  in  Fig- 
ure 28.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  construction  of  this  form  of  roof  is 
based  on  that  property  peculiar  to  the  triangle,  namely,  that  the 
angles  cannot  change  so  long  as  the  sides  remain  dt  the  same 
length.  In  the  hammer-beam  roof,  the  various  timbers  are  so  ar- 
ranged as  to  form  triangles.  The  joints  at  the  angles  are  thu» 


40 


The   American   Architect  and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII. — No.  631- 


rendered  immovable   and   the   rigidity  of    the    framing  is  secured. 
In  regard  to  the  origin  of  the  roof  there  have  been  several  theo- 
ries, but  that  advanced  by  Brandon  seems  to  be  the  most  reasonable. 
According  to  his  theory  the  hammer-beam  was  developed  directly 
from  the  triangular  foot  of  the  trussed-rafter  roof  (Fig.  29).     Thi 
was  used  merely  on   a  much  larger   scale,  being   made  to  projec 
inwards  and  supported  by  a  brace  on  the  under  side.     That  view  o 
the  hammer-beam  roof  which  considers  it  a  tie-beam  roof  with  the 

central  portion  of,  the 
tie-beam  cut  out  as  it 
were,  he  proves  to  be 
erroneous  inasmuch  as 
it  can  be  shown  that  the 
tie-beam  roof  had  been 
discarded  before  the 
hammer-beam  was  intro- 
duced. The  fact  seems 
to  be  that  neither  the 

//    s  \  K\        tie-beam  nor  the  trussed- 

//  j  I    \\     rafter  roof  were  suitable 

V    o     r  ''   j-     I  for  anything  but  moder- 

ate spans.     A  new  form 
of  roof  had  to  be  devised 
in  order  to  meet  the  re- 
quirements   of    larger 
spans.     Progress  rarely, 
if  ever,  goes  by  leaps ; 
it  is  gradual   and   pro- 
ceeds  by   the   improve- 
ment of  existing  forms,  not  by  the  direct  invention   of  absolutely 
new  ones.     Accordingly,  the  particular  form  that  the  new  roof  took 
was    probably    sug- 
gested, in    parts,  at 
least,  by  the  form  of 
roof    last    in    use, 
namely,  the  trussed- 
rafter. 

The  hammer-beam 
is  really  a  bracket  or 
canti lever  upon 
which  the  roof  rests. 
Practically,  it  re- 
duced the  actual 
span  of  the  roof,  for 
it  gave  excellent  sup- 
port to  the  rafters  at 
their  weakest  point, 

namely,   near    their  Fie- 27- 

feet.    That  is  to  say,  £ After  Tredgold.] 

as  far  as  the  rafters  were  concerned,  the  span  was  really  only  the  dis- 


roof  would  for  the  same  span   when  used  in  a  tie-beam  or  trussed- 


Fig.  26. 


Fig.  28. 

[After  Tredgold.] 
tance  between  the  hammer-beams. 


Fig.  29. 

[After  Brandon.] 
Thus  a  rafter  of  a  given  section 


Nave  of  Knapton  Church,  Norfolk,  Eng.    [After  Brandon.] 
rafter  roof  have  too  great  a  tendency  to  bend  or    sa<*.      In  other 
words,  with  tim- 
bers  of   a  given 
section    a   larger 
span  was  possible 
;han  before. 

The  new  form 
of  roof  was  also 
controlled  to  a 
certain  extent  by 
he  character  of 
the  buildings 
erected  at  this 
time.  In  the  Per- 
pe  n  d  ic  u.l  a  r 
period  walls  were 
pierced  by  large, 
lofty  windows 
and  strengthened 
in  the  spaces  be- 
tween the  open- 
ings by  narrow 

buttressed  piers.      The   trussed-rafter   roof,   which   practically  re- 
quired    continu- 
ous support,  thus 
became  impracti- 
cable.    The  new 
roof  had,  of   ne- 
cessity, to  be  one 
which    could    be 
supported   at  in- 
tervals.   More- 
over, the  oblique 
thrust  which  the 
hammer-beam,  m 
common  with  all 
roofs    without  a 
tie-beam,   had    a 
tendency   to   ex- 
ert, was  well  met 
by     the     but- 
tresses.    Nor  did 

before,  for 


Westminster  Hall.    [After  ••  MtM  Carpentry  •'  by  Smith.] 
ich  would  be  proper  for  a  given  span  when  used  in  a  hammer-beam 


This  style  of  roof, 
therefore,  had 
many  good  quali- 
ties to  recom- 
mend, it.  The 
rafters  were  well 
stiffened;,  the 
thrust  of  the  roof 
was  made  not 
only  more  nearly 
\  vertical  than  it 
had  been  with 
the  trussed-rafter 
roof,  but  was 
also  brought  low- 
er down  on  the 
walls  where  it 
could  be  easily 
met  by  greater 
lateral  resist- 
ance ;  the  con- 
struction was  of 


executed  by  a  combination  of  small 


JANUARY  28,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building   News. 


41 


The  largest  and  most  magnificent  specimen  of  a  hammer-beam 
roof  is  that  over  Westminster  Hall  (Fig.  30).  This  roof  covers  a 
hall  two  hundred  and  thirty-nine  feet  lon^  hy  sixty-eight  feet  wide. 
A  striking  feature  is  the  large  timber  arch  which  spans  the  entire 
width  of  the  hall.  This  arch  obviously  plays  an  important  part  in 
the  construction  and  is  not  merely  decorative.  What  is  a  most  sin- 
gular fact  is  that  this  roof  (1397)  is  the  earliest  known  sj>eeimen  of 


Fig.  35. 


the  hammer-beam  variety.  It  is  scarcely  possible,  however,  as  Bran- 
don observes,  that  a  design  so  bold,  complete  and  successful  could 
have  been  among  the  first  to  have  been  executed.  Beautiful  speci- 
mens of  hammer-beam  roofs  of  more  moderate  spans  are  found  in  the 
churches  of  Norfolk  and  Suffolk.  Many  of  these  have  a  second 
hammer-beam  introduced  (Fig.  31).  The  multiplication  of  hammer- 
beams  can  hardly  be  considered  an  improvement,  for,  though  it  gave 
greater  richness  of  effect,  it  did  not  bring  increased  strength  to  meet 
the  greater  weight  thus  given  to  the  roof. 

Hammer-beam  roofs  almost  defy  classification,  but  the  following 
list  will  be  found  to  comprise  nearly  all  the  different  varieties. 

1.  Complete  —  with  braces,  struts,  as  in  Figures  28  or  32. 

2.  With  no  struts,  as  in  Figure  33. 

3.  With  no  collar-beam  —  braces  curved  to  ridge,  as  in  Figure  34. 

4.  With  no  collar-beam  and  no  struts,  as  in  Figure  35. 

,'!'•'  be  continued.! 


PARIS  GOSSIP. 

THE  NEW  CREMATORY.  —  EXHIBITION  OF    PCVI8    DE    CHAVANNES'S 

DESIGNS. 

0N  the  25th  of  October  experiments  the 
results  of  which  were  not  absolutely  sat- 
isfactory were  made  at  the  crematory 
recently  built  at  the  cemetery  of  Pere  La- 
chaise.  On  the  15th  of  last  month  I  was 
present  at  the  new  experiments  which  pro- 
duced better  results.  A  society  for  the  prop- 
agation of  cremation,  founded  in  1880,  and 
comprising  a  number  of  experts,  have  made 
an  active  crusade  in  support  of  this  reform. 
In  1888  the  Council  of  Hygiene  concerned 
themselves  with  it,  and  after  several  exam- 
inations, discussions,  and  reports  approved, 
in  1881,  the  selection  of  one  of  the  lofty  por- 
tions of  the  cemetery  of  Pere  Lachaise  as  the  site  of  three  crema- 
tory furnaces.  These  furnaces  were  to  serve  for  experiments  and 
the  destruction  of  bodies  which  had  already  been  used  for  anatomical 
purposes.  On  the  27th  of  July,  1885,  the  Municipal  Council  ap- 
proved the  construction  of  a  funerary  building,  with  apparatus  for 
cremation,  and  authorized  the  immediate  execution  of  that  part  of 
the  project  necessary  for  the  incineration  of  refuse  from  the  hospitals, 
which  reach  a  total  of  about  three  thousand  bodies  a  year  on  the 
average.  Finally,  on  March  30,  1886,  the  Chamber  voted  by  a  large 
majority,  freedom  of  choice  for  every  individual  of  full  age  between 
burial  and  incineration  in  his  own  case. 

The  design  adopted  has  a  monumental  aspect,  and  the  general 
appearance  will  be  very  imposing.  The  authorities  have  felt  that  to  the 
first  device  of  this  kind  erected  in  France  there  should  be  given  such 
character  as  to  make  an  impression  on  that  portion  of  the  public 
which  feels  repugnance  for  this  system  of  destroying  corpses.  The 
estimate  of  cost  was  629,274  francs.  The  architect  of  the  Ville  de 
Paris,  M.  J.  Formige',  was  the  one  charged  with  its  construction.  It 
consists  of  a  ground-floor  with  vaulted  galleries,  whose  use  is  not  yet 
absolutely  fixed  upon.  This  ground-floor  will  form  the  sub-basement. 
Above  will  be  the  rooms  that  are  intended  for  the  public.  The 
annexed  plan  gives  the  arrangement  of  the  first  story.  A  large  cen- 
tral hall  covered  by  a  dome  and  surrounded  by  large  galleries, 
terminates  in  three  hemicycles.  each  of  which  is  to  contain  a  crema- 
tory furnace.  This  story  will  be  reached  either  by  a  grand  incline 
of  gentle  slope  or  by  staircases.  These  details  are  still  to  be  studied. 
The  part  actually  built  contains  only  the  three  hemicycles  which  en- 
close the  furnaces,  only  one  of  which  has  been  installed  up  to  the 


present  time — a  furnace  of  the  system  Gorini,  adopted  in  Italy, 
built  of  brick,  anil  arranged  as  the  annexed  section  shows.  The 
hearth  F  at  the  level  of  the  ground-floor  is  fed  with  wood.  The 
(lame,  stimulated  by  a  strong  draught  mounts  in  the  chamber,  licks 
the  body  lengthwise,  and  descends  to  the  entrance  of  the  chimney- 
shaft  T.  The  body  is  placed  on  a  dish  of  sheet-iron  and  covered 
with  asbestos  cloth.  This  dish,  running  over  a  system  of  rollers  and 
dragged  by  a  chain  which  crosses  the 
furnace,  is  thus  introduced  into  the 
chamber.  The  material  now  used  is 
only  experimental.  It  has  certain  in- 
conveniences. The  sheet-iron  dish,  sub- 
jected to  the  great  heat  of  the  furnace, 
yields  rapidly.  The  one  which  I  saw, 
and  which  had  only  been  used  for  two 


experiments,  was  already  warped  and  covered  with  scales.  When 
the  arrangements  are  finally  completed  they  will  be  compelled  to  use 
everywhere  that  may  be  possible  apparatus  made  of  infusible  clay. 
It  is  likely,  too,  that  the  system  of  Gorini  will  be  replaced  by  that 
devised  by  Siemens,  which  employs  gas,  and  is  far  superior ;  but 
still  it  was  interesting  to  observe  that  already  good  results  were  ob- 
tained with  the  system  of  Gorini. 

Three  or  four  hundred  kilogrammes  of  wood  were  needed  for  the 
incineration  of  a  single  body.  The  flame  traverses  the  furnace  as  I 
have  described,  and  gas  and  fumes  disappear  up  the  chimney-flue. 
To  prevent  any  dangerous  gases,  given  off  during  combustion  of  the 
body,  from  vitiating  the  surrounding  atmosphere,  a  grate  fed  with 
coke  is  fixed  at  a  certain  height  in  the  chimney-flue.  The  putrid 
gases  are  burned  while  passing  through  this  fire,  which  serves  at  the 
same  time  to  accelerate  the  draught  of  the  main  furnace.  Experi- 
ments made  at  the  mouth  of  the  chimney  upon  the  gases  which  are 
delivered  from  it  have  shown  that  in  point  of  view  of  hygiene  they 
no  longer  contain  any  deleterious  principles.  Experiments  made  on 
the  15th  of  December  before  some  members  of  the  Academy  of 
Medicine  and  the  Municipal  Council,  and  at  which  I  was  present  as 
correspondent  of  the  American  Architect,  gave  the  following  results: 
The  average  time  required  for  the  incineration  of  the  body  is 
one  hour  and  three-quarters  and  upwards  in  a  furnace  raised  to 
the  temperature  of  six  or  seven  hundred  degrees  [centigrade].  The 
resulting  relics  were  some  fragments  of  bones  resembling  pumice- 
stone  and  very  friable.  The  portions  upon  which  the  fire  had  the 
least  effect  were  the  teeth,  vertebrae,  the  hip-bones,  as  well  as  the 
joint  of  the  tibia  and  the  thigh.  These  fragments  weighed  about 
two  kilogrammes. 

I  enclose  a  sketch  of  the  rear  elevation  of  the  monument  as  it  was 


first  arranged  by  M.  Formige'.     In  execution  certain  modifications 
have  been  introduced.     The  chimneys  have  been  brought  in  between , 
hemicycles,  as   is  indicated  upon   the  plan,  which   is  exact.     The 
architect,  by  employing  bands  of  black  stone,  has  secured  a  decora- 
tive effect  very  much  in  keeping  with  the  character  of  the  building. 


42 


The   American   Architect  and  Building   News.     [VOL.  XXIII. — No.  631- 


The  estimated  expense  of  the  portion  actually  built  was  245,075 
francs,  and  up  to  the  present  time  it  lias  not  reaehed  the  sum  of 
200.000  francs. 

Tins  building,  when  it  shall  be  complete  and  crowned  by  its  dome, 
will  surely  have  an  imposing  air  still  more  enhanced  by  the  colum- 
barium already  projected,  in  which  will  be  arranged  niches  for  the 
reception  of  funerary  urns:  this  columbarium  will  surround  the 
furnace-building  proper.  But  it  will  probably  be  a  long  time  before 
the  practice  of  cremation  becomes  a  matter  of  daily  occurrence : 
already  it  has  encountered  numerous  adversaries,  who  attack  it  from 
different  points  of  view,  one  of  the  most  serious  of  which  is  the  im- 
possibility in  criminal  cases  of  deriving  proof  from  autopsies.  Crema- 
tion will  be  under  the  control  of  regulations,  whose  discussion  will 
consume  much  time  in  a  country  where  different  societies  and  com- 
missions play  so  important  a  role,  and  where  the  least  undertaking 
gives  rise  to  such  numberless  reports.  More  than  this,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  overcome  the  violent  opposition  of  the  Church  and  the 
deeply  rooted  prejudices  of  the  people. 

During  the  month  of  December  took  place  at  the  Gallery  Durand- 
Ruel  the  exhibition  of  paintings,  pastels  and  drawings  of  Puvis  de 
Chavannes.  It  was  interesting  to  see  here  brought  together  the 
different  works  of  this  artist,  so  unequal,  and  so  unequal  in  a  wholly 
voluntary  fashion.  This,  at  any  rate,  is  the  notion  which  naturally 
comes  to  you  when,  at  the  side  of  his  magnificent  drawings  in  red 
chalk,  so  solid,  and  recalling  as  they  do  those  of  the  greatest  masters, 
you  find  compositions  of  such  poverty  and  such  slip-shod  drawing. 

M.  Puvis  de  Chavannes  has  his  admirers,  who  follow  him  every- 
where, and  sustain  him  through  thick  and  thin.  These  admirers 


have  the 
exampl 


IB  audacity  to  try  to  make  us  understand  and  appreciate,  for 

- rle,  "  The  Poor  Fisherman,"  that  absolutely  bad  painting  of  the 

Salon  of  1881.  I  am  free  to  say  that  they  will  have  their  trouble  for 
their  pains.  Fortunately,  M.  Puvis  de  Chavannes,  who  is  an  artist 
of  distinguished  worth,  has  done  other  work  upon  the  merits  of  which 
everybody  is  agreed,  and  several  of  his  decorative  paintings  are  very 
fine.  They  have  in  every  case  that  soft  color  which  is  so  harmonious 
and  goes  so  well  with  architectural  surroundings.  All  the  same, 
there  is  need  of  an  architecture  of  peculiar  character,  antique  and 
solemn,  for  M.  Puvis  de  Chavannes  does  not  vary  his  style.  It  is 
grand  in  sentiment,  but  always  a  little  mystic.  There  is  need  of  the 
grand,  calm  lines  of  religious  or  academic  architecture  to  put  his 
talent  at  ease  with  itself  and  produce  its  best  results.  His  paintings 
at  the  Panthe'on  are  magnificent,  and  we  have  seen  with  pleasure  the 
reduction.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  paintings  for  the  Museum 
at  Amiens  — "Repose,"  "Labor,"  "War"  and  "Peace."  These 
four  compositions  are  superb.  This  is  truly  grand  decoration.  They 
are  well  grouped,  and  vie  in  color  and  drawing.  The  studies  made 
for  them  in  red  chalk  are  superb. 

I  will  mention  once  more  the  "  Women  on  the  Sea-Shore  "  (they 
were  shown  at  the  Salon  of  1879),  which  has  a  graceful  movement 
and  an  agreeable  tone.  The  reduction  of  a  large  painting,  "  Autumn," 
is  very  pretty  and  decorative ;  a  fine  nude  torso  in  pastel,  and  the 
very  beautiful  and  the  very  pure  drawings  for  the  mural  paintings  of 
the  stairway  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville  at  Poitiers  "Radegonde  in" the 
Convent  of  St.  Croix,"  and  "Chailes  Martel  victorious  before 
1  oitiers,"  and  finally  some  figures  for  his  beautiful  mural  paintings  on 
the  Staircase  of  Honor  at  the  Palace  of  Longchamps  at  Marseilles 
and  that  for  the  Museum  at  Lyons.  What  difference  between 

I  he  Young  Mother,"  harsh  in  drawing  "The  Prodio-al  Son" 
Salon  of  1879,  and  "The  Decapitation  of  St.  John  the  "Baptist!" 
Irom  the  Salon  of  1869,  which  the  partisans  of  M.  Puvis  de  Chavan- 
nes nevertheless  count  among  his  fine  paintings.  This  one  lacks  air 
and  is  disagreeable  in  color.  I  do  not  care  much  more  for  his  figure 
of  •'  Hope,  which  hung  at  the  Salon  of  1872,  in  which  1  find,  ntfver- 
tneless,  a  background  which  is  perfectly  ravishing 

Finally,  must  we  admire  the  great  canvas  styled  "Sleep,"  which  is 
Lttle  known,  the  artist  having  kept  it  in  his  studio  since  the  Salon  of 
1867,  to  which  he  had  sent  it?     The  composition  is  not  -rood.     A 
group  of  persons  asleep  occupy  the  right  of  the  painting     This 
Eroup  is  confused  and  too  crowded;  other  n       •     ,       = 

tion  on  the  left.  There  is  no  bond  in  the  arrangement,  no *  ensemble 
but  on  the  horizon  above  the  sea  arises  an  enormous  half  moon.  It 
acks  sentunent,  and  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  discover  in  this  work 
tl,at  ^f,«  „„,!  .„-.,....  conception)  which  some  Q£  h 


In  spite  of  these  inequalities  the  exhibition  was  interesting  for 

Puvis   de   Chavannes   evidently   must    be   counted 
masters  of  decoration.     He  is  an  artist  of  originality  and  conseienti 
ous,  whose  name  is  attached  to  magnificent  works,  and  who  has  that 
conviction  and  veneration  for  art  which  have  alw'ays  a  right  to  ouV 


[Contributor*  are  requested  to  send  with  their 
_  n^uate  detention,  o/tke  Aiding,,  including  a 

CHURCH   OF   ST.   4OHN   THE   BAPTIST,   QUEBEC,  CANADA. 

PEACHY,    ARCHITECT,   QUEBEC,   CANADA. 
[Gelatine  Print  Ipsned  only  ^ith  Gelatine  and  Imperial  editions.! 


MR    J    F 


"GREENE'S  INN,"  NARRAGANSETT  PIER,  R.  i.     MR.  WM.  GIBBONS 

PRESTON,   ARCHITECT,    BOSTON. 

TITlIIS  building  is  the  result  of  an  effort  to  produce  a  hostelry  pro- 
J I »  mising  some  of  the  creature  comforts  so  commonly  found  in  the 
smaller  hotels  of  England  and  which  the  great  caravansaries 
lining  our  coast  are  the  farthest  possible  from  furnishing.  In  addi- 
tion to  being  a  noted  and  delightful  summer  resort,  Narragansett 
Pier,  like  Newport,  has  a  mild  and  bracing  winter  climate,  owing  to 
the  proximity  of  the  Gulf  Stream,  and  it  is  the  intention  of  the  o'wn- 
ers  to  offer  an  attractive  and  comfortable  house  for  invalids  or  others 
desiring  a  change  from  their  home  life  without  the  necessity  of  a 
journey  to  Old  Point  Comfort,  for  example.  Hence  the  Solarium, 
which  is  on  (he  south-cast  corner  and  is  a  great  glazed  piazza,  with 
sashes  removable,  shingled  within,  a  fish-net  covering  the  ceiling  and 
containing  a  wide,  open  fireplace  built  of  field-stones  and  beach 
cobbles.  In  summer  the  sashes  can  be  removed  and  the  Solarium 
will  then  form  part  of  the  front  veranda.  A  -former  building  will 
be  used  for  kitchen,  laundry,  etc.,  and  during  the  winter  the°Iarge 
dining-hall  will  be  disused  and  the  smaller  south  dining-room  take  its 
place.  Chimneys,  foundations,  etc.,  are  of  field-stone;  walls  shingled; 
belt  above  Solarium,  mortar  on  wire  lathe,  with  scratched  design. 

THE   PARIS  OPERA-HOUSE,  AFTER  AN  ETCHING  BT  J.  A.  MITCHELL. 

JOHN  AMES  MITCHELL  was  born  in  New  York  in  1845.  He 
studied  architecture  at  the  Ecole  des  Beaux-Arts  from  1867  to  1870, 
and  then  practised  his  profession  in  Boston  for  six  years.  Durin» 
this  time  he  built  a  church  in  North  Easton,  Mass.,  a  library  at  Kan°- 
dolph,  Mass.,  a  church  in  Halifax,  N.  S.,  and  many  houses.  In  1876 
he  again  went  to  Europe  and  studied  painting  i'n  Paris  under  Le- 
febvre  and  Boulanger,  and  etching  with  Brunet-Debaines  until  1880. 
He  then  returned  to  New  York  and  in  1883  founded  Life,  the  well- 
known  comic  journal  of  which  he  has  since  been  editor. 

In  addition  to  the  "Paris  Opera  House,"  which  we  reproduce  by 
the  kind  permission  of  M.  Rouam,  the  publisher  of  L' 'Art,  Mr. 
Mitchell  has  produced  the  following  etchings:  "The  Door  of  a 
Church  at  Chateaudun "  (from  a  drawing  by  Brunet-Debaines)  • 
The  End  of  the  Act";  "A  Political  Marriage"  (from  his  own 
painting),  and  ten  sketches  of  the  Paris  Exposition  of  1878. 

Looking  at  the  many  merits  of  the  admirable  plate  before  us— its 
sense  of  light  and  space,  the  well-rendered  types  of  Parisian  life  in 
the  foreground,  and  the  exceedingly  clever  drawing  of  Jhe  architec- 
ture—one wishes  that  Mr.  Mitchell  had  given  us  more  work  in  this 
direction  and  that  the  products  of  his  art  were  not  confined  now  to 
an  occasional  bright  drawing  in  the  pages  of  Life. 

Ten  years  ago  when  this  print  was  made,  but  little  had  been  done 
of  the  mass  of  brilliant  work  which  we  can  now  point  to  as  the  pro- 
duction of  American  etchers,  and  if  the  "Paris  Opera  House  has 
since  been  equalled  as  an  architectural  etching  by  an  American 
artist,  it  has  certainly  not  been  surpassed. 

BUSINESS   BLOCK  DESIGNED  BY  MR.  A.  B.  STURGES,  CLEVELAND,  O. 
PART    OF    THE   FACADE   OF   THE    UNIVERSITY,  SALAMANCA,    SPAIN. 


THE  HOLBEIN  MADONNA. 


the  events  of  the  year  just 
ended,  there  was  none  so  important 
to  the  credit  of  art-criticism  as  the 
identification  of  the  Darmstadt  Madonna, 
through  the  cleaning  of  the  paintin"  by 
Hauser  in  Munich. 

The  public  aeceeds  to  the  superior  <ren- 
eral  knowledge  of  professional  critics,  but 
that  insight  of  connoisseurs  as  to  this 
touch  of  the  brush  having  been  made  or 
not  made  in  this  or  that  century  by  this  or 
.  the  other  master  is  felt  to  have  no  sub- 

QjURCH  stance,  or  a  substance  so  very  superfine  as 
..,   .,.      .  .  to  irritate  robust  common  sense.     So,  too 

w  th  this  old  controversy  as  to  whether  the  Madonna  in  Darmstad 
01  that  in  Dresden  is  the  original  by  Holbein. 

Americans  know  the  picture.     In  the  Dresden  rrallerv  it  is  tha 
only  pamtmg  besides  the  Sistine  Madonna  of  Raphael  That  1  as  a 

3   n0A1,t°tntSelf'  H  d  {\  ^  bel°nSe(1  l°  the  -&on  for  over  I 
All  the  world  valued  it  as  havin<r  been  from  its  origin  tl,P 
renowned  work  of  Holbein,  and  the  masterpiece  of  Cla    fc  Ger- 
art, just  as  Raphael's  Madonna    is  of  Italian  art      Wher 


CAPITAL   PROM 


of 


I  journey  to  England 


Jo.  631 


UILDING  RK\VS,JflX.2o  1555. 


^X        . 


63  1 


flN  IHGHITEGT  ^ND  BUILDING  $EWS,  JflN.25  1555 


(Jr®m  tfie^acaSe  <sf<ffi<H\Jni verity.  Salamanca  ,  Spam. 


IKGHITEGT  flND  lUILDING  REWS,  JflN.25  1555         go.  63  1 


••    •:  <•:••  -.-.      .. 


Helritjrjx  Pnfo*  ftBwtn. 


JANUARY  28,  1888.] 


Tfie   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


Hans  Meyer — one  tradition  says  to  show  his  attachment  to  the 
Church  at  11  time  when  lYotestantism  was  becoming  the  vo^ne  in 
Basic,  and  another  as  an  offering  of  thanks  to  the  Virgin  for  h:ivin<; 
cured  the  lame  left  arm  of  his  sickly  baby.  The  whole  family  are 
grouped  before  the  Madonna,  the  Ilurgcrmpiftter.  his  two  sons,  his 
wife  with  her  (laughter  Anna,  and  his  dead  first  wife.  The  mantle 
of  the  Virgin  spreads  itself  protecting  towards  the  group,  and  the 
child  on  her  left  arm  stretches  his  hand  over  it.  What  has  always 
made  the  picture  so  renowned  is  its  wonderful  domesticity  of  air.  The 
Madonna  witli  her  blond  almost  imperceptible  eyebrows  and  floating 
blond  hair  is  stiff ;  but  her  stiffness,  her  passive  mildness  and  im- 
perfect grandeur  answered  exactly,  one  felt,  to  the  ideal  of  the 
Virgin  in  the  mind  of  this  lumbering,  brave,  honest-souled  Burgcr- 
meister,  who  looks  up  to  her  with  folded  hands  and  ardent  childish 
expectancy. 

It  was  the  one  Madonna  in  the  world  that  spoke,  in  spite  of  its 
old-fashionedness,  to  the  Germanic  heart  of  respectable,  family,  every- 
day piety.  Raphael's  Madonnas  have  a  grace  that  is  poetic ; 
Murillo's  are  dark-eyed  girls  of  half  gipsy  blood  —  they  convey  no 
sense  of  well-ordered  family  life;  and  as  for  Van  Eyck'g  and  Durer's, 
they  have  too  much  gold  drapery  and  state.  Connoisseurs  marvelled 
at  the  solidity  of  the  painting,  the  life-likeness  of  the  personages,  the 
perfect  mastery  of  anatomy  and  grouping. 

The  first  striking  difference  between  the  Dresden  picture  and  the 
new  one  that  had  Ix-en  brought  by  Spontini  for  his  brother-in-law,  the 
Paris  art-dealer  Delahaute,  to  Merlin,  and  sold  to  Prince  Wilhehn, 
was  that  the  Madonna  in  the  latter  is  pressed  closer  under  the 
niche,  and  the  Burgermcister's  family  closer  to  the  Madonna.  It 
was  later  that  minuter  differences  were  detected ;  in  fact  all  came  to 
light  for  the  first  time  when  the  two  paintings  were  exhibited  side  by 
side  in  Dresden  in  1871.  Then  it  was  seen  that  the  Darmstadt 
picture  is  fuller  of  warmth  and  life.  The  well-known  critic  Kugler, 
liad  pointed  out  that  the  shadows  in  the  Dresden  Madonna's  neck 
are  not  of  the  carnation  tone  which  Holbein  loved ;  now  others  saw 
that  the  parted  lips  of  the  elder  son  are  wooden,  that  the  gold  crown 
of  the  Virgin  and  the  hair  of  all  the  personages  are  thinly  laid  on, 
that  the  black  lines  of  the  embroidery  on  the  white  dress  of  the 
young  girl  are  unevenly  drawn,  »nd  the  carpet  roughly  drawn  in 
comparison  with  the  Darmstadt  picture,  and  that  the  whole  coloring 
is  more  insipid.  The  English  authority,  Wornum,  of  the  National 
Gallery,  declared  once  for  all  that  in  his  judgment  Holbein  had 
never  laid  a  hand  on  the  Dresden  picture ;  and  Woltman,  the  most 
learned  Holbein  connoisseur  in  Europe,  wrote  with  fervor  to  similar 
effect. 

Among  the  sketches  of  Holbein  studied  by  Woltman,  there  exist 
studies  for  this  picture  of  the  Meyer  Madonna.  In  these  the  heads 
of  both  women  are  wrapped  about  with  a  cloth,  according  to  a 
fashion  of  the  times  and  a  custom  still  existing  in  some  parts  of  Ger- 
many ;  and  the  daughter  Anna  has  floating  hair.  On  both  pictures, 
her  hair  is  in  a  net,  and  only  the  head  of  the  dead  first  wife  is  bound 
in  a  chin-cloth.  The  Darmstadt  painting  won  powerful  support 
when  it  was  found  that  under  the  outer  layer  of  paint  there  are  per- 
ceptible earlier  lines  representing  floating  hair. 

But  in  spite  of  these  proofs  and  others,  habit  has  been  a  heavy 
weight  on  the  side  of  the  Dresden  picture.  It  was  the  old,  well- 
known  one ;  too  many  had  praised  it  to  give  over  -without  further 
ado.  Besides  there  were  certain  unanswerable  points,  as  that  of  the 
insipid  smile  of  the  Darmstadt  Madonna,  which  was  so  wholly  unlike 
Holbein. 

What  is  the  excitement  now  and  earnestness  when  the  Darmstadt 
painting  has  been  cleaned,  to  discover  that  it  was  not  merely  covered 
with  a  thick,  disadvantageous  varnish,  but  that  whole  portions  had 
been  painted  over  —  more  portions  than  any  critic  hasclaimed.  Hauser 
removed  the  overlays  of  paint,  as  well  as  the  varnish  :  not  the  layer 
over  the  floating  hair  of  the  girl-  and  the  chin-cloth  of  the  wife  of 
Meyer;  these  are  solid  impasto,  equal  in  age  with  the  rest  of  the 
painting;  but  the  superficial  layers.  It  comes  to  light  that  the 
Madonna's  nose,  had  been  made  straight  by  these,  her  original  in- 
describable expression  of  mildness  and  majesty  disfigured  by  a  smile 
drawn  in  her  cheek?,  and  the  profile  nose  of  the  daughter  Anna 
made  straight  and  shorter.  The  last  points,  in  short,  that  told 
ajainst  the  picture,  have  fallen  away  ;  it  is  granted  to  be  the  original, 
and  its  worth  has  risen  from  twenty  thousand  to  a  million  thalcrs. 

COUNTESS  VON  KROCKAU. 


AN  ANCIENT  MEXICAN  CANAL  UNCOVERED.  —  The  Riverside  (Cal.) 
Tr  ss  reports  H.  J.  Stephenson,  surveyor  of  the  Palm  Valley  Water 
Company,  as  making  a  singular  discovery  while  surveying  the  canal 
line  running  south  and  easterly  from  the  old  Agua  Caliente  Springs. 
"  He  had  run  one  line  on  a  grade  of  four  feet  to  the  mile  from  the  pres- 
( nt  terminus  of  the  stone  canal  to  the  new  town  site,  but  in  crossing 
n  depression  near  the  mountain  it  would  become  necessary  to  build  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  of  fluming.  In  order  to  obviate  this  expense,  he  was 
instructed  to  make  a  new  survey  on  a  grade  of  eight  feet  to  the  mile, 
so  as  to  strike  the  town  site  at  a  lower  level  and  cross  the  depression- 
without  a  flume.  On  this  last  survey,  after  crossing  the  depression  in 
good  shape,  he  struok  an  old  canal  that  must  have  been  used  centuries 
ago,  for  large  trees  had  grown  up  in  the  very  bottom  of  the  canal,  and 
tlie  indications  were  that  when  used  it  carried  a  \ery  large  volume  of 
water.  The  most  singular  thing  about  the  canal  was  that  the  survey- 
ors found  it  just  where  they  wanted  to  construct  the  new  canal,  and,  in 
following  it  up  for  a  distance  of  about  a  mile,  it  was  found -to  have  a 
regul  ir  grade  of  about  eight  feet  to  the  mile." 


Fig.  303. 


FOURTH     ANNUAL    REPORT    OF    THE    BUREAU    OF 
ETHNOLOGY.1  — II. 

STUDIES    IN    POTTERY,   BY   WILLIAM    II.    HOLMES. 

R.  VVM.  II.  HOLMES, 
who  contributes  three 
important  studies  i  n 
pottery,  is  the  artist  in 
charge  of  the  illustrations 
for  the  publications  of  the 
Bureau  of  Ethnology,  and  is 
honorary  curator  of  the  pot- 
tery collections  in  the  Na- 
tional Museum.  He  hai  thus 
had  excellent  opportunities 
for  the  study  of  ceramics  and, 
moreover,  unites  with  high 
artistic  talent  a  mind  well 
trained  in  careful  scientific 
observation.  The  first  of  his 
three  papers  relates  to  the 
more  ancient  groups  of  Pue- 
blo pottery  in  the  National 
Museum  collections,  considered  under  the  heads  of  coiled,  plain  and 
painted  wares.  As  Major  Powell  remarks  editorially,  "  He  has  used 
the  information  in  his  possession  to  elucidate  the  processes  by  which 
culture  has  been  achieved  and  the  stages  through  which  it  has  passed. 
It  is  to  be  noted,  however,  that  the  Pueblos  were  sedentarv  and  thus 
practised  ceramic  art  continuously  for  a  long  period;  also  that  in 
their  arid  country  there  was  special  need  of  vessels  for  the  transpor- 
tation and  the  storage  of  water."  Major  Powell  justly  points  out 
that  in  the  illustrations  some  designs  will  attract  attention  from  their 
resemblance  to  the  most  exquisite  patterns  of  Classic  art  and  Oriental 
decoration,  with  which  they  will  bear  favorable  comparison.  "  The 
special  feature  of  this  paper  is  that  it  explains  more  fullv  than  has 
been  explained  before,  with  practical  examples,  the  devefopment  of 
geometric  ornamentation.  It  is  shown  that  forms  of  decoration, 
originating  in  the  previously  existing  textile  art  and  hence  purely 
conventional,  were  imposed  upon  the  potter's  art,  which,  at  the  time 
of  the  Spanish  conquest  had  not  yet  acquired  a  style  purely  its  own." 
Among  the  copious  and  beautiful  illustrations,  to  show  Mr.  Holmes's 
method  of  study,  we  may  select  four  examples  drawn  from  one  speci- 
men, a  dipper  from  the  ancient  province  of  Tusayan  in  northeastern 
Arizona.  These  give  a  good  idea  of  the  nature  of  the  methods  of 
design  among  the  ancient  Pueblos.  First,  in  Figure  302,  we  have 
the  engraving  of  a  dipper  reduced  to  one-third  the  size  of  the  origi- 
nal. The  handle  is  plain  and  terminates  in  a  horizontal  loop.  The 
painted  design  is  not  arranged  about  a  square,  but  leaves  a  space  in 
the  centre  of  the  bowl  resembling  a  four  cornered  star.  "This  shape 
is,  however,  the  result  of  accident.  The  four  parts  are  units  of  an 
elaborate  border,  not  severed  from  their  original  connection,  but 
contorted,  from  crowding  into  the  circular  space.  The  design  drawn 


Fig.  310. 

upon  a  plain  surface  is  shown  in  Figure  303.  Projected  in  a  straight 
line,  as  in  Figure  304,  it  is  readily  recognized  as  the  lower  three- 
fourths  of  a  zone  of  scroll  ornamentation.  A  unit  of  the  de.-ign 
drawn  in  black  is  shown  in  Figure  305.  The  meander  is  develoj)ed 
in  tiie  white  color  of  the  ground,  ami  consists  of  two  charmingly 
varied  threads  running  side  by  side  through  a  field  of  black,  bordered 
by  heavy  black  lines.  The  involute  ends  of  the  units  are  connected 
by  two  minute  auxiliary  scrolls'." 

Another  beautiful  example  is  that  of  the  vessel  from  the  same  pro- 
vince presented  in  a  reduction  of  one-half  in  Figure  310.  It  has  a 
flattened  upper  tarttfSG,  an  angular  shoulder  and  a  high  body, 
slightly  conical  below.  "  The  painted  design  is  nearly  obliterated  in 
place*  by  abrasion  or  weathering,  but  is  correctly  presented  in 
Figure  311,  which  gives  the  three  zones  in  horizontal  projection. 
This  brings  out  a  very  marked  feature,  the  cruciform  arrangement 


'Continued  from  No.  C2»,  page  21. 


The   American   Architect  and  Building   News.      [Vol..  XXIII.  —  No    631. 


of  the  parts,  which  would  not  be  apparent  in  a  vertical  projection. 
The  two  inner  circles  occupy  the  upper  surface  of  the  vessel  and  the 
outer  one  the  most  expan  led  portion  of  the  body.  The  inner  belt  is 
separated  into  four  panels  or  compartments  by  as  ma'ny  series  of 


transverse  lines,  the  panels  being  filled  in  with  longitudinal  broken 
lines.  The  second  band  is  also  divided  by  four  series  of  straight 
lines,  but  the  compartments  are  occupied  by  scrolls  in  white,  bordered 
by  serrate  wings  in  black.  The  outer  band  exhibits  a  very  curious 
combination  of  features,  the  whole  figure,  however,  being  based  upon 
the  meander.  It  is  probable  that  the  grouping  in  fours  is  accidental, 
the  division  of  a  surface  into  four  being  much  more  readily  accom- 
plished than  into  any  other  number  above  two." 

In  this  conjecture  about  the  reason  for  the  grouping  in  fours,  Mr. 
Holmes  is  probably  mistaken,  since  four  is  a  number  of  peculiarly- 
sacred  significance  among  the  Indians.  They  use  it  in  the  same  way 
that  we,  in  our  Aryan  race, 
are  habituated  to  use  the 
nu  ..her  three,  as,  for  instance, 
where  in  starting  in  upon  a 
physical  contest  of  any  kind 
we  would  naturally  exclaim  : 
"  One,  two,  three,  go  1  "  an 
Indian  would  invariably  say  : 
"  One,  two,  three,  four,  go !  " 
In  formal  preliminary  repeti- 
tions, also,  as  in  relating  a 
folk-tale,  they  repeat  four 
times,  as  we  are  accustomed 
to  three.  The  reasons  for  Flg< 

these  adoptions  of  different  numbers  would  probably  have  to  be 
sought  far  back  in  the  early  days  of  the  respective  races. 

In  conclusion,  Mr.  Holmes  has  a  word  to  say  about  the  origin  and 
character  of  the  leading  decorative  conceptions  :  "  Glancing  through 
the  series  of  vases  illustrated  under  painted  ware,  we  find  tliat 
ninety-four  out  of  one  hundred  designs  are  meanders  or  are  based 
upon  the  meander.  Beginning  with  the  simple  waved  or  broken  line, 
we  pass  up  through  all  grades  of  increasing  complexity  to  chains  of 
curvilinear  and  rectilinear  meanders,  in  which  the  links  are  highly 
individualized,  buing  composed  of  a  signoid  line  terminating  in 
reverse  hooks,  but  in  no  single  case  do  we  reach  a  loop  in  the  curved 
forms  or  an  intersection  in  the  angular  forms.  The  typical  inter- 
secting Greek  fret  does  not  therefore  occur,  nor,  I  may  add,  is  it 
found  anywhere  in  native  American  art.  The  constructional  char- 
acter of  the  art  in  which  these  linear  forms  developed,  although  they 
encouraged  geometrical  elaboration,  forbade  intersections  or  crossin°- 
of  a  line  upon  itself,  and  the  genius  of  the  decorator  had  never  freed 
itself  from  this  bondage.  The  forms  imposed  upon  decoration  by 
the  textile  art  are  necessarily  geometric  and  rectilinear,  and  their 
employment  in  other  less  conventional  arts  has  been  too  limited  to 
destroy  or  even  greatly  modify  these  characters.  The  study  of 
Pueblo  art  embodied  in  the  preceding  pages  tells  the  simple  story  of 
the  evolution  of  art  —  and  especially  of  decorative  art  —  in  a  period 
when  the  expanding  mind  of  primitive  man,  still  held  in  the  firm 

grasp  of  instinctive  and  traditional  methods  —  the  bonds  of  Nature 

was  steadily  working  out  its  aesthetic  destiny." 

Mr.  Holtnes's^second  paper,  upon  the  ancient  pottery  of  the  Miss- 
issippi Valley,  is  an  important  contribution  to  that  branch  of  the 
general  subject  under  discussion,  but  for  the  present  we  must  content 
ourselves  with  a  quotation  from  Major  Powell's  editorial  remarks 
and  pass  on  to  a  consideration  of  the  paper  on  the  origin  and  devel- 
opment of  form  in  ceramic  art.  Says  Major  Powell :  "  A  prominent 
feature  is  the  great  diversity  of  form,  indicating  the  long  practice  of 
the  art,  a  high  specialization  of  uses  and  considerable  variety  in  the 
originals  copied.  The  manual  skill  was  of  a  fair  order,  and  symme- 
try of  form,  combined  with  grace  of  outline,  was  achieved  without 
the  use  of  the  wheel.  The  rank  of  this  ware  is  higher  in  these  re- 
spects than  that  of  the  historic  pottery  of  Central  and  Northern 
Europe,  though  inferior  to  that  of  Mexico,  Central  America  and 
Peru.  In  characterizing  the  degree  of  culture  represented  by  this 


ware,  Mr.  Holmes  decides  that  there  is  no  feature  in  it  that  cannot 
reasonably  be  attributed  to  the  more  advanced  historic  tribes  of  the 
valley  where  it  is  found.  It  indicates  a  culture  differing  in  many 
particulars  from  that  of  the  Pueblo  Indians,  ancient  or  modern,  but, 
on  the  whole,  is  rather  inferior  to  it." 

Mr.  Holmes's  third  paper  is  brief,  but  highly  suggestive.  We 
cannot  do  better  than  reproduce  Major  Powell's  characterization : 
"The  prominent  feature  of  the  present  paper,  which  combines  the 
results  of  the  three  former  papers,  the  first  of  which,  "  Prehistoric 
Textile  Fabrics  of  the  United  States  derived  from  Impressions  on 
Pottery*"  appeared  in  the  Third  Annual  Report,  is  that  it  presents 
the  evolution  of  form  and  ornament  in  the  ceramic  art  and  suggests 
the  same  evolution  in  all  other  developments  of  art.  The  course  of 
development  here,  as  elsewhere,  is  shown  to  proceed  from  the  simple 
to  the  complex,  and  the  causes  and  processes  of  the  developments 
are  explained,  analyzed,  classified  and  illustrated  from  examples 
never  before  presented.  The  accessible  material  on  the  subject 
shows  that  in  America  there  is  opportunity  for  the  study  of  the 
origin  of  art  beyond  any  hitherto  enjoyed  in  the  Eastern  Hemi- 
sphere. In  the  order  of  evolution,  the  character  of  the  specimens 
now  under  examination  ends  where  Classic  art  begins,  and  though 
the  recent  discoveries  by  Schliemann  and  others  have  brought  to  no- 
tice the  lower  archaeological  substratum  of  the  East,  its  productions 
are  few  and  meager  compared  with  the  multitudes  of  representative 
objects  of  the  same  general  character  already  in  the  National  Museum. 
These  now  open  to  the  student  the  advantage  of  a  method  which  ex- 
amines into  the  beginnings  of  art  in  reference  to  form  and  ornamenta- 
tion, as  well  as  into  the  earliest  traces  of  manufacture  or  construction 
and  of  function,  which  show  a  widely  different  evolutionatory  line." 

The  foregoing  remarks  are  to  be  commended  to  the  attention  of 
those  devotees  of  Classic  archaeology  who  can  see  nothing  in  the 
American  field  worthy  of  aesthetic  consideration.  They  must  be 
blind  indeed  if  they  cannot  now  perceive  the  important  bearing 
which  studies  on  American  ground  have  upon  a  correct  understand- 
ing of  the  results  of  the  explorations  conducted  upon  the  historic 
soil  of  the  Old  World. 

In  the  present  paper,  Mr.  Holmes  confines  himself  to  the  geometric 
side  of  the  study.  The  important  results  already  obtained  cause  us 

to  give  a  doubly  hearty  wel- 
come to  the  announcement 
that  he  is  preparing  a  mono- 
graph on  a  comprehensive  ba- 
sis. Major  Powell  deduces  the 
important  general  observa- 
tion from  the  subject,  as  now 
presented,  that  no  metaphys- 
ical law  of  beauty  is  to  be 
ascertained  :  "  The  aesthetic 
principle  is  not  to  be  found 
directly  in  or  from  Nature, 
but  is  an  artificial  accretion 
of  long-descended  imitations 
of  objective  phenomena.  Objects  are  not  made  because  they  are 
essentially  pleasing,  but  are  actually  pleasing  because  they  have 
been  customarily  made.  The  primitive  artist  does  not  deliberately 
examine  the  departments  of  Nature  and  art  and  select  for  models 
those  things  which  are  most  agreeable  to  an  independent  fancy,  nor 
even  those  which  simple  reason  would  decide  upon  as  most  con- 
venient. Neither  does  he  experiment  with  any  distinct  purpose  to 
invent  new  forms.  What  he  attempts  in  improvement  is  what  hap- 
pens to  be  suggested  by  some  preceding  form  familiar  to  him.  Each 
step  is  not  only  limited,  but  prescribed  by  what  he  already  possessei 
in  nature  or  in  art,  and,  knowing  his  resources,  his  results  can  be 
closely  predicted.  On  the  other  hand,  knowing  his  products,  much 
can  safely  be  predicated  of  his  environment  and  past  stages  of 
development." 

Major  Powell  shows  a  fine  discernment  in  these  words.  Many  a 
thoughtful  student  of  aesthetic  principles  has  reached  certain  conclu- 


304. 


sions  in  this  regard.  Habit  has  a  powerful  influence  in  the  forma- 
tion of  a  standard  of  what  is  commonly  called  the  beautiful,  and 
that  this  standard  varies  according  to  conditions  of  time  and  place 


JANUARY  28,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


45 


is  shown  by  manifold  observations.  The  power  of  one  of  the  most 
fickle  influences  of  our  modern  life,  the  influence  of  "fashion," 
strongly  reinforces  tin-  remark  that  objects  are  pleasing  because  they 
are  customarily  made.  Forms  of  personal  ornament  which,  should 
they  api>ear  suddenly  upon  the  street,  would  IK'  received  with  deri- 
sion and  would  often  be  sufficient  to  raise  a  mob  because  of  their 
unwontcdness,  become  by  usage  in  a  very  short  time  endowed  with 
the  equivalent  of  beauty  in  the  eyes  of  the  multitude.  Hut  here  a 
distinction  should  lie  drawn  between  the  pleasing  and  the  beautiful. 
'I'o  the  truly  artistic  eye  the  cylinder  hat,  the  big  bustle  and  the  like 
will  ever  remain  hideou<  objects,  however  familiar  custom  may  make 
them.  To  the  multitude,  however,  with  the  aesthetic  faculty  unde- 
veloped, the  unwonted  is  displeasing.  This  may  be  seen  in  the 
matter  of  what  we  call  learning  to  like,  certain  articles  of  food,  when 
through  a  desire  to  conform  to  the  habits  of  our  fellows,  we  force 
ourselves  to  find  pleasure  in  what  was  originally  repulsive  to  us. 
And  how  disgusting  a  certain  viand  is  made  if  we  unexpectedly  find 
it  imbued  with  the  flavor  of  some  other  viand,  no  matter  how  pleas- 
ing the  latter  may  be  to  us  in  itself.  Is  not  this  principle  at  the  base 
of  what  we  call  "  a  cultivated  taste,"  even  in  the  broadest  sense  of  the 
term?  And  may  not  even  pain  arise  from  the  misapplication  of  the 
same  sensation  that  produces  pleasure? 

While  there  may  be  no  absolute  standard  of  beauty,  it  seems  as 
though  there  might  be  an  intrinsically  existing  beauty  quite  apart 
from  what  is  ordinarily  pleasing.  With  persons  in  whom  the  feeling 
for  true  beauty  resides  the  faculty  appears  to  be  intuitive,  and  quite 
independent  of  custom  or  fashion  ;  based  on  those  divine  laws  of  pro- 
]K)rtion,  affecting  the  perceptions  in  harmoniously  adjusted  relations, 
and  making  music,  in  the  Classic  and  highest  meaning  of  the  word, 
for  whatever  sense  to  which  the  producing  cause  may  be  addressed. 
And  these  relations,  must  of  necessity  have  a  strictly  mathematical 
origin,  causing  pleasurable  sensations  by  series  of  vibrations  rythmi- 
cally  affecting  the  nerves  of  perception.  This  must  be  the  action  of 
that  rule  of  '•  the  Golden  Cut,"  which  is  said  to  lie  at  the  base  of  struc- 
tural beauty,  and  the  existence  of  which  enables  us,  for  instance, 
without  knowing  exactly  why,  to  tell  whether  architectural  work  is 
well  designed,  or  no. 

The  advantages  of  the  American  field  of  archaeological  research  in 
comparison  with  the  favorite  fields  of  the  Old  World  are  shown  by 
Mr.  Holmes's  remark  that  the  dawn  of  art  in  those  countries  lies 
hidden  in  the  shadow  of  unnumbered  ages,  while  ours  stand  out  in 
the  light  of  the  very  present.  "  This  is  well  illustrated  by  a  remark 
of  Birch,  who  in  dwelling  upon  the  antiquity  of  the  fictile  art,  says 
that  'the  existence  of  earthen  vessels  in  Egypt  was  at  least  coeval 
with  the  formation  of  a  written  language.'  Beyond  this  there  is 
acknowledged  chaos.  In  strong  contrast  with  this  is  the  fact  that  all 
pre-Columbian  American  pottery  precedes  the  acquisition  of  written 
language,  and  this  contrast  is  emphasized  by  the  additional  fact  that 
it  antedates  the  use  of  the  wheel,  that  great  perverter  of  the  plastic 
tendencies  of  clay." 

Mr.  Holmes  finds  in  ceramic  art  two  classes  of  phenomena  of  im- 
portance in  the  study  of  the  evolution  of  aesthetic  culture,  relating, 
first  to  form  and  second  to  ornament.  No  form,  or  class  of  forms,  he 
maintains,  can  be  said  to  characterize  a  particular  age  or  stage  of 
culture,  though,  in  a  general  way,  of  course,  the  vessels  of  primitive 
people  will  be  simple  in  form,  while  those  of  more  advanced  races 
will  be  more  varied  and  highly  specialized.  The  shai>es  first  assumed 
depend  upon  the  shape  of  the  vessels  employed  at  the  time  of  the 
introduction  of  the  art  and  upon  the  resources  of  the  country  in 
which  they  live.  This  is  illustrated  as  follows :  "  If,  for  instance, 
some  of  the  highly  advanced  Alaskan  tribes  which  do  not  make  pot- 
tery should  migrate  to  another  habitat,  less  suitable  to  the  practice 
of  their  old  arts  and  well  adapted  to  art  in  clay,  and  should  there 
acquire  the  art  of  pottery,  they  would  doubtless,  to  a  great  extent, 
copy  their  highly  developed  utensils  of  wood,  bone,  ivory  and 
basketry,  and  thus  reach  a  high  grade  of  ceramic  achievement  in  the 
first  century  of  the  practice  of  the  art;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  if 
certain  tribes,  very  low  in  intelligence  and  having  no  vessel-making 
arts,  should  undergo  a  corresponding  change  of  habitat  and  acquire 
the  art  of  pottery,  they  might  not  reach  in  a  thousand  years,  if  left 
to  themselves,  a  gfade  in  the  art  equal  to  that  of  the  hypothetical 
Alaskan  potters  in  the  first  decade.  It  is,  therefore,  not  the  age  of 
the  art  itself  that  determines  its  form,  but  the  grade  and  kind  of  the 
art  with  which  it  originates  and  co-exists." 

Ornament  is  found  to  be  subject  to  similar  laws.  "  Where 
pottery  is  employed  by  peoples  in  very  low  stages  of  culture,  its 
ornamentation  will  be  of  a  simple  archaic  kind.  Being  a  conserva- 
tive art  and  much  hampered  by  the  restraints  of  convention,  the 
elementary  forms  of  ornament  are  carried  a  long  way  into  the  suc- 
ceeding periods  and  have  a  very  decided  effect  upon  the  higher 
stages.  Pottery  brought  into  use  for  the  first  time  by  more  advanced 
races  will  never  pass  through  the  elementary  stage  of  decoration,  but 
will  take  its  ornament  greatly  from  existing  art  and  carry  this  up  in 
its  own  peculiar  way  through  succeeding  generations." 

The  author  considers  the  possihle  origin  of  form  as  by  adventition, 
by  imitation  of  natural  and  artificial  models,  and  by  invention.  He 
finds  a  key  to  unlock  many  of  the  mysteries  of  form  in  the  observa- 
tion that  clay  is  so  mobile  as  to  be  quite  free  to  take  form  from  sur- 
roundings, and  where  extensively  used  will  record  or  echo  a  vast 
deal  of  Nature  and  of  co-existent  art.  A  number  of  most  convincing 
illustrations  are  given  to  show  the  derivation  of  pottery  forms  from 
various  sources,  as  from  vessels  of  stone,  bark,  wood  and  basketry. 


In  Figure  4G5,  for  instance,  we  have  a  form  derived  from  a  natural 
object,  the  vessel  of  clay  being  a  palpable  imitation  of  the  conch- 
shell.  A  remarkable  example  of  coincident  forms  is  to  be  seen  in 
Figure  4 73,  showing  how  the  contact  of  a  nation  of  |K>tterswitha  nation 
of  carv'ers-in-wood  would  tend  very  decidedly  to  modify  the  utensils  of 
the  former.  Here  we  have  first,  in  a,  an  Alaskan  vessel  carved  in 
wood.  "  It  represents  a  beaver  grasping  a  stick  in  its  hands  and 
teeth.  The  conception  is  so  unusual  and  the  style  of  vessel  so  char- 
acteristic of  the  people  that  we  should  not  expect  to  find  it  repeated 
in  other  regions;  but  the  ancient  graves  of  the  Middle  Mississippi 
Valley  have  furnished  a  number  of  very  similar  vessels  in  clay,  one 
of  which  is  outlined  in  l>.  While  this  remarkable  coincidence  is  sug- 
gestive of  ethnic  relationships  which  do  not  call  for  attention  here,  it 
serves  to  illustrate  the  possibilities  of  modification  by  simple  contact." 

Mr.  Holmes's  consideration  of  the  origin  of  ornament,  as  of  that  of 
form,  are  of  extreme  interest  and  suggestiveness  for  nearly  all  fields 
of  depictive  art.  In  the  study  of  the  evolution  of  ornament  this  im- 
portant fact,  concisely  stated  by  the  author,  should  be  borne  con- 
stantly in  mind :  "  Elements  of  design  are  not  invented  outright : 
man  modifies,  combines  and  rccombines  elements  or  ideas  already  in 
existence,  but  docs  not  create." 

One  of  the  most  fruitful  sources  of  pottery  ornamentation  arc  the 
suggestions  afforded  by  constructional  features  of  artificial  utensils  or 
objects  whose  forms  serve  as  models.  We  may  quote  our  author's  re- 
marks on  the  influence  of  basketry:  "Of  the  various  classes  of 
utensils  associated  closely  with  the  "ceramic  art,  there  are  none  so 
characteristically  marked  by  constructional  features  as  nets  and 
wicker-baskets.  The  twisting,  interlacing,  knotting  and  stitching  of 
filaments  give  relieved  figures  that  by  contact  in  manufacture  impress 
themselves  upon  the  plastic  clay.  Such  impressions  come  in  time  to 
be  regarded  as  pleasing  features,  and  when  free-hand  methods  of  re- 
producing are  finally  acquired,  they  and  their  derivatives  become 
essentials  of  decoration.  At  a  later  stage  these  characters  of 
basketry  influence  ceramic  decoration  in  a  somewhat  different  way. 
By  the  use  of  variously-colored  fillets  the  woven  surface  displays 
figures  in  color  corresponding  to  those  in  relief,  and  varying  with 
every  new  combination.  Many  striking  patterns  are  thus  produced, 
and  the  potter  who  has  learned  to  decorate  his  wares  by  the  stylus 
or  brush  reproduces  these  patterns  by  free-hand  methods.  AVe  find 
pottery  in  all  countries  ornamented  with  patterns,  painted,  incised, 
stamped  and  relieved,  certainly  derived  from  this  source." 

In  considering  the  development  of  fret-work  and  scroll-work,  Mr. 
Holmes  takes  issue  with  the  late  Professor  C.  F.  Hartt's  theory,  that 
the  development  of  ornamental  designs  took  particular  and  uniform 
directions  owing  to  the  structure  of  the  eye,  certain  forms  being 
chosen  and  per|>etuated  because  of  the  pleasure  afforded  by  move" 
incuts  of  the  eye  in  following  them,  and  that,  in  unison  with  the  gen- 
eral course  of  Nature  decorative  forms  began  with  simple  elements 
and  developed  by  systematic  methods  to  complex  forms.  "  Let  us 
turn  to  the  primitive  artisan,"  says  Mr.  Holmes,  "  and  observe  him 
at  work  with  rude  brush  and  stylus  upon  the  rounded  and  irregular 
forms  of  his  utensils  and  weapons,  or  upon  skins,  barks  and  rock- 
surfaces.  Is  it  probable  that  with  his  free-hand  directed  by  the  eye 
alone  he  will  1x5  able  to  achieve  these  rythmic  geometric  forms  ?  It 
seems  to  me  that  the  whole  tendency  is  in  the  opposite  direction.  I 
venture  to  surmise  that  if  there  had  been  no  other  resources  than 
those  named  above,  the  typical  rectilinear  fret  would  never  have 
been  known,  at  least  to  the  primitive  world ;  for,  notwithstanding 
the  contrary  statement  by  Professor  Hartt,  the  fret  is,  in  its  more 
highly  developed  forms,  extremely  difficult  to  follow  with  the  eye 
and  to  delineate  with  the  hand.  Until  arts,  geometric  in  their  con- 
struction, arose  to  create  and  combine  mechanically  the  necessary 
elements  and  motives,  and  lead  the  way  by  a  long  series  of  object 
lessons  to  ideas  of  geometric  combination,  our  typical  border  orna- 
ment would  not  be  possible.  Such  arts  are  the  textile  arts  and 
architecture.  These  brought  into  existence  forms  and  ideas  not  met 
with  in  Nature  and  not  primarily  thought  of  by  man,  and  combined 
them  in  defiance  of  human  conceptions  of  grace.  Geometric  orna- 
ment is  the  offspring  of  technique."  SYLVESTER  BAXTER. 


JACQUES  ANDROUET  DU  CERCEAU1  is  a  name  which  we 

J  fancy  is  not  very  familiar  to  the  majority  of  our  readers,  though  any- 
one who  has  had  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  a  French  atelier  will 
recall  the  name  in  connection  with  a  volume  entitled  "  Lts  Plus  Exctl- 
lents  Bailments  fie  France,"  a  work  which  is  not  only  classical  in  French 
architectural  history,  but  is  also  invaluable  for  the  insight  it  gives 
into  the  architecture  of  the  transitional  ]>eriod  in  French  art.  Du 
Cerceau  might  be  called  the  ajxwtle  <5r  almost  the  creator  of  the  style 
Henri  II.  The  exact  date  of  his  birth  is  so  shrouded  in  conjecture 
that  we  can  only  assume  that  he  was  born  some  time  before  1520. 
He  visited  Italy  in  1531  as  we  know  by  some  sketches  of  his  which 
bear  that  date,  and  which  seem  to  indicate  that  he  was  a  stranger  to 
Italian  art  up  to  that  time.  Du  Cerceau  was  the  first  Frenchman, 
we  believe,  who  went  to  Rome  to  study  architecture,  instead  of  going 


"Lea  7>u  Cerceau.  leur  vie  et  Itttr  cetirre,  (Tapres  tte  nnv.vt.llea  rcchtrchet,"  par 
le  Baron  Henri  de  UeymUller.    Paris  :  J.  Kouam,  Editeur. 


46 


The   American   Architect  and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  631. 


to  Milan  or  the  northern  Italian  cities,  after  the  manner  of  Jean  de 
Bullant,  Philbert  de  1'Ormc  and  others  who  preceded  him  by  a  num- 
ber  of  years.     In   Du   Cerceau's   time   the    Renaissance   was   just 
beginning  to  show  itself.     The  influence  of  Francois  I  and  his  artists 
made  the  people  somewhat  acquainted  with  the  nature  of  the  move- 
ment which  was  taking  place  in  Italy ;  but  Du  Cerceau  can  almost 
be  credited  with  being  the  real  founder  of  the  French  Renaissance. 
Certainly  he  did  a  great  deal  to  give  the  new  style  a  pure  direction, 
as  is  seen  by  his  numerous  publications,  and  to  popularize  a  taste  for 
Italian  ideas  in  art.     His  stay  in  Italy  was  not  very  extended  as 
nearly  as  we  can  discover,  but  he  was  very  much  impressed  by  the 
works  of  Bramante  and  his  school,  and  the  creations  of  the  Henri  II 
period  show  how  much  he  sought  to  follow  in  the  steps  of  the  illus- 
trious architect  of  Saint  Peter's.     Those  who  are  familiar  with  the 
Paris  churches  will  remember  that  Saint  Eustache  was  begun  about 
the  same  time  as  Saint  Peter's  at  Rome,  and  the  construction  of  the 
two  churches  was  carried  on  simultaneously.     Du  Cerceau  prepared 
a  very  interesting  scheme  for  the  facade  of  Saint  Eustache,  and  we 
believe  it  was  partly  carried  out  in  the  lower  stories,  though  sub- 
sequently changed  in  the  upper  portions.     By  the  sketches  which  he 
has  left  of  his  idea,  it  would  appear  that  he  aimed  to  produce  a  front 
after  the  style  of  the  Palazzo  Farnese  Court-yard  —  a  bold,  severe 
Doric.     We  can  easily  imagine  how  Du  Cerceau,  fresh  from  the  in- 
fluence of  Bramante,  should  endeavor  to  engraft  the  Italian  ideas  on 
the  semi-Gothic  stock.     Still,  one  cannot  altogether  regret  that  Saint 
Eustache  is  no  more  pure  than  it  is,  for  the  mixture  which  now  ex- 
ists is  thoroughly  pleasing  and  picturesque. 

Du  Cerceau's  actual  work  as  an  architect  appears  to  have  been 
very  limited.  Aside  from  the  church  and  chateau  at  Montarges,  we 
have  no  absolute  record  of  his  work,  though  judging  from  his  notes 
it  is  reasonably  certain  that  he  was  at  least  associated  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  Chateau  de  Madrid  and  the  Chateau  de  Verneuil ; 
while  among  his  drawings  are  several  projets  for  portions  of  the 
Louvre,  though  it  is  doubtful  if  any  of  his  designs  for  the  Royal 
Palace  were  actually  carried  out.  His  general  title  to  fame  lies  in 
his  publications.  Almost  immediately  upon  his  return  from  Italy, 
he  became  inspired  with  the  desire  to  popularize  throughout  France 
a  knowledge  of  Italian  architecture  in  order  to  put  his  country  in  a 
condition  to  compete  with  Italy  and  the  Italian  artists,  at  that  time, 
so  numerous  in  France.  He  says  himself  of  his  works  that  they  had 
for  aim  to  "  servir  a  ceux  qui  sont  curieux  de  I'antiquite,  et  encore  plus 
(a  mon  jugement)  a  ceux  qui  sont  maistres  en  V  architecture,  lesquels  y 
pourront  trouver  plusieurs  beaux  traits  et  enrichessements  pour  alder 
leurs  inventions." 

With  these  aims  in  view,  he  published  during  his  lifetime  so  ex- 
tended a  series  of  works  that  it  seems  almost  as  if  much  that  was 
attributed  to  him  must  have  been  the  work  of  some  other  architect 
of  the  time,  though  his  biographer  submits  very  substantial  evidence 
of  the  authenticity  of  all  the  works  that  are  attributed  to  Du  Cer- 
ceau. His  volumes  can  be  divided  into  three  categories :  first, 
works  for  painters  or  draughtsmen,  in  which  the  human  figure  plays 
the  principal  role ;  secondly,  works  relating  to  decorative  art ;  and 
third,  works  devoted  entirely  to  architecture.  There  are  many 
things  in  the  second  group  which  are  architecturally  interesting,  but 
the  most  valuable  of  his  productions  are  comprised  in  the  last  cate- 
gory. Du  Cerceau  published  successively  books  on  "  Architectural 
Ruins,"  including  all  the  Roman  antiquities  which  have  since  been 
studied  so  exhaustively  by  the  French  students ;  also  a  book  on  the 
"  Orders;"  another  on  "  Triumphal  Arches;"  another  on  "Fountains 
and  Gateways ;"  and  an  exceedingly  valuable  volume  of  architectural 
details,  all  of  them  purely  Classical  and  taken  directly  from  the  old 
work.  The  work  on  the  "  Grands  Cartouches  de  Fontainebleau  "  is 
also  ascribed,  with  reason,  to  him.  Besides  these  works,  which  have 
all  to  do  more  or  less  with  Classical  architecture  as  distinguished 
from  the  Renaissance,  he  published  three  large  volumes  dealing  with 
^Religious  Monuments,  Temples  and  Fortified  Habitations"  'which 
include  the  Renaissance  work  to  a  certain  extent.  But  his  best 
known  work,  the  most  valuable,  both  for  itself  as  A  document  and 
for  its  relation  to  history,  is  "  The  Most  Excellent  Buildinr/s  of 
France,"  a  collection  of  the  best  chateaux  and  palaces  of  the  period, 
including  many  which  have  since  entirely  disappeared,  and  also  in- 
cluding schemes  and  projets  which  were  never  carried  out.  The 
drawings  were  all  made  by  Du  Cerceau  himself  or  by  one  of  his  sons, 
and  are  simply  invaluable  to  any  one  who  cares  to  study  the  French 
Renaissance.  The  work  is  almost  too  well  known  to  need  any  men- 
tion. 

Of  Du  Cerceau's  manner  as  a  draughtsman,  M.  de  Geymiiller  gives 
us  some  details  which  would  probably  interest  a  student.  Du  Cer- 
ceau was  obliged  to  work  very  rapidly  in  order  to  accomplish  all  that 
he  did,  for  he  engraved  all  of  his  drawings,  besides  making  innumer- 
able sketches  which  are  scattered  through  the  European  collections, 
and  especially  in  some  of  his  later  works  we  find  him  adapting  many 
little  tricks  to  expedite  his  drawing.  For  instance,  when  lie  drew 
columns  in  perspective,  the  ellipses  of  the  capitals  and  bases  were 
often  replaced  by  arcs  of  circles,  of  which  the  centres  were  placed  on 
the  axes  of  the  columns.  In  one  very  clever  drawing  of  his  series  of 
"  Orders,"  a  column  is  shown  surrounded  with  spiral  (lutings,  each 
one  of  which  is  traced  with  two  arcs  of  a  circle,  and  sometimes  he 
even  replaced  perspective  ellipses  by  segments  of  circles.  Of  course, 
such  processes  did  not  add  to  the  value  of  his  work,  still  Du  Cerceau 
was  so  immeasureably  ahead  of  any  draughtsman  of  his  age,  that  we 
can  easily  see  how  he  could  have  adopted  such  devices  with  a  clear 


conscience.  We  remember  being  very  much  struck  a  number  of 
years  ago  with  the  contrast  afforded  in  an  exhibition,  where  the 
original  drawings  of  Michael  Angelo,  Bramante  and  Raphael  for 
Saint  Peter's  at  Rome  were  displayed  together  with  very  clever 
architectural  sketches  by  some  modern  French  draughtsmen.  The 
contrast  was  the  more  striking  in  that  the  ideas  in  the  first  case  were 
so  good,  and  in  the  second  so  poor;  while  the  execution  of  the  old 
masters  was  almost  ridiculous  as  to  technique,  and  the  sketches  of 
their  modern  descendants  were  absolutely  perfect.  The  same  con- 
trast is  suggested  by  a  perusal  of  Du  Cerceau's  works,  and  one  cannot 
but  question  whether  what  we  have  gained  in  technique  has  not  im- 
plied a  loss  in  ideas.  Du  Cerceau's  personal  sketches  are  scrawly, 
ill-drawn  and  misshapen,  but  the  ideas  are  there  every  time,  and  the 
sketch  means  something ;  each  line  shows  that  the  artist  thought  a 
great  deal  more  than  he  drew.  It  is  exactly  this  quality  which  makes 
Du  Cerceau's  work  so  valuable.  Much  of  it  is,  of  course,  foreign  to 
the  present  needs,  but  through  it  all  we  can  see  the  imprint  of  serious 
thought;  and  it  may  be  well  questioned  whether  a  return  to  some  of 
the  feeble  methods  of  drawing  might  not  be  for  the  good  of  our  archi- 
tectural students  of  to-<lay,  provided  it  could  be  combined  with  a  cor- 
responding return  of  freshness  of  ideas. 

Du  Cerceau  was  one  who  influenced  more  than  he  created,  in  which 
respect  he  may  well  be  compared  to  his  modern  successor,  Viollet-le- 
Duc.  Du  Cerceau  certainly  exerted  an  enormous  influence  on  his 
contemporaries,  and  moulded  the  art-thought  of  his  time  into  the 
lines,  which  in  later  years  developed  with  such  strength  of  architec- 
tural thought,  It  is  interesting  to  know  that  Du  Cerceau,  in  common 
with  his  illustrious  co-worker,  Jean  Goujon,  was  a  Protestant,  but 
more  fortunate  than  the  sculptor  he  escaped  the  Saint  Bartholomew 
massacre,  and  was  even  protected  by  Catherine  de  Medici,  to  whom 
he  dedicated  some  of  his  works. 

M.  de  Geymiiller  in  this  biography  has  accomplished,  what  no  one 
but  a  Frenchman  could  have  done,  giving  us  the  details  of  his  life, 
character,  works,  surroundings  and  influences  down  to  the  very  last 
supposition,  even  taking  up  his  heirs  and  descendants  to  the  tenth 
generation.  The  work  is  prolix  in  the 'extreme,  and  were  it  not  for 
the  admirable  illustrations  to  the  number  of  128,  that  are  scattered 
through  the  volume,  it  would  be  such  as  no  one  but  a  book-worm 
would  ever  care  to  seek  for.  The  pictures  tell  the  story  just  as  Du 
Cerceau's  own  publications  gave  the  key  to  his  life. 


NEW   YORK    CHAPTER    OF    AMERICAN    INSTITUTE    OF    ARCHITECTS. 

HTTT  a  regular  meeting  of  the  New  York  Chapter  of  the  A.  I.  A., 
rj  held  January  11,  the  following  officers  were  unanimously 
'  elected : 

President,  E.  II.  Kendall ;  Vice-Presidents,  Geo.  B.  Post,  C.  W. 

linton ;  Secretary  and  Treasurer,  A.  J.  Bloor.  Standing  Com- 
mittees (the  President  and  Secretary  being  ex-officio  members  of 
2ach)  :  Executive,  N.  Le  Brun,  F.  A.  Wright ;  Library  and  Publica- 
tion, Jas.  E.  Ware,  Theo.  de  Lemos,  H.  O.  Averv ;  Examinations. 
N.  Le  Brun,  R.  M.  Upjohn,  R.  M.  Hunt. 

The  following  reports  were  submitted  and  accepted : 

To  the  N.  Y.  Chapter,  A.  I.  A.- 
Mr. Le  Brun,  the  chairman  of  your  committee  on  examinations, 
md  ipso  facto  the  representative  of  the  Chapter  in  the  Board  of 
Examiners  of  the  Building  Bureau  of  the  New  York  Fire-Depart- 
nent,  was,  with  his  colleagues  of  the  board,  invited  by  the  commis- 
iioners  of  that  branch  of  the  municipal  government  to  unite  with 
hem  in  joint  committee  for  the  purpose  of  suggesting  amendments 
:o  the  New  York  building-law  with  a  view  to  perfecting  the  same 
and  presenting  it  to  the  Legislature  for  enactment.  The  invitation 
vas  accepted,  and  on  the  organization  of  the  joint  committee  the 
chairman  of  your  committee  on  examinations  was  elected  its  chair- 
man and  the  Hon.  Elward  Smith  its  secretary.  This  joint  action 
resulted  in  the  presentation  of  two  reports,  o'ne  in  the  interest  of 
;ood  building  and  the  retention  of  the  influence  of  the  Chapter 
;oward  that  end,  the  other  more  in  the  interest  of  speculative  builders 
md  calculated  to  minimize  the  professional  and  ameliorative  in- 
luence  of  the  Chapter.  The  better  influence  prevailed,  however,  and 
the  building-law,  though  still  not  everything  that  is  to  be  desired,  re- 
ceived distinct  improvements.  To  those,  familiar  with  the  history  of 
he  building  interests  of  New  York  under  the  municipal  government, 
lie  gradual  and  of  late  marked  improvements  in  the  methods  and 
personelle  of  that  branch  of  it  having  those  interests  in  charge,  is 
very  apparent.  Your  committee  on  examinations,  during  the  twenty 
years  of  its  existence,  has,  it  may  be  conceded,  fairly  earned  some 
portion  of  the  credit  for  extending  the  growth  of  a  faithful  profes- 
sional animus  in  this  branch  of  the  city  government,  contrasting 
strongly  with  the  old-time  prevalent  spirit  of  mere  self-seeking 
Xditical  placemen,  frequently  incompetent  — at  least  in  the  lower 
;rades  of  service  —  to  the  proper  performance  of  the  duties  attached 
to  positions  in  public  employ,  and  bringing  undeserved  discredit  on 
competent  and  conscientious  fellow  employls. 


JANUARY  28,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


47 


And  in  view  of  the  immense  importance  of  the  interests  in  ques- 
tion, involving,  as  they  do  in  large  measure,  the  tcsthetiral  environ- 
ments, the  sanitary  conditions  and  the  comfort  and  safety  of  the 
homes  and  the  public  places  of  worship,  of  justice,  of  business,  and  of 
recreation  of  two  millions  of  people,  at  an  enormous  annual  expendi- 
ture—  nearly  seventy  millions  of  dollars  having  been  spent  during 
the  past  year  in  building  operations  within  the  city  limits  —  this  im- 
provement is  something  on  which  the  public,  as  well  as  the  muni- 
cipality, may  well  be  congratulated. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

N.  LE  BRU.V, 
A.  J.  BLOOR, 

Welles  BuUdiny,  18  Broadway,  N.  Y.,  It.  M.  UPJOHN. 

January  11,  1888. 

To  the  N.  Y.  Chapter,  A.  I.  A.: 

Your  Executive  Committee  for  the  year  1886-87,  as  soon  as  it  en- 
tered office,  found  itself  confronted  by  the  financial  problem  of  how 
the  Chapter  should  find  the  means  to  entertain  the  Twentieth  Annual 
Convention  of  the  Institute,  which  was  due  in  this  city  on  December 
1  and  2,  1886.  For  many  years,  when  a  convention  of  the  Institute 
has  met  in  centres  where  a  chapter  exists,  its  members  have  been 
treated  as  the  guests  of  that  chapter,  and  it  was  now  the  turn  of  our 
chapter  to  reciprocate  the  hospitalities  of  many  occasions.  But  the 
small  revenue  derivable  from  the  dues  of  its  members  is  necessarily 
absorbed  in  current  expenses.  The  matter  was  finally  referred  to 
the  committee  of  arrangements  appointed  by  the  Board  of  Trustees  of 
the  Institute,  namely,  Messrs.  Littell  and  Hatfield,  and  the  president 
and  secretary;  and  after  much  painstaking  on  their  part,  and  the 
issue  of  several  circular  letters,  the  handsome  sum  of  seven  hundred 
and  twenty-one  dollars  was  received  from  the  members  of  the  chapter 
and  from  four  members  of  the  Institute  not  members  of  the  chapter. 
This  amount  enabled  us  to  give  our  guests  the  handsome  entertain- 
ment at  which  most  of  you  assisted,  and  left  a  small  balance  over. 

Your  committee  desire  to  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  at  the 
twentieth  convention  of  the  Institute  the  special  committee  appointed 
to  review  the  reports  of  the  various  chapters  called  the  attention  of 
the  Institute  to  the  statement  that  some  of  the  chapters  attributed 
their  current  success  to  the  fact  that  their  meetings  were  carried 
through  on  social  lines,  the  business  being  preceded  by  a  dinner,  after 
the  labors  of  the  day  were  ended;  and  the  special  committee  ex- 
pressed it  as  their  opinion  that  if  this  system  were  followed  by  other 
chapters  it  would  have  a  good  effect.  The  older  members  of  the 
chapter  will  remember  that  these  lines  were  partially  followed  by  it 
for  a  number  of  years,  the  midday  meetings  being  preceded  by  a 
light  lunch.  The  result  was,  on  the  whole,  tolerably  successful,  but 
a  moiety  of  the  members  was  in  favor  of  evening  meetings,  and  the 
custom  fell  into  desuetude.  It  is  a  question  whether  it  might  not  be 
revived  with  good  effect  in  the  shape  of  dinners  after  the  profes- 
sional labors  of  the  day  and  preceding  the  chapter  business.  But  here 
again  the  financial  element  comes  in.  Your  committee,  however, 
think  that  the  subject  might  well  be  made  the  question  of  a  succeeding 
meeting.  Respectfully  submitted, 

EDWARD  H.  KENDALL, 


Welles  Building,  18  Broadway,  N.  Y., 
January  11,  1888. 


RICHARD  M.  UPJOHN, 
N.  LE  BRUN, 
A.  J  BLOOR. 


To  the  N.  Y.  Chapter,  A.  I.  A.: 

Your  Committee  on  Library  and  publications  for  the  year  1886-87 
have  only  to  report  that  the  books  and  photographs  of  the  chapter 
library  have  received  during  the  year  perhaps  somewhat  less  than 
the  average  share  of  inspection  and  use  from  members  and  students. 
The  most  notable  instance  of  the  employment  of  the  photographs  was 
the  borrowing  by  the  Architectural  League  of  New  York  of  twenty- 
five  examples  from  the  Gambrill  collection  for  use  in  the  League's 
highly  creditable  exhibition  in  the  Kurz  Art  Galleries,  followed  since 
by  their  very  recent  and  even  more  admirable  one  in  the  Ortgies  Art 
Galleries. 

There  is  a  law  of  the  chapter  that  none  of  its  contents  shall  be 
allowed  to  be  taken  from  its  library  and  reading-room,  and  this 
regulation,  notwithstanding  being  frequently  urged  to  overlook  it, 
your  secretary  and  librarian  has  always  rigidly  respected.  But  on 
this  occasion  he  thought  he  would  not  only  best  meet  the  desires  of 
the  lamented  collector  and  munificent  donor  of  the  Gambrill  collec- 
tion, but  also  best  subserve  the  beneficent  purposes  of  the  chapter  by 
temporarily  giving  up  the  custody  of  these  illustrations  to  Messrs. 
Wright  &  A very,  who  are  members  alike  of  the  Chapter  and  of  the 
League.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that  the  photographs  were  all 
returned  duly  and  in  good  condition. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

E.  H.  KENDALL, 
H.  H.  HOLLY, 
JAS.  E.  WARK, 
THEO.  DE  l.i. MH-. 

Welles  Building,  18  Broadway,  N.  Y.,  A.  J.  BLOOR, 

January  11,  1888. 


WHO  MAKES  IRON  CHURCHES? 

riin.ADKr.iMUA.  PA.,  January  20, 1888. 

To  THE  EDITORS  or  THK  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  Can  you  or  any  of  your  readers  give  the  names  of 
parties  who  construct  iron  churches  in  the  United  States?  In 
England  such  buildings  for  use  not  only  in  that  country  but  in 
warmer  climates  are  made  upon  designs  prepared  by  church  archi- 
tects, and  their  use  presents  obvious  advantages  where  temporary 
buildings  are  desired  for  missions,  or  where  parishes  are  not  strong 
enough  to  erect  permanent  buildings,  or  where  shifting  population 
may  require  future  removal.  In  many  if  not  all  large  cities,  wooden 
buildings  are  not  allowed,  and  if  iron  churches  can  be  furnished  at 
a  reasonable  cost,  a  great  want  would  be  supplied.  M. 

THE  DECORATIONS  OF   McVICKER'S  THEATRE, 
CHICAGO. 

CHICAGO,  ILL.,  January  18, 1888. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sin, — Will  you  kindly  give  space  to  a  correction  of  Mr.  C. 
H.  Blackall's  paper,  "  Notes  o!  Travel,"  which  appeared  in  your 
issue  of  December  24th,  erroneously  giving  credit  to  Messrs.  Adler 
&  Sullivan  for  the  decoration  of  McVicker's  theatre.  The  work  was 
executed  under  my  charge  and  dictation  and  was  my  own  conception 
without  control  of  architect  or  owner.  Yours  faithfully, 

JOSEPH  TWYMAN. 

THE  BEARING  CAPACITY  OF  NEW  YORK  SUBSOIL. 

CHICAGO,  ILL.,  January  10, 1888. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  Would  be  pleased  to  get  information  on  the  following 
questions : 

1.  What  is  the  formation  of  the  subsoil  of  New  York  City  on 
which  the  foundations  of  the  larger  and  heavier  buildings  are  placed, 

and  what  is  the  bearing  capacity 
per  square  foot  of  this  subsoil  as 
accepted  by  architects. 

2.  Which  is  the  best  method  of 
constructing  the  floor  of  a  dance- 
hall  so  as  to  practically  deafen 
noise  as  much  as  possible  and  also 
to  avoid  the  vibration  of  ceiling 
below  to  prevent  cracking  of  plas- 

_ f       ter,  etc.     Hall   is  70'  x  90',    and 

has   only  one     line   of    supports 

through  centre  below.     Would  it  not  be  advisable  to  make  ceiling 
joists  of  apartments  below  independent  of  floor  joists  ? 

By  answering  the  above  question  you  will  confer  favor  on  a 

CHICAGO  SUBSCRIBER. 

[1.  The  lower  portion  of  New  York  City  stands  mostly  on  gravel,  vary- 
ing In  resistance  from  the  hard  central  ridge,  along  which  Broadway  rung, 
to  the  river-banks,  where  it  is  mixed  with  mud  and  is  quite  soft. '  From 
Mndison  Square  northward  to  Harlem,  the  subsoil  is  mostly  gneiss  rock, 
capable  of  bearing  almost  any  weight,  and  at  the  northern  extremity  of  the 
island  limestone  appears.  So  far  as  we  know,  there  is  no  rule  accepted  by 
architects  for  the  bearing  capacity  of  the  soil  in  the  lower  part  of  the  city, 
which  is  the  only  portion  in  which  it  usually  needs  to  be  considered.  On 
and  near  Broadway  five  tons  to  the  square  foot  would  not  be  too  much,  but 
east  or  west  of  this  line  the  resistance  varies  greatly,  and  it  is  common 
before  designing  foundations  to  consult  the  records  of  the  Department  of 
Buildings,  where  very  valuable  notes  of  the  character  of  the  subsoil  in 
various  parts  of  the  city  are  kept  and  explained  to  architects  with  the 
utmost  courtesy. 

2.  As  suggested,  the  only  efficient  way  of  deafening  the  floor  of  sncb  a 
dance-hall  is  to  use  ceiling- joists  entirely  independent  of  the  floor-beams.— 
EDS.  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT.] 


A  STATUS  OF  BUDDHA  AT  NARA,  JAPAN. — This  town  of  Nara, 
Japan,  was  once  a  great  city.  Where  to-day  in  the  Valley  the  rice 
fields  spread  their  carpets  of  verdure  there  once  were  long  streets  lined 
with  houses  and  the  palaces  of  princes.  To-day  there  are  but  21,000 
inhabitants  in  the  place.  Once  there  were  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  million. 
Nara  was  the  capital  of  Japan  from  700  to  784  A.  p.  It  was  a  great 
city  when  London  was  in  its  infancy,  Paris  a  mere  village  and  Berlin  a 
wind-swept  waste.  The  site  of  the  Mikado's  palace  is  now  a  broad 
field  of  growing  grain  three  miles  to  the  west  of  the  present  town.  The 
temples  and  shrines  of  that  olden  time  are  nearly  all  gone,  having  been 
burnt,  or  having  fallen  down  and  been  consumed  by  the  elements.  A 
few  only  of  the  works  of  the  past  remain  to  attest  the  fact  that  the 
civilization  of  Japan  in  the  eighth  century  in  many  respects  was  equal 
to  that  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Among  these  monuments  of  by- 
gone days  the  most  famous  is  the  great  image  of  Buddha.  This  stands 
in  an  ungainly  building,  the  roof  of  which  is  seen  peering  above  the 
trees  on  the  mountain-side.  This  building  is  quite  modern,  having 
been  erected  about  the  boginning  of  the  last  century  as  a  protection  to 
the  huge  idol.  It  is  surrounded  by  a  broad  garden,  which  is  enclosed 


The  American  Architect  and  Building 


[VOL.  XXIII.  -No. 


631. 


of  Japan  to  send  in  their 


vein  since  it  came  from  the  hands  of  the  founders.     In  859, 
'Great  Buddha"  lost  his  head,"  which  had  not  been  P«JP« 
Skilled  workmen  succeeded  at  once  in  putting  a  new  and  st 

,n  him  In  1180  during  one  of  the  civil  wars  by  which  Japan  has 
been  from  time  to  time  convulsed,  the  temple  covering  the  image  was 
burned  UnV  t™e  new  head  was  melted.  The  image  and  the  temple  were 

m  both  restored  •  but  the  head  troubles  of  the  old  idol  were  not  at  an 
end  vet  In  Io07  the  temple  was  again  burned,  and  when  the  smoke 
ckared  away  it  was  discovered  that  once  more  Buddha  was  sitting  with 
the  molten  remains  of  his  face  and  cranium  sticking  to  his  arm,  :  and 
shoulders  like  tallow  to  a  dying  taper.  This  lamentable  state  of  affa 
led  a  generous  private  person  to  give  a  sufficient  sum  to  repair  the  dam- 
age and  the  workmen  once  more  succeeded  in  putting  a  head  on 
Buddha.  Until  the  beginning  of  the  last  century  the  image  was 
doomed  to  remain  unprotected,  and  passed  the  time  as  a  nurebotoke  or 
wet  god  as  the  Japanese  say,  exposed  to  the  assaults  of  ram  and  storm 
Ld  the  defilement  of  birds.  In  1710,  or  thereabouts,  the  priesthood 
and  the  laity  built  the  present  great  barn-like  structure.  — 
land  in  the  Philadelphia  Press. 

WHO  W.  J.  STILLMAN  Is.—  The  editor  of  the  Century  submits  to  the 
New  York  Evening  Post  a  letter  from  a  New  Hampshire  subscriber,  whict 


You  will  confer  a  favor  on  me  if  you  will  tell  me  who  W.  J.  Stillman, 
author  of  the  paper  on  John  Ruskin,  in  the  January  Century,  is   and  a 
little  something  of  him,  or  at  least  where  I  can  find  such  general  infor- 
mation as  one  likes  to  have  of  those  whose  papers  he  is  reading.     I 
have  referred  to  everything  I  could  think  of  within  my  reaoli,  and  still 
I  have  to  leave  unanswered  a  number  ot  questions.         VV  lie 
Stillman  t  "     It  seems  to  me  as  if  I  could  place  the  man,  but  wne 
try  I  fail      I  enjoyed  this  article  (John  Ruskin)  much  —  not  to  men- 
tion a  number  of  others  —  and  it  has  caused  me  to  begin  reading  Rus- 
kin critically,  which  makes  me  wish  the  more  to  know  of  Stillman. 

The  editor  suggests  that  a  reply  to  this  inquiry  through  Tht>Evm\nq 
Post  would  outstrip  his  own  in  the  magazine  itself.  Our  readers  cer- 
tainly could  have  no  difficulty  in  "placing"  one  who  a  few  years  ago 
was  the  art  critic  of  The  Evening  Post,  and  is  still  a  frequent  contribu- 
tor on  his  special  subject  as  well  as  on  divers  others.  Mr.  Stillman,  to 
begin  at  the  end,  is  now  the  Roman  correspondent  of  the  London  1  imes. 
He  was  born  in  Schenectady  in  1828,  was  graduated  at  Union  College 
in  1848,  in  the  same  class  with  the  late  President  Arthur,  and  took  to 
painting  as  his  profession,  receiving  instruction  in  landscape  from  F. 
E.  Church,  N.  A.  In  the  winter  of  1849-50  he  went  abroad  for  a  few 
months,  and  made  the  acquaintance  of  Turner  and  other  leading  Eng- 
lish painters,  and,  more  intimately,  of  Mr.  Ruskin.  Up  to  1852  he  was 
painting  in  the  Adirondack  country,  when  his  admiration  for  Kossuth 
led  him  to  embark  in  a  hazardous  mission  to  Hungary,  which  did  not 
succeed.  On  this  trip  Mr.  Stillman  studied  in  Paris,  in  the  school  of 
Yvon.  In  1856,  with  Mr.  John  Durand,  he  founded  the  art  journal  the 
Crayon  in  this  city,  which  he  conducted  for  two  years.  He  was  abroad 
again  in  1859,  making  a  summer  tour  with  Mr.  Ruskin  in  Switzerland. 
In  1861  he  was  appointed  United  States  Consul  to  Rome,  and  in  1885 
was  transferred  to  Crete,  where  he  witnessed  and  became  the  historian 
of  the  last  unsuccessful  rising  in  that  island.  In  1869,  being  out  of  the 
service,  he  brought  out  a  noble  volume  of  photographs  of  the  Acropolis 
at  Athens,  the  views  being  taken  by  himself.  Since  that  date  litera- 
ture rather  than  painting  has  been  his  vocation,  but  he  has  never  ceased 
to  pursue  photography  as  a  pastime,  to  which  he  has  contributed  many 
useful  inventions  and  several  manuals.  His  services  as  correspondent 
of  the  London  Times  enabled  him  to  write  a  history  of  the  revolt  in 
Herzegovina  that  preceded  the  great  Russo-Turkish  war  of  1877-78. 
His  latest  publication  is  "In  the  Track  of  Ulysses,"  which  we  have  just 
reviewed  in  these  columns.  Mr.  Stillman  is  familiar  with  all  parts  of 
the  Levant,  is  caricatured  in  the  press  of  the  war  party  in  Greece,  and 
so  hated  and  feared  by  the  Turks  that  he  is  forbidden  to  enter  the  Sul- 
tan's dominions.  We  ought  to  add  that  a  fuller  account  of  his  check- 
ered life  than  we  can  give  here  is  to  be  found  in  the  Photographic  Times 
for  September  9,  1887.  —  N.  Y.  Evening  Post. 

THE  LOWER  ORGANISMS  IN  CISTERN  WATER.  —  Mr.  Gustav  Bischof 
has  extended  Dr.  Koch's  method  of  estimating  the  number  of  micro- 
scopic organisms  in  a  sample  of  water  in  such  a  way  as  to  show  how 
dangerous  it  may  be  to  drink  water  which  has  been  stored  in  a  cistern 
for  several  days.  Dr.  Koch's  method  was,  briefly,  to  mix  a  measured 
quantity  of  water  with  some  sterilized  gelatine  spread  over  glass  plates. 
After  two  or  three  days  numerous  spots,  due  to  "  colonies  "  of  minute 
creatures,  are  visible  to  the  eye,  and  their  number  is  a  measure  of  the 
organisms  in  the  original  water.  Mr.  Bischof  has  prolonged  the  dura- 
tion of  the  test  from  three  days  to  nine.  He  finds  that  the  total  num- 
ber of  colonies  is  thus  largely  increased,  particularly  in  the  case  of 


filtered  water.    Thus  a  quarter  of  a  teaspoonful  of  water,  which  gave 
3  colonies  in  three  days,  yielded  158  colonies  in  nine  days      A  similar 
tin    ty  of  water,  taken  from  the  same  main  and  stored  for  six  days, 
ol  h   an  open  house  cistern  liable  to  all  sorts  of  contamination   but  in 
proper  y  protected  vessels,  yielded  3744  colonies  of  living  creatures  in 
U™  short   and  no  less  than   115,344  in  the  longer  period.     Such  facts 
belong  to  the  marvels  of  creation,  but  their  practical  use  is  to  show  how 
very  hWortant  it  is  that  house  cisterns  should  be  frequent  y  emptied, 
and  that  water  should  not  be  left  to  stagnate  in  bedroom  water  bottles. 
As  Engineering  points  out,  even  filtration  evidently  allows  a  large  num- 
ber of  organisms  to  pass  which  are  capable  of  this  great  development. 

AFGHANISTAN  WIND-MILLS.- A  clipping  from  the  Milling  World 
says  that  Thomas  Stevens,  who  recently  bicycled  around  the  world,  has 
given  the  following  description  of  peculiar  wind-mills  used  on  the 
?rontier  of  Afghanistan,  in  Asia :  High  noon  finds  us  at  our  destination 
for  the  day  the  village  of  Tabbas,  famous  in  all  the  country  round  for 
a  peculiar  wind-mill  used  in  grinding  grain.  A  grist  mill  or  mills  con- 
sists of  a  row  of  one-storied  mud  huts,  each  of  which  contains  a  pair  of 
grindstones.  Connecting  with  the  upper  stone  is  a  perpendicular  shaft 
of  wood  which  protrudes  through  the  wood  and  extends  fifteen  feet 
above  it  Cross  pieces  run  through  at  right  angles,  and  plaited  with 
rushes  transform  the  shaft  into  an  upright,  four-bladed  aftair  that  the 
wind  blows  round  and  turns  the  mill-stones  below.  So  far  this  is  only 
a  very  primitive  and  clumsy  method  of  harnessing  the  wind,  but  con- 
nected with  it  is  a  very  ingenious  contrivance  that  redeems  it  entirely 
from  the  commonplace.  A  system  of  mud  walls  is  built,  about  the 
same  height  or  a  little  higher  than  the  shaft,  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
concentrate  and  control  the  wind  in  the  interest  of  the  miller,  regard- 
less of  what  way  the  wind  is  blowing.  The  suction  created  by  the  pe- 
culiar disposition  of  the  walls  whisks  the  rude  wattle  sails  around  in  a 
most  lively  manner.  Forty  of  these  mills  are  in  operation  at  1  abbas, 
and  to  see  them  all  in  full  swing,  making  a  loud  "  sweshing'  noise  as 
they  revolve  is  a  most  extraordinary  sight.  Aside  from  labbas,  these 
novel  grist-mills  are  only  to  be  seen  in  the  territory  about  the  Seistan 
Lake. 


THE  volume  of  business  for  the  dead  of  winter  has  not  been  disappoint- 
ing    Restricted  mercantile  operations  are  indicated  by  a  return  of  a  large 
amount  of  currency  to  Eastern  financial  centres  from  its  Western  pilgrim- 
age     Manufacturing  activity  is  fair  in  all  sections.    Mining  operations  are 
being  conducted  on  the  usual  scale  except  in  a  large  portion  of  the  anthra- 
cite re»ion.     Shop  and  factory  capacity  is  quite  busily  engaged  on  spring 
work   "New  enterprises  are  quite  freely  spoken  of,  some  of  them  of  very 
large  proportions.    The  volume  of   money  to  all  appearances  will  con- 
tinue to  increase.      Foreign  investments  are  not  checked,  and  there  is 
much  anxiety  abroad  to  find  good  speculative  opportunities.    Real-estate 
has  not  been  handled  much  of  late  in  the  Western  States  owing  to  the 
apprehensions  created  over  the  overdone  talk  of  restricted  railroad  building 
operations  this  year.    For  actual  building  requirements  more  than  ordinary 
activity  has  been  displayed  among  buyers  and  sellers  of  real-estate,  es- 
pecially in  the  larger  cities.    As  to  probabilities  of  a  general  advance  of 
real-estate  in  manufacturing  centres,  the  signs  are  not  so  propitious  from 
the  sellers'  side.    Concerning  mortgage  indebtedness,  the  snowball  has  been 
rolled  until  the  lenders  look  like  pigmies  behind  it,  but  every  essential 
feature  is  safe.    The  earning  capacity  of  the  country  has  been  greatly  in- 
creased by  these  loans,  and  a  volume  of  business  has  been  done  which 
would  have  been  impossible  but  for  its  use  on  the  scale  of  magnitude  seen 
last  year.    Speaking  specifically  the  industries  are  doing  well.    The  paper- 
mills  in  some  localities  have  been  stopped.    The  electrical,  hardware,  tex- 
tile and  shoe-making  interest  of  New  England  have  no  reason  to  complain. 
The  jobbing  interests  have  effected  an  immense  distribution,  and  the  job- 
bers who  talk  see  no  cyclones  ahead.    All  through  the  New  England  States 
there  is  an  air  of  contentment  in  the  manufacturing  interests.    The  pos- 
sibilities of  adverse  legislation  cause  more  scare  than  they  will  probably 
cause  hurt.    The  competition  of  foreign  goods  will  probably  increase  mther 
than  decline,  but  this  pressure  will,  no  doubt,  reach  in  the  production  of 
finer  qualities  of  goods.    It  is  guesswork  to  say  what  will  be  the  outcome, 
but  not  half  the  evil  is  probable  that  is  foretold.    The  building  activity  in 
Now  England  will  be  greater  than  last  year,  so  builders  predict,  because  of 
the  steadier  work,  steadier  wages  and  greater  accumulation  of  the  workers 
who  are  now  more  than  ever  directing  their  attention  to  the  securing  of  a 
home.     Reports  from  nearly  all  our  larger  Maine.  Massachusetts  and  Rhode 
Island  mills  and  manufacturing  establishments  show  that  employment  will 
be  equal  to  the  supply.    There  is  a  constant  but  quiet  weeding  out  of  skilled 
labor  in  these  States"  which  finds  welcome  in  newer  places  at  higher  pay, 
and  hence  all  other  things  being  equal  there  is  an  upward  tendency  in 
wa»es,  but  not  strong  enough  to  show  itself  in  figures  except  where  suc- 
cessful strikes  cause  it.    There  will  be  fewer  labor  strikes  this  year,  and 
comparatively  little  agitation  for  shorter  hours.    Congressional  action  will 
hardly  reach  the  point  of  shutting  oat  foreign  labor,  and  it  is  a  question 
whether  artificial  expedients,  even  if  applied,  would  help.    Building  enter- 
prise will  be  less  subjected  to  interferences  this  season  as  employes  intend 
to  act,  and  to  act  conservatively  in  time.    The  iron  trade  is  strong.     Prices 
are  close  to  cost.    Rails  are  not  selling  freely,  but  some  day  soon  the 
announcement  will  be  wired  over  the  country  that  orders  aggregating  a  half 
million  tons  have  been  placed.      Manufacturers  of  agricultural  machines 
will    restrict    production   largely  this  year,   it    has   just    been   definitely 
announced,  and  a  strong  combination   will  be  attempted   before  spring 
opens.     Wood-working  machinery  have  still  a  good  block  of  business  on 
hand,  but  they  are  watching  how  things  are  likely  to  go  after  booked  orders 
are  filled.    Furniture  manufacturers  on  account  of  the  extraordinary  house- 
building of  the  past  few  years  have  been  driven,  or  rather  tempted,  to  use 
inferior  and  cheaper   woods,  and  thus  meet  an   expanding  demand  for 
cheaper  furniture  by  a  liberal  use  of  improved  varnishes  and  paints.     Gum , 
cotton-wood,  cypress,  sap  and  other  woods  are  coining  in,  and  yellow-pine  is 
making  a  vast  market  for  itself,  aud  growing  in  the  estimation  of  architects 
and  builders.    The  furniture  manufacturing  interests  in  this  way  anticipate 
better  margins  this  year,  but  the  sunshine  will  be  like  an  April  one.    The 
use  of  lumber  is  gaining  per  head  of  population  in  spite  of  brick,  because  of 
the  much  greater  building  activity  in  rural  localities  where  wood  is  so  gen- 
erally used. 

S.  J.  PABKHILL  &  Co.,  Printers,  Boston. 


Slje  ^njericar?  ^rcljitect  and  Buildiiy;  IJeivs,  January  23,  1555.     Qo.  631. 


Copyright,  1888.  byTicKNOR  &  Co. 


HIUOTYPC   PRINTINO  00  .    BOSTON 


CHURCH  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST,  QUEBEC,  CANADA. 

J.  F.  PEACHY,  Architect. 


THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  AND  BUILDING  NEWS. 


VOL.  XXlll. 


Copyright,  1888,  by  TICKNOB  ft  COMPANY.  Boston,  Man. 


No.  632. 


FEBRUARY  4. 1888. 

Entered  at  the  Poet-Office  at  Button  u  second-clam  matter. 


SUMMARY : — 

Report  on  the  Construction  of  the  Congressional  Library.  — 
The  Rejection  of  Cement  offered  for  the  Foundations.  — 
Tensile  vs  Compressive  Strains.  —  The  Indiana  Soldiers'  and 
Sailors'  Monument  Competition.  —  The  New  York  School- 
house  Competition.  —  Proposed  New  Bridge  across  the  Hud- 
son River.  —  Device  for  Keeping  Fire  Water-pails  full.  .  .  49 

SAFK  BUILDING.  — XXII 61 

ILLUSTRATIONS  :  — 

The  Harvard  Medical-School  Building,  Boston,  Mass. — 
House  for  Mr.  II.  R.  Smith,  Kansas  City,  Mo. — Trusses 
over  Court-room  in  the  United  States  Court-house,  Rochester, 

N.  Y.  —  St.  Stephen's  Church,  Olean,  N.  Y 66 

BRICKLAYING  IN  FROSTY  WEATHER 66 

TESTING  A  COAJED  NAIL 67 

LONDON  NOTES.'.' 67 

THE  MEXICAN  LAUNDRY 68 

SOCIETIES :     ...    68 

COMMUNICATIONS  :  — 

Testing  for  the  Foundations  of  the  Congressional  Library.  — 
Harding's  Books  on  Drawing.  —  Iron  Churches.  —  Plaster 

Boarding 69 

NOTES  AND  CLIPPINGS 60 

TRADE  SURVEYS 60 


IN  obedience  to  an  order  passed  by  the  United  States  Senate 
January  4,  a  special  report  has  been  prepared  upon  the  con- 
struction of  the  Congressional  Library  Building,  which  is 
now  printed,  and  offers  some  interesting  details  in  regard  to 
this  great  public  work.  Although  the  report  does  not  go  out 
of  its  way  to  refer  to  personal  matters,  it  seems  not  unlikely 
that  the  occasion  for  its  preparation  is  to  be  sought  in  the  out- 
rageous attacks  made  in  the  newspapers  on  the  integrity  of  the 
architect  in  regard  to  the  tests  which  he  applied  to  the  cement 
which  was  furnished  by  the  contractor  for  making  the  concrete 
to  be  used  in  the  foundation  of  the  building.  The  fact  appears 
to  have  been  that  the  specifications  required  that  the  cement 
should  pass  the  ordinary  tests,  showing  a  tensile  strength  of  three 
hundred  pounds  per  square  inch  after  one  day  in  air  and  six 
days  in  water,  and  leaving  not  more  than  ten  per  cent  residuum 
upon  a  sieve  of  twenty-five  hundred  meshes  to  the  square  inch. 
The  samples  furnished  by  one  of  the  bidders  fulfilled  both  these 
requirements,  and  the  contract  was  awarded  to  him.  On  com- 
mencing the  work,  however,  the  contractor  sent  to  the  building 
a  lot  of  cement  of  a  brand  not  included  among  those  which  he 
had  submitted  by  sample  for  the  original  test.  The  architect 
promptly  rejected  this,  as  not  being  in  accordance  with  the  con- 
tract, which  was,  of  course,  based  upon  the  samples  accompany- 
ing the  original  tender.  The  Commission  in  charge  of  the  con- 
struction of  the  building,  however,  on  being  appealed  to,  in- 
structed the  architect  to  test  the  new  cement,  which  had  not 
previously  been  offered  by  any  bidder,  and  to  accept  it  if  he 
found  it  capable  of  passing  the  tests  required  in  the  specifica- 
tions. Seventy-two  samples  were,  in  pursuance  of  this  direc- 
tion, tested,  only  sixteen  of  which  showed  a  tensile  strength  of 
three  hundred  pounds,  as  required,  while  most  of  the  others 
were  far  below  the  standard,  the  lowest  being  seventy-eight 
pounds.  This  alone  would  necessitate  the  rejection  of  the 
cement,  as  being  inferior  to  the  plain  and  reasonable  demands 
of  the  specification,  but  Mr.  Smithmeyer  found  also  that  it  was 
very  quick-setting,  and  this  quality,  always  a  dangerous  one  in 
Portland  cement,  and  particularly  so  in  cement  to  be  used  for 
concrete,  seemed  to  him,  as  well  as  to  several  other  experts,  to 
whom  he  submitted  it,  quite  sufficient  to  condemn  it  for  the 
purposes  of  the  Library  Building,  independent  of  other  con- 
siderations. 

0N  the  second,  and  final  rejection  of  the  cement  of  the  new 
brand,  the  contractor  sent  a  quantity  of  cement  of  one  of 
the  brands  submitted  by  him  with  his  bid,  and  perhaps  the 
oldest  and  best   known  in  this  country  of   all  the  Portland 
cements.     The  watchful   architect   immediately  took   samples 
from  the  barrels  delivered,  and  tested  them  as  before.    Instead,, 


however,  of  showing  a  tensile  strength  averaging  three  hundred 
and  seven  pounds  to  the  square  inch,  as  did  the  samples  sub- 
mitted with  the  bid,  the  samples  from  the  barrels  delivered  on 
the  work  gave  an  average  tensile  strength  of  only  two  hundred 
and  thirty-three  pounds,  only  four  specimens,  out  of  two 
hundred  and  seventy  tested  by  different  experts,  reaching  the 
strength  demanded  by  the  contract.  Moreover,  some  of  the 
contractor's  cement  proved  more  quick-setting  than  that  which 
had  been  already  rejected,  and  an  engineer  officer  of  the  army, 
who  ought  to  be  a  good  judge,  wrote  to  the  architect  to  say 
that  in  his  opinion  the  cement  was  probably  not  what  the 
brands  on  the  barrels  indicated  it  to  be.  In  private  work  the 
architect,  under  such  circumstances,  would  simply  order  the 
contractor  to  remove  the  whole  of  the  cement  from  the  ground 
at  onoe,  but  in  Washington,  where  an  immense  amount  of  in- 
fluence can  be  brought  to  bear  upon  public  officers,  this  is  not 
so  easy,  and  the  contractor,  together  with  those  who  sold  him 
the  condemned  cements,  appeared  by  counsel  before  the  Com- 
missioners, criticising  the  tests,  and  urging  the  acceptance  of 
the  cement  without  regard  to  the  architect's  opinion  of  it ; 
while  a  paragraph  appeared  in  the  press  despatches  all  over 
the  country  to  the  effect  that  the  architect  of  the  Library  Build- 
ing had  been  detected  in  a  scheme  for  keeping  out,  by  arbitrary 
and  unreasonable  tests,  cements  of  excellent  quality,  in  order 
to  compel  the  use  in  the  building  of  a  particular  brand,  in  the 
sale  of  which  he  had  a  personal  interest.  Fortunately,  the 
people  of  the  United  States  have  found  in  Mr.  Smithmeyer  an 
architect  who  not  only  understands  the  art  which  he  professes, 
but  suffers  neither  personal  influence  nor  cruel  calumny  to 
turn  him  from  the  path  of  vigilant  fidelity  to  the  trust  reposed 
in  him,  and,  while  he  makes  in  his  part  of  the  report  no  com- 
plaints .or  accusations  in  regard  to  any  person,  and  assumes  no 
airs  of  injured  professional  dignity,  all  architects  will  cordially 
sympathize  with  him  in  his  modest  suggestion  that  considera- 
tions of  generosity  toward  contractors  ought  not  to  justify  the 
relaxation  of  requirements  indispensable  to  sound  construction, 
and  that  for  this  reason,  the  judgment  of  the  architect  in  in:it- 
ters  within  his  province  ought  to  be  sustained,  even  if  he 
should  seem  at  times  too  strict  in  the  construction  of  his 
specifications.  In  this  particular  case,  it  certainly  cannot  be 
said  that  a  standard  of  three  hundred  pounds  tensile  strength 
after  seven  days  is  too  strict,  and,  in  view  of  the  danger  from 
the  swelling  of  some  quick-setting  cements,  the  architect  ought 
to  have  the  privilege,  which,  indeed,  the  specification  expressly 
reserves  to  him,  of  "  subjecting  the  cement  to  such  other  tests 
as  he  may  require,"  so  that  Mr.  Smithmeyer  can  hardly  be 
accused  of  having  been  too  strict  in  his  interpretation  of  the 
specification. 


IN  one  of  the  tests,  which  was  made  independently  for  the 
Commissioners  by  General  M.  C.  Meigs,  a  question  of  con- 
siderable technical  importance  was  brought  up.  Although 
the  cement  sent  to  the  building  fell  below  the  required  tensile 
strength,  General  Meigs  expressed  the  opinion  in  his  report  to 
the  Commissioners  that  it  was  "  quite  good  enough  for  the 
foundations  of  the  Library  of  Congress,"  and  stronger  than  any 
cement  known  to  him  as  having  been  used  in  the  foundations 
of  any  United  States  building  in  Washington,  and  went  on  to 
say  that  "these  concrete  foundations  a.re  to.  be  subjected  to 
compressive  strains  only,"  and  that  "  the  tensile  strength  is 
used  in  the  examination  of  the  material,  because  the  test  is 
easier  and  cheaper,  and  not  because  the  concrete  is  expected  to 
be  pulled,  exposed  to  tensile  strains."  Now,  although  this  is 
unquestionably  the  case  with  concrete  foundations  in  soil  of 
uniform  resistance,  it  would  not  be  so  where  the  concrete  lay 
upon  a  subsoil  of  unequal  consistency.  We  once  knew  a  cellar- 
floor  laid  with  concrete  under  the  direction  of  a  clever  archi- 
tect, in  a  building,  the  walls  of  which  stood  on  piles  driven 
through  a  soft-made  ground  to  a  firm  stratum.  Il  the  con- 
crete were  laid  on  the  made-ground,  the  iettlem.ent  which  was 
constantly  going  on  in  this  wouUl  carry  down  the  portions  of 
the  floor  not  attached  to  the  walls,  causing  craokt  and  inequali- 
ties of  surface, 'and  the  architect,  understanding  this,  solved, 
the  problem'  by  making  the  concrete-layer  of  sufficient  thick-, 
ness,  and  of  materials  strong  enough,  to  form  a  bridge  aver  the 
whole  space  between  the  walls,  capable  of  carry-Ing  all  the 
weight  that  would,  ba  likely  to  come  upon  it  without  any  help 


50 


from  tl,c  ground  beneath.     As  in  a  less  degree  a 

01,  ground  whu-h  is  soft  in  phu-es  ui.,l  hard  m  others, 

to  rT-lk-vo  the  soft  spots  by  bridging  on  them  and 

off  the  strain  to  the  harder  places  around  them,  it  wou 

tainly    appear    that   a    considerable    transverse    strength 

necessary  in  concrete    under   such   conditions,  which  ,  as 

Smithmeyer's   report  says,  are  those  winch  unavoidably  exist 

under  the  Library  building.     As    the    tra  nsverse 

mass  im 


e         rary     u. 

perfectly  supported  below,  and  subjected  to  a  vertical 
load  is  composed  of  a  compressive  strain  in  the  upper  portions, 
and  a  tensile  strain  in  the  lower  part,  and  is  limited  by  the 
capacity  of  the  material  for  bearing  the  kind  of  strain  to  which 

in  such  cases 


cap 

it  yields  most  readily,  it  is  of  great  importance  in  such  cases 
that  concrete  which  presents  an  almost  unlimited  resistance  to 
compression,  should  have  a  maximum  tensile  strength,  as  on 
this  its  power  of  sustaining  a  transverse  strain  entirely  de- 
pends, and  it  seems  to  us  that  Mr.  Smithmeyer  was  therefore 
perfectly  justified  in  specifying  a  reasonable  tensile  strength 
for  the  cement  to  be  used,  and  that  he  was  bound  to  reject 
cement  which  would  have  given  him  a  concrete  possessing  only 
three-fourths  of  the  strength  which  he  believed  necessary  for 
giving  perfect  security  against  the  strains  which  he  considered 
likely  to  come  upon  it. 


The  American  Architect  andJBwldmg^^    [Voi-  XXIII.-No.  632. 

and  the  law  strictly  confined  the  jury  to  designs  capable  of 
bt-iiK'  executed  for  the  specified  sum,  they  could  hardly  do  more 
thankee  that  the  estimating  was  done  as  impartially  and  intel- 
li.rently  as  possible,  and  this,  we  may  be  sure,  they  did.  In 
the  classes  where  premiums  were  awarded.  Messrs.  Appleyard 
&  Bowd,  of  Lansing,  Mich.,  carried  off  the  first  prize  in 
Classes  1,2  and  4,  the  second  prize  in  each  of  these  classes 
beiii"  awarded  to  Mr.  John  R.  Church,  of  Rochester,  N.  Y. 
In  Class  3,  Messrs.  J.  C.  A.  Heriot  &  Co.,  of  Albany,  took 
the  first  prize.  Special  mentions  in  several  of  the  classes  were 
voted  to  Mr.  Warren  R.  Briggs,  of  Bridgeport,  Conn.,  a  noted 
designer  of  school-houses,  and  to  Mr.  John  Cox,  Jr.,  and  Mr. 
C.  Powell  Karr,  of  New  York. 


was 
Mr. 


strain  o  n  a 


<TTS  the  daily  papers  have  already  widely  announced,  the 
H  Indiana  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Monument  Competition  has 
'  resulted  in  the  selection  of  Mr.  Bruno  Schmitz,  of  Berlin, 
as  the  designer  of  the  future  monument.  To  laymen  this  is, 
perhaps,  the  most  important  fact,  but  to  architects  the  manner 
in  which  the  Commission  reached  its  decision  and  the  degree  of 
regard  maintained  for  their  official  promises  is  of  equal  or  even 
greater  moment.  Upon  these  points  we  cannot  do  better  than 
quote  the  words  of  one  of  the  expert  advisers  to  whom  as  a 
body  the  Commission  has  from  the  outset  shown  the  most 
appreciative  attention. 

The  Commission  maintained  to  the  end  the  scrupulous  attitude 
they  had  first  assumed.  After  making  themselves  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  the  seventy  designs  they  received  — two  of 
which  they  threw  out  because  the  author's  name  appeared  in  the 
memoranda  accompanying  them  —  and  making  a  preliminary  choice 
of  eight  or  ten,  they  awaited  the  comments  of  their  Board  of  Experts. 
These  in  like  manner  presented  eight  or  ten  as  most  suitable  for 
serious  consideration.  The  Commission  reported  the  next  day  that 
they  had  decided  upon  a  shaft  or  column  as  the  most  desirable  form 
of  monument  and  had  narrowed  their  choice,  informally,  to  two  or 
three.  The  experts  then  recommended,  in  writing,  that  they  should, 
as  provided  in  their  prospectus,  obtain  further  information  before 
making  a  formal  choice,  by  first  ascertaining  the  names  and  profes- 
sional prowess  of  the  authors  of  these  designs,  and  then,  if  necessary, 
asking  for  further  drawings  and  explanations.  The  Commission 
accordingly  broke  the  seals  and  found  that  the  design  most  in  favor 
both  with  themselves  and  with  their  professional  advisers  was  by 
Mr.  Bruno .  Schmitz,  of  Berlin.  As  his  name  is  well  known  and  his 
position  beyond  question,  inasmuch  as  he  is  the  bearer  of  many  per- 
sonal and  professional  distinctions,  they  at  once  took  a  decisive  vote 
adopting  his  design  —  subject  to  such  modifications  as  might  be 
agreed  upon  —  and  sent  him  a  letter  and  telegram  to  that  effect. 

The  report  of  the  experts  and  the  final  action  of  the  Commission 
will  be  sent  to  all  the  competitors  as  soon  as  they  can  be  got  through 
the  press. 

Mr.  Schmitz  was  the  winner  in  the  International  Competition  for 
the  National  Monument  at  Rome  some  years  since.  He  has  the 
Prussian  and  Dutch  Gold  Medals  for  art. 


HE  competition  for  designs  for  small  school-buildings  insti- 
tuted  by  the  New  York  State  Superintendent  of  Schools, 
has  resulted  quite  successfully,  fifty-eight  designs  having 
been  submitted.  Of  these  a  large  portion  were  excluded  from 
consideration  on  account  of  the  estimated  cost  being  greater 
than  the  sum  allowed,  and,  apparently  for  this  reason,  no  prize 
or  honorable  mention  was  awarded  in  either  of  the  two  higher 
classes,  the  best  two  plans  for  the  ten-thousand  dollar  building 
being  computed  to  cost  thirteen  thousand  and  sixteen  thousand 
five  hundred  dollars  respectively,  while  the  best  five-thousand 
dollar  design  was  estimated  to  cost  sixty-six  hundred.  No 
doubt  the  authors  of  these  designs  are  a  little  disappointed  at 
the  result,  and  it  is  not  impossible  that,  if  estimated  as  their 
designers  intended  to  build  them,  some  of  them  might  have 
been  brought  fairly  within  the  limit,  but  as  it  was  obviously 
impossible  to  call  in  the  competitors  to  assist  in  the  estimates, 


HE  Engineering  and  Building  Record  publishes  a  few  par- 
ticulars about  Mr.  Lindenthal's  proposed  bridge  across  the 
Hudson  River  at  New  York,  and  gives  a  comparative  view 
of  the  design  for  it  and  that  of  various  other  bridges  of  great 
span.  The  smallest  of  these  shown  is  the  steel  arch  bridge 
over  the  Mississippi  River  at  St.  Louis,  not  many  years  ago 
the  chief  engineering  wonder  of  the  country,  the  longest  span 
of  which  is  only  five  hundred  and  fifty-two  feet.  Next  in 
order  is  the  Poughkeepsie  bridge  across  the  Hudson,  now  in 
process  of  erection,  which  is  a  mixed  girder  and  cantilever 
construction  of  five  spans,  the  three  widest  spans  being  each 
five  hundred  and  forty-eight  feet.  The  third  example  is  the 
suspension  bridge  between  New  York  and  Brooklyn,  which  is 
fifteen  hundred  and  ninety-five  feet  and  six  inches  from  centre 
to  centre  of  the  piers,  and  next  to  this  is  the  huge  cantilever 
bridge  over  the  Forth  estuary,  with  its  two  spans  of  seventeen 
hundred  feet  each.  The  proposed  Hudson  River  bridge,  if 
built,  will  greatly  surpass  even  this,  the  middle  span  being 
twenty-eight  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  or  more  than  half  a  mile 
from  centre  to  centre  of  the  piers.  In  construction,  this  gigan- 
tic affair  is  intended  to  be  a  suspension  bridge,  with  cables 
forty  inches  in  diameter,  those  of  the  Brooklyn  bridge  being 
sixteen  inches,  but  the  cables  are  furnished  with  a  system  of 
lattice  trussing  which  appears  novel,  and  the  towers,  instead  of 
being  of  stone,  as  in  the  Brooklyn  and  most  other  large  suspen- 
sion-bridges, are  of  iron  lattice-work.  These  towers  are  figured 
on  the  diagram  as  five  hundred  feet  high,  so  that  the  structure 
would  have  a  most  imposing  effect,  and  with  six  railroad  tracks 
traversing  it,  as  the  plan  contemplates,  there  would  be  few 
more  interesting  structures  in  the  world. 


1CIRE  AND  WATER  mentions  a  device  of  some  value  for 
promoting  the  efficiency  of  that  simple  fire-extinguishing 
apparatus,  a  pail  of  water.  According  to  insurance  statistics, 
more  fires  are  put  out  by  water-pails  than  by  all  other  appli- 
ances put  together,  and  they  ought  to  be  always  within  reach.  In 
point  of  fact,  however,  although  the  pails  are  generally  pro- 
vided abundantly  in  hotels  and  office-buildings,  the  water  is 
very  apt  to  be  wanting,  and  even  if  kept  full,  the  pails  are 
often  borrowed  for  some  purpose  and  not  returned,  so  that 
when  most  needed  they  are  of  no  avail.  A  common  way  of 
meeting  this  difficulty  is  to  use  pails  with  round  or  conical  bot- 
toms, which  will  not  stand  on  a  floor,  and  are,  therefore,  not 
likely  to  be  borrowed,  but  this  formation  seriously  diminishes 
the  value  of  the  pail  as  a  fire-extinguisher,  since  a  man  with 
two  of  them  in  his  hands,  arriving  at  the  scene  of  action, 
cannot  use  either  without  setting  the  other  on  the  floor  and 
losing  all  its  contents.  As  an  improvement  on  this,  a  mill- 
manager,  who  had  found  it  difficult  to  keep  the  fire-pails  filled 
and  in  order,  recently  fitted  up  the  hooks  carrying  the  pails 
with  pieces  of  spring-steel,  strong  enough  to  lift  the  pail  when 
nearly  empty,  but  not  sufficiently  so  to  lift  a  full  pail.  Just 
over  each  spring,  in  such  a  position  as  to  be  out  of  the  way  of 
the  handle  of  the  pail,  was  set  a  metal  point  connected  with  a 
wire  from  an  open-circuit  battery.  So  long  as  the  pails  were 
full,  their  weight,  when  hung  on  their  hooks,  kept  the  springs 
down,  but  as  soon  as  one  was  removed  or  lost  a  considerable 
portion  of  its  contents  by  evaporation,  the  spring  on  its  hook 
would  rise,  coming  in  contact  with  the  metal  point,  thus 
closing  the  battery-circuit  and  ringing  a  bell  in  the  manager's 
office,  at  the  same  time  showing  on  an  annunciator  where  the 
trouble  was.  As  the  bell  continued  to  ring  until  the  weight  of 
the  delinquent  pail  was  restored,  it  was  impossible  to  disregard 
the  summons,  and  the  ingenious  manager  found  no  more  reason 
to  complain  of  the  condition  of  his  fire-buckets. 


14 


FEBRUARY  4,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


51 


SAKE   BUILDING.— XXII.' 


Example. 

A  girder  carries  the  end  of  a  beam,  on  which  there  is  a  uniform  load 
of  two  thousand  pounds.  The  beam  is  four  inches  thick,  and  of 
Georgia  pine.  What  size  must  the  stirrup-iron  be? 

example  stir  THE  shearing  strain  at  each  end  of  the  beam  will, 
rup  Irons.  o{  coursei  fa  one  thousand  pounds,  which  will  be  the 
load  on  stirrup-irons.  (See  Table  VII).  From  Table  IV  we  find 
for  Georgia  pine,  across  the  fibres,  (-j\  =  200,  we  have,  therefore, 
for  the  width  of  stirrup-iron  from  Formula  (69) 

_100°__1  ,« 
x  —  4.200  ~~    * 

Therefore  the  thickness  of  iron  from  Formula  (71)  should  be 

1000         _  J_  „ 
y  ~~  16000.1^          20~ ' 

we  must  make  the  iron  however  at  least  \"  thick  and  therefore  use  a 
section  of  1^  X  i"- 

In  calculating  ordinary  floor-beams  the  shearing  strain  can  be 
overlooked,  as  a  rule ;  for,  in  calculating  transverse  strength  we 
allow  only  the  safe  stress  on  the  fibres  of  the  upper  and  lower  edges, 
while  the  intermediate  fibres  are  less  and  less  strained,  those  at  the 
neutral  axis  not  at  all.  The  reserve  strength  of  these  only  partially 
used  fibres  will  generally  be  found  quite  ample  to  take  up  the  shear- 
ing strain. 

Rectangular  The   formulae    for  transverse   strength  are   quite 

beams,  complicated,  but  for  rectangular  sections  (wooden 
beams)  they  can  be  very  much  simplified  provided  we  are  calcu- 
lating for  strength  only  and  not  taking  deflection  into  account. 

Remembering  that  the  moment  of  resistance  of  a  rectangular  sec- 

b.d'1 
tion  is  (Table  I)  =  ~g~  an(l  inserting  into  Formula  (18)  the  value 

for  m  according  to  the  manner  of  loading  and  taken  from  (Table 
VII),  we  should  have  : 
For  uniform  load  on  beam. 

b.d* 


Transverse 

strength  of  I 

rectangu- 
lar beams. 

For  centre  load  on  beam. 


•Or 


(f) 


A.rf3      /  k  \ 
'  =  ^•(7) 


18.L, 
For  load  at  any  point  of  beam. 

.   fc-rf'-L 

•"•-Tiira 

For  unifoi  m  load  on  cantilever. 

u  = 


S6.L 
For  load  concentrated  at  end  of  cantilever. 


For  load  at  any  point  of  cantilever 

w'=  7& 
Where  «  =  safe  uniform  load,  in  pounds 


(72) 
(78) 

(74) 

• 
(75) 

(76) 
(77) 


Where  w  =  safe  centre  load  on  beam,  in  pounds  ;  or  safe  load  at 
end  of  cantilever,  in  pounds. 

1  Continued  from  page  10,  No.  628. 


Where  ir,=  safe  concentrated  load,  in  pounds,  at  any  point. 

Where  Y=  length,  In  feet,  from  wall  to  concentrated  load  (in  can- 
tilever). 

Where  jl/  and  AT  =  the  respective  lengths,  in  feet,  from  concen- 
trated load  on  beam  to  each  support. 

Where  £  =  the  length,  in  feet,  of  span  of  beam,  or  length  of  canti- 
lever. 

Win-re  b  =  the  breadth  of  beam,  in  inches. 

Where  d  =  the  depth  of  beam,  in  inches. 

Where/  -,  }=  the  safe   modulus  of   rupture,  per  square  inch,  of 

the  material  of  beam  or  cantilever  (see  Table  IV). 

The  above  formula  are  for  rectangular  wooden  beams  supported 
against  lateral  flexure  (or  yielding  sideways).  Where  beams  or  gir- 
ders are  not  supported  sideways  the  thickness  should  be  equal  to  at 
least  half  of  the  depth. 

No  allowance  The  above  formula!  make  no  allowance  for  dtflee- 
for  deflection,  linn,  and  except  in  cases,  such  as  factories,  etc., 
where  strength  only  need  be  considered  and  not  the  danger  of  crack- 
ing plastering,  or  getting  floors  too  uneven  for  machinery,  are  really 
of  but  little  value.  They  are  so  easily  understood  that  the  simplest 
example  will  answer  : 

Example. 

Take  a  3"  X  10"  hemlock  timber  and  9  feet  long  (clear  span), 
loaded  in  different  ways,  what  will  it  safety  carry  t  taking  no  account 
of  deflection. 

The  safe  modulus  of  rupture  (  -1)  for  hemlock  from  Table  IV  it 

=  750  pounds. 

If  both  ends  are  supported  and  the  load  is  uniformly  distributed 
the  beam  will  safely  carry,  (Formula  72)  : 

u  =  ?^j!  .  750  =  2778  pounds. 
j.y 

If  both  ends  are  supported  and  the  load  concentrated  at  the  centre, 
the  beam  will  safely  carry,  (Formula  73)  : 

2  .  750  =  1  389  pounds. 

If  both  ends  are  supported  and  the  load  is  concentrated  at  a  point 
I,  distant  four  feet  from  one  support  (and  five  feet  from  the  other) 
the  beam  will  safely  carry,  (Formula  74)  : 

Q   1  A3  Q 

to,  =  a-*u  •*  .  750  =  1406  pounds. 

If  one  end  of  the  timber  is  built  in  and  the  other  end  free  and  the 
load  uniformly  distributed,  the  cantilever  will  safely  carry,  (Formula 
75): 

u  =  ?-^!  .  750  =  694  pounds. 

OO.<7 

If  one  end  is  built  in  and  the  other  end  free,  and  the  load  concen 
trated  at  the  free  end,  the  cantilever  will  safely  carry,  (Formula  76)  : 

to  =  i^j!  .  750  =  34  7  pounds. 

I  £rU 

If  one  end  is  built  in  and  the  other  end  free,  and  the  load  concen- 
trated at  a  point  I,  which  is  5  feet  from  the  built-in  end,  the  canti- 
lever will  safely  carry,  (Formula  77)  : 

to,  =  ?'10-  .  750  =  625  pounds. 
72.5 

Where,  however,  the  span  of  the  beam,  in  feet,  greatly  exceeds 
the  depth  in  inches,  (see  Table  VIII),  and  regard  must  be  had  to 
deflection,  the  formulae  (28)  and  (29)  also  (37)  to  (42)  should 
always  be  used,  inserting  for  t  its  value  from  Table  I,  section  No.  2, 
or: 

.  _b.d» 
=  12 

Wliere  b  =  the  thickness  of  timber  in  inches. 

Where  d  =  the  depth  of  timber,  in  inches. 

Where  t  =  the  moment  of  inertia  of  the  cross-section,  in  inches. 

Table  IX,  however,  gives  a  much  easier  method  of  calculating 
wooden  beams,  allowing  for  both  rupture  and  deflection  and  Formulie 


lo." 


GLOSSAHV  OF  SYMBOLS.—  The  following  letter*, 
in  all  case*,  will  bo  found  to  express  the  same  mean- 
ing, unless  distinctly  otherwise  stated,  viz.:  — 
a    =r  arra,  in  square  inches. 
b    =  breadth,  in  inches. 
c    =  constant  for  ultimate  resistance  to  compression, 

in  pounds,  pur  square  inch. 
d   =  depth,  in  inches. 
*    =  constant  for  modulus  of  elasticity,  in  pounds- 

lnchv  that  is,  pounds  per  square  inch. 
/    =  factor-nf -safety . 
y    =  constant  for  ultimate  resistance  to  shearing,  per 

square  inch,  acrors  the  grain, 
y,  —  constant  for  ultimate  resistance  to  shearing,  per 

square  inch,  length  vise  of  the  grain. 
A    =  height,  in  inches. 

i     =  moment  of  inertia.  In  Inches.    (See  Table  I.] 
t    =  ultimate-    mottulus  of  rupture,  in   pounds,  per 

square  Inch. 
/     =  lexulh.  In  Inches, 
m      •  moment  or  benilitty  moment,  in  pounds-inch. 


n  =  constant  in  Uankiue's  formula  for  compression 
of  long  pillars.  [See  Table  I.] 

0  =  the  centre. 

p  =  the  amount  of  the  left-hand  re-action  (or  sup- 
port) of  beams  in  pounds. 

q  =  the  amount  of  the  riaht-kand  re-action  (or  sup- 
port) of  beams,  in  pounds. 

r    —  moment  of  resistance,^  \mAef.    [See  Table  I.] 

s     =  strain,  in  pounds. 

«  =  constant  for  ultimate  resistance  to  tension,  In 
pounds,  per  square  inch. 

u    =  uniform  load,  in  pounds. 

v    =  stress,  in  pounds. 

to   =  toad  at  centre.  In  pounds. 

xt  tj  and  z  signify  unknoten  quantities,  either  in  pounds 
or  Inches. 

1  =  total  defection,  in  Inches. 

p>  =  square  of  the  radius  of  gyration,  in  inches.    [See 

,  i 


Table  I.) 
j.    =.  diameter,  in  Inches. 


I    =  radius,  In  inches. 


15 


JT    —  3.14159,  or,  say,  3  1-7  signifies  the  ratio  of  the  cir- 
cumference and  diameter  of  a  circle. 

If  there  are  more  than  one  of  each  kind,  the  second, 
third,  etc.,  are  indicated  with  the  Itoman  numerals 
as,  for  Instance,  a,  a,,  au,  am,  etc.,  or  b,  b,,  »„,  6,,,,  eta. 

In  taking  nioinonta.  or  bending  moments,  strains, 
stresses,  etc.,  to  signify  at  what  point  they  are  taken, 
the  letter  signifying  that  point  Is  added,  as,  for  in- 
stance :  — 

m    *>  moment  or  bending  moment  at  centre. 
mx  —       "  point  A. 


mx—       " 

i     =  strain  at  centre. 
ti  _  "     point  B. 

II  —  "     point  X. 

v     •>  stress  at  centre. 
r0  —  "     point  D. 

rx  =  "     point  X. 

w    =  load  at  centre. 
t»A=         "   point  A. 


. 
point  X. 


52 


The  American   Architect  and  Building  News.     [VOL.  XXIII.-No.  632. 


(72)  to  (77)  have  only  been  given  here,  as  they  are  often  errone- 
ously given  in   text-books,  as   the   only  calculation,   necessary   I 

To  still  further  simplify  to  the  architect  the  labor 
""  xn  I  xmf  of  calculating  wooden  beams  or  girders,  the  writer 
has  constructed  Tables  XII  and  XIII. 

Table  XII  is  calculated  for  floor-beams  of  dwellings,  offices, 
churches,  etc.,  at  90  pounds  per  square  foot,  including  weight  ot 
construction.  The  beams  are  supposed  to  be  cross-bridged. 

Table  XIII  is  for  isolated  girders,  or  lintels,  uniformly  loaded, 
and  supported  sideways.  , 

When  not  supported  sideways  decrease  the  load,  or  else  use  timber 
at  least  half  as  thick  as  it  is  deep. 

In  no  case  will  beams  or  girders  (with  the  loads  given)  deflect  suf- 
ficiently to  crack  plastering. 

TABLE  XII- 

WOODEN   FLOOR-BEAMS. 
[Calculated  for  90  pounds  per  square  foot  of  floor  .] 


For  convenience  Table  XII  has  been  divided  into  two  parts,  the 
first  part  giving  beams  of  from  5'  0"  to  15'  0"  span,  the  second  part 
of  from  15'  0"  to  29'  0"  span. 

How  to  use  l'ne  use  °f  the  table  is  very  simple  and  enables  us 

Table  Xll.  to  select  the  most  economical  beam  in  each  case. 
For  instance  we  have  say  a  span  of  21'  6".  We  use  the  second  part 
of  Table  XII.  The  vertical  dotted  line  between  21'  0"  and  22'  0"  is, 
of  course,  our  line  for  21'  6".  We  pass  our  finger  down  this  line  till 
we  strike  the  curve.  To  the  left  opposite  the  point  at  which  we 
struck  the  curve,  we  read  : 

21.6  spruce,  W.  P.  56  —  4-14-14  or: 

at  21'  6"  span  we  can  use  spruce  or  white-pine  floor  beams,  of  56 
inches  sectional  area  each,  viz  :  4"  thick,  14"  deep  and  14"  from  cen- 
tres. Of  course  we  can  use  any  other  beam  below  this  point,  as  they 
are  all  stronger  and  stiff er,  but  we  must  not  use  any  other  beam 
above  this  point.  Now  then,  is  a  4"  X  14"  beam  of  sp'ruce  or  white 
pine,  and  14"  from  centres  the  most  economical  beam.  We  pass  to 
the  columns  at  the  right  of  the  curve  and  th«re  read  in  the  first 


cok  m  48  0  This  means  that  while  the  sectional  area  of  the  beam 
is  56  square  inches,  it  is  equal  to  only  48  square  inches  per  square 
foot  of  floor,  as  the  beams  are  more  than  one  foot  from  centres.  In 
this  column  the  areas  are  all  reduced  to  the  "area  per  square  foot  of 
floor  "  so  that  we  can  see  at  a  glance  if  there  is  any  cheaper  beam 
below  our  point.  We  find  below  it,  in  fact,  many  cheaper  beams,  the 
smallest  area  (per  square  foot  of  floor)  being,  of  course,  the  most 
economical.  The  smallest  area  we  find  is  36,  0  or  36  square  inches 
of  section  per  square  foot  of  floor  (this  we  find  three  times,  in  the 
sixteenth,  twenty-ninth  and  thirty-first  lines  from  the  bottom).  Pass- 
in"  to  the  left  we  find  they  represent,  respectively,  a  Georgia  pine 
beam,  3"  thick,  16"  deep  and  16"  from  centres;  or  a  Georgia  pine 
beam  3"  thick,  14"  deep  and  14"  from  centres;  or  a  white  oak  beam 
3"  thick,  16"  deep  and  16"  from  centres.  If  therefore,  we  do  not 


TABLE   XII.  —  (CONTINUED.) 


of  either  white  oak  or  Georgia  pine.  The  four  other  columns  on 
the  right  hand  side,  are  for  the  same  purpose,  only  the  figures  for 
each  kind  of  wood  are  in  a  column  by  themselves  ;  so  that,  if  we  are 
limited  to  any  kind  of  wood  we  can  examine  the  figures  for  that 
wood  by  themselves.  Take  our  last  case  and  suppose  we  are 
limited  to  the  use  of  hemlock ;  now  from  the  point  where  our  verti- 
cal line  (21'  6")  first  struck  the  curve,  we  pass  to  the  right-hand  side 
of  Table,  to  the  second  column,  which  is  headed  "  Hemlock."  From 
this  point  we  seek  the  smallest  figure  below  this  level,  but  in  the  same 
column;  we  find,  that  the  first  figure  we  strike,  viz:  41,  2  is  the 
smallest,  so  we  use  this ;  passing  along  its  level  to  the  left  we  find  it 
represents  a  hemlock  beam  of  48  square  inches  cross-section,  or  3" 
thick,  16"  deep  and  14"  from  centres. 

In  case  the  size  of  the  beam  is  known,  its  safe  span  can,  of  course, 

be  found  by  reversing  the  above  procedure,  or  if   the  depth  of  beam 

"and  span  is  settl-d,  we  can  find  the  necessary  thickness  and  distance 

between  centres;    in  this  way  the   Table,  of   course,  covers   every 

problem. 

Table.  XIII  is  calculated  for  wooden  girders  of  all  sizes.  Any 
thickness  not  given  in  the  table  can  be  obtained  by  taking  the  line 
for  a  girder  of  same  depth,  but  one  inch  thick  and  multiplying  by  the 
thickness. 

How  to  use  The  use  of  this  table  is  very  simple.     The  vertical 

Table  Xlll.  columns  to  the  left  give  the  safe  uniform  loads  on 
girders  (sufficiently  stiff  not  to  crack  plastering)  for  different  woods : 
these  apply  to  the  dotted  parts  of  curves.  The  columns  on  the  right- 
hand  side  give  the  same,  but  apply  to  the  parts  of  curves  drawn  in 
full  lines. 


16 


FEBRUARY  4, 1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


53 


TABLE  XIII. 

WOODKN    OIKDERg,  —  BBACEU   SIDEWAYS. 
[Safe  uniform  load  In  pound*.] 


Jb/e  uniform  1 

for  dotted 

Length  or  Jpoon  in  feet                                      ^^^sfel?.^101^ 

Ceorytfi. 
Pine 

White 

Jprucc 

White 

Pmc 

1 

i 

3   t}     I 

'       *?          ' 

1 

'*•! 

' 
'  / 

7  / 
J. 

1 

-V 

f 

b   d  'J 

»    g> 

1?  S  ?  3  ?  1  81  fl 

1  ! 

B       < 

'D 

>j 
a 

\ 

^  \ 

V      i 

\     ' 

D 

TJ   ' 
•  j   »• 

T  ^ 

5 
I 

> 
I 

ttS£mm&*** 

KfllkkJ 

f        (  03 

1330 

IO0S 

nec 

3323 

gag 

myo 

7OOQ 

&31O 

asfrs 

pff4g 

12603 
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17 


54 


The   American   Architect  and  Vuitdmg   News.     [VOL.  XXIlI.-No.  632. 


If  we  have  a  6"  X  16"  Georgia  pine  beam  of  20  feet  span  and 
want  to  know  what  it  will  carry,  we  select  the  curve  marked  at 
upper  end  6  X  16=:  96;' we  follow  this  curve  till  it  interacts  the 
vertical  line  20'  0";  as  this  is  in  the  part  of  curve  drawn  full  ,6 
pass  horizontally  to  the  right  and  find  under  the  column  marke 
»  Georgia  Pine,"  7980,  which  is  the  safe,  uniform  load  in  pounds,  bup- 
posin",  however,  we  had  simply  settled  the  span,  say  8  feet,  and  load, 
say  7000  pounds,  and  wished  to  select  the  most  economical  girder, 
bein",  we  will  sav,  limited  to  the  use  of  white  pine:  the  span  not 
bein°  <rcat  we  will  expect  to  strike  the  dotted  part  of  curve,  and 
therefore  select  the  fourth  (white  pine)  column  to  the  lejt.  We  pass 
down  to  the  nearest  figure  to  7000  and  then  pass  horizontally  to  the 
rifht  till  we  meet  the  vertical  8  feet  line  ;  this  we  find  is,  as  we  ex- 
pe°ctcd,  at  the  dotted  part,  and  therefore  our  selection  of  the  lett 
column  was  right.  We  follow  the  curve  to  its  upper  end  and  find  it 
requires  a  girder  4"  X  1 2"  =  48  square  inches.  Now  can  we  use  a 
cheaper  girder;  of  course,  all  the  lines  under  and  to  the  right  of  our 
curve  are  stronger,  so  that  if  either  has  a  smaller  sectional  area,  we 
will  use  it.  The  next  curve  we  find  is  a  6"  X  10"  =  60" ;  then 
comes  a  4"  X  14"  =  56";  then  an  8"  X  10"  =  80";  (hen  a  6"  X 
12"=  72"  and  soon;  as  none  has  a  smaller  area  we  will  stick  to  our  4 
X  12"  girder,  provided  it  is  braced  or  supported  sideways.  If  not, 
to  avoid  twisting  or  lateral  flexure,  we  must  select  the  next  cheapest 
section,  where  the  thickness  is  at  least  equal  to  half  the  depth ;  J  the 
cheapest  section  beyond  our  curve  that  corresponds  to  this,  we  find 
is  the  6"  X  10"  girder,  which  we  should  use  if  not  braced  sideways. 

In  the  smallei  sections  of  girders  where  the  difference  between  the 
the  loads  given  from  line  to  line  is  proportionally  great,  a  safe  load 
should  be  assumed  between  the  two,  according  to  the  proximity  to 
either  line  at  which  the  curve  cuts  the  vertical.  The  point  where 


work,  and  to  this  should  be  added  70  pounds  per  square  foot  which 
is  the  neatest  load  likely  ever  to  be  produced  if  packed  solidly _  with 
people?  Furniture  rarely  weighs  as  much,  though  heavy  safes  should 
be  provided  for  separately.  The  load  on  roofs  should  be  30  pounds 
additional  to  the  weight  of  construction,  to  provide  for  the  weight  of 
snow  or  wind.  Look  out  for  tanks,  etc.,  on  roofs.  Plastered  ceil- 
insrs  hanging  from  roofs  add  about  10  pounds  per  square  foot,  and 
slate  about  the  same.  Where  a  different  load  than  given  m  the 
Table  must  be  provided  for,  the  distance  between  centres  of  beams 
can  be  reduced,  proportionally  from  the  next  greater  load ;  or  the 
weight  on  each  beam  can  be  figured  and  the  beam  treated  as  a  girder, 
supported  sideways,  in  that  case  using  Table  XV.  Both  tables  are 
calculated  for  the  beams  not  to  deflect  sufficiently  to  crack  plastering. 
The  use  of  Table  XIV  is  very  simple.  Supposing 
•Fable  XIV.  we  have  a  span  of  23  feet  and  a  load  of  150  pounds 
per  square  foot.  We  pass  down  the  vertical  line  23'  0"  and  strike 
first  the  12"  — 96  pounds  beam,  which  (for  150  pounds)  is  opposite 
(and  half  way  between)  3'  4"  and  3'  8"  therefore  3'  6"  from 
centres.  The  next  beam  is  the  12"- 120  pounds  beam  4  < 
centres;  then  the  12"-125  pounds  beam  4'  5"  from  centres;  then 
the  15"-  125  pounds  beam  5'  6"  from  centres  and  so  on.  It  is  sim- 
ply a  question  therefore  which  "  distance  from  centres  "  is  most  de- 
sirable and  as  a  rule  in  fireproof  buildings  it  is  desirable  to  keep 
these  as  near  alike  as  possible,  so  as  not  to  have  too  many  different 
spans  of  beam  arches  and  centres.  If  economy  is  the  only  question, 
we  divide  the  weight  of  beam  by  its  distance  from  centres,  and  the 
curve  giving  the  smallest  result  is,  of  course,  the  cheapest.  Sup- 
posing however,  that  we  desire  all  distances  from  centres  alike,  say 
5  feet.  In  that  case  we  pass  down  the  150-pound  column  to  and 
then  along  the  horizontal  line  5'  0"  till  we  strike  the  vertical 


TABLE   XIV. 

IRON   I-BEAMS    FOR   FLOORS,  — 150    POUNDS    PER    SQUARE   FOOT. 


FOK  STKEL  BE  \HS  :    Space  one-quarter  distance  (between  centres)  larger  than  for  iron  beams  ;  but  length  of  span  (in  feet)  must  not  exceed  twice  the 
depth  of  beam  (in  inches),  or  deflection  will  be  too  great  for  plastering. 


the  curve  cuts  the  bottom  horizontal  line  of  each  part  is  the  length  of 
span  for  which  the  safe  load  opposite  the  line  is  calculated. 
Heavier  Floors.  Where  a  different  load  than  90  pounds  per  square 
foot,  must  be  provided  for,  we  can  either  increase  the  thickness  of 
beams  as  found  in  Table  XII,  or  decrease  their  distance  from  cen- 
tres, either  in  proportion  to  the  additional  amount  of  load.  Or,  if 
we  wish  to  be  more  economical,  we  can  calculate  the  safe  uniform 
load  on  each  floor  beam,  and  consider  it  as  a  separate  girder,  sup- 
ported sideways,  using  of  course,  Table  XIII. 

Basis  of  Tables  The  Tables  XIV  and  XV  are  very  similar  to  the 
XIV  and  XV.  foregoing,  but  calculated  for  wrought-iron  I-beams. 
Table  XIV  gives  the  size  of  beams  and  distance  from  centres  re- 
quired to  carry  different  loads  per  square  foot  of  floor,  150  pounds 
per  square  foot  of  floor  (including  the  weight  of  construction),  how- 
ever, being  the  usual  load  allowed  for  in  churches,  office-buildings, 
public  halls,  etc.,  where  the  space  between  beams  is  filled  with  arched 
brickwork,  or  straight  hollow-brick  arches,  and  then  covered  over 
with  concrete.  A  careful  estimate,  however,  should  be  made  of 
the  exact  weight  of  construction  per  square  foot,  including  the  iron- 

1  The  rule  for  calculating  the  exact  thickness  will  be  found  later,  Formula  (78). 


18 


(span)  lino,  in  this  case  23'  0",  and  then  take  the  cheapest 
beam  to  the  right  of  the  point  of  intersection.  Thus  in  our 
case  the  nearest  beam  would  be  15"-125  pounds;  next  comes  12^" 
-170  pounds;  then  15" -150  pounds,  etc.  As  the  nearest  beam  is 
the  lightest  in  this  case,  we  should  select  it.  The  weight  of  a  beam 
is  always  given  per  yard  of  length.  The  reason  for  this  is  that  a 
square  inch  of  wrought-iron,  one  yard  long,  weighs  exactly  10 
pounds.  Therefore  if  we  know  the  weight  per  yard  in  pounds  we 
divide  it  by  ten  to  obtain  the  exact  area  of  cross-section  in  square 
inches ;  or  if  we  know  the  area,  we  multiply  by  ten  and  obtain  the 
exact  weight  per  yard. 

How  to  use  The  use  of  Table  XV,  is  very  similar  to  that  of 

Table  XV.  Table  XIII  but  that  the  safe  uniform  load  is  given 
(in  the  first  column)  in  tons  of  2000  pounds  each.  The  continuation 
of  the  two  20"  beams  up  to  40  feet  span  is  given  in  the  separate 
table,  in  the  lower  right-hand  corner.  To  illustrate  the  Table :  if  we 
have  a  span  of  say  19  feet  we  pass  down  its  vertical  line ;  the  first 
curve  we  strike  is  the  10£" -90  pounds  beam,  which  is  one-quarter 
space  beyond  the  horizontal  line  6  (tons)  therefore  a  10£"  -90 
pounds  beam  at  19  feet  span  will  carry  safely  6^  tons  uniform  load, 
and  will  not  deflect  sufficiently  to  crack  plaster.  (Each  full  horizontal 


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Hthatrpt.  Pfisnag  Ct.Sustn 


FEBRUARY  4,  1888.]  The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


55 


TABLE  XV. 

IRON    I-BEAM    GIRDERS,  —  BRACED   SIDEWAYS. 

[Safe  uniform  load  In  tons  of  2000  pound*.] 


S^on  o-f  Girder  in  feet 

o  'p    o   o  *o   o  *o 

<D    e>    0    - 


:±±±±±t± 


19 


56  The   American   Architect  and  Building  News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  — No   632. 


space  represents  one  ton).  The  next  beam  at  19  feet  span  is 
10£"-105  pounds,  which  will  safely  carry  7^  tons.  Then  comes 
the  12" -96  pounds  beam,  which  will  safely  carry  7J  tons,  and  so 
on  down  to  the  20" -272  pounds  beam,  which  will  safely  carry  33  J 
tons. 

If  we  know  the  span  (say  1 7  feet)  and  uniform  load  (say  7£  tons) 
to  be  carried,  we  pass  down  the  span  line  1 7'  0"  and  then  horizon- 
tally along  the  load  line  7|  till  they  meet  which  in  our  case  is  at  the 
9"  — 125  pounds  beam;  we  can  use  this  beam  or  any  cheaper  beam, 
whose  curve  is  under  it.  We  pass  over  the  different  curves  under 
it,  and  find  the  cheapest  to  be  the  12" -96  pounds  beam,  which  we, 
of  course,  use. 

Iron  beams  must  be  scraped  clean  of  rust  and  be  well  painted. 
They  should  not  be  exposed  to  dampness,  nor  to  salt  air  or  they  will 
deteriorate  and  lose  strength  rapidly. 

Steel  beams.  Steel  beams  are   coming  into  use   quite   largely. 

They  are  cheaper  to  manufacture  than  iron  beams,  as  they  are  made 
directly  from  the  ore  and  in  one  process ;  while  with  iron  beams  the 
ore  is  first  converted  into  cast  iron,  then  into  wrought  iron,  and  then 
rolled.  Steel  beams,  however,  are  not  apt  to  be  of  uniform  quality. 
Some  may  be  even  very  brittle ;  they  are  however  very  much 
stronger  than  iron  (fully  25  per  cent  stronger),  but  as  their  deflec- 
tion is  only  about  9,  3  per  cent  less  than  that  of  iron  beams,  there  is 
but  very  little  economy  of  material  possible  in  their  use.  If  steel 
beams  are  used  they  can  be  spaced  one  quarter  distance  (between 
centres)  farther  apart  than  given  in  Table  XIV  for  iron  beams ;  or 
they  will  safely  carry  one  quarter  more  load  than  given  in  Table 
XV ;  but  in  no  case,  where  full  load  is  allowed,  must  the  span  in  feet, 
(of  steel  beams),  exceed  twice  the  deplh  in  inches.  With  full  safe 
loads  the  deflection  of  steel  beams  will  always  be  greater  than  that 
of  iron  beams  (about  £  larger).  Louis  DE  COPPET  BERG. 

[To  be  continued.] 


[Contributors  are  requested  to  send  with  their  drawings  full  and 
adequate  descriptions  of  the  buildings,  including  a  statement  of  cost. ~\ 

THE  HARVARD  MEDICAL-SCHOOL  BUILDING,  BOSTON,  MASS. 
MESSRS.  WARE  *  VAN  BRUNT,  ARCHITECTS,  BOSTON,  MASS. 

[Gelatine  Print,  issued  only  with  the  Imperial  Edition.] 
HOUSE   FOR    MR.   H.    R.    SMITH,    KANSAS   CITY,    MO. 

THE  materials  of  this  house  are  common  brick  with  finish  of 
pressed  brick,  the  foundation  walls  being  laid  up  in  random  stone- 
work. Cost,  about  $6000. 

TRUSSES  OVER  COURT-ROOM  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  COURT- 
HOUSE, ROCHESTER,  N.  Y.  MR.  W.  FRERET,  SUPERVISING 
ARCHITECT. 

ST.  STEPHEN'S  CHURCH,  OLEAN,  N.  Y.    MR.  R.  w.  GIBSON,  ARCHI- 
TECT, ALBANY,  N.  Y. 


BRICKLAYING  IN   FROSTY   WEATHER. 

<7J  REPORT  issued  by  the  Foreign  Office  dealing 
fj  with  this  subject  is  sufficiently  important  to  the 
I        building  interests  in  this  country  to  induce  us 
to  draw  attention  to  it.     In   this  report  —one  on 
"  Subjects  of  General   and   Commercial   Interest  " 
(No.  75)  —  the  method  of  carrying  on  bricklayers' 
work   in  Norway  is   described.     Mr.  T.   Mitchell, 
Consul-General  at  Christiania,  having  noticed  durin" 
'his  residence   in   that  country   extensive   buildin" 
operations  carried  on  in  the  depth  of  winter,  which 
are   generally  suspended  during  frosty  weather  in 
I-.ngland,  sought  information  from  Mr.   Paul  Due, 
_        one  of  the  leading  architects  at  Christiania,  and  his 
Tire-dog.  reply  forms  the  chief  portion  of  the  report  to  which 

d«,8nedby  we  refer.  Mr.  Paul  Due  has  had  experience  in  the 
-7^ou-rr.r.»Ln,t«l  btates  as  well  as  in  Norway,  and  he  says 
building  during  the  months  of  winter  has  been  prac- 
tised at  Christiania  for  at  least  twelve  years.  He  mentions,  amongst 
the  public  buildings  erected  in  the  capital  during  winter,  the  prhfci- 
pal  railway-station  (1879-80),  several  public  schools,  and  the  And- 
ean Church  (1883-84),  which  was  commenced  in  November  a°nd 
opened  in  June,  1884,  in  addition  to  several  private  houses  and 
mansions,  all  of  which  have  stood,  it  is  alleged,  remarkably  well  with 
one  exception,  owing  to  want  of  care  in  preparing  the  mortar.  Mr 
Due  says  :  "In  the  use  of  unslaked  lime  lies  the  whole  art  of  execut- 
ing brickwork  in  frosty  weather."  The  mortar  prepared  is  "  made 
in  sma  1  quantities  immediately  before  being  used,"  and  the  proportion 
>f  unslaked  lime  is  increased  as  the  thermometer  falls.  «  Warmth 

l6  't    PT'  b3;-,the  T  °  -  MSlake<1  limc'  H  is  onl>-  a  1uesti°"  of 
g  it  so  handily  and  quickly  as  to  enable  the  mortar  to  bind 


20 


with  the  bricks  before  it  cools."  The  report  further  states  that  the 
degree  of  frost  in  which  bricklayers'  work  can  be  done  is  variously 
estimated  at  between  6°  to  8°  Reaumur  (18£°  to  14°  Fahr.),  and 
12°  to  15°  Reaumur  (5°  above  to  12°  below  zero  Fahr.).  The  Nor- 
wegian Society  of  Engineers  and  Architects  have  decided  that  the 
variation  as  to  temperature  is  to  be  explained  by  the  degree  of  care 
bestowed  on  the  preparation  of  the  mortar,  and  that  by  fixing  a  rule 
for  the  preparation,  a  maximum  limit  of  frost  may  be  determined. 
It  has  been  found  in  practice  that  bricklayers'  work  at  Christiania 
does  not  pay  when  the  temperature  is  more  than  14°  to  9£°  Fahr. 
below  freezing-point. 

Such  are  the  main  propositions  that  have  been  put  forward,  and 
have  given  occasion  to  a  number  of  paragraph-writers  to  draw  some 
rather  misleading  conclusions  as  to  the  prospects  of  bricklayers  and 
hodmen  if  they,  or  rather  their  employers,  the  master-builders,  only 
adopt  the  Norwegian  practice.  There  is  nothing,  however,  very 
novel  in  the  suggestion.  In  Berlin  the  erection  of  buildings  has 
been  carried  on  during  frosty  weather  for  years  past,  and  it  is  only 
lately  that  the  authorities  issued  an  order  forbidding  any  brickwork 
being  undertaken  when  the  temperature  fell  to  or  below  2°  R.  or  26° 
Fahr.  It  seems  to  have  been  overlooked  also  that  the  theory  of 
mortar  freezing  but  not  setting  at  such  a  temperature  has  been 
before  contradicted  by  German  architects  of  repute.  Herr  Krause 
published  in  the  Baugewerke  Zeitung  some  time  ago  particulars  of  a 
building  erected  by  him  during  a  severe  frost,  the  temperature  being 
as  low  as  23C  to  14°  Fahr.  The  mortar  began  to  freeze  in  the 
operation  of  laying  the  bricks,  and  much  trouble  was  experienced  in 
setting  them.  He  had  the  lime  slaked  in  small  quantities,  mixed  the 
mortar  with  hot  water,  and  the  result  was  the  work  stood  quite  firm. 
AVhen  the  building  was  pulled  down  some  years  afterwards,  the 
mortar  was  found  so  hard  that  the  bricks  broke.  In  fact,  it  is  a 
common  opinion  in  Germany  that  frost  rather  improves  than  injures 
the  brickwork  under  certain  circumstances.  It  is  necessary,  how- 
ever, to  discover  what  the  conditions  are  which  promote  these 
results.  It  would  be  unsafe  and  misleading  to  assert  that,  given  a 
Frost  and  unslaked  lime,  any  brickwork  can  be  erected  that  shall 
turn  out  to  be  sound.  Herr  Krause  mentions  a  case  in  which  a  wall 
settled  and  bulged  out  after  a  sudden  thaw,  though  a  sudden  frost 
made  it  again  firm.  Every  experienced  bricklayer  will  assert  the 
same,  and  every  builder  and  architect  is  aware  of  the  effect  of  a 
thaw  after  a  frost. 

There  are  certain  conditions  necessary  for  the  process  mentioned 
in  Mr.  Due's  statement.  (1)  The  lime  should  be  of  exceptionally 
good  quality,  and  be  supplied  in  a  burned,  not  slaked,  condition,  the 
proportion  of  lime  being  increased  with  the  degree  of  frost.  (2) 
The  bricks  should  be  kept  dry  and  not  exposed  to  the  frost.  (3) 
The  frost  must  be  continuous,  not  followed  by  a  sudden  thaw. 
These  conditions  —  the  last  especially  —  are  necessary  for  carrying 
on  brickwork  in  frosty  weather.  A  wall  can  only  "freeze  itself 
dry "  when  no  moisture  is  present  and  the  action  of  freezing  con- 
tinues for  some  days.  When  we  take  into  consideration  the  chances 
there  are  against  obtaining  all  these  favorable  conditions,  the  impro- 
bability of  a  steady  frost  and  the  want  of  care  amongst  workmen  in 
the  preparation  of  the  mortar,  it  will  be  seen  how  little  reliance  can 
be  placed  upon  following  the  rule  in  the  majority  of  buildings.  One 
of  the  main  precautions  stated  in  the  Norwegian  report  is  that 
"  Bricks  which  have  been  out  in  the  rain  or  exposed  to  the  frost 
should  never  be  used,"  which  requires  that  they  should  be  stacked 
under  cover.  The  circumstances  of  most  buildings  render  such  care 
almost  impossible.  Unless  the  work  is  carried  up  as  dry  as  possible, 
the  warmth  developed  by  the  unslaked  lime  would  be  absorbed  by 
the  moisture;  the  mortar  also  should  be  as  stiff  as  convenient  for 
working  and  the  bricks  warm. 

The  thickness  of  main  walls  in  Norway  is  never  less  than  a  brick 
and  a  half  (15  in.  English).  It  is  also  stated  in  the  Memorandum 
that  outside  plastering  is  not  possible  in  frosty  weather  for  the 
reason  that  the  manual  labor  in  the  cornices  would  require  a  longer 
time  than  the  mortar  does  to  lose  its  warmth.  Even  plasterin<r"to 
flat  surface  is  seldom  undertaken.  Another  clause  states  thai  in 
Norway  the  lime  is  always  supplied  to  the  market  in  a  burned,  not 
slaked  condition. 

The  concluding  remarks  on  wages  and  hours  of  labor  are  of 
interest.  During  summer  the  hours  of  labor  are  from  6  A.  M.  to  7 
P.  M.,  with  three  hours'  rest  for  meals,  etc.  In  winter  the  workin" 
hours  are  reduced  by  four  hours,  when  they  are  from  8  A.  M.  to  3 
P.  M.,  with  an  hour's  rest.  The  wages  of  a  first-class  bricklayer 
range  from  4s.  Cd.  to  5s.  in  summer,  in  winter  being  regulated  to  that 
cale.  A  second-class  bricklayer  earns  3s.  4d.  to  3s.  lid.  per  day  of 
ten  hours  and  a  hodman  2s.  3d.  to  2s.  9d.  per  day.  In  frosty 
weather,  the  bricklayers  use  an  additional  thick  woollen  vest  under 
ie  jacket,  and  the  only  stimulant  used  is  coffee  after  dinner.  These 
are  facts  worth  noting  by  the  English  bricklayer,  whose  wa-es  in 
London  are  10£d.  per  hour. 

With  regard  to  the  suggestions  thrown  out  bv  the  report  of  the 
Consul-General  at  Christiania,  we  cannot  see  how  they  can  be 
largely  practised  in  this  country.  The  preparing  the  mortar  in 
small  quantities,  the  use  of  dry  bricks,  the  protection  of  the  walls 
from  rain  and  snow  at  night,  would  entail  an  extra  cost  of  labor 
that  could  only  be  followed  in  special  work  requiring  expedition. 
«  use  of  unslaked  lime  and  hot  water  in  small  works  requiring 
completion  during  a  frost  ,s  occasionally  resorted  to,  but  generally 
i  these  eases,  the  bricks  have  been  stored  in  a  heated  room  before 


FEBRUARY  4,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


57 


being  used.  The  rapid  changes  from  frost  to  thaw,  followed,  per- 
haps, liv  ii  five/,  ing  more  intrn.-r  than  the  first,  render  it  undeciraUr, 
even  when  the  materials  can  be  obtained,  to  run  the  risk  of  carrying 
up  any  considerable  amount  of  brickwork  during  the  winter  months 
in  this  country. 


IF1 


TESTING  A  COATED  NAIL. 

THERE 
have  re- 
cently 
been  made  at 
the  Water- 
town  Arsenal 
some  tests  of 
the  adhesive 
resistance  of 
(different 
kinds  of  nails 
in  wood  that 
seem  to  be  of 
more  than  or- 
dinary inter- 
est to  the 
users  of  nails, 
so  we  print  a 
summary  of 
them  below. 
The  nails 
used  were 
plain  wire 
nails,  cut 
nails,  and  a 

wire  nail  exactly  the  same  as  the  plain  wire  nail,  but  coated  with  pure 
refined  Trinidad  asphalt  under  Copeland's  patent.  The  cut  and  plain 
wire  nails  were  all  of  standard  makes.  In  all  of  these  tests  the  nails  were 
driven  perpendicular  to  the  grain  of  the  wood,  and  but  one  stick  of  each 
kind  of  wood  was  used,  and  in  all  but  the  white  oak  the  nails  were 
driven  to  within  one-fourth  inch  of  the  head.  In  the  white  oak  the 
nails  were  driven  about  one  and  three-quarter  inches.  All  of  the  cut 
nails  were  driven  with  their  tapering  sides  acting  lengthwise  the 
grain  of  the  wood.  In  figuring  the  surface,  no  account  was  taken  of 
the  taper  at  the  points  of  the  wire  nails.  Four  nails  of  each  kind 
and  size  were  tested  in  all  but  two  or  three  instances,  and  the  aver- 


The  average  resistance  in  pine  per  square  inch  of  surface  was  667 
pounds  for  the  coated  nail,  398  pounds  for  the  cut  nail,  and  280 
pounds  for  the  plain  wire  nail.  It  will  be  noticed  that  the  resistance 
per  square  inch  does  not  differ  very  materially  with  the  different 
sizes  of  cut  and  plain  wire  nails,  but  with  the  coated  nail  it  is  much 
higher  in  the  smaller  sizes.  This  is  owing  to  their  having  much 
greater  surface  in  proportion  to  their  mass  than  the  larger  sizes  and 
so  are  heated  to  a  higher  degree  of  temperature  by  driving,  thus 
cementing  them  more  firmly  into  the  wood.  The  very  slight  loss 
from  starting  as  compared  with  the  other  nails  is  accounted  for  in 
the  same  way :  In  starting  the  nail,  the  cement  is  fractured,  which 
generates  heat  and  softens  it,  and  so  as  soon  as  the  nail  is  at  rest 
again,  the  cement  unites  as  before.  The  average  loss  in  holding- 
power  of  the  nails  that  were  started  one-fourth  inch  was  seventeen 
per  cent  for  the  coated  nail,  thirty-seven  per  cent  for  the  plain  wire 
nail  and  fifty-two  per  cent  for  the  cut  nail.  If  the  cut  nails  had 
been  driven  with  the  taper  of  their  sides  acting  across  the  grain  of 


the  wood  they  would  have  given  a  somewhat  higher  resistance  to 
l>eing  started,  but  they  would  have  suffered  much  greater  loss  from 
being  started. 

The  average  variation  between  the  lowest  and  the  highest  result 
I  in  each  test  was  twenty -four  per  cent  for  the  coated  nail,  twenty-nine 
|  per  cent  for  the  plain  wire  nail,  and  thirty-three  per  cent  for  the  cut 


Kind  of 
Wood. 

Specific 
Gravity. 

Kind  of  Nail. 

Size. 

No.  Nails 
to  the  Ib. 

ll.s.  to 
pull  nail 
out. 

Ibs.  per 
square  inch 
of  surface 
in  Wood. 

Ibg.  to  pull 
out  after 
being 
drawn  fin. 

W.  ^Ine 

•1118 

Plain  Wire. 
Out  

4d 

•M 

394 

262 

H 
128 

238 

If 

W.  Pine 

14 

it 

Coated    " 
Plain  Wire. 

•I.I 

6d 
6d 

388 

274 
142 

265 

142 
284 

914 
335 

M 

W.  Pine 

ii 
ii 

Coated    " 

Plain  Wire. 
Cut  

6d 

8d 
8d 

271 

128 
86 

312 

227 
581 

763 
304 

41 

W.  Pine 

ii 
u 

Coated    " 

Plain  Wire. 
Cut  

i-.l 

I'M 

lod 

126 

88 

.">'.' 

506 
259 

677 
258 

41 

W.  Jine 

ii 

Coated    " 

Plain  Wire. 
<jut  

lOd 

20d 
20d 

87 

35 
31 

641 
526 

638 
281 

338 

41 

W.  Pine 

14 

u 
ii 

Coated    " 

Plain  Wire. 
Cut  

2"d 

fiOd 
UOd 

35 

13 
10 

1181 

1077 
2025 

631 

264 

350 

1016 

14 

Spruce 

« 
4384 

Coated    " 

Plain  Wire. 
Cut  

GUd 

lOd 
KM 

13 

88 
59 

1900 

368 
652 

465 

366 
410 

204 

307 

W.  Oak 

u 

ii 
6255 

Coated    " 

Plain  Wire. 
Cut  

I'M 

20d 
20d 

87 

35 
31 

657 

760 
1000 

654 

804 
925 

511 

u 

" 

Coated    " 

20d 

35 

999 

1054 

nail.  This  variation  was  probably  caused  by  slight  inequalities  in 
the  wood,  but  is  of  value,  showing  to  what  degree  the  nails  are 
effected  by  the  varying*density  of  the  wood  even  in  the  same  stick. 

To  illustrate  the  effect  of  the  different  nails  on  the  wood,  we  print 
two  cuts,  which  show  very  clearly  the  displacement  of  the  fibres 
caused  by  driving  the  nail.  The  wood  used  was  Michigan  pine  and 
the  nails  were  ten-penny  standard  and  were  driven  into  the  edge  of  a 
plank  and  the  block  then  sawed  off  and  split  by  driving  in  a  chisel 
along  the  edge.  A  study  of  these  blocks  would  lead  one  to  the  con- 
clusion that  a  test  of  the  nails  after  they  had  been  driven  some  time 
or  exposed  to  the  action  of  the  weather  would  be  more  favorable  to 
the  wire  nail.  We  believe  that  no  such  test  of  the  wire  nail  has  ever 
been  made,  so  we  have  no  definite  figures  to  judge  from. 


CAPITAL  FROM 

DeeRHUR.5 


LONDON  NOTES. 

I.(  >x  in  » ,  January  16, 1888. 

PUBLIC  attention  has  been  rudely 
called   to   the   necessity  of  doing 
something  to   make   theatres  less 
dangerous  by  the  two  terribly  destruc- 
tive fires   which   have  recently  taken 
place  at  the  Grand  Theatre,  London, 
and  the  Theatre  Royal,  Bolton.     For- 
tunately —  most  fortunately  —  the  fires 
at    both   these    theatres    occurred   at 
times  when   there  was  no  performance 
and   thus   we  are   spared  the  horrors 
that  followed  the  Exeter  calamity.     I 
hear,  however,  that   theatre-managers 
j.  are  experiencing  a  very  marked  dimi- 

C.HURO.  nution  of  their  profits,  which,  at  this 
festive  season   of  the  year,  should   be 

considerable.  Let  us  hope  that  this  attack  on  their  pockets  will 
make  them  devote  a  little  more  care  to  the  safety  of  the  lives  of 
their  patrons  than  they  have  been  wont  to  do,  for  after  all  it  is  the 
theatre  managers  and  lessees,  not  the  architects,  who  are  mainly 
responsible  for  the  present  lamentable  state  of  affairs.  Indeed,  I 
am  informed  by  an  eminent  theatrical  architect  in  London  that  he 
has  to  bring  considerable  pressure  to  bear  upon  his  clients  to  per- 
suade them  to  adopt  even  the  most  elementary  precautions. 

One  noteworthy  result  of  the  Grand  Theatre  fire  has  been  the 
remarkable  proofs  that  have  been  adduced  of  the  trustworthy  char- 
acter of  concrete  as  a  fire-resisting  material.  For  example,  the  iron 
girder  over  the  proscenium-arch  is  encased  with  some  inches  of  con- 
crete, and  though  it  was  evidently  exposed  to  the  hottest  flames,  it 
stands  erect  among  the  ruins  —  an  eloquent  argument  in  favor  of 
more  general  employment  of  this  material  in  public  and  in  private 
buildings.  The  uncased  girders  have,  as  usual,  twisted  and  contorted 
in  the  most  grotesque  manner.  The  plans  for  both  new  buildings 
are  being  prepared  by  Mr.  Frank  Matchain,  who  has  had  a  consider- 
able experience  in  this  particular  branch  of  the  profession.  Mr. 
Matcham  expresses  his  intention  of  lighting  the  theatres  entirely  by 
electricity  and  this  seems  to  me  to  remove  one  of  the  chief  causes  of 
danger,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  it  is  scoffed  at  by  a  gentleman 
whose  experience  should  enable  him  to  speak  authoritatively.  I 
refer  to  Mr.  Augustus  Harris  of  Drury  Lane. 

_"A  Century  of  British  Art,"  is  the  somewhat  ambitious  title  of 
this  winter's  exhibition  at  the  Grosvenor  Gallery.     I  was  a  little 


21 


58 


TJie   American   Architect  and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  632. 


curious  to  sec  what  would  be  the  effect  of  the  recent  split  in  the  man- 
a"ement  upon  the  character  of  the  Kxhibition,  but  I  must  say  that 
Sk  Coutts  Lindsay  has   succeeded   in   gathering  together   a   very 
creditable  collection.     The  period  selected  is  from  1737  to  1837,  and 
most  of  the  principal  artists  who  flourished  during  that  century  are 
represented.      Whether  all   the   drawings   that   are   exhibited   are 
worthy  of  the  honor  conferred  upon  them,  or  whether  some  well- 
known  artists,  such  as  Gainsborough   and   Reynolds,  for   instance, 
have  been  quite  fairly  treated,  is,  I  think,  an  open  question,  but  it 
must  be  remembered  that  Sir  Coutts  Lindsay's  task  was  no  easy  one. 
Hogarth  is  strongly  represented,  and  for  those  who  like  his  pictures, 
the°eollection  will  doubtless  prove  of  great  interest.     One  extremely 
quaint  sketch  entitled  "The  Sleeping  Congregation,"  is  a  capital 
satire  upon  the  religious  worship  of  our  forefathers.     Another  of  a 
totally  different  character,  "  The  Lady's  Last  Stake,"  represents  a 
young  and    virtuous   lady,  who,  playing  at  cards   with  an   officer, 
loses 'her  money,  watch  and  jewels.     Her  opponent  gathering  these 
articles  together  in  his  hat  proffers  them  at  the  price  of  a  greater 
prize  —  her  virtue  and   fidelity  to   her  husband.      Her   hesitation 
forms  the  subject  of  the  picture. 

Of  the  other  artists,  Constable,  with  his  singular  treatment  of 
skies ;  Turner,  with  his  delightfully  dreamy  landscapes,  full  of  rich 
subdued  light;  Morland,  Mulready,  Crome,  the  elder,  and  Wilkie, 

are  all  more  or  less  fairly  represented.     One  of  Wilkie's  pictures 

particularly  took  my 

fancy :   it  was  called 

"The  Letter  of  In- 
troduction," and  the 

attitude   of   the    old 

gentleman,  who,  sit- 
ting at  his  escritorie, 

deliberately    opens 

the     missive     while 

carefully    stud  y 'i  n  g 

the  looks   and    atti- 
tude  of    his    simple 

but  dignified    guest, 

is   charming    in   the 

extreme ;     and     the 

delicate    model  ling 

of  the  Japanese  jar 

in  the  foreground  is 

beyond     all     praise. 

Altogether,  although 

the  exhibition  is,  in 

a  sense,  both  incom- 
plete and  too  complete,  yet,  Sir  Coutts  Lindsay  deserves  our  warmest 

congratulations  upon  the  result  of  his  labors. 

I  have  not  yet  been  to  the  Academy  Exhibition  of  the  works  of 

Deceased  British  Artists,  but  from  what  I  hear  it  is  hardly  up  to  its 

usual  standard. 

"Brasses"  formed  the  subject  of  a  lecture  at  the  Architectural 
Association  the  other  night,  by  a  well-known  amateur  rubber,  M.  A. 
Oliver.  The  collection  of  rubbings  was  one  of  the  finest  I  have  ever 
seen,  and  it  certainly  gave  the  room  a  weird  appearance  to  be  sur- 
rounded on  all  sides  by  life-sized  figures  of  grim  knights  in  armor 
and  stern  ecclesiastics  frowning  down  upon  us.  The  room  was 
fairly  full,  and  the  audience  very  enthusiastic. 

A  Travelling  Studentship  of  £100  which  has  been  established  by 
the  British  School  of  Athens,  in  conjunction  with  the  President  of 
the  lloyal  Institute  of  British  Architects,  for  the  purpose  of  research 
into  the  architecture  of  the  ancient  Greeks,  has  just  been  won  by 
Mr.  R.  Elsey  Smith,  son  of  Professor  Roger  Smith,  the  well-known 
and  justly  esteemed  Professor  of  Architecture  at  University  College, 
London.  Mr.  S.  R.  Greenshale  has  also  won  a  prize  of  £20  For 
measured  drawings  offered  by  Colonel  Edis. 

Nothing  further  has  yet  been  done  about  the  Board  of  Works 
scandal.  CHIKL. 


THE   MEXICAN  LAUNDRY. 

THERE  are  some  things  connected  with 
the  architectural  economy  of  Mexico 
that  are  worthy  of  imitation  by  Ameri- 
cans, but  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  public 
laundries  are  among  them.  They  arc,  how- 
ever, quite  curious,  and  a  sketch  of  them 
may  prove  interesting  if  not  instructive. 
They  are  a  feature  of  every  Mexican  town. 
Throughout  the  republic  every  runnin^ 
stream  is  converted  into  a  laundry  and 
every  day  is  "wash-day."  The  women 

'iratl'7  *,'  *e  river,'"  bfari"g  great  bun- 

CHI  IRTH  US  clothmS  and  selecting  large,  flat 
CHURCH  stones  for  washboards,  and  using  the  roots 
of  a  kind  of  cactus  for  soap,  wash  out  the 
various  garments  (rubbing  them  with  such  vigor  upon  the  flat  stones 
as  to  remove  every  particle  of  dirt  and  parts  of  the  garments  also), 
and  then  hang  them  upon  the  bushes  to  dry.  Sometimes  they  wear 
the  clothing  to  be  washed  down  to  the  river  and  "  kill  time  "  while  it 
is  drying  by  taking  a  bath.  Thus  there  are  favored  spots  upon  the 


river  banks  in  the  outskirts  of  every  town  and  village  which  present 
a  gay  scene  from  sunrise  to  sunset  every  day  in  the  week,  Sunday 
not  exceptcd. 

Down  in  that  part  of  the  country  whore  lava  abounds,  and  espe- 
cially in  the  neighborhood  of  the  city  of  Mexico,  the  municipal  or 
other  authorities  have  been  at  some  pains  to  provide  special  places 
where  the  poorer  classes  can  do  their  washing.  What  part  lava  has 
to  play  in  this  benevolence  on  the  part  of  Mexican  rulers  is  easily 
explained :  lava  enters  largely  into  the  construction  of  such  a  laun- 
dry in  addition  to  the  other  uses  made  of  it  in  the  localities  where  it 
is  to  be  found.  Pedregal,  which  means  "a  stony  place,"  is  an 
immense  lava  bed  lying  near  the  famous  battlefield  of  Churubusco, 
and  has  itself  a  name  and  place  in  the  history  of  the  Mexican  War. 
It  furnishes  an  immense  quantity  of  lava,  which  can  be  hewn  into 
any  shape  without  difficulty,  and  is  consequently  in  great  demand 
for  paving-stones  and  for  metate.i  —  the  stones  upon  which  the  women 
grind  corn.  It  is  very  dark  colored  and  contains  innumerable  cavi- 
ties of  every  size,  showing  where  air  has  been  confined  as  the  molten 
mass  has  flowed  down  the  mountain  sides  and  spread  over  the  plain. 
In  times  past  the  lava  beds  of  Pedregal  must  have  been  largely  drawn 
upon  for  the  construction  of  a  large  number  of  laundries  which  I 
have  seen  in  the  City  of  Mexico  and  in  neighboring  cities. 

These  laundries  consist  of  from  fifty  to  a  hundred  rectangular 
troughs  of  lava  placed  side  by  side  on  both  sides  of  a  narrow  reser- 
voir. Each  trough  is 
about  three  feet  long 
by  half  that  width, 
and  probably  two  feet 
thick,  though  it  usu- 
ally stands  but  a  foot 
or  so  out  of  the  water. 
It  is  scooped  out  to 
the  depth  of  two  or 
three  inches  only. 
Being  placed  oblique- 
ly to  the  water,  the 
water-line  is  a  regu- 
lar zig-zag.  These 
troughs  may  have 
been  originally  de- 
signed to  hold  the  al- 
lowance of  water  for 
each  laundress,  but 
they  are  now  used 
as  washboards,  and 
the  surface  of  a  lava 

block  being  far  from  smooth,  owing  to  the  numerous  air-cells  men- 
tioned above'  clothing  which  passes  through  the  hands  of  one  of 
these  laundresses  does  not  last  long.  It  is  buttonless  after  the  first 
washing  and  hangs  in  shreds  after  the  second  or  third. 

The  scenes  at  one  of  these  public  laundries  are  very  picturesque  and 
would  delight  the  soul  of  any  artist  with  a  penchant  for  peasant  life. 
The  women  work  hard,  pausing  now  and  then  to  gossip  with  their 
neighbors,  and  their  children  play  around  until  the  washing  is  done 
and  are  carried  home  in  the  wooden  "  dug  outs,"  which  are  a  part  of 
every  Mexican's  household  outfit.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  there  are 
seldom  any  quarrels  among  the  women  at  these  laundries. 

When  these  laundries  were  first  instituted  I  have  never  found  any 
records  to  show.  They  must  be  very  old,  for  they  were  built  at  a 
time  when  more  regard  was  paid  to  the  needs  of  the  poorer  classes  in 
Mexico  than  at  present.  ARTHUK  HOWARD  NOLL. 


WESTERN   PENNSYLVANIA   ASSOCIATION    OF    ARCHITECTS. 

the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  W.  P.  A.  A.,  the  following  officers 
were  elected.  President,  Andrew  Peebles;  Vice-President, 
(reo.  S.  Orth;  Secretary,  L.  O.  Dause,  C.  E.;  Treasurer,  Jos. 

Anglic;    Directors,    Thos.  M.  Boyd,  C.  E.,    Jos.  Stillbum-,  T.    D. 

Evans.  (Certified,)  L.  O.  DAUSE,  Secretary. 


22 


WHAT  MIGHT  HAVE  BECOME  OF  THE  BASTILE.— The  king  who  hesitates 
is  very  often  lost,  just  as  much  as  though  he  were  an  ordinary  mortal 
A  very  interesting  discovery  of  recent  date  shows  that  if  Louis  XVI 
had  only  been  a  little  less  dilatory  he  might  have  prevented  the  taking 
the  Uastile,  and  possibly  changed  the  course  of  history.  It  is  now 
clearly  proved  that  early  in  1788  he  had  given  his  conditional  approval 
to  a  plan  for  demolishing  the  Bastile  and  for  laying  out  the  site  as  a 
garden;  and  a  plan  was  actually  prepared  showing  how  the  proposed 
change  could  be  effected,  but  the  king,  unfortunately  for  himself,  did 

)t  at  once  approve  this  plan  when  it  was  placed  before  him.  He  said 
he  would  think  about  it,  and  while  he  was  thinking,  other  and  more 
stirring  events  followed,  till  presently,  on  July  14.  1789,  the  Parisians, 
a  ot  waiting  for  the  king's  consent,  pulled  down  the  Bastile  on  their 
own  accoun  The  original  plan  for  laying  out  the  site  as  a  public 
garden  is  still  in  existence,  and  may  be  seen  by  the  curious  among  the 
historical  treasures  at  the  National  Library  at  Paris.  —  London  Figaro 


FEBRUARY  4,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


TESTING    FOR    THE   FOUNDATIONS  OF   THE  CON- 
GRESSIONAL LIBRARY. 

OFFICE  OF  THE  ARCHITECT  OF  TIIF.  CONGRESSIONAL  LIBRARY) 
BUILDINO,  14.1  KAST  CAPITOL  STKF.KT, 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  January  19, 1888. ) 

TO    THE    EniTOKS    OF   THE    AMERICAN    ARCHITECT: 

Dear  .Sir,*, — My  .attention  has  been  called  to  a  communication  in 
your  valued  journal  of  January  7,  headed  "  A  Faulty  Ground-test- 
ing Apparatus,"  accompanied  by  an  illustration.  Permit  me  to  say 
that  both  the  illustration  and  the  writer's  deductions  are  extremely 
itiarriirato,  and  would  indicate  that  his  visit  "between  trains"  to  the 
Library  site  must  have  been  a  very  hasty  one.  The  sketch  was 
evidently  not  made  on  the  spot,  but  subsequently  from  the  vague  im- 
pressions received.  The  apparatus  of  which  I  send  you  drawings, 
consists  of  a  set  of  cast-iron  pedestals,  exactly  twelve 'inches  square 
on  the  base,  which  are  placed  four  feet  apart  from  centres.  Over 
these  pedestals,  and  fitting  into  shoes  placed  on  the  pedestals,  there 
rest  two  rolled  iron  deck-beams.  The  weight  (pig-lead)  rests  on  a  car 
built  of  four  cast-iron  flanged  wheels  with  wrought-iron  axles,  which 
carry  a  timber  platform  in  the  manner  shown  on  the  drawings.  The 
lowest  foundation  coujses  of  the  Library  have  been  designed  to  sus- 
tain, from  the  superincumbent  weights  of  all  descriptions,  a  uniformly 
distributed  load  of  two-and-one-half  tons  per  square  foot;  the  test- 
load  applied  to  the  apparatus  being  double  that  amount,  or  five  tons 
per  square  foot.  The  car  which  is  placed  precisely  over  four  of  the 

CA^       AT    WORK 


pedestals  is  loaded  with  twenty  tons  of  pig-lead,  and  after  a  record 
has  been  taken  of  its  effect  upon  the  ground,  is  shifted  on  to  the  next 
four  pedestals  which  have  been  established  in  line  with  the  former, 
an'l  the  operation  is  then  repeated.  Accurate  levels  are  obtained 
w;th  a  levelling  instrument,  care  being  taken  to  have  the  four 
|,,.dt  stals  on  a  level  at  the  start,  and  disconnected  from  any  others  for 
the  time  being. 

Now,  it  will  be  apparent  that  with  this  method  a  practical  result  is 


achieved,  which,  under  the  circumstances,  is  very  satisfactory.     The 
ground  under  the  proposed  Congressional  Library  Building'  is  of  a 
fine  sand  mixed  with  particles  of  clay,  which  would,  under  ordinary 
conditions,  be  accepted  as  a  first-class  substratum  to  build  upon.     In 
this  case,  however,  it  was  considered   advisable  to  use.  more  than 
ordinary  caution    in  the  preparations   for   the   foundations  of   this 
structure,  and  the  simple  and  inexpensive  plan  illustrated  herewith 
was  devised  for  the  purpose.     On  the  other  hand,  it  would  have 
been  injudicious  to  overshoot  the  mark  by  complicating  the  apparatus 
for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  mathematically  accurate  results,  the 
benefit  of  which  would  be  lost  in  the  practical  execution  of  the  work. 
It  is  known  to  every  experienced  architect  or  engineer  that  in  most 
cases  where  practical  results  are  to  be  obtained,  the  subtleties  of 
scientific  tests  and  nice  mathematical  calculations  are  engulfed  in  the 
"factor-of-safety,"  and  this  especially  so  with  such  materials  as  »and 
and  clay  which  are  influenced  by  all  kinds  of  atmospheric  conditions- 
The  use  of  a  travelling  car  was  chosen  for  its  ease  of  transporta. 
tion.     If,  as  Mr.  Arey  suggests,  the  load   were  piled   upon   single 
1  pedestals,  it  would  require  a  large  force  of  men,  and  a  great  deal  of 
time  to  load  and  unload  the  lead,  and  to  handle  and  transport  the 
lead  in  bulk  would  again  require  staging  and  other  apparatus.     As 
constructed,  the  loaded  car  is  satisfactory.     Indications  are  given  in 
the  excavation  trenches  of  any  weak  spots,  and  the  remits  obtained 
show  that  the  apparatus  is  perfectly  sensitive.   The  minimum  compres- 
sion so  far  as  has  been  proceeded  with,  was  less  than  one-eighth  inch 
per  square  foot, and  the  maximum  one-and-one-half  inch, all  in  a  tn-nch 
one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  long,  and,  with  one  exception  no  spot 
has  been  discovered  which  would  justify  the  use  of  any  extraordinary 
means  of  strengthening  the  foundations  by  spreading  or  deepening, 
as  the  eoncre'       ^ed  will  be  strong  enough  to  bridge  the  slight  in- 
equalities thus  far  discovered  and  noted.     In  isolated  pier-pits,  the 
single  pedestal  mentioned  by  Mr.  Arey  had  to  be  used  as  there  was 
not  room  enough  to  run  the  car.     In  these  instances  the  load  had  to 
be  steadied  and  braced  latterly  to  keep  it  from  tumbling  over.    From 
a  strictly  theoretical  point  of  view  this  would  also  obviously  affect 
the  correct  result,  but  for  the  practical  point  in  question  it  was  con- 
sidered sufficient  evidence  of  good  ground  when  the  load  of  five  tons 
on  the  single  pedestal  left  no  impression  deeper  than  one-eighth  of 
an  inch.     Together  with  the  drawings  I  enclose  a  schedule  of  "the  re- 
sults obtained  with  the  apparatus. 

STATEMENT  "  A  "  or  THE  RESULTS  IN  TESTING  THE  SOIL  WITH  A  WEIGHT 
OF  6  TONS  PER  SQUARE  FOOT,  FROM  OCT.  25,  UP  TO  Nov.  11, 1887,  INCLUSIVE. 


Number 
of 

IV.Ir.stnl. 

Settlement 
in  inches. 

Remarks. 

Number 
of 
Pedestal. 

Settlement 
in  inches. 

Remarks. 

West. 
Fed. 

East 

Still. 

West.j  East 
Pedestal. 

1 

31 

1 

2 

32 

1 

Fine  dry  Sand. 

4 

33 

1 

5 

34 

6 

35 

7 

36 

8 

37 

9 

38 

10 

39 

11 

40 

After  rain. 

12 

41 

13 

42 

I 

14 

43 

After  rain. 

15 

44 

3-10 

a-f 

; 

- 

17 

45 

18 

After  rain. 

Fieri 

19 

"    2 

20 

none 

none 

."    3 

21 
22 

\ 

i 

"    6 

23 

none 

none 

"    6 

I 

24 

i 

* 

"    7 

| 

27 

2K 

none 

none 

"    8 

I 

29 
30 

! 

i 

Fine  dry  sand. 

Maximum  =  1}  in.          Minimum  =r  J  In. 
Av'r'ge  =  8-32  in.  in  83  teats,  185  ft.  space. 

In  conclusion  I  wish  to  extend  a  cordial  invitation  to  the  members 
of  my  own  and  the  related  engineer  profession  to  drop  in  upon  me 
"  between  trains,"  my  office  being  on  the  Library  site,  where  I  shall 
be  happy  to  extend  any  facilities  in  my  power  to  examine  the  draw- 
ings, the  work  and  everything  else  of  interest  in  the  construction  of 
the  Congressional  Library  Building. 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

•J.  L.  SMITHMEYER, 
Architect  Congressional  Library  Building. 

HARDING'S  BOOKS  ON   DRAWING. 

TORONTO,  Jan.  26,  1888. 
To  THE  EDITORS  or  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  — In  your  issue  for  October  25,  lf»84,  you  recommend 
to  a  correspondent  J.  D.  Harding's  "Principles  and  Practices  of 
Art "  for  architectural  picture-making.  I  have  before  me  a  list  of 
books  in  which  I  find  Harding's  "Lessons  on  Art,  140  Pnxressive 
Lessons  on  Drawing"  1849,  small  folio,  would  this  be  the  work  to 
which  you  referred  ?  An  answer  would  much  oblige, 

Yours  truly,  A  DRAUGHTSMAN. 

[No.      The  books  mentioned  are  distinct  works  b\-  the  same  author  — 
Kus.  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT.] 


60 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.       [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  632. 


IRON  CHURCHES. 

BOSTON,  Jan.  28,  1888. 

To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  Mr.  Lawrence  B.  Valk,  Architect,  Tribune  Building, 
New  York,  can  probably  give  information  as  to  the  builders  of  iron 
churches  in  this  country.  v- 

[ANOTHER  correspondent  reminds  us  that  Mr.  Ruskin  wrote  a  year  or  so 
B»O  to  a  church  committee  to  the  effect  that  "of  all  manner  of  churches 
thus  idiotically  built,  iron  churches  are  damnablest  to  me.  — EDS.  AM. 
ARCHITKCT.] 

PLASTER   BOARDING. 

EAST  Los  Axcict.KS,  CALIFORNIA,  Dec.  29,  1887. 

To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  Could  you  kindly  give  me  any  information  regarding 
a  material  called  plaste'r  boarding.  I  am  desirous  of  knowing  where 
it  is  manufactured  and  how  used.  I  enclose  stamp  for  reply. 

Yours  etc,,  WM.  A.  POTTS. 


RUSKIN'S  NEW  ATTITUDE  ABOUT  "  FINISH." — There  is  a  little  book, 
and  a  very  precious  and  pretty  one,  of  Dr.  John  Brown's,  called  "  Some- 
thing About  a  Well."  It  has  a  yellow  paper  cover,  and  on  the  cover  a 
careful  wood-cut  from  one  of  the  doctor'*  own  pen-sketches  —  two  wire- 
haired  terriers  begging,  and  carrying  an  old  hat  between  them.  There 
is  certainly  not  more  than  five  minutes'  work,  if  that,  in  the  original 
sketch ;  but  the  quantity  of  dog-life  in  those  two  beasts  —  the  hill- 
weather  that  they  have  roughed  through  together,  the  wild  fidelity  of 
their  wistful  hearts,  the  pitiful  irresistible  mendicancy  of  their  eyes  and 
paws — fills  me  with  new  wonder  and  love  every  time  the  little  book 
falls  out  of  any  of  the  cherished  heaps  in  my  study.  No  one  has 
pleaded  more  for  finish  than  I  in  past  time,  or  oftener  or  perhaps  so 
strongly  asserted  the  first  principle  of  Leonardo,  that  a  good  picture 
should  look  like  a  mirror  of  the  thing  itself.  But  now  that  everybody 
can  m  rror  the  thing  itself— rat  least  the  black-and-white  of  it  —  as 
easily  as  he  takes  his  hat  off,  and  then  engrave  the  photograph,  and 
steel  the  copper,  and  print  piles  and  piles  of  the  thing  by  steam,  all  as 
good  as  the  first  half-dozen  proofs  used  to  be,  I  begin  to  wish  for  a 
little  less  to  look  at,  and  would,  for  my  own  part,  gladly  exchange  my 
tricks  of  stippling  and  tinting  for  the  good  doctor's  gift  of  drawing  two 
wire-haired  terriers  with  a  wink.  And  truly,  putting  all  likings  for  old 
fashions  out  of  the  way,  it  remains  certain  that  in  a  given  time  and  with 
simple  means,  a  man  of  imaginative  power  can  do  more,  and  express 
more,  and  excite  the  fancy  of  the  spectator  more,  by  frank  outline  than 
by  completed  work ;  and  that  assuredly  there  ought  to  be  in  all  our  na- 
tional art  schools  an  outline  class  trained  to  express  themselves  vigor, 
ously  and  accurately  in  that  manner.  Were  there  no  other  reason  for 
such  lessoning,  it  is  a  sufficient  one  that  there  are  modes  of  genius 
which  becomes  richly  productive  in  that  restricted  manner,  and  yet  by 
no  training  could  be  raised  into  the  excellence  of  painting.  Neither 
IJewick  nor  Cruikshank  in  England,  nor  Uetsch,  nor  Ludwig  Richter 
in  Germany,  could  ever  have  become  painters ;  their  countrymen  owe 
more  to  their  unassuming  instinct  of  invention  than  to  the  most  ex- 
alted efforts  of  their  historical  schools.  —  John  Raskin,  in  the  Magazine 
of  Art. 


DISAPPEARANCE  OF  A  FRENCH  PICTURE  IN  AMERICA.  —  A  curious 
reminiscence  of  the  ill-fated  Crystal  Palace  Exhibition  of  New  York  of 
1853  is  brought  up  by  a  memorial  received  here  from  M.  Antoine  Etex, 
the  distinguished  French  sculptor,  architect  and  painter.  M.  Etex 
states  that,  filled  with  admiration  for  the  institutions  of  the  United 
States,  he  executed  a  large  historical  painting,  "To  the  Glory  of  the 
United  States,"  in  which  he  depicted  Washington,  Franklin  and  other 
heroes  of  the  Revolution,  many  of  the  faces  being  copied  from  authen- 
tic portraits  in  the  possession  of  descendants  of  Lafayette,  the  back- 
ground being  filled  by  portraits  of  all  the  Presidents  of  the  United 
States  down  to  1855,  and  tlie  wliole  surmounted  by  the  JEg'is  of  the 
Goddess  of  Liberty.  He  was  persuaded  by  a  German  named  Buschek 
to  send  this  work  for  exhibition  to  the  New  York  Crystal  Palace. 
Horace  Vernet  and  a  number  of  other  eminent  French  artists  were  in 
like  manner  persuaded  to  forward  works  for  exhibition,  it  being 
expressly  stipulated  that  all  the  contributions  should  be  safelv  returned 
without  cost.  In  1855  an  alarming  rumor  reached  him  that  all  the 
works  of  art  exhibited  at  the  Crystal  Palace  had  been  seized  and  would 
be  sold  for  the  benefit  of  the  creditois  of  the  affair.  He  determined  to 
come  to  the  United  States  and  take  nieasures  to  protect  his  own  pro- 
perty and  that  of  his  fellow-artists.  The  Emperor  Napoleon,  notwith- 
standing M.  Etex's  known  republican  sentimen  s  and  the  part  he  had 
played  in  the  revolution  of  1848,  sent  his  private  secretary  M  Moc-V 
quart,  to  him  with  5,000  francs  in  an  envelope,  which  he  accepted  as  a 
loan  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  trip.  He  landed  in  New  York,  and 
to  his  joy,  found  his  work  as  well  as  those  of  his  Parisian  confrere's  still 
intact,  and  succeeded  in  removing  them  from  the  Crystal  Palace  build- 
ing before  the  disastrous  fire  whieh  subsequently  destroyed  it.  At  the 
request  of  Mayor  Wood,  M.  Etex's  painting  "was  taken  to  the  City 
Hall  and  there  exhibited  on  the  4th  of  July,  1855.  M.  Etex  came  to 
Washington,  was  presented  to  President  Pierce,  and  was  entertained  at 
the  White  House.  He  made  a  bust  of  President  Pierce,  two  medallions 
of  Mr.  Cushmg,  one  each  of  Mrs.  Fremont  and  her  father  and  Senator 
Benton.  He  also  executed  a  portrait  of  Mrs.  Fremont  and  a  bust  of 
lernando  Wood,  for  all  of  which  he  declined  to  receive  any  compensa- 
tion, being  led  to  believe  that  his  picture  would  be  bought  "by  the  Gov- 
ernment for  200,000  francs—  whether  by  the  general  Government  or  by 


the  city  of  New  York  his  memorial  does  not  distinctly  show.  The  war 
of  secession  came  on  before  anything  was  done,  and  now,  at  eighty-one 
)ears  of  age,  M.  Etex,  through  leading  European  bankers,  writes  to 
ask  what  has  become  of  the  200,000  francs  for  which  he  has  been  wait- 
ing over  thirty  years.  The  records  of  Congress  and  the  departments 
here  fail  to  discloss  that  any  effort  was  ever  made  to  secure  an  appro- 
priation for  this  purpose.  A  more  difficult  question  to  answer  is,  what 
has  become  of  the  picture  itself  ?  A  large  and  valuable  historical 
painting  of  this  character  by  an  artist  of  more  than  national  reputation 
can  scarcely  have  passed  into  oblivion.  But  where  is  it? — New  York 
Evening  Post. 

THE  TOMB  OF  DANIEL.  —  Sir  Henry  Layard  thus  describes  the  so- 
walled  tomb  of  Daniel:  "The  vast  mound  which  marks  the  site  of  the 
ancient  city  of  Susa,  the  capital  of  Susiana  and  Elymais,  was  visible  in 
the  distance,  and  as  we  drew  near  it  appeared  to  me  to  be  little  inferior 
in  size  to  the  Mujelibi,  the  principal  ruin  of  Babylon.  We  rode  first  to 
the  tomb —  the  principal  object  of  my  visit.  I  found  it  to  be  a  building 
of  comparatively  modern  date,  resembling  the  Imaum-Zadehs,  or  tombs 
and  shrines  of  Mussulman  saints  constantly  met  with  in  Khuzistan,  sur- 
mounted by  a  high  conical  dome  of  irregular  brickwork  —  somewhat  re- 
sembling in  shape  a  pine-cone.  I  entered  through  a  gate  into  a  court, 
in  which  pilgrims  find  a  resting  place  for  the  night,  safe  from  wild 
beasts  and  Arab  thieves.  A  dark  inner-chamber,  opening  upon  an 
outer-room,  contained  the  so-called  tomb  —  a  square  case  of  plaster 
which  might  be  supposed  either  to  cover  a  grave  or  to  enclose  a  coffin. 
Above  it  were  suspended  some  ostrich  eggs  and  lamps.  The  tomb  was 
surrounded  by  a  wooden  trellis.  In  the  outer-chamber  I  observed  one 
or  two  small  capitals  of  columns  in  marble,  and  in  the  court-yard  a 
larger  one  of  the  same  material,  with  a  kind  of  lotus-leaf  ornament, 
one  foot  ten  inches  in  height.  They  were  of  the  early  Persian  or  Per- 
sepolitan  period.  The  building,  surrounded  by  a  few  konar  trees  and 
palms,  stands  on  the  bank  of  a  small  sluggish  stream,  called  by  the 
Arabs  the  Shaour,  which  rises  in  the  plain  not  far  from  the  ruins.  I 
found  the  remains  of  a  flight  of  steps,  built  of  large  dressed-stones, 
leading  down  to  the  water's  edge.  Among  them  was  a  slab,  with  a  bas- 
relief,  whieh  has  been  described  as  a  man  between  two  lions,  and  has 
been  converted  by  a  lively  imagination  into  Daniel  in  the  lions'  den. 
There  had  formerly  been  preserved  within  the  tomb  a  black  stone,  or 
slab,  said  to  have  been  covered  with  mystical  signs  and  human  figures. 
The  dervish  informed  me  that  it  had  been  broken  into  pieces  by  two 
Arabs,  as  they  believed  that  it  contained  gold." 


THE  usual  weekly  summary  of  trade  shows  results  that  are  calculated  to 
increase  confidence  in  future  developments  in  trade  aud  manufacturing. 
The  percentages  are  safe,  the  gross  and  net  earnings  are  all  right,  the  sta- 
tistical summaries  read  right.     The  country  is  producing  and  absorbing 
fully  up  to  all  anticipations.    Those  who  a  month  or  two  ago  shouted 
"Look  out!"  are  quiet  now.     Under  the  abundance  of  money  and   the 
anxiety  of  buyers  of  bonds  to  purchase  and  of  investors  to  invest,  there  is 
an  eagerness  and  impatience  in  the  markets  to  put  out  money  in  a  safe  way. 
Investments  rather  than  speculations  are  sought  after.   Commercial  reviews 
and  manufacturing  summaries  show  activity  in  traffic  and  trade  channels 
and  this  indicates  that  the  consumption  of  products  of  all  kinds  has  not 
been  retarded.     In  fact,  an  expansion  of  consumptive  demand  is  probable 
in  building  and  most  kinds  of  railway  material.     Numerous  brick  contracts 
now  run  into  midsummer.     So  do  railroad-equipment  contracts,  but  not 
contracts  for  rails,  although  last  week  one  hundred  thousand  tons  of  rails 
were  ordered     There  is  an   abundance  of    money  seeking  investment, 
Builders  have  been  employed  in  many  Western  cities  to  erect  dwellings  in 
large  numbers  to  be  sold  when  completed.     Lumber  manufacturers   both 
West  and  South  are  entering  into  contracts  for  next  season's  deliveries. 
There  will  be  extensive  developments  of  hardwood  interests.     Everything 
points  to  a  gradually-increasing  control  over  the  lumber  supply,  but  it  will 
never  approach  the  degree  of  control  exercised  over  oil,  coal  or  many  other 
raw  products     Both  timber  and  minerals  are  passing  under  the  control  of 
fewer  hauds  but  the  practical  results  will  be  comparatively  harmless  for 
the  next  few  years.     The  iron  and  steel   makers  look  anxiously  for  an 
Improving  demand  from  somewhere  to  offset  the  anticipated  falling  off  in 
the  railroad-building  demand.    The  coal  production  has  reached  one  hun- 
dred and  ten  million  tons  and  possibly  one  hundred  and  fifteen  million  tons. 
The  idleness  of  two-third*  of  the  anthracite  region  has  not  diminished  the 
supply  a  ton,  in  fact,  the  weekly  output  is  nearly  one  hundred  thousand 
tons  greater  than  a  year  ago.     Machine-shop  work  is  abundant.    Electri- 
cians complain  of  a  temporary  falling  off  in  orders.    Hardware  manufac- 
turers are  combining  to  regulate  prices.   Textile  manufacturers  are  aroused 
to  protect  threatened  interests  at  Washington.    Cotton  is  strong.     Wool  is 
weak.    Foreign  textile-goods'  competition  is  seriously  felt  in  two  or  three 
branches,  but  withal  there  is  a  steady  expansion  of  capacity.    All  kinds  of 
machinery  and  tool  makers  are  busy,  but  late  advices  from   implement 
manufacturers  show  duluess.    Shop  work  west  of  the  Mississippi  is  plenty. 
East  of  the  Hudson  it  is  lighter  than  late  last  year.   Most  repairs  and  exten- 
sions m  factories  and   mills  have  been  completed.    The  anthracite  coal- 
strike  will  probably  continue  a  month  yet  and  do  harm.    The  miners  will 
be  encouraged  to  hold  out  by  delusive  prospects  of  State  or  national  inquiry. 
No  actual  harm  has  been  done  aud  prices  will  rule  stronger  in  all  markets 
for  the  next  six  months  than  they  would  have  done  but  for  the  strike.    The 
financial  situation  is  strong,  but  a  corner  in  money  is  more  probable  than 
for  two  or  three  years  because  of  the  extraordinary'expenditures  of  the  past 
two  or  three  years.     No  scarcity  is  immediately  probable,  but  those  who 
will  hold  on  to  their  money  will  increase  in  number  until  some  more  satis- 
factory banking  basis  for  the  people  is  devised  by  Congress.    The  produc- 
tive capacity  of  the  country  has  been  too  greatly  enlarged  to  justify  the 
fears  expressed  by  some  otherwise  sensible  financial  authorities  as  to  over- 
production,    llns  nightmare  does  not  threaten  the  American  people,  nor 
does  a  money  stringency,  nor  even  are  its  fiscal  or  protective  policies  really 
endangered.    The  cards  are  being  shuffled  at  Washington  bv  expert  hauds, 
and  the  political  Ah-Sins  for  the  let-well-enoii"li-i  " 
to  the  occasion  when  the  national  game  is  played. 

S.  J.  PARKHILL  &  Co.,  Printers,  Boston. 


24 


THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  AND  BUILDING  NEWS. 


VOL.  xxin. 


Copyright.  1888,  by  TICKNOR  &  COMPANY,  Boston,  Mam. 


No.  633. 


FEBRUARY  11. 1888. 

Entered  at  the  Foal-Office  at  Button  as  second-claw  matter. 


SUMMARY:  — 

The  Italians  to  impose  an  Export  Duty  on  Antiquities.  — The 

Kise  in  the  Price  of  Copper. — Methods  of  Protecting  Iron 

and  Steel  in  Constructions.  — The  Registration  of  Architects 

at    Rome.  —  Lucigen.  —  The  Interior    Decoration    for    the 

ll'.h-l    de    Ville,   Paris.  —  Difference  between   French  ami 

American  Methods C 

BUILDING  ACCIDENTS.  —  V 6J 

OPEN-TIMBER  HOOFS  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES.  —  III 66 

ILLUSTRATIONS  :  — 

Church  of  St  1'ierre,  Montreal,  P.  Q.  —  House  for  P.  E.  Cliill- 
man,  Ksq.,  Chestnut  Hill,  Philadelphia,  Pa.  —  House  for  A. 
< '.  l.ane,  Ksq.,  Birmingham,  Ala.  —  Competitive  Design  for 
the  New  York  Life  Insurance  Building,  St.  Paul,  Minn.  — 
Houses  for  K.  W.  Cooper,  Utica,  and  for  Prof.  II.  C.  J. 
Brandt,  Clinton,  N.  Y.  —  Street  in  St.  Lizier,  Ariege,  France.  6< 
FOURTH  ANNUAL  KEPOKT  OF  THE  BUREAU  OF  ETHNOLOGY.  —  IIL  .  (X 

BOOKS  AND  PAPERS (ii 

ARCH.EOLOGICAL  NOTES 61 

EXHIBITION  or  WATER-COLORS  AT  MUSEUM  OF  FINE  ARTS,  BOSTON.    7( 
COMMUNICATIONS  :  — 

The  Decoration  of  McVicker's  Theatre,  Chicago,  HI.  —  Band- 
saws  for  Large  Logs.  — Testing  for  the  Foundation  of  the 
Congressional  Library.  —  The  Albany  Assembly  Chamber 

Vault.  — Iron  Churches 70 

NOTES  AND  CLIPPINGS 71 

TRADE  SURVEYS 72 


II  THE  Italian  Government  has  taken  a  step  which  was  long 
A    ag°  suggested,  us  a  retaliation  for  the  American  imposition 
of  a  duty  upon  works  of  art.     Scores  of  clever  artists  in 
Italy  have  lived  for  many  years  on  the  proceeds  of  the  pictures, 
copies   or  originals,    which   they   sold   to  American   visitors. 
These  were  naturally  their  best  customers,  as  Americans  have 
110  such  opportunity  as  is  enjoyed  by  the  citizens  of  other  coun- 
tries for  seeing  great  paintings  in  the  original,  and  are  glad  to 
get  good  copies  Aand  the  suppression  of  the  business  by  the  in- 
fliction of  a  hea^y  duty  is  said  to  have  caused  a  good  deal  of 
distress  to  very  wfc-thy  people.     An  urgent  appeal  was  made  a 
year  or  more  agomo  the  Italian  Government  to  impose  an  ex- 
porMtefy- .on  wqmfs  of  art,  in  return  for  the  American  import 
duty,  but  it  &t£fns  to  have  reflected  that  this  would  not  help  the 
Italian  paintM,  and  has  taken  the  more  sensible,  as  well  as 
less  viok-iiL/ourse  of  laying  a  tax  on  exports  of  antique  objects 
of   art.  -rft  present,  antiquities   are  admitted   to  the  United 
States  free  of  duty,  as  representing  an  industry  which  obviously 
does  not  need  protection,  and  an  immense  number  of  them  are 
annually  imported  by  tourists  and  dealers  in  bric-a-brac.     The 
Italian  Government,  therefore,  desiring  to   relieve   its   living 
artists  by  handicapping  their  antique  competitors,  has  voted  to 
impose  an  export  duty  of  twenty  per  cent  upon  all  works  of 
antique  art,  which  can  henceforth  only  be  removed  from  the 
country  by  declaring  their  value,  paying  the  duty,  and  going 
through  the  usual  vexatious  custom-house  formalities.     More- 
over, to  avoid  undervaluation  of  a  class  of  objects  which  have 
no  definite  market  price,  the  Italian  Government  expressly  re- 
serves the  right  to  appropriate  oil  the  spot  any  article  of  the 
kind  which  it  finds  in  possession  of  a  traveller  or  dealer,  on 
paying  him  the  sum  which  he  mentions  in  his  declaration  as 
the  cost.     Although  this  new  law  is  likely  to  bring  in  a  con- 
siderable sum  to  the  Italian  Treasury,  it  is  sure  to  be  felt  as 
an  intolerable  annoyance  to  travellers,  who  will  have  to  submit 
to  long  searches,  and  may  very  possibly  be  required  to  pay 
duty  on  objects  purchased  outside  of  Italy,  and  simply  brought 
through  the  country,  since  it  would  be  virtually  impracticable 
to  distinguish  between  coins  or  bronzes  bought  in  Venice  and 
those  which  came  from  Trieste  or  Munich.     "We  cannot  say 
that  we  are  extremely  sorry  to  have  American  tourists,  who 
allowed  their  representatives  to  vote  for  their  own  law  without 
energetic  protest,  made  to  realize  how  much  trouble  may  be 
caused  by  ill-considered   statutes,  without  any  correspon<lin<» 
good  to  any  one,  but  it  is  a  misfortune  for  every  one  outside  of 
Italy,  except,  perhaps,  the  Swiss  and  English  manufacturers  of 
sham  antiques,  that  a  check  should  be  put  upon  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  unrivalled  works  of  antiquity  among  those  who,  have 
education  enough  to  appreciate  them. 


MREMAURY  writes  to  Le   Genie  Civil  a  letter  on  the 
,  subject  of  the  recent  rise  in  the  price  of  copper,  which  is 
interesting,  and  shows,  as  often  happens  in  such  rntrm 
that  the  movement  might  easily  have  been  anticipated  if  those 
in  a  position  to  know  the  state  of  the  market  had  taken  the 
trouble  to  reflect  upon  the  inevitable  consequences  of  its  condi- 
tion.    According  to  the  letter,  the  production  of  copper  has 
not  greatly  varied  for  several  years,  the  total  for  the  world 
having  been  two  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  tons  in  1884, 
two  hundred  and  twenty-six  thousand  in  1885,  and  two  hun- 
dred and  sixteen  thousand  in  1886.     The  price,  however,  has 
changed  greatly.     To  say  nothing  of  the  enormous  prices  of 
ten  years  ago,  the  average  market-value  of  copper  in  1884  was 
about  twenty-two   per  cent,  and  in  1885  about  six  per   cent 
higher  than  in  1886.    Even  in  1884,  the  low  price  of  the  metal 
had  been  severely  felt  at  the  mines,  and  1885  found  several  of 
the  smaller  ones   closed,  on  account   of  unsatisfactory  condi- 
tions of  the  market,  while  the  owners  of  the  others  were  com- 
plaining  loudly   of   their  condition.     The  effect  of   this  was 
shown  in  the  diminished  production  of  1886,  yet,  although  a 
loss  of  five  per  cent  in  the  output  of  an  article,  the  consumption 
of  which  is  usually  so  closely  adapted  to  the  supply,  was  obvi- 
ously a  serious  matter  for  consumers,  the  price  continued  to 
fall  during  1886.     This  set  up  an  abnormal  condition  of  the 
market.     With  such  a  desirable  material  as  copper,  any  fall  in 
price  leads  to  an  increase  of  consumption,  since  every  one  is 
ready  to  substitute  copper  for  iron  as  soon  as  it  is  economical 
to  do  so,  and  in  1886  the  price  was  falling,  the  consumption 
increasing,  and  the  production  materially  diminishing.   It  could 
only  be  a  question  of  a  few  months  when  the  reaction  would 
occur,  and  the  demand  again  be  equalized  with  the  supply  by 
an  advance  in  price,  yet  so  slow  were  dealers  to  perceive  this 
that  during  1887  the  stock  of   copper  on   hand,  through  the 
excess  of  demand  over  the  supply,  fell  at  the  rate  of  fifteen  hun- 
dred tons  a  month,  until,  on  the  fifteenth  of  last  December, 
the  total  stock  of  Chilian  and  Australian  copper  in  England  and 
France  fell  to  forty-four  thousand  tons,  or  less  than  four  months' 
supply.     At  this  very  moment  the  fire  occurred  in  the  Calumet 
and  Hecla  mine,  burning  out  the  galleries,  and  effectually  clos- 
ing for  a  year,  at  least,  as  the  best  judges  considered,  a  source 
from  which  came  thirty  thousand  tons  a  year,  or  about  one- 
seventh  of  the  whole  production  of  the  world;  and  the  now 
famous   French  syndicate   thought  that  the  time  had  arrived 
for  a  turn  in  the  market.     One  of  the  principal  members  of  the 
syndicate  was   the    Societe1   Industrielle   et   Commerciale   des 
Metaux,  which  consumes  regularly  in  its  own  factories  twenty- 
five  thousand  tons  of  copper  a  year,  and  would  thus  be  quite 
justified  in  buying  a  year's  supply  for  its  own  purposes,  without 
regard  to  any  profits  to  be  made  by  selling  again ;  but  it  was 
not  unnatural,  in  view  of  the  situation  of  the  market,   to  do 
more  than  this,  and  secure  the  whole  stock  in  Europe,  advanc- 
ng  the  price  afterward,  as  the  syndicate  has  done,  to  exactly 
double  the  market  rate  of  December,  1886.     Of  course,  the 
rise  in  value  will  set  at  work  the  smaller  mines  and  the  supply 
vill   again   increase,  but  meanwhile   the  syndicate  will   have 
>ocketed  its  profits  as  the  reward  of  an  intelligent  study  of  the 
conditions  of  the  business  for  a  suitable  period. 


TFHE  Scientific  American  mentions  something  which  is  worth 
J.    remembering  by  those  who  have  iron  roofs  or   floors  to 
take  care  of,  and  which  it  finds  in  an  article  in  the  Engi- 
neer, describing  the  precautions  taken  to  protect  iron  and  steel 
hips.     According  to  the  Engineer,  the  corrosive  action  which 
takes  place  in  metal  ships,  and  which  forms  the  principal  source 
of  their  deterioration,  cannot  be  entirely  arrested  by  any  prac- 
ical  process.     Painting,  either  with  lead  or  iron  pigments  or 
he  black  paraffins  varnish,  is  found  to  be  of  little,  if  any  use, 
he  rust  going  on  under  the  paint  quite  as  fast  as  on  an  unpro- 
ected  surface,  especially  on  the  inner  surface  of  the  hull,  where 
he  wash  of  the  bilge-water,  the  rolling  of  lumps  of  coal  and 
)ther  hard  objects,  and   the  careless   stowing   of    the   cargo, 
cratch  or  detach  the  coating  in  places,  and  set  up  centres  of 
>xi<lation.   In  fact,  the  covering  of  paint  seems  to  hasten  corro- 
ion,  jmd  it  is  found  that  the  portions  of  iron  decks  around  the 
latchways.  where  the  paint  is  immediately  worn  off,  lose  less 
iy  rust  than  the  undisturbed  portions  near  the  bulwarks,  as  is 
asily  shown  by  the  greater  thickness,  after  years  of  use,  of 
de  plates  around  the  hatches.     At  one  time  asphalt  was  much 
used  to  protect  the  inner  surfaces  of  the  ship,  but  at  certain 


m    practice,  but  in  modern  ships  every  inch  is  of 
concrete   udess  put  on  in  a 


ru  The  tar  is  then  put  on  in  a  good  coat  and  s 
dry  Portland  cement  in  fine  powder  until  as  much  ha  .been 
nut  on  as  will  adhere.  The  cement  absorbs  the  tar  and  slowlj 
Lts  formm"  a  hard  and  waterproof  skin.  It  seems  not 
unlike  lyThaf  the  same  treatment  might  with  advantage  be 
pplied  to  iron  roofs.  An  ordinary  corrugated  iron  root  is  a 
very  short-lived  affair,  and  paintjng  does  not  greatly  improve 
Tt!  but  a  tar  and  cement  coating,  which  in  most  cases  need  on  y 
be  applied  outside,  since  the  inside  would  usually  be  dry,  would 
not  beP  expensive,  knd_ought  to  be  farmore  effective  than  paint. 

OTCCORDING   to   the   Builder,  the  .Municipal   Council  of 
n    Rome  has  recently  passed  an  ordinance  which  is  likely  b 
/       be  of  some  indirect  benefit  to  architects.     *  or  some  years 
it  has  been  the  rule  that  applications  for  permits  to  build  m 
Rome  must  contain  the  name  of  some  architect  who  should 
held  responsible  for  the  proper  planning  and  construction  o 
the  work.     The  Building  Law  of  New  York  contains  the  same 
requirement',  and  it  was  found  •fajfcme,  just  as  it  is  m  New 
York    that  the  "architect"  namefciB  the  application   for   a 
permit  is  in  many  lases  a  mere  figrfrpiead,  being  very  often  a 
clerk  or  an  ingenious  journeyman  in  the  employ  of  a  builder, 
who  is  sometimes  glad  of  the,fipportunity  which  the  law  gives 
him  for  shifting  on  the  shoulders  of  such  irresponsible  persons 
the  liability  which  ought  properly  to  rest  upon  himself.     With 
a  view  to  the  prevention  of  this  abuse,  which  may  easily  have 
serious  consequences,  the   Roman   city  government   issued  a 
notice  that,  with  a  view  to  the  protection  of  the  public,  it  will 
henceforth  accept  as  architects  in  connection  with  building  per- 
mits only  those  persons  whose  names  shall  have  been  registered 
by  a  Commission  appointed  for  the  purpose  as  being  qualified 
for  the  practice  of  the  profession  of  architecture.     Of  course, 
all  the  persons  who  wished  to  practice  this  profession  m  Rome 
immediately  applied  to  the  Commission  for  registration,  and, 
according  to  its  report,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five,  out  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty-six  candidates,  were  accepted  as  possessing 
the  necessary  qualifications.     These,  according  to  the  Builder, 
comprise  a  diploma  in  physics  and  mathematics  from  the  Univer- 
sity of  Rome  or  that  of  Bologna,  besides  a  certificate  of  three 
years'  attendance  at  a  technical  school,  and  a  course  of  instruc- 
tion in  a  school  of  art,  so  that  the  standard  of  theoretical  train- 
ing among  the  Italian  architects  would  appear  to  be  very  high. 

GOOD  deal  is  said  just  now  about  a  new  light,  the  so- 
called  "lucigen,"  which  has  been  brought  into  use  in 
several  of  the  English  railway  stations,  and  has  proved 
very  successful  and  very  cheap.  The  principle  of  it  is  simple 
enough,  oil  of  creosote,  a  cheap  coal-tar  product,  being  blown 
in  spray  into  the  lamp  by  a  jet  of  compressed  air,  and  allowed 
to  burn  in  the  jet  of  air  ;  but  the  effect  is  remarkable.  Naturally, 
it  is  most  economical  to  employ  it  on  a  large  scale,  a  powerful 
jet,  carrying  a  considerable  amount  of  spray,  requiring  little 
more  power  or  machinery  than  a  small  one,  so  that  it  is 
employed  for  lighting  railway-stations  in  large  lamps,  each 
having  an  illuminating  power  of  three  thousand  candles.  This 
is  about  equivalent  to  six  ordinary  electric-arc  lights,  but  the 
lucigen  has  the  advantage  over  the  arc  light  that  its  flame  is 
much  larger.  While  a  lucigen  lamp  throws  out  six  times  as 
much  light  as  a  common  arc-light,  it  presents  a  luminous  sur- 
face three  hundred  and  fifty  times  greater,  and  this  is  found  to 
assist  very  much  in  that  diffusion  of  the  light  which  is  so  neces- 
sary to  good  artificial  illumination,  and  which  is  so  difficult  to 
obtain  with  asc-lights. 


HE  Parisians,  who,  as  we  all  know,  are  very  old-fashioned 
in  their  notions,  have  just  finished  a  splendid  building  and 
now  desire  to  have  it  decorated.  Acting  in  accordance 
with  that  slavish  subjection  to  tradition  which  characterizes,  we 
will  not  say  the  subjects  of  monarchies,  but  the  effete  inhabi- 
tants of  the  old  world,  they  have  not  been  able  to  think  of  any 


XXIH.  — No.  633. 

•^••^••^•^^•^™ "^^^^^^^^^^"^^ 

better  way  of  having~this  done  than  by  getting  the  best  decora- 
tors to  do  it,  and  the  only  question  which  has  occurred  to  he.r 
paralyzed  intellects  was  that  of  determining  who  the  best  deco- 
rators mi-ht  be.  With  this  idea  they,  or  their  representatives, 
the  Municipal  Council,  have  appointed  a  commission  of  experts, 
comprising  twelve  members  of  the  Council  four  architects, 
three  sculptors,  and  several  critics,  which,  under  the  presidency 
of  the  Prefect  of  the  Seine,  is  to  make  choice  of  the  artists 
most  worthy  to  embellish  the  town-hall  of  the  _  great  city. 
Obviously,  such  a  commission,  if  the  opinions  of  its  members 
were  worth  anything,  would  hardly  be  unanimous  in  Us  choice, 
and  a  certain  amount  of  balloting  has  been  necessary  to  fix 
upon  certain  names,  but  it  seems  to  be  agreed  now  to  recom- 
mend the  employment  of  Cabanel  for  the  painting  of  the  ceiling 
of  the  Salle  des  Cariatides,  of  Puvis  de  Chavannes  and  Roll 
for  the  decoration  of  the  vestibules  leading  from  this  room  to 
the  Salle  des  Fetes,  of  Delauney  for  the  grand  staircase,  of 
Bonnat,  Jules  Lefebvre  and  Bernard  for  the  three  reception- 
rooms  facing  the  Seine,  and  of  Jean-Paul  Laurens  for  the  his- 
torical pictures  which  are  to  adorn  the  adjoining  corner  room. 
All  these  artists  rank  among  the  very  best  in  France,  but,  in 
order  to  give  room  for  the  discovery  of  some  genius  Hitherto 
unknownT  one  apartment,  called  the  Prefect's  Parlor,  which 
presents  a  peculiarly  favorable  opportunity  for  mural  painting, 
is  to  be  reserved  for  an  artist  to  be  selected  in  public  competi- 
tion. The  scheme,  as  formed  by  the  Commission,  must  be 
sanctioned  by  the  Municipal  Council,  but  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  it  will  be  adopted. 

IT  will  be  observed  that  this  plan,  although  it  will  make  of 
the  Hotel  de  Ville  the  treasury  of  the  masterpieces  of  the 
greatest    artists    of    France,  has  not  the  merit    of    great 
novelty,  since  most  large  public  buildings  in  Paris  are  made 
interesting  in  much*  the  same  way,  but  we  wish  to  insist  on 
the  fact  that  such  antiquated  proceedings  are  not  to  be  taken 
as  models  for  the  conduct  of  similar  affairs  in  this  free  and 
enlightened  country.     To  use  the  words  of  an  enthusiastic  poli- 
tician, it  is  just  a  hundred  years  since,  by  a  desperate  struggle, 
we  cut  loose  from   all  bondage  to  Old- World  ideas,  and  we 
must  beware  of  the  tempter  who  would  now  try  to  persuade  us 
to  return  to  them.     Instead  of  this  laborious  way  of  choosing 
the  persons  who  are  to  furnish  the  objects  of  art  for  which  the 
public  treasury  pays  so  liberally,  the  practice  consorting  most 
with  our  unsurpassed  institutions  appears  to  be  for  those  who 
have  the  care  of  our  public  affairs  to  speak  habitually  with 
scorn  and  contempt  of  artists  and  art,  to  refuse  to  recognize 
them  as  understanding  anything  about  their  own  business,  and 
to  pay  no  attention  to  their  almost  unanimous  petitions,  but  as 
soon  as  an  attractive  widow  with  a  talent  for  painting,  or  a 
pretty  girl  with  long  curls  and  a  gift  of  sculpture,  comes  along, 
or  a  "good  feller"  of  a  wandering  Italian  fresco-painter  drifts 
to   Washington,   to  set  them  at  work   disgracing   the   public 
buildings  with  their  ridiculous  devices  at  a  rate  of  remunera- 
tion which  would  seem  fabulous  to  a  Baudry  or  Puvis  de  Cha- 
vannes. but  which  here  is  said  to  yield  only  a  moderate  income, 
on  account   of   the   enormous  percentages  levied   upon  it   by 
the  lobbyists  and  go-betweens  who  claim  to  have  had  a  hand  in 
procuring  the  necessary  appropriations.     We  should  be  sorry 
to  interfere  with  the  affairs  of  the  well-meaning  persons  who 
have  hitherto  furnished  the  public  art,  and  it  is  something  to 
be  proud  of  that  not  the  slightest  breath  of  scandal  has  ever 
sullied  their  relations  with  the  Government,  but  not  even  inno- 
cent enthusiasm  on  one  side  and  indulgent  prodigality  on  the 
other  can'excuse'such  freaks  as  the  abandonment  of  the  Rotunda 
of  the  Capitol,  the  central  point,  as  we  may  say,  of  the  whole 
United  States  of  America,  to  the  manipulations  of  a  man  who 
can  think  of  nothing  better  to  decorate  it  with  than  a  band  of 
little  figures  with  big  heads  and  shaky  knees,  executed  in  stone 
coior,  with  painted  shadows,  to  imitate  a  sculptured  bas-relief. 
We   have  very   little   patience   with  the   people   who   praise 
everything  bad  which  happens  to  be  American  and  decry  every- 
thing good  which  has  been  invented  abroad,  but  we  have  still 
less  with  those  persons  in  authority  who,  in  a  country  which 
can  furnish  a  St.  Gaudens,  a  Warner  or   a  LaFarge,  to    say 
nothing   of  many  others,  deliberately  turn  their   backs  upon 
their  own  fellow-citizens,  who,  without  public  aid  or  counte- 
nance of  any  kind,  have  raised  their  country  very  nearly  to  the 
highest  rank  in  the  world  of  art,  and  call  in  a  foreigner  to  dis- 
play the   cheap  accomplishments  of  an  Italian  village  white- 
washer  upon  the  walls  of  the  principal  public  room  of  the  prin- 
cipal building  of  the  nation. 


B-]  The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


68 


BUILDING   ACCIDENTS.1  — V. 

TITHE  "  One-horse  Shay  "  claims  to  be 
1    a  triumph  'of  logic,  but  to  the  writer 
it  appears  a  triumph  of   engineering 
in  which  the  clearly  framed  specifications 
were   faithfully   carried   into    execution. 
The  statement  of  the  deacon  : 

"One  thing  is  plain, 
The  weakest  part  must  stan'  the  strain," 

must  certainly  be  admitted  as  one  of  the 
soundest  of  engineering  opinions. 

Although  there  is  so  much  repetition 
in  the  methods  of  construction  and  load 
imposed  that  a  mere  regard  for  precedent 
would,  in  most  cases,  insure  the  safety 
of  buildings,  yet  there  are  numerous  in- 
stances of  failure  which  are  never  known  to  the  general 
public,  because  those  responsible  for  the  matter  are  naturally 
averse  to  any  publicity,  and  generally  succeed  in  avoiding  it, 
unless  loss  of  life  or  serious  personal  injuries  gives  rise  to  judicial 
investigation.  ^- 

It  must  be  an  easy  task  for  the  brilliant  sceptic  to  lecture 
upon  the  mistakes  of  Moses,  because  his  framework  is  clearly 
a  matter  of  record ;  but  the  mistakes  of  the  Jack-builders  and 
the  rascality  of  the  Buddensieks  are  kept  in  a  corner  as  far  as 
the  circumstances  will  admit.  A  citizen  of  Pittsfield,  Mass., 
recently  deceased,  well-known  as  the  largest  real-estate  owner 
in  the  place,  and  equally  well-known  on  account  of  his  aversion 
to  extravagance,  was  severely  injured  by  the  falling  of  a  stag- 
ing on  one  of  his  buildings.  After  his  return  to  consciousness, 
some  one  by  way  of  consolation  told  him  that  two  of  the  men 
were  hurt  a  great  deal  worse.  '•  Well,"  he  said,  "  I  think  that 
f  we  had  braced  it  with  just  one  more  lath  and  two  nails,  all 
these  suits  for  damages  would  have  been  avoided." 

Thoughtless  acts  on  the  part  of  workmen  sometimes  lead  to 
lisastrous  results.  A  well-known  instance  of  a  falling  mill  has 
been  ascribed  to  fastening  a  block  and  tackle  to  a  column,  and 
pulling  it  out  of  position  while  moving  some  heavy  machinerv. 
A  few  years  ago,  one  of  the  roof-trusses  fell  into  the  hall  "in 
Marblehead,  Mass.,  because  a  piper  had  cut  one  of  the  mem- 
bers nearly  in  twain,  rather  than  make  an  offset  in  his  pipe. 

There  are  two  classes  of  accidents  to  buildings ;  first,  those 
occasioned  by  faulty  construction ;  and,  secondly,  those  arising 
on  account  of  the  depreciation  of  the  building  or  changing  of 
the  purposes  for  which  it  was  originally  constructed. 

Most  of  the  elements  of  weakness  in  buildings  are  disclosed 
during  construction,  because  at  those  times  the  structure  is  apt 
to  be  subjected  to  more  severe  and  concentrated  loads  than  will 
occur  after  it  is  finished.  It  is  not  unusual  to  see  lumber 
piled  up  in  building  so  as  to  impose  a  load  of  two  or  three  hun- 
dred pounds  to  the  square  foot  upon  floors  which  will  not  after- 
ward be  required  to  sustain  a  load  of  over  thirty  pounds  to  the 
square  foot.  When  machinery  is  being  installed  in  mills,  it  is 
generally  pressed  up  together  so  as  to  occupy  as  little  floor- 
room  as  possible,  although  by  so  doing  the  load  per  square  foot 
may  amount  to  three  times  as  much  as  it  will  when  the 
machines  are  in  position. 

Another   important   circumstance   which   prevents   building 

accidents  from  reaching  disastrous  results,  is  the  warning  which 

timber  gives  of  undue  strain,  so  that  breaking  can  be  averted  by 

timely  repairs.     A  number  of  years  ago,  Rev.  Lorenzo  Dow, 

lebrated  and  eccentric  itinerant  preacher,  was  announced 

>fhciate  in  a  church  in  Charlestown.     While  sitting  in  the 

>ulpit  he  noticed  that  the  side-galleries  of  the  church  showed 

that  they  were  overloaded,  and  rising,  he  said  to  the  congrega- 

There  will  be  no  services  in  this  house  this  evening." 

A  murmur  of  indignation  arose,  and  in  giving  vent  to  it  over 

what  they  supposed  to  be  merely  one  of  the  inexplicable  eccen- 

icities  of  the  man,  the  church  was  emptied  very  slowly  and 

without  shock  to  the  overloaded   galleries.     But   before   the 

church  was  entirely  empty  he  announced  that  he  would  lead 

the   services  from  the  church   steps.     A  similar  forethought 

might  have  averted  the  casualties  resulting  from  the  fall  of  an 

iron-pillar  in  the  Church  of  the   Immaculate  Conception  on 

Fourteenth    Street,   New   York,   during   a   crowded   mornin<r 

service  on  the  eleventh  of  December.     A  similar  story  of  the 

presence  of  mind  of  a  speaker,  in  slowly  relieving  the  load  in  a 

-ously  crowded  building,  is  attributed  to  General  B.  F. 

1  Continued  from  page  134,  No.  612. 


Butler,  who  adjourned  a  crowded  political  meeting  from  a  hall 
to  the  public  square. 

Two  years  ago  during  an  excursion  of  one  of  the  national 
engineering  societies,  while  holding  their  meeting  in  Boston, 
they  visited  an  establishment  for  the  purpose  of  listening  to  the 
exposition  of  important  engineering  matters  by  their  designer. 
I  he  members  did  not  enter  the  room  in  the  order  of  their  going, 
but  their  president  brought  up  the  rear,  who  noticing  that  the 
beams  and  joists  of  the  floor  above  were  showing  unusual 
flexure  by  reason  of  the  excessive  load  imposed  upon  it  by  the 
crowd,  summoned  the  help  of  a  number  of  workmen,  and 
the  floor  above  was  shored  up  as  the  weak  places  were  dis- 
closed, and  in  this  manner  without  alarming  or  even  informing 
any  of  the  crowd  above,  a  most  deplorable  accident  was  un- 
doubtedly averted  by  the  energy  and  presence  of  mind  of  one 
person. 

Accidents  to  buildings  are,  in  many  cases,  primarily  due  to 
faulty  foundations.  Walls  are  placed  on  inclined  ledges,  in 
some  instances  even  those  overlaid  with  clay,  without  cutting 
steps  in  the  ledge  in  order  to  remove  any  horizontal  component 
due  to  the  load  of  the  structure.  At  the  present  time  I  have 
knowledge  of  a  building  resting  on  an  inclined  bed  of  clay 
which  has  already  moved  about  six  inches  in  a  horizontal 
direction,  and  although  only  one  story  in  height  it  is  fissured 
with  cracks,  and  only  held  together  by  means  of  numerous  and 
unsightly  tie-rods.  Such  accidents  are  frequent  in  buildings 
placed  on  the  banks  of  rivers. 

Under  certain  conditions,  buildings  have  been  injured  by 
reason  of  too  broad  foundations;  that  is,  when  placed  upon 
compressible  earth,  portions  would  settle  unequally.  A  very 
high  mill  which  was  recently  taken  down  in  Eastern  Massachu- 
setts to  make  way  for  one  of  modern  construction  and  cor- 
responding facilities  for  manufacturing  has  settled  under  the 
walls  about  three  inches  more  than  under  the  columns,  making 
the  floors  more  like  a  ship's  deck  than  is  usually  found  on  land 
buch  injury  may  be  obviated  by  the  use  of  the  system  of  inde- 
pendent foundations  which  are  so  arranged  as  to  impose  a  uni- 
form load  per  square  foot  upon  the  earth.  Some  of  the  build- 
ings in  Chicago  have  been  erected  upon  such  foundations  re- 
ceiving a  uniform  load  of  about  two  tons  to  the  square  foot,  and 
the  settlement  of  such  structures  is  uniform  and  without  injury 
to  the  building,  while  it  is  well  known  that  many  buildings  in 
that  city  have  been  very  seriously  injured  by  unequal  settlement. 
Another  difficulty  in  foundations,  especially  those  under  mill 
buildings,  has  been  due  to  springs  or  to  water  oozing  from  the 
canal  furnishing  the  water-power  and  percolating  under  the 
walls. 

Other  injuries  have  owed  their  origin  to  the  decay  of  piles 
which  were  cut  off  at  a  grade  above  that  of  the  water-stratum 
in  the  earth,  and  there  have  also  been  difficulties  arising  from 
the  transverse  yielding  of  the  piles  in  the  soft-earth  of  the  Back 
Bay,  Boston,  which  was  caused  by  the  horizontal  stress  from 
the  roadway;  although  these  mishaps  have  been  infrequent 
except  in  the  case  of  the  approaches  to  the  highway  bridges  in 
that  portion  of  the  city. 

The  knowledge  of  resistance  of  materials  is  undoubtedly 
more  complete  in  regard  to  transverse-stress  than  any  other 
element  of  applied  mechanics.  The  simplicity  of  the  general 
problems  is  such  that  the  precedents  which  form  the  basis  of 
all  formulas  are  easily  assimilated  in  the  mind  of  observing  per- 
sons, even  though  they  cannot  integrate  their  own  mental 
actions;  and  the  intuitively  correct  judgments  of  persons  of 
practical  experience  yet  without  any  knowledge  of  mechanical 
principles  in  regard  to  the  question  of  safety  of  a  structure 
under  transverse  loads,  is  a  matter  of  frequent  course  ;  but, 
when  any  complication  is  introduced  in  a  design,  the  mind  of 
such  a  person  is  rarely  trustworthy  from  inability  to  conform 
to  new  conditions.  A  complete  formula  is  nothing  but  organized 
experience,  and  it  requires  more  skill  to  apply  a  formula  than 
U>  deduce  it.  One  of  the  leading  engineers  in  this  country  once 
declared  that  the  art  of  machine-design  consisted  in  the  free 
use  of  pig-iron ;  and  in  this  connection  it  may  be  truly  said  that 
a  good  designer  must  be  a  good  copyist. 

A  frequent  error  in  floor-design  is  caused  by  the  endeavor  to 
obtain  an  economical  distribution  of  material  by  increasing  the 
depth  of  the  beams  and  diminishing  the  width,  so  that  the  in- 
tensity of  pressure  at  the  points  of  support  exceeds  what  should 
be  permitted  for  conditions  of  safety,  and  such  beams  some- 
times shear  off  near  the  points  of  support  rather  than  break  by 
bending.  The  resistance  of  wood  to  transverse-pressures  is  about 
one-third  that  of  compression  in  the  line  of  the  grain,  and  it  is 


64 


The   American    Architect  and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  633. 


noticeable  that  the  transverse  contraction  by  seasoning  amounts 
to  three-eighths  of  an  inch  or  more  per  foot.  A  due  considera- 
tion of  these  facts  should  prevent  any  one  in  the  design  of  a 
mill-structure  from  placing  wooden  bolsters  over  the  columns, 
and  transmitting  the  load  from  one  column  through  the  bolsters 
and  beam  to  the  column  below ;  but  rather  let  each  column  be 
surmounted  by  a  cap  of  at  least  three  times  the  area  of  the 
cross-section  of  the  column,  and  above  this  an  iron-pintle  should 
run  to  the  plate  forming  the  base  of  the  column  above.  In  this 
manner  the  whole  resistance  of  the  column  can  be  utilized  and 
the  building  saved  from  being  thrown  out  of  line  with  the 
attendant  deterioration  and  injury  to  machinery  by  the  aggre- 
gate movement  due  to  the  transverse  contraction  of  the  beams 
and  pilasters,  which  reaches  an  excessive  amount  in  the  upper 
stories  of  a  high  building. 

Since  the  days  of  Samson,  it  might  appear  that  careful  atten- 
tion would  be  given  to  the  strength  of  columns,  but  it  is  within 
the  memory  of  persons  too  old  perhaps  to  be  called  young  men, 
but  not  old  enough  to  call  themselves  so,  to  recall  a  deplorable 
accident  to  a  mill  which  fell  in  a  neighboring  manufacturing  city, 
with  attendant  loss  of  life  and  serious  injury  to  person  and 
property.  It  was  shown  in  the  course  of  investigations  follow- 
ing that  matter,  that  the  columns  supporting  that  mill  were 
hollow  iron  pillars  of  unequal  thickness  on  opposite  sides, 
owing  to  the  floating  or  dislodgment  of  the  cores  when  founded 
in  a  horizontal  position.  These  columns  were,  moreover,  further 
weakened  by  a  three-inch  pintle  pressing  upon  cast-iron  plates 
three-fourths  of  an  inch  thick,  and  six-and-three-fourths  inches 
across  the  hollow  end  of  the  column,  which  caused  the  pintles 
to  punch  through  the  ends  of  the  column  as  soon  as  the  equili- 
brium of  the  mill  was  disturbed.  Those  desiring  to  examine 
into  the  matter,  can  see  a  drawing  representing  the  whole 


arrangement  in  the  "  Transactions  of  the  American  Society  of 
Mechanical  Engineering,"  Vol.  II,  page  271. 

But  these  mills  were  not  the  only  ones  loaded  to  a  dangerous 
extent,  or  with  iron-columns  containing  shells  of  unequal  thick- 
ness :  during  other  investigations  I  have  seen  instances  where 
iron-columns  safe  for  twelve  tons,  using  a  factor-of-safety  of 
five,  have  sustained  thirty-six  tons  for  nearly  thirty  years. "  In 
another  instance,  wood-columns  whose  estimated  resistance  to 
crushing  was  thirty-eight  tons,  had  sustained  a  load  of  seven- 
teen-and-one-half  tons  for  fifteen  years. 

In  some  repairs  upon  a  mill,  the  excessive  deflection  of  a 
large  cast-iron  beam  was  noticed,  and  the  careful  computation 
of  the  load  upon  it  and  also  its  resistance  to  breaking  showed 
that  the  beam  had  sustained  eighty-five  per  cent  of  its  estimated 
breaking-weight  for  forty  years. 

These  instances  are  given  not  as  precedents  to  justify  small 
factors-of-safety,  but  merely  to  illustrate  what  dangerous 
elements  of  construction  are  comparatively  frequent,  and  yet 
by  reason  of  other  matters  of  unusual  stability  by  way  of 
foundations  or  walls,  the  stress  upon  these  members  has  been 
so  uniform  and  free  from  transverse  or  other  disturbances  that 
the  logical  result  of  such  continued  loads  has  not  occurred. 

It  should  be  carefully  arranged  in  the  design  of  storehouses 
that  the  height  of  each  story  should  not  be  sufficient  to  allow 
an  excessive  weight  of  goods  to  be  placed  in  each  room. 

A  building  connected  with  a  woollen  mill,  built  for  the  pur- 
pose of  holding  empty  goods  cases,  was  afterward  used  for 
storage  of  compressed  bales  of  rags  for  shoddy,  loading  the 
floor  so  that  the  modulus  of  rupture  upon  the  spruce-beams 
amounted  to  three  thousand  and  two  hundred  pounds,  or  twice 
that  which  a  due  consideration  for  safety  would  have  allowed. 

A  large  amount  of  terra-alba  was  stored  in  a  building  of  a 
paper-mill  designed  for  the  bins  of  paper  trimmings,  and  before 
morning  the  clay  had  passed  into  the  cellar  by  the  most  direct 
route.  Experiments  upon  full-sized  wooden  columns  at  the 
Watertown  Arsenal  show  as  a  result  that  Southern  pine 
columns  would  sustain,  on  the  average,  four  thousand  and  four 
hundred  and  fifty  pounds  to  the  square  inch,  while  it  is  known 
that  the  general  allowance  of  load  upon  such  columns  is  six 
hundred  pounds  to  the  square  inch,  and  that  they  sustain  this 
load  without  depreciation  or  sign  of  weakening. 

The  most  frequent  cause  of  depreciation  of  buildings  arises 
trom  dry-rot  of  timbers,  which  can  generally  be  avoided  by 
allowing  the  air  to  have  free  contact  with  the  timber,  and  the 
application  of  whitewash  or  plaster  on  wire-lath  seems  to  pre- 
serve timber  as  well  as  protect  it  against  fire.  There  have 
been  some  instances  where  the  plaster  has  been  covered  with 
stucco  for  decorative  purposes,  completely  sealing  the  timber 
against  the  air,  and  thig  in  turn  has  been  followed  bv  dry-rot 


The  use  of  tinned-coverings  upon  large  timbers  and  doors  for 
the  purpose  of  defense  against  fire,  is  apt  to  cause  dry-rot  when 
the  lumber  is  imperfectly  seasoned ;  and,  as  such  tinned  fire- 
doors  have  served  their  purpose  better  than  any  other  type  of 
fire-doors,  it  is  important  that  they  should  be  constructed  of 
well-seasoned  stock. 

A  similar  cause  of  dry-rot  results  from  attempts  at  decora- 
tion by  varnishing  partially  seasoned  timber  which  completely 
seals  it  up,  and  furnishes  the  most  perfect  expedient  that  can 
be  adopted  to  accomplish  this  end.  It  requires  at  least  six 
years  after  the  building  is  finished,  to  season  Southern  pine 
timbers  one  foot  in  width. 

Beams  are  frequently  sealed  so  tightly  where  they  enter  the 
wall  that  dry-rot  takes  place  within  the  walls,  while  the  ex- 
posed portion  of  the  beam  within  the  room  is  entirely  sound. 

A  large  mill  was  built  a  number  of  years  ago,  just  previous 
to  the  failure  of  the  corporation,  and  lay  unoccupied  for  about 
five  years.  When  the  property  was  sold,  the  new  owners  did 
not  dare  to  place  machinery  in  this  mill  until  the  beams  had 
been  removed  and  new  ones  substituted.  The  portion  of  the 
beams  in  the  rooms  was  entirely  sound,  the  decay  being  limited 
to  the  portion  built  into  the  walls. 

The  general  method  of  construction  to  obviate  the  difficulty 
is  by  building  pilastered  walls  containing  vertical  flues  into 
which  the  end  of  the  beams  project,  while  at  the  side  of  the 
beams  and  on  top,  a  slight  air-space  is  left  during  construction. 
Dry-rot  frequently  occurs  in  the  beams  of  the  first  story  of  a 
mill  without  any  cellar,  and  it  has  been  obviated  in  the  most 
successful  manner  in  cotton-mills  by  running  a  flue  from  the 
picker-room  to  this  space  under  the  mill,  and  making  a  number 
of  six-inch  holes  through  the  underpinning  walls  of  the  mill ; 
the  pickers  requiring  a  supply  of  air  draw  it  from  outdoors 
beneath  the  mill,  and  in  that  manner  dampness  is  prevented 


from  gathering  upon  the  beams. 

It  is  proverbially  well-known  that  wood  will  withstand  decay 
when  kept  either  entirely  wet  or  absolutely  dry.  The  piles 
that  supported  the  houses  of  the  pre-historic  dwellers  over  the 
Swiss  lakes,  and  the  wood  in  the  tombs  of  Egypt,  both  attest 
the  accuracy  of  this  statement.  But  in  a  more  familiar  way  it 
may  be  noticed  in  the  beams  used  in  wet  places  around  water- 
wheels  where  timber  pressed  against  a  wet  ledge  will  decay 
towards  the  wheel  where  it  is  exposed  to  dampness,  and  remain 
perfectly  sound  at  the  end  which  is  constantly  wet. 

Much  has  been  said  and  little  done  about  the  antiseptic  treat- 
ment of  timber.  The  most  valuable  contribution  to  the  subject 
being  contained  in  the  "  Transactions  of  the  American  Society 
of  Civil  Engineers"  Vol.  IV,  page  274,  but  the  difficulty  with 
all  preparations  has  been  their  solubility  in  water  or  their  ex- 
pense. Lime  seems  to  be  the  most  perfect  preservative  for 
wood  as  long  as  it  can  be  kept  in  contact  with  it.  Exposure 
to  water  which  will  remove  the  lime,  will,  of  course,  leave  the 
wood  defenceless,  although  one  may  notice  in  the  old-style 
paper-mills  operated  by  overshot  wheels,  that  the  portion  of  the 
wheel  receiving  the  lime  refuse  thrown  out  from  the  bleaches 
will  remain  sound,  while  the  rest  of  the  wheel  will  decay  with 
a  rapidity  dependent  upon  the  character  of  the  water  in  the 
stream  and  the  lumber  employed.  The  general  value  of  lime 
as  a  preservative  of  wood,  may  be  noted  when  one  considers 
the  admirable  condition  in  which  laths  are  always  found.  I 
doubt  if  any  one  ever  knew  a  decayed  lath  to  be  removed  from 
contact  with  plaster. 

The  use  of  modern  types  of  rolled-iron  beams  has  been  fol- 
lowed by  the  most  satisfactory  results  in  the  matter  of 
safety ;  a  result  no  doubt  largely  due  to  the  skilled  supervision 
which  such  work  has  received,  but  in  a  great  measure  it  is 
ascribable  to  the  excellent  tables  and  information  of  the  most 
reliable  nature  contained  in  the  catalogues  issued  by  the  rolling- 
mills,  which  are  prepared  by  the  best  engineering  skill,  and  are 
far  more  trustworthy  than  pretentious  treatises  upon  the  subject. 
It  should  be  stated  that  the  foregoing  notes  are  offered 
entirely  from  the  standpoint  of  an  engineer,  and  not  from  that 
of  an  architect  who  is  obliged  to  consider  these  various  problems 
in  combination  with  elements  of  design,  and  also  with  questions 
of  convenience  which  are  rarely  in  harmony  with  the  best  con- 
ditions of  applying  engineering  principles  and  economical  dis- 
tribution of  material. 

Like  all  other  works  of  mankind,  those  of  the  architect  do  not 
reach  an  idealism,  but  their  defects  are  generally  the  result  <sf 
obstructive  conditions  limiting  every  element  of  the  work,  and 
far  from  what  would  be  done  in  accordance  with  the  untram- 
melled judgment. 


FEBRUARY  11,  1888.]  The    American    Architect   and   Building   Newt. 


As  Carlyle  said  of  Voltaire,  "You,  indeed,  swing  the  torch 
to  burn  old  abuses,  but  where  do  you  wield  the  hammer  to 
build  new  reforms." 

It  is,  indeed,  more  easy  to  offer  a  criticism  than  to  apply  any 
practicable  suggestions  with  prospect  of  prevailing ;  knowing 
that  the  accomplishment  of  sounder  methods  of  buildings  can 
be  established  only  as  public  sentiment  is  developed  to  require 
such  courses  as  will  attain  greater  measures  of  stability,  perman- 
ence and  beauty.  C.  J.  H.  WOODBURT. 

[To  be  continued.] 


OPEN-TIMBER  ROOFS  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES.'— III. 
(B  8)   Collar-braced  Roofs. 

E  collar- 
braced  roof 
is  properly 
considered  as  a 
simplification  of 
the  hammer- 
beam.  It  had 
been  found,  as  is 
shown  in  the  dif- 
ferent varieties 
of  hammer-beam 
roofs  (33,  34,  35) 
that  the  different 
members,  as  col- 
lar-beam, braces, 
etc.,  could  be 
separately  d  i  s  - 
pensed  with.  In 
the  Westminster 

example  it  was  evident  that  the  ability  of  the  hammer-beam  for  so  large 
a  span  had  been  questioned  and  assistance  was  sought  and  obtained  in 
the  form  of  the  large  arch.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  arch  does  nearly 
all  the  work,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  method  of  framing.  The  next 
step  in  the  order  of 
development,  there- 
fore, was  to  discard 
the  hammer-beam 
itself  (Fig.  36)  and 
emphasize  other 
members,  viz.,  the 
collar-b  e  a  m  and 
braces,  whence  the 
name  collar-braced 
roof.  The  forms  of 
trusses  used  in  this 
kind  of  roof  often 
resemble  those  used 
in  the  trussed-rafter 

roof,  but  it  must  be  fr'g-  37> 

remembered    that 

the  former  is  double-framed,  whereas  the  latter  is  a  single-framed 
roof.  This  distinction  must  be  kept  in  mind,  for  the  term  collar- 
braced  roof  is  made 
to  include  roofs  in 
which  the  braces  are 
very  flat  and  the  col- 
lar-beam is  reduced 
to  a  mere  wedge  at 
the  ridge.  (See  Fig- 
ure 87.J 

Collar-braced 
roofs,  with  flat  Tudor 
arches,  were  used  in 
the  late  Perpendicu- 
lar period,  but  were, 


Fig.  38. 


of  course,  limited  to  small  spans. 

ROOFS    AS   THEY   OCCUR    IN   THE    HISTORICAL   STYLES. 

Norman.  —  The  wooden  roofs  of  the  period  are  of  the  simplest 
type.  Generally  the 
tie-beams  are  placed 
close  together,  and 
to  their  undersides  a 
flat  wooden  ceiling  is 
nailed.  Often,  how- 
ever, the  roofs  are 
not  sheathed,  but  in 
such  instances  then 
is  little  effort  toward 
decorative  treatment. 
The  roofs  of  Roches-  F'«-  39. 

ter  and   Winchester 

are  cited  by  Rickman  as  examples  of  Norman  open-timber  roofs,  while 
that  at  Peterborough  is  typical  of  the  flat-boarded  ceiling  class.     At 

1  Continued  from  No.  631,  page  41. 


Fig.  40. 


Peterborough  the  tie-beam  is  raised  so  as  to  give  a  form  like  that  in 
Figure  8|$  The  ceiling  is  painted  with  a  geometrical  design,  in 
which  appear  zigzag  lozenges  and  other  characteristic  Norman 
ornament.  The  roof  at  Ely  is  treated  in  a  similar  style,  but  the  roof 
takes  a  pentagonal  sha[>e  somewhat  as  shown  in  Figure  39. 

Early  English.  —  Very  few  examples  exist  of  roofs  which  can  be 
clearly  distinguished  as  l>elonging  to  this  style.  The  trussed-rafter 
roof  is  generally  supposed  to  have  come  into  use  during  this  period. 
The  decorative  treatment  is  rather  plain.  The  timbers  are  usually 
chamfered ;  the  tie-beam  is  sometimes  moulded.  Wooden  ceilings  in 
imitation  of  stone-vaults  are  found,  the  details  of  which  are  Early 
English  in  character.  An  example  of  such  a  wooden  roof  was  shown 
in  Figure  2.  The  cloisters  of  Lincoln  were  roofed  in  this  fashion. 
The  pitch  of  the  roofs  in  this  period  was  steep  and  did  not  vary 
much,  the  angle  at  the  ridge  generally  approximating  a  right  angle. 
Decorated.  —  The  construction  of  roofs  in  this  period  does  not 
differ  materially  from  that  of  the  preceding  except  in  the  more 
careful  elaboration  and  greater  richness  of  details.  A  form  of 

frequent  occur- 
rence is  the 
trussed-r  after 
with  arched 
ribs.  Inter- 
rupted  mould- 
ings are  termi- 
nated with 
carved  leaves, 
etc.  Spandrels 
where  they  oc- 
cur are  generally 
pierced  and 
filled  with  trac- 
ery. An  inter- 
esting roof  is 
that  over  the 
Archbishop  of 
C  a  n  t  e  r  b  ury's 

palace  at  Mayfield,  Sussex.     This  roof  is  really  supported  by  great 
stone-arches,  a  device  that  was  adopted  in  several  other  places. 

Perpendicular.  —  The  characteristic  roof  of  this  period  is  the  ham- 
mer-beam, of  which  the  best  known  specimens  are  those  at  West- 
minster Hall,  Hampton  Court,  and  Eltham  Palace.  The  roof  of  the 
hall  at  Eltham  (Figure  40)  is  not  so  large  nor  so  well  designed  as  that 
at  Westminster.  The  large  arch  is  made  so  flat  and  the  hammer- 
beam  braces  are  so  short  and  placed  so  high  up  that  the  construc- 
tive proportions  of  the  hammer-beam  roof  were,  as  Fergusson  says, 
destroyed.  In  fact  the  constructive  significance  of  the  big  arch,  so 
striking  in  the  Westminster  example,  is  neglected  in  that  at  Eltham. 
Nevertheless,  "  with  all  its  constructive  faults  there  are  few  examples 
of  more  elegance  to  disarm  criticism  and  invite  admiration."2 

These  hall-roofs  were  very  large  and  elaborate.  Those  used  in 
churches  were  much  smaller  and  less  pretentious.  A  good  example 
of  a  roof  of  the  latter  class  would  be  that  of  Trunch  Church  (Fergus- 
son,  Vol.  II,  page  183.)  In  Figure  84  the  main  lines  of  the  roof 
may  be  seen.  As  has  been  said,  the  varieties  of  the  hammer-beam 
roof  are  many,  no  two,  in  fact,  being  exactly  alike.  All,  however, 
are  characterized  by  rich  decoration,  tracery,  mouldings,  bosses, 
angels,  etc.,  are  found  in  great  profusion. 

Another  kind  of  roof  commonly  used  in  churches  of  small  span  is 
the  tie-beam  roof  of  very  low  pitch  (Figure  19.)  In  this  roof  the 
purlins  and  rafters  were  made  by  their  intersections  to  form  squares 
or  oblongs.  These  were  marked  by  flowers  or  shields,  or  filled  with 
tracery ;  the  effect  in  general  being  one  of  panels  so  characteristic  of 
this  style. 

CONCLUSION. 

Material.  —  The  timber  used  in  the  construction  of  these  roofs  was 
oak.  Chestnut  is  said  to  have  been  used  to  some  extent,  but  the 
statement  cannot  be  said  to  have  been  substantiated. 

Fastenings.  —  The  invariable  method  of  fastening  timbers  together 
was  by  mortice,  tenon  and  wooden  pin.  No  iron  bolts  or  straps  were 
used.  The  reason  for  this  is  that  the  corrosion  of  the  iron  is  fol- 
lowed by  decay  of  timber,  and  this  by  loosening  of  bolts. 

Purlins.  —  In  almost  all  the  roofs  it  will  be  observed  that  the  pur- 
lins instead  of  lying  over  the  principals,  as  in  ancient  and  modern 
roofs,  a:e  framed  into  them,  thus  making  the  common  rafters  flush 
with  the  principals  on  their  upper  surfaces. 

Ridge.  —  One  peculiarity  to  be  noticed  in  the  framing  of  the  rafters 
is  the  absence  of  the  ridge  piece,  the  rafters  being  simply  halved  and 
fastened  by  an  oak  pin.  Even  where  the  ridge  piece  is  found  the 
rafters  are  framed  as  before,  and  the  ridge  timber  appears  beneath 
them. 

^  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  in  many  cases  the  Gothic  carpenters 
relied  too  much  on  the  sizes  of  timbers  and  the  strength  of  timber 
used,  rather  than  on  strictly  scientific  construction."*  This  is  un- 
doubtedly true,  but  it  is  to  be  said  on  the  other  hand,  that  one  great 
beauty  of  many  of  these  designs  is  that  they  show  that  due  allowance 
has  been  made  not  only  for  sufficient  strength  for  actual  construction 
but  also  for  the  appearance  of  strength,  an  effect  that  is  always  satis- 
factory. 


•From  an  article  on  ••  JJHtiik  Carpentry,"  Building  If  act,  1870. 

•From  an  article  on  "  Koof  Construction  of  the  Middle  Ages,"  Building  Ae 


The   American   Architect   and  Building 


-No.  638. 


Decoration. -Many  of  the  roofs  were  decorated 
relief,     lied,  green,  yellow  and  gold  were  the  colors  most  freque 
used.     The  carving  is  always  excellent.  fntMr-  archi- 

« So  essential  does  the  vault  appear  to  have  been  to  Gothic  a.chi 
lecture  .  .  .  that  it  is  at  first  sight  difficult  to  admit  that  any  other 
form  of  covering  can  be  as  beautiful.  But  some  of  the  »<fj»*j£ 
lish  churches  go  far  to  refute  the  idea.  Kven,  however,  if  thej  are 
not  in  themsefves  so  monumental  and  so  grand,  they  had  at  least  this 
advantage,  that  the  absence  of  the  vault  allowed  the  architect  o 
play  with  the  construction  of  the  substructure.  Great  merit  of  the 
wooden  roof  was  that  it  enabled  the  architect  to  dispense  with  all 
flying-buttresses,  exaggerated  pinnacles  and  mechanical  «xPedlents> 
which  were  necessary  to  support  a  vault,  but  which  often  sadly 
hampered  and  crowded  his  designs."  [Fergusson.] 

APPENDIX. 

A  list  is  subjoined  of  the  authorities,  consulted  in  the  preparation 
of  this  paper. 

Brandon.     "  Open  Timber  Roofs." 

Builder,  1876.     Article  on  the  "  Architectural  Treatment  of  the 

Building  News,  1870.     Articles  on  "  British  Carpentry." 
Buildinq  News,  1876.     Articles  on  "  Woodwork." 
Building  News,  1880.     Articles  on  the  "  Roof  Construction  of  the 
Middle  Ages." 

Da  vies.     "Architectural  Studies  in  France. 

Fergusson.     "History  of  Architecture." 

Hubsch.     Monuments  de  L'  Architecture  Chretienne."^ 

Johnson.     "  Specimens  of  Early  French  Architecture." 

Parker.     "  Glossary." 

Rickman.     "English  Architectural  Styles." 

Smith.     "  Specimens  of  Ancient  (British)  Carpentry." 

Tred<rold.     "  Elementary  Principles  of  Carpentry." 


Viollet-Ie-Duc. 
(Charpente.) 


Dictionnaire    Raisonne    de    L'  Architecture " 
HARRY  ELLINGWOOD  DONNELL. 


[Contributors  are  requested  to  send  with  their  drawings  full  and 
adequate  descriptions  of  the  buildings,  including  a  statement  of  cost.] 

CHURCH   OF   ST.    PIERRE,    MONTREAL,    P.    Q. 
[.Gelatine  Prliit,  issued  only  with  the  Imperial  Edition.] 

FOR  some  mention  of  this  building,  see  the  American  Architect  for 
October  1,  1887. 

HOUSE  FOR  P.  E.  CHILLMAN,  ESQ.,  CHESTNUT  HILL,  PHILADELPHIA, 
PA.  MR.  J.  C.  WORTHINGTON,  ARCHITECT,  PHILADELPHIA,  PA. 

TTATERIAL,  Chestnut  Hill  stone  throughout;  roofs  throughout, 
lYl  cedar,  shingle  stained  with  Cabot's  Creosote  Stain ;  woodwork 
J  painted  in  neutral  colors;  gable  ends,  dashed  plasterwork; 
interior  finish,  white  pine,  natural  finish ;  hall  in  oak.  Building 
about  40'  x  50'.  Cost  approximates  $8,000.  The  special  feature  of 
the  house  is  in  arrangement  of  bath  and  water  closet  rooms,  which 
may  be  made  common  or  separate  at  will. 

HOUSE   OF    A.   O.   LANE,    ESQ.,   BIRMINGHAM,    ALA.      MR.    EDOUARD 
8IDEL,   ARCHITECT,    BIRMINGHAM,   ALA. 

THIS  house  is  now  in  course  of  construction  and  is  situated 
on  the  corner  of  8th  Avenue  and  19th  Street.  It  is  built  of 
stone,  cast-iron,  St.  Louis  pressed  brick,  and  has  a  slate  roof ;  con- 
tains all  the  modern  improvements  in  the  way  of  heating,  ventila- 
tion, and  electric  bells,  etc.  It  will  cost  when  completed  $30,000. 

COMPETITIVE  DESIGN  FOR  THE  NEW  YORK  LIFE  INSURANCE 
BUILDING,  ST.  PAUL,  MINN.  MR.  J.  WALTER  STEVENS,  ARCH- 
ITECT, ST.  PAUL,  MINN. 

HOUSES  FOR  E.  W.  COOPER,  UTICA,  AND  FOR  PROF.  H.  C.  J. 
BRANDT,  CLINTON,  N.  Y.  MR.  EDWARD  W.  COOPER,  ARCHITECT, 
UTICA,  N.  Y. 

STREET    IN   ST.    LIZIER,    ARI^GE,    FRANCE.        SKETCHED    BY   MR.    H. 
P.    KIRBY,   ARCHITECT. 


THE  DEATH  OF  M.  GODIN  OF  GUISE.  — The  founder  of  the  "Familis- 
tere"  at  Guise,  Aisne,  has  just  died.  St.  Jean  Baptiste  Andre  Godin 
was  the  son  of  a  locksmith,  and  was  born  in  1817.  In  1846  he  set  up  as 
an  iron-founder  at  Guise,  and  speedily  became  wealthy.  In  1859  he 
erected  the  "  Familistere,"  consisting  of  600  cottages,  with  co-opera- 
tive shops,  club,  theatre,  etc.,  for  his  workmen.  In  1871  he  was  elected 
a  Deputy,  but  withdrew  from  public  life  in  1875.  —  London  Times, 


Fig.  510. 


FOURTH     ANNUAL     REPORT     OF     THE    BUREAU     OF 
ETHNOLOGY.1  — HI- 

FRANK  HAMILTON    GUSHING  ON   PUEBLO   POTTERY  AND  ZUNI    CUL- 
TURE   GROWTH. 

'HE  paper  by  Mr.  Frank 
Hamilton  Gushing  on 
"A  Study  of  Pueblo 
Pottery  as  Illustrative  of 
Zuni  Culture  Growth  "  is 
made,  by  the  method  adopt- 
ed, a  most  important  and 
remarkable  contribution  to 
ethnological  research.  It  ap- 
propriately follows  the  pa- 
pers by  Mr.  Holmes,  for,  in 
pursuing  a  different  line  of 
investigation,  Mr.  Gushing 
affords  absolute  confirmation  of  the  correctness  of  Mr.  Holmes's 
conclusions,  arrived  at  wholly  from  an  archaeological  standpoint. 
Mr.  Gushing  combines  his  archaeological  knowledge  with  a  close 
intimacy  with  the  Zuni  tongue,  obtained  by  his  long  course  of 
ethnological  researches  among  that  people.  Working  largely  on 
lin<nristfc  lines,  in  a  way  that  shows  the  born  philologist,  with  rare 
ingenuity  he  weaves  from  the  inherent  evidences  of  language  a  net- 
work of  evidence  that  runs  far  into  the  forgotten  past,  and  from  van- 
ished ages  he  brings  facts  concerning  the  origin  of  an  art  into  the 
li<rht  of  "this  century's  knowledge. 

Through  the  kindness  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  the  American 
Architect  was  enabled  a  few  months  ago  to  lay  before  its  readers, 
from  advance  sheets,  the  first  part  of  Mr.  Cushing's  paper  relating 
to  "  Habitations  affected  by  Environment."  It  formed  a  unique  con- 
tribution to  the  literature  of  "  American  architecture  "  in  the  purest 
sense,  and  therefore  it  was  with  peculiar  appropriateness  that  it  first 
saw  the  light  in  this  journal.  Many  of  our  readers  must  have  been 
impressed  with  the  strength 
of  the  evidence  afforded  by 
the  linguistic  argument  where- 
by was  indicated  the  proba- 
ble sequence  of  architectural 
types  in  the  evolution  of  the 
Pueblo,  from  the  brush  lodge, 
of  which  only  the  name  surv- 
ives among  the  Zunis  of  to-  r\s.  511. 
day,  to  the  present  many-sto- 
ried and  terraced  communal  structures  to  be  found  throughout  New 
Mexico,  Arizona  and  contiguous  regions. 

The  linguistic  evidence  of  the  derivation  of  Zuni  pottery  from  bas- 
Ketry,  as  cited  by  Mr.  Gushing,  affords  a  complete  chain  of  proof. 
He  describes  the  lining  of  a  shallow  tray  of  basket-work  with  clay  to 

make  it  available  for  roast- 
ing purposes  or  processes, 
which  he  has  witnessed 
among  the  Havasupai  In- 
dians, a  sedentary  tribe  is- 
olated in  the  Colorado  Can- 
on. This  clay  lining,  hard- 
ened by  continual  heating 
from  the  coals  placed  upon 
it,  when  detached  from  its 
matrix  of  osiers,  forms  in 
itself  a  complete  roasting- 
vessel.  The  modern  Zuni 
name  for  a  parching-pan ;  a  shallow  bowl  of  black-ware,  has  a  name 
of  the  same  meaning  as  that  applied  to  a  basket  tray,  signifying  "  a 
shallow  vessel  of  twigs." 

Anciently,  boiling  was  done,  with  the  aid  of  hot  stones,  in  water- 
tight baskets  of  pot-like  shapes.  These  and  kindred  forms  of  basket- 
vessels  were  often  quite  elaborately  ornamented  by  angular  devices, 
like  serrated  bands,  diagonal  or  zig-zag  lines,  chevrons,  and  even 
terraces  and  frets.  Mr.  Gushing  traces  the  development  of  these 
methods  of  decoration  to  the  elaboration  on  suggestions  of  the  lines 
and  figures  unavoidably  produced  in  wicker-work  of  any  kind  when 

strands  of    different  colors 
happen  to  be  employed  tc- 
;ether  and  even  by  slight 
iscolorations  in  occasional 
splints.     The  probability  of 
this   view   is    shown    by    a 
consideration  of  the  etymol- 
ogy of  a  few  Zuni  decora- 
tive terms.     A  terraced  loz- 
enge on   their   pottery,   in- 
Rg-  5I3-  stead  of  being  named  after 

the  abstract  word  that  signifies  a  double  terrace,  or  two  terraces 
joined  at  the  base,  as  would  naturally  seem  to  be  what  they  would 
do,  is  called  by  a  word  signifying  "the  double-splint-stitch-form 
mark,"  a  term  clearly  derived  from  basket-work,  as  may  be  seen 
from  a  comparison  of  Figures  510  and  511  with  512  and  513.  Also, 
a  pattern  composed  of  a  series  of  diagonal  or  oblique  parallel 

'Continued  from  No.  031,  page  46. 


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The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


lines,  as  in  Figure  514,  is  called  a  name  meaning  "  tapering "  or 
"neck-splint  mark."  "Curiously  enough,  in  a  bottle-shaped, Bas- 
ket, as  it  approaches  completion,  the  splints  of  the  tapering  part 
or  neck  all  lean  spirally  side  by  side  of  one  another  (see  Fig.  514), 
and  a  term  descriptive  of  this  has  cone  to  be  applied  to  lines  resem- 
bling it,  instead  of  a  derivative  from  as  set  lai  e,  signifying  an  oblique 
or  leaning  line.  Where  splints  variously  arranged,  or  stitches,  have 

given  names  to  decoration  —  applied 
even  to  painted  or  embroidered  de- 
signs —  it  is  not  difficult  for  us  to 
see  that  these  same  combinations, 
at  first  unintentional,  must  have 
suggested  the  forms  to  which  they 
give  names  as  decorations." 

It  seems  that  the  method  of  form- 
ing basket-work  by  a  coiling  pro- 
cess suggested  the  method  of  mak- 
ing pottery  by  coiling  it  of  thin 
ropes  of  clay.  The  evolution  of 
the  cooking-vessels  of  modern  Zuni 
from  the  coiled  boiling-basket  of 
ancient  times  is  indicated  by  the 
close  resemblance  of  form  between 
the  vessels  of  pottery  and  of  bas- 
ket-work, with  even  the  rudimen- 
tary survival  of  the  basket-han- 


Fig.  5  I  4. 


dies  in  two  conical  projec- 
tions near  the  rim  of  the  clay 
pot,  varied  in  later  times  to 
form  scrolls.  A  most  con- 
vincing link  in  this  chain  of 
connection,  however,  is  to  be 
found  in  the  names  of  the  two 
kinds  of  vessels,  the  name  of 
one  meaning  "  coiled  cooking- 
basket  "  and  the  latter  "coiled 
earthenware  cooking-basket." 
Mr.  Gushing  shows  how  other 
important  types  of  vessels  of 
pottery  developed  in  a  similar 
way  from  basketry  forms. 

An  important  fact  in  influ- 
encing the  development  of 
the  ceramic  art  of  the  South- 
west is  shown  by  Mr.  Gush- 
ing to  be  the  mineral  char- 
acter of  a  locality.  "  Where 
clay  occurred  of  a  fine,  tough  Fi«-  5 ' 5- 

texture,  easily  mined  and  manipulated,  the  work  in  terra-cotta  became 
proportionately  more  elaborate  in  variety  and  finer  in  quality. 
There  are  to  be  found  about  the  sites  of  some  ancient  Pueblos 
potsherds  incredibly  abundant  and  indicating  great  advance  in  deco- 
rative art,  while  near  others,  architecturally  similar,  even  where 
evidence  of  ethnic  connection  is  not  wanting,  only  coarse,  crudely 
moulded  and  painted  fragments  are  discoverable,  and  these  in 
limited  quantity."  A  modern  instance  is  to  be  found  in  the  outlying 
farming  Pueblos  of  Zufii,  at  one  of  which,  there  being  an  abundance 
of  clays  of  several  varieties  and  of  color-minerals,  the  finest  pottery 
of  the  tribe  is  made  in  great  quantity,  while  at  another,  where 
clay  is  scarce  and  poor  in  texture,  the  pottery  is  of  miserable  quality 
and  poor  shape.  The  same  holds  true  in  regard  to  decoration ; 
where  the  mineral  deposits  furnish  a  great  variety  of  pigment- 
material,  the  decoration  of  the  ceramic  remains  is  "so  surprisingly 
and  universally  elaborate,  beautiful  and  varied  as  to  lead  the  observer 
to  regard  the  people  who  dwelt  there  as  different  from  the  people 
who  had  inhabited  towns  about  the  sites  of  which  the  sherds  show 
not  only  meagre  skill  and  less  profuse  decorative  variety,  but  almost 
typical  dissimilarity."  Yet  the  inhabitants  of  both  sections  may  be 
of  common  derivation  and  even  closely  related  and  contemporaneous. 

An  important  fact  brought  out  in  Mr.  Cushing's  discussion  of  the 
materials  employed  and  the  methods  resorted  to  in  burning  pottery, 
is  that  bituminous  coal,  according  to  tradition,  was  the  most  perfect 
fuel,  and  where  abundant  and  accessible,  was  much  used.  Support 
is  given  to  this  tradition  by  the  traces  of  little  pit-kilns  filled  with 
cinders  of  mineral-coal  about  many  of  the  ruins  in  the  northwestern 
portion  of  the  Pueblo  region,  coupled  with  the  semi-fusion  and  well- 
preserved  condition  of  most  of  the  ancient  jars  found  associated  with 
them.  Additional  confirmation  was  found  by  Mr.  Gushing  by  dis- 
covering that  some  excellent  counterfeits  of  ancient  pottery,  brought 
him  at  Aloki,  wers  made  by  the  use  of  bituminous  coal.  When  asked 
why  they  did  not  use  it  commonly  in  burning  their  household  pottery, 
the  Indians  told  him  that  the  pots  broke  more  frequently  than  when 
fired  with  dried  sheep-dung  in  the  common  way,  and  that  the  latter 
was  also  less  troublesome,  requiring  only  to  be  dug  from  the  corrals 
near  by  and  dried  to  make  it  ready  for  use.  In  this  connection,  it 
is  of  interest  to  remark  that  Professor  Putnam's  explorations  in  Ohio 
show  that  bituminous  coal  was  also  used  by  the  mound-builders, 
although  its  use  was  not  general,  owing  to  the  abundance  of  wood. 

The  remarks  on  the  evolution  of  form  and  decoration  are  so  sug- 
gestive and  instructive  that  their  brevity  is  to  be  regretted.  The 
discussion  of  decorative  symbolism  gives  a  charming  glimpse  at  Zufii 
mythology.  Mr.  Gushing  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  on  every 


class  of  food  and  water  vessels,  in  Ixjth  ancient  and  modern  Pueblo 
pottery  (with  the  important  exceptions  of  pitchers  and  some  sacred 
receptacles),  it  is  a  singular  and  almost  constant  feature  that  encir- 
cling lines  and  often  even  ornamental  zones  are  not  joined  at  the 
ends,  a  slight  space  always  breaking  the  completion  of  the  cin-lr. 
He  asked  the  Indian  women,  when  he  saw  them  making  these  little 
spaces  with  great  care,  why  they  took  so  much  pains  to  leave  them 
open.  They  replied  that  to  close  them  was  dk  ta  HI,  "  fearful !  " 
that  this  little  space  through  the  line  or  zone  on  a  vessel  was  the 
"  exit  trail  of  life  or  being."  Of  course  they  could  not  tell  how  it 
came  to  be  first  left  open  and  why  regarded  as  the  "exit  trail." 
"  But,"  says  Mr.  Gushing,  "  if  one  studies  the  mythology  of  this 
people  and  their  ways  of  thinking,  then  watches  them  closely,  he 
will,  however,  get  other  clews.  When  a  woman  has  made  a  vessel, 
dried,  polished  and  painted  it,  she  will  tell  you,  with  an  air  of  relief, 
that  it  is  a  '  Made  Being.'  Her  statement  is  confirmed  as  a  sort  of 
article  of  faith,  when  it  is  seen  that  as  she  places  the  vessel  in  the 
kiln,  she  also  places  in  and  beside  it  some  food.  Evidently  she 
vaguely  gives  something  about  the  vessel  a  personal  existence.  The 
question  arises,  how  did  these  people  come  to  regard  food-receptacles 
or  water-receptacles  as  possessed  of,  or  accompanied  by,  conscious 
existences.  I  have  found  that  the  Zuni  argues  actual  and  essential 
relationship  from  similarity  in  the  appearance,  function  or  other 
attributes  of  even  generically  diverse  things."  This  mental  bias  hag 
both  influenced  pottery  decoration  and  been  itself  influenced  by  it. 
The  noise  made  by  a  pot  when  struck  or  when  simmering  on  a  fire 
is  supposed  to  be  the  voice  of  its  associated  being.  The  clang  of  a 
pot  when  it  breaks  or  suddenly  cracks  in  burning  is  the  cry  of  this 
being  as  it  escapes  or  separates  from  the  vessel.  The  fact  that  the 
vase  when  cracked  or  fragmentary  never  resounds  as  it  did  when 
whole  is  regarded  as  proof  that  this  being  has  departed.  "  This 
vague  existence  never  cries  out  violently  unprovoked,  but  it  is  sup- 
posed to  acquire  the  power  of  doing  so  by  imitation ;  hence,  no  one 
sings,  whistles  or  makes  other  strange  or  musical  sounds  resembling 
those  of  earthenware  under  the  circumstances  above  described 
during  the  smoothing,  polishing  or  painting,  or  other  processes  of 
finishing.  The  being,  thus  incited,  they  think,  would  surely  strive 
to  come  out,  and  would  break  the  vessel  in  so  doing.  In  this  we 
find  a  partial  explanation  of  the  native  belief  that  a  pot  is  accom- 
panied by  a  conscious  existence.  The  rest  of  the  solution  of  this 
problem  in  belief  is  involved  in  the  native  philosophy  and  worship  of 
water.  Water  contains  the  source  of  continued  life.  The  vessel 
holds  the  water ;  the  source  of  life  accompanies  the  water ;  hence, 
its  dwelling-place  \a  in  the  vessel  with  the  water.  Finally,  the  vessel 
is  supposed  to  contain  the  treasured  source,  irrespective  of  the  water 
—  as  do  wells  and  springs,  or  even  the  places  where  they  have  been. 
If  the  encircling  lines  inside  of  the  eating-bowl,  outside  of  the  water- 
jar,  were  closed,  there  would  be  no  exit  trail  for  this  invisible  source 
of  life  or  for  its  influence  or  breath." 

Two  considerations  are  submitted  as  to  why  the  source  of  life,  or 
its  influence,  must  be  provided  with  a  trail  by  which  to  pass  out. 
The  difficulty  of  smoothly  joining  an  incised  line  around  a  still  soft 
clay  pot,  and  the  still  greater  difficulty  when  the  ornamental  band  is 
laid  on  in  relief,  would  naturally  cause  the  savage  to  leave  the  ends 
unjoined.  When  paint  came  to  be  the  decorative  agent,  the  lines  or 
bands  would  be  left  unjoined  in  imitation.  As  set  forth  in  Tylor's 
"  Early  History,"  a  "  myth  of  observation  "  like  the  above  would 
come  to  be  assigned  in  after  ages.  But  whether  this  be  true  or  not, 
Mr.  Gushing  considers  it  an  insufficient  solution  of  the  problem. 

The  Pueblo,  he  goes  on  to  say,  naturally  considers  water  the  prime 
source  of  life,  or  as  accompanied  by  it,  for,  without  the  presence  of 
living  water,  very  few  things  would  grow  in  his  desert  land.  He  has 
therefore  come  to  regard  water  as  the  milk  of  adults,  to  speak  of  it 
as  such,  and  as  the  all-sufficient  nourishment  which  the  earth,  in  his 
conception  of  it  as  the  mother  of  men,  yields.  When  his  race  was 


Fig.  548.  Fig.  549. 

one  of  cliff  and  mesa  dwellers,  the  most  common  vessel  appertaining 
to  his  daily  life  was  the  flat-bellied  canteen,  or  water-carrier,  which 
was  suspended  by  a  band  across  the  forehead,  so  as  to  hang  against 
the  back,  thus  leaving  the  hands  as  well  as  the  feet  free  for  assist- 
ance in  climbing.  Its  form  (Fig.  547)  seems  to  have  been  suggested 
by  that  of  the  human  mammary  gland,  or  perhaps  its  peculiar  form 
may  have  suggested  a  relationship,  as  may  be  seen  by  a  comparison 


68 


The    American    Architect   and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  — No    888. 


of  Figures  548,  549.  Its  name  in  Zufii  is  derived  from  the  same 
source  as  that  of  the  human  mammary  gland.  A  surviving  supersti- 
tion inclines  Mr.  Gushing  to  the  view  that  the  me  he  ton,  as  it  is 
called,  was  originally  left  open  at  the  apex  instead  of  at  the  top,  but, 
beino-  found  to  leak  with  the  aperture  so  low,  this  was  closed.  When 
a  woman  has  completed  the  vessel  nearly  to  the  apex,  by  the  coiling 
process,  and  before  she  has  inserted  the  nozzle,  Figure  549,  6,  she 
prepares  a  little  wedge  of  clay,  and,  as  she  closes  the  apex  with  it, 
she  turns  her  eyes  away.  When  asked  why  she  does  this,  she 
replies  that  it  is" "fearful"  to  look  at  the  vessel  while  closing  it  at 
this  point ;  that  if  she  look  at  it  during  this  operation  she  will  be 
liable  to  become  barren,  or  various  other  calamities  may  befall  her 
or  those  who  drink  out  of  the  vessel !  Mr.  Cushing's  impression  is 
that,  reasoning  from  analogy,  the  Zufii  woman  supposes  that  by 
closing  the  apex  she  closes  the  way  for  the  source  of  life,  and  that 
the  woman  who  closes  this  way  knowingly  (that  is,  in  her  own  sight) 
voluntarily  closes  the  exit  way  for  the  source  of  life  in  her  own 
mammse,  etc. 

Other  types  of  the  canteen,  of  later  origin,  not  only  retained  the 
name-root  of  this  primitive  form,  but  also  its  attributed  functions. 
The  canteens  used  by  hunters,  shown  in  Figure  550,  has  a  name  that 
means  "  mammaries  joined  together  by  a  neck."  In  closing  the 
ends,  c  c,  of  this  curious  vessel,  the  women  are  as  careful  to  turn  the 
,,  ^^^  eyes  away  as  in  closing 

-^^^-  the    apex  of    the    older 

form.  The  resemblance 
to  the  end  of  the  mam- 
ma not  being  striking, 
they  place  on  either  side 
of  the  nozzle  a  pair  of 
little  conical  projections, 
resembling  the  teats,  and 
so  called.  The  reason 

Fig.  550.  for  there  being   four   of 

these  seems  to  be  that  this  canteen  is  designed  for  the  use  of  the 
hunter,  whose  proper  nourishment  is  the  game  he  kills ;  hence,  the 
source  of  his  life,  like  that  of  the  young  of  his  game,  is  symbolized 
in  the  canteen  by  the  mammaries,  not  of  human  beings,  but  of  game- 
animals.  We  are  brought  nearer  to  an  understanding  of  the  ques- 
tion under  discussion  by  a  feature  in  these  canteens.  When  orna- 
mental bands  are  painted  around  either  end  of  the  neck  of  one  of 
them,  they  are  interrupted  at  the  little  projections.  Mr.  Gushing 
has,  indeed,  observed  specimens  on  which  these  lines,  if  placed  a 
little  further  out,  were  interrupted  at  the  top  opposite  the  little  pro- 
jections, as  shown  in  the  illustration.  It  would  seem  that  paint,  like 
clay,  came  by  analogy  to  be  regarded  as  a  barrier  to  the  exit  of  the 
source  of  life.  "  This  idea  of  the  source  of  life  once  associated  with 
the  canteen  would  readily  become  connected  with  the  water-jar, 
which,  if  not  the  offspring  of  the  canteen,  at  least  usurped  its  place 
in  the  household  economy  of  these  people.  From  the  water-jar,  it 
would  pass  naturally  to  drinking-vessels  and  eating-bowls,  explaining 
the  absence  of  the  interrupted  lines  on  the  oldest  of  these  and  their 
constant  occurrence  on  recent  and  modern  examples,  for  the  painted 
lines  being  left  open  at  the  apices,  or  near  the  projections  on  the 
canteens,  they  should  also  be  unjoined  on  other  vessels  with  which 
the  same  ideas  were  associated." 

This  description,  which  we  have  necessarily  somewhat  abbreviated, 
affords  a  good  example  of  the  subtile  methods  of  research  employed 
by  Mr.  Gushing,  and  shows  how  necessary  it  is  to  identify  one's  self 
with  the  life  and  mode  of  thought  of  a  people  in  order  to  understand 
them  with  a  correctness  essential  for  true  ethnological  work.  He 
concludes  that  we  may  hope,  by  a  patient  study  of  the  ceramic 
remains  of  a  people,  no  matter  where  situated,  to  discover  what  was 
the  type  of  their  pre-ceramic  vessels,  and  thereby  we  might  also 
learn  whether,  at  the  time  of  the  origin  of  the  potter's  art  or  during 
its  development,  they  had,  like  the  Pueblos,  been  indigenous  to  the 
area  in  which  they  had  been  found,  or  whether  they  had,  like  some 
of  the  Central  Americans  (to  make  a  concrete  example  and  judge  it 
by  this  method),  apparently  immigrated  in  part  from  desert  North 
America,  in  part  from  the  wilderness  of  an  equatorial  region  in 
South  America. 

There  are  some  things  established  by  the  linguistic  evidences 
developed  by  Mr.  Gushing  which  have  a  most  important  bearing  on 
ethnological  science.  It  is  shown  that  the  art  of  pottery-making 
must  have  been  developed  by  a  people  speaking  the  Zufii  language 
—  from  the  time  of  the  primitive  beginnings  of  the  art  founded  upon 
basketry  forms  —  entirely  within  its  own  ethnic  lines,  and  apparently 
unaffected  by  influences  from  other  peoples.  And  the  long  lingual 
line  of  descent  which  has  thus  preserved  the  tokens  of  the  ancestry 
of  forms  from  a  past  which  must  be  considerably  remote,  shows  a 
remarkable  stability  of  language.  Indeed,  it  proves  how  completely 
erroneous  must  be  the  theory  advanced,  we  believe,  by  Mr.  Herbert 
Spencer,  that  the  languages  of  primitive  or  illiterate  peoples  are 
unstable.  On  the  contrary,  it  seems  safe  to  assume  as  an  ethnologi- 
cal law  that  the  language  of  a  people  is  stable  according  to  the  sta- 
bility of  its  environment.  A  language  naturally  changes  to  suit 
changing  conditions,  and  the  changes  consequent  upon  a  commingling 
of  different  peoples,  like  those  entailed  by  the  conquest  of  England 
by  the  Normans,  resulting  iu  a  new  and  conglomerate  tongue,  are, 
of  course,  far  more  swift  and  radical  than  those  coming  from  the 
removal  of  a  people  into  even  an  entirely  new  set  of  natural  sur- 
roundings. Investigation  would  probably  show  that  while  the  lan- 


Buage  of  a  people  is  made  more  stable  by  a  general  literacy,  which 
ixes  and  preserves  its  forms  —  as  shown  by  the  petrifaction  of  even 
;rave  errors  of  pronunciation  and  spelling  by  dictionary  authority  in 
;he  English  tongue  —  the  language  of  an  illiterate  nation  of  a  high 
culture  grade  is  made  unstable  by  its  subjection  to  the  influences  of 
'oreign  contact.  But  a  race  developing  amidst  a  uniform  environ- 
ment and  not  subjected  to  foreign  influences,  would  naturally  evince 
a,  lingual  evolution  of  a  slow  and  gradual  kind,  corresponding  to  the 
normal  growth  of  the  race  in  thought  as  modified  by  experience. 

SYLVESTER  BAXTER. 


T  T  HENRY  HAVARD,  whose  name  is  ever  properly  held  in 
lyl  regard  because  of  his  works  on  art,  has  just  put  forth  the  first 
J  "•**  volume  of  his  "  Dictionary  of  Furniture  and  Decoration  "  1  from 
;he  thirteenth  century  to  our  own  days.  The  complete  work  will 
consist  of  four  quarto  volumes,  in  two  columns,  and  will  have  from 
ive  hundred  to  seven  hundred  illustrations  in  each  volume.  In  his 
preface,  M.  Havard  says  that  the  collection  of  the  materials  for  this 
work,  the  researches  and  preparatory  studies  have  demanded  nearly 
ten  years.  This  is  not  at  all  unlikely,  considering  the  care  and 
attention  paid  to  details  that  one  finds  in  every  article.'  The  author 
lias  delved  amongst  all  the  memoirs,  all  the  journals,  dictionaries 
and  inventories  century  by  century  since  the  fourteenth,  and  it  is 
From  Froissart,  Clement,  Marot,  Rabelais,  Brantdme,  Se'vigne', 
D'Argenson,  etc.,  that  he  has  extracted  instruction. 

His  object  was  to  complete  and,  where  possible,  rectify  the  cele- 
brated work  of  Viollet-le-Duc  upon  the  furniture  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
This  dictionary,  to  judge  by  the  first  volume  which  has  just  appeared, 
and  includes  the  letters  A  to  G,  will  be  valued  by  the  learned,  by  men 
of  letters,  archaeologists  and  artists.  Here  gathered  together  and 
disengaged  from  every  detail  which  does  not  refer  directly  to  the 
word  sought,  are  facts  and  documents,  to  discover  which  for  himself 
would  demand  enormous  time  and  numberless  searches  on  the  part  of 
the  artist  or  the  inquirer  who  has  need  of  it. 

The  practical  side,  without  being  absolutely  neglected,  occupies  a 
more  modest  place  in  this  work,  which  is  written  rather  from  the 
historic  and  anecdotical  standpoint.  In  this  respect  the  dictionary 
of  M.  Havard  is  very  complete  and  exact.  It  is  at  the  same  time 
as  interesting  and  amusing  for  the  serious  artist  as  for  the  amateur. 
Every  word  has  its  history  and  its  complete  genealogy  —  sometimes 
a  little  too  long.  In  confronting  so  serious  a  work  and  such  con- 
scientious efforts,  one  experiences  a  scruple  in  risking  any  criticisms, 
especially  before  the  work  is  complete,  and  consequently  cannot  yet 
be  judged  as  a  whole.  Nevertheless,  it  may  be  allowable  to  point 
out  at  the  present  time  the  somewhat  excessive  agglomeration  of 
details  of  quite  secondary  interest  in  certain  articles  considered  and 
the  brevity  of  certain  others.  The  absence  or  the  multiplicity  of 
documents  relating  to  these  articles  may  be  the  cause  of  this,  but  the 
author  might  have  been  able  to  prune  and  condense  a  little  more  in 
some  cases.  The  criticism  of  such  works  is  a  very  delicate  task ; 
being  addressed  to  everybody,  that  which  seems  useless  to  some  may 
be  precious  to  others,  and  M.  Havard  could  answer  complaint  by 
citing  such  or  such  groups  of  artists,  curiosity  mongers,  or  investiga- 
tors, for  whom  the  very  things  which  are  considered  valueless  become 
the  best  of  qualities.  Thus,  in  order  not  to  risk  imposing  an  opinion 
which  may  not  be  shared  and  giving  voice  to  an  unjust  judgment  by 
looking  at  the  matter  from  a  point  of  view  altogether  too  special, 
it  is  perhaps  preferable  to  take  certain  articles  in  the  dictionary  and 
show  in  what  manner  they  are  treated.  Let  it  be  then  two  words  of 
different  characters  —  that  of  a  movable  utensil  in  daily  use,  such  as 
a  knife,  and  that  of  a  portion  of  a  habitation  —  a  chamber.  I 
choose  these  articles  with  intention.  The  first  is  a  detail  and  occu- 
pies relatively  a  modest  place  in  the  ranks  of  furnishings ;  the  second, 
on  the  contrary,  the  chamber,  incloses  a  quantity  of  indispensable 
accessories  which  form  the  whole.  It  is  interesting,  therefore,  to  see 
how  M.  Havard  has  treated  these  two  articles,  and  by  applying  the 
same  method  to  other  articles,  one  can  more  easily  take  cognizance 
of  the  utility  and  value  of  the  work. 

To  the  word  "knife"  have  been  devoted  twelve  columns  and 
twenty  drawings,  and  yet  the  author,  leaving  one  side  all  the  differ- 
ent applications  of  this  utensil,  has  limited  himself  to  mentioning  the 
adaptations  which  strictly  concern  furniture  and  present  a  direct 
contact  with  the  service  of  the  table  and  the  toilet.  The  article 
commences  with  a  little  history  of  the  guild  of  cutlers,  which,  in  the 
thirteenth  century,  was  divided  into  two  communities,  one  manufac- 
ing  blades  and  the  other  handles.  This  separation  did  not  long  con- 
tinue, and  the  two  professions  were  united  in  the  first  half  of  the 
fourteenth  century.  At  this  time  the  richness  of  knives  was  already 
considerable.  If  proof  were  necessary,  one  could  turn  to  the  inven- 
tory of  King  Charles  V,  in  1380,  where  knives  are  mentioned  in 
whose  make-up  enamelled  gold,  ivory  and  silver-gilt  played  the  prin- 

1  "  Dictionnaire  de  I'AmeuUement  et  dc  la  Dtcoralian,"  par  Henry  Havard.  4 
vols.,  flexible  binding.  Price,  $40.  Paris  :  Maison  Quintin, 


FEBRUARY  11,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


cipal  part.  Here,  too,  is  a  description  of  a  personage  who  was  style 
the  master  of  carving  and  the  ceremonial  surrounding  this  personage 
as  well  as  the  rules  which  regulated  royal  and  princely  tables  during 
the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries.  The  form  and  color  of  the 
knives  are  quite  curious  :  thus,  the  color  of  the  handles  was  not  the 
same  during  Lent  as  at  Easter,  nor  at  Kaster  as  at  the  Passover. 
This  curious  custom  is  supported  by  numerous  documents,  and  M. 
Havard  cites  some  which  emanated  from  Etienne  de  la  Fontaine, 
silversmith  to  King  John  (1352),  the  accounts  of  Geoffrey  de  Fleury 
and  Guillaume  Brunei,  silversmith  to  Charles  VI  (1887). 

The  historical  and  anecdotical  side  is  treated  profoundly,  thanks 
once  more  to  information  derived  from  the  trousseau  of  Marie 
de  Bourgogne,  countess  of  Cloves  (1415),  the  inventory  of  the 
Chateau  d'  Angers  (1471),  etc.  It  is  thus  that  we  see  amongst  other 
things  that  the  first  personage  who  had  any  idea  of  rounding  the 
point  of  a  knife  was  Cardinal  Richelieu,  compelled  to  endure  at  his 
table  the  Chancellor  Seguier,  who  ate  in  a  most  improper  way  and 
picked  his  teeth  with  a  Knife.  Richelieu  invented,  the  story  goes, 
this  means  of  preventing  the  Chancellor  indulging  before  him  in  this 
ignoble  practice.  From  that  time  all  knives  were  made  round-pointed. 
From  the  seventeenth  century  they  began  to  manufacture  knives 
especially  made  for  cutting  fruit,  as  is  stated  in  the  inventory  of  the 
Baroness  Castelmauron  (Toulouse,  1668).  Finally,  the  author 
speakx  of  toilet-knives,  which,  from  the  fourteenth  century,  were 
employed  for  cutting  and  cleaning  the  finger-nails.  The  eighteenth 
century  substituted  the  pen-knife  for  the  case-knife  for  this  useful 
task.  Then  the  file  took  the  place  of  the  pen-knife.  Finally,  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  appeared  on  the  toilet  table  of  the  ultra-fashion- 
ables a  knife  to  scrape  off  face-powder.  These  little  instruments 
were  extremely  rich  in  design ;  that  of  Madame  de  Pompadour  had 
a  lacquered  handle,  and  the  blade  and  ornaments  in  gold.  Finally, 
the  article  closes  with  a  few  words  on  the  modern  paper-knife. 

We  see  by  this  epitome  how  complete  is  the  treatment  of 
this  article  and  with  how  many  documentary  proofs  the  author  sup- 
ports himself.  What  will  they  be  then  for  a  more  important  sub- 
ject, such  as  is  the  chamber.  Forty-eight  columns  —  quite  a  small 
volume  —  are  consecrated  to  it,  and  eighteen  engravings,  four  full- 
page  plates  in  color.  And  first  of  all  comes  the  history  of  the  word 
itself,  and  its  meaning  at  different  epochs.  Formerly  it  designated 
indifferently  all  the  rooms  of  a  house ;  thus  one  said,  "  the  king's 
chamber,"  "  the  bathing  chamber,"  "  the  tapestry  chamber,"  etc. 
This  manner  of  designation  persisted  for  generations.  In  the  seven- 
teenth century  the  "  blue  chamber  "  of  the  beautiful  Julie  D'Angennes 
was  celebrated  amongst  the  habitue's  of  the  Hotel  de  Rambouillet. 
In  our  time  the  custom  is  continued,  and  in  the  chateaux  they  still 
designate  the  chambers  by  their  color  or  the  nature  of  the  hangings ; 
but  the  one  chamber  with  which  M.  Havard  concerns  himself  in  his 
dictionary  is  the  bedchamber,  the  room  in  which,  throughout  all 
time,  people  have  slept. 

In  the  feudal  habitations  of  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries 
we  encounter  two  distinct  kinds  of  chambers,  although  both  are  bed- 
chambers—  the  chambre  de  parade  and  the  chambre  au  giate  still 
smaller.  Charles  V,  ill  in  the  Chateau  de  Beaute,  suffers  and  is  cared 
for  in  the  chambre  au  giste  upon  a  narrow  palette,  but  when  his  last 
hour  is  near  he  is  carried  into  the  swell  chamber  and  placed  upon  a 
grand  ceremonial  bed,  in  order  that  he  can  draw  his  last  breath  with 
becoming  dignity  and  surrounded  by  the  paraphernalia  that  com- 
ported his  rank.  This  digression  upon  the  r61e  which  the  chamber 
used  to  play,  in  spite  of  its  curious  and  interesting  side,  is  a  little 
too  long. 

In  the  sixteenth  century,  the  separation  between  the  spare  cham- 
ber and  the  ordinary  chamber  disappeared — at  court,  at  least,  where 
the  kings  and  queens  used  to  admit  a  crowd  of  courtiers  at  their 
awakening  or  their  rising  from  bed.  Everybody  knows  how  impor- 
tant in  the  time  of  Louis  XIV  was  held  the  favor  of  being  present  at 
the  rising  or  couching  of  the  king.  This  singular  promiscuousness 
brought  about  a  transformation  in  the  furnishing  of  the  chamber: 
there  was  first  the  "  ruelle,"  a  free  space  arranged  under  the  cur- 
tains and  draperies  between  the  bed  and  the  wall ;  then  the  "  alcove," 
which  was  imported  from  Spain,  but  which  was  not  at  this  epoch  the 
recess  to  which  we  have  since  given  this  name.  The  alcove  at  that 
time  consisted  of  columns  and  balustrades,  which  divided  the  cham- 
ber into  two  unequal  parts :  in  the  smallest  was  the  bed,  the  prie- 
dieu,  some  chairs,  etc.  Then  follows  a  rehabilitation  after  the  most 
authentic  documents  relating  to  the  furniture  and  the  arrangements 
of  the  chambers  of  a  certain  number  of  illustrious  personages,  lords 
and  ladies  :  Jeanne  de  Bourgogne  (1316)  ;  Queen  Clemence  of  Hun- 
gary (1328) ;  Marie  de  Bourgogne,  countess  of  Cleves  (1425)  ; 
Louise  of  Savoy  (1525)  ;  Catharine  de  Medici  (1589) ;  Gabriel 
Destrdes,  Madame  de  Maintenon,  Madame  de  Pompadour,  etc. ; 
and  on  the  masculine  side,  Louis  XIV  and  Louis  XV.  The  list  is  a 
long  one.  These  names  give  opportunity  for  very  interesting  his- 
torical and  anecdotic  details,  but  the  author  stops  suddenly,  and  it  is 
only  by  three  engravings,  representing  a  chamber  under  the 
Restoration,  that  of  Mile.  Mars,  a  celebrated  actress,  and  that  of  the 
Empress  Eugenie  at  St.  Cloud,  that  one  can  derive  some  contempo- 
raneous instruction  which  gives  opportunity  for  comparisons  of  much 
interest. 

We  see  by  these  two  examples  that  practical  questions  have  been 
set  aside.  Under  the  article  "  Assemblage "  we  find,  it  is  true, 
what  is  a  mortise  and  tenon  joint  and  what  a  dove-tail  joint,  but  with 
this  exception  guch  articles  are  rare  and  they  are  al»o  treated  very 


briefly.  It  is  always  the  anecdotic  side  which  receives  most  atten- 
tion. We  learn,  for  instance,  that  elevators,  which  are  generally 
believed  to  be  of  recent  invention,  have  been  employed  in  houses  for 
more  than  two  centuries.  They  were  in  use  in  1660  at  the  court  of 
Savoy.  This  apparatus  was  introduced  in  France  by  the  Sieur 
Villayer,  a  man  full  of  invention  and  much  intelligence.  Says  St. 
Simon,  "  It  is  he  who  invented  those  chnines  volantes,  which  bv  their 
counterpoise  of  weight  rise  and  descend  between  two  walls  "to  the 
story  where  one  wishes  to  go  while  seated  within.  Madame  la 
Duchesse,  the  king's  daughter,  wished  to  have  one  for  her  entresol  at 
Versailles.  Wishing  one  evening  to  ascend,  the  machine  stopped 
short  half-way  up,  so  that  before  they  heard  her  screams  and  could 
release  her  by  breaking  through  the  walls,  she  remained  there  a  good 
three  hours.  This  mishap  caused  the  apparatug  to  pass  out  of 
fashion." 

In  fine,  the  "  Dictionary  of  Furniture  and  Decoration  "  is  a  work 
carefully  done  from  every  point  of  view.  We  only  incline  to  com- 
plain that  it  embraces  too  long  a  period  of  time  for  the  author  to  be 
able,  in  four  volumes,  to  treat  all  the  articles,  taking  care  to  preserve 
their  relative  importance  and  interest,  in  a  complete  and  equal 
fashion.  Such  as  it  is,  nevertheless,  there  may  be  found  in  it  curious, 
interesting  and,  especially,  exact  information.  It  is  only  fair  to  add 
that  the  author  and  publishers  recognize  the  obligation  in  which  they 
may  be  placed  of  exceeding  the  number  of  pages  or  volumes  pre- 
arranged, which  would  not,  however,  bring  about  any  augmentation 
of  the  price  of  the  work  to  the  subscribers. 

The  illustrations  are  carefully  made,  and  the  drawings  are  scrupu- 
lously exact.  As  to  the  full-page  plates,  the  greater  part  are  in 
color  and  have  been  reproduced  by  a  new  process  of  chromo-typo- 
graphy.  There  will  be  sixty-four  of  these  for  each  volume,  or,  at 
least,  two  hundred  and  fifty-six  for  the  entire  work. 


ARCREOLOGICAL   NOTES. 

ROME,  January  17. 1888. 

HE   controversy   raised    among   the 
arcliJEologists  by  the  finding  at  Rome 
of  a  chapel  (sacrarius)  dedicated  to 
the   worship   of  Mithras   is   not  yet  ex- 
hausted.    This  important  discovery  was 
made  in  the  vicinity  of   Termini  under 
the   constructions    which,    according    to 
the  inscriptions,  belonged  to  the  Nummi- 
Albini  family. 

Without  pretending  to  settle  the  con- 
troversy, I  will  state  the  principal  ele- 
ments of  it.  The  existence  of  the  wor- 
ship of  Mithras  at  Rome  was  already 
proved  by  several  other  objects.  In 
1864,  some  fragments  relating  to  this 
Persian  divinity  were  exhumed  at  Ostia, 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber,  in  the  build- 
ings of  Pius  Antonius.  The  Mithriac 
had  even  cleared  the  walls  of  the  ancient 
metropolis  of  paganism  before  Christian- 
ity had  definitely  supplanted  it,  towards 
the  third  or  fourth  century  of  our  era, 
and  positive  traces  of  it  have  been  found 
at  several  other  points  of  Europe, 
notably  in  Transylvania  and  ancient  Ger- 
many. Some  doubts  still  existed  as  to 
the  real  character  of  the  Asiatic  myth. 
The  Greeks  and  Romans  believed  that 
Mithras  symbolized  love  as  the  principle 
of  fecundity  and  procreation  which  per- 
petuates the  living  world. 

The  painting  that  ornaments  the  re- 
cently-found chapel  will  aid  us  to  settle 
the  opinions  on  this  subject.  This  paint- 
ing represents  the  taurobolium.  Mithras 
seizes  with  the  left  hand  the  victim's 
nostrils,  whilst  with  the  knees  he  keeps 
down  the  body  as  though  he  wished  to 

master  it.  The  right  arm,  which  probably  held  a  dagger  for  the 
tilling,  has  been  worn  off  by  time.  All  that  we  see  are  the  hind 
egs  and  a  part  of  the  back  of  the  dog  representing  Sirius,  guardian 
of  the  heavens  and  regulator  of  the  year,  but  we  divine  by  the  pos- 
ure  of  the  legs  that  the  dog  leans  towards  the  wound  of  the  sacri- 
iced  beast  in  order  to  lick  his  blood.  The  bull's  tail,  although 
>esmeared  with  earth,  appears  to  be  still  ornamented  with  a  bunch 
of  spike,  symbol  of  the  year's  fertility.  On  each  side  of  Mithras 
:here  are  two  torch-bearers,  one  holding  his  flambeau  turned  towards 
he  ground,  while  the  other  raises  his  to  heaven. 

Mr.  Capannari,  who  has  written  a  great  deal  about  this  highly 
mportant  archaeological  object,  and  who  has  just  died  greatly 
regretted  by  the  scientific  world,  saw  in  the  lampadaire's  different 
x>stures  an  allusion  to  the  spring  and  autumn  equinoxes,  which 
mark  the  sun's  coming  and  departure.  Mithras  wears  the  Phrygian 
miter  and  the  red  mantle  (caudys).  According  to  Mr.  Capannari's 
nterpretation,  the  Greek  and  Roman  idea  of  Mithras,  which  made 
dm  the  incarnation  of  the  sun,  was  the  true  one,  but  thii  eminent 


Store  at  Bufftlo.      I.  H.  K«nt, 
Architect. 


70 


Tlie   American   Architect  and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  633. 


archseologist  expressed  the  opinion  simply  as  an  hypothesis  and  cer- 
tainly had  no  pretension  of  having  closed  the  debate  that  has  so  long 
agitated  learned  societies. 

Here  is  a  list  of  the  latest  discoveries  made  by  the  Italian  exca- 
vating committee : 

At  Rome  an  inscription  has  been  found  in  the  Ccelian  Hill  which 
probably  has  some  connection  with  the  epoch  of  the  reestablishment 
of  the  colleges,  in  virtue  of  the  Claudian  law  of  the  year  696.  In 
the  neighborhood  of  the  Via  Cavour  they  have  unearthed  a  fragment 
relating5  to  the  restorations  made  by  order  of  Flavius  Philip  of  a 
nymphoea  existing  in  that  quarter. 

At  Tivoli  a  Hercules  has  been  found  in  a  well-preserved  state. 
By  its  elegance  and  the  finish  of  its  forms  it  belongs  to  one  of  the 
best  epochs  of  Roman  art. 

In  an  old  Capuchin  convent  near  Verona,  a  collection  of  wine 
amphoras  has  been  discovered,  and  some  of  the  vessels  still  contained 
a  pitchy  liquid,  whilst  a  fragment  of  polychromatic  mosaic  is  re- 
ported from  the  vicinity  of  Policelle,  on  the  Po. 

The  Superintendent  of  Excavations  at  Bologna  reports  an  im- 
portant discovery  in  the  shape  of  a  series  of  sepulchres  of  the  first 
Christian  epoch,'some  of  which  belong  to  persons  of  distinction,  to 
judge  by  the  richness  of  the  accessories  with  which  they  were  orna- 
mented. 

But  it  is  abave  all  in  the  Etruscan  region  that  the  researches  have 
given  excellent  results.  In  the  Bolesena  and  Orvieto  zone,  as  well 
as  in  the  neighborhood  of  Arezzo  and  Civita  Vecchia,  some  very 
profitable  excavations  have  been  made;  a  great  number  of  tombs 
have  already  been  dug  out,  and  it  has  been  shown  that  the  Etruscan 
burial  places  were  much  more  extensive  than  has  hitherto  been 
supposed.  The  objects  discovered  have  not  yet  been  definitely 
catalogued,  for  they  relate  to  an  uncertain  and  little  known  his- 
torical epoch.  The  archaeologists  are  not  yet  agreed  upon  the  vari- 
ous periods  of  Etruscan  art,  and  the  objects  that  are  ordinarily 
founp  in  the  tombs,  such  as  arms,  amphoras,  lamps,  cups,  jewels 
and  other  accessories,  give  only  insufficient  indications  of  the 
periods  to  which  they  should  be  attributed,  although  the  degree  of 
nicety  and  the  perfection  of  the  artistic  embellishments  may  gen- 
erally be  considered  as  characteristic  of  certain  centuries. 

H.  M. 


WATER-COLORS  BY  JOSEPH  LINDON  SMITH  AT  THE 
BOSTON  MUSEUM  OF  FINE  ARTS. 

TITHERE  is  now,  and  will  continue  to  be  until  February  22d,  an 
J I  <•  exhibition  of  water-colors  by  Mr.  Joseph  Lindon  Smith  at  the 
Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  which  is  more  worthy  of  attention  than 
the  work  usually  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  public.  There  are 
some  sixty  numbers  in  all,  the  larger  part  of  architectural  subjects, 
though  there  are  many  pencil  studies  from  old  masters  and  from  life 
and  several  landscapes.  The  work  is  that  of  a  painter,  not  of  an 
architect,  as  is  manifest  by  the  facility  of  the  technique  and  by  the 
attention  devoted  to  the  varying  tones  and  delicate  tints  with  which 
time  clothes  architecture,  in  contradistinction  to  the  clearness  of  out- 
line and  of  light  and  shade  which  to  an  architect  appear  paramount. 
Not  that  purity  of  outline  or  that  chiaroscuro  are  at  all  lacking  in 
these  drawings;  on  the  contrary,  they  are  wonderfully  rendered,  but 
that  the  painter  leaves  out  nothing,  while  the  architect  usually  for- 
gets the  accidentals,  and  by  so  doing  becomes  more  topographical 
and  less  interesting  except  to  his  own  ilk.  It  is  the  fact  that  these 
water-colors  render  everything  that  makes  them  so  remarkable  — 
everything  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word,  not  only  drawing,  color, 
sense  of  material,  but  that  much  better  thing,  the  spirit  and  quality 
of  the  thing  portrayed.  The  technique  is  certainly  eclectic.  It 
shows  no  strong  leaning  to  any  school.  There  may  be  a  taste  of  the 
Paris  atelier,  but  it  is  slight.  There  is  a  suggestion  of  the  methods 
of  the  devotees  of  Ruskin,  but  the  work  has  much  more  vigor  than 
the  emasculated  productions  of  those  disciples.  Whenever  a  copy  is 
made  from  an  old  master,  the  quality  of  that  master  is  wonderfully 
reproduced.  Here  is  evidently  a  man  with  his  eyes  and  his  heart 
open  to  be  impressed  and  a  hand  skilful  to  record  the  impression, 
and  yet  he  is  not  an  impressionist  (so  called).  The  drawing  is  exact, 
yet  without  dryness,  and  is  absolute  in  its  fidelity  in  most  cases.  We 
remember  going  to  the  London  water-color  exhibition  on  Bond 
Street  a  year  or  two  ago  and  coming  away  with  a  dreary  distaste  for 
painfully-labored,  bloodless  inanities,  and  then  going  into  an  Exhibi- 
tion of  American  water-colors  a  few  doors  farther  on  and  coming  out 
with  an  irritation  at  badly-drawn  specious  cleverness. 

These  works  of  Mr.  Smith  belong  to  neither  of  these  classes. 
They  are  skilful  in  drawing,  beautiful  in  color  and  show  a  mastery  of 
technique. 

It  is  hardly  in  our  province  to  speak  of  anything  except  the  archi- 
tectural work,  but  we  cannot  resist  the  temptation  of  calling  atten- 
tion to  No.  7,  a  pencil  study  of  Rubens,  "  Chapeau  de  Faille,"  and 
the  pencil  studies  Nos.  18  and  46  after  Rubens,  No.  26  after  Holbein, 
No.  32  after  Velasquez.  In  as  few  lines  as  possible,  with  but  little 
shadow,  and  with  a  peculiar  softness  and  richness  of  touch,  these 
studies  render  the  fleshiness  and  color  of  Rubens,  the  restraint  and 
austerity  of  Holbein,  the  breadth  and  vigor  of  Velasquez.  » 

In  a  remarkable  way,  No.  10  —  a  small  color  study  of  Bona- 
fagios,  "  Lazarus  at  the  House  of  Dives,"  in  the  Academie  dei  Belle 
Arti  in  Venice  —  gives  an  excellent  sense  of  one  of  the  most  wonder- 


fully colored  canvasses  in  the  world.  The  portrait  of  a  choir-boy  in 
oils,  has  the  simplicity  and  quietness  of  key  of  color  of  an  old  master. 
Of  the  architectural  work,  which  gives  the  warmth  of  Venetian, 
Italian  color  with  its  co-existent  delicacy,  not  with  the  garish  brutali- 
ties so  prevalent  in  Venetian  views,  No.  31,  west  front  of  the  Cathedral, 
Verona,  is  one  most  worthy  of  notice.  The  quality  of  the  stone  in 
reflected  light  (the  subject  was  painted  with  the  light  reflected  from 
the  pavement  of  the  piazza),  the  stained  surfaces,  the  rich  glow  of 
Verona  marble  are  all  expressed  in  a  masterly  manner.  This  glory 
of  color,  this  wealth  of  opalescenee  is  produced  from  a  very  limited 
palette,  only  four  colors  being  used,  i.  e.,  cyanine,  aureolin,  yellow 
ochre,  rose  madder,  with  Chinese  white  as  a  vehicle  at  times,  when 
the  chalky  bloom  on  the  surface  of  marble  was  desired.  This  subtile 
commingling  of  four  colors  prevents  the  possibility  of  a  crude  tone. 
No.  18  —  "Archway,"  S.  Toma,  Venice,  in  which  the  detail  of  the 
arch  is  beautifully  drawn.  Nos.  21  and  28,  "  Studies  of  Venetian 
Arches,"  with  the  most  delicate  subtility  of  line  and  gradation  of 
color.  Nos.  2,  3  and  4,  "  Venetian  Wells,"  with  very  able  drawing, 
the  character  of  the  carving  of  each  type  felt  for  each  type.  Besides 
these,  No.  30  has  fine  drawing  and  delicacy  almost  reverence  of 
touch,  and  the  capitals  to  the  pedestal  of  the  Colleoni  statue,  No  20, 
are  exquisitely  drawn.  This  is  only  a  hasty  survey  of  the  work  and 
inadequate  in  its  analysis,  but  that  the  work  is  of  unusual  character, 
is  manifest  at  once  upon  seeing  it. 


THE   DECORATION  OF  McVICKER'S   THEATRE, 
CHICAGO. 

CHICAGO,  ILL.,  February,  1,  1888. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  :  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  We  are  led  to  reply  to  Mr.  Twyman's  note  in  your 
issue  of  January  28,  solely  for  these  reasons :  First,  to  relieve  Mr. 
Blackall  from  the  embarrassment  of  an  apparently  false  position  ; 
second,  to  protect  ourselves  and  our  profession.  For  we  feel  that 
such  irresponsible  statements,  allowed  to  go  unanswered,  cannot  be 
otherwise  than  detrimental  generally  to  those  of  us  with  whom  archi- 
tecture is  a  loved  and  cherished  art. 

We  beg,  therefore,  to  say,  that  Mr.  Blackall  is  thoroughly  right  in 
his  statement  that  the  decorative  work  in  McVicker's  Theatre,  Chi- 
cago; was  executed  from  our  designs ;  and  Mr.  Twyman  is  thoroughly 
in  error  when  he  claims  credit  for  the  same.  In  Mr.  Twyman's 
statement,  however,  there  is  a  faint  suggestion  of  truth  which  will  be 
clearly  understood,  we  think,  when  it  is  made  known  how  Mr. 
Twyman,  who,  at  the  time  of  the  remodelling  of  McVicker's  Theatre, 
was  a  salesman  in  charge  of  the  retail  wall-paper  and  interior-dec- 
orations department  of  the  extensive  wall-paper  house  of  John  J. 
McGrath,  Chicago,  plays  upon  the  meaning  of  the  word  decoration. 

The  architectural  treatment  of  the  interior  of  McVicker's  Theatre 
is  based  upon  a  single  consistent  scheme  or  plan  which  is  differen- 
tiated into  form,  color  and  illumination.  The  transitions  and  inter- 
blendings  are  subtile ;  and  we  deem  it  evident  to  the  critical  observer 
that  the  conception  is  identical  throughout  form,  color  and  illumination. 

The  decorations,  as  we  understand  the  term,  take  their  origin  in 
certain  changes  of  form  initiated  in  the  constructive  subdivisions  of 
the  design.  This  tendency  toward  change  gathers  increased  definite- 
ness  as  it  passes  through  certain  geometrical  ramifications,  and, 
taking  on  swiftly  but  without  abruptness  an  organic  semblance,  cul- 
minates finally  in  intricate  and  involved  folliation  and  efflorescence. 
Within  this  work,  and  incidental  thereto,  are  placed  the  bulbs  of  the 
incandescent  system  of  illumination.  This  method  of  treatment 
applies  to  the  proscenium  with  its  large  sounding-board  and  twelve 
boxes :  the  whole  converging  toward  the  stage-opening  and  elabo- 
rately framing  the  same.  It  applies  also  to  the  main  entrance  vesti- 
bules. For  this  part  of  the  work  we  not  only  made  the  designs,  but 
we  furnished  carefully  worked-out  full-size  details,  even  for  the 
foliated  work,  which  were  most  faithfully  and  without  the  slightest 
deviation  carried  into  execution  by  James  Legge,  the  carver,  with 
whom  the  contract  for  the  same  was  placed.  Inasmuch  as  this  work, 
executed  in  plaster,  was  completed,  stored  and  covered  by  an  insur- 
ance policy  prior  to  our  entertaining  the  idea  of  asking  sketches  and 
bids  for  color  decoration  from  decorative  concerns,  it  is  manifest  that 
neither  Mr.  Twyman's  conception  nor  handiwork  nor  supervision 
entered  into  this  part  of  our  operations. 

Considerations  of  economy  necessitated  that  the  remainder  of  the 
auditorium  and  its  appendages  should  be  treated  very  simply,  we, 
therefore,  at  the  time  the  general  contracts  were  let,  did  no  more  as 
regards  appearances,  in  addition  to  the  purely  utilitarian  and 
acoustic  handling,  than  to  definitely  determine  the  number  and 
approximately  the  location  of  the  electric-light  bulbs  and  the  inlets 
for  the  supply  of  fresh  air  for  the  fans. 

When  the  time  approached  that  the  contract  for  color  decoration 
should  be  considered,  we  began  anxiously  and  carefully  to  think  of 
the  coloration,  for  it  became  distressingly  evident  that  the  delicate 
rythms  and  modulations  of  the  plaster  ornamenation,  now  in  place, 


FEBRUAUY  11,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


71 


would  be  deprived  of  their  sequence,  significance  and  context  by  an 
inadequate  or  bizarro  scheme  of  applied  color.  Gradually  then 
arose  the  conviction  that  the  structural,  the  geometrical  and  the 
foliated  parts  could  not  be  given  relative  color  values  which  should 
differ  essentially  from  their  relative  solid  values,  lest,  through  false 
accentual icin  the  equilibrium  and  repose  of  the  single  simple  idea  or 
impulse  underlying  the  conception  be  disturbed,  and  thwarted  of  its 
full  expression.  From  this  sense  of  balance  followed  logically  the 
belief  that  these  parts  should  be  in  close  and  delicate  self-tones ; 
and,  finally,  the  determination  that  the  principle  of  gradual  and 
smooth  change  carried  out  in  the  design  should  also  be  the  dominant 
idea  in  coloring.  Upon  reaching  this  decision,  or  rather,  as  it  would 
seem,  reverting  to  the  original  conception  of  the  whole,  we  made 
known  our  idea  and  wishes  to  Mr.  Twyman  and  to  other  decorators, 
and  asked  them  for  sketches  covering  the  unfinished  parts  above  re- 
ferred to,  and  for  schemes  and  prices  for  the  color-work  of  the 
whole.  Mr.  Twyman  was  the  only  one  of  these  who  submitted  a 
proposal  in  accordance  with  our  suggestion  (the  choice  of  color  as 
between  many  desirable  and  befitting  ones  was  left  open).  His 
choice  of  color  and  treatment  was  in  the  main  sympathetic  with  our 
architectural  treatment,  and  to  him,  or,  rather  to  his  principal,  John 
J.  McGrath,  the  contract  was  awarded.  Here,  then,  we  begin  to 
discern  the  first  awaking  of  Mr.  Twyman'a  conception.  Let  us 
progress  a  step  nearer  to  it. 

Mr.  Twyman  proposed  to  use  for  the  wall-covering  a  wall-paper 
which  wo  had  designed,  full-size,  for  Mr.  McGrath  some  two  years 
previously.  The  pattern  of  this  paper  required  six  or  seven  blocks 
twenty  inches  square  for  its  development,  and  as  it  had  the  charac- 
teristic movement  we  were  glad  to  use  it  in  this  house.  Mr.  Twyman 
proposed  to  heavily  flock  the  pattern,  and  to  add  a  raised  rosette  to 
the  centre  of  the  flower.  This  suggestion  was  accepted.  To  use 
this  paper  was  Mr.  Twyman's  own  thought:  we  had  utterly  for- 
gotten its  existence. 

There  now  remains  for  examination  only  the  flat  part  of  the  main 
ceiling,  the  ceiling  under  the  gallery  and  under  the  balcony,  and  the 
foyers  and  retiring-rooms,  which  are  small.  For  these  were  required 
flat  treatment  in  paper,  bits  of  papier-mache  foliated  work  at  the 
electric-bulbs,  and  the  limited  amount  of  stencilling  called  for  by  Mr. 
Twyman's  sketches.  In  actual  execution,  these  forms  seem  to  us,  as 
they  must  to  any  skilful  and  discerning  eye,  to  possess  that  peculiar 
suggestion  of  caricature  that  the  ear  notes  in  the  speech  of  a  foreigner 
uttering  our  native  language  neither  grammatically,  musically,  nor 
with  deft  and  rythmic  enunciation.  The  plastic  forms  here  are  Mr. 
Legge's  execution  of  an  already  beheaded  conception,  which,  in  that 
condition,  is  assuredly  the  exclusive  property  of  Mr.  Twyman.  The 
stencil  patterns  were  carried  out  full-size  by  the  foreman  on  the 
work.  The  great  pressure  and  rush  of  the  whole  undertaking 
toward  completion,  unfortunately  made  it  impossible  for  us  to  give 
the  time  to  a  revision  of  these  designs. 

As  to  Mr.  Twyman's  statement,  •'  The  work  was  executed  under 
my  charge  and  dictation,  and  was  my  own  conception  without  con- 
trol of  architect  or  owner,"  this  is  manifestly  absurd  ;  for  the  work 
was  done  under  our  regular  form  of  contract.  This  contract  was 
between  John  J.  McGrath  and  J.  H.  McVicker  as  principals,  and 
contained  the  customary  stringent  clauses  regarding  the  supervision 
and  rejection  of  work  by  the  architects,  payment  upon  acceptance 
and  certificate,  etc.  These  powers  were  used.  Mr.  Twyman 
represented  his  principal  at  the  building  in  the  capacity  of  over- 
seer or  superintendent,  or  what-not,  or  as  what  is  known  in  the  trade 
parlance  of  these  houses  as  their  "  artist." 

This   is  a  correct  statement  of  the   case.     How,  then,  shall  we 
understand  the  full  scope  and  content  of  Mr.  Twyman's  connection 
with  this  work  otherwise  than  by  applying  to  the  language  of  his 
note  his  evident  "  conception  "  of  the  meanings  of  English  words. 
Very  truly  yours,  ADLKR  &  SULLIVAN. 


BAND-SAWS  FOR  LARGE  LOGS. 

MISUAWAKA,  IMD.,  Feb.  1,  1888. 

To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  In  connection  with  your  item  about  California  Red- 
wood, American  Architect,  January  28,  it  may  be  of  interest  to  you  to 
know  that  Lonaon,  Berry  &  Orton  of  Philadelphia  are  building 
band-saw  machines  capable  of  sawing  redwood  logs  ten  feet  in  diam- 
eter. Respectfully,  R.  D.  O.  SMITH. 


TESTING  FOR  THE  FOUNDATION  OF  THE    CON- 
GRESSIONAL LIBRARY. 

CLEVELAND,  O.,  Feb.  6,  1888. 

To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  As  I  have  just  finished  Mr.  Smithmeyer's  article  in 
the  last  number  of  your  journal,  I  would  like  to  occupy  enough  of 
your  valuable  space  to  say  a  few  words  more  upon  the  subject.  My 
sketch  was  made  from  memory  as  Mr.  Smithmeyer  suggests,  but  with 
the  exception  of  the  movable  car  I  do  not  see'but  that  it  was  sub- 
stantially correct.  Unless  my  memory  utterly  fails  me,  the  track 
upon  which  the  car  runs  rested  upon  either  six  or  eight  pedestals, 
although  the  car  was  directly  over  four  of  them.  Also  the  pig-lead 
was  piled  much  higher  on  one  corner  of  the  platform  than  elsewhere. 
My  idea  of  the  apparatus  was  that  it  was  intended  to  ascertain  the 


load  that  a  square  foot  of  the  soil  would  carry  for  a  constant  settle- 
ment, and  not  as  I  find  it,  to  determine  the  amount  of  settlement  for 
a  constant  load.  For  the  first  of  these  purposes  I  think  that  mv 
objections  would  hold.  As  it  had  been  raining  all  day  when  1  visited 
the -site,  I  obtained  a  very  good  idea  of  the  character  of  the  soil  from 
the  large  amount  of  it  which  accompanied  me  upon  my  departure. 
Thanking  Mr.  Smithmeyer  for  the  courtesy  of  his  answer  and  hoping 
that  he  will  understand  that  I  was  not  responsible  for  the  heading  of 
my  communication,  I  remain  very  respectfully  yours, 

CLARENCE  O.  AREY. 


THE   ALBANY  ASSEMBLY- CHAMBER  VAULT. 

NEW  TOKK,  Feb.  7,  1888. 

To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirt,  —  I  beg  leave  to  direct  your  attention  to  the  report  of 
the  experts  who  a  few  days  ago  advised  the  immediate  tearing  down 
of  the  vaulting  of  the  Assembly  Chamber  at  the  Albany  Capitol.  My 
researches  into  the  matter  issued  in  your  paper  October  29,  1881, 
and  March  29, 1884,  having  been  fully  justified  in  spite  of  all  attack*, 
I  should  like  to  learn  what  steps  you  are  going  to  take  concerning 
this  affair,  which  at  all  events  should  be  used  to  show  that  science 
and  truth  are  above  political  tricks  and  "  bossism." 

Truly  yours,  H.  W.  FABIAN. 


IRON   CHURCHES. 

NKW  YORK,  N.  Y.,  February  7,  1888. 

To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sin,  —  In  your  issue  of  February  4,  1888,  page  60,  you 
suggest  that  I  can  give  information  as  to  the  builders  of  iron  churches, 
and  add  a  supplementary  paragraph  of  what  a  correspondent  reports 
Ruskin  as  saying. 

Will  you  be  kind  enough  to  state  in  your  journal  that  the  last  iron 
church  was  erected  in  1873,  that  not  one  has  been  built  since,  and 
that  no  one  need  apply  to  me  for  any  further  information  relating  to 
building  iron  churches.  Very  truly,  LAWRENCE  B.  VALK. 


A  ROMAN   SANATORIUM.  —  An   important  discovery  has  just   been 
made  at  Susa,  about  six  miles  from  Castelforte,  which  points  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  Romans  were  acquainted  with  the  use  of  mineral 
springs  for  medicinal  purposes.     The  erection  of  new  mineral  baths  is 
contemplated   in  that  spot,  and   during  the  work  of  excavation  the 
remains  of  what  proved  to  be  old  Koman  mineral  baths  hove  been  met 
with.     A  road  paved  with   Basaltic  lava  separates  the  two  principal 
groups  of  buildings.     To  the  left  of  this  road,  and  leaning  against  the 
mountain  side,  is  the  bath  for  hot  mineral  springs.    The  atrium  is  en- 
tered, as  in  classic  dwelling-houses,  through  a  portal  adorned  with  col- 
umns, its  floor  being  laid  in  black  and  white  mosaic,  and  its  roof  proba- 
bly formerly  supported  by  four  columns.     Between  these  columns  is  the 
impluvium,  a  square  marble  basin,  round  which  are  seat*,  which  leads 
to  the  supposition  that  it  was  used  for  bathing  purposes.     In  the  mid- 
dle of  the  impluvium  a  hollow  marble  column  supported  a  smaller  basin 
of  alabaster,  into  which  the  water  rose  through  the  column,  flowing 
over  its  edges  into  the  large  basin.    The  further  wall  of  the  atrium 
opens  into  a  large  hall ;  through  its  side  walls  corridors  lead  into  cham- 
bers tq  the  right  and  left,  the  use  of  which  for  bathing  is  indicated  by 
the  whole  arrangement  of  water  basins  and  a  network  of  water  conduits, 
some  of  which  are  placed  in  the  walls.    On  the  other  side  of  the  main 
road,  with  a  view  towards  the  river,  two  buildings  are  located,  in  front 
of  which  a  row  of  columns  with  walled  parapet  probably  inclosed  a  gar- 
den extending  along  the  river  bank.    Between  the  two  buildings,  con- 
taining rooms  of  various  sizes,  all  of  which  give  into  outer  corridors 
surrounding  them,  a  colonnade  provided  with  seato  has  been  erected. 
It  is  concluded  that  this  group  of  buildings  formed  a  hospitium  or  inn 
for  the  bathing  guests  — that  is  to  say,  a  hostelry  for  those  staying  for 
their  cure.    The  purpose  of  the  whole  establishment  is  also  shown  by 
the  condition  of  the  statuary  in   the  atrium,  which  has  been  much 
injured  by  the  mineral  water.    The  sanatorium  must  have  flourished 
for  a  long  time,  for,  together  with  coins  of  Augustus's  and  Vespasian's 
time,  Arabian  and  Norman  gold  coins  have  been  found.  —  Sanitary 
Record. 

THE  WORLD'S  DEEPEST  WELLS.  — The  deepest  well  drilled  in  the 
United  States  is  that  of  George  Westinghouse,  at  Homewood  near  the 
city  of  Pittsburgh,  which,  on  Dec.  1,  1880,  had  reached  a  depth  of  4,018 
feet,  when  the  tools  were  lost  and  drilling  ceased.  The  Buchanan  Farm 
well  of  the  Niagara  Oil  Company,  drilled  by  Frederick  Crocker  in  Hope- 
well  township,  Washington  county,  is  4,303  feet  deep.  The  Rush  Well 
of  the  Niagara  Oil  Company  in  Washington  county  was  abandoned  at 
3,300  feet  The  deep  well  of  Jonathan  Watson,  "near  Titusville  wag 
drilled  about  2,600  feet.  J.  M.  Guffey  &  Co's  well  on  the  Walz  farm  at 
West  Newton,  Westmoreland  County,  was  drilled  to  a  depth  of  8,500  feet. 
The  well  of  Isaac  Willets  at  Sargent's  Mills,  near  Sycamore,  in  Greene 
county,  was  abandoned  at  3,008  feet.  The  deepest  bore  hole  in  Europe 
is  at  Schladebach,  near  Kotschau  station,  on  the  railway  between  Cor- 
betha  and  Leipzig,  and  was  undertaken  by  the  Prussian  Government  in 
search  for  coal.  The  apparatus  used  is  a  diamond  drill  down  the  hollow 


72 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.       [VOL.  XXIII.  -  No. 


633. 


feet   but  under  favorable  circumstances  as  much  as  180  feet 
bored  i»  that  time'     Other  decp  h°leS  arC  aS  '' 


Domnitz,  near_\Vettin 


Feet. 
»'<J57 


Probat-Jesar,  Mecklenberg •  "4'176 

Sperenberg,  near  Zossen "  4',42 

Uuseburg,  near  Stassfurt •    4'3go 

Lieth-Elmshorn,  Holstem 4'615 


Schlailebacu . 


—  The  Progressive  Age. 


BRICK  AND  STOKE  BRIDGES  OF  LAKGE  SPAN. -According  to  Pro- 
fesfor  E.  Dietrich,  of  Berlin,  there  are  only  fifty-seven  bridge,  of 
hrick  or  stone  existing  having  a  span  greater  than  131  feet,  forty  of 
these  have  spans  lying  between  131  feet  and  164  feet,  ten  have  spans  of 
from  1<M  feePt  andy200  feet,  three  of  from  200  feet  to  230  fee  ,  and  one 
oSy  the  Cabin  John  Bridge,  near  Washington,  exceeds ,  thi.  limit ,  and 
has  a  sran  of  237  feet.  Thirty  of  these  are  road  and  twenty-two  arc 
raThva/bridges;  one  carries  a  canal,  another  a  conduit,  and  three  are 
not  classified.  Fourteen  of  them  date  from  before  the  commencement 
of  the  present  century,  twenty-two  were  built  between  the  years  1800 
and  18(iO  five  between  1800  and  1870,  six  between  1870  and  1  ,80,  and 
Zee  then  ten  have  been  erected.  In  twenty- two  of  the  bridges  the 
rise  lies  between  half  and  one-third  of  the  span,  in  eighteen  between 
le  third  and  one-fourth  the  span,  in  ten  between  one-fourth  and  one- 
fifth  he  span,  and  in  six  between  one-fifth  and  one-eighth  the  span. 
One  bridge  only,  a  road  bridge  in  Turin,  has  a  flatter  arch  tha^given 
by  the  smallest  of  the  above  ratios,  and  in  this  case  the  rise  is  £-jg  the 
radius  at  the  crown  lies  in  fifteen  cases  between  60  feet  and  98  feet  in 
eteht  between  98  feet  and  131  feet,  in  eleven  between  131  feet  and  1 
fef  and  in  three  cases  between  164  feet  and  187  feet  8i  inches,  the 
latter  being  the  radius  at  the  crown  of  the  Devil's  Bridge  at  Bevizzo. 
Italv  The  ratio  of  the  arch  at  the  crown  to  its  radius  at  the  same 
point  is  in  thirty  bridges  between  one-tenth  and  one-twentieth,  m  ten 
between  one-twentieth  and  one  thirtieth,  and  in  eight  between  one- 
thirtieth  and  one-thirty-fifth.  In  all  the  railway  bridges  this  ratio  lies 
between  one-twentieth  and  one-thirtieth,  the  smaller  fractions  being 
solely  confined  to  road  bridges.  Twenty-seven  of  the  bridges  are 
situated  in  France,  thirteen  in  Italy,  ten  in  England  two  in  Austria 
two  in  Spain,  and  one  each  in  Germany,  Switzerland,  and  the  LmiteU 
States.  —  Engineering.  

A  BIT  OP  CHELSEA.  —Speaking  of  the  Chelsea  china  factories,  the 
London  Standard  says :  "Time  was  when  enthusiasts  used  to  wait  their 
turns  for  the  crockery  as  it  came  out  of  the  ovens,  and  Gay  made  merry 
over  the  lady  whose  rest  could  be  broken  by  '  A  cup,  a  plate,  a  dish,  a 
bowl  •  China's  the  passion  of  her  soul.'  Even  Dr.  Johnson  was  affected 
by  the  prevailing  mania,  and  not  only  bought  the  wares,  but  tried  to 
fashion  them  himself.  Yet,  in  spite  of  the  furor  for  'Chelsea,  and 
the  high  prices  paid  for  it,  the  factory  closed  its  doors,  to  the  amaze- 
ment of  the  public,  who  explained  it  by  saying  the  porcelain  people  got 
their  clay  from  the  Chinese,  who,  when  they  found  out  the  use  made  of 
it  refused  to  let  the  captains  any  longer  ballast  their  ships  with  the 
precious  material.  Some  of  the  Chelsea  works  of  art  were  quite  equal 

.    . £    oi .n«n     .,,,.1    iT^ii-a/lairo    flmv  rtmnmnnfl    nripps    wlni'll 


CXOtlC   DlnlS  DrOUgllL  IieiHiy    j-tnjv,  LHV;  ii.iin*-j  i*j3  i" 

or  about  five  times  its  weight  in  gold.  Even  the  cups  and  saucers  were 
sold  at  figures  varying  from  £40  to  £60  the  pair.  A  vase  two  feet 
high  brought  £566;  and  at  another  sale,  three  little  vases  were  dis- 
posed of  for  £1300.  The  late  Lord  Dudley  bought  the  Chesterfield 
vase  for  £2000,  and  one  which  had  stood  for  100  years  in  the  Foundling 
Hospital  for  a  sum  not  mucli  less." 


ADVENTURE  OF  A  "STEEPLE  JACK."  — A  singular  accident  occurred 
at  Slaithwiite,  near  Huddersfield,  County  of  Yorkshire,  England,  on 
Saturday,  which  for  the  time  caused  a  good  deal  of  excitement.  A 
very  extensive  cotton-mill  has  been  erected  for  the  Slaithwaite  Spinning 
Company,  and  on  Saturday,  December  31st  last,  the  chimney,  which 
reaches  to  a  height  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet,  was  so  far  com- 
pleted that  a  "  Steeple  Jack"  from  Huddersfield  was  engaged  to  fix  the 
lightning-conductor  and  remove  the  scaffolding  which  had  been  used  to 
complete  the  chimney-top,  round  which  there  is  a  very  wide  parapet. 
The  "Steeple  Jack"  successfully  removed  the  scaffolding  and  was 
about  to  make  preparations  for  his  descent  when  the  rope  by  which  he 
was  to  descend  somehow  became  detached  and  fell  to  the  ground.  The 
man  was  left  on  the  chimney  top.  Soon  a  large  crowd  of  persons 
assembled  and  they  were  for  a  time  somewhat  puzzled  to  know  how  he 
was  to  get  down.  The  "  Steeple  Jack"  was  equal  to  the  occasion  and 
while  the  people  were  wondering  how  it  was  to  be  done,  he  sat  busily 
engaged  in  unravelling  one  of  his  stockings,  and  when  this  work  was 
completed,  he  let  down  one  end  of  his  thread  and  in  course  of  time  was 
provided  with  a  rope  sufficiently  strong  to  let  himself  down  by. 

MOVING  THE  NEW  YOEK  CAPITOL  TO  TROY.  —  No;  the  State  must 
look  elsewhere  for  a  spot  whereon  to  erect  a  new  capltol,  one  which  can 
be  sure  of  its  foothold  and  its  roof-tree  alike.  Our  suggestion,  made  in 
all  modesty,  is,  that  the  "monumental  folly"  be  taken  down,  a  por- 
tion of  the  stones  transported  to  Troy,  a  building  erected  here  for  State 
Government  purposes  at  the  cost  of  .?4,000,000  or  §5,000,000,  and  the 
rest  of  the  material  sold  to  meet  the  expense.  We  are  not  sure  but 
that  such  a  sale  of  the  left-over  material  would  be  more  than  sufficient 
to  foot  every  bill  and  leave  a  surplus  equal  to  the  public  debt  of  the 
State.  —  Troy  Times. 


REAPPEARANCE  OF  A  SUBMERGED  CHINESE  CITY.—  The  city  of  Nai- 
yen,  north  of  Ningpo,  which  was  submerged  about  1000  years  ago,  has 
recently  been  exposed  to  view  and  a  number  of  vases,  plates  and  other 
utensils  of  the  Sough  dynasty  have  been  recovered  by  the  natives. 


IF  there  are  any  influences  at  work  in  American  and  European  trade  and 
manufacturing  circles  to  decrease  the  volume  of  business  or  the  output  of 
mills,  miues  or  factories,  or  the  traffic  of  railroads  or  of  ocean  tonnage,  they 
are  not  on  the  surface.  In  fact,  there  is  110  broad-guage  reason  to  be  given 
why  any  decline  iu  activity  of  any  kind  should  take  place.  Those  who  are 
usiii"  microscopes  to  discover  evidence-  of  worm-eating  going  on  in  the 
foundation  timbers  of  our  business  structure  have  been  unable  to  find 
them.  There  is  no  dry-rot  in  progress.  A  good  ventilation  is  maintained 
throughout  the  entire  business  structure  from  the  basement  to  the  finial. 
In  fact,  there  is  nothing  going  on  or  there  is  no  growth  possible  that  should 
obstruct  the  natural  and  orderly  development  of  this  nation  or  any  other 
nation,  and  the  wisdom  theoretical  and  practical,  which  is  the  common 
property  of  all,  will  prevent  the  growth  of  evils  which  could  bring 
about  distressing  results.  In  short,  business  is  good,  trade  picking  up 
month  by  month  and  year  by  year,  manufacturing  and  railroad-building  en- 
terprises are  increasfng,  and  developments  of  all  kinds  are  feeding  on 
healthy  material.  There  is  nothing  to  alarm,  but  there  is  a  great  deal  of 
work  which  calls  for  the  highest  order  of  business  and  commercial  manage- 
ment. One  of  the  strongest,  and  at  the  same  time  weakest  points  within 
our  reach,  is  the  abundant  supply  of  money.  That  abundance  if  rightly 
used  will  swell  the  volume  of  business  and  strengthen  the  body  politic  in 
every  fibre.  If  it  is  wrongly  used,  it  will  create  paralysis  and  congestion  or 
some  other  evil  that  will  not  be  likely  gotten  rid  of.  Taking  a  brief  sweep- 
ing survey  of  the  various  industries,  we  find  the  facts  to-day  to  b«  about 
these.  Architects  in  all  our  larger  cities  are  not  overcrowded  with  work 
but  are  busy.  Builders  in  cities  and  towns  are  making  extensive  prepara- 
tions for  a  year's  activity,  and  they  are  buying  to  cover  contract  work 
already  given.  Their  purchases  cover  iron,  steel,  lumber,  stone,  slate, 
glass,  paper  and  everything  used  in  the  completion  of  our  better  cla.^s  of 
building  work.  Those  who  have  given  particular  attention  to  heavy  work, 
such  as  bridge-building,  heavy  warehouse  work,  railroad  work  and  the 
like,  as  well  as  engineering  jobs,  are  nearly  all  in  a  good  frame  of  mind 
over  the  requirements  that  have  already  been  brought  to  their  attention, 
and  prospects  for  employment  in  the  prosecution  of  heavy  enterprises  in  all 
sections  of  the  country.  References  ha\e  been  heretofore  made  to  the 
prospects  of  a  number  of  important  engineering  enterprises,  and  every  week 
brings  out  one  or  two  more  that  will  probably  be  prosecuted.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  say  at  this  writing,  with  any  certainty,  as  to  what  railroad-building 
will  be  done  this  year.  Two  weeks"  ago  the  hope  was  indulged  in  by  many 
writers  that  the  dead-lock  between  buyers  and  sellers  of  rails  was  broken, 
and  that  orders  for  one-half  million  or  more  tons  would  be  crowded  in.  Up 
to  this  time  only  a  half  dozen  roads  have  bought,  and  those  mainly  for 
trifling  requirements,  such  as  repairing  or  extensions.  No  contracts  have, 
as  yet,  been  placed  for  big  work,  such  as  for  the  construction  of  a  trans- 
continental line  or  for  any  parallel  roads.  But  we  know  there  are  several 
enterprises  of  this  kind  which  have  passed  the  ordeal  of  Wall  Street.  That 
is  funds  have  been  promised,  bonds  have  been  sold  or  are  selling,  and 
even-thin"  is  beln"  put  in  readiness  for  construction.  The  rail-mills  have 
very"  little  work  in  hand,  and  by  the  time  spring  opens  they  will  be  in  a 
starving  condition  for  business.  The  theory  of  railroad  builders  and  rail- 
buyers  is,  that  by  that  time  the  rail-makers  will  have  reasons  for  accepting 
830  to  830.50  as  the  bottom  mill  prices  in  Eastern  Pennsylvania.  All  other 
branches  of  the  iron  trade  are  fairly  active,  excepting  the  pipe-makers.  It 
is  rather  strange  that  this  industry  should  be  dull  considering  the  facts  and 
possibilities  in  store  for  transporting  natural  gas  for  domestic  and  manufac- 
ing  purposes.  Car,  locomotive  and  ship  and  boat-building  will  be  very 
actively  prosecuted  all  this  season.  Our  advices  up  to  within  a  few  days 
show  that  nearly  all  yards  along  the  coast  and  in  the  iuterior  are  pretty 
well  loaded  up  with  o'rders.  Further  discouraging  news  is  received  from  a 
number  of  Western  implement  works.  A  few  have  been  sold  out.  quite  a 
number  are  working  half  time,  but  the  stronger  will  survive.  The  industry 
will,  iu  a  few  months,  probably,  be  upon  a  stronger  foundation.  It  haa 
beeu  overdone,  and,  naturally,  a  reaction  will  take  place.  The  lumber 
trade  is  remarkably  active  this  winter.  Loggers  in  the  Northwest  thus  far 
have  been  unable  to  bring  out  the  usual  percentage  of  logs,  and  this  fact  ia 
being  used  as  an  argument  in  favor  of  higher  prices  next  year,  but  the 
winter  is  not  yet  over,  and  the  makers  will,  no  doubt,  have  the  usual 
supply  on  hand"  for  the  spring.  Hard  woods  will  be  in  abundant  demand. 
Several  new  Southern  woods  are  coming  in.  Sap-pine  is  taking  the  place 
of  cherry.  Yellow-pine  is,  to  a  considerable  extent,  taking  the  place  of 
hard  woods.  Walnut  is  not  in  demand.  Cherry,  ash  and  poplar  hold  their 
own.  The  Western  yards  are  pretty  well  supplied,  and  buyers,  as  a  rule, 
are  deferriu"-  the  placing  of  large  contracts  until  a  little  later.  The  pos- 
sibility of  a  strike  in  the  Wyoming  coal  region  has  put  up  prices  25  cents  a 
ton.  A.  further  advance  will  take  place  within  a  week  should  the  probabili- 
ties of  a  strike  increase.  The  industries  depending  upon  anthracite  coal 
have  not  suffered  excepting  in  isolated  cases.  The  output  of  coke  has  been 
reduced,  and  two  strong  syndicates  now  control  the  entire  Western 
Pennsylvania  production.  The  bituminous  coal  production  will  be  con- 
siderably increased  this  season  by  the  extension  of  short  lines  of  railroad 
into  nearby  coal-bearing  territory.  The  commercial  situation  is  very  good, 
although  the  volume  of  business  is  below  last  January.  Conditions  are 
such  that  an  increase  iu  the  volume  of  trade  can  be  relied  upon.  Stocks  are 
low  in  nearly  all  markets.  Textile  production  is  maintained  at  high  points 
in  all  kinds  of  cotton  goods.  In  woollen  goods  the  prospects  are  better.  In 
hosiery  foreign  competition  is  still  causing  a  good  deal  of  trouble.  Money 
is  seeking  investment  where  it  is  safe.  Speculation  is  doing  but  little  mis- 
chief. Congress  is  playing  with  the  tariff  question,  labor  troubles,  the  sur- 
plus question  and  two  or  three  others.  The  Third  House  has  given  it  out  that 
nothing  will  be  done  to  jeopardize  existing  arrangements.  In  labor  matters 
the  striking  miners  at  Philadelphia,  the  carpenters  at  Pittsburgh,  the  buililiug 
trades  at  Chicago  and  some  classes  of  labor  in  Cincinnati  are  causing  a  little 
anxiety  to  many  employers  as  to  friendly  relations  during  the  spring.  In 
other  cities  labor  organizations  are  discussing  hours  of  labor  and  rates  of 
wages,  but  advices  from  several  authorities  go  to  show  that  labor  difficulties 
will  diminish  rather  than  increase  during  the  next  sixty  days.  Labor,  as  a 
whole,  is  anxious  to  arrive  at  an  understanding  and  stick  to  it  through  the 

year. ___^ 

S.  .1.  PARKHII.L  &  Co..  Printers.  Boston.       


THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  AND  BUILDING  NEWS. 


VOL.  XXlil. 


Copyright,  1888,  by  TICKNOH  &  COMPANY,  Boston,  MAM. 


No.  634. 


FEBRUARY  18. 1888. 

Entered  at  the  Poet-OIBoe  at  Boston  as  seoond-clam  matter. 


SUMMARY :— 

Death  of  John  H  Sturgis,  Architect.  —  Death  of  George 
Godwin,  Kditor  of  the  liutlder.  —  Tolman  v».  Phelps. — The 
Panama  Canal.  —  Meteorological  Observations.  — The  Vault 
of  the  Albany  Assembly  Chamber.  —  A  New  way  to  Swindle 

intruding  "  Bidders." 7: 

LETTER  FROM   I'HILADELI'IIIA f 7f 

LETTER  FROM  CHICAGO ' 7f 

LETTER  FROM  CINCINNATI 7t 

LETTER  FROM  NEW  YORK 71] 

Il.l.l'STRATIONS:  — 

Entrance  to  Drill-shed,  Quebec,  Canada.  —  Gothic  Spires  and 
Towers,  4,  6,  0.  — Andrew  Presbyterian  Church,  Minneapo- 
lis, Minn.  —  First  Congregational  Church,  Appleton,  Wig.  — 
Competitive  Design  for  Museum  of  Art,  Detroit,  Mich.  — 
House  for  D.  \V.  Bishop,  Ksq.,  Lenox,  Mass.  —  House  for 
Messrs.  K.'M.  and  W.  Bliven,  Yonken,  N.  Y.  — The  Senter 

House,  Centre  Harbor,  N.  H 78 

A  CENTURY  OF  BRITISH  ART  AT  THE  GROSVENOR  GALLERY,  LON- 

...  78 
...  79 
...  80 
...  82 
...  88 


LETTER  FROM  BOSTON 

TIIE  "  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS"  RAID  ON  THE  TREASURY.  . 

LETTER  FROM  BALTIMORE 

SOCIETIES. 


COMMUNICATIONS  :  — 

Cement   for  the  Concrete   Foundations  of  the  Congressional 

Library  Building 83 

NOTES  AND  CLIPPINGS 84 

TRADE  SURVEYS 84 


0UR  Boston  readers  will  hear  with  great  regret  of  the  death 
of  one  of  the  most  prominent  architects  of  that  city,  Mr. 
John  H.  Sturgis.  Mr.  Sturgis  was  the  second  son  of  the 
late  Russell  Sturgis  of  London,  who  was  first  the  American 
partner,  and  afterwards  the  head,  of  the  great  mercantile  and 
banking  house  of  Baring  Brothers,  and  spent  his  early  life  in 
England.  As  a  young  man,  he  travelled  extensively  in  various 
parts  of  the  world,  and  finally,  after  pursuing  a  suitable  course 
of  study  in  London,  came  to  America  where  he  had  many  rela- 
tives, and  established  himself  as  an  architect  in  Boston.  Here 
he  soon  gained  a  high  reputation  in  the  profession  for  his  con- 
scientious and  thorough  construction,  and  the  peculiarly  solid 
and  satisfying  character  of  his  designs,  while  he  was  univer- 
sally esteemed  for  his  sincere  and  manly  character,  and  rapidly 
built  up  a  large  practice.  Besides  many  private  houses,  he, 
either  alone,  or  in  association  with  Mr.  Charles  Brigham,  who 
was  his  partner  for  many  years,  designed  and  executed  the 
building  of  the  Boston  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  that  of  the  Bos- 
ton Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  several  business  struct- 
ures, the  Church  of  the  Advent,  and  the  new  Athletic  Club. 
We  think  that  he  always  spent  Christmas  at  his  father's  house 
in  England,  and  even  after  he  had  become  engrossed  in  the 
cares  of  an  extensive  business  and  a  growing  family,  he  found 
time  to  keep  up  close  relations  with  his  old  home,  frequently 
bringing  back  from  England  some  novel  material  or  method  of 
building.  To  his  efforts  in  this  way  is  undoubtedly  due  the 
early  introduction  of  terra-cotta  as  a  material  into  this  country. 
At  the  time  of  the  somewhat  celebrated  competition  for  the 
Boston  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  the  buildings  of  the  South  Ken- 
sington Museum  in  London,  then,  as  they  still  are,  among  the 
best  examples  in  the  world  of  terra-cotta  architecture,  had  just 
been  completed  by  General  Scott ;  and  Mr.  Sturgis  caught 
from  the  English  architects  their  enthusiasm  over  the  new  ma- 
terial. His  success  in  the  Boston  competition  gave  him  just 
the  opportunity  he  desired,  and,  as  no  one  in  this  country  knew 
anything  practically  about  the  making  of  terra-cotta,  the  details 
of  the  Art  Museum  were  executed  in  England  by  the  Messrs. 
Blashfield,  from  Mr.  Sturgis's  drawings  and  set  in  place,  on 
their  arrival  here,  under  the  supervision  of  Mr.  Taylor,  who 
was  sent  from  England  for  the  purpose,  and  after  his  work  was 
accomplished,  remained  in  America,  where  he  was  instrumental 
in  the  formation  of  several  of  the  terra-cotta  manufacturing 
companies  which  have  since  been  so  successful  here.  Besides 
terra-cotta,  Mr.  Sturgis  introduced  at  the  same  time  the 
selenitic  cement  invented  by  General  Scott,  and  used  it  some- 
what extensively  in  the  Art  Museum  building.  Like  all 


thorough  architects,  he  was  fond  of  experimenting  with  new 
materials,  and  as  he  enjoyed  nothing  so  much  as  solid  and  sin- 
cere construction,  his  buildings  were  not  only  unusually  inter- 
esting, but  have  undoubtedly  exerted  a  very  beneficial  influence 
upon  the  architecture  of  Eastern  Massachusetts.  The  Church 
of  the  Advent,  for  example,  although  similar  in  construction  to 
many  modern  English  Churches,  was  the  first  that  had  been 
built  in  or  near  Boston  with  the  brick  and  stone  work  showing 
frankly  inside  ;  and  it  produced  a  strong  impression,  both  in 
the  profession  and  among  the  public.  In  his  management  of 
detail,  Mr.  Sturgis  was  as  careful  and  successful  as  in  his  other 
work.  The  richest  of  his  buildings  in  this  respect  is  the  Art 
Museum,  but  the  most  beautiful  single  examples,  to  our  mind, 
are  to  be  found  in  the  house  of  Mr.  Ames,  on  the  corner  of 
Commonwealth  Avenue  and  Dartmouth  Street,  which  possesses 
a  wrought-iron  gate,  and  some  carved  exterior  panels,  which 
are  not  surpassed  by  anything  that  we  know  of  in  this  country, 
and  by  very  few  pieces  of  modern  work  anywhere.  Of  late 
years,  Mr.  Sturgis's  energy  has  been  compelled  to  struggle 
against  repeated  attacks  of  painful  disease.  A  few  months  ago, 
while  barely  convalescent  from  a  long  and  severe  illness,  he 
was  summoned  to  the  bedside  of  his  dying  father  in  England. 
The  exertion  and  anxiety  of  the  long  journey  and  the  days 
which  followed  it  were  too  much  for  his  imperfectly  restored 
health,  and  soon  after  his  father's  death  he  was  again  pros- 
trated. This  last  attack  was  so  serious  that  his  family  was 
sent  for  from  Boston,  and  he  expired  at  Saint-Leonard's-on- 
Sea,  with  his  beloved  wife  and  children  beside  him.  In  the 
profession  he  will  be  greatly  missed.  Although  not  very  far 
advanced  in  middle  life,  he  had  been  for  many  years  Vice- 
President  of  the  Boston  Society  of  Architects,  and  was  always 
a  wise,  as  well  as  kind  and  manly  counsellor.  If  anything 
needed  to  be  done  for  the  good  of  the  Society,  he  was  always 
ready  to  devote  his  time  and  energy  to  it,  and  whatever  he 
undertook  was  sure  to  be  well  done.  His  failing  health  was  of 
late  years  a  constant  subject  of  regretful  comment  and  inquiry 
among  his  fellows,  and  his  death  will  be  to  them  a  painful 
shock. 


OME  time  ago  misled  by  the  announcement  in  the  Ameri- 
can  newspapers,  almost  on  the  same  day,  of  the  death  both  of 
Mr.  E.  W.  Godwin,  the  lamented  architect  and  artist  who 
was  fifteen  years  ago  so  conspicuous  a  figure  in  professional 
life  in  England,  and  of  Mr.  George  Godwin,  the  no  less  dis- 
tinguished editor  of  the  Builder,  we  published  an  obituary 
notice  of  both.  Later  advices  showed  that  there  had  been  a 
confusion  of  names  in  the  telegraphic  advices,  and  that  Mr. 
George  Godwin  was  still  spared  to  complete  his  useful  life. 
Within  a  few  days  the  news  has  come  that  he,  too,  has  passed 
away  full  of  years  and  honor.  We  have  at  present  nothing  to 
add  to  our  previous  account  of  his  life  except  renewed  express- 
ions of  regret  at  the  loss  which  the  profession  has  suffered. 
Later,  when  the  English  journals  come  to  hand,  we  shall  un- 
doubtedly find  some  interesting  details  of  a  career  so  efficient 
and  honorable. 

MR.  GEORGE  R.  TOLMAN,  the  hero,  as  we  may  call 
him,  of  the  rather  celebrated  Tolman  -  Phelps  cases  in 
Washington,  calls  our  attention  to  several  inaccuracies,  in 
our  account  of  those  cases  in  our  issue  for  November  7  last, 
resides  giving  further  details.  The  origin  of  the  affair  seems 
to  have  been  a  misunderstanding.  The  architect  asked  his 
client,  by  letter,  for  a  payment  on  account.  The  client,  Cap- 
tain Phelps,  sent  him  half  what  he  asked  for.  The  architect 
sent  a  message  back,  asking  for  the  full  sum.  Nothing  could 
lave  been  more  innocent  than  the  proceedings  so  far.  As  it 
lappened,  however,  Mr.  Tolman  had  occasion  to  send  to  Cap- 
tain Phelps's  building  for  a  particular  drawing  which  he  wished 
to  consult  in  his  office.  The  foreman  at  the  building,  not  being 
,ble  to  distinguish  the  drawing  wished  for,  sent  a  large  roll, 
saying  that  he  should  not  need  them  immediately,  and  that  Mr. 
Tolman  might  pick  out  what  he  wanted.  The  next  morning 
'attain  Phelps  went  to  his  building  and  missed  the  drawings, 
and  was  told  that  Mr.  Tolman  had  them.  Being  of  a  peppery 
lisposition,  and  possibly  somewhat  uneasy  in  conscience  at 
laving  disappointed  Mr.  Tolman  in  the  matter  of  the  payment, 
appears  to  have  jumped  at  the  conclusion  that  Mr.  Tolman 
md  carried  off  the  drawings  as  a  means  of  coercing  him,  and 


74 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.     [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  634. 


forthwith  flew  to  the  law  for  vengeance,  entering  a  civil  suit 
for  damages  for  the  retention  of  the  plans,  as  well  as  a  criminal 
suit  for  embezzling  them.     An  officer  was  sent  to  seize  them, 
but  Mr.  Tolman  very  naturally  refused  to  give  them  up ;  and 
he  was  soon  after  arrested  on  the  criminal  complaint  and  locked 
up  over  night,  the  bail  laws  in  the  District  of  Columbia  being 
peculiar.     The  matter  then  came  into  the  courts.     The  first 
o;tso  tried  was  that  of  Phelps  versus  Tolman,  for  damages  for 
retention  of  plans,  and  the    jury  gave  a  verdict  for  Captain 
Phelps  for  one  cent  and  costs.     The  next  case  was  that  of  Tol- 
man versus  Phelps,  for  compensation  for  services.     The  jury 
awarded  the  architect  two  hundred    dollars   and    costs.     The 
judge    ruled    that    Tolman  could  claim  nothing  for  the  work 
represented  by  the  plans  in  his  possession,  although  they  seem 
to  have  come  back  into  his  possession  against  his  wish.     If  it 
had  not   been  for  this  ruling,    the  verdict  of  the  jury  would 
probably  have  been  for  about  twelve  hundred  dollars  instead  of 
two  hundred.     The  last  case  tried  was  that  of  Tolman  versus 
Phelps  for  false  and    malicious  imprisonment.     Phelps's  case 
against  Tolman  for  embezzlement  of   plans  having  been    dis- 
creetly dropped  long  before;  and  in  this  the  jury  awarded  Mr. 
Tolman  five    hundred   dollars   damages  for  his    night    in    the 
station-house.     Mr.  Tolman,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say,  won, 
besides,  the  sympathy  of  the  whole  profession  in  his  unmerited 
trouble,    but,    as   he    sensibly   says,    the    circumstances   were 
throughout  so  peculiar  that  his  case  can  hardly  serve  as  a  pre- 


US 

(•client. 


TITHE  Engineering  and  Building  Record  gives  an  admirable 
JX    abstract  of  the  paper  read  by  Lieutenant  C.  C.  Eogers, 
U.    S.  N.,  before   the  annual   meeting   of  the  American 
Society  of   Civil   Engineers,  last   month,  which  presents  the 
most  sensible  and  most  recent  view  of  the  enterprise  that  has 
yet  been  made  public.     Lieutenant  Rogers  happened  to  be  sta- 
tioned at   Aspinwall   in   the   United   States   ship    "  Galena " 
during   the  months  of  March    and  April  of   last   year.     Just 
before  the  arrival  of   the  ship  at  Aspinwall,  M.  Charles  de 
Lesseps,  with  other  high  officials  of  the  Canal  Company,  had 
reached  the  same  port  on  their  way  to  inspect  the  work  on  the 
canal,  and  Lieutenant  Rogers,  on  calling  upon  these  gentlemen 
with  the  request  to  be  allowed  to  visit  the  works,  was  kindly 
invited  to  accompany  the  official  party  in  its  tour.    He  accepted 
the  invitation  and  in  this  way  saw  every  foot  of  the  canal  and 
the  auxiliary  works,  besides  inspecting  the  hospitals  and  bar- 
racks and  acquiring  an  immense  amount  of  information  from 
those  best  able  to  furnish  it  in  regard  to  the  organization  and 
administration  of  the  undertaking,  during  a  tour  which  lasted 
nearly  three  weeks.     As  is  well  known,  the  excavation  of  the 
canal  is  all   contracted  for,  the  work  being  divided  into  five 
sections,  each  of  which  is  entrusted  to  a  separate  contractor, 
who  is  under  heavy  bonds  to  complete  his  work.     It  seems  to 
be  certain  that  the  excavation  has  proved  far  more  costly  than 
was  expected.     To  say  nothing  of  the  unusual  physical  diffi- 
culties encountered,  the  labor  available  has  been  both  costly  and 
bad,  wages  being  very  high,  while  the  negroes,  who  do  most  of 
the  work,  are  lazy  and  unreliable,  and,  as  they  rest  entirely 
for  three  hours  during  the  middle  of  the  day,  do  not  accom- 
plish as  much  as  would  be  expected  from  a  laborer  in  a  cooler 
climate,  and  the  Canal  Company,  according  to  its  own  reports, 
has  already  spent  more  money  than  was  originally  estimated 
for   the  whole  cost  of  the  canal.     With  this,  however,  more 
than  half  the  work  has  been  accomplished,  and  the  end  may  be 
considered  already  in  sight.     Many  assertions  have  been  made 
to  the  effect  that  the  work  on  the  canal  was  only  just  be<nm 
and  that  it  would  soon  be  entirely  abandoned,  but  the  Colum- 
bian Government  is  not  likely  to  be  deceived,  or  to  make  rash 
advances  of  property  to  an  expiring  company,  and  it  has,  by 
>tficial  deed  dated  December  30th  last,  transferred  to  the  Com- 
pany the  public  lands,  amounting  to  six  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  thousand  acres,  which,  by  the  terms  of  the  concession  were 
to  be  surrendered  when  one-half  the  total  work  necessary  for 
the  construction  of  the  canal  had  been  done.     Up  to  the  end 
of  last  year,  the  total  expenditure  had  been  about  one  hundred 
and  eighty  million  dollars,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  mil- 
lions of  which  have  been  for  excavation.     About  one-third  the 
excavation  is  done,  but  the  machinery  is  ready  for  doing  the 
rest,  and  it  is  tolerably  certain  that  the  whole  can  be  completed 
for  three  hundred  and  seventy-five  million  dollars,  but  accord- 
ing to  Lieutenant  Rogers,  it  will  be  hardly  possible  to  complete 
it  in  less  than  five  or  six  years,  even  if  the  necessary  money  is 


M.  CAMILLE  FLAMMARION  has  recently  published 
a  little  book  on  meteorological  observations,  from  which 
Le  Genie  Civil  makes  some  interesting  extracts,  on  the 
subject,  more  particularly,  of  weather  predictions.  Most 
people  know  that  a  fall  in  the  barometer  indicates  the  ap- 
proach of  a  storm,  and  a  high  barometer  indicates  fair  weather ; 
but  more  than  this  may,  according  to  M.  Flammarion,  be 
learned  from  the  mercury  column.  When,  he  says,  clouds  are 
to  be  seen  moving  in  a  long  line,  whatever  may  be  the  height 
of  the  barometer,  it  may  be  taken  as  certain  that  a  depression, 
or  storm  centre  exists  in  a  direction  which  may  be  readily 
ascertained  by  facing  in  the  direction  in  which  the  clouds  are 
moving,  and  extending  the  left  hand.  On  land,  the  position  of 
the  storm  centre  is  of  no  great  importance,  except,  perhaps,  as 
showing  whether  it  will  cross  a  given  locality,  but  at  sea  it  is 
often  possible  for  a  captain,  after  finding  in  what  direction  the 
most  violent  part  of  a  storm  lies,  to  steer  away  from  it,  and 
soon  bring  his  ship  into  pleasant  weather.  As  to  the  distance 
and  seriousness  of  the  storm,  something  may  be  learned  from 
the  velocity  with  which  the  procession  of  clouds  move ;  a 
severe  and  near  storm  being  always  indicated  by  a  swift  cloud 
movement,  and  a  high  barometer. 


HE  Fates  seem  to  have  a  grudge  against  State  Legislators. 
Hardly  does  the  dust  from  the  fall  of  one  State  Capitol 
subside  before  another  is  found  to  be  in  a  dangerous  condi- 
tion, and  the  occupants  are  kept  in  a  mild  panic  until  something 
is  done,  or  the  building  collapses.     The  dome  of  the  Texas 
Capitol,  about  which  there  was  much  talk  a  few  weeks  ago,  has 
been  pronounced  safe  by  experts,  much  to  the  relief  of  the  citi- 
zens, but  the  Albany  State  -  house,  or  rather  the  stone  vault 
over   the  Assembly  Chamber,  has   shown    renewed    signs   of 
weakness,  and  the  architect,  with  a  commendable  desire  to  pre- 
vent the  possibility  of   injury  to  any  person,  even  at  some 
sacrifice  of  his  own  self-esteem,  is  said  to  have  sent  a  formal 
warning  against  the  further  occupation  of  the  Chamber.     The 
groining  ribs  are  said  to  show  menacing  cracks,  while  there 
have  been  dislocations  in  the  neighboring  rooms,  so  that  the 
question  seems  to  be  now  one  of  getting  the  vault  taken  down 
as  safely  and  speedily  as  possible,  and  replacing  it  with  some- 
thing^ else.     As  architects,  we  cannot  help  regretting  the  loss 
of  this  bold  and  effective  piece  of  construction.     Few  men  in 
the  profession  in  this  country  would  have  ventured  to  throw  a 
groined  vault  in  one  span  over  a  room  sixty  feet  square,  and 
Mr.  Eidlitz's  partial  lack  of  success  only  serves  to  call  attention 
more  strongly  to  the  immense  difficulties  which  he  had  to  over- 
come, and  so  nearly  vanquished.     A  few  days  after  the  an- 
nouncement of  the  necessity  for  a  speedy  change  in  the  Albany 
ceiling  came  a  story  that  the  condition  of  the  Massachusetts 
State-house  was  such  as  to  cause  serious  alarm.      Cracks  had 
suddenly  appeared  in  the  plastering  of  the  rooms,  pilasters  had 
started  out  from  the  walls,  and  everything  seemed  to  indicate 
grave  disorders  somewhere  about  the  building.     Fortunately, 
the  dome  of  the  Boston  State-house  is  only  of  wood,  covered 
with  tin,  so  that  a  sudden  crash  is  hardly  to  be  feared,  but  per- 
haps the  symptoms  indicate  a  disturbance  all  the  more  grave 
for  occurring  in  so  light  a  building. 


'IT  NEW  fraud  is  described  in  the  Builder,  and  some  of  our 
j\  readers  may  be  glad  to  have  been  forewarned  when  it 
reaches  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  as  it  is  likely  to  do  before 
long.  It  seems  that  an  ingenious  individual  advertised  in  the 
local  newspapers  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  inviting 
tenders  for  the  erection  of  villas  near  some  specified  place  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  place  where  the  advertisement  appeared, 
"under  the  provisions  of  the  Boyle  Trust."  To  insure  good 
faith,  a  deposit  of  one  pound  was  required  from  those  wishing 
to  tender,  on  receipt  of  which  a  copy  of  the  plans  and  specifica" 
tions  would  be  sent  them.  As  it  happened,  the  Mayor  of 
Leamington  was  one  of  those  who  were  attracted  by  the  adver- 
tisement, which  certainly  had  a  very  innocent  and  attractive 
air.  He  sent  his  five  dollars,  as  required,  but,  receiving  no 
plans  or  specifications  in  return,  began  to  be  suspicious,  and 
finally  placed  the  matter  in  the  hands  of  the  police,  who  dis- 
covered and  arrested  the  advertiser.  On  searching  his.  room, 
no  plans,  specifications,  or  any  other  documents  relating  to  the 
Boyle  or  any  other  trust  were  discovered,  and  as  it  was  found 
that  he  had  received  numerous  remittances  from  his  dupes,  an 
example  was  made  of  him  by  sending  him  to  jail  for  a  year. 


FEBRUARY  18,  1888.] 


The    American    Architect   and   Building   News. 


75 


THE  PUBLIC  8  APPRECIATION  OF  ARCHI- 
TECTURE.—  MECHANIC'S  LIEN  LAW. 
— CAIN'S  "LIONESS"  AND  BOYLE'S 
"STONE  AGE." 

PHILADELPHIA  is  essentially  a  long- 
suffering  place.  Its  Government  is 
not  so  pure  as  it  should  be,  its  streets 
»  are  always  more  or  less  dirty  and  its 
architecture  is  pretty  generally  bad.  Yet, 
when  the  election  frauds  become  too  gross  or  the  streets  are 
choked  with  filth,  the  easy-going  public  turns  upon  its  "  bosses  "  and 
drivrs  them  from  place.  To  be  sure,  it  is  not  always  easy  to  per- 
suade the  people  that  the  time  has  come  for  determined  action,  and 
it  has  happened  more  than  once  that  individual  citizens  have  hired  a 
gang  of  laborers  and  had  one  or  two  of  the  chief  streets  cleaned  from 
end  to  end.  But,  as  a  rule,  when  the  people  see  that  they  are  not 
getting  what  they  are  paying  for,  they  shake  off  their  apathy,  reform 
as  many  abuses  as  they  conveniently  can,  and  for  a  while  all  is  as  it 
should  be.  With  bad  architecture  the  case  is  not  so  simple.  The 
great  muss  of  citizens  do  not  know  that  it  is  bad,  or  those  who  sug- 
pec't  that  the  art  i»  at  a  low  ebb  have  been  so  long  in  the  habit  of 
taking  their  architecture  philosophically,  like  their  streets,  that  they 
hesitate  to  do  anything  more  than  remonstrate.  Yet,  these  very  men 
have  taken  the  most  determined  stand  when  other  abuses  were 
pointed  out  to  them.  Who  shall  say  what  might  not  befall  if  they 
should  suddenly  discover  huw  far,  architecturally,  Philadelphia  is 
from  holding  the  rank  she  ought  to  hold  among  the  cities  of 
America?  One  might  almost  wish  that  some  influential  critic  would 
proclaim  from  the  house-tops  so  that  all  the  town  might  hear :  "  For 
years  you  have  been  surrounding  yourselves  with  buildings  of  which 
the  greater  number  range  between  the  monstrous  and  the  common- 
place. Even  the  building  you  are  proudest  of,  your  very  City-hall, 
has  entrances  far  too  narrow  for  the  swelling  streams  of  foot- 
passengers  that  pour  continuously  through.  Its  tower,  so  far  as  it 
has  gone,  is  impressive  and  beautiful.  Why  will  you  degrade  its 
honest  white  marble  by  making  it  support  a  cast-iron  representation 
of  columns  and  cornices?  Uo  you  know  that  after  you  iiave  put  up 
enough  of  this  iron  sham  to  reach  the  height  of  five  hundred  feet, 
and  have  perched  on  top  of  it  eleven  tons  of  bronze  moulded  to  the 
likeness  of  William  Penn,  you  will  have  paid  more  than  the  price  of 
the  Houses  of  Parliament  at  Westminster?  Suppose  you  compare 
the  available  room  in  the  two  buildings."  The  sour-tongued  critic 
might  go  on  to  inform  those  who  would  listen  that  vulgarity  and 
ignorance  were  stamped  on  the  face  of  many  of  Philadelphia's 
most  prominent  buildings,  and  that  these  would  become  a  laughing- 
stock to  the  other  cities  of  the  Continent,  and  a  shame  to  the  next 
generation.  But  he  has  said  enough.  A  change  for  the  better  is 
being  brought  about  without  him  —  a  change  every  whit  as  important 
as  the  one  begun  in  1876  when  Philadelphia  architecture  began  to 
lose  all  sense  of  propriety  and  rushed  into  the  wild  extravagances  it 
has  since  been  guilty  of.  The  advance  in  the  direction  of  good  taste 
is  slow,  but  it  is  doubtless  better  so.  The  city's  politics  need  a 
periodical  shaking  up.  They  slip  back  only  too  easily  into  the  old 
grooves.  May  it  not  be  that  its  architecture  without  the  hope  of 
any  sudden  and  sweeping  improvement  is  little  by  little  making  a 
steady  advance;  that  the  very  slowness  of  its  progress  is  a 
guaranty  against  any  relapse,  and  that  the  day  will  come  when  our 
people  shall  not  be  afraid  to  ask  a  stranger's  frank  opinion  of  their 
buildings? 

This  improvement  in  style  is  more  noticeable  just  now  in  country 
and  suburban  work  than  in  the  city  proper.  Mr.  W.  R.  Emerson 
has  been  doing  some  admirable  country  houses,  generous  in  plan, 
original  in  composition  and  with  most  beautiful  detail,  but,  in  spite  of 
the  local  prejudice  in  its  favor,  with  very  little  stonework  visible  ex- 
cept for  terraces  and  the  like.  Mr.  McKtm,  too,  has  done  much 
toward  raising  the  standard  of  public  taste.  A  Philadelphian  him- 
self, he  knows  the  fondness  the  people  have  for  the  solid  stonework 
of  their  fathers,  and  although  there  are  plenty  of  houses  in  the 
neighborhood  where  he  has  been  lavish  of  shingles  and  weather- 
boards, his  later  work  here  shows  a  fine  appreciation  of  the  feeling 
for  the  old-fashioned  country  house.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  he  does 
not  resent  imitation,  for  in  Germantown  especially  so  many  people 
are  struck  with  the  beauty  and  fitness  of  one  of  his  last  houses  that 
impressions  of  it  —  some  of  them  tortured  almost  out  of  recognition 
—  are  springing  up  on  every  side.  This  house  and  its  prototypes 
(many  of  them  are  still  standing  on  the  Main  Street  of  Germantown) 
are  an  admirable  source  of  inspiration  for  architects,  but  unluckily 
there  is  another  type  of  house  that  is  as  offensive  as  this  one  is 
agreeable,  and  that  for  very  different  reasons  has  taken  quite  as  firm 
a  hold  as  the  first.  This  is  the  "  Seashore  Cottage  "  type.  Not  the 
modest  nestling  cottage  of  the  New  England  coast,  as  gray  as  the 
cliff  it  clings  to,  but  the  type  which  building  papers  of  the  "every- 
man-his  own-architect "  class  affirm  can  be  built  for  twelve  hundred 
dollars,  the  type  of  flimsy,  jig-sawed,  polychromatic  house  that  has 
spread  from  its  home  on  the  New  Jersey  beaches  to  the  uttermost 


edge  of  our  frontier  towns.  Some  day,  perhaps,  it  will  disappear, 
but  it  would  be  rash  to  predict  its  fall  during  the  lifetime  of  this 
generation. 

One  practical  defect  in  the  pattern  of  the  early  stone  house  mentioned 
above  is  its  lack  of  as  much  [Kirch-room  as  our  summer  climate  makes 
desirable.  It  is,  of  course,  out  of  the  question  when  working  in  this 
manner  to  let  the  upper  stories  project,  and  thus  take  away  from 
the  temporary  look  that  a  "  lean-to "  porch  so  often  has,  so  that 
architects  have  tried  the  most  diverse  ways  of  overcoming  the 
dilliriilty.  The  colonial  porch,  with  its  columns  running  two  stories 
high  so  that  the  second  floor  windows  are  protected  as  well  as  the 
first,  is  out  of  favor,  as  the  extreme  height  of  the  roof  makes  it  a  poor 
protection  when  the  wind  is  blowing  on  a  rainy  day,  or  when  the 
shadows  are  lengthening  on  a  clear  one.  But  let  the  problem  be 
solved  as  it  may,  by  a  second  story  covered  porch,  by  exaggerated 
penteaves,  or  by  the  obvious  one-story  porch  covered  with  any  of  the 
innumerable  kinds  of  hipped  roofs  or  pediments,  it  is  gratifying  to 
note  the  less  and  less  frequent  use  of  the  long  narrow  strip  of  a  porch 
where  it  is  im|X>ssiblc  for  people  to  arrange  themselves  except  in 
parallel  lines,  and  the  growing  popularity  of  the  square  or  round 
form,  with  a  smaller  area  than  the  old  kind,  perhaps,  but  with  the 
general  proportions  of  a  living-room. 

The  mechanic's  lien  law,  which  has  been  a  source  of  annoyance  in 
this  State  for  more  thari  a  dozen  of  years,  has  become  more  thau  ever 
obnoxious  since  the  passage  of  the  Bill  last  summer  intended  to 
amend  it.  The  Bill  of  1874  provides  that  in  case  of  the  contractor's 
failure  to  pay,  any  one  furnishing  material  to  the  amount  of  $50  may 
attach  the  building  after  the  owner  has  taken  possession. 

Under  this  provision,  the  material-men  do  not  hesitate  to  furnish 
everything  to  a  builder  who  may  have  no  credit  whatsoever.  Build- 
ing thus  becomes  almost  the  only  trade  in  which  unscrupulous  men 
can  get  unlimited  credit,  and  they  have  not  been  long  in  taking  ad- 
vantage of  the  law.  Thus  a  class  of  irresponsible  builders  has  sprung 
up  against  whom  neither  owners  nor  architects  have  any  means 
of  protecting  themselves.  The  obligatory  release  of  liens  is  no  safe- 
guard, because  a  dishonest  contractor  can  get  a  little  material  from 
one  man,  pay  for  it,  get  the  seller's  receipt  for  the  money  and  obtain 
elsewhere  on  credit  an  unlimited  amount  of  the  same  commodity. 
The  owner,  with  no  means  of  telling  from  whom  the  material  used  in 
his  house  was  bought,  finds,  after  making  what  is  certified  to  be  his 
final  payment,  that  liens  have  been  filed  against  his  property,  and  is 
in  the  condition  of  a  man  who  having  just  paid  his  tailor's  bill  finds 
his  suit  of  clothes  seized  by  a  still  unpaid  cloth-dealer.  It  has  been 
maintained  that  if  liens  were  filed,  the  fault  was  with  the  architect 
for  handing  the  owner  his  release  and  certifying  that  the  final  pay- 
ment was  due  the  builder.  In  this  way  some  of  the  most  prominent 
architects  in  the  city  have  been  obliged  to  pay  thousands  of  dollars 
because  the  contractor  was  insolvent.  Presumably,  it  was  in  order 
to  counteract  the  manifest  injustice  of  this  law  that  the  Bill  of  1887 
was  passed.  It  provides  that  the  owner  must  be  notified  of  the  in- 
tention to  file  a  lien  within  ten  days  after  the  material  has  been 
placed  on  the  ground.  So  far  so  good.  He  is  at  least  warned  and 
may  give  the  builder  a  good  deal  of  wholesome  anxiety  by  insisting 
upon  looking  over  his  receipts.  But  any  relief  that  the  Bill  of  June 
17  affords  is  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  clause  stating  that 
"  All  building  and  machinery  made  liable  to  a  mechanic's  lien 
.  .  .  shall  also  be  liable  to  a  mechanic's  lien  for  any  work  done 
on  said  building  as  machinery  by  any  sub-contraclor,  mechanic  or 
laborer."  Laws  of  this  sort  only  serve  to  do  harm  to  building  in  all 
its  branches,  and  to  injure  more  than  to  protect  contractors  of  the 
better  class.  It  is  reassuring  to.  see  that  the  amended  law  has 
already  been  appealed  from  as  being  unconstitutional,  and  that  a  very 
general  impression  prevails  among  lawyers  that  it  cannot  stand. 

In  front  of  the  Post-Office,  where  the  Chestnut  Street  sidewalk 
becomes  generously  broad,  have  been  standing  for  some  time  two 
bronze  groups  soon  to  be  placed  in  Fairmount  Park.  One  is  M. 
Cain's  "  Lioness  and  Cubs,"  and  the  other  Mr.  Boyle's  Salon  piece, 
"  The  Stone  Age."  Although  the  lioness  by  her  gigantic  size  rather 
dwarfs  the  scale  of  the  other  group,  it  is  easy  to  see  which  of  them 
holds  the  first  rank  in  popular  favor.  The  lioness,  in  an  attitude 
that  strongly  recalls  the  proud  pose  of  the  same  sculptor's  superb 
lion  in  the  Luxembourg  Garden  (of  which  there  was  such  a  clever 
sketch  in  the  New  York  Architectural  League's  Exhibition  this 
year)  is  not,  like  this  one,  standing  victorious  over  the  freshly  killed 
game,  but  holds  her  prey  aloft,  out  of  reach  of  her  three  cubs  that 
are  crawling  toward  it  flat  upon  their  bellies  in  the  most  admirably 
cub-like  manner.  In  fact,  it  is  doubtful  whether  these  cubs  do  not 
make  the  most  truthful  part  of  the  group.  Some  people  find  the  pose 
of  the  lioness  herself  theatrical.  It  is  much  easier  to  prove  this 
charge  unfounded  than  to  deny  that  she  is  exceedingly  well  fed,  and 
has  an  unmistakable  air  of  the  menagerie.  There  is,  indeed,  so  little 
of  the  wild  animal  about  her  as  almost  to  make  one  think  —  if  the 
thought  were  not  rank  heresy  —  that  M.  Cain  is  so  sure  of  his  world- 
wide reputation  as  an  animal  sculptor  as  to  be  content  in  these  latter 
days  to  work  on  the  strength  of  it.  This  is  a  reproach  that  one  cer- 
tainly cannot  make  to  Mr.  Boyle.  While  his  group  composes  satis- 
factorily, the  actors  in  it  show  that  same  thoroughly  untamed  look 
that  marks  his  earlier  "  Indian  Group."  His  present  subject  is  its 
companion  piece.  An  Indian  woman,  a  bear-cub  just  killed  beside 
her,  looks  intently  toward  its  approaching  dam.  The  squaw's  right 
hand  grasps  a  stone  hatchet,  and  her  left  is  clasping  a  baby  that  she 
has  just  snatched  from  the  ground,  and  now  strains  to  her  side  with 


76 


The   American    Architect  and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  634. 


such  instinctive  energy  that  her  convulsed  fingers  press  into  its  flesh. 
Half  hiding  on  the  ground  an  older  child  —  a  young  savage,  if  there 
ever  was  one  —  crouches  clingingly  at  her  feet. 

As  between  these  two  works  of  art  the  public  —  prejudiced,  per- 
haps, by  local  pride  —  has  decided  that  the  Philadelphia  sculptor 
has  beaten  the  great  Frenchman.  Many  artists  have  had  the 
temerity  to  acknowledge  that  there  was  some  reason  in  the  popular 
judgment,  and  after  all,  why  should  it  not  be  so?  During  the  life  of 
William  Rush,  was  lie  not  by  all  odds  the  first  sculptor  of  the  young 
Republic,  and  was  it  not  a  Philadelphia!!  who  entered  the  Ecole  des 
Beaux  Arts  at  its  last  competition  in  the  Department  of  Sculpture 
at  the  head  of  seventy  odd  applicants  ? 

In  connection  with  its  regular  exhibition,  the  Pennsylvania 
Academy  of  the  Fine  Arts  holds  its  second  annual  exhibition  of 
architectural  drawings.  The  doors  of  the  Academy  were  opened  to 
the  public  on  the  sixteenth  of  this  month,  and  the  exhibition  will 
continue  for  six  weeks  from  that  date.  An  extended  notice  of  it 
will  be  given  next  month. 


THE  EFFECT  ON  THE  PROFESSION  OF  THE 
COMMERCIAL  ATMOSPHERE  OF  THE  CITY. 
—  ATTEMPT  TO  RAISE  THE  COMMISSION 
ON  DWELLING-HOUSE  WORK. 

FROM  Chicago  there  seems  to  be  cause,  as  well  as  from  the  East, 
for  the  raising  of  the  lament  made  by  some  architects,  that 
architecture  is  no  longer  considered  as  a  profession  and  that  the 
public  treat  it  merely  as  any  other  purely  commercial  business. 
Undoubtedly  there  is  some  truth  in  this,  but  to  a  very  great  extent  if 
this  is  the  feeling  of  the  public,  it  is  because  the  standard  of  profes- 
sional etiquette  is  falling  from  what  it  should  be,  and  this  more  by  the 
fault  of  the  profession  itself  than  of  the  people.  That  it  should  in 
America  partake  even  more  of  a  commercial  character  and  tone  than 
in  Europe  is  natural  and  unavoidable.  Abroad  we  perhaps  rightly 
have  the  almost  universal  reputation  of  being  a  nation  of  traders, 
that  and  nothing  more.  This  commercial  spirit  crops  out  every- 
where and  with  every  one.  Our  instincts  are  all  in  that  direction. 
We  form  partnerships  as  naturally  and  easily  as  possible,  and  all  for 
the  sake  of  expedition  and  increase  of  business,  in  fact,  to  make 
more  money.  This  very  circumstance  of  partnerships  shows  of  itself 
how  differently  from  the  Italian  or  French  the  architects  here  look 
upon  the  profession;  with  Americans  to  a  very  great  extent  it  is 
business.  Such,  then,  being  our  nature,  strengthened  as  it  is  by 
education  and  contact  with  those  about  us,  it  is  necessary  that  while 
conforming  to  the  age  and  conditions  that  we  live  in,  we  should  at 
the  same  time  keep  architecture  above  mere  commercial  business, 
and  conduct  all  its  details  with  the  greatest  possible  accuracy  and 
despatch  according  to  approved  business  methods. 

Chicago  has  the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
business  centres  of  this  age  and  country.  On  every  hand  are  evi- 
dences of  it  and  it  requires  no  particular  brilliancy  to  perceive  the 
commercial  spirit  standing  out  everywhere.  It  permeates  everything 
and  art  and  architecture  are  under  its  baneful  influence  in  no  small 
degree'.  The  spirit  has  gone  so  far  and  penetrated  so  deep  that  even 
those  exponents  of  the  profession,  the  architectural  journals  which 
supposedly  would  stand  upon  the  highest  plane,  now  commence 
praising  those  methods  which  pervert  everything  to  the  wettinc  of 
business.  The  following  is  a  clipping  from  a  recent  obituary  notice  : 
Even  in  his  social  relations  he  was  always  on  the  alert  for  business 
—  not  offensively  so,  but  enough  to  characterize  him  as  a  typical 
Chicago  man  —  and  he  secured  many  large  commissions  when" to  all 
appearances  he  was  simply  indulging  himself  in  a  little  recreation  " 
All  this  seems  to  be  said  with  the  idea  of  praisincr  a  most  laudable 
characteristic  and  saying  a  very  complimentary  tiling  but,  indeed 
ideas  of  what  is  praiseworthy  and  commendatory  sadly  vary ! 

On  the  above  principle,  every  pleasure  and  recreation  of  life  should 
be  prostituted  to  the  getting  of  work.  No  evenin"  party,  no  recep- 
tion, no  private  dinner,  should  be  honored  with  an  architect's  pres- 
ence unless  there  were  a  chance  for  business  to  come  from  it 
Unfortunately,  this  is  truly  so  much  the  case  that  some  architects 
here  have  the  unenviable  reputation  of  going  into  society  and  belono-- 
ing  to  clubs  for  absolutely  no  other  purpose  than  business.  '  As  °a 
natural  result,  others  who  would  like  to  enjoy  social  life  for  itself 
have  the  same  imputation  put  upon  them  whether  they  will  or  no 

On  the  other  hand,  in  such  a  commercial  city  as  this,  commercial 
methods  have  undoubtedly  done  considerable  to  increase  the  respect 
that  the  architects  are  held  in  by  the  public.  By  no  other  means 
than  commercial  methods  can  some  business  men  be  brought  to  respect 
anything,  anybody,  or  any  class  of  men.  They  can  only  judge  of  and 
respect  those  who  follow  in  the  lines  that  they  themselves  know  and 
appreciate  and  admire.  It  can  very  justly  be  said  of  most  of  these 
business  men  that  when  once  they  have  made  arrangements  with  an 
architect,  they  make  no  question  of  delay  in  paying  commissions  • 
whatever  trouble  there  may  be  in  this  direction  seems  to  come  to  a 


greater  extent  from  those  not  strictly  engaged  in  commercial  affairs. 
Neither  will  these  business  men  as  freely  ask  gratuitous  competition : 
several  buildings  of  importance  for  which  commissions  have  recently 
been  given,  notably,  the  new  armory  of  the  First  Regiment,  were 
awarded  to  the  architects  "  without  competition." 

Just  at  present  the  matter  of  professional  compensation  is  receiv- 
ing considerable  thought  here,  and  a  strong  movement  is  on  foot  to 
agitate  the  matter  and,  if   possible,  advance  the  rate   on    isolated 
dwellings  from   five  per  cent  to  seven.     The  feeling  seems   to  be 
growing  that  the  schedule  of  the  American  Institute  of  Architects  is 
not  in  all  respects  entirely  satisfactory.     The  idea  now  being  pushed 
is  to  eventually  modify  the  entire  schedule  by  raising  some  items  and 
lowering  others.     The  commencement  of  reform,  however,  is  to  be 
made  by  the  raising  and  not  the  lowering  process.     The  movers  say, 
and  very  truly,  that  the  amount  of  time,  worry,  vexation  and  actual 
labor  on  an  average  dwelling-house  is  many  times  greater,  notably  in 
the  superintendence,  than  on  an  ordinary  commercial  buildinf,  and 
yet,  according  to  the  existing  schedule,  the  same  percentage  can  be 
demanded.     This  certainly  does  not  seem  exactly  just  and  equitable 
either  for  client  or  architect.     Naturally,  all  architect!  would  be 
pleased  to  see  their  work  better  paid  for  and  their  profits  larger,  but 
when  it  comes  to  signing  the  paper  now  being  circulated,  binding  the 
the  signers  to  adopt  the  seven  per  cent  for  a  certain  length  of  time, 
there  is  some  hesitancy.     There  are   those  who  fear  it  would  have 
the  appearance  of  a  "  trust  "  and   scare  the  public.     Others  are  per- 
fectly ready  and  willing  to  sign  any  number  of  "  whereas's  "  relative 
to  the  desirability  of  making  the  rate  of  compensation  seven  per 
cent,  but  as  to  resolving  to  charge  nothing  less,  that  is  a  somewhat 
different  matter.     So  that  probably  the  whole  outcome  of  the  matter 
will  be  that,  aside  from  the  recommendatory  report  already  made  at 
the  last  meeting  of  the  Illinois  Association,  nothing  of  present  defi- 
nite importance  will  be  accomplished.     Jt  may,  however,  cause  mem- 
bers to  more  strictly  adhere  to  the  schedule  clause  relative  to  dwell- 
ings which  cost  less  than  five  thousand  dollars,  and  to  obtain  full 
fees  for  all  cabinet-work.     Eventually,  it  seems  quite  probable  that 
the  matter  of  general  revision  will  be  brought  up  and  at  least  dis- 
cussed in  some  of  the  conventions. 


1NCINNATI 


SECOND  ANNUAL  CONVENTION  OF  THE 
NATIONAL  BUILDERS'  ASSOCIATION. 

TTFI1E  Second  Annual  Convention  of 
Jj  t  the  National  Builders'  Association 
of  the  United  States  was  held  in 
this  city  on  the  eighth,  ninth  and  tenth 
days  of  this  month.  The  meetings  were 

ably  presided  over  by  President  J.  Milton  Blair,  of  Cincinnati,  and 
Mr.  W.  II.  Sayward,  of  Boston,  the  Secretary  of  the  Association, 
filled  that  post  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  body. 

About  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  representatives  were  present 
from  twenty-six  different  cities,  all  the  principal  cities  of  the  coun- 
try having  sent  representatives.  Each  day's  session  opened  with 
prayer,  and  the  meetings  were  conducted  under  strict  parliamentary 
rules,  and  the  debates  upon  the  questions  before  the  house  were  all 
of  a  character  that  would  reflect  credit  upon  any  men  assembled 
for  any  purpose.  The  architectural  conventions  might  well  take 
pattern  by  the  late  Builders'  Convention  and  throw  more  "  Vim, 
Vigor  and  Victory  "  into  their  conventions. 

The  architects  of  the  country  are  hereby  warned  that  the  builders 
are  in  earnest  and  that  all  plans  and  specifications  must  hereafter  be 
done  up  in  a  finished  and  complete  manner  and  "in  ink  or  by  some 
process  that  will  not  fade  or  obliterate  and  be  complete  in  every 
part."  From  the  passage  of  the  above  resolution  it  is  reasonable  to 
infer  that  it  has  been  the  custom  of  some  architects  to  make  their 
plans  in  pencil,  get  bids  on  them,  and  then,  in  the  process  of  finish- 
ing up,  to  alter  them  as  their  needs  seem  to  require. 

2.  Drawings  must  be  made  to  a  scale,  not  less  than  eight  feet  to 
the  inch,  and  such  portions  of  the  work  as  seem  to  require  a  more 
thorough  explanation  should  be  made  to  a  larger  scale.     In  the  pas- 
sage of  the  above  resolution  the  architects  of  the  country  are  to  be 
congratulated  upon  a  very  narrow  escape  they  had  from  the  labor 
and  time  and  trouble  it  would  take  to  put  all  'their  details,  full-size 
and  otherwise,  in  ink,  as  an  amendment  embracing  such  a -thought 
was  very  nearly  carried. 

3.  Specifications   hereafter   must  be  more  specific,   and  all  such 
indefinite  demands  as  that  "the  contractor  must  furnish   all  work 
that  is  necessary  and   that   may  be   demanded   by  the   architect," 
should   be  eliminated  from   the   specifications  before  estimates  are 
submitted. 

4.  This  resolution  embraces  what  would  seem  to  be  a  just  demand 
on  the  part  of  tbe  builders,  i.  e.,  that  their  estimates  should  not  cover 
an  indefinite  depth  of  foundation,  but  that  they  should  be  paid  extra 
for  all  such  work  not  distinctly  shown  on  the  drawings. 

5.  Our  friends,  the  builders,  in  this  clause  take  a  magnanimous 


,  BUDV      lABbD     11      illillillilllllllUua 

view  of  their  business,  and  will  hereafter  (even  if   they  have  not 
heretofore  done  so)  cover  in  their  estimates  all  demands  made  by 


FKUKUAKY  18,  1888.]  The   American   Architect  and  Building   News, 


77 


the  specifications,  unless  objections  are  made  thereto  in  writing  at 
the  time  the  bids  are  submitted.  They  will  "  also  take  the  specifica- 
tions as  their  guide  for  estimating."  One  wonders  what  other  means 
a  contractor  would  have  of  making  up  his  estimate,  and  this  clause 
will,  no  doubt,  puzzle  many  an  architect  striving  to  arrive  at  a  cor- 
rect understanding  of  his  relations  to  the  builder. 

6.  Everything  shown  on  the  plans  must  bo  mentioned  in  the  speci- 
fications or  it  will  not  be  put  into  the  house. 

7.  Builders  do  not  want  to  pick  out  of  twenty  or  thirty  pages  of 
specifications  what  should  be  on  perhaps  one  or  two  or  more  pages, 
and  so  they  want  the  architects  to  classify  all  work  and  put  all  that 
pertains  to  each  separate  department  by  itself  and  grouped  under 
appropriate  headings. 

8.  This  clause  was  one  that  caused  considerable  discussion  and 
one  that  very  nearly  caused  a  confusion  of  tongues  and  a  second 
Tower  of  Babel.     In  brief,  the  resolution   as  passed  was  about  as 
follows :  The  owner  is  to  have  his  house  left  complete  and  in  perfect 
condition  as  far  as  possible ;  all  cutting,  patching,  pointing-up,  etc., 
is  to  be  done  by  the  mechanic  having  control  of  such  department, 
but  the  cost  of  such  cutting,  pointing-up,  etc.,  must  be  paid  for  by 
the  mechanic  who  is  the  cause  of  ripping-up.     One  member  said  that 
on  one  job  it  cost  him  more  to  repair  after  the  other  mechanics  than 
he  got  for  the  entire  contract. 

9.  Contractors,  when  required  to  estimate  for  work  involving  any 
or  all  sub-contracts,  should  not  be  restricted  as  to  whom  they  shall 
employ  as  sub-contractors  unless  previously  notified. 

10.  'The  builder  will  hereafter  charge  at  least  ten  per  cent  on  the 
cost  of  any  work  and  materials  that  may  have  been  reserved  from 
his  contract  and  afterwards  added  thereto. 

11.  After    estimates  have    been   opened,   the   lowest   bidder   is 
entitled   to   the  job,  and  the  owner  must  deal   with  him   for   any 
changes  that  are  made  on  the  drawings  (unless  such  changes  involve 
a  complete  alteration  of  the  plans),  and  if  they  cannot  agree,  then 
the  matter  is  to  be  left  to  arbitration,  and  in  no  case  are  the  two 
lowest  to  figure  on  any  changes. 

12.  If   the   owner  docs   not  accept  the  lowest  invited   bid,  but 
rejects  all  such  bids,  then  he  is  to  pay  such  lowest  bidders  as  follows  : 

For  work  amounting  to  93,000,  or  under,        .        .  $16.00 

For  work  from  $5,000  to  #50,000,      ....  60.00 

Over.«50,000 100.00 

18.  Contracts  must  be  awarded  within  a  reasonable  time  (say  ten 
days)  after  the  competition  is  closed  (or  builders  cannot  be  held  to 
their  bids),  and  invited  bidders  are  to  have  the  privilege  of  being 
present  at  the  opening  of  bids. 

14.  When  security  is  exacted  from  a  contractor,  a  like  amount  of 
security  is  to  be  required  from  the  owner,  and  where  a  penalty  is 
exacted  from  a  contractor  on  a  time  contract,  a  like  amount  is  to  be 
paid  the  contractor  as  a  premium  if  the  work  is  completed  before  the 
time  specified. 

In  the  passage  of  the  first  part  of  this  resolution  the  builders  must 
have  forgotten  that  the  lien  laws  give  the  builders  ample  security 
for  all  claims  against  the  owner,  and  that  the  owner  has  no  such 
remedy. 

16,  17,  18,  are  resolutions  governing  the  relations  that  exist  or 
should  exist  between  contractors  and  sub-contractors.  A  contractor, 
where  he  uses  a  sub-contractor's  bid  in  securing  a  job,  must  give 
such  sub-contractor  his  work  unless  said  sub-estimate  is  sent  to  the 
head  contractor  unsolicited,  then  the  head  contractor  need  not  so 
award  the  work  unless  it  is  his  pleasure  to  do  so.  The  owner  must 
elect  which  way  he  intends  to  let  his  work,  whether  in  a  lump  con- 
tract or  in  separate  departments,  and  not  solicit  bids  both  ways. 

As  the  foregoing  resolutions  were  the  only  ones  involving  the  rela- 
tions existing  between  architects  and  builders  that  were  passed  upon, 
it  is  not  necessary  to  further  follow  the  actions  of  the  convention 
except  to  say  in  a  word  that  all  their  debates  were  tempered  with 
justice  to  all  parties  involved,  and  not  a  little  wit  as  well  as  wisdom 
crept  in,  perhaps  unawares  to  the  speakers. 

The  papers  read  were  of  a  high  character  and  showed  great 
research,  but  each  one  seemed  to  deal  more  in  generalities  and  his- 
tory than  in  plain  common  facts,  and  while  it  may  be  a  very  fine 
thing  to  say  that  bricks  are  the  oldest  building  material  known  to 
man,  and  that  roofs  always  have  formed  an  essential  element  in  the 
make-up  of  the  house,  and  so  on,  vet  those  that  listened  would  have 
been  better  edified  if  the  papers  had  been  more  technical  and  had 
less  of  the  college  oration  about  them.  This  association  cannot, 
however,  but  result  in  good  to  the  building  fraternity,  and  each 
recurring  convention  will  add  new  lustre  and  knowledge  to  be  drawn 
upon  at  demand  by  all  who  desire  progress. 

As  to  the  social  part  of  the  coming  together  of  these  men,  they 
certainly  enjoyed  themselves,  if  their  testimony  is  to  be  taken  on  tho 
subject.  What  with  receptions,  carriage  drives,  personal  attention, 
etc.,  it  would  seem  that  the  social  part  was  well  looked  after  by  the 
local  committee,  and  the  whole  wound  up  with  a  banquet  at  the 
Gibson  House,  given  by  the  Builders'  Exchange  of  Cincinnati,  which 
was  as  fine  an  affair  as  was  ever  given  in  this  city  upon  any  occasion. 

The  following  officers  were  elected  for  the  ensuing  year  : 

President,  John  S.  Stevens,  Philadelphia. 

l-'irst  Vice-President,  E.  E.  Scribner,  St.  Paul. 

Si  rnnil  Vice-Pn -sidt  nl,  John  J.  Tucker,  New  York. 

Secretary,  W.  H.  Sayward,  Boston. 
er,  Gus  Topper,  Chicago. 


Hoard  o/"  Directors.  David  M.  Alexander,  Albany,  N.  Y. ;  E.  L. 
Bartlett,  Baltimore,  Md. ;  Ben.  1).  Whitcomb,  Boston,  Mass.;  J.  H. 
Tilden,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. ;  Henry  Oliver,  Charleston,  S.  C. ;  Geo.  C. 
Prussing,  Chicago,  III.:  II.  E.  llolt/inger,  Cincinnati,  (). ;  A.  Mc- 
Allister, Cleveland,  O. ;  Thos.  B.  Knauss,  Columbus,  (). ;  Alex. 
Chappotoft,  Detroit,  Mich.;  John  Howson,  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.; 
W.  P.  Jungclaus,  Indianapolis,  Ind.;  Richard  Smith,  Milwaukee, 
Wis.;  H.  N.  Leighton,  Minneapolis,  Minn.;  I.  N.  Phillips,  Nash- 
ville, Tenn.;  F.  H.  West,  New  Orleans,  La.;  Marc  Etdlitz,  New 
York,  N.  Y.  ;  Wni.  Harkness,  Philadelphia,  Pa.;  Samuel  Frances, 
Pittsburgh,  Pa.;  John  W.  Briggs,  Providence,  R.  I.;  Chas.  W. 
Voshall,  Rochester,  N.  Y.;  E.  F.  Osborne,  St.  Paul,  Minn.;  E.  F. 
Beck,  Sioux  City,  Iowa ;  C.  A.  Meeker,  Troy,  N.  Y. ;  E.  B.  Crane, 
Worcester,  Mass.;  D.  J.  Macarty,  Washington,  D.  C. ;  Geo.  T. 
Elliott,  East  Saginaw,  Mich.;  Win".  Taylor,  Kansas  City,  Mo.;  Win. 
Dickinson,  Syracuse,  N.  Y. ;  Thos.  Armstrong,  Louisville,  Ky. 

A  medal  to  cost  8100  was  voted  to  the  retiring  President,  J.  Mil- 
ton Blair,  of  Cincinnati.  CAIIY. 


HOMK  DIFFICULTIES    ATTENDING    THE  DE8ION- 
ING  OF  THE  PROPOSED  EPISCOPAL  CATHKUKAL. 

lirllE  scheme  for  a  great  Episcopal  Cathedral 
J|»  has  been  again  agitating  the  public  mind  in 
New  York,  at  least  in  so  far  as  the  daily 
newspapers  can  be  said  to  be  that  most  imjior- 
tant  factor  in  all  such  undertakings. 

It  is  generally  understood  that  the  site  is 
secured,  although  a  rumor  has  it  that  there  is  a 
mortgage  on  the  property,  which  mortgage  is  assumed  by  the  new 
owners.  To  an  outsider  this  would  not  seem  a  desirable  state  of 
affairs,  but  then  an  outsider's  opinion  must  necessarily  be  of  small 
consequence,  since  he  is  not  in  a  position  to  judge  intelligently  of  the 
conditions  which  may  have  made  such  a  proceeding  advantageous. 
It  would  seem  to  tend  somewhat  to  chill  the  enthusiasm  with  which 
this  noble  scheme  was  greeted,  since  in  a  measure  it  conflicts  with 
one  of  the  best  intentions  of  the  originators  —  that  of  going  on  only 
so  far  as  the  funds  would  permit  and  leaving  the  completion  to  the 
next  generation.  However,  it  is  hardly  fair  to  criticise  the  actions 
of  such  a  body  of  distinguished  men  on  the  basis  of  a  mere  rumor, 
which  in  all  likelihood  is  far  from  the  truth. 

As  to  the  scheme  itself,  so  much  has  been  written  about  it  and  it 
has  been  so  ably  and  intelligently  discussed,  that  it  would  seem  on 
paper  a  comparatively  easy  affair  to  carry  it  through  successfully. 
In  some  respects  it  is.  The  science  of  engineering  has  reached  a 
high  state  of  perfection  now-a-days,  and  notwithstanding  the  lament- 
able failure  of  the  best  known  and  most  important  stone  vault  yet 
built  in  this  country,  the  one  at  Albany,  we  have  men  fully  compe- 
tent to  build  so  vastly  larger  a  structure  as  the  new  cathedral  would 
inevitably  be.  As  to  painters  and  sculptors,  it  may  be  reasonably 
doubted  whether  they  could  —  that  is,  in  sufficient  numbers  —  rise  to 
the  necessary  high  level  of  work,  although  this  seems  like  an  hereti- 
cal opinion  in  view  of  the  popular  jubilation  over  our  modern  artistic 
triumphs.  This  is  said  without  any  wish  to  reflect  upon  the  merits 
of  our  artists,  many  of  whom  can  no  doubt  be,  mentioned,  all  of 
great  ability  and  long  training  in  their  art,  and  whose  reputations 
ought  to  assure  us  that  their  work  would  bear  fitting  testimony  to 
succeeding  generations  of  the  best  artistic  thought  of  to-day.  But 
while  it  is  true,  it  cannot  be  accepted  as  explicit  reassurance  that 
their  combined  work  will  give  the  unity  of  effect  in  the  result  that 
above  all  else  should  be  attained.  To  be  sure,  Mr.  A.  is  our  most 
important  figure-painter  and  Mr.  B.  is  the  best  known  decorator,  but 
these  two  men  may  never  have  worked  together  on  a  large  affair  and 
neither  of  them  has  ever  yet  been  obliged'to  grapple  with  the  pro- 
blem of  making  his  work  effective  at  a  distance  of  say  five  hundred 
feet,  and  in  an  interior,  with  the  difficulties  of  cross-lights  added  to 
that  of  mere  distance.  And  yet  this  is  even  a  less  difficulty  than  that 
which  confronts  them  when  they  are  obliged  to  make  their  combined 
efforts  on  the  vaults  harmonize  with  the  work  Mr.  C.  is  to  do  on  the 
walls ;  Mr.  C.,  let  us  say,  whose  paintings  of  Eastern  interiors  have 
long  shown  his  great  ability.  The  accurate  and  charming  style  of 
drawing  of  all  Mr.  A.'s  figure-work  will  not  improbably  lose  some  of 
its  effect  when  swallowed  up  in  the  immensity  of  the  space,  while 
Mr.  B.,  the  decorator,  will  have  a  seneral  scheme  of  color  for  his 
vaults  that  may  prove  to  be  in  irrepressible  conflict  with  Mr.  C.'s 
plan  of  treatment  for  the  walls. 

Not  but  what  all  three  of  these  distinguished  men  will  work 
together  in  perfect  friendliness  and  dine  together  once  a  week,  but 
it  is  well  known  that  Mr.  A.  studied  in  England,  while  Mr.  B.  has 
long  lived  in  Paris,  and  Mr.  C.,  being  the  long-suffering  "  rich  ama- 
teur "  of  architectural  students,  has  roamed  about  the  world,  study- 
ing first  in  Munich,  and  then  in  Rome,  and  just  before  returning 
home,  has  made  long  journeys  in  the  East,  gathering  bric-a-brac  and 
impressions  of  color  with  equal  ardor  and  success.  The  work  of 


78 


TJie   American   Architect   and  Uuilding   News. 


.  XXI1L—  No.  634. 


these  men,  each  of  strong  individuality,  and  each  still  farther  sepa- 
rated from  the  other  by  different  training,  cannot  t>3  reasonably  sup- 
posed, when  placed  in"  absolute  juxtaposition,  to  give  such  a  resul- 
tant harmony  and  unity  as  would  ensue  had  they  been  long  accus- 
tomed to  work  together  with  the  grand  general  effect  always  in  view, 
each  adding  his  part  to  the  central  harmony  rather  than  solicitous  as 
to  the  particular  effect  of  his  isolated  picture. 

It  would  never  do  to  say  that  the  variety  thus  obtained  would  be 
all-sufficient,  since  this  variety  will  come  of  itself  as  the  work  pro- 
ceeds, whereas  the  more  important  quality  of  unity  will  have  to  be 
continually  in  view,  otherwise  it  will  not  be  attained.  If  unity  be 
not  obtained,  the  new  Cathedral  will  not  have  the  characteristics  of 
a  monument  but  of  a  picture-gallery. 

To  be  sure  the  picture-gallery  and  museum  are  peculiarly  modern, 
and,  perhaps,  this  side  of  our  life  is  one  that  should  find  its  expres- 
sion in  this  great  effort,  but  it  could  not  give  future  generations  a 
very  hicrh  notion  of  our  grasp  of  the  central  truths  of  art  — that  is 
to  say  of  the  general  harmony  of  all  the  arts.  Rather  would  they 
say  that  we  collected  excellent  pictures  and  charming  statues,  but 
that  at  heart  we  remained  barbarians  with  a  mere  varnish  of  artistic 
appreciation,  since  we  did  not  know  how  to  use  them  when  they  were 
done,  so  we  hung  up  the  paintings  in  almost  any  place  and  stuck 
statues  about,  and  then  rested  from  our  labors  in  serene  unconscious- 
ness of  more  general  laws  underlying  and  uniting  individual  ex- 
cellencees. 

In  the  Renaissance  when  a  great  lord  built  himself  a  new  palace, 
he  did  not  send  about  to  the  art-galleries  to  pick  up  examples  of  the 
old  masters  and  have  them  hung  on  the  walls.  Far  from  it;  he  in- 
vited some  artist  to  come  and  paint  his  walls  —  not  to  paint  pictures 
for  his  palace  in  the  modern  way;  for  there  is  a  vast  difference 
between  the  two.  The  first  presupposes  art  to  be  a  necessity;  the 
last  presupposes  it  to  be  merely  a  luxury.  That  in  either  case  the 
painting  would  be  on  canvas  and  placed  against  the  wall,  is  no  re- 
futation'of  the  distinction.  One  means  enriching  and  beautifying  a 
wall,  the  picture  forming  part  of  the  design,  while  the  other  is  merely 
hanging  a  picture  against  a  wall,  and.  for  this,  one  picture  will  do 
about  as  well  as  another. 

Now,  our  painters  in  the  vast  majority  of  cases  are  accustomed  to 
paint  pictures  merely  —  the  frame  isolates  it  from  everything  else, 
and  the  artistic  care  does  not  really  extend  very  much  beyond  the 
frame. 

This  is  the  result  of  a  purely  modern  condition  of  things,  but  it  is 
by  no  means  the  condition  that  will  train  men  to  work  toward  unity 
in  a  tremendous  monument.  It  is  not  so  much  the  fault  of  the  artists 
as  of  the  conditions  of  life  that  demand  this  false  conception  of  art. 

It  cannot  be  too  strongly  insisted  that  to  fittingly  build  this  great 
cathedral,  means  that  it  must  be  essentially  a  monument,  and  for  a 
monument  unity  is  the  one  most  absolutely  vital  quality.  Unless 
throughout  there  reigns  such  subordination  of  parts  as  is  necessary 
to  the  tremendous  singleness  of  purpose,  the  work  will  miss  the 
highest  qualities  and  effect  which  should  be  had  in  such  a  structure. 

The  necessity  for  this  cooperation  of  the  arts  has  not  yet  come  to 
form  part  of  the  habitual  practice  of  the  majority  of  the  people  of 
to-day. 

It  has  not  in  past  times  necessitated  the  work  entirely  of  famous 
artists  to  ensure  harmonious  results  up  to  a  certain  point ;  but  we 
have  to-day  a  vast  gap  between  the  work  of  our  best  men  and  that 
of  inferior  talent,  and  it  cannot  be  possible  to  have  only  the  work  of 
our  most  distinguished  artists  on  this  great  cathedral. 

The  men  in  charge  must  have  their  efforts  supplemented  by  those 
of  others  less  considerable,  and  the  great  artistic  difficulty  is  just 
here,  that  at  the  present  time,  owing  to  the  isolating  tendencies  of 
training  and  popular  requirements,  we  have  no  united  school  or  style 
that  would  make  every  one  feel  sure  that  the  Cathedral  can  actually 
be  made  as  great  an  artistic  triumph  as  we  could  desire. 

The  relation  of  the  architect  to  this  proposed  popular  monument 
is  naturally  the  most  important  of  any.  He  must  be  the  head  and 
centre  of  the  work ;  upon  his  shoulders  must  rest  the  burden  of 
direction,  and  he  more  than  any  other  will  have  to  give  style  to  the 
whole.  Not  that  the  selection  of  any  one,  in  particular,  of  the  various 
manners  of  art.  otherwise  known  as  styles  of  architecture  will  deter- 
mine the  success  of  the  work  or  its  ineffectiveness.  The  matter  rests 
on  larger  and  deeper  considerations  altogether.  The  architect  may 
not  feel  his  labors  done  when  the  beautifully  prepared  and  attractive 
drawings  are  executed  with  the  greatest  exactness,  unless  his  work 
be  given  life  and  interest,  and  be  supplemented  and  reinforced  by 
the  arts  of  painters  and  sculptors.  Stained-glass,  mosaics,  gilding, 
all  the  arts  must  be  brought  into  their  proper  places  and  duly  sub- 
ordinated to  the  unity  of  the  whole. 

The  architect  must  necessarily  be  a  very  able  man  to  do 
all  this.  It  is  very  easy  for  any  one  to  arrange  that  all  eminent 
artists  shall  each  do  something  on  the  work.  It  is  more  than  difficult 
to  so  order  the  structure  and  their  work  in  it,  that  all  these  shall 
combine  into  an  harmonious  whole.  Judging  from  popular  estimation, 
the  only  man  who  was  most  capable  of  this  effort  has  passed  away, 
and  it  may  be  fairly  doubted  whether  any  one  else  could  be  named, 
who,  by  his  training,  work  and  habit  of  mind,  would  seem  neces- 
sarily the  one  man  of  all  others  for  the  work. 

This  condition  of  things  makes  one  feel  more  keenly  the  need  of 
greater  unity  of  purpose  among  the  various  branches  of  art,  and  of 
greater  perception  of  the  fact  that  they  are  all  branches  whose 
highest  and  best  effects  are  attained  when  properly  employed  in 


unison  on  just  such  a  building  as  the  proposed  new  Episcopal 
Cathedral,  but  which,  separately,  are  shorn  of  half  their  dignity.  It 
is  when  this  cooperation  is  most  complete  that  the  artistic  life  of 
nations  has  reached  its  culminating  point  —  it  has  always  been  the 
undue  preponderance  of  any  one  that  has  opened  the  way  toward 
decadence.  L. 


[Contributors  are  requested  to  send  with  their  drawings  full  and 
adequate  descriptions  of  the  buildings,  including  a  statement  o/eosf.] 

ENTRANCE     TO     DRILL-SHED,    QUEBEC,     CANADA.        MESSRS.     .1.     li. 
DEROME    AND    E.    E.    TACH1'5,    ARCHITECTS,    QUEBEC,    CANADA. 

[Hello-chrome,  issued  only  with  Imperial  Edition. 1 

A  GENERAL  view  of  this  building  was  published  in  issue  for  Decem- 
ber 24,  1887. 

GOTHIC    SPIRES    AND    TOWERS,    4,    5,     6.  —  ST.    MARY,    THE    VIRGIN, 
OXFORD  ;    ST.    LAWRENCE,    EVESHAM  ;    ST.    NICHOLAS,    ISI.IP  ;    ST. 
MARY,    KINGSTON  ;    THE    CATHEDRAL,    GLOUCKSTEU. 
[Issued  only  with  the  Imperial  Edition.] 

ANDREW     PRESBYTERIAN      CHURCH,      MINNEAPOLIS,      MINN.        MR. 
WARREN    H.    HAYES,    ARCHITECT,    MINNEAPOLIS,    MINN. 

TTTIIIS  church  is  to  be  erected  at  the  corner  of  Fourth  Street  and 
J I  (•  Eighth  Avenue,  s  e,  this  season,  in  brown  sandstone  walls,  rock- 
faced,  and  with  slate  and  red-tiled  roofs.  Cost  to  be,  $50,000 ; 
capacity,  GOO  sittings  in  auditorium.  This  building  is  to  be  located 
only  one  block  from  the  First  Congregationalist  Church,  recently 
completed  and  opened  for  service  on  January  2S)th,  1888. 

FIRST    CONGREGATIONAL    CHURCH,    APPLETON,  WIS.      MR.  WARREN 
H.    HAYES,    ARCHITECT,    MINNEAPOLIS,    MINN. 

THIS  church  is  to  be  erected  at  once  in  red  sand-moulded  bricks 
and  brownstone  from  Lake  Superior ;  roofs  of  slate  and  red  tiles, 
with  copper  finials,  etc.;  inside  finish  in  antique  oak;  capacity,  GOO 
without  gallery ;  cost,  $35,000. 

COMPETITIVE  DESIGN  FOR  MUSEUM    OF  ART,  DETROIT,  MICH.      MR. 
J.    WALTER    STEVENS,    ARCHITECT,    ST.    PAUL,    MINN. 

HOUSE    FOR     D.    W.    BISHOP,    ESQ.,    LENOX,     MASS.          MR.    H.   JvEILL 
WILSON,    ARCHITECT,    PITTSFIELD,    MASS. 

HOUSE    FOR    MESSRS.    E.  M.  AND    W.    BLIVEN,    YONKERS,    N.  Y.       MR. 
F.    F.    WARD,   ARCHITECT,    NEW   YORK,    N.    Y. 

THE  SENTER    HOUSE,  CENTRE  HARBOR,  N.  H.      MR.  F.  W.  STICKNEY, 
ARCHITECT,    LOWELL,    MASS. 


A  CENTURY  OF  BRITISH  ART  AT   THE   GROSVENOR 
GALLERY,   LONDON. 

X  TOT  only 
\  is  this 
J  *  exhibi- 
tion a  feast 
of  art,  but 
it  is  the 
best  which 
has  been 
held  at  the 
G  r  osvenor 
for  some 

years,  in  spite  of  the  difficulties  caused  by  the  split  between  the  pro- 
prietor and  his  assistants.  Sir  Coutts  Lindsay  may  be  congratulated 
upon  his  success  in  bringing  together  so  interesting  a  collection  and 
proving  once  more  that  the  gentlemen  who  magnanimously  uphold  the 
"dignity  of  art"  are  no  more  indispensable  than  eminent  cabinet 
ministers,  statesmen  and  imperial  rulers. 

The  Constables  are  simply  magnificent,  although  perhaps  none  of 
them  actually  equal  the  "  Hay  Wain  "  (now  in  the  National  Gallery), 
which  was  the  picture  exhibited  in  the  Salon  or  rather  the  Louvre  in 
1825,  and  which  not  only  brought  the  painter  into  notice  in  Paris,  but 
opened  the  eyes  of  his  compatriots  to  his  merits.  The  influence  of 
Constable  upon  the  French  painters  was  enormous ;  it  was  he  who 
first  taught  them  to  see  Nature  as  she  is,  and  that  the  earlier  school 
of  pai/sagistes  of  our  own  time,  such  as  Decamps,  Diaz  and  Rousseau 
owe  their  style  to  the  Englishman  is  proved  by  a  comparison  between 
a  little  picture  of  Constable's  in  this  exhibition,  "Gravel  Pits,"  and  a 
tiny  Diaz,  "  Les  Pyrenees,"  in  the  Luxembourg  gallery  ;  they  might 
have  been  painted  by  the  same  hand.  It  is  not  easy  in  a  short  arti- 
cle to  specify  any  particular  work  when  a  master  is  represented  by 


to.  634    IMEHIGHN  IRGHITF,GT  .HND  BUILDING  HEWS,  FEB.  15.1 55  5. 


go.  634 


iHGHITEGT  ,flND  BUILDING  fEWS,  FEB.  1  5-1  555. 


o.  (J.T 


The   Senter4-1ou5 

t 


FIRST  FLOOR 


BUILDING  fti-ws,  FHI$.  15.1585. 


B  |  •  _ 


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SECOMD  FLOOR 


^N  IHGHITKGT  flxi)  JgriLi)i\G-$Kws,  PKB.  15.1555.        o. 


coranan  if»a  TT  TI^WOH  » 


r  TJfV'WtM 


; 


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*V-M'H'vy$J;/0re-t/ 


Htl'Mjpe  .Printing  Co.  Bostor.. 


FKIJRUAKY  18,  1888.] 


TJie   American   Architect  and  Building   News. 


79 


thirty-three  pictures,  all  more  or  less  noteworthy,  but  the  "  Salis- 
bury,"  "  Dunham  Vale,"  "  Arundell  Castle  and  Mill  "  (his  last  work), 
and  "Dudhain  Mill"  arc  particularly  fine  in  luminosity.  The  skies 
are  exquisitely  clear  and  light  and  the  "  Arundel "  is  specially 
remarkable  for  that  flickering  sunlight,  which  seems  to  sparkle  all 
over  the  picture. 

Bonington  is  a  painter  one  has  rarely  seen  except  here  and  there 
in  I'aris,  but  he,  too,  had  the  art  of  filling  his  skies  with  light  and 
air.  His  "  Chateau  of  the  Duchessc  do  Berri  "  is  exquisite ;  so,  too, 
are  the  "  Shores  of  Normandy  "  and  "  Ships  at  a  Pier,"  which  some- 
what reminds  one  of  the  modern  Frenchman,  Montenard. 

Gainsborough  is  poorly  represented ;  his  portraits  arc  weak  and 
affected  or  black,  some  of  them  even  inferior  to  the  worst  in  the 
collection  shown  in  the  same  galleries  two  or  three  years  ago,  while 
one  or  two  are  almost  caricatures.  Xor  is  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  well 
represented.  But,  on  the  contrary,  Romney  eomes  out  better  than 
usual — partly  because  there  is  only  one  "  Lady  Hamilton  "  and  that  a 
bad  one.  We  arc  most  of  us  weary  of  that  mass  of  beauty,  igno- 
rance and  shamclessness,  although  1  presume  some  people  still  take 
an  interest  in  her,  or  Mr.  Fitzgerald  would  not  have  taken  the  trou- 
ble to  use  bis  whitewashing  brush  in  her  behalf.  But  to  be  able  to 
admire  a  liomney  which  is  full  of  a  beauty  not  that  of  Lady  Hamil- 
ton is  refreshing,  and  this  we  may  do  in  the  portrait  of  the  Countess 
of  Mansfield,  a  pensive  lady  under  a  tree,  bathed  in  a  beautiful  light 
of  pale  gray  and  lemon-colored  tones.  "Mrs.  Carwardine  and 
Child  "  is  another  charming  portrait  —  a  mother  nursing  a  little 
round-faced  baby,  who  nestles  in  her  arms.  The  whole  picture  is 
beautifully  painted,  even  the  hands  are  well  modelled,  which  is  very 
unusual  with  Romney. 

Hogarth  is  represented  by  twenty-five  works,  of  which  several  are 
portraits.  There  is  the  Queen's  "  Garrick  and  his  Wife,"  two  or 
three  "  Peg  Wellingtons,"  one  or  two  "  Conversation  Pieces,"  and 
one  or  two  landscapes,  as  well  as  some  portraits,  but,  on  the  whole,  I 
must  confess  that  1  was  disappointed.  Some  of  them  show  Hogarth's 
sharp  crispness  of  touch,  his  exquisite  flesh  painting,  his  careful 
finish  of  accessories,  and  his  talent  for  happy  composition.  But, 
having  seen  all  these,  my  feeling  is,  that  if  I  want  to  study  the 
painter,  I  can  do  so  better  at  the  National  Gallery,  where  there  is 
less,  but  that  little — "The  Marriage  a  la  Mode"  —  is  of  better 
quality.  There  is  an  exaggeration  about  some  of  the  works  at  the 
Grosvenor  and  a  want  of  life  in  some  of  the  figures,  and  even  at  his 
best  Hogarth  makes  one  sad.  A  painter  des  moeurs  is  useful  to  his 
generation  and  perhaps  also  to  posterity  and  so  we  may  be  thankful 
tfcat  Hogarth  devoted  himself  to  the  actualite's  of  his  day,  but  we 
cannot  but  lament  that  society  was  what  it  was,  and  it  is  not  pleas- 
ant to  dwell  upon.  No  doubt  such  pictures  do  good  at  the  time,  and, 
acting  as  lay  sermons,  influence  a  class  of  people  who  would  not 
listen  to  clerical  discourses.  But  when  once  the  fashion  has  changed, 
and  the  "  point "  is  lost,  one  cannot  but  wish  that  the  merit  of  the 
work  was  not  marred  by  the  subject.  The  "  View  in  St.  James's 
Park  "  is  curious,  as  showing  that  the  present  black  condition  of 
Westminster  Abbey  Church  is  subsequent  to  Hogarth's  time. 

Morland's  work  is  very  different,  being  always  of  rural  subjects. 
One  or  two  white  horses  in  this  collection  are  exquisite  and  one  only 
wishes  that  he  had  never  spoiled  his  pictures  by  introducing  the  human 
animal  into  the  company  of  his  pigs  and  sheep  and  horses  —  the 
latter  are  so  superior  l»tli  in  morals  and  technique ! 

By  Wilkie,  the  best  is  one  of  his  chefs-d'nuvre,  the  "  Letter  of 
Introduction,"  a  picture  which  may  rival  any  by  Terburg  or 
Metzu  in  refinement  of  color  and  silvery  grayness  of  tone.  Mul- 
ready's  "  Widow  "  may  be  coupled  with  it,  although  I  do  not  agree 
with  the  compiler  of  the  catalogue  that  it  is  superior.  Nor  can  I 
endorse  his  words  that  the  "  '  Widow'  is  a  complete  Pre-Raphaelite 
picture,  painted  before  even  the  most  stringent  Pre-Raphaelite 
Brother  began  to  think  out  his  principles,  and  it  amply  justifies 
Mulready's  saying,  that  he  '  long  ago  painted  in  that  way,'  i.  e., 
long  before  1848-49,  the  natal  date  of  the  Brotherhood."  If  by 
Pre-Raphaelitism  is  understood  a  care  for  detail  and  a  faithful  ren- 
dering of  Nature,  these  two  pictures  may  be  of  that  school,  but  so 
must  be  the  old  Dutchmen's  work,  and  although  those  were  the  aims 
and  the  intentions  of  the  Pre-Raphaelite  Brotherhood,  they  failed  to 
carry  them  out.  Wilkie,  Mulready,  Terburg  and  De  Hooghe 
made  the  accessories  of  their  pictures  subordinate  (as  they  should 
be)  to  the  figures,  whereas  the  Pre-Raphaelite  Brotherhood  swamped 
the  figures  by  the  surroundings.  One  need  only  to  think  of  Millais's 
"Carpenter's  Shop"  or  his  " Ophelia,"' or  any  of  liolman  Hunt's 
pictures,  and  compare  them  with  Wilkie's  or  Mulreatly's  to  compre- 
hend this.  In  the  "  Letter  of  Introduction  "  is  a  wonderful  Oriental 
vase,  which,  although  made  out  in  every  detail,  keeps  its  place  and 
does  not  "  swear  "  with  the  figures.  Can  the  same  be  said  for  the 
"  Carpenter's  Shpp's "  tools  or  shavings,  or  the  et  ceteras  in  the 
«'  Finding  in  .the  Temple  "  V  That  Wilkie  and  Mulready  had  much 
in  common  with  Terburg  and  Metzu  is  true,  but  whatever  charm 
there  is  in  the  early  Pre-Raphaelite  Brotherhood  pictures,  it  is  not 
gained  by  truth  of  the  different  "  values  "  in  their  relation  to  one 
another,  which  is  before  all  things  the  merit  of  the  works  of  their 
older  brethren.  Even  the  "  Huguenot,"  charming  as  it  is  in  senti- 
ment and  color,  fails  in  this,  that  the  leaves,  the  wall  and  surround- 
ings assert  themselves  too  much.  A  lizard  may  be  on  a  wall,  or  a 
fly  on  a  woman's  coif,  but  if  the  fly  attracts  the  eye  of  the  spectator 
from  the  woman's  face,  or  the  lizard  from  the  mass  of  wall,  the  rela- 


tive values  are  false  however  true  to  Nature  the  painting  of  the 
lizurd  or  the  tly  may  be.  Mr.  II.  Hunt  paints  the  reflection  of  win- 
dow panes  upon  his  eye-balls,  and  no  doubt  if  we  look  hard  enough 
we  may  see  it,  but  the  light  on  the  pupils  of  the  eyes  is  not  the  first 
thing  which  attracts  our  attention  when  we  look  in  a  friend's  face, 
nor  ought  it  to  be  in  his  portrait.  Tne  difference  might  lie  summed 
up  thus :  The  Pre-Raphaelite  Brotherhood  aimed  at  the  individual 
truth  of  particles,  the  Dutchmen,  Wilkie  and  Mulready,  at  collective 
truth  of  the  whole ;  in  the  former  the  pursuit  of  truth  led  to  false- 
hood, in  the  latter  to  absolute  truth. 

Mrs.  Grundy  might  point  to  the  Ettys  as  examples  of  the  immor- 
ality of  the  nude..  Exquisite  in  color  and  ]Kirfect  in  modelling, 
Etty's  pictures  arc  always  unpleasant,  and  the  reason  is  not  far  to 
seek.  Like  all  his  contemporaries,  including  Ingres  and  Gerard,  his 
idea  of  the  nude  was  simply  the  undressed.  His  Venuses  have  their 
hair  bound  up  at  the  top  of  their  heads  with  large  combs,  and  hit) 
Cupids  have  crops  of  curls  all  round,  after  the  fashion  of  the  chil- 
dren of  his  day.  Etty,  in  fact,  merely  painted  what  he  saw  in 
Nature,  whereas  his  predecessors  and  the  great  men  of  the  present 
day  who  follow  this  branch  of  art,  idealize  her.  I  could  not  help 
wondering  when  I  looked  at  "  Robinson  Crusoe  "  whether  Cournet 
ever  saw  the  picture  before  he  painted  his  wave  in  the  Luxembourg; 
there  is  a  wonderful  resemblance  in  form,  color  and  movement.  So, 
too,  it  reminds  me  of  Delacroix. 

In  one  of  the  rooms,  as  neiulants,  are  two  portraits  of  painters, 
painted  by  themselves  —  Turner  and  Wilkie  —  and,  although  the 
latter  is  the  finer  work,  that  of  Turner  shows  that  if  he  had  chosen, 
he  could  have  devoted  himself  to  portraiture  with  success.  It  is 
almost  impossible  here  to  specify  any  of  the  great  master's  works 
they  are  all  so  fine,  from  the  furious  tumultuous  sea  in  the  "Mino- 
taur," to  the  sweet  calm  and  softened  sunny  glow  of  "Calder 
Bridge"  and  "Somer  Hill." 

The  gallery  contains  some  good  examples  of  Wilson,  refined  and 
placid  if  somewhat  over  conventional.  The  first  picture  which 
introduced  Opie  to  fame  is  proof  that  he  deserved  it.  The  painting 
of  the  old  woman  in  the  "  Schoolmistress "  is  equal  to  Bonnat  or 
Deschamps.  A  little  portrait  by  Corway  ought  to  be  mentioned  as 
being  full  of  charm  and  showing  the  painter's  work  in  an  unusual 
medium.  Numberless  miniatures  by  him  are  to  be  seen,  but  oil- 
paintings  are  rare,  which  is  a  pity,  as  his  handling  of  this  portrait  of 
a  demure  little  damsel  is  quite  equal  to  his  water-color  work,  if  not 
superior.  Linncll  is  represented  by  two  pictures,  not  his  best,  but  I 
cannot  help  thinking  that  posterity  will  reverse  his  present  high 
reputation ;  his  works  are  terribly  crude  and  glaring  in  color,  and 
his  touch  is  so  constantly  woolly.  Where  is  the  air  and  the  crisp- 
ness  of  brush  work  which  we  see  in  Constable's  pictures? 

Amonsrst  other  names  in  the  catalogue  are  the  Barker?,  Blake, 
Calcott,  Collins,  Copley,  Cotman,  the  two  Cronies,  De  Wint  (only 
oil  paintings),  Copley  Fielding  (oil  pictures),  W.  Hunt,  Landseef, 
Lawrence,  Nollekins',  Raeburn,  Reinagle,  Smirke,  Stubbs,  Varley, 
Vincent,  James  Ward,  Wheatley,  Withington  and  Xoffany  (two 
caricatures).  The  Royal  Academy  Exhibition  deserves  some  notice 
also,  as  it  has  struck  out  in  a  new  line  by  showing  a  choice  collection 
of  Italian  bas-reliefs  and  bronzes,  but  want  of  space  compels  me  to 
postpone  doing  so  until  a  future  occasion.  S.  BKALE. 


WEAKNESS  IN  DESIGN  OK  LOWER  STORIES. 
— UNFORTUNATE  CHANGES  IN  THE  HO- 
TEL KOYL8TOX —  PARTICULARS  IN  WHICH 
THE  COURT-HOUSE  DESIGN  MAY  BE  IM- 
PROVED. —  COPPER  BAY-WINDOWS. 

E  have  noticed  on  several  occasions, 
that  many  of  our  more  important  build- 
ings are  at  their  best  when  seen  lising 
over  other  buildings  —  for  instance,  the  best  point  of  view  of  the  New 
Old  South  tower  is  from  Newbury  Street,  between  Dartmouth  and 
Exeter,  where  the  base  is  hidden  ;  and  before  the  new  high  buildings 
on  Boylston  Street  were  built,  the  Providence  Depot,  seen  from  the 
Public  Garden,  stretched  a  long  quiet  line  of  roof  above  the  masses 
of  the  Boylston  Street  houses. 

The  reason  that  these  distant  views  are  the  best  is  not  hard  to 
find,  it  is  because  the  first  stories  of  the  buildings  themselves  are 
hidden  and  these  first  stories  arc  usually  bad  —  bad  in  two  ways; 
they  have  not  sufficient  wall-space  and  apparent  strength  for  the 
stories  above,  and  they  have  no  horizontal  continuous  base-course 
from  which  the  farmlc  is  to  rise  and  upon  which  it  is  to  rest.  Every 
one  knows  the  rtiison-d'etre  of  string-courses,  of  mouldings  and  of 
cornices,  i.  e.,  to  accent  the  separation  of  one  thing  from  another  — 
story  from  story ;  base  from  wall ;  wall  from  frieze ;  building  from 
sky.  The  more  difference  there  is  between  the  things  separated,  the 
more  imjtortant  become  the  separating  courses.  Is  there  not  a  good 
reason,  then,  for  having  lines  separating  the  building  from  the  earth 
on  which  it  rests.  There  is  no  ancient  temple  without  its  stvlobate, 
no  Florentine,  Roman,  Bologncse  palace  without  its  great  projecting 
base-course,  no  English  manor  without  its  terraces. 


80 


The   American    Architect  and  Building   News.      [VoL.  XXI11.  —  No    634. 


Yet,  we  seem  to  have  forgotten  that  such  an  idea  existed,  and  our 
buildings— seemingly  driven  into  the  ground  like  pegs  —  are  seen  best 
when  the  first  story  is  hidden.  It  "is  pitiable.  There  seems  to  be 
some  utilitarian  excuse  for  the  lack  of  wall-surfaces  in  first  stories  of 
business  buildings,  as  there  is  a  demand,  which  seems  at  times  a 
little  excessive,  for  show-windows  and  for  as  much  light  as  possible, 
but  surely  there  is  some  better  solution  of  this  problem  of  getting 
small  piers  with  wide  spaces  between  them  than  any  we  have  yet 
attempted. 

The  iron  piers,  used  in  such  numbers  in  our  business  districts,  are 
direct  descendants  of  the  sawed  and  chamfered  piazza  posts  of  the 
country  carpenter.  A  high  wall-surface  supported  on  an  arcade,  or. 
upon  a  colonnade  with  lintels  is  no  new  thing.  It  was  common  in 
both  Rome  and  Pompeii  —  the  Basilica  Julia  (Cuninas  Restoration), 
the  Pompeian  Forum,  the  Cloisters  of  S.  Giovanni  Laterano  and 
of  S.  Paolo  fuori  la  mura.  In  Gothic  work  there  are  numberless  ex- 
amples, the  Cloisters  at  Viterbo,  at  Caen,  at  Mont  St.  Michel,  at 
Barcelona  and  San  Juan  de  los  Reyes  at  Toledo.  Bologna,  Milan, 
Turin,  Paris,  have  whole  streets  treated  in  this  way.  Any  one  of 
these  examples  would  suggest  a  facade  of  which  the  first  story  is 
nothing  but  columns  or  slight  piers  and  spaces  (these  spaces  glazed) 
but  the  columns  should  be  the  same  color  as  the  walls  above,  and,  if 
possible,  of  the  same  material. 

This  applies  very  strongly  to  the  block  on  the  site  of  old  Boylston 
Market.  It  is  (above  the  first  story)  so  quiet  and  simple,  of  such 
comparatively  good  proportions  that  the  uneasiness  and  change  of 
idea  in  the  first  story  shows  only  another  example  of  our  inability  to 
as  yet  successfully  master  the  problem  of  shop-fronts. 

This  building,  by  the  way,  has  two  long  unbroken  faQades,  which 
is  a  great  gain  over  the  chopped-up  fronts  near  it  —  and  its  general 
character  is  a  marked  improvement  over  the  children's  building- 
block  architecture  of  the  work  a  little  farther  up  the  street. 

We  wish  we  could  say  as  much  of  the  additions  to  the  Hotel 
Boylston.  Hotel  Boylston  belonged  to  a  type  of  work  which  pro- 
claimed itself  as  a  union  of  Victorian  and  Venetian  Gothic.  In 
point  of  fact  it  but  slightly  resembled  either.  Its  distinctive  charac- 
teristics were  pointed  arches,  corbelled  cornices  and,  especially,  parti- 
colored voussoirs.  In  white  and  gray  marbles,  as  in  the  building  at  the 
corner  of  Summer  and  Chauncey  Streets,  it  was  too  pronounced  in 
its  contrasts,  but  in  the  Hotel  Boylston,  where  the  two  shades  were 
more  alike  in  tone,  it  was  at  its  best.  There  was,  however,  always  a 
lack  of  good  detail.  The  buildings  of  this  type  were  vigorous,  inter- 
esting, heavy  and  crude  to  barbarism,  yet  they  were  much  better 
than  others  of  their  time  and  Hotel  Boylston  was  one  of  the  best  of 
the  type. 

Its  situation  is  an  excellent  one  and  it  is  a  positive  evil  to  have  a 
building  in  such  a  situation  made  worse  instead  of  better.  Recently 
two  stories  have  been  added  ;  the  old  corbelled  cornice  has  been  left 
except  where  it  was  cut  by  the  gables,  where  there  are  now  abrupt 
meaningless  gaps  in  its  continuity.  The  two  stories,  which  by  their 
proportions,  are  neither  frieze,  mansard  nor  wall-surface,  are  termi- 
nated (we  cannot  say  crowned)  by  a  feeble  cornice.  Add  to  this  that 
copper  bays  of  a  character  utterly  out  of  keeping  with  the  building 
jut  out  in  these  two  stories,  and  the  result  is  a  spectacle  of  architec- 
tural treatment  that  has  few  parallels  in  the  city.  Compare  this  with 
the  Mason  &  Hamlin  Company's  building  on  Tremont  Street,  where 
the  delicate  proportions  of  the  arches,  the  refinement  of  lines  and 
mouldings,  the  simplicity  of  treatment  and  material,  really  recall  the 
best  in  Venetian  work,  and  the  difference  is  very  marked. 

We  spoke  last  month  of  the  "  commonplace  detail "  of  the  Court- 
house and  have  since  thought  such  a  remark  might  be  ambiguous 
and  now  hasten  to  explain  it.  The  columns,  the  balcony  platforms 
and  the  brackets  seem  to  justify  such  an  expression  most  of  all. 
Stone  carving  of  all  kinds,  and  espeeiajry  when  of  Classic  character, 
needs  to  be  done  in  the  most  skilful  and  masterly  way  or  not  at  all.  It 
is  not  a  case  of  "half  a  loaf  is  better  than  no  bread,"  as  seems  to  be 
the  popular  opinion,  it  is  a  question  of  whether  the  bread  is  to  be 
palatable  or  not.  Every  one  knows  that  to  make  a  good  salad 
requires  a  very  distinct  knowledge  of  the  proportions  of  the  ingredi- 
ents, and  every  architect  knows,  or  should,  that  the  designing  of  a 
successful  piece  of  ornament  requires  a  very  distinct  knowledge  of 
style,  of  proportion,  scale,  light  and  shade,  projection  of  ornament, 
proportion  of  ornament  to  ground,  proportion  of  ground  to  surround- 
ing surfaces,  accompanied  by  a  thorough  ability  to  draw  finely.  It 
is  not  every  morsel  that  is  fit  to  set  before  a  king ;  it  is  not  every 
piece  of  carving  that  is  fit  to  adorn  a  building  for  the  people;  for 
decoration  should  only  enhance  something  that  is  able  to  dispense 
with  it  and  to  which  it  only  supplies  richness  or  delicacy.  For 
this  reason,  we  would  only  suggest  such  changes  on  the  Court-House 
as  would  save  it  from  inferior  enrichment  and  vulgar  detail. 

Tt  is  not  too  late  to  make  the  main  cornice  a  fine  one,  studied  care- 
fully from  Vignola  if  need  be,  nor  to  leave  out  the  panel  mouldings 
and  the  weathering  of  joints,  which  is  all  out  of  scale ;  to  lessen  the 
projections  of  the  string  courses,  which  in  section  do  not  show  their 
exaggerated  overhang  on  the  diagonals  when  turning  corners ;  to 
concentrate  the  three  openings  on  the  top  story  into  one,  so  that  that 
story  may  have  some  dignity  and  not  be  a  mere  wall  shot  full  of 
holes.  Apart  from  this  there  are  several  very  bad  pieces  of  design. 
First,  the  combined  corbel,  column  and  balcony  which  ought  to  be 
taken  down ;  second,  the  openings  in  the  third  story  of  the  end  pavi- 
lions and  the  pediments  over,  which  ought  to  be  changed ;  third,  the 
dome,  which,  as  proposed,  is  very  bad — too  light  at  the  base,  too  heavy 


above,  with  a  pinched,  meagre  profile  and  a  weak  spring — the  whole 
dome  utterly  unworthy  of  the  mass  of  building  below. 

There  are  domes  enough  to  study  from.  Brunelleschi's  at  Florence 
would  seem  to  suggest  that  noble  simplicity  is  a  virtue  in  a  dome. 
St.  Peter's,  inferior  as  it  is  to  many  others,  echoes  the  same  principle. 
St.  Paul's,  the  Invalides  at  Paris,  the  numberless  Eastern  domes, 
such  as  the  tombs  of  the  Mamelukes  outside  of  Cairo,  all  point  em- 
phatically to  the  same  conclusion,  /.  e.,  that  a  dome  should  be  a  geo- 
metric unit  and  not  a  combination  of  several  geometric  forms,  and 
that  it  should  be  very  firmly  planted  on  a  simple  base. 

The  dome  is  not  yet  under  contract.  If  the  facades  cannot  be 
changed  or  bettered  (and  we  do  not  believe  it  is  too  late  for  that), 
at  most,  they  will  only  be  seen  from  the  immediate  vicinity  and  if 
one  has  no  need  of  recourse  to  the  law,  he  need  never  see  them  and 
can  try  to  forget  their  existence,  but  to  raise  a  dome  into  the  air  that 
will  be  seen  for  miles,  this  should  require  a  reverent  courage,  a  depth 
of  daring,  that  should  make  the  architect  who  attempts  it  work  with 
cautious  hands,  for  the  result  will  laud  him  or  damn  him  for  all 
time.  Finally,  though,  this  has  something  the  nature  of  an  anti- 
climax, we  do  not  think  a  French  mantel-clock  the  finest  central 
motive  for  the  sky-line  of  a  fa9ade. 

The  latest  fashion,  probably  nurtured  by  the  Building  Law,  is  the 
copper  bay  of  all  descriptions,  but  principally  of  the  straightened, 
squeezed  variety,  with  a  feeble  intention,  when  painted,  to  resemble 
wood.  There  should  be  no  intrinsic  evil  in  the  use  of  copper  for 
bays,  but  we  have  yet  to  see  it  well  used.  Perhaps  the  trouble  is 
more  in  the  want  of  knowledge  of  handling  bays  than  in  the  copper. 
A  bay  (unless  a  broad  square  one)  is  essentially  a  perpendicular 
thing.  Either  a  part  of  an  upright  prism  or  of  a  cylinder,  and  sets 
(unless  contrasted  with  broad  masses  of  wall-surfaces)  a  perpendic- 
ular scheme  for  the  building.  This  is  in  most  cases  forgotten,  and 
the  bays  are  so  many  Jacks-in-the-box,  jumping  up  and  through 
horizontal  string-courses,  etc.  Nash's  "  Mansions  of  England  "  give 
many  suggestions  for  better  treatments. 


THE   "  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS  "  RAID  ON  THE  TREASURY. 

fJJ  C  O  RRES- 
F\  PON  DENT 
/of  the  New 
York  Times  writes 
as  follows:  The 
public  building  raid 
upon  the  Treasury 
now  contemplated, 
and  already  begun 
in  the  Senate,  will 
take  from  the  Treas- 
ury, if  it  is  success- 
ful, the  sum  of  $25,- 
000,000.  That  does 
not  include  a  num- 
ber of  propositions 
before  the  Senate, 
but  not  yet  before 
the  House,  aggregat- 
ing about  $3,000,- 
000.  If  the  House 
gets  all  the  Bills 
through  which  have 
been  introduced  by 
its  own  members, 
and  also  those  of  the 
Senate,  the  appro- 
priations will  reach  up  to  about  $30,000,000.  It  is  no  wonder  that 
Senator  Vest  said  a  day  or  two  ago  that  before  the  public  build- 
ings appropriations  the  Blair  Bill  and  the  Tariff  Bill  sink  into  insig- 
nificance as  plans  for  reducing  the  surplus. 

It  was  an  easy  thing  to  invent  a  plan  for  capturing  votes  enough 
in  the  House  to  pass  every  public  building  Bill  reported.  There  are 
325  members  with  votes.  Get  200  of  them  behind  a  Bill  and  it  was 
as  good  as  a  law.  If  a  Bill  is  introduced  for  a  public  building  in 
New  York,  San  Francisco,  New  Orleans  or  St.  Louis,  it  is  sure  to  get 
the  votes  of  all  the  members  from  each  of  the  States  of  New  York, 
California,  Louisiana  and  Missouri.  If  a  New  York  Bill  goes  in 
alone,  and  comes  up  alone,  its  merits  may  be  great,  but  New  York 
alone  is  greatly  interested  in  it.  By  extending  the  plan  and  inducing 
Representatives,  two,  three  or  four  from  each  State,  to  introduce 
Bills,  a  common  interest  was  aroused.  This  has  been  done.  One 
hundred  and  twenty-three  members  have  introduced  Bills.  All  of 
these  members  except  four  delegates  from  as  many  territories  have  a 
vote  each.  They  represent  all  of  the  States  except  Delaware,  Rhode 
Island  and  Nevada.  But  these  States  are  to  be  provided  for.  Rhode 
Island  has  two  Bills  in  the  Senate.  Delaware  has  one  at  least.  It  is 
not  too  late  for  Nevada  to  get  a  share  of  the  Treasury  surplus,  if  it 
thinks  it  would  like  to  have  a  public  building. 

Having  gone  on  introducing  Bills  as  fast  as  they  could  be  prepared 
and  turned  in,  the  next  step  was  to  drive  them  through  the  House 
on  the  mutual  plan.  So  Mr.  Dibble,  of  South  Carolina,  who  is  Chair- 
man of  the  Public  Buildings  Committee,  has  asked  for,  and,  by  con- 
sent of  Mr.  Mills,  the  chosen  leader  of  the  majority,  will  have  five 


FEBRUARY  18,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


days,  beginning  February  21,  in  which  all  Bills  to  be  indicate'!  by 
tlic  1'ublic  Buildings  Committee  are  to  be  considered.  That  means, 
of  course,  that  they  are  to  be  passed.  Dilatory  motions  are  to  be 
prevented.  That  means  that  no  attempt  to  stop  a  Hill  is  to  be  coun- 
tenanced, and  that  the  procession  of  plunder-hearers  is  to  move 
majestically  on  regardless  of  the  rules  of  the  House  that  restrain 
other  measures. 

This  scheme  of  wholesale  treasure-grabbing  is  best  illustrated  by 
the  use  of  names  and  figures.  The  Bills  introduced  in  the  House  up 
In  February  1  were  brought  in  by  the  following  members: 


Abbott,  Texas,  (2) 
Allen,  M  i^>. 

liaki-r,  111. 

HanklM'jnl,  Ala. 
ItayiH-.  IViin. 
Biggs.  Cal. 
i:.-i:,.';ianl,  I.a. 
Boothman,  Ohio. 
limit. -11...  Mr. 
Bowden,  Va.,(2.) 
Hrcuvr.  .Mich. 
Itrowne,  T.  11.  I!. 
Va..  (».) 

Bnebanan.  N.  J. 

Hurrmvs.  Mich. 
Hutler,  Ti-nn.,  (2.) 
Bynmn,  lnil. 
Oampbell,    J.     E.. 

Ohio. 
Campbell,  T.  J.,  N. 

Carey,  Wyoming. 
Caruth,  Ky. 
Caswell,  \\  la. 
('atchiiigs.  Miss. 
Compton,  Mi!. 
Cox,  N.  Y. 
Crain,  Texas. 
Grouse,  Ohio. 
Culberson,  Texas. 
Cutcheon,      Mich. 

(U 
Darlington,  Penn. 


Davidson,  Fla.,  (2.)    Lodge,  Mass. 
Dibble,  S.  C.,  (2  )      iMaish,  Penn. 
IDorsey,  Neb.,  (2.) 
:l>unn.  Ark. 
Knloe,  Tenn. 
Fisher,  Mich. 
Flood,  N.  Y. 
Ford,  Mich. 
Funston,  Kan. 


Kowland  N.  C. 

Kii*k,  Md. 

Kussell,  Conn. 

Scull,  Penn. 
,      ,   Seney,  Ohio,  (2.) 
MeClammy,  N.  C.     Simmons,  N.  C. 
MoKenna,  Cal.,  (2.) Smith,  \\  I*. 
MeKinley,  Ohio.       Snyder,  W.  Va. 


Mansur,  Mo. 
Martin,  Texas. 
>,  N. 


Gilford,  Dakota. 
Granger,  Conn. 
Grimes   Ga. 
Grout,  Vt. 
(Juenther,  Wis. 
Heard,  Mo. 
ll> •uderson,  N.  C. 
Hermann,    Oregon, 

Hii-stand,  Penn. 

Hogg,' West  Va.,  (2  )  O'Donnel'l,  Mich. 
.Holiuan,  Ind.  O'Neall,  Ind. 

Hi'lnifS.  Iowa.  Osborne,  Penn. 

Hopkins.  Va.  Ow,-n,  Ind. 


HoV-y,  Ind. 
Howard,  Ind. 
Joseph,  New  Mex- 
ico. 

Ketcham.  N.  Y. 
Lawler,  III. 
Lnndes,  111. 
Lchlbach,  N.  J. 


Mi-Kinuey,   N.    H.,Sowden,  Penn. 

(2.)  Stahlnecker,  N.  Y. 

Mcltae,  Ark.  Stewart,  Ga. 

Mi  Shane,  Neb..  (3.)  Stewart,  Vt. 
Milliki-n.  Me.,  (2)     Struble,  Iowa. 
M., Mitt.  N.  Y.  Symes,  Col..  (2.) 

Morrlll,  Kan.  Tarsney,  Mich. 

Morrow,  Cal.,  (2.)     Thomas,  Ky. 
Morse,  Mass.  Thompson,  Ohio. 

Neal,  1'enn.  |'l  hoinpson,  Cal. 

Newton,  La.  iToole.  Montana. 

Nelson,  Minn.          .Vanduver,  Cal.,  (2.) 
Norwood,  Ga.  Warner,  Mo. 

Weber,  N.  Y. 

We«,  N.  Y. 

Wilber,  N.  Y. 

Wilkins,  Ohio. 

Parker,  N.  Y.  Williams.  N.  Y. 

Perkins,  Kan.  Wilkinson,  I.a. 

Wilson.  Minn. 


, 

Perry,  S.  C. 
Peters,  Kan.,  (3.) 
Phelps,  N.  J. 
Kice,  Minn..  (2.) 
Robertson,  La. 
Rogers,  ..rk. 


Wise,  Va. 
Yost,  Va. 
Yoder,  Ohio. 


Three  new  members  —  T.  H.  B.  Browne,  of  Virginia,  Peters,  of 
Kansas,  and  McShane,  of  Nebraska  —  are  the  leaders  in  the  list. 
Each  has  introduced  three  Bills.  Abbott,  of  Texas,  Bowden,  of  Vir- 
ginia, Hogg,  of  West  Virginia,  McKinney,  of  New  Hampshire,  Rice, 
of  Minnesota,  and  Van.levcr,  of  California,  also  all  new,  have  in- 
troduced two  Bills  each.  The  old  members  are  satisfied  if  they  can 
introduce  and  get  through  one  Bill  in  a  term  of  two  years.  The 
Bills  came  in  from  fifty-nine  Republicans  and  sixty-three  Democrats, 
and  one  Independent  —  Smith  —  is  among  the  aspirants  for  local 
fame  in  this  way.  The  123  members  ask  for  one  hundred  and  forty- 
nine  new  buildings,  as  follows  : 


Akron,  Ohio.          $100,OOOiGardenCity,Kan.  $100,000, Oakland,  Cal. 
Albuquerque,  New  |Gr'd  Haven,  Mich.  100,000 1  Olney,  111. 

Mexico.  100,000  ( Grand  Island,  Neb.  lOO.OOOl  Omaha,  Neb. 

Alexandria.  La.       100,000  Greenville,  S.  C.       100,000  Onancock,  Va. 
Allegheny,  Penn.     200,000  Hamilton,  Ohio. 
Alleutown,  Penn.    100,000 ,  Helena,  Ark. 


150,000 ;  Helena,  Montana.    100,000 ,  Paterson,  N.  J. 
50,000  Hoboken,  N.  J.        100,oofli  Pensacola,  Fla. 
Ings,  Ark.      50,i  Ofl'Piqua,  Ohio. 


, 

Altoona,  Penn. 
Annapolis,  Md.  , 

Atchison,  Kan.        V'O.OOO  Hot  Spri 
Atlanta,  On.  75,000  i  Houlton,  Me. 

Atlantic  City,  N.  J.  100.000  Hudson,  N.  Y. 
Asheville,  N.  C. 
Baltimore,  Md. 


100,000  Oneonta,  N.  Y. 
80,000  Palestine,  Texas. 


8250,000 
75,000 

1,500,000 
25,000 
75,000 
75,001) 
100,000 
50,000 
t.0,000 
40,0'0 


,  , 

50,000  Plattswortli,  Neb. 
100,1100  Pt.  Pleasant,  W.  Va.75JOOO 

IOO.OJHI  lluntingiou,  W.  Va.100,000  Portland,  Oregon.  <600  (100 
GfjO.UOO  Hutchlnson,  Kan.    100,000  Portsmouth,  Ohio.     fifl.iioo 


Bar  Harbor,  Me.  50,000. Indianapolis,  lud.    125JOOO  Pueblo,  Col.' 

Bay  City,  Mich.  250,000  Jackson,  Mich.         100,000,' Racine,  Wis. 

Baton  Rouge,  La.  100,000  Jackson,  Tenn.  1,000  Koanoke,  Va. 

Beatrice,  Neb.  40,ooo|jetfcrsonville  Ind.  25,000 1  Sacramento  Cal. 


Kirmingham,  Ala.   50o)o«0|  Jersey  City,  N.  J. 


Boston,  Mass. 


250,(KM) |  Kalamazoo,  Mich.    100,000 


Bridgeport,  Conn.    200,'ood  Kansas  City,  Kan.  10o)(IOO 


Bridgeton  N.  J.        50, 100  Kansas  Cilyj  Mo. 
Brownsville,  Tex.      60,000 1 Keeue,  N.  H. 
Bristol,  Tenn.  20,000 1  Lancaster,  Penn. 

Brunswick,  Ga.        100,ooo|  Lansing,  Mich. 
Charleston,  S.  C.      400,000!  Lima,  Ohio. 
Charleston  W.  Va.   52,000 ILogansport,  Ind. 


Saglnaw,  Mich. 

St.  Album,  Vt 

St.  Paul,  Minn. 

Salem.  Oregon. 

San  Diego,  Cal.         ,,,...,.,., 

San  Francisco,  Cal.  830,o<  o 


2110,000 
100,000 
100.000 
150,000 
2"0,dOO 
75,000 

100,000 

150,000 


100,000 

125,000 

100 ,0  K)  i  San  Francisco.  Cal.  400^000 
'  Schenectady,  N.  Y.   75,000 


Charlotte,  N.  C.       20'i)ooo 
Chattanooga,  Tenn.300,<iOO 


76,00 


Chester,  Penn. 
Cheyenne.  Wy. 
Chicago,  111. 
Columbus,  Ga. 
Dallas,  Texas. 
Defiance,  Ohio. 
Denver,  Col. 
Dover,  N.  H. 
Duluth,  Minn. 
E.  St.  Louis,  111. 
Klmira,  N.  Y. 
Eureka  Cal. 
Evansvllle,  Ind. 


I.MS  Angeles.  Cal.     178,500 
"   luisville,  Ky.  10,000 

250,000 
KKt.flOO 
75,000 


75,000  Lowell,  Mass. 

80.(«x>  Lynn,  Mass. 
200,000  Madison,  Ind. 
150,000  ;Ma)one,  N.  Y.  20,000 

12,000  Manchester,  N.  H.    48,000 

25,000  Manchester  Va.        60,000 


,  . 

1  .IKKI.IKHP  Manlstee,  Mich. 
100,000  Maysville,  Ky. 


50,000 
50,000 


,  , 

300,000  Milwaukee  Wis.  1,200,000 


, 

40,000  'Moberly,  Mo. 
150.0IK)  Monroe,  La. 


75,000 


Sedalia,  Mo. 
Sioux  City,  Iowa. 
Sioux  Falls,  Dak. 
Springfield,  Mo. 
Statesville  N.  C. 
Stannton.  Va. 
Stillwater,  Minn. 
Stockton,  Cal. 
Suspension  Bridge, 

Tallahassee,  Fla. 
Texarkana,  Ark. 
Texarkana,  Tex. 


, 
100,1100,  Tlfflln,  Ohio. 


Fayettevllle,  N!  C.    75!ooo 
Flndlay,  Ohio. 


00,000  Morristown  Tenn.    20,000]  Vicksburg,  Miss. 
100,0(10  " 


'5,000 

300,000 
100,1100 
100,000 
150,0(10 

75,000 
100,000 

85,000 

'150,000 
75,000 
100,000 
50,000 
30,0011 
125,000 
75,000 

100,0(10,  Washington,  D.  C.  800,000 
L'.MI.IKHI  Watertown,  N.  Y.  120,000 
100 ,000!  Wichita,  Kan.  loo.OOO 

--_,_--  New  London,  Ct.      150,000 ,  Wilkesbarre,  P«nn.  150,(X)0 

Fortress  Monroe,  V  Orleans  La.      I,500,000  Winlield,  Kan.  SO.OO'i 

Va.  10,000  Newport  News,  Va.  100,000  Winona,  Minn.         200,000 

Fort  Worth,  Tex.     l.lo.iioo  Now  port.  Vt.  50.000 1  Yonkers,  N.  Y.         100,000 

Fredericksburg,  Va.  50,000  New  York,  N.  Y.  l,5nO,000  York,  Penn.  150000 

l'ii  MKint,  Neb.          100,0001  New  York,  N.  Y.     250,000  Youngstown,  O.        150,000 
Gallipolis,  Ohio.        25,000 1  Norfolk,  Va.  260,000  Zanesville,  O.  150,000 

Total $24,994,500 

The  table  below  gives  the  number  of  buildings  proposed  for  each 
State,  with  the  total  prizes  for  the  States : 


.,  ._.  30,000 
Fond  (hi  Lac  Wis.  50,000 
Fort  Dodge,  Iowa.  100,000 


!:,... 
lihi 


.Mnskegaii,  Mich.     100)000  Vlncennes'  Ind.' 
Nashua,  N.  H. 
Newark,  N.  J. 
N«w  Beme,  N.  C. 


Number  of    Estimated 
Buildings  Cost  of  New 
Pro|Hwed.    Buildings. 

Alabama 1  »500,000 

Arkansas 2  230,000 

nia 8 

Colorado 2  1,200000 

(•oniK.'tieut 2  .-150.000 

Hmi.la 2  126,000 

Georgia.. 3 

Illinois 3  :;i:,.i«to 

Indiana 6  475,000 

Iowa    2  400,000 

Kansas 6  

Kentucky 2  60,000 

Louisiana 4  1,800,000 

Maine 2  HKI.<K«I 

Maryland 2  700,000 

MassachusetU it  I.IHI.IKHI 

•MI 8  1,010,11011 

'Mmn.'sota 4  1100,000 

Mississippi 1  I-J.-..MI.I 

Missouri 4  1,250,000 


Number  of 
Building! 

Proposed. 

Nebraska 6 

New  Hampshire 4 

'New  .Jersey 8 

New  York 10 

North  Carolina. 6 

Ohio 11 

Oregon 2 

Pennsylvania 7 

South  Carolina 2 

Tennessee 4 

Texas 6 

Vermont 2 

Virginia 8 

Weit  Virginia 3 

Wisconsin 3 

Dakota 

Montana 

New  Mexico 

Wyoming 

District  of  Columbia.. 


Krtlmmted 

Cost  of  New 
IfuiMingH. 
1.7X0.000 


1:00,001) 

2.0B5.000 
825,000 
780.000 
000,000 
960,000 
600,000 
841,000 


120,000 

uofl.ooo 
217.000 
1,350,000 
100,01  K) 
100,000 
100,000 
KO.OOO 
800,0.0 


Total  ..........................................................  149     124,994,500 

A  prominent  Eastern  Republican,  whose  attention  was  directed  to 
the  fact  that  the  Fiftieth  Congress  was  preparing  to  make  an  ex- 
traordinary record  for  the  passage  of  public  building  Bills,  answered 
that  it  would  be  found  that  most  of  them  were  for  Southern  cities. 
Well,  look  at  the  following  analysis  and  sec  if  that  is  true.  Take 
the  Eastern  States  first  : 


Buildings. 
Connecticut  ........................................................  2 

Maine  .........................  ....................................  2 

Massachusetts  ......................................................  3 

New  Hampshire  ...................  -  ................................  4 

Vermont  ............................................................  2 


Total 
Cost. 
tSSO.OOO 


600,000 

;:|I.,IMII 
126,000 


Total 13       $1,521,000 

The  Middle  States  expect  to  draw  more  and  richer  prizes.     Their 
share  is  as  follows  : 

Proposed  Total 

Buildings.  Cost. 

New  Jersey 6  »COO,000 

New  York 10  2,MB,<mo 

Pennsylvania 7  950,000 


Total 23      $3,315,000 

The  West  cries  for  the  lion's  share  of  the  plunder,  and  asks  for 
these  appropriations : 


Proposed  Total 

Buildings.  Cost. 

California 8  $2,123,500 

Colorado 2  1 ,2»0,UOO 

Illinois 3  315,000 

Indiana 0  475,000 

Iowa 2  400,000 

Kansas 6  550,000 


Proposed 
Buildings. 


Michigan... 

Minnesota 4 

Nebraska 5 

Ohio 11 

Oregon 2 

Wisconsin 3 


Total 

Cost. 

1,010,000 

Odo.uoo 

1,780,000 
780,000 

voo,ooo 

1,35U,000 


Total 

This  is  the  share  of  the  South : 

Proposed  Total 

Buildings.  Cost, 

Alabama 1  $500,000 

Arkansas 2  230,000 

Florida 2  125,000 

Georgia 3  325,000 

Kentucky 2  00,000 

Louisiana 4  1,800,000 

Maryland 2  700,000 

Mississippi 1  125,000 

Total... 


.GO      $11,183,500 


Proposed 
Buildings. 

Missouri 4 

North  Carolina 6 

South  Carolina 2 

Tennessee 4 

Texas 5 

Virginia 8 

West  Virginia 3 


Total 
Cost. 
1,250,000 
025,000 
500,OI>0 
341,000 
327,000 
000,000 
227,000 


48  $7,795,000 

The  territories  and  the  District  of  Columbia  come  in  for  a  small 
share : 

Proposed  Total 

Buildings.  Cost. 

Dakota i  $100,000 

District  of  Columbia 1  800  (MK) 

Montana i  100,000 

New  Mexico i  loo  i  too 

Wyoming i  80.000 

Total 6  $1,180,000 


SUMMARY. 


Kastern  States 

Middle  States 

Western  States 

Southern  States 

Territories 


Buildings. 

13 

23 

00 

48 

6 


Total 

Cost. 

$1,521,000 

3,315,000 

11,183,500 

7,795,000 

1,180,000 


Total 149      $24,994,500 

Does  any  one  doubt,  after  reading  this  chapter,  that  a  large  sur- 
plus in  the  Treasury  is  demoralizing  to  legislators,  or  that  the 
Fiftieth  Congress  is  more  anxious  to  spend  money  than  it  is  to  re- 
duce taxes.  E.  G.  D. 


1  The  estimates  for  the  public  buildings  at  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  and  Jersey  City  N 
J.,  are  not  furnished.  The  Senate  bill  for  St.  Paul  calls  for  $1,200,000,  and  the 
Jersey  City  building  may  be  put  at  $250,000  to  $500,000. 


82 


The   American   Architect   and  Building   News.      [VoL.  XXIII.  —  No.  634. 


THE    ELDER    TYPE    OF   DWELLING-HOUSE. 
—  THE     EPOCH     OF    CLASSIC     DETAILS.  —  BRICK- 
AND-MARBLE    FRONTS   OF   YESTERDAY. 

BALTIMORE  is  distinctively  the  city  of  "  in- 
dividual "  homes.  One  of  its  marked  char- 
acteristics has  always  been  the  preponder- 
ance of  the  single  dwelling  of  all  grades  —  from 
the  homes  of  the  millionaire  standing  alone,  down  to  those  of  the  day- 
laborer,  built  in  blocks  of  from  three  to  thirty.  Ten  years  ago  either 
the  typical  tenement-house  or  the  modern  "flat"  was  unknown,  and 
they  are  still  so  few  in  number  and  so  abortive  in  arrangement,  that 
neither  the  extreme  evils  of  the  one  nor  the  advantages  of  the  other 
have,  as  yet,  been  thoroughly  developed.  It  is  the  private  dwelling, 
then,  that  here  first  demands  our  attention,  and  it  may  be  the  tradi- 
tional spirit  of  conservatism  in  this  old  city  that  tempts  us,  even  in 
architecture,  to  still  linger  —  perhaps  not  altogether  idly  —  among 
the  good  things  of  the  past  rather  than  at  once  to  deal  with  the  more 
practical  questions  of  the  present  or  the  prospects  of  the  future.  For, 
when  one  thinks  of  the  "good  old  houses  of  fifty  years  ago,"  referred 
to  in  the  Baltimore  letter  of  last  month,  or  when  we  look  upon  the 
calm  and  dignified  faces  of  some  of  these  worthy  old  citizens  of  a 
former  generation,  now  too  often  abandoned  to  ignoble  uses  and 
neglect,  patiently  waiting  their  ruin  under  the  invading  tide  of  im- 
pudent upstarts  pressing  upon  them  from  every  side,  when  we  walk 
through  their  ample  halls  and  rooms,  and  over  their  broad  and  easy 
stairways,  we  cannot  but  dwell  upon  the  fact  of  how  really  genuine 
and  good  they  were,  in  the  light  of  their  own  day  and  generation, 
and  what  comfortable  homes  they  made  in  all  that  the  life  of  refined 
and  cultivated  people  then  asked  for. 

True,  they  could  boast  of  no  plumbing  worthy  of  the  name  —  no 
gas  —  rarely  a  furnace,  and  the  present  "butlery,"  with  its  very  ship- 
shape concentration  of  modern  conveniences  in  some  stolen  corner, 
can  look  back  at  its  progenitor,  the  "housekeeper's-room,"  as  of 
quite  wasteful  dimensions,  while  the  place  of  closets  was  nearly 
altogether  supplied  by  "  wardrobes  "  and  "  clothes-presses  "  and 
"chests,"  and  most  satisfactory  pieces  of  furniture  they  were,  too, 
both  to  use  and  to  look  upon.  That  dark  age  of  constructive  and 
decorative  immoralities  and  abominations  had  not  yet  settled  upon 
the  world,  whose  crying  evils  finally  called  forth  such  reforms  as 
"  Eastlake"  and  "Queen  Anne,"  and,  alas!  all  the  later  slanders  and 
traductions  that  have  been  done  in  their  sacred  names.  Bricks  and 
mortar,  stone  and  wood  and  iron  were  generally  used,  each  in  its 
fitting  place,  and  were  not  subjected  to  the  humiliating  office  of 
imitating  each  other.  Wide,  open  fireplaces  lead  into  real  flues,  and 
doors  and  windows  did  not  shrink  and  rattle.  All  this  was  true 
even  for  the  houses  which,  although  about  twenty-five  or  thirty  feet 
broad,  were  in  those  days  regarded  as  quite  modest  and  unassum- 
ing dwellings,  renting  at  the  moderate  rate  of  two  or  three  hundred 
dollars  a  year.  But  the  type  has  entirely  disappeared  from  among 
the  erections  of  recent  years.  Hundreds  are  still  standing  all 
through  the  older  parts  of  the  town,  and  most  respectable  and  well- 
preserved  specimens  they  are,  too,  but  under  the  anathema  of  "  old- 
fashioned  "  their  few  frailties  are  derided  and  their  many  merits 
overlooked. 

Immediately  succeeding  this  type,  some  forty  odd  years  ago  or 
more,  there  appeared  a  very  distinctly  different  style  of  design  in 
the  house-front  that  quite  generally  prevailed  for  the  better  class  of 
dwellings  for  a  short  period,  and  nearly  all  the  examples  of  which 
are  still  standing  in  unimpaired  freshness,  scattered  through  the 
better  streets  near  the  centre  of  the  city  still  reserved  for  private 
residences. 

This  first  change  was  by  no  means  one  of  retrogression,  but  rather 
a  renaissance  of  more  strictly  Classical  and  monumental  proportions, 
as  a  reaction  after  the  somewhat  ad  libitum  and  attenuated  use  of 
colonial  details. 

These  houses,  usually  slightly  separated  from  their  neighbors  on 
either  side,  had  broad  f^ades  of  brick  with  simply  treated  and  well- 
disposed  openings  —  a  good  Classical  cornice  crowning  the  whole  — 
and  the  chief  ornamental  feature  being  an  admirably  proportioned 
Doric  or  Ionic  portico  of  white  marble,  usually  projecting — some- 
times merely  in  antis,  and  rather  of  Greek  than  of  Roman  feeling  in 
detail.  This  portico,  only  over  the  main  entrance  and  of  the  same 
height  as  the  principal  story  of  the  building,  is  altogether  a  most 
effective  and  appropriate  thing  in  its  place,  of  just  such  degree  of 
monumental  dignity  as  may  fittingly  belong  to  a  private  residence, 
without  being  sufficiently  obtrusive  to  suggest  a  public  building  — 
and  it  is  altogether  a  distinct  thing  from  that  typical,  ill-propor- 
tioned, ante-bellum  portico  of  the  South,  extending  through  two  or 
three  stories  over  the  entire  front  of  the  house,  and  of  which  there 
are  a  few  examples  here,  as  there  are  also  in  more  Northern  towns. 
On  the  other  hand,  so  good  are  these  bits  of  Greek  reproduction  in 
Baltimore  that  their  merits  seldom  fail  to  attract  the  attention  of  the 


architectural  connoisseurs  from  other  cities,  and,  indeed,  we  do  not 
know  of  anything  quite  so  good  of  the  kind  and  of  that  period  in 
New  York,  Philadelphia  or  Boston.  One  peculiar  feature  about 
these  successful  designs  is  that  usually  the  name  of  no  particular 
architect  is  connected  with  any  of  them,  and,  perhaps,  the  name  of 
architect  was  never  connected  with  the  men  who  built  them,  but, 
be  this  as  it  may,  if  the  same  knowledge  of  Classical  proportion* 
and  details,  and  the  ability  to  so  intelligently  reproduce  them  were 
possessed  by  half  the  men  who  claim  the  name  of  architect  to-day, 
the  world  would  be  the  better  for  it. 

A  word  should  be  said  here  in  passing  in  commendation  of  some 
few  of  the  quite  excellent  fa9ades  to  public  buildings,  somewhat  ante- 
cedent to,  or  of  about  the  same  period  as  those  houses.  More  par- 
ticularly do  we  note  only  two  or  three.  First,  the  little  granite 
building  on  East  Baltimore  Street,  originally  erected  for  a  school, 
and  which  is  a  complete  little  Greek  Doric  temple,  barring  the  win- 
dows in  its  side  walls.  About  a  mile  to  the  west  of  this,  on  the 
corner  of  St.  Paul  Street  and  Court-house  Lane,  is  an  admirable 
piece  of  refined  Doric,  forming  the  front  of  an  old  Court  building,  a 
mere  screen  to  the  totally  insignificant  structure  behind  it,  but  a  very 
beautiful  screen  for  all  that.  A  ten  minutes'  walk  farther  on  brings 
us  to  the  corner  of  Charles  and  Franklin  Streets  and  to  that  often- 
commended  piece  of  Italian  Classic,  the  Unitarian  Church,  a  most 
agreeable  bit  of  architecture  for  the  eye  to  rest  upon  at  all  times  and 
never  more  so  than  on  a  clear  summer  day,  its  round  arches  framed 
in  by  the  thick  dark-green  vine  closely  clinging  to  its  red-gray  stucco 
walls,  the  sharp,  square  corner  of  its  roof-line  and  the  low  dome 
above  against  a  deep  blue  sky,  with  the  tall  white-marble  columns  of 
its  opposite  neighbor,  the  Athenamm  Club,  in  the  foreground.  By 
moving  a  few  steps  only  from  this  point,  we  obtain  a  view  of  the 
rear  of  the  Eoman  Catholic  Cathedral,  a  building  certainly  of  very 
dignified  and  imposing  effect,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  it  is  a 
curiously  composite  structure,  a  rather  severe,  Romanesque,  round- 
arched  building  of  granite,  to  which  has  been  added  a  huge  Doric 
portico  in  brownstone,  with  columns  reproduced  from  those  of  the 
Erectheum,  and  the  whole  surmounted  by  two  small  towers  crowned 
with  domes  of  Moorish  form.  In  spite  of  these  seeming  incongrui- 
ties, the  Cathedral  and  its  various  dependent  buildings,  including 
the  Archbishop's  residence,  now  known  as  the  Cardinal's  "  Palace," 
which  form  a  group  which  from  some  points  of  view  is  strikingly 
picturesque  and  with  a  decided  foreign  suggestion  about  it. 

Here,  too,  we  would  appropriately  speak  of  Baltimore's  objects  of 
special  pride,  the  Battle  and  the  Washington  Monuments,  had  they 
not  both  been  so  recently  and  so  ably  criticised  in  the  American  Archi- 
tect and  the  latter  assigned  to  the  honorable  place  of  second  only  in 
point  of  design  among  the  monuments  of  modern  times  and  of  all 
lands. 

And  now,  with  the  close  of  this  period  of  the  "  Classic  portico," 
about  the  middle  of  the  century,  even  the  most  friendly  spirit  of 
criticism  must  turn  to  all  that  follows  for  the  next  twenty-five  years 
with  shame  and  acknowledge  not  only  that  it  finds  no  place  for  com- 
mendation, but  rather  that  the  kindest  charity  might  say,  in  all  that 
was  done,  there  was  really  nothing  to  criticise.  To  a  certain  extent 
this  was  true  for  the  same  period  in  all  our  cities ;  it  was  the  most 
debased  age  of  American  architecture  over  the  whole  country,  but  in 
Baltimore  the  fact  seemed  more  glaringly  emphasized  than  elsewhere. 
All  the  good  things  that  had  gone  before  seem  to  have  left  no  results 
behind  them  in  the  taste  of  the  builder  or  of  the  public,  beyond  sug- 
gestions for  the  most  absurd  misuse  of  their  weakest  points  and 
entire  neglect  of  the  better  ones.  Any  desire  for  decorative  effects 
was  satisfied  with  cheap  and  pretentious  shams  and  a  profusion  of 
perfectly  meaningless  ornamentation.  First,  the  white-marble  portico 
was  most  cleverly  imitated  in  painted  wood,  the  due  proportions  so 
closely  copied  that  the  deception  was  not  at  first  apparent,  till  little 
by  little  the  details  lost  all  suggestion  of  the  Classic,  the  good 
"  Flemish  bond  "  gave  place  to  the  mere  four-inch-thick  pressed-brick 
screen  of  the  smoothest  and  reddest  of  bricks  and  the  finest  and 
whitest  of  mortar  joints  as  a  facing  to  a  very  poor  wall  behind  it, 
while  cornices  and  windows  and  door  lintels  and  sills  of  white  marble 
or  painted  wood,  with  mouldings  conceived  in  the  carpenter's  shop, 
formed  the  "  trimmings." 

The  only  variation  in  the  type  was  here  and  there  a  "  brownstone 
front,"  whose  even  coarser  details,  cut  in  the  rapidly  disintegrating 
Connecticut  stone,  possessed  the  sole  merit  of  speedily  crumbling 
away  and  adding  that  unintentional  interest  to  the  fa9ade  which  is 
usually  associated  with  a  ruin.  By  the  score  these  architectural 
abominations  arose  and  cumbered  the  ground  in  the  best  streets  of 
the  town,  and  there  they  still  stand,  still  accepted  by  some  few 
people  as  the  climax  of  architectural  perfection.  But  ev^n  this  pop- 
ular approval  after  a  quarter  of  a  century  was  not  proof  against  the 
ever  popular  cry  for  "  Novelty,"  and  it  was  to  meet  this  demand,  and 
also  impelled  by  the  dawning  spirit  of  disgust  for  what  had  so  long 
obtained  and  a  knowledge  of  better  things,  that  one  or  two  archi- 
tects timidly  ventured  to  pioneer  a  few  "  Eastlake "  and  "  Queen 
Anne  "  designs  into  the  community.  Evil  day  !  for  the  enterprising 
builder,  eagerly  seizing  upon  the  suggestion  of  all  the  novel  possibil? 
ties  in  the  style,  flooded  the  city  with  an  array  of  cheap  and  small 
houses  with  every  imaginable  form  of  gable  and  turret  and  bay, 
moulded-brick  and  terra-cotta  applied  with  conspicuous  lack  of  intel- 
ligence, and  with  interiors  so  overcharged  with  corner  cabinets  and 
fireplaces  (real  or  sham),  fanciful  newel-posts  and  spindle  screen- 
work,  and  with  possibilities  for  portieres  so  unlimited  as  to  satisfy 


FEBRUARY  18,  1888.] 


The    American    Architect   and  Building  News. 


the  aesthetic  aspirations  of  the  most  artistic  housekeeper.  Even 
the  better  things  aimed  at  by  the  architects  had  little  more  of  real 
merit  to  commend  them. 

The  story  is  now  an  old  one,  a  well-worn  theme  with  slight  varia- 
tions in  different  cities.  Like  the  evil  things  that  came  before  it, 
this  style  is  still  flourishing  in  our  midst  with  wonderful  vitality  and 
prolificness.  But  the  inevitable  reaction  is  also  here,  with  strong 
evidence  that  its  steps  are  at  last  turned  in  the  right  direction,  and 
already  there  is  once  more  to  be  seen  in  the  streets  of  Baltimore  not 
only  a  vast  amount  of  building,  but  also  some  architecture. 


NEW  YORK  ARCHITECTURAL  LEAGUE. 

•fj  T  a  regular  meeting  of  the  Architectural  League  of  New  York 
rj    held  Monday,  February  6,  1H88,  it  was 

/  Resolaed,  that  a  Committee  of  Five  l>e  appointed,  of  which 

the  President  shall  be  one,  to  present  the  following  protest  in  person  : 
To  the  Commissioners  of  the  Sinking  Fund,  Abraham  S.  Hewitt, 
Mayor  and  Chairman  :  The  Architectural  League  of  New  York  most 
respectfully  protests  against  the  terms  of  the  competition  announced 
by  your  honorable  body  under  ''an  Act  to  provide  for  the  erection  of 
a  building  for  Criminal  Courts  and  other  purposes  in  the  city  of  New 
York."  Li  our  judgment  a  competition  of  such  magnitude  demands 
careful  preliminary  consideration  at  the  hands  of  professional  advisers 
of  known  ability ;  and  we  respectfully  urge  that  the  terms  l>c  modified 
through  such  agency  even  at  this  late  day.  We  submit  that  it  is 
only  by  such  action  that  men  of  acknowledged  reputation  commen- 
surate with  the  dignity  and  importance  of  the  municipality  can  be 
secured  as  competitors. 

J.  BEVERLY  ROIIINSON,  PrrMent, 

FRANK  A.  WRIGHT, 

A.  II.  THORPE, 

WM.  B.  TUTHILL, 

FRANK  WALLER,  Committee. 


CEMENT  FOR  THE  CONCRETE  FOUNDATIONS  OF  THE 
CONGRESSIONAL  LIBRARY   BUILDING. 

NEW  YORK,  February  4, 1888. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  In  your  issue  of  this  date,  you  remark  upon  the 
report  presented  by  Mr.  J.  L.  Smithmeyer  to  the  United  States 
Senate  on  January  4th,  which  gives  his  reasons  for  the  rejection  of 
the  Portland  cement  furnished  for  the  concrete  foundation  of  the 
Congressional  Library  Building,  and  your  editorial  has  the  color  of 
an  endorsement  of  his  action.  There  are  two  sides  to  every  contro- 
versy, and  the  contractor  for  the  work  has  yet  to  be  heard  from. 
Knowing  something  of  the  status  quo,  and  assured  that  you  act  upon 
the  principle  Fiat  justilia,  ruat  ccdum,  I  trust  you  will  give  this  com- 
munication e(|ual  publicity  to  vindicate  the  reputation  and  integrity 
of  those  affected. 

The  first  lot  of  cement  purchased  by  the  contractor  was  Black 
Cross  Portland,  as  it  had  proved  a  safe  cement  for  concrete,  and  was 
endorsed  by  eminent  engineers  and  contractors.  The  report  made 
by  the  inexperienced  person  employed  by  Mr.  Smithmeyer  to  test 
cement  being  incorrect,  it  wa«  not  considered,  and  tests  were  made 
by  Capt.  T.  N.  Symons,  U.  S.  Engineer  Corps,  and  A.  G.  Menocal, 
of  the  Washington  Navy  Yard,  which  demonstrated  that  the  cement 
exceeded  the  architect's  specifications,  viz. :  To  stand  a  tensile 
strain  of  three  hundred  pounds  on  the  square  inch  at  age  of  seven 
days  and  leave  not  more  than  ten  [>cr  centum  residuum  on  a  sieve  of 
twenty-five  hundred  meshes  to  the  square  inch.  Captain  Symons 
reported  that  the  cement  set  in  five  minutes,  and  therefore  it  should 
be  condemned.  Mr.  Menocal  reported  that  the  cement  set  in  twenty- 
five  minutes,  and  passed  no  opinion. 

Investigation  of  the  methods  employed  for  testing  the  set  of  cement 
by  Captain  Symons  proved  that  the  ganger  was  not  accustomed  to 
test  Portland,  his  time  being  more  especially  devoted  to  testing  the 
slow-setting  natural  cements  of  which  large  quantities  are  used  in 
the  District.  After  mixing  up  sufficient  Black  Cross  to  make  a  bar 
briquette  and  pressing  it  into  the  mould,  it  was  shaken  out  upon 
absorptive  paper,  the  entire  operation  consuming  less  than  three 
minutes.  The  cement  was  then  tapped  with  the  finger,  and  when  it 
failed  to  take  an  impression,  it  was  considered  set.  On  this  method 
<>f  testing  for  set,  the  cement  is  condemned  by  Mr.  Smithmeyer.  An 
expert  or  one  familiar  with  cement  recognizes  that  to  shake  cement 
out  on  absorptive  material  draws  out  the  moisture  quicker  than  is 
intended  and  a  scale  will  form  sufficient  to  prevent  an  impression 
hein<.j  made  by  the  finger-tip ;  further,  the  warmth  of  the  finger  will 
tend  to  dry  out  the  cement  at  that  point.  It  was  suggested  that  if 
the  quick  setting  of  the  cement  was  due  to  faulty  manufacture  the 
tensile  strength  at  longer  date  would  give  some  indication  of  it,  and 
therefore  further  briquettes  were  made  up  at  the  same  time  and 
broken  at  seven  days  and  thirty-five  days,  with  the  re»ult  of  four 


hundred  and  fifty-six  |K>unds  and  live  hundred  and  one  pounds 
respectively  on  the  square  inch,  conclusively  proving  that  the  set 
registered  was  incorrect  and  that  the  cement  was  safe  ami  sound. 
In  the  n-|iiirt  submitted  by  the  architect,  no  mention  is  made  of  this 
fact  whirli  is  on  record.  The  contractors  not  being  permitted  to  use 
Black  Cross,  and  another  cement  that  the  architect  ordered  them  to 
obtain  !>eing  also  condemned,  it  became  necessary  to  present  the 
matter  last  November  before  the  Library  Commission.  The  Chair- 
nun,  Secretary  Lamar,  decided  that  Geu.  M.  C.  Mcigs  should  test 
and  re|mrt  on  the  cement  for  which  his  practical  knowledge  well 
fitted  him. 

On  December  3d,  General  Meigs  rc|H>rtcd  in  the  following  words  : 
"  The  Black  Cross  cement  has  a  tensile  strength  of  five  hundred  and 
fifty-nine  pounds  to  the  square  inch  at  age  of  seven  days,  much  more 
than  the  specifications  require.  In  regard  to  rate  of  setting,  I  find 
it,  as  intimated  on  Block  12,  a  quick-setting  cement,  stiffening  in 
twenty-five  minutes  after  beginning  to  teni|>er  it  with  water.  This 
morning  I  tempered  a  batch  of  it,  and  after  waiting  some  time,  took 
it  down  stairs  to  my  office.  After  mixing  it  in  the  second  storv,  I 
forgot  to  look  at  it  again  till  after  the  lapse  of  eighty-four  minutes. 
It  then  took  some  pressure  to  make  a  distinct  impression  on  it  with 
a  three-sixteenths  inch  brass  wire,  but  it  was  easily  written  on  with 
the  |x>int  of  a  |>en-knife.  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  skilful  workmen 
will  be  able  to  make  a  strong  concrete  of  Black  Cross  cement." 

The  cement,  therefore,  did  not  fall  below  the  required  tensile 
strength,  as  the  types  unfortunately  state  in  your  editorial,  and  when 
it  can  be  written  upon  with  the  point  of  a  knife  eighty-four  minutes 
after  mixing,  it  is  not  a  quick-setting  and  a  dangerous  cement. 

A  request  to  permit  the  placing  of  some  concrete  made  with  this 
cement  according  to  s|iecifications  in  xitu  and  its  action  watched  wag 
refused  by  the  architect,  although  accompanied  with  the  offer  that 
if  the  concrete  was  condemned  it  should  be  replaced  with  cement  he 
selected.  As  cold  weather  was  approaching,  when  no  work  could  be 
done,  the  concrete  would  have  several  months  of  seven*  trial,  and 
the  rejection  of  the  offer  was  unreasonable. 

When  this  cement  is  being  used  by  the  contractors  for  the  Croton 
Aqueduct  (all  of  which  is  subjected  to  a  rigid  test  by  the  engineers, 
as  it  is  employed  in  situations  exacting  more  than  is  required  in  the 
Congressional  Library  foundations),  and  not  a  single  complaint  hag 
been  made  of  the  twenty-five  thousand  barrels  already  delivered,  it 
is  incredible  that  it  is  the  worthless  material  the  architect  imputes  it 
to  be,  and  there  is  foundation  for  the  assertions  which  your  article 
intimates  have  been  circulated  in  press  dispatches  all  over  the  coun- 
try. The  reputation  of  a  well-known  manufacturer  and  the  honor 
of  an  importing  merchant  are  not  to  be  lightly  impeached,  even  by 
the  political  influence  that  has  been  brought  to  bear  in  this  case. 
Yours  truly,  HOWARD  FLEMING. 


NEW  YORK,  N.  Y..  February  8,  1888. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  :  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  In  your  issue  of  February  4,  you  refer  editorially  to 
the  tests  of  Portland  cement  made  by  Mr.  Smithmeyer,  architect  of 
i  the  Congressional  Library  Building,  and  his  rejection  of  cements 
purchased  by  the  contractors.  Those  tests  have  already  been  made 
the  subject  of  much  controversy,  and  we  should  not  refer  to  them 
again  had  the  article  not  shown  such  strong  prejudice  in  favor  of  the 
architect,  while  manifestly  ill-advised  as  to  the  facts. 

We  represent,  as  sole  agents  for  the  manufacturers,  one  of  the 
cements  referred  to.  The  one  mentioned  by  you  as  "  perhaps  the 
oldest  and  best  known  in  this  country  of  all  the  Portland  cements," 
and  while  we  have  never  questioned  the  integrity  of  the  architect  in 
his  unbiased  desire  to  secure  a  suitable  cement  for  his  purpose,  we 
do  impeach  his  specifications  and  his  ability  to  test  cement  even  under 
those  specifications.  He  states  that  owing  to  the  peculiar  nature  of 
the  soil  a  concrete  of  high  tensile  strength  became  a  necessity, 
hence,  he  formulated  such  specifications  as  to  cement  as,  in  his 
opinion,  would  secure  an  article  sufficiently  good  to  accomplish  that 
end,  and  placed  his  reliance  upon  a  tensile  "strength  of  three  hundred 
pounds  per  square  inch  when  mixed  neat. 

Now,  we  submit  that  Portland  cement  is  never  used  neat,  and  that 
tests  of  neat  cement  are  no  criterion  whatever  of  its  value  for  making 
concrete.  A  cement  to  be  used  for  concrete  should  be  tested  as  to  its 
ability  to  carry  the  sand  with  which  it  is  mixed,  and  that  ability  can- 
not be  shown  by  neat  tests.  This  has  been  clearly  demonstrated  by 
{  the  experience  of  the  New  York  Department  of  Docks,  the  Boston 
Sewerage  Department,  and,  in  fact,  wherever  the  testing  of  cement 
has  been  made  an  intelligent  study ;  such  authorities  would  not  accept 
a  neat  test  as  evidence  of  practical  value. 

If,  then,  the  tests  prescribed  by  the  architect  are  incapable  of  de- 
monstrating the  value  of  the  cement  for  practical  purposes,  as  in 
concrete  or  mortar-making,  they  are  worthleis  as  a  safeguard  and 
unjust  to  the  cement  in  Hot  giving  it  an  opportunity  to  show  what  it 
is  good  for. 

Giving  the  architect  credit  for  his  expressed  determination  to  secure 
I  a  concrete  foundation  sufficiently  strong,  if  he  did  not  provide  proper 
I  tests  to  guarantee  that,  it  is  fair  to  presume  that  the  specifications  he 
j  did  formulate  indicate  the  limit  of  his  knowledge  of  Portland  cement. 
The  testing  of  cement  is  a  very  delicate  operation  and  necessitates 
great  care  and  that  knowledge  which  is  only  the  result  of  experience. 
It  is  no  reflection  upon  architects,  therefore,  when  we  say  that  very 
few  of  them  have  any  practical  knowledge  of  making  such  tests. 


84 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.       [Vou  XXIII.  — No.  634. 


Inequalities  in  tests  can  be  mainly  attributed  to  slight  variations 
in  treatment  by  the  tester.  At  the  cement  manufactories,  where  the 
persons  employed  solely  to  make  tests  become  adepts  at  that  busi- 
ness, they  make  mid  break  briquettes  all  day  without  varying  over 
ten  pounds,  but  when  that  same  cement  goes  out  to  the  trade  and 
gets  into  less  skilful  or  less  careful  hands,  the  teats  show  much 
greater  inequalities. 

Taking  up  the  tests  reported  by  the  architect  as  having  been  made 
in  liis  office  and  upon  which  the  cement  was  rejected,  we  find  an 
irregularity  that  it  is  impossible  to  obtain  except  through  Incom- 
petence or  gross  carelessness  on  the  part  of  the  tester,  and  we 
venture  to  say  that  no  expert  in  the  country  will  corroborate  th  >se 
tests,  nor  has'  Mr.  Smitlmieyer  been  able  to  secure  any  corroboration 
of  them  even  among  departments  to  which  he  has  himself  submitted 
samples  of  the  cement.  The  first  tests  reported  by  the  architect  as 
made  in  his  office  last  October,  show  a  range  from  two  hundred  and 
ninety  pounds,  the  highest,  to  thirty-nine  pounds,  the  lowest,  a  varia- 
tion of  two  hundred  and  fifty-one  'pounds,  while  on  the  previous  day 
tests  of  cement,  taken  from  the  same  lot,  by  the  Engineer  Depart- 
ment, District  of  Columbia,  show  a  range  from  three  hundred  and 
six  to  two  hundred  and  twenty-six  pounds,  a  variation  of  only  eighty 
pounds. 

The  following  month  tests  were  again  made  in  the  architect's 
office,  and  at  the  same  time  at  the  Washington  Aqueduct  and  United 
States  Navy  Yard.  Again  the  architect's  office  discovers  far  greater 
inequality  than  either  of  the  others.  About  that  time  it  should  have 
dawned  upon  the  architect  that  some  one  in  his  office  was  at  fault, 
instead  of  which  he  lays  great  stress  upon  that  irregularity  as  show 
in<*  the  poor  quality  of  the  cement. 

It  is  a  significant  fact  that  the  separate  tests  made  at  the  Unitet 
States  Navy  Yard,  by  different  persons,  each  averaged  higher  than 
the  tensile  strength  required  by  the  architect's  specifications  and  the 
tests  made  at  the  Engineer  Department,  November  29,  also  aver- 
aged higher  than  required.  The  question  then  arises,  why  did  the 
tests  in  the  other  departments  fall  short  of  that?  Was  not  the 
cement  as  good?  Unquestionably  it  was. 

The  particular  lot  in  question  was  imported  by  us  in  one  cargo 
direct  from  the  factory,  and  reshipped  by  us  to  the  contractor 
directly  from  import  vessel.  It  is  all  alike,  presumably  made  at  the 
same  time  and  is  of  uniform  quality.  It  is  fair  to  presume,  then, 
that  difference  in  treatment  at  the  separate  bureaus  and  difference 
in  the  care  with  which  the  tests  were  made  was  what  occasioned  the 
difference  in  result.  It  is  held  by  good  authorities  that  the  highest 
test  a  cement  will  stand  should  be  considered  its  strength.  If,  in 
other  tests,  from  same  sample,  they  fall  below  that,  it  is  proper  to  con- 
sider that  in  some  part  of  the  process  the  tester  has  been  at  fault  in 
making  or  breaking  the  briquettes.  Of  the  one  hundred  and  fifty-six 
tests  made  in  the  architect's  office,  only  three  exceeded  three  hundred 
pounds,-the  remainder  straggled  away  down  to  thirty-nine  pounds  with 
absurd  irregularity  :  of  the  twenty-nine  tests  made  at  the  same  time  at 
the  Engineer  Department,  Navy  Yard  and  Washington  Aqueduct, 
fourteen  exceeded  three  liundred  pounds,  or,  in  other  words,  two  per 
cent  of  the  architect's  tests  and  fifty  per  cent  of  the  tests  made  in 
other  departments  exceeded  the  requirements,  we  should  like  to  hear 
the  architect's  explanation  of  that  difference.  Finally,  we  protest 
against  this  cement,  recognized  in  all  the  markets  of  the  world  as  a 
standard  of  high  quality,  being  made  the  victim  of  ignorance,  and  we 
maintain  that  the  cement  is  eminently  well  fitted  for  the  purpose  for 
which  it  was  purchased,  and  nothing  has  yet  been  shown  to  the  con- 
trary. Yours  respectfully,  SINCLAIR  &  BABSON. 


THE  ACTION  OF  SEA-WATEH  ox  CAST-IRON  PILES.  — 'The  chief 
engineer  B.  B.  and  C.  I.  Railway  in  reporting  on  the  condition  of  the 
superstructures  of  certain  of  that  company's  wrought-iron  girder 
bridges,  says,  according  to  Indian  Engineering,  that  having  considered 
the  question  of  the  stability  of  those  bridges,  and  as  the  condition  of 
the  cast-iron  columns  forming  the  piers  supporting  them  was  necessary 
for  the  purpose  and  had  to  be  satisfactorily  ascertained  it  was  therefore 
decided  to  dismount  and  take  up  for  examination  a  pile-column,  which 
had  been  erected  during  original  construction,  from  one  of  the  piers  of 
the  South  Bassein  Bridge.  Accordingly  the  3d  column  of  piers  No. 
37  of  the  South  Bassein  Bridge  was  selected  as  being  one  of  the  original 
and  undisturbed  columns  of  the  bridge.  Mr.  Hargrave,  Resident  Engi- 
neer, who  conducted  the  examination  states  that  this  column  was  screwed 
into  position  in  the  year  1862,  and  hence  its  present  age  may  be  taken 
at  25  years,  when  the  column  was  extracted.  On  examining  the  indi- 
vidual piles  of  which  it  was  constructed,  two  of  the  piles  were  found 
almost  as  fresh  in  appearance  as  when  originally  put  in  place.  In  order  to 
determine  as  far  as  possible  the  exact  condition  of  the  metal  of  the  piles, 
he  had  specimens  cut  from  each  pile  that  was  considered  likely  to  be 
affected  to  any  extent  by  corrosion.  The  specimens  cut  from  the  two 
piles  referred  to,  show  no  corrosion ;  of  those  specimens  cut  from  a 
third  pile  immediately  over  one  of  the  latter,  some  show  no  corrosion 
while  others  have  been  corroded,  but  the  greatest  depth  of  this  corrosion 
measured  does  not  exceed  3-32  of  an  inch.  The  corrosion  is  greatest  in 
specimens  taken  as  they  approach  low  water  mark.  As  to  the  pile  bolts 
they  are  as  good  as  the  day  they  were  put  in  place.  The  lesson  to  be 
learned  from  this  experiment  is  that  the  greatest  corrosion  in  the  piles 
exist  close  to  low  water,  and  does  not  extend  to  any  considerable  depth 


underneath  it ;  the  same  has  been  observed  in  the  case  of  the  bolts  and 
bracings.  If  this  column  can  be  taken  us  representing  the  average 
condition  of  the  remainder  of  the  columns  in  this  bridge,  we  are  in  a 
position  to  state  that  after  a  period  of  25  years  other  pile  columns  in  a 
salt  waterway  aiv  in  a  very  good  condition,  and  that  the  piles  where 
corrosion  has  been  found  are  in  11  position  which  can  easily  be  got  at  for 
examination  or  renewal.  This  experiment  further  set  at  rests  all  ground- 
less fears  as  to  the  speedy  deterioration  of  pile  columns  from  the  action 
of  sea  water.  The  result  of  these  examinations  of  the  company's 
bridges  is,  therefore,  most  reassuring  and  highly  satisfactory.  The 
specimens  have  been  put  up  in  a  case,  which  will  be  kept  in  the  board- 
room for  future  reference,  when  possibly  25  years  hence  another 
column  may  be  examined  and  the  results  compared. 


PERHAPS  tlie  most  instructive  review  that  could  be  written  at  this  time 
concerning  the  industries,    railroad  and  commercial  affairs  and  finances 
would  he  a  simple  enumeration  of  new  enterprises,  new  combinations,  new 
loans,  and  evidences  of  reviving  activity  in  all  channels  of  trade  and  com- 
merce.   Those  who  keep  track  of  new  work  and   new  movements  of  all 
kinds  know  that,  even  with  all  the  admonitions  to  go  slowly  and  to  beware, 
there   is  an  enormous    amount  of    new  work  in  contemplation.      To  go 
no  farther  than  the  journals  of  the  country,  in  nil  branches  of  trade  we  find 
abundant  evidences  of  prosperity  and  of  coining  activity.     Columns  and 
pages  of  new  enterprises  of  additions,  alterations  and  of  improvements  are 
furnished,  and  the  reliability  of  these  statements  is  tested  by  the  replies  of 
builders,  contractors  and  material-men,  who  for  the  past  two  weeks  havu 
begun  to  close  engagements  for  the  season  to  begin  April  1st,  and  in  some 
sections  of  the  country  sooner.    The  year  1888  will  be  far  from  being  a 
booming  year,  but  it  will  not  be  such  a  year  of  depression  as  those  who  rely 
upon  the  railroad-building  barometer  are  prepared  to  expect.    Even  this 
barometer  may  rise.    Just  now  twenty-five  per  cent  of  the  producing  capa- 
city has  been  purchased,  and  there  are  inquiries  sufficient  in  the  market  to 
double  that  figure  if  the  inquiries  result  in  business.    As  regards  the  rail- 
road situation,  so  far  as  the  construction  of  new  roads  and  earnings  of 
existing  roads  are  concerned,  it  is  only  safe  to  say  that  all  predictions  look- 
ing to  restriction  are  made  without  a  thorough  understanding  of  the  facts. 
As  to  railroad  earnings,  they  must  of  necessity  increase.    Even   in   the 
Northwest,  where  a  sixty  to  seventy  per  cent  cut  has  been  made  within  a 
few  weeks,  there  are  healthful  underlying  conditions   which  will  shortly 
assert  themselves.     Could  such  wars  extend  all  over  the  country  it  might 
be  better  for  the  railroads  themselves  in  the  long  run.    Traffic  is  not  bear- 
ing the  highest  rate  it  will  endure,  but  it  is  not  carried  at  the  lowest  rate 
that  is  possible.     Cheap  freight  rates  are  very  important  factors  in  the 
development  of  business,  and  this  is  a  factor  which  has  been  overlooked. 
If  railroad  building  has  suffered,  it  is  not  because  of  insufficient  traffic  to 
make  legitimate  earnings,  bnt  for  other  and  less  creditable  reasons,  in 
which   stock-jobbing    manipulations  and    freight-wars  have    prominently 
figured.    The  public  has  but  little  to  lose,  if  anything,  by  wars  of  the  kind 
now  going  on  in  the  Northwest,  yet  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  there  are  no 
other  means  by  which  the  lowest  possible  freight  rates  can  be  ascertained 
and  maintained.    The  Southwestern  traffic  association  fears  a  repetition  of 
the  Northwestern  contest,  but  the  trunk  lines  east  of  Chicago  have  made 
themselves  safe  against  any  such  disasters.    Probabilities  point  to  lower 
passenger  and   freight  rates  on  the  entire  railway  system  of  the  United 
States.     Influences  are  at  work  improving  the  management  and  making  it 
more  honest  if  not  more  capable.    Large  loans  have  been  made  within  a 
week  or  two  and  there  are  now  more  railway  securities  upon  the  market 
than  there  has  been  for  many  months.    Foreign  purchases  are  large  and  the 
buying  demand  seems  to  be  equal  to  all  railway-building  requirements. 
Good  loans  are  easily  placed.   Railroad  building  will  not  decline  on  account 
of  a  scarcity  of  money,  nor  for  poor  crops,  nor  on  account  of  declining 
employment  or  decreased  earning  capacity  of  the  country.    Every  influence 
points  in  the  other  direction,  although  there  may  be  some  little  conserva- 
tism  displayed   by  builders  this  year.    References  have  heretofore  been 
made  to  the  expansion  of  mining  capacity.     The  capacity  of  the  iron  and 
steel   mills  is  being  improved,  and  since  the  first  of  the  year  a  host  of 
improvements  have    been  either  undertaken  or  announced.      Hardware 
manufacturers  are  also  expanding  their  facilities.     Several  new  works  are 
to  be  established  in  the  West.    A  great  many  of  them  will  look  particularly 
to  the  wants  of  the  farming  community  and  to  the  developing  manufactur- 
ing communities  of  the  Mississippi  Valley.    The  multitude  of  little  indus- 
tries starting  up  there  are  promising,  and  the  bulk  of  them  are  on  the  solid 
foundations  of  individual  earnings  and  the  experiences  of  the  possessors  of 
these  small  amounts  of  capital.     New  Englnnders  are  reaching  out  west- 
ward and  southward,  and  are  quick  to  secure  and  utilize  the  opportunities 
of  these  new  regions.     Architects,  builders  and  manufacturers  of  material 
are  following  in  the  wake  of  new  railroad  enterprise  and  are  contributing 
their  share  to  the  rapid  development  of  the  country  west  of  the  Mississippi 
River.     It  has  been  stated  recently  on  good  authority  that  400  lumber  yard* 
have   been  established  in  four  States   west  of  the  Mississippi  River,'  200 
foundries,  over  100  machine-shops,  besides  several  large  railway  equipment 
and  repairing  establishments,  to  say  nothing  of  innumerable  small  shops 
employing  from  five  to  twenty  men.    Western  trade  and  manufacturing 
journals  call  particular  attention  to  this  phase  of  development  and  offer  it 
as  an  inducement  to  Eastern  capitalists  for  the  increase  of  investments.    It 
is  certainly  encouraging  to  observe  the  rapidity  with  which  small  individual 
operaters  or  business  men  can  plant  themselves  and  extend  their  business 
in  a  short  time.    Conditions  throughout  the  West  and  South  must  certainly 
be  very  healthful.    This  fact  is  proved  by  the  steady  expansion  of  trade. 
Missouri,   Iowa,  Nebraska  and  Colorado  are  all  feeling  the  influence  of 
manufacturing  enterprise.    The  production  of  the  precious  metals  is  not 
increasing  as  rapidly  as  the  expenditure  of  money  for  new  machinery  would 
seem  to  call  for.    There  is  an  urgent  demand  for  a  great  deal  of  machinery 
for  hydraulic  purposes  for  establishment  of  water,  gas  and  electric  facili- 
ties and  for  the  utilization  of  water-power  in  the  South.   Perhaps  the  steadi- 
est business  this  year  will  be  that  of  the  manufacturers  of  boilers  and 
engines  and  general  machine  work.     Whatever  may  come  to  other  indus- 
tries, it  seemr  very  probable  that  the  workers  in  this  branch  of  industry 
will  have  their  hands  full  and  their  shops  full  throughout  the  season.   Some 
istablishments  in  the  South  are  now  sold  three  to  four  mouths  ahead.     IB 
;he  Northern  States  there  is  less  work  already  booked,  but  sufficient  work 
n  sight  to  induce  manufacturers  to  write  and   talk  very  hopefully  coucern- 
ng  the  future. 


S.  J.  PARKHILL  &  Co.,  Printers,  Boston. 


THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  AND  BUILDING  NEWS. 


VOL.  xxin. 


Copyright,  1808,  by  TICKNOB  &  COMPANY,  ii.wt.iii,  Ma 


No.  635. 


FEBRUARY  25. 1888. 

Entered  at  the  1'ont-offlce  at  Bu«ton  as  (ocund-olau  matter. 


SUMMARY : — 

The  Way  in  which  the  Price  of  Iron  and  Steel  has  been  kept 
up.  —  Probable  effect  of  removing  the  Tax  on  Imported 
Metals.  —  A  Southern  Competition.  —  Deaths  of  M.  Questel 
and  Mr.  Edward  I"  Anson,  Architects. — The  Expansion  of 
Terra-Cotta.  —  Wood-working  Establishments  in  Berlin. — 
Discoveries  at  Sidon.  —  Theatre- Fires  in  1880 85 

ANCIENT  AND  M.IDI.KN    LKIIIT-IIOI -HE*. —  XVIII 87 

NOILS  in.-  TKVVEL.  —  CHICAGO.     Ill 88 

ILLUSTRATIONS:  — 

Wi  Mminster  Palace. — Fowey  Rock  Light-house. — The 
t'niti'd  Statrs  Court-house  and  Post-office,  Williainsport,  Pa. 
—  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Building,  San  Diego,  Cal.  —  Store  for  Messrs. 
De  Coster  &  Clark,  St.  Paul,  Minn.  —  Store  for  Mr.  M.  E. 
Miiyall,  St.  Paul,  Minn.  —Christ  Church,  Herkimer,  N.  Y.  .  91 

SOME  GENERAL  OBSERVATIONS  ON  TIIE  STRENGTH  AND  STABILITY 
OF  MASONRY.  —  1,  j , 91 

ELECTRICITY  AND  SEW  AC  u 93 

BOOKS  AND  PAPERS , 9-'! 

SOCIETIES :    ...    95 

COMMUNICATIONS  :  — 

Who  should  pay  the  Expert  ?  —  The  Commission  on  a  Party- 
wall. —  The  Architectural  League's  Competition.  — Address.  95 

NOTES  AND  CLIPPING* 90 

TRADE  SUBVEY* 9(3 

0NE  of  the  New  York  papers  has  recently  called  attention 
to  the  unnecessarily  high  price  of  structural  iron  in  this 
country,  describing  the  well-known  combination  of  manu- 
facturers by  which  the  price  is  kept  up.     We  will  not  under- 
take to  criticise  the  morality  of  the  combination,  or  to  enter 
upon  the  general  question  of  the  policy  of  keeping  up  prices 
by  artificial  means,  but  there  is  something  interesting  in  the 
consideration  of  the  effect  of  the  present  system  upon  the  art 
of  construction  in  the  United  States.     The  wholesale  price  of 
rolled-iron  floor-beams  is  now  in  this  country  three  and  three- 
tenths  cents  per  pound  at  the  mills,  the  rate  being  the  same  at 
all  the  seven  mills  which  furnish  such  beams.     In  France  and 
Belgium  there  has  recently  been  a  great  advance  in  the  price 
of  this,  as  of  other  sorts  of  structural  iron,  but  the  latest  quota- 
tions give  one  and  nineteen  oue-hundredths  cents  per  pound  for 
rolled  floor-beams  as  the  price  at  the  French  mills,  while  the 
Belgian  manufactories  sell  even  lower,  the  market  quotation 
for  floor-beams  in  Belgium  having  been,  not  long  ago,  less  than 
nine-tenths  of  a  cent  a  pound,  or  little  more  than  one-fourth  of 
the  American  price.     The  present  English  price  is   one  and 
sixteen  one-hundredths  cents  per  pound.     Of  course,  at  these 
rates  the  foreign  beams  would  be  imported  if  it  were  not  for 
certain  obstacles,  of  which  one  of  the  most  serious  is  a  specific 
duty  of  one  and  one-fourth  cents  per  pound,  or  about  one  hun- 
dred and  forty  per  cent  on  the  Belgian  price.     The  cost  of 
handling,  and  transporting  four  thousand  miles  across  the  sea, 
adds  nearly  as  much  more,  but  even  with  these  burdens,  the 
foreign  beams  are  delivered  in  New  York  for  considerably  less 
than  the  price  of  the  American  ones,  and  would  be  extensively 
used,  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  most  architects  depend,  in 
estimating  the  strength  of  floors,  upon  the  tables  given  in  the 
books  which  are  issued   by  the   American   rolling-mills,   and 
write  their  specifications  in  accordance  with  what  they  find  in 
those  books,  so  that  the  foreign  beams,  which  differ  in  section 
from  ours,  are  likely  to  be  rejected,  as  not  in  accordance  with  the 
specification,  and  be  thrown  back  upon  the  contractor's  hands. 
"U Y  had  once  a  case  which  illustrates  this  point.     The  specifi- 
cation required  that  a   certain  sidewalk  should  be   laid  with 
twelve-and-one-quarter-inch  rolled   beams  of  a  certain  weight 
per  yard,  the  weight  being  that  of  a  familiar  American  pattern. 
The  contractor,  instead  of  sending  to  the  American  mill  for 
beams  of  exactly  the  size   and  weight   specified,  ordered  his 
beams  from    Belgium.     They  arrived,   all  cut  to  the   proper 
lengths,  but  proved  to  be  only  twelve  inches  high,  and  some- 
what lighter  than   the  specification  required,  so  that,  as   the 
specification  did  not  provide  for  any  surplus  strength,  there 
•was  nothing  to  be  done  but  to  refuse  to  accept  them,  and  to 
order  American  beams  in  the  place  of  them  at  the  contractor's 
expense.     In  some  respects  the  foreign  beams  are  better  than 
ours,  the  flanges  being  usually  wider,  so  as   to  give  a  lateral 


stiffness  which  is  valuable,  while  various  patterns  of  floor-beams 
are  furnished  five  or  six  inches  high  and  very  light,  so  that  a 
man  can  handle  them  much  more  easily  than  he  could  a  wooden 
beam  of  the  same  length,  but  the  unwillingness  of  architects  to 
cut  off  competition  by  specifying  any  particular  manufacture, 
together  with  the  difficulty  of  getting  accurate  profiles  and  cal- 
culating the  momenta  of  itiertia  of  the  foreign  sections,  practi- 
cally prevents  their  use  by  architects,  unless  for  very  extensive 
buildings,  where  contracts  are  made  on  so  large  a  scale  that 
special  measures  can  be  taken  to  secure  the  greatest  economy. 

WHAT  would  be  the  result  of  removing  the  burdens  from 
the  importation  of  structural  iron,  or  the  reduction  of  the 
price  of  American  beams  to  the  English  and  Continental 
standard,  may  be  readily  predicted.     At  present,  a  floor  laid 
with  iron  beams  is  too  costly  a  luxury  in  this  country  for  any 
but  the  very  rich ;  but  if  such  beams  could  be  procured  at  one 
cent  a  pound,  they  would  be  very  nearly  as  cheap  as  wooden 
joists.     In  practice,  the  floor-beams  used  in  Paris  are  rather 
lighter,  with  a  given  stiffness,  than  our  patterns,  but  taking  as  a 
standard  of  comparison  a  Penooyd  four-inch  I-beam,  weighing 
eighteen  and  one-half  pounds  to  the  yard,  we  find  that  such  a 
beam  twenty  feet  long  will  carry  three  thousand  two  hundred 
and  twenty  pounds  distributed  load,  or  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
one  pounds  to  the  foot,  and  will  weigh  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
three  pounds,  and  cost,  at  something  more  than  the  Belgian 
price,  a  dollar  and  twenty-three  cents.      In  comparison  with 
this,  a  three  by  twelve  hard-pine  joist  of  the  same  length  will 
carry  thirty-nine  hundred  and  sixty  pounds  distributed  load,  by 
the  most  recent  data,  but  it  will  weigh  two  hundred  and  twenty 
pounds  more   than  the    iron   beam,   leaving   the   net   bearing 
capacity  for  comparison  thirty-seven  hundred  and  forty  pounds. 
This  is  seventeen  per  cent    more  than  the  iron  beam,  but  at 
thirty  dollars  per  thousand  feet  the  wooden  joist  will  cost  a 
dollar  and  eighty  cents,  or  fifty  per  cent  more  than  the  iron, 
while,  as  it  will  occupy  three  times  the  height,  and  require  a 
correspondingly  greater  amount  of   material,  in  the  shape  of 
masonry  or  iron  columns,  to  secure  the  same   height   in  the 
rooms,  the   cost  of   using  it  would  be   practically  more  than 
double  that  of  the  iron  beam.     In  districts  where  spruce  is  the 
ordinary  framing  timber,  cheap  as  this  is,  there  would  still  be 
a  considerable  economy  in  using  iron,  while  the  advantages  in 
point  of  resistance  to  fire  and  decay  would  be  enormous.     On 
the  other  side  of  the  water  the  clumsy  methods  used  to  attach 
floors  and  ceilings  to  iron  beams  carry  the  cost  of  such  a  con- 
struction beyond  that  which  employs  wooden  joists;   but  the 
art  of  handling  structural  iron  is  much  more  highly  developed 
here  than  it  is  abroad,  and  if  our  architects  could  get  metal 
floor-beams  at  the  foreign  rate,  they  might  be  depended  upon 
to  improve  the  details  of  the  construction  in  which  they  are 
used  so  rapidly  that  in  a  few  years  a  city  building  with  floors 
of  wooden  joists  would  be  a  rare  exception. 


SOUTHERN  correspondent  sends  us  a  circular  inviting 
designs  in  competition  for  a  church  in  Tennessee.  The 
cost  of  the  structure  is  not  to  exceed  sixty  thousand  dollars. 
Intending  competitors  are  requested  to  furnish  "  plans,  specifica- 
tions and  estimates,"  and  "the  architect  whose  plans  and 
specifications  are  accepted  will  be  paid  one  hundred  dollars." 
Moreover,  "  gilt-edged  bond  will  be  required  of  the  successful 
competitor  for  faithful  and  satisfactory  work,  and  quality  of 
material  in  all  their  branches."  Just  what  this  last  sentence 
means  is  not  clear,  but  we  suppose  that  it  is  to  be  explained 
by  remembering  the  confusion  which  exists  in  the  South 
between  builders  and  architects.  The  average  Southerner, 
when  he  wants  a  house,  goes  to  the  man  who  deals  in  houses, 
namely,  the  nearest  builder,  and  makes  such  a  bargain  as  seems 
to  him  proper.  Perhaps  the  man  of  planks  has  an  apprentice 
who  has  been  to  an  evening  drawing-school,  or  a  talented  son 
just  entering  upon  the  study  of  long  division  at  the  Academy, 
and,  to  hasten  the  conclusion  of  the  trade,  or,  perhaps,  to  head- 
off  a  rival  builder,  who  does  not  enjoy  these  advantages,  he 
has  the  proposed  structure  "drawed  out"  for  his  customer's 
edification.  That  there  could  be  any  better  course  than  this 
for  securing  a  suitable  design  for  a  church  edifice  does  not 
seem  to  have  occurred  to  the  good  people  of  this  particular 
Tennessee  community.  They  have  a  glimmering  of  an  idea 
that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  a  beautiful  building,  in  distinction 


86 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  Mews.    [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  635. 


from  an  ugly  one,  and  mention  that  "  architectural  beauty  and 
finish  are  sought,"  although  "  not  at  the  sacrifice  of  substantial 
solidity,"  and,  apparently  feeling  that  it  may  be  an  extra  ex- 
pense to  the  builder  to  get  anything  like  "  architectural  beauty 
and  finish "  inserted  into  his  drawings,  they  considerately 
promise  a  douceur  to  cover  this  outlay.  We  presume  that  the 
idea  of  paying  an  architect  fifteen  hundred  dollars  to  "draw 
out "  their  church  would  seem  to  them  preposterous,  and  we 
are  not  sure  that  they  may  not  be  right,  considering  the  sort  of 
appreciation  that  might  be  anticipated  for  a  good  design. 

WO  more  distinguished  architects  have  died  within  a  few 
weeks,  M.  Questel  in  France,  and  Mr.  Edward  I'  Anson, 
the  President  of  the  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects, 
in  England.  Mr.  I'  Anson  studied  his  profession  under  his 
father,  who  was  an  architect  of  distinction  in  the  City  of  Lon- 
don, and  the  son  succeeded  to  an  important  practice  in  the  de- 
signing of  commercial  buildings,  and  in  the  adjustment  of 
cases  relating  to  City  property,  with  the  value  of  which  he  was 
thoroughly  familiar.  His  skill  as  a  surveyor  and  referee  was 
so  remarkable  as  to  win  for  him  the  office  of  President  of  the 
Surveyors'  Institution  in  the  same  year  that,  in  recognition  of 
his  attainments  in  another  department  of  the  profession,  he  was 
elected  President  of  the  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects. 
Although  constantly  occupied  with  work  demanding  judgment 
and  experience  rather  than  more  aesthetic  qualities  he  was  a 
good  deal  of  an  artist.  He  spent  much  time  in  travelling  and 
sketching,  and  his  executed  works,  among  the  more  important 
of  which  are  the  Corn  Exchange  in  Mark  Lane,  and  the 
Bible  Society's  house  on  Queen  Victoria  street,  are  worthy 
of  the  highest  praise.  Among  other  things,  he  is  said  to  have 
the  credit  of  being  the  first  man  in  London  to  design  buildings 
intended  wholly  for  business  offices.  It  was  formerly  the  rule 
for  merchants  to  have  counting-rooms  in  their  warehouses,  and 
for  other  business  men  to  hire  rooms  in  private  houses  ;  but,  on 
his  suggestion,  two  or  three  buildings  were  erected,  entirely 
occupied  by  small  rooms  for  offices,  and  these  proved  so  popular 
that  the  fashion  soon  spread.  In  the  death  of  M.  Questel,  the 
profession  loses  one  of  its  wisest  and  most  honored  members. 
Born  in  1807,  he  had  been  for  two  generations  a  conspicuous 
figure  in  French  art,  not  only  through  his  own  work,  but  by 
his  singular  success  in  directing  the  career  of  a  long  list  of  dis- 
tinguished pupils.  He  received  his  own  training  under  Peyre, 
Blouet  and  Duban,  and  after  a  three  years'  residence  in  Italy 
was  appointed  to  a  modest  position  on  one  of  the  Government 
buildings  in  Paris.  He  rose  rapidly,  and  was  Inspecteur  des 
Travaux  when  he  won  in  competition  the  important  commis- 
sion for  the  Church  of  St.  Paul  at  Nimes  This  was  followed 
by  the  design  for  the  fountain  in  the  Esplanade  at  Nimes,  with 
several  other  important  works,  and  he  was  about  the  same 
time  appointed  to  the  Commission  for  the  Preservation  of  His- 
torical Monuments,  preparing  in  the  course  of  his  duties  many 
restorations  and  measured  drawings  of  the  principal  Roman 
buildings  on  French  soil.  His  connection  with  the  School  of 
Fine  Arts  was  soon  resumed,  by  his  succession  to  the  place 
formerly  occupied  by  his  own  master,  Blouet ;  and  the  merit  of 
his  pupils,  among  whom  were  Daumet,  Brune,  Pascal,  Joyaux, 
Noguet,  Raulin  and  many  other  winners  of  the  Prize  of  Rome, 
gained  him  a  high  reputation  as  a  teacher  as  well  as  an  artist. 
Various  other  important  works  brought  him  added  honors.  In 
1871,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Institute  of  France,  in 
the  Section  of  Fine  Arts,  succeeding  his  master  Duban  ;  and 
in  1884  he  was  chosen  President  of  the  Societe  Centrale  des 
Architectes  Fram;ais,  the  principal  French  professional  body, 
and,  soon  after,  of  the  Caisse  de  Defense  Mutuelle  des  Archi- 
tectes, then  just  formed. 

1I7IIE  Builder  mentions  an  article  by  Mr.  T.  Mellard  Reade 
J_  in  the  Geological  Magazine,  upon  the  permanent  expan- 
sion of  terra-cotta  by  the  weather.  In  the  case  which  he 
describes,  a  terra-cotta  coping  on  a  garden  wall  lengthened  so 
much  after  setting  in  place  as  to  raise  itself  in  the  form  of  an 
arch,  the  middle  portion  of  which  was  lifted  an  inch  from  its 
bed.  Naturally,  the  coping  pieces  at  the  middle  and  springing 
points  of  the  arch  were  broken,  and  on  replacing  the  broken 
pieces  it  was  found  that  since  the  first  setting  the  coping  had 
expanded  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  a  length  of  thirty  feet. 
One  might  suppose  that  such  expansion  would  be  more  likely 
to  be  due  to  the  swelling  of  the  cement  in  the  joints  than  to 
any  change  in  size  of  the  terra-cotta,  but  careful  tests,  and 
comparison  of  similar  cases,  convinced  Mr.  Reade  that  the 


cement  was  not  here  at  fault.  The  English  terra-cotta  is 
softer  than  ours,  and  it  seems  not  impossible  that  it  might 
absorb  water  enough,  when  exposed  to  the  weather,  to  cause 
some  enlargement.  We  have  never  heard  of  any  similar  occur- 
rence in  this  country,  but  if  terra-cotta  is  to  be  used,  as  in  the 
new  Pension  Office  at  Washington,  in  bands  three  or  four 
hundred  feet  long,  it  would  be  a  wise  precaution  to  have  some 
careful  experiments  made. 

E  Scientific  American  copies  from  the  Vienna  insurance 
journal,  Assecuranz,  an  account  of  the  new  police  regula- 
tions in  regard  to  wood-working  shops  in  Berlin,  which 
would  rather  startle  the  proprietor  of  a  New  York  or  Chicago 
planing-mill.  By  these  regulations  every  wood-working  estab- 
lishment must  have  its  principal  walls  of  brick  or  stone.  If 
there  are  rooms  over  the  shop  for  habitation,  the  shop  ceilings 
must  be  plastered,  and  the  plaster  covered  with  corrugated 
sheet-iron ;  and  the  floors  of  the  rooms  above  must  be  packed 
with  fireproof  filling.  The  shop  doors  must  be  of  iron,  hung 
on  pintles  or  in  iron  frames,  and  the  stairs  leading  to  them 
must  be  fireproof.  Shavings  must  be  placed  in  a  brick  bin, 
vaulted  overhead,  and  shut  off  by  an  iron  door.  Under  no 
circumstances  is  a  shop  to  be  heated  by  iron  stoves,  or  to  have 
a  metallic  smoke-pipe  carried  through  it.  Stoves,  if  used,  must 
be  of  stone  o.r  tiles,  so  arranged  that  they  can  be  supplied  with 
fuel  only  from  outside  of  the  work-room ;  and  flues  must  be 
built  in  the  walla.  Glue  must  not  be  warmed  in  the  shop,  but 
every  shop  must  have  a  glue-heating  room,  having  thick  brick 
walls,  a  brick  vaulted  ceiling,  and  floor  of  masonry,  separated 
from  the  shop  by  an  iron  door. 

TTX  archaeological  treasure  has  recently  been  discovered  at 
rj[  Saidi,  the  ancient  Sidon,  on  the  coast  of  Asia  Minor,  and 
'  secured  by  the  Turkish  Government.  It  seems  that  some 
workmen,  while  digging  a  well  in  a  garden  in  the  town,  broke 
into  a  chamber,  with  walls  of  masonry,  in  which  were  some 
ancient  sarcophagi.  A  telegram  was  immediately  sent  to  the 
Director  of  the  Imperial  Museum  at  Constantinople,  who 
arrived  at  the  spot  in  time  to  prevent  any  displacement  of  the 
precious  objects.  On  removing  the  debris  in  which  they  were 
buried,  seventeen  of  the  sarcophagi  were  found,  of  various 
ages  and  styles,  six  being  considered  to  be  Greek,  six  Phoeni- 
cian, one  Egyptian,  one  Libyan,  and  three  of  indeterminate 
character.  Some  of  them  were  exquisitely  sculptured,  one,  in 
particular,  having  its  exposed  face  divided  into  eighteen  panels, 
in  each  of  which  was  a  beautiful  bas-relief  of  a  weeping  girl. 
On  opening  the  sarcophagi,  nothing  was  found  of  value  except 
two  gold  buttons  and  an  ornament  for  the  head,  nor  any  in- 
scription or  other  indication  of  the  quality  of  the  persons  in- 
terred in  them,  so  that  the  Director  concluded  that  they  must 
have  been  opened  and  robbed  ages  ago,  probably,  in  his  opinion, 
by  the  Crusaders.  La  Semaine  des  Constructeurs,  however, 
defends  the  reputation  of  the  Crusaders  by  remarking  that  the 
tombs  are  much  more  likely  to  have  been  desecrated  by  the 
Persians,  who  captured  and  destroyed  Sidon  in  B.  c.  351,  just 
after  the  period  to  which  the  best  of  the  sarcophagi  seem  to 
belong. 

T  A  SEMAINE  DES  CO NSTRUCTEURS  publishes  first 
this  year  the  list  of  theatres  burned  during  1887.  Includ- 
ing circus  and  concert  hall?,  the  list  comprehends  nineteen 
structures  used  for  public  amusement  which  were  wholly  or 
partially  destroyed  during  the  year,  with  a  loss  of  about  four 
hundred  lives.  The  first  fire  mentioned  is  that  which  con- 
sumed the  theatre  of  Gottingen  in  Prussia  on  the  tenth  of 
January.  Six  days  later  the  circus  of  Sidoli  at  Bucharest  was 
burned,  and  on  the  thirteenth  of  February  the  Northampton 
Opera-house  in  England.  Four  days  after  this  a  theatre  was 
destroyed  at  Laybach  in  Austria,  and  on  March  28th  the 
Cirque  Herzog  at  Ghent.  The  terrible  fire  at  the  Paris  Opera 
Comique  occurred  May  26th,  and  in  June  a  theatre  and  a 
circus  were  burned  in  Russia,  a  concert-hall  at  Rotterdam,  and 
the  Theatre  Lafayette  at  Rouen.  In  July  one  theatre  was 
burned  in  the  United  States,  one  in  Spain  and  one  in  Holland. 
In  August  the  opera-house  at  Stockport  in  England,  and  on 
the  sixth  of  September  the  Exeter  Theatre.  On  the  fourteenth 
of  September  a  concert-hall  at  Calais  was  destroyed,  in  Novem- 
ber a  circus  at  Hamburg,  and  in  December  the  Islington  Thea- 
tre in  London.  To  these  eighteen  conflagrations  La  Semaine 
adds  the  panic  at  the  Dilettanti  Theatre  in  London,  caused  by 
a  harmless  blaze,  in  which  many  persons  lost  their  lives,  ah  a 
disaster  which  should  be  classed  with  the  fires. 


FKBKUAKY  25   1888.] 


The   American    Architect   and  Building   News. 


87 


ANCIENT  AND  MODERN'  LIGHT-HOUSES.'  — XVIII. 

CAPE  HATTEKAS. 

OR  .many  years  the  subject  has  been 
agitated"  of  establishing  a  light-house 
cm  the  Outer  Diamond  Shoal,  off  Cape 
Ilatteras.  This  shoal  is  alxnit  eight  miles 
from  land,  and  in  such  stormy  waters  that 
it  is  next  to  impossible  to  maintain  a  light- 
vessel  on  or  near  it.  All  the  sea-going  com- 
merce between  the  Northern  and  Southern 
States  has  to  round  this  point,  and  it  is  pro- 
verbially the  most  dangerous  place  on  the 
Atlantic  coast. 

There  is,  of  course,  a  light  on  Cape  Hat- 
teras,  but  the  shoal 
is  so  distant  that  it 
is  very  difficult  to 
estimate  its  locality, 
south-bound  vessels 
to  avoid  the  current 
of  the  gulf-stream 
have  to  pass  close 
to  it,  and  it  has  the 
gloomy  reputation 
of  causing  more 
wrecks  and  disas- 
ters than  any  other 
place  in  America. 
The  success  with  the  Rothersand  and  Fourteen-foot  Bank  Light- 
houses in  my  opinion  point  the  way  to  obtaining  a  secure  foundation 
in  these  shifting  sands,  and  I  bolieve  that  the  solution  of  the  problem 
consists  in  building  a  steel  or  cast-iron  cylinder  forty-five  feet  in 
diameter,  sinking  it  on  the  shoal  so  that  its  base  will  be  below  any 
possibility  of  wave-action,  filling  it  with  concrete,  and  protecting  it  on 
tlir  exterior  by  the  liberal  use  of  rip-rap  in  large  blocks. 

The  cylinder  should  be  double,  the  inner  cylinder  being  fifteen 
feet  in  diameter  and  very  strongly  braced  to  the  exterior  one,  the 
connection  between  the  interior  and  exterior  cylinder  at  the  bottom 
should  be  conical  in  shape,  and  would  answer  for  the  working- 
ehamber  if  the  cylinder  were  to  be  sunk  by  the  pneumatic  process, 
though  I  believe  it  possible  to  sink  it  rapidly  by  dredging  from  the 
interior.  The  cylinder  could  be  so  built  as  to  admit  of  either  plan 
being  used. 

At  a  suitable  locality  on  the  Outer  Diamond,  there  is  a  depth  of 
about  twenty  feet;  the  "cylinder  should  be  put  together  at  some  safe 
harbor,  floated  to  this  point  and  sunk  as  quickly  as  possible.  I 
estimate  that  when  the  bottom  of  the  cylinder  reaches  fifty  feet  below 
the  surface  of  the  shoal  and  the  rip-rap  is  placed  around  it,  it  will  be 
safe  from  the  scour  of  the  waves. 

One  of  the  many  difficulties  attending  this  work  is  that  the  nearest 
available  harbor  is  Cape  Hatteras  Inlet,  only  fifteen  feet  deep  and 
fifteen  miles  away.  Should  a  storm  overtake  the  cylinder  while 
being  towed  to  the  site,  it  would,  in  all  probability,  be  lost,  and  the 
same  catastrophe  might  occur  if  there  were  a  heavy  blow  during  the 
first  part  of  the  sinking  of  the  cylinder ;  after  it  had  gone  down  ten 
or  fifteen  feet  the  danger  would  be  much  less,  and  if  the  attending 
vessels  were  driven  away  by  stress  of  weather,  they  might  have  a 
reasonable  assurance  of  finding  the  cylinder  in  place  on  their  return. 
The  power  of  the  cylinder  to  resist  the  waves,  before  it  was  filled 
with  concrete,  would  depend  entirely  on  the  strength  of  the  interior 
bracing,  and  too  much  pains  could  not  be  expended  in  making  this 
of  the  best  design,  material  and  workmanship. 

With  the  foundation  once  secured,  it  would  be  of  no  great  difficulty 
to  erect  a  suitable  superstructure. 

Should  this  light-house  be  successfully  established,  it  will  be  a  re- 
markable feat  of  light-house  engineering,  and  be  of  benefit  to  more 
commerce  than  any  one  light-house  in  the  world. 

Barring  accidents,  the  cost  should  not  exceed  $300,000  for  the 
foundation,  but  it  would  not  be  safe  to  commence  work  without 
having  at  least  $500,000  available.  The  accompanying  sketches  give 
a  general  idea  of  the  plan  and  elevation  of  the  kind  of  cylinder  pro- 
posed. 

Congress  will  be  asked  this  session  to  appropriate  the  necessary 
funds  For  this  important  work.  Should  the  appropriation  be  made, 
the  foundation  could  be  built  and  placed,  barring  accidents,  in  less 
than  two  years. 

SKELETON   IRON    LIGHT- HOUSES. 

Another  type  is  the  skeleton  iron  light-house :  this  is  especially 
adapted  to  sites  where  it  is  desired  to  erect  a  lofty  structure  without 
too  much  weight ;  it  may  rest  on  iron-piles,  screw-piles,  grillage  or 
other  foundation,  depending  on  whether  the  light-house  stands  in  the 
water  or  on  land,  and  whether  the  site  is  rock,  stiff  clay,  sand,  earth 
or  mud. 

The  finest  two  light-houses  of  this  kind,  which  rest  on  iron-piles 
driven  in  coral  rock,  are  those  erected  on  Fowey  Rocks  and  Ameri- 
can Shoals,  Florida.  They  are  duplicates  of  each  other,  the  first  one 
built  being  the  one  at  Fowey  Rocks  on  the  east  coast  of  Florida,  at 
the  northern  extremity  of  Florida  Reefs. 

Examinations  to  test  the  character  of  this  reef  were  made  in  1875 ; 


'Continued  from  page  312,  No.  627. 


the  engineer  reported  :  "  It  was  with  the  greatest  difficulty  and  delay 
that  a  sailing  vessel  could  reach  the  spot  in  weather  sufficiently  calm 
to  do  any  work.  The  rock  composing  the  reef  is  harder  than  that 
farther  south  and  west,  and  it  is  bettered  will  furnish  a  secure 
foundation  for  the  kind  of  structure  decided  upon."  During  the  same 
vear  the  designs  for  the  light-house  were  well  advanced,  and  pre- 
liminary works  connected  with  the  erection  of  the  light-house  were 
begun.  These  consisted  in  building  at  Soldier  Key,  four-and-one- 
half  miles  distant  from  the  reef,  a  substantial  wharf  witli  track,  store- 
house and  quarters:  all  these  buildings  had  to  be  raised  six  feet  above 
the  surface  and  strongly  secured,  as  during  hurricanes  the  sea  sweeps 
entirely  over  the  surface  of  the  Key.  At  the  site  the  working  plat- 
form was  completed,  and  contract  was  made  for  the  delivery  of  the 
ironwork  for  the  foundation  and  first  btories  of  the  light-house,  which 
was  delivered  at  Soldier  Key  in  the  spring  of  1867,  and  during  the 
same  year  all  the  foundation-piles  were  driven  as  follows : 

The  disc  for  the  central  foundation-pile  was  first  lowered  to  its 
place,  and  through  this  disc  the  first  iron-pile  was  driven.  One  of 
the  perimeter  discs  was  then  placed  in  ]>ogition  and  located  by  a 


.  —  _  - . 


gauge  consisting  of  a  heavy  iron  I-beam,  lying  on  the  bottom  between 
and  in  immediate  contact  with  the  edges  of  both  discs,  and  then^the 
first  perimeter-pile  was  driven  through  the  centre  of  this  disc.  The 
greatest  precaution  had  to  be  taken  to  drive  these  piles  vertically ; 
hence,  after  each  blow  of  the  hammer  the  pile  was  tested  with  a 
plummet,  and  the  slightest  deviation  from  the  vertical  was  rectified 


88 


The   American    Architect   and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIJI.  —  No.  635. 


by  tackles,  used  as  guides,  fastened  to  the  top  of  the  pile.  Each 
iron-pile  was  driven  about  ten  feet  into  the  rock.  In  locating  the 
disc  for  the  next  perimeter-pile,  two  gauges  were  necessary,  one  to 
obtain  the  proper  distance  from  the  central  pile,  the  other  to  main- 
tain the  proper  distance  from  the  perimeter-pile  just  driven;  and 
these  two  gauges  were  alike  except  in  length.  The  discs  were 
dragged  along  the  bottom  until  their  outer  edges  just  touched  the 
free  edges  of  the  gauges.  Each  pile  was  then  driven  through  the 
centre  of  its  disc.  After  all  of  them  were  driven,  their  tops  were 
levelled  by  cutting  off  each  to  the  line  of  the  lowest.  The  piles  were 
then  capped  with  their  respective  sockets;  the  horizontal  girders 
were  inserted,  the  diagonal  tension-roils  were  placed  and  screwed  up, 
and  the  foundation  series  was  completed.  This  work,  including  the 
building  of  the  temporary  platform  occupied  just  two  months,  during 
which  time  the  sea  was  quite  smooth. 

Owing  to  various  delays  in  the  manufacture  of  the  superstructure 
it  did  not  arrive  at  Soldier  Key  until  November  12,  1877.  The 
weather  preceding  its  arrival  and  for  three  months  after  was  unfavor- 
able for  its  erection.  Gale  followed  gale,  and  though  a  large  force  of 
workmen  was  at  Soldiar  Key  ready  to  work  when  weather  per- 
mitted, nothing  could  be  done.  For  six  weeks  there  was  but  one  day 
on  which  a  landing  could  be  effected  at  the  light-house  site.  This  day 
was  utilized  by  laying  a  decking  of  four-inch  plank  on  the  wooden 
platform.  Finding  the  weather  still  unfavorable,  with  no  immediate 
prospect  of  getting  to  the  site,  and  all  the  shore-work  completed,  it 
was  decided  on  December  13, 1877,  to  temporarily  suspend  operation. 
On  February  24,  1878,  the  weather  appearing  moru  favorable  for 
reef-operation,  work  was  resumed ;  the  party  arrived  at  the  site  on 
the  25th  February,  and  encountered  a  tornado  which  considerably 
damaged  the  vessels. 

One  of  the  lighters,  a  small  schooner,  capable  of  carrying  twenty- 
five  to  thirty  tons  of  freight  on  four  feet  draught  of  water,  was  loaded 
with  the  portable  hoisting-engine,  derrick,  tackles,  shear-poles  and  a 


small  quantity  of  iron.  The  sea  continued  so  rough  that  this  load 
could  not  be  landed  until  March  12,  when  a  landing  was  effected 
through  the  breakers  by  means  of  small  boats,  and  the  derrick  and 
shears  erected  on  the  platform.  During  the  next  sixteen  days  five 
more  cargoes  of  iron  were  landed,  and  the  first  series  of  columns 
girders,  sockets  and  tension-rods  placed  in  position. 

It  became  evident  from  the  slow  progress  thus  far  made,  owin<*  to 
stormy  weather  and  the  danger  attending  frequent  landings  through 
the  breakers,  that,  unless  a  lodgement  could  be  effected  on  the  plat- 
form and  the  men  be  made  to  live  thereon,  the  structure  could  not  be 
completed  within  a  year.  Therefore,  on  March  29,  the  lighter  was 
loaded  with  one  month's  supply  of  provisions,  water,  etc  "towed  to 
the  platform  and  its  freight  landed ;  two  large  tents  were  set  up  on 
the  platform,  a  temporary  kitchen  built,  and  twenty  men  left  to  con 
tinue  the  erection  of  the  light-house.  The  advantages  of  this 
arrangement  were  very  great.  No  matter  how  hMi  the  sea  mHit 
be  running,  the  men  were  there  out  of  water,  on  a  safe  and  steady 
foundation,  and  they  could  continue  the  work  so  lon^  as  they  could 
be^kept  supplied  with  material. 

The  remainder  of  the  force  was  employed  in  loadino-  the  lighter 
and  steamer,  and  when  the  weather  was  favorable,  in  unloading  the 
ighter  at.  the  platform.  On  days  that  were  too  rono-h  to  unload  the* 
lighter,  all  hands  would  land  at  the  site  in  small  boats,  if  a  landino- 
was  practicable,  and  assist  in  erection.  By  keepin<*  the  lighter 
loaded  and  steam  on  the  tender  day  and  night,  no  available  time  was 
Jost. 


On  June  15,  1878,  the  tower  was  completed  and  the  light  was  ex- 
hibited. 

The  cost  of  this  light-house  was  about  §1  75,000. 

Another  advantage  of  this  type«of  light-house  is  the  quickness 
with  which  it  can  be  erected.  At  American  Shoals  the  ironwork  was 
completed  at  the  North,  shipped  to  Key  West,  Florida,  and  the 
light-house  completely  erected  and  lighted  in  one  year. 

Both  Fowcy  Rocks  and  American  Shoals  Light-houses  are  first- 
order  lights,  one  hundred  and  fifteen  and  one-half  feet  hi;rh,  and 
visible  sixteen  and  one-fourth  nautical  miles. 

There  are  several  other  light-houses  of  this  type  on  the  Florida 
Reefs,  such  as  Carysfort  Reef,  Alligator  Reef,  Sombrero  Key  and 
Sand  Key,  all  first-order  lights,  from  one  hundred  and  ten  to  one 
hundred  and  forty-four  feet  high. 

Florida  is  rich  in  first-order  lights;  she  has  twelve  in  all,  as  many 
as  Maine,  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut  and  New  York 
combined. 


NOTES   OF   TRAVEL. 

CHICAGO. —  III.l 


Opera-house  Building.     Cobb  &  Froit,  Architects.2 

IT  is  interesting  to  note  in  these  Chicago  buildings  the  change  in 
scheme  from  the  time  when  elevators  were  hardly  known,  and  the 
stairs  were  a  very  important  feature  of  the  building,  to  the  new 
arrangement  wherein  elevators  are,  one  might  say,  the  key  to  the  whole 
plan,  and  where  the  stairs  are  reduced  to  almost  nothing.     In  such 
buildings  as  we  are  considering,  the  stairs  are  not  used  atTall  except 
in  communication   from  floor  to  floor.     There  are  some  other  points 
of  .arrangement  which  are  also  worth  noting,  not  as  being  peculiar  to 
Chicago,  because  they  are  involved  in  the  construction  °of  all  build- 
ings, but  because  they  will  at  least  show  what  is  done.     One  is  the 
relation  between  the  first  story  and  the  grade  line.   Of  the  structures 
just  considered,  the  Opera-House  is  entered  directly  from  the  street 
with  but  a  single  step.   In  the  Munroe  Street  Building,  and  the  Mon- 
tauk  Block,  the  first  story  is  raised  a  few  steps  above  grade  and  the 
basement  is  sunk  a  few  more,  so  that  the  basement  has  high  win- 
dows, but  is  below  the  grade.     In  the  Home,  the  Pullman  Building  and 
the  Rookery  Buildings  the  basement  is  on  a  level  with  the  street. 
Where  practice  differs  so  widely  it  is  hard  to  say  which  is  the  best 
arrangement.     It  is  a  question  that  comes  up  with  every  new  office- 
building  that  the  architect  has  to  deal  with,  and  where  owners  and 
real-estate  dealers  differ  so  widely,  it  is  not  strange  that  architects 
should  sometimes  recommend  one   method  and  sometimes  another, 
even  under  the  same  circumstances,  but  it  seems   as   if   the  plans 
adopted  in  the  Opera-House,  the  Rookery  and  the  Home  Buildings 
were,  on  the  whole,  the  most  satisfactory,  and  especially  so  in  Chi- 
cago, where  the  nature  of  the  soil  will  not  admit  of  a  deep  cellar  that 
can  be  of  any  practical  value.     Besides,  we  are  inclined  to  think, 
judging  from  appearances,  at  least,  that  a  building  with  a  flush  base- 
ment and  first  story  entirely  raised  above  the  ground  rents  better  and 
gives  more  satisfaction  than  one  in  which  the  basement  is  partly 
below  grade. 

Another  question  which  is  solved  in  many  different  ways  is  the 
height  of  stories.     Without  going  into  the  consideration  of  all  these 

1  Continued  from  page  315,  No.  627 

of  the  Man<i  4rfi>ueft  tor  p6™^0" 


FKBRUARY  25,  1888.]  Tfie   American    Architect   and  Building   News. 


89 


buildings,  wo  will  simply  slate  that  in  the  Rookery  Building,  the 
latest  of  its  kind,  the  heights  arc  eleven  and  twelve  feet  for  the  ofliee 
stories.1  In  the  Home  and  the  Opera-House  Buildings  we  Iwlieve  the 
stories  are  somewhat  less  than  this.  The  changes  in  arrangements 
of  these  buildings  have  hcen  no  more  radieal  than  the  changes  in  the 
construction. 

In  a  subsequent  paper  we  will  consider  some  of  the  problems 
involved  in  the  foundations  of  these  office-buildings.  The  construc- 
tion of  the  superstructure  is  a  chapter  by  itself,  and  we  fancy  an 
investigation  of  the  methods  in  me  in  Chicago  would  be  a  revelation 
to  cvi-rv  thinking  man  in  the  country.  The  old  constructions  of  the 
jieriod  before  the  fire  were  slip-shod,  flimsy,  and  in  every  way  defeo 
tivc.  Now,  there  can  hardly  be  found  better  constructions,  on  the 
whole,  than  those  of  some  of  the  Chicago  architects.  Their  buildings 
arc  scientific  in  the  manner  in  which  the  weights  art;  distributed  and 
the  loads  calculated,  and  are  economical  of  space,  money  and  light. 
Indeed,  we  are  almost  inclined  to  think  that  at  present  the  most 
praiseworthy  side  of  the  Chicago  architecture  is  its  construction. 
Certainly  there  have  been  problems  solved  there  that  are  never  met 
witii  elsewhere,  and  what  is  more,  they  have  been  worked  out  in  a 
manner  that  shows  the  most  careful  study  and  thorough  appreciation 
of  the  conditions. 

We  have  thus  far  considered  the  office-buildings  only  in  relation  to 
their  construction  and  arrangement.  It  goes  without  saying  that  the 
buildings  are  grand  and  imposing.  No  structure  can  be  erected 
covering  the  area  that  these  do,  and  carried  up  into  the  air  ten  or 
twelve  stories,  without  being  majestic  and  awe-inspiring.  We  well 
remember  our  sensations  on  emerging  from  the  Kock  Island  Railway 
.Station  one  frosty  morning.  The  sun  had  not  yet  penetrated  the 
depths  of  the  cavernous  streets,  and,  walking  up  the  avenue  towards 
the  Grand  Pacific,  with  the  huge  buildings  to  the  right  and  left  and 
the  great  hotel  looming  up  ahead,  with  its  numerous  chimneys  and 
gables,  the  first  turn  bringing  us  face  to  face  with  the  enormous  Rus- 
sian-like tower  of  the  Kxehange,  the  effect  was  overpowering,  and 
completely  annihilated  criticism.  Such  structures  seemed  more  than 
human,  especially  under  the  dim  veil  of  the  morning  light,  which 
revealed  only  their  immense  forms  and  shrouded  their  defects  of 
detail. 

One  such  building  is  imposing,  but  a  whole  street  of  such  huge 
structures  seems  like  the  work  of  giants,  and  is  too  much  to  be  com- 
prehended in  a  day.  The  effect  is  hardly  less  stirring  coming  up 
l,a  Salle  Street  from  Monroe,  with  the  huge  blocks  of  the  Rookery 
ami  the  Home  Buildings  on  the  left,  the  Insurance  Kxehange,  Mai- 
ler's Building  and  others  on  the  right,  and  the  great  tower  of  the 
Board  of  Trade  looming  right  across  the  street  at  the  end.  It  forms 
a  picture  such  as  can  be  found  nowhere  else  in  the  world,  and  one 
feels  very  small  indeed  when  undertaking  to  grasp  the  whole  of  such 
structures  and  weigh  them  and  consider  them  in  the  mind.  It  is 
only  after  coming  back  to  them  day  after  day  that  one  begins  to 
appreciate  them,  to  see  how  they  are  put  together  and  how  they  are 
formed,  and  also  to  understand  that  these  great  creations  had  their 
beginnings  in  much  smaller  ways  and  on  much  lesser  scales;  that  they 
are  no  less  the  results  of  growth  than  the  more  humble  buildings,  in 
size  at  least,  of  our  own  Boston.  Mushrooms  we  might  call  them, 
considering  their  number  and  the  rapidity  with  which  they  have 
been  evolved.  But  there  is  nothing  "  Western  "  about  these  build- 
ings; they  were  built  to  endure,  just  as  emphatically  as  any  of  the 
structures  which  grace  our  Eastern  cities  or  the  capitals  of  Europe, 
and  whatever  one  may  say  of  their  architectural  excellence,  no  one 
can  deny  their  impressive  value. 

Before  the  fire  the  German  elements  in  design  prevailed  in  Chi- 
cago much  the  same  as  they  did  in  New  York  and  do  still  for  that 
matter,  and  a  pseudo-Classic  front,  with  panelled  pilasters,  string- 
courses at  each  story,  and  with  arched,  bowed  and  lintelled  windows, 
was  considered  the  correct  thing.  For  many  years  the  finest  build- 
ing in  Chicago  was  assumed  to  be  a  structure  called  Booksellers' 
Row,  an  undefinable  mixture  of  incoherent  Classic  and  badly-man- 
gled Gothic,  neither  pleasing  in  general  effect  nor  tolerable  in  detail, 
but  largely  implying  a  feeling^  in  style  which  one  would  characterize 
by  the  hateful  adjective  "  Western "  as  applied  to  art.  To  the 
credit  of  Chicago  the  day  of  such  buildings  is  entirely  passed,  though 
there  are  people  so  benighted  as  still  to  consider  Booksellers'  Row  as 
one  of  the  ornaments  of  the  city. 

All  the  older  buildings  were  not  so  bad  as  this,  however.  Occa- 
sionally, some  very  successful  designs  were  executed,  successful,  at 
least,  in  the  mass,  and  now  and  then  evincing  a  mastery  of  detail 
and  choice  of  arrangement  which  give  warning  of  better  things  to 
come.  There  are  a  number  of  old  dwellings  in  Chicago,  with  wide, 
over-hanging  cornices,  too  simple  to  be  bad  in  detail  and  too  straight- 
forward to  DC  awkward  in  expression.  Unfortunately,  such  build- 
ings are  rare,  and  the  new  movement  in  art  which  has  been  mani- 
fested in  the  more  recent  buildings  has  almost  taken  the  form  of  a 
protest  against  these  old  shams ;  against  galvanized-iron,  sanded  to 
look  like  stone ;  against  thin  veneering  to  take  the  place  of  solid 
masonry ;  against  the  feeling  that  bad  stonework  was  better  than  good 
brick,  and  against  the  general  lack  of  artistic  expression.  The  fore- 
runner of  the  new  work  was  a  building,  the  name  of  which  we  do  not 
recall,  on  the  south-east  corner  of  Washington  and  Dearborn  Streets, 
designed  by  W.  L.  B.  Jenney.  This  structure  is  built  almost  entirely 
of  brick  and  terra-cotta,  and  was  a  revelation  to  a  great  many  of  the 


1  The  exact  heights  from  top  to  top  of  the  stories,  beginning  with  the  cellar, 
re  8*  8",  11'  8",  17'  6",  12'  0",  \V  4i»,  12'  6",  12'  6",  13'  9",  12'  C",  17'  6",  It)'  6". 


Chicago  architects.  Mr.  Jenney,  we  Ix'licvo,  had  studied  at  I'.iris 
and  came  to  Chicago  as  a  comparatively  new  man  when  he  erected 
this  structure.  In  the  light  of  subsequent  achievements,  it  might  be 
criticised  as  somewhat  boxy  in  treatment  and  unnecessarily  empha- 
tic in  structural  manifestations,  but  on  the  whole,  it  was  a  very  suc- 
cessful building,  especially  so  for  the  time  when  it  was  erected,  and  is 
still  one  of  the  good,  first-class  office-buildings  of  Chicago. 

It  is  interesting  to  compare  this  building  with  the  latest  work  of 
Mr.  Jenney,  the  Home  Insurance  Building,  the  plan  of  which  we 
have  previously  considered.  Externally  it  is  a  ten-story  structure, 
simple  and  straightforward  in  its  character,  built  almost  entirely  of 
brick,  with  the  ornament  used  very  sparingly,  but,  on  the  whole,  well 
and  in  a  judicious  manner.  The  style  of  the  building  is  Classic,  but 
not  pronounced  in  detail,  with  each  story  marked  by  string-courses, 
and  a  bold  cornice  crowning  the  whole,  the  pilasters  running  up 
between  the  windows  and  being  continued  to  the  top.  The  chief 
charm  of  the  building  is  in  the  interior,  which  is  certainly  the  most 
successful  of  its  kind  in  the  city.  The  vestibule  on  the  La  Salle 
Street  front  extends  through  two  stories  and  is  finished  in  polished 
white  marble,  with  the  columns  supporting  the  wall  and  the  stair- 
work,  including  rails,  the  posts  and  the  elevator-screens,  all  in  dark 
bronze.  The  vaulted  roof  of  the  vestibule  is  of  marble  slabs,  su]»- 
ported  on  bronze  ribs.  The  elevator-screens  are  very  light  and 
graceful  in  structure,  and  Iwing  arranged  as  they  are,  directly  oppo- 
site the  entrance,  with  the  broad  stairs  winding  up  from  the  first 
story,  and  the  passage  underneath  leading  directly  through  into  the 
basement-corridor,  the  effect  is  exceedingly  pleasing.  The  entrancc- 
port.il  is  carried  up  with  a  broad  round  arch,  the  top  of  which  is 
filled  with  an  elaborately-wrought  grille  of  iron,  very  light  and  grace- 
ful in  its  character  and  forming  a  perfect  picture  in  combination  with 
the  dark  bronze  and  the  white  marble  of  the  vestibule.  Mr.  Jenney 
has  shown  great  taste  in  the  treatment  of  the  interior  of  the  building 
throughout.  The  walls  of  the  corridors  are  tinted  a  pale  salmon. 
The  dados  and  floors  are  of  white  marble  and  the  ceiling  is  a  pale 
buff.  The  woodwork,  which  is  confined  almost  entirely  to  doors  and 
architraves,  is  of  pale  oak,  and  the  elevator-fittings  and  stair-rails 
throughout  are  bronze.  It  seems  like  an  expensive  building,  but 
when  we  consider  how  charming  the  combinations  of  marble  and 
bronze  and  tinted  plaster  are,  it  would  seem  worth  while  to  pay 
more  to  be  in  such  a  building  than  to  have  to  put  up  with  the  blank 
walls  and  dreary  corridors  of  even  so  good  a  building  as  the  Opera 
House. 

Diagonally  opposite  from  the  Home  Insurance  Building  is  the 
structure  known  as  the  Insurance  Exchange,  a  sketch  of  which  we 
publish  herewith.  This  building  was  erected  by  Burnham  &  Boot, 
and  as  an  example  of  pure  brickwork,  it  is  one  of  the  best  in  the  city, 
if  not  in  the  country.  We  certainly  know  of  none  other  where 
simple  red  brick  has  been  used  with  such  a  breadth  of  treatment  both 
in  the  mass  and  detail,  helped  out  only  by  such  terra-cotta  as  is 
needed  for  sills  and  lintels.  It  is  kept  quite  plain,  the  only  orna- 
mentation in  foliaue  or  carved-work  being  about  the  entrance. 
Everything  is  dark  cherry-red,  except  the  relatively  low  basement  of 
granite.  In  the  Home  Building  there  is  no  perceptible  attempt  at 
grouping  the  stories  in  height,  hut  in  the  Insurance  Exchange  a  very 
successful  endeavor  is  manifest  to  diminish  the  extreme  height  of  the 
building  by  grouping  the  stories  together.  The  basement  is  of  stone. 
The  first  story  has  simple  round  arches  and  plain  piers;  the  two 
stories  alxjve  are  treated  as  one,  the  piers  being  carried  up  through, 
with  panelled  backs  between  the  stories.  Then  follows  a  single 
story,  and  above  that  are  four  stories  grouped  across  the  front  in 
three  divisions,  and  finally,  the  upper  story  is  treated  by  itself,  and  a 
simple  projecting  cornice  and  parapet  crowns  the  whole.  The 
corners  are  very  emphatically  marked  by  wide  piers,  a  scheme  which 
we  should  fancy  would  meet  with  sharp  opposition  from  real-estate 
agents,  but  which  somehow,  seems  to  be  very  often  adopted  in  Chi- 
cago buildings.  Nothing  can  give  so  much  character  and  dignity  to 
a  building  as  such  treatment.  The  lack  in  most  ollice-buildings  is 
in  wall-spaces.  Of  course,  it  is  impossible  to  have  much  of  this 
where  so  much  light  is  required,  but  by  massing  the  wall-spaces  in  four 
broad  piers,  as  has  been  done  in  the  Insurance  Exchange,  a  very  pleas- 
ing effect  is  obtained  without  any  real  sacrifice  of  light  to  the  interior. 
The  corners  of  the  buildings  are  further  marked  by  Iwld  turrets, 
which  recall  the  work  on  the  apsis  of  the  Albi  Cathedral,  and  are 
very  satisfactory  in  effect.  A  very  clever  device  is  adopted  in  the 
spandrels  above  the  eighth-story  windows  and  on  the  walls  of  the 
attic.  The  brickwork  is  laid  with  very  strongly  marked  horizontal 
lines  formed  by  projecting  every  alterate  course  of  brick,  so  that  the 
effect  is  to  give  an  appearance  of  a  different  texture  to  the  wall, 
though  the  material  is,  of  course,  the  same.  As  the  height  is  so 
great  above  the  ground,  one  cannot  see  the  coarseness  of  the  device, 
and  the  result  is  only  a  pleasing  appearance,  similar  to  that  of  the 
rough-surface  paper  on  which  artists  so  delight  in  making  water- 
colors.  This  gives  a  very  decided  character  to  the  building,  and  by 
carrying  these  lines  up  to  the  arches  above  the  eighth  and  ninth 
stories,  the  circular-topped  motives  are  brought  out  and  made  to 
show  for  all  they  are  worth.  The  whole  design  is  admirably 
balanced,  and  the  effect  of  color  is  quite  pleasing,  though  one  is 
tempted  to  question  whether  the  building  would  not  have  been  far 
brighter  and  pleasanter  if  the  sashes  had  Men  painted  white  instead 
of  black.  The  problem  is  thoroughly  handled,  and  the  scale  of  the 
building  carefully  preserved.  It  is  large  and  high  but  not  feeble, 
and  solid  and  substantial  without  being  clumsy.  The  interior  of 


90 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News.     [VoL.  XXIIL  — No.  635. 


this  building  is  not  at  all  good.  It  is  dark,  with  some  very  bad  scag- 
liola  in  the  vestibule,  quite  in  contrast  to  its  neighbor  the  Home 
Building. 

The  Opera  House-Building  is  an  exceedingly  practical  building; 
in  fact,  it  is  nothing  but  a  big  box,  pierced  with  square  holes.  It  is 
said  to  be  very  well  built,  and  is  certainly  very  satisfactory  in  ar- 
rangement, but  one  cannot  but  wish  it  were  treated  in  a  more  artistic 
manner. 

Buruham  &  Root,  who  are  among  the  most  progressive  architects 
in  the  city,  have  twice  attempted  a  feature  of  exterior  design  which 
is  certainly  interesting,  though  it  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  successful. 
In  the  Rialto  Building,  as  well  as  in  a  small  structure  opposite  it  on 
Pacific  Avenue,  the  exterior  walls  are  built  with  a  pronounced  batter 
or  are  diminished  by  external  offsets,  becoming  visibly  thinner  and 
lighter  as  they  ascend.  This  is,  of  course,  a  mere  trick,  and  is  by  no 
means  an  essential  element  of  character  in  design.  A  building  to  be 


JiBM ALLERS-0  mCL-BUILDiNG-  E- 


truthful  in  character  need  not  show  all  it  has,  nor  exhibit  every  de- 
tail of  its  construction,  and  although  in  these  two  buildings  the  archi- 
tects have  made  a  great  deal  of  the  scheme  attempted,  the  result 
does  not  seem  to  justify  the  means.  The  gri-atest  wonder  in  our 
mind  is  how  Burnham  &  Root  ever  persuaded  a  client  to  sacrifice 
the  amount  of  office-room  implied  by  such  a  device. 
_  The  Rookery  Building  is,  all  things  considered,  the  most  satis- 
factory of  the  ChiCMO  office-buildings.  A  great  deal  can  be  said 
against  it,  but  there  is  so  much  that  is  good  in  detail,  that  it  easily 
holds  its  place  as  the  best  designed  structure  of  its  kind.  It  is  built 
entirely  of  brick,  a  favorite  material  with  the  Chicago  builders  but 
unfortunately  (we  say  "  unfortunately  "  advisedly)  the  brick  is  a'dark 
chocolate  color.  Had  the  same  forms  been  followed  in  the  stron- 
cherry  tones  of  the  Insurance  Exchange,  which  is  directly  opposite 
the  Rookery  we  believe  the  results  would  have  been  much  more 
pleasing.  The  lower  story  of  the  Rookery  is  built  of  very  dark 
granite,  with  heavy  piers  alternating  with  polished  shafts  of  dark 
speckled  granite  Or  marble.  All  above  the  first  story  is  of  brick  and 
terracotta.  The  grouping  is,  first,  two  stories  together ;  then  a  wide 
string-course;  then  three  stories  with  round  arches  at  the  top-  then 

u  nee,  m°re,  stories  with  similar  arches-  Ab°ve  this  is  a  wide  cor- 
belled band,  and  an  attic  story  with  square  openings.  In  detail  the 
work  recalls  the  Spanish-Moorish  brickwork,  though  a  considerable 
Romanesque  feeling  is  introduced  into  the  style.  The  piers  are 
rounded  throughout  the  corners  of  the  building  are  rounded;  the 
archivolts  are  rounded,  and  the  round-arch  feelino-  predominates  in 


the  whole  design ;  but  in  the  diaper-work  and  in  the  details,  in  the 
outlines,  in  the  turrets  which  mark  the  corners,  no  less  than  in  the 
wide  projected  bays  over  the  entrance  is  there  a  strong  Moorish  feel- 
ing. The  detail  is  coarse,  rather  too  coarse,  it  seems  to  us,  but  per- 
haps not  so  when  we  consider  its  relations  to  the  whole  enormous 
bulk  of  the  building.  Delicate  detail  would  be  impossible  in  such 
relations,  and  although  the  crudity  of  some  of  the  work  grates  on  one 
at  first,  it  may  be  questioned  whether  it  is  not,  after  all,  in  keeping 
with  the  rest  of  the  building.  Certainly,  the  design  is  handled  in  a 
masterly  way  in  spite  of  the  enormous  size  to  be  treated.  The  en- 
trances are  well  wrought  out,  with  good  lines  and  just  enough  emphasis 
to  make  them  central  features,  without  unduly  pronouncing  their  inde- 
pendence from  the  rest  of  the  design.  If  the  same  design  were  car- 
ried out  in  stone,  it  would  be  overpowering.  In  brick  even,  it  is 
massive,  ponderous  and  imposing,  in  spite  of  petty  details  and  sharp, 
crude  carving.  It  is  a  design  which  grows  on  one,  immensely,  and 
has  the  advantage  of  showing  up  well  at  all  points.  One  would  wish 
the  lintels  over  the  lower  bays  were  more  massive,  and  more  depth 
would,  perhaps,  be  better  for  the  arches  above.  The  building  looks 
somewhat  as  if  it  needed  more  height,  and  had  been  intended  to  be 
higher,  but  had  been  crowded  down,  and  the  arches  rather  squeezed 
in  between  the  stories.  It  is  always  a  difficult  problem  to  work  in 
round  arches  of  such  span  as  is  necessitated  in  a  building  of  this 
kind,  especially  when  the  height  of  stories  is  kept  so  nearly  "the  same 
throughout,  and  the  arch  is  obliged  to  cut  into  the  windows ;  and  the 


"W  C.  l**t<*t.  Oil. 

OFFICE  BUILDING  FOR  L.  P.   HANSEN— JOHN  ADD1SON,  Architect,  Chicago. 

effect,  especially  in  the  sixth  story  arches  is  as  if  there  were  not  quite 
breathing-room  enough,  as  if  the  arches  had  settled  down  and  should 
have  been  broader  and  wider  in  their  spring. 

All  the  buildings  are  not  so  successful  "as  the  Rookery,  either  in 
mass  or  detail.  We  present  with  this,  two  buildings,  the  Mailer 
Building,  remarkable  for  its  extreme  height  of  thirteen  stories  on  the 
street,  which  is  rendered  even  more  pronounced  by  the  multiplicity 
of  vertical  lines  and  the  long  bay  on  the  corner.  Also  the  building 
for  L.  P.  Hansen  on  Dearborn  Street,  by  Mr.  Addison,  a  very  clever 
bit  of  work  in  a  style  which  apparently  has  not  found  much  favor 
with  the  more  recent  office-builders,  a  semi-colonial  or  classic  style. 

All  the  foregoing  buildings  are  the  work  of  Chicago  architects.  "  In 
marked  contrast  to  these  is  the  recently  erected  buildinn-  for  Mar- 
shall Field  &  Company,  from  the  design  of  H.  H.  Richardson,  a 
simple,  quiet,  unassuming  structure,  looking  like  a  little  Quaker  in 
its  simplicity,  being  contrasted  with  the  gorgeous,  overpowering 
buildings  all  around  it,  but  none  the  less  pleasing  and  satisfactory 
for  itself.  Then  there  is  the  Board  of  Trade  Building  a  more  or 
less  satisfactory  structure  of  which  there  has  been  very  unfavorable 
comment  at  times,  but  which  has  a  great  deal  of  grandeur  in  effect ; 
and,  besides,  there  are  very  numerous  office-buildings  scattered  all 
over  the  city,  the  mere  enumeration  of  which  would  take  up  more 
space  than  is  at  our  disposal.  The  buildings  we  have  considered, 
however,  will  serve  to  illustrate  the  present  condition  of  the  work  in 
Chicago.  It  is  but  fair  to  say  that  there  has  been,  as  yet,  no  real 
style  developed.  Each  building  is  a  law  unto  itself,  and  no  architect 


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FEBRUARY  25,  1888.]  TJie    American    Architect   and  Building   News. 


91 


seems  to  feel  called  upon  to  follow  even  his  own  precedent,  either  in 
tin-  choice  of  design  or  the  character  of  the  detail.  There  seems  to 
l>c,  throughout,  a  restless  striving  after  originally;  a  seeking  for 
striking  effects,  which,  while  interesting,  is  not  always  good,  and  gen- 
erally serves  to  belittle  the  character  of  the  architecture.  But  the 
mass  of  these  buildings  is  generally  good.  The  problems  attacked 
have  been  met  openly ;  there  has  been  no  dodging,  no  avoiding  of 
necessities,  no  striving  to  work-in  blind  stories  or  false  pediments, 
and  the  ideas  adopted  have  been  worked  out  to  final  conclusions  as 
far  as  was  consistent  with  the  circumstances;  so  that  with  all  these 
buildings  there  is  evidence  of  mental  activity.  The  chief  faults  lie 
in  the  details.  The  ideas  are  good,  but  the  Chicago  architects  will 
pardon  the  suggestion  that  the  designs  sometimes  seem  to  call  for 
more  careful  study ;  that  there  is  a  lack,  possibly  intentionally,  of 
delicacy  in  the  treatment.  The  designs  are  handled  with  too  free  a 
hand.  Still,  with  all  the  life  and  vigor  and  thought  which  has  been 
manifested,  one  cannot  wonder  at  the  crudity  of  some  of  the  ideas, 
and  the  coarseness  of  some  of  the  details.  It  is  far  better  to  be  bold, 
even  to  brutality  in  treatment,  than  to  be  refined  to  weakness. 
There  is  always  hope  from  such  vigorous,  architectural  life  as  is  here 
displayed,  and  these  noble  buildings  demonstrate  Chicago's  claim  to 
an  honorable  position  ii 


position  in  the  national  art-life. 


C.  H.  BI.ACKALL. 


[Contributors  are-requested  to  send  with  their  drawings  full  and 
adequate  descriptions  of  the  buildings,  including  a  statement  ofcost.~\ 

WESTMINSTER     PALACE.      AFTER   AN     ETCHING    BY   FELIX     BUIIOT. 

[Gelatine  Print  issued  only  with  Gelatine  and  Imperial  editions.] 
IIFIIB  imposing  river  front  of  Sir  Charles  Barry's  greatest  work 
JJI*  has  been  etched  by  other  hands  beside  those  of  M.  Buhot.  His 
print  ranks  in  size  (our  copy  is  about  six  inches  shorter  than 
the  original)  between  Whistler's  small  plate  of  "  Westminster  Bridge  " 
and  Air.  David  Law's  large  etching  of  the  Houses  of  Parliament. 
While  not  equal  in  the  highest  artistic  qualities  to  the  former,  it  is  a 
strong,  assured  and  effective  piece  and  much  nearer  allied  to  the 
work  of  Whistler  than  of  Law.  In  this,  as  in  others  of  his  etchings, 
Buhot  has  surrounded  the  central  picture  with  a  margin  of  fanciful 
sketches  which  on  a  little  careful  inspection  are  seen  to  bear  a  sympa- 
thetic relation  to  the  subject.  Among  them  we  recognize  the  West- 
minster Column  ;  the  statue  of  Lord  Beaeonsfield  in  Parliament 
Square;  and  various  "bits"  relating  to  the  state,  the  city  and  the 
church.  There  are  the  arms  of  England  and  the  Speaker's  mace ; 
the  Lord  Mayor's  coach  and  state  barge,,  with  two  or  three  London 
sparrows;  and  a  kneeling  female  figure  which  suggests  Elizabeth 
Woodville,  Queen  of  Edward  IV,  taking  refuge  in  the  Abbey 
Sanctuary. 

Buhot  was  born  some  forty  years  ago  at  Valognes  in  Normandy,  a 
quaint  old  town  once  both  wealthy  and  busy,  attributes  which  it  has 
long  since  lost.  He  studied  under  two  teachers  of  the  first  rank, 
both  more  renowned  for  their  pupils  than  for  their  own  works  —  first, 
Lecocq  de  Boisbandran,  the  master  of  Lherniitte,  of  Fantin-Latour, 
of  Legros,  and  of  Guillaume  Ilegamey ;  second,  Gaucherel,  who 
taught  such  etchers  as  Itajon,  Courtry  and  Lalauze.  He  has  never 
sought  for  his  work  any  oflicial  endorsement  which  we  believe  in  his 
case  has  been  limited  to  a  third-class  medal,  received  in  1880.  He 
is  independent  and  modest,  which  together  with  the  fact  that  his 
work  requires  some  study  before  it  can  be  fully  appreciated,  has 
probably  prevented  his  name  and  productions  from  being  as  widely 
known  as  they  should  be.  For  it  is  still  true  that  the  most  popular 
art  is  the  shallowest.  Buhot  served  through  the  Franco-Prussian 
War  under  General  Chanzy,  and  afterwards  taught  drawing  at  Paris 
in  the  College  Rollin,  until  having  introduced  some  innovation  in 
teaching  not  approved  by  the  governing  professors  he  abandoned 
this  and  relied  only  on  his  own  work  for  support. 

M.  Philippe  Burty  in  a  recent  article,  speaks  of  some  plates  which 
Buhot  etched  from  Japanese  objects  in  his  [Burty 's]  collection  and 
compares  them  favorably  with  the  work  of  Jules  Jacquemart,  whom 
Hainerton  has  called  "the  most  marvellous  etcher  of  still  life  who 
rvcr  existed  in  the  world."  Buhot  has  also  etched,  from  his  own 
designs,  illustrations  for  several  of  the  novels  of  M.  Barbey  d'  Aure- 
villy,  one  or  two  portraits,  some'cups  and  vases  made  by  the  gold- 
smiths Froment-Meurice  and  Christophle  and  reproduced  several 
pictures  by  other  artists.  But  the  great  bulk  of  his  work  is  from 
Nature —  studies  of  donkeys  or  geese,  scenes  of  Parisian  street-life, 
landscapes  in  his  native  Normandy  and  some  English  subjects  —  on 
the  Thames  and  at  Folkestore  or  at  Hastings.  His  etchings  are 
powerful  and  expressive  and  show  a  keen  eye  for  beautv  in  Nature 
and  character  in  people.  He  uses  all  the  resources  of  tb.e  etcher  in 
his  plates  and  makes  many  changes,  the  last  states  generally  being 
an  improvement  on  the  first.  He  controls  all  his  plates  and  is  an  en- 
thusiast on  the  subject  of  paper,  printing  and  proofs.  Those  he 
thinks  the  best  he  stamps  with  his  device  —  an  owl  between  the 
initials  F.  and  B.,  in  red.  The  proof  from  which  our  reproduction 
is  t;iken  licars  this  device,  with  Buhot's  signature.  An  exhibition  of 
ctrliin^  and  drawings  by  this  painter-etcher  is  now  open  at  the  gal- 
lery of  Messrs.  F.  Keppel  &  Co.,  of  New  York,  to  whose  kindness 


we   are   indebted   for   permission  to  reproduce   the   "  Westminster 
Palace." 

FOWEY   UOCK    LIGHT-HOUSE. 

FOR  description  sec  article  on  "Ancient  and  Modern  Light-houses" 
elsewhere  in  this  issue. 

THE  UNITED  STATES  COURT-HOUSE  ANI>  POST-OFFICE,  WILLIAMS- 
PORT,  PA.  MR.  W.  A.  FltEKKT,  SUPERVISING  ARCHITECT,  WASH- 
INGTON, D.  C. 

Y.    M.    C.    A.    BUILDING,    SAN     DIEGO,    CAL.        MR.     ERNEST    A.    COX- 
HEAD,    ARCHITECT,    LOS    ANGELES,   CAL. 

THE  estimated  cost  of  this  building  is  $60,000. 

STORE    FOR    MESSRS.    DE   COSTER    4    CLARK,    ST.    PAUL,    MINN.      MR. 
J.   W.    STEVENS,    ARCHITECT,    ST.    PAUL,    MINN. 

STORE      FOR     MR.     M.    E.    MAYALL,     ST.      PAUL,     MINN.        MR.    J.    W. 
8TF.VEN8,    ARCHITECT,    ST.    PAUL,    MINN. 

CHRIST     CHURCH,     HERKIMER,    N.    Y.        MH.    R.    W.    GIBSON',    ARCHI- 
TECT,  ALBANY,   N.    Y. 


SOME  GENERAL  OBSERVATIONS  ON  THE  STRENGTH 
AND  STABILITY  OF    MASONRY.  — I. 


fl 


ERETOFORE  experimental  investigation,  into  the  strength  of 
building  stones,  cements  and  mortars,  has  been  directed  chiefly 
to  the  determination  of  the  ultimate  resistance  under  tensile  or 
compressive  stresses,  neglecting  for  the  most  part  observations  on 
the  compressibility  of  the  material.  This  has  been  a  very  important 
omission,  for  without  knowledge  of  the  behavior  of  the  component 
parts  under  stress,  it  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  so  proportion  a 
structure  that  each  part  shall  carry  its  share  of  the  load,  and  the  re- 
sult generally  reached  is  that  some  parts  are  seriously  overstrained 
while  there  is  a  corresponding  understraining  elsewhere.  Examples 
of  this  kind  are  of  frequent  occurrence  in  architectural  work,  and  the 
unequal  distribution  of  stresses  are  made  manifest  by  the  develop- 
ment of  visible  defects  to  such  an  extent  that  it  is  difficult  to  choose 


The   American   Architect   and  Building   JVewt>.      [VOL.  XXI J I.  —  No.  635. 


wliich  are  perfect  specimens  of  successful  photography;  the  view 
of  the  chancel  and  the  interior  of  the  great  tower  looking  upwards 
being  especially  notable. 

There  are  two  plates  which  will  attract  most  attention,  one  the 
portrait  of  Mr.  Richardson,  who  is  here  shown  in  what  looks  like  a 
disguise  for  a  fancy-dress  ball,  but  wliich  those  who  know  the  semi- 
invalid  condition  against  which  he  so  long  struggled,  and  also  recall 
the  eager  and  nipping  airs  that  drew  through  his  great  study  and  its 
adjoining  work-rooms,  will  recognize  as  a  hooded  dressing-gown  from 
which  he  extracted  much  solid  comfort.  It  has  all  the  effect  of  in- 
tention, however  ;  as  if  feeling  that  he  was  working  in  the  same  direc- 
tion and  along  the  lines  of  the  old  monkish  freemason,  he  had  come 
to  believe  that  if  clad  as  they  were,  he  could  better  understand  how 
they  would  solve  the  problem  before  him,  and  so  secure  that  con- 
sistency for  which  he  always  strove.  The  great  emphatic  autograph 
below  is  full  of  character,  and  scales  with  the  man.  The  grim  face 
and  the  set  mouth  give  a  hint  of  the  spirit  which  rode  down  all 
obstacles  animate  and  inanimate  that  stood  in  his  way.  One  feels 
that  this  is  the  architect,  the  builder,  but  it  gives  no  glimpse  of  the 
man  whose  social  powers  and  bonhommie  made  him  the  most  enter- 
taining of  hosts,  the  most  amusing  of  acquaintances. 

The  other  plate  which  attracts  attention  is  the  colored  print  of  the 
building  from  the  east,  the  view  which  is  most  typical  and  most 
satisfying.  As  a  piece  of  color-printing  it  is  a  most  successful  and 
accurate  work,  and  adds  immensely  to  the  value  of  the  work  by  ex- 
hibiting truthfully  the  colors  of  the  materials  used  in  the  building. 
If  the  same  process  could  have  been  applied  to  some  of  the  interior 
views,  the  gain  would  have  been  great :  that  it  was  not,  could  not 
have  been  because  of  any  shortcomings  in  the  possibilities  of  the  pro- 
cess, but  because  the  publishers  were  unwilling  to  make  the  work  so 
expensive  as  to  be  out  of  reach  of  those  who  only  carry  modest  purses. 
It  gives  one  a  shock  to  find  on  the  title-page  Mr.  Gambrill's  name 
as  architect  with  Mr.  Richardson,  whose  name  alone  has  for  many 
years  been  associated  with  the  building,  and  we  cannot  help  feeling 
that  he  was  spared  many  a  pang  by  not  living  long  enough  to  discover 
how  completely  it  was  forgotten  that  he  had  ever  had  anything  at  all 
to  do  with  the  church.  We  have  heard  it  whispered  that  Mr.  Gam- 
brill's  untimely  death  was,  in  some  degree,  brought  about  by  his 
chagrin  at  finding  his  partner  was  in  the  public  mind  more  in- 
timately associated  with  the  work  done  by  the  firm  than  he  felt  was 
just  and  proper.  However  this  may  be,  we  are  glad  that,  through 
what  would  have  been  an  excusable  piece  of  carelessness,  Mr.  Gam- 
brill's  name  was  not  forgotten. 


THE  worthiness  of  Philibert  de  1'Orme1  to  occupy  a  portion  in 
the  heirarchy  of  great  architects,  must  now  be  taken  a  great  deal 
upon  faith.  His  contemporaries  speak  of  him  as  the  equal  of 
the  great  Italians  of  the  Renaissance  period ;  and  although  he  con- 
stituted himself  their  rival,  and  was  a. thorough  chauvin,  there  is  no 
reason  to  doubt  the  justness  of  contemporary  opinion.  Indeed, 
the  fragments  of  his  work  which  remain,  prove  the  judgment  of  his 
friends  to  have  been  correct.  Unfortunately,  very  little  remains. 
The  Tuileries  was  partially  destroyed  by  the  Communists,  and  party 
feeling  has  caused  the  ruins  to  be  pulled  down.  "However  much  we 
may  sympathize  with  the  desire  of  the  French  Republic  to  destroy 
all  the  remains  of  former  despotisms,  we  cannot  but  feel  that  the  de- 
struction of  a  palace  will  not  prevent  the  return  of  a  monarch. 
Plenty  of  suitable  lodgings  remain  for  the  sovereign  should  he  ever 
want  them.  The  pulling  down  of  the  ruins  of  the  Tuileries  was  the 
action  of  carping  vandals  —  as  well  might  they  destroy  Versailles, 
the  Trianon,  Pierrefonds  and  even  the  Louvre,  for  they  were  all 
built  by  despots,  and  architecturally,  they  do  not  possess  the  merits 
of  the  Tuileries.  That  the  latter  was  too  much  wrecked  to  be  re- 
built is  far  from  the  fact  —  it  was  no  more  so,  than  many  other  build- 
ings ;  and  had  it  been  restored,  it  would  have  put  an  end  to  the  end- 
less discussions  as  to  what  to  put  in  its  place.  A  new  building  would 
not  be  in  harmony  with  the  Louvre ;  and  without  a  building,  the 
Louvre  looks  mean,  isolated  as  it  is  in  so  much  space.  The  Champs 
Elysees  and  the  Louvre  are  not  in  a  direct  line,  and  now  that  the  old 
palace  is  gone,  this  defect  is  only  too  evident  — •  this  probably  is  the 
reason  that  the  whole  space  is  still  occupied  by  shanties  such  as 
I  imagine  might  be  seen  in  a  new  squatting  in  the  far  West.  But 
patriotism  seems  sometimes  to  run  away  with  taste  and  artistic  feel- 
ing, and  common  sense;  and,  consequently,  if  you  want  to  study 
Philibert  de  1'Orme's  building,  you  must  go  to  the'Trocadero  Garden, 
where  you  will  find  two  doorways  —  all  that  has  been  preserved. 
Monseiur  Vachon  claims  for  French  artists,  many  of  the  buildings 
hitherto  forming  the  reputation  of  the  Italians ;  and  he  considers  de 
1'Orme's  great  merit  to  have  been,  raising  the.  character  of  French 
art;  that  is  to  say,  Frenchifying  the  Italian  Renaissance.  Thus  M. 
Vachon :  "  Toutes  les  grande*  w.uvres  architecturales,  toutes  les  mer- 
veilles  d'art,  dont  elle  (la  Renaissance)  a  counerl  notre  pays,  elaient 
a/tribuees  presque  excluxii-ement  aux  artistes  Italiens  ijue  Charles  VII f, 
Louis  XII  el  Francois  I  avaient  amends  en  France.  Vignole  ai-ait 
btiti  C/iambord,  qui  est  de  Trinque.au  et  Jean  Marchand  ;  Giocundo, 
Gail/on,  I'oeuvre  collective,  incontestee  aujourd'hui,  de  Guillaume 
Senault,  Pierre  Fain,  Pierre  Delorme  ;  le  Dominique  de  Cortone,  dit 
le  Boccador,  recenait  exclusivement  tons  leu  houneurs  de  la  construction 
de ^  I'Hotel-de-  Ville  de  Paris,  que  j'ai  tente  de  reslituer  a  ce  glorieux 
me'connu,  Pierre  Chambiges.  A  Serlio  nous  devions  Fontainebleau  et 

'Lea  Artistes  Ctlebres,  Philibert  de  I'Orme,  par  Marius  Vachon:  Rouam,  Paris. 


Saittt-Gcrmain-en-Liti/e,  dont  les  vraix  nrrf/i/i  <•/.•<  .«<;///  i-.i-  inf.nti-  Cluiiii- 
biyes  et  flilles  le  Breton." 

Philibert  de  I'Orme  was  born  about  the  year  1515.  He  styles  him- 
self "Lyonnoil,"  and  puts  this,  his  birthplace,  before  his  honorary 
titles  of  "  Conseiller  et.  Ausntiinirr  <In  fi-u  my,  i/'afilie  de  saint  Him/  tie 
Noyon."  His  father  sent  him  to  Italy  when  very  young  to  study  the 
great  masters'  works  :  and  at  Rome  he  seems  to  have  entered  tin:  Pope's 
service  for  a  time;  but  in  1530  Cardinal  du  Bellay  made  him  return 
to  France,  and  he  began  building  for  General  de  Bretaigne  in  Lyons. 
A  document  discovered  in  1858  in  the  Bibliotlieque  Nationale  in- 
forms us  that  he  was  named  architect  to  the  king,  and  in  this 
capacity  he  seems  to  have  been  engaged  in  inspecting  the  fortresses 
of  Brittany.  Curiously  enough,  he  not  only  found  the  castles  and 
fortifications  wanting  repair,  but  the  finances  in  confusion,  and  he  set 
to  work  to  put  both  in  order.  Nor  was  he  wanting  in  energy, 
diligence  and  vanity ;  for  according  to  his  own  account,  had  it  not 
been  for  him,  the  English  would  have  taken  Brest.  As  it  was  he 
mounted  all  the  available  artillery,  and  painted  false  guns  on  the 
ramparts  to  deceive  the  enemy;  he  got  together  some  of  the  in- 
habitants as  false  soldiers,  and  setting  up  pikes  without  men,  thus 
frightened  away  the  enemy. 

In  1548  he  was  nominated  Inspector  of  the  Royal  Palaces,  and  was 
given  the  revenues  of  several  abbeys.  But  his  natural  pride,  his 
vanity  and  his  love  of  reform;  his  rigid  honesty,  his  avarice  and  his 
desire  to  prove  his  contemporaries  guilty  of  robbing  the  State  gained 
him  many  enemies  in  spite  of  the  protection  of  the  king  and  his 
favorite,  Diane  de  Poitiers.  Bernard  Palissy  spoke  of  him  as  "  u» 
architects  francoys  qui  se  fnisnit  quasi  appeler  le  Uien  di-s  m/ii-ons  ou 
architectes,  et  d'autant  qu  'il  possedoit  vint  mil  (livres)  en  benefices  et 
qu  'il  se  scavoit  bien  accommoder  d  la  Cour."  The  first  volume  of  de 
1'Orme's  "Architecture"  is  full  of  laments  about  the  calumnies  of 
which  he  was  victim,  and  the  cabals  that  were  formed  against  him. 
He  justifies  his  possession  of  ecclesiastical  revenues  as  being  payment 
for  his  work  and  what  he  had  laid  out  upon  it.  But  if  he  were 
scandalized,  he  knew  how  to  revenge  himself.  Upon  almost  every 
page  of  his  "Architecture"  are  the  most  bitter  allusions  to  his  con- 
temporaries, who  "  as  draughtsman  of  plans,  mostly  knew  not  how  to 
draw  them,"  "si  ce  n'est  par  I'ayde  et  moyen  ties  peinctres,  qui  les 
scavent  plus  tost  bienfarder,  laver,  ombrager  et  colorer,  que  bien  faire 
et  ordonner  avecques  toutes  leurs  mesures."  And,  carried  away  by 
his  anger  and  his  convictions,  he  devoted  the  last  chapter  of  his  book 
to  a  psychological  study  of  a  true  and  a  false  architect,  with  cari- 
catures drawn  by  his  own  hand.  M.  Vachon  reproduces  the  plate 
of  the  good  architect,  which  resembles  some  of  the  allegorial  cuts  of 
Albert  Du'rer  in  style. 

©n  the  death  of  Henri  II,  de  I'Orme  fell  into  disgrace.  Robbed  of 
the  patronage  of  Diane  de  Poitiers,  he  lost  his  Inspectorship  of  Royal 
Buildings,  and  had  the  mortification  of  seeing  Primaticcio  put  into  his 
place;  but  the  ecclesiastical  benefices  he  seems  to  have  kept  until 
his  death  in  1570,  wliich  took  place  in  his  house  in  the  cloisters  of 
Notre  Dame,  Paris,  of  wliich  he  was  a  canon. 

The  project  of  erecting  a  palace,  "des  Tuileries,"  was  conceived 
by  Francois  I,  but  the  idea  was  not  carried  out  until  after  his  death. 
Catherine  de'Medici  entrusted  the  work  to  Philibert  de  I'Orme,  but 
she  seems  herself  to  have  made  certain  saggestions  to  the  architect. 
Desiring  as  she  did.  to  have  a  building  which  would  be  the  direct 
opposite  to  the  sombre  fortresses  of  the  Louvre  and  the  Tournelles, 
her  idea  was  to  surround  it  with  gardens,  and  to  make  it  picturesque. 
De  1'Orme  chose  the  Ionic  Order,  because  he  says  "il  estfeminin  et-a 
este  invente  apres  les  proportions  et  ornements  des  Dames  et  Deesses, 
ainsi  que  le  Dorique  des  liommes,  comme  m'otit  appris  les  anciens ; 
car  quand  Us  vouloient  faire  un  temple  a  quelque  Dieu,  Us  y  emploient 
I'ordre  Dorique  et  a  une  deesse  le  lonique."  Where  de  I'Orme  learned 
this  we  cannot  tell,  as  a  very  limited  study  of  the  work  of  the 
"  ancients  "  proves  the  fallacy.  To  go  no  farther  than  Athens,  the 
Parthenon  (the  temple  of  Athena)  is  Doric ;  but  doubtless  study  of 
the  antique  in  Philibert's  time  was  confined  to  Rome  and  a  few 
other  Italian  towns.  However  that  may  be,  he  considers  the  Ionic 
"  delicat  et  de  plus  i/rande  beaute  que  le  Dorique  et  plus  orne  et  enriclti/ 
de  sinr/ularitez."  Certainly  these  qualities  may  have  fitted  it  to  be 
the  style  of  a  palace  built  for  Catherine  de'Medici,  especially  its 
singularity.  But  the  Queen's  Florentine  tastes-  desired  that  the 
palace  should  be  a  mass  of  marbles  and  incrustations,  and  no  doubt 
had  it  been  finished  by  de  I'Orme  it  would  have  equalled  some  of  the 
Italian  palaces  of  the  period,  for  the  plan  of  it  left  by  du  Cerccau, 
shows  the  grandiose  scale  upon  which  it  was  to  be  built.  The 
original  design  for  the  central  pavilion  was  a  sexagonal  attic  support- 
ing a  dome.  This  was  never  carried  out,  de  1'Orme's  building  only 
being  partially  finished  at  his  death,  when  it  was  committed  to  Bul- 
lant,  Lemercier,  Levau  and  d'Orbay  in  succession,  who  all  of  them 
modified  the  original  designs ;  the  last  architect  replacing  the  beauti- 
ful staircase  with  a  commonplace  one  with  a  balustrade  decorated 
with  the  emblems  of  Louis  XIV. 

But  de  1'Orme's  greatest  work  was  the  Chateau  d'Anet,  built  for 
Diane  de  Poitiers.  Possessing  an  immense  fortune  and  being  a 
woman  of  taste,  she  desired  the  building  to  be  original,  grand  and 
noble.  Moreover,  being  the  rival  of  the  queen,  she  wished  to  out-do 
the  latter's  new  palace  in  magnificence  and  toeiect  a  building  which 
should  be  purely  French.  This  being  so,  what  more  natural  than 
that  she  should  endeavor  to  carry  off  the  queen's  architect. 

The  plan  of  the  chateau  shows  a  central  building  surrounded  by 
gardens,  terraces,  and  out-buildings,  including  a  chapel  and  hotel 


FEURVAHY  2o,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


95 


<//''  '/.  the  wlmlc  enclosed  liy  a  moat  anil  external  wall?.   The  entrance 
w:is  a  triiini|>li:il  arch,  in  the  tympanum  of  wliich  was  the  celebrated 
bronze  group  of  Diana  and  the  Stags,  by  Henvenuto  Cellini,  whic 
was  exeontM  by  order  of  Francois  1  for  Fontaincblcafl,  and  after 
wards  taken  to  the  chateau  d'Anet  by  Henri  II  at  the  instigation  o 
Diane  de  Poitiers.     This  alto-relief,  now  in  the  Renaissance  Muscui 
of  the    Louvre,   and   called   the   "  Nymph   of  Fontainebleau,"^wa 
placed  in  1806  above  the  gallery  by  Jean  Goujon,  at  the  entrance  o 
the  Salle  des  Caryatides  of  the  Museum.    In  1846  it  was  taken  down 
and  replaced  by  a  east,  which  still  remains.     At  the  angles  of  th 
arch,  on  cadi  side  of  the  "  Diane,"  were  two  Fates  in  bronze,  alse 
by  Cellini,  while  at  the  sides  of  the  niches  were  bronze  heads  o 
winged  cupids.     The  following  inscription  was  placed  upon  a  blacl 
marble  tablet  above  the  door : 

Pluebo  sacrata  est  nlmtr  domn*  ampin  Dianaa 
Veruin  auceptn  cui  cuncta  Diunn  refeit. 

On  the  facade  of  the  chateau  we  read  another  inscription,  whic] 
.shows  a  curious  trait  in  the  morals  of  the  sixteenth  century : 

Brmzeo  hsec  statuit  pergratn  Diana  marito 
Ut  dint  in  n:i  sill  siut  uiouumeuln  viri. 

For  what  was  Diane  "  reconnaissante  a  son  mart  tie  Rrize" 
This  facade  was  destroyed  in  1799-1810,  but  a  portion  of  it  was 
saved  by  Alexandre  Lenoir  and  placed  in  the  Mused  des  Petits 
Augustins,  may  now  be  seen  in  the  court-yard  of  the  ficoledes  Beaux 
Arts,  which  occupies  the  same  site.  De  1'Orme,  with  his  usua 
vanity,  speaks  of  his  work  thus:  "J'ay  fait  faire  au  chateau  d"Anne> 

entn-  />!i  sii  </;•.<  Mies  ceuvrei ,"  and  then  lie  enumerates  his  severa 

works.  The  chapel,  which  is  domical,  and  a  remarkably  beautifu 
example  of  French  Renaissance,  with  one  wing  of  the  chateau,  is  all 
that  remains  of  the  splendid  building.  The  chapel  was  restored  b) 
Caristie  in  1844. 

Another  of  de  POrme's  famous  buildings  was  the  Chateau  de  Saint- 
Muiir-les-Fosse's,  belonging  to  the  Cardinal  du  Bellay,  bishop  ol 
Paris.  This,  too,  has  disappeared  —  it  was  destroyed  before  the 
Revolution.  Engravings  from  the  artist's  book  on  "  Architecture" 
of  this,  the  chateau  d'Anet  and  the  Tuileries,  with  plans,  are  all 
reproduced  in  M.  Vachon's  book. 

But  there  is  one  of  de  I'Orme's  works  which  can  be  studied  in  all 
its  original  beauty,  viz.,  the  monument  of  Francois  I  at  St.  Denis, 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  tombs  of  the  Renaissance.  The  monument 
is  of  the  form  of  a  triumphal  arch,  with  Ionic  columns  supporting  a 
platform,  upon  which  are  kneeling  figures  of  the  king,  Claude,  his 
wife,,  and  three  children.  Underneath  the  arch  is  a  sarcophagus, 
upon  which  repose  the  figures  of  Fran9ois  and  Claude,  while  all 
around  the  lower  part  are  bas-reliefs  by  Pierre  Bontemps,  represent- 
ing the  various  campaigns  carried  on  by  the  king.  De  1'Orme  was 
assisted  in  this  work  by  other  sculptors  besides  Bontemps — Germain 
Pilon,  Ponce  Jacquiand,  Franc,oys  Mart-hand,  Ambroise  Perret, 
Jacques  Cliaulerel,  Bastien  Galles,  Pierre  Bigoine  and  Jean  de 
Bourges.  De  1'Orme  also  carried  out  work  at  St.  Germain-en-Laye, 
at  Fontaincbleau,  at  Vineenues,  at  Chenonceau  and  at  Madrid,  in 
the  Bois  de  Boulogne. 

M.  Vachon  excuses  de  I'Orme's  egotism  and  vanity  because  of  his 
hatred  of  the  foreigner.  At  that  period,  the  connection  of  the 
sovereigns  with  Italy  through  their  wives,  and  the  wars  which  were 
carried  on  in  that  country,  naturally  forced  the  beauty  of  Italian 
buildings  upon  the  notice  of  men  of  taste  like  Francois  I.  Conse- 
quently, he  invited  a  whole  corvey  of  Italian  artists  to  France.  Of 
these,  de  I'Orine  and  his  friends  were  jealous,  but  unjustly,  for  lie  had 
himself  studied  in  Italy  and  owed  his  success  to  that  study.  That 
he  was  a  man  of  genius  there  is  no  doubt,  but  his  talent  consisted  in 
acquiring  knowledge  from  the  Italians,  which  he  applied  to  his  own 
wants.  That  he  created  a  French  Renaissance  is  true,  but  that  it 
was  modelled  upon  the  Italian  is  equally  true.  M.  Vachon  is  a 
p:\triot  and  de  I'Orme's  chief  merit  in  his  eyes  is  that  he  was  "bien 
francait "  but  art  is  not  a  matter  of  patriotism,  it  is  cosmopolitan, 
and  fa.-  more  was  it  to  the  credit  of  de  1'Orme  that  he  had  true  ideas 
uiion  the  right  uses  of  art  than  that  his  art  was  "  bien  Francois." 
lie  desired  that  buildings  should  be  suitable  to  the  purposes  to  which 
they  were  to  be  put.  "  Mieux  vawJrait,"  he  says,  in  his  first  volume 
of  "Architecture,"  "ne  sucoir  fnire  ornement/t  ni  enrichexsements  de 
nntr/iilles  ou  uutres,  et  entendre  bien  ce  t/u'il/aut  pour  la  sante  et  con- 
xerration  tlen  perxonnex  et  ties  liens."  This  is  a  golden  rule  which 
might  to  advantage  be  observed  in  these  modern  times. 

S.  BEALE. 


having  at  heart  the  proper  architectural  embellishment  and  future 
architectural  standing  of  this  metropolis,  believe  it  to  be  their  dutv, 
which  they  owe  to  the  municipal  officers,  to  the  citizens,  to  the  pro- 
fession of  architecture,  and  to  themselves,  to  earnestly  advise  against 
the  adoption  or  execution  of  any  plans  based  upon  the  instructions 
and  general  plans  issued,  and  would  recommend  to  the  Commis- 
sioners, if  it  is  still  their  determination  to  place  the  proposed  struc- 
tures on  the  City  Hall  Park,  in  contiguity  to  the  City  Hall,  that 
sufficient  extension  of  time  be  granted,  and  the  following  conditions 
be  observed : 

1st.  That  the  manner  of  grouping  the  buildings  and  the  planning 
and  distribution  of  the  rooms  be  left  to  the  competitors,  limited  only 
by  the  specified  requirements  of  space  for  the  various  departments, 
etc.,  to  be  accommodated. 

2d.  That  disinterested  professional  experts,  who  should  be  archi- 
tects of  acknowledged  ability,  experience,  and  standing,  should  be 
appointed,  to  whom  all  the  plans  would  be  referred  for  analysis  and 
classification,  and  who  would  make  a  detailed  report  to  the  Commis- 
sion for  their  consideration,  with  recommendations  as  to  the  award 
of  premiums  and  choice  of  plans. 

3d.  That  the  successful  competitor  should  be  appointed  architect 
of  the  building ;  provided  that  in  case  he  should  not  be,  in  the  judg- 
ment of  the  said  experts  and  Commission,  a  person  of  sufficient 
artistic  or  constructive  or  administrative  capacity,  then  there  shall 
be  appointed  an  associate  or  consulting  architect,  so  qualified,  whose 
compensation  shall  be  deducted  in  equitable  proportion  from  that  of 
the  architect.  A.  J.  BLOOR,  Secretary. 

A  true  copy. 


WHO   SHOULD    PAY   THE  EXPERT? 

ALBAWY,  N.  Y.,  February  4, 1888. 
To  THK  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  Will  you  kindly  favor  us  with  your  opinion  in  regard 
to  ease  stated  below ;  we  dislike  to  take  up  your  valuable  time,  but 
it  is  a  matter  of  adjustment  depending  on  what  is  customary  or 
rig!  t. 

We  are  architects  for  a  large  hall  to  seat  2,500,  and  the  heatinw 
and  ventilation  is  of  the  greatest  im|>ortance.  The  Committee  and 
ourselves  are  both  desirous  of  having  the  heating  and  ventilating 
plans  prepared  by  an  expert,  and  the  question  arises,  who  shall  pay 
for  such  expert  work.  We  claim  that  after  the  heating  plans  are 
prepared  that  we  will  have  to  lay  out  all  flues,  etc.,  on  builder's 
plans,  and,  in  addition,  must  get  all  estimates  and  give  special  super- 
intendence to  this  part  of  the  work,  as  expert  is  non-resident  and  is 
not  employed  to  do  that  portion,  and  that  we  should  not  pay  expert 
from  our  commission,  but  that  he  should  be  paid  in  addition  to  per 

cent  we  receive  on  the  entire  work  including  heating  and  ventilation. 

Respectfully  yours,  ENQUIRERS. 

[!N  regard  to  the  question.  Who  should  pay  for  expert  advice  about  lieat- 
ng  and  ventilation,  we  think  that  most  experienced  architects  would  agree 
,n»t  the  heating  and  ventilation  of  a  building  was  a  matter  Ktrlctlv  within 
he  architect  s  province.  If,  as  often  happens,  the  architect  wished'  to  have 
us  plans  for  it  criticised  by  nn  expert,  and  to  obtain  suggestions  in  regard 

to  details,  he  would  do  H>  iu  such  manner  as  he  might  wish,  paying  the 
sxpert  out  of  his  own  pocket,  and,  of  course,  in  such  a  case,  the  expert 
>emg  only  called  in  for  comment*  upon  the  work  of  the  architect,  hi.-  fee 

would  be  a  small  one.  If,  instead  of  this,  the  committee  desires  to  deprive 
he  architect  entirely  of  a  responsibility  which,  with  such  advice  an  he  can 
irocure  for  himself,  he  is  willing  to  take,  and  to  trust  the  whole  matter  to 

an  outsider,  leaving  to  the  architect  the  cnre  of  carrying  out  the  expert's 
deas,  we  think  that  the  con  mittee  should  bear  the  whole  expense  Al- 
liough  the  architect  Is  nominally  relieved  of  a  part  of  the  responsibility 
fhich  he  is  paid  for  taking,  he  really  gains  little  or  nothing  in  this  respect, 
or  if  he  is  obliged  to  look  out  for  the  execution  of  the  plan,  he  is  sure  to 

•wry  all  imperfections  in  the  working  of  the  scheme  charged  to  hl.<  account, 
rlnle  the  extra  labor  thrown  on  him  by  the  necessity  of  changing  his  plans 
or  tbe  arrangement  or  decoration  of  the  building  to  suit  the  wishes  of  an 
utsider  who  cares  for  nothing  except  his  own  scheme,  will  be  very  cou- 
idei able. —Eos.  AMKRICAN  ARCHITECT.] 


NEW  VOUK  CHAPTER  OF  TIIE  AMERICAN  INSTITUTE  OF  ARCHITECTS. 

EXTRACT  from  minutes  of  the  New  York  Chapter  of  the  Ameri- 
can Institute  of  Architects: 

"  Whereax,  the  Commissioners  of  the  Sinking  Fund  of  the  City 
of  N"ew  York  have,  under  authority  given  to  them  by  an  act  of  the 
Legislature  entitled  'An  Act  to  provide  for  the  erection  of  a  build- 
ing for  Criminal  Courts  and  other  purposes,"  issued  on  invitation  to 
architects  to  prepare  plans,  in  competition,  in  accordance  with  cer- 
tain printed  instructions  and  general  plans." 

The  New  York  Chapter  of  the  American  Institute  of  Architects) 


THE  COMMISSION  ON  A  PARTY-WALL. 

CHICAGO,  ILL.,  February  13,  1888. 

'o  TIIE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 
Dear  Sim,  —  What  would  be  a  reasonable  and  proper  charge  to 
make  a  client  for  computing  the  value  of  partv-wall,  making  and  sub- 

litting  a  statement  of  same?  I  do  not  find  any  official  state- 
ment of  fees,  and  am  somewhat  uncertain  as  to  what  custom  has 
sanctioned.  Owing  to  some  delay  in  using  the  wall,  after  the  state- 
ment had  been  submitted  the  actual  settlement  was  made  between 
the  two  owners  themselves,  instead  of  through  their  architects. 
My  client  accepted  the  offer  of  *3,000  for  the  wall.  Mv  statement 
made  the  value  of  the  half  sold  $:!,109.87,  wliich  included"  SI  19.61  as 
architect's  commission.  This  last  item  was  objected  to  by  the  archi- 
tect of  the  purchaser,  he  claiming  that  he  was  entitled  to  architect's 
commission  on  the  wall  purchased  by  his  client.  Of  course,  it  made 
no  difference  to  me  as  I  had  already  been  paid  my  commission,  but  J 
would  like  your  views  u]>on  the  question  as  to  which  was  right,  if 
cither,  in  the  light  of  established  precedent.  Also  what,  under  the 
circumstances  as  detailed,  a  proper  charge  would  be  for  uiy  services 


96 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.       [Vou  XXIII.  —  No.  635. 


in  computing  the  value  of  the  wall,  drawing  up  statement  and  spend- 
ing some  little  time  — perhaps  one-half  day  — in  visiting  the  owner 
and  the  other  architect  before  the  matter  was  finally  adjusted. 

Very  respectfully,  O.  J.  PIERCE. 

[WE  should  say  that  the  best  way  would  be  to  charge  according  to  the 
time  occupied  in  the  work  of  making  estimates  and  preparing  the  statement, 
reckonin"  the  value  of  the  time  according  to  the  architect  8  engagements. 

It  is  customary  in  this  vicinity  to  count  the  commission  of  the  architect 
under  whose  direction  the  wall  was  built  as  a  part  of  the  value  of  the  wall, 
to  be  shared  between  the  parties,  just  as  Mr.  Pierce  estimates  it;  but  this 
does  not  at  all  affect  the  right  of  the  architect  of  the  adjoining  building  to 
charge  his  commission  also  on  it,  under  the  general  rule  that  the  architect  s 
commission  is  always  reckoned  on  the  total  cost  of  the  structure  ready  for 
occupancy,  including  materials  furnished  by  the  owner.  Both  architects 
are  therefore  right  in  their  view  of  the  case.  — EDS.  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT.] 

THE  ARCHITECTURAL  LEAGUE  COMPETITION. 

Los  ANGELES,  February  4, 1888. 

To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  :  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  Having  seen  the  prize  designs  in  the  late  Architec- 
tural League  Competition,  I  can  say  nothing  against  either  of  them 
regarding  their  fitness  as  ornaments  to  a  village  green,  but  I  feel 
disposed  to  take  exception  to  the  manner  in  which  the  programme 
was  worded. 

It  is  apparent  that  if  only  three  of  forty-four  competitors  properly 
interpret  the  problem,  that  the  committee  should  have  used  a  phrase 
to  more  clearly  define  the  same  than  the  word  "  tower,"  which  means 
a  high  edifice.  The  forty-one  competitors  who  were,  unfortunately, 
in  ignorance  of  the  fact  that  the  word  "  tower  "  meant  a  low  edifice 
is  such  a  large  majority  of  all  as  to  raise  at  once  the  query,  Why  so 
many  dullards?  —  a  fact  which  (being  one  of  the  dullards)  I  attri- 
bute to  the  wording  of  the  circular  of  the  competition. 

Very  truly  yours,  WILLIS  J.  POLK. 


ADDRESS. 

NEW  YORK,  February  13, 1888. 

To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  The  address  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Journal  of  Asso- 
ciated Engineering  Societies,  called  for  in  a  recent  number,  is  Henry 
G.  Prout,  71  Broadway,  New  York.  Yours  very  truly, 

C.  POWELL  KARR. 


COMBUSTIBILITY  OF  IKON. — Some  curious  experiments  to  demonstrate 
the  combustibility  of  iron  were  made  by  the  late  Professor  Magnus,  of 
Berlin,  Ger.  In  one  a  mass  of  iron  filings  is  approached  by  a  magnet 
of  considerable  power,  and  a  quantity  thereof  is  permitted  to  adhere  to 
it.  This  loose,  spongy  tuft  of  iron  powder  contains  a  large  quantity  of 
air  imprisoned  between  its  particles,  and  is,  therefore,  and  because  of 
its  extremely  comminuted  condition,  well  adapted  to  manifest  its  com- 
bustibility. The  flame  of  an  ordinary  spirit  lamp  or  Bunsen  burner 
readily  sets  fire  to  the  finely-divided  iron,  which  continues  to  burn 
brilliantly  and  freely.  By  waving  the  magnet  to  and  fro,  the  showers 
of  sparks  sent  off  produce  a  striking  and  brilliant  effect.  The  assertion 
that  iron  is  more  combustible  than  gunpowder  has  its  origin  in  the 
following  experiment,  which  is  also  a  very  striking  one :  A  little  alcohol 
is  poured  into  a  saucer  and  ignited.  A  mixture  of  gunpowder  and  iron 
filings  is  allowed  to  fall  in  small  quantities  at  a  time  into  the  flames  of 
the  burning  alcohol,  when  it  will  be  observed  that  the  iron  will  take  fire 
in  its  passage  through  the  flame,  while  the  gunpowder  will  fall  through 
it  and  collect  beneath  the  liquid  alcohol  below,  unconsumed.  This, 
however,  is  a  scientific  trick,  and  the  ignition  of  the  iron  is  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  metal  particles,  being  admirable  conductors  of  heat,  are 
able  to  absorb  sufficient  heat  during  their  passage  through  the  flame  — 
brief  as  this  is  —  and  they  are  consequently  raised  to  the  ignition  point. 
The  particles  of  the  gunpowder,  however,  are  very  poor  conductors  of 
heat,  comparatively  speaking,  and  during  the  exceedingly  brief  time 
consumed  in  their  passage  through  the  flame,  they  do  not  become 
heated  appreciably,  or  certainly  not  to  their  point  of  ignition. — Spring- 
field Republican. 

NATURAL  GAS  IN  ENGLAND.  —  Mr.  Richard  S.  Bluck  writes  to  the 
Peterborough  Advertiser:  "Many  of  your  readers  are  aware  that  on  the 
Fletton  and  Woodstone  side  of  Peterborough  there  are  a  number  of 
brick-works,  but  perhaps  they  may  not  know  the  lower  the  clay  for 
making  bricks  is  obtained,  the  less  coal  it  takes  to  burn  the  bricks. 
After  getting  some  few  feet  down,  the  clay  contains  natural  fuel,  and 
the  deeper  the  clay  is  dug,  the  more  natural  fuel  it  contains.  When 
the  bricks  made  from  the  lower  clay  (which  is  really  a  shale)  are  being 
burnt,  they  throw  out  a  gas  which  can  be  clearly  s«en  burning  in  the 
kiln  between  the  bricks,  and  I  wish  to  point  out  the  great  probability 
of  there  being  at  no  great  distance  below  the  shales  now  worked  stores 
of  natural  gas  similar  to  that  now  used  in  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  and  lately 
discovered  in  north-western  Ohio,  and  which,  if  found,  would  make 
Peterborough  into  one  of  the  most  important  manufacturing  centres  in 
the  w.prld.  Builders  in  Peterborough  are  aware  that  bricks  can  now  be 
bought  cheaper  at  the  Fletton  and  Woodstone  yards  than  anywhere  in 
England,  the  reason  being  the  coal-bill  is  so  much  reduced  since  the 
lower  shales  have  been  made  into  bricks.  I  would  most  respectfully 
ask  the  Peterborough  Town  Council  to  consider  the  desirability  of  bor- 


ing down  to  see  if  the  gas  is  below  the  town  of  Peterborough.  As  a 
matter  of  course,  it  is  needless  for  me  to  point  out  to  so  able  a  Board  of 
business  men  how  natural  gas,  if  found,  would  find  employment  for 
every  man  in  the  district  who  was  willing  to  work,  how  it  would  increase 
the  value  «f  all  property  in  the  neighborhood,  and  cause  manufactories 
and  new  industries  to  spring  up  on  every  side." 


"TRAFFIC  is  up  to  the  average"  summarizes  the  reports  in  some  fifteen 
or  twenty  trade  journals  of  the  past  week.    Not  a  few  journals  speak  of  the 
upward  tendency  in  values  and  prices,  and  those  editors  who  are  inclined  to 
take  a  hopeful  view  of  things,  say,  the  outlook  is  decidedly  better  than  it 
was  twelve  months  ago.    So  far  as  the  opinion  of  editors  of  trade  journals 
and  writers  of  financial  articles  go,  there  is  very  little  to  fear  and  very  few 
regrets  to  be  expressed  with  the  volume  of  business  which  has  been  trans- 
acted since  January  1.    Reports   from   all   quarters  are   favorable   for  a 
steadiness  of  productive  capacity  throughout  the  winter.     Rending  between 
tlie  lines  and  going  below  the  surface,  facts  and  conditions  are  met  with 
which  must  modify  the  hopefulness  that  is  so  freely  expressed  in  so  many 
quarters.    Yet,  the  tr;ide  representatives  are  doing  good  service,  and  finan- 
cial writers  are  accomplishing  some  good  in  checking  a  decline  iu  confidence 
where  there  may  be  really  no  good  reasons  for  it.     At  the  same  time  there 
are  some  influences  at  work  which  will  have  their  way  regardless  of  what 
people  may  say  about  them.    One  of  these  influences  concerning  which  but 
little  is  said,  and,  perhaps,  less  noticed,  is  the  disposition  of  a  great  many  large 
consumers  and  operators  to  purchase  material  only  for  immediate  require- 
ments.   If  this  policy  could  be  kept  up  year  in  and  year  out,  it  would  be 
much  better  for  all  concerned.    The  opinion  is  entertained  by  some  that 
business  is  never  good  unless  people  are  buying  what  they  do  not  want,  and 
what  they  do  not  expect  to  use  for  from  one  to  six  months  ahead.    We  are 
having  less  prosperity  of  this  kind  than  usual,  and  perhaps  more  of  the 
prosperity  which  is  based  upon  the  purchase  or  immediate  and  actual  re- 
quirements.   To  the  extent  that  this  policy  affects  prices,  prices  are  declin- 
ing.   There  is  nothing  of  a  speculative  character  to  be  met  with  or  to  be 
found  in  stock-broking  circles.    Even  iu  our  stock-boards  complaint  is  made 
of  the  absolute  duluess  and  the  absence  of  outside  buyers.     The  outside 
buyers  for  once  are  showing  good  sense  in  allowing  speculators  and  boomers 
of  stocks  to  have  their  own  way.     This  is  due  largely  to  the  experience  of 
the  past  two  years  in  manufacturing  and  legitimate  commercial  directions 
of  the  great  body  of  private  speculators  who  are  awaiting  developments. 
The  general  public  who  have  experience  and  labor  to  sell  and  trade  require- 
ments to  fill,  have  but  little  interest  in  the  ups  and  downs  of  stocks,  but  are 
chiefly  interested  in  the  actual  condition  of  things  apart  from  their  specula- 
tive values.     A  little  study  of  these  conditions  will  throw  a  great  deal  of 
light  upon  the  present  and  future  trade  prospects.    Since  the  opening  of  the 
year  $70,000,000  worth  of  bonds  have  been  sold,  and  it  is  believed  that  moht 
of  them  have  been  taken  by  foreign  and  small  investors.     A  host  of  en- 
gineering and  other  enterprises  are  before  the  public  wherein  money  can  be 
invested,  whether  safely  or  not,  it  is  not  an  easy  matter  to  say.    Opportuni- 
ties for  railway  investment  are  growing  smaller,  because  of  the  fact  that 
established  railroad  companies  are  doing  the  bulk  of  the  new  railroad,  build- 
ing.    This  is  true  largely  of  mining  operations.    Large  companies  are  ex- 
tending their  operations  without  outside  help.     Individual  investors  will,  in 
time,  be  compelled  to  organize  special  agencies  to  secure  safe  investments. 
There  are  combinations  among  investors  iu  new  schemes  and  enterprises,  as 
well  as  combinations  in  trusts  and  syndicates.    The  outflow  of  money  on 
Western  bonds  and  mortgages  still  continues.    The  opportunities  for  profit- 
able investment  are  increased  rather  than  otherwise  on  account  of  the  great 
expansion  in  manufacturing  throughout  the  West.     Money  is  wanted  there, 
and  will,  no  doubt,  seek  the  opportunities  that  are  being  offered.    The  fact 
that  8200.000,000  will  be  divided  among  holders  of  railway  bonds  and  securi- 
ties this  year  will  help  to  strengthen  the  confidence  in  the  earning  capacity 
of  our  railway  systems.     The  fact  that  there  is  a  vast  amount  of  uncovered 
territory  in  the  West  and  South  will,  in  all  probability,  lead  to  the  projec- 
tion and  the  construction  of  a  number  of  new  roads  there.    The  importance 
of  this  fact  cannot  easily  be  overestimated.    Just  now  the  opinion  is  enter- 
tained that  railway  construction  will  fall  far  below  the  limit  of  la?t  year. 
But  the  necessity  of  covering  railroad  territory  against  competitors  is  not 
fully  taken  into  account.     Last  week  two  or  three  permanent  railway  en- 
terprises were  brought  to  the  attention  of  a  few  large  tiuauci  il  organizations 
in  New  York,  in  which  railway  managers  are  interested.     Whatever  assist- 
ance is  wanted  by  the  railroads  themselves  will  be  obtained  from  these 
quarters.      Another  important  fact  of    recent  development  is  the  early 
emigration  of  a  large  number  of  manufacturers,  mechanics,  traders  and 
others  into  the  region  west  of  the  Mississippi  river.    The  competition  East 
and  the  better  opportunities  West,  coupled  with  the  abundance  of  money 
which  can  be  borrowed  and  aided  by  the  prospects  of  continuance  of  busi- 
ness prosperity,  has  laid  the  foundations  for  something  like  an  exodus  of  a 
most  desirable  class  of  people.     Iron  and  steel  makers,  carriage  and  wagon 
builders,  hardware  manufacturers,  house-builders,  material  manufacturers', 
lumber-dealers,  coal-miners,  among  other  equally  valuable  factors  in  indus- 
trial development  will  seek  new  homes  and  opportunities  in  the  new  region 
made  available  by  the  20,000  miles  of  railway-construction  in  the  far  West 
during  the  past  three  or  four  years.    This  movement  simply  means  that 
there  is  a  new  force  at  work  to  equalize  energy,  labor  and  capital,  and  that 
the  West  will  receive  the  first  benefit  of  it,  and  the  East  the  resulting 
benefit  of  the  equalization. 

Without  theorizing  or  dealing  in  generalities,  it  may  be  said  that  this 
movement  is  a  wide  and  a  far-reachiiig  one,  and  it  may  be  said  that  there 
are  such  abundant  opportunities  for  a  spreading  out  of  the  population  that 
no  very  serious  results  need  be  apprehended  to  the  industries  at  large. 
Labor,  in  general,  is  well  engaged.  The  anthracite  strike  is  practically 
over,  the  Northwestern  Railway  war  will  be  ended,  perhaps,  in  two  weeks. 
Other  railway  systems  have  taken  warning  and  are  putting  their  defences 
in  order.  The  industries  of  New  England  anticipate  an  early  revival  of 
trade,  and  all  its  mills  and  factories  will  be  pretty  well  employed.  The 
multiplication  of  combinations  still  continues,  but 'the  Government,  State 
and  National,  is  on  their  path  with  a  view  of  keeping  them  from  trampling 
upon  the  public.  How  much  Legislation  can  prevent  or  retard  this  tend- 
ency it  is  not  easy  to  say,  but  vast  combinations  are  the  legitimate  and 
necessary  result  of  the  conditions  under  which  we  live,  and  it  is  probably 
safe  to  say  that  nothing  more  than  a  police  surveillance  can  be  kept  upon 
them. 

S.  J.  PAKKHILL  &  Co.,  Printers,  Boston. 


Slje  Tlnjericaq  ?Ircl}itect  ai?rt  Building  IJews,  February  25,  1555.    tyo.  655. 

Copyright,  iSSS,  hy  TICKNOK  &  Co. 


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THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  AND  BUILDING  NEWS. 


VOL.  xxill. 


Copyright,  1888,  by  TICKXOB  A  COMPAKV,  Boston,  Mi 


No.  636. 


MARCH  3. 1888. 


Rnterml  at  the  Po«t-O(Boe  at  Boston  a>  >eoond-elaw  matter 


SUMMART  :  — 

The  Action  of  Cement  on  Lead.  —  A  Bad  Beginning  in  the 
way  of  Fires  for  this  Year. — The  Theatres  built  by  the 
Asphaleia  Company.  —  The  Fondaco  deiTurchi,  Venice. — 
Babylonian  Contract  Records.  —  A  Senate  Discussion  on 
the  Method  of  Appropriating  Money  for  Public  Buildings.  — 
The  Public  Buildings  Raid  and  the  Supervising  Architect's 
Knioluments 07 

P-  ii  I'rm.ic  BUILDINGS  AND  ouu  SENATORS 99 

ILLUBTKATIONB : — 

The  Basilica,  Quebec,  Canada.  —  Design  for  Country  Stable. — 
Station  at  Como,  Monmouth  Co.,  N.  J.  — Design  for  Barnes 
Hall,  Cornell  University,  Ithaca,  N.  Y.  —  First  Premiated 
Design  for  the  Proposed  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
Building.  Providence,  R.  I. — The  Amended  Design  for  the 
same  Building.  —  House  for  A.  N.  Elliott,  Esq.,  Chestnut 
Hill,  Philadelphia,  Pa.  —  House  near  St.  Louis,  Mo.  ...  104 

SAFK  BUILDINO.  — XXIIL 104 

«TT  PRACTICAL  MAN  writes  to  the  Oesterreichisch-ungar- 
f\  ischen  Eisenzeitung  some  of  his  observations  about  the 
acrion  of  cement  upon  lead,  which  are  new  to  us.  Every 
one  knows  that  bits  of  plaster,  falling  from  a  ceiling  into  a 
lead-lined  cistern  or  tank,  will  often  perforate  the  lead  in  a  few 
weeks,  and  experiments  carried  on  in  Germany  have  demon- 
strated that  under  certain  circumstances  there  is  a  strong 
chemical  action  between  lime  or  cement  and  lead,  but  just  what 
the  circumstances  are  under  which  the  action  takes  place  no 
one  seems  to  know.  The  Practical  Man  does  not  know,  any 
more  than  other  people,  but  his  experience  seems  to  show  con- 
clusively that  certain  qualities  of  lead  are  affected,  while  others 
are  not.  His  first  observation  was  made  in  1880,  when  he  was 
summoned  to  look  for  the  cause  of  a  leak  in  the  ceiling  of  a 
room  in  the  house  of  Count  Karolyi,  in  Budapest.  Over  the 
room  was  a  bath,  made  in  a  manner  which  is,  we  hope,  peculiar 
to  the  Danube  provinces,  by  building  a  brick  enclosure  in 
cement,  plastering  it  inside  with  cement  -  mortar,  and  then 
casing  over  the  outside  with  marble,  and  lining  the  inside  with 
heavy  sheet-lead,  over  which  was  put  a  thick  coat  of  cement, 
in  which  were  set  tiles,  to  form  the  visible  interior  lining  of 
the  tub.  On  pulling  away  the  marble,  and  breaking  out  the 
tiles,  the  lead-lining  was  found  to  be  very  badly  corroded  on 
both  sides.  On  one  side  it  was  eaten  through,  so  that  the 
water  escaped,  and  soaked  into  the  masonry  beneath,  and  on 
the  other,  although  not  perforated,  the  metal  had  become  con- 
verted into  a  brittle,  powdery  substance.  A  year  later  the 
same  expert  was  called  to  the  house  of  Count  Zichy,  where  a 
wet  spot  showed  itself  under  a  bath-room.  This  bath  was  pre- 
cisely similar  in  construction  to  the  leaky  one  of  the  year 
before,  but  had  been  in  place  for  a  much  longer  period,  so  the 
Practical  Man  and  his  assistants  tore  it  to  pieces  with  con- 
fidence, sure  of  finding  the  lead  corroded  by  the  cement.  To 
their  surprise,  after  the  tiles  were  removed,  the  lead  proved  to 
be  in  perfect  condition.  No  trace  whatever  of  corrosion  could 
be  discovered,  and  the  leak  was  soon  afterwards  found  in  a 
waste-pipe.  As  there  was  no  apparent  difference  in  the  circum- 
stances, the  immunity  of  th§  Zichy  tub  from  corrosion  was 
quite  as  inexplicable  as  the  perforation  of  the  Karolyi  one,  and 
the  Practical  Man  did  not  try  to  account  for  it.  However, 
these  cases  seemed  to  interest  him  in  the  matter,  and  he  took 
pains  to  collect  specimens  of  lead-pipe  which  had  been  buried 
in  mortar  or  cement.  Out  of  a  large  number  of  these  many 
were  found  as  perfect  as  when  newly  set,  yet  many  more  were 
corroded  to  a  greater  or  less  degree.  With  only  these  facts  as 
a  basis,  it  would  hardly  be  possible  to  form  any  deduction  in  re- 
gard to  the  matter,  but  the  writer  of  the  letter  very  sensibly 
suggests  that  some  one  with  more  time  than  himself  might  with 
advantage  collect  samples  of  lead  from  different  manufacturers, 
and  of  different  brands  of  cement  and  lime,  and  test  the  mutual 
action  of  the  various  sorts,  for  the  benefit  of  mankind. 


llf  HE  present  year  bids  fair  to  be  one  of  great  fire  losses, 
X    the  six  or  seven  weeks  already  expired  having  been  dis- 
tinguished by  about  an  equal  number  of  very  destructive 
conflagrations.     The  total  losses  by  fire  last  )'ear,  according  to 


the  Insurance  Standard  were  something  more  than  one  hundred 
and  five  million  dollars,  or  two  million  a  week.  This  is  about 
two  hundred  dollars  a  minute,  so  that  supposing  the  cost  of 
insurance  and  fire  protection  to  be  as  much  more,  which  is,  we 
believe,  nearly  the  case,  the  people  of  this  country  send  up 
twenty-four  thousand  dollars  every  hour  of  the  day  and  night 
in  smoke  as  incense  to  the  spirit  of  cheap  construction.  Of 
human  sacrifice  this  American  deity  last  year  demanded  less 
than  usual,  but  the  present  season  has  commenced  with  a 
liberal  offering,  and  the  chances  are  that  his  appetite  will  be 
fully  supplied  before  the  year  is  over  with  the  young  girls  and 
children  which  satisfy  it  best.  The  statistics  of  1887  seems  to 
indicate  that  a  slight  change  for  the  better  is  taking  place  in 
our  older  communities  in  methods  of  construction.  Thus  the 
losses  in  New  England,  with  a  population  of  three  and  one-half 
millions,  were  but  seven  per  cent  greater  than  those  of  Illinois, 
which  has  a  population  of  about  two  and  one-half  millions. 
Moreover,  among  the  large  fires,  the  greatest  losses  appear  to 
occur  in  places  where  the  art  of  fighting  and  preventing  fires  has 
not  been  so  long  practised  as  in  the  Eastern  Cities.  New  York, 
as  is  natural  for  a  place  containing  such  vast  accumulations  of 
city  goods,  shows  a  large  average  loss,  the  destruction  of  prop- 
erty in  the  two  hundred  and  three  conflagrations  which  consumed 
more  than  ten  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  goods  during  the  year 
having  been  nearly  fifteen  million  dollars,  or  seventy-three 
thousand  for  each.  In  Massachusetts  the  average  was  only 
twenty-seven  thousand  dollars,  and  in  Pennsylvania  forty-nine 
thousand,  while  it  was  one  hundred  and  two  thousand  in  Wyo- 
ming, one  hundred  and  sixteen  thousand  in  Wisconsin,  one 
hundred  and  nine  thousand  in  Minnesota,  and  ninety-one  thou- 
sand in  Florida. 


WE  have  before  mentioned  the  Asphaleia  Company,  which 
undertakes  the  construction  and  arrangement  of  theatres 
in  any  part  of  the  world,  and  has  adopted  a  large  number 
of  devices  for  improving  the  construction  of  theatre-buildings 
and  facilitating  the  work  carried  on  in  them.  The  first  theatre 
built  by  the  Company  was,  we  believe,  the  Royal  Opera-house 
.  at  Buda-Pest,  and  many  radical  changes  in  the  arrangement  of 
the  stage  and  the  setting  of  scenery  were  introduced  there. 
Since  then  the  company  has  built  another  important  theatre, 
the  Stadt  Theatre  at  Halle.  So  far  as  means  permit,  the 
Asphaleia  buildings  are  fireproof,  but  by  intelligent  study  of 
the  problems  of  stage  mechanism,  an  unusual  degree  of  safety 
is  secured,  even  with  the  ordinary  materials.  On  the  stage, 
for  instance,  the  old-fashioned  system  of  "  fly-bridges "  and 
light  scaffolding  for  manipulating  scenery  and  lights  is  entirely 
done  away  with.  Our  readers  will  remember  the  ingenious 
panoramic  mechanism  by  which  a  painted  sky,  running  on  ver- 
tical rollers,  is  made  to  encircle  the  Asphaleia  stage,  and  is 
gradually  changed  by  the  movement  of  the  rollers,  if  the  piece 
demands  effects  of  sunrise,  twilight  or  approaching  storms. 
This  device  supersedes  the  dangerous  and  ridiculous  "sky 
borders,"  or  strips  of  painted  canvas  which  depend  from  the 
upper  part  of  the  stage  in  most  theatres,  close  to  the  gas-lights, 
and  in  the  best  possible  place  for  setting  the  building  on  fire, 
and  leaves  the  stage  ceiling  open  and  unobstructed.  As  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  hoisting  of  angels  and  other  properties  has  to 
be  done  from  the  roof,  wire  ropes  are  provided  for  doing  this 
work,  but  they  are  so  arranged  as  to  be  operated  from  a  single 
station,  where  is  also  concentrated  the  management  of  all  the 
other  stage  machinery.  The  master-machinist,  from  this  post, 
has  a  complete  view  of  the  stage ;  under  his  hand  are  levers, 
valves,  and  so  on,  and  to  him  alone,  with  his  assistant,  is  com- 
mitted the  control  of  all  the  traps,  ropes  and  other  mechanical 
appliances  of  the  stage.  The  Asphaleia  traps  are  simply  small 
direct-acting  hydraulic  elevators,  having  a  piston  attached 
directly  to  the  under  side  of  the  trap,  and  moving  in  a  cylinder 
to  which  water  is  admitted  under  pressure  by  means  of  valves 
in  the  machinist's  station.  It  is  evident  that  theatres  built  on 
this  system  must  be  costly,  but  experience  shows  that  in  this 
country,  at  least,  a  radical  novelty  in  the  construction  of  a 
theatre  is  one  of  the  surest  means  of  attracting  business. 

UFIIE   Journal  of  the  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects 

JJ[    contains  an  interesting  note  from  Signor  Giacomo  Boni  of 

Venice  on  the  ancient  building  known  as  the  Fondaco  dei 

Turchi  in  that  city.     Although  as  purely  Byzantine  in  type  as 


98 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.     [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  636. 


St.  Mark's  itself,  and  usually  attributed  to  the  tenth  century,  it 
seems,  according  to  Signer  Boni,  that  it  was  built  about  the 
year  1230,  by  Giacomo  Palmieri,  Consul  of  Pesaro,  who  was 
driven  from  his  own  city  by  a  hostile  faction,  and  settled  in 
Venice.  Although  he  retained  his  family  name  of  Palmieri, 
which  was  inscribed  on  his  tomb  when  he  died,  his  new  palace 
was  known  in  the  Venetian  dialect  as  the  Ca'  Pesaro,  from  the 
town  in  which  he  had  once  been  the  principal  citizen,  and  his 
descendants  were  known  by  the  name  of  Pesaro  until  the 
extinction  of  the  family  in  1830.  Palmieri's  son,  Angelo 
Pesaro,  seems  to  have  been  very  proud  of  his  father's  archi- 
tectural achievement,  and  in  his  will,  which  is  dated  1309,  and 
is  still  extant,  he  bequeathes  it  to  his  son  Nicolo,  with  an 
injunction  to  him,  as  well  as  to  his  other  descendants,  never  to 
allow  it  to  pass  out  of  the  hands  of  the  family.  Notwithstand- 
ing this,  it  was  sold  in  1381  to  the  Venetian  Government  for 
ten  thousand  ducats,  and  presented  by  the  city  to  one  of  the 
Este  family  as  "  Marquis  of  Ferrara,"  apparently  with  the  idea 
of  gaining  some  point  in  advancing  the  Venetian  claim  to  the 
sovereignty  of  Ferrara.  The  palace  remained  in  the  hands  of 
the  descendants  of  this  "  Marquis  of  Ferrara  "  until  the  seven- 
teenth century,  and  it  is  not  impossible  that  Lucrezia  Borgia, 
after  her  marriage  with  the  head  of  the  family  of  Este  in  1501, 
may  have  seen  it  in  the  course  of  her  visits  to  her  new  hus- 
band's relatives,  so  that  a  little  color  is  given  to  the  name  of 
the  "  Palace  of  Lucrezia  Borgia,"  by  which  the  building  is 
known  to  the  photographers.  The  Venetian  branch  of  the 
house  of  Ferrara  conveyed  their  palace,  now  somewhat  dilapi- 
dated, to  the  Doge  Antonio  Priuli,  who  let  it  to  some  Turkish 
merchants  as  a  storehouse.  The  granddaughter  of  Priuli 
brought  it  back,  as  part  of  her  dowry,  to  her  husband,  Leonardo 
Pesaro,  and  for  two  centuries  it  continued  to  be  occupied  by 
Turkish  merchants.  In  1830  the  Pesaro  family  became 
extinct,  and  the  palace  passed  into  the  hands  of  Count  Manin, 
who  sold  it  to  Antonio  Petich,  by  whom  it  was  let  for  a  tobacco 
factory.  About  1860  it  was  cleared  of  manufacturing  appli- 
ances and  rubbish,  quietly  restored,  and  fitted  up  for  the  recep- 
tion of  the  Correr  collection  of  local  and  other  curiosities. 
Singularly  enough,  the  walls  of  the  Fondaco  dei  Turchi  are 
built  of  small,  unbaked  bricks,  known  to  the  Venetians  as 
altinel/e,  and  supposed  to  have  been  brought  from  the  ruins  of 
Altinum,  the  city  on  the  main  land  from  which  the  first  settlers, 
driven  from  their  homes  by  the  incursions  of  the  savage  Huns, 
are  said  to  have  taken  refuge  on  the  then  uninhabited  islands 
of  the  Venetian  lagoon.  The  unbaked  bricks  of  Altiuum  must 
have  been  of  extraordinary  quality  to  have  been  in  condition 
for  use  in  a  new  building  nearly  six  hundred  years  after  the 
house  for  which  they  were  made  had  been  destroyed,  but  it  is 
certain  that  the  "  altinelle "  now  existing  in  the  walls  of  the 
Fondaco  dei  Turchi  show  traces  of  colored  plaster  on  them, 
which  must  have  come  from  a  much  older  building,  and  the 
tiles  themselves  seem,  from  their  want  of  adherence  to  the 
mortar  in  which  they  are  laid,  to  have  had,  when  used,  the 
greasy  quality,  familiar  characteristic  of  very  old  bricks. 


7HE  ancient  writers  have  always  held  up  to  us  the  city  and 
province  of  Babylon  as  the  richest  and  most  luxurious 
community  that  ever  existed  in  the  world.  Even  the 
Romans,  whose  wealth  and  splendor  far  exceeded  anything  that 
has  been  seen  since,  spoke  of  Babylon  with  a  kind  of  awe ;  and 
there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  the  substantial  accuracy  of  the 
ancient  descriptions  of  its  walls,  which  were  three  hundred  feet 
high,  and  enclosed  an  area  about  equal  to  that  of  London,  of 
its  bronze  gates,  its  hanging  gardens,  or  its  temples,  with  their 
colossal  statues  of  solid  gold.  Recent  discoveries  have  made 
us  certain  of  the  curious  fact  that  the  Babylonians  were  not 
only  the  richest,  but  the  most  business-like  of  people,  more 
so  even  than  the  Romans,  who,  however,  followed  them  closely. 
Far  from  being  the  brutish  and  irresponsible  slaves  of  an 
Oriental  tyrant,  the  inhabitants  of  Mesopotamia  have  left 
abundant  proofs  of  a  thrift,  a  clearness  and  prudence  in  making 
contracts,  a  care  in  recording  them,  and  an  exactness  in  per- 
forming them,  which  is  well  worthy  of  our  study.  Every  one 
remembers  the  extraordinary  stores  of  records,  made  in  cunei- 
form characters  on  cones  of  clay,  and  afterwards  baked  to 
render  them  permanent,  which  have  been  found  from  time  to 
time,  forty  thousand  having  been  discovered  at  once  in  a  sub- 
terranean chamber ;  and  the  deciphering  of  the  inscriptions  on 
these,  which  has  been  going  on  for  years,  has  given  us  a  strik- 
ing idea  of  the  care  with  which  such  records  were  made  and 


preserved.  A  few,  recently  interpreted,  have  proved  to  give 
what  amounts  to  a  map  of  a  portion  of  the  city  of  Babylon,  by 
means  of  the  accuracy  of  their  descriptions  of  the  boundaries 
of  the  lot  conveyed,  and  the  references  to  the  rights-of-way  of 
the  adjoining  owners.  These  particular  records  referred  to  the 
property  of  the  firm  of  Egibi  Brothers,  who  seem  to  have  been 
merchants  with  a  taste  for  investments  in  real-estate,  and  were 
dated  in  the  twenty-sixth  year  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  or  B.  c. 
o  79.  Together  with  the  deeds  of  this  lot,  which  included  a 
judicial  decree  in  regard  to  some  rights-of-way  apparently  dis- 
puted, the  Egibi  records  contained  numerous  mortgages,  rent- 
rolls  and  receipts,  one  of  which  contains  a  reference  to  a 
custom  which  may  furnish  a  useful  hint  to  modern  landlords ; 
the  receipt  acknowledging  the  payment  of  the  rent  to  a  certain 
date,  and  also  the  deposit  of  "  ten  shekels  of  silver  as  security 
for  the  new  year."  The  Builder,  which  gives  these  interesting 
details,  says  that  the  cones  or  tablets  are  stamped  with  the 
seals  of  the  contracting  parties,  and  attested  by  witnesses. 
This  must  have  been  a  good  protection  against  forgery  ;  and 
property  seems  to  have  been  guarded  as  well  by  the  banks  of 
the  Euphrates  as  it  is  now  on  the  shore  of  the  Thames. 


JTTHE  lengthy  quotation  we  make  to-day  from  the  Congres- 
\J  sional  Record  is  sufficiently  interesting  to  be  read  atten- 
tively in  spite  of  its  length,  and  deserves  all  the  more  con- 
sideration for  its  short  precession  of  the  debate  that  will  prob- 
ably take  place  in  the  same  body  in  consequence  of  the  Public 
Buildings  "grab"  which  has  recently  been  engineered  through 
the  House.  The  discussion,  if  the  somewhat  informal  talk 
really  deserves  that  name,  seems  to  promise  that  the  bills  for 
new  and  possibly  not  needed  public  buildings  will  not  be  rail- 
roaded through  the  upper  House  without  some  show  of  discus- 
sion, and  perhaps  salutary  opposition.  It  shows  that  there  are 
some  influential  members  of  the  Senate  who  know  something 
of  the  iniquities  of  the  present  routine  method  of  grinding  out 
Government  buildings  to  satisfy  the  greed  of  political  heelers, 
or  gratify  the  aspirations  of  a  present  Member  of  Congress 
desirous  of  reelection.  But  there  is  no  positive  proof  that  any 
one  really  comprehends  the  impossibility  of  effecting  in  the 
office  of  the  Supervising  Architect  the  mere  administrative 
handling  of  the  quarter  of  a  billion  of  dollars  of  which  the  ex- 
penditure is  to  be  one  oft  he  results  of  the  raid ;  while  it  does 
not  seem  to  occur  to  any  Senator  that  he  ought  to  feel  a  pre- 
monitory shuddering  at  the  possibility  that  in  the  course  of  a 
twelvemonth  or  so  designs  for  one  hundred  and  thirty  or  more 
new  public  buildings  may  be  prepared  under  a  system,  which, 
according  to  the  statement  of  a  Senator  during  the  debate, 
makes  it  impossible  that  these  designs  shall  be  such  as  would  be 
prepared  in  the  offices  of  architects  of  the  highest  rank,  whose 
services  so  wealthy  a  Government  as  ours  surely  ought  to 
be  able  to  command. 


IT  is  only  fair  to  acknowledge  that,  having  a  very  great  inter- 
est in  building  and  all  that  relates  to  it,  it  would  give  us 
more  satisfaction  to  see  the  surplus  expended  in  these  enor- 
mous building  operations  which  would  distribute  so  large  a  sum 
of  money  through  trades  in  whose  welfare  we  have  a  concern, 
than  to  see  it  frittered  away  on  any  of  the  vast  service-pension 
schemes  or  on  so  chimerical  an  enterprise  as  the  Blair  Educa- 
tion Bill  seeks  to  set  afoot.  But  the  conscience  of  the  citizen 
who  abhors  a  "  steal "  of  any  kind  is  quickened  by  the  feeling 
of  the  artist  who  knows  what  kind  of  work  is  likely  to  be 
turned  out  under  the  present  system  of  procuring  designs  for 
Government  buildings.  If  Congress  endorses  and  the  Presi- 
dent approves  the  bills  for  all  the  new  buildings  which  have 
been  introduced,  it  will  be  distressing  to  imagine  the  harrying 
and  worrying  of  the  unfortunate  Supervising  Architect,  sub- 
jected to  the  necessity  of  endeavoring  to  pacify  the  appointed 
representatives  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  communities  and 
produce  satisfactory  proofs  of  his  assurances  that  the  public 
building  to  be  erected  for  each  is  all  that  it  should  be  and  is 
making  all  desirable  progress.  To  be  Supervising  Architect 
to  the  Treasury  Department  of  the  United  States  on  a  petty 
and  inadequate  salary  may  have  its  compensating  glories,  but  a 
man  must  have  a  high  regard  for  this  very  impalpable  and 
unbankable  commodity  not  to  feel  himself  wronged  and  de- 
frauded when  he  stops  to  consider  that  for  less  than  fifteen 
thousand  dollars  he  devotes  four  years  to  doing  work  for  which, 
as  a  private  practitioner,  he  might  receive  a  million  and  a  quar- 
ter of  dollars. 


26 


MARCH  3,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


99 


OUR  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS  AND  OUR    SENATORS. 

•fjS  there  probably  were  no 
f~\  architects  in  the  Senate 
'  Chamber  galleries  when  the 
interesting  discussion  on  February 
14th  of  some  of  the  peculiar  meth- 
ods by  which  our  (i.ivcniment 
buildings  are  built  took  place,  and 
as  the  summary  in  tho  daily  papers 
was  very  insufficient,  we  make  no 
apology  for  reproducing  the  discus- 
sion in  extenso  from  the  Congres- 
sional Record. 


Mr.  Pasco.  I  should  like  to 
call  up  the  bill  (S.  1 723)  provid- 
ing for  the  completion  of  the  pub- 
lic building  in  the  city  of  Pensa- 
cola, Fla.,  as  originally  designed. 

By  unanimous  consent,  the  Sen- 
ate, as  in  Committee  of  the  Whole, 
proceeded  to  consider  the  bill, 
which  had  been  reported  from  the 
Committee  on  Public  Buildings 
and  Grounds  with  an  amendment 
in  line  8,  before  the  word  "  thousand  "  to  strike  out  "  fifty  "  and 
insert  "  thirty-two,"  so  as  to  make  the  bill  read : 

That  the  Secretary  of  the.  Treasury  be,  and  he  is  hereby,  author- 
ized and  directed  to  have  the  United  States  court-house  and  post- 
office  building  in  the  crty  of  Pensacola,  Fla.,  completed  as  originally 
designed,  including  tower,  basement  and  attic  stories,  fences,  grading, 
and  heating,  and  the  sum  of  $32,000  is  hereby  appropriated  out  of 
any  money  in  the  Treasury  not  otherwise  appropriated,  for  the  pur- 
pose herein  mentioned. 

Mr.  Edmunds.     Is  there  a  report? 

The  President  pro  tempore.     No  report  accompanies  the  bill. 

Mr.  Pasco.  I  will  state  that  the  appropriation  is  recommended  by 
the  Supervising  Architect  and  is  according  to  the  original  specifica- 
tions and  estimates. 

Mr.  Edmunds.  Are  there  any  papers  from  the  Supervising  Archi- 
tect on  the  subject? 

Mr.  Pasco.  I  have  a  letter  from  the  Supervising  Architect  in  the 
committee-room,  stating  that  $32,000  will  be  sufficient,  and  upon  that 
estimate  the  committee  reduced  the  appropriation  from  $50,000  to 
$32,000.  That  report  of  the  Supervising  Architect  was  before  the 
committee  when  the  bill  was  considered. 

Mr.  Edmunds.  I  must  say  with  great  respect  (not  as  applying  to 
this  particular  case,  for  I  know  nothing  about  it)  that  I  am  very 
much  afraid  we  are  acting  rather  rapidly  and  without  due  considera- 
tion on  the  subject  of  public  buildings  over  the  United  States  —  as 
well  in  the  State  of  Vermont  as  elsewhere,  I  will  add.  I  should  like 
to  have  some  definite  official  information  about  this  possible  change, 
and  I  should  be  glad  if  the  Senator  would  not  press  the  bill  at  this 
moment,  and  get  the  official  papers,  as  the  Senator  has  them  not  with 
him  now,  wherein  it  is  represented,  I  have  no  doubt,  as  the  Senator 
states,  but  so  that  it  will  go  into  the  Record  and  show  exactly  upon 
what  grounds  it  is  that  the  Senate  passes  the  bill. 

Mr.  Pasco.  I  should  like  very  much  to  get  the  bill  through  to-day, 
as  certain  days  have  been  fixed  in  the  other  House  for  the  considera- 
tion of  bills  of  this  kind,  and  the  building  is  in  an  unfinished  condition. 
I  should  like  very  much  to  get  the  bill  through  to-day.  As  proposed 
to  be  amended  it  is  in  exact  accordance  with  the  report  of  the  Super- 
vising Architect. 

Mr.  Vest.  If  the  Senator  from  Florida  will  permit  me,  I  will  state 
to  the  Senator  from  Vermont  that  I  happen  to  know  personally  the 
correctness  of  his  statement  in  regard  to  the  report  of  the  Supervis- 
ing Architect.  We  took  the  matter  up  in  our  committee  and  exam- 
ined it  carefully  at  the  last  meeting,  and  reduced  the  amount  from 
$50,000  to  $32,000  in  conformity  with  that  report. 

This  is  one  of  the  most  deserving  bills  of  the  kind  that  has  been 
before  the  Senate.  The  public  building  at  Pensacola  is  unfinished 
and  its  usefulness  is  considerably  impaired  by  reason  of  that  fact.  A 
large  proportion  of  the  money  necessary  for  the  construction  of  the 
buildinghas  been  expended,  and  this  is  simply  to  utilize  it. 

Mr.  Edmunds,  flow  much  has  the  original  appropriation  been 
increased  altogether? 

Mr.  Vest.  I  think  this  is  the  first  increase  of  the  original  appro- 
priation. 

Mr.  Pasco.     This  is  the  first  increase  of  the  regular  appropriation. 

Mr.  Edmunds.     What  was  the  original  appropriation  ? 

Mr.  Vest.     It  was  $150,000,  if  I  am  not  mistaken. 

Mr.  Pasco.     I  think  that  was  the  amount. 

Mr.  Edmunds.     And  this  makes  $32,000  more. 

Mr.  Vest.  It  makes  $32,000  more,  which  is  absolutely  necessary 
to  complete  the  building.  The  Department  has  expended  the  money 
that  was  appropriated.  Pensacola  is  a  very  important  point,  and 
after  this  money  has  been  expended  nothing  will  remain  to  be  done. 

Mr.  Edmunds.  Why  did  not  the  Department  keep  within  the 
appropriation  ? 

Mr.  Vest.  That  is  one  of  the  questions  that  it  is  beyond  the  abil- 
ity of  any  Senator  to  answer.  This  thing  has  occurred  over  and  over 


again.  It  has  occurred  in  bills  where  we  have  specifically  provided 
that  the  Department  should  not  expend  one  dollar  beyond  the  appro- 
priation, and  still  it  was  spent. 

Mr.  Edmunds.     When  are  we  to  stop  it  ? 

Mr.  Vest.  That  is  another  question  of  the  future.  There  are  a 
good  many  questions  connected  with  public  buildings  in  this  country. 
If  the  Senator  will  tell  me  when  we  are  to  abandon  the  present  sys- 
tem, then  I  shall  be  able  to  tell  him  when  we  can  stop  it,  but  I  am 
afraid  that  it  is  impossible  to  go  into  the  question  of  the  public  build- 
ings of  the  country  now.  The  tariff  and  the  Blair  bill  sink  into 
insignificance  when  we  come  to  that.  [Laughter.] 

Mr.  Hale.  I  am  afraid  the  Senator  from  Missouri  is  right  in  esti- 
mating the  importance  of  these  measures,  and  I  only  rise  for  the  pur- 
pose of  calling  the  attention  of  the  Senator  from  Vermont  to  what 
the  Senate  will  have  to  consider  very  soon,  not  only  upon  this  bill, 
but  upon  dozens,  and  it  may  be  scores,  of  others  touching  the  removal 
of  the  limit  that  has  been  fixed  in  times  past,  by  deliberation  and 
due  consideration,  first  by  committees  and  then  by  Congress,  upon 
buildings  all  over  the  country. 

It  has  been  the  fashion  to  introduce  bills  and  refer  them  to  the 
proper  committee  here  and  in  the  other  body,  and  fix  a  limit  for  the 
cost  of  the  building,  which  ought  to  be  the  chart  followed  by  the 
Department  in  erecting  the  structure.  So  far  from  that  being 
the  case,  the  Committee  on  Appropriations  has  before  it,  referred  to 
it,  estimates  from  the  Department  covering  long  lists  of  public 
buildings  all  over  the  country,  estimating  for  sums  beyond  the  limit 
already  fixed  by  law. 

I  do  not  say  that  in  a  given  case  such  a  condition  may  not  be 
inevitable  from  peculiar  circumstances  and  conditions  surrounding 
the  construction  of  one  of  these  public  buildings,  but  that  Congress 
should  proceed  deliberately  and  declare  what  a  building  shall  cost  in 
one  place  and  another  in  twenty  different  cases,  and  that  then  the 
work  should  proceed  deliberately  without  regard  being  paid  to  the 
limitations  fixed  by  Congress,  and  we  be  called  upon  in  an  urgent- 
deficiency  bill  to  make  up  the  sums  which  it  is  estimated  will  be 
needed  to  finish  the  building,  is  something  which  ought  to  be  inves- 
tigated ;  it  is  something  which  ought  to  be  looked  into.  Other- 
wise we  may  as  well  fix  no  limits  hereafter  to  any  building.  Otherwise 
we  may  as  well  understand  that  we  will  declare  that  a  building  shall 
be  put  up  in  Texas,  or  in  Maine,  or  in  Vermont,  or  in  Minnesota, 
or  California,  and  that  we  leave  it  to  the  sweet  will  of  the  Depart- 
ment and  the  persons  who  are  urging  them  to  increase  the  cost  and 
size  of  the  building,  anJ  that  we  will  exercise  no  jurisdiction  what- 
ever over  the  matter. 

Mr.  Edmunds.  And  that  sweet  will  is  the  will  of  a  man  who  owns 
property  in  the  place  and  has  charge  of  the  building. 

Mr.  Hale.  Undoubtedly.  I  hope  the  Senator  from  Vermont,  in 
looking  into  this  subject,  will  not  let  his  efforts  stop  at  this  one 
building,  about  which  I  know  nothing  and  against  which  I  have 
nothing  to  say.  Against  the  increase  of  the  limit  I  have  no  argu- 
ments to  urge,  as  I  know  nothing  whatever  about  it,  but  I  do  know 
the  general  condition,  that  we  are  to  be  called  upon  in  an  urgent- 
deficiency  bill,  where  Congress  has  fixed  limits,  in  dozens,  perhaps 
scores  of  cases,  to  appropriate  more  money,  perhaps  aggregating 
hundreds  of  thousands  or  millions  of  dollars  in  this  direction.  The 
Senate  ought  to  look  to  it  very  carefully  before  we  take  any  step  in 
this  direction. 

Mr.  Vest.  If  the  Senator  will  permit  me,  I  do  not  see  the  chair- 
man of  the  Committee  on  Public  Buildings  and  Grounds  present,  but 
I  simply  want  to  state  that  we  are  now  wrestling  with  this  question. 

Mr.  Hale.  With  the  question  of  expending  beyond  the  limit  of 
appropriation  ? 

Mr.  Vest.  With  the  question  of  limiting  the  expenditure.  We 
have  before  us  three  bills,  and  we  passed  all  our  time  at  the  last 
meeting  of  the  committee  in  considering  the  propriety  of  enacting 
some  general  measure  which  would  apply  to  the  whole  country. 
The  Senator  from  Kansas  (Mr.  Plumb)  is  very  much  interested  in 
this  subject.  All  I  want  to  say,  in  justice  to  the  committee,  is  that 
our  next  meeting  is  called  specially  with  reference  to  thi.<  very 
matter,  and  we  propose  to  formulate  and  bring  into  the  Senate  a 
general  bill.  It  is  a  very  difficult  subject.  The  Postmaster-General 
dealt  in  his  report  very  largely  with  it,  and  formulated  a  bill  which 
was  introduced  at  the  beginning  of  this  session  by  the  Senator  from 
Wisconsin  (Mr.  Sawyer).  The  Senator  from  Nebraska  introduced 
a  bill  and  the  Senator  from  Kansas  introduced  one.  Out  of  these 
three  bills  we  hope  to  make  one  which  will  receive  the  sanction  of 
the  Senate. 

Mr.  Hale.     Are  they  general  bills? 

Mr.  Vest.  It  will  be  a  general  bill,  providing  that  a  public  build- 
ing shall  be  erected  where  it  is  necessary,  under  the  suggestions  of 
the  Department,  in  towns  having  a  certain  population.  I  merely 
speak  generally. 

Mr.  Hale.     With  a  limitation  of  classification  as  to  population  ? 

Mr.  Vest.  We  propose  to  classify  them  and  get  rid  of  this  eter- 
nal importunity  and  log-rolling. 

Mr.  Hale.  Such  a  bill  would  not  get  rid  of  it.  We  may  pass  all 
the  general  bills  in  the  world  and  the  individual  case  will  still  arise 
where  the  Department  will  want  more  money  to  complete  the  build- 
ing. 

Mr.  Vest.  When  such  a  bill  comes  before  the  Senate,  it  will  be 
possible  for  the  Senator  from  Maine  to  turn  his  intellectual  brain  in 
that  direction.  If  he  and  the  Senator  from  Vermont  will  bend  their 


27 


100 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News.     [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  636. 


energies  and  investigation  in  that  direction,  for  one  I  shall  be  exceed- 
ingly obliged  to  them. 

Mr.  Hale.     It  would  not  be  of  any  use. 

Mr.  Vest.  If  the  Senator  will  permit  me,  I  will  say  just  a  word 
about  my  experience  upon  the  Committee  on  Public  Buildings  and 
Grounds,  and  I  personalize  him  because  our  relations  are  exceedingly 
friendly  and  have  always  been  so.  He  wants  a  public  building  in 
the  State  of  Maine,  which,  by  the  way,  is  the  best  supplied  State  in 
the  Union  in  that  direction. 

Mr.  Hale.     Then  I  do  not  want  the  public  building. 
Mr.  Vest.     There  are  more  public  buildings,  according  to  popula- 
tion, in  that  State  than  in  any  other  State  in  the  Union.     The  Sena- 
tor wants  a  building  in  his  State.     He  comes  to  me  and  says,  per- 
fectly justified  by  our  social  relations  in  doing  so,  that  he  is  immensely 
interested   in  that   measure,  that,  in  other  words,   liberty   will  lie 
bleeding  in  the  streets  if  he  does  not  get  it,  and  he  solicits  me  to  do 
what  I  can.     He  gets  a  report  from  the  Supervising  Architect,  who 
says  the  public  service  demands  it.     He  has  a  court  there,  an  inter- 
nal-revenue office,  and,  of  course,  a  post-office.     It  would  be  churlish 
in  me  to  say  I  would  oppose  his  bill,  and  he  knows  better,  perhaps, 
than  myself — for  his  public  service  has  been  longer  —  in  what  a 
position  a  member  of  this  or  the  other  branch  of  Congress  puts  him 
self  when  he  poses  as  a  general  reformer  and  obstructor  to  the  expen 
diture  of  money  for  any  purpose  whatever. 

Mr.  Hale.     Will  the  Senator  let  me  interrupt  him  ?     I  am  greatlj 
pleased  with  the  imaginative  sketch  which  has  been  presented  by  the 
Senator,  and  we  are  all  of  us  pleased  with  those  imaginative  sketche 
of  his,  but  I  do  not  want  it  to  go  on  record  that  I  am  in  the  position 
of   beseeching   the   committee  to   increase   an   appropriation  for 
Maine  building. 

Mr.  Vest.  Not  now.  [Laughter.] 
Mr.  Hale.  It  happens  that  the  one  public  building  I  have  in  mi 
mind  in  Maine  is  perhaps  what  has  called  my  attention  to  the  sub- 
ject I  have  just  spoken  of.  I  refer  to  the  public  building  at  the 
capital  of  the  State,  where  the  appropriation  was  ample  for  a  large 
handsome,  suitable  building  for  the  business  which  will  be  carried  on 
there,  and  yet  there  is  an  estimate  for  an  urgency  deficiency  for  a 
sum  that  surprises  me,  and  I  do  not  think  it  ought  to  have  been  sen 
in.  So  I  am  not  in  the  position  now  of  urging  the  Senator  froii 
Missouri  to  yield  his  virtue  on  the  committee  to  my  importunity. 
Mr.  Vest.  I  know  that  is  the  case. 
Mr.  Dawes.  I  wish  to  help  the  Senator  from  Missouri  with  my 
experience  in  the  matter.  If  the  Senator  from  Missouri  knows,  as 
he  is  very  familiar  with  this  great  question,  and  will  tell  me  how 
much  the  post-office  building  at  St.  Louis  cost,  I  should  like  to  give 
him  a  little  history.  Did  it  cost  a  million  or  a  million  and  a  hali 
dollars  ? 

Mr.  Vest.     Oh,  that  was  not  a  circumstance.     I  think  we  spent 
three  and  a  half  millions  upon  it. 
Mr.  Hale.     About  five  millions. 
Mr.  Vest.     Yes ;  I  could  not   state   the  amount  accurately,  but 
considerably  over  $3,000,000. 

Mr.  Dawes.  I  was  on  the  committee  in  the  other  branch  when 
the  persons  interested  first  came  to  Congress  for  a  new  post-office 
building  in  St.  Louis.  They  said  if  they  could  have  the  old  post- 
office  building  and  $300,000,  it  might  be  bound  as  firmly  as  it  could 
be  in  the  law,  they  never  would  ask  for  another  penny.  Thereupon 
such  a  bill  was  passed.  The  Supervising  Architect  of  the  Treasury 
went  out  to  St.  Louis  and  they  gave  him  a  dinner.  At  that  dinner 
it  was  announced  that  Cincinnati  had  a  post-office  building  which 
cost  a  million  and  a  half,  that  Chicago  had  a  post-office  building 
which  cost  six  millions,  and  was  St.  Louis  to  be  content  with  a  post- 
office  building  that  cost  only  $300,000  ?  Not  by  a  good  deal,  and  the 
Supervising  Architect  of  the  Treasury  assured  them,  in  the  face  of  the 
law,  that  they  should  have  a  post-office  building  equal  to  that  of  their 
rival  cities.  I  understand  my  friend  to  say  that  it  cost  several 
million  dollars.  The  law  authorizing  the  post-office  at  New  York 
had  limitation  put  upon  the  appropriation  as  strong  as  it  could  be 
made.  When  it  was  commenced,  the  original  act  prescribed  that  it 
should  be  completed  for  a  certain  sum. 
Mr.  Beck.  For  $3,000,000. 

Mr.  Dawes.  For  $3,000,000,  my  friend  from  Kentucky,  who 
remembers  these  things  a  great  deal  better  than  I  do,  says  they 
came  back  for  another  million,  and  it  was  inserted  in  the  bill  at 
their  request,  so  that  they  might  be  sure  to  have  it,  that  the  total  cost 
should  not  exceed  that  limit.  It  exceeded  that  limit  and  they  came 
for  another  appropriation.  The  same  limitation  was  put  in  the  law, 
and  in  the  face  of  it,  and  with  a  standing  law  which  makes  it  unlaw- 
ful, indictable,  impeachable,  to  exceed  the  limitations  of  an  appro- 
priation, it  has  gone  on  until  $6,000,000  or  $7,000,000  have  been 
appropriated.  The  post-office  building  in  Boston  has  run  up  into 
millions  in  precisely  the  same  way. 
Mr.  Butler.  How  many  millions  ? 

Mr.  Dawes.     Three  or  four  millions ;  I  do  not  know  how  much. 
Mr.  Butler.     About  $9,000,000. 

Mr.  Dawes.  They  have  never  been  able  to  be  rewarded  quite 
equal  to  some  of  their  rival  cities,  but  enough  to  indict  every  man 
who  had  any  connection  with  the  excess  of  expenditures  over  the 


any  connection  with  the  excess  of  expenditures  over  the 
limit  of  the  appropriations.  Until  somebody  is  brought  up  under 
the  law  to  realize  that  the  law  is  made  to  be  obeyed  by  officials,  this 
never  will  be  cured. 

Mr.  Teller.     Is  the  building  any  too  large  now  ? 


28 


Mr.  Dawes.     It  cost  too  much. 

Mr.  Call.  Mr.  President,  I  desire  to  say  a  single  word.  I  have 
noticed  that  the  spasms  of  economy  always  occur  in  regard  to  small 
States  with  a  small  representation.  Where  such  a  building  as  the 
one  under  consideration  will  cost  $100,000,  the  great  buildings  in 
other  States  cost  millions  of  dollars.  We  have  passed  several  bills 
at  this  session  appropriating  more  than  a  million  dollars  for  a  public 
building.  I  want  this  talk  about  economy  to  be  expended  upon 
those  buildings  and  not  upon  a  building  of  moderate  cost,  like  the  one 
at  Pensacola,  which  the  public  business  imperatively  demands. 

No  one  is  to  blame  for  this  deficiency  of  $32,000  unless  it  is  the 
contractor,  who  has  to  buy  his  supplies  at  varying  rates,  or  the 
architect.  You  cannot  make  a  law  that  the  material  which  enters  into 
a  public  building  shall  be  the  same  price  and  value  that  it  was  when 
the  estimate  was  made  for  the  cost  of  the  building.  The  architect  is 
not  to  blame.  If  any  one  is  to  blame,  it  is  Congress  who  votes  the 
limitation.  I  do  not  know  how  my  honorable  friend  from  Missouri 
is  going  to  pass  a  bill  which  will  prevent  future  Congresses  from  appro- 
priating as  much  money  as  they  see  fit  for  public  buildings.  But 
let  that  be  as  it  may,  it  is  Congress,  it  is  ourselves,  and  not  the 
Supervising  Architect  or  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  who  are  to 
blame  for  the  extensions  of  the  limit  of  the  appropriations. 

I  wish  to  add  that  Pensacola  pays  a  large  amount  of  revenue  to 
the  Government.  This  building  is  imperatively  demanded.  The 
Supervising  Architect  certifies  the  fact  that  it  will  not  be  complete 
and  useful  for  the  purposes  for  which  it  was  designed  without  this 
small  amount  of  money. 

Mr.  Plumb.  Mr.  President,  I  want  to  indorse  very  heartily  what 
the  Senator  from  Florida  [Mr.  Call]  has  said  about  the  place  where 
economy  is  applied  in  legislation.  New  York  got  six  or  seven  mil- 
lion dollars  for  a  public  building,  and  I  noticed  the  other  day  that 
one  newspaper  in  that  city  devoted  an  entire  column  to  the  abuse  of 
Congress  for  the  proposed  expenditure  of  $50,000  or  $100,000  upon 
public  buildings  in  different  parts  of  the  country  remote  from  New 
York.  The  cities  get  everything  they  want,  without  any  reference 
at  all  to  the  cost,  to  the  rental  value  of  the  buildings,  or  anything  of 
that  kind,  and  when  they  obtain  it  they  then  very  coolly  propose  to 
close  up  the  entire  subject  and  have  no  more  public  buildings  any- 
where. It  is  a  wrong  tendency.  It  is  a  part  of  a  general  tendency 
to  carry  everything  to  the  large  cities  at  the  expense  of  the  country. 
It  is  not  wholesome,  but  quite  the  reverse. 

I  think  that  wherever  the  Government  has  public  business  to  trans- 
act of  any  magnitude  it  ought  to  have  its  own  public  building  to  trans- 
act it  in,  all  the  more  because  the  absence  of  a  building  very  often 
leads  the  Government,  directly  or  indirectly,  into  real-estate  specu- 
lations. The  Post-Office  Department  had  an  inspector  in  Kansas 
during  last  summer  who  excited  the  acquisitiveness  of  the  people 
living  in  different  parts  of  towns  interested  in  property,  and  so  on, 
to  bidding  for  the  location  of  a  post-office  building,  and  he  succeeded 
in  getting,  in  places  of  4,000  and  5,000  people,  persons  interested  in 
real  estate  in  certain  parts  of  the  town,  not  only  to  give  the  rent  for 
perhaps  five  years  for  nothing,  or  at  a  merely  nominal  sum,  say  a 
dollar  a  year,  or  something  of  that  kind,  but  to  furnish  the  most 
elaborate  fixtures  for  the  use  of  the  Government.  I  regard  that  as 
an  offense.  I  do  not  think  the  Government  ought  to  engage  in  busi- 
ness of  that  kind,  and  yet  that  is  what  it  is  doing.  That  is  the 
reverse  side  of  the  picture  which  has  been  drawn  here  of  the  extra- 
vagance in  public  buildings  in  large  cities. 

But  something  has  been  said  about  the  reasons  for  these  deficien- 
cies. Mr.  President,  it  is  the  old  story  of  a  dollar  for  a  dress  and  ten 
dollars  for  the  trimmings.  Every  public  building  which  is  put  up 
costs  ten  times  more  for  superintendence  and  extras  and  contingen- 
cies than  it  ought  to  do.  Out  of  $1 00,000  appropriated  to  erect  a 
building,  say,  out  in  Kansas,  at  least  $10,000  of  that  money  will  be 
spent  before  ever  a  lick  is  struck.  There  is  the  city  of  Wichita, 
where  the  Government  has  simply  a  naked  lot.  There  is  no  more 
danger  of  its  being  carried  away  than  of  this  Capitol  being  carried 
away,  and  yet  it  has  a  watchman  and  a  superintendent,  but  no  man 
at  work. 

Mr.  Hale.     They  are  watching  the  land. 

Mr.  Plumb.  Yes,  they  are  watching  the  land.  I  do  not  know  but 
that  they  are  watching  the  Republican  politicians  out  there.  At  all 
events,  the  watchmen  are  there  and  they  are  getting  paid  for  it. 
The  Senator  from  West  Virginia  [Mr.  Kenna]  says  to  me  that  the 
Republican  politicians  there  need  watching.  If  they  do  you  will 
lave  to  appoint  a  great  deal  more  clever  people  than  you  have  done 
out  there  in  order  to  make  that  watching  very  effective. 

Mr.  Kenna.     The  Senator  entirely  misunderstood  my  remark,  if 
he  alludes  to  me.     I  said  there  were  no  other  kind  of  politicians  out 
here  to  be  watched. 

Mr.  Plumb.     I  have  in  my  hand  the  report  of  the  commission  for 

he  construction  of  the  Congressional  Library  building,  which  has  in 

t  some  paragraphs  which  are  a  sample  of  that  which  pertains  to  the 

onstruction  of  every  public  building  in  the  United  States.    It  shows 

hat  we  are  getting  a  large  amount  of  services  of  architects,  a  large 

xmount  of  washing  of  towels  and  hiring  of  coupes  and  things  of  that 

ind,  and  a  very  little  building.     During  the  last  year  there  have 

ieen  spent  for  literally  contingent  items  in  no  wise  represented  in 

be  construction  over  $38,000. 

Mr.  Hale.     On  that  building? 

Mr.  Plumb.     On  that  Library  building.     The  Senator  from  Mas- 
achusetts  [Mr.  Dawes]   seeks  "to  identify  it  by   saying  that   it  is 


MARCH  3,  1888.] 


Ttte   American    Architect   and  Building   News. 


101 


where  the  hole  is.  The  hole  is  there,  and  before  it  ever  assunu->  the- 
pretense  of  a  construction  it  will  be  big  enough  to  carry  into  it  more 
than  the  sum  of  money  we  intended  to  appropriate  for  a  building.  I 
will  comtiii'm c  on  page  14,  at  the  bottom  of  the  page,  and  read  from 
the  report  of  the  Commission  for  the  Construction  of  the  Congres- 
sional Library  Building: 

OttiCf  i-\|iflis<-s: 

si:iti'iiii-ry. draughtsmen's  tools.materialii  and  instruments,  and 

printing  anil  bin. ling,  etc $1,821.15 

Onice-f  urniture.  drawing-boards,  casts,  awnings,  etc 2,612.16 

I  l!tl-'.-  >•  \!..'!is,  -         I'd,,;  ,,,  .1,  ,i. 

Fit  ting  up  offices,  145  East  Capitol  Street 1,954.17 

III in •  pnn l   room 919.U6 

It  will  be  noticed  that  all  these  sums  have  accommodating  frac- 
tions as  an  affix,  which,  of  course,  are  supjxwcd  in  some  way  to 
verify  them. 


Fuel  .-in' I  gag 

Laborer  aa  janitor.. 


261.51 
573.00 


$1,408.49 
35.11 


The  Senator  from  Massachusetts  [Mr.  Dawes]  is  now  seeking  to 
introduce  some  irrelevant  matter  here  by  inquiring  what  that  man  is 
janitor  of.  He  is  janitor,  I  suppose,  of  what  the  man  out  in  Wichita 
is  watchman  of. 

Mr.  Kcnna.     Of  the  hole  in  the  ground? 

Mr.  Plumb.     Of  the  hole  in  the  ground.     The  report  continues  : 

Coup*,  two  horses  (oue  to  replace  home  sold,  and  pro- 
ceeds covered  into  Treasury),  harness,  robe  and 
blankets 9868.00 

Livery  bills  for  carriage  and  horses,  driver,  and  repairs      540.41* 

Washing  towels 

It  is  something  to  be  clean  at  Government  expense. 

Notary's  Fees .75 

Cleaning  windows,  putting  away  fuel 25.30 

Lanterns  and  oil  for  watchmen 11.25 

Making  models  for  architect,  labor 216.00 ' 

Express  and  freight 1.08 

Miscellaneous  supplies 54.07 

The  items  foot  up  S9.893.80. 

Those  are  all,  as  will  be  seen,  items  with  some  particularity  and 
some  detail.  Now  we  come  to  some  other  expenses,  in  which  the 
clerk-hire  apparently  gave  out,  and  consequently  there  are  no  items 
at  all ;  they  are  continued  in  a  lump.  This  is  in  the  Commissioner's 
office :  ••£ 

Salaries  and  pay  of  office  employes: 
In  Commissioner's  office  — 

Secretary,  accountant,  disbursing  agent,  and  messenger $5,639.00 

In  Architect's  office  — 

Architect,  assistant  architect,  computer,  civil  engineer,  experts, 
draughtsmen,  clerk,  messengers,  and  sculptor 23,200.80 

I  suppose  they  are  set  down  in  the  order  of  their  relative  import- 
ance and  rank.  I  can  readily  see  how  a  sculptor  would  not  be  neces- 
sary for  the  purpose  of  executing  a  hole  in  the  ground,  at  least  not 
a  sculptor  of  very  high  degree.  These  items  sum  up  $23,200.80, 
making  a  total  for  salaries  and  pay  of  office  employes  of  all  kinds 
that  are  mentioned  of  $28,839.88.  In  other  words,  the  personal 
staff,  not  of  a  Library  building,  not  of  a  piece  of  public  work  in  pro- 
cess of  execution,  but  the  personal  staff  of  something  that  is  not 
being  done  at  all,  cost  last  year  $28,839.88.  And  they  had  besides, 
in  the  way  of  contingencies,  frills,  and  furl>elows,  coupe's,  and  things 
of  that  sort  for  their  convenience  and  comfort,  $9,893.80,  making,  as 
I  said,  a  total  of  over  $38,000,  which  has  been  spent  without  yield- 
ing to  the  Government  one  single  return,  except  the  happy  satisfac- 
tion we  all  of  us  have  of  seeing  a  man  walking  around,  well  dressed, 
at  the  public  expense,  and  knowing  that  we  have  contributed  to  his 
comfort  and  convenience  and  to  the  general  air  of  well-fcdness  with 
which  he  exhibits  himself. 

A  Senator  has  handed  to  me  an  itemized  statement  which  appears 
in  the  Blue  Book.  Here  is  the  Blue  Book  itself,  which  sets  forth  the 
names  of  the  different  employes  under  the  commission  which  has 
been  created  by  law  for  the  purpose  of  spending  the  money  which 
we  have  appropriated  to  construct  a  Library  building.  Sub-titles  are 
put  in  to  indicate  the  particular  employment  of  the  different  persons 
engaged,  and  under  the  title  of  "In  charge  of  horses  and  carts"  I 
find  the  following  names : 
Samuel  Brown,  District  of  Columbia  — 

He  was  appointed  from  the  District  of  Columbia;  they  were  all 
appointed  from  the  District  of  Columbia,  however  — 

Mrs.  Amelia  Johnson.  Hartley  Thornton. 

Mrs.  Almyra  Burgess.  Daniel  Tourney. 

Mrs.  Mary  Liberty.  Mary  E.  Shearer. 

Patrick  Powers.  Maurice  Tally. 

There  is  nothing  recorded  there  that  is  very  remarkable,  but  still 
it  is  worth  pausing  to  consider  that  four  women  are  put  down  as  in 
charge  of  horses  and  carts.  Of  course  it  may  well  be  that  as  these 
women  did  not  have  any  voting  to  do,  being  withdrawn  from  the 
discharge  of  the  very  onerous  public  duty  of  casting  a  ballot,  they 
have  more  time  to  give  to  the  discharge  of  the  very  useful  duty  of 
taking  care  of  the  horses  and  carts  which  the  commission  employs 
although  just  what  the  horses  and  carts  are  for  of  course  I  do  not 
know.  The  man  who  said  in  a  public  meeting  that  he  vouched  for 
a  certain  man  was  a  little  disconcerted  when  somebody  stepped  up 
and  asked,  "  Who  vouches  for  you  ?  "  I  am  not  vouching  for  the 
horses,  nor  for  the  carts,  nor  for  the  women  in  charge  of  them,  and 
I  do  not  care  to  suggest  that  some  sort  of  subterfuge  has  been 
employed  whereby  persons  are  put  on  the  rolls  to  do  one  thing,  per- 
haps of  a  somewhat  personal  character,  while  at  the  same  time  tney 
are  exhibited  as  performing  a  public  duty. 


But  it  is  plain  to  be  seen  that  we  arc  not  going  to  get  anything  out 
of  the  appropriation  of  money  for  a  library  except  a  larse  bill  of 
expense,  and  I  do  not  speak  of  this  particularly  for  the  purpose  of 
characterizing  it  alone,  but  of  saying  that  in  the  Architect's  Office 
of  the  Treasury  Department  will  be  found  the  data  to  show  that  in 
substantially  all  the  public  buildings  already  erected  by  the  United 
States  and  being  erected  now  a  similar  condition  of  things  exists, 
and  it  is  one  reason  why  the  Government  pays  from  twenty-five  to 
fifty  per  cent  more  for  a  given  result  than  private  parties  pay.  The 
moment  a  public  building  is  provided  for,  it  becomes  a  sort  of  hospi- 
tal for  persons  who  want  employment,  and  long  before  any  contract 
is  made  or  the  Government  has  got  any  property  to  watch  or  look 
after,  somebody  is  appointed  as  a  superintendent.  It  docs  not  make 
any  difference  how  long  the  construction  may  take,  the  superintend- 
ent is  like  the  brook,  he  goes  on  forever  and  forever. 

I  have  been  asked  who  constitute  the  Library  Building  Commis- 
sion. I  know  that  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  is  ex-officiu  president 
of  the  Board ;  that  it  consist?  of  an  architect,  who  drew  the  plans, 
and  of  the  Architect  of  the  Capitol,  certainly.  I  do  not  know  who  else. 

Mr.  Butler.     And  the  Librarian  of  Congress. 

Mr.  Plumb.  Yes,  the  Librarian  of  Congress.  There  being  two 
architects  on  the  Board,  of  course  they  do  not  agree,  except  pre- 
sumably in  regard  to  the  expenditure  of  the  money,  and  of  course, 
therefore,  there  has  grown  up  all  sorts  of  trouble,  one  pulling  one  way 
and  one  the  other,  and  nobody  at  hand  to  put  the  casting  ballot  on 
one  side  or  the  other,  and  the  result  is,  probably  what  was  designed, 
a  simple  wasting  of  the  public  money,  a  nursing  of  that  building  in 
order  to  give  employment  to  the  end  of  time.  Certainly  there  is  in 
that  commission,  so  far  as  the  majority  of  it  is  concerned,  no  honest 
purpose  to  complete  the  building  within  the  contemplation  of  the 
Act  of  Congress. 

I  do  not  say  where  the  responsibility  should  rest  for  that  condition 
of  things,  because  I  do  not  know,  but  the  majority,  which  has  the 
power  to  resolve  all  these  things  in  favor  of  prompt,  active  work  of 
construction,  has  not  chosen  to  do  so ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  there 
is  a  great  expenditure  for  employe's  entirely  unnecessary,  for  con- 
tingent expenses  which  are  extravagant  when  no  work  of  construc- 
tion is  going  on,  and  that  is  a  sample  of  the  way  the  public  business 
of  the  country  is  transacted  to  a  very  large  extent  in  regard  to  public 
buildings.  The  money  which  has  been  wasted  in  this  way  would 


have  supplied  to  every  town  of  25,000  people  in  the  United  States  a 

building  large  enough  for  the  transaction  of  the  p 

would  have  enabled  the  Government  to  have  in  all  these  cities  and 


towns  an  abiding  place,  some  place  where  its  jurisdiction  was 
supreme,  some  place  where  its  public  business  could  be  transacted 
Unday  and  to-morrow  and  for  all  time,  and  a  guaranty  that  the  Gov- 
ernment itself  would  not  be,  either  actively  or  negatively,  wilfully  or 
ignorantly  a  party  to  real-estate  speculations. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Mr.  President,  I  am  glad  there  has  been  a  statement 
of  the  transactions  to  which  allusion  has  been  made,  and  I  think 
from  conversation  with  the  architect  there  is  certainly  reform 
needed.  In  my  town  an  appropriation  was  made  some  years  ago  of 
$100,000  for  a  public  building.  They  hardly  got  started  when  $20,- 

000  had  been  spent  with  only  a  fence  around  the  lot  and  the  expense 
going   on.     This   occurred    under   a   former   administration  of   the 
bureau,  and  I  am  very  much  in  hopes  and  I  believe  that  the  present 
incumbent  will  try  to  make  a  thorough  reform  and  go  on  with  the 
business  properly  and  erect  the  buildings  with  the  money,  which,  as 

1  understand,  was  not  done  in  the  case  to  which  I  refer  until  one- 
fifth  of  the  approportion  was  spent. 

Mr.  Edmunds.     When  was  the  appropriation  made? 

Mr.  Stewart.  I  do  not  remember  the  exact  date,  but  three  or  four 
years  ago.  They  had  a  great  deal  of  trouble  in  getting  a  location, 
but  finally  they  got  one  that  was  satisfactory  to  the  Department,  but 
it  cost  ten  or  twelve  thousand  dollars,  and  eight  or  ten  thousand  dol- 
lars more  had  been  spent  in  preliminaries,  such  as  a  high  fence,  a 
superintendent,  and  so  on. 

I  am  quite  confident  that  the  present  Supervising  Architect  is  going 
on  with  the  work,  and  that  he  will  have  reform  generally  in  this 
business.  If  he  does  not,  we  shall  all  have  reason  to  complain.  I 
would  not  like  to  have  reflections  cast  upon  a  man  just  coming  in  with 
good  intentions  and  making  effort  to  do  what  is  right.  Give  him  a 
chance.  A  distinction  ouglit  to  be  drawn  between  the  man  who  has 
failed  and  the  man  who  has  come  in  with  the  intention  of  doing 
right,  as  I  think  the  present  Supervising  Architect  intends  to  do. 

Mr.  Vest.  I  have  no  disposition  to  retard  the  passage  of  the  Bill 
of  the  Senator  from  Florida,  because,  as  I  said  before,  it  is  a  deserv- 
ing measure  and  ought  to  be  passed ;  but  I  noticed  in  this  debate  the 
Senators  who  have  engaged  in  it  have  undertaken  to  state  the  diffi- 
culties under  which  we  have  suffered,  but  none  seem  to  have  pointed 
out  the  radical  defect  in  the  system  under  which  we  have  con- 
structed public  buildings. 

Mr.  Stewart.  The  Senator  will  excuse  me.  I  meant  to  remark 
before  I  sat  down  that  I  believe  the  appropriation  in  this  Itill  is  a 
necessary  appropriation  under  the  circumstances,  and  I  shall  vote 
for  it  cheerfullv. 

Mr.  Vest.  In  the  first  place  the  same  trouble  exists  in  regard  to 
the  construction  of  public  buildings  that  we  encounter  in  the  Indian 
service.  We  have  heard  for  years  the  question  asked,  why  is  it  that 
the  Indian  service  of  this  country  is  in  its  present  condition?  Why 
is  it  that  thousands  and  thousands  of  dollars  are  expended  by  Con- 
gress and  the  Indians  are  no  better  off,  and  the  country  is  no  better 


29 


102 


The   American   Architect   and  Huilding   News.      [VoL.  XXIII.  —  No.  636. 


off?  And  the  same  evils  exist  and  will  exist  as  long  as  this  system  con 
Unties.  The  truth  is,  we  expect  too  much  first-class  service  for  the 
•  lowest  possible  amount  of  money.  We  send  a  man  to  take  charge 
of  a  tribe  of  Indians,  and  pay  him  a  thousand  dollars,  $1,200,  or 
$1,500  a  year.  He  is  expected  to  control  human  beings;  he  is  ex- 
pected to  perform  the  most  delicate  and  responsible  functions  that 
can  be  given  to  any  human  being  —  the  control  of  others  as  to  their 
life  and  habits  — and  yet  we  pay  a  thousand  or  $1,200  a  year;  and 
a  man  is  expected  to  leave  civilization  and  endure  the  hardships 
the  frontier  and  associations  with  savages,  to  give  up  all  that  ma 
life  worth  anything  for  a  miserable  pittance  that  he  would  ask  any 
clerk  to  give  his  services  to  the  Government  for  here  or  anywhere  else. 
We  expect  to  get  a  first-class  architect  for  $3,500  a  year.  Why, 
sir,  there  is  not  an  architect  in  the  city  where  I  live,  who  is  worthy 
the  name,  who  is  not  making  from  ten  to  fifteen  or  twenty  thousand 
dollars  a  year.  I  undertake  to  say  in  the  city  of  Washington  to-day 
there  are  half  a  dozen  architects  making  over  $10,000  a  year.  I 
asked  a  gentleman  the  other  day,  one  of  my  colleagues  in  the  Senate, 
who  recently  constructed  a  large  building,  an  eleemosynary  institu- 
tion, what  amount  he  had  paid  the  architect.  He  said  $15,000  — 
nearly  five  times  the  salary  in  one  year  that  we  give  to  our  public 
architect  for  a  year's  service.  However  worthy  the  present  incum- 
bent may  be,  it  is  perfectly  absurd  to  suppose  we  can  secure  the 
services  of  a  man  competent  to  take  charge  of  the  public  buildings  of 
the  United  States  for  any  such  salary. 

Then,  again,  that  is  not  all  the  trouble.  We  have  this  miserable 
system  of  day's  work.  We  give  a  premium  to  every  man,  contractor, 
architect,  workman,  down  to  the  laborers  on  the  public  buildings,  to 
continue  the  work  just  as  long  as  possible.  The  first  step  when  we 
pass  a  bill  appropriating  money  for  a  public  building  is  to  send  an 
architect  there,  and  he  employs  two  watchmen  and  a  clerk,  and  has 
a  model-room  and  all  the  paraphernalia  of  a  large  business. 
Mr.  Edmunds.  And  a  local  superintendent. 

Mr.  Vest.  And  a  local  superintendent.  The  salaries  go  on,  and 
when  the  building  is  finished  those  fellows  are  out  of  work.  We  put 
a  premium  upon  delay ;  we  have  done  it  for  years. 

The  Senator  from  Massachusetts  spoke  of  the  public  building  at 
Chicago.  There  is  a  building  that  went  on  for  years  and  cost  four 
times  what  Congress  originally  intended,  and  now  it  is  ready  to  fall 
down,  condemned  by  the  grand  jury  as  a  public  nuisance,  and  the 
evidence  in  regard  to  the  construction  of  that  building  is,  I  will  not 
say  horrible,  it  is  the  most  disgusting  that  ever  was  printed  on  any 
public  subject  in  the  United  States.  I  have  not  read  it  for  some 
time  —  I  have  it  somewhere  among  my  papers  —  but  it  showed  that 
they  absolutely  organized  laborers  upon  the  public  buildings  so  as  to 
cheat  the  superintendent.  They  had  a  society  organized,  and  when 
the  men  would  be  down  playing  cards,  gambling,  there  were  watch- 
men out  to  give  notice  of  the  approach  of  the  superintendent  and  the 
game  was  broken  up,  and  when  he  arrived  there  every  man  was  at 
work,  and  the  minute  his  back  was  turned  every  man  was  gambling 
again. 

Mr.  President,  as  long  as  this  system  continues  we  may  expect 
exactly  what  is  the  condition  of  the  country  to-day.  Two  years  ago 
the  Committee  on  Public  Building  and  Grounds  reported  a  bill  to  do 
away  with  this  system  and  to  put  it  under  contract  and  let  the  public 
buildings  of  the  country  be  constructed  as  any  private  gentlemen 
would  construct  his  residence.  There  is  not  a  Senator  on  this  floor 
to-day  if  he  was  about  to  construct  a  residence  in  the  city  of  Wash- 
ington, who  would  not  call  upon  architects  for  their  plans  and 
specifications,  and  then  take  bonds  of  a  contractor  for  the  erection  of 
the  building  according  to  those  plans  and  specifications  in  a  given  time. 
Mr.  Edmunds.  And  within  a  given  price. 

Mr.  Vest.  And  a  given  price.  And  if  it  were  not  completed  the 
forfeiture  would  be  exacted  on  the  bond.  And  yet  what  do  we  do 
in  regard  to  the  money  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  put  in 
these  public  buildings?  We  take  no  bond.  There  is  a  little  paper 
here  in  the  city  of  Washington,  as  big  as  my  two  hands,  or  was  here 
—  I  have  not  seen  it  lately  —  which  lives  upon  the  advertisements 
from  the  Treasury  Department  for  public  buildings. 

When  a  bill  was  passed  in  Congress  for  the  construction  of  a 
building  in  Missouri  the  bids  were  put  out  for  the  different  sorts  of 
work  in  this  little  paper.  A  ring  was  here  in  the  capital  and  this 
work  was  confined  to  that  ring,  and  no  man  received  one  dollar  who 
was  not  in  it.  It  was  upon  the  face  of  the  statute-book  the  duty  of 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  supervise  these  contracts,  but  as  a 
matter  of  course  they  went  to  the  Supervising  Architect's  Office,  as  a 
matter  of  routine,  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  knew  no  more 
about  them  than  any  Senator  in  this  body. 

Does  any  one  wonder  that  public  architects  went  out  of  this  city 
almost  millionaires  who  came  here  paupers?  Is  it  any  wonder  that 
a  few  years  ago  the  newspapers  of  the  country  were  filled  with  the 
scandal  in  regard  to  the  public  architect's  office  that  threw  one  man 
out  of  office  and  implicated  several  others  ?  All  these  things  have 
taken  place,  and  they  will  take  place  until  we  reorganize  the  whole 
system  under  which  the  public  buildings  are  constructed.  The  bill 
to  which  I  referred  was  reported  two  years  ago  and  received  no  more 
attention  from  Congress  than  a  piece  of  blank  paper.  Nobody  cared 
anything  about  it,  but  on  the  other  hand—  and  I  do  not  put  myself 
on  a  pedestal  to  lecture  my  brother  Senators  —  in  the  rush  to  have 
public  buildings  constructed  in  different  localities,  the  general  law 
wns  permitted  to  die,  and  it  amounted  to  nothing. 


Mi-.  Edmunds.     What  did  that  general  law  provide  in  substance? 

Mr.  Vest.  It  provided  that  when  a  public  building  was  to  be  con- 
structed bids  for  the  work  should  be  advertised  in  the  newspapers 
having  the  largest  circulation  in  the  city  and  vicinity  where  the 
building  was  to  be  constructed ;  that  those  bid.i  made  by  responsible 
persons  should  be  submitted  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  and 
the  Secretary  of  War  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior ;  that  they 
should  meet  and  pass  upon  the  bids,  and  when  they  awarded  them  to 
the  lowest  responsible  bidder  he  should  then  give  bond  with  ap- 
proved security  for  the  construction  of  the  work  within  a  certain 
time  at  a  certain  price.  In  my  opinion  we  shall  never  be  able  to  do 
away  with  the  abuses  that  exist  until  that  bill  or  some  similar 
measure  is  enacted.  As  we  are  now  proceeding  there  can  be  no  re- 
form. 

I  make  these  remarks  with  no  political  significance  at  all.  I  say 
that  the  business  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  should  be  con- 
ducted upon  business  principles ;  and  there  is  not  one  Senator  here 
to-day  who  would  for  a  single  moment  think  of  applying  the  system 
that  now  prevails  in  this  country  to  his  own  private  business. 

Mr.  Hale.  Mr.  President,  it  strikes  me  that  there  is  a  good  deal 
of  force  in  what  the  Senator  from  Missouri  has  observed  in  reference 
to  the  inadequate  compensation  the  Government  pays  to  the  officers 
who  have  this  great  business  of  the  public  buildings'in  charge.  The 
pay  is  not  commensurate  with  the  importance  of  the  place ;  of  that 
there  can  be  no  doubt.  And  yet  bright  and  competent  architects  are 
always  very  well  pleased  to  be  connected  with  this  work,  and  espe- 
cially to  hold  the  position  of  Supervising  Architect  of  the  Treasury, 
under  which  most  of  this  work  is  done.  The  enlarged  experience, 
the  broad  acquaintance  that  is  made,  and  the  reputation  that  may 
naturally  follow  a  man's  successful  course  in  this  office,  give  him  a 
gre^it  advantage  when  he  leaves  the  office  and  returns  to  the  field  of 
private  competition ;  and  the  history  of  this  office  has  been  for  years 
that  the  men  who  have  left  it  have  gone  into  their  old  vocation  in 
private  life  benefited  undoubtedly  by  this  experience.  So  that  is  to 
a  degree  an  offset  against  the  poor  pay  that  we  give  them. 

What  I  wish  especially  to  call  attention  to  —  because,  as  I  said 
before,  the  Senate  has  got  to  meet  it  —  is  the  call  that  is  made  upon 
us  new  from  the  Supervising  Architect's  Office  and  from  the  Treasury 
Department  for  money  appropriations  in  excess  of  the  limit  hereto- 
fore fixed  by  Congress.  For  this  I  do  not  blame  the  present  Archi- 
tect. I  have  had  but  little  business  to  do  with  him  since  he  came  in, 
and  that  business  has  impressed  me  favorably  with  him  personally. 
But  for  the  first  time  Congress  is  confronted  with  this  condition  in 
regard  to  the  public  buildings  throughout  the  country.  Everybody 
knows  that  for  years  past  as  a  building  in  a  particular  place  neared 
its  completion  its  friends  and  the  representatives  of  the  community 
where  it  is  being  built  appear  in  Congress,  either  in  the  other  branch 
or  here,  and  seek  to  remove  the  limit  and  to  get  an  increased  appro- 
priation;  but  it  is  only  of  late  that  the  Department  itself  having 
charge  of  this  work,  limited  by  the  decree  of  Congress  in  fixing  the 
limitation  on  the  several  buildings,  has  adopted  as  an  estimate  of  an 
actual  deficiency  for  the  current  year  the  claims  that  are  set  up  for 
increased  expenditure. 

The  advocates  of  the  buildings,  the  Representatives  of  the  districts 
or  the  Senators  from  the  States,  are  not  left  as  heretofore  to  fight  it 
out  on  the  floor  of  either  the  one  House  or  the  other  in  Congress  and 
get  their  increase  if  they  can,  but  the  Department,  disregarding  the 
limitation  fixed  by  law,  has  adopted  these  estimates  for  deficiencies. 
I  bold  ^here  now  a  document  which  is  headed,  not  "ordinary  de- 
ficiencies," but  "urgent  deficiencies,"  deficiencies  that  press,  deficien- 
cies that  must  needs  be  inevitable,  upon  which  speedy  attention  is  de- 
manded, and  the  heading,  further,  of  the  estimates  is  in  this  language  : 

Estimates  of  deficiencies  in  appropriations  required  to  meet  urgent  demands 
of  the  Government  for  the  fiscal  year  1888,  and  for  prior  years  — 

Not  to  be  embraced  in  the  general-deficiency  appropriation  bill, 
where  we  have  formerly  put  such  items,  if  put  at  all,  but  in  the 
urgent-deficiency  bill  that  hangs  as  a  menace  over  Congress,  that  if 
it  does  not  promptly  treat  the  subjects  that  are  called  for  in  this 
document  great  harm  will  result  to  the  public  service ;  and  here  are 
the  items  on  the  subject  about  which  we  are  talking;  I  will  read 
them  in  alphabetical  order  : 

Auburn  N.  Y.:  Post-office,  Court-house,  etc.  — 

For  completion,  in  excess  of  the  limit  $30,000 

Mr.  Edmunds.     Where  do  those  estimates  come  from  ? 
Mr.  Hale.     From  the  Treasury  Department,  and  sent  down  with 
this  heading,  indicating  that  they  are  urgent,  not  ordinary  deficiencies. 
Augusta,  Me.  — 

The  building  to  which  I  before  referred. 
Augusta,  Me. :  Post-office,  Court-house,  etc.  — 

Ifor  completion,  in  excess  of  the  limit $35,000 

Whenever  that  is  reached  upon  any  appropriation  bill,  I  shall  have 
something  to  say  as  to  the  reasons  that  have  caused  this  deficit  in 
that  appropriation,  this  request  for  $35,000  more  money  than  was 
originally  appropriated,  when  all  that  was  asked  for  was  given. 
Buffalo,  N.  Y.:  Custom-house  ami  Post-office  — 

For  completion,  in  excess  of  the  limit §500 

Carson  City,  Xev.:   Court-house,  Post-office,  etc.  — 

For  completion,  in  excess  of  the  limit 36  001 

Charleston,  S.  C. :  Custom-house  wharf  — 

For  extension  and  completion,  in  excess  of  the  limit 13»,000 

Concord,  N.  H.:   Post-office,  Cimrt-house.etc.  — 

For  completion,  in  excess  of  the  limit 11,000 

Dallas,  Tex.:   Court-house,  Post-office,  etc. — 

For  completion,  in  exc<?ss  of  the  limit 11,000 


30 


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TJie    American    Architect   and  Building   News. 


103 


Denver,  Col.:   Court-house,  Post  otll,-e.  (to. 

For  <-\!<-ijMr,ri  :ui'l  riMnpii-1  ion,  in  excess  of  the  limit 960,000 

Fort  Wiivnr,  In. I.:  Court-house,  Post-nfflco,  etc.— 

For  completion,  in  excess  of  ihu  limit 16,000 

Hannibal,  Mo.:  Post-office,  etc.  — 

For  completion,  In  excess  of  the  limit 2.000 

Mr.  Beck.  While  the  Senator  is  going  on  with  that,  as  I  am  not 
well  enough  advised  about  it,  I  ask  him  whether  many  of  those 
things  do  not  arise  from  the  fact  that  under  previous  contracts,  until 
a  new  ruling  by  Secretary  Kairchild,  the  house  was  considered  r..m 
[lifted  when  the  building  was  roofed,  or  regardless  of  the  approaches. 
Those  old  contracts  were  made  on  that  basis,  and  the  building  was 
called  complete  when  the  work  on  it  was  done.  A  late  ruling  re- 
quires that  the  approaches  shall  all  be  embraced  and  made  part  of 
the  contract,  and,  therefore,  under  the  late  ruling,  whenever  a  bniM 
ing  was  finished  and  the  heating  apparatus  and  the  approaches  are 
not  completed,  there  would  be  a  deficiency.  Is  not  that  the  case '.' 

Mr.  llalv.  I  happen  to  know  about  that.  In  small  sums  that  is 
true,  and  the  decision  undoubtedly  in  such  cases  has  helped  to  swell 
this  estimate,  but  it  only  applies  in  a  limited  amount.  For  in- 
stance   

Mr.  Beck.  One  more  suggestion  and  I  am  done.  Perhaps  we 
shall  get  some  good  out  of  this  talk  when  we  come  to  regulating  the 
matter  hereafter.  Is  it  not  the  fact  when  a  force  is  employed  of 
watchmen,  clerks,  messengers,  and  I  do  not  know  what  they  call 
them,  that  they  are  always  paid  and  kept  under  pay  until  the  last 
brick  in  the  pavement  is  laid  all  around,  and  all  the  approaches  are 
finished? 

Mr.  Hale.     Undoubtedly. 

Mr.  Beck.     That  has  been  stopped,  has  it  not? 

Mr.  Hale.  All  of  this  is  an  old  practice,  but  never  so  great,  I 
think,  as  at  present  in  its  abuse ;  but  still  it  is  an  old  practice,  coming 
down  somewhat  from-  the  past,  and  in  estimating  what  the  limit  shall 
be  originally  in  the  architect's  office,  which  limitation  Congress 
accepts,  all  of  these  things  are  included. 

Now,  the  consideration  about  heating  apparatus,  approaches,  etc., 
which  are  held  under  the  decision  of  the  Treasury  to  swell  the  cost, 
only  applies  in  a  small  degree,  and  it  cannot  apply  excepting  in  the 
case  of  a  building  nearly  completed.  In  the  case  of  the  building  at 
Augusta,  Me.,  where  it  is  only  just  begun,  it  has  already  been  found 
that  under  the  management,  or  mismanagement,  there,  they  are 
$35.000  short,  and  in  addition  to  that  they  have  another  estimate  in 
for  fireproofing  the  building. 

In  addition  to  that,  which  I  did  not  read,  take  the  work  at 
Charleston,  $138,000.  That  is  not  in  any  way  increased,  or  to  any 
material  extent,  by  the  consideration  suggested  by  the  Senator  from 
Kentucky.  No,  it  is  the  deliberate  adoption  on  the  part  of  the  De- 
partment of  this  cry  for  more  money  over  and  above  the  limit  fixed 
for  the  building,  when  I  think  it  would  have  been  better  administra- 
tion, if  the  Department  had  said,  "  Congress  has  given  us  a  rule  in 
these  buildings  ;  Congress  has  fixed  a  limit;  if  Congress  removes  the 
limit,  then  we  will  estimate  as  to  what  more  is  needed  to  complete 
the  buildings  "  ;  but  I  do  complain  that  Congress  is  called  upon  now 
by  the  Department  as  an  urgent  deficiency  to  increase  these  items. 
Let  me  continue  reading  : 

Jackson,  Tenn.:  Court-house,  Post-office,  etc.  — 

For  completion,  in  excess  of  the  limit S  1,000 

Keokuk,  Iowa:  Court-house,  Post-office,  etc.  — 

For  completion,  in  excess  of  the  limit 15,000 

Leavenworth  Kans.:  Court-house,  Post-office,  etc.  — 

For  completion,  in  excepa  of  the  limit 3,000 

Lynchburgh,  Va.:  Court-house  Post-office,  etc.  — 

For  completion ,  in  excess  of  the  limit 2,000 

Manchester,  N.  H. :  Post-office,  Court-house,  etc.  — 

For  flreproofing  and  completion,  in  excess  of  the  limit 46,010 

Montpelier,  Vt.:  Post-office  Court-house,  etc.— 

For  completion,  in  excess  of  the  limit 20,000 

I  am  informed  that  in  the  latter  case,  where  it  is  already  settled 
by  the  Department  that  the  limit  is  to  be  exceeded,  hardly  a  stone 
or  brick  has  been  laid. 


Pensacola,  Fla.:  Court-house,  Post-office,  etc. — 

For  completion,  in  excess  of  the  limit 

Port  Towusend,  Wash.:  Custom-house,  Post-office,  etc.— 

For  completion  in  excess  of  the  limit 

Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.:  Post-office,  etc. — 

For  completion,  in  excess  of  the  limit '. 

Richmond  Va.:  Custom-house,  etc.— 

For  completion,  in  excess  of  the  limit 

Rochester,  N.  Y.;  Court-house,  Post-office,  etc.  — 

For  nreprooting  and  completion,  In  excess  of  the  limit. 

Shreveport,  La.:  Post-office,  Court-house,  etc. — 

For  plumbing  and  completion,  in  excess  of  the  limit 

Springfield,  Ohio:  Post-omce,  etc.  — 

For  completion,  in  excess  of  the  limit 

Syracuse,  N.  Y.:  Post-office,  Court-bouse,  etc. — 

For  extension,  granite-work  for  approaches,  and  completion, 

in  excess  of  the  limit 

Terre  Haute,  Ind  :  Post-office,  etc.  — 

For  completion,  in  excess  ol  the  limit 

Toledo,  Ohio:  Custom-house,  Court-house,  etc.:  — 

For  completion,  in  excess  of  the  limit 


$  2,000 

38,000 

600 

33,000 

50,000 

2,000 

15,030 

65,000 
32,000 
17,000 


And  the  aggregate  is  $796,500  in  an  urgent-deficiency  estimate. 
WhfR,  the  conditions  are  that  have  changed  from  the  conditions  of 
the  past  that  should  justify  this  urgent  demand  upon  Congress  to 
change  what  is  substantially  the  law  in  twenty  or  thirty  different 
cases,  enacted  by  Congress,  I  faiL  to  see.  That  there  has  been 
solicitation. most  abundant  and  overpowering  before  the  Department 
I  can  well  conceive ;  but,  as  I  have  said  before,  it  occurs  to  me  that 
it  would  have  been  better  administration  if  the  Treasury  Department 
had  said,  "  There  is  the  written  law  ;  there  is  the  statute  enacted  by 
Congress  that  authorizes  the  building  of  this  structure,  and  until 


31 


Congress  declares  that  the  limit  fixed  therein  shall  be  exceeded  or 
changed  the  Department  administering  the  law  passed  by  Congress 
will  not  step  one  foot  bevond  the  boundary  of  that  law.  (Jet  your 
limitation  increased  by  Congress,  gentlemen,  and  then  the  Depart- 
ment will  estimate  the.  cost  upon  plans  that  it  will  submit." 

I  ho|>e,  Mr.  President,  that  this  is  not  an  adoption  of  a  new  rule 
of  action  in  the  Department  under  which,  at  the  beginning  of  every 
session  of  Congress,  we  shall  have  claims  put  in  here,  or  estimates 
made  here  for  what  arc  called  urgent  deficiencies  of  this  kind,  and 
the  subject  to  me  is  so  important  that  I  have  been  glad  that  the 
S.  nator  from  Vermont  has  raised  the  question  upon  this  Bill  which, 
as  I  have  said,  I  know  but  little,  or  nothing  in  fact,  about,  in  order 
that  these  facts  might  be  presented. 

Mr.  Teller.     Mr.  President 

Mr.  Morrill.  Will  the  Senator  from  Colorado,  before  he  procecdn, 
allow  me  to  read  the  phraseology  which  has  been  inflexibly  adopted 
by  the  Committee  on  Public  Buildings  and  Grounds  in  relation  to  all 
of  these  buildings  which  have  been  authorized.  I  read  from  a  Bill 
that  was  passed  last  session  for  Springfield,  Mass. : 

That  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  be.  and  he  In  hereby,  authorized  and  directed 
to  purchase  a  site  (or,  and  cause  to  be  erected  thereon,"  a  suitable  building  with 
fire-proof  vaults  therein,  for  the  accommodation  of  the  United  States  post-office 
internal-revenue  office,  and  other  government  offices,  at  the  city  of  Springfield" 
Mans.  The  plans,  specifications,  and  full  estimates  for  said  building  shall  be  pre- 
viously made  and  approved  according  to  law,  and  shall  not  exceed  for  the  site 
and  building  complete  the  sum  of  8150,000. 

That  is  the  precise  formula  that  has  been  adopted  for  years,  and 
so  far  as  the  Committee  on  Public  Buildings  and  Grounds  are  con- 
cerned they  have  made  the  law  as  stringent  as  possible. 

Mr.  Hale.     And  was  it  not  the  expectation  in  this  case  as  in  cverv 
other  that  the  building  when  completed  should  be  confined  to  th'o 
limit  fixed  by  the  committee  and  then  by  Congress. 
Mr.  Morrill.     Of  course  it  was. 
Mr.  Edmunds.     And  put  in  working  operation. 
Mr.  Spooner.     I  should  like  to  say,  by  way  of  supplementing  what 
has  been  said  by  the  Senator  from  Vermont  [Mr.  Morrill],  that  in 
the  bills  which  have   been  reported  by  the  Committee  on  Public 
Buildings  and  Grounds  at  this  session  we  have  incorporated  a  pro- 
vision that  the  erection  of  the  building  shall  not  be  commenced  until 
the  plans  have  teen  completed  and  approved  according  to  law,  and 
the  estimates  fully  made  and  submitted  and  approved  upon  the  basis 
fixed  in  the  law. 

Mr.  Teller.  Mr.  President,  several  years  ago,  I  should  say  at 
least  six  years  ago,  perhaps  seven,  Congress  appropriated  $800,000 
for  a  public  building  at  Denver.  That  was  a  very  small  sum  for  a 
place  that  promises  as  much  as  Denver.  From  the  time  the  appro- 
priation was  made  to  the  time  that  the  building  had  got  up  to  the 
level  of  the  street,  which  was  somewhere  in  the  neighborhood  of  two 
or  three  years  —  I  do  not  remember  just  exactly  what  —  the  popula- 
tion of  the  city  had  doubled,  and  before  they  ever  get  the  roof  on,  if 
they  should  ever  succeed  in  doing  so  —  and  that  is  let  by  contract 
and  not  being  done  by  day's  work  —  or  even  before  they  get  the 
joists  in  the  first  story,  there  will  be  three  times  as  many  "people  in 
Denver  as  when  Congress  passed  the  law. 

After  the  bill  had  been  passed  and  the  plans  had  been  prepared 
and  the  building  had  been  laid  out  on  the  ground  and  the  cellar  dug, 
or  the  basement,  or  whatever  it  is,  and  the  United  States  officials 
began  to  look  at  the  size  of  the  rooms,  they  discovered  that  they 
were  ridiculously  small  and  entirely  inadequate  to  the  business. 
Thereupon  at  the  last  session  of  Congress  the  limit  was  raised  from 
$300,000  to  S.)  75,000,  and  preparation  was  made  for  the  enlargement 
of  the  building  correspondingly.  This  could  be  done  at  that  time 
without  any  waste  of  money,  except  the  waste  that  might  be  incurred 
in  having  the  watchman,  etc.,  who  are  spoken  of.  The  basement 
walls  were  so  thick  that  they  could  be  increased  without  addino- 
materially  to  the  expense,  without  taking  them  up,  and  they  were  lefl 
there :  so  that  there  was  practically  no  expense.  After  all  this  it  was 
discovered  that  the  building  was  still  not  large  enough.  It  is  a  notori- 
ous fact  that  Denver  is  full  of  people,  and  the  post-office  establish- 
ment is  in  a  very  small  room,  crowded  with  people,  who  stand  around 
waiting  for  their  turn  to  get  into  line,  and  the  post-office  officials  de- 
clare that  the  building;  will  be  entirely  inadequate  for  the  increased 
amount  of  business.  1  will  not  undertake  to  state  here  now  what  the 
business  of  the  Denver  post  office  is,  but  it  is  at  least  three  times  that 
of  any  city  of  equal  size  in  any  of  the  New  England  States. 
Mr.  Edmunds.  What  is  the  population  now  ? 
Mr.  Teller.  Seventy-five  thousand,  probably;  and  you  can  readily 
see  how  that  is.  In  the  first  place  you  have  a  system  that  enables  our 
wives  and  daughters  in  Colorado  to  send  to  New  York  and  New 
England  toj>uy  their  dry-goods  and  have  them  sent  by  mail.  They 
do  that.  Then  the  city  is  always  full  of  strangers,  who  go  to  the 
oflice  for  their  mail.  As  I  say,  men  stand  for  hours  now  sometimes 
to  get  to  the  window  that  they  may  get  their  mail.  So,  of  course, 
there  is  necessity  for  more  room,  as 'the  officials  say. 

It  is  the  susgestion  of  the  Department  that  in  the  rear  of  the  build- 
ing now  being  constructed  on  the  main  travelled  street  of  the  city  we 
can  exteml  it  for  $60,000,  so  as  to  add  to  the  area  of  the  building  on 
the  first  floor  28  feet  by  110.  That  will  cost  $60,000,  and  that  will 
make  an  efficient  and  valuable  post-office ;  and  without  it  they  will 
have  a  post-office  that  never  will  be  large  enough  for  the  town. 

But  is  there  not  some  fault  here  when  we  commence  so  inadequate 
a  structure  for  a  town  like  Denver  that  everybody  know?,  who  has 
given  the  least  attention  to  settlements  in  that  country,  must  be  a 


104 


The   American   Architect  and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXI II.  —  No    636. 


great  town  some  day  —  600  miles  from  any  public  building,  GOO  miles 
from  where  the  Government  had  ever  put  a  dollar  for  the  benefit  of 
the  people  of  that  western  country,  and  the  only  building  you  put  in 
Colorado  except  the  penitentiary  that  you  erected  for  the  Territory 
some  years  ago  for  the  moderate  sum  of  $28,000,  which  ultimately, 
of  course,  fell  to  the  State. 

I  say  that  the  appropriation  of  $575,000,  with  $60,000  added,  is 
not  an  improper  appropriation  for  the  city  of  Denver.  It  is  not  now 
what  it  ouo'ht  to  be  by  three  or  four  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and 
no  money  will  be  wasted  by  this  appropriation,  and  none  has  been 
wasted  there.  It  is  standing  there  without  anything  having  been 
done  with  it,  because  last  year  the  enormous  appropriation  was  made 
for  that  building  of  $25,000,  and  it  was  so  small  that  the  contractors 
declined  to  go  on,  as  they  ought  to  have  declined. 
Mr.  Hale.  Why  did  you  not  get  more? 

Mr.  Teller.  I  had  more  appropriated  in  the  Bill,  but  when  it  got 
into  one  of  the  conference  committees,  that  no  man  living  outside  the 
committees  ever  understood  the  intricacies  of,  it  was  juggled  out  in 
some  way  [laughter],  and  instead  of  coming  out  $115,000,  it  came  out 
$25,000.  I  was  not  astute  enough  to  discover  it  until  several  months 
after  the  Bill  had  become  a  law,  neither  was  my  colleague,  nor  was 
the  gentleman  who  represented  the  State  at  the  other  end  of  the 
Capitol.  We  did  not  discover  it  until  it  was  too  late.  So  there  it 
stood,  and  it  will  not  be  any  special  credit  to  the  Government  when 
it  is  built.  There  will  be  plenty  of  private  buildings  in  the  city  of 
Denver  that  cost  more  money,  that  are  of  more  value,  and  are  more 
imposing  in  structure  and  better  adapted  to  the  purposes  for  which 
they  were  built  than  this,  and  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
will,  undoubtedly,  when  it  has  got  this  building,  be  the  most  poorly 
furnished  of  all  those  doing  business  in  that  great  city. 
Mr.  Hale.  Now,  will  the  Senator  allow  me  ? 
Mr.  Teller.  Certainly. 

Mr.  Hale.  He  is  furnishing  a  complete  illustration  of  the  evils 
that  I  have  been  complaining  of.  Granted  that  Denver  is  entitled  to 
and  should  have  for  a  public  building  a  structure  that  costs  not  only 
five,  or  six,  or  eight  hundred  thousand  dollars,  the  Senator  has  named 
so  good  a  case  showing  that  the  limit  should  be  increased  that  had  it 
been  presented  to  Congress  which  fixed  the  limit,  and  not  to  the  De- 
partment, he  would  have  had  no  trouble  in  securing  an  extension  of 
the  limit. 

What  I  complain  of  is,  that  after  Congress  has  once  increased  the 
limit  of  a  building  like  this,  or  in  this  case,  then  the  Secretary  goes 
on,  and,  as  an  urgent  deficiency,  calls  upon  Congress  to  appropriate 
$60,000  additional.  That  the  money  may  be  needed  there  on  that 
work  after  Congress  shall  have  passed  upon  it,  I  do  not  question ; 
but  it  is  beginning  at  the  wrong  end ;  it  is  putting  the  cart  before  the 
horse.  Congress  should  pass  upon  these  questions.  If  it  pretends 
to  fix  limits  it  ought  to  unfix  limits,  and  nobody  else  ought  to  do  it. 
I  do  not  make  any  question  about  the  situation  in  Denver. 

Mr.  Teller.  I  am  inclined  to  agree  with  the  suggestion  of  the 
Senator,  which  implies  at  least  that  when  my  bill  gets  here  he  is 
going  to  vote  for  it ;  but  I  have  had  some  experience  in  this  body, 
and  have  had  some  experience  with  raising  the  limit  of  this  building, 
and  I  know  how  difficult  it  was  to  get  it  from  $300,000  to  $575,000. 
I  knew  I  could  not  get  the  limit  raised  any  higher  unless  I  got  the 
approval  of  the  Department,  and  I  went  to  the  Department  for  the 
purpose,  and  I  suppose  this  perhaps  arises  out  of  the  complaints 
made  by  our  people  and  my  representations  to  the  Department.  If 
they  say  now  that  in  their  judgment,  the  judgment  of  men  charged 
with  the  erection  of  this  building,  $60,000  more  ought  to  be  appro- 
priated —  the  building  is  in  an  unfinished  state,  the  building  is  now 
in  a  proper  state  to  be  enlarged  without  any  waste  of  money  to  the 
Government  —  I  do  not  see  why  it  cannot  just  as  well  come  in  that 
way  as  to  come  in  the  shape  of  a  special  bill,  which  must  run  the 
gauntlet  of  the  committees  and  then  of  the  other  House.  Besides, 
we  have  a  bill  before  that  committee  now  for  a  town  of  twenty-odd 
thousand  people,  where  there  is  a  United  States  court,  where  there 
is  a  United  States  revenue  collector,  and  all  the  officers  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, and  we  have  not  yet  got  any  response  from  the  committee, 
and  I  am  fearful  we  shall  not  get  any.  I  would  rather  see  this 
appropriation  go  through  on  the  urgent-deficiency  bill  than  to  take 
the  risk  of  any  separate  bill,  although,  of  course,  if  I  cannot  get  it 
through  there  I  shall  be  in  favor  of  the  bill. 

I  only  wanted  to  say  that  there  has  been  no  misappropriation  so  far 
as  this  building  is  concerned,  there  has  been  no  extravagance,  there 
has  been  no  demand  for  a  building  beyond  the  wants  of  the  com- 
munity and  the  Government;  and  when  the  building  is  completed 
with  the  $60,000  added,  it  will  not  be  big  enough  for  the  business  of 
the  United  States  Government  in  the  city  of  Denver. 

Mr.  Edmunds.  Mr.  President,  without  any  prejudice  to  the  bill 
of  the  Senator  from  Florida  —  there  must  be  further  discussion  —  but 
without  any  particular  reference  to  that  bill,  it  is  extremely  desirable 
that  there  should  be  an  executive  session,  and  I  move  that  the  Senate 
proceed  to  the  consideration  of  executive  business. 

Mr.  Call.  I  hope  the  Senator  from  Vermont  will  allow  us  to  dis- 
pose of  the  Bill.  .  .  . 

Mr.  Edmunds.  In  order  to  have  this  whole  subject  disposed  of, 
I  was  about  to  suggest  a  unanimous  understanding  that  we  take  this 
Bill  up  in  the  morning  hour  on  Monday,  as  I  wish  to  say  something 
more  myself  on  the  general  subject ;  but  as  the  Senator  from  Florida 


is  anxious  about  it,  and  this  is  only  one  little  bill,  if  we  can  get  a  vote 
without  further  debate.  I  will  withdraw  the  motion  for  an  executive 
session. 

The  President  pro  tempore.  The  question  is  on  the  amendment 
reported  by  the  Committee  on  Public  Buildings  and  Grounds. 

The  amendment  was  agreed  to. 

The  Bill  was  reported  to  the  Senate  as  amended,  and  the  amend- 
ment was  concurred  in. 

The  Bill  was  ordered  to  be  engrossed  for  a  third  reading,  read  the 
third  time  and  passed. 


[Contributors  are  requested  to  send  with  their  drawings  full  and 
adequate  descriptions  of  the  buildings,  including  a  statement  of  cost.'] 

THE    BASILICA,    QUEBEC,    CANADA. 
[Gelatine  print,  issued  only  with  the  Imperial  Edition.] 

T-SQUARE   CLUB    COMPETITION.        DESIGN    FOR    COUNTRY    STABLE. 
MR.   WALTER    COPE,    ARCHITECT,    PHILADELPHIA,    PA. 

HIS  design  received  first  mention  in  one  of  the  regular  competi- 
tions of  the  Club.  The  programme  was  as  follows  :  A  design  for 
a  country  stable  to  accommodate  three  horses  and  two  cows,  re- 
quired a  plan  at  one-eighth  scale  and  a  perspective  rendering  with 
pen  or  brush. 

STATION     AT     COMO,    MONMOUTH     CO.,     N.     J.        MESSRS.      COPE      & 
STEWARDSON,    ARCHITECTS,    PHILADELPHIA,    PA. 

THIS  station  was  built  last  summer  at  a  cost  of  about  $7,000.  The 
materials  are  broken  range  brownstone,  6'  0"  high,  red  brick  above, 
roof  slated. 

DESIGN  FOR  BARNES  HALL,  CORNELL  UNIVERSITY,  ITHACA,  N.  Y. 
MESSRS.  ROSSITER  &  WRIGHT,  ARCHITECTS,  NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. 

THIS  was  a  design  made  in  a  limited  paid  competition.  The  suc- 
cessful competitor  was  W.  H.  Miller  of  Ithaca. 

FIRST  PREMIATED  DESIGN  FOR  THE  PROPOSED  YOUNG  MEN'S 
CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATION  BUILDING,  PROVIDENCE,  R.  I.  MESSRS. 
STONE,  CARPENTER  <t  WILLSON,  ARCHITECTS,  PROVIDENCE,  R.  I. 

THE     AMENDED    DESIGN   FOR    THE    SAME    BUILDING. 

THE  principal  changes  are  in  the  increase  in  the  size  of  the  main 
hall,  in  the  number  of  class-rooms,  and  in  the  re-arrangement  of  the 
rooms  in  the  first  story. 

HOUSE  FOR  A.  N.  ELLIOTT,  ESQ.,  CHESTNUT  HILL,  PHILADELPHIA, 
PA.  MR.  J.  C.  WORTHINGTON,  ARCHITECT,  PHILADELPHIA,  PA. 

HOUSE    NEAR    ST.    LOUIS,    MO.      MESSRS.    EAMES    &    YOUNG.    ARCHI- 
TECTS,   ST.    LOUIS,    MO. 


SAFE  BUILDING.— XXIII.1 


Lateral  Flexure  IN  "sing  iron  and  steel  beams  it  is  very  important 
in  beams,  that  they  be  supported  sideways,  so  as  not  toj'ield 
to  lateral  flexure.  Where  the  beams  are  isolated  and  unsupported 
sideways,  the  safe  load  must  be  diminished.  Just  how  much  to  di- 
minish this  load  is  the  question.  The  practice  amongst  iron  workers 
is  to  consider  the  top  flange  as  a  column  of  the  full  length  of  the 
span,  obliged  to  yield  sideways,  and  with  a  load  equal  to  the  greatest 
strain  on  the  flange.  Modifying  therefore,  Formula  (3)  to  meet  this 
view,  we  should  have  : 

1  Continued  from  page  56,  No.  632. 


32 


MARCH  3,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


105 


i-tt 


/,-' 


Beams  not 
braced 
sideways, 

Where  (/•,  — the  safe  load,  in  pounds,  on  a  beam,  girder,  lintel  or 
straight  areli,  etc.,  unsupported  sideways. 

\Vhere  w  =  the  safe  load,  in  pounds,  on  a  beam,  lintel  or  straight 
arch  supported  sideways. 

Where  L  =  the  length  of  clear  span,  in  feet,  that  beam,  etc.,  is 
unsupported  sideways. 

Where  b  =  the  least  breadth  in  inches  of  top  flange,  or  least 
thickness  of  beam,  lintel  or  arch. 

U'hcre  y  =  a  constant,  as  found  in  Table  XVI. 

(In  place  of  w  we  can  use  r  =  the  moment  of  resistance  of  beam 
supported  sideways,  and  in  place  of  u\  we  use  r,  =  the  moment  ol 
resistance  of  lieam  not  supported  sideways.) 

The  above  practice,  however,  would  seem  to  diminish  the  weight 
unnecessarily,  particularly  where  the  beam,  girder,  etc.,  is  of  uniform 
section  throughout;  for  while  the  beam  in  that  case,  would  be 
equally  strong  at  all  points,  it  would  be  strained  to  the  maximum 
compression  only  at  the  point  of  greatest  bending-moment,  the  strain 
diminishing  towards  each  support,  where  the  compression  would 
erase:  entirely.  To  consider  therefore  the  whole  as  a  long  column 
carrying  a  weight  equal  to  this  maximum  compressive  strain,  seems 
unreasonable.  Box  has  shown  however  that  the  maximum  tendency 
to  deflect  laterally  is  when  we  consider  the  top  flange  (or  top  half  in 
rectangular  beams,  lintels  and  straight  arches)  as  a  column  equal  to 
two  thirds  of  the  span  (unsupported  sideways)  loaded  with  a  weight 
equal  to  one-third  of  the  greatest  compressive  strain  at  any  point. 
This  greatest  compressive  strain  is  always  at  the  point  of  greatest 
bending  moment,  (usually  the  centre  of  span)  and  is  equal  to  the 

area  of  top  llange,  nfnltiplied  by  (  -f-  j  .     In  case  of  plate  girders  the 

angle-irons  and  part  of  web  between  angle-irons  should  be  included 
in  the  area.  Box's  theory  is  given  in  Formula  (5)  ;  if  then  we  take 
one-third  of  this  "  maximum  tendency  to  deflect "  as  safe,  we  should 
have  the  same  Formula  as  (78)  but  with  a  smaller  value  for  y.  The 
Use  of  writer  would  recommend  using  the  larger  value  for 

Table  xvi.  y,  where,  as  in  plate  girders,  trusses,  etc.,  the  section 
of  top  flange  or  chord  is  diminished,  varying  according  to  the  com- 
pressive strain  at  each  point;  and  using  the  smaller  value  for  y, 
where  the  section  of  beam,  girder  or  top  chord  is  uniform  throughout. 

TABLE   XVI. 

VALUE    OF    Y   IN    FORMULA    (78). 


Material  of  beam,  girder,  lintel, 
straight  arch,  etc. 

Value  of  y  for 
girders,  beams, 
etc.,  of  varia- 
ble cross-sec- 
tions. 

Value  of  //  for  beams, 
girders,  lintels, 
straight  arches,  etc., 
of  uniform  cross-sec- 
tion throughout. 

Cast-iron  

05184 

02304 

Wrought-Iron  

00432 

00192 

Steel  

0  0346 

0,0154 

Wood  

0  5702 

02534 

34560 

1  5360 

Brick  

67024 

25344 

Thus  the  10|"-  90  pounds  beam  at  20  feet  span  will  safely  carry 
(if  supported  sideways)  a  uniform  load  of  5,9  tons  or  11,800  pounds 
(see  Table  XV.)  The  width  of  flange  being  4£",  and  this  width  and 
its  thickness,  of  course,  being  uniform  throughout  the  entire  length 
of  beam,  we  use  the  smaller  value  for  y  (second  column)  and  have 
for  the  actual  safe  uniform  load,  if  the  beam  is  not  secured  against 
lateral  flexure : 

11800  _      11800 

W'~  1  +  0,0192.    20J~  1+0,879 

_ 11800. 
~  1,379  " 
Had  we  used  the  larger  value  for  y  =  0,0432  we  should  have  had 


Tr  =  rr=:6365  Pounds'  or  3'18  tons- 

0,854       1,854 

which  closely  resembles  the  value  (3,29)  given  in  the  Iron  Com- 
panies hand-book,  but  is  an  excessive  reduction  under  the  circum- 
stances. 

Doubled  Where  two  or  more  beams  are  used  to  carry  the 

Beams,  same  load,  as  girders  for  instance,  or  as  lintels  in  a 
a  wall,  they  should  be  firmly  bolted  together,  with  cast-iron  separa- 
tors between.  In  this  case  use  for  b  in  Formula  (78)  the  total 
width,  from  outside  to  outside  of  all  flanges,  and  including  in  b  the 
spaces  between.  The  separators  are  made  to  fit  exactly  between  the 
inner  sides  of  webs  and  top  and  bottom  flanges.  The  separator  is 
swelled  out  for  the  bolt  to  pass  through.  Sometimes  there  are  two 
bolts  to  each  separator,  but  it  is  better  (weakening  the  beam  less)  to 
have  but  one  at  the  centre  of  web.  The  size  of  separators  and  bolts 
vary,  of  course,  to  suit  the  different  sizes  of  beams.  They  should  be 
placed  apart  about  as  frequently  as  twenty  times  the  width  of  flange 
of  a  single  beam.  Where  beams  are  placed  in  a  floor,  the  floor 
arches  usually  provide  the  side  bracing.  But  in  order  to  avoid  un- 

Tle-rods.       equal  deflections,  and  possible  cracks  in  the  arches, 
(from  unequal  or  moving  loads  or  from  vibrations)  and  also  to  take 


up  the  thrust  on  the  end  beams  of  each  floor,  it  is  necessary  to  place 
lines  of  tie-rods  across  the  entire  line  of  beams.  The  size  of  these 
rods  can  be  calculated  as  already  explained  in  the  Chapter  on 
Arches  (p.  215,  No.  619)  ;  they  are  usually  made,  however,  from 
j"  to  j"  diameter.  Each  rod  extends  from  the  outside  web  of 
one  beam  to  the  outside  web  of  the  next  beam.  The  next  rod  is  a 
little  to  one  side  of  it,  so  that  the  rods  do  not  really  form  one  straight 
line,  but  every  other  rod  falls  in  the  same  line.  Care  must  be  taken 
not  to  get  the  rods  too  long,  or  there  will  have  to  be  several  washers 
under  the  head  and  nut,  making  a  very  unsightly  job,  to  say  the 
least.  Contractors  will  do  this  however,  for  the  sake  of  the  con- 
venience of  ordering  the  rods  all  of  one  or  two  lengths.  Where, 
therefore,  the  beams  are  not  spaced  evenly  the  contractor  should  be 
warned  against  this.  One  end  of  the  rod  has  a  "  head  "  welded  on, 
the  other  nas  a  "  screw-end,"  which  need  not  be  "  up-set ;"  the  nut  is 
screwed  along  this  end,  thus  forcing  both  nut  and  head  to  bear 
against  the  beams  solidly.  The  distance  between  lines  of  tie-rods, 
would  depend  somewhat  on  our  calculation,  if  made ;  the  usual  prac- 
tice, however,  is  to  place  them  apart  a  distance  equal  to  about 
twenty  times  the  width  of  flange  of  a  single  beam. 
Flitch-plate  Sometimes  where  wooden  girders  have  heavier 

Clrder.  loads  to  carry  than  they  are  capable  of  doing  and 
yet  iron  girders  cannot  be  afforded,  a  sheet  of  plate-iron  is  bolted  be- 
tween two  wooden  girders.  In  this  case  care  must  be  taken  to  so 
proportion  the  iron,  that  in  taking  its  share  of  the  load,  it  will 
deflect  equally  with  the  wooden  girders,  otherwise  the  bolts  would 
surely  shear  off,  or  else  cru«h  and  tear  the  wood. 

We  consider  the  two  wooden  girders  as  one  girder  and  calculate 
(or  read  from  Table  XIII)  their  safe  load,  taking  care  not  to  exceed 
0,03  inches  of  deflection  per  foot  of  span.  We  then,  from  Table  VII 
or  Formulse  (37)  to  (41)  obtain  the  exact  amount  of  their  deflection 
under  this  load.  We  now  calculate  the  iron  plate,  for  deflection 
only,  inserting  the  above  amount  of  deflection,  and  for  the  load  the 
balance  to  be  borne  by  the  iron-work.  An  example  will  best  illus- 
trate this  : 

Example. 

A  Flitch-plate  girder  of  20-foot  span  consists  of  two  Georgia  pine 
beams  each  6"  X  M"  with  a  sheet  of  plate-iron  16"  deep  bolted  between 
them.  The  girder  carries  a  load  of  13000  pounds  at  its  centre;  of 
what  thickness  should  the  plate  be  ?  The  girder  supports  a  plastered 
ceiling. 

Strength  of  From  Table   XIII  we  find  that  a  Georgia  pine 

wooden  part,  beam  6"  X  16"  of  20-foot  span  will  safely  carry 
without  cracking  plaster  7980  pounds  uniform  load,  or  3990  pounds 
at  its  centre  (See  Case  (G)  Table  VII,)  so  that  the  two  wooden 
beams  together  carry  7980  pounds  of  the  load,  leaving  a  balance  of 
5020  pounds  for  the  iron  plate  to  carry.  The  deflection  of  a  20-foot 
span  Georgia  pine  beam  6"  X  16"  with  3990  pounds  centre  load  will 
be,  Formula  (40) 

1      3990.  240" 


e  for  Georgia  pine  (Table  IV)  is  =  1 200000  a  id 
i  =  ^—  (Table  I.  section  No.  2),  or 

6  1  fi' 
i  =  -^-  =  2048,  therefore 


1          3990. 
'=48  ' 


-^"-047" 
1200000.  2048         ' 


8ile  of  We  now  have  a  wrought-iron  plate   which  must 

iron  Plate,   carry  5020  pounds  centre  load,  of  a  span  of  20  feet, 
16"  deep,  and  must  deflect  under  this  load  only  0,47". 
Inserting  these  values  in  Formula  (40)  we  have  : 
1       5020.240* 


From  Table  IV  we  have  for  wrought-iron 
e=  27000000 


While  for  i,  we  have  (Table  I. 
_b.  16» 
12 


Section  No.  2) 


1  =  -^  =  —,  r- =  341.6 


12 
Inserting  these  values  and  transposing  we  have : 

5020.      240» 

~  48.  27000000.  341.  0,47  ~ 
Or   the  plate   would   have  to  be  i"   X  16".      Now  to  make   sure 
that  this  deflection  does  not  cause  too  great  fibre  strains  in  the  iron, 
we  can  calculate  these  from  Formulae  (18)  and  (22).     The  bending 
moment  at  the  centre  will  be  (22) 

5020.  240 
ro= j =  301200 

The  moment  of  resistance  will  be  (Table  I.     Section  No.  2) 
b.  d1      0,33.16"  _ 
~6~        ~~6~~ 

And  from  (18)  — ^-  =  r,  or  transposing  and  inserting  values, 


38 


106 


The   American   Architect  and  Uuilding   News.      [VoL.  XXIII.  —  No.  636. 


301200 
14 


=  21514  pounds. 


As  the  safe  modulus  of  rupture  of  wrought-iron  is  only  12000 
pounds  (Table  IV)  we  must  increase  the  thickness  of  our  plate 
Let  us  call  the  plate  $"  X  16",  we  should  then  have 

r  =  ^r-  f-  =  26,67  and 


/ 

So  that  the  plate  would  be  a  trifle  too  strong.  This  would  mean  that 
both  plate  and  beams  would  deflect  less.  The  exact  amount  might 
be  obtained  by  experimenting,  allowing  the  beams  to  carry  a  little 
less  and  the  plate  a  little  more,  until  their  deflections  were  the  same, 
but  such  a  calculation  would  have  no  practical  value.  We  know 
that  the  deflection  will  be  less  than  0,  47"  and  further  that  plaster- 
ing would  not  crack,  unless  the  deflection  exceeded  -|"  of  an  inch 
(Formula  28)  as 

20.0,03  =  0,  6" 

Size  of  Bolts.   In  regard  to   the  bolts  the  best  position  for   them 
would,  of  course,  be  along  the  neutral  axis,  that  is  at  half  the  height 


a 
f 


«b 


Fig.   137. 

of  the  beam.  For  here  there  would  be  no  strain  on  them.  But  to 
place  them  with  sufficient  frequency  along  this  line  would  tend  to 
weaken  it  too  much,  encouraging  the  destruction  of  the  beam  from 
longitudinal  shearing  along  this  line.  For  this  reason  the  bolts  are 
placed,  alternating,  above  and  below  the  line,  forming  two  lines  of 
bolts,  as  shown  in  Fig.  (137).  The  end  bolts  are  doubled  as  shown ; 
the  horizontal  distance,  a-b,  between  two  bolts  should  be  about 
equal  to  the  depth  of  the  beam.  If  we  place  the  bolts  in  our  exam- 
ple, say  3"  above  and  3"  below  the  neutral  axis,  we  can  readily  cal- 
culate the  size  required.  Take  a  cross-section  of  the  beam  (Fig. 
138)  showing  one  of  the  upper  bolts.  Now  the  fibre  strains  along 

the  upper  edge  of  the  girder,  we  know  are  (  -—.  1  or  1200  pounds  per 

square  inch,  for  the  wood,  and  we  just  found  the  balance  of  the  load 
coming  on  the  iron  would  strain  this  on  the  extreme  upper  edge 
=:11256  pounds  per  square  inch.  As  the  centre  line  of  the  bolt  is 
only  3"  from  the  neutral  axis  or  f  of  the  distance  from  neutral  axis  to 
the  extreme  upper  fibres,  the  strains  on  the  fibres  along  this  line  will 
be,  of  course,  on  the  wood  f  of  1200,  or  450  pounds  per  square  inch  : 
and  on  the  iron  f  of  11256  =  4221  pounds  per  square  inch.  Now, 
supposing  the  bolt  to  be  1"  in  diameter.  It  then  presses  on  each 
side  against  a  surface  of  wood  =  1"  X  6"  or  =  six  square  inches. 
The  fibre  strain  being  450  pounds  per  square  inch,  the  total  pressure 
on  the  bolt  from  the  wood,  each  side,  is  : 

6.450  =  2700  pounds. 

On  the  iron  we  have  a  surface  of  1"  X  f"  =  $  square  inches.  And 
as  the  fibre  strain  at  the  bolt  is  4221,  the  total  strain  on  the  bolt 
from  the  iron  is  =  |.  4221  =  2638  pounds.  Or,  our  bolt  virtually 
becomes  a  beam  of  wroughtriron,  circular  and  of  1"  diameter  in 
cross:section,  supported  at  the  points  A  and  B,  which  are  6|"  apart, 
and  loaded  on  its  centre  C  with  a  weight  of  2638  pounds. 
Therefore  we  have,  at  centre,  bendino'-moment  (Formula  22) 

2638.  6| 
TO  =  — 7 — -  =  4369. 

From  Table  I,  Section  No.  7,  we  know  that  for  a  circular  section, 
the  moment  of  resistance  is, 

r  =  "     t-=ll  .m3  =  0,098 


Now  for  solid  circular  bolts,  and  which  are  acted  on  really  along 
their  whole  length  it  is  customary  to  take  (-^  \  the  safe  modulus  of 

rupture  rather  higher  than  for  beams.  Where  the  bolts  or  pins 
have  heads  and  nuts  at  their  ends  firmly  holding  together  the  parts 
acting  across  them  they  are  taken  at  20000  pounds  for  steel  and  at 
15000  pounds  for  iron.  We  have  therefore  from  (Formula  18)  for 
the  required  moment  of  resistance 

4369 
r  =  15000  —  0,291.     Inserting  this  value  for  r  in  the 

above  we  have  for  the  radius  of  bolt, 


rj  .  r8  =  0,291  and 


=  0,718" 


°>291  =  ^0,3704 


Or  the  diameter  of  bolt  should  be  1,436"  or  say  1  7-16".  But  1"  will 
be  quite  ample,  as  we  must  remember  that  the  strains  calculated  will 
come  only  on  the  one  bolt  at  the  centre  of  span  of  beam ;  and  that, 
as  the  beam  remains  of  same  cross  section  its  whole  length  the 
extreme  fibre  strains  decrease  rapidly  towards  the  supports,  and 
therefore  also  the  strains  on  the  bolts.  The  end  bolts  are  doubled 
however,  to  resist  the  starting  there  of  a  tendency  to  longitudinal 
shearing.  We  might  further  calculate  the  danger  of  the  bolt  crush- 
ing the  iron  plate  at  its  bearing  against  it;  or  crushing  the  wood 
each  side;  or  the  danger  of  the  iron  bolt  being  sheared  off  by  the 
iron  plate  between  the  wooden  beams;  or  the  danger  of  the  iron 
bolt  shearing  off  the  wood  in  front  of  it,  that  is  tearing  its  way  out 
through  the  wood ;  but  the  strains  are  so  small,  that  we  can  readily 
see  that  none  of  these  dangers  exist. 

Keyed  Girders.  Another  method  of  adding  to  the  sum  of  the 
separate  strengths  of  the  girders  is  to  place  one  under  the  other  mak- 
ing a  straight  joint  between  the  two  parts  and  to  drive  in  hard  wood 
keys,  as  shown  in  Fig.  140. 

The  keys  can  either  be  made  a  trifle  thicker  than  the  holes  and 
the  beams  then  firmly  bolted  together  so  as  to  take  hold  of  keys 
securely;  or,  keys  can  be  shaped  in  two  wedged-shaped  pieces  to 
B  each  key,  and  driven 

into  the  hole  from  op- 
posite sides,  after  the 
beams  are  firmly 
bolted.  In  the  latter 
case,  care  must  be 
taken  that  the  joint 
between  the  opposite 
wedges  is  slanting  or 
diagonal,  and  not  hori- 

g'  zontal  or  else,  of  course, 

the  keys  would  be  useless.  Either  method  allows,  for  tightening  up, 
after  shrinkage  has  taken  place.  Iron  bands  are  frequently  used 
in  place  of  bolts  but  they  are  more  clumsy,  less  liable  to  all 
fit  exactly,  and  besides  do  not  allow  for  tightening  up  so  easily 
as  with  bolts.  Where  beams  are  very  wide,  however,  the 
bands  are  very  advantageous.  Tredgold  says  the  keys  should 
be  twice  as  wide,  as  high;  and  that  the  sum  of  all  their 
heights  should  equal  one  and  a  third  times  the  depth  of  girder. 
They  can  be  easily  calculated,  however.  As  the  main  strain  on  them 
Horizontal  i8  a  horizontal  shearing  strain,  and  the  stress  or 

shearing  on      resistance  to  shearing  is  greatest  across  the   grain 
Keys.  the   keys   should   of   course,  be   placed   with  their 

grain  running  as  nearly  as  possible  vertically.  Of  course,  as  the 
greatest  horizontal  shearing  exists'near  the  supports,  the  end  wedges 
should  be  the  strongest ;  it  is  customary,  however,  to  make  them  all 
of  the  same  size  for  convenience  of  execution.  The  amount  of  the 
horizontal  shearing  is  found  by  Formula  (13). 

Besides  the  horizontal  shearing  strain  there  will  also  be  a  crushing 
strain  on  the  sides  of  wedges,  which  will  be  greatest,  where  the 
greatest  fibre  strains  exist.  This  of  course,  is  at  the  point  of  the 
greatest  bending  moment  on  the  beam.  Let  us  consider  the  wedge 
Compression  at  A-B  Fig.  (140)  which  has  been  drawn  enlarged 

on  Keys,   in  Fig.  (139.) 

The  lower  half  of  the  girder,  being  in  tension,  in  trying  to  stretch 
its  fibres  meets  with  the  resistance  of  the  wedge  along  E  F,  therefore 


(goo) 


Fig.  140. 


34 


tends  to  crush  or  compress  this  surface.  The  amount  of  this  com- 
jression,  per  square  inch,  will  be  equal  to  the  average  fibre  strain 
Between  E  and  F.  Now  the  fibre  strain  at  A  can  be  readily  found,  by 
finding  the  "  bending  moment "  at  A  and  dividing  this  by  the  moment 
of  resistance  of  the  girder  (see  Table  I)  and  Formula  (18).  This 
;ives  the  fibre  strains  at  A.  The  average  fibre  strain  on  E  F  will  be 
to  the  strain  at  A  as  the  distance  of  x  from  the  neutral  axis,  is  to  the 
depth  of  half  the  beam ;  a;  being  the  centre  of  E  F,  or  : 

Extreme  fibre  strain  a  :  average  fibre  strain  on  wedge  =  E  A  : 
_  x.  The  amount  of  the  compression  on  E  F  will  of  course  equal 
the  area  of  wedge  at  E  F  (that  is  E  F  multiplied  by  the  breadth  of 
girder),  and  this  area  multiplied  by  the  average  fibre  strain  on  E  F. 
The  greatest  compression  on  E  F  will  of  course  be  at  F,  and  equal 
to  twice  the  average  fibre  strain,  as  E  F  =  2.  E  x. 

In  the  same  way,  we  find  that  the  upper  half  of  the  girder,  being 
n  compression,  is  forcing  its  fibres  towards  the  centre  causing  corn" 
>ression  on  the  surface  D  C.  The  amount  of  this  compression  is 
found  similarly  as  for  that  on  E  F,  the  only  difference  being  in  the 
difference  in  bending  moments  at  B  and  A.  The  key  therefore 
becomes  virtually  a  cantilever,  the  built-in  part  being  between  E  F 
and  C,  and  the  load  applied  on  the  free  end  C  D,  the  load  being  a 
uniform  one  and  equal  to  the  amount  of  the  compression  on  C^D. 


MAKCH  3,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect   and  Building  News. 


107 


Weakest  Point  The  weakest  point  of  the  girder  itself  will  be  either 
of  Girder,  at  the  point  of  greatest  bending  moment,  or  at  key 
nearest  to  it,  where,  of  course  the  girder  will  not  be  of  full  section, 
being  weakened  in  the  part  cut  away  for  key.  An  example  will 
more  fully  illustrate  all  of  the  foregoing. 

Example. 

A  ipruce  girder  (Fig.  140)  of  30-foot  clear  span  is  built  up  of  two 
girders  10"  X  12"  each,  making  the  whole  section  10"  X  24". 
Georgia  pine  keys  are  used,  each  6''  X  12"  (and,  of  course)  10" 
<«•;•««  (/ inter;  they  are  placed  with  grain  vertically  3' 4"  between 
centres  and  same  distance  from  centre  of  last  key  to  support.  The 
girder  helps  support  a  plastered  ceiling.  What  is  the  safe  centre  load 
on  girder  ? 

Calculation  of  The  girder  is  (d  =  )  24"  deep  and  (L=)  thirty 
Keyed  girder,  feet  long  :  now  1,1.  L  would  be  35,  therefore  ./  is  less 
than  1£  L,  and  from  rule  contained  in  Table  VIII  for  spruce  we 
must  calculate  for  deflection,  not  rupture,  in  order  to  be  safe. 
Formula  (40)  gives  the  rule  for  deflection  of  a  centre  load  on  a 
girder  or  beam.  It  is  : 

81  w.  I* 

=  —5  .  — s-  or  transposing, 

48  e.  t. 
<> 

w  =         '       where  w  would  be  the  safe  centre  load,  in 

pounds.     Now  in  order  not  to  crack  plastering,  we  have  from  For- 
mula (28) 

8  =  L.  0,03  or 

8  =  30.  0,03 

=   0,9. 

From  Table  IV  we  have  for  spruce : 
e  =  850000 

From  Table  I,  Section  No.  17,  we  have  for  the 
weakest  section  of  the  girder,  which  would  be 
through  a  key,  and  as  shown  in  Fig.  141, 


_  iY .  (24»  —  6')  =  11340,  therefore 

inserting  these  values  in  the  transposed  Formula 
Fiiz.  141.  (40) 

0,9.48.850000.11340 

360» 
=  8925 

Or  the  safe  centre  load,  not  to  crack  plastering,  would  be,  say  9000 
pounds. 

End  Keys.  Now  let  us  try  the  keys.     We  first  take  the  great- 

est horizontal  shearing,  which  will  be  at  the  end  keys. 

The  vertical  shearing  at  these  keys  will  be  equal  to  the  reaction 
(see  Table  VII,  or  Formula  11.) 

As  the  load  is  central,  each  reaction  will,  of  course,  be  one-half 
the  load,  or  4500  pounds,  therefore  the  vertical  shearing  strain  at 
end  key,  will  be  (a  little  less  than) 

1  =  4500 

Now  from  Formula  (13)  we  know  that  the  horizontal  shearing  strain 
at  the  same  point  is  : 

JL     _?. 
T'  "a 

For  the  area  we  take  the  full  area  of  cross-section  or  a  =  10.24  =  240, 
therefore  horizontal  shearing  strain  : 

2 — 2JQ-  =  28,125     pounds     per    square   inch.       The 

amount  of  this  strain  that  will  act  on  each  key  is,  of  course,  equal  to  the 
area  at  the  neutral  axis  from  centre  to  centre  of  key,  or  40.  10  =  400 
square  inches  multiplied  by  the  strain  per  square  inch,  or 

400.     28,125  =  11250  pounds. 

To  resist  this  we  have  a  key  12"  X  10"  =  120  square  inches,  being 
sheared  across  the  grain.  From  Table  IV  we  know  that  the  safe 
shearing  stress  of  Georgia  pine  across  the  grain  or  fibres,  is : 

=  570  pounds  so  that  the  key  could  safely  stand  an 

amount  of  horizontal  shearing 

=  570.     120  =  68400  pounds 

or  more  than  six  times  the  actual  strain.  Had  we,  however,  placed 
the  grain  of  the  key  horizontal,  the  shearing  would  be  with  the  grain 
or  along  the  fibres;  the  safe  shearing  stress  this  way  for  Georgia 
pine  (Table  IV)  is  only  50  pounds  per  square  inch,  so  that  the  key 
would  only  have  resisted 

=  50.120  =  6000  pounds,  or  it  would  have  been  in 
serious  danger  of  splitting  in  two. 

Central  Keys.  Now  take  the  Key  A  B  immediately  to  the  right 
of  the  weight.  The  bending-moment  at  A  will  be  (Table  VII) 

mx=  4500.166  =  747000 
and  at  B 

m,=  4500.154  =  693000 

Now  at  A  and  B,  the  girder  being  uncut,  the  moment  of  resistance 
will  be  (Table  I,  Section  No.  2) 


10.  24" 


=  96« 

Dividing  the  bending  moment  by  the  moment  of  resistance  (Formula 
18  transposed)  gives  the  extreme  fibre  strains, 

747000 
at  A  =    96Q      =778  pounds. 

693000 
and  at  B  =  -ggQ-  =  722  pounds. 

Now  the  centres  (X  and  Y,  see  Fig.  139)  of  each  side  of  key  will  be 
1 J"  from  neutral  axis,  the  extreme  fibres  being,  of  course,  12"  distant 
from  neutral  axis,  therefore  average  strain  on  side  of  key  at  A.  (Or 

JT.Fig.    139)  =  [|.  778  =  97  pounds, 

and  at  B  (or  Y,  Fig.  139)  =  j| .  722  =  90  pounds. 

The  extreme  compression,  will,  of  course,  be  on  the  lower  edge  of 
key,  at  A  and  will  be  =  2.97  =  194  pounds  per  square  inch, 
from  Table  IV  we  find  that  Georgia  pine  will  safely  stand  a 
pressure  of  200  pounds  per  square  inch,  across  the  fibres,  so  that  we 
are  just  a  little  inside  of  the  safety  mark.  We  now  have  to  consider 
our  key  as  a  cantilever  with  cross-section  10"  wide  and  12"  deep, 
projecting  3"  beyond  the  support  and  loaded  uniformily  with  a 
weight  equal  to  90  pounds  per  square  inch,  or 

u  =  90.3.10  =  2700  pounds. 
Now  the  bending  moment  at  support  is,  (Formula  25.) 

2700.3 
m  =  — g —  =  405°  pounds. 

The  moment  of  resistance  (Table  I,  Section  2)  is 
_10.12il 

Therefore  (Formula  18)  the  extreme  fibre  strains  on  key 

m       4050 

=  T  =  240  =  l 7  P°unds- 
Or  not  enough  to  be  even  considered  seriously. 
Notched  Another  method  of  combining  and  strengthening 

girders,  wooden  girders,  is  to  cut  them  with  saw-shaped 
notches,  as  shown  in  (Fig.  142)  and  fit  the  teeth  closely  together, 
firmly  bolting  the  two  parts  together,  so  as  to  force  them  to  act 


Fig.   142. 

together  as  one  girder.  Sometimes  the  top  surface  slants  towards 
each  end,  and  iron  bands  are  driven  on  towards  the  centre,  till  they 
are  tight.  But  bolts  are  more  reliable,  and  not  likely  to  slip ;  where 
the  girder  is  broad,  they  should  be  doubled,  that  is,  placed  in  pairs 
across  the  width  of  girder.  The  distance  between  bolts  should  not 
exceed  twice  the  depth  of  girder.  Great  care  must  be  taken  to  get 
the  right  side  up.  Many  text-books  even  being  careless  in  this 
matter.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  upper  fibres  are  in  com- 
pression, crowding  towards  the  centre,  while  the  lower  ones,  in  ten- 
sion, are  pressing  away. 

The  girder  must  therefore  be  placed,  as  shown,  so  that  the  two 
sets  of  fibres  will  meet  at  the  short  joints  and  oppose  each  other. 
The  girder  is  easily  calculated  similarly  to  the  former  example.  The 
crushing  on  C  D  or  A  B  can  be  found,  and  also  the  stress  on  their 
extreme  edges ;  this  must  not  exceed  the  safe  stress  of  the  material 
for  compression  across  the  fibres.  Then  D  B  or  C  A  must  have 
area  sufficient  to  resist  the  horizontal  strain. 

Sile  of  In  all  these  girders  the   most   careful   fitting   of 

Bearings,  joints  is  necessary;  then,  too,  the  ends  must  have 
sufficient  bearing  not  to  crush  under  the  load.  Thus,  take  the  former 
example,  the  reaction  was  4500  pounds ;  the  safe  resistance  of  spruce 
to  crushing  across  the  fibres  is  (  fable  IV)  =  75  pounds. 

We  need  therefore  an  area  =  ^t^  =  60  square  inches,  and  as 
the  girder  is  10"  broad  it  should  bear  on  each  support  j$  =  6 
inches.  The  end  of  girder  should  be  deep  enough  to  resist  vertical 
shearing.  In  our  case  it  is  trifling,  and  we  need  not  consider  it.  In 
all  of  these  examples  we  have  omitted  the  weight  of  the  girder,  to 
avoid  complication.  This  should  really  be  taken  into  account,  in 
such  a  long  girder,  and  treated  as  an  additional  but  uniform  load. 
Continuous  When  girders  run  over  three  or  more  supports  in 

Girders,  one  piece,  that  is,  are  not  cut  apart  or  jointed  over 
the  supports,  the  existing  strains  and  reactions  of  ordinary  girders, 
are  very  much  altered.  These  are  known  as  "continuous  girders." 
If  we  have  (Fig.  143)  three  supports,  and  run  a  continuous  girder 
over  them  in  one  piece  and  load  the  girder  on  each  side  it  will  act  as 
shown  in  Fig.  143 ;  if  the  girder  is  cut  it  will  act  as  shown  in  Fig. 
144.  Very  little  thought  will  show  that  the  fibres  at  A  not  being 
able  to  separate  in  the  first  case,  though  they  want  to,  must  cause 
considerable  tension  in  the  upper  fibres  at  A.  This  tension,  of 
course,  takes  up  or  counterbalances  part  of  the  compression  existing 


35 


108 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.       [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  636. 


there,  and  the  result  is  that  the  first  or  continuous  girder  (Fig.  143) 
is  considerably  stronger,  that  is,  it  is  less  strained  and  considerably 
stiffer,  than  the  sectional  or  jointed  girder  (Fig.  144).  Again  we 


Fig.   143. 

can  readily  see  that  the  great  tension  and  conflict  of  the  opposite 
stresses  at  A  would  tend  to  cause  more  pressure  on  the  central  post 
in  Fie  148,  than  on  the  central  post  in  Fig.  144,  and  this,  m  tact, 
is  the  case.  Below  are  given  the  various  formulae  for  reactions, 
ereatest  bendin°-  moments  and  deflections,  for  the  most  usual  cases 
of  continuous  girders.  The  architect  can,  if  he  wishes,  neglect  to 
allow  for  the  additional  strength  and  stiffness  of  continuous  girders, 
as  both  are  on  the  safe  side.  But  he  must  never  overlook  the  fact 


Variation  of         t!tat  tjie  Central  reactions  are  much  greater,  or  in  other 
Reactions,   words,  that  the  end  supports  carry  less,  and  the  cen- 
tral supports  carry  more,  than  when  the  girders  are  cut. 

Bending  moments  can  be  figured,  at  any  desired  point    along  a 


Fig.  144. 

continuous  girder,  as  usual,  subtracting  from  the  sum  of  the  reactions 
on  one  side  multiplied  by  their  respective  distances  from  the  point, 
the  sum  of  all  the  weights  on  the  same  side,  multiplied  by  their  re- 
spective distances  from  the  point.  Sometimes  the  result  will  be 
negative,  which  means  a  reversal  of  the  usual  stresses  and  strains. 
Otherwise  the  rules  and  formulae  hold  good,  the  same  as  for  other 
girders  or  beams.  The  following  Table  gives  all  necessary  informa- 
tion at  a  glance.  Louis  DE  COPPET  BERO. 


TABLE   XVII. 

CONTINUOUS    GIRDERS. 


Illustration. 

Description. 

Amount  of  Reactions. 

Amount  of  Greatest 
Bending  Moments. 

Amount  of  Greatest 
Deflections. 

ty      T 

Two  equal  spans  each  car- 
rying a  central  load  but 
loads  not  equal, 
w,  >  »„ 
1  =  1, 

Left  reaction. 
13  .  w,  —  3  .  w,, 

Located  at  r 
m  —  ^-L(w>  +  w") 

Deflection  in  left  span  I 
5  23  .  w,  —  9  .  w,,    ^8 

P                  32 
Centre  reaction. 

r—  "•(«>,  +  O 

1536  .  e  .  i 

Deflection  in  right  span  I,- 
V        23  .  w,,  —  9  .  w,  lt 

JHHL 

®     ©     0 

16    v 
Right  reaction. 
IS  .w,,  —  3  .  w. 

1536.  e.i 

32 

<w>     <$p 

Two  equal  spans  each  car- 
rying a  central  load  =  w, 
loads  equal. 

W  =  ll>, 

1  =  1, 

End  reactions. 
p  =  q=^.w        or 

—  6  .  (w-l-w) 

Located  at  r 

m  =  —j.l.w            or 
16 

=  A.  i.  (»  +  »,) 

Deflection  in  either  span 
«-     ™-l° 

32    <• 

Centre  reaction. 

r=^.«         or 

-g.<~HO 

°       1W.  e.i 

—      l*        (-,(,  J_  „,  ) 

—  i—  f-'i— 
©     ©     (3) 

220.  e.  i.  ^ 

Two   equal    spans    each 
loaded    with    a    uniform 
load  —  u 

u  =  «, 

7.7 

End  reactions. 
p  =  q=^.u          or 

^     fti    \   11  ~\ 

Located  at  r 

u  .  I 

Deflection  in  either  span 
*          uj*                  or 

isvaimuiss 

'      16  '(          "'> 
Centre  reaction. 

r=  —  .  u         or 
4 

=  |.  («  +  «,) 

S-T85TT-; 

_          '*           (  „  _L  „  ) 

-I-4-H,— 

06® 

m-T 
—   '.(«+«,) 

16   v 

370.  e.  t  v 

®  ®  ® 

Three  equal   spans   each 
carrying   a   central    load 

End  reactions. 

Located  at  r  or  s 

Q       Jt,      / 

Deflection  in  central  span 
«-     '«-'8 

"       "       20 
=  ^  •(«>+«>,+  «>„) 

Central  reactions. 

23 

r  —  s  ^T-        .  w                   or 

0      480  .  e  .  i 

=         ...  («H-  w,-}-w,,) 

1440    e    i 

L|j_i,J.lrJ 

©  ©  ©  © 

—  w,  all  loads  equal 
w  =  w,  =  w,, 

m  _  3  •  W  .  I                    OJ. 

20 
—  20^w  +  w'  +  w"^ 

Deflection  in  either  end  span 
*_    «•*• 

20 
23 

0      87.  e.i 

60    v 

~261.e.i'v 

m 

Three   equal   spans  each 
loaded    with    a   uniform 
load  =.  u 

u  =  u,  =  u,, 

End  reactions. 

2 

/?  —  a  —     .  u                    o 

Located  at  r  or  s 

U.I 

m  =  — 

Deflection  in  central  span 
«           «-'8 

'         H        5 
—  2  .  (u  -\-  u  4-  «  , 

0      1920.  e.i 

'*              (,,  -i-  ,i   -L  .;   ) 

Central  reactions. 
r=  s  =  —  .  u                    o 

5760  .  e  .  i   V 
Deflection  in  either  end  span 

«           u.l* 
v  —                                         or 

—  ',  —  «„ 

10 
—  **     C«-P  «  -l-« 

-35-  («+«,  +  «.,) 

0      145  .  e  .  i 
'*        (  t(  _i_  „  4-  ,/.  ) 

30  '  (           '  ^    " 

—435  .  e  .  l  *• 

Where  w,  «?„  «>„  =  central  concentrated  loads  in  pounds,  on  either  span,  being 

equal,  when  so  stated. 

"       i,  /i,  Zii^the  length  of  respective  spans,  in  inches,  all  being  equal. 
"       u,  w,,  «it  =  uniform  loads  on  each  span,  in  pounds,  all  being  equal. 
"       P,  r,  s,qt  =  the  amount  of  respective  reactions,  In  pounds. 
"        tni=  the  bending  moment,  in  pounds-inch. 


Where  <5,  ^.dn^the.  amount  of  deflection  in  inches,  if  girder  of  uniform  cross- 


36 


section  throughout. 
e  =  the  modulus  of  elasticity  of  the  material,   in  pounds-inch,  (see 

Table  IV). 

i  =  the  moment  of  inertia  of  the  cross-section,  in  inches,  (see  Table  I). 
[To  be  continued.] 


THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  AND  BUILDING  NEWS. 


VOL.  XXMI. 


Copyright,  1888,  by  TICKKOB  &  COMPANY,  Boston,  Maw. 


No.  637. 


MARCH  10.  1888. 

Entered  at  the  Poet-Office  at  Boston  as  second-olaM  matter. 


SUMMARY : — 

The  I'robablo  Establishment  of  a  Government  Art  Commission. 
—  The  Influence  of  Such  a  Body.  —  Art  not  out  of  1'lace  in 
America.  —  Laying  Masonry  in  Cold  Weather.  —  Wide- 
spread Discussion  of  the  Theatre-Construction  Question.  — 
Explosions  in  I  'ndcrground  Conduits.  —  The  Compulsory 
Kxaminution  of  Architects.  . 109 

ITALIAN  CITIKS —  TCIIIN. —  I Ill 

SoMK    <il  M.KU.    OlfKKVATIOKS  ON   THE    STRENGTH    AND   STABILITY 

OF  MASONRI. — 11 113 

ILLUSTRATIONS  :  — 

The  Potter  Building,  Boylston  St.,  Boston,  Mass.  —  Marion 
Social  dull-house,  Marion,  Mass.  —  A  Bachelor's  Home,  St. 
l.uiiis,  Mo.  —  I'nited  States  Post-office,  Springfield,  Mass. — 
Competitive  Design  for  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  of  St. 
Augustine,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. — United  States  Court-house 
and  Post-office,  Lot  Angeles,  Cal.  —  Church,  Chapel  and 

Parish-house  of  St.  John's,  Jamaica  Plain,  Mass 114 

LAW  IN  RELATION  TO  ARCHITECTS 114 

BOOKS  AND  PATERS 117 

COMMUNICATIONS  :  — 

The  liccoration  of  McVicker's  Theatre,  Chicago.  —  A  Correc- 
tion.—  A  Column  likely  to  escape  Dry-rot  — How  to  Ap- 
proach the  Designing  of  the  New  York  Cathedral 118 

NOTKS  AND  CLIPPINGS 120 

TRADE  SURVEYS. 120 

FOR  the  first  time  in  many  years,  there  seems  to  be  a  little 
encouragement  for  those  who  have  at  heart  the  artistic 
future  of  the  American  Republic.  According  to  the  New 
York  Times,  it  seems  likely  that  Congress  will  agree  at  this 
session,  whatever  else  it  may  do  with  the  customs  tariff,  to 
abolish  the  impost  upon  works  of  art,  thereby  reopening  to 
American  students  the  advantage  of  studying  what  other  people 
have  done  before  them  without  paying  an  exorbitant  price  for 
the  privilege,  as  well  as  provoking  those  from  whom  they  can 
learn  most  into  closing  their  doors  against  them.  The  second 
favorable  indication  is  to  be  found -in  the  passage  by  the  Senate 
of  Senator  Hoar's  bill  for  the  establishment  of  a  National  Art 
Commission.  "VVe  described  this  excellent  measure  at  some 
length  when  the  draft  was  first  presented,  and  need  only  recall 
that  it  provides  for  the  establishment  of  a  Commission,  consist- 
ing of  four  sculptors,  four  painters  and  three  architects,  all 
eminent  in  their  various  callings,  and  three  other  persons  noted 
for  their  knowledge  of  fine  art,  which  shall  meet  in  Washing- 
ton at  least  once  in  every  year,  and  report  upon  the  character 
and  value  of  such  plans  of  public  buildings,  monuments  or 
works  of  art  as  shall  be  referred  to  it  by  either  House  of  Con- 
gress or  by  the  Joint  Committee  on  the  Library,  and  shall,  when 
authorized  by  Congress,  make  selections  from  designs  offered 
by  competitors  for  works  of  art  ordered  by  Congress.  Whether 
the  bill  will  pass  the  other  House,  or  be  approved  by  the  Presi- 
dent if  it  should,  can  hardly  be  predicted  at  present,  but  it  is  a 
good  deal  to  have  it  so  readily  carried  through  the  Senate,  and 
even  if  it  should  fail  to  become  a  law  this  year,  it  is  more  than 
likely  that  the  increasing  knowledge  of  such  matters  among 
educated  men,  which  has  already  enlisted,  permanently,  we  may 
hope,  a  majority  of  the  Senate  on  the  side  of  enlightened  com- 
mon-sense, will  soon  extend  its  influence  over  the  popular 
branch,  to  the  great  advantage  of  the  citizens  of  this  country. 

WHENEVER  the  change  shall  come,  we  may  look  for  a 
new  era  in  our  artistic  progress.  Up  to  this  time  we 
have  never  had  anything  approaching,  we  will  not  say 
to  knowledge,  but  to  decent  discrimination  in  artistic  matters 
on  the  part  of  the  Government,  while  such  recognition  of  artis- 
tic merit  as  has  been  officially  bestowed  has,  as  a  rule,  been  of 
such  a  character  as  to  make  its  recipient  ridiculous.  It  is  quite 
time  that  this  way  of  managing  an  important  public  interest 
should  be  modified,  and  there  is  no  better  method  of  introducing 
a  better  system  than  by  the  appointment  of  such  a  Commission 
as  Senator  Hoar's  bill  contemplates.  That  a  Commission  of 
experts  is  the  proper  body  to  judge  of  artistic  matters  no  one 
can  doubt,  and  there  are  abundant  proofs  of  the  success  of  such 
bodies  in  carrying  out  their  duties,  and  of  the  miserable  failure 
of  attempts  by  uninstructed  persons  to  usurp  their  functions. 
With  a  Commission  of  men  whose  names  and  reputation, 
in^pmd  respect  at  the  head  of  American  artistic  affairs,  there 


would  soon  be  an  effort  among  artists  to  obtain  their  favorable 
notice,  and  the  honor  which  their  awards  would  bestow  would 
supply  just  the  stimulus  which  art  has  always  lacked  among  us. 
As  we  have  frequently  insisted,  there  is  an  immense  amount  of 
artistic  feeling  in  this  country,  which  remains  undeveloped  for 
want  of  something  to  call  it  forth.  Every  one  remembers  the 
surprising  quantity  of  the  most  beautiful  and  original  work 
which  was  brought  out  by  the  offer  of  liberal  prizes  by  a  firm 
of  wall-paper  manufacturers,  and  in  some  of  our  best  architec- 
tural competitions  the  designs  shown  are  worthy  of  any  age  or 
country,  but  the  effect  of  these  is  irregular  and  transitory ;  they 
elicit  good  work  from  those  already  prepared  to  do  such  -work, 
but  do  almost  nothing  to  encourage  persons  of  more  modest 
attainments  as  compared  with  the  steady  incentive  offered  by 
the  prospect  of  Government  approval  and  employment.  Some 
one  has  said  that  the  knowledge  that  bishoprics  were  open  to 
merit  was  the  principal  means  of  keeping  the  whole  body  of 
English  clergymen  to  those  habits  of  industry  and  enlightened 
charity  which  do  them  so  much  honor,  and  the  knowledge  that 
an  American  painter,  sculptor  or  architect  could  hope,  by  satis- 
fying a  jury  of  men  skilful  in  his  profession,  to  be  sometime 
publicly  honored  and  rewarded,  would  redouble  the  energy  and 
application  of  the  younger  men,  and,  among  the  older  ones,  put 
an  end  pretty  quickly  to  the  practice  of  those  devices  by  which 
charlatans  are  enabled  to  parade  as  prodigies  before  people  who 
have  no  means  of  testing  their  pretensions. 

S  to  the  general  question,  which  will  occur  to  some  people, 
whether  art  itself  is  a  thing  to  be  encouraged  among  intel- 
ligent  persons,  or  is  merely  a  useless  and  enervating  luxury, 
Mr.  William  Morris  and  Mr.  Ruskin  can  speak  much  more  elo- 
quently than  we ;  but  it  is  worth  while  for  those  who  denounce 
art  and  artists  as  unworthy  the  notice  of  the  "practical"  and 
"  go-ahead  "  inhabitants  of  the  United  States  to  reflect  whether 
there  may  not,  after  all,  be  some  virtue  in  quiet  contentment,  and 
in  the  enjoyment  of  beauty  which  a  little  artistic  training  opens 
to  men.  Bustling,  not  to  say  greedy,  as  we  are,  it  is  impossible 
for  every  one  to  be  first  in  the  race  for  money.  Some  must 
stumble,  or  fall  sick  by  the  way,  or,  perhaps,  be  content  to  lose 
their  place  for  the  sake  of  helping  one  still  feebler  than  them- 
selves. The  number  of  such  unsuccessful  ones,  as  competition 
increases,  grows  larger  every  year,  and  the  country  every  year 
feels  more  seriously  the  need  of  consolation  which  true  art  can 
bring  to  those  who  can  understand  it.  To  one  who  knows  the 
depth  of  feeling,  the  quick  sympathy,  inherent  in  the  American 
character,  there  is  something  inexpressibly  sad  in  the  dreariness 
of  American  middle-class  habitations.  Where  an  Englishman 
would  have  his  sweet  little  cottage,  with  some  pretty  carving, 
or  beautiful  lace  curtains,  or  wonderful  piece  of  gardening,  to 
distinguish  it  from  the  rival  dwellings  around  it,  or  where  an 
Italian  workman's  nerves  would  absorb  balm  from  the  pretty 
frescos  on  his  front  wall,  and  the  brilliant  colors  of  the  family 
clothes-line,  the  American,  more  sensitive  and  more  intellect- 
ual than  either,  is  condemned  to  spend  his  life  in  a  dreary, 
heartless  box  of  inch-boards,  dropped  at  the  side  of  a  dusty 
street,  about  which  there  is  nothing  to  interest  or  please  any 
person  in  the  smallest  degree.  In  such  abodes  Americans  be- 
come the  quiet,  enduring  drudges  that  we  know  them.  They 
have  nothing  to  live  for  but  to  get  a  little  richer,  and  if  that 
fails  there  is  nothing  left.  They  could  love  their  homes  with  a 
passion  worthy  of  a  Greek,  but  there  is  nothing  about  their 
homes  which  anybody  could  by  any  possibility  love,  and  the 
only  ray  of  enjoyment,  which  is  with  most  Americans  associated 
with  a  habitation,  comes  to  them  on  the  day  they  get  out  of  one, 
and  move  into  another.  From  this  arid  existence  the  love  of 
art  offers,  to  most  people,  the  only  relief,  and  none  could  be 
more  effectual.  A  man  whose  family  is  well  and  happy,  and 
whose  dwelling  smiles  upon  him  with  a  beauty  of  its  own, 
neither  needs  nor  cares  to  be  rich.  If  he  can  earn  money 
enough  to  feed  and  clothe  himself  and  his  wife  and  children 
comfortably,  and  lay  up  something  for  a  time  of  need,  he  has 
everything  in  the  way  of  happiness  that  the  world  can  bestow. 
Most  people  dimly  appreciate  this,  but,  never  having  seen  a 
modest  house  in  which  any  one  could  take  the  smallest  pleasure, 
they  imagine  that  one  must  be  rich  enough  to  buy  Bouguereau's 
pictures,  and  Italian  statuettes,  before  he  can  take  comfort  in 
life;  quite  forgetting  that  a  spray  of  roses,  or  a  pretty  child, 
arc  worth  all  the  pictures  and  statues  ever  made;  that  it  is  use- 
less for  any  one  to  try  to  take  pleasure  in  liouguereau,  who 


110 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.    [VOL.  XXIII. — No.  637. 


does  not  know  enough  of  art  to  prefer  Nature  to  it,  and  that 
more  real  pleasure  and  contentment  can  be  got,  by  the  man 
that  owns  it,  out  of  a  beautiful  door-knocker,  or  a  well  colored 
room,  than  most  millionnaires  now  get  from  the  contemplation  of 
the  treasures  of  the  Louvre.  Of  course  it  is  necessary,  in 
order  to  appreciate  art  of  any  kind,  however  humble,  to  know 
something  about  it,  and  such  appreciation  will  not  become 
general  until  the  knowledge  is  more  diffused  than  it  is  now; 
but  the  elevation  of  a  knowledge  of  art  into  something  worth 
the  notice  of  a  member  of  Congress  will  be  a  great  step  in 
advance,  and  the  emulation  of  the  artists  who,  from  every  vil- 
lage, will  try  to  obtain  Government  recompense,  will  soon  do 
the  rest. 

HE  subject  of  doing  masonry  in  frosty  weather  continues  to 
take  a  good  deal  of  the  attention  of  experts  in  building. 
A  correspondent  of  the  Building  News  makes  a  contribu- 
tion to  the  discussion  by  mentioning  that  the  mechanical  struc- 
ture of  the  mortar  is  an  important  factor  in  determining  its 
resistance  to  frost,  and  that  "  a  mortar  to  resist  frost  must  have 
a  very  fine  matrix,  or,  in  other  words,  very  minute  pores."  He 
says  that  this  quality  is  given  by  the  use  of  "smith's  ashes 
finely  ground,  which  have  also  the  advantage  of  being  vesicu- 
lar." It  is  not  quite  clear  whether  this  writer  means  that  the 
ground  smith's  ashes  should  be  used  in  place  of  sand  or  not. 
The  term  matrix  is  generally  used  to  indicate  the  cementing 
substance  by  which  the  coarser  particles  of  mortar  or  concrete 
are  bound  together,  that  is,  in  most  cases,  the  lime  or  cement ; 
and  the  sand  or  other  comparatively  coarse  material  is  known 
as  the  "  aggregate."  If  mortar  is  to  have  "  very  minute  pores," 
it  would  seem  necessary  to  look  out  for  the  fineness  of  the  aggre- 
gate rather  than  of  the  lime  or  cement,  which  are  naturally  fine 
enough,  and  it  seems  probable,  therefore,  that  the  ashes  are  to 
be  used  in  place  of  sand.  In  either  case  this  is  a  valuable  sug- 
gestion. Fine  sand  is,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  rather 
objectionable,  but  finely-ground  brick  dust  is  said,  under  some 
circumstances,  to  be  much  better  than  any  sand  for  mixing  with 
lime  for  mortar,  and  this  would  give  the  fine  grain  which  is 
considered  desirable.  Another  correspondent  of  the  same  jour- 
nal, speaking  of  the  addition  of  salt  te  mortar  to  prevent  it 
from  being  injured  by  frost,  objects  to  it  as  likely  to  attract 
dampness.  It  is  a  common  notion  that  lime  mortar  for  plaster- 
ing, mixed  with  sand  from  the  seashore,  will  be  damp  in  certain 
states  of  the  weather  for  many  years  afterward,  and  architects 
of  the  last  century  in  London,  if  they  required  Thames  sand  to 
be  used  for  mortar,  always  specified  that  it  should  be  taken 
from  above  London  Bridge.  This  correspondent  refers  to  the 
use  of  beer  in  mortar,  and  inquires  whether  the  alcohol  con- 
tained in  it  is  of  any  service.  If  so,  he  thinks  that  crude  alco- 
hol could  be  obtained  for  the  purpose  much  more  cheaply  than 
beer.  We  have  an  idea  that  the  employment  of  beer  in  mortar 
has  been  pretty  conclusively  proved  to  be  of  doubtful  advan- 
tage, and  it  seems  hardly  likely  that  so  volatile  a  matter  as 
alcohol  could  be  of  any  use,  but  the  letter  offers  a  suggestion 
for  future  experimenters  which  may  be  useful. 


YTTIIE  discussion  provoked  by  the  recent  theatre  fires  have 
*jj  developed  some  useful  ideas.  At  two  recent  meetings  of 
the  Eoyal  Institute  of  British  Architects,  papers  have  been 
read  on  theatre  construction  and  comparisons  made  of  the  vari- 
ous London  theatres  from  which  much  is  to  be  learned.  It  is 
one  of  the  commonplaces  of  the  ordinary  rules  for  building 
theatres  that  a  considerable  amount  of  woodwork  is  necessary 
in  the  interior  of  the  auditorium  in  order  to  give  resonance 
enough  for  proper  acoustic  quality.  As  is  well  known,  some 
of  the  best  theatres  in  the  world,  from  the  point  of  acoustics, 
are  entirely  lined  with  boards  and  have  the  floor  of  the  audito- 
rium of  wooden  construction,  purposely  arranged  with  a  large 
air-space  beneath  it,  to  form  a  sort  of  sounding-board.  Of 
course,  such  a  structure  is  very  combustible,  and  therefore 
unsuited  to  modern  ideas,  but  most  architects  dread  the  sharp, 
disagreeable  effect  of  sound  on  bare  stone  or  brick  walls,  and 
think  that  some  sort  of  sounding-board  effect  must  necessarily 
be  provided  in  the  auditorium  of  every  theatre.  One  of  the 
participants  in  the  discussion  of  the  papers  expressed  the  opinion 
that  brick  walls  could  be  so  lined  with  wood  as  to  secure  reso- 
nance without  exposing  the  combustible  material  to  the  rapid 
destruction  so  much  to  be  feared  in  theatres,  and  in  this  he  was 
undoubtedly  right.  Another  preferred  not  to  use  wood  at  all, 
but  to  provide  for  resonance  by  linings  of  incombustible  mate- 
rial, held  at  a  little  distance  from  the  wall.  This,  again,  might 


unquestionably  be  done  with  plaster  on  wire  lath  or  with 
sheets  of  the  wire  cloth  and  asbestos  fabrics  now  made,  and 
such  a  resource  would  probably  be  invaluable  for  curing  harsh 
echoes  hi  fireproof  buildings.  There  are,  however,  other  less 
obvious  ways  of  obtaining  an  excellent  effect,  if  we  may  judge 
from  the  statements  made  in  the  course  of  the  discussion.  In 
the  Alhambra  Theatre,  which  is  the  only  perfectly  incombusti- 
ble theatre  in  London  with  the  exception  of  the  very  small 
Terry's  Theatre,  no  wood  whatever  is  used,  or  any  other  com- 
bustible material,  yet  very  satisfactory  resonance  was  obtained 
by  building  the  walls  of  concrete,  in  which  were  so  many  air- 
spaces as  to  give  the  same  sort  of  sympathetic  vibration 
obtained  with  a  wood  lining.  Every  one  remembers  the  antique 
practice  of  putting  brass  or  earthenware  amphoraa  under  the 
seats  of  the  huge  stone  theatres  of  Greece  and  Rome  to  rein- 
force the  sound,  and  it  seems  quite  possible  that  the  crevices  in 
concrete,  particularly  if  made,  as  we  believe  that  at  the  Alham- 
bra Theatre  is,  with  cinders  and  similar  spongy,  porous  masses, 
might  have  nearly  the  same  effect.  In  buildings  where  con- 
crete could  not  well  be  used,  it  is  not  impossible  that  linings 
of  porous  terra-cotta  might  be  acoustically  serviceable,  and 
hollow  bricks,  of  the  various  shapes  now  in  use,  might  be  very 
freely  introduced  in  any  wall.  With  walls  made  dry  a.nd  reso- 
nant by  a  cellular  structure  of  this  sort,  and  with  such  ample 
and  convenient  exits  as  the  Italian  Government  now  requires, 
and,  perhaps,  with  Asphaleia  stage-fittings,  theatres  might  be 
made  absolutely  safe,  and  the  sacrifice  of  life  to  amusement, 
which  has  been  going  on  since  the  time  of  Ca;sar,  might  be 
stopped. 

TTTIIE  dangers  which  surround  the  dwellers  in  cities,  dangers 
•''L  which  are  harder  to  detect  and  more  difficult  to  guard 
against  than  those  that  surround  the  sailor  in  the  stormiest 
of  oceans,  were  once  more  exemplified  by  an  explosion  that 
occurred  in  Buffalo  last  week  of  gas,  styled  with  reporters' 
customary  perspicacity  "  sewer  gas,"  that  had  collected  in  the 
underground  conduits  and  man-holes  of  the  local  telephone 
company.  The  workmen  whose  torch  ignited  the  gas  were 
more  or  less  seriously  burned,  while  the  man-hole  covers  for  a 
distance  of  several  blocks  from  the  centre  of  the  explosion  were 
blown  as  high  as  the  cornices  of  adjacent  buildings,  but,  fortu- 
nately, crushed  no  one  in  their  fall.  New  York  towns  seem  to 
be  in  a  most  eruptive  condition  of  late :  Rochester  and  Bing- 
hamton  have  had  explosions  in  the  public  sewers  and  in  the 
cellars  of  buildings  due  to  the  ignition  of  naphtha  gas 
caused  by  leakage  from  the  pipes  of  one  of  the  great  oil  com- 
panies whose  pipe-lines  pass  through  the  cities,  and  we  are 
much  more  inclined  to  attribute  the  Buffalo  accident  to  a 
similar  cause  than  to  the  reporters'  scape-goat.  It  is  satisfac- 
tory to  know  that  in  the  case  of  one  of  the  earlier  accidents 
the  grand-jury  found  a  criminal  indictment  against  the  oil  com- 
pany, and  in  the  other  case  that  the  city  has  brought  a  suit  for 
sixty  thousand  dollars  for  damages  done  to  the  public  sewers. 
The  telegraph  and  telephone  companies  may  be  expected  to 
seize  on  the  Buffalo  incident  as  one  more  excuse  for  delay  in 
the  process  of  getting  all  the  wires  underground. 


TTTIIE  prospect  for  the  compulsory  examination  and  registra- 
X  tion  of  architects  in  Great  Britain  does  not  at  present 
seem  very  bright.  A  bill  providing  for  such  examination 
and  registration  has  been  introduced  into  Parliament,  which  is 
intended  to  apply  alike  to  architects,  engineers  and  surveyors. 
Not  unnaturally,  many  people  think  that  the  draft  of  the  bill 
must  at  least  have  been  sanctioned  by  the  Royal  Institute  of 
British  Architects,  and  a  large  number  of  letters  on  the  sub- 
ject have  been  addressed  to  the  Council  of  the  Institute.. 
Instead  of  replying  to  them  separately,  the  Council  has  answered 
all  such  inquiries  at  once  by  a  letter  to  the  Times,  in  which  it 
says  that  "  instead  of  being  drafted,  as  might  reasonably  be 
assumed,  by  the  chartered  corporations  which  represent  the 
three  professions  affected  by  it,  namely,  the  Royal  Institute  of 
British  Architects,  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers,  and  the 
Surveyors'  Institution,  the  bill  has  been  drawn  up  by  a  com- 
mittee entitled  'the  Architects',  Engineers'  and  Surveyors' 
Registration  Act  Committee,'  composed  of  one  civil  engineer, 
two  lawyers,  three  doctors  and  ten  architects  and  surveyors." 
The  letter  makes  no  detailed  criticism  of  the  proposed  bill,  but 
the  statement  that  only  one  civil  engineer  was  concerned  in  the 
concoction  of  a  statute  to  be  imposed  on  the  whole  profession 
is  likely  to  be  quite  sufficient  to  prevent  its  serious  considera- 
tion in  Parliament. 


MARCH  10,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


Ill 


Tower  itv .Zoft-  Bommet. 


ITALIAN   CITIES  — TURIN.  — I. 

TTTIIEOPILE  GAUTHIER 

JX  once  said  that  Italy  is  the 
charnel-house  of  dead 
cities,  and  in  spite  of  the  rea- 
wakening activity  which  mani- 
fests itself  throughout  the  whole 
peninsula  this  comparison  is 
not  out  of  place  to-day,  for  no 
other  country  can  boast  the  pos- 
session of  so  large  a  number  of 
cities  which  once  were  power- 
ful and  opulent,  and  which  the 
turn  of  events  has  reduced  to 
a  second  or  the  lowest  rank. 
From  a  chronological  and  artis- 
tic standpoint,  Italian  cities 
must  be  classed  in  several  cata- 
gories  by  reason  of  their  antiq- 
uity, in  order  that  studious  trav- 
ellers may  ferret  out  more 
rapidly  and  exactly  their  his- 
toric character  and  their  differ- 
ent values  in  the  domain  of  art. 

This  classification  is  not  difficult  if  one  merely  takes 
into  account  the  general  characteristics  which  exist  in  each 
city.  We  can,  for  instance,  include  in  the  first  category  those 
cities  whose  principal  monuments  are  related  to  the  Classic 
epoch,  such  as  Rome,  Pompeii,  the  ancient  cities  of  Sicily, 
those  of  Latium,  where  we  find  structures  of  Cyclopean  origin, 
and  those  of  Umbria  and  Tuscany,  which  still  preserve  relics 
of  the  Etruscan  age.  Then  come  those  which  have  been  em- 
bellished and  enriched  with  monuments  during  the  ages  which 
followed  the  fall  of  Rome  and  preceded  the  birth  of  the  Renais- 
sance, and  in  which  we  recognize  the  double  imprint  of  the 
Gothic  manner  and  the  Byzantine  style,  as  well  as  the  jumble 
of  different  styles,  which,  toward  the  end  of  that  period,  began 
to  be  mixed  with  one  another.  Such  are  Milan,  Ravenna  and 
Venice — mentioning  only  the  most  important.  The  third  cate- 
gory must  include  the  cities  where  are  preserved  the  monuments 
in  which  we  begin  to  discern  the  effort  of  native  artists  to 
enfranchise  the  Italian  school  from  the  yoke  of  foreign  artists, 
and  create  a  pure  and  independent  style  more  appropriate  to 
the  tastes,  the  climate,  the  weather  and  the  the  needs  of  Italy, 
than  those  imported  by  the  Greek  Byzantine  architects,  or  by 
the  Goths.  It  is  in  these  monuments  that  first  appears  the 
glimmering  of  the  dawn  of  the  Italian  Renaissance :  we  find 
them  particularly  at  Pisa,  at  Florence,  in  all  Umbria  and  in 
Emilia.  Another  category  ought  to  be  specially  consecrated 
to  the  cities  which,  by  their  political  structure  belong  to  the 
age  of  the  Renaissance,  and  almost  all  the  large  cities  of  the 
peninsula  have  the  right  to  range  themselves  in  this  category, 
for  there  is  none  amongst  them  which  has  a  past  and  a  history 
on  which  we  can  say  that  the  Renaissance  has  not  left  its  seal 
of  grace.  Finally,  the  last  category  may  be  reserved  for  the 
cities  of  more  recent  foundation,  which,  with  the  exceptions  of 
some  isolated  specimens  of  Roman  wall  or  ancient  ruin  of  doubt- 
ful authenticity,  have  never  had  throughout  the  vanished  ages 
any  truly  artistic  structure,  and  only  recently  have  dreamed  of 
giving  themselves  airs  of  elegance  and  assuming  to  have  a 
monumental  aspect.  Here  the  buildings  are  almost  all  modern, 
and  allow  us  to  judge  of  the  tendencies  to  which  Italian  art  has 
yielded  in  recent  times.  Turin  offers  us  the  most  perfect 
image  of  those  Italian  cities  which  lack  the  Classical  physi- 
ognomy which  reigns  over  almost  all  the  rest  of  Italy.  Natu- 
rally, this  classification  could  be  only  approximately  exact, 
particularly  because  of  the  frequency  with  which  we  encounter 
in  the  same  centre,  confounded  or  at  least  approximated,  the 
traces  of  the  different  epochs  in  a  country  which  has  experienced 
all  the  glories  and  all  the  rebuffs  of  fortune.  But  in  spite  of 
inevitable  uncertainties  which  are  the  result  of  such  a  mixture, 
some  such  classification  is  necessary  for  the  observer,  who, 
while  making  a  pleasure-trip  down  the  peninsula,  desires  to 
acquire  certain  clear  and  exact  impressions,  and  thoroughly  re- 
liable information  upon  the  different  architectural  methods 
which  have  prevailed  in  this  country  during  succeeding  periods. 
Turin  is  the  first  great  city  seen  by  the  traveller  who  arrives 
in  Italy  by  the  Mt.  Cenis  tunnel.  The  population  is  very 
active  and  industrious,  and  consequently  makes  rapid  progress. 
Without  having  achieved  the  marvelous  development  which 


some  of  the  cities  of  the  New  World  present,  it  has  a  very  satis- 
factory growth.  In  i;!77  it  contained  only  4,200  inhabitants.  It 
now  lioMs  i.'di.OOO  ;  it  is  thus  one  of  the  most  flourishing  cities. 
On  its  arms  it  bears  the  symbol  of  a  bull.  The  savants  have 
suggested  the  most  contradictory  interpretations  apropos  of  this 
device,  while  the  popular  imagination  has  discovered  a  most 
curious  even  if  not  the  most  credible  explanation  of  it.  The 
bunks  of  the  Po  were  formerly  infested  by  a  many-headed 
livilra,  which  pitilessly  devoured  every  traveller  who  ap- 
proached. Those  who  met  the  monster  face  to  face  died  in- 
stantly. The  Allobroges  sent  against  it  an  enormous  bull, 
which  killed  it  with  its  horns,  and  the  citizens  in  token  of  grati- 
tude adopted  the  figure  of  the  liberating  beast,  and  introduced 
it  in  the  municipal  escutcheon.  Note  here  the  remote  analogy 
between  this  legend  and  that  of  the  head  of  Medusa. 

The  Metropolitan  Church  of  Turin  is  dedicated  to  St.  John, 
and  in  the  first  place  was  built  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventh 
century  by  Agilulphe,  a  Lombard  duke ;  but  it  was  sacked  and 
destroyed  in  the  course  of  the  wars  which  desolated  Italy 
during  the  invasions  of  the  barbarians,  so  that  in  1498  it  had 
to  be  reconstructed  for  the  second  titne,  after  the  designs  of 
Pontelli,  architect  to  Pope  Sixtus  IV,  The  facade  which  we 
see  to-day  dates  back,  then,  to  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century. 
It  is  almost  entirely  of  Carara  marble,  and  bears  no  trace  of 
the  Gothic  style  which  ruled  throughout  the  sul>-Alpine  region 
in  preceding  centuries.  Three  portals  pierce  the  facade  — 
full-centered  doorways  in  the  Greco-Roman  style,  which  the 
Italian  artists  practised  in  revolt  against  the  architectural 
methods  of  the  North.  Upon  each  side  of  the  doorways  rise 
two  pilasters,  which  serve  to  support  an  attic  pierced  by  two 
windows.  This  attic  is  surmounted  by  a  Greek  pediment,  and 
is  connected  with  the  two  extremities  of  the  plan  by  two  reflex 


The  Synagogue,  Turin. 

curves.  The  interior  of  the  church  is  divided  into  three  naves, 
enriched  with  stucco,  gilding  and  decorations  in  the  style  of  the 
Decadence.  One  of  the  chapels  is  enriched  with  paintings  by 
Albert  Diirer,  of  Nuremburg,  and  this  chef-d'oeuvre  is  all  the  more 
precious  that  the  relics  left  by  the  brush  of  the  grand  Nuremburg 
master  are  very  rare.  On  another  altar  is  preserved  the  St. 
Sicaire,  given  by  Marguerite  de  Charny  to  the  dukes  of  Savoy. 
This  relic  was  first  found  at  Chambery,  but  the  duke  Emmanuel 
Philiberto,  having  learned  that  St.  Charles  Borromeo,  in  pilgrim 
garb,  was  journeying  into  Savoy  to  pay  it  reverence,  caused  it 
to  be  brought  to  Turin  in  order  that  the  holy  pilgrim  might  the 
sooner  finish  his  pilgrimage.  The  most  remarkable  things  that 


112 


The   American    Architect   and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.— No.  637. 


this  church  incloses  in  the  way  of  decoration  are  four  funerary 
monuments  erected  by  the  order  of  Charles  Albert  in  honor  of 
Amadeus    VIII,   Emmanuel    Philibcrto,   Prince    Thomas    and 
Charles  Emmanuel  II,  his  ancestors.     The  tomb  of  Emmanuel 
Philiberto  was    executed   by  the   sculptor  Pompeo  Marches!. 
On  the  front  of  the  die  is  the  ducal  coat-of-arms.     The  statue 
of  the  hero  is  instinct  with  the  pride  of  manhood :  he  stands 
erect,  with  sword  inclined,  his  glance  animated  with  an  expres- 
sion of  hauteur.     At  the  right  is  the  statue  of  History  engrav- 
ing on  the  die  the  words  that  Munificence  standing  before  her, 
and  supported  by  an  heraldic  lion,  dictates  to  her.     The  mau- 
soleum of  Amadeus  VIII,  the  work  of  Cacciatori,  is  conceived 
in   a  different 
spirit.   The  duke 
afoot,  in  attitude 
calm  and  severe, 
is    supported   on 
one  side  by  Jus- 
tice and  on  the 
other  by  Felicity. 
The    monument 
of   Charles  Ein- 
m  a  n  u  e  1     II, 
sculp  tured  by 
Fraccaroli,  is  dis- 
tinguished   from 
the  others  by  the 
eccentricity  of  its 
ordonnace     and 
the  richness  of  its 
ornamentation. 
It  is  in  character 
distinctly  allego- 
rical, and  is  com- 
posed of  three 
niches,  the   left- 
fa  a  n  d    one    of 
which     contains 
the   statue   of 
Peace  represent- 
ed in  the  guise  of 
a   warrior,   who, 
half -relieved  of 
his   armor,    is 
fondly  caressing 
with    his    disen- 
gaged hand  the 
pommel    of    his 
sword.  The  mid- 
dle    niche    con- 
tains   Architect- 
ure,   symbolized 
by  a  woman  who 
holds  a  tablet  on 
which  is  engrav- 
ed a  sketch-plan 
of  the  cathedral. 
The  one  at   the 
right  contains  the 
figure  of  Munifi- 
cence, here  pre- 
sented under  the  iiio  caiiieuia.  is.  ui 
aspect  of  a  matron  attractive  of  form  and  sumptuous  in  attire. 

The  Church  La  gran  Madre  di  Dio  is  one  of  the  most  worthy 
of  admiration  amongst  those  which  Turin  contains.  It  has  all 
the  characteristics  of  a  sanctuary  erected  in  the  Grecian  style, 
except  the  low  dome,  which  rather  recalls  the  tendencies  of 
Greco-Roman  architecture.  The  faqade  is  composed  of  a  vast 
portico,  formed  by  a  range  of  fluted  columns  which  support  a 
pediment,  in  the  centre  of  which  is  represented  in  bas-relief 
some  religious  subject.  A  flight  of  steps  closed  by  iron  gates 
leads  to  the  portico,  and  is  enclosed  between  two  rectangular 
piers  surmounted  by  statues.  That  which  tends  to  render  the 
effect  of  this  building  still  more  impressive  is,  that  it  is  erected 
on  the  right  bank  of  the  Po,  facing  the  bridge  which  crosses 
the  river,  so  that  he  who  comes  from  the  opposite  side  sees 
rising  before  him  the  graceful  mass  of  this  edifice  which  occu- 
pies and  dominates  the  centre  of  the  panorama. 

The  Chapel  Corpus  Domini  is  not  remarkable  in  an  architec- 
tural way,  and  is  worthy  of  mention  only  by  reason  of  the 
singular  incident  which  gave  it  birth.  According  to  tradition. 


this  occurrence  took  place  in  the  fifteenth  century,  at  the  time 
when  the  victorious  French  ranged  through  the  valley  of  Susii 
and  savagely  ravaged  everything  in  their  path.  The  village 
Exilles,  lying  in  the  road  which  leads  from  Mt.  Cenis  to  the 
capita]  of  Piedmont  was  one  of  the  places  most  cruelly  mis- 
used. A  soldier  of  the  army  of  invasion  dared  to  carry  pillage 
even  to  the  extremity  of  sacrilege.  He  took  possession  of  a 
monstrance  containing  the  consecrated  wafer  or  host,  and  cast 
it  into  a  pannier  already  half-filled  with  stolen  objects.  When 
the  donkey  upon  whom  these  baskets  were  loaded  reached 
Turin,  he  refused  to  go  farther.  They  flogged  him  with  whips, 
but  in  vain.  Conquered  by  pain,  he  fell  on  his  knees.  The 

monstrance, 
which  was  at  the 
bottom  of  the 
pannier,  burst 
open,  and  showed 
itself  to  the  eyes 
of  the  crowd, 
while  the  conse- 
crated host  de- 
tached itself 
from  the  frame 
in  which  it  was 
fixed,  and  rose 
slowly  toward 
heaven.  It  was 
in  order  to  pre- 
serve the  tradi- 
tion of  this  mira- 
cle that  the  Com- 
mune of  Turin 
erected  the 
Church  of  Cor- 
pus Domini  in 
1598. 

t.  In  the  num- 
ber of  ecclesias- 
t  i  c  a  1  buildings 
which  embellish 
the  grand  sub- 
Alpine  city,  we 
must  not  forget 
the  synagogue, 
which,  by  its 
strangely  pictur- 
e  s  q  u  e  appear- 
ance, gives  us  the 
notion  of  some 
arch  i  tect  ura  1 
jewel  which  the 
Orient  has 
thrown  to 
Occidental 
lovers  of  art. 
In  form  it  is  a 
parallelepiped, 
and  the  four  cor- 
ners are  flanked 
by  square  towers 
ornamented  by 
iumi  iiatusuij.  i  urui.  an  open  belfry, 

and  crowned  by  a  Turkish  cupola  terminating  in  a  point.  Win- 
dows and  porches  are  full-centred,  but  the  arch  is  contracted 
at  the  point  where  it  touches  the  pilasters,  just  as  we  see  it  in 
Venice  in  all  the  monuments  where  the  Arab  manner  has  per- 
sisted. 

The  only  open  place  in  Turin  which  has  a  truly  monumental 
air  is  that  of  San  Carlo.  The  church  which  gives  it  its  name 
is  formed  of  two  facades,  which  occupy  the  extremity  of  the 
Via  Roma,  and  form  one  of  the  sides  of  the  place.  Each  of 
the  faqades  presents  a  curious  mixture  of  different  styles. 
Statues  are  mixed  up  with  columns,  and  the  cornice  lines  are 
broken  from  point  to  point  by  marble  torch- holders,  which 
make  the  whole  design  heavy.  Detail  is  lacking  in  purity,  but 
the  whole  mass  has  a  sufficiently  decorative  air.  The  other 
sides  of  the  square  are  enclosed  by  vast  porticos,  where  the 
people  walk  freely,  and  whose  symmetrical  disposition  greatly 
pleases  the  eye.  These  arcaded  constructions  are  one  of  the 
specialties  and  beauties  of  Turin.  We  find  them  everywhere, 
and  we  come  upon  whole  streets  —  the  Rue  Po,  for  example, 


=^P-        I 


MAKCH  10,  1888.] 


TJie   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


113 


Imilt  after  this  pattern,  which  offer  a  pleasing  aspect  without 
sacrifice  of  utility.  lu  truth,  during  the  summer  the  inhabitants 
find  hencath  them  sliade  and  frohness,  while  during  the  cool 
season  tliey  seek  under  them  a  protection  against  the  rain,  snow 
and  bitter  northeast  wind  from  the  Alps.  We  may  almost  say 
that  the  life  of  the  inhabitants  unrolls  itself  entirely  under 
these  porticos:  it  is  here  they  give  rendezvous  for  business, 
and  here  that  one  is  sure  of  finding  at  a  definite  hour  every 
day  those  persons  of  a  certain  mark  in  the  procession  of  daily 
existence.  It  is  here  those  who  are  out  of  work  come  to  while 
away  the  time,  and  break  the  monotony  of  their  idleness ;  and 
here  the  poets  come  to  dream  and  give  their  imaginations  a 
breathing  space.  H.  MEREU. 

LTo  be  continued. 1 


T~T 


SOME  GENERAL  OBSERVATIONS  ON  THE  STRENGTH 
AND  STABILITY  OF    MASONRY.1  — II. 

tyf  S  to  numerical  values, the  erush- 
rl  ing  strength  of  natural  stones, 
/  tested  in  the  form  of  cubes, 
ranges  from  4,000  Ibs.  per  square 
inch  for  soft  sandstones,  to  25,000 
Ibs.  per  square  inch,  the  strength  of 
some  granites  and  slates.  These 
are  about  the  extreme  values  met 
in  stones  which  find  their  way  into 
general  use ;  it  is  not  probable  that 
this  exceptionally  high  limit  of 
strength  is  often  reached  and  those 
of  less  strength  than  above  men- 
tioned would  hardly  be  regarded 
as  suitable  building  material  in  the 
absence  of  tests  indicating  their 
quality.  It  will  be  understood  that 
the  strength  here  referred  to  has 
been  displayed  by  material  tested 
under  the  most  favorable  condi- 
tions for  developing  high  resistance, 
and  if  a  comparison  is  made  with 
material  tested  under  other  candi- 
ed hoteQU.  C!L|  RocKer  tions,  the  fact  should  be  duly  con- 
6>Aezanqer  fVanCe  side,red-  Granites  of  good  average 

~   quality  range  in  strength  from  12,- 
000  to  25,000  Ibs.  per  square  inch. 

Limestones  and  marbles  average  between  8,000  and  16,000  Ibs.  per 
square  inch,  with  exceptional  quarries  furnishing  stones  which  reach 
22,000  Ibs.  per  square  inch.  Sandstones  range  from  4,000  to  16,000 
Ibs.  per  square  inch,  some  of  the  strongest  reaching  22,000  Ibs. 

The  investigation  of  the  gain  in  strength  of  those  stones  which  are 
soft  and  easily  worked  when  first  quarried,  but  which  harden  during 
seasoning,  has  not  been  undertaken,  neither  has  the  effect  of  hammer- 
dressing  on  the  surface  of  the  stone  been  inquired  into,  although  it 
is  very  probable  that  some  stones  may  have  had  their  strength 
impaired  by  rough  treatment  during  dressing. 

The  crushing  strength  of  bricks  has  been  found  to  range  between 
5,000  and  22,000  Ibs.  per  square  inch,  although  the  strength  com- 
monly met  is  between  10,000  and  16,000  per  square  inch.  Those 
which  had  the  highest  strength  were  common  hard-burned  bricks,  the 
softer  face  bricks  gave  the  lower  results.  The  degree  of  hardness 
to  which  the  clay  is  burnt,  at  least  within  limits,  exerts  a  decided 
influence  upon  the  strength  of  the  bricks,  the  strength  increasing  with 
the  hardness. 

The  range  in  strength  of  cements  and  mortars  extends  from  say 
8,000  or  9,000  Ibs.  per  square  inch  for  very  strong  neat  cement  down 
to  about  150  or  100  Ibs.  per  square  inch,  the  strength  of  lime  mortar. 
Intermediate  values  are  found  with  different  compositions  of  cement 
and  lime  mortars  and  concretes.  From  the  wide  range  in  strength 
which  these  materials  cover,  it  will  be  seen  that  ample  strength 
exists  to  meet  every  reasonable  requirement.  In  order,  however,  to 
obtain  suitable  material  in  particular  cases  when  a  work  of  great 
importance  is  undertaken  or  where  exceptional  strength  is  needed, 
recourse  should  be  had  to  experiments  on  the  particular  material 
selected  for  use. 

The  compressibility  of  the  material  under  stress  and  its  resilience 
when  the  stress  is  removed  has  been  referred  to,  but  it  is  desired  to 
emphasize  the  importance  of  giving  this  feature  special  attention. 
In  most  engineering  works  the  elastic  properties  of  the  materials  are 
receiving  due  consideration,  but  in  the  matter  of  masonry  they  seem 
to  have  been  almost  entirely  neglected.  Without  implying  that 
knowledge  of  the  ultimate  strength  is  of  secondary  importance  or 
undertaking  any  comparison  of  the  relative  importance  of  the  seve- 
ral physical  properties  which  obviously  vary  with  changes  in  the 
controlling  conditions  for  each  particular  case,  nevertheless,  it  is  of 
the  highest  importance  to  fully  understand  the  behavior  of  the  mate- 
rial within  the  ordinary  working  limits,  where  the  elastic  properties 
are  the  principal  ones  which  are  brought  into  action  and  about  which 
a  knowledge  of  the  ultimate  strength  alone  furnishes  no  clue.  It  is 
desirable  to  know  the  effect  of  each  successive  load  from  the  com- 

1  Continued  from  page  93,  No.  636. 


mencernent  up  to  the  time  of  rupture  whenever  it  is  practicable  to 
obtain  this,  although  in  ductile  materials,  having  a  well-defined  elastic 
limit,  there  is  much  uncertainty  of  behavior  between  the  elastic  limit 
and  the  ultimate  strength.  In  this  respect  the  behavior  of  stone  is 
not  more  complex,  perhaps  somewhat  less,  than  that  of  metals. 

The  moduli  of  elasticity  in  the  test  of  the  brick  piers  were  found 
to  range  from  about  700,000  to  2,400,000  Ibs.  per  square  inch, 
depending  upon  the  kind  of  mortar  used  in  laying  the  bricks.  These 
values  represent  the  behavior  of  the  bricks  and  the  mortar  taken 
together,  without  indicating  the  values  of  the  two  taken  separately, 
but  from  other  tests  on  strong  cements  and  mortars  wherein  the 
modulus  of  elasticity  was  found  between  the  limits  of  1,000,000  and 
2,800,000  Ibs.  per  square  inch,  it  may  be  inferred  that  the  higher 
values  of  the  moduli  of  the  piers  closely  indicate  the  values  both  for 
the  mortar  and  for  the  bricks,  and  that  the  lower  values  in  the  piers 
are  still  rather  high  for  the  modulus  of  weak  lime  mortars  alone. 

From  a  limited  number  of  experiments  the  following  values  have 
been  obtained :  Sutherland  Fall,  Mass.,  marble  has  shown  a  modulus 
of  nearly  8,000,000  Ibs. ;  serpentine  from  Lynnfield,  Mass.,  about 
5,000,000  Ibs.;  some  exceptionally-strong  red  sandstone,  5,000,000 
Ibs. ;  other  sandstones,  weaker  in  strength  and  of  lower  specific  grav- 
ity, gave  moduli  from  1,500,000  to  1,800,000  Ibs.  Experiments  have 
not  shown  any  decided  difference  between  the  modulus  of  elasticity 
of  cement  mortar  composed  of  cement  and  sand  and  concrete  made 
from  it  by  the  addition  of  broken  stones.  When  a  difference  happens 
to  exist,  there  is  usually  a  slightly  higher  modulus  for  the  concrete  as 
might  reasonably  be  expected,  on  account  of  the  stones  themselves 
possessing  greater  rigidity  than  the  mortar. 

When  structural  iron  and  steel  is  loaded  above  the  elastic  limit  by 
either  tensile  or  compress! ve  stresses,  there  is  ordinal  ily  considerable 
display  of  ductility  before  the  ultimate  strength  is  reached,  but  not 
so  with  the  materials  of  masonry.  Although  there  is  a  certain 
amount  of  compressibility  in  stones  including  the  elastic  movement 
and  the  permanent  set,  and  sufficient  at  times  to  clearly  indicate 
impending  rupture,  still,  as  compared  with  ductile  metals,  the  com- 
pressibility is  small.  The  total  amount  which  the  different  materials 
of  masonry  may  be  compressed  previous  to  rupture  range  between 
the  limits  of  about  .10  and  1.00  per  cent,  although  by  far  most  mate- 
rial fails  when  it  reaches  a  total  compression  of  .2  to  .7  per  cent. 
We  have  examples  of  neat  cements  failing  when  the  compression 
amounted  to  .34  per  cent,  other  cement  reaching  .60  per  cent. 
Cement  mortars  have  failed  with  .2  to  .4  per  cent  compression. 
Concretes  have  shown  a  somewhat  greater  compressibility  than  their 
mortars.  Some  lime-mortar  cubes  displayed  a  range  of  compressi- 
bility between  the  limits  of  .30  and  .75  per  cent.  Natural  stones  of 
different  strengths  and  densities  are  found  to  extend  over  nearly  the 
whole  range  of  compressibility  first  mentioned.  The  large  compres- 
sibility observed  in  some  brick  piers  laid  in  lime  mortar,  where  over 
1.2  per  cent  has  been  reached,  of  itself  indicates  that  the  mortar  had 
been  crushed  some  time  before  the  maximum  strength  of  the  pier  was 
reached,  which  is  further  confirmed  by  the  appearance  of  the  disin- 
tegrated mortar,  and  furthermore,  the  strength  of  the  piers  largely 
exceeded  the  strength  of  the  mortar  when  the  latter  was  tested  in 
the  form  of  cubes. 

As  to  the  modulus  of  rupture  of  natural  stones  under  transverse 
stress  not  much  can  be  said ;  experiments  are  comparatively  few. 
In  exceptional  cases  of  remarkable  strength,  a  modulus  of  3,000  Ibs. 
per  square  inch  has  been  reached,  although  it  is  quite  probable  that 
moduli  considerably  below  1,000  Ibs.  are  those  frequently  met  in 
ordinary  building  stones.  These  are  general  values  which  have 
been  stated,  but  they  fairly  indicate  what  may  be  expected  of  this 
class  of  building  material. 

In  regard  to  the  practical  application  of  these  results  of  experi- 
ments, it  is  clearly  seen  wherein  attention  should  be  given  to  certain 
details  in  order  to  secure  the  uniform  distribution  of  stresses  which, 
in  the  execution  of  a  well-designed  structure  is  one  of  the  chief 
features  to  be  attended  to.  First  of  all,  the  foundations  obviously 
require  careful  attention,  the  functions  which  they  are  required  to 
perform  being  peculiarly  difficult.  Occupying  a  place  between  a 
very  compressible  and  heterogeneous  mass  on  the  one  side,  they  are 
expected  to  receive  from  the  other  side  loads  differing  widely  in 
magnitude  and  in  all  sorts  of  places,  and  must  possess  sufficient 
strength  and  rigidity  to  transmit  and  distribute  these  unequal  loads 
from  the  mass  above  without  serious  distortion.  The  efficiency  of 
foundations  will  generally  be  best  when  large  stones  are  used  in  the 
lower  courses,  with  close  joints  of  uniform  thickness,  using  neat 
cement  for  the  mortar.  The  use  of  large  stones  lessens  the  danger 
of  failure  by  transverse  and  shearing  stresses.  To  obtain  close 
joints  of  uniform  thickness  means  flat  bed-and-build  surfaces  by  rea- 
son of  which  compressive  stresses  are  uniformly  distributed,  and  the 
use  of  strong  neat  cement  gives  the  nearest  approach  to  the  same 
modulus  of  elasticity  in  the  joints  as  in  the  stones.  Such  a  wall  will 
act  as  a  whole  and  not  as  an  aggregation  of  individual  parts.  Some 
situations  might  even  make  it  desirable  to  employ  rolled-iron  beams 
in  places  where  otherwise  there  would  be  a  lack  of  rigidity. 

It  is  not  always  possible  to  so  proportion  the  sizes  of  brick  piers 
that  the  pressures  per  square  inch  shall  be  the  same  where  different 
loads  are  carried  by  different  piers,  the  fixed  dimensions  of  the 
bricks  preventing.  Where  the  loads  differ,  the  compressibility  of 
the  piers  will  be  correspondingly  unlike  unless  compensated  for  by 
the  use  of  several  mixtures  of  mortar,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  is  a 
convenient  method  by  which  the  elasticity  and  compressibility  of  the 


114 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News.     [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  637. 


pier  may  be  varied  within  limits.  Piers  which  carry  the  same  loads 
and  differ  in  height  may  in  the  same  manner  be  adapted  to  their 
work  when  it  is  desirable  to  have  their  total  eompressibility  nearly 
alike.  It  is  not  expected  that  these  means  will  be  adequate  to  secure 
a  strictly-uniform  distribution  of  loads  and  allow  the  superstructure 
precisely  the  same  settlement  throughout,  due  to  the  action  of 
stresses,  but  something  in  this  direction  may  be  accomplished. 

Bearing  in  mind  the  different  moduli  of  elasticity  of  bricks,  stones 
and  of  mortars,  we  can  understand  the  reason  why  an  exterior  wall 
with  one  kind  of  facing  and  another  kind  of  backing  is  not  the  best 
adapted  to  sustain  large  pressures,  disregarding  for  the  time  being 
the  initial  strains  which  result  from  the  setting  of  the  mortar.  Parts 
of  walls  which  are  more  severely  loaded  than  others,  such  as  arches, 
require  bricks  and  mortar  of  extra  rigidity.  Illustrations  might  be 
multiplied,  but  the  fundamental  principle  consists  of  the  attainment 
of  a  uniform  distribution  of  stresses  and  the  uniform  elastic  resist- 
ances of  those  parts  which  should  act  together;  having  done  this,  it 
is  improbable  that  ordinary  structures,  as  commonly  designed,  will 
exhibit  disfigurement,  much  less  be  in  danger  of  true  crushing  of  the 
material. 

That  masonry  under  some  conditions  will  endure  great  distortion 
was  shown  by  the  loading  of  an  arched  floor  at  the  Watertown 
Arsenal.  This  floor  was  about  29'  square  and  was  made  of  five 
15-inch  I-beams,  200  Ibs.  to  the  yard,  carrying  brick  arches.  The 
beams  were  7'  4.8"  apart  on  centres,  and  rested  on  brick  walls  28'  6" 
apart.  The  rise  of  the  brick  arches  was  8.5".  Common,  rather  soft- 
burned  bricks  were  used,  laid  on  edge  with  lime  mortar.  The  arches 
were  backed  with  concrete  and  planked  over.  The  maximum  load 
carried  by  this  floor  was  563  Ibs.  per  square  foot,  which  amounted  to 
a  total  load  of  118,760  Ibs.  on  the  middle  I-beam.  This  load  caused 
a  gradual  and  continuous  yielding  of  the  beams,  which  was  allowed 
to  continue  till  the  floor  was  deflected  a  distance  of  13  07",  measured 
at  the  centre  of  the  middle  beam  under  the  reduced  load  of  468.88 
Ibs.  per  square  foot  of  floor  area  or  98,884  total  Ibs.  on  the  beam. 
Reducing  the  load  still  further,  to  110.38  Ibs.  per  square  foot,  the 
deflection  was  reduced  2.27"  or  to  10.8".  The  brickwork  endured  this 
great  deflection  and  apparently  would  have  stood  much  more  without 
failure ;  the  yielding  of  the  iron  beams  determined  the  ultimate 
strength  of  the  floor.  While  this  flooring,  which  stood  in  an  open 
area,  was  being  tested,  a  diurnal  variation  in  its  height  during  clear 
weather  was  observed.  Measuring  from  bench-marks  in  the  ground 
to  the  under  side  of  the  15"  I-beams,  it  was  noticed  that,  without 
change  of  load  on  the  floor,  the  east  side  during  the  forenoon  would 
rise  perceptibly,  at  noon  the  south  side  would  rise,  and  during  the 
afternoon  there  was  a  corresponding  elevation  of  the  west  side. 
This  movement  was  caused  by  the  greater  expansion  of  the  parts 
shone  upon  by  the  sun  over  those  parts  in  the  shade.  When  the 
sky  was  clouded  and  the  temperature  of  the  different  parts  of  the 
flooring  and  supporting  walls  were  substantially  the  same,  this  move- 
ment did  not  take  place.  J.  E.  HOWARD. 


[Contributors  are  requested  to  send  with  their  drawings  full  and 
adequate  descriptions  of  the  buildings,  including  a  statement  of  cost.] 

THE    POTTER   BUILDING,    BOYLSTON    ST.,  BOSTON,    MASS.      MR.    8.   J. 

F.    THAYER,    ARCHITECT,    BOSTON,    MASS. 
[Gelatine  print,  issued  only  with  the  Imperial  Edition.] 

MARION  SOCIAL    CLUB-HOUSE,    MARION,  MASS.      MR.    WM.    GIBBONS 
PRESTON,    ARCHITECT. 

TTTHIS  building  is  to  be  erected  during  the  coming  summer  by  the 
J_  people  of  this  little  seashore  town  on  the  shores  of  Buzzard's 
Bay.  The  place  is  largely  peopled  by  summer  guests  during 
the  warm  season  —  and  as  the  second  floor  furnishes  a  convenient 
hall  for  their  private  theatricals  and  mtisicales,  the  cost  of  construc- 
tion will  be  largely  contributed  to  by  their  subscriptions.  The 
means  of  exit  from  the  hall  are  ample,  there  beinsi  two  staircases  and 
a  wide  exterior  fire-escape.  The  lower  story  is  divided  conveniently 
for  the  native  residents  who  are  members  of  the  club,  and  provides 
a  place  for  the  book-club,  a  reading-room,  smoking-room,  etc.  The 
open  fire  and  supply  of  current  literature  never  fail  to  exert  a  good 
influence  during  the  winter  days  and  evenings. 

A  BACHELOR'S  HOME,  ST.  LOUIS,  MO.    MESSRS.  EAMES  &  YOUNG, 
ARCHITECTS,  ST.  LOUIS,  MO. 

THE  building  is  built  of  Grafton  limestone  and  is  finished 
throughout  in  quartered  white  oak.  Cost  of  buildin"  was  about 
$15,000. 

UNITED     STATES     POST-OFFICE,     SPRINGFIELD,    MASS.        Mil.    W.    A. 
FRERET,    SUPERVISING    ARCHITECT,    WASHINGTON,    D.    C. 

COMPETITIVE  DESIGN  FOR  THE  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CHUHCH  OK  ST. 
AUGUSTINE,  BROOKLYN,  N.  Y.  MR.  R.  L.  DAUS,  ARCHITECT, 
BROOKLYN,  N.  Y. 


UNITED  STATES  COURT-HOUSE  AND  POST-OFFICE,  LOS  ANGELES, 
CAL.  MR.  W.  A.  FRERET,  SUPERVISING  ARCHITECT,  WASHING- 
TON, D.  C. 

CHURCH,  CHAPEL  AND  PARISH-HOUSE  OF  ST.  JOHN'S,  JAMAICA 
PLAIN,  MASS.  MESSRS.  APPLETON  &  STEPIIENSOS,  ARCHITECTS, 
BOSTON,  MASS. 


Mr-,,  i  co     r-A    Pi  i  \yk 

i^u  y  p 


LAW  IN  RELATION  TO  ARCHITECTS.1 

EVERY  person  who  pro- 
fesses to  be  a  skilled  work- 
man impliedly  undertakes 
to  do  his  work  well  according  to 
the  rules  and  principles  of  his 
art.  When  a  person  is  employed 
in  a  work  of  skill,  the  employer 
buys  both  his  labor  and  his 
judgment.  He  ought  not  to  un- 
dertake the  work  if  he  cannot, 
and  he  should  know  whether  he 
will  succeed  or  not. 

The  public   profession   of   an 
art  is  a  representation   and  un- 
dertaking to  all  who  require  and 
make  use  of  the  services  of  the 
professed  artisan,  that  the  latter 
~  is  possessed  of,   and   will   exer- 
cise   the    ordinary    amount    of 
5rgSr  J  skill  and  knowledge  incident  to 
his  particular  craft,  art,  or  pro- 
fession.    (Ad.  Cont.) 

Where  a  carpenter  undertook 
to  build  a  booth  on  a  race- 
course, and  the  booth  fell  down 
in  the  middle  of  the  races  from 
bad  materials  and  bad  workman- 
ship, it  was  held  that  the  car- 
penter was  responsible  for  the 
damage  that  had  been  sustained. 
If  it  could  have  been  shown  that 

the  booth  i^d  bee,,  put  up  under 

the  supervision  of  an  architect, 
and  that  the  accident  had  arisen  in  consequence  only  of  erroneous 
principles  of  building  construction,  it  may  safely  be  averred  the 
liability  would  have  been  with  the  architect.  (Ad.  Cont.  676.)  But 
if  any  employer  wilfully  selects  unqualified  persons,  he  cannot  have 
any  remedy  from  them,  although  they  may  make  mistakes,  if  they 
have  done  their  best,  notwithstanding  that  the  consequences  may  be 
very  serious  ;  or,  to  put  the  matter  more  clearly,  in  the  words  of  an 
eminent  jurist,  "  If  the  employer  voluntarily  employs  in  one  art  a  man 
who  openly  exercises  another,  his  folly  has  no  claim  to  indulgence, 
and  unless  the  latter  makes  false  pretension  for  a  special  undertaking, 
no  more  can  be  demanded  of  him  than  the  best  of  his  ability." 

An  architect  or,  as  he  is  generally  called  by  legal  writers,  a  sur- 
veyor, is  bound  to  exercise  reasonable  care  and  skill  in  executing  the 
work  committed  to  him,  and  should  he  neglect  so  to  do,  he  is  not  en- 
titled to  recover  anything  for  his  work.  In  the  case  of  Moneypenny 
vs.  Hartland  and  others  (1  Car.  and  P.  352),  the  defendants  were  a 
committee  for  building  a  Mythe  bridge  across  the  Severn.  They  em- 
ployed the  plaintiff  as  architect  and  engineer  to  the  work.  He  sued 
them  for  his  fees,  but  they  resisted  payment  on  the  ground  that 
though  he  made  an  estimate  for  the  bridge,  yet  he  did  not  examine 
the  soil  of  the  foundation,  which  was  afterwards  found  to  be  bad, 
which  caused  an  additional  expense  of  £1,600,  to  which  the  surveyor 
replied  that  the  defendants  themselves  had  told  him  that  a  person 
whom  they  named  would  assist  him  with  information,  and  that  that 
person  had  informed  him  (the  architect)  that  the  soil  was  good  ;  but 
he  admitted  he  had  not  himself  tried  it  in  any  way.  The  Lord  Chief 
Justice  Abbott  said,  "  If  a  surveyor  who  makes  an  estimate  sues  those 
who  employ  him  for  the  value  of  his  services,  and  it  appear  that  he  was 
so  negligent  that  he  did  not  inform  himself  by  boring  or  otherwise  of 
the  nature  of  the  soil  of  his  foundation,  and  it  turned  out  to  be  bad, 
this  goes  to  his  right  of  action  (that  is,  defeats  it)  ;  and  if  he  went 
upon  the  information  of  others,  which  now  turns  out  to  be  false  or 
insufficient,  he  must  take  the  consequences,  for  every  person  em- 
ployed as  a  surveyor  must  use  due  diligence  ;  and  if  the  plaintiff 
went  on  the  information  of  others,  that  is  no  excuse." 

A  warning  was  conveyed  in  Jenkins  vs.  Betham,  15  c.  B.  168,  to 
surveyors  and  valuers  when  acting  in  respect  of  property  of  a  nature 
to  which  they  are  not  accustomed.  In  the  case  just  mentioned  the 
exact  point  decided  was  that  one  who  holds  himself  out  as  a  valuer 
of  ecclesiastical  property,  though  he  is  not  bound  to  possess  a  precise 
and  accurate  knowledge  of  the  law  respecting  the  valuation  of 
dilapidations  as  between  outgoing  and  incoming  incumbent,  is  bound 
to  bring  to  the  performance  of  the  duty  he  undertakes  a  knowledge 


1  A  paper  read  before  the  Manchester  Architectural  Association  on  Tuesday 
February  7,  by  Mr.  Kdgar  Atkins,  solicitor,  of  Manchester,  and  printed  iu  The 
Architect. 


go.  637 


•ILIHNG  DKEWS,  M*  K-  1 0 1 33  5 . 


»;. 


O.  637 


X  IKGHITEGT  flND  $UILDING  ^EWS,  M.ffl<.10.1555. 


'•.IFYIItH?  1S6S  BT  T1CXRCH  HC« 


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-:'^lrffi? 

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ffeliotype  Printing  Co.Bastvn. 


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IH^HITKGT  .flM)  BUILDING  REWS,  \[<R!<.  10.1555.          R<>-  637 


".         : 


MAKCH  10,  1888.] 


TJie   American   Architect  and  Building   News. 


115 


of  the  general  rules  applicable  to  the  subject,  and  of  the  broad  dis- 
tinction which  exists  between  the  cases  of  a  valuation  as  between  in- 
coining  and  outgoing  tenant,  and  a  valuation  as  between  incoming 
and  outgoing  incumbent. 

Another  way  of  putting  the  point  is  that  the  surveyor  must  be 
acquainted  with  any  special  knowledge  which  the  particular  subject 
of  valuation  may  necessitate. 

The  case  of  Jenkins  r.«.  But  ham  just  referred  to,  is  quoted  by  legal 
writers  as  an  authority  for  the  proposition  that  a  surveyor  is  liable 
for  the  results  of  his  ignorance.  There  is,  no  doubt,  that  he  is  equally 
liable  for  his  neglict.  Suppose,  for  instance,  a  merchant  contem- 
plated storing  a  large  quantity  of  china  in  a  warehouse,  and  prior  to 
so  doing  the  flooring  boards  are  removed  to  enable  a  surveyor  to  in- 
spect the  joists,  who,  in  so  doing,  omits  to  observe  that  they  are 
rotten,  he  would  certainly  be  liable  for  any  damage  resulting  to  the 
miTi'handisc  in  consequence  of  the  condition  of  the  premises. 

Surveyors  have  a  most  responsible  duty  to  perform  when  valu- 
ing property  on  behalf  of  trustees  who  contemplate  lending  trust- 
funds  thereon.  In  the  case  of  Budge  vs.  Guinmow,  27  L.  J.  R.  N.  S. 
666,  a  London  surveyor  was  employed  to  value  hotel  property  at 
Broadstairs.  In  delivering  judgment,  L.  J.  James  said,  "  How  could 
a  London  surveyor  going  down  to  Broadstairs  form  any  estimate  of 
the  value?" 

Mr.  Justice  Kay,  in  a  judgment  delivered  on  August  1,  1884  (Fry 
vs.  Tapson,  51  L.  J.  N.  S.  325),  in  a  case  in  which  the  propriety  of  a 
trustee's  investment  in  property  in  Liverpool  was  in  question,  says, 

••  The  most  incautious  act  was  to  employ  Mr. ,  of &  Co., 

surveyors,  land-agents  and  auctioneers,  London,  to  value  for  the 
mortgagees,  and  to  accept  his  report  as  sufficient  evidence  of  value." 
lie  was  a  London  surveyor,  not  shown  to  have  any  of  that  local 
knowledge  which  WT»S  so  important  in  this  case,  and  his  employment 
was  inexpedient  for  that  reason. 

Clearly,  therefore,  it  is  a  surveyor's  duty  to  point  out  to  his  client 
that  a  valuation  made  by  him  of  property  out  of  his  own  district  is 
liable  to  objection,  if  questions  as  to  the  propriety  of  the  investment 
should  hereafter  arise. 

When  trustees  contemplate  investing  in  property  recent  cases  have 
established  that  the  surveyor  should  be  instructed  at  least  as  follows : 

1.  The  proposed  investors  are  trustees  purposing  to  invest  trust 
funds. 

2.  You  should  ascertain  that  the  particulars  of  the  property  given 
to  you  arc  a  perfectly  correct  description  of  it. 

3.  You  should  ascertain  its  minimum  value. 

4.  Its  nature  for  letting  purposes. 

5.  What  are  its  present  rentals,  and  whether  they  are  such  as  are 
likely  to  continue  to  be  obtainable. 

6.  Not  only  should  the  rentals  stated  in  the  particulars  be  checked, 
but  your  opinion  of  the  letting  value  of  the  premises  should  be  con- 
sidered and  stated. 

7.  The  amount  of  the  rates  and  outgoings  should  be  ascertained 
and  stated. 

8.  Whether  or  not  all  the  property  is  let  should  be  ascertained  and 
stated. 

9.  You  should  give  your  consideration  to  the  average  amount  of 
repairs  which  the  property  is  likely  to  require. 

10.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  should  the  investors  have  to 
take  possession,  they  would  have  to  employ  a  collector  and  manager 
of  the  property. 

11.  The  possibility  of  the  property  being  tenanted  without  regard 
to  the  fluctuation  of  trade  should  be  considered. 

12.  If  any   special  circumstances   affect   the   property,  mention 
thereof  should  also  be  specifically  made. 

It  is  laid  down  by  very  high  authority  that  the  office  of  an 
arbitrator  (to  which  members  of  your  body  are  so  frequently 
appointed)  is  deemed  to  be  an  honorary  office,  and  a  person  who  acts 
as  such  cannot  charge  for  his  services,  unless  it  appears  from  the 
terms  of  the  submission  or  the  surrounding  circumstances  of  the 
transaction  that  it  was  the  intention  of  the  parties  that  the  arbitrator 
should  be  paid  for  his  time  and  trouble,  or  unless  there  was  an  ex- 
press promise  to  pay  him  for  his  services.  (Ad.  Cont.  661  f.) 

It  may  be  doubted,  however,  whether  or  not  that  is  still  the  law, 
because  in  a  recent  case  —  Crampton  &  Holt  vs.  Ridley  &  Co.  (Z/a<e 
Times  Reports,  February  4,  1888)  —  Mr.  Justice  Smith  says:  "If 
the  point  ever  comes  to  be  decided  by  a  court  of  review  ...  it  will 
be  held,  and  I  believe  the  law  to  be  that  .  .  .  there  is  an  implied 
promise  to  pay  the  arbitrators  and  umpire." 

The  remuneration  payable  to  surveyors  does  not  even  yet  appear 
to  be  definitely  fixed.  It  is  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  that  for 
supervision  of  buildings  it  is  usually  on  a  percentage  scale,  but  an  in- 
quiry into  the  cases  would  not  justify  an  assertion  that  the  law  was 
that  they  should  be  so  paid.  In  the  case  of  Upsdell  vs.  Stewart 
(Peake),  255,  the  plaintiff  claimed  £34,  being  £5  per  cent  on  all 
money  charged  by  and  allowed  to  the  tradesmen.  The  defendant 
had  paid  one-half  of  the  sum  demanded  into  court,  contending  that 
two-and-one-half  per  cent  was  a  sufficient  compensation  for  the  busi- 
ness the  plaintiff  had  done.  He  had  done  nothing  more  than 
measure  the  work  and  settle  the  bills,  not  being  at  all  employed  in 
building  the  house.  Plaintiff's  counsel  offered  to  call  witnesses  to 
prove  that  the  uniform  practice  of  surveyors  was  to  charge  £5  per 
cent  on  all  money  allowed  to  the  workmen,  but  the  Chief  Justice, 
Lord  Kenyon,  said,  "  The  plaintiff  is  entitled  to  a  reasonable  com- 


pensation for  his  labor,  but  he  is  not  to  estimate  that  by  the  money 
laid  out  by  the  defendant  in  finishing  his  buiUing.  As  to  the  custom 
offered  to  be  proved,  the  course  of  roblxjry  on  Hags-hut  Heath  might 
as  well  be  proved,  in  a  court  of  justice." 

But  now  observe  the  case  when  the  work  had  been  done  under  the 
supervision  of  the  architect.  In  the  earlier  trial,  Chapman  r.v.  Do 
Tasht,  in  which  the  question  was  whether  the  plaintiff,  who  had  been 
employed  by  the  defendant  as  surveyor  in  superintending  certain 
alterations  in  his  buildings,  was  entitled  to  a  commission  of  five  per 
cent  on  the  sums  laid  out  as  surveyors,  although  evidence  was  given 
that  such  was  the  usual  mode  of  charging  for  business  of  that  descrip- 
tion, Lord  Ellenborough  declined  to  lay  it  down  as  law  that  such  was 
a  proper  basis  of  charge,  but,  to  use  his  own  words,  he  left  it  to  the 
jury  to  say  whether  this  mode  of  charging  was  vicious  or  unreason- 
able, and,  if  they  thought  it  was,  to  deduct  accordingly.  The  jury 
found  a  verdict  for  the  plaintiff  for  the  full  amount  claimed.  It 
would  seem,  perhaps,  to  the  lay  mind  that  this  case  established  the 
right  of  the  profession  to  payment  on  a  percentage  scale.  But  that 
is  not  so.  We  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  legal  effect  of  Lord  Ellen- 
borough's  action  when  trying  the  case  was  the  same  as  if  he  had  said, 
"  Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  the  law  is  not  that  a  surveyor  shall  be  paid 
five  per  cent  commission,  but  it  is  that  he  shall  be  paid  a  reasonable 
sum,  and  if  in  your  judgment  a  sum  calculated  on  that  basis  is  un- 
reasonable, you  may  bring  in  a  verdict  awarding  the  plaintiff  a 
smaller  sum." 

The  practice  of  surveyors1  to  charge  on  a  percentage  scale  has 
been  so  long  established,  that  it  may  be  predicted  a  defendant  would 
have  the  greatest  difficulty  in  defeating  a  claim  so  computed.  That 
an  architect  is  entitled  to  be  paid  fees  for  acting  as  a  skilled  witness 
has  been  long  established.  A  person,  may,  however,  by  express 
agreement  not  only  render  the  amount  of  remuneration  which  is  to 
be  paid  dependent  on  the  amount  of  contingent  benefit  to  be  derived 
by  the  employer,  but  he  may  defer  the  period  when  his  right  to  re- 
ceive the  reward  shall  accrue  until  the  employer  has  actually  obtained 
a  given  advantage.  (Ch.  Cont.) 

In  Paine  vs.  Guardians  of  Strand  Union  (8  Q.  B.  Ad.  &  Ell,  326) 
it  was  held  that  the  guardians  of  a  poor-law  union  could  not  bind 
themselves  by  a  contract  without  seal,  if  they  could  in  any  manner 
contract  to  remunerate  a  surveyor  for  attending  as  a  witness  on 
appeal  against  a  parochial  assessment  within  the  union,  nor  for 
making  a  survey  and  map  of  the  rateable  property  in  a  parish  form- 
in"  part  of  the  union. 

By  33  &  34  Vic.  c.  75  (Elementary  Education  Act,  1870),  s.  30, 
subs.  1,  a  School  Board  shall  be  a  body  corporate,  having  a  perpetual 
succession  and  a  common  seal.  .  .  .  Subs.  4.  Any  minute  made  of 
proceedings  at  meetings  of  the  School  Board  if  signed  ...  by  the 
chairman  shall  be  receivable  in  evidence  in  all  legal  proceedings 
without  further  proof.  .  .  .  Subs.  6.  The  rules  contained  in  the  third 
schedule  shall  be  observed.  By  section  35,  a  School  Board  may 
appoint  a  clerk  and  a  treasurer  and  other  necessary  officers.  .  .  . 
By  the  third  schedule,  the  appointment  of  any  officer  of  the  Board 
may  be  made  by  a  minute  of  the  Board,  signed  by  the  chairman  of 
the  Board,  and  any  appointment  so  made  shall  be  as  valid  as  if  made 
under  the  seal  of  the  Board.  By  a  minute  signed  by  the  chairman 
of  a  School  Board  and  countersigned  by  the  clerk,  the  plaintiff  was 
appointed  architect  of  the  Board,  and  did  work  under  orders  given 
by  subsequent  minutes  so  signed  and  countersigned  and  communicated 
to  him.  It  was  held  by  Mr.  Justice  Mathew  that  by  virtue  of  the 
provisions  of  the  Act  he  was  entitled  to  receive  payment  for  his 
services,  although  the  appointment  and  orders  were  not  under  seal. 
(Scott  vs.  Great  and  Little  Clifton  School  Board,  14  Q.  B.  D.  500, 
52  L.  T.  105.)  This  case  must  not  be  taken  as  establishing  that  an 
architect  may  safely  act  for  a  corporate  Ixxly  without  his  appoint- 
ment being  under  seal ;  but  rather,  that  if  he  do  so,  he  runs  great 
risk  of  having  no  legal  claim  for  payment. 

Whilst  it  is  not  intended  in  this  paper  to  discuss  the  law  either  of 
light  or  of  building  contracts,  neither  of  which  is  strictly  within  the 
scope  of  its  title,  there  are  a  few  points  in  the  latter  subject  in  which 
the  personality  of  the  architect  is  so  distinctly  marked,  that  it  will 
be  desirable  briefly  to  refer  to  them. 

In  contracts  in  which  the  right  to  receive  payment  is  made  depen- 
dent on  the  approval  of  the  architect,  no  right  can  be  enforced  until 
that  approval  is  obtained.  This  point  has  been  affirmed  in  several 
cases,  amongst  others,  Scott  v.  Liverpool  Corporation,  and  Salford 
Corporation  r.  Ackers.  It  therefore  follows  that  in  such  cases  work 
not  done  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  architect  cannot  be  charged  for ; 
thus,  where  the  contract  was  to  fit  a  ship  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of 
the  surveyor  of  the  Emigrant  Commissioners,  Mr.  Justice  Willes,  in 
delivering  judgment,  speaking  of  certain  disputed  work,  says  that 
which  was  first  done  was  not  done  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  surveyor, 
and  therefore  is  not  to  be  paid  for  under  the  contract.  (Dobson  ». 
Hudson,  1  C.  B.  N.  S.  659).  The  builder  would,  if  the  law  stopped 
there,  seem  to  be  wholly  at  the  mercy  of  the  architect,  but  that  such 
is  not  the  case  was  very  clearly  established  in  Scott  r.  Corporation  of 
Liverpool,  previously  referred  to.  There  the  contract  provided, 
amongst  other  things',  that  in  case  of  disputes  such  disputes  should  be 
decided  by  the  engineer  of  the  Corporation,  and  that  it  should  not  bo 
competent  to  the  plaintiffs  or  the  Corporation  to  except  at  law  or  in 
equity  to  any  hearing  or  determination  or  certificate  of  the  said  engi- 
neer, who  should  not  be  required  or  compcllable  by  any  pruceeding 


1  In  thi»  paper  the  word  "  surveyor  "  is  generally  used  for  architect. 


116 


T7ie   American    Architect  and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXlIl.  — No    637. 


Corporation  and  their  engineer,  and  in  tlieir  bill  ot  complaint  s 
that  a  certain  portion  of  the  works  had  been  completed  by  the  plain- 
tiffs, but  the  engineer,  acting  under  the  directions  and  in  collusion 
with  the    Corporation,  withheld  his  certificate  of  such  completion, 


whatsoever,  cither  at  law  or  in  equity  or  otherwise,  to  answer  or  explain 
any  matter  touching  or  relating  to  any  certificate  made  by  him.  In 
spite  of  this,  the  plaintiffs  commenced  legal  proceedings  against  the 
Corporation  and  their  engineer,  and  in  their  bill  of  complaint  stated 
that 
tiffs, 

with  the    Corporation, 

and  thereby  prevented  the  plaintiffs  from  recovering  payment  there- 
for, and  that  lie  also,  under  the  like  direction,  refused  to  act  as  arbi- 
trator according  to  the  terms  of  the  contract,  and  prayed  that  the 
Court  might  adjudge  that  the  withholding  of  the  certificate  by  the 
engineer  was  a  fraud  upon  the  plaintiffs,  and  that  the  plaintiffs  were 
entitled  to  receive  such  an  amount  of  money  as  they  would  have  bCen 
entitled  to  if  such  certificate  had  been  granted.  It  was  contended, 
on  behalf  of  the  Corporation,  that  the  plaintiffs  were,  by  the  express 
words  of  the  contract,  precluded  from  recourse  to  the  Law  Courts. 
Vice-Chancellor  Stuart,  who  heard  the  objection,  at  the  conclusion 
of  the  arguments  of  the  counsel  for  the  Corporation,  intimated  that 
he  did  not  require  counsel  for  the  plaintiffs  to  say  anything  in  sup- 
port of  their  case,  and  proceeded  to  give  judgment  in  Scott's  favor, 
in  the  course  of  which  he  said,  "  I  conceive  there  is  just  ground  for 
maintaining  sucli  a  bill  for  equitable  relief,  not  only  against  the  par- 
ties to  the  contract,  who  are  bound  to  pay,  but  also  against  the  engi- 
neer himself.  .  .  .  These  are  allegations  of  improper  and  inequitable 
acts  and  omissions  against  the  engineer.  .  .  .  There  is,  in  this  con- 
tract, a  stipulation  which  purports  directly  and  positively  to  exclude 
the  jurisdiction  of  any  Court  with  reference  to  the  conduct  of  the 
engineer,  however  fraudulent  and  improper — a  stipulation  of  an 
extraordinary  and  improper  kind,  if  it  bears  the  construction  con- 
tended for  by  the  defendant,  the  engineer,  and  in  no  case  in  which 
improper  conduct  or  inequitable  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  individ- 
ual in  whose  favor  a  stipulation  of  such  a  character  is  made,  shall  I 
treat  it  as  having  any  operation."  It  should  be  added  that  this  judg- 
ment was  not  delivered  as  the  result  of  the  trial  of  the  action,  but 
upon  a  preliminary  application  to  the  Court  to  refuse  to  hear  it. 
Ultimately  the  case  on  the  facts  was  decided  in  favor  of  the  Corpo- 
ration and  their  engineer.  If  the  architect's  certificate  is  wrongfully 
withheld,  the  Court  will  give  relief,  not  only  against  the  employer, 
but  also  against  the  surveyor,  and  a  stipulation  purporting  to  exclude 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Courts  in  respect  of  his  conduct  will  be  set 
aside.  (Ad.  Cont.  667.)  Active  collusion,  it  would  seem,  is  not 
necessary  to  render  the  surveyor  liable  to  such  an  action ;  it  may  be 
maintained  by  the  builder  if  he  has  fulfilled  his  contract,  and  the 
architect,  with  full  knowledge  thereof,  has  neglected  to  certify  in 
collusion  with  the  surveyor. 

The  position  of  the  surveyor  under  building  contracts  is  that  of  a 
quasi-judge,  and,  whilst  protecting  his  client  from  imposition  by  the 
builder,  he  must  also  act  perfectly  fairly  towards  the  latter,  and,  if 
unknown  to  the  builder,  the  surveyor  has  a  personal  interest  adverse 
to  him,  or  acts  unfairly,  partially,  or  corruptly,  in  spite  of  all  efforts 
to  exclude  its  jurisdiction,  the  Court  will  interfere.  Thus,  in  the 
case  of  Kimberly  v.  Dick,  L.  R.  13  Eq.  1,  where  the  facts  were  that 
an  architect  entered  into  an  undertaking  that  a  house  should  be 
erected  for  a  sum  not  exceeding  £15,000,  including  architect's  com- 
mission and  all  expenses,  and  engaged  the  services  of  a  builder  who, 
without  being  informed  of  the  undertaking,  gave  an  estimate  based 
on  quantities  given  him  by  the  architect,  and  entered  into  a  contract 
with  the  employer  for  the  completion  of  the  work  from  the  architect's 
plans  and  under  his  superintendence  for  £13,690,  with  power  for  the 
architect  to  order  extra  work,  and  with  a  clause  providing  that  all 
questions  between  the  parties  under  the  contract  should  be  settled 
by  the  award  of  the  architect,  on  a  suit  by  the  builder  claiming  to 
be  entitled  to  be  paid  by  the  employer  for  all  quantities  executed  by 
him  beyond  those  included  in  his  estimate,  and  for  extra  works,  it 
was  decided  that  on  the  evidence  the  architect  was  the  agent  of  the 
employer,  that  his  undertaking  having  been  concealed  from  the 
builder,  the  arbitration  clause  in  the  contract  could  not  be  enforced, 
and  that  the  plaintiff  was  entitled  to  an  account  for  what  was  due  to 
him  for  any  works  executed  by  him  under  the  architect's  direction 
not  included  in  the  contract,  and  for  any  works  so  executed  under 
the  contract,  the  price  for  which  was  not  therein  included,  and  for 
any  variations  made  under  the  architect's  direction  of  works  included 
in  the  contract. 

The  principle  of  this  case  has  been  confirmed  in  those  of  Kemp 
v.  Rose,  1  Giff.  258;  Ormes  v.  Beadel,  2  Gift.  166 ;  Pawley  v.  Turn- 
bull,  3  Giff.  70 ;  Bliss  v.  Smith,  34  Beav.  508.  In  Kemp  v.  Rose, 
where  the  facts  were  very  similar  to  those  in  the  case  of  Kimberley 
v.  Dick,  Vice-Chancellor  Stuart  says  that  if  there  was  the  smalles't 
speck  or  circumstance  which  might  unfairly  bias  the  architect's  judg- 
ment, his  decision  cannot  be  absolutely  binding  upon  the  contracting 
party. 

It  was  held  in  Roberts  v.  Watkins,  14  C.  B.  N.  S.  592,  that  if  the 
architect's  certificate  is  not  by  the  express  terms  of  the  contract 
required  to  be  in  writing,  his  verbal  approval  is  sufficient.  The 
utmost  care  is  required  in  granting  the  certificate,  because  it  is  said 
that  when  once  given,  the  surveyor  \sfunctusofficio,  and  cannot  varv 
or  alter  it.  (Jones  i:  Jones,  17  L.  J.'Q.  B.  170). 

An  action  will  not  lie  against  an  architect  by  the  builder  for  want 
of  skill  in  ascertaining  the  amount  to  be  paid  to  a  builder  under  a 
contract,  if  his  error  be  only  an  error  of  judgment  and  is  free  from 
fraud  or  collusion. 

Building  contracts,  says  Mr.  Addison,  have  not  been  construed  by 


the  Court  to  be  binding  to  the  letter,  so  as  to  enable  a  land-owner  to 
escape  payment  for  the  benefit  of  the  builder's  work  merely  on  the 
ground  of  a  slight  deviation,  but  if  it  appears  that  the  parties  to  the 
contract  intended  the  one  to  insist  on,  and  the  other  to  submit  to, 
conditions,  however  oppressive,  the  Court  will  give  effect  to  them  as 
illustrated  by  the  eases  of  Stadhart  v.  Lee,  3  B.  and  S.  3C4,  32  L.  J. 
Q.  B.  75 ;  Jones  v.  St.  John's  College,  L.  R.  6,  Q.  B.  115. 

In  Stadhart  v.  Lee,  L.  J.  R.  Q.  B.  32,  N.  S.  75,  the  facts  were 
that,  by  a  contract  of  work  as  to  certain  excavations  to  be  done  at  so 
much  per  cubic  foot  by  the  plaintiff  for  the  defendants,  the  plaintiff 
agreed  to  execute  the  work  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  engineer 
and  clerk-of-the-works  appointed  by  the  Metropolitan  Board  of 
Works,  as  well  as  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  defendants  or  their  agent, 
provided  that  if  the  works  should  not  proceed  as  rapidly  and  satis- 
factorily as  required  by  the  defendants  or  their  agent,  they  should 
have  full  power  to  enter  upon  and  take  possession  of  the  works,  and 
pay  whatever  number  of  men  should  be  left  unpaid  by  the  plaintiff, 
and  might  set  to  work  any  number  of  men  they  might  consider  neces- 
sary, and  the  amount  so  paid,  and  the  costs  of  the  men  so  set  to 
work,  should  be  deducted  from  whatever  money  should  be  due  to  the 
plaintiff.  To  an  action  for  work  and  labor  the  defendants  pleaded 
that  the  work  had  not  proceeded  as  rapidly  as  they  and  their  agent 
required,  and  that  they  had  therefore  acted  on  the  proviso,  claiming 
to  deduct  the  costs  so  incurred  from  the  plaintiff's  demand,  to  which 
the  plaintiff  replied  that  the  works  did  proceed  as  rapidly  and  satis- 
factorily as  the  defendants  reasonably  and  properly  could  require, 
and  that  the  defendants  and  their  agent  unreasonably,  improperly, 
and  capriciously  required  the  work  to  proceed  as  in  the  plea  alleged. 
Held,  that  the  intention  to  be  collected  from  the  agreement  was,  that 
the  defendants,  if  dissatisfied,  whether  with  or  without  sufficient 
reason,  with  the  progress  of  the  work,  should  have  the  absolute  and 
unqualified  power  to  put  on  additional  hands  and  get  the  work  done, 
and  deduct  the  cost  from  the  contract  price  payable  to  the  plaintiff, 
and,  therefore,  that  so  long  as  the  defendants  were  acting  oonafide 
under  an  honest  sense  of  dissatisfaction,  although  it  might  be  ill- 
founded  and  unreasonable,  they  are  entitled  to  insist  on  the  proviso, 
and,  consequently,  that  the  replication  which  only  alleged  that  the 
dissatisfaction  was  unreasonable  and  capricious,  and  did  not  allege 
mala  fides,  was  no  answer  to  the  plea. 

If  the  workman  is  entitled  to  payment  from  time  to  time  as  the 
work  proceeds,  the  destruction  of  the  work  before  its  completion  will 
not  deprive  the  workmen  of  their  hire.  But  if  the  contract  is  an 
entire  and  indivisible  contract  for  the  building  of  one  house  for  a 
specific  sum  to  be  paid  on  its  completion,  and  the  edifice  is  destroyed 
by  lightning,  fire,  or  tempest  during  the  progress  of  the  work,  the 
contractor  must  stand  to  the  loss  and  be  himself  at  the  expense  of 
repairing  the  damage  (Ad.  Cont.) 

But  if  the  contract  price  of  the  building  is  to  be  paid  by  instal- 
ments on  the  completion  of  certain  specified  portions  of  the  work, 
each  instalment  becomes  a  debt  due  to  the  builder  as  the  particular 
portion  specified  is  completed.  And  if  the  house  is  destroyed  by 
accident,  the  employer  would  be  bound  to  pay  the  instalments  then 
due,  but  would  not  be  liable  for  the  intermediate  labor  and  materials. 

The  preparation  of  the  contract  for  the  execution  of  the  works  is 
a  task  frequently  undertaken  by  members  of  your  profession.  It 
must  be  borne  in  mind  that  a  man  who  enters  into  the  work  of  build- 
ing embarks  upon  the  most  treacherous  and  stormy  of  seas  and  is 
fearfully  and  wonderfully  in  the  builder's  hands,  who  is  often,  per- 
haps generally,  impecunious,  and  it  is  therefore  necessary,  however 
harsh  it  may  seem,  to  protect  the  land-owner  at  all  points.  As  a 
rule,  the  builder  does  not  incur  risk  of  monetary  loss  from  him. 

Two  points  should  in  all  such  contracts  have  careful  attention. 
First,  the  builder  should  always  be  required  to  deposit  a  copy  of  the 
detail  estimate  on  which  the  contract  is  based  for  the  purpose  of 
pricing  extras.  Secondly,  the  whole  of  the  conditions  should  be  set 
out  in  the  contract,  and  not  scattered  promiscuously  throughout  the 
specification. 

This  is  really  a  most  important  matter  and  it  involves  the  possibil- 
ity of  the  two  documents  absolutely  contradicting  each  other — a  state 
of  things  fraught  with  far  more  serious  consequences  to  the  client 
than  the  omission  of  conditions. 

The  Legislature  has  in  several  instances  recognized  your  profes- 
sion. Time  does  not  allow  of  an  exhaustive  inquiry  on  this  point, 
and  two  instances  must  suffice,  in  both  which  you  are,  in  effect,  con- 
stituted judges.  Under  the  Ecclesiastical  Dilapidations  Act,  1871, 
the  archdeacons  and  rural  deans  of  each  diocese  were  required  to 
elect  a  surveyor  to  assess  dilapidations.  He  is  to  make  a  report  as 
to  the  cost  of  repairing  the  same,  upon  which  the  bishop  may  make 
an  order,  and  if  the  report  be  not  disputed  in  manner  directed  by 
the  Act,  the  sum  stated  in  the  order  as  the  cost  of  the  repairs  shall 
be  a  debt  due  from  the  late  incumbent,  his  executors  or  administra- 
tors, to  the  new  incumbent,  and  shall  be  recoverable  as  such  both  at 
law  and  in  equity.  By  the  same  Act,  power  is  vested  in  the  surveyor 
to  enter  and  inspect  buildings  at  seasonable  times  and  within  season- 
able hours,  and  by  Section  46  the  surveyor's  certificate  of  the  final 
completion  of  the  works  is  conclusive  evidence  of  their  due  execution. 

Under  the  recent  settled  Land  Act,  1882,  if  the  tenant  for  life  is 
desirous  that  capital  money  may  be  applied  in  an  improvement  of 
the  settled  property,  the  Court  may,  if  it  thinks  fit,  on  the  report  of 
a  competent  engineer  or  able  practical  surveyor,  make  an  order  for 
the  application  of  the  money  in  payment  of  the  work  comprised  in 
the  improvement. 


MARCH  10,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


117 


IF  the  prime  object  of  the  history  of  architecture  is  to  make  clear 
the  lines  of  growth,  and  to  show  how  art  in  general  has  Insen  in- 
fliicnrril  liy  the  erection  of  architectural  structures,  Mr.  Tucker- 
man's  recent  history1  is  anything  but  a  success.  The  main  facts  of 
the  history  of  architecture  are  stated  generally  as  fully  as  could  be 
expected  in  a  little  volume  of  less  than  two  hundred  pages.  Besides 
tliis,  die  history  is  presented  in  a  very  readable  manner,  though  for 
that  matter,  it  must  IM-  a  poor  hand,  indeed,  which  could  not  evolve 
an  interest  from  so  vast  and  comprehensive  a  subject.  But  the  real 
soul  of  architecture,  the  appreciation  of  the  divine  fire,  which  marks 
the  difference  between  mere  building  and  true  art  is  quite  lacking  in 
this  work.  The  author  undertook  a  tremendous  job  when  he 
started  out  to  write  a  short  history  of  architecture,  and  he  greatly 
increased  the  difficulties  of  his  subject  by  following  essentially  the 
same  lines  as  have  been  adopted  by  such  exhaustive  writers  as  Fer- 
gusson  and  Liibke.  It  is  a  work  written  to  meet  the  popular  desire 
for  knowledge  on  professional  points.  It  is  not  in  any  sense  a  book 
for  architects  or  students,  though  this  does  not  necessarily  imply 
that  the  work  could  not  be  read  to  advantage  by  amateurs.  The 
statements  are  generally  correct  and  the  few  criticisms  which  are 
offered  are  harmless,  if  not  absolutely  warranted,  anil  in  so  far  as  it 
is  really  a  history  of  the  leading  facts  connected  with  architecture, 
it  would  repay  the  reading  of  those  who  desire  only  a  superficial  ac- 
quaintance with  architecture.  As  to  its  influence  in  moulding  the 
taste  of  its  readers  and  guiding  them  to  a  knowledge  and  apprecia- 
tion of  what  is  really  good,  and  why  it  is  good,  and  what  the  best 
work  is,  the  book  is  absolutely  at  fault.  Nothing  of  that  sort  could 
fairly  be  expected  from  so  fragmentary  a  work. 

The  book  is,  however,  not  lacking  in  some  good  points  in  addition 
to  the  mere  statement  of  facts.  The  illustrations,  which  are  verv 
few  in  number,  are  well  chosen,  cleanly  drawn,  and  have  the  appear- 
ance of  having  been  made  especially  for  this  work,  as  they  doubtless 
were.  They  are  far  better  than  one  would  expect  from  a  book  of 
this  description,  even  though  it  does  bear  the  name  of  Charles  Scrib- 
ner's  Sons  as  publishers.  The  temptation,  to  a  writer  on  architect- 
ure, to  borrow  nowadays  is  so  strong  that  few  have  the  strength 
to  resist  it,  and  the  result  is  that  the  majority  of  the  smaller  archi- 
tectural histories  are  filled  with  weak,  trashy  illustrations,  copied 
from  the  German,  or  copied  from  no  source  of  any  value,  whose  in- 
fluence is  bad  where  it  is  not  harmless.  Mr.  Tuckerman  has  wisely 
refrained  from  any  general  views  of  buildings,  with  the  exception  of 
a  rather  poor  sketch  of  the  central  portal  of  the  church  of  St. 
Trophime  at  Aries.  Unless  views  are  thoroughly  good  they  are 
quite  as  apt  to  mislead  as  to  help.  The  illustrations  are  confined 
entirely  to  a  few  diagrams  of  the  orders  and  some  well  selected  plans 
of  the  most  characteristic  buildings  of  the  different  epochs;  quite 
enough  in  number  to  illustrate  the  different  styles,  but  not  so  many 
as  to  encumber  the  volume  or  bewilder  the  pupils.  We  should  say, 
after  reading  the  book,  Mr.  Tuckerman  understands  architecture 
much  better  than  he  is  able  to  present  it,  for  the  book  is  profession- 
ally trite  and  commonplace  in  the  extreme,  and  the  subject-matter  is 
treated  entirely  without  enthusiasm  or  genuine  art  impulse,  though 
the  buildings  chosen  as  types  show  that  the  leading  ideas  of  the  his- 
tory of  architecture  were  fully  appreciated  by  the  writer,  and  that 
his  judgment  in  regard  to  what  to  study  was  not  at  fault. 

It  seems  to  us,  that  one  serious  mistake  of  the  work  is  the  attempt 
to  crowd  all  of  modern  architecture,  including  the  Renaissance  into 
less  than  ten  pages,  while  Celtic,  Egyptian  and  Asiatic  Architecture 
occupy  together  sixty-one  pages  and  the  Gothic  alone  nineteen  out 
of  a  total  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-eight.  We  fancy  most  readers 
would  prefer  to  know  more  about  modern  work  and  would  be  more 
anxious  to  understand  the  Renaissance  than  to  know  the  exact  mean- 
ing and  significance  of  certain  Druid  or  Asiatic  remains  that  no  one 
sees  or  ever  cares  much  about. 


IN  these  days  of  dilletante  amateurs,  when  every  one  wants  to 
know  all  that  is  to  be  known  about  art,  a  concise  architectural  his- 
tory is  often  asked  for.  A  very  good  attempt  in  this  direction  is  a 
recent  work  by  Miss  Beale,  a  writer  who  is  well  known  to  readers 
of  this  journal.  The  aim  of  the  author  is  well  stated  in  her  own 
words  2 :  "  Tin;  utmost  I  hope  or  wish  to  do  is  to  give  some  love  of 
art  which  will  enable  the  reader  to  take  an  interest  in  the  subject, 
when  travelling,  which  will,  in  fact,  render  them  intelligent  amateurs 
in  the  true  sense  of  the  word  —  lovers  of  Art,  not  in  its  perverted 
sense  of  bad  workmen  dabbling  in  Art.  Life  is  not  long  enough  to 
learn  everything  perfectly,  nor  in.  such  a  subject  as  architecture  is  it 
even  needful.  To  an  amateur,  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  art  of 
construction  is  no  more  necessary  to  a  due  appreciation  of  a  building 
than  a  knowledge  of  the  chemistry  of  color  is  necessary  to  the  enjoy- 
ment of  a  fine  painting." 

With  such  an  aim  and  such  a  purpose  kept  constantly  in  view,  any 
work  on  architecture  ought  to  be  valuable  to  amateurs. 

"  A  Sltorl  Ihttnry  of  Architecture,"  by  Arthur  Lyman  Tuckerraan.  New  York  : 
Charles  Soritmer'e  Sons. 
'"  The  Amateur's  Guide  to  Architecture,"  by  S.  Sophia  Beale.    London  :  J.  S. 

Virtue  and  Co. 


Miss  Beale  has  been  most  happy  in  her  division  of  the  subject- 
matter  ;  indeed,  we  do  not  remember  to  have  seen  such  a  division 
anywhere  else,  and  it  commends  itself  at  once  for  its  truthfulness  and 
for  the  way  in  which,  under  a  few  heads,  all  architecture  is  em- 
braced. Her  work  is  divided  into  six  divisions.  First,  is  an  intro- 
duction, describing  in  brief  the  various  portions  of  a  building,  with 
illustrations.  Then  an-hiteetual  history  as  a  whole  is  divided  into 
four  parts;  first,  the  Tz-al.eated  or  Beam  Architecture,  including 
Egypt,  Chaldea,  Assyria,  Persia,  India,  China,  Japan,  Asia  MinorJ 
Greece  and  Sicilv.  Second,  Round-Arch  Architecture,  including 
Italy,  Rpme.^Karly  Christian,  Byzantine,  Romanesque,  Norman  and 
Saracenic.  Third,  Pointed  or  Gothic  Architecture,  and  fourth,  Kenais- 
tuce.  Miss  Beale  adds  a  final  chapter  of  architectual  examples 
which  may  be  studied  in  London  in  connection  with  her  work. 

The  author  tells  us  that  the  work  originally  formed  the  substance 
of  lectures  which  were  delivered  to  her  art  pupils,  girls  between  the 
ages  of  twelve  and  eighteen.  It  is  a  little  too  paternal  and  dogmatic 
in  some  parts,  a  feature  which  we  fancy  would  not  suit  some  of  our 
exacting  amateurs  of  to-day  in  every  respect,  but,  on  the  whole,  it  is 
so  easily  comprehended  and  written  in  so  straightforward  a  manner 
that  no  one  can  fail  to  appreciate  it.  It  might  be  said  that  the  work 
does  not  show  the  sequence  of  architectural  growth,  and  that  there  is 
no  nice  distinction  in  style  maintained,  as  for  instance,  when  she  says 
that  the  Arc  de  Triomphe  delEtoile  is  a  copv  of  a  Roman  trium- 
phal arch,  without  explaining  the  immense  difference  in  style  which 
separates  the  two.  Perhaps  it  would  not  be  worth  while  to  delve  too 
deeply  into  the  soul  of  art  while  writing  an  Amateur's  Guide  to 
Architecture.  Certainly  while  the  work  confines  itself  to  the  mere 
descriptions  or  enumerations  of  architectural  works,  it  is  admirably 
clear-sighted  and  logical,  but  for  comments  or  criticisms  upon  archi- 
tectural growth  or  on  questions  of  taste  as  regards  individual  build- 
ings we  fancy  most  readers  would  not  be  altogether  satisfied  with 
what  the  work  offers.  The  author  would  seem  to  be  almost  prepos- 
sessed in  favor  of  the  Gothic  as  against  the  other  styles  of  architec- 
ture, and  like  all  Gothicists  sees  good  in  meditcval  work  and  faults 
in  everything  else.  For  instance,  she  says,  "  The  simplicity  of  Greek 
buildings  requires  strong  effects  of  light  and  shade  only  to  be  had  in 
a  sunny  country.  If  you  want  to  see  how  gloomy  such  a  building 
can  look  without  such  effects,  you  have  only  to  walk  to  the  British 
Museum,  the  dismalest  of  dismal  London  buildings.  On  the  other 
hand,  Westminster  Abbey,  with  its  wealth  of  ornaments  exactly 
suits  our  dirty  and  dingy  atmosphere." 

Most  of  us  who  have  seen  Westminster  Abbey  are  perhaps  more 
inclined  to  look  upon  its  numerous  crockets  and  carvings  as  being 
rather  unsuited  for  resisting  the  dirt  and  destructive  corrosion  of  the 
London  atmosphere.  Again,  an  unjust  comparison  is  made  in  one 
place  by  claiming  that  in  Gothic  architecture  the  great  object  was 
to  make  everything,  however  mean  its  use,  ornamental,  while  in 
Renaissance  the  one  idea  was  concealment,  a  statement  which  is  only 
true  in  a  measure  and  is  by  no  means  true  in  principle  or  in  senti- 
ment. She  relates  the  story  from  Vitruvius  about  the  origin  of  the 
Corinthian  capital  and  the  mythological  acanthus  plant  which  grew 
under  a  basket  placed  over  a  tomb.  We  cannot  believe  that  the 
Greeks  were  so  feeble  in  their  art  growth  as  to  find  no  better  excuse 
for  ornament  than  would  be  suggested  by  such  a  puerile  fable  as  this. 
All  architectural  ornament  has  been  a  growth  ;  has  never  been  due 
to  accident  or  caprice,  but  has  followed  just  as  definite  laws  as  con- 
struction or  planning,  and  it  surely  is  not  wise,  in  an  amateur's 
guide,  to  draw  architectural  traditions  from  mere  fables. 

The  work  is,  of  course,  much  crowded,  though  the  general  scheme 
is  so  excellent,  that  the  author  has  been  enabled  to  grasp  the  entire 
subject  to  an  extent  which  is  beyond  the  powers  of  most  writers  of 
this  kind  of  work.  But  small  space  is  given  to  modern  work.  Most 
students  of  architecture  would  be  more  interested  in  the  things  of  to- 
day than  in  the  things  of  very  remote  generations.  Indeed,  we  ques- 
tion whether  the  most  successful  history  of  architecture  is  not  to  be 
that  which  is  written  analytically,  taking  buildings  and  styles  as  they 
are  and  tracing  them  back  to  their  origin,  instead  of  starting  from 
the  fountain  head  and  spreading  out  over  the  whole  world.  °How- 
ever,  it  is  not  fair  to  judge  Miss  Beale's  work  by  any  standards  which 
would  be  applicable  to  larger  and  more  elaborate  publications.  For 
what  it  professes  to  be,  it  is  really  excellent,  and  we  would  advise  all 
newspaper  reporters  who  desire  to  know  the  difference  between  a 
round  arch  and  an  iron  beam,  to  read  Miss  Beale's  work  before  they 
undertake  to  criticise  public  buildings. 


THE  new  post-office  ruling  affecting  the  admission  of  "second- 
class  "  matter  to  the  mails  falls  upon  the  just  and  the  unjust  with 
equal  severity,  and  the  public  will  probably  suffer  more  by  an  un- 
necessary ruling  than  it  will  gain.  This  ruling  denies  the  ad- 
vantages of  "pound  rates"  to  various  series  of  paper-covered  novels, 
good,  bad  and  indifferent,  which  for  years  have  been  admitted  to  the 
mails  at  such  a  rate  that  the  public  could  obtain  reading-matter  at  a 
rate  which  it  will  not  be  possible  for  publishers  to  furnish  it  at  so 
lon^  as  the  present  ruling  holds. 

However  hardly  this  ruling  may  bear  on  the  publishers  whose 
issues  arc  of  a  general  and  miscellaneous  type,  such  as  those  pub- 
lished by  Harper  &  Bros.,  Ticknor  &  Co.,  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co., 
there  are  other  less  known  publishers  who  have  made  use  of  the  pound 
rates  in  a  way  that  is  deserving  of  special  protection,  and  we  believe 


118 


TJie   American   Architect  and  Building   News.      [VoL.  XXIII.  —  No.  637. 


that  Cassell's  National  Library  is  one  and  the  "  Elzevir  Library  "  is 
another.  One  of  the  latest  things  undertaken  by  the  publisher  o( 
this  "  Library  "  is  "  Alden's  Manifold  Cyclopaedia,"1  parts  of  which  are 
now  and  then  issued  in  this  form.  Judging  by  the  specimens  before 
us  this  "  Cyclopaedia  "  will  be  not  only  extraordinarily  cheap  but  the 
publisher  may  well  claim  that  great  pains  have  been  taken  to  make  the 
articles  accurate  and  full.  Of  course,  one  cannot  expect  to  get  extra 
heavy  paper  and  fine  binding  when  he  undertakes  to  buy  for  less  than 
ten  dollars  the  thirty  volumes  of  five  or  six  hundred  pages  each  that 
the  publisher  offers,  but  the  paper  is  good  enough  for  the  money,  the 
type  has  certainly  a  good  and  clear  face,  and  the  meagreness  of  the 
margin  simply  makes  the  book  easier  and  lighter  to  hold  in  the  hand. 
It  looks  as  if  with  sufficient  support  the  publishers  might  be  able  to 
produce  a  good  "  Cyclopcedia,  which  would  be  cheap  enough  for 
most  of  us  to  own. 


DECORATION  OF  McVICKER'S  THEATRE,  CHICAGO. 

CHICAGO,  ILL.,  February  25, 1888. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  I  reply  at  some  length  to  Messrs.  Adler  &  Sullivan's 
February  letter  of  the  1st,  for  all  they  say  being  not  all  there  is, 
makes  them,  I  fear,  mislead  themselves,  and  I  wish  to  state  the  man- 
ner in  which  I  came  to  undertake  the  decoration  of  this  theatre,  and 
what  I  did  to  justify  my  claims  of  January  the  18th  in  your  issue  of 
the  28th. 

Personally  invited  by  Mr.  McVicker  to  examine  plans  at  Messrs. 
Adler  &  Sullivan's  office  made  for  the  alterations  —  the  architect's 
notice  coming  later  in  the  usual  way  —  I  called,  but  the  set  of  draw- 
ings was  incomplete,  sketches  of  sounding-boards  and  boxes  having 
been  distributed  among  other  decorators.  I  learned  then  and  subse- 
quently that  plaster  panels  inserted  into  wood  framing  • —  to  form  a 
proscenium  front  with  boxes  combined  —  were  to  be  decorated  in 
connection  with  the  entire  interior,  which  interior  needed  no  plans 
to  see,  the  changes  being  slight  and  then  in  view.  I  discussed  at 
length  with  Messrs.  Adler  &  Sullivan  their  style,  to  get  its  meaning, 
giving  as  reasons  my  desire  for  cooperation,  and,  in  furtherance  of 
this,  together  we  agreed  that  this  peculiar  style  demanded  soft  and 
gentle  color-treatment.  Upon  deliberation  that  night,  and  alone,  I 
mentally  measured  the  ponderous  timberings  and  delicate  lines  inter- 
blended  in  grotesque  oppose,  and  I  turned  my  mind  fixedly  to  the 
idea  of  one  ruling  tone,  changed  by  light  and  shade,  as  the  ground- 
work for  my  plan.  The  next  morning,  in  Mr.  McGrath's  private 
office,  I  gave  to  Mr.  McVicker  the  scheme  of  color  in  these  words  : 
Start  from  the  floor  with  a  reddish  brown  and  gradually  pale  to  the 
entire  height  of  the  building  lighter  and  lighter,  reaching  the  centre 
of  the  ceiling  in  delicate  creams ;  and  I  may  here  say,  this  was  the 
first  occasion  on  which  any  scheme  of  color  or  system  of  decoration 
for  the  body  of  the  house  had  been  enunciated.  Mr.  McVicker  ap- 
proved and  recommended  that  I  explain  this  to  Messrs.  Adler  &  Sulli- 
van, and  such  was  done  on  a  second  visit  to  their  rooms.  Neither 
suggestion,  nor  idea,  nor  wishes  for  this  treatment  came  to  me  from 
them  other  than  is  here  stated.  A  few  days  later  I  obtained  two  or 
three  plaster  panels  from  a  storehouse  —  they  being  not  yef  in  place, 
nor  was  the  building  ready  to  receive  them  —  to  serve  me  as  a  key- 
note to  designs  that  were  required  of  me,  and  from  the  spirit  of  these 
I  produced  a  colored  sketch  of  the  ceiling,  a  small  section  of  the  cove 
proper  and  I  think  a  bit  of  the  cove  under  the  balcony  ;  ultimately, 
a  variety  of  ornaments  in  relief,  which  will  be  referred  to  later,  the 
whole  of  which  culminated  in  the  work  as  it  now  stands.  To  illus- 
trate my  scheme  of  color,  a  screen  covered  with  raised  flock  paper 
was  colored  in  the  graded  manner  proposed,  for  until  then  this  treat- 
ment had  never  been  seen  or  heard  of,  and  required  demonstration. 
Mr.  McVicker  awarded  the  commission  for  the  work  to  Mr.  McGrath 
(the  architect's  notice  may  have  reached  before  or  not,  I  cannot  say), 
and  while  some  trivial  change  to  the  ceiling  COVP  suggested  by  the 
architects  was  noted,  I  may  add  that  these  preliminary  studies  sim- 
ply served  as  a  basis  for  operations,  that  I  made  many  changes  as 
the  work  proceeded,  always  without  reference  either  to  Messrs. 
Adler  &  Sullivan  or  Mr.  McVicker,  the  work  being  placed  unre- 
servedly in  my  hands. 

My  specification  contained  a  full  description  of  this  color  scheme, 
somewhat  as  follows  :  Color  for  plaster  ornaments  in  vestibule,  red, 
to  mass  with  the  mahogany  woodwork,  and  garnish  with  fire-gilt 
bronze ;  color  for  foyers,  blue  and  russet  and  gold  in  harmonious  con- 
trast to  the  vestibule,  and  to  fully  prepare  the  eye  for  the  burst  of 
red  and  yellow  browns  of  the  auditorium.  No  such  idea,  wishes  or 
suggestion  appeared  in  the  architects'  writings;  theirs  were  the 
usual  stipulations  as  to  number  of  coats  of  paint  or  varnish,  and 
some  admonition  in  a  general  way  not  plain  in  my  memory  now,  nor 
were  they  instructive  to  my  idea  of  what  this  work  should  be.  These 
specifications  were  not  criticised  or  changed  in  any  way  whatever  by 
the  architects,  and  it  may  therefore  be  assumed  that  I  am  the  sole 
author  of  that  scheme  of  design  for  the  decoration. 

i  "  Alden's  Manifold  Cycloptedia."    New  York:  John  B.  Alden,  publisher. 


The  responsibility  of  the  decorator  to  the  owner,  however  great,  is 
small  in  reality  when  compared  to  that  he  owes  to  the  architect. 
The  architect  it  is  who  formulates  a  style  —  if  good,  it  must  be 
reached  up  to,  if  bad  it  should  be  bettered,  quietly  and  unobserved  — 
not  to  be  lost  sight  of.  In  regard  to  that,  it  is  the  aim  of  every  man 
who  builds  a  house  to  build  it  to  its  use,  and  when  the  decorative 
theme  is  reached,  architect  and  decorator  must  be  in  full  accord. 
I  would  ask  in  the  face  of  my  effort  to  cooperate  with  the  archi- 
tects, why  they  seek  to  disparage  such  portions  of  the  work  as  were 
produced  by  me  ?  Why  are  they  "  caricatures  "  V  Mr.  Blackall  did 
not  see  them  as  such ;  on  the  contrary,  he  intelligently  commends 
them  and  gives  his  greatest  praise  where  I  shall  prove  the  architects 
had  no  control,  for  this  work  covers  the  ceilings  and  walls  of  foyers, 
staircases  and  the  whole  of  the  auditorium,  except  sounding-board 
and  boxes. 

"The  correct  statement  of  the  case"  is  this.  The  architects 
designed  the  proscenium,  the  boxes  and  the  vestibules,  so  far  as  the 
construction  and  relief-work  is  concerned.  The  placing  of  the  elec- 
tric-lights in  the  proscenium  and  vestibules  was  arranged  by  the 
architects.  The  building  was  then  handed  over  to  me,  the  walls 
being  bare,  the  ceilings  bare,  the  staircases  and  foyers  bare,  and 
every  part  of  the  building  without  color  or  decoration  of  any  kind. 
I  designed  the  relief-work  throughout  the  whole  portion  of  the  build- 
ing which  they  had  left  incomplete,  planned  the  arrangement  of  two 
hundred  and  seventy-eight  electric-lights  (adding  about  one  hundred 
to  the  "definitely  determined"  number),  conceived  the  whole  scheme 
of  color  decoration  throughout,  including  the  portions  constructed 
and  designed  by  the  architects,  and  carried  out  the  whole  of  this 
work  without  any  personal  communication  with  them  whatever, 
except  what  I  have  already  stated,  or  where  some  question  of  con- 
struction interfered  with  my  advance,  their  office  in  the  matter  being 
limited  to  the  acceptance  of  my  design,  the  signing  of  a  contract,  and 
the  granting  of  a  final  certificate  when  the  work  was  completed. 
The  wall-paper  design  was  Mr.  McGrath's  by  purchase  and  I 
chose  it  just  as  I  did  the  lincrusta-walton  and  all  other  materials, 
without  consulting  the  idea,  wishes  or  suggestions  of  the  architects. 
The  decorator  is  no  less  the  artist  or  no  less  deserving  credit  for  his 
work,  when,  to  unify  the  whole,  he  takes  the  fabric  suited  to  his 
want.  That  this  paper  was  designed  by  Messrs.  Adler  &  Sullivan, 
though  for  no  particular  purpose  and  subject  to  my  criticism,  may  be 
to  their  credit.  That  it  was  my  voluntary  act  to  select  it  for  this 
work  should  be  to  my  credit.  The  skilled  decorator  chooses  what 
he  will  and  makes  his  plans ;  it  is  that  judgment  a  client  buys  in  this 
profession.  The  upholstered  dado,  following  round  the  walls  of  the 
auditorium  and  staircases  to  the  boxes,  with  its  unique  upholstering 
and  trimmings,  the  draperies  in  the  boxes  and  all  the  portieres, 
were  controlled  by  me  in  both  color  and  design,  and  the  materials 
were  submitted  to  me  to  be  approved.  The  makers  of  the  stained- 
glass  windows  were  sent  to  me  for  consultation,  and  from  one  end 
of  the  building  to  the  other  no  color  was  applied  unless  I  saw  it  and 
approved.  All  these  functions  rightly  come  within  the  province  of 
the  decorator,  and  should  have  been  placed  in  Messrs.  Adler  &  Sulli- 
van's hands  if  they  were  the  master  spirits  and  recognized  authori- 
ties. As  these  details  were  not  controlled  by  them,  though  of  para- 
mount importance,  how  can  it  appear  that  my  original  statement  is 
"  manifestly  absurd  "  or  "  irresponsible  "  ? 

Yours  faithfully,  JOSEPH  TWYMAN. 

[OUR  correspondent's  letter,  if  all  put  in  type,  would  fill  very  nearly  three 
rages  of  this  journal,  but  we  hope  he  will  not  accuse  us  of  unfair  use  of  the 
;ditorial  pencil,  since  we  allow  him  the  same  number  of  lines  occupied  by 
;he  statements  he  refutes.  As  we  believe  this  matter  is  of  vastly  more  in- 
terest to  the  disputants  than  to  the  rest  of  our  readers  and  as  the  state- 
ments are  clearly  irreconcilable,  we  must  ask  them  to  leave  the  matter  an 
open  question. — EDS.  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT.] 


A  CORRECTION. 

BOSTON,  February  29, 1888. 

To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  :  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  In  the  "  Notes  of  Travel "  from  Chicago,  published 
last  Saturday,  I  find  an  invidious  comparison  was  made  between  the 
Rookery  Building  and  the  Mailer's  Building  and  the  building  for  L. 
P.  Hausen.  It  was  a  slip  of  my  own  and  it  was  farthest  from  my 
intention  to  say  that  these  latter  structures  were  unsuccessful  as 
compared  with  the  Rookery.  The  paragraph  relating  to  them 
should  more  properly  have  read,  "  All  the  buildings  are  not  as  suc- 
cessful in  mass  and  detail  as  the  Rookery,  though  there  are  many 
which  are  hardly  less  interesting  and  worthy  of  study,"  etc. 

May  I  ask  that  you  will  kindly  make  this  correction  on  my  behalf 
and  oblige  C.  H.  BLACKALL. 


A  COLUMN  LIKELY  TO  ESCAPE  DRY-ROT. 

TOLEDO,  OHIO,  February  23,  1888. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs, —  Although  the  subject  of  "  dry-rot "  is  a  very  common- 
jlace  one,  it,  nevertheless,  seems  to  demand  unceasing  attention  from 
all  representatives  of  architectural  and  building  interests.  The 
almost  utter  impossibility  of  obtaining  large  timber  of  any  kind  that 
'.s  absolutely  seasoned,  and  at  a  price  that  can  generally  be  afforded 
in  the  construction  of  supports  of  various  kinds  entering  into  ware- 
wuse,  manufacturies  or  ordinary  mercantile  building,  has  rendered 


MARCH  10,  1888.] 


The    American    Architect   and  Building   News. 


119 


it  necessary  to  devise  means  of  preventing  insidious  decay  and 
dangerous  season-check  in;;. 

For  girders,  etc.,  the  use  of  two-inch  joists,  or  thinner  matt-rial,  by 
bolting  or  spiking  together  numerous  thicknesses,  ami  having  thin 
separating  strips  tn-iwcen,  has  long  been  successfully  practised,  as 
lias  the  combination  in  various  ways  of  partially  seasoned  material  in 
the  construction  of  wooii  columns. 

1  have  lately  had  completed  a  manufacturing  building  in  which  I 
desired  to  use  12"  x  12"  oak  columns,  and  it  being  impossible  to 
obtain  dry  oak  of  that  size,  on  short  notice,  a  column  was  devised, 
using  comparatively  dry  4"  x  4"  oak  scantlings  bolted  together,  and 
having  interior  air-duets ;  all  fairly  well  shown  in  the  accompanying 
sketches.  The  columns  rest  directly  on  top  plate  of  iron  bolster, 


—  fcrfi*,  ^  |  'J«'  —     —  'T  -f  j"*v  » 


H-^  fc^H 


while  the  top  end  of  column  is  received  in  a  recess  in  bolster,  about 
1"  deep,  and  fitting  rather  loosely. 

The  result  is  very  satisfactory,  not  only  in  the  evident  impos- 
sibility of  dry-rot,  but  a  rather  handsome  column  is  produced,  as  well 
as  a  very  rigid  one ;  while  the  cheapness  of  the  material,  and  the  ease 
with  which  it  is  turned  and  dressed,  render  the  column  but  a  trifle 
more  expensive  than  one  dressed  and  chamfered,  or  turned  from  a 
solid  timber  with  a  hole  bored  through  the  centre  of  its  entire  length. 

While  I  have  set  forth  no  new  principle  of  wood-construction,  it  is 
presumed  that  this  somewhat  novel  application  of  old  principles  may 
prove  of  interest,  and,  possibly,  of  benefit  to  some  of  your  younger 
readers,  if  not  to  certain  of  the  older  and  more  experienced  members 
of  the  profession.  Truly  yours,  N.  B.  BACON. 


HOW  TO  APPROACH  THE  DESIGNING  OF  THE   NEW 
YORK  CATHEDRAL. 

NEW  YORK,  February  18, 1888. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT: — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  The  article  signed  "  L  "  in  your  issue  of  February 
18th,  suggests  many  thoughts.  The  difficulties  that  stand  in  the 
way  of  the  erection  of  the  proposed  Protestant  Episcopal  Cathedral 
in  this  city  no  doubt  exist,  but  the  statement  of  them  hardly  touches 
the  root  of  the  matter. 

Why  is  it  that  Messieurs  A  B  and  C  would  fail  to  build  an  har- 
monious whole?  Why,  in  the  absence  of  personal  discord,  would 
they  probably  be  unable  to  obtain  unity  of  result  from  their  united 
efforts? 

Is  it  not  because  they  would  be  impelled  in  their  task  by  no  com- 
mon, dominating  idea;  and  the  people  for  whom  they  built  would  be 
as  devoid  as  they  of  any  central  thought  upon  which  to  hang  their 


lives?  Shall  men  who  regard  the  Nicene  creed  from  a  standpoint 
of  historical  criticism  build  temples  in  honor  of  the  Trinity?  or  shall 
readers  of  "The  Itible.  of  To-day"  devise  friezes  enriched  with 
patriarchal  legends?  Is  it  not  certain,  rather,  that  the  work  of  such 
men  for  such  .t  public  would  show  that  it  was  the  work,  not  perhaps 
of  unbelievers,  but  certainly  not  of  believers?  For,  however,  much 
men  may  go  to  church  at  the  behest  of  their  wives,  or  as  the  respect- 
able thing  to  do,  or  even  from  piety  where  it  exists,  our  age  is  a 
questioning  age,  and  in  theology  to  question  is  to  deny. 

Powerful  as  it  may  yet  be  in  individual  minds,  the  Christian  faith 
is  not  for  us  the  grand  ami  only  impulse  of  our  lives  at  every 
moment,  as  it  once  was  for  all  decent  men  over  the  progressive 
world.  Can  we,  under  such  circumstances,  expect  that  the  work 
even  of  a  single  man  could  show  the  steady  devotion  to  one  purpose 
that  the  Middle-Age  churches  show  ? 

To-day,  we  have  no  purpose.  It  is  for  our  own  glory  that  wo 
work,  not  for  the  glory  of  our  ideas.  At  the  most,  led  by  admiration 
of  what  men  have  done  in  past  times,  we  erect  our  love  of  the  beauty 
which  they  created  into  our  deity,  we  adore  Art,  for  its  own  sake ; 
sincerely  enough  doubtless,  but  never  yet  did  art  for  the  sake  of  art 
produce  anything  worth  producing.  For  all  art  there  must  be  in  us 
a  leading  idea,  and  a  desire  to  express  that  idea.  If  the  idea  be 
great  the  art  will  be  great,  however  unworthy  of  the  idea ;  and,  if 
the  idea  be  small  the  art  cannot  be  great  art,  though  to  extreme  me- 
chanical skill  we  add  the  refinements  of  book-culture  and  the  oppor- 
tunities of  accumulated  and  concentrated  wealth.  In  the  absence  of 
grand  ideas  we  could  not  now  carve  even  a  crucifix  that  would  bo 
worthy  of  any  but  an  anatomist's  regard.  Till  we  can  illuminate  the 
dead  eyelids  with  the  love  of  humanity,  with  which  for  Giotto  thojf 
were  illuminated,  till  we  can  paint  in  our  Madonnas  the  yearnings 
of  Ezekiel  and  Jeremiah  over  their  people,  and  till  we  carve  and 
paint  for  a  people  of  whom  the  very  poorest  slave's  mind  is  able  to 
appreciate  our  carving  and  painting,  because  possessed  by  the  same 
leading  thought  that  enables  us  to  create,  we  need  not  expect  to  be 
able  to  unify  the  multitudinous  aisles  of  a  great  building  and  give 
every  chisel  mark  a  tongue. 

A  motive,  in  the  literal  sense,  is  needed  for  a  design ;  motive  for 
a  cathedral  church  to-day  there  is  none. 

We  can  paint  amorini  and  silk-clad  shepherdesses  in  parlors  where 
an  affectation  of  innocence  veils  the  spice  of  decent  indecency  in  the 
talk,  but  there  is  nothing  grand  in  our  ideas.  Heaven  forfend  I  such 
would  be  very  unbusinesslike  sentimentality.  Yet  there  is  arising  a 
thought  in  the  minds  of  men  which  under  cold  and  repelling  formu- 
las conceals  a  new  and  hot  life,  which  makes  it  possible  that"the  hu- 
man race  may  once  more  be  overmastered  and  intoxicated  with  the 
frenzy  of  an  all-compelling  idea. 

The  thought  is  the  idea  of  solidarity. 

It  is  to  the  interest  of  each  one  of  us  to  abstain  from  injuring 
others.  That  is  the  formula  —  dry  as  the  binomial  theorem  —  that" 
is  to  revivify  the  world. 

Let  the  theologians  study  it  and  if  they  can  grasp  its  meaning  and 
its  implications  they  will  find  that  it  is  the  new  phrasing  of  the 
world-old  love  of  man  that  has  been  phrased  anew  at  every  period  of 
reform  from  Buddha  to  Jesus.  Let  them,  if  they  can,  throw  aside 
the  wornout  sanctions  for  well-doing,  that  a  military  age  demanded. 
Let  them,  if  they  can,  realize  that  to  do  well  is  not  now  a  task,  but 
that,  in  this  age  of  industry,  all  we  need  is  liberty  to  do  well.  Let 
them,  if  they  can,  feel  the  throbbing  that  such  words  cause  in  the 
breast  of  one  who  knows  what  they  mean ;  as  the  x's  and  y's  of  an 
astronomical  calculation  excite  awe  in  the  mind  of  him  who  under- 
stands them. 

All  this  they  can,  if  they  will. 

Let  them,  if  they  dare,  write  over  the  portal  of  their  church  the 
sign  of  the  Kingdom  that  is  coming,  "Liberty,  Equality,  Fraternity," 
and  they  may  hope  to  achieve  something  worth  the  achieving. 


They  will  not  dare.  Strange,  that  words  which  separately  we 
jvere,  thus  grouped  we  shy  at  T 

Yet,  short  of  this,  if  they  will  build  at  all  worthily,  though  less 
worthily,  let  them  build  with  walls  thick  enough  to  keep  out  the  cold, 
with  windows  large  enough  to  admit  the  light  of  the  sun,  so  that  no 
great  sun  will  be  needed  for  maintenance  to  render  it  fit  for  occu- 
pancy. Let  them  then  throw  it  open  to  all  sects  at  all  times  for  their 
great  assemblies.  Let  the  Salvation  Army,  if  it  will,  fill  its  pavement 
with  recruits.  Let  the  Anti-poverty  Society,  if  it  will,  assemble  there 
in  some  vast  corner.  Let  there  be  nothing  stealable  or  fragile,  but 
let  it  be  a  great  covered  square,  where  all  may  worship  what  they 
will  and  as  they  will. 

Let  the  projectors  go  farther  than  this.  In  this  democratic  city 
there  is  no  forum,  no  place  where  any  man  may  speak  his  mind. 
In  this  city,  where  speech  is  said  to  be  free,  no  man  is  free  to  speak 
his  mind  under  the  open  sky.  The  homeless,  the  moneyless,  can 
raise  no  voice  in  their  own  behalf,  for  a  place  to  speak  is  essential 
to  the  privilege  of  speaking,  and  a  place  to  speak  must  be  purchased. 
Therefore  let  the  authorities  build  their  church  over  a  platform  that 
is  entirely  free  to  any  man  to  spring  upon  and  say  his  say  at  any 
time  when  nobody  else  is  saying  their  say  there. 

So  shall  they  be,  if  not  leaders  of  the  advance,  yet  not  laggards 
where  the  sutler  and  canteen  bring  up  the  rear ;  if  not  reformer*,  at 
least  not  reactionaries ;  if  not  teachers  of  men,  as  they  hold  them- 
selves to  be :  not  false  guides,  blind  prophets,  purchased  organs,  as 
those  who  they  think  most  need  their  teachings  usually  hold  them'  to 

JOHN  BEVERLY  ROBINSON. 


120 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.       [VOL.  XXI1L  —  No.  637' 


A  SUBSTITUTE  FOU  HYDRAULIC  CEMENT. —  According  to  a  statement 
of  a  well-known  engineer,  it  is  a  fact  peculiar  to  Spanish  countries  that 
ordinary  brick-dust,  made  from  hard-burned,  finely-pulverized  bricks, 
and  mixed  with  common  lime  and  sand,  is  universally  and  successfully 
employed  as  a  substitute  for  hydraulic  cement.  That  engineer  says 
that  during  an  engineering  experience  of  some  six  years  in  Cuba,  his 
opportunities  were  ample  for  testing  its  merits,  and  he  found  it  in  all 
respects  superior  to  the  best  Rosendale  hydraulic  cement  for  culverts, 
drains,  tanks,  or  cisterns,  or  even  for  roofs.  In  an  experiment  to  test 
the  strength  of  this  product,  it  was  found  that  a  block  of  it,  J^ini'li  in 
thickness,  without  sand,  and  after  immersion  in  water  four  months, 
bore,  without  crushing,  crumbling,  or  splitting,  a  pressure  of  fifteen 
pounds  per  square-inch.  It  is  thought  that,  by  the  addition  of  pul- 
verizing-mills  to  brickyards,  to  utilize  the  waste  and  broken  bricks,  a 
profitable  manufacture  might  be  carried  on.  —  Invention. 


EXPLOSION  OP  A  WATER-HEATER.  —  The  danger  of  admitting  live 
steam  into  closed  vessels  for  boiling  or  heating  purposes,  unless  they 
are  either  sufficiently  strong  to  resist  the  highest  pressure  which  can 
possibly  be  brought  to  bear  upon  them,  or  else  guarded  in  such  a  way 
as  to  render  the  accumulation  of  pressure  impossible,  is  one  that  we 
have  often  called  attention  to,  and  another  fatal  illustration  of  it  was 
afforded  in  the  case  of  an  explosion  that  occurred  on  Thursday,  the 
29th  ult. ,  at  Messrs.  Greterex  Brothers'  brewery,  Moss  Side,  Manchester. 
The  explosion  arose  from  the  blowing  out  of  the  flat  end  of  an  old  dis- 
carded steam-boiler  which  was  used  as  a  tank  for  heating  water  for 
washing  barrels.  The  boiler  measured  about  nineteen  feet  six  inches 
in  length  by  four  feet  five  inches  in  diameter,  and  the  water  was 
heated  by  blowing  in  steam  from  the  ordinary  working  boilers,  which 
were  loaded  to  a  pressure  of  fifty  pounds  on  the  inch.  The  steam  was 
supplied  through  a  two-and-one-half-ineh  pipe,  the  flow  being  regulated 
by  means  of  an  ordinary  wheel-valve  three-and-one-quarter  inches  in 
diameter.  The  heating-tank  was  not  fitted  with  any  safety-valve,  but 
there  was  a  small  open-ended  pipe  fixed  to  one  end,  the  escape  of  steam 
from  which  indicated  that  the  water  in  the  tank  had  reached  the  boil- 
ing point.  As  the  diameter  of  this  pipe,  however,  was  only  one-quarter 
of  an  inch,  it  will  be  seen  that  it  could  be  easily  overpowered  by  the 
supply  of  steam,  and  unless  care  was  taken  to  shut  the  regulating-valve 
as  soon  as  the  water  boiled,  there  was  nothing  to  prevent  the  pressure 
in  the  tank  rising  until  it  equalled  that  in  the  main  steam-boilers.  An 
examination  of  the  end-plate  that  was  blown  out  clearly  showed  that 
the  pressure  had  been  excessive,  as  the  flat  ends  were  bulged,  while  the 
pin  seeming  the  central  longitudinal  bolt-stay  to  the  plate  which  was 
blown  out  had  been  fractured  for  some  time,  and  was  hanging  by  a 
mere  thread.  The  angle-ring  securing  the  end-plate  to  the  shell  had 
also  been  cracked  through  in  many  places  at  the  root  of  about  half  the 
circumference.  The  end-plate,  in  a  word,  was  in  a  dilapidated  condi- 
tion and  quite  unfit  to  resist  internal  pressure.  As  the  water  was  not 
desired  to  be  heated  beyond  212  degrees  Fahrenheit,  there  was  no  neces- 
sity for  the  pressure  to  accumulate,  and  all  possibility  of  its  doing  so 
would  have  been  avoided  had  the  escape-pipe  been  three  or  _  four 
inches  in  diameter,  instead  of  merely  one-quarter  of  an  inch,  while  the 
efficiency  of  the  arrangement  would  have  been  in  no  way  impaired.  At 
the  inquest  held  on  Thursday,  the  6th  inst. ,  on  the  body  of  the  man  who 
was  killed,  the  jury  evidently  were  of  the  same  opinion,  as  they  re- 
turned a  verdict  of  "  Accidental  death,"  adding  that  "  there  had  been 
a  certain  amount  of  negligence  on  the  part  of  the  firm  in  not  seeing  that 
there  was  an  outlet  on  the  vessel  of  the  same  diameter  as  the  inlet."  — 
Engineering. 

THE  VENDOME  COLUMN,  PARIS. — When  the  column  in  the  Place 
Vendome  was  erected,  a  bargain  was  made  with  an  ironfounder  who 
had  never  been  engaged  in  bronzework.  He,  however,  had  the  temer- 
ity to  undertake  the  moulding  and  finishing  at  one  franc  per  kilo,  or  say 
nine  pence  per  two  pounds.  The  Government  undertook  to  deliver  to 
him  in  guns,  taken  from  the  Russians  and  Austrians  during  the  cam- 
paign of  1805,  the  quantty  of  bronze  necessary  for  the  completion  of 
this  enormous  monument."  The  founder  used  a  furnace  he  had  for 
casting  iron,  but  not  being  aware  of  the  phenomena  of  bronze  casting, 
and  urged  by  his  vanity  to  attempt  in  the  first  instance  the  casting  of 
several  of  the  great  pieces  of  the  base  of  the  column,  lie  encountered 
several  defeats.  Each  time  lie  necessarily  altered  the  alloy  by  oxidiz- 
ing the  tin,  lead  and  zinc,  which  metals,  so  oxidized,  passed  into  the 
scoria?  or  were  carried  off  by  the  current  of  warm  air.  He  did  not  per- 
c.eive  this  cause  of  continual  loss,  and  continued  to  produce  the  bas- 
reliefs,  but  it  may  be  readily  conceived  that  they  contained  more  copper 
than  the  bronze  of  the  guns.  When  the  founder  had  got  two-thirds 
through  the  column,  he  found  out  that  he  had  got  no  more  metal,  and 
being,  according  to  contract,  responsible  for  the  metal  delivered  to  him, 
he  was  at  once  ruined.  In  this  lamentable  situation  he  tried  to  melt  up 
the  white  metal  obtained  from  the  reduction  of  the  scoriaj  and  a  large 
quantity  of  refuse  metal  which  he  had  bought  up  at  a  low  price.  The 
bas-reliefs  which  he  obtained  from  the  mixture  of  all  these  materials 
were  marked  with  blotches  and  lead  spots ;  their  color,  from  a  dirty 
gray,  became  quite  black.  The  authorities  ref  use  1  to  receive  work  so 
defective,  and  put  his  foundry  under  sequestration.  He  succeeded, 
after  much  petitioning,  in  obtaining  a  committee  to  examine  his 
accounts,  which  was  composed  of  two  chemists,  two  architects,  two 
mechanical  engineers  and  two  founders,  with  an  auditor  of  the  Council 
of  State  for  the  chairman.  The  weight  of  each  piece  delivered  by  the 
founder  was  known  ;  specimens  were  taken  from  them,  and  the  propor- 
tional parts  weighed,  from  which  was  made  an  ingot  representing  the 
mean  composition  of  the  whole  column.  It  was  then  found  by  analysis 


that  it  contained  eighty-nine  parts  of  copper,  seven  of  tin,  and  three  of 
lead  in  one  hundred  parts.  The  committee  then  took  specimens  of 
bronze  from  the  guns  remainingin  the  Government  stores,  and  an  ingot 
was  formed  to  represent  as  nearly  as  possible  the  mean  composition. 
The  analysis  of  this  ingot  gave  eighty-nine  parts  of  copper  and  ten  of 
tin.  It  was  further  known  that  the  law  of  France  had  fixed  the  compo- 
sition of  gun-metal  at  ninety  parts  of  copper  and  ten  of  tin  per  hundred- 
weight, but  that  this  law  was  never  well  executed,  and  during  the  Revo- 
lution scarcely  attended  to  at  all ;  it  was  aUo  known  that  these  foreign 
guns  were  of  a  more  complicated  and  baser  alloy  than  the  French. 
Taking  all  these  circumstances  into  consideration,  the  committee  were 
of  opinion  that  the  founder  had  produced  an  alloy,  if  not  superior,  at 
least  equal,  to  that  which  had  been  given  to  him,  and  that  they  con- 
sidered that  he  could  not  be  charged  with  fraud  in  his  contract.  The 
chemical  operations  further  explained  the  whole  proceeding ;  by  mak- 
ing separate  analyses  of  the  specimens  of  the  great  bas-reliefs,  the 
shaf ;  and  the  capital,  it  was  found  that  the  first  had  only  0.06  alloy  per 
quintal ;  the  second,  particularly  towards  the  upper  part,  and  the  third 
contained  as  much  as  0.21.  It  was,  therefore,  evident  that  the  founder, 
not  knowing  how  to  manage  bronze,  had  refined  his  alloy  by  several 
times  remelting,  and  consequently  diminished  the  total  weight,  and 
that  to  make  up  for  this  loss  he  was  obliged  to  put  into  the  last  cast- 
ings the  white  metal  extracted  from  the  scoriie.  Thus  he  had  given 
bronze  of  too  good  alloy  in  the  beginning,  which  had  obliged  him  at 
last  to  make  the  alloy  too  low.  The  moulding  of  the  several  bas-reliefs 
was  so  badly  executed  that  the  chaser  employed  to  go  over  them 
removed  by  chiselling  or  filing  a  weight  of  bronze  equal  to  70,000  kils. 
(7  tons),  which  were  given  to  him,  besides  a  sum  of  300,000  frs. 
(12,000  1.)  paid  down.  —  Cesar  Daly. 


BUSINESS  drags  a  little  because  prices  and  values  have  not  been  fully  de- 
termined, kail  road  stock  and  bond  speculation  halts  because  of  long  stand- 
ing, as  well  as  accidental  causes.  The  expansion  in  real-estate  values  ia 
taking  a  new  shape,  because  a  different  class  of  investors  and  operators  are 
at  work.  The  volume  of  money  is  ample  for  business  requirement;  first, 
because  there  is  but  little  speculation;  second,  production  and  exchange  are 
nearly  equalized;  third,  indebtedness,  as  compared  to  the  producing  capa- 
city of  the  country,  is  light,  and  hence  less  money  is  needed  to  take  care  of 
it;  fourth,  because  of  the  general  solvency.  It  is  fortunate  that  corrective 
agencies  are  applied,  by  which  evil  is  averted  and  complications  and  mis- 
takes avoided.  The  business  world  is  just  now  shouting  "low  bridge"  to 
itself,  and  is  waiting  until  the  bridge  is  passed.  The  agitations  apparent 
on  the  surface,  and  the  real  agitation  going  on  beneath  the  surface,  are 
widely  different.  The  masses  are  struggling  after  opportunities,  while  the 
few  are  seeking  to  obtain  control  over  the  hidden  forces,  which  control 
the  activity  and  volume  of  trade  and  business.  In  the  past,  the  hanking  in- 
terests controlled.  At  present  trade  exercises  more  control  to  epitomize  the 
tendency.  A  few  years  ago  the  Grangers  feared  the  power  and  aggressive- 
ness of  railroad  corporation?,  now  they  fear  them  less.  To-day  trade  com- 
binations as  manifested  in  trusts  threaten  the  peace  of  mind  of  the  grand 
army  of  business  men.  To-morrow,  so  to  speak,  they  will  smile  at  their 
fears.  The  trusts  are  harnessing  the  great  trade  interests,  and  infusing  a 
needed  spirit  of  organization.  This  tendency  and  development  is  too  re- 
cent to  justify  such  general  denunciation.  It  has  a  work  to  do  in  helping  to 
eradicate  or  correct  commercial  feudalism,  and  establish  a  higher  form  of 
commercialism  as  was  done  politically  in  the  transition  from  feudalism  to 
constitutional  government.  We  are  doing  in  trade  what  has  been  already 
done  in  the  workshop.  Individualism  may  suffer,  but  the  commercial  re- 
sults, when  results  come  to  be  counted,  will  be  found  on  the  right  side.  In 
all  branches  of  business  there  is  a  conservative  feeling  which  keep  prices 
pointing  downward  rather  than  upward,  and  which  reminds. the  manufac- 
turer that  the  margin  between  sufficiency  and  overproduction  is  narrow. 
The  talked-of  d illness  in  trade  is  due  to  the  instinctive  adjustment  going 
on  between  the  great  producing  and  di.-tributing  foices  of  society.  In 
short,  the  middlemen  are  canting  about  them  to  see  that  there  are  sufficient 
markets  to  absorb  production.  This  will  not  take  long.  Labor  might 
make  trouble  and  delay,  but  it  does  not  threaten,  or  manufacturers  might,  as 
they  have  at  times,  lose  their  heads  and  rush  madly  into  overwork,  but 
they  do  not.  They  want  to  see  their  customer's  face  and  his  pocketbook. 
'lhat  which  has  frequently  produced  panics  has  been  the  disarranging  of 
these  two  mighty  forces  of  production  and  exchange,  and  the  undue  en- 
hancement of  values  growing  out  of  the  mad  zeal  of  the  producing  in- 
terests. In  this  point  of  view  the  tariff  agitation  will  produce  good  results. 
It  keeps  the  manufacturer's  eye  on  the  ultimate  and  creates  a  sort  of  leven, 
within  to  which  the  stream  of  energy  and  enterprise  had  best  confine  itself. 
The  building  interest?  are  awaiting  the  word  of  command.  The  greatest 
activity  this  year  will  be  in  small  cities  and  towns,  and  in  entirely  new 
sections.  New  industries  are  being  planted  in  far-off  places,  and  the  out- 
flow from  the  older  States  of  the  thrifty  population  which  will  seek  to 
establish  the  surroundings  from  which  it  fled  for  better  opportunities,  will 
help,  very  naturally,  to  maintain  the  demand  of  the  past  year  in  the  smaller 
trade  channels.  A  reduction  of  wages  is  probable  in  many  branches  this 
year,  but  employers  will  not  attempt  to  unsettle  schedules  The  workers  in 
wood,  iron,  steel,  oil  and  coal  will  have  very  little  enforced  idleness  this 
year.  The  great  manufacturing  centres  are  even  now  pretty  well  supplied 
with  actual  or  obtainable  orders.  Yet,  every  one  flippantly  says,  this  year 
wont  be  what  last  year  was,  and  this,  too,  simply  because  two  or  three  thou- 
sand miles  less  of  railroad-building  will  be  done.  'Ihe  premises  and  the 
conclusions  are  not  in  harmony,  'ihe  iron  and  steel  mills  of  the  country 
have  not  been  so  short  of  orders,  taking  them  in  the  aggregate,  for  month*, 
but  prices  are  firm  and  buyers  know  there  is  110  room  for  weakness  at 
present  cost  of  labor.  The  same  deduction  applies  to  nearly  every  industry. 
Whatever  delay  shall  be  encountered  will  not  be  due  to  inflated  prices. 
The  machine-shops  of  the  country  are  generally  better  employed  than  for 
months.  The  work  in  sight  is  encouraging.  As  so  often  stated,  enormous 
investment  must  continue  to  be  made  in  new  directions.  The  raiiroad 
activity  of  the  past  three  years  necessitates  a  high  degree  of  industrial 
activity  for  the  next  two  or  three  years. 

-S.  J.  PARKIIILL  &  U<>.,  Printers,  Boston. 


THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  AND  BUILDING  NEWS. 


VOL.  X'lll. 


Copyright,  1888,  by  TlCKXOR  &  COMPANY,  Boston,  Mam. 


No    638. 


MARCH  17.  1888. 

Entered  at  the  Post-Office  at  Boston  as  second-clan  matter. 


SUMMARY: — 

One  Difficulty  with  which  this  Journal  lias  to  contend.  — Venti- 
lation from  the  Theoretical  and  Practical  Standpoints. — 
American  Architecture  winning  Attention  in  Kurope.  —  A 
Club-house  for  Klectricians  in  New  York  — An  Evil  attend- 
ing the  Use  of  Gypsum  for  Masonry.  — The  Proper  I'aint  to 
use  on  Floors.  —  An  Austrian  Heating-Apparatus 121 

ITALIAN  CITIES  —  TURIN. —  II 123 

ILLUSTRATIONS  :  — 

The  Cathedral  of  Notre  Dame,  Ottawa,  Canada.  —  Competitive 
Design  for  Office  Huilding  of  the  United  States  Trust  Build- 
ing, Wall  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y.  — The  Aztec  Calendar 
Stone  and  the  Sacrificial  Stone,  Mexico,  Mexico.  — Views  at 
Turin.  —  Warehouse  for  Messrs.  Kosenheim,  Frankenthal  & 
Goldstein,  St.  Louis,  Mo 127 

THE  AZTEC  CALENDAR  AND  TIIK  SACRIFICIAL  STONE 127 

AUT  AND  CONGRESSIONAL  LEGISLATION 128 

BOOKS  AND  PAPERS 130 

COMMUNICATIONS  :  — 

An  Opening  for  an  Architect.  —  Disregarding  the  Limit  of 
Cost.  —  A  Question  of  Commission 131 

NOTES  AND  CLII-I-OJOS 132 


«  T9TOULD  say  that  during  the  year  we  had  but  four  in- 
\^£  quiries  ...  for  which  we  paid  $192.  We  think  this 
very  expensive  advertising,  and  have  concluded  not  to 
continue  our  advertisement  with  you."  This  unwelcome  but 
not  unusual  statement  comes  from  a  firm  who  insist  oil  tracing 
a  distinct  sale  to  some  one  advertisement,  and  where  they 
cannot  identify  accruing  profits  with  definite  advertising  outlay 
they  stop  that  outlay.  The  simple  fact  that  architects  are  not 
consumers,  and  hence  that  their  names  do  not  appear  on 
tradesmen's  books  as  regular  and  valued  customers  does  more 
to  check  the  expansion  and  development  of  this  journal  than 
any  other  cause,  since  it  diminishes  our  income  and  compels  us 
to  work  with  a  too-constant  eye  on  the  balance-sheet  for  real 
ultimate  growth  and  prosperity.  So  far  as  we  can  see  the 
situation  is  one  to  which  no  remedy  can  be  applied.  It  is  not  a 
supposable  case  that  an  architect  when  writing  a  specification 
should  stop,  seize  a  postal-curd  and  write  to  a  manufacturer : 
"  Have  just  specified  for  Mr  X's  house  your  goods  which  you 
advertise  in  the  American  Architect,"  and  yet  it  is  only  such  an 
act  that  would  satisfy  men  like  the  firm  from  whose  letter  we 
quote  above,  who  do  not  understand  the  broad  and  controlling 
relation  that  architects  hold  to  the  development  of  the  varied 
and  vast  industries  which  are  connected  with  building.  As  the 
firm  in  question  manufacture  a  good  and  useful  article,  we  have 
not  the  least  misgiving  but  that  the  money  they  mourn  as  spent 
in  vain  has  returned  to  their  till  by  indirect  channels  increased 
tenfold.  We  think  it  quite  doubtful  whether  these  disheartened 
advertisers  even  tried  to  learn  whether  the  four  architects  who 
"  mentioned  "  this  paper  did  or  did  not  cause  the  introduction  of 
the  apparatus  advertised  in  four  or  even  forty  buildings  in  as  many 
different  towns.  It  is  in  some  ways  unpleasant  to  speak  of 
these  things,  but  they  concern  our  subscribers  quite  as  directly 
as  ourselves;  so  that  if  any  of  them  find  a  way  to  now  and 
then  write  or  speak  an  encouraging  word  to  our  advertisers 
they  can  feel  that  by  so  doing  they  are  bringing  substantial 
benefit  to  a  trinity  composed  of  the  advertiser,  themselves,  and 
this  journal.' 

MR.  ISAAC  D.  SMEAD,  of  Toledo,  Ohio,  has  lately  had 
occasion  to  write  a  paper  on  the  recent  advance 
in  the  science  of  ventilation,  which  is  quoted  in 
the  Sanitary  News,  and  contains  some  excellent  suggestions, 
as  well  as  some  remarks  at  the  expense  of  scientific  men,  which, 
although  amusing,  are  open,  we  think,  to  a  little  criticism.  Mr. 
Smead  first  discourses  at  great  length  on  the  advantage  which 
experience  in  ventilating  school  houses  gives  to  "  practical 
men,"  of  whom  we  suppose  he  must  be  one,  and  then  cites 
twenty  extracts  from  the  works  of  "  writers,"  who,  to  judge 
from  the  extracts,  must  be  chiefly  the  persons  who  concoct  the 
advertising  circulars  of  new  furnaces,  and  concludes  by  demand- 
ing whether  "any  of  these  writers  and  talkers  ever  manufacture 


a   warming  and   ventilating  apparatus,"  saying   that   he   has 
"never  known  of  many  who  could  earn  forty  dollars  pur  month 
in  an  office  or  factory."     With  all  due  deference  to  the  wisdom 
of  persons  who  have  had  practical  experience  in  the  ventilation 
of  school-houses,  which,  by  the  way,  we  supposed  were  conceded 
to  be  the  worst-ventilated  buildings  known  to  civilization,  we 
feel  that  we  must  interpose  a  word  in  behalf  of  the  "  writers," 
who  are,  we  infer,  reduced  to  adopting  the  profession  of  techni- 
cal authorship  through  their  inability  to  earn  forty  dollars  a 
month  in  offices  or  factories.     It  is  true,  as  we  humbly  acknowl- 
edge, that  few  of  those  who  devote  themselves  to  the  theory  of 
ventilation,  the  physics  of  heat,  and  of  the  movement  of  air, 
have  had  the  opportunity  of  manufacturing  a  warming  and  ven- 
tilating apparatus,  and  "  setting  it  in  operation  with  their  own 
money,"  but  it  is  not  impossible  that  this  may  be  in  some  re- 
spects an  advantage,  as  relieving  them  from  the  temptation, 
which  appears  to  beset  some  of  those  who  have  invested  money 
in  such  apparatus,  to  indulge  in  what  may  be  mildly  called  the 
most  unconscionable  bragging  about  it.     We  rather  think  that 
our  professional  readers  can   recall  statements  on  the  part  of 
some  of  these  practical  men  interested  in  the  manufacture  of 
heating  and  ventilating  apparatus,  evincing  a  fertility  of  imag- 
ination which  would  do  credit  to  a  "  writer  "  with  an  income 
much  exceeding  forty  dollars  a  month  ;   and  one  thinks  with 
envy  upon  the  salary  which  the  possessor  of  such  talents,  to- 
gether with  experience  in  ventilating  school-houses,  must  com- 
mand "  in  the  office  or  factory  "  to  which  he  devotes  his  pow- 
ers.    It  is  not  very  long  since  we  met  one  of  these  gentry,  and 
heard  him  enlarge  upon  the  merits  of  the  furnace  which  lie  had 
"  manufactured  with  his  own  money."     Learning  that  the  per- 
son to  whom  he  was  trying  to  sell  the  apparatus  was  a  lover  of 
fresh  air,  he  was  immediately  struck  by  the  happy  coincidence 
between  this  requirement  and  the  properties  of  the  article  which 
he  had  for  sale.     Not  only,  he  explained,  did  his  furnace  yield 
pure  air  in  great  abundance,  but  the  air  proceeding  from  it  was 
of  a  quality  so  singularly  balmy  and  refreshing  that  a  sod,  cut 
from  a  meadow  and  placed  in  the  heating  chamber  of  the  ap- 
paratus, would  retain  its  verdure  for  weeks,  and  a  leafy  branch, 
in  the  same  position,  would  continue  green.     These  interesting 
representations  were  not  immediately  successful  in  securing  his 
customer,  and  a  few  days  afterward  the  practical  manufacturer 
again  made  his  appearance.     Overhearing  a  conversation  which 
was  going  on  in  regard  to  some  kiln-dried  flooring,  he  immedi- 
ately interposed  to  call  attention  to  another  singularly  appro- 
priate quality  of  his  marvellous  furnace.     For  a  house  warmed 
with  this,  it  appeared,  there  was  no  need  of  going  to  the  ex- 
pense of  purchasing  kiln-dried  flooring-boards.     All  that  was 
necessary  was  to  buy  and  install  the  furnace  and  then  pile  the 
floor-boards  in  a  room  in  which  there  was  a  register  and  light  the 
fire,  soon  after  which  the  boards  would  be  found  perfectly"dried, 
equal,  in  fact,  if  not  superior,  to  those  prepared  in  the  kiln. 
The  trifling  inconsistency  between  this  and  the  former  state- 
ment did  not  seem  to  be  noticed  by  any  one  except  an  insi<fiiifi- 
cant  writer  who  was  present,  and  the  example  illustrates  what 
appears  to  us  to  be  the  sort  of  science  commonly  exhibited  by 
"  practical  men  "  who  have  money  invested  in  the  manufacture 
of  heating  apparatus,  as  distinguished  from  that  of  mere  theor- 
ists, who  have  not  business  talent  enough  to  earn  forty  dollars 
a  month  by  selling  furnaces,  and  are  obliged  to  content  them- 
selves with  the  prosaic  facts  disclosed  by  the  anemometer,  the 
wet-bulb  thermometer  and  the  carbonic-acid  test.     Indeed,  the 
science  of  the  practical  man  is,  according  to  our   experience, 
too    profound  to  endure   much  trifling  with  'the  petty  details 
which    the  .  poverty-stricken  technical  writers  make  so  much 
fuss  over.     We  recollect  talking  once  with  a  man  who  sold  a 
sort  of  ventilating  apparatus,  in  which  the  outlet  shaft  was  an 
inch  pipe  sixty  or  seventy  feet  long.     We  ventured  in  our  hum- 
ble way  to  inquire  whether  any  movement  of  the  air   in  this 
tube  ever  took  place,  but  were  silenced  by  the  practical  man's 
dignified  reply  that  his  business  was  to  sell  the  apparatus,  not 
to  see  whether  there  was  any  current  in  it.     A  good  deal  of 
the  technical  information  placed  at  the  disposal  of  architects  is 
jf  a  similar  description,  such  that  nothing  but  real  theoretical 
knowledge  will  enable  them  to  detect  the  fallacies  contained  in 
it ;  and  in  this,  as  in  many  other  matters,  it  is  a  good  plan  to 
regard  the  assertions  of  persons  who  affect  to  despise  books 
and  those   who   write   them    with   a   certain   degree   of   sus- 
picion. 


122 


77ie  American  Architect  and  Building  News.     [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  638. 


"TTMERICAN  architecture  seems  to  be  becoming  more  and 
J\  more  fashionable  abroad.  The  new  firm  of  architectural 
'  book  publishers  in  Paris,  Messrs.  Andre,  Daly  et  Cie, 
have  just  published  a  book  on  "  Villas  Americaines"  in  which 
the  work  of  the  profession  here  seems  to  be  fairly  presented  ; 
and  we  find  the  illustrated  supplement  of  the  Wiener  Bauindus- 
trie  Zeitung  nearly  filled  with  two  double  sheets  of  representa- 
tions of  American  country  houses,  which,  it  must  be  acknowl- 
edged, are  not  flattered.  The  quality  of  the  American  work 
which  pleases  foreigners  seems  to  be  its  picturesque  and  inter- 
esting irregularity.  We  are  not  sure  that  this  feature  of  our 
buildings  may  not  come  in  a  great  degree  from  our  universal 
use  of  perspective  sketches  in  designing,  but  whether  our  love 
of  the  picturesque  coines  from  our  perspectives,  or  our  fondness 
for  perspective  from  our  love  of  the  picturesque,  we  will  not 
pretend  to  say.  By  way  of  contrast  with  the  New  World  ir- 
regularity of  design,  the  same  number  of  the  Bauindustrie 
Zeitung  contains  a  sun-print  of  a  pretty  composition  for  the 
central  portion  of  the  new  museum  at  Linz,  decorated  with  a 
wide  frieze  of  the  beautiful  sculpture  in  which  the  Germans 
now  surpass  all  other  people  in  the  world.  The  design  has  for 
us  a  special  interest  as  being  the  work  of  Bruno  Schmits,  of 
Diisseldorf,  the  selected  designer  of  the  Indianapolis  Soldiers' 
Monument,  and  the  author  of  one  of  the  prize  designs  for  the 
National  Monument  in  Rome,  as  well  as  other  admirable 
works. 

HE  Scientific  American  gives  an  amusing  description  of  the 
house  of  the  new  Electric  Club  in  New  York.  The  house 
is  situated  at  No.  17  East  Twenty-second  Street,  near 
Broadway,  and  is  furnished  with  all  sorts  of  electrical  novelties. 
As  a  member  approaches  the  front  entrance  he  presses  with  his 
foot  a  certain  piece  of  stone,  the  secret  of  which  has  been  re- 
vealed to  him  on  his  initiation,  and  the  door  flies  open  before 
him.  If  he  should  find  his  boots  muddy,  he  has  only  to 
step  into  the  dressing  room,  where  an  electrical  blacking  brush, 
driven  by  an  electric  motor,  is  ready  to  polish  them.  An  elec- 
tric stove,  in  which  heat  is  produced  by  the  incandescence  of  a 
platinum  wire,  coiled  over  a  large  surface  covered  with  asbes- 
tos, serves  to  warm  dishes ;  and  a  safe  with  electric  lock  holds 
the  valuables  of  members.  For  those  who  prefer  strictly  elec- 
trical diversions,  long-distance  telephones,  storage-batteries, 
and  other  scientific  apparatus  are  provided,  while  non-electrical 
billiard  and  pool  tables  serve  to  amuse  persons  of  less  intellect- 
ual tastes.  We  must  say  that  we  should  have  some  suspicion 
of  an  Electrical  Club  pool-table.  There  was  once  an  ingenious 
gambler  who  had  a  faro  table  made  with  levers,  like  the  action 
of  a  piano,  concealed  under  the  green  cloth.  After  a  ball  was 
thrown  upon  the  table  he  could  direct  it,  by  means  of  the  levers, 
into  any  place  that  he  wished ;  and  it  would  be  strange  if 
electrical  attraction  and  repulsion  could  not  be  utilized  to  steer 
billiard  balls  in  the  desired  direction  over  a  table. 


WE  get  some  useful  practical  hints  from  the  recent  number 
of  La  Semaine  des  Constructeurs.  With  us  gypsum  is 
not  so  common  a  material  in  its  natural  state  as  to  occa- 
sion much  trouble,  but  it  is  found  as  a  rock  in  the  Provinces 
and  in  some  other  parts  of  the  country,  and  is  used  very  fre- 
quently in  mixture  with  lime  for  interior  plastering.  When 
lime  mortar  is  placed  in  contact  with  gypsum  or  plaster-of- 
Paris  in  presence  of  water,  it  has  long  been  known  that  an 
injurious  effect  is  produced  on  the  mortar,  but  it  is  only  recently 
that  the  effect  has  been  satisfactorily  explained.  In  1885,  it 
was  discovered  that  the  masonry  of  a  portion  of  the  fortifica- 
tions of  Paris,  on 'the  north-east  side,  was  badly  cracked,  and 
investigation  showed  that  the  wall,  which  is  in  that  place  thir- 
teen feet  thick,  was  in  several  places  entirely  disintegrated. 
The  masonry  was  of  rubble  of  local  stone,  with  a  limestone 
facing.  Every  one  knows  that  gypsum,  or  plaster-of-Paris,  is 
very  abundant  in  the  neighborhood  of  that  city,  and  lumps  of 
it  were  found  to  be  mixed  with  the  limestone  rubble,  while  the 
mortar  in  the  rubble-work  had  in  many  places  changed  from  a 
white  to  a  pinkish  color.  The  matter  was  put  into  the  hands 
of  an  engineer  officer,  Captain  Dolot,  who  first  made  careful 
observations  of  the  masonry  in  place,-  and  then  proceeded  to 
analyze  the  mortar  to  determine  the  reactions  which  had  taken 
place.  On  removing  the  cut-stone  facing,  it  was  found  that 
wherever  the  mortar  came  between  two  lumps  of  limestone,  it 
was  white  and  hard.  If  it  came  between  a  bit  of  limestone  and 
one  of  gypsum,  it  was  found  to  be  softened,  particularly  where 


it  came  in  contact  with  the  gypsum,  and  where  it  occurred 
between  two  lumps  of  gypsum,  it  was  invariably  soft  and  pow- 
dery. When  analyzed,  the  mortar  between  two  gypsum  stones 
was  found  to  contain  a  considerable  amount  of  sulphate  of  lime, 
while  the  water  of  hydration,  which  commonly  forms  about 
one-fourth  of  lime  mortar,  had  nearly  disappeared.  This 
seems  to  indicate  that  the  gypsum,  or  sulphate  of  lime,  had 
slowly  dissolved  in  the  rain-water  which  fell  upon  the  wall, 
and  that  the  acid  solution  had  acted  upon  the  hydrate  of  lime 
in  the  mortar,  dissolving  it  and  carrying  it  into  the  pores  in  a 
condition  to  crystallize  on  the  evaporation  of  the  water.  The 
crystallization  and  expansion  of  the  new  substance  in  the  pores 
of  the  mortar  disintegrated  it  by  slow  degrees,  setting  free  the 
sand,  so  that  in  course  of  time  the  masonry  became  little  more 
than  a  dry  wall  with  some  loose  sand  in  the  crevices.  The  red 
coloration  of  the  crumbling  mortar  was  attributed  by  Captain 
Dolot  to  the  decomposition  of  the  proto-silicate  of  iron,  generally 
found  in  calcined  lime,  by  the  sulphate  of  lime,  which  by  double 
decomposition,  attacked  the  iron  salt  to  form  silicate  of  lime 
and  sulphate  of  iron,  which  was  again  decomposed  by  the 
excess  of  hydrate  of  lime  present  to  form  sulphate  of  lime  and 
peroxide  of  iron. 


NOTHER  practical  suggestion  relates  to  the  painting  of 
floors.  It  seems  that  any  color  containing  white  lead  is 
injurious  to  wood  floors,  rendering  them  softer  and  more 
liable  to  be  worn  away.  Paints  containing  mineral  colors  only, 
without  white  lead,  such  as  yellow  ochre,  sienna  or  Venetian 
or  Indian  red,  have  no  such  tendency  to  act  upon  the  floor,  and 
may  be  used  with  safety.  This  quite  agrees  with  the  practice 
common  in  this  country  of  painting  kitchen  floors  with  yellow 
ochre  or  raw  umber  or  sienna.  Although  these  colors  have 
little  body  compared  with  a  white-lead  paint  and  need  several 
coats,  they  form  an  excellent  and  very  durable  covering  for  the 
floor.  Where  a  floor  is  to  be  varnished,  it  is  found  that  var- 
nish made  by  drying  lead  salts  is  nearly  as  injurious  as  lead 
paint.  Instead  of  this,  the  borate  of  manganese  should  be  used 
to  dispose  the  varnish  to  dry,  and  a  recipe  for  a  good  floor  var- 
nish is  given.  According  to  this,  two  pounds  of  pure  white 
borate  of  manganese,  pounded  very  fine,  are  to  be  added,  little 
by  little,  to  a  saucepan  containing  ten  pounds  of  linseed  oil, 
which  is  to  be  well  stirred,  and  gradually  raised  to  a  tempera- 
ture of  three  hundred  and  sixty  degrees  Fahrenheit.  Mean- 
while, heat  one  hundred  pounds  of  tlinseed  oil  in  a  boiler  until 
bubbles  form ;  then  add  to  it  slowly  the  first  liquid,  increase  the 
fire,  and  allow  the  whole  to  cook  for  twenty  minutes,  and 
finally  remove  from  the  fire,  and  filter  while  warm  through 
cotton  cloth.  The  varnish  is  then  ready  and  may  be  used 
immediately.  Two  coats  should  be  used  and  a  more  brilliant 
surface  may  be  obtained  by  a  final  coat  of  shellac. 


HE  editor  of  the  Wiener  Bauindustrie  Zeitung  has  been  in- 
vestigating  a  new  heating  apparatus,  and  speaks  of  the 
conclusions  to  which  his  inquiries  have  led  him  with  a  re- 
freshing frankness  which  might  be  imitated  in  other  technical 
journals  under  similar  circumstances  with  advantage  to  their 
readers.  The  device  in  question  is  a  stove,  which  does  not 
burn  gas,  yet  needs  neither  smoke-pipe  nor  chimney ;  its  fuel 
consisting  of  a  secret  composition  which  develops  heat  by 
chemical  reaction  without  smoke.  The  editor  of  the  excellent 
little  Vienna  journal,  wishing  to  be  able  to  speak  intelligibly 
of  a  much  advertised  article,  procured  one  of  the  stoves  and 
tried  it.  The  name  of  the  stove,  the  "  Carbonnatronofeu," 
gives  a  hint  of  the  character  of  the  fuel,  but  its  composition  is  not 
made  known  to  the  public,  and  it  must  be  bought  of  the  in- , 
ventor.  The  apparatus  for  using  it  consists  of  a  tin  cylinder 
with  a  smaller  cylinder  attached  to  it.  The  mysterious  fuel  is 
put  in,  and,  we  suppose,  lighted,  and  the  cylinder  thereupon 
gives  out  what  the  notice  calls  a  "  dismal  and  unpleasant  heat," 
while,  although  there  is  no  smoke,  an  "  intolerable  and  choking 
vapor "  collects  in  the  cylinder,  and  is  discharged  downward 
through  the  small  tube  near  the  floor  of  the  room,  into  which  it 
immediately  begins  to  diffiuse  itself.  On  the  whole,  the  editor's 
opinion  is  that  the  apparatus  possesses  three  defects  :  the  disa- 
greeable quality  of  the  heat  produced  by  it,  the  dreadful  stench 
which  comes  from  it,  and  the  quantity  of  air  consumed  by  it 
which  might  otherwise  be  used  for  breathing ;  and  one  good 
quality,  —  its  portability,  which  enables  persons  who  cannot  en- 
dure it  any  longer  to  pick  it  up  easily  and  carry  it  out  of  the 


MARCH  17,  1888.] 


The    American    Architect   and  Building 


128 


ITALIAN   CITIES— TURIN.1  — II. 

IN  the  midst  of   the  Piazza 
San  Carlo  rises  the  eques- 
trian monument  of  Emman- 
uel Philiberto,  of  which  I  shall 
only  speak  very  briefly,  as  well 
as  of  other  statues  of  this  kind, 
seeing  that  the  American  Ar- 
chitect proposes   to   publish    a 
series  of  articles  on  equestrian 
monuments.       I    will    content 
myself  with  saying  that  Prince 
Emmanuel    Philiberto,  who  at 
the  battle  of  St.  Quentin  had 
reconquered  his  duchy, 
lost     while     fi  g  h  t  i  n  g 
against  Francis  I  iu  be- 
half   of    the    Emperor 
Charles    V,    is    repre- 
sented at  the    moment 
when    he   is   sheathing 
his     sword     after     the 
peace    of    Cambresis, 
which    once    more    al- 
lowed him  to  enter  into 
the    possession    of    his 
principality.        One   of 
the  bas-reliefs 
-j^_  which      the 

pedes  t  a  1 
bears  has  for 
its    subject 
the  signing  of 
=-j  the  treaty  of 
1  C  a  m  b  r  e  sis. 
The    other 
s.rd.m.n  st.nd.rd-B..,.,._  v.  v.u.  Scuipto,.  represents  the 

battle  of  St.  Quentin,  which  definitely  set  the  seal  of  warlike 
prowess  upon  the  hero.  This  monument  was  executed  in  1838 
by  the  sculptor  Marrochetti,  under  the  order  of  Charles  Albert, 
and  it  is  certainly  one  of  the  most  agreeable  specimens  of  mod- 
ern statuary. 

Another  equestrian  monument,  of  which  I  can  make  but  bare 


mention,  for  the 
stated,  is  that  erect- 
Ferdinand  of  Gen- 
Victor  Emmanuel, 
sented  at  the  mo- 
horse,  mortally 
neath  its  master, 
zico,  desired  to  per- 
an  historical  epi- 
of  La  Bicocca,  in 
accomplished  pro- 
though  he  feels  his 
him,  the  warrior  is 
certed.  Sword  in 
ards  his  soldiers  to 
combat,  and  show 
danger.  Movement, 
of  battle  exhale 
and  the  illusion  is 
cies  he  smells  the 
and  hears  the  dis- 
canuon. 

trian  statue  of 
which  stands  before 
nano,  I  will  say 
readers  have  al- 


reason  I  have  just 
ed  in  honor  of  Duke 
oa,  brother  of  King 
The  duke  is  repre- 
ment  when  his 
wounded,  falls  be- 
The  sculptor,  Bal- 
petuate  iu  bronze 
sode  of  the  battle 
which  the  hero  had 
digies  of  valor.  Al- 
horse  sinking  under 
not  at  all  discon- 
hand  he  turns  tow- 
urge  them  to  the 
them  the  path  from 
life  and  the  ardor 
from  every  part, 
such  that  one  fan- 
smoke  of  powder 
tant  rumbling  of 
Of  the  eques- 
Charles  Albert, 
the  Palazzo  Carig- 

• 

nothing,     for     my 
ready  seen  a  sketch 


Massimo  d'  Azeglio.  — A.  Balzico,  Sculptor. 

of  it  in  the  American  Architect  for  October  1,  1887. 

The  group  which  the  citizens  have  erected  iu  honor  of  the 

1  Continued  from  page  113,  No.  637. 


Green  Count  (il  C'omte  Verde)  before  the  municipal  palace 
does  not  lack  a  certain  value.  Amadeus  VI  of  Savoy,  sur- 
named  theJGreeu  Count,  owed  this  nickname  to  his  peculiar 


mum 


•  n  Count."     Turin. 

habit  of  wearing  arms  and  emblems  of  this  color  at  tourneys 
and  in  the  lists;  the  plumes  on  his  casque  and  all  the  accessories 
of  his  armor  were  always  green.  In  K3C6  he  travelled  to  the 
East  to  defend  the  emperors  of  Constantinople  against  the 
Turks.  lie  returned  burdened  with  glory  and  honor,  and  may 
be  considered  as  the  first  and  principal  founder  of  the  power  of 
the  Dynasty  of  Savoy,  which  was  at  the  beginning  one  of  the 
most  catholic  in  Europe.  lie  died  of  the  plague.  In  the 
group  which  has  been  dedicated  to  him,  we  see  him  at  the 
moment  when  he  is  about  to  deliver  a  blow  upon  a  Turk  whom 
he  has  just  overthrown.  The  pose  of  the  two  combatants  is 
perhaps  a  little  too  academic,  but  it  is  not  altogether  lacking  in 
naturalness  and  elegance. 

Besides  these,  which  have  an  especial  historic  value,  Turin 
possesses  a  certain  number  of  patriotic  monuments,  which  are 
distinguished  '--  *' -----  '  ' 

mod  erne  ss 
contemporary 
most  date 
burst  of  na- 
which  enfev- 
montese  peo- 
1848.  It  must 
ten  that  Turin 
bed  of  the  po- 
ment  which 
Italian  unity, 
whole  penin- 
ebullition,  the 
princes  of  Sa- 
rendezvous 
and  conspira- 
er  Italian 
were  destined 
in  the  revolu- 
moil.  It  is 
that  we  ought 
greatest  num- 
lic  witnesses 
which  Pied- 


by  their  air  of 
and  relate  to 
events,  or  at 
back  to  that 
t  i  o  n  a  1  i  s  m 
ered  the  Pied- 
ple  about 
not  be  forgot- 
was  the  hot- 
litical  move- 
resulted  in 
While  the 
sula  was  iu 
capital  of  the 
voy  was  the 
for  emigres 
tors  from  oth- 
States,  which 
to  disappear 
tionary  tur- 
here,  then, 
to  find  in  the 
those  pub- 
to  the  role 
mont  played 


Pitttro  Micca. —  Cajiano,  Sculptor. 

in' -ii  i        jii.i  \  >  ii 

in  the  national  drama,  and  it  is  particularly  the  monuments  which 
afford  us  this  testimony.     The  statue  of  Pietro  Micca,  although 


124 


The   American    Architect   and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  638. 


relating  to  an  event  which  dates  from  the  commencement 
of  the  last  century,  really  belongs  to  this  series.  Pietro  Micca 
is  one  of  the  most  impressive  incarnations  of  patriotic  devotion  : 
he  belonged  to  the  army  of  Savoy  at  the  time  when  the 
French  army  laid  siege  to  the  city  of  Turin  ;  the  position  was 
desperate,  and  on  the  night  of  August  30,  the  fortress  was  to  be 
abandoned.  Then  Micca  offered  himself  a  sacrifice  for  the 
liberty  of  his  country.  He  persuaded  his  comrades  to  with- 
draw, and  he  remained  alone  beside  the  mine,  a  lighted  match 
in  his  hand.  The  enemy,  perceiving  the  fort  abandoned,  en- 
tered without  distrust,  and  when  the  foreign  troops  were  within 
the  walls  the  heroic  Piedmontese  miner  lighted  the  train  and 
was  blown  up  with  them.  Such  an  act  of  courage  is  very  rare 
in  history,  and  finds  but  few  parallels  in  antiquity ;  for  a  differ- 
ence must  be  made  between  the  bravery  which  shows  itself  on 
the  field  of  battle,  where  everything,  noise,  example,  dash  and 
the  spirit  of  imita- 
tion combine  to  ex- 
cite the  soldier,  and 
the  deliberate  sac- 
rifice of  the  hero, 
who,  in  absolute 
loneliness,  having 
for  support  only 
his  resolution  and 
indomitable  hero- 
ism immolates  him- 
self. It  is  natural 
that  a  people  who, 
like  the  Piedmont- 
ese, have  founded 
its  grandeur  on  the 
practice  of  military 
virtues  should  have 
felt,  as  soon  as  a 
breath  of  liberty 
had  come  to  ani- 
mate them,  that 
they  ought  to  glori- 
fy the  man  who,  in 
himself,  personified 
these  virtues  in  so 
high  a  degree.  The 
monument  to  Pie- 
tro Micca  was 
erected  in  1864, 
directly  after  the 
proclamation  of  the 
Kingdom  of  Italy. 
We  see  him  stand- 
ing upon  his  pedes- 
tal, his  left  hand 
clenched  in  anger, 
while  in  his  right 
hand  he  holds  the 
lighted  match  with 
which  he  is  to  deal 
himself  death  in 
order  to  deliver  his 
native  country. 
The  expression  of 
his  countenance  sat- 
isfies the  ideal 
which  those  who 
have  studied  Pied- 
montese history  profoundly 

Micca  has  the  severe  and  serious  countenance  of  a  soldier  who 
has  faced  death  before  yet  marches  confidently  to  martyrdom. 

I  should  like  to  speak  in  praise  of  the  statue  of  Count  Ca- 
vour,  who  passes  as  the  principal  fashioner  of  Italian  unity ; 
but  my  optimism  fails  me  in  the  presence  of  this  work,  although 
it  comes  from  the  hands  of  the  celebrated  Dupre,  the  leading 
sculptor  of  modern  Italy,  to  whom  we  owe  the  magnificent  bas- 
reliefs  of  Santa  Croce  at  Florence.  Surely  we  perceive  easily 
the  elegance  of  certain  touches,  the  masterly  ability  of  one  of 
the  most  skilled  handlers  of  the  chisel  whom  our  time  has 
known,  yet  the  general  grouping  of  the  figures  shocks  every  sen- 
timent. To  bring  into  relief  the  depth  of  the  gratitude  which 
the  nation  entertains  for  this  celebrated  statesman  the  author 
had  the  bad  taste  to  place  Italy  on  her  knees  before  him.  This, 
in  itself,  is  enough  to  give  to  the  composition  an  air  of  servility 


The  Duke  of  Genoa.    Turin.     A.  Balztco,  Sculptor. 


and  baseness  which  degrades  it.  Such  a  want  of  dignity  in  an 
artist  is  only  possible  in  a  country  which  has  not  had  a  long 
political  education.  On  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  for 
example,  it  hardly  would  have  entered  the  mind  of  a  sculptor 
that  it  would  be  possible  to  show  America  prostrate  at  the 
feet  of  Lincoln  or  Washington  ;  yet,  nevertheless,  the  merits 
of  these  two  great  men  towards  their  country  are  still  more 
incontestable  than  those  which  M.  Cavour  can  have  in  the 
eyes  of  his  countrymen. 

In  the  midst  of  the  Piazza  Castello  rises  upon  a  pedestal  en- 
riched with  bas-reliefs  in  bronze  the  statue  of  a  color-bearer 
clothed  in  the  Italian  uniform.  This  statue  was  presented  to 
the  citizens  of  Turin  by  the  Milanese  as  a  sign  of  gratitude  for 
the  support  which  the  Piedmontese  lent  Lombardy  in  its  war 
with  Austria,  and  as  a  gauge  of  those  hopes  which  still  lived  in 
the  depths  of  Italian  hearts  in  spite  of  recent  reverses.  The 

bearing  of  the  sol- 
dier and  his  martial 
air  present  with 
sufficient  accuracy 
the  military  type 
of  Italy. 

The  monument 
consecrated  to  the 
memory  of  Mas- 
s  i  m  o  d'Azeglio, 
which  we  see  on 
arriving  on  the 
square  in  front  of 
the  station,  is  cal- 
culated to  inspire 
sentiments  of 
another  order. 
D'Azeglio  was  one 
of  those  fine  na- 
tures common 
enough  in  the 
south  of  Europe, 
whose  rich  and 
fecund  tempera- 
ment lent  itself  to 
all  kinds  of  pur- 
suits.  He  was 
musician,  painter, 
romancer,  and  in 
spite  of  the  variety 
of  these  accom- 
plishments, he 
found  time  and 
courage  to  dis- 
charge the  duties 
of  public  minister. 
Political  life  in- 
spired in  him  a 
profound  disgust 
for  men  and  things, 
and  we  read  on  the 
bronze  tablets 
which  ornament 
this  monument  a 
passage  from  his  • 
memoirs,  where  ap- 
pear the  discour- 
agement and  fear 
with  which  this  pre- 


have    formed    for    themselves,    cociously  torpid  Italy  with  its  so  different  and  so  fragile  ele- 

..  „„„„* *  .  _u: 1._    ments  in8pire(}  him:     "I  will  remind  the  people  of  Italy  that 

the  independence  of  a  race  is  a  consequence  of  independ- 
ence of  character.  He  who  is  the  slave  of  municipal  passions 
or  sects,  ought  not  to  complain  of  being  a  slave  to  foreigners." 
The  statue  of  Azeglio  has  for  a  pedestal  the  drum  of  a  fluted 
column  resting  on  a  marble  die.  The  sculptor  has  very 
happily  overcome  the  almost  insuperable  difficulty  which  a 
statue  in  modern  garb  almost  alwa  ys  presents  —  one  of  those 
fatalities  out  of  which  art  must  work  its  own  salvation.  Trousers 
and  frockcoat  are  the  negation  of  all  the  proprieties  of  sculp- 
ture, and  the  great  men  who  have  been  born  since  the  vest  was 
invented  must  resign  themselves  to  be  undressed  and  clad 
like  Romans  after  their  death,  or  to  appear  in  the  eyes  of 
posterity  in  a  guise  wholly  devoid  of  dignity.  Absolute 
absurdity  can  be  avoided  by  draping  the  figure  in  vast  cloaks 


MARCII  17,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building   News. 


125 


or  by  enlarging  the  folds  of  the  overcoat  in  such  a  fashion  as 
to  conceal  the  ]»>veri\  of  the  general  lines;  but  even  then  the 
classic  beauty  of  the  nude  or  the  draped  figure,  as  it  is  found  in 
ancient  statues,  cannot  be  equalled  in  this  way.  To  be  a  Phid- 
ia^  is  quite,  impossible  in  a  world  where  coat  and  petticoat  are 
held  in  honor;  and  one  finds  great  difficulty  in  picturing  to 
himself  Athena  1'arthenos  dressed  in  a  farthingale,  or  Olym- 
pian Xeus  topped  out  with  a  pot  hat. 

In  the  centre  of  the  Piazza  dello  Statute,  at  the  back  of  the 
Via  di  Dora  Grossa,  is  the  largest  monument  in  the  city,  erected 
from  the  design  of  Count  Panissera  di  Veglio,  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  members  of  the  Piedmontese  aristocracy,  the  pur- 
pose of  which  is  to  commemorate  the  triumph  achieved  by 
Science  in  the  tunnelling  of  Mt.  Cenis.  Count  Di  Veglio  was 
certainly  a  very  respectable  aristocrat ;  but  the  work  to  which 
his  name  is  attached  proves  that  one  may  have  all  the  merits 
which  belong  to  birth,  and  yet  not  possess  the  qualities  which 
an  artist  should  have.  Mt.  Cenis  Tunnel  does  honor  to 
modern  science.  By  piercing  the  Alps  the  engineers  Grandis, 
Grattoni  and  Sommelier,  who  in  different  degrees  contributed 
to  the  realixing  of  this  gigantic  enterprise,  acquired  a  right  to 
be  reverenced  by  posterity ;  but  the  means  which  have  been 
chosen  for  perpetuating  and  glorifying  the  remembrance  »f 
their  success  does  not  seem  to  me  to  be  very  appropriate. 
There  has  been  piled  up  in  the  form  of  a  pyramid  a  mass  of 
Cyclopean  blocks,  and  on  this  Liliputian  mountain  have  been 


Monument  to  commemorate  the  Piercing  of  the  Mt.  Cenis  Tunnel. 

scattered  a  legion  of  Titans,  endeavoring  to  scale  the  rough 
granite  and  reach  the  summit.  A  winged  genius  hovering  over 
the  summit  terminates  this  abrupt  heap.  Some  of  the  Titans 
are  fairly  well  treated  by  the  sculptor  Tabacchi :  one  with 
arms  caught  between  two  rocks,  is  already  breathing  his  last ; 
another  in  vain  tries  to  support  a  block  of  stone  which  is 
crushing  him ;  still  another  clings  with  difficulty  to  the  rough 
surface  of  the  stone ;  and  another  overcome  and  exhausted  falls 
on  his  side  and  closes  his  eyes  and  awaits  death.  It  is 
a  very  drama,  such  as  mythological  legend  pictures  for  us ;  but 
what  have  Titans  to  do  with  a  representation  whose  object  is 
the  celebration  of  one  of  the  great  victories  of  progress  ?  The 
sons  of  Uranus  were  conquered  in  a  criminal  contention,  in  a 
culpable  revolt  which  they  had  undertaken  against  their  father, 
while  Science  has  come  triumphant  from  a  legitimate  combat 
which  she  entered  into  against  Nature.  There  is  no  connec- 
tion between  the  two  themes ;  or,  if  there  is  any,  it  is  only  a 
connection  of  opposition  and  contradiction.  Signor  Panissera 
ill  Yeulio  would  have  done  better  to  leave  the  sons  of  G«a 
quietly  asleep,  and  had  recourse  to  another  allegorical  subject 
to  furnish  the  apotheosis  of  the  engineers  who  pierced  the  Alps. 
Turin  contains  several  fine  palaces.  The  ancient  royal 


palace  is  the  most  monumental  of  all.  It  was  commenced  by 
Prince  Emmanuel  Philiberto,  and  subsequently  enlarged  by 
King  Charles  Emmanuel  I,  his  son.  In  Ifi46,  the  recent, 
Maria  Christina  had  it  entirely  rebuilt  after  the  designs  of  the 
architect  Castelmontc,  and  other  princes  of  Savoy  have  com- 
pleted the  interior  decoration  and  finished  by  making  it  a  truly 
royal  dwelling.  The  present  fa<;ade  is  not  remarkable,  for  it 
is  entirely  executed  in  the  style  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
which  lacked  elegance  and  originality.  Italian  architecture  at 
that  time,  corrupted  by  the  baroque  elements  which  exaggerated 
and  depraved  everything,  had  fallen  into  a  condition  of  most 
lamentable  poverty.  We  notice,  nevertheless,  upon  two  ped- 
estals which  flank  the  gate  at  the  entrance  the  equestrian 
figures  of  Castor  and  Pollux,  whose  pose  and  the  rhythm  of 
whose  figures  recall  specimens  of  the  Greek  school.  At  the 
foot  of  the  staircase  of  honor,  the  visitor  can  behold  another 
equestrian  monument  of  Emmanuel  Philiberto,  executed  in 
1 620  by  the  Roman  sculptor  Rivalta.  A  curious  monument  it 
is  —  one  of  those  rare  figures  where  marble  and  bronze  are 
combined;  the  horse  is  of  marble,  while  the  statue  of  the 
prince  is  of  metal. 

One  of  those  precious  objects  of  art  which  the  palace  encloses 
I  ought  to  mention  —  a  gilded  wooden  door  ornamented  with 
very  fine  carving,  executed  in  1662  by  Anthony  Both.  A 
great  picture  by  Micle,  which  represents  Peace,  is  in  the  ceil- 
ing of  the  throne  chamber.  In  the  way  of  curiosity,  we  are 
shown  also  a  hall  called  the  Scissors  Hall,  where  the  architect 
Juvara,  in  a  panel  of  the  decoration,  caused  to  be  moulded  a 
pair  of  scissors  in  allusion,  the  story  goes,  to  the  ill  offices  of 
which  he  was  the  object  on  the  part  of  his  rivals ;  for  in  Italy, 
when  any  one  is  spoken  ill  of  behind  his  back,  the  proverb  says 
that  they  are  cutting  his  clothes  to  measure. 

One  of  the  most  curious  things  about  this  royal  dwelling  is 
the  floor  of  the  throne  chamber,  which  is  composed  of  a  rare 
wood,  so  arranged  as  to  form  beautiful  mosaic  designs.  This 
floor  barely  escaped  entire  destruction  at  the  time  of  the 
sojourn  of  the  Shah  of  Persia  in  Europe.  King  Victor 
Emmanuel  offered  the  hospitality  of  his  palace  to  the  sire  of 
Teheran,  whose  cooks,  in  their  endeavor  to  remain  faithful  to 
the  culinary  ritual  of  their  nation,  prepared  a  great  heap  of 
embers  in  the  very  middle  of  this  floor,  where  at  they  cooked 
pork,  lambs  and  legs  of  mutton  on  the  spit.  After  his  de- 
parture the  King  had  to  spend  a  considerable  sum  in  repairing 
the  damage  done  by  his  Mussulman  guest. 

After  the  royal  palace,  the  Palaxzo  Madama  must  be  visited, 
situated  a  short  distance  away  on  the  Piazza  Castello,  which 
owes  its  name  to  the  long  sojourn  which  the  Duchess  Jeanne 
de  Nemours  made  there.  This  palace  is  lacking  in  style,  and  is 
built  without  symmetry.  It  is  said  that  it  rests  on  the  remains 
of  an  ancient  Roman  building;  and  in  fact  the  material  of 
its  foundation  has  quite  that  character  of  robust  old  age 
which  we  find  in  all  the  ruins  of  antiquity.  At  any  rate,  it  is 
one  of  the  oldest  palaces  in  Turin,  and  formerly  served  as  the 
governmental  residence.  The  two  colossal  towers  which  crown 
it  were  erected  between  1410  and  1416  by  Prince  Ludovic 
d'Acaja,  and  the  Princes  of  Savoy  dwelt  there  until  Emmanuel 
Philiberto  built  the  new  palace  which  we  have  just  visited. 
This  building  still  preserves  the  savage  and  sombre  air  of  the 
centuries  which  gave  it  birth,  and  seems  much  more  a  military 
castle  than  a  home  of  aristocrats.  The  two  towers  contain  in 
the  lower  stories  dark  cells,  very  narrow  and  fitted  with  iron 
rings  and  chains,  where  the  State  prisoners  were  submitted  to 
stern  captivity.  In  one  of  these  cells  was  discovered  a  com- 
plete collection  of  instruments  of  torture.  About  the  year  1700, 
the  Duchess  de  Nemours,  niece  of  King  Charles  Emmanul 
II,  came  to  dwell  here.  She  led  a  life  of  dissipation,  and  her 
dissolute  manners  soon  earned  for  her  the  contempt  and  hatred 
of  the  people.  For  the  convenience  of  her  intrigues,  and  in 
order  to  be  able  in  case  of  need  to  escape  the  fury  of  the  people, 
or  the  attacks  of  her  enemies,  she  caused  to  be  built  two  sub- 
terranean corridors,  which  put  her  dwelling  into  communication 
with  the  royal  palace  and  the  Valentino.  From  the  year  1848, 
when  the  parliamentary  constitution  of  Piedmont  was  declared, 
up  to  1864,  when  the  transferrence  of  the  capital  of  the  king- 
dom of  Italy  to  Florence  was  decreed,  the  Palazzo  Madama  was 
the  seat  of  the  Italian  Senate,  which,  by  a  strange  coincidence, 
occupies  to-day  at  Rome  a  palace  by  the  same,  name. 

The  Palazzo  Carignano,  where  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  used 
to  hold  its  sittings  before  the  capital  was  moved  to  Florence,  is 
only  a  one-story  building,  but  the  richness  of  its  interior  deco- 
ration places  it  above  all  other  buildings  of  this  kind  which 


126 


The   American   Architect   and  Building   News.     [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  638. 


Turin  possesses.  The  wall  and  windows  of  the  first  story  are 
brought  forward  and  supported  over  a  round-arched  portico 
whose  fluted  pilasters  and  capitals  are  repeated  up  to  the 
terrace  which  covers  the  building.  This  terrace  is  enclosed  1>> 
a  balustrade  which  is  broken  at  points  corresponding  will: 
the  pilasters  by  pedestals  supporting  architectural  emblems 
The  three  porticos  in  the  middle,  forming  the  central  feature 
of  the  design,  are  flanked  by  two  pairs  of  fluted  columns,  whicl 
are  detached  from  the  whole,  and  are  repeated  in  the  upper 
part  by  the  same  arrangement,  so  as  to  support  four  pedestals, 
on  which  are  statues.  The  central  portion  of  the  build- 
ing rises  another  story  and  we  see  here  renewed  on 
smaller  scale  the  theme  which  rules  in  the  other  portions. 
At  each  end  of  this  central  body  the  architect  has  arranged 
pavilions  with  niches  which  contain  statues.  In  spite  of  thi; 
excessive  crowd  of  ornamentation  and  features,  the  general 
appearance  of  this  architectural  morsel  is  quite  agreeable. 

The  Castello  Valentino  is  a  vast  building  which  was  erected 
on  the  left  bank  of  the  Po  at  the  end  of  a  magnificent  alley 


Monument  to  Cavour.     Dupre,  Sculptor. 

of  lime  trees.  It  is  surrounded  by  verdure,  and  its  imposing 
mass  detaches  itself  vigorously  from  the  midst  of  the  picturesque 
country  landscape.  Its  origin  is  shrouded  in  obscurity,  and  no 
one  knows  even  the  reason  of  its  name,  which  historians  inter- 
pret in  very  different  fashion.  What  in  any  case  is  beyond 
dispute  is  that  its  structure  declares  it  to  be  certainly  anterior 
to  the  second  half  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  facade  which 
overlooks  the  river  is  remarkable  for  a  sobriety  which  is  not 
preserved  in  buildings  of  a  later  date,  although  the  relative 
heaviness  of  the  whole  makes  us  feel  that  the  decadence  is 
already  approaching.  To  remedy  this  heaviness  they  crowned 
the  corners  of  the  principal  body  with  four  towers  covered  by 
gable  roofs,  and  at  the  centre  of  the  facade  constructed  a  pro- 
jecting terrace,  to  which  two  ramped  staircases  lead.  This 
somewhat  breaks  up  the  monotony  of  the  design,  which  without 


it  would  rule  in  the  aligment  of  the  windows.     To-day  there  is 
at  the  Valentino  a  training-school  for  engineers. 

On  the  same  bank  of  the  Po,  the  organizing  committee  of 
the  International  Exhibition  of  1884  had  the  ingenious  idea  of 
constructing  a  chateau  complete  in  the  style  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  they  fixed  on  the  model  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
when  the  severe  and  robust  architecture  which  characterizes 
this  class  of  building  was  in  its  full  flower.  The  architects 
intrusted  with  the  execution  of  this  idea  devoted  themselves  to 
a  very  conscientious  study  and  travelled  into  the  most  remote 
districts  of  Piedmont,  where  still  remain  ruins  of  this  age  which 
are  sufficiently  well  preserved  for  study.  Owing  to  these 
researches  they  were  able  to  conceive  and  carry  into  execution 
a  work  which  gives  us  a  sensation  of  a  perfect  resurrection  of 
the  various  details  of  which  their  aim  was  to  recall  to  us  the  recol- 
lection. The  moat,  the  drawbridge,  the  postern,  the  towers, 
the  court  of  honor,  the  salle  d'armes,  all  serve  to  transport  us 
in  imagination  to  that  age  of  iron,  when  life  was  a  perpetual 
combat,  and  when,  under  the  guise  of  an  arrogant  chivalry 
feudal  aristocracy  exercised  its  trade  of  rapine  and  pillage.  The 
houses  grouped  about  the  castle  also  had  a  varied  physiognomy, 
and  during  the  exhibition  inhabitants,  clothed  in  Middle  Age 
costumes,  observed  the  customs  and  engaged  in  the  works  of 
the  epoch  to  which  they  pretended  to  belong.  At  the  left  in 
the  court-yard  the  salle  d'  armes  was  peopled  with  soldiers 
armed  with  rapiers,  and  wearing  large  felt  hats,  warming  them- 
selves about  a  spacious  and  seigniorial  fireplace.  Then  came 
the  kitchens,  the  dining-hall,  the  sculleries,  the  cellars,  the  oubli- 
ettes —  all  the  accessories,  in  a  word,  of  a  feudal  military 
household.  It  was  picturesque  and  attractive. 

I  should  like  to  speak  also  of  the  gallery  of  arms  established 
by  King  Charles  Albert  in  the  Saile  de  Beaumont,  but  I  should 
step  outside  of  the  purely  architectural  frame  within  which  I 
must  confine  my  travelling  notes,  and,  besides,  space  is  want- 
ing. I  will  content  myself  with  saying  that  in  this  gallery  one 
can  see  an  incomparable  collection  of  arms  and  armor  —  cui- 
rasses, helmets,  swords,  poniards,  halberds,  fusils,  musketoons, 
arbalists,  cross-bows,  lances  —  all  the  murderous  paraphernalia 
of  the  heroic  ages  are  here  represented  under  multiplied  and 
varied  forms.  In  certain  rooms  we  perceive  whole  rows  of 
warriors  on  horseback,  armed  from  head  to  foot,  and  the  effect 
is  so  striking  that  in  the  dusk  they  seem  about  to  charge  one 
upon  another.  Midst  these  historic  treasures  there  exists 
some  which  have  a  great  artistic  value,  and  we  see  at  the  side 
of  the  armor  of  Emmanuel  Philiberto  the  shield  of  Charles 
Emmanuel  I  in  burnished  steel,  a  rich  buckler  wholly  sculptured 
by  hand  of  Benvenuto  Cellini. 

Although  the  Basilica  of  Superga  is  some  little  distance  from 
Turin  on  the  hill  which  bears  its  name,  we  may  say  that  it 
forms  a  portion  of  the  monumental  patrimony  of  this  city.  It 
is  here  that  repose  the  ashes  of  all  the  princes  of  Savoy.  One 
can  see  at  the  side  the  tombs  of  Victor  Amadeus  II,  who  was 
the  first  king  of  Sardinia,  and  of  Charles  Emmanuel  III,  his 
son,  those  of  Victor  Emmanuel  I,  Charles  Albert,  and  Marie 
Adelaide  of  Austria,  wife  of  Victor  Emmanuel  II.  There  are 
only  lacking  the  remains  of  Charles  Felix,  whose  mortal  ashes 
rest  in  the  Church  de  la  Haute  Combe,  in  Savoy ;  and  those  of 
Victor  Emmanuel  II,  which  rest  in  the  Pantheon  at  Rome. 

The  erection  of  the  Basilica  of  Superga  was  begun  in  1715, 
in  fulfilment  of  a  vow  of  King  Victor  Amadeus  II  while  his 
Capital  was  besieged  by  the  French  troops  in  170G.  It  is  con- 
ceived in  a  composite  style  analogous  to  that  of  the  Roman 
ihurclies  of  the  same  age ;  but  in  spite  of  want  of  purity  in  the 
structure,  it  produces  a  positive  impression  because  of  the  ad- 
vantageous position  in  which  it  is  placed,  and  the  light  which 
bathes  it  incessantly.  Its  lofty  dome  and  bell-tower  are  not 
without  elegance,  and  if  we  mount  to  the  platform  which  sur- 
rounds the  lantern  of  the  dome  we  can  enjoy  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  panoramas  in  the  world.  The  gaze  embraces  the  en- 
,ire  range  of  the  Alps,  and  with  a  field-glass  the  spires  of  the 
:athedral  at  Milan  can  be  seen.  Everywhere  the  eye  per- 
ceives the  smiling  fertile  fields  of  Italy,  and  one  cannot  avoid  a 
'ively  feeling  of  emotion  in  thinking  that  there  lie  before  one 
he  plains  of  Lombardy  and  valley  of  the  Po,  where  during  so 
many  centuries  the  armies  of  the  old  world  gave  one  another 
•endezvous  to  decide  their  quarrels.  The  thought  becomes 
*rave  and  mournful,  and  one  is  seized  with  a  sensation  of  grief 
it  the  rising  thought  that  if  all  the  dead  who  have  watered  this 
miling  land  vvith  their  hearts'  blood  should  arise,  the  immense 
ind  flowering  fields  would  be  peopled  with  phantoms. 

H,  MEREC. 


fo.635 


OFKICE    UUILDINC 
UNITED  STATES  TRUST  C9 


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Io.635. 


II<GHITEGT  HND  BUILDING  gEWStM*R  171555 


r.OPYEIGH?  1888  BT  TICKHOK  &CP 


df^t 


MAO/ENHEIM. 

A.PRANKENTHAL. 

w.  GOLDSTEIN. 


A.  F.  Koj-enheim,   Arch't.    df 

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MARCH  17,  1888.] 


Tlie   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


127 


[Contributors  are  requested  to  send  with  their  drawings   full  and 
adequate  descriptions  of  the  builtlingt,  including  a  statement  of  cost.] 

THE    CATHEDRAL   OF    NOTRE    DAME,    OTTAWA,    CANADA. 
[Gelatine  print,  issued  only  with  the  Imperial  Edition.] 

COMI'KTITIVK  DESWX  FOB  OFFICE  BUILDING  OF  THE  UNITED 
STATES  TRUST  ItUJI.IHNG,  WALL  8T.,  NEW  YORK,  N.  Y.  MESSRS. 
BABB,  COOK  A  WILLAKD,  ARCHITECTS,  NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. 

IN  this  limited  competition  which  took  place  in  January  last  none 
of  the  designs  submitted  proved  acceptable. 

4* 

THE     AZTEC     CALENDAR    STONE     AND     THE     SACRIFICIAL     STONE, 
MEXICO,    MEXICO. 

FOR  description  see  article  elsewhere  in  this  issue. 

VIEWS  IN  TURIN:  —  THE  VALENTINO;  THE  SUPERGA  ;  THE  ME- 
DIEVAL CHATEAU;  THE  CHURCH  OF  GRAN  MADRE  DI  DIG; 

THE    ItOYAL    PALACE. 

For  description  see  article  elsewhere  in  this  issue. 

WAREHOUSE  FOR  MESSRS.  ROSENHEIM,  FRANKENTHAL  &  GOLD- 
STEIN, ST.  LOUISj  MO.  MR.  A.  F.  ROSENHEIM,  ARCHITECT,  ST. 
LOUIS,  MO. 


THE  AZTEC  CALENDAR  AND  THE  SACRIFICIAL  STONE. 

WOhugemon- 
oliths  exhib- 
ited in  the 
National  Museum 
in  the  city  of  Mex- 
ico are  worthy  of 
notice  in  the  pages 
of  the  American 
Architect.  They 
are  the  so-called 
"  Aztec  Calendar 
Stone  "  and  the 
stone  upon  which 
were  offered  the 
human  sacrifices 
to  the  Sun.  It 
would  perhaps 
never  have  oc- 
curred to  me  that 
there  was  any  ar- 
chitectural inter- 
est attaching  to 
these  two  speci- 
mens of  Aztec 
sculpture  had  not 
an  architect  once 
shown  a  deep  in- 
terest in  them  and 
expressed  great 
8at'sf  action  upon 
securing  photo- 
graphs of  them. 

The  two  stones  were  discovered  in  excavating  in  close  proximity 
to  the  great  cathedral  in  the  years  1790  and  1791.  Upon  the 
destruction  of  the  city  by  the  Spanish  conquerors,  these  stones,  with 
the  other  appurtenances  of  heathen  worship,  were  buried  out  of  sight 
of  the  heathen  to  prevent  the  recently  converted  from  lapsing  into 
their  former  religion.  Upon  the  discovery  of  the  Calendar  Stone, 
the  Commissioners  of  the  Cathedral  begged  for  it,  and  the  Viceroy 
gave  verbal  orders  to  deliver  it  to  them  on  condition  that  it  was  to 
lie  preserved  and  publicly  displayed.  It  was  accordingly  built  into 
the  base  of  the  southwestern  tower  of  the  Cathedral,1  and  there  it 
remained  until  the  summer  of  1885,  when  it  was  removed  to  the 
room  in  the  National  Museum,  especially  prepared  for  the  larger  and 
heavier  relics  of  the  Aztec  idolatry. 

The  calendar  stone  is  twelve  feet  in  diameter  and  weighs,  by  esti- 
mation, over  twenty-four  tons.  It  was  quarried  and  carved  at  Tenan- 
titlim,  in  the  mountains  beyond  Lake  Chalco,  and  was  transported 
to  the  capital,  a  distance  of  several  leagues,  by  means  of  rollers  and 
ropes.  The  Aztecs  had  no  draught  animals  and  it  required  the 
combined  efforts  of  ten  thousand  slaves  to  drag  this  great  burden 
from  the  quarries  to  the  island  city  of  Tenochtitlan  and  place  it 
upon  the  Temple  of  Huitzilopochtli,  and  in  accomplishing  this  task 
tin'  immense  stone  broke  through  one  of  the  bridges  to  be  crossed, 
drowning  several  of  the  priests  who  accompanied  it,  and  putting 

1  See  Illustration  in  the  American  Architect  for  Sept.  19,  1885. 


__  _ 

=7=fait(#7\Bnlel  :\Sn  fy:nsseli£rTUnsfon  i  Albany.  N.Y. 

' 


those  superintending  the  transportation  to  an  immense  amount  of 
trouble  in  raising  it  from  the  bottom  of  the  lake  into  which  it  sank. 
All  this  is  upon  the  authority  of  a  very  early  historian.  The  year 
1512  is  assigned  as  that  in  which  the  task  of  bringing  this  immense 
sculptured  block  to  the  capital  was  accomplished  —  only  a  few  years 
before  the  Conquest. 

An  elaborate  key  to  the  figures  sculptured  upon  the  calendar 
stone  would  be  of  interest  only  to  the  archaeologist,  who  would  pro- 
bably be  dissatisfied  with  those  given  and  seek  one  more  satisfactory 
elsewhere;  for  the  meaning  of  the  calendar  stone  is  still  a  subject 
for  discussion  among  the  learned.  It  has  been  claimed  by  some  that 
the  stone  not  only  represents  the  Zodiac,  but  that  if  placed  in  a 
proper  position,  would  make  a  sun  dial.  Another  antiquarian 
insists  that  it  is  not  a  calendar  at  all,  lacking  indispensable  elements 
for  the  computation  of  time,  but  is  "a  votive  monument  to  the  Sun," 
and  upon  it  sacrifices  were  offered.  That  the  central  figure  repre- 
sents the  sun  is  certain  and  perhaps  the  year  also.  The  Mexican 
month  was  composed  of  twenty  days,  which  may  account  for  the 
twenty  figures  placed  in  the  circle  immediately  around  it,  the  figures 
being  hieroglyphic  representations  of  the  days  of  the  month. 

The  illustration  is  from  a  photograph  taken  while  the  stone 
remained  in  the  wall  of  the  Cathedral,  and  shows  the  irregular  exten- 
sion of  the  stone  beyond  the  borders  of  the  sculptured  design.  It 
shows  also  that  the  art  of  mural  advertising  is  practiced  in  modern 
Mexico  and  is  no  respecter  even  of  the  walls  of  the  Cathedral. 

The  sacrificial  stone  is,  like  the  calendar  stone,  of  porphyritic 
basalt,  of  close  grain,  and  is  about  three  feet  high  and  eight  feet  in 
diameter.  The  real  name  of  this  cylinder  is  the  "  Cuauhxicalli  dt 
Ti:oc."  Tizoc  was  the  ninth  monarch  of  the  Aztecan  dynasty,  and 
reigned  from  1477  to  1486.  The  Cuauhxicalli  (Cuauhtli  —'eagle, 
xicalli  —  drinking  cup)  is  supposed  to  commemorate  his  victories  over 
the  surrounding  tribes  or  nations.  Fifteen  tribes  or  nations  were 
subdued  by  this  predecessor  of  Moteczuma.  The  design  upon  the 
side  of  the  sacrificial  stone  represents  the  conquering  warrior  with 
his  hand  grasping  the  hair  of  his  vanquished  foe,  whose  arrows  are 
inverted.  This  design  is  repeated  fifteen  times.  Each  repetition  is 
furnished  with  a  hieroglyph  denoting  the  name  of  the  conquered  tribe. 

Upon  the  upper  surface  of  the  stone  —  slightly  convex  —  is  a  figure 
representing  the  sun.  In  the  centre  is  a  small  bowl-like  depression 
drained  by  a  narrow  canal.  The  bowl  and  canal  were  intended  to 
catch  the  blood  of  the  victim  sacrificed  to  the  sun,  and  carry  it  off 
the  stone ;  for  the  stone  was  used  as  its  popular  name  indicates,  as 
the  altar  upon  which  human  sacrifices  were  offered.  The  order  of 
nobles,  known  as  "  The  Eagles "  were  the  especial  patrons  of  the 
sun,  and  the  solemnities  at  which  these  sacrifices  were  offered  were 
under  their  charge.  Hence,  the  euphonious  Aztec  name  given  to 
this  famous  stone.  In  the  times  of  the  Aztecs  the  stone  occupied  a 
position  upon  one  of  pyramidal  temples. 

To  enter  upon  any  further  explanation  of  these  two  remarkable 
specimens  of  Aztec  sculpture  would  be  but  to  repeat  the  somewhat 
conflicting  theories  advanced  by  the  various  Mexican  archaeologists, 
Leon  y  Gama,  Chavero,  Garcia  Cubas,  Orozco  y  Berra,  Ramirez, 
Valentini,  Handelier  and  others,  as  to  their  meaning  and  uses. 

Our  illustration  of  the  sacrificial  stone  is  from  a  photograph  taken 
while  the  stone  stood  in  the  patio  of  the  National  Museum,  and  shows 
behind  it  the  hideous  idol  Huitzilopochtli ;  or,  according  to  some,  the 
front  is  that  of  Teoyaomiqui,  an  unknown  female  deity,  and  the  rear 
side  represents  Huitzilopochtli,  the  god  of  war.  Another  (Chavero) 
calls  the  monolith  variously  by  the  euphonious  names,  Coatlicue  (the 
woman  with  the  skirt  of  sna'kes),  Cihuaeoiitl  (the  serpent  woman), 
and  Cihuateotl  (the  god  woman.)  It  is  probably  not  important 
to  decide  precisely  which  of  these  the  hideously  carved  block  of 
jasper  actually  does  represent. 

In  the  fall  of  1885  the  room  opening  directly  behind  this  idol,  as 
seen  in  the  illustration,  was  fitted  up  for  the  reception  of  all  the 
heavier  relics  of  the  Aztecs,  and  the  calendar  stone,  the  sacrificial 
stone,  the  many-named  idol  and  others  are  displayed  there  to  good 
advantage.  About  the  same  time  excavations  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  great  Cathedral  discovered  -other  sculptured  rocks.  The 
colossal  head  of  a  serpent  was  among  them  —  probably  a  part  of  tin- 
exterior  ornament  of  the  wall  surrounding  the  great  temple,  and 
known  as  the  Cohuatipantli,  or  wall  of  serpents.  These  were,  of 
course,  added  to  the  collection  in  the  National  Museum. 

If  the  architect  or  decorator  finds  nothing  suggestive  or  instruc- 
tive in  these  specimens  of  Aztec  sculpture,  he  might  lie  more  success- 
ful in  a  search  in  othpr  rooms  of  the  National  Museum  where  arc 
displayed  the  various  forms  of  decoration  employed  among  the 
Aztecs.  The  decoration  of  the  interior  walls  of  the  ruined  palace  of 
Mitla  in  the  State  of  Oaxaca,  represents  the  architectural  taste  of  a 
race  long  antecedent  to  the  Aztecs.  The  pottery  exhibited  in  the 
Museum  shows  curious  designs  employed  in  the  earliest  days  which 
are  still  in  use  among  the  Indians  who  supply  the  cities  with  pot- 
tery. They  are  perhaps  worth  some  study.  Now  and  then  one 
finds  designs  among  them  suggestive  of  the  Greek  or  the  Pompeian. 
Modern  sculptors  are  inclined  to  reproduce  the  designs  resembling 
those  of  tlie  .M  it  in  palace  in  their  work  for  the  city  of  Mexico.  A 
notable  instance  of  this  is  the  pedestal  of  the  recently  completed 
monument  to  Cuauhtemoc  in  the  Paseo  de  la  Reforma,  in  which  the 
modern  forms  and  the  primitive  designs  are  combined  with  skill  and 
satisfactory  results. 

ARTHUR  HOWARD  NOLL. 


128 


Tlie    American    Architect   and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  — No    638. 


ART   AND 


Old  German  Washstand. 


CONGRESSIONAL  LEGISLATION. 

HE  energy  for  which  the 
American  has  of  recent 
years  become  so  celebrated 
has  not  been  confined  solely  to 
the  mercantile  and  scientific 
things  of  our  national  life. 
Within  ten  years  American  art 
has  taken  strides  in  the  line  of 
advancement  unequalled  b  y 
that  of  any  nation  in  the  world's 
history..  "From  the  compara- 
tive nothing  of  the  Centennial 
Exhibition  of  1876,  it  has  sud- 
denly sprung  to  a  position  of 
positive  importance  and  rela- 
tive worth  in  the  eyes  of  the 
artistic  world.  And  this,  too, 
not  by  virtue  of  any  fostering 
care  on  the  part  of  our  coun- 
try and  its  people,  but  in  the 
face  of  a  materialistic  age,  in 
spite  of  philistinism,  ignorance 
and  want  of  encouragement ; 
even  in  spite  of  bad  Congres- 
sional legislation,  the  working 
of  which  has  been  and  is  a 
positive  detriment  to  art  pro- 
gress. 

The  transition  of  American 
art  from  the  crude  ill-formed 
growth  of  some  years  ago  to 
the  present  respectable  product 
may  seem  to  many  to  have 
been  made  easily,  but  such  was 
not  the  case.  There  has  been 
a  battle  against  odds,  a  fight 
against  imposed  conditions,  a 

struggle  against  many  discouragementsrnot  the  least  of  which  have 
come  from  our  own  people,  individually,  socially  and  nationally.  As 
a  nation  we  lay  the  flattering  conceit  to  our  souls  that  we  grasp 
things  quickly,  that  we  adapt  ourselves  easily  to  circumstances,  and 
that  M  a  result  we  are  far  in  advance  in  nineteenth  century  civiliza- 
tion. And,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  this  is  true  in  a  limited  sense.  We 
do  quicklv  appreciate  the  advantages  or  disadvantages  ot  a  political, 
mercantile  or  social  movement,  and  we  are  far  advanced  m  the  sci- 
entific and  commercial  affairs  of  the  century,  but  what  price  do  we 
pay  for  our  advancements  in  these  respects?  Certain  it  is  that  the 
law  of  compensation  requires  for  an  excellence  in  one  direction  a 
corresponding  deficiency  in  another  direction,  and  it  is  equally  cer- 
tain that  our  superiority  as  a  nation  in  what  is  generally  known  as 
"business"  has  been  purchased  by  our  inferiority  as  a  nation  in  ar 
and  literature.  We  are  the  admiration  of  the  world  in  the  one  thing, 
but  no  one  speaks  or  cares  very  much  about  us  in  the  other,  lo  be 
sure,  thanks  to  a  coterie  of  strong-willed  literary  workers,  we  have 
an  American  literature,  but  we  are  not  a  literary  people,  and  though, 
thanks  to  a  handful  of  determined,  self-sacrificing  artists,  we  have  an 
American  art,  yet,  again,  we  are  not  an  artistic  people. 

Whv  is  it  that  the  shrewd  American  who  so  prides  himself  on  his 
ready  glance  and  bird's-eye  view,  has  not  recognized  the  importance 
of  literature  and  art  as  factors  in  national  growth  and  education? 
Is  it  that,  like  the  giant  of  old,  he  is  so  long-sighted  in  one  eye  that 
he  is  very  short-sighted  in  the  other  eye,  and  that  literature  and  art 
are  simply  unfortunate  in  being  on  his  infirm  side  ?  Very  likely  this 
is  the  case.  The  American  is  somewhat  of  a  specialist,  focusing  his 
lio-ht  through  one  glass  which,  though  it  burns  where  it  touches,  is, 
nevertheless,  not  an  illuminating  power  to  any  extent.  His  chief 
speciality  and  hobby  of  late  years  has  been  "business."  This  has 
been  his  inseparable  companion,  who  gets  up  with  him  in  the  morn- 
ino-,  dresses  and  breakfasts  with  him,  goes  down  town  with  him, 
stays  with  him  the  whole  day,  comes  home  with  him  at  night,  and 
lies  down  to  sleep  with  him  again.  All  roads  lead  to  business,  all 
pursuits  have  it  as  an  object,  all  ambitions  lie  within  its  compass. 
No  wonder  that  the  American  has  become  somewhat  like  poor  Poll 
in  his  inability  to  voice  more  than  one  word,  and  somewhat  like  the 
mole  in  his  inability  to  travel  in  more  than  one  channel.  It  is  a  case 
of  development  worthy  of  scientific  investigation.  The  crickets  in 
the  Mammoth  Cave,  from  lack  of  use,  have  lost  the  power  of  seeing, 
and  in  the  place  of  eyes  have  developed  long  antennae.  The  Ameri- 
can, though  he  is  not  utterly  devoid  of  vision  in  any  respect  has, 
nevertheless,  grown  antenna?  of  preternatural  proportions  for  mat- 
ters of  "  business." 

No,  he  is  not  totally  blind:  he  has  read  his  history  and  knows 
that  of  all  the  great  nations  of  antiquity  not  one  but  was  great  in  art 
and  literature,  and  that  of  all  their  greatness  these  two  features  alone 
remain.  He  knows  that  no  country  has  ever  ranked  high  without 
them,  yet  he  thinks  his  own  country  can  be  an  exception.  Besides, 
he  argues,  the  age  is  materialistic ;  it  requires  practical  things ;  the 
time  of  idealism  and  romance  has  cone  by  and  realism  has  taken  its 
place.  We  must  adapt  ourselves  to  the  age.  Art  was  a  good  enough 
thino-  for  the  Greeks  and  Italians,  as  poetry  was  a  good  thing  for  the 


people  of  the  Elizabethan  period.  What  the  world  wants  now  is 
energy  in  the  business  line  and  the  ability  to  make  money.  And  so 
the  average  American  doubtless  thinks  that  inasmuch  as  the  accumu- 
lation of  money  is  the  chief  aim  of  life,  the  poet  would  be  better 
employed  studying  the  internal  essence  of  a  stock-list  and  the  painter 
would  be  a  more  useful  member  of  society  were  he  scribbling 
himself  into  a  consumption  over  some  broker's  account  books.  No, 
he  is  not  totally  blind  to  the  arts,  but  he  might  as  well  be,  for  while 
his  antenna?  are  ever  spread  before  him  for  a  business  venture,  he 
will  never  use  his  eyes  to  see  the  beauty  of  light  from  above. 

Now,  this  lack  of  sympathy  on  the  part  of  the  people  which  ren- 
ders an  artistic  career  in  America  so  precarious  (for  without  sym- 
pathy it  is  as  hard  for  any  calling  to  exist  as  it  is  for  a  flower  to 
grow"  without  water)  is  a  something  with  which  the  artist  has 
scarcely  the  right  to  find  fault.  It  proceeds  from  sheer  ignorance, 
which  it  is  the  artist's  mission  (if  it  be  admitted  that  he  has  a  mission 
at  all)  to  dispell.  His  art  must  teach  people  culture  and  be  its  own 
reason  for  existence.  That  the  individual  cares  nothing  for  painting 
gives  the  painter  no  good  ground  for  complaint.  But,  when  indi- 
viduals banded  together  as  society,  in  their  legislative  enactments 
pass  laws  designed  to  throttle  the  teaching  process  of  the  artist  in 
its  very  inception,  then  the  artist  certainly  has  cause  for  complaint 
because  the  rights  given  him  under  the  moral,  the  social,  and  the 
constitutional  law  are  trampled  upon.  To  be  sure,  the  passage  of 
such  laws  is  simply  the  result  of  the  primary  cause,  that  is,  ignorance 
on  the  part  of  the  law-makers,  but  the  ground  of  complaint  cannot 
be  pushed  back  to  that  starting-point.  Ignorance  per  se  is  but  a 
passive  obstacle  to  be  overcome  if  possible.  Its  effect,  on  the  con- 
trary, may  be  an  overt  act  of  wrong  against  which  just  action  may 
be  brought. 

That  a  business-minded  nation  should  send  to  its  legislative  depart- 
ments people  of  a  kindred  nature  to  themselves  and  that  these 
representatives  should  legislate  chiefly  in  the  interests  of^  business 
matters  is  but  the  natural  working  of  a  majority  rule.  That  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  through  Congress  should  appro- 
priate moneys,  build  buildings,  establish  bureaus,  equip  services, 
send  out  commissions,  and  publish  reports,  all  for  the  advantage  of 
mercantile  or  scientific  pursuits,  is  perhaps  as  it  should  be  and  doubt- 
less for  the  greatest  good  of  the  greatest  number.  That  the  same 
Government  should  appropriate  thousands  of  dollars  for  the  benefit 
of  Transit-of- Venus  Expeditions,  botanical  gardens,  and  scientific 
museums,  and  that  scarcely  anything  should  be  appropriated  for  the 
benefit  of  the  fine  arts  (except  as  some  political  workers  in  the  inter- 
est of  a  mediocre  artist  succeed  in  foisting  upon  it  a  bad  picture  or 
worse  bust)  is  something  that  the  friends  of  art  may  feel  is  ill-judged 
discrimination,  but  with  which  they  may  not  find  fault.  That  a  man 
who  invents  some  newly-fashioned  match-box  or  washing  machine 
can  command  Congress  and  set  the  whole  Governmental  machinery 
in  motion  by  his  appeal,  while  the  greatest  author  or  the  greatest 
arti*t  we  possess  may  crook  his  knee-hinges  in  the  outer  lobby  of  the 
Capitol  unnoticed1  is  again  prejudicial  discrimination,  but  not  a 
casus  belli.  The  artists  of  the  United  States  make  no  complaint  that 
Congress  has  done  nothing  for  them,  but  they  do  complain  that  Con- 
gress by  its  enactments  has  done  much  a  gainst  them;  that  its  actions 
have  checked  the  growth  of  art  education,  have  checked  the  incom- 
ing of  art  treasures  into  this  country,  have  checked  in  some  degree 
the  production  within  our  own  borders  of  the  best  art.  They  bring 
no  charge  of  passive  negligence,  but  rather  one  of  active  wrong. 
Let  us  see  if  their  charge  can  be  substantiated. 

In  the  year  1857  Congress  took  off  all  duty  on  art  and  left  the 
makers  of  painting  and  statuary  to  their  own  unbusinesslike  devices. 
AVhat  art  was  produced  was  of  no  consequence,  and  doubtless  the 
honorable  gentlemen  from  Arkansas  and  Mississippi   thought  that 
artists  were  mild-mannered  simpletons  who  would  better  be  allowed 
to  pursue  their  way  unmolested.     In  1861  it  became  evident  to  the 
honorable  gentlemen  that  the  simpletons  were  adding  to  themselves 
recruits,  that  they  were  making  a  living  in  a  queer  sort  of  a  way, 
and   really  they  ought  to  be  "  protected  "  from  the  competition  of 
grasping  foreigners ;  so  a  protective  tariff  of  ten  per  cent  was  imposed 
on  foreign  art,  not,  as  we  learn,  at  the  solicitation  of  the  "  protected," 
but  for  the  reason  that  Congress  took  a  fatherly  interest  in  its  newly- 
born  progeny.     In  1883  the  simpletons  had  grown  to  large  propor- 
tions, they  had  builded  up  quite  a  business,  an  interest  in  art  mat- 
ters had  been  created,  the  revenue  for  1883  on  paintings  and  sculp- 
tures alone  at  ten  per  cent  was  $308,000.     Art  had  become  some- 
thing worthy  of  Congressional  thought,  the  artists  were  flourishing, 
but  dear  me !  they  were  such  a  shallow  set  of  unbusiness-like  people 
that  they  would  certainly  dissipate  their  success  in  sudden  failure 
unless  the  pernicious  art  and  artists  of  Europe  were  kept  out  of  the 
country.     American  art  should  be  strongly  "protected."     So  without 
solicitation  on  the  part  of  the  artists,  without  consultation  with  them, 
in  spite  of  the  remonstrance  of  a  large  body  of  them  who  wished  no 
duty  at  all,  the  duty  was  raised  to  thirty  per  cent.     The  previous 
tariff  had  been  complained  of,  yet  was  endured,  but  the  imposition 
of  the  thirty  per  cent  tariff  immediately  raised  a  cry  of  denunciation 
and  opposition  from  artists  and  their  friends  everywhere  throughout 
the  country.     As  a  result  of  opposition,  the  Belmont  Bill,  asking  the 
repeal  of  the  law  of  1883  and  in  favor  of  no  duty  whatsoever  on  art, 
was  the  very  next  year  placed  before  Congress  and  strongly  advo- 
cated by  the"  majority  of  artists  through  committees  appointed  for 

i  This  is  not  rhetoric,  but  a  fact.    Congressional  treatment  of  the  Copyright 
League  and  the  advocates  of  the  Belmont  Art  Bill  is  not  yet  ancient  history. 


MARCH  IT,  1888.] 


TJie   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


129 


that  purpose,  but  to  no  end.  During  1885  and  188G  the  popular 
indignation  against  this  tariff  manifested  itself  in  many  ways.  Thi 
press  everywhere  called  for  its  repeal,  the  President  "strongly" 
11  Timimended  it  in  his  annual  message,  artists  at  home  ami  abroai 
who  ha.l  never  appeared  in  print  before  denounced  it  in  open  letters, 
tlic  National  Academy  of  Design,  the  Soeiety  of  American  Artists 
tin-  Art  Students'  League,  the  Paint  and  Clay  Club,  the  Boston  Ar 
Club  and  many  other  societies  and  muse-urns,  passed  resolutions 
opposed  to  it.  The  Union  League  Club,  through  its  art  committee 
went  to  the  trouble  of  sending  out  circulars  to  all  the  artists,  art-insti 
tutions  and  teachers  of  art  in  the  United  States,  calling  for  their 
sentiments  and  wishes  regarding  the  repeal  of  the  tariff.  The  fol 
lowing  is  the  published  result  of  the  canvass  : 

Number  of  artists  in  favor  of  free  art,  .         .  .  1197 

"                    "              10  per  cent  duty,  .  26 

"                     "               80         "           "  7 

"                     "               a  specific         "  .  33 

partly  free  art,  .  18 

Whole  number  of  artists  heard  from,     .         .         .         1281 

Of  the  158  art-teachers  and  art-institutions  that  responded,  148 
were  in  favor  of  free  art,  3  in  favor  of  partly  free  art,  2  of  a  ten  per 
cent  duty,  and  1  of  a  specific  duty.  These  data,  expressing  the 
almost  unanimous  wish  of  the  artists  and  their  friends  for  the  repea 
of  the  obnoxious  tariff  law,  were  once  more  presented  to  Congress 
and  once  more  totally  disregarded.  To-day  we  luxuriate,  thanks  to 
our  Congress,  in  a  thirty  per  cent  duty  on  foreign  art  —  the  works  o: 
American  artists  residing  abroad  and  the  art  importations  for  public 
museums  alone  exccpted.  This  is  substantially  the  statement  of  fact 
Whatever  may  lutvu  been  the  reasons  of  the  artists  for  asking  the 
repeal  of  the  tariff,  or  whether  they  had  any  reasons  at  all,  it  wouk 
seem  as  though  such  a  unanimity  of  opinion  coming  from  the  "  pro- 
tected "  would  have  immediately  resulted  in  the  favorable  action  oi 
Congress.  The  artists  were  absolutely  the  only  people  to  be  con- 
sulted in  the  matter.  They  were  the  ones  for  whom  the  law  was 
made  and  whom  it  was  calculated  to  benefit;  they  were  the  ones 
alone  interested  and  when  they  declared  that  they  did  not  want  pro- 
tection, that  it  was  a  curse  instead  of  a  benefit  to  them,  and  they 
wanted  it  removed,  Congress  should  have  acquiesced  in  their  wishes 
at  once.  Only  one  thing  could  have  justified  its  prolonged  retention 
and  that  would  have  been  the  necessity  of  taxation  for  rerenue. 
But  this  was  not  put  forth,  and  in  fact  at  the  time  of  the  passage  of 
the  law  and  ever  since  the  political  problem  has  been  how  to  reduce 
the  enormous  income  of  the  Government.  The  artists  by  their 
unanimity  of  opinion  were  clearly  entitled  to  the  repeal  of  the  law 
without  giving  any  reason  whatever.  But  they  were  not  so  arbi- 
trary in  their  request.  They  preferred  reasons  and  good  ones,  some 
of  which  it  may  be  well  to  glance  at  again  for  a  moment :  — 

It  was  urged  then,  and  the  argument  is  good  now,  that  art  should 
be  permitted  to  come  into  this  country  free  of  duty  on  the  ground  of 
its  educational  benefits.  No  one  entitled  to  sober  consideration  or 
respect  has  ever  doubted  for  a  moment  that  America  is  inferior  in 
the  arts  to  several  of  the  European  nations.  There  is  everything  to 
learn  from  the  art  of  the  latter,  both  by  our  artists  and  our  people ; 
therefore,  let  it  come  in,  and  let  us  welcome  it.  The  more  that 
comes  the  better  for  us.  Everywhere  it  will  awaken  an  art-spirit 
among  the  people  which  will  redound  eventually  to  the  benefit  of  the 
American  artist ;  everywhere  it  will  give  our  artists  an  opportunity 
to  study  the  methods  of  older  and  better  masters.  While  our  artists 
now  think  it  necessary  to  go  back  to  Europe  every  few  years  to  see 
new  models  and  methods,  if  foreign  art  were  here  it  could  be  studied 
at  home  at  any  and  all  times.  Ihe  existence  of  the  tariff  not  only 
works  as  a  prohibition  upon  modern  pictures,  but  also  shuts  out 
ancient  pictures  valuable  as  illustrating  art-history  and  for  purposes 
of  technical  instruction.  If  the  tariff  does  not  prohibit  foreign  works, 
then  its  mission  has  failed  and  it  should  be  abolished ;  if  it  does  pro- 
hibit foreign  works,  then  it  trammels  art-education  in  America,  and 
should  be  abolished  for  that  reason.  If  it  is  not  ineffectual,  it  is  an 
evil,  and  in  either  case  should  be  done  away  with.  To  shut  out 
foreign  art  is  simply  to  diminish  our  art  by  making  our  artists  weak. 
With  no  standards  of  comparison  save  their  own,  with  no  friction  of 
mind  upon  mind,  which  is  always  a  benefit,  with  no  suggestions 
gathered  from  others  (the  most  fruitful  source  of  all  inspiration),  the 
artists  simply  fail  to  produce  the  best  quality  of  work.  As  a  con- 
sequence the  interest  of  the  people  in  artmatters  fails  likewise 
because  of  the  withdrawal  of  that  which  stimulates  it. 

There  has  been  some  attempt  to  reason  that  the  abolition  of 
foreign  art  was  a  desirable  thing,  because  "the  art  of  America 
should  be  original  and  indigenous,  and  not  an  imitation  of  foreign 
schools,"  but  the  argument  is  so  childish  as  to  be  scarcely  worth 
noticing.  As  well  look  for  a  Shakespeare  or  a  Milton  in  a  Cheyenne 
Indian,  as  for  a  Rembrandt  or  a  Velasquez  in  an  untutored,  isolated 
American.  What  great  artist  ever  lived  that  had  not  the  teachings 
of  a  master  or  a  school  ?  What  nation  ever  produced  art  that  had 
not  its  beginnings  in  the  art  of  a  preceding  nation  ?  What  was,  and 
is,  the  art  of  China  shut  off  by  herself  for  centuries?  What  was  the 
art  of  America  for  the  first  hundred  years  of  her  isolated  existence  ? 
In  the  last  ten  years  it  has  sprung  into  sudden  power,  and  why,  if 
not  that  within  that  time,  we  have  come  into  close  communication 

'  See  The  Critic  for  December  19th  and  26th,  1885. 


with  Europe  ?  Originality  and  spontaneity  are  good  things,  but  they 
are  developed  by  training,  not  found  by  groping  blindly  in  the  dark. 
Men  in  all  departments  of  life  learn  from  the  past,  and  add  to  their 
teaching  that  which  is  new  in  the  present,  thus  producing  what  the 
world  calls  originality,  but,  which,  in  fact,  is  only  a  new  application 
of  old  knowledge.  As  well  talk  of  shutting  out  European  laws, 
sciences  and  literature  from  our  laws,  sciences  and  literature,  as  to 
advocate  the  isolation  of  American  art  from  that  of  Europe.  It  is  a 
patent  absurdity  on  its  face,  and  the  idea  of  it  could  have  originated 
only  with  a  mind  unnecessarily  ignorant  of  the  nature  of  art. 

Again,  there  has  been  some  talk  about  the  benefits  the  tariff  con- 
fers by  keeping  out  the  "trash"  from  abroad,  but  just  how  it  does  so 
would  be  hard  to  demonstrate.  The  tariff  works  proportionately  on 
all  production,  whether  good  or  bad.  If  a  thirty  per  cent  duty  will 
keep  out  a  hundred-dollar  piece  of  trash,  it  will  likewise  keep  out  a 
hundred-dollar  work  of  merit;  so  the  acting  of  the  law  is  equally 
good  or  equally  bad.  A  statutory  enactment  discriminating  between 
things  good  and  things  bad  would  really  be  a  very  nice  tiling,  but  from 
its  non-existence  in  the  past,  we  may  safely  doubt  the  possibility  of  its 
existence  in  the  future.  There  is  but  one  law  that  may  stamp  things 
with  approval  or  disapproval,  and  that  is  the  law  of  public  taste. 
Wares  of  all  kinds  find  their  proper  level  in  the  world's  markets,  and 
the  American  market  can  be  no  exception.  If  we  are  not  good  judges 
of  "  trash,"  it  is  not  because  our  country  does  not  turn  out  enough  of 
it  for  us  to  judge  by.  There  are  more  flimsy,  bogus,  swindling  pro- 
ductions pushed  upon  our  markets  by  Americans  in  one  year  than  in 
all  the  countries  of  Europe  put  together;  so  we  need  not  fear  the 
"  contaminating  influences  "  of  any  foreign  contagion,  for  we  are  well 
innoculated  with  our  own.  The  American  artist  and  the  American 
people  are  not  injured  but  rather  educated  by  "trash."  For,  to 
know  error  is  to  recognize  truth.  The  chromo  and  the  Christmas- 
card  have  been  the  pioneers  and  missionaries  of  painting  with  us  by 
awakening  a  love  for  decoration.  To  have  these  long  before  us  is  to 
recognize  their  shallowness,  and  after  a  time  a  desire  for  something 
better  springs  out  of  them. 

Aside  from  the  injury  that  the  tariff  is  working  American  art, 
there  is  every  reason  why  the  law  should  be  repealed  on  account  of 
the  humiliating  position  in  which  it  has  placed  our  artists  before 
European  artists.  To  the  masters  of  France,  Germany,  England  and 
Italy  we  are  indebted  for  the  excellent  training  possessed  by  our 
leading  artists.  The  schools,  academies  and  studios  of  those  coun- 
tries have  been  open  to  our  people  the  same  as  to  their  own  people. 
Their  Salons  and  galleries  receive  and  hang  American  pictures,  and 
permit  the  painters  of  them  to  compete  for  prizes  of  value.  They 
ask  no  tax,  or  duty,  or  charge  whatsoever.  Their  great  courtesy  in 
this  matter  is  reciprocated  by  our  imposing  a  fine  of  thirty  per  cent 
on  everything  they  may  send  to  this  country,  which  is"  a  virtual 
warning  that  they  must  not  do  so  again.  At  first  there  was  not  a 
little  indignation  among  foreign  artists  at  such  cavalier  treatment, 
and  some  action  looking  to  the  adoption  of  retaliatory  measures 
toward  our  artists  was  taken  out,  but  when  it  was  explained  that  it 
was  not  the  action  of  the  latter  but  of  their  honorable  representatives 
in  Congress  assembled  who  misrepresented  them,  the  retaliatory 
measures  were  withdrawn  and  the  former  courtesies  continue  to  be 
extended.  But,  in  the  face  of  such  a  state  of  affairs,  it  is  not  wonder- 
ful that  the  American  artist  feels  like  an  intruder,  a  man  who  has 
insulted  his  benefactor  and  robbed  his  host,  and  it  is  not  wonderful 
that  he  wants  the  tariff  law  repealed.  The  humiliation  is  deep  to 
the  artist  and  the  reproach  is  upon  us  as  a  nation. 

And  what  had  Congress  to  say  for  itself  in  justification  of  the 
tariff  law  ?     A  little  of  everything  and  not  much  of  anything.     Its 
members  spoke  somewhat  of  keeping  out  foreign  "  trash  "  as  though 
they  and  not  the  artists  were  the  best  judges  of  "  trash,"  as  though 
they  and  not  the  artists  were  the  best  judges  of  the  manner  of  keep- 
ing it  out.     The  artists  did  not  want  the  law,  the  Treasury  did  not 
want  the  revenue,  and  there  was  no  possibility  of  either  party  in 
Congress  stepping  into  a  political  mud-hole  by  raising  the  general 
tariff  issue  in  taking  off  the  tariff  on  art,  because  this  was  a  special 
case  where  the  issue  could  have  been  pushed  aside  on  the  ground  of 
education.     Still,  Congress  thought "  protection  "  a  fine  thing  whether 
the  protected  thought   so  or   not.     If  foreign  works  were   barred 
people  would  have  to  buy  American  ones.     As  though  pictures  were 
commodities  like  soap,  wool  and  pig-iron,  necessary  to  life,  and  as 
though  American   pictures   could   supply   the   demand  for  French 
pictures  as  easily  as  American  soap  could  supply  the  demand  for 
French  soap.     The  absolute  impossibility  of  the  tariff  working  in  such 
in  analogous  way  would  seem  to  be  apparent  to  a  child.     An  art- 
over,  for  instance,  wants  a  work  by  Millet,  and  the  tariff  law  says 
to  him:  "Here  is  a  landscape  by  Inness  that  will  answer  your  pur- 
pose just  as  well."    In  place  of  a  Kubens  or  a  Rembrandt,  we  are 
aid.  to  buy  a  Chase  or  a  Weir.     Were  pictures  capable  of  reproduc- 
tion like  books,  there  were  no  great  injustice  in  protection  ;  for  an 
American  edition  of  Shakespeare  substantially  supplies  the  place  of 
an  English  edition  of  the  same  author ;  but  the  case  with  pictures 
and  sculptures   is  entirely  different.     The  work  of  our  American 
artists  is  good  and  should  be  bought  for  its  own  sake,  and  not  as  a 
substitute  for  foreign  work.     Under  no  circumstances  could  it  be 
hat  substitute.     Each  picture   is  a  distinct  creation  of  one  man. 
Nothing  can  replace  it.     Were  our  art  as  great  as  that  of  the  High 
Renaissance,  it  could  not  act  as  a  substitute  or  render  undesirable 
,he  art  of  modern  Europe.     The  very  classification  of  art,  with  the 
>roducts  of  mercantile  industry  and  the  attempt  to  apply  the  same 


130 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


XXIII.  —  No.  638. 


E 


rule  to  them  both,  betrays  an  ignorance  of  the  nature  of  the  former 
quite  worthy  of  our  representatives. 

But  the  honorable  gentleman  from  Arkansas  and  Mississippi  were 
sure  the  artists  were  the  ones  who  were  ignorant  and  did  not  know 
their  own  business.  Artists  and  literary  people  are  so  impractical ; 
they  have  no  head  for  business,  and  unless  some  one  looks  after  them 
continually,  they  are  likely  to  starve  to  death.  They  should  be 
"  protected."  And  so  they  have  been  in  the  same  way  the  lion  "  pro- 
tected "  the  lamb ;  the  two  lay  down  together,  but  the  lamb  occupied 
an  inside  berth. 

What  further  reason  did  Congressmen  give  for  their  action  i 
None  whatever  except  some  silly  talk  about  "original  and  indigenous 
art "  as  though  they  again  were  the  best  judges  of  that  and  not  the 
artists,  as  though  they  were  the  ones  best  conversant  with  art  either 
spontaneous  or  otherwise.  To  tie  a  man  hand  and  foot,  and  then 
ask  him  to  show  his  agility ;  to  take  away  a  mechanic's  tools  and 
then  ask  him  to  produce  good  work,  would  not  be  less  absurd  than 
the  requirement  of  Congress  that  American  artists  independent  of 
foreign  example  should  turn  out  an  original  and  spontaneous  art. 

The  injurious  effects  which  have  resulted  from  the  tariff  cannot  as 
,et  be  properly  estimated,  because  the  law  has  not  been  working 
.ong  enough  to  fully  determine  them.  Certain,  it  is  that  American 
art°has  not  retrograded  since  the  year  1883,  nor  would  it  under  more 
unfavorable  laws  than  at  present  exist,  because  the  impetus  of  its 
advance  is  sufficiently  strong  to  overcome  such  obstacles.  But  there 
is  no  ascertaining  how  much  greater  progress  it  would  have  made 
had  it  been  free  to  develop  as  its  producers  wished  it  to  develop. 
That  it  has  been  hurt  somewhat  by  the  barrier  raised  against 
foreign  art,  is  not  doubted  by  those  acquainted  with  the  subject, 
though  it  may  be  admitted  that  the  injury  is  more  consequential  than 
direct  in  its  manifestations.  To  weaken  American  art  by  isolation 
so  that  its  effect  would  be  apparent  to  all,  would,  undoubtedly, 
take  years  to  accomplish,  but  its  results  are  no  less  certain  at  the 
present  time,  though  we  may  not  readily  perceive  them. 

The  tariff  has  acted  as  a  direct  prohibition  to  many  buyers  of 
limited  means,  and  where  it  has  not  so  acted  with  wealthy  people,  it 
has  resulted  in  a  loss  of  exactly  thirty  per  cent  of  art  to  the  country. 
That  is  to  say,  that  for  every  $100,000  worth  of  pictures  $130,000 
are  paid,  whereby  $30,000  that  could  have  been  spent  in  buying  more 
pictures  is  turned  into  the  already  overflowing  Treasury.  The  Gov- 
ernment is  a  gainer  and  the  people  a  loser  in  that  proportion.  It 
may  be  said  that  the  loss  falls  only  on  the  private  buyer  from  whose 
picture-gallery  the  public  derives  no  benefit.  Let  us  illustrate  that 
by  two  "modern  instances.  In  one  winter  twenty  thousand  people 
visited  the  private  gallery  of  the  late  Mr.  Vanderbilt,  of  New  York. 
Was  not  the  absence  of  thirty  per  cent,  or  even  ten  per  cent  of  that 
o-allery  a  loss  to  the  twenty  thousand,  as  well  as  to  Mr.  Vanderbilt? 
The  recent  gift  of  the  Wolfe  Collection  to  the  Metropolitan 
Museum  in  New  York  is  an  illustration  of  the  benefit  the  public 
derives  from  private  galleries.  It  is  valued  at  several  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars,  but  whose  now  is  the  loss  that  there  is  not  from  ten  to 
thirty  per  cent  more  of  it,  the  public's  or  Miss  Wolfe's  estate  ?  The 
consequential  injury  to  art>education  by  these  losses  must  be  apparent 
to  every  one. 

A  further  injury  has  arisen  from  the  tariff  by  making  American 
art  appear  a  contemptible  product  in  the  eyes  of  our  own  people. 
The  very  name  of  protection  to  many  people  is  sufficient  to  condemn 
the  thing  protected,  because  the  natural  supposition  is  that  it  is  a 
weak  infantile  affair  not  strong  enough  to  take  care  of  itself  —  a 
chicken  just  out  of  the  shell  which  needs  coddling  and  plenty  of 
rest  —  and  this  is  most  decidedly  what  American  art  is  not.  It  is 
perfectly  able  and  capable  of  taking  care  of  itself,  and  to-day  it  is 
not  without  honor  save  among  some  of  its  "  protectors  "  in  our  own 
land.  Our  artists  and  their  art  are  well-known  abroad,  and  have  re- 
ceived their  meed  of  praise.  They  are  not  weak  but  strong,  they 
need  not  the  crutches  of  protection  which  have  been  thrust  at  them; 
they  can  walk  alone  perfectly  well ;  but  if  our  Congress  will  insist 
upon  calling  them  cripples,  why  it  cannot  be  wondered  at  that  many 
people  who  do  not  know  them  should  believe  the  insulting  insinuation 
to  be  true. 

Now,  what  American  art  and  the  American  artists  want  of  Con- 
gress and  the  Government  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  to  be  let 
alone.  They  have  asked  for  nothing  and  want  nothing  except  that 
Congress  shall  undo  its  unsolicited  and  ill-advised  legislation.  Gov- 
ernmental direction  of  the  fine  arts  is  not  sought.  It  worked  badly 
in  France,  a  nation  of  artists,  and  it  can  be  imagined  how  it  would  work 
here  where  ignorance  of  art-matters  and  political  faithlessness  go 
hand  in  hand.  It  might  be  a  gracious  thing  for  the  Government  to 
erect  a  building  to  be  used  as  a  National  Gallery,  but  it  has  not  been 
directly  asked  to  do  this,  and  even  should  it  think  wise  to  do  so  the 
structure  through  political  jobbery  would  likely  enough  turn  out  to 
be  another  New  York  Post-Office  horror  not  at  all  advantageous  to 
art.  Again,  it  might  be  a  gracious  thing  for  the  Government  to  place 
prizes  in  the  hands  of  a  committee  of  artists  to  be  awarded  to  suc- 
cessful art-competitors  as  in  France,  and  to  lend  assistance  to  the 
promotion  and  advancement  of  art  through  its  executive  bureaus. 
Other  nations  of  the  earth  cultivate  art  and  find  it  not  a  bad  invest- 
ment  from  a  purely  mercantile  point  of  view.  France  makes  a  large 
revenue  out  of  it,  and  people  flock  to  Paris  mainly  to  see  the  art- 
treasures  there.  But  however  beneficial  such  a  course  might  prove, 
the  artists  have  not  asked  for  it.  All  that  is  requested  of  Congress 
is  that  it  undo  what  art-legislation  it  has  done,  and  in  the  future 


eave  American  art  to  follow  the  even  tenor  of  its  way  unmolested  by 
egislation  of  any  kind.  Our  art  is  abundantly  able  to  fight  its  own 
way  unaided  and  unprotected,  like  any  other  profession  or  calling 
not  a  capitalized  industry.  JOHN  C.  VAN  DYKE. 


IT  is  a  fact  which  no  intelligent  architect  will  undertake  to  deny, 
that  the  constructive  masonry  of  the  present  period  is  defective 
in  the  proper  and  well-directed  use  of  mortars  and  cements.  This 
is  due  not  altogether  to  a  lack  of  good  interest  or  a  condition  of  posi- 
tive ignorance  on  the  part  of  the  builders.  The  architects  who  have 
;he  planning  and  direction  of  the  work  are  largely  to  blame.  We 
iancy  that  engineers,  as  a  rule,  have  better  masonry  constructions 
carried  out  under  their  care  than  the  architects,  even  when  working 
with  the  same  kinds  of  men  and  material.  There  is  no  real  excuse 
:or  this  condition.  The  architect  should  understand  and  appreciate 
;he  materials  with  which  he  has  to  deal.  There  surely  is  as  impera- 
tive a  necessity  for  the  employment  of  good  mortars  in  the  construc- 
tion of  a  large  public  building  as  in  a  bridge  or  an  abutment,  yet  this 
necessity  is  seldom  fully  appreciated,  if  we  are  to  judge  by  the  re- 
sults. Architecture  should  call  out  the  highest  thought  on  every- 
;hing  which  pertains  to  materials  and  appliances  of  construction  to- 
day, in  just  the  same  manner  in  which  during  what  we  may  term  the 
golden  age  of  art,  the  architect  was  master-mechanic  as  well  as  the 
unfolder  of  the  artistic  conception.  It  might  almost  be  said  that 
Rome  owes  her  present  architectural  importance  to  the  use  of  good 
mortar.  Surely  had  the  Pantheon  or  the  Coliseum  been  constructed 
with  the  rash  modern  mixtures  we  are  fain  to  dub  as  mortar,  they 
would  not  be  standing  to-day.  The  architects  of  this  preeminently 
practical  nineteenth  century  seem  strangely  disinclined  to  use  care 
in  the  selection  and  mixing  of  their  cements  and  mortars ;  and  when 
an  architect  seeks  for  information  on  the  subject  he  invariably  turns 
to  an  engineer.  Whether  it  be  beneath  the  dignity  of  the  profes- 
sional brother,  or  whether  it  be  too  profound  a  subject  for  the  archi- 
tectural mind  to  grapple  with,  we  would  not  undertake  to  say ;  but 
the  literature  of  the  subject  is  by  far  too  little  studied,  and 
architects,  by  their  practice,  admit  a  willingness  to  entrust  the  care 
of  one  of  the  most  important  chemical  reactions,  involving  the  ulti- 
mate stability  of  a  building,  to  the  hands  of  the  first  day -laborer  who 
comes  along.  How  many  architects  know  the  proper  proportion  of 
sand  to  use  in  mortar?  How  many  even  examine  the  lime  or  cement 
critically  ?  How  many  understand  the  influence  of  salt,  sugar,  exces- 
sive freezing,  too  much  water,  too  fat  lime,  or  a  badly  burned  cement, 
on  the  resulting  mortar  ?  These  are  pertinent  questions,  and  such 
as  every  architect  should  appreciate. 

But  if  architectural  literature  is  deficient  on  such  themes,  engineers 
are  quite  ready  to  supply  the  lack.  Aside  from  numerous  large  and 
comprehensive  works  on  the  general  subjects  of  limes  and  cements 
there  are  many  smaller  publications  dealing  with  individual  depart- 
ments of  the  topics  and  treating  them  exhaustively.  To  the  last 
category  belongs  the  recently  issued  work  by  John  Newman,  C.  E.1 
It  is  written  entirely  for  engineers  and  treats  the  subject  from  an 
engineering  standpoint,  discussing  problems  which  occur  only  in 
engineering  practice ;  still,  by  reason  of  its  thoroughness,  it  might  be 
of  much  value  to  the  architect.  Furthermore ;  it  is  limited  in  its 
scope  almost  exclusively  to  Portland-cement  concrete,  a  material  with 
which  we  unfortunately  have  comparatively  little  to  do  in  this 
country. 

Mr.  Newman  points  a  moral  by  observing  that  it  is  doubtful  if  any 
other  material  largely  used  in  engineering  structures  requires  in  test- 
ing such  constant  observation  and  assiduous  attention  as  cement.  A 
difference  in  strength  sometimes  occurs  between  each  cargo,  and 
even  in  the  same  shipment  or  delivery;  consequently  a  regular 
system  of  testing  should  be  instituted.  A  simple  test  of  the  strength 
and  character  of  neat  cement  is  not  necessarily  a  guaranty  of  similar 
powers  when  it  is  incorporated  with  sand ;  and  a  test  of  neat  cement 
after  being  seven  days  in  mould  cannot  be  trusted ;  twenty-eight  days 
should  be  the  least  period  to  elapse  from  the  filling  of  the  mould  to 
the  final  test.  How  many  architects  would  ever  feel  called  on  to 
give  the  time  and  attention  necessary  for  such  tests,  even  on  the 
heaviest  buildings  ?  And  yet  our  ordinary  natural  cements  are  much 
more  variable  than  the  manufactured  Portland  cement  to  which  the 
author  refers.  The  whole  of  Mr.  Newman's  chapter  on  tests  is  so 
practical  in  its  nature  and  so  sensible  in  its  application  that  every 
building  superintendent  would  be  better  qualified  for  his  duties  after 
having  studied  it  carefully. 

In  all  cases  where  concrete  is  to  be  exposed  to  dampness,  it  is 
quite  desirable  that  the  mixture  shall  be  water-tight,  which  can  only 
be  when  the  exact  relative  proportions  of  cement,  sand  and  stone  are 
used.  It  is  the  common  architectural  practice  to  follow  some  rule  of 
thumb  deduced  without  reference  to  the  conditions  of  any  particular 
case ;  but  when  cements,  to  say  nothing  of  sands  and  gravels  will 
vary  so  much,  it  is  quite  important  that  exact  relations  be  maintained. 
A  simple  method  is  given  for  determining  the  quantity  of  cement  re- 
quired in  concrete :  With  the  gravel,  or  stone,  fill  completely  by 
shaking  and  ramming  down  a  water-tight  box  or  measure,  the  cubical 

'"  Notrs  on  Concrete  and  Works  in  Concrete,"  by  John  Newman,  Assoc.  M. 
Inst.  C.  K.  London  and  New  York  :  E.  &  F.  N.  Spoil. 


MAHCH  17,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect   and  Building  News. 


131 


contents  of  winch  are  known.  Then  add  as  much  damp  sand  as 
possible,  shaking  it  down  amongst  the  gravel,  the  calamity  of  gravel, 
or  stone,  and  sand  being  measured  before  lieing  deposited.  Then 
pour  in  as  much  water  as  the  measure  will  contain ;  tkn  quantity  of 
water  uives  the  net  cubical  contents  of  the  cement  required  to  coat 
the  particles,  which,  however,  should  be  increased  by  about  ten  per 
cent  to  allow  for  imperfect  amalgamation,  which  cannot  be  so  com- 
plete as  the  water,  and  to  ensure  that  all  the  interstices  between  the 
Kind  are  tilled  with  cement.  In  a  similar  manner  the  volume  of  the 
inter>iices  of  the  stone  con  be  ascertained. 

Mr.  Newman  writes  from  an  Knglish  standpoint,  and  some  of  his 
figures  relating  to  prices  can  be  of  only  approximate  value  to  Ameri- 
can readers,  but  he  makes  some  statements  in  regard  to  the  compara- 
tive cost  of  cement  and  lime  mortars  which  suggest  that  possibly 
similar  conditions  exist  in  this  country  without  our  being  able  to 
utilize  them.  Thus,  at  the  Portsmouth  Dock-yard  Extension  works  it 
was  found  that  a  mixture  of  four  to  six  parts  of  sand  to  one  of  Port- 
land cement  gave  a  mortar  far  superior  to  any  that  could  be  made 
with  lime,  and  at  slightly  less  expense;  and  that  the  adhesive  power 
of  mortar  mixed  in  the  projiortion  of  eight  of  sand  to  one  of  cement, 
with  the  addition  of  a  small  quantity  of  lime,  or  yellow  loam,  to 
render  the  mortar  more  plastic  and  tenacious,  was  superior  to  lime 
mortar  mixed  in  the  proportions  of  two  of  sand  to  one  of  lime.  At 
the  Chatham  Dock-yard  works,  ordinary  building  mortar  was 
abandoned,  and  a  mixture  used  of  one  part  cement  to  seven  parts  of 
coarse,  clean,  sharp  sand,  and  one  part  of  foundry  sand  containing 
about  ten  per  cent  of  loam,  equivalent  to  about  one  and-one-half  per 
cent  in  the  mortar  ready  for  use. 

The  book  is  purely  technical  in  its  character.  The  statements  are 
terse,  well  chosen  and  to  the  point,  nor  does  one  have  to  wade 
through  a  mass  of  figures  and  hypothetical  theories  to  get  at  the 
facts,  a  quality  not  always  to  be  found  in  treatises  of  this  kind.  It 
is  a  business-like  book  for  busy  people. 

THERE  must  be  very  few  large  schools  or  small  colleges  in  this 
country  which  do  not  maintain  one  or  more  publi  ations  of  one  kind 
or  another,  and  if  they  are  not  the  kind  which  undertake  to  lay  down 
the  law  upon  every  subject  and  prefer  to  stride  haughtily  along  on 
st  ills  than  scuffle  honestly  along  through  every -day  dust,  they  do  a  world 
of  good.  They  form  records  for  the  future,  they  knit  more  closely 
together  the  bovs  who  make  and  maintain  them,  and  when  they  fall  into 
the  hands  of  ciders  they  help  to  show  how  the  coming  generation  is 
preparing  to  take  up  the  work  which  they  soon  must  drop.  If  not 
too  stilted  or  too  insipid,  but  frank  and  boyish  they  are  a  charming 
form  of  publication  to  pick  up  and  read  —  now  and  then.  When  we 
received  some  time  ago  a  notification  that  the  students  of  the  Archi- 
tectural Department  of  the  Institute  of  Technology  proposed  to 
establish  a  publication,  we  wondered  which  of  several  possible 
courses  would  be  selected,  and  had  a  premonitory  shudder  at  the 
idea  that  we  might  be  treated  to  another  exhibition  on  stilts,  and 
asked  to  read  in  humbleness  of  spirit  the  latest  gospel  of  art  as 
preached  by  those  just  crossing  its  threshold.  But  instead  of  this 
we  find  the  modest  statement  that  the  Technology  Architectural  Re- 
rii  >rl  is  to  be  "  essentially  a  portfolio  of  plates  and  not  of  text,' 
which  will  "aim  to  call  attention  to  aud  emphasize  the  resources  of 
Classic  architecture,"  and  will  "offer  to  American  draughtsmen  an 
academic  model  at  a  price  within  the  reach  of  every  one,"  and  we 
find  this  statement  confirmed  by  the  inclusion  in  this  initial  number  of 
four  gelatine  prints  which  show  reproductions  of  successful  school 
problems  executed  as  washed  drawings.  The  idea  of  the  publication 
is  a  good  one ;  an  "  academic  model "  is  in  many  ways  a 
most  desirable  thing  to  have  within  reach,  and  if  these  young 
men  can  interject  once  a  month  into  the  hurly-burly  of  the 
"  picturesque  "  or  "  cottage "  architecture  some  designs  that  will 
show  that  proportion,  mass,  subordination  of  parts  and,  above  all, 
refined  simplicity  are  things  that  are  in  these  days  believed  in  and 
studied,  even  if  only  within  the  walls  of  a  school,  they  will  have 
deserved  as  well  of  their  times  as  other  reformers  have  of  theirs. 

\Ve  will  not  distress  the  promoters  with  any  forebodings  as  to 
what  will  become  of  the  Review  when  those  who  have  founded  it  have 
taken  up  the  realities  of  an  architect's  life,  but  we  think  we  may 
offer  the  suggestion  that  if  the  plates  are  intended  to  be  primarily 
Muvenirs  of  the  achievements  of  fellow-students,  pleasant  records  of  an 
all  too-fleeting  time  of  probation,  a  greater  number  of  designs,  repro- 
duced in  a  less  expensive  style,  would  better  please  the  majority  of  the 
editors' constituents,  while,  if  it  is  really  intended  to  call  the  attention 
of  outsiders  to  "  the  resources  of  Classic  architecture,"  an  endeavor 
should  he  made  to  have  the  scale  of  prints  large  enough  to  properly 
show  what  the  resources  are.  To  those  who  have  enjoyed  this  kind 
of  academic  training,  the  three  drawings  which  go  to  make  up  the 
usual  rentlu  of  a  programme  are  intelligible  enough,  but  the  outsider 
would  find  more  real  instruction  in  one  set  of  drawings,  "  with 
details  to  a  larger  scale." 


A  VKI5Y  different  publication  is  this  next  one,  and  yet  it  is  an 
architectural  journal  put  forth  by  men  who  also  believe  in  academic 
ni'i'lels  and  the  worth  of  Classic  architecture  —  at  least  in  the  school 
period.  It  is  the  new  weekly  journal,  L' Architecture,  established  by 
the  Societ^  Centrale  des  Architcctes  Francais,  one  of  the  most 

•  •lianlniiu  Architectural  Keview,  published  monthly  during  the  school- 
•  months  — hy  the  students  in  the  Architectural  Department  of  the 
McnuwUe  Institute  of  Technology. 


energetic  and  progressive  architectural  associations  in  Europe.  The 
list  of  the  Society's  undertakings  is  not  a  short  one,  and  it  has  been 
induced  to  add  one  more  to  the  number  in  the  establishment  of  this 
journal,  because  it  was  found  that  the  monthly  Bulletin  had  a  circu- 
lation almost  exclusively  amongst  members  of  t lie  Society,  and  so  had 
no  external  influence,  and  was,  moreover,  at  the  disadvantage  in 
which  monthly  jieriodicals  always  find  themselves  in  dealing  with 
matters  of  current  interest  and  importance.  The  working  organiza- 
tion of  the  Society  is  extremely  good,  and  to  the  several  "sections" 
are  referred  matters  pertinent  to  them  for  treatment  in  a  more  effi- 
cient and  prompt  manner  than  would  probably  attend  the  delibera- 
tions of  the  entire  body.  Consequently  arises  the  necessity  that  tho 
main  body  should  receive  reports  of  the  action  of  its  several  sections 
promptly,  and  it  is  to  furnish  a  vehicle  for  the  publication  of  these 
rejK>rts  that  L' Architecture  has  been  established.  All  the  other 
matter  that  usually  finds  its  way  into  an  architectural  publication 
will  be  found  here,  but  the  central  fact  will  always  be  in  evidence  — 
that  the  journal  is  official,  hut  official  in  the  French  sense,  which  is 
somewhat  different  from  that  in  which  we  often  use  the  word,  which 
comes  pretty  near  to  l>eing  "organic." 

'I  he  three  things  of  most  importance  that  the  Society  has  accom- 
plished is  the  compilation  and  publication  of  the  "  Manuel  dei  Loin 
tin  Bailment,"  the  establishment  of  the  Cause  de  Defenite  mutuelle  ties 
Architects*  and  the  publication  of  the  Se'rie  de  prix,  or  official  price- 
list  of  building-materials  which  has  no  counterpart  in  this  country,  but 
which  in  France  is  used  by  every  contractor  in  making  his  estimates. 

Another  worthy  feature  of  the  Society's  work  is  the  manner  in 
which  it  interests  itself  in  the  mechanics  who  carry  out  the  designs 
of  architects  and  seeks  to  encourage  friendly  relations  between  the 
head  and  the  hand,  as  it  were,  as  well  as  to  encourage  individual 
ambition  by  the  bestowal  of  numerous  medals  and  rewards. 

We  believe  that  we  shall  find  the  new  journal  as  welcome  a  visitor 
as  are  the  other  two  architectural  weeklies  whose  establishment  some 
years  ago  was  so  marked  a  new  departure  in  French  professional 
publications. 


AN  OPENING  FOR  AN  ARCHITECT. 

NEWARK,  N.  J.,  March  6, 1888. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  Will  you  kindly  do  me  the  great  favor  to  tell  me 
your  opinion  in  regard  to  the  following : 

I  am  a  youno;  architect  intending  to  start  business  for  myself  in 
any  city  of  the  United  States,  and  want  to  know  some  cities  which 
may  be  the  most  suitable  for  this  purpose  both  according  to  rapid 
increase  in  population  and  wealth  and  according  to  a  healthy  climate. 
I  dislike  to  take  up  your  time,  but  would  be  happy  to  hear  your 
advice  in  this  case.  Very  respectfully  yours, 

INQUIRER. 

[SAN  Diego,  Cn\.,  possesses  the  necessary  climatic  recommendation!",  and 
the  newspapers  of  that  city  assert  lhat  there  is  a  "  building  boom"  of  large 
proportions  now  asserting  it«  sway.  We  advise  our  correspondent  not  to  go 
to  such  remote  parts  without  further  inquiry.— EDS.  AMKUICA  \  AKCHITKCT.] 

DISREGARDING  THE  LIMIT  OF  COST. 

NEW  YOBK,  N.  Y.,  March  5,  1888. 

To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  I  have  just  learned  the  result  of  a  competition  in 
•which  I  was  engaged  with  others  for  a  church  at  Newark,  N.  J. 
The  terms  of  the  competition  placed  a  limit  of  cost  $90,000.  I  have 
heard  that  the  accepted  design  is  likely  to  very  far  exceed  this 
limit.  If  this  is  so,  is  there  any  redress  for  the  other  competitors, 
most  of  whom  were  naturally  careful  to  keep  within  this  essential 
condition  of  the  competition. 

I  ask  this  question  because  it  is  an  oft-repeated  experience.  Not 
long  ago  I  had  the  misfortune  to  stand  No.  2  in  a  competition  for  a 
high  school  building,  limit  of  cost  as  stated  $20,000.  I  was  most 
careful  to  keep  within  the  limit.  The  accepted  design  cost  $35,000 
as  I  was  afterward  told,  and  trustees  were  obliged  to  apply  for  addi- 
tional funds.  Ought  there  not  to  have  been  some  redress  ?  Now, 
for  this  church,  twenty  designs,  which  probably  represent  $4,000 
worth  of  labor,  were  submitted.  If  there  is  any  element  of  unfair- 
ness in  the  verdict,  especially  such  an  element  as  this,  should  there 
not  be  a  Portia  or  Daniel  to  come  to  judgment  in  our  behalf. 

Respectfully  yours, 

COMPETITOR. 

JTHK  persons  proposing  the  competition  are  bound  by  the  terms  they 
offer,  and  in  the  case  of  a  very  glaring  violation  of  the  provMnn  for  limit 
of  cost,  could  probably  be  made  to  pay  all  the  competitors  who  followed  the 
terms  in  good  faith  a  fair  price  for  their  work.  At  the  same  time  other 
terms  of  the  competition  are  very  often  incompatible  with  the  limit  of  cost 
specified  in  the  same  programme,  aud  it  would  certainly  nut  be  for  the 
in  t  e  rest  of  the  profession  to  hold  too  closely  to  a  limit  of  cost  on  work  shown 
by  competition  sketches.  We  should  say  that  a  man  who  got  a  sketch  for 
a  thirty-five  thousand  dollar  building  accepted  in  a  competition  for  one  to 
cost  twenty  thousand  had  practised  a  successful  fraud,  but  a  certain  margin 
ought  fairly  to  be  allowed.  — Eos.  AMKHICAN  ARCHITECT.) 


132 


The  American  Architect  and  building  News.       [Vou  XXIII.  — No.  638. 


A   QUESTION  OF   COMMISSION. 

COLUMBIA,  S.  C.,  March  7,  1888. 

To  THE  EDITORS  or  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  I  write  to  have  you  decide  for  me  the  proper  charges, 
under  the  conditions  that  1  will  endeavor  to  state  briefly  and  clearly 
below.  You  can  reply  either  by  letter  or  through  your  valuable 
journal. 

Let  me  at  first  say  that  in  this  town,  which  is  my  home,  there  is 
but  little  chance  for  an  architect,  as  every  man  who  builds  "  wants 
the'  most  house  for  the  least  money,"  and  usually  thinks  he  can  plan 
a  better  house  for  himself  than  any  one  else  can  plan  for  him,  so, 
with  the  assistance  of  a  builder  and  "  Shoppell's  Homes,"  he  goes  to 
work. 

In  consequence,  to  keep  employed,  I  make  the  plans  and  then  take 
the  contract  u-hen  I  can  get  it.  If  I  get  the  contract,  I  make  no 
charge  for  plans,  specifications,  etc.,  but  when  I  do  not,  I  am  entitled 
to  some  compensation  for  services.  Now,  under  these  circumstances, 
I  want  to  know  what  should  the  charge  be,  as  I  have  many  cases  of 
this  kind  ?  The  case  in  question  is  like  this  : 

A  friend  comes  to  me  and  says  he  wants  to  build  ;  he  knows  that 
I  design  and  build  houses.  While  he  does  not  say  that  he  wants  me 
to  design  his  house,  and  consequently  says  nothing  about  charges,  he 
readily  gives  me  his  ideas  and  his  own  diagrams,  and  allows  me  to 
make  "  eighth  scale  "  plans  of  his  house,  which,  after  much  discus- 
sion and  several  changes,  and  writing  and  rewriting  the  specifications 
to  reduce  the  cost,  he  accepts.  At  this  stage,  two  bids  are  taken,  and 
mine  is  $150  high.  The  contract  is  given  to  the  lower  bidder.  I 
will  add  that  the  plans  were  eighth  scale  "  pencil  sketches."  The 
specifications  were  written  in  ink.  The  elevations  are  on  my  table. 
This  is,  I  believe,  a  fair  account  of  a  case,  and  as  I  wish  to  settle  the 
matter  justly,  I  have  agreed  to  have  you  decide  upon  my  charge. 
By  an  early  reply,  you  will  greatly  oblige, 

Very  truly  yours,  GEORGE  W.  WARING. 

[EIGHTH  scale  sketches  and  specifications  for  a  house  to  cost  less  than  ten 
thousand  dollars  ought  to  be  worth  four  to  six  per  cent  on  the  proposed  cost 
of  the  house.  If,  however,  n  man  is  known  to  be  in  the  habit  of  furnishing 
sketches  as  an  inducement  to  owners  to  contract  with  him  for  building,  we 
doubt  if  he  could  oblige  any  one  who  had  not  made  a  contract  with  him  to 
pay  him  for  the  sketches  furnished  unless  some  arrangement  or  notice  pre- 
ceded the  furnishing  of  the  plans.  —  EDS.  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT.} 


AN  OLD  MINER'S  TALES.  —  "  There  are  many  strange  things  con- 
nected with  the  Comstock  Mines,"  said  an  old  resident  of  Virginia  City 
yesterday.  "  You  must  recollect  that  while  the  main  workings  extend 
from  the  north  of  Gold  Hill  to  Virginia,  and  below,  a  distance  of  three 
miles,  there  is  a  total  of  252  miles  of  tunnels,  drifts,  slopes,  sumps, 
quips,  and  turns,  making  up  the  interior  workings  as  a  total.  Think  of 
it  —  252  miles  ;  farther  by  far  than  from  the  Golden  Gate  to  the  Nevada 
line,  and  farther  than  across  the  great  State  of  New  York.  Why,  look 
around  a  little.  You  might  go  as  far  from  Washington,  D.C.,  as  to 
Baltimore  and  back  again  and  you  wouldn't  be  much  more  than  half 
through  the  Comstock.  Then  when  you  think  of  the  great  depth  of 
these  mines,  the  gigantic,  incomprehensible  weight  of  the  mass  resting 
upon  the  timbers,  and  the  travelling  mountain  in  which  are  these  mines 
and  on  which  is  Virginia  City,  you  involve  propositions  again  that  have 
stumped  the  deepest  thinkers.  For  instance,  queer  polished  sticks  as 
smooth  as  mahogany  and  no  thicker  than  my  cane  are  every  once  in  a 
while  being  taken  out  of  the  old  workings.  They  are  as  hard  and  as 
heavy  as  iron,  and  a  knife  will  not  make  a  mark  on  them.  Now,  what 
are  they  ?  Originally  they  were  12-inch  solid  timbers,  and  the  millions 
of  tons  bearing  upon  them  in  all  directions,  perpendicularly  as  well  as 
laterally  —  for  it  is  only  in  this  way  that  mines  can  be  timbered  —  have 
pressed  them  to  this  shape.  They  are  found  sometimes  in  bits,  some- 
times in  long  pieces,  take  nout  where  caves  have  occurred  and  the 
workings  displaced.  No  known  mechanism  at  present  nor  in  any 
age  of  the  past,  so  far  as  history  recounts,  has  such  power  to  compress 
and  work  marvels  with  wood.  The  silent  old  mine  has  stumped  the 
scientists.  You  have  asked  me  if  it  is  really  true  that  Mount  Davidson 
is  slowly  travelling  eastward,  with  the  town  of  Virginia  on  her  back  and 
her  mines  within.  It  is  true,  and  this  again  has  set  our  ablest  men  to 
scratching  their  heads.  By  the  careful  estimates  of  engineers  it  is  seen 
that  Virginia  City  has  travelled  down  hill  10  feet  in  15  years,  or  about 
two-thirds  of  a  foot  a  year.  It  is  concluded  that  it  is  owing  to  the  vast 
underground  workings.  But  just  how  it  is  done  is  problematical.  At 
any  rate,  however,  the  people  of  Virginia  City  are  not  afraid  of  the  trip 
they  are  taking.  They  have  been  with  it  too  long  to  get  alarmed  about 
it  now.  In  the  Consolidated  Virginia  and  California  mines  of  the  Com- 
stock was  another  strange  thing,  too,  that  for  a  long  time  caused  much 
deep  study  and  a  vast  expenditure  of  money.  The  fires  which  broke 
out  there  on  the  1,500-foot  level  years  ago  and  burned  for  years  seemed 
inextinguishable.  Every  known  means  was  tried.  There  was  a  large 
body  of  superior  ore  there,  as  many  will  remember,  and  the  owners 
were  anxious  to  get  at  it.  It  was  no  use,  so  they  put  in  seven  solid  feet 
of  a  bulkhead  and  shut  it  up.  It  burned  for  seven  years,  and  it  was 
only  a  year  ago  that  carbonic  gas  was  injected  by  means  of  costly  ma- 
chinery and  the  hidden  fires  put  put.  The  gas  in  there  was  so  deadly 
that  not  a  man  could  approach  it  as  it  was  escaping.  It  would  have 
been  instant  death.  Now  the  best  ore  of  the  Consolidated  Virginia 


and  California  is  coining  out  of  that  place  where  the  unseen  fires  long 
raged."  —  San  Francisco  Examiner. 

CONQUERING  A  QUICKSAND.  —While  boring  with  a  diamond  drill  for 
the  foundation  of  the  Quaker  Bridge  dam  for  the  new  extended  water- 
works of  New  York  City,  the  work  was  embarrassed  by  striking  a 
quicksand  which  prevented  them  from  obtaining  a  section  of  the  geo- 
logical formation  of  the  earth  beyond  that  point.  Chief  Engineer  Ben- 
jamin Church,  in  charge  of  the  work,  withdrew  the  drills,  and  making 
a  very  fluid  grout  of  cement,  poured  it  down  the  bore,  and  waited  a 
few  days  for  it  to  harden  before  resuming  work  with  the  diamond  drill. 
The  cement  completely  filled  the  passage-way  across  the  quicksand  do- 
posit,  and  the  diamond  drill,  removing  the  interior  of  this  block  of 
cement,  proceeded  without  any  difficulty  through  the  sustained  forma- 
tion on  the  other  side  of  the  quicksand.  — Ent/ineeriny. 

THE  SARCOPHAGUS  OP  ALEXANDER. —I  get  to-night  from  Constan- 
tinople, through  Minister  Strauz  and  Secretary  of  Legation  Pendleton 
King,  an  interesting  statement  concerning  the  sarcophagus  of  Alexan- 
der the  Great.  In  May  of  last  year  Ilamdy  Bey  discovered  in  the 
course  of  excavations  at  Sidon  eleven  sarcophagi  —  four  Phoenician  and 
seven  Greek.  The  former  had  been  already  described  and  illustrated 
in  a  French  archaeological  journal,  but  Hamdy  saved  the  Greek  ones  to 
make  a  book  about  them,  which  will  appear  a  few  months  hence.  All 
these  are  now  in  Constantinople  in  boxes,  and  will  be  exhibited  as  soon 
as  a  fitting  room  can  be  prepared.  One  of  the  Greek  sarcophagi  is  of 
such  huge  proportions,  magnificence  of  sculpture  and  coloring,  that  from 
the  start  the  discoverers  first  assumed  it  to  be  the  tomb  of  some  Assyrian 
king.  But  Hamdy  devoted  deep  research  to  the  work  of  studying  the 
sculpture,  and  concluded  finally  that  the  sarcophagus  was  that  of  Alex- 
ander the  Great.  Its  sculpture,  on  this  theory,  represents  the  battle  of 
Arabela,  a  lion  hunt,  and  the  battle  of  Granicus,  all  the  relievos  being 
splendid  and  of  almost  unexampled  artistic  merit.  The  sarcophagus  is 
nearly  12  feet  long,  7  high,  and  5}£  broad,  and  the  total  weight  is  25 
tons,  of  which  the  cover  weighs  10.  It  is  all  of  fine  Parian  marble.  A 
photograph  of  it  has  been  sent  to  a  number  of  French  savants,  includ- 
ing Kenan,  and  some  of  them  are  now  there  studying  it.  —  Correspond- 
ence of  New  York  Times. 

THE  AMERICAN  EXPEDITION  TO  BABYLONIA. —  An  expedition  to  exca- 
vate one  or  more  of  the  ancient  sites  of  Babylonia  has  been  organized 
in  Philadelphia.  This  expedition  is  the  heir  and  successor  of  the  Wolfe 
expedition,  which  was  sent  out  from  this  city  by  the  liberality  of  the 
late  Miss  Catherine  Lorillard  Wolfe.  That  expedition,  headed  by  Rev. 
Dr.  W.  Hayes  Ward  of  the  Independent,  did  a  preparatory  work  with 
a  view  to  future  developments.  As  a  result  of  its  labors  this  American 
expedition  has  been  organized  in  Philadelphia,  which  proposes  to  exca- 
vate what  the  Wolfe  company  was  able  only  to  explore.  The  money 
for  the  present  occasion  has  been  contributed  by  public-spirited  citizens 
of  Philadelphia,  working  in  connection  with  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, the  latter  institution  having  accepted  responsibility  for  the 
expedition,  and  arranged  for  a  proper  working  up  of  the  results.  The 
director  of  the  expedition  is  Rev.  Professor  Peters  of  Philadelphia.  Dr. 
Hilprecht,  professor  of  Assyrian  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
represents  what  may  be  called  the  home  staff,  charged  with  the  duty 
of  scientific  publication  of  all  texts  found.  Dr.  R.  F.  Harper  of  Yale 
University  and  Professor  Rogers  of  Haverford  College  also  will  be  of 
the  company.  Names  of  other  members  of  the  staff  have  not  yet  been 
made  public,  nor  has  the  exact  locality  been  designated  where  it  is  pro- 
posed to  excavate.  Further  details  will  probably  be  furnished  later. 
It  is  understood,  however,  that  the  plan  of  operations  determined  upon 
by  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  is  so  broxd  and  liberal  as  to  allow 
all  American  institutions,  so  desiring,  to  avail  themselves  of  the  advan- 
tages offered  by  this  expedition. — a.  Y.  Evening  Punt. 

Du.  SCIILIEMANN'S  EXPLORATIONS  IN  CERIGO.  —  Dr.  Schlicmann  left 
Athens  on  January  27th  for  a  three  months'  journey  of  exploration  in 
Epypt;  in  company  with  Professor  Virchow.  Before  the  arrival  of  the 
latter,  Dr.  Schlicmann  intends  making  a  thorough  study  of  the  topo- 
graphical points  of  the  old  town  of  Alexandria.  A  report  on  the 
remains  of  the  ancient  Temple  of  Aphrodite  in  Ccrigo  has  been  sent  by 
the  discoverer  to  the  Berlin  Society  of  Anthropology.  A  fuller  des- 
cription, with  plan  and  sketches,  will  appear  in  the  Mitlheilunyen  of  the 
German  Institute  for  Archaeology  at  Athens.  Meanwhile,  we  are 
enabled  to  state  that  the  site  of  the  old  temple  is  identified  with  that  of 
the  Church  of  the  Holy  Cosmos.  It  is  situated  nearly  in  the  centre  of 
the  enclosure  walls  of  the  old  towrrof  Cythera,  and  it  appears  that  the 
stones  of  the  ancient  sanctuary  almost  sufficed  for  the  erection  of  the 
church.  The  temple  was  a  closed  structure  made  of  tuff-stone,  with  two 
rows  of  Doric  columns,  four  on  each  side,  of  extremely  archaic  style. 
They  are  all  still  preserved  in  the  church,  with  their  capitals  and  orna- 
ments, but  only  two  of  them,  as  well  as  the  base  of  a  column,  are  now 
in  situ.  The  columns  also  are  of  tuff-stone.  On  a  hill-top  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, which  is  about  thirty  metres  higher,  there  are  remains  of 
Cyclopean  fortifications.  Dr.  Schliemann  thinks  they  cannot  be  older 
than  the  seventh  century  u.  c.,  seeing  that  he  did  not  find  there  any 
potsherds  for  which  a  higher  age  could  be  attributed.  All  former  exca- 
vators have  sought  for  the  temple  of  Aphrodite  on  the  lower  terraces 
of  the  hill-range,  but  in  vain.  When  digging  there.  Dr.  Schliemann 
laid  bare  a  mass  of  large  building-stones,  but  these  appear  to  belong  to  a 
wall-tower  of  the  Macedonian  period.  The  great  enclosure  wall  ("  peri- 
bqlos")  of  the  town,  which  is  formed  of  the  same  material  and  is  in 
the  same  architectural  style,  evidently  dates  from  that  epoch.  For  a 
long  time  this  wall  has  been  used  by  the  inhabitants  as  a  convenient 
source  of  building  material,  nevertheless,  there  are  still  considerable 
remains  in  several  places.  In  the  old  harbor  town  of  the  island,  at  Scan- 
deia,  Dr.  Schliemann  also  made  excavations,  but  without  finding  any- 
thing of  interest.  There  are  nowhere  else  any  artificial  mounds  to  be 
seen  in  Cerigo.  —  London  Academy. 

8.  J.  PARKHILL  &  Co.,  Printers,  Boston. 


Tlje  American  Architect  ar?d  Building  IJews,  Inarch  24,  1555.     I?o.  659. 


Copyright,  iSS8,  hyTiCKNOR  &  Co. 


HELIO-CHROME 


HCUOTVPE  PRINTING  GO,  BOSTON. 


DOORWAY   ON   COMMONWEALTH   AVENUE,   BOSTON,    MASS. 


THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  AND  BUILDING  NEWS. 


VOL.  xxin. 


Copyright,  1888,  by  TICKNOR  &  COMPANY,  Booton,  Maw. 


No.  639. 


MARCH  24. 1888. 

Entered  at  the  I'oet-OlHce  at  Boston  as  second-claw  matter. 


SUMMARY — 

The  Increase  in  the  Architectural  and  Building  Journals.  — 
Hello-Chrome  Prints. —  The  late  James  W.  1'irsson,  Archi- 
tect.—  The  Tariff  and  the  Price  of  Cement.  —  Scheme  for 
Utilizing  the  Water-power  of  Niagara.  —  Architectural  Au- 
tobiographies and  tht  Great  Service  they  might  do  the  Pro- 
fession. —  Exhibition  of  Habitations  at  Paris  in  1889.  .  .  .  133 

LETTKK  FROM  BALTIMORE 135 

LETTER  FKOM  CHICAGO 135 

LETTEK  FROM  BOSTON 137 

ILLUSTRATIONS  :  — 

Doorway  on  Commonwealth  Ave.,  Boston,  Mass.  —  Gothic 
Spires  and  Towers.  Plates  7,  8  and  P.  —  House  for  Ex-Gov. 
Jno.  M.  Hamilton,  Kenwood,  Chicago,  111.  — House  at  Wash- 
ington, I).  C.  —  Church  at  Guadalupe,  Mexico.  — House  for 
Mrs.J.  D.Cameron,  Washington,  D.  C.  —  Study  for  a  Subur- 
ban House.  —  House  at  Chicago,  111.  —  House  for  James 

McKay,  Esq.,  Shady  Side,  Pittsburgh,  Pa 137 

LETTER  FROM  PHILADELPHIA 138 

LETTER  FROM  CINCINNATI.     .^ 138 

LETTER  FROM  LONDON 139 

NOTES  OF  TRAVEL-^CHICAOO. — IV 140 

SOCIETIES :     .     .     .  142 

COMMUNICATIONS  :  — 

For  our  Advertisers  to  Consider.  —  Restoring  faded  Brick- 
Fronts 143 

NOTES  AND  CLIPPINGS 144 

Tit Mn:  SURVEYS.      ...         144 


TIFIIE  announcement  of  the  approaching  birth  of  some  new 
•"A  architectural  or  building  periodical  —  and  during  the  last 
few  years  the  mountain  which  produces  them  has  beeii 
kept  in  a  constant  condition  of  parturition  —  fills  us  each  time 
with  a  mild  astonishment,  which  is  often  not  lessened  when 
we  come  to  examine  the  first  copy  that  comes  to  hand ;  for,  as 
often  as  not,  the  question  that  occurs  to  us  is :  "  Well,  why  is 
not  this  as  well  worth  while  as  most  of  the  others  that  are  pub- 
lished?" and  not  as  perhaps  it  might  excusably  be:  "What  is 
the  use  of  this,  it  is  just  the  same  as,  and  not  any  better  than 
half-a-dozen  others  ? "  Progress  is  suggested,  and  we  often 
take  up  the  first  issue  of  this  journal  and  reflect  with  mixed 
feelings  on  the  great  difference  between  the  attitude  which  the 
public  holds  to-day  toward  architecture  and  its  professors  and 
that  which  it  held  a  dozen  years  ago,  and  smile  with  some 
spice  of  grimness  at  the  inequalities  of  fortune  which  caused 
our  own  early  career  to  be  such  a  struggle,  while  it  allows 
those  that  come  after  us  to  adopt  at  the  outset  those  features 
of  the  value  of  which  they  had  the  evidence  before  them  which 
our  own  success  afforded.  How  far  it  is  safe  to  carry  the 
mania  for  establishing  new  journals  of  nearly  identical  char- 
acter, and  all  looking  for  support  to  the  same  profession  and 
trades,  and  to  the  same  set  of  advertisers  remains  to  be  proved. 
The  changes  we  constantly  notice  in  the  names  of  the  pub- 
lishers of  these  journals  show  that  the  struggle  for  existence  is 
now  and  then  too  sharp  to  be  endured  by  the  founders  who 
seem  to  be  quite  willing  to  transfer  to  their  successors  the  un- 
profitable pleasure  of  publishing  a  journal  which  does  not  pay 
its  own  expenses. 

WE  believe  that  the  subscription  and  advertising  fields  open 
to  architectural  and  building  journals  are  very  definitely 
limited  and  of  slow  growth,  and  that  the  more  hands  that 
undertake  to  gather  the  crop  from  this  restricted  area  the  less  of 
a  crop  each  will  gather,  and  the  less  of  it  in  each  case  will  go  to  the 
making  of  that  brawn  and  sinew  necessary  for  prolonged  existence 
when  it  comes  to  a  question  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest.  We 
do  not  mind  stating  frankly  that  it  is  our  purpose  to  secure  for 
ourselves  as  large  a  share  as  possible  of  this  crop,  and  we  have 
never  slackened  in  our  endeavors  that  our  performance  might 
deserve  the  meed  that  our  desire  covets.  To  that  end  we 
have  made  changes  and  improvements,  which  inured  to  the 
benefit  of  our  subscribers,  as  often  as  circumstances  permitted, 
and  it  is  in  the  hope  that  the  means  of  making  further  improve- 
ments may  be  secured  to  us  that  we  have  incurred  the  cost  of 


printing  to-day  a  full  edition  of  u  helio-chroine  subject  —  usually 
included  only  in  our  Imperial  edition — so  that  subscribers  to 
tin'  oiluT  I'diiions  may  form  an  idea  as  to  what  a  helio  chrome 
print  really  is.  The  prints  produced  by  this  process  in  their 
delicacy  of  effect  and  accuracy  of  coloring  give,  we  believe,  a 
truer  and  more  satisfying  impression  of  architectural  subjects 
than  those  produced  by  any  other  process  known  to  us :  we 
do  not  believe,  for  instance,  that  any  one  can  discover  a  better 
architectural  print  than  the  helio-chrome  included  in  the 
"  Trinity  Church  Monograph."  The  larger  the  edition,  of 
course,  the  less  will  be  the  relative  cost  of  manufacture,  and  so 
it  is  quite  possible  that  while  leaving  our  net  income  the  same 
a  larger  edition  might  make  it  possible  for  us  to  give  our  sub- 
scribers a  better  return  for  their  money  even  than  we  now  do. 
As  to  the  question  of  money's  worth,  we  chanced  to  ask  the 
publishers  at  the  close  of  last  year  what  would  be  the  proper 
retail  price  of  a  book  of  the  size  and  quality  of  a  bound  volume 
of  the  American  Architect,  and  were  rather  surprised  at  the 
moderation  of  their  hasty  estimate,  which  was  "  Not  less  than 
thirty  dollars" ! 


TTR.  JAMES  W.  PIRSSON,  a  well-known  architect  of  New 
I XI  York,  died  in  that  city  recently.  Mr.  Pirsson  with  his 
•*  no  less  distinguished  partner  Mr.  Hubert,  may  be  said  to 
have  almost  created  the  system  of  apartment-house  building 
which  flourished  in  New  York  for  so  many  years,  and  brought 
the  firm  the  highest  reputation.  Their  first  venture,  and  the 
earliest  apartment-house  on  the  modern  plan,  which,  with  the 
exception  of  the  Stuyvesant  Flats,  had  been  erected  in  New 
York,  was  an  extremely  pretty  and  well-planned  structure  on 
Madison  Avenue,  at  the  corner  of  Twenty-eighth  Street,  if  we 
remember  rightly.  This  building  was  for  some  time  the  talk 
of  the  town,  and,  as  it  proved  very  profitable,  Messrs.  Hubert, 
Pirsson  and  Company  were  soon  commissioned  to  plan  and 
build  others.  Becoming  deeply  interested  in  the  problem,  they 
succeeded  in  developing  what  was  then  a  perfectly  novel  type 
of  building,  but  infinitely  superior  to  the  old-fashioned  block 
with  central  court-yard  which  had  done  duty  for  "  combined 
habitation  "  for  so  many  years.  In  a  "  Hubert-Pirsson  "  apart- 
ment-house there  are  no  enclosed  courts,  filled  with  stagnant 
air  from  one  end  of  the  year  to  the  other;  but  every  window 
opens  into  the  oulside  air ;  every  apartment  has  its  own  front  and 
back  entrance,  and  every  portion  is  lighted  and  aerated  with  a 
thoroughness  rarely  found  in  city  houses.  One  of  their  devices, 
which  proved  very  popular,  was  the  "  mezzanine  plan,"  in 
which  the  bedrooms  formed  a  separate  block,  three  stories  of 
bedrooms  corresponding  in  height  with  two  stories  of  reception 
rooms,  and  providing,  within  a  given  height  one-half  more  bed- 
rooms than  could  be  obtained  by  the  ordinary  plan.  As  the 
demand  for  such  apartments  grew,  various  schemes  for  building 
by  stock  companies,  formed  from  among  the  persons  who  wished 
to  live  in  them,  were  invented,  and  Messrs.  Hubert,  Pirsson  and 
Co.,  are  said  to  have  been  the  most  intelligent  and  persistent 
promoters  of  the  legislation  by  which  persons  wishing  to  do  so 
were  enabled  to  acquire  a  good  title  to  a  piece  of  real  estate 
bounded  by  two  horizontal  planes,  as  well  as  by  the  vertical 
surfaces  forming  the  walls.  Among  the  many  apartment-houses 
built  by  the  firm,  nearly  all  of  which  are  in  the  most  fashion- 
able part  of  the  city,  are  the  one  just  mentioned,  on  Madison 
Avenue,  another  nearly  opposite,  the  beautiful  Chelsea  Flats, 
and  the  vast  block  known  as  the  Central  Park  Buildings,  one 
of  the  largest  and  most  carefully  planned  structures  to  be  found 
in  any  country.  This  was  among  the  last  of  the  great  apart- 
ment-houses, and  the  firm  turned  its  attention  to  other  build- 
ings, designing  the  Lyceum  Theatre  and  many  other  structures 
of  note.  Mr.  Pirsson  himself  was  a  very  popular  and  amiable 
man,  a  painter  and  musician  as  well  as  an  architect,  but  a 
thorough  architect  nevertheless.  He  was  among  the  early 
members  of  the  American  Institute  of  Architects,  and  always 
maintained  a  high  standing  in  the  profession.  His  death,  at 
the  early  age  of  fifty-five  years,  will  be  greatly  regretted,  both 
among  architects  and  in  society  in  New  York. 


OOME  of  the   newspapers   of   the  protectionist   persuasion 

L^  have  been  saying  a  good  deal  lately  about  the  impropriety 

of  removing  the  duty,  of  twenty  per  cent  ad  valorem,  ou 

cement,  as  is  now  proposed  in  Congress ;  and  point  with  earn- 


134 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.     [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  639. 


estness  to  the  sixty  thousand  persons  who,  as  they  say,  derive 
their  living  from  cement  manufacture  in  this  country,  and  who 
would  have  to  suffer  a  reduction  in  their  wages  to  correspond 
with  the  reduction  in  price  which  would  follow  the  removal  of 
the  duty.  In  general,  we  are  very  little  disposed  to  assume 
any  political  opinions  and  still  less  to  profess  a  knowledge  of 
the  science  of  political  economy,  but  as  architects  and  builders 
we  have  an  interest  in  everything  which  may  affect  the  art  of 
construction,  and  a  change  in  the  price  of  cement  would  cer- 
tainly affect  that  art  in  some  degree.  It  seems  hardly  likely 
that  a  reduction  of  the  cost  of  the  imported  cements  which  are, 
of  course,  nearly  all  Portland  or  the  costly  Keene's  or  Parian 
cements,  would  influence  the  price  of  the  native  material  from 
the  Rosendale  and  the  Louisville  quarries,  as  this  would  always 
be  cheaper  than  the  artificial  cements ;  so  that  the  working 
people  of  Rosendale,  Akron  and  Louisville  need  not  fear  an 
immediate  loss  of  income  from  foreign  competition ;  but  it  is 
quite  probable  that  the  Rosendale  manufacturers,  finding  that 
they  had  now  more  to  fear  from  the  superior  quality  of  the 
Portland  cement,  would  turn  their  attention  to  making  better 
use  of  their  own  unrivalled  natural  material,  by  more  careful 
preparation,  better  mixing  and  better  grinding,  to  the  great 
benefit  of  all  persons  concerned  in  building.  As  to  the  Ameri- 
can Portland  Cement,  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  change  in 
the  tariff  would  bear  hardly  on  a  native  industry  which  has 
been  developed  and  carried  on  with  a  care  and  conscientious- 
ness not  often  found  in  connection  with  protected  industries ; 
but  the  art  of  building  is  certainly  suffering  in  this  country  for 
want  of  a  more  general  employment  of  Portland  cements, 
such  as  a  twenty  per  cent  reduction  in  price  would  be  likely  to 
favor.  We  have  now  our  faces  turned  toward  solid  and  en- 
during architecture,  and  in  these  days  a  solid  construction  is 
more  a  matter  of  cement  than  anything  else.  Cheap  Portland 
cement  means  stairways  of  artificial  stone  inside  and  outside 
our  houses ;  pretty  and  inexpensive  tiling  for  our  basements ; 
monolithic  sidewalks  and  garden  paths;  imperishable  masonry, 
and  easily  constructed  fire-proof  flooring.  All  these  things  are 
commonly  used  where  Portland  cement  can  be  had  at  a  price 
not  artificially  enhanced  by  protection;  and  it  is  time  that 
Americans  should  be  able  to  enjoy  the  same  comforts. 


*7T  CURIOUS  scheme  has  been  devised  for  utilizing  the  water- 
f\  power  of  Niagara  Falls,  which,  it  is  generally  conceded, 
is  now  "  running  to  waste,"  and  a  company  has  actually 
been  formed  for  carrying  it  out.  The  main  feature  of  the  plan 
consists  in  the  construction  of  a  tunnel,  by  which  water  is  to  be 
taken  from  some  distance  up  the  river  toward  Lake  Erie, 
carried  under  the  town  of  Niagara,  and  discharged  into  the 
channel  of  the  river  below  the  falls.  It  is  calculated  that  out 
of  the  seven  million  horse-power  which,  it  is  said,  the  river  can 
supply,  one  hundred  and  nineteen  thousand  can  easily  be 
diverted  by  the  tunnel  and  utilized  to  drive  a  series  of  turbine 
wheels,  two  hundred  and  thirty-eight  of  which,  each  affording 
five  hundred  horse-power,  will  supply  as  many  mills  with  a 
motive  force  which  will  be  unaffected  by  weather,  cheap  and 
perpetual.  The  cost  of  the  tunnel  and  wheel-pits  is  estimated 
at  three  million  dollars.  We  suppose  that  fifty  dollars  per 
horse-power  per  year  would  not  be  an  extravagant  estimate  of 
the  cost  of  steam-power  for  mills  when  furnished  on  a  large 
scale,  and  if  steam-power  were  furnished  night  and  day,  this 
cost  would  be  about  doubled,  yet  if  the  new  company  could  sell 
power  at  one-half  this  rate,  or  twenty-five  dollars  per  horse- 
power per  annum,  its  income  would  just  about  pay  the  cost  of 
the  whole  undertaking  every  year. 


HE  British  Architect  contains  a  remarkably  clever  bit  of 
writing  worthy  of  Mr.  E.  W.  Godwin's  caustic  pen  upon 
"Architectural  Biographies,"  which  gives  some  hints 
about  the  sort  of  literary  work  that  architects  might  do  if  they 
wished,  which  are  well  worth  remembering.  The  occasion  of 
the  article  seems  to  be  to  make  a  little  criticism  upon  the 
recently-published  "  Recoiled  ions "  of  Sir  George  Gilbert 
Scott,  and  the  book  certainly  appears  to  deserve  criticism. 
The  reviewer  quotes  Sir  Gilbert's  tedious  and  awkward  des- 
cription of  the  ceremonies  attending  his  own  knighting,  and 
then  sarcastically  laments  that  he  had  not  told  his  readers, 
instead  of  all  this,  how  to  distinguish  good  lime  from  bad,  or 
how  to  test  the  qualifications  of  a  new  clerk-of-works,  or  how 


he  acquired  the  special  information  which  must  have  been  so 
useful  to  him  in  the  many  competitions  in  which  he  partici- 
pated. As  the  writer  well  says,  every  architect  of  experience 
gathers  up  for  himself  a  great  store  of  information,  which  might 
easily  be  brought  into  permanent  form  for  the  use  of  the  pro- 
fession, but  is  almost  always  lost.  An  architect,  for  example, 
who  proposes  to  enter  a  great  competition,  usually  gathers 
plans,  visits  buildings  of  character  similar  to  the  one  to  be 
erected,  makes  notes,  inquires  into  the  merits  or  defects  of 
each,  and  in  this  way  gains  an  immense  amount  of  useful 
information  on  this  subject,  which  serves  him  once  and  is  then 
thrown  away  without  being  made  of  the  smallest  service  in 
advancing  the  knowledge  of  the  profession.  It  is  true  that  few 
architects  like  to  write,  but  there  are  some  who  do,  and  it  is  a 
pity  that  these  should  find  nothing  better  to  describe  than  the 
conduct  of  the  aristocratic  persons  whom  Sir  Gilbert  Scott  met 
at  Osborne  Palace,  or  the  bad  dinner  which  Mr.  Street  ate  at 
Colico.  There  are,  happily,  some  exceptions  to  the  rule  of 
architectural  writing.  Mr.  Wightwick's  '•'•Hints  to  Young 
Architects."  for  instance,  gives  exactly  the  sort  of  results  of 
experience  in  professional  life  which  beginners  need,  and 
though  rather  antiquated  now,  it  is  still  an  extremely  useful 
and  interesting  book  for  the  persons  to  whom  it  is  addressed. 
Mr.  J.  T.  Micklethwaite's  •'  Modern  Parish  Churches,"  although 
hardly  so  practical,  and  rather  unpleasantly  aggressive  in  its 
references  to  some  indefinite  persons  about  whom  most  readers 
know  little  and  care  less,  is  another  useful  book.  But  a  great 
deal  more  might  be  said  on  this  subject,  and  at  least  an  equal 
amount  about  many  others,  such  as  railway  architecture,  thea- 
tres, school-houses,  municipal  buildings,  and  so  on.  To  take 
more  restricted  subjects,  what  could  be  more  useful  than  a 
book,  illustrated  with  photographs  and  carefully-colored  plates, 
and  purged  of  all  rhetoric,  poetry  and  Ruskinian  rubbish  about 
mosaic  and  other  interior  decoration.  We  have  the  decoration 
in  huge  books,  like  the  recent  publication  on  Saint  Mark's 
Church  at  Venice,  but  these  vast  monographs  are  generally 
open  to  some  suspicion  as  to  their  fidelity  in  color,  and,  at  best, 
have  little  of  the  life  and  inspiration  of  a  book  such  as  an 
architect,  studying  such  matters,  could  write.  Some  years  ago 
the  late  Mr.  Richardson,  who  was  then  full  of  interest  in  his 
work  on  the  Albany  State  House,  where  Mr.  William  Hunt 
had  just  been  engaged  for  the  decoration,  projected  a  tour 
through  Italy  and  Sicily,  in  which  Mr.  Hunt  and  himself,  a 
favorite  pupil  of  Mr.  Hunt,  and  the  present  writer,  were  to 
devote  themselves  to  studying  colors  and  effects  at  Venice, 
Ravenna,  Rome  and  Palermo.  The  project  was  defeated  by 
the  illness  and  death  of  Mr.  Hunt,  but  it  is  easy  to  see  how  the 
history  of  such  an  expedition  as  this,  if  well  illustrated  and 
written  with  the  desire  of  being  useful,  and  as  little  reference 
as  possible  to  dinners,  black-eyed  houris,  Bacchus,  Somnus, 
Gambrinus  and  other  dieties  of  the  cheap  newspaper  reporters, 
might  be  of  real  value,  There  is  at  present  next  to  nothing  in 
the  way  of  useful  books  on  decoration.  Some  few  works  can 
be  had  with  colored  illustrations,  bearing  a  remote  resemblance 
to  the  objects  they  are  supposed  to  represent,  but  an  intelligent 
treatise  on  principles,  with  faithful  illustrations  of  the  applica- 
tion of  the  principles,  such  as  Dr.  Christopher  Dresser  or  Mr. 
William  Morris  could  write  does  not  exist,  and  the  science  of 
decoration  now  consists  of  a  few  plausible,  but  generally  unten- 
able maxims,  joined  to  and  frequently  contradicted  by  the 
experience  and  feeling  for  color  of  each  individual  practitioner. 


TTTIIE  Paris  Exhibition  of  1889  is  to  be  enlievened  with  an 
JX  archaeological-architectural  department,  which  has  now 
been  placed  under  the  direction  of  M.  Charles  Gamier, 
illustrating  the  progress  of  human  habitations  from  the  earliest 
ages  to  the  present  day.  The  series  will  begin  with  cave  dwell- 
ings, to  be  followed  by  huts,  and  these  by  structures  of  succeed- 
ing architectural  styles,  and  each  dwelling  is  to  be  shown  in- 
habited by  persons  dressed  in  the  prevailing  style  of  the  period 
which  his  house  represents.  The  Parisians  are  already 
speculating  on  the  sort  of  appearance  which  a  manant  from 
Montmartre  or  the  Boulevard  Saint  Michel  will  present  in  the 
garb  of  a  cave-dweller,  or  the  toga  of  a  Roman  citizen,  but  if 
well  done  the  exhibition  is  sure  to  be  interesting.  The  idea  is 
undoubtedly  taken  from  the  Old  London  exhibit  at  South 
Kensington,  which  was  one  of  the  most  amusing  and  popular 
portions  of  the  successive  exhibitions  there,  but  the  Paris 
scheme  is  much  more  comprehensive  than  the  other. 


MAKCH  24,  1888.] 


The 


Architect   and   Huildinrj   News. 


185 


THE  UNIQUE  PECULIARITY  OF  BALTIMORE 
GROUND-RENTS.— THE  EFFECT  OF  ALLEY-WAYS 
ON  STREET  ARCHITECTURE.  —  UNCERTAIN  LO- 
CATION OF  THE  FASHIONABLE  O.UARTEK. 

TOST  cities,  either  by  force  of  legal  restric- 
tions or  long  tradition,  have  certain  condi- 
tions—  some  peculiar  to  themselves,  some  in 
common  with  others  —  governing  the  laying-out 
and  use  of  their  highways  and  the  form  and  dimensions  of  their 
building  lots,  and  which  to  a  large  extent  influence  the  ar- 
rangement and  style  of  the  buildings  themselves.  Among  Ameri- 
can communities,  Baltimore  prides  herself  upon  being  unique  in  her 
system  of  irredeemable  ground-rents,  which  system,  in  her  reverence 
for  antique  customs,  she  is  said  to  share  alone  with  the  ancient  city 
of  Jerusalem.  This  system,  though  quite  childlike  in  its  simplicity, 
may  not  be  perfectly  familiar  to  outsiders,  and  is  quite  distinct  from 
the  ordinary  mortgage.  The  owner  of  any  piece  of  ground  in  the 
city  may  borrow  anv  sum  of  money  he  may  find  any  one  willing  to 
lend  him,  say  one  thousand  dollars,  at  any  rate  of  interest  he  may 
fix,  say  six  per  cent,  giving  his  piece  of  ground  of  so  many  feet  and 
inches  in  return  for  it.  This  creates  a  "  ground-rent "  of  sixty  dol- 
lars a  year  on  that  particular  piece  of  ground  for  ninety-nine  years, 
renewable  forever,  which  must  always  be  paid  to  somebody  by  who- 
ever shall  thereafter  purchase  that  bit  of  land,  and  buildings  or 
improvements  of  any  kind,  at  any  time  placed  upon  it,  become  addi- 
tional security  to  the  owner  of  the  "  rent "  for  his  sixty  dollars 
yearly  interest,  and  they  may  be  sold  in  case  of  non-payment  of  this 
"  rent."  Both  the  ownership  of  the  "  rent "  or  of  the  ground  and  the 
buildings  may  change  hands  any  number  of  times  independently  of 
each  other,  the  same  relationship  always  existing  between  them,  and 
the  "  rent "  may  be  sold  for  a  greater  or  less  sum  than  the  original 
one  thousand  dollars,  as  the  fluctuating  value  of  the  ground  may 
make  the  sixty  dollars  a  higher  or  lower  rate  of  interest. 

It  is  obvious  what  an  excellent  investment  these  rents  are  when 
only  safety  and  a  fixed  and  moderate  income  is  desired.  The  very 
large  amount  of  Baltimore  capital  that  is  buried  in  them,  which 
might  be  more  advantageously  employed  in  commercial  or  manufac- 
turing enterprise,  is  somewhat  typical  of  the  traditional  spirit  of  the 
community.  The  result  upon  business  transactions  is  also  apparent, 
as  it  is  often  difficult  to  obtain  in  any  desired  locality  a  piece  of 
ground  "in  fee" — free  from  the  incumbrance  of  a  "rent"  —  and 
there  is  a  natural  aversion  to  making  very  extensive  or  costly 
improvements  upon  land  that  is  not  absolutely  in  the  control  of  the 
owner  of  the  building,  whereas,  for  less  expensive  improvements, 
erected  more  particularly  with  a  view  to  leasing,  the  same  objections 
may  not  necessarily  hold  good. 

So  much  for  one  of  the  conditions  that  always  has  and  possibly 
always  may  peculiarly  influence  building  in  Baltimore.  There  is 
again  another  that  differentiates  her  from  cities  platted  as  New 
York  is,  for  example,  where  the  dimensions  of  the  blocks  between 
streets  give  almost  invariably  the  same  depth,  forming  building  lots 
of  uniformly  one  hundred  by  twenty-five  feet,  not  usually  having  any 
approach  from  the  rear  by  either  public  or  private  alley-way,  and 
the  only  means  of  access  for  all  purposes  being  by  the  one  front 
upon  the  main  street.  This  has  developed  the  almost  universal  sys- 
tem of  front  "  areas  "  to  the  New  York  house,  which  keeps  the  front 
wall  by  so  much  farther  back  from  the  curb  of  the  driveway,  and  the 
long  and  high  steps  or  "  stoop  "  finding  ample  room  for  itself  in  the 
width  of  the  area,  the  sidewalk  is  kept  free  from  all  obstruction, 
and  we  believe  that  by  law  no  features  of  any  kind,  for  utility  or 
ornament,  are  permitted  to  extend  beyond  the  true  building-line, 
which  is  usually  the  front  line  of  the  area.  This  has  also  developed 
a  great  uniformity  of  twenty-five  foot  width  of  dwelling,  varying  only 
where  two  or  more  lots  of  this  size  are  thrown  into  one. 

In  Baltimore  the  distance  between  the  streets  is  very  variable, 
from  two  hundred  to  sometimes  almost  four  hundred  feet ;  there  is 
also  no  fixed  width  for  the  building  lot,  from  fifteen  to  fifty  feet  — 
averaging  from  twenty  to  thirty.  Between  and  parallel  with  nearly 
all  principal  streets  run  alleys,  ten  or  twenty  feet  wide,  forming  a 
subordinate  interlacing  net-work  of  thoroughfares  over  the  entire 
city  and  giving  access  for  all  domestic  purposes  to  the  rear  of  the  lots 
or  the  "  back  yards,"  which,  owing  to  the  depth  of  the  whole  lot,  are 
usually  much  larger  than  is  necessary  for  any  practical  use,  unless 
partly  occupied  by  stables  or  other  buildings,  and  which,  owing  to 
their  location,  are  rarely  made  ornamental.  Twenty  feet  of  this 
unoccupied  ground  might  most  advantageously  be  disposed  of  in 
form  of  ornamental  grass-plot  at  the  front,  setting  the  house  that 
much  farther  back  from  the  building-line  and  affording  ample  oppor- 
tunity in  the  space  so  acquired  for  any  architectural  treatment  what- 
ever requiring  projection  beyond  the  wall-line.  This  is  sometimes 
but  not  generally  done.  Usually  the  house  is  put  quite  up  to  the 
legal  buililing-linr,  and  privileges  are  purchasable  from  the  city  by 


law  for  such  projections  as  bay-windows,  steps,  balconies,  etc.,  at 
lixcd  rates  for  so  many  feet  and  inches.  The  result  is  that  at  some 
points  the  sidewalks  arc  most  inconveniently  embarrassed.  We 
infer  from  the  style  of  building  in  Philadelphia  that  law  and  custom 
is  the  same  as  that  which  obtains  here,  while  in  Boston  the  street 
fronts  are  controlled  by  legal  regulations  analogous  to  those  of  New 
York,  and  at  the  same  time  the  rear  of  the  lots  is  approached  by 
high-ways  and  by-ways,  which,  while  thoy  are  usually  much  more 
dignified  thoroughfares  and  in  much  better  keeping  than  many  of  the 
alleys  in  Baltimore,  seem  to  be  afllictcd  with  the  somewhat  monoto- 
nous uniformity  of  nomenclature,  "  Private  way,  dangerous  passing," 
explained  prolmbly  by  an  extreme  aversion  on  the  part  of  the 
modern  Athenian  Government  to  subjecting  itself  to  liability  for 
damages  arising  from  any  possible  contingency  involving  danger  of 
life  and  limb  to  any  citizen. 

Still  one  other  condition  has  had  an  indirect  influence  upon  the 
general  asj>ect  of  recent  building  here  :  namelv,  the  apparent  doubt 
which  arose  in  the  public  mind  some  score  of  years  ago  as  to  just 
in  what  direction  the  tide  of  wealth  and  fashion  intended  to  flow  for 
the  future  in  building  its  homes,  which  resulted  for  some  years  in  tenta- 
tive incursions  upon  various  lines  and  a  lack  of  concentration  at  any 
one  point.  Up  to  that  time  the  movement  had  l>een  a  [>erfcctly 
legitimate  and  consistent  progress  in  a  north-westerly  direction,  and 
exactly  the  course,  with  little  tendency  to  diversion,  that  was  to  have 
been  expected  from  the  natural  development  of  the  city,  from  the 
old  days  "over  the  bridge"  to  Battle-Monument  Square,  and  finally 
to  Mt.  Vernon  Place  with  Charles  Street  and  its  immediate  neigh- 
borhood. But  at  that  point  there  was  a  hesitancy,  and  other  quar- 
ters suggested  possibilities.  Madison  Avenue  and  Kutaw  Place  put 
in  their  claims  as  approaches  to  Druid-Hill  Park,  and  even  the  dis- 
tant Franklin  and  Lafayette  Squares,  a  long  mile  or  more  away  to 
the  westward,  had  a  word  in  the  matter.  Mt.  Vernon  Place  began 
to  look  a  little  dingy  and  neglected,  and  the  statue  of  Washington 
might  almost  have  trembled,  as,  from  the  top  of  his  tall  marble 
shaft,  he  watched  the  invading  army  of  boarding-houses  fast  closing 
around  his  social  stronghold,  heretofore  held  impregnable. 

This  state  of  things  resulted  in  the  best  class  of  houses  being  for  a 
long  period  quite  scattered,  and  with  the  city's  growth,  no  one  street 
of  special  interest  and  local  pride  developed  into  a  prominent  and 
handsome  avenue.  A  reaction  of  a  few  years  ago,  however,  has  now 
most  effectually  redeemed  Mt.  Vernon  Place  (of  which  more  further 
on),  and  fashion  has  seemed  to  decree  that,  with  the  circle  almost 
swept  by  the  shadow  of  the  Washington  Monument  as  a  nucleus,  the 
streets  spreading  northerly  from  it  should  have  the  preference. 
While  the  broad  Kutaw  Place  on  the  other  hand,  with  the  mile 
stretch  of  parks  down  its  centre  and  its  somewhat  showy  rows  of 
houses,  extending  to  the  very  gales  of  Druid  Hill,  is  undoubtedly 
the  most  monumental  avenue  in  the  city,  though  really  Assessing  no 
building  of  any  special  architectural  merit. 

It  is  quite  obvious  that  three  such  positive  conditions  as  these  — 
the  irredeemable  ground-rent,  the  alleys  between  the  city  blocks  and 
the  undecided  locality  for  the  centre  of  fashion,  must  have  a  decided 
effect  upon  the  general  aspect  of  any  city  and  distinguish  it  from 
others  where  the  same  conditions  do  not  exist.  Such  is  undoubtedly 
a  fact  in  regard  to  Baltimore.  The  result  is  apparent,  although  the 
causes  may  not  be  so  readily  recognized  by  the  eye  of  a  stranger. 
As  all  misfortunes  are  made  bearable  by  some  mitigating  benefits, 
so  it  is  claimed  by  many  that  out  of  these  very  conditions  accrue 
many  advantages  relating  to  domestic  comfort  and  economy,  but 
they  are  certainly  not  so  visible  upon  the  surface  as  the  few  but 
more  conspicuous  evils. 


INAPPLICABILITY  OF  THE  BUILDING  LAWS 
TO  EXI8TIXO  CONDITIONS. — EXHIBITIONS 
OF  WATER-COLORS  AND  ETCHINGS.  —THE 
ACCIDENT  TO  THE  MIDLAND  HOTEL  AT 
KANSAS  CITY,  MO. 

HE  inefficiency  and  defectiveness  of  the  present  building  ordt- 
nance  has  lately  been  the  subject  of  much  grumbling  by 
all  parties  interested  in  building.  The  code  as  it  now 
stands  is  applicable  to  a  moderate-sized  city  of  ten  years  ago, 
but  is  in  no  ways  sufficient  for  the  needs  and  requirements  of  a 
city  where  immense  buildings  are  constantly  being  put  up,  and  is 
especially  lacking  in  ordinances  relative  to  buildings  whose  construc- 
tion and  requirements  were  absolutely  unknown  a  dozen  years  ago. 

Some  of  the  ordinances  have  been  hastily  amended  without  consul- 
tation with  either  architects  or  underwriters.  Others  have  been 
allowed  to  quietly  drop  into  disuse,  so  that,  altogether,  much  more 
latitude  is  allowed  than  is  at  all  times  desirable,  and  it  has  even  been 
hinted  that  in  the  past  frequently  undesirable  construction  has 
been  "  log-rolled "  through  the  building-department.  All  these 
things  have  caused  much  growling,  but  no  really  serious  and  deep 
complaint.  However,  the  recent  annexation  to  the  city  of  certain 


136 


The    American    Architect   and   Buildiny   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  639. 


neighboring  suburbs  and  the  near  prospect  of  the  addition  of  Hyde 
Park  and  others,  has  raised  afresh  the  question  of  fire  limits  and  so 
foreed  the  subject  to  the  front  that,  new  legislation  is  absolutely 
necessary  in  the  very  immediate  future.  With  this  question  is  being 
agitated  anew  the  subject  of  the  building  ordinance. 

After  the  awful  experience  of  the  great  fire,  the  feelings  of  the 
Chicago  people  are  naturally  very  strong  on  the  subject  of  fire-limits, 
and  up  to  the  recent  annexations  mentioned,  the  fire  limits  were 
coincident  with  the  city  limits.  But  these  additions  to  the  city,  each 
having  its  own  building  ordinances  and  fire  limits,  necessitate  the 
rediscussion  and  probable  revision  of  the  fire  limits.  This  time  the 
subject,  under  the  leadership  of  the  Illinois  Association  of  Archi- 
tects, bids  fair  to  be  taken  hold  of  in  the  right  way  and  whatever  is 
accomplished  will  undoubtedly  be  of  value. 

This  Association,  at  one  of  their  recent  meetings,  had  the  matter 
under  consideration,  and  had  invited  to  participate  in  the  discussion 
the  Board  of  Underwriters,  the  Real  Estate  Board,  the  Citizens' 
Association,  and  the  Building  Commissioner  himself,  thus  taking  in 
all  the  different  elements  that  should  properly  be  consulted  upon 
such  a  question.  There  was  a  unanimous  opinion  that  the  ordinance 
should  be  revised,  but  here  the  unanimity  ceased.  It  was  argued 
that  the  city  is  now  over  twenty  miles  in  extent  and  that  there  are 
thousands  of  acres  yet  a  veritable  prairie,  which  with  a  strict  fire 
limit  coincident  with  the  city  limits  could  not  or  would  not  be 
utilized  for  homes  for  many  years.  Thus  the  poorer  classes  would 
be  obliged  to  crowd  together  in  tenement-houses  instead  of  having 
their  own  homes  of  cheap  construction,  and  by  this  very  fact  bring 
upon  the  city  greater  perils  than  those  of  fire. 

In  the  course  of  the  discussion  the  fact  was  brought  out  by  the 
President  of  the  Board  of  Underwriters  that  many  of  the  newly 
built,  extremely-high  and  showy  buildings  are  most  dangerous  fire- 
traps,  and  that  no  reputable  company  would  take  risks  upon  them. 
The  excessive  height  of  these  buildings  renders  the  fire  department 
absolutely  useless.  Hence,  the  employment  of  the  cheap  construc- 
tion of  the  ordinary  building  of  four  or  five  stories  in  a  building  of 
eight  or  nine  stories  causes  it  to  become  the  veriest  tinder-box 
instead  of  a  barrier  impassable  by  fire.  There  is  quite  a  party  in 
the  City  Council  which  desires  to  absolutely  prohibit  extremely  high 
buildings,  but  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  this  element  will  only  be  strong 
enough  to  prohibit  buildings  not  absolutely  fireproof  from  being  over 
five  or  six  stories  high.  By  this  means  the  most  effective  possible 
check  will  be  offered  to  a  large  conflagration  in  the  most  densely  built 
portion  of  the  city. 

As  a  result  of  this  conference  a  committee  from  the  architects,  the 
underwriter!  and  the  real-estate  men  was  appointed  to  work  in  con- 
junction with  the  Commissioner  to  draft  a  suitable  ordinance,  which 
shall  be  laid  before  the  City  Council.  As  it  now  appears,  and  is 
greatly  to  be  hoped,  there  will  probably  be  drafted  a  code  which 
shall  require  for  extremely  high  buildings  an  almost,  if  not  absolutely, 
fireproof  construction,  and  that  within  certain  districts  a  strict  fire 
limit  will  be  drawn,  but  beyond  that,  with  certain  restrictions  as  to 
height,  distance  from  other  buildings,  etc.,  wooden  buildings  will,  at 
least  for  the  present,  be  permitted.  This  would  seem  to  be  the 
reasonable  solution,  for,  as  one  of  the  architects  said,  the  city  at 
present  is  "  at  once  a  metropolis,  an  aggregation  of  villages  and  a 
howling  wilderness." 

The  Commissioner  also  had  under  consideration  a  special  theatre, 
ordinance,  relating  particularly  to  the  seating  of  the  audience. 
Among  other  things,  every  programme  shall  have  printed  on  it,  of 
dimensions  approved  by  the  Building-Department,  a  plan  of  the 
house,  showing  all  the  exits,  stairs,  etc.  This  is  rather  a  novel 
feature,  but  it  would  appear  somewhat  doubtful  if  this  would  really 
be  of  great  benefit  unless  it  were  compulsory  to  have  all  the  exits 
opened  at  the  close  of  each  entertainment,  and  not  merely  the  prin- 
cipal ones,  as  is  now  the  case.  By  this  means  the  audience  would 
almost  be  forced  to  use  these  exits,  so  that  in  case  of  panic  they 
would  instinctively  do  so. 

There  has  recently  closed  at  the  Art  Institute  a  most  delightful 
and  successful  loan-exhibition  of  water-colors,  which  is  intended  as 
the  inauguration  of  an  annual  exhibition  of  water-colors.  The  num- 
ber and  beauty  of  the  pictures  was  a  surprise  to  most  people.  In 
fact,  one  is  constantly  being  pleasantly  surprised  at  the  rapidity  with 
which  art  treasures  are  being  collected  here,  and  at  the  rapid  and 
substantial  progress  that  art  is  making.  This  exhibit  consisted  of 
something  like  two  hundred  and  fifty  numbers,  and  included  some 
pieces  from  almost  all  the  well-known  modern  water-colorists :  but  in 
the  midst  of  all  these  great  names,  the  local  artists  held  a  position  of 
which  they  might  well  be  proud. 

There  is  now  also  on  exhibition  a  series  of  original  drawings  by 
the  masters,  as  also  of  etchings  and  engravings.  This  collection, 
made  by  the  late  George  W.  Reid,  of  London,  keeper  of  the  prints 
of  the  British  Museum,  is  known  as  the  Reid  collection  and  com- 
prises nearly  three  hundred  and  fifty  numbers.  To  professional 
artists  and  to  students  of  the  history  of  art,  it  is  an  extremely  inter- 
esting collection,  but  can  scarcely  be  said  to  be  particularly  enjoya- 
ble to  the  mass  of  the  people  not  intimately  connected  with  art 
study.  This  collection  has  been  lying  here  at  the  custom-house  for 
some  time,  the  owners  not  wishing  to  pay  the  heavy  duty  upon  it 
unless  sold.  For  an  art-school,  it  is  a  collection  that  would  certainly 
be  very  valuable,  but  as  no  one  would  think  of  buying  it  without  see- 
ing it,  in  order  to  get  it  before  the  public  to  see  if  it  could  not  be 
bought  and  so  remain  in  this  country,  the  United  States  Government 


for  once,  at  least,  has  shown  a  disposition  to  foster  art  in  a  mild 
kind  of  a  way,  and  the  Art  Institute  was  made  a  bonded  warehouse. 
Consequently,  the  collection  is  really  being  exhibited  in  bond  :  how- 
ever, there  does  not  as  yet  seem  any  great  probability  of  its  being 
secured  for  Chicago. 

The  investigation  into  the  recent  building  accident  at  Kansas 
City  has  been  followed  by  the  profession  here  with  more  than  usual 
concern,  since  the  plans  were  drawn  in  this  city  and  several  of  the 
contractors  are  also  from  Chicago. 

The  Midland  Hotel  was  planned  for  one  of  the  finest  hotels  in  the 
West,  and  when  completed  will  have  cost  in  the  neighborhood  of  a 
million  of  dollars.  The  construction  is  said  to  be  absolutely  fireproof, 
the  floors  being  the  usual  iron  I-beams  and  hollow-tile  arches.  The 
building  was  begun  nearly  two  years  ago,  and  was  to  be  ready  for 
occupancy  the  first  of  the  coming  May.  The  dining-room  is  located 
on  the  sixth  floor,  and  the  ceiling  is  about  eighteen  feet  in  the  clear, 
seven  feet  above  this  is  the  flat  roof.  Originally,  there  was  a  row  of 
columns  down  the  centre  of  the  dining-room,  but  after  the  building 
was  well  under  way,  it  was  decided  to  omit  the  columns  and  replace 
them  by  trusses,  and  because  of  this  change  the  dilliculty  arose.  On 
February  29  one  of  these  trusses  fell  and  with  it  dragged  down 
another,  bringing  down  about  50  x  60  feet  of  ceiling  and  heavy  roof 
upon  the  sixth  floor.  This  floor  seems  to  have  borne  the  tremendous 
jar  very  perfectly,  for  the  greater  part  of  the  mass  was  stopped  here 
and  the  floor  seems  to  show  no  particular  damage  from  the  strain. 
However,  some  portions  of  the  falling  debris  broke  holes  through  the 
arches  and  went  tearing  down  through  the  various  floors,  while  one 
enormous  mass  plunged  down  a  large  staircase  sweeping  everything 
before  it  and  crushing  the  iron  stairs  into  the  lower  stories  as  if  they 
had  been  paper.  Marvellously  enough  of  the  seventy-five  men  work- 
ing in  the  building,  only  one  man  was  killed,  although  there  were  live 
mere  or  less  seriously  injured.  The  one  thus  killed  was  a  carpenter 
and  his  body  was  not  found  until  the  next  day :  when  at  last  it  was 
discovered,  it  was  on  the  second  floor  at  the  bottom  of  the  staircase 
mentioned.  He  had  been  carried  down  with  the  falling  mass  from 
the  sixth  floor  to  the  second,  but  strange  to  say  he  showed  but  few 
signs  of  bruises  or  contusions,  and,  according  to  the  report  of  the 
physicians,  must  have  died  of  suffocation,  none  of  his  injuries  being 
sufficient  to  cause  death. 

The  inquest  lasted  five  days,  and  an  immense  amount  of  testimony 
was  taken.  Besides  the  architects,  supervising-architect  and  the 
various  contractors,  other  architects  and  experts  were  called,  so  that 
all  phases  of  the  acci  lent  were  more  thoroughly  examined  than  is 
usual  in  such  a  case.  The  verdict  was  a  most  sweeping  one  —  rather 
unnecessarily  so  it  would  seem.  The  contractors  for  the  brick  anil 
iron  work  each  with  their  foremen,  were  delared,  together  with  the 
local  superintendent,  grossly  negligent,  while  the  architects  and  the 
supervising-architect  were  censured  in  the  following  words  :  "  We 
believe  from  the  evidence  that  the  falling  of  said  part  of  the  building 
was  not  due  to  or  caused  by  defects  in  the  revised  plans  or  draw- 
ings therefor;  but  the  architects,  Messrs.  Burnham  &  Root,  were 
neglectful  in  that  they  did  not  also  revise  the  specifications  in  such 
manner  as  to  insure  an  improvement  in  the  quality  of  the  brick  con- 
struction in  the  sixth  and  seventh  stories  supporting  the  two  easterly 
trusses. 

"  That  we  believe  from  the  evidence  as  to  Walter  C.  Root,  the 
general  superintendent  of  construction,  that  by  reason  of  the  large 
amount  of  work  under  his  charge,  which  besides  the  hotel  included 
the  Exchange  Building  and  the  American  Bank  Building,  and  that 
he  had  given  special  orders  for  the  proper  execution  of  the  work  in 
question,  and  which  orders  were  disregarded ;  therefore,  it  is  of  our 
opinion  that  he  should  not  be  held  responsible  for  the  failure  of  said 
part  of  the  building;  but  that  we  censure  him  for  not  having  made  a 
personal  examination  of  the  setting  of  the  plates  and  trusses  thereon." 

As  a  result  of  this  verdict  the  Grand  Jury  two  days  later  indicted 
for  manslaughter  in  the  fourth  degree,  the  supervising-architect,  the 
superintendent  of  construction,  the  foreman  of  the  iron  contractors 
and  the  foreman  of  the  mason  contractors.  At  first  this  jury  reported 
that  they  could  find  no  bills  against  any  one  connected  with  the  dis- 
aster, but  the  judge  refused  to  receive  this  report,  saying,  "There 
was  culpability  in  the  Midland  disaster.  I  do  not  consider  that  we 
can  attribute  the  accident  to  Providence.  It  was  surely  the  result  of 
the  acts  of  the  man."  Accordingly  an  hour  later  they  found  the 
above  indictments. 

In  the  investigation  it  was  clearly  proved  that  the  disaster  was 
caused  by  the  falling  of  the  trusses,  consequently  the  attention  was 
turned  to  them  and  the  piers  by  which  they  were  supported.  Had 
some  member  of  the  trusses  given  away  there  would  at  once  have 
been  a  heavy  thrust  and  the  wall  would  have  been  pushed  outward, 
but  this  was  not  the  case  as  most  of  the  brick  fell  inward.  More- 
over, careful  refiguring  of  these  trusses  showed  that  the  calculations 
were  entirely  correct,  a  fact  substantiated  by  several  -experts.  Hence, 
attention  was  then  directed  to  the  plates  that  distributed  the  weight 
of  the  trusses  upon  the  piers,  and  to  the  piers  themselves. 

At  once  great  differences  were  found  between  the  work  in  place 
and  that  called  for. .  As  for  the  plates,  one  that  should  have  been 
S^Q  feet  square  and  2|  inches  thick,  was  replaced  by  one  If  feet 
square  and  1£  inches  thick.  The  matter  of  thickness  was  probably 
not  of  very  serious  moment ;  but  the  amount  of  surface  (less  than 
one-half)  intended  to  distribute  the  load  over  the  piers  was  of  the 
gravest  importance.  But.  as  if  this  were  not  bad  enough,  the  piers 
were  in  their  way  equally  as  defective.  The  revised  drawing  show- 


MARCH  24,  1888.] 


The   American    Architect   and  Building   News. 


137 


ing  a  pier  four  inches  thicker  thiin  originally  drawn  scums  to  have 
In  en  ignored;  at  any  rate,  a  wall  of  17  inches  was  Imilt  instead  of  one 
of  21  inches.  This  was  still  further  weakened  by  an  unfortunate  !>'  x 
13'  Hue,  and  the  whole  was  made  as  weak  as  could  be  by  sprinkling 
in  many  of  the  poorest,  softest  bricks  it  is  possible  to  imagine. 

So  poor  indeed  were  some  of  these  bricks  that  in  experiments 
made  they  esushed  at  a  little  over  500  pounds  per  square  inch.  All 
these  circumstances  being  combined,  it  is  only  a  marvtl  that  the 
accident  did  not  occur  before,  and  the  excuse  of  some  of  the  contrac- 
tors that  the  revised  drawings  did  not  have  strict  enough  specifica- 
tions, seems  very,  very  weak.  According  to  the  evidence,  the  super- 
vision of  the  work  by  the  clerk -of-the-works  (or  sii|>erintendent  of  the 
works  as  he  seems  to  be  called)  and  the  various  foremen  seem  to 
have  licen  most  shockingly  anil  grossly  careless.  A  sui>ervising 
architect  with  three  immense  buildings,  not  to  mention  smaller  work, 
upon  his  hands,  would  not  l>e  expected  to,  and  certainly  could  not 
even  if  he  wished,  examine  in  detail  the  size  of  every  pier  and  iron 
plate,  hut  the  clerk-of-thc-works  and  the  foremen  of  the  various 
trades  certainly  can  have  but  slender  excuse  for  not  having  kept 
themselves  thoroughly  posted  on  these  points,  especially  when  they 
were  aware  the  drawings  had  IKJCII  revised  and  that  they  would  have 
to  look  out  for  changes. 

The  owners  now  announce  in  the  daily  papers  that  they  shall  have 
three  of  the  best  experts  examine  the  building  in  every  part  and 
make  sure  it  I. as  not  been  injured  by  the  accident ;  and  after  the 
building  is  finished,  they  will  have  another  set  of  experts  go  through 
it  so  as  to  be  certain  that  it  is  absolutely  safe.  As  regards  the  money 
damage  the  estimates  vary  from  $20,0(>o  to  $50,000,  with  a  strong 
probability  in  favor  of  the  latter.  It  is  said  that  the  contractors  who 
were  blamed  in  the  verdict  have  agreed  to  make  good  all  losses.  If 
tliis  proves  to  be.  the  case  and  there  are  no  suits  at  law  before  the 
affair  is  finished, 1t  will  certainly  be  very  exceptional  and  the  owners 
may  congratulate  themselves  as  being  unusually  fortuate,  if  they  lose 
nothing  more  than  the  income  from  the  building  for  two  or  three 
months. 


THE    NKU 

80MK  THOUGHTS  ON  CONSTRUCTIVE  EX- 
PRESSION SUGGESTED  BY  ITS  DESIGN. — 
INDICATION  OK  A  SURVIVING  INTEREST 
IN  GOTHIC  DETAIL. 

fHE  Athletic-Club  building  has  reached  a 
point  where  it  it  possible  to  form  some 
idea  of  its  farads,  though  not  of  its  roof 
lines  —  and  there  is  a  great  deal  to  commend 

in  these  facades  and  some  few  things  to  question.  This  questioning 
must  be  based  so  much  upon  general  character  of  design  and  not 
upon  special  characteristics,  that  it  will  require  some  preamble  before 
the  questions  can  be  intelligently  applied  to  this  individual  example. 
Architecture,  in  its  practice,  covers  a  scope  that  extends  from  purely 
utilitarian  construction  on  one  hand  to  pure  decoration  upon  the 
other,  and  each  architect  approaches  his  work  at  some  point  within 
this  scope.  There  is  constant  shifting  of  this  point  of  attack,  and, 
though  upon  reflection,  it  is  evident  that  there  is  a  regular  and 
steady  progression  of  attitudes  from  the  work  of  the  engineer  to  that  of 
the  decorator  —  as  with  the  colors  in  a  spectrum.  Yet,  as  in  the  spec- 
trum, we  are  prone  to  divide  colors  into  the  two  divisions  of  cold  and 
warm,  so,  according  to  our  temperaments,  we  are  apt  to  join  one  or 
the  other  of  the  two  camps  of  those  who  insist  upon  architectural  de- 
sign declaring  each  fact  of  construction  and  purpose,  or  of  those  who 
consider  constructive  expression  as  secondary  to  aesthetic  pleasure. 
That  allegiance  to  either  of  these  camps  is  temperamental  can  hardly 
be  gainsaid,  a  tendency  toward  either  extreme  deprives  us  in  an 
increasing  ratio  of  the  pleasure  to  !>e  obtained  from  the  other,  and  as 
is  usual  in  such  cases  we  are  much  more  apt  to  find  the  most  satis- 
factory attitude  to  be  a  mean  between  the  two,  where  construction 
and  expression  are  frank  and  simple,  and  decoration  is  used  to 
accentuate.  But  in  applying  this  system  of  equilibrium  to  the  prac- 
tice of  architecture,  is  there  not  a  tendency  to  abnormally  magnify 
some  of  the  factors  when  we  are  obtaining  the  greatest  common 
divisor  —  especially  the  factor  of  the  relative  value  of  expressed 
construction '!  Construction  except  when  manifestly  masterful  does 
not  excite  the  interest  that  decoration  docs.  A  masterpiece  of 
engineering  as  freely  obtains  admiration  as  a  masterpiece  of  artistic 
skill  —  but  the  constructive  expression  of  an  architectural  facade  is  a 
very  simple  matter,  and  by  no  means  gives  the  relative  return  of 
satisfaction  that  proportions  and  decoration  do. 

.By  this  constructive  expression  is  meant  not  only  compliance 
with  the  ordinary  laws  of  construction,  which  no  sane  man  wishes  to 
do  without,  but  also  compliance  to  that  other  demand  of  the  purists, 
that  the  interior  should  be  expressed  by4he  exterior;  that  a  large 
and  small  room  next  to  each  other  should  not  have  the  same  sized 
windows  ;  that  a  staircase  should  have  windows  step|>ed  upon  the  out- 
side to  "express  it,"  etc. 

Not  that  there  is  no  element  of  reason  in  this  demand,  but  that  the 


application  should  Iw  to  masses  of  building  on  different  piano,  not  to 
the  perforations  of  one  mass  in  one  plan.-. 

Now,  to  the  case  in  point.  The  south  facade  of  the  Athletic  Club 
on  the  second  story,  the  large  windows  showing  the  large  room 
within,  have  their  motives  carried  around  and  between  these  bays,  so 
that  the  second  story  is  symmetrical  from  the  corner  until  a  point 
beyond  the  second  story  where  the  character  of  window  changes. 

On  Exeter  Street,  two  of  these  large  second-story  windows  are 
carried  around  the  corner,  while  beyond  there  are  five  windows  in 
three  stories  arranged  like  a  five-spot  of  cards.  Undoubtedly,  the 
change  in  these  windows  express  the  stories  within,  and  the  central 
window  of  the  five-spot  denotes  a  staircase  or  a  mezzanine;  but  the 
satisfaction  that  one  feels  at  having  the  internal  anatomy  of  the  build- 
ing thrust  at  him  in  this  manner  by  no  means  compensates  for  the  loss 
of  dignity  in  the  facades,  and  for  the  restlessness  of  these  windows  of 
many  levels.  The  very  first  quality  of  good  architecture  is  inertia, 
and  the  quickest  method  of  destroying  it  is  to  produce  the  diagonal 
lines  which  successive  staircase  windows  give.  Even  the  staircase  at 
Blois  and  Torre  Minelli  in  Venice,  arc  comparatively  unsatisfactory 
from  their  restlessness. 

Another  of  the  virtues  in  an  architectural  design  is  the  dominance 
and  reiteration  of  one  factor,  either  of  a  horizontal  or  a  jierpendicular 
line,  preferably  a  horizontal  one.  It  is  this  that  give  colonades, 
arcades,  cloisters  their  value.  The  same  thing  applies  to  window- 
openings.  All  this  sounds  dogmatic  and  pedantic,  but  it  is  true, 
and  can  only  be  ignored  where  windows  are  small  in  proportion  to 
the  wall  they  are  in,  as  in  the  Ducal  Palace  in  Venice. 

In  this  case  of  the  Athletic  Club,  it  seems  a  question  whether  it 
would  not  make  a  much  more  dignified  simple  whole  of  the  building, 
to  carry  the  motive  of  the  large  window  throughout  the  facades  — 
dividing  it  by  the  floor  where  necessary,  but  keeping  this  division  as 
a  transom  of  greater  or  less  width  —  subordinated  to  the  scale  of  the 
whole  opening. 

Apart  from  this,  which  is  purely  a  matter  of  different  ways  of 
looking  at  things,  the  Athletic-Club  building  is  simple,  and  obtains 
variety  of  surface  and  color  by  simple  means.  The  use  of  moulded- 
brick  jambs  and  quoins,  set  in  white  mortar,  as  contrast  to  the 
Eastern  brick  set  in  red  mortar,  and  the  diaper-work  in  the  upper 
story  show  an  appreciation  of  methods  that  it  is  pleasant  to  sec. 
The  proportions  of  the  arches  and  cusps  are  excellent — the  mould- 
ings are  good. 

It  is  a  question  whether  a  cusp  ought  to  be  applied  as  a  mere 
decoration  upon  a  solid  tympanum,  or  should  not  rather  enrich  an 
opening.  But  apart  from  this  the  building  is  a  good,  straightforward 
building,  depending  for  its  character  on  simple  refined  work,  and 
that  is  no  small  praise  amongst  a  lot  of  specious  of  vulgarities. 

It  is  interesting  to  notice  a  suggestion  of  Gothic  detail  in  several 
buildings  that  have  been  erected  recently.  The  Hcmenway  Build- 
ing had  a  touch  of  it,  and  in  the  new  building  at  the  corner  of 
A\  inter  Street  it  is  unmistakable.  It  belongs  to  a  late  type,  smacks 
a  little  of  Tudor  work,  and  of  the  many  buildings  with  square- 
headed  windows  and  parapets  in  Oxford,  Shrewsbury  and  Warwick. 
The  heavy  label  turning  down  at  each  end  and  becoming  a  string- 
course or  terminated  in  corbels  is  a  favorite  feature,  and  with  all  due 
respect  to  it  is  stupid  enough. 

The  doorway  has  a  heavy  meaningless  canopy,  and  altogether 
there  is  too  heavy  a  hand  in  the  details,  yet  'this  building  is  a 
marked  improvement  over  many  of  its  class,  simply  because  it  is 
unpretentious. 


[Contributor!  are  requeued  to  lend  with  their  drawings  full  am/ 
adequate  descriptions  of  the  building*,  including  a  statement  of  cost.] 

DOORWAY     ON     COMMONWEALTH     AVE.,    BOSTON,     MASS.        ME8SRM. 
MCKIM,    MEAD    *    WHITE,    ARCHITECTS,    NEW    YOKK,    N.    Y. 

[Hello-chrome.] 

GOTHIC  SPIKES  AND  TOWERS.  PLATES  7,  8  AND  !).  —  ST.  MAKY 
MAGDALENE,  TAUNTON  |  ST.  MARY'S,  BLOXHAM  ;  ST.  OSWALD'S, 
ASIIBOURNE;  ALL  SAINTS,  LEIGHTON  HCZZARD;  ST.  HELEN'S, 
BllOUGHTON;  THE  CATHEDRAL,  NORWICH  J  AND  ST.  VINCENT'S, 
CAYTHORPE. 

[Imued  only  with  the  Imperial  Edition.] 

HOUSE     FOR     BX-GOV.     JNO.    M.    HAMILTON,     KENWOOD,     CHICAGO, 
ILL.      MR.    8.    M.    RANDOLPH,    ARCHITECT,    CHICAGO,    ILL. 

HIS  house  which  will  be  finished  about  May  1st,  is  situated  at 
the  corner  of  Madison  Avenue,  and  Park  Court,  Kenwood.  The 
construction  is  of  rock-faced  Bedford  stone  up  to  line  of  main 
floor,  Anderson  pressed  brick  to  line  of  second  floor,  and  the  re- 
mainder is  of  frame  work  with  outer  enclosure  of  California  red- 
wood shingles.  Modern  improvements  are  provided,  and  thorough 
heating  and  ventilation  secured ;  th«  cost  will  be  $10,000. 

HOUSE    AT    WASHINGTON,    D.    C.      MR.    ROBERT    STEAD,  ARCHITECT, 
WASHINGTON,    D.   C. 

CHTKCII    OK     GfADALUPE,    MEXICO. 


188 


TJie   American    Architect   and   JJuilding   News.     [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  639. 


HOUSE    FOR    MRS.   J.    D.    CAMERON,     WASHINGTON,    D.    C.        MESSRS. 

HORNBLOWEU    *    MARSHALL,    ARCHITKCT8,    WASHINGTON,    D.    C. 
STUDY     FOR     A    SUBURBAN     HOUSE.        MR.    A.    .1.    NORTON,    ARCHI- 
TECT,   UTICA,    N.    V. 

HOUSE     AT     CHICAGO,    ILL.        MR.   J.    K.    TAYLOR,     ARCHITECT,     ST. 
PAUL,    MINN. 

HOUSE     FOR    JAMES    MCKAY,    ESQ..    SHADY  SIDE,    PITTSBURGH,    PA. 
MR.    W.    S.    FHASER,    ARCHITECT,    PITTSBURGH,    I'A. 


THE    ARCHITECTURAL  PORTION    OF   THE 


ANNUAL     EXHI1UTION     OF     THE    ACAD- 


EMY OF  THE  FINE  ARTS. — SOME  DRAW- 
INGS BY  RUSKIN. — MOVEMENT  TO  MAKE 
AN  OPEN  SQUARE  ABOUT  THE  C1TY- 
HALL. 

ll  IE  directors  of  the  Pennsylvania  Acad- 
emy of  the  Fine  Arts  encouraged  by 
the   general   interest   shown   in   the 
architectural  room  last  year,  renewed  their 

invitation  to  the  architects  by  asking  that  a  joint  committee  be  ap- 
pointed from  the  Philadelphia  Chapter  A.  1.  A.  and  the  T-square 
Club  to  arrange  another  such  room  in  the  present  exhibition.  To 
most  large  exhibitions  of  paintings  any  collection  of  architectural  de- 
signs that  may  be  appended  is  usually  looked  upon  by  the  general 
public  as  a  side-show,  and  the  only  spectators  to  be  found  in  its 
desolate  rooms  are  pretty  sure  to  be  people  who  have  a  particular 
interest  in  matters  relating  to  the  profession.  It  is  all  the  more 
gratifyiii"  therefore  to  note  what  a  large  proportion  of  the  visitors 
to  this  fifty-eighth  annual  exhibition  of  the  Academy  linger  in  the 
architectural  room.  Many  of  them  pay  no  attention  to  the  per- 
spective or  decorative  studies  that  make  what  is  generally  thought 
the  more  attractive  side  of  an  architect's  work  but  spend'  all  their 
time  in  examining  plans,  —  for  almost  everybody  even  if  he  has 
never  entertained  the  least  notion  of  building  has  amused  himself  at 
one  time  or  another  in  making  a  mental  picture  of  the  house  that  he 
considers  properly  arranged  for  his  individual  use,  and  it  interests  him 
to  see  how  some  other  man  has  workeil  out  the  problem.  Although 
he  would  not  care  to  acknowledge  it  he  may  be  bored  by  looking  at 
pictures  and  slips  with  relief  into  the  room  where  the  plans  are,  that 
he  may  find  something  he  is  sure  he  can  appreciate  —  something  in- 
genious, something  practical  and  above  all  something  personal.  One 
scarcely  knows  whether  to  be  the  more  rejoiced  for  the  cause  of  archi- 
tecture at  the  sight  of  such  a  goodly  number  of  visitors  or  despond- 
ent rather  for  the  sake  of  art  that  the  greater  part  of  them  should  be 
counting  the  steps  in  the  plan  of  a  seashore  cottage  and  have  their 
backs  turned  toward  the  glowing  color  studies  of  Mr.  LaFarge. 

For  men  interested  in  decoration  these  twenty-four  studies  are 
full  of  help  and  suggestion.  No  description  of  them,  however,  is 
necessary  here  as  they  have  already  been  shown  —  with  a  good  deal 
more  of  the  most  interesting  work  in  this  exhibition  —  at  the  Exhibi- 
tion of  the  Architectural  League  in  New  York.  In  this  list  are  Mr. 
Hunt's  studies  for  the  Pavilion  du  Louvre  (made  while  he  was 
emploved  on  the  Traoeaux  du  Louvre)  and  his  admirably  colored 
prajet  d'  Ecole  of  an  Algerian  station.  His  full-size  detail  of  a 
baluster,  bv  the  way,  gives  a  hint  that  might  be  well  taken  in  regard 
to  architectural  exhibitions  in  general,  and  that  is  to  show  more  full- 
size  details.  An  architect's  sketches  and  perspectives,  no  matter 
how  attractively  rendered,  must  necessarily  suffer  by  comparison  with 
water-colors  pure  and  simple,  and  a  collection  of  half-mechanical 
drawings  that  try  hard  to  be  pictures  is  likely  to  leave  on  the  Philis- 
tine mind  a  vague  impression  that  they  would  have  been  much  better 
done  by  a  regular  artist.  In  this  way  the  public,  forgetting  that  these 
sketches  are  but  the  avowedly  imperfect  representation  on  a  small 
scale  of  something,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  much  more  imposing,  is  apt  to 
make  unflattering  comparisons  between  these  tentative  studies  and 
the  pictures  in  the  next  room  that  are,  so  to  speak,  their  own  accom- 
plished results.  Many  people  have  no  idea  how  many  drawings  must 
be  made  before  a  house  of  any  importance  is  finished  and  would  be 
sure  to  give  more  credit  where  credit  is  due,  for  much  of  the  detail 
that  is  supposed  to  be  the  artisan's  own  creation,  if  they  could  see 
exhibited  a  few  of  the  full-size  detail  drawings  for  furniture,  color- 
decoration,  wood  and  stone  carving  and  the  like  that  even  the  client 
never  knows  of. 

Among  the  drawings  already  shown  in  New  York  are  four  by  John 
Ruskin.  A  delightful  one  is  the  sketch  of  an  old  Hall,  done  on  dark 
paper  with  water-color  and  Chinese  white.  Strength  and  delicacy 
are  attributes  that  are  seldom  found  together  in  this  manner  of  sketch- 
ing architectural  subjects  but  here  we  have  them  both  to  perfection  — 
consistency  with  the  critic's  own  precepts  in  the  art  of  drawing,  it  is 
true,  we  shall  have  a  harder  search  for.  Two  of  the  pencil  sketches 
of  Gothic  tracery  with  no  detail  in  the  shadows,  which  are  thrown 
in  with  a  wash  of  monochrome  are  so  "professional"  in  their  hand- 
ling as  lo  be  a  revelation  to  many  artists  who  knew  nothing  of  his 


work  and  were  in  the  careless  habit  of  speaking  of  him  as  of  one 
who  could  not  draw  himself  and  whose  criticisms  were  therefore  of 
little  consequence.  Mr.  Charles  C.  Moore,  of  Cambridge,  sends  two 
exquisitely  rendered  wash-drawings  of  details  from  Lincoln  Cathedral 
and  from  Notre  Dame  at  Paris.  They  are  for  reproduction  in  a 
book  that  he  is  preparing  on  Pointed  Architecture.  Some  more  good 
drawings  from  Boston  are  a  capital  water-color  of  the  interior  of  an 
Italian  church  by  Mr.  R.  Clipston  Sturgis,  two  more  not  quite  so  good 
of  out-of-door  views  and  some  rapid  European  pencil  sketches  that 
deserve  great  credit  for  the  honest  way  in  which  they  indicate,  as 
far  as  may  be,  the  material  and  the  general  tone  of  the  buildings 
drawn,  without  the  least  mannerism  or  attempt  to  make  a  pretty 
picture.  Mr.  Wilson  Eyre,  Jr.,  shows  some  original  and  picturesque 
city  fronts  and  a  sheet  of  designs  for  mantels  for  his  new  University- 
Club  building.  It  is  a  pity  that  he  does  not  exhibit  any  of  hi* 
country  work  this  year  as  he  is  apt  to  be  more  successful  in  this 
branch  than  in  his  street  architecture.  From  Messrs.  Furncss,  Evans 
&  Co.,  there  are  four  large  drawings  in  India-ink — pen  and  brush  work 
combined.  One  of  the  most  interesting  of  these,  is  a  bird's-eye  view 
of  an  arrangement  of  hospital  buildings.  Messrs.  Cope  &  Steward- 
son  show  several  sketches,  mostly  of  country  houses,  and  some  vari- 
ously rendered  studies  of  interior  work.  Accompanying  one  of  these 
—  a  design  for  a  mantel — is  a  photograph  of  the  wrought-iron  fire- 
dogs  that  are  indicated  in  the  sketch.  There  is  nothing  particularly 
original  about  their  design,  but  the  photograph  plainly  shows  that 
their  workmanship  is  so  good  as  to  make  one  almost  wish  to  retract 
what  was  written  above  about  the  credit  due  to  architects  for  their 
full-size  drawings  and  to  give  all  the  glory  to  the  artisan.  Surely 
the  art  of  working  in  iron  although  at  a  low  ebb  for  a  long  time  is 
not  lost.  Much  of  the  newest  Italian  work  is  very  little  behind  tin- 
best  of  the  old.  Berlin  executes  better  and  better  pieces  of  wrought- 
iron  each  year  and  our  own  country  has  lately  produced  specimens  of 
elaborate  and  difficult  forging  such  as  a  few  years  ago  would  have 
been  reckoned  among  the  things  that  men  had  once  done  but  that 
would  never  he  attempted  again  for  want  of  encouragement  in  an 
age  that  fostered  no  art  that  was  not  strictly  utilitarian. 

Mr.  Frank  Miles  Day,  has  some  clean  pencil  sketches  of  Italy  and 
Germany,  and  Messrs.  Moses  and  King,  exhibit  seven  frames  of 
designs  for  cottages  and  the  like,  of  which  the  most  attractive  are 
rendered  in  the  fewest  colors.  There  are  only  six  T-square  Club 
drawings  shown.  Four  of  these  are  from  the  same  competition  — 
an  office-building  front.  As  a  specimen  of  clean  pen-and-ink 
work  it  would  be  hard  to  imagine  anything  more  perfect  than  the 
elevation  that  Mr.  Arthur  Truscott  has  sent  in  for  the  competition. 
It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  more  of  the  T-square  Club's  work  is 
not  exhibited.  The  high  standard  of  the  half-do/en  designs  on  the 
walls  makes  one  wish  that  the  members  had  made  a  fuller  showing 
as  one  of  the  results  of  the  year's  work. 

An  enormous  water-color  drawing,  done  years  ago,  by  Mr.  E.  Eldon 
Deane,  of  Mr.  McArthur's  new  City-Hall  is  just  now  the  centre  of  a 
great  deal  of  interest.  The  actual  structure  is  so  hemmed  in  by 
buildings  that  there  is  no  point  from  which  it  can  be  seen  as  a  whole. 
The  drawing,  of  course,  gives  an  unobstructed  view  such  as  might  be 
had  if  the  building  were  in  the  middle  of  a  large  public  square.  In 
tearing  down  some  of  the  surrounding  houses  lately  for  the  purpose 
of  putting  up  a  ten-story  office-building  on  the  site,  just  such  a  view 
as  Mr.  Deane  here  shows  burst  upon  an  astonished  public.  At  once 
a  movement  was  started  to  buy  and  tear  down  all  but  a  few  buildings 
in  the  four  surrounding  blocks  and  to  leave  the  space  open  for  the 
better  observation  of  a  building  whose  "  imposing  beauty,"  the 
daily  papers  tells  us,  "  is  absolutely  without  a  parallel  in  this  country." 
The  assessed  value  of  the  property  required  is  somewhat  over  seven 
million  dollars.  A  breathing-space  in  the  centre  of  the  city  is  indeed 
sorely  needed,  but  seven  million  improvement  of  the  property  seems 
to  some  chronic  grumblers  a  high  price  to  pay  so  long  as  the  streets 
remain  ill-paved  and  dirty  for  lack  of  funds  to  repair  them.  The 
originators  of  the  plan  reply  that  a  view  of  "the  splendor  and  sur- 
passing beauty  of  the  city's  grand  structure  "  (to  quote  again  from 
the  papers)  is  worth  paying  anything  for.  Whichever  party  wins  it 
is  surely  a  cause  for  congratulations  that  the  mass  of  the  people  are 
taking  an  active,  if  enforced,  interest  in  architecture  and  that  a 
general  discussion  should  have  been  provoked  in  which  by  no  means 
the  least  prominent  factor  is  the  merit  or  the  shortcoming  of  an 
architectural  design. 


THE  READY-MADE  ARCHITECTURE  OK 
PLAN       ASSOCIA- 

1I7HIS  city  like  most  other  large 
"  I »  cities  of  the  country  is  afflicted  by 
the  ready-made  plans  that  ema- 
nate from  the  factories  where  such  things  are  turned  out.  It  is  at 
these  places  that  "misfit"  architecture  is  doled  out  at  about  one- 
fourth  the  regular  prices.  It  is  by  these  wholesale  ways  that  inno- 


f>0.  639 


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to.  639 


HHGHITEGT  ^ND  UUILDING  IfEws.MflK  -24-.1555, 


1888  BY  TOWOH 


'Hn<oHITEGT  flND  BUILDING  REWsM*K-24i  1555-        go.  639 


P  nrHturr  iwuj  BY  TttmBi  tl 


HOUSE  IN   CHICAGO  • 

Junes  KT»ylor  •  Archt .  Si  fl»ul,  Mltwi. 


HHTKCT  flxi)  BUILDING 

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o.  639 


l^UHITKGT  flXD  BUILDING  ^KVVS,\IflK-^  1553         f.O.  639 


•STUDYF°KA   SUBURBAN  H°USE 


MARCH  24,  1888.] 


TJie    American    Architect   and  Building   News. 


189 


cent  purchasers  are  allured  by  flaming  advertisements  into  purchas- 
ing these  plans,  instead  of  going  to  tin-  ollice  of  a  regular  practi- 
tioner. The  innocent  purchaser  is  assured  that  he  will  get  double 
the  amount  of  goods  for  his  money,  that  he  will  get  full  plans 
specifications  and  details  sufficient  to"  build  his  house,  full  and  com- 
plete, and  perfect,  and  clean,  and  the  said  purchaser  in  the  innocence 
of  his  heart,  perhaps  not  knowing  the  fraility  of  human  nature  in 
general  and  of  the  machine-made  misfit  plan-makers  in  particular, 
sends  good  cash  to  a  bad  eause,  and  by  return  mail,  C.O.I).,  his  trials 
and  troubles  begin. 

To  the  purchaser  the  drawings  are  sufficient  for  all  purposes,  so 
he  is  assured,  and  he  will  not  know  until  the  bill  of  extras  come  in 
that  there  were  many  and  grievous  sins  of  omission  and  commission 
in  the  make  of  his  gorgeous  plans.  He  won't  know  until  hi*  pet 
house  cracks  all  to  pieces  that  there  is  a  window  eight  feet  wide  in  a 
circular  bay  that  has  a  radius  of  five  feet  on  the  plan,  with  no 
means  of  holding  up  a  heavy  stone  wall  except  one  insufficient  brick- 
arch  and  a  good  deal  of  faith.  He  will  never  know  until  he  moves 
into  the  house  that  the  sliding-doors  have  no  pockets  (that  is  if  they 
are  built  as  per  plans),  and  that  all  the  doors  clash  and  bang  each 
other  about  as  though  eternal  enmity  and  war  had  been  declared 
between  them.  When  the  furniture  begins  to  claim  its  floor  and 
wall  space  there  will  be  renewed  war;  the  bed  will  look  around  in 


and  so  on  for  numberless  items  of  bad  and  intolerable  construction 
and  planning.  There  seems  to  be  nothing  spacious  or  liberal  about 
the  house  except  the  halls  —  as  whatever  space  there  was  left  over 
was  turned  into  halls  either  upstairs  or  down. 

If  the  alleged  designer  had  any  trouble  with  any  space,  he  quickly 
solved  the  question  by  throwing  it  into  the  halls;  and  yet,  notwith- 
standing such  prodigal  liberality  as  to  halls,  they  cry  out  in  their 
missha|>en,  untimely  birth  against  their  twists  and  turns  and  contor- 
tions, and  the  carpets  that  are  intended  to  cover  them  want  to  know 
why  they  were  ever  made  to  be  cut  and  slashed  in  such  an  un- 
seemly manner. 

The  foregoing  are  only  a  few  of  the  thousand  and  one  things  that 
go  to  make  up  a  first-class  set  of  misfit  plans,  and  this  is  no  imaginary 
thing,  but  is  an  everyday  occurrence,  as  just  such  a  set  passed  under 
the  eye  of  your  corresixnident,  and  are  now  being  redrawn  so  as 
form  a  correct  basis  of  an  understanding  between  the  owner  and 
builder,  and  so  as  to  give  the  owner  also  some  rights  in  his  own 
house. 

Some  method  ought  to  be  at  once  instituted  to  warn  the  unsuspect- 
ing public  that  when  they  buy  a  set  of  these  ill-considered,  badly- 
planned  and  worse-constructed  "misfits,"  they  are  laying  up  for 
themselves  untold  trouble  both  here  and  hereafter. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  COMPULSORY  REGISTRA- 
TION OF  ARCHITECTS  MOVEMENT.  — 
OBITUARY  NOTES. —  MH.  KICHARDSON 
AND  THE  ROYAL  GOLD  MEDAL.  —  MET- 
ROPOLITAN BOARD  OF  WORKS  SCAN- 
DALS.—  NEW  RKREDOS  FOR  8T.  PAUL'S. 
LONDON,  February  27, 1888. 

WE  do  not  seeui  to  be  getting  any  nearer 
an  agreement  upon  the  vexed  question 
of  Compulsory  Registration  of  Archi- 
tects, and  this  is  the  more  to  be   regretted 

because  I  believe  there   are  very  few  who  at  heart  disapprove  of 
registration,  in  the  abstract. 

As  this  question  is  likely  to  become  the  question  of  the  day,  it  may 
be  as  well  to  give  a  brief  sketch  of  the  history  of  the  movement  and 
explain,  in  a  few  words,  how  the  present  state  of  affairs  has  been 
brought  about. 

As  most  of  us  know  the  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects  is 
the  real  and  recognized  head  of  the  architectural  profession  in  Great 
Britain  and  until  quite  recently  its  authority  has  never  been  disputed. 

But  the  Institute,  relying  on  its  brilliant  traditions  and  apparently 
unchallenged  authority,  relapsed  into  a  state  of  semi-somnolence  and 
treated  any  propositions  of  reform  with  a  slightly  arrogant  spirit, 
the  whole  tenor  of  its  policy  was  of  an  ultra-conservative 
nature,  and,  in  short,  it  refused  to  recognize  the  fact  that  the 
world  was  moving  on,  and  that  it  must  move  with  it.  This  un- 
fortunate |K>licy  produced  its  inevitable  result,  and  soon  movements 
in  the  direction  of  reform  became  apparent  both  within  and  without 
the  Institute  walls.  The  internal  movement  does  not  directly  con- 
cern us  now :  suffice  it  to  say  that  after  a  considerable  lapse  of  time, 
it  was,  in  a  degree,  successful.  The  external  movement  took  the 
form  of  a  new  architectural  society  which  was  founded  on  a  liberal 
1  might,  almost  say  radical  basis,  and  it  was  hoped  that  those  eminent 
members  of  the  profession,  who  had  hitherto  held  aloof  from  the  In- 


stitute would  join  this  new  "Society  of  Architects,"  and  thus  give  it 
a  professional  xlnlus  approaching  that  of  the  Institute  itself.  This 
ho]>e  was  not  realized.  Although  a  few  of  the  leaders  of  the  society 
such  as  Mr.  Kllison,  of  Liverpool,  ami  Mr.  (iough,  whose  earnest 
advocacy  of  registration  has  aroused  the  admiration  even  of  his 
opponents,  and  some  others  are  well-known  architects;  yet,  the  great 
majority  of  the  members  are  of  a  very  heterogenous  character.  One 
thing  tiiat  was  particularly  noticed  was  the  avidity  with  which  the 
members  of  this  new  society  affixed  the  letters  M.  S.  A.  to  their 
names,  from  which  many  people  drew  some  rather  uncharitable  con- 
clusions. 

In  its  early  days  this  society  mainly  confined  itself  to  mailers  of 
professional  interest,  and  gave  practical  proof  of  its  vitality  by  in- 
stituting |>eriodical  visits  to  the  provinces,  inaugurating  exhibitions 
and  the  like.  This  useful  action  removed,  in  some  degree,  the  un- 
pleasant impression  which  the  formation  of  a  new  society  had  made, 
and  it  was  hoped  that  the  society  in  its  own  province  might  be  able 
to  accomplish  valuable  work  that  could  not  very  well  be  undertaken 
by  the  institute.  All  this  while,  however,  the  Society  was  not 
recognized  or  noticed  either  by  the  Institute  or  by  some  of  the  pro- 
fessional journals — notably  the  Builder. 

But  it  was  not  long  before  the  Society's  policy  assumed  a  more 
aggressive  character.  Questions  of  professional  policy  were  dis- 
cussed, and  a  movement  was  eventuallv  inaugurated  in  favor  of  the 
"  federation "  of  all  existing  metrojKiIitan  and  provincial  societies 
into  one  national  association.  Soon,  however,  there  were  signs  of  a 
new  and  more  important  agitation  in  favor  of  the  compulsory  regis- 
tration of  every  architect  in  the  kingdom,  and  before  tins  the  minor 
subject  of  "  federation  "  paled  and  eventually  disappeared.  "  Archi- 
tects must  be  recognized  by  the  law  "  became  the  text  for  numerous 
professional  sermons,  and  this  movement  originally  started  by  a 
"  small  clique,"  assumed  its  present  proportions.  "  The  Bill  now 

'9  , 


:nt   prop 

up  by  a  Registration  Committee  com- 
posed principally  of  members  of  this  Society  of  Architects,  and  the 


before  Parliament  was  drawn  ur 


Architects',  Engineers'  and  Surveyors'  Registration  Act,  1888,  having 
passed  its  first  reading  (a  mere  formality)  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
is  now  down  for  the  second  reading.  This,  if  passed,  signifies  that 
the  House  has  approved  of  the  general  principles  of  the  measure. 
Whether  the  bill  pass  this  ordeal  remains  to  be  seen. 

Considering  that  the  three  chartered  institutions  of  the  respective 
professions,  viz.,  the  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects,  the  In- 
stitution of  Civil  Engineers  and  the  Surveyors'  Institution  will  vigor- 
ously oppose  it,  I  should  say  that  its  chances  are  small. 

As  I  have  previously  stated,  the  broad,  general  principles  of  Regis- 
tration are  approved  of,  though  not  actually  admitted,  by  the  great 
majority  of  the  profession.  But  that  a  bill  of  such  a  vital  character 
should  become  a  law  without  all  its  details  having  been  most  care- 
fully considered  and  discussed  by  the  profession  as  a  whole  does  not 
appear  to  be  possible,  and  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  an 
incalculable  injury  will  be  done  to  the  architectural  profession  in 
England  if  this  bill  pass  in  its  present  form. 

En  passant,  I  may  mention  that  the  interesting  article  which 
appeared  last  month  in  your  columns  upon  this  subject  has  attracted 
a  considerable  amount  of  attention  in  this  country,  the  Building  News 
having  reprinted  it  in  full  under  the  heading,  "  What  they  think 
about  the  Registration  Bill  in  America,"  and  the  Builder  also  having 
prominently  referred  to  it.  Unfortunately,  this  important  profes- 
sional question  has  occupied  so  much  of  my  space  that  I  shall  only 
be  able  to  refer  briefly  to  the  other  events  of  interest  which  have 
taken  place  since  my  last  letter. 

The  exhibition  of  drawings,  etc.,  submitted  in  competition  for  the 
Institute's  prizes,  was  remarkably  good  and  of  no  small  size.  There 
was  a  most  delightful  collection  of  color-sketches  from  North  Italy 
by  Mr.  Gerald  Horsley,  and  the  numerous  pencil  drawings  submitted 
in  competition  for  the  Pugin  Studentship  were  simply  charming. 
The  subject  of  the  Soane  Medallion  was  a  gentleman's  country  house, 
and  although  the  drawings  were  numerous,  yet  there  were  few  that 
professed  any  particular  merit.  The  design  that  won  the  prize  was 
certainly  original  to  say  the  least. 

Talking  of  the  Institute  I  am  reminded  that  since  I  last  wrote  you 
our  President  has  passed  away.  Ever  genial  and  kindly,  Mr. 
I'Anson's  familiar  form  will  be  sadly  missed  by  those  who  knew  him. 
Another  eminent  architect  has  also  left  us  —  Mr.  Godwin,  who  for 
so  many  years  guided  and  controlled  the  fortunes  of  the  Builder. 
Few  of  us  know  what  constant  care  and  anxiety  the  successful  con- 
duet  of  a  newspaper  entails,  but  the  pre-eminent  position  which  the 
Builder  now  holds  in  England  is  to  a  large  extent  due  to  Mr.  God- 
win. Two  great  men  have  passed  away,  men  that  England  can  ill 
afford  to  lose. 

This  year,  for  the  first  time,  the  R.  I.  B.  A.  determined  to  ask  the 
Queen  to  present  the  Royal  Gold  Medal  (which  is  given  annually  to 
some  architect  of  particular  eminence)  to  an  American  architect, 
and  Mr.  Richardson  was  selected.  Unhappily,  the  intentions  of  the 
Institute  were  frustrated  by  the  Angel  of  Death,  and  the  Council 
publicly  expressed  its  sincere  regret  the  other  night  at  this  most 
unfortunate  event.  A  very  general  hope  has  been  expressed  that 
some  arrangements  may  be  made  for  the  illustration  of  Mr.  Richard- 
son's principal  works  in  the  Institute  Journal  or  the  professional 
papers. 

The  many  rumors  that  have  been  floating  about  London  with 
respect  to  the  action  of  members  of  the  Metropolitan  Board  of 


140 


The    American    Architect   and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXI II.  — No    639. 


Works  are  about  to  be  thoroughly  investigated  by  a  Royal  Commis- 
sion which  has  been  appointed  by  Parliament  to  "  inquire  into  and 
report  upon  the  working  of  the  Metropolitan  Board  of  Works  and 
into  the  irregularities  which  are  alleged  to  have  taken  place  in  con- 
nection therewith."  Lord  Randolph  Churchill,  in  the  speech  in 
which  he  asked  for  the  appointment  of  this  Royal  Commission  stated 
that  "it  was  alleged  that  members  and  officers  of  the  Board  had  been 
interested  in  syndicates  or  companies  formed  for  the  purpose  of 
speculating  in  property  required  for  public  use,  and  had  gained 
advantages  by  buying  or  leasing  property  from  the  Board  through 
privileged  channels ;  that  architects,  members  of  the  Board,  sat  in 
judgment  upon  applications  for  building  sites,  being  at  the  same 
time  in  the  paid  services  of  the  applicants ;  that  a  member  of  the 
Board  was  the  architect  for  the  Pavilion  Music-hall,  but  was  only 
nominal  architect,  there  being  associated  with  him  a  private  archi- 
tect who  did  the  work  and  divided  the  fees ;  that  a  member  of  the 
Board  was  the  architect  of  the  Grand  Hotel  and  of  a  large  portion 
of  Queen  Victoria  Street  buildings,  all  erected  on  property  of  the 
Board ;  also,  that  members  of  the  Board  engaged  outside  in  profes- 
sional duties  used  their  personal  influence  inside  the  Board  in  favor 
of  schemes  submitted  to  the  Board  in  which  they  were  professionally 
concerned."  These  are  serious  statements,  and  it  is  now  quite  time 
that  the  character  of  this  important  body  is  cleared. 

The  new  reredos  at  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  which  has  been  some  two 
years  in  building  was  unveiled  on  St.  Paul's  Day.  This  new  altar- 
piece  is  sixty-seven  feet  in  height  and  is  constructed  in  variously 
colored  marbles.  The  central  and  most  prominent  feature  of  the 
reredos  is  a  life-sized  figure  of  our  Lord  on  the  cross,  flanked  on 
cither  side  by  the  Virgin  Mary  and  St.  John.  The  cost  of  this  work 
has  been  nearly  £30,000,  and  neither  pains  nor  expense  have  been 
spared  to  render  it  a  worthy  ornament  to  our  Metropolitan  Cathe- 
dral. The  architects  were  Messrs.  Bodley  &  Garner. 

The  recent  theatre-fires  are  bearing  good  fruit.  At  Exeter,  the 
new  theatre  is  to  be  constructed  after  Mr.  Henry  Irving's  idea  of  a 
"  Safety  Theatre."  This  will  be  a  curious  experiment.  The  R.  I. 
B.  A.,  too,  have  been  devoting  a  considerable  amount  of  attention  to 
the  subject,  and  at  recent  meetings  various  ideas  and  suggestions  for 
fireproof  theatres  have  been  considered  and  discussed.  The  Metro- 
politan Board  of  Works  are  introducing  a  bill  into  Parliament 
asking  for  further  powers  of  inspection,  but  in  view  of  the  recent  Hebb 
scandals,  the  theatre  managers  are  petitioning  for  the  power  to  be 
placed  in  the  hands  of  a  Government  official. 

A  very  interesting  lecture  on  Mahometan  Architecture  was  given 
at  the  Architectural  Association  the  other  night  by  Mr.  Phene 
Spiers,  who  charmed  us  by  a  large  collection  of  his  most  delightful 
water-color  sketches.  The  fantastic  beauty  of  these  Moorish  domes 
and  minarets,  backed  by  the  deep  ultramarine  hue  of  the  cloudless 
Eastern  sky,  formed  a  contrast  that  Mr.  Spiers  was  not  slow  to  take 
advantage  of.  Mr.  Spiers  was  tellingme  of  some  of  his  adventures 
while  with  the  worshippers  of  the  Prophet.  On  one  occasion  he 
had  to  pay  the  keeper  of  a  mosque  ten  francs  a  day  to  be  allowed  to 
sketch  in  the  mosque,  and  while  working  was  surrounded  by  four 
soldiers  keeping  guard  over  him,  and  each  of  these  drew  two  francs 
a  day  out  of  Mr.  Spiers's  pocket.  Rather  an  expensive  task.  But 
the  drawing  showed  that  it  was  quite  worth  it. 

The  Architectural  Association  has  just  started  publishing  a  con- 
cise architectural  idea  of  all  the  ancient  buildings  in  the  kingdom. 
The  information  is  obtained  from  architects  of  eminence  living  in 
the  district  who  personally  guarantee  the  accuracy  of  the  informa- 
tion they  furnish.  This  idea  will,  I  need  scarcely  say,  form  an 
invaluable  addition  to  the  architect's  book-shelf.  Really,  the  work 
that  this  Association  accomplishes  is  something  enormous  and  the 
whole  of  it  is  purely  voluntary.  "  There  is  no  great  school  of  archi- 
tecture in  England,"  you  said  in  the  article  that  I  have  referred  to. 
May  I  venture  to  assert  that  this  Architectural  Association  might 
safely  lay  claim  to  such  a  title?  When  I  have  some  spare  space,  I 
will  send  you  a  short  description  of  our  "  great  school  of  archi- 
tecture," and  I  am  sure  you  will  agree  with  me  that  we  are  not  so 
far  behind  our  American  confreres  as  would  at  first  sight  appear. 

CHIEL. 


NOTES  OF  TRAVEL. 

CHICAGO. —  IV.1 

«TTS  would  be  expected  from  a  city  which  has  attained  its  growth 
F\  within  the  lifetime  of  the  present  generation,  Chicago  does  not 
/  present  very  much  that  is  of  marked  or  peculiar  interest  in  the 
lines  of  domestic  architecture.  It  is,  emphatically,  a  city  of  homes ; 
indeed,  the  same  might  be  said  of  the  West  as  a  whole ;  for  with  the 
surprising  extension  of  business  which  has  been  so  notable  a  feature 
in  the  growth  of  all  of  the  Central  States  of  the  Union,  the  home- 
architecture  has  been,  almost  perforce,  neglected,  and  business  con- 
siderations have  always  received  the  most  attention.  But  though  the 
exterior  treatment  of  the  dwellings  may  have  been  to  a  great  extent 
neglected,  the  interiors  have  always  retained  a  charm,  which  is  not 
peculiar  to  the  West,  but  which  might  almost  be  classed  as  an  attri- 
bute of  American  homes.  They  are  comfortable,  commodious,  and, 
in  a  word,  homelike.  We  know  of  no  word  so  literally  characteristic 
of  the  domestic  architecture  of  Chicago ;  and  it  applies  both  to  large 
and  small  buildings.  Indeed,  considering  the  immense  amount  of 


1  Continued  from  No.  635,  page  91. 


wealth  which  is  concentrated  in  Chicago,  it  is  apt  to  strike  one  that 
there  are  no  large,  palatial  houses  in  the  city.  There  are  few  that 
would  suggest  the  presence  of  millionnaires.  The  writer  was  com- 
menting upon  this  one  day  to  a  leading  Chicago  architect,  who  re- 
plied by  calling  his  attention  to  the  fact  that  on  the  corner  where 
they  stood  dwelt  a  man  whose  property  was  valued  at  two  million  ; 
directly  opposite  lived  another  worth  a  million-and-one-half ;  next 
door  was  one  worth  three-quarters  of  a  million,  and  so  on  down  the 
street,  the  aggregate  amount  of  property  represented  by  owners  of 
the  houses  reached  twenty  or  thirty  millions  ;  and  yet  the  appearance 
of  the  houses  was  not  such  as  to  lead  one  to  think  that  they  were  the 
homes  of  wealth.  They  had  more  the  appearance  of  small  cottages 
enlarged,  as  though  the  original,  homelike  type,  so  common  all  over 
the  country,  had  been  clung  to  even  in  the  millionnaire's  palace. 

Of  course,  this  does  not  apply,  altogether,  to  the  new  work. 
There  are  many  houses  which  show  a  larger  and  broader  feeling  for 
domestic  architecture,  and  give  evidence  of  an  appreciation  of  the 
comforts  which  wealth  can  furnish  in  the  line  of  better  architecture. 
Still,  the  sentiment  is,  if  we  may  so  express  it,  from  the  cottage  up, 
never  from  the  palace  down,  so  that  one  is  apt  to  belittle  the  impor- 
tance and  the  value  of  these  private  residences. 

The  same  general  facts  are  true  of  the  interiors  of  the  Chicago 
houses.  Large  rooms,  as  we  understand  them  in  the  East,  seem  to 
be  rather  the  exception,  and  rooms  not  over  twenty  feet  square  are 
considered  large  enough  for  most  purposes.  Only  in  a  few  instances 
is  there  any  tendency  to  spacious  apartments.  One  would  rather  ex- 
pect the  contrary  in  a  city  like  Chicago,  where  the  very  sentiment 
of  the  air  seems  to  call  for  spacious  rooms  and  generous  apartments; 
but  however  disposed  to  magnitude  the  Chicagoan  may  be  in  business 


H 


life,  in  the  domestic  world  the  rooms  are  always  snug  and  small, 
cosy  and  convenient,  but  by  no  means  of  the  size  or  style  which 
would  imply  extended  social  life.  In  an  architectural  sense  most  of 
the  private  work  in  Chicago  is  questionable,  but  in  personal  feeling 
the  houses  are  thoroughly  enjoyable. 

A  feature  which  adds  a  great  charm  to  the  city,  as  well  as  to  the 
houses,  is  the  great  number  of  isolated  dwellings,  instead  of  continu- 
ous blocks  for  residential  purposes.  There  are,  of  course,  as  in 
every  large  city,  long  lines  of  solidly-built  houses,  but  the  rule  in 
Chicago  is  rather  that  each  house  shall  be  surrounded  by  its  garden, 
and  shall  be  quit*  distinct  from  its  neighbor,  hence  Chicago  has 
been  termed  the  Garden  City  of  the  West.  The  commercial 
traveller  who  sees  only  the  down-town  life  of  Chicago,  especially  if 
he  happens  to  strike  the  city  in  the  winter  time,  would  not  appre- 
ciate this  appellation ;  but  any  one  who  is  familiar  with  the  magni- 
ficent avenues  along  the  lake  and  has  seen  them  at  their  best,  when 
the  long  lines  of  trees  are  in  foliage  and  the  refreshing  breezes  are 
'blowing  from  the  lake,  knows  what  a  beautiful  city  Chicago 
really  is,  and  understands  in  a  measure  the  intense  pride  the 
Chicagoans  take  in  their  city. 

In  domestic  as  well  as  in  public  architecture  nearly  all  of  the 
work  represents  a  growth  from  within.  This  does  not  imply  that  all 
of  the  architects  are  native  born.  Chicago  is  too  young  a  city  for 
that;  but,  at  the  same  time,  the  Chicago  work  is  mostly  done  by 
Chicago  architects,  and  the  most  satisfactory  work,  on  the  whole,  is 
that  which  has  been  wrought  out  by  members  of  the  profession  who 
claim  the  West  as  their  home  and  Chicago  as  their  adopted  city. 
Chicago  is  ever  ready  to  borrow  from  the  East,  West,  North  and 
South,  but  she  is  determined  to  put  her  own  stamp  upon  what  she 
takes.  The  stamp  may  be  ugly,  and  the  result  of  the  borrowing 
even  disastrous  to  the  borrower,  but  in  the  end  the  city  is  the  better 
for  it,  and  the  growth  which  has  been  so  noticeable  a  feature  of  her 
art-life  is  largely  due  to  the  unceasing  desire  and  determination  of 
the  architects  to  have  nothing  but  the  best  and  to  accept  nothing  but 


MARCH  24,  1888.J 


Tlte   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


141 


what  is  first-class,  so  far  as  they  can  understand  it  and  so  far  as  they 
can  obtain  it.  If  Chicago  houses  are  not  types  of  the  best  phases  of 
the  private  architecture  of  the  country,  it  is  certainly  no  fault  of  the 
local  architects.  A  more  wide-awake,  energetic  and  untiring  body 
of  professional  men,  it  would  he  hard  (o  find  in  any  other  city  in  the 
country. 

While  the  Chicago  house*  are  comfortable  and  homelike,  we 
do  not  find  in  them,  as  a  rule,  the  same  care  in  planning  or  the  same 
forethought  in  arrangement  which  ought  to  mark  the  best  housed, 
anil  which,  we  are  fondly  assuming,  is  a  feature  of  the  best  side  of 
American  architecture.  The  houses  are  not  always  planned  care- 
fully so  as  to  secure  the  best  light  or  the  greatest  amount  of  sunshine 
in  the  rooms  which  need  light  and  air;  and  certainly  in  the  majority 
of  cases  there  seem,1*  to  be  a  lack  of  the  little  niceties  of  execution 
and  detail  in  regard  to  proper  arrangement  for  heating  and  ventilat- 


ing, which  one  might  reasonably  expect,  considering  the  amount  of 
money  expended.  Chicago  has  a  very  severe  climate,  much  more  so 
than  any  city,  we  believe,  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard ;  and  yet  few  of 
the  houses  are  as  well  protected  against  the  weather  as  a  client 
would  demand  them  to  be  in  the  East.  These  defects,  however,  if, 
indeed,  we  may  term  defects  what  are  due  mainly  to  the  influence  of 
surroundings  and  past  generations  of  architects,  who  were  little  more 
than  builders  —  these  defects  are  by  no  means  due  to  bad  builders  or 
to  a  lack  of  competent  mechanics.  The  architects  say  that  the 
mechanics  do  excellent  work  when  they  are  called  upon  to  do  it,  and 
that  if  the  work  is  not  up  to  the  Eastern  standard,  it  is  simply 
because  the  desires  of  the  community  are  not  as  exigent  as  elsewhere. 
In  some  respects,  we  fancy,  the  Western  builders  are  ahead  of  their 
brethren  in  the  East.  The  brickwork  certainly  seems  to  be  excep- 
tionally well  laid,  and  some  of  the  large  buildings  show  that,  on 
the  whole,  rather  better  work  can  be  obtained  from  the  laborers 
and  bricklayers  than  is  had  in  the  East.  Possibly  Chicago  archi- 


tects might  tell  a  different  story  and  say  they  have  the  same  difficulty 
with  flushing  joints  and  grouting  which  we  have  in  the  East,  but  the 
appearances  would  indicate  on  the  whole,  a  better  quality  of  mason- 
work  than  is  generally  found  elsewhere.  In  the  working  of  copper 
and  galvanized-iron  Chicago  is  decidedly  ahead  of  Boston  and  Sew 
York.  This  is  largely  due  to  the  extensive  employment  of  galvanized- 
iron  as  a  building  material,  which  has  been  the  means  of  training  the 
workmen  to  a  familiarity  with  the  material  and  with  the  means  of 
working  it.  Some  of  the 'copper- work  which  has  been  executed  of 
ate  years  in  Chicago  is  very  nicely  done,  clean  and  sharp  in  its  lines 


well  put  together  and  showing  far  more  than  an  average  mechanical 
ability.  This  is  independent  of  the  design,  though  for  that  matter 
the  Chicago  architects  have  used  both  galvanized-iron  and  copper  so 
much  that  when  one  gets  a  good  idea  in  form,  it  is  generally  carried 
out  in  a  very  successful  manner. 

Not  all  Chicago  houses  are  by  local  architects.  Mr.  Richardson 
has  left  several  marks  of  his  genius,  notably  the  (ilessncr  residence 
at  the  corner  of  Eighteenth  .Street  and  'Prairie  Avenue,  a  low, 
rambling  wanmV-sort  of  house,  with  many  picturesque  turns,  wide- 
arched  doorway,  and  curious  little  windows,  the  whole  wrought  out 
in  heavy  granite,  with  hardly  a  detail  anywhere,  but  great,  Imld 
masses,  which  give  a  wonderful  character  to  the  design,  a  character 
which  would  perhaps  be  more  pleasing  if  it  were  found  in  connection 
with  wide  grounds,  leafy  avenues  and  rural  surroundings,  but  which 
of  itself  is  none  the  less  pleasing  here. 


Next  door  to  this  is  a  house  by  Cobb  &  Frost,  which  is  very 
cleverly  planned  and  shows  the  influence  of  the  architects'  early 
Boston  training  in  the  arrangement  of  its  rooms,  the  placing  of  the 
staircase  and  several  minor  features  which  have  a  homelike  sugges- 
tiveness. 

A  better  house  by  the  same  architects  is  at  2846  Prairie  Avenue, 
the  home  of  Mr.  Bartlett.  It  is  a  large,  square  house  built  of  a  verv 
hard  granite,  sober  and  well-balanced  in  the  exterior,  and  with  "a 
most  excellent  plan  —  one  of  the  best  the  writer  was  privileged  to 
visit  in  the  city.  Some  of  the  copper-work  on  this  house  is  exceed- 
ingly delicate  both  in  design  and  execution,  and  treated  in  a  manner 
which  we  fancy  would  be  a  revelation  to  some  of  our  Eastern  copper- 
workers. 

In  sharp  contrast  to  this  house,  with  its  rather  gloomy  external 
appearance,  is  a  dwelling  by  Mr.  Clay,  a  building  which  is  so  pecu- 
liar in  some  respects,  and  so  good  in  others,  that  it  should  be  seen 
by  every  architect  who  visits  the  city.  It  seems  to  be  the  fashion 
with  some  of  the  Chicago  architects  to  rather  make  fun  of  this  house, 
and  we  were  told  that  the  owner  was  very  much  disgusted  with  it 
when  he  returned  from  Europe  to  find  the  house  completed,  but  it  is 
so  far  above  the  ordinary  Chicago  house  in  style  that,  notwithstand- 
ing the  eccentricity  of  color,  it  is  certainly  worthy  of  a  greal  deal  of 
consideration.  The  color  is  the  questionable  point.  The  basement 
is  built  of  a  buff  or  brown  sandstone  ;  the  first  story  is  of  a  choco- 
late brick,  with  stone  trimmings;  above  this  is  a  panel  of  terra- 
cotta; the  second  story  is  of  a  light-buff  Milwaukee  brick;  a 
wide  frieze  of  blue  enamel  brick  with  brown  enamel  patterns 
runs  around  the  building  above  the  second  story  ;  the  trimmings 
of  the  second  story  and  of  the  dormers  are  of  terra-cotta ;  the 
roof  is  of  purple  slate,  and  the  ridges  and  side  bay-window  are 
of  copper  left  its  natural  color.  The  combination  of  tones  looks  as 
strange  as  it  sounds,  especially  now  while  the  house  is  very  fresh  and 
bright,  and  the  blue  enamel  and  buff  brick  stand  out  conspicuously 
in  contrast  with  the  purples  and  browns.  But  it  is  an  effect  which 
will  sober  in  time,  and  in  a  few  years  we  question  whether  the 
appearance  of  the  house  will  be  so  eccentric  as  it  now  seems.  The 
form  is  good  and  the  details  are  thoughtful  and  very  well  executed ; 
the  carving  is  really  very  well  done,  so  that  the  house  is  one  that  has 
everything  to  gain  and  nothing  to  lose  by  the  ravages  of  time  and 
cold  weather,  conditions  which  exist  for  very  few  houses. 

There  is  a  very  good  house  on  the  North  Side,  at  the  corner  of 
Ontario  and  Cass  Streets,  erected  for  Judge  Tree,  the  Belgian 
minister,  from  the  plans  of  Messrs.  Peabody  &  Stearns.  The  mate- 
•ial  is  Longmeadow  sandstone,  which  was  brought  all  the  way  from 
Worcester,  the  local  stone  not  being  thought  good  enough,  though 
for  that  matter  the  Chicago  market  is  very  rich  in  good  buildin" 
stones. 

A  block  above  this  house,  at  the  corner  of  Erie  Street,  is  a  very 
^leasing  house  by  Messrs.  Cobb  &  Frost.  It  is  built  of  a  beautiful 
pink  sandstone,  which  u  known  at  th«  Kiiota  stone,  and  comes,  we 


142 


The   American   Architect   and  Building 


[Ve>L.  XXIII.-  —  No.  639. 


believe,  from  Lake  Superior.     The  details  are  very  nicely  worked 
out,  the  carving  especially  being  excellent  in  its  quality. 

The  North  Side  is  particularly  rich  in  good  liouses,  partly  because 
it  was  the  region  which  suffered  most  in  the  great  lire  of  1871,  and 
has  offered  a  more  unobstructed  field  for  the  architect.  Beginning 
at  the  water-works,  a  magnificent  avenue  is  carried  along  the  very 
edge  of  the  lake  for  a  distance  of  fifteen  to  twenty  miles.  This 
avenue,  before  it  reaches  Lincoln  Park,  is  built  up  with  a  number  of 
very  handsome  residences.  At  the  corner  of  the  Lake  Shore  Drive 
and  Bellevue  Place  is  a  house  by  Mr.  Beman,  very  successful  in  its 
treatment  and  one  of  the  best  pieces  of  work  we  have  ever  seen 
from  the  hands  of  this  architect.  It  is  of  stone,  brownstone  as  we 
remember  it,  and  is  treated  in  the  Kichardsonian  style,  which  has 
found  so  much  favor  with  the  Western  architects,  though  we  fancy 
this  example  is  rather  ahead  of  the  average  imitation. 

Directly  opposite  this  is  a  house  by  R.  M.  Hunt,  of  New  York,  a 
sharp  contrast  to  Mr.  Beman's  house  in  that  it  is  built  of  light  stone 
and  is  in  the  delicate  Francis  I  style  which  Mr.  Hunt  employed  for 
the  Vanderbilt  house  in  New  York.  This  example  is  much  smaller 
than  the  New  York  house,  but  is  very  pure  in  its  details  and  in 
thorough  harmony  and  good  taste. 

Farther  down  on  the  Lake  Shore  Drive  is  the  house  of  Potter 
Palmer,  a  heavy,  castellated  affair  —  acastleat  top  and  a  conservatory 
at  the  bottom,  as  an  architect  explained  to  us  —  a  not  altogether 
pleasing  example  of  what  domestic  architecture  might  be,  although 
in  its  plan  and  general  arrangements  it  more  nearly  approaches  a 
palatial  residence  than  any  which  we  examined  in  Chicago.  The 
rooms  are  large  and  the  grounds  around  are  very  extensive,  so  that, 
though  the  architecture  is  rather  questionable,  the  general  effect  is 
by  no  means  bad. 

Close  by  this  is  a  house  ascribed  to  Mr.  Richardson,  though  we 
believe  it  was  erected  after  his  death  by  his  successors,  Messrs. 
Shepley,  Rutan  &  Coolidge. 

The  houses  alluded  to  are  types  in  their  way,  and  seem  to  be  the 
best,  all  things  considered.  Still  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
domestic  is  not  the  most  successful  side  of  Chicago  architecture. 
The  West  is  too  busy  for  the  elaboration  and  quiet  thought  involved 
in  good  domestic  architecture.  So  long  as  the  house  is  comfortable 
and  fairly  good  looking,  we  can  hardly  expect  anything  more  for  a 
generation  to  come. 

We  once  heard  a  very  sharp  critic  sum  up  the  Chicago  club-houses 
as  being  unambitious,  unluxurious  and  unsuccessful.  We  think  this 
is  hardly  fair  to  the  club-life  of  the  city.  The  citizens  are  too  pre- 
occupied to  evolve  such  institutions  as  the  Union  League  Club  in 
New  York  or  the  Somerset  Club  in  Boston,  and  it  is  not  strange  that 
the  growth  in  this  direction  has  been  small ;  still,  so  far  as  the  clubs 
have  gone,  they  have  been  anything  but  a  discredit  to  the  city.  If  a 
club  is  a  place  of  meeting,  a  sort  of  business-exchange  room,  or  con- 
venient place  to  drop  into  for  a  lunch  or  an  afternoon  nap,  the 
Chicago  club-houses  are  thoroughly  satisfactory,  whatever  their 
architectural  attainments  may  be. 

The  Union  Club-house,  on  the  North  Side,  by  Messrs.  Cobb  & 
Frost,  is  a  quiet,  substantial-looking  building,  furnished  in  thoroughly 
good  taste  and  well  adapted  for  its  purpose.  A  view  of  this  building 
was  published  in  the  American  Architect  some  time  since.  This  is, 
presumably,  the  best  up-town  club. 

The  Union  League  Club  is  rather  larger  and  more  spacious  and  is 
located  in  the  centre  of  the  city,  serving  principally  as  a  place  for  a 
good  business  dinner  or  a  down-town  engagement.  It  was  built 
from  the  plans  of  Mr.  W.  L.  B.  .lenney,  and,  without  being  at  all 
ostentatious,  is  thoroughly  comfortable  and  convenient. 

With  the  growth  in  art  which  has  marked  the  last  decade,  one 
might  reasonably  expect  to  find  some  vigorous  training-schools  for 
artists.  There  is  an  art  institution  housed  in  a  comfortable  building 
erected  for  it  by  Messrs.  Burnham  &  Root ;  but,  so  far  as  could  be 
ascertained,  the  art  influences  of  the  city  in  the  line  of  direct  train- 
ing are  inclined  to  be  rather  sporadic.  The  fact  is,  Chicago  is  not 
content  with  itself,  but  is  constantly  looking  outside  and  drawing 
inspiration  from  every  possible  source,  and  with  the  whole  world  to 
choose  from,  it  is  natural  that  home  schools  should  languish.  This, 
however,  does  not  imply  that  there  is  a  lack  of  esprit  de  corps  among 
the  younger  members  of  the  profession.  There  is  an  architectural 
sketch-club  which  does  very  creditable  work,  and  there  is  a  very 
friendly  feeling  manifested  among  the  members  of  the  profession, 
who  help  each  other  and  work  together  to  an  extent  which  has  been 
equalled  only  by  the  members  of  the  Architectural  League  of  New 
York.  One  of  the  most  hopeful  signs  of  Western  architecture  is 
the  desire  and  willingness  of  the  architects  to  mingle  together,  to 
show  each  other  their  work,  and  to  exchange  criticisms.  Only  in 
such  ways  can  growth  come  about.  There  is  everything  to  be 
gained  by  intercourse,  and  we  fancy  that  Eastern  architects  are 
sometimes  inclined  to  disregard  this  means  of  progress. 

C.  II.  BLACKALL. 


THE  PERVASIVENESS  OF  LIGHTNING. — A  correspondent  of  the  Spring- 
field Republican,  describing  the  effects  of  a  recent  lightning-stroke,  says 
that  "  the  ceiling  of  the  room  had  been  replastered  the  preceding  spring 
and  the  sand  of  this  locality,  which  is  used  in  mortar,  is  ferruginous. 
Every  metallic  particle  in  the  latter  the  fluid  seemed  to  have  found  and 
detached,  so  as  to  give  the  plastered  surface  an  appearance  better 
described  us  pock-marked  than  by  any  other  words  at  my  command." 


Till:    (iliANT    MONCMICNT     COMI'KTITION. 

0N  Thursday,  the   15th  inst.,  a  committee,  of  the  Architectural 
League,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Warren  R.  Kriggs,  E.  H.  Kendall, 
Henry  J.  Hardenburg,  F.  A.  Wright,  Clarence  S.  Luce,  and 
the  President  of  the  League,  Mr.  John  Beverley  Robinson,  presented 
the  following  memorial,  as  ordered  by  the  League  at  its  last  meeting, 
to  ex-Govern  >r  Alonzo  B.  Cornell,  Chairman  of  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee of  the  Grant  Monument  Association. 

To  AI.ONZO  B.  COBKELI.,  CHAIRMAN,  AND  THE  MEMHERS  OF  THE  EXE- 
CUTIVE COMMITTEE  OF  THE  GRANT  MEMORIAL  ASSOCIATION  : 

THE  Architectural  League  of  New  York  herewith  enters  protest 
against  the  terms  of  your  circular  invitation  to  competitors  for  tin- 
Grant  Monument  bearing  date  January  26,  1888. 

In  its  opinion  many  of  the  conditions  as  therein  set  forth  are,  by 
reason  of  their  indefiniteness  and  ill-judged  rature,  such  as  will  not 
attract  designers  of  repute,  and  it  would  more  specifically  call  your 
attention  to  the  following  sections  of  your  circular. 

1.  To  Section  2,  in  which  the  proposed  cost  of  the  monument  is  not 
stated  with  that  assuredness  and  authority  that  will  place  competitors 
upon  equal  terms,  the  amount  to  be  expended  being  practically  left  to 
the  judgment  of  each. 

2.  Sections  5,  6  and  8,  which   permit   designs  to  be  submitted   at 
different  scales — one-quarter  and  one-eighth  inch  to  the  foot;  in  differ- 
ent  mediums  —  line  and  "washed"  or  brush-made  drawings;  and  in 
different  materials  —  drawings  or  models. 

To  put  competi:prs  upon  an  equal  footing  there  should  be  but  one 
scale  to  which  designs  should  be  made  and  but  one  manner  in  which 
they  should  be  exhibited,  and  to  this  one  scale  and  one  manner  all 
should  be  bound.  It  has  been  found  that  a  scale  of  one-eighth  or  one- 
sixteenth  inch  to  one  foot  is  sufficiently  large  to  afford  opportunity  for 
the  exercise  of  the  most  critical  judgment,  and  pure-line  drawings  in 
pen  and  ink  the  most  fair  media  of  representation. 

The  precise  nature  and  quality  of  sculpture  should  not  be  and  is  not 
now  to  be  considered,  its  purpose  and  general  intent  being  as  well  shown 
by  drawings  as  by  models. 

3.  To  Section  13,  which  provides  for  ihc  assumption  by  your  Com- 
mittee of  the  property- right  in  the  chosen  designs  upon  the  payments  of 
the  sums  set  forth. 

4.  To  Section  17,  which,  in  the  opinion  of  your  memorialists,  is  the 
most  faulty  of  the  provisions.    To   request  competitors   to   underbid 
each  other  in  the  price  of  their  services  is  not  the  way  to  secure  tlie 
best  talent. 

In  conclusion,  the  Architectural  League  of  New  York  has  entered 
this  protest  wholly  and  only  with  the  desire  to  point  out  to  your  Com- 
mittee the  faults  in  your  circular  which  may  render  null  your  efforts, 
and  to  urge  upon  you  the  advisability  of  M>  amending  your  conditions 
that  the  best  result  may  be  reached  in  the  best,  most  expeditious  and 
most  fair  manner. 

In  pursuance  of  the  latter  desire,  it  presents  for  your  consideration  a 
copy  of  the  instructions  to  competitors  for  the  Indiana  State  Soldiers' 
and  Sailors'  Monument,  which  it  considers  a  model  in  completeness  and 
fairness  and  which  competition  has  been  brought  to  a  most  satisfactory 
and  successful  conclusion. 


To  Messrs.  Alonzo  B.  Cornell,  Chairman,  and  Richard  T.  Greener, 
Secretary,  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Grant  Monument 
Association. 

Gentlemen :  The  Trustees  of  the  American  Institute  of  Archi- 
tects feel  themselves  obliged,  in  the  interest  of  art  and  of  the  success 
of  the  project  for  erecting  a  monument  to  General  Grant,  to  respect- 
fully protest  against  the  terms  of  the  competition  for  said  monument 
as  they  are  now  set  forth,  and  to  state  their  objections  to  certain 
sections  of  the  circular  in  which  they  are  contained,  as  follows : 

Section  2.  Cost  is  an  element  of  great  value  in  determing  charac- 
ter of  design ;  the  amount  to  be  expended  is  not  definitely  named,  as 
it  should  be. 

Section  4.  The  eminent  experts  who  are  to  advise  the  Association 
in  the  selection  of  designs  should  be  known  from  the  beginning,  so 
that  such  as  have  not  faith  in  the  judgment  of  the  said  experts  need 
not  compete. 

Sections  6,  7,  8.  All  designs  in  the  respective  classes  of  Architects 
and  Sculptors  should  be  made  to  one  scale  and  rendered  in  one 
manner.  No  architect  should  be  at  liberty  to  submit  a  model  unless 
all  are  required  to  do  so. 

Section  13.  As  the  first  premium,  the  successful  designer  should 
be  employed  to  execute  his  design  at  regular  rates.  The  premiums 
named  are  insufficient  in  numbers  and  in  amounts.  No  one  of  stand- 
ing would  willingly  sell  his  design  at  the  prices  named  or  at  much 
higher  terms,  and,  moreover,  an  unexecuted  design  would  be  of  no 
use  to  the  Association  except  as  a  curiosity.  All  drawings,  etc.,  save 
the  one  design  adopted,  should  at  once,  be  returned  to  the  authors. 

Section  14.  The  Committee  should  only  ask  for  a  new  competi- 
tion on  the  recommendation  of  the  expert  jury. 

Section  1 7.  As  above  stated,  the  successful  designer  should,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  be  employed  to  carry  out  his  design  at  regular 
rates.  Competition,  as  regards  rates  of  compensation,  would  neces- 


MARCH  24,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


143 


sarily  he  demoralizing  to  the  competitors  and  possibly  to  the  judg- 
ment of  the  Committee.. 

While  it  is  in  accordance  with  extremely  mercantile  spirit  to 
endeavor  to  ohtain  the  imixiimim  of  value  at  the  minimum  of  pay- 
ment, yet  such  a  principle  applied  to  iirlistic  work  lias  a  most  de- 
pressing effect  on  talent,  fails  to  call  out  high  ideas,  ami  drives  emi- 
nent practitioners  entirely  away.  A.  J.  BLOOR, 

A  true  copy.  Secretary. 


THE    MASTER    BUILDERS'    ASSOCIATION,    BOSTON,    MASS. 

THE  National  Association  of  Builders,  at  its  recent  convention  in 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  after  careful  deliberation,  formulated  certain 
"Rules  and  Conditions"  which  Contractors  may  properly  require  to 
be  observed  by  Owners,  Architects  and  Builders  when  estimates  are 
to  be  made. 

The  National  Association  recommends  all  its  affiliated  bodies  to 
secure  the  adoption  of  these  Hides  as  soon  as  possible,  and  further 
recommends,  as  the  proper  method  of  procedure,  that  the  co-opera- 
tion of  architects  !»•  obtained  in  the  establishment  of  the  same. 

In  compliance  with  these  recommendation*,  The  Master  Builders 
Association  of  Boston  rcs[>ectfully  invites  the  Boston  Society  of  Ar- 
chitects  to  appoint  a  Committee  to  meet  with  a  Committee  from  its 
body  to  consider  these  Hides,  and  arrange  a  plan  whereby  they  may 
be  recognized  as  the  proper  system,  and  their  general  adoption 
obtained. 

For  the  information  of  all  who  may  be   interested,  this  circular  is 
sent  to  individual  architects  and  builders,  and  their  comments  and 
suggestions  invited  for  the  assistance  of  the  Committee. 
March  19,  1888. 


HU1.E8  AND  CONDITION*  UNDER  WHICH  ESTIMATES  SHOULD  BE  SUBMITTED 
BY  CONTRACTOR  IN  THE  BUILDING  TBAUE8. 

Complete  plans  and  specifications. 

1.  General  plans  and  details,  when  offered  for  final  or  competi- 
tive estimates,  should  be  presented  on  a  scale  not  less  than  one- 
eighth  of  an  inch  to  the  foot,  should  be  done  in  ink,  or  by  some 
process  that   will  not  fade  or  obliterate,  and  be  complete  in 
every  part.    Specifications  should  also  be  presented  in  ink. 

Scale  of  drawings. 

2.  Such  portions  of  the  drawings  as  require  a  larger  scale  than 
general  drawings,  for  a  thoroiif/h  comprehension  of  what  will  be 
demanded  should  be  so  presented. 

Specifications  to  lie  drjinite. 

8.    Specifications  should  be  definite. 

All  such  indefinite  demands  as  "  The  contractor  must  furnish 
all  work  that  is  necessary,"  or  "All  work  that  the  architect 
may  require,"  etc.,  etc.,  are  improper,  and  should  be  eliminated 
before  estimates  are  submitted. 
Indefinite  depth  of  foundation. 

4.    Estimates  should  not  be  given  to  cover  an  indefinite  depth 
of  foundation. 

Foundations  which  have  to  go  below  the  depths  shown  upon 
plans  should  be  paid  for  as  extra  work  at  prices  agreed  upon. 
The  specification  to  be  the  guide  for  estimating. 

6.     The  specification  should  be  taken  as  the  guide  for  estimating 
and  all  demands  made  by  the  specification  —  unless  objection 
be  made  thereto  in  writing  when  bids  are  submitted  —  should 
be  covered  in  the  estimate  offered. 
Improper  demands  of  plans. 

6.  Demands  made  by  the  plans,  and  not  referred  to  in  the  specifi- 
cation, should  NOT  be  considered  in  the  estimate  offered. 

Grouping  of  special  n-ork. 

7.  Everything  that  will  be  required  in  the  various  branches  of 
work  should  be  mentioned  in  the  specification,  classified  and 
grouped  under  appropriate  headings. 

Cutting  and  jobbing  for  other  mechanics. 

8.  Specifications  should  distinctly  state  that  when  it  is  necessary 
to  cut  or  change  the  work  of  one  mechanic  in  the  placing  of 
the  work  of  another,  then  the  said  cutting  should  be  done  by 
the  mechanic  whose  work  is  so  changed  or  cut,  he  being  paid 
therefor  by  the  mechanic  whose  work  makes  the  said  cutting 
necessary. 

No  restriction  on  sub-estimates  unless  notified. 

9.  Contractors,  when  required  to  estimate  for  work  involving 
any  or  all  the  sub-contracts,  should   not  be  restricted  as  to 
whom  they  shall  employ  as  sub-contractors  UNLESS  PREVIOUSLY 
NOTIFIED. 

Percentage  for  sub-estimates  addett  to  contract.  * 

10.  Should  portions  of  the  work  be  reserved  by  owner  or  archi- 
tect, and  estimates  therefore  obtained  by  them,  the  principal 
contractor,  if  required  to  include  the  said  sub-estimates  in  his 
contract,  should  receive  a  compensation  therefor  of  not  less 
than  10  per  cent,  on  the  amount  of  the  said  sub-estimates. 

Opening  of  bids.     Delay  in  awarding  contracts. 

11.  Invited  bidders  should  receive  due  notice  of  time  and  place 
of  the  opening  of  bills.     Hids,  upon  being  opened,  should  be 
immediately  displayed  to  the  inspection  of  all  bidders,  and  for 
a  period  of  three  days  thereafter. 

Contracts  should  be  awarded  by  owners  or  architects  within  a 
reasonable  time  (say  ten  days)  after  a  competition  is  closed 
Contractors  should  not  be  holden  on  estimates  retained  longer 
than  ten  days  before  deciding  to  award  contract. 
Rights  ofloirest  bidder. 

12.  In  all  cases  where  the  work  is  let  under  plans  and  specifica- 
tions prepared  by  an  architect,  for  which  estimates  have  been 
received  and  opened,  the  lowest  invited  bidder,  should  be  en- 


titled to  the  contract,  and  estimates  for  changes  should  only 
be  made  by  him  unless  the  said  changes  involve  a  complete 
alteration  in  tltc  plans,  and  then  the  full  competition  should  be 
again  opened. 

In  no  case  should  the  two  lowest  bidders  be  called  upon  to 
estimate  ordinary  changes  to  decide  which  is  entitled  to  the 
contract. 

In  case  the  price  estimated  for  changes  should  not  lie  satis- 
factory to  the  owner,  it  should  be  settled  by  arbitration. 
Compensation  for  lotrest  bidder  u'hen  alt  bids  are  refuted. 

13.  Should  all  solicited  bids  received  be  refused,  then  the  lowest 
bidder  should   be  entitled  to  compensation  as  follows: 

For  estimates  amounting  lo 

•6,000  and  under, 826.00 

16,000  to  $50,000, 950.00 

Over  850,000,        8100.00 

No  compensation  for  estimates  should  be  required  where  the  con- 
tract is  awarded  to  the  lowest  bidder. 
Security  exacted. 

14.  When  security  is  exacted  from  a  contractor  a  like  amount 
of  security  should  be  required  of  the  owner. 

Rights  of  sub-bidders  in  t/ie  hands  flf  architects. 

16.  Sub-bids,  when  solicited  by  the  architect,  should  not  be 
shown  by  him  nor  exhibited  in  his  office,  but  should  be  retained 
by  the  architect  until  the  competition  is  closed  and  principal 
contracts  awarded,  when  ihey  should  be  disposed  of  in  the  way 
and  manner  provided  in  these  rules,  viz.  :  added  to  principal 
contracts  (with  a  percentage  —  see  Kule  10),  if  agreeable  to 
prinripul  contractor  • — or  direct  contracts  made. 

Rights  of  sub  bidders  at  the  hands  nf  general  contractor. 

16.  A  principal  contractor  having  bctn  awarded  a  contract  in- 
volving sub-contracts,  his  estimate  having  been  based  upon  sub- 
estimates,  or  bids  which  he  has  solicited  and  received,  he  should 
award  the  said  sub-contracts  to  the  lowest  bidders,  and  should 
notify  the  sub-biddeis  that  their  estimates  have  been  accepted 
or  rejected  as  soon  as  the  contract  has  been  awarded  to  him. 
The  fact  that  such  sub-bids  were  received  by  the  principal  con- 
tractor, previous  to  the  submission  of  his  estimate,  should  be  con- 
clusive evidence  that  they  were  used  by  him. 

Unsolicited  bids. 

17.  Should  a  principal  contractor  receive  a  sub-estimate  unto- 
licited,  he  should  not  be  considered  under  obligation  to  use  the 
said  bid,  even  if  it  be  the  lowest;  but  he  must  not  reveal  the 
bid  nor  use  it  in  any  way  to  influence  any  other  party. 

Penalty. 

18.  Any  member  detected  in  trading  on  any  of  the  sub-bids, 
whether  they  he  solicited  or  unsolicited,  or  however  knowledge 
of  them  may  have  come  into  his  possession,  will  be  liable  to 
forfeiture  of  membership,  censure  or  suspeu&iun. 

Estimate  in  aggregate  r».  estimate,  in  detail.  t 

10.  Contractors  should  decline  to  give  architects  or  owners  esti- 
mates in  the  aggregate  when  the  said  architects  or  owners  are 
soliciting  estimates  in  detail,  nor  should  estimates  be  furnished 
in  detail  when  estimates  are  being  solicited  in  the  aggregate. 

Penalty  rs.  premium  on  completion  of  contracts. 

20.  Whenever  the  completion  of  a  contract  will  be  required  in  a 
certain  time,  then  that  time  should  be  mentioned  in  the  specifi- 
cations, and  if  a  penalty  for  non-completion  is  to  be  exacted  of 
the  builder  it  should  be  so  stated,  and  also  that  the  owner  wilt 
be  required  to  pay  a  premium  of  like  amount  to  the  builder  if 
the  work  is  completed  before  the  specified  time. 

Award  of  contracts,  etc. 

21.  Contracts  should  be  awarded  upon  the  figures  as  shown  at 
the  opening  of  the  bids. 

Bidders  should  not  be  permitted  to  amend  estimates  after 
the  bids  have  been  opened,  and  previous  to  the  award. 

The  bidder  to  whom  a  contract  is  awarded  sho-.ild  be  required 
to  sign  the  contract  for  the  amount  of  the  bid  he  has  sub- 
mitted, or  withdraw  his  estimate. 


FOR  OUR  ADVERTISERS  TO  CONSIDER. 

ALBAXV.  N.  Y.,  March  19th,  1888. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  — I  have  just  read  your  comment  in  your  issue  of  the 
17tli  inst.  relating  to  advertising. 

Allow  me  to  say,  that  my  experience  proves  to  me  that  the  most 
valuable  place  for  an  advertisement  relative  to  mailers  with  which 
architects  deal  is  in  such  a  journal  as  vours.  Your  advertising 
pages  — as  well  as  those  in  other  professional  journals  — are  of  con° 
slant  use  to  me.  I  make  no  attempt  to  remember  the  names  and 
addresses  of  parties  whose  goods  I  wish  to  specify,  consequently  I 
refer  to  the  architectural  papers  for  them  — ami  quite  often  do  not 
find  them— which  nearly  as  often  results  in  an  advantage  to  those 
whose  notices  I  do  find.  It  is  is  quite  as  unnecessary  as  impossible  to 
notify  the  makers  or  dealers  of  the  fact  that  their'goods  have  been 
specified  to-day  or  were  specified  yesterday  or  will  be  to-morrow. 
Life  is  decidedly  too  short.  Yours  truly,  .  f .. 

FRAXKLIX  II.  JAXES.  "' 

[IT  is  needless  to  say  thnt  the  forejolng  communication  IK  .1  gratification 
to  UK,  it  in  more,  it  is  a  siirpri.<e  nml  a  Miri.ri-e  because  it  is  a  !„!,»  time 
since  we  have  felt  or  looked  for  the  help  aud  direct  per.oual  eiicoumg"eiueut 


144 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.       [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  689. 


that  our  subscribers  so  freely  gave  in  the  days  when  an  American  nrclritec- 
tectmal  publication  of  a  high  grade  was  a  novelty  ami  whi-n  every  one 
felt  that  if  such  things  were  to  be  they  must  be  supported.  The  American 
Archileul,  is  an  "  old  story  "  now,  whose  mechanism  makes  ft  ninny  revolu- 
tions between  Saturday  and  Saturday,  no  one  know*  exactly  why  or  how, 
nor  really  cares  provided  only  the  resulting  grist  is  of  satisfacton  quality. 
We  do  not  object  to  confessing  that  this  letter  is  the  most  helpful  thing  the 
mails  has  brought  us  this  year,  and  we  are  quite  sure  that  if  the  architect" 
now,  as  formerly  they  did,  remembered  the  reciprocality  of  the  relations 
which  exist  between  themselves  and  this  journal  there  is  hardlyoneof  them 
who  would  not  take  the  time  and  trouble  to  write  in  similar  vein. — EDS. 
AMERICAN  ARCHITECT. 


RESTORING   FADED   BRICK-FRONTS. 

PROVIDENCE,  R.  I.,  March  20,  1888. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  Can  you  inform  us  through  the  columns  of  your 
journal,  what  can  be  done  to  renew  the  front  of  an  old  face-brick 
building  that  has  been  covered  for  many  years  with  signs?  It  is  pro- 
posed to  take  off  all  the  signs,  wash  down  the  front  and  perhaps  oil 
it,  but  we  have  seen  in  New  York  and  the  West  what  seemed  to  be 
a  wash  applied  to  a  brick  front  to  give  it  a  uniform  shade  of  color 
and  to  make  the  front  more  presentable.  Can  you  tell  us  what  is 
used  and  how  it  is  applied?  X. 


POT-BOILERS.  —  I  was  taken  behind  the  scenes  to-day  in  a  way  that 
set  me  thinking.  Happening  to  notice  a  pretty  oil  painting  tucked 
away  in  a  corner  of  a  wholesale  frame-moulding  store  I  asked  the  price, 
and  not  only  learned  that,  but  quite  a  stock  of  useful  information 
beside.  It  seemed  that  the  painter  was  a  well  known  and  admired 
artist,  but  that  being  "hard  .up,"  lie  did  these  sketches  as  "pot- 
boilers," and  sold  them  to  dealers  at  a  low  price,  signing  them  with  a 
fictitious  name.  The  idea  was  that,  as  an  artist  of  recognized  stand- 
ing, he  could  not  afford  to  sell  his  work  on  a  bread-and-butter  standard, 
but  must  charge  what  other  well-known  artists  hold  their  own  pictures 
at,  even  if  they  were  not  marketable  at  that  price.  Meanwhile  he  sup- 
ported himself  by  anonymous  "pot  boiling."  In  other  words,  if  "a 
patron  of  the  arts  "  gave  him  a  "  commission  "  he  would  execute  it  for 
|100  or  §150,  and  at  the  same  time,  or  when  the  patron's  money  was 
spent,  made  other  paintings  of  equal  or  better  merit  (for  dealers  know 
value  quite  as  well  as  connoisseurs  do)  for  $20  or  §25. —  Boston  Adver- 
tiser. 


A  NEW  GLASS  FOR  OPTICAL  INSTRUMENTS. — Perhaps  the  most 
wonderful  thing  that  has  been  discovered  of  late  is  the  new  glass  which 
has  just  been  made  in  Sweden.  Our  common  glass  contains  only  six 
substances,  while  the  Swedish  glass  consists  of  fourteen,  the  most 
important  elements  being  phosphorous  and  boron,  which  are  not  found 
in  any  other  glass.  The  revolution  which  this  new  refractor  is  destined 
to  make  is  almost  inconceivable,  if  it  is  true,  as  is  postively  alleged, 
that,  while  the  highest  power  of  an  old  fashioned  microscopic  lens  re- 
veals only  the  one  four-hundred-thousandth  part  of  an  inch,  this  new 
glass  will  enable  us  to  distinguish  one  two-hundred-and-four-million- 
seven-hundred-thousandth  part  of  an  inch.  — Invention. 

RATS  AND  MATCHES.  — Fire  Marshal  Whitcomb,  of  Boston,  has  been 
recently  experimenting  with  rats  and  matches,  shut  up  together  in  a 
cage,  in  order  to  ascertain  whether  they  were  likely  to  cause  fires  or  not. 
In  the  absence  of  other  known  cause  frequent  fires  have  been  ascribed 
to  their  agency,  while  at  the  same  time  many  underwriters  affected  to 
scoff  at  the  u'.su.  The  question  may,  however,  now  be  considered  as 
settled.  The  very  first  night  that  Marshal  Whitcomh's  rats  were  left 
alone  with  the  matches  four  fires  were  caused,  and  not  a  day  passed 
while  the  experiment  was  being  tried  that  fires  were  not  set  in  this  way. 
The  rats  were  well  fed,  but  they  seemed  to  find  something  in  the  phos- 
phorous that  they  liked.  It  was  noticed  that  only  the  phosphorous  ends 
were  gnawed,  and  in  nearly  every  instance  the  matches  were  dragged 
away  from  the  spot  where  they  had  been  laid.  —  Fire  and  Water. 


So  FAR  as  the  builders  of  the  chief  cities  throughout  the  country  have  ex- 
pressed themselves  concerning  building  prospects  for  the  ensuing  season, 
their  expressions  are  indicative  of  a  strong  faith  in  the  repetition  of  the  con- 
ditions of  last  year,  substantially.  It  would  be  difficult  to  point  out  an  in- 
dustry that  has  not  been  placed  upon  a  broader  basis  as  to  productive 
capacity,  in  view  of  the  probabilities  of  a  heauer  demand.  The  question 
which  a  great  many  moneyed  interests  and  manufacturers,  as  well  as  trans- 
porters of  freight  are  discussing,  is,  will  the  additional  productive  capacity 
of  the  country  be  fully  engaged  ?  But  one  answer  can  be  made  at  this 
time  to  this  question:  The  expansion  was  dictated  by  experience  and  neces- 
sities. The  business  world  of  to-day  is  less  liable  than  ever  to  make  trie 
mistakes  of  one,  two  or  three  decades  ago.  The  building  of  houses  has  not 
been  overdone.  'Ibe  anticipations  which  Boston  builders  entertain,  are  en- 
tertained by  the  builders  of  many  cities  throughout  the  VVes-t,  as  well  as  in 
tha  South.  There  is  nowhere  any  evidence  of  an  oversupply  of  houses, 
especially  those  of  small  cost.  In  several  cities,  such  as  Philadelphia,  St. 
Louis,  Cincinnati  and  some  smaller  cities,  the  building  season  wi  1  not  open 
quite  as  early,  but  every  possi  .le  preparation  is  being  made,  and  if  there  is 
any  dnlness'at  the  start,  it  will  be  made  up  for  later  on.  One  cause  of 
he-itaney  has  been  due  to  the  supposed  uncertain  attitude  of  labor;  the 
highest  authorities  in  labjr  organizations  have  recently  stated  that  there 
will  be  no  organized  effort  in  any  part  of  the  country  to  unsettle  hours  or 
pay.  Isolated  disturbances  may  arise,  but  so  far  as  the  advisers  in  the 
labor  movement  are  concerned,  existing  relations  will  be  harmoniously 


maintained  between  capifvl  and  labor,  and  furthermore,  every  effort  of  em- 
ployers to  lay  the  foundation  for  the  adjustment  of  disputes,  will  be 
cordially  met.  The  defeats  which  labor  organizations  have  sustained,  aided 
by  the  weeding-oiit  of  ambitious  leaders  who  have  impaired  their  usefulness, 
have  created  a  conservatism  which  will  go  far  to  hold  back  that  inflow  of 
ignorance  into  labor  organizations,  which  two  or  three  years  ago  threatened 
to  make  them  the  absolute  dictators  of  the  world  of  labor.  All  such  feara 
have  been  dissipated.  In  New  England,  the  boot  and  shoe  employers 
exercise  more  control  over  their  shop  management  to-day  than  they  liave 
for  throe  years.  In  other  branches  of  industry,  the  »ame  is  true.  In  the 
hardware  industries,  trouble  was  threatened  a  year  ago,  but  it  lias  dis- 
appeared. In  the  textile  manufacturing  establishments,  there  is  content- 
ment among  95  out  of  every  1UO  employes.  In  the  larger  manufai  luring 
and  mechanical  establishments,  there  is  nothing  to  jeopaidize  the  friendly 
relations  existing.  The  condition  which  exists  in  New  England,  is  found 
elsewhere.  The  reaction  has  evidently  set  in  among  the  wurkingmeu  ot 
the  country;  the  law-makers  have  answered  tluir  e\ery  request;  the  news- 
papers have  given  publicity  to  every  grievance  and  every  proposed  remedy. 
The  cases  of  the  laborers  have  been  faithfully  stated,  and,  in  fact,  over- 
stated, and  they  uow  at  last  discover  that  with  all  this  assistance  and  with 
the  aid  of  legislation,  State  and  National,  there  are  other  things  of  far 
more  importance  to  set  about  doing.  Wages  will  remain  substantially 
where  they  were  last  year.  A  downward  tendency  which  might  otherwise 
assert  itself  among  the  higher  skilled  workmen,  is  being  checked  by  reason 
of  the  demand  for  skilled  labor  throughout  the  South  The  depletion  which 
has  taken  place  in  Northern  mills,  furnaces  and  factories,  is  not  numerically 
very  great;  but  the  fact  that  there  is  a  con.-taut  outflow  of  skilled  labor 
from  the  North  to  the  South,  is  indirectly  helping  to  preserve  a  uniformity 
in  rates  of  pay.  'Jhis  outflow  of  skilled  and  of  common  labor,  will  very 
probably  continue  until  the  South  becomes  a  more  important  industrial 
centre  in  many  respects,  than  New  England. 

There  is  a  disposition  all  around,  to  defer  the  placing  of  heavy  late  orders 
and  contracts;  even  tanners  are  finding  the  sale  of  their  products  slow. 
Lumber  manufacturers  are  beginning  to  recognize  the  fact  that  the 
multiplication  of  sources  of  supply,  with  the  resulting  great  variety  of 
woods,  is  having  the  effect  of  giving  prices  a  downward  turn,  rather  than  an 
upward.  In  order  to  offset  this  tendency,  the  leading  spirits  in  the  lumber 
trade  have  been  making  as  extensive  purchases  of  stumpage,  as  possible, 
both  North  and  South,  in  order  to  have  it  in  their  power  to  control  the 
supply  in  the  interest  of  higher  prices.  The  same  controlling  tendency  is 
at  work  it)  several  directions.  'Ihe  trusts  and  combinations  that  are  seen 
on  every  side,  are  evidences  of  this  desire  to  control,  not  only  sources  of 
supply,  but  avenues  of  distribution.  The  necessity  for  their  existence  will 
be  demonstrated,  and  legislation  and  public  intelligence  will  keep  these 
powerful  agencies  within  their  proper  limits.  An  unusually  large  supply 
of  Southern  pine  will  reach  Northern  and  Western  markets  this  season. 
About  400  miles  of  lumber  roads  have  been  projected  since  January  1,  to 
develop  Southern  lumber  territory,  along  the  Gulf  Coast  and  through  the 
interior.  Various  estimates  of  tne  purchases  of  Northern  speculators  in 
Southern  tim  >er  territory  have  recently  been  made;  but  the  figures  are 
merely  guess  work.  It  is  safe  to  say  tliat  all  Government  timber  territory 
and  four-fifths  of  all  the  timber  territory  that  can  be  had  at  $5  per  acre  and 
under,  will,  in  the  course  of  the  next  two  or  three  years,  pass  into  the  hands 
of  speculating  owners.  This  speculating  tendency  in  timber  territory  will 
overdo  itself.  Large  areas  are  being  purchased,  containing  timber  which 
cannot  possibly  become  marketable  for  very  many  years  to  come.  The 
taxation  is  low,  and  the  buyers  will  be  content  to  hold  for  a  generation  or 
two,  knowing  that  it  will  ultimately  be  a  source  of  wealth.  The  iron- 
makers  are  pursuing  the  same  course;  but  more  of  their  money  is  going 
into  property  that  requires  constant  replacement,  such  as  furnaces,  mills  and 
factories.  It  has  been  estimated  that  the  productive  capacity  of  the  South, 
at  the  present  rate  of  progress,  will  be  doubled  within  five  years.  Finan- 
ciers have  of  late  been  frequently  consulted  by  possessors  of  capital,  large 
and  small,  as  to  the  advisability  of  permanent  investment  in  this  new 
region.  Their  advice  has  generally  been  that  the  risks  involved  are  at  the 
minimum  point,  as  compared  to  investments  elsewhere.  Twenty  blast- 
furnaces will  be  blown-iu  this  year;  over  100  textile  mills  will  be  completed; 
some  15  or  18  rolling-mills  are  projected,  and  a  host  of  smaller  industrial 
establishments  will  certainly  be  built  before  the  next  frost,  which  will  lay 
the  foundation  for  further  expenditures  which  will  feed  a  host  of  industries 
throughout  the  country.  This  is  the  answer  to  the  inquiry,  "  Is  Southern 
prosperity  permanent,"  which  has  been  asked  not  a  few  times  of  late.  The 
architects  of  the  Northwest  are  greatly  encouraged  at  the  disposition  of 
capital  to  make  its  permanent  home  in  the  new  commercial  centres  of  this 
region.  The  accumulation  of  wealth  involves  a  good  many  other  desirable 
conditions;  tbe  growth  of  art  and  architecture  will  naturally  follow  the 
solid  planting  of  new  industries.  The  growth  of  population' that  can  be 
relied  upon  in  the  next  three  years,  will  make  Chicago  as  independent  of 
New  York,  in  a  commercial  sense,  as  Boston  is  independent  of  it.  A  score 
or  two  of  industries  are  galloping  into  prominence  in  that  city;  goods  which 
for  years  past  have  been  made  and  bought  in  New  York,  are  now  being  made 
there.  A  family  of  industries  is  growing  up  in  and  around  the  commercial 
centre  of  the  Northwest,  which  will  make  it,  to  a  certain  extent,  financially 
independent.  The  fact  that  Chicago  can  make  steel  cheaper  than  Pitts- 
burgh, according  to  Mr.  Carnegie,  shows  the  change  that  is  taking  place. 
With  the  cheapest  lumber  lu  the  country,  cheap  coal,  an  assured  supply  of 
natural  gas  ( ?}  and  other  advantages  of  a  minor  sort,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  a 
new  commercial  empire  will  be  created  there,  whose  influence  upon  manu- 
factures, trade,  art  and  education,  will  be  far-reaching.  Reference  is  made 
to  this  underlying  tendency  in  order  to  get  at  something  else,  which  is 
beginning  to  crop  out,  viz.,  a  commercial  independence,  so  to  speak,  of 
section  "as  against  section.  Thirty  years  ago,  New  England  was  the  manu- 
facturing centre  of  the  country;  Pennsylvania  made  the  iron  and  steel  for 
the  nation;  the  South  made  its  cotton;  and  Indiana  and  one  or  two  adjoin- 
ing States  furnished  it?  wheat.  Within  tbe  last  decade,  these  things  have 
been  changed;  an  industrial  decentralization  has  been  going  on;  Alabama 
can  beat  Pennsylvania  in  making  pig-iron;  Georgia  yellow-pine  can  drive 
Michigan  white-pine  out  of  Chicago  markets,  nlmoi-t;  the  South  has  ceased 
to  kneel  to  King  Cotton,  and  is  making  Pennsylvania  iron-masters  doubt 
whether  they  can  enjoy  their  supremacy  in  iron-making  much  longer.  In 
short,  we  are  having  an  industrial  breaking  up;  industries  of  all  kinds  are 
developing  in  localities  where  industries  were.  20  years  ago,  never  dreamed 
of.  What  has  taken  place  in  our  industrial  relations,  will  soon  take  place 
in  our  commercial  and  financial  relations.  New  York,  instead  of  being,  as 
it  has  been  for  a  century  past,  the  financial  centre,  will  share  that  service 
with  Chicago,  and  later  on  with  Kansas  City  and  Denver,  and  later  on  still, 
with  new  centres  of  commercial  activity  whose  names  are  barely  known  on 
the  maps  to-day.  Out  of  this  commercial  development  will  come  a  degree  of 
healthful  activity  and  strength  which  will  lift  the  nation  and  people  onto  a 
higher  platform. 

~  S.  J.  PARKHILL  &  Co.,  Printers.  Boston. 


THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  AND  BUILDING  NEWS. 


VOL.  XXI 


Copyright,  18P8,  by  TICKNOR  &  COMPANY,  Boston,  Mass. 


No.  640. 


MARCH  31. 1888. 

Rntered  at  the  Pint-office  at  Boston  as  second-Ola**  matter. 


SUMMARY: — 

The  Midland  Hotel  Disisk-r  recalls  a  Tale  of  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

—  Incendiary  Fires  in  Russia  —  Reclaiming  tin-  /uyder  /ee. 

—  Death  of  J.  W.  Kitson,  Architectural  Sculptor.  —  Deafen- 
ing Floors. — The  I'liion  Square  Theatre  Fire.  —  Threatened 
Failure  of  the  1'ont  d'Arcole,  1'aris.  —  Burning  of  a  Storage 
Warehouse   at    Birmingham,   Kng.  —  The    World's    Steam- 
power 145 

NOTES  or  TRAVEL —  CHICAGO. — V 147 

Orn  SENATORS  AND  TIIK  CONGRESSIONAL  LIBRARY 148 

ILLUSTRATIONS  :  — 

House  on  Berkeley  Street,  Boston,  Mass. —  House  for  Dr. 
(icorge  M.  Hay  wood,  Rochester,  N.  Y.  —  Cheap  Houses  at 
Passaic,  N.  J.,  J,itchficld,  Conn.,  and  Larchmont,  N.  Y. — 
Boston  &  Alliany  Railroad  Station,  Springfield,  Mass. — Com- 
]>i'titive  Design  for  a  Village  Clock-Tower.  ......  161 

AZTEC  ANTIQUITIES 162 

PROPORTION    IN    ANGULAR,    BOUND   AND    POINTED    STYLES   OF 

AliCIHTECTURK 153 

BOOKS  AND  PAPERS 154 

COMMUNICATIONS  :  — 

Advertising  in  Architectural  Journals. — Deafening  Floors. — 

A  Draughty   Church 156 

NOTES  AND  CLIPPINGS •.  155 

TRADE  SURVEYS .156 


'/J  CURIOUS  discussion  arose  at  the  inquest  upon  the  dis- 
f\  aster  at  the  Midland  Hotel  in  Kansas  City,  by  which 
the  trusses  over  the  large  dining-room  fell,  killing  a  man 
who  happened  to  be  under  them.  The  architect,  Mr.  Burnhani, 
of  Chicago,  immediately  hastened  to  the  spot,  and  easily  found 
the  cause  of  the  accident.  It  seems  that  the  roof  trusses,  which 
weighed  thirty-five  tons  each,  were  arranged  to  have  their  feet 
rest  on  iron  plates,  set  on  the  brick  wall.  With  their  usual 
care,  Messrs.  Burnham  &  Root  estimated  the  safe  resistance 
of  the  wall,  which  they  set  at  seven  tons  to  the  square  foot,  and, 
in  accordance  with  this  estimate,  made  the  plates  on  which  the 
feet  of  the  trusses  were  to  rest  each  three  and  seven-tenths  feet 
in  one  direction,  —  the  length,  we  may  suppose,  —  specifying  at 
the  same  time  that  the  thickness  should  be  two  and  one-quarter 
inches.  After  the  accident  they  discovered  that  their  drawings 
and  specifications  had  been  boldly  disobeyed ;  that  the  plates 
were  only  one  and  one-half  inches  thick,  and  twenty-one  inches, 
instead  of  forty-four  inches  long.  Naturally,  the  weight,  con- 
centrated on  an  area  not  half  large  enough  to  carry  it,  crushed 
the  brickwork,  allowing  the  truss  to  fall.  Mr.  Burnham  ex- 
plained this  very  clearly  to  the  coroner's  jury,  and  was  corro- 
borated by  the  man  who  set  the  iron  plates,  who  coolly  said 
that  the  foundry-men  often  "  made  changes  "  in  plans  for  build- 
ings. It  ought  to  be  obvious  enough  that  the  whole  responsi- 
bility of  the  accident  should  rest  on  the  shoulders  of  the  parties 
who  deliberately  and  wilfully  violated  their  contract  to  vary 
from  a  plan  delivered  to  them,  but  it  seems  from  the  account 
that  "  the  popular  opinion  "  is  that  "  the  iron-men  ought  not  to 
bear  all  the  blame,"  and  that  the  architect  "  should  have  in- 
spected the  construction  at  each  stage."  The  origin  of  this 
theory,  is,  no  doubt,  to  be  found  in  the  suggestions  made  by 
the  iron-men  to  their  friends,  but  we  should  hope  that  it  might 
not  be  taken  seriously.  In  a  matter  like  this  an  architect  with 
any  considerable  practice  cannot  possibly  keep  in  his  mind  the 
details  of  all  his  buildings.  Probably  the  plates,  as  they  lay 
on  the  walls,  looked  large  enough  for  supporting  girders,  or 
something  of  the  sort ;  and  it  would  be  a  superhuman  architect 
who  could  always  remember,  when  he  saw  a  plate  laid  on  a 
wall,  what  weight  was  to  go  on  top  of  it.  We  remember  a 
story  told  of  Sir  Gilbert  Scott,  whose  practice  was  probably 
smaller  than  that  of  Messrs.  Burnham  &  Root.  Sir  Gilbert 
had  been  commissioned  to  build  two  churches,  about  the  same 
time.  He  "  supervised "  them  with  the  care  which  is  appar- 
ently usual  among  architects  of  distinction  in  England,  until 
completion  and  consecration  arrived.  On  his  way,  with  his 
principal  assistant,  to  participate  in  the  latter  ceremony  at  one 
of  them,  he  was  observed,  on  arriving  in  sight  of  the  building, 
to  turn  pale  for  a  moment.  He  held  his  tongue,  however,  like 
a  politic  person  as  he  was,  and  seemed  to  enter  heartly  into  the 
joy  of  all  of  the  people  about  him.  When  the  ceremony  was 
over,  and  he  was  on  his  way  home,  he  whispered  to  his  assist- 


ant, "That  was  the  wrong  church!"  Explanations  followed, 
and  it  appeared  that  the  draughtsman  in  the  office  had  got  the 
sketches  of  the  two  churches  mixed,  and  hail  built  at  Y  a 
church  designed  for  X,  and  at  X  the  one  intended  for  Y.  The 
church  authorities 'were,  however,  none  the  wiser,  and  never 
complained  ;  but  the  example  shows  the  vigilance  of  super- 
vision which  was  thought  suitable  for  the  head  of  the  profession 
in  England.  To  say  that  such  a  man  as  that  ought  to  !»• 
wholly  or  partly  responsible  for  an  accident  caused  by  the  de- 
liberate violation  of  his  orders  on  the  part  of  the  contractor 
seems  absurd ;  and  if  Messrs.  Burnham  &  Root  made  their 
computations  correctly  and  drew  the  plan  for  their  iron  work 
in  accordance  with  them,  we  cannot  see  why  they  should  be 
expected  to  learn  their  computation?  by  heart  and  carry  them 
about  in  their  heads,  or  why  they  should  be  held  in  the  slight- 
est degree  accountable  for  the  effects  of  the  contractors'  delib- 
erate and  not  easily  detected  disobedience. 


0F  late  years,  according  to  La  Semiring  des  Constructeun,  a 
great  number  of  incendiary  fires  have  occurred  in  Russia. 
Twenty  years  ago  only  one  and  one-half  per  cent  of  the 
fires  occurring  in  that  country  were  set  purposely.  Now  the 
proportion  has  changed,  and,  taking  the  country  and  cities 
together,  about  eleven  per  cent  of  all  fires  are  incendiary, 
while  in  the  rural  districts  seven  fires  out  of  eight  are  intention- 
ally set.  So  serious  has  the  matter  become  that  several  years 
ago  the  insurance  companies  refused  to  issue  any  policies  upon 
houses  in  the  country,  and  the  village  authorities  were  obliged 
to  form  mutual-assessment  organizations  among  the  population, 
as  a  substitute  for  insurance.  Even  this  did  not  answer  the 
purpose,  incendiarism  continuing  almost  unchecked ;  and  the 
mutual-protection  system  has  been  entirely  dropped  in  some 
places,  while  in  others  the  premium  rates  have  been  made  so 
high  that  the  peasants  will  not  pay  them.  In  one  province, 
however,  a  new  experiment  has  been  tried,  which  appears  to 
work  well.  In  the  villages  of  this  province  the  limit  of  risk 
upon  any  one  building  is  set  at  forty-seven  dollars,  a  sum 
which  would  not  pay  for  a  log  hut ;  and  the  peasants,  finding 
that  they  cannot  get  money  enough  to  build  a  nice  new  house 
by  the  simple  process  of  setting  a  torch  to  their  old  one,  have 
not  only  stopped  the  practice  of  incendiarism  on  their  own 
account,  but  have  established  night  patrols  to  see  that  no  amateur 
practices  upon  property  which  does  not  belong  to  him.  The 
same  device  for  preventing  incendiarism,  by  refusing  to  insure 
any  property  to  more  than  one-half  or  two-thirds  of  its  value, 
is  often  discussed  by  insurance  companies  here,  but  the  compe- 
tition among  the  companies  is  so  sharp  that  it  has  never  been 
adopted;  and  any  person  can  practically  insure  his  house  for 
any  sum  he  pleases,  the  underwriters  protecting  themselves 
only  by  the  privilege  reserved  in  the  policy  of  rebuilding  the 
burned  structure,  in  case  of  loss,  instead  of  paying  for  it. 


'FT  HUGE  engineering  operation  is  under  consideration  in 
f\  Holland.  This  enterprise  aims  at  nothing  less  than  the 
reclamation  of  the  Zuyder  Zee.  This  great  estuary  which 
extends  from  the  northern  end  of  Holland  nearly  to  the  Belgian 
frontier,  covering  an  area  of  six  hundred  and  eighty-seven 
square  miles,  and  lined  with  flourishing  seaports,  is  said  to  have 
been  formed  by  a  sudden  irruption  of  the  ocean  in  the  year 
1282,  which  broke  away  the  protecting  barrier  of  sand,  divid- 
ing it  into  a  range  of  islands  much  like  our  own  Sea  Islands, 
and  covering  a  considerable  part  of  Holland  with  water  deep 
enough  to  float  large  vessels.  In  fact,  as  the  North  Coast  of 
Holland  is  almost  destitute  of  harbors,  the  Zuyder  Zee  became 
the  refuge  for  multitudes  of  fishing  and  trading  crafts,  and  the 
seaports  upon  its  border,  Amsterdam,  Hoorn,  Enkhuizen,  Har- 
lingen,  Hindeloopen  and  Stavoren,  grew  so  prosperous  that  the 
inhabitants  of  Stavoren,  for  want  of  anything  else  to  do  with 
their  money,  are  said  to  have  made  the  bolts  and  latches  of 
their  doors,  the  fittings  of  their  boats,  and  even  the  weather- 
cocks on  their  churches,  of  pure  gold.  P^ven  now,  an  immense 
fishing  and  coasting  traffic  goes  on  over  its  waters,  and  the 
most  elegantly  finished  and  thoroughly  appointed  little  steamer 
we  ever  saw,  fitted  throughout  with  incandescent  electric-lights, 
and  as  comfortable  and  clean  as  a  steamboat  could  be,  once 
took  us  across  it  from  Enkhuizen  to  Stevoren,  but  the  channel 
connecting  it  with  the  North  Sea  is  fast  silting  up,  and  the 
former  glory  of  the  towns  on  its  shore  is  now  to  be  inferred 


146 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.    [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  640. 


from  the  beauty  and  richness  of  the  old  houses  along  their 
streets,  and  the  splendor  of  the  ancient  pieces  of  furniture  dis- 
played in  the  bric-a-brac  shops,  among  which  we  have  seen  a 
small  sideboard,  or  rather,  a  sort  of  dining-room  cupboard,  with 
the  front  of  solid  silver.  It  is  well-known  that  the  beds,  of 
lakes  afford  very  rich  land,  and  the  Dutch  engineers  naturally 
have  visions  of  the  bottom  of  the  Zuyder  Zee  covered  with 
grass,  and  yielding  food  for  great  herds  of  black  cattle,  but  the 
enormous  expense  of  draining  it  has  hitherto  deterred  any  one 
from  talking  very  seriously  about  the  undertaking.  Now,  how- 
ever, a  powerful  association  has  been  formed  in  Holland,  devoted 
to  the  object  of  raising  money,  and  securing  Government  aid, 
for  carrying  it  out,  and  it  seems  that  it  is  likely  to  succeed. 
To  construct  the  necessary  works,  and  pump  out  the  water 
from  a  navigable  inland  sea  forty  miles  wide  and  seventy-five 
miles  long,  and  fed  by  a  dozen  rivers,  will  take  years  of  time, 
and  twenty  or  thirty  million  dollars  in  money,  but  it  is 
calculated  that  the  sale  of  the  reclaimed  land,  if  carried  on 
prudently,  so  as  not  to  overstock  the  market  in  any  one  year, 
will  repay  the  outlay  at  least  twice  over. 

Y  TANY  architects  will  regret  to  learn  of  the  death,  at  the 
1X1  early  age  of  forty-two,  of  Mr.  J.  W.  Kitson,  of  New 
•*  York,  one  of  the  best  architectural  sculptors  who  ever 
came  to  America.  Mr.  Kitson  was  born  in  England,  and 
served  an  apprenticeship  with  Messrs.  Farmer  and  Briudley, 
the  noted  London  stone-carvers.  On  completing  his  term  with 
them,  he  resolved  to  try  his  fortune  in  America,  and  sailed  for 
Philadelphia.  Soon  after  reaching  Philadelphia,  however,  he 
found  that  one  of  his  old  friends  and  shopmates,  Mr.  Robert 
Ellin,  was  in  business  in  New  York,  and,  joining  him,  the  firm 
of  Robert  Ellin  &  Company  was  established.  This  became 
later  the  renowned  firm  of  Ellin  &  Kitson,  which  has  for 
twenty  years  executed  a  very  large  part  of  the  best  stone-carv- 
ing in  and  around  New  York,  and  counts  among  its  achieve- 
ments many  works  which  would  do  honor  to  any  city  in  the 
world.  For  its  success,  the  firm,  particularly  in  its  early  days, 
was  greatly  indebted  to  the  business-like  methods,  and  earnest 
desire  to  please,  of  both  its  members.  All  architects  who  have 
practised  in  New  York  will  remember  the  frank,  pleasant  ways 
of  Mr.  Kitson  as  well,  perhaps,  as  his  remarkable  cleverness  in 
designing  and  carving,  and  the  profession  will  have  good  reason 
to  deplore  his  loss. 

T  E  GENIE  CIVIL  quotes  from  a  military  journal  a  rather 
valuable  suggestion  for  deafening  floors.  This  suggestion, 
which  is  due  to  General  Loyre,  proposes,  instead  of  loading  the 
floors  with  a  sheet  of  plastering,  to  fill  in  the  space  between  the 
floor-boarding  and  the  plastering  of  the  room  below  with  shav- 
ings, which  are  first  to  be  rendered  incombustible  by  dipping 
them  in  a  tub  of  rather  thick  whitewash.  It  is  well-known  that 
soft  substances  enclosing  air-spaces,  form  the  most  efficient 
deafening,  and  shavings  treated  in  this  way  are.  so  incombustible 
as  to  add  considerably  to  the  fire-resisting  quality  of  the  building 
in  which  they  are  used.  In  cases  where  it  is  desirable  to  disin- 
fect the  space  between  floor  and  ceiling,  the  shavings  may  be 
saturated  with  chloride  of  zinc,  or  zinc  chloride  may  be  added 
to  the  lime  wash. 


C*1RE  AND  WATER  makes  some  sensible  comments  on  the 
recent  burning  of  the  Union  Square  Theatre  in  New  York, 
which  most  persons,  familiar  with  the  circumstances,  regard  as 
a  fortunate  event  for  the  persons  who  have  so  often  risked 
their  lives  by  passing  an  evening  in  it.  The  theatre  has  long 
been  known,  in  the  words  of  Fire  and  Water,  as  "  a  rickety  old 
death-trap,"  and  it  could  not  have  been  destroyed  at  a  more 
favorable  time,  no  one  being  in  the  building.  The  fire  caught 
first  in  the  hotel  adjoining,  and  communicated  readily  with  the 
stage  of  the  theatre  through  one  of  the  "  fireproof  doors  "  which 
closed  the  openings,  through  the  wall.  As  soon  as  the  flames 
reached  the  scenery  on  the  stage  side  of  the  wall,  the  theatre 
blazed  up  like  a  stack  of  hay,  and  was  soon  in  ruins ;  and  if  an 
audience  had  been  collected  in  it,  few  would  have  escaped. 
According  to  a  table  accompanying  the  article,  fourteen 
theatres  have  been  burned  in  New  York  within  the  last 
twenty-two  years.  Most  fortunately,  the  loss  of  life  from  these 
conflagrations  has  not  been  serious,  but  the  fact  remains  that 
no  city  in  Europe  or  America  has  had  so  many  theatre  fires  in 
twenty  years  past  as  New  York,  and  it  is  merely  a  piece  of  good 
fortune  that  half  of  them,  at  least,  were  not  as  fatal  as  the  con- 
flagration which  destroyed  the  Brooklyn  or  Richmond  theatres. 


'TTNOTHER  of  the  Paris  bridges,  the  third  within  ten  years, 
r\  has  given  signs  of  collapse,  and  has  been  closed  to  travel 
while  the  work  of  repair  is  going  on.  The  one  now  in 
trouble  is  the  Pont  d'  Arcole,  the  well-known  iron  structure 
which  connects  the  Hotel  de  Ville  with  the  region  about  the 
Cathedral  of  Notre  Dame.  The  bridge,  which  is  only  about 
thirty  years  old,  is  composed  of  twelve  arched  ribs  in  the  farm 
of  a  low  circular  segment,  about  two  hundred  and  sixty  feet  in 
span,  and  built  up  of  plates  and  angle-irons.  To  regain  the 
level  of  the  roadway,  long  horizontal  girders  of  iron  are  laid 
over  the  arched  ribs,  and  the  spandrels  between  the  ribs  and 
the  girders  filled  with  lattice-work.  In  order,  apparently,  to 
keep  the  horizontal  girders  from  sliding  out  of  place,  they  are 
anchored  at  each  end  to  long  rods,  with  cross-pieces  at  the  ex- 
tremity, buried  in  the  ground.  The  probability  seems  to  be 
that  these  rods  were  the  first  portions  to  give  way.  A  few 
days  ago  the  arched  ribs  were  seen  to  have  changed  their  shape, 
rising  at  one  side,  while  the  other  sank,  and  the  bridge  was  im- 
mediately closed.  On  examination  it  was  found  that  all  the 
rods  on  one  side  were  broken  off.  Some  of  the  breaks  were 
old,  but  most  of  them  showed  recent  surfaces,  and  as  the  peo- 
ple living  in  the  neighborhood  testified  to  having  heard  a  suc- 
cession of  loud  reports,  it  is  quite  likely  that  several  may  have 
given  way  together.  Whether  the  breaking  strain  was  caused 
by  contraction,  due  to  cold,  or  to  the  effect  of  the  vibration  of 
the  bridge  upon  the  rigid  members  connecting  it  with  the  main- 
land^ no  one  can  say  positively,  but  both  factors  seem  to  have 
been  of  importance. 


O'HORTLY  after  the  fire  which  destroyed  in  an  hour  or  two 
L^  the  immense  storage  warehouse  of  the  Berlin  Express 
•*  Company,  a  similar  conflagration  broke  out  in  a  large 
building  in  Birmingham,  built  in  the  same  way,  with  iron  beams 
supported  by  iron  columns.  This  seems  to  have  burned  even 
more  rapidly  than  the  Berlin  building,  which,  however,  was 
greatly  protected  by  its  brick  partition  wall,  and  in  a  few  min- 
utes all  the  floors  and  roof  had  fallen  into  the  cellar,  and  the 
walls  were  shattered  beyond  repair.  A  New  York  architect 
would  have  predicted  just  this  result,  but  it  seems  to  have  been 
a  surprise  to  the  people  of  Birmingham,  and  the  Daily  Post  of 
that  city  calls  upon  the  authorities  to  forbid  for  the  future  the 
construction  of  such  buildings,  much  as  the  New  York  news- 
papers railed  at  our  iron  construction  after  the  first  fires  which 
demonstrated  its  weaknesses.  The  fact  is,  as  La  Semaine  des 
Constructeurs  points  out,  that  no  material  known  is  so  well 
suited  for  resisting  most  of  the  strains  occurring  in  buildings  as 
iron,  provided  the  metal  is  properly  protected  from  the  influ- 
ence of  fire.  The  best  methods  of  affording  this  protection  are 
well  understood  here,  but  in  Europe  they  have  as  yet  been 
little  practised,  and  La  Semaine  calls  upon  the  French  archi- 
tects to  "enter  upon  a  new  course,"  and  adopt  the  system  of 
protected  construction  "  already  in  use  in  other  countries." 


TTTIIE  Revue  Industrielle  gives  some  statistics  of  the  amount 
^X  of  steam-power  now  in  use  in  different  parts  of  the  world, 
from  which  it  appears  that  the  United  States  consumes 
more  power  from  stationary  engines  than  any  other  country, 
the  total  force  of  all  the  stationary  engines  now  in  use  in  this 
country  being  seven  and  one-half  million  horse-power,  while 
all  those  in  England  only  amount  to  seven  million  horse-power, 
those  of  Germany  to  four  and  one-half  million,  those  of  France 
to  three  million,  and  those  of  Austria  to  one  and  one-half  mil- 
lion. Whether  this  estimate  includes  the  engines  of  steam- 
boats we  are  not  informed,  but  if  it  does,  we  may  well  be  sur- 
prised at  the  development  of  manufactures  which  should  have 
placed  our  own  country  in  advance  of  the  combined  manufactur- 
ing and  commercial  energy,  as  expressed  in'units  of  steam-power, 
of  Great  Britain.  If  we  add  the  power  of  the  one  hundred  and 
five  thousand  locomotives  known  to  exist  in  the  world  to  that 
of  the  stationary  engines,  and  reduce  the  total  by  the  ordinary 
rule  of  regarding  one  horse-power  in  a  steam-engine  as  equiva- 
lent to  the  labor  of  twenty-one  men,  we  shall  find  that  the 
steam-pow^r  at  present  available  in  the  world  is  equal  to  the 
force  of  about  one  thousand  million  men,  or,  to  put  it  in 
another  way,  the  accumulation  of  capital  and  development  of 
science  have  placed  at  the  service  of  the  fifteen  hundred  mil- 
lion inhabitants  of  the  earth  the  labor  of  a  thousand  million 
more  of  the  most  obedient,  faithful  and  untiring  slaves  that  the 
world  has  seen. 


MARCH  81,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


147 


Doorheod  -  Isle  of  Trance   - 
otttr   L.'A«T- 


XOTES  OF   TRAVEL. 

CIIH'AIIO. V.1 

'IT BOUT  the  year 
rj   1830  a  trading 
post       a  n  < 
United    States   for 
was   estahlishi'd  in 
the  banks  of   Lak< 
Michigan,    at    .- 
point  where  a  smal 
stream   emptied   it- 
self   into   the  lake 
This    post   wag 
named   Fort    Dear- 
born.   A  more  i 
prepossessing  site 
could   hardly    have 
been  chosen  in  the 
whole     of     Illinois, 
and   yet  it   was  the  beginning  of    the   now   mighty    city    of    Chi- 
cago.       The    location    for    commercial    purposes    was     excellent, 
being    on    the    great    highway    of    the    lakes    and    in    what  has 
proved    to   be    the    great    highway  of    travel    from    the    east    to 
the  west.     The  country  for  miles  around  was  at  that  time  perfectly 
flat,  rising  hardly  two  feet  above  the  lake,  and  being  in  many  places, 
marshy  and  disagreeable  in  its  aspect.     The  river,  which  for  lack  of 
a  better  name  has  been  dubbed  the  Chicago  river,  was   originally 
nothing  but  a  creek,  formed  by  the  confluence  of  two  small  brooks, 
uniting  about  a  half  a  mile  from  the  lake  shore  and  flowing  thence  to- 
wards the  east.     The  river  and  its  two  branches  formed  a  natural 
division  of  the  territory  since  occupied  bv  the  city,  into  the  North, 
South  and  West  Sides.    The  South  Side  lias  always  been  the  business 
portion  of   the  city,  and  here  all  the  heavier  buildings  have  been 
erected,  while  the  North  and  West  Sides  are  mainly  criven  over  to 
residences  except  along  the  banks  of  the  river.     The  South  Side 
from  about  two  miles  below  the  river  is  also  used  for  private  pur- 
poses.    The  soil  on  the  north  side  of  the  river  is  fairly  suitable  for 
building  purposes.     The  South  Side,  however,  where  the  best  found- 
ation was  required  to  meet  business  wants,  was,  in  the  early  history 
of  Chicago,  often  flooded  with  water,  both  from  the  lake  and  from 
the  river,  and  within  the  memory  of  many  people  now  livin^  in  Chi- 
cago, the  whole  South  Side  has  been  under  water.      The  city  .was 
built  so  close  to  the  lake  and  river,  and  there  was  so  little  anticipa- 
tion in  the  beginning  of  the  subsequent  growth  which  was  to  give 
Chicago  its  place  among  the  great  cities  of  the  world,  that  the  streets 
were  raised  hardly  more  than  four  feet  above  the  lake-level.      Of 
course,  it  wa»  impossible  to  luve  any  good  system  of  sewers  under 
such  conditions,  and  in  early  days,  the  sewerage  was  something  which 
the  present  inhabitants  can  hardly  imagine.     With  the  fire  of  1871, 
however,  came  a  great  change  both  naturally  and   architecturally! 
I  he  entire  business  portion  of  the  city  was  swept  away,  only  two 
buildings  remaining  in  the  whole  district.     The  City  Government, 
which  had  long  understood  the  necessity  for  improving  the  natural 
conditions,  immediately  decided  upon  raising  the  grades  of  the  streets 
and  the  refuse  material  from  the  burnt  buildings  was  used  for  this 
purpose,  the  levels  being  elevated,  we  believe,  somethin"  like  twelve 
feet,  an  undertaking  which  has  hardly  been  equalled  anywhere  else  in 
the  world.    It  should  be  understood  however,  that  this  movement  was 
partially  begun  at  the  time  of  the  fire,  but  the  fire  left  the  way  so 
clear  that  all  the  new  buildings  conformed  to  the  new  grade. 

The  conditions  which  now  exist,  are,  in  short,  as  follows  :  The  soil 
upon  which  heavy  buildings  have  to  be  erected  is  found  to  be  a  black 
loamy  clay  which  at  the  surface  is  tolerably  firm  and  will  sustain  a 
load  of  one  to  three  tons  per  foot,  depending  upon  the  locality.  A 
few  feet  below  the  level  of  the  ground,  however,  the  soil  is  quite  soft, 
being,  less  stable  the  farther  down  excavations  are  carried.until,  at  a 
depth  of  from  twelve  to  eighteen  feet  it  is  so  yielding  that  nothin" 
can  be  placed  upon  it  with  any  reliance.  Nor  is  this  all.  It  has 
been  discovered  by  many  sad  failures  in  buildings  that  there  is  a 
broad,  subterranean  layer  of  soft  mud  which  lies  directly  across  the 
most  heavily  built  portion  of  the  city,  extending  under  the  Post- 
Jfhce  and  reaching  from  the  lake  to  the  river,  a  distance  of  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile.  The  natural  clay  is  bad  enough  but  this  soft 
mud  is  a  constant  source  of  trouble  to  Chicago  builders. 

It  is  with  these  conditions,  upon  such  soil  as  this  that  the  buildings 
we  have  described  in  previous  articles  have  been  erected,  conditions 
probably  not  equalled  for  perverseness  anywhere  else  in  the  world 

In  order   to  attain  the  degree  of  thoroughness  with  which  the 
present   foundations   are   planned   and  executed,  there  has  been  a 
gradual  development  on  the  part  of  the  architects  and  builders  a 
development  not  always  keeping  pace  with  the  importance  and  size 
of  the  bui  dings,  by  any  means,  but  thj  progress  being  none  the  less 
sure  and  the  results  none  the  less  satisfactory.    In  tfre  early  build- 
the  foundations  were  built  continuously  under  the  whole  struc- 
ture, the  footings  being  spread  ten  to  fifteen  inches  each  side  of  th« 
wall,  generally  without  any  regard  to  the  soil  or  the  loads  thereupon, 
ine  nrst  step  in  improvement  was   to  proportion  the  width  of 
footings  to  the  foads  bearing  upon  them;  but  it  was  soon  discovered 
that  tins  was  not  sufficient.     The  wall  will  settle  more  than  the  pier 
and  the  corners  of  the  wall  will  settle  less  than  the  centre,  and  it  is 
i  Continued  from  No.  639,  page  142. 


not  always  ex[>edient  or  possible  to  vary  the  footings  under  a  single 
wall,  while  the  superstructure  remains  the  same  thickness.  On  one 
or  two  occasions  an  attempt  was  made  to  solidify,  as  it  were,  the 
crust  of  the  earth,  by  a  heavy  bed  of  concrete,  which  it  was  assumed 
would  equalize  the  pressure  and  prevent  any  settlements.  This  plan 
was  tried  for  the  foundations  of  the  Post-office  and  Custom-house,  a 
lai-u'i!  building  erected  under  the  supervision  of  the  Government 
architect.  A  bed  of  concrete,  some  three  feet  in  thickness,  was 
.-[.read  over  the  entire  area  to  be  covered  by  the  building,  and  upon 
tin;-  llie  walls  and  foundations  were  started  exactly  as  if  they  were 
rrsiing  upon  solid  rock.  The  result  has  been  most  disastrous. 
There  is  not  a  wall  in  the  entire  building  which  has  not  been  cracked 
through  and  through,  nor  is  there  a  string-course  or  a  cornice 
which  can  show  anything  like  a  horizontal  line.  The  concrete-bed 
scheme  proved  a  total  failure,  and  has  not  been  resorted  to  since. 
Mr.  Frederick  Bauman  was,  we  believe,  one  of  the  first  to  thoroughly 
appreciate  the  problems  involved  in  Chicago  foundations  and  to 
devise  a  scheme  for  building  upon  such  poor  earth.  The  plan  he 
adopted  has  since  generally  been  followed  in  the  construction  of  all 
the  larger  buildings.  It  is  not  a  new  principle,  by  any  means  :  it  it 
simply  the  old  Gothic  idea  of  building  with  isolated  piers  so  that  all 
the  loads  and  weights  are  concentrated  at  points,  and  the  founda- 
tions under  these  arranged  so  that  the  pressure  on  the  earth  shall  be 
exactly  equal  in  all  portions.  This  is  a  scheme  which  requires  the 
nicest  of  calculations,  and,  undoubtedly,  it  would  seem  almost  impos- 
sible to  so  plan  a  building  that  the  weights  on  the  footings  through- 
out shall  not  only  be  exactly  alike  in  their  action,  but  shall  be  so 
proportioned  in  regard  to  size  that  each  pier  shall  settle  at  exactly 
the  same  rate  without  any  crackings  or  detriment  to  the  superstruc- 
ture. This  is,  however,  exactly  what  has  happened  in  Chicago,  and 
there  are  plenty  of  examples  of  buildings  where  the  calculated  result 
agrees  exactly  with  the  final  condition  of  the  building. 

But,  having  arrived  at  the  true  system  necessary  for  building  upon 
such  soil  as  underlies  Chicago,  there  was  still  a  difficulty  before  the 
Chicago  architects.  We  have  noted  how  the  soil  becomes  very  soft 
in  proportion  as  one  descends  below  the  ground.  It  is,  therefore, 
juite  desirable  that  the  foundations  should  be  carried  down  no 
farther  than  is  absolutely  necessary.  It  is  also  important  that  each 
building  should  have  a  cellar  under  it  both  for  convenience  and  for 
utility  as  regards  business  purposes.  But,  at  the  same  time,  it  would 
not  do  to  have  the  footing-courses  project  into  the  cellar.  To 
obviate  the  difficulties  involved  in  the  use  of  deep  foundations  and  to 
meet  the  requirements  of  the  case,  a  scheme  was  devised  which  we 
;hink  was  first  adopted  by  Messrs.  Burnham  &  Root.  This  consisted 
n  the  use  of  iron  or  steel  beams  in  the  foundation.1  Under  each  pier 
s  laid  a  bed  of  concrete  eighteen  or  twenty  inches  thick,  the  area 
>eing  sufficient  to  distribute  the  load  of  the  superstructure  so  that  it 
will  not  average  more  than  one  and  one-half  to  two  and  one- half  tons 
)er  square  foot.  Upon  this  footing-course  is  laid  a  row  of  steel  rail- 
road irons  placed  six  or  eight  inches  apart,  and  extending  nearly  to 
the  extremities  of  the  concrete  on  all  sides.  Above  this  is  laid  a 
iccond  tier  of  beams  which  cross  at  right  angles  and  are  the  same 
ength  as  the  width  of  the  layer  below,  but  are  not  carried  out  on 
either  side.  Above  this  again,  is  a  third  row  of  beams  laid  at  ri<*ht 
angles  with  the  second  and  again  drawn  in  as  before.  If  necessary 
a  fourth  row  is  placed  above  all,  the  area  of  the  final  layer  beim' 
•jqual  to  the  size  necessary  for  the  foundation  pier.  As  the  railroad 
rons  are  quite  stiff  and  can  be  placed  as  close  together  as  necessary, 
t  will  be  appreciated  that  the  foundations  can  be  spread  out  with 
any  desired  rapidity  without  taking  up  a  great  deal  of  vertical  space, 
bus  permitting  the  bottoms  of  the  foundations  to  be  kept  quite  close 
o  the  cellar  floor.  ' 

In  one  case  of  which  we  know  the  foundation  was  increased  in 
width  fifteen  and  a  half  feet  in  a  vertical  height  of  only  nineteen 
nches.  Of  course,  any  such  scheme  of  construction  would  be  sim- 
)ly  impossible  with  any  other  material  than  iron  or  steel.  It  should 
>e  said  for  this  system  that  it  is  as  yet  untried  by  the  test  of  wear. 
We  believe  there  is  no  building  with  iron  foundations  that  has  been 
built  over  four  years,  consequently  it  cannot  be  determined  with  ab- 
olute  certainty  what  will  be  the  ultimate  durability  of  this  system. 
1  he  iron  beams  are  thoroughly  imbedded  in  concrete  which  of  itself 
would  serve  to  thoroughly  protect  them  from  rust  or  decay,  but, 
after  all  it  is  still  an  untried  feature  and  some  of  the  Chicago"  archi- 
tects have  not  felt  warranted  in  risking  it,  though  as  a  ruTe  it  has 
been  adopted  by  those  who  have  planned  the  heaviest  buildings. 

In  order  more  fully  to  illustrate  the  manner  in  which  the  founda- 

lons  are  planned  and  calculated  let  us  suppose  a  given  buildin"  and 

ollow  the  steps  which  the  designer  would  take  in  planning  for  the 

portion  underneath  the  ground.     At  the  very  outset  a  departure  is 

noticeable  from  eastern  ways.     The  ordinary  strength  of  floors  in  a 

uildmg  used  for  offices  or  business  purposes  is  assumed  to  be  one 

mndred  and  twenty-five  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  per  square 

oot,  independent  of  the  weight  of  material.     This,  of  course,  is  none 

*x>  much  in  considering  the  strength  of  the  floors.     At  the  same 

ime,  it  would  be  apparent  to  any  one  that  under  no  circumstances 

ould  any  such  aggregation  of  load  come  upon  the  foundations  as 

would  be  represented  by  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  for  every 

quare  foot  of  flooring  in  the  building.     In  times  past  Chicago  archi- 

i  figured  on  this  basis  and  found  that  the  walls  and  piers  settled 

unevenly.     The  actual  weight  of  one  hundred  and  fiftv  pounds  per 


fOUlld  *  diBOU"lon  • 


148 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News.     [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  640. 


foot  was  purely  theoretical  and  was  never  reached  in  fact,  conse- 
quently in  determining  the  loads  which  are  to  go  upon  the  founda- 
tions the  practice  in  Chicago  now  is  to  assume  not  over  twenty-five 
pounds  per  square  foot  in  addition  to  the  weight  of  materials.  We 
were  told  by  one  architect  that  in  the  Marshall  Field  storage-ware- 
house the  load  on  the  floors  was  assumed  at  fifty-five  pounds  per 
square  foot  in  determining  the  foundations:  but  in  ordinary  office- 
building  work  it  is  estimated  to  be  eighteen  pounds  per  square  foot. 
It  will  readily  be  perceived  what  an  immense  difference  such  a  pro- 
cess of  calculation  will  make  in  the  size  of  the  footings. 

The  ground  under  the  foundations  is  assumed  to  be  capable  of 
sustaining  a  safe  load  of  from  one  and  a  half  to  two  and  a  quarter 
tons  per  square  foot.  Mr.  Bauman,  we  believe,  recommends  one  and 
a  half,  but  in  buildings  begun  since  the  first  adoption  of  his  system  of 
isolated  piers,  much  heavier  loads  have  been  placed  upon  thic  ground 
with  perfectly  satisfactory  results.  The  loads  on  the  piers  of  the 
Hoard  of  Trade  Building  vary  from  two  and  three-fourths  to  three 
and  seven-tenths  tons  per  square  foot.  The  size  of  the  footings 
under  the  piers  and  the  corners  is  made  less  than  that  under  the 
walls  to  offset  the  difference  in  settlement  of  the  different  portions 
of  the  building.  It  is  found  that  a  heavy  pier  will  sink  proportion- 
ally more  than  a  light  one,  consequently  the  footings  under  the  larger 
piers  have,  relatively,  a  greater  area  than  those  of  the  light  ones. 
Again,  it  is  necessary  to  take  account  of  the  material  of  which  the 
superstructure  is  to  be  built.  Thus  a  footing  under  a  brick  wall  is 
made  larger  than  a  footing  under  a  line  of  iron  columns,  so  that,  if 
bjth  footings  are  loaded  with  the  same  weight  per  square  foot,  any 
inequalities  due  to  the  difference  in  settlement  or  compressibility  be- 
tween the  brick  wall  with  its  many  joints  and  the  rigid  line  of  iron 
columns  will  be  entirely  obviated.  This  may  seem  like  splitting  the 
constructional  hair  or  sound  like  an  impossibility,  but  it  is  what  has  to 
be  done  if  the  building  is  to  stand  properly  in  Chicago.  And  there 
is  another  arrangement  which  is  sometimes  carried  out.  The  found- 
ation is  laid  with  the  centre  of  gravity  a  little  outside  the  centre  of 
gravity  of  the  wall  above,  the  idea  being  that  the  building  will  settle 
inward  and  together  rather  than  having  any  tendency  to  settle  out 
or  to  dislocate  or  rack  the  floors. 

To  make  sure  that  the  loads  and  strains  will  act  in  the  way  they  are 
calculated  to  act,  it  is  necessary  that  the  floors  should  be  thoroughly 
tied  and  keyed.  In  the  best  work  it  is  customary  to  join  the  beams 
so  closely  by  means  of  tie-irons  that  the  entire  floor  in  each  story  is  a 
solid  frame,  and  any  movement  at  one  corner  of  the  building  is  im- 
mediately felt  at  the  other  extremity,  there  being  no  allowance  what- 
ever for  expansion  or  for  loose  joints.  Furthermore,  the  walls  are 
sometimes  tied  together  in  a  manner  which  we  believe  has  seldom 
been  adopted  in  the  East,  though  it  is  quite  common  in  England. 
Continuous  rows  of  hoop-iron  three  or  four  deep  are  built  into  the 
walls  at  regular  intervals,  extending  entirely  around  the  building, 
thoroughly  tying  the  structure  together  and  making  it  one  compact 
mass. 

In  planning  a  Chicago  building  there  are  two  grades  which  the 
more  courageous  of  the  Chicago  architects  put  upon  their  drawings : 
one  is  the  grade  at  which  the  first  floor  or  street  line  will  be  started, 
and  the  other  is  the  grade,  a  few  inches  above  that  of  the  street,  to 
which  the  walls  will  ultimately  settle.  It  must  require  a  great  deal 
of  confidence  in  one's  drawings  and  calculations  to  be  willing  to  draw 
a  line  across  the  front  of  an  elevation  and  say  positively  that  the 
huge  structure  will  settle  to  that  exact  extent,  and  yet  that  is  what 
is  repeatedly  seen  upon  the  drawings  of  some  of  the  Chicago  archi- 
tects :  Burnham  &  Root  showed  these  two  grades  upon  the  drawings 
of  their  enormous  Rookery  Building,  and  the  building  has  settled 
almost  to  a  hair's  breadth  of  the  amount  stated  by  the  architects, 
and  this,  too,  without  any  inequalities  of  settlement  or  the  slightest 
difference  of  level  between  the  two  ends  of  the  building.  The  same 
might  be  said  of  the  Ope;  a-house  Building  by  Cobb  &  Frost.  The 
.long  corridor  of  this  building,  which  is  not  far  from  two 
hundred  feet  in  length,  gives  an  excellent  opportunity  to  judge  of 
any  inequalities,  and  the  writer  was  told  that  the  greatest  difference 
in  level  between  the  two  extremities  of  the  corridor  after  the  build- 
ing had  ceased  to  settle  was  less  than  a  quarter  of  an  inch. 

As  regards  the  actual  amount  of  settlement,  this,  of  course,  varies 
with  the  locality  and  the  nature  of  the  building  as  well  as  with  the 
load  which  is  placed  upon  the  ground.  In  the  early  days  builders 
did  not  dare  to  load  their  buildings  very  heavily,  as  their  aim  was 
to  avoid  any  settlement  whatever.  It  is  simply  impossible,  with  the 
Chicago  soil,  to  avoid  some  settlement ;  it  is  bound  to  take  place  and 
the  architect  must  so  plan  his  building  that  the  settlement  shall  be 
equal  in  all  parts  with  a  load  of  two  and  one-half  tons  per  square 
foot.  It  is  estimated  that  a  building  will  settle  about  four  inches 
altogether.  The  rate  of  settlement  is  pretty  fast  for  the  first  year, 
and  after  that  keeps  on  slowly  for  about  three  years,  at  which  time 
all  settlement  ceases. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  all  Chicago  buildings  are  built  with 
the  degree  of  care  implied  by  the  foregoing  statements.  In  fact, 
most  of  the  Chicago  buildings  are  not  well  planned  in  their  founda- 
tions and  the  settlements  which  take  place  are  noticeably  frequent. 
One  building  on  Randolph  Street  to  which  the  writer's  attention  was 
called  settled  in  the  central  portions  twenty-eight  inches,  while  the 
side  walls  did  not  settle  at  all.  Another  building,  which  was  erected 
in  the  fall  when  the  ground  was  somewhat  stiff  with  the  cold,  settled 
six  inches  during  the  next  six  months.  Another  instance  is  a  build- 
ing covering  an  entire  block ;  one  corner  settled  twelve  inches,  the 


adjoining  corner  settled  six  inches,  and  the  diagonal  corner  did  not 
settle  at  all.  In  this  case  the  settlement  was  so  marked  that  it  shows 
very  perceptibly  on  the  front,  not  a  single  window-opening  being 
square.  There  are  so  many  unforeseen  difficulties  in  the  soil  and  in 
the  superstructure  that  it  is  an  exceedingly  delicate  task  to  properly 
proportion  the  foundations,  and  the  only  wonder  is  that  there  have 
been  so  many  successes. 

It  might  very  naturally  be  asked  why  the  Chicago  architects  have 
never  resorted  to  piling.  Aside  from  the  expense  and  uncertainty 
attached  to  work  of  this  kind,  Chicago  architects  have  apparently 
preferred  to  stick  to  the  plan  which  they  have  laid  out  for  themselves 
and  to  work  it  to  final  conclusions,  rather  than  to  resort  to  different 
methods  of  construction.  There  would  be  no  real  difficulty,  however, 
in  piling,  as  has  been  proved  in  many  instances  whereit  was  absolutely 
necessary.  In  the  construction  of  the  huge  grain-elevators,  which 
are  scattered  through  the  city,  the  loads  are  so  excessive,  reaching 
as  high  as  six  tons  per  foot,  that  it  would  be  impracticable  to  support 
them  upon  ordinary  footings,  and  piling  has  been  resorted  to.  The 
piles  are  driven  a  distance  of  twenty  to  forty  feet  down  to  hard-pan, 
capped  by  wooden  sleepers,  with  heavy  wooden  cross-beams  and 
solid  planking  to  receive  the  masonry.  Even  in  piling,  however,  a 
system  of  isolated  piers  is  adhered  to,  the  loads  being  concentrated 
and  the  piles  driven  in  clusters.  Such  is,  in  brief,  the  actual  condi- 
tion of  the  Chicago  foundation  work.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  sub- 
ject is  a  vast  one,  involving  many  possibilities  of  danger  and  uncer- 
tainty, but  these  have  been  bravely  met  by  the  Chicago  architects, 
and  though  the  successful  attempts  are  almost  the  exception  rather 
than  the  rule,  they  demonstrate  the  possibility  of  erecting  the  vast 
buildings  on  as  treacherous  a  soil  as  exists  anywhere  in  the  world, 
with  a  surety  in  regard  to  final  conditions  and  an  almost  absolute 
certainty  of  exact  movements  in  superstructure. 

C.  H.  BLACKALL. 


OUR  SENATORS  AND  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  LIBRARY. 

LTHOUGH  there  are  some 
parts  of   the  following  dis- 
cussion  that   seem   to  lack 
the  perfect  propriety  of  a  dig- 
nified parliamentary  discussion, 
it   may   be  more    useful    than 
harmful  to  quote  at  length  the 
remarks   made  in   the    Senate 
Chamber  on  March  7. 

There  is  one  remark  by  Sen- 
ator Plumb  that  deserves  all 
the  weight  of  an  aphorism,  and 
might  be  kept  standing  in  type 
at  the  head  of  a  column  in  those 
journals  which  hope  that,  sooner 
or  later,  Government  may  adopt 
a  wiser  method  of  procuring 
designs  for  its  public  buildings 
than  it  follows  at  present.  Sen- 
ator Plumb  states  the  situation 
well  in  saying  :  "  When  we  consider  the  extravagance  which  the  Gov- 
ernment always  indulges  in  in  the  building  of  public  buildings,  it  is 
readily  to  be  seen  that  a  building  which  would  cost  the  Government 
$100,000,  could  not  in  any  possible  way  be  more  than  one-quarter  the 
size  of  a  building  which  private  parties  would  build  with  $150,000." 


Arren  CAOUCMBT. 


Mr.  Daniel.  —  Mr.  President,  it  is  not  my  purpose  to  detain  the 
Senate  at  any  length  on  this  question  ;  but  I  think  it  my  duty 
to  reply  to  a  few  observations  made  by  the  Senator  from  Kansas 
[Mr.  Plumb]  on  the  9th  of  February  last. 

On  the  9th  of  February  a  bill  was  brought  up  here  making  an 
appropriation  for  the  erection  of  a  public  building  at  Pensacola,  Fla., 
whereupon  the  Senator  from  Kansas  and  other  Senators  took  occa- 
sion to  refer  to  bills  which  had  been  proposed  for  public  buildings, 
and  scattered  their  animadversions  around  so  miscellaneously  that  it 
was  difficult  to  understand  upon  whom  their  censure  was  directed. 

The  Senator  from  Massachusetts  [Mr.  Dawes]  referred  to  the  fact 
that  in  St.  Louis  a  building  had  been  commenced  with  an  appropria- 
tion of  $3,000,000,  and,  under  the  influence  of  public  dinners  at  St. 
Louis  given  to  the  public  architect,  that  appropriation  was  increased 
to  $7,000,000.  The  Senator  from  Kansas  [Mr.  Plumb]  followed  up 
with  some  general  observations  on  the  subject,  concluding  with  these 
remarks  : 

But  something  has  been  said  about  the  reasons  for  these  deficiencies.  Mr. 
President,  it  is  the  old  story  of  a  dollar  for  tbe  dress  and  $10  for  the  trimmings. 
Every  public  building  which  is  put  up  costs  ten  times  more  for  superintendence 
and  extras  and  contingencies  than  it  ought  to  do.  Out  of  9100,000  appropriated 
to  erect  a  building,  say,  out  in  Kansas,  at  least  $10,000  of  that  money  will  be 
spent  before  ever  a  lick  is  struck.  There  is  the  city  of  Wichita,  where  the  Gov- 
ernment has  simply  a  naked  lot.  There  is  no  more  danger  of  its  being  carried 
away  than  of  this  Capitol  being  carried  away,  aud  yet  it  has  a  watchman  and  a 
superintendent,  but  no  man  at  work. 

Mr.  Hale.  —  They  are  watching  the  land. 

Mr.  Plumb.  —  Yes,  they  are  watching  the  land.  I  do  not  know  but  that  they 
are  watching  the  Kepublican  politicians  out  there.  At  all  events,  the  watchmen 
are  there,  and  they  are  getting  paid  for  it.  The  Senator  from  West  Virginia 
[Mr.  Kenna]  says  to  me  that  the  Kepublican  politicians  there  need  watching. 
If  they  do  you  will  have  to  appoint  a  great  deal  more  clever  people  than  you 
have  done  out  there  in  order  to  make  that  watching  very  effective. 


Mr.  President,  1  have  no  doubt  that  there  has  been  very  gross  ex- 
travagance in  the  matter  of  public  buildings,  and  I  am  not  disposed 


MARCH  81,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


149 


to  hold  any  one  to  responsibility  for  remarks  which  may  inure  to  its 
correction ;  but  I  think  it  would  be  well  if  those  gentlemen  who  are 
indulging  in  severe  criticisms  upon  this  floor  and  who  are  holding  up 
a  system  of  extravagance  to  public  opprobrium  would  at  the  same 
time  inform  the  public  that  their  criticism  partly  belongs  to  an  ad- 
ministration of  which  they  were  themselves  supporters  and  that  their 
criticisms  cannot  possibly  be  directed  to  those  public  officers  who  are 
now  conducting  this  branch  of  the  public  service. 

It  is  true  that  there  is  a  public  building  in  the  city  of  Wichita, 
Kans.,  in  process  of  erection,  and  if  there  be  delays  about  it,  or  if 
watchmen  have  been  retained  there  unnecessarily,  and  if  that  matter 
is  to  be  made  a  subject  of  censorious  comment  upon  this  floor,  it  is 
fitting  that  those  comments  should  give  to  the  public  the  reasons  for 
the  action  taken,  and  so  that  responsibility  should  be  fixed  upon  the 
proper  persons.  I  hold  in  my  hand  a  letter  of  October  4,  1887, 
addressed  to  the  Supervising  Architect  of  the  Treasury  Department 
by  the  Senator  from  Kansas : 

UNITED  STATE*  SKXATE,  Emporla,  Rang..  October  4, 1887. 

Dtar  Sir,  —  Permit  me  to  call  your  attention  to  the  public  building  which  you 
are  proposing  to  erect  at  Wichita.  Since  provision  was  made  for  this  building 
Wichita  has  grown  very  greatly,  and  buildings  rive  stories  in  height  have  been 
erected  by  private  capital.  1  am  informed  that  the  plans  as  prepared  in  your 
office  contemplate  a  building  two  stories  in  height  merely.  This  will  result  in 
an  inferior-looking  building.  I  doubt  also  if  the  necessary  room  can  be  provided 
in  a  building  of  two  stories,  as  you  perhaps  know  there  is  a  United  States  land- 
ome<!  at  Wichita,  and  United  States  court  Is  held  there,  and  there  will  need  to  be 
a  room  for  a  post-office  which  does  more  business  than  any  other  post-office  in 
the  State  of  Kansas. 

1  write  to  suggest  that  you  enlarge  the  building  by  adding  a  third  story.  If 
this  should  necessitate  the  omission  of  heating-apparatus  from  the  estimates,  I 
think  without  doubt  this  could  be  provided  for  at  the  next  session  of  Congress. 
It  would  certainly  seem  advisable  that  the  Obvernment  should  erect  such  a 
building  as  would  meet  not  only  present  but  future  wants  in  a  satisfactory 
manner.  Respectfully,  yours,  P.  B.  PLUMB. 

SUPERVISING  ARCHITECT  OF 

THE  TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  Washington,  D.  C. 

The  Senator  from  Kansas,  who  led  in  these  censorious  comments 
on  the  Supervising  Architect  of  the  Treasury,  is  the  Senator  who 
signed  that  letter ;  it  was  under  his  advice  and  under  his  suggestion 
that  any  change  which  has  taken  place  in  the  process  of  construction 
has  occurred. 

Mr.  Plumb.  — I  wish  the  Senator  would  point  out  in  that  letter  any 
recommendation  or  any  suggestion  or  hint  in  regard  to  the  employ- 
ment or  retention  of  watchmen  or  other  employe's  about  that  building. 

Mr.  Daniel. —  It  is  not  my  custom  to  find  out  in  communications 
things  that  do  not  exist ;  and  if  the  Senator  from  Kansas  would  con- 
form himself  to  the  same  method  of  debate  he  would  not  have  had 
this  reply. 

I  am  not  attempting  to  hold  that  gentleman  up  to  any  reproach 
for  writing  this  letter.  I  conceive  that  it  is  within  the  province  of  a 
Senator  on  this  floor,  or  any  representative  of  the  people,  to  give  his 
advice  to  those  who  may  be  in  process  of  executing  laws  of  this  char- 
acter. I  do  not  charge  him  with  usurping  any  function ;  but  it  does 
seem  to  me,  as  a  gentleman  fair-minded  and  just  towards  those  whom 
he  criticises,  that  when  the  Chief  Architect  was  held  up  and  pointed 
out  as  one  who  should  receive  public  censure,  instead  of  joining  with 
the  hounds  to  run  him  down,  he  might  at  least  have  taken  his  place 
with  the  hares  on  that  occasion.  I  do  not  hold  that  gentlemen  re- 
sponsible, or  say  more  about  him  than  simply  this,  that  in  telling  a 
part  of  the  story  it  would  have  been  becoming  if  he  had  told  all. 

Now,  sir,  let  us  see  about  this  matter  of  a  watchman. 

Mr.  Plumb.  —  Mr.  President,  there  does  not  seem  to  be  any  par- 
ticular reason  why  this  question  should  be  lugged  in  at  the  present 
time,  but  if  I  had  had  my  way  about  it  I  should  have  had  the  present 
Supervising  Architect  of  the  Treasury  brought  here  under  a  subpoena 
duces  tecum,  with  instructions  to  bring  my  letter,  in  order  that  it 
might  be  made  public.  It  has  no  more  to  do  with  his  employment  of 
watchmen  or  superintendents  of  the  building  at  Wichita  than  it  has 
with  the  last  change  of  the  moon.  I  am  so  enamored  of  that  letter 
on  looking  it  over,  that  I  will  ask  to  have  it  read  again. 

The  Presiding  Officer. — If  there  be  no  objection  the  Secretary 
will  read  it. 

The  Secretary  read  as  follows : 

UNITED  STATUS  SENATE,  Kmporia,  Kans..  October  4. 18*7. 

Dear  Sir,  — Permit  me  to  call  your  attention  to  the  public  building  which  you 
are  proposing  to  erect  at  Wichita.  Since  provision  wan  made  for  this  building 
Wichita  has  grown  very  greatly,  and  building!)  Hve  stories  in  height  have  been 
erected  by  private  capital.  I  am  Informed  that  the  plans  as  prepared  In  your 
office  contemplate  a  building  two  stories  in  height  merely.  This  will  result  In 
an  inferior-looking  building.  I  doubt  also  If  the  necessary  room  can  be  pro- 
vided in  a  building  of  two  stories,  as  you  perhaps  know  there  Is  a  United  States 
land-office  at  Wichita,  and  United  States  court  is  held  there,  and  there  will  need 
to  be  a  room  for  a  post-office  which  does  more  business  than  any  other  post-office 
In  the  State  of  Kansas. 

I  write  to  suggest  that  you  enlarge  the  building  by  adding  a  third  story.  If 
this  should  necessitate  the  omission  of  heating-apparatus  from  the  estimates  I 
think  without  doubt  this  could  be  provided  for  at  the  next  session  of  Congress 
It  would  certainly  seem  advisable  that  the  Government  should  erect  such  a 
building  as  would  meet  not  only  present  but  future  wants  In  a  satisfactory 
manner.  Respectfully  yours,  P.  B.  I'I.U.MU. 

SUPERVISING  ARCHITECT  or 

THE  TREASURY  DEPARTMENT, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Mr.  Plumb.  — I  reiterate  all  I  there  said.  Wichita  is  a  city  of  40,- 
000  people,  and  it  is  a  better  town  than  any  other  town  in  the  world 
outside  of  Kansas  having  twice  the  number  of  people.  There  is  more 
activity  in  business,  more  business  transacted,  more  necessity  for  a 
public  building  in  Wichita  than  in  any  town  in  the  United  States 
outside  of  that  State  possessing  100,000  people. 

The  Congress  of  the  United  States  was  guilty  of  the  worst  kind  of 


parsimony  in  providing  for  a  building  at  that  place  to  cost  only 
$100,000.  I  was  noticing  the  debate  in  another  place  the  other  day 
on  a  proposition  to  erect  a  public  building  at  Birmingham,  Ala.,  anil 
it  was  stated  with  a  flourish  of  t nmijiri s  that  the  postal  receipts  of 
that  city  were  $36,000  a  year.  The  proceeds  of  the  ]>ost-oflice  at 
Wichita  are  more  than  twice  that  much.  Another  branch  of  this 
Congress  has  voted  $300,000  to  erect  a  public  building  at  Birming- 
ham, on  the  basis  of  the  gross  postal  receipts  of  $36,000,  while  it  was 
only  willing  to  go  8100,000  for  the  public  building  at  Wichita. 
Since  the  time  when  that  appropriation  was  made  for  Wichita  single 
buildings  have  been  erected  in  that  city  costing  $150,000,  and  wlien 
we  consider  the  extravagance  which  the  Government  always  indulges 
in  in  the  building  of  public  buildings  it  is  readily  to  be  seen  that  a 
building  which  would  cost  the  Government  $100,000  could  cot  lie  in 
any  possible  way  more  than  one  quarter  the  size  of  a  building  which 
private  parties  would  build  with  $150,000. 

Therefore,  observing  that  the  Government  was  about  to  erect  a 
building  in  Wichita,  not  only  inferior  in  character,  but  not  up  to  the 
average  of  the  business  blocks  in  that  city,  I  said  to  the  Architect  I 
thought  on  the  whole  he  had  better  put  on  another  story ;  but  I 
omitted  to  say,  as  the  Senator  from  Virgina  did  not  seem  to  observe, 
that  I  thought  he  ought  to  keep  up  the  quota  of  watchmen  while  he 
was  waiting  for  an  appropriation. 

What  I  said  about  the  Wichita  building  in  the  debate  which  is 
referred  to  here  was  merely  an  incident  of  what  I  was  saying  about 
the  Library  building.  I  do  not  intend  that  the  Senator  from  Vir- 
ginia, acute  as  he  is,  shall  take  me  away  from  that  fruithful  subject.  I 
do  not  mean  that  he  shall  get  me  into  a  contemplation  of  some  prac- 
tices of  the  office  under  preceding  administrations,  and  thereby  divert 
attention  from  what  has  been  going  on  under  this  Administration  in 
regard  to  the  Library  building  in  the  shadow  of  this  Capitol. 

It  was  not  a  very  heinous  offense  to  keep  a  superintendent  and 
watchman  at  Wichita,  notwithstanding  there  was  neither  Government 
building  nor  Government  property  there,  and  I  freely  say  that,  so 
far  as  I  have  observed,  he  has  economical  tendencies.  How  soon  he 
will  get  over  them  I  cannot  say.  I  think,  on  the  whole,  he  has  in- 
troduced some  economies  in  the  management  of  his  office. 

I  had  a  talk  with  him  on  the  subject  of  the  watchman  and  super- 
intendent being  employed  at  Wichita.  He  said  to  me  in  substance, 
"  If  you  want  a  superintendent  and  watchman  kept  there  you  will 
have  to  write  me  a  letter  recommending  it."  I  said,  "  I  do  not  think 
they  ought  to  be  kept  there,  and  consequently  I  will  not  recommend 
it."  He  then  said  to  me  by  way  of  palliation,  very  well  illustrated 
by  a  story  which  I  will  not  tell,  that  he  would  reduce  the  salaries, 
and  consequently  the  offense  of  keeping  them  would  not  be  a  very 
large  one. 

I  think  that  he  intended  to  reduce  the  expenses  of  that  building  to 
the  minimum.  I  belfeve  he  is  sincerely  desirous  of  economizing  as 
far  as  possible  in  the  expenditure  of  the  public  money.  He  cannot 
go  too  far,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  in  that  direction.  If  he  only 
spends  in  a  judicious  way  the  money  that  Congress  appropriates, 
there  will  be  no  cause  of  complaint.  But  while  this  officer  has  been 
in  office  only  six  months  the  Administration  which  is  responsible  for 
him  has  been  in  power  for  over  three  years,  and  it  will  not  do  to  say 
that  because  it  has  retained  in  office  men  whom  it  found  here  prior 
to  that  time  somebody  else  is  responsible  and  not  the  Administration. 

But  the  matter  of  watchmen  is  not  so  conspicuous  in  the  Wichita 


sion  spent  for  watchmen  $2,772.95. 

The  Pension  building  has  been  referred  to  sometimes  in  debate 
here,  not  always  with  words  altogether  complimentary  for  its  archi- 
tectural proportions,  but  it  cost  $800,000  and  was  nearly  five  years 
in  building.  The  entire  amount  expended  for  watchmen  during  the 
nearly  five  years  that  building  was  in  process  of  construction  was 
only  $2,711.10.  In  other  words,  there  was  expended  for  watchmen 
about  that  building  during  the  nearly  five  years  it  was  in  process  of 
construction  less  money  than  has  been  expended  in  one  year  —  I  will 
not  say  in  the  process  of  the  construction  of  the  Library  building, 
because  its  construction  has  not  yet  commenced.  Why,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, the  plans  for  the  basement  for  the  Library  building  have  not 
yet  been  drawn. 

Mr.  Voorhees.  —  That  is  not  true. 

Mr.  Plumb.  —  It  is  true. 

Mr.  Voorhees 1  say  it  is  not  true. 

Mr.  Plumb.  —  I  say  it  is  true. 

Mr.  Voorhees.  —  I  say  it  is  not  true,  of  my  personal  knowledge. 

Mr.  Plumb.  —  They  will  not  be  ready  until  to-morrow. 

Mr.  Voorhees 1  say  theyhave  been  ready  for  six  months. 

The  Presiding  Officer — The  Senator  from  Kansas  is  entitled  to 
the  floor. 

Mr.  Plumb. —  I  am  informed  on  what  I  believe  to  be  good  authority 
that  there  is  an  advertisement  in  one  of  the  city  papers  stating  that 
the  plans  or  specifications  for  the  foundation  of  the  basement  of  that 
building  are  not  completed,  and  will  not  be  until  to-morrow. 

Mr.  Voorhees.  —  1  here  is  no  such  statement  in  any  advertisement 
in  any  paper  in  the  city. 

Mr.  Plumb.  —  I  am  informed,  upon  what  I  believe  to  be  a  good  au- 
thority outside  of  that,  that  when  a  few  days  ago  the  Secretary  of 
the  Interior  came  to  consider  the  question  of  letting  the  contract  or 
of  advertising  for  a  contract  for  the  basement  of  that  building,  he 


150 


The   American   Architect   and  Building   News.     [VOL.  XXIII.— No.  640. 


was  informed  that  the  plans  and  specifications  for  the  basement  had 
not  yet  been  drawn. 

Now,  of  course,  I  am  not  going  to  dispute  with  the  Senator  from 
Indiana  in  a  way  involving  his  veracity.  He  is  unduly  sensitive 
about  this  matter.  I  do  not  know  that  he  has  any  more  responsibility 
about  it  than  I  have.  He  has  chosen  to  defend  some  things,  and  he 
is  welcome  to  his  defense ;  but  so  far  as  responsibility  is  concerned, 
I  do  not  understand  that  he  has  any  more  responsibility  than  any 
other  member  of  this  body,  or  any  other  member  of  Congress,  so  far 
as  that  part  of  it  goes,  unless  he  makes  himself  so.  If  he  proposes 
to  defend  these  expenditures,  then,  of  course,  he  becomes  responsible. 
But  what  he  says  as  of  his  own  personal  knowledge  I  will  not  dispute. 
I  said,  and  I  repeat,  that  I  have  been  told  upon  what  I  consider  to 
be  perfectly  good  authority  that  the  plans  and  specifications  for  the 
basement  story  of  that  building  have  not  yet  been  drawn,  and  I  was 
told  that  I  could  find  in  a  city  paper,  if  I  would  look  for  the  evidence 
of  that  fact,  an  advertisement  made  for  contracts,  stating  in  sub- 
stance that  plans  and  specifications  would  be  furnished  on  the  8th  day 
of  March,  which  is  to-morrow. 

I  am  not  going  to  say  that  it  does  not  take  more  watchmen  under 
this  Administration  than  it  did  under  former  ones.  There  may  be 
more  to  watch ;  there  may  be  more  necessity  to  keep  on  hand  a  big 
corps  of  men  to  see  that  somebody  does  not  carry  off  the  property  or 
something  of  that  kind ;  but  the  fact  is,  as  I  have  stated,  that  on  this 
Library  building  during  twelve  months  $2,772.95  were  expended  for 
watchmen,  while  on  the  Pension  building,  which  cost  $800,000  and 
was  in  process  of  construction  nearly  five  years,  the  entire  amount 
for  similar  services  was  $2,711.10. 

I  have  here  a  list  of  the  employe's  of  the  Library  building  whose 
services  cost  last  year  nearly  $29,000.     A  secretary  cost  $1,800;  the 
messenger  cost  $600  a  month;  an  accountant  cost  $1,500. 
Mr.  Voorhees.  —  No  messenger  ever  cost  $600  a  month. 
Mr.  Plumb.  —  Sixty  dollars  a  month  I  said,  or  meant  to  say. 
Mr.  Voorhees.  —  You  said  $600  a  month. 

Mr.  Plumb.  —  Did  I?  Mr.  President,  I  wonder  he  did  not  cost 
$600  a  month. 

Mr.  Voorhees. — I  wonder  the  Senator  did  not  call  it  $6,000  a 
month. 

Mr.  Plumb.  —  In  view  of  the  wide  field  opened  by  this  expenditure, 
I  wonder  myself  the  commission  did  not  think  it  should  be  paid 
$6,000  per  month  on  this  work.  It  would  have  been  a  hundred 
times  more  judicious  expenditure  of  public  money  than  some  I  have 
evidence  of  here. 

The  disbursing  agent  cost  $2,500  per  annum.  A  man  to  help  him 
cost  three-eighths  of  1  per  cent,  amounting  to  $253.23.  Then  the 
architect  cost  $5,000.  Of  course  he  had  to  have  some  one  to  help 
him,  and  he  cost  $3,000.  Then  there  was  a  computer,  who  cost 
$125  a  month,  and  then  there  was  an  expert  in  iron-construction  at 
$6  per  day.  In  iron-construction,  Mr.  President!  Why,  all  the 
ironwork  over  there  is  not  only  in  the  imagination,  but  is  in  the 
bowels  of  the  earth.  An  expert  in  iron-construction  at  the  Library 
building,  which  consists  up  to  date  of  a  hole  in  the  ground !  No 
contract  was  let  for  anything  beyond  the  footing-course  for  the 
walls.  He  and  the  civil  engineer  cost  $6  a  day  each,  an  expert  in 
heating  $6  a  day,  and  another  expert  in  iron-construction  cost  $7  per 
day ;  a  draughtsman  cost  $7  per  day,  and  the  plans  for  the  basement 
are  not  yet  drawn !  Then  there  is  another  person  who  was  em- 
ployed as  draughtsman  at  $5  a  day,  and  another  draughtsman  at  $4 
and  $5  per  day.  Whether  that  meant  $9  per  day,  or  whether  he 
was  worth  more  some  days  than  others,  I  am  not  prepared  to  state. 
Another  draughtsman  cost  $5  a  day,  and  another  one  cost  $3  and 
$4  per  day.  Some  days  I  suppose  he  was  better  than  others. 
Another  draughtsman  cost  $2  a  day,  and  then  another  draughtsman 
cost  $125  and  $150  per  month.  I  suppose  he  was  employed  on  the 
evolution,  plan,  so  to  speak.  They  got  better  as  they  went  on  ;  they 
were  more  competent  to  do  that  nothing  which  the  commission 
seemed  to  be  determined  upon  doing.  The  further  they  got  the 
longer  they  were  employed ;  certainly  the  less  chance  there  ever  was 
of  having  a  building,  their  services  becoming  more  ornamental  and 
less  useful,  and  consequently  they  were  entitled  to  greater  pay. 

Mr.  Hale.  —  What  is  the  item  the  Senator  read  in  regard  to  a  dis- 
bursing officer? 

Mr.  Plumb.  —  There  was  a  disbursing  agent  at  $2,500  per  annum. 
Mr.  Hale.  —  What  has  the  disbursing  agent  to  disburse? 
Mr.  Plumb.  —  If  the  Senator  had  looked  at  these  figures  he  would 
see  that  the  disbursing  agent  has  been  the  most  laboriously  occupied 
of  all  the  persons  employed  about  that  building. 
Mr.  Hale.  —  In  paying  these  employes? 

Mr.  Plumb. —  He  has  disbursed  $98,000  during  the  past  year.     All 
that  has  been  done  over  there,  it  seems,  is  the  disbursement. 
Mr."  Hale.  —  For  which  he  has  had  $2,500. 

Mr.  Plumb.  —  That  man,  in  comparison  with  the  other  persons  em- 
ployed there,  ought  to  have  received  $10,000. 

Then  there  is  a  clerk  at  $120  per  month.  Then  there  is  another 
clerk  at  $120  per  month ;  there  is  another  messenger  at  $60  a  month ; 
another  one  at  $2  a  day,  and  a  sculptor  at  $5  a  day. 

That  is  the  list  of  the  employe's,  the  total  compensation  for  which 
amounts  to  $28,839.88,  and  does  not  include  the  watchmen,  who  re- 
ceived during  the  same  period  $2,772.95.  I  am  willing  to  admit  that 
any  possible  condition  of  things  existing  in  Wichita  is  a  mere  baga- 
telle by  comparison  with  what  has  been  going  on  here  under  our 


very  eyes.  If  the  Architect  of  the  Treasury  had  been  intending  to 
follow  the  example  which  has  been  set  by  the  Library  Commission 
there  would  not  have  been  anything  left  of  the  Wichita  appropria- 
tion of  $100,000  —  not  a  dollar  —  it  would  all  have  been  gone. 

But  as  the  Senator  from  Louisiana  says,  very  properly,  he  has  had 
nothing  whatever  to  do  with  these  expenses.  I  think  I  am  willing 
to  go  further,  and  I  say  in  view  of  the  letter  which  was  written  to 
him  by  the  member  of  the  House  representing  the  district  in  which 
Wichita  is  situated,  that  he  was  fairly  warranted  in  maintaining  for 
the  time  being  a  force  there  in'  anticipation  of  an  appropriation 
which  may  or  may  not  come. 

One  thing,  however,  I  have  observed,  that  whenever  any  Republi- 
can on  this  floor  or  elsewhere  has  anything  to  say  about  any  misman- 
agement or  extravagance  on  the  part  of  this  Administration,  some 
one  turns  around  and  says  that  all  grows  out  of  the  fact  that  some 
Republican  had  something  to  do  with  it.  I  have  heretofore  spoken 
of  that  as  pleading  the  baby  act.  I  cannot  think  of  anything  more 
expressive  than  that  phrase.  Who  is  responsible  for  the  Republicans 
who  are  in  office  to-day.  Of  course,  I  think  on  the  whole  it  would 
be  pretty  well  to  follow  Republican  advice,  but  to  say  that  because 
certain  persons  are  in  office  who  are  members  of  the  Republican 
party  relieves  the  Administration  from  responsibility  is  going  too  far. 

Mr.  President,  I  do  not  intend  to  work  this  deposit  out  now.  I 
intend  to  keep  this  thing  on  hand.  I  have  only  just  simply  got 
under  the  cover.  When  I  look  at  the  milk  in  this  cocoanut,  when  I 
contemplate  all  this  array  of  figures  from  the  advertising  in  the 
newspapers,  the  taking  down  of  the  houses,  the  cleaning  away  of  the 
material  at  the  expense  of  $13,000  at  a  return  of  about  $2,000,  the 
erection  of  a  carriage-house  for  the  architect,  the  fitting  up  of  the 
blue-print  room,  and  so  on,  I  realize  that  I  cannot  do  the  subject 
justice  at  one  effort,  nor  perhaps  at  twice  trying.  So  I  think  I  will 
leave  the  balance  of  it  until  further  debate.  Whenever  the  debate 
shall  lag,  and  whenever  my  friend  from  Indiana  shall  have  gotten 
into  that  good  humor  for  which  he  is  proverbial  and  can  bear  a  little 
more,  I  think  I  will  go  further  into  this  great  mine  that  has  been 
opened  up  here  in  regard  to  the  construction  of  this  Library  build- 
ing, which  is  so  dear  to  his  heart,  for  which  he  has  labored  so  many 
years  of  his  public  life.  I  was  not  on  his  side,  but  still  I  responded 
most  thoroughly  in  my  admiration  for  him  in  his  faithful,  eloquent 
work  to  bring  about  the  erection  of  a  Library  building,  and  the  sur- 
prise I  have  is  that  there  is  nothing  now  but  a  hole  in  the  ground 
after  this  great  expenditure  of  public  money  in  place  of  a  building. 

The  Presiding  Officer. —  The  question  is  on  the  amendment  of  the 
Senator  from  Ohio  [Mr.  Payne]. 

Mr.  Voorhees.  —  Mr.  President,  if  any  one  expects  that  I  rise  to 
make  any  extended  reply  to  the  remarks  of  the  Senator  from  Kansas 
[Mr.  Plumb]  he  is  mistaken.  I  am  not  in  condition  to  speak  to-day, 
and  I  do  not  desire  to  do  so.  If  the  Senate  has  a  disposition  to  allow 
the  genial  Senator  from  Kansas  to  amuse  himself  by  an  assault  of 
this  kind  on  those  who  have  charge  of  the  work  of  the  new  Library 
building 

Mr.  Plumb.  —  Will  the  Senator  allow  an  interruption? 

Mr.  Voorhees.  —  Oh,  yes. 

Mr.  Plumb.  —  Here  is  the  advertisement  to  which  I  referred  : 

OFFICE  OF  THE  COMMISSION  FOE  THE  CONSTRUCTION 

OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  LIBRARY  BUILDING, 
No.  45  EAST  CAPITOL  STREET 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  March  1, 1888. 

Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  this  commission  until  12  noon 
on  the  31st  day  of  March,  1888,  for  furnishing  the  dimension  stone  required  for 
the  walls  of  the  cellar  or  sub-basement  story  of  the  Congressional  Library  build- 
Ing,  to  be  constructed  in  Washington,  D.  C.,  upon  the  form  of  proposals  and  in 
accordance  with  the  specifications  and  plans  therefor.  Copies  of  specifications, 
etc.,  will  be  furnished  to  intending  bidders  on  application  to  the  architect  at 
this  office,  and  detailed  plans  of  the  same  may  be  seen  at  the  same  office  on  and 
after  Thursday.  March  8, 1888.  WILLIAM  F.  VILAS, 

EDWARD  CLARK, 
A.  K.  SPOFFOHD, 

Commissioners. 

Mr.  Voorhees.  —  You  will  find  the  advertisement  says  that  bidders 
can  have  the  specifications  to-morrow,  but  it  does  not  say  they  are 
not  prepared. 

Mr.  Plumb.  —  No,  but  it  is  significant  that  they  are  not  already 
prepared. 

Mr.  Voorhees.  —  Everything  is  significant  to  the  Senator  from 
Kansas. 

Mr.  Plumb.  — The  advertisement  bears  date  the  1st  day  of  March. 
It  was  published  on  that  day  — 

Mr.  Voorhees.  —  Please  get  through.     I  am  tired. 

Mr.  Plumb.  —  I  will  get  through  now  or  some  other  time. 

Mr.  Voorhees.  —  It  does  not  make  any  difference  to  me. 

Mr.  Plumb.  —  It  is  a  little  bit  significant  and  I  think  supports  the 
allegation  which  I  made,  that  for  seven  days  after  the  advertisement 
was  printed  the  specifications  could  not  be  seen  in  the  office  of  the 
architect. 

Mr.  Voorhees.  —  The  Senator  from  Kansas  said  I  was  sensitive  in 
regard  to  this  matter,  as  if  I  was  more  responsible  than  others  on  the 
subject.  I  confess  to  the  fact  that  this  building  for  the  Library  is  a 
favorite  measure  with  me,  but  I  stand  charged  with  no  more  respon- 
sibility about  it  than  any  other  Senator  here.  It  is  now  eight  years 
since  the  committee  to  which  I  have  the  honor  to  belong  was  created 
to  take  in  hand  the  subject  of  the  erection  of  a  library  competent  to 
take  care  of  our  gi-eat  wealth  of  books.  The  Senator  from  Vermont 


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The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


151 


[Mr.  Morrill],  on  whom  I  look  as  a  father  of  this  great  measure,  had 
for  years  before  been  engaged  in  it.  We  have  worked  together  from 
that  day  to  this  the  best  we  knew  how.  It  took  us  six  years  before 
we  got  a  law  through  both  brandies  of  Congress.  The  law  had  all 
manner  of  attacks.  In  fact,  there  were  a  good  many  men,  gome  in 
this  body  and  perhaps  some  in  the  other,  who  did  not  want  a  shelter 
for  the  Library,  possibly  for  the  reason  that  they  did  not  need  books. 

I  do  not  remember  that  we  had  the  support  of  the  distinguished 
Senator  from  Kansas  for  the  original  proposition  to  have  a  Library 
at  all,  but  be  that  as  it  may,  when  we  passed  the  bill  for  the  ereetion 
of  a  Library  it  was  after  the  utmost  care  and  consideration  by  a 
committee  of  five  gentlemen  from  this  body,  and  perhaps  the  same 
number  from  the  other  House.  It  was  not  done  in  haste,  not  done 
in  a  corner,  but  considering  everything  in  connection  with  it,  we 
thought  it  was  best  to  intrust  the  construction  of  the  Library  build- 
ing to  a  commission,  to  be  composed  of  men  who  were  well  known, 
and  must  necessarily  be  men  of  high  character. 

I  hope  I  may  have  the  attention  of  the  Senate,  because  the  ques- 
tion turns  upon  this  very  point  that  I  am  stating.  In  the  law  wliich 
passed  Congress  and  was  signed  by  the  President,  it  was  provided 
that  the  construction  of  the  building  —  which  covers  everything, 
covers  the  employment  of  skilled  labor  and  of  common  labor,  covers 
the  question  of  purchasing  materials,  of  contracts,  and  all  cognate 
questions—  should  be  committed  to  a  commission  consisting  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Interior,  who,  while  the  incumbent  may  change  in 
that  place,  would  naturally  be  supposed  to  be  an  honest  man  and 
was  an  honest  man  when  this  bill  passed,  two  years  ago.  It  will  not 
do  to  say  that  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  then  or  now  would  con- 
nive at  dishonest  practices. 

Then  who  was  the  next  commissioner  named  to  take  charge  of  the 
construction  of  this  great  building?  It  was  Mr.  Spofford,  the  Libra- 
rian of  Congress.  I  have  known  him  almost  thirty  years.  He  was 
appointed  here  by  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  if  the  Senator  from  Kansas 
can  convince  the  country  and  can  convince  the  Senate  that  Mr. 
Spofford  is  an  improper  man  to  have  charge  of  a  work  of  this  kind, 
and  would  allow  improper  charges  and  waste  the  public  money,  he 
will  have  more  of  a  task,  I  think,  than  he  has  bargained  for.  The 
next  man  named  on  that  commission  was  Edward  Clark,  the  honored 
Architect  of  this  Capitol.  We  have  all  known  him  a  long  time.  I 
want  to  justify  the  action  of  the  committee  of  which  I  am  a  member, 
and  justify  the  two  branches  of  Congress  to  everybody,  except  the 
Senator  from  Kansas.  I  despair  of  doing  that  to  him.  But  we 
thought  that  these  three  men  might  safely  be  trusted  with  the  expen- 
diture of  the  public  money  upon  a  building  of  this  kind. 

Were  we  mistaken  or  not?  I  am  not  going  into  the  intricacies  of 
how  much  was  paid  for  a  watchman,  a  little  more  or  a  little  less. 
There  may  have  been  one  or  two  salaries  paid  that  are  too  high  here. 
I  think  perhaps  in  one  instance  a  man  is  paid  beyond  the  duties  of  his 
position,  but  that  is  a  small  matter  and  a  matter  of  opinion.  The 
three  men  composing  the  commission  are  men  of  high  character. 
They  have  absolute  control  on  this  question  and  they  have  the 
employment  of  the  architect.  He  has  no  power  except  as  an  archi- 
tect employed  to  furnish  designs,  plans  and  specifications.  He  can 
not  receive  a  bid  ;  he  cannot  make  a  contract ;  he  cannot  judge  of 
material  even  except  subject  to  the  commission,  and  it  seems  strange 
to  me  that  a  Senator  rises  here  with  a  paper  in  his  hands  to  pick  out 
a  little  bit  here  and  a  little  bit  there  and  to  expose  expenditures  that 
are  necessary  and  that  took  place  in  the  beginning  of  the  work.  All 
these  expenditures,  with  every  step  in  the  progress  of  the  work,  have 
been  under  the  charge  of  men  whom  you  and  I  and  every  one  of  us 
would  trust  in  any  and  every  affair  of  private  life. 

What  is  more,  I  say  if  there  has  been  malfeasance  in  office  there, 
it  would  be  a  mostamazing  thing  to  me,  for  these  are  among  the 
most  perfect  men  known  here  —  the  past  and  present  Secretary  of 
the  Interior,  Justice  Lamar  and  Mr.  Secretary  Vilas.  The  Senator 
from  Kansas,  for  the  first  time  I  ever  heard  it  going  into  party  poli- 
tics, drags  into  this  matter  the  Democratic  party  and  the  Republican 
party.  We  have  never  remembered  that  there  were  parties  when 
discussing  the  Library  bill.  We  have  never  remembered  that  there 
were  parties  in  our  Chamber  when  we  have  met  in  our  committee- 
room  and  considered  the  question.  But  if  that  be  a  thing  to  be  men- 
tioned here,  allow  me  to  say,  and  I  do  it  with  the  greatest  possible 
respect,  that  two  of  these  commissioners,  Mr.  Spofford  and  Mr. 
Clark,  are  pronounced,  square,  out-and-out  Republicans,  and  I  res- 
pect them  as  such,  for  I  want  no  neutral  tints  in  anybody's  politics. 
So  far  as  I  am  concerned,  if  a  man  belong  to  a  party  let  him  be  there. 

Here,  then,  are  three  commissioners ;  one  of  them,  it  happens  for 
the  time  being,  is  of  one  party  and  two  of  the  other  party,  but  I  care 
not  a  fig  about  that.  I  have  divested  myself  largely  of  care  on  this 
subject  because  I  have  felt  secure  in  the  men  in  whose  hands  this 
whole  business  is  confided.  I  have  not  felt  that  it  was  necessary  for 
me  to  hunt  up  whether  this  dollar  or  that  dollar  was  wrongfully 
spent  because  I  felt  that  I  could  go  to  bed  at  night  trustfully  and 
confidently  that  matters  would  be  right  to-morrow  morning,  and  if 
there  are  any  discordant  elements  that  creep  in  in  connection  with 
the  construction  of  this  building,  I  know  the  men  who  have  the  honor 
to  compose  the  committee  of  the  Senate  desire  to  meet  such  ques- 
tions with  honesty,  economy  and  candor,  and  push  on  the  work  on 
this  building  as  rapidly  as  possible. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  material  was  offered  that  was  found  not 
acceptable  to  the  commission.  We  heard  of  no  trouble  until  that 


question  was  raised,  and  if  I  desired  to  say  any  unkind  thing,  which 
I  do  not,  to  the  Senator  from  Kansas  (and  he  knows  I  do  not),  I 
would  say  that  it  was  singular  what  a  noise  and  trouble  one  discon- 
tented contractor  can  make,  and  if  every  time  a  man  offers  a  bid 
which  is  not  accepted  such  a  ra-jket  as  this  can  be  raised,  we  may 
despair  of  ever  having  a  Library. 

Allow  me  to  say  a  word  further,  Mr.  President.  This  is  a  great 
work.  I  had  occasion  to  talk  a  little  the  other  day  on  this  floor 
about  it.  I  repeat  myself  when  I  say  that  it  is  21,000  square  feet  a 
larger  building  than  the  State,  War  and  Xavy  Department  building. 
The  law  for  the  construction  of  that  building  was  passed  in  1872, 
nearly  sixteen  years  ago,  and  it  is  just  finished.  The  Bureaus  of  the 
War  Office  have  just  moved  into  it.  This  building,  as  I  say,  is 
21,000  square  feet  larger.  It  is  the  largest  building  the  Government 
will  own  except  this  Capitol,  and  it  is  more  than  two-thirds  as  large 
as  the  Capitol.  It  will  be  the  largest  Library  building  on  the  globe, 
and  will  be  an  honor  to  this  country  when  it  is  erected. 

I  have  devoted  time,  labor,  thought,  and  enthusiasm  to  this  ques- 
tion, and  my  greatest  hope,  in  which  I  know  my  distinguished  and 
beloved  friend  from  Vermont  [Mr.  Morrill]  joins  me,  is  that  we  may 
live  to  see  its  spire  reach  the  sky  and  see  the  books  of  this  great 
Government  housed  in  it,  and  the  accumulations  of  the  age  added  to 
it.  When  that  shall  be  done,  the  smnll  bickerings  and  fault-findings 
of  the  present  hour  will  be  forgotten  in  the  joyous  feat  that  has  been 
accomplished. 

I  have  no  fears  of  the  future.  I  believe  this  work  is  in  the  hands 
of  honest  men,  and  when  I  believe  in  a  man's  honesty  I  feel  secure. 

Mr.  Plumb.  —  It  will  be  news,  I  think,  to  the  Librarian,  Mr.  Spof- 
ford, that  he  is  a  Republican,  but  in  the  mutations  which  are  going 
on  in  the  political  world 

Mr.  Voorhees.  —  I  care  not  whether  he  is  or  not ;  he  is  an  honest 
man,  appointed  by  Abraham  Lincoln.  I  supposed  he  was  a  Repub- 
lican and  suppose  so  yet. 

Mr.  Plumb.  —  I  have  no  doubt  he  is  an  honest  man,  but  the  Senator 
from  Indiana  is  certainly  not  going  to  say  that  on  account  of  any 
eminence  of  this  Library  Commission  they  are  to  be  left  to  expend 
money  at  their  will. 

Mr.  Voorhees.  —  Undoubtedly  not.  If  you  can  make  it  appear  that 
they  have  spent  a  dollar  and  a  half  apiece  wrongfully,  we  will  call 
them  to  account. 

Mr.  Plumb.  —  That  is  exactly  what  I  am  coming  to.  I  propose 
to  criticise,  and  I  suppose  the  Senator  will  think  it  just  that  I  should 
criticise 

Mr.  Voorhees.  —  I  will  call  a  meeting  of  the  committee  and  ask  the 
Senator  to  come  before  it  to  show  wherein  anything  is  wrong.  This 
committee  is  not  here  to  cover  up  wrong. 

Mr.  Plumb.  —  I  think  on  the  whole  they  have  had  something  to  do, 
as  shown  in  their  report,  and  I  have  a  right  to  refer  to  what  has 
been  done  under  their  auspices  and  control.  The  fact  that  they  are 
eminent  and  honest  men  does  not  relieve  me  from  mv  responsibility 
in  regard  to  the  expenditure  of  public  money  which  t  vote. 

I  have  had  nothing  to  say  about  any  contract.  The  Senator  from 
Indiana  seems  to  have  got  it  into  his  mind  that  there  is  some  contract 
about  which  I  am  concerned.  I  do  not  know  any  contractor  and  do 
not  know  anything  about  any  contractor  in  connection  with  this 
work.  I  simply  spoke  of  expenditures  not  relating  to  any  contracts, 
not  relating  to  construction,  and  said  they  were  of  a  kind  which  have 
been  extravagant  and  almost,  if  not  wholly  and  totally,  unaccom- 
panied by  any  result  to  the  Government,  and  I  so  characterized 
them.  If  the  Senator  wants  to  commend  the  commission  because 
they  have  dealt  harshly  with  contractors,  I  have  no  objection ;  that 
is  his  business  and  not  mine. 

If  I  were  conscious  of  a  desire  for  a  long  life,  I  should  join  most 
heartily  in  the  aspirations  of  the  Senator  from  Indiana  that  I  might 
live  long  enough  to  see  the  spire  of  the  Library  raised  to  the  skies. 
I  never  expect  to  see  it. 

Mr.  Hale.  —  Mr.  President,  now  let  us  go  back  to  the  bill  itself  and 
have  a  vote  on  the  amendment  offered  by  the  Senator  from  Ohio. 

The  Presiding  Officer.  —  The  question  is  on  the  amendment  pro- 
posed by  the  Senator  from  Ohio  [Mr.  Payne]. 


[Contributor*  are  reauetted  to  tend  with  their  drawings   full  and 
adequate  descriptions  of  the  building*,  including  a  statement  of  cost.] 

HOUSE   ON  BERKELEY  STREET,    BOSTON,    MASS.      MESSRS.    PEABODY 

A    8TEAKNS,     ARCHITECTS,    BOSTON,    MASS. 
[Gelatine  Print  issued  only  with  Gelatine  and  Imperial  editions.] 

HOUSE     FOR    DR.    GEORGE    M.    HAYWOOD,    ROCHESTER,    N.    Y.        MR. 
C.   8.    ELLIS,   ARCHITECT,    ROCHESTER,   N.   T. 

CHEAP  HOUSES  AT  PASSAIC,  N.  J.,  LITCHFIELD,  CONN.,  ANI>  LARCH- 
MONT,   N.    Y.      MR.  F.  E.  WALLI8,  ARCHITECT,  NEW    YORK,  N.  Y. 

TITHE  finish  of  all  of   these  houses  is  either  pine  or  white  wood, 
J|»  cherry  stain.     In  house  at  Litchfield  the  "  Den  "  fireplace  is  to  be 
built  of  field  boulders  and  with  large  opening;  in  other  houses  of 
fire-brick. 


152 


The    American    Architect  and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No    640. 


BOSTON  &     ALBANY     RAILROAD      STATION,     SPRINGFIELD,     MASS  . 
MESSRS.    8HEPLEY,    RUTAN   &   COOLIDGE,    ARCHITECTS,     BOSTON, 

MASS. 

COMPETITIVE    DESIGN    FOR   A   VILLAGE     CLOCK-TOWER    BY   Mil.    T. 
WALSH,    BOSTON,    MASS. 

To  this  design  was  awarded  an  honorable  mention  in  the  recent 
competition  of  the  Architectural  League  of  New  York. 


#    f-J   #    C->    *    «   *  «•   * 
#  ft'    *   <»    *   «  -*  $ 


Design  for  Muni  Tablet.     M.  N.  Cutter,  Architect,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

AZTEC    ANTIQUITIES. 

•-TT  GREAT  many  persons,  says  the  New  York  Commercial  Adoer- 
rn  tizer,  have  seen  and  everybody  has  heard  of  the  Charnay-Loril- 
/  lard  collection,  presented  to  the  National  Museum  by  the  liberal 
New  Yorker,  but  comparatively  few  know  anything  about  the  Abadi- 
ano  collection  which  stands  side  by  side  with  it  in  the  museum.  Very 
few,  perhaps,  of  the  large  number  of  people  who  daily  stroll  through 
the  buildings  of  this  and  similar  institutions  know  the  personal  history 
connected  with  many  of  the  curiosities  on  exhibition.  Many  of 
these  unwritten  stories  are  full  of  romance ;  they  tell  of  perils  en- 
countered and  surmounted,  of  great  self-denial  and  hardship,  and  of 
private  fortunes  spent  for  the  furtherance  of  science. 

There  is  now  en  route  to  this  city  a  gentleman  who  has  spent  many 
years  in  the  study  of  American  antiquities.  He  was  the  projector 
of  the  Abadiano  collection,  which  bears  his  name,  and  negotiations 
will  be  opened  with  General  Di  Cesnola,  of  the  Metropolitan  Museum, 
which  may  result  in  the  casts  being  brought  to  New  York.  Wendell 
McLoughlin,  of  the  Erie  Railroad  Company,  accompanied  Abadiano 
in  his  journey  to  the  ruins  and  assisted  in  taking  many  of  the  casts. 
Mr.  McLoughlin  tells  many  interesting  facts  of  the  struggles  of  the 
young  Mexican  antiquarian.  Referring  to  the  collection  recently, 
Mr.  McLoughlin  said: 

"  The  casts  are  splendid  specimens  of  art,  and  bring  out  the  charac- 
ters engraven  on  the  original  stone  wonderfully  well.  Their  value 
to  history  can  hardly  be  over-estimated,  for  if  anything  more  is  ever 
to  be  learned  of  the  Aztecs  it  will  have  to  come  through  these  voice- 
less monuments.  The  large  collection  of  manuscripts  were  nearly 
all  of  them  destroyed  by  the  zealous  priests  who  accompanied  the 
Spanish  conqueror,  and  thus  the  thread  that  bound  an  enlightened 
nation  to  the  history  of  the  world  was  ruthlessly  snapped.  The 
monuments  narrowly  escaped  the  fate  of  the  manuscripts,  and  many 
of  them  show  the  marks  left  by  axes  in  the  hands  of  ignorant  zealots 
nearly  four  hundred  years  ago.  But  they  were,  fortunately,  for  the 
most  part  saved,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  a  key  to  the  hieroglyphics 
chiselled  on  them  may  yet  be  discovered,  and  thus  a  new  and  im- 
portant link  added  to  the  chain  of  history." 

"  Is  there  any  movement  in  that  direction?" 

"  Yes,  there  is,  but  it  is  as  yet  in  its  infancy.  Nothing  can  be  done 
until  all  of  the  collections  on  the  Continent  and  in  this  country  are 
brought  together,  thus  enabling  the  student  to  make  an  intelligent 


study  of  the  subject  and  in  time  to  discover  the  real  theory.  This 
is  the  idea  of  Abadiano,  and  he  has  the  co-operation  of  many  of  the 
most  prominent  scientists  of  the  day.  He  is  an  enthusiast  on  the 
subject,  and  has  spent  a  great  part  of  a  handsome  fortune  in  carry- 
ing it  out.  Mr.  Lorillard  is  still  interested  and  willing  to  continue  to 
help,  but  the  burden  is  too  heavy  to  be  borne  by  half  a  dozen." 

"  The  story  of  the  collection  must  be  an  interesting  one,  judging 
from  the  adventures  of  Ddsire  Charnay,"  was  suggested. 

"  Not  only  interesting,  but  romantic,"  was  the  reply. 

"  The  career  of  Abadiano,  and  the  way  in  which  lie  came  to  make 
the  collection  is  curiously  identified  with  the  history  of  Mexico  under 
Diaz.  The  dashing  revolutionist  and  the  young  antiquarian  were, 
strangely  enough,  intimate  friends,  and  Abadiano  was  an  officer  in 
the  Diaz  army  when  the  latter  was  striving  to  wrest  the  government 
from  Lerdo  —  the  rightful  president.  The  two  young  men  fought 
and  slept  and  eat  together,  and  when  they  had  succeeded  in  their 
efforts  and  Diaz  was  proclaimed  ruler,  the  young  antiquarian  retired 
from  the  army  and  returned  to  his  home  at  the  capital.  Here  his 
family  had  for  more  than  two  hundred  years  conducted  a  large  book 
store  and  he,  together  with  his  brother,  now  took  charge  of  it.  But 
his  antiquarian  tastes  and  his  service  in  the  army  had  unfitted  him 
for  a  business  life  and  he  soon  withdrew  from  the  firm.  Diaz  had 
promised  him  an  appointment  if  the  revolution  succeeded,  and  he 
now  asked  for  it;  but  the  office  offered  him  was  so  much  smaller 
than  he  thought  he  had  a  right  to  expect  that  he  would  not  except 
it.  General  Diaz  then  suggested  that  he  make  a  collection  of  anti- 
quities and  agreed  to  pay  all  expenses.  There  was  some  delay  about 
getting  an  appropriation  and  so  impatient  was  Abadiano  to  begin 
that  he  advanced  the  money  from  his  own  purse.  He  put  his  whole 
soul  in  the  work  and  determined  to  make  the  casts  by  the  most  ap- 
proved method." 

"  Was  it  the  same  as  that  used  by  Charnay  ?  " 

"  You  would  hardly  need  ask  had  you  seen  them  side  by  side,"  an- 
swered Mr.  McLoughlin.  "  The  most  unpractised  eye  can  discern 
the  difference.  In  the  Abadiano  cast  you  would  notice  that  every 
little  crack  and  crevice,  even  the  grain  of  the  stone,  is  brought  out 
with  the  greatest  distinctness.  It  was  done  by  what  is  known  as  the 
gelatine  process,  and  it  is  very  expensive,  especially  in  a  country 
like  Mexico,  where  the  material  is  scarce  and  has  to  be  bought  in 
small  quantities  at  the  drug  stores.  The  stone  of  which  a  cast  had 
to  be  taken  was  first  securely  boxed  and  the  hot  gelatine  poured  into 
the  vacant  space  between  the  box  and  stone.  One  can  imagine  the 
difficulty  of  making  a  cast  when  one  takes  into  consideration  a  stone 
weighing  twenty-five  tons  imbedded  in  the  walls  of  a  church,  per- 
haps sixty  feet  from  the  ground,  as  was  the  famous  calendar  stone. 
A  scaffold  had  first  to  be  built,  the  high  stone  nicely  divided  and  the 
cast  made  piece  by  piece." 

"  What  was  Charnay's  method  ?  " 

"  It  was  a  very  simple  one,  and  the  most  unlearned  eye  can  see 
that  it  was  very  inferior  to  the  more  expensive  one  used  by  Abadiano. 
A  piece  of  common  brown  paper  was  first  dampened,  then  laid  care- 
fully over  the  stone  and  hammered  until  an  impression  of  the  char- 
acters was  made.  This  was  continued  until  the  layer  of  paper  was 
perhaps  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  thickness.  Then  it  was  left  to  dry 
and  in  time  a  cast  made  in  plaster-of-Paris.  Charney  made  many 
failures  and  was  only  partly  successful  in  the  end.  His  collection 
consists  entirely  of  flat  surfaces,  such  as  friezes  and  medallions, 
while  the  more  important  monuments,  the  gods,  the  columns  and 
statues,  were  left  to  Abadiano." 

"  How  came  Abadiano's  collection  to  this  country  ?  " 

"  Abadiano's  work  was  almost  completed  when  a  tide  of  misfortune 
suddenly  overtook  him.  After  he  had  made  two  casts  and  destroyed 
his  gelatine  plates,  tue  Mexican  government,  in  a  spasm  of  reform, 
decided  that  the  expense  would  be  too  great  and  declined  to  reim- 
burse him.  This  was  a  terrible  blow,  but  Abadiano  decided  to  finish 
the  work,  hoping  that  his  friendship  with  Diaz  would  make  things 
all  right.  But  they  quarrelled,  and  he  decided  to  carry  the  collec- 
tion to  the  New  Orleans  Exposition,  then  just  on  the  eve  of  opening. 
On  arriving  in  New  Orleans,  he  did  not  place  his  collections  in  the 
exposition,  for  he  had  been  at  great  expense  and  this  would  bring 
him  in  no  revenue.  He  rented  a  large  store  in  the  French  quarter 
and  there  set  up  his  casts.  But  so  slowly  did  the  careful  antiquarian 
work  that  by  the  time  he  was  ready  to  exhibit  the  exposition  was 
nearly  over  and  many  of  the  visitors  had  left  the  city.  At  this 
juncture,  Professor  Mason,  of  the  Museum,  effected  a  temporary 
arrangement  by  which  the  collection  was  sent  to  Washington.  If 
the  Metropolitan  Museum  succeed  in  securing  it,  a  most  interesting 
feature  will  be  added  to  the  institution." 


PURE  AIR  INDICATOR.  It  is  estimated  that  the  air  in  a  room  becomes 
distinctly  bad  for  health  when  its  carbonic  acid  exceeds  one  part  in 
1,000.  An  apparatus  has  been  recently  patented  by  Prof.  Wolpert,  of 
Nurnberg,  which  affords  a  measure  of  the  carbonic  acid  present. 
From  a  vessel  containing  a  red  liquid  (soda  solution  with  phenolphtha- 
lein)  there  comes  every  100  seconds,  through  a  siphon  arrangement  a 
red  drop  on  a  prepared  white  thread  about  a  foot  and  a  half  long,  and 
trickles  down  this.  Behind  the  thread  is  a  scale  beginning  with  "pure 
air"  up  to  0.7  per  l(000atthe  bottom,  and  ending  above  with  "  extremely 
bad"  4  to  7  per  1,000  and  more.  In  pure  air  the  drop  continues  red 
down  to  the  bottom,  but  it  loses  its  color  by  the  action  of  carbonic  acid, 
and  the  sooner  the  more  there  is  of  that  gas  present.  -Scientific  Amer- 


MARCH  31,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


153 


-t  Po/-th«r>o«  profor»:<MM> 


PROPORTION    IN    ANGULAR,    ROUND    AND    POINTED 
STYLES  OF   ARCHITECTURE. 

those  who  have  been 
1  observers  of  the  world 
for  their  half  century 
nothing  is  more  impres- 
sive, it  might  almost  lie 
said  oppressive,  than  the 
sense  of  its  marvellously- 
increased  populousncss. 
"  The  full  tide  of  human 
existence,"  which  Dr. 
Johnson  was  familiar  with 
at  Charing  Cross  was  vis- 
ibly  rising  thirty  years  ago, 
but  even  then  was  moder- 
ate indeed  compared  with  the  high  flood  which  now  hurries  and 
crowds  along  its  thoroughfares  widened  as  they  are.  The  busi- 
ness and  even  ordinary  occupations  of  men  have  undergone  like 
cumulative  complication.  Effects  due  to  such  vast  changes  are 
necessarily  traceable  in  the  architecture  of  our  day.  Whatever 
public  functions  have  to  be  provided  with  house-room,  demand  is 
made  for  vast  space  and  combination  of  a  multitude  of  subsidiary 
conveniences.  The  Law  Courts  may  perhaps  be  taken  as  an  example 
of  how  these  conditions  appear  to  be  inimical  to  concentrated  com- 
position. 

The  theory  of  composition  as  laid  down  by  the  teachers  of  a 
former  age  enjoined  that  the  conspicuous  limits  of  a  complete  design 
should  be  included  if  possible  within  the  general  outline  of  some 
simple  geometrical  form.  Hence,  in  painting,  that  "  principle  of  the 
pyramid  "  which'rontrols  the  groups  of  Holy  Families  by  so  many 
of  the  greatest  Italians  —  Leonardo,  Fra  Bartolommeo,  Raphael, 
Titian.  This  particular  principle  is  one  of  many  which  have  been 
similarly  applied  both  in  Classic  and  Gothic  architecture.  The 
general  principle  is  becoming,  for  the  reason  given,  more  difficult  of 
application  every  day  ;  the  more  reason  is  there  for  endeavoring  to 
penetrate  to  the  true  and  full  capabilities  in  variation  of  the  harmo- 
niousness  of  associated  geometrical  forms  in  all  styles  of  architecture. 
It  seems  not  impossible  to  evolve  from  study  of  the  simpler  problems 
of  the  past  some  guidance  which  may  be  available  in  the  more  com- 
prehensive problems  of  the  present  day.  Such  an  inquiry  is  bound 
to  take  equal  note  of  Grecian  and  Gothic  style. 

The  most  characteristic  form  of  Greek  architecture,  which  for  the 
most  part  is  Greek  templar  architecture,  is  the  oblong  or  rectangle. 
The  chief  proportions  employed  apply  to  relative  lengths  of  lines  at 
right  angles  to  each  other  ;  this  is  the  case  in  the  plan  of  the  gene- 
ral stylobate,  of  the  cella  and  its  sub-divisions  ;  the  long  horizontal 
line  of  the  cornice  on  fronts  and  flanks  are  in  like  relation  to  each 
other  and  to  the  height  of  the  order,  and  the  axial  lines  of  the  col- 
umns form  oblongs  of  various  proportions  as  falling  into  comparison 
with  the  variable  distances  of  interspacing.  Hence  it  is  that  the 
harmonious  effect  of  the  Parthenon  is  effected  by  the  interplay  of 
proportions  between  lines  for  the  most  part  at  right  angles  to  each 
other.  Oblongs  are  employed  which  were  taken  by  Ictinus,  the 
architect,  from  an  advancing  sequence,  gradually  approaching  an 
exact  square,  but  from  among  the  infinite  number  of  these  a  scale  is 
adopted,  with  many  analogies  to  a  musical  scale,  by  selecting  for 
employment  only  a  few,  and  those  not  too  close  together  on  the  one 
hand,  "nor  on  the  other  with  such  gaps  between  them  as  to  lose  the 
advantage  of  sense  of  connection  and  interdependence.  The  sense 
of  unity  is  further  combined  with  pleasing  relief  of  variety  by  the 
employment  of  the  same  selected  proportionate  oblong,  sometimes  in 
plan,  sometimes  in  elevation,  and  in  different  dimensions. 

The  oblong  plan  of  the  temple  on  the  top  step  has  exactly  the 
proportion  of  breadth  to  length  of  4  :  9,  viz.:  101.341  front:  228.- 
141  on  flank  (error  0.12).  The  same  proportion  is  repeated  in  eleva- 
tion in  the  well-marked  definition  of  breadth  of  top  step  —  the  hun- 
dred attic  feet  —  and  the  height  from  this  step  to  the  top  of  the 
horizontal  cornice  (error  0.0034).  It  will  be  observed  that  this  is  a 
case  of  continued  proportion.  The  measurements  are  taken  from 
Penrose's  "Athenian  Architecture." 

The  proportions  of  the  same  oblong  again  apply  with  slightly 
different  dimensions  to  the  side  walls  of  the  interior  of  the  naos, 
then  again  to  the  lower  diameter  of  the  column  compared  with  col- 
umniation,  that  is,  to  the  extent  from  centre  to  centre  of  adjacent 
columns,  which  decides  the  important  principle  of  spacing. 

Again,  by  a  correspondence  far  too  precise  to  be  fortuitous,  the 
interior  plan  of  the  naos  which  lodged  the  colossal  chryselephantine 
statue  of  Athens  is  an  oblong  of  the  proportion  of  9  :  14,  and  the 
same  proportion  corresponds  exactly  to  the  full  height  of  the  facade 
to  its  breadth,  so  that,  in  fact,  the  elevation  of  the  temple  might  be 
drawn  accurately  to  scale  on  the  pavement  of  the  uaos  and  would 
occupy  it  exactly. 

These  are  but  a  few  examples  of  the  fundamental  principle  which 
I  have  elsewhere  elucidated  in  detail  and  shown  to  have  been  kept 
in  mind  by  the  architect  of  the  Parthenon  as  positively  as  a  musician 
keeps  in  mind  the  characteristic  selection  of  notes  which  constitute 
the  scale  of  the  key  in  which  he  is  composing.  The  architectural 
scale  in  this  particular  instance  advances  by  consecutive  differences 
of  five.  Important  applications  of  proportion  are  all  taken  within 


5<-ole    of  Pointed  ArcK«s 


the  sequence :  1:6  —  2:7  —  3:8  —  4:9  —  5:10—  (=1  :  2) 
8:11  —  7:12  —  6:13  —  9  :  14,  etc.,  to  the  neglect  of  the  infinity 
of  ratios  which  might  be  inserted  intermediately.  That  a  true  princi- 
ple of  architectural  proportion  is  here  involved  may  be  confidently 
assumed  from  the  fact  that  it  can  be  traced  in  all  the  finest  works  of 
the  Greeks  of  which  we  have  accurate  measurements  and  always 
with  the  result  of  a  pleasing  or  a  majestic  harmonious  effect. 

But  Greek  architecture  in  not  the  only  fine  architecture  in  the 
world,  and  proportion  has  its  value  in  all  styles.  The  principle, 
therefore,  is  required  to  vindicate  itself  by  proved  applicability  to 
other  styles  however  contrasted  with  the  Greek.  It  should  be  appli- 
cable therefore 
to  Gothic.  It 
may  or  may  not 
be  possible  to 
prove  that  the 
Gothic  arch  i- 
tecta  deliberate- 
ly worked  by 
guidance  of  such, 
a  principle,  but 
wherever  a  con- 
spicuously har- 
monious effect  of 
proportion  has 
been  achieved 
by  them,  it  ought 
to  come  out  un- 
der analysis  that  this  general  principle  has  been  contributory.  This 
should  be  as  positively  the  case  and  for  the  same  reason  as  is  the 
accurate  proportion  of  the  note  which  an  untaught  but  naturally 
gifted  singer  pitches  accurately  by  ear. 

The  Greek  theory  then  should  be  available  for  the  Gothic  architect 

—  mutatis  only  mutandis. 

The  questions,  however,  are  forced  upon  us :  What  are  the  mutanda, 

—  and  how  are  they  to  be  verified  as  naturally  and  rationally  mutata  f 
Certain  forms  of  application  do  not  seem  to  demand  any  change  at 

all.  Both  styles  have  some  elements  in  common  and  the  regulative 
considerations  are  identical  in  both. 

The  plan  of  every  cathedral  is  largely  resolvable  into  a  combina- 
tion of  rectangles, —  squares  or  oblongs  of  various  sizes,  or  of  oblongs 
of  various  proportions.  The  nave  and  transepts  of  Westminster 
Abbey  church  with  their  aisles  are  thus  made  up.  It  will  be  seen  at 
once,  how  much  effect  is  dependent  upon  the  proportions  adopted  for 
relative  breadth  and  length  in  both  nave  and  transcept.  How  great 
a  variety  of  effects  was  open  to  choice  becomes  apparent  at  once,  by 
comparison  of  plans  of  various  cathedrals.  In  these  structures  where 
the  interiors  were  all  important,  we  should  expect  the  proportional 
norm  to  be  decided  by  internal  lengths  and  breadths.  The  greater 
or  less  elongation  of  the  nave,  the  more  or  less  liberal  expansion  of 
the  crossing,  the  relative  width  allowed  to  a  side  aisle,  all  these  are 
matters  of  proportion  whether  the  designer  trusts  to  his  eye  entirely 
and  general  impressions,  or  merely  works  out  the  conditions  of  the 
area  and  resources  at  command,  or  cares  to  proceed  on  the  principle 
of  reducing  the  approximate  forms  which  commend  themselves  to  his 
taste,  to  precise  agreement  with  systematic  numerical  proportions. 
It  cannot  be  indifferent  to  ultimate  effect  whether  the  vaulting  of  the 
aisles  follows  a  series  of  squares  as  at  Winchester,  or  of  oblongs  as 
at  Westminster;  nor  when  the  oblong  is  admitted,  in  what  degree 
it  diverges  from  the  square.  So  it  will  be  observed  that  these 
oblongs  have  a  narrower  proportion  in  the  aisles  of  the  nave  of  the 
abbey,  but  a  more  compact  in  the  broader  transept.  Mere  sympa- 
thetic sense  of  appropriateness  may  have  dictated  this  difference  so 
conducive  to  harmonious  variety;  but  we  have  only  now  to  remark  that 
it  is  one  of  those  which  the  Greek  regulated  by  precise  numerical 
proportion,  —  as  in  the  case  of  the  breadths  of  the  ambulatory  and 
the  portico  of  a  temple. 

The  same  remark  applies  to  combinations  of  the  three  dimensions, 
height,  length  and  breadth.  Who  has  not  found  some  interiors  too 
low  for  the  length  or  too  high  for  the  width  ?  Those  who  would  see 
the  interior  of  Amiens  Cathedral  to  the  best  effect,  must  divide  the 
height  for  the  eye  by  ascending  to  the  triforium ;  there  the  clere- 
story windows  are  no  longer  hopelessly  foreshortened  and  every 
moulding  tells,  as  the  spectator  looks  with  equal  ease  upward  and 
downward  and  to  the  front.  The  greatest  of  Greek  architects  com- 
bined the  three  dimensions  in  accordance  with  schemes  of  projxjrtion 
which  have  much  analogy  to  the  numerical  ratios  of  the  notes  of  a 
musical  chord, —  though  he  was  not  restricted  to  the  ratios  which  are 
determined  for  music  by  the  laws  of  a?rial  vibration.  Such  exact- 
ness may  not  be  indispensable  in  applied  proportions,  but  proportion 
does  not  properly  exist  unless  theie  is  a  certain  approximation  to 
exactness,  be  it  only  such  as  a  cultivated  eye  decides  spontaneously. 
Other  critical  proportions  in  Gothic  Architecture  which  have 
analogy  to  Greek,  are  the  width  sof  nave  and  of  pier  arches  rela- 
tively to  height,  of  mass  of  piers  relatively  to  interval,  and  the  rela- 
tive heights  allowed  to  the  subdivisions  of  clerestory  and  triforium. 
These  latter  are  determined  at  Westminster  Abbey  with  a  numeri- 
cal exactness  which  approaches  that  which  the  Greek  applied  to  col- 
umns, hypostylic  and  epistylic.  Architectural  effect  varies 
importantly  with  every  variation  of  these  and  with  every  variation 
which  is  made  in  those  which  are  associated  with  each  other. 


154 


TJie   American   Architect   and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  640. 


But  new  resources  of  harmonious  combinations  and  variations 
arise  when  the  restriction  to  right-lines  and  right-angles  in  the  most 
important  places  is  renounced,  and  curves  of  considerable  sweep 
admitted  and  that  in  conspicuous  positions. 

The  most  familiar  employment  of  the  semicircle  is  in  the  arch ; 
all  semicircles  have  in  themselves  the  same  simple  proportion  of 
diameter  to  radius  —  of  breadth  to  height,  but  taken  in  combination 
great  variety  has  been  obtained  by  differences  of  dimensions  as  de- 
pendent on  the  width  of  the  openings  which  they  crown,  as  between 
tall  or  broad  windows,  doorways  or  pier-arches.  We  have  at  one 
extreme  an  opening  where  the  semi-diameter  which  measures  the 
height  of  the  arch  may  be  only  a  third,  fourth  or  fifth  of  that  of  the 
opening  below,  and  in  the  other  we  have  examples  of  wide  span 
where  the  semi-diameter  of  the  semicircle  approaches  equality  to  the 
height  of  the  supporting  jambs  below  or  exceeds  it  in  any  proportion. 
Romanesque  architecture  went  far  to  exhaust  all  the  varieties  and 
contrasts  of  this  form.  The  effects  were  put  to  proof  of  pier-arches 
of  various  proportions  as  more  or  less  suitable  in  different  scales  of 
positive  dimensions.  These  were  relieved  from  time  to  time  by  con- 
trast of  tall  and  narrow  arcadings ;  then  pairs  of  arches  were  in- 
cluded under  a  single  containing  semicircle,  or  the  arch  was  enriched 
by  mouldings  of  sections  plane  or  round  in  concentric  semicircles 
varied  in  degree  of  closeness.  Then  slender  arcading  was  reduced 
to  mere  relief  upon  wall-surface,  and  trial  was  made  of  the  orna- 
mental effect  of  interlacing  arch-mouldings  by  talcing  each  pillar  suc- 
cessively as  the  centre  of  semicircles  extending  to  the  next  adjacent 
on  either  side. 

Finally,  great  resources  of  enrichment  were  obtained  by  combin- 
ing a  series  of  successively  diminishing  moulded  semicircles  upon 
slope  lines  or  splays  on  the  side  of  a  pier  or  in  the  thickness  of  the 
wall. 

Architectural  ingenuity,  invention,  taste  and  imagination  did  their 
utmost  to  exhaust  the  combinations  of  which  these  elements  are  sus- 
ceptible ;  sometimes  accidents  or  exigencies  of  construction  led  to  a 
novel  arrangement ;  at  other  times  construction  was  modified  to  en- 
able an  original  independent  caprice  to  have  its  opportunity.  Each 
scheme  of  combination  was  tried  sooner  or  later  in  various  propor- 
tions quite  as  adventurously,  and  in  various  degrees  of  complexity 
and  of  diversified  enrichment.  Occasional  and  precarious  variety 
was  obtained  by  employing  a  segment  less  than  half  the  circle  ;  other- 
wise and  with  more  success  by  more  or  less  stilting  the  semicircular 
arch  above  columns.  Still  the  inevitable  sameness  of  the  semicircle 
set  rigid  bounds  to  the  passion  for  elaboration  and  noveltv  which  had 
worked  resolutely  up  to  the  limit.  When  this  was  felt  to  be  finally 
reached,  the  same  impulse  carried  imaginative  art  at  a  very  few 
bounds  beyond  it.  Constructive  conveniences  and  advantages,  some- 
times enforced  and  sometimes  suggested  an  incidental  employment  of 
the  pointed  arch.  The  sense  of  congruity  had  been  too  positively 
developed  in  the  round-arch  system  for  the  random  mixture  of  round 
and  pointed  not  to  offend.  The  superior  capabilities  of  the  pointed 
arch  were  also  very  soon  recognized,  and  the  revolution  accelerated 
by  all  the  attractiveness  of  novelty  in  a  rapidly  progressive  age,  was 
speedily  completed. 

These  capabilities  no  doubt  partly  consist  in  a  special  expressive- 
ness of  an  aspiring  form  appropriate  to  edifices  dedicated  to  sacred 
ceremonies  and  devotion.  It  then  has  other  inherent  advantages. 
The  proportions  of  a  semicircle  are  invariable ;  but  there  is  no  limit 
to  the  varieties  of  proportion  which  may  be  given  to  the  pointed 
arch.  It  trenches  on  whatever  advantages  the  semicircle  may  possess 
by  the  angle  at  the  apex  being  reduced  within  a  merest  fraction  to 
obliteration  ;  or  this  angle  may  be  so  acute  that  the  width  bears  the 
most  trifling  proportion  to  the  height  of  the  arch.  Between  these 
limits  variability  is  infinite,  and  the  widest  field  was  open  from  which 
the  artist  could  select  any  number  of  special  forms  most  suitable  for 
the  embodiment  of  the  idea  which  he  might  be  striving  to  turn  to 
shape  and  endow  with  a  local  habitation  and  a  name. 

Much  of  the  work  of  the  designer  in  the  new  style  was  simple 
translation  of  old  forms  into  the -new. 

A  perfectly  developed  Romanesque  church  becomes  developed 
Gothic,  by  changing  the  semicircular  into  pointed  arches  throughout. 

But  the  simple  application  of  this  process  brings  to  light  at  once 
the  special  excellence  of  the  new  form  and  opens  up  a  wide  and 
delightful  field  wherein  architectural  genius  might  disport  and  accord- 
ingly forthwith  hastened  to  disport  itself.  A  new  spirit  of  life  was 
infused  into  the  suits  of  Romanesque  mouldings.  Each  moulding  of 
such  a  series  which  before  only  repeated  the  identical  semicircular 
form  in  altered  dimensions,  now  becomes  one  in  a  succession  of 
forms  wnieh  gradually  advance  in  proportion  of  width  to  height. 
Especial  emphasis  might  be  given  to  some  of  these  mouldings  inde- 
pendently or  from  regard  to  bearing  shafts  below,  either  by  section, 
mass  or  ornament,  but  still  each  would  take  its  place  in  easy  gra- 
dation with  those  above  and  below  it.  The  outer  lines  ever  ap- 
proaching nearer  and  nearer  to  coalescence  with  a  semicircle. 

Pointed  arches  are  thus  susceptible  of  being  arranged  in -regular 
sequence  of  acuteness,  as  oblongs  of  all  possible  proportions  may  be 
arranged  in  order  as  they  successively  approach  nearer  to  coincidence 
with  a  square,  as  the  musical  notes  producible  on  a  monochord 
approach  nearer  and  nearer  to  a  repetition  of  a  primary  note  in  the 
octave.  Such  an  intermediate  series  is,  in  each  case,  naturally  in- 
finite; but  as  the  musician  makes  his  selection  of  notes  with  refer- 
ence to  a  key  appropriate  to  his  theme,  so  the  Greek  architect 


selected  a  limited  number  of  proportions  of  oblongs  suitable  for  his 
purpose,  and  obtained  characteristic  expression  by  employing  these 
variously  to  the  exclusion  of  others ;  and  so  it  would  be  at  least  pos- 
sible, and  in  principle  reasonable  and  legitimate,  for  a  Gothic  archi- 
tect to  select  certain  typical  forms  of  the  pointed  arch  as  a  scale,  and 
to  aim  at  producing  a  characteristic  and  harmonious  effect  by  re- 
stricting himself  to  these. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  paper  to  set  forth  that  any  particular 
Gothic  building  can  be  proved  to  have  been  set  out  with  definite  re- 
cognition of  this  principle.  This  may  or  may  not  hare  been.  It  is 
perhaps  less  likely  that  this  can  be  proved,  than  it  can  be  shown  that 
in  some  cases  of  admirable  result,  the  forms  adopted  do  prove  to  fall 
in  with  it.  Certainly,  for  example,  it  is  impossible  to  linger  in  West- 
minster Abbey,  and  not  be  conscious  of  a  remarkable  harmony  in  the 
contrasts,  as  much  as  in  the  gradations  of  the  forms  of  the  arches. 
The  very  acute  arches  of  the  aisles  are  associated  with  the  broader 
proportions  of  the  main  nave  and  yet  with  no  effect  of  harshness, 
the  transitions  being  relieved  by  the  intermediate  forms  of  pier 
arches,  clerestory  and  subdivisions  of  the  triforium.  On  the  other 
hand  at  Salisbury,  the  defective  arcuation  of  the  triforium,  strikes  an 
unmistakable  discord. 

In  the  formation  of  all  scales  of  proportion,  whether  of  sounds, 
colors  or  forms,  the  primary  consideration  is  the  determination  of  a 
key.  This  in  architecture  may  be  imposed  by  circumstances,  or 
where  these  are  elastic,  must  be  supplied  by  imagination  prompted 
and  stimulated  by  apprehension  of  the  spirit  of  the  theme  in  hand. 

Let  us  suppose  that  the  key  adopted  is  the  pointed  arch  based  on 
the  proportions  of  the  equilateral  triangle.  The  repetition  of  this 
everywhere  only  differing  in  dimensions  in  heads  of  windows,  in 
doors  and  pier-arches,  etc.,  could  not  but  be  monotonous.  The 
diagram  shows  a  scheme  of  forms  progressive  away  from  this  key 
in  both  directions  —  to  breadth  and  to  acuteness.  It  would,  at 
least,  be  possible  to  select  from  this  series  a  sufficient  variety  of 
forms  to  suit  the  exigencies  of  composition,  and  at  the  same  time 
favor  coherent  harmony.  The  pointed  arch  of  which  the  height  is 
equal  to  the  span,  and  is  somewhat  taller  than  that  which  includes 
an  equilateral  triangle,  is  intermediate  between  the  two  classes  which 
are  in  fundamental  contrast,  those  of  which  the  height  is  greater  than 
the  span  and  the  others  of  which  the  span  exceeds  the  height.  They 
may  be  distinguished  as  the  expanded  and  the  acute. 

As  characteristic  effect  is  always  dependent  on  restriction  of 
variety  within  special  limits,  it  is  consistent  to  infer  that  advantage 
in  this  respect,  may  be  obtained  by  adhering  in  a  given  composition 
to  one  or  other  of  these  classes  almost  exclusively;  then,  to  a  certain 
limit  of  variety  even  within  the  selected  class ;  and,  again,  by  even 
insisting  by  emphatic  repetition  and  with  diversity  of  dimensions, 
upon  a  particular  central  form  within  the  range  of  that  selection. 

The  value  and  relief  of  contrast  depends  largely  upon  resort  to  it 
being  only  occasional  inasmuch  as  surprise  however  mild,  is  an  in- 
dispensable element  of  contrast ;  it  will  therefore  be  provided  for  by 
the  employment,  always  subordinately  but  still  not  unconspicuously, 
of  a  few  well-marked  forms  from  the  class,  whether  the  expanded  or 
the  acute,  which  is  not  adopted  in  the  first  instance. 

Apart  from  the  stimulus  of  such  secondary  concords  the  pointed 
style  may  droop  towards  the  lameness  of  the  circular.  The  pedantic 
adherence  throughout  Cologne  Cathedral  to  the  pointe  I  form  de- 
rived from  the  equilateral  triangle,  contributes  largely  with  other 
causes,  to  the  monotony  which  so  soon  brings  our  interest  to  an  end. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  adoption  of  the  pointed  arch  anil  arch 
mouldings  did  not  involve  the  renunciation  of  all  the  beauty  which  is 
obtainable  from  circular  forms  and  sequences.  A  further  source  of 
contrast  is  obtainable  from  association  of  these  in  circular  windows, 
foils  and  cusps.  W.  W^TKISS  LLOYD. 


TITHE  value  of  this  new  life  of  Terburg,  or  Ter  Borch 1  as  the  author 
»|»  calls  him  (setting  an  excellent  example  to  those  who  mis-name 
persons  and  places)  consists  in  the  new  matter  that  the  author 
has  culled,  owing  to  the  discovery  of  some  sketch-books  of  the 
painter.  It  was  known  that  a  descendant  of  Netscher  had  alluded 
to  these  albums;  but  it  was  by  mere  accident  that  they  were  found 
by  M.  Bredius  a  few  years  since.  Being  interested  in  the  1882  ex- 
hibition of  works  of  art  at  Zwolle  (Gerard's  birth-place)  M.  Bredius 
met  with  a  descendent  of  Ter  Borch's,  M.  Zebinden,  who  offered  to 
let  him  see  all  the  family  papers,  a  mass  of  drawings  and  documents. 
In  1883  M.  Van  Doornuick  published  a  work  giving  the  genealogy 
of  the  family,  and  the  names  and  dates  appertaining  to  the  principal 
events  connected  with  the  Ter  Borchs.  Shortly  after  this,  M. 
Zebinden  died,  and  the  albums  and  documents  were  sold  in  Amster- 
dam. But  previously  to  this  M.  Michel  went  to  Holland,  and 
through  the  kindness  of  the  auctioneer,  M.  Scheltema,  was  enabled 
to  look  throngh  the  entire  collection. 

Gerard's  father  was  a  painter,  and  during  his  travels  in  Italy  was  an 
indefatigable  worker ;  but  on  his  marriage  he  seems  to  have  thought 
it  prudent  to  succeed  his  father  as  tax-collector,  which  appears  to 

i"  Gerard  Ter  Borch.  Les  artistes  ceMres,"  par  M.  Emile  Michel,  Rouain,  Paris. 


MARCH  31,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


155 


Imve  been  an  hereditary  office,  as  at  his  death  he  bequeathed  it  to 
his  son  Herman.  But  he  worked  at  his  art  as  well,  and  as  he  mar- 
ried three  lime*  and  had  twelve  children,  the  combination  of  labor 
no  doulit  was  satisfactory,  (ierard  the  elder,  was  a  prudent  and 
flood  man,  as  we  may  gather  from  a  letter  to  his  son,  when  he  was  in 
England.  "  Dear  ehild.  1  send  you  the  lay  figure,  but  without  the  pe- 
destal, as  it  would  make  the  IH>X  too  heavy,  and  you  can  get  one  made 
cheaply  where  you  are.  Use  the  lay-figure  more  than  you  did  here. 
[That  is  questionable  advice.]  Draw  much,  large  compositions  full  of 
movement,  and  if  you  want  to  paint,  chocse  modern  subjects  which 
take  less  time  to  do.  [Wise  this  advice,  considering  the  heroic 
and  sacred  style  of  the  day.]  Paint  freshly  that  your  colours  may 
harmonize  well.  .  .  .  Above  all,  serve  God.  Be  honest  and  humble, 
be  useful  to  all,  and  your  work  will  go  well.  I  send  you  your  coal, 
your  garters,  some  shoes  and  laces,  a  ribbon  for  your  hat,  six  cravats, 
six  handkerchiefs,  and  two  caps.  Take  good  care  of  your  linen  that 
nothing  may  be  lost."  Then  follows  advice  about  mending  his 
clothes,  a  piece  of  cloth  being  enclosed  for  the  purpose.  "  I  also  send 
you  a  ease  full  of  long  brushes,  quid1  new,  two  quires  of  paper,  some 
black  chalk,  a  collection  of  good  colours  and  six  pens  like  those  used 
by  Mathani  [a  celebrated  engraver]." 

(icrard  was  the  eldest,  sun,  and  showing  a  taste  for  drawing,  the 
father  took  pains  with  his  education.  Two  of  his  younger  brothers, 
Moses  ami  •Herman,  and  his  sister  Gesina  likewise  'inherited  the 
father's  artistic  tastes.  Indeed,  the  latter's  drawings,  reproduced  in 
M.  Michel's  book  show  more  than  a  mere  taste,  they  are  masterly 
sketches,  (lesinawas  also  a  musician  ami  writer  of  verses,  accord- 
ing to  the  fashion  of  the  day.  Her  portrait,  by  herself,  is  that  of  a 
piquante  little  face,  with  a  nez  retrousse  and  a  crowd  of  little  curls 
encircling  her  head.  Moses  also  was  a  clever  sketelier,  but  with  a 
craze  for  soldiering  and  getting  a  commission  in  the  Dutch  fleet,  at 
that  time  sailing  for  the  Thames,  he  was  killed  in  sight  of  "Harwich 
sur  la  Tamixe,''  which  I  presume  the  author  lias  miswrittcn  for  Har- 
wich. Moses's  portrait  by  his  sister  is  that  of  good-looking  young 
fellow,  with  long  hair  and  dressed  in  the  elegant  man-millinery  of  the 
period.  One  of  Moses's  sketches  bearing  the  name  of  Jan  Fabres,  re- 
veals to  us  the  identity  of  a  personage  in  several  of  Gerard's  pictures, 
which  was  engraved  by  Bartsch  as  a  portrait  of  Ter  Borch,  and 
placed  by  Charles  Blanc  at  the  head  of  his  biography  of  the  painter. 
The  "Lecon  de  lecture"  of  the  Salle  Lacaze  in  the  Louvre,  by 
Terburg,  and  a  drawing  (also  in  the  Louvre,  No.  530)  by  Netscher, 
contain  portraits  of  this  same  Jan  Fabres.  Gesina  seems  to  have 
survived  the  rest  of  her  family,  for  she  was  living  in  1690.  She 
never  married.  After  having  had  many  admirers  without  returning 
their  passion,  she  became  engaged  to  Hendrick  Jordis,  sentimentally 
carving  upon  a  tree  his  initials,  and  "  Vice  le  cceur  que  man  cceur 
aime,"  in  French;  but,  unfortunately,  soon  after,  the  young  man 
became  suddenly  insane,  and  thenceforward  art  became  her  only  lover. 

One  of  the  sketches  in  M.  Michel's  book  dated  1628,  of  the  family  at 
dinner,  is  almost  too  clever  for  a  boy  of  eleven  years  of  age,  and  it  is 
scarcely  credible  that  it  was  the  work  of  Gerard  at  that  time;  but 
another  sketch  is,  no  doubt,  authentic  as  it  is  inscribed,  "  My  Gerard 
did  this  drawing  from  Nature  at  Zwolle,  the  24th  April,  1626." 
This  was  two  years  earlier;  and  if  the  "Family  at  Dinner"  is  really 
the  child's  work,  it  shows  enormous  progress  in  the  time.  Nothing 
came  amiss  to  the  boy;  he  sketched  everything,  soldiers,  landscapes, 
ruins,  sports  on  the  ice;  and  perhaps  it  is  in  this,  that  he  excels 
beyond  his  contemporaries.  We  ordinarily  only  know  Ter  Borch  by 
his  satin  gowns  and  lutes  and  furred  jackets;  but  M.  Michel  give's 
us  some  sketches  of  soldiers,  and  "  La  Rise,"  which  show  him  in  a  new 
light.  Indeed,  his  greatest  work,  the  "  Peace  of  Miinster,"  proves 
him  to  be  best  of  the  Dutchmen,  and  much  more  than  a  mere 
painter  of  satin.  Not  only  are  the  difficulties  of  composition  wonder- 
fully mastered  in  the  "  Peace  of  Miinster,"  but  the  individuality  of 
the  different  types  of  men  and  the  various  expressions  of  their  faces, 
are  marvellously  rendered.  Whether  Ter  Borch  learned  how  to  treat 
grays  from  Velasquez,  we  cannot  tell;  he  travelled  in  Spain,  but 
is  is  said  during  the  absence  of  the  Spanish  master.  However  that 
may  be,  in  delicate  coloring  and  precision  of  touch  there  is  a  certain 
similarity  between  Ter  Borch  and  Velasquez.  His  successors, 
Metsa,  Dow,  Mieris,  and  his  pupil  Netscher,  are  all  his  inferiors; 
alone  of  the  Dutch  school,  de  Hooch,  can  be  compared  to  him  as  a 
colorist.  That  he  was  before  all  things  a  Dutchman,  is  to  his  credit ; 
lie  painted  what  he  saw,  often,  in  its  supreme  ugliness ;  but  both  he 
and  ile  Hooch  were  content  with  nature.  Their  imitators,  on  the 
contrary,  idealized. 

M.  Michel  traces  the  history  of  the  "  Music  Lesson,"  in  the  Peel 
Collection  of  the  National  Gallery.  He  imagines  it  to  be  the  one 
sold  in  1760  at  Amsterdam  for  196  florins,  in  1762  for  230  florins, 
and  in  1765  for  990  florins. 

Thence  forward  he  gives  its  history  thus  : 

17')7,  sale  of  Julienne  collection 2,800  francs. 

1772,  due  du  Chciseul  sale  s]t»00       " 

1777,  prince  de  Couti  sale 4,'800       4* 

1781,  nmrqiiis  de  Paiige  sale 5*K66       " 

1808,  due  <1«  Praslln  sale 13°000       " 

1812,  de  Sereville  sale l.\000       " 

1825,  prince  de  Galitzen  sale 24*300       " 

1820,  bought  by  Sir  K.  Peel  for  920  guineas,  at  the  sale  of  de  'la  Haute. 

Gerard's  drawings  have  often  been  confused  with  those  of  his 
father,  his  brothers,  Moses  and  Herman,  and  his  sister  Gesina;  but 
since  the  discovery  of  the  family  documents,  it  is  now  easv  to  dis- 
tinguish between  them.  The  Louvre  possesses  but  one;  but  at 


Berlin  and  Brunswick  are  several.  Two  of  his  best  pictures  are  in 
the  London  collection,  the  "  Peace  of  Miinster,"  presented  by  Sir 
Richard  Wallace,  and  the  "  Music  Lesson  "  of  the  Peel  collection ; 
but  there  is  scarcely  a  gallery  that  does  not  possess  several  examples, 
more  or  less  notable. 


ADVERTISING  IN  ARCHITECTURAL  JOURNALS. 


TOBO.VTO,  March  21,  1888. 
To   TI1K    KD1TOR8    OF    THE    AMERICAN    ARCIHTKCT: 

Dear  Sirs,  —  In  reference  to  your  first  article  in  the  American  Ar- 
chitect of  March  17,  perhaps  I  mav  remark  for  the  encouragement  of 
advertisers  how  important  the  advertisements  that  appear  in  your 
paper  are  to  architects.  I  invariably  look  through  them  and  if 
there  is  anything  striking  that  I  at  any  time  am  likely  to  require  I 
have  that  advertisement  cut  out  and  stuck  into  a  classified  advertise- 
ment book  that  I  keep  for  reference.  In  writing  for  particulars  I 
always  state  that  the  advertisement  appeared  in  the  American  Ar- 
chitect, but  it  is  as  you  say  almost  impossible  to  do  more  by  way  of 
letting  the  advertiser  know  that  his  "ad"  has  been  seen.  I  have 
sometimes  wanted  an  article  that  has  been  advertised,  but  which 
advertisement  is  discontinued,  and  if  it  happens  that  it  has  not  got 
into  the  advertisment  reference-lxjok  there  is  no  chance  of  looking  it 
up.  More  than  once  I  have  had  to  do  without  an  article  because  it 
was  not  advertised  recently.  One  cannot  expect  an  advertiser  to 
go  on  putting  in  an  advertisement  on  the  chance  of  a  single  or  very 
occasional  order  but  I  venture  to  submit  that  advertising  in  the 
American  Architect  does  more  good  than  harm,  to  say  the  very  least. 
Yours  truly,  Architect. 

DEAFENING  FLOORS. 

PHILADELPHIA,  PA.,  March  17,  1888. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  My  attention  has  been  called  to  the  131  page  of  Vol. 
XXI  of  the  magazine,  bearing  your  resj>eeted  name  as  publishers, 
and  I  find  there  a  note  by  the  editors  in  answer  to  an  inquiry,  "  H. 
C.  B.,"  under  date  March  7,  1887,  from  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  respecting 
deafening  wooden  floor*.  In  this  note  the  process  described  is  spoken 
of  as^a  well-known  process  much  used  —  "in  the  so-called  New  York 
way  "  —  "  in  the  Boston  way."  I  would  thank  you  very  much  to  let 
me  know  at  your  early  convenience  where  and  by  whom  this  process 
is  used  or  has  been  used,  so  that  I  may  be  able  to  make  further  in- 
quiry respecting  it,  of  those  who  have  applied  it  in  their  own  work 
and  know  something  of  its  effectiveness  and  ease  of  application. 

Do  you  know  if  this  process  is  covered  by  any  letters  patent? 

Yours  truly,  S.  DAVIS  PAGE. 

(THERE  is  no  patent,  to  far  as  we  know,  on  this  sort  of  plaster  deafening, 
either  on  the  New  York  method,  of  putting  the  mortar  on  boards  cut-in 
between  the  floor-timbers,  or  the  Boston  plan,  of  putting  the  mortnr  over 
the  under-floor  boarding.  Any  New  York  or  Boston  plasterer  would  know 
something  of  the  process.  A  still  more  recent  device,  which  is  said  to  be 
effectual,  consist*  in  laying  slabs  of  porous  terra-cotta,  cut  to  fit,  on  billets 
nailed  to  the  sides  of  beam*.  This  would  produce  less  dampness  in  a 
completed  building  than  a  mortar  process.  — EDS  AM  K  me  AN  ARCHITECT.] 

A  DRAUGHTY  CHURCH. 

MIDDLE-TON,  CONN.,  March  8,  1888. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  There  is  a  church  in  this  place  where  treat  annoy- 
ance is  experienced  by  the  attendants  from  a  disagreeable  draught, 
the  cause  of  which  seems  impossible  to  determine.  Can  you  refer  us 
to  any  one  who  is  considered  an  authority  upon  such  matters,  from 
whom  we  can  obtain  advice  as  to  the  source  of  the  trouble  and  its 
remedy.  An  early  reply  we  shall  esteem  a  favor. 

Respectfully  yours,        J.  W.  HUDUARD  &  Co. 

M[AHTi5°<!d  ve,n*'IatiW  engineer,  like  Mr.  Tudor  or  Mr.  Mills,  of  Boston 

lialdwin,  of  New  York,  or  a  dozen  others  can  solve  the  problem  mitis- 

ily.    We  snould  say,  for  a  gueos,  that  the  draught  complained  of 

might  come  from  some  large  window  high  up  in  the  building,     rfven  if  the 

window  .*  tight,  the  n  r,  chilled  by   contact  with   the  glan.,  will   Bweep 

downward  over  its  surface,  and  continue  descending  until  it  reaches  the 

people  below,  where  it  is  felt  as  a  cold  current. -E^s.  AMKUICA^ 


n  JORT  orGoLcoNDA.  —  Golconda  has  an  old,  old  history.  Hydera- 
ad,   with  all  its  years,  and  great  population,  and  bloody  history   ig 
young  in  comparison  with  the  dead  city  whose  acropolis  rises  from  the 
am  three  mi  is  in  the  distance,  on  our  left.     The  blocks   of  black 
granite  which  lie  scattered  over  the  country  here  lose  their  individual- 
ity and  form  a  vast  cone,  on  the  apex  of  which  stands  the  grim  fort  of 
old  and  rich  Golconda.     The  fort  is  still  surrounded  by  its  crenellated 
stone  wall,  which  is  three  miles  in  circumference.     It  has  eighty-seven 
high  bastions  at  the  angles,  on  which  arc  still  the  ancient  Shahi  guns 
some  of  them  with  their  breeches  blown  out,  from  service  in  half  for- 
otten  wars.    The  bastions  are  built  of  solid  blocks  of  granite  either 
cemented  together  or  bound  with  iron  clamps.    Many  of  these' blocks 


156 


The  American  Architect  and  Buildino  News.       [VOL.  XXIII.—  No.  640. 


are  of  immense  size  and  weight.  Their  average  thickness  is  from  fifty 
to  sixty  feet.  On  the  way  up  we  passed  many  battlements.  It  was 
fort  within  fort.  We  saw  many  fragments  of  palace  walls;  decayed 
mansions,  where  fragments  of  the  delicate  jalousies  told  the  story  of 
former  splendor  and  social  elegance ;  and  heavy  guns  which  had 
grown  rusty  in  their  long  silence  and  disuse.  On  our  right  we  saw  an 
immense  piece  of  masonry  —  a  chambered  wall  with  granite  substruct- 
ures—  the  whole  covering  a  catacomb  of  fabulous  dimensions.  Here 
lay  the  buried  wealth  of  Golconda  in  the  old  times  when  the  kings 
revelled  in  untold  glory,  and  their  very  names  were  symbols  of  heroism 
and  treasure  throughout  India.  What  this  treasure  consists  of  is  not 
well  known,  but  most  probably  it  was  in  jewels  and  gold.  They  were 
buried  somewhere  in  these  far-down  vaults,  and  only  the  king,  with 
possibly  his  premier,  knew  its  exact  whereabouts.  He  had  a  diagram 
of  the  catacomb,  and  knew  where  to  go  with  his  diggers,  who  were 
probably  blindfolded  when  in  sight  of  the  treasure.  When  treasure 
was  taken  out,  the  place  was  walled  up  again,  that  all  trace  of  the 
locality  might  disappear.  It  is  believed,  according  to  the  best  infor- 
mation I  could  derive,  that  vast  wealth  is  still  stored  here,  which  is  at 
the  service  of  the  Nizam  when  his  revenue  from  regular  sources  gets 
scanty.  I  noticed  that  there  had  been  recent  openings  in  the  solid 
masonry,  but  could  not  tell  whether  they  had  been  caused  by  making 
repairs  or  for  outlets  for  the  concealed  treasure,  and  again  walled  up. 
The  "  mines  of  Golconda  "  are  a  pure  myth.  The  diamonds  and  other 
precious  stones  discovered  near  1'arteell  Cuddapah  were  brought  here 
for  sale,  and  were  readily  purchased  by  the  rulers  and  their  wealthy 
court.  They  were  cut  and  polished  here,  and  were  regarded  as  equally 
good  with  gold  as  permanent  treasure  of  the  realm.  The  burial  of 
them  for  future  emergency  gave  the  popular  impression  of  a  mine.  — 
Rev.  Dr.  Hurst,  in  Harper's  Magazine. 

BBICK  AND  STONE  BRIDGES  OF  LARGE  SPAN. — Professor  E.  Diet- 
rich, of  Berlin,  enumerates  57  bridges  of  brick  or  stone  existing  which 
have  a  span  greater  than  130  ft.,  and  says  that  there  are  no  others  over 
that  size.  Of  these  22  are  highway  and  22  railroad  bridges,  one  carries 
a  canal,  and  one  an  aqueduct.  Of  the  57  there  are  27  in  France,  13  in 
Italy,  10  in  England,  two  each  in  Austria  and  Spain,  and  one  each  in 
Germany,  Switzerland,  and  the  United  States.  The  American  bridge 
has  the  largest  span  of  all  —  It  is  the  Cabin  John  Bridge,  near  Wash- 
ington, which  is  a  single  arch  of  237  ft.  span.  Of  the  57  bridges  only 
three  others  are  over  200  ft.  span  ;  10  are  between  164  and  200  ft.,  and 
43  between  131  and  104  feet.  Fourteen  of  them  were  built  before  1800  ; 
22  between  1800  and  18CO;  5  between  1860  and  1870;  6  between  1870 
and  1880,  and  the  remaining  10  since  1880.  In  22  of  these  bridges  the 
rise  is  between  one-third  and  one-half  the  span;  in  18 between  one-third 
and  one  fourth ;  in  10  between  one-fourth  and  one-fifth,  and  in  6  be- 
tween one-fifth  and  one-eighth.  One  bridge,  in  Turin,  Italy,  has  a  still 
flatter  arch,  the  rise  being  in  the  proportion  of  1  :  8.18  to  the  span.  — 
Railroad  and  Engineering  Journal. 

THE  DRAINAGE  OF  THE  CAMPAGNA.  —  It  has  long  been  known  that 
remains  of  ancient  drainage  works  exist  at  different  points  in  the  Cam- 
pagna,  but  it  is  only  of  late  years  that  it  has  been  possible  to  examine 
in  detail  the  system  of  their  construction.  During  the  building  of  the 
new  forts  which  surround  Rome  deep  trenches  have  been  cut  into  the 
soil,  and  by  these  old  drains  have  been  exposed  in  many  parts  in  suffi- 
cient numbers  to  throw  light  on  the  method  followed  by  the  designers 
of  them.  On  this  hint,  and  taking  advantage  of  the  excavations,  fur- 
ther search  has  been  made,  and  it  is  now  clear  that  a  great  part  of  the 
Campagna  was  in  the  distant  past  made  healthy  by  systems  of  local 
drainage.  Each  hill  or  bluff  on  which  a  house  or  village  was  built  was 
intersected  by  a  net-work  of  drains,  that  often  rose  above  each  other  in 
two  or  three  tiers,  and  finally  either  carried  the  water  away  to  the  near- 
est outfall  or  stored  it  for  agricultural  or  domestic  use.  One  of  the 
most  perfect  examples  of  the  latter  form  was  discovered  in  a  hill  on 
which  the  fort  outside  the  Porta  Portese  stands.  At  a  short  distance 
below  the  surface  of  this  hill,  which  was  once  occupied  by  an  impor- 
tant Roman  villa,  the  workmen  came  across  the  upper  tier  of  drains. 
A  system  of  tunnels  about  four  feet  high  and  nearly  two  feet  wide  has 
been  cut  through  the  porous  rock,  the  top  being  strengthened  by  pairs 
of  large  tiles  meeting  in  the  centre  and  forming  a  gable  roof.  All  the 
galleries  of  this  tier  converge  with  a  very  gentle  slope  to  a  common 
outfall,  which  leads  the  collected  water  to  a  second  tier,  that  spreads 
its  passages  through  the  rock  a  few  feet  lower.  The  outfall  of  this 
second  tier  differs  from  the  first  in  being  narrowed  to  a  small  gullet, 
which  was  closed  by  a  sheet  of  lead  some  eighteen  inches  square 
pierced  with  numerous  holes  so  as  to  act  as  a  strainer.  This  sheet  of 
lead  was  found  in  situ.  The  third  tier  of  galleries,  about  forty  feet 
from  the  surface,  and  cutting  the  hill  in  cross  lines  directly  beneath 
the  upper  systems,  differs  from  these  in  three  respects.  Its  floor  is 
perfectly  level,  it  has  no  outfall  for  its  water,  and  it  has  a  far  larger 
section,  being  six  feet  high  and  nearly  three  feet  wide.  It  was  de- 
signed to  serve  for  the  storage  of  the  water  flowing  into  it  from  the 
upper  drains,  and  was  like  them  connected  with  the  surface  by  a  per- 
pendicular shaft  up  which  the  water  could  be  raised.  All  the  shafts 
were  provided  wi;h  steps  in  their  walls,  traces  of  which  still  remain,  for 
the  use  of  workmen  employed  in  cleaning  the  drains.  As  soon  as 
these  drains  had  been  cleared  of  the  accumulated  deposit  of  centuries, 
though  it  was  then  a  dry  summer  season,  the  water  began  to  flow  again 
and  the  cistern  soon  filled.  The  drains  still  discharged,  as  well  as 
when  first  built,  their  double  function  of  sanitating  the  soil  and  provid- 
ing a  constant  supply  of  water  for  the  use  of  the  villa  that  stood  above. 
—  The  National  Review. 

VALUE  OF  A  WALNUT  Loo.  —  Curly  walnut  is  highly  valued  by 
veneer  makers,  if  it  contain  the  right  kind  of  figure.  A  curious  story 
comes  from  West  Virginia  about  a  curly-walnut  log.  A  woodsman 
found  a  tree  somewhere  in  the  region  about  Kanawlia  Falls,  that  he 
concluded  was  very  valuable.  He  secured  a  sample  and  forwarded  it 
to  a  handler  of  such  wood  in  Baltimore.  The  result  was  that  the  dis- 
coverer received  an  offer  for  the  tree,  probably  amounting  to  §2,000. 


Subsequently  the  Baltimore  man  sold  a  share  of  the  chance  to  an  Indian- 
apolis dealer,  who  opened  negotiations  with  the  woodsman  for  posses- 
sion of  the  prize,  at  length  going  to  West  Virginia  to  prosecute  the  en- 
terprise. When  the  affair  had  reached  this  stage  the  woodsman  con- 
cluded that  the  tree  was  worth  $3,000,  and  demanded  that  sum  for  it, 
or  he  would  not  yield  up  his  knowledge.  Seeing  that  the  Indianapolis 
man  was  bound  to  find  the  tree,  if  possible,  the  discoverer  cut  it  down 
and  buried  it  in  the  earth.  A  thorough  search  has,  as  yet,  failed  to 
reveal  the  hiding  place  of  the  log,  and  the  man  who  holds  the  secret 
declares  that  nothing  but  $3,000  "will  bring  it  to  the  surf  ace.  —  North- 
western Lumberman. 


NOTHING  short  of  persou.il  contact  with  business  interests  or  personal 
correspondence  with  intelligent  aud  responsible  authorities  will  enable  the 
reviewer  of  markets  and  trade  to  know  the  actual  conditions.  The  usual 
commercial  signs  signify  very  little  just  now.  The  reason  is  that  this  is 
what  might  be  termed  the  incubating  season  for  business.  During  the  next 
thirty  days  perhaps  sixty  per  cent  of  the  volume  of  new  business  for  this 
year  will  be  practically  determined  upon.  This  business  will  not  be  shown 
in  railway  earnings,  volume  of  exchanges,  or  in  financial  statements,  or  in 
any  of  the  ways  which  commercial  activity  usually  shows  itself.  Boston 
builders  have  already  shown  what  they  expect  to  do.  New  York  architects 
aud  builders  have  shown  that  they  have  and  expect  to  have  about  as  much 
work  this  year  as  last,  that  activity  in  house  and  flat  building  has  not  been 
overdone,  thatsuburban  building  activity  will  assume  very  large  proportions, 
that  railway-terminal  facilities  and  rap'id-traiisit  facilities  will  probably  be 
determined  upon  this  year,  but  not  in  time  to  effect  building  Interests,  and 
that  the  vigorous  growth  that  characterized  manufacturing,  commercial  aud 
building  operations  will  be  repeated  this  year.  It  is  true  less  may  be  pro- 
secuted than  projected,  but  a  conservative  estimate  as  to  probable  construc- 
tion gives  the  higher  limit  as  the  one  to  count  on.  Building  operations  in 
the  territory  within  one  hundred  miles  of  New  York  city  will  be  fully  up 
to  last  year.  The  tendency  is  still  to  concentration  with  regard  to  manu- 
facturing, storage  and  distributing  facilities.  Railroad  work  will  be  abun- 
dant. Low  prices  of  iron,  steel,  lumber  and  building  material  will  encour- 
age the  prosecution  of  several  railroad  building  enterprises,  such  as  terminal 
facilities  at  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Staten  Island,  possibly,  aud  additional 
facilities  at  several  outlying  points  for  the  freer  and  cheaper  handling  of 
heavy  freights.  The  Reading  Company  has  about  completed  its  real-estate 

?urchases  for  the  extension  of  its  road  from  Ninth  and  Greene  Streets  to 
welfth  and  Market  Streets,  Philadelphia.  The  Pennsylvania  Company 
will  extend  its  station  facilities  at  its  present  Filbert  acd  Broad  Street  Sta- 
tion, probably  doubling  them.  The  same  company  is  credited  with  the 
intention  of  enormous  expenditures  at  and  near  Pittsburgh.  It  has  orders 
out  for  one  hundred  and  seventy-two  engines  and  has  schemes  in  hand  for 
the  improvement  of  its  lines  west  of  Pittsburgh.  It  is  understood  the  Balti- 
more &  Ohio  management  contemplates  some  very  important  improvements 
along  its  lines  and  branches  as  soon  as  it  can  disentangle  itself  from  the 
errors  of  the  previous  presidential  management.  Other  roads  having 
Atlantic  coast  termini  will  also  enter  upon  a  policy  of  improvement  and 
expansion  which  will  reflect  favorably  on  all  industries  that  will  in  any  way 
contribute  supplies.  Southern  roads,  it  is  ascertained,  contemplate'large 
additions  of  mileage  and  other  improvements,  which  will  help  Southern 
industries  identified  with  railway  development.  In  fact,  already  large  car- 
orders  and  orders  for  all  kinds  of  railway  material  have  been  placed  this 
mouth  at  Chattanooga,  Rowe,  Anniston,"  Decatur  and  other  industrial  and 
manufacturing  centres  South.  This  rather  extended  reference  is  made  to 
assured  facts  in  order  to  dispel  the  notion  entertained  that  railroad  com- 
panies will  be  small  and  parsimonious  buyers  of  material  this  year.  The 
circumstances  surrounding  as  much  as  forty  thousand  miles  of  American 
railway  mileage  compels  liberal  supplemental  expenditures  This  source  of 
demand  will  compensate  for  a  falling  off  in  new  lines.  In  addition  to  this, 
mill  and  shop  products  will  be  in  demand  in  many  new  directions.  Pipe- 
lines, tunnels,  elevated-road  work,  rapid-transit  projects,  elevator  building, 
warehouse  building,  besides  an  extraordinary  activity  in  manufacturing, 
and  miuiug  enterprises  in  the  West  aud  South  will  all  help  toswell  the  volume 
of  work  to  be  entered  upon.  From  many  quarters  the  replies  mnde  to 
inquiries  show  that  house  building  will  be  of  last  yenr's  magnitude  in  the 
aggregate.  Builders  have  been  agreeably  surprised  at  the  large  number  of 
absolute  sales  made  and  the  evidences  of  a  continuing  demand  The 
character  of  these  cheap  houses  is  improving  year  by  ytar.  Cheap  plumb- 
ing aud  carpenter  work  is  disappearing,  and  more  attention  is  being  given  to 
good  aud  enduring  work.  There  is  much  house  building  work  to  be  done 
in  the  States  between  Ohio  and  Minnesota.  Lumber  will  be  low;  nails 
have  reached  cost,  practically;  all  building  material  is  at  :is  low  a  price  as 
it  will  probably  reach,  and  builders  and  those  employing  them  will  make 
the  best  of  these  opportunities.  Iron  and  steel  makers  anticipate  a  busy 
year.  Machinery  makers  have  work  in  sight  up  to  early  summer.  Textile- 
goods  manufacturers  admit  the  market  is  beginning  to  absorb  their  produc- 
tions more  slowly.  Stove  manufacturers  East  complain  that  Western 
manufacturers  have  cheaper  iron  by  a  dollar  or  two  per  ton.  Builders  of 
heavy  aud  special  machinery  predict  greater  activity  in  machinery.  Agi  i- 
cultural-implemeut  makers  will  not  accumulate  stocks  further.  Money- 
lenders are  still  quite  anxious  to  loan  on  good  Western  securities.  In  the 
Southern  States  investments  are  generally  made  in  person  or  bv  proxy 
rather  than  to  loan  money.  Large  timber  tracts  aie  being  picked  up. 
Desirable  mining  lands  near  railroads  und  streams  wiiii'h  can  be  used  to 
reach  railroads  are  rapidly  passing  out  of  first  into  second  and  third  hands 
to  be  held  for  future  advances.  Western  shop  capacity  is  on  the  increase 
and  machinery  makers  in  the  New  England  and  Middle  .itMtes  have  a  large 
amount  of  shop-equipment  business  under  contract.  The  production  of 
anthracite  coal  is  just  equal  to  the  output  at  tliis  time  last  year.  'Ihe  iron 
output  is  twenty  per  cent  less.  Logging  operations  in  the  Northwest  point 
to  n  ten  per  cent  deficit,  which  will  probably  disappear  when  returns  are 
all  in.  Southern  lumber  manufacturers  are  all  striving  to  enlarge  their 
production  in  anticipation  of  dividing  the  Northern  markets  with  the 
Michigan  lumber  interests,  in  part,  at  least.  Tariff  agitations  continue  to 
check  the  easy  and  natural  development  of  business,  but  the  heavv  con- 
sumption in  progress  aud  the  preparations  for  its  increase  gives  a  strong 
undertone  to  business  aud  leaves  busiuess  meu  confident  that  there  are  no 
worse  evils  in  store  for  them  than  lower  prices,  narrower  margins  and 
longer  credits.  This  tendency  will  exhaust  itself  soon  because  of  the  natu- 
ral expansion  going  on  which"  will  develop  a  better  demand  for  money-pro- 
ducts and  labor  and  open  still  wider  fields  for  enterprise. 
S.  J.  PARKHILL  &  (Jo.,  Printers.  Huston. 


^njericaij  Architect.  awl  Buildiijg  I}ews,  Il^arob  51,  1555.     IJo.  640. 


Copyright,  iSSS.  by  TICKNOK  *  Co. 


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THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  AND  BUILDING  NEWS. 


VOL.  xxiil. 


Copyright.  1888,  by  TICKKOB  ft  COMPANY,  Boston,  Mass. 


No.  641. 


APRIL  7. 1888. 

Entered  at  the  Post-Offioe  at  Boston  as  second-elan  matter. 


SUMMARY: — 

An  Instance  of  Successful  Profit-sharing.  —  Greenhouse  Boilers 
used  for  House-heating.  —  Hot-water  Heating. — Theatre 
Fire  at  Oporto.  —  Burning  of  an  Apartment-house  at  New 
York. — Competition  for  Parliament  House,  Buenos  Ajrres, 

S.  A.  —  The  Lock-gates  for  the  Panama  Canal 167 

SAFE  BUILDING.  — XXIV 169 

ILLUSTRATIONS  :  — 

The  Kent  Gate,  Quebec,  Canada.  —  United  States  Court- 
llciusH  and  Post-office,  San  Antonio,  Tex.  —  Competitive 
Design  for  the  City-Hall,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  —  Some  Old 

Bells .  104 

OLD  BELLS 104 

UNITED  STATES  GOVERNMENT  BUILDING  PRACTICE.  —  IX.    .     .     .  1 
TUB  UNDERPINNING  OP  THE  GREAT  YARMOUTH  TOWN-HALL.   .     .  166 

FIRTU  OP  FORTH  BRIDGE 167 

SOCIETIES 108 

NOTES  AND  CLIPPINGS 108 

TRADE  SURVEYS 108 


1IFIIERE  is  something  interesting  in  the  way  in  which  Ameri- 
JJ[  cans  take  up  the  idea  of  sharing  the  profits  of  manufactur- 
ing among  the  operatives  in  the  factory,  which  has  now 
attained  a  wide-spread  popularity  here.  American  manufac- 
turers are  almost  always  men  who  have  themselves  been  opera- 
tives, and  they  reason  with  their  employe's  in  an  unassuming, 
sensible  way  which  is  often  very  instructive.  Among  others, 
the  Springfield  Foundry  Company  of  Massachusetts  has  just 
paid  a  dividend  of  two  and  one-half  per  cent  as  an  addition  to 
the  wages  earned  by  each  man  who  has  been  with  the  Com- 
pany during  the  year.  Although  this  amounts  to  a  present  of 
twenty  dollars  or  so  to  each  person  employed,  at  a  season  when 
such  extra  income  is  particularly  acceptable,  the  directors  of 
the  Company,  in  their  circular  announcing  the  dividend,  rather 
apologize  for  its  smallness,  and,  while  acknowledging  the  dis- 
position shown  by  most  of  the  men  to  do  their  part  in  earning 
it,  express  the  hope  that  another  year's  business  will  show  a 
better  result,  and  point  out  the  most  effective  way  to  accomp- 
lish this.  In  their  judgment  the  most  serious  drain  upon  the 
surplus  profits  which  might  be  used  for  paying  dividends  comes 
from  ihe  carelessness  of  moulders  and  others,  who  needlessly 
turn  out  defective  castings.  In  every  foundry  there  is  a  certain 
amount  of  loss  from  this  cause,  but  we  imagine  that  the  Spring- 
field Company's  men  will  be  rather  surprised  to  learn  that  the 
cost  of  making  good  their  own  careless  work  amounted  during 
the  past  year  to  twice  as  much  as  the  dividend ;  and  that  if 
they  had  all  done  their  work  as  well  as  they  could,  their  share 
of  profits,  without  any  extra  hours  of  labor,  or  any  extra  exer- 
tion beyond  a  little  care,  would  have  averaged  sixty  dollars  in 
place  of  twenty.  This  difference  will  seem  to  the  dullest 
workman  well  worth  saving  another  year,  and  the  Company's 
circular  reinforces  the  moral  by  pointing  out  that  the  loss  on 
an  imperfect  casting  is  sometimes  as  great  as  the  profit  on  a 
good  one ;  so  that  if  a  man  loses  a  casting  which  takes  one 
hour  to  mould,  he  must  work  his  best  all  the  rest  of  the  day 
barely  to  cover  the  loss  from  his  careless  hour,  without  earning 
anything  as  profit  for  that  day,  either  for  himself  or  his  em- 
ployers. This,  it  seems  to  us,  is  very  well  put,  presenting  the 
lesson  that  profit  in  business  depends  on  constant  care  and 
economy  in  the  smallest  details  in  a  forcible  and  simple  way. 
The  circular  closes  by  reminding  the  men  that  they  have  a  per- 
sonal interest  in  the  business ;  that  every  minute  of  time  and 
every  cent's  worth  of  property  saved  increases  their  profits; 
and  that  every  pound  of  poor  and  rough  casting  injures  the  re- 
putation and  business  of  the  foundry,  while  every  pound  of 
good  casting  helps  both,  and  increases  the  present  and  prospec- 
tive profits  of  the  workmen. 


«TI7HERMUS,"    the  clever  expert  correspondent   of    the 


Engineering  and  Building  Record,  describe?  in  a  recent 
number   a   hot-water   heating  apparatus   which  he  has 
applied   to  a  small  city  house  with  very  satisfactory  results. 


The  house  in  question  was  originally  provided  with  one  of 
those  feeble  contrivances,  the  "  Baltimore  heater,"  which,  as 
readers  in  places  where  house-warming  is  scientifically  carried 
on  may  need  to  know,  consists  of  a  sort  of  flat  stove  set  in  an 
ordinary  fireplace  and  having  a  smoke-pipe  led  up  the  flue, 
around  which  a  certain  amount  of  partially-warmed  air  strug- 
gles up  into  the  rooms  above.  Finding  it  inconvenient  to  be 
obliged  to  wear  his  overcoat  at  breakfast  in  cold  weather,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  objectious  to  leaving  his  family  to  shiver  all 
day  in  a  half-warmed  house,  "Thermus"  bought  a  No.  22 
Hitchings  base-burning  greenhouse  boiler  and  set  it  in  the 
corner  of  his  dining-room,  which,  as  is  common  in  New  York 
houses,  is  the  front  basement  room.  From  the  connections 
provided  on  the  boiler,  he  then  carried  a  line^of  flow  and  return 
pipes,  supplying  four  Bundy  hot-water  radiators,  two  of  which 
were  placed  in  the  entrance  hall,  while  the  other  two  were  set 
near  the  windows  in  the  front  and  rear  first-story  rooms.  A 
small  expansion-tank  was  connected  with  the  upper  end  of  the 
loop  of  pipe  and  the  apparatus  was  then  complete,  and  it  has 
continued  to  warm  the  house  comfortably  in  the  coldest  weather, 
with  a  consumption  of  less  than  fifty  pounds  of  coal  per  day, 
and  a  maximum  temperature  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  degrees 
in  the  flow-pipe,  as  measured  by  the  thermometer  inserted  for 
the  purpose.  Owing,  no  doubt,  to  the  liberal  provision  of 
heating-surface  in  the  first-story  hall,  the  chambers  in  the 
second  story  are  sufficiently  warm  without  any  radiators  spe- 
cially devoted  to  them,  and  as  the  apparatus  runs  day  and 
night,  the  house  does  not  get  chilled.  As  compared  with  the 
old  heater,  which,  with  a  consumption  of  coal  more  than  fifty 
per  cent  greater,  failed  to  warm  even  the  room  in  which  it 
stood,  this  simple  hot-water  system  seems  to  have  been  very 
successful,  and  while  commending  "  Thermus's  "  letter,  which 
is  to  be  found  in  the  issue  of  the  Engineering  and  Building 
Record  for  January  7th,  to  the  attention  of  persons  interested 
in  the  subject,  we  feel  ourselves  moved  to  say  a  little  on  our 
own  account  in  regard  to  what  is  certainly  fast  becoming  the 
most  popular  mode  of  house-heating. 


TJAVING  ourselves  used  a  No.  22  Hitchings  base-burner 
JA  boiler  for  several  years,  we  can  confirm  all  that "  Thermus  " 
says  of  its  virtues.  Small  as  it  is,  the  whole  affair  being 
only  twenty-one  inches  in  diameter,  and  forty-two  inches  high, 
fire  can  be  kept  in  it  continuously  for  almost  any  length  of 
time.  With  our  own  boiler,  which,  however,  has  a  compara- 
tively small  duty  to  perform,  the  consumption  of  coal  does  not 
average  more  than  twenty-five  pounds  a  day,  and,  in  all  but  the 
coldest  weather,  one  supply  of  coal  in  twenty-four  hours,  with 
a  corresponding  shaking  out  and  removal  of  ashes,  is  sufficient 
to  keep  an  equable  heat  all  through  the  hot-water  system  day 
and  night ;  and  with  good  coal  we  have  kept  fire  continuously 
from  October  to  April.  The  freedom  of  the  fire  in  this,  as  in 
other  hot-water  boilers,  from  the  variations  and  uncertainties 
to  which  small  hard-coal  fires  are  ordinarily  subject,  is  prob- 
ably due  to  the  conservative  influence  of  the  large  body  of 
water  circulating  around  the  fire-pot,  which  tends  powerfully 
,o  maintain  the  coal  at  an  equal  temperature,  and  to  protect  it 
from  the  sudden  chills  which  would  extinguish  a  similar  lire  in 
an  ordinary  stove.  Whether  the  excellence  of  the  results  to 
)e  obtained  with  the  boilers  is,  however,  all  that  is  necessary 
,o  prove  the  superiority  of  hot-water  heating,  is  doubtful.  In 
;he  house  which  "  Thermus  "  describes,  the  cost  of  the  apparatus 
'or  warming  three  rooms  and  the  hall,  is  set  down  as  one 
lundred  and  seventy-five  dollars,  as  a  minimum,  and  as  all  the 
icating  is  by  direct  radiation,  no  fresh-air  is  admitted  unless 
he  windows  are  opened.  Now,  according  to  the  plan  given  in 
'  Thermus's  "  letter,  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  setting  in 
the  basement  a  small  furnace,  which,  at  no  greater  first  cost, 
would  warm  all  the  rooms  now  warmed  by  the  hot-water,  and 
>robably  the  second  story  bath-room  in  addition,  and,  besides 
icat,  would  supply  fresh-air.  Whether  the  expense  of  operat- 
ug  the  furnace  would  be  as  small  as  that  of  the  hot-water 
wiler  is  very  doubtful,  but  fresh-air  is  a  luxury,  to  be  paid  for 
ike  other  luxuries,  and  a  good  furnace  will  supply  it  as  cheaply 
as  any  apparatus  in  common  use.  Moreover,  there  is  an  un- 
>leasant  possibility  that  the  hot-water  pipes,  if  the  house  should 
be  left  to  itself  for  a  day  or  two,  may  freeze,  and  either  thev 


37 


158 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.    [VOL.  XXIII. — No.  641. 


or  the  boiler  will  burst  in  consequence,  the  result  in  either  case 
being  a  long  bill  for  repairs,  and  a  house  uninhabitable  for  a 
time.  Having  ourselves  had  this  experience,  we  can  speak 
with  confidence  upon  the  point,  and  on  this,  as  well  as  other 
grounds,  we  may  say  that,  for  small  houses,  several  improve- 
ments in  the  application  of  hot-water  heating  are  needed, 
before  the  system  can  compete  successfully  with  that  which 
employs  a  hot-air  furnace.  One  of  the  most  important  improve- 
ments yet  to  be  made  should  lie  in  the  reduction  of  the  cost  of 
radiators.  In  "Thermus's  "  house  the  four  radiators  are  valued 
at  fifty-six  dollars,  or  forty  cents  per  square  foot  of  surface. 
This,  although  moderate  in  comparison  with  the  prices  once 
charged,  is,  in  our  opinion,  about  twice  what  it  should  be. 
Cast-iron  pipe,  such  as  is  used  for  greenhouse  heating,  pays  a 
large  profit  at  twenty  cents  per  square  foot  of  radiating-sur- 
face,  arid  there  seems  to  be  no  reason  why  buckled  plates,  or 
some  simple  form  'of  cast-iron  radiator,  should  not  be  made  at 
as  low  a  rate.  Moreover,  to  compete  successfully  with  furnace- 
heating,  hot-water  radiators  for  dwellings  ought  to  be  made  to 
take  in  a  fresh-air  supply  from  out-of-doors,  on  the  direct- 
indirect  plan,  and  deliver  it  warmed  into  the  room.  There 
ought  to  be  no  serious  difficulty  in  designing  simple  radiators 
of  this  sort,  which  would  do  more  to  solve  the  problem  of  con- 
venient house-heating,  than  anything  yet  devised.  The  next 
thing  would  be  to  compound  some  solution  which  could  be  used 
instead  of  pure  water  in  the  heating  system,  and  which  would 
not  freeze  so  as  to  burst  the  pipes  or  boiler  under  any  circum- 
stances. The  well-known  hot-water  car-heaters  use  strong 
brine  instead  of  water.  This  has  the  advantage  of  obviating 
danger  from  frost,  as  well  as  the  incidental  one  of  raising 
slightly  the  maximum  temperature  of  the  radiating  surfaces ; 
but  it  has  the  great  disadvantage  of  corroding  the  pipes,  and  the 
house-building  world  still  awaits  the  mixture  which  will  offer 
the  advantages  of  brine,  without  its  defects.  When  this  comes, 
together  with  the  inexpensive  radiator  which  will  take  in  a  six- 
inch  stream  of  air  at  zero  from  the  outside  of  the  house,  and 
deliver  it  at  ninety  degrees  into  the  room,  and  Mr.  Fletcher's 
boiler,  which,  by  the  aid  of  copper  pegs  driven  through  the 
bottom,  presents  an  efficiency  several  times  as  great  as  that  of 
the  old  kind,  we  may  expect  to  see  hot-water  apparatus  super- 
sede furnaces  in  small  houses,  as  it  already  has  to  a  consider- 
able extent  in  large  ones. 


•JJNOTHER  very  fatal  theatre  fire  occurred  a  few  days  ago 
/j[  in  Portugal,  where  the  Banquet  Theatre  at  Oporto  took 
'  fire  on  the  stage,  and  was  destroyed,  about  a  hundred  per- 
sons being  either  suffocated  by  the  smoke  and  gas,  or  crushed 
in  the  struggle  to  escape.  The  cause  of  the  fire  is  thought  to 
have  been  a  leakage  of  gas  from  a  pipe  under  the  stage,  by 
which  enough  gas  was  accumulated  to  form  an  inflammable 
mixture  with  the  air ;  and  in  the  midst  of  the  performance  a 
violent  explosion  took  place,  extinguishing  most  of  the  lights 
in  the  theatre,  and  scattering  fire  in  all  directions.  As  usual, 
$he  persons  nearest  the  doors  escaped,  but  those  behind  them, 
in  their  eagerness  to  get  out,  barricaded  the  exits,  so  that  they 
were  crushed,  while  they  prevented  others  from  escaping. 
The  occupants  of  the  upper  tiers  of  boxes,  seeing  the  impos- 
sibility of  reaching  the  doors,  jumped  from  the  windows,  saving 
their  lives  at  the  cost  of  bruises  and  broken  limbs.  The  stage 
exits  seem  to  have  been  in  unusually  good  condition,  and  the 
performers  were  mostly  saved.  If  the  year  should  go  on  as  it 
has  begun,  the  season  of  1887-88  will  long  be  famous  for 
theatre  fatalities.  For  several  years  the  disasters  at  Nice  and 
Vienna  were  the  only  very  notable  ones  occurring  in  Europe, 
but  since  the  present  theatrical  season  began  we  have  had 
three  very  serious  and  fatal  conflagrations,  at  Exeter,  Paris 
and  Oporto,  with  some  months  remaining  for  further  catas- 
trophes. 


"TTNOTHER  sad  accident  occurred  in  New  York  recently, 
rj  where  a  handsome  apartment-house  on  one  of  the  best 
'  streets  in  the  city  and  reputed  to  be  nearly  fireproof  took 
fire  in  the  third  story  in  some  mysterious  way,  and  the  flames 
running  up  the  elevator-shaft  soon  set  the  upper  stories  in  a 
blaze.  The  first  and  fourth  floors  were  vacant,  and  the  occu- 
pants of  the  second  and  third  stories  escaped,  although  with 
difficulty,  as  the  halls  were  filled  with  smoke,  but  the  fifth 
story  was  cut  off  by  the  dense  smoke  in  the  halls  and  the 


appearance  of  fire  about  the  staircase  before  the  alarm  could 
be  given.  This  story  was  occupied  by  a  lady  named  Westlake, 
with  her  daughter  and  two  young  sons  and  an  old  servant. 
There  were  no  fire-escapes  on  the  building,  and,  waking  to  find 
their  retreat  by  the  stairs  intercepted,  they  could  do  nothing 
but  stand  at  the  windows  imploring  help  from  the  passers-by. 
An  engine  was  quickly  brought,  but  a  stream  from  a  hose  was 
useless  for  saving  life,  and  while  a  message  was  despatched  for 
long  ladders  the  foreman  of  the  engine  company  undertook  to 
reach  the  prisoners  with  a  short  scaling  ladder.  lie  managed  to 
climb  to  the  fifth  story,  followed  by  two  or  three  other  men, 
who  waited  at  the  third  floor  for  his  return.  The  bravo  fire- 
man took  one  of  the  Westlake  boys  in  his  arms  and  climbed 
down  with  him  to  the  fourth  story,  when  he  was  overpowered 
by  a  rush  of  dense  smoke  from  the  windows  and  lost  his  hold 
of  the  ladder.  His  men  below,  seeing  him  about  to  fall,  spread 
a  life-net  to  catch  him,  and  he  and  the  child  both  fell  into  it, 
but  rebounded  from  it  to  the  pavement  and  were  both  severely 
injured.  The  firemen  who  had  been  waiting  in  the  third  story 
then  jumped  from  the  windows  into  the  net  and  escaped  unhurt. 
The  remaining  son  and  the  daughter  next  tried  this  forlorn 
chance  for  their  lives.  The  young  lady  dropped  first  from  the 
window-sill  to  which  she  had  been  clinging,  but  struck  a  ladder 
before  reaching  the  net,  and  was  so  badly  injured  that  she  died 
almost  immediately.  The  boy,  perhaps  more  fortunate,  reached 
the  net,  but  fell  out  again  and  was  severely  bruised  on  the 
stones.  By  this  time  the  long  ladders  arrived  and  were  quickly 
set  up  for  the  rescue  of  the  mother,  who  was  seen  partly  hang- 
ing out  of  a  window.  Before  the  firemen  could  reach  her, 
however,  she  fell  to  the  pavement  and  was  picked  up  dead, 
suffocation  by  smoke  having,  however,  been  nearly  complete 
before  her  fall. 


TITHE  architectural  world  is  looking  out  rather  anxiously  for 
•JJ*  the  announcement  of  the  great  competition  for  designs  for 
the  Palace  of  Congress  at  Buenos  Ayres.  Some  time  ago 
the  Argentine  Government  appropriated  six  million  dollars  for 
the  construction  of  this  building,  and  a  semi-official  announce- 
ment was  made  that  architects  would  be  invited  to  submit  de- 
signs in  competition,  but  so  far  no  formal  publication  of  the 
terms  has  been  made.  It  is  understood,  however,  that  eight 
months  from  the  official  announcement  will  be  allowed  for  the 
completion  of  the  designs  and  delivery  at  Buenos  Ayres ;  or 
forty  days  less,  if  competitors  prefer  to  deliver  them  at  the 
nearest  Argentine  embassy.  The  jury  is  to  be  composed  of 
the  Presidents  of  the  two  Chambers,  the  Director  and  Vice- 
Director  of  the  Department  of  Civil  Engineering,  the  chief 
magistrate  of  the  city  of  Buenos  Ayres,  and  ten  other  members, 
to  be  appointed  by  the  President,  of  whom  five  are  to  be  archi- 
tects. Six  prizes  are  offered.  The  first  prize  is  twenty  thou- 
sand dollars,  but  five  thousand  of  this  will  be  retained  until  the 
author  of  the  plan  so  honored  has  executed  and  delivered  the 
working  drawings  of  the  building.  The  second  prize  is  eight 
thousand  dollars,  the  third,  four  thousand ;  and  there  are  three 
inferior  prizes,  of  two  thousand  dollars  each. 


IT  seems  rather  curious  to  hear  the  name  of  Leonardo  da 
Vinci  invoked  as  the  inventor  of  the  device  by  which  the 
Panama  Canal  is  to  be  carried  to  completion,  and  made 
available  for  use,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  this  great  artist 
was  the  originator  of  the  system  of  locks  with  movable  gates 
now  in  use  on  nearly  all  canals  and  canalized  rivers,  and  to  this 
system  the  Panama  Canal  is  now  to  be  adapted.  Although  the 
change  or  the  original  scheme  of  a  sea-level  cutting  to  one  in- 
cluding several  locks  was  officially  considered  a  year  or  more 
ago,  it  was  only  formally  adopted  this  winter,  yet  such  rapid 
progress  has  been  made  with  the  application  of  the  lock  system 
that  contracts  have  already  been  entered  into  with  M.  Eiffel, 
the  great  engineer-builder,  for  the  construction  of  the  gates  and 
other  apparatus  for  eight  enormous  locks,  all  of  the  same  pat- 
tern, by  which  vessels  will  be  lifted  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
heights  of  the  Culebra,  and  let  down  again  to  the  Pacific.  The 
gates,  which  form  the  most  important  part  of  the  lock,  are  to 
be  of  iron,  sliding  in  a  groove,  and  the  water  is  to  be  intro- 
duced and  withdrawn  from  the  lock  by  means  of  huge  pipes, 
nine  feet  in  diameter,  which  will  pour  ten  million  gallons  of 
water  into  the  lock  basin  in  fifteen  minutes. 


APRIL  7,  1888.] 


TJte   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


159 


SAFE  BUILDING.— XXIV.i 

OTRENGTH  is  frequently  added  to  a  girder  or  beam  by  trussing 
it,  as  shown  in  Table  XVIII.  One  or  two  struts  are  placed 
against  the  lower  (or  upper)  edge  of  a  beam  and  a  rod  passed 

over  them  and  secured  to  each  end  of  the  beam ;  by  stretching  this 


rod  the  beam  becomes  the  compression  chord  of  a  truss  and  also  a 
Trussed  continuous  girder  running  over  one  or  two  supports. 

Beams.  There  must  therefore  be  enough  material  in  the  beam 
to  stand  the  compression,  and  in  addition  to  this  enough  to  stand  the 
transverse  strains  on  the  continuous  girder.  If  the  loads  are  concen- 


TABLE  XVIII. 

TRUSSED     BEAMS. 


Illustration!". 

Description. 

Compression  In  Struts. 

Compression  in  Beam. 

Tension  In  Bods. 

A  mount  of  Reactions. 

A                1^            f 

Trussed  Beam 
with  one  centre  load 

Compression  in  B  D 

Compression  in  A  B 
_,    w     A  B 

Tension  in  A  D 
w.A  D 

F-} 

4)          0 

=  to 
AB  =  BC 

=  +  » 

'    2     B  D 

Compression  in  B  C 
same  as  in  A  B 

2     BD 
Tension  in  C  D 
same  as  in  A  D 

fHf 

« 

Trussed  Beam 
with  one  loud  =  to, 

Compression  in  B  D 

Compression  in  A  B 
,        A  B 
=  +p-jTD 

Tension  in  A  D 
A  D 

-p-ju) 

>-«•% 

131 

(not  central,) 
at  any  point 

A  B  $  BC 

=  +  «', 

Compression  in  B  C 
same  as  in  A  B,  or 
,        BC 
=  +  q-B-D 

Tension  in  C  D 

,    CD 
=  ~q-&D 

q—¥o 

fTt 

*  •  A 

Trussed  Beam 
with  uniform  load 

=:  U 

and  one  central  strut. 
A  B  —  BC 

Compression  in  B  D 

=+4- 

Compression  in  A  B 
i    5          A  B 

z  +  r6-u-2n> 

Compression  in  B  C 
same  as  in  A  B 

Tension  in  A  D 

-_  5     u    AD 
U'"-BT> 
Tension  in  C  D 
same  as  in  A  D 

'-1 

'  =  -2 

Trussed  Beam 
with  uniform  load 

Compression  in  B  D 
,    11 

Compression  in  A  B 
-+U.u.AB 

Tension  in  A  D 

=_ii.«.4£ 

OA         /?  n 

'-T, 

J«M?g.   \t-:-/^,:,:    -A 

z=  u  and  two  struts, 

-    +30-" 

Compression  in  B  C 

Tension  in  D  E 

®                                                    ® 

dividing  beam  into 
three  equal  parts. 
AB—BC—CF 

Compression  in  C  E 
same  as  in  B  D 

and 
Compression  in  C  F 
same  as  in  A  B 

=  —  compression  in  A  B 
Tension  in  F  E 
same  as  in    1   /' 

i~I 

9* 

Trussed  Beam 
with  two  equal  loads 
each  —  !0,  and  two 

Compression  in  B  D 
=  +», 

Compression  in  A  B 
-4-  to    AB 

-+W"WD 

Tension  in  A  I) 
AD 
-W-JTD 

p  =  wl 

iXLJx'f 
©           ® 

struts   at  equal   dis- 
tances from  ends. 

AB  —  CF 

Compression  in  C  E 
same  as  in  B  D 

Compression  in  B  C 
and 
Compression  in  C  F 
same  as  in  A  B 

Tension  in  D  E 
=:  —  compression  in  A  B 
Tension  in  F  E 
same  as  in  A  D 

q  =  v>, 

Trussed  Beam 
with  two  unequal 

Compression  in  B  D 
=  +P 

Compression  in  A  B 

-+'•*% 

Tension  in  A  D 

„    AD 

=  P  •  TTyr 

rj_u>,.BF  +  W,..CF 

(W|j) 

loads  !/?,  and  wn  at 

Compression  In  B  E 

B  D 

Compression  in  B  C 

BD 

Tension  in  D  E 

AF 

^^S1! 

any  points. 

=  +(,  _»„).** 

® 

Providing  p  smaller 

j:  /> 

Compression  in  C  F 

Tension  in  F  E 

w,.AB+w,,.AC 

than  tc,, 

Compression  in  C  E 
=  +  «„ 

,        CF 
=  +  q-Tn> 

,    FE 
=  ~q-^D 

AF 

Trussed  Beam 
with  two  unequal 

Compression  in  B  D 
=  +  », 

Compression  in  A  B 
_i_      AB    . 
=  +/>'-B-fi 

Tension  in  A  D 
A  D 
=  —P-  7TT> 

„__«•,•  BF+W...CF 

®   ® 

loads  w,  and  «•„  at 

Compression  in  C  D 

B  D 

D    If 

Tension  in  D  E 

AF 

'"Tr^-.s'l 

any  points. 

-  +  f>     «.)   CD 

=  —  compression  in  CF 

* 

Providing  p  larger 
than  IP,  and  q  smaller 
than  to,, 

T-  (P    ».;•  B  D 

Compression  in  C  E 
=  +  « 

Compression  in  C  F 
.        CF 
=  +  q'BD 

Tension  in  F  E 
FE 
-q"BD 

w..AB+w...A  C 

Q     —          •  1                 II                         __i 

Where  p=  the  amount  of  the  left  reaction,  In  pounds. 

••        g  =  the  amount  of  right  reaction,  in  pounds. 

"       to,  U7|,  tr,,=  concentrated  loads,  In  pounds. 

"       w  =  uniform  load,  in  pounds,  over  whole  beam. 

"  AD,BC,CF,BD,DB,Cl>,CE,A  D,  DE,PE  =  the  length  of  longi- 
tudinal central  axes  of  these  pieces,  and  must  all  be  expressed  uniformity,  that 
is  all  expressed  either  In  feet  or  inches. 


Tin'  amounts  of  compression  in  either  struts  or  beam  — parts  will  be  the  total 
compression  In  each,  expressed  in  pounds  ;  to  obtain  the  compression  per  sguare 
inch,  divide  the  amount  by  the  area  of  cross-section  of  the  strut  or  part. 

Ihe  amounts  of  tension  In  rods  will  be  the  total  tension  In  each  part,  ex- 
pressed in  pounds  ;  to  obtain  the  tension  per  tquare  inch,  divide  the  amount  by 
the  area  of  cross-section  of  rod. 


in.ipss  vitv  OF  SYMBOLS. —The  following  letters, 
iu  all  casei,  will  be  found  to  express  the  same  mean- 
ing, unless  distinctly  otherwise  stated,  viz.:  — 
a     --.  area,  in  square  inches. 
b    —  breatlth,  in  inches. 
c    =  constant  for  ultimate  resistance  to  compression, 

in  pounds,  per  square  inch. 
it    =  depth,  in  inches. 

e     .--  constant  for  modulus  of  elasticity,  in  pounds- 
inch,  that  is,  pounds  per  square  inch. 
/   =  factor-oj '-safety. 
g    =  constant  for  ultimate  resistance  to  shearing,  per 

square  inch,  across  the  grain. 
fft  =  constant  for  ultimate  resistance  to  shearing,  per 

square  inch,  lengthwise  of  the  grain. 
A    =  height,  in  Inches. 

i     =  moment  of  inertia,  in  inches.    [See  Table  I.] 
t    =  ultimate    modulut  of  rupture,  In  pounds,  per 

square  inch. 
<    =  length.  In  Inches, 
m  —  moment  or  bending  moment,  in  pounds-inch. 


1  Continued  from  No.  636,  page  108. 


n  -.  constant  In  Kanklne's  formula  for  compression 
of  long  pillars.  [See  Table  I.] 

o     =:  the  centre. 

p  =  the  amount  of  the  left-hand  re-action  (or  sup- 
port) of  beam*,  in  pounds. 

q  —  the  amount  of  the  right- kantl  re-action  (or  sup- 
port) of  beams,  In  pounds. 

r    =  moment  of  resistance,  iu  inches.    [See  Table  I.] 

»     —  strain,  in  pounds. 

t  =  constant  for  ultimate  resistance  to  tension,  in 
pounds,  per  square  inch. 

u    =  uniform  load,  in  pounds. 

v    —  stress,  in  pounds. 

to  =  load  at  centre,  iu  pounds. 

x,  y  and  z  signify  unknoicmjuantities,  either  In  pounds 
or  Inches. 

(5    :     ti'tni  deflection,  in  inches. 

(P  —  square  of  the  radius  of  gyration,  in  inches.  [See 
Table  I.I 

jj    =  diameter,  in  inches. 

t    =  ratiius,  in  inches 


39 


ir    =  3.14189,  or,  say,  3  1-7  signifies  the  ratio  of  the  cir- 
cumference and  diameter  of  a  circle. 

If  there  are  more  than  one  of  each  kind,  the  second, 
third,  etc.,  are  indicated  with  the  Roman  numerals, 
as,  for  instance,  a,  a,,  an,  am,  etc.,  or  b,  b,,  b,,,  b,,,,  etc. 

In  taking  moments,  or  bending  moments,  strains, 
stresses,  etc..  to  signify  at  what  point  they  are  taken, 
the  letter  signifying  that  point  is  added,  as,  for  In- 
stance :  — 

m    =  moment  or  bending  moment  at  centre. 

point  A. 


m.  =        " 
t»x=        " 

s     •=  strain  at  centre. 
>B   =  "     point  B. 

«  =  "     point  X. 

v    •=  stress  at  centre . 

«D    -  '       P°'."'  (*• 

ex  =  '     point  X. 

v  =  load  at  centre. 
WA  =         "   point  A 


vointB. 
point  X  . 


100 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  641. 


trated  immediately  over  the  braces,  there  will  be  no  transverse  strain 
whatever,  but  the  braces  will  be  compressed  the  full  amount  of  the 
respective  loads  on  each.  In  the  case  of  uniform  loads,  transverse 
strains  cannot  be  avoided,  of  course,  but  where  loads  are  concen- 
struts  placed  trated  the  struts  should  always  be  placed  immcd- 
under  load.  iately  under  them.  Even  where  loads  are  placet 
very  unevenly,  it  is  better  to  have  the  panels  of  the  truss  irregular 
thus  avoiding  cross  or  transverse  strains.  This  same  rule  holds  gooc 
.in  designing  trusses  of  any  kind. 
Necessary  Table  XVIII  shows  very  clearly  the  amount  anil 

Conditions,  kind  of  strains  in  each  part  of  trussed  beams.  Where 
there  are  two  struts  and  they  are  of  any  length  care  must  be  taken 
by  diagonal  braces  or  otherwise,  to  keep  the  lower  ends  of  braces 
from  tipping  towards  each  other.  Theoretically  they  cannot  tip,  but 
practically,  sometimes,  they  do.  Care  must  be  taken  that  the  beam 
is  braced  sideways,  or  else  it  must  be  figured  for  its  safety  against 
lateral  flexure  (Formula  5.)  Then  it  must  have  material  enough  not 
to  shear  off  at  supports,  nor  to  crush  its  under  side  where  lying  on 
support.  The  ends  of  rods  must  have  sufficient  bearing  not  to  crush 
the  wood.  Iron  shoes  are  sometimes  used,  but  if  very  large  are  apt 
to  rot  the  wood.  In  that  case  it  is  well  to  have  a  few  small  holes  in 
the  shoes,  to  allow  ventilation  to  end  of  timber.  If  iron  straps  and 
bolts  are  used  at  the  end,  care  must  be  taken  that  the  strap  does  not 
tear  apart  at  bolt  holes ;  that  it  does  not  crush  itself  against  bolts ; 
that  it  does  not  shear  off  the  bolts,  and  that  it  does  not  crush  in  the 
end  of  timber.  Care  must  also  be  taken  to  have  enough  bolts,  so  that 
they  do  not  crush  the  wood  before  them,  and  to  keep  the  bolts  from 
shearing  out,  that  is  tearing  out  the  wood  before  them.  In  all  truss- 
Importance  cs  an<*  trussed  works  the  joints  must  be  carefully 
of  Joints,  designed  to  cover  all  these  points.  Many  architects 
give  tremendous  sizes  for  timbers  and  rods  in  trusses,  thus  adding 
unnecessary  weight,  but  when  it  comes  to  the  joint,  they  overlook  it, 
and  then  are  surprised  when  the  truss  gives  out.  The  next  time 
they  add  more  timber  and  more  iron,  till  they  learn  the  lesson.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  the  strength  of  a  truss  is  only  equal  to  the 
strength  of  its  weakest  part,  be  that  part  a  member  or  only  a  part  of 
a  joint.  This  subject  will  be  fully  dealt  with  in  the  chapter  on 
Trusses. 

Depth  The  deeper  the  truss  is  made,  that  is,  the  further 

Desirable,  we  separate  the  top  and  bottom  chords,  the  stronger 

will  it  be ;  besides  additional  depth  adds  very  much  to  the  stiffness 

of  a  truss. 

Deflection  -^  trussed  beams,  and  all  trusses  should  be  "  cam- 

of  Girders  bered  up,"  that  is,  buty  up  above  their  natural  lines 
and  Beams,  sufficiently  to  allow  for  settling  back  into  their  cor- 
rect lines,  when  loaded.  The  amount  of  the  camber  should  equal  the 
calculated  deflection.  For  all  beams,  girders,  etc.,  of  uniform  cross- 
section  throughout,  the  deflection  can  be  calculated  from  Formulae 
(3 7)  to  (42)  according  to  the  manner  of  loading.  For  wrought-iron 
beams  and  plate-girders  of  uniform  cross-section  throughout,  the  de- 
flection can  be  calculated  from  the  same  formulae ;  where,  however, 
the  load,  is  uniform  and  it  is  desired  to  simplify  the  calculation,  the 
deflection  can  be  quite  closely  calculated  from  the  following  Formula : 


Uniform  Cross- 
section  and 
Load. 


75. 


(79) 


Where  8  =  the  greatest  deflection  at  centre,  in  inches,  of  a 
wrought-iron  beam  or  plate  girder  of  uniform  cross-section  through- 
out, and  carrying  its  total  safe  uniform  load,  calculated  for  rupture 
only. 

Where  L  =  the  length  of  span,  in  feet. 

Where  d^=  the  depth  of  beam  or  girder  in  inches. 

If  beam  or  plate  girder  is  of  steel,  use  64£  instead  of  75. 

If  the  load  is  not  uniform,  change  the  result,  as  provided  in  cases 
(1)  to  (8),  Table  VII. 

For  a  centre  load  we  should  use  93 1  in  place  of  75  or 

Uniform  Cross-         S_      ia 

section,  Centre     ° — •  .,.     ,  (80) 

Load.  Jo%.a 

Where  values  are  the  same,  as  for  Formula  (79)  except  that  beam 
or  girder  carries  its  total  safe  centre  load,  calculated  for  rupture  only. 

If  beam  or  girder  is  of  steel  use  80§  instead  of  93*. 

Therefore  not  to  crack  plastering  and  yet  to  carry  their  full  safe 
loads,  wrought-iron  beams  or  plate  girders  should  never  exceed  in 


length  (measured  in  feet)  twice  and  a  quarter  times  the  depth 
(measured  in  inches),  if  the  load  is  uniform,  or 

Safe  length, 

uniform  Cross-       91,7 T  sa,\ 

section  and  l\.  d  —  L  (81) 

Load. 

Where  L  =  the  ultimate  length  of  span  (not  to  crack  plastering), 
in  feet,  of  a  wrought-iron  beam  or  plate  girder,  of  uniform  cross- 
section  throughout  and  uniformly  loaded  with  its  total  safe  load. 

Where  (/  =  the  depth  of  beam  or  girder  in  inches. 

If  beam  or  girder  is  of  steel,  use  2  instead  of  2£. 

If  the  load  is  central  the  length  in  feet  should  not  exceed  2  \  times 
the  depth  in  inches,  or 

Safe  length, 

uniform  Cross-       24.  d=:L.  (82} 

section,  Centre 
Load. 

Where  £  =  the  ultimate  length  of  span  in  feet  (not  to  crack 
plastering),  of  a  wrought-iron  beam  or  plate  girder,  of  uniform  cross- 
section  throughout,  and  loaded  at  its  centre  with  its  total  safe  load. 

Where  d  =  the  depth  of  beam  or  girder  in  inches. 

If  beam  or  girder  is  of  steel  use  2§  instead  2|. 

Deepest  beam  One  thing  should  always  be  remembered,  when 
economical,  using  iron  beams,  and  that  is,  that  the  deepest  beam 
is  always  not  only  the  stiffest,  but  the  most  economical.  For  instance? 
if  we  find  it  necessary  to  use  a  10£"  beam  — 105  pounds  per  yard, 
it  will  be  cheaper  to  use  instead  the  12'  beam —  96  pounds  per  yard. 
The  latter  beam  not  only  weighs  9  pounds  per  yard  less,  but  it  will 
carry  more,  and  deflect  less,  owing  to  its  extra  two  inches  of  depth. 
This  same  rule  holds  good  for  nearly  all  sections. 
Deflection  '^°  obtain  the  deflections  of  trussed  beams  or 

of  Trusses,  girders  by  the  rules  already  given  would  be  very 
complicated.  For  these  cases,  however,  Box  gives  an  approximate 
rule,  which  answers  every  purpose.  He  calculates  the  amount  of 
extension  in  the  tension  (usually  the  lower)  chord,  and  the 
amount  of  contraction  in  tie  compression  (usually  the  upper) 
chord,  due  to  the  strains  in  each,  and  from  these,  obtains  the  de- 
flections. Of  course  the  average  strain  in  each  chord  must  be  taken 
and  not  the  greatest  strain  at  any  one  point  in  either.  In  a  truss, 
where  each  part  is  proportioned  in  size  to  resist  exactly  the  com- 
pressive  or  tensional  strain  on  the  part,  every  part  will,  of  course,  be 

strained  alike ;  the  strain  in  the  compressive  member  being  =  (  —  j 
per  square  inch,  throughout  the  whole  length,  and  in  the  tension 
member  =  /  — ,  J  per  square  inch,  throughout  the  whole  length. 

The  same  holds  good  for  plate  girders,  where  the  top  and  bottom 
flanges  are  diminished  towards  the  ends,  in  proportion  to  the  bending 
moment.  But  where,  as  in  wrought-iron  beams  (and  in  many  truss- 
es), the  flanges  are  made,  for  the  sake  of  convenience,  of  uniform  cross- 
section  throughout  their  entire  length,  the  "  average  "  strain  will,  of 
course,  be  much  less,  and  consequently  the  beam  or  girder  stiffen 
Average  Strain  ^  we  construct  the  graphical  representation  of  the 
In  Chords,  bending  moments  at  each  point  of  beam  (as  will  be 
explained  in  the  next  Chapter)  and  divide  the  area  of  this  figure  in 
inch-pounds  by  the  length  of  span  in  inches,  we  will  obtain  the 
average  strain  in  either  flange,  provided  the  flange  is  of  uniform 
cross-section  throughout,  or 


Uniform  Cross- 
section. 


<=T 


(83) 


Where  v  =  the  average  strain,  in  pounds,  on  top  or  bottom  flange 
or  chord,  where  beam  or  girder  is  of  uniform  cross-section  through- 
out. 

Where  I  =  the  length  of  span,  in  inches. 

Where  a  =  the  area  in  pounds-inch  of  the  graphical  figure 
giving  the  bending  me  merit  at  all  points  of  beam. 

To  obtain  the  dimensions  of  this  figure  measure  its  base  line  (or 
horizontal  measurement)  in  inches,  and  its  height  (or  vertical  meas- 
urement) in  pounds,  assuming  the  greatest  vertical  measurement  as 

=  (  -^j  of-f=( -f\  in  pounds,  according  to  which  flange  we  are  ex- 

j  j 

amining. 

Thus,  in  the  case  of  a  uniform  load,  this  figure  would  be  a  parabola, 
with  a  base  of  length  equal  to  the  span  measured  in  inches,  and  a 
leight  equal  to  the  greatest  fibre  strains  in  pounds ;  the  average 


40 


APRIL  7,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building   News. 


161 


strain  therefore  in  the  compression  member  of  a  beam,  girder  or 
truss,  of  uniform  cross-section  throughout  would  be,  —  (remembering 
that  the  area  of  a  parabola  is  equal  to  two-thirds  of  the  product  of 
its  height  into  its  base), 


Uniform  toad 
and  Cross- 
section. 


(84) 


Where  v  =  the  average  strain,  in  pounds,  in  compression  flange 
or  chord  of  a  beam,  girder  or  truss  of  uniform  cross-section  through- 
out and  carrying  its  total  safe  uniform  load. 

Where  (  ~  )  =  the  safe  resistance  to  compression  per  square  inch 

of  the  material. 

It  is  supposed,  of  course,  that  at  the  point  of  greatest  bending 
moment  —  or  where  the  greatest  compression  strain  exists — that 

the  part  is  designed  to  resist  or  exert  a  stress  =  ( ~\  per  square 
inch.  If  the  greatest  compression  stress  is  less,  insert  its  value  in 
place  of  (~  \  Of  course,  it  must  never  be  greater  than  (  -.  \ 

Similarly  we  should  have 

Uniform  Load  2      /  t  \  , s.  , 

und  Cross-  »=-jr-     I  —f  ) 

section.  \lf 

Where  v  ==.  the  average  strain,  in  pounds,  in  tension  flange  or 
chord  of  a  beam,  girder  or  truss  of  uniform  cross-section  throughout, 
and  carrying  its  total  safe  uniform  load. 

Where  (-L  j  =  the  safe  resistance  to  tension,  per  square  inch,  of 

the  material. 

It  being  understood  that  at  the  point  of  greatest  bending  moment 
—  or  where  the  greatest  tension  strain  exists  —  that  the  part  is  de- 
signed to  resist  or  exert  a  stress  =  ^_  j  per  square  inch.  If  this 

greatest  tensional  stress  is  less  than  (-?)  insert  its  value  in  its  place 

in  Formula  (85).     Of  course,  it  must  never  be  greater  than  f  — ,  Y 

For  a  beam,  girder  or  truss  with  a  load  concentrated  at  the  cen- 
tre, but  with  flanges  or  chords  of  uniform  cross-section  throughout, 
the  average  strain  would  be  just  one-half  that  at  the  centre  ;  for,  the 
bending-moment  graphical-figure  will  be  a  triangle,  and  inserting  the 
values  in  Formula  (83)  would  give  for  the  compression  member : 


Centre  Load 
Uniform 
Cross-Section. 

and  for  the  tension  member  : 


(86) 


(87) 

The  meaning  of  letters  being  the  same  as  in  Formula!  (84)  and 
(85),  but  the  total  safe  load  being  concentrated  at  the  centre  instead 
of  uniformly  distributed. 

To  obtain  the  amount  of  contraction  or  expansion  due  to  this 
average  strain,  use  the  following  Formula : 

Expansion  or  V.I  foo\ 

Contraction  \°°) 

from  Strain. 

Where  v  =  the  average  strain,  in  pounds  per  square  inch,  in  eith- 
er chord  or  flange. 

Where  I  =  the  length  of  span,  in  inches. 

Where  e  =  the  modulus  of  elasticity  of  the  material,  in  pounds- 
inch. 

Where  xi=the  amount  of  extension  or  contraction,  in  inches,  of 
the  chord  or  flange. 

Now  let  us  apply  the  above  rules  to  beams,  plate  girders,  and 
trussed  beams.  Taking  the  case  of  a  beam  or  plate  girder  or  truss 
with  parallel  flanges  or  chords. 

Figure  145  shows  the 
same,  after  the  deflection 
has  taken  place.  We  can 
now  assume  approximate- H 
ly,  that  C  A  is  equal  to  one- 
.  half  the  difference  between 
the  contraction  of  G  C  and 
the  elongation  of  H  B,  or,  what  amounts  to  the  same  thing,  that  C  A 


is  equal  to  one-half  the  sum  of  the  contraction  of  the  one  and  the 
elongation  of  the  other. 

Further,  we  can  assume  that  approximately,  A  B  =  d  or  the  depth 

of  beam,  and  C  D  =  —  or  one  half  the  span. 

The  curve  C  E  C  will  approximate  a  parabola,  so  that  if  we  draw 
a  tangent  C  F  to  the  same  at  C,  we  know  that  D  E  =  E  F=  —  — 

or  D  F=2.  D  E.     But  as  D  E  represents  the  deflection  (  8  )   of 
the  beam,  we  have 

D  F=  2.  8- 

Now  as  C  F  is  normal  to  C  B,  and  C  D  normal  to  A  B,  we  know 
that  angles  D  C  F  =  A  B  C;  further,  as  both  triangles  are  right 
angle  triangles,  we  know  that  they  arc  similar,  therefore: 

DF:  C  A.-.DC:  A  B,  or 

2.8=  C  A.:  '  :  dot 


If  now  we  assume  the  sum  of  the  extension  and  contraction  of  the 
two  flanges  or  chords  to  be  =  x. 


-- 

Deflection  of  Par-  x   I 

allel    Flanges  *=<;->  (89) 

or  Chords,  any  °        8.  a 
Cross-section. 

Where  8  =  'he  deflection,  in  inches,  of  a  beam,  plate  girder  or 
truss,  with  parallel  flanges  or  chords. 

Where  x  =  the  sum  of  the  amount  of  extension  in  tension  chord, 
plus  the  amount  of  contraction  in  compression  chord. 

Where  /  =  the  length  of  span,  in  inches. 

Where  d  =  the  total  depth  of  beam,  girder  or  truss  in  inches. 

Take  the  case  of  a  wrought-iron  plate  girder  or  beam  of  uniform 
cross-section  throughout  carrying  its  full  uniform  load,  we  should 
have  the  strain  at  the  centre  on  the  extreme  fibres  =  12000  pounds 
per  square  inch.  Now  the  average  slrain  on  both  upper  and  lower 
flanges  would  be,  Formulas  (84)  and  (85). 
v  •=.  J.  1  2000  =  8000  pounds 

per  square  inch.     Therefore  amount  of  contraction  in  upper  flange 
Formula  (88),  (and  icmembering  that,  from  Table  IV,  e  =  27000000) 
_    8000.  1    _     I 
~  27000000  ~  3375 

The  elongation  of  the  bottom  flange  would  be  an  equal  amount, 
therefore  the  sum  of  the  two 

x  =2.T=_2-1 
3375 
I 


1687,5 
Inserting  these  values  in  Formula  (89)  we  have  the  deflection 

,-         ?          =       P 
0       8.1687,  5.  d       13500.  d 

and  inserting  for  /4  =  144.  L*,  we  have 

144.Z" 
8       13500.rf. 


93 


Had  we  assumed  that  the  area  of  flanges  or  chords  diminished  to- 
wards the  supports  in  proportion  to  the  bending  moment  or  actual 
stresses  required,  the  average  strain  would,  of  cource,  be  12000 
pounds  per  square  inch  throughout  the  entire  length,  no  matter  how 
the  load  might  be  applied. 

Inserting  this  value  in  Formula  (88)  we  should  have  had,  for  the 
amount  of  contraction  of  top  flange 
12'KKU  _       I 
27  (00000        2250 

The  same  for    ie  extension  of  bottom  chord,  or 


'2250~1125 
Inserting  t   is  in  Formula  (89)  we  have  for  the  deflection  : 


8.1125.  < 
Insorti  .g  144  i2  =  i3  we  have 

H£2- 


162 


The   American   Architect  and  Building   News.     [VOL.  XXIII. — No.  641. 


Parallel  flanges 
or  Chords,  Di- 
minished Cross- 
section,  any 
loads. 


o  =7 


(90) 


i  —  i 

.  a 


ads. 

WhereS  =  the  greatest  deflection,  in  inches,  of  a  wrought-iron 
plate  girder,  or  wrought-iron  truss,  with  parallel  flanges  or  chords, 
and  where  the  areas  of  flanges  or  chords  are  gradually  diminished 
towards  supports,  and  no  matter  how  the  load  is  applied  ;  in  no  part 
however  must  the  stresses,  per  square  inch  exceed  respectively  either 

' 


Where  L  =  the  length  of  span,  in  feet. 

Where  rf  =  the  total  depth  (heights),  in  inches,  from  top  of  top 
flange  or  chord  to  bottom  of  bottom  flange  or  chord. 

If  girder  or  truss  is  of  steel,  use  53J  instead  of  62£. 

From  Formula  (90)  and  Formula  (28)  we  get  the  rule  that  (no  mat- 
ter how  the  load  is  applied)  if  we  want  to  carry  the  full  safe  load 
and  not  have  deflection  enough  to  crack  plastering  the  length  in  feet 
must  not  exceed  1 J  times  the  total  depth  in  inches. 
For: 

L.   0,03=    -     ^.or 


=  1,875. dor  say 

Safe  Length,  Di- 
minished Cross- 
section,  any  i  =  lJ.  cf  (91) 
Load,  Parallel 
Flanges  or 
Chords. 

Where  L  =  the  length,  in  feet,  of  a  wrought-iron  plate  girder  or 
wrought-iron  truss,  with  parallel  flanges  or  chords  and  with  area  of 
flanges  or  chords  diminishing  gradually  towards  supports  and  no 
matter  how  the  load  is  applied;  in  no  part  however  must  the  stresses, 

(c  \      /  t 
~f  )  °r  \  ~f 

Where  d  =  the  total  depth  (height),  in  inches,  from  top  of  top 
flange  or  chord  to  bottom  ot  bottom  flange  or  chord. 

If  girder  or  truss  is  of  steel,  use  1  f  instead  of  If. 

We  see  therefore  that  a  beam  of  diminishing  cross-section  through- 
out is  only  about  §  as  stiff,  as  one  with  uniform  cross-section,  as  its 
amount  of  deflection  will  be 
one-half  more  than  that  of  the 
latter.  Both  deflections  are 
approximate  only,  however, 
as  we  see  by  comparing  the 
amount  for  the  uniform  cross- 
section  to  that  obtained  from 
Formula  (79).  The  deflection 
for  varying  cross-sections  how-  Fig.  146. 

ever  can  be  assumed  as  nearly  enough  correct,  as  these  are  never 
diminished  so  much  practically  as  we  have  assumed  in  theory.  Now 
taking  the  case  of  a  trussed  beam. 

Deflection  ^n  FiSure  146,  let  A  B  be  one  half  of  a  trussed 

Trussed  Beam,  beam,  let  B  C  be  the  strut  and  A  C  the  tie.  We 
will  consider  the  load  concentrated  at  B.  Now  the  first  effect  is  to 
shorten  A  B  by  compression,  let  us  say  to  D  B. 

Then,  of  course,  A  D  will  represent  one  half  of  the  contraction  in 
the  whole  beam  A  G.  Now  the  end  of  rod  A  moving  to  D  will,  of 
course,  let  the  point  C  down  to  E,  if  we  make  D  E  =  A  C. 

But  there  will  be  an  elongation  in  D  E  besides,  due  to  the  tension 
in  it,  which  will  let  it  down  still  further,  say  to  F,  if  D  F^  A  C  -\- 
elongation  in  A  C,  of  course  the  point  B  will  move  down  too,  but  we 
can  overlook  this  to  avoid  complication.  We  now  have  C  F  repre- 
senting the  amount  of  the  deflection.  To  this  should  be  added  the 
amount  of  contraction  ol  B  C  due  to  the  compression  in  it.  We  can 
readily  find  C  F. 

We  know  that    . 


B  F 


-V 


f  IDF*— DB* 


Now  D  F  wo  know  is  =  A  C  plus  the  elongation  of  A  C  due  to  the 
tension  in  it,  which  we  can  find  from  Formula  (88).  From  same  for- 
mula we  find  the  amount  of  contraction  in  A  G  of  which  A  D  is  one- 
half,  subtracting  this  from  A  B  or  —  leaves,  of  course,  D  B. 

Now  having  found  B  F  -we  substract  from  it  £>  C,  the  length  of 


which  is  known,  and  the  balance  is  of  course  the  deflection  C  F;  to 
this  we  add  the  contraction  of  B  C'and  obtain  the  total  deflection  of 
the  whole  trussed  beam. 

If  the  load  had  bet' n  a  uniform  load,  instead  of  a  concentrated  one 
over  the  strut,  there  would  be  a  deflection  in  that  part  of  A  G  which 
would  lie  acting  as  a  continuous  girder.     But  this  deflection  would 
take  place  between  B  and  G  and  between  .Sand  A  and  would  not  af 
feet  the  deflection  of  the  whole  trussed  beam. 
An  example  will  make  much  of  the  foregoing  more  clear. 

Example. 

Trussed  Beam.  A  trussed  Georgia  Pine  beam,  is  16"  deep  and  of 
24  feet  clear  span;  it  bears  16"  on  each,  support  and  is  trussed  as 


Fig.  147. 


shown  in  Figure  147.  The 
beam  carries  a  uniformly 
distributed  load  of  40800 
pounds  on  the  whole  span> 
including  weight  of  beam 
ami  trussing.  Of  what  size 
should  the  parts  be  f 


We  draw  the  longitudinal  neutral  axes  of  each  part,  namely  A  B 
B  C  and  A  C.     The  latter  is  so  drawn  that  the  neutral  axis  of  the 
reaction,  which  is  of  course  half  way  between  D  and  E  (or  8"  from 
E)  will  also  pass  through  A. 

In  designing  trusses  this  should  always  be  borne  in  mind,  that  so 
far  as  possible  all  the  neutral  axes  at  each  joint  should  go  through 
the  same  point. 

_  .     .  The  beam  A  F  virtually  becomes   a   continuous 

Cross-strains 

In  Beams.      girder,  of  two  equal  spans  of  12  feet  or  144"  each, 

uniformly  loaded  with  20400  pounds  each,  and  supported  at  three 
points  A,  B  and  F.  From  table  XVII  we  know  that  the  greatest 
bending  moment  is  at  B  and 

«J=  20400.144  =  367200  pounds.inch. 
8  8 

(Tc  \ 
~f)~ 

1200,  therefore  moment  of  resistance  (r)  from  Formula  (18)  and 
Table  I,  section  No.  2, 


36 7200 ( 
1200 


Now  we  know  that  d  =  16,  or  d*=  256,  therefore 

6_1836  __  7)2  or   sav  we  need  a  beam  7J"  x  16"  for  the 

transverse  strain.  We  must  add  to  this  however  for  the  additional 
compression  due  to  the  trussing. 

The  amount  of  the  load  carried  by  strut  C  B,  see 
Compression 

in  strut.       Table  XVII,  is 

=  f .  w  from  each  side,  or 
=  25500  on  the  strut  B  C,  of  which 
=  12250  from  each  side. 
If  now  we  make  at  any  scale  a  vertical  line  b  c  =  half  the  load 

carried   at   point   B  or  =  12250   in   our  case,   and 
Compression 

In  Beam.       draw  6  a  horizontally  and  a  c  parallel  to  A    C,  we 

find  the  strain  in  B  A  by  measuring  b  a  =  (32300  pounds)  or  in  A  C 
by  measuring  a  c  =  (34638  pounds)  both  measured  at  same  scale 
as  b  c.  We  find,  further,  in  passing  around  the  triangle  c  b  a  c  — 
(c  b  being  the  direction  of  the  reaction  at  A),  that  b  a  is  pushing  to- 
wards A,  therefore  compression  ;  and  that  a  c  is  pulling  away  from 
A,  therefore  tension.  Using  the  usual  signs  of -[-for  compression, 
and  —  for  tension,  we  have  then : 

A  B  =  -\-  32300  pounds. 

A  C  =  — 34638  pounds. 

B  C  = -)-  25500  pounds. 

Had  we  used  Table  XVIII  we  should  have  had  the  same  result 
for: 


42 


|o.  64-1. 


ST  flND  BUILD  ING  $Ews,,J8  PH.  7  1555. 

GOFffllOTT  1886  BY  TTCKTIOR  1 1! 


Heliotype  Fritting  CuBest/i 


§0.  64*  I  .         $MKl<IGflX  !n<oHITEGT  flND  gUILI)IXG-$EWS,  ^  !>!{.  7  1555. 


o.  641. 


HIDING  $F\vs.flPK.  7.  1555. 


•CITY- 


Heliotypt  Rwtwg  Co.  Boston 


L 


\D  ]$UILDING  JjjfBVS. 'fll?!*.  7  1555. 


.'•^'. 


l^GHITEGT  flNI)  JglTILDINT,  ^EVVS.^'*.  7.  1555          $().  64<1. 


'"OPTSISHT'  1S68  BT  TIOKQR  &  CO 


-    SECOND    FLOOR     &IRDE.H  S  A   COL'S .  -        ^^ 

t\  ,-•  fr~r  -  I  ae 


Helioijpe  fruitiM  Ca.Sm.tor. . 


APBIL  7,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


163 


Compression  in  A  B= 


=  -f  32300  pounds  and 


Tension  in  A  C=^^..^  =  —  34638  pounds. 
2      z>  C 

Now  the  safe  resistance  of  Georgia  pine  to  compression  along  fibres 
(Table  IV)  is 

(4)=  750  pounds. 

If  A  B  were  very  long,  or  the  beam  very  shallow  or  very  thin,  we 
should  still  further  reduce  (A)  by  using  Formula  (3).     But  we  can 

readily  see  that  the  beam  will  not  bend  much  by  vertical  flexure  due 
to  compression,  nor  will  it  deflect  laterally  very  much,  so  we  can  safe- 
ly allow  the  maximum  safe  stress  per  square  inch,  or  750  pounds  and 
consider  A  B  a.  short  column. 

The  necessary  area  to  resist  the  compression,  Formula  (2)  is : 
3  2300  =  a.  750  or 

32300 

a  =  — — —  =  43  square  inches, 
/ou 

As  the  beam  is  16"  deep,  this  would  mean  an  additional  thickness 
Adding  this  to  the  7J"  already  found  to  be  necessary,  we  have 


or  the  beam  would  need  to  be,  say  10"  x  16". 

Size  of  Strut.  Now  the  size  of  B  C  must  be  made  sufficient  not 

to  crush  in  the  soft  underside  of  the  beam  at  B.     The  bearing  here 
would  be  across  the  fibres  of  the  beam,  and  we  find  (Table  IV)  that 

the  safe  compressive  stress  of  Georgia  pine  across  the  fibres  is  (—  \ 

=  200  pounds.     We  need  therefore  an  area 

25500 

a  =  -—  —  =  1 28  inches. 
200 

Ag  the  beam  is  only  10"  wide  the  strut  B  C  will  have  to  measure, 
128 
-JQ-  =  12f  inches  the  other  way,  or  we  will  say  it  could  be  10"  x  12". 

This  strut  itself  might  be  made  of  softer  wood  than  Georgia  pine,  say 
of  spruce ;  the  average  compression  on  it  is 


25500 
10.12 


=  212  pounds  per  square  inch. 


Now  spruce  will  stand  a  compression  on  end  (Table  IV)  of  (—  ) 

=  650  or,  even  if  spruce  is  used,  the  actual  strain  would  be  less  than 
one-third  of  the  safe  stress.  At  the  foot  of  the  strut  B  C  we  put  an 
iron  plate,  to  prevent  the  rod  from  crushing  in  the  wood.  The  rod 
itself  must  bear  on  the  plate  at  least 

25500 
IronShoe^o^       ___  —  2,1    square  inches,  or  it  would  crush  the 

iron  —  (12000  pounds  being  the  safe  resistance  of  wrought-iron  to 
crushing). 

Size  of  Tie  rod.        The  safe  tensional  stress  of  wro 'ght-iron   being 
1 2000  pounds  per  square  inch  (Table  IV),  we  have  the  necessary 
area  for  tie-rod  A  C  from  Formula  (6) 
34638  =  0.12000  or 

"=  12000  =  2'886  Square  inches- 

From  a  table  of  areas  we  find  that  we  should  require  a  rod  of 
1  15-16"  diameter,  or  say  a  2"  rod. 

The  area  of  a  2"  rod  being  =3, 14  square  inches  the  actual  ten- 
sional stress,  per  square  inch  on  the  rod,  will  be  only 

34638 
„         =  11312  pounds  per  square  inch. 

Size  of  Washer.  We  must  now  proportion  the  bearing  of  the  wash- 
er at  "A"  end  of  tie-rod.  The  amount  of  the  crushing  coming  on 
washer  will  be  whichever  of  the  two  strains  at  A,  (viz.  B  A  and 
A  C)  is  the  lesser,  or  B  A  in  our  case,  which  is  32300  pounds.  We 
must  therefore  have  area  enough  to  the  washer  not  to  crush  the  end 
of  beam  (or  along  its  fibres),  the  safe  resistance  of  which  we  already 

found  to  be :  (4=-)  =  750  pounds  per  squa  e  inch ;  we  need  there- 
fore. 

32300 

-— _  =  43  square  inches. 

The  washer  therefore  should  be  about 
6J"  by  6J" 


Upset  Screw-  e  end  of  the  rod  must  have  an  "upset"  screw- 

end'  end ;  that  is,  the  threads  are  raised  above  the  end  of 
rod  all  around,  so  that  the  area  at  the  bottom  of  sinkage,  between 
two  adjoining  threads,  is  still  equal  to  the  full  area  of  rod.  If  the 
end  is  not  "  upset "  the  whole  rod  will  have  to  be  made  enough  larger 
to  allow  for  the  cutting  of  the  screw  at  the  end,  which  would  be  a 
wilful  extravagance. 

It  is -unnecessary  to  calculate  the  size  of  nuts,  heads,  threads,  etc., 
as,  if  these  are  made  the  regulation  sizes,  they  are  more  than  amply 
Central  Swivel.  strong.  It  should  be  remarked  here  that  in  all 
trussed  beams,  if  there  is  not  a  central  swivel,  for  tightening  the  rod, 
that  there  should  be  a  nut  at  each  end  of  the  rod ;  and  not  a  head  at 
one  end  and  a  nut  at  the  other.  Otherwise  in  tightening  the  rod 
from  one  side  only  it  is  apt  to  tip  the  strut  or  crush  it  into  the  beam 
on  side  being  tightened.  We  must  still  however  calculate  the  verti- 
cal shearing  across  the  beam  at  the  supports,  which  we  know  equals 
the  reaction,  or  20400  pounds  at  each  end.  To  resist  this  we  have 
10"  x  16"=  160  square  inches,  less  3"  x  16",  cut  out  to  allow  rod 
end  to  pass,  or  say  112  square  inches  net,  of  Georgia  pine,  across  the 
grain;  and  as  (-1L  \  =  570  pounds  per  square  inch  (see  Table  IV); 

the  safe  vertical  shearing  stress  at  each  support  would  be  (Formula  7) 
112.570  =  63840  pounds  or  more  than  three  times  the 
Bearing  of  actual  strain.      Then,  too,  we  should  see  that  the 

earn,  bearing  of  beam  is  not  crushed.     It  bears  on  each  re- 
action 16  inches,  or  has  a  bearing  area=  16.10=  160  square  inches. 

for  Georgia  pine,  across  the  fibres,  Table  IV,  is 

=  200,  therefore  the  beam  will  bear  safely  at  each 
end 

1 60.200  =  32000  pounds  or  about  one-half  more  than  the 
reaction.     There  will  be  no  horizontal  shearing,  of  course,  except  in 
that  part  of  beam  under  transverse  strain,  and  this  certainly  cannot 
amount  to  much.     The  beam  is  therefore  amply  safe. 
Deflection  ^ow  'et  us  calculate  the  deflection.     The  modulus 

of  Beam,  of  elasticity  for  Georgia  pine,  Table  IV  is : 
e=  1200000  pounds-inch.  The  average  compre.-sion  strain  in  A  F 
was  750  pounds  per  square  inch,  therefore  the  amount  of  contraction 
(Formula  88)1 


750.304 


=  0,19  inches. 


1200000' 

Now  A  D  (in  Fig.  146)  will  be  one-half  of  this,  or  0,095  inches. 

The  amount  of  elongation  in  A  C  will  be,  remembering  that  we 
found  the  average  stress  to  be  only  11312  pounds  per  square  inch, 
and  that  for  wrought-iron  e  =  27000000  (Formula  88) 


The  exact  length  of  A  C  (Fig.  147  should  be  163,41  not  163"). 
Therefore  D  F  (Fig.  146)  will  be 

D  F=  163,41  -f-  0,0682  =  163,4782" 

Z>  .8  =  152  —  0,19 

=  151",  81 
Therefore  (Fig.  146) 


—»^  163,4782'  —  151,81» 
=  60",  655 

Now  B  C  (Fig.  147)  would  be  =  60",  deducting  this  from  the  above 
we  should  have  a  deflection  =  0",  655. 

To  this  we  must  add  the  contraction  of  B  C.  The  strut  will  be 
less  than  60"  long,  say  about  50".  The  average  compressive  stress 
per  square  inch  we  found  =  212  pounds.  The  modulus  of  elasticity 
for  spruce,  Table  IV,  is  e  =  850000,  therefore  contraction  in  strut 
(Formula  88) 


Adding  this  to  the  above  we  should  have  the  total  deflection 
8  =  0,655  +  0,01  25 

=  0,6675 

This  would  be  the  amount  we  should  have  to  "  camber  "  up  the 
beam,  or  say  3-4". 


1  In  reality  the  contraction  of  A  F  would  b«  much  less,  as  the  part  figured  for 
transverse  strain  only  would  very  materially  help  to  resist  the  compression,  one 
half  of  it  being  in  tension. 


43 


164 


TJie   American   Architect  and  Building  News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No   641. 


The  safe  deflection  not  to  crack  plastering,  would  be  (Formula  28) 
S  =  L.  0,03 
=  24.0,03 
=  0,72 
So  that  our  trussed  beam  is  amply  stiff. 

Louis  DECOPPET  BERG. 

[To  be  continued.] 


[Contributors  are  requested  to  send  with  their  drawings  full  and 
adequate  descriptions  of  the  buildings,  including  a  statement  of  cost.'] 

THE   KENT    GATE,    QUEBEC,   CANADA. 
[Gelatine  print,  issued  only  with  the  Imperial  Edition.] 

THIS  view  is  taken  from  without  the  city  walls.  The  little  Jesuits' 
chapel  shows  on  the  left. 

UNITED    STATES   COURT-HOUSE    AND   POST-OFFICE,  SAN    ANTONIO, 
TEX.      MR.    W.   A.    FRERET,    SUPERVISING    ARCHITECT. 

OME  of  the  details  shown  here,  together  with  those  shown  in 
the  American  Architect  for  February  4th,  will  serve  to  illustrate 
some  parts  of  the  papers  in  United  States  Government  Building 
Practice. 

COMPETITIVE    DESIGN   FOR   THE    CITY-HALL,    MINNEAPOLIS,    MINN. 
MESSRS.   LONG   A   KEE8,    ARCHITECTS,    MINNEAPOLIS,    MINN. 

To  these  gentlemen  was  awarded  the  fourth  prize. 

SOME    OLD    BELLS. 

THESE  drawings  were  made  after  some  loose  sheets  of  the  Allye- 
meine  Bauzeitung  that  came  into  our  hands  by  chajice  some  time 
ago,  and  as  they  had  no  title,  we  have  not  been  able  to  identify  the 
bells. 


OLD  BELLS. 

WRITER  in  Chambers'  Journal  gives  an  ac- 
count of  some  old  bells  which  perhaps  will  in- 
terest the  readers  of  this  journal : 
The  origin  of  the  bell  is  not  known ;  but  a  know- 
ledge of  it  goes  back  to  a  period  beyond  the  written 
history  of  nations.  The  pious  Dionysius  Barsalabi, 
in  his  dissertation  on  bells,  asserts  that  he  finds  it  re- 
corded in  several  histories  that  Noah  received  a  com- 
[  mand  that  the  workmen  employed  in  building  the  Ark 
'  should  be  summoned  to  their  labor  by  the  strokes  of 
wood  on  a  bell ;  but  the  earliest  mention  of  them  in 
Scripture  is  found  in  Exodus  xxviii,  33-35,  and 
xxxix,  25,  when  speaking  of  the  necessary  ornaments  for  the  hem  of 
the  high-priest's  robe :  "And  beneath,  upon  the  hem  of  it,  thou  shalt 
make  pomegranates  of  blue  and  of  purple  and  of  scarlet,  round  about 
the  hem  thereof;  and  bells  of  gold  between  them  round  about;  a 
golden  bell  and  a  pomegranate  upon  the  hem  of  the  robe  round 
about.  And  it  shall  be  upon  Aaron  to  minister :  and  his  sound  shall 
be  heard  when  he  goeth  in  unto  the  holy  place  before  the  Lord,  and 
when  he  cometh  out,  that  he  die  not."  "  And  they  made  bells  of 
pure  gold,  and  put  the  bells  between  the  pomegranates  upon  the  hem 
of  the  robe."  It  is  possible  that  the  Assyrians  and  Egyptians  used 


bells  exclusively  in  religious  rites,  but  the  Greeks  and  Romans  em- 
ployed them  for  secular  as  well  as  for  religious  purposes.  At  the 
British  Museum  may  be  seen,  in  a  case  in  the  Nimroud  Gallery  of 
Assyrian  antiquities,  eighty  small  bronze  bells  with  iron  tongues, 
which  were  found  by  Layard  in  a  caldron  when  excavating  Nimroud 
—  the  ancient  Calah  of  Scripture  on  the  banks  of  the  Tigris,  the 
approximate  date  of  which  city  may  be  given  from  B.  c.  885  to  630. 
The  great  feasts  of  Osiris,  the  judge  of  the  dead,  were  inaugurated 


by  the  Egyptian  priests  with  the  ringing  of  hand-bells,  and  the 
Greek  priests  of  Cybele  followed  the  same  custom  when  they 
sacrificed  to  the  "  mother  of  a  hundred  gods."  Later,  they  were  in 
more  general  use  with  both  Greeks  and  Romans.  Pliny  refers  to  the 
sounding  of  a  bell  in  public  places  in  Athens  to  advertise  the  sale  of 
fish  —  doubtless  the  predecessor  of  the  modern  town-crier,  who  may 
still  be  heard  in  remote  country  districts.  The  Greek  sentries  in 
camps  and  garrisons,  when  they  heard  the  ringing  of  a  bell,  knew 
the  relief  guards  were  approaching,  and  were  bound  to  answer  the 
signal.  At  Rome  also  the  musical  tinkling  announcing  the  hour  for 
the  indulgence  of  the  luxurious  bath  was  welcomed  by  the  Romans, 
who  made  great  use  of  bells  as  personal  ornaments,  and  adopted 
them  for  emblems  on  their  triumphal  processional  cars. 

The  small  quadrangular  hand-bells,  made  of  thin  plates  of  ham- 
mered iron,  riveted  together  at  the  sides  and  bronzed  —  a  form 
represented  on  some  of  the  old  Irish  stone  crosses,  and  specimens  of 
which  are  in  the  British  and  Hibernian  museums  —  were  exclusively 
used  for  ecclesiastical  purposes.  Their  introduction  into  Britain  is 
generally  assigned  to  the  wandering  monks,  who  in  those  early  days 
of  Christianity  made  frequent  pilgrimages  to  Italy.  Ireland  possesses 
a  rich  collection  of  those  old  bells,  some  of  which,  with  a  traditional 
history,  are  preserved  in  costly  shrines,  embellished  with  gems.  In 
the  "Annals  of  the  Four  Masters"  mention  is  made  of  the  "bell  of 
St.  Patrick,"  which  has  ever  been  held  in  sjecial  veneration  because 
of  the  belief  that  it  was  the  property  of  that  saint.  For  generations 
this  relic  was  in  the  possession  of  the  Mulholland  family,  who  kept  it 
buried  in  order  to  insure  its  safety  during  the  disturbances  which  so 
frequently  troubled  their  country.  The  last  descendant  of  the  family  • 
bequeathed  the  treasure  and  the  secret  of  its  hiding-place  to  the  late 
Adam  McClean,  who,  on  searching,  duly  found  in  the  spot  indicated 
a  strong  oaken  box,  containing  the  old  bell,  enclosed  in  its  lovely 
shrine,  and  with  a  Bible  written  in  early  Irish  characters.  This  bell 
is  only  six  inches  high,  five  broad  and  four  deep ;  the  shrine  is  of 
beaten  brass,  covered  with  an  antique  design  of  gold  and  silver  filigree 
worked  in  complicated  convolutions  and  knots.  The  whole  is  pro- 
fusely studded  over  with  rock  crystals,  garnets  and  other  precious 
stones.  It  is  now  in  the  Royal  Irish  Academy  —  an  interesting 
collection  that  includes  the  almost  unique  "bell  of  Armagh,"  besides 
others,  rivals  in  age  and  beauty.  But  as  a  priceless  specimen  of  the 
skill  and  workmanship  of  those  early  days,  none  of  the  caskets  in 
which  each  bell  is  placed  equals  that  of  St.  Patrick.  Suppleme.itary 
to  these  small  bells,  used  in  the  services  of  the  church,  are  others  em- 
ployed for  the  administration  of  oaths,  which  oaths  were  considered 
essentially  binding  and  sacred.  Apart  from  the  veneration  felt  for 
these  bells,  superstition  sometimes  invested  them  with  peculiar 
powers,  like  the  "bell  of  St.  Columbia,"  for  example,  known  as  "Dia 
Uiagheltus"  (God's  vengeance),  which  the  taker  of  the 
oath  believed  could  inflict  on  a  perjurer  a  terrible  and 
indescribable  punishment.  Dr.  iieresford,  the  late 
Archbishop  of  Armagh,  had  four  very  curious  old  bells 
of  this  class.  The  venerable  prelate  purchased  them 
at  different  times  and  in  different  parts  of  Ireland  from 
peasants,  whose  reverence  for  their  sanctity  had  de- 
clined in  these  days  of  progress,  and  who,  fortunately, 
were  not  unwilling  to  part  with  things  to  them  com- 
paratively worthless,  but  above  all  price  to  a  collector. 

The  suspended  bell  is  a  recent  introduction  compared  with  the 
antiquity  of  the  hand-bell  used  in  heathen  as  in  Christian  times  in 
the  celebration  of  religious  rites.  The  development  of  the  heavy 
swinging  bell,  from  the  time  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  to  that  of  the  Nor- 
mans, must  have  been  tolerably  rapid,  when  the  great  sjze  and 
strength  of  the  belfries  built  by  the  latter  is  considered.  About  the 
middle  of  the  seventh  century,  in  the  reign  of  Egfrid,  Benedict, 
Abbot  of  Wearmouth  and  of  Jarrow-upon-Tyne,  presented  some 
large  bells  to  his  church ;  and  about  the  same  period  the  Venerable 
Bede  relates  how  the  nuns  of  St.  Hilda  at  Whitby,  were  summoned 
to  prayers  by  the  sound  of  bells.  At  the  present  day  very  few  bells 
are  left  bearing  authentic  dates  previous  to  the  Reformation, 
although  it  is  said  that  one  was  removed  from  the  belfry  of  an  old 
church  in  Cornwall,  inscribed  "Alfredux  Rex,"  which  must,  if  the  in- 
scription was  correct,  have  been  in  use  for  a  thousand  years. 


AMOT. — Like  most  important  Chinese  cities,  Amoy  is  encircled  by 
a  mighty  wall,  writes  Miss  Gordon  Gumming  in  the  St.  James's  Gazette. 
The  summit  of  these  walls  invariably  affords  the  most  agreeable  walk 
available  ;  it  is  the  only  place  which  is  never  crowded,  and  here  a  good 
general  view  of  the  city  can  be  obtained.  To  most  Europeans  the  walls 
of  Canton  afford  a  general  standard  of  size.  Those  of  Amoy  are  con- 
siderably smaller,  and  in  the  city  itself  two  features  conspicuous  in 
Canton  are  lacking ;  namely,  the  tall  pagodas  and  the  great  square  tow- 
"ers,  which  are  the  much-frequented  pawn-shops.  Descending  from  the 
walls  one  immediately  enters  a  labyrinth  of  dirty  streets  and  markets, 
with  bewildering  crowds  forever  hurrying  to  and  fro,  a  thousand  details 
of  interest  arresting  one's  attention  at  every  turn.  As  a  matter  of 
course,  any  one  wandering  through  a  Chinese  city  enters  temples  in- 
numerable; for  though,  for  by  far  the  most  part,  they  are  amazingly 
dirty,  there  are  generally  some  distinctive  features  of  interest  to  be 
noted.  Among  these  I  may  mention  a  fine  image  of  Kwan-yin,  the 
thousand-armed  Goddess  of  Mercy,  the  special  feature  being  that  the 
great  golden  halo  within  which  she  stands  is  (or  was)  formed  of 
a  thousand  golden  hands. 


44 


APRIL  7,  1888.] 


TJie   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


165 


UNITED  STATES  GOVERNMENT  BUILDING  PRAC- 
TICE.'—IX. 


I 


IRONWORK. 

N  this  chapter 
propose  to  ente 
into  the  manne 
of  construction 
the  ironwork  re 
quire.l  in  a  fireproo 
building,  also  th< 
assumed  loads  on  th 
several  floors  am 
roof,  and  the  gene 
ral  methods  used  in 
calculation  o 
strength  of  same. 

The  first-floo 
framing  is  usuall^ 
formed  of  iron  gir 
ders,  running  b  e 

Eagle  des  fbr  /Saf>oleor\  I.—  tween  piers  in  base- 

by  C.  /Mormarvd  —  after  Ra^uerveh    ment  built  for   thi 

purpose  and  also  as 

a  bearing  for  first-story  columns,  and  between  or  on  these,  girder 
the  iion  floor-beams  are  laid. 

Many  of  the  interior  walls  of  the  building  do  not  descend  below 
the  second-floor  level,  as  most  of  the  space  on  the  first  floor  i 
required  by  the  post-office  department,  and  only  such  interior  wall 
as  are  required  to  sufficiently  stiffen  the  lower  part  of  the  building 
have  their  origin  in  the  basement.  In  the  second  floor  are  the  prin 
cipal  girders  which  rest  on  cast-iron  columns,  and  on  these  girder 
are  built  the  interior  walls;  these  girders  also  support  the  second 
floor  beams. 

In  the  second  story  are  generally  placed  the  court-rooms,  and  ai 
they  are  always  much  larger  than  the  office-rooms,  it  is  customary  to 
make  them  two  stories  in  height,  partly  for  architectural  proportion 
and  also  for  acoustic  effect.  As  the  court-rooms  would  be  too  wid 
to  span  with  iron  beams  and  oftentimes  even  with  iron  girders,  the 
ceilings  are  supported  by  means  of  iron-trussed  partitions,  which 
divide  the  space  over  the  court-rooms  into  office-rooms,  but  when  the 
floor  over  the  court-room  is  the  attic  floor,  it  is  a  common  practice  tx> 
suspend  it  from  the  roof-trusses. 

The  floors  above  the  second  story  are  carried  by  means  of  iron 
beams  built  into  walls  at  their  respective  levels,  except  in  the  case 
of  court-room  ceilings  and  floors  over  them,  which  may  be  suspended 
by  either  of  the  methods  before  mentioned. 

In  many  large  public  buildings  there  is  a  glass  ceiling  in  the  cen- 
tral part  of  building  of  the  second  floor  level  to  light  the  post-office 
working-room ;  above  this  glass  ceiling  a  well  extends  to  the  top  of 
building,  which  is  covered  with  a  glazed  roof,  which  lights  the  inte- 
rior of  the  building  and  the  colonnade  at  each  floor. 

The  main  roof  is  constructed  of  I-beam  rafters  and  purlins ;  the 
roof  framing  is  supported  by  trusses  where  required,  and  on  the 
rafters  are  riveted  the  _|_  iron  purlins  to  support  the  2"  terra-cotta 
tiles. 

Dormers  are  usually  constructed  with  angle-iron  frames  and  cased 
with  galvanized  iron  of  suitable  pattern  to  agree  with  the  building. 
The  methods  of  construction  and  calculating  do  not  vary  materi 
ally  from  those  in  private  practice,  and  only  a  short,  general  synop- 
sis will  here  be  given.  The  loads  assumed  for  fireproof  floors, 
including  the  weight  of  construction,  are  as  follows : 

First  floor,  .         .         200  pounds  per  square  foot. 

Second  floor,  .  .  180  "  "  "  " 
All  other  floors,  .  .  160  "  "  "  " 
For  the  roof  (weight  of  construction  only)  measured 

on  slope,          .         .  50  pounds  per  square  foot. 

The  wind  is  calculated  with  the  normal  pressure  against  roof  sur- 
face as  given  by  accompanying  table  of  normal  pressures  for  differ- 
ent angles  with  the  horizon,  on  a  basis  of  fifty  pounds  pressure  per 
square  foot  against  a  plane  at  right  angles  to  its  direction. 


Angle. 

Normal  Pressure 
per  sq.  ft. 

Angle. 

Normal  Pressure 
per  sq.  ft. 

0° 

6ft  Ibs. 

45° 

45ft  Ibs. 

10 

12A  " 

50 

47ft  " 

15 

"A  " 

55 

49ft  « 

20 

22ft  " 

60 

50       " 

25 
30 

28ft  " 
33ft  " 

65 
70 

50ft  « 
51A  " 

35 

37ft  " 

80 

50ft  " 

40 

"ft  " 

90 

50       " 

Deck  roofs  and  flat  slopes  are  not  calculated  to  resist  wind-pres- 
sure, but  are  calculated  for  snow  —  from  five  pounds  to  twenty  pounds 
per  square  foot  of  roof  according  to  locality  of  building. 

For  floor-beams  uniformly  loaded,  the  tables  in  "  Carnegie's  Pocket 
Companion"  are  used,  taking  a  maximum  fibre  strain  of  12,000 
pounds  per  square  inch  (i.  e.  factor  of  4),  and  deflections  not  exceed- 


1  Continued  from  page  9.  No.  fi28. 


inS  A"  Pcr  lineal  foot  of  span  to  prevent  cracking  of  plaster  finish 
of  ceiling!  underneath. 

_  For  unequal  loading  the  girder  or  beam  is  calculated  and  the  nearest 
size  stronger  is  used,  in  case  there  is  not  one  of  exact  strength. 

As  an  example,  we  will  take  a  room  where  the  weight  Ts  equally 
distributed  at  160  pounds  to  the  square  foot.  The  size  of  the  room 
is  20'  x  30',  see  Figure  No.  87.  It  will  be  found  more  economical 
to  span  this  room  by  a  girder  across  the  centre  of  the  short  side  and 
frame  the  floor-beams  into  it  than  to  use  single  beams  spanning  the 
shorter  distance. 

The  l>cams  are  5'  0"  apart  and  15'  0"  span,  so  that  the  load  to  be 
carried  by  each  single  beam  =  5'  x  15'  x  160  pounds  per  square 
foot  =  12,000  pounds. 

f jo-.- 


.i. 


By  reference  to  tables 
we  find  that  a  9"  I- 
beam  weighing  70 
pounds  per  yard  will 
carry  11,580  pounds 
equally  distributed,  a 
little  less  than  the  load, 
so  taking  the  next  size 
stronger,  we  use  a  10" 
I-beam  99  pounds  per 
yard,  which  will  carry 
16,000  pounds  equally 
distributed.  We  now 
take  the  girder :  the 
load  on  it  =  20'  x  15' 
x  160  pounds  per 
We  find  from  the 


fig.  37. 

square  foot  =  48,000  pounds  with  a  20'  span.  .._  . 

tables  that  one  15"  I-beam  weighing  150  pounds  per  yard  will  carry 
28,240  pounds ;  using  two  such  beams  side  by  side,  the  girder  is 
equal  to  28,240  pounds  x  2  =  57,480  pounds,  which  is  in  excess  of 
the  load. 

The  load  on  the  girder  is  assumed  to  be  evenly  distributed, 
because  by  calculation  it  is  proved  that  it  is  quite  safe  to  use  tables 
of_  uniformly-loaded  beams  when  the  loads  are  equal  and  are  trans- 
mitted at  points  equidistant  on  the  girder,  though  several  feet  apart. 
The  two  beams  composing  the  girder  are  kept  the  proper  distance 
apart  by  cast-iron  separators  (marked  *  in  Figure  No.  37)  bolted 
through  flanges  of  beams,  one  separator  at  each  bearing  where  the 
shearing  force  on  webs  is  greatest  and  intermediate  separators 
spaced  not  over  6'  0"  apart. 

We  will  now  take  the  connections  for  this  framing,  allowing  7,500 
pounds  per  square  inch  shearing  strain  on  rivets,  and  15,000  pounds 
per  lineal  inch  bearing  value  on  a  pin  or  rivet  one  inch  in  diameter, 
which  may  be  found  also  in  "  Carnegie's  Pocket  Companion."  The 
load  on  each  beam  =  12,000  pounds ;  one-half  (6,000)  is  transmitted 
to  the  wall  and  the  other  half  is  carried  to  the  girder.  By  table  we 
find  one  rivet  £"  diameter  is  safe  for  2,300  pounds  single  shear, 
therefore 

Shear  on  one  end  of  beam   ) <  6000  Ibs. „  ,     . 

Shearing  value  of  one  rivet.  )       {  2300  Ibs.  ~    *  °  " 
ets  required. 

The  web  of  10"  I-beam  is  fty  thick  and  bearing  value  of  web  on 
one  |"  diameter  rivet  =  3,000  pounds,  therefore 

Load  on  one  end  of  beam  ) (  6000  Ibs.  > „ 

Bearing  value  of  web  on  1  rivet.  \       |  3000  Ibs.  )  ~ 


rivets    re- 


quired. 

By  using  a  standard  connection,  as  shown  in  foregoing  table,  we 
get  bearing  of  ft*ff"  web  on  three  |"  diameter  rivets  at  3,000  pounds 
each  =  9,000  pounds  and  double  shear  on  three  f"  rivets  =  single 
shear  on  six  rivets,  which  is  in  excess  of  what  is  required.  The 
angle  connections  being  each  f"  thick  =  J"  for  both,  which  gives 
an  excess  of  bearing  surface. 

For  bearings  of  beams  on  walls,  the  usual  practice  is  to  distribute 
the  loads  so  that  the  pressure  on  brickwork  shall  be  about  18,000 
sounds  per  square  foot.  At  all  beam  ends  that  transmit  not  over 
12,000  pounds  to  their  bearings  is  used  a  plate  8"  x  12",  the  beam 
bearing  the  full  width  of  8"  on  this  plate.  At  the  end  of  girder  in 
;he  foregoing  example,  there  are  24,000  pounds  bearing  on  each  end 
n  wall,  which  will  require  a  plate  16"  x  12".  Xo  girder  is  given 
ess  than  12"  length  of  bearing.  No  cast-iron  bearing-plate  under  a 
girder  is  less  than  2"  thick  and  often  greater.  For  example,  there 
s  a  box-girder,  one  end  of  which  transmits  144,000  pounds  to  a  wall 
2'  wide,  allowing  a  pressure  on  brickwork  of  18,000  pounds  per 
quare  foot,  a  bearing-plate  is  required  having  an  area  —  VAjW 
lounds  =  8  square  feet  =  2'  wide  x  4'  long.  As  the  girder  is  only 
8"  wide,  the  bearing-plate  extends  15"  on  each  side  of  girder,  and 
nless  made  sufficiently  strong  to  distribute  the  load,  it  will  break, 
treating  the  plate  as  an  inverted  beam  fixed  at  one  end  (i. «.,  in 
cntre,  with  a  projection  of  15''  on  each  side),  and  uniformly  loaded, 
re  find  weight  on  overhanging  portion  =  15"  x  24"  x  18,000 
rounds  per  square  foot  =  45,000  pounds,  and  45,000  pounds  x  7J", 
entre  of  gravity  or  lever-arm  of  bending  moment  =  337,500"  pounds 
ending  moment. 
Formula : 

Bending  Moment 
Depth" 


odulus  of  Rupture 
6 


45 


166 


The   American   Architect   and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  641. 


For  an  iron  plate  using  a  factor  of  8,  we  have. 


Depth2  = 


337500 
4000        24,, 


=  21  and  y/21=  4.5826",  or  will  require  a 


plate  say  5"  thick. 

For  a  granite  plate  same  factor  8,  we  have 

Depth2  =    33750°     —  -ITS  and  ^375"=  19.36".  or  will  require  a 


X  24" 
6 


plate  20"  thick. 


The  modulus  of  rupture  for  other  materials  may  be  found  in 
Trautwine. 

In  long  spans  and  heavy  loads  it  frequently  happens  that  rolled 
beams  have  not  enough  depth  for  proper  stiffness  and  are  not  as 
economical  as  plate  or  box  girders  built  of  plates  and  angles  riveted. 

Formulas  used  for  plate-girders  in  the  more  common  cases. 

I  =  span. 

x  =  distance  from  support  to  point  where  strain  is  required. 

</  =  depth  of  girder  between  centres  of  gravity  of  sections  of 
fl  anges. 

»«  =  uniformly-distributed  stationary  load  per  unit  of  length. 

W  =  concentrated  load  at  any  point. 

S.fl  —  strain  on  either  flange. 

S.  wb  =  strain  on  web. 

/,  x  and  d  must  be  all  in  the  same  terms. 

Tlie  weight  of  the  girder  itself  must  never  be  omitted  from  the 
calculations  of  the  strains. 

Girders  fixed  at  one  end  only. 

Case  1.  Load  (IF)  at  extremity. 

WI 
At  the  support  S.  f,  =  ~ 

At  the  support  S.  wb  =  W 

W 
At  any  other  point  S.Jl=-L  X  (l—x) 

At  any  point  S.  wb  =  W. 
Case  2.  Load  (10)  uniformly  distributed. 


At  the  support  S.  fl  = 


. 

At  the  support  S.  wb  =  w  X  I 
At  any  other  point  S.  fl=  ^  X  (I  X  z)2 

At  any  other  point  S.  a-J  =  w  X  (I  —  x) 
Girders  supported  (not  fixud)  at  both  ends. 


JVo  strain  in  flanges  at  points  of  support. 
Case  1.  Load  (W)  at  centre. 


At  the  centre  S.  fl  = 


Wl 
Td 


At  any  other  point  S.fl  = 


Wx 

ry 

At  any  other  point  S.wb=  — 
z 

Case  2.  Load  ( IF)  at  any  point,  dividing  girder  in  two  segments, 
a  =  the  shorter  and  b  the  longer. 


At  the  weight  S.  fl  = 
In  the  shorter  segment  S.fl  = 


IF  x  J> 
Id 


In  the  shorter  segment  S.  wb  =  W  j- 
In  the  longer  segment  S.fl  =  —j^ 


In  the  longer  segment  S.  wb  =  IF-j 

In  the  latter  case  x  must  always  be  measured  from  that  support 
which  is  on  the  same  side  of  W  as  the  point  where  the  strain  is 
required. 

The  sections  with  single  webs  are  more  economical  than  those  with 
double  webs  (box-girders),  but  the  latter  are  stiffer  laterally  and 
should  always  be  used  where  a  great  length  of  span  requires  a  wide 
top  flange. 

The  web  of  the  girder  must  be  made  of  such  thickness  that  there 
will  be  no  tendency  to  buckle,  and  that  the  vertical  shearing  stress 
per  square  inch  will  not  exceed  9,000  pounds.  Security  against 
buckling  is  attained  when  this  shearing  stress  does  not  exceed 

10000 
j   i       rfa     ,  in  which  d  represents  the  depth  of  web,  and  t  its  thick- 

r  3000 1" 

ness  in  inches.  The  web  should  also  be  stiffened  at  intervals  by 
vertical  angle-irons,  and  at  bearing  ends  of  girder,  webs  should  have 
reinforcing  plates  between  top  and  bottom  angle-irons. 

The  rivets  should  be  f"  unless  the  girder  is  light,  when  f"  diame- 
ter rivets  may  be  used ;  they  should  not  be  spaced  more  than  6" 
apart  and  should  be  closer  for  heavy  flanges,  but  in  all  cases  they 
should  not  be  spaced  farther  than  3"  or  4"  at  ends  for  a  length  not 
less  than  the  depth  of  the  girder. 

A  strain  of  10,000  pounds  per  square  inch  should  be  allowed  both 
for  tension  and  compression  on  the  gross  area  of  flanges. 

All  cast-iron  columns  are  made  with  a  factor-of-safety  of  8. 

The  general  formula  for  strength  is  *• 


10000 


-  X  area  in  inches 


—  12 


/  =  length  of  column  in  inches. 
d  =  least  diameter  in  inches. 
w  =  safe  load  in  tons. 

Complete  tables  of  columns  and  their  loads  may  be  found  in  the 
"Pocket  Companion"  of  the  Dearborn  Foundry  Company. 

Roof  trusses  are  designed  to  suit  shape  of  roof,  and  are  usually 
very  irregular  both  in  shape  and  loading. 

8000 
1  lie  strain  allowed  in  compression -^ 

members  for  square  ends  is  1  -f-  .,,„,.„  ng 

I  =  length  of  member  in  inches. 
R  =:  radius  of  gyration  in  inches. 

For  pin  and  square  bearings  substitute  30000  for  40000  and  for 
both  pin  bearings  use  20000. 

The  strains  allowed  in  tension  members  are  for  dead  loads : 
General  bracings,   12000  pounds  per  square  inch. 
Wind  "  14000       "         "         " 

Suspenders  from  8000  to  10000  pounds  per  square 

inch. 

Rivets  are  taken  at  7500  pounds  shearing  strain  and  at  15000 
pounds  bearing  value. 

Pins   are   taken    at  9000  pounds  shearing  strain,  14000  pounds 
bearing  value,  and  18000  pounds  bending.        J.  E.  BLACKWELL. 
LTo  be  continued.! 


THE  UNDERPINNING  OF  THE  GREAT  YARMOUTH 
TOWN  HALL. 

IN  1882  a  new  block  of  municipal  offices  and  law  courts  was  built  at 
Great  Yarmouth,  from  designs  by  Mr.  J.  Bond  Pearce,  of  Nor- 
wich. The  new  structure,  which  was  illustrated  in  Building  News 
on  the  27th  September,  1878,  measured  132  feet  by  108  feet  by  50  feet 
high,  to  the  parapet,  with  a  clock-tower  110  feet  high,  the  whole  weigh- 
ing about  5,000  tons,  costing  £30,000.  Its  architecture  was  modern 
Queen  Anne,  and  its  construction  was  red  brick  above  string-course, 
and  red  St.  Bees  stone  facing  at  base.  The  subsoil  consisted  of  a 
gravel  bank,  on  which  was  a  thickness  of  16  feet  to  18  feet  of  ooze, 
surmounted  by  about  five  feet  of  made  ground.  The  river  Yare  was 
70  feet  distant.  Tlie  structure  gave  early  indications  of  unequal  sub- 
sidence, and  in  1886  the  movement  apparently  approached  the  limit 


46 


APRIL  7,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


167 


of  safety,  and  steps  were  taken  to  underpin  that  portion  which  had 
settled  most  by  the  insertion  of  concrete  blocks  beneath  the  founda- 
tion ;  but  the  attempt  was  abandoned,  as  also  was  a  projiosal  to  widen 
the  foundations  by  the  insertion  of  wrought-iron  needles  through  the 
brickwork,  and  supporting  them  near  the  ground  on  concrete  blocks. 
By  November  last  the  west  front  of  the  building  had  sunk  over  a  foot 
at  its  ends  and  eight  inches  at  its  centre,  and  there  were  some  ugly 
fissures  in  it,  as  well  as  in  the  north  wall,  and  the  walls  and  tower 
were  leaning  towards  the  river.  The  Town  Council,  therefore,  re- 
solved to  demolish  the  western  portion  of  the  block  with  the  view  of 
its  being  re-erected  on  more  stable  foundations.  The  cost  of  pulling 
down  and  rebuilding  would  have  exceeded  double  the  sum  hitherto 
expended,  and  the  estimated  time  for  operations  was  three  years. 

A  scheme  was  then  submitted  to  the  Town  Council  by  Mr.  Duek- 
ham,  of  the  Millwall  Docks,  Engineer,  in  conjunction  with  Mr. 
James  E.  Teasdel,  Engineer  and  Surveyor,  of  Great  Yarmouth,  for 
preventing  the  further  subsidence  of  the  crippled  portion  of  the 
block,  and  lifting  the  portions  which  had  settled  most  to  the  level  of 
that  which  had  settled  least.  The  proposal  also  included  the 
straightening  of  the  bulged  walls.  The  prominent  features  of  this 
scheme  were:  First,  cast-iron  screw  cylinders  (those  as  adopted 
varied  from  two  feet  six  inches  to  three  feet  diameter)  placed  at  in- 
tervals of  about  nine  feet  inside  and  outside  the  main  walls,  and 
screwed  down  into  the  ballast,  then  filled  with  cement  concrete. 
Secondly,  double  lines  of  wrought-iron  girders  X I  on  top  of  the 
cylinders  parallel  with  the  walls.  Thirdly,  wrought-iron  needles  14 
feet  to  16  feet  long,  mostly  16  inches  by  6  inches  I  with  a  top  table 
12  inches  wide,  and  averaging  eight  feet  long,  equal  to  width  of  the 
concrete  under  brick  footings,  passed  through  under  this  concrete 
foundation  at  intervals  of  about  three  feet  six  inches,  and  suspended 
at  each  end  by  two  two-inch  bolts  from  the  before-mentioned  X X  gird- 
ers. The  insertion  of  these  needles  and  the  tightening  of  the  bolts, 
transferred  the  weight  of  the  building  from  the  unstable  ground  on 
to  the  screw-piles.  The  tower  weighing  700  tons  and  having  a  base 
20  feet  square,  was  to  be  somewhat  differently  treated.  Five  special 
cylinders  of  four  feet  six  inches  and  five  feet  diameter  were  proposed 
for  this  to  be  placed  as  the  adjacent  walls  permitted.  The  eastern 
and  western  walls  of  the  tower  —  i.  e.,  those  without  openings  on  the 
ground  floor  —  to  be  each  sandwiched  between  a  pair  of  massive  lat- 
tice girders  below  the  floor-level.  Needles  of  x  I  section  to  be  in- 
serted through  the  walls  and  through  the  girders,  and  bolted  up  to 
the  upper  member  by  four  two-inch  bolts  at  each  end.  This  pro- 
posal of  Messrs.  Duckham  and  Teasdel  was  adopted,  after  severe 
criticism  and  opposition,  and  a  contract  for  the  chief  portion  of  the 
work  was  entered  into  by  the  Town  Council  with  Mr.  Thos.  Gibson, 
of  Westminster  Chambers.  The  first  cylinder  was  pitched  at  the 
end  of  May  last,  and  the  work  was  completed  in  November.  The 
whole  western  portion  of  the  block  and  tower  are  supported  on  a 
gridiron  of  wrought-iron  joists,  suspended  from  the  girders  which  rest 
on  the  pile-tops.  The  suspending  bolts  have  nuts  at  each  end  and 
12  inches  of  thread;  by  a  systematic  and  gradual  screwing  up  of 
some  more  than  others,  the  low  parts  of  the  block  have  been  lifted 
to  the  higher  level,  the  unsightly  curves  have  been  taken  out  of  the 
building,  and  the  tower  set  upright  by  raising  its  lower  side.  The 
ground  has  been  cleared  to  a  depth  of  two  feet  under  the  old  con- 
crete, and  the  trenches  have  been  filled  in  with  cement  concrete, 
forming  one  mass,  encasing  the  pile-tops,  girders  and  bolts,  thus 
forming  a  new  foundation  seven  feet  wider  than  the  former  one,  irre- 
spective of  the  support  given  by  the  immovable  screw-piles.  The 
tower-girders  have  been  similarly  concreted.  The  replacing  of  the 
floors,  making  good  the  damaged  masonry  and  refitting  in  general 
are  now  being  proceeded  with.  The  damaged  places  in  walls  are  being 
cut  out  through  the  entire  thickness,  the  wall  and  windows  adjoin- 
ing the  tower  being  rebuilt  all  in  Portland  cement.  The  subsidence 
in  walls  of  main  hall  and  tower  during  these  operations  was  only 
nominal,  and  was  rectified  by  the  lifting  process.  What  settlement 
did  occur  during  the  progress  of  the  works  was  chiefly  due  to  the 
flooding  of  the  trenches  in  July  last,  and  was  at  once  stopped  by  the 
insertion  of  the  cross-girder  needles.  The  building  will  be  ready  for 
re-occupation  by  March  next,  the  time  thus  occupied  having  been 
ten  months,  against  the  contemplated  three  years.  The  total  cost  of 
the  work  and  its  contingencies  will  be  well  within  the  estimate, 
£8,250.  —  Building  News. 

FIRTH  OF  FORTH  BRIDGE. 

1TTIIE  construction  of  the  Forth  Bridge  has  reached  a  stage  at 
J l»  which  it  is  possible  to  estimate  with  some  degree  of  accuracy 
when  this  gigantic  engineering  work  will  be  completed ;  and  the 
time  given  by  the  resident  engineer  is  towards  the  end  of  next  year. 
Describing  the  progress  of  the  work,  the  Scotsman  says  that  the  huge 
"  straddle-legged  "  structures  which  are  reared  upon  the  three  large 
piers  were  practically  completed  before  the  end  of  the  year.  These 
rise  to  the  great  height  of  360  feet  above  high-water  mark,  and  form 
the  points  d'appui  or  structural  bases  from  which  the  "  cantilevers  " 
arc  being  built  out  on  either  side.  The  term  cantilevers  is  applied 
to  the  wing-shaped  structures  which  shoot  out  from  the  large  pier- 
towers  and  reach  towards  one  another  across  the  great  spaces  that 
have  to  be  spanned.  The  building  of  these  cantilevers  has  at  present 
reached  a  most  interesting  stage.  From  the  summit  of  the  towering- 
pier  structures,  arms  are  being  stretched  out  on  each  side  into  mid- 
air. These  are  each  composed  of  two  pairs  of  huge  booms,  con- 


structed on  the  girder  or  lattice-work  principle,  and  project  sheer 
above  the  waters,  which  are  full  300  feet  below.  There  is  not  the 
slightest  under-support ;  the  whole  fabric  relies  upon  the  strength  of 
the  ties  which  bind  it  to  the  top  of  the  cantilever  towers.  Incredible 
as  it  may  appear,  these  top-members  have  been  built  out  to  the  dis- 
tance of  125  feet,  and  seem  just  now  to  hang  in  a  precarious  position 
like  the  ash  upon  a  half-smoked  cigar.  It  is  in  this  part  of  their 
work  that  the  designers  and  contractors  claim  that  they  have 
vindicated  the  soundness  of  their  calculations.  It  was  in  the  spring- 
ing of  these  top-members  or  arms,  and  carrying  them  out  unsupported 
the  necessary  distance,  that  cavillers  and  detractors  of  the  scheme 
have  chiefly  propheized  failure. '  Yet  from  both  the  Queensferry  and 
Fife  pier-structures  these  aerial  platforms  have  liven  built  out,  two 
from  each,  without  a  hitch,  to  the  distance  of  125  feet.  They  now 
await  the  rearing  of  a  temporary  column  which  is  running  uji  from 
below,  and  which  will  form  a  support,  enabling  them  to  be  carried 
still  further  out  till  they  meet  the  first  permanent  supports  —  the 
cross  struts  or  tubes  which  spring  from  the  bases  of  the  pier-towers. 
The  lower  arms,  meantime,  have  been  proceeding  even  more  rapidly. 
These  arc  the  immense  tubes  which  protrude  outward  and  upward, 
and  along  which  the  pressure  exerted  by  the  weight  of  the  spans  is 
carried  back  to  the  stone  piers.  They  have  been  carried  out  to  the 
distance  of  fully  160  feet.  It  may  be  explained  here  that  the  top- 
arms,  which  are  constructed  on  the  girder  system,  arc  the  tension 
members  —  that  is  to  say,  are  subjected  to  a  pull  by  the  weight  of  the 
structure  which  they  support,  while  the  lower  arms,  which  are  of 
tubular  construction,  are  the  compression  members,  and  bear  the 
down  push,  as  it  were.  These  lower  tubes  have  been  built  out  in  ex- 
actly the  same  way  as  the  upper  ones  —  i.  e.,  without  any  support 
from  underneath.  The  workers  to-day  are  practically  standing  upon 
their  labors  of  yesterday.  As  soon  as  a  fresh  round  of  steel  plates  is 
added  to  the  tubes,  or  an  additional  girder  section  riveted  to  the 
top-arms,  the  platforms,  with  their  freight  of  men  and  cranes  and 
other  mechanical  appliances,  are  slid  out  correspondingly  and  a  new 
piece  of  work  is  begun,  which  again  when  completed  will  give  the 
necessary  standing  support  for  a  further  extension.  Indeed,  this  is 
characteristic  of  the  whole  of  the  work  at  the  bridge.  Everv  piece 
of  work  done  becomes  the  basis  of  another  advance. 

The  point,  however,  of  this  great  work  of  engineering  which  is  of 
preeminent  interest,  and  about  which  speculation  and  prophecy  are 
most  busied,  is  the  problem  of  bridging  over  the  two  great  spans  of 
1,710  feet  each,  which  extend  north  and  south  of  Inch  Garvie.  The 
largest  Tay  Bridge  spans  are  just  245  feet,  so  that  the  proposed 
spans  at  Queensferry  will  be  seven  times  as  long.  The  largest  span 
of  any  bridge  in  this  country  is  that  of  the  Britannia  Bridge,  over 
the  Menai  Strait,  which  is  460  feet  in  length,  or  somewhat  over  a 
quarter  of  the  size  of  the  Forth  Bridge  spans.  To  throw  a  single 
span  across  such  a  space  as  1,710  feet  would,  even  under  ordinary 
conditions,  be  a  tremendous  undertaking.  But  in  the  present  case 
the  difficulties  are  incalculably  enhanced,  because  the  whole  distance 
has  to  be  bridged  over  without  any  support  from  below.  The  water 
is  200  feet  deep  on  each  side  of  Inch  Garvie,  so  that  it  is  impossible 
to  found  temporary  scaffolding  or  piers  upon  the  sea-bottom,  nor  can 
any  device  of  pontoons  be  of  practicable  service.  The  problem, 
then,  comes  to  be  simply  this  —  to  join  the  Inch  Garvie  pier  with  the 
north  and  south  piers  (each  1,710  feet  apart)  by  simply  building 
straight  out  across  the  waters,  at  a  height  sufficient  to  allow  the 
largest  ships  to  pass  freely  up  and  down  the  Firth.  It  is  this  that 
explains  why  the  immense  "  straddle-legged  "  towers  which  are  the 
prominent  features  of  the  structure  just  now,  have  been  reared  so 
high  as  360  feet.  These  great  spans  will  never  be  entire  —  that  is, 
the  two  halves  of  each  will  never  be  joined.  Each  half  of  each  great 
span  will  hang  entirely  by  its  own  supports  on  the  main  piers. 
Owing  to  the  large  expansion  and  contraction  of  so  immense  a  struc- 
ture of  steel  under  changes  of  temperature,  it  would  endanger  the 
fabric  were  it  actually  joined.  At  a  certain  point  in  the  "central 
viaduct  (as  the  150-feet  high  girder  structure  along  whjch  the  train 
passes  is  called)  the  plates  will  overlap  each  other,  so  that  the 
shrinkage  caused  by  the  cold  may  not  make  a  gap,  nor  the  expansion 
in  the  hot  weather  cause  "  buckling."  The  extreme  variation  in  the 
length  of  the  1,710  feet  spans  under  alterations  of  temperature  may 
not  exceed  nine  inches,  but  provision  is  made  for  18  inches.  The 
weight  of  one  of  the  spans  will  be  about  16,000  tons.  The  heaviest 
possible  addition  from  trains  —  if  we  take  the  extreme  case  of  two 
coal-trains  standing  side  by  side  in  the  middle  of  the  span,  and 
weighing  400  tons  —  would  be  only  five  per  cent  of  the  dead  weight. 
In  this  way  it  is  estimated  that  under  a  passing  train  the  bridge  "will 
stand  as  stiff  and  firm  as  if  the  train  were  not  there.  Wind  is  a 
mucL  more  serious  calculation  than  the  trains,  as  with  the  maximum- 
pressure  (56  pounds  per  square  foot)  the  large  spans  be  subject  to 
an  additional  side-pressure  of  2,000  tons.  The  widest  margin,  how- 
ever,  has  been  left  in  all  cases. 


HTDBAULIC  ELEVATORS  IB  LONDON  HOTELS. —  One  of  the  colossal 
hotels  in  London  is  the  Metropole.  An  idea  of  its  size  is  given  by  the 
fact  of  its  having  seventeen  elevators.  These  "lifts"  are  worked  by 
water  from  the  mains  of  one  of  the  hydraulic- power^  companies,  of 
which  a  number  are  established  in  England.  By  them  water  under 
pressure  is  carried  beneath  the  streets  and  delivered  to  consumers  at 
fixed  rates  After  doing  the  work  required  of  it,  the  water  is  returned 

to  the  cen  ral  station  of  the  companies,  there  to  be  used  over  again  

Exchange.  . 


47 


1.68 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.       [Vou  XXIII.  —  No.  641. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    THE    MINUTES    OF    MEETING    OF    THE    CHICAGO 
CHAPTER,  AMERICAN  INSTITUTE  OF  ARCHITECTS,  March  22,  1888. 

Dinner  served  at  6  P.  M.,  at  conclusion  of  which,  business  meet- 
in".  Three  applications  for  membership  were  favorably  considered. 

"A  printed  extract  from  the  minutes  of  Feb.  2d  of  the  New  York 
Chapter,  relative  to  the  proposed  competition  for  the  Criminal 
Courts'  Building  in  that  city,  was  read.  By  a  unanimous  vote,  the 
Secretary  was  instructed  to  express  to  the  New  York  Chapter,  the 
hearty  concurrence  of  Chicago  Chapter  in  the  opinions  expressed  in 
those  minutes. 

A  communication  from  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  A.  I.  A.  relative 
to  the  claims  of  the  late  Thomas  U.  Walter  against  the  U.  S.  Govern- 
ment was  referred  to  a  Committee. 

James  R.  Willett,  Architect,  read  a  paper  on  "  Graphical  Statics 
applied  to  Architectural  Questions."  At  the  conclusion  of  the 
paper,  a  vote  of  thanks  was  moved  and  Mr.  Willett  was  begged  to 
furnish  copies  of  his  paper  for  publication.  Carried  unanimously. 

Adjourned. 

W.  A.  OTIS,  Secretary. 


CHANGES  NEAR  THE  SORBONNE,  PARIS.  —  The  builders,  or  rather  the 
demolishers  (the  Paris  correspondent  of  the  London  Daily  Telegraph 
says),  are  now  clearing  away  in  order  to  make  room  for  the  further 
extensions  to  the  new  wing  of  the  Sorbonne,  another  series  of  venerable 
shims.  Among  the  first  places  to  be  improved  off  the  face  of  the  local- 
ity are  the  Hue  Gerson  and  the  greater  part  of  the  Rue  Saint-Jacques. 
The  Rue  Gerson  is  famous  as  being  that  in  which  Pascal  penned  his 
Provinciles  almost  under  the  windows  of  the  stronghold  of  the  Jesuits. 
It  was  there  that  attempts  were  made  to  intimidate  Pascal  and  to  evict 
him  from  his  humble  tenement  after  his  writings  and  books  had  been 
burned  by  the  public  executioner.  In  the  Rue  Saint-Jacques  was  once 
the  famous  tavern  of  the  Cochon  Fidfele,  which  was  a  meeting-place 
and  a  museum  of  Bohemia.  There,  too,  were  the  hotel,  or  rather  the 
lodging-house  which  sheltered  Rousseau,  and  the  old  book-shop  of 
Mere  Mansut  whose  establishment  was  crammed  with  literary  wares 
and  had  neither  doors  nor  windows.  The  proprietress  used  to  sleep  on 
a  pile  of  books  and  perform  her  ablutions  in  the  street.  When  a  cus- 
tomer asked  for  a  volume  she  used  to  go  straight  to  the  place  where  it 
lay  amid  a  colossal  collection  of  other  tomes.  Students  were  some- 
times in  the  habit  of  making  bets  as  to  whether  or  not  Mere  Mansut 
would  be  able  to  find  within  a  given  time  some  old  volume  of  forgotten 
lore  which  reposed  amid  ancient  dust  in  the  dark  recesses  of  her  shop. 

FATHOMLESS  QUICKSANDS. — In  the  construction  of  the  Kansas  Pacific 
and  Atchison,  Topeka  and  Santa  Fe  Railroads,  says  the  Wichita  (Kan. ) 
Beacon  one  difficulty  of  frequent  occurrence  which  was  met  with  was 
the  quicksands.  From  western  Kansas  to  the  mountains,  quicksands 
are  to  be  found  in  nearly  every  stream,  no  matter  how  small,  and  to 
successfully  bridge  them  required  an  expenditure  out  of  all  proportion  to 
the  size  of  the  stream  to  be  crossed.  Pile-driving  was  tried  but  the 
longest  piles  disappeared  without  touching  bottom,  llien  falling  with 
earth  and  stone  was  attempted  and  met  with  equally  poor  success,  as 
the  quicksands  were  apparently  capable  of  swallowing  the  entire  Rocky 
Mountains  The  only  means  of  crossing  a  quicksand  was  found  to  be 
to  build  short  truss  bridges  across  them.  This  was  very  expensive,  but 
was  the  only  thing  to  be  done.  As  instance  of  the  practically  bottom- 
less nature  of  the  quicksands,  the  case  of  an  engine  that  ran  off  the 
track  at  River  Bend,  about  ninety  miles  from  Denver,  on  the  Kansas 
Pacific  may  be  cited.  The  engine,  a  large  freight,  fell  into  a  quicksand 
and  in  twenty  minutes  had  entirely  disappeared.  Within  two  days  the 
company  sent  out  a  gang  of  men  and  a  wrecking  tram  to  raise  the 
engine.  To  their  surprise  they  could  not  find  a  trace  of  it.  Careful 
search  was  made,  magnetized  rods  were  sunk  to  the  depth  of  sixty-five 
feet  but  no  engine  could  be  found.  It  had  sunk  beyond  human  ken, 
and 'from  that  day  to  this  has  never  been  discovered.  Cattle  and  horses 
are  frequently  lost,  the  only  animal  that  is  safe  being  a  mule.  No 
greater  instance  of  the  intelligence  of  this  much-maligned  quadruped 
can  be  cited  than  the  skill  and  care  with  which  it  avoids  all  unsound 
bottom  As  its  hoofs  are  much  smaller  and  narrower  than  those  of  a 
horse  it  would  mire  down  in  places  where  a  horse  could  safely  pass. 
Recognizing  this  fact,  whenever  a  mule  feels  the  ground  giving  way 
under  its  feet  it  draws  back  instantly  and  cannot  be  induced  to  advance 
a  step  although  a  whole  drove  of  horses  may  have  immediately  preceded. 


THE  conservative  course  which  railroad  builders,  managers,  investors, 
manufacturing  iuterests,  and  jobbing  and  retail  interests  throughout  the 
countrv  have  pursued  during  the  past  three  months  have  been  fruitful  of 
some  beneficial  results,  which  perhaps  are  not  apparent  on  the  surface. 
Traders  and  manufacturers  during  the  past  thirty  days  have  been  inclined 
to  complain  of  the  downward  tendency  in  prices  and  to  regard  this  tend- 
ency as  a  drawback,  and  attribute  it  to  tariff  agitations,  rather  than 


speculation,  over  railroad-building,  overbuying  and  too  long  credits.  The 
fact  of  the  matter  is  that  the  downward  tendency  is  due  entirely  to  different 
causes,  although  the  influences  named  may  have  had  some  effect.  The 
business  public  have  seemed  to  act  with  one  accord  during  the  past  winter 
restricting  purchases,  and,  to  some  extent,  in  restricting  manufacturing 
operations.  For  instance,  in  the  iron  trade,  the  output  has  declined  some 
20  ovens.  The  Pennsylvania  production  suffers  more  than  the  production  of 
auy  other  State.  In  the  South,  the  output  of  furnaces,  mills,  foundries, 
factories,  are  increasing.  Throughout  the  West  a  diversified  demand  for 
the  production  of  mills  and  furnaces  has  preserved  a  more  healthful  trade 
condition,  and  the  distribution  throughout  the  winter  has  been  somewhat 
larger,  per  capita,  than  in  the  East.  In  fact,  Pennsylvania  is  beginning  to 
suffer  in  the  iron  competition  with  the  West  and  South,  and  only  last  week, 
a  meeting  of  influential  iron-makers  was  held  for  the  purpose  of  begging 
favors  from  the  railroads  to  enable  them  to  hold  their  own  against  some 
new  sources  of  supply.  In  the  textile  industry,  the  downward  tendency 
has  been  restricted  to  products  of  wool,  while  in  cotton  goods  the  prices 
have  been  firm  throughout  the  season,  and  even  an  upward  tendency  is 
claimed  by  a  good  many  jobbers.  In  the  boot  and  shoe  industry  prices 
have  been  rtecdy  for  sometime  past,  but  taking  the  trade  one  thing  with 
another,  the  tendency  in  future  production  is  downward.  The  same 
applies  to  the  locomotive  works,  car-works,  general  machinery  work,  out- 
side of  valuable  patents  and  processes.  Wood-working  machinery  has  de- 
clined slightly,  owing  to  the  considerable  increase  in  mill  capacity.  The 
lumber  manufacturing  interests,  especially  in  the  northwest,  anticipate  a 
firmer  price-list  this  season,  but  sales  have  been  made  within  the  past  two 
weeks,  at  the  larger  Eastern  distributing  centres,  that  show  their  anticipa- 
tions are  doomed  to  disappointment.  We  find  this  tendency  in  nearly  all 
industries.  In  a  few  there  are  exceptional  influences  at  work  to  strengthen 
prices.  All  this  is  good  for  consumers.  The  upward  tendency  in  price 
would  naturally  restrict  enterprise,  while  the  downward  tendency  broadens 
the  foundation  for  increased  expenditures.  Within  the  past  few  days  a 
number  of  things  have  begun  to  bud,  to  show  that  the  downward  tendency 
alluded  to  has  about  exhausted  itself.  The  first  inquiry  of  the  business 
man  and  manufacturer  is,  will  prices  now  advance.  To  this,  it  is  safe  to 
make  a  positive  answer,  that  they  will  not.  The  reasons  are :  first,  the  depleted 
condition  of  orders  with  manufacturers  generally  will  make  them  all 
anxious  to  book  business  for  the  summer  and  fall.  Then,  again,  the  pro- 
ducing capacity  has  been  steadily  enlarged  since  last  autumn,  besides  com- 
petition is  more  active  now,  and  producers  of  all  kinds  of  products  and 
va  ue  are  naturally  anxious  to  secure  the  season's  business  before  their 
neighbors.  The  financial  question  bears  both  directly  and  indirectly  upon 
the  price  tendency.  The  business  interests  are  slow  to  observe  the  causes  at 
work  far  below  the  surface.  In  the  money  markets  while  there  has  been 
considerable  increase  of  currency,  through  bond-purchases,  the  actual 
volume  of  available  per  capita  circulation,  is  less  than  it  was  two  or  three 
years  ago,  as  measured  by  the  business  requirements.  One  evidence  of  this, 
is  in  the  great  increase  in  obligations  made.  Another  evidence  is  shown  in 
the  increasing  volume  of  money  borrowed  for  Western  farm,  manufacturing 
and  general  business  requirements.  Another  is  the  increasing  volume  of 
book-indebtedness  between  retailers,  jobbers  and  wholesalers.  There  are  a 
great  many  complaints  of  a  scarcity  of  money  in  small  trading  circles,  but 
no  immediate  harm  can  grow  out  of  this,  but  the  ultimate  possibilities  are 
that  the  declining  supply  of  money  will  be  felt  seriously  in  trade,  financial 
and  manufacturing  centres.  This  is  a  matter  to  which  the  law-making 
power  of  the  country  should  give  its  careful  attention,  but  to  all  appear- 
ances this  vital  question  will  remain  for  future  consideration. 

Building  operations  in  a  good  many  States  have  been  rather  sluggish. 
In  Philadelphia  the  volume  of  new  business  is  thirty  per  cent  less  than  at 
this  time  last  year.  In  Pittsburgh,  thirty-five  per  cent,  in  St.  Louis  twenty 
to  twenty-five  per  cent.  The  projected  work  in  a  number  of  cities  west  of 
the  Mississippi  River  is  even  larger  than  last  year,  although  there  are  pome 
doubts  as  to  whether  all  the  work  projected  will  be  undertaken  before  May 
1st.  By  that  time  an  intelligent  opinion  can  be  expressed.  One  encourag- 
ing feature  is  that  the  brick-makers  have  sold  all  their  stock,  and  have 
orders  for  more.  Another  is  that  manufacturers  of  building-hardware  have 
made  large  contract*  and  are  pretty  well  sold  up.  Nails  have  begun  to 
move  freely,  and  nail-makers  speak  well  of  the  coming  season.  Contracts 
for  shingles,  laths,  slate  and  a  variety  of  products  entering  into  building 
construction,  show  that  in  a  general  way  building  activity  will  not  fall 
much  behind  last  year  if  any,  especially  for  the  next  three  months.  The 
workmen,  except  in  a  few  cities  in  the  West,  are  returning  to  work  at  old 
prices,  and  there  will  be  no  labor  outbursts.  Indications  from  Eastern  and 
Western  mining  regions  show  that  the  production  of  coal  will  be  fully  as 
heavy  as  last  year.  Some  of  the  older  fields  will  produce  less,  but  the 
spread  of  industries  throughout  the  West  will  increase  the  demand  in  the 
new  quarters.  The  mines  of  the  South  will  increase  their  output  by  twenty- 
five  per  cent.  Mines  west  of  the  Mississippi  will  be  worked  to  their  fullest 
extent.  Makers  of  mining  machinery  are  authority  for  the  statement  that 
mining  operations  will  be  developed  on  a  large  scale.  1  he  company  pro- 
ducers are  quarrelling  among  themselves,  and  the  stronger  faction  is  crowd- 
ing the  weaker  to  the  wall  for  the  purpose  of  compelling  it  to  agree  to  an 
advance  of  $1.25  to  $1.50  per  ton  at  ovens.  Within  twelve  months  the  coke- 
making  capacity  will  be  increased  by  two  thousand  ovens.  There  will  be 
greater  diversification  of  industries  in  the  West  this  year  than  last,  stimu- 
lated largely  by  the  capital,  which  has  been  and  will  be  borrowed  for  the 
purpose  of  planting  new  industries  and  enterprises  along  the  line  of  the  new 
roads.  Railroad-building  prospects  at  this  time  are  far  from  favorable,  yet 
there  are  a  number  of  large  enterprise*  projected  within  the  past  thirty 
days.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  this  will  be  a  poor  railroad-building  year, 
though  no  one  can  speak  with  any  certainty.  There  is  an  abundance  of 
quotable  stock  for  investment,  and  there  is  certainly  much  room  for  addi- 
tional mileage,  and  the  only  safe  opinion  to  entertain  is  that  much  building 
will  be  done.  There  are  lots  of  small  roads  projected  between  the  Atlantic 
and  Mississippi  to  develop  good  traffic-producing  territory  in  those  States. 
Railroad-building  is  in  its  infancy  yet,  and  the  year  1888  will  develop  much 
more  enterprise  in  that  direction  than  is  now  apparent.  The  managers  of 
other  lines  contemplate  the  construction  of  factories,  and  two  or  three  roads 
are  now  entering  upon  that  work.  A  great  deal  of  railroad  material  will  be 
contracted  for  within  the  next  sixty  days.  Bridge-work  will  be  prosecuted 
on  an  extensive  scale.  Within  a  few  days  the  Pennsylvania  structural 
iron-makers  have  received  inquiries  for  several  very  large  lots  of  material. 
The  Standard  Oil  Company  will  build  a  two  hundred  mile  pipe  line,  and  if 
their  projected  operations  are  prosecuted,  the  mileage  this  year  will  reach 
between  seven  and  eight  hundred  miles.  Demand  will  come  from  unex- 
pected sources.  Those  who  were  pretending  to  predict  as  to  the  volume 
and  course  of  trade  this  season  are  astray  simply  because  of  the  difficulty  of 
forseeing  all  of  the  multitudinous  requirements  which  a  country  like  the 
United  States  is  constantly  creating. 


S.  J.  PARKHILL  &  Co.,  Printers,  Boston. 


48 


THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  AND  BUILDING  NEWS. 


VOL.  xxni. 


Copyright,  1888,  by  TICKHOB  A  COMPANY,  Boston,  MM*. 


No.  642, 


APRIL    14.    1888. 
Entered  at  the  Pott-Office  at  Boaton  as  Beoond-elaw  matter. 


SUMMARY :— 

The  Moving  of  the  Hotel  Brighton,  Coney  Island,  New  York. 

—  The  Death  of  Mrs.  Lucy  M.  Mitchell.  —The  Oversight  of 
the  1'oor  exercised  by  the"  English  Clergy.  — The  Crow-ling 
of  the  Poor  in  British  Tenements.  — Mr.  E.  J.  Tarver's  Plan 

for  a  Model  Theatre 189 

MKMOHIAI.S  TO  CAPTAIN  NATHAN  HALE.— I 171 

ANCIKNT  AND  MODERN.   LIGHT-HOUSES. — XIX 173 

ILLUSTRATIONS : — 

Houses  on  Commonwealth  Avenue,  Boston,  Mass.  —  Masonic 

Building,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  —  Light-house  in  Mobile  Bay,  Ala. 

—  (lute-lodge  for  the  Eastern  Point  Associates,  Gloucester, 
Mass.  —  House  for  F.  B.  Hart,  Esq.,  Minneapolis,  Minn. — 
Music-gallery  and  Buffet  in  the  same  House.  —  Design  fora 
Twenty-foot  House.  — Furniture  Designed  by  Mr.  Charles 

E.  Landcrkin,  Boston,  Mass. —  Belfry  at  Brieg,  Prussia.    .    .  175 

THE  AKT  OK  HOUSE-BUILDING.  — I 175 

SPONTANEOUS  COMBUSTION 177 

THE  LATK  FELIX  O.  C.  DARLKY 177 

MONUMENTAL  USK  OP-BRONZE  IN  JAPAN 178 

PROGRAMME    FOR   THE"  EXAMINATION    OF  CANDIDATES   FOR  THE 

ROTCII  TRAVELLING-SCHOLARSHIP 178 

COMMUNICATIONS  :  — 

Books. —  Who  pays  the  Consulting- Architect  ? 179 

NOTES  AND  CLIPPINGS •     •  179 

TRADE  SURVEYS ISO 


TIFIIE  New  York  Star  gives  an  amusing  description  of  the 
•'J.  moving  of  the  Brighton  Beach  Hotel,  at  Coney  Island, 
perhaps  the  largest  building  that  was  ever  moved  in  one 
piece,  even  in  this  country  of  migratory  houses.  The  hotel, 
which  is  a  wooden  structure,  very  nearly  five  hundred  feet 
long,  and  four  stories  high,  was  attacked  last  winter  by  a  severe 
storm,  which  washed  away  the  sand  around  it,  leaving  it  stand- 
ing in  the  water,  and  in  imminent  danger  of  destruction  in  case 
of  exposure  to  another  storm.  It  was  therefore  decided  to  move 
it  bodily  inland,  as  soon  as  the  weather  should  permit,  and  last 
week  the  operation  was  successfully  performed,  under  the 
direction  of  Mr.  D.  C.  Miller,  of  New  York.  The  first  step 
was  to  shut  out  the  water  by  a  coffer-dam  of  sheet-piling.  A 
forest  of  jack-screws  was  then  inserted  carefully  under  the 
building,  and  the  whole  mass  slowly  raised  about  eight  feet, 
and  securely  blocked.  Next,  twenty-four  lines  of  railroad 
track  were  constructed,  running  beneath  the  building,  and  ex- 
tending in  the  direction  of  its  proposed  movement.  After 
these  had  been  firmly  laid,  levelled  and  ballasted,  twenty-four 
trains,  comprising  one  hundred  and  twelve  flat-cars,  were  run 
under  the  hotel  by  a  spur-track  from  the  neighboring  line,  and 
heavy  timbers  were  placed  across  from  car  to  car,  so  as  to  form 
a  platform  capable  of  sustaining  the  building.  When  all  was 
ready,  the  jack-screws  were  slacked,  the  mass  lowered  upon  the 
platform,  and  the  blocks  taken  away.  All  was  then  ready  for 
the  journey.  The  motive  power  consisted  of  six  engines, 
attached  to  ropes,  with  sheaves  which  multiplied  the  force  of 
each  about  eight  times.  Naturally,  some  anxiety  was  felt  lest 
the  locomotives  should  not  start  together,  the  consequence  of 
which  would  be  the  serious  straining  of  the  structure,  but  by 
judicious  signalling,  and  careful  management  of  the  ropes,  the 
movement  was  made  quite  uniform,  and  it  was  transported  with 
perfect  success  some  two  hundred  feet  inland,  towards  a  new 
position  out  of  reach  of  the  sea.  So  gentle  was  the  movement, 
and  so  slight  the  strain,  that  neither  plastering  nor  window- 

flass  was  cracked,  and  the  furniture,  even   to  the  crockery, 
ept    its   place   without   harm.      The    whole   distance   to   be 
traversed  is  about  six  hundred  feet,  but  as  the  new  foundations 
are  not  quite  ready,  the  latter  part  of  the  trip  will  be  delayed 
a  few  days. 

TIT1IK  death  of  Mrs.  Lucy  Myers  Mitchell  ought  not  to  pass 

X    unnoticed  by  any  journal  which  interests  itself  in  the  fine 

arts.     Mrs.  Mitchell  was  born  in  Persia,  where  her  father, 

the  Rev.  Austin  II.  Wright,  was  missionary  to  the  Nestoriaus. 


She  was  sent  to  the  United  States  to  be  educated,  returning 
o  Persia  only  for  a  year's  visit  when  a  school-girl  of  nineteen. 
In  1867  she  was  married  to  an  artist  of  Morristown,  N.  J., 
Mr.  S.  S.  Mitchell.  The  greater  part  of  her  married  life  was 
spent  in  Europe,  and  at  Leipsic  she  became  interested  in 
Classic  archaeology  and  devoted  herself  to  the  study  of  this  sub- 
ect  in  Berlin,  London  and  Rome.  Her  first  notable  publica- 
,ion  was  a  series  of  articles  on  Greek  sculpture  in  the  Century 
Magazine,  which  attracted  great  attention,  and  soon  afterwards 
she  published  in  New  York  a  very  valuable  "  History  of  An- 
cient Sculpture,"  which  won  for  her  the  distinction  of  member- 
ship in  the  Imperial  Archaeologicul  Institute  of  Germany. 
While  engaged  in  the  collection  of  materials  for  a  second  book, 
ler  health  failed,  and,  after  a  long  illness,  she  died  in  Berlin 
in  March  last. 


IT  is  not  often  that  the  English  ^Church  Establishment  has  a 
good  word  said  for  it  in  this  country,  but  one  must  acknowl- 
edge that  there  is  something  valuable  in  the  idea  that  the 
official  clergy  of  a  parish  are  bound  to  look  out  for  the  tem- 
poral as  well  as  the  spiritual  welfare  of  all  the  inhabitants  of 
the  parish,  whether  they  belong  to  their  communion  or  not. 
Of  course,  we  do  not  claim  that  all  the  English  clergy  fulfil 
their  theoretical  duty  in  this  respect,  but  some  of  them  un- 
doubtedly try  to,  and  to  the  labors  of  such  men  as  Kingsley, 
Haweis  and  a  dozen  others  the  English  poor  owe  a  great  deal 
in  the  way  of  increased  bodily  comfort,  whether  their  souls, 
for  whose  sake  the  work  was  attempted,  have  profited  by  it  or 
not.  For  all  their  efforts,  however,  a  great  deal  remains  to  be 
done,  and  it  will  be  long  before  the  need  of  organized  and 
judicious  charity  ceases  to  exist.  According  to  some  statistics 
collected  by  Dr.  J.  B.  Russell,  of  Glasgow,  and  quoted  in  the 
British  Architect,  the  population  of  that  city  is  more  crowded 
than  that  of  any  city  in  the  United  Kingdom  except  Liverpool, 
being  eighty-four  to  the  acre,  while  Liverpool  has  one  hundred 
and  six.  Of  course,  like  all  British  towns,  a  considerable  part 
of  Glasgow  consists  of  detached  dwellings,  which  contain  a 
small  number  of  persons  to  an  acre  of  ground,  but  the  average 
is  kept  up  by  the  tenement-house  districts,  in  which  the  popula- 
tion is  three  hundred  and  forty-eight  to  the  acre,  or  about  one 
person  to  every  eleven  feet  square.  In  the  proportion  of  tene- 
ment-houses Glasgow  exceeds  even  New  York.  Out  of  every 
one  hundred  dwellings  occupied  by  a  family,  thirty  consist  of 
only  one  room ;  forty-four  have  two  rooms,  fourteen  have 
three,  and  only  twelve  have  more  than  three.  To  put  the  case 
in  a  different  way,  one-quarter  of  the  population  lives  in  tene- 
ments of  one  room,  and  seventy  per  cent  is  crowded  into  dwell- 
ings consisting  of  not  more  than  two  rooms ;  while  only  eight 
per  cent  of  the  inhabitants  live  in  houses  of  five  or  more  rooms. 


IT  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  in  the  districts  occupied  by 
the  small  tenements  the  well-known  evils  due  to  overcrowd- 
ing flourish.  Diseases  of  all  kinds,  particularly  those  of  the 
lu'igs,  and  children's  diseases,  carry  off  annually  about  five  per 
cent  of  the  dwellers  in  tenements,  while  the  yearly  mortality 
in  the  districts  with  large  houses  is  only  about  one-third  as 
great.  Of  little  children,  especially,  five  times  as  many,  in 
every  hundred,  die  annually  in  the  tenement-houses  as  in  the 
detached  mansions,  and  one-fourth  of  all  the  children  born 
there  do  not  live  to  the  end  of  their  first  year.  Every  month, 
on  an  average,  three  babies  are  smothered  by  having  their 
drunken  mothers  roll  over  upon  them,  and  no  small  proportion 
of  them  are  sent  out  of  the  world  by  having  whiskey  adminis- 
tered to  them.  Bad  as  the  present  state  of  things  is,  however, 
it  is  much  better  than  it  once  was.  Twenty  years  ago  the 
name  of  Glasgow  was  a  by-word  for  the  misery  and  degrada- 
tion of  its  inhabitants.  Out  of  a  population  of  less  than  four 
hundred  thousand,  one  hundred  and  forty-five  thousand,  or 
thirty-seven  per  cent,  lived  in  dwellings  of  one  apartment.  In 
some  districts  the  number  of  inhabitants,  crowded  in  huge  bar- 
racks on  dirty  and  crooked  alleys  or  "wynds,"  reached  one 
thousand  to  the  acre,  and  seven  out  of  every  hundred  died 
annually.  In  1867-68,  by  authority  of  Parliament,  the  city 
was  authorized  to  carry  out  extensive  improvements,  and,  at  a 
cost  of  about  two  million  dollars,  it  widened  and  extended 
streets,  demolished  the  worst  of  the  old  barracks,  and  brought 


170 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  JVeios.     [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  642. 


light  and  air  into  depths  where  disease  and  crime  had  been  for 
centuries  undisturbed.  At  present,  with  a  population  of  con- 
siderably more  than  half  a  million,  the  number  of  occupants 
of  single-room  dwellings  is  less  than  it  was  in  1861,  while 
more  people  live  in  flats  of  two  or  three  rooms  than  ever 
before.  This  in  itself  is  a  great  gain.  Where  the  young  girls 
of  a  family  are  compelled  to  sleep  in  the  same  room  with 
drunken  boys,  feminine  modesty  and  virtue  have  but  a  small 
chance,  and  without  these  there  is  not  much  to  be  hoped  for 
from  a  family  in  the  way  of  neatness,  economy  and  the  other 
domestic  graces.  That  these  should  be  able  to  exist  at  all,  as 
they  undoubtedly  do,  among  the  helpless  Glasgow  women,  as 
among  the  poor  women  of  all  other  large  cities,  is  an  honor  to 
the  sex,  and  persons  who  enjoy  a  considerable  share  of  the 
good  things  of  this  world  would  do  well  to  ask  themselves 
occasionally  how  steadfastly  they  would  be  capable  of  main- 
taining the  decent  habits  in  which  they  have  been  brought  up 
if  they  should  have  to  change  places  with  their  humble  sisters ; 
and  whether  they  ought  to  take  undiluted  pride  in  the  reflec- 
tion that  Providence  has  found  it  advisable  to  place  them 
where  they  will  have  only  rare  and  small  temptations  to  en- 
counter, and  has  chosen  to  show  as  nearly  all  the  examples  of 
heroic  self-sacrifice,  of  unflinching  courage  and  integrity,  and 
of  angelic  purity,  the  poorest  of  the  poor.  Notwithstanding 
the  sneers  of  the  persons  who  talk  about  the  uselessness  of  pro- 
viding improved  dwellings  for  people  who  prefer  crowding  and 
dirt,  there  is  no  question  that  for  the  sake  of  the  women  and 
children  the  law  should  give  no  choice  in  the  matter.  Nine- 
tenths  of  the  women  in  the  world,  however  warmly  they  may 
advocate  the  superior  economy  of  one-room  dwelling,  wish  to 
be  sometimes  by  themselves,  and  are  better  and  happier,  and 
more  useful,  for  enjoying  this  privilege ;  while  children  ought 
to  have  no  choice  at  all  in  the  matter  until  their  moral  sense 
has  been  sufficiently  developed  to  fortify  them  against  the 
corrupting  influences  of  overcrowding.  The  families  which 
can  be  virtuous  in  one  room  can  be  equally  so  in  two;  and 
many  can  be  so  in  two  which  could  not  in  one ;  and  to  that 
extent  the  public  authority  should  be  exerted.  From  Lon- 
don, Paris  and  New  York,  as  well  as  Glasgow,  the  report  of 
those  who  are  qualified  to  speak  on  the  subject  is  that  one- 
room  tenements  expose  their  occupants  to  moral  temptations 
and  degradation,  as  well  as  physical  influences  which  few  can 
wholly  withstand,  and  it  is  quite  time  that  they  were  taken 
vigorously  in  hand. 


T  TR.  E.  J.  TARVER,  an  English  architect  of  considerable 
1X1  distinction,  has  invented  and  patented  a  new  type  of  thea- 
tre construction  which  presents  many  points  of  consider- 
able professional  interest.  Unlike  the  plan  devised  by  Mr. 
Henry  Irving  and  Mr.  Alfred  Darbyshire,  which,  although 
'Veil  suited  for  entertaining  a  small  audience  in  comfort  and 
security,  requires  a  site  open  on  all  sides,  and  provides  but  one 
gallery,  Mr.  Tarver's  scheme  is  adapted  to  a  site  open  only  on 
one  side  and  includes  three  circles  or  galleries  in  addition  to 
the  pit,  or,  as  we  should  call  it,  the  parquet-circle.  Moreover, 
the  space  is  so  well  economized  that  with  an  area  exactly  the 
same  as  that  occupied  by  an  existing  London  theatre,  which 
seats  seven  hundred  and  sixty-six  persons,  Mr.  Tarver  accom- 
modates twelve  hundred  arid  fifty  persons  with  seats  remarka- 
bly well  arranged  for  seeing  and  hearing,  leaving  at  the  same 
time  ample  space  for  staircases,  vestibules,  foyer,  or  "  saloon  " 
as  he  calls  it,  parlors,  and  so  on.  The  general  idea  of  the 
arrangement,  as  Mr.  Tarver  frankly  says,  is  borrowed  from 
the  Roman  amphitheatre.  Every  architect  is  familiar  with  the 
plan  of  the  Coliseum,  for  instance,  in  which  the  space  under 
the  sloping  ranks  of  seats  is  occupied  by  corridors  and  stair- 
cases, the  number  of  corridors  diminishing  as  the  height  from 
the  ground  increases,  and  the  space  for  them  is  lessened  by  the 
setting  back  of  the  rows  of  seats.  It  will  be  remembered  also 
that  access  was  obtained  from  the  Roman  corridors  to  the  seats 
by  means  of  passages  cut  through  from  each  corridor  to  the 
front  row  of  seats  at  that  level,  so  that  the  spectators  reached 
their  places  by  coming  first  to  the  front  and  then  climbing  back 
from  this  point  to  the  seat  allotted  to  them  something  after  the 
method  still  in  use  in  travelling  circuses.  As  in  the  circuses, 
so  in  the  Roman  amphitheatres,  this  disposition  of  passage-ways 
lent  itself  admirably  to  the  rapid  reception  and  dispersion  of 
enormous  audiences,  and  Mr.  Tarver  has  adopted  this  principle 
as  the  basis  of  his  plan.  Entering  the  building  from  the  street, 


a  large  vestibule  first  presents  itself,  with  box-office  in  front, 
doors  to  the  first  circle  on  each  side  of  the  box-office,  and  at 
either  end  staircases  to  the  circle  above,  which  has  also  two 
separate  street  entrances.  The  staircases  to  the  upper  gallery, 
together  with  those  to  the  pit,  are  situated  outside  the  vestibule 
at  either  end,  and  are  reached  from  the  street  by  separate 
entrances.  This  arrangement  is  often  adopted  abroad,  to  keep 
the  rabble  who  occupy  the  cheap  seats  in  the  pits  and  gallery 
from  mixing  in  the  vestibule  with  the  people  on  their  way  to 
the  better  parts  of  the  house,  and  Mr.  Tarver  accepts  it,  not 
only  from  this  motive,  but  as  an  important  part  of  his  plan  for 
avoiding  crowding  and  confusion  in  case  of  tire. 


TTFHE  second  circle  extends  back  over  the  box-office  and  other 
\j  dependencies,  so  that,  although  it  has  only  a  balcony  front, 
extending  by  means  of  cantilevers  a  short  distance  over 
the  circle  below,  and  requiring  no  columns  to  support  it,  it 
gives  a  large  number  of  seats  admirably  situated  for  seeing  and 
hearing,  besides  leaving  room  for  the  "  saloon,"  with  ladies' 
parlor  at  one  end  and  gentlemen's  room  at  the  other,  between 
it  and  the  front  wall.  Over  this,  arranged  in  the  same  way, 
is  the  gallery,  which  extends  to  the  street  wall.  The  disposi- 
tion of  successively-retreating  circles  must  give  the  theatre  an 
aspect  of  openness  and  lightness  very  different  from  that  of 
ordinary  theatres,  in  which  all  the  devices  of  the  decorator 
need  to  be  employed  to  dissimulate  the  sombre  effect  caused  by 
the  zones  of  deep  shadow  under  the  various  galleries,  while  the 
approach  of  the  lower  seats  to  the  stage  is  very  advantageous 
both  for  seeing  and  hearing,  and  the  gallery  seats,  although 
farther  from  the  stage  than  any  others,  may  for  that  reason  be 
placed  on  a  grade  much  less  steep  than  usual,  and  are  conse- 
quently more  comfortable.  As  in  the  Roman  amphitheatres, 
the  staircases  from  below  deliver  the  persons  coming  in  near 
the  front  of  their  respective  galleries.  One  row  of  seats  is 
left  next  the  balcony  fronts,  but  behind  this  is  an  aisle  through 
which  the  new-comers  walk,  looking  at  the  ranges  of  seats 
above  them  until  they  see  their  own  number.  At  first  sight  it 
would  appear  that  the  passing  of  persons  arriving  late  in  front 
of  all  the  seats  in  their  circle  except  the  front  row  would  be  an 
annoyance  to  those  who  were  already  in  their  places,  but  by 
raising  the  seats  back  of  the  aisle,  all  those  behind  it  can  see 
over  the  heads  of  people  walking  in  it,  while  the  circumstance 
that  those  who  come  in  can  see  all  the  numbers  on  the  chairs 
at  a  glance  must  assist  greatly  in  getting  them  quickly  and 
quietly  seated  without  calling  in  the  aid  of  talkative  ushers  or 
other  guides.  Moreover,  in  case  of  fire,  the  occupants  of  each 
circle,  having  had  the  exit  pathway  in  front  of  them  all  the 
evening,  could  not  fail  to  start  in  the  right  direction  in  their 
rush  for  the  doors,  no  matter  what  panic  might  exist,  and,  hav- 
ing gained  the  aisle,  instead  of  converging  to  one  point,  as 
happens  where  a  single  staircase  gives  access  to  a  long  corri- 
dor, the  people  divide,  some  going  to  one  of  the  side  staircases 
and  the  others  to  the  other.  Once  arrived  at  the  stairway  they 
are  safe.  Each  stairway,  though  compact,  is  open  to  the  outer 
air  and  shut  off  by  heavy  walls  from  all  the  rest  of  the  theatre. 
Landings  are  frequent  and  the  turns  gradual,  and  a  frantic  rush 
or  a  blockade  of  any  portion  is  hardly  possible.  Although  a 
theatre  built  on  an  isolated  site,  with  many  entrances  and 
stairways  on  all  sides,  would  undoubtedly  be  safer  than  any 
building  which  could  be  erected  on  a  lot  hemmed  in  on  all 
except  the  street  side,  Mr.  Tarver's  plan  shows  that  one  even 
under  these  circumstances  can  be  made  much  safer  than  most 
of  those  now  in  use,  while  the  cleverness  with  which  he  has 
secured  this  result,  at  the  same  time  with  extraordinary  seat- 
ing capacity,  brilliancy  of  internal  effect,  perfect  acoustic  qual- 
ity and  convenience  for  seeing,  and  liberal  provision  for  acces- 
sory rooms,  shows,  to  our  mind,  the  success  with  which  such  a 
problem  can  be  solved  by  a  thoroughly-trained  architect  if  he 
is  allowed  to  manage  it  in  his  own  way.  Of  course  very  few 
architects  are  allowed,  in  designing  theatres,  to  depart  from  the 
stereotyped  arrangement  with  which  managers  and  actors  are 
familiar,  and  still  fewer,  if  they  were  permitted  to  do  so,  would 
bring  to  the  work  the  skill,  as  well  as  the  profound  study  of 
the  conditions  displayed  by  Mr.  Tarver,  but  after  the  remark- 
able merits  of  his  scheme  have  been  digested  by  future  theatre 
proprietors,  and,  we  may  hope,  utilized  by  adopting  his  plan, 
there  will  still  be  plenty  of  work  to  be  done  in  arranging 
details  for  different  conditions,  for  which  the  best  architectural 
talent  will  be  needed. 


APRIL  14,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building   News. 


171 


.ri. 


MEMORIALS  TO  CAPTAIN  NATHAN  HALE.  — I. 

IF   there  is  on  record  no  nobler  expression  of 
pure  patriotism,  than  the  quiet  words  uttered 
by   young  Captain  Nathan  Hale    a  moment 
before  his  life  went  out  on  the  gibbet  as  a  spy,  so, 
there  is  no  more  sorrowful  history  than  the  lack  of 
fitting  remembrance,   by  his  military  associates 
and  countrymen,   of   his   voluntary  and   heroic 
immolation  upon  the  altar  of  his  country. 

Hale  was  born  in  Coventry,  Connecticut,  June 
<•.  1755.  His  family  was  eminently  Puritan  in  its 
faith,  tastes,  and  manners.  All  accounts  agree 
that  Hale  himself  was  a  person  of  superior  char- 
acter and  attainments  in  all  respects.  He  was 
graduated  from  Yale  College,  in  1773,  and  was 
intended,  by  his  father,  for  the  ministry.  He 
taught  school  from  the  time  of  his  graduation 
until  the  news  of  the  battle  of  Lexington  arrived 
in  New  London,  Connecticut,  "where  Hale  was 
HII«  Monum«nt  >t  Coy-  then  teaching.  The  citizens  at  once  assembled 
•ntrv,  Conn.  H«nty  jn  town-meeting  and  passed  resolutions  in  favor 
Auitm,  Arcbiuct.  o^  resistance  to  the  mother  country.  Hale  was 
one  of  the  speakers  at  this  meeting,  and  in  his  address  he 
spoke  the  following  words  with  such  emphasis  and  eloquence 
that  thev  surprised  even  those  who  heard  them.  "Let  us 
march  immediately,  and  never  lay  down  our  arms  until  we  obtain 
our  independence."  It  is  believed  that  Hale  was  the  first  colonist 
to  use  this  word  "  independence"  as  the  ultimate  desire  of  those  who 
opposed  the  claims  of  Great  Britian.  He  immediately  enrolled  him- 
sell  as  a  volunteer  in  an  independent  company,  wrote  to  his  father 
that  "  a  sense  of  duty  urged  him  to  sacrifice  everything  for  his  coun- 
try," bade  farewell  to  his  pupils,  and  set  out  for  the  scene  of  action. 
Returning  soon  after  to  New  London,  he  joined,  as  lieutenant,  a 
company  belonging  to  a  State  regiment,  and  remained  there  until 
September,  when  his  regiment  marched  to  Boston.  In  January,  he 
was  commissioned  as  captain,  by  the  Continental  Congress,  and 
served  in  the  brigade  of  General  Spencer  around  Boston,  until  the 
following  April,  when  he  went  with  the  troops  under  General  Heath 
to  New  York.  While  in  the  vicinity  of  Boston  he  distinguished 
himself  as  a  military  student,  and  a  most  thorough  and  humane  dis- 
ciplinarian. His  own  company  became  a  model  for  others,  and  its 
excellence  was  noticed  with  commendations  by  his  superior  officers. 
When  in  November,  1775,  the  army  was  threatened  with  dissolution 
by  the  expiration  of  enlistments,  Hale  rendered  conspicuous  service ; 
he  cheered  General  Lee  and  other  officers  when  sadly  cast  down 
by  the  prospect,  and  going  around  in  person  to  thu  men  urged  them, 
by  every  patriotic  consideration  which  he  could  devise,  to  remain 
and  fight  the  battles  of  their  country.  Not  content  with  this,  he 
promised  his  own  company  his  personal  wages  if  they  would  remain, 
and  to  make  his  pledge  good  he  borrowed  money  on  the  credit  of  his 
own  advance  pay. 

When  in  New  York  he  had  but  one  opportunity  of  signalizing  him- 
self, before  the  event  which  brought  him  immortal  fame.  This  was 
the  capturing  of  a  British  sloop,  laden  with  supplies,  which  was 
anchored  in  the  East  River  under  the  protection  of  the  sixty-four 
gun  ship  "  Asia."  After  the  disastrous  battle  of  Long  Island  had 
been  fought,  August,  177fi,  the  American  troops,  filled  with  despair, 
retreated  to  the  island  of  New  York.  As  if  the  thunder  of  the 
British  arms  had  deafened  their  ears  to  the  solicitations  of  patriot- 
ism, the  militia  began  to  desert  by  companies  and  even  by  entire 
regiments;  of  those  that  remained,  fresh  as  they  were  from  the  work- 
shop and  the  field,  a  large  portion  were  impatient  of  restraint,  and 
clamorous  for  pay  —  one-fourth  of  them  were  on  the  sick-list,  one- 
third  were  without  tents.  They  had  clothes,  shoes  and  blankets 
only  for  a  summer  campaign,  and  winter  was  approaching,  food  and 
forage  were  difficult  to  obtain.  The  military-chest  was  entirely  empty 
of  money,  and  had  been  so  for  two  months.  In  positive  suffering 
from  want  of  supplies,  without  confidence,  without  subordination, 
importunate  in  complaints,  the  American  army — fourteen  thousand 
only  fit  for  duty  —  lay,  in  the  early  part  of  September,  1776,  stretched 
along  from  the  Battery  to  Kingsbridge,  detached,  agitated,  and  full 
of  gloom.  And  facing  them,  from  the  extreme  southern  point  of  Long 
Island  to  a  point  opposite  the  Heights  of  Harlem,  posted  at  all  avail- 
able places,  riding  in  ships  and  transports,  was  arranged  a  British 
army  of  not  less  than  twenty-five  thousand  men,  magnificently  equipped 
with  warlike  materials  of  every  kind,  under  the  command  of  able 
generals,  now  in  the  first  flush  of  victory,  and  there  for  the  special 
purpose  of  "  looking  down  and  forever  ending  the  opposition  of  the 
rebels." 

What  would  be  General  Howe's  next  step  was  a  question  of  in- 
finite importance  to  Washington  and  his  enfeebled  and  dispirited 
army :  of  a  dozen  projects  which  the  British  commander  might  at- 
tempt to  carry  out,  not  one  could  be  surmised  by  Washington,  nor 
could  he  procure  the  least  information.  And  yet,  the  fate  of  the 
American  army  depended  upon  the  possession  of  the  knowledge  of 
where  the  enemy  would  make  its  attack,  in  order  that  timely  prepara- 
tions could  be  made  to  repel  it.  Every  effort  was  made  by  the 
American  commander,  by  scouts  and  by  offered  bounties  to  British  de- 
serters, to  obtain  some  precise  information  of  the  enemy's  designs. 
But  all  in  vain.  It  was  the  policy  of  Howe  to  deceive,  and  thus  far 
he  had  succeeded. 


Some  one,  thought  Washington,  must  go  into  the  British  camp 
and  find  out  its  intentions,  or  the  American  army  was  lost,  and  he 
communicated  this  opinion  to  his  board  of  officers.  The  board  agreed 
fully  with  the  views  of  the  comniander-in-chief,  and  Colonel  Knowl- 
ton  was  instructed  to  select  some  coni|>etent  person  for  the  hazardous 
undertaking,  Of  the  character  of  this  undertaking,  Hon.  J.  M. 
Stuart,  in  his  "  Life  of  Hale,"  observes :  "  An  office  not  alone  hazardous. 
What  else  was  it?  To  appreciate  the  position  of  Hale,  it  is  necessary 
to  dwell  a  moment  upon  it.  It  was  an  office  also  ignominious.  In 
the  judgment  of  every  civilized  nation,  in  the  eye  of  all  national  law, 
the  use  of  spies  is  deemed  'a  clandestine  practise  and  deceit  in 
war.'  It  is  a  fraud  unworthy  of  an  open,  manly  enemy,  scarcely  re- 
deemed in  motive  by  any  exigency  of  danger,  and  pregnant  with  the 
worst  mischief  in  stimulating,  from  a  sense  of  betrayal,  the  vengeance 
of  the  enemy,  and  undermining  those  sentiments  of  honor,  which, 
like  dry  shoots  of  sunlight  upon  a  thunder-clouded  sky,  tend  to  soften 
the  blackness  of  war.  The  spy  is  the  companion  of  darkness.  He 
lurks,  he  hides,  or  if  he  moves  in  the  light,  ''  '-  behind  walls,  in  the 
shadows  of  trees,  in  the  loneliness  of  clefts,  under  the  cover  of  hills, 
in  the  gloom  of  ditches,  skulking  with  the  owl,  the  mole  or  the  Indian. 
Or  if  he  enters  the  camp  of  an  enemy,  he  insinuates  himself,  and 
winds  treacherously  into  confidence.  Caught,  his  sure  penalty  is  the 
halter.  '  Nathan  Palmer,  a  lieutenant  in  your  King's  service,'  wrote 
General  Putman.from  his  camp  at  Peakskill  to  Governor  Tyron,  '  was 
taken  in  my  camp  as  a  spy,  he  was  tried  as  a  spy,  and  you  may  rest 
assured,  Sir,  he  shall  be  hanged  as  a  spy.  P.  S.  Afternoon.  He  it 
hanged.'  This  pithy,  laconic  epistle,  communicating  the  fate  of  one 
tory  agent  of  the  sort«of  which  we  speak,  during  our  Revolution, 
only  too  truly  describes  the  quick  aversion,  particularly  of  soldiers, 
to  all  those  who  disguisedly  enter  a  military  camp  to  bear  off  its  secrets 
to  an  enemy,  and  the  speed  with  which  such  persons  pass  from  cap- 
ture to  the  gallows.  And  yet,  notwithstanding  all  this,  the  employ- 
ment of  a  spy  in  some  crisis  of  the  last  importance  is  not  judged 
unworthy  of  a  great  commander.  His  success  is  thought  most  meri- 
torious, and  is  followed,  if  not  preceded,  by  honors  and  rewards. 
Only  a  sovereign  may  not  ordinarily  command  the  service,  so  is  it 
deemed  disgraceful,  but  save  from  an  enemy's  subjects  he  may 
accept  it  when  voluntarily  offered,  'without  offence  to  honor  or 
justice.'" 

The  exigency  of  the  American  army  would  not  permit  the  em- 
ployment, in  the  service  proposed,  of  any  ordinary  soldier,  unpractised 
in  military  observation  and  without  skill  as  a  draughtsman,  least  of 
all  of  the  common  mercenary,  to  whom,  allured  by  the  hope  of 
large  reward,  such  tasks  are  usually  assigned.  Accurate  estimates 
of  the  numbers  of  the  enemy,  of  their  distribution,  of  the  form  and 
position  of  their  various  encampments,  of  their  marchings  and  counter- 
marchings,  of  their  concentration  at  one  point  or  another  of  the 
instruments  of  war,  but  more  than  all,  of  their  plan  of  attack,  as 
derived  from  the  open  report,  or  the  unguarded  whispers  in  camp  of 
officers  or  men  ;  estimates  of  all  these  things,  requiring  a  quick,  a  cool 
head,  a  practised  pencil,  military  science,  general  intelligence,  and 
pliable  address,  were  to  be  made. 

Colonel  Knowlton,  therefore,  made  a  personal  appeal  to  the  officers 
of  his  own  and  other  regiments,  assembled  for  the  purpose,  and  in 
the  name  of  Washington,  and  the  cause  of  their  country,  urged  them 
to  undertake  the  task.  It  was  too  irredeemably  humiliating  to  play 
the  spy;  an  officer  could  not  do  it:  all  declined.  The  colonel's  case 
seemed  hopeless.  ,  What  was  to  be  done  ?  How  could  he  face  his 
commander?  "Suddenly,  from  the  group  of  reluctant,  half-resent- 
ful officers,  at  the  moment  when  all  hope  for  the  enterprise  seemed 
lost,  and  the  heart  of  Knowlton,  saddened  with  the  thought  of  future 
misfortune,  was  fast  yielding  to  the  torture  of  disappointment,  there 
came  a  voice  with  the  painfully  thrilling,  yet  cheering  words  —  'I 
will  undertake  it!'  It  was  the  voice  of  Captain  Nathan  Hale.  He 
had  come  late  into  the  assembly  of  officers.  Scarcelv  yet  recovered 
from  a  severe  illness,  without  his  accustomed  strength  of  bodv,  yet 
firm  and  ardent  as  ever  of  soul,  he  volunteered  at  once,  reckless  of 
its  danger,  to  discharge  the  repudiated  trust.  His  fellow  officers 
urgently  remonstrated  against  his  decision,  by  every  argument  they 
could  bring  to  bear,  and  none  with  more  persistence  than  Captain, 
afterwards  General,  William  Hull,  who  was  Hale's  companion  in  col- 
lege, and  his  intimate  in  camp.  To  all  of  which  Hale  replied:  'I 
think  I  owe  to  my  country  the  accomplishment  of  an  object  so  im- 
portant, and  so  much  desired  by  the  commander  of  her  armies,  and 
I  know  no  other  mode  of  obtaining  the  information,  than  by  assum- 
ing a  disguise  and  passing  into  the  enemy's  camp.  I  am  fully  sensi- 
ble of  the  consequences  of  discovery  and  capture  in  such  a  situation. 
But  for  a  year  I  have  been  attached  to  the  army,  and  have  not  ren- 
dered any  material  service,  while  receiving  a  compensation  for  which 
I  make  no  return.  Yet  I  am  not  Influenced  by  the  expectation  of 
promotion  or  pecuniary  reward.  I  wish  to  be  useful,  and  every 
kind  of  service  necessary  for  the  public  good  becomes  honorable  by 
being  necessary.  If  the  exigencies  of  my  country  demand  a  peculiar 
service,  its  claims  to  the  performance  of  that  service  are  imperious.'  " 

Receiving,  as  it  is  affirmed,  from  the  commander-in-chief  in  person, 
particular  instructions,  and  a  general  order  upon  all  the  American 
sloops  or  other  vessels  in  the  Sound  to  convey  him  across  to  any  point 
upon  Long  Island  which  he  should  designate,  Hale,  about  the  middle 
of  September,  carrying  with  him  materials  for  a  disguise,  and  accom- 
panied by  Stephen  Hemstead,  a  trustworthy  soldier  of  his  own  cc  .- 
pany,  left  the  camp  at  Harlem  Heights  intending  to  cross  the  P-  und 
at  the  first  opportunity.  But  as  the  enemy's  vessels  were  cor  tantly 


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cruising  along  the  East  River  and  up  'the  Sound,  and  its  scouting  and 
foragin^  parties  lined  the  shore  of  Long  Island,  Hale  and  his  com- 
panion were  obliged  to  go  as  far  as  the  neighborhood  of  Norwalk, 
nearly  fifty  miles,  before  they  found  a  friendly  sloop  to.  carry  him 
across  to  the  opposite  shore.  Putting  on  the  costume  of  a  country 
schoolmaster,  and  bidding  his  comrade  to  await  his  return,  he  set  sail 
for  the  head  of  Huntington  Bay.  Although  he  was  familiar  with  the 
character  and  costume  of  a  schoolmaster,  and  could  appear  with  ease 
and  self  possession  in  this  disguise,  and  also  carried  with  him  his  col- 
lege diploma,  he  was  now  to  pass  into  a  locality  occupied  and  mostly 
controlled  by  the  British  and  their  abettors.  Crossing  the  Sound  he 
landed  at  a  point,  then  and  now  known  as  "the  Cedars."  Near  by 
stood  the  house  of  Widow  Rachel  Chichester,  or  "  Mother  Chich," 
wbo,  herself  a  royalist,  made  her  house  a  rendezvous  for  all  the  tories 
of  the  region.  Hale  passed  this  place  in  safety,  called  at  the  dwell- 
ing of  William  Johnson,  who  received  him  confidentially,  ate  a  hearty 
breakfast,  rested  a  few  hours  and  proceeded  on  his  way.  It  is  known 
that  Hale  was  successful  in  obtaining  the  desired  information,  that 

he  visited  safely  the  ene- 
my's camp,  studied  its 
fortifications,  and  re- 
turned to  "  the  Cedars  " 
early  in  the  morning  of 
the  twenty-first  of  Sep- 
tember, 1776.  Embold- 
ened no  doubt  by  his 
hitherto  good  fortune, 
auil  feeling  secure  in  his 
disguise  he  entered,  it  is 
affirmed,  the  tavern  of 
"  Mother  Chich."  Of  his 
arrest,  which  took  place 
an  hour  or  two  later, 
there  are  two  accounts. 

One  on  the  authority  of 
Doctor  Ray,  of  Hunting- 
ton,  Long  Island,  says 
that  while  Hale  was  sit- 
ting in  the  house  "a  man 
with  a  familiar  face  left 
the  room,"  and  very  soon 
after  Mother  Chich  sud- 
denly announced  to  her 
guests  that  a  strange  boat 
was  seen  approaching  the 
shore.  The  news  pro- 
duced constern  a  t  i  o  n 
among  the  loyalists,  and 
they  ran  away  as  fast  as 
they  could,  while  Hale 
concluded  that  it  was  the 
boat  intended  to  carry 
him  across  to  Norwalk 
where  he  had  left  Hemp- 
stead.  He  accordingly 
hastened  to  the  shore, 
Joan  of  Arc.  Fremiet,  Sculptor.  where  the  boat  had  al- 

ready struck,  and  before  he  could  retrace  his  steps,  he  saw  that  it 
contained  six  British  soldiers  with  their  muskets  pointed  at  him ;  he 
gave  himself  up  at  the  command  "  Surrender  or  die." 

The  man  with  the  familiar  face,  above  referred  to,  was  affirmed  to 
be  a  royalist  relative  of  Hale,  who,  recognizing  Hale  in  spite 
of  his  disguise,  notified  a  British  armed  vessel  that  was  lying 
around  the  point  and  out  of  sight  of  "  the  Cedars  "  and  which  sent 
a  boat-load  of  armed  men  to  capture  the  spy.  It  was  also  affirmed 
that  Hale  discovered  this  person  among  the  boat's  crew,  and  recog- 
nized him  as  a  relative,  Samuel  Hale,  a  royalist.  The  above  state- 
ment of  the  connection  of  Samuel  Hale  with  the  arrest  of  Nathan, 
was  denied  by  the  former.  There  was  also  a  report  exactly  opposite, 
in  1776-7,  to  the  effect  that  Samuel  Hale  "strove  earnestly  to  save 
his  cousin  Nathan." 

The  other  account  of  the  capture  is,  that  Hale  arrived  in  the 
vicinity  of  "Mother  Chich's  "  house  early  in  the  morning,  and  was 
on  the  watch  for  an  expected  boat  which  was  to  carry  him  across  the 
Sound ;  and  that  seeing  one  approach  the  shore,  he  walked  confidently 
towards  it,  supposing  it  to  be  of  a  friendly  character,  when  lo !  to 
his  utter  surprise,  as  it  struck  the  shore  she  proved  to  be  British. 
He  attempted  to  retrace  his  steps,  but  the  imperious  summons  to 
surrender,  and  the  levelled  muskets,  caused  him  to  stop.  Escape 
was  impossible.  He  turned,  gave  himself  up,  went  on  board  the 
boat,  and  was  transferred  to  the  vessel  above  mentioned  as  lying 
near  by.  It  was  a  guard-ship,  the  "  Halifax,"  Captain  Quarme,  sent 
there  to  protect  a  body  of  men  who  were  cutting  wood  for  the  British 
garrison  at  New  York. 

Captain  Quarme  suspected  that  Hale  was  a  spy,  and  his  suspicions 
proved  true,  for  on  searching  him  the  plans  and  memoranda  he  had 
made  were  found  in  his  shoes.  The  textual  explanations  were  written 
in  Latin.  Captain  Quarme  treated  Hale  with  kindness,  and  said  that 
he  regretted  '•  that  so  fine  a  fellow  had  fallen  into  his  power."  Hale 
was  at  once  sent  to  New  York,  in  one  of  the  boats  of  the  "  Halifax," 
—  arriving  there  in  the  midst  of  a  great  fire  that  consumed  nearly  five 
hu.  Jred  houses,  or  almost  one-third  of  the  city  —  and  was  conducted 


to  the  presence  of  General  Howe,  whose  headquarters  were  at  the 
mansion  of  James  Beekman,  at  present  the  corner  of  Fifty-First 
Street  and  First  Avenue.  There,  Hale  frankly  and  at  once  acknowl- 
edged his  mission,  confessed  himself  an  American  officer  and  a  spy, 
stated  his  success  as  such,  expressed  his  regret  that  his  hope  of  serv- 
ing his  country  was  now  cut  off,  and  calmly  awaited  the  decision  of 
his  judge.  That  decision  was  soon  made.  It  was  that  William 
Cunningham,  Provost  Marshal  of  the  Royal  army,  was  directed  "  to 
receive  into  his  custody  the  body  of  Nathan  Hale,  a  captain  in  the 
Rebel  army,  that  day  convicted  as  a  spy,  and  to  see  him  hung  by  the 
neck  until  dead,  tomorrow  morning  at  day-break." 

Where  Hale  spentnhe  night,  whether  at  the  headquarters  of  Gen- 
eral Howe,  or  those  of  the  Provost,  in  what  is  now  the  Hall  of  Records, 
is  not  positively  known.  It  is  only  known  that  he  was  seen  at  the 
latter  place  the  night  before  his  execution.  It  is  known  that  he  re- 
ceived the  usual  treatment,  the  cruelest,  meted  out  by  Cunningham 
to  all  his  unfortunate  prisoners.  All  authorities  agree  that  Cunning- 
ham, a  renegade  Irishman,  was  a  most  brutal  ruffian,  and  that  his 
acts  exceeded  the  worst  of  all  those  that  disgraced  the  British  forces 
during  the  war.  He  refused,  with  curses,  Hale's  request  for  per- 
mission to  write  to  his  family,  or  to  have  a  Bible.  The  young  lieu- 
tenant, however,  of  Hale's  guard  interfered  in  the  latter's  behalf,  and 
procured  him  the  privilege  of  writing.  As  the  morning  approached 
Cunningham  found  Hale  ready,  and  he  handed  to  the  former  the 
letters  he  had  written  to  his  family  and  to  his  betrothed.  Cunning- 
ham read  them,  and  furious  at  their  contents,  and  for  the  reason, 
afterward  given  by  himself,  "that  the  rebels  should  never  know  they 
had  a  man  who  could  die  with  such  firmness,"  tore  them  to  pieces, 
and  ordered  his  victim  to  begin  his  death  march. 

On  the  way  to  the  gallows  Hale  was  taunted  with  the  ignominy  of 
death  by  the  halter.  An  English  officer,  who  stood  near  the  cart  of 
execution,  remarked  that  "  This  was  a  fine  death  for  a  soldier." 
"  Sir,"  replied  Hale,  lifting  his  cap,  "  there  is  no  death  that  would 
not  be  rendered  noble  in  such  a  glorious  cause."  As  he  was  about 
to  be  pushed  from  the  ladder,  that  supported  him,  into  eternity. 
Cunningham  scoffingly  demanded  his  dying  speech  and  confession, 
Hale  exclaimed,  in  a  full,  clear,  distinct  voice,  as  the  immortal  testa- 
ment of  his  heroic  soul  to  the  world  he  was  leaving  — '  I  only  regret 
that  I  have  but  one  life  to  lose  for  my  country." 

Maddened  to  hear  an  expression  so  sublime,  from  the  lips  of  his 
victim,  and  to  witness  so  many  visible  signs  of  sympathy  for  him 
from  the  crowd,  Cunningham  instantlv  shouted,  "swin<*  the  rebel 
off!" 

It  is  not  known  exactly  when  Hale  was  hung  or  where  he  was 
buried,  but  it  is  believed  that  the  gallows  was  near  the  jail,  or  Hall 
of  Records  and  that  he  was  buried  near  by. 

The  news  of  his  death  was  conveyed  to  Washington,  by  Colonel 
Montaznar,  under  a  flag  of  truce,  and  through  the  hands  of  Alexander 
Hamilton.  How  Washington  felt  about  it  is  not  known.  Nor  is  it  known 
that  either  he,  or  any  of  Hale's  military  comrades,  or  friends,  commu- 
nicated the  awful  news  to  Hale's  family  or  uttered  a  word  of  sympathy 
or  condolence.  It  is  certain  that  for  a  long  time  his  family  did  not 
know  the  exact  date  of  his  death.  This  appears  all  the  more  sur- 
prising and  heartless,  because  soon  after,  when  the  British  spy, 
Andre,  was  taken,  there  was  a  general  commotion  in  the  army  to 
which  he  belonged,  a  lengthy  correspondence  between  Washington 
and  Howe,  and  a  great  deal  of  sympathy  shown  to  the  Briton,  by 
Americans  as  well  as  royalists.  Some  persons  have  attempted  to  ex- 
cuse the  silence  of  Washington,  and  Jhe  after  forgetfulness  of  Hale 
by  his  brother  officers.  But  the  sad  fact  remains,  it  was  the  beginning 
of  that  oblivion  which  claimed  Hale's  memory  as  its  own  from  the 
moment  of  his  capture. 

Neither  is  it  known  by  what -means  Hale's  parents  heard  of  his 
death.  When  the  news  did  reach  them,  "  it  almost  killed  his  father 
and  mother."  Hale's  servant,  Asher  Wright,  was  never  of  sound 
mind  after  the  death  of  his  master.  And  his  betrothed,  Alice  Adams, 
resolved  never  to  marry. 

An  American  officer,  writing  a  letter  from  Harlem,  in  September, 
1776,  which  was  published  in  the  Boston  Gazette  of  October  7, 
says,  "  One  Hale,  on  suspicion  of  being  a  spy,  was  taken  up  and 
dragged  without  ceremony  to  the  execution  post,  and  hur.g  up." 

The  gazetteers  of  the  day  made  little  more  than  the  most  meagre 
mention  of  him.  In  Spark's  "Life  of  Andre,"  there  are  a  few  para- 
graphs, and  a  few  in  Thompson's  "  History  of  Long  Island." 

Thirty-three  years  after  his  death,  a  brick  fort,  long  since  in  ruins, 
was  built  in  New  Haven  Harbor,  and  named  after  him.  A  simple 
rude  stone,  was  erected  by  the  side  of  his  father's  grave,  in  the  Con- 
gregational burying-ground  in  Coventry,  bearing  this  inscription  — 
"  Nathan  Hale,  Esq.,  a  Captain  in  the  Army  of  the  United  States, 
was  born  June  6,  1 755,  received  the  first  honors  of  Yale  College, 
Sept.;  1773,  and  resigned  his  life  a  sacrifice  to  his  country's  liberty 
at  New  York,  Sept.  22,  1776,  aged  22."  An  entry  was  also  made 
in  the  town  records  of  Coventry  by  his  brother,  Major  John  Hale, 
as  follows-—  "  Captain  Nathan  Hale  the  son  of  Deacon  Richard  Hale 
was  taken  in  the  city  of  New  York  by  the  Britons  and  executed  as 
a  spie  sometime  in  the  month  of  September,  A.  D.  1776." 

In  November,  1837,  the  citizens  of  Coventry  and  vicinity,  and 
many  in  Connecticut  who  cherished  the  memory  of  the  martyr,  united 
in  forming  the  "  Hale  Monument  Association,"  for  the  purpose  of 
erecting  a  cenotaph  to  his  memory.  Previous  to  this,  however,  Con- 
gress had  been  appealed  to  —  no  less  than  eight  successive  years  —  to, 
at  least,  assist  in  erecting  a  monument.  But  every  appeal  was  in 


APRIL  14,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


173 


vain.  It  could  erect  memorials  to  Montgomery,  Nash,  Mercer,  De- 
Kalb,  Gerry,  Brown,  and  others,  and  vote  farms  and  annuities  to  the 
i"i|it»rs  of  Andre",  but  not  a  dollar  to  remember  Hale.  It  could  vote 
Imsts,  and  swords,  and  medals  by  the  score,  but  Hale's  name  received 
no  welcome  echo. 

Tin-  Hale  Monument  Association  appealed  to  private  patriotism, 
and  depended  upon  individual  effort. 

Under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  J.  W.  Boynton,  the  secretary  of 
the  association,  private  subscriptions  were  obtained,  fairs  were  held, 
plays  were  written  and  acted,  musicales  were  given,  and  every  other 
device  practised  that  patriotic  love  could  contrive,  until  nearly  two 
thousand  dollars  were  raised.  The  State  gave  twelve  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars.  In  all  the  exertions  made  to  collect  this  amount  of 
money,  none  equalled  that  of  the  ladies  of  Coventry  and  Hartford. 
A  song  was  written  by  Mies  J.  Root,  of  Audover,  Connecticut, 
addressed  to  the  "  Daughter  of  Freedom,"  and  was  sung  by  the 
Coventry  Glee-Club  —  the  first  verse  ran  thus: 

• '  She  came  with  choicest  flowers 

To  deck  a  hero's  grave, 
To  shed  the  light  of  love  around 
The  memory  of  the  brave." 

A  drama  in  five  acts,  was  written  by  Mr.  David  Trumbull,  and 
exhibited  with  accompanying  tableaux  in  the  meeting-house  in 
South  Coventry. 

The  monument  was  completed  in  September,  1846,  at  a  cost  of 
three  thousand  seven  hundred  and  thirty-three  dollars  and  ninety- 
three  cents.  It  was  designed  by  Henry  Austin,  a  New  Haven 
architect,  and  built  under  the  supervision  of  Solomon  Williard.  It 
is  made  of  Quincy  granite,  and  is  forty  feet  high.  The  various  rail- 
roads, running  fforn  Quincy  to  Norwich,  Connecticut,  transported 
the  granite  free.  Mr.  Nathan  Hale,  of  Boston,  nephew  and  name- 
sake of  the  patriot  was  nobly  active  in  the  erection  of  the  monu- 
ment. 

The  inscription  consists  of  Hale's  name,  title,  date  of  birth  and 
death,  and  his  last  words. 

Hale's  fate  has  been  occasionally  mourned  by  the  Muse  of  Poetry 
and  the  pen  of  the  epitaph  writer.  A  beautiful  example  of  the 
latter  was  written  by  Mr.  George  Gibbs,  formerly  Librarian  of  the 
New  York  Historical  Society.  It  is  as  follows : 

"  Stranger  Beneath  this  Stone 
Lies  the  dust  of 

A  Spy 
who  perished  upon  the  Gibbet 

Yet 
the  Storied  marbles  of  the  Great 

The  Shrines  of  Heroes 
Entombed  not  one  more  worthy  of 

Honor 

than  Him  who  here 
Sleeps  his  last  sleep. 

Nations 

bow  with  reverence  before  the  dust 

of  him  who  dies 

a  glorious  Death 

urged  on  by  the  sound  of  the 

Trumpet 

and  the  shouts  of 

admiring  thousands 

But  what  reverence,  what  honor 

is  not  due  to  one 

who  for  his  country  encountered 

Even  an  infamous  death 

Soothed  by  no  sympathy 

animated  by  no  praise. 

In  1849,  two  chapters  of  the  Order  of  United  Americans  were  in- 
stituted and  named  after  Hale.  A  monument  was  also  proposed  to 
be  erected  by  some  citizens  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

In  1853,  at  the  centennial  meeting  of  the  Linonian  Society  of 
Yale,  of  which  Hale  was  a  member,  Francis  M.  Finch  read  a  poem 
on  Nathan  Hale.  This  is  the  first  verse  : 

To  drum-beat  and  heart-beat, 

A  soldier  passes  by ; 
There  is  color  on  his  cheek 

There  is  courage  in  his  eye ; 
Yet  to  drum-beat  and  heart-beat 

In  a  moment  he  must  die. 

Another : 

Neath  the  blue  morn,  the  sunny  morn, 

He  dies  upon  the  tree; 
And  he  mourns  that  he  can  lose 

But  one  life  for  Liberty; 
And  in  the  blue  morn,  the  sunny  morn 

His  spirit  wings  are  free. 

From  fame-leaf  and  angel-leaf, 

From  monument  and  urn, 
The  sad  of  earth,  the  glad  of  heaven, 

His  tragic  fate  shall  learn; 
And  on  fame-leaf  and  aneel-leaf 

The  name  of  Hale  shall  burn. 

In  1856,  the  Hon.  J.  W.  Stuart,  of  Hartford,  published  a  ''Life  of 
Hale  "  including  all  attainable  facts  concerning  him.  At  the  end  of 
the  volume  he  prints  more  than  forty  notices  of  his  book,  from  his- 
torians, scholars,  statesmen,  and  newspapers.  In  all  of  them  there 


The  last  verse : 


is  not  a  single  expression  of  enthusiasm,  not  a  phrase  of  inspiring 
appreciation,  not  a  word  of  awakening  of  what  Hale  really  was. 

Within  a  year  or    two 
Mr.    B.   J.    Lossing     has 
''  ~^>  published     a     book,     en- 

'   'if  titled   "The    Tii-o  Spies." 

Referring  to  the  Hart- 
ford project,  of  which  I 
shall  soon  speak,  he  very 
sensibly  recommended 
that  the  superb  epitaph 
by  Gibbs,  should  be  cut 
^  "P°n  the  pedestal. 

tr  L^>      The   late    IIon>    H>   <T- 

Raymond,  in  his  address, 

October  7,  1858,  at  the 
dedication  of  the  monu- 
ment to  commemorate  the 
capture  of  Andre1,  in 
Tarrytown,  N.  Y.,  paid 
Hale  a  beautiful  and  elo- 
quent tribute. 

"  The  loving  hearts  of 
Hale's  early  companions 
have  erected  a  neat  mon- 
ument to  his  memory  in 
his  native  town;  but  be- 
yond that  little  circle, 
where  stands  his  name 
recorded?  While  the 
Majesty  of  England  in 
the  person  of  her  Sover- 
eign, sent  an  embassy 
across  the  sea  to  solicit 
the  remains  of  Andre"  at 
the  hand  of  his  foes,  that 
they  might  be  enshrined 
in  that  sepulchre  where 
she  garners  the  relics  of 
her  mighty  and  renowned 
sons— 'splendid  in  their 

Sw.tt.rl.nd  r.e.lv.n(  .  wound.d  F,.nch  Soldl.r.      ^^  ^  pompous  ;„  ^ 

grave' — the  children  of  Washington  have  left  the  body  of 
Hale  to  sleep  in  its  unknown  tomb,  unhonored  by  any  outward  ob- 
servance, unmarked  by  memorial  stones.  Monody,  eulogy, —  monu- 
ments of  marble  and  of  brass,  and  of  letters  more  enduring  than  all, 
—  have  in  his  own  land  and  in  ours,  given  the  name  and  fate  of 
Andri  to  the  sorrowing  remembrance  of  all  time  to  come.  American 
genius  has  celebrated  his  praises,  has  sung  of  his  virtues  and  exalted 
to  heroic  heights  his  prayer,  manly  but  personal  to  himself,  for 
choice  in  the  manner  of  death, —  and  his  challenge  to  all  men  to  witness 
the  courage  with  which  he  met  his  fate.  But  where,  save  on  the  cold 
page  of  history,  stands  the  record  for  Hale  ?  Where  is  the  hymn 
that  speaks  to  immortality,  and  tells  of  the  added  brightness  and  en- 
hanced glory,  when  his  equal  soul  joined  its  noble  host?  And  where 
sleeps  the  Americanism  or  Americans,  that  their  hearts  are  not  stirred 
to  solemn  rapture  at  thought  of  the  sublime  love  of  country,  which 
buoyed  him  not  alone  '  above  fear  of  death,'  but  far  beyond  all 
thought  of  himself,  of  his  fate  and  his  fame,  or  of  anything  less  than 
his  country, —  and  which  shaped  his  dying  breath  into  the  sacred 
sentence  which  trembled  at  the  last  upon  his  quivering  lip  ?  " 

T.  H.  BARTLETT. 
[To  be  continued.! 


ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  LIGHT-HOUSES.1  — XIX. 

SKELETON  IRON   LIGHT-HOUSES,   CONTINUED. 

IN  1878  the  old  brick  tower 
at  Southwest  Pass,  Missis- 
sippi River,  built  in  1881, 
was  replaced  by  a  skeleton 
iron  structure.  The  old  tower 
was  in  a  dilapidated  condi- 
tion, had  sunk  several  feet 
into  the  soft  ground,  was 
three  or  four  from  the  perpen- 
dicular, and  its  light  was  of 
an  inferior  order  compared 
with  its  importance.  At  this 
place,  the  great  difficulty  was 
to  obtain  a  secure  foundation 
on  the  soft  and  treacherous 
alluvial  formation  of  the  Delta 
of  the  Mississippi.  The  plan  adopted  was  as  follows : 

The  foundation  is  octagonal  in  sha]>e  and  fifty-eight  feet  eight 
inches  lesser  diameter.  It  consists  first  of  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
five  square  piles  driven  four  feet  apart  to  a  deptli  of  thirty-three 
feet.  At  six  feet  below  the  tops  of  the  piles,  which  are  one  foot  below 
low  water,  a  horizontal  course  of  twelve-inch  square  timbers  are 
notched  into  them.  Below  the  timbers  a  mass  of  shell  concrete  two 

*  Continued  from  No.  036,  page  88. 


174 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News.     [VOL.  XXIII. — No.  642. 


feet  thick  is  rammed  about  the  piles,  and  on  the  timbers  rests  a  floor 
of  three-inch  plank.  Above  this  floor  are  a  second  and  third  course 
of  timbers  notched  into  the  piles  and  laid  at  right  angles  to  each 
other  and  diagonally  to  the  first  course.  A  mass  of  concrete  is 
forced  into  the  interstices  of  the  timbers  and  filled  up  to  a  height  of 


four  feet  above  the  third  tier,  bringing  the  top  of  the  foundation 
eighteen  inches  above  the  main  level  of  the  water.  The  superstruc- 
ture is  a  skeleton  iron  tower  composed  of  six  series  of  eight  cast-iron 
columns  placed  at  the  angles  of  an  octagon  and  strongly  braced  and 
tied  by  wrought-iron  rods.  On  the  sixth  series  stand  the  watch-room 
and  lantern,  access  to  which  is  gained  by  a  stairway  winding  round 
the  axis  of  the  tower  and  inclosed  in  a  wrought-iron  cylinder.  The 
keeper's  dwelling,  two-stories  high,  refets  on  the  first  series  of  columns. 

The  tallest  skeleton  tower  in  the  Light-House  Service  was  erected 
at  Hell  Gate,  Astoria,  N.  Y.,  in  1883-84.     It  is  two  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  high  and  was  intended  to  display  nine  electric  lights 
of  six  thousand  candle-power  each  to  illuminate  the  channel. 
Its  construction  is  sufficiently  well  shown  in  the  sketch.   With- 
in the   legs  of  the   structure  are  seen  the  engine  and  boiler 
house.     When   the  lamps   were   lighted   the  effect  was   very 
beautiful.      The  tower  was  invisible   and  the  lights  had  the 
appearance    of    an    iirmense    chandelier    suspended    in    the 
heavens  and  flooding  the  scene  with  their  brilliant  light. 

At  the  explosion  at  Flood  Rock  in  1885  advantage  was 
taken  of  this  tower  to  photograph  the  explosion  and  get  a 
plunging  view  on  the  rock. 

In  1886  this  light  was  discontinued,  as  the  pilots  complained 
that  it  was  so  brilliant  that  it  dazzled  their  eyes  and  prevented 
them  from  seeing  objects  beyond  the  light ;  also  that  the 
shadows  were  so  heavy  that  they  often  assumed  the  ap- 
pearance of  obstacles. 

SCREW-PILE    LIGHT-HOUSES. 


The  "  Bug  Light "  in  Boston  Harbor,  officially  known  as  "  The 
Narrows  Light,"  built  in  1856,  is  another  example  of  this  style. 
Fortunately  for  its  stability  the  shoal  on  which  it  was  erected  has  so 
changed  since  the  light  was  established  that  it  is  now  seldom  covered 
with  water  and  the  piles  have  been  spared  the  shock  of  floating  ice. 

On  the  east  side  of  the  areilged  channel  in  Mobile  Bay,  Ala.,  an 
hexagonal  screw-pile  structure  was  bulk  during  the  years  1884-85. 
The  bottom  is  soft  mud,  and  on  September  12,  1885,  when  the  light- 
house was  nearly  completed,  it  commenced  to  settle,  and  went  down 
bodily  seven  and  a  half  feet.  The  subsidence  was  so  nearly  equal 


As  previously  mentioned,  the  principle  of  the  screw- 
pile  was  invented  by  Alexander  Mitchell,  of  England. 
The  way  the  foundation  screw  is  made  is  shown  in  the 
accompanying  sketch.  The  screw  is  fastened  to  the  lower 
end  of  an  iron  pile  and  forced  down  by  turning  the  pile. 
It  is  sometimes  assisted  by  a  water-jet.  This  style  of 
foundation  is  especially  adapted  to  sandy  bottoms  under 
water,  but  in  my  opinion  iron-pile  structures  should  only 
be  used  in  southern  waters  where  they 
would  not  be  exposed  to  floating  ice. 

There  are  a  number  of  such  struct- 
ures in  Chesapeake  Bay,  and  the 
method  of  building  has  been  the  same 
in  each  case,  the  only  diiference  being 
in  the  number  of  piles  used,  the  bracing 
and  the  style  of  superstructures.  In 
several  cases  these  light-houses  have 
been  threatened  with  destruction  by  the 
ice,  and  it  has  been  necessary  to  pro- 
tect them  with  a  ring  of  rip-rap  placed 
at  such  a  distance  from  the  light-house 
that  it  would  act  as  an  ice-breaker. 

The  accompanying  sketches  show  several  of  these  structures.  The 
general  plan  of  all  is  a  one-story  dwelling  with  lantern  in  the  centre. 
Most  of  them  are  also  provided  with  fog-bells  rung  by  clock-work. 
The  projecting  piles,  shown  in  some,  partially  serve  the  purpose  of 
ice-breakers.  A  time-honored  joke  of  the  light-keepers  is  that  they 
have  fine  fishing  privileges  and  that  they  raise  all  their  own  vege- 
tables. 


on  each  column  that  the  inclination  of  the  structure  cannot  be 
detected  by  the  eye.  The  actual  difference  in  level  between  the 
extremes  at  the  top  of  the  foundation  series  is  between  three  and 
four  inches.  No  part  of  the  structure  was  strained  in  the  least.  In 
order  to  prevent  further  subsidence,  twelve  creosoted  piles  were 
driven  into  the  mud  alongside  of  the  structure  and  bolted  to  it.  They 
were  then  cut  off  at  about  the  water  level.  Since  then  the  light- 
house has  sunk  no  further. 

LIGHT-HOUSES    ON     THE    GREAT    LAKES. 

On  our  "  unsalted  seas,"  the  great  lakes,  light-houses  are  as  neces- 
sary as  on  our  sea-coasts ;  on  their  shores  timber  of  excellent  quality 
is  plentiful  and  cheap,  and  when  submerged  is  practically  indestructi- 
ble as  it  is  not  exposed  to  the  greedy  tooth  of  the  ship-worm  which 
so  soon  destroys  any  wooden  structures,  especially  in  our  southern 
waters  and  in  the  Pacific. 

Advantage  has  been  taken  of  this  by  army  engineers  in 
building  numerous  wooden  piers,  composed  of  cribs  filled  with 
stone,  in  their  harbor  improvements  ;  and  similar  plans  have 
been  adopted  in  making  the  foundations  for  light-houses  when 
the  latter  have  to  be  placed  in  the  water ;  an  excellent  type  of 
light-house  on  a  crib  foundation  is  the  one  built  in  the  mouth  of 
Detroit  River,  Mich.,  during  the  years  1884—85. 

The  Canadian  Government  had  maintained  a  light-ship  on 
Bar  Point  since  1875,  but  though  useful,  it  was  not  adequate  to 
the  needs  of  commerce.     It  could  be  seen  only  a  short  distance, 
its  lights  were  with  difficulty  distinguished  from  vessel  lights 
near  by,  its  location  was  of  little  service  as  a  guide  between  the 
difficult  shoals  at  the  entrance  to  the  river  inside  its  position, 
and  it  was  liable  to  be  driven  from  its  station  by  ice  or 
other  causes. 

Congress  made  appropriations  to  the  amount  of  $68,000 
in  the  years  1882-83  and  1885  for  establishing  a  light- 
house and  steam  fog-signal  at  or  near  the  mouth  of 
Detroit  River. 

The  site  was  so  selected  that  vessels  from   the   East- 
ward passing  Point  Pelee  and  sighting  the  light,  could 
steer  directly  for  it  and  clear  the  dangerous  shoal  marked 
by  the  light-ship ;  that  vessels  from  the  south-west  could 
use    it    as    a   range   with   the   Bois  Blanc    (Canadian) 
light  to   clear  the  long   spit  off   Point 
Mouill^e,  while  there  would  be  no  dan- 
gers  in  front  for  vessels  approaching 
from    any    intermediate     point;      and 
finally,  that  this  same  range  with  Bois 
Blanc  light  would  also  lead  through  the 
narrow   buoyed  channel  in  the   mouth 
of  the  river. 

Soundings  at  the  site  showed  that  the 
bottom  was  generally  quite  level  with  a 
uniform  depth  of  22  feet.  Borings  gave 
approximately  uniform  results,  the  first 
three  or  four  feet  being  composed  of 
hard  limestone,  gravel  and  sand,  very 
compact  and  difficult  to  penetrate, 
then  twelve  feet  of  soft  clay  and  fine  sand,  easily  penetrated,  and 
finally  underlying  the  whole  a  bed  of  tough,  hard  blue  clay,  very  dif- 
ficult to  bore.  'No  boulders  were  encountered. 

The  general  plan  of  the  foundation  is  a  crib  of  heavy  timbers  with 

a  tight  bottom,  this  crib  is  90  feet  long,  45  feet  wide  and  18  feet 

high,  thus  bringing  its  top  to  four  feet  below  high  water;  it  is  filled 

with  concrete  flush  to  its  top. 

This  crib  supports  a  pier  15  feet  high  of  cut-stone  masonry  backed 


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The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


175 


with  concrete,  the  foot  of  the  pier  is  nine  inches  back  from  the  edge 
of  the  crib. 

On  the  southern  end  of  the  pier  is  a  cast-iron  conical  tower  sur- 
mounted by  a  fourth-order  lantern ;  in  this  tower,  the  keepers  live. 

The  fog-signal  house,  containing  duplicate  steam  fog-signal  appa 
ratus,  is  built  of  heavy  framed  timber  covered  on  the  exterior  witli 
two  inch  planking  and  with  inch  boards  on 
the  inside,  the  space  between  is  filled  will 
mortar  made  of  lime  and  sawdust.  The 
roof  and  sides  are  covered  with  No.  18  cor- 
rugated iron,  and  the  interior  with  No.  26 
plain  sheet-iron. 

The  coal  cellar  is  underneath  the  fog-sig 
nal  house. 

Amherstburg,  Ontario,  was  the  most  con- 
venient point  at  which  to  build  the  crib,  ant 
permission  was  obtained  from  the  Governor- 
General  of  Canada  to  construct  the  crib 
there  and  to  introduce  the  necessary  tools 
materials,  etc.,  free  of  duty. 

Framing  the  crib  commenced  on  March 
19,  1884,  on  July  1  it  was  completed  and 
partly  filled  with  concrete  while  floating  at 
the  wharf,  on  July  3,  it  was  sunk  in  place, 
by  September  it  was  filled  with  concrete, 
on  November  21  the  last  course  of  cut  stone 
was  in  place  and  backed  with  concrete; 
work  was  then  suspended  for  the  season,  a 
temporary  shelter  was  built  and  two  men 
were  left  to  display  warning  lights  until  the 
close  of  navigation. 

During  the  filling  of  the  pier  the  settle- 
ment was  uneven,  and  at  the  close  of  the 
working  season  it  had  reached  nearly  16 
inches. 

It  was  therefore  decided  to  load  the  pier 
and  leave  it  loaded  during  the  winter  with  a 
much  greater  weight  than  it  would  ulti- 
mately have  to  stand.  For  this  purpose  550 
tons  of  rubble  stone  were  distributed  over 
the  pier  with  a  preponderance  on  the  higl 
side.  The  calculated  weight  to  be  borne 
ultimately  was  but  160  tons. 

The  settlement  continued  slowly  for  _ 
while  and  then  ceased ;  when  the  men  in  charge  of  the  lights  left 
it  was  18  inches,  the  pier  was  level  and  since  then  there  has  been  no 
change. 

Work  was  resumed  in  May,  1885,  the  pier  was  paved,  the  various 
structures  erected  and  the  station  entirely  completed  and  lighted  by 
August  20,  of  the  same  year. 

This  light-house  was  built  under  the  immediate  direction  of  Cap- 
tain C.  E.  L.  B.  Davis,  Corps  of  Engineers,  from  plans  prepared  by 
him. 

On  the  completion  of  this  light-house  the  Canadian  light-ship  at 
Bar  Point  was  removed  from  her  station. 
[To  be  continued.] 


Plan. 


Ba-atum. 


[  Contributors  are  requested  to  send  with   their  drawings  full  and 
adequate  descriptions  of  the  buildings,  including  a  statement  of  cost.'] 

HOUSES  ON  COMMONWEALTH  AVENUE,  BOSTON,  MASS.    MR.  CHARLES 

B.  ATWOOD,  ARCHITECT,  NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. 
[Gelatine  print,  issued  only  with  the  Imperial  Edition.] 

MASONIC    BUILDING,  PITTSBURGH,    PA.       MESSRS.    8HEPLEY,  RUTAN 
4    COOLIDGE,    ARCHITECTS,    BOSTON,    MASS. 

IIIS  design  was  accepted  by  the  Freemasons  in  a  recent  compe- 
tition. 

LIGHT-HOUSE    IN    MOBILE    BAY,    ALA. 

FOR   description  see   article   on   "  Ancient  and   Modern   Light- 
houses "  elsewhere  in  this  issue. 

GATE-LODGE  FOR  THE  EASTERN  POINT  ASSOCIATES,  GLOUCESTER, 
MASS.  MESSRS.  APPLETON  &  STEPHENSON,  ARCHITECTS,  BOSTON, 
MASS. 

HOUSE  FOR  F.  B.  HART,  ESQ.,  MINNEAPOLIS,  MINN.      MR.  L.  8.  BUF- 
F1NGTON,    ARCHITECT,    MINNEAPOLIS,    MINN. 

MUSIC-GALLERY  AND  BUFFET  IN  THE  SAME  HOUSE. 

DESIGN   FOR    A    TWENTY-FOOT  HOUSE.       MR.    F.  W.  BEALL,    ARCHI- 
TECT,  NEW   YORK,    N.    Y. 

FURNITURE    DESIGNED    BY   MR.  CHARLES    K.    LANDERKIN,    BOSTON, 

MASS. 

BELFRY   OF   THE   HOTEL    DE    VILLE,    BRIEO,    PRUSSIA. 


THE  ART  OF  HOUSE-BUILDING.  — I. 


Circular  CKaf)el-Cur\Quli- 
From    L'AFYT 


MJ.  BOUSSARD,  architect  and  officer  of  Public  Instruction, 
has  just  published  under  this  title1  at  the  Librairie  des  Im- 
*  primeries  reunies,  at  Paris,  a  book  which,  in  spite  of  its 
special  title,  has  a  general  interest.  It  treats  of  questions  which  not 
only  concern  those  who  wish  to  build  or  repair  houses,  but  questions 
of  health,  public  and  domestic  economy,  morality,  enjoyment,  security, 
and  everything  which  concerns  the  habitation,  and  ought  to  attract 
the  attention  of  the  public  authorities,  the  statesmen  and  the  legislators 
in  countries  where  private  initiative  is  powerless  to  undertake  new 
reforms  without  the  support  of  the  State.  One  may  say,  when,  the 
importance  of  this  question  is  recognized,  that  the  civil  power  of  a 
nation  always  gives  the  exact  measure  of  the  degree  of  civilization 
at  which  it  has  arrived,  and  that  a  people  has  only  such  dwellings  as 
it  deserves  through  the  knowledge  it  has  acquired  of  the  conditions 
which  conduce  to  healthy,  convenient  and  agreeable  habitations. 

The  author  maintains  here  a  thesis  which  may  be  discussed  and 
which  ought  to  be,  but  he  supports  it  with  some  brilliancy.     His  con- 
ception is  that  the  ideal  building  is  typified  in  the  Gallic  house  as  it 
existed  in  the  second  century,  and  to  justify  his  retrospective  enthus- 
iasm he  dedicates  his  book  to  Brennus,  conqueror  of  Rome.     But 
when  he  speaks  of  the  Gallic  house,  M.  Boussard  can  only  under- 
stand, and  does  really  understand,  the  Roman  house,  for  the  archi- 
tecture which  flourished  in  Francs  at  the  epoch  I  have  just  mentioned 
could  only  be,  and  in  fact  was,  a  fruit  of  Roman  importation  after 
the  conquest  of   Cassar.      In  the  train  of   the  conquerors,  Roman 
civilization  passed  into  Gaul,  and  there  manifested  itself  under  every 
form.     Already  in  the  reign  of  Augustus  there  was  held  at  Narbonne 
a  congress  to  determine  the  impost  and  the  manner  of  providing  in 
the  conquered    provinces  such  establishments  as   favored  progress, 
public  prosperity  and  civilization.     In  less  than  two  hundred  years 
Gaul  was  covered  with  flourishing  cities  and  splendid  architectural 
monuments,  of  which  only  rare  relics,  alas,  have  escaped  the  fury  of 
successive  invaders.      Road-making  had  reached  a  very  remarkable 
degree  of  perfection  ;  artistic  bronzes,  terra-cottas,  marbles,  paintings, 
frescos,  mosaics,  all  the  accessories  of   decoration,  were   scattered 
with  lavish  hand.     The  smallest  articles  of  household  use  which  have 
been  discovered  prove  that  the  artistic  taste  extended  to  the  most 
ordinary  needs  of  life.     But  at  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century  the 
invasions  of   the   barbarians  destroyed   this  world   that   had  been 
created  beyond  the  Alps  through  Roman  initiative.     Pillage,  murder, 
and  the  blind  rage  for  destruction  allowed  almost  nothing  to  remain.' 
The  implacable  and  raging  invaders  pushed  (everything  before  them, 
massacred  the  populace  and  razed  the  cities  in  such  fashion  that  on 
the  morrow  of  disaster  were  seen  rising  on  the  ruins  of  the  dese- 
crated palaces  the  huts  of  the  Visigoths,  the  Saxons  or  the  German?. 
A  new  architecture  was  substituted  for  the  old.     A  century  after- 
wards the  chiefs  of   the  victorious  tribes  began  to  build  chateaux 
about  which  were  grouped,  for  purposes  of  defence,  the  huts  of  the 
soldiers,  already  became  serfs  or  slaves.     The  new  society,  already 
on  the  road  to  dismemberment,  practised  all  the  vices  of  the  society 
t  had  deposed — slavery,  love  of  war  and  rapine — without  possessing 
any  of  the  better  qualities  of  Roman  civilization.      Then  began  a 


1 ''  L'  Art  dt  batir  »a  ifaiian  "  Librairie  del  Imprliueriet  r4 uuies,  Paris. 


176 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  642. 


long  period  of  barbarism,  in  the  course  of  which  disappeared  every 
tradition  of  intelligent  architecture.  The  dead  were  interred  in 
churches,  near  to  which  were  built  hospitals  for  the  sick.  The  arts 
of  heating  and  cleanliness  were  ignored.  The  exteriors  of  buildings 
were  embellished  to  satisfy  the  vanity  of  feudal  chiefs,  but  the  in- 
teriors lacked  comfort  and  healthful  arrangements.  Fourteen  cen- 
turies were  necessary  for  the  descendants  of  the  ancient  Gauls  to  per- 
ceive this  retrogression,  and  still  more  were  needed ;  the  teaching  of 
Viollet-le-Duc,  who'in  part  aimed  at  the  rehabilitation  of  the  architect- 
ural doctrines  of  antiquity,  and  he  was  not  very  popular  in  France. 

At  the  present  time  the  method  of  technical  instruction  is  far  from 
perfect.  The  French  Government  sends  young  artists  to  Rome  and 
to  Athens  ;  but  these  artists  ordinarily  undertake  to  study  the  monu- 
mental side  of  the  ancient  buildings,  to  draw  out  and  reconstruct 
their  outward  appearance.  One  never  sees  them  endeavoring  to  de- 
termine what  was  the  interior  arrangement  of  the  dwelling-house  in 
these  two  great  cities,  which  were  the  most  puissant  sources  of 
light  to  the  ancient  world. 

The  modern  house  in  France  is  only  a  carricature  of  a  house,  and 
the  author  draws  an  unflattering  sketch  of  it.  '•  What  profound 
ignorance,"  he  cries,  "  of  the  arts  of  building,  and  heating,  and  venti- 
lating and  decorating.  Wall-paper,  imitation  marble,  bad  painting,  — 
these  you  style  decoration;  foul  chutes  for  water-closets,  humidity 
in  every  room,  pure  air  nowhere,  —  this  is  your  hygiene;  unhealthful 
stoves,  fireplaces  that  smoke  and  do  not  heat  and  are  a  permanent 
peril,  furnaces  which  poison  you,  —  these  are  your  means  of  heating. 
Finally,  a  fair  fa9ade  in  stone  is  plastered  over  this  void,  and  befoi  e 
this  the  constructer  parades  his  ignorance."  "  It  is  time,"  he  con- 
tinues, "  to  rebel  against  this  system,  and  declare  war  on  typhus, 
diphtheria,  small-pox,  cholera  and  consumption,  which  are  the  con- 
sequences of  the  defective  arrangements  of  our  cities  and  of  our 
dwellings,  and  which,  in  truth,  were  unknown  to  the  Romans  and 
the  Gauls." 

To  justify  his  admiration  for  the  life  of  the  ancients,  M.  Boussard 
describes  in  the  first  part  of  his  book  the  arrangement  of  a  Gallic 
house.  In  the  first  place,  heating  was  managed  from  the  outside  by 
means  of  the  hypocaust.  The  space  under  the  lower  floor  was  un- 
occupied ;  piers  placed  a  short  distance  apart  supported  the  floor 
above ;  at  the  opposite  ends  were  two  openings  which  communicated 
with  fireplaces  placed  in  the  court-yard.  Flames  and  heat  passed 
along  the  underside  of  the  hypocaust  and  engendered  an  agreeable 
and  equal  heat.  There  was  no  smoke,  no  deoxygenation  of  the  air, 
none  of  the  phenomena  which  to-day  render  accidents  so  common. 
The  smoke  escaped  by  vertical  flues  wrought  in  the  thickness  of  the 
walls,  which  flues  were  carried  in  the  walls  round  about  the  rooms  for 
the  sake  of  increasing  the  temperature  within. 

For  the  want  of  space  I  cannot  here  dilate  on  the  details  of  this 
system,  but  the  author,  who  has  experimented  with  it  in  two  villas 
built  by  him,  assures  the  reader  that  he  obtained  excellent  results, 
and  that  the  consumption  of  combustibles  is  relatively  small.  He 
perceives  also  the  following  advantage :  With  the  present  existing 
methods  the  heating  apparatus  does  not  come  under  the  oversight 
of  the  architect.  With  the  re-introduction  of  the  Gallo-Roman 
method  the  architect  once  more  becomes  absolute  master  of  every- 
thing relating  to  the  construction  of  the  house'of  which  he  is  the 
creator. 

The  public  baths  were  also  heated  by  the  aid  of  the  hypocaust. 
Bathers  first  entered  a  gallery  where  they  found  attendants  and 
paid  the  price  of  admission.  Then  they  were  directed  towards  the 
first  room,  to  which  came  only  waves  of  warm  air,  which  served  to 
prepare  them  for  the  transition  as  well  from  the  outside  within  as 
from  within  out.  This  room  contained,  probably,  gymnastic  appa- 
ratus for  the  stimulation  of  the  perspiratory  glands.  In  the  next 
hall  the  temperature  was  higher.  Here  the  bather  undressed,  and 
the  slaves  carried  off  his  clothes  and  hung  them  in  a  neighboring 
chamber.  Next  the  bather  passed  into  another  room  where  the 
temperature  varied  between  25°  and  30°  Centigrade,  greatly 
encouraging  perspiration.  In  order  to  avoid  congestions  the  slaves 
served  the  bather  with  a  foot-bath,  and  stretched  him  on  a  marble 
couch.  The  time  spent  in  this  chamber  amounted  to  a  half-hour. 
Next  he  passed  into  a  still  hotter  room,  where  the  air  was  heated  up 
to  40°,  and  if  this  temperature  was  not  high  enough  to  provoke 
perspiration,  the  bather  was  made  to  sit  down  in  a  marble  arm- 
chair placed  in  the  centre  of  two  hemicycles  heated  up  to  50°  or  60°. 
He  then  passed  back  to  the  preceding  room,  where  he  was  sub- 
jected to  massage,  after  having  been  enveloped  in  a  lather  of  soap, 
and,  this  finished,  next  plunged  into  a  bath  of  cold  water,  or  received 
a  cold  or  tepid  douche,  according  to  taste,  or  the  special  treatment  he 
was  following.  This  description  is  drawn  from  the  ruins  of  the  Gallic 
baths  at  Verdes  (Loir  et  Cher),  and  agrees  sufficiently  with  all  the 
notions  which  we  have  concerning  the  thermal  baths  of  the  Romans, 
who  must  have  been  the  importers  of  the  hydropathic  tastes  of  the 
Gauls. 

There  have  also  been  found  and  studied  ruins  of  other  interesting 
baths  at  Gennes  (Sarthe),  at  Drevant,  at  Perrenou,  at  Jublains,  at 
Cimiez,  near  Nice  in  the  Maritime  Alps ;  but  one  of  the  most  com- 
plete systems  of  hypocaust  found  in  }>  ranee  is  that  at  Rhodez,  the 
chief  town  in  the  Department  of  Aveyron.  Nevertheless,  I  would, 
so  far  as  the  applicability  of  this  system  to  modern  construction,  cite 
only  with  much  reserve  the  opinion  of  the  author.  In  a  general  way 
we  are  wrong  to  believe  that  the  habits  of  the  ancients,  as  we  know 
them,  can  be  applied  to  the  society  of  our  days,  whose  customs, 


methods  and  resources  are  so  different  from  those  of  the  vanished 
peoples.  One  too  easily  believes  that  the  Roman  habitation,  whose 
internal  arrangements  have  been  reproduced  on  paper  after  close 
study  of  the  remaining  ruins,  represent  the  common  type  of  dwelling. 
These  habitations  were  really  palaces,  and  palaces  can  only  belong 
to  very  wealthy  families.  The  edifices  which  have  not  entirely  dis- 
appeared in  the  cataclysms  which  have  overwhelmed  the  races  of  the 
Greek  and  Roman  world,  can  only  be  those  which  from  their  solidity, 
the  excellence  of  their  construction,  and  by  the  amplitude  of 
their  arrangement  possessed  the  necessary  conditions  to  survive  in 
some  degree  the  grand  catastrophes  of  history ;  but  these  edifices  do 
not  give  us  an  exact  idea  of  the  average  comfort  at  the  service  of  the 
society  of  those  days.  They  generally  belonged  to  patricians,  and 
because  we  discover  in  them  numerous  traces  of  luxury  and  refined 
decoration,  it  is  not  proper  to  conclude  that  luxury  was  at  that  time 
within  the  grasp  of  everybody,  and  that  the  rules  of  hygiene  and 
convenience,  evidenced  by  these  ruins,  were  generally  followed.  This 
error,  which  one  cannot  too  often  correct,  has  greatly  contributed  to 
give  birth  to  the  equally  erroneous  supposition  that  the  ancients 
understood  the  science  of  hygiene  better  than  we  do.  Surely  if  we 
compare  the  house  of  a  modern  workman  with  the  plan  of  a  villa  of 
the  time  of  Lucullus,  for  example,  the  advantage  rests  with  the 
Romans ;  but  it  is  certain  that  the  public  health  was  not  then,  as  it 
is  to-day,  a  subject  of  general  preoccupation,  and  that  on  this  head 
an  average  doctor  knows  to-day  more  than  a  senator  of  the  time  of 
Augustus,  although  there  is  a  great  deal  in  the  way  of  progress  for 
us  yet  to  realize.  The  Roman  dwelling,  for  example,  had  very  low 
doors  and  few  windows  :  air  and  sunlight,  which  are  the  most  power- 
ful health-giving  agents,  penetrated  the  building  under  difficulties. 
The  interior  division  of  the  house  was  in  no  ways  hygienic,  and  the 
construction  of  the  privy  vaults  of  the  dwellings  of  the  poor  was  very 
bad.  The  women  and  children  were  relegated  often  even  in  the 
most  patrician  palaces  to  the  remotest  parts  of  the  dwelling.  The 
gymnasia  alone  prove  that  our  ancestors  knew  some  of  the  essen- 
tial conditions  of  health  ;  but  they  practised  hydropathy  and  delivered 
themselves  up  to  bodily  exercise  through  habit  and  taste,  affectation 
and  idleness,  rather  than  under  the  influence  of  reason,  while  to-day  the 
renaissance  of  gymnastics  and  the  practice  of  hydropathy  are  the  fruits 
of  scientific  deduction.  Even  in  this  we  are  their  superiors,  although 
there  is  much  for  us  to  do  before  the  use  of  the  douche  and  the  pas- 
sion for  the  trapeze  are  so  generally  a  part  of  our  daily  life  as  the 
similar  exercises  were  of  the  daily  life  of  the  Romans.  We  may 
admire  these  children  of  Romulus  without  seeking  to  imitate  them  in 
everything.  As  for  the  selection  of  sites  for  their  towns,  for  instance, 
the  Romans  were  less  advanced  than  the  Etruscans,  who  were  their 
superiors  also  in  the  arts,  in  morals  and  in  laws.  The  Etruscans 
always  built  their  cities  upon  heights,  so  that  they  were  dry,  airy  and 
protected  from  noxious  miasms.  The  Roman  cities,  on  the  contrary, 
were  built  without  precaution  from  the  point  of  view  of  aeration, 
and  the  site  selected  for  the  foundation  of  R«me  is  a  convincing 
proof  of  this.  We  must  be  on  our  guard  against  this  Roman  spirit 
in  those  things  whose  manifestations  are  not  in  harmony  with 
modern  needs.  Europe  dallies  on  the  way  toward  progress  pre- 
cisely because  Roman  tradition  still  attaches  it  to  the  things  of  the 
past.  America  has  marched  with  giant  strides  towards  civilization 
just  because  she  has  known  how  to  create  her  own  customs  and  her 
institutions  at  a  single  stroke,  and  her  real  grandeur  dates  from  the 
day  when  she  banished  slavery,  which  she  inherited  from  the 
Spaniards,  who  in  their  turn  received  it  from  the  Romans. 

To  return  to  heating,  I  consider  that  the  hypocaust  system  has  un- 
questioned advantages,  and  can  be  used  in  habitations  of  a  single 
story  occupied  by  small  families.  It  could  be  scarcely  adapted  to 
large  buildings  of  several  stories,  such  as  we  see  in  modern  cities, 
where  the  furnace  in  the  cellar  succeeds  in  satisfying  all  the  condi- 
tions of  a  common  and  uniform  source  of  heat.  I  question  whether 
a  hypocaust  with  vertical  flues  and  the  fire  out-of-doors  could  dis- 
tribute the  desired  quantity  of  heat  in  a  house  of  six  stories,  for  in- 
stance, unless  the  floor  of  the  lower  story  was  constantly  at  a  white 
heat,  in  which  case,  in  order  to  secure  a  decent  degree  of  warmth  for 
those  in  the  upper  story,  it  would  be  necessary  to  broil  those  who 
dwell  on  the  ground-floor. 

M.  Boussard  devotes  several  chapters  of  his  book  to  the  study  of 
the  materials  employed  in  the  Gallo-Roman  buildings  —  the  pave- 
ments, decoration  and  stucco  and  mosaic  —  and  these  chapters  are 
not  the  least  interesting  in  his  book.  I  am  sorry  not  to  be  able  to 
give  an  abstract  of  them  here,  but  this  would  lead  me  too  far.  We 
understand,  moreover,  that  in  whatever  concerns  solidity,  ornamenta- 
tion, veneering,  the  architects  of  that  time  were  of  great  ability, 
as  is  testified  by  certain  ruins. 

It  is  time  that  we  examined  the  Roman  house  in  its 
entirety,  in  order  to  understand  the  way  in  which  life  was 
led  within  it.  The  Roman  villas  almost  never  had  more  than 
one  story.  AVith  rare  exceptions  all  the  rooms  were  arranged 
about  a,  central  court.  The  floor  was  raised  about  sixty  centi- 
metres above  the  level  of  the  ground.  The  framework  sup'porting 
the  roof  was  very  elegant  and  light.  The  roof  was  formed  of  tiles 
absolutely  identical  to  those  half-round  tiles  which  we  use  to-day,  or 
the  flat  tiles  fitted  one  to  another  by  the  aid  of  rivets.  Glass"  was 
commonly  used  for  the  windows,  for  the  garrets  and  the  court-yard, 
and  probably  for  the  interior  courts.  The  Romans  understood  glass- 
making,  and  if  we  have  found  only  rare  specimens  it  is  because,  as 
M.  Boussard  very  wisely  observes,  glass  oxidizes  in  contact  with 


APRIL  14,  1888.] 


TJie   American   Architect  and  Building   News. 


moisture.  The  best  morsels  are  those  which  have  been  found  in  en- 
elosed  >paei-s.  that  is  to  say,  in  tombs.  They  consist  of  phials  and 
laehrvmatories.  It  is  certain  that  the  Romans  did  not  invent  the 
process  of  glass-making.  The  Greeks  already  made  it,  according  to 
\\"meklemann,  and  used  it  for  construction  and  certain  domestic  pur- 
po.-es.  The  Etruscans  also  had  knowledge  of  this  industry,  and 
from  them  probably,  rather  than  from  the  Greeks,  the  Romans 
learned  it  :  certain  Etruscan  museums  contain  objects  of  much  in- 
terest from  this  point  of  view.  In  that  at  Orvieto,  I  have  seen,  for  in- 
stance, a  small  glass  phial,  black  threaded  with  white,  which  proves 
not  only  that  the  Etruscans  made  glass,  but  that  they  worked  it  with 
much  ability  and  refinement,  for  the  phial  at  Orvieto  presents  many 
points  of  resemblance  with  the  product  now  turned  out  of  the  cele- 
brated glass-works  of  Murano  at  Venice,  from  which  we  can  conclude 
once  more  that  "  there  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun."  The  blue 
glasses  of  Pompeii,  set  off  by  enamel  on  a  white  background  represent- 
ing  vine  branches  and  figurines,  prove  that  for  eighteen  centuries  this 
industry  has  rather  retrograded  than  advanced;  for  the  Pompeiian 
relics  are  far  more  artistic  than  the  best  modern  products  of  the 
workshops  at  Ravenna.  We  know,  also,  that  glass-mirrors  were  in 
common  use  at  Rome  —  so  common  that  persons  of  distinction  pre- 
ferred them  to  plaques  of  polished  metal.  H.  MBRKU. 
[To  be  continued.  1 

SPONTANEOUS  COMBUSTION. 

IN   November  of  last  year  a 
force  of  men  was  sent  aboard 
of  the   "  City  of  Newcastle  " 
to  extinguish  a  fire  in  a  cargo  of 
cotton  which  had  been  generated 
by  spontaneous  combustion.    An 
unsuccessful   attempt   to    extin- 
guish the  fire  had  been  made  at 
Queenstown,   the    first   port   at 
which  the  vessel  stopped. 

Baled  cotton  and  also  cotton 
and  fibres  and  rags  that  are  satu- 
rated with  oil  are  quite  subject 
to  spontaneous  combustion.  In 
five  years  forty-six  ships  bound 
for  Liverpool  alone  and  loaded 
with  cotton  were  burned  either 
at  sea  or  just  before  or  after 
their  departure.  This  figure  is 
much  too  low,  judging  from  the 
remarks  of  a  rich  English  banker 
who  is  familiar  with  affairs  in  all 
parts  of  the  world.  Of  the  long 
list  of  vessels  laden  with  cotton 
or  grain,  nine  had  just  been 
burned  in  whole  or  part,  and  he 
added  that  it  was  necessary  that 

QU  Gu  KOCher  steps  should  be  taken  to  pre- 
vent the  fermentation  of  cotton, 
which  appeared  to  be  more  com- 
bustible at  that  period  than  usual. 

The  remarkable  tendency  which  is  observable  in  tissues  and  cotton 
when  moistened  with  oil  to  become  heated  when  oxidation  sets  in, 
deserves  particular  attention,  and  especially  so  from  the  sad  results 
that  may  follow  negligence,  caused  too  often  by  ignorance  of  the 
danger  or  ignorance  of  the  necessary  precautions.  In  the  navy,  for 
instance,  every  precaution  is  taken  to  avoid  spontaneous  combustion. 
Thus,  all  the  officers  are  aware  that  before  packing  away  the  tarpau- 
lins or  oiled  coats  which  the  sailors  wear  in  bad  weather,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  see  that  they  are  thoroughly  dried.  They  should  not  be 
packed  together  in  too  great  numbers.  Oils,  when  drying,  undergo 
a  change  which  is  simply  a  slow  combustion  at  low  temperature.  If 
this  action  is  hastened  by  any  cause  whatever,  it  brings  about  a 
higher  temperature,  which  may  result  in  fire. 

The  experiment  may  be  made  by  producing  spontaneous  combus- 
tion, even  in  a  few  yards  of  cotton  cloth,  by  painting  it  with  linseed 
oil.  M.  Chevalier  cites  an  instance  of  this  nature  in  the  sail-room  at 
the  arsenal  at  Brest,  where  three  cases  (for  sails)  of  canvas  painted 
with  oil  had  been  laid  one  on  the  other,  after  having  been  dried  in 
the  sun  two  days.  Each  piece  measured  about  ten  yards.  Whether 
in  the  sun  or  shade,  or  under  cover  or  exposed  to  the  air,  these 
pieces  of  fabric,  whether  yarn  or  cotton,  can  readily  take  fire,  but 
fortunately  very  soon  attract  attention  from  the  dense  smoke  that  is 
emitted.  Cotton  fabrics  containing  oil,  however,  do  not  alone  take 
fire  in  closed  chambers  and  in  the  holds  of  ships,  for  I  have  seen  the 
phenomenon  produced  in  open  air.  I  witnessed  a  case  in  point  near 
the  railroad  station  of  1'Ouest,  in  July,  1878,  when  the  heat  was  very 
great.  The  lamp-room  is  situated  at  the  foot  of  the  Rue  de  Rome 
and  the  Pont  de  1'Europe.  There,  in  a  large  sack,  were  gathered 
all  the  useless,  greasy  rags  that  had  been  used  for  cleaning  the  lamps. 
One  of  these  bags  had  been  filled  so  full  that  the  rags  had  fallen  to 
the  ground,  and  as  I  passed  by  I  noticed  an  odor  of  burning  rags, 
but  after  a  careful  examination,  discovered  no  cause  for  this.  Pass- 
ing the  same  place  five  minutes  later,  I  found  the  odor  stronger,  and 
I  discovered  the  rags  were  just  bursting  into  flame.  I  called  an  atten- 
dant and  showed  him  the  fire,  and  it  was  very  soon  extinguished 
with  the  help  of  a  pail  of  water. 


CJ  /AeZQnqer 


M.  Chevalier,  in  his  memoir  on  fires,  instances  the  experiments  of 
Messrc.  Guiding  &  Humphries,  who  caused  spontaneous  combustion 
by  shutting  up  a  piece  of  fabric  immersed  in  linseed  oil  in  a  closed 
box,  where  it  was  left  for  three  hours.  The  fabric  commenced  to 
smoke  and  as  soon  as  the  air  was  admitted  hurst  into  flame. 

Messrs.  Renouard  and  Rouen  carried  still  farther  the  experiments 
of  Golding.  They  mingled  a  few  pieces  of  oiled  cotton  cloth  witli 
some  dry  cotton,  and  then  put  the  whole  under  pressure,  and  after  a 
few  hours  fire  was  discovered.  Every  one  is  aware  that  when  cotton 
is  baled,  it  is  subjected  to  an  enormous  pressure.  If  the  cotton  is 
greasy  or  even  damp,  it  ferments,  becomes  heated  and  then  ignited. 

A  curious  instance  was  reported  by  Dumas  to  the  Institute  in 
1844  and  cited  by  M.  Fonssagrives.  An  artist  was  rubbing  with  a 
wad  of  cotton  a  painting  freshly  varnished.  When  he  threw  the 
cotton  away,  it  immediately  took  fire  in  mid-air.  Later,  at  the 
Academy  of  Sciences  in  1879,  during  a  discussion  concerning  a  fire 
in  the  floor  of  a  laboratory  of  a  certain  botanist,  M.  Cosson,  M. 
Dumas  cited  a  number  of  cases  which  prove  that  the  condensation  of 
the  air  in  porous  and  combustible  bodies  frequently  produces  com- 
bustion if  the  temperature  is  sufficiently  low.  Among  these  he  again 
cited  the  case  of  the  wad  of  cotton  taking  fire  in  mid-air.  A  savant 
as  prominent  as  Dumas,  who  repeats  the  same  statement  at  an  inter- 
val of  thirty  years,  classes  it  evidently  as  an  indisputable  fact.  The 
temperature  of  80°  or  100°  in  the  hold  of  a  vessel  does  not  suffi- 
ciently explain  the  cause  of  a  fire  in  a  cargo  of  damp  linen,  hemp, 
manure,  oats,  grain  or  cereals.  It  is  necessary  to  take  into  consid- 
eration the  changed  conditions.  The  rise  in  the  temperature  is  due 
to  the  condensation  of  gas  and  to  the  rapid  and  powerful  oxidation. 
Thus  charcoal,  which  is  very  porous,  when  shut  in  a  closed  atmos- 
phere, absorbs  a  large  proportion  of  gas,  which  condenses  and  pro- 
duces heat. 

I  cite  another  case  not  so  well  known  :  The  waste  from  vulcanized 
rubber,  when  thrown,  in  a  damp  condition,  into  a  pile,  takes  fire 
spontaneously.  This  occurred  at  the  factory  of  M.  Menier,  at  Gre- 
nelle,  in  France. 

Messrs.  Dumas  and  Chevreul,  in  treating  of  this  subject  of  sponta- 
neous combustion  before  the  Institute,  stated  that  when  a  package 
from  China  containing  some  fresh  vegetable  matter  and  some  dried 
substances  was  opened,  they  took  fire  even  before  their  eyes. 

M.  Fonssagrives  states  that  the  temperature  of  boxes  of  figs  from 
Barbary  has  been  so  raised  by  fermentation  that  you  could  hardly 
bear  your  hand  upon  them. 

There  is  less  surprise  in  the  increase  of  heat  in  heaps  of  coal, 
whether  in  storage  or  in  open  air.  These  masses  of  coal,  whether 
in  the  quay  or  in  the  yard,  take  fire,  nevertheless,  without  a  spark 
being  applied.  The  complex  composition  of  coal  gives  a  sufficient 
cause  for  spontaneous  combustion.  It  contains  essential  oils,  sulphur, 
and  above  all,  phosphureted  hydrogen  and  marsh  gas,  which  is  spon- 
taneously combustible.  The  impalpable  coal-dust  also  adds  another 
danger  of  combustion.  —  La  Nature. 


THE   LATE  FELIX  O.  C.   DARLEY. 


togie  des.for  />loboteor\  I 

by  C.  Alormarvd —  after  r\a^uer\er. 

FELIX  O.  C.  DARLEY,  says  the  Philadelphia  Telegraph,  who 
died  at  Claymont,  Del.,  yesterday,  was  Iwrn  in  Philadelphia, 
June  23,  1822.  His  taste  for  art  and  an  inclination  to  make  it 
his  profession,  were  shown  in  his  boyhood.  At  fourteen  he  was 
placed  in  a  mercantile  house  in  the  hopes  that  his  thoughts  might  be 
diverted  into  another  channel.  But  the  kindling  fire  of  genius 
happily  was  not  thus  to  lie  extinguished.  Viewing  with  positive  dis- 
taste the  routine  of  the  counting-room,  he  spent  his  spare  moments  in 
drawing,  in  which  he  made  rapid  improvement.  The  subjects  that 
first  interested  him  were  figures  of  firemen,  and  other  tyiH's  of  city 
life.  In  these  he  displayed  so  much  originality  and  artistic  power, 
that  he  was  offered  a  handsome  sum  for  them,  and  advised  to  rely 
wholly  upon  his  pencil  for  supixjrt.  The  dream  of  his  young  life 
seemed  about  to  be  realized.  With  joy  he  gave  up  his  mercantile 
occupation,  and  devoted  himself  to  art.  During  several  years  various 
large  publishing  houses  at  Philadelphia  gave  nim  constant  employ- 
ment in  making  designs.  His  work  showed  continual  improvement. 
and  received  praise  from  critical  judges.  These  delineations  had  the 
merit  of  vigor,  humor  ami  great  faithfulness  to  life  and  character. 
A  series  which  was  published  about  this  period  had  much  popularity 
in  the  Southern  and  Western  states. 

In  1848  he  removed  to  New  York  City.     Here  he  found  employ- 
ment  in  illustrating  Irviug's  "Sketch  Book,"  his  "Knickerbocker's 


178 


The    American    Architect   and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  642. 


History  of  New  York,"  and  other  publications.  The  inimitable  de- 
scriptive anil  humorous  powers  of  Irving  were  never  more  vividly 
presented  than  in  the  illustrations  by  the  now  practised  pencil  of 
Darley.  lie  also  made  a  series  of  designs  in  outline  from  Judd's 
novel  of  "Margaret,"  without  any  definite  intention  of  publishing 
them.  They  were  seen,  however,  by  the  Committee  of  the  American 
Art  Union,  in  New  York,  at  that  date  a  flourishing  and  influential 
institution  for  the  advancement  of  art,  who  at  once  gave  him  a  com- 
mission to  illustrate  Irvine's  "  Kip  Van  Winkle,"  for  distribution 
among  the  subscribers.  He  made  six  drawings,  which  were  much 
admired.  During  the  following  year  he  completed  another  series, 
illustrating  Irving's  "Legend  of  Sleepy  Hollow."  These,  drawings 
were  largely  circulated,  both  in  the  United  States  and  England,  and 
placed  their  author  in  the  front  rank  of  American  designers.  It  was 
admitted  that  no  modern  productions,  in  either  country,  were 
superior  to  them  in  any  particular.  In  1856  his  illustrations  of 
"  Margaret "  were  published  in  New  York,  in  a  folio  edition,  and 
were  very  successful. 

Subsequently  he  turned  his  attention  to  the  preparation  of 
vignettes  for  bank-notes,  and  much  of  this  beautiful  work  was 
executed  by  him.  Still  later  he  undertook  the  illustration  of  the 
works  of  Cooper  in  thirty-two  volumes.  This  book  embraced  no  less 
than  five  hundred  sketches,  and  he  devoted  to  it  the  full  grasp  of  his 
artistic  mind  and  skill,  with  marked  success.  He  has  thus  forever 
linked  his  genius  and  name  with  that  of  the  greatest  American 
writers.  A  large  copy  in  crayon,  representing  the  death  of  Scipio, 
was  in  the  exhibition  of  the  American  Academy  in  1858.  His  draw- 
ing of  the  "Massacre  of  Wyoming,"  and  others,  relating  to  Ameri- 
can Revolutionary  history,  are  spirited  and  beautiful  pictures,  some 
of  which  are  seen  in  almost  every  house  in  the  land.  He  contributed 
various  designs  for  Irving's  "Life  of  Washington."  An  illustration 
from  Longfellow's  poem  of  "  The  Courtship  of  Mites  Standish  "  was 
published  in  New  York  in  1858-59  in  photographic  form. 

In  1859  he  married  a  daughter  of  the  late  Warren  Colburn,  the 
eminent  mathematician,  and  removed  from  New  York  to  Claymont, 
Del.  Besides  his  work  on  the  volumes  of  Cooper,  he  illustrated  the 
works  of  Dickens.  His  illustrations  of  the  text  of  the  latter  in 
humor  and  expressiveness  will  compare  favorably  with  any  of  the 
illustrations  made  by  the  most  celebrated  English  designers.  He 
made  a  series  of  four  drawings  for  Prince  Napoleon,  at  his  request 
when  in  this  country,  which  received  the  unqualified  praise  of  that 
person. 

In  1865  Mr.  Darley  made  a  large  composition  of  "Sheridan 
Checking  the  Retreat  near  Winchester,"  for  Mr.  Hatch,  of  New 
York,  also  two  pictures  in  oil  for  the  same  gentleman,  one  of  which, 
"  Going  to  the  War,"  was  engraved  in  line  by  Rice,  and  published. 
About  the  same  time  he  produced  another  large  design,  entitled 
"On  the  March  to  the  Sea,"  which  was  engraved  by  Ritchie,  and 
published  by  L.  Stebbins,  of  Hartford.  During  the  War  he  made 
for  Mr.  Williams  S.  Blodgett,  a  wealthy  manufacturer  of  New  York, 
two  large  compositions,  "Dahlgren's  Charge  at  Fredericksburg " 
and  "  Foraging  in  Virginia,"  both  of  which  were  published  in  photo- 
graph. All  of  these  pictures  relating  to  the  War  have  become 
famous.  In  historical  accuracy  of  scene  and  person,  in  graphic 
delineation,  and  in  artistic  study  and  delicacy,  they  are  well  worthy 
of  the  partial  judgment  which  educated  criticism  as  well  as  popular 
favor  has  awarded  to  them. 

Mr.  Darley  visited  Europe  for  the  first  time  in  the  summer  of 
186K.  This  afforded  him  a  long-desired  opportunity  for  making 
sketches  of  various  people  and  places  abroad.  During  a  term  of 
thirteen  months  he  travelled  extensively,  and  used  his  pencil  with 
his  accustomed  skill.  On  his  return,  his  letters  and  sketches  were 
published  in  a  volume,  under  the  title  of  "  Sketches  Abroad  with 
Pen  and  I'encil."  While  in  Rome  he  made  a  number  of  studies  in 
water-colors  of  the  models,  and  produced  two  or  three  compositions 
in  the  same  medium  for  private  collections.  Within  the  last  ten  years 
he  made  a  large  number  of  less  important  drawings  than  those 
enumerated.  The  leading  publishers  looked  to  him,  to  a  great  ex- 
tent, for  the  higher  style  of  designs  for  standard  works. 

Mr.  Darley  passed  a  life  of  diligent  application  to  his  profession 
rather  than  taking  any  exciting  part  in  the  world's  affairs.  "  I  have 
neither  met  with  accident  nor  adventure  of  any  kind,"  he  once 
wrote,  "  mine  has  been  neither  a  strange  nor  eventful  history.  My 
summers  have  been  generally  given  up  to  the  sports  of  the  field  — 
shooting  and  fishing  —  for  which  I  have  a  weakness."  He  was  a 
thorough  lover  of  Nature,  and  a  worshipper  of  the  beautiful  in  all 
its  forms.  His  skill  in  art  was  in  a  very  limited  degree  mechanical, 
but  it  was  inspiration  coming  from  a  keen  sense  of  the  teachings  of 
Nature,  and  the  suggestions  of  individual  character  and  habits. 

The  productions  of  Mr.  Darley  have  been  submitted  to  the  most 
cultivated  criticism  of  his  own  country  and  of  Europe.  His  pecu- 
liarities have  been  found  to  be  advanced  ideas  in  artistic  taste,  and 
his  powerful  and  original  conceptions  have  shown  a  remarkable 
blending  of  the  truth  of  Nature  with  the  advancement  of  imagina- 
tion. His  pictures  are  images  of  the  natural,  and  at  the  same  time, 
new  creations  of  fancy.  The  scene  and  the  persons  are  so  exact  that 
they  are  the  reproduction  of  life  itself,  but  they  are  equally  expres- 
sive of  the  brain  and  hand  which  have  delineated  them.  In  a  word, 
Darley  was  not  only  a  great  artist,  but  he  was  so  strikingly  original 
that  he  is  neither  an  imitator,  nor  can  he  be  imitated. 

His  outline  drawings  to  Judd's  "  Margaret "  gave  him  a  reputa- 
tion nearly  as  great  as  that  of  Moritz  Retzsch.  In  1879  he  appeared 


with  a  work  that  won  at  once  the  highest  admiration.  This  was  his 
series  of  twelve  "Compositions  in  Outline  from  Hawthorne's  Scarlet 
Letter,"  in  which  a  wonderful  realism  and  weird  ideality  are  com- 
bined with  much  power.  Many  will  remember  his  illustrations  of 
the  life  of  an  American  farmer,  in  his  drawings  of  the  seasons  for 
"  Appleton's  Almanac."  Mr.  Darley  was  of  a  noble  and  lovable  char- 
acter, full  of  earnest  aspiration  and  faithful  endeavor  to  accomplish 
his  best  work,  but  with  remarkably  little  of  mere  personal  ambition. 


MONUMENTAL  USE  OF  BRONZE  IN  JAPAN. 

WHILE  in  the  service  of  the  Government  of  Japan  some  years 
ago,  says  Mr.  R.  Henry  Brunton,  in  the  Journal  of  the  Society 
of  Arts,  I  was  kindly  furnished,  by  one  of  its  oldest  officials, 
with  what  he  assured  me  was  reliable  information  regarding  old 
Japanese  bronze  images.  These  are  remarkable  alike  for  their  enor- 
mous proportions,  the  method  of-  their  construction,  and  the  excel- 
lent character  of  the  alloy  composing  them. 

A  very  wonderful  specimen  known  as  "Daibuts"  is  situated  about 
seven  miles  from  Yokohama,  and  being  within  treaty  limits,  is  visited 
by  every  visitor  to  Japan.  But  the  largest  and  most  remarkable 
bronze  image  in  Japan  is  placed  at  Nara,  some  miles  eastward  of 
Kioto,  or  Sai  Kio,  as  it  is  now  named,  and  this  has  been  seen  by  but 
few  foreigners.  An  image  on  this- site  was  first  erected  in  the  year 
743,  but  it  and  a  subsequent  one  were  destroyed  during  internal 
wars.  The  present  image  was  erected  about  the  year  1 1 00. 

Its  dimensions  are  as  follows  :  — 

Height  of  figure  (sitting  posture) 53.5  feet. 

Length  of  face 16.0  " 

Width  of  face 9.5  " 

Length  of  eye 3.9  " 

Length  of  ears.. 8.5  *' 

Width  of  shoulders 28.7  " 

Length  of  palm  of  hand 5.6  " 

"         middle  finger 5.0  " 

On  the  head  there  are  966  curls.  The  image  is  surrounded  by  a 
glory,  or  halo,  seventy-eight  feet  in  diameter,  on  which  sixteen 
images,  eight  feet  long,  are  cast.  Two  smaller  images,  each  twenty- 
five  feet  high,  stand  in  front  of  the  larger  one. 

The  total  weight  of  metal  in  the  main  figure  is  about  450  tons, 
and  this  is  said  to  consist  of  the  following  :  — 


Gold 

Tin 

Mercury 
Copper. . . 


Pounds 
avoirdupois 

500 

16,827 

1,954 

986.080 


1,005,361 

In  considering  the  reliability  of  the  above  figures,  it  may  be 
borne  in  mind  that  they  were  furnished  to  me  by  a  Government 
official  from  Government  records,  but  that,  apart  from  the  respecta- 
bility of  their  source,  I  have  no  confirmation  of  them. 

The  large  images  are  not  cast  in  large  pieces,  but  are.  built  up  with 
a  multiplicity  of  small  pieces  of  irregular  shape,  which  are  cemented 
together  by  a  compound  known  to  the  natives  as  handaru,  the  com- 
position of  which  I  have  not  been  able  to  discover.  As  illustrating 
the  excellence  of  this  cement,  I  have  closely  examined  this  large 
image,  and  could  not  discover  any  softening  or  signs  of  decay  at  the 
joints.  Further,  the  cement  has  taken  on  the  same  tarnish  as  the 
bronze,  and  the  joints  are  therefore  not  observable  except  on  close 
inspection. 

The  images  are  in  the  form  of  Buddhist  deities,  and  from  what- 
ever point  of  view  they  may  be  regarded,  whether  artistic  or  merely 
mechanical,  they  are  interesting  examples  of  isolated  and  early  skill. 


PROGRAMME  FOR  THE  EXAMINATION  OF  CANDI- 
DATES FOR  THE  ROTCH  TRAVELLING-SCHOLAR- 
SHIP. 

_BO8TON,  MASS.,  April  7,  1888. 
PROBLEM    IN    DESIGN  —  A    CASINO    FOR    BATHS. 

VITHIS  establishment  situated  upon  the  new  Charles  River  Embank- 
J I  <•  ment  should  provide  ample  accommodations  for  plain  and  medi- 
cinal baths,  and  offer  to  a  luxurious  public  such  comforts  and 
recreations  as  may  make  it  a  fashionable  resort.  To  this  end  there 
should  be  joined  to  the  bathing  department  a  well  furnished  gym- 
nasium with  tennis-court  and  bowling-alley,  a  large  reading-hall, 
billiard-room  and  a  cafe"  in  which  light  refreshments  may  be  served. 
Directly  upon  the  river  must  be  a  boat-house,  and  one  or  two 
pavilions  for  use  in  hot  weather  and  for  watching  races.  Porticos 
connecting  these  outlying  buildings  can  be  glazed  in  winter  to  give 
sheltered  and  sunny  walks.  The  grounds  should  be  rendered  as 
attractive  as  possible. 

The  department  of  baths  should  provide  for  a  large  swimming- 
bath,  twenty-five  bath-rooms,  twelve  douches,  separate  accommoda- 
tions for  the  Russian  and  Turkish  service,  dressing-rooms,  lockers, 
water-closets,  etc. 

There  must  also  be  an  apartment  for  the  family  of  the  medical- 
director,  as  well  as  consultation-rooms  for  his  use.  There  must  be 
lodsing  for  twelve  employes. 

The  buildings  will  be  heated  and  electricity  generated  by  a  power- 
ful engine.  A  strong  light  must  be  thrown  upon  the  water  to  permit 
rowing  and  boating  parties  after  dark. 


APKIL  14,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect   and  Building  News. 


179 


The  depth  of  lot  is  five  hundred  feet;  its  river-front  is  not  limited 

The  preliminary  sketches  must  clearly  indicate  the  scheme  pro 
posed,  by  a  plan  and  elevation  to  a  fa  scale. 

The  finished  drawings,  required  to  be  brought  to  the  Museum  o 
Fine  Arts  on  April  23  at  5  r.  M.,  are : 

One  [>lan  on  a  fa  scale. 

An  elevation  towards  the  river  with  cast-shadows  on  a  j*j  scale. 

A  perspective  on  an  imperial  sheet. 

A  section  on  a  fa  scale. 

Tliis  set  of  drawings  must  be  accompanied  by  a  thesis,  explaining 
the  architectural  character  of  the  design. 

Too  great  a  change  in  the  finished  drawings  will  throw  a  design 
out  of  competition. 

Examinations  will  be  held  at  the  Museum. 

The  different  subjects  will  be  marked  on  the  following  basis : 

French IS 

History 15 

Free-hami  drawing 15 

Construction 30 

Design,  including  thesis 100 


BOOKS. 

SPEINO  FIELD,  ILL.,  April  2, 1888. 

To  THE  EDITORS  or  THE  AMERICAN  AKCIIITKCT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  Wo  noticed  in  an  editorial  of  the  American  Archi- 
tect of  March  24th,  two  architectural  works  spoken  of,  one  being 
Mr.  Wightwick's  "  Hints  to  Young  Architect"  and  the  other 
being  Mr.  J.  T.  Micklethwaite's  "Modern  Parish  Churches."  Can 
you  inform  us  where  they  can  be  bought  and  state  to  us  the  cost 
price  of  each  if  you  have  any  means  of  obtaining  such  information. 
In  so  doing  you  will  greatly  oblige  us. 

Very  truly  yours,  BULLARD  &  BULLARD. 

rTHKBE  are  several  different  editions,  American  and  English,  of  the 
"  Hints  to  Young  Architects,"  varying  in  price  from  a  dollar  and  a  half  to 
three  and  a  half.  Micklethwaite's  "  Modern  Parish  Churches  "  must  pro- 
bably be  ordered  from  England,  and  will  cost  here  about  three  dollars. 
Sabin  &  Sons,  Nassau  Street,  New  York,  or  Estes  &  Lauriat,  Boston,  will 
procure  them  at  as  low  rates  as  possible.  —  EDS.  AMERICAN  AKCHITKCT.! 


WHO  PAYS  THE  CONSULTING-ARCHITECT? 
To  THE  EDITORS  OK  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  Will  you  please  advise  me  as  to  the  accepted  prac- 
tice in  regard  to  the  compensation  of  consultiny  architects.  Are  they 
usually  paid  a  percentage  separately  and  in  addition  to  the  list 
charges  made  by  the  regularly-employed  architect,  and  if  so  what  is 
the  rate?  Or  must  their  compensation  be  a  division  of  these  list 
charges  with  the  regular  architect?  My  feeling  is  that  the  regu- 
larly-employed architect  earns  his  full  compensation  irrespective  of 
the  advice  and  assistance  afforded  by  the  consulting  architect,  but  I 
wish  to  have  an  equable  and  just  basis  upon  which  to  arrange  for 
this  class  of  work  in  the  absence  of  any  special  agreement  covering 
the  case.  An  early  reply  will  greatly  oblige, 

Yours  respectfully,  P. 

[WB  cannot  sny  what  the  general  practice  is  in  such  cases  and  doubt  if 
there  is  any  rule.  If  the  owuer  chooses  to  go  to  a  consulting  architect  to 
get  a  comparison  of  opinions  on  a  difficult  pointer  to  assure  himself  that 
the  one  he  has  already  employed  is  doing  his  work  well,  we  see  no  reason 
why  the  latter  should  pay  any  part  of  the  expense.  Consulting  physicians 
and  associate  counsel  are  always  employed  at  an  extra  charge,  and  an 
architect's  relation  to  his  client  may  be  fairly  regarded  as  being  just  about 
midway  between  that  of  phy>lclan  anl  counsel.  If,  however,  the  architect 
lii'iisolf  wishes  to  supplement  his  knowledge,  In  responsible  undertakings 
which  fall  strictly  within  his  province,  by  ascertaining  the  experience  of 
others,  he  will,  under  many  circumstances,  prefer  to  do  so  at  his  own 
expense.  —  Ei>s.  AMKUICAN  ARCHITECT.) 


A  NEW  WATER-SUPPLY  FOR  PARIS. —  It  is  well  known  that  Paris  is 
not  well  provided  with  regard  to  drinking  water,  having  to  draw  its 
chief  supply  from  the  upper  course  of  the  Seine  and  the  Canal  de 
1  Ourcqe,  branching  off  from  the  Marne.  A  Swiss  engineer,  Herr 
Rittcr,  has  submitted  to  the  Paris  municipality  a  plan  by  which  the 
city  may  be  furnished  with  an  ample  supply  of  water  from  an  inex- 
haustible source  — the  lake  of  Neufchatel,  Switzerland  — at  a  cost  of 
300,000,000  francs,  or  £12,000,000.  This  heavy  outlay  would,  however, 
be  covered  after  construction  by  a  safe  revenue  for  interest  and  amor- 
tization. Herr  Hitter  is  an  engineer  who  has  established  his  reputation 
for  the  construction  of  water-works,  and  the  success  attending  the 
works  he  erected  at  La  Cliaux-de-fonds  has  encouraged  him  to  make 
the  proposal  in  question  to  the  Paris  municipality.  Some  time  ago 
another  engineer,  M.  Beau  cle  Rochas,  proposed  to  furnish  Paris  with 
water  from  the  Lake  of  Geneva,  at  a  cost  of  500,000,000  francs  but 


the  scheme  was  not  accepted,  probably  on  account  of  the  groat  expense. 
Herr  Hitter  is  more  moderate  in  his  estimate,  and  there  is  a  probability 
of  its  being  accepted.  The  principal  details  of  the  great  undertaking 
are  given  as  follows:  The  distance  between  the  lake  of  Ncufchatcl  and 
Paris  is  312  miles,  and  the  surface  of  the  lake  is  1,020  feet  higher  than 
the  mean  level  of  Paris,  its  total  area  covering  350  square  kilometres. 
This  vast  body  of  water,  even  if  it  were  not  replenished,  would  be 
sufficient  to  supply  Paris  for  two  ye»rs  at  a  rate  of  132  gallons  per 
head  per  day,  the  level  of  the  lake  falling  no  more  than  three  feet,  and 
the  water,  which  would  flow  with  a  speed  of  rather  under  100  feet  per 
second,  would  arrive  at  Paris  at  a  temperature  of  50°  Fahr.  But  a  lower- 
ing of  the  level  of  the  lake  is  not  to  be  thought  of,  for  the  lake  has  tribu- 
taries yielding  a  larger  supply  of  water  in  the  hot  season  than  in  winter. 
Herr  Hitter  does  not  intend  to  take  the  water  from  the  surface  of  the 
lake,  but  to  draw  it  off,  as  is  done  in  the  case  of  Chicago  from  Ijike 
Michigan,  by  an  underground  heading  262  feet  below  the  surface  of  the 
lake,  where  it  hag  a  temperature  of  only  43°.  The  water  would  be 
taken  through  a  tunnel  twenty-two  miles  long  under  the  Jura  Moun- 
tains to  the  Dessoubre  Valley,  in  the  Department  of  the  Doubs,  and 
thence  in  an  arched  conduit  along  the  slopes  of  the  hills  to  Paris, 
where  it  would  arrive  still  at  an  elevation  of  31)4  feet.  As  the  present 
reservoirs  of  Paris  have  an  elevation  of  only  295  feet,  raising  the  fall, 
or  pressure,  by  100  ftet,  with  a  flow  of  4,400  gallons  per  second,  would 
give  a  tremendous  motive  power.  Herr  Hitter  has  calculated  that  in 
this  manner  Paris  could  be  furnished  not  only  with  an  illimitable  sup- 
ply of  excellent  drinking  water,  but  also  with  the  electric  light  in  all 
the  streets  and  water-power  in  all  the  workshops  at  a  reasonable  price, 
independently  of  the  advantages  accruing  to  the  districts  through  which 
the  conduit  would  be  laid,  and  which  could  also  draw  their  supplies 
from  the  same  source.  Herr  Hitter  estimates  that  it  would  take  six 
years  to  complete  the  works  along  the  whole  line.  —  London  Mornina 
Pott.  

OUR  SMALL  ARMY  OUR  GREATEST  BLESSING.  —  Sir  Lyon  Playfair 
in  Contemporary  Review  for  March  says :  At  the  present  moment  the 
United  States  has  260,000  inventions  protected  by  the  patent  law.  This 
activity  of  invention  shows  ability  and  intelligence  among  her  people, 
who  are  always  ready  to  turn  to  account  the  forces  of  nature  for  the 
benefit  of  man.  This  country  in  her  workingmen  is  rich  in  producers, 
and  if  their  intelligence  were  trained  in  connection  with  their  work,  she 
need  not  fear  the  industrial  competition  of  any  European  nation.  '  All 
great  foreign  nations,  except  the  United  States,  are  terribly  handi- 
capped in  the  industrial  race  by  excessive  armaments.  England  is  also 
weighted,  but  not  to  an  equal  extent.  The  strength  of  nations  consists 
in  peace,  but  they  make  a  sad  error  by  not  knowing  that  the  weakness 
of  nations  is  in  active  war,  or  excessive  preparedness  for  it.  France, 
Germany,  Holland,  Italy,  Belgium  and  Great  Britain  have  2,200,000 
men  withdrawn  from  being  productive  citizens,  in  order  to  be  protective 
militants,  at  a  cost  for  each  man  of  £45.  If  we  take  all  the  civilized 
nations,  adding  the  reserves  to  the  permanent  forces,  fourteen  and  a 
half  millions  of  the  strongest  men  are  or  may  be  withdrawn  from  pro- 
duction. This  is  one  man  for  twenty-four  of  the  population,  or,  if  we 
xclude  the  reserves,  one  out  of  eighty-one.  That  is  the  reason 'why  I 
point  to  the  United  States  as  the  great  industrial  nation  of  the  future 
for  her  armed  forces  represent  only  one  man  in  1,610  of  the  population! 
Luckily,  her  protection  policy  is  an  incubus  upon  her  industry,  and 
gives  us  breathing  time  to  prepare  for  the  coming  struggle. 

A  GIRL  OF  GRIT. — An  old-fashioned  Yankee  of  Quaker  stock  who 
ran  a  small  shoe-factory,  indulged  in  a  theory  that  nothing  could  pry 
out  of  his  mind  that  a  moral  wrong  was  somehow  perpetrated  upon  the 
community  at  large  if  a  woman  were  allowed  to  earn  above  a  stipulated 
sum  each  week.  As  his  help  was  paid  by  the  piece,  and  he  had  to  keen 
tally  in  the  main  with  current  prices,  he  found  this  hard  to  manage  at 
times.  Ihe  swiftness  of  one  young  woman  especially  troubled  him 
greatly.  She  would  persist  in  running  financially  ahead  of  the  others 
At  last  he  made  a  special  cut-down  in  her  prices,  and  told  her  why  he 
did  it.  She  gave  him  a  baleful  glance,  tightened  her  lips  and  went  on 
working.  By  Saturday  night,  despite  the  cut-down,  she  made  ten  cents 
above  the  week  before.  Another  week  went  by,  when  he  cut  her  down 
still  more.  The  damsel  still  proved  game  and  rose  to  the  occasion. 
Alter  a  week  or  more  the  Quaker  c  mscience  grew  "  scared  "  and  he  asked 
what  she  meant.  "  It  means,"  said  the  girl,  "  that  you  may  keep 
on  and  I  II  keep  on  till  you  have  a  corpse  on  your  hands  in  this  work- 
room for  1m  grit  and  you  can't  conquer  me  !  "  The  race  ended  there 
and  the  girl  was  allowed  normal  pay. —  The  Boston  Record. 

A  TOWN  BOMBARDED  BY  ICE.  —The  following  reaches  us  from  Arch- 
angel: On  a  little  peninsula  which  juts  out  into  the  bay  of  Kandalak 
is  a  fishing  village  called  Kashkaransy.  At  4  o'clock  on  the  morning 
of  January  5th,  the  fisher-folk  were  awakened  by  a  strange,  dull  noise 
which  suddenly  changed  into  a  succession  of  loud,  cracking  sounds! 
ike  the  firing  of  guns.  The  people  sprang  out  of  bed  and  rushed  from 
their  huts  to  see  a  wonderful  and  dreadful  sight.  The  wind  had  risen 
and,  on  the  northwest  side  of  the  peninsula,  the  sea  was  driving  the  ice 
against  the  land.  Great  masses  of  ice  were  tumbling  about  on  the  sur- 
tace  of  the  water,  and  then  raised  on  the  crests  of  the  heavy  waves 
dashed  with  irresistible  force  and  a  roar  like  thunder,  against  the  vil- 
age.  The  breakwater,  that  had  always  hitherto  effectually  protected 
he  shore  from  the  fury  of  the  sea,  was  like  a  toy  against  the  miniature 
cebergs  which  were  hurled  over  it  against  the  village  beyond,  tearing 
he  houses  up  from  their  foundations,  and  wrecking  everything  that  lay 
n  their  way  The  peasants  managed  to  save  their  lives  and  those  of 
heir  cattle  by  flight  but  all  their  dwellings  and  property  were  com- 
pletely destroyed.  —London  Globe. 

HARBOR  IMPROVEMENTS  IN  BI;ENOS  AYHES.  —  A  description  is  given 
n  the  Annales  des  Ponti  et  Cfewcftl  for  January  of  the  plan  of  harbor 
mprovements  at  Buenos  Ayres  so  long  delayed  by  political  and  finan- 
lal  difflcu  ties.  The  Argentine  Congress  has  approved  Engineer 
turn  s  plans  and  voted  >10,000,000  lor  the  construction  of  a  new 


180 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.       [Vou  XXIII.  — No.  642V 


port,  the  work  on  which  is  already  commenced,  and  which  will  consist 
first  of  a  canal  100m.  (328  feet)  wide  and  6.4m.  (21  feet)  deep  below  low- 
water  level,  prolonging  the  Balisas  River  for  the  entrance  of  large  ships ; 
a  basin  of  the  same  depth  will  be  constructed  for  vessels  remaining  but  a 
short  time,  and  four  other  docks  or  basins  also  of  the  same  depth, 
whose  quays  will  have  a  total  length  of  8  kilometres  (20000  feet) ; 
finally,  a  maritime  basin  of  equal  depth  and  1,430m.  (4,692  feet)  long 
will  be  made.  All  the  masonry  will  be  of  be'ton  blocks.  Separate 
storehouses  will  be  built  for  imported  and  exported  goods,  which  will 
occupy  a  total  area  of  1,000m.  (3,280  feet)  by  50m.  (164  feet),  and 
have  a  capacity  of  315,000  cu.  m.  (10,963,900  cu.  feet).  All  the  quays 
will  be  provided  with  loading  and  unloading  appliances,  cranes  and 
derricks. 


THE  EXPLOBATIONS  AT  PAPIIOS. —  What  will  be  the  first  find  in  these 
new  excavations  at  the  ancient  home  of  the  Love-goddess  ?  Will  it  be 
anything  to  rival  or  even  approach  that  Praxitelean  Venus  of  the  Vati- 
can which  the  present  pope  has  just  stripped  of  its  envious  tin  drap- 
eries—  worthy  to  have  been  inscribed  with  a  legend  recording  them  as 
presented  not  "  munificentid,"  but  " pudicitia,"  Pii  Sexti,  and  which  he 
has  just  presented  to  the  admiring  world  of  art  in  its  surpassing  and 
immortal  beauty.  Perhaps,  to  use  a  homely  expression,  there  is  "  no 
such  luck."  Yet,  it  will  be  hard  if  some  choice  works  of  art  are  not 
brought  up  from  beneath  that  silent  silt  of  ages.  A  temple  of  such 
world-wide  fame  and  sanctity,  a  shrine  which  probably  dated  from  long 
before  the  "  great  period"  of  Greek  art  and  which  endured  until  long 
after  that  period  had  passed  away,  ought  surely  to  have  been  ricli  in 
curious  offerings ;  and  such  tributes,  when  they  dated  from  a  brilliant 
artistic  era,  must  sometimes,  at  any  rate,  reflect  the  beauty  which  was 
the  birthright  of  their  time.  If  the  Venus  of  Praxiteles  could  find  its 
way  to  the  temple  of  the  goddess  at  Cnidus,  and  not  only  survive  to 
extort  the  admiration  of  Lucian,  who  had  been  brought  up  to  the  sculp- 
tor's art,  and  "knew  a  thing  or  two"  in  statuary,  but  live  on  for 
another  seventeen  hundred  years  to  be  the  wonder  of  our  own  genera- 
tion in  the  eternal  city  —  if  these  things  are  possible,  we  say,  at  Cnidus 
and  at  Melos,  and  at  other  sites  of  the  goddess's  temples,  why  not 
at  the  greatest  of  them  all  ?  For  it  must  never  be  forgotten  that  at  no 
other  place  in  which  shrines  dedicated  to  Venus  may  have  been  found 
would  bear  comparison  in  point  of  religious  dignity  and  solemnity  with 
that  which  we  are  about  to  explore.  Paphos  was  to  the  goddess  what 
Lemnos  was  to  her  limping  husband,  an  island  specially  and  emphati- 
cally sacred  to  the  respondent,  if  we  may  so  describe  her  without 
offence,  as  the  other  was  to  the  petitioner.  The  "innamorata"  of 
Mars  not  only  resorted  to  Paphos  as  a  pleasant  place  of  abode,  but  she 
retired  to  it  in  circumstances  of  difficulty,  for  it  is  thither,  if  we  mis- 
take not,  that  she  withdrew  in  divine  confusion  on  that  unlucky  day 
when  Helios  condescended  to  the  part  of  a  private  detective  and  Olym- 
pus was  agitated  by  one  of  the  greatest  scandals  which  ever  shocked 
its  not  excessive  moralities.  Paphos  was  to  Aphrodite  what  Delos  was 
to  Apollo,  or  Cyllene  to  Hermes,  and  to  offer  up  homage  to  her  at  this 
her  favorite  shrine  was  a  good  work,  far  more  likely  to  result  in  benefit 
to  the  doer  of  it  than  the  rendering  of  worship  to  the  goddess  at  any 
other  spot  in  the  world.  The  temple  must  have  been  singularly  rich, 
and  there  has  been  no  Verres  to  plunder  it.  Nothing,  probably,  but 
the  wasting  touch  of  time  and  the  neglect  and  contempt  of  Turkish 
rulers  for  all  religions  and  religious  places  but  their  own  can  have  con- 
spired to  rob  Paphos,  or  rather,  Kuklia,  of  its  art  treasures,  and  these 
should  certainly,  therefore,  have  left  some  survivals  behind.  — London 
Telegraph. 

ALMOST  FROZEN  IN  BITUMEN.  —  A  singular  and  at  the  same  time 
serio-comic  accident  lately  happened  to  a  Paris  watchman  named  Par- 
not.  Parnot  was  employed  near  the  Champ  de  Mars  to  look  after  some 
buildings  which  were  in  course  of  construction,  and  in  order  to  keep 
himself  warm  during  the  night  he  put  some  planks  over  a  cauldron  of 
boiling  bitumen,  and,  covering  himself  carefully  up,  went  to  sleep  on 
them.  During  the  night  the  planks  gave  way  by  degrees,  and  the  man 
slid  gently  into  the  bitumen.  Under  normal  conditions  he  ought  to 
have  been  boiled,  but  the  bitumen  wis  just  beginning  to  feel  the  effects 
of  the  frost,  and  so  the  watchman  was  saved  from  a  horrible  death. 
Unluckily,  however,  the  bitumen  before  thoroughly  freezing  had 
adhered  to  Parnot's  clothes  and  flesh,  and  about  4  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing he  was  awakened  by  cold  which  seemed  to  have  entered  the  marrow 
of  his  bones.  On  endeavoring  to  get  up,  he  found  himself  glued  to  a 
bed  of  adamant,  and  shouted  energetically  for  help.  His  cries  attracted 
some  matutinal  marauders  who  were  prowling  around  the  locality  for 
plunder,  and  these  worthies,  instead  of  helping  the  unfortunate  man  out 
of  his  bituminous  bed,  eased  him  of  his  watch,  a  purse  containing  a 
small  sum  of  money,  and  his  knife,  after  which  they  indulged  in 
unseasonable  chaff  as  to  his  inability  to  "rise  with  the  lark,"  and 
finally  left  him  to  his  fate.  Parnot  was  nearly  frozen  to  death  when 
tl.e  workmen  arrived  in  the  morning  and  extricated  him  from  his  peril- 
ous position.  He  had  to  be  admitted  to  the  hospital  as  an  urgent  case, 
for  not  only  were  his  feet  frozen,  but  he  had  seriously  injured  himself 
in  his  energetic  but  ineffectual  endeavors  to  rise.  —  Boston  Herald. 

STATUE  OF  LIBERTY  ON  THB  WASHINGTON  CAPITOL.  —  Mr.  Jefferson 
Davis  writes  to  the  New  York  World  that  Sculptor  Crawford  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  statue  on  the  dome  of  the  Capitol  at  Washing- 
ton, and  adds :  The  facts,  as  my  memory  serves,  were  briefly  these  :  An 
order  was  accepted  by  Mr.  Powers  to  make  a  statue  for  the  dome  of 
the  Capitol.  His  cartoon  represented  a  female  figure  with  a  "  Liberty 
cap"  on  her  head.  I  objected  to  the  "  Liberty  cap"  as  the  accepted 
emblem  of  the  freed  slave,  at  the  same  time  stating  that  our  people 
were  born  free  and  had  maintained  their  freedom.  Mr.  Powers  modified 
his  design,  substituting  for  the  cap  a  crown  of  feathers,  as  indicative  of 
our  aborigines,  by  which  he  thoughj  to  render  the  figure  typical  of 
America,  as  the  representative  of  which  the  statue  was  intended  to 
stand.  I  do  not  remember  what,  if  any,  other  modification  was  made. 
The  only  objection  offered  by  me  having  been  removed,  the  design  was 
accepted  and  the  work  executed  by  the  renowned  statuary  Powers. 


THE  THIRD  ARTESIAN  WELL  NEAR  PARIS.  —  The  artesian  well  which 
has  been  in  course  of  construction  at  the  Place  llebert,  Paris,  for  the 
past  twenty-two  years  has  just  been  completed.  The  water-bed  lies  at 
a  depth  of  719m.  20c.  from  the  surface  of  the  soil.  Paris  now  possesses 
three  artesian  wells;  viz.,  at  Crenelle,  Passy  and  the  Place  lldbert. — 
Exchange. 


A  GENERAL  scaling  down  of  railroad  freight  rates  seems  to  be  one  of  the 
probabilities  of  the  early  future.  One  of  the  remote  causes  which  have 
made  tliis  a  necessity,  is  the  decentralizing  influences  that  have  been  at 
work  during  the  past  five  years  in  our  industries.  Statistics  show  that  in 
Illinois,  the  mauufactuied  products  have  increased  50  per  cent  within  that 
time.  In  Iowa,  30  per  ceut,  and  in  other  Western  States  the  increase  has 
been  from  15  to  40  per  cent.  Manufacturing  establishments  have  been 
multiplying.  The  construction  of  railroads  throughout  the  West  and  North- 
west has  drawn  thither  a  vast  amount  of  capital,  enterprise  and  labor,  and 
the  resulting  industrial  developments  have  created  new  necessities  with 
which  railroad  companies  have  to  deal  in  the  way  of  fixing  rates.  This 
necessity  has  been  emphasized  by  the  Interstate  Commerce  Law,  and  by  the 
establishment  of  substantially  new  commercial  and  financial  centres  in  the 
far  West.  Then,  again,  the  growth  of  commercial  organizations  of  one 
kiud  and  another,  such  as  Boards  of  Trade  and  labor  associations,  the 
development  of  competition  from  new  sources  of  supply  and  the  possibility 
of  a  further  lessening  of  transportation  rates  by  inlaud  water-routes  and  in- 
creased lake-craft,  all  converge  into  the  necessity  fur  a  rearrangement  of 
transportation  rates  and  rules  for  their  control,  ihe  chief  interest  to  busi- 
ness men  throughout  the  country  in  this  tendency  is,  that  it  will  probably 
result  in  permanently  lower  traffic  charges.  The  outflow  of  Eastern  capital 
into  the  West,  has  given  Western  enterprise  a  leverage  and  potential 
capacity  which  will  place  it  in  a  position  in  a  very  short  time,  to  be  very 
largely  independent  of  the  Eastern  sources  of  supply.  Fuel  is  declining  in 
price  throughout  the  West.  La  or  i»  relatively  cheaper  than  it  was  three 
years  ago.  Material  and  machinery  are  lower.  All  these  influences  are 
attracting  manufacturing  enterprise,  not  exactly  from  the  East  to  the  West, 
but  are  stimulating  localmanufacturiug  enterprise  throughout  the  West,  as 
has  been  doue  on  such  a  large  scale  throughout  the  South  in  the  past  five 
years.  The  Long  and  Short  Haul  Clause  is  helping  this  decentralizing  in- 
dustrial policy.  These  general  considerations  have  been  referred  to  for  the 
purpose  of  attracting  attention  to  the  new  and  favorable  influence  at  work 
throughout  the  newer  States  of  the  West,  aud  that  is  the  development  of  a 
self-supporting  capacity,  to  furnish  manufactured  products  and  merchandise 
of  all  kiuds.  The  people  of  the  far  West,  instead  of  sending  to  Boston  for 
shoes  and  to  the  East  for  textile  goods,  or  for  special  machinery,  paper, 
hardware  and  a  host  of  products,  the  manufacture  of  which,  the  New  Eng- 
land States  have  monopolized  to  a  considerable  extent,  will  establish  indus- 
tries of  these  kinds  among  themselves.  The  effect  of  this  departure  will  be 
the  building  up  of  large  industrial  communities  similar  to  those  we  have  in 
the  East.  The  building  of  shops,  mills,  factories,  house?  and  of  machinery 
establishments,  large  and  small,  will  grow  out  of  this  expansion.  The 
manufacturers  of  the  Northwest  have  observed  this  movement  for  a  year  or 
two,  and  they  have  been  wise  y  preparing  for  it  by  an  extension  of  pur- 
chases of  timber-territory  throughout  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Canada,  and  in 
Kansas  and  Arkansas,  and  throughout  the  lumber  regions  east  of  the 
Missis.-ippi  River.  Coal-producers  have  been  preparing  for  it  by  purchas- 
ing valuable  coal-deposits  throughout  the  Northwest  and  West,  wherever 
they  are  to  be  found.  Oil  and  natural-gas  projectors  have  been  scouring 
the  region  west  of  the  Mississippi  for  evidences  of  oil  and  gas,  and  have 
been  spending  considerable  monev  in  boring.  The  demand  for  lumber  all 
over  tae  West  has  been  increasing  in  a  remarkable  way  during  the  past 
year.  Building  enterprise  is  moving  ahead  steadily.  In  some  localities  it 
lias  assumed  booming  proportions.  Towns  unknown  t  >  the  maps  are  grow- 
ing in  population,  and  there  is  a  demand  for  all  kind  of  building  material 
in  the  vast  region  of  country  between  the  Mississippi  and  Rocky  Mountains. 
Travelling  agents  for  manufacturing  establishments  who  have  been  making 
pioneer  tours  tiirough  these  regions  return  with  rather  enthusiastic  reports 
as  to  the  possibilities  of  that  section.  Business  may  fluctuate  in  the  East,  but 
it  will  improve  there.  Iron-making  may  suffer  iu  Pennsylvania,  but  it 
will  grow  rapidly  iu  Alabama.  Wool-growing  may  puffer  iu  Ohio,  but 
Texas  will  gaiu.  Money-lending  in  New  York  may  be  unprofitable,  but  the 
demands  from  Western  sources  will  offset  the  duluess  In  the  Knct.  ludns- 
tr.i-s  may  suffer  depression  in  the  New  England  and  Middle  States,  but 
there  will  be  a  compensating  expansion  West.  House  and  shop  building  may 
progress  rather  slowly  in  the  older  section,  but  in  the  new  West  and  South, 
there  will  be  such  a  demaud  for  material,  capital,  enterprise  and  labor,  aa 
will  sustain  a  healthy  activity  throughout  the  country.  The  actual  trade 
conditions  can  be  summarized  in  a  very  few  words.  Manufacturers  every- 
where are  purchasing  cautiously.  The  boot  aud  shoe  manufacturers  of 
New  England  are  still  ahead  of  last  year.  Hardware  manufacturing  estab- 
lishments are  full  of  orders,  and  have  excellent  prospects  for  the  season. 
Cotton-mills  are  nearly  all  running  full  time.  The  woolen  manufacturers 
expect  to  be  busy  during  the  last  seven  mouths  of  the  year.  Makers  of 
machinery  are  nowhere  complaining  of  restricted  orders.  The  iron  trade  is 
suffering  from  duluess  and  low  prices.  The  distribution  of  lumber  through- 
out the  East  is  very  heavy.  The  makers  of  all  kinds  of  railroad  equipments 
and  supplies  are  pretty  full  of  orders;  the  locomotive-works  being  particu- 
larly full.  The  car-builders  are  unable  to  accept  all  the  orders  that  are 
presented.  The  smaller  industries  throughout  the  country  are  suffering 
from  a  slackening  demand,  but  there  are  evidences  that  within  the  next 
thirty  or  sixty  days  a  better  condition  of  things  will  prevail.  Western 
factories  and  shops  are  working  to  80  or  90  per  cent  of  their  capacity. 
Commercial  failures  are  fewer  than  last  year.  There  is  a  tendency  on  ex- 
pan-ion  of  credits  among  jobbers  and  shippers  in  all  blanches  of  trade. 
No  financial  stringency  is  felt  in  markets  East  or  West.  Au  honest  differ- 
ence of  opinion  exists  as  to  the  wisdom  of  pending  measures  in  Congiess  to 
maintain  an  easy  volume  of  mouey  for  business  requirements.  The  in- 
terest* of.  the  producers  throughout  the  country  are  being  watched  with 
greater  care  than  ever  before  in  our  history.  Speculators  and  manipulators 
of  stocks  have  less  opportunity  than  ever  before.  Government  stands 
ready  to  extend  its  paternal  assistance,  if  nece.-sary,  against  trusts  ai.d 
monopolies,  which  have  proved  too  strong  for  outside  enterprise.  The  in- 
terests of  tlie  mass  of  the  people  were  never  more  assiduously  conserved, 
and  there  is  no  reason  for  predicting  evil  or  injury  to  them. 

S.  J.  PARKHILL  &  Co.,  Printers,  Boston. 


THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  AND  BUILDING  NEWS. 


VOL.  xxin. 


Copyright,  1888,  by  TICKNOR  &  COMPACT,  Boston,  Mam. 


No.  643, 


APRIL  21. 1888. 

Entered  at  the  Post-Office  at  Boston  as  second-class  matter. 


SUMMARY:  — 

Death  of  General  Q.  A.  Gillmore. —  Heavy  Insurance  Losses 
in  the  Current  Year.  —  The  Prize  Essays  of  the  American 
Public  Health  Association.  —  A  new  and  dangerous  Blow- 
pipe Flame.  —  Labrouste  and  "Truth  in  Art.  — Iron  Slag  , 
in  Cement-making.  —  Fall  of  a  Meteor  in  Cochin  China. — 
Careless  Handling;  of  Nitro-Glycerine  Compounds.  —  Exhibi- 
tion of  the  l!ostm>  Public  l.ibrnry  Plans 181 

MKMOHIAI.S  TO  CAPTAIN   NATHAN    HALE. —  II 183 

l.i  in:n  FIIOM  CHICAGO 180 

ll.l.l  STKMIOXS:  

Doorway  of  House  at  corner  of  Gloucester  Street  and  Common- 
\\.Mltli  Avi-.,  lioston,  Mass.  —  Gothic  Towers  and  Spires. 
Plates  10,  11  and  12. —  Pennsylvania  College,  Gettysburg, 
Pa.  —  "Pro  Patria."  — Fast-Day  Sketches  at  Hingham, 
Mass. — The  I.  I).  Farnsworth  School  of  Art,  Wellesley  Col- 
lege, Wellesley,  Mass 180 

LETTER  FHOM  LONDON 18(1 

LETTER  FIIOM  WASHINGTON 187 

LETTER  KHOM  BOSTON 188 

TIM.  AHT  OK  HOUSEBUILDING.  —  II 189 

JAPANESE  PICTURES. 190 

SOCIETIES 191 

COMMUNICATIONS  :  — 

The   Indiana  Soldiers'   Monument  Competition.  —  Removing 

Oil  Stains 191 

NOTES  AND  CLIPPINGS 192 

TRADE  SURVEYS 192 


Y  the  death  of  General  Quincy  A.  Gilhnore,  which  occurred 
in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  last  week,  the  country  loses  an  admir- 
able example  of  the  sort  of  thorough  and  intelligent  scien- 
tific as  well  as  military  men  which  our  West  Point  training 
tends  to  develop.  General  Gilltnore  was  born  in  Ohio  in  1825. 
He  graduated  at  West  Point  with  high  honors  in  1849,  and 
was  assigned  to  duty  as  officer  of  engineers,  assisting  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  great  Fortress  Monroe,  as  well  as  other  fortifi- 
cations. Returning  to  West  Point,  he  served  for  three  years 
as  instructor  in  military  engineering,  and  was  afterwards  de- 
tailed to  supervise  the  construction  of  various  forts  on  the  At- 
lantic coast.  During  the  war  he  displayed  a  courage  in  action, 
as  well  as  military  skill,  which  gained  for  him  the  rank  of 
Major-General,  witli  the  command,  first  of  an  army  corps,  and 
then  of  the  Department  of  the  South.  The  return  of  peace 
gave  him  leisure  for  private  business,  and,  besides  the  Govern- 
ment work  with  which  he  was  always  intrusted,  he  was  chief 
engineer  of  the  Kings  County  Elevated  Railway,  and  a  com- 
missioner for  the  new  Croton  Aqueduct.  Amid  his  many  occupa- 
tions, civil  and  military,  he  found  time  to  write  some  of  the 
most  useful  books  on  engineering  subjects  in  existence.  His 
work  on  "  Limes,' Mortars  and  Cements"  is  the  best  general 
treatise  on  the  subject  that  the  American  student  can  obtain, 
and  his  little  octavo  book  on  "  Roads  "  is  also  full  of  just  such 
information  as  architects  and  engineers  require.  Besides  these 
two,  which  are  found  in  the  library  of  nearly  every  engineer, 
and  of  very  many  architects,  he  wrote  two  or  three  treatises  on 
some  of  the  military  operations  of  the  war. 


TTCCORDING  to  the  New  York  Times,  the  promise  of  the 
/A  beginning  of  the  season  has  been  kept,  and  the  present 
season  bids  fair  to  be  one  of  the  most  disastrous  that  the 
insurance  interest  in  New  York  has  ever  experienced.  Accord- 
ing to  the  official  statistics  for  last  year  of  twelve  of  the  best 
known  companies  in  New  York  and  Brooklyn,  while  their  in- 
come from  premiums  was  less  than  eight  million  dollars,  their 
disbursements  amounted  to  about  nine  and  one-half  millions, 
leaving  a  net  loss  of  more  than  a  million  and  a  half  dollars,  of 
which  one  company,  the  Phoenix,  of  Brooklyn,  lost  eight  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand,  and  the  Continental  about  three  hundred 
and  twenty  thousand.  Many,  even  of  the  strongest  companies, 
materially  diminished  their  surplus  by  the  year's  business,  and 
it  is  said  that  two  of  them  were  obliged  to  assess  their  stock- 
holders during  the  year  to  make  good  inroads  upon  their 
capital.  This  season  the  prospect  seems  to  be  worse  than  ever. 


Besides  the  extraordinary  frequency  and  destructiveness  of 
fires,  the  New  York  Tariff  Association  has  been  dissolved  and 
reckless  cutting  of  rates  is  everywhere  practised,  insurance 
on  city  dwelling-houses,  which  a  few  years  ago  was  uniformly 
held  at  twelve  dollars  and  a  half  per  thousand  for  five  years, 
has  this  year  been  extensively  sold  at  one  dollar  and  a  half  per 
thousand  for  the  same  term,  or  less  than  one-eighth  the  former 
rates,  and  mercantile  and  manufacturing  risks  are  rapidly  taken 
at  half  the  premiums  charged  by  the  old  tariff.  It  is  gratifying 
to  observe  that  this  condition  of  the  insurance  business,  how- 
ever unpleasant  to  the  underwriters,  has  already  led  to  a  care- 
on  their  part  as  to  the  character  of  the  risks  they  insure,  which 
was  formerly  unknown.  The  more  narrowly  the  insurance 
companies  are  compelled  to  count  the  chances  of  loss  by  fire, 
in  a  given  structure,  the  more  they  and  the  owners  for  whom 
they  insure  will  learn  to  appreciate  the  care  and  knowledge  of 
a  conscientious  architect,  and  we  shall  hope  before  long  to  sen 
decided  evidence  of  a  disposition,  which,  indeed,  is  already  indi- 
cated by  certain  symptoms  on  the  part  of  the  underwriters  to 
come  to  a  better  understanding  with  the  architects  ;  and,  instead 
of  showering  objurgations  on  them  on  all  public  occasions,  to 
point  out  to  owners  the  value  of  careful  planning  and  design  ; 
to  make  it  worth  while,  by  allowances  in  premium  rates,  for 
owners  to  employ  architects  who  can  give  them  such  planning 
and  design,  and,  where  possible,  to  discuss  points  of  construc- 
tion with  the  profession,  and  join  in  making  needed  experiments 
upon  new  materials  or  methods  of  building. 


WE  are  requested  to  call  attention  to  the  series  of  prize  es- 
says, prepared  under  the  invitation  of  the  American 
Public  Health  Association,  at  the  expense  of  Mr.  Henry 
Lomb,  of  Rochester,  who  devised  this  way  of  placing  the  best 
information  on  sanitary  subjects  before  his  fellow-citizens  in  the 
most  available  shape.  The  series,  as  so  far  published,  consists 
of  four  pamphlets;  the  first  on  "  Healthv  Homes  and  Foods  for 
the  Working  Classes ;"  the  second  on  "  The  Sanitary  Condi- 
tions and  Necessities  of  School  Houses  and  School  Life ;"  the 
third  on  "  Disinfection  and  Individual  Prophylaxis  against  In- 
fectious Diseases,"  and  the  fourth  on  "  Preventable  Causes  of 
Disease,  Injury  and  Death  in  American  Manufactories  and 
Workshops."  The  first  of  the  series  is  by  Professor  Vaughau, 
of  the  University  of  Michigan ;  the  second  by  Dr.  D.  F.  Lin- 
coln, of  Boston  ;  the  third  by  Dr.  Sternberg,  of  the  United 
States  Army  ;  and  the  fourth  by  Mr.  George  II.  Ireland,  of 
Springfield,  Mass.,  and  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  all  of 
them  contain,  condensed  in  small  space,  an  immense  amount  of 
the  most  useful  information.  We  shall  have  occasion  later  to 
speak  of  some  of  the  special  points,  but  the  books  themselves 
should  be  in  the  hands  of  all  those  who  have  any  interest  in  the 
subject  on  which  they  treat.  With  true  generosity  and  consid- 
eration, Mr.  Lomb  provides  for  the  sale  of  the  books  at  a  cost 
which  barely  pays  the  expense  of  printing,  No.  1  being  sold, 
in  English  or  German,  for  ten  cents,  while  the  other  three  cost 
five  cents  each  ;  and  Dr.  Sternberg's  work  on  infectious  dis- 
eases can  be  had  in  English,  German,  French  or  Flemish. 


MR.  THOMAS  FLETCHER,  of  Warrington,  England, 
whose  name  and  address  ought  to  be  kept  in  mind  by 
those  interested  in  the  science  of  heating,  has  devised  a 
new  method  of  using  a  gas  flame,  which,  by  means  of  a  sort  of 
blow-pipe,  can  be  made  to  melt  a  hole  in  a  few  seconds  through 
a  plate  of  iron  or  steel  a  quarter  of  an  inch  thick.  Even  thick 
plates,  with  a  little  longer  time,  can,  as  the  British  Architect 
says,  be  penetrated  by  the  blow-pipe  flame  as  readily  as  a 
wooden  door  is  pierced  by  a  carpenter's  tool.  Ordinary  people 
do  not  have  much  occasion  for  melting  holes  in  iron  plates, 
but,  as  has  already  occurred  to  a  great  many  people  in  England, 
burglars  and  bank-robbers  will  find  Mr.  Fletcher's  blow-pipe  a 
valuable  addition  to  their  kit,  and  we  may  expect  to  see  it  util- 
ized by  them  at  once,  just  as  they  have  already  appropriated 
one  of  his  earlier  designs  for  furnaces,  to  enable  them  to  melt 
down  silver-plate  more  readily.  The  British  Architect  says 
that  several  bankers  have  already  visited  Mr.  Fletcher's  work- 
room to  study  the  blow-pipe  and  consider  whether  any  protec- 
tion against  it  can  be  devised  ;  but  they  do  not  seem  to  meet 
with  much  comfort.  Mr.  Fletcher  says  that  he  shall  manufac- 
ture the  blow-pipe  in  such  a  way  that  it  will  make  a  good  deal 


recent  number  of   La  Semaine  des   Comtructeurs  M. 


place 


aPrtm,,,t 


d  P  medial  architecture,  which  Viollet-le-Duc  and  others 
were  ius  beginning  to  describe  and  explain.  Labrouste  was 
Tlwavs  much  more  of  a  listener  than  a  talker,  and  on  this  occa- 
alWa>  Hstened  intently,  but  went  away  without  expressing 
Two  days  later  M.  Daly  was  surprised  at  re- 


TVilv  he-an   the    conversation   u</  •— 0  ——--  .      „ 

&  mo-  that  "Architecture  is  Ornamented  Construction, 
known  saying,  that    Arcntec  idered  this   definition 

rddaSenou'£   * ^include   all   architectural   art.      The  great 
rZtect  oAbe  Bibliotheque  Sainte-Genevieve   the  inventor, 
-'-  which  has  not  yet  finished  its  career, 


=«lSl::-a;Ss:"— : 

s™JI hX  architectural  world  to  reconcile  the  "Truth  in 
Art  ""maxims  with  real  comfort  and  convenience,  it  would  be 
Ivvrd  to  say  but  Labrouste  is  at  least  entitled  to  the  credit  of 
tvng  pui-sued  his  idea  with  an  ardor  which  still  gives  the 
strongest  impression  to  the  students  of  his  work. 

?TER  so  many  years  of  waste  and  contempt,  the  slag  from 
iron  furnaces  seems  likely  to  become  of  some  use  m    the 
world      Already    it  has   been  successfully   employed   in 
yons  [n  the     hvpeyof  bricks,  cast  into  shape,  and  it  has  for 


[Vol..  XXIII.  — No.  643. 

furrow  twenty  feet  wide,  about  a  hundred  feet  long,  and  six 
feet  deep,  out  of  which  the  earth  had  been  thrown  with  great 
violence.     The  bottom  of  the  furrow  was  smoothly  cut,  without 
any  trace  of  the  foreign  body  which  had  ploughed  it. 
measurements  were  taken,  which,  when  analyzed,  showed  that 
the  cavity  must  have  been  produced  by  the  impact  of  a  heavy 
body  which  had  subsequently  bounded  off.     The  weight  of  the 
flyin.rbody,  it  was  estimated,  must  have  been  two  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  ninety-five  tons,  its  maximum  diameter  twenty-six 
feet,   and  its  length  one  hundred  feet.     The   velocity  of   i 
nVht  at  the  moment  of  impact  must  have  been  two  thousand 
metres    per    second,  or    about  five    thousand    miles    an    hour. 
After  striking  the  earth,  its  velocity  was  slightly  retarded,  but 
it  left  the  ground  with  a  leap  which,  it  was  calculated,  nius 
have  extended  over  a  distance  of  seven  hundred  miles,  landing  the 
projectile,  at  its  next  ricochet,  in  the  middle  of  the  China  B 

IF  there  is  anything  more  surprising  than  the  explosive  force 
of  nitroglycerine,  it  is  certainly  the  carelessness  with  which 
that  substance   is   handled.     It   is  well-known   that  nitro- 
glycerine  freezes   at  a   temperature    considerably  above    th 
freezing  point  of  water,  and  scores  of  accidents  have  resulted 
from  the  reckless  methods  employed  for  thawing  it.     Years 
aoo,  when  pure  nitro-glycerine  was  used  for  blasting,  a  work- 
man  in  Germany  found   one  morning   his   can   of   explosive 
material  frozen.     Being  in  a  hurry  to  begin  work,  he  returned 
to  the  house,  heated  a  poker  red-hot,  and  started  off  to  thaw 
the  nitro-glycerine  with  this  instrument.     It  is  hardly  neces- 
sary to  say  that  he  succeeded  to  perfection,  the  nitro-glycerme 
chancing  its  condition  with  an  energy  which  pulverized  not 
only  the  operator,  but  all  other  surrounding  objects.     A  lew 
days  ago,  according  to  Fire  and  Water,  five  miners  m  Michigan 
brought  a  bent  gas-pipe  to  a  blacksmith's  shop,  where  it  was 
Sealed  and  straightened.     Without  waiting  for  it  to  cool,  they 
then  filled  it  with  dynamite,  which  immediately  exploded,  kill 
in-  them  all.     Almost  at   the   same  moment  a  man  in  New 
Jersey  brought  some  blasting  cartridges  to  thaw   hem  out  by 
a  tire.     He  accomplished  this  result  by  holding  them  on  the 
flame  for  a  suitable  period,  and  is  supposed  to  have  drop** 
one  during  the  process,  for  his  remains  were  found  m  a  frag- 
mentary condition  sixty  feet  away.     At  Richmond,  Indiana  on 
Uie  samye  day,  six  tons' of  dynamite,  which  had  been  stored  on 
a  farm,  exploded,  blowing  a  horse  and  wagon  to  pieces,  ex- 
cavttiuV  a  pit  fifteen  feet  deep,  and  twenty-five  feet  in  diameter, 
inuring"  a  woman  a  quarter  of  a  mile  away,  and  breaking  every 
window  in  a  neighboring  village. 


,n,?will  have  acquired  a  new  and  very  useful  m 

O  _  ___  -  -  *  --      ~ 

Sanitary  Engineer  quotes  from  the    Chronique  Indus- 


which  ™»ea  ch  Governor  ot  the  pro- 

fW  of  the  officers,  with  a  missionary  attached  to  the 


the  exhibition  of  the  drawings  for  the  New  Boston  Public 
Library  just  opened  at  the  Old  State  House  in  that  city  is 
but  a  fleeting  show,  we  call  attention  to  it  to-day  although 
we  propose  to  consider  the  matter  from  another  point  of  view  in 
^subsequent  issue,  and  we  trust  that  all  draughtsmen  and  as 
many  laymen  as  possible  will  visit  the  exhibition   and  judging 
b7  the  steady  stream  of  visitors  that  passes  into  the  room  there 
f a  fair  chance  that  some  of  the  lessons  the  occasion  presents 
may  be  remembered.     Here  are  the  drawings,  the  perspectives, 
Uie  elevations,  the  plans  and  «  such  other  drawings  or  models 
a     the  Competitor  may  choose  to  present,"  that  bu.hl.ng-com- 
mittees  in  search  of  designs  for  some  costly  building  used  so 
blandly    o  call  upon  architects  to  furnish  for  their  inspection 
a,  d  selection,  on  the  understanding  that  what  the  Committee  is 
n  eased  to  call   the  prize-designs   shall  become  the  absolute 
p  oner  y  of  the  Committee  in  return  for  sums  which  will,  m 
Teases,  barely  cover  the  mere  cost  of  the  drawings.     It 
vrdly  seems  possible    that   the  average  committee-man    who 
hou/h  he  may  not  know  how  long  it  really  takes  to  put 
upon°  line  is  generally  a  man  of  good  common  sense  can  see 
such  an  exhibition  as  this  and  not  understand  that  here  : 
s  own  work  that  it  has  cost  the  architects  not  on  y  hundreds 
but  probably  thousands  of  dollars  to  produce,  while  it  is  on  y 
the  beginning  of  the  work  that  must  be  done  in  the  way  of 
d  "win?  alone.      Time,    study,    calculations    correspondence, 
Sendence  and  all  the  other  things  which  are  to  be  paid  for 
bTthe  u"«al  commission  are  but  vaguely  suggested  to  the    ay 
mind  by  what  is  here  shown,  though  surely  the  big  &*£$** 
ust  hint  that  an  architect's  life  is  not  all  cakes  and  ale  that  he 
has o  the •  thTnos  to  consume  his  time  and  require  his  anxious  con- 
sfderltion  than  the  making  of  pictures -even  so  notable *  one  as 
tint  rendered  by  Mr.  Langerfeldt  in  his  best  style  —  ul 
but  th!  last  of  aeries  of  three  elaborate  perspective  stud.es. 


APRIL  21,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


188 


MEMORIALS  TO   CAPTAIN   NATHAN   HALE.1  — II. 


For  the  past  thirty  years  there 
has  been  an  occasional  allusion 
in  newspapers  to  the  necessity 
of  fitly  remembering  Ha.e  by  a 
statue,  and  that  was  all.  A  few 
years  ago  when  Cyrus  W.  Field, 
was  active  in  erecting  and  re- 
erecting  his  monument  to  com- 
memorate the  spot  where  Andrd 
met  his  fate,  there  came  into 
existence,  especially  in  Connecti- 
cut, a  kind  of  protesting  vitality 
against  Mr.  Field's  too  ardent 
endeavor,  and  in  favor  of  "doing 
something  for  Hale"  in  the  way 
of  remembrance  as  an  offset.  At 
first,  a  plain  shaft  was  proposed, 
and  upon  which,  as  its  chief  dis- 
tinction, a  long  and  flourishing 
inscription  was  to  be  placed. 
The  production  of  the  inscrip- 
tion closed  these  efforts  for  this 
memorial.  As  long  ago  as  1870, 
a  distant  connection  of  Hale, 
who  felt  that  his  fame  had  been 
neglected,  urged  an  American 
sculptor  in  Paris  to  study  the 
subject  and  make  sketches  of  a 
statue,  in  the  hope  that  promi- 
nent men  in  Connecticut  would 
interest  themselves  in  carrying 
the  matter  to  a  worthy  conclu- 
sion. The  sculptor  heartily 
entered  into  the  proposition,  but 
receiving  neither  private  or  pub- 
lic encouragement,  the  project 
was  abandoned. 

At  the  centennial  celebration 
of  the  battle  of  Groton  Heights, 
in  September  1881,  the  Rev. 
E.  E.  Hale  delivered  an  ad- 
dress on  Nathan  Hale.  At  its 
close,  Mr.  ,1.  J.  Copp,  secretary 


Model   for    Stilue  of   Nithm    Hal*. 
Woods,  Sculptor. 


E.  S. 


of  the  Centennial  Committee,  proposed  a  resolution  "  that  the  Con- 
necticut legislature  be  memorialized  to  appropriate  funds  for  the 
erection  of  a  status  to  Nathan  Hale,  the  Martyr  Spy,  in  the  Capitol 
at  Hartford.  The  resolution  was  unanimously  endorsed  by  the  au- 
dience, and  Senator  J.  R.  Hawley,  Ex-Governors  R.  D.  Hubbard, 
and  Charles  R.  Ingersoll,  Rev.  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon,  Mayor  Robert 
Coit,  and  Hon.  T.  M.  Waller  were  appointed  a  committee  to  assume 
charge  of  matters  relating  to  the  resolution. 

It  is  also  stated  in  the  Hartford  papers  that  in  a  memorial  address 
at  New  Haven  in  1881  the  Hon.  R.  D.  Hubbard  suggested  that  a 
statue  of  Hale  be  placed  in  the  Capitol.  A  resolution  to  this  effect  was 
introduced  during  the  legislative  session  of  1882  and  Messrs.  Waller, 
Hubbard  and  Coit  were  appointed  a  committee  to  procure  a  statue, 
but  nothing  was  done.  At  the  session  of  1883,  in  support  of  a  like 
resolution,  introduced  by  Hon.  E.  S.  Cleveland,  Hon.  R.  D.  Hubbard 
delivered  an  address,  which,  for  dramatic  character,  deep  and  path- 
etic understanding  and  appreciation  of  the  part  which  Hale  acted, 
for  eloquence  and  conciseness,  and  the  realization  of  the  high  mark 
set  by  Hale  in  his  life  and  death  as  an  example  to  his  countrymen, 
stands  alone,  of  its  kind,  in  American  oratory.  It  brought  the 
martyr  back,  after  a  hundred  years  of  oblivion,  a  living  presence  to 
the  sons  and  grandsons  of  his  own  generation.  Nor  did  he  well 
remain  even  as  an  inspiration,  for,  quite  forgetting  the  strange 
and  wondrous  vision,  the  pitiful  sum  of  five  thousand  dollars  was 
doled  out  to  buy  a  bronze  image  of  what  they  had  seen  but  had  not 
understood.  Hale  returned  to  the  shades  and  the  burning  words  of 
the  orator  followed  him. 

For  various  reasons,  death  and  otherwise,  the  committee  on  the 
statue  was  changed  during  the  first  years  of  its  history  until  it 
finally  became  composed  of  the  Governor  (chairman  ex  officio),  Hon. 
R.  Coit,  Hon.  H.  Barnard,  C.  D.  Warner  and  E.  S.  Cleveland.  This 
committee  advertised  for  models  in  public  competition,  and  then 
began  a  history  so  foreign  to  honor  and  decency  that  for  the  credit 
of  the  State  and  the  majority  of  the  committee  that  represented  it, 
we  would  stop  here  were  it  not  that  some  points  in  it  are  worth  allud- 
ing to. 

Three  competitors  offered  models  for  a  statue  larger  than  life, 
Conrad,  Gerhardt  and  Woods,  all  of  them  living  in  Hartford.  The 
model  of  the  first  was  discarded,  leaving  the  contest  between  the  last 
two.  Seeing  that  the  committee  were  actuated  solely  by  political 
and  personal  influence,  Mr.  Barnard  made  every  effort  to  have  the 
competition  conducted  upon  the  art  merits  of  the  models  presented. 
His  efforts,  extending  over  a  period  of  nearly  four  years,  were 
balked  at  every  step.  He  travelled  from  New  York 'to  Boston, 
inviting  sculptors  of  reputation  to  make  a  sketch,  assuring  them  that 

1  Continued  from  page  173,  No.  642. 


so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  they  should  be  treated  fairly.  He  met 
with  refusal  everywhere.  The  general  feeling  among  those  he  con- 
sulted was  not  in  favor  of  the  way  competitions  were  carried  on, 
and  Iwsides,  the  contention  over  the  Hale  had  already  become 
unsavory. 

In  order  to  the  better  understanding  of  the  character  of  this  con- 
test and  its  eventful  result,  it  is  necessary  to  speak  of  the  two  com- 
peting sculptors. 

Mr.  Gerhardt  was  the  protege"  of  "  Mark  Twain  "  and  had  lately 
returned  from  Paris,  where  he  had  been  studying  for  a  year  or  two 
in  the  Government  school  nf  fine  arts,  having  been  sent  there  by  the 
distinguished  humorist.  Mr.  Woods,  a  native  of  Nova  Scotia,  was 
entirely  untaught  in  the  art  of  sculpture,  though  he  had  practised  it 
during  spare  hours  taken  front  big  other  work  for  some  ten  years. 
A  few  bust*  and  bas-reliefs  comprised  his  productions  in  thin  art. 

Both  of  these  sculptors  made  several  sketches  each,  large  and 
small,  of  their  proposed  statues  of  Hale.  The  committee  did  not 
decide  in  favor  of  either  model,  because  Mr.  Barnard  was  determined 
that  his  decision  should  lie  given  in  favor  of  the  best  model,  inde- 
pendent of  any  external  influence  and  supported  by  the  judgment  of 
those  who  knew  more  than  he  did  of  the  subject  under  consideration. 
Matters  ran  along  in  this  way  until  1885,  when  the  Hon.  H.  B. 
Harrison,  of  New  Haven,  was  elected  Governor.  He  then  became 
a  member  of  the  committee,  and  the  legislature  of  that  year  added 
to  it  the  Rev.  Francis  Goodwin,  of  Hartford.  This  gave  new  life  to 
the  committee,  and,  pushed  on  by  one  influence  and  another,  it  set 
to  work  to  accomplish  something.  In  the  meantime.  Mr.  Gerhardt 
had  retired  his  model  and  the  committee  gave  him  eight  weeks  to 
fnake  another.  New  political  influences  had  also  entered  into  the 
contest.  Governor  Harrison  was  also  desirous  that  the  models 
should  be  examined  by  an  expert,  and  at  his  request  Mr.  Olin  M. 
Warner,  the  sculptor,  of  New  York,  was  invited  to  come  to  Hartford 
and  perform  this  task. 

Previous  to  this  Mr.  Barnard  had  described  the  models  of  both 
contestants  to  artists  in  New  York  and  Boston,  and  all  had  decided 
that  Mr.  Woods's  was  the  only  one  entitled  to  any  serious  considera- 
tion. The  latter's  was  always  open  to  and  was  seen  very  generally 
by  the  public,  while  the  model  of  Mr.  Gerhardt  was  only  shown  to 


the  committee  and  his 
friends.  Mr.  Warner 
came  to  Hartford,  saw 
the  model  with  Govern- 
or Harrison,  and  gave 
his  opinion  that  the 
one  by  Gerhardt  was 
the  best.  The  major- 
ity of  the  committee 
agreed  with  it  and  gave 
Mr.  Gerhardt  the  com- 
mission for  the  statue 
November,  1886, 
three  years  after  the 
appropriation  was 
made.  Satisfied  that 
this  decision  was  not 
just  and  that  the  result 
would  substantiate  his 
judgment,  Mr.  Barnard 
refused  to  sign  the  con- 
tract. 

The  statue,  nearly 
eight  feet  high,  was 
cast  in  bronze  in  Chic- 
opee,  Mass.,  and  was 
unveiled  in  the  Capitol 
in  Hartford  June  14, 
1887. 

Three  days  before 
this,  June  llth,  Har- 
per's Weekly  published 
a  wood-engraving  of  the  statue,  accompanied  with  an  explanatory  and 
complimentary  article.  It  thus  discourses  of  the  artist  and  his  long 
looked-for  work : 

"  It  is  the  work  of  Karl  Gerhardt,  a  young  sculptor  of  Hartford, 
who  pursued  his  studies  in  Paris  under  the  best  masters,  and  returned 
to  this  country  with  their  highest  commendation,  and  has  already 


'  Pro   Pitrii."      M.  J.  A.  M«rci«,  Sculptor. 


184 


The   American   Architect  and  Building   News.     [VOL.  XXIII. —  No.  64». 


made  good  their  prophecies  of  his  success.  He  has  recently  sent  to 
the  foundry  in  this  city  an  equestrian  statue  of  Israel  Putnam, 
destined  to  stand  in  his  native  town  of  Brooklyn,  Conn,  (also  a  com- 
mission from  the  legislature),  which  is  thought  by  those  who  have 
seen  it  in  plaster  to  be  a  work  of  uncommon  dignity  and  beauty. 
Needless  to  say  that  if  Mr.  Gerhardt  has  succeeded  in  the  rarest  of 
all  artistic  achievements,  an  equestrian  statue  —  for  the  wide  world 
has  few  good  ones — he  takes  his  place  at  once  among  the  first 
American  artists.  As  the  artist  had  no  portrait  to  guide  him,  he  has 
been  free  to  make  a  heroic  figure 
of  a  youth,  of  the  New  England 
type  in  features,  and  to  give  him 
that  fire  and  action  which  his 
character  revealed  in  his  exploit 
seems  to  require.  As  it  could 
not  be  a  portrait  statue,  the  fig- 
ure itself  must  tell  the  story." 

Referring  to  Hale's  last  words, 
the  article  continues : 

"  They  are  the  key-note  of  the 
artist's  treatment.  Unwilling  to 
perpetuate  the  ignominy  of  his 
execution,  he  has  seized  the  mo- 
ment when  Hale  may  be  suppos- 
ed to  have  said  these  words  — 
erect,  facing  his  captors  with 
flashing  eyes,  his  hands  thrown 
back  in  token  at  once  of  self-sac- 
rifice, surrender  and  triumph. 
The  action,  to  be  sure,  is  momen- 
tary, but  in  no  other  way  than 
by  some  action  could  the  artist 
tell  his  story.  The  attitude  is  no- 
ble, the  face  full  of  the  expression 
of  the  heroic  mind,  the  whole  fig- 
ure instinct  with  it.  So  perfect- 
ly has  the  artist  infused  the 
bronze  with  the  sentiment  of  this 
noble  utterance  that  even  the 
shoulders  and  back  declare  it. 
We  hear  that  a  replica  of  this 
statue,  with  a  slight  change  in 
the  pose,  will  be  set  up  in  New 
York." 

In  its  report  of  the  ceremony 
of  unveiling,  at  which  less  than 
two  hundred  persons  were  pres- 
ent, and  only  three  members  of 
the  committee,  the  Hartford 
Courant  says : 

"  The  desire  for  a  simple  cer- 
emony that  should  have  intellect- 
ual rather  than  spectacular  in- 
terest was  admirably  carried  out. 
There  was  no  procession,  no  mu- 
sic, and  no  display,  but  those 
who  were  present  will  remember 
the  order  followed  as  one  that 
appealed  immediately  to  their 
sense  of  fitness,  propriety  and 
dignity." 

The  presentation  address  was 
made  by  one  of  the  committee, 
Mr.  C.  D.  Warner.  Of  the  stat- 
ue the  orator  observed : 

"  To-day  in  all  its  artistic  per- 
fection and  beauty  it  stands  here 
to  be  revealed  to  the  public  gaze." 
..."  This  is  not  a  portrait  stat- 
ue. There  is  no  likeness  of  Na- 
than Hale  extant.  The  only 
known  miniature  of  his  face,  in 
the  possession  of  the  lady  to 
whom  he  was  betrothed  at  the 
time  of  his  death,  disappeared 
many  years  ago.  The  artist  was 
obliged,  therefore,  to  create  an 
ideal  figure,  aided  by  a  few  frag- 
mentary descriptions  of  Hale's 
personal  appearance.  His  ob- 
ject has  been  to  represent  an 
American  youth  of  the  period, 

an  American  patriot  and  scholar,  whose  manly  beauty  and  grace  tra- 
dition loves  to  recall,  to  represent  in  face  and  in  bearing  the  moral 
elevation  of  character  that  made  him  conspicuous  among  his  fellows, 
and  to  show  forth,  if  possible,  the  deed  that  made  him  immortal. 
For  it  is  the  deed  and  the  memorable  last  words  that  we  think  of 
when  we  think  of  Hale."  ..."  For  all  the  man's  life,  all  of  his 
character,  flowered  and  bloomed  into  immortal  beauty  in  this  one 
supreme  moment  of  self-sacrifice,  triumph,  defiance." 

After  presenting  the  statue  to  Governor  Lounsbury,  Mr.  Warner 
closed  his  address  by  saying,  "  Let  the  statue  speak  for  itself/' 


Nathan  Hale,  in  the  Capitol,    Hartford,  Conn.     Karl  Gerhardt,  Sculptor. 


The  Hartford  Times,  in  its  description  of  the  ceremonies,  alluded 
to  the  meagre  attendance ;  to  the  claim  that  Hale's  memory  had  to 
the  remembrance  of  his  countrymen ;  suggested  these  facts  as  the 
strongest   possible  argument   for   the   study   of   the  history  of  the 
United  States,  but  made  no  reference  whatever  to  the  statue. 
The  Hartford  Post  of  June  14,  had  the  following  criticism : 
"Although  no  portrait  of  Hale  is  in  existence,  one  who  kh<:w  him 
gave  our  fellow-townsman,  I.  H.  Stuart,  information  which  he  placed 
in  his  little  book  on  the  martyr-spy.     The  features  are  there  thus 

given :  '  Full  face,  light  blue  eyes, 
light  rosy  complexion  and  hair 
of  a  medium  brown.'  The  ordi- 
nary observer  can  quickly  tell 
whether  there  has  been  any  at- 
tempt to  make  the  face  of  the 
statue  like  Hale's.  It  is  long, 
not  full,  and  the  eyes  are  dark 
holes,  portraying  the  blackest. 
Light  blue  eyes  can  be  approxi- 
mated even  in  bronze.  An  in- 
spired article  in  Harper's  Weekly 
mentions  the  absence  of  portrait 
as  an  excuse  for  making  free 
with  '  a  heroic  figure  of  youth  of 
the  New  England  type  in  fea- 
tures.' But  it  is  no  excuse  for 
not  bringing  a  statue  of  Hale  to 
the  highest  portraiture  point  pos- 
sible from  tradition  and  record  — 
to  say  nothing  of  the  remarkable 
freedom  with  which  'the  New 
England  type '  has  been  maltreat- 
ed. The  observer  to-morrow 
should  look  at  the  design  of  the 
nose,  at  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  neck  • —  all  out  of  propor- 
tion—  and  undeveloped  back  of 
the  head,  with  the  absence  of 
character.  The  young  man  whom 
Connecticut  and  the  nation  de- 
lights to  honor  was  of  an  intel- 
lectual and  athletic  cast.  There 
are  few  marks  of  intellect  in  the 
face ;  the  phrenologist  as  well  as 
the  anatomist  is  certainly  abroad 
so  far  as  Mr.  Gerhardt  is  con- 
cerned. 

"But  though  the  face,  head 
and  neck  are  out  of  proportion 
and  show  nothing  that  Hale  pos- 
sessed (except  perhaps  the  very 
pretty  mouth  that  must  have 
been  one  of  his  attractions  in 
ladies'  eyes)  there  is  something 
more  flagrantly  unjust  to  him. 
Mr.  Stuart  records  from  tradi- 
tion and  history  that  '  in  height 
he  was  about  five  feet  and  ten 
inches,  and  was  exceedingly  well 
proportioned.  His  figure  was 
elegant  and  commanding.  He 
had  a  full,  broad  chest.  .  .  .  The 
elasticity  of  his  frame  is  well  at- 
tested by  feats  which  he  used  fre- 
quently to  perform  in  New  Lon- 
don. He  not  only,  says  Colonel 
Green,  would  put  his  hand  upon 
a  fence  as  high  as  his  head  and 
clear  it  easily  at  a  bound,  but 
would  jump  from  the  bottom  of 
one  empty  hogshead  over  and 
down  into  a  second,  and  from  the 
bottom  of  the  second  over  and 
down  into  a  third,  and  from  the 
third  over  and  out  like  a  cat.'  An 
example  of  long  jumps  on  New 
Haven  green  when  he  was  a  stu- 
dent is  given  together  with  his 
love  for  wrestling  matches  when 
in  the  army. 

"What  sort  of  a  figure  has 
the  artist  given  ?  That  of  a  de- 
formed man  who  could  not  have  done  the  feats  recorded  of  Hale. 
"  Instead  of  the  '  full,  broad  chest '  the  breadth  is  very  much  less 
than  standard  normal  —  to  say  nothing  of  Hale's  true  proportions. 
The  shoulders  have  no  graceful  curve  where  they  join  the  neck,  and 
are  not  equal  in  their  unevenness.  The  hips  are  deficient ;  the  legs 
have  no  shapeliness ;  there  is  no  elasticity  in  the  feet ;  the  muscles 
of  the  calves  are  misplaced ;  the  ankles  are  out  of  proportion ;  the 
shoe-counters  cut  cruelly  into  the  flesh.  The  hands  are  those  of  a 
hard-working,  unsensitive  person ;  veined  like  a  workingman's  and 
as  if  the  person  delineated  were  forty  years  years  of  age  instead  of 


APRIL  21,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


185 


twenty-one.  Whether  the  npirit  of  the  statue  —  the  idea  it  embodies 
—  can  excuse  these  defects  of  modelling  can  be  decided  by  the 
observer.  The  attitude  is  as  if  the  bronze  had  seen  its  father's 
ghost  or  were  complaining  that  its  hands  had  been  soiled. 

"An  unfortunate  thing  concerns  the  pedestal.  The  martyr-spy's 
last  words  run  down  hill  towards  the  north,  at  a  grade  of  say  a 
quarter  of  an  inch.  This  '  out  of  level '  is  easily  noticeable. 

"A  replica  of  the  statue,  it  is  said,  will  be  set  up  in  New  York  with 
a  slight  change  in  the  pose.  We  understand  that  the  hands  will  be 
tied  behind  instead  of  being  allowed  to  run  riot  in  the  present 
fashion." 

The  Hartford  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Tribune,  writes 
thus: 

"  Not  one  word  of  favorable  comment  has  been  said  in  any  of  the 
local  papers  about  the  statue  of  Nathan  Hale  unveiled  at  the  Capitol 
Thursday.  It  is  disappointing  even  to  the  friends  of  the  sculptor, 
Mr.  Gerhardt." 

The  New  Haven  Register  of  July  2,  1887,  alluded  to  Mr.  C.  D. 
Warner  as  a  eulogist  of  the  sculptor,  to  his  apologetic  explanation  of 

the  statue  in  his 
address,  and  criti- 
cised him  for  the 
questionable  taste 
he  had  displayed 
in  enco  u  r  a  g  i  n  g 
and  sanctioning 
the  production  of  a 
statue,  that  it  pro- 
nounced  worse 
than  the  "  Custer  " 
at  West  Point,  or 
the  "  Morse "  in 
Central  Park,  two 
statues  that  have 
been  hidden  from 
the  public  gaze  be- 
cause of  their  re- 
polsiveness.  It  also 
reflects  severely 
upon  the  misguided 
judgment  of  War- 
ner the  sculptor. 

Regarding  the 
anticipatory  enco- 
miums of  the  arti- 
c  1  e  in  Harper's 
Weekly,  it  says : 

"From  every 
fine  interpretation, 
both  literary  and 
I  artistic  of  Halo's 
last  words,  and  as 
a  just  estimate  of 
his  character, 
there  is  only  one 
conclusion  to  be  reached  in  regard  to  his  conduct  during  those  in- 
describable moments  when  he  gave  expression  to  that  immortal 
sentence.  It  would  not  be  that  he  was  straining  his  body  like  a 
boor,  and  gesticulating  like  a  poor  actor.  The  gibbet  is  not  an  en- 
courager  of  bravado. 

"  There  is  no  doubt,  however,  about  what  the  figure  means.  It 
tells  its  story  in  unmistakable  language.  It  is  the  story  of  a  c alprit ; 
a  conscious  thief,  who  thinks  that  his  crimes  are  not  known,  and  that 
his  willing  offer  to  be  searched  will  prove  his  innocence." 

Of  the  assertion  that  "  the  very  shoulders  and  back  of  the  statue  " 
declare  the  perfection  of  the  artist's  infusion  into  his  bronze  of 
Bale's  noble  utterance,  the  writer  adds  : 

"It  is  true  that  the  shoulders  and  back  declare  something  of  im- 
portance to  the  critic,  if  not  to  the  eulogist,  for  in  its  frantic  efforts 
to  declare  its  innocence  the  statue  has,  by  some  unknown  process  of 
banting  considerably  reduced  the  depth  of  his  chest,  and  so  deranged 
his  anatomical  construction  that  the  very  calves  of  his  legs  have 
fallen  quite  a  distance  nearer  his  heels  than  the  locality  they  usually 
occupy  on  a  well  proportioned  figure.  For  an  emaciated  saint  these 
little  incongruities  might  pass  unnoticed,  but  in  an  ideal  statue  of 
'  an  American  youth  of  the  period,'  they  are  decided  imperfections." 
It  is  safe  to  say  that  no  statue  ever  set  up  in  the  United  States, 
not  even  the  "Custer"  at  West  Point,  or  the  "Morse"  in  Central 
Park,  has  received  such  complete  and  just  condemnation. 

If  it  is  true,  as  some  affirm,  that  the  souls  of  the  dead  return  to 
earth  on  missions  of  love,  or  to  protest  against  continued  wrongs  done 
to  their  memory,  who  shall  say  that  Nathan  Hale  was  not  present  in 
the  Hartford  Capitol  on  June  14,  1887,  as  an  invisible  but  saddened 
spirit,  to  witness  the  conclusion  of  a  century's  fruitless  exertion  by 
his  native  State  to  produce  a  fitting  symbol  of  his  immortality. 

Many  of  the  citizens  of  Hartford  believed  from  the  first  that  the 
Woods's  model  was  superior  to  that  of  Gerhardt  and  that  it 
possessed  certain  indications  of  a  true  art-sentiment  and  understand- 
ing that  were  wholly  lacking  in  that  of  the  latter.  This  was  all  the 
more  noticeable  from  the  fact  that  Woods  had  been  deprived  of  all 
opportunities  of  art-study  which  his  rival  had  freely  enjoyed,  and 
which  were  put  forward  by  his  friends  as  unanswerable  reasons  for 


"Quand  Mime."     M.  J.  A.  Merc!.,  Sculptor. 


his  artistic  superiority.  Mr.  Barnard,  especially,  believed  that  the 
more  modest  general  action  of  the  Woods  model  was  a  finer  inter- 
pretation of  Hale  at  the  moment  of  his  execution,  or  as  an  action  of 
self-sacrifice,  than  that  displayed  by  the  model  of  his  competitor. 
He  also  thought  that  the  entire  expression  of  the  figure  should  centre 
in  some  single  gesture,  and  concentrating  the  whole  action  of  the 
figure  to  that  point.  This,  he  felt,  was  correctly  indicated  by  the 
position  of  the  right  hand,  as  shown  in  this  model,  which  also  recom- 
mended itself  from  the  fact  that  it  was  made  under  very  disadvan- 
tageous circumstances,  without  the  use  of  a  living  model,  or  the  assist- 
ance of  the  experience  of  professional  or  friendly  criticisms.  As  a 
piece  of  modelling,  it  was  judged  to  lie,  by  artists  of  long  experience 
in  the  Paris  art  schools,  a  surprising  piece  of  work,  entitling  its 
author  to  the  fairest  treatment  and  the  most  generous  encouragement. 

Many  of  the  citizens  also  believed  that  Woods  had  been  unfairly 
treated  in  the  competition,  and  they  went  to  see  the  "  Hale "  in  the 
Capitol  with  an  indignant  curiosity.  They  were  not  surprised,  but 
their  indignation  immediately  formulated  itself  into  a  protest  of  a 
just  and  most  praiseworthy  nature.  They  proposed  to  raise  five 
thousand  dollars  for  the  purpose  of  putting  Woods's  model  into 
bronze,  and  erecting  it  in  some  public  place  in  the  city.  More  than 
half  of  this  sum  was  raised  at  once,  and  the  remainder  is  assured. 

Mr.  Woods  is  now  engaged  in  perfecting  the  correct  ideas  fore- 
shadowed in  his  model.  The  right  hand  will  be  placed  open,  instead 
of  closed,  on  the  left  breast,  and  the  left  hand  somewhat  diminished 
in  its  action  :  all,  in  order  to  concentrate  the  entire  action  of  the 
figure  in  a  firm  and  simple  expression. 

While  the  Hartford  contention  was  going  on,  interest  in  Hale's 
memory  was  awakened  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  The  Franklin  Library 
Club  of  that  city  appointed  a  committee  to  consider  the  question  of 
a  statue.  The  sons  of  the  Revolution  of  New  York  City  also 
became  interested,  and  at  first  proposed  to  obtain  a  copy  of  the 
Hartford  "  Hale,"  but  on  examination  they  decided  to  make  an 
effort  to  procure  a  better  representation  of  the  martyr-spy.  Mr. 
Woods's  model  was  sent  to  them  for  exhibition,  and  several  other 
sculptors  have  consented  to  make  designs. 

SOME    INCIDENTS    CONNECTED    WITH    BALE'S    LIFE. 

The  school-house  where  Hale  taught  school,  in  New  London,  is  still 
standing.  Two  granddaughters  of  Alice  Adams,  Nathan  Hale's 
betrothed,  live  in  Hartford  —  Mrs.  Dr.  Hastings  and  her  sister,  Miss 
Elizabeth  B.  Sheldon.  Miss  Sheldon  was  at  the  unveiling  of  the 
Hale  statue. 

The  tradition  is  that  Alice  Adams  married  twice  after  Hale's 
death.  The  fact  is  that  she  was  already  a  widow  while  engaged  to 
Hale,  and,  though  she  did  marry  after  his  death,  it  was  under 
peculiar  circumstances,  none  of  which  are  inconsistent  with  the 
belief  that  Hale  was  the  only  man  whom  she  really  loved.  The 
romantic  story  is  essentially  as  follows  : 

Nathan  Hale's  father  married,  for  his  second  wife,  the  widow 
Abigail  Adams,  of  Canterbury.  She  had  two  or  three  lovely 
daughters,  grown  up  or  fast  growing  up,  and  Mr.  Hale  had  several 
sons  of  corresponding  age  .  and  attractiveness.  Soon  after  the 
families  became  one  the  sons  began  falling  in  love  with  the  daughters, 
and  one  pair  of  them  married.  After  this,  Nathan  developed  a 
tenderness  for  Alice,  though  she  was  scarcely  more  than  a  child. 
The  father  Hale  made  up  his  mind  that  there  had  been  enough  of 
this  intermarrying,  and  summarily  shut  down  on  this  match,  and  sent 
Nathan  off  for  his  education  for  the  ministry. 

Then  came  an  excellent  offer  for  Alice's  hand.  Kliphalet  Ripley, 
a  man  of  property  and  character,  some  years  her  senior,  asked  her 
in  marriage.  She  was  of  a  yielding  nature,  and  she  gave  way  to  the 
pressure  brought  to  bear  upon  her,  and  became  Mrs.  Ripley  at  the 
early  age  of  sixteen  years.  Within  two  years  he  died,  and  she  was 
a  widow  at  eighteen,  with  a  comfortable  little  property.  About  this 
time  Nathan  Hale  came  home,  and  would  tolerate  no  more  opposi- 
tion. He  and  Alice  avowed  the  affection  they  had  had  and  became 
engaged,  but  they  could  not  be  married  at  once.  Then  came  the 
war,  and  Nathan  went  off  and  met  the  fearful  fate  that  was  their 
final  separation. 

She  resolved  thereupon1  never  to  marry  again,  but  the  person  who 
had  charge  of  her  property  proved  dishonest  and  her  entire  posses- 
sions were  lost.  Meanwhile  the  reputation  of  her  beauty  spread  far 
and  wide.  She  was  known  as  "  the  handsomest  girl  in  Connecticut." 
William  Lawrence,  of  Hartford,  familiarly  called  "  the  marquis,"  son 
of  Treasurer  John  Lawrence,  made  up  his  mind  to  win  her  for  his  wife. 
Her  friends  again  urged  her  to  marry  and  she  again  yielded.  She 
became  Mrs.  Lawrence  and  lived  in  Hartford  until  she  was  eighty- 
eight  years  old.  Her  last  words  were  not  "  Write  to  Nathan,"  but 
"  Oh,  call  Nathan."  In  her  later  years  she  grew  somewhat  childish, 
her  mind  reverting  to  the  people  and  scenes  of  her  earlier  days. 

Mrs.  Alice  Adams  Lawrence  frequently  spoke  of  Nathan  Hale  to 
her  daughter,  who  in  turn  repeated  the  talk  to  her  daughter.  Miss 
Sheldon  says  she  described  him  as  six  feet  high,  straight  as  an  In- 
dian and  remarkably  athletic  and  manly.  T.  H.  BARTLETT. 


THE  DESSEMINATION  OF  DRT-HOT.  —  It  is  said  that  the  germs  of 
"dry-rot,"  the  enemy  of  builders,  can  be  carried  by  saws  and  other 
tools  which  have  been  hi  contact  with  infected  wood,  and  that  such 
transmission  and  impregnation  is  often  the  cause  of  the  mysteriously 
rapid  decay  of  originally  sound  timbers.  —  Exchange. 


186 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  648. 


Itril.DING  STRIKES  OVERSHADOWED  BY  TIIK 


A     NOVEL 


WAY    TO   MOVE    A   BRIDGE. 


entirely  have  we  been  living  in  the  atmosphere  of  strikes 
during  the  past  month  that  they  seem  almost  to  have  become  a 
-natural  condition  of  affairs,  and  a  few  more  or  less  cause  no 
remark.  The  great  railroad  struggle  which  has  severely  crippled 
some  lines  of  business  has  had  but  little  effect  upon  the  general 
building  trade.  Naturally,  isolated  cases  are  to  be  found  where  the 
transportation  of  some  particular  material  has  caused  worry  and 
trouble  on  the  part  of  the  contractors  and  architects  and  hard  words 
on  the  part  of  the  owner,  but  no  serious  and  widely-spread  difficulty 
has  arisen.  Of  all  the  dealers  the  lumbermen  have  complained  the 
most  bitterly,  their  business  being  so  intimately  connected  with 
transportation,  the  stoppage  of  freight  at  once  affects  them,  and  this 
was  especially  vexatious,  as  at  the  present  moment  they  are  most 
anxious  to  put  their  best  foot  forward.  Owing  to  the  equalization 
of  rates  due  to  the  Inter-state  Commerce  Law,  other  lumber  centres 
are  making  deep  inroads  into  Western  territory  that  the  Chicago 
dealers  had  almost  commenced  to  regard  as  their  own  private  pre- 
serves. As  a  result  they  have  stormed  and  have  formally  met  and 
resolved  several  resolves,  which  fill  half  a  column  in  the  daily  papers, 
but  all  the  same  their  relief  was  very  slow. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  clashing  of  loud  cymbals,  or  something 
else,  by  the  railroads  and  their  employes,  the  strikes  of  the  building 
trades  have  been  almost  unable  to  obtain  any  public  recognition  and 
in  sheer  disgust  have  nearly  been  obliged  to  hide  their  diminished 
heads.  The  painters  tried  to  go  out  with  a  great  flourish  of  trum- 
pets, but  the  aforesaid  cymbals  so  completely  drowned  their  little 
blare  that  a  dozen  or  so  lines  in  the  daily  press  was  all  that  they 
could  obtain.  Such  poor  recognition  and  lack  of  enthusiasm  on  the 
part  of  the  general  public  seems  to  nearly  have  caused  a  collapse  at 
once.  However,  they  have  held  out  bravely  for  less  work  and  more 
pay  and  have  succeeded  in  causing  considerable  trouble  to  their 
employers.  There  are,  however,  so  many  non-union  painters  and 
business  is  so  comparatively  light  for  this  season  of  the  year,  that  it 
is  now  more  than  evident  that  they  will  shortly  be  obliged  to  work  a 
little  more  and  be  paid  something  like  other  mortals  in  proportion  to 
the  value  of  the  work  they  do.  One  branch  of  the  carpenter's  fra- 
ternity is  also  trying  to  make  it  lively  for  every  one  concerned,  but 
in  this  case  they  are  antagonized  by  the  Knights  of  Labor  division 
of  that  trade.  The  Knights  were  so  modest  this  year  as  only  to  ask 
for  about  one-half  of  the  earth,  and  this  demand  having  been 
conceded,  they  gaze  in  virtuous  indignation  on  the  brotherhood 
which  demands  three-quarters  of  the  planet  at  one  fell  swoop.  Not 
to  be  behind  the  times,  the  hod-carrier  has  threatened  to  strike ; 
for  what  is  not  positively  and  publicly  asserted,  but  it  is  also 
believed  to  be  for  less  work  and  more  pay.  The  plasterers  feel  that 
they  are  aggrieved  and  some  of  them  have  threatened  to  strike,  but 
publicity  in  the  daily  press  not  being  given  to  these  things  as  much 
as  their  promoters  would  like,  they  have  all  proved  decidedly 
abortive.  Probably  no  really  serious  interference  with  the  building 
business  will  take  place  this  spring.  All  real  grievances  in  most  of 
the  trades  can  be  readily  arbitrated,  and  the  sober-minded  portion  of 
the  workingmen  are  not  anxious  to  lay  off  for  a  month  or  two,  espe- 
cially when  many  persons  consider  the  outlook  for  building  for  the 
coming  season  to  be  only  fair.  In  fact,  the  immediate  future  seems 
to  show  so  comparatively  little  extremely  large  building  that  people 
are  apt  to  get  the  idea  that  things  will  be  very  dull.  This,  however, 
is  not  really  true,  for  the  number  of  smaller  though  good  buildings 
promises  to  be  very  large,  and  undoubtedly  about  the  same  number 
of  miles  of  cheap  houses  will  be  built  as  in  the  past  few  years.  As 
for  the  extremely  large  and  heavy  constructions,  the  demand  caused 
by  the  removal  of  the  Board  of  Trade  has  no  wbeen  about  supplied, 
and  hereafter  such  mammoth  buildings  will  come  only  occasionally 
to  the  architects. 

A  rather  novel  bridge-moving  (at  least,  novel  for  Chicago)  has 
taken  place  here  during  the  last  month.  One  of  the  swinging-draws 
connecting  the  South  with  the  North  Side  was  floated  bodily  down  the 
river,  a  distance  of  about  one-eighth  of  a  mile,  and  placed  on  a  new 
foundation.  Under  each  end  of  the  bridge  to  be  moved  large  scows 
were  partially  submerged  and  scaffolding  built  upon  them  until  the 
underside  of  the  roadway  was  reached.  The  water  was  then  pumped 
from  the  boats  and  as  a  result  the  bridge  was  raised  off  the  pier 
upon  which  it  swung.  All  that  remained  was  to  tow  the  scows 
carrying  the  scaffold  and  bridge  down  the  stream  until  the  construc- 
tion was  over  the  new  central  pier  prepared  for  it.  The  water  was 
once  more  let  in  and  the  whole  thing  easily  sank  down  into  position 
upon  the  new  foundation.  As  usual,  many  people  were  greatly  exer- 
cised for  fear  the  whole  affair  would  topple  over  into  the  river,  but 
the  transit  was  safely  accomplished,  notwithstanding  the  float  had 
hut  a  few  inches  to  spare  in  passing  through  Clark-Street  bridge, 
and  now  Wells-Street  bridge  is  calmly  resting  upon  the  central  pier 


at  Dearborn  Street.  Moreover,  there  seems  to  be  but  little  doubt 
but  that  it  will  tranquilly  repose  there  for  some  time  to  come,  since 
the  city  fathers,  owing  to  some  little  oversight,  failed  to  appropriate 
any  money  to  build  the  proper  approaches  on  each  side  of  the  river. 
However,  this  small  matter  will  probably  be  brought  to  their  notice 
in  the  course  of  the  next  twelve  months,  so  that  some  time  in  the 
course  of  the  year  after,  if  they  cannot  force  other  parties  to  build 
them,  the  necessary  money  may  be  appropriated. 

In  the  meantime,  the  North-Siders  have  one  less  bridge  for  their 
use,  but  the  knowledge  that  the  old  bridge  was  safely  moved  and 
not  toppled  over  into  the  river,  coupled  with  the  fact  that  they  can 
soothe  their  lacerated  feelings  by  gazing  at  that  very  draw  now 
swinging  on  the  new  pier,  may  serve  to  keep  them  in  good  spirits 
until  at  least  a  new  bridge  is  completed  at  the  place  from  which  the 
one  in  question  was  moved. 

In  spite  of  this,  the  long-suffering  inhabitants  of  the  North  Side  are 
just  now  in  high  feather,  for  they  think  they  begin  to  see  the  commence- 
ment of  rapid  transit  and  the  consequent  {Development  of  the  distant 
parts  of  that  quarter.  At  last  the  new  street  cable-railway  has 
started,  and  by  making  use  of  the  La  Salle-Street  tunnel  under  the 
river,  many  of  the  vexatious  delays  caused  by  open  bridges  are 
expected  to  be  avoided  and  much  more  rapid  time  made  to  the 
northern  suburbs. 


[  Contributors  are  requested  to  send  with  their  drawings  full  and 
adequate  descriptions  of  the  buildings,  including  a  ttattment  of  cost,'} 

DOORWAY  OF  HOUSE  AT  CORNER  OF  GLOUCESTER  STREET  AND 
COMMONWEALTH  AVE.,  BOSTON,  MASS.  MESSRS.  PEABODY  & 
STEARNS,  ARCHITECTS,  BOSTON,  MASS. 

[Hello-Chrome,  issued  only  with  the  Imperial  Edition.] 

GOTHIC  TOWERS  AND  SPIRES.  PLATES  10,  11  AND  12. — ST. 
PATRICK'S,  PARTINGTON  ;  SS.'CUTHBERT  AND  MARY,  CHESTER 
LE  STREET,  DURHAM;  ST.  MARY  THE  VIRGIN,  HOUGHTON ;  ST. 
GREGORY'S,  WELFORD;  ST.  GEORGE'S,  METHWOLD;  ST.  MAR- 
GARET'S, CRICK;  ST.  MARY'S,  MORSHAM;  ST.  WILFRED'S, 
BEAYTON;  ST.  MARY  MAGDALENE,  OXFORD,  ENGLAND. 

[Issued  only  with  the  Imperial  Edition.] 

PENNSYLVANIA      COLLEGE,      GETTYSBURG,    PA.        MR.   J.    A.    DEMP- 
WOLF,     ARCHITECT,    YORK,    PA. 

HE  materials  employed  in  this  building  will  be  common  brick 
and  Hummelstown  brownstone,  with  local  granite  base  all 
jointed  in  brown  mortar.  The  interior  finish  will  be  in  oak  and 
southern  pine.  There  will  also  be  an  arcaded  stair-hall  of  three 
stories  in  moulded  and  plain  buff  brick,  brownstone  and  Woodstock 
granite.  In  addition  to  the  main  staircase  additional  exits  will  be 
provided  at  each  end  of  the  building  by  means  of  iron  stairs  enclosed 
in  brickwork  with  fireproof  doors.  The  size  over  all  is  about 
84'  x  1 74',  and  the  total  cost  including  heating  will  amount  to 
$100,000. 

"PRO   PATRIA."      A   GROUP    BY    LEFEUVRE. 

As  having  an  antithetical  interest,  this  group  is  published  at  the 
same  time  with  the  sketch  of  the  Nathan  Hale  statue,  which  will  be 
found  elsewhere  in  this  issue. 

FAST-DAY    SKETCHES     AT     HINGHAM,     MASS.,    BY     MR.    W.    W.    BOi, 
WORTH,    BOSTON,    MASS. 

THE  I.  D.  FARNSWORTH  SCHOOL  OF  ART,  WELLESLEY  COLLEGK 
WELLE8LEY,  MASS.  MESSRS.  ROTCH  &  TILDEN,  ARCHITECT 
BOSTON,  MASS. 


THE  SECOND  READING  OF  THE  REGISTRA- 
TION BILL.  —  APPROACHING  DISSOLU- 
TION OF  THE  METROPOLITAN  BOARD  OF 
WORKS.  —  SUCCESS  OF  THE  EXAMINA- 
TIONS.—  EXHIBITION  OF  SKETCHES  OF 
OXFORD. 

LONDON,  March  31,  1888. 

TITHE  Second  Reading  of  the  "  Architects', 
J 1 1  Engineers'  and  Surveyors'  Registration 
Act"  has  been  fixed  for  Wednesday, 
April  llth,  and  both  sides  are  busy  preparing  for  the  conflict.  A 
special  business  meeting  of  the  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects 


to  64-3          HMKK,GaN  IKGH1TEGT  flND  HJIMIHG  RHWS.MPR 

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AK.HT,   YORK.  fA. 


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APRIL  21,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


187 


was  held  at  their  rooms  at  Conduit  Street,  last  Thursday  week,  to 
enable  the  Institute  as  a  corporate  body  to  petition  against  the  bill, 
and  was  very  well  attended.  Mr.  A.  W.  Blomficld,  M.  A.,  the  re- 
cently elected  A.  R.  A.,  was  in  the  chair,  and  it  was  soon  apparent 
that  he  would  be  no  fancy  chairman.  What  he  said  was  law.  "The 
question  before  us,  in  effect,"  laid  down  by  the  Chairman,  "  is 
whether  we  shall  or  shall  not  petition  against  this  bill,  and  nothing 
else  is  in  order,  nor  shall  I  permit  it  to  be  said."  Neither  did  lie. 
Thus  li:m<lie;t]i|ieil.  the  e\  jieeteil  discussion  upon  the  abstract  ques- 
tion of  registration  could  not  take  place,  and  'the  interest  was  con- 
fined to  the  voting.  There  were  seventy-five  Fellows  present,  and 
all  but  three  voted  in  favor  of  the  proposed  petition.  These  three 
were  Mr.  Blomfield,  the  Chairman,  Mr.  White,  the  Secretary,  both 
of  whom  were  prevented  by  their  official  positions  from  voting,  and 
Mr.  Gough,  the  registrationist  leader.  Comment  is  needless.  It 
must,  however,  be  remembered  that  under  the  existing  rdgirnc,  Asso- 
ciates are  not  permitted  to  vote  at  these  meetings,  and  the  Fellows 
consist  almost  entirely  of  men  fairlv  advanced  in  years,  who,  being 
quite  inured  to  the  present  state  of*  affairs,  naturally  look  with  sus- 
picion upon  any  attempt  to  disturb  it. 

The  opposition  organized  by  the  three  Institutes  appears  to  be  of 
a  very  complete  character,  and  it  seems  quite  impossible  that  a  bill 
of  the  character  of  that  now  before  Parliament  can  pass  in  the  face 
of  such  opposition.  I  hear  from  a  trustworthy  source  that  the  cause 
of  the  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects  will  be  advocated  by  a 
very  eminent  conservative  M.  P.,  Mr.  Chaplin,  and  that  of  the  Sur- 
veyors will  be  represented  by  their  President,  Mr.  Beadel,  M.  P. 
The  Engineers  are  treating  the  matter  in  a  very  contemptuous 
manner,  as  if  it  were  hardly  worth  their  serious  attention. 

On  the  other  hand  there  has  been  quite  a  flood  of  petitions  in  favor 
of  the  bill  presented  to  the  House  of  Commons  from  all  parts  of  the 
British  Isles,  and  several  provincial  societies  have  subscribed  to  the 
fund  for  producing  the  necessary  expenses,  incident  on  its  passage 
through  the  House,  including  such  admittedly  orthodox  societies  as 
the  Sheffield  Society  of  Architects,  and  the  Leeds  and  Yorkshire 
Architectural  Society,  although  the  president  of  the  former  has 
publicly  expressed  his  disapproval  of  the  course  of  action  taken  by 
his  society.  The  press,  too,  is  carrying  on  the  war  of  words  with 
unabated  vigor,  and,  indeed,  it  is  a  matter  of  regret  that  the  leading 
journals  on  both  sides  do  not  modify  the  acrid  tone  of  debate  that 
they  have  seen  fit  to  adopt. 

These  few  words  will  serve  to  show  the  intense  interest  which  this 
matter  is  exciting  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  just  now,  and  it  will  be 
somewhat  of  a  relief  to  many  steady-going  and  quiet  individuals 
when  the  fate  of  the  bill  is  decided  and  the  political  thermometer 
of  English  architecture  returns  to  its  normal  condition.1 

The  Royal  Commission  upon  the  Metropolitan  Board  of  Works 
has  now  been  appointed  and  consists  of  only  three  members  —  Lord 
Herschell,  the  Lord  Chancellor  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  late  Administra- 
tion, Mr.  Bosanquet,  Q.  C.,  and  Mr.  Grenfell,  a  Director  of  the  Bank 
of  England;  so  it  seems  that  the  Government  by  appointing  an 
eminent  lawyer  and  financier  intends  to  make  this  inquiry  a  strictly 
business  one.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  rumors  one  is  continually 
hearing  in  the  city  are  only  rumors,  otherwise  the  result  will  be  very 
uncomfortable  for  a  certain  architect,  an  Alderman  of  the  City  of 
London,  whose  name  is  persistently  coupled  with  these  rumors. 
No  doubt  you  have  heard  that  apart  from  these  recent  scandals,  the 
Metropolitan  Board  of  Works  is  doomed,  for  the  new  Local  Govern- 
ment Bill,  lately  introduced  by  the  Government,  contains  a  clause 
providing  that  London  shall  be  governed  by  a  "County  Board," 
which  is  to  supersede  the  Metropolitan  Board  of  Works  in  the 
administration  of  metropolitan  affairs.  The  universal  satisfaction 
with  which  this  provision  has  been  received  can  hardly  be  called 
complimentary  to  the  present  members. 

The  papers  read  before  the  learned  societies  of  late  are  not  of  sur- 
passing interest.  At  the  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects  the 
other  night,  some  interesting  memoirs  of  the  late  Mr.  Beresford 
Hope  were  read,  and  Mr.  Weathered  contributed  an  interesting 
account  of  "A  Fortnight  in  Switzerland  with  M.  Viollet-le-Duc."  At 
the  Architectural  Association,  Mr.  F.  M.  Simpson  has  read  a  paper 
upon  the  pregnant  subject  of  "  Old  Housework,"  which,  though  treated 
very  well,  might  have  been  made  more  of ;  and  Professor  Unwin,  of 
the  City  and  Guilds  of  London  Technical  Institute,  gave  us  quite,  a 
college  lecture  upon  Hydraulics,  which  he  illustrated  by  some  very 
beautiful  experiments. 

Two  examinations  in  architecture  have  recently  been  held  by  the 
Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects  at  Manchester  and  at  London, 
and  have  been  eminently  successful,  nearly  fifty  candidates  in  all 
having  passed,  including  several  from  the  colonies  and  India.  This 
examination  seems  rapidly  taking  its  proper  position  as  the  recognized 
final  examination  in  our  profession,  after  passing  which  a  man  may 
fairly  claim  to  call  himself  an  architect.  It  hardly  seems  yet,  how- 
ever, to  have  quite  found  its  level,  and  a  leading  article  appears  this 
month  in  the  official  organ  of  the  Architectural  Association  strongly 
advocating  its  conversion  into  an  examination  for  a  professional  de- 
gree. Thus  you  see,  events  seem  steadily  tending  in  the  direction  of 
a  collegiate  course  for  architects,  and  there  is  very  little  doubt  but 
that  it  will  eventually  come  to  this. 

'   I  regret   extremely   to  have  t<5  state  that  Professor  Kerr,  the 
popular  professor  of  architecture  at  King's  College,  perhaps  the  most 

1  Since  this  matter  was  pat  In  type  we  have  received  a  cable  message  that  the 
bill  was  discussed  on  April  17  and  withdrawn.  —  Eos. 


eloquent  man  in  the  architectural  profession,  is  suffering  from 
cataract,  and  will  shortly,  I  hear,  have  to  undergo  an  operation.  I 
am  sure  the  sympathies  of  American  architects  are  with  him  in  his 
trouble. 

The  visits  of  the  Architectural  Association  this  year,  thongh  not 
to  buildings  of  any  paramount  importance,  have  yet  been  of  consider- 
able interest.  They  have  included  the  new  hall  of  the  Cutlers'  Com- 
pany which  was  recently  dispossessed  of  its  old  hall  by  the  comple- 
tion of  the  Inner  Circle  Railway.  The  architect  has  evidently  put 
a  lot  of  feeling  into  the  work,  and  though  some  of  the  detail  is'  bold 
—  almost  coarse  —  yet  the  internal  effect  of  some  of  the  rooms  is 
good.  The  walls  are  treated  with  oak  (merely  washed,  by  the  wav, 
with  ammonia  and  not  smoked)  and  Japanese  leather  pa|>ers.  A 
curious  effect  has  been  obtained  in  the  large  hall  by  the  employment 
of  double  principals  and  in  lieu  of  the  ordinary  arrangement.  The 
Great  Northern  Central  Hospital,  also  visited,  is  only  partly  finished, 
and  I  hear  the  architects,  Messrs.  Young  &  Hall,  are  going  to  try  the, 
I  believe,  novel  experiment  in  England  of  a  circular-ward.  As 
Mr.  Saxon  Snell  and  other  great  horpital  authorities  have  declared 
against  this  circular  form  of  hospital  ward,  it  will  be  curious  to  see 
the  result  of  Messrs.  Young  &  Hall's  experiment.  A  West  end 
club-house,  some  large  residental  flats,  and  a  new  church  near  St. 
Mary  Abbot's,  Kensington,  have  also  been  visited  by  the  Architec- 
tural Association. 

In  the  art-world,  the  split  at  the  Grosvenor  seems  still  to  attract 
attention.  A  short  time  ago  a  complimentary  banquet  was  given  to 
Sir  ('(Mitts  Lindsay  by  the  Committee  of  the  Grosvenor  Gallery. 
Amongst  those  assembled  were  Mr.  F.  Goodall,  R.  A.,  Mr.  Frank 
Hall,  R.  A.,  Mr.  G.  H.  Boughton,  R.  A.,  Mr.  E.  .1.  Gregory, 
A.  R.  A.,  Mr.  P.  R.  Morris,  A.  R.  A.,  Mr.  Henry  Moore,  A.  R.  A., 
Mr.  J.  W.  Waterhouse,  A.  R.  A.,  and  many  other  eminent  artists,  in 
addition  to  several  peers  and  patrons  of  art.  Thus  it  seems  that  the 
ostentatious  departure  of  Messrs.  Halle'  and  Comyns  Carr  and  their 
friends  has  not  bereft  Sir  Coutts  of  all  his  supporters.  Talking  of 
this,  a  capital  "  Queer  Story "  appeared  in  Truth,  evidently  upon 
this  subject,  in  which  Mr.  Grenville  Murray's  covert  satire  was  more 
than  usually  brilliant.  There  seems,  however,  to  be  a  considerable 
amount  of  energy  on  the  part  of  these  schismatics.  Their  new 
gallery  is  situated  in  the  centre  of  Regent  Street,  and  the  open  door 
nightly  shows  forth  to  the  world  a  busily  engaged  gang  of  workmen 
preparing  the  gallery  for  the  forthcoming  exhibition  which  is  going 
to  astonish  the  world.  Whether  it  will  or  not,  nous  verrons. 

I  was  present  at  the  private  view  of  a  charming  collection  of 
pencil  and  water-color  sketches  of  Oxford  at  the  Fine  Art  Society's 
Galleries.  They  are  the  productions  of  Mr.  J.  Fulleylove,  R.  I.,  and 
are  exceedingly  interesting.  I  suppose  there  is  no  citv  in  the  world 
so  full  of  interest  to  the  architect  as  Oxford,  and  Mr.  Fulleylove  has 
worthily  represented  its  beauties.  Of  course,  we  miss  that  apprecia- 
tion of  detail  that  we  are  accustomed  to  look  for  in  our  professional 
sketches;  yet,  I  doubt  whether  it  is  not  rather  a  relief  at  times  to 
turn  from  our  somewhat  formal  productions  to  such  delightful 
sketches  as  Mr.  Fulleylove 's.  All  parts  of  Oxford  are  represented, 
and  the  quaint  nooks  and  corners  to  be  found  in  the  by-ways  have 
not  been  neglected.  Magdalen — queenly  Magdalen — occupies  de- 
servedly the  first  place,  for  no  less  than  eleven  out  of  the  eighty -eight 
drawings  on  view  are  representations  of  its  beauties.  Christ  Church 
has  also  received  its  full  share  of  attention,  as  has  also  Merton.  There 
are  three  views  of  the  "High,"  with  the  spires  of  All  Saints'  and  St. 
Mary's.  The  beautiful  dome  of  the  Radcliffe  Library  forms  the  subject 
of  more  than  one  sketch,  and  the  charming  view  of  Oxford,  as  seen 
from  Headington  Hill,  has  been  portrayed  in  a  masterly  manner,  and 
though  Mr.  Fulleylove  has  mainly  confined  himself  to  architecture, 
yet  his  artist  propensities  creep  out  in  various  charming  little 
sketches  on  the  river  and  in  the  gardens  of  New  and  Magdalen. 
Altogether  the  exhibition  deservedly  earns  the  appellation  of  unique, 
for  not  since  Turner's  time  has  so  complete  a  collection  of  drawings 
of  Oxford  been  exhibited.  CHIEL. 


THK  INDIAN  NAME  FOB  THE  CITY'S  SITE. 
—  SHORT  FACTS  CONCERNING  THE  PUB- 
LIC BUILDINGS. 

0N  the  16th  of  July,  1790,  a  bill  passed 
Congress  to  locate  the  National  Capital 
at  Washington,  the  sessions  of  Congress 
to  be  held  in  Philadelphia  until  1800,  when,  as  Mr.  Wolcott  expressed 
it,  they  "  were  to  go  to  the  Indian  place  with  the  long  name  [Con- 
nogocheague]."  Many  doggerel  verses  were  written  in  opposition  to 
the  present  location.  One  from  Philadelphia  says :  "  Since  you 
writ  us  Congress  and  court  have  determined  to  quit  us. 

"  In  fact,  he  would  rather  saw  timber  and  dig 
Than  see  them  removing  to  Cunnogocbeague, 

Where  the  houses  and  kitchens  are  yet  be  framed, 
The  treed  to  be  felled  and  the  streets  to  be  named." 


wi.— , -to  w.  .h« 

United  States  Capilol,  «as  alter.ards  appointed  in  1  >M  one  of. 
commissioners  to  survey  ami  lay  out  the  city. 

Major  I/Enfant  ha,  the  credit  of  planning  thecity, „" 
in  IBKCi  his  ulan  was  ridiculed  for  its  grandeur,  Dickens, 
and  other  abhors  taking  occasion  to  pike  fun  at  the  "city  ofmagn. 
ficent  distances"   without  pavements  or  houses.     There  are  man/ 
curious  letters  on  record  from  politicians,  foreign  v.sitor    and _the£ 
wives  in  relation  to  the  inconveniences  which   hey  had  to  "ndergo  m 
their  lodo-intrs,  conveyance  and  walking,  which  I  would  I 
oTuote  if  sp'a'ee  allowed  it.     But  now  all  both  citizens  and  foreign- 
ers? give  the  engineer  credit  for  proper  foresight  m  laying  out  1 
Federal  city  on  its  present  plan.  .,    ,  . 

As  late  as  1861-62,  it  is  said  that  teams  would  become  stalled  in 


Monument   are   the  other  Government  buildings  which  have  been 
completed  in  the  last  year. 

The  Pension-offiee  shows  that  an  architect,  not  an  engineer 
should  be  selected  to  design  a  building,  even  if  engineers  are  selected 
o  superintend  its  structure.  The  building  is  an  effort  to  introduce 
the  exterior  of  an  Italian  palace  into  a  Government  building. 


Thevrmient  buildings  in  process  of  erection   are   the  Con- 
cessional Library,  Jhe  Soldier's  Home,  remodelling  the  terrace  o 
the  Capitol,  each  of  which  I  will  treat  separately  in   some  futui 
letter. 


V  nave  an  uecu  tenLcu  up  «.««.  «~~  -— --_     »  _     ,       - 

crete  and  asphalt  for  light  vehicles  and  granite  *>£•*•».*» 
heavy  trafficf  so  that  Washington  can  boast  now  of  having  th 

PaFor  thTfirVt\rtyWyears  the  population  increased  at  the  rate  of 
onfy  five  hundred  anYfifty  per  year,  and  in  1860  the  populat.on  was 
lut  sixty  thousand.  The  last  directory  shows  a  population  of  two 
hu°nUdreTaynd  fifty  thousand.  For  .years  the  Government  buildings 
were  the  only  architectural  attraction  in  the  city.  The  corner- 
o?  he  Capitol  was  laid  September  18,  1793,  by  George  Washington 
with  Masonic  ceremonials  by  the  Alexandria  Washington  Lodge  of 
which  he  was  Worshipful  Master.  In  1800,  the  Capitol  and  Presi- 
£X5  houle  were  partially  completed.  Mrs.  John  Adams .  says  in 
reference  to  the  White  House:  "The  house  is  made  habitable,  b. 
>  "s  not  a  single  apartment  finished,  and  alMrithin  fjj^j*"""* 

unfurnished 
n  the 


THE  PICTURESQUE  AND  THE  MONUMENTAL 
QUALITY  IN  URBAN  ARCHITECTURE.— 
THE  LINCOLN  AND  OTHER  NEW  BUILD- 
INGS. 

HERE  are   in   architecture   two  equally 
prevalent  qualities  that  characterize  work 
the  picturesque  quality  and  the  monu- 
mental quality.  They  are  more  opposed  to  each 
other  than  is  at  first  apparent,  and  symbolize  not  "Jg*"*"^ 
different  types  of  mind  and  kinds  of  education,  but  they  v  -h  pnv 
sical  surroundings,  and  especially  with  social  and  pubh      «g"^uj 
nertains  to  the  romantic  attitude  of  mind,  the  other,  one   migh 
mTst  say,  to  the  forensic.     Monumental  work  certainly _h« .formic 
qualities  inasmuch  as  there  is  a  desire  to  impress  by  dignity,  by  gran, 
eur  in  fact  by  eloquence  as  compared  with  the  more  emotio 
trasts  of  picturesque  work  or  language.     The  choice  of 
these  qualities  as  the  dominant  note  of  a  design  rests  solel 
architect      The  exact  equilibrium  of  both  m  the  same 
wetnigt  impossible,  fo?  while,  on   the  one  hand    P«=turesqueness 
often  courts  monumental  detail  as  a  restraining  factor,  a  monu 
design  destroys  its  own  existence  the  moment  it  tolerates 


clothes   in.       me  i  aieni-umce,   *.        >"i.r  «-«    •— -  -  — 
wings  and  dome  of  the  Capitol  were  completed  just  before  or  d 

thMr/alThomas   U.   Walter's,  the  late   lamented  president   of  the 
American  Institute  of  Architects,  connection  with  the  extension  or 
completion  of  these  buildings  is  interesting,  he  having  a  clanr ipend- 
m«   for   professional  services  rendered  on  them.     In  1851 
comm°ssioPned  by  Fillmore  to  take  charge  of  *e  Capitol  extension 
(the  win^s),  the  amount  of  the  work  being  fixed  by  Act  of  I 
and  the  salary  for  this  special  work  being  ******££?£  £ 
1851  he  was  commissioned  by  Secretary  A.  H.  H.  Stuart  to  ta 
char-re  of  the  wings  of  the  Patent-Office.     In  1852  he  took  charge 
o   repairs  and  additions  to  the  Congressional  Library.     In  1 8a  5  his 
plan  for  the  extension  of  the  Treasury  and  Post-Office  and  dome  of 
die  Capitol,  and  the  superintendence  of  the  same  were  confided  to 
m  by  Act  of  Congress^  Mr.  Walter  laid  a  claim  for  these  services. 
According  to  affidavit.,  he  not  only  expected  additional  pay  but  the 
officials  expected  him  to  receive  such  remuneration.     Equitably,  of 
course  tto  claim  should  be  adjusted  and  paid,  as  *e  salary  was  a 
contract  morally,  and,  I  should  think,  legally  taking  the  letters  of 
Mr.  Stuart  and  President  Fillmore  into  consideration.    Mr.  Wai 
work  is  by  far  the  best  from  an  architectural  standpoint  of  the  gov- 
™ment  building,  erected   in   this   city,  all  details  and  groupings 
bein*  strictly  Classical.     There  is  a  quietude,  massiveness  and  ( 
nUy°in  their  design  which  is   sadly  lacking  in  some   of  the  more 
modern  Government  buildings.  .         , 

The  National  Museum,  completed  two  or  three  years  ago  is  unfor- 
tunate in  the  design -strikingly  so  when  viewed  in  connection  with 
he  Sm ^IsoniaVits  next  door  neighbor,  but  excellently  adapted 
nsidefor  its  purpose,  being  as  far  superior  to  the_  Smithsonian  m 
this  respect  as  tL  Smithsonian  is  superior  to  it  in  des.gn. 
Bureau  of  Engraving  and  Printing  is  on  the  other  hand  an  example 
of  a  well-designed  brick  building. 

The  War,  State  and  Navy  Departments  were  completed  in  Jan- 
uary•  la.t  bavin-  been  in  process  of  erection  some  ten  or  twelve 
years  I  is  a  la?ge  and  costly  building,  a  poor  treatment  of  French 
C Usance  When  viewed  from  the  avenue  (the  principal  point 
S  view)  H  is  down  in  a  hollow  and  looks  low.  It  is  one  mass  of 
small  windows  and  small  porticos,  each  designed  apparently  to  accen- 
tuate Its  smallness,  making  the  building  appear  a  pile  of  small 
details  conspicuously  obtruded.  In  this  way  a  quiet  massrve  and 
dignified  effect,  so  important  for  ^^1^^"°^  bwldlng> 

,nd  the  Washington 


que  design,  as  its  name  implies,  depends  for  it.  at- 
trvess  on  Lidentals-  studied  and  elaborated  and  ^tific.a  .ac- 
cidentals, perhaps,  but  none  the  less  accidentals  -in  so  far  as 
and  shade  and  perspective  groupings  are  concerned  es  upon 

the  variety  and^  vivacity  of  rapidly  changing  •£**^.£f£ 
points  of  view  ;  on  sharp  contrasts,  and  the   piquancy  o 
fached  masses  ;  on  quick  transitions  of  form,  color  and  material.     1 
seldom   inspires  homage,  but  often  compels  applause      It   is    not   a 
in^  before  which  to  be  silent,  but  rather  exc.tes  the  ,    ohsM     and 
ahl  !  !  "  which  denote  a  pleasing  but  not  too  subtile  filiation  of  the 
senses     On  the  other  hand,  monumental  work  has,  above  ever;  thing, 
two  noble  virtues,  simplicity  of  form  and  arrangement  and  majesty  of 
slale  ;  without  these  it  does  not  deserve  its  name,  it  becomes  a  formal, 

f11^  greTvirtues  can  be  expressed  on  paper,  except 
to  the  eye  that  has°been  trained  to  feel  scale  in  drawings,  and  can 


writn     pen 


shadows  of  windows.     The  means  of  ex- 


enhances  its 

moatTractiveside  accidental  of  the  ^^^  « 
only  added  to  the  accidentals  of  the  design,  and  as  scale  is  not 
ment  of  the  work  to  any  great  degree,  all  its  other  R  qualities  can  be 
expressed  and  nattered  to  any  size  whatever.  It  is  this  spe  us  ly 
LP  charlatan  quality  of  the  sketches  of  picturesque  work  that  catches 
Tnd  hold.  The  attention  of  the  lavman,  which  pleases  him  and  which 
U  the  reason  for  his  disappointment  when  the  actua  1  wori  :  i,  .com- 

a  latent  sugo-estion  in  this  I     Great  rooes 
tno'rdoTmaircoatsfit  large  men.     When  such  quah- 
tie.  as  impressiveness  and  dignity  exist  no  work  can  be  too 
retniire  them,  while  staccato  contrasts  belong  by  mere  nece  s.ty  to 
11  forms  and  subjects.     Therefore  the  greater  the  work  in  pur- 
the  Lore  it  needs  the  great  qual  ties  of  monumental 


te7«-oUin<T"b7ySond''the  'actual  building  to  the  conditions  that  have 
producedl  It  ca'n  safely  be  said  that  the  greater  *£"»** 
Lportance  of  the  ^^TS^A^K^ff^ 


APRIL  21,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


189 


York,  Rouen,  Tours,  Troyes,  Lubeck,  Nuremberg,  Heidelberg. 
Regensburg,  Verona,  Lucca,  Siena,  Perugia,  Burgos,  Avila,  Se- 
ville. The  cities  with  long  monumental  trades  with  simple 
sky-lines,  with  great  squares  and  long  avenues  and  vistas,  with 
fountains  and  statues,  are  the  great  cities  :  London,  Paris,  Berlin, 
Dresden,  Munich,  Vienna,  Rome,  Madrid.  It  is  not  a  fashion  for 
Classicism.  It  is  because  large  requirements  cannot  be  made  to  con- 
form to  the  eccentricities  of  the  romantic  treatment,  and  because  the 
lights  and  shades  of  Nature  in  sunlight  and  shade  need  no  further 
frittering  with  all  sorts  of  little  shadows.  In  the  past  our  cities  have 
been  small,  and  naturally  we  have  been  through  the  picturesque 
stage,  only  we  are  still  in  our  short  clothes,  though  we  are  full-grown 
lx>ys,  simply  because  we  have  grown  too  rapidly  and  there  were  few 
good  tailors.  We  have  that  excuse  no  longer.  Boston  is  growing  in 
all  directions.  With  a  little  thought  now  there  would  be  good  pros- 
pect of  its  becoming  a  city  with  buildings  and  spaces  worthy  of  it. 
The  Charles  River  embankment  is  one  step  in  the  right  direction. 
The  Public  Library  is  to  be  another,  and  a  very  great  one.  Com- 
monwealth Avenue,  as  far  as  the  street  is  concerned,  though  not  in 
tin'  houses  upon  it,  is  still  another,  and  within  the  past  year  several 
simple  buildings  have  been  going  up.  Of  these,  the  most  disappoint- 
ing, with  the  ]x>ssibilitics  at  hand,  is  the  long  facade  on  Lincoln 
Street,  near  Essex.  The  scheme  is  simple  and  good.  A  store  story, 
a  heavy  string-course,  moulded  and  projecting  too  much,  the  remain- 
ing stories  above  within  a  high  great  arcade,  with  pilaster  treatment 
between  the  arches ;  a  rather  meagre  cornice,  and  above  it,  in  the 
centre  of  the  building  only,  a  top  story  surmounted  by  a  balustraded 
parapet.  The  pilasters,  cornice  and  strings  are  of  cut-stone  ;  every- 
thing else  is  rough-face.  The  contrast  between  the  cut-stone  pilas- 
ters and  the  rock-face  wall,  against  which  they  stand,  is  most  dis- 
agreeable. Rock-face  work  will  not  allow  cut-work  to  be  used  near 
it  except  in  jambs,  soffits  and  strings  without  the  cut  work  losing 
larply  by  the  contrast  The  richness  of  light  and  shade  in  rock-face 
walls  kills  the  value  of  smooth  surfaces,  and  they  should  only  be  used 
above  it  and  not  in  the  midst  of  it.  Mouldings  with  rich  shadows, 
fully  detached  columns  and  forms  with  much  light  and  shade  can 
alone  hold  their  place  among  rock-face  work.  The  fluting  of  the  pil- 
asters is  not  good.  Fluting  in  which  the  arris  is  more  than,  at 
greatest,  one-eighth  of  the  width  of  the  flute  is  always  unsatisfactory. 
Consoles  set  up  on  end  and  flanking  the  base  of  the  chimney  are  very 
feeble  motives.  The  reveals  are  inadequate  for  the  size  of  the  ar- 
cade. The  chance  was  an  exceptional  one.  The  result  is  disap- 
pointing. 

The  Boylston  Building,  on  the  contrary,  improves.  It  is  dignified, 
and  has  the  impressiveness  of  size  and  simplicity.  The  Ghibbelline 
swallow-tailed  parapets  seem  unnecessary,  and  a  fuller  upper  cornice 
would  have  made  a  better  termination  to  the  building,  but,  with  this 
exception,  and  that  of  the  lettering,  the  building  is  most  satisfac- 
tory. 

On  Washington  Street,  near  the  Boston  Theatre,  there  is  an  ex- 
ample of  the  complete  subversion  to  the  desire  for  novelty  that  so 
often  destroys  our  best  work.  It  is  a  store  front  of  brick  and  stone, 
is  simple  and  good  in  detail ;  but  the  windows,  which  are  in  three 


gained  must  be  very  slight,  and  not  worth  the  trouble,  and,  to  make 
it  worse,  there  are  stone  quoins  at  the  outer  angle,  to  obviate  cutting 
the  brick,  perhaps,  and  this  gives  a  heavy  stone  mass  in  the  centre 
of  the  bays,  not  flanking  them,  from  top  to  bottom.  The  whole  thing 
is  so  manifestly  the  momentary  affectation  that  has  crept  into 
work  that  is  otherwise  good  that  one  wishes  for  some  force  that 
would  press  these  windows  that  seem  to  buckle  out  from  the  wall 
back  to  a  flat  surface. 


THE  ART  OF  HOUSE-BUILDING.'  — II. 

IT  is  not  my  fault  that 
at  the  commencement 

^^ — ^^^"7,  ""p*          °f    this    study   it  is 

said  that  the  Gallic 
dwelling  which  is  treated 
in  the  book  of  M.  Bous- 
sard  could  only  be  in 
fact  the  Roman  house. 
In  truth,  when  the  au- 
thor wishes  to  trace  the 
ideal  type  it  is  to  Pom- 
peii that  he  goes  in 
search  of  it.  This  gives 
him  the  chance  of  tak- 
ing for  his  guide  M.  de 
Lagreze,  and  who, 
amongst  French  writers 
who  have  studied  that 
ancient  Roman  city,  is 
the  one  who  has  done  so 
most  competently  and 

with  the  best  show  of  reason.     An  excursion  through  the  streets  of 
this  great  city,  buried  beneath  the  cinders,  which,  like  the  phoenix 

1 "  L'  Art  de  batir  ta  Maiion  "  Llbrairie  del  Imprimerieg  rcSunies,  Paris.    Con- 
tinued from  No.  642,  page  167. 


Capitol 




Forvdaco  del  Turchi.  Venice 
after    L'ART. 


of  the  fable,  has  been  lx>rn  again,  does  not  lack  charm  or  interest. 
One  would  think  it  a  sleeping  city,  and,  under  the  desolate  aspect  of 
its  ruins,  one  would  feel  that  he  might  soon  be  present  at  its  arousing. 
A  cataclysm  surprised  it  in  full  life.  The  track  of  the  last  chariot 
which  rattled  over  the  pavements  is  still  visible ;  fountains  and 
triumphal  arches  are  still  standing  in  part.  In  one  bakery  was 
found  bread  bearing  the  date  of  the  23d  of  November  of  the  year  79. 
Farther  on,  we  can  examine  a  workshop  where  the  tools  still  remain 
intact.  The  ergaslulum  (the  private  prison)  offers  us  the  distant  image 
of  the  captive  slave.  The  luxury  of  the  apartment,  the  accessories 
of  the  dressing-room,  the  couches  of  the  triclinium,  show  us  that  in 
certain  ways  the  epicurians  who  dwelt  upon  the  Neapolitan  shores 
knew  more  than  we  do  of  the  elegancies  of  coquettishness.  After  a 
little  search  we  might  discover  the  remains  of  a  repast  interrupted  by 
the  catastrophe,  and  of  which  a  learned  archaeologist  would  not  have 
much  difficulty  in  reproducing  the  menu.  The  walls  of  the  houses 
and  public  edifices,  tombstones  and  the  "  album  of  the  streets  "  are 
scribbled  over  with  verses  from  Ovid  and  Virgil.  To  these  Classic 
(quotations  arc  added  anonymous  epigrams.  Somebody  writes:  "I 
loved  a  blonde  and  she  has  disgusted  me  with  all  blondes."  Venus 
Physica  replies :  "  Thou  detesteth  the  blonde,  but  in  spite  of  thyself 
she  shall  return  to  thee.  It  is  I  who  assures  thee  of  this."  1'his 
gives  us  reason  Or  believing  that  Venus  Physica  was  not  a  blonde. 

We  could  not  finish  if  we  were  willing,  in  company  with  M.  La- 
greze, to  pass  in  review  all  the  collections  of  the  houses,  all  the 
utensils  of  housekeeping  and  the  toilet,  whose  manufacture  reveals 
an  exquisite  taste;  the  candelabra,  the  weights  of  the  balance, 
everything,  is  moulded,  carved,  sculptured  and  incrusted.  Surprises 
of  another  kind  await  us  if  we  are  willing  to  delve  in  other  corners 
of  this  necropolis,  and  many  inventions  of  which  we  claim  the  merit 
would  turn  out  to  be  very  familiar  to  the  ancients,  lias  there  not 
been  found,  for  example,  at  Tarquinia  in  the  Etruscan  cemetery  a 
skull  furnished  with  false  teeth,  failed  with  gold  fillings  and  manu- 
factured with  such  perfection  that  modern  science  could  not  surpass  it? 
Now  for  a  description  of  the  Gallic  house  such  as  M.  Bous<ard 
imagines  it.  The  entrance-door  is  in  the  first  place  protected  by  a  por- 
tico, under  which  the  visitor  finds  at  need  a  shelter  while  he  rings 
the  bell.  I  borrow,  almost  word  for  word,  his  description,  in  order 
that  I  may  not  take  the  spirit  out  of  his  ideal.  In  the  first  place, 
we  enter  a  long,  narrow  room,  upon  one  side  of  which  opens  the  lodge 
of  the  porter  and  on  the  other  the  cloak-room,  where,  if  we  wish,  we 
may  leave  our  hats  and  coats  and  enter  the  salon.  M.  Boussard 
even  says  that  we  may  leave  there  our  umbrellas,  but  it  is  not  very 
certain  that  the  Romans  or  the  Gauls  had  knowledge  of  this  article, 
which  to  me  seems  rather  a  product  of  the  civilization  of  our  times. 

Next,  the  first  salon,  which  is  lighted  by  a  fine  glass  window, 
which  fills  the  middle  of  the  ceiling  and  which  can  be  opened 
when  the  weather  is  fair  for  the  admission  of  air  and  sunshine.  The 
decoration,  composed  of  beautiful  and  bright-colored  portieres  and 
woodwork  finely  carved,  is  made  complete  by  a  fountain  whose  crys- 
talline jets  fall  back  into  a  marble  basin.  The  tones  of  the  mural 
paintings,  the  tile-work,  the  crystal  mirrors  framed  in  polished  metal, 
as  well  as  bronzes  and  wrought  seats,  stand  out  with  much  life 
against  the  green  of  the  plants  and  velvety  foliage  and  the  many- 
colored  flowers,  which  add  to  the  scene  a  restful  freshness.  Here  it 
is  that  the  master  of  the  house  will  come  to  meet  us. 

Learning  that  it  is  our  desire  to  examine  the  arrangement  of  his 
house,  he  does  the  honors  of  it  with  charming  cordiality,  knowing 
that  he  has  to  deal  with  artists.  He  first  shows  at  the  right  and  left 
guest-chambers,  for  which  the  atrium  serves  as  the  common  salon. 
Then  he  lifts  the  portiere  in  front  which  closes  the  entrance  into  the 
museum  where  are  preserved  portraits  of  his  ancestors,  their  arms 
and  busts  in  bronze,  fine  pieces  of  jewelry,  everything,  in  short, 
which  goes  to  form  the  collection  of  those  objects  which  have  formed 
part  of  the  lives  of  the  departed  and  speak  as  much  to  the  heart  as 
to  the  eye.  At  each  extremity  the  house-gods,  protectors  of  the 
house,  rear  themselves  on  their  pedestals  and  receive  the  homage  of 
the  passing  visitor. 

Return  now  to  the  atrium  and  follow  along  to  the  right  a  long 
corridor  which  leads  us  to  the  kitchen  and  its  dependencies,  where 
the  elegance  of  the  pots  and  pans,  the  studied  forms  of  the  cooking 
utensils,  are  really  surprising ;  and  symmetrically  on  the  left  are  the 
stables  and  coach-houses,  where  horses  and  carriages  are  not  less 
luxuriously  and  sumptuously  installed.  Special  doors  for  both  of 
these  departments  open  on  a  passage  at  the  right  and  left  of  the 
principal  doorway.  Shops  are  arranged  on  either  side  for  letting 
or  for  the  sale  of  the  products  of  the  owner's  farm. 

Returning  a  second  time  to  the  atrium,  which  is,  let  us  not  forget, 
the  centre  of  the  public  life  of  the  house,  we  penetrate  to  the  private 
portion  of  the  house  through  two  passages  situated  on  either  side  of 
the  museum  and  which  give  access  to  it  under  a  gallery  or  rectangu- 
lar peristyle  ornamented  with  columns  and  closed  by  glass  windows, 
and  in  the  centre  of  which  is  a  charming  garden  decorated  with 
fountains,  statues  and  exedras,  forming  the  axis  about  which  are 
arranged  the  reception-rooms,  the  library  and  work-room,  several 
dining-rooms,  a  little  gymnasium,  a  hall  for  fencing,  and  finally,  a 
complete  bath,  arranged  with  its  three  regulation-rooms,  including 
the  steaming-bath  and  the  douche.  Finally,  on  the  right,  we  arrive 
at  the  end  where  a  last  door  opens  under  a  portico  and  gives  us 
entrance  to  the  gynecteum.  Here  transpires  the  private  life  of  the 
household.  In  these  dwelling-rooms  are  other  rooms  arranged  about 
a  small  atrium  highly  decorated,  which  has  a  private  entrance  used 


The    American    Architect   and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII. -No.  643. 


only  by  the  householder  and  which  puts  him  in  communication  with 


JAPANESE  PICTURES. 


hshouSedier    essentially  from  the  modern  house,  whose  his- 
tort  M   Boussard  draws  for  us!     On  the  morrow  of  the  invasion  of 
th?  Gauls  the  new  society  separated  itself,  as  it  always  does,  into 
three  classes -priests,  the  wealthy  leaders  and  the  wonung  people. 
Each  o   the  e  Xee  classes  built  for  itself  dwellings  of  different  type 
The  priests   built   their  convents,  the   lords  their  castles    and  the 
peopleP  their  huts.     This  treble  grouping  still  exists  «n  our  «t,e..       n 
the  country  the  vicissitudes  of  construction  were  the  same.     Ihc 
.udimenta/v  type  of  rural  dwelling-house  remain,  in  the  charcoal- 
burn™r's  hut,  w  th  its  clumsy  carpentry  and  its  masonry  of  beaten 
earth   pierced  at  the  summit  by  a  hole  through  which  the  smoke 
escanesP     In  the  hamlet  we  encounter  the  little  square  thatch-roofed 
hoan  with   its  gables,  which  contains  a  single  room  and  connects 
hrouW  a  low  doorway  with  a  neighboring  stable.     Apart  from  the 
difference    of    proportion   the   analogy   of    construction   »   perfect 
between  this  little  house  and  the  hut  of  the  charcoal-burner.     When 
thpeasan   grows  richer  he  enlarges  this  dwelling  but  without  alter- 
in- ?ts  interior  arrangement.     He  enlarges  it  and  raises  it  so  a    to 
form  that  dwelling  which  we  all  know,  and  which  may  be  described 
as  follows :  A  square  house  whose  principal  door  opens  on  an  entry 
wh "serves  two  rooms  on  the  right  and  left,  with  ^aircase  at  the 
tock   leadin-  to   the  first   story.     Rarely  has   the  modern  trench 
architect  thought   to   repudiate   this   architectural   theme;  and  the 
nretestlittk  villages  w  th  which  the  French  country  is  sown  have 
For  "he  r  starts-points  the  hut  of  the  charcoal-burner,  that  is  to  say, 
he    utwhfch  the'  uncivilized  man  has  built.     It  is  time  that  are- 
volution  should  take  place,  and  that  our  civic  life  should  return  to 
the  traditions  of  antiquity,  applying  to  them  the  resources  and  dis- 
coveries  of  modern  science.  , 

The  plan  of  this  model  house,  classic  in  its  amplitude  and  grace  of 
proportions,  the  ordonnace  of  its  rooms  and  the  distribution  of  orna- 
mental parts,  modernized  in  revenge  by  wise  adaptation  of  the  new 
cTques'ts  of 'arts  and  science-this  plan,  I  say,  is  very  sagely -deve  - 
oped:  by  the  author,  in  front  is  an  enclosed  payed  court  of  wrought 
*  * — «— j  — 11-5  complete  the  decoration.  One 

i"_._1 „ 


(JLICU     U  Y       MM*    «•" 

stone  and  of  which  two  raised  walks  uuuij^.~  •>•*  —  -----  --  — 

can  in  this  way  pass  from  the  house  without  stepping  immediately  onto 
bare  o-round/  Children  can  take  here  their  recreation  when  rainy 
weather  banishes  them  from  the  garden.     Finally,  it  opens  onto  the 
poich,  under  which  opens  the  house-door.     It  is  useless  here  to  dilate 
on  the  usefulness  of  the  porch.     The  door  allows  us  to  penetrate 
into  a  little  vestibule,  beyond  which  is  found  a  closed  court  ornamented 
with  porticos,  rare  plants,  mosaics,  hangings,  marbles  and  painting  . 
It  is  covered  in  the  centre  by  a  movable  sash,  and  the  floor  beneath 
it  is  slightly  hollowed  so  as  to  receive  the  few  drops  of  ram  that  a 
sudden   storm  might  blow  in  before  the  sash  could  be  closed.     A 
httle  vase  of   marble  ornaments  the  centre   of   the  basin,  and  the 
tinkling  of  its  jet  of  water  enlivens  and  refreshes  the  place.     In  front 
three  lar-e  doorways  conduct  the  visitor  to  the  living-room.     Large 
bavs  arranged  on  the  circular  plan  give  to  this  room  the  aspect  of  a 
covered  exedra,  whence  the  view  stretches  out  over  the  landscape, 
?he  house  Ling  placed  on  a  hillside.     This  living-room   adjoining 
he  stu  ly  of  the  head  of  the  house,  serves  as  the  headquarters  of  the 
mistress,  for  from  this  central  point  oversight  is  more  easy  and  more 
^mediate.     From  this  room  can  be  entered  the  dining-room,  which 
Separated  from  the  kitchen  by  pantries  with  double  doors  which 
render  the  domestic  service  independent  of  the  central  court, 
[fnen-closet  and  the  chambers  of  the  servants  are  annexed  to  .the 
kitchen,  which  also  communicates  directly  with  the  cellar.     Return- 
ing to  the  *alon  by  the  central  court,  we  can,  through  the  left-hand 
door    enter   the   sleeping-room   of   the  master.     This  chamber,  the 
salon  and  the  dining-room,  are  the  principal  rooms  of  the  house  and 
cSeJuen  ly  have  a°n  outlook  upon  the  fields,  the  landscape  and   he 
dtetant  views.    In  a  room  next  to  the  sleeping-rooms  are  installed  the 
hydropathic  arrangements,  the  bath-rooms,  the  douche,  the  h,p-baths 
and  the  vapor-bath.     Finally,  under  the  portico  of  the  court  open 
two  more  sleeping  chambers  and  wardrobes,  with  double  doors  open- 
foa  on  the   vestibule,  and   the  water-closets.     Thus   disposed   and 
arranged,  says   the   author,  a   dwelling-house   contains   a   sufficient 
number  of  rooms  for  a  family  of  ordinary  size.     The  furnishing  can 
be  very  economical,  everything  allowing  the  court  and  its  porticos  to 
be  in  some  way  turned  into  a  sort  of  little  museum,  where  the  family 
souven™  canVd  a  resting-place,  an  annex,  as  it  were,  to  the  saton, 
and    formin"    for    it    a    prolongation    for    the    fete    days. 
*"L  can  equally  be  transformed  on  occasion  into  a  ball-room  or  a 
dlnin-roon?  if  one  has  had  the  forethought  to  regulate  the  height  of 
the  fountain  so  as  to  have  it  serve  as  a  central  support  for  the  dmmg- 


Romoix  Eraple-Vat-icarv  AXuseum  — 

after   Raeuer\e+-. 

LTHOUGH  it  is  difficult  to  endorse  the  report  of  the  Japanese 
Commission  upon  the  future  of  art,  yet  the  collection  at  the 
/  ^  British  Museum  proves  once  more  that  Japan  possesses  work, 
which  from  its  own  particular  standpoint,  equals  any  school  of  Euro- 
pean painting.     The  art  of  Japan  seems  to  have  been  the  outcome 
of  that  of  China ;  and  the  oldest  written  documents  of  the  Japanese, 
those  of  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries,  make  no  allusion  to  any 
style  of  pictorial  art  previous  to  the  fifth  century.     The  first  painter 
mentioned  was  a  Chinese,  one  Shinki,  who  is  said  to  have  come  to 
Japan  during  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Yuriaku  (457-479). 
fifth  in  succession  from  Shinki,  or  Nauriii  as  he  is  sometimes  called, 
obtained  the  title  of  "  painter  of  Japan  "  from  the  Mikado  ;  and  the 
Empress  Shotoku  conferred  the  name  of  Obka-no-Imiki  upon  him  in 
1 770      Kauaoka  became  famous  about  850-859,  and  although  none  of 
his  works  remain,  the  references  to  them  are  so  precise,  that  there 
s  no  reason  to  doubt  his  great  talent.     The  collection  opens  with 
specimens  of  what  is  called  the  Renaissance  of  the  fifteenth  century  ; 
but   if   the  visitor  expects  to  find  a  decided  demarcation  between 
early  and   late  work,  between   primitive  and  revival  schools,  as  in 
Italian    art,   he   will    be    grievously   disappointed.      All   Japanese 
Pictures  are !  essentially  decorative;  there  is  not  the  faintest  attempt 
to  depict  one  object  behind  another,  light  and  shade  are  unknown 
qualities,  and  linear  perspective  is,  of  course,  completely  ignored, 
is  is  very  strange,  for  one  cannot  conceive  such  close  observers  as 
the  Chinese  and  .fapanese  being  unable  to  see,  for  instance  that  a 
road  appears  to  diminish  as  it  recedes  from  the  eye.     Why  is  this , 
That  in  ricate  laws  of  perspective  want  study  that  even  the  vanish- 
in"  lines  of   two  sides  of   a  house  may  not   be  perceptible  to  the 
"norant  may  be  possible,  but  the  merest  child  sees  that  a  road  is 
Narrower  at  the  end  than  at  the  beginning  where  he  stands.     Then, 
SraTthough  the  anatomy  of  each  bird,  beast  and  fish  is  as  closely 
observed  as  to  its  general  characteristics,  distance  is  only  indicated 
by  d  minishing  theobjects  depicted ;  and  the  armor  and  each  detail 
o?  the  costumes  of  the  soldiers  a  mile  off,  are  pamted  with  as  much 
minuteness  as  that  on  the  men  who  are  in  the  immediate  foreground. 
But    or  dexterity  of  touch,  for  brilliant  coloring  for  real   impres- 
Sbnism  of  the  truest  kind,  what  artists  can  equal  the  Japanese?     A 
treat  man,  according  to  a  native  authority,  was  Sesshm,  who  died  m 
1507      "He  did   not   follow  in   the   footsteps  of   the  ancients,  but 
developed  a  style  peculiar  to  himself.     His  power  was  greatest  in 
land  cape,  after  which  he  excelled  most  in  figures,  then  in  flowers 
md 1  birds'   and  he  was  also  skilful  in  the  delineation  of  oxen,  horses 
dions  and  tigers.     In  drawing  figures  and  anima  s  he  completed 
Ketch  with  a  single  stroke  of  the  brush,  and  of  this  style  of  work- 
ng  he  is  considered  the  originator."     And  we,  350  years  later,  pride 

^^^^'^^^^^ 


The  orientation  of  the  house  is  a  matter  of  prime  importance. 
The  neighborhood  of  damp-grounds  which  at  night  especially  in  the 
autumn,nare  covered  with  mists,  is  very  dangerous,  for  it  predisposes 
to  rheumatism,  catarrhal  affections  and  consumption.  Elevated 
sHefare  preferable,  summits  being  the  most  healthful  because  of  the 
con  inuaUhange  of  air,  but  the  violence  of  the  winds  usually  makes 
them  very  uncomfortable  places.  One  must  rather  seek  a  site  half 
laTup'l  e  hill,  in  a  position  open  to  the  currents  of  air.  It  is  generally 
Preferable  that  the  house  should  face  either  east  or  west;  if  to  the 
K  the  air  is  too  dry;  if  to  the  south,  the  dampness  ,  due  to 
evaporation  is  not  without  danger. 

[To  be  continued.! 


bird,  in 


"alter   its   KIIIU,     wmw»   '«•  --—  _.  f  ..  ,f 

there  is  all  the  apparent  flatness,  the  want  of  strong  effects  o 

shade  and  the  intense  individuality  of  expression  and  precision 
of  drawin"  It  reminded  me  of  some  of  Bastien-Lepage's  portraits 
aso-butThe  too,  was  avowedly  a  disciple  of  Holbein  Strange  is 
t  that  wi  h  a  1  this  perfection  of  drawing  of  the  heads,  the  rest  of 
'  tures  are  formes  and  unfinished  Another  most  remarkable 
is  a  "Ghost"  floating  up  out  of  space,  the  head,  hair  and 


uch  with  very  little  apparent  effort  is  shown  in  the  figure  of  a 
woman  whose  dress  hjno  shade  on  it,  but  a  few  strokes  express 
The  turn  Tthe  body  and  the  folds  into  which  the  drapery  falls 
"The  Thousand  Carp,"  like  "The  Hundred  Cranes,'  is  a  chef 
of  careful  swdy.  Looking  at  a  shoal  of  carp  as  one  might 
f  Jaquarium.wesee  them  floundering  about  in 


APKIL  21,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect   and  Building  News. 


all  kinds  of  positions,  twisting  and  twirling  about,  and  fading  away 
in  the  distant  water. 

Some  of  the  humorous  pictures  are  very  funny.  "  Tortoises  on 
flu;  March"  is  delicious  in  the  rendering  of  the  clumsy  reptiles' 
elTorts  to  run.  "Turning  the  Tables"  shows  us  a  group  of  frogs 
riding  and  tormenting  a  snake.  Some  have  on  high  hats,  some 
carry  fans,  while  others  smoke  and  dance  anil  otherwise  disport 
themselves.  Another  picture  of  the  same  series  shows  us  a  cat 
tortured  by  rats  and  a  man  dragged  in  bonds  by  wolves,  hares,  rab- 
bits, etc.  —  a  subject  to  be  suggested  to  sportsmen.  The  "Fox's 
Wedding"  is  exceedingly  quaint  also,  parodying  as  it  does  the 
Japanese  ceremony  of  marriage. 

Of  birds  there  are  multitudes,  all  painted  with  equal  dexterity, 
and  one  cannot  but  envy  the  men  who  can  handle  a  brush  with  such 
facility  and  precision.  Whether  the  future  seat  of  art,  the  future 
great  schools  of  painting  will  be  in  Japan,  as  the  commissioners  pre- 
dict, is  doubtful ;  we  may  learn  much  from  the  Oriental  in  decora- 
tive art,  although  we  shall  probably  never  equal  them.  Hut  in  pic- 
torial expression  we  shall  most  likely  keep  our  supremacy,  because 
we  progress.  Our  portraits  may  not  equal  Titian's,  our  subject-pic- 
tures certainly  are  a  long  way  behind  Raphael's,  but  yet,  our  art  is 
living,  because  we  see  with  our  own  eyes.  Japanese  art  is  conven- 
tional; like  modern  ]iaintin^s  of  the  Greek  church,  it  differs  little 
from  what  it  was  centuries  ago.  Pessimists  may  th'.nlc  that  Euro- 
pean art  died  in  the  sixteenth  century,  but  never  was  there  such  a 
school  of  landscape-painting  as  in  our  own  time,  and  latterly,  a  new 
line  has  been  struck  out  in  what  may  be  called  the  poetry  of  common 
every-day  life.  While  we  are  true  to  our  modern  instincts,  while 
we  look  at  Nature  and  really  study  her,  we  shall  not  go  astray,  but 
if  we  work  upon  tUe  traditions  of  the  past  and  see  everything  through 
dead  men's  eyes,  wo  shall  fail  for  the  very  same  reason  which  is  the 
main  cause  of  the  success  of  the  Orientals  —  conventionality. 

Even  allowing  that  progress  in  European  art  ceased  with  the  great 
Italians  of  the  sixteenth  century,  still,  up  to  that  period,  from  the 
time  of  Cimabue,  both  painting  and  sculpture  went  through  a  con- 
tinued course  of  development.  Naturally,  I  mean  development  as 
regards  knowledge  of  anatomy,  of  form,  of  color,  and  of  general 
technique.  As  regards  sentiment,  perhaps  there  was  more  decadence 
than  progress,  arising  from  a  change  in  feeling  and  in  faith  without 
a  correspondins  change  in  subject.  The  Greeks  (and  probably  the 
Japanese  also,  could  we  judge  their  works  from  this  point  of  view), 
passed  through  the  same  phase  of  art,  continuing  to  produce  sub- 
jects long  after  all  faith  in  them  had  passed  away.  Hence,  the 
decadence  in  Greek  art  in  the  early  centuries  of  our  era  and  in 
Italian  art  in  the  seventeenth  century.  But  as  soon  as  men  per- 
ceived their  error  and  determined  to  paint  what  was  around  and 
about  them,  art  revived.  The  Flemish  and  Dutch  schools,  the  Span- 
ish, and  later  on  the  French  schools,  all  developments  one  of 
another,  show  progress.  In  China  and  Japan,  there  has  been 
nothing  analogous  to  this.  To  connoisseurs  there  may  be  some 
slight  difference  in  the.  various  schools,  but  to  the  ordinary  student 
their  landscapes  are  all  alike  —  there  is  not  even  the  difference  of 
style  which  we  recognize  in  a  Claude  and  a  Tu/ner.  Then  when 
we  think  of  the  treatment  of  landscape  in  a  Mantegna  or  a  Van 
Eyck,  and  in  a  Rubens,  a  Poussin,  or  a  Constable,  we  see  at  once 
how  essentially  progressive  all  European  art  has  been. 

The  Japanese  Commissioners  consider  that  the  future  schools  of 
art  will  be  seated  in  Japan  and  that  we  Occidentals  shall  (lock  there 
to  study,  but  only  on  the  condition  that  Japanese  art  returns  to  the 
lines  of  the  fifteenth  century,  its  purest  period.  This  reminds  one 
of  the  early  Pre-Raphaelite  movement  in  England.  We  all  endeavored 
honestly  to  paint  in  the  manner  of  the  early  Florentine  artists  and 
to  see  only  through  their  spectacles.  The  craze  did  good  ;  it  enabled 
us  to  get  out  of  the  careless,  sloppy  manner  which  was  then  in 
vogue.  But  of  the  numbers  who  took  it  up,  how  manv  have  remained 
faithful  ?  Not  half  a  dozen.  Most  of  us  have  seen,  like  Millais,  that 
it  was  only  a  means  to  an  end.  Revivals  of  all  kinds  do  an  immense 
amount  of  good  ;  they  rouse  people  out  of  sleep,  they  make  them 
earnest,  enthusiastic  and  thoughtful,  and  no  doubt  the  Japanese  are 
right  in  preaching  a  return  to  the  best  and  purest  periods  of  their 
art.  Were  they  to  try  to  assimilate  their  art  to  ours,  they  might 
succeed  in  the  end  as  they  have  succeeded  in  grafting  other  Western 
ideas  on  to  their  own  culture,  but  the  world  would  lose  an  art  which 
is  unique,  an  art  which  is  perfect  in  its  own  line,  and  which  no 
other  country  can  attempt  to  emulate.  S.  BKALE. 


GERMAN   TECHNICAL   SOCIETY   OF   NEW   YORK. 

T^ESOLUTION  regarding  the  Unsafe  Large  Groined  Vault  in  the 
t\    Assembly  Chamber   of   the    New    Capitol   at  Albany,    N.  Y., 
\  passed  in  the  regular  session  of  the  German  Technical  Society 
of  New  York,  March  10,  1888:  — 

Wherfas  the  German  Technical  Society  of  New  York  after  a  care- 
ful examination  of  treatises  published  by  its  Corresponding  Secre- 
tary, II.  W.  Fabian,  in  the  American  Aichitecl  and  Jiuilding  News 
(October  29,  1881,  and  March  29,  1884),  has  been  convinced  that 
the  dangerous  condition  of  the  large  groined  vault  of  the  Assembly 


Chamber  of  the  New  Capitol  at  Albany,  was  justly  and  correctly 
criticised  by  him  already  some  years  ago,  and 

Whereas  a  development  of  the  monumental  building  art,  keeping 
pace  with  modern  technical  researches  should  be  striven  for, 

Be  it  resolved  that  we  indorse  the  following  summary  of  Mr. 
Fabian's  statements  as  fully  corresponding  with  the  facts  and  sub- 
mil  the  same  to  the  public : 

1.  The  main  cause  of  the  instability  of  the  vault  is  based  upon  the 
form  of  the,  inner  construction,  the  lines  of  pressure  in  the  bearing 
ribs  considerably  deviating  from  the  middle  lines.     Hence  follows  an 
exceedingly  unequal  straining  of   material  in  the  dangerous  cross- 
sections  and  the  existence  in  tha  outer  fibres  of  strains  of  pressure 
considerably  exceeding  the  allowable  maximum.     The  resultant  of 
the  normal  forces  in  the  weakest  cross-sections  acting  considerably 
outside  of  the  central  core,  tensile  strains  are  produced,  which  in- 
volve the  cause  of  enormous  deformation.     These  facts  are  sufficient 
to  fully  explain  the  endangered  stability  of  the  vault. 

2.  The  construction  of  flying-buttresses,  joined  together  by  iron 
tie-rods  in  order  to  gain  the  balancing  power  between  the  horizontal 
thrusts  of  the  smaller  and  larger  arches,  is  not  in  accordance  with 
the  demands  of  sound  vaulting  architecture.     Two  arches  will  be  in 
equilibrium  if  in  both  the  product  of  the  radius  of  curvature  multi- 
plied by  the  height  of  load  both  taken  in  the  summit  is  equal.     Ac- 
cording to  this  law  the  problem  might  have  been  solved  without  em- 
ploying flying  half-arches  and  tie-rods.     This  manner  of  construction 
is  objectionable  on  account  of  the  unequal  expansion   of  iron  and 
stone ;   every  change  in  temperature  will  cause  a  vibration  in  the 
arch  system,  which  vibrations  in  the  course  of  time  might  imperil  the 
stability  of  the  vault.     It  is  not  believed,  however,  that  the  essential 
causes  of  the  present  deformation  are  to  be  sought  in  this  direction. 

3.  Nor  can  the  stated  unequal  settling  of  the  columns  be  seriously 
considered  in  judging  of  the  deformation,  it  being  in  comparison  in- 
significant with  the  great  dimensions  of  the  vault.     Both  faults,  this 
as  well  as  the  aforenamed,  might  indeed  contribute  to  the  aggrava- 
tion of  the  defective  condition,  but  not  of  themselves  cause  of  it. 

4.  The  attempt  of  the  architect  to  ceil  the   Assembly  Chamber 
with  a  monumental  stone  construction  can  be  but  approved.     The 
art  of  vault  building,  as  it  has  come  to  us  from  the  Middle   Ages  is, 
however,  constructively  impotent  to  cover  areas  of  this  size.     The 
ceiling  of  our  large  modern  halls  with  stone  vaults  can  therefore  only 
be  attained,  when  in  place  of  the  historical  vault-lines,  there  are  em- 
ployed mathematically  developed  arch-lines,  which  coincide  with  the 
lines  of  pressure.     Then  the  material  in  all  its  parts  would  be  strained 
quite  uniformly  and  only  influenced  by  pressure.      The  additional 
load  as  employed  at  Albany  to  improve  the  lines  of  pressure  in  the 
pointed  arches  could  then  be  dispensed  with  and  thus  the  total  load 
be  considerably  decreased.      There  is  no  doubt  that  a  groined  vault 
built  on  such  principles  of  construction  can  be  employed  for  the  As- 
sembly  Chamber  at  the   Albany  Capitol   without   fears   as  to   its 
stability. 

In  the  interest  of  progress  in  monumental  architecture  which  is 
insolubty  connected  with  the  employment  of  stone  as  a  building  ma- 
terial, it  is  therefore  to  be  desired  that  the  Legislature  should  adopt 
a  resolution  to  that  end. 

The  adaptability  of  the  old  material  in  case  of  reconstruction  of 
the  vault  undoubtedly  deserves  some  consideration  in  the  light  of 
the  foregoing.  In  behalf  of  the  Society, 

("ROBERT  STRICKKR, 
AUGUSTUS  KUUTH, 
The  Committee   -<  MAX  C.  BUDELL, 
F.  KNAUKR, 

[  E.    A.    GlESELER. 


THE  INDIANA  SOLDIERS'  MONUMENT  COMPETITION. 

TOBOXTO,  CAK.,  April  12,  1888. 

To  TIIE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  In  reference  to  the  Indiana  State  Soldiers'  and  Sail- 
ors' Monument  competition,  can  you  tell  me  who  has  received  the  pre- 
mium offered  for  the  second  best  design.  I  am,  yours  truly, 

ONE  WHOSE  DESIGN  HAS  NOT  BEKN  RETURNED. 

[THE  second  place,  also,  wi\s  awarded  to  a  foreigner,  an  English  architect, 
Mr.  1'ercy  G.  Stuue.  —  EDS.  AMERICAN  ARCHITKCT.] 


To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN 


NEW  YORK,  April  7,  1888. 
ARCHITECT:  — 


Dear  Sirs,  —  I  feel  sure  it  would  give  great  pleasure  to  your  sub- 

scribers to  see  published  in  the  Architect,  the  prize  design  of  the 

Indianapolis  Soldiers'  Monument  competition,  and,  for  comparative 

purposes,  as  many  of  the  other  designs  submitted  as  are  accessible. 

Very  respectfully,  ALEX.  DOYLE. 

[THB  Inland  Architect  for  April  contains  the  desizns  offered  by  mnny  of 
the  best  known  architects  iu  the  country.  —  EDS.  AHKRICAN  ARCHITECT.] 


192 


The  American  Architect  and  building  Nems.       [VOL.  XX II  I.  —  No.  643. 


REMOVING  OIL  STAINS. 

BUFFALO,  N.  Y.,  April  14,  1888. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  We  would  like  to  ask  if  there  is  any  way  to  remove 
oil  stains  from  a  hearth  of  Corse  Hill  Sandstone  — it  is  a  perfectly 
smoothed  rubbed  surface  and  the  stains  show  badly  — would  it  help 
matters  to  oil  the  whole  stone  ?  Very  truly  yours, 

MARLING  &  BURDETT. 

[!T  is  possible  that  fuller's  earth  or  powdered  French-chalk*  if  applied 
warm  and  under  slight  pressure,  may  absorb  the  oil  if  recently  spilled. 
Oiling  the  whole  stone  would  modify  the  evil,  if  the  first  coat  were  applied 
only  to  the  untouched  parts.  — EDS.  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT.] 


ROSE-HEDGES  AS  SNOW-GUARDS.  —  The  plentiful  experience  of  deep 
snow  whieh  Europe  has  had  this  winter  has  set  practical  men  thinking 
of  better  means  of  protection  against  this  great  obstruction  to  traffic. 
And  the  question  of  defending  lines  of  railway  against  snowdrifts  has 
been  raised  in  Austria  and  Hungary.  A  rose  hedge  is  now  said  to  be 
the  most  effective  defence.  More  than  a  mile  of  one  of  the  Hungarian 
railways  lias  been  this  winter  kept  clear  of  drifts  by  a  rose-hedge  about 
six  and  one-half  feet  high  and  three  and  one-quarter  feet  thick,  although 
this  section  of  the  line  had  always  in  previous  years  been  liable  to  be 
blocked.  The  rose  best  adapted  for  this  purpose  is  the  rose  of  Provins, 
now  incorrectly  corrupted  into  the  rose  of  Provence.  But  doubtless 
there  are  many  other  kinds  equally  serviceable ;  the  essential  thing  is 
that  the  hedge  shall  offer  a  solid  obstacle  to  the  drifting  snow.  It  will 
be  a  great  improvement,  certainly  —  apart  from  all  practical  considera- 
tions—  if  we  could  be  induced  to  make  our  lines  of  railway  blossom 
with  the  rose.  At  present  the  banks  which  border  our  lines  are  neither 
useful  nor  ornamental.  Here  and  there  a  little  kitchen  garden 
flourishes,  or  a  fowl-keeping  station-master  cultivates  sunflowers  for 
his  birds.  But  there  is  no  serious  attempt  either  to  grow  cabbages 
or  cabbage  roses  along  the  lines.  In  Brittany  the  lines  run 
between  small  fruit  gardens,  with  innumerable  pear  and  apple  trees 
trained  espalier  fashion  at  the  sides,  and  the  practical  cidtivation  of 
fruit  trees  is  adopted  along  the  high-roads  in  Germany.  We  might 
take  a  leaf  out  of  our  neighbors'  books  either  in  the  useful  or  orna- 
mental direction. —  London  Globe. 

RISKS  OF  RESEARCH.  — The  dangerous  quests  upon  which  enthusiastic 
chemists  may  embark  are  strikingly  illustrated  by  the  case  of  the  yellow, 
oily  substance  called  chloride  of  nitrogen.  This  terrible  explosive  was  dis- 
covered in  1811  by  Dulong,  who  lost  one  eye  and  three  fingers  in  a  vain 
attempt  to  ascertain  its  composition.  So  powerful  is  it  that  when  Fara- 
day and  Sir  H.  Davy  took  it  in  hand,  they  provided  themselves  with 
thick  glass  masks  to  protect  their  eyes  from  flying  bits  of  glass,  and 
to  some  extent  from  the  irritating  vapors  of  the  oil  itself.  Faraday  was 
on  one  occasion  stunned  by  the  detonation  of  only  a  few  grains  of  the 
compound,  and  bits  of  the  tube  in  which  it  had  been  contained  almost 


some.  If  they  are  already  combined  with  some  other  non- metallic 
element,  it  tears  them  from  it  and  takes  them  to  itself.  In  uniting  with 
sodium,  potassium,  calcium,  magnesium  and  aluminum,  the  metals  be- 
come heated  even  to  redness  by  the  fervor  of  its  embrace.  Iron  fil- 
ings, slightly  warmed,  burst  into  brilliant  scintillations  when  exposed 
to  it.  Manganese  does  the  same.  Even  the  noble  metals  which,  even 
at  melting  heat,  proudly  resist  the  fascinations  of  oxygen,  succumb  to 
this  chemical  syren  at  a  moderate  temperature.  Glass  is  devoured 
at  once,  and  water  ceases  to  be  water  by  contact  with  this  gas,  which, 
combining  with  its  hydrogen,  at  the  same  moment  forms  the  acrid  glass- 
dissolving  hydro-fluoric  acid  and  liberates  the  ozone. 

THE  ACTIVE  POISON  IN  HUMAN  BKKATH.  — Professor  Brown-Sequard 
has  recently  been  making  experiments  to  determine  whether  the  human 
breath  was  capable  of  producing  any  poisonous  effects.  From  the  con- 
densed watery  vapor  of  the  expired  air  he  obtained  a  poisonous  liquid, 
which,  when  injected  under  the  skin  of  rabbits,  produced  almost  imme- 
diate death.  He  ascertained  that  this  poison  was  an  alkaloid  and  not 
a  microbe.  The  rabbits  thus  injected  died  without  convulsions,  the 
heart  and  large  blood-vessels  being  engorged  with  blood.  Brown-Se- 
quard considers  it  fully  proved  that  the  expired  air,  both  of  man  and 
animals,  contains  a  volatile  poisonous  principle  which  is  much  more 
deleterious  than  carbonic  acid.  —  Science. 


•-pump. 

a  mystery.  At  last,  however,  Dr.  Gattermann,  of  GSttingen,  has  suc- 
ceeded in  its  analysis.  He  finds  that  the  substance  examined  hitherto 
was  impure,  and  that  the  extreme  danger  of  handling  it  was  partly  due 
to  that  fact  and  partly  to  the  varying  action  of  light.  Any  bright  light, 
he  has  found,  is  enough  to  produce  detonation,  a  discovery  made  by  the 
sudden  destruction  of  his  apparatus  by  a  stray  sunbeam.  Chemical  re- 
search nowadays  is  apt  to  stray  among  the  teeming  pastures  of  organic 
chemistry,  to  the  neglect  of  the  old  problems  offered  by  the  inorganic 
world,  though  the  solution  of  these  problems  belongs!  to  the  highest  ef- 
forts of  experimental  science.  —  London  Daily  News. 

A  SUBTERRANEAN  CHAPEL.  —  An  El  Paso  despatch  of  April  9  to  the 
St.  Louis  Globe  Democrat  says  :  An  interesting  discovery  has  been  made 
in  an  old  Spanish  mine  on  the  property  of  the  Corralitos  Cattle  and 
Mining  Company,  on  the  Casa  Grande  River,  in  Northern  Chihuahua, 
an  immense  estate  belonging  to  El  Paso  and  New  York  parties.  The 
mine  is  called  the  San  Pedro,  and  there  is  on  it  an  old  incline  going 
into  the  mountain  at  an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees,  and  evidently  fol- 
lowing the  richest  ore  streak  in  a  zigzag  manner.  At  the  end  of  this  in- 
cline a  subterranean  chamber  was  found,  which  had  been  fashioned  evi- 
dently with  great  labor  and  trouble,  into  a  regular  Catholic  chapel. 
The  Chamber  is  some  thirty  feet  high.  Seats  have  been  cut  from  the 
solid  rock  running  all  around  tlie  chapel,  and  so  have  been  an  altar 
and  a  pulpit.  The  whole  was  found  neatly  whitewashed,  and  presents 
a  peculiar  and  weird  aspect.  The  ancient  chapel  could  be  used  at  a 
moment's  notice  as  a  place  of  worship.  The  whole  country  adjacent 
to  the  Casa  Grande  and  Santa  Maria  Rivers  is  full  of  objects  of  interest 
to  the  archaeologist  and  naturalist.  Prehistoric  ruins  are  found  every- 
where, many  of  them  clearly  traceable  to  the  Aztecs,  but  others  evi- 
dently antedate  any  authentic  records  of  history.  A  richer  field  of  ex- 
ploration and  investigation  cannot  be  found  anywhere  in  North 
America.  

EFLUONNE,  THE  UNIVERSAL  SOLVENT.  —  Iron  gives  an  interesting  ac- 
count of  what  it  calls  "  the  universal  solvent,"  and  which,  it  declares, 
though  long  known  to  modern  chemistry,  has  only  just  been  separated, 
and  cannot  even  now  be  retained  in  its  isolated  state,  simply  because  it 
destroys  everything.  This  fury  of  the  chemical  world,  it  goes  on  to 
say,  is  the  element  efluonne.  It  exists  peacefully  in  company  with  cal- 
cium in  fluorspar,  and  also  in  a  few  other  compounds,  but  when  iso- 
lated, as  it  recently  has  been  by  M.  Henry  Moissan,  is  a  rabid  gas  that 
nothing  can  resist.  It  combines  with  all  metals  —  explosively  with 


THE  customary  statistics  of  trade,  transpoitation  and  finance  show  very 
little  change  in  business  circles.   The  influences  which  have  been  controlling 
since  the  opening  of  the  year  still  continue.    Values  point  downward  in 
some  channels,  in  others  they  are  steady,  in  a  few  prices  are  advancing. 
Production  is  kept  under  control  and  the  restricted  output  in  so  many  indus- 
tries cannot  help  but  restore  the  equilibrium.    A  few  outside  influences  are 
at  work,  such  as  tariff  agitations,  but  they  are  being  discounted  and  a  gen- 
eral improvement  in  business  is  looked  for  by  midsummer.   In  the  iron  and 
steel  industry  demand  is  chick.    The  restriction  in  blast  furnace  output  is 
30,000  tons  per  week.    Mill  output  is  twenty  per  cent  less.    Rail-makers 
have  sold  one  million  tons  this  year  and  the  most  recent  indications  are 
more  favorable.    So  far  the  mileage  this  year  has  been  slightly  over  last 
year  and  a  great  deal  of  construction  work  is  projected  for  the  near  future. 
The  conclusion  that  there  will  be  a  c  illapse  in  railroad-building  is  not  well 
based.    The  expansion  of  manufacturing,  the  development  of  mines,  the 
outflow  of  population,  all  go  to    make  continuous   railway  construction 
advisable  as  permanent  investment,  even  though  immediate  returns  are 
not  assured.   The  often-repeated  warnings  as  to  the  disastrous  consequences 
to  business  from  the  investment  of  extraordinary  amounts  of  capital  have 
but  little  weight  with  investors,   and   enterprises  of  every  character  are 
engaging  attention.    Iron  making  is  expanding  in  the  South  to  an  extent 
that  is  forcing  Northern  makers  into  still  further  efforts  in  the  South.    Car 
works,    equipment  establishments,  stove  works,   ice    manufacturies  and 
shops  for  a  hundred  purposes  are  projected  for  erection  this  year.    What 
is  lost  in  railroad  construction  will  be  made  up  in  other  work.    Two  mines 
will  be  opened  for  one  last  year  and  productive  capacity  will  be  increased 
from  one  hundred  and  twenty  tons  annual  coal  output  to  one  hundred 
and  thirty  million  tons.    The  further  and  legitimate  enhancement  of  lands 
West  and  South  must  continue,  especially  if  the  united  efforts  of  Southern 
railroad  managers  and  high  church  officials  should  be  successful  in  deflect- 
ing the  tide  of  immigration  southward,  as  is  to  be  tried.    The  development 
of  lumber  traffic  promises  to  maintain  the  firm  spring  prices  throughout  the 
season.    Chicago  stocks  are  larger  than  a  year  ago.  but  the  extending 
Western  marktts  will  probably  lessen  the  snpplv  of  lumber  that  it  will  be 
necessary  to  throw  on  Eastern  markets.    Besides  Southern  yellow  and  sap 
pine  will  be  twenty-five   per  cent  more  abundant  this  year  and  Eastern 
dealers  are  even  now  beginning  to  doubt  whether,  with  the  more  restricted 
white-pine  supplies,  they  can  hold  the  Southern  products  at  present  prices. 
Tuere   will   be  a  large  amount  of  building  in  rural  localities  in  the  New 
England  and  Middle  States  this  season,  one  cause  being  the  desire  of  large 
and  small  manufacturers  to  move  into  smaller  places  where  land  and  taxes 
are  lower  and  other  advantages  are  within  reach.    So  far  this  season  the 
projection  of  building  work  h.is  not  in  the  aggregate  fallen  below  1887,  but 
its  character  is  somewhat  different.    Country  work  will  be  more  abundant. 
Railroad  work  is  increasing.     A  larger  number  of  public  buildings  will  be 
erected.     In  the  South  manufacturing  enterprise  will  not  stop  for  repairs. 
In  the  Northwestern  wheat- belt,  elevators,  both  railroad  and  individual,  are 
to   be  built.    In  general,   radwav   equipments  will  be   improved.     Fewer 
vast  enterprises  will  be  launched,  but  no  harm  will  come  from  this      Not- 
withstanding the  notice  served  last  year  on  brick-makers,  it  is  said  the  sup- 
ply will  be  so  near  actual  requirement-  as  to  give  makers  quite  comfortable 
margins.     Prices   will  be  firm  throughout  the  Middle  and   Northwestern 
States.    Contracts  have  been  closed  during  the  past  month  for  the  entire 
production  for  the  season  of  a  great  many  yards.    Cement  is  active.     Lath 
and  shingle  supplies  will  be  ample,  but  this  will  be  due  to  enlarged  prepar- 
ations in  Michigan  and  three  or  four  other  States.     Glass  of  all  kinds  will 
not  decline,  as  importations  will   exercise  a  restraining  influence.    The 
works  are  all  running  full  time  and  peace  will  prevail  until  the  fires  are  put 
out  in  June.    The  fliut  strike  continues.    The  spirit  of  trade  combination 
is  still  at  work  among  manufacturers  of  all  kinds  of  building  and  construc- 
tive material,  but  the  efforts  made  do  not  work  to  the  detriment  of  builders. 
Price  lists  are  modest.    The  slightest  effort  to  put  prices  above  a  living 
limit  jeopaidizes  a  combination  among  producers  or  manufacturers  where 
there  is  a  considerable  number  to  consult  and  assent.   Productive  capacity,  it 
is  apparent  from  attentive  observation,  is  growing  much  faster  than  demand, 
at   least  as  demand  has  been  expanding  within  the  past  decade  or  two. 
Some  controllers  of  large  sums  of  money  look  for  the  compensating  diiluess 
or  reaction,  in  which  period  enforced  transfeis  of  property  will  be  made  by 
the  weaker  to  the  stronger,  who  are  generally  the   money  lenders.    An 
absorbing  of  little  concerns  into  greater  will  set-in  in  time,  especially  in 
the  South,  where  industrial  enterprise  is  at  fever  heat.    The  bulk  of  invest- 
ments made  there  are  now  prudently  made  with  that  end  in  view.    If  any 
disaster  is  awaiting  the  business  world,  it  is  not  from  ihe  concentiation  of 
capital  or  the  combination  of  producers.    Their  movements  are  cottrolled 
by   agencies  which  they  cannot  evade  and  the  best  interest  of  the  groat 
public  is  conserved  by  forces,  both  economical  aud  legislative,  which  develop 
themselves  just  at  the  right  time. 

S.  J.  PARKHILL  &  Co.,  Printers,  Boston. 


THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  AND  BUILDING  NEWS. 


VOL.  xxni. 


Copyright,  1W8,  by  TICKNOR  &  CU.MPAXV,  Boston,  Mass. 


No.  644. 


APRIL  28.  1888. 

Entered  at  the  Post-office  at  Boston  as  secoud-otasa  matter. 


SUMMARY: — 

The  Master-  Builders  Effort  to  devise  an  acceptable  Form  of 
Building-contract. — The  Canadian  Form  of  Contract.— 
Arbitration  under  the  Usual  Contract  Clause.  —The  French 
Mutual  Defense  Society  and  what  it  has  already  accom- 
plished.—  The  Preservation  of  Fresh  Meat  during  Transit.  103 

ANCIENT  AND  MODERN   LIGHT-HOUSES.  —  XX 195 

THE  OLD  MASTERS  Of  THE  NEW  YORK  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY.  .    .  190 
ILLUSTRATIONS : — 

Interior  of  Emanucl  Baptist  Church,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  —  Ex- 
terior of  same  Church.  — Statue  of  Louis  Philippe  and 
Marie  Amelie.  — Statue  of  Marie  Antoinette  at  St.  Denia, 
France.  —  Tomb  of  the  Cardinal  Mnzarin  in  the  Louvre.  — 
Tomb  of  Machiavelli  in  the  Church  of  Santa  Croce,  Flor- 
ence, Italy.  —  Railroad  Station,  Charlotte,  N.  C 198 

SOME  AMERICAN  MONUMENTS.  —  1 19!) 

THE  ART  OP  HOUSB-BUILDINO.  —  III 201 

BOOKS  AND  PAPERS 202 

SOCIETIES 203 

COMMUNICATIONS  :  — 

To  Replace  an  old  Ceiling 203 

NOTES  AND  CLIPPINGS 203 

TRADE  SURVEYS 204 


'/T  GOOD  deal  of  discussion  is  going  on  just  now  about 
F\  forms  of  building  contract.  The  National  Association  of 
Master-Builders'  seems  to  have  opened  the  discussion,  a 
year  ago  or  more,  by  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  con- 
sider the  subject  of  drawing  up  a  model  building-contract  to  be 
officially  adopted  by  the  Association,  but  the  matter  has 
occupied  the  attention  of  various  bodies  of  architects  as  well 
as  builders,  and  as  the  Committee  of  the  Builders'  Association 
was  sensible  enough  to  invite  a  few  architects  to  join  in  its 
deliberations  the  subject  may  fairly  be  said  to  be  formally 
before  the  two  professions.  For  our  own  part,  we  are  inclined 
to  think  that  the  proper  position  for  architects  to  maintain, 
unless  applied  to  for  advice  by  the  builders,  is  that  of  critics, 
rather  than  promoters  of  any  particular  form.  After  all,  the 
contract  is  between  the  owner  and  builder,  not  between  the 
builder  and  the  architect.  It  is  the  duty  of  architects  to  guard 
the  interest  of  owners  in  contracts,  so  far  as  they  can  fairly  do 
so,  and  they  should,  both  individually  and  collectively,  carefully 
avoid  the  appearance  of  going  out  of  their  way  to  invent  forms, 
of  contract  which  may  be  more  acceptable  to  builders  than 
those  now  in  use.  If  the  builders  object  to  the  current  forms 
they  are  at  liberty  to  say  what  changes  they  wish  to  have  made, 
and  if  they  unanimously  resolve  to  insist  on  any  stipulation 
whatever,  the  owners  must  submit,  and  the  architects,  if  their 
powers  of  persuasion  prove  unavailing,  have  no  further  responsi- 
bility on  that  particular  point.  So  far  as  the  architects'  own 
comfort  is  concerned,  most  of  them  would  be  glad  to  see  an  un- 
changeable form  of  contract  adopted,  covering  all  conceivable 
points,  which  would  relieve  them  of  the  anxiety  of  drawing  up 
contracts  in  their  own  way,  but  until  the  matter  has  gone 
beyond  discussion,  they  should,  as  a  class,  feel  themselves,  to 
some  extent,  entrusted  with  the  duty  of  defending  the  rights  of 
owners  in  general.  At  the  last  Convention  of  the  Association 
of  Master-Builders,  certain  rules  were  drawn  up,  and  recom- 
mended to  local  societies  for  adoption,  which  have  already  been 
printed  at  length  in  these  columns ;  and  the  Canadian  builders 
have  recently  adopted  a  form  of  contract  prepared  for  them, 
and,  it  is  said,  will  now  refuse  to  sign  any  other. 

IN  some  respects  the  Canadian  form  is  more  favorable  to  the 
owner  than  the  rules  of  the  American  Association.  The 
Canadian  contract,  for  example,  provides,  as  do  most  exist- 
ing contracts  on  this  side  the  line,  that  specifications  and  draw- 
ings shall  be  regarded  as  cooperating,  so  that  work  shown  on 
one  and  not  on  the  other  shall  be  included  as  if  mentioned  in 
both,  while  the  American  rules  provide  that  demands  made  by 
th"  plans,  and  not  referred  to  in  the  specification,  shall  not  be 
Considered  in  the  estimate  offered.  In  our  opinion  the  Cana- 
dian form  is  in  this  respect  the  only  fair  one. '  No  architect  in 
tliis  or  any  other  country  can  describe  a  building  completely 
either  by  specifications  or  plans  alone.  Both  sorts  of  docu- 
ments together  are  barely  enough  to  enable  the  most  careful  archi- 


tect to  show  all  the  items  which  he  wishes  to  include  in  the- 
contract,  and  so  long  as  botli  plans  and  specifications  are  open 
to  the  builder  to  study  in  making  his  estimate,  there  is  no  more 
reason  for  his  leaving  out  anything  shown  on  one  because  it  is 
not  mentioned  in  the  other  than  there  would  be  for  omitting 
the  items  on  certain  pages  of  the  specification.  If  the  plans 
and  specification  do  not  agree,  the  architect  is  ready  to  decide 
which  shall  be  followed  in  estimating,  and  to  make  a  note  of 
his  decision,  so  that  with  reasonable  care  on  the  part  of  the 
builder,  such  as  contractors'  associations  should  endeavor  to  in- 
culcate, there  is  no  chance  of  misunderstanding  under  the 
Canadian  form,  while  the  American  rule  opens  the  door  to  all 
sorts  of  extras,  quarrels  and  dissatisfaction.  Again,  by  the 
Canadian  contract  the  builder  is  not  allowed  to  sub-let  the 
whole  or  any  portion  of  the  contract  without  the  written  con- 
sent of  the  architect,  while  the  Americans  stipulate  that  the  con- 
tractor shall  not  be  restricted  as  to  whom  he  employs  as  sub- 
contractor unless  previously  notified.  It  is  not  quite  clear 
whether  the  American  rule  requires  that  the  architect  shall 
notify  the  contractor  not  to  employ  certain  persons,  or  to 
obtain  his  consent  to  sub-contractors.  If  it  means  the  latter, 
the  stipulation  does  not  change  the  ordinary  form;  if  the 
former,  every  architect  is  to  be  obliged  to  lay  himself  open  to 
a  dozen  libel  suits,  if  he  wishes  to  protect  his  client  against  the 
transfer  of  his  contract  from  a  good  builder  to  a  bad  one,  and 
is  even  then  liable  to  see  some  strange  rascal  from  a  neighbor- 
ing town  substituted  for  the  careful  and  responsible  builder 
whom  he  had  persuaded  the  owner  to  contract  with  at  an  extra 
price,  for  the  sake  of  getting  his  work  well  done.  In  regard 
to  forfeiture  for  delay,  the  Canadian  contract  provides  that 
where  delay  occurs  by  reason  of  inclemency  of  weather,  or 
strikes  of  particular  trades,  the  architect  shall  extend  the  time 
of  completion  to  a  reasonable  amount.  The  American  rules 
say  nothing  about  allowance  of  extra  time  for  completion  in  case 
of  special  circumstances,  but  content  themselves  with  the  rather 
childish  demand  that  where  a  penalty  is  to  be  exacted  from  the 
builder  for  delay  beyond  a  certain  date,  a  premium  of  like 
amount  shall  be  paid  to  the  builder  if  he  completes  his  work 
before  the  given  date.  It  ought  to  be  obvious  enough  that  if 
an  owner  has,  for  example,  given  a  lease  of  the  house  he  pro- 
poses to  build  from  a  certain  date,  as  often  happens,  or  if  he 
has  arranged  to  give  up  his  present  residence  on  a  fixed  day, 
and  move  into  his  new  one,  he  has  a  right  to  be  compensated 
for  any  damage  he  may  suffer  through  the  failure  of  the 
builder  to  keep  the  promises  he  has  voluntarily  made ;  while, 
as  it  is  of  no  advantage  to  him  to  have  his  house  on  his  hands 
before  the  time  at  which  he  or  his  tenant  is  readv  to  move  into 
it,  but  rather  an  injury,  since  a  house  hurried  "in  building  is 
never  so  good  as  one  constructed  deliberately,  there  is  no  reason 
whatever  why  he  should  pay  the  builder  a  premium  for  encumber- 
ing him,  before  the  stipulated  time,  with  a  building  that  he  has 
no  use  for,  and  is,  through  the  haste  with  which  it  was  built,  of 
less  value  than  he  intended  and  agreed  to  have  it.  Moreover, 
it  should  be  remembered  that  the  contract  in  present  use,  by 
which  an  allowance  of  time  is  made  to  the  contractor  in  case  of 
strikes  or  unusually  bad  weather,  protects  the  interest  of  the 
contractor  against  his  workmen  at  the  cost,  and  often  to  the 
very  great  inconvenience,  of  the  owner,  who  makes  perfectly 
definite  promises,  in  return  for  very  elastic  ones  on  the  part  of 
the  builder.  In  addition  to  this  concession,  all  builders  and 
architects  can  testify  that  the  penalty  for  delay  stipulated  in 
the  contract  is  very  rarely  enforced.  If  the  fear  of  it  serves  its 
purpose  in  keeping  the  contractor  nearly  to  the  time  of  com- 
pletion to  which  he  has  agreed,  this  is  "all  that  is  usually  re- 
quired of  it,  and  cases  wfiere  a  builder  who  has  honestly  tried 
to  keep  his  promises  has  been  obliged  to  suffer  for  a  few  days' 
or  even  weeks'  delay  beyond  the  contract  time  of  completion  of 
his  work  are,  in  our  experience,  almost  unknown.  We  think 
that  the  rights  of  both  parties  are  better  guarded  by  providing 
that  forfeiture  shall  not  be  exacted  for  delay  from  causes 
which  in  the  opinion  of  the  architect  could  not  have  been» 
reasonably  foreseen  or  avoided  by  the  contractor  than  by  the 
Canadian  clause,  requiring  the  architect  to  extend  the  time  of 
completion  in  case  of  strikes  or  inclement  weather;  but  either 
is  better  than  to  set  up,  as  the  American  rules  will  do,  a 
struggle  between  the  owner  and  the  builder,  to  see  who  can  ex- 
tort, at  the  end  of  the  work,  most  money  that  he  has  not 
earned,  and  is  not  justly  entitled  to,  from  the  other. 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News. 


XXIII.-No.  644. 


ONE  more  point  that  should  be  carefully  considered  by  all 
H  the  projectors  of   improved  building  contracts    is   that  of 
U   a  bi  ration.     Most  of  the  old  forms  of  contract   and  many 
of   the  new  ones,  provide  that  disputes  between  builder  and 
owner  shall  be  settled  by  two  arbitrators,  one  chosen  by  each 
piny  who  shall  choose  a  third,  and  the  award  of  a  majority  of 
the  arbitrators  shall  be  final.     At  first  sight,  this  method  of  set- 
ae controversies  has  a  certain  charm,  but  to  most  architects 
t  soon  loses  its  attractiveness,  and  so  good  a  lawyer  as  Sir 
Edmund  Beckett  denounces  it  in  unmeasured  terms, 
account,  as   he   says,  should   a  building   contract   contain  an 
arbitration  clause,  which  simply  commits  the  owner  to   he  most 
expensive  kind  of  lawsuit  over   every  trifling  affair  that 
bu  Ider  may  choose  to  require  him  to  "leave  out."     Moreover, 
-ls   a   builder's   claim   in   court  must   be   sustained  by  sworn 
evidence,    subject    to    severe    cross-examination,   and 
opinion  of  the  architect,  whose  testimony  generally  determines 
the  case,  while  any  sort  of  story  may  be  palmed  off  on  arbitra- 
tors, and  an  unscrupulous  man  is  more  likely  to  get  something 
awarded  to  him  that  he  ought  not  have  by  arbitrators  than  by 
a  iurv  the  arbitration  clause  sets  a  premium  on  quarrelsome- 
ness and  bold  falsehood.     Fortunately,  perhaps,  the  ordinary 
arbitration  clause  in  a  building  contract  is  not  binding, 
rule  is  that  an  agreement  between  two  persons  to  "oust 
courts   of   their   jurisdiction "   is  void,  as  contrary  to  public 
policy  and  until  the  award  of  the  arbitrators  is  made,  either 
party  can  refuse  to  be  bound  by  it,  and  apply  to  the  courts. 
After  it  is  made,  however,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  tl 
is  no  appeal. 


HE  French  "  Architects'  Mutual  Defence  Society,"  after 
about  two  years  of  existence,  has,  according  to  its  last  re- 
port,  accomplished  a  considerable  amount  of  work,  and  now 
finds  itself  full  of  business.     It  seems  to  have  been  very  ably 
managed  by  its  Committee  of  Administration,  and  to  have  < 
ioyed°the  advantages  of   consultation  with  lawyers  of  ex< 
tional  skill,  for  its  efforts  seem  to  have  been  almost  uniformly 
successful,  and  it  has  won  the  earnest  gratitude  of  those  whc 
have   invoked   its   assistance.     The   routine   of  its   operation 
seems  to  be,  in  case  its  aid  is  called  in  by  a  member  to  ask  tor 
all  documents  relating  to  the  matter  in  dispute.     J  hese  docu- 
ments, or  copies  of  them,  are  discussed  by  the  Committee  of 
Administration,  to  see  whether  it  is  advisable  for  the  Society  to 
take  up  the  cause.     In  case  of  doubt,  the  opinion  of  the  coun- 
sel to  the  Society  is  obtained,  and  a  decision  arrived  at,  which 
is  communicated'to  the  applicant.     If  the  decision  is  favorable 
to  him,  a  retaining-fee  is  at  once  sent  to  the  counsel  for  the 
Society,  which  then  pursues  the  case  to  a  final  issue  at  i 
expense. 

IN  many  cases  the  appearance  of  the  Society  on  the  scene,  as 
the  defender  of  the  rights  of  its  members,  leads  to  an  imme- 
diate settlement  of  the  dispute,  and  it  would  appear  quite 
probable  that  as  its  reputation  increases,  and  the  list  of  its  suc- 
cessful encounters  with  would-be  oppressors  grows  longer,  its 
influence  in  securing  proper  settlement  of  claims  without  re- 
course to  law  will  be  correspondingly  extended.     According  to 
the  Report  presented  to  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Society 
in  1887   seven  cases  were  taken  up  on  behalf  of  its  members 
during  tlie  year  and  an  eighth  application  had  been  under  con- 
sideration, but  not  fully  decided  upon.     Among  the  cases  taken 
up  was  one  involving  an  appeal  to  the  Council  of  State  on 
behalf  of  an  architect,  from  the  decision  of  a  Prefectoral  Coun- 
cil which  was  successfully  terminated,  the  higher  court  revers- 
uiff   in  favor  of  the  architect,  the  decision  of  the  court  below, 
while  another  case  pursued  by  the  Society  before  the  lower 
court  and  decided  in  favor  of  the  architect,  though  not  for  the 
full   amount   claimed,  was  allowed  to  drop  at  that  point  by 
advice  of  counsel,  the  difference  not  being  worth  the  trouble 
and  cost  of  an  appeal.     This  case,  comparatively  small  as  it 
was    will  be    interesting  to    many  readers.     The  architect  in 
Question  was  invited  to  examine  the  ground  and  make  sketches 
for  a  stable.     He  did  so,  and  the  sketches  pleased  the  owner  of 
*  the  oround,  who  approved  them,  and  directed  the  architect  to 
make  detailed  drawings  and  specifications.     When  these  were 
done  estimates  were  made  which  showed  that  the  cost  would 
be  five  thousand  dollars.     Nothing  more  was  done  for  about 
six  months,  when  the  architect  called  upon  the  owner  to  decide 
what  he  would  do  about  the  building.     After  some  evasion  the 
owner  replied  that  he  had  never  intended  to  build  a  five  thou- 
sand-dollar stable,  that  it  would  be  ridiculous    for  him  to  think 


of  such  a  thing,  which  would  provide  a  more  sumptuous  lodging 
for  his  horses  than  he  had  himself.     After  more  arguments, 
the  architect  brought  suit  for  his  pay,  claiming  one  hundred  and 
three   dollars,    or  two  per  cent  on   the  cost  of  the  proposed 
building  for  his  work  on  the  plans  and  specifications,  besides 
seven   dollars   travelling   expenses   and  two   hundred   dollars 
damages.     The  lower  court  held  that  the  architect  ought  to 
have  asked  how  much  the  owner  wished  to  spend  on  his  stable 
before  making  the  finished  plans,  and  that  he  was  in  error  in 
thinking  that  the  approval  of  a  rough  sketch  gave  him  author- 
ity to  make  complete  working-drawings  without  further  con- 
sultation with  the  owner,  and  therefore  decided  that  he  was  not 
entitled  to  any  damages,  and  ought  to  be  content  with  half  the 
commission  which  he  claimed  for  the  working-drawings   and 
specifications,  and   the  whole   of  the  travelling-expenses,  and 
judgment  was  given  to  that  effect.     In  the  other  case,  the  offi- 
cials of  a  certain  hospital  pursued  their  architect  on  account  of 
defects  in  the  building  designed  by  him,  consisting  mainly  of 
partial  decay  of  the  stone  through  frost,  cracks  in  the  plaster- 
ing due,  as  they  claimed,  to  improper  lathing,  and  deflection  m 
certain  floors.     Experts  were  appointed  to  examine  the  struc- 
ture and  found  no  indications  of  any  other  defects  than  these, 
and  on  appeal,  the  Council  of  State  decided  that  such  defects 
constituted  simple  imperfections  (malfayons),  which,  according 
to  the  well-settled  law  in  France,  were  not  to  be  regarded  as 
vices  of  construction,  threatening  the  solidity  of  the  building, 
and  could  not   therefore   engage  the  special  responsibility  of 
the  architect,  and  the  hospital  authorities  were  condemned  to 
pay  all  the  costs,  as  well  as  the  expenses  which  the  architect 
had  incurred  in  defending  the  suit. 


WE  all  take  an  interest  in  our  dinners,  and  it  will  interest 
many  people  to  know  how  fresh  meat  is  now  transported, 
by  thousands  of  tons,  from  North  and  South  America  to 
England  and  France.     It  is  only  a  few  years  since  vast  quanti- 
ties of  live  cattle  were  carried  across  from  New  York  and  Bos- 
ton to  Liverpool,  to  be  killed  and  eaten  in  Europe,  and  rumors 
were  current  that  in  some  of  the  great  passenger  steamships,  in 
dull  times,  a  part  of  the  staterooms  were  removed,  to  make 
room  for  cattle-pens.     After  some   years,   during  which   the 
cattle-shippers  often  suffered  severe  losses  through  disease  or 
accident,  the  business  fell  off,  and  is  now  almost  completely 
abandoned ;  the  cattle  being  killed  and  dressed  in  the  country 
where  they  have  been  raised,  and  shipped  as  meat,  in  vessels, 
which  are,  by  ingenious  processes,  kept  at  a  low  temperature 
during  the  voyage.     The  means  by  which  this  low  temperature 
is  maintained,  now  consists,  according  to  Le   Genie   Civil,  of 
machines  for  blowing  cold  air  into  the  meat  store-rooms  in  the 
hold  of  the  vessel,  the  air  being  cooled  simply  by  expansion. 
As  every  one  knows,  the  old-fashioned  freezing-machines  em- 
ployed the  expansion  of  condensed  ammonia-gas  as  a  refriger- 
ating a^ent,  conveying  the  cold  current  to  the  place  where  it  was 
to  be  used  by  means  of  glycerine,  or  some  other  liquid  not  sub- 
iect  to  freezing  at  ordinary  temperatures.     By  the  new  method, 
the  air  is  cooled  by  its  own  expansion,  and  then  forced  directly 
into  the  rooms.     The  air  is  first  drawn  into  a  condensing  cylin- 
der   where  it  is  compressed  under  a  pressure  of  about  fifty 
pounds  to  the  square  inch.     This  greatly  reduces  its  volume, 
and  raises  its  temperature  to  nearly  three  hundred  degrees, 
Fahrenheit.     The  next  step  is  to  carry  off  the  surplus  heat, 
which  is  done  by  means  of  a  current  of  sea-water,  circulating 
around  the  condenser,  or  rather  around  a  series  of  tubes,  into 
which  the  air  passes  from  the  condenser.     To  cool  it  still  more, 
and  cause  the  deposit  of  the  watery  vapor  contained  in  it,  the 
air  next  passes  into  another  series  of  tubes,  which  are  exposed 
to  the  current  of  cold  air  returning  from  the  meat  store-room, 
and  is  then  drawn  into   the   expansion  cylinder.     On  being 
allowed  to  expand  here,  the  temperature  of  the  air  falls  immedi- 
ately to  about  seventy  degrees  below  zero,  Fahrenheit,  and  the 
last  traces  of  moisture  are  deposited  as  snow.     Wooden  tubes 
then  convey  the  chilled  air  to  the  store-rooms,  which  it  reaches 
at  a  temperature  of  about  zero,  Fahrenheit,  and,  after  circulating 
about  the  rooms,  is  drawn  back  by  an  aspirating  shaft  to  the 
refrigerating  machine.     The  thermometer  in  the  store-rooms 
never  rises  to  the  freezinir-point  of  water,  so  the  meat  is  kept 
continually  frozen  from  the  day  of    its  shipment,  perhaps  at 
Melbourne  or  the  La  Plata  River,  until  its  arrival  in  the  Lon- 
don Docks,  where  it  is  found  to  be  indistinguishable  from  the 
best  fresh  beef  and  mutton.     The  store-rooms  are  protected 
against  the  entrance  of  heat  by  conduction  from  the  outside  by 
means  of  double  walls  and  floors,  packed  with  powdered  clum-oul. 


APRIL  28,  1888.] 


77i«   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


195 


ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  LIGHT-HOUSES.1  — XX. 

CHARACTERISTICS   OF    LIGHT-HOUSES. 

IT  is  evident  that  if  all  light-houses  exhi- 
bited the  same  kind  of  light,  fixed  white, 
for  example,   it   would   lead  to  confu- 
sion.    A   mariner,  when   he   saw   a  light, 
could  not  determine  which  one  of  several  it 


might  be,  especially  if  he  were  uncertain  as  to  his  reckoning.  This 
difficulty  was  overcome  by  having  different  numbers  of  lights  at 
neighboring  light-stations.  For  example,  on  Little  Brewster  Island, 
Boston  Harbor,  there  is  one  light,  at  Plymouth  there  are  two  lights 
at  the  Gurnets,  at  Nauset  Beach,  Cape  Cod,  there  are  three  lights, 
at  Chatham  two  and  at  Monomoy  Point  one  light.  This 
device  is  both  expensive  and  clumsy,  and  as  the  needs 
of  commerce  require  intermediate  lights  to  be  estab- 
lished from  time  to  time  these  groups  of  lights  lose  in  a 
measure  their  distinctive  character. 

More  modern  science  has  devised  other  and  better 
means  for  making  the  lights  distinctive.  This  is  done 
by  changing  the  colors  of  the  lights  and  by  making  them 
fixed  or  flashing  or  a  combination  of  the  two.  But  two 
colors  are  used,  white  and  red ;  the  latter  color  is  ob- 
tained by  using  a  chimney  of  ruby  glass  on  the  lamp  or 
a  pane  of  red  glass  outside  the  lens.  Red  light  pene- 
trates fog  better  than  &ny  other  color,  and  it  is  for  this 
reason  that  it  is  used  to  the  exclusion  of  the  rest. 

Formerly,  the  intensity  of  the  light  was  increased  by 
placing  a  silvered  parabolic  reflector  behind  the  flame 
of  the  lamp,  and  in  some  light-houses  reflectors  are  still 
used,  but  in  most  cases  the  lenses  designed  by  Fresnel 
have  been  substituted.     His  original  idea  was  to  use  a 
large  central  flame  three  and  one-half  inches  in  diame- 
ter and  to  arrange  around  it  eight  large  plano-convex 
lenses  three  feet  three  inches  high 
by  two  feet  six  inches  wide,  so  as 
to  refract  the  light. 

This  form  of  lens  was  improved 
by  Condorcet  for  burning-glasses 
in  1 788.  If  a  lens  three  feet  three 
inches  in  diameter  were  ground 
to  a  continuously  spherical  figure 
it  would  attain  a  great  thickness 
at  the  axis  and  the  loss  of  light  by 
absorption  in  its  passage  through 
the  thick  glass,  as  well  as  by  spher- 
ical aberration,  would  be  consider- 
able. But  light-house  lenses  are 
so  formed  as  to  avoid  these  disad- 
vantages. The  figure  shows  a  sec- 
tion and  elevation  of  one  panel  of 
a  lens. 

If  a  lens  has  eight  of  these  pan- 
els it  will  send  out  radially  eight 
beams  of  light,  and  if  the  lens  is 
made  to  revolve  the  observer  would 
see  flashes  alternated  by  dark  inter- 
vals. This  is  known  as  a  flashing 
white  light.  If  alternate  panels  are 
covered  with  panes  of  red  glass  it 
would  be  flashing  red  and  white. 
It  will  readily  be  seen  that  quite  a 
number  of  characteristics  can  be  made  by  altering  the  number  of 
panels  and  by  covering  up  more  or  less  of  them  with  red  glass. 
^  The  above  is  only  suited  to  flashing  lights.  It  was  not  until 
Fresnel  extended  his  researches  to  the  improvement  of  fixed  lights 
that  he  completed  the  system  of  light-house  illumination.  He  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  forming  a  barrel  of  glass  having  the  same  profile 
as  a  vertical  section  through  the  axis  of  the  lens  just  described. 
Such  a  lens  allows  the  rays  from  a  lamp  in  its  centre  to  spread  freely 
in  a  horizontal  plane,  while  it  only  refracts  them  vertically,  thus 
producing  a  powerful  band  of  light  equally  all  round  the  horizon. 

if  flash  panels,  consisting  of  a  set  of  vertical  prisms,  be  made  to 
revolve  around  the  above  lens,  it  becomes  fixed  white  varied  by 
white  flashes;  if  half  of  the  flash  panels  are  alternately  covered  with 
red  glass,  the  characteristic  would  be  fixed  white  varied  by  red  and 
white  flashes. 

1  Continued  from  page  175,  No.  642. 


The  various  characteristics  in  use  on  our  coasts  are  : 

Fixed  White  F.  W. 

Fixed  Red  F.  R. 

Flashing  White  Fig.  W. 

Flashing  Red  Fig.  R. 

Fixed  White  varied  by  White  Flashes  F.  W.  v.  W    Fl. 

Fixed  White  varied  by  Ked  Flashes  F.  W.  v.  R.  Fl. 

Fixed  White  varied  by  Red  and  White  Flashes     F.  w.  v.  K  and  W.  Fl. 

Flashiuu  Ked  and  White  Fig  R.  and  W. 

The  flashing  lights  are  further  distinguished  by  the  interval  of 
time  between  the  flashes.  For  example,  Boston  Light  is  flashing 
white  every  thirty  sec- 
onds; Gay  Head,  on  the 
western  point  of  Martha's 
Vineyard,  is  flashing  white 
and  red,  interval  between 
flashes,  ten  seconds,  every 
fourth  flash  red;  Sakon- 
net,  on  little  Cormorant 
Rock,  R.  I.,  fixed  white 
for  thirty  seconds,  followed 
during  the  next  thirty  sec- 
onds by  three  red  flashes 
at  intervals  of  ten  seconds. 
Dangerous  shoals  or 
rocks  in  the  vicinity  of 
light-houses  are  frequently 

indicated  bychang-  <Jftfioa  **<?  f/cn/im ./«,  Jfnnulor  in,,. 

ing  the  color  of  that 

portion  of  the  light  covering  the  danger.  This  is  done  by 
setting  a  piece  of  red  glass  of  the  proper  width  against  the 
lantern  glass.  Fourteen-Foot  Bank  Light  is  a  case  in  point. 
It  shows  a  white  flash  every  fifteen  seconds  between  the 
bearings  N.  N.  W.  through  E.  to  S.  S.  E.  £  E  (from  sea- 
ward) and  a  red  flash  every  fifteen  seconds  throughout  the 
remaining  arc,  covering  Brown's  Shoal  to  the  southward  and 
Joe  Flotger's  Shoal  to  the  northward. 

It  has  been  proposed  that  all  important  lights  should  be 
flashing  and  that  they  should  spell  out  the  initials  of  their 
name  by  the  Morse  alphabet,  by  using  long  and  short  or  red 
and  white  flashes,  and  that  the  fog  signals  should  do  the 
same  by  long  and  short  blasts.  I  fear,  however,  that  such  a 
system  would  tend  more  to  confuse  than  to  aid  the  ordinary 
mariner. 

It  is  also  desirable  that  the  light-houses  should  be  con- 
spicuous during  the  daytime,  as  they  make  excellent  day- 
marks  ;  this  is  done  either  by  their  shape  or  by  some  peculi- 
arity in  the  way  they  are  paint- 
ed. When  the  background  is 
dark  they  are  usually  painted 
white  and  when  the  background 
is  light,  the  towers  are  either  left 
the  natural  color,  if  built  of  brick 
or  stone,  or  are  painted  some  dark 
color.  Sometimes  both  white  and 
some  dark  color  are  used  in  hori- 
zontal bands,  spirals  or  checkers. 
West  Quoddy  Head,  Maine,  has 
alternate  red  and  white  hori- 
zontal stripes.  At  Sankaty  Head, 
Mass.,  the  tower  is  white  near  the 
top  and  the  bottom,  with  a  red 
band  in  the  middle.  Fourteen- 
Foot  Bank  is  brown.  At  Cape 
Henry,  Va..  the  base,  service- 
room  and  lantern  of  the  octagonal 
tower  are  black ;  the  shaft  is  color- 
ed on  each  face  half  white  and  half 
black,  alternating  so  that  the  up- 
per and  lower  halves  of  the  faces 
show  alternately  black  and  white. 
At  Cape  Hatteras  the  tower  is 
colored  in  alternate  zones  or  belts 
of  black  and  white,  each  zone 
twenty-two  feet  wide.  Cape  Look- 
out, N.  C.,  is  in  black  and  white 
checkers.  At  Hunting  Island,  S.  C.,  the  tower  is  white  from  the 
base  to  the  height  of  foliage  of  the  background,  the  portion  above 
this  being  black.  At  St.  Augustine,  the  foundation  of  the  tower  is 
white,  with  a  black  cornice;  the  shaft  is  colored  with  black  and 
white  spiral  bands.  At  St.  Pierre  de  Royans,  France,  the  plan  of 
the  light-house  is  a  square.  As  it  is  intended  as  a  day-mark,  the 
upper  part  has  been  enlarged  to  obviate  the  possibility  of  confound- 
ing it  with  the  steeples  of  the  tower  of  Royan,  and  it  is  also  painted 
in  wide  bands  of  red  and  white.  The  sketches  show  the  appearance 
of  some  of  these  light-houses. 

I  To  be  continued. 1 


196 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News.     [VOL.  XXIII— No.  644. 


OLD    MASTERS    OF    THE    NEW    YORK    HISTORICAL 
SOCIETY. 

IN  an  unknown,  un- 
frequented,  and 
rather  unkempt 
quarter  of  New  York 
stands  the  Library  and 
Museum  of  the  New 
York  Historical  So- 
ciety. From  the  ex- 
terior  the  building 
looks  quite  promising, 
and,  occupying  as  it 
does  a  corner  of  the 
street,  one  is  naturally 
led  to  imagine  that 
within  it  is  airy  ,  spacious 
and  well-lighted,  a 
place  where  the  winter 
sun  comes  early  and 
lingers  late  ;  but  such 
is  not  the  case.  What 
may  have  been  the  orig- 
inal purpose  of  the 
building  would  be  hard 
to  determine,  if  indeed 
it  was  ever  known,  but 
from  its  internal  make- 
up one  might  say  it  was 
intended  as  a  tomb  for 
the  sacred  bull  Apis,  or 
a  burial  vault  for  the 
Old  Masters,  and  as  a 
matter  of  fact  it  now 
subserves  both  of  these 
purposes. 

The  vestibule  and 
staircase  with  their 
shaded  windows  look 
dingy  enough  after  the 
open  street,  but  their 
lighting  is  as  sunlight 
unto  moonlight  com- 
pared with  the  main 
building.  Entering  this, 
the  visitor  finds  himself 

ftt  ^g  bottom  of 


L.s   Enfantl  du  Rhon..     M.  Pagny,  Sculptor. 

story,  well-like  interior  —  the  light,  such  as  there  is,  coming  from  the 
roof.  On  bright  days  the  top  gallery  is  visible  except  in  remote 
corners,  the  second  floor  is  not  satisfactorily  seen  at  any  time,  the 
first  floor  in  its  recesses  is  sometimes  explored  by  the  light  of  a 
candle,  and  presumably  the  ground  floor  requires  the  full  flare  of  an 
electric  light  to  see  anything  at  all.  Small,  stuffy,  insufficiently 
lighted  and  parsimoniously  aired,  this  place  answers  as  the  junk-shop 
receptacle  of  the  extensive  and  valuable  collections  of  the  New 
York  Historical  Society.  Here  in  one  grand  omnium  gatherum  are 
upwards  of  75,000  books  and  manuscripts,  62  marbles,  nearly  1200 
lots  of  Egyptian  and  Assyrian  antiquities,  and  800  pictures,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  miscellaneous  material  which  has  been  kindly  un- 
loaded upon  the  Society  at  different  times  and  which  has  not  yet 
founil  its  way  into  the  catalogue.  How  the  Society  has  come  into 
the  possession  of  these  valuables  is  a  matter  of  history  :  the  lib- 
erality of  citizens  «ave  it  the  Abbott  Collection  of  Egyptian  antiqui- 
ties; .James  Lenox  presented  the  Nineveh  sculptures;  and  the 
collections  of  Messrs.  Reed,  Bryan,  Du'rr,  and  others  furnished  the 
pictures.  How  the  Society  has  taken  care  of  the  legacies  left  to  it 
is  also  a  matter  of  history  which  reflects  no  great  credit  upon  its 
members.  There  is  a  wounded-snake  sort  of  enterprise  now  drag- 
ging its  slow  length  along,  looking  toward  more  suitable  quarters,  and 
it  is  to  be  hoped  it  will  succeed  though  such  action  should  have  been 
taken  twenty  years  ago. 

It  would  be  useless  to  look  for  much  system  or  arrangement  of 
materials  in  such  wretched,  overcrowded  accommodations  as  the 
Society  at  present  possesses.  Doubtless  the  immediate  custodian  of 
the  collections  has  done  the  best  he  could,  and  in  the  department  of 
books  system  perhaps  does  prevail.  The  sculptures  are  set  up  in 
chance  places  and  could  not  very  well  be  confused.  The  Egyptian 
antiquities  are  well  enough  cased  in  some  respects,  but  are  badly 
classed,  oftentimes  erroneously  labelled,  and  catalogued  in  a  primi- 
tive manner  out  of  all  keeping  with  the  present  advanced  state  of 
Egyptological  knowledge.  The  pictures  have  suffered  most  of  all. 
They  have  been  hung  without  regard  to  any  system  whatever. 
The  collections  are  mixed,  the  artists  are  mixed,  the  schools  are 
mixed.  Wherever  an  unoccupied  spot  could  be  found  there  a 
picture  was  nailed  until  now  they  occupy  all  the  wall-space  from 
floor  to  ceiling,  all  of  the  vestibule  and  staircases,  and  some  if  not 
most  of  the  door-jambs,  railings,  and  supporting  columns.  By  a 
strange  fatality  the  best  pictures  seem  to  have  the  worst  berths,  if 
there  is  any  choice  about  it.  Many  of  the  Italians  are  placed  so 
high  as  to  be  lost  in  the  gloom,  while  a  number  of  Dutch  pictures 
are  placed  on  the  floor  where  the  last  sweep  of  the  washer-woman's 


mop  has  liberally  sprinkled  them  with  dirty  water.  Possibly  patriot- 
ism and  not  artistic  taste  gave  Cole,  Kensett,  and  Durand  places  on 
the  lines  which  should  have  been  occupied  by  their  betters.  The 
catalogue  of  the  pictures  is  a  conglomeration  of  facts,  mistakes,  false 
assignments,  and  adulatory  remarks  which  well  supplements  the 
hanging.  It  seems  to  have  been  compiled  by  the  donors  of  the 
pictures  who  evidently  thought  that  every  old  picture  was  a  good 
picture  and  every  good  picture  was  by  a  god  or  a  demi-god  of  art. 
Hence  it  is  that  in  a  number  of  cases  the  great  masters  get  credit 
for  the  works  of  their  imitators  and  pupils, 
and  occasionally  a  Dutchman  gets  mistaken 
for  a  German  or  an  Italian.  That  the  So- 
ciety in  the  year  1887  should  republish 
without  revision  this  mass  of  clerical  stu- 
pidity and  art-ignorance  is  only  another 
illustration  of  their  general  indifference  to 
the  trust  reposed  in  them. 


He  who  would  attempt  to  bring  order  out  of  this  disorder  is  a  bold 
man  —  much  bolder  than  am  I  who  have  for  my  purpose  in  this  paper 
merely  the  casual  noticing  of  some  few  of  the  principal  pictures 
shown.  The  preface  to  the  catalogue  informs  us  that  this  is  "  prob- 
ably the  largest  permanent  collection  yet  exhibited  on  this  conti- 
nent," and  it  might  have  been  added,  as  regards  old  pictures,  the 
very  best  that  this  country  possesses.  That  the  genuineness  of  many 
of  the  canvasses  is  questionable  does  not  prove  them  worthless. 
There  are  perhaps  a  hundred  or  more  of  the  pictures  that  are  excel- 
lent, no  matter  who  painted  them,  and  hardly  any  of  the  pictures  lack 
interest  from  the  point  of  view  of  history.  The  pity  is  that  they  are 
not  in  some  place  where  art-students  could  see  and  study  them,  for 
they  could  teach  many  a  valuable  lesson.  At  present  they  serve  no 
purpose  and  are  sadly  in  need  of  soap,  warm  water,  light,  and  fresh 
air. 

The  most  notable  and  possibly,  the  most  valuable  picture  in  the 
collection  is  the  "Infanta  Margarita"  of  Velasquez.  It  is  the 
child-portrait  of  Marie  The>ese,  daughter  of  Philip  IV  and  after- 
ward wife  of  Louis  XIV,  and  if  I  am  not  mistaken  there  is  a  similar 
portrait  of  her  at  about  the  same  age  in  the  La  Caze  collection  of  the 
Louvre  and  another  painted  at  an  earlier  age  in  the  Belvedere  at 
Vienna.  It  is  a  bust  portrait,  three-quarters  turned  to  the  right  (the 
one  in  the  Louvre  is,  I  think,  turned  to  the  left),  and  shows  a  rather 
surly-looking  child  of  perhaps  twelve  years  with  an  enormous  head- 
dress of  blond  curls  ornamented  with  feathers  and  jewels.  The  sub- 
ject is  not  at  all  of  a  nature  to  please  the  average  person  and  to  the 
flippant  it  would  appear  rather  ludicrous,  but  the  painter  has  given 
the  face  a  character,  a  haughty  dignity  seldom  seen  in  a  child,  which 
commands  our  respect.  The  painting  of  it  is  in  the  strongest  style 
of  Velasquez,  perfectly  simple  and  devoid  of  catchy  effects  of  light 
or  of  color,  yet  telling  in  its  strength.  He  handled  a  brush  in  a  way 
that  would  seem  to  baffle  imitation.  Neither  the  grounding  or  the 
finishing  of  a  picture  interested  him  much;  he  began  with  a  full 
brush  and  ended  in  the  same  way,  painting  with  the  ease  and  sim- 
plicity of  an  ordinary  house  painter  yet  working  with  an  object  well 
in  view.  The  portrait  of  the  Infanta  shows  this  manner  of  work 
and  there  can  be  little  doubt  of  its  genuineness.  On  the  contrary  the 
"Spanish  Lady  and  Children,"  a  portrait  group  on  a  large  canvas, 
attributed  to  this  master  is  very  little  in  his  style.  The  lights  are 
too  sharply  contrasted  with  the  deep  shadows  of  the  background  and 
the  colors  are  too  spotty,  catchy  and  florid  for  Velasquez.  More 
likely  it  is  a  later  Italian  work  but  nevertheless  a  good  one  if  per- 
haps a  little  bizarre  in  method.  The  "Portrait  of  Cinq  Mars," 
which  though  "  skied  "  may  be  well  seen  by  climbing  a  ladder  near 
at  hand,  is  another  good  piece  of  painting  but  there  is  little  except 
its  sobriety  to  warrant  its  assignment  to  Velasquez.  This  is  true 
also  of  the  "  St.  John  the  Baptist "  which  is  weak  in  flesh  notes  and 
handling  as  compared  with  the  Infanta. 

Murillo  in  the  catalogue  is  made  responsible  for  some  half-dozen 
canvasses  hung  upon  the  walls  but  there  is  no  certainty  that  any  of 
them  are  genuine.  "  The  Vision  of  St.  Francis,"  showing  the 
portrait  head  of  an  ecstatic  monk  with  the  eyes  rolled  heavenward,  is 
probably  by  this  painter,  but  it  might  easily  be  by  one  of  his  pupils 
or  imitators.  The  full  length  of  "  St.  Joseph  "  bearing  the  Infant 
in  his  arms  and  the  "Adoration  of  the  Shepherds"  from  the  gallery 
of  Marshal  Soult  look  more  like  pictures  of  the  Rubens  school  than 


APRIL  28,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building   News, 


197 


of  the  Spanish,  but  are  not  bad  pictures  from  whatever  school  they 
may  have  emanated. 

Of  the  Italian  painters  there  seems  to  be  a  liberal  representation 
from  Cimabuc  all  the  way  down  to  Titian,  but  again  it  is  quite  im- 
possible to  settle  the  matter  of  genuineness  by  internal  evidence  and 
the  history  accompanying  the  pictures  is  scrappy  and  hearsay  in  its 
nature.  The  pieces  assigned  to  Cimabue,  Guido  of  Sienna,  Taddeo 
Gaddi  and  Giotto  belong  to  the  period  when  these  painters  flour- 
ished at  least,  and  are  valuable  as  illustrations  of  art-history  if  noth- 
ing more.  The  people  who  painted  in  those  early  days  threw  their 
whole  souls  into  their  work  and  if  we  moderns  are  blinded  to  the 
earnestness  and  honesty  of  their  work  by  a  misshapen  hand  or  a 
stiffness  in  the  pose  of  a  figure,  the  fault  is  in  us  and  not  in  the 
picture.  A  "Crucifixion,"  T>y  Mantegna,  is  vouched  for  through  a 
half-page  note  in  the  catalogue  by  "  Mr.  Micbiels  the  distinguished 
critic,"  who  thinks  that  "  the  whole  picture  bears  the  impress  of  a 
serene  imagination ;  the  coloring  is  sombre ;  the  attitudes  are  dis- 
tinguished by  an  air  of  majesty."  Mr.  Michiels  also  thinks  that 
"  there  is  afforded  in  no  other  gallery,  public  or  private,  in  the  world 
a  similar  opportunity  to  study  the  master  and  scholar  (Correggio), 
side  by  side  in  works  of  unquestionable  authenticity  and  the  highest 
intrinsic  merit."  This  refers  to  a  sketch  of  the  "St.  Jerome"  by 
Correggio,  hanging  near  the  "  Crucifixion  "  of  Mantegna,  and  a  very 
handsome  thing  it  is  too,  but  to  say  of  it  that  "  never  has  the  ecstacy 
of  piety  or  the  fervor  of  religious  affection  been  better  expressed  "  is 
rather  more  complimentary  than  exact.  It  is  a  good  thing  and  like 
enough  done  by  Correggio's  own  hand,  but  it  is  not  one  of  his  master- 
pieces. 

Leonardo  da  Vinci  executed  some  poorer  pictures  than  the  "  St. 
John  Weeping,"  attributed  to  him  in  the  catalogue  and  declared  to 
be  his  "  on  the  high  authority  of  Mr.  Woodburn."  It  is  undoubtedly 
of  his  school,  if,  perhaps,  a  trifle  hard  and  mechanical  for  his  in- 
dividual brush,  and  as  an  example  of  Leonardo's  method  of  handling 
light  and  shade,  it  would  be  an  addition  to  any  gallery.  The  second 
picture  of  "  St.  John  "  (No.  1 99)  may  possibly  be  by  one  of  Leonardo's 
school,  but  even  this  is  doubtful.  The  "  Three  Marys  "  by  Leonardo's 
pupil,  Bernardino  Luini,  bears  unmistakable  signs  of  its  genuineness. 
The  drawing  is  good  throughout,  and  the  sentiment  and  feeling  of 
the  piece  is  excellent.  Unfortunately,  the  canvas  is  in  bad  condition, 
and  it  will  probably  be  worse  before  it  is  better.  A  Perugino 
"  The  Adoration  of  the  Christ,"  though  signed  and  dated,  is  not  in 
that  master's  usual  style,  but,  for  all  that,  may  be  by  his  hand  and  is 
certainly  interesting.  » 

In  the  same  room,  and  near  to  the  Ferugino,  are  two  pieces 
representing  the  "  Birth  and  Resurrection  of  Christ,"  which  "  the 
donor  wishes  it  to  be  understood"  are  authentic  Raphaels.  "Only 
the  inexperienced  and  the  uncultivated  fail  to  trace  in  them  the 
pencil  of  the  divine  Raphael,"  says  the  catalogue,  and  for  fear  of  in- 
curring the  imputation  of  ignorance,  we  may  admit  all  that  the  donor 
says  and  still  have  nothing  but  two  pieces  of  poor  drawing,  bad 
color  and  worse  painting.  If  the  pencil  of  "  the  divine  Raphael " 
may  be  recognized  by  these  features,  then  we  recognize  it,  but,  unless 
I  am  very  much  in  error,  I  have  seen  the  originals  of  these  two 
pictures  in  some  one  of  the  European  galleries  classed  among 
Raphael's  vouthful  performances  in  the  same  category  with  the  "  St. 
George  "  of  the  Louvre.  Andrea  del  Sarto,  the  best  painter  among 
the  1  lorentines,  is  credited  with  a  "  Virgin  and  Child  with  Angels," 
which  is,  unfortunately,  elevated  so  far  ceilingward  that  it  cannot  In- 
well  seen.  From  a  distance  it  seems  to  lack  the  freshness  and  trans- 
parency of  Andrea's  painting,  and  the  coloring  is  not  characteristic, 
but  this  might  be  the  result  of  time  and  careless  handling  of  the 
canvas,  though  the  picture  is  more  likely  to  be  by  a  pupil  and  not  the 
master.  The  Fra  Bartolomineo's,  four  in  number,  all  have  an 
apochryphal  smack  about  them  disturbing  to  notions  of  inspiration. 
1  he  best  of  them  is  a  "  Portrait  of  Savonarola,"  presumably  a  copy 
or  possibly  a  replica  of  the  Rubiera  portrait.  Lacking  in  inspiration 
likewise  are  some  questionable  things  which  pass  in  the  catalogue 
under  the  names  of  Domenichino,  Botticelli,  Zuccaro  and  others ; 
while,  on  the  contrary,  a  "  Portrait  of  a  Princess  of  Florence," 
attributed  to  Bronzino,  is  full  of  spirit  and  strength,  and  is  quite 
worthy  of  that  most  excellent  portrait-painter. 

A  picture  of  more  than  ordinary  merit  called  "  Christ  Shown  to 
the  Multitude  "  is  put  down  to  Sebastiano  del  Piombo,  and  aside 
from  its  lacking  the  richness  of  color  that  we  are  accustomed  to 
associate  in  our  minds  with  this  artist,  there  is  not  the  slightest 
reason  to  doubt  its  genuineness.  It  is  a  thoroughly  good  picture, 
whoever  painted  it,  and  one  of  the  many  extra  good  things  in  this 
collection.  "  The  Martyrdom  of  St.  Lawrence,"  by  Titian,  is  another 
picture,  of  a  simil  .r  kind  and  of  even  greater  importance.  The 
lighting  is  a  little  exaggerated,  which  is  not  an  unusual  thing  with 
Titian,  and  the  drawing  is  in  places  distorted,  another  liberty  often 
taken  by  this  artist  which  resulted  sometimes  in  strong  effects  as  this 
picture  will  witness.  The  color  has  become  much  toned  down  by 
age  and  the  canvas  has  darkened,  but  the  flesh-notes  bear  the 
warmth  and  richness  for  which  Titian  was  celebrated.  The  subject 
in  its  composition  and  general  treatment  is  well  known,  Titian 
having  painted  it  three  times  with  some  variations  of  detail.  One 
of  the  pictures  is  in  the  Escurial  and  another  at  the  Jesuits'  College 
in  Venice.  This  third  one,  belonging  to  the  Historical  Society,  is  a 
signed  canvas  and  has  the  authority  of  Kugler  for  its  genuineness 
who  esteems  it  one  of  Titian's  most  important  works.  The  portrait 


of  "Aretino  the  Poet,"  by  the  same  hand,  rather  lacks  in  breadth  of 
treatment  for  Titian.  It  is,  nevertheless,  a  strong  piece  of  painting, 
though  the  character  of  the  sitter  varies  somewhat  in  the  picture 
from  what  we  are  told  of  him  in  literature.  Aretino  was  the  c&n- 
centrated  essence  of  impudence  as  his  own  letters  prove,  while 
Titian  makes  him  look  like  a  great  blushing  booby  with  scarcely 
assurance  enough  to  brush  away  a  fly.  There  is  a  rather  interesting 
inscription  in  French  on  the  back'  of  the  canvas  which  reads  as 
follows  :  "  Collection  of  Alix,  General-in-Chief  of  Westphalia.  —  This 
precious  picture  was  found  in  the  wagon  of  a  vivandicre,  named 
Michau,  who  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Marengo.  After  being  in 
the  possession  of  General  Lemarois,  it  passed  into  the  private 
cabinet  of  the  Chevalier  Uenon,  Director  of  the  Mm-e'e  Napole'on." 
There  are  three  of  the  Aretino  portraits  extant,  and  probably  this 
one  is  a  replica  and  not  a  copy  by  a  strange  hand.  There  is  also  in 
this  collection  a  "Portrait  of  a  Lady"  (No.  209)  attributed  to  the 
"Style  of  Titian,"  which  would  not  hurt  the  reputation  of  the 
master  himself,  for  it  is  a  very  handsome  piece  of  painting. 

To  satisfy  one's  self  regarding  the  authenticity  of  the  "Christ  and 
the  Disciples  at  Emmaus,"  which  is  laid  at  the  door  of  Paul  Veronese, 
would  not  be  an  easy  matter.  The  subject  is  one  that  he  used 
several  times,  and  there  is  a  picture  in  Dresden  similar  in  many  re- 
spects to  this  one.  It  looks  like  a  Veronese,  and  whether  his  or  the 
work  of  another,  it  is  a  remarkably  fine  thing  for  the  Historical  So- 
ciety to  possess.  The  "Abraham  Discarding  Hagar  and  Ishnmel," 
is  again  in  his  style,  but  it  is  not  so  important  a  picture.  'J  here  are 
a  number  of  good  things  by  others  of  the  Venetian  school,  among 
them  noticeably  "A  Prince  of  Palermo  in  Disguise,"  by  Giorgione,  a 
"  Repose  in  Egypt,"  and  an  interesting  copy  after  Giorgione,  by 
Watteau,  called  a  "Concert."  Of  Tintoretto  there  are  two  pictures, 
one  of  which  "  The  Martyrdom  of  St.  Sebastian,"  appears  to  have 
some  good  points,  but  in  its  hanging  it  is  so  much  like  Gildroy's 
kite  that  one  can  make  nothing  definite  out  of  it.  This  is  the  case 
with  a  rich  red  and  orange  canvas  attributed  to  Baseano,  which  is 
probably  a  gem  of  some  kind,  but  in  its  present  setting  it  will  not  be 
seen  any  more  than  one  of  the  "  purest  ray  serene  "  which  has  long 
reposed  in  the  dark  unfathomed  care  of  the  ocean. 

A  small  sketchy  "Pieta,"  assigned  to  Annibale  Carracci,  deserves 
more  than  a  passing  notice.  It  may  be  original  or  it  may  be  a  copy, 
for  he  used  the  subject  several  times,  but  whichever  or  whatever  it 
may  be,  the  picture  in  this  collection  contains  very  great  qualities. 
The  figure  of  the  Madonna,  seated  and  holding  the  head  of  the  dead 
Christ  in  her  lap,  is  full  of  intense  feeling ;  and  there  is  the  power  of 
death  in  the  lines  and  modelling  of  the  figure  of  the  Saviour,  beauti- 
ful in  its  depth  and  truth  of  realization.  To  describe  in  words  what 
is  art,  is  very  like  telling  one  what  is  musical  harmony.  It  is  to  be 
felt  rather  than  to  be  told,  to  be  appreciated  by  the  emotion  it  ex- 
cites rather  than  by  an  appeal  to  one's  understanding.  'I  he  "  Pieta  " 
is  quite  indescribable,  but  its  power  breaks  upon  one  immediately 
that  it  is  seen.  Decidedly  it  is  a  great  thing  in  imagination,  and  one 
of  the  first  pictures  of  the  collection.  The  "Arion  and  the  Dolphin," 
though  a  signed  canvas  by  the  same  artist,  is  a  weak,  poor  thing, 
rather  ridiculous  in  conception  and  thin  in  painting.  Of  course,  it 
is  in  an  excellent  state  of  preservation.  Time  has  not  cared  enough 
about  it  to  destroy  or  injure  it. 

The  Dutch  and  Flemish  pictures  outrank  all  others  in  point  of 
numbers,  but  many  of  them  are  of  an  inferior  order,  and  there  are 
also  some  copies  masquerading  as  originals.  Still,  the  genuine 
examples  cannot  be  counted  upon  one's  fingers,  and  among  those  of 
unknown  origin  there  are  some  pictures  of  much  strength  and  excel- 
lence. The  Rembrandts,  even  if  authentic,  hardly  add  much  to  the 
intrinsic  value  of  the  collection.  The  "  Combat  of  Cavalry "  is 
somewhat  in  the  manner  of  Rembrandt  in  the  centering  of  light  and 
in  the  coloring,  but  he  could  scarcely  have  been  guilty  of  the  badly 
distorted  horse's  head  and  neck  at  the  right  of  the  canvas,  or  the 
snottiness  of  the  foreground.  The  "Portrait"  (No.  328)  whether  in 
Rembrandt's  early  style,  or  by  one  of  his  pupils,  is  good,  but  not 
great  in  any  sense.  Of  the  pictures  attributed  to  Rubens,  the 
"Christ  Bearing  the  Cross,"  looks  very  much  like  his  in  color  and 
flesh-notes,  but  it  does  not  show  him  to  advantage;  the  "St. 
Catherine"  is  a  trifle  weak  and  lacks  in  depth,  but  is  undoubtedly  of 
the  Rubens  school ;  while  the  "  Portrait  of  a  Knight  of  the  Order  of 
the  Golden  Fleece,"  though  it  cannot  be  set  down  positively 
either  to  Rubens  or  his  great  pupil,  has  excellent  qualities,  and 
stands  on  its  merits  independent  of  a  high  name. 

One  would  hardly  receive  a  lofty  opinion  of  Van  Dyke  as  a 
painter  by  an  examination  of  the  pictures  assigned  to  him  in  this 
collection,  but  likely  enough  they  are  genuine.  He  was  an  im- 
provident genius  who  did  not  despise  the  pot-boiler  as  a  means  of 
raising  funds,  and  his  facility  often  led  him  into  doing  inferior  work. 
The  "Samson  and  Delilah"  may  be  a  sketch  for  the  finished  picture 
now  in  the  Belvedere  at  Vienna  as  the  catalogue  suggests.  The 
composition  of  the  two  is  almost  identical,  but  there  is  somewhat  of 
a  difference  in  the  coloring,  and  the  sketch  lacks  the  strength  of  the 
finished  picture  which  is  rather  an  unusual  thing  in  art,  too.  "The 
Crucifixion"  was  a  theme  he  handled  in  several  ways,  and  the 
picture  here  shown  is  one  of  his  palpable  attempts  to  keep  the  pot. 
boiling,  though  it  is  not  more  than  half  bad  considering  that  Van 
Dyke  was  not  a  brilliant  success  outside  of  portrait?.  The  picturo 
of  "Charles  I"  and  the  "Portrait  of  a  Lady  "  are  not  in  his  best 
style,  though  the  former  is  characteristic  and  interesting  from  iti 


198 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News.     [VOL.  XXIII. -No.  644. 


history.  Three  heads  of  the  king  in  different  positions  are  painted 
upon  one  canvas,  and  this  was  done  to  enable  Bernini  the  sculptor, 
who  had  never  seen  Charles,  to  model  a  bust  of  him. 

A  very  interesting-looking  portrait  catalogued  under  the  name  ot 
"Francis  (sic!)  Hals"  occupies  the  top  berth  on  a' high  supporting 
column  where  just  enough  of  it  is  visible  to  make  out  that  the  breadth 
of  treatment  noticeable  in  the  work  of  Hals  is  not  strongly  marked 
on  this  canvas.  But  for  all  that  it  looks  like  a  good  picture  and 
mMit  prove  a  very  superior  one  if  it  could  only  be  inspected  at 
closer  rano-e.  The  Terborch  portraits,  three  in  number,  are  extra 
good  They  are  in  his  manner  and  possess  the  dignity  and  char- 
acter of  his  treatment  if  not  its  breadth.  The  Brouwers  again  are 
all  excellent.  It  is  very  doubtful  if  a  copyist  or  imitator  could  pro- 
duce so  fine  a  thing  as  a  "Dutch  Interior  — Beggars  Carousing, 
though  they  might  easily  enough  imitate  the  signature  attached  to 
it.  The  freshness  and  effectiveness  of  Brouwer's  manner  of  painting 
as  shown  in  this  picture  would  baffle  any  but  those  to  the  manner 
born.  The  subject  of  drunken,  leering  beggars  in  an  ale-house  may 
not  be  beautiful  in  one  sense  to  some  people,  but  the  handling,  the 
richness  of  the  tones,  the  quality  and  characterization,  make  it  beau- 
tiful in  another  sense.  The  two  pictures  of  a  "  Robber  examining 
Coin"  by  daylight  and  candlelight,  one  of  them  nailed  to  a  door- 
jamb,  are  again  in  Brouwer's  style,  and  capital  things  in  painting. 

"  Teniers  the  Younger  "  appears  in  half  a  dozen  different  can- 
vases of  variable  degrees  of  merit.  "The  Village  Fete"  (No.  352) 
is  a  very  fair  work  and  probably  painted  in  his  characteristic  vein; 
the  353  and  354  are  poorer  in  every  way,  and  it  is  questionable  if 
the  picture  of  "  Charles  V  leaving  the  Town  of  Dort "  was  painted 
by  him  at  all.  Jan  Steen  is  not  disgraced  by  having  an  "  Interior 
Family  Scene  "  attributed  to  his  brush,  though  the  justness  of  the 
attribution  may  be  considered  questionable  again.  The  color  of  it 
•  is  pleasing  and  the  painting  is  good,  especially  the  rendering  of  tex- 
tures in  the  dresses,  but  on  the  other  hand  the  drawing  is  clumsy 
and  bungling  in  places,  and  there  is  something  lacking  in  it  that  we 
do  not  Generally  feel  in  viewing  Steen's  work.  This  is  still  more 
noticeable  in  the  "Family  Fete"  (No.  511)  which  can  hardly  be 
Steen's  though  it  is  hung  too  high  to  see  anything  about  it  more  than 
its  general  appearance. 

Several  pictures  of  the  Rembrandt  school  are  remarkably  good, 
especially  the  "  Mother  and  Child  "  of  Jan  Victoor,  a  strong  piece 
of  flesh  painting ;  the  beautiful  study  of  light  and  shade  called  "  The 
Ma<*i  coinc  to  Jerusalem,"  by  Leonard  Bramer,  who  is  also  repre- 
sented'by  a  "  Presentation  in"  the  Temple"  of  uneven  strength;  and 
the  "  Tobias  and  the  Angel "  attributed  to  Ferdinand  Bol.  The 
latter  is  a  large  and  important  canvas  showing  Tobit  and  Gabriel 
discussing  and  gesticulating  like  a  couple  of  Socratic  philosophers  in 
an  Olympic  grove,  and  is  very  nice  in  textures,  light  and  drawing. 
There  are  several  Wouvermans  authentic  enough,  but  of  little 
importance  except  the  large  "Departure  of  a  Hawking-Party  of 
Nobles  from  a  Baronial  Castle,"  a  fine  thing  of  much  spirit  and  rich 
in  coloring.  It  looks  as  though  it  might  have  come  from  the  hand 
of  an  Itairan  or  Spaniard  —  say  the  one  who  painted  the  "  Spanish 
Lady  and  Children "  attributed  to  Velasquez ;  but  Wouverman 
painted  in  that  style  at  times. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  visitor  at  these  galleries  will  not  fail  to 
notice  the  beautiful  little  architectural  piece  "  Chateau  and  Park," 
by  Van  der  Heyden,  nor  the  "Goblet  and  Lemon"  attributed  to 
Van  Aelst,  which  is  not  hung  so  high  but  that  its  strength  and 
beauty  are  apparent.  It  is  worth  while,  also,  to  call  attention  in  a 
general  way,  since  individual  mention  of  all  the  Dutch  painters 
represented  here  is  impossible,  to  several  excellent  Cuyps,  some  can- 
dlelight pictures  by  Honthorst,  a  number  of  marines  by  Van  de 
Veld°e  and  Backhuisen,  a  portrait  by  that  excellent  painter  Raven- 
steyn,  a  wind-mill  by  Jan  Van  de  Meer,  a  number  of  small  pieces  by 
the  Ostades,  and  some  pictures  by  Don,  Netscher,  Berghem,  Both, 
Van  Gelder,  Francken  the  elder,  Fyt,  Hobbema,  Massys,  Philip  de 
Champaigne  and  Van  Eyck  of  more  or  less  genuineness  and  interest. 
The  pictures  of  the  French  school  are  fairly  representative  in  num- 
bers if  not  over-strong  in  individual  cases,  but  then  it  will  be  remem- 
bered that  the  old  masters  of  France  are  rather  few  and  far  between 
as  compared  with  those  of  Italy  and  the  Low  Countries.  The  Pous- 
sins  appear  advantageously  enough,  Nicolas  with  half  a  dozen  ean- 
vases,  of  which  the  "  Adoration  of  the  Golden  Calf  "  is  a  good  exam- 
ple of  his  clever  composition,  classic  style,  lack  of  sympathy,  weak 
values  and  tawdry  color;  Gaspard  by  several  landscapes  out  of 
which  expert  logic  could  prove  or  disprove  almost  anything  desired 
without  satisfying  any  one  as  to  truth  or  falsity  of  deduction. 

There  are  several  pictures  of  the  school  of  Claude  and  one  canvas 
of  "  Odysseus  taking  leave  of  Penelope  "  which  seems,  so  far  as  a 
casual  examination  may  determine,  to  be  in  the  style  of  Claude  him- 
self. The  subject  and  the  treatment  of  the  water,  sky  and  architec- 
ture are  certainly  in  his  manner,  but  he,  like  every  other  artist  of 
note,  had  his  score  of  imitators  and  followers.  The  picture  is  good, 
especially  in  the  painting  of  the  water.  Boucher,  who  did  some 
clever  if  rather  light-natured  work  during  his  life,  hardly  shows  at 
his  best  in  the  two  pictures  by  him  in  this  collection.  The  "  Winter 
Scene,"  with  the  girl  in  sledge  without  a  hat  and  a  man  behind  push- 
ing, is'  heavy  and  not  so  bright  in  colors  as  Boucher  usually  painted, 
but  it  is  unique,  decorative,  and  very  well  worth  having.  The  same 
may  be  said  of  the  Greuzes  half  a  dozen  in  number.  They  are  not 
works  of  sublimity,  but  dashes  of  beauty  lightly  blown  from  the  brush 


like  sparkling  spray  from  the  wave.  The  "  Nymph  of  Diana  "  hold- 
ing the  coral  in  her  hand  is  a  nice  piece  of  drawing  and  a  delicate, 
refined  work  throughout.  To  be  sure  she  is  not  an  austere  Athena 
nor  an  Angclesque  Sibyl ;  she  is  only  an  empty-headed  young  girl,  but 
her  beauty  makes  her  welcome. 

The  VVatteaus  must  all  be  taken  with  due  allowance  for  the  skil- 
ful fingers  of  Pater  and  other  imitators,  Among  the  half-dozen  can- 
vases attributed  to  him,  only  one  of  them  —  the  "  Scene  from  M.  de 
Pourceaugnac,"  I  think,  shows  in  the  brush-work  of  the  drapery  a 
close  resemblance  to  the  manner  peculiar  to  the  artist.  "  The  Vene- 
tian Fete"  (a  nice  color  scheme)  and  the  "  Musicians"  are  both 
good  pictures  but  th»y  are  not  by  Watteau.  The  decorative  sketch 
of  a  eeilino-  now  at  Dijon  of  "  France  Triumphant  after  the  Restora- 
tion of  Louis  XVIII "  by  Prud'hon,  the  fine  portraits  by  Miguard 
and  Rigaud,  a  well-painted  church  interior  by  Anton  de  Lorme  and 
some  pieces  supposed  to  be  by  Chardin,  Courtois,  Bourdon,  and 
others,  are  all  interesting  to  look  at  if  not  very  elevating  in  imagina- 
tion or  overpowering  in  execution. 

The  picture  of  "  Christ  and  the  Tribute  Money  "  with  the  finely- 
painted  heads  of  the  monk  and  nun  supporting  it  on  either  side  and 
completing  the  triptych  make  one  of  the  most  interesting  exhibits  in 
the  galleries.  The  head  of  the  nun  is  a  marvel  of  delicacy,  and  the 
centre-piece  with  its  bright  fresh  coloring,  good  textures,  and  beauti- 
ful sky  and  background  offers  strong  reminders  of  that  famous  painter, 
Albrecht  Durer.  His  name  is  signed  to  the  picture  and  the  style  is 
his  with  the  exception  of  the  brush-work  which  is  perhaps  a  little 
too  heavy  for  Durer  and  suggests  the  possibility  of  a  clever  copyist 
or  imitator.  However  that  may  be,  the  picture  would  be  quite  as 
beautiful  by  the  name  of  Smith  or  Robinson,  and  if  it  is  not  Durer's 
then  it  is  by  some  one  who  was  not  far  behind  him  in  ability  though 
perhaps  unknown  to  fortune  and  to  fame.  The  Holbeins,  two  in 
number,  are  probably  genuine,  but  hardly  worth  putting  one's  eyes 
out  looking  at  them  many  times.  A  poor  picture  by  a  great  artist  is 
always  a  knock-down  blow  to  a  hero-worshipper  and  Holbein's  "  In- 
terior of  a  Private  Chapel,"  with  the  family  of  Count  Valkeniers  at 
prayer,  does  not  make  one  feel  like  joining  in  the  service.  Much 
more  satisfactory  is  the  oft-repeated  "  Venus  and  Cupid  "  of  Cranach, 
with  its  archaic  appearance  and  honest  hardness  of  line,  or  the 
handsome  and  genuine-looking  portrait  of  Frederick  Barbarossa. 
Often  times  blunt  awkwardness  is  preferably  too  slipshod  skill  and 
Cranacli's  best  is  much  to  be  preferred  to  Holbein's  tolerable. 

The  English  school  has  no  representation  worthy  of  mention. 
There  are"portraits  by  Lely,  Lawrence  and  Reynolds,  but  no  one 
would  care  to  look  at  them  the  second  time.  On  the  contrary,  the 
only  original  and  indigenous  American  school  is  brought  to  the  front 
with  a  flourish  of  trumpets  and  made  to  occupy  the  seat  of  honor. 
Thomas  Cole  with  his  "  Course  of  Empire,"  an  epic  poem  written 
with  a  paint-brush  through  six  canvases  and  innumerable  cantos, 
stands  first  in  size,  first  in  the  catalogue,  and  evidently  first  in  the 
hearts  of  his  countrymen.  The  other  members  of  the  Hudson 
River  Olympus  are  well-known  and  those  who  are  not  familiarly 
acquainted  with  their  landscape  art  can  easily  become  so  by  visiting 
the  galleries  of  the  Historical  Society  where  their  quality  is  numer- 
ously and  conspicuously  displayed.  The  Copley-Pease-Elliot-Trum- 
bull  portraits  in  the  possession  of  the  Society  are  materials  of  an- 
other character  and  sufficiently  interesting  in  themselves. 

JOHN  C.  VAN  DYKE. 


[Contributors  are  requested  to  send  with  their  drawings  full  and 
adqeuate  descriptions  of  the  buildings,  including  a  statement  of  cost.] 

INTERIOR   OF    EMANUEL   BAPTIST    CHURCH,    BROOKLYN,  N.  Y.      MR. 
FRANCIS   H.    KIMBALL,    ARCHITECT,   NEW   YORK,   N.   Y. 
[Gelatine  Print  issued  only  with  Gelatine  and  Imperial  editions.l 

EXTERIOR    OF   THE    SAME    CHURCH,   AFTER     AN    ETCHING   BY   MR. 
HENRY   8.    IHNEN. 

WHEN  the  architect  was  asked  by  the  committee  to  make  draw- 
ings, they  required  him  to  conform  to  the  accepted  form  of 
seating  in  Baptist  churches,  with  a  pitched  floor.  There  were 
to  be  no  columns  to  intercept  the  view  of  the  chancel,  and  galleries 
were  to  be  provided.  The  lot  being  90  x  89  feet,  or  nearly  square, 
it  seemed  best  to  try  to  give  length,  otherwise  the  auditorium  would 
have  the  effect  of  a  hall,  not  a  church.  Two  columns  were  intro- 
duced, as  will  be  seen  by  the  plan,  which  are  not  in  anybody's  way 
and  are  purely  constructive,  not  merely  ornamental.  They  support 
longitudinal  trusses  which  are  indicated  in  the  church  by  heavy 
bea'ms.  By  this,  the  effect  is  that  of  a  nave  with  transepts,  and  the 
square  form  is  lost  sight  of.  These  columns  also  support  the  angle 
where  galleries  meet. 

The  next  feature  is  the  baptistery.  The  regular  arrangement  of 
a  tank  in  the  floor,  requiring  the  pulpit  to  be  moved  to  one  side, 
seemed  undesirable,  therefore,  it  has  been  made  a  fixture,  the  height 
being  regulated  so  that  the  pulpit  i?  never  disturbed. 


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The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


199 


The  exterior  of  church  is  of  Ohio  stone.  The  chapel  in  the  rear 
was  designed  by  Mr.  E.  L.  Roberts,  and  built  three  or  four  years  ago. 
The  new  work  begins  at  the  nearest  chapel  tower,  marked  by  the 
small  circular  turrets.  To  a  certain  extent  it  was  necessary  to  use 
the  same  Diaterial  used  in  chapel,  and  follow  its  main  lines. 

Tlie  interior  of  the  church  is  finished  in  oak,  antique,  the  vesti- 
bule in  Scotch  red  sandstone,  oak  celling,  mosaic  floor. 

The  ceiling  of  church  is  of  wood,  the  facing-up  of  chancel  and  in- 
terior columns  of  Scotch  sandstone. 

The  decorations  were  done  by  Mr.  W.  H.  Day,  and  is  one  of  the 
best  examples  of  his  work. 

The  style  is  early  French  Gothic,  thirteenth  century,  the  detail 
very  simple. 


STATUE     OF      LOUIS      PHILIPPE      AND      MARIE      AMl'l  IK. 
MERCHS,    SCULPTOR. 


M.    J.   A. 


STATUE      OF      MARIE      ANTOINETTE      AT    ST.     DENIS,      FRANCE.      M. 
PIERRE     PETITOT,     SCULPTOR. 

THIS  statue  and  the  group  of  Louis  Philippe  and  his  wife  show 
one  manner  of  preserving  the  memory  of  historic  women,  while  the 
cut  of  the  dishevelled  and  unfinished  monument  at  the  head  of  the 
article  on  the  monuments  to  the  memory  of  the  mother  of  George 
Washington,  which  may  be  found  in  another  part  of  this  issue,  shows 
a  less  pleasing  manner  of  perpetuating  a  worthy  woman's  fame. 


TOMB    OF    THE     CARDINAL     MAZARIN    IN    THE      LOUVRE. 
8EVOX,   SCULPTOR. 


O.    COY- 


TOMB     OF      MACHIAVELLI      IN      THE     CHURCH     OF     SANTA     CROCE, 
FLORENCE,    ITALY.      INNOCENZO   SPINAZZI,    SCULPTOR. 

MR.  BARTLETT'S  account  of  the  monuments  and  statues  erected 
to  the  memory  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  suggests  the  exhibition  in  com- 
parison of  some  of  the  monuments  erected  in  other  countries  to  the 
memories  of  famous  statesmen. 


SOME    AMERICAN    MONUMENTS.— I. 
MARY  WASHINGTON'S  MONUMENT. 


The  unfinished  Monument  to  Mary  Washington,  near  Fredericksburg,  Vi. 

?HE  parents  of  Washington,  Mary  Ball  and  Augustine  Washing- 
ton,  were  married  in  1730,  it  is  not  known  where.  An  unsup- 
ported  tradition  says  that  the  ceremony  took  place  in  England. 
Both  were  natives  of  Virginia.  Their  first  home  was  on  the  West- 
moreland estate  in  the  county  of  that  name,  and  which  has  always 
been  regarded  as  Washington's  birthplace.  Their  house  having 
been  burned,  they  removed  to  another  estate  of  theirs  in  Stafford 
County  on  the  east  side  of  the  Rappahannock  River,  opposite  Fred- 
ericksburg.  Here  Augustine  Washington  lived  until  his  death  on 
the  12th  of  April,  1743,  at  the  age  of  forty -nine.  He  was  buried  at 
Bridge's  Creek  in  the  tomb  of  his  ancestors.  Little  is  known  of  his 
character  or  his  acts.  His  occupation  was  that  of  a  planter.  Mary 
Ball  was  his  second  wife  and  by  her  he  had  six  children,  George, 
Betty,  Samuel,  John  Augustine,  Charles  and  Mildred. 

After  her  husband's  death,  Mrs.  Washington  brought  up  her  chil- 
dren and  managed  her  large  property  with  admirable  sagacity. 
"Her  disposition  was  kindly,  just  and  religious;  her  manner  digni- 
fied, reserved  and  sometimes,  we  suspect,  even  awful."  Her  step- 
son, Lawrence  Washington,  said  :  "  Of  the  mother  I  was  more  afraid 
than  of  my  own  parents ;  she  awed  me  in  the  midst  of  her  kindness, 
and  even  now,  when  time  has  whitened  my  locks,  and  I  am  the 
grandfather  of  a  second  generation,  I  could  not  behold  that  majestic 
woman  without  feelings  it  is  impossible  to  describe."  Washington 
treated  her  not  only  with  profound  affection,  but  with  the  utmost 
deference ;  his  letters  to  her,  when  in  the  public  service,  always 
began  with  the  words  "  Honored  Madam,"  and  he  was  unwilling  to 
engage  in  any  important  enterprise  until  he  had  obtained  her  con- 
sent. During  the  Revolution  she  removed  for  greater  security  to 
the  town  of  1<  redericksburg ;  there  Washington  kept  her  advised  of 
the  course  of  the  struggle,  and  there,  after  several  years'  separation, 
he  visited  her  on  liu  return  from  the  victory  of  Yorktown. 


She  had  a  small  farm  near  Fredericksburg  which  she  superin- 
tended in  person,  driving  out  to  it  every  day  in  a  two-wheeled  chaise 
to  direct  the  laborers.  She  employed  an  overseer,  but  he  was  to 
follow  her  instructions  implicitly.  She  was  a  rigid  disciplinarian. 
Uolh  in  the  field  and  in  the  house  her  word  was  law.  Lafayette 
paid  her  a  visit  in  1784  when  she  was  seventy-eight  years  old.  He 
found  her  at  work  in  her  garden,  wearing  a  homespun  gown  and  a 
plain  straw  hat  over  a  lawn  cap.  She  received  him  gaily  and  with- 
out embarrassment  and  talked  with  intelligence  and  animation  of  the 
events  of  the  war  and  the  prospects  of  the  country.  To  the  Mar- 
quis's praises  of  her  son,  she  delighted  him  by  quietly  answering:  "I 


The  Empress  Josephine. 

am  not  surprised  at  what  Georue  has  done,  for  he  was  always  a 
good  boy."  She  died  in  1789  at  the  age  of  eighty-three  and  was 
buried  in  a  small  cemetery  belonging  to  the  Washington  family, 
situated  in  the  northwestern  suburb  of  Fredericksburg. 

There  are  two  current  stories  concerning  the  unfinished  monument 
that  stands  near  the  cemetery.  The  romantic  one  is  that  a  merchant 
of  New  York,  who  was  courting  Miss  Custis,  a  granddaughter  of 
Mrs.  Washington,  resolved  to  build  a  monument  to  the  memory  of 
the  latter  as  a  mode  of  showing  the  ardor  of  his  affection  for  the 
former.  So  long  as  his  suit  progressed  favorably  the  work  went  on 
smoothly,  but  the  lover  having  finally  been  rejected  by  the  fair 
maiden,  it  was  unhappily  abandoned.  The  monument  stands  within 
view  of  Fredericksburg.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  with  imposing 
ceremonies  on  the  1st  of  May,  1883,  by  President  Jackson.  It  is 
built  of  white  marble  and  is  sixteen  feet  high.  The  block  of  stone, 
seemingly  red  sandstone,  intended  for  the  shaft,  lies  half  buried  in 
the  earth  near  by  and  uncut.  It  is  about  seventeen  feet  long.  Curi- 
osity hunters  have  broken  off  all  the  edges  and  corners  of  the 
finished  part  and  the  irreverent  marksman  has  dotted  the  surfaces 
with  the  marks  of  his  bullets. 

It  was  while  President  Jackson  was  on  his  way  to  perform  the 
patriotic  duty  of  laying  the  corner-stone,  quietly  sitting  in  the  cabin 
of  one  of  the  river  steamers,  that  Lieutenant  Randolph,  who  had 
been  but  recently  cashiered  from  the  navy,  suddenly  pounced  upon 
him  and  pulled  his  nose. 

The  other  story  is  that  a  Mr.  Burroughs  of  New  York  City,  visit- 
ing Fredericksburg  and  being  impressed  with  its  historic  associations 
and  especially  with  the  fact  that  it  had  been  the  home  of  the  mother 


200 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News.      [VOL.  XXIII. -No.  644. 


of  Washington  and  wa3  her  last  resting-place,  set  on  foot  a  project 
for  a  monument  to  her  memory.     It  was  completed  to  its  pre 

rST  £  tot±±dering  tourist  has  called  attention  through 
the  newspapers  to  this  disgraceful  example  of  a  nation . >  neglect 
then  some  one  would  attempt  to  explain  why  Mary  Washington  was 
so  little  known,  and  there  the  interest  in  the  subject  ended. 

In  April,  1886,  the  Congressional  Committee  on  the  Library  con- 
sidereda  b  11  which  proposed  to  appropriate  $20  000  for  the  comple- 
tion of  the  monument  and  for  grading  and  enclosing  witb an  iron 
fence  a  space  of  thirty-four  feet  square  around  its  base,  the .money 
to  be  expended  under  the  direction  of  the  President  or  such  officer 
a°  he  maPy  designate.  The  bill  provided  that  no  part  of  the  money 
should  be  expended  until  the  lot  upon  which  the  monument  is  situ- 
ated shall  be  conveyed  to  the  United  States  And  the  committee 
recommended  that  the  appropriation  be  made  for  the  object  specified 
when  the  Secretary  of  War  shall  have  become  satisfied  that  the 
State  of  Virginia  has  secured  a  valid  title  to  the  ground  upon  wind 
the  monument  is  situated,  and  when  the  State  gives  assurances  that 
it  will  keep  the  monument  and  grounds  in  good  repair  and  proper 
condition.  What  came  of  this  proposal  is  not  known  to  the  writer 

Mr  B.  J.  Lossino-  published  in  1886  a  book  entitled  "  Mary  and 
Martha,  the  Mother  and  the  Wife  of  George  Washington.  It  con- 
tains a  very  complete  collection  of  personal  memoirs,  reminiscences, 
minutes  of  conversations,  and  facts  concerning  these  illustrious 
women,  and  much  about  the  private  life  of  Washington. 

MEMORIALS   TO    THOMAS    JEFFERSON. 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON  left  among  his  papers  after  his  death  in  his  own 
handwriting  an  inscription  in  Greek  for  a  slab  designed  for  his  wife  s 
erave  and  one  which  he  deemed  appropriate  for  Ins  own,  with  a 
design  of  the  monument  on  which  he  wished  it  inscribed.  Concern- 
ina  his  own  tomb  he  wrote  as  follows  :  "Could  the  dead  feel  any 
interest  in  monuments,  or  other  remembrance  of  them,  when,  a: 
Anacreon  says,  'we  shall  lie  a  little  dust,  the  bones  having  been 
loosed,'  the  following  would  be  to  my  manes  the  most  gratifying: 
on  the  srave  a  plain  die  or  cube  three  feet  square,  without  any  mould- 
in^  surmounted  by  an  obelisk  six  feet  in  height,  each  of  a  simple 
stone ;  on  the  faces  of  the  obelisk  the  following  inscription  and  i 
a  word  more : 

HERB    LIES    BURIED 
THOMAS    JEFFERSON, 

AUTHOR   OF   THE    DECLARATION   OF    AMERICAN    INDEPENDENCE, 

OF    THE    STATUTE   OF    VIRGINIA    FOR    RELIGIOUS    FREEDOM, 

AND    FATHER    OF    THE    UNIVERSITY    OF    VIRGINIA. 

And  on  the  die  of  the  obelisk  might  be  engraved  : 

BORN  APRIL  2,  1713.      DIED 


and  closest  friendship, 
brother-in-law,   Dabney 


Because  by  those  as  testimonials  that  I  have  lived  I  wish  most  to 
be  remembered.  To  be  of  coarse  stone  of  which  my  columns  are 
made  that  no  one  might  be  tempted  hereafter  to  destroy  it  for  the 
value  of  the  material." 

It  is  familiar  to  every  one  that  Jefferson's  famous  and  beaut 
home  in  Albeinarle  County,  Va.,  was  on  the  summit  of  a  little  moun- 
tain which  he  called  Monticello,  that  belongs  to  the  south-west 
ran^e  of  hills  laying  east  of  the  Blue  Ridge  and  which  rises  about 
five"  hundred  feet  above  the  surrounding  country.  Mr.  John  G. 
Kicolay,  in  a  recent  article  in  the  Century  Magazine,  writes  as  fol- 
lows about  this  mountain  home  : 

"He  seems  from  the  beginning  to  have  appropriated  the  little 
mountain  to  himself  for  his  own  uses.  Probably  this  feeling  of  per- 
sonal ownership  came  to  him  even  in  boyhood,  as  by  right  of  dis- 
covery and  exploration.  Tradition  makes  it  the  scene  of  his  first 
•  *  '  '  '  '  He  and  his  college  friend,  afterwards  his 
Carr,  found  here  a  favorite  oak,  whose 
inviting  shade  they  made  a  re- 
sort for  pastime  and  study.  They 
,  finally  became  so  attached  to  this 
spot  that  they  made  a  mutual 
promise,  the  survivor  should  bury 
I  the  other  at  the  foot  of  this  tree, 
land  upon  Dabney  Carr's  early 
f  death,  Jefferson  fulfilled  the  ro- 
mantic pledge.  This  incident  is 
'  said  to  have  originated  the  little 
cemetery  on  the  slope  of  Monti- 
cello,  where  the  dust  of  Thomas 
Jefferson  now  lies  in  its  last  re- 
pose." 

The  cemetery  was  to  be  en- 
closed by  a  stone  wall  covered 
The  First  Monument  to  Thomas  Jefferson.  with  evergreens  and  adorned  with 
an  antique  Gothic  temple,  pedestals  with  urns,  a  pyramid  of  rough 
stone  a  cascade,  a  grotto  with  a  statue,  inscriptions,  a  moss  couch, 
a  concealed  seolian  harp  and  other  funereal  devices,  but  like  many 
other  of  Jefferson's  princely  projects,  this  was  never  carried  out. 
Near  his  <n-ave  lie  buried  Mrs.  Jefferson,  their  two  daughters,  Mar- 
tha and  Maria  Epos,  and  their  son-in-law,  Governor  Randolph. 

Seven  years  after  Jefferson's  death,  his  grandson,  Col.  T.  J.  Ran- 
dolph, erected  a  monument  over  his  grave  of  New  Hampshire  gran- 
»  IB  March  18M,  th»  Committ»  on  the  Library  rsporud  thii  bill  fayorably.  — 
EC*. 


ite  made  after  the  design  above  described,  and  enclosed  the  yard 
with  a  stone  fence.  The  inscription  was  cut  on  a  slab  of  marble  and 
set  into  the  side  of  the  obelisk.  The  graves  of  the  other  members 
of  the  family  were  covered  with  marble  slabs,  and  the  inscriptions 
cut  upon  the  die  of  the  monument. 

Jefferson's  democratic  fancy  in  regard  to  the  safety  of  the  "coarse 
stone  "  was  not  a  sufficient  protection,  for  in  less  than  three  years 
after  the  structure  was  completed  the  slabs  on  the  graves  were  two- 
thirds  gone  and  the  monument  greatly  mutilated  by  visitors  who 
came  there  to  the  number  of  a  thousand  a  year :  yet  the  little  ceme- 
tery is  four  miles  from  the  nearest  post-office  at  Charlottesville. 

THE   NEW    MONUMENT. 

In  1882-83  Mr.  Manning,  a  member  of  Congress  from  Alabama, 
bein«  detained  at  Charlottesville  by  a  railroad  accident,  went  to 
Mondcello  to  visit  Jefferson's  grave.  He  was  so  shocked  at  the 
shameful  condition  in  which  he  found  it  that  he  determined  that  a 

new  monument  should  be  made  and 
a  good  fence  built  around  it.  He 
therefore  introduced  a  bill  asking 
Congress  for  an  appropriation  of 
$10,000,  afterwards  increased  to 
$15,000,  the  money  to  be  expended 
under  the  direction  of  Secretary 
Frelinghuysen. 

The  Government  at  first  pro- 
posed to  limit  its  expenditure  to 
the  fence  for  enclosing  the  graves, 
but  Mr.  Manning  insisted  upon  hav- 
ing the  entire  cemetery  enclosed. 
The  new  monument  was  designed 
by  and  erected  under  the  super- 
vision of  Col.  Thomas  L.  Casey  in 
1883,  and  the  cemetery  enclosed  by 
an  iron  fence  thirteen  feet  high. 
The  paper  upon  which  Jefferson 
made  his  design  and  wrote  his 
directions  about  the  monument  was 
given  to  the  State  Department  by  Miss  S.  M.  Randolph,  and  she, 
with  other  of  Jefferson's  descendants,  desired  that  the  new  monu- 
'ment  should  be  an  exact  copy  of  the  old.  To  their  great  morl 
tion  their  wishes  were  not  gratified. 

It  is  a  pity  to  relate 'that  the  grave  desecrators  of  the  vicinity 
have  already  be«un  their  work  and  it  is  feared  that  the  new  ftruc- 
ture  will  fare  the  same  fate  that  followed  the  old.     The  chief  marau- 
ders are  negroes  from  Charlottesville  and  it  is  found  impossi 
punish  them.  ., 

Mrs.  E.  W.  Harrison,  one  of  the  descendants  of  Jefferson,  w 
that  the  Government  wished  to  make  an  approach  to  the  cemetery 
from  the  road,  and  through  a  part  of  the  old  Jefferson  estate,  bough 
after  his  death  by  Captain  U.  P.  Levy,  and  now  owned  by  Mr. 
J.  M.  Levy,  of  New  York  City.  But  Mr.  Levy  objected,  and  as  the 
United  States  Government  is  not  allowed  by  law  to  expend  money, 
except  upon  land  owned  by  itself,  the  Secretary  was  obliged  to  re- 
strict himself  to  the  care  of  the  monument  and  cemetery.  1  bus,  only 
•$8,352.83,  of  the  $15,000,  was  expended.  Mr.  Levy  himse It,  writes, 
that  the  work  of  the  Government  has  been  poorly  carried  out,  the 
persons  having  it  in  charge  seeming  to  take  no  interest  it,  and 
that  he  is  about  improving  the  grave-yard  at  his  own  expense. 

THE   OLD    MONUMENT    IN    MISSOURI. 


Th«  New  Monument,  designed 
Co|.  T.   L.  Casey. 


When  the  new  monument  was  in  process  of  building,  Dr.  Laws,  of 
Columbia  University,  Missouri,  wished  to  get  the  old  monument  for 
his  institution,  because  that  State  was  an  important  part 
Louisiana  purchase,  made  under  the  administration  and  largely 
under  the  influence  of  Mr.  Jefferson.  Professor  1- leet,  who  had 
charge  of  the  acceptance  of  the  monument  from  the  Randolph 
famUy,  says :  "  I  feel  that  we  have  secured  a  treasure,  that  the  old 
monument  is  much  more  valuable  than  the  new -inexpressibly  more 
precious,  because  of  its  memories,  than  the  most  costly  and  elegac 
new  one  that  could  be  procured."  The  old  monument  was  con- 
sequently set  up  in  the  campus  of  the  University  at  Columbia. 

Some  doubts  having  been  expressed  concerning  the  genuineness  of 
the  monument  and  the  tablet  transported  to  Missouri,  Mrs.  h.  \1 
Harrison,  of  Edge  Hill,  Va.,  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Thomas  Jefferson 
Randolph,  Mr.  Jefferson's  grandson  and  executor,  wrote  the  follow- 
in*  letter  to  Professor  A.  F.  Fleet,  of  the  Columbia  University,  to 
dispel  these  doubts  and  correct  a  statement  in  Harper  s  Weekly  tl 
the  burying-ground  was  neglected : 

"My  father  constantly  suffered  from  the  imputation  through  t 
public  prints,  that  the  burying-ground  was  neglected,  when  reall; 
public  was  to  blame.     The  grave-yard  at  Mont.ce  o  at  the  time  o 
Mr.  Jefferson's  death,  was  enclosed  by  a  doubl«  wall  liled-in  between 
with  earth,  in  which  was  planted  a  pyracanthus  hedge,     i  his 
into  decay  in  consequence  of  the  crumbling  of  the  stone-wa  Is,  and 
the  whole  was  replaced  in  1837,  by  a  brick-wall,  nine  feet  high,  with 
stone  caps  on  the  pillars;  the  gates  were  of  iron,  and  a  grating  of  t 
same  material  closed  an  opening  of  eight  or  ten  feet,  left  opposite  the 
monument.     It  was  hoped  that  this  grating,  affording  a  full  vi 
the  ^roup  of  Jefferson  eraves  would  satisfy  the  public,  and  that  the; 
woufd  not  scale  the  walls.     This  hope  proved  illusive,  for  the  slabs 
ov«r  Mrs.  Jefferson  and  Mrs.  Epes,  which  lay  each  side  of  Jei 


APRIL  28,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


201 


were  carried  off,  piece  by  piece,  till  there  was  not  an  atom  of  them 
left.  The  slab  marking  Mrs.  Randolph's  grave  was  two  thirds 
gone,  when  they  were  all  replaced  by  the  present  monument,  which 
covers  the  five  graves  of  Jefferson,  Mrs.  Jefferson,  their  two 
daughters,  and  their  son-in-law,  Governor  Thomas  Mann  Randolph. 
The  loess  on  the  gates  were  broken  as  fast  as  they  were  renewed.  The 
grave-yard  was  constantly  the  object  of  care  and  attention  of  the 
Family,  but  to  no  avail.  Turf  laid  one  month  would  be  trodden  up 
the  next.  Flowers  were  carried  off,  anJ  the  family  of  Jefferson  felt 
utterly  powerless  to  do  anything  for  its  protection.  One  individual, 
showing  a  piece  of  Jefferson's  tomb,  boasted  that  he  had  taken  a 
sledge-hammer  up  from  Charlottesville  to  secure  it 

"  The  monument  which  was  erected  in  accordance  with  Jefferson's 
directions,  and  which  you  now  have  in  keeping  was  put  up  in  1833 
The  tablet  staid  in  it  until  it  became  loosened  by  the  rude  treatment 
the  monument  received.  Captain  Uriah  P.  Levy,  who  was  then 
owner  of  Monticello,  discovered  the  insecure  condition  of  the  tablet, 
and  kindly  took  it  up  to  the  house  at  Monticello.  After  he  ceased 
to  use  Monticello  as  a  summer  residence,  Colonel  Randolph  took  the 
tablet  in  his  carriage  and  brought  it  down  to  Edge  Hill,  where  Mr. 
Fleet  found  it.  It  never  received  any  injury,  and  was  the  only  one 
which  was  ever  cut.  My  father  had  directed  the  inscription  to 
be  cut  on  the  granite,  but  it  was  too  coarse  to  allow  it.  I  do  not 
know  why  such  granite  was  chosen;  I  have  the  impression  that  it 
came  from  New  Hampshire.  Our  Southern  quarries  had  not  then 
been  opened.  I  find  the  date  of  this  monument  is  fixed  by  a  refer- 
ence- to  an  account  of  Colonel  Randolph's  commission  merchant  in 
Richmond,  where  an  entry  for  forwarding  '  a  box  of  marble  and  two 
large  pieces  of  granite'  is  made  October  8,  1833.  This  'box  of 
marble '  was  the  Jirst  slab  placed  over  Mrs.  Jefferson.  When  the 
brick-wall  was  put  up,  it  had  been  all  carried  off,  and  then  it  was 
that  the  slabs  mentioned  above,  which  were  placed  over  the  wife  and 
two  daughters  of  Jefferson  were  put  in  place.  They  were  mounted 
on  granite,  securely  clamped  with  iron. 

"The  present  monument  was  put  up  in  1883,  and  the  perplexing 
question  arose  as  to  the  disposition  of  the  one  which  had  rested  for 
nearly  fifty  years  over  remains  we  held  in  such  veneration.  We 
could  not  leave  it  thrown  out  on  the  mountain-side.  We  did  not 
like  to  bring  it  away,  nor  did  we  like  to  have  it  cut  over  to  mark 
other  graves.  At  this  time  we  received  through  Mr.  Fleet  the 
application  from  the  University  of  Missouri  for  it. 

"  We  gladly  accorded  our  assent  to  the  proposition  that  they  should 
become  possessors  of  what  we  venerated  so  highly.  We  have  never 
regretted  the  gift,  and  feel  that  in  no  other  State  in  the  Union  would 
its  poor,  battered,  weather-worn  front  have  met  with  such  a  welcome. 

I'  Our  admiration  for  the  State  of  Missouri  could  not  have  been 
heightened,  but  she  has  won  our  lasting  gratitude  by  the  veneration 
she  has  shown  and  honor  she  has  done  Mr.  Jefferson.  To  us  he  was 
not  alone  the  great  man.  He  was  to  our  father,  a  tender,  loving 
parent,  and  from  our  earliest  childhood  we  were  taught  to  love  him, 
and  to  venerate  everything  connected  with  his  memory." 

T.  H.  BARTLETT. 
[To  be  continued.] 


THE  ART  OF  HOUSE-BUILDING.»  —  III. 

IN  like  manner  in  whatever  con- 
cerns the   drinking-water,  it  is 
necessary  to  proceed  with  great 
care,  and  especially  renounce  prej- 
udices up   to   this   time  held    in 
honor.     It  is  ordinarily  believed 
that  spring-water  is  always  good. 
Here  is  an  error  which   one  can- 
not   be    too    thoroughly    on    his 
guard    against.     Surface    springs 
are  due  to  the  hasty  infiltration  of 
rain-water  passing  through  layers 
of  vegetable  earth  where  there  is 
abundant  putrescible  organic  mat- 
ter, which  makes  the  water  wholly 
unfit    for    domestic    use.       Deep 
springs,  after    being   deprived   of 
the  impure  matter  which  they  hold 
in  suspension,  penetrate  into  calca- 
reous  cavities  where  they  acquire 
ferruginous,    sulphurous,   iodic    or 
ca't'art!OUS  properties  which  ought 
to    disqualify   them    for    drinking 
water    for    regular     use.        It    is 
always  prudent  to  have  them  analyzed. 

Finally,  the  necessity  in  certain  localities  of  digging  wells  creates 
evil  conditions  whose  consequences  may  be  terrible.  Little  by  little 
there  forms  about  these  wells  subterranean  drainage  currents  which 
conduct  towards  the  wells  all  the  putrifying  matter  which  ordinarily 
accumulates  in  the  vicinity  of  dwellings.  The  currents  insensiblv 
affect  a  normal  direction,  and  in  excavating  the  ground  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  ancient  wells  we  find  numberless  ramifying  channels  for 
ilth,  especially  in  the  country  where  the  peasant  accumulates 

'"  L'  Art  lie  batir  >a  Afaiion"  Ubrairlo  de«  Imprirneries  reunles.  Parts.    Con- 
tinued from  No.  043,  page  190. 


manure  and  household  refuse  at  a  very  short  distance  from  his  w  ell. 
A  very  imperfect  remedy  is  sometimes  applied  by  lining  the  interior 
of  the  well  with  an  impervious  coating. 

Infiltrations  of  this  kind  can  engender  sometimes  most  terrible 
epidemics.  Typhoid  fever  and  cholera  are  ordinarily  propagated  by 
this  means  when  the  disposition  of  the  land  lends  itself  to  it.  In 
France  we  have,  amongst  others,  the  example  of  the  city  of  Auxurre, 
which  was  ravaged  in  1880  by  a  terrible  epidemic  of  typhoid  fever. 
Dr.  Dionis  remarked  that  all  the  contaminated  quarters  were  fur- 
nished with  water  from  the  spring  at  Veau,  a  little  commune  near 
Auxerre.  He  followed  the  course  of  this  stream  foot  by  foot  without 
finding  anything  suspicious,  but  on  arriving  at  the  fountain-head  he 
remarked  that  the  water  sprang  from  a  spot  which  was  dominated 
by  a  farmer's  house  near  which  was  found,  naturally  enough,  a  heap 
of  manure.  He  had  the  manure  sprinkled  with  an  aniline  infusion, 
and  some  hours  afterward,  in  the  filtering-chamber  below,  the  water 
was  seen  tinged  with  red.  Following  up  his  inquiry,  Dr.  Dionis 
learned  that  in  this  house  there  had  been  a  short  time  before  a  case 
of  typhoid  fever  and  the  dejections  of  the  patient  had  been  thrown 
onto  the  manure  heap.  There  was  no  longer  room  for  doubt ;  here 
was  the  beginning  of  the  plague. 

Cholera,  we  can  no  longer  doubt,  also  conceals  its  germs  in  impure 
water.  The  recent  example  of  Italy  and  the  painstaking  experi- 
ments made  last  year  by  the  Italian  physicians  prove  this. 
Cities  provided  with  good  potable  water  remained  unvisited.  Those 
which  took  their  water  from  an  impure  source  were  desolated 
by  the  epidemic.  The  few  cases  of  cholera  which  are  produced 
every  year  in  almost  every  country,  and  to  which  is  given  the  title 
of  sporadic  cholera,  also  are  due  to  the  foolish  use  of  water  of  bad 
quality.  Once  proved  that  in  nature  it  is  difficult  to  find  a 
source  of  water  which  presents  all  the  guaranties  of  desirable  salu- 
brity, the  best  thing  to  do  is  to  take  care  to  provide  one's  self  with 
water  scientifically  good,  whether  it  be  natural  or  artificial. 

To  provide  good  natural  water,  rain-water  must  be  stored  up. 
This  water,  being  really  only  distilled  water,  as  the  process  of  evap- 
oration has  deprived  it  of  its  mineral  salts,  without  which  the  water  is 
not  fit  for  domestic  use,  and  has  in  revenge  saturated  it  with  morbi- 
fic particles  which  make  it  unhealthful,  must,  before  being  introduced 
into  the  reservoir,  be  made  to  pass  through  a  layer  of  fine  sand  and 
fragments  of  marble  mixed  with  iron  ore,  then  another  layer  of 
quartz-pebbles  and  fine  sand  or  pure  silex.  In  passing  through 
this  filter,  water  absorbs  mineral  matter  and  is  deprived  of  all  the 
heterogeneous  matters  which  it  had  assimilated  during  its  fall  through 
the  atmosphere.  The  scientific  detail  of  this  operation  is  very 
minutely  described  in  the  book.  In  reality  this  only  imitates  by 
artificial  mechanism  means  which  chance  employs  to  give  us  water 
of  irreproachable  purity.  Whenever  natural  water  cannot  be  used 
without  danger,  it  does  not  follow  that  it  must  not  be  used  for  any 
purpose.  It  can  be  used  for  irrigating  the  garden,  for  decorative 
fountains  and  fish-ponds,  since  for  these  lesser  purposes  well-water 
is  too  costly  because  of  the  expense  of  pumping. 

M.  Boussard  advises  the  system  of  automatic  pumping  invented  by 
M.  Tellier,  an  ingenious  system  which  it  would  take  too  long  to 
describe.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  to  determine  the  spontaneous 
ascension  of  the  liquid  there  is  needed  only  a  roof  to  concentrate  the 
heat,  a  solution  of  ammonia,  and  a  very  simple  apparatus.  The 
calorific  action  of  the  air  upon  the  roof  starts  the  ascending  move- 
ment of  the  water.  The  cooling  action  of  the  elevated  water  assures 
the  perpetuity  of  the  movement.  The  heat  of  the  air  and  coldness 
of  the  water,  two  inexpensive  forces,  can  furnish  a  supply  of  1,200 
cubic  metres  an  hour. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  system  of  cisterns  ought  also  to  be 
rejected,  not  only  because  rain-water  itself  contains  insufficient  min- 
eral matter,  but  because  the  roofs  which  ordinarily  serve  as  collec- 
tors do  not  fulfil  the  desirable  conditions  of  cleanliness.  Romans 
condemned  the  system  and  Vitruvius  says  that  cistern-water  causes 
a  hoarseness  of  the  voice,  which  would  be  a  very  inconvenient  thing 
for  tenors  or  sopranos;  but  cistern-water  has  other  defects  which  the 
Romans  did  not  know  and  which  modern  science  has  distinctly  cata- 
logued. 

But  if  we  went  on  in  this  way,  eliminating  as  we  have  been  doing, 
we  should  run  the  danger  of  dying  of  thirst,  seeing  that  natural 
waters  which  are  really  potable  are  very  rarely  found.  The  author 
has  invented  a  system  which  makes  it  possible  to  have  pure  drinking 
water  by  the  aid  of  a  laboratory  which  forms  a  part  of  the  mechan- 
ism of  the  kitchen  of  his  model  house.  In  the  first  place,  the  sus 
pected  water  is  distilled  into  steam  and  is  then  passed  into  a  cylinder 
filled  with  compressed  air,  which  serves  in  the  first  place  to  aerate 
the  liquid,  and  in  the  second  place  to  project  it  up  into  the  reser- 
voirs at  the  top  of  the  house,  where  it  can -be  distributed  more 
easily.  Before  letting  it  pass  into  the  pipes,  it  is  made  to  pass  into 
a  second  cylinder,  into  which  are  introduced  powders  and  mineral 
salts  in  proportions  which  have  been  fixed  by  the  family  doctor,  who, 
understanding  the  temperaments  and  habits  of  all  the  members,  can 
regulate  the  proportions  accordingly. 

To  complete  this  interesting  study,  M.  Boussard  advises  all  those 
who  are  forced  either  by  taste  or  by  habit  to  drink  water,  which  is 
bad  nine  times  out  of  ten,  to  provide  themselves  with  a  pocket  filter 
of  recent  invention.  This  filter  is  so  small  that  it  can  be  carried  in 
the  waistcoat  pocket. 

Finally,  by  way  of  illustration,  the  author  presents  us,  magnified 
to  the  size  of  a  penny,  the  spectral  images  of  twelve  drops  of  water, 


202 


The    American    Architect  and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  644. 


one  of  which  alone  is  pure.  The  others  contain  the  numberless  ter- 
rifying types  of  those  mysterious  fauna  which  vegetate  in  these 
liquid  depths.  Here  are  grubs,  snails,  serpents  and  dragons,  mush- 
rooms and  worms,  infusoria,  mysterious  insects  with  hairy  tentacles, 
cells  where  the  monsters  are  still  in  formation,  a  repellent  mass  of 
busy  animals,  microbes  and  bacilli,  each  one  of  which  bears  in  itself 
the  seed  of  death.  When  one  has  attentively  examined  this  plate, 
he  understands  that  for  any  one  who  has  to  build  a  house  the  choice  of 
drinking  water  for  himself  and  his  family  is  a  question  of  life  or 
death. 

The  nature  of  the  soil  on  which  the  house  rests  also  has  a  distinct 
influence  on  its  healthfulness.  During  the  summer  the  ground 
absorbs  warmth  ;  during  the  winter  it  parts  with  it.  Every  day  the 
same  phenomenon  is  produced  in  some  small  degree.  We  can  con- 
clude from  this  that  at  the  depth  of  twenty  metres  the  ground  is 
submitted  to  constant  oxidation  which  means  that  within  this  limit 
organic  matters  are  entering  into  purification.  Air,  which  like 
warmth  circulates  through  the  ground,  serves  as  the  vehicle  for 
putrid  vapors.  The  intensity  of  the  phenomena  varies  according  to 
the  degree  of  permeability  of  the  soil.  Granite,  basalt,  metatnorphic 
rock,  schist,  hard  limestone,  clays,  fat  marl  and  alluvial  earth  may 
be  considered  as  impermeable.  Gravel,  sand  and  non-marly  lime- 
stone, on  the  contrary,  are  permeable  in  a  very  high  degree.  They 
are,  therefore,  most  suitable  for  house  sites,  for  rain-water  finds 
through  them  a  normal  drainage,  while  on  impermeable  soil  water 
stands  a  long  time  unless  the  site  is  a  slanting  one,  in  which  case  the 
drying  takes  place  naturally. 

Nor  ought  the  phenomenon  of  capillarity  to  be  disregarded. 
Under  this  head  we  designate  the  facility  with  which  liquids  are 
drawn  up  from  their  proper  level  by  the  porosity  of  another  body 
with  which  they  are  brought  into  contact.  The  walls  of  a  house  can 
pump  the  dampness  from  the  ground  on  which  they  are  planted  with 
as  much  facility  as  a  lump  of  sugar  will  soak  the  moisture  up  when 
it  barely  touches  it  at  one  corner.  For  these  reasons  the  cellar  and 
the  sub-basement  ought  to  be  proscribed  in  well-built  houses.  The 
holes  dug  in  the  ground  call  thither  the  surrounding  gases,  always 
laden  with  oxidizing  and  putrifying  elements,  and  through  the  natu- 
ral suction  that  the  warmth  of  the  house  exercises  on  the  atmosphere 
of  the  cellars,  these  elements  are  drawn  into  the  dwelling-rooms 
themselves.  The  cellars  and  store-rooms  ought  to  be  built  by  them- 
selves, just  as  the  Romans  used  to  build  them. 

Sandy  or  rocky  sites  are  the  best  for  man's  dwelling-house ;  clayey 
soil,  on  the  contrary,  is  most  unhealthy,  and  when  one  is  obliged  in 
spite  of  himself  to  build  upon  it,  he  should  underdrain  it  in  the  most 
thorough  way. 

One  cannot  undertake  the  construction  of  a  house  without  taking  into 
consideration  the  natural  ventilation  through  the  liouse-walls.  This 
ventilation  is  more  powerful  than  is  commonly  believed.  Petten- 
kofer  made  experiments  which  showed  that  the  human  breath  could 
extinguish  a  candle  by  blowing  through  a  brick-wall  thirty-three 
centimetres  in  thickness.  According  to  the  most  careful  tabulation, 
provided  there  be  a  single  degree's  difference  between  the  outside 
atmosphere  and  that  within,  there  passes  per  hour  and  per  cubic 
metre  the  volumes  of  air  given  below  through  the  best  known 
materials : 


Sandstone,  1  69  cubic  metres. 
Brick,         2.83  cubic  metres. 


Limestone,  2.32  cubic  metres. 
Mortar,       3.64  cubic  metres. 


Ought  this  ventilation  to  be  encouraged  or  checked?  M.  Bous- 
sard  inclines  to  the  negative,  especially  in  small  dwellings.  The 
atmosphere  deposits  in  the  pores  of  the  walls  infecting  particles  which 
in  rainy  or  damp  weather  there  become  putrid  under  the  influence 
of  the  moisture.  It  is  better  to  prevent  this  by  coating  the  interior 
of  the  walls  with  plaster  painted  with  oil-paint,  varnished  paper,  or 
still  better,  with  stucco  painted  in  wax.  M.  Boussard  lays  down  as  a 
general  rule  that  no  one  who  wishes  to  build  ought  ever  to  attempt 
to  do  so  without  the  advice  and  counsel  of  an  architect;  for  the 
architect  alone  is  really  competent  to  resolve  the  technical  difficul- 
ties and  arrange  processes  by  the  aid  of  which  can  be  united  con- 
venience, solidity  and  elegance.  Even  in  its  exterior  the  house 
ought  to  have  an  agreeable  air,  and  the  author  gives  a  reason  for  it 
of  such  general  interest  that  it  must  not  be  passed  over.  It  must  not 
be  forgotten,  says  he,  that  a  structure  obstructs  the  view  of  the 
passer,  from  whom  it  conceals  a  bit  of  verdure,  and  it  is  not  polite  to 
compel  him  to  gaze  upon  a  deformity  in  stone.  The  most  elementary 
good  breeding  counsels  politeness  toward  the  passer,  and  it  is  in  this 
sense  of  politeness  that  architecture  had  its  birth.  This  definition  of 
the  origin  of  architecture  does  not  lack  a  tinge  of  poetry. 

Beside  the  questions  which  I  have  just  discussed,  there  is  one  the 
study  of  which  is  imposed  on  the  architect,  although  very  prosaic  in 
its  nature,  for  on  its  solution  directly  depends  the  health  of  the  in- 
habitants. I  mean  the  arrangement  of  the  cesspools.  In  spite  of 
the  repugnance  that  such  a  subject  inspires,  it  must  be  attacked  with 
courage,  for  it  is  of  vital  importance.  We  know  that  a  cubic  metre 
of  fecal  matter,  fetes  and  urine  together,  furnish  in  twenty-four 
hours  the  following  quantities  of  gases : 


Carbonic  acid. 
Ammonia 

Sulphuretted  hydrogen 
Carburetted  hydrogen 

Making 


315    metres,  or 
149 

1.2        " 
579 


1044.2 


619  grammes. 
113 

2        " 

415         " 

1149         " 


A  cesspool  of  average  capacity,  or  five  cubic  metres,  furnishes 
then,  when  it  is  half-full,  1044.5  multiplied  by  230  equals  2610  metres 
of  infected  gases  at  15  degrees  centigrade,  and  three  times  as  much, 
or  8000  metres,  at  twenty-five  or  thirty  degrees  centigrade,  every 
twenty-four  hours. 

M.  Boussard  is  a  partisan  of  the  system  first  applied  in  England  by 
Dr.  Moule,  which  is  also  somewhat  followed  in  America,  if  I  am  well 
informed.  This  system  consists  in  separating  the  human  dejections 
in  such  a  fashion  as  to  cast  the  solid  parts  into  a  receptacle  contain- 
ing vegetable  earth,  and  where  they  arrive  only  after  having  rolled 
down  a  slope  made  of  the  same  earth.  Thus  enveloped  by  earthy 
particles,  the  solid  parts  have  no  bad  odor  and  no  evil  effect  on  the 
health.  The  author  finds  warrant  for  this  proceeding  in  nature,  and 
cites  the  example  of  the  carnivora,  whose  excrement  only  amongst 
the  mammifers  contains  morbific  germs.  The  carnivora  have  a 
liabit  of  scratching  away  the  ground  before  satisfying  their  bodily 
needs,  and  afterwards  covering  their  dejections  with  fresh  earth. 
This  example  hardly  impresses  me :  in  the  first  place,  it  is  only 
animals  of  the  feline  race  which  have  this  habit.  Other  carnivora, 
the  dog,  for  instance,  and  the  wolf,  do  not  trouble  themselves  in  this 
way.  Cats  act  in  this  way  in  obedience  to  a  need  of  neatness  which 
is  special  to  them,  rather  than  for  hygienic  considerations.  The 
system  of  Rev.  Dr.  Moule  is  good,  not  because  cats  scratch  away  the 
ground,  but  because  science  has  been  able  to  demonstrate  that  the 
mineralization  of  stercoraceous  matters  makes  them  perfectly  inoffen- 
sive. The  liquid  portions  are  conducted  into  another  conduit,  where 
they  are  obliged  to  pass  through  a  layer  of  vegetable  earth,  prefer- 
ably garden-mould.  Here  is  produced  a  curious  phenomenon.  The 
soil  is  populated  with  microbes,  which,  during  the  passage  of  this 
matter,  devour  all  the  animal  particles  and  impurities  of  the  urine,  so 
that  it  passes  from  this  laboratory  in  a  state  of  absolute  limpidity, 
"  good  enough  to  drink  "  says  M.  Durand-Claye,  who  has  made  a  re- 
markable investigation  into  the  matter.  Among  other  things  he 
threw  a  weak  solution  of  chloroform  onto  this  garden-mould  before 
passing  the  urine  through  it,  and  he  discovered  in  this  case  that  the 
urine  passed  through  the  mould  a  short  time  afterwards  came  out 
quite  as  foul  as  it  had  entered.  The  microbes  having  been  chloro- 
formed, their  health-creating  functions  had  been  suspended.  The 
operation  repeated  at  the  end  of  a  short  time  with  the  same  filter 
without  the  sprinkling  of  chloroform  gave,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
most  satisfactory  results.  Space  lacks  to  describe  the  mechanism  of 
these  cess-pits,  whose  introduction  has  solved  one  of  the  most  diffi- 
cult problems  of  household  hygiene. 

I  will  say  nothing  more  of  what  M.  Boussard  reports  on  the  sub- 
ject of  his  experiments  in  heating  and  the  application  of  the  hypo- 
caust,  as  well  as  upon  the  employment  of  sewage  for  the  irrigation  of 
the  kitchen-garden.  On  the  arrangement  of  the  hydropathic 
apparatus,  lighting,  decoration  and  furnishing,  I  am  regretfully 
obliged  to  close  the  book,  which  is  written  with  a  clearness  and 
simplicity  which  hides  neither  the  erudition  of  the  author  nor  the 
abundance  of  ideas.  This  book  ought  to  be  read  not  only  by  archi- 
tects, although  it  was  specially  destined  for  them.  Every  head  of  a 
family,  all  those  who  have  a  house  to  build  or  to  alter,  all  in  fact  who 
recognize  the  importance  of  the  details  of  building  from  the  hygienic 
standpoint,  can  read  this  book  with  profit.  I  will  add  only  that  this 
volume  has  been  finely  and  brilliantly  illustrated  by  the  publishers; 
and  while  the  mind  finds  here  a  good  pasturage,  the  eye  also  finds  its 
recreation.  H.  MEREU. 


JOHN  BURNET,  Scottish  painter  and  engraver,  was  born  in 
1784,  died  in  1868. 
Three  thoughtful  and  interesting  essays1  are  left  us,  illustrated 
by  engravings  from  his  own  hand.  Published  separately  in  London 
in  1822,  1886  and  1837,  they  here  in  an  American  reprint 
become  united  in  one  volume.  Hints  on  Composition,  on  Light  and 
Shade,  and  on  the  Education  of  the  Eye  are  the  subjects  descanted 
upon  and  illustrated.  Written  originally  for  the  painter,  yet  the 
picture-maker  of  any  sort,  the  art-lover,  and  he  whose  love  for  art  is 
exceeded  by  the  demands  of  his  profession  calling  him  to  know 
something  more  of  art  principles,  will  find  the  book  a  profitable  one 
and  interesting.  Were  it  offered  the  American  reader  at  its  original 
price,  the  art-student  of  moderate  ambition,  expectations  and  means, 
might,  perhaps  with  reason,  hesitate  before  making  it  his  own,  but 
when  one-fourth  that  sum  is  now  set  as  its  price,  and  this  price  is 
one  twenty-fifth  of  the  amount  necessary  to  purchase  at  present  the 
original  volumes,  such  hesitation  is  quite  unnecessary.  The  typogra- 
phy of  the  book  impresses  one  at  first,  as  old  in  style  and  poor ;  but 
learning  that  it  is  a  fac-simile  by  the  photo-lithographic  process,  it  is 
quickly  excused  and  set  down  as  quaint  and  interesting.  The 
twenty-five  full-page  plates  are  well  reproduced,  but  why  the  tissue 
sheets  should  cover  them  there  seems  insufficient  reason,  but,  easily 
removed  to  the  great  comfort  of  the  reader,  they  need  not  long  be  a 
hindrance  to  the  satisfactory  viewing  of  the  plates. 

1 "  Practical  Essays  on  Art."  by  John  Unmet.    Edward  L.  Wilson,  Publisher 
853  Broadway,  New  York.    $4.00. 


A  PHIL  28,  1888.] 


The    American    Architect   and  Building   News. 


203 


ENGINEERS'  CLUB  OK  PHILADELPHIA. 

'TJT  the  n-L'iilar  meeting  of  the  Engineers'  Club  of  Philadelphia, 
r\  on  April  7,  1888,  Mr.  Howard  Murphy  presented  a  diagram 
/  showing  the  results  of  Watertown  Arsenal  tests  of  the  crushing 
strength  of  Potomac  lied  Sandstone  and  other  building  stones,  bricks 
and  brick  masonry.  The  diagram  shows  the  following : 


No. 
of 
Tests. 

MATERIAL. 

Cni>hin^   Mr.-n^lh 
in  Ibs.  per  sq.  in. 

1  l;nM 

TO 

6 
10 
2 
2 
6 
3 
4 
11 
10 
6 
6 

20,504 
1(5,625 
14,000 
12,810 
9,'  'JO 
7,210 
7,190 
5,540 
3,940 
1,000 
799 

22,900 
22,102 
16,340 
13,610 
13.700 
9,050 
10/.20 
-.0,830 
16.280 
2,685 
1,914 

Montgomery  Co.,  Pa.,  Blue  Marble  

Philadelphia  Hard  Bricks  

He  also  noted  the  other  qualities  of  the  Potomac  Red  Sandstone 

which  are  of  special  value  to  the  engineer  in  construction  —  its 
durability  under  the  action  of  frost,  fire  and  wear,  and  its  resistance 
to  dampness. 

Mr.  Kdward  Hurst  Brown  mentioned  that  the  reason  the  Potomac 
lied  Sandstone  was  not  more  used  for  architectural  purposes  was 
that,  while  of  a  beautiful  color,  owing  to  its  extreme  hardness  it  was 
very  difficult  to  dress,  and  also  that  very  often  in  an  apparently  per- 
fect stone  a  flaw  would  develop  in  dressing  the  face  which  would 
render  it  useless  for  facing-stone.  He  also  mentioned  having  seen 
at  Brentsville,  Prince  William  Co.,  Virginia,  an  old  church  built 
of  practically  the  same  stone,  taken  from  the  neighboring  Bristow 
Quarry,  which  had  stood  for  over  one  hundred  years,  exposed  to 
war  and  the  elements,  and  which  showed  no  signs  of  defects  due  to 
frost  or  action  of  the  weather. 

In  consequence  of  the  lateness  of  the  hour,  a  communication  by 
Mr.  G.  Y.  Wisner,  C.  E.,  for  years  connected  with  the  Lake  Survey, 
entitled  "  The  Physical  Phenomena  of  Lake  Harbors "  was  sub- 
mitted by  title.  It  shows  that  the  progressive  movement  of  sandy 
spits  is  attributable  to  the  resultant  waves  and  currents  produced  by 
the  periodic  oscillations  of  the  lake  surface,  and  that  the  effects  are 
similar  to  those  produced  by  the  flood-tide  on  the  Atlantic  Coast,  as 
explained  by  Prof.  L.  M.  llaupt  in  his  paper  on  the  "  Physical  Phe- 
nomena of  Harbor  Entrances."  HOWARD  MUKPHY, 

Secretary  and  Treasurer. 


St.    Y.    CHAPTER,    AMERICAN     INSTITUTE    OF     ARCHITECTS. 

NEW  YORK,  April  18, 18C8. 
To  the  Honorable  Abram  S.  Hewitt,  Mayor  of   the  City  of  New 

York  and  Chairman,  etc. 

Dear  Sir,  —  I  have  the  honor  to  inform  you  that  at  a  special 
meeting  of  this  Chapter,  held  yesterday  afternoon,  to  consider  your 
favor  of  the  13th  inst.,  the  same  was  read,  as  also  the  resolution, 
therein  enclosed,  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  Sinking  Fund,  request- 
ing this  organization  to  suggest  seven  persons  skilled  in  architecture, 
who  will  be  suitable  members  of  a  committee  of  three  experts,  to 
assist  the  Commissioners  in  examining  the  plans  submitted  for  a 
Municipal  Building,  proposed  to  be  erected  in  the  City-Hall  Park, 
and  determining  upon  the  award  of  premiums. 

After  discussion  it  was  resolved  to  comply  with  the  desire  of  said 
Commissioners,  and  to  select,  by  ballot,  architectural  practitioners 
from  the  list  of  members  of  this  Chapter,  the  seven  names  receiving 
the  greatest  number  of  votes  to  be  transmitted  to  your  Honor  as  its 
nominees. 

The  result  of  the  ballotting  was  as  follows,  the  names  being  ar- 
ranged at  once  alphabetically,  (except  my  own),  and  with  reference 
to  number  of  votes  : 

Messrs.  11.  M.  Hunt,  R.  M.  Upjohn,  E.  II.  Kendall,  N.  Le  Brun, 
Geo.  B.  Post,  C.  W.  Clinton,  A.  J.  Bloor.  Messrs.  Hunt  and 
Upjohn  received  the  highest  and  the  same  number  of  votes;  Messrs. 
Kendall,  Le  Brun  and  Post,  the  next  highest  and  the  same  number ; 
and  Messrs.  Clinton  and  Bloor,  the  next  highest  and  the  same  num- 
ber. 1  have  the  honor  to  be,  Very  respectfully, 

(Signed)  A.  J.  BLOOR,  Secretary. 


ENGINEERS     SOCIETY   OF   WESTERN    PENNSYLVANIA. 

A  REGULAR  meeting  of  the  society  was  held  April  1  7th,  attended 
by  fifty-six  members  and  four  visitors.  The  President,  both  Vice- 
Presidents,  and  all  the  Directors  were  present.  Geo.  H.  Barbour  and 
Lewis  B.  Fulton  were  elected  members. 

Phineas  Barnes  read  an  interesting  paper  on  "  Aluminium,"  the 
discussion  of  which  was  participated  in  by  Win.  Metcalf,  A.  E. 
Hunt,  T.  P.  Roberts,  I.  A.  Beasbear  and  several  others. 

S.  M.  WICKEHSHAM,  Secretary. 


TO  REPLACE  AN  OLD  CEILING. 

BROOKLYN,  N.  Y.,  April  19,  1888. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  We  want  suggestions  as  to  the  best  kind  of  a  ceiling 
to  put  up  in  a  store  25  x  150  to  replace  the  present  plaster  ceiling 
which  constantly  annoys  us  by  falling,  caused  by  jars  from  overhead 
and  old  age.  Are  there  not  other  substances  used  except  plaster  or 
wood  for  ceilings.  GARY  &  STEVENSON. 

[PLASTKB  on  wire-lath  would  resist  jarring.  Duck  or  light  canvas 
pointed  in  distemper  could  be  used.  Nonhrop's  iron  ceiling  could  be  ap- 
plied without  removing  the  present  plastering,  ag  could  any  of  the  many 
forms  of  fibre  panels  —  leatherette,  papier  mache',  asbestos,  wood-pulp,  or 
Spurt's  papered  veneers. —  Eos.  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT.] 


BURNING  GARBAGE. —  The  Chicago  Tribune  prints  some  testimony  as 
to  the  success  of  the  experiment  in  burning  garbage  in  that  city :  March 
6,  the  garbage  furnace  began  operations.  The  furnace  is  built  up  from 
a  ledge  in  a  stone-quarry,  the  flat  roof  being  nearly  on  a  level  with  the 
street  grade.  Upon  this  roof  teams  arc  driven,  the  loads  of  garbage  are 
dumped  into  chutes  running  to  the  floor  below,  and  through  other 
chutes  coal  is  dropped  to  bed-rock  of  the  furnace-room,  some  ten  feet 
lower.  There  are  two  furnaces  in  the  building,  but  one  has  been  found 
amply  sufficient  thus  far  to  burn  the  supply  of  garbage  furnished  and 
without  working  up  to  its  fullest  capacity.  There  is  at  this  season  of 
the  year  little  offensive  odor  emitted  from  the  garbage  dumped.  From 
the  great  square  smokestack,  through  which  everything  passes  off  ex- 
cept the  ashes,  no  unpleasant  odor  has  been  emitted  except  when 
chicken-feathers  were  burned,  and  it  does  not  require  the  evidence  of  a 
sanitary  expert  to  prove  that  this  is  not  unhealthy.  Assistant  Health- 
Commissioner  Thompson  said  they  were  now  cremating  about  fifty 
tons,  or  yards,  per  day,  and  could  just  as  well  burn  three  times  as  much. 
"  The  works  are  perfectly  satisfactory,"  he  said,  "  and  meet  our  ex- 
pectations save  in  the  matter  of  fuel.  It  was  originally  estimated  that 
only  about  four  tons  of  soft  coal  would  be  required  per  day  to  run  the 
furnaces  to  the  limit  of  capacity.  I  am  now  convinced  that  it  will  re- 
quire from  seven  to  eight  tons  per  day.  The  amount  of  fuel  used  de- 
pends largely  on  the  quality  of  the  garbage.  If  we  are  trying  to  burn 
potatoes  and  turnips  which  have  been  spoiled  on  some  dealer's  hands, 
as  they  contain  from  eighty  to  ninety  per  cent,  of  water,  an  intense 
and  protracted  heat  is  required.  On  the  other  hand,  dead  dogs  and  cats, 
etc.,  contain  enough  carbon  to  burn  themselves  up  and  something  else 
besides,  provided  they  are  encouraged.  The  cost  will  be  less  in  summer 
than  winter,  because  the  garbage  will  be  more  inflammable.  We 
started  out  with  the  idea  of  erecting  furnaces  of  sufficient  capacity  to 
consume  all  garbage  collected  from  the  West  Side,  and  1  think  we  have 
that  capacity.  But  we  found  that  the  South  Water  Street  merchants 
were  constantly  having  large  quantities  of  decaying  vegetables  on  their 
hands,  often  offensive,  which  they  had  great  difficulty  in  disposing  of 
in  any  sanitary  way,  and  as  we  had  ample  capacity  we  determined  to 
come  to  their  relief,  and  have  done  so.  During  cold  weather  we  could 
not  get  any  considerable  portion  of  the  West  Side  garbage  to  the  furnace 
in  a  suitable  condition  for  combustion.  Garbage,  ashes,  cinders 
oyster-cans,  beer-bottles,  and  old  clothes,  were  heaped  up  and  frozen 
into  a  solid  mass,  so  that  they  could  not  be  separated.  Warmer 
weather  will  change  these  conditions,  and  when  it  shall  have  been  made 
possible  to  gather  the  refuse  of  the  entire  West  Side  to  the  crematory 
there  will  be  little  chance  for  South  Water  Street.  I  have  had  two  or 
three  complaints  about  odors  from  the  stack.  I  investigated  one  of 
them  and  found  that  the  furnaces  had  not  been  running  during  the 
days  complained  of  because  there  was  no  material  on  hand.  The  com- 
plainant was  simply  mistaken." 


AN  AUTOMATIC  *  IRE-ESCAPE.— The  prospects  for  a  new  opera-house 
at  Norwich,  Ct.,  being  encouraging,  the  Norwich  bulletin  offers  the  fol- 
lowing suggestions : 

From  the  spectator's  standpoint,  the  three  essentials  of  a  good  opera- 
house  are  ease  of  access,  a  clean,  commodious,  comfortable  and  well 
equipped  auditorium  to  sit  in  and  stage  to  look  at  when  one  has  entered 
and  the  best  facilities  for  egress.  Sometimes  the  most  admirable 
feature  of  an  opera  house,  like  the  most  pleasing  characteristic  of  some 
cities,  is  the  ample  facilities  for  getting  away.  The  recent  disastrous  fires 
in  the  theatres  in  Paris,  Exeter  and  Oporto,  not  to  mention  the  Brook- 
lyn and  other  fires  in  this  country,  have  demonstrated  the  necessity  for 
large  means  of  escape  in  cases  of  emergency.  Even  in  theatres  provided 
with  fire  escapes,  lives  are  often  lost  in  consequence  of  the  panic  in 
which  people  lose  their  senses.  This  suggests  that  there  is  a  grave  de- 
fect in  the  fire-escape  system  which  requires  any  volition  or  thought  on 
the  part  of  the  audience,  and  there  occurs  to  us  only  one  way  of  avoid- 
ing this  danger.  It  is  to  have  individual  fire-escapes,  one  for  each 
opera-chair,  which  will  work  automatically.  The  modern  type-setting 
machine  may  atford  a  helpful  hint  to  the  designers  of  the  new  opera- 
house.  The  types  are  arranged  in  compartments  at  the  top  of  the 
machine.  From  each  compartment  descends  a  little  channel,  the  chan- 
nels gradually  merging  until  they  come  to  a  focus  at  the  point  where 
the  types  are  delivered.  The  types  arc  released  by  operating  upon 
keys  like  a  type-writer,  slide  down  through  the  channels,  land  on  end 


204 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.       [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  644. 


right  side  up,  and  are  shoved  along  in  a  row  with  great  speed,  regularity 
and  precision.  Here  we  have  the  germ  of  a  new  fire-escape  system. 
The  seat  of  each  chair  should  be  made  to  swing  downward  as  well  as 
upward,  and  underneath  it  should  be  a  trap-door  opening  into  a  safety 
chute.  These  traps  may  be  sprung  singly  at  the  option  of  the  occu- 
pants by  stepping  on  electric  buttons,  such  as  are  placed  in  the  floor 
under  dining  tables,  or  may  be  operated  all  at  once  from  a  central 
point.  The  chutes  will  converg«  at  an  opening  on  the  sidewalk  at  the 
side  of  the  opera-house.  It  may  be  desirable  to  have  separate  deliv- 
eries from  the  75  and  50  cent  seats,  so  that  the  75-centers  will  be  dis- 
charged on  one  side  of  the  building,  and  the  50-centers  from  the  other. 
If  this  system  should  be  adopted,  great  care  would  have  to  be  used  to 
prevent  the  system  from  going  into  operation  when  it  was  not  needed. 
It  would  be  surprising  to  Henry  Irving  and  Ellen  Terry,  for  instance, 
if,  in  midst  of  one  of  their  most  artistic  scenes,  somebody  should  touch 
the  central  button  and  the  whole  audience  should  sink  through  the  floor 
out  of  sight.  It  would  also  somewhat  astound  an  innocent  pedestrian, 
who  happened  to  be  passing  one  of  the  delivery  exits,  to  see,  without 
the  slightest  warning,  a  stream  of  humanity  fired  out  through  a  hole  in 
the  side  of  the  building  with  a  little  more  regularity  than  corn-cobs  from 
a  sheller.  But  with  a  little  precaution,  no  trouble  of  this  sort  need 
occur.  It  must  be  evident  that  this  system  is  superior  to  all  others  in 
existence,  and  that  eventually  it  will  be  adopted  by  all  the  best  theatres 
in  the  country,  among  which,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  the  new  Norwich  Opera- 
House  will  rank. 


THE  SIOIRI  ROCK  AT  CEYLON.  —  For  the  first  time  for  a  number  of 
years  the  Sigiri  rock  in  Ceylon  has  been  scaled  by  a  European ;  the 
feat  on  this  occasion  being  performed  by  General  Lennox,  who  com- 
mands the  troops  in  the  island.  It  is  said,  indeed,  that  only  one  Euro- 
pean, Mr.  Creasy,  ever  succeeded  in  reaching  the  summit.  The  rock  is 
cylindrical  in  shape,  and  the  bulging  sides  render  the  ascent  very  dif- 
ficult and  dangerous.  There  are  galleries  all  round,  a  groove  about 
four  inches  deep  being  cut  in  the  solid  rock.  This  rises  spirally,  and  in 
it  are  fixed  the  foundation  bricks,  which  support  a  platform  about  six 
feet  broad,  with  a  chunam- coated  wall  about  nine  feet  high.  The  whole 
structure  follows  the  curves  and  contours  of  the  solid  rock,  and  is  cun- 
ningly constructed  so  as  to  make  the  most  of  any  natural  support  the 
formation  can  afford.  In  some  places  the  gallery  has  fallen  completely 
away,  but  it  still  exhibits  flights  of  the  fine  marble  steps.  High  up  on 
the  rock  are  several  figures  of  Buddha ;  but  it  is  a  mystery  how  the 
artist  got  there,  or  how,  being  there,  he  was  able  to  carry  on  his  work. 
The  fortifications  consist  of  platforms,  one  above  the  other,  supported 
by  massive  retaining  walls  each  commanding  the  other.  Owing  to  the 
falling  away  of  the  gallery,  the  ascent  in  parts  had  to  be  made  up  a 
perpendicular  face  of  the  cliff,  and  General  Lennox  and  four  natives 
were  left  to  do  the  latter  part  of  the  ascent  alone.  The  top  they  found 
to  be  a  plateau  about  an  acre  in  extent,  in  which  were  two  square  tanks, 
with  sides  thirty  yards  and  fifteen  feet  respectively  in  length,  cut  out 
of  the  solid  rock.  A  palace  is  believed  to  have  existed  on  the  summit 
at  one  time ;  although  time,  weather  and  the  jungle,  have  obliterated 
all  traces  of  it.  During  the  descent  the  first  comer  had  to  guide  the 
foot  of  the  next  into  a  safe  fissure :  but  all  reached  the  bottom  safely 
in  about  two  and  a  half  hours. —  St.  James' t  Gazette. 


THE  Am  OF  EDINBURGH  THEATRES.  —  An  interesting  account  has 
been  given  by  Mr.  Cosmo  J.  Burton  of  the  amount  of  carbonic  acid  and 
organic  matter  in  the  Theatre  Royal  and  Royal  Lyceum  Theatre  of  Edin- 
burgh. At  the  time  of  the  experiments  the  theatres  were  by  no  means 
full:  nevertheless,  the  temperature  was  from  ten  to  fifteen  degrees 
above  that  recorded  immediately  before  the  houses  were  opened,  while 
carbonic  acid  was  multiplied  from  three  to  five  times.  Mr.  Burton  re- 
marks that  the  vitiation  of  the  air  proceeds  with  extraordinary  rapidity 
at  first  but  the  rate  of  change  soon  decreases,  till  towards  the  end  of 
the  performance  the  air  becomes  little  or  no  worse,  and,  indeed,  in  a 
few  instances  it  appeared  to  slightly  improve.  The  atmosphere  of  all 
parts  of  the  theatre  was  not  equally  vitiated ;  the  air  of  the  gallery  was 
considerably  worse  than  that  of  any  other  part  of  the  house;  the 
amphitheatre,  dress-circle,  and  pit  did  not  come  in  the  same  order  as  to 
degree  of  impurity  in  the  experiments,  but  the  pit  was  always  worse 
than  the  dress-circle.  The  late  Dr.  Parkes  stated  that  headache  and 
vertigo  are  produced  when  the  amount  of  carbonic  acid  in  the  air  of 
respiration  is  not  more  than  from  fifteen  to  thirty  volumes  per  10,000, 
and  our  experience  of  some  theatres  leads  us  to  suspect  that  Mr.  Bur- 
ton's results  are  not  special  to  Edinburgh.  The  facts  as  to  all  theatres 
ought  to  be  known ;  for  the  public  had  much  better  lose  an  evening's 
enjoyment  than  submit  to  the  enforced  inhalation  of  a  polluted  atmos- 
phere for  a  number  of  hours. —  The  Lancet. 


THE    MONUMENT  TO  MOZART  AT  VIENNA.  —  "Readers  may 
noticed  in  recent  news  from  Vienna,"  says  the  London  Musical  If 


have 
'World, 

"  that  the  prize  model  for  the  Mozart  monument  to  be  erected  in  that 
city  has,  after  further  consideration,  been  rejected ;  one,  and  not  the 
least  important,  reason  being  that  Vienna  has  already  two  sitting  musi- 
cal heroes  in  Beethoven  and  Schubert.  A  fresh  competition  has  there- 
fore been  decided  upon,  leaving  the  committee  pro  tern,  without  a 
model,  without  a  suitable  spot  (to  be  chosen  anew  to  suit  the  new  de- 
sign), minus  about  £480  paid  for  three  rejected  prize  models,  and  only 
about  .£4,000  cash  in  hand,  and  with  the  realization  of  the  scheme  rele- 
gated to  a  somewhat  more  distant  future.  This  is  much  to  be  regretted, 
especially  41$  the  Viennese,  with  all  their  genuine  admiration  and  love 
for  the  great  Salzburg  composer,  have  an  omission  to  repair.  For  not 
only  is  Mozart's  grave  unknown,  but  the  numerous  houses  where  he 
lived  and  wrote  uome  of  his  greatest  works  remain,  with  the  two  except- 
ions to  be  mentioned  later  on,  unprovided  with  any  memorial  tablets, 
or  other  tokens  to  indicate  the  fact.  It  is  true  that  the  use  of  such 
tablets  on  private  houses  is  of  comparatively  recent  origin,  but  of  late 
this  praiseworthy  custom  has  become  pretty  general  in  most  European 
countries,  more  particularly  in  Italy,  where  not  only  native,  but  also 
foreign  genius  is  honored  in  this  way.  Thus,  for  instance,  in  the  Corso 


at  Rome,  the  inscription  may  be  seen,  '  Here  lived  Wolfgang  Goethe, 
and  wrote  immortal  works.'  " 

VAN  BEERS  AND  His  ALLEGED  WORKS.  — Jan  Van  Beers,  a  Belgian 
painter  in  Paris,  has  got  himself  into  trouble  by  a  misplaced  regard  for 
his  reputation.  He  brought  action  against  an  Ostend  dealer  for  having 
on  sale  pictures  signed  by  his  name  which  he  declared  he  did  not  paint. 
It  came  out  on  trial  that  he  habitually  put  his  signature  on  copies  of 
his  pictures  made  by  pupils,  and  also  touched  up  their  originals  and 
signed  them  ;  and  even  that  an  association  had  been  formed  in  Paris  to 
manufacture  his  pictures.  He  himself  was  obliged  to  admit  these  facts, 
while  he  insisted  that  the  four  pictures  of  the  Ostend  dealer  were  not 
from  the  factory,  but  were  real  counterfeits,  so  to  speak.  The  public 
prosecutor,  however,  dropped  the  suit,  and  all  Van  Beers  gets  by  his 
motion  is  a  world-wide  extension  of  his  fame,  with  a  flaw  in  it.  The 
morality  that  was  good  enough  for  Rubens  won't  do  in  this  age.  A 
good  many  works  supposed  to  be  by  Van  Beers  are  owned  in  this  coun- 
try, by  the  way.  —  Springfield  Republican. 


COMMERCIAL  and  manufacturing  interests  are  endeavoring  to  explain 
the  causes  and  measure  the  extent  of  the  present  depression  iu  prices,  with 
a  view  of  forecasting  business  probabilities  for  the  last  half  of  the  year. 
The  moment  the  most  careful  writer  steps  beyond  a  connected  statement  of 
all  the  facts  bearing  on  the  situation,  so  soon  does  he  step  into  marshy 
ground.  When  all  the  facts  are  hammered  with  a  pestle,  the  resultant  pro- 
duct is  a  strong  probability  that  trade  and  manufacturing  conditions 
instead  of  getting  worse  will  get  better.  In  arriving  at  this  conclusion,  it  is 
necessary  to  leave  out  of  account  the  artificial  depression  in  stocks, 
although  just  at  present  there  is  a  greater  demand  for  than  supply  of  first- 
class  railway  securities,  aud  a  still  better  demand  is  predicated  on  the  fact,  if 
it  is  a  fact,  that  the  future  heavy  bond-purchases  by  our  Government,  and 
the  decreasing  of  the  rate  of  interest  in  Great  Britain,  will  increase  the 
volume  of  employment-seeking  capital  and  thus  boom  stocks.  The  theory 
is  fine,  but  stock  predictions  too  frequently  turn  out  wrong.  The  more 
fruitful  field  for  intelligent  opinion  aud  better  comprehension  of  trade 
tendencies  is  to  be  found  in  the  interior  among  manufacturing,  railroad- 
building,  and  other  great  but  secondary  interests.  The  patent  facts  to-day 
are  these:  Enterprise  is  more  circumspect  in  the  West,  more  feverish  iu  the 
South,  values  are  declining  and  the  supply  of  products  is  nearly  equal  to 
demand,  as  to  producing  capacity.  Production  is  restricted  very  widely. 
This  is  notably  the  case  in  the  iron  trade.  Railroad  equipment  concerns, 
from  locomotive-makers  down,  are  all  busy.  Lumber  manufacturers  are 
crowding  ahead  East,  West  and  South,  as  though  the  markets  were  bare 
of  stocks.  Coal  production  is  gaining  on  last  year  notwithstanding  the  sup- 
position of  lessened  industrial  activity.  Furniture  manufacturers  have  doue 
fully  as  much  work  this  year  as  last.  The  carriage  and  wagon-makers  pre- 
dict as  much  business.  Builders  are  undecided.  In  New  York,  a  rather 
general  falling-off  of  work  is  complained  of.  Iu  Philadelphia,  architects  say 
they  started  out  with  considerable  work,  but  new  work  is  slow.  In  Chi- 
cago, this  year's  plans  have  been  interfered  with  by  a  number  of  influences. 
In  the  Northwest  a  great  deal  of  building  will  be  done,  as  much  as  last  year, 
probably,  aud  throughout  the  prairie  States.  Accoidiug  to  advices  from  Chi- 
cago lumber,  iron,  glass  and  other  interests,  there  will  be  more  building 
done  in  city,  town  and  country.  Even  the  rail-makers  are  not  willing  to 
admit  that  the  conclusions  reached  by  one  or  two  guessers,  that  only  8,000 
miles  of  road  will  be  built  this  year,  are  correct.  They  say  the  emergencies 
have  not  arisen  which  are  to  determine  the  course  nf  builders.  This  is  cor- 
rect. There  are  schemes  on  foot  at  this  time  among  American  and  foreign 
financiers,  which,  if  successful,  will  most  probably  result  in  the  immediate 
prosecution  of  three  or  four  important  railroad-building  enterprises  in  the 
West  and  Southwest,  as  well  as  in  the  South.  From  this  summary  of  ascer- 
tained fact  the  influence  is  fairly  deducible  that  a  healthier  industrial 
activity  is  probable  during  the  last'hnlf  of  the  year,  leaving  out  of  account 
stock  speculations  and  surprises.  The  American  notion  is  that  unless 
manufacturers  have  from  three  to  six  months'  work  booked  ahead  at  high 
prices,  that  the  country  is  on  the  road  to  destruction.  The  downward 
tendency  iu  prices  will  continue  in  spite  of  all  manner  of  trade  combina- 
tion. Even  the  copper-trust,  which  has  carried  away  this  year  forty 
million  pounds  of  rettued  and  crude  copper  in  order  to  enhance  values,  has 
ditticulties  to  encounter  that  jeopardizes  its  ultimate  success  in  cornering 
the  world's  supply.  Theiace  which  capital  and  enterprise  and  productive 
capacity  are  each  and  all  running,  must  be  productive  of  good  results  when 
they  have  fully  formulated  themselves.  The  industries  will  soon  be  freed 
from  threatened  tariff  reductions,  but  the  results  of  the  coming  campaign 
will  warn  manufacturing  interests  to  put  their  shops  in  readiness  for  a  gen- 
eral and  moderate  reduction  of  duties.  The  disbursements  of  capital  at 
home  and  abroad,  the  possibilities  of  foreisn  war,  the  extremely  low 
prices  of  raw  resources  throughout  the  United  States  all  point  to  the  greater 
activity  in  American  finauci.il  circles,  and  the  bteady  employment  of  labor 
in  the  newer  States.  The  country  will  surprise  itself  in  its  ability  to  endure 
without  the  support  of  all  of  the  four  thousand  little  tariff  props  on  which  it 
has  rested  for  so  many  years.  Much  of  the  caution  displayed  by  loug- 
headed  enterprise,  and  what  we  mistake  fur  fear,  is  due  to  the  underlying 
conviction  that  a  rearrangement  of  our  fiscal  affairs  is  an  early  probability. 
The  bugbear  of  labor  strikes  is  disappearing.  The  evils  that  trade  com- 
binations seemed  to  threaten  a  few  months  a>;o  are  not  so  g.eat  as  depicted. 
The  ability  of  the  country  to  shut  down  brakes  has  been  demonstrated.  The 
dangerous  real-estate  speculation  in  the  West  has  been  checked.  The 
borrowing  West  will  continue  to-  borrow,  but  will  not  get  bevoud  its  paying 
ability.  A  multitude  of  new  interior  markets  are  spiingiuj;  up,  aud 
builders  aud  architects,  especially  in  the  West,  see  grand  opportunities  in 
the  near  future  for  building  enterprise.  This  diversification  of  the  indus- 
tries is  the  secret  of  the  great  activity  of  the  next  few  years.  The  man- 
agers in  many  of  our  great  industries  give  utterances  to  convictions  of  the 
certainty  of  great  building  activity  in  the  near  future.  The  steadiness  of 
wages,  the  greater  assurance  of  constant  work  and  the  growth  of  desire  to 
be  somebody,  are  all  contributing  to  make  the  laborer  a  worker  for  a  home, 
and  this  tendency  is  being  stimulated  by  the  wonderfully  rapid  growth  of 
building  and  loan  associations,  aud  by  the  liberal  policy  of  money-lending 
agencies  throughout  the  newer  sections  of  the  country. 

S.  J.  PARKHILL  &  Co.,  Printers,  Boston. 


Tlje  Tlnjericaii  '/Ircljitect  aijd  iJuildirjg  I^ews,  ^pril  25,  1555. 


IJo.  644. 


Copyright,  iS8S,  byTiCKNOR  &  Co. 


MELrOTVPt    PRINTING   CO.   BOSTON. 


EMANUEL    BAPTIST   CHURCH,   BROOKLYN,  N.  Y. 

FRANCIS    H.  KIMBALL,  Architect. 


THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  AND  BUILDING  NEWS. 


VOL.  XXIII. 


Copyright,  1888,  by  TICKNOB  &  COMPANY,  Boston,  Man. 


No.  645. 


MAY     5.    1888. 
Entered  at  the  Poet-Offlce  at  Boston  u  second-claw  matter. 


SUMMARY : — 

The  Question  of  the  New  York  Criminal  Courts  Building  and 
Hall  of  Records.  —  Holy  Trinity  Church  us.  the-  Imported 
Contract  Labor  Law.  —  How  a  New  England  Town  secures 
Sewerage.  —  The  Late  W.  E.  Nesfield,  Architect.  —  The 
Episcopal  Cathedral,  New  York.  —  Responsibility  of  Con- 
tractors: an  English  Case.  —  An  Englishman's  Idea  of  what 

a  Poor  Man's  Cottage  should  be 205 

SAFE  BUILDING.  — XXV 207 

ILLUSTRATIONS : — 

House  of  J.  C.  Abbott,  Esq.,  Montreal,  Canada. — 
Sketch  for  an  Artist's  Country  House.  — House  for  Henry 
Endicott,  Esq.,  Cambridge,  Mass.  —  Design  for  Congrega- 
tional Church,  Elizabethtown,  N.  Y.  —  Church  at  Dublin, 
N.  H.  — Building  for  the  Pioneer  Press,  St.  Paul,  Minn. — 
Plans  for  Apartment-houses.  —  Study  for  a  Store-building, 

St.  Paul,  Minn 210 

UNITED  STATES  GOVERNMENT  BUILDINO  PRACTICE.  —  X.      ...  210 

GENERAL  Q.  A.  GILLMORE 212 

STREET  WATERING  WITH  SEA-WATEB 213 

ESTIMATES 214 

CAROLINA  CLAY-EATERS 214 

A  CELEBRATED  ART   MANUFACTURER 216 

•COMMUNICATIONS  :  — 

The  American  Public  Health  Association. — The  Cost  of 
Small  Houses  in  Paris. — Mr.  Tarver's  Theatre  Plans. — 

Building-Movers 216 

NOTES  AND  CLIPPINGS 216 

TRADE  SURVEYS 216 


1IFIIE  important  competition  for  the  criminal  court-building 
J_£  and  record-hall  in  New  York  has  had  a  singular  result.  It 
will  be  remembered  that  the  local  bodies  of  architects 
almost  unanimously  condemned  the  terms  of  competition,  but  a 
considerable  number  of  drawings  was  received,  which  are,  we 
believe,  still  under  consideration  by  the  judges.  Meanwhile, 
however,  a  bill  was  introduced  in  the  New  York  State  Legisla- 
ture, which  has  just  been  unanimously  passed,  absolutely  for- 
bidding the  erection  of  either  of  the  proposed  buildings  in  the 
place  assigned  by  the  terms  of  competition,  so  that  the  costly 
contest  will,  apparently,  have  no  practical  result.  It  is  only 
fair  to  the  New  York  municipal  authorities  to  say  that  they 
seem  to  have  intended  to  make  their  terms  of  competition 
acceptable  to  architects,  so  far  as  they  could  without  com- 
mitting themselves  to  the  actual  erection  of  the  buildings,  about 
which  they  probably  felt  an  uncertainty;  but  now  that  the 
Legislature  has  converted  the  uncertainty  into  a  positive  pro- 
hibition, it  will  occur  to  a  good  many  people  that  the  whole 
affair  would  have  presented  a  better  appearance  if  the  matter 
of  the  site  had  been  settled  before  any  further  steps  were 
taken,  so  that  architects  might  have  been  invited  to  compete 
by  the  only  inducement  which  will  tempt  the  better  class  of 
them,  the  definite  promise  of  the  execution  of  his  design,  at  the 
usual  remuneration,  to  the  author  of  the  best  plan.  The  next 
thing  for  the  city  to  do  would  seem  to  be  the  selection  of  a  new 
site,  more  acceptable  to  the  Legislature,  for  the  buildings, 
which  have  become  very  necessary  to  the  municipal  business. 
As  the  legislative  bill  forbids  their  erection  on  any  part  of  the 
City-hal!  Park,  and  as  it  is  desirable  that  they  should  be  in 
the  neighborhood  of  the  present  City-hall  and  Court-house, 
the  requirements  can  hardly  be  fulfilled  without  condemning 
private  land  in  the  vicinity,  and  clearing  it.  As  all  the  land 
near  is  covered  with  very  costly  buildings,  the  expense  of  a 
suitable  site  will  be  enormous.  The  Mail  and  Express  sug- 
gests that  the  estates  on  the  west  side  of  Broadway,  between 
Warren  Street  and  Park  Place,  should  be  taken,  leaving  com- 
munication between  Murray  Street  and  Broadway  by  a  large 
arch,  and  on  the  whole,  although  rather  startling,  this  seems  to 
us  about  as  judicious  a  plan  as  is  likely  to  be  proposed. 
Although  the  Broadway  land  is  probably  more  valuable  than 
that  on  the  other  sides  of  the  City-hall  Park,  the  buildings  on 
the  portion  to  be  taken  are  not  so  costly  as  the  enormous  office- 


buildings  on  the  other  sides  of  the  Park,  while  the  convenience 
and  magnificence  of  the  Broadway  site  are  worth  a  consider- 
able additional  cost.  With  the  arch,  forming  the  terminus  of 
Murray  Street,  somewhere  in  the  middle  of  a  facade  five  or  six 
hundred  feet  in  length,  an  effect  would  be  obtained  which 
would  be  conspicuous  for  a  long  distance  in  three  directions, 
and  would  represent,  as  nothing  in  New  York,  except  the  Cen- 
tral Park,  now  does,  the  greatness  of  the  first  of  American 
cities.  If  we  had  our  way,  perhaps,  we  should  clear  the  whole 
end  of  the  island,  south  of  Rector  Street,  and  build  a  splendid 
group  of  municipal  buildings,  which  should  not  only  form  a 
worthy  termination  to  all  the  railway  lines,  but  should  present 
to  persons  arriving  by  sea  the  most  splendid  architectural  scene 
in  the  world ;  but  as  there  is  no  probability  that  a  building  on 
which  so  many  millions  were  lavished  as  the  County  Court- 
house would  ever  be  moved  or  abandoned,  no  doubt  the  Mail 
and  Express'*  scheme  is  the  best  suited  to  the  circumstances. 


case  of  Holy  Trinity  Church  in  New  York,  which  has 
been  arraigned  for  violation  of  the  Foreign  Contract  Labor 
law  in  calling  an  English  rector  to  the  parish,  is  now  on 
trial  in  New  York.  Of  course,  the  question  to  be  tried  is 
simply  whether  the  law  applies  to  the  hiring  of  clergymen,  as 
well  as  of  spinners  and  foundry-men,  and  the  opinion  of  the 
judges  will  be  of  considerable  interest,  particularly  as  a  some- 
what similar  case  was  recently  tried  in  California,  where  a 
Chinese  professor,  who  had  been  appointed,  was  held  not  to  be 
liable  to  the  operation  of  the  law,  which,  it  was  there  said,  was 
obviously  intended  to  apply  only  to  manual  laborers.  We 
imagine  that  the  New  York  courts  are  rather  slower  than  most 
others  to  discover  "  obvious  intent "  in  statutes  which  cannot 
be  interpreted  by  the  aid  of  the  dictionary ;  and  as  the  law  ex- 
pressly exempts  from  its  operation  "  professional  artists, 
actors,  lecturers  and  singers,"  the  presumption  is  that  it  in- 
tended to  exempt  no  other  persons ;  and  clergymen  being 
neither  artists,  actors,  lecturers  nor  singers,  the  unavoidable  in- 
ference is  that  they  are  not  exempt  from  its  operation,  as  it  now 
stands,  however  disposed  counsel  or  judges  may  be  to  correct 
and  amend  it  on  their  own  account,  by  supplying  such  "  obvious 
intents "  as  may  suit  their  varying  ideas  of  expediency.  In 
point  of  fact,  as  the  United  States  District  Attorney  in  the  case 
well  remarked,  the  law,  as  passed,  was  a  crude  and  con- 
temptible electioneering  device,  put  forth  with  the  idea  of 
catching  the  votes  of  labor  agitators,  and  enacted  by  the  votes  of 
Congressmen  who,  apparently,  never  read  anything  of  it  beyond 
the  title.  For  all  that,  however,  it  is  the  law  of  the  United 
States  to-day,  and  if  we  choose  to  elect  Congressmen  who  pass 
laws  of  that  sort,  the  best  thing  that  the  courts  can  do  for  us  is 
to  see  that  they  are  literally  and  strictly  enforced. 


WE  commend  to  the  citizens  of  the  many  towns,  particu- 
larly in  the  Eastern  States,  which  refuse  year  after  year, 
to  take  the  simplest  measures  for  preventing  pollution  of 
the  soil  by  increasing  population,  or  to  pay  the  slightest  atten- 
tion to  any  other  measures  of  hygiene,  the  example  of  some 
inhabitants  of  Winthrop,  Mass.,  who,  having  petitioned  and 
agitated  for  years  in  vain  for  the  adoption  of  some  system  of 
sewerage  in  the  most  thickly  settled  portion  of  the  place,  have 
now  caused  a  bill  to  be  introduced  in  the  Massachusetts  Legis- 
lature, under  which  the  sluggish  municipality  is  to  be  required 
to  furnish  within  twelve  months  the  sewerage  asked  for,  with 
the  alternative,  if  the  order  is  not  complied  with,  of  having  the 
work  done  under  direction  of  the  State  Board  of  Health,  at  the 
expense  of  the  town.  There  is  said  to  be  no  doubt  that  the 
bill  will  pass  the  Legislature,  and  Winthrop  will  have  to  make 
itself  partly  clean,  whether  it  wishes  to  do  so  or  not.  It  is 
much  to  be  hoped  that  the  example  will  be  followed  by  the 
residents  of  many  other  small  New  England  cities.  Curiously 
enough,  the  inhabitants  of  these  communities,  though  very 
heavily  taxed,  get  less  for  their  money  in  the  way  of  decency 
than  any  others  in  the  United  States.  It  has  long  been  the 
fashion  in  New  England  to  satirize  the  neglected,  shabbv  look 
of  Southern  towns  ;  yet  there  are  few  Southern  towns  which  do 
not  show  more  solicitude  for  public  health,  and  more  efficiency 
in  providing  for  it,  than  some  New  England  cities  of  twice  the 
population,  and  five  times  the  wealth. 


49 


20B 


The  Amencan  Architect  and  Building  Aews.     [VOL.  XX1I1.  — No.  645. 


MONG  the  best  trained  and  most  artistic  English  archi- 
tects,  no  one  will  be  more  seriously  missed  and  more 
deeply  regretted,  than  Mr.  W.  Eden  Nesfield,  who  died  a 
few  weeks  ago,  at  the  age  of  fifty-three.  Most  of  us  are 
familiar  with  Mr.  Nesneld's  beautiful  book  of  sketches  from 
the  Continent,  which  was  published  some  fifteen  years  ago,  at 
the  same  time  with  a  similar  book  by  his  intimate  friend  and 
associate,  Mr.  Norman  Shaw.  Of  the  two  books,  perhaps  Mr. 
Nestield's  was  a  little  the  more  beautiful,  but  the  talent  of  the 
authors  ran  in  directions  very  similar,  and  their  work,  on  com- 
mencing practice,  showed  very  much  the  same  common  sym- 
pathy. Like  the  late  William  Burges,  however,  Mr.  Nesfield 
possessed  an  independent  fortune,  and,  not  being  obliged  to 
exercise  his  gifts  for  a  livelihood,  and  being  also  very  averse  to 
professional  notoriety,  or  "advertising,"  as  he  called  it,  his 
buildings  are  not  very  numerous,  and  are  little  known.  Of 
late  years,  says  the  Builder,  he  had  practically  retired 
altogether  from  professional  work,  and  had  devoted  himself  to 
painting,  which  he  considered  the  means  of  artistic  expression 
most  suited  to  him.  Most  people  will  think  that  the  great 
capacity  for  artistic  expression  in  stone  and  timber  which  he 
possessed  was  too  rare  a  gift  to  be  abandoned,  but  it  is  hardly 
to  be  wondered  at  that  a  man  of  sensitive  disposition,  with  the 
means  of  pleasing  himself  in  the  matter,  should  be  glad  to  give 
up  the  annoyances  and  anxieties  of  architectural  practice  for 
quiet  work  at  his  easel.  In  private  life  Mr.  Nesfield  was 
always  kind  and  helpful  to  his  brother  architects,  and  his  name 
will  be  long  cherished  in  the  profession  in  England. 

HE  project  for  a  great  Episcopal  Cathedral  in  New  York 
is  developing  rapidly.  The  splendid  site  on  Morningside 
Park  has  been  secured,  and  arrangements  have  been  made 
for  obtaining  preliminary  designs.  According  to  the  New 
York  Times,  an  "architectural  expert"  has  been  in  correspond- 
ense  with  "  architects  of  renown  "  in  all  parts  of  the  civilized 
world  in  regard  to  plans,  while  the  Trustees,  according  to  the 
same  journal,  find  themselves  embarrassed  by  the  consideration 
that  "in  the  Middle  Ages  men  of  genius  devoted  their  entire 
lives  to  the  building  of  the  great  cathedrals,"  receiving  for  the 
sacrifice  "a  moderate  compensation,  if  any,"  and  that  at  the 
present  time  the  men  of  genius  are  busy  building  "railways, 
bridges,  bank  buildings  and  life-insurance  buildings,"  that  pay 
them  much  better  than  the  Cathedral  Trustees  can  afford  to. 
The  Tribune  reporter  seems  to  have  found  a  Trustee  in  a  more 
cheerful  mood,  for  his  account  makes  no  mention  of  the  very 
unfounded  notion  that  the  mediaeval  architects  devoted  their 
lives  to  one  building,  or  that  they  were  poorly  paid  for  their 
work,  and  says  that  within  a  week  or  so  invitations  will  be  sent 
out  to  the  leading  American  architects  for  sketches,  two  of 
which  are  to  be  selected  "as  a  basis  to  work  on."  Just  what  this 
means  we  cannot  imagine,  but  suppose  that  the  circular,  when 
it  appears,  will  throw  some  light  on  the  subject.  Another  in- 
teresting piece  of  news  is  that  Trinity  School  is  to  purchase  a 
portion  of  the  Cathedral  plot,  and  erect  its  buildings  in  connec- 
tion with  those  of  the  Cathedral.  If,  as  we  hope  will  be  the 
case,  the  school  buildings  are  to  be  joined  in  the  same  design 
with  the  Cathedral,  a  very  effective  group  might  easily  be 
made.  As  the  school  has  a  large  endowment,  this  portion  of 
the  structure  can  be  built  as  soon  as  the  ground  is  clear.  The 
Cathedral,  however,  is  likely  to  be  a  longer  affair,  and  it  is  pro- 
posed to  build  the  choir  first,  consecrate  and  use  it,  adding  the 
rest  later,  as  has  been  done  at  St.  Thomas's,  in  New  York,  and 
several  other  parish  churches,  to  say  nothing  of  such  examples 
as  the  Cathedrals  of  Cologne  and  Beauvais. 


liable  for  the  result  of  it ;  that  if  any  one  could  be  held  liable, 
it  was  the  owner  of  the  building  they  had  constructed  and  not 
themselves,  and  finally,  that  the  work  had  been  carried  out 
with  the  utmost  care,  and  that,  as  the  cracking  was  unavoidable 
under  any  circumstances,  there  had  been  no  negligence  involv- 
ing anybody's  responsibility.  The  defendants  did  not  call  any 
witnesses  to  prove  their  assertion  that  the  cracking  of  the  wall- 
was  the  necessary  consequence  of  underpinning  it,  and  his 
lordship,  the  judge,  remarked  that  if  all  the  builders  in  London 
had  come  and  said  so  he  should  not  believe  them.  In  his 
opinion  there  had  been  very  considerable  negligence.  He  was 
sure  that  the  settlement  was  not  the  inevitable  result  of  the 
work  done,  because  he  had  himself  seen  a  wall  underpinned 
without  producing  any  cracks,  so  that  the  damage  not  being  the 
necessary  consequence  of  work  done  according  to  the  statute, 
the  defendants  could  not  use  that  for  avoiding  their  responsi- 
bility, and  for  much  the  same  reason,  the  burden  could  not  be 
shifted  on  the  shoulders  of  their  employer.  No  one  remained 
to  bear  it  except  the  builders,  and  the  judge  condemned  them  to 
pay  the  assessed  damage  to  the  wall,  about  two  hundred  dol- 
lars, with  two  hundred  and  fifty  more  as  consolation  to  the 
owner  of  the  injured  house,  and  the  costs  of  the  suit. 


tTT  CASE  was  recently  tried  in  England  involving  the  respon- 
r\  sibility  of  contractors,  which  we  find  reported  in  the 
Builder.  The  Messrs.  Peto  Brothers,  very  eminent 
builders  in  London,  had  a  contract  for  the  erection  of  a  hotel 
in  Covent  Garden.  In  carrying  out  their  contract,  they  were 
obliged  to  excavate  about  nine  feet  below  the  foundation  of  the 
wall,  between  the  hotel  and  the  adjoining  house  and  underpin 
the  wall.  In  doing  so,  the  wall  was  cracked  from  top  to  bot- 
tom. The  owner  of  the  adjoining  estate  sued  the  Messrs.  Peto 
for  damage  to  his  wall.  The  contractors  resisted  on  the  ground 
that  the  work  which  they  had  done  was  carried  out  under  the 
provisions  of  the  Metropolitan  act,  and  that  the  settlement  and 
cracking  of  the  superstructure  was  an  inevitable  consequence 
of  the  underpinning,  and  they  argued  that  the  work  having 
been  done  in  accordance  with  the  statute,  no  one  could  be  held 


JIFHE  Sanitary  News  contains  an  interesting  article  on  cot- 
A*  tage  construction  by  Mr.  J.  Corbett,  the  author  of  a  prize- 
essay  on  the  best  means  of  providing  dwellings  for  the 
poorer  classes  of  Central  London.  According  to  Mr.  Corbett, 
the  best  models  for  English  cottages  are  to  be  found,  like  those 
for  more  ambitious  dwellings,  among  the  structures  of  a  past 
generation,  perhaps  of  the  Elizabethan  age.  In  his  perfect 
cottage  there  should  be  no  shabby  imitation  of  a  superior  archi- 
tecture, no  fragile  iron  or  slender  woodwork,  no  weak  and  dis- 
eased plastering,  creaking  and  shaky  floors,  or  concealed  hollow 
spaces  for  the  accommodation  of  dust  and  vermin.  He  would 
have  his  little  house  plain  and  simple,  but  substantial  in  every 
detail,  dry,  sunny  and  clean.  To  secure  this  the  walls  should 
be  faced  with  hard-burned  bricks,  not  disposed  to  absorb  water, 
or,  if  these  cannot  be  obtained,  the  outside  should  be  treated 
with  two  coats  of  boiled  linseed  oil,  laid  on  hot  at  a  season  when 
the  walls  are  dry,  or  washed  with  two  coats  of  thin  Portland 
cement,  tinted,  if  desired,  to  any  required  shade.  As  an  addi- 
tional protection  against  dampness,  the  inside  should  be  plas- 
tered directly  on  the  brickwork  with  cement  instead  of  lime- 
mortar,  and  the  roof  should  overhang  the  walls  at  least  one- 
twentieth  of  the  height  of  the  walls.  This  amount  of  projection, 
according  to  Mr.  Corbett,  will  keep  about  nine-tenths  of  the 
rainfall  from  reaching  the  walls.  For  floors  in  rooms  so  small 
as  those  of  cottages,  where  the  span  seldom  exceeds  twelve  feet, 
he  would  use  solid  planks,  three  or  four  inches  thick,  tongued 
and  grooved  or  splined  together  and  bolted  through.  The  ends 
of  the  planks  would  rest  on  projecting  courses  of  brick  arranged 
for  the  purpose,  and  the  crevices  between  them  and  the  walls 
should  be  filled  up  with  cement.  In  Mr.  Corbett's  opinion, 
such  floors  would  be  more  sound-proof  than  the  ordinary  hol- 
low flooring.  We  may  be  permitted  to  doubt  this,  but  they 
would  certainly  be  very  substantial  and  durable  and,  in  conse- 
quence, architecturally  satisfactory.  In  the  vicinity  of  large 
manufactories  he  would  provide  for  supplying  a  limited  amount 
of  steam  to  each  cottage,  introducing  it  between  the  double 
walls  of  an  oven  in  such  a  way  that  in  cold  weather  the  radia- 
tion from  the  oven  would  warm  the  room  in  which  it  stood, 
while  the  interior  of  the  oven  could  be  utilized  at  any  moment 
for  warming  a  breakfast,  cooking  a  dinner,  heating  water  for 
bathing,  or  disinfecting  clothing.  This  seems  to  us  an  excel- 
lent suggestion.  One  of  the  most  sensible  men  we  ever  knew 
once  remarked  to  us  that  intemperance  among  the  poor  was 
chiefly  due  to  dyspepsia.  They  had  to  live  on  cold,  indigesti- 
ble food,  which  kept  their  stomachs  disordered,  and,  through 
the  well-known  sympathy  between  the  stomach  and  the  brain, 
the  pangs  of  imperfect  nutrition  engendered  a  melancholy  and 
uneasiness  which  craved  alcohol  for  temporary  relief.  There 
is  certainly  a  good  deal  of  reason  in  this,  and  an  arrangement 
so  simple  as  that  described  by  Mr.  Corbett,  which  might  be 
provided  for  an  entire  factory  village  at  small  expense,  would 
secure  warm,  well-cooked  breakfasts  and  suppers  for  the  men, 
of  the  little  households,  which  would  send  them  off  to  their 
work  in  the  morning  in  a  comfortable  frame  of  mind  and  body, 
and  would  attract  them  home  at  night,  without  overtaxing  the 
strength  of  the  mothers,  already  tired,  perhaps,  by  the  care  of 
a  nursing  babv  and  two  or  three  other  children. 


50 


MAY  5,  1888.] 


TJie    American   Architect   and  Building   News. 


207 


SAFE  BUILDING.  —  XXV.1 


~l5b~ 


5oolbspgi- fr.- 125QO  Iba. 


_  .. 
300 


Fig.   148. 

Explanation  of  TABLE  XIX  gives  all  the  necessary  data  in  regard 
ttfxxm*"  to  t*16  different  shapes  of  wrought-iron  and  steel 
I-beams,  and  Tables  XX,  XXI,  XXII,  and  XXIII  of  channels, 
angles,  tees,  etc.,  which  are  rolled.  The  sections  selected  are 
those  of  the  New  Jersey  Steel  and  Iron  Company.  The  sections 
of  the  other  companies  are  essentially  the  same.  The  strengths  of 
some  of  the  I-beams  and  channels  of  this  Company,  however, 
are  a  trifle  stronger  and  stiffer  than  those  of  some  of  the  other 
companies,  as  they  are  a  fraction  of  an  inch  deeper,  though  of  the 
l-sections  not  same  weight  and  area  of  cross-section.  It  should  be 
economical,  remarked  that  except  in  the  case  of  the  simplest 
kind  of  beam  work,  it  is  cheaper  to  frame  up  plate  girders,  or  trusses 
of  angles,  tees,  etc.,  as  there  is  a  strong  pool  in  the  rolling  of  I-beams 
and  channel  sections,  which  keeps  the  price  of  these  two  sec- 
tions unreasonably  high,  in  proportion  to  other  rolled  sections.  Steel 
beams  and  sections  are  sold  as  cheap  as  iron,  (they  are  really 
cheaper  to  manufacture),  and  where  their  uniformity  can  be  relied 
on,  should  be  used  in  preference,  as  they  are  much  stronger  and  also 
a  trifle  stiffer. 


One  example  of  an  iron  beam  will  make  the  application  of  the 
Tables  to  transverse  strains  clear,  and  help  to  review  the  subject,  be- 
fore taking  up  the  graphical  method  of  calculating  transverse  strains. 

Example. 

Use  of  Table  A.  wrought-iron  I-beam  of  25-foot  clear  span,  car- 

XIX.  rles  a  uniform  load  of  500  pounds  per  fool  including 
weight  of  beam;  also  a  concentrated  load  of  1000  pounds  10  feet  from 
the  right  hand  support.  The  beam  is  not  supported  sideioays.  What  size 
beam  should  be  usedf 

The  total  uniform  load  u  =  500.25  =  12500  pounds  of  which  one- 
half  or  6250  pounds  will  go  to  each  reaction  ;  of  the  1000  pounds  load 

1 80 

—  or  3-5  will  go  to  the  nearer  support  q  (Formula  15),  therefore 
300 

r/  =  6250-|-f.  1000  =  6850 
Similarly  we  should  have  (Formula  14) 

p  =  6250  +  f .  1000  =  6650 

As  a  check  the  sum  of  the  two  loads  should  =  13500,  and  we  have, 
in  effect : 

6850  +  6650  =  13500 

To  find  the  point  of  greatest  bending  moment  begin  at  q  pass  to  load 
1000,  and  we  will  have  passed  over  ten  feet  of  uniform  load  or  5000 
pounds,  add  to  this  the  1000  pounds  making  6000  pounds,  and  we  still 
are  850  pounds  short  of  the  reaction,  we  pass  on  therefore  towards/* 
one  foot,  which  leaves  350  pounds  more,  and  pass  on  another  7-10  of 
afoot  (to  A)  which  very  closely  makes  the  amount.  The  point  of 
greatest  bending  moment  therefore  is  at  A,  say  1'  8"  to  the  left  of 
the  weight,  or  140"  from  q:  As  a  check  begin  at  p  and  we  must 
pass  along  160''  or  13'  4"  of  uniform  load  before  reaching  the  point 
A,  at  500  pounds  a  foot  this  would  make  13^.500.  =  6666  or  close 
enough  to  amount  of  reaction  p  for  all  practical  purposes. 


TABLE  XIX  — LIST  OP  TRENTON  I-BEAMS. 


>/»  .  .  £*« 
uiB»ajomd»a  °te??2 

-LI,Mo|  We.ght 
N  u  o  0  N  Per  Yard. 

u  p  p  oju 

uiUi^flft  Wjdih  of 
f  $  Flanges. 
M 

.oLIoLU  ThJCknaw  of 
iMpvNS  Web. 

£ 
O 

|E 

aoos 

1 

o 

1 

i  300 

6.53 

j 

r 

1  9,97 

Axii    Normal           n        T    _.N 
to   Web.                           JJ 

A.xi»    Parallel           (^__^  'U  —  N 
lo  W^ebL                       »        * 

1  " 

1030,3 
12  3&0 

Ie 

1  23.O 

00  C 

EgSt- 

Trans  v«r»«  Value 
(r)m  UN. 

•  I  1  l-|Mom«itof 

w'Hr- 

aa.  qa  o 

00    C 

Transvana  Valu* 

(r)  in  1  ba. 

|U~ 

«EO 

CQC7 

tf   1.99 

For  Iron. 
99oooo 

ForSi««L 

iir 

For  Iron. 
37OOO 

For  Swol 
137AOO 

fiffi 

'jft-  .  fler 

fl|  C|  N  N  0  0  O  f 

i  7*0 

120 
96 
133 

ic^ 

3V2 
S          I 

«V/2        , 

O.39" 

3.S25 

-S^ 

2*0.0 

1  Klf 

3  1*  !»  rf  f  «t  -•  . 
U  ft  C  t  B»« 

7.  7  7 

23  ZOOO 

3-5SOOO 

3**    1 

-Irl- 

50300 

—  sAAoo 

462OO 
-41*00 

9 
» 
0 

a 
^ 

i  i>l»(PN»;* 
'rr  °  °MC 

i!  5  IS 

<i  t  '•"  t  »  * 

O3 

*.<   50 

1  *  0  XlO  OJ1 

-  1  r.  «.  »  -J» 

i  n  d  t(  W  ql* 

•7,00 

BA9 

—  *  '.o 

3,-*  1 

0.4* 

6  7  O  OO 

XO0OO  O 

4.»i 

-£*- 

0,7  O 

f  9  7OO 

^^ 

e 

0 

e 

3 
9 
^ 

90 

50 

3 

H^- 

,,,0 

3^00 
r«0 

^^0 

I  5.* 

Ij 

1.8  C 

46*00 

«  I  0  OO 

***"**) 

/I  2 
;,!« 

O/4  O 

Aaoo 

SOOO 
99OQ 

1  O7OO 
J  1  1OO 
7*00 
1   ICOO 

4 

3O 

ie 

2*4     , 

i  ^  : 

1—  ^r- 

0^  1  O 

o.!34 

0,3  1 

o.i« 

......co. 

2  1   «  O 

0,694 

O.ata 

—  ^ 

HOW     TO     USE  /TRANSVERSE     VALUE    (v)    FOR     BEAMS     BRACED    SIDEWAYS 

Manner   of 
Loading 

To  Obtain  Safe 
Load  in  Ibs. 

Length  of  Span 

not  lo  crack  plastering 
must  not  exceed. 

Greatest   Actual 
D«naetion  will   b* 

Mar 
lx> 

ner   of 

ad  ing. 

Fo  Obtain 
Load  in 

Safe 
ba. 

Length  of  Span 
not  to  amok  plim+rin 

must  nol  »jtO*»d. 

Graalavt  Actual 
'     D^agiion  will    ba. 

For  Iron,      For  S  !««•!. 

For  Iron. 

For  Sl««l 

For  Iron. 

For  Sto* 

For  Iron. 

For  3*  —  ' 

S555 

—  fr 

L-2W.    L-2d 

-* 

S-^ 

§>  § 

?£-fc 

«— 

L~i%d 

MP 

"  "  «M  <1 

(t"u""i 

^^S 

5 

-Hfe 

*-^ 

S-So^H 

9  '? 

S.-'h-ftr 

L-M 

u-,^ 

Mrr 

"~  57  fid 

s:i:2-J 

C9              W 

)*i*^ 

<U  <fcfth  in  «hf»,    L-it-igth  ir\  feet     i  -  dtfkcttoA  in  iNchci,  v-traAVtr*  *ak«,6i5wcnir\twat^WXtoXXi;  u-u\iforr  lotJ  rv  Un;  w-ce^Trt  too^j  ir\l&.;  w,-w16.wa*u/B-wveeMatt(!  ba<h  r  Iba. 

NOTE.  —  If  the  transverse  values  (c)  —  eiven  for  steel  —  are  used,  test  each  piece  carefully,  as  steel  varies  greatly  in  strength, 
deflections  of  steel  and  iron,  add  only  7J%  to  iron  transverse  values,  instead  of  i5%  as  given  in  tables. 


For  equal 


GLOSSARY  OF  SYMBOLS. —The  following  letters, 
in  all  caies,  will  be  found  to  express  the  same  mean- 
ing, anlets  distinctly  otherwise  stated,  viz.:  — 
a    =  area,  in  pquare  inches. 
b    =  breadth,  in  inches, 
c    =  constant  for  ultimate  resistance  to  compression, 

In  pounds,  per  square  inch. 
d  =  depth,  in  inches. 

e    =  constant  for  modulus  of  elasticity,  in  pounds- 
inch,  that  is,  pounds  per  square  inch. 
/   =  factor-of '-safety, 
g    =  constant  for  ultimafe  resistance  to  shearing,  per 

square  inch,  across  the  grain. 
J7i  =  constant  for  ultimate  resistance  to  shearing,  per 

square  inch,  lengthwise  of  the  grain. 
h    =  height,  in  inches. 

i     —moment  nf  inertia,  in  inches.    [See  Table  I.] 
k    =  ultimate    modulus  of  rupture,  in   pounds,  per 

square  inch. 
/     =  length,  in  inches. 
m  =  mnment  or  bending  moment,  in  pounds-inch. 


1  Continued  from  No.  641 ,  page  1&4. 


n  =  constant  in  Rankine's  formula  for  compression 
of  long  pillars.  [See  Table  I.] 

o    =  the  centre. 

p  =  the  amount  of  the  left-hand  re-action  (or  sup- 
port) of  beams,  in  pounds. 

q  i=  the  amount  of  the  right-Hand  re-action  (or  sup- 
port) of  beams,  in  pounds. 

r    =  moment  of  resistance,  in  inches.    [See  Table  I.] 

s    =  strain,  in  pounds. 

t  =  constant  for  ultimate  resistance  to  tension,  in 
pounds,  per  square  inch. 

u    =  uniform  load,  in  pounds. 

v     =  stress,  in  pounds. 

w  =  load  at  centre,  in  pounds. 

x,  y  and  z  signify  unknown  quantities,  either  in  pounds 
or  inches. 

t    =  total  deflection,  in  inches. 

p>  =  square  of  the  radius  of  gyration,  in  inches.  [See 
Table  I.I 

•*    =  diameter,  in  inches. 

t    =  radius,  in  inches 

51 


—  3.14159,  or,  say,  3  1-7  signifies  the  ratio  of  the  cir- 
cumference and  diameter  of  a  circle. 
If  there  are  more  than  one  of  each  kind,  the  second, 
third,  etc.,  are  indicated  with  the  Roman  numerals, 
as.  for  instance,  a,  a)(  an,  am,  etc.,  or  bt  bt,  6u,  I'm.  etc. 
In  taking  moments,  or  bending  moments,  strains, 
stresses,  etc.,  to  signify  at  what  point  they  are  taken, 
the  letter  signifying  that  point  is  added,  as,  for  in- 
stance :  — 

moment  or  bending  moment  at  centre, 
int.  =       "  point  A. 

voint  B. 


IRB  = 

s     •=  strain  at  centre. 
SB  =  *'     poin*  B. 

sx  =  "     point  X. 

v     =*  stress  at  centre. 
VD  =  •'     point  />. 

vx  rz  **     point  X. 

uj   =  load  at  centre. 
«U  r;          '*    point  A. 


point  X. 


The   American   Architect  and  Building   News.     [VOL.  XXIII.-No.  645. 


208 


The  uniform  load  per  inch  will  be  _=:41|  pounds. 

Now  the  bending  moment  at  A  will  be,  taking  the  right-hand  side 

(F°rmUla2SA=6850.140-41§.140.70-1000.20 

=  530  667  pounds-inch. 

As  a  check  take  the  left-hand  side  (Formula  23) 
M.  =6650.160  —  41f.160.80 

=  530614  nniinds-inch.  or  near  enough  alike  for 


Now  the  sate  mouuius  of  rupture  for  wrought-iron  (Table  IV)  is 
(— )  =  12000  pounds,  therefore  the  required  moment  of  resistance 
r  from  Formula  (18) 


530667= 
~  12000 


Looking  at  the  Table 
re  should 

s  unsupi- 

,  =  5£".     We  now  use  Formula 


to  find  out  how  much  extra 


reduction  for    '      In  inserting  value  for  y,  we  use  the  second  column 
Lateral  Flex-     o{  Table  XVI,  as  the  beam  is,  of  course,  ot  unilorm 
cross-section  throughout,  and  have 

In  place  of^  we'cln  insert  the  actual  value  r  of  the  beam  and  see 
what  proportion  of  it  is  left  to  resist  the -transverse  strength,  after 
the  lateral  flexure  is  attended  to, 
r 


or  r,  =  • 


^^  i 

0,0192.25s1       1  +  0,3966 
?iia 


TABLE   XX.  — LIST  OF  CHANNELS. 


0  0  oW  -  -  H  Thickness  of  | 

sal^itehW^lg  Web- 

' 

Normal     .._. 
Web 

«**                       i 

-| 

CT£ 

o  • 

a  S 
10  S 

£ 
O 

«-    °* 
|| 

i.ie 
TaS 

T^-' 

g 
9.74 

Axis 

to 

to    Web. 

n  1 

•jja/]  —  N 

O    a) 

ait 

Q.  CO    ~" 
1  V 

HJ2 

12V*' 
IQJ 

1 

<  5 

0 

155.Z 

lls 

Ir 

39.24 
1  7-04 

lie 

Tra  ns  verse  V*lU» 
t  v)  in  1  ba 

1  %y 

5  I  • 

7.56 

2.S1 

O.O5" 
4-7  A 

2.24 

!!*- 

1.70 
0-72 

i& 

Transverse  Value  ' 
(«}  in  iba. 

<     V 

>  0. 

140 
TO 

""5s  

1 

I9.5"0 

?I^~ 

1  2.35 

•''or  Iron. 

For  Steal 
se  i  ooo 

~7Q  1  3OO 

i  2SOOO 

1   30700 

ti& 

126. 
O.95 

O.7*. 

Kor  Iron. 

ao-roo 

1  8000 
1  4  3OO 

9  iocT 

Yz  '  oo^ 

n  700 

For  Steal. 
OO5OO 

22-4OO 
1  d  TQO 

~T4<XJ 

1  46OO 

to* 

2.29* 

i  '/z.^ 

I.  "52 

—  r  50 

For   Us 

a»-l 

s   of  Tra 

nsvorsa 

Values, 

—  554" 

j-  '      '      '    "=^ 

klso    Del' 

;  

action    «i 

id    L-ongths 

i  eooc 
of  Sp«ns, 

I^2O 
ble    XIX. 

O.7Z5 

30^0 
—  gg>go" 

'gggg 

3SOO 

values  <„)  -  given  for  steel  -  are  used,  test  each  piece  carefully,  as  steel  varie8  greatly  in  strength.    For  cgual  deflections  of 

TABLE   XXI.  —  LIST  OF  EVEN-LEGGED  ANGLES. 


Uso   of  Transvera*   V^ues.   also   D«n«ction    and    Length.   of  Spans,   See   Table   XIX 


transverse  values 


)-  given  for  steel-  are  used,  test  each  piece-carefully,  as  steel  varies 
vllues,  instead  of  25%  as  given  in  tables. 

Vm 


MAY  5,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


209 


TABLE   XXII.  —  LIST  OF  EVEN-LEGGED  ANGLES. 


I'j 

l{ 

Thickness.  • 

!*• 

<      c 

Area 
of 

Short  Leg 

1 

<  S 
j 

Axis  Parallel  to 
Short  Leg                       *  --|l^-  M 

AXIS  Parallel  to                   .                                 Axis     M  -  N           „       ^a    . 
Long  Leg               M--|L»^.-M             Parallel  to  A-B  .    ~^tr^  , 

o 
Z  " 

11' 

So  c 

Distance  of 
Neutral. 
Axis 
from  Beaa. 

Transverse  Value 
IV)  in  Ibs. 

Moment  of 
Inertia 
<« 

zl 

•Sic 

ill5 

S 

Transverse  Velue 
t»)m  Ibs. 

k 

"id 

al2T  D,.- 
lance  of 
Neutral  AK 
is  from 

For  Iron. 

PorSteaL 

For  Iron. 

ForSteeL 

til 

6X4" 

69.4 

•V4' 

4.22 

272 

6  94 

2452 

626 

3.33 

2050 

50O60 

G26OO 

066 

2  97 

1  25 

1  O7S 

2376O 

29700 

572 

0.625 

2  00 

6"  x  4 

41.6 

33 

2.53 

1   65 

4  18 

1546 

3.83 

3.70 

1  964 

3O64O 

36300 

56O 

1  84 

1  34 

O964 

14720 

1640O 

3.53 

0849 

1  66 

3  x  A 

58.1 

->A' 

3.47 

2.34 

5.81 

1390 

426 

2.39 

1.744 

34O6O 

4260O 

54O 

2  \l 

0.93 

0.935 

16960 

2120O 

3  72 

O.64O 

1  A3 

S  X  j!£ 

3O.5 

J/8 

1.6O 

1.25 

3.05 

776 

230 

255 

1.610 

164OO 

23000 

3.19 

1.21 

105 

0660 

9660 

121OO 

1.96 

0.642 

1.65 

4]£x    3 

5O.6 

J/4 

3.09 

1.97 

5.06 

970 

3.39 

1.92 

1  625 

2712O 

33900 

341 

1.62 

O67 

0.694 

12960 

1620  o 

2.45 

0.484 

1.63 

4-kX   J 

26.7 

J/S 

1  62 

1  O5 

267 

5.49 

1  63 

2.05 

1  49O 

I«£4O 

I63OO 

1  98 

066 

O  74 

O74O 

704O 

8800 

1.25 

O.47O 

1.47 

4X3 

43.4 

"/Ife 

2.51 

1.63 

4.34 

652 

2.5O 

i  50 

1  390 

2OOOO 

2.5  OOO 

3O& 

1.46 

O  71    . 

O89O 

11680 

146OO 

1.66 

0.426 

1.56 

4x3 

20.9 

Vl6 

1.20 

0.69 

2.O9 

3.37 

1.23 

1  61 

1  26O 

984O 

123OO 

1.64 

0732 

0765 

0760 

5656 

732O 

L0.77 

0.368 

I.4O 

Jjfcx   J' 

4O.O 

"/I6 

2.17 

1  83 

4.OO 

442 

1  91 

i  1O5 

U66 

15260 

191OO 

Z..96 

1436 

O74O 

0.939 

11466 

14360 

1.64 

O.4IO 

1.50 

3!&\  y 

15.6 

!/4 

O.S4 

072 

1.56 

!  :'! 

O744 

1.224 

1.035 

6192 

7740 

I3O 

0.5S7 

0833 

0765 

4696 

5670 

0.61 

Oi39l 

1.28 

3fc»    1JS 

11.9 

V4 

0.84 

Cu35 

119 

1.50 

0666 

1.260 

1320 

5504 

6S60 

0.17 

O  144 

O  143 

0.320 

1152 

144O 

O.16 

O.134 

0.76 

J    «    2& 

27  7 

9/1  6 

1.52 

1.45 

277 

2.34 

1.164 

0644 

1.024 

9472 

11840 

145 

O.84O 

0.523 

0774 

6720 

8400 

O.91 

0.326 

125 

J   »   ?!i 

)3.l 

'A 

0.72 

O.59 

131 

1,17 

0.56O 

0693 

O.9IO 

446O 

56OO 

0.74 

O4O2 

0.565 

06&O 

3216 

4O2O 

O.36 

O.273 

I.IO 

.1    «    2" 

22.5 

1/2. 

1.36 

O.67 

225 

1  93 

1  O07 

0658 

1.O63 

SO56 

IOO7O 

O62 

0437 

0275 

0583 

3496 

4370 

O.47 

0.209 

1.13 

0"  «     2" 

1O  4 

7/Ji 

O.63 

O.41 

1  .04 

0.97 

O.46O 

0.934 

O.36O 

084O 

46OO 

O.J5 

O.23O 

••     - 

164O 

23  OO 

O2J1 

O.93 

For   Us*  of  Trensverse   Values.   «l«o    DeHefttion   end    Lengths  of  Spans.   See   Table   XIX 

NOTE.  —  If  the  transverse  values  (r)  —  given  for  steel  —  are  used,  test  each  piece  carefully,  as  steel  varies  greatly  in  strength.    For  equal  deflections  of 
steel  and  iron,  add  only  7J';i,  to  iron  transverse  values,  instead  of  26  as  given  In  tables. 

TABLE  XXIII.  —  LIST  OP  TRENTON  TEES  AND  DECK  BEAMS. 


Us 

M 

i! 

c  >• 

^ 

Width  of  Table] 
or  Flange,  i 

n 

Thickness. 

°  i 
l  "S 

<  u. 

•q»/A  jo  «uv 

i 

•*§ 

s 

is 

Axis    Normal 
to  W.b.                   M  r=Jl=;-*--N 

Axis  Parallel 
to  Web.              n~ 

1 

r"' 

Moment  of 
Inertia. 

N 

-  i 

si 

Square  or 
Radius  of 
Gyration. 

(St 

Distenc*  of 
Nautrml 
Axis 
from  Base. 

Transverse  Value 
(«)  In  Iba. 

Moment  of 
Inertia. 

«) 

Moment  or 
Resistance. 
tr> 

•o*C 

*M« 

Transverse  Value 

(r)  In  IDS. 

For  Iron. 

For  Steel. 

§TJ  C  •=" 

gi$ 

For  Iron. 

For  Steol' 

«V  YEE 

37,.1!' 

2 

W 

2.oo 

1   7.S- 

3.75 

5.56 

1,97 

1.48 

ua 

I57&O 

I97OO 

2.62 

1.31 

0,  7*0" 

r   '0480 

13100 

3*"    .. 

32.5 

3>4" 

Yz" 

03 

1.50 

3,2  b 

J«4 

1.49 

1.12 

1  O& 

1  192O 

149OO 

1,82 

I.O4 

O.Sfe^ 

832O 

1O4OO 

3>i'     . 

28.7 

5| 

32 

1.53 

1.3*  , 

2.87 

3,26 

1.32 

U* 

1.03 

IOJ6O 

!32CO 

1  .53 

O.87 

0.53 

I      G96O 

,_  8700 

27,5 

V£ 

1.50 

1.25 

2.75 

2.21 

1,07 

O.8O 

0,9.3 

8560 

1O7OO 

1,15 

0.77 

0,42 

61  GO 

77OO 

3"      • 

21,1 

y 

V« 

1.13 

Q.98 

2,11 

1.  76 

0.834 

0,83+ 

0,89 

fee  70 

8340 

0,97 

0,fe5 

o,4b 

5  Zoo 

4,500 

2V     - 

17.3 

IE 

B 

0.93 

o.eo 

1.73 

0.98 

o,5&3 

0.566 

0,76 

4SOO 

J630 

0,4-9 

0,39 

0,28 

3120 

3900 

2&"     . 

14,7 

t'/t" 

'/<*• 

0.76 

0.69 

1.47 

0.85 

0.4S3 

0.578 

0,74 

3860 

4830 

0.4O 

0.32 

0,272 

2560 

32ob 

aw   • 

11,9 

Z-'A' 

m 

0.63 

0.56 

1,19 

O.Sfe 

0,352 

O.47O 

0.6& 

2820 

3520 

0.26 

0,231 

0,218 

1850 

2310 

f 

/1,5 

2" 

*t 

0.625 

0.525 

1.15 

0.41 

0.3O2 

0,352 

O.61 

2420 

3020 

0.21 

0,210 

0,18? 

I68O 

2loo 

Z' 

9,4 

2" 

s 

0.50 

0.44 

0,94 

0,35 

0,247 

0.37  a 

0,59 

I98O 

2470 

0.16 

0,160 

O.17O 

1280 

1  fiOO 

ifc    • 

6,88 

5! 

'/*' 

0.38 

0.31 

0.&9 

0.13 

0.125_j 

0.168 

0,4-6 

1OOO 

1250 

0,07 

0,093 

o.  101 

745 

930 

M    . 

5  46 

1/4" 

'/*' 

0.3f 

0,25 

O.Sfe 

O.O76 

O.OS9 

0.136 

0.40 

710 

890 

0,042 

O.O.67 

0,075 

535 

6.70 

1/+1     . 

4.86 

1^" 

'M 

0,27 

0.22 

O.49 

O.O65 

0,075 

0.133 

0,38 

6OO 

750 

0,034 

0,054 

r  0,670 

430 

54O 

A3 

1" 

rt 

0,18 

O.I  5 

0.33 

0.0  3O 

0,044 

0,091 

0.315 

350 

440 

0,016 

0.032 

0.048 

255 

320 

t"       ' 

2.76 

P 

%i 

0.15 

0.13 

0.28 

0.024 

O,0  i4 

0.085 

0,2  S  5 

270 

340 

O.O12 

0.024 

0,043 

190 

E40 

zifr    .  ' 

35.0 

5' 

K 

2.50 

1.OO 

3.50 

1,50 

0,600 

0.4-29 

O,6l 

6400 

8000 

5,23 

;.'-  .ouo 

1.49-1 

16720 

2O900 

i-.     . 

17.3 

3" 

ti 

1-.12 

0.61 

1.73 

0.54 

0.370 

0,312 

0,54 

2960 

37OO 

0,85 

O.Sfe7 

O.49I 

454  O 

3670 

i-     . 

14.6 

3" 

S 

O.S4 

0.52 

1.46 

0,47 

0.324- 

0,322 

0,52 

2590 

3240 

0.66 

0,453 

O,4fe& 

363O 

4530 

1/6       ' 

7,4 

aV 

w 

0.56 

0.22 

O.78 

O,O6 

0,072 

O.077 

0,29 

580 

720 

0,4  8 

0,1  GO 

0.251 

1280 

1600 

\K    . 

9,0 

2" 

Ml 

0.56 

0.34 

0.90 

0,17 

0.170 

O.19O 

0,50 

ISfcO 

I7oo 

0,18 

O.I80 

O.2OO 

144_0 

1800 

1"      . 

6,5 

i" 

'/* 

0.50 

0,19 

O.69 

O.O4 

0,054 

0,05?. 

O,2& 

430 

540 

0,14 

O.KrO 

O.E03 

1  1  20 

I4OO 

1"    „ 

5.6 

IE 

S 

0.37 

0,19 

O,5fc 

O.O4 

O.OS5 

O.O71 

O.28 

440 

550 

i>.  U7 

0,093 

0,125 

745 

9  3O 

.    8'osC«5S>.« 

65.0 

v» 

*/ft 

BftVSfij 

2.65 

6.5O 

54.70 

11.2& 

8,42 

A  16 

90240 

1  1  a&oq  i< 

3,7 

1.64 

0,570 

13120 

16400 

/•         « 

55.0 

4/t' 

y.fc 

^ffl 

1,75 

5.50 

35.10 

aos 

fe.38 

2,64 

644-OO 

8OSOO 

3,& 

t.feO 

0,650 

12600 

I6OOO 

For  Uae  of  Tnuuvana    Valua*.  also   Daflaotion   and    Length*  of  Spans,   Sae  Table   XIX 

NOTE. —If  the  transverse  values  (y)  — given  for  steel  —  are  used  test  each  piece  carefully,  as  steel  varies  greatly  in  strength.    For  equal  deflections 
of  steel  and  iron,  add  only  7£%  to  iron  transverse  values,  instead  of  25%  as  given  in  tables. 


=  —  ! —  =  33,6   or   the   beam  would   not  be   strong 


enough.  The  next  size  would  be  the  12J"  — 125  pounds  per  yard 
beam,  but  as  the  15" — 125  pounds  per  yard  beam  would  cost  no 
more  and  be  much  stronger  we  will  try  that.  Its  width  of  flange  is 
6  =r  5"  and  moment  of  resistance  r:=57,93.  Inserting  these  values 
in  (Formula  78)  and  using  r  in  place  of  w  we  have 

57,93  57,93 


0,01 92.25" ' 
5s 


1,48 


=  39,14 
The  required  moment  of  resistance  was 

r  =  44,2  so  that  this  is  still  short  of  the  mark,  and  we 
should  have  to  use  the  next  section  or  the  15"  —  150  pounds  per  yard 
beam.  The  moment  of  resistance  of  this  beam  is  r  =  69,8  its  width 
of  flange  the  same  as  before,  therefore: 


,      -  , 

1,48 

Or  this  beam  would  be  a  trifle  too  strong  even  if  unsupported  side- 
ways. We  need  not  bother  with  deflection,  for  the  length  of  beam  is 
only  If  times  the  span,  and  besides  not  even  f  of  the  actual 
transverse  strength  of  the  beam  is  required  to  resist  the  vertical 
strains,  and,  of  course,  the  deflection  would  be  diminished  accordingly. 
Safe  Uniform  The  column  in  Table  XIX  headed  "  Transverse 
Load.  Value,"  gives  the  safe  uniform  load,  in  pounds,  if 


divided  by  the  span  in  feet,  for  beams  supported  sideways.  Of 
course  the  result  should  correspond  with  Table  XV,  except  that  the 
uniform  load  will  be  expressed  in  pounds  here,  while  it  is  expressed 
in  tons  of  2000  pounds  each  in  the  table.  For  Tables  XA,  XXI, 
XXII  and  XXIII  the  use  of  the  "  Transverse  Value  "  is  similar  to 
Table  XIX. 

Louis  DECOPPET  BERG. 

LTo  be  continued.] 


UNVEILING  A  PLASTER  MODEL  m  PLACE  OF  THE  KEAL  STATUE. — Not 
long  ago  a  Chicago  sculptor,  who  had  arranged  to  make  a  bronze  statue 
of  heroic  size  for  a  society  in  a  neighboring  State,  discovered  that  it 
would  be  impossible  to  get  the  enormous  figure  cast  by  the  day  set  for 
its  unveiling.  He  consulted  with  the  committee  having  the  exercises 
in  charge  and  was  assured  that  the  unveiling  could  not  be  postponed 
under  any  circumstances.  The  sculptor,  as  a  last  resort,  put  a  coat  of 
bronze  paint  on  a  clay  model  of  the  statue,  shipped  the  brittle  sham  to 
the  city  in  which  the  ceremony  was  to  take  place,  and  set  it  up  on  the 
pedestal.  There  it  was  successfully  unveiled  before  an  audience  of 
thousands.  Orators  grew  eloquent  in  praising  its  majestic  appearance, 
and  no  one  except  the  sculptor  and  the  committee  knew  that  it  was  not 
made  of  enduring  bronze.  A  few  days  later  the  sham  statue  gave  place 
to  the  real  one.  —  Chicago  America. 


HAIR  ROPES  USED  IN  BUILDING.  —  A  ton  of  ropes  made  from  the  hair 
of  the  women  of  Japan  is  used  in  building  the  §3,000,000  Buddhist 
temple  at  Kioto. 


53 


210 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News.     [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  645. 


[Contributors  are  requested  to  send  with   their  drawings  full  and 
adequate  descriptions  of  the  buildings,  including  a  statement  of  cost.} 

HOUSE    OF   J.    C.    ABBOTT,    KSQ.,     MONTREAL,    CANADA. 
[Gelatine  print,  issued  only  with  the  Imperial  Edition.] 

SKETCH    FOR  AN   ARTIST'S    COUNTRY    HOUSE  BY  MR.  J.  a.  HOWARD. 

HOUSE    FOR    HENRY    ENDICOTT,    ESQ.,  CAMBRIDGE,  MASS.      MESSRS. 
CHAMBERLIN   &   WHIDDEN,    ARCHITECTS,    BOSTON,    MASS. 

DESIGN   FOR    CONGREGATIONAL    CHURCH,     ELIZABETHTOWN,    N.    Y. 
MR.    R.    W.   GIBSON,     ARCHITECT,   NEW   YORK,    N.    Y. 

CHURCH     AT     DUBLIN,    N.    H.        MESSRS.    ANDREWS    &   JAQUES,    AR- 
CHITECTS,    BOSTON,    MASS. 

BUILDING    FOR    THE    PIONEER    PRESS,    ST.   PAUL,     MINN.      MR.    S.    S. 
BEMAN,    ARCHITECT,    CHICAGO,    ILL. 

PLANS    FOR    APARTMENT-HOUSES.      MR.  E.  T.  POTTER,    ARCHITECT, 
NEW   YORK,    N.   Y. 

STUDY    FOR    A    STORK    BUILDING,    ST.    PAUL,    MINN.      MESSRS.    GIL- 
BERT   A    TAYLOR,     ARCHITECTS,    ST.    PAUL,    MINN. 


UNITED  STATES  GOVERNMENT  BUILDING  PRAC- 
TICE.i— X. 


Porte  St.  Denis,  Paris. 

r  TRAINS  are  calculated  by  the  graphic  method,  first,  because  the 
graphic  method  checks  itself,  and  second,  so  that  the  strains  for 
all  trusses  may  be  put  on  file  and  at  any  future  time  they  may 

be  referred  to  and  the  assumed  loads  and  consequent  strains  may  be 

readily  seen. 

SPECIFICATION    FOR    IRONWORK. 

The  contractor  to  furnish  all  materials  and  labor  and  put  in  place 
complete  all  the  ironwork  shown  on  the  drawings  and  required  by  the 
specification  of  the  shapes,  dimensions,  weights,  thickness  of  metal,  and 
set  in  positions  plumb  and  level  or  at  the  proper  inclinations,  as  the 
case  may  be. 

Quality  of  Wrought-iron.  —  All  the  wrought-iron  beams,  channels, 
angle-irons,  tie-rods,  etc.,  must  be  tough,  ductile,  fibrous  and  uniform 
in  character,  of  American  manufacture  or  equal  thereto,  of  best  quality 
iron,  and  must  be  rolled  or  wrought  straight  and  true,  and  to  have  an 
elastic  limit  of  at  least  26,000  pounds  and  an  ultimate  tensile  strength 
of  at  least  50,000  pounds  per  square  inch  of  sectional  area,  and  elonga- 
tion not  over  18  per  cent  in  8".  If  foreign  iron  is  offered  it  must  be 
accompanied  by  proper  certificates  of  tests. 

All  specimens  cut  from  shape  iron  to  stand  a  test  of  bending  cold 
through  180°  on  a  diameter  not  greater  than  twice  the  thickness  of  bar 
without  showing  signs  of  fracture. 

All  steel  to  be  mild  steel,  having  an  ultimate  tensile  strength  of 
70,000  per  square  inch  and  an  elastic  limit  not  less- than  30,000  pounds, 
and  an  elongation  of  22  per  cent  in  length  of  8". 

Floor-Beams  and  Girders.  —  The  beams,  girders,  channels,  etc.,  to  be 
framed  as  shown  and  to  have  standard  connections,  angle-irons,  rivets, 
bolts,  etc.,  except  where  otherwise  shown.  Beams  forming  girders  to 
be  bolted  together  through  cast-iron  separators  not  over  0' apart  (two 


1  Continued  from  page  166,  No.  641. 


bolts  to  each  separator),  and  beams  resting  on  top  of  girders  to  be 
bolted  through  flanges.  The  ends  of  beams  and  channels  to  rest  8"  in 
walls  on  bed-plates;  if  iron,  8"  x  12"  x  1",  and  if  stone,  8"  x  12"  x 
2  1-2",  and  girders  to  have  bed-plates  under  them  in  walls  of  sizes 
shown. 

Channels  where  required  for  skcwbacks  of  arches  to  be  anchored 
securely  to  walls  by  expansion-bolts  3-4"  diameter,  0"  to  8"  long,  spaced 
generally  3'  apart.  AH  girders  and  every  alternate  beam  for  floors 
above  first  story  to  be  anchored  to  walls  by  wrought-iron  anchors 
3-4"  diameter,  3'  long,  V-shaped,  and  let  through  web  of  beam  4"  from 
end. 

Wrought-iron  tie-rods  1"  diameter  of  proper  length  where  shown  on 
drawings  to  be  provided  for  vault-arches  and  for  all  walls  necessary  to 
counteract  the  thrust  of  the  arches ;  the  tie-rods  to  pass  through  webs 
of  at  least  two  beams,  and  to  have  gib-plates  12"  x  4"  x  1-2"  built  1'  in 
walls  and  to  be  threaded  and  have  nuts  and  washers  on  both  ends. 

The  girders  to  be  secured  to  lugs  on  heads  of  columns  by  bolts  3-4"  to 
1"  diameter  (two  to  each  pair  of  beams),  the  beams  of  coupled  girders 
[!.  e.,  one  beam  on  top  of  another],  to  be  riveted  together  through 
flanges  on  both  sides  of  webs  their  entire  length  with  5-8"  diameter 
rivets  spaced  4"  apart  at  ends  for  a  distance  of  3'  and  8"  apart  at  mid- 
dle of  spans.  [Where  beams  are  so  riveted,  their  strength  is  increased 
fully  one-third  more  than  if  left  unriveted.] 

The  heads  and  nuts  of  all  bolts  and  pins  to  be  hexagonal.  All  bolts, 
rivets,  etc.,  to  be  of  the  sizes  shown,  to  be  well  fitted  to  and  perfectly 
fill  the  openings  designed  to  receive  them. 

Quality  of  Cast-Iron.  —  All  the  cast-iron  must  be  best  quality,  sound 
and  clean,  free  from  cracks,  bubbles,  cinders  and  other  defects ;  the 
moulded  and  ornamental  work,  bases  and  capitals  of  columns,  etc.,  to  be 
fine  stove  castings  sharp  and  clean;  all  joints  to  be  properly  dressed  to 
insure  a  perfect  fit ;  the  heads  of  screws  and  bolts  to  be  countersunk 
flush  with  face  of  work. 

Columns.  —  Cast-iron  columns  for  supporting  second-story  girders  on 
which  rest  the  walls  and  floors  to  be  in  two  pieces,  the  shaft  in  one 
piece,  and  the  head  with  the  flanges,  lugs,  etc.,  cast  on  to  fit  the  profile 
of  beams  in  another  piece ;  a  cast-iron  stand  is  also  frequently  made  on 
which  the  column  rests.  The  stone  cap  of  pier  or  template  in  wall  to 
be  dressed  perfectly  smooth  and  level  on  top,  on  which  the  iron  bed- 
plate of  column  (usually  1  1-2"  to  2"  thick)  rests,  and  to  which  it  is 
secured  by  two  expansion  bolts  l''  diameter  about  0"  long,  the  iron  bed- 
plates to  have  a  boss 
ring  cast  on  about  1" 
high,  which  is  to  fit  ac- 
curately into  core  of 
columns  or  stands  as 
the  case  may  be ;  great 
care  to  be  used  in  cast- 
ing to  have  a  uniform 
thickness  of  metal  in 
the  shafts,  stands  and 
heads  respectively. 
The  heads  to  have  a 
boss  from  2"  to  4"  long 
fitting  into  core  of  col- 
umns, the  bearing-sur- 
faces of  plates,  stands, 
shafts  and  heads  to  be 
turned  per 

and  at  right  angles  to 
axes ;  the  cores  to  be 
bored  out  to  the  depths 
required  and  the  bosses 
turned  to  fit  cores.  The 
columns  to  be  secured 
on  top  of  stands  by  two 
l"-diameter  bolts.  The 
stands,  shafts  and 
heads  of  columns  to  be 
of  the  same  thickness 
of  metal  and  uniform. 

Bases,  Capitals,  etc. 
—  The  moulded  bases 
and  ornamental  capi- 
tals of  columns  to  be  cast-iron  1-4"  or  3-8"  thick  metal,  in  accordance 
with  full-size  detail  or  model,  which  will  be  furnished  the  contractor; 
the  plinth  of  bases  to  go  1"  below  floor  line  ;  all  to  be  fastened  together 
with  5-16"-diameter  countersunk  screws  and  to  shafts  with  l-2"-diameter 
countersunk  top  screws  after  the  fireproof  covering  is  put  in  place. 

Pilasters.  — The  ornamental  pilasters  to  be  3-8"  thick  cast-iron,  to  be 
square,  corresponding  in  design  and  detail  to  the  columns,  and  secured 
to  walls  by  expansion  bolts  1-2"  diameter,  6"  long,  passing  through 
lugs  on  the  pilasters  (about  eight  to  each  pilaster). 

Wrought-iron  Posts.  —  Instead  of  cast-iron  columns, 
wrought-iron  posts  are  frequently  used,  constructed  of 
an  I-beam  in  centre  and  channel-irons  riveted  to  same 
through  flanges,  with  angle-irons  riveted  to  bottom  and 
top  to  form  bearing  surfaces. 

Lintels.  —  Cast-iron  flanged  lintels  are  frequently  used 
for  openings  in  brickwork  ;  they  are  to  have  a  bearing  of 
not  lesc  than  4"  on  jambs,  to  be  1-2"  thick  metal,  and  to 
have  a  vertical  rib  their  entire  length  from  4"  to  6"  high. 
Frequently  a  wrought  angle-iron  3"  x  3"  or  4"  x  4"  is  used  for  this  pur- 
pose and  is  concealed  between  the  brickwork  and  the  wood  frame  for 
opening. 

Roof.  — The  iron  roof  to  be  framed  with  trusses,  hips,  ridges,  rafters, 
shoes,  bearings,  etc.,  as  shown,  the  details  of  which  must  be  strictly 
adhered  to.  The  trusses  to  be  constructed  of  wrought-iron  rafters,  tie- 
bars,  struts,  braces,  etc.,  and  secured  by  bolts  to  cast-iron  shoes  or 
angle-irons,  which  are  to  be  secured  to  bearing-plates  by  expansion 
bolts.  The  braces  for  trusses  and  between  different  trusses  to  have 
sleeve  nuts  for  adjustment. 


Fig.   39. 


Fig.  40. 


54 


IHGHITEGT  .flND  BUILDING  f  EWS,  M^  5-1555. 


Heliotype  Printin?  Co.Sostor. 


N  T  x~s~k  T  T' 


|>o.  64<5      IMKI<IGIHN  IKGHITKGT  HND  BUILDING- lEws,M*rc  5  1555 


OTFrBKHrie88~BYTICKjroR  1C? 


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(^V  <e») 

TORE  BUILDING' 
AT  ST.  PAUL -MINNESOTA- 

•  ClLBKRT    AND   TAYIXMI  •     ARCHITECTS  • 

Hens/type  Printing  CfcJtoattL 


.  64<5. 


IHGHITEGT  flND  BUILDING 


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BUILDING  $FWS, 

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PLMI  or  rnOTft."°n  PLAO -or>.3e<<>ra>  FL 


s,  Vyhiddcn.  Arth'b 
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Heliotype  Printing  Co.  Boston 


$  !{0»HITKGT  flND  BUILDING  $FAVS,  M«*  5   1555  Ro.  64>5 


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h 


1  ItyGHITEGT  flND  gUILDING $EWS,MflY  5  1555.        $O.  64<5 


1  ISflfr  BT  TICKHOK 


fACH  HoUSF  TO  BE  ONE"  OF-  A  PAIR  OR 
On  LAND  LAID  OUT.AS  in  MEW  YORK,  in  LOTS  25 FEET  frwriT  BY  100  PEET  DEEP;  .MID 

CONTAINING  EQUIVALENT  TO 
FOUR  DWELLING5  OH  EACH  FlOOR  ON  EACH  LOT;  EACH  HOUJE  ON  ONE  LOT  AND  A  HALE. 

ARRANGED  ON  E.T.  POTTER  j  JYJTEA  FOR  GROUPING  DWELLIMGJ [FOR  REMT  OR  SEPARATE  OWNERS] 
WITH  LrrAJT  Loa  or  LIGHT,  AIR,  PRIVACY,  THOROUGH-DRAUGHT,  JUttJIilttF,  rrc. 

[Ten feet  of  the  rear  of  each  lot  is  left  oben  aj,ir\  New  York.required  bylaw.] 
EACH  HOUJE.oHEAOi FLOOR,  CONTA1M5  5IX  DWELLlNGJ,viz:  POURDWELL1NG.5  or  THREE  POOn.5  EAOUTWO  DWEtUflGJ orPOUR  EACH. 


*  —   "  ~  • 


N.N.L\orHorth 
F°8n.M.W  ,  Reverje  JtedrJ  Etc] 


p  ..      , 

- 

7  --  ^^* 


Two  Hovjej. j| 

*--  -7Sf«let- 

k —  One  Houje  fl&nkecj  by 


J.  JrttingRoom. 

B.  Bed  Room. 
K.  Kittheu. 

C.  Clojetai^  Both. 
V.  Vertibule. 


9ft...  tOfti 

6ft...    9ft.1 

•  2ft.6in...6ft6in| 

atoia.  3ft. 


|c  -----  Orxe  Houje.  -----  s| 

^_i6ft.3 

'<-MeJf  H 


Average  areAof  Each  Dwellir\6:Cir2fi6jqft. 
The  very  limited  areaj  of  the^ubdivuio 
are  not  lew  tharvlhoje  of  m&ny  irtClaJJ 
^I^cKtj.  DahabeeyaKj,  Oceaj\Jteevmer4 
Traiivj  de  Luxe  ,  Vejtibule  Palace  Carj, 
Ete.,orttvar\  of  mea\y  Hoteb  and  Private 


Private  .Small  DLTnb-waiter,  to  be  wed  in 

connection  with-. 

Pood  Cellar  [well- lighted] 

ftel     » 

Clothej-dryir\fi  loggia, 

Bleaching  .5ba.ce, 

Garden-bed. 
Aroom  under  .Sidewalk,  for  Private 
Ash-cans. 


Refuse  .West  or  Joiled  linen,etc.,Meed  be 
carried  on  the  Jtairj. 

"~M3akony=  Air-duct  $  Fireblacej 

o  WLrteriae  ,XF  Alternate  Dwelling. 

zzz:  Pixedvertical  translucent  Louvrej1,  .set 
on  the  outside  of  jajhej  of  Mortherly- 
facing  \vindowj  of  Courb,  acting  aj 
Jcreenj:  butnotobtructinfi  the  baj- 
jage  of  air  or  light. 

Thoroughdraught;  at  Command 
through  Every  Dwelling. 

Juruhine  exbojure:  One  hour  or  more 
daily  of  Every  Dwelling. 

Jha.de;  Draw-uf>  Blindj  oiljide  .souther- 
ly window;-,  Awningj  over  Courts. 

Quiet  Is  furthered  by  the  abjence  of  baj- 
jage^.the  Enclojing  of  Entrance-Cor- 
ridor, etc. 

Outlook-.   Nearly  equally  Cheerful  for 
each  dwelling. 


STREET. 


[The  Seabreeze,  usually  t>reveolin6  in 
Mew  York  oi\  jummer  evening,  can. 

.  enter  each  dwelling. 
OverjhadowinQ  by  Neighboring  buildingj 

ij  jlicht-.that  by  thb  building  \vill  debend 

oaib  height  and  dutance  off. 
All  jtairj  to  be  full  width  throughout,  and 

roofed  in  witlx  filayj:  Entrance-Corridor 

to  be  enclojed  with  jtained  ^lajj;'  a  . 

blanket  of  low  growths  oa  its  roof  [to 

deaden  .sun-elare]. 


CLEVATIOH  or  CHD  or  HOUJ  E-TOP, 


I2ft6iivi2ft..6in«-  16ft  4in  • 


-  16tt.4irw<-l6tt4ir\- 
.  soft. 


JECTIOM  or  EnTEAMCe,  CORRIDOR,  ETC. 


The  Widths  of 
mp3t  common  in  New  York  are  = 
16ft  sin'-M-  iaft9in— «-  1 6ft  9  in -x- 1  aft  Sin 


MOTE-5: 


Firt-Ejcabe  to  Jlreet  and  to  Roofa 
!  of  adjoining  Houjej  by  Incombujti- 
i  ble  Jtaiw  and 


above  hou5e4Db5;  rr^king  all  bartitionj, 
however  thin,  Incombustible  [cu  ir\  fkrli 
Fioorj  broctically  fire-J)rooftaj  inPlorenw 
(Jjing  no  wood  for  .Stains,  unnecej.jary 
Trim.etc.  Juch  buildinej  canbe  econom- 
ic ally  imde  Strong,  Fleajine  and  Last- 
ing, and  Iruurance  Reduced. 

Jebarate  ownerjhil)  of  the  Jebarate 
Dwellii\Cj5  6roubed  cinder  one  roof, 
oj>en5  brOTftable  Prot>rietorjhi|3  of  Real- 
Ertate  to  All  who  to  j  mall  eamines  add 
ladujtryand  Thrift. 

Erecting  .such  erotrbj  of  Dwellingj  u  made 
eajyby  Bui  Idinb  Ajjociabonj,  in  which 
owning  of  Real-C.sta.te  u  acquired  by 

^mallwfeekly  Payment?. 


ICobyneht  1066  by  C.T.  Potter. 


Ready  Jale.atfair  bricej,  of  juch 
in&s.will  be  helbed  inbroboi'tiontofrveir 
Attractive  Jituation.Bderior.Entrance, 
Finish, Convenience, Q\eerfolnejj  and  ej- 
timated  HealthfulnejJithe  Rejbectability 
of  Occubanbj  their  Jmall  Cojt  from  Jmall 
.Size; and  an  abjei\ce  of  irvdicaliotxs  of 
Cl&jj  Dijtiactioas. 

In  Investments  in  Real-Ertate.a  5mall 
sum  invejted inland  to  jecure  good  light 
and  air,  will  often  bring  in  a  better  Re- 
turn thanalarber  jum  wed  in  addition 
al  building  whicn  .shuts  ott  light  end  air 

By  the  Pl&ru  end  /^ethodj  here  in- 
dicated, the  fullert  number  of  fami- 
lies  ujually  howed  on  Hew  York 
Iot5  are  accommodated  on  ar\ 
Bt(ualyVea,,  and  the  other  main 
advantage,?  of  the  New  ^tbrk  Jtreet 
and  Lot  Jyjtemare  retained,  while 
the  main  evib  generated  by  that 
Jyjtem  are  avoided. 

TH15  PLAT1  U  4UITCD  T9  L9TJ  RAI-nER 
WIDER  9R  HARR°WEfl;  BUT,  ?H  NARROWER 
U?TJ  THE  C9JT  9P  DUILDIMG  W9ULD  H9T 

Dimriun  j9njcHAJTntJizE  9PTI1E 

DWEUJNGJ,  H9R  w9ULD  THE  IMTtREJT  <?H 
C9JT  9rLAHD  J9  JAVE-D  PROBABLY  EQUAL 
THE  LW  PR9ATHCK  DiniH15HED  VALUt. 
VvTDER  L9TJ  V9ULD  GIVE  LARGER  R99nj 
BUT  H9T  THEH  C9ULD  J9  /^AHY  PAftj 
LIVE  9rt  THE  JAnE>ABfA?PGR9lfflD. 


-  zoft.ioin- 

-Jfc  of  123ft- 


-    20ft.      - 
-'/joflooft- 


-fyof  15on-»-Etc. 


Htliotype  fritting  Co.Boston 


MAY  5,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


211 


Kye-bar». — The  bars  for  swivel  connection  to  lie  of  square  or  round 
iron  as  shown,  the  full  sine  to  be  carried  round  the  loops  which  shall  be 
well  ami  truly  formed  and  welded. 

The  swivel  ends  of  bars  to  be  up-set  and  forged  round  and  to  have 
right  anil  left  hand  thread  cut  so  that  the  seetioiuil  area  at  the  root  of 
the  threads  shall  equal  the  area  of  the  bars.  All  eye-bars  must  be  free 
from  flaws,  of  full  and  uniform  thickness,  and  perfectly  straight  before 
being  bored.  The  pill  holes  must  be  in  the  centre  of  the  head  and  on 
the  centre  line  of  the  bar.  The  bars  must  be  bored  to  exact  lengths 
and  the  pin-holes  not  more  than  1-04"  larger  than  the  finished  diameter 
of  pins.  Kach  bidder  must  state  his  mode  of  manufacture  of  eye-bars. 

Pint.  —  All  pins  to  be  turned  straight  and  smooth  and  to  fit  the  pin- 
holes  to  within  1-1(4" ;  the  diameters  of  the  pins,  as  noted  in  the  draw- 
ings, are  the  nominal  diameters;  the  finished  or  turned  diameters  to  be 
1  -Hi"  less ;  the  ends  of  all  pins  to  be  turned  down  to  take  the  nuts  to  a 
diameter  1-2"  less  than  diameter  of  pin  ;  the  nuts,  unless  otherwise 
shown,  to  be  3-4"  thick  hexagonal,  and  have  a  short  diameter  1"  greater 
than  diameter  of  pin;  the  threads  to  be  eight  per  inch;  the  spools  for 
pins  to  be  wrought-iron  pipe,  the  inner  diameter  of  which  to  be 
1-4"  greater  than  diameter  of  pin. 

Jack  Rafter*.  —  All  jack  rafters  between  trusses  to  be  framed  into 
beam  purlins,  which  must  be  substantially  secured  to  trusses;  all 
rafters  and  hips  to  have  wrought-iron  angles  riveted  to  webs  for  footing 
up  and  anchoring  to  bearing-plates,  which  must  ba  secured  to  walls  by 
expansion-bolts.  All  framing  for  beam  purlins,  jack  and  hip  rafters, 
deck  beams,  etc.,  to  be  made  by  angle-irons  properly  shaped  for  fitting ; 
fish-plates,  etc.,  secured  in  place  by  rivets  and  bolts  of  standard  sizes, 
as  specified  for  floor  framing.  All  joints  and  mitres  of  beams,  chan- 
nels, bars,  angles,  etc.,  must  be  cut  clean  and  accurate  to  the  proper 
and  true  angle  and  fitted  closely.  [It  is  usual  to  rivet  all  work  which 
can  be  done  at  the  shops ;  the  remainder  is  generally  put  together  with 
bolts.] 

JRivett.  —  All  rivets  used  throughout  the  work,  not  otherwise  noted, 
shown  or  specified,  to  be  6-8"  and  3-4"  diameter  as  required. 

All  rivet-holes  must  be  accurately  punched  or  drilled  so  that  the 
pieces  to  be  connected  shall  permit  of  being  riveted  without  the  use  of 
drifts. 

All  rivets  to  have  "cup  heads,"  except  where  countersinking  is 
necessary  and  all  rivets  must  completely  fill  the  holes. 

Shape  Iron.  —  The  contractor  will  not  be  limited  to  shape  iron  fur- 
nished by  any  particular  mill  and  variations  from  the  shapes  shown  by 
the  drawings  will  be  allowed  provided  the  sectional  area  is  not  dimin- 
ished ;  such  changes,  however,  must  receive  the  approval  of  the  Super- 
vising Architect  before  being  carried  into  effect  and  no  additional  com- 
pensation shall  be  claimed  or  allowed  therefor. 

Tension  Members.  — The  tension  members  of  trusses,  etc.,  must  be  of 
the  best  quality,  double-refined  iron  and  finished  bars  must  be  thor- 
oughly welded  in  the  rolling  and  free  from  injurious  seams,  buckles, 
blisters,  cinder-spots  and  imperfect  edges. 

Specimens  for  Tests. — The  successful  bidder  will  be  required  to  pro- 
vide for  testing,  without  extra  charge,  specimens  of  the  iron,  about  six 
in  all,  which  he  proposes  to  use,  shaped  according  to  a  diagram  which 
will  be  furnished,  and  no  iron  shall  be  worked  into  members  of  the 
roof,  etc.,  until  after  specimens  shall  have  been  tested  and  the  quality 
of  the  iron  approved  by  the  Supervising  Architect.  The  specimens  or 
test-pieces  will  be  about  Hi"  long,  with  area  reduced  to  one-half  square 
inch  for  a  length  of  10"  and  the  elongation,  as  noted  below,  shall  be 
measured  for  a  length  of  8". 

The  following  table  shows  the  ultimate  strength  and  elongations 
which  the  different  kinds  of  iron  will  be  required  to  show  when  tested 
in  specimens  of  the  sectional  area  and  length  as  above  specified. 


Specimens  of 

Ultimate 
Tensile  Strength 

Elongation  In  a 
Length  of  8  in. 

Flats,  rounds  and  squares  

50  000  Ibs. 

18  to  20  per  cent. 

CO  000   " 

12    "      " 

Plate  iron  

45^000   " 

10    "      " 

All  rivets  and  pins  must  be  of  the  best  quality,  doubted-refined  iron. 

All  tension  members  made  by  welding  the  eye  to  the  bar  shall  be 
tested  to  a  stress  of  20,000  pounds  per  square  inch  before  being  accepted 
by  the  Government. 

The  contractor  will  be  required  to  furnish  facilities  for  the  inspection 
of  the  iron  and  workmanship  to  the  duly  accredited  agent  of  the 
Government. 

If  it  be  deemed  necessary  to  cut  specimens  for  testing  from  finished 
pieces  of  the  structure,  such  finished  piece  will  be  paid  for  at  cost ;  but 
should  the  iron  so  tested  not  withstand  the  required  tests,  it  will  be 
considered  as  rejected,  and  no  compensation  therefore  will  be  allowed. 

Purlins. —  The  entire  iron  framing  of  roofs,  steep  portions,  decks, 
roof  and  sides  of  dormers,  etc.,  to  have  rolled-iron  2"x2"x  l-4"x-bar 
purlins  spaced  generally  10"  apart  secured  at  each  bearing  with  3-8" 
diameter  rivets,  where  purlins  abut  masonry,  2"x2"L  irons  for  sup- 
porting the  ends  of  them  to  be  bolted  with  3-4"  xO"  expansion  bolts  4' 
apart. 

WROUGHT    AND    CAST    IRON    ROOF    TRIMMINGS. 

Cutters. —  Gutters  with  the  crown  mould  of  cornice  are  frequently 
made  of  east-iron  3-8"  thick,  the  bottoms  to  be  graded  to  drain  water  to 
outlets  and  to  extend  up  under  the  eaves  of  slate  or  roof  covering  and 
secured  to  ironwork  of  roof  by  bolts,  and  the  crown  mould  secured  to 
stone  or  brickwork  by  expansion  bolts  5  8"  diameter  every  3' apart, 
outlet  hoppers  to  be  cast  with  the  section  of  gutter  at  points  noted  to 
connect  with  4"  diameter  down  piping,  they  should  be  cast  in  form  0'  to 
8'  lengths  and  all  joints  lapped  2"  made  flush  and  the  sections  fastened 
together  with  countersink  screws  or  bolts. 

Hips,  Hidt/es,  etc. —  Deck  cornices,  hips,  and  ridges  are  frequently 
made  of  cast-iron  3-8"  thick  with  the  necessary  stiffening  ribs  spaced 
about  3'  inch  apart,  to  be  made  to  fit  closely  to  slate  or  roof  covering, 
all  cross  joints  to  lap  2"  made  flush  and  the  work  fastened  together  and 
to  brackets  by  1-2"  diameter  countersink  bolts  or  screws,  the  brackets 


to  be  cast-iron  with  3"  wide  spaced  about  3'  apart  and  bolted  to  the  iron 
framing  of  roof. 

Scuttles  are  usually  made  of  frame  of  boiler  plate  iron  1-8"  thick  or 
cast-iron  3-8"  thick  with  angle-irons  riveted  or  bolted  in  corners  and  to 
bottom  edges  and  the  angle-irons  bolted  to  roof  beams  with  3-8"  diam- 
eter bolts,  the  cover  to  be  of  galvanized  sheet  wire  No.  10  B.  W.  G. 
riveted  to  1  1-2"  x  1  1-2"  angle-iron  frame  and  to  be  hung  and  provided 
with  heavy  wrought-iron  hinges,  hasps  and  staples  securely  riveted  or 
bolted. 

Ventilators. — Generally  Kmerson's  ventilators  or  Hayes's  ventilating 
skylights  are  used,  the  frame-work  is  constructed  of  angle-irons  or 
where  very  large,  of  small  rolled-iron  beams  securely  riveted  or  bolted 
at  all  connections  with  from  3-8"  to  6-8"  diameter  bolts,  the  base  louvret 
and  roof  to  be  No.  10  (or  20)  B.  W.  G.,  galvanized  sheet-iron  lapped 
1  1-2'  and  riveted  at  all  connections  and  riveted  to  framing,  and  rafters. 
TheVoof  and  part  of  the  sides  of  Hayes's  ventilating  skylight  to  be  pro- 
vided with  heavy  ribbed  glass  from  1-4"  to  3-8"  thick. 

Skylights. — The  small  skylights  are  generally  made  of  Hayes's  stand- 
ards as  shown  in  his  illustrated  catalogue,  the  supports  for  same  to  be 
3"  x  4"  angle-irons  framed  with  angles  and  rivets  and  bolted  to  iron  roof 
framing  or  to  brick  walls  by  expansion-bolts,  the  skylights  generally 
have  a  curb  about  0"  high  above  roof. 

Cresting  and  t'inials,  are  generally  made  of  wrought-iron,  but  fre- 
quently cast-iron ;  the  different  sections  should  be  thoroughly  secured 
together  by  rivets,  wedges  and  bolts  and  also  secured  to  the  ridge  beam 
or  purlins  and  securely  braced  using  wrought  knees,  angle-irons,  rods, 
etc.,  as  may  be  necessary.  All  joints  in  exposed  cast-iron  work  to  be 
made  water-tight  by  using  red  lead,  elastic  cement  or  other  approved  sub- 
stance. All  holes  in  cast-iron  work  for  bolts  or  screws  must  be  drilled. 


The  stringers  and  trimmers  to  be  wrought-iron  beams  and  channels  as 
shown,  all  securely  framed  together  and  to  bearing  plates  with  standard 
angle-irons  and  bolts.  Bent  carriage-beams  to  be  used  where  shown. 
The  wall  stringers  to  be  channel-irons  bolted  to  brickwork  with  3-4"  x 
6''  expansion-bolts  3'  apart.  The  wall  bearings  for  beams  and  channel- 
irons  to  be  at  least  8",  resting  on  plates  8"x  12".  Bracket  step  car- 
riages to  be  cast-iron  3-8"  metal  3"  wide  flanges  of  various  shapes  and  di- 
mensions required.  Brackets  for  casings  to  be  about  2'  apart.  Each 
bracket  to  be  bolted  to  stringers,  with  2  1-2"  bolts.  The  risers,  casings, 
newels-posts,  balusters,  etc.,  to  be  of  cast-iron  of  the  thickness  and  de- 
sign shown  all  securely  fastened  to  supports.  All  ornamental  cast-iron 
work  to  be  fine  stove  castings  of  designs  shown  on  de.ail  drawings.  All 
mitres  in  cast-iron  work  to  be  properly  faced  to  insure  a  perfect  joint. 
The  holes  for  bolts  and  screws  to  be  drilled.  No  wood  blocks  or  wedges 
to  be  used. 

The  rolled-iron  required  for  framing  to  be  of  American  manufacture 
and  subject  to  same  tests  as  specified  for  other  structural  ironwork.  Iron 
balusters  to  be  firmly  secured,  as  shown,  to  support  and  to  core-rail 
above.  The  core-rail  to  be  1  1-4"  x  1-4"  drilled  and  countersunk  every 
12"  apart  for  screws  to  secure  handrail.  Handrail  to  be  of  mahogany, 
walnut  or  oak  closely  bolted  at  joints  and  finely  polished.  The  treads 
and  platforms  to  be  of  dark  blue  or  purple  slate  1  l-2'»  thick  rubbed  on 
all  exposed  sides  and  edges,  of  shape,  and  secured,  as  shown  on  draw- 
ings :  the  treads  to  be  in  one  piece  each  :  the  platform  to  be  jointed  if 
necessary  over  the  trimmers  as  shown  on  drawings.  The  soflits  of  stairs 
and  platforms  to  be  furred  with  angle-irons  to  the  lines  required  and 
lathed  with  approved  iron  laths  ready  for  plaster,  or  where  panelled  sof- 
fits are  shown  the  mouldings  to  be  executed  in  cast-iron  1-2"  thick  and 
the  flat  panel  in  galvanized  sheet-iron  all  securely  bolted  in  places. 

Where  treads  and  platforms  are  made  of  cast-iron  they  are  to  be  dia- 
mond-channelled or  checkered  on  top,  the  channelling  to  be  raised  1-8" 
and  to  have  a  smooth  margin  of  1"  all  around. 

The  wall  skirting  of  stairways  to  be  cast-iron  to  follow  the  line  of 
treads  and  platforms  and  to  start  and  stop  on  landings  against  the 
architraves  of  the  nearest  door,  to  be  made  in  strict  accordance  with 
details  and  have  stiffening  ribs  every  2' and  fastened  to  walls  with  3-8" 
diameter  x  8"  long  countersunk  expansion-bolts  3'  apart  and  to  iron- 
work where  necessary  with  top  bolts  or  screws. 

Spiral  stairs  to  have  treads,  risers  and  section  of  newel  cast  in  one 
piece  and  built  around  a  wrought-iron  pipe  and  each  step  secured  to 
same  by  top  screws;  the  balusters  to  be  thoroughly  screwed  to  treads 
and  to  railing. 

Step-ladder  from  attic  floor  to  scuttle  in  roof  to  be  constructed  of 
twoO''  channels  for  stringers  secured  at  bottom  with  3"x  3''  angle-irons 
and  two  9"  long  x  3-4"  diameter  expansion-bolts.  The  treads  to  be 
white  oak  1  1-4"  thick  resting  on  angle-irons  3"  x  3",  riveted  to  stringers, 
by  two  6-8"  diameter  rivets,  and  the  steps  secured  to  angle-irons  by 
three  wood-screws  to  each  angle. 

Wrought-iron  gratings  to  be  provided  for  small  window  areas,  the 
frame  to  be  2" x  3-8",  let  into  stone  coping  and  have  3"  bearing,  the 
bars  to  be  1  1-2"  x  1-4",  swaged  into  frame  and  held  apart  in  centre  by 
iron  spools  with  rod  passing  through. 

FENCES. 

Iron  fences  are  generally  placed  on  the  street  fronts  of  Government 
buildings;  on  the  rear  and  side  either  wooden  board  fences  or  brick 
walls  are  built. 

Iron  fences  are  usually  built  on  top  of  stone  copings  or  on  stone 
blocks  set  about  18"  in  the  ground  for  each  post  to  rest  on.  The  posts, 
rails,  pickets  and  ornamental  work  between  pickets  are  made  of 
wrought-iron;  the  posts  are  generally  spaced  0'  to  8"  apart  and  are 
made  1  3-4"  square,  with  small  posts  1"  square,  about  1'  to  2'  apart; 
the  main  posts  and  each  alternate  small  post  to  have  cast-iron  collar 
on  boss  fitting  coping  and  are  leaded  into  stone  coping  4",  the  small 
posts,  which  are  not  leaded,  to  stop  at  top  of  stone,  the  bosses  to  be 
fastened  to  post  by  3-8"  diameter  countersunk  tap-screws ;  the  small 
posts  pass  through  the  rails  and  are  swaged  thereto.  The  rails  (gener- 
ally three)  to  be  6-8"  x  1  3-4",  (Tie  ends  bent  at  right  angles  and  fastened 
with  two  3-8"  diameter  bolts  to  large  posts;  all  ironwork,  where  neces- 
sary, to  be  let  into  stone  coping,  posts  or  wall  of  building  at  least 


55 


212 


The   American   Architect  and  Building   News.      [VoL.  XXIII.  —  No.  645. 


4",  loaded  and  caulked  tight ;  the  scrolls  and  ornamental  work  to  be 
secured  to  rails  and  posts  with  3-8''  diameter  rivets  (or  screws  where 
rivets  cannot  be  used)  and  to  stonework  with  3-8"  x  4"  bolts. 

Sometimes  cast-iron  posts  are  used.  They  are  generally  made 
4"  square,  1-4"  thick,  placed  8'  to  10'  apart,  and  are  set  in  the  ground 
about  18",  having  a  cedar  post  driven  firmly  in  the  hollow  base  of  post 
and  set  in  the  ground  from  3'  to  4' ;  the  rails  to  which  the  intermediate 
posts,  pickets  and  ornamental  work  are  secured  are  fastened  to  the 
cast-iron  posts  by  tap-screws  or  bolts.  The  gates  for  entrances  to 
driveways  and  interior  walks  are  made  of  wrought-iron  with  scrolls, 
ornamental  panels,  braces,  etc.,  and  riveted  with  round-head  rivets. 
The  stanchions  to  which  the  gates  are  hung  to  be  wrought-iron  let  into 
stonework  0"  and  the  brace  fastened  with  1-2"  diameter  x  4"  long 
expansion-bolts  with  hexagonal  heads ;  the  double  gates  have  a  bolt 
on  standing  leaf  which  is  to  be  dropped  into  hole  in  stone  gate-stop  ; 
the  other  leaf  of  double  gates  and  the  small  gates  are  to  have  approved 
stops,  hasp,  staple  and  latches  for  fastening ;  the  double  gates  to  have 
spring  catches  secured  to  stone  blocks  to  hold  them  when  open. 

Ornamental  iron  grilles  are  usually  made  of  wrought-iron  (sometimes 
cast)  and  have  a  frame  of  1  1-4"  x  1-4"  secured  to  masonry  by 
1-2"  diameter  x  3"  long  expansion-bolts. 

For  steps  and  platforms  at  mail  entrance  and  on  coping  of  basement- 
entrance  area,  is  provided  a  railing,  the  posts  about  4'  apart  and  from 
two  to  three  rails,  all  of  wrought-iron  2"  diameter  gas-pipe,  with  cast- 
iron  beaded  fittings  secured  to  rails  by  tap-screws;  frequently  the 
pipes  are  screwed  into  fittings  as  far  as  practicable;  the  post  to  have  a 
cast-iron  Boss  secured  to  stone  by  3-8"  diameter  x  6"  long  expansion- 
bolts  and  the  posts  fastened  to  boss  by  three  3-8"  diameter  tap-screws. 

Iron  partitions  are  made  of  studs  spaced  16"  on  centres,  sills,  and 
cap,  all  of  4"  light  channels  or  I-beams  framed  and  secured  together 
by  angle-irons,  -rivets  and  bolts ;  the  end  pieces,  sill  and  cap  are 
secured  every  (i'  to  masonry  by  expansion-bolts. 

Lattice  partitions  for  vaults  are  made  of  steel ;  three  and  five  ply 
welded  steel  and  iron  and  iron  bars  1"  x  1-4"  or  3-8"  spaced  4"  on  cen- 
tres and  inclined  at  an  angle  of  45°,  the  sides,  bottom  and  top  to  be 
riveted  in  between  angle-irons  1  1-2"  x  1  1-2",  and  the  angle-irons 
secured  to  steel  lining  of  vault  by  tap-bolts  8"  apart  or  to  masonry  by 
expansion-bolts  8"  apart  on  alternate  sides  of  partition. 

Illuminating  tiling  is  used  in  sidewalks  to  give  light  to  vaults  and 
frequently  in  the  first  floor  to  give  light  to  the  interior  of  basement. 

The  curbs  or  frames  are  made  of  cast-iron,  with  ribs  and  flanges  and 
fastened  to  beams,  etc.,  properly  framed  for  same  with  bolts  or  screws, 
the  top  being  flush  with  floor  or  sidewalk.  The  tiles  are  made 
1  1-4"  thick  and  the  glass  lenses  3"  to  4"  across,  either  circular  or 
hexagonal,  smooth  on  top ;  the  spaces  between  lenses  are  filled  in  with 
Portland  cement  or  other  approved  substance.  Sometimes  small 
lenses  about  2"  diameter  are  set  into  iron  frames  and  leaded. 

Painting. —  All  iron  work  to  be  cleaned  of  scales  and  dirt  and  to  re- 
ceive one  coat  of  metallic  or  red-lead  paint  in  oil  before  leaving  the 
shop. 

All  pins,  pin-holes  and  machined  surfaces  must  be  coated  with  white 
lead  and  tallow  before  being  shipped,  in  riveted  work  all  surfaces 
coming  in  contact  to  be  painted  before  being  riveted ;  bearing  and  other 
surfaces  not  accessible  for  painting  after  erection  to  receive  two  coats 
of  paint  before  leaving  the  shop. 

After  erection  and  completion,  all  the  ironwork  to  be  thoroughly  and 
evenly  painted,  one  coat  of  metallic  or  red-lead  paint  mixed  with  pure 
linseed  oil. 

Vault  Doors.  —  Vaults  in  Government  buildings  a  few  years  back 
were  generally  lined  with  steel,  single  steel  lining  1  1-4"  thick,  or  double 
steel  lining  2"  thick ;  this  is  seldom  done  now,  but  fire  and  burglar 
proof  vault  doors  are  provided  for  the  vaults  which  are  generally 
located  in  the  interior  of  the  building,  and  enclosed  in  solid  briek  walls, 
the  doors  are  generally  3'  x  7'  and  3"  thick,  built  of  alternate  layers 
1-4"  thick  of  welded  steel  and  iron,  secured  together  with  rivets,  screws, 
twisted  iron  and  conical  shaped  bolts  ;  the  edges  of  doors  and  their  re- 
pective  jambs  are  constructed  with  steps,  tongues  and  grooves  perfectly 
fitting  each  other  :  the  doors  are  provided  with  2"  diameter  bolts  made 
of  cold  rolled  shafting-iron  (usually  8  bolts)  and  the  hinges  made  of 
wrought-iron  with  steel-pins  :  the  frames  for  the  doors  are  constructed 
of  wrought-iron  or  steel,  the  jambs  are  made  the  full  depth  of  brick 
walls  and  secured  by  3-4"  diameter  expansion-bolts  spaced  12"  apart. 

The  locks  used  are  combination  locks,  generally  the  combination 
time-locks  manufactured  by  Sargent  &  Greenleaf. 

The  inside  door  of  vault  is  made  of  boiler-iron,  arranged  and  hinged 
to  open  in  the  jambs  with  the  necessary  bolts  and  a  tumbler-lock  opened 
with  a  key ;  these  are  usually  called  day  doors. 

MEASUREMENT. 

Most  all  ironwork  is  estimated  by  the  pound  •  ornamental  ironwork 
such  as  stairs,  fences,  grilles,  crestings,  finials,  etc.,  of  course  is  depend- 
ent mostly  upon  the  design  for  the  cost.  Cast-iron  is  generally  estima- 
ted at  450  pounds,  and  wrought-iron  at  480  pounds  per  cubic  foot,  the 
unit  is  generally  taken  as  a  square  foot  1"  thick  weighing  37  1-2  pounds 
for  cast-iron  and  40  pounds  for  wrought-iron. 

The  actual  volume  should  be  taken  deducting  all  holes,  except  those 
punched  or  cut  out  for  bolts,  rivets,  etc. ;  for  rolled-iron  all  the  weights 
per  lineal  foot  or  yard  are  given  by  the  rolling-mills'  hand-books,  and 
the  weight  is  obtained  by  simply  multiplying  by  the  length  of  the  piece. 

Iron  girders  carrying  only  floors,  weigh  from  60  pounds  to  100  pounds 
per  lineal  foot,  and  carrying  ordinary  walls  and  floors  for  a  two  or  three 
story  building  from  130  pounds  to  200  pounds  per  lineal  foot,  seldom  as 
high  as  the  latter,  these  of  course  are  dependent  upon  the  loads  and 
spans. 

Floor-beams  for  a  small  building  will  average  5  pounds  to  6  pounds 
per  square  foot  of  floor  area,  and  for  a  large  building  6  pounds  to  7 
pounds  per  square  foot. 

Iron  roofs  without  trusses  but  including  purlins  will  weigh  from  8 
pounds  to  10  pounds  per  square  foot  of  roof  area,  and  including  the 
average  number  of  trusses  about  12  pounds.  The  iron  roof  for  the 


Government   building  at   Nashville,  Tenn.,  which   had   a  great  many 
trusses  averaged  14  pounds  per  square  foot. 


The  cost  of  iron  is  so  changeable  and  is  dependent  upon  so  many 
causes  that  scarcely  any  general  approximate  data  can  be  given.  In  the 
past  few  years  it  has  varied  in  price  from  6c.  to  2c.  for  cast-iron  and 
from  He.  to  3c.  for  wrought-iron.  In  estimating  cast-iron,  the  cost  of 
making  patterns  and  whether  they  can  be  used  for  one  or  more  articles 
must  be  taken  in  account.  Kolled-iron  and  plain  cast-iron  can  be  esti- 
mated at  the  rates  given  in  the  quoted  weekly  price  lists.  Ornamental 
ironwork  can  be  estimated  correctly  after  careful  experience. 

Cast-iron  bed-plates,  cost  from  1  l-2c.  to  3c.  per  pound. 

Cast-iron  columns,  etc.,  cost  from  3e.        to  5c.    "         " 

Rolled-iron  beams,  channels,  etc.,  cost  from    4c.        to  7c.    "         " 
Iron  roof  construction,  cost  from  6c.        to  lOc. "         " 

Iron  stairs  for  public  stories,  including  ornamental  balustrade  cost 
from  §30.00  to  §45.00  per  step. 

Grilles  and  window  screens  cost  from  §1.00  to  §2.00  per  square  foot, 
up. 

Iron  fences  with  posts  7'  to  8' apart,  with  wrought-iron  pickets,  rails, 
scrolls,  etc.,  cost  from  $2.50  to  §3.00  per  lineal  foot. 
Pipe  railing,  cost  from  §1.00  to  §1.50  per  lineal  foot. 

JAS.  E.  BLACKWEI.I,. 


GENERAL  Q.  A.  GILLMORE. 


AN  •  ENTRANC  E  •  GATEWAY 
Artp-BmpcE  •.  CW-WARD-AHCHT- , 


0F  General  Q.  A.  Gillmore,  who  died  April  7th  last,  the  New 
York  Times  says: 
Historians  and  biographers  have  written  of  Gen.  Gillmore  that 
he  was  the  greatest  artillerist  and  one  of  the  greatest  engineers  in 
the  war  of  the  rebellion.  He  was  born  at  Black  River,  Lorain 
County,  Ohio,  Feb.  28th,  1825.  His  father,  Quartius  Gillmore,  a 
farmer,  moved  to  Ohio  from  Massachusetts  in  1811,  becoming  one  of 
the  pioneers  on  the  "  Western  Reserve."  He  was  born  on  the  day 
on  which  the  news  of  John  Quincy  Adams's  election  to  the  Presidency 
was  received  at  Black  River,  and  his  father  expressed  his  gratifica- 
tion at  the  result  by  naming  his  first-born  after  the  President.  The 
boy's  early  years  were  all  spent  on  his  father's  farm,  his  only  "  school- 
ing" being  obtained  during  three  months  in  winter.  When  thirteen 
years  old  he  was  sent  to  the  Norwalk  Academy,  twenty-five  miles 
distant  from  his  home.  Here,  in  a  few  years,  he  was  made  a  teacher, 
with  some  of  his  former  classmates  for  pupils.  Later  he  entered 
Elyria  Academy,  where,  in  1845,  he  secured  first  place  in  English 
composition  by  writing  his  first  and,  as  far  as  known,  his  only  poem. 
This  production  attracted  the  attention  of  the  Hon.  E.  S.  Hamlin, 
Member  of  Congress  for  the  district,  and  he  offered  young  Gillmore 
a  cadetship  at  West  Point.  The  student  accepted  it.  Before  his 
first  year  with  his  class  had  closed  he  was  its  leader  in  mathematics, 
and  in  1849  was  graduated  at  its  head.  In  the  year  of  his  gradua- 
tion he  married  Miss  Mary  O'Maher  of  West  Point. 

His  high  standing  in  his  class  determined  the  nature  of  his  assign- 
ment to  duty,  and  he  was  made  Brevet  Second  Lieutenant  in  the 
Corps  of  Engineers.  He  served  as  Assistant  Engineer  in  building 
Forts  Monroe  and  Calhoun,  for  the  defense  of  Hampton  Roads,  Va., 
from  1849  to  1852.  In  the  latter  year  he  was  ordered  to  return  to 


MAY  5,  1888.] 


TJie   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


213 


Point  to  act  as  assistant  instructor  of  practical  military  engineer- 
ing. Sept.  .Jtli.  is.'ni,  he  was  given  his  commission  as  Second  Lieti- 
tc  iiMiit  of  Engineers,  and  was  Treasurer  and  Quartermaster  of  the 
Academy  during  1855  and  1856.  July  1st,  1856,  he  was  commissioned 
a  First  Lieutenant  in  his  corps,  and  was  again  sent  to  Fort  Munroe,  to 
act  as  assistant  engineer  in  the  construction  of  the  works  there.  In  a  few 
weeks,  however,  he  was  given  charge  of  the  engineer  agency  in 
New  York  city,  and  he  also  had  charge  of  the  work  of  supplying  and 
shipping  materials  for  the  fortifications.  During  1857  and  1858, 
Lieut,  (iillmore  had  charge  of  the  fortifications  in  New  York  Harbor, 
and  he  remained  in  control  of  the  Engineering  Agency  until  the 
breaking  out  of  the  war  in  1861.  During  his  later  years  at  the 
Military  Academy,  from  1852  to  1856,  he  made  many  experiments 
with  round-shot  projectiles  against  masonry.  During  his  control 
of  the  New  York  Harbor  fortifications  and  the  Engineering  Agency 
he  experimented  extensively  with  limes  and  cement,  with  especial 
reference  to  their  use  in  the  masonry  of  fortifications. 

Lieut.  Gillmore  applied  for  active  duty  ir.  the  field  in  August,  1861, 
and  he  was  at  once  called  upon  to  fit  out  the  expedition  against  the 
coast  defenses  of  South  Carolina.  He  was  made  Captain,  and  Chief 
Engineer  to  Gen.  W.  T.  Sherman.  In  November  and  December, 
1861,  he  succeeded  in  fortifying  Hilton  Head,  and  then  the  atten- 
tion of  the  corps  was  directed  towards  Savannah.  Fort  Pulaski,  situ- 
ated on  a  marshy  island,  covered  both  channels  of  the  Savannah 
River,  and  its  demolition  was  necessary  in  order  to  render  the  ap- 
proach of  Union  vessels  to  the  city  possible.  The  oldest  and  ablest 
engineers  in  the  service  declared  that,  owing  to  the  peculiarly  marshy 
or  slimy  condition  of  the  land  on  the  coast,  upon  which  guns  could 
not  be  placed,  it  would  be  absolutely  impossible  to  subdue  the  fort  — 
that,  in  fact,  it  was  impregnable. 

Late  in  November  Capt.  (iillmore  was  ordered  to  make  a  recon- 
noissance  of  the  locality,  and  two  days  later  reported  that  he  deemed 
the  reduction  of  Fort  Pulaski  practicable  by  means  of  batteries  of 
mortars  and  rifled  guns  placed  on  Tybee  Island.  He  would  require, 
he  said,  10  10-inch  sea-coast  mortars,  10  13-inch  sea-coast  mortars,  8 
heavy  rifled  guns,  and  8  columbiads.  This  proposition  was  received 
with  astonishment  by  Capt.  Gillmore's  superior  officers,  and  was 
treated  with  ridicule  by  some  of  the  older  engineers  of  the  corps. 
Tybee  Island  was  something  over  1,700  yards  from  Fort  Pulaski, 
and  the  limit  for  the  practicable  breaching  of  masonry  forts  was  then 
generally  supposed  to  be  1,000  yards;  in  fact,  the  limit  was  con- 
sidered to  be  from  600  to  700  yards,  excepting  under  peculiarly 
favorable  circumstances.  Even  at  these  distances  from  four  to  seven 
days'  firing,  with  considerable  artillery,  was  considered  necessary  in 
order  to  render  a  breach  practicable.  Capt.  Gillmore  was  unable  to 
quote  any  authority  for  his  belief  that  Fort  Pulaski  could  be  breached 
at  a  distance  of  1,700  yards,  and  had  only  his  theoretical  ideas  and 
his  experiments  to  give  him  assurance.  The  position  of  the  fort  was 
such,  that  Gen.  R.  E.  Lee,  in  the  winter  of  1861,  notified  the  com- 
mander that  he  had  nothing  to  fear  from  Tybee  Island,  as  it  was  not 
within  even  dangerous  distance.  Capt.  Gillmore,  however,  believed 
that  the  capacity  of  rifled  guns  had  not  been  fully  appreciated. 
Gen.  Totten,  the  venerable  head  of  the  corps,  frowned  upon  the 
young  captain's  scheme  as  visionary.  The  general  commanding, 
however,  while  not  fully  convinced  of  the  wisdom  of  the  scheme, 
determined  to  let  him  try  it,  so  he  endorsed  the  plan  and  sent  it  to 
Washington.  Six  weeks  later  a  reluctant  consent  was  given,  and 
operations  were  begun. 

In  order  to  cut  off  communication  between  the  fort  and  Savannah, 
it  was  necessary  to  place  batteries  on  the  shore  of  the  river  above  the 
fort.  The  coast  was  a  marsh  filled  with  mud  and  slime  from  two  to 
twenty-five  feet  deep,  yet  the  heavy  guns  of  the  battery  were  trans- 
ported across  it  for  four  miles  to  Venus's  Point,  on  Jones's  Island. 
The  transportation  was  accomplished  by  hand  power  over  a  wheel- 
barrow track  of  plank.  This,  of  itself,  was  considered  to  be  a  most 
remarkable  feat  of  engineering,  but,  the  battery  once  established  at 
Venus's  Point,  Fort  Pulaski  was  isolated.  The  Confederate  garrison 
did  not  obtain  an  inkling  of  these  operations,  which  were  carried  on 
by  night  and  by  day.  Tybee,  like  Jones's  Island,  was  a  marsh  full 
of  slimy  mud,  but  there  were  solid  ridges  on  the  former  at  intervals, 
and  to  these  the  heavy  guns  were  transported  in  the  same  manner 
as  in  the  latter  place.  Although  the  island  was  in  full  sight  of  the 
fort,  the  operations  of  Capt.  Gillmore's  force  were  so  carefully  con- 
ducted that  the  garrison  knew  nothing  of  what  was  going  on. 

When  the  batteries  were  all  in  position  extending  in  an  arc  for 
2,550  yards,  Gen.  Sherman  determined  that  Capt.  Gilimore  should 
have  all  the  honor  of  success,  or  bear  all  the  burden  of  failure,  and 
he  accordingly  authorized  him  to  act  as  Brigadier-General,  in  the 
meantime  soliciting  the  appointment  for  him  from  the  President. 
Thenceforward  Gen.  Gillmore  had  all  the  details  in  his  own  hands. 
He  gave  detailed  instructions  to  the  gunners  as  to  range,  elevation, 
anil  intervals  of  fire,  and  on  the  evening  of  April  9th,  1862,  issued 
his  order  for  the  bombardment.  On  the  morning  of  the  10th,  the 
firing  began.  It  was  soon  found  that  the  smooth  bores,  mortars,  and 
coliimbiads  were  useless  at  the  distance  for  the  purpose  of  making 
breaches,  but  the  rifled  guns  soon  began  to  have  a  telling  effect  upon 
the  iort,  while,  the  responses  from  the  garrison  did  not  come  anywhere 
near  the  Union  batteries.  Before  night  a  breach  was  almost  effect- 
ed, and  by  two  o'clock  the  next  afternoon  the  fort,  in  a  dilapidated 
condition,  was  surrendered  to  Gen.  Gillmore.  This  achievement 
created  a  sensation  throughout  this  country,  and,  in  fact,  all  over 


Europe,  for  it  rendered  vulnerable  half  the  fortifications  of  the 
world.  Gen.  Gillmore's  provisional  appointment  as  Brigadier-Gen- 
eral was  confirmed  by  the  President,  and  soon  afterward  he  came 
home  to  New  York  on  sick  leave,  having  been  attacked  by  malaria. 
In  October,  he  was  assigned  to  command  the  district  of  Central  Ken- 
tucky. Here  he  defeated  Pcgram  at  the  battle  of  Somerset,  and 
drove  him  across  the  Cumberland.  For  this  he  was  brevetted  Col- 
onel of  Engineers. 

Later  in  the  same  year,  Gen.  Gillmore  accomplished  some  brilliant 
artillery  exploits  in  the  bombardment  of  Charleston,  for  which  he 
was  highly  commended  in  the  annual  reports  of  the  General-in-Chief. 
Soon  afterward  he  was  made  a  Major-General  of  Volunteers.  He 
acted  for  a  time  as  Inspector-General  of  the  fortifications  of  the  mili- 
tary division  of  West  Mississippi,  and  in  January,  1865,  was  given 
command  of  South  Carolina.  He  resigned  his  volunteer  commission 
in  December,  1865,  and  in  1866,  was  made  a  member  of  the  Special 
Hoard  of  Engineers  to  conduct  experiments  in  connection  with  the 
use  of  iron  in  the  construction  of  permanent  fortifications.  He 
served  as  superintending  engineer  of  the  fortifications  on  Staten 
Island,  from  1866  to  1863,  and  also,  for  several  succeeding  years,  of 
the  works  along  the  Atlantic  coast  south  of  New  York  City.  He 
was  made  a  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  Engineers,  June  13th,  1874,  and 
conducted  many  notable  military  enterprises  on  the  Atlantic  and 
Gulf  coasts.  He  was  one  of  the  judges  at  the  Centennial  Exhibition, 
in  1876,  and  was  President  of  the  Mississippi  Kivcr  Commission  in 
1879.  He  has  since  then  been  a  member  of  numerous  commissions 
appointed  by  the  Government  for  the  purpose  of  making  military 
tests. 

The  degree  of  A.  M.  was  conferred  on  Gen.  Gillmore  by  Oberlin 
College,  in  1856,  and  that  of  Ph.  D.  by  Rutgers  College,  in  1878. 
He  was  the  author  of  "  The  Siege  ami  Reduction  of  Fort  Pulaski," 
of  a  "  Practical  Treatise  on  Limes,  Hydraulic-Cements,  and  Mortars" 
of  "Engineering  and  Artillery  Operations  against  the  Defenses  of 
Charleston,"  of  "  Beton  Coignet,  and  Other  Artificial  Stones,"  of 
works  on  the  strength  of  building-stones  of  the  iJnited  States,  and 
on  roads,  streets,  and  pavements. 

One  of  his  biographers  says  of  Gen.  Gillmore's  military  record : 
"  He  made  himself  the  first  artillerist  of  the  war,  and  if  not  also  the 
first  engineer,  he  was  second  to  none.  In  the  boldness  and  origin- 
ality of  his  operations  he  surpassed  any  similar  achievements,  not 
only  in  this  war,  but  in  any  war.  Notwithstanding  the  varied  oper- 
ations around  Richmond,  Atlanta,  and  Vicksburg,  when  men  speak 
of  great  living  engineers,  they  think  as  naturally  of  Gillmore  in  the 
New  World,  as  of  Todleben,  in  the  Old." 


57 


STREET-WATERING  WITH   SEA-WATER. 

WHEN  the  world 
and  his  wife  go 
down   to  the 
sea-side  in   summer 
they  put  a  heavy  strain 
on    the   resources   of 
many   a    quiet    town. 
They  consume  all  the 
fresh  butter  and  eggs, 
the  milk,  and  the  fruit 
produced   for   miles 
round,  and,  not  least, 
they  reduce  the  store 
of   water   at  a  speed 
which  costs  the   local 
engineer    many    an 
anxious  hour.      They 
have   come  in    searcli 
of  health  and  pleasure, 
and  for   both    objects 
they  require  plenty  of 
water.     The  morning 
tub  becomes  an  article 
of   faith   with   them, 
even  if  they  neglect  it 
all  the  rest  of  the  year, 
and   the   ablutions  of 
the   children  arc  car- 
ried out  on  an  un- 
heard-of scale,  while,  if  every  atom  of  dust  in  the  street  is  not  laid, 
they  write  to  the  local  paper,  and  threaten  to  give  the  place  a  bad 
name  in  the  part  of  the  country  from  which  they  come.     This  extra 
demand  occurs  at  a  time  when  there  is  but  little  rainfall  to  replenish 
the  reservoir  or  underground  store  on  which  the  town  relies,  and 
when  the  flushing  of  the  drains  and  the  watering  of  gardens  is  added 
to  the  usual  requirements  of  the  resident  population.    Fortunately,  it 
only  lasts  a  short  time  —  so  short  that  it  renders  the  expenditure  of 
large  sums  for  providing  storage  a  very  unremunerative  proceeding. 
Under  these  conditions  it  is  curious  that  the  unlimited  sea  supplv  has 
not  been  more  often  drawn  upon.     Twice  a  day  it  comes  right  up  to 
the  town,  almost  at  the  street  level,  and  it  can  be  used  in  the  most 
lavish  way  without  any  danger  of  exhausting  the  store.     For  bathing 
purposes  salt  water  is  unequalled,  while  for  such  uses   as  flushing 
drains  and  watering  road?  it  might  be  expected  to  answer  perfectly 


214 


The   American    Architect   and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  645. 


well.  Unfortunately,  the  idea  was  at  one  time  prevalent  that  for 
these  two  purposes  sea-water  was  not  applicable.  It  was  demon- 
strated in  the  laboratory  that  the  combination  of  sewage  and  salt  water 
gave  rise  to  the  evolution  of  sulphuretted  hydrogen,  and  from  this  it 
was  argued  that  if  it  were  admitted  to  the  drains  it  would  occasion  a 
foul  smell  which  would  be  perceived  at  every  gully-hole,  and  would 
give  the  impression  that  the  system  of  sewerage  was  defective.  On 
the  roads  likewise  the  sea-water  was  credited  with  a  disintegrating 
action.  Consequently,  in  most  of  our  coast  towns  sea-water  was  not 
applied  to  any  municipal  purpose.  In  some  few,  however,  the  sur- 
veyor was  more  enterprising,  and  by  prolonged  trial  satisfied  himself 
that  none  of  the  evils  attributed  to  the  use  of  sea-water  were  of  any 
moment  if  reasonable  precautions  were  observed.  In  the  town  of 
Hyde  salt-water  has  been  used  for  road  sprinkling  for  thirty-five 
years;  and  there  are  several  other  towns  where  the  practice  has 
been  more  or  less  in  vogue  for  some  time.  Recently  the  subject  has 
attracted  general  attention  in  watering-places,  and  several  schemes 
have  been  mooted  for  the  local  supply  of  sea-water.  An  account  of 
those  projects  and  also  of  existing  works  has  been  compiled  by  Mr. 
Stephen  Harding  Terry,  and  forms  the  subject  of  a  paper  read  by 
him  before  the  Civil  and  Mechanical  Engineers'  Society.  From  this 
paper,  which  is  exhaustive  of  the  subject,  we  learn  that  there  is  an 
almost  universal  concensus  of  opinion  that  salt  water  is  superior  to 
fresh  water  as  a  means  of  laying  dust  on  flint,  macadam,  and  wood 
roads.  The  borough  engineer  of  Ipswich,  Mr.  E:  Buckham,  ad- 
dressed inquiries  to  the  engineers  of  thirty-five  coast  towns,  asking 
their  experience  with  sea-water.  Twelve  said  that  they  were  em- 
ploying it,  and  two  were  about  to  build  permanent  works  to  render 
its  use  possible.  Two,  only,  spoke  adversely  to  its  use  on  roads. 
The  remainder  witnessed  that  it  had  a  binding  effect  on  the  surface, 
covering  it  with  a  skin  or  glaze  quite  different  from  the  result  of 
fresh-water  sprinkling,  and  so  permanent  that  only  about  half  or 
one-third  as  much  water  was  required.  The  engineer  of  Ryde,  how- 
ever, stated  that  too  frequent  applications  of  salt  water  rendered  the 
streets  slippery,  and  that  in  very  hot  weather  an  occasional  applica- 
tion of  fresh  water  was  needed.  In  only  one  place  has  any  complaint 
arisen  in  connection  with  the  flushing  of  the  drains,  and  Mr.  Terry 
suggests  that  if  the  drains  were  foul,  flushing  of  any  kind  would  stir 
them  up  and  give  rise  to  unpleasant  effects.  It  may,  however,  be  as- 
sumed, we  think,  that  when  sea-water  is  used  for  flushing  it  should 
be  applied  only  at  suitable  times,  when  it  can  sweep  right  through  to 
the  outfall,  and  that  it  should  not  be  allowed  to  lie  in  contact  with 
sewage  in  a  drain  which  is  sealed  by  the  rising  tide. 

To  render  the  use  of  sea-water  really  economical  it  must  be  sup- 
plied through  the  town  by  a  system  of  mains,  with  hydrants  for  filling 
the  carts  and  flushing-tanks.  Such  works  have  been  carried  out  in 
several  places  at  a  very  moderate  cost.  At  Great  Yarmouth  they 
cost  4500L,  and  consist  of  an  8  horse-power  Crossley  gas-engine,  a 
12-inch  pump,  a  tower  and  tank  containing  22,000  gallons,  a  settling- 
tank,  and  a  suction-pipe  to  the  jetty.  There  are  900  yards  of  main 
varying  from  3  inches  to  8  inches,  40  stand-pipes,  and  12  automatic 
flushing  syphons  of  2000  gallons  capacity  each.  The  total  ex- 
penses, including  interest  on  capital,  repayment  of  loan  in  twenty 
years,  depreciation,  wages,  gas,  oil,  etc.,  are  under  500/.  per  annum. 
For  tliis  amount  some  30  million  gallons  are  raised  44  feet'at  the  cost 
of  4</.  per  1000  gallons.  Of  this  five  million  gallons  are  used  for 
street  watering  and  25  million  gallons  for  sewer  flushing.  The  an- 
nual cost  to  the  inhabitants  is  rather  less  than  a  penny  in  the  pound 
on  the  assessment.  The  borough  engineer  states  that  since  the  works 
were  completed  the  saving  in  purchase  of  flint  and  gravel  has  been 
3001.  per  annum,  and  will  be  greater.  The  distribution  costs  less  by 
1001.  a  year  in  consequence  of  a  less  volume  sufficing,  and  the  roads 
are  better  watered,  while  the  flushing  of  the  sewers  is  well  worth  the 
whole  cost  of  the  works. 

Littlehampton,  in  Sussex,  completed  its  sea-water  works  last 
August.  The  tank  holds  20,500  gallons  and  can  be  filled  in  three 
hours  by  a  pump  driven  by  a  two  horse-power  gas-engine.  There 
are  900  lineal  yards  of  mains  and  three  drawing-off  stations.  The 
cost  was  850L,  and  the  total  annual  expense  is  150/.,  including  repay- 
ment of  loan.  This  is  equal  to  IJrf.  the  pound  of  the  rentable  value. 
Hastings  has  spent  9000L  on  its  work,  and  the  height  of  the  reservoir 
is  sufficient  to  render  the  water  available  for  fire  purposes. 

The  experience  already  gained  demonstrates  that  for  an  addition 
to  the  rates  of  a  penny  or  two-pence  in  the  pound,  a  seaside  town 
can  put  it  elf  into  the  position  of  being  able  to  water  its  roads  with- 
out stint  through  the  longest  and  hottest  summer,  while  its  sewers 
may  be  flushed  out  most  thoroughly.  There  are  besides  the  collat- 
eral advantages  of  a  total  saving  of  the  fresh  water  formerly  used  for 
these  purposes,  of  an  economy  in  the  upkeep  of  the  roads,  and  in  the 
attraction  offered  to  visitors  of  having  salt  water  laid  directly  to  the 
bath-rooms  of  the  houses.  This  last  is,  in  itself,  a  considerable  ad 
dition  to  the  attractions  of  a  watering-place.  There  are  plenty  ol 
people  who  are  wishful  to  enjoy  the  bracing  effect  of  sea-water,  bu 
who  do  not  care  to  undress  in  a  ramshackle  box  on  wheels,  and 
disport  themselves  in  scant  attire  among  the  waves  while  an  idle 
crowd  on  shore  while  away  the  forenoon  in  criticism  on  their  want 
of  agility,  anil  in  the  threatened  obesity  of  their  forms.  For  strong 
swimmers  and  youth  of  both  sexes  conscious  of  possessing  good 
figures,  the  outdoor  bath  is  full  of  delights,  but  the  choice  of  a  place 
to  spend  the  summer  holiday  lies  with  the  heads  of  a  family  who 
have  partly  lost  their  zest  for  outdoor  pursuits,  while  they  are  the 
more  eager  to  conserve  their  health,  since  it  shows  signs  of  giving 


way.      A  domestic  sea-water  supply  would  often  cause  such  people  to 
give  one  watering-place  the  preference  over  another. —  Engineering. 


ESTIMATES. 

rvF  all  the  "royal  roads"  to  learning  in  popular  demand  among 
rl  those  connected  with  architecture  and  building,  none  is  perhaps 
more  ardently  desired  than  a  quick  method  of  estimating.     The 
jditor  of   any  architectural  journal  will  know  how  frequently  the 
question  is  asked,  "How  can  I  estimate  the  cost  of  a  building  with- 
out taking  the  trouble  to  figure  out  all  the  material  and  labor  in- 
volved in  its  construction."     The  answer  is,  that  there  is  no  way  if 
an  accurate  estimate  be  required. 

But  when  it  is  only  desired  to  obtain  an  approximate  estimate  of 
cost,  the  method  known  as  "cubing  out"  is  to  be  recommended. 
This  method  is  simple,  indeed  very  simple,  but  it  needs  not  a  little 
udgment  and  some  amount  of  experience  in  its  application. 

Suppose  that  a  building  of  a  certain  class  costs  to  erect  in  a 
particular  location  such  and  such  a  sum,  then  a  building  of  the  same 
;lass  and  in  the  same  position,  but  of  double  the  size,  would  cost 
approximately  double  the  amount.  In  other  words,  the  cost  of  a 
uuilding  is  (within  certain  limits)  in  arithmetical  proportion  to  its 
size.  This  gives  the  key-note  of  the  principles  of  cubing  out. 
Having  ascertained  the  cubical  contents  of  a  building  by  measuring 
from  one-half  way  up  the  height  of  the  roof  to  one-half  way  down 
;he  depth  of  the  foundations  and  multiplying  by  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  structure,  the  number  so  obtained  is  multiplied  by 
the  value  of  a  single  foot,  and  so  an  approximate  estimate  of  the  cost 
of  the  whole  building  is  obtained. 

It  is  clear  enough  that  the  value  placed  upon  the  single  unit  foot 
practically  determines  the  whole  result.  To  obtain  these  unit  values 
in  different  classes  of  buildings  and  in  all  manner  of  locations  will  be 
the  first  aim  of  any  one  wishing  to  employ  the  method.  This  is  best 
done  by  figuring  on  work  actually  executed.  Take,  for  example,  the 
drawings  of  several  of  the  ordinary  tenement-houses  of  which  the 
cost  is  Known.  Figure  out  the  cubical  contents,  divide  the  cost  and 
so  obtain  the  average  cost  price  of  the  unit  foot  of  such  a  building. 
Whenever  it  is  desired  to  obtain  an  approximate  estimate  of  the 
cost  of  building  similar  flats,  these  figures  will,  by  a  simple  calcula- 
tion, always  give  the  result.  Of  course,  when  there  are  any  special 
circumstances  surrounding  the  particular  case  tending  either  to  raise 
or  lower  the  price  as,  for  instance,  local  difficulties  of  construction  on 
the  one  hand  or  abundance  of  materials  on  the  other,  due  allowance 
must  be  made.-. 

The  value  of  cubing  out  is  greater  than  is  ordinarily  recognized. 
The  few  figures  upon  which  it  is  based  are  so  easily  remembered  that 
it  is  almost  surprising  that  it  is  not  more  widely  used.  Ninety-nine 
out  of  a  hundred  buildings  are  designed  within  specific  limits  of  cost, 
and  to  obtain  at  the  outset  the  maximum  capacity  in  cubic  feet  will 
be  a  material  help  in  the  subsequent  proceedings. 

A  good  plan  is  to  form  a  tabulated  list  of  prices  obtained  by  figur- 
ing on  work  actually  executed.  Thus  we  might  have  "flats  first- 
class,"  "  second-class,"  and  so  on.  Private  residences  and  cot- 
tages of  various  grades,  office-buildings,  churches  and  chapels, 
schools,  etc.,  where  deemed  advisable  a  number  of  columns  might 
be  assigned  to  indicate  the  cost  of  the  particular  description  of 
building  in  different  cities.  ARTHUR  SEYMOUR  JENNINGS. 


CAROLINA  CLAY-EATERS. 

TT  has  been  a  matter  of  speculation  for  years  as  to  why  the  "  poor 
I  white  trash  "  of  central  North  Carolina  ate  the  clay  that  is  found 

in  that  part  of  the  country.  It  remained  for  a  Philadelphia  physi- 
cian to  solve  the  mystery.  A  short  time  ago  Dr.  Frank  H.  Getchell, 
of  1432  Spruce  Street,  went  on  a  gunning  expedition  to  North  Caro- 
lina. His  quest  for  game  led  him  into  the  wild  country  hack  of 
Salisbury,  which  is  inhabited,  for  the  most  part,  by  a  miserable  race 
of  beings  with  only  just  enough  energy  to  eke  out  a  wretched  exist- 
ence. These  creatures  are  nearly  all  veritable  living  skeletons,  and 
with  few  exceptions,  are  addicted"  to  the  habit  of  clay-eating. 

While  shooting  wild  turkey  and  other  game  in  this  wild  region, 
Dr.  Getchell  made  an  incidental  study  of  this  peculiar  habit  or  vice 
among  the  inhabitants.  It  is  a  mountainous  country,  and  in  the 
spring  little  rivulets  start  out  from  the  caps  of  snow  on  the  mountain, 
and  as  the  days  grow  warmer,  the  little  rivulets  become  torrents, 
and  great  wash-outs  are  made  along  the  mountain  side. 

The  soil  is  of  a  heavy  clayey  nature,  but  there  are  strata  of  clay 
that  is  heavier  than  the  rest,  and  when  the  water  rushes  down,  this 
clay  is  formed  into  little  pellets  and  roils  and  accumulates  in  heaps 
in  the  valley.  These  little  pellets  and  rolls  are  what  the  clay-eaters 
devour  with  as  much  avidity  as  a  toper  swallows  a  glass  of  whiskey. 

"  Among  the  poor  people  of  this  section,"  said  Dr.  Getchell,  "  the 
habit  of  eating  clay  is  almost  universal.  Even  little  toddlers  are 
confirmed  in  the  habit,  and  the  appetite  seems  to  increase  with  time. 
While  investigating  the  matter,  I  entered  a  cabin  occupied  by  one  of 
these  poor  families,  and  saw  a  little  chap  tied  by  the  ankle  to  the  leg 
of  a  table,  on  which  was  placed  a  big  dish  of  bread  and  meat  and 
potatoes  within  easy  reach.  The  child  was  kicking  and  crying,  and 
I  asked  his  mother  why  she  had  tied  him  up.  She  replied  that  she 
wanted  him  to  eat  some  food  before  he  went  out  to  the  clay  and  he 


58 


MAY  5,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect   and  Building  News. 


215 


refused  to  do  so.  The  woman  confessed  that  she  ate  the  clav  her- 
self, hut  explained  that  the  child's  health  demanded  that  it  eat  some 
substantial  food  before  eating  any  earth.  Almost  every  one  I  met 
in  this  section  was  addicted  to  this  habit.  They  were  all  very  thin, 
but  their  flesh  seemed  to  be  puffed  out.  This  was  particularly 
noticeable  about  the  eyes,  which  had  a  sort  of  reddish  hue. 

"All  of  the  clay-eaters  were  excessively  lazy  and  indolent,  and  all 
of  these  conditions  combined  led  me  to  the  conclusion  that  there 
must  be  some  sedative  or  stimulating  qualities,  or  both,  in  the  clay, 
and  I  determined  to  find  out  whether  there  was  or  not.  I  con- 
sequently brought  a  lot  of  the  elay  home  with  ine,  and  Professor 
Tiernan  and  myself  made  an  analysis  of  the  stuff,  and  discovered 
that,  instead  of  clay-eaters,  the  inhabitants  of  central  North  Caro- 
lina should  more  properly  be  called  arsenic-eaters.  All  of  this  clay 
contains  arsenic,  but  exactly  in  what  proportion  we  have  not  yet  dis- 
covered. Arsenic-eating  is  common  in  many  parts  of  the  world,  and 
is  practised  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  throughout  the  world.  It  acts 
as  a  sedative  and  also  as  a  stimulant.  The  mountaineers  of  Styria, 
Austria,  are  habitual  arsenic-eaters.  They  give  as  their  reason  for 
eating  it  that  they  are  better  able  to  climb  the  mountains  after  eating 
the  poison,  and  their  explanation  is  a  perfectly  reasonable  one,  as 
arsenic  acts  as  a  sedative  to  the  heart's  action.  The  habit  is  also 
prevalent  in  the  Tyrol  and  in  the  Alps. 

"  It  is  also  said  that  the  peasant  girls  of  Switzerland  and  parts  of 
Germany  and  in  Scandinavia  eat  arsenic  to  give  luster  to  their  eyes 
and  color  to  their  cheeks,  but  this  is  a  matter  I  have  not  investigated. 
It  has  been  shown  that  arsenic  or  arsenical  fumes  are  a  sure  cure  for  | 
intermittent  fever.  The  inhabitants  of  a  section  of  Cornwall,  Eng- 
land, at  one  time  suffered  with  this  type  of  fever,  but  when  the 
copper-works  were  established  there,  the  fever  disappeared.  This 
was  accounted  for  by  the  arsenical  fumes  created  in  the  treatment  of 
copper.  As  to  whether  arsensic-eating  shortens  life  I  am  not  yet 
prepared  to  say,  but  I  intend  investigating  the  matter  thoroughly." 
—  The.  Clay  Worker. 


1  guise  such  a  master  of  invention  will  turn  up  next  time, —  for  that 
i  he  is  crushed  out  permanently,  there  is  little  likelihood. 

The  career  of  Van  Beers  ought  to  be  a  warning  to  the  public ;  but 
I  suppose  it  is  a  vain  hope  to  suppose  for  one  moment,  that  shams 
and  cant  will  ever  be  suppressed.  When  a  painter  is  the  fashion, 
he  may  paint  boneless  and  colorless  people  like  Puvis  do  Chavannes, 
or  stockings  and  boots  like  Van  Beers,  or  "dots  and  spots  "  like  an 
eminent  impressionist;  or  he  may  sweep  some  gray  over  a  canvas  and 
drop  a  few  yellow  specks  about  it  and  call  it  a  "sonata,"  and  surely 
every  one  will  declare  such  works  to  lie  charming;  but  neverthe- 
less, sooner  or  later,  this  particular  cant  gets  exposed.  That  it  is 
succeeded  by  another  craze  equally  silly,  one  knows  perfectly  well; 
but  still  it  is  some  slight  satisfaction  to  feel  that  there  is  one  less 
master  of  cant  in  the  world.  It  is  the  age  of  eccentricities,  and 
j  honest  work  does  not  "  pay  " ;  still,  money  is  not  everything  in  this 
world,  and  one  would  rather  have  starved  as  a  Delacroix  or  a  Millet, 
than  have  made  a  fortune  as  a  Van  Beers.  S.  BE  ALE. 


A  CELEBRATED  ART  MANUFACTURER. 

EVERY  one  knows  the  pictures  of  M.  Van  Beers,  and  not  a  few 
admire  them ;  years  ago  he  painted  in  the  manner  of  his  master 
Leys,  and  gave  us  vivid  bits  of  color,  as  in  his  long  processional 
work  representing  the  funeral,  I  think,  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V, 
then,  at,  a  later  Salon,  about  1873  or  1874,  artistic  Paris  was  en- 
chanted by  a  boy  in  yellow  and  black  —  powerful,  masterly  and 
notable.  But  although  we  artists  liked  these  things,  they  did  not  im- 
press the  public;  so  M.  Van  Beers  struck  out  in  a  new  line,  and 
gave  us  a  dainty  little  lady  in  pink,  sitting  on  a  park  bench  —  I  think 
it  was  called  "  Le  Soir  "  —  a  background  of  trees,  a  carriage  and  pair 
drawn  up  in  the  distance,  and  a  sky  reddened  by  the  afterglow, 
made  up  a  charming  little  picture,  had  it  not  been  spoiled  by  the 
somewhat  outre  dress  of  the  girl.  This  picture  was  a  success, 
attributed  evidently  by  the  painter,  to  the  high-heeled  shoes  and  silk 
stockings,  for  henceforth  M.  Van  Beers  devoted  himself  to  these 
accessories.  Paris  talked  of  nothing  but  Van  Beers's  tiny  pictures, 
and  Bond  Street  also  took  him  up.  When  notoriety  waned,  an  action 
for  slander,  against  some  critic  who  called  his  pictures  colored  photo- 
graphs, brought  him  before  the  public  again.  Badly  hung  one  year 
at  the  Salon,  Van  Beers  scratched  the  face  of  one  o"f  his  diminutive 
damsels,  and  again  he  was  much  discussed.  Then,  here  in  London, 
we  had  an  exhibition  of  masks,  and  tambourines,  and  other  conceits, 
with  sprawling  ballet-girls  in  silk  stockings  and  high-heeled  shoes  ap- 
pearing upon  the  backs  of  sandwich  men,  and  upon  all  the  hoard- 
ings. Shillings  poured  into  the  cotters,  and  we  felt  that  here  was 
another  type  of  cant  to  keep  company  with  Dore's  huge  canvases, 
and  other  peoples'  nocturnes,  dots,  spots  and  symphonic  harmonies. 
And  what  is  the  end  of  it  all?  —  for  let  us  hope  it  is  the  end.  Here 
is  the  substance  of  a  little  tale  of  a  proces,  taken  from  la  Flandre 
liberale  of  Ghent,  giving  charming  revelations  of  the  art-manufactorv 
of  the  great  master  M.  Van  Beers. 

Finding  himself  at  Ostende,  last  August,  the  painter  saw  some 
works  for  sale,  which  he  considered  were  forgeries  of  his  own. 
Stupidly  bringing  an  action  against  the  dealer,  the  evidence  at  the 
trial  was  turned  against  himself.  Two  Paris  artists  affirmed  that 
Van  Beers  kept  some  half-dozen  painters  constantly  at  work,  as  his 
"ghosts."  Sometimes  he  put  a  few  finishing  strokes  to  the  pictures, 
and  generally  he  signed  them.  The  original  agreement  was  that  the 
copyists  were  to  receive  half-payment  —  but  this  promise  was  not 
kept,  ami  the  help  seem  to  have  been  paid  like  other  "hands"  in  a 
factory.  The  atelier  Van  Beers,  situated  in  Paris,  was  absolutely 
nothing  but  a  manufactory  of  pictures  —  this  is  the  painter's  own 
admission  I  and  this  is  the  man  whose  pictures  have  been  the  fashion ! 
Colored  photographs?  who  can  tell?  But  it  is  proved  that  much, 
signed  Van  Beers,  is  merely  the  work  of  Dewit.  Semenowsky  & 
Company,  with  a  few  finishing  touches,  and  the  signature  of  the 
putative  author. 

What  a  downward  path  for  a  man  to  travel !  Excessively  clever 
and  original  he  has  turned  his  cleverness  to  gulling  the  public.  Not 
content  with  vulgarizing  his  works  as  advertisements  of  cigars,  he 
must  needs  turn  picture-making  into  a  mere  trade.  It  is  to  be  hoped 
that  the  hanging-committees  of  all  our  exhibitions  will  show  M. 
Van  Beers  the  door  in  future;  but  we  shall  be  curious  to  see  in  what 


THE  AMERICAN  PUBLIC  HEALTH   ASSOCIATION. 

STAMFORD,  COKK.,  April  28,  188*. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  — Will  you  kindly  give  me  the  address  of  the  Ameri- 
can Public  Health  Association,  from  whom  I  presume  the  pamphlets 
referred  to  in  your  editorial  of  April  21,  1888,  can  be  obtained?  I 
am  much  interested  in  the  subjects  of  these  essays  and  should  like  to 
obtain  copies  of  them.  Very  truly,  C.  I.  PAYNE. 

[ADDRESS  Dr.  Irving  A.  Watson,  Secretary,  Concord,    N.  II  —Eos 
AMERICAN  ARCHITECT.] 


THE  COST  OF  SMALL  HOUSES  IN  PARIS. 

BALTIMORE,  MD.,  April  19,  1888. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  In  your  paper  of  issue  27th  of  August,  1887,  page 
94,  you  refer  to  items  of  cost  of  small  Paris  house,  details  of  which 
are  published  in  La  Semaine  des  Constructeurs.  Will  you  oblige  a 
subscriber  by  informing  me  the  date  of  the  issue  of  La  Semaine  des 
Constructeurs,  in  which  this  article  appears,  and  also  where  same 
may  be  purchased  in  this  country.  May  I  take  this  opportunity  to 
thank  you  for  your  very  satisfactory  publication  and  say  with  what 
pleasure  I  have  renewed  my  subscription  to  the  Imperial  Edition 
although  only  an  amateur.  I  remain,  dear  sirs,  yours  very  truly, 

CLYMER  WHYTE. 

[WR  are  very  sorry  that  we  do  not  keep  a  long  file  of  La  Semaine  deg 
Constructeur*.  and  cannot  refer  to  the  number.8  As  It  probably  8  not  on 

piZf  tils,count1Pr  weAwil!  snv  that  th«  •""•<»"  of  publication  is  51  Rue  des 
Ecoles,  Paris.  — EDS.  AMERICAN  ARCHIECT.] 


MR.  TARVER'S  THEATRE  PLANS. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y.,  April  •&,  1888. 

5  THE  EDITORS  OK  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 
Dear  Sirs  —In  the  14th  April  issue  is  a  clever  editorial  descrip- 
tion of  Mr.  larvers  efforts  over  the  vexed  theatre  problem;  based, 
I  should  judge,  on  a  perusal  of  the  plans.  May  I  trouble  you  to  ad- 
vise me  where  a  copy  of  these  and  a  full  description  of  the  scheme 
can  be  obtained?  thus  obliging,  Yours  sincerely, 

GEO.  MARTIN  Huss. 


Kn  1      ay  48    °Un      nn 

.  —  hos.  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT.I 


the   British 


of 


BUILDING-MOVERS. 

BAKRIK,  OUT.,  April  21,  1888. 
lo  THE  EDITORS  OK  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  .Wr*  —Please  inform  me  through  the  columns  of  your  paper 
the  names  of  some  firms  who  would  undertake  the  lowering  of  a 
brick  church,  50'  x  90'  with  tower  in  front  about  70'  hi°-h  °  The 
walls  are  25'  high,  18"  thick.  The  church  is  situated  on"  a  gravel 
hill  and  requires  to  be  lowered  about  6'.  By  doing  so  you  will  con- 
fer a  favor  on  a  SUBSCRIBER. 

[ISAAC  BLAIR  &  Co.,  444  Harrison  Ave.,  Boston,  Mass,  can  handle  luriro 
work  satisfactorily.— EDS.  AMERICAN  ARHCITECT.] 


CATHEDRAL  LIGHTING  i.v  ELECTRICITY.  —  Bristol  Cathedral  in  Eng- 
land, is  to  be  lighted  by  electricity.  It  will  be  used  for  the  first  time  at 
a  special  evening  service  on  June  8th,  which  is  to  be  held  in  celebra- 
tion of  the  completion  of  the  western  towers,  when  "  Israel  in  Egypt  " 
is  to  be  given  with  a  choir  of  six  hundred  voices  and  full  orchestral 
accompaniment. 


59 


216 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.       [VOL.  XXIII.—  No.  645. 


TIIK  FIRST  OF  SCEXK-PAO-TERS.— Loutherbourg  wtas  born  at  Stras- 
bourg on  Oct.  31,  1740,  ami  came  of  an  artistic  stock,  his  father  being 
chief  painter  to  the  Prince  of  Hunaudarmstadt.    It  was  not  the  intention  j 
of  his  parent  that  he  should  follow  art  as  a  profession,  but  the  heredi- 
tary bias  came  upon  him  so  strongly  while  at  the  local  college  that  his 
father  pocketed  his  hopes  and  sent  him  to  study  painting  under  Carlo  i 
Vanloo  at  Paris.     The  wisdom  of  this  course  was  speedily  exemplified  i 
by  the  young  artist's  election  as  member  of  the  French  Academy  in  1763  j 
—  a  very  signal  honor,  seeing  that  in  bestowing  it  the  association  had  j 
infringed  upon  the  rule  that  no  one  under  thirty  years  of  age  should  be  j 
received  into  their  body.     Not  long  after  this  Loutherbourg  made  an  ex-  j 
tensive  tour  through  Germany,  Italy,  and  Switzerland,  painting  as  he  | 
travelled  a  large  number  of  land  and  sea  scapes  and  several  battle-  [ 
pieces,   which  brought  him  still  more   prominently  into  notice.     His   ' 
striking  abilities  as  a  battle  painter,  combined  with  an  appropriate  mili-  i 
tary  appearance,  earned  for  him  many  years  afterward  the  amusing 
sobriquet  of  "Field  Marshall  Leatherbags,"  to  which  Jack  Bannister 
stood  an  unblushing  sponsor.    Most  of  Loutherbourg's  innovations  at 
Drury  Lane  were  largely  due  to  the  powers  of  observation  brought  into 
play  during  this  period  of  Continental  travel.    In  Italy  he  saw  the  prac- 
tical outcome  of  the  reforms  attempted  by  the  two  Bibienas  (great  archi- 
tects both),  to  one  of  whom  Algarotti  attributes  "  the  introduction  of 
accidental  points,  or,  rather,  the  invention  of  viewing  scenes  by  the 
angle,"  which,  he  adds,  "produces  the  finest  effect  imaginable,  but  re- 
quires the  nicest  judgment  to  bring  properly  into  practice."     Equally 
important  for  us  must  have  been  the  Parisian  influence  on  the  artist. 
Great  attention  was  now  beginning  to  be  paid  in  the  French  capital  to 
the  hitherto  neglected  rules  of  scenic  perspective,  owing  to  the  labors 
of  the  celebrated  Giovanni  Servandoni,  whose  services  had  been  first  ac- 
quired by  the  Opera  in  1726,  and  were  retained  there  for  close  on  twenty 
years.     Apart  from  this  the  Chevalier  was  excellently  well  versed  in  the 
intricacies  of  stage  mechanism,  and  is  said,  while  in  Paris,  to  have  con- 
structed a  "  Temple  of  the  Sun,"  adorned  with  "  eight  thousand  jewels 
set  in  revolving  columns,"  the  like  of  which,  for  extreme  brilliancy, 
had  never  been  witnessed  before.      Some  of  Loutherbourg's  work  at 
Drury  Lane  shows  that  he  must  have  made  a  profound  study  of  this 
kind  of  scenery  in  his  early  days.    It  is  worthy  of  mention,  however,  that 
Servandoni  had  a  more  direct,  if  obviously  slight,  influence  on  the  Eng- 
lish stage.     In  praising  a  fairy  palace  scene  in  the  Covent  Garden  panto- 
mime of  January,  1774,  the  London  Magazine  says  it  was  one  of  those 
which  "Servandoni  prepared  some  years  since,  but  not  used."     In  all 
probability  the  Florentine  had  been  induced  to  paint  one  or  two  scenes 
for  the  theatres  when  he  came  to  London  in  April,  1749,  to  superintend 
the  construction  of  the  great  firework  machine  erected  in  Greenwich 
Park  in  connection  with  the  rejoicings  over  the  General  Peace.     He  died 
at  Paris  in  1766. —  The  Gentleman's  Maqazine. 


NOT  TAXED  SINCE  1085.  —  Four  centuries  of  exemption  from  all  tax- 
ation is  a  valuable  privilege  for  one  family  to  enjoy.  The  British  pater- 
familas  who  grumbles  and  pays  will  hardly  credit  the  existence  of  a 
heritage  so  peculiar,  and  will  certainly  not  be  surprised  to  learn  that 
this  happy  family  did  not  exist  on  English  soil.  The  village  of  Chalo 
St.  Mard  is  an  obscure  place  in  the  vicinity  of  Etampes,  which  at  a  re- 
mote period  was  blest  with  a  fortunate  or  enterprising  maire.  A  legend, 
for  which  there  appears  to  be  no  historic  evidence,  states  that  in  the 
year  1085,  Eudes,  the  mayor  of  Chalo  St.  Mard,  made  a  pilgrimage  to 
the  Holy  Land  as  a  sort  of  proxy  for  the  king,  who  was  too  ill  to  leave 
home,  and  in  return  for  the  troubles  and  dangers  thus  encountered  he 
and  his  descendants  and  their  families  were  to  be  absolved  from  the 
payment  of  taxes.  What  is  certain  is  that  in  1336,  the  descendants  of 
Eudes  renewed  their  claim,  and  it  was  allowed  by  the  Chancellerie  of 
Philippe  VI.  The  document,  said  to  have  been  signed  by  Philippe  I, 
and  forming  the  original  grant  of  this  singular  immunity,  was  not  then 
forthcoming,  but  an  abstract  or  account  of  it  was  produced  and  certified 
as  a  correct  copy  or  diploma  by  the  Abbots  of  St.  Magloire,  St.  Victor 
and  St.  Genevieve,  who  were  contemporaries  of  St.  Louis,  King  of 
France.  This  passed  muster  in  an  uncritical  age,  and  the  descendants 
of  Eudes,  Mayor  of  Chalo  St.  Mard,  married  and  multiplied  until  they 
formed  an  untaxed  tribe  some  thirty  thousand  strong.  The  story  has 
just  been  retold  by  a  French  antiquary,  M.  Noel  Valois,  who  states 
that  this  curious  historical  humbug  was  decisively  detected  and  exposed 
by  Antoine  Marie  d'Hozier  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century.  But  the 
ancien  rCgime  was  drawing  to  its  close  when  in  1752  the  exemption 
ceased.  For  at  least  four  centuries  a  baseless  fiction  influenced  even 
the  unsentimental  tax-farmers  of  France,  and  during  the  same  long 
lapse  of  years  the  overtaxed  citizens  had  the  opportunity  of  contrasting 
the  extortions  to  which  they  were  subjected  with  the  immunity  enjoyed 
by  the  children  of  the  Mayor  of  Chalo  St.  Mard  and  all  who  had  the 
honor  of  kinship  and  alliance  with  them. —  Exchange. 


No  pronounced  improvement  has  as  yet  set  in  in  trade  or  manufacturing 
circles,  according  to  the  usuallv-quoted  commercial  authorities.  There  i« 
unusual  activity  in  various  side  channels  not  reported.  What  the  trunk 
lines  are  doing  this  week,  what  the  clearing-house  reports  are  for  the  past 
six  days,  what  the  totals  are  in  various  staple  products  at  distributing  cen- 
tres for  the  week,  may  be  interesting  reading,  but  they  do  not  represent  the 
actual  trade  and  commercial  conditions.  The  stock  and  bond  speculators 
are  counting  unhatched  chickens,  manufacturers  are  figuring  out  future 
business,  railroad  projectorsare  counting  on  the  employment  of  millions  of 


dollars  that  will  yield  dividends  in  a  year  or  two,  land  speculators  are  anti- 
cipating great  sales  to  new  comers  at" high  prices',  and  agricultural,  miuing 
and  lumber  and  other  interests  are  looking  forward  to  a  season  of  increased 
activity  that  will  bring  them  larger  volumes  of  business  and  better  margins. 
At  no  time  in  the  history  of  the  country  has  as  large  a  stream  of  capital 
sought  employment  in  reproductive  channels  as  now.    To-day's  earnings 
disappear  in  to-morrow's  loans.    The  country  is  living  economically  and  is 
avoiding  inflated  values  in  every  direction.   Overproduction  is  also  avoided 
and  an  intelligent  control  is  exercised  in  every  branch  of  business,  produc- 
tive aud  distributive.     So   far  as   national  legislation  has  gone,   there  is 
nothing  to  cause  the  great  producing  interests  any  concern.    It  is  now  more 
generally  and  more  clearly  recognized  than  it  was  a  few  years  ago  that  an 
abundant  supply  of  money  is  the  prime  requisite  of  industrial,  commercial 
and  financial  health,  and  the  feeble  efforts  made  by  the  old  school  of  law- 
makers to  run  the  business  of  the  country  on  a  gold  basis  make  no  impres- 
sion against  the  powerful  public  sentiment,  backed  by  business  interests, 
that  demands  an  abundance  of  the  best  money  that  our  circumstances 
allow  us  to  have  and  use.     No  financial  policy  has  yet  been  mapped  put 
and  no  vigorous  efforts  will  be  made  very  long  in  advance  of  actual  require- 
ments.   Business  men,  manufacturers,  builders,  all  are  deeply  concerned 
in  the  establishment,  at  the  earliest  day  possible,  of  a  financial  as  well  as  of 
a  sound  fiscal  system  which  will  satisfy  the  country.   The  natural  process  of 
decay  will  soon  force  a  new  financial  system  upon  us.    The  purely  money- 
lending  interests  will  seek  to  gain  vantage  grounds  they  could  not  occupy 
when  the  present  system  received  its  birth   in    the  throes  of  civil   war. 
There  is  now  no  war,  there  is  no  other  pressure  than  a  purely  business  one 
on  us  to  devise  and  adopt  a  sound  system.     There  is  danger  of  making  a 
mistake  because  the  money-lenders  ate  few,  united,  keen  and  far-seeing, 
the  masses  whose  future  material  interests  are  to  be  affected  in  the  choice 
of  a  system  or  basis  are  uninformed,  unorganized  and  indifferent.     A  right 
system  of  finance  will  open  up  a  grand  future,  a  wrong  system  will  preci- 
pitate a  depression  and  panic  as  soon  as  the  economic  heresies  adopted  lu  the 
furtherance  of  selfish  interests  can  work  their  way  to  the  vitals.    The  gold 
idea  would  in  time  double  the  present  enormous  individual  indebtedness  of 
the  people  to  money-lenders  without  conferring  auy  corresponding  advan- 
tage.   That  an  attempt  will  be  made  to  foist  a  grinding  and  oppressive 
financial  system  upon  us  cannot  be  doubted  by  the  student  of  our  history  for 
fifty  years  past  or  even  by  the  observer  of  current  events  at  Washington. 
The  proper  basis  of  our  future  monetary  system   will  soon  become  the 
absorbing  one  among  the  leading  minds  on  both  sides  of  the  question. 
Every  week  confirms  the  often-repeated  statement  that  the   brakes  are 
being  tightened  on  the  wheels  of  trade.    In  iron,  consumption   is  away 
behind.    In  coal  the  per  capita  consumption  is  not  as  large  as  last  year, 
although  the  anthracite  output  is  two  days  ahead  of  last  year.    So  far  this 
year  the  distribution  of  bituminous  coal  is  oue  week  ahead  of  last  year  in 
Eastern   markets.    In  Southern    markets  coal  and  coke  are  in  urgent 
demand.    In  Western  markets  demand  is  slack,  and  upwards  of  seven  thou- 
sand workers  in  the  Connellsville  region  are  idle.     There  is  gi  eat  activity 
in  the  construction  of  lake  craft  and  docks  and  wharves  are  to  be  built  all 
along  the  lakes  from  Buffalo  to  Dnluth  to  multiply  the  facilities  for  rapid 
shipment.    Much  new  bridgework  is  projected  across  the  Western  and 
Northwestern  rivers  and  Pennsylvania  iron-makers  who  keep  informed  in 
this  direction  estimate  that  bridgework  will  be  quite  plenty  during  the  last 
half  of  the  year.    The  car  aud  locomotive  builders  are  crowded.     Rail-mill 
owners  look  for  orders  aggregating  200,000  tons  to  drop  in  on  them  within 
thirty  days  after  the  defeat  of  the  pending  tariff  bill.    Agents  for  elevator- 
work  in  the  Northwest,  for  electrical  plants,  water  and  gas  works,  for  min- 
ing, flooring  and  lumber  mill  machinery  have  returned  home  within  a  week 
or  two  with  even  larger  orders  than  were  secured  last  year.    On  the  other 
hand,  several  Eastern  and  Western  trunk  lines  will  discharge  all  the  help 
they  can  dispense  with,  but  so  far  as  can  be  learned  this  week  there  will  be 
no  serious  curtailment  of  manufacturing  activity.    Cotton  mills  will  run  as 
usual.    The  output  of  textile  goods  in  general  will  be  larger  during  the  last 
half  of  the  year  than  the  first  half.     More  heavy  machinery  is  now  under 
contract  than  ever.    The  labor  question  has  assumed  a  more  satisfactory 
shape.    The  fever  of  organization  is  subsiding  and  a  clearer  perception  of 
the  imitility  of  strikes,  except  in  extreme  cases,  is  recognized.    The  educa- 
tional scheme  will  not  be  satisfactory  for  several  reasons,  one  being  the 
unwillingness  of  members  to   listen  to  anything  but  what  suits  them. 
Arbitration  is  less  in  favor.    More  aggressive  measures  will  be  demanded 
later  on  and  strikes  will  once  again     e  the  popular  means  of  advancing 
labor's  cause.    This  reaction  is  probable  within  two  years.    The  scattering 
of  skilled  labor  in  progress  also  helps  to  decrease  the  striking  tendency  for 
the  present,  but  should  a  depression  overtake  the  country  the  present  con- 
servative methods  of  labor  management   would  be  thrown  to  the  winds. 
Lower  rates  of  compensation  will  be  established  in  several  industries, 
especially  in  the  West,  where  the  expansion  of  capacity  will  not  keep  pace 
with  the  record  of  two  or  three  years  past.    Labor  leaders  see  that  with  the 
more  complete  organization  of  employers  to  contend  against,  their  wiser 
policy  lies  in  conservative  methods.     The  secret  of  the  advantage  recently 
secured  by  employers  is  due  to  the  expansion  of  producing  capacity  beyond 
current  wants.  Any  industry  can  idle  fifteen  to  twenty  per  cent  of  its  force 
and  thus  bring  labor  to  terms.    Capital's  disadvantage  for  a  year  or  two 
past  was  due  to  the  fact  that  it  was  necessary  to  keep  every  wheel  turning. 
The  situation  has  been  reversed.     Manufacturing  interests  find  it  cheaper 
in  the  long  run  to  be  able  to  suspend  ten  per  cent  of  their  labor  force,  even 
though  a  portion  of  their  machinery  remain  idle,  than  to  run  to  full  capa- 
city at  wages  virtually  dictated  by  labor.    Only  second  in  interest  to  labor 
probabilities  at  this  time  is  the  question  of  prices.   That  there  will  be  a  reac- 
tion no  one  doubts.    Bottom  prices  were  looked  for  this  month.    Manufac- 
turers East  and  West  write  aud  say  bottom  has  not  yet  been  reached.    The 
only  visible  effect  produced  is  greater  curtailment.   Failure*  are  not  increas- 
ing.   Neither  is  mortgage  indebtedness.    Lumber  manufacturers  will  make 
and  ship  more  lumber  than  last  year.    The  country  trade  is  absorbing  more 
than  its  usual  average  and  Southern  mills  are  increasing  their  production 
faster  than  Northern.     Prices  are  firm  but  dealers  along  the  coast  argue 
lower  prices  will  result  from  the  great  increase  in  output.    This  is  guess- 
work.   No  one  can   measure  the  probable  demands.    Every  farmer  is  a 
better  customer  than  a  few  years  ago,  and  the  increased  demand  for  build- 
ing material  and  staple  household  products  in  rural  localities  may  be  safely 
e^imated  at  double  the  volume  of  three  or  four  years  ago.     Statisticians 
overlook  this  source  in  estimating  probabilities  of  trade.    Reports  from  one 
hundred  aud  seven  railroads  show  an  increase  in  earnings  from  seventy  to 
seventy-two  million  dollars  for  the  first  quarter  of  the  year  over  first  quar- 
ter of  last  year.   Reports  from  Maine  and  Delaware  River-shipyards  indicate 
a  busy  half  year  from  July  1st  to  make  up  for  severe  losses  of  schooners 
and  small  craft  along  the  coast  and  Gulf.    Ship  timber  and  ironwork  for 
ships  have  been  contracted  for  in  Pennsylvania  quite  liberally  within  the 
past  month. 


S.  J.  PARKHILL  &  Co.,  Printers,  Boston. 


60 


THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  AND  BUILDING  NEWS. 


VOL.  XXMI. 


Copyright,  1888,  by  TICKS,.*  A  COMPANY.  Botton,  MM. 


No.  646. 


MAY     12.    1888. 


Entered  at  the  Pogt-Offlce  at  Boston  at  socond-claM  matter. 


Sunn ART: — 

The  Competition  for  the  Richmond,  Va.,  Masonic  Temple. — 
Proposed  Constitutional  Monument  at  Philadelphia,  Pa. — 
An  Interesting  Suit  for  Commission  and  a  Cross-suit  for 
Damages.  —  The  Architects'  and  Engineers'  Registration 
Bill.  — Some  of  the  Wiles  of  the  Maker  of  Counterfeit  An- 
tique Furniture 217 

SOMK  AMERICAN  MONUMENTS.  —  II 219 

A><  1KNT    AND    MODERN     LiGHT-lIOUSES. XXI 220 

PARIS  CHURCHES. —VIII 221 

ILLUSTRATIONS : — 

House  of  C.  F.  Adams,  Esq.,  Boston,  Mass.  —  Town-hall  and 
Library,  Winchester,  Mass.  —  Competitive  Design  for  the 
Elliot  Church  at  Newton,  Mass.  —  House  for  H.  E.  Brewster, 
Esq.,  Utica,  N.  Y.  —  House  at  Little  Harbor,  N.  H.  —  "  Twin 
Oaks,"  :  House  of  Gardner  G.  Hubbard,  Esq.,  near  Wash- 
ington, D.  C 222 

VANDALISM  IN  MODERN  ROME 223 

TECHNICAL  EDUCATION  IN  FRANCE 223 

THE  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  A  SANITARY  ANALYSIS  OF  WATER.     .    .    .  226 

BOOKS  AND  PAPERS 226 

SOCIETIES 227 

COMMUNICATION  :  — 

A  Warning 227 

NOTES  AND  CLIPPINGS 227 

TRADE  SURVEYS 228 


TTANY  of  our  readers  remember  the  competition  for   the 
1X1  Masonic  Temple,  at  Richmond,  Va.,  which  was  announced 
•*        last  winter,  and  which  has  had  a  rather  novel  result. 
The  competition  was  a  limited  one,  invitations  having  been  sent 
to  fifty-three  architects.      The  first  premium  offered  was  not 
the  execution  of  the  building,  but  a  sum  of  three  thousand  dol- 
lars, in   return  for   complete   working-drawings  and  specifica- 
tions, general  supervision,  and  a  guaranty  that  a  responsible 
contractor  could  be  furnished  to  erect   the   building  for   one 
hundred  thousand  dollars;  and  the  committee  reserved  the  right 
to  reject  any  or  all  designs.     Nothing  was  said  about  the  em- 
ployment of  an  expert  jury  to  make  the  award.     It  is  not  sur- 
prising that  only  fifteen  out  of  the  fifty-three  invited  architects 
responded   to   the  invitation,  and   persons  familiar  with  such 
competitions  will  be  prepared  to  learn  that  none  of  the  designs 
were  found  satisfactory.     Instead,  however,  of  shipping  them 
back  to  their  owners,  and  clearing  the  ground  for  a  fresh  trans- 
action, the  committee,  with  what  appears  to  be  an  honorable 
sense   of   obligation    to  the  competitors,  selected  four  of   the 
designs,  submitted  by  Messrs.  Jackson  C.  Gott,  of  Baltimore, 
Rose  &  Stone,  of  New  York,  McDonald  Brothers,  of   Louis- 
ville, and  the  J.  B.  Legg  Architectural  Company,  of  St.  Louis, 
placing  them  in  the  order  named,  and  reported  to  the  Masonic 
Temple  Association  that  in  its   opinion  Mr.  Gott   should   be 
given  the  first  opportunity  of  making  his  plans  satisfactory, 
and  of  demonstrating  that  the  building  could  be  erected  in  ac- 
cordance with  them  for  the  stipulated  sum.     If  he  failed  to  do 
so  within  a  reasonable  time,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  commit- 
tee,   its    recommendation    was   that    Messrs.    Rose   &    Stone 
should  be  allowed  the  same  opportunity ;  and  so  on  until  a  sat- 
isfactory design  was  obtained.     If  one  of  the  four  architects 
named  succeeded  in  making  his  plan   satisfactory,  the   other 
three  were  to  receive  at  once  the  small  sums  offered  as  second, 
third  and  fourth  prizes,  on  condition  that  their  designs  proved 
to  be  capable  of  being  erected  within  the  limit  of  cost  given  in 
the   circular.      Whether  Mr.  Gott  will  manage  to  make  his 
design  pleasing  to  the  committee,  or  how  he  will  go  to  work  to 
do  so,  we  are  quite  unable  to  say,  but  he  has  our  best  wishes 
for  his  success,  and,  objectionable  as  the  terms  of  competition 
were,  we  are  not  displeased  to  see  that  the  committee  proposes 
to  adhere  rigidly  to  the  limit  of  cost  specified.     If  it  were  once 
understood  that  this  was  an  essential  condition,  and  that  designs 
which  obviously  could  not  be  built  for  the  sum  named  would 
not  he  considered,  competitions  would  be  much  more  attractive 
to  honest  architects,  who,  at  present,  can  rarely  tell  whether  to 
attach  most  weight  to  the  stipulation  in  the  terms  of  competition 
that  the  cost  shall  not  exceed  a  given  amount,  or  to  the  re- 
quirement   that   the   building   shall   contain   accommodations 
which  cannot  possibly  be  provided  for  the  sum  mentioned,  and 


whose  experience  tells  them  that  if  they  faithfully  try  to  keep 
the  price  down  to  the  limit,  by  a  simple  design,  they  are  very 
apt  to  see  the  prize  carried  off  by  some  reckless  artist,  who 
ornaments  his  elevations  without  any  regard  to  expense,  and, 
when  he  has  secured  the  commission,  either  strips  off  coolly  all 
the  decoration  before  he  makes  contracts,  or  drags  the  commit- 
tee  into  expending  two  or  three  times  the  sum  that  it  had  pro- 
posed to  the  competing  architects  as  its  maximum. 


MEETING  was  held  a  few  days  ago  in  Philadelphia  to 
take  measures  for  raising  money  to  erect  in  Fairmount 
Park  a  monument  to  commemorate  the  one  hundredth 
anniversary  of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  The  Governors  of  the  thirteen  original  States  were  in- 
vited, and  it  was  decided  to  call  upon  the  national  Government, 
and  the  public,  as  well  as  the  Legislatures,  of  the  States  and 
Territories,  to  contribute  money  toward  the  object.  It  is 
much  to  be  hoped  that  the  effort  will  succeed.  The  American 
people  have  been  rapidly  acquiring  a  taste  for  monuments,  and 
the  erection  of  statues  to  Farragut,  Lincoln,  and  a  dozen  other 
Northern  heroes,  in  New  York,  Boston,  Chicago  or  Philadel- 
phia, with  those  of  Lee,  Jackson  and  other  Confederate 
leaders  hi  Richmond  and  Charleston,  have  been  attended  with 
all  the  sentiment  and  enthusiasm  that  need  be  desired;  but, 
although  no  Massachusetts  man  thinks  with  anything  but  re- 
spect of  the  Lee  monument  in  Richmond,  and  Virginians  are 
quite  ready  to  share  in  the  Northern  admiration  for  Grant's 
noble  qualities,  there  is  no  great  sympathy  between  the  sections 
in  their  feeling  about  such  memorials,  and  the  commemoration 
of  the  period  when  South  Carolina  and  Massachusetts,  New 
York,  Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  and  the  rest  of  the  emancipated 
colonies,  sacrificed  their  opinions  and  forgot  their  jealousies  for 
the  sake  of  establishing  in  mutual  forbearance  and  considera- 
tion the  basis  upon  which  the  greatest  of  civilized  nations  has 
been  built,  would  afford  a  peculiarly  fitting  occasion  for  the  re- 
vival of  the  old  confidence  and  regard,  which  the  trials  and 
even  the  quarrels  of  a  hundred  years  have  not  shown  to  have 
been  misplaced.  There  is  now  at  the  North,  and  probably  also 
at  the  South,  a  strong  popular  feeling  of  what  we  might  call 
affectionate  Americanism,  which  finds  now  and  then  a  chance 
for  demonstration  upon  the  occasion  of  the  visit  of  some 
Southern  military  organization  to  the  North,  or  vice  verta.  If 
this  feeling,  the  depth  of  which  surprises  nearly  every  one  who 
has  seen  it  expressed,  could  be  directed  toward  the  promotion 
of  some  object  having  a  common  interest  of  sentiment  for  all 
sections  of  the  country,  the  speedy  accomplishment  of  the 
object  would  be  assured,  while  the  movement  itself,  if  properly 
directed,  could  hardly  fail  to  be  of  much  political,  or  rather, 
patriotic,  benefit. 


interesting  case  in  which  an  architect  was  a  party  was 
recently  tried  before  the  Court  of  Queen's  Bench  in  Eng- 
land  and  is  very  fully  reported  in  the  Builder.  There 
were,  in  fact,  two  cases,  one,  no  doubt  the  only  real  one,  being 
a  suit  of  Mr.  Hugh  McLachlan,  an  architect,  against  Miss 
Grant,  to  recover  compensation  for  professional  services,  while 
the  other  was  a  cross-suit  by  Miss  Grant  against  Mr.  McLach- 
lan for  damages  for  delaying  the  erection  of  the  building.  The 
evidence  showed  that  Miss  Grant,  who  was  the  proprietor  of  a 
noted  girls'  school  in  Kensington,  consulted  Mr.  McLachlan 
about  the  erection  of  a  new  building  for  her  school.  She  told 
him  that  she  wished  to  build  a  school  for  eight  hundred  girls  to 
cost  ten  thousand  dollars.  The  architect  replied  that  this  could 
not  be  done,  but  that  she  could  either  build  a  ten  thousand  dol- 
lar school  to  accommodate  less  than  eight  hundred  girls,  or 
arrange  plans  for  a  building  to  contain  the  full  number,  and 
build  at  first  only  such  portion  of  it  as  could  be  constructed  for 
the  sum  she  wished  to  spend.  The  last  suggestion  pleased 
Miss  Grant,  and  she  made  an  appointment  with  Mr.  McLach- 
lan to  visit  her  school  the  next  Saturday  afternoon  and  go  with 
her  to  see  some  land  near  by.  This  appointment  was  kept,  and 
Mr.  McLachlan  at  that  time  told  her  that  his  charges  for  ser- 
vices would  be  those  mentioned  in  the  Schedule  of  the  Royal 
Institute  of  British  Architects.  It  was  some  months  before 
Miss  Grant  succeeded  in  purchasing  a  piece  of  land  to  her 
mind,  and  she  then  instructed  Mr.  McLachlan  to  prepare  sketch- 
plans.  These  were  made  and  approved,  and  working-plans  and 


218 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.    [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  646. 


specifications  prepared  for  the  portion,  about  one-half,  which 
Miss  Grant  proposed  to  build  at  once.  Meanwhile,  Mr.  Mc- 
Lachlan  had  written  to  Miss  Grant,  pointing  out  that  the  cost 
of  the  building  on  the  site  which  she  had  bought  would  be 
much  more  than  on  the  lot  which  he  had  looked  at  with  her, 
and  which  she  had  first  tried  to  buy.  When  the  bids  were 
obtained,  the  lowest  real  offer  amounted  to  twenty-four  thou- 
sand dollars,  although  there  was  a  much  lower  one,  which  Mr. 
McLachlan,  in  a  letter  to  Miss  Grant,  challenged  as  spurious. 
The  land  had  been  bought  on  March  10th,  the  preliminary 
sketch  was  approved  on  March  18th,  and  tenders  were  received 
on  the  seventeenth  of  July.  Miss  Grant  then  rejected  all  the 
tenders,  and  said  she  would  build  the  school-house  herself,  and 
sent  to  Mr.  McLachlan  for  the  working-drawings.  After  some 
correspondence,  Miss  Grant  wrote  that  she  was  going  away  on 
the  twenty-ninth  of  July  and  would  write  to  Mr.  McLachlan 
on  her  return.  This  she  did,  notifying  him  September  15th 
that  she  had  come  back,  and  asking  him  to  dine  at  her  house 
whenever  the  plans  were  ready,  to  which  he  replied  that  he 
was  ready  whenever  she  pleased.  During  this  month  Mr. 
McLachlan  sent  in  to  Miss  Grant  the  surveyor's  bill  for  taking 
out  quantities  and  for  lithographing  them,  amounting  to  six 
hundred  dollars.  She  refused  to  pay,  and  said  that  she  would 
meet  the  surveyor  in  a  court  of  law.  She  did  so  and  was 
compelled  to  pay  the  full  amount ;  but  meanwhile  a  discussion 
had  been  going  on  between  her  and  the  architect,  the  result  of 
which  was  that  she  took  the  work  out  of  his  hands,  and  em- 
ployed one  of  her  assistants,  Miss  Harrison,  in  making  plans, 
which  she  afterwards  carried  out  at  an  expense  of  about  forty 
thousand  dollars.  On  being  dismissed  Mr.  McLachlan  asked 
for  his  pay,  setting  his  charge  at  three  per  cent  on  the  lowest 
bonajide  tender  for  the  portion  of  the  building  to  be  executed  at 
once,  and  one  and  one-quarter  per  cent  on  the  estimated  cost 
of  the  remainder,  the  total  amounting  to  one  thousand  and 
eighty-seven  dollars.  Miss  Grant,  in  reply,  wrote  Mr.  Mc- 
Lachlan that  her  estimate  of  the  work  for  which  he  had  pre- 
pared plans  was  twelve  thousand  dollars  and  that  she  was 
ready  to  pay  commission  on  this  sum,  which  Mr.  McLachlan 
declined ;  and,  on  his  bringing  suit,  entered  a  cross-claim  for 
four  thousand  dollars'  damages  for  loss  of  interest  on  the  price 
paid  for  the  land  while  work  was  delayed  by  the  architect,  and 
for  loss  of  fees  of  pupils  who  were  prevented  from  coming  to 
the  school  by  the  delay  in  providing  the  buildings. 


»ir T  the  trial  Mr.  McLachlan  testified  that  although  Miss 
rj_  Grant  had  specified  ten  thousand  dollars  as  the  amount  to 
be  expended,  this  sum  had  been  gradually  exceeded  with 
her  consent,  and  that  she  had  herself  called  for  more  costly  con- 
struction and  material  in  the  way  of  fireproof  flooring  and 
terra-cotta  fronts,  besides  increased  accommodation.  Miss 
Grant,  on  the  contrary,  testified  that  she  had  limited  the  pro- 
posed expenditure  to  ten  thousand  dollars ;  that  Mr.  McLach- 
lan had  not  prepared  the  working-drawings  for  which  he 
claimed  compensation,  as  the  detail-drawings  were  not  com- 
pleted ;  that  it  was  "  iniquitous  "  that  architects  should  charge 
five  per  cent  commission  ;  and  that  the  delay  in  preparation  of 
the  plans  had  caused  her  losses  which  she  would  prove  by  fig- 
ures made  by  her  assistant.  This  lady,  Miss  Harrison,  being 
called  to  the  stand,  testified  that  the  scholars'  fees  amounted  to 
a  certain  sum  per  year  and  that  this  sum,  multiplied  by  the 
number  of  scholars  who  would  have  entered  or  remained  in 
the  school  if  the  new  building  had  been  ready  sooner,  made  up 
the  total  damage  claimed  on  that  point.  The  architect's  coun- 
sel here  objected  that  it  was  necessary  to  prove  that  the  schol- 
f  ars  in  question  had  been  removed  or  detained  from  the  school 
on  account  of  the  delay  in  completion  of  the  new  building,  and 
one  witness  for  Miss  Grant  was  called  on  that  item,  who, 
however,  admitted  that  the  young  lady  about  whom  he  testi- 
fied was  already  nineteen  years  old  at  the  time  she  left  the 
school.  The  judge  then  instructed  the  jury  that  there  was  no 
question  as  to  the  employment  of  Mr.  McLachlan,  and  that  it 
only  remained  for  them  to  decide  as  to  the  amount  to  be  paid 
him.  By  the  schedule  of  the  Royal  Institute  of  British  Archi- 
tects, two  and  one-half  per  cent  were  to  be  paid  on  the  pre- 
paration of  working-drawings  and  specifications,  with  an  addi- 
tional one-half  of  one  per  cent  on  obtaining  tenders.  As  to  the 
one  and  one-quarter  per  cent  charged  for  the  sketch-plans  of 
the  deferred  buildings,  he  did  not  find  any  mention  of  this  in 
the  schedule,  and  supposed  it  to  have  been  put  in  as  one  of  the 
extra  charges  referred  to  in  the  pleading.  As  to  the  counter- 


claim, he  had  looked  over  the  whole  of  the  correspondence  and 
did  not  see  any  complaint  from  beginning  to  end  about  dam- 
ages arising  from  delay  in  completing  the  plans,  nor  did  he 
find  any  evidence  that  Mr.  McLachlan  had  been  warned  that 
he  was  incurring  a  penalty  of  something  like  five  hundred  dol- 
lars a  month  for  such  delay.  It  was,  in  his  opinion,  monstrous 
that  such  a  counter-claim  should  have  been  made.  After  a  few 
minutes'  deliberation,  the  jury  brought  in  a  verdict  for  Mr. 
McLachlan  of  two  and  one-half  per  cent  on  the  twenty-four 
thousand  dollar  tender  for  the  portion  of  the  building  to  be  first 
erected,  and  fifty-two  dollars  for  extra  work  in  making  sketch- 
plans  for  the  complete  design,  at  a  scale  of  one-sixteenth  of  an 
inch  to  the  foot,  making  a  total  of  six  hundred  and  fifty-seven 
dollars,  and  they  found  nothing  for  Miss  Grant  on  the  counter- 
claim. In  explanation  of  the  action  of  the  jury  in  reducing 
Mr.  McLachlan's  bill,  it  seems  probable  that  it  may  have  con- 
sidered the  absence  of  some  of  the  detail-drawings  to  be  a  fair 
offset  against  the  one-half  per  cent  charged  for  obtaining  ten- 
ders, while  the  compensation  for  the  sketch-plans,  not  being 
specified  in  the  schedule,  was  probably  estimated  by  the  jury- 
men by  the  well-known  standard  of  what  they  would  them- 
selves charge  for  making  a  few  lines  on  a  bit  of  paper. 

TITHE  Architects'  and  Engineers'  Registration  bill,  recently 
j~  offered  in  Parliament,  came  to  an  ignominious  end  on  the 
seventeenth  of  last  month.  The  bill  was  taken  up  on  that 
day  for  consideration,  Colonel  Duncan  moving  the  second 
reading.  On  this  motion  a  short  discussion  took  place,  the 
engineers  in  the  House  of  Commons,  together  with  Mr.  Isaacs, 
the  only  architect,  we  believe,  in  that  body,  and  the  Attorney 
General,  opposing  it  earnestly,  while  not  a  single  voice  was 
raised  in  favor  of  it.  The  Attorney  General,  in  particular, 
made  an  excellent  point  in  saying  that,  in  view  of  the  great  ad- 
vance which  had  been  made  within  thirty  or  forty  years  by  the 
members  of  the  three  professions  concerned,  it  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  show  in  what  way  the  present  system  had  failed ;  and  in 
his  opinion  the  House  ought  not  to  pass  such  a  measure  with- 
out being  informed  of  the  evils  which  it  was  intended  to 
remedy.  Sir  Lyon  Playfair  added  his  authority  against  the 
passage  of  the  bill,  which,  as  he  said,  although  modelled  exactly 
according  to  the  Act  for  the  regulation  of  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine which  he  had  himself  passed  through  the  House,  was  not 
founded  upon  the  same  conditions,  and  was  viewed  with  so 
much  opposition  by  the  professions  interested  that  the  House 
could  not  in  justice  enact  it  into  law.  This  closed  the  debate, 
and,  amid  cries  of  "  Withdraw,"  Colonel  Duncan  asked  leave  to 
withdraw  his  motion,  and  the  matter  was  thus  disposed  of. 

TITHE  Builder  reviews  a  book  by  Mr.  Arthur  Marshall,  on 
J_  "Antique  Carved  Furniture  and  Woodwork"  the  most  in- 
teresting portion  of  which  would  seem  to  be  the  exposition 
of  the  frauds  which  are  continually  practised  upon  the  un- 
sophisticated buyer  of  such  merchandise.  In  fact,  the  imita- 
tion of  antique  furniture  has  become  a  well-recognized  business 
in  many  places,  much  to  the  detriment  of  artistic  work,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  morals  of  the  dealers,  and  the  tempers  of  the 
deluded  buyers.  It  is  well  known  that  certain  carvers  make  a 
study  of  the  styles  of  the  last  two  centuries,  and  reproduce  with 
great  success  the  sweeping,  effective  strokes  of  the  ancient 
work ;  but  this  pardonable  copying  is  often  supplemented  by  a 
treatment  with  clay,  which  is  spread  over  the  carved  furniture 
while  wet,  and,  after  drying,  brushed  off,  so  as  to  round  the 
sharp  edges  of  the  tool-marks,  and  give  the  soft,  worn  air  of 
antiquity.  For  imitating  the  wasted,  ridgy  look  of  oak  furni- 
ture of  great  age,  a  wire  brush  is  used,  which  rubs  away  the 
softer  portions,  leaving  the  hardest  fibres  prominent ;  and  rusty 
nail-heads  are  often  inserted  in  conspicuous  places,  on  top  of 
the  modern  screw  which  really  holds  the  work  together.  For 
deluding  still  further  the  amateur  with  more  money  than  ex- 
perience, it  is  common  to  place  the  forged  articles  on  sale  in 
the  rustic  cottages  of  the  districts  most  frequented  by  tourists. 
The  occupants  of  the  cottage  are  taught  some  romantic  tale 
about  the  history  of  the  pretended  piece  of  antiquity,  and  a  con- 
stant stream  of  Cromwell  chairs  and  Dorothy  Vernon  writing- 
desks,  many  of  them  furnished  with  appropriate  dates  and 
autographs,  passes  in  this  way  directly  from  the  London  manu- 
factories to  the  drawing-rooms  of  susceptible  amateurs,  who  can 
be  relied  upon  to  advertise  the  business  of  the  enterprising 
dealer  with  enthusiasm  so  long  as  their  delusion  lasts,  and  to 
say  nothing  about  the  fraud  practised  upon  them  after  it  has 
been  discovered. 


MAY  12,  1888.] 


TJie   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


219 


SO.MK    AMERICAN    MONUMENTS.1  — II. 


Monument  to  Gambetta  «t  Cihon,  France.     Falguiere.  Sculptor. 

TIlF.'nUOSZE   STATUE   OF   JEKFER9ON    IN    THE   CAPITAL    AT  WASH- 
INGTON. 

IN  1834  Lieutenant  Uriah  P.  Levy,  of  the  United  States  Navy, 
brought  to  Washington  a  bronze  statue,2  larger  than  life,  of  Thomas 
Jefferson,  made  by  an  eminent  French  sculptor,  David  d'Angers. 
He  offered  it  to  the 'people  of  the  United  States,  through  Congress, 
but  that  body  being  largely  Whig,  refused  to  accept  the  statue, 
although  strongly  recommended  to  do  so,  by  Jackson,  at  that  time 
President.  One  tradition  say?,  that  the  President  ordered  it  to  be 
erected  in  front  of  the  White  House.  Another,  that  the  statue  was 
placed  in  front  of  the  White  House,  in  a  clump  of  bushes,  by  the 
gardener,  to  hide  it  from  public  view.  At  any  rate,  it  was  not  only 
soon  hidden  but  effectually  forgotten,  and  for  nearly  forty 
years  remained  in  peace  in  that  place. 

Concerning  its  finding  there  are  also  two  traditions.  The 
first  is,  that  when  General  Babcock  became  Superintendent 
of  Public  Buildings  and  Grounds,  under  Grant's  administra- 
tion, he  found  the  statue,  admired  its  excellencies,  cleaned  off 
its  accumulations  of  dust  and  rust,  and  set  it  up  on  a  high 
pedestal  in  plain  air  at  the  east  end  of  the  White  House. 
Here,  Mr.  Hoar,  of  Massachusetts,  saw  it,  and  expressed 
surprise  that  so  good  a  work  should  be  permitted  to  remain 
out-of-doors.  Here,  also,  Mr.  Sumner  saw  it,  and  wishing 
to  increase  the  company  of  images  already  forming  in  the 
Hall  of  Sculpture  at  the  Capitol,  offered  a  resolution  to 
Congress,  praying  it  to  invite  Jefferson  to  become  one  of  the 
numlwr.  He  was  therefore  brought,  in  metal,  to  the  stately 
precincts  that  had  known  him  often  and  familiarly  in  the 
(lesh. 

The  other  tradition  tells  how  he  came  there  by 
other  means.  It  says,  that  Mr.  Babcock  found 
the  statue  a  mass  of  verdigris,  with  no  known 
claim  to  human  respect  or  appreciation,_and  was  mf  i 

about  starting  it  for  the  junk-shop,  when  some 
chemically-inclined  cynic,  little  aware 
of  the  worth  of  the  suggestion,  recog- 
nizing it  as  having  a  value  as  fine- 
metal,  proposed  that  as  copper  was  , 
rated  low  in  the  market,  the  statue 
would  not  bring  a  price  due  its  age 
and  distinguished  origin,  and  that  it 
would  give  a  new  and  unexpected 
interest  to  the  development  of  sculpt- 
ure in  Washington,  if  it  were  cleaned, 
placed  among  its  comrades  in  the 
Capitol  and  wait  for  a  rise.  The 
suggestion  appeared  feasible,  and  it 
was  adopted.  A  generous  bath  of 
soap  and  water  was  given  the  assid- 
uous author  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  and  lo !  a  beautiful 


piece  of  bronze  appeared  to  astonish  and  charm  the  metallic  specu- 
lator. Such  an  example  of  statuesque  reform  was  sufficient  glory  for 
any  single  administration.  Important  political  changes  succeeded 
this  rejuvenating  process,  and  the  brilliant  spirit  of  Monticello  was 
lost  in  the  maze  of  his  rapidly  increasing  marbleized  contemporaries. 
For  some  years  it  remained  as  lost  to  sight  as  though  it  had  re- 
mained in  its  original  rustic  enclosure,  but  from  time  to  time  an 
appreciative  tourist  saw  its  superior  qualities  and  spoke  of  them  with 
the  enthusiasm  that  comes  with  the  discovery  of  a  diamond  in  a  pile 
of  rubbish.  The  city  of  Washington,  tired  out  with  a  burden  of 

1  Continued  from  No.  044,  page  201. 

>See  American  Architect  for  July  16, 1881. 


complaint  of  its  wretched  imitations  of  sculpture,  caught  eagerly  at 
the  first  breath  of  praise,  and  now  the  happy  inhabitant,  the  joyful 
journalist  and  the  hurrying  "  member  from  the  moral  deestricts," 
talk  of  nothing  else  but  "  the  best  statue  in  Washington. " 

In  his  gift  of  the  statue  the  patriotic  lieutenant  not  only  desired 
to  pay  tribute  to  the  Father  of  Democracy,  but  he  wished  to  crown 
Jackson's  administration  with  an  act  peculiarly  fitting,  wise  and 
tasteful.  On  its  base  it  I>ear8  the  following  inscription  :  "  Presented 
by  Uriah  Phillips  Levy,  of  the  United  States  Navy,  to  his  fellow- 
citizens,  1833." 

Lieutenant  Levy  and  Lafayette  were  in  Paris  together  at  the  time 
the  statue  was  made,  and  when  it  was  completed  the  latter  threw  his 
arms  around  it,  and  with  much  emotion,  exclaimed,  "My  l>eloved 
Jefferson ! " 

The  original  plaster-model  was  given  to  the  city  of  New  York,  by 
Lieutenant  Levy,  in  1H34,  and  is  in  the  Governor's  Hoom  in  the  City- 
Hall.  There  it.  remained  in  worthy  tranquility  until  January,  1886, 
when  the  enterprising  speculator  in  bronzes  made  an  attempt  to 
desecrate  it,  as  the  following  paper  will  show : 

"To  the  honorable  Board  of  Aldermen.  The  undersigned  re- 
spectfully represent  to  your  honorable  body :  That  they  are 
nephews  and  eldest  male  relatives  of  Commodore  U.  P.  Lew,  de- 
ceased, and  are  tax-payers  and  residents  of  the  city  of  New  Vork. 
That  they  have  learned  that,  by  a  resolution  of  the  Board  of  Alder- 
men at  a  session  held  on  the  4th  instant,  permission  has  been  granted 
to '  Patrick  Kcenan,  and  such  persons  as  he  may  associate  with  him, 
to  make  a  bronze  copy  of  the  plaster  statue  of  Thomas  Jefferson, 
now  in  the  Governor's  Room  in  the  City-Hall.' 

"  We  respectfully  remind  your  Honorable  Body  that  this  plaster 
model  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  is  the  original  icork  of  the  celebrated 
David  who  was  the  first  sculptor  of  Paris,  and  one  of  the  first  in 
Kurope,  executed  under  the  eye  of  Commodore  Levy  who  was  then  a 
lieutenant  in  the  United  States  Navy,  aided  by  the  valuable  sug- 
gestions of  the  l>eloved  Lafayette,  and  that  it  was  presented  by  Lieu- 
tenant Levy  to  the  city  in  1834,  more  than  half  a  century  ago.  That 
he  also  had  a  bronze  copy  perfected  in  Paris  from  this  model,  and 
presented  it  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  through  the  two 
Houses  of  Congress :  The  model  is  more  valuable  than  any  repro- 
duction of  it  in  metal  can  be.  It  is  the  Master's  own  work.  An 
original  work  of  so  great  value  and  merit,  so  precious  and  impossible 
to  be  replaced,  a  gift  to  the  Corporation,  highly  esteemed  at  the  time 
and  since,  should  not  be  suffered  to  pass  out  of  the  posses- 
sion and  care  of  the  City  for  any  purpose  whatever  unless 
under  the  strictest  provisions  for  its  use,  preservation,  and 
return. 

"  We  submit  that  the  Resolution  in  question  docs  not  con- 
tain such  provisions,  or  any  adequate  provision. 

"  This  model  is  no  common  plaster  to  be  run  in  metal  by 
any  foundryman. 

"  Unskilful  handling  is  certain  to  cause  irreparable  injury, 
and  a  bungling  or  ignoble  reproduction  would  measurably 
debase  the  original  and  bring  mortification  to  the  assentors. 
"  The  artist  who  is  to  direct  and  the  founder  who  is  to 
cast,  in  the  true  method,  should  be  ascertained  and  approved 
by  competent  persons. 

"  The  Resolution  is  silent  as  to  these  particulars.  No 
provision  is  found  in  it  for  the  care  or  safety  of  the  model 
while  it  is  in  a  foundry  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  the  sum 
of  one  thousand  dollars,  an  insignificant  sum  compared  with 
the  value  of  this  work  fixed  by  the  Resolution  as  a  penally 
for  the  safe  return  of  one  of  the  best  and  most  valuable 
if  not  the  best  and  most  valuable  of  the  City's  art  pos- 
sessions, is  totally  inadequate  as  a  security  against  its  los-s, 
damage  or  destruction. 

"  While  we  applaud  the  public  spirit  which  impels  a  citi- 
zen, or  an  association  of  citizens,  to 
undertake  the  cost  of  reproduction, 
we  think  that  all  reasonable  men 
will  recognize  the  force  of  the  ob- 
jections to  the  Resolution,  and  we 
therefore  pray :  — 

"That  your  Honorable  Body  will 
reconsider  and  rescind  the  Resolu- 
tion above  referred  to,  passed  Janu- 
ary 4th,  1886. 

"  Respectfully  submitted,  Asahel 
S.  Levy,  Jefferson  M.  Levy." 

David  made  several  sketches  of 
the  statue  of  Jefferson,  which  are  in 
the  possession  of  his  family.  A  ter- 


Monument  toGuiteppe  Mazzini,  Genoa,  Italy.     Pietro  Costa,  Sculptor. 

ra-cotta  reduction  of  the  head  is  in  the  museum  of  Saumur. 

He  also  made  a  bronze  medallion  of  Lieutenant  Levy,  which  he 
gave  to  the  museum  at  Angers. 

David  wrote  a  great  deal  on  art  matters  of  every  kind,  and  criti- 
cised freely  every  work  of  art  and  artist  that  he  saw  or  knew  any- 
thing about.  Very  few  things  passed  him,  and  he  ran  the  who'lc 
gamut  of  the  centuries,  from  the  Moses  of  Michael  Angelo,  to  Rude's 
lias-relief  on  the  Arch  of  Triumph,  and  Barye's  Lion  and  Serpent. 
Of  his  own  worth  he  never  tired  in  rapturous  appreciation.  Ht;  had 
"  moments  "  when  his  thoughts  carried  him  to  the  contemplation  of 
art  especially,  and  generally  they  led  him  near  home. 


220 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News.     [VOL.  XXIII. — No.  646. 


At  least,  on  one  of  these  aesthetic  voyages,  "  my  thoughts  take  me 
to  my  studio,  and  I  contemplate  the  majestic  shadows  of  the  great 
men  to  whose  immortality  I  gave  my  life,  my  heart  as  an  artist. " 
He  then  passes  in  review  the  subjects  of  his  chisel,  until  he  comes  to 
Jefferson,  when  he  says  :  "  This  is  Jefferson !  who  composed  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  It  seems  like  a  chapter  from  the 
Bible  I " 

Although  David  has  much  to  say  about  Lafayette  and  the  bust  of 
Washington,  he  never  mentions  the  name  of  Jefferson,  except  in  the 
apostrophe  above  quoted,  and  forgets  the  unusual,  individual  gener- 
osity and  patriotism  of  Levy.  This  is  all  the  more  strange,  for  two 
reasons;  first,  because  he  paid  great  attention  to  the  details  of  his 
experience;  and  second,  because  the  Jefferson,  as  before  stated,  was 
made  under  the  constant  personal  care  both  of  Lafayette  and  Levy. 
Besides,  it  was  a  very  rare  occurrence  in  David's  experience  as  a 
sculptor  to  receive  so  important  a  commission,  as  a  large  statue,  from 
one  person,  and  especially  from  a  citizen  of  the  Great  Republic,  in 
the  founding  of  which,  his  friend  Lafayette  took  a  worthy  part,  and 
the  Father  of  which  was  the  great  Washington,  for  whom  he  had 
such  deep  veneration.  For  the  head  of  the  statue  the  sculptor  used 
a  portrait  in  the  possession  of  Lafayette. 

Gossip  has  also  been  busy  in  regard  to  how  the  Jefferson  came  to 
be  made,  but  the  writer  has  found  no  evidence  confirming  the  truth- 
fulness of  the  stories  set  on  foot  by  this  assiduous  dame. 

In  the  "Life  of  David,"  it  is  stated,  wrongly  enough,  that  the  Jeffer- 
son was  paid  for  by  a  National  subscription.  After  describing  the 
statue,  the  author,  M.  Jouin,  remarks,  "  The  future  President  seems 
to  be  ready  to  march,  as  though  he  was  carrying  through  the  new 
world  the  words  of  liberty." 

While  Fennimore  Cooper  was  American  Consul  in  Paris,  David 
executed  a  marble  bust  of  the  novelist,  in  1827. 

In  1828,  Lafayette  ordered  of  him  a  large  bust  of  Washington, 
which  was  afterwards  burned,  somewhere  in  America.  On  receiving 
the  money  for  the  work  from  Lafayette,  David  returned  it,  with  the 
remark  that,  while  he  was  not  rich  enough  to  work  for  nothing,  he 
yet  could  afford  himself  the  pleasure  of  producing  such  a  head  with- 
out pecuniary  return. 

He  executed  a  bronze  medallion  of  J.  Augustine  Washington,  a 
descendant  of  the  first  President,  while  he  was  a  student  in  Paris, 
because  he  wished  to  honor  the  latter  as  a  descendant  of  the  former. 

When  he  sent  his  large  bust  of  Lafayette,  in  1828,  to  America,  he 
wrote  a  long  letter  to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  in  it 
expressed  the  wish  that  the  bust  might  be  placed  in  the  Capitol  at 
Washington  beside  the  monument  of  Washington,  which  he  supposed 
was  already  erected  there. 

In  his  bas-relief,  on  the  benefits  of  printing,  which  is  part  of  the 
monument  to  Guttenburg,  he  modelled  the  heads  of  Benj.  Rust, 


Light-house  on  the  lile  of  May. 

Lewis,  Morris,  Henry  Laurens,  Washington,  Franklin,  Jefferson, 
Hancock,  John  Adams,  Lafayette,  and  Bolivar. 

It  is  also  related  in  the  "  Life  of  David,"  that  one  of  his  marble 
workmen  named  Beglar,  had  been  in  America,  and  often  seen  Wash- 
ington. And  this  little  anecdote  is  told  by  him  of  the  Great  Vir- 
ginian, as  an  illustration  of  the  practical  perservance  of  his  nature : 
"  One  day  as  Washington  was  in  the  field  overlooking  his  negroes, 
he  saw  one  who  had  one  hand  bandaged  so  that  he  could  not  use  it, 
and  so  did  not  work.  Whereupon  Washington  put  one  of  his  hands 
in  his  pocket,  took  a  hoe  in  the  other  and  gave  the  negro  a  lesson  in 
working  with  one  hand." 

David  was  a  sculptor  of  great  talent,  but  he  injured  his  reputation 
by  trying  to  do  too  much  work.  He  is  better  appreciated  by  critical 
artists  for  his  superb  medallions,  which  he  made  by  the  hundred, 
than  for  his  statues.  Many  of  the  latter  are  considered  dry  and  stiff 
in  execution.  He  was  singularly  lacking  in  the  understanding  and 
appreciation  of  great  art.  His  pupils  were  many,  and  one  of  them, 
Jean  Louis  Brian,  left  one  uncompleted  statue,  in  clay,  at  his  death, 
that  for  high  sculpture  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  very  few  master- 
pieces of  French  art  worthy  to  be  mentioned  in  connection  with  the 
Greek.  And  yet  its  author  has  no  popular  history  whatever,  and  his 


name  and  work  are  only  mentioned  by  the  small  number  of  carefully 
observing  artists.  This  little  statue  is  in  bronze,  at  the  expense  of 
the  State,  and  has  its  place  in  the  corridor  of  the  School  of  Fine 
Arts.  It  was  in  the  Salon  of  1864,  and  received  the  Medal  of 
Honor.  Brian's  humble  life,  and  his  priceless  contribution  to  his 
country's  art,  is  one  of  the  many  instances  in  the  history  of  art  in 
Paris,  that  goes  to  prove  that  much  that  is  not  popularly  known  in 
art  is  of  vastly  more  consequence  than  that  which  is  too  much  known. 

T.  II.  BARTLETT. 

[To  be  continued. 1 

ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  LIGHT-HOUSES.1  — XXI. 

HE  light-house  situated  on  the  Isle 
of  May,  Scotland,  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Firth  of  Forth,  was  orig- 
inally lighted  in  1636  by  an  open 
coal-fire;  it  was  altered  in  1816  to  ar- 
gand  lamps,  with  silvered  parabolic 
reflectors  ;  in  1836  it  was  converted 
to  the  dioptric  system,  and  on  the 
1st  December,  1886,  the  electric-light 
was  substituted  :  as  this  light  is  now 
the  most  powerful  in  the  world,  a  gen- 
eral description  may  be  of  interest  in 
this  connection. 

The  Board  of  Trade  suggested  its 
introduction  at  the  Isle  of  May,  on 
the  ground  that  "there  was  no  .more 
important  station  on  the  Scottish 
shores,  whether  considered  as  a  land- 
fall, as  a  light  for  the  guidance  of  the 
extensive  and  important  trade  of  the 
neighboring  coast,  or  as  a  light  to  lead 
into  the  refuge  harbor  of  the  Forth." 
Notwithstanding  its  isolated  posi- 
tion and  the  difficulty  of  access,  it  was 
decided  to  accept  the  view  of  the 
Board  of  Trade.  The  necessary  plans 
were  prepared  by  the  Messrs.  Ste- 
venson, and  the  works  commenced  in 
June,  1885,  were  completed  and  the 
light  established  by  the  first  of  Decem- 
ber, 1886.  The  existing  establishment 
consisted  of  a  light-house  tower,  with 
accommodation  for  three  keepers  —  it 
was  necessary  to  provide  dwellings  for 


Light-house   »t   St.   Pierr 
Royan,   France. 


three  more  keepers  with  their  families,  and  buildings  for  the  steam 
and  electric  plant,  coal-houses,  etc.  All  these  were  placed  near  the 
base  of  the  island,  in  order  to  be  near  the  small  fresh-water  loch,  and 
to  save  the  cost  of  transporting  the  coal  and  of  pumping  the  water  to 
the  top  of  the  island,  while  the  saving  of  the  cost  of  carriage  of  the 
materials  and  machinery  to  the  top  of  the  island,  and  of  piping  and 
pumping  machinery  would  more  than  counterbalance  the  original 
cost  of  the  conductors. 

It  was  originally  intended  to  use  the  Brush  compound  wound 
Victoria  dynamo,  giving  a  continuous  current  and  supplying  a  single 
automatically-fed  arc-lamp  of  30,000  candle-power.  The  Brush 
Company  at  once  set  to  work  to  make  such  a  lamp,  but  after  numer- 
ous trials  they  were  unable  to  do  so,  consequently  recourse  was  had 
to  the  more  expensive  alternate  current  magneto-electric  machines  of 
De  Meritens,  which,  though  not  so  powerful,  had  given  excellent  >e- 


S  E  A 


MAY 


suits  in  several  light-houses  and  at  the  experiments  at  South  Fore- 
land ;  they  were  of  the  L  type  and  of  the  largest  size  hitherto  con- 
structed, weighing  four-and-one-half  tons  each. 

They  are  so  arranged  that  one-fifth,  two-fifths,  three-fifths,  four- 
fifths  or  the  whole  of  the  current  of  a  machine  can,  at  pleasure,  be 
sent  to  the  distributor  for  transmission  to  the  lantern,  the  two 
machines  can  also  be  coupled  and  the  full  current  from  both  be  em- 
ployed. The  engines  and  boilers  are  in  duplicate. 

The  conductors  are  copper-rods  one  inch  in  diameter,  well  in- 
sulated, the  length  is  880  feet,  the  loss  of  the  total  energy  is  twenty 
per  cent. 


1  Continued  from  page  195,  No.  644. 


MAY  12,  1888.] 


TJie    American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


221 


The  lamps  arc  of  the  Scrrin-Berjot  type,  and  the  carbons  are  of 
Siemens  make,  and  have  a  soft  central  core  of  pure  graphite  which 
improves  their  steadiness  in  burning ;  they  are  1.6  inches  in  diameter, 
luit  two-inch  carbons  can  be  used  when  both  machines  are  running. 
With  one  machine  the  power  of  the  arc  is  estimated  at  12,000  to 
16,000  candles. 

The  dioptric  apparatus  (see  figure  showing  horizontal  section 
through  focal  plane)  is  of  a  novel  description,  the  condensing  prin- 
ciple being  carried  farther  than  in  any  other  apparatus  previously 
constructed.  (Certain  sectors  are  darkened  by  diverting  the  light 
from  them,  and  the  light  is  thrown  into  adjoining  sectors  so  as  to  re- 
inforce their  light.  Thus  the  power  of  the  light  is  increased  in  pro- 
portion as  the  dark  arc  is  increased.  The  light  gives  four  flashes  in 


HORIZONTAL  SECTION  THROUUH   FOCAL  PLANE. 

quick  succession  every  half  minute ;  and  during  the  bright  periods 
tlie  effect  of  this  concentration  of  the  rays  is  that  the  light  radiating 
naturally  from  the  focus  is  increased  in  power  fifteen  times  in 
azimuth  in  addition  to  the  vertical  condensation,  excepting,  of  course, 
the  loss  due  to  reflection  and  absorption. 

The  apparatus  consists  of  a  second-order  fixed  lens  fifty-five  inches 
in  diameter,  which  operates  on  the  rays  so  as  to  make  them  issue 
from  the  lens  in  horizontal  planes. 

Outside  this  lens  there  is  a  revolving  cage  of  straight  vertical 
prisms,  extending  the  full  height  of  the  lens,  or  five-one-half  feet, 
and  composed  of  two  panels  on  opposite  sides  of  the  centre,  each 
operating  in  the  horizontal  plane  on  180°  of  the  light  coming  from 
the  lens,  in  such  a  way  as  to  condense  the  whole  180°  into  four 
flashes  of  3°  each  — that  is,  45°  into  8°,  with  the  proper  intervals  of 
darkness  between  them.  This  cage  of  glassworK  makes  one  com- 
plete revolution  every  minute  round  the  lens,  thereby  producing  the 
characteristic  of  four  flashes  every  half  minute. 

The  resulting  beam  of  light  from  this  apparatus  is  about  3,000,000 
candles  when  one  magneto-electric  machine  is  in  use,  and  with  both 
machines  about  6,000,000  candles.  The  light  has  been  picked-up 


i 


and  recognized  by  sailors  at  forty  and  fifty  miles  off,  by  the  flashes 
illuminating  the  clouds  overhead,  though  the  geographical  range,  i.  e., 
the  distance  which  the  curvature  of  the  earth  would  permit  the  light 
to  be  seen,  is  only  twenty-two  miles. 

Surprise  has  frequently  been  expressed  by  masters  of  vessels  and 
by  residents  on  the  neighboring  shores  who  live  in  view  of  the  Isle 
of  May  light,  that  this  light,  which  is  so  exceedingly  brilliant  in 
rlcar  weather  as  to  cast  shadows  at  a  distance  of  ten  or  fifteen  miles, 
is  so  cut  down  by  the  fog  that  some  go  the  length  of  believing  the 
old  oil-light  (9446  candles)  was  better  in  a  fog.  All  who  have  had 
experience  with  the  electric-light  are  quite  prepared  for  the  first 
part  of  this  statement,  while  the  last,  it  need  hardly  be  said,  is  a  mis- 
take, inasmuch  as  the  electric-light  has  been  prove'd,  by  experiments 


in  both  natural  and  artificial  fog  and  also  by  observation  on  existing 
light-houses  lighted  by  electricity,  to  be  in  all  circumstances  o? 
weather  the  most  penetrating. 

Every  night  at  12  o'clock  the  lightkeepcrs  at  St.  Abb's  Head, 
twenty-two  miles  distant,  where  there  is  a  first-order  flashing  light, 
and  one  of  the  most  powerful  oil-lights  in  the  English  service, 
observe  the  Isle  of  May  light,  while  the  keepers  at  the  latter  also 
observe  the  St.  Abb's  Head  light.  The  result  of  five  months'  observa- 
tion is  that  the  Isle  of  May  light  is  seen  one-third  oftener  from  St. 
Abb's  Head  than  the  St.  Abb's  Head  light  is  seen  from  the  Isle  of 
May.  It  is  perfectly  true,  however,  that  the  superiority  which  is  so 
apparent  in  clear  and  in  rainy  weather  is  very  much  reduced  in  hazy 
weather,  and  practically  disappears  in  very  dense  fog.  Looking  to 
this  fact  and  to  the  large  first  cost  and  annual  maintenance,  there  is 
no  doubt,  that  the  conclusion  arrived  at  by  the  Trinity  House1  is 
sound,  that  electricity  should  be  used  only  for  important  landfall 
lights. 

PARIS  CHURCHES.1  —  VIH. 

8AINTE   OENEVIEVE.  —  (THE   PANTHEON.) 

HE  founda- 
tion of  the 
abbey  of 
Ste.  Genevieve 
dates  back  to 
the  time  of  Cle- 
vis. After  hav- 
ing  dispersed 
the  Visigoths 
upon  the  plains 
of  Vouilld,  he 
desired  to  cele- 
brate his  vic- 
tory by  the 
erection  of  a 
church  upon  the 
hill  which  over- 
looked his  Pa- 
lais des  Ther- 
mes  upon  the 
left  bank  of  the 
Seine.  This  he 
dedicated  to  the 
memory  of  S.S. 
Peter  and  Paul 
and  placed  un- 
der the  keeping 
of  a  congrega- 
tion of  religions. 
Clo  vi  s  was 
buried  there, 
and  after  his 
death  his  widow 
Clotilde  fi  n  - 
ished  the  build- 
ings. The  child 
o  f  Clodonier, 
whose  eyes 

were  put  out,  were  also  buried  there,  and  at  Clotilde's  death  she,  too, 
was  laid  in  a  tomb  near  that  of  Ste.  Genevifeve. 

Genevieve  was  a  peasant  girl  of  Nanterre,  a  little  hamlet  situated 
upon  the  plain  over  which  Mont  Valerien  now  frowns.  She  was 
born  in  421  and  was  employed  as  a  child  in  tending  sheep.  When 
about  seven  years  of  age,  St.  Germain,  bishop  of  Auxerre,  seeing  her 
amongst  a  crowd  of  people  who  had  surrounded  him  to  receive  his 
benediction,  became  aware  of  her  predestined  glory,  and  finding  that 
she  desired  to  be  a  handmaiden  of  Christ,  he  hung  round  her  neck  a 
small  coin  marked  with  the  symbol  of  the  cross  and  thus  consecrated 
her  to  God's  service.  Many  miracles  are  recorded  as  due  to  her 
prayers  even  while  yet  a  child.  But,  although  she  was  practically 
good  and  reverenced  her  parents,  she  was  much  persecuted  by 
demons  and  men.  Her  arch  enemy,  the  devil,  seems  to  have  par- 
ticularly objected  to  her  love  of  praying  during  the  night,  for  he 


1  The  Trinity  House  of  England  and  the  Scotch  Board  of  Northern  Lights  in- 
stituted an  exhaustive  series  of  experiments  at  South  Foreland,  England,  In 
1884-88  to  determine  the  relative  values  of  oil,  gas  and  electricity  as  light-house 
illuminants;  the  following  is  a  summary  of  their  report  so  far  as  oil  and  electri- 
city are  concerned  : 

The  electric- light,  as  exhibited  in  the  A  experimental  tower  at  South  Foreland, 
has  proved  to  be  the  most  powerful  light  under  all  conditions  of  weather,  and  to 
have  the  greatest  penetrative  power  in  fog. 

"  For  the  ordinary  necessities  of  light-house  illumination  mineral-oil  is  the  most 
suitable  and  economical  llluminant;  for  salient  headlands,  important  landfalls 
and  places  where  a  very  powerful  light  is  required,  electricity  offers  the  greatest 
advantages." 

A  single  oil-burner,  placed  on  the  focus  of  a  proportionately  sized  lens,  is 
sufficient  for  the  generality  of  cases. 

This  Is  specially  the  case  since  the  introduction,  on  Messrs.  Stevenson's  sugges- 
tion, of  hyper-radiant  apparatus  suited  for  use  with  burners  of  large  diameter. 
An  experimental  lens  of  52}  inches  focal  distance  was  constructed  by  Mann. 
Barbier  &  Fenestre,  and  was  fully  experimented  upon  at  the  South  Foreland.  It 
proved  entirely  satisfactory,  and  since  then  the  Light-House  Board  of  the  United 
States  has  ordered  and  received  one  of  these  lenses  which  is  now  in  store  at  the 
United  States  General  Light-House  Depot,  Tompkintville,  Staten  Island,  New 
York. 

This  lens  is  composed  entirely  of  brass  and  cut-glass,  and  when  the  sun  shines 
on  it,  it  sparkles  with  all  the  colors  of  the  prism,  reminding  one  of  an  immense 
soap-bubble.  Its  cost  was  nearly  $16,000. 

2  Continued  from  page  33,  No.  630. 


222 


The   American   Architect   and  Building   News.     [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  646« 


continually  blew  out  her  candle  during  her  vigils  in  spite  of  her 
power  of  rekindling  it  through  faith  and  prayer.  This  is  a  favorite 
subject  of  mediaeval  sculptors,  and  I  remember  seeing  one  statue  of 
the  Saint  with  a  demon  on  her  back  holding  a  pair  of  bellows  with 
which  he  is  blowing  out  the  eandle  in  her  hand.  Ste.  Genevieve  was 
an  early  Jeanne  d'Are,  and  through  prayer  alone  caused  the  Huns 
who  were  besieging  Paris  under  Attila  to  flee.  On  another  occasion, 
when  the  city  was  invested  by  Childcric,  she  took  the  command  of 
some  boats  which  were  sent  up  the  river  to  Troyes  for  succor  and 
brought  them  back  laden  with  provisions.  When  the  city  was  taken 
Genevieve  was  treated  with  great  respect  by  Childeric,  and  it  was 
through  her  influence  that  Clovis  and  his  wife,  Clotilde,  were  con- 
verted to  Christianity  and  the  first  Christian  church  was  erected  in 
Paris. 

This  legend  of  feeding  the  besieged  Parisians  is  said  to  be  the 
origin  of  the  pain  benit  of  the  Paris  churches,  a  custom  peculiar  to 
the  old  Parisian  rite  and  almost  the  only  one  kept  up  since  that  rite 
was  superseded  by  the  Roman,  some  few  years  since.  This  blessed 
bread  is  a  large  brioche  offered  by  some  parishioner  and  brought 
into  church  in  procession  during  the  offertory.  It  is  usually  piled 
up  on  a  stage  and  decorated  with  flowers  and  lights,  the  whole  being 
carried  on  the  shoulders  of  acolytes.  Preceded  by  the  beadle  and 
donor,  it  is  taken  to  the  altar  and  sprinkled  with  holy  water;  some 
prayers  are  said,  the  donor  is  presented  with  a  pat  and  a  kiss,  and  the 
procession  then  returns  to  the  sacristry,  where  the  cake  is  cut  up 
and  carried  by  acolytes  round  the  church  in  baskets  for  distribution. 
One  often  sees  strangers  refuse  it,  thinking  it  something  peculiarly 
Popish  or  sacred,  but  they  might  be  sure,  if  it  were  so  very  holy, 
they  would  not  get  the  chance  of  partaking  of  it.  It  is  rather  a  sort 
of  amicable  meal,  after  the  manner  of  the  early  Agapemone,  but  it  is 
a  pretty  ceremony,  and  it  is  always  refreshing  to  witness  any  little 
peculiarity  in  ritual,  instead  of  the  dull  uniformity  which  recent 
Papal  decrees  have  enforced  all  over  Europe. 

In  the  ninth  century  Ste.  Genevieve  became  the  patron  of  the 
abbey,  and  some  of  the  capitals  of  the  church  of  that  period  or  a 
century  later  are  now  in  the  court  of  the  l5cole  des  Beaux- Arts.  In 
the  thirteenth  century  the  church  was  rebuilt,  but  gradually  falling 
into  decay,  it  was  condemned  in  the  reign  of  Louis  XV  and  demol- 
ished in  1801-07  to  make  way  for  the  rue  Clovis.  When  the  crypt 
was  destroyed  a  large  quantity  of  stone  coffins,  medals,  pottery, 
shields  and  lances  of  Gallo-Roinan  and  Merovingian  workmanship 
were  found. 

The  reliquary  of  the  saint  was  made  in  1242  by  a  celebrated  gold- 
smith named  Bonnard.  It  contained  one  hundred  and  ninety-five 
marks  of  silver  and  seven  and  one-half  marks  of  gold,  and  from  time 
to  time  it  was  loaded  with  precious  stones.  Germain  Pilon  sculp- 
tured four  female  figures  in  wood  to  support  it,  which  were  the  only 
parts  saved  at  the  Revolution  ;  they  are  now  in  the  Renaissance 
Museum  of  the  Louvre.  The  chasse  was  melted  up  and  the  jewels 
sold,  the  whole  producing  only  21,000  livres.  Some  of  the  monu- 
ments of  the  church  were  saved,  that  of  Cardinal  de  la  Rochefou- 
cault  sculptured  by  Philippe  Buistur  in  1645  being  placed  in  the 
chapel  of  the  hospilal  for  incurable  women  of  which  he  was  the 
founder.  The  statue  of  Clovis  (twelfth  century)  is  now  at  St.  Denis, 
owing  to  the  accident  of  its  having  been  replaced  in  the  seventeenth 
century  by  a  superior  one  in  white  marble,  which  was  destroyed  in 
1793.  The  first  statue,  "  mangee  et  difforme  d'antiquite,"  according 
to  Father  Dubreuil,  was  relegated  to  the  crypt,  where  it  was  found 
when  the  church  was  demolished.  Another  tomb,  that  of  a  chan- 
cellor of  Notre  Dame  de  Noyon  who  died  in  1350,  is  now  in  the 
Ecole  des  Beaux- Arts. 

Some  of  the  conventual  buildings  remain  and  form  part  of  the 
Lyce'e  Henri  IV.  The  tower  is  Romanesque  at  the  base  and  Pointed 
at  the  upper  stories  —  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  century  respectively. 
The  cloisters  and  refectory  form  part  of  the  school  buildings,  but 
they  have  been  much  modernized.  The  refectory  is  an  elegant  build- 
ing of  the  thirteenth  century  and  now  serves  as  the  school  chapel. 
In  the  sacristry  is  a  large  stone  statue  of  the  patroness  (thirteenth 
century)  which  formerly  formed  part  of  the  central  pillar  of  the 
principal  doorway ;  it  represents  her  with  a  demon  on  one  shoulder 
blowing  out  her  candle  and  an  angel  on  the  other  relighting  it. 
What  was  formerly  the  library  is  a  series  of  galleries  upon  the  plan 
of  a  cross,  with  a  cupola  at  the  intersections.  It  is  no  longer  used 
for  this  purpose,  all  the  books  having  been  placed  in  the  ne'w  build- 
ing on  the  other  side  of  the  square. 

The  modern  church  was  built  by  Soufflot  in  1764  at  the  instiga- 
tion of  Mme.  de  Pompadour ;  and  since  the  Revolution  it  has  been  a 
constant  bone  of  contention  between  the  different  political  parties. 
At  one  time  dedicated  in  gratitude  "  aux  Grands  Homines,"  it  has  at 
another  been  under  the  patronage  of  Ste.  Genevieve.  Sometimes  a 
mere  show  building,  at  others  it  has  had  its  altars  and  its  canons  to 


as  a  mere  burial-place  for  distinguished  Frenchmen.  Smaller  than 
St.  Paul's,  London,  it  is  more  perfect  in  its  Classicism.  It  is  built  on 
the  plan  of  a  Greek  cross,  with  a  dome  over  the  intersection.  Its 
decoration  has  been  almost  as  hopeless  as  that  of  St.  Paul's,  and  has 
fluctuated  between  the  different  schools,  as  much  as  the  uses  of  the 
building  have  changed. 

Commenced  by  Baron  Gros  and  Ge"rard,  in  the  false,  pretentious 
style  of  the  first  Empire,  the  dome  is  as  glaring  a  piece  of  bad  taste 


as  the  apse  of  the  Madeleine.  For  some  years  the  decoration  of  the 
building  was  stopped,  but  within  the  last  decade  it  has  made  another 
start  with  Puvis  de  Chavannes's  "  Life  of  Ste.  Genevieve."  The 
direct  opposite  of  Cabanels's  "  Life  of  St.  Louis,"  pictures  which  are 
hard  and  dry  and  crude,  M.  Puvis  de  Chavannes's  are  vague  and 
foggy.  His  figures  are  clumsy,  thick  of  ankle,  neck  and  wrist,  but 
otherwise  attenuated  to  the  last  degree ;  and  were  it  not  that  the  far- 
off  people  are  smaller  than  those  near  the  spectator,  no  one  would 
know  that  they  are  on  different  planes,  for  of  aerial  perspective,  there 
is  none.  Yet  there  is  a  certain  purity  of  sentiment  which  is  meant 
to  be  Giottesque  (without,  however,  the  old  master's  color  and  clear 
outline),  and  a  great  charm  about  the  landscape  backgrounds ;  and  a 
hen  and  chickens  picking  up  some  grain  are  excellently  painted. 
The  pictures  by  Maillot  are  equally  wanting  in  aerial  perspective,  but 
not  from  fogginess  —  quite  the  contrary ;  they  err  on  the  side  of 
equal  brilliancy.  They  represent  the  citizens  of  Paris  carrying  the 
Saint's  chasse  to  Notre  Dame  in  the  reign  of  Charles  VIII.  A 
crowd  of  people  descend  the  "  mountain  "  and  cross  a  peculiar  zigzag 
wooden  bridge  with  no  side-rails.  The  horizon  is  close  to  the  top  of 
the  frame,  so  that  the  chasse  appears  to  be  falling  off  the  shoulders 
of  the  men  who  carry  it,  and  the  people  seem  stepping  down  a  steep 
incline.  The  color  is  bright  and  the  costumes  picturesque,  and  the 
whole  has  an  early  Flemish  appearance ;  so  early  is  the  style  that  it 
looks  as  odd  as  a  series  of  Van  Eycks  or  Van  der  Weydens  would 
in  an  eighteenth  century  building  —  utterly  incongruous.  Imagine 
Raphael  or  Michael  Angelo  decorating  St.  Peter's,  Rome,  in  the 
manner  of  Giotto,  Botticelli  or  Ghirlandajo.  Totally  different, 
but  equally  out  of  keeping  with  the  building,  are  the  pictures  of 
J.  P.  Laurens,  of  incidents  in  the  life  of  the  Saint,  or  rather,  miracles 
worked  by  her.  Splendidly  drawn  are  they,  and  full  of  dramatic 
power,  as  is  all  Laurens's  work,  but  somewhat  black,  as  is  usual  with 
this  artist.  Then  we  have  some  of  M.  Emile  Levy's,  who  is  never  of 
much  value  except  in  portrait-painting,  and  in  that  only  now  and 
then.  Here  at  the  Panthe'on,  he  is  more  than  usually  woolly  and 
wanting  in  vigor.  Directly  opposed  to  them  are  M.  Bonnat's 
masculine,  though  somewhat  black,  works.  Last,  but  not  least, 
charming  in  design,  refined  but  not  weak  and  quite  in  harmony  with 
the  style  of  the  building  are  the  mosaics  of  M.  Hebert,  which  are 
amongst  the  best  work  that  I  have  seen  by  him ;  for  the.  e  are  ex- 
empt from  his  faults  of  affectation.  On  the  whole,  the  decoration  of 
the  Pantheon  gives  no  encouragement  to  other  nations  who  want 
great  masses  of  wall  in  large  buildings,  covered  with  pictures.  The 
art  seems  to  be  lost ;  for  if  the  greatest  of  the  French  painters  have, 
from  one  reason  and  another,  failed,  who  is  likely  to  succeed  ?  No 
school  is  so  dramatic  as  the  French,  even  in  these  days  of  Natural- 
ism and  Impressionism  and  other  caut-isms;  and  yet  these  wall- 
paintings  fail  to  impress  us  in  the  same  way  as  we  are  impressed,  say, 
by  the  Benozzo  Gozzoli  frescos  of  the  Riccardi  Palac*  in  Florence. 
I  fear  it  is  the  spirit  which  is  wanting,  the  religious  sentiment.  We 
can  draw  better  and  paint  better  and  compose  better  —  but  the  senti- 
ment is  lacking;  thus  our  pictorial  decorations  of  large  buildings  are 
failures,  whether  we  turn  to  Paris  or  Munich,  or  Berlin  or  London 
—  perhaps  the  worst  are  the  dismal,  cold,  maudlin  Nibelungen-lied 
manufactures  at  Munich.  The  French  are  Raphaelesquc  compared 
to  those  poor  German  efforts.  S.  BEALE. 


[  Contributors  are  requested  to  send  with  their  drawings  full  and 
adequate  descriptions  of  the  buildings,  including  a  statement  of  cost.] 

HOUSE    OF    C.  F.    ADAMS,    ESQ.,    BOSTON,    MASS.      MESSRS.    PEABODY 

&   STEARNS,    ARCHITECTS,    BOSTON,    MASS. 
[Gelatine  print,  issued  only  with  the  Imperial  Edition.] 

A  HELIO-CHROMK  print  of  the  doorway  of  this  house  was  pub- 
lished in  our  issue  for  April  21. 

TOWN-HALL    AND    LIBRARY,    WINCHESTER,    MASS.      MESSRS.    RAND 
&    TAYLOR,    ARCHITECTS,    BOSTON,    MASS. 

COST  of  building  complete  $50,000.  Material  selected,  water- 
struck  hard  brick  and  Longmeadow-stone  trimmings.  The  in- 
terior construction  is,  generally,  what  is  known  as  •'  mill  con- 
struction "  —  hard  pine  beams  and  plank  floors,  ceilings  plastered 
between  the  beams  on  the  planking.  Considerable  "  terra-cotta  lum- 
ber "  has  been  introduced  for  partitions  and  as  brick  wall  linings. 
The  interior  finish  is  entirely  of  yellow  pine.  The  seating  capacity 
of  the  hall  is  thirteen  hundred.  The  following  are  the  contractors  : 
—  For  foundation  work,  J.  M.  Ellis,  Woburn  ;  for  mason  work, 
Gooch  &  Pray,  Boston;  carpentry  work,  Ivory  F.  Tar  box,  Maiden; 
heating  and  ventilation,  Gardner  C.  Hawkins,  Boston. 

COMPETITIVE  DESIGN  FOR  THE  ELLIOT  CHURCH  AT  NEWTON,  MASS. 
MESSRS.  HARTWELL  &  RICHARDSON,  ARCHITECTS,  BOSTON,  MASS. 

HOUSE      OF      II.    E.    BREWSTER,      ESQ.,      UTICA,      N.    Y.        MR.     W.     H. 
SYMOXDS,    ARCHITECT,    UTICA,    N.    Y. 

THE  house  is  built  of  red  brick  with  brownstone  finish. 

HOUSE    AT  LITTLE    HARBOR,  N.  H.      MESSRS.    I.OXGFELLOW,    ALDEN 
&    HAKLOW,    ARCHITECTS,     BOSTON,    MASS. 


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Interior  View 


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fttlititjpt  Prating  Co  Bostur. 


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MAY  12,  1888.] 


"Die   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


223 


"TWIN    OAKS,"  —  HOUSE     OK    GARDNER    O.    HTBBAUD,    ESQ.,    XKAR 
WASIIIXtiTOX,    D.    C.      MESSRS.    ALLEN   ft    KENWAY,    AKCHITKCT8, 

BOSTON,    MASS. 

NOTE:  —  Too  late  for  publication  we  learned  that  the  architects 
of  the  house  of  J.  C.  Abbott,  Esq.,  published  in  our  last  issue,  were 
Mrs.-rs.  Hiitchusson  &  Steele  of  Montreal. 


VANDALISM  IN  MODERN  ROME. 


House  at    Dol,  Brittany. 

IN  an  extensive  experience  of  cities  in  the  old  world  and  in  the  new, 
says  the  correspondent  of  the  Times  in  Rome,  I  am  not  aware  of 
having  been  brought  into  contact  with  anything  on  the  whole 
worse  in  the  way  of  municipal  government  than  that  of  Rome  at  this 
present  time.  Whether  it  be  the  policing,  the  state  of  the  roads,  the 
sanitary  regulations,  the  little  ordinances  which  pertain  to  the  comeli- 
ness of  the  city,  or  the  common  decencies  of  external  deportment, 
the  absolute  contempt  that  is  shown  for  the  authority  of  the  munici- 
pality is  something  which  in  England  we  see  only  in  the  pantomime. 
What  the  city  authorities  seem  most  to  consider  is  what  grandiose 
plans  for  the  future  they  shall  inaugurate ;  and,  having  permitted 
and  encouraged  speculations  which  have  led  to  the  most  colossal  pri- 
vate bankruptcy  of  the  epoch,  and  plunged  the  city  into  debts  that 
are  beginning  to  make  life  here  difficult  for  people  of  moderate  means, 
they  are  planning  for  an  extension  of  operations  which  shall  com- 
promise the  financial  future  of  the  city.  There  seems  to  be  no  prac- 
tical common  sense  in  the  anticipations  of  the  authorities;  they  have 
seen  the  period  succeeding  the  transfer  of  the  capital  to  Rome 
followed  by  an  enormous  influx  of  population  —  employe's  and  specu- 
lators, the  followers  and  hangers-on  of  a  Court  and  a"  Government; 
and  the  momentary,  and  for  the  moment  exhaustive,  demand  for 
quarters  consequent  on  the  increase  has  started  an  immense  building 
furore  which  lias  ruined  Rome  sesthetically,  the  speculators  finan- 
cially, and  profoundly  compromised  the  future  of  the  city.  For  the 
speculators  and  their  victims  we  will  waste  no  tears ;  for  the  disfig- 
urement of  the  finest  city  site  the  world  can  show  regrets  are  useless ; 
and  if  the  Romans  are  indifferent  to  the  results  of  the  horrible  taste 
which  presides  over  the  renovation  of  their  city  we  have  no  business 
to  do  more  than  record  a  protest  and,  when  things  are  too  bad,  stay 
away. 

But  a  warning  against  the  present  tendencies  may  be  of  use  to 
English  capitalists,  if  one  were  needed  after  the  experience  of  Flor- 
ence. A  {riend  who  has  recently  had  the  curiosity  to  make  the  tour 
of  the  new  and  renovated  quarters  estimates  that  there  is  now  built 
and  unoccupied  and  in  course  of  construction  accommodation  for 
100,000  people,  and  this  enormous  addition  has  been  prepared  on 
the  anticipation  of  an  increase  of  the  population  on  the  ratio  of  the 
past  few  years.  But  when  the  Court,  the  Government  in  its  various 
branches,  the  army  headquarters,  and  the  parasitical  industries  that 
spring  up  around  a  Court  have  been  enrolled  and  completed,  the  in- 
flux must  return  to  a  normal  rate,  which,  for  a  city  which  has  only  a 
population  of  300,000,  is  a  small  affair  compared  with  that  of  Rome 
during  the  years  which  provoked  the  past  speculation.  Rome  has  no 
manufactures  nor  facility  for  them,  no  trade  and  no  port  —  it  can 
only  have  the  importance  of  the  capital  city  of  a  nation  whose  indus- 
tries are  still  in  the  future,  and  which,  as  far  as  their  roots  exist, 
wrm  to  be  alien  to  Rome. 

The  wisdom  which  has  presided  over  the  works  in  Rome  has  been 
characterized  by  the  Roman  journals  in  terms  more  severe  than  I 
c;uv  to  use.  The  waste  of  money  from  want  of  general  plan  and 
common  prevision  is  beyond  belief,  except  by  those  who  are  eye-wit- 
nesses, and,  in  spite  of  all  financial  difficulties  and  an  already  "visible 
check  to  the  growth  of  the  city,  the  colossal  plans  grow  as  if'the  city 
were  destined  to  cover  the  Campagna  as  in  the  days  of  the  Roman 
Empire.  And,  more  or  less,  the  extensions  involve  the  destruction 


of  what  remains  of  what  made  Rome  interesting  to  the  visitor,  of 
which  so  much  has  gone  already,  and  which  was  the  productive  ca|>- 
ital  of  the  city.  The  magnificent  Ludovisi  gardens,  the  pride  of  the 
Rome  of  the  Popes,  was  offered  to  the  Roman  municipality  for 
3,000,000  francs.  They  are  now  as  building  lots  worth  ten  times 
that  -urn,  and  the  city  has  no  drive  within  the  walls.  There  was  in 
the  old  days  a  zone  of  garden  and  villa  grounds  extending  nearly 
round  the  inhabited  portion  of  the  city,  of  which  now  but  little  re- 
mains, and  this  is  mostly  marked  out  for  the  expropriation,  road- 
making,  and  barrack-building  which  has  buried  the  rest.  And  the 
next  step  announced  is  one  which  touches  the  English  public  in  a 
peculiar  way,  for  it  contemplates  the  practical  destruction  of  the 
beautiful  gardens  of  the  English  Embassy,  the  only  really  fine  ex- 
ample remaining  of  the  gardens  of  the  old  Papal  days ;  for  its  superb 
ilex  avenue,  the  finest  in  some  ways  that  1  know,  must  have  been 
planted  centuries  ago.  It  is  flanked  by  a  portion  of  the  Aurelian 
wall  along  which  the  taste  and  care  of  the  ambassadors  have  pro- 
vided a  series  of  natural  pictures,  which,  added  to  the  shrubberies, 
make  it  the  prettiest  bit  of  nature  within  the  walls.  The  last  exten- 
sion of  the  plan  for  the  uglification  of  Rome  provides  for  the  practical 
abolition  of  this  bit  of  old  Rome,  by  the  expropriation  of  the  ground 
for  a  drive  inside  the  walls  from  the  Pretorian  camp  to  the  Villa  Lud- 
ovisi building-lots,  useless  as  a  means  of  communication,  for  there  are 
streets  directly  communicating,  and  superfluous  as  a  drive,  for  there 
is  one  laid  out  40  metres  wide  on  the  outside  of  the  wall  over  the 
same  space,  and  the  only  effect  will  be  to  leave  the  wall  between  two 
roads  and  compel  the  Embassy  to  change  its  quarters. 

And  the  expense  of  this  new  freak  in  changing  the  plan  will  be 
counted  in  millions  of  francs,  for  the  portion  involved  in  the  Embassy 
grounds  »lone  will  amount  to  about  half  a  million,  the  land  there  be- 
ing worth  150  francs  the  square  metre.  The  Embassy  has  protested, 
but  it  is  clear  that,  unless  the  Italian  Government  veto  the  project, 
the  protest  will  not  be  attended  to  any  more  than  if  it  were  made  by 
the  Kin<*  of  Cocaigne.  There  is  no  excuse  for  the  expropriation, 
for  the  Embassy  lies  at  the  very  end  of  the  proposed  drive,  which 
actually  terminates  with  it  and  has  no  exit  beyond.  The  secret  of 
the  expedient  is  probably  to  make  the  place  untenable  to  the  Em- 
bassy, and  so  throw  the  entire  gardens  on  the  market  for  the  specu- 
lators to  cut  up  and  build  on. 

And  all  the  attacks  and  exposures  of  the  Roman  and  foreign  press 
will  no  more  reach  the  soulless  municipality  than  the  flutterings  of 
the  dirty  linen  out  of  the  windows  of  the  houses  on  the  streets,  in 
violation  of  the  law.  It  has  spent  the  loan  of  130,000,000  francs,  and 
has  not  done  half  the  work  it  was  calculated  to  cover,  and  which  an 
economical  adminstration  would  have  made  it  cover  ;  but  it  goes  on 
in  the  same  reckless  way,  and  will  go  on  until  the  Prefecture  of  the 
Tiber  supersedes  it,  for  the  salvation  of  Rome  from  further  ruin. 
Even  the  financial  disasters  of  the  past  few  months  do  not  seem  to 
check  it,  and  a  report  that  an  English  company  is  going  to  take  up 
the  completion  of  the  suspended  constructions  is  welcomed  as  a  wind 
to  keep  up  the  drift  of  affairs.  There  is  no  doubt  that,  to  a  limited 
extent,  capital  might  be  employed  in  finishing  a  few  of  them  as  com- 
fortable apartment  houses,  but  the  greater  part  of  them  are  too  flimsy 
to  serve  for  anything  but  cheap  lodgings.  They  are  mushroom  pro- 
ducts of  a  mushroom  administration. 


TECHNICAL  EDUCATION  IN  FRANCE. 

TTTHE  sums  annually  expended  for  pub- 
«|«  lie  instruction  in  France  give  perhaps 
an  approximate  idea  of  the  great 
sacrifices  which  are  made  by  the  nation 
for  the  intellectual  advancement  of  the 
growing  generation.  The  present  gene- 
ral expense  for  public  instruction  in 
France  is  stated  to  me  to  be  above  300,- 
000,000  francs.  To  this  sum  the  Minis- 
ter of  Public  Instruction  and  Fine  Art 
contributes  annually  130,000,000  franca, 
while  the  rest  is  contributed  by  municipal 
and  township  funds. 

In  this  is  not  included  what  is  contri- 
buted by  the  Ministers  of  Commerce  and 
of  Warfor  special  training-schools  coming 
under  their  heading.  An  outline  of  the 
great  expense  and  the  immense  growth  of 
the  school  system  of  Paris  1  have  given  in 
another  part  of  my  report.  I  will  here 
only  repeat  that  the  sum  expended  there 
for  maintenance  of  municipal  free  schools 

is  in   the  neighborhood  of  30,000,000  francs,  about  five   times  the 
amount  spent  in  the  last  year  of  the  Empire. 

The  burdens  borne  for  this  great  object  of  public  education  in  the 
sense  and  manner  in  which  it  is  carried  through  in  France,  will, 
however,  in  their  natural  sequence  bring  out  results  fully  compensa- 
tory of  the  outlay.  The  system  of  education  is  eminently  practical 
and  outspoken  in  its  aim  ;  viz.,  to  fill  French  industry  with  a  trained 
set  of  workmen  and  to  diffuse  them  into  all  branches  of  national 
activity,  manufacture  and  agriculture.  Those  who  suppose  that 
France  has  ceased  to  be  a  formidable  opponent  in  the  peaceful  con- 
test of  industry  and  commerce  seem  to  judge  from  passing  conditions 
and  not  to  take  into  consideration  the  great  evolution  taking  place 


224 


The   American   Architect  and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  646. 


in  all  departments  of  mental  activity,  which  in  due  time  will  prove 
to  be  of  far  greater  moment  in  determining  the  future  position  of 
France  than  the  sanguinary  revolutions  and  wars  which  have  taken 
place  during  the  century. 

An  institution  of  great  importance  in  the  general  school  system  of 
France  is  the  General  Council  of  Education  of  France  (Conseil 
superieur  de  1'instruction  publique),  composed  of  sixty-four  mem- 
bers and  having  its  seat  in  Paris.  About  three-fourths  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  council  are  elected  by  the  inspectors  and  schools  of  the 
departments  and  the  great  educational  institutions.  The  President 
of  the  Republic  appoints  the  other  members  and  the  Minister  of 
Education  is  president  of  the  council.  The  departments  take  their 
representatives  frequently  from  the  ranks  of  leading  scientists  and 
professors  of  Paris.  This  council  works  out  the  general  plan  of  edu- 
cation for  the  different  schools  and  directs  the  various  improvements 
of  the  University  of  France  (i.  e.,  the  whole  system  of  public  instruc- 
tion) necessary  for  the  conducting  of  the  schools,  its  work  being  sub- 
mitted for  approval  to  the  ministers.  Kindergarten  work,  manual 
training,  and  handiwork,  designing,  and  all  other  branches  of  the 
curriculum  are  worked  out  by  the  council.  It  invites  experts  and 
industrials  to  assist  in  working  out  plans  of  instruction,  as  also  the 
technical  part  of  the  programme  of  the  school,  leaving,  however, 
sufficient  latitude  for  provincial  and  local  specialties.  With  due 
regard  to  local  necessities  and  differences  it  is  expected  that  the  plan 
worked  out  by  the  General  Council  shall  be  followed  in  its  general 
lines  by  the  provincial  school  authorities.  The  Council  has  caused 
to  be  adopted  now  in  all  the  provincial  towns  the  plan  of  having  the 
manual-labor  classes  of  the  primary  schools  make  toys  for  the  chil- 
dren of  the  kindergarten,  to  give  thereby  direction  to  the  labor  of 
the  boys  and  at  the  same  time  cover  the  objection  of  the  municipal 
councils  to  the  extra  cost  entailed  by  the  purchase  of  the  objects. 

The  school  systems  of  other  nations  may  be  as  complete  in  their 
educational  facilities,  but  nowhere,  excepting  in  Switzerland  and 
America,  is  free  instruction  so  systematically  carried  through  as  iu 
France.  The  same  classes  and  kinds  of  schools  may  exist  here  or 
there,  but  nowhere  are  industrial  education  and  art  education  made, 
so  to  speak,  an  organic  part  of  the  whole  system  of  public  instruction. 

Manual  training,  coupled  with  object  teaching,  begins  at  the  very 
bottom  of  the  school  system.  For  the  laws,  regulations  and  leading 
ideas  governing  manual-labor  training,  I  refer  to  the  part  of  my 
report  treating  on  the  subject.  From  the  kindergarten  schools,  it 
runs  through  the  primary,  grammar  and  high  schools  and  is  diffused 
now  all  over  France.  Apprentice-schools  for  special  trades  are  run 
now  very  successfully  in  Paris  and  other  large  towns.  It  is  expected 
that  the  theoretical  and  practical  instruction  given  in  them  will 
necessarily  produce  a  superior  class  of  workmen,  overseers  and 
superintendents  of  factories.  The  success  of  many  of  these  schools 
in  the  results  obtained  has  given  sufficient  impetus  to  continuous 
efforts  and  has  led  to  the  creation  of  new  ones  in  localities  where 
their  need  is  felt. 

Higher  technical  education  is  principally  in  charge  of  the  State. 
The  higher  branches  of  learning  may  perhaps  not  be  carried  to  so 
high  a  state  of  perfection  as  in  the  polytechnical  schools  and  univer- 
sities of  Germany  and  Switzerland.  Nor  have  I  found  special  trade 
schools  able  to  vie  with  the  weaving-school  at  Crefeld,  for  instance. 
Intermediate  training,  however,  seems  to  me  to  be  carried  through 
in  France  more  with  an  eye  to  greater  diffusion  among  the  masses 
than  I  found  in  any  other  country,  and  certainly  workshop  practice 
and  machine-shop  work  and  especially  practical  instruction  in 
machine  building,  etc.,  are  now  practised  to  the  extent  in  which  it 
is  taken  up  in  France. 

The  general  aim  of  the  national  government  in  establishing  this 
system  of  education  and  the  task  reserved  to  itself  can  be  summed 
up  in  the  following  rules  and  principles  guiding  its  action  : 

1.  To  accustom  the  child  to  know  the  tools,  to  understand  their 
use  and  to  amuse  him  as  much  as  possible  with  sketchings,  outlinings, 
modelling  and  hand  work. 

2.  To  assist   in  the   creation   of  apprentice-schools  in  industrial 
centres  to  the  end  of  giving  to  the  pupils  who  follow  the  instruction 
dexterity  in  the  use  of  the  hand  and  other  corresponding  knowledge, 
to  prepare  them  for  entering  the  Ecole  des  Arts  et  Metiers  or  manu- 
facturing establishments. 

3.  To  contribute  to  the  expense  of  tools  and  machinery  used  in 
the  superior,  primary  and  other  schools  preparing  for  the  technical 
schools. 

4.  To  raise  the  standard  of  admission  to  the  Ecole  des  Arts  et 
Metiers  by  the  greater  efficiency  given  by  these  secondary  primary 
schools  with  workshop  practice  connected. 

5.  To  assist  the  superior  local  schools  in  the  support  of  specially 
determined  industries  of  the  district. 

6.  To  bring  the  principal  schools  to  the  highest  degree  of  techni- 
cal and  scientific  perfection  by  adding  new  courses  of  complimentary 
exercises  of  special  application  and  to  support  and  encourage,  as 
much  as  possible,  industrial  societies   who  maintain  special  public 
courses  in  the  different  industrial  centres  of  the  country. 

A  subject  not  less  important  in  technical  education  than  the  sys- 
tem described  in  the  first  part  of  my  report,  treating  of  instruction 
calculated  to  develop  the  mental  faculties  by  theoretical  and  practi* 
cal  instruction  in  all  operations  of  industry,  is  the  other  equally- 
important  branch,  Art  Education.  Here,  also,  France  has  gone  to 
work  with  greater  thoroughness  and  systematic  consistency  than  any 


of  its  neighbors.  In  most  branches  of  industry,  especially  where 
taste  is  required  to  give  special  value  to  the  fabric  or  article  manu- 
factured, the  positions  are  frequently  and  entirely  reversed.  It  will 
be  understood  how  the  selling  value  of  an  article  is  enhanced,  with- 
out any  additional  expenditure  of  physical  force  employed  in  its 
production,  by  the  more  finished  character  given  it  through  what  may 
be  called  for  want  of  a  better  term,  the  artistic  treatment.  This 
means  the  whole  aesthetic  part,  the  part  affecting  the  eye  —  coloring, 
design,  form,  finish,  etc.  —  as  distinct  from  the  mechanical  part, 
covered  by  a  given  quantity  of  labor  expended  in  the  finishing  or 
turning  of  it.  Many  an  article  superior  in  wearing  quality,  and 
consequently  of  higher  intrinsic  value,  is  rejected  in  competition  with 
an  inferior  one,  more  pleasing  to  the  eye,  however,  in  virtue  of 
higher  skill  and  taste  employed  in  its  ornamentation,  coloring,  shap- 
ing, etc.  France  has  always  enjoyed  a  kind  of  monopoly  in  such 
branches  as  would  be  covered  by  this  phase  of  industrial  art,  for 
which  her  work-people  have  a  natural  predisposition,  a  quality  which 
finds  undisputed  acknowledgment  elsewhere.  Of  late,  however, 
inroads  have  been  made  by  neighboring  nations  into  what  France 
used  to  consider  her  special  domain,  mainly  by  the  aid  of  newly- 
created  industrial-art  schools.  In  consequence  of  this  new  competi- 
tion, much  attention  is  now  paid  by  France  to  her  own  art  schools. 
The  necessity  is  felt  of  bringing  up  a  better-equipped  generation.  It 
is  held,  with  great  justice,  that  a  greater  diffusion  of  art  knowledge 
through  drawing,  painting,  sculpture  and  modelling  schools  will 
supply  industrial  art  with  a  stock  of  trained  workmen,  who,  with  the 
advantages  derived  from  their  natural  predisposition,  will  thereby 
enable  French  industries  to  keep  up  a  successful  competition  in  the 
world's  markets. 

Industrial  art  schools  are  intended  to  give  expression  to  this  aim. 
But  art  in  general  is  by  no  means  divided  by  France  into  industrial 
art  and  high  art  as  in  other  countries.  The  Academy  of  Fine  Art 
and  some  of  the  provincial  high  art  schools  are  only  the  highest 
classes  of  art  training  of  which  the  other  —  national  industrial  art 
and  drawing  schools  — are  feeders.  .  .  . 

With  all  this  great  progress  made  in  technical  and  art  schools  in 
France,  I  have  always  met  with  the  answer,  when  expressing  my 
high  appreciation  of  what  had  been  done  in  this  direction  in  so  short 
a  time,  "  Oui,  si  vous  allez  en  Allemagne,  Id  vous  verrez."  ("  Yes, 
but  if  you  come  to  Germany  there  you  will  see.")  True,  in  Germany 
in  many  directions  they  are  ahead  of  France ;  in  others,  however,  by 
far  not  so  well  developed,  and  I  have  frequently  met  with  similar  re- 
marks in  German  schools,  in  regard  to  France,  as  in  France  in  regard 
to  their  neighbors  on  the  other  side  of  the  Rhine.  Many  German 
industrial  art  directors  told  me  that  still  most  of  their  best  ideas 
came  from  France,  and  in  this  connection  it  is  well  and  necessary 
that  I  should  mention  another  institution  of  France  which  gives  full 
value  and  weight  to  these  expressions. 

In  Paris  there  are  from  fifty  to  seventy-five  studios  of  designers 
for  industrial  art.  They  cover  almost  every  branch  of  artistic  and 
decorative  industrial  pursuit.  These  artistic  designers  are  men  of 
great  skill  and  taste  in  special  branches  of  art  industry.  They 
usually  employ  a  number  of  assistants,  graduates  from  art  schools 
and  industrial  schools  of  design,  and  work  for  all  branches  of  in- 
dustry, not  alone  for  Paris  but  for  all  France.  They  receive  orders 
from  Germany,  England  and  all  the  other  European  countries,  and 
not  unfrequently  from  America.  These  designers,  of  course,  acquire 
special  skill  in  their  branches,  devoting  their  whole  time  and  energy 
to  their  special  subjects  and  ransacking  all  the  libraries  and  artistic 
productions  of  present  and  bygone  days,  utilizing  them  for  the  new 
styles  and  fashions  they  bring  out.  To  a  large  extent  they  are  the 
makers  of  fashions  and  the  whole  world  pays  them  tribute.  Manu- 
facturers come  to  them  for  new  ideas,  and  at  the  same  time  give 
them  practical  points  as  to  what  may  be  wanted  in  the  coming  sea- 
sons. For  generations,  perhaps,  the  print-works  of  Mulhouse  have 
been  at  the  head  of  the  industry  of  calico-printing.  From  years 
far  back  these  Mulhouse  prints  bore  the  highest  distinction  for 
beauty,  coloring  and  design.  The  same  high  distinctions  they  have 
preserved  up  to  the  present  day.  But  whereas  they  used  to  employ 
their  own  designers  in  former  times,  I  was  told  at  -the  time  of  my 
visit  by  the  great  house  of  Dolfus,  Meig  &  Co.,  that  they  had  given 
up  designing  in  Mulhouse  entirely,  and  now  get  all  their  designs 
made  in  Paris  by  the  specialists  of  these  studios.  Manchester,  I  was 
told  in  Paris,  follows  to  a  large  extent  the  same  course,  as  well  as 
American  print-works.  The  same  can  be  said  of  kindred  industries. 
The  manufacturers  of  the  City  of  Lyons  largely  follow  the  same  line 
of  procedure.  The  larger  firms,  however,  keep  their  own  staff  of 
designers  upon  their  own  premises,  they  being  more  jealous  of  styles 
going  out  their  hands  into  the  possession  of  other  manufacturers, 
unless  they  keep  their  own  private  designers.  Some  of  these  em- 
ploy as  many  as  ten  or  twenty  artists  in  this  way.  A  great  many  of 
the  Lyons  manufacturers,  however,  buy  designs  from  designers  who 
have  studios  of  their  own,  especially  for  the  trade,  and  I  am  told 
there  are  now  forty  of  such  independent  special  designers,  working 
with  assistants  in  their  own  studios,  in  Lyons.  When  the  season  is 
near,  they  usually  call  upon  the  manufacturers,  who  are  their  usual 
customers,  and  show  them  rough  sketches  of  new  designs  and  offer 
them  with  the  right  of  their  exclusive  use.  The  manufacturers  then 
select  those  likely  to  draw  most  when  executed.  The  manufacturers, 
as  a  rule,  give  beforehand  a  broad  hint  to  the  designers  of  what  may 
be  acceptable  for  the  season.  On  the  other  hand  silk-buyers  very 
often  bring  their  own  designs  to  Lyons  from  Parisian  artists  or  give. 


MAY  12,  1888.] 


TJie   American   Architect  and  Building  News, 


22f, 


the  silk-merchants1  (manufacturers)  of  Lyons  a  general  idea  of  what 
is  wanted  in  Paris.  In  this  case  the  manufacturers  will  at  once  call 
in  Lyonese  designers  and  have  them  carry  out  these  ideas.  These 
Lyonese  designers  derive  great  help  and  inspiration  from  the  in- 
dustrial museum  of  Lyons,  of  which  I  have  given  a  full  description 
in  this  report.  As  a  matter  of  course  these  designers  study  nature 
with  a  very  keen  eye,  the  flowers,  leaves,  etc.,  of  the  field  and  garden 
are  full  of  lessons  to  them.  All  these  varied  influences  and  means 
are  employed  by  them  with  consumate  skill,  and  truly  no  silk  centre 
of  Europe  is  able  to  bring  out  anything  approaching  the  beauty  of 
the  manufacturers  of  Lyons  in  silk.  It  is  apparent  and  must  be  clear 
to  every  thinking  mind  that  art  schools  are  great  feeders  of  industrial 
and  decorative  art ;  but  that  decorative  art  and  industrial  art  have 
been  anterior  to  the  schools ;  and  that  many  another  thing  is  re- 
quired for  prosperous  existence  of  art  industries,  besides  art  schools, 
is  equally  clear.  Without  the  constant  absorption  of  new  and  varied 
impressions,  the  mind  of  graduates  of  art  schools  would  become  dry 
and  barren  after  the  effects  of  art  teaching  had  been  consumed  in 
the  pursuit  of  several  years'  work. 

Art  museums,  and  prominently-industrial  art  museums,  are  perhaps 
of  greater  value  than  any  other  educating  influence  in  later  life.  Of 
the  latter  category  France  is  not  as  well  provided,  perhaps,  as  Ger- 
many. Efforts  are  made,  however,  to  collect  the  scattered  treasures 
and  bring  them  to  bear  upon  local  industries  all  over  France.  A 
collection  like  the  one  of  the  Industrial  Museum  of  Lyons,  its  wealth 
of  direct  applications,  is  not  found  anywhere  else.  This  museum  is 
in  itself  an  object  library,  a  living  history  of  textile  art,  keeping 
always  before  the  designer,  the  colorist,  the  workman  and  the  manu- 
facturer possibilities  extending  into  the  highest  sphere  of  art,  where 
the  past,  in  language  not  to  be  misunderstood,  invites  the  present  to 
like  efforts  to  reach  like  greatness  and  perfection.  Among  the 
treasures  stored  in  these  museums  and  art  libraries,  with  constant  in- 
tercourse between  artist  and  artist,  designers  for  industrial  art  live, 
so  to  speak,  surrounded  by  an  atmosphere  of  art.  Industrial  art 
education  is  therefore  something  vastly  more  extended  than  single 
art  schools  alone  can  give.  Art  schools  will  not  prosper  unless  there 
are  industries  which  can  utilize  results  of  teaching  and  training; 
nor  can  artistic  industries  obtain  high  scope  and  prosperity  without 
such  means  of  artistic  training  and  assistance  as  are  indicated  in  my 
report.  Specialists  devoting  their  time  to  industrial  art  designing 
naturally  have  gone  through  courses  of  study  in  one  art  school  or 
another.  But  life,  after  their  first  training  has  furnished  them  with 
knowledge  and  skill,  the  active  lessons  of  life  will  have  to  do  the  rest. 

It  seems  to  me  that  these  industrial  artists  are  very  liberally  paid 
in  France,  and  far  more  so  than  in  Germany.  It  is  important  to 
understand  that  a  good  artistic  design  makes  often  the  chief  value  of 
industrial  reproductions.  These,  copied  in  unlimited  quantities, 
make  the  higher  cost  of  a  good  model  of  minor  importance,  consider- 
ing the  higher  selling  value  obtained  thereby. 

One  of  the  highest  artistic  industrial  establishments  —  that  of 
Barbedienne  —  in  Paris  employs  some  of  the  greatest  artists  and 
sculptors  for  its  models  for  bronze  castings  and  other  objects  of  art. 
I  am  told  by  the  manager  of  the  factory  that  they  pay  to  the  artist 
twenty  per  cent  of  the  selling  value  of  all  articles  cast  and  sold  from 
the  artist's  models. — /.  Schoenhof,  U.  S.  Consul  at  Tunstall. 

THE  SIGNIFICANCE    OF    A    SANITARY  ANALYSIS  OF 
WATER. 

TTfO  understand  what  importance,  if 
• I «  any,  is  to  be  attached  to  a  chemi- 
cal analysis  of  water,  it  is  necessa- 
ry to  briefly  survey  the  history  of  the 
latter  from  the  time  it  rises  as  vapor, 
under  the  influence  of  solar  rays,  from 
the  bosom  of  the  great  ocean,  until  de- 
scending upon  the  Continent  as  rain,  it 
returns  to  its  source,  again  to  be  distill- 
ed in  endless  repetition. 

The  invisible  vapor  carried  by  air- 
currents  inland,  at  its  first  precipita- 
tion as  cloud,  commences  to  absorb  the 
solid  and  gaseous  impurities  of  the  at- 
mosphere ;  and  long  before  the  rain- 
drops reach  the  earth,  they  receive  ap- 
preciable quantities  of  ammonia,  ammo- 
nium nitrite,  carbonic  acid,  floating 
mineral  and  organic  matter,  as  well  as 
the  germs  of  microscopic  animal  and 
vegetable  life.  To  speak  accurately, 

not  a  drop  of  water  can  be  found  in  the  natural  world  which  is 
pure.  Fortunately,  the  substances  washed  from  the  air  are,  with 

'I  use  the  term  "merchant"  here  in  preference  to  that  of  "  manufacturer." 
Silk  manufacture  in  Lyons  is  yet  conducted  largely  on  the  old  system.  Fully  so 
in  the  better  grades,  where  artistic  skill  and  taste  are  most  prominently  em- 
ployed. The  procedure  is  a  very  plain  and  simple  one,  and  offers  great  advan- 
tages to  the  merchant-manufacturer.  He,  after  obtaining  his  orders,  buys  his 
tram  ami  or^'anzine.  He  then  gives  it  to  the  dyer  to  be  dyed  in  proportionate 
qualities  of  shade  and  color.  The  so  dyed  material  is  then  distributed  among  the 
weavers  in  their  homes,  and  the  "  manufacturer"  has  no  other  part  to  perform 
tli, in  1 1».  examining,  folding  and  shipping  of  the  finished  silk.  Even  the  examining 
aii't  folding  are  taken  out  of  his  hands  by  special  finishers  and  "appreteurs 
(dressers).  I  intend  to  dwell  more  fully  on  this  subject  In  a  later  report  on  "  Com- 
parative Industrial  Conditions"  under  which  manufacturing  industries  are  con- 
ducted in  different  countries. 


rare  exceptions,  innocuous.  Some  of  them  are  indispensable  to 
the  life  of  the  globe.  Of  first  iiii|x>rtance  are  ammonia  and  other 
nitrogen  compounds.  Although  nitrogen  forms  four-fifths  by  bulk  of 
the  atmosphere,  so  inert  and  apathetic  is  it  in  its  chemical  relations 
that  it  is  only  with  extreme  difficulty  that  we  are  able  to  force  it  into 
combination  with  other  elements.  Nitrogen  in  combination  is  an 
essential  constituent  of  proteid  matter,  with  which  life  in  both 
animals  and  plants  is  more  immediately  associated.  Animals  derive 
combined  nitrogen  from  plants ;  plants  derive  it  from  the  minute 
traces  contained  in  the  air.  The  combined  nitrogen  in  the  air,  it  is 
sup[X)sed,  is  generated  by  a  mysteriously  active  form  of  oxygen  called 
ozone.  So  parsimonious  is  nature  in  its  supply  of  this  indi.s[>ensablc 
plant-food,  that,  while  millions  of  tons  of  free  nitrogen  cover  the 
fields,  to  eke  out  the  supply  of  combined  nitrogen  brought  down  by 
the  rain,  the  latter  form  of  nitrogen,  under  one  name  or  another, 
must  be  bought  by  the  thrifty  agriculturist  at  about  fifteen  cents  per 
pound.  It  brings  us  now  near  to  our  subject,  as  will  be  seen  below, 
to  observe  that  the  combined  nitrogen  scantily  present  in  rain-water 
is  accumulated  in  plants,  and  in  a  still  greater  degree  in  the  animals 
which  feed  upon  them,  and  is  found  in  the  excreta  of  the  latter, 
without  much  loss,  in  great  abundance. 

Animal  waste  is  rich  in  nitrogen,  and  any  considerable  accumula- 
tion of  combined  nitrogen  in  nature  is  the  product  of  animal  waste. 
An  analysis  of  sewage  or  of  water  contaminated  by  it  should  re- 
veal, therefore,  an  excess  of  combined  nitrogen. 

Rain-water  on  its  way  to  the  sea  may  flow  over  the  surface  of  the 
ground,  conveying,  in  suspension  and  solution,  both  organic  and 
mineral  matter  to  the  nearest  river,  or  it  may  slowly  percolate 
through  earth ;  and  during  its  long  sojourn,  aided  by  the  solvent 
power  of  carbonic  acid,  receive  in  richer  proportion  than  in  the  other 
case  mineral  matter.  As  a  general  rule,  river-water  is  soft,  but 
abounds  in  organic  matter.  Spring-water  is  hard,  and  if  its  gather- 
ing ground  is  at  a  distance  from  the  habitations  of  men,  it  is  nearly 
free  from  organic  matter. 

Well,  spring  and  river-waters  commonly  contain  carbonates,  sul- 
phates and  chlorides  of  such  bases  as  calcium,  magnesium,  iron, 
potassium  and  sodium. 

So  far  we  have  encountered  no  contamination  injurious  to  life  or 
health  in  this  enumeration ;  and,  going  farther,  we  assert  that  there 
is  no  proof  that  human  or  other  Jilth  largely  diluted  in  water-supplies  is 
of  itself  in  the  slightest  degree  unwholesome.  In  some  instances  this 
sewage  contamination  promotes  the  growth  in  still  waters  of  minute 
forms  of  life  which  under  the  microscope  appear  quite  alarming;  but 
the  history  of  most  of  them  is  as  well  understood  as  that  of  the  cab- 
bage, and  their  physiological  action,  when  absorbed  into  the  system, 
even  less  momentous.  If  any  one  is  too  fastidious  to  permit  these 
interesting  creatures  to  "  play  tag  "  in  his  stomach,  it  is  only  needful 
that  the  water  be  boiled  and  filtered.  After  this  survey,  it  is  time  to 
admit  that,  beyond  the  identification  of  lead,  arsenic  and  a  few 
other  toxic  substances  that  do  not  generally  come  within  the  scope  of 
a  sanitary  water  analysis,  chemistry  alone  in  to-day  incapable  of  de- 
claring whether  a  given  water-supply  is  or  is  not  injurious  to  life. 

Of  what  use,  then,  is  water  analysis  for  sanitary  purposes?  We 
reply,  much,  through  the  indirect  connection  that  exists  between  the 
organic  matter  found  and  the  organized  matter  which,  though  un- 
seen, produces  disease. 

Unfortunately,  it  not  unfrequently  happens  that  a  large  or  small 
community  is  smitten  with  that  terrible  scourge,  the  typhoid  fever, 
which  without  difficulty  is  proved  to  have  originated  in  the  water- 
supply. 

Chemical  analysis  reveals  no  unusual  constituent ;  still,  the  water 
is  deadly.  This  is  not  the  place  to  recite  the  argument,  but  authori- 
ties agree  that  the  only  rational  explanation  of  the  phenomenon  is 
the  germ  theory. 

The  germ  is  a  minute  plant  which  grows  at  the  expense  of  its  host, 
and  then  escapes  to  fasten  upon  other  victims. 

The  excreta  from  some  previous  sufferer  have  been  carelessly  dis- 
poied  of,  and  from  vault  or  cesspool  found  the  way,  over  or  below 
ground,  to  the  well  or  river  which  supplies  the  community.  After 
the  usual  period  of  incubation,  under  favoring  conditions  it  vastly 
multiplies,  and  asserts  itself  by  a  reproduction  of  the  fever. 

It  might  then  appear  that  the  examination  of  drinking-water 
should  be  relegated  to  the  biologist,  and  conducted  by  means  of  a 
microscope  rather  than  a  test-tube ;  but  the  mistakes  made  by  the 
great  apostles  of  microscope  cultures,  Koch  and  Pasteur,  prove  that 
such  a  method  is  as  yet  too  delicate  to  be  practicable. 

The  object  of  a  chemical  analysis  is  to  point  out  the  danger,  not 
which  exists,  but  which  possibly  exists,  whenever  drains  or  cesspools 
communicate  directly  or  indirectly  with  well  or  stream.  Drinking- 
water  should  be  beyond  reproach ;  and  as  the  germs  of  zymotic  or 
filth  diseases  naturally  would  travel  by  the  same  routes  as  the  waste 
water  of  dwellings,  it  is  sufficient  usually  to  prove  the  safety  of  any 
given  water  by  proving  chemically  the  absence  of  those  materials 
which  are  not,  indeed,  peculiar  to  sewage,  but  which  exist  there  in 
the  greatest  abundance.  The  chemist  determines  for  this  purpose 
the  amount  of  free  ammonia  which  exists  in  rain-water,  as  we  have 
seen,  but  only  to  the  extent  of  about  0.24  parts  in  one  million,  and 
which  in  much  larger  quantities  indicates  the  recent  addition  of 
putrid  animal  matter.  Again :  there  is  determined  the  organic 
nitrogen  or  "  albuminoid  "  ammonia,  which  should  not  exceed,  under 
ordinary  circumstances,  0.2  parts,  and  in  large  amounts  proves  direct 
pollution. 


226 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News.      [VoL.  XXIII.  — No.  646. 


As  the  sewage  is  eventually  exposed  to  oxidation,  it  may  lose  all 
of  the  ammonia  and  albuminoid  ammonia;  but  the  results  of  analysis 
still  disclose  them  as  nitrates  or  nitrites.  These  may  in  turn  be  de- 
stroyed ;  hut  there  will  still  remain,  as  an  indestructible  indicator  of 
previous  contamination,  an  inordinate  quantity  of  chlorine  from  the 
salt  consumed  by  man.  In  most  cases  the  soil  contributes  only 
traces  of  chlorine.  In  some  instances  the  total  solid  matter  and  the 
total  organic  matter  suggest  important  conclusions. 

It  does  not  appear  that  a  water-supply  is  freed  wholly  from 
malignant  germs  by  filtration  or  aeration;  and  so  long  as  evidence  of 
animal  contamination  continues,  it  remains  under  suspicion. 

Having  made  all  possible  tests  in  the  laboratory,  the  chemist's 
opinion  as  to  the  relative  safety  of  different  samples  presented  may 
be  as  wide  of  the  truth  as  a  clairvoyant's  unless  he  is  permitted  per- 
sonally to  inspect  their  sources  or  otherwise  to  know  their  history. 

A  proper  interpretation  is  still  a  difficult  matter,  and  a  greater 
certainty  by  the  microscopic  identification  of  germs  in  ordinary  water 
examinations  is  greatly  to  be  desired.  —  Henry  Carmicliael,  Ph.D.,  in 
the  Popular  Science  News. 


"TT  PALE  pea-green  cover  with  a  little  touch  of  gold,  and  inside 
f~\  some  excellent  and  attractive  typographical  work,  go  very  far 
/to  give  a  book  value  in  the  eyes  of  the  amateur  who  is  seeking 
suggestions  on  the  dubious  subject  of  interior  decorations,  and  when 
there  is  added  a  number  of  valuable  illustrations  and  between  fifty 
and  sixty  pages  of  sound  advice  on  such  subjects  as  the  hall,  the 
staircase,  the  library,  the  parlor,  the  dining-room,  the  studio  and  the 
bed-rooms,  the  volume  can  be  said  to  be  of  considerable  worth,  not 
only  to  the  amateur,  who  is  influenced  first  of  all  by  what  pleases  his 
eye  and  appeals  to  his  intellectual  enjoyment,  but  also  to  the  more 
discriminating  and  captious  architect,  who  is  not  content  with  feast- 
ing his  eye  on  good  printing  or  clever  drawings,  but  seeks  the  sanc- 
tion of  his  reasoning  powers  before  pronouncing  a  book  on  the  sub- 
ject of  interior  decoration  to  be  worthy  a  place  in  his  library. 

Such  is  a  recent  work 1  prepared  conjointly  by  Messrs.  Brunner 
and  Tryon.  It  is  no  discredit  to  the  book  to  describe  it  as  being 
written  for  amateurs.  The  preface  tells  us  that  the  subject-matter 
was  first  published  as  a  serial  in  Building.  We  might  expect  from 
this  fact  that  the  book  would  be  more  professional  in  its  nature,  but 
doubtless  Messrs.  Brunner  and  Tryon  are  wise  in  not  undertaking  the 
invidious  task  of  writing  on  such  a  subject  for  architects,  who  are 
the  most  uncertain  of  critics  and  the  most  difficult  to  suit,  especially 
in  regard  to  topics  about  which  there  is  so  much  room  for  variations 
of  opinion  and  for  personal  feeling  as  interior  decoration. 

The  book  may  properly  be  considered  as  a  sequence  to  Eastlake, 
or  more  lately  to  Dresser  and  Clarence  Cook.  It  has  an  advantage, 
however,  possessed  by  none  of  the  works  of  the  other  writers  in  that 
Messrs.  Brunner  and  Tryon  are  both  practical  architects  and  are  able 
to  avoid  many  of  the  vagaries  and  inconsistencies  which  are  so  apt 
to  creep  into  the  work  of  an  amateur  or  even  an  artist  who  under- 
takes to  deal  with  topics  of  an  architectural  character.  We  would 
be  almost  inclined  to  paraphrase  Bunthorne's  criticism  of  his  own 
poem  in  Patience  and  say  that  there  is  not  a  word  in  this  volume 
which  is  calculated  to  bring  the  blush  of  shame  to  the  cheek  of  an 
architect  whose  client  has  been  an  industrious  reader  of  this  work. 
It  is  consistent  throughout  and  so  far  as  it  aims  to  be  professional  it 
is  fair  without  being  sentimental,  and  the  advice  given  is  always 
safe.  The  authors  never  neglect  an  opportunity  to  remind  their 
readers  that  after  all  an  amateur  is  but  an  amateur  and  is,  therefore, 
inferior  to  that  superb  creature,  the  architect,  who  is  supposed  to 
tell  him  what  he  should  admire  and  inform  him  how  it  should  be 
created,  as  well  as  what  should  be  avoided  and  what  is  not  to  be 
indulged  in. 

So  many  architects  have  dealt  with  those  uncomfortable  beings 
who  know  exactly  what  they  want  only  they  cannot  draw  it,  that  for 
future  emergencies  it  might  be  well  to  quote  the  author's  words. 
"  Without  understanding  genuine  appreciation  is  imppssible ;  without 
study  understanding  is  impossible,  but  even  with  the  powers  of  gen- 
uine appreciation,  when  one  can  enjoy,  select  and  intelligently  criti- 
cise, he  may  still  be  unable  to  produce,  except  in  an  experimental 
manner,  for  beside  the  cultivated  taste,  systematic  training  is  neces- 
sary to  enable  one  to  turn  artistic  longings  into  the  practical  language 
of  the  decorator." 

The  authors  acknowledge  the  fact  that  architects  are  often  charged 
with  being  afraid  of  color  and  the  fact  that  when  buildings  leave  the 
architect's  hands  the  plaster  walls  often  remain  untinted,  is  cited  as 
proof  of  the  assertion.  They  rather  lamely  explain  the  reason  for 
this  by  saying  that  it  is  often  better  to  wait  until  the  building  has 
settled  before  the  building  is  decorated.  We  do  not  remember  that 
we  have  ever  heard  just  such  an  excuse  for  not  attending  to  this  very 
important  feature  of  a  building.  It  is,  however,  a  very  good  and 
plausible  one,  and  the  next  time  we  happen  to  be  overdriven  with 
work  at  the  office  and  are  too  busy  to  give  the  decorator  any  tints 


'  "Interior  Decoration,"  by  Arnold  W.  Brunner  and  Thomas  Tryon,  architects. 
With  65  illustrations.  New  York:  Wm.  T.  Comstock.  Price,  $3.00,  post  free  to 
any  part  of  the  world. 


for  the  wall  or  to  pick  out  {Tall-papers,  we  will  refer  to  tins  book  and 
say  that  we  are  waiting  for  the  building  to  settle. 

Messrs.  Brunner  and  Tryon  make  a  good  hit  at  the  way  in  which 
the  architect's  work  is  sometimes  brought  to  naught  by  the  client 
after  the  building  is  all  finished  and  decorated.  "  Certainly  a  din- 
ing-room designed  strictly  in  the  style  of  Francois  I  or  a  parlor  in 
the  manner  of  Louis  Quinze  or  of  the  Empire  may  be  a  charming 
apartment,  but  after  all  our  attention  to  detail  in  design  we  will  put 
Turkish  rugs  on  the  floor,  Japanese  vases  on  the  shelves,  and  proba- 
bly modern  stained-glass  in  the  windows,  and  we  ourselves,  in  our 
nineteenth-century  costumes,  will  be  anachronisms." 

The  authors  present  the  other  extreme  of  style  by  telling  of  a  man 
who  bought  a  rug  in  Cairo,  and,  returning  to  his  home,  took  the  rug 
to  his  architect  and  said  to  him  :  "  About  this  rug  —  my  special  and 
most  high-prized  favorite  —  I  desire  a  house  and  a  house,  too,  that 
shall  in  all  its  features  do  homage  to  the  rug  for  which  it  is  built." 
The  story  goes  that  the  house  was  built  and  dazzled  all  beholders 
by  the  splendor  that  was  born  of  such  Oriental  beauty. 

Altogether,  the  book  is  a  decided  addition  to  the  literature  of  its 
kind.  It  is  not  architectural  in  as  far  as  it  is  intended  for  architects, 
but  it  is  sure  to  be  a  good  adjunct  to  the  labors  of  the  architect 
inasmuch  as  it  will  tend  to  elevate  the  taste  and  improve  the  percep- 
tions of  those  who  read.  The  illustrations,  mostly  drawn  by  Mr. 
Brunner,  are  excellent  both  in  design  and  rendering,  and  the  volume 
has  our  hearty  approval. 

A  BALTIMORE  lawyer,  Mr.  A.  Parlctt  Lloyd,  has  had  the  happy 
idea  of  bringing  together,  in  a  volume2  of  moderate  size,  the  legal 
points  relating  to  buildings  which  cause  most  trouble  to  those  inter- 
ested in  construction  and  to  the  gentlemen  of  the  legal  profession 
who  represent  them  in  the  courts.  It  is  notorious  among  architects 
and  builders  that  lawyers  are,  as  a  rule,  profoundly,  and  to  them, 
ludicrously  ignorant  of  the  simplest  matters  of  construction.  The 
author  of  the  book  before  us  himself  says  that  "many  instances 
could  be  cited  where  legal  lights  have  unintentionally  transformed 
proper  contracts  into  faulty  ones,  leading  to  legal  complications  and 
the  usual  consequences  thereof,"  and  although  he  makes  no  preten- 
sions to  instruct  his  fellows  in  the  art  of  building,  he  at  least  calls 
their  attention  to  the  most  important  of  the  conditions  under  which 
construction  is  carried  on. 

Beginning  with  a  definition  of  building  agreements,  Mr.  Lloyd 
warns  his  readers  that  "  great  care  should  always  be  exercised  in 
the  preparation  of  these  contracts  "  on  account  of  the  multitude  of 
contingencies  and  technicalities  to  be  provided  for,  and  gives  two  or 
three  model  forms  of  contract  in  an  appendix  suited  to  various  cir- 
cumstances. The  first  of  these  models  is  borrowed  from  Carey's 
Forms  and  is  substantially  the  same  as  that  in  use  by  many  archi- 
tects in  this  country ;  the  second,  in  which  a  church  building-com- 
mittee is  a  party,  is  taken  from  Lord  Grimthorpe's  "  Book  on  Build- 
ing," and  the  third  is  also  from  an  English  work,  Emden's  "  Prece- 
dents of  Building  Contracts."  All  the  forms  are  good.  The  English 
models  had  no  arbitration  clause,  Lord  Grimthorpe,  as  is  well  known, 
objecting  to  arbitrations,  and  Mr.  Emden  apparently  agreeing  with 
him.  The  American  model  contains  the  arbitration  clause  in  the 
usual  form,  but  Mr.  Lloyd  refers  in  a  note  to  a  preceding  chapter, 
where  he  says  that  "  a  clause  in  a  building  contract  providing  for 
arbitration  in  case  of  dispute  is  generality  objectionable  for  the  rea- 
son that  the  architect  is  the  natural  and  proper  arbitrator  and  in 
every  way  competent  to  decide." 

So  far  we  have  nothing  but  commendation  to  bestow  on  the  book. 
The  contract  forms  given  are  perhaps  a  little  long-winded  and  Lord 
Grimthorpe's  never  seemed  to  us  to  be  quite  seriously  intended,  but 
it  is  all  the  more  useful,  perhaps,  for  differing  enough  from  the  ordi- 
nary models  to  set  those  who  read  it  to  thinking  about  the  reasons 
for  the  variation.  In  Chapter  II,  however,  we  trace  Lord  Grim- 
thorpe's influence,  as  an  architectural  historian  would  say,  in  a  man- 
ner not  quite  so  unobjectionable.  This  chapter,  which  is  a  short 
one,  treats  of  "Architects  and  Superintendents,"  and  displays, 
together  with  some  valuable  information,  a  good  deal  of  that  curious 
incapacity  for  comprehending  an  architect's  position  which  seems 
natural  to  the  legal  mind,  spiced  with  a  strong  flavor  of  the  inten- 
tional representation  with  which  architects  are  treated  by  Lord 
Grimthorpe,  whose  book  is,  indeed,  gravely  cited  on  various  points. 
The  most  amusing  instance  of  this  is  to  be  found  in  the  second  para- 
graph, where  we  are  told  that  "  it  has  been  held  in  England  that  the 
contractor  shall  build  according:  to  the  plans  for  the  price  agreed 
upon,  but  the  architect  may  order  any  additions  or  alterations  that 
he  pleases,  either  before  or  after  any  of  the  work  is  done,  without 
consulting  the  employer,  and  even  though  the  latter  may  object  to 
the  alterations,  he  shall  pay  for  them,  and  shall  also  pay  the  archi- 
tect a  further  percentage  for  designing  the  same."  Thereupon  Mr. 
Lloyd  innocently  remarks  that  "  such  a  rule,  establishing,  as  it  does, 
an  arbitrary  despotism  for  architects,  has  not  been  upheld  in  this 
country."  The  idea  of  an  architect  being  an  "arbitrary  despot" 
over  anybody  will  be  novel  to  most  members  of  the  profession,  and 
it  ought  not  to  be  necessary  to  point  out  to  a  lawyer  that  if  any  such 
"  rule "  has  been  upheld  anywhere  except  in  Lord  Grimthorpc's 
fertile  imagination,  it  must  have  been  established  by  the  contract 

!  "  The  Law  of  Huililing  and  Building*,"  especially  referring  to  building  con- 
tracts, leases,  easements  and  liens,  by  A.  Parlett  Lloyd  of  the  Baltimore  Bar. 
Boston:  lloughton,  MifHin  &  Co.  1888.  Price,  $4.60. 


MAY  12,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


227 


between  the  builder  and  the  "  employer,"  who  need  not  have  agreed 
to  it  if  he  had  thought  it  more  for  his  interest  not  to  do  so. 

In  regard  to  the  architect's  compensation  also,  Mr.  Lloyd  seems 
to  have  followed  the  lucubrations  of  the  autocrat  of  St.  Albans 
rather  than  the  decisions  of  the  courts.  He  says  that  "  formerly  in 
lin-luud  when  no  agreement  was  made  with  an  architect,  he  re- 
ceived five  per  cent  on  the  cost  of  the  structure  and  two  and  one- 
half  per  cent  for  his  plans  and  superintendence."  We  should  have 
said  that  this  extraordinary  presentation  of  the  custom  for  the 
charges  of  architects,  which  prevails  throughout  the  civilized  world, 
might  with  advantage  have  been  corrected  by  a  comparison  with  the 
schedule  itself,  which  is  to  be  found  in  the  appendix,  as  well  as  in 
every  price-book,  builders'  guide  and  surveyors'  memorandum-book, 
but  Mr.  Lloyd  takes  the  Grimthorpe  view  of  the  matter  and  merely 
informs  us  that  "in  1862  a  professional  institution  of  architects 
issued  a  scale  of  charges,  all  on  the  percentage  system,  but  in  1870 
the  Court  of  the  Exchequer  declared  that  this  code  of  the  profession 
was  not  binding,  as  its  charges  were  unreasonable,  and  it  was  held 
'contrary  to  good  sense  and  justice  and  not  a  legal  standard.' "  The 
authority  for  this  statement  is,  we  need  hardly  say,  our  friend  Lord 
Grimthorpe  again,  and  Mr.  Lloyd  confesses  in  a  foot-note  that  he 
has  been  unable  to  find  any  report  of  the  decision  referred  to. 

Our  professional  readers  will  not  require  to  be  told  that  this  is  a 
monstrous  misstateinent  of  the  practice  of  courts  in  regard  to  their 
charges.  The  only  basis  that  it  can  pretend  to  have  is  to  be  found 
in.  the  rulings,  which  have  been  several  times  repeated  in  different 
forms,  that  a  schedule  of  charges  adopted  in  the  profession,  but  not 
generally  known  to  outsiders,  is  not  presumed  to  have  formed  part 
of  the  contract  between  the  architect  and  his  client,  in  such  a  way 
as  to  prevent  a  jury  from  estimating  on  other  grounds,  if  it  prefers, 
the  reasonable  compensation  which  an  architect  in  any  particular 
case  has  earned.  Of  course  there  may  be  circumstances  where  five  per 
cent  on  the  proposed  cost  is  evidently  either  too  large  or  too  small  pay 
for  the  architect's  services  in  relation  to  a  building,  and  a  jury  ought 
not,  in  the  opinion  of  these  judges,  to  be  precluded  by  the  schedule 
from  making  its  own  estimate  of  what  the  services  are  worth,  but 
the  idea  that  the  schedule-rates  have  ever  been  judicially  declared 
to  be  an  unreasonable  compensation  for  architects'  services  generally 
is  a  very  mistaken  one  and  is  contradicted  by  nearly  all  the  cases 
concerning  architects,  where,  if  the  five  per  cent  rule  is  not  admitted 
as  a  binding  and  well-known  custom,  as  is  now  not  unusual,  no 
objection  whatever  is  made  to  evidence  showing  that  a  definite  sum, 
amounting  to  five  per  cent  on  the  cost  of  the  building  concerned,  is 
a  proper  charge,  and  the  verdict  is  usually  based  on  this  evidence. 

In  one  other  point  Mr.  Lloyd's  account  of  the  relation  of  archi- 
tects to  their  employers  seems  to  us  to  need  correction.  In  speaking 
of  the  architects'  contract,  he  says  that  this  "does  not  survive  to  his 
representative,  so  that  if  there  is  a  contract  tocomplete  a  certain  work 
for  a  certain  sum  the  representatives  of  the  deceased  architect  cannot 
recover  for  the  past  performance."  The  moral  of  this  is  that  architects 
should  be  careful  never  to  make  an  agreement  to  do  their  work  for  a 
certain  sum.  It  is  true  that  a  contract  with  an  architect  is  a  personal 
one,  which  cannot  be  assigned  or  devolved  upon  another  person,  and 
where  an  architect  is  so  foolish  as  to  agree  to  render  his  long  and 
complicated  service  for  a  fixed  sum,  it  might  be  doubtful  whether  his 
heirs,  in  case  of  his  death  before  the  completion  of  his  commission, 
could  recover  any  compensation  for,  perhaps,  the  work  of  the  best 
years  of  his  life.  Under  the  ordinary  system,  however,  of  payment 
by  percentage  on  the  cost,  although  it  may  be  argued  that  the  com- 
mission for  full  service  being  five  per  cent  on  the  cost,  the  architect 
who  does  not  complete  his  service  has  no  claim  for  compensation 
which  his  heirs  can  enforce,  it  has  been  decided  in  this  country  that 
the  representatives  of  a  deceased  architect  can  recover  compensa- 
tion for  his  uncompleted  work  in  proportion  to  the  amount  done. 

It  would  hardly  be  fair  to  go  farther  with  criticisms  of  a  compa- 
ratively unimportant  chapter  in  an  excellent  book,  so,  although  cer- 
tain points,  as,  for  example,  the  definition  that  "  the  superintendent, 
foreman  or  boss  of  construction  in  this  country  corresponds  with  the 
official  known  in  England  as  the  clerk-of-the-works  "  invite  comment, 
we  will  leave  them  and  proceed  to  mention  briefly  the  ensuing  chap- 
ters on  Building  Nuisances,  Sureties  and  Assignees  of  Contractors, 
Leases,  Restrictions,  Taxes  and  Assessments,  Fixtures,  Easements, 
Light  and  Air,  Party-walls,  Water,  Gas,  Highways,  Drains  and 
Sewers,  Mechanics'  Liens  and  other  matters,  containing  a  great  deal 
of  valuable  matter.  As  an  appendix  to  the  chapter  on  liens  is  given 
an  abstract  of  the  lien  laws  of  all  the  States,  in  which,  however,  we 
find  quoted,  as  the  present  New  York  law,  the  Act  of  1880,  instead 
of  the  very  different  statute  of  1885,  by  which  that  of  1880  was 
superseded. 

Last  of  all  comes  a  set  of  models  for  contracts,  notices,  bonds, 
leases  and  so  on,  the  English  and  American  Institute  Schedules  of 
Charges,  a  glossary  and  an  index. 

PKOPOSED  MONUMENTS.  —  Sculpture  is  gaining  in  public  interest,  as 
tlic  increase  of  public  statues  shows.  Just  now  six  monuments  of 
special  prominence  are  projected  or  under  way.  One  of  the  mother  of 
Washington,  at  Frederickoburg ;  an  equestrian  statue  to  General  Zach- 
ary  Taylor ;  a  monument  to  President  Harrison,  one  to  Francis  Scott 
Key,  at  Frederick ;  one  for  Valley  Forge  and  one  for  the  battle  of 
Point  Pleasant  in  West  Virginia.  It  is  also  proposed  to  give  Brooklyn  a 
Revolutionary  monument  that  will  cost  $100,000. 


ARCHITECTURAL  LEAGUE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

TITHE  mid-spring  reunion  and  dinner  of  the  Architectural  League, 
J|»  now  numbering  one  hundred  and  fifty-two  practitioners,  took 
place,  as  usual,  the  first  Monday  in  May,  and  called  forth  the 
largest  attendance  of  any  regular  meeting  in  the  history  of  the  asso- 
ciation, which  continues  to  grow  steadily  in  numerical  strength  and 
artistic  and  professional  importance;  the  practice  inaugurated  long 
since  of  having  a  paper  read  by  some  member  at  each  meeting,  was 
very  creditably  continued  by  Mr.  A.  F.  D'Oench,  Superintendent  of 
the  Department  of  Buildings  of  the  City  of  New  York,  who  gpoko 
with  ability  on  Errors  in  Construction ;  for  his  long  experience,  in 
the  first  city  of  the  Union,  had  eminently  fitted  him  for  the  subject 
and  the  task. 

The  committee  on  current  work,  after  considerable  trouble,  were 
able  to  show  the  members  a  representative  exhibit  of  the  architectural 
efforts  in  original  designing  and  drawing,  of  the  pupils  of  three  of 
the  principal  art  institutions  of  this  country,  viz.: 

Technical  Classes  of  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art,  New  York. 

School  of  Mines,  Columbia  College,  New  York. 

Architectural  Department,  Cornell  University,  Ithaca,  N.  Y. 

Though  the  pupils'  work  was  not  to  be  compared  to  that  of  the 
famous  Paris  Ecole  des  Beaux-Arts  for  originality  in  composition, 
freedom  of  expression,  or  cleverness  in  interpretation,  yet  the  artistic 
and  technical  standard  was  high  enough  to  reflect  the  greatest  credit 
and  give  hope  and  encouragement  for  the  future  of  our  native  archi- 
tectural schools. 

The  famous  designs  of  Alma  Tadema,  R.  A.,  for  the  piano  and 
furniture  of  the  music-room  of  the  New  York  residence  of  H.  G. 
Marquand,  Esq.,  were  shown  for  the  first  time,  by  the  makers  John- 
stone,  Norman  &  Co.,  of  England. 

The  lines  and  ornaments  are  Greek,  and  scheme  of  color  and  com- 
bination of  material  are  inlaid  ivory  or  ebony  and  vice-versa ;  the 
ivories  being  incrustated  roughly  and  carved  in  relief,  and  then 
faintly  stained  in  soft  creams,  pinks,  delicate  russetts,  etc.,  while 
lumps  of  coral  and  mother-of-pearl  are  discreetly  introduced  in  places, 
with  fine  artistic  results  ;  the  designs  are  all  pure,  refined  and  credit- 
able to  the  Greek  style,  while  the  execution  of  these  extraordinary 
and  unique  pieces  is  not  the  least  remarkable  part  of  the  models. 
HENRY  O.  AVERY,  Secretary,  pro  tern. 


A  WARNING. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  The  communication  in  your  issue  of  Dec.  24,  1887, 
from  "  Victim  of  Bad  Faith,"  concerning  the  dismissal  of  an  archi- 
tect, the  copying  of  his  plans  by  a  cheap  architect,  disputed  commis- 
sion, etc.  All  was  settled  by  compromise  :  the  town  has  recently 
voted  to  change  location  of  building,  and  a  new  design  will  be  re- 
quired, and  possibly  the  same  tactics  pursued  to  obtain  it,  as  before, 
and  a  patronizing  smile  offered  as  remuneration  (we  have  the  plan, 
now  let's  see  you  help  yourself).  Any  architects  who  intend  to  take 
a  chance  in  the  above,  had  better  ascertain  the  price  which  will 
be  paid  before  they  waste  any  time,  and  do  not  let  your  plans  go  out 
of  your  sight,  as  the  same  Pecksniff  may  be  lying  in  wait. 

AN  EYE  WITNESS. 


LEGENDS  OF  ARTISTS. — In  illustration  of  the  parasitic  growth  of 
legend  and  tradition  may  be  also  cited  the  story  told  by  Tzetzes  the 
Grammarian,  some  seventeen  centuries  after  the  death  of  Phidias.  Ac- 
cording to  him,  Alcamenes  and  Phidias  competed  in  making  a  statue  of 
Athena,  to  be  placed  in  an  elevated  position ;  and  when  their  figures 
were  finished  and  exposed  to  public  view  near  the  level  of  the  eye,  the 
preference  was  decidedly  given  to  the  figure  of  Alcamenes ;  but  as  soon 
as  the  figures  were  elevated  to  their  destined  position,  the  public  de- 
clared immediately  in  favor  of  that  of  Phidias.  The  object  of  the 
writer  of  this  story  is  to  prove  the  extraordinary  skill  of  Phidias  in 
opt  cal  perspective,  and  to  show  that  he  had  calculated  his  proportions 
with  such  foresight,  that  though  the  figure,  when  seen  near  the  level 
of  the  eye,  appeared  inharmonious,  it  became  perfectly  harmonious 
when  seen  from  far  below.  Now  all  that  any  artist  could  do  to  produce 
this  effect  would  be,  perhaps,  to  give  more  length  to  its  proportions  in 
comparison  with  its  breadth.  This,  however,  would  be  not  only  a 
doubtful  expedient  in  itself,  but  entirely  at  variance  with  the  practice 
of  Phidias.  His  figures,  like  all  the  figures  of  his  period,  were  stouter 
in  proportion  to  their  breadth,  and  particularly  stouter  in  the  relation 
of  the  lower  limbs  to  the  torso  than  the  figures  of  a  latter  period.  The 
canon  of  proportion  accepted  then  was  that  of  Polycletus ;  and 
they  were  afterwards  varied  and  lengthened  in  the  lower  limbs, 
first  by  Euphranor,  and  subsequently  still  more  by  Lysippus.  Any 
distortion  or  falsification  of  proportion  would  soley  be  effective 


228 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.       [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  646. 


in  a  statue  with  one  point  of  view,  and  exhibited  as  a  relief ; 
for  if  it  were  a  figure  in  the  round,  and  seen  from  all  points,  the  per- 
spective would  be  utterly  false,  unless  the  proportions  were  harmonious 
in  themselves  and  true  to  nature.  Tzetzes  is  a  great  gossip,  and  pe- 
culiarly untrustworthy  in  his  statements ;  but  his  story  is  of  such  a 
nature  as  to  please  the  ignorant  public,  and  it  has  been  accepted  and  re- 
peated constantly,  though  he  does  not  give  any  authority  for  it,  and 
plainly  invented  it  out  "  of  the  depths  of  his  own  consciousness,"  as  the 
German  savant  did  the  camel.  One  cannot  be  too  careful  in  accepting 
traditions  about  artists  or  their  works.  The  public  invents  its  facts,  and 
believes  what  it  invents.  Very  few  of  the  pleasing  anecdotes  connected 
with  artists  will  bear  critical  examination,  any  more  than  the  famous 
sayings  attributed  on  great  occasions  to  extraordinary  men ;  still  the 
grand  phrase  of  Cambronne  is  as  gravely  repeated  in  history  as  if  it  had 
any  foundation  in  fact,  and  everybody  believes  that  Da  Vinci  died  in 
the  arms  of  Francis  I.  Perhaps  it  is  scarcely  worth  while  to  break  up 
such  pleasant  traditions,  and  certainly  the  public  resists  such  attempts. 
It  is  so  delightful  to  think  that  the  gallant  and  accomplished  King  of 
France  supported  the  great  Italian  artist,  and  soothed  his  last  moments, 
that  it  seems  sheer  brutality  to  dissipate  such  an  illusion ;  yet,  unfortu- 
nately, we  know  that  Leonardo  died  at  Cloux,  near  Amboise,  on  May  2, 
1679  —  and  from  a  journal  kept  by  the  king,  and  still  (disgracefully 
enough)  existing  in  the  Imperial  library  in  Paris,  we  know  that  on  that 
very  day  he  held  his  court  at  St.  Germain  in  Laye ;  and  besides  this,  Lo- 
mazzo  distinctly  tells  us  that  the  king  first  heard  the  news  of  Leonardo's 
death  from  Melzi;  while  Melzi  himself,  who  wrote  to  Leonardo's 
friend  immediately  after  his  death,  makes  no  mention  of  such  a  fact. 
—  W.  W.  Story. 

THE  DISADVANTAGES  OP  PROFESSIONS.  —  Mr.  Wyatt  Papworth, 
whose  reputation,  as  a  judicious  collector  of  newspaper-cuttings,  has 
been  long  established,  thinks  that  the  following  paragraph  which 
formed  part  of  an  article  in  the  Evening  News  of  the  20th  of  January, 
1888,  should  find  a  corner  in  this  Journal:  "  The  law,  as  a  profession,  is 
densely  overcrowded.  .  .  .  Every  term  large  numbers  are  added  to 
the  profession,  averaging  some  1,600  per  year.  Most  of  these  are  young 
men  who,  when  admitted  to  practice  are  totally  without  experience, 
and  are  let  loose  to  legally  prey  upon  society  at  will.  Refer  to  the  law 
journals  and  columns  of  advertisements  will  be  seen  from  fully-fledged 
solicitors  who,  after  admittance,  are  unable  to  find  employment.  To 
acquire  experience  they  offer  their  services  to  the  trade  at  an  average 
of  25s.  per  week  —  sometimes  for  a  less  sum  than  a  chimney-sweep  or  a 
dustman  would  demand  for  his  labor.  These  young,  inexperienced  law- 
yers are  empowered  by  law  to  charge  at  precisely  the  same  rate  — 
neither  more  nor  less  —  as  the  most  experienced  and  talented  member 
of  the  profession.  The  most  trashy  advice  is  precisely  the  same  in 
price  as  the  most  profound.  Any  one  who  offers  to  charge  less  is 
looked  upon  as  a  legal  knobstick  capable  of  outraging  the  most  solemn 
obligation  of  the  profession,  which  is  to  obtain  the  utmost  farthing 
from  a  litigant.  This  uniformity  of  price,  irrespective  of  quality,  is 
one  of  the  follies  of  the  law.  It  is  a  premium  on  incapacity.  Were  the 
lawyers  to  charge  for  their  skill  and  be  paid  according  to  their  worth, 
only  capable  men  would  be  employed.  The  law  appears  to  be  a  pro- 
fession of  great  responsibility  and  profit,  as  it  undoubtedly  is ;  and 
parents,  without  studying  the  natural  inclination  and  special  abilities 
of  their  sons,  anxious  to  place  them  in  a  position  where  they  can  ascend 
in  the  social  scale,  article  them  to  lawyers,  and  the  great  majority  who 
are  admitted  totally  fail  on  account  of  their  not  possessing  the  peculiar 
talents  which  ensure  success.  They  are  handicapped  in  the  race  of 
life  by  the  conditions  inherent  in  their  profession.  However  able  or 
skilful  a  lawyer  may  be,  he  is  debarred  from  advertising  his  extraordi- 
nary cleverness,  cheapness,  and  superior  qualifications,  like  his  brother 
the  tailor,  the  shoemaker,  or  the  draper."  —  R.  I.  B.  A.  Journal. 


VANDALISM  BY  A  CLERGYMAN  AT  WESTMINSTER  ABBEY.  —  The 
Times  reports  that  at  the  Westminster  Police  Court  on  Wednesday  last, 
the  Rev.  Watkin  Davies,  vicar  of  St.  Bride's,  Wentloog-with-Coedker- 
new,  Cardiff,  Monmouthshire,  was  charged  before  Mr.  D'Eyncourt,  at 
the  instance  of  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Westminster  Abbey,  with  wil- 
fully damaging  the  ancient  credence  table  in  the  St.  Erasmus  Chapel  of 
the  Abbey.  A  police-constable  in  plain  clothes  deposed  that  he  saw 
the  defendant  enter  the  St.  Erasmus  Chapel,  which  was  sometimes 
called  the  Royal  Chapel,  from  the  north  transept,  and  chip  the  base  of 
the  credence  table  with  the  end  of  his  umbrella.  The  pieces  of  stone 
he  knocked  off  he  put  in  his  pocket,  and  witness  then  took  him  into 
custody  and  asked  him  what  he  meant  by  such  conduct.  The  defend- 
ant's answer  was  that  he  was  not  aware  he  was  doing  any  harm,  and 
that  he  had  only  taken  a  few  pieces  of  the  stone  as  a  relic.  Mr.  Thomas 
Wright,  clerk-of-the- works  at  the  Abbey,  said  that  many  of  the  ancient 
monuments  were  damaged  by  persons  chipping  pieces  away  as  relics. 
The  pieces  of  stone  chipped  off  the  table,  which  were  about  the  size  of 
a  walnut,  were  handed  to  his  Worship,  who  asked  the  defendant  what 
answer  he  could  make  to  such  a  charge  Mr.  Davies  said  he  had  noth- 
ing at  all  to  say,  except  that  he  did  not  know  that  he  was  doing  any 
harm.  Further  questioned  by  Mr.  D'Eyncourt  as  to  his  motive,  the 
defendant  said  "  I  was  picking  the  pieces  for  relics."  Mr.  D'Eyncourt. 
—  You  really  ought  to  know  the  value  of  ancient  monuments  and  to 
venerate  them  accordingly.  I  must  fine  you  40s.  for  the  wilful  damage. 


^T^        A     WX-*T^ 


STOCK  speculators  are  very  impatient  over  the  unfavorable  market  con- 
ditions. There  is  no  inducement  to  buy  and  sell  in  a  large  way.  Stocks, 
like  values  in  other  directions,  have  a  downward  tendency,  while  gross 
earnings  on  a  great  many  railroads  are  increasing,  net  earnings  are  declin- 
ing. On  the  New  York  Central,  Erie,  Pennsylvania  and  Baltimore  &  Ohio, 
the  gross  earnings  for  six  months  ending  April  1,  showed  an  increase  of 


about  83,000,000,  while  the  net  earnings  for  that  time  showed  a  decrease  of 
about  $1,000,000.  The  same  ratio  runs  through  nearly  all  the  leading 
systems,  West  and  East.  While  the  volume  of  traffic  is  increasing,  the  com- 
pensatioa  to  the  companies  for  their  service  is  declining.  Hence,  there  is 
less  speculation  in  stocks,  less  railroad  construction,  and  a  disposition  to  re- 
duce expenses  for  equipments  and  supplies,  and  to  throw  off  men  wherever 
their  services  can  possibly  be  dispensed  with.  The  railroad  companies,  in 
many  cases,  are  animated  with  a  desire  to  let  organized  labor  know  that 
labor  is  not  in  such  urgent  demand  as  might  be  supposed.  The  failure  of 
the  C.  B.  &  Q.  strike,  has  suddenly  disposed  of  a  good  many  grievances 
among  railroaders.  Just  as  failures  in  other  directions  have  served  to 
teach  labor  that  the  time  to  strike  has  either  passed,  or  has  not  yet  come. 
One  of  the  strong  factors  in  the  situation  three  or  six  months  hence  will  be 
a  more  contented  body  of  labor.  Another  of  the  strong  factors  that  will  go 
to  make  up  a  healthful  condition  of  affairs  next  autumn  and  winter,  will  be 
hard-pan  prices.  The  downward  tendency  which  is  now  at  work  in  every 
direction,  is  bringing  railroad  freight  rates  in  its  course.  The  wars  in  the 
Northwest  are  not  likely  to  be  adjusted,  excepting  on  a  lower  basis.  The 
Canadian  Pacific  now  controls  the  "  800  "  route,  and  that  may  be  taken  as 
evidence  that  there  will  be  no  combination  for  higher  prices  on  the  trunk 
lines  West  of  Chicago.  There  is  barely  enough  traffic  on  the  trunk  lines 
East,  to  satisfy  all  members  of  the  pool.  Yet,  railroad  authorities  state  — 
what  is,  no  doubt,  a  fact  —  that  in  the  aggregate,  railroad  traffic  is  increas- 
ing; that  less  injustice  is  done  to  shippers,  big  or  little,  and  that  the  benefits 
of  the  Inter-state  Commerce  Law  are  now  being  practically  realized  in  the 
way  that  the  framers  of  that  law  anticipated.  The  producing  capacity  is 
still  being  restricted  within  the  limits  designated  by  actual  demand.  There 
is  not  a  single  industry  that  can  be  named,  wherein  overproduction  is 
visible.  The  iron-making  capacity  is  running  to  about  75  per  cent,  as  nearly 
as  it  is  possible  to  estimate  from  all  reports  received  from  week  to  week; 
rail-makers  are  booking  a  few  large  and  small  orders,  but  there  is  very 
little  business  now  in  hand  or  in  sight  for  the  summer  or  fall.  Prices  re- 
main where  they  were  three  or  four  months  ago.  Alabama  pig-iron  has 
been  unsettling  prices  throughout  the  North.  Most  of  the  furnaces  there 
are  sold  away  ahead,  while  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  furnaces  are  standing 
idle,  or  fearing  the  competition  from  the  South.  Freight  rates  have  been 
lowered  20  cents  per  ton  on  Southern  and  Western  roads,  and  one  railroad 
company  in  Eastern  Pennsylvania  has  reduced  coal  and  freight  charges,  and 
iron-makers  are  awaiting  a  similar  course  by  two  other  railroad  companies, 
in  order  that  they  may  be  able  to  compete  successfully  with  the  iron  of  the 
West  and  South,  which  for  some  time  past  has  been  creeping  into  their  terri- 
tory. The  building  situation  throughout  the  United  States,  may  be  given 
in  a  nutshell,  as  follows:  In  the  New  England  States,  there  is  not,  as  yet, 
quite  the  same  degree  of  activity  as  there  was  last  year;  in  many  towns, 
tnere  is  the  promise  of  an  improvement.  Manufacturing  establishments 
will  have  their  capacity  improved  somewhat,  but  there  is  no  general  expan- 
sion probable.  The  trade  conditions  are  favorable.  Boot  and  shoe  manu- 
facturers are  even  busier  than  last  year;  electrical-supply  establishments 
are  busier;  paper-makers  are  making  and  selling  more  paper  than  a  year 
ago,  and  paper-making  capacity  is  being  increased  in  New  England  and  also 
in  Wisconsin.  The  smaller  industries  throughout  the  East  are  all  fairly 
well  supplied  with  business,  but  the  manufacturers  are  careful  to  avoid  ex- 
tensive purchases  of  material;  and  yet,  the  prediction  is  frequently  heard, 
that  the  summer  and  fall  trade  will  make  up  for  the  winter  and  spring. 
The  faith  in  this  improvement  is  deep  ana  widespread;  it  is  met  with 
among  the  builders,  architects,  mechanics  and  shopmen  of  the  West. 
Throughout  the  Middle  States  there  is  more  activity  in  building,  especially 
in  cities  like  Philadelphia,  Pittsburgh,  Buffalo  and  Albany.  Philadelphia 
has  taken  a  sudden  spurt  of  activity,  and  the  distribution  of  lumber  and 
building  material  has  been  gratifying.  A  great  deal  of  work  is  underway 
throughout  the  interior  of  Pennsylvania.  It  is  probable  that  the  Reading 
terminus  will  be  authorized  at  Twelfth  and  Market  Streets,  Philadelphia, 
and  that  work  will  begin  before  the  end  of  the  year.  A  company  has  been 
organized  to  construct  tunnels  running  at  right  angles  to  each  other  through 
the  city  for  passenger  traffic.  From  present  indications,  6,000  small  houses 
will  be  built.  Building  operations  are  being  actively  pushed  in  Pittsburgh, 
and  there  is  a  healthy  activity  in  all  the  manufacturing  towns  of  Ohio  and 
Indiana.  Forty  firms  have  located  at  Findlay,  O.,  within  four  months. 
There  are  twelve  glass  factories  in  that  town,  and  others  are  coming.  The 
coal  output  of  Ohio  is  increasing,  notwithstanding  the  Natural  gas  develop- 
ment. Indiana  gas-fields  are  also  attracting  manufacturing  enterprise, 
though  the  coal-fields  of  that  State  aud  Illinois  are  not  keeping  pace  with 
the  development  in  newer  fields  farther  West.  The  distribution  of  lumber 
during  the  past  thirty  days  has  dissipated  the  doubts  which  manufacturers 
and  dealers  entertained  a  few  weeks  ago.  Prices  have  not  been  cut  except 
in  isolated  cases,  in  any  markets  throughout  the  country.  The  manufac- 
ture of  lumber  has  been  retarded  by  natural  causes  and  by  judicious  man- 
agement in  the  Northwest,  while  in  the  South  its  manufacture  has  been 
stimulated  by  Northern  capital  and  enterprise,  and  by  a  demand  which 
seems  equal  to  the  consumption  of  every  car  and  cargo  that  thus  far  has 
come  to  market.  The  architects  and  builders  from  New  York  to  Duluth  and 
Omaha  .ire  pleased  at  the  building  developments  of  the  past  few  weeks; 
every  Western  city  feels  the  stimulus  of  an  improving  demand.  The 
favorable  reports  heretofore  made  concerning  industrial  activity  in  the 
South,  can  only  be  repeated.  Upwards  of  100  cotton  mills  have  been  pro- 
jected since  last  September;  the  bulk  of  these  have  been  undertaken,  or 
will  be  at  an  early  day.  Inquiry  with  manufacturers  of  textile  machinery, 
corroborates  the  scattering  statements  from  projectors  and  promoters,  con- 
cerning the  present  and  prospective  activity  in  demand  for  all  kinds  of  tex- 
tile machinery  used  in  the  South.  The  manufacture  of  cheviots  and  dress 
goods  of  the  higher  grade  is  being  introduced  in  an  experimental  sort  of 
way,  as  well  as  silk  culture  and  manufacturing,  and  there  appears  to  be  no 
reason  why  such  enterprise  should  not  be  sufficiently  regarded  to  lead  to 
further  like  efforts.  There  is  a  downward  tendency  in  prices,  which  for  the 
time  being,  is  repressive  in  its  nature;  but  the  outcome  will  be,  as  it  always 
has  in  years  past,  a  strengthening  of  the  foundations  of  trade  and  a  widen- 
ing of  markets.  Vast  timber  regions  have  been  opened  in  the  South,  and  a 
doubling  of  the  supply  of  Southern  lumber  is  a  strong  probability  within  the 
next  two  years.  There  is  a  scarcity  of  coke  in  the  South,  but  the  enterprise 
of  Southern  manufacturers  will  be  equal  to  this  emergency.  Southern  rail- 
road managers  seem  to  have  caught  the  spirit  of  progress,  and  are  working 
hand  in  hand  with  the  manufacturing  and  agricultural  interests  to  increase 
the  industrial  activity,  that  they  may  profit  by  the  resulting  increase  in 
traffic.  The  manufacturers  of  brick  are  barely  able  to  meet  the  current  re- 
quirements; an  increasing  demand  is  met  within  country  places  where 
lumber  has  heretofore  been  mainly  used.  There  is  an  improving  demand 
for  slate  and  for  fireproof  material.  The  manufacturers  of  pipe  of  all 
kinds,  excepting  for  natural-gas,  have  been  able  to  keep  their  establish- 
ments quite  busy. 

S.  J.  PARKHILL  &  Co.,  Printers,  Boston. 


THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  AND  BUILDING  NEWS. 


VOL.  Xxtii. 


Copyright,  18*8,  by  TICKKOR  &  COMPANY,  Boiton,  Main. 


No.  647. 


MAY  19. 1888. 

Entered  at  the  Pout-Office  at  Button  as  second-clan  matter. 


SUMMARY: — 

Burning  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.  — Fall  of  a 
Vnulti-d  floor  at  Columbus,  O. —  Fall  of  a  Floor  at  Belle- 
fonte,  l*a.  —  1'roposod  Cooperative  Club  for  Women  in  New 
York. — The  New  York  Arcade  Railway.  —  The  Remains  of 
Babylonian  Library  Treasures.  —  Reclaiming  Lake  Almukir, 
near  Alexandria.  —  The  Heine  System  of  HCKUe-heatmg. — 
London  Railway  Traffic. — Translation  of  a  Book  on  Sani- 
tation by  the  Princess  Christian 229 

LKTTF.K  KK«»I   WASHINGTON 231 

LKTTKR    FROM    CINCINNATI 232 

LKTTKK  KUOM  CHICAGO 232 

Tin:   MVNUFACTI  KING  USES  OF  EGGS. 233 

ILLUSTRATIONS : — 

House  on  Hereford  Street,  Boston,  Mass.  —  Gothic  Spires  and 
Towers.  Plates  18,  14  and  16.  —  Competitive  Designs  for 
the  Indiana  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Monument.  —  House  at 
Morristown,  N.  .1.  —  Lutheran  Church,  Los  Angeles,  Cal.  .  234 

THE  OLD  AND  TUB  NEW 234 

JOTTINGS  ABOUT  THE  UNITED  STATES 235 

SO.MK  LETTERS  OF  VIOLLET-LE-DUC'S 230 

BOOKS  AND  PAPERS 237 

COMMUNICATIONS  :  — 

Illustrations  of  Boston  Public  Buildings.  —  American  vt.  French 

Architectural  Training 238 

NOTES  AND  CLIPPINGS 238 

TRADE  SURVEYS 240 


BY  the  burning  of  St.  Paul's  Church  in  Buffalo,  the  cathe- 
dral church  of  the  Episcopal  diocese  of  Western  New 
York,  not  only  is  a  severe  loss  inflicted  upon  the  commu- 
nity interested,  but  a  lesson  is  taught  in  regard  to  the  danger 
of  using  natural  gas  for  fuel  which  should  be  laid  to  heart. 
The  heating  furnaces  in  the  church  were  supplied  with  natural 
gas  from  the  mains  belonging  to  the  Company  which  controls 
the  wells.  By  some  derangement  of  the  valves  at  the  works, 
according  to  the  newspaper  accounts,  the  pressure  in  the  mains 
appears  to  have  been  suddenly  increased  to  a  dangerous  degree, 
and  several  meters  burst,  and  small  explosions  occurred,  in 
various  parts  of  the  town,  while  in  the  cathedral  the  escape  of 
gas  was  so  copious  that  as  soon  as  fire  communicated  to  it  from 
the  furnaces,  the  doors  were  blown  out,  together  with  portions 
of  the  windows,  and  flames  immediately  followed,  in  such  vol- 
umes that  the  whole  interior  of  the  building  was  destroyed  in 
about  half  an  hour.  Soon  after  the  arrival  of  the  fire-engines 
on  the  ground  the  roof  fell  in,  and  nothing  now  remains  of  the 
church  but  the  walls  and  spire. 

'£J  STRANGE  accident  occurred  a  few  days  ago  at  Colum- 
j\  bus,  O.,  where  a  vaulted  floor  gave  way  on  the  removal  of 
the  centring,  falling  upon  the  men  employed  in  taking 
out  the  timbers,  killing  two  and  severely  injuring  the  third. 
The  arch,  which  is  said  to  have  been  in  one  span,  about  twen- 
ty-three feet  wide,  was  of  brick,  levelled  up  with  Portland 
< ,  mcnt  concrete.  According  to  the  accounts,  the  rise  of  the 
arch  was  but  two  feet,  and  we  are  not  told  what  sort  of  abut- 
ment was  provided  to  resist  the  great  thrust  of  such  an  arch,  so 
that  it  is  not  difficult  to  account  for  the  catastrophe  on  several 
suppositions,  one  of  which  would  be  that  the  rigid  Portland 
(•(•incut  concrete  may  have  separated  from  what  might  have 
been  the  compressible  ring  of  brickwork  beneath  it,  so  as  to 
allow  both  to  fall  independently  of  each  other.  We  hope,  by 
the  way,  that  some  one  is  keeping  notes  of  all  the  building 
accidents  in  which  Portland  cement  plays  a  part.  As  used  by 
inexperienced  persons,  it  is  certainly  a  dangerous  material. 
Our  professional  brethren  abroad  have  learned  to  take  various 
precautions  against  over-liming,  under-burning  and  other  de- 
tects, of  which  we  know  little,  and  as  we,  presumably,  often 
get  the  cement  shipped  to  us  which  the  foreign  engineers  have 
rejected,  it  is  all  the  more  important  to  be  on  our  guard. 

NOTHER  building  accident  is  reported  from  Pennsyl- 
vania,  where  the  floor  of  a  public  hall  gave  way  during  a 
school  exhibition,  precipitating  five  hundred  people  a  dis- 
tance of  twenty  feet  to  the  ground,  killing  two  outright,  and 
seriously  or  fatally  injuring  many  others.  As  usual  in  such 
cases,  the  central  portion  of  the  floor  gave  way  first,  so  that  the 


people  in  the  room  fell  from  all  portions  toward  the  middle, 
probably  saving  the  lives  of  those  nearest  the  sides  of  the  room, 
at  the  expense  of  those  near  the  centre,  who  were  underneath 
in  the  final  crash.  To  all  appearance  the  accident  was  due 
simply  to  the  insufficiency  of  the  floor-timbers.  Very  few 
builders  take  the  trouble  to  calculate  the  resistance  of  the 
beams  which  they  use  over  spans  out  of  their  ordinary  experi- 
ence, and  it  is  not  likely  that  the  strength  of  the  floor  was 
much  greater  than  that  of  an  ordinary  dwelling-house,  instead 
of  being,  as  it  ought  to  have  been,  at  least  four  times  as  great. 

MRS.  CANDACE  WHEELER,  of  New  York,  seems 
likely  to  be  long  remembered  in  this  country,  not  only  for 
her  brilliant  talents  as  an  artist  and  decorator,  but  for  her 
successful  efforts  in  behalf  of  those  of  her  sex,  who  from  in- 
clination or  necessity,  earn  their  living  by  their  own  efforts. 
In  her  own  profession,  Mrs.  Wheeler  has  successfully  united 
the  labors  of  a  large  number  of  women  by  the  organization  of 
the  Society  of  Associated  Artists,  whose  beautiful  work  in 
decoration  and  embroidery  is  well-known  to  most  architects, 
and,  applying  a  similar  idea  to  a  more  extended  form  of  asso- 
ciation, she  is  said  to  have  been  the  founder  of  the  Woman'? 
Exchange  in  New  York,  which  has  served  as  the  prototype  of 
many  others  in  various  cities,  and  has  opened  to  skilful  and  in- 
dustrious women  a  market  for  their  productions  such  as  they 
could  not  have  hoped  for  a  few  years  ago.  The  latest  scheme 
of  this  sensible  and  clear-sighted  lady,  is,  according  to  the  Mail 
and  JSxpresi,  the  establishment  of  a  hotel,  or  rather,  a  sort  of 
cooperative  club,  where  fifty  or  a  hundred  women,  whom 
circumstances  have  made  self-dependent,  may  make  pleasant 
homes  for  themselves.  It  is  intended  to  have  the  establish- 
ment managed,  like  a  club,  by  committees  of  boarders  and 
stockholders,  so  that  the  women  interested  may  enjoy  the 
pleasure  of  regulating  to  a  certain  extent  their  own  household 
affairs,  while  the  economy  possible  to  combined  housekeeping 
will,  it  is  thought,  enable  the  managers  to  keep  the  expense  of 
pleasant  rooms  and  comfortable  living  down  to  about  six  dollars 
a  week,  even  in  New  York.  How  much  pleasanter  to  most 
women  such  a  place  would  be  than  a  second-rate  boarding-house, 
it  is  hardly  necessary  to  point  out,  and  there  is  no  reason  why 
the  plan  should  not  prove  completely  successful  as  a  business 
enterprise.  It  is  notorious  that  the  largest  and  best  hotels  in 
Europe  are  frequently,  if  not  generally,  managed  by  women, 
and  the  endless  detail  of  foresight  and  economy  necessary  for 
such  work  seems  to  be  particularly  congenial  to  the  sex. 
Women,  moreover,  care  very  little  about  the  pretentious  ex- 
travagance which  is  apt  to  bring  masculine  clubs  to  grief,  and, 
so  long  as  they  can  live  comfortably,  and  with  a  certain  amount 
of  pleasant  company,  in  a  clean,  attractive  house,  which  they 
have  some  voice  in  managing,  most  of  them  will  be  quite  con- 
tent, without  trying  to  dazzle  strangers  with  affectations  of 
wealth.  For  such  persons  cooperative  housekeeping  is  a  simple 
matter.  It  has  been  repeatedly  tried  in  New  York  on  a  small 
scale,  with  complete  success,  and  a  house  for  not  more  than  a 
hundred  women,  planned  with  economy,  so  as  to  save  as  much 
as  possible  in  the  important  item  of  rent,  ought  to  be  certain 
of  paying  dividends,  as  well  as  expenses.  The  building  which 
it  is  proposed  to  erect  will  be  fireproof,  and  is  intended  to  cost, 
with  the  laud,  between  one  and  two  hundred  thousand  dollars. 
The  necessary  amount  has  not  yet  been  fully  subscribed,  but  a 
considerable  portion  has  been  promised,  and  as  soon  as  the  rest 
is  secured,  the  construction  will  begin. 

'7JFTER  twenty  years  of  waiting,  the  Arcade  Railway  Com- 
/j[  pany,  of  New  York,  is  said  to  have  completed  the  contracts 
for  the  construction  of  the  first  five  miles  of  its  line,  from 
the  Battery  to  the  Grand  Central  Railway  Station  on  Forty- 
second  Street,  and  it  is  expected  that  work  will  begin  in  a  few 
days.  The  names  of  the  contractors  have  not  been  made  pub- 
lic, but  the  Directors  of  the  Arcade  Company  are  satisfied  of 
their  ability  to  carry  out  the  work,  and  various  bankers  in 
France  and  Germany  are  reported  to  be  ready  to  take  the 
bonds  which  are  to  be  issued  in  payment  for  construction  as 
security  for  advances  of  the  necessary  cash.  According  to  the 
New  York  Times,  the  Company  has  already  spent  in  surveys 
and  other  preliminary  work  about  four  hundred  thousand 
dollars.  Large  as  this  sum  seems,  it  is  not  perhaps  too  much 
for  such  minute  and  thorough  study  of  every  detail  -of  location, 
construction  and  cost  as  has  been  going  on  for  the  past  twenty 


230 


77ie  American  Architect  and  Building  JNews.    [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  647. 


years,  and  it  is  a  satisfaction,  after  the  developments  in  regard 
to  the  Broadway  Surface  Railway,  to  be  able  to  credit  the  posi- 
tive assurances  of  the  Arcade  officials,  that  not  a  dollar  has 
been  used  to  influence  legislation,  or  for  any  other  secret  or 
dishonorable  service. 

OOME  lectures  have  been  recently  given  at  the  British 
|^  Museum  upon  the  art  of  ancient  Babylonia,  which  are  re- 
'  ported  in  the  Builder.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that 
since  the  discovery  of  several  subterranean  stores  of  cuneiform 
inscriptions,  made  upon  cones  of  clay,  our  knowledge  of 
Babylonian  ways  has  become  greatly  enlarged,  and  it  may  not 
be  long  before  as  much  is  known  of  the  history  of  Mesopotamia 
as  of  ancient  Egypt,  where,  as  some  one  says,  the  events 
which  occurred  in  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  B.  c. 
are  recorded  with  greater  precision,  and  in  more  minute  detail, 
than  the  history  of  any  European  State  in  comparatively 
modern  times.  Jt  is  not  long  since  a  great  number,  some  forty 
thousand,  we  believe,  of  inscribed  cones  were  discovered,  and 
sent  to  the  British  Museum  to  be  deciphered,  and  a  few  months 
ago,  while  hardly  more  than  a  beginning  had  been  made  in 
translating  the  first  consignment,  two  hundred  thousand  more 
were  dug  out  of  a  subterranean  chamber  under  the  mound  of 
Tel  Ibrahim.  This  chamber  is  supposed  to  have  been  one  of 
the  "stack-rooms"  of  a  great  public  library,  of  which  five  are 
known,  from  inscriptions,  to  have  existed,  in  what  we  should 
call  the  five  university  towns  of  the  Empire,  Borsippa,  Kutha, 
Larsa,  or  Larissa,  as  some  maps  call  it,  Eridu,  and  Babylon. 
Not  only  is  the  existence  of  these  centres  of  learning  well 
attested  by  the  inscriptions,  but  we  know  the  character  of  the 
sciences  principally  cultivated  in  each,  Eridu  and  Kutha 
having  been  the  seats  of  theological  knowledge,  while  Borsippa 
was  the  centre  of  technical  instruction,  and  Larsa  of  mathe- 
matics ;  and  the  library  attached  to  each  was  mainly  devoted 
to  books,  or  rather  tablets,  of  appropriate  character.  Not  only 
were  these  libraries  well  stocked,  but  the  books  were  arranged 
and  catalogued  with  such  skill  that  the  authorities  of  the 
British  and  the  Continental  museums  have  adopted  the  ancient 
system  as  being  still  the  best  for  the  sort  of  material  with 
which  it  dealt.  Most  people  will  remark  the  similarity 
between  this  sort  of  literary,  or  rather  educational  enthusiasm, 
and  the  passion  for  scholarship  which  still  exists  among  the 
educated  Chinese,  and  it  is  not  very  surprising  to  find  that  it  is 
now  regarded  as  certain  that  the 'Chinese  writing  is  intimately 
related  to  the  cuneiform  character,  as  if  the  people  of  Mesopo- 
tamia had  diffused  civilization  eastward  to  the  Chinese  valleys, 
as  well  as  westward  to  Asia  Minor,  and  indirectly  to  Greece 
and  Rome. 

S7J  SCHEME  for  reclaiming  the  bed  of  a  lake  is  now  in  pro- 
f\  cess  of  execution  in  Egypt,  where,  among  other  important 
'  engineering  works,  the  water  of  Lake  Aboukir,  a  salt 
pond,  covering  about  fifty  square  miles,  and  situated  near  the 
city  of  Alexandria,  is  being  pumped  into  the  Mediterranean. 
According  to  the  account  in  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette,  the  lake 
was  formed  about  two  hundred  years  ago  by  an  irruption  of  the 
sea,  which,  in  a  violent  storm,  broke  through  the  high  ground 
near  the  shore,  and  overflowed  thirty-one  thousand  acres  of  a 
very  fertile  and  populous  district  in  the  suburbs  of  Alexandria. 
After  the  establishment  of  English  control  in  the  country,  a 
company  was  formed  to  reclaim  this  valuable  territory,  and  on 
the  8th  of  March  last  two  enormous  pumps  began  to  lift  the 
lake  into  the  Mediterranean  at  the  rate  of  four  hundred  and 
sixty  tons  per  minute.  We  will  not  attempt  to  quote  the  Pall 
Mall  Gazette's  amazing  statements  of  the  efficiency  of  the 
pumps ;  it  is  enough  to  say  that  the  officers  of  the  company 
expect  to  have  the  lake  drained  in  about  a  month.  The  next 
problem  is  to  get  rid  of  the  salt,  which,  in  a  rainless  country, 
would  render  the  reclaimed  soil  unproductive  for  many  years, 
but  the  company's  engineers  have  provided  for  this  by  arrang- 
ing to  intersect  the  lake-bed  with  ditches,  after  which,  at  the 
time  of  flood  in  the  Nile,  the  great  Mahmoudieh  Canal  will  be 
cut,  and  fresh  water  will  be  allowed  to  flow  into  the  lake.  This 
will  dissolve  the  salt,  and,  after  a  suitable  interval,  the  pumps 
will  again  be  set  at  work,  and  the  land,  now  free  from  salt,  will 
be  prepared  for  cultivation.  The  ground  is  said  to  be  so  rich 
and  so  near  the  great  market  of  Alexandria,  that  it  will  easily 
bear  a  rent  of  fifty  dollars  per  acre,  and,  as  the  pumping  will 
cost  only  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and,  by 
concession  from  the  Government,  a  portion  of  the  taxes  on  the 
territory  is  to  be  remitted  for  a  term  of  years,  the  managers  of 
the  enterprise  expect  to  make  a  profit  of  four  or  five  million 
dollars. 


'TT  MEMBER  of  the  London  School  Board  writes  to  the 
r\  Guilder  a  careful  and  very  complimentary  description  of 
Heine's  patent  system  of  house-heating.  This  system 
appears  in  two  forms.  Under  the  first,  as  applied  to  school 
and  dwelling  rooms,  it  seems  to  consist  in  setting  up  in  the 
room  what  we  should  call  a  "  school  stove,"  or  a  "  Fire-on-the- 
hearth"  stove  with  the  blower  permanently  closed.  Fresh  air, 
as  in  our  apparatus,  is  brought  from  out-of-doors  by  a  pipe  to 
the  space  between  the  inner  and  outer  shell  of  the  stove-casing, 
and,  after  coming  in  contact  with  the  convoluted  smoke  flue, 
as  well  as  the  outside  of  the  combustion  chamber,  escapes  into 
the  room  by  an  opening  in  the  top  of  the  stove.  The  only 
novelty  about  the  affair  seems  to  consist  in  a  sectional  arrange- 
ment of  the  castings,  by  which  any  portion  can  be  taken  out 
and  replaced  at  pleasure.  In  the  "  Central  Heating  "  form  of 
the  system,  the  stove  of  the  other  form  is  magnified  to  a  fur- 
nace, which  is  placed  in  the  cellar  of  the  building  to  be  warmed, 
and  delivers  fresh  air,  received  from  the  outside,  warmed  into 
the  rooms  above.  A  cold-air  supply  to  the  cellar,  witli  suita- 
ble valves,  allows  cold  air  to  be  mixed  with  the  warm  current 
before  delivery  to  the  upper  rooms,  so  that  the  temperature 
can  be  regulated  very  accurately.  The  device  by  which  the 
temperature  of  each  room  is  known  at  all  times  to  the  fireman 
in  the  basement  is,  we  think,  new  in  this  country.  In  each 
room  are  placed  two  thermometers,  one  large  one,  permanently 
fixed  to  the  wall,  and  a  small  one,  which  appears  only  in  a 
cavity  by  the  side  of  the  room,  communicating  with  a  flue 
extending  through  the  masonry  to  the  cellar.  When  the  fire- 
man wishes  to  ascertain  the  temperature  of  a  given  room,  ho, 
pulls  one  side  of  an  endless  cord,  which  passes  through  the  flues 
in  the  walls  to  the  cavity  containing  the  small  thermometer  for 
that  room,  and  the  thermometer  is  brought  down  for  him  to 
inspect  and  is  then  returned  by  the  same  means  to  its  place. 

TITHE  Revue  Industrielle,  which,  like  all  the  other  French 
JX  technical  journals,  interests  itself  just  now  in  city  rail- 
ways, has  been  publishing  statistics  of  the  New  York 
elevated  roads,  and  now  gives  some  figures  in  relation  to  the 
London  Metropolitan  lines.  Every  one  knows  that  the  traffic 
on  the  London  roads  is  very  large,  but  the  actual  figures  are 
rather  startling.  The  busiest  local  station  on  the  underground 
railway  is  that  of  Clapham,  or  Clapham  Junction,  where,  on  an 
average,  fifteen  hundred  trains  a  day  are  received  and  de- 
spatched. Of  course,  a  large  part  of  these  are  freight-trains, 
but  from  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning  until  midnight  a  passen- 
ger train  leaves  the  Clapham  Station  every  ninety  seconds. 
The  station  itself  covers  about  twenty-three  acres  of  ground, 
and  contains  nine  parallel  tracks,  besides  spurs  and  branches. 
The  ticket  offices  are  situated  in  a  tunnel,  which  traverses  the 
station  beneath  the  tracks,  and  stairs  ascend  from  this  tunnel 
to  the  different  platforms.  Among  the  terminus  stations,  that 
of  the  Great  Eastern  Railway  in  Liverpool  Street,  near  the 
Bank  of  England,  is  the  busiest,  despatching  eight  hundred 
trains  every  twenty-four  hours.  When  the  re-arrangement  of 
the  station,  now  in  progress,  is  finished,  it  will  contain  fifteen 
tracks,  thirteen  of  which  will  have  platforms  beside  them,  vary- 
ing in  length  from  five  hundred  to  a  thousand  feet.  This  is  only 
one  out  of  seventy-three  stations  that  the  Great  Eastern  Rail- 
way possesses  in  London,  forty-five  of  which  are  for  passengers 
alone.  The  ordinary  local  train  on  the  Great  Eastern  lines 
consists  of  fifteen  cars,  each  containing  fifty  seats  for  second  or 
third-class  passengers,  or  thirty-two  seats  for  first-class,  the 
trains  averaging  six  hundred  places  in  each.  All  the  stations 
on  this,  as  on  all  the  other  railways  terminating  in  London, 
communicate  by  means  of  underground  lines,  so  that  a  passen- 
ger arriving  at  any  station,  from  any  part  of  England,  can  be 
transferred  to  any  other  part  by  stepping  across  a  platform  and 
waiting  until  the  proper  train  comes  along. 

TTfHE  architects  who  interest  themselves  in  sanitary  matters, 
J.  and  who  sometimes  feel  as  if  they  were  looked  down  upon 
by  the  lofty-minded  artists  who  cannot  bring  their  thoughts 
to  dwell  on  such  details,  may  be  encouraged  to  know  that  no 
less  a  personage  than  her  Royal  Highness  the  Princess  Chris- 
tian of  Schleswig-Holstein,  Princess  of  Great  Britain  and  Ire- 
land, third  daughter  of  Queen  Victoria,  has  made  an  excellent 
translation  into  German  of  Dr.  S.  Pridgin  Teale's  lively  book 
on  house-drainage,  which,  with  the  startling  illustrations  of  the 
original,  has  just  been  published,  under  the  name  of  "  Lebens- 
ffsfahr  im  Eigcnen  Hause"  by  Lipsius  and  Tischer,  in  Leipzig 
and  Kiel. 


MAY  19,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building   News. 


231 


SUIT  FOR  FEES  ON  PRELIMINARY    DRAW 

INGS. EFFORT  TO    CHANGE  TIIK  D18 

TUICT    LIEN    LAW. A     SUIT    TO     RE- 
COVER   LIEN    IN    ALEXANDRIA,   VA. 

ART-EXHIBITION      AT      TIIK      COSMOS 
CLUB. 

•jr)KCKNTLY  a  Washington  Architect,  Mr.  T.  F.  Schneider,  had 
JV  occasion  to  bring  suit  against  a  client,  Mr.  John  F.  Wagga- 

\  man,  for  payment  of  fees  due  on  preliminary  drawings.0"!! 
was  a  jury  trial  in  the  Circuit  Court,  and  the  case  was  as  follows : 
Mr.  Waggaman  ordered  the  drawings  to  be  made  for  three  houses, 
but  did  not  wish  the  complete  working-drawings  until  he  should  fully 
make  up  his  mind  whether  he  would  hold  the  lots  or  not 

The  preliminary  drawings  were  duly  prepared,  Mr.  Waggaman 
being  consulted  and  coming  to  Mr.  Schneider's  office  repeatedly  to 
give  instructions.  He  wished  house;  to  cost  five  thousand  dollars  each, 
but  his  instructions  required  houses  that  would  cost  six  thousand,  and 
so  the  architect  informed  him.  After  patiently  waiting  for  the  order 
to  complete  the  work,  Mr.  Schneider  sent  in  a  bill  for  preliminary 
drawings,  $150,  being  one  per  cent  on  $15,000,  the  amount  which  Mr. 
Waggaman  desired  the  houses  to  cost.  The  bill  was  returned  en- 
dorsed, "  I  owe  you  nothing."  Hence  the  suit. 

Mr.  Waggaman's  defence  was,  that  he  expected  to  pay  for  the 
drawings  in  case  lie  should  use  them. 

Mr.  Schneider  proved  that  nothing  was  said  as  to  fees  for  such 
work,  and  that  he  had  charged  only  the  usual  fee.  The  jury  made 
an  award  of  one  hundred  dollars  to  the  architect.  Some  were  for 
the  full  amount  of  the  claim,  others  were  for  fifty  dollars,  and  they 
awarded  the  mean  or  one  hundred  dollars.  This  case  could  only  be 
called  a  partial  success,  as  the  jury  did  not  allow  the  full  rates 
customary  among  architects  and  as  endorsed  by  the  American  In- 
stitute of  Architects.  But  it  proves  that  juries  are  becoming  more 
enlightened  than  they  were  not  many  years  ago. 

The  District  Lien  Law  is  very  defective,  in  that  it  gives  dishonest 
contractors  and  sub-contractors  an  unlimited  opportunity  for  swindling 
the  owners. 

The  lien  need  not  be  filed  against  the  property  for  ninety  days, 
and  contractors,  sub-contractors,  material-men  and  laborers  have  the 
right  of  lien.  No  notice  is  required  for  ninety  days  after  completion 
of  building.  Sometimes  a  lien  might  be  filed  a  year  after  the  material 
was  furnished,  for  which  the  claim  was  made  —  for  instance,  stone 
laid  in  footing  courses.  Many  are  the  instances  where  owners  have 
found  it  necessary  to  pay  twice  for  the  same  work.  They  cannot 
protect  themselves  except  by  bond  running  for  three  months,  and  all 
know  that  this  is  not  a  guaranty,  neither  are  small  builders  or  small 
house-holders  usually  prepared  or  willing  to  undergo  the  formality  of 
making  or  giving  bonds. 

A  bill  was  introduced  into  the  House  of  Representatives  recently 
to  amend  this  law  with  the  following  notice  clause : 

"  Provided  further,  That  no  lien  shall  attach  for  materials  con- 
'tracted_  for  or  furnished,  unless  the  person  contracting  for  or 
'furnishing  the  same,  before  furnishing  the  same,  gives  notice  in 
'  writing  to  the  owner  of  the  property  to  be  affected  by  the  lien,  if 
'  such  owner  is  not  the  purchaser  of  such  materials,  that  he  intends 
'  to  claim  such  lien." 

This  is  nearly  the  same  clause  that  is  in  the  Massachusetts  Lien 
Law. 

Congress  has  done  nothing  yet  in  the  matter  except  to  have  the 
bill  read  twice,  referred  to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  and 
ordered  to  be  printed.  It  is  hoped  that  action  will  soon  be  taken 
and  the  bill  passed,  as  it  prevents  many  timid  persons  from  building. 

An  interesting  case  was  decided  in  Virginia  recently,  where  the 
lien  law  is  very  much  like  the  one  in  force  in  the  District,  but  bear- 
ing less  severely  on  the  property-owner.  The  case  was  as  follows : 

Mr.  Summers,  the  defendant  and  owner,  contracted  with  Mr. 
Stoutenburg,  a  builder,  to  erect  a  house  in  Alexandria,  Va.  Mr. 
Stoutenburg  ordered  material  and  mill-work  from  a  Mr.  Peake,  a 
dealer  in  builders'-supplies,  who  in  turn  ordered  the  same  from 
Atcheson  &  Bro.,  lumber  dealers  and  building  mill-workers,  who 
furnished  the  material  mentioned,  the  same  being  used  in  the  con- 
struction of  Mr.  Summers's  house. 

The  Judge  in  summing  up  the  case  states  that  in  his  opinion,  it 
makes  no  difference  whether  the  goods  were  furnished  in  the  first 
place  to  Mr.  Peake,  and  then  delivered  to  Mr.  Stoutenburg,  or 
directly  to  Mr.  Stoutenburg;  further,  that  it  makes  no  difference 
whether  it  was  charged  in  a  running  account  to  Mr.  Peake,  and  an 
effort  was  made  by  Aitcheson  to  collect  from  Peake.  "  The  house  is 
responsible,  because  plaintiff  [Aitcheson]  furnished  material  for  its 
construction." 

The  Virginia  Lien  Law  summarized  it  as  follows : 

Contractors,  sub-contractors,  material-men  and  laborers  have  a 
right  to  liens.  Contractors  must  file  their  notices  in  the  Register's 


Office  within  ninety  days,  and  others  who  enjoy  the  right,  within 
thirty  days  after  completion  of  work  or  the  delivery  of  material. 
The  lien  must  be  enforced  within  six  months  after  last  payment,  or  it 
lapses.  The  owner  must  have  actual  notice  at  time  of  the  lien  UMM" 
filed. 

The  lien  is  prior  to  all  debts,  mortgages,  etc.,  made  after  the  con- 
tract for  building  is  signed. 

The  Judge  further  says:  "Of  course,  if  an  express  contract 
between  the  party  furnishing  material  and  the  owner  of  the  land  is 
necessary  to  the  existence  or  creation  of  a  lien,  then  notice  would  IHJ 
unnecessary."  The  question  in  this  instance  was  really  between 
G.  A.  Mushback,  Peake's  assignee,  and  Aitcheson  £  Bro.,  the  owner 
having  retained  sufficient  money  to  pay  either  to  whom  the  court 
should  allow  it. 

The  Judge  says,  "  I  do  not  think  it  difficult  to  determine  between 
these  two  claimants  which  has  the  better  equity  .  .  .  but  I  have  con- 
tented myself  with  considering  the  sole  question  presented  in 
argument,  to  wit :  Whether  or  not  under  the  facts  disclosed  bv  the 
record,  if  the  plaintiffs  (Aitcheson  &  Bro.)  were  in  position  to  create 
a  lien  upon  the  building  of  Summers  for  supplies  furnished  by  them 
and  used  in  its  construction.  I  am  of  opinion  that  plaintiffs  are  en- 
titled to  the  relief  they  ask." 


During  the  first  part  of  April  an  exhibition  of  oil  and  water-color 
paintings,  etchings,  drawings  and  sculpture,  was  held  in  the  assembly 
rooms  of  the  Cosmos  Club.  It  was  a  local  exhibit,  or  rather,  the  ex- 
hibitors were  residents  of  Washington  City.  The  walls  were  quite 
well  covered  and  the  work  was  creditable  to  Washington  artists. 
Several  landscapes  in  oil  by  Max  Weyl,  portraits  by  A.  G.  Ueaton 
and  E.  A.  Poole,  were  the  most  notable  in  their  department. 

E.  J.  Major  exhibited  a  very  effective  flower  piece  —  a  large 
bowl  filled  with  poppies.  Mr.  Major  is  the  winner  of  the  Harper 
prize-scholarship  in  Paris. 

The  water-color  exhibits  were  fair ;  one  very  good  marine  land- 
scape by  Holmes,  was  broadly  and  effectively  treated,  the  colors, 
lights  and  shades  being  well  handled. 

The  Washington  League,  a  number  of  students,  had  a  department 
to  themselves,  and  show  some  very  interesting  and  artistic  work  for 
students.  Their  water-colors  and  sketches  being  particularly  effective. 

The  Architectural  exhibit,  the  branch  in  which  we  are  most  in- 
terested, was  limited  to  a  few  contributors.  The  exhibits  of  Messrs. 
Cluss  &  Schulze  were,  by  far,  the  most  important.  The  first  was 
a  perspective  of  the  new  Catholic  University  at  Washington,  the  de- 
sign to  which  was  awarded  the  first  prize  in  the  competition,  while  the 
commission  for  the  work  was  given  to  Mr.  Baldwin,  of  Baltimore, 
who  was  not  a  competitor  but  a  relative  of  a  high  church  official. 
The  invitation  implied  that  the  commission  would  be  given  to  the 
successful  competitor,  but  the  authorities,  it  seems,  where  not  tech- 
nically bound  to  put  such  a  construction  on  their  invitation.  The 
same  architects  also  had  on  exhibition  their  design  for  the  Mex- 
ican Monument,  in  which  they  are  not  only  the  successful  com- 
petitors, but  for  which  they  received  the  commission.  The  design 
submitted  by  Messrs.  Cluss  &  Schulze,  for  the  Parliament  Houses 
in  Germany,  was  an  imposing  and  effective  design  in  Lombard 
Gothic,  which,  I  understand,  received  the  first  rating  for  that 
style  in  the  competition.  The  drawings  are  well  rendered,  and 
the  whole  is  worthy  of  a  much  more  extended  notice  than  I  can  give 
it  in  this  letter.  Two  of  Mr.  Schulze's  pen-and-ink  sketches,  "  The 
Natural  Bridge,  Va.,"  and  "A  Portrait  of  Michael  Angelo,"  are  ex- 
cellent examples  of  such  work. 

Mr.  Glenn  Brown  contributed  two  competitive  designs,  one  for  the 
Kansas  City  Exchange,  and  the  other  for  the  Soldiers'  and  Sailors' 
Monument  of  Indiana,  both  a  free  treatment  of  Romanesque  work, 
the  drawings  being  simply  in  outline.  He  also  contributed  the 
drawings  for  the  old  colonial  work  recently  published  in  the  Ameri- 
can Architect,  interesting  only  from  association  and  showing  what 
our  grandfathers  did. 

Mr.  Robert  Stead  contributed  two  perspectives,  one  of  an  apart- 
ment-house, the  other  a  private  dwelling.  Although  there  has  un- 
doubtly  been  a  large  number  of  effective  and  artistic  residences 
erected  in  this  city  in  the  last  few  years,  there  were  none  worthy  of 
nention  on  exhibition.  The  only  ones  being  two  sketches  in  color 
jy  H.  L.  Page,  two  by  Henry  La'w  and  one  by  Messrs.  Hornblower 
it  Marshall.  This  lack  of  private  work  in  the  exhibition  may  be 
attributed  to  the  fact  that  few  architects  make  show  drawings  of 
such  buildings,  contenting  themselves  with  making  the  necessary 
working-drawings. 

A  PROTECTOR  FROM  ELECTRIC  SHOCKS. —  The  danger  which  cm- 
>loye"s  of  electrical  stations  using  high  tension  currents  run  by  acciden- 
:al  contacts  is  well-known.  In  view  of  this,  notes  the  New  York  San, 
['.  B.  Delaney  of  that  city  has  devised  a  pair  of  bracelets  and  a  pair  of 
anklets  connected  by  flexible  cords  and  arranged  to  be  worn  by  a  line- 
man in  such  a  way  that  if  he  should  close  a  high  potential  circuit 
•lirough  his  hands  it  in  hoped  that  a  considerable  part  of  the  current 
vould  be  switched  off  his  body  away  from  his  vital  parts  to  expend  it- 
self by  passing  out  through  the  skin  or  some  part  of  the  body  removed 
'rom  the  vitals.  Electricians  say,  however,  that  there  is  a  question 
vhether  the  current  will  not  prefer  to  continue  in  the  man  rather  than 
leap  out  when  it  met  these  bracelets,  which  would  offer  somewhat 
liglior  resistance  than  the  human  body.  Of  course  the  inventor  believe* 
Jiat  the  fluid  would  prefer  the  matter  to  the  flesh, 


232 


The   American    Architect   and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  647. 


INCINNATI 


THE  OUTLOOK. CHAMBER  OF  COM- 
MERCE BUILDING.  —  NEW  CITY- 
HALL.  COMING  EXHIBITION  OF 

ARCHITECTURAL   WORK. 

FAKING  out  three  or  four  import- 
ant buildings  that  are  under  way 
in  this  city,  the  general  cry  is  that 
there  is  a  dulness  in  the  building  line,  the  like  of  which  has  not  been 
seen  for  several  years,  and  the  outlook  does  not  seem  encouraging 
for  the  season. 

Just  why  this  state  of  affairs  exists  is  hard  to  tell,  but,  no  doubt, 
the  recent  bank  failures  have  had  much  to  do  with  the  depression,  as 
it  took  several  millions  of  dollars  out  of  the  city,  and  other  cities  re- 
ceived the  benefit ;  our  loss  is  their  gain. 

Of  the  important  work  now  going  on,  the  first  and  foremost  is  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  Building  designed  by  the  late  Mr.  H.  H. 
Richardson,  and  it  is,  no  doubt,  his  best  work,  as  it  was  the  last 
building  he  designed,  as  he  died  before  the  drawings  were  entirely 
completed.  The  walls  of  the  building  are  now  completed  and  the 
iron  roof  is  alxmt  finished,  and  as  this  splendid  piece  of  architecture 
nears  completion,  it  bespeaks  the  genius  of  the  architect  and 
satisfies  the  architectural  eye.  It  is  built  of  light  colored  granite,  is 
very  massive  in  its  design  and  proportions,  and  when  finished  will 
be  a  lasting  monument  to  the  advanced  architectural  ideas  of  the 
nineteenth  century. 

The  new  City-hall,  under  charge  of  architects  Samuel  Hannaford 
&  Sons,  will  be  the  most  important  building  started  during  the 
year:  it  will  be  a  large  fireproof  building  containing  all  the  city 
offices,  and  will  occupy  a  large  part  of  the  square  bounded  by  Eighth, 
Ninth  and  Plum  Streets  and  Central  Avenue;  the  building  will 
cost  about  $600,000,  and  a  more  detailed  description  will  appear  in  a 
later  number. 

The  new  Exposition  Buildings  by  Siter  and  Mcl.aughlin  (each 
architect  built  one  of  the  two  buildings)  are  finished  and  present  a 
large  appearance;  and  speaking  of  these  buildings  reminds  us  that  it 
is  the  intention  to  have  the  best  architectural  exhibit  (drawings, 
photographs,  sketches,  etc.)  that  has  ever  been  held  in  the  Central 
States ;  every  effort  is  being  made  and  every  assurance  is  given  that 
the  undertaking  will  be  a  success.  This  exhibition  is  open  to  all 
architects,  and  transportation  of  pictures  both  ways  will  be  paid  by 
the  Commissioners.  Architects  who  desire  to  take  part  in  this  great 
opportunity  (and  all  are  urged  so  to  do)  should  communicate  soon 
with  Mr.  Charles  Crapsey,  Chairman  of  the  Committee,  having  the 
matter  in  charge.  These  exhibits  do  much  toward  bringing  the 
architects  and  general  public  together,  and  should  be  taken  advan- 
tage of. 

The  Cincinnati  Society  of  Architects,  with  nineteen  members,  had 
their  annual  meeting  recently,  and  the  following  officers  were  elected 
to  serve  the  coming  year : 

President,  Charles  Crapsey;  Vice-President,  H.  E.  Siter;  Secre- 
tary, Gustave  Drach ;  Treasurer,  W.  M.  Aiken. 


THE  rnOGKESS  NORTHWARD  OF  THE  RESI- 
DENTIAL QUARTER. —  DETACHED  HOUSES 
IN  TOO  SMALL  "  GROUNDS."  —  FOUR 
HOUSES  ON  THE  LAKE-SHORE  DRIVE. 

tflHE  rapid  movement  of  the  centre  of  fashionable  residence  on  the 
•  I  •  North  Side,  still  farther  towards  the  north,  is  quickly  building  up 
with  costly  houses  a  district  which  but  five  or  six  years  ago  was 
almost  a  barren  waste  of  sand,  or  a  dumping-ground  for  the  omnipre- 
sent old  tin  can.  The  improvement  of  the  street  upon  the  very 
shore  of  the  lake  was  begun  by  widening  it  and  making  it  a  part  of 
the  boulevard  system,  thus  placing  it  under  the  control  of  the  Park 
Commissioners.  It  has  now  been  macadamized  and  planted  with  trees, 
so  that  these  improvements,  together  with  the  magnificent  view  it  has 
off  over  the  lake,  have  tended  at  once  to  make  this  Lake-Shore  Drive 
and  its  vicinity  the  most  desirable  residential  part  of  the  North  Side, 
and  it  is,  without  doubt,  destined  to  soon  become  the  handsomest  and 
most  aristocratic  portion  of  that  quarter  of  the  city.  There  are  now 
practically  finished  on  this  drive  a  group  of  four  houses  probably  finer 
than  any  four  others  within  the  same  radius  in  the  city.  The  one  on 
the  corner  of  the  Drive  and  Schiller  Street  is  from  plans  by 
Richardson,  while  the  three  houses  immediately  north  are  by  three 
of  the  best  known  firms  in  Chicago. 

When  standing  at  a  distance  and  looking  at  the  group  one  cannot 
but  be  surprised,  first  of  all,  that  in  building  such  palaces  the  owners 


should  have  been  so  niggardly  of  land.  Could  there  have  been 
fifteen  or  twenty  feet  more  of  yard  at  the  side  of  each  house,  the 
appearance  of  every  one  would  have  been  improved  at  least  fifty  per 
cent.  As  it  is,  they  are  jammed  together  as  if  the  owners  were  men 
either  of  the  most  limited  means  or  most  niggardly  spirits. 

If  a  yard  is  wanted,  by  all  means  have  it  large  enough  to  produce 
some  effect,  but  if  only  light-shafts  are  needed,  why  should  a  house 
be  built  as  if  in  the  midst  of  fine  grounds?  If  people  desirous  of  a 
fine  effect  would  but  spend  more  on  the  ground  and  less  on  the  build- 
ing, they  would  get  a  great  deal  more  for  their  money  than  they  now 
do.  However,  real  generosity  of  surroundings  to  a  house  seems  to 
be  something  that  cannot  be  understood  in  this  part  of  the  country. 
Even  the  present  United  States  Minister  to  Belgium,  a  man  of  great 
wealth,  owning  among  other  property  an  entire  vacant  block  on  the 
North  Side,  crowded  the  house  he  recently  built  up  into  one  corner 
of  this  same  block,  leaving  no  grounds  either  at  the  north  or  cast 
sides.  This  state  of  affairs  probably  arises  greatly  from  the  fact  that 
people  insist  on  building  a  palace  with  exactly  the  same  plans  as  a 
cottage  — ^  except  that  each  room  is  proportionately  enlarged  —  and 
also  insist  on  erecting  this  palatial  cottage  as  if  in  the  country,  but 
still  have  it  in  the  city ;  instead  of  frankly  occupying  the  whole 
ground  and  not  trying  to  show  any  lawn  except  possibly  at  the  front. 
Mr.  Richardson  alone  seems  to  have  appreciated  this  fact,  and  he 
has  practically  walled  in  his  entire  lot,  leaving  lawn  only  on  the  side 
of  the  drive.  In  looking  at  these  houses  one  is  next  surprised  (and, 
it  might  be  added,  disgusted)  to  find  that  with  a  single  exception  they 
all  have  only  stone-fronts,  while  the  sides  and  rears  are  of  common 
"  nine  dollar  yellow  brick."  Involuntarily  one  thinks  of  a  gorgeous 
necktie  covering  up  a  dirty  shirt.  The  more  one  studies  these  build- 
ings, the  more  is  one  impressed  with  the  fact  that,  notwithstanding 
certain  impracticable  things,  Mr.  Richardson  is  the  only  one  who  has 
truly  studied  his  problem  as  a  unit  or  whole;  the  others  have  all 
worked  out  their  plans  in  detail  and  then  put  the  parts  together, 
while  he  evidently  studied  the  problem  as  a  whole,  and  the  details 
come  where  they  could  and  as  they  would.  Even  the  wall  joining 
house  and  barn  binds  the  entire  construction  together  in  one  design. 

Taking  the  houses  in  detail  and  commencing  at  the  south  one, 
which  is  Mr.  Richardson's,  the  general  lines  are  extremely  simple 
and  very  charming ;  especially  pleasing  is  the  grouping  of  the  open- 
ings and  their  relative  sizes ;  such  perfect  harmony  is  rarely  seen ; 
the  only  exception  being  with  the  main  entrance  which  is  so  ex- 
tremely small  as  to  suggest  a  fortress,  and  this  appearance  is  in- 
creased by  the  immense  plain  iron  hinge-plates  that  nearly  cover  the 
door.  On  the  lake  front,  in  each  of  the  three  stories,  is  an  arched 
loggia.  No  one  can  deny  that  the  effect  is  eminently  satisfactory  — 
when  judged  simply  for  the  effect  —  but  at  the  same  time  it  does 
seem  decidedly  impracticable  in  our  climate  where  the  thermometer 
rarely  gets  above  ninety  in  the  hottest  weather,  while  for  nearly  three 
months  it  is  liable  at  most  any  time  to  go  down  to  twenty  degrees  below 
zero,  and  with  a  cutting  wind  off  the  lake  does  not  make  one  long  for 
suggestions  of  delicious  coolness.  As  for  the  ornamentation  or  stone- 
carving,  really,  when  one  looks  for  it  the  quantity  is  small,  but  it  is  so 
grouped  together  and  a  few  points  are  so  emphasized  by  it,  that  the 
effect  is  charming.  All  the  details  of  this  cutting  are  exquisitely 
fine,  yet  so  deeply  are  they  carved  that  they  produce  a  most  decided 
impression  even  when  the  design  cannot  be  distinguished  in  all  its 
detail.  The  roof  is  covered  with  unglazed  red  tile  which  harmonizes 
perfectly  with  the  color  of  the  stone  of  the  body  of  the  house,  and 
the  large  and  simple  expanse  of  roof-surface  gives  a  warm  effect  of 
color  to  the  building,  without  which  it  would  appear  cold  and  gray. 

The  house  next  on  the  north  is  of  a  grayish  granite,  with  a  black 
slate  roof.  The  stone  is  rock-faced  and  in  a  very  decided  way  shows 
(as  for  that  matter  do  all  the  houses  here  spoken  of)  the  influence  of 
Mr.  Richardson's  work.  The  massive  lintels  and  heavy  blocks, 
especially  in  the  basement  wall,  give  it  an  air  of  strength  and 
dignity,  but  the  whole  outline  of  the  building  and  the  grouping  of  the 
window-openings  would  seem  to  show  that  the  exterior  did  not  begin 
to  have  its  proper  share  of  study,  or  that  the  plan  was  made  (prob- 
ably with  the  too  active  assistance  of  the  client)  with  the  very 
strictest  regard  for  every  piece  of  furniture,  and  without  reference 
to  or  thought  of  the  elevation.  The  windows  seem  to  have  little  or 
no  idea  of  arranging  themselves  into  harmonious  groups,  and  most  of 
these  openings  are  unnecessarily  large  for  a  dwelling-house.  Moreover, 
their  size  is  accentuated  by  the  frames  and  sashes  being  made  exces- 
sively conspicuous  by  finishing  in  natural  wood.  The  roof  is  too  low, 
and  had  red  slate  or  tile  been  used  the  result  would  have  been  much 
more  effective.  The  one  really  fine  feature  of  the  house  is  the  porch, 
which  is  formed  by  one  corner  of  the  building  being  carried  on  a 
heavy  granite  pier.  This  entrance  is  exceedingly  dignified  and  well 
proportioned,  so  that  with  its  wide  and  generous  Might  of  steps  it 
gives  a  remarkably  fine  appearance,  and  thereby  relieves  and  quite 
alters  what  would  otherwise  be  a  very  common-place  front.  Scarcely 
any  attempt  is  made  at  mouldings  in  the  granite.  What  carving 
there  is  on  caps,  lintels,  etc.,  is  of  too  large  a  design,  and  is  not  deep 
enough  cut  into  the  stone  to  produce  much  effect.  The  stable  for 
this  house  is  very  neat  and  pretty,  but,  unfortunately,  but  little  seen 
from  the  drive. 

The  next  house  is  built  of  red  sandstone,  and  is  the  smallest  and 
least  pretentious  of  the  group.  The  outline  of  the  roof  and  bay  is 
simple  and  in  good  proportion,  but,  unfortunately,  as  much  cannot  be 
said  of  the  front  entrance,  which,  in  a  remarkable  degree,  is  a  minia- 
ture of  the  one  just  mentioned;  but  the  process  of  reducing  the  size 


MAY  1!»,  1888.] 


TJie    American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


233 


to  fit  tin1  liinsc  lias,  at  the  same  time,  taken  away  the  very  elements 
that  made  the  former  remarkably  successful.  'Ihe  entrance  way  is 
•  •ramped,  tin-  column  at  the  corner  becomes  insignificant  and  the 
Mime  steps  whirh  mi'^liL  have  somewhat  redeemed  the  general 
effect,  have  a  most  unfortunate  heavy  and  snake-like  stone-railing. 
There  is  almiist  no  carving  but  the  tooling-down  of  the  columns, 
finials,  etc.,  anil  then  putting  no  carving  upon  them  has  not  improved 
1  hese  |>;u -is,  as  they  now  seem  to  have  a  very  expectant  air  as  if  wait- 
ing the  arrival  of  a  sculptor  (as  may  be  the  case).  The  slate  roof 
harmonize*  well  with  the  stone,  and  renders  the  parts  of  the  house 
alx>vc  the  first  story  the  finest  portion  of  the  comjiosttion. 

The  fourtli  and  last  house  of  the  group  is  of  a  grayish  stone  con- 
taining much  mica,  ami  from  the  fact  that  this  material  continue*  en- 
tirely around  the  house,  leaving  no  back  walls  of  common  brick,  it 
has  a  dignity  and  an  air  of  solid  worth  that  none  of  the  other* 
possess.  Even  its  faults  seem  to  be  greatly  atoned  for,  and  at  least 
in  the  general  pleasure  of  seeing  something  that  seems  honest  and 
true,  one  scarcely  notes  the  dissonant  points.  Moreover,  with  a 
good,  generous  porte  cochere  it  does  not  seem  so  much  like  the  last 
two,  a  merely  overgrown  cottage,  but  appears  as  if  the  home  of 
people  of  the  world.  Almost  the  only  fault  with  the  exterior  of  the 
building  is  the  roof,  which  is  simply  enormous  and,  extinguisher-like, 
entirely  overpowers  and  kills  everything  else.  Moreover,  the  use 
of  Spanish  tile  on  sucli  an  exceedingly  steep  roof  always  seems  a 
little  ([uestionable.  The  sky-line  is  broken  by  no  small  dormers,  and 
the  impression  is  at  once  conveyed  that  the  roof-space  is  in  no  wise 
utilized,  and  that  a  vast  amount  of  space  ha*  been  wasted  simply  for 
show.  The  window-openings  are  well  studied  and  grouped,  and 
quite  a  novel  feature  for  a  house  not  on  a  corner  is  the  main  en- 
trance frankly  placed  at  the  side,  with  the  doorway  opening  off  an 
arched  recess  or  vestibule;  the  steps,  landing  and  arch  altogether 
making  an  effective  feature.  The  stone  not  being  adapted  for 
carving,  quite  rightly  no  attempts  have  been  made  in  this  direction, 
and  band  mouldings  are  simply  indicated  by  rough  projecting  courses. 
The  stable  is  by  no  means  on  a  par  with  the  house,  and  of  such  an 
entirely  different  character  as  to  cause  remark  at  once  and  those 
not  of  a  flattering  kind. 

When  one  considers  the  entire  group  of  buildings  as  a  unit,  it  is 
immediately  evident  that  no  care  or  thought  was  spent  in  studying 
the  houses  with  reference  to  each  other.  Of  course,  this  is  some- 
times a  difficult  thing  to  do,  but  in  this  case  most  of  the  houses  were 
commenced  at  about  the  same  time,  and  with  very  little  trouble,  at 
least  the  general  outline  and  colors  of  stone  and  roof  might  have 
been  known  and  taken  into  consideration,  yet,  very  evidently  nothing 
of  the  kind  was  done,  but  each  party  built  to  suit  his  own  imperial 
pleasure  and  trusted  to  luck  for  harmony  of  surroundings.  As  a 
matter  of  course, many  things  are  inharmonious  —  for  which  there 
really  was  no  need  —  except  possibly  the  pride  of  the  architect?  who 
were  averse  to  consulting  with  any  of  their  professional  brethren  for 
fear  it  might  look  to  their  clients  as  if  they  themselves  did  not  know 
all  that  is  to  be  known. 


THE  MANUFACTURING  USES.  OF  EGGS.1 


E' 


[GGS,  their  dietetic  use 
apart,  are  of  great  utility 
in  many  branches  of  indus- 
try. In  some,  as  in  confection- 
ery, both  the  whites  and  yolks 
are  used,  but  usually  the  two 
find  separate  applications.  The 
white?  are  employed  in  calico- 
printing,  in  photography,  in 
gilding,  in  clarifying  wines  and 
liquors,  and  by  the  book-binder 
on  the  leather  previous  to  let- 
tering or  tooling. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  there 
is  a  heavv  drain  on  eggs  for 
various  manufacturing  purposes. 
Many  millions  are  used  in 
France  for  clarifying  wines. 
By  this  means  a  wholesome  and 
nourishing  article  of  food  is 
taken  away  from  public  con- 
sumption and  its  price  consider- 
ably enhanced.  The  clarifying  of  wines  in  France  requires  annually 
(at"  the  rate  of  four  eggs  per  barrel)  more  than  80,000,000  of  eggs. 
Bordeaux  alone  uses  15,000,000  for  this  purpose  and  Paris  5,000,000. 
To  avoid  this,  certain  kinds  of  fining  powders  are  now  beginning  to 
be  employed,  by  which  wines  may  be  clarified  with  equal  facility  and 
:it  a  smaller  expense,  and  these  are  sold  to  the  extent  of  about 
','x.ooo.  Photographers  consume  a  great  quantity  of  eggs,  and  egg 
albumen  is  used  for  other  purposes. 

Egg  Albumen.  —  The  preparation  of  photographic  paper  with 
salted  albumen  has  become  in  many  hands  a  large  business  of  itself. 
Some  idea  of  the  quantity  used  may  be  found  in  the  statement  that 
in  one  establishment  alone  upwards  of  2,000,000  eggs  have  been 
employed  in  the  course  of  six  months  to  furnish  the  requisite  qunn- 


1  From  :i  paper  by  I'.  L.  Stmmonds,  F.  L.  S.,  read  before  the  Society  of  Art*, 

Dt'uvmber  7,  1887. 


tity  of  albumen.  In  calico-printing,  for  fixing  certain  colors,  Alsace 
uses  about  330,000  pounds  a  year,  representing  87,500,000  eggs,  or 
the  product  of  250,000  hens. 

The  Bohemian  and  Moravian  albumen  houses  have,  beside*  tho 
places  where  they  carry  on  their  manufacture,  establishments  in 
many  other  towns  where  eggs  are  broken  daily  and  the  yolks  re- 
tailed for  kitchen  purposes.  In  this  way  the  very  best  price  i* 
obtained  for  the  yolks,  which  arc  turned  to  good  account.  The 
white  of  the  eggs  is  collected  and  transported  to  the  required  manu- 
factory for  further  use.  As  fresh  egg*  can  only  be  procured  in 
spring  and  summer,  albumen  manufacturers  who  wish  to  make  dur- 
ing the  year  must  lay  in  store*  of  eggs.  To  preserve  these  store* 
from  injury,  the  following  process  is  necessary:  The  eggs  are  packed 
in  wicker  basket*,  bricked  up  in  pits,  which  are  filled  in  with  lime 
water.  These  pits  are  covered  with  planks  and  protected  in  winter 
from  the  frost  by  heaps  of  straw  and  manure.  In  this  way  the  egg* 
are  kept  fresh  and  uninjured  for  the  object  in  view. 

The  high  price  of  egg  albumen  and  the  evils  attending  It*  use  led, 
soon  after  its  introduction,  to  an  effort  to  replace  it  by  a  cheaper 
and  more  suitable  medium,  and  many  materials  have  been  experi- 
mentally tried  for  this  purpose,  but  hitherto  without  suiierscding  the 
use  of  egg  albumen.  Animal  cascine  and  vegetable  gluten  were  at 
first  principally  recommended  as  a  successful  substitute  for  albumen, 
but  these  two  bodies  and  many  other  proposed  substitutes  have 
failed  to  prove  their  durability.  They  even  lack  the  properties 
peculiar  to  albumen  alone,  and  essential  to  their  employment  a* 
thickening  mediums.  Thirty  years  ago  the  Industrial  Society  of 
Mulhouse  offered  a  prize  of  £400  for  the  discovery  of  a  material  or 
process  for  replacing  albumen  in  this  respect  in  calico-printing,  but 
hitherto  no  one  has  been  found  to  whom  this  prize  could  be  Awarded. 
Z.  Leuchs,  of  Nuremberg,  proposed,  indeed,  to  utilize  the  immense 
quantities  of  roes  of  fishes  caught  in  Norway  and  Sweden,  which 
contain  a  considerable  percentage  of  animal  albumen.  1 1  is  proposal, 
however,  met  only  with  a  tucces  d'estime,  for  A.  Dollfus,  who  went 
to  Norway  at  the  instance  of  the  Society  to  make  experiments  on 
the  spot,  as  to  how  far  these  roe*  could  be  employed  for  the  manu- 
facture of  albumen,  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  this  preparation  could 
not  be  practically  carried  out,  as  the  albumen  obtained  was  totally  unfit 
for  printing  purposes.  It  resulted,  in  spite  of  numerous  experiments, 
in  the  impossibility  of  preparing  albumen  free  from  the  skin-like  egg- 
shells of  the  spawn.  I  .curbs  was,  indeed*  rewarded  for  his  idea  with 
the  Society's  gold  medal,  but  the  high  prize  remains  still  to  be 
awarded. 

The  yolks  of  eggs  are  in  great  demand  for  dressing  the  skins  in 
glove-making  and  calf-kid  leather.  Messrs.  Dent,  at  Worcester,  use 
up  a  large  quantity. 

According  to  M.  A.  Mosselman,  yolk  of  egg  may  be  preserved  for 
some  time  without  losing  it*  clearness  or  color,  and  without  acquir- 
ing any  smell,  by  adding  to  it  five  per  cent  of  neutral  sulphate  of 
soda,  either  in  a  powder  or  concentrated  solution.  At  his  establish- 
ment at  Carentan  (Manche)  France,  M.  Mosselman  prepares  a  pre- 
served mucilage  for  the  use  of  leather  dressers,  skin  dyers  and  others ; 
it  is  limpid,  of  a  fine  color,  and  has  no  odor.  It  was  awarded  a  sil- 
ver medal  by  the  Society  of  Industry  of  Mulhouse  some  thirty  years 
ago. 

An  albumen  manufacturer  in  Krakau,  Austria,  sells  yolk  solid  at 
8d.  per  pound  and  received  for  this  a  prize  medal  at  the  Vienna 
Exhibition  in  1872. 

An  egg  oil  is  obtained  in  Russia  in  large  quantities  and  of  various 
qualities;  the  best  so  fine  as  to  far  excel  olive  oil  for  cooking  pur- 
pose*. The  less  pure  and  very  yellow  qualities  are  chiefly  used  in 
the  manufacture  of  the  celebrated  Kazan  soap.  Both  of  these  pro- 
duct* were  shown  at  the  London  International  Exhibition  in  1H02 
and  at  subsequent  exhibition*.  Neither  the  oil  for  cooking  purposes 
nor  the  soap  are  sufficiently  cheap  for  general  use ;  they  are  con- 
sumed only  by  the  wealthy  classes  a.'  luxuries,  the  soap,  being 
regarded  chiefly  in  the  light  of  a  cosmetic,  is  a  much-valued  addition 
to  a  Russian  lady's  toilet  necessaries. 

The  yolk  is  also  used  for  medicinal  purposes.  It  was  used  in  the 
Middle  Ages  for  the  painter's  art  before  the  discovery  of  oil  colors, 
as  in  the  Chapter-house  at  Westminster. 


ELECTRIC  RAILHOADS  is  THIS  COCJTTHT.  — The  Electric  Ape,  in  it* 
forthcoming  issue,  will  say  :  "  Contrary  to  the  general  impression  that 
there  i*  only  an  electric  railroad  here  and  there,  an  examination  of 
electrical-railroad  statistics  show*  that  there  are  already  130  mile*  of 
road  in  operation  on  this  continent.  Of  this  number,  21  mile*  are  in 
operation  in  Pennsylvania,  16  miles  in  New  York,  10  miles  in  Ohio,  and 
83  miles  in  New  Jersey,  Maryland,  Colorado,  Michigan,  Missouri,  Cali- 
fornia, Alabama,  Virginia,  Kansas;  Delaware,  Rhode  Island,  and  Onta- 
rio combined.  Almost  all  of  this  building  has  been  done  in  the  past 
year.  There  are  in  course  of  construction,  or  contracted  for,  160  ad- 
ditional miles  in  the  State*  of  New  York,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut, 
Tennessee,  Ohio,  California,  Pennsylvania,  Nebraska,  Kentucky,  and 
Minnesota.  On  the»e  various  roads,  constructed  and  constructing,  in  02 
different  towns  and  cities,  the  Van  Doepoele  system  is  used,  or  to  be 
used  in  17  cases,  the  Daft  system  in  15  cases,  the  Sprague  system  in  7 
cage*,  and  the  Bent  ley- Knight,  the  Heart,  the  Henry,  the  Julien,  and 
other  systems  in  the  remaining  cases.  The  last-named  system  is  to  be 
used  on  the  projected  New  York  and  Harlem  Fourth  Avenue  Electrical 
Railroad,  while  the  Daft  system  is  in  use  at  Los  Angeles,  where  the 
first  electrical  railroad  was  opened  for  business  in  the  winter  of  188ft-7. ' 


234 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News.     [VOL.  XXIII. — No.  647. 


[Contributors  are  requested  to  send  with   their  drawings  full  and 
adiquate  descriptions  of  the  buildings,  including  a  statement  of  cust.] 

HOUSE   ON    HEREFORD   STREET,    BOSTON,   MASS.      MESSRS.    SHAW   & 

HUNNEWELL,    ARCHITECTS,   BOSTON,    MASS. 
[Hello-chrome,  issued  only  with  the  Imperial  Edition.! 

GOTHIC  SPIRES  AND  TOWERS.  PLATES  13,  14  AND  15,  ST.  PETER'S) 
KETTERING  ;  ST.  ANDREW'S,  BACKWELL  ;  ST.  MARY  THE  VIRGIN, 
FAIRFORD;  ST.  FUNBARKAS,  FOWEY;  ST.  PROBUS  AND  ST. 
GRACE,  PROBUS,  ENGLAND. 

[Issued  only  with  the  Imperial  Edition.] 

COMPETITIVE    DESIGN    FOR    THE  INDIANA  SOLDIERS'  AND  SAILORS* 
MONUMENT.      MR.   8.    8.    BEMAN,    ARCHITECT,    CHICAGO,   ILL. 

COMPETITIVE  DESIGN  FOR  THE  INDIANA  SOLDIERS*  AND  SAILORS* 
MONUMENT.  MESSRS.  WA1TT  &  CUTTER,  ARCHITECTS,  BOSTON, 

MASS. 

COMPETITIVE  DESIGN  FOR  THE  INDIANA  SOLDIERS'  AND  SAILORS* 
MONUMENT.  MR.  GLENN  BROWN,  ARCHITECT,  WASHINGTON, 
D.  C. 

HOUSE   AT    MORRISTOWN,   N.   3.        MR.    BRUCE    PRICE,     ARCHITECT, 
NEW    YORK,    N.    Y. 

LUTHERAN    CHURCH,    LOS    ANGELES,    CAL.        MR.    ERNEST   A.   COX- 
HEAD,  ARCHITECT,    LOS    ANGELES,   CAL. 


I 
Lo  CoastruCtioTTTAoderrve 


THE  OLD   AND  THE  NEW. 

IT  is  a  pity  that  the  "Old"  Water- 
Color  Society  has  given  place  to  the 
"  Royal "  Society,  for  the  former  title 
is  far  more  appropriate  to  the  contents  of 
the  gallery.  If  a  Rip  Van  Winkle  took 
a  walk  round  the  rooms,  he  would  find 
the  same  subjects  on  the  walls,  the  same 
names  in  the  catalogue,  the  same  intense 
respectability  as  —  I  was  going  to  say, 
fifty  —  1  certainly  can  say  truly  five  and 
twenty  years  ago.  Sir  John  Gilbert,  Mr. 
Birket  Foster,  Mr.  Carl  Haag,  Mr.  Fred- 
erick Taylor  and  many  more,  continue  to 
turn  out  pictures  no  better,  no  worse  (or 
very  little  worse)  than  they  did  years 
and  years  ago.  And  how  comes  it  that 
they  see  nothing  new  in  Nature?  Mr. 
llaag,  for  instance;  does  he  trip  off  to 
Cairo  every  year  ?  And  if  so,  how  comes 
it  that  he  always  sees  life  there  under 
exactly  the  same  conditions  and  with  exactly  the  same  effects? 
Why,  too,  is  Sir  John  Gilbert  eternally  giving  us  "  After  the  Battle  ?  " 
One  wearies  of  the  Pall  Mall  conventionalities  and  one  longs  to  find 
Miss  Montalba  painting  the  North  Pole,  Mrs.  Allingham  the  High- 
lands and  Mr.  Richardson  anything  but  the  Italian  Lakes. 

Still,  even  novelty  has  its  drawbacks  and  such  innovations  as  the 
works  of  Messrs.  Emslie  and  Henshall  —  the  one  a  stupidly  vulgar 
pun  illustration,  "  Shakespeare  or  Bacon,"  and  the  other,  an  equally 
stupid  and  far  more  vulgar  series  of  four  pictures,  called  "  Married  " — 
are  less  to  be  desired  in  the  rooms  of  a  highly  respectable  society  of 
painters  than  they  would  be  even  in  the  pages  of  the  Graphic.  Mr. 
Henshall  knows  the  British  public,  for  he  carefully  "reserves  his 
copyright."  Wise  man  I  his  pictures  will  doubtless  be  immortalized 
as  Christmas  chromes. 

But  it  must  not  be  thought  that  the  exhibition  is  void  of  interest ; 
it  would  be  worth  a  visit  if  only  to  see  the  work  of  one  of  its  newest 
associates,  Mr.  Arthur  Melville,  whose  "  Snake  Charmers "  and 
"  Waiting  an  Audience  with  the  Pasha,"  are  excellent  studies  of 
color  and  draughtsmanship.  Firmly  drawn  and  solidly  painted, 
these  pictures  form  a  fine  contrast  to  Mr.  Haag's  questionable  East- 
ern effects  and  Mr.  Holman  Hunt's  "Sleeping  City."  The  latter  is 
intended  to  be  a  study  of  sunlight,  but  it  is  only  a  melee  of  yellows, 
reds  and  purples. 

If  the  Water-Color  Society's  Exhibition  is  a  mass  of  convention- 
ality, the  same  charge  cannot  be  brought  against  Mr.  Menpes's  Japan- 
ese drawings  and  sketches.  Entering  from  the  damp  dinginess  of 
Bond  Street,  one  finds  oneself  in  a  room,  the  very  air  of  which  has 
a  peculiar  concentrated  Japanese  odor  of  some  indescribable  some- 
thin"-.  The  walls  are  hung  with  a  sort  of  mauve  or  peach-blossom 


colored  drapery  ;  the  floor  is  covered  with  some  queer,  rough  buff 
material,  and  the  only  couch  is  of  the  same  color.  A  Japanese  girl 
sells  catalogues  seated  upon,  not  a  Japanese  seat,  i.  e.,  the  floor,  but 
upon  a  very  English  cane  chair.  This  is  so  out  of  harmony  with  the 
surroundings  that  we  wonder  it  escaped  the  notice  of  the  decorator, 
for  even  the  visitors  on  the  private  view  day  put  themselves  into 
"harmonies"  to  suit  the  pictures,  Mrs.  Oscar  Wilde,  we  are  gravely 
told,  wearing  a  dress  and  hat  trimmed  with  almond  blossoms,  made 
expressly  for  the  show. 

The  pictures  are  hung  thus  :  — 


and  the  frames  (Japanese)  are  narrow  beads  with  wide  mounts  of 
several  tones  of  gold  and  silver.  This  is  meant  to  enhance  the 
beauty  of  the  sketches  —  in  reality,  it  destroys  them.  The  pictures 
are  not  placed  in  the  centre  of  the  frame  —  a  common  practice  in 
France,  though  new  to  London.  Mr.  Menpes's  work  is  essentially 
impressionist,  and,  inasmuch  as  the  pictures  are  very  small,  herein 
lies  his  mistake.  A  picture  ought  to  look  well  on  a  wall  when  one 
is  sitting  some  distance  off,  but  these  sketches  appear,  at  two  yards' 
distance,  to  be  a  series  of  gold  mounts  with  a  spot  or  two  of  weak 
color  dropped  onto  them.  Granted  that  a  picture  should  merely  be 
a  few  strokes  of  color  when  one  looks  into  it,  1  imagine  it  ought  to 
fall  into  some  shape  at  a  sufficient  distance.  This  is  the  case  with 
the  merest  smudges  of  Manet,  Besnard,  Raffaelli  and  their  friends, 
but  Mr.  Menpes's  sketches  are  only,  at  a  little  distance,  impressions 
of  impressions,  and  his  system  of  sticking  a  drawing  up  here  and 
there,  all  alone  and  out  of  sight,  prevents  one  studying  it  as  one 
would  wish  to  do. 

The  catalogue  resembles  the  "  analytical  books  of  the  concert," 
giving  notes  and  descriptions  of  the  works.  Here  are  a  few  exam- 
ples:  "'Three  Little  Maids  from  School,' three  dancing  girls,  etc. ; 
they  always  color  their  lips  an  intense  red  or  dark  bronze  [one  need 
not  go  to  Japan  to  see  colored  lips] ;  '  A  Tea  Sale,'  tea  is  being 
sold  at  the  shop,  which  is  adorned  with  red  and  white  lanterns; 
'  Evening  after  Rain,'  the  sun  is  setting ;  '  A  Street,'  a  compara- 
tively quiet  street;  '  A  Blonde  Day,'  this  might  almost  be  a  Greek 
street,  and  Greek  girls  walking  in  it  ;  'The  Scarlet  Umbrella,'  a 
market-place  with  umbrellas ;  '  Chuns,'  there  is  something  very 
Greek  about  the  bearing  of  Japanese  children.'"  Where  Mr.  Menpes 
sees  a  Greek  character  about  the  Japanese  one  is  at  a  loss  to  dis- 
cover. Surely  nothing  can  be  so  unlike  as  the  graceful  down-flowing 
drapery  of  a  Greek  marble  and  the  tightly-bound  round  garments  of 
a  Japanese  girl.  The  legs  of  Greek  women  were  free  to  move; 
those  of  a  Japanese  are  bound  together  so  tightly  that  she  is  only 
able  to  shuffle. 

But  when  one  has  got  over  all  these  affectations,  when  one's  eyes 
are  clear  of  the  dust  that  Mr.  Menpes  tries  to  throw  into  them,  when 
one  has  got  over  the  disappointment  entailed  by  discovering  that  the 
artist  has  looked  at  Japan  through  native  spectacles  instead  of  with 
his  own  European  eyes  —  then  there  is  much  to  enjoy  in  his  work. 
It  is  fresh  and  crisp  and  true  in  a  sense  —  wanting,  perhaps  in  light 
and  air  and  certainly  in  color,  for  Mr.  Menpes  is  no  colorist.  There 
are  plenty  of  colors,  but  no  color  —  as  the  French  say,  "  benucoup 
calorie,  mais  pas  tie  couleur."  Japan  cannot  be  as  gray  as  this  and 
why  should  shadows  under  a  hot  sun  be  so  much  less  strong  in  Japan 
than  elsewhere?  Compare  light  and  shade  as  painted  by  De  Nittis 
or  Montenard  with  these  sketches.  A  charming  little  picture  des- 
cribed by  Mr.  Menpes  as  "  Here  we  have  the  Vivid  Pictures,  etc.," 
is  to  my  eyes  a  harmonious  mass  of  grays.  Some  of  the  little  scraps 
of  tea-gardens  and  streets  are  delicious  in  tone,  and  the  way  in  which 
the  painter  jots  in  his  figures  is  most  clever.  Let  me  commend  the 
garments  of  the  "  Misses  Pink,  Lilac-Blossom,  Crocus  and  Lavender," 
but  the  same  praise  cannot  be  bestowed  upon  the  '  Lemon  Bridge.' 
The  blue  of  the  water  becomes  intense  as  the  afternoon  wears 
on."  The  blue  of  the  paint,  perhaps,  but  no  one  would  dream  of  its 
being  meant  for  water,  except  from  the  fact  that  a  bridge  is  above  it. 

Surely  Mr.  Menpes  cannot  be  serious  when  he  speaks  of  his  etch- 
ings. "  Every  proof  is  printed  by  myself.  I  am  convinced  that  the 
etcher,  and  the  etcher  alon«,  can  bring  to  the  delicate  process  of 
printing  the  necessary  tenderness  and  sympathy  of  workmanship 
which  gave,  in  a  less  busy  ami  a  less  mechanical  age  an  artistic  indi- 
viduality to  each  proof."  That  the  "  artistic  individuality  "  may 
have  been  apparent  in  the  etchings  of  former  days,  those  happy,  idle, 
unmcchanical  ages  long  since  past,  is  possible,  but  in  spite  of  the 
artist's  "sympathy  of  workmanship,"  1  fail  to  see  much  "tender- 
ness "  in  these  specimens  of  his  "  delicate  printing." 

In  an  adjoining  room  are  several  so-called  pictures  by  Mr.  Wil- 
liam Stoll,  of  Oldham.  Never  let  it  be  forgotten  that  this  particular 
Mr.  AVilliam  Stoll,  this  Stoll  of  the  great  family  of  Stolls,  is  of  Old- 
ham.  So  he  signs  his  works,  and  posterity  will  be  thankful. 

PENGUIN. 


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TJie   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


235 


JOTTINGS   ABOUT   THE   UNITED  STATES. 

YOUNG      Englishman 
sends  the   following  re- 
port to  the  Architectu- 
ral Association : 

Since  writing  my  last  lot 
of  "  Jottings  about  Paris," 
there  has  been  time  enough 
to  do  much  and  to  travel  far, 
and  that  is  about  what  I 
have  done,  having  travelled 
over  seven  thousand  miles. 
On  the  30th  of  August, 
about  4  p.  M.,  I  stepped  off 
the  tender  and  on  the  good 
ship  "  Bothnia,"  which  was 
to  be  my  home  for  more  than 

a  week.  We  started  about  G  p.  M.  in  a  drenching  rain  and  stopped  at 
(jucciistown  next  day.  Weather  decidedly  nasty,  and  1,  with  most 
of  the  other  people,  did  not  feel  like  making  a  hearty  meal.  It  is  a 
great  joke  at  Queenstown  to  see  the  way  the  natives  —  mostly  girls 
—  surround  the  steamer  in  all  ports  of  boats,  and  scramble  or  get 
hauled  up  the  side  to  sell  their  bog-oak  sticks  and  ornaments,  laces, 
fruit,  etc.  And  still  more  funny  to  see  the  scurry  to  depart 
when  the  screw  starts  and  the  ship  begins  to  carry  them  towards 
their  much-loved  America.  Their  task  in  escaping  is  not  rendered 
more  easy  by  the  action  of  the  crew,  who  energetically  —  very  — 
help  them  over  the  sides  as  soon  as  the  ship  begins  to  move.  Next 
day  I  was  well  and  how  hungry,  and  I  had  thenceforward  what  the 
Yankees  call  a  "real  good  time"  until  we  reached  Boston  on  the 
night  of  Friday,  September  9th.  And  this,  despite  the  discomfort  of 
a  week's  bad  weather  from  the  time  we  started  —  bad  enough  to 
make  us  a  day  and  a  half  late  in  arriving.  The  last  three  or°four 
days  were,  however,  splendid,  and  life  u  worth  living  on  a  good 
steamer  in  fine  weather,  I  can  assure  you. 

_  We  had  to  wait  outside  Boston  Harbor  for  the  next  morning's 
tide,  and  finally  got  landed  at  the  pier,  passed  the  Customs  officers, 
and  away  to  hotel  soon  after  10  A.  M.  I  spent  a  week  in  Boston. 
The  old  part  of  the  town  is  very  irregular,  but  has  some  remarkably 
fine  buildings.  The  streets,  however,  and  also  the  footpaths  —  or 
sidewalks,  as  they  are  called  —  are  most  vilely  paved,  and  are  very 
dirty  if  the  weather  is  at  all  wet,  which  it  was  several  days  whilst  I 
was  there.  This  remark  as  to  paving  applies  to  most  of  the  towns 
I  have  visited,  New  York  being  as  bad  as  any.  The  Yanks  are  very 
fond  of  telling  us  where  we  are  behind,  but"  I  think  in  this  matter 
we  can  show  them  a  very  good  lead.  And  what  makes  the  matter 
worse  is  that  nearly  every  street  has  car-tracks  in  it,  the  rails  of 
which  are  not  almost  flush,  like  the  ones  we  use,  but  many  are  just 
like  a  railway  line,  and  so  have  a  deep  rut  each  side  of  the  iron. 
Others  are  flush  one  side,  but  the  grooved  rail  we  use  does  not  seem 
to  be  used  anywhere  here.  One  reason  for  this  is  that  the  heavy 
snow  and  severe  frost  chokes  them  up,  I  am  told.  In  fact,  this 
question  of  the  weather  enters  very  largely  indeed  into  all  matters 
here.  It  partially  accounts  for  the  wretched  state  of  the  paving,  I 
am  assured,  as  after  several  moist  days,  the  mercury  suddenly  drops 
a  few  points  below  zero,  and  you  can  guess  the  effect  on  anythino- 
that  can  be  moved  or  lifted  by  frost.  Wood  and  asphalt  have  been 
tried,  I  believe,  but  the  ordinary  granite  paving  has  had  again  to  be 
resorted  to  on  account  of  the  ease  with  which  it  can  be  repaired.  If 
the  streets  were  carefully  repaired,  well  and  good,  but  it  seems  to  me 
they  are  not. 

The  climate  naturally  affects  the  arrangement  of  the  buildings,  and 
here  the  States  certainly  are  far  in  advance  of  us.  Houscs,°blocks 
of  offices,  and  buildings  of  all  kinds,  have  all  the  halls  and  corridors 
heated,  either  by  hot  air  from  furnaces  in  the  basement,  or  bv  coils 
of  steam-pipe,  this  steam  being  supplied  in  New  York  by  a  company, 
and  laid  on  to  the  houses  and  offices  just  like  gas  or  water.  Aly 
office  here,  like  a  good  many  others,  is  warmed  in  this  way ;  there  is 
no  mess  and  bother  in  keeping  a  fire  going,  but  a  nice  temperature 
which  I  can  regulate  to  please  myself.  And  if  I  go  out  into  the 
corridor,  I  do  not  get  my  nose  nearly  bitten  off,  or  if  some  one  opens 
the  door  I  am  not  nearly  blown  off  my  chair — both  for  the  simple 
reason  that  the  hall  and  corridors  are  about  the  same  temperature 
as  the  rooms  opening  on  them.  Attend  to  this,  ye  builders  of 
houses,  where  draughts  are  the  principal  feature  I 

Another  point  for  our  architects.  All  the  rooms  in  the  houses 
•we,  with  scarcely  an  exception,  have  one  or  more  large  closets  to 
them  —  planned  with  the  house  —  and  no  one  who  has  ever  felt  the 
advantage  of  this  would  cease  to  bully  and  condemn  our  —  usually 
—  cupboardless  houses.  For  instance,  if  the  room  is  a  fairly  large 
one,  it  has  two  closets,  one  of  which  contains  the  toilet  requisites  and 
the  other  one's  wardrobe.  You  fit  up  your  room  as  a  sitting-room 
and  have  a  bed  which  folds  up  and  looks  exactly  like  a  sideboard, 
your  chest  of  drawers  and  dressing-table  combined  having  a  marble 
top  and  large  mirror,  which  can  be  nicely  hung  with  scarfs  or  little 
curtains,  whilst  knick-knacks  can  be  artistically  distributed  over  the 
said  marble  top  and  also  on  the  mantel  shelf,  and  there  you  have, 
until  such  time  as  you  retire,  quite  a  drawing-room. 

A  very  objectionable,  but  very  common  feature  here,  however,  is 
to  make  the  house  deeper  from  back  to  front,  and  put  another  room 


in  the  centre,  approached  and  connected  by  sliding  glass  doors  with 
I'iilirr  the  front  or  back  room,  through  which  it  gets  its  only  light 
and  air.  The  great  majority  of  the  people  here  do  not  keep  a'hoiise 
of  their  own,  but  live  in  boarding-houses,  and  this  unhciilihy 
arrangement  gives  an  extra  room  for  letting  on  each  floor,  you  see, 
which  helps  the  proprietor  or  proprietress  to  pay  the  enormous 
rental  of  the  house.  Flats,  too,  are  very  numerous. 

But  somebody  will  be  asking,  What  has  all  this  general  descrip- 
tion to  do  with  architecture?  or  even  with  the  "allied  arts  "?    Not 


much,  perhaps  —  that  is,  with  architecture  as  a  fine  art  — but  this 
will  also  be  the  case,  I  fear,  with  all  I  may  write.  Nevertheless, 
some  practical  hints  may  be  gathered  from  what,  after  all,  are  merely 
the  jotted  down  impressions  of  a  roamer  in  this  land  of  dollars.  To 
return,  therefore,  to  Boston.  The  first  thing  that  strikes  one  is  the 
enormous  quantity  of  marble  used  —  almost  always  white  —  whole 
outsides  of  large  buildinss  being  of  it,  as  well  as  the  steps  and  stairs, 
floors,  balustrades,  dados,  and  wall-linings,  often  the  ceilings — in 
iron  frames  —  etc.  Marble,  marble  everywhere  in  fact,  'ifie  out- 
sides  of  good  buildings,  if  not  of  marble,  are  of  granite,  a  very  fine- 
grained sort,  of  a  nice  light  gray  color.  The  buildings  are  more 
striking  from  their  size,  evident  importance,  and  the  equallv  evident 
lavish  expenditure  on  them,  than  for  their  artistic  merit.  'They  are 
usually  the  storied  arrangements  of  the  orders  and  thu  stuc'k-on- 
looking  column  and  pilaster  arrangement,  of  which  one  has  seen  so 
much  and  got  so  tired. 

I  need  hardly  say  that  this  does  not  applv  to  the  works  of  the  late 
Mr.  H.  II.  Richardson,  of  which  Boston  and  its  neighborhood  con- 
tain some  fine  examples,  the  chief  being  his  Trinity  Church,  which 
has  cost  £125,000.  Illustrations  of  this  and  other  works  were  exhi- 
bited in  the  R.  I.  B.  A.  room  when  Mr.  Richardson  was  elected  a 
Corresponding  Member.  He  died,  I  believe,  before  the  notificatkn 
of  this  election  reached  him.  Other  works  of  his  I  noticed  were  a 
corner  shop,  with  offices  over,  in  the  town  (disgracefully  disfigured, 
by  the  way,  with  hideous  sign-boards),  and  the  Law  School,  forming 
part  of  Harvard  College  at  Cambridge.  Some  friends,  whoso 
acquaintance  I  made  on  the  steamer,  and  who  exhibited,  in  a  marked 
degree,  that  hospitality  for  which  our  American  cousins  are  famous, 
one  day  drove  me  to  the  residence  of  the  late  Mr.  Richardson,  at 
Brookline,  and  introduced  me  to  one  of  the  firm  now  carrying  on  the 
business,  Mr.  Coolidge,  who  most  courteously  showed  us  through  the 
offices  attached  to  the  house  and  into  his  late  patron's  study  —  a 
charming  room  with  such  books  carefully  Marked  around  it  —  some- 
thing to  make  a  student's  mouth  water.  The  office  is  divided  up 
into  a  number  of  "  pens,"  so  that  each  pupil  or  assistant  has,  go  to 
speak,  a  room  to  himself,  and  he  is  held  responsible  for  the  good 
order  of  everything  in  it,  and  is,  when  therein,  monarch  of  all  he 
surveys.  These  "pens"  are,  of  course,  arranged  along  the  walls, 
each  having  a  window,  and  a  central  corridor  runs  down  the  room 
between  them. 

Other  buildings  in  Boston  worthy  of  note  are  the  Post-office,  City- 
hall,  and  some   fine  "  blocks  "   erected  by  different  insurance   and 
other  corporations.     Also,  the  Vendome  and  other  hotels,  and  many 
private  residences  on  or  near  Commonwealth  Avenue.     This  splen- 
did street  runs  right  through  the  new  and  fashionable  part  of  the 
town,  which  the  sea  used  to  cover,  and  is  two  hundred  and  fifty  f«et 
wide,  with  a  continuous  park  a  mile  and  a  half  long  in  its  centre.  .  .  . 
Let  us,  however,  get  on  to  Chicago.     What  a  marvellous  place 
that  is!     Think   of  it.     Forty  years  ago  there   was  only  a   small 
Indian  trading-post  on  the  plain  where  now  stands  a  vast  city.     In 
1843  the  population  was  but  7,000.     In  1850  it  had  grown  to  29,000, 
and  in  1860  to  110,000,  whilst  now  the  population  is  something  like 
500,000.     And  this,  despite  the  great  fire  of  October,  1871,  which 
destroyed  practically  the  whole  of  the  business  part  of  the  town,  and 
involved  a  loss  of  some  8200,000,000  or  £40,000,000.     One  of   its 
leading  papers,  speaking  of  the  wonderfully  rapid  reconstruction  of 
the  city,  said:  "We  know   no  words  which  will  better  convey  to 
persons  outside  Chicago  an  idea  of  what  has  been  done  by  way  of 
rebuilding  the  city  than  to  say  that,  beginning  on  April  15th  and 
ending  December  1st,  1872,  excluding  Sundays,  counting  two  hun- 
dred working  days  of  eight  hours  each,  there  will  be  completed  one 
brick,  stone  or  iron  building  twenty-five  feet  front,  and  from  four  to 
six  stories  high,  for  each  hour  of  that  time.  The  extraordinary  achieve- 
ment in  rebuilding  Chicago  is  not  confined  to  the  number  of  new 
buildings,  but  applies  equally  to  their  size  and  superiority  in  con- 
struction and  materials."     And  so -it  does.     I  have  seen  nowhere, 
either  in  this  or  our  own  country,  or  on  the  Continent,  such  a  truly 
noble  lot  of  buildings  as  Chicago  possesses,  and  buildings  at  the  same 
time  so  original  in  treatment.     There  is  an  almost  total  lack  of  the 
conventional  stuck-on-looking  column  and  pilaster  treatment.    There 
they  stand,  what  you  see  carrying  them,  with  little  ornament,  but 
that  little  good,  a  credit  to  their  designers  and  constructors,  and  to 
the  enterprising  citizens  who  laid  out  their  money  in  allowing  these 
"  to  design  in  beauty"  and  massiveness  and  "to  build  in  truth."     I 
have  made  a  collection  of  photographs,  which  I  will  try  to  find  time 
to  arrange  and  send  our  Secretaries,  so  that  if  they  can  manage  to 
exhibit  them  in  our  rooms,  readers  (if  there  be  any)  of  these  jottings 
may  see  for  themselves  whether  my  delight  is  stra'ined.   Don't  forget 
to  count  up  the  stories  in  the  buildings  so  as  to  get  some  idea  of 
their  size.     I  say  "  some  "  because  without  seeing  them  I  doubt  very 
much  if  any  one  could  realize  how  large  they  are,  and  hence,  even 
the  photos  give  a  somewhat  poor  idea  of  what  I  am  talking  about. 


TJie   American   Architect  and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  647. 


After  spending  some  time  in  Chicago,  I  went  to  Kansas  City,  a 
quite  new  anil  quickly-growing  town  some  five  hundred  miles  to  the 
southwest  of  the  first-named.  Starting  at  mid-day,  the  express  lands 
you  in  Kansas  City  at  nine  the  next  morning.  As  you  feel  after 
taking  the  first  mouthful  of  a  tough  steak  —  that  you  don't  want  any 
more  of  it  —  so  I  feel  with  regard  to  Kansas  City  and  the  "Wild 
West."  It  rained  almost  incessantly  the  first  two  days  I  was  there, 
and  the  mud  was  knee  deep.  The  natives  wear  hoots  up  to  their 
thighs,  hut  I  was  not  so  provided,  and  suffered  accordingly.  The 
whole  town  is  on  clay,  on  the  banks  of  the  wide,  but  dirty-looking 
Missouri.  Missouri  mud,  in  fact,  is  becoming  proverbial.  Kansas 
City  has  been  laid  out  and  so  quickly  built  that  no  time  was  left  for 
"grading"  the  roads.  Consequently,  as  the  site  is  very  hilly,  while 
standing  at  a  four  cross  ways,  you  can  see  in  each  direction  the 
cable-cars  (no  others  could  mount  some  of  the  hills)  bobbing  up  and 
down  just  like  the  cars  on  the  switch-back  railway  at  the  late  Exhi- 
bition. On  my  return  journey  I  went  to  the  railway-station — depot 
they  say  here  —  on  a  cable  car,  and  the  descent  was  so  steep  that, 
as  I  was  facing  the  way  we  were  going,  it  was  only  by  holding  on 
with  my  hands  that  I  was  able  to  keep  my  seat,  and  even  then  we 
were  landed  on  a  high  wooden  viaduct,  the  street,  on  which  stood 
the  station,  being  several  flights  of  stairs  below.  "  Grading  "  has  now 
been  commenced  on  several  of  the  streets.  Rather  nice  to  have  your 
house  left  some  twenty  feet  above  the  road,  eh  ?  I  saw  several  thus 
left.  Only  the  few  principal  streets  are  paved,  the  paving  being  of 
wood  blocks  more  or  less  round  —  small  trees  simply  sawn  through  in 
chunks  about  three  or  four  inches  thick.  In  the  other  streets,  carts, 
etc.,  sink  their  wheels  to  the  axles,  and  people  on  foot  can  only  cross 
just  here  and  there  where  plank  walks  are  laid  from  side  to  side. 
Planks,  too,  form  the  walkable  portion — where  they  are  walkahle — 
of  most  of  the  sidewalks. 

There  are  some  very  fine  buildings  going  up  in  the  town,  mostly 
the  work  of  Chicago  or  Eastern  architects.  The  local  men  do  not 
apparently  inspire  confidence,  or  else  it  is  known  that  they  lack  the 
talent.  You  see  any  number  of  cowboys  —  just  off  their  ranches  for 
holiday  or  business  —  not  the  neat  and  clean-looking  articles  of  Mr. 
Cody's  show,  but  the  real  thing.  Tall,  well-built,  splendid  specimens 
of  humanity,  brown  as  a  berry,  and  looking  very  picturesque  in  their 
wide-brimmed  buff-felt  hats  and  high  boots,  generally  covered  with 
mud  to  the  knees.  These  Western  cities  may  be  the  places,  as  a 
large  hotel  proprietor  expressed  it,  to  "  pile  up  the  scheckels,"  but 
after  London,  Paris,  and,  as  far  as  I  know,  New  York  also,  there  is 
a  roughness  and  want  of  niceness  and  politeness  about  the  place  and 
people  that  jars  very  considerably  on  a — more  or  less  —  civilized 
person.  One  object,  and  one  only,  seems  to  rule  —  to  make  money. 
For  my  part,  I  would  rather  make  less  and  stay  in  the  East.  On 
the  cars  —  that  is  American  for  "  in  the  train  "  — going  to  Kansas 
City  I  got  intimate  with  a  young  fellow  who  had  just  left  Harvard 
College,  every  inch  a  gentleman.  He  had  decided,  or  his  friends, 
perhaps,  had  decided  for  him,  to  "  go  West "  and  make  a  fortune. 
I  shall  never  forget  his  woe-begone  looks  as  we  went  round  the  half- 
built  city.  When  I  last  heard  from  him  he  was  a  booking-office 
clerk,  working  from  8  A.  M.  to  6  p.  M.,  Sundays  included.  He  will, 
perhaps,  become  a  rich  man,  but  when  he  looks  back  at  what  he  has 
gone  through  will  probably  ask  himself,  Is  it  worth  it  ?  C.  H.  B. 


SOME  LETTERS  OF   VIOLLET-LE-DUC'S.1 

V IOLLET-LE-DUC  fils 
intends  shortly  to  publish 
the  voluminous  corre- 
spondence of  his  father,  from 
1835  to  the  year  of  his  death, 
which  will  include  letters  written 
by  their  author  while  abroad, 
often  illustrated  with  sketches, 
grave  or  grotesque,  hit  off  on  the 
spur  of  the  moment.  The  work 
will,  doubtless,  possess  a  value 
and  charm  of  its  own  both  from 
a  biographical  and  artistic  point 
of  view.  Since  I  met  the  editor 
in  Paris,  he  has  greatly  favored 
me  by  placing  at  my  disposal  six 
of  the  forthcoming  letters,  two 
of  which,  from  their  brevity  and 
worth,  I  will  trespass  for  a  few 
moments  longer  on  your  time  by 
reading.  The  first  is  dated 
August  23,  1869,  and  is  ad- 
dressed to  M.  Paul  Bceswillwald, 
then  a  young  architect  completing  his  studies  in  Italy.  I  think  it 
will  be  admitted  that  no  sounder  advice  in  so  few  words  could  be 
given  to  a  student:  — 

" Monjeune  Confrere  etAmi,  —  I  received  your  letter  from  Florence 
yesterday,  and  I  thank  you  for  all  the  details  it  gives  of  your  travels  and 
of  your  impressions  as  an  artist.  One  ought  to  view  objects  without 
prepossessions,  and  without  disturbing  influences  :  that  is  the  essential 
point;  and  I  perceive  that  you  have  examined  matters  so  as  to  turn 


Castle-  Oydcmck  r\«ar-  GKent 


t  From  a  paper  by  Charles  Wcthered,  M.  K.  C.  S.,  read  before  the  Koyal  Insti- 
ute  of  British  Architects. 


everything  to  good  account.  The  Greek  art  is  certainly  the  only 
architecture  which  leaves  an  impression  free  from  all  extraneous 
elements.  Since,  however,  you  are  passing  the  winter  in  Rome, 
notice  well  the  edifices  of  the  Empire,  not  as  an  artist,  but  as  an 
engineer,  as  a  practical  man,  and  you  will  observe  how  comprehen- 
sive is  the  plan  of  these  monuments,  how  it  was  possible  to  raise  them 
rapidly  and  with  simple  means.  The  Romans,  who  are  represented  as 
ostentatious  to  excess,  in  the  books  written  by  literary  archaeologists, 
were  the  most  economical  of  all  builders ;  but  this  economy  is  very 
intelligent,  and  never  descends  to  meanness.  If  at  Rome  you  have 
the  courage  to  disregard  the  Roman  decoration  —  which,  in  spite  of 
its  richness,  is  not  worth  much  —  in  order  to  occupy  yourself  with 
the  mechanism  of  the  Roman  structure,  in  order  to  examine  how  it 
was  possible  to  obtain  so  great  results  with  such  simple  and  inexpen- 
sive means,  your  time  will  be  well  spent.  At  Rome  we  see  such  a 
multitude  of  things,  and  many  of  them  so  interesting,  that  we  are 
everywhere  easily  tempted  to  appropriate,  to  make  numberless  notes 
and  sketches,  without  due  connection  and  without  a  dominating  idea. 
When  you  return  home  you  will  perceive  that  all  that  is  useless,  and 
that  labor  concentrated  on  one  of  the  dozen  subjects  you  have 
glanced  at  would  have  been  of  great  interest  and  real  value.  There- 
fore, my  dear  friend,  see  a  little  of  everything,  but  try  to  utilize  your 
stay  in  the  great  city  of  the  dead  by  extracting  something  from  it  de- 
finite and  limited.  Above  all,  beware  of  the  influence  of  the  manner 
of  living  and  studying  adopted  at  the  Villa  Medici.  It  is  seductive 
and  very  pleasant,  renders  all  work  easy  and  agreeable,  but  when 
the  cheerful  days  of  comradeship  have  passed  away,  and  one  faces 
the  reality,  one  sees  that  there  is  very  little  left  at  the  bottom  of  the 
bag.  Endeavor  to  draw  from  your  own  resources  a  subject  to  treat 
of  there,  and,  devoting  yourself  to  this  object,  whatever  it  may  be, 
do  not  allow  yourself  to  be  diverted  from  it.  I  know  by  experience 
that  this  is  difficult,  for  at  Rome  one  is  like  a  man  with  a  good 
appetite  in  presence  of  twenty  tempting  dishes ;  he  would  much  like 
to  eat  them  all,  but,  not  being  able  to  do  so,  he  tastes  them  one  after 
the  other,  and  he  finds  at  last  that  he  has  not  dined. 

"  I  perceive  that  you  have  taken  a  rapid  run  over  the  environs  of 
Rome,  where  there  are,  in  fact,  more  objects  of  interest  than  in  the 
city  itself,  where  this  age  of  ostentation  has  done  so  much  to  spoil 
everything.  You  must  well  observe  the  small  towns  of  the  district, 
and  Viterbo,  Civita  Castellane  and  Villetri.  There  are  many  strik- 
ing things  to  be  found  there  of  the  media?val  period,  still  uninjured. 
You  must  visit  the  outskirts  of  Rome,  so  full  of  interesting  ruins; 
and  the  winter  is  favorable  for  these  excursions.  But  what  is  really 
worth  studying  well  is  the  Roman  structure,  and  that  has  never  been 
methodically  done.  You  must  begin  with  the  Republic  and  Etruria, 
and  the  monuments  of  Magna  Grascia,  and  follow  them  down  to  the 
Empire.  You  will  find  there  a  mine  of  curious  and  practical 
observations  of  veritable  interest. 

"  I  thank  you  sincerely,  my  friend,  for  your  kind  remembrance  and 
the  compliments  you  have  sent  me  with  regard  to  the  cordon  rouge. 
[M.  Viollet-le-Duc  had  just  been  made  a  Commander  of  the  Legion 
of  Honor.]  If  you  think  you  will  require  any  information,  do  not 
fail  to  ask  me  for  it.  —  Tout  a  vous." 

The  second  letter  is  written  in  quite  another  key,  by  a  man  who 
was  one  of  the  last  to  wear  his  heart  upon  his  sleeve,  but  here  we 
find  it  laid  bare  in  sorrow  for  his  country  and  in  the  warmth  of  his 
friendships.  It  bears  date  February  23,  1871,  and  is  addressed  to 
M.  Revoil,  author  of  "  I'Histoire  de  I' Architecture  Romane  dans  le  midi 
de  la  France  "  : 

"  Pour  moi,  man  cher  ami,  I  have  met  with  no  casualty  during  my 
days  and  nights  before  the  enemy,  but  unfortunately,  I  have  seen 
many  of  my  brave  comrades  fall  around  me.  My  son  has  also 
escaped  injury,  but  his  child  has  died,  like  so  many  others,  from 
privations  which  have  been  imposed  upon  us  all.  I  pity  you  sin- 
cerely, my  dear  friend,  and  there  is  no  consolation  to  offer  you.  [M. 
Revoil  had  just  lost  his  wife.]  It  is  not  in  middle  life  that  one  meets 
again  with  unalloyed  affection,  if  one  has  had  the  good  fortune  to 
find  it  —  a  rare  thing.  We  must  give  ourselves  up,  however,  to  our 
now  so  afflicted  country,  and  no  one  has  a  right  to  withdraw  himself 
from  the  duties  it  imposes  on  him,  whatever  his  family  afflictions 
may  be.  We  must  all  be  convinced  of  this  if  we  wish  that  our 
France  should  rise  again ;  no  personal  feelings  should  make  any  one 
become  a  defaulter. 

"  We  are  still  shut  in  here,  not  being  able  to  communicate  with 
those  outside  without  the  permission  of  ces  Messieurs.  As  for  me,  I 
keep  to  my  post.  We  have  had  a  hard  time  of  it ;  but  the  popula- 
tion of  Paris  has  risen  above  all  I  dared  hoped.  Ah  !  if  we  had  had 
some  military  chiefs  1  But  of  what  use  are  these  regrets?  We  must 
restore  our  country,  cost  what  it  may ;  and  it  is  necessary  that  all 
good  citizens  should  rigorously  set  to  work.  Gasnier  has  taken 
refuge  at  my  house,  his  residence  at  Suresnes  being  in  the  hands  of 
the  enemy.  He  has  been  there  since  the  investment.  Many  of  our 
friends  are  I  know  not  where ;  several  left  Paris  before  the  siege ; 
of  others  I  know  nothing.  Many  artists  have  been  killed,  for  in  this 
war  it  is  principally  men  of  intelligence  who  have  devoted  themselves 
to  the  good  cause:  the  noisy,  base  and  cowardly  canaille  have  lost 
credit  in  the  minds  of  those  simpletons  who  used  to  call  them  —  the 
People.  Let  us  hope  that  we  shall  gain  a  little  experience  and  profit 
by  this  grievous  lesson.  Let  us  hope  that  we  shall  begin  to  reflect, 
to  know  how  to  conduct  ourselves,  and  to  disregard  bad  and  incap- 
able men  ;  but  what  a  work  there  still  remains  to  do ! 


MAY  19,  1888.] 


TJte   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


237 


•'  Leaving  Paris  on  the  ISth  of  September,  witli  my  auxiliary  corps 
of  engineers,  I  iliil  not  enter  it  till  the  27th  of  .January.  Wounded 
in  mind  and  Heeding  in  heart,  I  get  to  work  to  forget,  if  possible. 
1  see  no  one;  besides,  Paris  is  not  what  you  have  seen  it,  it  is  the 
shadow  of  itself.  What  more  can  be  done?  I  am  working,  trying 
to  make  the  future  profit  by  the  lesson,  for  I  do  not  consider  myself 
as  di-chargcd  from  duties.  Do  the  same  yourself,  in  spite  of  your  too 
well-founded  grie.f:  work  is  the  only  consoler.  —  Donnez-moi  <le  vos 
et  croyez-moi  bien  a  vous." 


Among  his  lesser  plans  for  the  future,  he  had  partly  arranged  an 
excursion  with  us  to  the  Orkney  Islands,  to  examine  their  rocks  and 
correlate  them  with  those  of  Switzerland;  and  also  to  sketch  scenery 
that  had  impressed  his  imagination  ever  since  reading  Sir  Walter 
S(  nil's  roma'nce  of  "  The  Pirate,"  when  a  boy  of  eleven.  This 
ultima  IJiule  of  our  cherished  hopes  it  was  decreed  should  never  be 
reached.  Viollet-le-l)uc  died  mddenly  of  apoplexy,  at  Lausanne,  in 
September,  1879,  before  completing  his  sixty-sixth  year.  He  had  no 
warning  that  his  race  was  run  :  all  was  reft  at  once.  A  fortnight 
before,  he  had  said  that,  humanly  speaking,  he  hoped  to  live  twenty 
years  longer  —  ten  more  for  work  and  ten  for  rest.  Only  the  day 
before  he  was  struck  down,  he  verified  some  geodesical  observations 
he  had  recently  made  in  the  mountains,  and  gave  the  finishing 
touch  to  the  last  of  his  beautiful  aquarelles.  A  few  evenings  earlier, 
for  the  first  time  in  his  life,  this  valiant  worker  was  heard  to  say, 
"Je  sut's  fatigue."  He  died  in  the  full  strength  of  all  his  powers, 
whilst  doing  the  State  and  mankind  much  service.  Sovereigns  and 
learned  societies  beyond  France  had  bestowed  honors  upon  Eugene 
Emmanuel  Viollet-le-Duc  ;  from  this  Institute,  he  received  the 
Queen's  Gold  Medal,  and  from  our  Royal  Academy  of  Aits,  the 
diploma  of  Honorary  Foreign  Academician.  These  distinctions 
were  valued  by  him  at  their  true  worth,  from  the  motives  that 
prompted  the  giving;  beyond  that,  no  man  cared  less  than  he  for 
adventitious  honors.  Free  from  all  trace  of  vanity  or  egotism, 
averse  to  every  kind  of  personal  display,  he  was  quite  content  with 
the  "  golden  mediocrity  of  his  fortune  "  won  by  his  own  labors. 


1IFIIIS1  is  an  admirable  work;  it  is  written  with  the  enthusiasm 
J I »  which  is  quite  justified  by  the  interest  of  the  subject,  and  at  the 

'  same  time  with  a  tempered  sobriety  of  tone  which  maintains  the 
reader's  respect  for  the  enthusiasm  as  never  going  astray  into 
vagueness  and  extravagance.  Those  who  are  aware  of  the  extent 
of  the  services  of  Miss  Stokes  to  the  antiquities  of  Christian  Ireland 
may  be  a  little  discontented  at  her  self-effacement.  All  obligations 
to  other  writers  are  frankly  and  gracefully  noted,  but  it  is  only  to 
herself  that  she  is  parsimonious  of  acknowledgment.  It  is  well  that 
those  who  are  charmed  by  her  lucid  exposition  and  perspicuous  style 
of  writing  should  know  also  how  much  they  owe  to  her  accomplish- 
ment as  an  artist  in  reproducing  with  most  conscientious  exactness 
the  intricate  and  elaborate  designs  which  are  the  greatest  achieve- 
ments of  the  genius  of  Ireland  in  its  earliest  Christian  period. 

The  last  chapter  of  the  work  treats  of  "  Building  and  Architec- 
ture." Starting  from  cromlechs,  dolmens  and  kistmpns  we  come  to 
stone-forts  or  dunes,  of  which  the  walls  and  doorways  have  the 
appearance  of  primasval  construction  upon  which  that  of  Mycena; 
was  only  an  advance  as  carried  out  with  command  of  greater  re- 
sources. Then  follow  the  monastic  cells  built  on  the  beehive  prin- 
ciple of  the  so-called  treasury  of  Atreus,  though  without  the  covering 
of  earth.  Stone  churches  grouted  or  with  cement  succeed,  then 
arches  false  and  true,  jambs  and  imposts  with  chamfered  edges  and 
roofs,  sometimes  of  shingles  and  sometimes  of  solid  stone. 

There  is  no  longer  any  mystery  as  to  the  nature  or  origin  of  the 
Irish  round  towers;  they  are  not  pagan  but  Christian  erections  —  in 
fact,  ecclesiastical  bell-houses.  Dr.  Petrie  and  the  late  Lord  Dunraven 
made  complete  examinations  of  them,  and  followed  the  traces  of  the 
builders  of  them  across  the  Continent  to  the  group  of  their  most  re- 
markable prototypes  at  Ravenna.  "  Only  the  oldest  and  simplest 
type  of  such  belfries  ever  reached  Ireland  and  Scotland,  and  their 
singularity  does  not  consist  in  their  form,  but  in  their  isolation. 
The  round  tower  with  conical  top  was  a  common  form  in  the  earliest 
periods  of  Christian  architecture  —  when  a  watch-tower  and  keep  for 
the  monastery  became  necessary,  when  war  and  rapine  called  forth 
the  symbol  of  pride  and  power  in  Irish  Christian  architecture,  the 
lofty  stronghold,  bearing  its  cross  on  high,  was  erected  in  the  ceme- 
tery and  opposite  the  doorway  of  the  church."  There  are  sufficient 
remains  to  prove  that  a  round-arched  Romanesque  style  even  con- 
siderably ornamented  had  been  introduced  into  Ireland  before  the 
eleventh  century,  and  contrasting  in  certain  respects  with  the  Nor- 
man variety  that  came  in  later.  In  these  remains  the  chevron  orna- 
ment is  prevalent  and  varied,  and  instances  of  fret,  scroll  and  animal 
combinations  are  not  infrequent;  but  it  is  not  in  architecture  but  in 
illumination  and  metal-work  that  we  are  to  look  for  the  exquisite 
developments  of  Irish  taste  and  ingenuity. 

The  art  of  illumination  was  the  first  in  date  and  most  perfect  in 

'"Enrli/  Christian  Art  in  Ireland."  By  Margaret  Stokes,  with  one  hundred 
and  six  wood-cute.  Chapman  &  Hall,  1887. 


result.  The  "  Hook  of  Kelli,"  now  at  Trinity  College,  Dublin, 
dates  as  early  as  A.  D.  650-6!)0,  and  marks  a  time  when  the  art  had 
attained  its  highest  excellence.  It  is  the  earliest  preserved  of  the 
monuments,  including  metal-work,  crosses  and  cro/.iers  which  include 
in  their  ornaments  the  so-called  trum|)et  pattern  or  divergent  spiral 
design.  The  latest  is  a  tombstone  dated  A.  D.  1085  in  the  valuable 
chronological  list  at  the  end  of  the  volume.  Intermediately  it  is  seldom 
missing.  Two  lines  starting  from  a  central  spiral  diverge  and  open 
out  like  the  mouth  of  a  trumpet,  then  converge  again  and  whirl  to  a 
new  centre  to  leave  it  again  and  repeat  the  same  figure.  As  regards 
these  islands  this  is  a  true  Celtic  ornament;  it  occurs  in  connection 
with  enamel  in  British  works  which  are  earlier  than  the  Roman 
occupation.  It  is  found  susceptible  of  considerable  variation.  On 
some  Celtic  shields  of  brass  in  the  British  Museum,  it  assumes 
elongated  forms  in  graduated  relief  of  great  elegance. 

The  illuminator  of  the  "Book  of  Kelts"  seems  to  delight  in  ex- 
hibiting it  in  endless  development.  Sometimes  we  see  a  plain  spiral 
as  if  of  a  single  wire,  then  the  centre  of  the  spiral  is  occupied  now  by 
a  double,  now  by  a  triple  rounded  return,  and  these  sometimes  end 
in  a  bird's  head ;  sometimes  the  spirals  are  paired  like  Ionic  volutes 
of  equal  size  and  sometimes  unequally.  This  ornament  has  a 
peculiar  interest  in  reference  to  architecture,  which  becomes 
especially  salient  upon  observation  of  its  metallic  forms.  It  vanishes 
in  Britain  under  the  Romans,  it  disappears  in  Ireland  as  in  England 
almost  absolutely  in  the  period  of  round-arched  Romanesque  archi- 
tecture, but  the  predilection  for  the  form  reasserts  itself  later,  and  is 
the  true  suggestion  of  the  treatment  of  bosses  and  foliage  in  the  early 
English  style  of  architecture.  Trefoils  and  quatrefoils  are  returned 
upon  themselves  with  a  tendency  to  bulbous  terminations,  and  when 
the  leaf  character  is  more  decided,  there  is  a  leaning  to  a  knol>l>cd  or 
lobelike  elevation  within  its  margin  which  at  once  recalls  the  charac- 
teristic treatment  of  the  raised  Celtic  spirals.  Many  of  the  combina- 
tions in  the  Irish  designs  are  identical  with  some  of  those  which 
have  been  brought  to  light  from  the  graves  on  the  acropolis  of 
Mycena;,  and  many  others  appear  to  be  only  fanciful  variations  from 
certain  others  of  the  same  origin. 

It  would,  however,  be  fallacious  to  infer  any  ethnological  connec- 
tion as  concerned  in  the  matter.  Certain  simple  combinations  of 
spirals  as  of  straight  lines  are  the  obvious  resources  of  early  art  for 
giving  a  degree  of  variety  to  plain  surfaces.  The  cable,  the  fret  and 
the  zigzag,  the  square,  oblong,  diamond,  cross  and  knot,  are  common 
stock  and  property  of  Indian,  Mexican,  Pacific  islander,  islander 
of  Greek  Archipelago,  Egyptian,  Assyrian  and  Esquimau.  The 
peculiarity  of  the  Irish  artist  is  first  the  great  variety  which  he  in- 
troduced into  the  treatment  of  these  common  materials,  and  then, 
moreover,  of  those  more  special  kinds  of  ornament  which  were 
gathered  by  him  or  followed  him  from  the  different  tribes  of  the 
Continent  into  that  island  which  was  still  more  secluded  from  original 
contact  with  the  rest  of  the  world  than  even  Britain  in  its  proverbial 
•remoteness ;  and,  lastly,  in  the  marvellous  skill  and  taste  with  which 
he  could  combine  specimens  of  all  these  in  the  elaborate  enrichment 
of  a  single  initial  letter  or  a  far  more  comprehensive  monogram. 

The  simplest  elements  of  these  combinations  are  plain  lines  dis- 
posed symmetrically  as  in  angular  frets,  or  in  more  or  less  complicated 
knots,  filling  spaces  of  various  forms,  or  following  on  in  a  band 
which  varies  in  breadth.  Then,  by  an  advance  in  complication  some 
animal  form  is  introduced  winding  and  entangled  among  the  knots,  a 
snake  or  some  exaggerated  elongated  quadruped,  with  limbs  strangely 
contorted.  Again,  human  heads  appear,  and  by  attention  it  is 
usually  possible  to  trace  arms  and  legs  also,  but  in  very  unexpected 
positions.  Sometimes  a  serpentine  or  lacertine  figu.-e  is  combined 
with  a  human  figure  all  intertwined  in  a  maze  of  interlacing  cords. 
We  observe  here  something  akin  to  the  stratagem  by  which  the 
Saracenic  ornamentalists  combine  intricacy  with  distinctness ;  it  con- 
sists in  their  case  in  making  a  strong  contrast  between  the  general 
breadth  of  the  winding  bands  and  some  which  are  suddenly  widened 
out  breadths  and  surfaces.  The  contrast  in  the  Irish  designs  is  not 
so  extreme,  but  valuable  contrast  and  definition  are  obtained  by  com- 
parative uniformity  of  the  more  slende.r  and  more  multitudinous 
bands  with  the  more  visible,  however  still  limited,  graduation  in 
breadth  of  the  bolder  member  which  is  allowed  at  the  same  time  a 
sweep  of  more  liberal  freedom. 

The  decorators  of  the  Greek  vases  of  very  early  style  are  given  to 
exerting  their  ingenuity  in  combining  a  great  variety  of  patterns 
with  a  certain  degree  of  symmetry.  The  effect  obtained  is  very 
much  that  of  patchwork ;  detached  bits  of  what  form  elsewhere  con- 
tinuous simple  borders  are  arranged  in  bands  contrasted  in  breadth 
or  disposed  with  certain  reference  to  a  centre.  These  are  the 
simplest  efforts  of  obtaining  the  charm  of  variety  without  quite  for- 
feiting a  general  sense  of  unity  and  interconnection  which  are  trace- 
able in  the  patterns  wrought  by  American  Indians,  and  in  the  carved 
oars  and  weapons  of  South  Sea  islanders.  The  motive  is  universal  in 
early  times  and  the  times  which  succeed  are  often  indebted  to  them 
for  enrichments  of  refined  and  chastened  elegance.  But  apart  from 
early  Irish  work  we  might  not  have  known  the  full  extent  to  which 
variety  and  intricacy  could  be  harmoniously  combined  in  different 
patterns,  and  these,  again,  associated  in  a  manner  which  defies  reduc- 
tion to  any  intelligible  principle  and  yet  is  as  satisfactory  to  artistic 
feeling  as  it  is  interesting  to  the  eye  which  is  detained  by  it  as  if  by 
fascination.  The  Tara  brooch,  which  was  picked  up  by  a  poor  child 
on  the  seashore  in  1850,  is  overlaid  with  no  less  than  seventy-six 
varieties  of  designs,  all  of  which  exhibit  an  admirable  sense  of  orna- 


238  TJie   American   Architect   and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  647. 


merited  beauty  and  happy  fitness  for  their  relative  situations :  to 
appreciate  their  perfect  execution  a  lens  of  no  moderate  power  is 
necessary ;  their  character  is  that  of  the  style  which  was  in  vogue 
during  the  three  or  four  centuries  anterior  to  1000  A.  D. 

The  Ardagh  chalice,  dug  up  in  a  potato-bed,  must  belong  to  the 
same  period.  The  taste  for  a  combination  of  metals  in  both  these 
beautiful  works  again  reminds  of  the  prehistoric  art  of  Mycenae  — 
as  the  bronze  swords  inlaid  with  combats  and  lion  hunts  in  gold. 
The  chalice  is  composed  of  gold,  silver,  bronze,  brass,  copper  and 
lead.  The  sceptre  of  the  great  statue  of  Olympian  Zeus,  by 
Phidias,  was  composed  of  a  variety  of  metals,  and  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  chariot  of  Here,  as  described  by  Homer,  is  only  a 
poetically  exaggerated  example  of  a  still  more  ancient  taste  for  orna- 
mentation by  direct  metallic  contrasts : 

Slit  then  hastened  to  harness  the  golden-filleted  horses, 

Here,  goddess  aweful,  daughter  of  mighty  Cronus; 

And  to  the  chariot  Hebe  applied  very  quk-klv  the  curved  wheels, 

Brazen,  eight  spoked  —  at  the  ends  of  the  nxletree  of  irou; 

Golden  the  felloe  of  these,  indestructible;  but  outside 

Tires  of  bra*s  were  attached  to  them  close,  a  marvel  to  look  on; 

And  the  central  revolving  naves  on  either  side  are  of  silver; 

And  the  chariot  body  with  straps  of  gold  and  straps  of  silver 

Was  tightened  on,  and  the  rims  in  a  curve  were  brought  rouud  double; 

And  from  it  extended  a  silver  pole,  and  on  its  forepart 

She  bound  on  a  beautiful  golden  yoke,  and  the  broad  breast-straps 

Beautiful,  golden,  attached;  and  Here  under  the  yoke  led 

The  swrif  i-footed  horses,  astir  as  she  was  for  strife  and  warshout. 

The  chalice,  however,  was  further  enriched  with  enamels  by  an  art 
which  was  practised  in  Gaul  and  Britain  anterior  to  Roman  domina- 
tion, and  unborrowed  from  either  Rome  or  Greece. 

In  closing  our  notice  of  this  work  of  Miss  Stokes,  we  must  once 
more  give  expression  to  our  sense  of  a  most  unusual  combination  of 
antiquarian  sympathy  with  sound  judgment  and  graceful  literary 
skill.  W.  WATKISS  LLOYD. 


ILLLSTRATIONS  OF  BOSTON  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS. 

NEW  YORK  CITY,  May  9,  1888. 
To  TUB  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sim,  — •  There  are  many  readers  of  your  paper  who  would  be 
glad  to  know  what  you  are  building  or  going  to  build  in  Boston  for 
your  Public  Library  and  your  new  Court-house.  As  Boston  is  the 
leading  architectural  city  of  our  land,  we  are  interested  in  your 
success  in  getting  what  we  can  only  admire  and  long  for. 

Yours  very  truly,  WM.  H.  INGERSOLL. 

[Tun  architect  of  the  Suffolk  County  Conrt-honse  has  repeatedly  in- 
formed us  that  he  was  unwilling  to  have  the  design  published  in  Its  present 
form.  Tne  Boston  Public  Library  drawings  will  be  published  in  full 
within  a  few  weeks.  —  Eus.  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT. 


AMERICAN  vs.  FRENCH  ARCHITECTURAL  TRAINING. 

NEW  YOBK,  May  12,  1888. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  In  Mr.  Avery's  account  of  the  Architectural  League 
meeting  of  May  7th,  published  in  your  last  issue,  reference  is  made 
to  the  work  of  the  pupils  of  three  Architectural  Schools  in  this  coun- 
try, and  their  work  as  shown  to  the  League  is  said  "  not  to  be  com- 
pared to  that  of  the  famous  Paris  Ecole  des  Beaux-Arts  for  origi- 
nality in  composition,  freedom  of  expression,  or  cleverness  in  inter- 
pretation." The  three  schools  mentioned  are  those  connected  with 
the  Metropolitan  Museum,  Columbia  College  and  Cornell  University. 
There  would  also  have  been  an  exhibit  from  the  Massachusetts 
School  of  Technology,  if  this  school  had  not  recently  sent  its  best 
drawings  to  the  Glasgow  Exhibition.  From  the  Exhibition,  it  was 
evident  that  the  course  of  instruction  at  Columbia  and  the  Metro- 
politan Museum  followed  the  model  afforded  by  the  Beaux-Arts,  and 
while  I  have  not  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  a  large  number  of  the 
drawings  made  at  the  Paris  school,  still,  judging  from  what  I  have 
seen  it  struck  me  that  the  New  York  schools  did  fully  as  well  in  the 
respects  above  mentioned.  Considering  that  the  course  at  the 
Museum  embraces  only  six  months'  work  the  results  are  highly 
creditable,  and  as  far  as  the  work  at  Columbia  is  concerned,  it  seems 
to  me  to  have  a  promise  of  far  better  results  than  its  famous  model, 
whi:e  its  present  performances  equal  it  save  perhaps  in  a  certain 
scholastic  largeness  of  conception.  And  why  should  it  not  equal  it  ? 
It  is  not  a  difficult  matter  to  follow  the  course  of  the  Beaux-Arts. 
Even  without  the  aid  of  its  fine  corps  of  instructors,  its  splendid 
quarters  and  models,  and  its  prize  of  Rome,  it  is  open  to  any  school  to 
take  Rome  and  Greece  (Rome  first)  and  achieve  the  elegant,  mo- 
notonous and  scholastic  results,  characteristic  of  French  architect- 
ure of  to-day-  The  question  is  whether  it  is  wise  to  allow  the  Beaux- 
Arts  influence  to  have  such  an  extensive  swav  among  our  schools. 
Do  the  results  warrant  the  high  encomiums  heard  on  all  sides?  Are 
washed  drawings  and  a  slavish  adherence  to  a  debased  stvle  suffi- 
cient ends  for  the  training  of  pupils  ?  I  can  imagine  that  there  is  a 


wide  divergence  of  opinion  regarding  this,  which  I  hope  may  find  its 
proper  expression.  Meanwhile,  it  is  instructive  to  notice  that  the 
Cornell  school  has  made  a  break.  The  drawings  from  this  school 
made  an  effective  contrast  to  the  others  at  the  League  meeting.  It 
was  evident  that  the  problems  of  design  submitted  to  the  pupils  were 
modern  ones,  and  that  the  tendency  was  against  the  Beaux-Art's  in- 
fluence. As  might  be  expected  the  designs  were  suggestive  of  mod- 
ern architects'  work,  particularly  II.  II.  Richardson.  Mr.  E.  II. 
Kendall  made  a  practical  suggestion  which  it  is  hoped  may  be 
heeded,  for  it  would  greatly  encourage  and  help  the  schools  if  archi- 
tects should  adopt  the  plan  of  seeking  assistants  directly  from  their 
graduates.  I  am  yours,  etc.,  F.  A.  WRIGHT. 


STORIES  OF  Two  GREEK  NUMISMATISTS. —  Some  forty- four  years  ago 
there  appeared  in  London  a  young  Greek  gentleman  called  Timoleon 
Pericles  Blasto.  He  came  to  London  highly  recommended  by  more 
than  one  foreigner  of  distinction,  and  thus  got  permission  to  study 
the  collection  of  Greek  coins  in  the  British  Museum.  He  very  soon 
proved  to  the  officers  in  charge  of  the  medal  room  that  he  was  an  ac- 
complished numismatist.  His  knowledge  of  coins  was  great,  his  devotion 
to  the  subject  greater;  for  a  whole  month  he  came  every  day  to  study  the 
magnificent  collection  accumulated  ever  since  the  time  of  Payne  Knight. 
His  manners  were  ingenuous,  and  ladies  thought  him  quite  fascinating. 
At  the  end  of  the  month,  just  before  he  left  England,  an  accidental 
discovery  revealed  that  a  rare  Greek  coin  was  missing.  Further  search 
disclosed  the  fact  that  a  large  number  of  the  rarest  coins  had  vanished, 
and  had  in  many  cases  been  replaced  by  inferior  specimens.  The  au- 
thorities of  the  museum  were  appalled  ;  but  fortunately  they  lost  no 
time  in  putting  their  case  in  the  hands  of  the  ablest  detective  then 
known  at  Scotland  Yard,  the  celebrated  Mr.  Field.  By  a  dexterous 
coup  de  main  Mr.  Field  captured  in  a  few  hours  Timoleon  Pericles  and 
all  his  booty.  He  was  tried  at  the  Old  Bailey,  pleaded  guilty,  and  con- 
victed. His  sentence  was  seven  years'  transportation,  which  of  course 
was  commuted  on  account  of  his  exemplary  conduct.  He  was  consigned 
to  the  model  prison  at  Pentonville,  where  he  was  seen  by  sympathetic 
lady  visitors  reading  Sophocles  and  Kuripides  in  his  cell.  Before  his 
trial  he  tried  to  avert  the  operation  of  the  law  against  felons,  as  it  then 
stood,  by  conveying  all  his  goods  and  chattels  to  a  friend  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  day  of  his  conviction.  But  British  law  was  equal  to  the  oc- 
casion. The  conveyance  of  his  property  was  pronounced  null  and  void, 
because  the  Court  said  that  there  was  no  such  thing  as  a  half  or  fraction 
of  a  day.  He  was  convicted  on  a  given  day,  therefore  the  conveyance 
executed  on  the  morning  of  the  same  day  was  void.  Thereupon  his 
coins,  as  the  property  of  a  felon,  were  forfeit  to  the  Crown,  and  were 
handed  over  to  the  Treasury ;  which,  after  restoring  to  the  British  Mu- 
seum all  they  claimed,  proceeded  to  invite  other  claimants  to  prove 
their  ownership.  In  due  course  the  residue,  consisting  of  some  rare 
coins,  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Treasury  unclaimed,  and  were  ulti- 
mately handed  over  to  the  British  Museum.  I  will  not  pursue  the 
career  of  Timoleon  Pericles  further,  except  to  say  that  his  memory  was 
honored  in  the  Levant  with  that  of  other  victims  of  British  law,  and 
that  one  of  his  old  friends  at  Smyrna  said  of  him,  "  Cependant  c'etait 
un  charmant  garcon."  The  other  distinguished  numismatist  who  has 
this  year  rivalled  the  exploits  of  Timoleon  Pericles,  is  a  Greek  whose 
name  I  withhold  because  he  will  probably  be  the  subject  of  a  criminal 
prosecution  at  Paris  before  long,  and  also  perhaps  in  Greece.  Some 
time  ago  it  was  announced  that  all  the  rarest  coins  in  the  national  col- 
lection at  Athens  had  been  stolen  ;  and  this  was  followed  shortly  after- 
wards by  the  news  that  MM.  Rollin  and  Feuardent,  the  well-known  an- 
tiquaires  of  Paris,  had  been  robbed  of  a  collection  of  Greek  and  Roman 
gold  coins  valued  at  .£20,000.  The  police  of  Paris  soon  got  on  the 
track,  and,  swooping  down  on  the  culprit  found  in  his  lodgings  nearly 
all  the  coins  stolen  from  MM.  Rollin  and  Feuardent.  These  on  exami- 
nation proved  to  be  identical  with  the  coins  previously  stolen  from  the 
museum  at  Athens.  It  seems  that  the  thief  escaped  from  Athens  with 
his  booty,  sold  it  to  MM.  Rollin  and  Feuardent,  and  then,  getting  into 
their  premises,  recaptured  it,  with  a  view,  probably,  of  reselling  the 
coins  in  America.  The  saddest  part  of  the  whole  story  is  that  the  two 
keepers  of  the  Athenian  Museum,  who  have  always  up  to  this  date 
had  a  high  character  for  integrity,  have  in  consequence  of  this  mishap 
"got  the  sack." — B.  B.,  in  St.  James's  Gazette. 


SPONTANEOUS  COMBUSTION. —  The  Gage  Tool  Company,  of  Vineland, 
N.  J.,  writes  thus  to  the  American  Machinist: 

In  1883  the  subject  of  spontaneous  combustion  was  brought  to  our 
attention  by  the  sweepings  from  the  floor  of  our  factory  developing  an 
alarming  increase  in  heat  when  placed  in  heaps.  The  floor  had  been 
sprinkled  and  the  sweepings  were  moist.  During  the  afternoon  they  be- 
gan to  heat,  and  a  thermometer  placed  in  the  pile,  after  it  had  been  dis- 
turbed, indicated  about  200°  F.  It  being  time  to  close  the  factory  for 
the  night,  the  sweepings  were  thrown  out.  One  day  during  the  next 
year  a  peculiar  odor  was  noticed  in  the  factory,  which  increased  and  be- 
came very  unpleasant.  This  was  found  to  emanate  from  a  barrel  of 
shavings  and  chips  from  the  boring  and  mortising  machines.  Those 
shavings  and  chips  are  removed  from  the  throats  of  our  plane  stocks, 
which  are  previously  saturated  with  warm  linseed  oil.  When  the  cover 
was  removed  from  the  barrel,  the  fumes  were  quite  strong ;  the  shavings 
were  so  hot  that  the  hand  could  not  he  held  in  them  without  being 
burned.  This  barrel  was  removed  to  a  vacant  lot,  covered  with  an  oil- 
cloth, and  left.  That  night,  during  a  heavy  storm,  the  cover  was  blown 
off,  and  the  shavings  wet.  They  kept  hot  a  long  time  but  did  not  char. 
We  then  directed  the  removal  from  the  building  of  all  shavings  and 
sawdust  made  from  oiled  wood  as  soon  as  made.  During  one  day  last 


MAY  lt»,  1888.] 


The,   American   Architect   and  IhiUding  News. 


230 


year  we  had  Keen  sawing  the  oiled  plane  stocks,  anil  at  night,  when  re- 
niiiviiiu'  tlic  linx  under  tin-  saw  containing  the  sawdust  that  had  fallen 
into  it  during  the  day,  it  wns  noticed  to  be  very  hot.  It  was  placed  at 
a  safe  distair-e  t'rinii  the  huliding,  and  in  the  morning  the  sawdust  was 
burning.  A  liyht,  ini.-iy  rain  had  set  in  during  the  night.  The  tire 
«,-i<  extinguished,  but  the  rain  continued  and  increased.  Before  noon 
the  dust  was  burning  again.  During  the  month  of  June  last  we  were 
planing  our  oiled  stocks  on  a  hand  (or  buzz)  planer,  and  (on  June  Kith ) 
filled  four  sugar  barrels  with  the  shavings.  Water  had  been  spilled  on 
some  of  the  shavings  that  were  put  in  oue  of  these  barrels,  and  the.-c 
shavings  soon  began  to  bent.  A  thermometer  placed  among  these 
shavings  indicated  a  rapidly  rising  temperature,  and  at  6  r.  M.,  of  the 
next  day  the  shavings  at  the  top  of  the  barrel  began  to  char.  They 
were  then  placed  outdoors  under  a  wrought-iron  boiler  bonnet,  and 
covered  with  a  metal  plate.  The  next  morning,  upon  removing  the 
metal  plate,  we  found  that  the  shavings  were  charred  and  had  shrunk 
into  a  cylinder-shaped  mass,  with  a  three-inch  space  between  it  ami  the 
sides  of  the  barrel,  making  the  shrinkage  six  inches  across  the  top.  Up- 
on disturbing  the  mass  it  broke  into  tlum*  -.  Later  in  the  day  sawdust 
(from  oiled  beechwood)  that  had  been  deposited  in  a  box  as  it  left  the 
saw  the  day  before,  began  to  burn,  setting  fire  to  the  pine  box  contain- 
ing the  dust.  This  box,  with  the  (lust,  had  been  placed  in  an  old  iron 
smoke-stack  lying  upon  the  ground  at  a  distance  from  the  buildings. 

TUB  LATE  PROFESSOR  HIIUSK'S  WORK.  —  1'rofessor  Brune,  says  R. 
Pluiir  Spiers  in  the  II.  I.  B.  A.  Journal,  was  not  only  a  mathematician 
of  the  first  class,  but  also  an  eminent  and  a  most  original  artist.  He 
commenced  bis  career  in  the  Eeolc  Polytechnique,  from  which  school 
he  passed  out  in  the  first  rank  —  a  position  equivalent  to  a  Cambridge 
wrangler.  His  artistic  preferences,  however,  inclined  him  to  study  for 
the  architectural  profession.  He  accordingly  entered  the  atelier  of  the 
late  Monsieur  Questel  in  1868,  and  somewhat  astonished  that  eminent 
principal  by  asking  him  how  many  years  it  would  take  to  carry  off  the 
Grand  Prix,  that  being  a  prize  awarded  every  year,  and  for  which  the 
whole  architectural  talent  of  France  is  put  into  competition.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  M.  Brune  carried  off  with  ease  every  medal  of  the 
school,  passed  into  the  first  class,  and  eventually  carried  off  the  (Irand 
Prix  in  18(53,  that  is  to  say,  five  years  after  his  admission  into  the 
school — being  about  the  shortest  period  on  record,  at  least  in  late 
years.  .  .  .  His  Grand  Prix  drawings  astonished  the  painter-mem- 
bers of  the  Institut  de  France  by  the  marvellous  proportioning  of  the 
figures  in  the  vault  covering  the  Great  Hull  in  his  design,  which  was  for 
the  "  staircase  of  a  royal  palace."  The  most  remarkable  drawings  he 
executed  in  Rome  were  those  of  the  Pantheon,  which  he  selected  as  his 
measured-drawing  subject.  Instead  of  the  conventional  method  of 
shading,  with  the  shadows  projected  at  45  degrees,  he  copied  the  actual 
effects  of  shade  as  seen  in  the  Pantheon  itself;  tlie  marble  columns 
were  reproduced  with  a  fidelity  which  would  have  delighted  the  heart 
of  Mr.  Alma  Taclema,  R.  A.  In  18(!5-(W>  he  visited  Egypt,  and  meas- 
ured Karnak,  Medinet  Habou,  and  other  Kgyptian  temples,  which  were 
subsequently  published  in  Mariette  Bey's  work  without  any  mention 
being  made  of  their  author.  On  his  return  to  France,  in  18(>ti,  having 
some  small  property  of  his  own,  he  allowed  two  or  three  years  to  pass 
without  taking  up  any  serious  work  ;  but  on  the  death  of  the  Professor 
of  Construction  at  the  Kcole  des  Beaux-Arts  he  was  persuaded  to  allow 
himself  to  be  appointed  to  the  post,  and  commenced  the  remarkable 
C'ours  which  has  just  been  published.  Later  on,  he  was  appointed  ar- 
chitect to  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture  —  a  new  building  in  the  Rue  St. 
Germain  now  being  erected  ;  and  his  last  work  was  the  house  of  Presi 
dent  (Jrevy  on  the  Trocadero  —  a  building  which,  though  simple  and 
unpretending  on  the  outside,  in  its  internal  decoration  and  architect- 
ural treatment  is  one  of  the  boldest  and  finest  of  modern  days.  The 
"('ours  de  Construction  "  just  published  is  interesting,  as  showing  the  very 
high  standard  of  acquirements  to  which  the  architectural  student  in 
France  is  expected  to  attain.  There  are  probably  few  engineers  in 
England  who  would  be  able  to  enter  so  minutely,  and  with  such  mathe- 
matical knowledge,  into  the  various  calculations  made  for  iron  con- 
struction of  every  kind.  A  second  volume,  dealing  with  stone 
construction,  will  probably  follow. 

THE  "CHAIN  PIER,"  BRIGHTON. —  One  of  the  most  interesting  land- 
marks of  Brighton,  the  Chain  Pier,  is  threatened  with  extinction,  as  is 
mentioned  in  a  paragraph  headed  "Brighton,"  in  our  "Provincial 
News  "  this  week.  The  Daily  News  says  that  of  late  years  the  pier  has 
suffered  by  the  competition  offered  by  its  newer  and  larger  rival,  and 
by  the  westward  course  of  fashion,  but  at  one  time  it  enjoyed  a  monop- 
oly of  patronage,  and  was  almost  as  favorite  an:l  as  fashionable  a 
resort  as  the  Steine  was  in  the  days  of  the  Regency.  Thackeray  men- 
tions more  than  once  in  his  letters  how  he  used  to  go  on  the  pier  in  a 
bath-chair  to  recuperate  when  he  came  down  to  Brighton  fagged  out. 
This  was  in  1849.  Six  years  earlier  the  pier  (at  that  time  used  for  a 
packet  service  between  Brighton-  and  Dieppe,  before  the  Newhaven 
route  was  developed)  was  the  scene  of  an  event  of  special  interest,  inas- 
much as  Queen  Victoria  started  thence  on  her  first  journey  out  of  Eng- 
land, and  went  to  visit  Louis  Philippe,  King  of  the  French.  At  this 
time  the  Princess  Royal  (now  the  Empress  of  Germany),  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  and  the  late  Princess  Alice  were  staying  in  Brighton  at  the 
Royal  Pavilion,  and  the  Queen,  on  her  return  from  the  Continent, 
landed  from  the  Royal  yacht  at  the  Chain  Pier,  and  accompanied  by 
the  Prince  de  Joinville,  paid  another  visit  to  Brighton.  In  September 
of  the  same  year  she  embarked  from  the  Chain  Pier  to  visit  the  King 
and  Queen  of  the  Belgians.  These  were  the  palmy  times  of  the  pier, 
which  had  then  been  open  about  twenty  years,  having  been  completed, 
at  a  cost  of  30,0001.,  in  1821),  from  plans  by  Captain  Samuel  Browne. 
The  graceful  curves  of  the  suspensory  chains,  and  the  blackened  tim- 
bers which  support  the  four  towers,  and  the  deck  at  the  head,  are 
familiar  enough  to  Brighton  visitors,  and  the  structure  hns  compared 
inure  than  favoiably,  in  picturesque  appearance,  with  pleasure  piers  of 
later  date.  When  erected,  it  was  regarded  not  only  as  a  thing  of  beauty 
but  as  a  triumph  of  engineering  skill,  and  it  certainly  stood  the  test  of 
time  and  the  buffets  of  the  waves  in  the  manner  at  once  satisfactory 


and  remarkable.  Twice,  however,  it  seemed  to  have  reached  a  crisis, 
as  it  was  severely  damaged  in  November,  1830,  and  again  in  October, 
1838,  on  one  occasion  being  cut  asunder  by  a  tremendous  storm,  but, 
being  repaired,  it  has  since  sustained,  unharmed,  the  shocks  of  the 
severest  tempests. —  The  liuilder. 

THK  DEATH  OF  LIIDWIO  NOHF.I..  —  The  engineering  profession  has 
suffered  a  severe  loss  in  the  death  of  Mr.  Ludwig  Nobel  at  Cannes. 
The  son  of  a  Swedish  engineer,  who  invented  and  placed  in  the  chan- 
nels of  Cronstadt  the  "  infernal  machines  "  which  annoyed  Sir  Charles 
Napier  so  much,  he  received  a  practical  training  as  engineer,  and  not- 
withstanding a  temporary  check  experienced  by  the  failure  of  his 
father,  he  managed  by  hard  work  and  economy  to  recover  in  time  the. 
ironworks  his  father  had  lost,  and  extended  them  to  their  present  pro- 
portions at  St.  Petersburg.  But  it  was  less  in  his  own  profession  than 
outside  it  that  he  was  destined  to  achieve  distinction,  although  it  was 
his  engineering  capacity  that  equipped  him  for  the  revolution  he  ac- 
complished in  the  oil  trade.  In  this  respect  his  career  was  a  striking 
illustration  of  the  influence  a  modern  engineer  can  exercise  upon  a 
purely  commercial  pursuit.  Quite  by  chance,  in  1870,  he  was  led  by 
his  brother,  whom  he  had  sent  to  the  Caucasus  in  search  of  walnut 
wood  for  the  stocks  of  the  Berdan  rifles  he  was  manufacturing  for  the 
Government,  to  invest  a  few  thousands  in  A  small  Baku  oil  refinery. 
This  failing  to  yield  much  profit,  owing  to  the  difficulties  of  transport, 
Mr.  Ludwig  Nobel  applied  himself  seriously  to  solve  some  of  them, 
and  by  degrees  was  drawn  completely  into  the  petroleum  business.  The 
innovations  he  introduced  in  the  shape  of  pipe-lines,  tank-steamers,  and 
tank-cars  for  railways  not  only  in  a  few  short  years  revolutionized  the 
oil  trade  of  Russia,  but  that  of  the  whole  of  Europe;  the  elaborate 
system  of  transport  in  bulk  he  established,  coupled  with  the  copious 
supply  of  cheap  oil,  enabling  Russian  petroleum  to  penetrate  to  every 
town  on  the  Continent,  and  even  flood  the  more  distant  market  of 
India.  The  enormous  magnitude  to  which  his  undertaking  rapidly  ex- 
panded, until  the  few  thousands  he  embarked  in  the  business  developed 
to  a  capital  of  three  millions  sterling,  was  told  in  these  columns  three 
years  ago  by  Mr.  Charles  Marvin,  whose  "  Petroleum  Industry  of 
Russia"  contained  in  all  engineering  essentials  the  story  of  the  Baku 
oil-king's  extraordinary  career.  To-day  the  Nobel  firm  owns  the 
largest  oil  refinery  in  the  world,  the  largest  fleet  of  tank-steamers, 
thousands  of  oil  trucks,  and  depots  holding  tens  of  millions  of  gallons' 
of  oil.  That  so  much  should  have  been  achieved  in  a  little  more  than 
ten  years  is  a  remarkable  testimony  to  the  power  of  organization  Lud- 
wig Nobel  possessed  to  an  eminent  degree,  while  the  wealth  he  amassed 
in  a  pursuit  wherein  merchants  had  either  failed  or  made  but  a  miser- 
able income,  shows  what  may  be  achieved  by  the  enterprising  and 
skilled  engineer  in  departments  of  trade  conventionally  supposed  to 
belong  to  merchants  only.  —  Engineering. 

MORE  MYTHS  FROM  THE  MAYAS.  —  The  Garden  of  Eden  is  given  a 
new  location  —  in  Central  America  —  by  Mme.  Alice  Le  Plongeon,  who 
with  her  husband,  Dr.  Le  Plongeon,  the  eminent  man  of  science,  spent 
fourteen  years  in  Yucatan,  studying  the  antiquities  of  that  country. 
Mine.  Le  Plongeon  is  also  a  firm  believer  in  the  submerged  continent, 
Atlantis,  which  Ignatius  Donnelly  wrote  about  before  he  began  to  an- 
nihilate Shakespeare.  She  says  that  among  the  manuscripts  of  the 
Mayas,  the  prehistoric  inhabitants  of  Yucatan,  is  an  account  of  the 
sinking  of  Atlantis,  which  once  joined  America  to  the  western  coast  of 
Africa  and  Europe.  Other  Maya  writings  give  us,  she  asserts,  the 
whole  history  of  the  intellectual  development  of  the  human  family, 
free  from  all  priestly  or  philosophic  tinkering.  The  palaces  and  tem- 
ples of  the  ancient  race  arc  situated  in  almost  inaccessible  forests,  and 
the  Spaniards  are  worse  than  indifferent  in  respect  to  archaeological  re- 
searches. They  are  unwilling  to  have  their  land  disturbed  for  the  sake 
of  digging  up  a  few  more  antiquities.  Mme.  Le  Plongeon  hopes  that 
when  her  husband's  book  about  Yucatan  appears,  as  it  will  shortly, 
wide  interest  will  be  awakened  in  the  matter  of  further  investigations'. 
The  two  explorers  brought  back  with  them  to  New  York  2(XK)  photo- 
graphs of  the  pre-historic  edifices,  and  hundreds  of  drawings  and 
models.  Among  the  latter  is  a  representation  of  the  mausoleum  of 
King  Caw,  the  first  ruler  of  the  Mayas.  Mme.  Le  Plongeon  thinks 
that  this  could  be  reproduced  exactly  in  Central  Park,  forming  an 
object  lesson  in  the  religion  and  customs  of  the  race.  She  became  in- 
terested in  the  old  civilizations  of  Central  America  from  her  study  of 
the  relics  in  the  British  museum,  and  went  from  London  to  Yucatan  at 
the  age  of  nineteen,  just  after  her  marriage.  She  learned  Spanish  and 
the  Maya  tongue,  which  she  says  is  very  much  like  Greek,  ami  which 
is  still  spoken  by  the  natives.  Making  due  allowance  for  the  exagger- 
ations caused  by  her  enthusiasm,  the  field  in  which  she  and  her  hus- 
band have  been  working  is  a  valuable  one,  and  they  should  receive  en- 
couragement from  rich  people  interested  in  archaeological  matters.  — 
Sprint/field  Kf/Hitilican. 

THE  WASTE  OF  OIL  AT  BAKU.  — The  cost  of  sinking  a  well  at  Baku 
ranges  from  .£1,000  to  .£1,500.  What  can  be  obtained  for  such  an  ex- 


ply  kept  underground  for  further  wants.  The  total  amount  of  oil 
spouted  by  this  well,  according  to  the  lowest  estimate,  was  22(1,1*10 
tons,  or  65,000,000  gallons,  and  according  to  the  highest,  00,000  tons, 
or  125,000,000  gallons.  Had  the  oil  been  in  America,  it  would  have 
realized  a  million  sterling.  At  Baku  the  bulk  of  it  was  lost.  The  same 
was  the  case  with  the  great  Markoff  fountain  last  year,  which  spouted 
oil  and  sand  400  feet  high  —  a  veritable  volcano.  On  windy  days  the 
nil  spray  was  carried  eight  miles  away.  The  Markoff  fountain  was 
situated  not  far  off  the  Droojba,  which  pessimists  had  prognosticated 
erroneously  would  drain  the  whole  area.  On  this  occasion  the  Russian 
Government,  which  had  been  angered  by  the  waste  of  oil  from  the 
Tagioff  fountain  —  which  spouted  11,000  tons  a  day  the  previous  year, 
and  endangered  the  town  of  Baku  by  raining  oil  upon  it,  although 


240 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.       [VOL.  XXIII.—  No.  647. 


three  miles  away —  gave  permission  to  the  other  Baku  firms  to  lynch 
the  "gusher  "  at  the  owner's  expense.  Accordingly  they  sent  tlieir  best 
engineers  to  the  spot,  and  after  several  unsuccessful  attempts  the  well 
was  finally  capped  over,  and  a  stop  put  to  the  disgraceful  waste  of  oil. 
All  the  same,  no  law  exists  to  prevent  any  foreigner  or  Russian  repeat- 
ing the  same  destruction  to-morrow.  Large  firms,  like  Nobel  Brothers, 
mostly  manage  to  have  good  engineers,  and  the  best  appliances  on  the 
spot  to  check  a  "  gusher  "  at  the  outset,  and  allow  the  supply  to  flow  as 
they  want  it ;  but  the  native  firms  bore  heedlessly,  and  for  want  of 
"caps"  at  the  right  moment,  all  control  is  lost  over  the  well,  and  it 
belches  forth  millions  of  gallons  of  oil,  forming  rivers  that  flow  away 
to  the  Caspian  Sea  or  sink  into  the  earth  again.  To-day's  telegrams 
from  Baku  announce  that  such  a  one  is  spouting  at  the  present  moment, 
causing  the  price  of  crude  oil  to  fall  to  twenty  gallons  for  a  penny.  If 
there  happens  to  be  a  slight  rise  in  the  price  of  oil  —  i.  e.,  if  it  rises 
above  a  penny  for  ten  gallons  —  the  large  firms  build  reservoirs  and 
catch  some  of  the  oil,  for  which  they  pay  a  mere  trifle;  but  if  oil  is 
plentiful  at  the  moment,  no  attempt  is  made  to  store  it  at  all.  Since 
1871,  when  the  first  well  was  sunk,  500  bores  have  been  made,  of  which 
200  are  in  operation,  producing,  irrespective  of  fountains,  500,000,000 
gallons  of  oil  every  year.  —  Glasgow  Ilerald. 

CLEANING  METAL  AND  STONEWORK. —  During  the  year  1886  the 
masonry  and  ironwork  of  the  Madrid  and  Bandin  bridges  at  Paris  were 
thoroughly  cleansed  by  Messrs.  Mathieu  and  Peignc,  who  work  the 
patent  processes  of  M.  Liebhabcr.  These  processes,  which  are  purely 
chemical  in  their  nature,  were  at  first  applied  solely  to  the  cleaning  of 
limestones,  but  in  these  bridges  materials  of  a  very  different  nature 
were  successfully  dealt  with.  The  surfaces  to  be  cleansed  are  submitted 
to  the  action  of  a  jet  of  mixed  hydrochloric  and  sulphuric  acids,  and 
left  for  two  or  three  hours,  when  they  are  well  brushed,  and  finally 
washed  down  with  a  water-jet,  which  completes  the  process.  In  the 
case  of  limestone  masonry,  the  hydrochloric  acid  unites  with  the  cal- 
cium, forming  chloride  of  lime,  which  is  then  decomposed  by  the  sul- 
phuric acid  forming  a  calcium  sulphate,  this  being  precipitated  on  the 
face  of  the  stone,  and  containing  all  the  impurities,  which  are  then 
removed  by  the  action  of  the  brush  and  of  the  water-jet.  In  many 
cases  this^acid  treatment  will  not  succeed  unless  the  stone  is  previously 
prepared" as  the  masonry  frequently  becomes  coated  with  a  black  and 
shining  deposit  of  all  the  impurities  contained  in  the  atmosphere  or"  a 
large  town,  which  entirely  prevents  the  acids  reaching  the  stone.  In 
this  case  M.  de  Liebhaber,  before  applying  the  acids,  covers  the  stone 
with  an  alkaline  paste,  consisting  of  a  mixture  of  carbonate  of  soda  and 
calcium  hydrate,  which  he  has  named  "  tolugene."  This  paste  is 
spread  over  the  face  of  the  masonry  with  a  trowel,  to  a  thickness  of 
from  1-2  to  1  millimetre,  and  left  there  for  from  three-quarters  of  an 
hour  to  an  hour,  when  the  excess  is  quickly  washed  down  and  brushed 
off,  and  the  acids  applied  as  previously  described.  In  cleaning  iron- 
work the  "  tolugene  "  alone  is  used  ;  it  is  spread  over  the  work  either 
with  trowel  or  brush,  and  in  the  course  of  an  hour  or  so  will  have  united 
with  all  the  oil  of  the  paint,  leaving  the  red-lead  on  the  work  in  the 
form  of  a  dry  powder,  which  can  be  easily  washed  off  with  a  jet  of 
water.  The  metal  is  said  to  be  cleansed  much  better  than  by  the  older 
method  of  burning  and  scraping  off  the  paint.  For  cleansing  brickwork 
M.  de  Liebhaber  makes  use  of  the  property  which  hydrofluoric  acid 
possesses  of  separating  the  silica  from  silicates.  The  work  is  first 
painted  with  a  solution  of  ammonium  fluoride,  and  this  immediately 
afterwards  is  treated  with  a  jet  of  concentrated  sulphuric  acid,  which 
liberates  hydrofluoric  acid  in  situ,  and  this  immediately  attacks  the  sili- 
cates, robbing  them  of  their  silica.  The  whole  surface  is  afterwards 
thoroughly  "washed  with  water.  With  regard  to  the  cost  of  the  pro- 
cesses, a  total  of  502  square  yards  of  masonry,  of  which  about  165  were 
sandstone,  were  treated  at  the  Madrid  Bridge  at  a  cost  of  from  6.7d.  to 
8.4d.  per  square  yard,  and  brickwork  at  the  Baudin  Bridge  cost  8.4d.  per 
square  yard,  the  prices  including  the  cost  of  erection  of  such  scaffold- 
ing as  was  necessary.  With  regard  to  the  ironwork,  the  contract  price 
was  lOd.  per  square  yard  for  plain  work,  and  Is.  3d.  per  square  yard  for 
moulded  work,  but  the  contractors  are  said  to  have  lost  money  in  carry- 
ing out  this  part  of  their  contract. —  Engineering. 

THE  INVENTOR  OF  THE  ELECTRIC  LIGHT. —  The  following  letter  has 
been  addressed  to  The  Pall  Mall  Gazette,  by  the  Rev.  G.  H.  Staite,  vicar 
of  Sutton  Cheney,  Hinckley  :  — 

Knowing  your  love  of  fair  play  and  readiness  to  ventilate  hidden 
grievances,  I  venture  to  ask  the  insertion  of  this  letter,  in  the  belief 
that  if  the  facts  were  known  some  among  your  many  readers  would  be 
inclined  to  entertain  the  claims  of  the  family  of  a  man  who  spent  his 
life  and  fortune  on  a  recognized  public  work  of  the  greatest  importance. 
My  father  was  the  originator  of  electric  lighting,  his  exhibitions  ex- 
tending from  1847  to  shortly  before  his  death  in  1854.  During  that  in- 
terval he  expended  a  considerable  fortune,  and  left  his  family  penniless. 
There  are  at  the  present  time  his  widow,  aged  80,  two  daughters,  and 
myself.  That  our  claims  to  recognition  are  not  unfounded  will  be  seen 
from  the  following  testimony:  —  Professor  Tyndall — "Fragments  of 
Science,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  424 : — "To  keep  the  carbons  at  the  proper  distance 
under  regulators  were  devised,  the  earliest,  I  believe,  by  Staite." 
"Haydn's  Dictionary  of  Dates,"  later  editions,  "Electric  Light:  ap- 
paratus for  regulating  the  electric  light  were  devised  in  1846  and  shown 
by  Staite  and  Petrie  in  1848."  Urquhart,  "  Electric  Light,"  edited  by 
Webb,  1880,  page  161 :  "  Staite  and  Edwards  patented  an  electric  regu- 
lator based  upon  the  heating  and  expansion  of  metals  by  the  current  to 
be  regulated.  This  idea,  beautiful  in  itself,  is  really  the  original  of  the 
regulators  used  to-day,  and  the  self-same  principle  is  employed  by  Mr. 
Edison."  And  Dr.  Siemens,  page  173:  "Staite  as  early  as  1847 
patented  a  lamp  in  which  the  lower  carbon  is  controlled  by  a  movable 
soft  iron  core  acted  on  by  a  hollow  electro-magnet."  Fontaine  and  Du 
Moncel  give  similar  testimony.  The  priority  of  the  principle  of  auto- 
matic regulation,  the  sine  qua  non  of  electric  lighting,  was  decided  in 
my  father's  favor  by  the  French  Academy  of  Science,  as  recorded  in  Le 
Courrier  Franyais,  February  4,  1849.  Of  his  many  patents  and  im- 
provements no  use  could  be  made  by  his  family ;  practically,  as  far  as 
they  were  concerned,  they  died  with  my  father,  although  they  were  and 


are  still  available  for  subsequent  workers  in  the  same  field.  His  family 
feel  that  they  have  entirely  lost  their  fortune  through  his  public  enter- 
prise. All  their  money,  consisting  of  thousands  of  pounds,  was  sunk, 
and  by  the  premature  death  of  the  inventor  in  his  forty-second  year,  his 
and  their  hopes  of  any  pecuniary  return  were  irretrievably  lost.  It  is 
this  combination  of  facts  which  induces  me  to  write  this  appeal,  every 
point  of  which  I  shall  be  most  glad  to  substantiate  should  any  one  be 
kindly  induced  to  notice  it. 


GENERAL  trade  indications  are  more  encouraging  than  they  were  six  days 
ago.  The  effect  of  the  nearly  five  mouths'  restricted  production  is  being 
felt  in  trade  aud  manufacturing  channels  and  benefit  is  also  being  derived 
from  the  trade  combinations  which  have  been  formed.  A  third  improving 
influence  is  the  abundance  of  money  in  trade  channels,  or,  more  strictly 
speaking,  from  the  defined  policy  of  the  Government  in  reference  to  bond 
purchases.  A  fourth  benefit  is  felt  from  the  announced  iutentiou  of  rail- 
road builders  to  prosecute  construction  on  a  more  liberal  scale  than  for  the 
past  three  months.  The  industries  are  also  encouraged  by  the  receipt  of  a 
larger  amount  of  business  for  fall  aud  winter  delivery  than  was  expected 
thirty  days  ago.  A  number  of  minor  advastages  could  be  indicated,  all 
pointing  to  the  fact  that  there  is  an  enormous  capacity  for  consumption  iu 
the  country,  and  that  there  is  already  a  reaction  in  several  trade  channels. 
Nevertheless,  prices  are  declining;  the  sentiment  everywhere  is  in  favor  of 
letting  them  drop  to  their  very  lowest  limit  before  making  extensive  pur- 
chases or  entering  into  contracts  for  future  delivery.  The  disposition  of  the 
tariff  question,  in  a  week  or  two,  will  remove  one  obstacle  in  the  way  of 
enlarging  commercial  operations.  The  manufacturing  interests  are  gener- 
ally well  engaged.  Iron-makers  have  more  cause  for  complaint  than 
others;  prices  are  still  downward  in  both  crude  and  finished  material. 
Southern  iron  is  being  offered  in  Northern  markets,  but  its  effect  is  to  cre- 
ate apprehension,  rather  than  do  actual  harm  by  its  competition.  Recently 
published  iron-trade  .statistics  show  that  last  year's  pig-iron  production  was 
13  per  cent  greater  than  that  of  1886;  steel-rail  production  33  per  cent 
greater;  rolled-iron  production  13  per  cent  greater,  while  the  nail  output 
was  15  percent  less.  Prices  declined  during  the  year  from  £21 .50  for  No. 

I  anthracite  iron,  at  tide-water,  to  $19;  Gray  Forge,  from  $18.50  to  $10  50; 
steel  rails,  from  838.50  to  $31.50;  bac  iron,  from  $2.15  to   $1.'JO.    Total 
imports  of  iron  and  steel  aud  iron  ore  during  the  past  vear  amounted  to 
over  8100.000.000;  consumption  of  iron  ore  last  year,  12,500.000  tons,  of 
which  1.200,000  tons  came  from  abroad.     During  the  early  part  of  last  year 
wages  advanced ;  during  the  early  part  of  the  present  year  they  declined  as 
much.    The  actual  consumption  of  pig-iron  last  year  was  (i, 800  000  tqns 
against  6,191,354  tons  in  1886,  and  4,348.844  tons  in  1885.    There  are  at 
present  43  Bessemer  steel-works  in  the  United  States,  with  89  converters ; 

II  new  Bessemer  steel-works  were  completed   last  year.     Railroad  and 
financial  developments  are  all  of  an  encouraging  character;  bank  state- 
ments show  an  accumulation  of  over  $22,000,000  above  legal  requirement!*. 
Reports  from  106  railroads  for  April  show  gross  earnings  at  5*23,556.242, 
against  $22,814,206  (or  April,  1887,  their  mileage  increase  being  3,200  miles. 
For  the  first  four  months  of  the  year,  the  earnings  of  105  road?  are  reported 
at  $92,624,743,  against  $89,702.462  for  the  same  time  last  year.     Recently 
weekly  reports  also  show  a  gain  as  compared  to  last  year.     There  is  a  dis- 
position iu  railroad-building  circles,  to  undertake  the  prosecution  of  work 
in  several  localities  in  the  West  and  South,  where  the  indications  are  favor- 
able for  assured  traffic  upon  the  completion  of  lines.     Southern  railroad 
managers  intend  to  do  a  great  deal  of  building,  mainly  of  short  lines,  and 
indications  from  these  States,  for  the  past  week  or  two,  point  to  the  early 
commencement  of  the  work.    The  architect?  and  builders  in  some  localities 
areas  busy  as  last  year,  but  in  many  others  the  case  is  different.     New 
England  and  the  Middle  States  are  suffeiing  more  than  the  Western  and 
Southern  Suites,  but  in  certain  portions  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania 
there  is  fully  as  much  work  in  hand  now  as  last  year,  as  is  shown  by  a 
heavy  distribution  of  lumber,  lath,  slate,  cements,  inside  finishing  and  all 
other  building  materials.    In  the  Northwest,  according  to  indications  from 
Chicago,  St.  Paul,  Omaha  and  Kansas  City,  architects  have  a  great  deal  of 
work  in  sight,  and  the  season  will  be  a  busy  one  at  all  of  these  centres. 
The  distribution  of  lumber  is  not  as  profitable  as  last  year,  but  the  volume 
is  as  great.    A  great  amount  of  elevator  building  is  being  undertaken.     A 
great  deal  of   m;ichine-shop  aud  roun  1-hoiise  building  is  being  done  by 
Western  railroads.    The  phenomenal  activity  in  the  Southern  States  con- 
tinues, and  the  overflow  of  Northern  men  to  the  South  during  the  past  few 
months  has  laid  the  foundation  for  a  still  greater  influx  of  capital  and  enter- 
prise.   An  organized  attempt  has  been  made  to  influence  emigration  South- 
ward, and  an   office  has  been  opened  to  engineer  the  movement  in  New 
York  City.     It  will  be  difficult  to  overcome  the  preference  in  the  minds  of 
Europeans  for  the  great  West,  but  it  is  only  a  question  of  time  when  the 
advantages  of  Southern  locations  will  be  demonstrated  more  clearly.    The 
present  weekly  production  of  iron  in  the  United  Suites  is  122,552,  against 
138,514    tons    last    year.    The  erection  of  new   manufacturing  concerns 
throughout  the  country  still  continues.    The  manufacture  of  glass,  espe- 
cially window,  is  steadily  increasing,  gas-field  centres  being  selected  for 
new  enterpri.-es;  at  one  of  these  centres  there  are  now  twelve  works,  with 
several  new  enterprises  to  be  heard  from.    The  manufacture  of  engines, 
machinery,  tools  and  implements  of  all  kinds,  report  an  improving  inquiry 
for  nearly  all  kinds  of  work  within  the  past  week  or  two.   The  car-builders 
report  no  cessation  of  activity.    R-iilroad  managers  intimate  that  they  will 
place  large  orders  for  rolling-stock  this  fall  for  delivery  during  the  winter 
and  spring;  the  increasing  volume  of  traffic  justifies  this  prediction.     The 
downward  tendency  in  prices  will  probably  reach  its  extreme  limit  in  Octo- 
ber; the  placing  of  a  large  amount  of  business  and  delivery  next  spring  and 
summer  will   follow.    Quite  a  number  of  manufacturing  establishments, 
such  as  machine-shops,  car-works,  foundries  and  saw-mills,  are  starting  up 
in  the  far  West.     The  employment  of  capital  in  the  smaller  industries  is 
helping  to  tide  over  the  depression  in  other  branches.    The  business  inter- 
ests are  anxiously  awaiting  the  disposition  of  the  several  important  ques- 
tions now  before  Congress;  no  doubt  the  volume  of  business  is  from  five  to 
fifteen  per  cent  lighter  than  it  would  be  but  for  the  fact  that  there  are  issues 
to  be  decided  and  laws  to  pass  which  can  vitallv  affect  the  business  interests 
of  the  country.     But  with  all  the  uncertainties  there  is  an   undertone  of 
confidence  in  commercial,  manufacturing  and  railroad  circles  that  warrants 
the  belief  that  it  is  only  a  question  of  time  when  there  will  be  a  general 
improvement  iu  business,  manufacturing,  railroad  construction  and  in  all 
of  the  smaller  industi  ies. 

S.  J.  PAKKHILL  &  Co.,  Printers,  Boston. 


THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  AND  BUILDING  NEWS. 


VOL.  XXlil. 


Copyright.  1888,  by  TICKNOB  &  COMPANY,  Boston,  Ma 


No.  648. 


MAY     26.    1888. 


Entered  at  the  Pogt-Offlce  at  Boston  as  seoond-olaw  matter. 


SUMMARY:  — 

Death  of  Carl  Pfeiffer,  Architect.  —  Non-corrodible  Iron.  — 
Artistic  Metal  Work.  —  Bavarian  Wrought- Iron  Work. — 
Iron  Slag  Cement.  — The  Character  and  Properties  of  Slag 
Cement.  —  Military  Ballooning  by  the  Aid  of  Compressed 
Hydrogen.  —  "  Artists."  —  Proposed  Formation  of  a  Society 

of  Austrian  Engineers  and  Architects 241 

TUB  DECORATIVE  USE  or  COLOR 243 

COLOR  OP  FURNITURE 246 

ILLUSTRATIONS : — 

View  of  the  New  Public  Library,  Boston,  Mass. — Plans,  Sec- 
tion, Interior  Court-yard  and  Interior  of  Reading-room  of 

the  New  Public  Library,  Boston,  Mass 240 

TUB  ROTAL  ACADEMY,  LONDON 240 

A  PUBLIC  WORKS  DEPARTMENT  IN  TUB  UNITED  STATES.     .     .    .  247 

SPONTANEOUS  COMBUSTION  IN  SHIPS'  CARGOES. 248 

TUB  OLD  STATE-HOUSE  AT  RICHMOND,  VA 249 

DANGEROUS  WALL-PAPERS 249 

BOOKS  AND  PAPERS 260 

SOCIETIES 250 

COMMUNICATIONS  :  — 

Strengthening    Old    Floors.  —  Providence,    R.    I.,    Sewerage 

System 251 

NOTES  AND  CLIPPINGS 261 

TRADE  SURVEYS 252 


WE  regret  sincerely  to  hear  of  the  death  of  Mr.  Carl 
Pfeiffer,  a  distinguished  architect  of  New  York,  which 
occurred  very  suddenly  while  he  was  travelling  in  the 
South.  Mr.  Pfeiffer  was  born  in  Germany,  where  he  received 
a  very  thorough  education  as  an  engineer,  with  which  he 
joined,  as  is  not  unusual  in  Germany,  a  considerable  amount  of 
architectural  study.  He  came  to  this  country  about  twenty- 
five  years  ago,  and,  after  some  experience  in  the  West,  estab- 
lished himself  in  New  York  as  an  architect.  He  soon  gained 
high  distinction,  not  only  for  his  designs,  of  which  the  fine 
church  on  the  corner  of  Park  Avenue  and,  we  believe,  Thirty- 
fourth  Street,  is  an  example,  but  for  his  skill  in  interior 
arrangement,  and  in  heating  and  ventilating  his  buildings. 
His  most  noted  work  in  this  branch  of  the  science  of  architec- 
ture is,  perhaps,  the  church  known  as  Dr.  Hall's,  on  Fifth 
Avenue,  which  was  described  by  Captain  Douglas  Gallon,  one 
of  the  best  authorities  in  the  world  on  the  subject,  who  ex- 
amined the  church  with  great  interest,  not  only  as  far  superior 
in  warming  and  ventilation  to  any  European  structure  of  the 
kind,  but  as  presenting  a  perfection  in  these  respects  which  had 
not  even  been  dreamed  of  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic. 
We  cannot  here  attempt  to  give  a  list  of  Mr.  Pfeiffer's  works, 
which  include,  besides  many  private  houses,  hospitals,  churches, 
apartment-houses,  hotels  and  other  buildings,  but  in  all  of  them 
great  thoroughness  and  ingenuity  of  construction  were  added 
to  a  very  pure  taste,  both  in  composition  and  detail.  In  his 
professional  life,  Mr.  Pfeiffer  stood  among  the  first  for  his 
high-minded  enthusiasm  for  his  art,  his  strictly  honorable  prac- 
tice, and  his  devotion  to  professional  interests.  He  was  one  of 
the  earliest  members  of  the  American  Institute  of  Architects, 
and  was  always  active  on  committees,  or  in  other  ways,  where- 
ever  he  could  see  an  opportunity  for  advancing  professional 
ethics  or  efficiency.  He  was  one  of  the  first  to  welcome  the 
idea  of  a  society  for  mutual  defence,  as  adopted  by  the  French 
architects,  and  endeavored  to  interest  his  friends  in  it,  long 
before  it  was  taken  up  by  the  great  professional  societies. 
Although  his  health  was  always  delicate,  he  was  an  earnest 
student  as  well  as  an  active  practitioner,  and  to  a  profound 
knowledge  of  his  art  he  joined  a  refinement  and  courtesy  which 
gained  for  him  the  highest  regard  among  those  who  had  the 
pleasure  of  his  acquaintance. 


'7TT  the  risk  of  doing  some  unintentional  advertising,  we 
j\  would  like  to  call  the  attention  of  our  readers  to  the  new 
"  non-corrodible  "  irou  pipe  which  has  just  been  placed  on 
the  market.  It  is  furnished  in  cast-iron  for  waste-pipes  and  in 
wrought-iron  for  supply-pipes,  and  is  claimed  to  give  perfect 
protection  against  rust,  at  a  cost  little  greater  than  that  of  the 
unprotected  pipe.  The  process  is  said  to  consist  in  the  impreg- 


nation of  the  iron  with  hydrogen,  a  piece  of  metallurgy  which 
we  may  leave  to  experts  to  discuss,  but  if  the  treatment,  what- 
ever it  is,  will  really  permanently  prevent  wrought-iron  from 
rusting,  we  may  expect  to  see  a  rapid  revolution  in  domestic 
metal-work.  To  say  nothing  of  stoves  and  furnaces,  steam, 
hot-water  and  smoke  pipes,  if  small  hardware  can  be  properly 
protected  in  this  way,  most  architects  will  soon  begin  the  study 
of  wrought-iron  details  for  nearly  every  portion  of  their  build- 
ings. However  bright  and  attractive  brass  and  bronze  may  be, 
they  are  far  inferior  in  style  and  artistic  quality  to  wrought- 
iron,  and  the  day  that  sees  the  cheaper  metal  well  designed  and 
skilfully  executed,  freely  used  about  our  houses  will  be  a  happy 
one  for  architecture. 

IN  wrought  silver  and  metal  work,  much  of  which  now  is 
very  pretty,  the  processes  are  similar,  but  brazing,  or  join- 
ing with  hard  solder,  is  substituted  for  welding,  and  the 
articles  produced  liave  not  quite  the  homely  fascination  of  the 
irou  ones.  In  place  of  it,  however,  they  may  be  treated  with 
a  perfection  of  finish  unknown  to  iron.  In  imitation  of  the 
Japanese,  the  Germans,  and  still  more  the  Americans,  who 
surpass  them  in  their  treatment  of  silver,  decorate  the  metal 
with  enamels  of  different  colors,  or  with  tints  produced  by  the 
action  of  .sulphur,  or  by  simple  oxidation.  Besides  the  innocent 
pursuit  of  fine  art  in  hammered  silver,  copper  and  iron,  how- 
ever, the  Americans  exercise  another  industry  of  less  commen- 
dable character.  At  present,  particularly  in  Paris,  many  stat- 
uettes, ornaments  and  small  objects  are  made  of  cast  metal, 
bronze  or  zinc,  highly  finished  by  hand.  Specimens  of  the  best 
of  these  are  secured  by  agents  in  Paris  and  shipped  to  New 
York,  where  they  are  sawed  in  pieces,  the  pieces  used  as  pat- 
terns to  make  moulds  from,  and  great  numbers  of  castings  imme- 
diately turned  out,  which  are  soldered  together,  so  as  to  present 
a  tolerable  counterfeit  of  the  original  object.  There  is  a  dif- 
ference, since  the  reproduction  shows  only  coarse  traces  of  the 
beautiful  and  costly  hand  finishing  of  the  original,  but  the 
resemblance  is  close  enough  to  secure  a  sale  for  a  large  number 
of  copies  at  highly  remunerative  prices. 

IIE  Wiener  Bauindustrie-Zeitung  gives  a  curious  account 
of  the  present  practice  of  metal-work,  which,  we  must  not 
forget,  owes  its  revival  as  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  the 
smaller  arts  to  the  late  Violletrle-Duc,  who  educated,  with  in- 
finite pains,  a  small  body  of  iron-workers  until  they  were  cap- 
able of  appreciating,  and  in  some  degree  emulating,  the  skill 
of  the  mediaeval  blacksmiths.  Every  one  knows  that  in  Ger- 
many, particularly  about  Nuremberg,  wrought-iron  work  is 
now  produced  in  endless  variety,  which  possesses  a  charm 
hardly  found  in  any  other  detail  of  architecture,  and,  as  the 
Germans  themselves  think,  far  surpasses  in  interest  and  artistic 
value  the  brass  and  bronze  work  which  formerly  occupied  the 
place  into  which  it  is  now  rapidly  making  its  way.  With  the 
Bavarians  a  good  wrought-iron  chandelier  is  now  much  more 
highly  prized  than  one  of  brass  or  bronze ;  and  with  reason, 
for  the  intellectual  effort  required  to  execute  the  iron  one  is  of 
a  much  higher  order  than  is  needed  for  the  drudgery  of  filing 
and  polishing  brass ;  and  iron  candlesticks,  match-holders  and 
other  small  objects,  full  of  interest  and  style,  are  in  use  every- 
where as  ornaments.  It  is  interesting  to  know  that  for  a  good 
deal  of  this  sort  of  work  the  iron  is  manipulated  cold.  The 
smith  takes  a  piece  of  bar-iron,  and  hammers  and  draws  it 
while  hot  into  a  suitable  form,  avoiding  joints  and  knots.  He 
then  draws  on  a  piece  of  the  best  sheet-iron  the  outlines  of  a 
leaf  or  petal.  This  is  formed  on  the  anvil  to  the  modelling 
desired,  by  skilful  and  careful  hammering.  In  the  portions 
which  are  to  be  in  high  relief,  the  effect  of  the  tool  would  be 
to  draw  the  iron  out  too  thin,  or  even  to  punch  holes  in  it,  if  it 
were  not  so  handled  as  to  move  the  hot  metal  from  the  edges, 
where  some  thickness  can  be  spared,  to  the  central  portion  of 
the  depressions,  where  it  serves  to  reinforce  the  places  most 
stretched  in  working.  When  the  roughing-out  is  completed, 
the  leaf  then  varies  in  thickness  according  to  the  modelling  of 
its  surface.  The  veins  and  surface-markings  are  then  put  on 
by  punches,  and  the  edges  finished  with  the  file.  After  this  is 
done,  the  most  difficult  part  of  the  work,  the  welding  together 
of  the  petals  or  leaves  into  flowers  and  sprays,  yet  remains,  re- 
quiring sometimes  a  hundred  heatings  of  the  object,  which  must 
be  managed  within  very  narrow  limits,  so  as  not  to  burn  the 


242 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.    [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  648. 


metal  by  too  great  heat,  or  risk  imperfect  joining  by  keeping 
the  temperature  too  low.  A  second  touch  of  the  file,  with  a 
coat  of  fine  black  paint,  completes  one  of  the  most  charming 
little  objects  of  household  art  that  can  be  imagined. 

IIE  subject  of  the  manufacture  of  cement  from  iron  slag 
has  become  an  important  matter.  Not  long  ago  ground 
slag  was  often  added  to  Portland  cement,  but  was  virtually 
a  mere  adulteration,  injuring  the  quality  of  the  cement,  and 
useful  merely  as  a  means  of  defrauding  customers,  under  color 
of  a  theoretical  similarity  in  chemical  composition  between  the 
cement  and  slag,  which  might  be  quoted  with  good  effect  by_  a 
plausible  salesman ;  and  a  few  years  ago  a  convention  of  Ger- 
man cement  manufacturers  denounced  the  addition  of  slag  as 
dishonest  and  useless.  Now,  however,  by  persevering  effort, 
the  art  of  making  good  cement  from  slag  has  been  greatly 
developed,  and  it  seems  quite  probable  that  the  next  decade 
will  see  the  completion  of  two  great  industrial  achievements, 
the  production  of  a  cheap  and  excellent  cement  from  materials 
almost  everywhere  available,  and  the  profitable  utilization  of 
one  of  the  most  cumbersome  waste-products  known  to  the  arts. 
The  extent  of  the  resources  which  the  manufacturers  of  the 
new  cement  have  to  draw  upon  may  be  judged  from  the  fact 
that,  in  addition  to  the  mountains  of  iron  slag  which  already 
cover  the  smelting  districts  of  Great  Britain,  the  English 
furnaces  now  in  blast  furnish  nine  million  tons  of  fresh  slag 
every  year,  while  those  of  the  United  States  are  not  far  behind 
their  British  rivals,  and  the  French  and  German  furnaces  turn 
out  nearly  as  much  more.  As  a  barrel  of  cement  weighs  on  an 
average  about  four  hundred  pounds,  the  annual  British  product 
of  slag  alone,  if  it  could  all  be  utilized,  would  afford  forty-five 
million  barrels  of  cement  —  enough,  if  made  into  concrete,  to 
build  a  dike  fifty  feet  wide,  and  a  hundred  feet  high,  across  the 
English  Channel.  

WITHIN  certain  limits,  the  chemical  composition  of  iron 
slag  is  nearly  the  same  as  that  of  cement,  both  being 
composed  of  lime  and  clay,  with  a  little  magnesia  and 
alkali.  An  important  difference,  however,  consists  in  the 
relative  proportions  of  lime  and  clay,  the  foreign  Portland,  like 
our  Rosendale  cements,  containing  about  two-thirds  lime  to 
one-third  clay,  while  the  iron  slag  varies  from  equal  parts  of 
clay  and  lime,  in  that  from  hematite  ore,  to  one-third  lime  to 
nearly  two-thirds  clay,  in  the  Cleveland  ores.  As  it  is  well 
understood  that  cement,  either  natural  or  artificial,  containing 
more  than  one  part  clay  to  two  parts  of  lime  is  inert,  and  in- 
capable of  setting,  either  in  water  or  in  air,  the  solution  of  the 
problem  of  making  slags  into  good  cement  must  obviously  lie  in 
the  direction  of  adding  lime  to  it  in  sufficient  quantity  to  give 
the  proper  proportion  between  the  two  principal  ingredients. 
The  history  of  the  manufacture  of  Portland  cement  has  already 
shown  that  in  order  to  do  this  efficiently  an  extremely 
thorough  grinding  and  mixing  is  necessary ;  and  the  successful 
modern  processes  for  the  manufacture  of  slag  cement  secure 
this  in  various  ways.  The  process  now  in  most  extensive 
operation  appears  to  be  that  invented  by  Messrs.  Bosse  & 
Walters,  of  Brunswick,  in  which  the  slag,  hot  from  the 
furnace,  is  run  directly  into  cold  water.  This  has  the  effect  of 
granulating  it;  and  after  cooling,  and  drying  thoroughly,  the 
mass  is  coarsely  ground  and  sifted.  Meanwhile  one  part  of 
lime  to  every  three  parts  of  slag  has  been  slaked,  by  immersion 
in  water,  dried,  and  separated  by  a  fan  from  the  heavy  and  un- 
burnt  particles  which  may  have  been  contained  in  it.  The 
proper  quantities  of  sifted  slag  and  lime  powder  are  then  in- 
troduced into  a  corrugated  cylinder,  together  with  a  number  of 
small  cannon-balls,  an  inch  or  more  in  diameter.  After  turn- 
ing slowly  for  two  hours,  the  cylinder  is  found  to  be  filled  with 
a  very  intimate  admixture  of  the  slag  and  lime,  in  powder  so 
fine  that  most  of  it  will  pass  through  a  sieve  containing  forty 
thousand  meshes  to  the  square  inch.  This  is  the  slag  cement, 
ready  for  use.  In  rapidity  of  setting,  the  new  cement  re- 
sembles our  Rosendales  more  than  the  Portlands,  the  time  to 
the  first  induration  varying  from  two  to  eight  hours,  while 
Portland  cement  often  sets  in  half-an-hour.  In  use,  the  slag 
cement  resists  the  action  of  water  better  than  Portland,  and  it 
is  entirely  free  from  disposition  to  swell  in  setting.  In  tensile 
strength  the  Portland  cement  is  superior  for  the  first  month  or 
so  after  setting,  but  the  slag  cement  then  begins  to  gain ;  and 
a  few  months  later  the  strength  of  the  slag  cement,  either  pure 
or  mixed  with  sand,  is  in  some  cases  nearly  double  that  of 
Portland  cement.  In  other  respects,  the  two  sorts  of  cement 


closely  resemble  each  other,  so  that  the  slag  compound  seems  quite 
as  desirable  for  use  as  the  rather  uncertain  Portland,  while  the 
price  is  much  less,  mortar  made  with  three  parts  sand  costing 
now  only  two-thirds  as  much  with  slag  cement  as  with  Port- 
land, while  the  manufacturers  assert  that  with  a  little  more  ex- 
perience the  slag  cement  can  be  made  and  sold  at  a  profit  for 
ten  shillings  a  ton,  or  less  than  fifty  cents  a  barrel.  This  is 
little  more  than  one-half  the  price  of  our  native  Rosendale 
cements ;  and  if  the  iron  furnaces  of  Pennsylvania,  Ohio, 
Tennessee  and  Alabama  could  produce  a  first-rate  article,  at 
anything  like  the  same  price,  they  ought  to  find  the  profits  of 
their  business  materially  increased,  while  the  people  of  the 
country  would  be  benefited  by  having  one  of  the  best  and  most 
useful  of  building  materials  put  within  reach  of  the  slenderest 
purse. 

TITHE  Italian  army  which  has  recently  completed  its  rather 
•J/  innocuous  campaign  in  Abyssinia  was  equipped  with  mili- 
tary balloons,  managed  by  parties  properly  drilled  for  the 
service.  The  only  difficulty  about  using  this  very  modern 
weapon  in  the  African  wilderness  was,  very  naturally,  the  in- 
convenience of  carrying  with  the  expeditionary  troops  the 
apparatus  and  materials  necessary  for  producing  gas  for  in- 
flating the  balloons  ;  and,  according  to  the  Revue  Industrielle, 
the  Italian  military  engineers  solved  the  problem  by  carrying 
with  them  a  supply  of  hydrogen  gas,  compressed  into  steel 
tubes.  The  gas  was  made  at  the  arsenal  in  Naples,  by  treat- 
ing iron  with  sulphuric  acid  and  water  condensed  by  machinery, 
and  forced  into  cylinders  five  inches  in  diameter,  and  four  and 
one-half  feet  long,  made  of  steel  about  three-sixteenths  of  an 
inch  in  thickness.  The  pressure  in  the  cylinders  is  enormous, 
amounting  to  nearly  a  ton  to  the  square  inch,  but  the  gas  is 
rendered  in  this  way  very  portable,  and  forty  cylinders,  which 
a  strong  horse  could  easily  pull  in  a  cart,  or  which  twenty  men 
could  carry  on  their  shoulders,  contain  gas  enough  to  inflate 
one  of  the  balloons  employed. 


T A  SEMAINE  DES  CONSTRUCTEURS  contains 
some  sarcasms  at  the  expense  of  the  statisticians  of  the 
Canton  of  Zurich  in  Switzerland,  who  in  their  efforts  to  classify 
acceptably  their  fellow-citizens,  have,  apparently,  found  it 
necessary  to  dignify  most  of  them  with  the  title  of  "artists." 
Thus,  under  the  general  head  of  "  Artists "  in  the  official 
schedule  of  occupations,  are  to  be  found,  not  only  painters  and 
sculptors,  but  dentists,  chiropodists,  riding-masters,  dancing- 
teachers,  acrobats  and  proprietors  of  learned  dogs  and  two- 
headed  calves,  besides  representations  of  other  branches  of  art. 
One  of  the  Swiss  papers  gravely  asserts  that  a  discussion  arose 
among  the  statisticians  of  Zurich,  whether  umbrella-makers 
should  be  classed  as  artists  or  not,  but,  on  being  put  to  vote, 
the  question  was  decided  in  the  negative.  It  is  a  pity  that  the 
officials  should  not  have  studied  the  American  customs  in  these 
matters.  With  our  "  art "  furniture,  "  art "  cooking-stoves 
and  "  art "  manufactures  in  general,  there  would  certainly  be 
some  way  of  including  the  umbrella-makers,  and,  indeed  it  is 
difficult  to  see  who  could  be  left  out  of  the  roll  of  artists,  ex- 
cept, perhaps,  the  lawyers  and  doctors,  who  have  yet,  we 
believe,  to  introduce  "  art "  briefs  and  prescriptions. 

'TTN  earnest  appeal  has  just  been  made  in  the  Vienna  technical 
t\  journals  for  the  formation  of  an  Austrian  Association  of 
Engineers  and  Architects.  In  Germany  architects  and  en- 
gineers are  educated  together  up  to  a  certain  point,  and  the 
two  professions  are  generally  associated  in  the  local  societies, 
so  that  a  national  association  of  the  same  kind  is  likely  to  be 
of  greater  benefit  to  each  component  portion  than  two  separate 
bodies  would  be.  The  Provisional  Committee  which  issues  the 
call  describes  the  objects  to  be  obtained  by  the  formation  of 
the  new  society  as  the  establishment  of  insurance  and  pension 
funds,  the  defence  of  professional  interests  and  rights,  the  sup- 
pression of  abuses  in  professional  practice,  the  regulation  of 
competitions,  and  several  minor  matters,  among  these  being  the 
formation  of  a  technical  library  for  the  use  of  members.  The 
Austrian  territory,  in  its  lack  of  great  centres  of  population,  is 
less  like  Germany,  where  every  little  state  has  its  capital,  than 
it  is  to  our  own  country,  and  our  new  professional  association, 
in  the  important  task  which  should  come  before  it,  of  making 
itself  useful  to  the  isolated  members  practising  in  small  towns 
as  well  as  to  those  who  live  in  New  York,  Boston,  Philadel- 
phia or  Chicago,  may  learn  something  from  the  experience  of 
the  Austrian  society. 


MAY  26,  1888.] 


TJie   American   Architect  and  Ituildiny   News. 


243 


THE   DECORATIVE  USE  OF  COLO1U 


From  the  Rithhiul,  Hslbetltadt.     From  Arkitek- 
tonische  Rundtthau. 


HE  title  of  this  paper 
is  intended  to  indi- 
cate the  limits  which 
I  propose  to  myself  in 
dealing  to-night  with  a 
subject  which  admits  of 
consideration  from  seve- 
ral points  of  view,  and 
covers  a  very  wide  field. 
Of  the  scientific  side  of 
colors  I  propose  to  say 
little  or  nothing,  and  of 
that  side  of  the  subject 
which  relates  to  the  pic- 
torial use  of  color  I  am 
also  desirous  of  saying  no 
more  than  is  incidental  to 
my  own  branch  of  the 
subject.  My  wish  is  to 
draw  your  attention  to 
those  principles  which 
should,  in  my  opinion, 
regulate  and  underlie  all 
purely  decorative  work, 
when  applied  to  forms  and 
surfaces  which,  whether 
they  appertain  to  build- 
ings or  to  movable  ob- 
jects, made  by  the  hand 
of  man,  are  not  presen- 
tations of  natural  objects. 

Unlike  the  works  of 
Nature,  the  things  which 
man  invents  and  con- 
structs for  his  own  use 
have  their  design  based 
upon  simple  geometrical 
forms,  and,  in  the  major- 
ity of  instances,  these  are 
in  some  direction  symme- 
trical. 

In  all  parts  of  a  build- 
ing and  in  a  vast  number 
of  other  products  of  man's 
invention,  stability  is  the 
first  requirement,  and 
precisely  in  the  degree 
to  which  this  condition  is 
important  to  the  structure 
is  it  important  also  that 
any  color,  used  decora- 
lively  on  that  structure, 
should  assist  and  confirm 
the  idea  of  stability  or  of 
strength. 

In  considering  the  les- 
sons to  be  derived  from 
Nature  in  the  matter  of 
decorative  coloring,  we 


must  never  lose  sight  of  the  great  distinction  between  the  forms  to 
be  colored.  In  the  case  of  Nature  we  may  almost  say  that  the  forms 
to  which  beautiful  coloring  has  been  ap'plied  are  never  simple  geo- 
metrical forms  and  rarely  have  stability  as  a  characteristic.  Nature 
is  always  moving,  always  presupposes  motion.  Animals,  birds, 
insects,  foliage,  flowers,  these  are  the  objects  on  which  her  most 
exquisite  harmonies  are  lavished.  AH  move,  either  actively  of  their 
own  jplition,  or  passively,  by  the  action  of  wind  or  wave.  If,  there- 
fore, we  may  seek  in  them  instruction  in  the  combination  of  harmo- 
nious colors,  as  we  undoubtedly  may,  we  must  not  look  to  them  for 
instruction  in  the  distribution  and  arrangement  of  color  upon  objects 
and  structures  which  are  intended  to  be  immovable.  We  can  follow 
them  in  coloring  a  fan,  not  in  coloring  a  dome. 

I  lay  stress  on  this  distinction  at  starting,  because  I  strongly  advo- 
cate constant  recourse  to  Nature,  and  to  reap  advantage  from  her 
teaching,  you  must  beware  against  misapplying  it.  Moreover,  the 
true  lessons  to  be  derived  from  natural  objects  are  not  to  be  fully 
learned  from  those  objects  detached  from  their  natural  accessories  or 
surroundings.  Something  may  be  so  learned,  yet  it  is  but  a  fraction 
of  the  whole,  a  word  or  two  out  of  the  poem. 

We  may  certainly  go  pretty  directly  to  Nature  for  lessons  in  one 
form  of  decorative  art — I  mean  the  art  of  dress  —  so  far  as  the  dis- 
tribution and  harmony  of  color  are  concerned.  I  do  not  know  to 
what  extent  the  fashionable  dressmakers  make  it  a  practice  to  study 
the  combinations  of  color  in  flowers,  birds  and  other  living  things, 
but  1  am  quite  sure  that  they  can  go  to  no  better  school,  and  I  feel 
pretty  sure  that  the  most  artistic  designers  of  women's  attire  draw 
their  best  inspirations  from  these  sources.  After  making  the  neces- 
sary allowance  for  complexion  and  other  special  circumstances,  there 


lisl 


1  A  paper  by  Mr.  John  D.  Grace,  read  before  the  Society  of  Arts,  and  pub- 
shed  iu  the  Juiiriuil  of  the  Society. 


is  considerable  resemblance  in  the  conditions  which  would  regulate 
the  arrangement  of  color  in  a  lady's  dress  to  those  which  are  found 
in  the  plumage  of  birds.  There  are  the  game  easy  curves,  the  same 
variety  of  attitude,  which  render  geometrical  or  very  regular  and 
symmetrical  division  unsuitable,  and  which,  on  the  contrary,  invite 
irregular  forms,  with  the  occasional  piquancy  of  a  suddenly  accen- 
tuated contrast.  In  graceful  movement  or  in  graceful  repose  there 
is  no  symmetrical  arrangement  of  the  limbs  nor  of  the  curves  of  tlio 
human  body,  nor,  indeed,  in  animal  form  of  any  kind.  Hence,  t!n>-,- 
surface  divisions  of  color  arc  best  which  are  independent  of  any  one 
attitude,  which,  in  fatt,  are  not  liable  to  distortion  by  each  cnugt 
of  jKJsitiou. 

But  how  different  is  every  condition  when  we  come  to  deal  with  a 
solid  and  inanimate  structure.  It  is  difficult  to  follow  the  rapid  and, 
to  a  great  extent,  unconscious  workings  of  the  mind  in  matters  of 
taste  and  in  the  exercise  of  the  critical  faculties,  dillicult  to  distinguish 
what  is  due  to  discrimination  and  what  to  association  with  some  previ- 
ous experiences.  But  there  is  one  circumstance  indispensable  to  the 
enjoyment  of  the  beauty  of  any  work  of  art.  It  is  this :  The  mind 
must  have  no  doubt,  no  misgiving,  as  to  the  object's  stability  ;  to  that 
extent  the  mind  must  be  satisfied  at  a  glance.  That  amount  of 
reiHjse  attained,  it  will  (unconsciously)  seek  knowledge  of  the  <>riii'- 
rai  form  and  outline,  and  only  after  that  will  it  settle  into  such  a 
reposeful  condition  as  to  allow  of  the  examination  and  enjoyment  of 
detail.  So  long  as  any  perplexity  remains,  the  sense  of  duty  will  be 
dormant,  or  nearly  so,  where  the  handiwork  of  man  is  concerned. 
Man  must  understand  his  brother  man's  work,  or  it  troubles  him. 
Now,  it  is  just  at  this  point  that  color  comes  in  with  a  few  words  of 
rapid  explanation  —  if  properly  used.  Color  will  explain  form  at 
first  sight  (if  used  to  that  end),  with  a  clearness  and  rapidity  quite 
unattainable  by  form  alone,  and  especially  by  form  alone  in  a  diffused 
light. 

The  reason  why  the  exterior  of  a  building  is  comparatively  inde- 
pendent of  color  for  the  expression  of  its  proportion  and  of  its  struc- 
tural lines  is  that  the  stronger  and  more  direct  effects  of  light  at  once 
throw  into  relief  the  salient  features.  It  is  the  reduced  and  diffused 
light  of  the  interior  which  renders  the  explanatory  help  of  color  so 
valuable,  I  was  going  to  say  indispensable.  True,  color  serves  other 
and  less  simple  ends,  but  that  is  its  first  purpose,  and  to  so  use  it  as 
to  explain  simply  and  effectively  the  structure  and  proportion  of  the 
interior,  and  the  direction  and  nature  of  its  surfaces,  whether  plane 
or  curved,  convex  or  concave,  is  the  first  duty  of  the  architectural 
colorisU 

Be  the  ultimate  object  the  richest  splendor,  the  most  elegant 
elaboration,  or  the  most  austere  simplicity,  the  first  consideration  in 
the  use  of  color  to  any  interior,  or  to  any  part  of  a  building,  must  be 
that  it  shall  assist  and  in  no  way  confuse  that  sense  of  repose  which 
comes  of  a  prompt  recognition  of  its  main  forms  and  structural  lines. 

Now,  before  proceeding  to  consider  by  what  methods  this  object 
may  be  accomplished,  I  will  here  just  anticipate  a  comment  which 
will  no  doubt  have  occurred  to  many  of  you  on  this  postulate.  "  This 
may  be  true,"  you  say,  "of  such  buildings  as  have  architectural 
expression  and  structural  features  to  deal  with,  but  what  of  the 
numberless  interiors  and  structures  which  have  no  such  features  and 
no  such  expression?  " 

To  this  I  reply  that,  so  far  as  the  want  of  such  expression  is  per- 
ceptible, the  colorist's  first  aim  in  treating  such  structures  must  be 
to  offer  such  a  substitute  as  will  afford  the  same  mental  repose.  In 
other  words,  he  will  so  distribute  his  color  that  the  forms  brought 
into  prominence  may  assist  the  idea  of  stability  and  go  to  counteract 
any  sense  of  apparent  weakness  or  confusion. 

It  is,  however,  more  convenient  to  deal  first  with  that  part  of  the 
subject  which  relates  to  buildings  having  defined  structural  expres- 
sion. Now  such  buildings  vary  immensely  in  the  extent  to  which 
they  may  be  said  to  rely  on  their  architectural  detail  for  effect,  or  to 
be  dependent  on  color.  Broadly  speaking,  one  may  say,  "  the  more 
moulded  surface  the  less  color,"  and  the  greater  the  necessity  for 
extreme  care  in  its  use.  In  an  interior  which  is  already  elaborately 
treated  by  the  architect  with  mouldings  and  carving  and  the  surfaces 
subdivided  into  panels,  simple  "  explanation  "  must  be  the  aim.  To 
distinguish  the  really  important  structural  features  from  the  mere 
subdivision  of  intermediate  space,  and  to  do  this  without  detaching 
them,  is  the  first  object.  There  must  be  the  same  sort  of  relation 
between  the  major  and  minor  structural  lines  that  there  is  between 
the  trunk  and  its  branches. 

Take  the  case  of  a  vaulted  hall  or  church,  with  arches  and  vault- 
ing springing  from  piers  or  columns.  A  relationship  must  be  main- 
tained (whatever  the  extent  or  scale  of  color),  not  only  between 
piers,  architraves,  cornices  and  archivolts,  but  between  these  and 
such  minor  divisional  features  as  subdivide  the  surfaces  between 
them.  Subdued  in  tone  these  last  may  be,  but  not  removed  nor 
sharply  contrasted.  The  broad  contrasts  must  be  between  the 
structural  forms  generally  and  the  spaces  or  surfaces  between  them, 
whilst  the  sharper,  more  vigorous  relief  of  color  must  be  within  the 
limits  oi  and  expressing  the  direction  of  the  structural  features 
themselves. 

But,  again,  there  arc  many  buildings  which,  having  the  same  main 
constructive  features  as  that  which  we  have  been  considering,  have 
no  such  minor  or  secondary  moulded  divisions.  Each  bay  of  the 
vaulted  roof  may  be  a  blank  surface.  We  have  then  to  consider 
what  alternatives  may  be  adopted  in  treating  these  blank  spaces. 
First.  It  may  be  contemplated  to  devote  them  to  a  decorative 


244 


TJie   American    Architect  and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIIT.— No.  648. 


pictorial  treatment,  -without  actual  subdivision.  This  will  rarely  be 
quite  satisfactory  ;  because  any  pictorial  representation,  straying,  as 
it  were,  over  a  large  area  of  curved  surface,  produces  some  confusion 
as  to  the  form  of  the  surface,  and  what  is  architecturally  more  im- 
portant, leaves  the  structural  lines  too  detached  from  what  they 
should  support— standing  in  fact  like  the  bare  bones  of  the  whole. 
]n  such  a  case,  however,  this  ill  effect  may  be  much  moderated  by 
interposing,  between  structure  and  panel,  a  band  or  bordering  of 
such  coloring  as  will,  while  supporting  and  spreading  out  the  con- 
structive arch  or  rib,  allie  it  in  some  measure  with  the  coloring  of  the 
panel. 

But,  however  excellent  may  be  the  pictorial  work,  it  will  be  seen 
to  far  more  advantage  if  it  be  framed  and  supported  by  such  divid- 
in<*  margins  as  will  serve  at  once  to  suggest  the  contour  of  the  sur- 
face, and  to  limit  each  pictorial  area  to  such  space  and  form,  as  can 
well  be  seen  from  one  point  of  view.  It  is  not  necessary  that  these 
minor  dividing  bands  should  represent  actual  or  possible  structure. 
It  is  sufficient  that  the  major  lines  of  construction  are  expressed,  and 
that  the  contour  or  section  of  the  spaces  between  is  explained  by- 
lines which  become  the  equivalent  of  the  minor  construction  —  and 
suggest  the  ramification  or  network  of  support. 

There  is  yet  another  type  of  internal  structure,  which  may  be 
founded  upon  the  same  general  lines  as  those  we  have  just  consid- 
ered, but  is  divested  almost  entirely  of  mouldings,  or  moulded  relief. 
Such  buildings  are  dependent  for  their  effect  entirely  on  their  colored 
decoration,  and  are,  perhaps,  so  built  with  the  express  object  of  af- 
fording scope  for  such  treatment.  Firmly  expressed  lines,  and 
borders  of  color,  take  the  place  of  mouldings;  and  these  must  have 
sufficient  force  to  make  clear  the  structure,  and  to  define  the  limits 
of  the  several  areas  of  surface. 

It  is  upon  interiors  of  this  last  type  that  mosaic  decoration  may  be 
most  advantageously  employed.  This  magnificent  method  of  decora- 
tion by  color  does  not  accord  well  with  the  use  of  mouldings,  except 
to  the  most  limited  extent.  Its  nature  demands  exceptionally  bold 
treatment,  and  the  very  strength  and  brilliance  of  its  effects  destroy 
all  perception  of  the  delicate  shadows  and  roundings  of  good  mould- 
ings. It  demands  large  surfaces,  and  is  most  effective  where  the  sur- 
faces are  curved,  these  affording  that  variety  of  angle  to  the  light 
which  gives  such  splendor  of  effect  to  the  gold  grounds.  It  is  under 
such  conditions  that  mosaic  is  used  in  St.  Mark's,  at  Venice;  in  the 
churches  at  Kavenna;  and  in  many  other  of  the  best  examples. 

In  the  course  of  the  foregoing  remarks  I  have  repeatedly  spoken 
of  the  need  of  lines  or  division  margins  to  "explain  "  the  contours  or 
planes  of  large  surfaces.  It  is  perhaps  necessary  to  show  why  they 
are  required,  and  how  they  serve  the  purpose. 

It  will  be  obvious  to  any  one  who  considers  the  matter  that  it  is 
only  by  its  external  limits,'or  by  some  indication  of  shadow  or  other 
incident,  that  we  feel  at  all  sure  whether  any  large  surface  of  one 
tint  is  perfectly  flat,  uneven  or  curved.  We  can  see  that  a  plastered 
wall  is  bulged  if  we  look  at  it  edgeways  against  the  sky  or  against 
some  vertical  line ;  but  if  we  stand  facing  it,  and  the  light  be  diffused 
(that  is  to  say,  if  there  be  no  cast  shadow),  we  can  form  no  true 
opinion  as  to  whether  the  wall  is  a  true  plane,  or  bulged  and  out  of 
upright.  But  if,  instead  of  being  plastered,  it  be  a  brick  or  stone 
wall,  with  straight  horizontal  courses,  every  joint  of  which  is  above  or 
below  the  sight-line  will  at  once  betray  the  curve  of  the  bulge,  and 
will  indicate  whether  it  be  convex  or  concave.  These  horizontal 
joints  will  not,  however,  tell  us  whether  the  wall  leans  bodily 
in  or  out,  or  is  "  hollow  "  from  top  to  bottom  ;  we  must  look  for  some 
continuous  vertical  joint,  or  to  some  door  or  window  opening,  to  be- 
tray this.  We  must,  in  fact,  have  the  means  of  comparison,  which  a 
straight  line,  or  a  line  of  known  direction,  will  afford. 

Now  let  us  see  how  this  applies  in  decoration.  We  will  take  a 
feature  over  the  treatment  of  which  there  has  been  much  discussion 
during  the  last  few  years  —  the  "  cupola"  or  interior  of  the  dome. 
Suppose  that  we  are  standing  under  and  looking  up  into  a  plain  un- 
decorated  cupola,  what  do  we  know  at  a  glance  as  to  its  form  ?  What 
remains  in  doubt  ? 

Well,  we  know,  at  once,  that  it  is  circular  in  plan  ;  we  learn  that 
from  the  cornice,  from  which  it  springs ;  but  beyond  that,  and  some 
chance  indication  that  its  vertical  section  is  curved  we  know  nothing. 
Whether  that  vertical  curve  is  high  or  low,  elliptical,  semi-circular, 
or  segmental  we  do  not  know,  and  cannot  so  much  as  guess,  until,  by 
dropping  a  series  of  vertical  lines  on  its  surface,  we  exhibit  its  verti- 
cal section.  Then  doubt  disappears,  and  the  eye,  relieved  from  per- 
plexity, and  satisfied  as  to  the  stability  of  the  vault,  soars  up  the 
curved  line,  grasping  the  whole  meaning  of  the  noble  form,  and 
ranges  tranquilly  among  such  detail  as  may  occupy  its  surface. 

Now,  as  the  cupola  is  explained  by  these  vertical  lines,  so  is  a  bar- 
rel vault  explained  by  the  archivolts  which  divide  it  into  bays,  and  by 
the  other  framing  lines  between  them,  whether  they  be  in  color  or 
in  relief  only.  So  groined  vaulting  is  explained  by  its  ribs ;  and 
where  the  builder  has  already  provided  such  explanation,  the  decor- 
ator must  confirm  it ;  where  it  does  not  exist,  he  must  supply  it. 

Let  us  now  consider  what  is  to  guide  the  colorist  in  dealing  with 
interiors  which  have  no  structural  features  to  emphasize ;  which  in 
fact,  cannot  be  regarded  as  architecture  at  all.  If  such  be  of  a  size 
and  for  a  use,  which  seem  to  call  for  some  attempt  at  imparting  dig- 
nity to  its  effect,  it  will  probably  be  desirable  to  suggest,  by  the 
decoration,  some  structural  division.  In  some  cases  the  addition  of 
a  frieze  will  establish  more  agreeable  relations  between  the  walls  and 
ceiling;  in  others  some  vertical  division  of  the  walls  —  which  may 


form  points  of  departure  for  division  of  the  ceiling  —  may  greatly 
enhance  the  dignity,  and  improve  the  proportion  of  a  plain  room.  In 
any  case,  if  there  be  any  strength  of  color  in  the  ceiling,  there  should 
bis  at  some  points,  strength  of  color  leading  up  to  it.  In  rooms  for 
domestic  use  these  are  often  practically  supplied  by  the  windcw  hang- 
ings, and  in  the  majority  of  such  rooms  the  dimensions  are  so  limited 
that  the  want  of  constructive  features  is  not  felt. 

And  it  may  here  be  remarked  that  one  very  broad  distinction  di- 
vides most  domestic  interiors  from  those  which  are  intended  for  some 
public  or  special  use,  when  the  question  of  colored  decoration  arises. 
]n  the  latter  there  are  no  draperies,  nor  carpets,  nor  any  of  those 
accessories,  such  as  furniture,  which  all  play  so  important  a  part  in 
the  coloring  of  a  private  house.  Consequently,  in  the  absence  of 
these,  the  decorative  coloring  of  the  building  itself  has  to  be  more 
complete,  its  harmony  more  carefully  balanced,  more  thought  out  as 
to  the  purpose  and  result  of  each  tone  used.  The  absence  of  the 
accessories  of  a  house,  with  all  their  variety  and  irregularity,  leaves 
the  coloring  of  the  building  more  exposed  to  view  and  more  directly 
challenging  criticism.  A  firmer,  surer,  and  more  purposeful  hand 
is  needed  for  the  coloring  of  a  bare  public  building  than  will  serve 
for  the  domestic  interior,  in  which  picturesque  arrangement,  sugges- 
tions of  historical  association  or  foreign  travel,  or  the  collector's 
taste,  may  often  play  a  more  important  part  than  either  architecture 
or  decorative  color.  Nevertheless,  much  may  be  done,  even  in  a 
room  of  moderate  size,  to  improve  or  make  the  best  of  its  proportions, 
and  to  impart  an  interest  to  it,  as  a  whole,  by  the  distribution  and 
management  of  the  color.  The  flat  ceiling  which,  being  the  largest 
unbroken  surface  in  the  room,  always  has  a  tendency  to  appear 
weak,  may  be  lifted  and  supported  by  the  lines  or  grounds  of  color 
which  form  the  framework  of  its  ornamentation,  being  so  arranged 
as  to  throw  strength  into  the  sides  and  angles ;  and  these  leading 
forms  and  lines  may  themselves  be  made  interesting  and  suggestive 
by  their  combinations  of  curve  or  angle.  It  is  a  common  error  to 
suppose  that  color  will  "  bring  down  "  a  ceiling.  This  will  only  hap- 
pen where  the  tones  are  too  strong  or  too  crude  for  those  which  occur 
on  the  walls  and  in  the  draperies.  All  ornament  must  be  kept  sub- 
ordinate in  strength  of  contrast  to  the  tones  of  the  framework  or 
controlling  lines.  If  this  be  neglected,  a  sense  of  confusion  will  mar 
the  effect,  and  destroy  the  repose  essential  to  success. 

The  use  of  polychromy  for  external  decoration  demands  very  care- 
ful attention  ;  and  the  extent  to  which  it  is  desirable,  as  well  as  the 
best  methods  for  its  exercise,  have  been  much  debated  during  the 
last  thirty  years. 

I  would  venture  to  say  on  this  subject,  that,  in  a  building  which 
has  any  pretence  to  architectural  design,  the  polychromy  of  its  struc- 
tural features  should  be  confined  to  that  presented  by  its  construct- 
ive materials.  Yet  even  such  buildings  present  occasionally  features 
or  surfaces  which  may  be  so  treated  in  color  (whether  by  mosaic,  or 
even  by  the  painter),  as  greatly  to  enhance  the  effect  and  value  of 
the  whole.  1  could  point  to  numerous  examples,  both  ancient  and 
modern,  of  the  successful  use  of  color  in  this  way.  Of  modern  in- 
stances, I  may  quote  the  great  frescos  outside  the  Berlin  Museum, 
where  color  is  used  pictorially  ;  or  the  merely  ornamental  coloring  of 
the  window  reveals  in  the  Chateau  de  Blois ;  or,  again,  the  very 
skilful  introduction  of  mosaic  ornament  in  the  brickwork  of  the  Tro- 
cadero  at  Paris,  all  of  which  must,  I  think,  be  admitted  to  contribute 
largely  to  the  effect  and  value  of  the  buildings  themselves. 

But  there  is  another  class  of  building,  of  which  we  have  only  too 
many  examples  here,  which  afford  occasional  opportunity  for  some 
amount  of  color  treatment.  I  mean  the  stucco-fronted  houses,  in 
which  design  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  a  place.  Their  "  architec- 
tural symptoms"  are  of  the  slightest,  and  they,  in  any  case,  have  to 
be  painted  in  some  way,  periodically,  to  preserve  them  from  decay. 
Here  there  would  seem  to  be  a  fair  field  for  careful  schemes  of 
color,  and  I  have  observed  a  few  very  able  instances  of  the  external 
treatment  of  such  buildings.  Certainly,  there  is  a  growing  taste  for 
some  application  of  color  to  such  houses,  even  where  they  are  private 
residences.  One  such  residence  near  me  has  recently  had  its  ground 
story  (including  the  front  door  and  area  railings)  painted  the  color 
of  red  sealing-wax.  After  this,  I  feel  that  it  is  not  timidity  that  re- 
strains us  in  this  matter.  What  we  seem  to  want  is  judgment  —  a 
knowledge  of  how  to  compensate,  by  simple  means,  for  the  want  of 
beauty  and  interest  in  the  structural  form. 

There  is,  again,  the  detached  villa,  which,  being  less  prominently 
exposed  to  public  view,  might  often  be  made  a  much  more  attractive 
and  more  refined  looking  building,  and  be  brought  into  better  har- 
mony with  its  small  pleasure  garden  by  a  little  skilful  coloring  than 
it  is  when  its  stucco  surface  is  left  with  the  usual  two  coats  of  "  light 
stone  color."  Many  a  small  suburban  house  in  the  outskirts  of 
Paris  has  so  been  treated,  with  the  result  of  presenting  as  much  out- 
ward charm  as  if  many  hundred  pounds  had  been  lavished  on  archi- 
tectural refinement. 

True,  it  is  not  so  permanent ;  but  is  our  lease-hold  tenure  so  per- 
manent as  to  offer  much  inducement  to  us  to  spend  money  on  per- 
manent adornment  ?  The  great  majority  of  us  think  ourselves  lucky 
if  our  interest  in  the  house  we  live  in  extends  to  20  or  30  years  ;  at 
the  end  of  which  time  our  ground  landlord  swoops  down  on  us  with 
a  bill  of  dilapidations,  with  an  extra  rent-charge,  and  probably  a  de- 
mand for  premium  based  on  our  own  improvements.  It  is  quite  a 
question  whether  the  house  will  last  another  such  term ;  for  it  must 
be  admitted  that,  however  charminsr,  your  stucco  villa  is  not  a  very 
long-lived  piece  of  work.  Not  that  I  join  in  the  abuse  of  stucco,  for 


MAY  26,  1888.] 


TJie    American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


245 


iimlcr  th«  short-lease  system  you  probably  get  a  better  and  more 
weather-tight  house  for  your  money,  if  it  be  of  the  modest  "stuccoed  " 
order,  than  if  you  attempt  one,  at  the  same  rent,  in  sculptured  free- 
stone or  ornamental  brick.  Only  it  is  better  to  treat  it  as  stucco,  and 
to  do  your  best  with  the  paint-pot,  than  to  make  believe  it  has  a 
noble  stone  frontage. 

The  same  general  rules  which  should  regulate  the  distribution  of 
colored  form  on  parts  of  a  building  apply,  with  reasonable  modifica- 
tions, to  smaller  objects.  Take  pottery:  if  a  vase  or  cup  has  a 
graceful  contour,  it  is  obviously  desirable  that  any  variety  of  color 
used  in  its  decoration  should  assist  in  showing  its  form,  not  disguise 
it.  Very  beautiful  art  is  often  expended  on  such  articles  with  the 
result  of  actually  detracting  from  their  beauty  of  outline.  I  am  not 
speaking  of  modern  English  pottery  in  particular.  It  is  a  mistako 
common  enough  in  the  finest  manufacture  of  other  countries,  and  it 
seems  to  me  a  quite  unnecessary  mistake.  Of  course,  very  exquisite 
painting  will  charm,  even  when  used  to  poor  advantage,  but  its 
merit  of  execution  does  not  altogether  justify  its  misapplication.  In 
our  own  time  and  in  our  country,  it  is  a  great  misfortune  that  all  our 
best  artists  learn  to  paint  for  a  gilt  frame  alone,  an  1  are,  for  the 
most  part,  absolutely  untrained  in  thinking  out  their  subjects  for 
any  other  application.  I  cannot  but  think  that  in  this  matter  our 
Royal  Academy  of  Arts  might  effect  much  reform,  and  give  an  im- 
petus to  the  artistic  excellence  of  the  productions  of  this  country,  if, 
from  time  to  time,  they  admitted  to  their  exhibitions  earns  propor- 
tion of  objects  of  applied  art  of  a  high  standard.  It  would  encour- 
age the  best  men  to  throw  some,  at  least,  of  their  best  work  into 
branches  of  art  that  can  never  rise  to  the  highest  level  unless 
they  draw  to  their  service  the  best  men.  It  was  these  branches  of 
art  that  went  to  build  up  the  fame  of  the  greatest  artists  that  the 
world  has  known ;  and  I  confess  to  the  opinion  that,  so  long  as  our 
highest  art  training  has  no  other  object  than  the  production  of  de- 
tached pictures,  destined  to  no  special  purpose  or  position,  painted 
to  no  requirement,  having  for  object  chiefly  to  catch  the  eye  of  the 
buyer,  so  long  the  standard  of  art  will  drift  right  or  left,  to  this 
or  that  particular  fashion  of  excellence;  but,  being  without  purpose, 
will  never  attain  to  any  very  noble  rank. 

I  am  afraid  that  my  discourse  to-night  may  provoke  the  criticism 
that,  being  "  on  the  use  of  color,"  it  has  mentioned  no  single  color, 
has  suggested  no  harmonies,  has  indicated  no  contrasts.  I  must 
plead  that  these  omissions  were  intentional,  not  because  I  think 
these  things  in  themselves  less  important  than  the  matter  I  have 
spoken  of,  but  that  they  are  now  frequently  and  ably  treated,  and 
are  daily  better  understood.  I  was  desirous  so  to  limit  my  subject  as 
not  to  divert  attention  from  my  main  proposition,  which  is,  that 
whatever  the  tones  of  color  employed,  whatever  the  scale  of  harinonv, 
no  "  decorative  use  of  color  "  can  be  real  I  v  successful  which  is  not 
based  on  the  intention  to  do  the  best  possible  for  the  thing  decorated. 
And  then  I  go  a  little  farther,  and  say  that  no  art  can  really  attain 
the  highest  excellence  if  it  has  no  broad  purpose,  no  alliance  with  its 
sister  arts.  The  art  which  is  shut  up  in  itself,  whose  masters 
have  neither  trained  knowledge  of,  nor  sympathy  for,  its  allies, 
whether  humble  or  noble,  can  never  be  progressive.  In  art,  as  in  life, 
man's  noblest  work  is  most  often  produced  in  the  earnest  effort  to  en- 
noble and  complete,  the  work  of  others. 


COLOR  OF  FURNITURE. 


In  th  •  Jtkobkirche,  Lubeck. 

along  practical  historic  lines.     The  large  clement 


0UR  engross- 
ment with 
art  is  more 
general  than  was 
the  case  with  the 
men  of  the 
Ren  a  i  s  g  a  n  c  e 
whom  we  copy. 
Where  there 
was  then  an  ac- 
t  i  v  e  corps  of 
patrons  and  ar- 
tists, a  world  of 
producers  and 
consumers  now 
engage  in  the 
work  of  resusci- 
tation, so  that 
an  account  of  | 
the  present 
movement  will 
make  a  page  of 
popular  histo- 
ries and  not 
alone  of  biog.a- 
phy  or  the  de- 
velopment of 
art.  It  is  to  be 
wondered  a  t , 
since  this  is  the 
case,  that  the 
movement  has 
kept  so  wholly 
within,  or  rather 
of  Ikytitaaism  in 


it  would  raem  to  justify  the  expectation  among  other  things  of  phan- 
tasy— I  do  not  muan  of  productive  fancy,  but  of  contemplative 
observation.  The  literature  of  the  period  shows  the  Cinque  Cento 
and  the  sixteenth  century  as  having  it.  Along  with  the  text-books 
of  Albert  i,  I'allailio  anil  dii  Cerceau  existed  Simon  Portius's  and  innu- 
merable de  mintbili  potestate  artit. 

Perhaps  we  shall  come  to  it.  Coming  a  short  way  towards  it 
would  not,  I  think,  be  undesirable.  After  accepting  the  material, 
imitating  and  emulating  the  designs  of  the  past  to  fulness,  we  may 
brood  over  the  inner  spirit  of  our  surroundings  as  the  past  brooded 
on  hers.  The  step  is  near  and  natural.  Taste  in  the  first  degree  ig 
refinement  of  sensations,  but  we  have  taste  often  in  the  second  and 
third  degrees,  or  as  habit  of  sensation.  Phantasy  may  be  useful  here 
in  making  out  of  routine  a  way  into  new  alertness  of  perception. 

Take  the  color  of  our  rooms  as  an  instance.  What  have  we 
thought  upon  this  subject  beyond  the  fact  that  subdued  tones  are 
agreeable?  That  they  are  suitable  to  our  climate,  which  furnishes 
enough  light  to  enliven  them,  and  are  of  especial  benefaction  to  the 
nervous  American  race  by  reason  of  their  quieting  influence  ?  Such 
reflection  is  already  speculative,  but  there  are  further  steps  in  specu- 
lation that  bring  us  beyond  ge  icral  theories  to  attentive  reflection 
upon  the  color  and  tone  of  our  houses  as  a  whole  and  of  each  room  in 
particular.  No  less  an  authority  than  Goethe  has  touched  the  subject 
(Goethe,  to  be  sure,  does  not  bring  forward  the  matter  as  speculation, 
but  calls  it  experience).  "  Experience,"  he  remarks  in  Zur  Ftirhen- 
lefirc,  "teaches  that  each  color  incites  its  own  peculiar  mode  of  feelin". 
It  is  told  of  a  clever  Frenchman  that  he  maintained  the  tone  of  conver- 
sation at  Mine. had  changed  since  she  had  changed  to  crini- 

S3n  the  color  of  the  furniture  in  her  cabinet  that  had  been  blue. 
Among  colors,  yellow  embodies  light  when  in  its  clearest  purity, 
and  possesses  a  cheerful,  charming,  encouraging  and  gentle  pro|>erty. 
It  is  agreeable  as  a  surrounding,  whether  as  dress,  drapery  or  car- 
pets. Gold  gives  a  new  and  exalted  idea  of  the  color,  especially 
when  it  is  polished.  A  brilliant  yellow  against  shimmerin"  silk  or 
satin  produces  a  peculiarly  noble  and  splendid  effect." 

It  did  not  lie  in  Goethe's  line  of  reflection,  else  he  might  have  added 
that  we  find  an  historical  proof  of  these  definitions.  For  at  the 
period  when  society  reached  in  France  a  height  of  social  refinement 
such  as  it  never  attained  elsewhere,  not  even  in  Italy,  bv  reason  of 
the  inferior  influence  of  the  womanly  element  in  Southern  society, 
the  color  used  for  ante-rooms  and  salons  of  reception  was  almost 
invariably  yellow— yellow  in  pure  shades  or  enlivened  into  amber. 
"  All  that  has  been  said  of  yellow,"  our  author  continues,  "is  true  of 
reddish  yellow,  only  in  an  increased  degree.  Reddish  yellow  incites 
a  feeling  of  warmth  and  blissfulness.  Red  transfused  with  vellow, 
on  the  other  hand,  has  something  powerful  and  raw.  It  is  no  won- 
der that  energetic,  healthy,  rough  people  like  it.  That  savages 
have  a  preference  for  it  has  been  often  noticed,  and  children,  if  left 
to  themselves  with  a  box  of  paints,  are  not  economical  in  the  use  of 
red  lead  and  cinnabar.  One  needs  only  to  stare  at  a  spot  of  perfect 
yellowish  red  to  find  that  it  bores,  as  it  were,  into  the  optic  nerve. 
It  excites  an  almost  incredible  effect.  Animals  are  made  uneasy 
and  almost  maddened  by  yellowish-red  cloths,  and  I  have  known  per- 
sons who  could  scarcely  control  themselves  if,  on  an  overcast  day,  a 
man  came  in  sight  with  a  scarlet  jacket  on." 

This  color  is  banished  from  our  houses.  The  only  reminder  of  its 
primitive  use  as  an  excitant  is  found  as  curtains  at  bar-rooms.  If 
refined  Orientals  still  continue  its  use,  as  is  the  case  in  Constanti- 
nople, we  have  to  reflect  that  the  intensity  of  Eastern  sunlight  casts 
a  glow  and  reflection  on  all  surrounding  colors,  materially  modifvine 
its  single  effect. 

Goethe  found  blue  to  have  something  dark  in  it  of  an  indescriba- 
ble influence.  We  like  to  look  at  blue  as  we  like  looking  at  a  distant 
landscape  that  seems  ever  to  withdraw  as  we  approach,  not  because 
blue  intrudes  upon  our  sight,  but  because  it  draws  us  after  itself. 
I?lue  conveys  the  same  feeling  of  coolness  that  a  shadow  does. 
Rooms  that  are  papered  in  blue  appear  comparatively  spacious,  but 
rather  empty  and  cold.  There  is  an  appropriateness  in  this  color 
for  such  society  rooms  where  the  toilettes,  the  rosy  hues  of  flesh, 
sparkles  of  eyes  and  flashes  of  teeth,  jewels  and  gaslights  are  to  be 
raised  ;  for  bed-rooms  in  summer  cottages  ;  for  garden-houses  where 
respite  from  society  and  from  heat  are  sought. 

"  Red  conveys  an  impression  of  earnestness  and  dignity,  as  well 
as  of  condescension  and  grace,"  it  is  remarked  further,  "the  first- 
mentioned  effects  being  produced  by  its  sobered,  darkened  hues,  and 
the  last  by  its  light  masses.  History  has  much  to  say  of  the  jeal- 
ousy of  monarchs  over  purple.  Surroundings  of  this  color  are 
always  dignified  and  magnificent."  Red  is  proper  for  entrances  to 
palaces  and  for  apartments  of  state,  and,  in  conjunction  with  other 
colors,  for  parlors. 

The  implication  of  the  Parisian  wit  was  to  the  effect  that  whereas 

conversation  at  Mine. had  been  reserved,  it   became   warm; 

indeed,  as  the  change  of  color  of  the  room  was  to  crimson,  he  proba- 
bly even  meant  distastefully  warm,  a  French  prejudice  existing 
against  this  shade  of  red  as  a  typically  repulsive  dcTee.1 

Green  is  peculiarly  quieting  and  gratifying  to  the  eye.  Goethe 
found  a  tendency  among  his  countrymen  to  choose  this  color  for 
sitting-rooms.  It  is  perhaps  the  best  tone  for  the  sleeping-chambers 
of  the  old  as  rose-color  is  for  those  of  the  young.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  our  rooms  are  mostly  of  mixed  colors,  but  a  tone,  nevertheless, 

'  The  French  s»y  for  excewirely  homely,  laid  tn  rramniri;  tot  begotten  •mi- 
nes*, not  en  cramo'ui;  for  viluimous.  mivluuU  en  cramoiti,  etc. 


246 


TJie   American   Architect  and  Building   News.     [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  648. 


prevails,  which  might  be  tested  with  advantage,  perhaps,  according 
to  these  ideas. 


[Contributors  are  requested  to  send  with  their  drawings  full  arid 
adequate  descriptions  of  the  buildings,  including  a  statement  of  cost.'] 

VIEW    OF     THE    NEW   PUBLIC    LIBRARY,    BOSTON,     MASS.      MESSRS. 

MCK1M,    MEAD    &    WHITE,    ARCHITECTS,    NEW   YORK,   N.   Y. 

fGelatine  Print  issued  only  with  Gelatine  and  Imperial  editions.! 

PLANS,     SECTION,  INTERIOR     COURT-YARD     AND     INTERIOR       OP 

READING-ROOM  OF      THE      NEW      PUBLIC      LIBRARY,      BOSTON, 

MASS.      MESSRS.  MCKIM,    MEAD     &    WHITE,     ARCHITECTS,     NEW 
YOBK,    N.   Y. 

HE  site  upon  which  this  building  will  stand  lies  in  Copley 
Square  in  the  Back  Bay  district.  The  material  selected  for  the 
building  is  Milford  granite,  the  color  of  which  is  warm  and 
attractive. 

Flanking  the  central  arched  doorway  are  carved  granite  seats, 
with  groups  of  sculpture  on  the  two  sides  representing  the  Arts  and 
Sciences,  and  with  single  figures  at  the  threshold  representing  Phil- 
osophy and  History.  When  the  visitor  enters  by  this  doorway  he 
will  find  himself  first  in  a  spacious  vestibule  of  stone,  55  feet  long  and 
16  wide,  and  then  in  a  grand  entrance-hall  of  marble,  37  by  44  feet 
in  size.  The  main  staircase,  which  leads  upward  from  the  first  floor 
(a  floor  given  up  to  the  uses  of  the  working  departments  of  the 
library)  is  to  be  of  the  finest  Sicilian  marble,  the  steps  being  20  feet 
long.  On  the  second  floor  is  found  the  reading-room,  which  takes 
up  The  entire  frontage,  its  size  being  42  feet  by  218,  with  a  height  of 
50  feet,  and  a  barrel-vault  roof.  The  woodwork  of  this  magnificent 
apartment  is  to  be  of  oak,  wainscotted  from  the  oak  floor  to  the  base 
of  the  great  arched  windows,  a  distance  of  14  feet,  while  at  the  two 
ends  of  the  long  room  are  small  arched  spaces  cut  off  from  the  main 
room  by  means  of  carved  oak  screens.  For  the  storage  of  the  vast 
collection  of  books  space  is  found  in  that  side  of  the  building  that 
lies  parallel  with  the  front  and  in  one-half  of  each  of  the  two  remain- 
ing sides.  The  entire  space  in  these  parts  of  the  building,  from  the 
ground-floor  upward,  is  given  up  to  the  shelves,  which  are  arranged 
in  six  stories,  each  7^  feet  high. 

It  is  estimated  that  the  new  building  when  finished  will  have  cost 
Si, 175, 000,  and  that  it  will  require  at  least  three  years  to  finish  it. 


THE  ROYAL  ACADEMY,  LONDON. 

TTfHE  Acade- 
«l»  miciansmay 
be  congrat- 
ulated upon  one 
reform  which 
they  have  car- 
ried out  in  this 
year's  exhibi- 
tion, the  practi- 
cal limiting  of 
most  artists  to 
one  picture. 
Many  years  ago 
I  suggested  to 
the  late  Tom 
Taylor  that  this 
ought  to  be  done 
here  in  London, 
and  that  if  men 
like  Meissonier 
and  Gerome 
could  gain  their 
reputation  b  y 
exhibiting  only 
two  pictures  at 
the  Salon,  we  in 
England  ought 
to  be  able  to  do 
the  same,  and 
conseque  n  t  ly 
that  our  govern- 
ing bodies  should 
adopt  this  prac- 
tice. Mr.  Tay- 
lor made  the  sug- 
gestion public  in 
the  Times,  apro- 
pos, I  think,  of 
the  Dudley  Gal- 


Church  near  Meiningen.     From  Arkitektonische  Rundschau. 


lery;  at  all  events  the  Dudley  of  those  days  was  the  first  to  set  the 
fashion.  The  Academy  has  never  formally  made  any  rule  of  this 
kind,  but  it  has  this  year  acted  upon  it  indirectly,  for  out  of  1,350 


exhibitors,  only  half  can  have  more  than  one  picture  hung,  and  as  a 
few  Academicians  and  others  still  sin  by  exhibiting  four,  five  and 
even  six  and  seven,  many  more  than  half  the  1,350  artists  can  only 
have  one  work  upon  the  walls.  Mr.  Herkomer  has  seven  portraits, 
but  Mr.  Herkomer  is  a  prolific  producer.  Not  only  has  he  painted 
well  nigh  a  dozen  life-size  portraits,  but  he  has  composed  a  romantic 
musical  fragment,  the  "Sorcerers";  he  has  done  a  number  of 
sketches  around  his  Bushey  home,  and  has  superintended  his  school, 
stage-managed  his  "  fragment,"  lectured  and  acted.  This  would 
seem  for  most  men  to  be  enough  for  several  years'  work,  but  Mr. 
Herkomer  is  industrious  and  does  not  let  the  grass  grow  under  his 
feet.  Still,  being  human,  perhaps  it  would  be  wiser  were  he  to  do 
less,  or  rather,  attempt  fewer  things,  for  certainly  his  portraits  are 
not  nearlv  so  good  this  year  as  they  were  two  years  ago.  There  is 
a  want  of  care  which  comes  of  attempting  too  much,  and  some  of  his 
work  might,  without  irreverence,  be  called  slovenly. 

Mr.  W.  B.  Richmond's  "  Prince  von  Bismarck  "  is  a  tour  deforce 
if  it  be  true  that  the  chancellor  only  sat  once  for  the  picture,  but  it 
is  an  unpleasant  portrait  of  a  repulsive  individual.  Far  more  agree- 
able and  infinitely  better  painted  is  "  Viscountess  Hood  "  by  the  same 
artist,  a  noble  portrait,  and  were  it  not  so  thoroughly  a  reproduction  of 
Sir  Joshua's  "  Mrs.  Siddons  as  the  Tragic  Muse,"  it  would  be  still 
more  commendable.  It  is  a  pity  Mr.  Richmond  does  not  depend 
upon  himself  for  his  composition  ;  last  year  Lord  Pembroke  appeared 
as  an  echo  of  Murello ;  this  year  we  have  the  shadow  of  a  Reynolds  ; 
who  will  be  the  next? 

Mr.  Yeend  King  has  three  charming  landscapes  of  sunny  effects 
of  trees  and  water,  and  Mr.  Henry  Moore's  "  Nearing  the  Needles^" 
is  an  exquisite  study  of  a  stormy  sea  after  a  gale,  when  the  coast  is 
lighted  up  by  sunshine,  whilu  the  water  remains  angry  and  dark. 
Mr.  Arthur  Hacker  has  a  very  good  portrait,  but  perhaps  the  best 
in  the  exhibition  is  M.  Carolus-Duran's  of  Professor  Pasteur.  Full 
of  vigorous  but  subtle  painting,  this  head  stands  out  amongst  an 
unusual  number  of  good  portraits.  When  M.  Carolus-Duran  is  at 
his  best,  who  is  equal  to  him?  and  if  the  lady's  portrait,  the 
"  Countess  of  Rico,"  is  not  one  of  his  best,  it  is  not  the  painter's 
fault,  for  the  only  natural  part  of  the  picture,  the  red  velvet  dress, 
is  superbly  treated.  A  woman  who  paints  and  powders  herself 
cannot  expect  a  painter  to  give  her  a  complexion. 

M.  GeVome's  "Barde  noir"  is  hard  and  lifeless,  although  the 
accessories  are  well  painted,  but  M.  GeYome's  style  is  quite  out  of 
date,  and  we  turn  to  Mr.  Henry  Woods'  work  with  pleasure.  This 
painter's  "  Saluting  the  Cardinal "  is  a  brilliant  piece  of  coloring, 
and  one  or  two  other  corners  of  Venice,  where  Mr.  Woods  lives,  are 
equally  crisp  and  sunny.  Mr.  Frank  Holl  may  he  said  to  be  as 
usual ;  many  masculine  portraits,  masculine  both  as  regards  the  sex 
of  the  sitter  and  the  character  of  the  work.  So,  too,  Sir  Frederick 
Leighton's  "  Captive  Andromache  "  is  as  usual,  refined,  well-com- 
posed and  ideal;  it  cannot  fail  to  be  attractive,  but  it  is  purelv  deco- 
rative in  treatment  and  the  painting  is  waxy  and  somewhat  crude  in 
color.  Still,  the  president  is  the  only  E'nglish  painter  who  ever 
attacks  such  subjects  with  any  sort  of  success. 

Mr.  F.  Goodall  has  lately  "gone  in  for  religious  painting  and  he 
and  Mr.  Herbert  divide  the  honors  between  them.  Both  occupy  a 
considerable  amount  of  wall-space,  which  might  be  better  filled  by 
more  modest  productions;  indeed,  so  thoroughly  unrelisious  is  its 
tone  that  indeed  wero  one  to  look  for  long  at  Mr.  Goodall's  "Sea  of 
Galilee,"  I  fear  the  result  would  be  vigorous  agnosticism. 

Mr.  Orchardson  is  always  great  in  execution,  however  common- 
place his  subjects  may  be,  and  could  I  take  upon  me  any  painter's 
mantle,  I  think  it  would  be  his.  "  Her  Mother's  Voice"  is  charming 
as  a  whole,  although  the  girl  is  anything  but  pretty.  But  the  atti- 
tude of  the  father  thoughtfully  listening  to  his  daughter,  and  the 
young  man  standing  by  the  piano  are  excellent  studies.  How  many 
painters  besides  Mr.  Orchardson  could  bring  out  that  young  fellow's 
face  against  the  light  wall?  If  this  picture  is  well  put  together,  no 
one  will  charge  Air.  Alma-Tadema  with  paying  too  much  attention 
to  composition.  Bit  by  bit,  what  splendid  painting  it  is,  and  what 
masterly  drawing!  How  could  Mr.  Tadema  do  anything,  which,  as 
technique  is  not  perfection?  But  as  a  whole,  the  picture,  "The 
Roses  of  Heliogabalus"  is  very  unsatisfactory;  it  is  confused  and 
wanting  in  repose.  Sir  John  Millais's  "Murtly  Moss,"  perhaps, 
sins  in  the  opposite  direction;  equally  wanting  in  effective  treat- 
ment, it  is  too  reposeful,  having  no  leading  point ;  it  is,  as  it  were,  a 
bit  of  country  cut  out  of  a  panorama.  A  monotonous  sky,  a  weak 
distance  and  a  monotonous  foreground. 

One  of  the  most  pathetic  pictures  in  the  galleries  is  Mr.  Frank 
Bramley's  "  Hopeless  Dawn,"  a  poor  attic,  an  old  woman,  a  girl  lay- 
ing her  head  in  lur  mother's  lap,  a  sputtering  candle,  dawn  l.reakin^ 
through  the  window,  showing  a  rough  sea  beyond  —  such  are  the 
elements  composing  a  picture  to  which  are  attached  some  words  of 
Mr.  Ruskin's :  "  Human  effort  and  sorrow  going  on  perpetually  from 
age  to  age,  waves  rolling  forever,  and  winds  moaning  and  faithful 
hearts  wasting  and  sickening  forever,  and  brave  lives  dashed  away 
about  the  rattling,  beach-like  weeds  forever."  Such  is  the  lot  of  the 
mass  of  struggling  human  beings  who  cumber  this  earth. 

Mr.  John  Sargent  has  sent  a  first-rate  portrait,  Mrs.  Henry 
Marquand,  and  M.  Albert  Aubert  is  welcome  in  London.  His 
"  Tiirc  en  priere "  is  very  vigorous.  Mr.  Long's  large  work  is 
remarkable.  It  represents  the  Egyptian  custom  of  "Judging  the 
Dead."  Which  are  the  more  wooden  and  mummy-like,  the  twenty- 
four  assessors  or  the  mummy -case,  it  is  hard  to  judge,  but  as  Mr. 


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Tfte   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


247 


I. on'.;  occupies  half  the  wall-space  on  one  side  of  a  room,  and  his 
description  of  this  strange  practice  fills  throe-fourths  of  one  page  of 
tin'  catalogue,  we  presume  the  picture  is  worthy  of  much  attention. 
All  the  same  it  seems  a  pity  it  should  not  have  been  slu/wn  by  itself 
or  with  other  works  of  the  painter  in  Bond  Street  or  elsewhere. 

Mr.  Waterhouse's  "  Lady  of  Shalott"is  not  equal  to  his  "Mari- 
anne "  of  last  year,  but  that  does  not  mean  that  it  is  not  very  supe- 
rior to  an  immense  amount  of  work  on  these  walls. 

Miss  Helen  Cridland's  "I  have  a  friend,  a  kinder  friend  has  no 
man,"  a  waif  hugging  a  mongrel  cur,  is  pathetic.  Equally  touching 
is  the  sadness  of  a  group  of  cabs  and  horses  standing  in  snowy, 
London  slush,  "Les  Mise'rables"  by  Mr.  Dollman.  Mr.  Phil  Mor- 
ris ought  to  go  to  school  again,  and  Mr.  Frank  Topham  ought  never 
to  have  left  it;  let  both  these  gentlemen  look  at  Mr.  S.  Solomon's 
"  Niobe  "  and  learn  how  to  draw,  paint  and  compose.  Really,  some 
of  Mr.  Morris's  work  is  beneath  contempt,  but  probably  his  pictures 
will  be  eagerly  snatched  up  by  the  illustrated  papers  for  Christmas 
numbers.  It  is  impossible  to  note  all  the  small  pictures  I  have 
marked  and  it  would  not  interest  readers  who  will  not  have  the 
opportunity  of  seeing  them,  but  there  seem  to  be  more  than  usual 
this  year  which  are  first-rate.  Many  are  the  good  water-colors,  but 
space  coni|>el8  me  to  omit  mentioning  any  names. 

On  the  whole,  it  is  one  of  the  best  exhibitions  I  remember  at  Bur- 
lington House,  but  the  English  school  is  dead.  All  the  younger  men 
are  French  in  style,  if  not  Paris  taught.  For  purely  English  work, 
I  imagine,  we  shall  be  obliged  this  year  to  journey  to  the  new  gal- 
lery in  Kegcnt  St.  Formerly,  in  good  work  or  bad,  the  style,  or 
rather,  the  want  of  style,  was  the  same  — young  and  old  all  painted 
alike.  Now  one  sees  the  old  manner  represented  by  the  older 
Academicians  and  the  new  style  illustrated  by  the  younger  genera- 
tion, that  is  to  say,  the  Paris  schools.  Many  of  these  pictures  would 
be  quite  at  home  on  the  walls  of  the  Salon.  Could  we  have  invented 
a  school  (other  than  that  of  Mr.  Burne-Jones,  which  is  unique,  but 
not  all-sulficient),  it  would  have  been  better,  but  if  we  could  not 
learn  to  paint  or  to  draw,  if  we  could  not  acquire  a  style  of  our  own, 
it  is  well  we  have  gone  to  France.  The  Burne-Jones  school  is 
charming  in  its  way,  but  we  want  something  else,  some  other  style, 
and  this  we  now  have  though  French  in  character.  Perhaps  we  may 
engraft  it  onto  our  own  insularity  —  /  have  no  desire  to  retain  the 
latter  —  and  assimilate  it,  and  so  form  a  new  style,  but  in  any  case  I 
think  there  is  no  fear  now,  as  I  thought  a  few  years  ago,  of  your 
painters  outdoing  ours  in  the  future.  Americans  saw  the  wisdom  of 
going  to  the  best  school  years  ago ;  we  English  are  slower  and  less 
ready  to  seize  a  new  truth.  But  we  arc  all  now  in  the  same  boat, 
and  as  art  is  cosmopolitan,  let  us  only  be  rivals  in  a  friendly  spirit, 
or  rather,  let  there  be  no  rivalry  but  that  of  a  strong  desire  to  excel. 
It  matters  not  at  all  what  the  nationality  or  sex  of  a  painter  may 
be,  since  art  is  of  no  country  and  no  sex.  PENGUIN. 


HOHRORS  OF  THE  BOYCOTT.  —  We  commend  the  following  extract 
from  the  London  Tele<jrn/ih  to  those  Americans  who  entertain  a  mawkish 
sympathy  for  the  Irish  in  their  struggle  against  the  landlords:  — 

"  If  the  whole  light  of  English  opinion  were  concentrated  on  the  face 
and  figure  of  Norah  Kitzmaurice,  the  Irish  land  question  and  the  Irish 
race  would  be  better  understood  than  after  years  of  debate  and  libraries 
of  blue-books.  Here  is  a  young  orphan  girl  who,  when  she  attends 
mass  on  Sunday,  has  to  be  guarded  from  outrage  by  sixteen  policemen. 
Yet  she  lives  in  her  old  home,  surrounded  by  the  relatives  and  friends 
of  her  childhood,  and  she  kneels  in  the  chapel  where  she  and  her  family 
have  worshipped  for  generations.  She  is  a  farmer's  daughter;  she  is  a 
Catholic,  like  all  her  kin  ;  and  purely  Irish  in  race  and  name.  On  one 
Sunday,  when  she  entered  the  sacred  edifice,  two  ringleaders  rose,  gave 
a  signal,  and  fifty  of  the  congregation  left  the  building.  This  '  boy- 
cotting' does  not  cease  during  the  week  ;  she  is  an  outcast  among  the 
neighbors,  leading  a  desolate  and  forlorn  life.  Every  one  remembers 
the  pathetic  figure  of  Hester  Prynne  in  Hawthorne's  wonderful  tale  of 
"The  Scarlet  Letter";  how  the  woman  moved  about  with  the  stigma 
of  her  offence  upon  her,  a  thing  of  shame,  pity  and  dread  to  all,  young 
and  old,  who  caught  sight  of  her  pale  face  and  lovely  form,  mingling 
among  the  people  like  the  ghost  of  a  dreadful  sin,  haunting  the  sun- 
shim-,  and  casting  a  chill  shadow  on  the  souls  of  men.  In  that  case  the 
wife  so  doomed  to  a  kind  of  tife-in-death  had  committed  adultery,  and 
the  stern  rigor  of  Puritan  times  affixed  on  her  a  terrible  sentence.  But 
Norah  Fitzmauriee  is  an  innocent  girl.  It  was  her  misfortune  not  her 
fault,  that  one  morning  she  went  with  her  old  father  to  the  market. 
They  had  not  left  their  home  many  miles  when  two  men  —  neighbors 
and  friends  —  followed  them.  The  father  fell  back  to  talk  to  them, 
and  then  the  daughter  saw  him  shot  before  her  eyes.  He  died  in  agony 
in  a  few  hours.  She  had  to  speak  the  truth  in  a  court  of  justice,  and 
identify  the  men.  This  is  her  only  offence.  For  this  she  is  denied  by 
her  neighbors  the  common  necessaries  of  life.  They  will  not  speak  to 
her  or  greet  her;  without  police  escort  she  is  not  safe  from  the  emissa- 
ries of  the  league.  One  day  or  night  without  protection  would  be  fatal 
to  her.  All  the  sympathy  of  the  people  is  with  the  murderers,  who 
were  cheered  on  arriving  at  the  county  jail ;  all  their  hatred  is  reserved 
for  the  poor  girl  who  saw  her  father  murdered  before  her  eyes.  We 
ask  English  women,  English  wives,  English  daughters,  to  realize  this 
horrible  perversion  of  the  instincts  of  humanity ;  this  political  agita- 
tion, which  has  turned  a  naturally  kind  hearted  peasantry  into  cruel 
and  cowardly  brutes.  What  would  an  Englishwoman  feel  if  politics 
here  ran  so  high  that  gray  hairs  dabbled  in  blood  excited  no  pity,  that 
the  daughter  of  a  murdered  mmi  should  be  hunted  and  haunted,  her 
grief  mocked,  her  sorrow  made  her  crime,  her  prayers  as  she  kneels  at 
God's  altar  disturbed  by  organized  riot  !  Yet  tlm't  is  wiiat  this  young 
Irish  girl  has  to  endure  because  her  father  sinned  against  the  unwritten 
law  of  the  league  and  was  killed  for  disobeying  it. 


Lookout  Towtr  ntar  dienach.     From  Arkit«ktonitch« 
Rundschau, 


A    PUBLIC    WORKS    DEPARTMENT    IN    THE    UNITED 
STATES. 

IN  the  United  States 
of  America,  na- 
tional public  works 
are  carried  out  in  a 
somewhat  peculiar  and 
not  altogether  satisfac- 
tory manner.  Taking, 
as  an  example,  river 
and  harbor  improve- 
ments, and  which  prob- 
ably  constitute  the 
largest  [wrtion  of  these 
works,  we  find  that 
each  year  a  number  of 
schemes  are  endxxlied 
in  a  River  and  Harbor 
Bill,  and  are  presented 
to  Congress  to  secure 
its  approval  as  national 
undertakings,  and  the 
right  to  annual  appro- 
priations for  their  exe- 
cution. Of  course 
every  district  is  desir- 
ous to  have  the  im- 
provement of  its 
waterways  carried  out 
at  the  public  expense, 
and  In -nrr  the  schemes 
are  often  local  and  iso- 
lated in  their  charac- 
ter, and  are  supported 
or  opposed  by  the  sen- 
ators, to  some  extent 
at  least,  from  motives 
of  local  patriotit-m  and 
interest.  The  result  is 
that  many  valuable 
projects  do  not  get  the 
consideration  they 
merit,  because  they  fail 
to  enlist  active  sympathy,  while  others  which  are  more  suc- 
cessful are  not  sufficiently  wide  reached,  and  are  treated  in 
too  narrow  a  fashion.  Waterways,  to  be  of  much  utility,  must  form 
part  of  a  well-conceived  plan  giving  an  avenue  of  communication 
over  long  distances.  It  is  for  long  transit  that  they  are  specially 
valuable,  and  though  it  is,  no  doubt,  gratifying  for  local  traders  to 
be  able  to  force  down  the  charges  of  the  railway  companies  by  foster- 
ing the  competition  of  canals  and  navigable  waters,  yet  money  spent 
upon  a  part  of  a  waterway  without  regard  to  the  remainder  of  it,  is 
often  partly  wasted. 

When  a  project  has  been  approved,  and  an  appropriation  has  been 
made  for  it,  it  is  customary  for  it  to  be  carried  out  by  the  Corps  of 
Engineers  of  the  United  States  Army,  with  the  aid  of  civil  assistants 
to  perform  duties  of  less  responsibility.     The  officers  are  trained  at 
West  Point   as  military  engineers,  and  are  allotted  to  the  various 
works  by  the  President.     It  does  not  appear  that  their  education  is 
specially  directed  to  the  construction  of  civil  works,  and  it  not  un- 
frequcntly  happens  that  their  assistants  have  had  greater  experi- 
ence  than    themselves.     Yet   in   spite  of   these  disadvantages,  the 
Corps  of  Engineers  have  done  an  immense  amount  of  work,  for  we 
find  that  up  to  the  end  of  1882  the  United  States  Government  had 
spent  on  civil  works  the  large  sum  of  £  78,966,000  sterling,  of  which 
£21,000.000  had  been  spent  on  rivers  and  harbors,  £18,000,000  on 
forts,  arsenals  and  armories,  and   £17,000,000  on  public  buildings. 
The  civil  engineers  of  America  have  had  very  little  connection  with 
the  Government  work.     It  is  only  the  inferior  offices  which  are  open 
to  them,  the  pay  is  i>oor  and  the  credit  naturally  goes  to  those  who 
stand  at  the  head  of  the  enterprise.     Consequently  the  military  men 
have  had  the  direction   in  their  own  hands,  a  most  extraordinary 
feature  in  such  an  unmilitary  country.     With  the  exception  of  Eng- 
land  every  Government   of   importance   maintains   an   engineering 
service  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  the  works  which  are  held  to 
be  matters  for  the  State  to  attend  to.     But  even  in  Germany  and 
France  the  constitution  of  such  services  is  essentially  civil,  while  in 
India,  where  from  motives  of  economy  military  engineers  are  largely 
utilized  in  the  Public  Works  Department,  the  administration  is  civil 
and  the  prizes  are  divided  between  the  two  elements  of  the  service, 
both  officers  and  civil  engineers  being  capable  of  holding  the  higher 
positions.     The  system  in  vogue  in  America  is  viewed  with  consider- 
able dissatisfaction  by  the  civil  engineers  of  the  country,  who  feel 
that  it  is  alien  to  the  ideas  and  methods  of  the  American  people,  and 
that  it  works  badly  both  for  the  profession  and  the  general  welfare 
of  the  commonwealth.     In  England  we  have  no  military  engineers 
engaged  on  civil  works  to  raise  feelings  of  jealousy,  but  we  know  that 
in    India  there   is  often  a  good  deal  of  friction   between  the  two 
branches  of  the  Public  Works  Department,  although  they  have  both 
the  same  professional  status.     This  feeling  must  be  greatly  intensified 
in  a  country  where  all  the  great  State  enterprises  are  monopolized 


248 


TJie    American    Architect   and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  648. 


by  military  engineers,  who  will  consequently  rank  higher  in  public 
esteem  than  those  who  are  confined  to  private  enterprises.  This  is, 
no  doubt,  a  substantial  grievance,  although  of  a  purely  sentimental 
kind.  But  we  fear  it  is  one  whic.i  must  be  borne  in  mind,  unless 
other  reasons  can  be  found  for  instituting  a  new  system.  If  the  Gov- 
ernment find  that  they  get  their  work  well  and  cheaply  dsne  they 
will  scarcely  be  dis]>osed  to  change  their  method  of  operations 
simply  because  the  civil  engineers  are  jealous  of  the  prestise  of  their 
military  brethren.  The  present  method,  however,  is  attacked  on 
far  wider  grounds  than  these. 

It  is  contended  that  the  system  of  organizing  State  works  is 
founded  on  a  wrong  basis.  What  is  wanted,  in  such  a  case  as  that 
of  rivers  and  harbors,  is  that  there  should  be  a  scientific  department 
of  the  Government  who  should  take  charge  of  the  entire  country,  and 
carry  out  the  improvements  on  a  systematic  plan.  This  department 
would  have  no  local  prejudices,  but  would  treat  each  waterway  as  a 
whole,  getting  out  a  complete  scheme  which  would  utilize  the  natural 
advantages  of  the  river  to  the  utmost,  and  render  it  of  the  widest 
possible  service.  Before  an  appropriation  was  asked  for,  the  plan 
would  have  been  subjected  to  the  careful  scrutiny  of  all  the  chiefs  of 
the  department :  its  merits  and  disadvantages  would  be  discussed  ; 
its  cost  would  be  estimated  with  the  greatest  care,  and  Congress 
would  have  the  assurance  that  the  money  they  were  asked  for  was  to 
be  expended  on  a  project  that  would  be  of  great  public  utility,  and 
would  be  laid  out  in  the  most  economical  manner  consistent  with 
efficiency.  This  is  just  the  opposite  of  what  occurs  now.  Plans  are 
included  in  the  general  bill  without  due  consideration,  and  are  con- 
ceived, to  a  great  extent,  from  a  local  and  limited  point  of  view.  If 
they  are  accepted  by  Congress  they  are  carried  out  by  men  who  are 
not  responsible  for  their  inception,  and  who  have  not  the  power  to 
change  their  essential  features.  The  result  is  that  the  national 
funds  are  spent  in  an  unsatisfactory  manner,  and  that  the  improve- 
ment of  one  part  of  a  river  often  proves  a  detriment  to  the  remainder. 
The  civil  engineers  of  America,  as  represented  by  the  Executive 
Board  of  the  Council  of  Engineering  Societies  on  National  Public 
Works,  while  desiring  to  abolish  the  present  plan,  do  not  propose  to 
follow  the  method  we  adopt  in  England  of  leaving  everything  to 
private  enterprise.  On  the  contrary  they  would  have  a  more  highly 
organized  official  engineering  department,  capable  not  only  of  carry- 
ing out  works,  but  also  of  inaugurating  them,  subject  to  the  approval 
of  Congress.  As  a  preliminary  measure  they  limit  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  new  department  to  rivers  and  harbors,  as  these  are  works 
which  suffer  most  from  the  present  system.  The  department  which 
they  seek  to  create  is  to  be  open,  as  regards  the  lower  grades,  to  all 
who  can  succeed  in  entering  it  by  competitive  examination.  Promo- 
tion will  be  controlled  partly  by  examination  and  partly  by  selection 
until  a  certain  stage,  is  reached,  by  which  time  it  is  assumed  that  the 
non-competents  will  have  been  weeded  out,  and  only  reliable  men 
will  be  found  in  posts  of  responsibility.  After  that,  seniority  will 
govern  the  advance  of  candidates  for  the  highest  ranks.  This 
method,  however,  will  not  avail  for  the  creation  of  the  department. 
This  is  to  be  effected  by  transferring  about  one-half  of  the  present 
army  corps  to  the  new  department,  and  by  selection  of  civil  engineers 
at  present  in  independent  practice.  The  present  civil  assistants 
would  fill  the  lower  posts.  It  is  estimated  the  cost  of  the  proposed 
Corps  of  United  States  Civil  Engineers  would  not  greatly  exceed 
that  of  the  present  establishment,  while  it  would  be  far  more 
efficient,  partly  because  it  would  consist  of  men  trained  for  the  work, 
partly  because  the  civil  assistants  would  have  an  assured  future  and 
would  not  leave  as  soon  as  they  became  efficient,  and  principally 
because  the  initiation  of  new  enterprises  would  be  in  the  hands  of  a 
technical  staff,  instead  of  those  of  committees  and  other  irresponsible 
bodies. 

It  is  impossible  not  to  sympathize  with  the  desire  of  the  American 
engineers  to  fee  the  public  works  of  the  country  carried  out  in  a 
better  manner  than  at  present.  The  employment  of  military 
engineers  for  such  projects  was  probably  very  defensible  at  the 
time  it  was  commenced,  and  possibly  for  long  afterwards.  They 
were  systematically  educated  at  an  academy  kept  up  at  the  Govern- 
ment, expense  at  a  time  when  there  were  but  few  other  facilities  for 
engineering  instruction  in  the  country,  and  no  doubt  their  scientific 
attainments  were  superior  to  those  of  the  average  civil  engineer.  It 
is  true  that  a  good  deal  of  their  period  of  study  must  have  been 
taken  up  by  purely  military  matters,  but  in  spite  of  this  they 
acquired  a  knowledge  of  science  and  the  principles  of  construction, 
which  prevented  them  going  far  astray,  even  when  commissioned  to 
undertake  work  outside  of  their  special  experience.  The  days  of 
specialism  had  scarcely  arisen  then.  Now,  however,  each  depart- 
ment of  engineering  has  become  highly  organized,  one  man  taking 
this  department  and  another  that.  The  all-round  man  is  dying  out, 
and  the  military  engineer,  who  is  equally  ready  to  build  a  fort,  bore 
a  cannon,  construct  a  railway,  or  canalize  a  river,  finds  that  his 
work  will  not  stand  the  criticism  of  those  who  profess  to  do  only  one 
of  these  things.  Modern  enterprises  become  so  vast  that  it  is  im- 
perative they  should  be  conducted  with  all  the  skill  which  comes 
from  long  training  and  exhaustive  study  of  a  particular  subject,  and 
hence  the  petty  economy  of  utilizing  the  time  of  the  soldier  during 
period?  of  peace  ceases  to  be  worth  consideration. 

But  if  it  be  important  that  the  engineer  of  a  project  be  a  man  of 
great  experience,  it  is  far  more  important  that  the  ends  which  the 
undertaking  is  designed  to  attain  should  be  commensurate  with  the 
expense,  and  should  be  as  wide-reaching  as  possible.  This  is  a  re- 


sult which  we  endeavor  to  secure  here  by  leaving  all  such  work  to 
private  persons,  who  are  supposed  to  be  the  keenest  guardians  of 
their  own  interests.  But  in  America  this  method  is  impracticable  in 
many  instances,  especially  as  regards  waterways,  and  hence  the 
necessity  of  providing  a  technical  tribunal  to  decide  on  the  merits  of 
all  plans,  and  to  undertake  the  responsibility  of  their  execution. 
This  is  what  we  do  ourselves  in  India,  and  what  is  done  by  all  the 
great  Continental  Governments,  and  it  is  only  a  question  of  time 
before  the  same  method  is  adopted  in  the  United  States.  —  Engin- 
eering. 


CORNICE  fROM  THE 

CHUBCH  orAMHTE-CROiX 

.AFTER  trCORATION' 


SPONTANEOUS   COMBUSTION  IN  SHIPS'  CARGOES. 

DR.W.  BORING,  Royal 
Instructor  of  Naviga- 
tion at  the  Deutsche 
Seevarts,  Hamburg,  recently 
published  a  most  interesting 
paper  upon  the  subject  of 
fires  on  shipboard  and  the 
best  means  of  preventing 
them.  The  Hydrographie 
Oflice,  in  view  of  the  im- 
portance of  the  subject,  has 
prepared  a  translation  of  the 
paper,  of  which  the  following  synopsis  has  an  indirect  interest  for 
architects  : 

Conditions  of  Spontaneous  Cotnbustion.  —  In  order  that  combus- 
tion may  exist  there  must  be  both  a  combustible  material  and  some- 
thing to  maintain  combustion.  Air  usually  does  the  latter.  When 
wood,  etc.,  burns,  the  carbon  and  hydrogen  of  the  wood  unite  with 
the  oxygen  of  the  air,  and  produce  water  and  carbonic  acid,  two  of 
the  best  extinguishers.  Remembering  this,  one  should  at  the  out- 
break of  a  fire  in  the  hold  stop  every  hole  and  seam  as  closely  as 
possible,  both  to  keep  air  from  going  in  and  to  keep  the  smoke  from 
getting  out,  for  smoke  contains  carbonic  acid,  a  mjre  powerful  ex- 
tinguisher than  water. 

Steamers  should  be  fitted  with  pipes  whereby  to  introduce  steam 
into  the  hold  and  drive  the  air  out.  How  successful  such  a  course 
would  be  is  indicated  by  the  case  of  the  American  bark  "  Pruirie 
Bird,"  Captain  Sanford,  at  Key  West,  in  1875,  loaded  with  cotton. 
She  got  a  steamer  to  blow  steam  into  her  hold  for  three  days,  and 
although  badly  burned,  the  fire  was  completely  overpowered. 

Acids. —  Underwriters  object  to  their  being  carried  in  the  hold. 
They  should  be  carefully  stowed  on  deck,  and  a  clause  should  be  put 
in  the  charter,  "  with  liberty  to  throw  overboard  for  the  safety  of 
the  ship,  if  necessary."  Slaked  lime  neutralizes  these  acids,  as  well 
as  chalk,  soda,  potash,  etc.,  and  a  vessel  should  always  have  a 
quantity  of  some  of  these  on  board  ready  to  use  if  she  is  to  carry 
acids.  The  volatile  and  inflammable  nature  of  ether,  benzine,  eta., 
should  always  be  considered  as  dangerous  to  the  safety  of  the  ship. 

The  following  articles  are  subject  to  spontaneous  combustion  when 
allowed  to  absorb  moisture  :  Saltwort,  bone-dust,  charcoal,  chocolate, 
roasted  chicory,  roasted  coffee,  grain,  raw  cotton,  cotton  offal,  fibrous 
plants,  animal  substances  of  all  kinds,  jute,  flour,  guano,  hay,  hemp, 
Hax,  lamp-black,  glue,  tow,  grits,  old  rags,  cotton  (especially  danger- 
ous after  being  used  ab-jut  the  engines),  oil-cake,  oil-cloth,  paints, 
printer's  black,  coal  containing  sulphuret  of  iron,  loaded  during  wet 
weather,  and  not  protected  afterwards  against  moisture. 

The  following  are  dangerous  on  account  of  spontaneous  combus- 
tion through  sublimation  or  the  escape  of  vapors :  Bituminous  coal ; 
several  varieties  are  markedly  apt  to  evolve  inflammable  gases 
(hydrogen),  so  that  an  explosion  is  apt  to  result  whenever  an  open 
light  is  brought  near.  This  coal  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  that 
containing  sulphuret  of  iron.  The  gases  should  be  conducted  out 
by  prearranged  ventilation.  Guano  also  evolves  much  gas  when 
damp,  and  is  dangerous  near  a  light. 

Spontaneous  Combustion  of  Coal.  —  Professor  J.  Von  Liebeg  writes 
a  letter  in  which  he  suggests  covering  the  coal  with  a  thin  lick  of 
tar,  to  shut  out  air  and  water.  He  remarks  that  large  lumps  are  not 
so  dangerous  as  small  ones,  and  hard  ones  are  not  so  dangerous  as 
those  that  break  easily,  and  that  in  all  cases  of  spontaneous  combus- 
tion on  record  the  coal  contained  sulphuret  of  iron,  which,  he  says, 
can  be  detected  by  the  eye  in  numerous  small  yellow  spots. 

Precentire  Measures.  —  Lay  at  least  six  inches  of  dunnage,  work 
the  pumps  carefully,  and  supply  masts,  pumps  ami  hatches  with  a 
double  covering  of  tarpaulin.  Ventilators  to  lead  off  the  gases  in  all 
kinds  of  weather,  fitted  in  the  deck  to  reach  the  coal,  but  not  down 
to  the  bilges,  for  if  the  fresh  air  is  allowed  to  circulate  through  the 
coal  it  will  only  heighten  the  danger  which  it  is  intended  to  obviate. 
The  ventilators  should  be  at  each  end  of  the  compartment,  and  not 
alongside  of  each  other. 

On  long  voyages  the  temperature  of  the  cargo  should  be  taken  and 
logged  each  day  at  several  places.  This  can  be  done  with  an  iron 
rod  jammed  down  into  the  coal,  or,  still  better,  with  a  hollow  iron  or 
brass-pipe,  inside  of  which  a  thermometer  can  be  lowered. 

Dr.  K.  Broockman  writes  to  the  author  and  sums  up  his  conclu- 
sions in  one  sentence:  "Coal-gas  explosions  can  be  prevented  by 
ventilation." 

His  conclusions  are  as  follows : 

1.  Ship  only  hard  coal,  for  the  softer  and  more  friable  the  coal  is 
the  greater  is  the  volume  of  gas  thrown  off. 


MAY  26,  1888.] 


77te   American   Architect  and  Building.  News. 


2-19 


2.  Compartments  in  which  coal  is  stowed  must  be  well  ventilated, 
allowing  all  '.rases  to  pass  off  into  the  outer  air.  Simple  pipe  as 
thick  as  one's  arm  ought  to  suffice;  perhaps  one  could  utilize  the 
ship's  motion. 

8.  The  compartments  should  be  entered  only  with  a  safety-lamp, 
such  as  is  used  in  mines.  There  is  no  absorbing  substance  for 
median  or  marsh-gas. 

4.  Freshly  delivered  coal  is  much  more  dangerous  than  that  which 
has  lain  for  some  time  in  free  air;  the  gases  in  it  are  often  under  an 
enormous  pressure  (thirty  atmospheres),  so  that  large  pieces  some- 
times blow  off,  endangering  the  lives  of  workmen. 

5.  Methan  or  marsh  gas  is  odorless. 

From  section  4  it  appears  that  the  hatches  should  not  be  closed  as 
soon  as  the  coal  is  stowed,  and  that  one  should  not  enter  the  hold 
with  open  light ;  the  same  applies  to  the  cabin  or  forecastle  when 
they  are  l>etween  decks. 

Since  this  gas  is  odorless  one  should  not  even  use  open  lights  later 
on  during  the  voyage;  safety-lamps  are  much  more  to  IMJ  recom- 
mended. 


CAPITAL  °n  WELL.S 


THE  OLD  STATE-HOUSE  AT   RICHMOND,  VA. 

HE  old  capitol  at 
Richmond  is  a  veri- 
table curiosity  shop 
—  a  mine  of  wealth  to 
the  antiquarian  who 
does  not  care  to  go  back 
of  Pocahontas  and  John 
Smith.  One  can  see 
there  old  deeds  and  re- 
cords dating  back  to 
1620,  when  Virginia's 
capital  was  at  James- 
town. They  were  curi- 
ous looking  old  things 
on  parchment — nothing 
left  but  the  seals  and 
the  moulds.  The  writ- 
ing became  illegible  half 
a  century  ago.  The  old 
building  itself  is  1  0  3 
years  old.  its  corner-stone  having  been  laid  in  1785.  Thomas  Jeffer- 
son brought  the  design  from  France  in  1801,  and  with  it  a  model,  that 
of  the  Maison  Carrde,  an  ancient  Roman  temple  at  Nismes,  France. 
Exteriorly  the  model  was  faithfully  adhered  to,  but  the  interior,  of 
course,  had  to  be  adapted  to  circumstances.  It  is  a  quaint  old  build- 
ing, and  so  dirty.  'I  he  colored  population  of  Richmond  seems  to 
have  full  possession.  Apples,  cakes,  pies  and  all  manner  of  catch- 
penny viands  are  thrust  at  one  from  every  niche  and  cranny. 
Beggars,  hideous  cripples,  all  sorts  of  helpless  folk  assail  one  at 
every  turn,  and  the  smell  of  it  all  is  dreadful. 

But  for  its  historic  interest  and  the  value  of  its  contents  the  prog- 
ressive Virginia  of  to-day  would  be  justified  in  setting  fire  to  it,  the 
more  so  as  it  occupies  the  only  site  available  for  a  first-class  modern 
structure.  The  basement  floor,  with  its  little  seven-foot  ceiling,  its 
creaking  doors,  with  old  cast-iron  locks,  its  brick-flooring,  and  its 
array  of  negro  pedlers,  is  not  inviting.  Here  are  the  auditors  of  the 
State  of  Virginia,  the  treasurer  and  register  of  the  land  office.  The 
walls  are  begrimed,  the  carpets  cheap  ingrain,  and  the  furniture  was 
made  in  1836  — so  a  guide  said,  and  his  story  was  believed.  The 
superintendent  of  the  land-office,  having  but  little  now  to  do,  is  ex- 

fcio  custodian  of  the  State-house.     His  land  duties  and  his  custo- 
nship  seem  to  sit  alike  lightly  on  his  shoulders.     What  they  call 
in  Richmond  the  "  rotunda  "  of  the  capitol  is  the  floor  above.     It  is 
about  three  times  as  large  as  one  of  the  elevator  cages  in  the  Chi- 
cago City-hall. 

In  the  middle,  surrounded  by  a  heavy  iron  rail,  stands  the  one 
great  authentic  and  authoritative  likeness  of  Washington.  This  is 
the  great  Houdon  statue.  Houdon  was  a  French  sculptor,  sent  over 
from  France  in  1 785  by  Lafayette.  The  General  Assembly  of  Vir- 
ginia employed  him  at  Lafayette's  request  to  make  a  life-size  picture 
and  portrait  of  Washington  as  he  then  existed  —  the  retired  soldier 
and  president.  M.  Houdon  spent  two  weeks  at  Mount  Vernon,  took 
a  cast  of  the  Washington  face,  measured  his  head,  his  body,  his  legs, 
and  got  a  fac-siuiilc  of  his  cane,  his  ruffle  and  his  shoe-buckles,  and 
the  result  was,  in  two  years  more,  the  famous  statue.  No  represen- 
tation of  Washington  now  extant  is  supposed  to  be  so  natural  as 
this.  For  many  years  the  government  has  accepted  M.  Houdon's 
likeness  as  the  one  to  be  put  on  bonds,  postage-stamps  and  all  other 
public  prints.  The  2-ccnt  postage-stamp  is  an  exact  reproduction  of 
the  profile  of  Houdon's  face  of  Washington,  and  as  such  not  an 
American  soul  that  ever  writes  and  mails  a  letter  can  fail  to  see  and 
know  it.  There  are  some  replicas.  One  is  in  painted  copper  in  tl:e 
capitol  at  Washington.  Another  in  plaster  is  said  to  be  in  Albany, 
New  York.  None  of  these  can  equal  the,  original,  as  it  stands  to- 
day, in  that  old  Kichmond  capitol.  A  rickety  iron  railing  surrounds 
it.  The  brick  floor  is  covered  with  orange  peels  and  banana  skins. 
Colored  beggars  assail  the  visitor,  book-agents  badge,  one,  the  iron 
railing  itself  is  rusted,  the  great  statue  has  a  greasy  and  moldy  look 
—  not  soiled,  but  dingy  with  age.  From  the  gallery  above,  where 
the  portraits  are,  the  top  of  the  licad  is  seen  to  be  covered  with  dirt 


half  an  inch  thick.  There  seems  to  be  something  wrong  about  it  all. 
The  old  portrait-gallery  is  belter  preserved.  Here  are  the  can- 
vases of  all  of  the  old  governors  of  Virginia  from  Lord  de  la  War 
and  Alexander  Spotswood  down  to  (ill  Walker  and  Kemper.  All 
have  their  names  on  the  frames  except  Oil  Walker.  His  magnificent 
white  hair  and  moustache  are  left  to  speak  for  themselves.  More- 
over, the  frame  containing  his  picture  is  put  in  the  nethermost  corner, 
where  he  who  runs  will  have  to  know  the  man  and  read  quick  to 
know  his  identity.  They  have  put  Kemper's  name  on  his  picture 
because  he  was  a  Virginian,  but  it  is  put  well  up  out  of  sight.  The. 
succeeding  governors  have  not  yet  been  honored. 

But  the  whole  of  one  end  of  the  quadrangle  has  Iran  cleared  to 
honor  some  other  people.  Here  appear  the  pictorial  evidences  of 
Virginia's  pride  and  boast  in  the  last  half  century.  There  are  Imt 
three  pictures,  but  they  take  up  all  of  one  of  the  four  sides.  The 
Spotswoods,  the  Masons,  the  Randolphs,  the  Monroes,  the  Tylers, 
even  Jefferson,  Washington  (by  Peale),  "  Light  Horse"  Harry  Lee, 
Lord  Dunmore,  Patrick  Henry, —  all  have  to  submit  to  a  "doubling 
up"  to  make  room  for  the  three  great  life-sized  portraits  which  Vir- 
ginia patriots  felt  they  must  buy  before  they  adjusted  their  debt. 

That  of  Robert  V..  Lee  is  a  magnificent  work.  It  is  a  full  three- 
quarter  figure,  life-size,  the  study  made  while  he  was  president  of  the 
Washington  and  Lee  University.  The  frame  is  massive  and  it 
occupies  the  centre  of  the  space.  To  the  right  is  another  full-sized 
painting  of  Stonewall  Jackson.  This  is  in  full  confederate  uniform, 
the  only  one  of  note,  by  the  way,  that  is  so  represented.  To  the  left 
is  the  third  great  Virginia  soldier,  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston. 
Like  General  Lee  he  is  portrayed  in  citizen's  dress,  the  figure  being 
a  three-quarter  drawing,  life-size.  General  Johnston  looks  in  the 
picture  just  as  he  does  in  the  office  of  the  United  States  railroad 
commission.  He  doesn't  seem  to  have  grown  an  hour  older. 
Smaller  portraits  hover  about  these,  notably  A.  P.  Hill,  Jeb  Stuart 
and  General  Pickctt,  of  Gettysburg  fame.  The  old  darkey  guide,  in 
taking  one  around  the  gallery,  is  prolix  when  he  comes  to  the  colo- 
nial governors  and  Thomas  Jefferson,  but  as  he  approaches  the  great 
portraits  he  simply  says :  "  Gineral  Lee,  Gineral  Johnston  and  Old 
Stonewall,"  and  then  the  miserable  old  hypocrite  puts  his  handker- 
chief to  his  eyes.  He  thinks  that  is  good  for  another  Northern  dime 
at  least. 

One  gets  somewhat  inspired  with  the  glory  of  "  Ole  Virginny  "  it 
must  be  confessed,  as  he  goes  through  the  corridors.  In  a  recess 
near  the  portrait  of  Washington  by  Peale,  is  the  old  chair  sent  from 
England  in  1 790  for  the  use  of  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Burgesses, 
then  meeting  at  Williamsburg.  It  is  a  curious  old  thing.  The  back 
is  nine  feet  high  and  the  seat  about  nine  inches  wide.  A  modern 
speaker  like  Sam  Cox  might  sit  on  its  edge,  but  Carlisle  would  have 
hard  work,  and  a  fat  man  like  Keifer,  of  the  Forty-eighth  Congress, 
couldn't  reach  a  half-way  balance  on  it.  The  present  speaker  of  the 
Virginia  House  of  Delegates  might  get  his  coat-tails  in  it,  but  no 
more.  It  is  an  odd  piece  of  furniture,  upholstered  in  old-fashioned 
red  silk,  so  faded  as  to  be  colorless.  The  top  of  the  back  is  a  carved 
sun-burst,  and  there  is  a  hole  through  the  upholstery  that  looks  as  if 
it  might  have  been  made  by  a  bullet.  The  old  chair  was  brought  up 
from  Williamsburg  just  ahead  of  McClellan,  in  1862,  and  perhaps  a 
leaden  missile  did  go  through  it. 

The  old  stove,  too,  is  a  great  curiosity.  It  was  the  first  "  warm- 
ing box "  ever  brought  to  America.  It  was  made  in  England  in 
1770  and  sent  over  by  the  Duke  of  Beaufort  as  a  present  to  the 
"  Colony  of  Virginia."  It  was  used  for  warming  the  House  of  Bur- 
gesses in  Williamsburg  until  the  capital  was  removed  to  Richmond. 
It  is  a  "  three-st'y  "  affair,  standing  seven  feet  high,  but  nothing  unique 
in  its  appearance.  It  shows  simply  that  the  science* of  stove-making 
has  not  advanced  much  in  the  last  one  hundred  and  twenty  years. 
The  same  principles  of  radiation  appear  in  the  old  Virginia  "  warm- 
ingbox  "  that  we  have  in  the  ordinary  wood  stove  of  to-day. 

The  library,  on  the  upper  floor,  contains  many  object"  of  interest. 
There  are  a  "  lawyer's  fee  book,"  kept  by  Patrick  Henry ;  Jeffer- 
son's marriage  contract  written  in  his  own  hand ;  Lord  Cornwallis's 
parole  at  lorktown,  signed  by  himself;  Stonewall  Jackson's  last 
official  despatch,  written  in  lead  ]>encil  on  the  field  of  Chancellorg- 
ville  an  hour  before  his  diath,  and  a  number  of  other  things.— 
Correspondence  of  the  Chicago  Tribune. 


DANGEROUS  WALL-PAPERS. 


EVERY    now    and 
then  some  incidents 
come  to  light  which 
show  that   we  are  sur- 
rounded by  dangers  of 
which  we  little  dream. 
One  of  these  sources  of 


tASLY  CAW/CO  FMNCH  ORMA.HWT  danger  has 

Amn'iiiceRATioN'  considered  the  poison 
which  formerly  used  to 
be  introduced  into  wall-papers  by  careless  or  ignorant  manu- 
facturers, and  it  is  with  sincere  surprise  and  regret,  that 
we  hear  of  renewed  suspicion  being  cast  upon  wall-papers. 
The  circumstance  is  all  the  more  astounding  as  the  papers  in 
question  are  stated  to  be  of  English  origin,  while  the  accusers  are 
American,  and  we  hope  that,  for  the  sake  of  the  reputation  of  our 
English  manufacturers,  the  makers  of  these  particular  wall-papers 


250 


TJie   American   Architect   and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  648. 


will  be  able  to  prove  that  these  various  charges  are  unfounded.  The 
facts  are  narrated  bv  Dr.  Charles  Harrington,  of  the  Harvard  Medi- 
cal School,  in  the  B'oston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  of  March 
1,  and  refer  to  a  purchase  of  English  wall-papers  with  the  manufac- 
turers' guaranty  that  they  are  non-arsenical.  Dr.  Harrington  states 
that  tests  made  after  their  receipt  by  the  Boston  purchaser  showed 
that  arsenic  was  present,  and  accordingly  the  Boston  house  objected 
to  receiving  and  paying  for  them.  The  English  manufacturer,  there- 
upon, reiterated  his  claim  that  the  papers  were  non-arsenical,  and  in 
proof  thereof  sent  a  testimonial  from  Professor  John  Attfield,  Ph.  D., 
F.  R.  S.,  F.  I.  C.,  F.  C.  S.,  who  said : 

"  Not  one  of  these  samples  is  an  arsenical  wall-paper ;  that  is  to 
say,  not  one  of  the  pigments  or  color-giving  substances  on  the  papers 
is  arsenical,  and  the  paper  itself  of  these  paper-hangings  is  not 
arsenical. 

"  Pseudo-sanitarians  sometimes  report  non-arsenical  wall-papers 
as  containing  some  ridiculously-minute  trace  of  arsenic.  These 
alarmists  might  just  as  truly  report  some  samples  of  common  table 
salt  as  containing  arsenic,  for  the  delicacy  of  certain  of  the  tests  for 
arsenic  is  so  great  that  traces  can  be  detected  in  many  things.  But 
such  traces  are  absolutely  without  significance  from  any  sanitary 
point  of  view,  either  in  salt,  wall-paper,  or  anything  else.  Arsenical 
wall-papers  have  well-defined  arsenical  characters,  were  formerly 
common,  and  may  now  occasionally  be  met  with.  Neither  of  these 
samples  is  an  arsenical  wall-paper." 

In  order  to  disprove  this  very  emphatic  statement,  analyses  of 
these  papers  were  made  by  Henry  B.  Hill,  Professor  of  Chemistry 
in  Harvard  College ;  Dr.  Charles  S.  Sanger,  Professor  of  Chemistry 
in  the  United  States  Naval  Academy,  and  by  Dr.  Harrington,  who 
is  the  Assistant  in  Chemistry  and  Instructor  in  Hygiene  in  the  Har- 
vard Medical  School,  and  the  following  table  shows  the  results  of 
their  examination  as  compared  with  those  made  by  Professor  Att- 
field: 


AMOUNT  OF  ARSENIC  IN  GRAINS  PER  SQUARE  YARD. 


No. 

1  . 

2  . 

3  . 

4  . 

5  . 

6  . 

7  . 

8  . 


Hill. 
4.66 
0.86 
0.93 
0.63 
0.21 
0.12 
0.10 
0.21 


Sanger. 

.  4.08  . 

.  0.73  . 

.  0.73  . 

.  0.71  . 

.  0.23  . 

.  0.04  . 

.  008  . 

.  0.22  . 


Harrington. 

....  4.40  .... 

....  0.90  

....  0.82  .... 

....  0.78  .... 

....  0.28  .... 

...  O.H  .... 

....  0.13  .... 

....  0.22  .... 


Attfleld. 


Our  contemporary  therefore  comes  to  the  conclusion  that  accord- 
ing to  the  American  analyses  all  of  the  papers  contained  more  than 
the  permissible  limit  recommended  to  the  National  Health  Society 
of  England  by  its  committee,  and  adds  that,  in  view  of  the  reputa- 
tion which  Professor  Attfield  has  in  the  United  States,  this  result  is 
certainly  very  surprising,  but  that  it  shows  how  desirable  it  is  to 
take  such  guaranties  with  great  reluctance  and  caution.  The  article 
closes  with  the  following  tirade :  "  It  is  well  understood  by  pharma- 
cists and  chemists  that  there  are  always  to  be  found  a  certain  num- 
ber of  chemists  holding  prominent  professional  positions  who  can  be 
depended  upon  to  furnish  certificates  which  favor  the  interests  of 
those  who  employ  them,  but  we  are  loth  to  believe  that  Professor 
Attfield  is  to  be  classed  among  them.  He  certainly  owes  it  to  him- 
self to  offer  some  explanation  of  such  a  decided  variation  between 
the  results  of  his  own  analyses  and  those  of  the  American  analysts 
in  the  present  instance."  Professor  Attfield  holds  a  well-earned  and 
spotless  reputation  in  this  country  as  well  as  in  the  States,  and  we 
feel  sure  he  does  not  belong  in  the  category  of  the  "  certain  chem- 
ists "  of  whom  our  American  contemporary  speaks  so  pointedly.  We, 
therefore,  feel  sure  that  he  will  be  able  to  clear  himself  from  such 
insinuations,  but  we  should  like  to  go  farther  and  ask,  who  were  the 
manufacturers  of  these  papers,  and  what  have  they  to  say  to  so 
serious  a  charge  ?  It  is  a  question  which  is  of  importance  to  all 
English  makers  of  wall-papers,  whose  good  name  has  been  placed  in 
jeopardy  amongst  our  American  cousins,  and  we  hope  that  they  will 
take  the  matter  up  in  a  proper  spirit.  — Invention. 


DURING  the  last  half-dozen  years  which  have  seen  the  annihila- 
tion of  uncountable  dry-plates,  innumerable  questions  have  sug- 
gested themselves  as  to  the  whys  and  wherefores  of  the  many 
provoking  failures  we  have  made  in  photographies.  Working  spas- 
modically, as  rare  idle  moments  presented  themselves,  it  is  little  won- 
der that  perfect  success  was  so  seldom  achieved,  but  just  what  it  was 
that  sometimes  produced  perfect  negatives,  was  no  less  puzzling  than 
what  it  was  that  as  often  produced  perfect  failures,  and  it  was  slowly 
borne  in  on  our  mind  that  this  fascinating  art  had  its  foundations  in 
science,  and  that  it  would  be  quite  useless  to  seek  the  answers  to  the 
riddles  without  first  having,  with  some  little  thoroughness,  refreshed 
one's  memory  as  to  the  operation  of  the  laws  of  optics  and  the  order 
of  chemical  reactions.  By  blindly  following  the  instructions  of  the 
hand-books  that  are  prepared  for  the  use  of  amateurs,  a  reasonable 
measure  of  success  rewards  the  operator,  until  there  comes  occasion 
for  leaving  the  plain  road  and  attempting  to  work  to  the  desired  end 
with  no  better  guide  than  an  awakened  instinct.  In  such  straits  as 


these  recourse  is  had  to  books,  which  teach  the  subject  with  all 
desirable  thoroughness  only  to  find  that  they  are  somewhat  diffuse  in 
treatment  and  voluminous  in  bulk  for  a  busy  man,  who  is  not  prepar- 
ing for  a  professional  career,  to  spend  his  time  over.  There  was 
really  a  need  for  something  between  the  slight  hand-book  and  the 
all  embracing  treatise,  and  such  a  book1  has  been  prepared  by  the 
editor  of  the  Philadelphia  Photographer  and  the  writer  of  several 
books  on  photographic  methods.  It  is  adapted  to  the  needs  of  both 
amateur  and  professional,  and  would  be  a  useful  hand-book  to  have 
in  any  gallery,  and  it  has  one  preeminent  qualification  for  such 
service,  it  is  nearly  square  in  form,  and,  as  a  consequence,  will  open 
out  flat  and  stay  open,  as  books  of  the  usual  shape  rarely  will. 

It  is  a  very  curious  book  in  its  make-up,  a  double-headed  Briareas 
which  helps  with  both  head  and  hands.  Each  paragraph  of  the 
author's  is  paralleled  by  voluminous  extracts  from  other  writers,  all 
bearing  on  the  subject-matter  of  the  paragraph  in  question.  One 
does  not  therefore  have  to  stop  and  go  in  search  of  what  other 
authorities  say  on  the  point,  it  is  all  brought  together  here  in  one 
place,  and  the  book  becomes  a  library  of  books  on  photographies,  but 
one  in  which  the  differing  views  are,  in  a  sense,  already  digested  and 
assimilated  for  the  student. 

Text  and  extracts  are  fully  and  admirably  illustrated,  as  will  be 
shown  by  the  statement  that  nearly  four  hundred  cuts,  illustrating 
processes,  principles  and  apparatus,  give  point  and  interest  to  the 
text  and  extracts  alike.  The  thoroughness,  and  what  may  be  called 
the  impersonality  of  the  book,  is  shown  by  the  list  of  authorities  who 
have  been  laid  under  contributions,  a  list  which  includes  nearly  three 
hundred  names  of  professional  photographers  and  scientific  authori- 
ties, as  well  as  of  amateurs,  whose  experiments  and  observations  are 
not  the  least  in  value. 

A  good  index,  fairly  well  cross-referenced,  makes  the  book  useful 
for  quick  occasional  reference. 

AMONGST  the  many  new  trade  journals  which  publishers  all  over 
the  country  are  sending  out  in  never-ending  succession,  is  one  which 
really  seems  to  touch  on  a  comparatively  uncultivated  field. 
Brick  and  wood  and  iron  have  long  had  trade  papers  de- 
voted to  the  development  of  their  respective  interests,  but  we  cannot 
recall  that  any  one  has,  until  now,  turned  his  attention  to  the  attempt 
to  wring  fortunes  from  stone  through  the  agency  of  printer's  ink. 
Handled  seriously,  the  chance  of  making  a  useful  and  successful  jour- 
nal seems  to  lie  within  the  reach  of  the  publishers  of  this  one,2  and 
one  from  which  architects  especially  may  derive  much  benefit. 

The  vast  deposits  of  the  most  varied  kinds  of  building 
stones  in  this  country  are  little  known,  some  not  even  suspected, 
others  just  discovered,  and  only  a  few  really  worked  in  such  a  way 
that  the  product  of  the  quarry  can  be  really  considered  "in  the  mar- 
ket "  for  the  use  of  any  one  who  prefers,  for  one  reason  or  another,  to 
use  that  particular  stone.  Until  within  a  few  years  builders  used 
certain  stones  mainly  because  they  were  "  handy  "  to  the  site,  but  the 
increased  facilities  for  transportation  now  makes  it  possible  for  an 
architect  to  exercise  a  limited  choice  in  the  selection  of  his  building 
stone,  and  we  believe  that  such  a  journal  as  this  will  do  a  great 
deal  toward  very  rapidly  expanding  the  field  from  which  selection 
can  be  made.  There  is  generally  capital  enough  watching  for  a 
chance  for  investment,  and  if  the  editor  can  point  out  promising  de- 
posits of  new  varieties  there  will  shortly  be  many  more  building 
stones  in  the  market  than  there  are  now. 


DETROIT  ARCHITECTURAL  SKETCH  CLUB. 

TTTlIE  architectural  draughtsmen  of  this  city  have  organized  an 
J|"  association  to  be  known  as  the  "Detroit  Architectural  Sketch 
Club,"  with  the  object  of  improving  and  advancing  its  members 
in  all  matters  pertaining  to  architecture,  by  competitive  drawings 
and  designs,  lectures,  etc. 

The  first  semi-annual  meeting  was  held  Monday  eve,  May  14th, 
at  which  time  a  constitution  and  by-laws  were  adopted,  nearly 
twenty-five  members  being  present.  The  following  officers  were 
elected,  viz. :  President,  J.  L.  Saunders,  from  the  office  of  Mason  & 
Rice;  Vice-President,  A.  D.  Adamson,  from  the  office  of  Spier  & 
Rohns ;  Secretary,  C.  A.  Fullerton,  from  the  office  of  Messrs.  Van 
Leyen  &  Preston ;  Treasurer,  J.  B.  Nettleton,  from  the  office  of 
Donaldson  &  Meier ;  an  Executive  Council  consisting  of  the  officers 
and  three  active  members,  viz.:  Albert  Kohn,  of  Mason  &  Rice; 
M.  H.  Grills,  of  Scott  &  Co.,  and  W.  E.  Pasco,  of  Donaldson  &  Meier. 

The  club  starts  out  with  good  prospects  and  lots  of  enthusiasm, 
with  the  promise  of  help  from  the  architects.  You  may  expect  to 
hear  from  us  soon.  Sister  clubs,  the  hand  of  good  fellowship  is 
extended.  Address  communications  to 

C.  A.  FULLERTON,  Secretary, 

18  and  19  Burns  Block,  Detroit,  Mich. 


MAY  26,  1888.] 


T7ie   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


251 


STRENGTHENING  OLD  FLOORS. 

NEW  YORK.  Ha;  7,  1888. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  Will  you  be  kind  enough  to  inform  me  as  to  the 
utility  and  desirability  of  the  following  method?  I  refer  to  the 
American  Architect,  No.  628  (January  7th  1888),  and  in  particular 
to  the  latter  part  of  Article  XXI  on  "  Safe  Building,"  treating  of 
cross-bridging.  It  is  mentioned  that  in  case  the  floor-beams  in  an 
old  building  nave  settled,  and  provided  the  beams  are  still  strong, 
that  it  is  a  good  method  to  put  wedged-shaped  blocks  between  the 
beams,  bore  the  beams  and  run  an  iron  rod  through  them  between 
the  lines  of  wedges  from  the  outer  beam  at  each  end  of  tier,  and  by 
screwing  up  a  nut  at  one  end,  bring  the  whole  series  of  beams  up  to 
a  level  and  if  desired  somewhat  crowned  or  cambered.  Now  the 
point  I  would  like  to  bring  up  is,  whether  in  building  a  new  house, 
say  an  ordinary  twenty-five-foot  city  dwelling,  it  would  be  a  good 
plan  to  substitute  for  the  usual  cross-bridging  in  each  tier  of  beams, 
blocks  just  such  as  are  mentioned  but  not  wedged-shaped,  merely  in- 
serted tightly  between  the  beams,  and  with  the  iron  rod,  washer, 
nut,  ete.,  used  in  the  same  way.  Also,  -would  it  be  well  to  camber 
the  beams  a  trirte,  by  using  very  slightly  wedge-shaped  blocks  ?  It 
seemed  to  me  this  method  would  give  to  the  floor  beams  of  each  tier, 
a  unity  as  regards  their  strength  and  stability  and  to  modify  some- 
what the  problem  of  settlement  particularly  in  the  upper  stories. 
By  giving  your  opinion  on  the  above  you  would  confer  a  great  favor 
on  a  subscriber.  E.  K.  B. 

[THE  iron  tie-rod  would  be  a  very  useful  addition  to  the  bridging  of  a 
floor.  With  it  we  should,  however,  prefer  well-nailed  and  well-fitted  cross- 
bridgiDg  to  the  solid  blocks,  which  are  sometimes  used.  —  EDS.  AMERICAN 
ARCHITECT.] 


PROVIDENCE,  R.  I.,  SEWERAGE  SYSTEM. 

TORONTO,  CAN.,  May  19,  1888. 

To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  Could  you  inform  me  through  the  columns  of  your 
paper  where  I  could  obtain  a  copy  of  the  regulations  respecting  the 
construction  of  the  gewerage  system  for  Providence,  R.  I.,  and 
oblige,  Yours  very  truly,  GEO.  H.  RICHARDSON. 

[APDRKSS  Samuel  M.  Gray,  City  Engineer,  Providence,  R.  I. — EDS. 
AMERICAN  ARCHITECT.] 


THE  "  CANALS  "  OF  THB  PLANET  MARS. —  People  who  can  obtain  the 
privilege  of  looking  at  Mars  through  the  Lick  telescope  should  not  neg- 
lect the  opportunity.  Several  years  have  elapsed  since  that  remark- 
able planet  could  be  seen  to  such  advantage  as  at  present,  and  it  will  be 
three  years  before  we  have  an  equal  chance  again.  It  has  certainly 
never  been  examined  before  through  a  telescope  of  such  power  as  the 
monster  refractor  on  Mount  Hamilton.  It  may  be  interesting  to  lovers 
of  astronomy  to  know  that  the  eminent  French  astronomer,  M.  Perro- 
tin,  is  engaged  in  a  minute  study  of  Mars,  and  that  his  discoveries  con- 
firm those  of  M.  Schiaparilli  in  every  particular.  It  seems  actually 
true  that  the  longitudinal  stripes  which  circle  round  the  planet  are 
bodies  of  water,  and  must,  according  to  all  laws  of  probability,  be  arti- 
ficial. No  one  ever  saw  or  conceived  a  system  of  parallel  rivers  from 
1,000  to  2,000  miles  long  and  straight  as  a  plumb  line.  Everything  is 
possible  of  course,  but  such  straight  rivers  it  is  impossible  to  reconcile 
with  the  principles  of  cosmogony  as  we  understand  them.  On  this 
planet,  at  all  events,  nature  abhors  a  straight  line,  and  by  analogy  it 
should  do  so  in  Mars.  Yet,  if  these  bodies  of  water  are  canals,  as 
Schiaparilli  believed  and  Perrotin  seems  hardly  to  doubt,  what  mon- 
strous works  they  must  be !  They  are  from  fifty  to  eighty  miles  wide. 
Fancy  the  labor  of  digging  such  a  canal,  the  time  it  must  have  taken, 
and  the  number  of  workmen  it  must  have  employed.  The  pyramids  of 
Egypt  are  trifling  in  comparison.  The  Suez  Canal  is  197  feet  wide  at 
the  surface,  and  the  Nicaragua  Canal  is  to  be  160  feet ;  the  Martial  ca- 
nals are  2,800  times  wider.  Our  canals  on  this  one-horse  globe  are 
considered  long  when  they  reach  100  miles  in  length.  The  Panama 
Canal  will  be  less  than  (30  miles  long.  The  canals  of  Mars  reach  a 
length  of  2,000  miles  —  say  as  far  as  from  here  to  Omaha.  What  a 
trafttc  there  must  be  to  support  such  enterprises !  On  the  waterways 
of  China  travellers  describe  the  incessent  ebb  and  flow  of  multitudinous 
crowds,  but  to  require  canals  of  such  dimensions  as  we  have  described, 
the  movement  of  traffic  in  Mars  must  be  far  more  prodigious.  In  fact, 
they  imply  a  population  which  almost  staggers  belief ;  considering  that 
the  volume  of  the  planet  is  only  one-sixth  that  of  the  earth,  the  diameter 
being  4,400  miles  as  against  8,000  miles,  they  warrant  the  wildest  con- 
jectures as  to  the  density  with  which  it  may  be  peopled.  What  manner 
of  man  live  in  Mars,  if  there  be  men  there,  has  always  been  a  favorite 
topic  of  speculation.  The  law  of  gravitation  tells  us  that  he  may  be 
fourteen  feet  high ;  not  such  a  son  of  Auak  as  the  inhabitant  of  the 
asteroids,  but  still  one  who  would  regard  the  Belgian  giant  as  aremark- 
:ililr  dwarf.  Possibly  the  enormous  public  works  on  Mars  may  be  ex- 
plniiifd  on  the  theory  that  these  tall  fellows  can  work  in  proportion  to 
(heir  stature  —  that  one  citizen  of  Murs  can  shovel  as  much  dirt  as  two 


and  a  half  denizens  of  this  world.  Whether  the  grass  of  Mars  is  red,  as 
the  old  astronomers  averred,  modern  telescopes  have  failed  to  dei'iili •. 
It  is  very  difficult  to  determine  colors  when  an  object  lens  collects 
thirty  thousand  times  as  much  light  as  normally  enters  the  human  eye. 
Hut  the  speculative  astronomer  is  safe  in  asserting  his  belief  that  Mar- 
tian cabbages  are  of  the  color  of  our  beet-roots,  as  no  one  can  disprove 
the  assertion. —  San  t'rancitco  Colt. 


Ma.  WILLIAM  MORRIS  ON  MODERN  ARCHITECTURE. — Mr.  William 
Morris,  writing  in  the  Fortnightly  Review  for  May,  expresses  the  opinion 
that  there  has  been,  in  this  century,  something  like  a  revival  of  archi- 
tecture. Does  that  revival,  however,  indicate  "a  genuine  growth 
of  real  vitality,"  or  does  it  merely  point  to  "a  passing  wave  of 
fashion  ?  "  Mr.  Morris's  own  view  is  that  the  revival  is  too  limited  in 
scope,  too  much  confined  to  an  educated  group,  to  be  regarded  as  a 
vital  growth  capable  of  true  development.  He  commends  Mr.  Kobson's 
"simple  but  striking"  London  Board  Schools,  Mr.  Norman  Shaw's 
"  elegantly  fantastic  Queen  Anne  houses  at  Chelsea,  and  Mr.  Bodley'i 
"excellent"  new  buildings  at  Magdalen  College;  but  these,  he  holds, 
are  mere  eccentricities  with  which  the  general  public  has  "no  part  or 
lot."  Nor,  we  gather,  does  he  believe  that  things  will  be  any  better 
till  the  everyday  work  of  the  population  ceases  to  be  mechanical 
drudgery,  with  which,  in  his  opinion,  our  existing  architecture  is  only 
too  thoroughly  in  harmony.  The  explanation  of  our  weaknesses  in  this 
direction  is  not  so  obvious  and  easy.  The  reason  lies  partly  in  our 
climatic  conditions,  which  are  unfavorable  to  any  style  of  dwelling  not 
solid  and  durable ;  partly  in  the  lack  of  a  general  sense  of  beauty  and 
appropriateness  ;  and  partly  in  the  daily  growth  of  our  numbers,  which 
tends  to  the  constant  "  running  up  "  of  tenements  at  once  cheap,  flimsy 
and  ugly.  Matters  would  be  different,  no  doubt,  if  our  system  of  local 
government  enabled  men  of  taste  to  put  a  veto  upon  unnecessarily  ill- 
favored  edifices.  A  large  proportion  of  the  buildings  erected  are  quite 
gratuitously  hideous,  and  they  are  so  simply  because  we  English  are 
not  naturally  endowed  with  artistic  eyes.  —  London  Globe. 

ONE  WAT  TO  CURTAIL  TOO  LOFTY  BUILDINGS. — The  more  the  public 
hear  about  the  monstrous  building  which  it  is  proposed  to  erect  at 
Albert  Gate  the  less  do  they  understand  how  the  Metropolitan  Board  of 
Works  came  to  sanction  such  a  disfigurement.  Its  apologists  plead  that 
it  will  rise  to  a  height  of  only  115  feet  above  the  ground.  But  this 
measurement  does  not  include  the  roof,  which  will  certainly  add 
another  fifteen  or  twenty  feet.  Then  there  are  to  be  "  small  towers  or 
pinnacles  "  on  the  top  of  all,  so  that  the  total  altitude  will  not  fall 
much  short  of  150  feet,  even  if  it  does  not  exceed  that  elevation.  Such 
is  the  edifice  which,  unless  something  is  done,  will  presently  dominate 
the  southern  side  of  Hyde  Park  as  the  Wellington  statue  and  its  nose 
used  to  dominate  Hyde  Park  Corner.  Can  this  outrage  be  prevented  ' 
The  promoters  suggest  a  monetary  arrangement ;  they  are  willing  to 
sacrifice  their  rights  in  return  for  a  consideration.  We  think  we  know 
a  more  excellent  way.  The  Commissioners  of  Works  have  the  power  of 
building  a  wall  on  the  Park  side  of  the  site,  thereby  blocking  the  view. 
Let  the  foundations,  then,  be  laid  with  all  possible  despatch,  and  we 
make  no  doubt  whatever  that,  by  the  time  the  wall  rose  to  the  top  of 
the  ground  floor,  the  promoters  would  be  ready  to  reduce  their  terms. 
If  they  proved  obstinate,  the  wall  could  be  carried  up  to  the  top  of  the 
first  floor,  reducing  its  letting  value  by  at  least  one-half.  It  may  be 
said,  perhaps,  that  the  wall  would  be  every  bit  as  hideous  as  the  eye- 
sore it  hid.  Granted  ;  but  the  public  conscience  would  be  appeased  by 
a  sense  of  just  revenge.  We  care  not  what  the  testhetic  charms  of  the 
edifice  may  be  or  whether  it  would  cast  a  shadow  to  Hainpstead  Hill,  or 
to  the  Serpentine.  Fiat  justitia  mat  ctetum;  let  the  top  stories 'be 
knocked  off,  or  up  with  the  blind  wall. —  Exchange. 

THE  ROMAN  WALL  OF  LONDON.  —  Yesterday  a  large  assembly  of 
antiquaries  and  archaeologists  took  place  at  a  spot  in  Aldersgate,  a  little 
to  the  north  from  the  new  buildings  of  the  General  Post-office,  for  the 
purpose  of  inspecting  a  portion  of  the  old  wills  of  the  city,  close  to 
what  was  in  all  probability  their  northwestern  angle.  This  portion  was 
first  discovered  and  laid  bare  in  the  early  part  of  last  autumn,  when 
the  Bull  and  Mouth  Hotel  and  the  French  Protestant  Church  were 
removed  in  order  to  make  room  for  the  intended  additional  buildings. 
The  length  of  the  wall  now  exposed  to  view  is  about  one  hundred  feet, 
and  the  greater  part  of  it  stands  about  ten  feet  above  the  soil.  This  is 
largely  media;val ;  but  the  portion  below  the  surface  soil  measures 
about  fifteen  feet  or  sixteen  feet,  and  this  is  composed  of  stones  and 
bricks,  laid  in  alternate  strata,  after  the  Roman  fashion  so  well  known  at 
Colchester  and  Lincoln,  and  also  in  other  parts  of  the  walls  of  London,  as 
for  instance  in  Bevis  Marks  and  the  Minories.  The  material  is  Kentish 
rag,  laid  in  regular  courses,  with  fine  joints  and  other  courses  of  red 
tiles  with  wide  joints.  As  this  wall  is  actually  on  the  boundary  of  the 
building  site  lately  acquired  by  the  authorities  of  St.  Martin's-le-Grand, 
there  seems  to  be  no  necessity  for  its  removal,  and  a  general  opinion 
was  expressed  among  the  antiquaries  present  yesterday  that  the  wall  is 
too  fine  a  specimen  of  Roman  work  to  be  wantonly  destroyed.  —  Pall 
Mall  Gazette,  April  27. 

THE  MARIA  THERESA  MONUMENT  AT  VIENNA. — The  monument  to 
the  Empress  Maria  Theresa,  which  was  unveiled  May  13,  in  the 
presence  of  the  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  and  a  great  company  of 
Austro-Hungarian  notables,  ranks  with  the  finest  memorials  in  Europe. 
It  is  said  that  in  magnificence  and  perfection  of  design,  in  composition 
and  in  taste,  it  surpasses  the  famous  Albert  Memorial  in  London,  and 
it  is  larger  than  Hunch's  famous  monument  of  Frederick  the  Great  in 
Berlin.  The  Empress  is  represented  in  a  sitting  posture,  the  figure 
being  in  bronze,  and  it  is  a  grand  example  of  the  consummate  art  of 
the  sculptor  Zurabusch.  Beside  the  central  statue  there  are  thirteen 
others,  of  famous  generals  and  statesmen,  and  sixteen  relief  figures, 
representing  men  prominent  in  politics,  science  and  art.  The  whole 
tiling  is  in  bronze,  and  the  monument  contains  fifty-four  tons  of  the 
metal.  The  figure  of  the  Empress  alone  weighs  twenty-three  tons. 
The  memorial  is  sixty  feet  high,  and  is  an  exceedingly  imposing 
structure.  —  N.  Y.  Mail  and  Express. 


252 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  Nems.       [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  648. 


THE  GAMBOA  DAM  ON  THE  PANAMA  CANAL.  —  Mr.  Jacobson,  an  en- 
gineer from  the  Panama  Canal,  is  staying  at  the  New  York  Hotel.  He 
arrived  on  the  steamer  "  Colon"  from  Aspinwall,  and  is  on  his  way  to 
France.  Mr.  Jacohson  is  a  graduate  of  the  Polytechnicon  of  Zurich, 
and  lias  a  fair  knowledge  of  English.  His  position  on  the  canal  works 
was  a  very  responsible  one  —  that  of  chief  executive  officer  for  the 
Socie'te'  des  Travaux  Publics,  contractor  for  that  part  of  the  line  be- 
tween Obispo  and  Emperador,  from  kilometres  44  to  53,600,  and  includ- 
ing the  celebrated  Gamboa  dam.  Mr.  Jacobson  has  been  in  the  employ 
of  the  Societe  for  a  year  and  a  half,  during  which  time  he  has  resided 
on  the  canal  line,  giving  the  work  his  personal  supervision.  He  returns 
to  France  at  this  time  for  needed  rest,  and  to  arrange  personal  affairs. 
In  reply  to  inquiries  about  the  condition  and  prospects  of  the  Panama 
enterprise,  Mr.  Jacobson  expressed  his  entire  willingness  to  give  any 
information  in  his  power,  and  to  pronounce  an  opinion  upon  any  mat- 
ter that  fell  within  the  range  of  his  observation.  He  said  work  had 
commenced  on  the  Gamboa  Dam,  which,  after  long  hesitation,  was  at 
last  decided  to  be  necessary  for  the  control  of  the  Chagres  Eiver.  Of 
the  3,000,000  cubic  metres  of  material  that  the  dam  is  to  contain,  about 
30,000  have  been  deposited  on  the  opposite  ends  of  the  works,  at  the 
bases  and  sides  of  the  two  large  hills  Obispo  and  Santa  Cruz,  between 
which  the  dam  is  to  be  situated.  These  deposits  are  far  enough  from 
the  bed  of  the  Chagres  to  be  safe  from  the  current,  even  during  a 
freshet.  When,  however,  the  work  is  further  advanced,  and  the  centre 
of  the  dam  is  reached,  which  is  to  oppose  the  flow  of  the  current,  it  is 
feared  that  the  floods  of  the  rainy  season  will  carry  away  all  the 
material  within  their  reach.  It  is  Mr.  Jacobson' s  opinion  that  unless 
this  central  part  of  the  dam  can  be  completely  finished  in  a  single  dry 
season,  it  will  be  found  very  difficult  and  perhaps  impossible  to  con- 
struct it  at  all.  Mr.  Jacobson  says,  with  reference  to  operations  dur- 
ing the  rainy  season  (which  has  now  set  in)  that  little  more  can  be  done 
while  the  rain  lasts  than  to  take  care  of  the  yards  and  material  and  pre- 
serve the  work  already  accomplished.  Representative!!  of  M.  Eiffel, 
under  the  new  contracts  for  locks,  have  begun  work  at  several  points, 
but  the  plans,  Mr.  Jacobson  says,  are  still  inchoate,  and  the  number  of 
locks  and  their  final  location  not  yet  determined.  In  the  excavation 
of  the  locks  there  will  doubtless  be  obstacles  to  overcome.  Already 
at  points  between  the  forty-fourth  and  forty-eighth  kilometres  the  exca- 
vations made  are  actually  too  deep  for  the  lock  canal  on  the  proposed 
level,  which  will  necessitate  the  construction  of  dikes  on  one  side  to 
raise  the  water  of  the  canal  above  that  of  the  river.  In  this  section 
the  canal  is  in  a  plane  with  the  Chagres  and  Obispo  at  their  junction. 
That  part  of  the  Chagres  will  be  suppressed  by  the  Gamboa  dam,  and 
its  flow  diverted  into  an  artificial  channel  on  the  south  side  of  the 
canal,  but  a  dike  of  about  four  kilometres  in  length  and  nine  metres 
high  must  be  raised  between  the  canal  and  the  Obispo.  M.  Eiffel  will 
have  no  part  in  any  of  the  canal  work,  except  the  preparation  for  and 
construction  of  the  locks.  The  other  contractors  continue  the  dredg- 
ing and  excavation  as  heretofore,  except  for  such  modifications  as  the 
new  project  necessitates.  The  completion  of  the  canal  does  not,  there- 
fore, depend  upon  M.  Eiffel  any  more  than  upon  any  other  of  the  con- 
tractors. When  asked  whether  he  thought  the  canal  could  be  com- 
pleted and  open  for  traffic  in  1890,  Mr.  Jacobson  smiled  broadly,  and 
said  that  if  the  work  on  the  Isthmus  could  be  completed  in  five  years, 
it  would  be  a  great  achievement.  —  N.  Y.  Evening  Post. 


AN  OLD  CHINESE  PRINTING  ESTABLISHMENT.  —  A  correspondent  of 
the  North  China  Daily  Newt,  of  Shanghai,  describes  a  printing  estab- 
lishment which  he  found  in  a  village  in  the  interior,  about  150  miles 
from  Shanghai.  The  printing  was  being  temporarily  carried  on  in  the 
village  temple,  and  movable  type  only  was  used.  In  the  large  central 
hall  of  the  temple  were  placed  about  20  ordinary  square  tables,  on 
which  the  cases  of  type  were  spread  out,  very  much  after  the  English 
method,  only  taking  up  much  more  room.  At  the  time  of  the  visit  one 
man  was  engaged  in  setting  up  type;  another  was  printing.  The 
former  stood  before  a  table,  on  which  was  what  may  be  called  the 
Chinese  "case."  It  was  a  solid  block  of  hard  wood,  about  22  inches 
long  by  16  inches  broad,  and  perhaps  3  inches  deep.  The  inside  was 
hollowed  out  to  a  depth  of  about  %  inch,  this  depression  being  still 
further  hollowed  out  into  grooves  about  %  inch  deep.  The  block  had 
29  of  these  grooves,  each  filled  to  the  depth  of  j£  inch  with  ordinary 
stiff  clay.  With  his  copy  before  him,  armed  with  a  small  pair  of  iron 
pincers,  the  compositor  began  his  work  ;  character  after  character  was 
transferred  from  the  case  and  firmly  pressed  into  the  clay.  When  the 
"form"  was  complete,  a  flat  board  was  placed  on  the  top  and  the 
characters,  pressed  perfectly  even  and  level  with  the  surface  of  the 
wooden  block,  the  edge  of  which  was  cut  to  form  the  border  generally 
found  round  every  Chinese  page.  The  printer  now  received  the  form, 
and  carefully  brushed  his  ink  over  the  type.  Taking  a  sheet  of  paper, 
he  pressed  it  down  all  over  the  form,  so  that  it  might  be  brought  in 
contact  with  every  character.  He  then  removed  the  sheet  and  ex- 
amined each  character,  carefully  adjusting  those  which  were  not  quite 
straight  with  the  pincers,  and  apparently  never  touching  the  type  with 
his  fingers.  After  sufficient  copies  had  been  struck  off,  the  type  was 
distributed,  each  character  being  returned  to  its  particular  box.  The 
type  in  the  form  was  of  three  sizes,  each  character  being  kept  in  place 
entirely  by  the  clay  in  which  it  stood.  They  were  cut  out  of  some  hard 
wood,  and  were  perfectly  square.  The  writer  was  told  that  the  art  of 
printing  in  this  way  had  been  handed  down  in  the  same  family  since 
the  Sung  dynasty,  more  than  600  years  ago.  No  strangers  were  ever 
taught,  apprentices  being  always  taken  from  the  same  clan.  They 
were  open  to  take  any  work  at  the  rate  of  about  a  shilling  a  day,  which 
included  the  two  men,  type  and  ink,  but  not  paper.  They  were  then 
printing  family  registers.  The  custom  in  that  part  of  the  country  is  to 
hire  the  printers,  who  bring  their  type  and  set  up  their  printing  es- 
tablishment on  the  spot.  In  this  way  the  same  business  has  been  car- 
ried on  in  one  family  for  six  centuries,  and  during  all  this  time  movable 
type  only  had  been  used  in  the  manner  here  described. 

CASTING  IN  STEEL  AND  BRONZE.  —  The  old  Hindoo  art  of  uniting 
different  metals  by  casting  has  been  successfully  revived  in  a  Boston 


foundry,  where  steel  and  bronze  are  the  metals  dealt  with.  Those  por- 
tions of  the  finished  article  which  are  to  be  of  bronze  are  first  cast,  and 
after  cooling  are  removed  from  the  mould,  and  the  surface  thoroughly 
cleaned  from  all  traces  of  oxide  or  other  impurities.  These  pieces  are 
then  placed  in  a  mould  having  a  form  corresponding  to  that  of  the  fin- 
ished article,  and  the  vacant  spaces  are  then  filled  with  molten  steel, 
which  thoroughly  unites  with  the  bronze  wherever  it  comes  in  contact 
with  it.  It  is  proposed  to  use  this  process  in  the  production  of  firearms, 
with  an  inner  liner  of  bronze  and  an  outer  jacket  of  steel;  but  the 
prospects  of  a  useful  arm  being  produced  in  this  way  do  not  appear 
very  flattering."  —  Engineering.  • 


TREE  PLANTING  EXTRAORDINARY. —  Mr.  Assheton  Smith  is  commem- 
orating her  majesty's  jubilee  in  a  remarkable  manner.  He  has  caused 
to  be  planted  on  the  slopes  of  Moel  Rhiwen  mountain  a  plantation  com- 
posed of  630,000  trees.  Nearly  200  men  have  been  constantly  employed 
since  the  jubilee  in  planting  the  trees,  which  will  be  so  arranged  as  to 
represent  the  words  "jubilee,  1887."  Each  letter  measures  200  yards 
long  and  25  feet  wide.  The  first  tree  of  the  letter  J  was  planted  on 
jubilee  day. —  London  Standard. 


A  QOOD  many  financial  writers  are  troubled  over  the  decreased  earning 
capacity  of  the  railroads  and  some  of  the  manufacturing  interests  of  the 
country.  There  is  no  occasion  for  alarm.  One  journal  publishes  the  re- 
turns of  69  railroads  for  March,  and  shows  a  decrease  in  net  earnings  of 
over  three  million  dollars  ;  and  other  figures  showing  a  decrease  on  87  roads 
in  three  months  of  over  five  million  dollars,  as  against  same  time  last  .year. 
There  is  also  a  good  deal  of  anxiety  borrowed  from  the  fact  that  a  large 
amount  of  money  is  gathering  at  three  or  four  important  financial  centres. 
One  class  of  writers  find  great  encouragement  in  the  easy  money  market 
consequent  upon  this  fact;  others  see  in  it  evidence  of  a  declining  commer- 
cial and  manufacturing  activity;  another  class  of  writers  and  thinkers  see 
in  it  only  a  conservative  movement  upon  the  part  of  the  business  interests 
of  the  country.  Building  activity  has  suffered  along  with  railroad-construc- 
tion. Manufacturers  in  a  good  many  branches  are  making  and  selling  less. 
This  is  notably  true  in  iron  and  steel.  Coal-production  is  maintained  at  a 
high  point.  The  anthracite  output  so  far  this  year,  notwithstanding  strikes 
and  decreased  consumptive  demands  apparently,  is  200,000  more  than  at 
this  time  last  year.  The  markets  for  both  bituminous  and  anthracite  are 
increasing  in  a  multitude  of  small  places.  The  lumber  trade  is  holding  its 
own  wonderfully,  considering  the  reports  of  decreasing  building  activity 
from  so  many  places.  Where  the  larger  cities  are  falling  off,  smaller  towns 
and  villages  are  increasing  the  demands;  where  the  construction  of  long 
lines  of  railroad  is  falling  off,  there  is  a  partially  compensating  demand  in 
the  construction  of  short  lines.  Where  there  is  a  lull  in  the  demand  for 
large  machinery,  there  is  an  improving  demand  for  small  machinery, 
motive  power  and  equipments.  The  year  1888  is  a  year  for  the  small 
capitalist,  manufacturer  and  business  man;  for  the  small  building  operator 
and  the  small  operator  generally.  In  cities  like  Philadelphia,  Pittsburgh, 
Cleveland,  and  in  several  larger  and  smaller  cities  farther  West,  the  lists  of 
permits  published  demonstrate  this  fact.  Small  houses  are  multiplying, 
and  small  operations  are  in  progress  everywhere.  Northern  builders  are 
making  aud  taking  a  good  many  contracts  for  the  construction  of  houses  in 
the  South,  mainly  in  connection  with  large  manufacturing  concerns  that  are 
springing  up.  Builders  and  manufacturers  are  putting  money  into  house 
and  shop  building  in  the  Sooth  under  good  security.  Manufacturers  there 
are  putting  up  houses  for  their  workmen  in  scores  of  instances.  The  archi- 
tecture and  surrounding  of  these  houses  are  indicative  of  a  spirit  of  prog- 
ress; many  of  them  have  yards  for  small  gardens;  all  of  them  are  much 
more  comfortable  than  the  average  houses  built  20  years  ago  in  the  North. 
The  evident  intention  of  the  leaders  of  industrial  activity  in  the  South  is  to 
make  their  labor  comfortable  and  create  some  incentive  to  individual  inde- 
pendence. Without  writing  a  thesis  on  this  subject,  it  should  be  said  that 
the  departure  is  a  most  sensible  one,  and  that  the  attention  given  to  the 
material  surroundings  of  the  workmen  will  do  more  to  protect  the  manu- 
facturers of  the  South  against  labor  agitations  and  labor  organizations  than 
any  amount  of  organization  on  their  part.  A  great  deal  of  machinery  has 
been  ordered  in  our  leading  machinery  centres  within  the  past  30  days.  It 
is  pretty  evenly  divided  between  electrical  requirements,  railroad  machine- 
shop  work,  floiiring-mill  and  elevator-work,  mining  machinery  and  shop- 
machinery  for  distribution  everywhere.  The  manufacturing  capacity  of 
the  eutire  country  is  being  increased  at  a  time  when  there  does  not  appear 
to  be  much  inducement  to  increase  it.  Manufacturers  are  taking  a  long  look 
ahead,  and  are  tearing  out,  renovating  and  improving  and  expanding  in 
every  direction  where  economies  can  be  subserved.  The  lumber  manufac- 
turers are  carefully  restricting  the  product  of  their  mills,  excepting  in  the 
Southern  States,  where,  according  to  recent  advices  from  very  many  quar- 
ters, there  is  almost  a  booming  demand.  The  manufacturers  of  yellow- 
pine,  North  Carolina  sap,  Louisiana  cypress,  and  of  lumber  all  through  the 
intermediate  territory,  are  meeting  with  an  unexpected  demand  for  local 
requirements.  Northern  manufacturers  are  participating  in  this  activity, 
and  profiting  by  it.  Some  concerns  have  already  contracts  that  will  keep 
them  busy  all  season.  The  effect  of  this  is,  to  throw  less  lumber  upon  the 
Northern'  markets  and  to  enable  Michigan,  Wisconsin  and  Pennsylvania 
lumber  manufacturers  to  obtain  stronger  prices  than  could  be  otherwise 
realized.  To  all  present  appearances  our  railroads  will  be  about  10  per 
cent  worse  off  in  net  earnings  than  last  year.  Of  course  there  will  be  a 
very  wide-spread  opinion  that  the  results  of  the  next  six  months  will  offset 
this.  Foreign  trade  will  do  but  little  to  relieve  the  situation.  The 
abundance  of  money  does  not  seem  to  be  helping  the  manufacturing  in- 
terests. A  financial  stringency  is  every  now  and  then  predicted.  There  is 
a  larger  amount  of  floating  indebtedness  among  merchants  and  jobbers,  but 
it  is  not  threatening.  Large  blocks  of  money  are  coming  to  this  side  from 
abroad  for  investment.  Europe  is  a  heavy  customer.  The  large  amount  of 
money  that  has  come  to  this  side  during  the  past  nine  months,  is  certainly 
preventing  the  export  of  gold  which  would  otherwise  tike  place  It  is 
probable  that  the  industrial  depression  through  which  we  are  now  passing 
will  do  a  great  deal  of  good  in  bringing  prices  dowu  to  rock-bottom,  in 
checking  undue  enterprise,  in  reducing  the  number  of  speculative  ventured 
and  in  creating  a  generally  healthful  commercial  condition. 

S.  J.  PAEKHILL  &  Co.,  Printers,  Boston. 


Jiiyericarj  ^rcljitect  ag<J  Building  tyews,  EQay  26,  1555. 


.  845. 


Copyright,  iSSS,  l>y  TICKNOK  &  to. 


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THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  AND  BUILDING  NEWS. 


VOL.  xxin. 


Copyright.  1888,  by  TICKMOB  &  OOMPAKY.  Boston, 


No.  649 


JUNE  2.  1888. 

Entered  at  the  Post-Offlce  at  Boston  u  •eooud-olan  matter. 


SUMMARY: — 

Accident  during  Demolition.  —  Sale  of  Furniture  belonging  to 
the  late  George  Godwin.  —  Laying  Masonry  in  Freezing 
Weather.  —  Death  of  Dr.  Edward  Hamilton  Davis,  Archae- 
ologist.—  Attempts  at  Glass-blowing  by  Pneumatic  Ma- 
chinery. —  Discovery  of  more  benefit-lent  Microbes,  this 
Time  in  the  Human  Body. —  A  New  Theatre  Fire-escape;  a 
Phantasy 253 

SAFE  BUILDING.  — XXVI ,     [266 

ILLUSTRATIONS  :  — 

House  for  Gorham  Thurber,  Esq.,  Providence,  R.  I.  —  Design 
for  Club-house  of  the  New  York  Athletic  Club,  Sedgemere, 
1".  I.  —  First  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Wilkes-Barre,  Pa. 
—  State  Normal  School,  Moorhcad,  Wis.  — Melrose  Hall, 
Oak  Lane,  Pa.  — "  Sljjngle-nook "  :  House  for  Brander 
Matthews,  Esq.,  Narragansett  Pier,  R.  1 200 

UNITED  STATES  GOVERNMENT  BUILDING  PRACTICE.  —  XI.    .     .     .  200 

EARLY  SETTLER  MEMORIALS. — XIII "  202 

COMMUNICATIONS  :  — 

A  Correction.  —  Non-corrodible  Iron.  —  Spontaneous  Combus- 
tion of  Oiled  Shavings 204 

NOTES  AND  CLIPPINGS .  204 

TRADE  SURVEYS ,          .204 


'TJ  CURIOUS  accident  occurred  recently  in  New  York,  the 
r\  result  of  which  may  have  a  good  deal  of  interest  to  owners 
as  well  as  builders.  A  contract  had  been  made  for  the  re- 
moval of  a  building  on  the  corner  of  Broadway  and  John 
Street,  to  make  room  for  new  constructions,  and  the  contractor, 
Mr.  Southard,  was  at  work  with  his  men,  when  a  floor  fell,  kill- 
ing one  and  injuring  several  others  of  the  workmen.  On  ex- 
amination, it  was  found  that  the  beams  of  the  floor  which  fell 
had  been  cut  short  of  the  inner  wall,  and,  instead  of  being  built 
into  the  brickwork,  rested  at  that  end  on  a  strip  of  wood  an 
inch  and  a  half  thick,  which  was  nailed  to  the  side  of  heavy 
headers,  running  parallel  to  the  wall.  At  the  outer  ends,  the 
beams  seem  to  have  been  built  into  the  wall  in  the  usual  way. 
The  beams  are  said  to  have  been  shorter  even  than  the  bearing, 
and  to  have  rested  only  one  inch  on  the  strip  nailed  to  the  header. 
A  further  examination,  according  to  the  New  York  Tribune, 
showed  that  none  of  the  other  floors  were  framed  in  the  same 
way,  and  no  reason  can  be  found  for  constructing  this  one  in  so 
peculiar  a  manner,  unless  we  suppose  that  the  original  builders 
utilized  in  that  way,  as  the  builders  of  fifty  years  ago  occa- 
sionally appear  to  have  done,  some  timbers  too  short  to  run  en- 
tirely across  the  building.  The  coroner's  inquest  has  not  yet 
been  held,  but  the  coroner  seems  to  be  of  the  opinion  that  Mr. 
Southard  will  not  be  held  responsible  for  the  accident.  In 
that  case  it  will  be  interesting  to  learn  who,  if  any  one,  will  be 
held  so  responsible.  It  is  to  be  presumed  that  the  injured  men, 
and  the  representatives  of  the  one  who  was  killed,  will  make  a 
claim  on  some  one  for  damages.  The  usual  course  in  such 
cases  is  to  try  to  hold  the  owner  of  the  building  accountable, 
for  the  reason  that  he  is  most  likely  to  have  the  means  of  pay- 
ing the  money,  if  judgment  should  be  given  against  him. 
Whether  this  can  be  done  here  is  a  nice  question.  Evidently, 
if  the  floor  fell  from  defects  frequently  occurring  in  such  build- 
ings, the  contractor  would  have  been  in  fault  for  not  having 
guarded  against  them.  If,  however,  defective  construction  of 
this  sort  is  so  rare  that  a  man  making  a  business  of  removing 
old  buildings  would  not  be  likely  to  have  met  with  it,  or  to 
have  had  reason  to  suppose  that  it  might  exist,  he  would  be 
relieved  of  responsibility,  on  the  principle,  which  has  been  re- 
cently maintained  by  a  Missouri  court,  that  the  owner  is 
supposed  to  furnish  to  a  contractor  for  removal  a  building  of 
the  ordinary  kind,  free  from  concealed  defects  of  a  sort  so  un- 
usual that  a  contractor  could  not  reasonably  be  expected  to 
think  of,  and  guard  against  them.  In  that  event,  the  con- 
tractor being  exonerated  from  liability  to  the  injured  workmen, 
there  would  seem  to  be  a  question  whether  the  owner  could  be 
compelled  to  assume  that  liability.  As  between  the  owner  and 
contractor,  it  seems  fair  enough  that  the  latter  should  not  be 
obliged  to  assume  burdens  coming  from  unexpected  peculiarities 


about  the  building  to  which  his  contract  related ;  but  whether, 
the  innocent  ownership  of  a  structure  in  which  hidden  peculiari- 
ties exist  involves  responsibility  for  accidents  arising  from 
them  is  another  matter,  on  which  a  good  deal  of  legal  wisdom 
might  be  expended. 


WE  are  inclined  to  think  that  the  English  and  French  auc- 
tioneers of  objects  having  any  historical  interest  would 
do  well  to  advertise  their  collections  in  the  American 
newspapers,  long  enough  beforehand  to  enable  amateurs  to 
cross  the  water  to  attend  the  sales.  A  few  weeks  ago  a  col- 
lection of  singular  interest  was  sold  at  auction,  consisting  of 
pieces  of  furniture  belonging  to  the  estate  of  the  late  George 
Godwin,  nearly  every  one  of  which  had  once  been  the  property 
of  some  very  distinguished  person.  Mr.  Godwin  had  for  many 
years  interested  himself  in  forming  the  collection,  and  the  his- 
tory of  all  the  pieces  had  been  clearly  established,  yet  the 
prices  obtained  for  the  various  articles  were,  as  most  Ameri- 
cans would  think,  far  beneath  their  value.  The  "crown  of 
the  collection,"  as  it  was  described  in  the  catalogue,  was  an 
arm-chair  which  once  belonged  to  William  Shakespeare,  and 
was  said,  upon  what  authority  it  would  be  interesting  to  know, 
to  have  been  occupied  by  him  during  the  composition  of  many 
of  his  plays.  This  piece  of  bric-a-brac  brought  something  over 
six  hundred  dollars,  not  much  more,  by  the  way,  than  we  have 
known  paid  in  New  York  for  an  old  Belgian  arm-chair,  taken, 
we  believe,  from  the  sacristy  of  a  church,  but  otherwise  of  no 
historical  interest  whatever.  The  next  piece  to  this  was 
Nathaniel  Hawthorne's  arm-chair,  a  folding  affair,  painted, 
which  brought  three  dollars  and  seventy-two  cents  —  about 
what  most  Americans  would  be  willing  to  pay  for  the  bare 
privilege  of  looking  at  it,  and  less  than  the  price  which  any 
such  object,  if  in  decent  condition,  would  command  in  an 
American  second-hand  furniture  store.  An  arm-chair  which 
once  belonged  to  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  was  sold  for  ten  dollars, 
a  price  which,  we  should  think,  would  have  brought  Haw- 
thorne himself  from  the  grave  to  bid  upon  it.  Two  chairs  once 
owned  by  the  first  Napoleon  brought  seven  dollars  and  a  half 
each,  and  his  mahogany  coffee-table,  from  St.  Helena,  fifteen 
dollars.  Lord  Byron's  arm-chair  sold  for  thirteen  dollars,  a 
chair  which  was  used  by  Anne  Boleyn  during  her  residence  at 
Hever  Castle  brought  fifty-four  dollars,  and  another,  occupied 
by  King  Charles  the  Second  at  his  councils  at  Yarmouth, 
brought  fifty-two  dollars.  There  are  in  New  York  several 
people  who  would,  we  think,  cheerfully  pay  about  fifty-two 
dollars  a  week  for  the  privilege  of  exhibiting  a  Charles  II 
chair  in  their  front  hall,  and  as  many  more  who  would  think 
the  same  rental  not  very,  excessive  for  an  authentic  piece  of 
Anne  Boleyn's  property,  yet  the  London  bric-a-brac  buyers, 
who  will  pay  forty  thousand  dollars  for  a  Riesener  cabinet, 
apparently  consider  that  the  attraction  given  to  a  piece  of  fur- 
niture by  its  association  with  the  beautiful  and  unhappy  mother 
of  the  great  Elizabeth  is  nothing  in  comparison  with  the  glit- 
ter of  brass  inlays  and  ormolu. 


1IFIIE  subject  of  masonwork  in  freezing  weather  continues  to 
\,  occupy  a  good  deal  of  attention  in  the  technical  journals. 
The  stories  of  the  excellence  of  stonework  laid  with  hot 
mortar  in  Stockholm  and  other  Northern  cities  in  winter,  and 
then  allowed  to  freeze,  have  multiplied,  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  a  recent  report  by  an  American  engineer,  Mr.  Emil 
Kuichling,  appears  to  show  conclusively  that  mortar,  particularly 
if  made  with  cement,  and  used  hot,  lost  a  large  part  of  its 
strength ;  the  resistance,  as  determined  by  actual  experiment, 
of  briquettes  of  neat  cement,  mixed  hot,  and  then  exposed  for 
seven  days  to  the  air,  being,  on  an  average,  only  one-eighth 
that  of  briquettes  of  the  same  cement,  mixed  at  the  same  time, 
with  water  having  the  temperature  of  the  air,  and  then  exposed  in 
the  same  way.  Curiously  enough,  briquettes  made  with  Portland 
cement  and  cold  water  would  not  freeze,  even  at  a  temperature 
of  thirteen  degrees  Fahrenheit,  unless  exposed  to  the  wind, 
and  the  setting  process  appeared  to  go  on  undisturbed  even  at 
this  temperature ;  while  briquettes  made  of  the  same  cement, 
mixed  with  hot  water,  invariably  froze.  With  natural  cements 
the  resistance  to  freezing  was  much  less  than  with  the  Port- 
land, but  no  details  are  mentioned  on  the  subject.  The  addi- 


254 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.    [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  649. 


tion  of  salt  to  water,  sometimes  made  to  prevent  freezing,  is 
found  to  injure  native  cements,  while  Portland  is  not  affected. 

TITHE  archaeological  world  mourns  the  loss  of  the  man  who, 
*J*  almost  unassisted,  made  known  to  Americans  the  fact  that 
their  country  had  an  early  history  of  no  small  interest, 
and,  by  his  explorations,  raised  the  mounds  of  the  Mississippi 
Valley,  long  regarded  as  the  idle  work  of  a  brutish  race,  to  the 
rank  of  evidences,  not  merely  of  ethnological  changes,  but  of  an 
interesting  and  tolerably  well-developed  aboriginal  civilization. 
This  earnest  explorer  was  Dr.  Edward  Hamilton  Davis,  a  dis- 
tinguished physician  of  New  York,  who,  after  his  fortune  and 
reputation  were  made  in  his  profession,  employed  his  leisure  in 
a  study  of  American  antiquities  which  extended  over  about 
thirty  years,  and  made  him  one  of  the  principal  authorities  on 
the  subject.  The  race  of  Mound  Builders  attracted  most  par- 
ticularly his  attention,  and  at  his  own  expense  he  opened  nearly 
two  hundred  mounds,  gathering  a  very  large  collection  of  ob- 
jects from  them,  many  of  which,  strangely  enough,  have  found 
their  way  to  England,  where  they  form  a  part  of  the  well-known 
Blackmore  Museum  at  Salisbury,  perhaps  the  most  interesting 
collection  of  American  antiquities  to  the  amateur  that  is  to  be 
found  anywhere.  These  explorations  he  described  in  a  book  on 
the  "  Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,"  which  is 
one  of  the  classics  of  American  archaeology. 

T  E  GENIE  CIVIL  calls  attention  to  a  financial  chimera 
•^*  which  has  already  made  many  victims  abroad,  and  is  likely 
to  make  more  here  if  it  is  not  exposed.  In  the  latter  part  of 
last  year,  it  says,  a  great  deal  of  noise  was  made  in  the 
English  papers  about  an  automatic  machine  for  making  bot- 
tles, which  had  been  invented  by  one  Ashley,  and,  on  being  fed 
with  melted  glass,  blew,  by  a  jet  of  compressed  air,  just  the 
required  quantity  of  glass  into  the  given  mould  to  produce  a 
perfect  bottle.  In  this  way,  it  was  claimed,  the  cost  of  manu- 
facture was  greatly  reduced,  and,  the  quantity  of  glass  taken 
and  the  force  of  the  jet  of  air  being  automatically  regulated, 
there  was  never  any  loss  from  waste  or  defective  work. 
Patents  had,  it  appeared,  been  taken  out  for  this  invention  in 
all  civilized  countries,  and  a  company  had  been  formed,  under 
the  name  of  the  European  and  American  Machine-made  Bot- 
tle Company,  Limited,  with  a  capital  of  three  million  dollars, 
to  engage  in  manufacturing  under  these  patents.  It  would 
seem  as  if  a  company  with  a  capital  of  three  millions,  a  large 
part  of  which  had  already  been  subscribed,  need  not  wait  long 
before  commencing  operations,  but  so  far,  we  believe,  no  manu- 
facturing has  been  done,  and  the  German  technical  journals 
explain  this  by  asserting  that  it  cannot  be  done  in  the  way 
described.  In  one  of  these  journals  Mr.  Frederic  Siemens 
asserts  that  no  attempt  at  automatic  glass-blowing  has  ever  yet 
succeeded,  and  that  it  is  apparent^  impossible  to  measure 
mechanically  the  force  and  volume  of  air  required  for  inflating 
a  bubble  of  melted  glass.  As  to  the  European- American  Com- 
pany, he  says  further  that  the  representations  of  its  prospectus 
in  regard  to  the  capacity  of  the  Ashley  machines  are  inconsis- 
tent with  each  other,  and  with  any  reasonable  estimate  of  the 
speed  with  which  the  machine  can  be  operated  and  material 
supplied,  while  the  claims  of  the  promoters  of  the  Company  in 
regard  to  the  profits  to  be  expected  from  the  enterprise  are 
founded  on  statistics  of  the  consumption  of  bottles  in  Europe 
which  are  grossly  erroneous.  The  sequel  to  Mr.  Siemens's 
criticisms  on  the  project  seems  to  have  appeared  in  an  adver- 
tisement which  Was  published  last  March  in  a  London  paper 
by  the  counsel  for  several  of  the  stockholders,  inviting  the 
persons  interested  to  unite  in  an  appeal  to  the  courts  against 
the  promoters  and  directors  of  the  company,  for  having  invited 
subscriptions  by  a  prospectus  filled  with  errors  and  fabrications. 

IT  is  pleasant  to  learn  that  those  dreaded  foes  of  the  human 
race,  the  bacteria,  have  found  an  enemy  in  a  tribe  of 
phagocytes,  who  inhabit  the  human  organism,  and  endeavor 
to  devour  the  bacteria,  with  a  degree  of  success  varying  with 
circumstances.  These  phagocytes,  which  are  otherwise  some- 
times known  as  leucocytes,  consist  of  cells,  composed  of  proto- 
plasm, which  exist  in  the  blood,  and,  on  the  apparition  of  wan- 
dering bacteria,  seize  and  envelop  them  with  protoplasm,  in 
which  they  become  disintegrated  and  disappear.  According  to 
Dr.  Metschnikoff,  who  has  seen  the  bacilli  of  the  charbon  virus, 
perhaps  the  most  malignant  infection  known,  seized  and 


destroyed  by  the  white  cells  in  the  blood  of  a  frog,  the  energy 
of  the  action  depends  greatly  upon  the  temperature,  and  a  frog 
which  easily  resisted  the  charbon  infection  at  ordinary  temper- 
atures, was  found  to  become  susceptible  to  it  when  the  tem- 
perature was  raised  to  ninety-eight  or  ninety-nine  degrees  Fah- 
renheit. That  there  is  a  connection  between  the  absorption  of 
the  bacilli  by  the  cells  and  the  diminution  of  the  violence  of 
infectious  disorders  seems  to  be  quite  probable,  and  Dr.  Metsch- 
nikoff has  found  that  in  mild  cases  of  erysipelas  the  blood 
showed  multitudes  of  the  characteristic  bacteria  of  the  disease 
fixed  in  the  protoplasm  of  the  white  cells,  but  few  or  none 
floating  free,  while  in  fatal  cases  the  bacteria  were  found  free 
in  great  numbers,  while  few  were  fixed  in  the  protoplasm.  To 
the  unlearned  reader  there  seems  to  be  a  little  discrepancy 
between  these  observations  and  those  published  not  long  ago, 
in  which  it  appeared  that  infections  communicated  to  poultry, 
by  inoculation  or  otherwise,  were  arrested  by  placing  the  fowls 
in  a  high  temperature,  which  seemed  to  check  the  growth  of 
the  bacilli  and  ultimately  destroy  them,  and  that  even  the 
infection  of  hydrophobia  was  successfully  treated  in  Russia  by 
putting  the  patient  in  the  hot  room  of  a  bath-house  until  the 
attack  had  spent  its  force  ;  but  it  may  be  that  the  temperature 
under  which  the  action  of  the  white  cells  takes  place  varies 
with  different  animals,  and  that  th^  protoplasm  of  a  frog  is 
liveliest  at  a  low  temperature,  while  that  of  a  hen  is  most 
energetic  and  voracious  at  a  high  one.  The  whole  subject  of 
the  natural  history  of  animalculae  needs  study.  For  example, 
we  have  heard  almost  nothing  of  late  about  any  investigations 
into  the  habits  of  the  useful  little  creatures  which  live  hi  the 
upper  eighteen  inches  of  the  soil  and  eat  up  sewage  matter. 
We  know  that  they  are  put  to  sleep  by  chloroform  and  revive 
when  the  effect  of  the  anesthetic  passes  away,  so  they  must, 
apparently,  be  endowed  with  some  sort  of  nervous  system,  but 
what  their  habits  are  in  other  respects,  or  how  they  may  be 
multiplied  in  case  of  need,  or  trained  to  do  their  work  most 
efficiently,  no  one  can  say. 


TflRE  AND  WATER  describes  what  is  certainly  the  most 
surprising  scheme  for  providing  escape  from  theatres  in 
case  of  fire  that  has  yet  been  devised.  The  plan  is  the  inven- 
tion of  a  newspaper  man  of  Norwich,  and  consists  in  an  ar- 
rangement of  the  seats,  and  the  floor  under  them,  by  which  any 
person  in  the  audience  who  smells  smoke,  or  is  alarmed  in  any 
way,  has  only  to  touch  an  "  electric  button ; "  upon  which  a 
trap-door  opens  beneath  him,  and,  as  he  sinks  through  it,  an 
endless  belt,  or  some  similar  contrivance,  receives  him  and  pro- 
pels him  through  a  conduit  by  which  he  is  brought  safe  and 
sound  to  the  sidewalk  outside.  In  case  all  the  spectators  at 
once  should  be  seized  with  panic,  and  touch  the  "  electric  but- 
tons "  simultaneously,  a  provision  is  made  by  which  each  one 
falls  into  a  particular  place  on  the  moving  belt,  and  is  thus  con- 
veyed safely  and  quickly,  without  crowding  or  struggling,  to 
the  open  air.  As  Fire  and  Water  says,  such  an  arrangement 
would  expose  incautious  spectators  to  a  chance  of  touching  the 
button  accidentally,  and  finding  themselves  mysteriously  re- 
moved from  the  theatre,  and  thrust  out  into  the  street ;  but 
there  is  the  germ  of  an  idea  in  the  scheme.  In  the  lively  dis- 
cussion which  has  been  provoked  by  the  publication  of  Mr. 
Tarver's  patented  theatre  plan,  it  has  been  made  clear  that  in 
case  of  fire  the  upper  portions  of  a  theatre  are  the  dangerous 
ones,  and  that  the  occupants  of  the  "parterre,"  or  floor, 
almost  always  escape,  through  the  greater  purity  of  the 
air  at  the  bottom  of  the  building.  On  this  ground  Mr. 
Tarver  defends  his  plan  of  calling  his  audience  downward 
and  forward  from  their  places  to  the  exits,  instead  of  up 
and  backward  to  elevated  corridors  which  become  almost 
immediately  filled  with  smoke;  and  the  trap-door  arrange- 
ment, absurd  as  it  seems,  might  open  a  way  from  the  suffo- 
cating auditorium  to  the  cool,  fresh  air  of  the  space  beneath  the 
fireproof  floor,  which  would  at  times  be  of  incalculable  value. 
One  merit  of  Mr.  Tarver's  scheme  is,  it  seems  to  us,  the  retreat 
of  the  successive  circles,  by  which  the  rooms  beneath  them  are 
shut  off  from  the  auditorium  by  the  iron  beams  and  brick  arches 
now  generally  used  for  theatre  floors ;  and  even  if  no  endless 
belts  were  provided  to  propel  the  audience  automatically  into 
the  street,  it  would  be  easy  to  multiply  entrances,  by  trap- 
doors or  otherwise,  directly  downward  from  the  various  circles 
to  the  rooms  beneath,  where  fresh  air  would  be  found  at  once, 
and  safety  soon  afterward. 


62 


JUNE  2,  1888.] 


TJie   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


2.r>5 


SAFE  BUILDING.  — XXVL» 

CHAPTER  VH. 
GRAPHICAL  ANALYSIS  OF  TRANSVERSE  STRAINS. 

the  dif- 
cal- 

culationn 
to  ascertain  the 
amounts  of 
bending-mo- 
ments,  the  re- 
quired moments 
of  resistance 
and  inertia,  the 
amounts  of  re- 
actions, vertical 
shearing  on 
beam,  deflec- 
tions, etc.,  can 
be  done  graph- 
ically, as  well 
as  arithmetical- 
ly. In  cases  of 
complicated 
loads,  or  where 
it  is  desired  to 
economize  by 
reducing  size 
of  flanges,  the 
graphical  meth- 
od is  to  be  pre- 
ferred, but  in 
cases  of  uni- 
form loads,  or 

where  there  are  but  one  or  two  concentrated  loads,  the  arithmetical 
method  will  probably  save  time.  As  a  check,  however,  in  important 
calculations,  both  methods  might  be  used  to  advantage. 
Basis  of  Ora-  If  we  have  three  concentrated  loads  w,  to,,  and  to,, 
phlcal  Method,  on  a  beam  A  D  (Fig.  149),  as  represented  by  the 
arrows,  we  can  also  represent  the  reactions  p  and  q  by  arrows  in  op- 
posite directions,  and  we  know  that  the  loads  and  reactions  all 
counterbalance  each  other.  The  equilibrium  of  these  forces  will  not 
be  disturbed  if  we  add  at  £  a  force  =  -\-y,  providing  that  at  F  we 
add  an  equal  force,  in  the  same  line,  but  in  opposite  direction  or  = 

— y- 

We  have  now  at  E  two  forces,  -|-  y  and  p.  If  we  draw  at  any  scale 
a  triangle  aox  (or  I)  where  a  o  parallel  and  ==p,  and  where  o  x  paral- 
lel and  := -|- y,  we  get  a  force  a:  a,  which  would  just  counterbalance 
them,  or  a  x,  which  would  be  their  resultant.  That  is,  a  force  G  E 
thrusting  against  E  with  an  amount  a  x  (or  x,)  and  parallel  a  x  would 
have  the  same  effect  on  K  as  the  two  forces  -4-  y  and/>.  Continuing 
x,  till  it  intersects  the  vertical  neutral  axis  through  load  w  at  G,  we 
obtain  the  resultant  x,  of  the  two  forces  acting  at  G,  namely  x,  and  to 
(see  triangle  b  a  x  or  II).  Similarly  we  get  resultant  xt  at  H,  of  load 
to,  and  x,,  (see  triangle  c  b  x  or  III) ;  also  resultant*,  at  I  of  loadtc,, 
and  x3  (see  triangle  dcxor  IV)  ;  and  finally  resultant -\- y,  at  F  of  re- 
action of  7 and  xt  (see  triangle  odxor  V).  As  this  resultant  is -f- y  it 
must,  of  course,  be  resisted  by  a  force  —  y  that  the  whole  may  remain 
in  equilibrium.  By  comparing  the  triangles  I,  II,  III,  IV  and  V,  we 
see  that  they  might  all  have  been  drawn  in  one  figure  (Fig.  150)  for 
q  -f-  p  =  ic,,  -(-  to,  -(-  to,  therefore : 


Fig.    149. 


further  both  V  and  IV  contain  d  x  =  xt 
«  "  V  "  I  "  or  =  y 
"  "  II  "  I  "  ax  =  x, 
"  "  II  "  in  "  bx  =  x, 
"  "  III  "  IV  "  cx  =  x, 

We  know  further  that  the  respective  lines  are  parallel  with  each 
other. 

In  Fig.  150  then,  we  have  dc  =  wa 

cft  =  tc, 

ba  —  w 

a  o  =.p  and 


The  distance  x  u  of  ante  x  from  load  line  da  \w\n«  arbitrary,  ami 

the  position  of  pole  x  the  same.     The  figure  /•.'  '.  //  /  /•'  E  (Ki'_r  l  in) 

has  many  valuable  qualities.  If  at  any  point  K  of  beam  we  draw  a 
vertical  line  K  L  M,  then  L  At  will  represent  (as 
compared  with  the  other  vertical  line,-)  the  pro- 
portionate amount  of  bending  moment  at  K. 
If  we  measure  L  M  in  parts  of  the  length  of 
A  D  and  measure  xy  (the  distance  of  pole,  Fig. 
150)  in  units  of  the  load  line  da,  then  will  the 
product  of  L  M  and  x  y  represent  the  actual 
U-nding  moment  at  K.  That  is,  if  we  measure 
1.  M  in  inches  and  —  (having  laid  out  d  r,  cb, 
etc.,  in  pounds)  —  measure  x  y  in  pounds,  the 
bending  moment  at  K  will  be  =  z  y.  L  M  (in 
pounds-inch.)  Similarly  at  to  the  bending  moment 
would  be 
=  JV  G.  x  y  (in  pounds-inch.) 

and  at  to,  it  would  be  =  R  H.  x  y  "        "        " 

and  at  w,,  it  would  be  =  S  I.  x  y     "        "        " 

measuring,  in  all  cases,  x  y  in  pounds  and  N  G,  R  II  and  Sim 

inches. 

Average  strain       The  area  of  E  G  II I F  E,  divided  by  the  length 
£"bfe""el  of  span  in  inches  will  give  the  average  strain  for  the 

entire  length  on  extreme  top  or  bottom  fibres  of  beam,  providing  the 


Fig.  150. 


Fig.   I  SI. 

beam  is  of  uniform  cross-section  throughout.  The  area  should  be 
figured  by  measuring  all  horizontal  dimensions  in  inches,  and  all 
vertical  dimensions  in  parts  of  the  longest  vertical  (S  I  in  our  case), 

this  longest  vertical  being  considered  =  (  — ,  J  for  top,  or  (  — ^  J  for 

bottom  fibres,  or  where  these  are  practically  equal  =  (  — s  J. 

The  greatest  bending  moment  on  the  beam  will  occur  at  the  point 


GLOSSARY  OF  SYMBOLS.— The  following  letter*, 
in  nil  cases,  will  be  found  to  express  the  same  mean- 
ing, unless  distinctly  otherwise  ttated,  TU. :  — 
a    =  area.  In  square  Inches. 
fr    n  tn-fiutlh.  in  Inches. 
e    =  constant  for  wllimafr  resistance  to  compression, 

In  pounds,  por  square  Inch. 
d  ==  depth,  in  inches. 
e    =  constant  for  modulus  nf  elasticity,  In  ponnds- 

inch,  that  Is,  pounds  por  square  inch. 
/   =  factor-of -safely . 
g    =  constant  for  ultimate  resistance  to  shearing,  per 

square  inch,  across  the  grain. 
at  —  constant  for  ultimate  resistance  to  shearing,  per 

square  inch,  lengthwise  of  the  grain. 
A    =  height,  in  Inches. 

i     =  moment  nf  inertia.  In  inches.    [See  Table  I.] 
jt    :--  ultimate    modulus  of  rupture.  In   pounds, 

square  inch. 
I    =  length,  in  Inches, 
in  =1  women/  or  bendinij  moment,  in  pounds-inch. 


p.-r 


i  Continued  from  No.  6!5,  pmje  1D9. 


=  constant  In  Kanklne's  formula  for  compression 

of  long  pillars.    [See  Table  I.] 
=  the  centre. 
p    =:  the  amount  of  the  left-hand  re-action  (or  sup- 

port) of  beams,  in  pounds. 
q    =  the  'tiri'ittnt  of  the  right  kand  re-action  (or  sup- 

port) of  beams,  in  pounds. 

r    —  moment  o/  remittance,  In  Inches.    [See  Table  I.] 
«    =  (train,  in  pounds. 
t     =  constant  for  ultimate  resistance  to  tension.   In 

pounds,  per  square  inch. 
H    =  uniform  loatl,  in  pounds. 
r    =  stress,  in  pounds. 
vi  =  load  at  centre,  in  poundi. 
x,  y  and  z  signify  unknown  quantities,  either  In  pounds 

or  Inches. 

t    =  total  deflection,  In  inches. 
p>  =  square  of  the  radius  of  gyration,  in  Inches.   [See 

Table  I.] 
=  d-imeter,  In  inches. 


=  radius,  in  inches 


63 


IT    —  3.14159,  or,  say,  3  1-7  signifies  the  ratio  of  the  cir- 
cumference and  diameter  of  a  circle. 

If  there  are  more  than  one  of  each  klud,  the  second, 
third,  etc.,  are  indicated  with  the  Koinan  numerals, 
as,  for  Instance,  a,  a,,  a,,,  a,,,,  etc.,  or  b,  b,,  b,,,  b,n,  etc. 

In  taking  moments,  or  bending  moments,  strains, 
stresses,  etc.,  to  signify  at  what  point  they  are  taken, 
the  letter  signifying  that  point  is  added,  as,  for  in- 
stance :  — 

m    o  moment  or  bending  moment  at  centre. 

point  A. 


j     —  strain  at  centre. 
«•  ••  '*     point  B. 

ss  ••  "     point  X. 

v     =  stress  at  centre. 
«„  -  '     point  U. 

vi  =  "     point  X. 

w   =  load  at  centre. 
w»  =         "   point  A. 


voinl  R. 
point  JT. 


256 


The   American    Architect  and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  649. 


•where  the  longest  vertical  can  be  drawn  through  the  figure.  From 
this  figure  can  also  bu  found  the  shearing  strains  and  deflection  of 
beam,  as  we  shall  see  later. 

Distance  of  If  now  instead  of  selecting  arbitrarily  the  distance 

Pole,  x  y  of  the  pole  from  load  line  d  a  (Fig.  150)  we  had 
made  this  distance  equal  the  safe  modulus  of  rupture  of  the  material 

(k  \ 
—-.  J  —  measuring  x  y  in  pounds  at  same  scale  as  the  loac 

line  <l  a  —  it  stands  to  reason  that  any  vertical  through  the  Figurt 
E  G11IFE  (Fig.  149)  measured  in  inches,  will  represent  the  re 
quired  moment  of  resistance,  for  if  LM.  xy  —  m,  we  know  from 

Formula  (18),  that  m  =  r.  (—^  j  and  as  we  made  x  y  =  (  —^  J,  w 
have,  inserting  values  in  above  : 


LM=r 

Having  thus  shown  the  basis  of  the  graphical  method  of  analyzing 
transverse  strains,  we  will  now  give  the  actual  method  without  wasting 
further  space  on  proofs. 
Several  Concen-     If  there  are  three  loads  w,wt  and  w,,  on  a  beam 

trated  Loads.  A  B  (Fig.  151)  we  proceed  as  follows  :  at  any  conven 
ient  scale  —  to  be  known  as  the  pounds-scale  —  lay  off  in  pounds 
rfc=K',,;  alsoc6  =  !o,  and  ba  =  io.  Let  A  B  =  l  measured  in  inches - 
this  scale  being  called  the  inch-scale.  Now  select  pole  x  at  random 
Strain  Diagram.but  at  a  distance  (measured  with  pounds-scale^ 

x  y  =  (  -j-  \  =  the  safe  modulus  of  rupture  of  the  material.    Draw  x  d 

xc,  xb  and  xa.  Now  begin  at  any  point  G  of  reaction  </,  draw  G  F 
parallel  d  x,  till  it  intersects  vertical  w,,  at  F :  then  from  F  draw  F  E 
parallel  c  x  to  vertical  to, :  then  draw  E  D  parallel  b  x  to  vertical 
w  ;  and  then  D  C  parallel  a  2  to  reaction  p.  From  C  draw  C  G,  and 
through  x  draw  x  o  parallel  C  G. 
Reactions.  We  now  have  the  following  results  : 

o  d  —  reaction  q  (measured  with  pounds-scale.) 
ao— .     "        p         "  «         «          ii 

any  vertical  through  figure  C  D  E  F  G  C,  (measured  with  inch-scale) 
gives  the  amount  of  r^=  required  moment  of  resistance  in  inches,  at 
point  of  beam  where  vertical  is  measured.  The  longest  vertical 
passes  through  the  point  of  greatest  bending-moment  in  beam.  Mul- 
tiply any  vertical  (in  inches)  with  x  y  (in  pounds)  to  obtain  amount 
of  bending-moment  at  point  of  beam  through  which  vertical  passes. 

have:  r=v  (92) 


M°ResTsttance      °r 

Where  r  =  the  required  moment  of  resistance,  in  inches,  at  any 
point  of  beam. 

Where  v  =  the  length  (measured  with  inch-scale)  of  the  vertical 
through  upper  figure  CD  E  FG  C  at  point  of  beam  for  which  r  is 
sought. 
And  further  : 


m  =  v.  x  y 


(93) 


Bending- 
moment. 

Where  m  =  the  bending  moment  at  any  point  of  beam  in  pounds- 
inch. 

Where  w  =  the  same  value  as  in  Formula  (92) 

Where  xy  =  the  length,  (measured  with  pound-scale)  of  distance 
of  pole  x  from  load  line,  in  upper  strain  diagram  xad. 

Jf  now  we  draw  horizontal  lines  through  d,  c,  b  and  a ;  and  through 
o  a  horizontal  line  for  horizontal  axis ;  and  continue  these  lines  until 
they  intersect  their  respective  load  verticals  w,,,  w,  and  w,  the  shaded 
figure  0,  HIJ KLM N  O  O,  will  give  the  vertical  shearing  strain 
along  beam.  Any  vertical  (as  R,  S)  drawn  through  this  figure  to 
horizontal  axis  and  measured  with  pounds-scale,  gives  the  amount  of 
vertical  shearing  at  the  point  of  beam  (It)  through  which  vertical  is 
drawn. 
Or 

Vertical  Cross- 
shearing.        s  =  v»  (94) 

Where  s  =  the  amount  of  vertical  shearing  strain  in  pounds,  at 
any  point  of  beam. 

Where  v,,  =  the  length  (measured  with  pounds-scale)  of  vertical 
through  figure  0,HIJ  KLM  N  0  O,  dropped  from  point  of  beam  for 
which  strain  s  is  sought. 

We  now  divide  G  C  into  any  number  of  equal  parts — say  twelve 
in  our  case  —  and  begin  with  a  half  part,  or 
Gtol  =  l2toC  =  jf.  GC;  also 
1  to  2  =  2  to  3  =r  3  to  4  =  4  to  5,  etc.  =  j,.  G  C 
and  make  the  new  lower  load  line  gc  with  inch-scale  so  that 
Deflectlon^^    g  to  I    =  length  of  vertical  1  e 

further  I     to  II  =  length  of  vertical  2/ 
"       II  "  IIIz=     "        "         «       Sh 
"      III « IV  =    "       "        «      4  i,  etc.  until 
"      XII"  c    =     "       "        "      12* 

Now  select  arbitrarily  a  pole  z  at  any  distance  z  j  from  load  line  g  c. 
Now  draw  anywhere's  below  the  beam  where  convenient  (say  I. 
Fig.  151)  beginning  at  ga  the  line  g,  e,  parallel  g  z  till  it  intersects 
the  prolongation  of  I  e  (from  above)  at  e,;  then  draw  e,f,  parallel  I  z 
till  it  intersects  vertical  2/at_/^;  and  similarly  draw//*,  parallel 
II  z;  also  h,  i,  parallel  III  z,  etc.,  to  mt  k,  parallel  XI  z  and  finally 
k.  c.  parallel  c  z.  The  more,  narts  (1.)  we.  divide.  t.h«  hi>:un  intn  tlie 


The  more  parts  (/,)  we  divide  the  beam  into,  the 

64 


nearer  will  this  line  g,  e,f,  m,  k,  c,  approach  a  curve.  The  real  line 
to  measure  deflections  would  be  a  curve  with  the  above  lines  as  tang- 
ents to  it ;  we  need  not,  however,  bother  to  draw  this  curve  for  prac- 
tical work.  Now  draw  c,  17,  and  parallel  thereto  z  o.  Divide  q,  c, 
at  ou  so  that1:  g,  o,,:  c,  on=rc  o:  go,  then  will  o,,  be  the  point 
of  greatest  deflection  along  beam.  This  will  be  further  proven  by 
the  fact  that  the  greatest  vertical  (in  lower  figure  I)  will  pass  through 
o,,,  if  the  real  curve  were  drawn.  The  figure  g,  e,f,  h,  i,  m,  /c,  c,  g, 
will  measure  the  amount  of  deflection  of  beam  at  all  points  of 
beam.  The  deflection  at  any  point  of  beam  being  proportionate  to 
length  of  its  vertical  through  lower  figure  I.  The  amount  of  this  de- 
flection will  be 
Amount  of  De-  /  k  \ 

flection,  Defi-  „    >    _  •  I  -f   I  fo^\ 

nltePoleDis-         § —*.-l>-*J-\  f  ' 

tance.  e.  i. 

Where  O  ^  the  deflection,  in  inches,  at  any  point  of  beam,  if  pole 

distance  of  upper  strain  diagram  (x  y)  =  (  —  J. 

Where  v,  =  the  length  of  vertical,  in  inches,  dropped  from  said 
point  through  lower  figure  I  (see  Fig.  151) 

Where  I,  —  the  length,  in  inches,  of  each  equal  part  1  to  2,  2  to  3, 
3  to  4,  etc.,  into  which  beam  was  divided,  [in  our  case  /,=  ^  /.] 

Where  i  =  the  moment  of  inertia,  of  cross-section  at  said  point,  in 
inches. 

W  here  zj  —  the  distance  (measured  with  inch-scale)  of  pole  2  from 
load  lines  in  lower  strain  diagram. 

Where  (  —  \  =  the  safe  modulus  of  rupture,  per  squarerinch,  of 

the  material. 

Where  e  =  the  modulus  of  elasticity,  in  pounds-inch,  of  the 
material. 

If  we  were  to  so  proportion  the  beam  that  the  moment  of  resis- 
tance at  each  point  would  exactly  equal  the  required  moment  of  re- 
sistance as  found  above,  we  should  have : 3 

/  k\ 

Deflection  vary-  ;       •  I  —f  I 

Ing  Cross-  g  —  ".- t.-zj- \  /  / 

section.  d 


(96) 


Where  S,  v,,  zj, (-j.\e  and  I  same  value  as  in  Formula  (95). 


Where  v  = 
length  of  corres- 
ponding vertical 
in  upper  figure 
C  D  E  E  G  C,  (to 
vertical  v,  of  lower 
Fig.  I)  to  be  meas- 
ured in  inches. 

Where  -  =  one- 
half  the  total  depth 
of  beam,  in  inches. 
Had  we  not  made 

*y=(}), 

should  have 

Deflection  Pole 
Distance  arbi- 
trary. 

s  _  v,.  I,,  zj.  x  i 
O  - 


we 


Where  o,  v,,  /„ 
e,  z  j,  and  i  same 
value  as  in  Form- 
ula (95). 

Where  x  y  = 
;he  length  of  pole 
distance  from  load 
ine  in  upper 
strain  diagram, 
measured  in 
pounds. 

The  same  form- 
ulae and  methods 
could  be  applied 
o  cantilevers,  but 
'or  these  the  arith- 
metical calcula- 
ions  are  so  very 
imple  that  it 
pould  be  taking 
unnecessary  trou- 
ile. 

A  few  practical 
3xamples  will  make  all  of  the  foregoing  more  clear. 


Fig.   152. 


'  This  would  be  tbe  greatest  po<gihl»  deflec.ti..n.  If  the  beam  were  not  KO  |>ro- 
>ortioneil,  bat  of  uniform  oross-.<ection  throughout,  the  ciefleelion  would  be  lew. 

2  Note  that  the  dirisiou  of  the  Hue  y,  o,,  c,  is  the  rereree  of  tho  dirision  of  the 
lue  g  o  c. 


JUNE  2,  1888.] 


TJie    American   Architect  and  Ttuilding   News. 


Example  I. 

Single  concen-       A  Georgia  /line  girder  A  B  of  20-foot  span  carries 
trated  Load,  a  load  w,  of  2000  pound*  5'  0"  from  right  reaction  B. 
What  size  should  the  girder  be  f 

We  draw  (Figure  152)  A  7J  =  240"  at  inch-scale,  and  locate  w,  at 
60"  to  the  left  of  B.  Now  draw  a  vertical  line  li  a  =  2000  pounds  at 
pounds-scale.  Select  point  x  anywhere,  but  distant  x  ^  =  1200 

pounds.  (1200  pounds  being  =  (  ,  )  or  the  safe  modulus  of  rup- 
ture, |>'  t  square-inch,  of  Georgia  pine).  Draw  z  /•  and  x  a.  Draw 
verticals  through  .1 ,  to,  and  /•'.  On  vertical  I  begin  at  any  point  < ', 
draw  C  E  parallel  x  a,  till  it  intersects  verticals  tc,  at  E ;  then  draw 
E  G  till  it  intersects  vertical  /•'  at  '  •'.  Draw  G  C  and  o  x  parallel  to 
G  C.  We  scale  o  b,  it  scales  1500  pounds,  so  this,  is  the  reaction  at 
/•'.  We  scale  a  o,  it  scales  500  pounds  and  this  is  the  reaction  at  A. 
The  longest  vertical  through  C  E  G  is  vertical  to,,  therefore  greatest 
bending-moment  is  at  to,  which  we  know  is  the  case.  We  scale  E  D 
at  inch-scale,  it  scales  75  inches,  therefore  the  (greatest)  required 
moment  of  resistance  will  be  at  to,  and  will  be  Formula  (92). 

r=75. 
From  Table  I,  section  No.  2,  we  know  for  rectangular  beams, 

r  =  -V~>  therefore : 
o 


6.  d»  =  450. 

We  will  suppose  the  girder  is  not  braced  sideways,  and  needs  to  be 
pretty  broad  ;  let  us  try  /  =  5",  we  have  then  : 
5.  ^  =  450  or 


d  =  9,  5"  or  the  girder 

would  have  to  be  5"  x  9J"  or  say  5"  x  10".  The  bending-moment  at 
to,  is,  of  course,  Formula  (93)  =  E  D.  x  y  =  75.1200  =  90000 
(pounds-inch). 

Had  we  calculated  arithmetically,  we  should  have  had,  Formulae 
(14)  and  (15)  : 

fift 

reaction  A  =^r^  2000  =  500  pounds. 

"       B  =  H?.  2000  =  1500  pounds. 

Bending  moment  at  to,  would  be  (right  side)  Formulae  (23)  and 
(24).  mw,  =  1500.60  —  0.2000  =  90000  (pounds-inch)  or  check 
(left)  side  mw,  =  500.1 80  — 0.2000  =  90000  (pounds-inch.)  There- 
fore required  moment  of  resistance,  Formula  (18) 


_ 

1-2110 
or  same  result  as  graphically. 

By  drawing  the  horizontals  from  6  between  verticals  B  and  to,  ; 
from  a  between  verticals  A  and  to,  ;  and  from  o  between  verticals  A 
and  B  we  get  the  etched  figure  for  measuring  vertical  shearing 
strains.  We  see  at  a  glance  uiat  the  shearing  to  the  right  of  load  is 
equal  to  the  right  reaction,  and  is  constant  at  all  points  of  right  side 
of  beam  ;  while  on  the  left  side  of  load  it  is  equal  to  the  left  reaction, 
and  is  constant  at  all  points  of  the  left  side  of  beam.  And  this  we 
know  is  the  case.  We  need  not  bother  with  shearing,  however,  for 
we  can  readily  see  there  is  no  danger.  For  even  immediately  to  the 
right  of  the  load,  the  weakest  point  in  our  case,  we  know  that  one- 
half  of  the  fibres  of  cross-section  are  not  strained  at  all,  or  we  should 

have  one-half  of  area  or—  ^—=25   square-inches  to  resist   1500 

pounds  of  shearing,  or  —t  —  =  60  pounds  per  square-inch,  while  the 

25 
safe  resistance,  per  square-inch,  of  Georgia  pine  to  shearing  across 

the  grain  is  (Table  IV)    (  £  )  =  5  70  pounds. 

There  is,  however,  some  danger  of  excessive  deflection  ;  we  draw, 
therefore,  the  figure  c,f,g,  by  dividing  the  beam  into  ten  equal  parts, 
beginning  and  ending  with  half  parts  at  the  reaction,  (each  whole 

9dO 

part  being  24"  long,  or  /,  =  £^  =  24") 

We  draw  the  verticals  through  these  parts  and  get  their  lengths 
through  figure  C  E  G.  These  lengths  we  carry  down  in  their  proper 
succession  on  the  load  line  gj  c  of  the  lower  strain  diagram,  begin- 
ning at  the  top  with  the  right  vertical  1,  putting  immediately  under 
this  the  length  of  sec-ond  vertical  2,  then  3  and  so  on  till  g  c  =  sum 
of  lengths  of  all  ten  verticals  through  C  E  G.  We  now  select  z  at 
random  (in  our  case  120  inches  from  load  line  or  2^=120").  We 
now  draw  lines  from  z  to  g  I,  II,  III,  etc.,  to  c.  Construct  figure 
g,f,  c,  by  beginning  at  g,  drawing  line  parallel  to  zg  until  it  intersects 
prolongation  of  first  vertical  1  ;  then  line  parallel  tori  till  it  intersects 
prolongation  of  second  vertical  2,  etc.  We  now  draw  z  o  parallel 
c,  17,.  We  scale  g  o  and  find  it  scales  222",  also  c  o  which  scales  162"; 
we  divide  ctg,  at/,  so  that 

c,/:/<?.  =  222:  162. 

Carrying  vertical//,  through  figure  we  find  it  scales  (t>,)  =  117"  con- 
tinuing// up  to  beam  it  gives  us  point  Fas  the  point  of  greatest  de- 
flection, we  nnd  .4  F  scales  138".  Had  we  used  Formula  (43)  we 


should  have  located  Fat  a  distance  from  .-1  or  A  F= 


V2405  —  no* 
— r- 

=  134,  17".     So  that  we  have  a  sufficiently  accurate  r<—n!t. 

For  the  amount  of  deflection  at  F  we  use  Formula  (95) ;  we  know 

that  (Table  I,  Section  No.  2)  i  =  *^  =  *li2!=  417,   further  for 

Georgia  pine  (-p)  =  l2QO  pounds. 

«=  1200000  (inch-pounds.) 

V=//="T" 

z/=l20",  therefore: 
g_117.24. 120. 1200 

1-20110110      .117 
=  0,808" 

Had  we  calculated  the  deflection  by  Formula  (41)  we  should  have 
had: 

remembering  that  m=180"  and  n  =  60"  and  f-r-n  =  2l04-60  = 
300" 

g  _  2000. 180.  60.  800  ^180.300 

9.240.1200000.417*    "ty        3 
=  0,803" 
Which  proves  the  accuracy  of  the  graphical  method. 

For  a  beam  of  20  feet  span  the  deduction  not  to  crack  plastering 
should  not  exceed,  Formula  (28). 

8  =  20.0,03  =  0,6" 

Therefore,  if  our  beam  supports  a  plastered  ceiling,  it  must  IKS  re- 
designed to  be  tliffer.     Either  made  deeper,  in  which  case  it  can  be 


Single  centra 
load 


Fig.    I  S3. 

thinner,  if  braced  sideways,  or  it  can  be  thickened  sufficiently  to  re- 
duce the  deflection,  see  Formula  (31). 

Example  II. 

A  hemlock  girder  A  B  (Fig.  153)  of  16-foot  s/win, 
carries  a  centre  load  to  of  1000  poundt.      What  size 
should  the  girder  be  t 

We  make  A  /?  =  192"  at  inch  scale;  locate  to  at  its  centre  F; 
make  A  a  at  any  scale  —  (pounds-scale)  —  equal  1000  pounds.  Se- 
lect pole  z  distant,  x  y  =  750  pounds,  from  load  line  b  a,  (as  750 

pounds  =  f  —  r  j  the  safe  modulus  of  rupture  per  square  inch  of  hem- 

lock). Draw  xb  and  xa.  Begin  at  G,  draw  G  E  parallel  b  x  to 
vertical  through  load,  and  then  draw  E  C  parallel  a  x.  Draw  C  G 
and  then  x  o  parallel  C  G,  we  find  that  o  bisects  6aorao=:o6  =  500 
pounds.  Each  reaction  is  therefore  one-half  of  the  load  ;  this  we  k  now 
is  the  case.  Greatest  line  through  C  G  E  we  find  is  at  D  E,  so  tliat 
greatest  bending-moment  is  at  load;  this  we  know  is  the  case.  D  E 
scales  64"  at  inch-scale,  therefore  the  required  moment  of  resistance 
for  the  beam  is,  Formula  (92)  : 

r=64. 
and  the  greatest  bending-moment  at  load,  Formula  (93)  : 


65 


258 


The   American   Architect  and  Building   News.     [VOL.  XXIII. — No.  649. 


mw  =  64.  xy=  64.750 

=  48000 

Had  we  calculated   arithmetically  we   should  have  obtained  the 
same  results,  for  Formula  (22) 

1000.  192         8ftnn 

TOW  = =  48000 

4 

and  Formula  (18): 

_  48000 _ 

Now  from  Table  I,  Section  No.  2,  we  know  that  for  rectangular 
sections : 


b.d*—  64.6  =  384. 

If  we  assume  the  beam  as  4"  thick,  we  have  then : 
4.d2  =  384. 

d*  =  —  =  96  or 
4 

d  =  y/96~  =  9,8"  or  we  will  make  the  beam  4"  x  10" 
We  draw  the  figure  O,  H  J  K  N  0  for  shearing  and  find  it  is  con- 
stant throughout  the  whole  tength  of  beam  and  equal  to  length  O,  H 
or  N  O  measured  at  pounds  scale,  or  500  pounds.     This  is  so  small 
we  need  not  bother  with  it. 

To  obtain  the  deflection  diagram  we  divide  G  C  into  eight  equal 

•j  no 

parts,  each  part  I,  =  -5-  =  24"  and  begin   at  each  end  with  half 

O 

parts,  drawing  the  eight  verticals  through  C  E  G. 

We  lay  off  their  exact  lengths  in  proper  succession  on  the  lower 
load  line  g  c,  beginning  at  the  top  with  the  right  vertical.  Select 
pole  2  at  random,  in  this  case  distant  from  load  line  zj  =  180".  We 
now  draw  the  figure  c,  g,  f,  and  find  greatest  deflection  is  at  its  cen- 
tre/,/; for  z  o  parallel  c,  g,  bisects  gc.  We  scale  //  at  inch  scale 
=  44",  therefore  greatest  deflection  of  beam  at  centre,  Formula  (95), 

remembering  that   (Table  I,  Section  No.   2)  t'=    ',  „    =  333  and 


(Table IV)  e=  800000 

<N  _  44.  24.  180.  750 


12 


i=0,535" 


800000  .333 
Had  we  calculated  the  deflection  arithmetically  from  Formula  (40) 


Fig.    154. 


we  should  have  had : 

*        1     1000.  192» 


=  0,548" 


48  800000.333 
or  practically  the  same  result. 

If  the  beam  supported  plastered  work  the  deflection  should  not  ex- 
ceed, Formula  (28) 

8  =  16.0,03  =  0,48" 

Still,  unless  we  were  very  particular,  the  beam  could  be  passed  as 
practically  stiff  enough. 


Example  III. 


Two  concen- 
trated loads 


A  white  pine  beam  A  B  Fig.  154,  of  12-foot  span 
carries  two  loads,  one  to,  =  800  pounds,  four  feet  from 
left  support,  the  other  tt>,,  =  1200  pounds,  two  feet  from  right  support. 
What  size  should  the  beam  be  f 

Make  A  B  at  inch  scale  =  144  inches,  locate  w,  so  that  A  tc,  =  48", 
and  to,,  so  that  B  w,,  =  24".  At  any  (pounds  scale)  make  ft  c=  1200 
pounds  and  c  a  =  800  pounds.  Select  pole  x  distant  from  6  a  ; 
x  y  =  900  pounds,  the  safe  modulus  of  rupture  per  square  inch  of 
white  pine;  draw  xb,xc  and  x  a.  Construct  CDEG  parallel  to 
these  lines.  Draw  C  G,  and  parallel  to  same  x  o,  then  will  a  o  =  733 
pounds  be  reaction  at  A,  and  oi  =  1267  pounds  be  reaction  at  B. 
We  scale  vertical  D  N  at  to,  =39"  and  T  E  at  ro,,=  35",  therefore 
greatest  bending-moment  is  at  w,  and  Formula  (93) 
»iw,  =  39.  900  =  35100 

Further,  the  required  moment  of  resistance  at  to,  Formula  (92) 
will  be: 


. 
Now  from  Table  I,  Section  No.  2, 

r-^*  or 
—  g-,  oi 

b.d"  =  6.39  =234. 
Now  if  6  =  3"  we  should  have 

#=!£!=  78  and 
3 

d  =y/^8  =  say  9",  or  the  beam  would  need  to  be  3"  x  9". 

We  should  have  obtained  practically  the  same  results  arithmeti- 
cally, for  :  Formula;  (16)  and  (17)  : 


Reaction  at  4= 


144 


1200.24 
144 


=  733. 


and 


T>  *  n      800.48  ,    1200.120       ,„„, 

Reaction  at  .8  =  -  -\  --  =  1267 
144  144 

check  :    A  -\-  B  =  w,  -\-  to,,  =  800  -f  1200  =  2000    pounds 
733  +  1  26  7  =  2000  pounds. 

Beginning  at  B  we  have  to  pass  over  load  to,,  (1200  pounds)  and 
on  to  to,,  before  passing  amount  of  reaction  B  (1267  pounds)  there- 
fore greatest  bending-moment  at  to,.  We  know  from  Formula  (24) 
it  would  be  : 

mw,=  1267.96  —  72.1200  =  85232 
and  check  from  Formula  (23) 

mw,  —  733.48  —  0.800  =  35184 

being  near  enough  for  practical  purposes.    From  Formula  (18)  we 
should  have  had  : 

,  =  ^=39,09 

We  now  draw  the  shearing  diagram  0,  H  I  J  K  L  M  O,  as  shown 
in  Figure  154,  and  find  the  amount  of  shearing 
from  A  to  te,=  0,  H=    733  pounds, 
from  to,  to  tc,,  =  /  S  =      67  pounds, 
from  to,,  to  /J  =  AfO=1267  pounds. 

We  can  overlook  it,  for  even  at  the  weakest  point  of  beam  for  re- 

o  n 

sisting  cross-shearing  we  have  half  the  area,  or  —  =  13J  square 

2 

inches. 

White  pine  will  safely  resist  250  pounds  per  square  inch  in  cross- 
shearing  (Table  IV)  or  the  beam  would  resist. 

13^.  250  =  3375  pounds  at  its  weakest  point  for  cross-shearing, 
(vi?.:  at  to,)  and  twice  as  much  at  the  reactions. 

To  find  the  deflection  we  divide  G  C  into  eight  equal  parts,  begin- 

ning with  half  parts  (or  /,  =  —s-=  18")   and    draw    the    verticals 

o 

through  C  D  E  G.    We  now  make  the  lower  load  line  g  c  equal  the 
sum  of  these  verticals,  beginning  at  the  top  with  the  right  vertical. 

Select  2  distant  from  g  c  (the  load  line)  z/=  108".  Draw  z  g,  z  c, 
etc.,  and  construct  g,  c,/  as  before. 

We  draw  2  o  parallel  c,  g,.    Now  g  o  measures  116  inches  and  o  c 
108  inches,  therefore  divide  c,  g,  at  /so  that  : 
c,/:/£,=  116:  108 

Carrying  the  vertical//  up  to  point  Foi  beam,  we  find  the  point 
of  greatest  deflection  F,  where 

B  F=  69£"  and  A  F=  74£" 

We  find//  scales  42",  remembering  that  (Table  I,  Section  No.  2) 

i=  —  =  182,  and  that  for  white  pine  Table  IV  e=  850000  pounds 

we  have  Formula  (95)  : 

g      42.18.108.900 

850000  .182 

Had  we  attempted  to  get  this  result  arithmetically  by  inserting  the 
values  in  Formula  (41)  (and  remembering  that  »  is  always  the  nearer 
support,  or  in  our  case  respectively  48"  and  24",  while  m  respectively 
96"  and  120")  we  should  realize  the  advantage  of  the  graphical 
method,  for  : 


800.  96.48.  (144  +  48). 


%.  48. 


9.144.860000.182 

If  we  figure  out  the  above  tedious  formula  we  should  have 

S  =  0,422" 
or  practically  the  same  result  as  we  obtained  graphically. 


66 


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JUNE  2,  1888.] 


"Die   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


259 


The  safe  deflection,  were  the  beam  to  carry  plastering,  should  not 
exceed  Formula  (28) 

8  =  12.0,03  =  0,36" 

Our  beam  is  therefore  not  nearly  stiff  enough,  and  we  must  make  it 

thicker ;  or  else  if  we  wish  to  save  material,  we  will  make  it  thinner, 

but  deeper ;  and  then  brace  it  sideways,  see  Formula  (31). 

Example  IV. 

Five  Concentra-     A   spruce  girder  A  B  of  \9rfoot  span  carries  five 

ted  Loads.  loajs>  as  shown  in  Figure  155.     What  size  should  the 

girder  be  ! 


Fig.   155. 
We  draw  A  B  =  216"  (inch  scale) ;   further 

b  a  =  2  700  pounds  (sum  of  loads  at  pounds  scale)  ;  make 

ft  A  =  t»T  =  540  pounds, 

h  e  =  tr,v  =  180  pounds, 

e  d  =  to,,,  =  360  pounds, 

de  =  ton  =  720  pounds,  and 

c  a  =  to,  =  900  pounds. 

Select  x  distant  x  y  =  1000  pounds  from  b  a,  (as  1000  =  (  —\  for 

spruce,  see  Table  IV).     Draw  x  b,  x  h,  xe,  etc.,  and  figure  C  D  G. 
Draw  xo  parallel  C  G;  it  divides  load  line  as  follows : 
a  o=  1580  pounds  or  reaction  at  A. 
06  =  1120  pounds  or  reaction  at  B. 

We  find  longest  vertical  through  C  D  G,  is  at  load  to,,,  therefore 
greatest  bending-moment  on  beam  at  wu  ;  now  D  E  scales  70A",  there- 
fore Formula  (93) : 

mwil  =  70£.  1000=70500 
and  Formula  (92) 

r=70,  5 
From  Table  I,  Section  No.  2, 

b.d1 
r=  -g-  =  70,  5  and  if  b  =  5,  we  have 

5.da  =  6.  70,  5  or 
rf3  =  84,6,and 
d  =  J84, 6  =  9,2"  or  say  10"  which  is  the  nearest  size 


larger  than  9,2",  and  of  course  wooden  beams  are  never  ordered  to 
fractions  of  inches. 

Had  we  worked  arithmetically  we  should  have  had  practically  the 
same  results. 

From  Formula!  (16)  and  (17)  we  should  have  had: 
reaction  at  A  =  1580  pounds, 
reaction  at  #=  1120  pounds. 

From  rule  for  finding  greatest  bending-moment  we  should   have 
located  it  at  to,,  and  then  had  Formula  (23) 
mwt,  =  1580.  72  —  48.900  =  70560 
and  from  Formula  (18) 

r=  70560  = 
1000 

We  now  draw  the  shearing  diagram  O,  HIJKLMNPO  and 
find  as  follows : 

C.-oss-shearing  A  to  to,  |=  //  O  =  1580  pounds. 
Cross-shearing  to,  to  to,,  =  J  K  =  680  pounds. 
Cross-shearing  to,,  to  u>,,,=  K  L  =  40  pounds. 
Cross-shearing  to,,,  to  tc,y  =  M  R  =  400  pounds. 
Cross-shearing  to,v  to  to,  =  N  S  =  580  pounds. 
Cross-shearing  to,  to  B  •=  P  O  =  1120  pounds. 

We  need  not  bother  with  it,  therefore.     For  deflection  we  now  di- 
vide C  G  again  into  eight  equal  parts,  (or  /.  =  ?H=27")  beginning 

with  half  parts  at  C  and  G.  We  now  make  lower  load  lines  gc  = 
the  sum  of  the  eight  verticals,  putting  the  right  vertical  at  the  top 
from  g  down.  We  select  pole  2  at  a  distancs  zj  =  1 20"  from  g  c  and 
draw  2 ,7,  2  c,  etc.  We  construct  figure  gjt  c.  and  draw  z  o  parallel  to 
c,  g,.  We  now  divide  c,  g,  at/  so  that 

ff-f-  fc,  =  co:  og,  carrying//  up  to  beam,  we  have  the  point 
F,  distant  102"  from  B,  and  114"  from  A,  which  is  the  point  of 
greatest  deflection.  We  find  that//  scales  102",  remembering  that 
«  =  850000  for  spruce  (Table  IV),  and  that  «  =  *ll£.8  =  4i7  (See 

Table  I,  Section  No.  2)  we  have,  Formula  (95). 
fi_  102.  27. 120. 1000  _ 

850000.417 

This  would  be  too  much  for  plastering,  for  if  the  girder  supported 
plastering,  the  deflection  should  not  exceed  Formula  (28) 
8  =  18.0,03=0,54" 

We  must  therefore  deepen  the  beam  very  materially 
We  use  Formula  (31), 

X  ~~ 

b.d* 
In  our  case  it  would  be 


Supposing  we  were  to  make  the  beam  4"xl2",  then  we  should 
have 


The  deflection  of  the  latter,  then,  would  be 
8  :  0,  93  =  0,  000144  :  0,  0002  or 

55       0,93.0,000144      ft  .,„   .. 
=    —  Q  0002  -  =0,6  7"  still  too  much  deflection. 

Were  we  to  make  the  beam  3"  x  14",  we  should  have  : 
*  =3^-,=  0,0001215 

The  corresponding  deflection  for  this  beam  would  be  : 
8:  0,93  =  0,0001215:  0,0002  or 


or  just  about  what  would  be  required  in  the  way  of  stiffness. 

Had  we  used  Formula  (95)  we  should  have  had,  rememberin<r  that 
now 


8  = 


12    ' 
102.27.120.1000 


=  0,568" 


850000.  686 

showing  that  we  have  made  no  mistake  in  applying  Formula  (31). 
If  we  have  any  doubts  as  to  whether  a  3"  x  14"  stick  is  as  strom*  as 
a  5  x  10"  we  use  Formula  (30)  and  have  for  the  former 

z  =  3.14a  =  688 
•hile  for  the  latter 

x  =  5. 10s  =  500,  so  that  the  3"x  14"  stick  is  actually 
ranch  stronger,  as  well  as  much  stiffer  than  the  5"x  10".  It  is,  how- 
ever, a  very  thin  beam,  and  would  be  apt  to  warp  or  twist,  unless 
braced  sideways  about  every  five  feet  of  its  length. 

To  attempt  to  get  the  deflection  of  the  girder  arithmetically  would 
be  a  very  tedious  operation.  It  could  be  done,  however,  by  inserting 
in  Formula  (41)  the  different  values  for  n  and  m,  remembering  every 
time  to  make  n  the  distance  from  each  weight  to  the  nearer  support 
to  respective  weight,  and  m  the  distance  from  same  weight  to  the 
further  support.  Louis  DECOPPET  BERG. 

[To  be  continued.] 


67 


2«0 


The   American   Architect  and  Building   News.      [Voi~  XXITL  — No.  649. 


[Contributors  are  requested  to  send  with  their  drawings  full  and 
adequate  descriptions  of  the  buildings,  including  a  statement  of  cost.] 


HOUSE    FOR   GOKHAM    THURBKR,    ESQ.,    PROVIDENCE,    R.    I. 
I.   NICKERSON,    ARCHITECT,    PROVIDENCE,    R.    I. 
[Gelatine  print,  issued  only  with  the  Imperial  Edition.! 


MR.   E. 


DESIGN  FOR  CLUB-HOUSE  OF  THE  NEW  YORK  ATHLETIC  CLUB, 
BEDGEMERE,  L.  I.  MR.  GEOKGE  MARTIN  HUS8,  ARCHITECT, 
NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. 


TABLE    FOR    SIZES   OF    WOOD    FLOOR   JOISTS. 


MR. 


FIRST    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   CHURCH,    WILKE8-BARRE,  PA. 
BRUCE   PRICE,    ARCHITECT,     NEW   YORK,   N.    Y. 

STATE     NORMAL     SCHOOL,      MOORHEAD,     WIS.         MR.     J.     WALTER 
STEVENS,    ARCHITECT,    MINNEAPOLIS,    MINN. 

MELROSE     HALL,     OAK      LANE,    PA.        MR.    HARRISON     ALLBRIGHT, 
ARCHITECT,     PHILADELPHIA,    PA. 

"  SHINGLE- NOOK  ":  HOUSE  FOR  BRANDER  MATTHEWS,  F.SQ., 
NARHAGANSETT  PIER,  R.  I.  MR.  G.  A.  FREEMAN,  JR.,  ARCHI- 
TECT, NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. 


Aitxbion  Tomb 

after  L'Arthittctvr"e,. 


Length, 
ft. 

Size, 
in. 

Space, 
in. 

Load  125  Ibs.,  per  n'. 
Ibs. 

Capacity  Factor  10. 
Ibs. 

10 

2x10 

16 

166<> 

2222 

11 

2x  10 

16 

1832 

2020 

12 

2x10 

16 

2000 

1852 

12 

2x  12 

16 

21100 

2(W6 

13 

2xU 

16 

2166 

2461 

14 

2  x  12 

16 

2333 

2285 

14 

3x  12 

16 

2333 

3428 

16 

3x  12 

16 

2500 

3200 

16 

3x12 

16 

2f,r,6 

3000 

17 

3x  12 

l(i 

2832 

2X23 

l>i 

3x  12 

in 

2260 

266T> 

18 

3x  14 

16 

HMO 

3630 

19 

3x  12 

12 

2375 

2526 

19 

3x  14 

16 

3166 

3438 

20 

3x12 

12 

2500 

2400 

20 

3x  14 

16 

3333 

3204 

21 

3x  14 

12 

262S 

3110 

22 

3x14 

J2 

2750 

2970 

23 

3x14 

12 

2875 

:                2840 

UNITED  STATES  GOVERNMENT  BUILDING  PRAC- 
TICE.!—XL 

CARPENTER    WORK. 

fNDER  this  trade  is  generally 
included  the  entire  construc- 
tion of  frame  houses,  the  floor- 
joists,  stud-partitions,  roof-trusses, 
framing,  etc.,  of  stone  and  brick 
buildings,  wood  fences,  shingles  and 
roof  trimmings  when  made  of  wood. 
Dressed  flooring,  construction  of 
stairs,  glazed  screens,  counters, 
wainscotting,  doors  and  windows, 
are  specified  under  the  head  of 
joiner-work. 

Marine-hospital  wards,  quarantine 
stations  and  such  other  temporary 
buildings  which  are  required  by  the 
Government  and  expected  to  last 

only  a  few  years,  are  built  of  wood,  that  is,  frame  buildings;  all 
other  buildings,  custom-houses,  court-houses  and  post-offices,  are  built 
of  stone  or  brick,  and  the  construction  of  floors  and  roof  made  of 
iron  or  wood,  frequently  a  combination  of  the  two  materials. 

It  is  generally  the  custom  to  make  the  first  floor  of  iron  even  when 
the  other  floors  and  roof  are  wood,  except  when  the  appropriation  is 
very  small  for  the  size  of  the  building,  in  which  case  the  first  floor 
is  made  of  wood.  A  great  many  of  the  cheaper  grade  of  buildings 
are  of  this  character.  Sometimes  the  floor  immediately  over  the 
boiler-room  for  the  heating  apparatus  is  constructed  of  iron  and  the 
remainder  of  the  first  floor  of  wood. 

The  kind  of  lumber  is  that  generally  used  for  framing  in  the 
vicinity  where  the  building  is  erected,  hard  yellow  pine  being  the 
most  used.  Georgia  and  Florida  pine  is  considered  of  a  high  qual- 
ity and  is  generally  preferred;  pine  from  Maine,  Michigan  and 
Arkansas  is  also  much  used,  white  oak  in  some  localities,  and  fir  and 
redwood  on  the  Pacific  Slope. 

SPECIFICATION. 

All  the  lumber  to  be  best  quality  pine  or  other  approved  suitable 
wood,  thoroughly  seasoned,  straight-grained,  free  from  sap,  shakes 
and  large  or  loose  knots  and  to  be  square-edged,  true  and  out  of 
wind.  °A11  floor  and  ceiling  joists,  headers,  trimmers,  etc.,  to  be  of 
dimensions  and  located  as  shown  and  noted  on  the  drawings. 


"Continued  from  page  212,  No.  646. 


The  ends  of  joists  to  have  6"  bearings,  cut  to  splay  3"  in  their 
depths  and  to  be  cross-bridged  in  rows  5'  0"  apart  with  lj"_x  3" 
stuff  nailed  with  two  nails  at  each  end,  and  about  every  fifth  joist  of 
upper  floors  to  be  anchored  to  the  walls  with  \"  x  2"  wrought-iron 
anchors  turned  up  and  forked  as  per  sketch  (Figure  41),  and  the 

joists  on  inte- 
rior walls  on 
line  of  anchor- 
ed joists  to  be 
properly  tied 
with  4"  x  2" 
iron  straps, 
forming  a  con- 
tinuous  tie 
across  the 
building.  The 
joists  to  be  cut 
to  a  camber  of 
J"  in  every 

Fig.  41.  12'  0"  of   span 

and  to  be  sized  to  a  uniform  depth  and  crown.  Levelling  up  of 
joists  to  be  made  under  their  entire  bearing  with  stone,  slate  or 
bricks ;  no  wood  blocks  will  be  allowed. 

All  framing  to  be  as  shown  and  executed  in  the  best  and  most 
workmanlike  "manner,  with  all  necessary  bolts,  plates,  rods,  angle- 
irons,  stirrups,  etc.,  securely  nailed  and  bolted  to  joists  _  and  trim- 
mers. All  tail-beams  bearing  on  trimmers  to  be  framed  with  tenons, 
as  shown  by  sketch  (Figure  42),  and  the  built  headers  to  be  well 
spiked  together  and 
bolted  if  more  than  two 
joists  are  used.  All  headers 
to  be  hung  in  wrought-iron 
stirrups  f "  x  2"  and  bolted 
where  necessary  with  j" 
diameter  bolts.  No  tim- 
ber to  be  framed  closer 
than  1"  to  chimney  or  hot- 
air  flue. 

Where  drawings  do  not 
show  the  sizes  of  framing 
timbers,  the  joists  to  be  Flg  42'  ... 

framed  with  double  trimmers  and  trimmer-headers  at  stairs,  cl 
neys,  etc.     Double  joists  to  be  placed  under  all  stud-partitions  and 
to  be  well  spiked  together.  .  . . 

For  carrying  terra-cotta  plates  on  which  floor-tiling  is  to  be  laid, 
1"  x  2"  cleats  to  be  nailed  to  each  side  of  joists.  . 

All  floor-joists  (except  for  floors  where  marble  tiling  is  to  be  lam; 
and  ceiling-joists  to  be  covered  with  square-edged  boards  1 
and  not  over  8"  wide,  dressed  one  side  to  a  uniform  thickness,  to  be 
close  jointed  and  nailed  at  each  bearing  at  right  angles  to  joists  witJ 
two  nails;  on  top  of  this  rough  or  under  flooring  best  quality  tarred 
building-paper  is  to  be  laid,  well  tacked  down,  on  which  is  to  be  laid 
the  dressed,  tongued-and-grooved  flooring.  . 

The  stud-partitions,  where  shown  on  drawings  and  where  required, 
to  be  constructed  with  2"  x  4"  studs  (sometimes  3"  x  6")  set  with 
narrow  edge  in  face  of  partition,  spaced  16"  from  centres,  to  nave  a 
cappin^  and  sill  where  not  resting  on  or  located  parallel  with  floor- 
joists,  of  same  size  as  studs,  and  to  have  one  row  of  diagonal  bndg- 
in°-  5'  0"  above  floor.  All  openings  to  be  double  studded  and  trussed, 
and  all  studding,  sill,  cap  and  bridging  to  be  securely  naile 

10  All' ceilings  to  be  cross-furred  with  1"  x  2"  stuff  spaced  12"  on 
centres  securely  nailed,  forming  a  plain  level  ceiling. 

Furrino-  against  exterior  walls  to  prevent  dampness  when  made  ot 
wood  (tilts  is  seldom  done  and  should  be  avoided  if  possible),  to  b< 
2"  x  2"  stuff  spaced  12"  to  16"  on  centres,  securely  spiked   into 
joints  of  the  brickwork  or  to  wood  pieces  built  in  the  brickwork  tc 
the  purpose.  ,,    „„ 

Furrino-  for  cornices,  architraves,  arches,  etc.,  to  be  generally  2 
x  2"  lumber,  spaced  12"  to  16"  on  centres  securely  spiked  to  sup- 
ports, the  profiles  to  be  closely  followed,  allowing  |"  for  lath  am 
plaster. 


68 


JUNE  2,  1888.] 


TJie   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


2G1 


Roof.  —  The  roof  generally,  including  trusses,  wall-plates,  pur- 
lin*, rafters,  hips,  valleys,  ridges,  collars,  ceiling-beams,  framing 
around  chimneys,  scuttles,  dormers,  etc.,  with  the  necessary  stone  or 
cast-iron  bearing-plates,  iron  anchors,  tie  and  tension  rods,  straps, 
stirrups,  bolts,  etc.,  to  be  framed  of  the  dimensions  shown,  closely 
cut  and  fitted  and  substantially  nailed,  t>piked  and  secured  in  place. 
Trusses.  —  The  trusses  to  have  bearing-plates  of  stone  or  iron  or 
to  rest  on  the  wall-plates,  so  as  to  distribute  the  weight  properly  on 
the  brickwork ;  the  feet  of  trusses  to  be  anchored  to  walls  by  iron 
rods  |"  diameter  3'  0"  long,  built  in  walls,  with  gil>-plate8  8"  x  4"  x 
4"  on  ends.  For  wood-trusses  the  rafters,  struts  and  lower  chord  on 
boom  are  made  of  wood  ;  all  tie  and  tension  rods,  king-rods,  etc.,  are 
made  of  wrought-iron ;  all  connections  to  be  with  mortises  and 
tenons  securely  pinned  or  may  be  made  with  iron  shoes  or  straps  at 
feet,  iron  saddle  for  king-rod  at  apex,  angle-irons,  fish-plates,  etc., 
all  securely  bolted  with  the  necessary  wood  blocking.  All  tension- 
rods  to  have  sleeve-nuts  for  tightening. 

Purlins.  —  The  purlins  for  carrying  the  jack-rafters  should  rest  on 
top  of  the  principal  or  truss  rafters  and  secured  thereto  with  angle- 
irons,  straps  and  bolts.  Where  necessary  for  the  jack-rafters  to  be 
on  the  same  plane  with  the  principals,  the  purlins  may  be  hung  from 
the  principals  by  wrought-iron  straps. 

Wall-Plates.  —  The  wall-plates  on  which  the  jack-rafters  are  to 
rest  are  generally  made  3"  x  8"  or  2"  x  12",  halved  at  joints  and 
corners,  well  spiked  and  anchored  every  6'  0"  with  j"  rods  about 
8'  0"  long  with  gib-plate  (or  6"  bent  end)  at  bottom  built  in  brick- 
work, and  to  have  large  washer  with  nut  above  wall-plate ;  the  hip, 
valley  and  jack  rafters  to  be  securely  spiked  to  wall  plate,  purlins 
and  ridges  and  to  each  other.  Where  the  span  is  small  and  no  spe- 
cial trusses  are  required,  the  rafters  to  have  collar-ties  2''  x  6"  to 
2"  x  10"  spiked  to  sides  which  may  form  ceiling-joists  to  attic. 

The  hips,  ridges  and  valley-rafters  should  have  from  H  to  2 
times  the  area  in  cross  section  of  the  jack-rafters,  which  vary  in  size 
from  2"  x  8"  to  3"  x  12",  spaced  generally  2'  0"  on  centres. 

Dormers.  —  Openings  to  be  left  for  dormers  where  required  and 
the  dormers  to  be  framed  with  2"  x  4"  scantling  and  2"  x  4"  or  2" 
x  6"  rafters,  the  spacing  of  both  to  be  Ifi"  on  centres. 

The  roof  framing  to  be  doubled  at  chimneys  and  kept  2"  away 
from  the  same.  Properly-shaped  wood  blocks  to  be  nailed  to  hips 
and  ridges  for  securing  the  ornamental  metalwork  to. 

Boarding.  —  The  entire  roof  and  the  roofs  and  sides  of  dormers, 
cupolas,  towers,  etc.,  to  be  covered  with  square-edged,  rough  board- 
ing 1"  thick  and  not  over  8"  wide,  close-jointed  and  nailed  to  each 
bearing,  and  all  the  boarding  to  be  covered  with  a  layer  of  fibre  or 
resin-sized  building-paper  well  lapped  and  tacked  down. 

Skylights,  scuttles  and  ventilators  generally  to  be  constructed  of 
1|"  or  2"  lumber,  substantially  secured  to  roof  framing,  to  have  a 
curb  not  less  than  4"  high  and  made  ready  to  receive  the  glazed 
sash  of  skylight  and  the  galvanized-iron  ventilator.  The  scuttle  to 
have  a  cover  framed  together  and  covered  with  IXX  charcoal  tin 
or  fourteen-ounce  copper,  to  be  hung  with  strong  wrought-iron 
hinges  and  fastened  with  hasp-staple  and  padlock  with  chain. 

Mill  Construction,  which  is  now  frequently  met  with  in  this  coun- 
try in  mills,  warehouses,  office-buildings,  etc.,  has  never  been  adopted 
in  Government  buildings  for  floors,  but  in  a  few  instances  roofs  have 
been  constructed  on  this  principle,  which  consists  in  framing  the 
trusses,  rafters,  purlins,  hips,  ridges,  etc.,  in  the  same  manner  as 
heretofore  mentioned,  but  the  timbers  are  placed  much  farther 
apart  and  are  made  correspondingly  large  in  order  to  bear  the  heav 
ier  loads  of  greater  surfaces,  the  theory  being  to  make  all  the  tim- 
bers large  so  that  in  case  of  fire  they  will  be  much  longer  in  burning 
than  if  small  timbers  were  used  and  thus  allow  a  longer  time  for  put- 
ting out  the  fire.  When  mill  construction  is  used,  the  roof-boarding 
is  generally  made  2"  and  sometimes  3"  thick. 

Flag-pole.  —  Trimmers  for  seat  for  flag-pole  to  be  framed  in  attic- 
floor  where  shown,  to  be  blocked  apart  and  strongly  nailed,  the  foot 
of  pole  to  rest  in  cast-iron  shoe  J"  metal  which  must  be  substantially 
bolted  to  trimmers,  the  collar  at  rooMine  to  be  wrought-iron  i/'  x  3" 
of  the  required  length  and  fastened  to  rafters. 

The  flag-pole  to  be  pine  or  spruce,  straight-grained,  and  free  from 
knots,  sap  and  shakes ;  8"  diameter  at  the  butt,  4"  at  top  and  25'  0" 
high  above  the  roof.  The  top  to  be  banded  with  a  wrought-iron 
collar,  and  to  have  a  10"  diameter  copper-ball  gilded  with  XXX 
gold-leaf  mounted  on  a  wrought-iron  rod.  The  pole  to  be  furnished 
with  two  lignum  vitae  sheaves  and  two  galvanized  iron  halyard 
cleats.  Two  sets  of  best  hemp  halyards  to  be  rove  before  raising. 
The  pole  to  have  two  coats  of  linseed  oil  and  one  coat  of  spar  varnish. 
ftalloon framing. —  Balloon-framing  consists  of  a  sill  on  top  of 
which  the  studs  are  set  and  secured,  the  capping  or  plate  on  top  of 
studs,  the  ribbon  or  timber  for  carrying  the  intermediate  floors,  the 
bracing  at  angles  and  framing  of  openings. 

The  sill  where  resting  on  a  wall  or  underpinning  to  be  made  4"  x 
6"  or  4"  x  8",  to  be  halved  at  connections  and  corners,  and  securely 
spiked ;  where  not  resting  on  a  continuous  wall,  but  on  piers,  it  must 
be  made  larger  and  calculated  in  same  manner  as  girders. 

The  studs  to  be  3"  x  4"  or  3"  x  6",  with  a  post  of  double  the  size 
at  corners,  to  be  doubled  at  all  openings  and  firmly  nailed  to  sills  and 
to  plates,  each  angle  to  be  thoroughly  braced  on  both  sides  at  top  to 
plate  and  at  bottom  to  sill,  with  braces  of  same  size  as  studs ;  the 
studs  to  be  in  one  piece  up  to  plate  carrying  the  rafters,  to  be  spaced 
16"  on  centres  ami  to  be  trussed  over  openings  where  necessary,  and 
to  have  one  row  of  diagonal  bracing  o'  0"  above  floor. 


The  plate  generally  to  be  the  same  size  as  the  studs,  securely 
spiked  on  top  of  studs  and  halved  at  connections  and  corners,  and 
well  spiked. 

The  ribbon  for  carrying  intermediate  floors  to  be  14"  or  2"  x  6," 
let  into  studs  with  about  ^"projection  and  securely  spiked. 

The  framing  of  floors,  rafters,  etc.,  to  be  as  heretofore  described, 
except  that  the  floor-joists  wherever  coining  against  studs  to  be 
securely  nailed  thereto  and  toe-nailed  to  sill,  ribbon  or  plate  where 
not  coming  against  studs;  the  rafters  to  be  spiked  to  plate. 

The  entire  sides  of  studding  to  be  covered  with  1"  thick  boards 
not  over  8"  wide,  nailed  to  each  stud  diagonally  laid,  this  to  be  covered 
with  tarred  or  resin-sized  building  paper,  and  over  this  the  dressed 
lapped-siding  to  be  nailed. 

All  the  trimmings,  cornices,  eave-boards,  gutters,  door  and  window 
trimmings  to  be  of  white-pine  worked  to  sizes,  mouldings,  etc., 
shown  and  securely  nailed  in  place. 

The  ends  of  rafters  may  project  beyond  eaves  to  support  the 
cornices,  or  where  necessary  lookouts  to  be  nailed  to  plate  and  to 
rafters  for  carrying  the  cornices  and  gutters. 

The  lapped-siding  is  generally  J"  thick,  dressed,  moulded  and 
rabbeted,  about  4"  wide,  nailed  on  horizontally,  and  butting  squarely 
against  all  casings  or  trimmings  of  openings  and  against  angle  boards, 
which  should  be  from  4"  to  6"  wide. 

Shingles.  —  Shingles  are  generally  used  to  cover  the  roofs  of  frame 
buildings  where  cost  is  essential,  as  they  are  usually  cheaper  than 
good  tin.  They  are  made  of  pine  sawed,  also  of  cedar  and  chestnut 
shaved,  but  the  best  in  the  Eastern  markets  are  the  shaved  cypress 
shingles  about  6"  to  7"  wide  and  18"  to  24"  long;  they  should  be 
nailed  at  waist  with  two  shingle  nails  showing  4"  to  6"  to  the  weather, 
and  be  closely  cut  at  hips  and  valleys,  and  have  double  courses  at 
eaves  and  ridges.  Red-wood  shingles  are  used  almost  entirely  on  the 
Pacific  coast,  they  are  also  being  used  in  the  East. 

Fences.  —  Wood  fences  are  frequently  constructed  on  the  rear  and 
sides  of  lots  around  Government  buildings.  The  posts  to  be  locust 
or  cedar  6"  to  8"  in  diameter,  generally  dressed  above  ground  and 
from  3'  to  4'  0"  in  the  ground,  the  portion  in  ground  to  be  tarred, 
they  are  to  be  spaced  from  8'  to  10'  apart.  The  rails  to  be  3"  x  4" 
dressed  hard  pine,  let  into  posts  2"  and  securely  spiked:  frequently 
the  top  rail  is  laid  flatwise  on  top  of  post  and  spiked  thereto,  and  the 
post  bevelled  off  back  of  the  rail. 

When  the  fence  is  made  of  close  boards,  the  boarding  to  be  4" 
thick,  3"  to  3£"  wide,  dressed,  matched  and  b  aded,  set  perpendicularly 
and  nailed  with  two  nails  to  each  rail,  to  have  a  base  board  at  bottom 
10"  to  12"  high,  nailed  to  posts  and  a  grooved  cap  to  be  let  over  the 
boarding  and  nailed  to  same. 

Where  pickets  are  used  they  are  to  be  hard  pine  or  oak  J"  thick, 
3"  wide  and  set  3"  apart,  securely  nailed  to  each  rail. 

The  entire  wood  fence  to  be  painted  three  coats  of  lead  and  oil 
paint  on  both  sides ;  the  finishing  tint  to  be  approved. 

MEASUREMENT. 

All  wood-framing  work,  floor-joists,  studding,  sills,  wall-plates,  roof- 
truss  timbers  and  rafters  are  measured  by  the  foot  board  measure 
[board  measure  =  1  square  foot  1"  thick];  in  taking  the  lengths  for 
such  timber  they  should  be  taken  to  an  even  number  of  feet  (i.  e.,  12', 
14',  16'  and  so  on),  because  unless  specially  ordered  all  framing  lumber 
is  sawed  and  kept  in  stock  in  even  foot-lengths,  and  when  a  piece  of 
timber  is  of  an  odd  length  the  next  above  even  foot  must  be  taken  to 
get  the  piece  out  and  hence  the  waste. 

Rough-boarding  for  siding,  under  flooring,  roof-boardinc,  etc.,  is 
measured  net  per  foot  board  measure,  and  builders  generally  allow 
\  for  wastage. 

Dressed  or  1 'pped-siding  is  measured  per  square  foot,  specified 
thickness,  and  ^  is  generally  allowed  for  wastage. 

White-pine  trimmings,  cornices,  mouldings,  etc.,  are  generally 
estimated  by  the  piece  or  lineal  foot  of  moulding. 

Shingles  are  generally  estimated  by  the  thousand,  sometimes 
per  square.  Fences  are  estimated  per  lineal  foot,  giving  descrip- 
tion, and  flag-jxjles,  per  piece. 

The  allowance  for  wastage  is  generally  followed  by  builders,  but 
the  practice  of  the  office  is  to  measure  net  quantities  and  allow  in 
price  for  the  wastage. 

COST. 

The  cost  of  carpenter- work  is  dependent  on  the  price  of  lumber  in 
the  locality  where  required,  the  market  prices  differing  greatly  in 
most  cities,  Chicago  being  considered  the  cheapest  market  for  fram- 
ing lumber,  especially  that  grown  in  the  lake  regions.  Redwood, 
which  is  so  plentiful  on  the  Pacific  slope  that  it  is  often  used  for 
framing,  boarding,  etc.,  is  so  costly  in  the  Kastcrii  States  that  it  is 
seldom  used,  and  then  principally  for  interior  finishing  wood  and 
shingles ;  the  cost,  of  course,  being  occasioned  by  the  transportation 
for  such  a  great  distance. 

Pine  floor-joists,  with  the  rough  boarding  over  same,  will  average 
about  3'  6"  board  measure  per  square  foot  of  floor  area,  and  cost, 
about  2c.  to  3c.  per  foot  board  measure  put  in  place,  or  7c.  to  lOc.  per 
square  foot  of  floor  area. 

Stud  partitions,  3"  x  4"  x  16"  on  centres,  will  average  1'  board 
measure  to  1  square  foot  of  wall,  and  cost,  put  in  place,  about  same 
as  floor-joists,  2c.  to  3c.  per  foot. 

Roof-framing,  trusses,  boarding,  etc.,  will  average  from  4'  to  6' 
board  measure  per  square  foot  of  roof- surf  ace,  and  cost  about  4c.  to 


69 


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The   American   Architect  and  Building  News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  € 


6e.  per  foot  board  measure,  or  15c.  to  30c.  per  square  foot  of  roof- 
surface  dependent  on  framing  and  trusses. 

1882,  Albany  Southern  pine  floor-joists,  4|c.  a  foot  board  measure, 


h,  Ky.,  oak  floor-joists,  l&c.  per  foot  board  measure, 

furnished.  ,  , 

1886,  Baltimore  rough  pine  lumber,  $13  per  thousand  feet. 

Lapped-siding  costs  from  5c.  to  7c.  per  square  foot,  put  in  place, 
and  trimmings,  mouldings,  etc.,  may  be  estimated  at  about  12c 
15c.  per  square  foot,  put  in  place. 

Shingles  vary  so  in  cost  that  the  weekly  price-list  for  nearest 
market"  had  best  be  referred  to  for  prices  of  them  furnished;  the 
labor  of  nailing  them  on  is  worth  from  $1  to  $1.50  per  square,  or 
about  $2  to  $2.50  per  thousand. 

The  ordinary  close  board  fence  and  picket  fence,  including  posts, 
etc.,  complete,  are  worth  from  GOc.  to  $1  per  lineal  foot  put  up  com- 

It  'may  be  well  to  say  that  in  estimating  all  carpenter-work,  the 
market  prices  of  the  materials  in  the  locality  should  be  obtained; 
the  question  of  cost  of  labor  of  putting  said  materials  in  place  should 
then  be  carefully  considered  as  to  wages  of  mechanics  and  the  hours 
worked  per  day,  and  can  only  be  accurately  estimated  after  long  ex- 
perience and  using  good  judgment.  T1">  f«~>or«inir  nriops  ar«  onlv 
given  as  approximate  guides. 


The  foregoing  prices  are  only 
JAS.  E.  BLACKWELL. 


EARLY  SETTLER  MEMORIALS.1  — XIII. 


MEMORIALS     TO    JOHN 


PAULDING,   DAVID 
VAN   WART. 


WILLIAMS     AND     ISAAC 


Monument  to  the   Brothers  Cairoli,  Rome,  Italy.     Ercole  Ros«,  Sculptor. 

O  incident  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution  awakened  so  deep  an  in 
terest  at  the  time  of  the  occurrence,  or  has  become  so  importan 
a  part  of  American  history,  as  the  capture  of  Major  Andre1 
"  The  happiness  and  progress  of  mankind  have  as  often  been  advance( 
or  retarded  by  small  events  as  by  great  battles.     Three  hundred 
men,  led  by  Leonidas,  stemmed  the  Persian  torrent  at  Thermopylae; 
in  1 780  three  farmers  preserved  the  liberties  of  the  American  people. 
The  month  of  September  of  that  year  was  a  gloomy  and  anxious 
time  for  Washington  and  Congress.     Charleston  had  fallen,  Gates 
had   been   disastrously   defeated,  and   the   whole  South   had   come 
under  British  control.     New  Jersey  was  overrun,  and  twenty  thou- 
sand of  the  enemy's  veterans  were  gathered  in  New  York  City.    The 
French  fleet  had  sailed  away,  a  large  reinforcement  to  the  British 
navy  had  arrived,  and  Washington's  cherished  plan  of  attacking  the 
city  had  to  be  abandoned.     The  only  American  force  worthy  the 
name  of  an  army,  numbering  less  than  twelve  thousand  men,  suffer- 
ing from  long  arrears  of  pay,  without  money  to  send  their  starving 
families,  and  short  of  every  kind  of  supplies,  was  encamped  at  and 
about  West  Point.     The  capture  of  this  post,  controlling  the  passes 
of  the  Hudson,  with  its  war  materials,  vital  to  the  maintenance  of 
the  patriot  army,  and  its  garrison  of  four  thousand  troops,  including 
the  person  of  Washington,  would  end  the  war,  in  the  judgment  of 
many  British  generals  and  statesmen. 


1  Continued  from  No.  CIO,  page  107. 


;  Fortify  from  Canada  to  the  city  of  New  York,"  said  they,  "  and 
we  can  hold  the  colonies  together."  "  Capture  and  place  a  chain  of 
josts  along  the  route  from  New  York  City  to  Canada,  and  we  can 
rush  rebellious  New  England,  and  awe  all  the  rest  into  submission," 
aid  the  British  Cabinet. 

The  battle  of  Saratoga  and  surrender  of  Burgoyne,  defeated  the 
ast  and  most  formidable  attempt  to  accomplish  this  result  by  arms. 
It  was  now  sought  to  be  accomplished  by  treason. 
During  the  eighteen  months,  previous  to  this  memorable  Septem- 
>er,  Benedict  Arnold,  the  General-Commandant  of  West  Point,  had 
>een  carrying  on  a  correspondence,  over  the  signature  of  Gustavus, 
with  Major  John  Andre,  who  replied  as  John  Anderson,  Adjutant- 
Jeneral  of  the  British  forces,  and  who  acted  for  Sir  Henry  Clinton. 
This  correspondence,  written  in  the  vocabulary  of  trade,  and  treat- 
ng  of  the  barter  and  sale  of  cattle  and  goods,  was  really  the  haggling 
about  the  price  and  betrayal  of  the  post  of  West  Point,  the  liberties 
of  the  American  people  and  the  destiny  of  a  human  soul.  Arnold 
well  understood  the  conditions  surrounding  the  American  army  and 
the  importance  of  West  Point,  to  either  party.  Deprived  of  his 
command  in  the  army,  a  bankrupt,  as  the  result  of  excesses,  smart- 
ng  under  the  reprimand  of  Congress,  although  retaining  the  con- 
idence  of  Washington,  he  secured  the  command  of  West  Point  for 
the  purpose  of  selling  it  to  the  British.  The  time  had  come  for 
action,  and  the  British  must  be  satisfied  as  to  the  identity  of  their 
man  and  the  firmness  of  his  purpose,  and  commit  him  beyond  the 
oossibility  of  retreat.  For,  said  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  "  We  propose 
o  risk  no  lives  upon  the  possibility  of  deceit  or  failure." 

The  first  meeting,  appointed  at  Dobbs  Ferry,  between  Arnold  and 
Andre1,  on  the  12th  of  September,  failed,  and  the  former  came  near 
ieing  captured.  With  the  audacity  of  a  fiend,  he  reported  his  visit 
at  once  to  Washington,  and  the  next  day  wrote  a  letter  to  General 
Greene,  expressing  bitter  indignation  against  Gates  for  his  Southern 
defeat,  and  the  apprehension  that  it  would  leave  an  indelible  stain 
upon  his  reputation. 

Soon  after,  he  met  Washington,  on  his  way  to  see  Rochambeau  at 
Hartford,  carried  him  across  the  river  at  Verplank's  Point,  in  his 
barge,  and  there  asked  his  chief's  permission  to  attend,  ostensibly,  to 
a  matter  concerning  some  confiscated  lands,  but  really  to  arrange  for 
an  interview  with  Andre ;  but  Washington  refused  his  permission, 
saying  the  matter  had  better  be  left  with  the  civil  authorities. 
Arnofd,  however,  lurked  in  the  bushes  of  the  Long  Cove  below 
Haverstraw,  sent  a  boat  at  midnight  to  the  "  Vulture,"  a  British  gun- 
boat having  Andrd  on  board,  to  bring  the  latter  to  the  shore.  Andre", 
disguised  in  a  cloak,  and  cautioned  by  Sir  Henry  Clinton  not  to  go 
within  the  American  lines,  not  to  be  the  bearer  of  any  papers,  nor 
even  to  disguise  himself,  returned  with  the  boatmen  and  remained 
with  Arnold  until  daylight,  arranging  the  terms  of  the  surrender, 
when  they  repaired  "to  the  house  of  J.  H.  Smith,  where  the 
bargain  wag  completed  September  22,  1780;  Andre"  receiving 
the  plans  of  the  fortifications,  armament  and  troops  at  West 
Point,  and  the  proceedings  of  Washington's  last  Council  of 
War.  He  also  receives  the  assurance  that  the  defences  of  the  fort 
shall  fall  without  a  blow,  and  assures  Arnold,  in  return,  of  a 
Brigadier-Generalship  in  the  British  army  and  seven  thousand 
pounds  in  money.  Arnold  returns  to  the  fort,  and  Andre,  further 
disguised  and  armed  with  a  pass  from  Arnold  in  the  name  of  John 
Anderson,  crosses  the  river  to  Verplanck's  Point,  in  company  with 
Smith,  as  a  guide,  passes  through  Livingston's  camp  in  safety  and 
hurries  on  to  New  York. 

Colonel  Livingston,  who  commanded  at  Verplanck's,  did  not  like 
the  appearance  or  presence  of  the  "  Vulture "  in  that  locality,  and 
had  applied  to  Arnold,  a  few  days  before  the  meeting  of  the  con- 
spirators, for  a  heavy  gun  to  fire  upon  her,  but  being  refused,  he  used 
a  little  four-pounder,  and  with  such  effect  that  she  was  obliged  to 
drop  down  the  river  fifteen  miles.  Smith,  Andre's  guide,  did  not 
dare  to  attempt  to  reach  the  vessel  by  boat,  and  so  the  land  journey 
was  determined  upon.  At  Crumpond,  Captain  Boyd,  an  inquisitive 
Yankee,  stopped  the  travellers,  and  though  Arnold's  pass  surprised 
him,  he  persuaded  them  to  remain  over  night.  At  early  dawn  they 
departed,  with  Captain  Boyd's  advice  to  look  out  for  the  cowboys. 
At  Pine's  Bridge,  Smith's  courage  failed,  and  he  bade  his  companion 
good-by.  Smith  returned  to  West  Point,  reported  Andre's  safety  to 
Arnold,  continued  on  to  Fishkill,  and  supped  that  night  with  Wash- 
ington and  his  staff.  Andrd,  fearing  nothing  from  the  cow-boys  and 
being  in  the  neighborhood  of  his  friends,  the  loyalist  families,  struck 
for  the  river  road. 

On  the  morning  of  the  same  day,  September  23,  seven  of  the 
young  farmers  of  the  vicinity  of  Tarrytown,  some  of  whom  had  served 
in  the  Continental  army,  heard  that  a  number  of  horses  had  been 
stolen,  and  they  formed  themselves  into  a  scouting  party  to  intercept 
the  thieves  if  they  should  attempt  to  pass  with  their  booty  to  New 
York.  Three  of  the  party,  John  Paulding,  about  twenty  years 
of  age,  Isaac  Van  Wart,  of  the  same  age,  and  David  Williams,  five 
years  older,  stationed  themselves  on  the  post-road  at  a  small  brook, 
hidden  by  some  bushes,  just  above  Tarrytown.  Paulding  was  dressed 
in  a  British  uniform,  a  yager  coat,  green  laced  with  red,  which  had 
been  given  him  by  a  friend  in  New  York,  after  he  had  escaped  from 
the  British  prison,  four  days  before.  They  seated  themselves  in  the 
bushes,  and  were  playing  cards,  when  they  heard  the  footsteps  of  a 
galloping  horse.  On  approaching  the  road,  they  saw  a  gentleman 
riding  towards  them.  It  was  Andre.  As  he  neared  them,  they 
cocked  their  muskets,  aimed  at  him,  and  he  checked  his  horse.  He 

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JUNE  2,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect   and  Building  News. 


was  the  first  to  speak,  and  said,  "  My  lads,  I  hope  you  belong  to  our 
party."  Paulding  asked,  "  What  party?"  And  Andre  answered, 
' '  The  lower  party."  To  which  1  aulding  said,  "  Wo  do."  Andre 
then  told  them  that  he  was  a  British  officer,  who  had  been  up  in  the 
country  on  particular  business,  and  did  not  wish  to  be  detained  a 
single  moment.  lie  then  showed  them  his  gold  watch  as  an  evidence 
that  he  was  a  gentleman.  Paulding  then  told  him  that  they  were 
Americans. 

Somewhat  disconcerted,  Andre  exclaimed,  "  God  bless  my  soul !  a 
man  must  do  anything  to  get  along,  I  am  a  Continental  officer,  going 
down  to  Dobbs  Ferry  to  get  information  from  below." 

He  then  presented  a  pass  from  General  Arnold,  in  which  was  the 
name  of  Jolm  Anderson.  Seizing  hold  of  the  bridle  of  the  horse, 
they  ordered  him  to  dismount,  took  him  down  ten  or  twenty  rods 
from  the  road,  beside  a  run  of  water  and  near  a  large  tree,  and 
Williams  proceeded  to  search  his  hat,  coat,  vest,  shirt  and  breeches, 
in  which  they  found  eighty  dollars  in  Continental  money ;  and  at 
last  ordered  him  to  take  off  his  boots.  As  Paulding  drew  off  Andre's 
stocking,  he  excitedly  cried  out,  "  My  God !  here  it  is ! "  On  ex- 
amination they  found  three  half-sheets  of  written  paper,  enveloped 
by  a  half-sheet  marked  "  Contents,  West  Point."  Paulding  again  ex- 
claimed, with  much  excitement,  "  My  God !  he's  a  spy  1  "  On  pull- 
in"  off  the  other  stocking  a  similar  package  was  found. 

They  now  allowed  him  to  dress  and  marched  him  across  the  road 
into  a  field  about  twenty  rods,  where  they  asked  him  from  whom  he 
got  the  papers.  He  replied,  "  Of  a  man  at  Pine's  Bridge,  a  stranger 
to  me."  lie  then  offered  them  his  horse,  equipage,  watch  and  one 
hundred  guineas,  if  they  would  give  him  his  liberty.  This  they 
refused,  unless  he  would  tell  them  where  he  got  the  papers.  He 
refused  to  tell,  but  raised  the  sum  of  money  to  one  thousand 
guineas  and  as  many  dry  goods  as  they  wished,  adding  that  they 
might  keep  him  until  the  goods  were  delivered  to  them.  They 
still  refused.  He  again  offered  them  ten  thousand  guineas  and  all 
the  dry  goods  they  desired.  To  which  Paulding  answered,  "  No ! 
by  God,  you  shall  not  stir  a  step ;  we  are  Americans  and  above  cor- 
ruption, and  go  with  us  you  must." 

They  then  took  him  to  the  nearest  military  station,  twelve  miles 
distant  at  North  Castle,  and  delivered  him  to  Colonel  Jaimesen,  the 
commanding  officer. 

On  October  7  Washington  sent  to  Consress  a  copy  of  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  trial  of  Am  Ire,  with  the  names  of  his  captors,  and  on  its 
receipt,  that  body  passed  November  3,  the  following  resolution : 

"  Whereas,  Congress  have  received  information  that  John  Paulding, 
David  Williams  and  Isaac  Van  Wart,  three  young  volunteer  militia- 
men of  the  State  of  New  York,  did,  on  the  23d  day  of  September 
last,  intercept  Major  Andr£,  Adjutant-General  of  the  British  army, 
on  his  return  from  the  American  lines,  in  the  character  of  a  spy ; 
and,  notwithstanding  the  large  bribes  offered  them  for  his  release, 
nobly  disdaining  to  sacrifice  their  country  for  the  sake  of  gold, 
secured  and  conveyed  him  to  the  commanding  officer  of  the  district, 
whereby  the  dangerous  and  traitorous  conspiracy  of  Benedict 
Arnold  was  brought  to  light,  the  insidious  designs  of  the  enemy 
baffled  and  the  Lnited  States  rescued  from  impending  danger, 

"  Resolved,  That  Congress  have  a  high  sense  of  the  virtuous  and 
patriotic  conduct  of  the  said  John  Paulding,  David  Williams  and 
Isaac  Van  Wart. 

"In  testimony  whereof:  ORDERED,  That  each  of  them  receive 
annually,  out  of  the  Public  Treasury,  Two  Hundred  Dollars  in  specie, 
or  an  equivalent  in  current  money  of  these  States,  during  life,  and 
that  the  Board  of  War  procure  for  each  of  them  a  silver  medal,  on 
one  side  of  which  shall  be  a  shield  with  this  inscription  :  '  Fidelity,' 
and  the  other  the  following  motto,  '  Vincit  Amor  Palriie,'  and  for- 
ward them  to  the  Commander-in-Cliief,  who  is  requested  to  present 
the  same,  with  a  copy  of  this  resolution  and  the  thanks  of  Congress 
for  their  fidelity,  and  the  eminent  service  they  have  rendered  their 
country." 

Shortly  after  Washington  gave  a  grand  dinner-party  at  Ver- 
planck's  Point.  There  were  present,  his  staff,  the  famous  generals 
of  the  army,  and,  as  honored  guests,  the  three  captors,  to  whom,  in 
an  impressive  speech,  Washington  presented  the  medals.  Williams's 
medal  is  now  in  the  State  Library  at  Albany.  Congress  also  gave 
them  the  sum  of  twelve  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  or  the  same  value 
in  confiscated  lands  in  Westchester  County.  And  the  Legislature  of 
the  State  of  New  York  gave  to  each  of  them  a  farm  in  consideration 
of  "  their  virtue  in  refusing  a  large  sum,  offered  to  them  by  Major 
Andre1,  as  a  bribe  to  permit  him  to  escape." 

Thus  promptly  and  generously  did  the  Continental  and  State 
Governments  recognize  and  reward  the  deed  of  these  men.  But  the 
feeling  existing  in  the  locality  where  they  lived,  at  the  time  of  the 
capture,  was  quite  a  different  matter.  "  It  is  hard  to  understand  now 
the  condition  of  this  region  at  that  period.  It  was  ominously  known 
as  neutral  ground,  marauded  and  harried  by  royal  and  Continental 
soldiers,  and  by  Skinners  and  Cow-boys,  robbers  and  brigands  of  equal 
infamy.  The  Whig  farmer  saw  his  cattle  driven  off  and  the  flames 
of  his  buildings  lighting  the  sky  to-night,  and  mercilessly  retaliated 
upon  his  Tory  neighbor  to-morrow.  Fences  were  down,  fruit  rotted 
aanthered  on  the  ground,  rank  vegetation  covered  the  unsown 
iirlds,  and  the  gaunt  and  vengeful  citizen  guarded,  with  ready 
musket,  his  family  and  hidden  stores,  or  watched  in  ambuscade  by 
the  way-side,  to  recapture  his  stolen  property  or  prevent  the  delivery 
of  foraged  stores  to  the  enemy.  Amidst  such  experiences  and  BUT- 


71 


roundings  the  captors  of  Andrd  passed  their  daily  lives."  The 
operative  sentiment  in  Westchester  County  was  Tory.  It  passively, 
and  sometimes*  actively  held  in  contempt  those  who  were  trying  to 
rob  them  of  one  form  of  Government  without  being  able,  appax  ntly, 
to  provide  another.  The  patriots  of  this  vicinity  when  not  protected 
in  free  speech  and  action  by  the  presence  of  Continental  troops,  were 
cautious  and  guarded. 

«  When  Andre  was  executed,  the  expression  of  Tory  sentiment 
was  one  of  execration,  and  even  among  the  patriots  it  was  thought 
that  the  sentence  was  unjust  and  that  the  execution  was  a  mislaid. 
So  deeply  was  this  feeling  known  to  exist  that  the  captors  wi-iv 
never  known  to  allude  to  it  in  other  than  an  evasive  way.  Tln-v  h  II 
into  the  general  current  of  opinion  and  had  a  secret  mis^ivin^  that 
they  were,  in  some  degree,  responsible  for  '  the  vengeance  meU-d  out 
to  Andre1.'  For  years  sympathy  for  poor  Andre  was  the  prc-<|,.mi 
nant  sentiment.  Had  there  been  a  proposition  made  at  any  time 
within  the  fifty  years  subsequent  to  tli«  capture  to  elect  a  statue  on 
the  spot,  it  would  have  met  with  almost  universal  disapproval  from 
the  patriots  themselves." 

So  writes  a  prominent  citizen  of  Tarrytown ;  the  captors  were 
ignorant  men,  Paulding  being  the  only  one  who  could  read.  There 
are  many  who  believe  to  this  day  that  they  were  of  that  disreputable 
crew  called  "  skinners,"  and  that  they  were  actuated  by  motives  far 
different  from  those  of  unselfishly  serving  the  patriotic  cause.  That 
Andrei  fell  into  their  hands  and  was  thereby  prevented  from  con- 
summating the  bargain  with  Arnold  was  well;  the  rest  was  purely 
providential,  but  let  the  means  by  which  Providence  worked  be  for- 
gotten is  their  idea.  The  horse  and  its  equipments  anil  Andrews 
watch  were  sold  by  the  captors  and  the  money  divided  between 
them  and  four  other  persons  who  belonged  to  their  party  and  were 
at  another  point  when  the  capture  took  place.  The  watch  was 
bought  by  Col.  W.  S.  Smith  for  thirty  guineas  at  the  time  of  Andre's 
court-martial,  which  took  place  at  Tappan. 

Of  Van  Wart  little  is  known.  He  lived  a  highly-respected  life 
for  forty-nine  years  after  the  capture.  David  Williams  served  four 
years  in  the  Revolutionary  army  previous  to  the  event,  and  died 
fifty-two  years  after,  deeply  mourned  for  his  many  excellent  quali- 
ties. Paulding  served  in  several  different  commands  before  the  cap- 
ture, and  died  forty  years  after. 

The  French  Lieutenant-colonel  Fleury,  writing  from  Newport  in 
October,  1 780,  to  his  friend  Peters,  closes  his  letter,  after  expressing 
his  horror  at  Arnold's  conduct,  with  these  words:  "How  great  are", 
compared  to  Arnold,  those  peasant  who  refused  the  bribe  from  Andrei 
Let  this  be  remembered  in  favor  of  the  p»or." 

In  1817,  a  bill  was  introduced  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  asking  for  an  appropriation  of  twenty  thousand  dollars  to 
erect  a  monument  to  Paulding,  Williams  and  Van  Wart.  It  passed 
the  House,  but  either  did  not  reach  or  was  defeated  in  the  Senate. 
It  was  opposed  in  the  former  body  by  Major  Tallmage  because,  as 
he  asserted,  the  captors  of  Andre"  were  of  that  class  of  people  known 
as  "  cow-boys  "  or  "  skinners  "  who  passed  between  both  armies,  as 
often  in  one  camp  as  another,  friendly  to  each  as  their  interests 
might  prompt,  and  without  attachment  or  preference  to  either;  that 
he  had  l>een  told  by  Andre  that,  in  his  opinion,  their  search  of  his 
person  was  for  plunder  and  not  for  evidence  of  his  character ;  that 
if  he  could  have  paid  the  sum  demanded  by  them  he  would  have  been 
released,  and  that  their  only  motive  in  returning  him  to  the  Ameri- 
can camp  was  the  hope  of  a  large  reward.  Major  Tallmage  stated 
no  fact  in  support  of  his  own  or  Andre's  opinion.  Very  soon  after 
the  appearance  of  the  above  remarks,  sixteen  inhabitants  of  West- 
Chester  County,  all  aged  and  respected  men  who  had  known  the 
captors  during  the  Revolutionary  War,  united  in  declaring  in  a  pub- 
lished document,  that  the  assertions  of  Major  Tallmage'  were  not 
only  untrue  in  every  respect,  but  the  captors  were"  universally 
esteemed  as  being  faithful  and  ardent  patriots.  Paulding  and  Van 
Wart  were  then  living  in  Westchester  County,  and  they"  also  made 
sworn  affidavits  denying  the  charges  of  Major  Tallmage  and  "-ivin"* 
again  the  details  of  the  capture. 

In  1826,  a  Paulding  Monument  Committee  was  formed  in  New 
York  City,  and  through  its  efforts  the  corporation  of  the  city  erected 
in  1827,  in  the  old  graveyard  in  the  little  village  of  Tappan,  near 
Peekskill,  in  Westchester  County,  a  marble  monument  to  Pauldino-. 
It  bears  this  inscription  on  its  face : 

HERE  REPOSE  THE  MORTAL  REMAINS  OF 

JOHN  PAULDING, 

WHO  DIED  ON  THE  18  OF  FEBRUARY,  1818, 
IN  THE  60TH  YEAR  OF  HIS  AGE. 

On  the  morning  of  the  23  of  September,  1780, 

Accompanied  by  two  young  farmer*  of  tlie  Connty  of  Westehestar 

(Whose  names  will  one  day  be  recorded  on  their  own  deserved  monuments) 

lie  intercepted  the  Itriti.-h  spy  An. Ire. 

Poor  himself 
He  disdained  to  acquire  wealth  by  the  sacrifice  of 

His  country. 

Rejecting  the  temptation  of  great  rewards, 
He  conveyed  his  prisoner  to  the  American  camp 

and 

By  this  act  of  noble  self-denial, 

The  treason  of  Arnold  was  detected: 

The  designs  of  the  enemy  baffled; 

West  Point  and  the  American  army  saved; 

And  these  United  States, 

Now  by  the  grace  of  God  free  and  independent, 
Rescued  from  most  imminent  peril. 


264 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.       [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  649. 


THE  CORPORATION  OF  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK 

ERECTED  THIS  TOMB 

AS  A  MEMORIAL  SACRED  TO 

PUBLIC  GRATITUDE. 

On  one  side  of  the  pedestal  is  carved  a  fac-simile  of  the  face  of  the 
medal  voted  by  Congress  to  each  of  the  captors.  On  the  opposite 
side  the  reverse  of  the  medal  is  carved  on  a  shield.  The  monument 
is  made  of  marble  and  is  surrounded  by  an  iron  railing  and  a  marble 
coping.  It  is  thirteen  feet  high  and  seven  feet  square  at  base.  It 
is  described  "  as  a  pedestal  surmounted  by  a  cone,  the  whole  com- 
posed of  most  massive  materials  and  fastened  with  iron  cramps  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  resist  the  severity  of  the  climate  for  ages  to 
come." 

The  monument  was  dedicated  on  the  22d  of  November,  1827,  in 
the  presence  of  "  a  vast  concourse  of  people,"  including  many  Revo- 
lutionary soldiers.  Hon.  William  Paulding,  said  to  be  a  relative,  the 
mayor  of  New  York,  delivered  the  dedicatory  address. 

It  stands  in  the  midst  of  many  interesting  historical  associations. 
Near  by  is  the  old,  red,  peaked-roofed,  rectangular,  wooden  Episco- 
pal church  where  Washington  frequently  worshipped.  The  interior 
of  this  ancient  pile  is  unchanged  since  Revolutionary  days,  and  mice 
and  spiders  are  the  principal  occupants.  The  old  Van  Rensselaer 
manor  house,  once  Washington's  headquarters,  is  also  within  gun- 
shot of  the  monument.  T.  H.  BARTLETT. 
[To  be  continued.! 


A  CORRECTION. 

BOSTON,  May  28,  1888. 

To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  We  are  not  building  a  laundry  but  a  steamer 
landing  at  Belfast,  Maine,  for  the  Boston  and  Bangor  S.  S.  Co., 
including  ticket-office,  waiting-rooms,  etc.  Will  you  please  correct 
in  your  next  issue.  You  may  be  pleased  to  know  that  the  item  was 
noticed  by  others  than  myself  for  we  have  received  this  morning  two 
circulars  from  agent  for  Patent  Laundry  Systems. 

Very  truly  yours,  H.  M.  STEPHENSON. 


NON-CORRODIBLE  IRON. 

NEW  YORK,  May  26,  1888. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  We  notice  your  editorial  mention  of  the  hydrogen 
process.  This  process  is  not  new  and  seems  to  produce  an  oxide-of- 
iron  coating  instead  of  a  compound  of  hydrogen.  It  is  fully  de- 
scribed in  United  States  Patents  to  J.  P.  Gill,  Nos.  283,999,  284,000, 
284,001.  Respectfully  yours,  THE  WELLS  RUSTLESS  IRON  Co. 

SPONTANEOUS  COMBUSTION  OF  OILED  SHAVINGS. 

VINELAND,  N.  J..  May  29. 1888. 

To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  We  notice  in  the  American  Architect  and  Build- 
ing News  of  May  19,  1888,  under  the  head  of  "  Notes  and  Clip- 
pings," an  article  entitled  "  Spontaneous  Combustion  "  which  relates 
to  a  case  which  occurred  at  our  factory,  and  under  our  own  observa- 
tion. We  take  pleasure  in  enclosing  herewith  a  photograph  of  the 
burning,  "  taken  on  the  spot."  Since  our  experience  as  stated  in  the 
article  referred  to,  and  only  recently  in  fact,  we  threw  out  some 
oiled  shavings  on  the  ground,  at  a  safe  distance  from  our  buildings, 
and,  after  having  been  wet  by  two  or  three  rain-storms,  they  burst 
into  flame  a  few  days  ago,  and  were  entirely  consumed. 

Very  respectfully,  GAGE  TOOL  Co. 


conduct,  were  awarded  to  men  of  the  fire-brigade.  The  official  statistics 
put  the  number  of  deaths  by  the  burning  of  the  Ope'ra  Comique  at  79, 
and  of  the  persons  taken  out  alive  at  211 :  but  this  is  very  much  below 
the  reality.  —  New  York  Evening  Post. 


ARTIFICIAL  INCI:HATION  IN  EGYPT. —  One  of  the  oldest  industries  in 
Egypt  is  artificial  egg-hatching,  principally  engaged  in  by  Copts. 
There  are  said  to  be  700  establishments  of  this  nature  in  the  country, 
and  the  production  of  chickens  from  the  ovens  is  estimated  at  from 
10,000,000  to  12,000,000  annually.  The  season  for  incubating  lasts 
through  three  months  of  the  early  summer.  The  country  people  bring 
eggs  to  the  proprietors  of  the  "farroogs,"  and  give  two  good  eggs  for 
every  newly-hatched  chick. —  Consular  Report. 

PARIS  FIRES  IN  1887.  —  The  returns  of  the  Paris  (France)  Fire  Bri- 
gade state  that  the  total  number  of  calls  for  fires  last  year  was  988, 
this  being  exclusive  of  1,912  chimney  fires.  The  damage  done  by  these 
!)88  fires  is  estimated  at  £172,000,  this  being  exclusive  of  the  Ope'ra 
Comique,  the  loss  sustained  by  the  destruction  of  which  has  not  yet 
been  accurately  calculated.  In  878  cases  the  losses  were  in  whole  or 
part  covered  by  insurance.  The  report  goes  on  to  state  that  there  are 
at  the  present  time  3,658  water-plugs  in  the  streets,  with  25  depots  for 
fire  engines,  and  211  calling  stations.  In  the  course  of  the  past  year  3 
gold  and  23  silver  medals,  in  addition  to  43  certificates  of  distinguished 


IT  is  probable  that  reductions  in  wages  will  be  made  in  nearly  all  classes 
of  labor,  excepting  in  the  building  trades,  before  the  close  of  the  summer. 
In  those  branches  controlled  by  schedules  slight  reductions  are  expected  to   • 
be  made.    The  railroads  have  reduced  freight-rates  on  between  30,000  and 
40,000  miles  of  road;  part  of  these  reductions  have  been  di>c»to  rate  wars. 
The  conflict  between  the  railroads  in  the  Northwest  continues,  and  there 
rates  are  lower  than  they  have  ever  been .  It  is  not  probable  that  these  troubles 
will  extend  to  other  sections.    There  is,  at  this  time  a  surplus  of  labor  in 
nearly  all  of  the  Western  towns  and  cities  for  which  there  are  no  immediate 
prospects  of  employment.   Employers  have  a  better  opportunity  to  rearrange 
rales  of  compensation  than  they  have  had  for  several  years,  but  advantage 
will  be  taken  of  this  temporary  oversupply  of  labor  only  where  competition 
forces  such  action.    The  general  desire  among  manufacturers  and  employ- 
ers of  labor  is  to  continue  at  present  rates,  but  reductions  have  been  ren- 
dered necessary  by  the  declining  tendency  in  prices,  and  by  the  general 
restriction  of  demand.    The  industries  are  in  a  healthy  condition;  lessened 
consumption  has  been  met  by  a  lessened  production,  and  the  financial  rela- 
tions between  buyers  and  se'llers  have  not  been  seriously  disturbed  as  yet. 
There  is  a  spirit  of  accommodation  among  business  men  which  promises 
well  for  the  future;  there  is  no  disposition  to  crowd;  jobbers  are  willing  to 
extend  credits;  manufacturers  are  willing  to  do  their  best  with  buyers;  but 
everywhere  bottom  prices  are  insisted  upon  and  forward  requirements  are 
covered  only  in  exceptional  cases.     One  striking  feature  of  the  market  is 
that  there  are  little  or  no  accumulations  of  stocks;  when  the  turning-point 
comes,  it   will  find  both  producers  and  consumers  practically  bare.     In 
former  depressions  this  has  not  been  the  case;  in  every  one  with  which  the 
country  is  familiar,  the  first  difficulty  to  be  gotten  over,  when  an  improve- 
ment has  set  in,  has  been  the  consumption  of  accumulated  goods  and  mer- 
chandise.   The  people,  or  rather,  the  manufacturers,  have  learned  valuable 
lessons  from  the  mistakes  of  the  past,  and  for  months  have  been  restricting 
production  and  avoiding  any  accumulations.    It  is  for  this  reason  that  the 
prediction  is  made  in  a  good  many  business  circles  that  business  will  begin 
to  improve  early  in  the  fall.    Probabilities  point  that  way.     A  great  deal  of 
railroad-building  would  be  pushed  now  but  for  the  uncertainties  existing 
as  to  price  of  material  of  all  kinds,  as  to  abundance  of  money,  as  to  the 
balance  of  trade,  and  as  to  tariff  duties.    Several  million  dollars  will  be 
invested  in  railroads,  not  only  in  the  Southwest,  but  the  Northwest  and  in 
localities  where  we  are  now  told  that  railroad-building  has  been  overdone. 
This  over-construction  of  railroads  may  exist  with  reference  to  long  or 
trans-continental  lines,  but  it  is  not  true  with  regard  to  short  lines  in  any 
section  of  the  country.    There  is  need  of  a  good  deal  more  railroad  mileage 
than  the  country  possesses,  and  railroad  managers  and  investors  in  railway 
bonds  and  stocks  are  fully  convinced  of  this  fact.    It  is  this  that  gives  the 
strong  tone  to  the  railroad  bond  and  stock  market  in  the  face  of  poor  and 
unpromising  earnings.    Architects  in  a  number  of  the  leading  Western 
cities  report  a  sluggishness  with  reference  to  new  enterprises.    They  say 
that  material  is  cheap  enough,  money  abundant  enough,  prospects  favora- 
ble, and  conditions  healthful,  and  yet  there  is  an  unaccountable  holding 
back  in  large  building  enterprises  for  which  they  are  unable  to  offer  any 
intelligent  explanation.     There  is  considerable  activity  in  Chicago,  but  not 
such  as  the  builders  there  have  anticipated;  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis  are 
ahead  of  last  year's  figures;  Omaha  reports  considerable  activity;  Kansas 
City  is  doing  remarkably  well  in  some  lines.     One  good  authority  states 
that  outside  of  Denver,  Salt  Lake  City,  Tacoma,  and  the  cities  above  men- 
tioned, there  is  really  no  genuine  industrial  or  building  activity.    This  may 
be  putting  the  ease  rather  too  strongly,  but  the  fact  remains  that  just  now 
there  is  a  conservatism  prevailing  among  managers  of  industrial  enterprise 
and  builders  that  is  somewhat  discouraging  for  those  who  indulged  in  high 
hopes  at  the  opening  of  the  year.    There  is  but  little  room  for  a  decline  in 
building  material;  lumber  is  about  as  low  as  it  can  go;  iron  and  steel  of 
all  kinds  are  selling  at  very  little  above  cost.    The  real-estate  speculative 
era  is  past  and  desirable  lots  and  land  are  now  to  be  purchased  in  many 
cases  at  fifty  per  cent  less  than  twelve  months  ago.    The  development  of 
railroads  has  brought  a  great  deal  of  desirable  territory  withiu  reach  and 
builders  and  buyers  are  offered  abundant  opportunities  for  selection.     In 
the  wheat  regions  of  the  Northwest  there  is  a  great  deal  of  elevator-build- 
ing promised.    The  boat-builders  along  all  of  the  lakes  are  doing  more 
woik  than  for  years.    The  large  machinery  establishments  are  also  very 
busy  West  and  East.    Taking  the  industrial  situation  all  through,  we  find 
less  activity,   more  conservatism,  and   a   more    careful  study   of  future 
requirements.    Most  of  the  returns  from  railroads  for  the  past  few  weeks 
have  been  of  an  encouraging  character,  but  it  is  altogether  probable  that 
unfavorable  returns  are  withheld.    The  newspapers  are  interested  in  brush- 
ing aside  the  dark  clouds  in  the  horizon.    Wall  Street  traders  are  much 
better  informed  than  the  writers  in  newspaper  offices,  and  from  them  some 
interesting  points  can  be  learned.     The  pith  and  substance  of  the  latest 
responsible  utterances  is  that  railroad   securities  will  improve  in  value 
within  twelve  months,  under  the  better  management  and  greater  economies 
introduced.    Foreign  investors,  who  seldom  make  a  mistake,  are  showing 
their  confidence  in  American  securities  by  liberal  purchases.    Gold  is  going 
abroad,  but  there  is  aa  abundance  in  the  interior  to  stand  a  long  drain. 
Our  export  trade  is  against  us,  but  this  signifies  nothing  for  the  present. 
The  foreign  demand  for  the  farm-products  of  the  Northwest  will  probably 
keep  prices  of  cereals  at  their  lower  rather  than  their  higher  limits.    No 
matter  in   what  channel  of  trade  soundings  are  taken,  we  find  sufficient 
evidence  to  justify  the  confidence  which  is  generally  felt  in  the  steadiness 
of  prices  and  an  expansion  of  demand  as  soon  as  the  present  depression 
shall  have  had  a  chance  to  exhaust  itself.    The  lack  of  confidence  so  far  as 
present  transactions  are  concerned,  is  a  necessity,  and  is  having  a  healthful 
result.    AH  speculative  values  are  being  squeezed  out  and  the  controllers 
of  our  industries  and  masters  of  transportation  understand  thoroughly  that 
the  present  corrective  agencies  at  work  are  rendering  good  service  to  them 
and  to  all  legitimate  enterprise.     The  weakness  of  the  commercial  situation 
in  past  decades  has  been  due  to  the  fact  that  there  were  thousands  of  lame 
traders  and  manufacturers.    The  strength  of  the  situation  for  the  next  five 
or  ten  years  will  be  due  to  the  absence  of  that  kind  of  competition.    The 
associations  and  combinations  and  trusts  are  helping  to  drive  this  element 
out  of  the  way,  and  in  this  respect  they  are  doing  good  service,  although 
possibly  threatening  the  interests  of  the  people  in  another. 


S.  J.  PARKHILI,  &  Co.,  Printers,  Boston. 


72 


THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  AND  BUILDING  NEWS. 


VOL.  XXIII. 


Copyright,  1888,  by  TICKXOR  &  COMPANY,  Boston,  Man. 


No.  650 


JUNE  9. 1888. 


Ksterad  at  the  Post-Offloe  at  Button  a*  •econd^slaas  matter. 


SUMMARY: — 

Technical  School  for  Girls  in  New  York.  —The  Kinds  of  Ti-rh- 
nical  Work  most  suited  to  Woman.  —  An  Architect's  Suit 
for  the  Balance  of  his  Commission. — A  Possible  Trans- 
Asian  Hallway  System.  —  The  Use  of  Alcoholic  Stimulants. 
—  The  Consumption  of  Tea  and  Coffee.  —  Speculative  Build- 
ing in  Home.  —  Burning  of  an  Electric-light  Station,  Boston.  205 

ARCHITECT,  OWNER  AND  Be  II.DKK  IIKFOBK  THE  LAW. — III.    .     .  207 

TllK    UOYAI.   ACADEMY.     TllE    ARCHITECTURE 2(18 

SoMK    AuKltH   AX     MOM   MKNTS. III 2CM 

ILLUSTRATIONS  :  — 

The  Grand  Battery  and  Laval  University,  Quebec,  Canada.  — 

The  New  Public  Library,  Boston,  Mass.  —  The  Main  Fayade ; 

Main   Kntrancc ;    Grand  Staircase ;    Trustees'    Room,  and 

Corridor.  —  Bird's-eye  View  of  Copley  Square,  Boston,  Mass.  270 
HEPORT  TO  THE  GOVERNOR  ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  THE  ASSEMBLY 

CHAMBER  VAULTING  AT  ALBANY 270 

A  VENETIAN  SHIP—RAILWAY 271 

THK  TURKISH  BATH  :  ITS  DESIGN  AND  CONSTRUCTION 273 

BOOKS  AND  PAPERS 274 

COMMUNICATIONS  :  — 

Chances  for  the  Morally-infirm. — A  Correction. — To  Cure  a 

Door  in  Wind 275 

NOTES  AND  CLIPPINGS 275 

TRADE  SURVEYS 270 


WE  imagine  that  it  will  surprise  most  people  to  learn  that 
there  is  a  technical  school  in  New  York,  exclusively  for 
girls,  which  has  been  in  existence  fourteen  years,  and 
graduated  this  year  a  class  of  nine  hundred  and  twenty-four 
members,  or  more  than  the  united  numbers  of  the  graduating 
classes  of  boys  in  all  the  technical  schools  in  the  Western 
Hemisphere.  It  is  true  that  the  sciences  taught  in  the  school 
are  not  of  a  very  abstruse  character,  but  they  are  of  the  sort  best 
adapted  at  present  to  help  girls  to  earn  an  honest  living,  and 
many  a  woman  must  bless  the  thoughtful  charity  by  which  she 
was  put  in  the  way  of  independence.  There  is  still  something 
strange  to  an  American  in  the  modern  movement  by  which 
women  have  entered  into  nearly  all  the  departments  of  industry 
and  trade  which  were  once  monopolized  by  men.  It  is  not 
many  years  since  a  young  girl's  face  was  a  rather  rare  sight  on 
Wall  or  State  Street,  and  those  that  were  seen  generally 
belonged  to  persons  who  were  shyly  hurrying  by  on  their  way 
to  a  ferry  or  railway  station.  Now  nearly  every  broker's  or 
lawyer's  office  and  merchant's  counting-room  has  its  gentle, 
industrious  book-keepers  and  type-writers,  and  in  many  cases 
these  modest  and  faithful  assistants  are  entrusted  with  very 
great  responsibility.  All  the  girls  who  wish  to  be  employed, 
however,  cannot  find  places  as  type-writers  or  book-keepers, 
an<l  it  is  a  matter  of  much  importance  to  the  welfare  of  the 
sex  to  increase  the  number  of  occupations  in  which  it  can  be  of 
service.  This  sort  of  work  is  just  what  a  technical  school  can 
do,  and  those  who  would  like  to  see  the  weaker  class  of  their 
fellow-citizens  placed  in  a  position  where  they  need  not  be  de- 
pendent for  support  upon  the  uncertain  mercies  of  their  male 
relatives  will  do  well  to  keep  the  New  York  example  in  mind. 

'/TMONG  the  subjects  taught  in  the  school  are  stenography 
/j[  and  book-keeping,  mechanical  and  free-hand  drawing, 
sewing,  both  by  hand  and  machine,  cutting  and  fitting, 
music,  designing,  as  applied  to  textile  fabrics,  wall-papers  and 
tiles,-  and  modelling.  All  the  instruction  given  is  free,  and  the 
salaries  of  the  twelve  teachers  employed,  as  well  as  rent  and 
other  expenses  are  paid  by  subscription,  under  the  care  of  the 
Young  Women's  Christian  Association.  So  far  as  the  public 
is  concerned,  the  education  of  women  in  all  these,  as  well  as 
other  kindred  subjects,  is  an  unmixed  advantage.  Not  only 
are  thousands  of  intelligent  persons  changed  from  idle  and 
often  very  poor  consumers  to  industrious  and  comparatively  af- 
fluent producers,  but  the  introduction  of  so  much  trained  skill 
into  the  practice  of  the  domestic  arts  must  before  long  show  it- 
self in  the  development  of  those  arts.  The  manufacture  of 


wall-paper  in  this  country  certainly  owes  to  a  few  clever  women 
a  great  part  of  the  extraordinary  artistic  success  which  it  lias" 
achieved ;  and,  to  take  another  example,  the  decorative  em- 
broidery of  the  Associated  Artists,  and  of  Mrs.  Holmes  be- 
fore them,  give  a  promise  for  the  future  of  American  art  which 
is  hardly  to  be  found  in  the  painting  or  sculpture  of  the  country. 
It  we  could  suggest  anything  which  might,  with  advantage,  bo 
added  to  the  curriculum  of  this  or  similar  schools,  it  would  cer- 
tainly be  the  development  of  the  actual  practice  of  artistic 
industry  in  other  ways  besides  embroidery.  There  is  no 
reason,  for  instance,  why  women  here  should  not  be  as  suc- 
rr»i'iil  in  decorative  painting  as  the  Misses  Garrett  and  their 
rivals  are  in  England.  Most  women  are  somewhat  sensitive 
to  color,  but  are  so  persuaded  of  their  natural  gift  in  this  di- 
rection that  they  scorn  to  learn  anything  about  the  subject,  and 
make,  in  consequence,  laborious  attempts  at  decoration  which,  to 
everybody  except  themselves,  appear  painfully  ignorant  and 
bald.  If  the  same  women  would  get  rid  of  the  notion  that 
Heaven  has  already  taught  them  a  business  which  their  brothers 
spend  years  in  learning,  and  would,  like  men,  make  themselves 
acquainted  with  the  observations  of  such  masters  as  Owen 
Jones,  Dr.  Dresser  and  William  Morris,  and  study  and  compare 
the  work  of  different  ages  and  countries,  the  beautful  forms  of 
the  antique  and  the  Renaissance,  the  brilliancy  of  the  Jap- 
anese, and  the  ineffable  coloring  of  the  Chinese,  they  could, 
more  easily  than  most  men,  acquire  a  resource  and  certainty 
which  would  make  them  the  best  and  most  rapid  of  decorators. 
The  same  sort  of  training  would  fit  them  for  other  artistic  pro- 
fessions. We  cannot  say  that  we  think  the  system  of  making 
designs  for  tiles  and  similar  things,  for  indifferent  workmen  to 
carry  out,  is  calculated  to  develop  the  highest  artistic  capacity, 
or  produce  the  most  beautiful  art.  The  highest  beauty  can 
only  be  added  by  the  artist's  own  hands,  without  the  intervention 
of  mechanics,  and  there  is  just  now  a  wide  field  for  the  use  of  works 
of  decoration  which  shall  be  as  much  autographs  of  the  designer 
as  an  easel  picture  could  be.  To  take  a  single  example,  a  great 
deal  of  mosaic  for  the  adornment  of  buildings  is  now  made  in 
Venice  by  an  association  of  girls  of  good  family,  who  draw  and 
color  the  designs,  pick  out  the  bits  of  glass  or  stone,  and  send  them 
to  be  put  in  position.  Although  mosaic  is  now  a  rare  luxury 
with  us,  it  might  be  popularized  in  this  way  to  the  general  ad- 
vantage. There  is  a  sort  of  mosaic,  useful  either  for  floors  or 
walls,  which  is  made  by  gluing  the  bits  of  marble  or  glass  on 
brown  paper.  The  paper  is  then  sent  in  sheets  to  the  place 
where  it  is  to  be  used,  and  laid  with  the  bits  of  marble  down- 
ward, on  a  bed  of  fresh  Portland  cement.  When  the  cement 
has  set  hard  the  paper  is  washed  off,  and  the  mosaic  finished 
by  polishing  with  a  stone.  For  the  ornamentation  of  our  ves- 
tibules and  hearths  very  effective  use  might  be  made  of  this 
means.  The  broken  bits  of  tile  from  the  tile-layers  answer  an 
admirable  purpose  for  mosaic,  and  give  far  more  richness  of 
color  than  can  be  got  with  marble.  These  might  be  glued  on 
sheets  by  a  skilful  hand  in  such  a  way  as  to  form  designs  of  a 
value  infinitely  superior  to  anything  yet  attempted  in  floor  or 
permanent  wall  decoration,  and  at  a  price  by  no  means  extrav- 
agantly high. 


3OME  English  architects  recently  had  an  experience  of  a 
kind  quite  familiar  to  many  of  our  readers,  who  will  be 
glad  to  know  how  their  brethren  came  out  of  it.  The  firm 
of  Corbett  &  Son,  architects,  of  Manchester,  brought  suit 
against  Messrs.  Richmond  &  Chandler,  manufacturers,  for 
balance  of  commission  for  services  as  architects  in  the  erection 
of  new  premises  in  that  city.  The  defense  was  the  usual  one, 
asserting  negligence  on  the  part  of  the  architects  in  taking  out 
quantities,  and  measuring  up  the  work  after  completion,  result- 
ing, as  the  defendants  said,  in  the  giving  of  certificates  to  the 
contractors  to  the  amount  of  about  twenty-seven  hundred 
dollars  in  excess  of  the  sum  properly  due.  Two  architects  gave 
evidence  on  behalf  of  the  plaintiffs,  and  the  mechanics  em- 
ployed on  the  building  testified  as  to  the  character  and  quality 
of  the  work,  and  the  interference  of  Mr.  Richmond  while  it 
was  going  on ;  and  another  architect  and  two  building  sur- 
veyors, besides  Mr.  Richmond  and  his  foreman,  who  acted  as 
clerk-of-the-works,  testified  for  the  defendants.  A  referee  was 
appointed  by  the  court  to  hear  the  testimony  aud  determine  as 
to  questions  of  fact.  After  five  days  hearing,  the  referee 
reported  that  the  first  allegation  of  the  defendants,  that  the 


266 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  JVews.    [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  650. 


plaintiffs  did  not  do  their  work  properly,  he  did  not  think  was 
supported  by  the  evidence.  There  were  only  two  other  claims 
one  being  that  the  plaintiffs'  measurements  were  wrong;  and 
the  other  that  their  prices  were  wrong.  As  to  the  first,  he 
.found  that  the  architects'  measurements,  and  those  made  by 
the  agent  of  the  defendants,  differed  only  by  three-quarters  of 
one  per  cent;  and  it  seemed  to  him  to  be  "really  nothing  but 
absolute  nonsense"  to  charge  an  architect  with  negligence  in 
respect  of  measurements  differing  so  little  from  those  of  the 
other  side  In  regard  to  the  second  question,  whether  the 
prices  were  fair,  he  was  of  opinion  that  the  weight  of  evidence 
was  "distinctly  in  favor  of  the  plaintiffs."  In  summing  up, 
he  said  that  his  conclusion  was  that  negligence  was  not  proved 
bv  the  defendants  ;  and  he  would  go  further,  and  say  that  "  he 
did  not  remember  any  case  in  which  negligence  had  been 
charged  against  a  professional  man  with  so  little  evidence  to 
support  it,"  and  that  in  his  opinion  the  counter-claim  totally 
failed. 

BEFORE  many  months  passenger  trains  will  be  able,  if  the 
Russian  Government  should  permit,  to  run  directly  from 
Paris  to  Persia,  by  way  of  Vienna,  Bucharest,  Batoum, 
Resht  and  Teheran,  and  the  extension  of  the  line  from 
Teheran  in  one  direction  to  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  in  another, 
by  way  of  Merv,  to  Afghanistan  and  a  connection  with  the 
Indian  system  of  railways,  is  already  in  contemplation.  Even 
with  the  present  roads,  one  may  ride  three  thousand  miles 
southeasterly  from  St.  Petersburg  without  passing  the  Russian 
frontier,  and  if  the  schemes  of  the  Russian  Government  are 
carried  out,  and  the  railway  extended  to  the  Pacific,  about  five 
thousand  miles  will  be  added  to  the  length  of  the  line,  giving  a 
route  of  some  eight  thousand  miles  entirely  within  Russian 
territory.  Our  own  transcontinental  roads  sink  into  insignifi- 
cance in  comparison  with  such  railways  as  this,  and  the  com- 
pletion, even  of  the  comparatively  short  link  needed  to  con- 
nect India  with  the  European  lines  through  Russia,  will  be 
likely  to  bring  about  some  curious  commercial,  if  not  political 
changes. 

THE   REVUE    SCIENTIFIQUE   has    published   some 
•*     novel  statistics  about  the  consumption  of    "  modern    ex- 
citants," in  which  it  includes  alcohol,   coffee,  tea  and  cocoa, 
and  tobacco.      The  statistics  seem  to  be  made   up  from  the 
official   publications,  showing  the  revenue  derived    from    the 
manufacture  or  importation  of  these  substances,  divided  by  the 
factor  representing  the  amount  of  tax  per  litre  or  kilogramme, 
as  the  case  may  be.     From  these  figures  it  appears  that  the 
largest  consumers  of  alcohol  in  the  world  are  the  Danes,  who 
imbibe  on  an  average  nearly   nine  quarts  apiece  every  year. 
The  United  States  seems  to  come  second,  with  a  consumption 
of  nearly  six  quarts ;  and  the  next  place  is  disputed  between 
the  Dutch,  Belgians,  Russians  and  Germans,  who  absorb  nearly 
equal  quantities,  averaging  about  four  quarts  and  a  half  per  head 
annually.     Sweden,  France  and  Austria  are  more  temperate 
still,  probably  from  the  preference  given  in  those  countries  to 
light  wines   and  beer  over  whiskey  and   schnapps.     England 
comes  next,  with  a  consumption  of  two  and  seven-tenths  quarts  ; 
and   then  Norway  with  one  and  seventh-tenths,  or  less  than 
one-fifth  the  quantity  drunk  per  head  in   Denmark.     Norway, 
by  the  way,  has,  by  persistent  temperance  agitation  and  heavy 
taxation,  reduced  its  annual  average  consumption  of  alcohol  to 
one-half  what  it  was  thirty  years  ago,  and  is  said  to  be  the  only 
civilized  country  in  whicli  any  perceptible  diminution  has  been 
observed  during  that  period.     Italy  appears  to  be  naturally  a 
very  temperate   country,  requiring  annually  only  nine-tenths 
of  a  quart  of  alcohol  per  head  to  keep  the  spirits  of  its  inhabi- 
tants up  to  a  proper  height. 


of  the  United  States  coming  next,  and  the  Norwegians  third. 
Germany  and  France  consume  about  half  as  much  per  head  as 
Belgium,  Austria  about  one-fifth,  and  England  less  than  one- 
tenth  as  much.  In  Russia,  coffee  is  practically  unknown 
among  the  lower  classes,  and  an  average  of  two-fifths  of  a 
pound  per  year  apiece  contents  the  inhabitants,  as  it  does  those 
of  Roumania  and  Spain,  while  the  Belgians  need  nine  pounds 
in  the  same  time.  If  the  Spaniards  do  not  care  for  coffee,  the\ 
like  cocoa,  of  which  they  consume,  in  various  forms,  eight 
pounds  each  per  annum,  while  the  French  are  satisfied  with 
about  six  pounds.  Elsewhere  in  Europe  the  consumption  of 
this  substance  is  insignificant. 


HE  foreign  newspapers  give  a  sad  picture  of  recent  build- 
ing operations  in  Rome.     As  in  Paris  a  few  years  ago,  so 
in  Rome  within  the  past  year  or  two,  there  has  been  a 
furious  speculation  in  new  building,  and,  as  in  Paris,  a  large 
part  of  the  new  houses  seem  destined  to  remain  without  tenants 
or  purchasers,  to  the  ruin  of  those  who  have  invested  money 
in  them.     Already  one  speculating  builder,  who  employed  about 
four  thousand  men,  has  gone  into  bankruptcy,  with  enormous 
liabilities  and  small  assets,  and  so  many  others  are  expected  to 
follow  that,  to  avoid  the  disturbances  which  might  result  from 
turning  so  many  unpaid  mechanics  into  the  streets,  the  muni- 
cipal government  is  said  to  be  disposed  to  intervene,  and  ad 
vance  money  enough  to  insolvent  contractors  to  keep  them  on 
their  feet  a  little  longer.     One  could  have  more  sympathy  for 
the  Roman  builders  if  they  had  shown  somewhat  greater  re- 
spect for   the  relics    of  their  noble   ancestors,  but  speculation 
rarely  wastes  any  time  on  sentiment,  and  the  most  interesting 
remains  of   Republican  Rome  have  been  ruthlessly  shovelled 
away  to  lay  the  foundations  of  new  buildings.     In  excavating, 
for  instance,  for  the  new  Palace  of  Finance,  the  workmen  laid 
bare  a  portion  of  the  fortification  of  Servius  Tullius,  containing 
the  famous  Porta  Collina,  through  which  the  Gauls,  after  a 
defence  carried  on  by  geese  as  well  as  men,  entered  the  city 
and  put  the  inhabitants  to  the  sword,  nearly  thirteen  hundred 
years  ago.     We  all  remember  the  story  of  the  victorious  Gaul, 
who,  rushing  among  the  first  into  the  captured  town,  found  an 
old  man  sitting  on  the  steps  of  a  house.     He  pulled  him  by 
the  beard  in  derision,  when  the  old  Roman  turned  his  head  and 
looked  at  him  with  such  dignity  and  courage  that  even  the  bar- 
barian was  abashed.     It  is  a  pity  that  the  modern  contractor 
could  not   have  unearthed  one  of   his  ancestors  at  the  gate, 
whose  eagle  eye  should  forbid  further  desecration  ;  but  neither 
external  nor  internal  miracles  intervened  to  check  the  work, 
and  the  gate,  through  which  led  perhaps  the  track  of  Tullia's 
chariot   wheels,    dripping  with  her  royal  father's  blood,  was 
swept  forever  out  of  existence.     In  another  place,  a  cluster  of 
Catacombs  on  the  Via  Salara,  containing  at  least  seven  thous- 
and inscriptions,  together  with  painted  decorations,  was  com- 
pletely cleared  away,  the  sculptured  stones,  the  priceless  relics 
of  early  Christian  faith  and  suffering,  being  scattered  in  all 
directions.      More  building  operations  are  said  to  be  in  con- 
templation in  the  region  of  the  Catacombs,  and  it  may  not  be 
long  before  they  are  entirely  destroyed. 


IN  regard  to  the  consumption  of  tea,  we  have  no  figures  for 
the  'United  States,  but  it  will  not  surprise  tourist  amateurs 
of  the  cheering  cup  to  learn  that  three-fourths  of  all  the  tea 
brought  to  Europe  is  drunk  in  the  kingdom  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland.     Of  the  remaining  portion,  Holland,  where  tea  is 
very  popular  among  the  richer  classes,  takes  about  one-half, 
and  Denmark  and  Russia  the  rest;  the  people  of   the  latter 
country,   notwithstanding   its  samovars,  consuming   per   head 
only  about  one-thirteenth  as  much  as  their  English  brothers. 
Of  coffee,  the  Belgians  are  the  largest  consumers,  the  people 


'7J  FIRE  in  a  fireproof  building  in  Boston  the  other  day 
rj  caused  an  amount  of  annoyance  which  a  conflagration  of 
'  ten  times  the  extent  would  not  usually  have  been  able  to 
produce.  The  operating  building  of  the  Edison  Electric  Com- 
pany, containing  seven  engines  and  fourteen  dynamos,  which 
supply  current  to  incandescent  lights  in  many  theatres,  hotels 
and  other  buildings,  and  electric  power  to  a  large  number  of 
elevators  and  other  machinery,  was  set  in  a  blaze  by  a  short 
circuit  in  an  equalizer  box,  as  is  supposed,  and  the  interior  of 
the  structure  was  quickly  consumed,  cutting  off  the  Edison  cir- 
cuits from  the  entire  city,  while  fire  communicated  to  several 
adjoining  buildings,  doing  a  good  deal  of  damage.  The  Edison 
building  had  been  fitted  up  expressly  for  the  business  6f  the 
company  and  is  said  to  have  had  brick  floors  and  partition-walls 
throughout,  but  for  convenience  or  appearance,  or  both,  the 
brickwork  had  been  sheathed,  and  this  dry  material,  in  the  best 
possible  condition  for  burning,  blazed  so  fiercely  as  entirely  to 
repel  the  efforts  of  the  firemen.  The  next  adjoining  building, 
as  it  happens,  is  the  scenery-room  of  the  Park  Theatre.  For- 
tunately, the  fire  did  not  penetrate  the  dividing-wall,  but  it 
cannot  be  said  that  an  electric-light  station  is  the  best  sort  of 
neighbor  for  a  theatre. 


JUNE  9,  1888.] 


TJie   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


267 


ARCHITECT,    OWNER     AND     BUILDER    BEFORE 
THE   LAW.1  — III. 


•  Mo^qvc  in  Al^icrb.      after 


IF  a  person  should  be  so  very  foolish  or  careless  as  to  agree 
to  what  he  did  not  intend,  either  by  reading  the  proposition 
submitted  to  him  carelessly,  or  not  reading  it  at  all,  as  some- 
times happens,  he  will  get  no  help  from  the  law  in  trying  to 
avoid  the  obligations  which  he  has  inconsiderately  undertaken. 
No  matter  how  oppressive  or  harsh  the  terms  may  be  to  which 
he  has  given  his  assent,  the  courts  will  enforce  them  strictly,  if 
they  do  not  demand  anything  impossible  or  illegal,  or  if  no 
fraud  can  be  shown  to  have  been  practised  upon  the  party  who 
seeks  relief.  To  use  a  judge's  words,  the  law  cannot  make  a 
new  contract  between  the  parties  :  by  writing  and  signing  the 
terms  to  which  they  agree,  they  establish  a  law  unto  them- 
selves ;  and  courts,  in  the  absence  of  illegality,  impossibility  or 
fraud,  can  only  give  effect  to  their  own  terms,  defining  them, 
where  they  are  obscure,  but  not  altering  them.  Even  where 
one  of  the  parties  has  signed  a  written  agreement  upon  the 
verbal  representation  of  the  other  that  certain  objectionable 
clauses  will  not  be  enforced,  or  will  be  interpreted  in  some 
favorable,  but  not  obvious  way,  he  is  likely  to  find  that  these 
encouraging  promises  will  be  forgotten  when  the  time  comes 
for  carrying  them  into  effect,  and  that  he  is  bound  to  the  strict 
letter  of  the  contract  ;  the  rule  of  law  being  that  verbal  explana- 
tions, modifications  or  understandings  in  regard  to  the  subject- 
matter  of  an  agreement  are  abolished  and  annulled,  or  rather, 
absorbed,  by  the  written  contract,  which  is  presumed  to  be  the 
final  and  perfect  expression  of  the  intentions  of  the  parties. 
So  strictly  is  this  rule  maintained  that  evidence  to  show  that 
either  party  promised  verbally  to  waive  one  of  the  stipulations, 
or  not  to  enforce  another  except  in  certain  contingencies,  or  to 
regard  a  third  as  "  a  mere  form,"  is  not  even  listened  to  in  court, 
where  nothing  but  the  exact  letter  of  the  agreement,  inter- 
preted by  the  aid  of  common-sense  and  the  dictionary,  receives 
any  attention.  Illustrations  of  this  will  be  given  later,  in  treat- 
ing of  contracts  with  builders. 

Where  a  contract,  whether  written  or  verbal,  fails  to  describe 
all  the  duties  of  the  parties  to  it,  the  law  will  supply  certain 
stipulations  to  fill  vacancies.  Thus,  if,  as  often  happens,  an 
architect  is  engaged  to  perform  certain  services,  without  any 
agreement  between  him  and  his  employer  as  to  the  compensa- 
tion to  be  paid  him  for  those  services,  the  employer  is  by  law 
presumed  to  have  agreed  to  pay  a  reasonable  price  for  them, 
and  can  be  compelled  by  legal  process  to  pay  this  reasonable 
price.  It  should  be  observed,  however,  that  in  order  to  put  a 
person  under  obligation  to  pay  for  services  rendered  him,  it 
must  be  shown  that  he  asked  for  them,  or,  at  least,  that  he 
accepted  the  benefit  of  them,  which  is  in  law  equivalent  to  a 
prior  request.  The  legal  principle  is  that  no  man  can  make 
another  a  debtor  to  him  against  his  will,  and  voluntary  proffers 
of  sketches  or  other  services  impose  upon  the  person  to  whom 
they  are  offered  no  obligation  to  pay  for  any  of  them,  unless  he 
has  previously  promised,  as  is  usual  in  competitions,  to  accept 
one  or  more  ;  or  unless  he  accepts  one  of  his  own  accord,  or 
makes  such  use  of  it  as  to  show  that  he  derived  some  benefit 
from  it.  In  either  of  these  cases  he  is  bound,  unless  he  has 
made  some  agreement  to  the  contrary  with  the  person  whose 
work  he  wishes  to  avail  himself  of,  before  he  accepts  it  or  takes 
the  benefit  of  it,  to  pay  what  such  services  are  fairly  worth. 
Perhaps  the  eases  to  which  architects  are  parties  involve  this 
principle  more  frequently  than  any  other.  The  loose  way  in 
*  Continued  from  So.  672,  page  2T6. 


which  competitions  are  carried  on,  with  the  carelessness  of 
some  architects  in  volunteering  services  which  they  are  not 
sure  of  getting  paid  for,  have  led  to  an  uncertainty  in  the 
matter  of  an  architect's  employment  which  is  unknown  in  other 
professions.  No  one,  for  instance,  imagines  that  a  lawyer  or 
doctor  would  spend  his  time  and  skill  in  preparing  briefs  or 
prescriptions  which  were  not  to  be  paid  for  unless  satisfactory, 
and  with  them  the  evidence  of  the  service  rendered  is  usually 
all  that  is  necessary  for  securing  payment ;  but  architects  often 
find  their  efforts  to  obtain  compensation  for  their  work  resisted 
by  a  claim  that  their  services  were  only  to  be  paid  for  if 
accepted,  or  that  they  were,  by  special  agreement,  to  be 
rendered  gratuitously. 

It  is  unfortunate  for  the  profession  that  this  claim  is  in 
some  instances  well  founded ;  and  the  practice  indulged  in  by 
certain  architects,  of  volunteering  plans,  or  soliciting  opportuni- 
ties to  "  submit  sketches,"  although  it  has,  in  years  past,  been 
sanctioned  by  rather  illustrious  examples,  tells  seriously  against 
the  conscientious  men  who  believe  that  all  their  work  ought  to 
be  paid  for  at  a  fair  price ;  and  in  the  end  injures  the  specula- 
tors themselves,  who  find  their  assertions  discredited  when  they 
really  believe  themselves  to  have  been  legally  employed. 

When  cases  of  this  kind  come  before  the  courts,  it  is  for  the 
jury  to  decide  from  the  evidence  whether  the  work  was  volun- 
teered, or  done  in  return  for  a  promise  that  it  should  be  paid 
for;  and,  in  general,  it  will  be  necessary  for  the  architect  to 
give  some  proof  that  such  promise  was  made,  or  that  he  did  the 
work  in  accordance  with  such  a  request  of  the  other  party  as 
would  imply  a  promise  to  pay  for  it.  An  architect  in  Illinois, 
a  resident  of  a  certain  village,  was  once  called  upon  by  a 
member  of  a  committee,  who  told  him  that  the  citizens  of  the 
town  intended  to  build  a  factory,  and  present  it  to  a  firm  of 
manufacturers,  as  an  inducement  to  the  firm  to  remove  its  busi- 
ness to  the  place;  and  the  visitor  proposed  that  the  architect, 
as  his  contribution  to  the  cause,  should  prepare  the  plans  and 
specifications  for  the  building.  He  did  so,  and  afterwards  sued 
the  committee-man  for  payment  for  them.  The  court  found 
that  no  promise  was  shown  on  the  part  of  the  committee-man 
to  pay  for  the  plans,  and  that  the  architect  could  recover 
nothing.  In  a  recent  case,  an  architect,  meeting  frequently 
the  principal  manager  of  an  operatic  company,  became  in- 
terested in  the  plans  of  the  company,  and  made  drawings  for 
an  opera-house  in  accordance  with  the  suggestions  of  his  friend, 
who  promised  to  use  all  possible  influence  to  have  them 
adopted  by  the  company.  Nothing  more  coming  of  the  matter, 
,he  architect  sued  his  enthusiastic  acquaintance  for  payment  for 
;he  drawings,  but  was  defeated,  on  the  ground  that  no  promise 
lad  been  made  to  pay  for  them. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  a  promise  is  really  made,  or  any  in- 
ducement held  out,  by  which  an  architect  is  led  to  spend  time 
and  trouble,  he  has  only  to  show  this  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
ury,  and  the  court  will  see  that  he  is  paid.     In  a  New  York 
case  one  Nourry,  an  architect,  sued  the  owner  of  a  lot  on 
[Jroadway  for  the  value  of  his  services  in  making  plans  for  the 
mprovement  of  the  lot.     Nourry,  corroborated  by  another  wit- 
ness, testified  that  he  was  employed  to  draw  plans  for  a  build- 
ng  to  be  erected  on  the  lot,  and  did  so,  and  submitted  them. 
The  defendant  said  that  Nourry  came  to  him  with  an  introduc- 
ion,  and  said  that  he  would  like  to  show  him  what  he  could 
do,  and  would  draw  some  plans  and  submit  them  to  him.     He 
replied   that  his   intentions   as    to  building  were  entirely  un- 
ettled,  and  that  Mr.  Thomas  was  his  architect.     Some  time 
ater,  Nourry  brought  a  lot  of  drawings  to  show  him.     He  told 
urn   that   he    thought    they   were   beautiful    plans,    but   not 
adapted  for  use ;  and  soon  after,  Nourry  sent  and  took  them 
away.     He  denied  that  Nourry  had  ever  been  employed  by  him 
n  any  way.     In  this  case  the  jury  believed  that  the  conversa- 
ion  between  the  parties  amounted  to  an  employment,  and  the 
ourt  ordered  judgment  for  the  architect. 
[To  be  continued.] 


SIXTEEN  CENT  GAS.— One  of  the  great  gas  companies  in  Philadelphia 
onfesses  to  being  able  to  make  fuel  gas  at  a  cost  of  16  c.  per  1000  cubic 
eet,  in  the  holder  ready  for  distribution,  by  the  use  of  a  bench  of  coal 
etorts  in  connection  with  water-gas  generators  such  as  are  in  use  at  the 
'rupp  works  in  Essen,  Prussia.  In  a  communication  to  Light,  Heat  and 
'ower  the  exact  figures  are  given  for  a  daily  make  of  260,000  cubic  feet 
rhich  amounts  to  exactly  $40  — or  less  than  16  1-2  c.  per  1000;  and  it  is 
ignificantly  added :  "  With  a  gas  of  this  kind  selling  at  26  or  30  c.  and 
lie  Wclsback  incandescent  gas  burner  giving  a  20-candle  power  light 
rom  2  1-2  or  3  degrees  of  gas,  we  might  say  the  gas  business  has  just 
ommenced."—  Exchange. 


268 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News.      [VOL.  XXIII. — No.  650- 


THE  ROYAL  ACADEMY:  THE  ARCHITECTURE. 


Church  of  the  Redeemer,  Lexington,  Mass.     E.  A.  P.  Newcomb,  Architect. 

IN  the  architectural  room  we  have  again  to  regret  the  absence  o 
the  architect  Academicians ;  Mr.  Pearson,  Mr.  Norman  Shaw  am 
Mr.  Waterhouse  contribute  nothing  to  the  gallery.  Neither  doei 
that  distinguished  Associate,  Mr.  Bodley.  Their  absence  is  a  distinc 
loss  of  interest  to  the  exhibition ;  more  than  that,  it  is  scarcely  fair 
to  the  profession  that  out  of  the  six  architects  in  the  Academy  four 
should  not  be  represented  in  the  only  yearly  display  of  architecture 
we  can  apparently  manage  to  get  up  with  any  chance  of  success 
Election  to  the  Academy  is,  or  ought  to  be,  a  high  honor,  and  honors 
are  not  without  their  duties.  It  is,  therefore,  disappointing  to  fine 
this  year  even  worse  than  others  of  late  in  the  conspicuousness  o 
well-known  names  by  reason  of  their  absence.  Perhaps  Mr.  Water- 
house's  illness  —  and  we  regret  to  hear  he  is  still  far  from  well  — 
may  have  had  to  do  with  it  in  his  case,  but  what  about  the  others r 
It  cannot  be  said,  as  with  Mr.  Burne-Jones  among  the  painters,  that 
the  conditions  of  the  hanging  and  surroundings  are  injurious  to  the 
effect  of  their  works.  They  have  the  architecture  pretty  much  in 
their  own  hands,  and  can  hang  what  they  like  and  how  they  like. 
It  does  not  look  as  if  the  honor  were  very  highly  valued  among  its 
possessors. 

Of  the  remaining  members  of  the  Academy,  Mr.  Aitchison  sends 
nothing  of  an  architectural  character  —  only  the  decoration  of  the 
ceiling  and  side  of  a  drawing-room,  of  no  particular  interest  what- 
ever, so  that  Mr.  Arthur  Blomfield,  the  newly-elected  associate,  is 
really  the  only  official  representative  of  architecture  at  Burlington 
House  this  year.  He  sends  a  drawing  of  the  "  Entrance  to  the  new 
Building  "  he  is  engaged  on  at  historic  Eton,  his  "  New  Church  "  at 
Glanadda  in  Wales,  and  the  "  South  Porch  of  the  Church  of  St. 
Mary,"  Portsea.  All  these  works  are  in  the  phase  of  Perpendicular 
English  Gothic  that  Mr.  Blomfield  is  so  familiar  with,  all  very 
scholarly  and  very  correct,  but  somewhat  hard  and  uninteresting. 
This  is  to  be  regretted  most  at  Eton,  perhaps,  where  it  will  suffer 
from  comparison  with  the  picturesque  old  work  of  the  time-honored 
college.  The  porch  of  St.  Mary's  is  the  best  of  the  lot,  — probably 
Mr.  Blomfield  is  more  at  home  in  church  work  than  anything  else. 
However,  let  us  be  thankful  even  for  small  mercies.  As  has  been 
pointed  out,  had  not  Mr.  Blomfield  come  to  the  rescue,  we  should 
have  had  no  architecture  at  all  from  the  members  of  "  The  Royal 
Academy  of  Arts,"  a  nice  thing  for  the  "  Mother  of  the  arts  !  " 

Of  the  outsiders  there  are  as  usual  far  too  many  drawings  and 
sketches  of  old  work,  some  of  which,  as,  for  instance,  the  drawing  of 
a  steel  sword-hilt,  a  bronze  standard-bearer,  and  an  Etruscan  cande- 
labrum, though  very  beautiful  in  themselves,  have  little  or  nothing 
to  do  with  architecture  as  such  apart  from  mere  drau<*htsman- 
ship.  So,  also,  with  the  designs  for  stained-glass  windows  and  inte- 
riors of  rooms,  many  of  which  are  not  worth  the  valuable  space  they 
occupy  on  the  walls.  They  represent  nothing  and  teach  nothing, 
and  if  what  we  hear  of  the  number  and  quality  of  the  rejected  archi- 
tectural works  be  anything  near  the  facts,  we  certainly  think  their 
authors  have  a  fair  right  of  complaint  that  the  space  should  be  taken 
up  with  such  works  as  we  have  just  noticed.  Architecture  and  the 
kindred  arts  by  all  means,  but  not  the  latter  to  the  undue  exclusion 
of  the  former.  This  sort  of  thing  has  been  growing  year  by  year 
lately  and  this  year  it  is  worse  than  ever.  It  is  small  encouragement 
for  architects  to  send  good  drawings  of  their  works,  only  to  find 
them  sent  out  to  make  room  for  students'  sketches  of  old  examples, 
however  interesting,  and  designs  by  "eminent  firms"  for  stained 
glass  and  decoration,  most  of  which  is  of  a  very  commonplace  order. 
We  should  be  the  last  to  decry  the  benefits  of  clever  drawing,  but 
draughtsmanship  is  not  architecture,  though  it  may  do  much  to  repre- 
sent it  in  a  favorable  and  popular  manner. 

Mr.  Collcutt's  revised  design  for  the  "  Imperial  Institute  "  occu 


pies  the  place  of  honor  on  the  east  wall,  shown  in  a  very  beautiful 
pen-and-ink  drawing  :  well,  it  is  improved,  particularly  in  the  treat- 
ment of  the  tower,  though  that  feature  is  still  somewhat  weak,  but  it 
has  generally  been  thought  out  with  great  care,  some  of  the  smaller 
features  have  been  suppressed  and  the  larger  and  simpler  more 
emphasized,  to  the  manifest  advantage  of  the  whole  design  as  a 
composition ;  but  it  still  sadly  lacks  the  grandeur  and  dignity  we 
associate  with  the  idea  of  anything  imperial,  except  an  "  Imperial 
Hotel,"  which  it  still  resembles  more  than  anything  else. 

Two  of  the  other  designs  from  the  recent  competition  are  here. 
Those  by  Messrs.  Deane  &  Son,  of  Dublin,  and  Messrs.  Webb  & 
Bell,  of  London.  They  have  been  already  described  in  the  pages  of 
the  American  Architect.  Messrs.  Deane's  design  still  bears  the 
palm  in  all  that  speaks  of  the  imperial  idea,  and  we  are  forced  to 
admit  that  another  great  opportunity  has  been  lost  in  the  matter  of 
our  public  buildings,  and  we  fancy  this  will  be  found  out  ere  another 
ten  years  have  passed.  There  are  several  other  notable  competition 
designs  on  the  walls;  viz.,  Mr.  Brook's  Liverpool  Cathedral,  shown 
in  three  magnificent  pen-and-ink  drawings  of  great  vigor  and  power ; 
Mr.  Emerson's  for  the  same  cathedral  by  a  very  good  water-color  of 
the  interior ;  Mr.  R.  Chisholra's  design  for  the  "  Bombay  Municipal 
Offices,"  two  drawings  in  the  Anglo-Indian  style  in  which  he  has 
done  so  much,  with  a  great  dome  and  other  Eastern  features  cleverly 
worked  out;  Mr.  J.  M.  Brydon's  design  for  the  "  Edinburgh  Munici- 
pal Buildings,"  shown  in  two  elevations,  in  English  Renaissance, 
also  with  a  dome  and  towers,  but  in  marked  contrast  to  the  Bombay 
example ;  Mr.  J.  Coates  Carter's  design  for  the  west  front  of  Milan 
Cathedral,  a  pretentious  elevation  in  a  florid  style  of  Gothic  ;  two 
of  the  designs,  one  by  Mr.  William  Leek  and  the  other  by  Mr. 
Boney,  in  the  Academy  Students'  Competition  for  a  railway-station, 
both  clever,  but  the  former,  Mr.  Leek's,  particularly  so:  it  is  Greek 
in  treatment  and  feeling,  admirably  drawn,  and  thoroughly-well 
detailed.  If  we  had  such  a  railway-station  in  London,  we  should 
have  something  to  be  proud  of;  even  Mr.  Ruskin  might  be  recon- 
ciled to  railways  through  its  influence. 

Taking  the  ecclesiastical  drawings  in  the  order  in  which  they 
come  in  the  gallery,  the  first  worthy  of  notice,  and  we  had  nearly 
written,  the  first  in  point  of  merit  and  drawing,  is  the  new  Roman 
Catholic  Church  at  Folkestone  by  Mr.  Leonard  Stokes,  shown  in 
three  views,  an  interior  looking  east,  an  exterior  of  the  west  front, 
and  an  interior  of  the  Lady  Chapel.  For  beauty  of  execution  and 
expression,  these  drawings  are  almost  without  a  rival  in  the  room, 
and  they  show  a  church  of  late  type,  with  a  good  deal  of  originality 
of  treatment  very  thoughtfully  and  artistically  worked  out  and  alto- 
gether the  most  creditable  piece  of  church  work  seen  in  the  Academy 
of  late  years.  The  treatment  of  the  triforium  over  the  double-aisle 
columns  is  particularly  worthy  of  notice. 

In  contrast  to  this  quiet  work  is  Mr.  J.  D.  Sedding's  New  Church 
of  the  Holy  Trinity,  Chelsea,  shown  in  two  drawings,  an  exterior  of 
the  west  front  and  an  interior  looking  east.  It  is  curious  to  notice 
the  resemblance  in  plan  between  these  two  churches ;  they  are  strik- 
ingly alike  and  yet  both  quite  out  of  the  ordinary  type  of  arrange- 
ment. But  here  the  similarity  ceases.  Mr.  Sedding  is  nothing  if 
not  original  and  some  very  clever  churches  he  has  given  us.  Here 
at  Chelsea,  though  adorned  with  a  quantity  of  sculpture,  the  effect 
is  somewhat  restless  and  garish.  Both  the  east  and  west  windows 
are  filled  with  tracery  of  a  questionable  character.  The  church  is 
in  late  Gothic,  and  throughout  the  wide  nave  and  aisles  and  the 
west  front,  in  bands  of  different-colored  stone ;  there  is  a  want  of 
repose  and  a  certain  wildness  which  we  feel  sure  Mr.  Sedding  will 
yet  subdue.  It  is  hardly  the  great  town  church  we  have  a  right  to 
expect  from  an  artist  of  his  well-known  powers. 

Mr.  J.  O.  Scott  sends  his  design  for  the  new  bell-tower  for  the  old 
Church  of  St.  Michael's,  Coventry,  a  fine  tower  in  late  Gothic,  quite 
in  keeping  with  the  old  work.  Another  very  fine  example  of  fif- 
ieenth-century  Gothic  is  the  Parish  Church  of  St.  Mary,  Hornsey,  by 
Mr.  James  Brooks.  This  looks  like  a  veritable  old  English  church, 
with  a  tower  at  the  west  end,  a  long,  well-defined,  clerestory  chan- 
cel, with  square  east  end  and  north  porch,  all  with  a  typical  English 
lavor  about  them,  which  is  quite  refreshing  after  the  strong  early 
French  Mr.  Brooks  has  given  us  so  mnch  of.  Near  this  is  Messrs. 
Dun  &  Hanson's  "  Interior  of  the  Chapel  at  Stonyhurst,"  an  extra- 
>rdinary  example  of  how  fifteenth-century  features  may  be  misused. 
Then  a  small  picturesque  church  by  Mr.  Sedding,  "  All  Saints'," 
?almouth,  cleverly  treated. 

Messrs.  Carpenter  &  Ingelow  send  an  important  work,  the  new 

:hoir    and   central   tower,  with  restorations  of   transept    and  lady 

;hapel,  for   works   of   Priory   Church,   in  early  Gothic   and    again 

exactly  like  the  old  work  in  spirit  and  design.     The  square  central 

tower  might  be  mistaken  for  the  original  one,  of  which  perhaps  it  is 

.  reproduction.     Still  another  fine  late  Gothic  church  is  shown  by 

Messrs.  Clarke  &  Micklethwaite,  in  a  well-drawn  side  elevation,  with 

ery  good  detail. 

The  Mackonochie  Memorial  Chapel,  St.  Alban's  Church,  Holborn, 
}y  Mr.  Charles  Mileham,  is  interesting  both  on  its  own  account  and 
ts  associations.  It  is  in  fifteenth-century  Gothic,  quite  unlike  the 
arly  work  of  Mr.  Butterfidld's  church  but  with  a  distinctive  char- 
cter  of  its  own. 

Among  the  civil  and  domestic  or  collegiate  works,  those  of  Mr.  J. 

.  Jackson  take  as  usual  a  high  place.     His  principal  contributions 

re  three  drawings  of  Brasenose  College,  Oxford.   The  new  "  Front  to 

he  High  Street,"  the  "  Interior  of  the  new  Quad  "  and  the  "  Interior  of 


JUNE  9,  1888.] 


The    American   Architect  and  Building   News. 


269 


the  new  Heading-room."  The  front  is  in  every  way  a  vast  improve- 
ment on  that  exhibited  last  year,  instead  of  the  thin  lifeless  tower 
with  the  open  crown,  we  have  now  a  sturdy,  well-drawn  square 
tower  Hanked  by  a  range  (on  eaeh  side)  of  charming  gables  fronting 
the  celebrated  High  Street,  designed  in  vigorous  English  Gothic  of 
the  regular  Oxford  type  and  handled  with  the  freedom  and  grace  for 
which  Mr.  Jackson  i>  well  known.  The  new  quad  is  a  most  notable 
addition  to  the  architecture  of  Oxford  and  in  every  way  worthy  of 
its  conspicuous  position.  Mr.  Warren  sends  a  nicely-tinted  drawing 
of  the  new  "Barge  for  Magdalen  College  Boat-club,"  Oxford,  a 
quaint  reproduction  of  a  seventeenth-century  galley  with  a  high 
poop-deck. 

Messrs.  Ernest  George  &  Peto  send  no  less  than  eight  works,  the 
full  number,  though  noine  of  them  are  hardly  worthy  their  reputa- 
tion for  picturesque  architecture,  and  most  of  them  are  small  or  un- 
important. Among  them  is  Mr.  George's  own  house  under  the 
modest  title  of  a  "  Tlouse  on  Streathan's  Common."  It  has  all  the 
characteristic  features  of  his  work  in  full  play  and  is  just  the  sort  of 
place  we  should  expect  to  find  him  at  home  in.  It  is  always  inter- 
esting to  see  the  kind  of  houses  artists  build  for  themselves.  The 
largest  work  they  send  is  "  Batsford  "  Gloucestershire,  a  big  house 
which  is  not  at  all  interesting :  it  is  simply  odd  and  looks  almost  as  if 
its  author  hardly  knew  what  to  do  next. 

In  marked  contrast  to  all  these  houses  is  the  work  of  Mr.  John 
Belcher,  who  sends  six  drawings,  all  full  of  interest,  and  thoroughly 
artistic  in  every  way.  Four  of  them  represent  portions  of  a  large 
house  at  "  Stowell  Park,"  and  give  us  the  staircase,  the  lower  hall, 
the  drawing-room  and  the  cloisters.  Fine  old  English  looking 
domestic  work  all  of  it.  The  staircase  is  most  picturesquely 
arranged  and  the  lower  hall  with  its  quaint  fireplace  is  quite  a  gem. 
The  drawing-room  has  a  large  fireplace  with  columns  to  the  chimney- 
piece  and  rich  carving  above,  reminding  us  of  one  of  Mr.  Shaw's  a 
few  years  ago.  "Morden  Grange"  is  shown  in  bird's-eye  perspective 
with  the  Dutch-looking  garden  beyond.  The  remaining  drawing, 
"  The  Stables  "  at  Northleach,  is  the  interior  of  the  court-yard,  even 
more  picturesque  than  ever  though  vigorous  in  drawing  and  design. 
It  is  chiefly  remarkable  for  a  quaint  colonnade  of  stumpy  columns, 
an  angle  dove  cot  and  clock  gable. 

Apart  from  the  Institute  design,  Mr.  Aston  Webb  sends  only  a 
drawing  of  the  new  vicarage  at  Wick,  Pershore.  This  is  a  very 
charming  design  shown  in  a  most  lovely  drawing.  It  is  quiet  and 
homely  and  English-like.  The  drawing  is  by  Mr.  Charles  Mallows 
•who  sends  on  his  own  behalf  a  "  House  on  the  Severn,"  near  Upton 
in  Worcestershire,  a  beautiful  riverside  house  shown  in  one  of  the 
most  dainty  drawings  in  the  whole  room.  The  house  is  built  close 
up  to  the  river  which  washes  its  terrace  wall  and  seems  to  form  part 
and  parcel  of  the  design.  It  has  more  the  appearance  of  having 
grown  into  shape  in  the  course  of  time  than  a  new  house,  so  thor- 
oughly docs  it  fit  in  with  its  surroundings  of  wood  and  water  and  so 
admirably  is  it  depicted. 

"Victoria  Coffee-house,  Leicester,"  by  Mr.  E.  Burgess  and  the  "Free 
Library  at  Chester  "  by  Mr.  T.  M.  Lockwood,  show  what  interesting 
work  is  being  done  in  the  country  towns.  The  former  has  a  kind  of 
French-chateau  feeling  about  it  though  the  upper  portion  does  not 
look  as  if  it  quite  belonged  to  the  lower.  Mr.  Lockwood's  library  is 
in  the  fine  half-timbered  style  for  which  Chester  is  famous,  is  shown 
in  a  capital  drawing  and  is  altogether  a  very  clever  work. 

Mr.  Reginald  Blomfield  gives  us  a  very  good  bit  of  Queen  Anne 
work  in  the  "  New  Buildings"  for  Haileyburg  College,  and  there  are 
also  some  clever  schools  such  as  Mr.  Bailey's  Board  School  at 
Lavender  Hill.  Messrs.  Mitchell  &  Butler's  design  for  Colfe's 
Grammar  School  at  Lewisham  Hill,  distinguished  by  a  very  pictu- 
resque tower  with  porch  under,  and  quiet  good  work  in  the  main 
building,  also  some  picturesque  dairy-farms  on  the  Eaton  estates 
by  Messrs.  Douglas  and  Fordham  of  Chester,  in  the  familiar 
Cheshire  manner.  What  would  be  called  an  apartment-house  in  the 
States  is  shown  by  Mr.  Basil  Champney's  "  Park  Mansions,"  a 
building  of  prodigious  height  and  no  end  of  suites  of  rooms,  but  not 
very  remarkable  otherwise.  Mr.  Arthur  Haynes  sends  a  good  draw- 
ing" of  a  house  at  Highgate,  in  the  old  English  manor-house  style, 
drawn  in  elevation  and  reminding  one  of  Mr.  Shaw's  "  Dawpool "  in 
Cheshire. 

"  The  London  and  River  Plate  Bank,  Rosario,"  by  Mr.  William 
Kidner  is  a  very  good  piece  of  Classic,  one  of  the  very  few  examples 
of  buildings  for  commercial  purposes,  as  also,  though  in  quite  a 
different  style  is  Mr.  Halsey  Ricardo's  "  Offices  in  St.  George  Street, 
Westminster."  This  last  is  a  striking  feature  with  its  glazed  red- 
brick front,  and  white  woodwork  amid  the  dull  gray  houses  of  St. 
George  Street. 

Among  the  decorative  work  are  some  extremely  interesting  exam- 
ples in  fresco  duro  by  Mr.  Aldham  Heaton,  very  cleverly  designed 
and  colored,  and  which  give  quite  a  new  feature  to  the  walls  of  the 
gallery.  One  in  particular,  part  of  a  frieze  in  sprays  of  olive  and 
vine,  is  gracefully  drawn  and  admirably  modelled  in  very  low  relief, 
helped  by  skilful  coloring.  As  we  have  said  there  are  many,  too 
many,  examples  of  decorative  work,  and  many,  too  many  again,  very 
beautiful  drawings  of  old  work,  but  they  are  only  interesting  in  a 
limited  sense,  and  beyond  a  word  of  praise  to  the  wonderful 
draughtsmanship  do  not  call  for  any  special  notice. 

In  going  through  the  room  we  have  only  picked  out  the  most 
notable  works,  doubtless,  there  are  others  well  worth  attention,  as  in 
spite  of  the  absence  of  the  Academicians,  the  general  work  is  of  a 


high   average   and   quite   sustains   the    artistic   reputation    of    the 
profession. 

SOME    AMERICAN    MONUMENTS.1— HI. 

MEMORIALS    TO    WILLIAM    PENN. 

>  early  as  the  year  1660  an 
attempt  was  made  at  the 
suggestion  of  George  Fox, 
the  English  Quaker,  to  pur- 
chase a  territory  of  the  Sus- 
quehanna  Indians,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  a  settlement  for  the 
sect  to  which  he  belonged. 
This  failed,  because  of  tribal 
wars  among  them.  The  visit 
of  Fox  to  America  in  1671, 
strengthened  his  desire  for  a 
settlement,  where  those  who 
wished  to  do  so  might  remove 
with  their  families  and  enjoy 
the  worship  of  God  without  mo- 
lestation, and  where  their  chil- 
dren might  have  proper  social 
surroundings.  It  was,  how- 


Statuo of  Will. am   P«nn,  In  front  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Hospital. 


ever,  found  very  difficult,  for  the  coast  from  Maine  to  Florida 
was  either  colonized  or  claimed,  and  it  was  not  until  Lord  John 
Berkeley  offered  for  sale  his  interest  in  New  Jersey  that  an  op- 
portunity was  afforded  the  Quakers  to  make  such  a  purchase  as 
they  long  desired.  This  opportunity  was  eagerly  seized  upon  by 
Edward  Byllinge  and  John  Fenwick,  both  of  whom  belonged  to  the 
Society  of  Friends,  but  who,  in  this  matter,  acted  in  their  individual 
capacity.  Disagreements  occurring  between  these  two,  William 
Penn  kindly  consented  to  act  as  arbitrator.  Pecuniary  embarrass- 
ments occurring  to  Byllinge,  he  transferred  to  his  creditors  his  in- 
terest in  New  Jersey.  Again  the  aid  of  Penn  was  sought,  and  he 
consented  to  act  as  joint  trustee  with  two  of  Byllinge's  creditors  in 
the  New  Jersey  estate,  and  thus  for  the  first  time  became  personally 
engaged  in  the  establishment  of  an  American  colony.  It  is  thought 
probable  that  his  connection  with  the  affairs  of  New  Jersey  deter- 
mined the  establishment  of  the  Pennsylvania  Province  by  him  ten 
years  later. 

It  is  true  that  a  regard  for  the  aborigines  of  America,  and  a  desire 
to  do  something  for  their  welfare,  had  long  occupied  his  mind.  "  I 
had  an  opening  of  joy  as  to  these  parts,"  he  writes,  "  in  the  year 
1661."  This  interest  was  deepened  by  his  acquaintance  with  the 
affairs  of  the  country  as  trustee  for  Byllinge  by  his  association  with 
Barclay,  even  before  the  latter  became  Governor  of  East  Jersey,  by 
his  conferences  with  George  Fox,  and  by  his  desire  himself  to  found 
a  colony  where  freedom  of  conscience  should  be  regarded  as  the  in- 
herent right  of  every  citizen. 

This  desire  was  soon  gratified,  for  on  October  24,  1682,  William 
Penn  landed  at  New  Castle,  Del.,  and  in  November  he  made  a  treaty 
with  the  Delawares  and  other  tribes.  The  particular  spot  at  which 
the  treaty  was  held  is  said  to  have  been  under  a  venerable  elm  that 
stood  on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware  river,  at  what  is  now  known 
as  Kensington,  a  part  of  Philadelphia,  but  of  this  there  is  no  record. 
He  said  to  the  Indians,  "  I  will  not  call  you  children,  for  parents 
sometimes  chide  their  children  too  severely ;  nor  brothers  only,  for 
brothers  differ.  The  friendship  between  you  and  me  I  will  not  com- 
pare to  a  chain ;  for  that  the  rains  might  rust,  or  the  falling  tree 
might  break.  We  are  the  same  as  if  one  man's  body  were  to  be 
divided  into  parts :  we  are  all  one  flesh  and  blood."  To  this  the  In- 
dians replied,  "  We  will  live  in  love  with  William  Penn  and  his 
children  as  long  as  the  sun  and  moon  shall  endure."  And  they  ful- 
filled this  treaty.  It  is  often  said  that  not  a  drop  of  Quaker  blood 
was  ever  shed  by  an  Indian ;  and,  though  this  is  not  quite  true,  yet 
it  is  true  that  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey  suffered  much  less  than 
most  of  the  other  colonies.  Pennsylvania  is  said  to  have  been  the 
only  colony  where  the  evidence  of  an  Indian  was  taken  in  court 
against  a  white  man;  and  the  Indians  proved  themselves  worthy  of 
this  just  treatment.  Penn's  treaty  with  the  Indians  has  always  been 
famous  as  one  that  was  never  broken.  Nearly  a  century  afterwards, 
when  the  American  colonies  were  fighting  for  their  independence, 
the  commander  of  the  English  army  placed  a  sentinel  under  the  tree 
to  protect  it  from  his  soldiers  who  were  cutting  down  the  surrounding 
trees  for  fuel.  It  was  carefully  preserved  until  1810,  when  it  was 
blown  down. 

The  successors  of  Penn  did  not  always  continue  his  generous 
treatment  of  the  Indians,  and  many  anecdotes  are  told  in  illustration 
of  how  the  low  cunning  of  the  white  man  overreached  the  rights  of 
the  Indians. 

THE   PENN   BUST. 

In  1802  James  Traquair  executed  a  bust  in  marble  of  Penn,  and 
presented  it  to  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital.  It  is  said  to  be  the  first 
bust  ever  made  in  the  United  States. 

THE   PENN   STATUE. 

The  Penn  statue  was  originally  the  property  of  Sir  Francis  Dash- 
wood,  who  was  Lord  Le  Despencer  from  1763  to  1781,  and  stood  in 
West  Wycombe  Park,  England.  Dashwood's  successor  did  not 

1  Continued  from  page  220,  No.  64S. 


270 


The   American   Architect  and  Building   News.     [VoL.  XXIII. — No.  650. 


admire  the  founder  of  Pennsylvania,  and  sold  the  statue  for  its  value 
as  lead.  It  was  afterwards  found  in  a  London  junk-shop  by  a  grand- 
son of  Penn,  who  bought  it  and  presented  it  to  the  Pennsylvania 
Hospital.  It  is  made  of  lead  and  painted  an  olive  green,  and  stands 
in  front  of  the  above  institution.  On  the  face  of  the  plinth  are  these 
words:  "Presented  by  JOHN  PENN,  A.  D.  1804." 

Upon  the  open  scroll  that  the  statue  holds  in  its  left  hand,  are 
these  words : 

CHARTER 

OF  PRIVILEGES  TO 
PENNSYLVANIA   MDCC. 


AI.MTGHTY   GOD 

BEING    THE   ONLY 

LORD   OP    CONSCIENCE 

I    DO   GRANT    AND   DECLARE 

THAT   NO   PERSON 
WHO   SHALL   ACKNOWLEDGE 

ONE    ALMIGHTY   GOD 

AND    PROFESS    HIMSELF 

OBLIGED   TO    LIVE    QUIETLY 

UNDER    THE 

CIVIL   GOVERNMENT 

SHALL   BE    IN   ANY   CASE 

MOLESTED (rest  defaced.) 


The  face  of  the  pedestal  of  the  statue  bears  this  inscription  : 

WILLIAM     PENN, 


BORN 


1644 


DIED 


1718 


The  words,  "  Mercy-Justice,"  are  inscribed  on  the  arms. 
The  pedestal  is  engraved  with  the  following  inscriptions  on   its 
other  three  sides : 

PENNSYLVANIA 
GRANTED   BY 
CHARLES    II 

TO 
WILLIAM    PENN 

1681. 


RETURNED    TO    PENNSYLVANIA 

1699 
AND    FINALLY   WITHDREW 

TO 

HIS    PATERNAL    ESTATE 
1701. 


THE   PROPRIETARY   ARRIVED 

1682 

MADE 
A  JUST   AND   AMICABLE    ARRANGEMENT 

WITH    THE   NATIVES 
FOR    THE    PURCHASE   OF   THEIR   LAND 

AND 
WENT    BACK    TO    ENGLAND 

1684. 


TREATY-STONE. 

In  1827  the  Penn  Society  afterwards  merged  into  the  Historical 
Society,  erected  an  insignificant  stone  upon  the  spot  where  the 
treaty  is  supposed  to  have  been  made  with  the  Indians.  It  is  in- 
scribed, on  its  sides,  as  follows : 

TREATY-GROUND 

OF 
WILLIAM    PENN 

AND    THE 
INDIAN   NATIVES, 

1682. 
"UNBROKEN   FAITH." 


PLACED    BY   THE 
PENN    SOCIETY 

A.    D.    1827 
TO   MARK    THE    SCITE 

OF     THE 
GREAT   ELM    TREE. 


WILLIAM    PENN 
BORN,     1644 
DIED,    1718. 


PENNSYLVANIA, 
FOUNDED 

1681 
BY   DEEDS    OF    PEACE. 


The  treaty-stone  has  been  for  many  years  surrounded  by  a  ship- 
yard. 


The  tower  of  the  new  City-hall,  Philadelphia,  which  is  to  be  five 
hundred  and  thirty-five  feet  high,  will  be  surmounted  by  a  bronze 
statue  of  Penn,  thirty-six  feet  high,  and  surrounded  by  four  other 
figures,  twenty-five  feet  high. 

Some  years  ago  an  attempt  was  made  to  bring  the  remains  of 
Penn  from  Jordan's  burial-ground,  England,  to  Philadelphia,  and 
place  them  under  the  tower  upon  which  his  statue  is  to  stand. 

In  1886  Congress  was  asked  to  appropriate  money  for  a  statue  of 
Penn. 

Among  the  Friends,  Penn  has  always  been  highly  thought  of,  but 
general  appreciation  of  his  character  is  of  somewhat  recent  growth. 

It  is  entirely  at  variance  with  the  customs  of  the  Quakers  to  erect 
monuments  to  the  memory  of  the  dead,  and  their  influence  has  been 
so  great  for  years  in  Philadelphia  that  it  has  prevented  any  project 
being  set  on  foot  to  erect  a  monument  to  the  memory  of  Penn. 

Not  long  ago  the  Pennsylvania  Peace  Society  sent  a  communica- 
tion to  the  President  of  the  Philadelphia  Public  Buildings  Commis- 
sion, requesting  that  no  more  statues  of  military  men  be  placed 
about  the  new  City-hall. 

Whatever  motive  the  Quakers  may  have  had  in  not  erecting 
monuments  to  the  memory  of  their  dead,  it  is  certain  that  in  forget- 
ting Penn,  in  the  form  of  statue  and  monument,  they  have  done  well 
from  an  art-point  of  view.  If  the  thrifty  and  vain-glorious  New  Eng- 
land Puritan  had  done  likewise,  it  would  have  been  better  for  his 
reputation  in  every  respect.  Unwise  actions  are  often  out  of  mind 
and  may  be  forgotten,  but  the  frightful  objects  set  up  in  New  Eng- 
land, as  statues  and  monuments,  are  a  continual  eyesore,  and  a  per- 
manent confession  of  pretense  and  weakness. 

T.  H.  BARTLETT. 


[Contributors  are  requested  to  send  with  their  drawings  full  and 
adequate  descriptions  of  the  buildings,  including  a  statement  of  cost.] 

THE    GRAND  BATTERY  AND  LAVAL  UNIVERSITY,  QUEBEC,  CANADA. 
[Gelatine  print,  issued  only  with  the  Imperial  Edition.] 

THE  NEW  PUBLIC  LIBRARY,  BOSTON,  MASS.  —  THE  MAIN  FACADE  ; 
MAIN  ENTRANCE  ;  GRAND  STAIRCASE  :  TRUSTEES*  ROOM,  AND 
CORRIDOR.  MESSRS.  MCKIM,  MEAD  &  WHITE,  ARCHITECTS,  NEW 
YORK,  N.  Y. 

IN  the  American  Architect  for  May  26,  will  be  found  other  illus- 
trations of  this  building. 

BIRD'S-EYE  VIEW  OF  COPLEY  SQUARE,  BOSTON,  MASS.,  SHOWING 
THE  NEW  PUBLIC  LIBRARY. 


REPORT  TO  THE  GOVERNOR  ON  THE  CONDITION  OF 
THE  ASSEMBLY  CHAMBER  VAULTING  AT  ALBANY. 

IR, — Under  a  con- 
current resolu- 
tion of  the  Leg- 
islature the  State  en- 
gineer was  requested 
to  cause  an  examina- 
tion to  be  made  of  the 
Assembly  Chamber  in 
the  new  Capitol,  and 
particularly  the  ceil- 
ings and  foundations 
and  supports  thereof, 
for  the  purpose  of  as- 
certaining its  present 

condition  and  stability,  and  danger,  if  any,  to 
be  apprehended  therefrom,  and  to  associate  with 
him  in  such  examination  and  report  Mr.  Thom- 
as C.  Clarke  and  Mr.  Richard  M.  Upjohn,  and 
to  report  the  results  of  such  examination, 
together  with  their  judgment  as  to  the  remedy 
for  such  defects  as  should  be  revealed  by  their 
investigation. 

Immediately  upon  receiving  notice  of  this  ap- 
pointment the  commission  designated  by  the 
resolution  met,  examined  the  drawings  fur- 
nished, and  also  made  a  personal  examination  of  the  ceiling  of  the 
Assembly  Chamber.  This  examination  revealed  such  a  dangerous 
condition  of  things  that  a  report  was  at  once  made  to  the  Legislature 
on  February  3,  1888,  upon  the  pressing  and  immediate  question  of 
danger.  In  that  report  the  actual  condition  of  the  ceiling  was  de- 
scribed and  reference  made  to  the  numerous  fractures  found  in  it, 
and  recommendation  made  that  the  Assembly  Chamber  be  immedi- 
ately vacated,  that  strong  and  properly-supported  centrings  be  put 
up,  and  that  the  whole  of  the  ceiling  be  taken  down  as  soon  as  possi- 
ble, and  such  steps  taken  as  would  relieve  the  pressure  on  the  walls 
and  supports. 


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Tlte   American   Architect  and  Building   News. 


271 


Action  was  taken  by  the  Assembly  upon  this  report,  and  a  square 
tower  of  timber  was  erected  in  the  Chamber,  its  supi>orts  being  car- 
ried to  the  foundations,  and  upon  it  centres  were  put  supporting  the 
ribs  of  the  main  vault,  and  subsequently  an  additional  centre  was 
found  necessary,  and  put  in  place  to  support  one  of  the  ribs  of  the 
northern  vault. 

At  the  request  of  the  committee  a  second  report  was  made  on 
March  7,  1888,  confirming  the  recommendations  of  the  first  report 
that  the  ceiling  be  taken  down,  and  adding  that  its  place  should  be 
supplied  by  one  of  lighter  construction  and  more  favorable  for  Parli- 
amentary purposes. 

We  now  beg  to  submit  a  final  report. 

Before  referring  in  detail  to  the  ceiling  of  the  Chamber,  we  desire 
to  refer  to  the  condition  of  the  staircase  adjacent  to  that  Chamber. 
This  condition  is  such  that  it  must  be  repaired,  and  we  judge  from 
the  examination  that  can  at  present  be  made,  that  the  repairs  may 
be  effected  by  rebuilding  the  part  below  the  first  Moor  with  new  and 
enlarged  foundations.  But  it  is  possible  that  further  developments, 
when  the  work  is  entered  upon,  may  show  that  it  will  be  necessary 
to  take  down  and  rebuild  the  whole  of  this  staircase.  We  think, 
however,  that  this  will  not  be  requisite. 

Our  examination  of  the  foundation  of  the  structure  leads  us  to  say 
that  the  base  of  the  main  tower,  now  unfinished,  is  very  heavily 
loaded,  and,  in  our  opinion,  it  will  be  unwise  to  continue  a  heavy  con- 
struction for  this  tower  ;  and,  in  fact,  to  add  any  great  weight  upon 
that  foundation,  without,  in  some  manner,  enlarging  its  area. 

Referring  now  to  the  Assembly  Chamber,  and  that  portion  of  the 
building  above  and  below  it,  we  recommend  that  the  following  por- 
tions should  be  removed  with  as  little  delay  as  possible  after  the 
close  of  the  present  session  :  — 

1.  All  the   groining,  vaulting,  and   ribs  above 

the  level  of  the  capitals  of  the  columns      .    1,438  tons. 

2.  The  four  cross  walls  nnd  main  arches  down 

to  the  capitals  of  the  columns    .        .        .    1,172    " 

3.  The  brick  and  iron  floor  over  the  Assembly 

ceiling 400    " 

4.  The  side  walls  of  three  dormers  facing  on 

the  court 220    " 

n 

Total  weight  removed    .        .    3,230    " 

The  weight  of  the  two  gable  walls  in  the  attic  supporting  the 
chimneys  may  be  transferred  by  trusses  to  the  walls  at  the  side  of 
the  central  arch. 

It  is  the  opinion  of  this  commission  that  a  design  should  be  adopte.l 
for  the  reconstruction  of  this  part  of  the  Capitol  building  which  will 
throw  upon  the  walls  and  foundations  as  small  a  weight  as  is  con- 
sistent with  good  construction  and  proper  architectural  effect. 
This  can  be  effected  by  a  ceiling  of  wood  or  of  metal,  constructed  so 
as  not  to  throw  lateral  pressure  on  the  outer  walls,  and  so  as  to  load 
the  supporting  walls  below  the  Assembly  floor  as  little  as  possible. 

It  has  been  stated  to  us  by  many  members  of  the  Legislature  that 
the  acoustic  properties  of  the  stone  vault  of  the  ceiling  of  the  Assem- 
bly Chamber  were  defective.  We  have  also  been  informed  by  a 
number  of  members  of  that  body  that  the  acoustic  properties  have 
been  decidedly  improved  since  the  temporary  flat  ceiling  of  plank  has 
been  in  position.  This  leads  to  the  suggestion  that  the  new  ceiling 
should  be  flat,  and  it  may  be  constructed  of  wood  or  of  metal,  possibly 
with  glass  panels.  It  would  then  be  similar  in-  treatment  to  the  ceil- 
ings of  the  Senate  or  House  of  Representatives  at  Washington,  or 
to  the  ceiling  of  the  Senate  Chamber  in  the  Capitol  at  Albany. 
Skilled  architects  can  undoubtedly  design  such  a  ceiling  so  as  to  give 
to  the  Assembly  Chamber  a  stately  and  ornate  architectural  effect. 
The  weight  of  such  a  new  construction  would  be  much  less  than  the 
present  ceiling. 

The  brick  and  iron  floor  over  the  Assembly  vault  need  not  be  re- 
placed unless  possibly  by  a  light  fireproof  construction  as  a  protec- 
tion to  the  new  ceiling  below. 

The  side  walls  of  the  three  dormers  should  be  replaced  by  metal 
and  slate. 

When  these  weights  are  removed,  and  the  new  weight  added,  the 
walls  of  the  rooms  below  the  Assembly  Chamber  will  be  relieved  of 
some  2,700  tons  of  load,  and  we  do  not  anticipate,  in  that  event,  fur- 
ther serious  settlements  or  cracks.  We  recommend  that  the  golden 
corridor  be  repaired  by  removing  the  casing  of  the  wall  piers  and  put- 
ting in  heavy  iron  girders  at  the  floor  level  to  carry  these  piers  which 
now  rest  on  brick  corbels.  New  stone  must  then  take  the  place  of 
that  which  is  now  cracked  and  shattered.  The  casings  of  the  temp- 
orary library  should  be  repaired  in  the  same  manner. 

When  these  things  are  done,  and  we  believe  they  can  be  completed 
before  the  beginning  of  the  session  of  1889,  this  portion  of  the  Capitol 
building  will,  in  our  judgment,  be  in  a  safe  and  permanent  condition, 
and  require  only  the  ordinary  repairs. 

It  seems  proper  that  this  commission  should  add  that  the  lament- 
able condition  of  parts  of  this  great  building  is  not  due  to  bad  work- 
manship, because  the  workmanship  is  really  very  good.  Neither  is 
it  due  to  bad  foundations,  because  we  find  that  the  settlement  of  the 
foundations  has  been  slight,  and  not  very  irregular,  while  those  foun- 
dations are,  in  places,  loaded  beyond  what  was  intended  in  the  orig- 
inal design  and  construction.  The  ruin  of  the  vaulted  ceiling  is  due 
to  the  fact  that  the  design  and  method  of  construction  and  loading 
of  these  arches  and  vaults  have  been  such  as  to  give  pressures  which 
have  resulted  in  the  disintegration  of  the  structure  —  the  joints  be- 


ing, in  many  places,  open,  and  in  others  compressed  to   such  an 
extent  that  the  stone  has  splintered,  and  is  full  of  cracks. 
All  of  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

(Signed)  JOHN  BOOART, 

THOMAS  C.  CLARKE, 
RICIIARD  M.  UPJOHN. 
April  16,  1888. 


TROT!  THE 

CHURCH 

or- 
'JNMT-MHU 


A  VENETIAN   SHIP-RAILWAY.* 

'HIS  paper  is  an  ab- 
stract from  a  volume 
entitled  "  Venice  and 
the  Venetians,"  by  Marsh. 
The  story  is  now  told  as 
bearing  upon  the  question 
of  surmounting  the  Amer- 
ican isthmus  by  similar 
means.  The  character  of 
the  two  engineers,  one  the 
executor  of  the  Venetian 
ship-railway  project  and 
the  other  the  projector  of  a 
much  more  important  and 
permanent  work  of  this 

kind,  are  in  many  respects  similar.  Both  were  men  of  bold  projects, 
of  carefulness  of  details,  and  of  entire  confidence  in  their  plans,  and 
it  is  not  too  much  to  sav  that  the  engineer  of  the  modern  ship-rail- 
way, had  he  lived,  woufd  have  as  surely  seen  the  success  of  his  pro- 
ject as  Sorbolo  witnessed  the  success  of  his  bold  undertaking.  .  .  . 

The  recent  occupation  of  the  city  of  Brescia  has  called  renewed 
attention  to  this  stronghold,  which  has  figured  extensively  for  many 
centuries  in  the  predatory  wars  of  the  Italian  States.  It  is  an  inland 
Gibraltar,  the  key  of  a  highly-productive  territory,  stretching  from 
the  foot  of  the  Lombardian  Alps  and  commanding  an  extensive  com- 
merce, the  Lake  Garda,  only  a  few  miles  distant,  being  the  western 
boundary  of  Venetia.  Brescia  is  built  upon  the  summit  of  an  exten- 
sive hill,  surrounded  by  three  successive  walls,  between  each  of 
which  there  are  vast  plains  sufficient  for  the  encampment  of  an  army 
and  for  the  maintenance  of  herds  of  cattle  and  sheep  in  case  of  siege, 
and  from  the  centre  of  the  city  towers  the  ancient  citadel,  command- 
ing every  acre  of  ground  within  the  walls.  It  is  in  every  respect  a 
remarkable  place,  but  in  nothing  more  so  than  in  the  fact  that  some- 
thing like  four  and  a  half  centuries  ago,  during  one  of  its  memorable 
sieges,  it  was  relieved  by  a  novel  expedition  sent  overland  by  the 
Venetians.  Immense  galleys,  fully  manned  and  armed  with  the 
ponderous  stone-throwing  artillery  of  the  period,  were  safely  con- 
veyed from  the  waters  of  the  Adriatic  over  the  plains  and  moun- 
tains of  Italy  to  the  Lake  Garda,  to  do  doughty  warfare  upon  the 
besieging  enemies  of  Brescia  riding  quietly  at  anchor  upon  the  waters 
of  the  lake. 

The  garrison  and  the  people  of  Brescia  had  been  reduced  to  the 
direst  extremities  and  the  Milanese  were  in  possession  of  all  the 
approaches.  The  best  engineers  of  Venice  had  discussed  for  many 
days,  in  the  presence  of  the  Senate,  a  variety  of  modes  for  effecting 
the  desired  object,  and  the  one  ultimately  adopted  was  a  scheme  so 
bold  and  novel  at  the  time  as  to  surpass  everything  that  had  been 
before  attempted.  Of  course  it  met  with  the  loud  execrations  and 
ridicule  of  all  the  experienced  engineers  of  Venice.  But  the  man 
who  suggested  it  was  equal  to  the  occasion  and  knew  his  ground. 
He  had  spent  many  years  in  superintending  engineering  works  of 
considerable  magnitude  in  the  Venetian  territory  and  had  also  had 
some  experience  as  a  soldier  and  knew  bow  to  handle  troops.  He 
requested  that  he  might  have  an  interview  with  the  Doge  and  the 
Council,  and  his  request  was  granted.  He  boldly  stated  that  he  was 
prepared  to  submit  a  plan  which  would  afford  the  necessary  relief  to 
the  beleaguered  city.  The  Doge  and  the  Council  looked  upon  him 
with  incredulity,  wondering  what  fresh  proposal  could  possibly  be 
made  by  one  so  little  known.  They  saw  before  them  a  man  short 
of  stature,  with  restless  eyes  and  black  hair,  cut  short  about  his 
ears,  with  a  voice  almost  effeminate,  but  who  certainly  made  up  for 
his  insignificant  appearance  by  the  boldness  of  bis  proposal.  At  a 
signal  from  the  Doge,  Sorbolo  commenced  his  speech. 

"Most  Serene  Prince,"  said  he,  "I  have  come  to  unfold  apian 
which  I  have  conceived,  whereby  you  may  afford  the  necessary 
relief  to  the  most  noble  city  of  Brescia,  by  placing  a  flotilla  of  ships 
upon  the  Lake  Garda.  It  is  well  known  that  the  passage  by  the 
Mincio  is  closed,  owing  to  the  treachery  of  the  Duke  of  Mantua. 
Therefore,  there  only  remains  the  Adige  available  for  the  purpose 
which  I  am  about  to  submit  to  this  reverend  Assembly.  I  know  the 
stream  as  well  as  I  know  the  Grand  Canal.  In  winter  it  is  swollen 
by  the  rains  from  the  mountains,  and  is  deep  enough  for  the  passage 
of  the  largest  galley.  I  therefore  humbly  suggest  that  up  this  river 
a  fleet  of  ships  should  be  sent  to  a  point  fifty  miles  distant  from  the 
Gulf  of  Venice.  From  thence  there  is  a  long,  level  country,  across 
which  it  were  a  very  easy  task  to  carry  the  largest-sized  ships,  pro- 
vided men  and  oxen  were  furnished.  The  chief  difficulty  which  will 
beset  the  path  is  presented  by  the  mountain  of  Peneda,  which  rises 
abruptly  to  a  considerable  height  from  the  shores  of  a  small  lake 


1  Portions  of  a  paper  by  E.  L.  Corthell,  read  before  the  Engineers'  Club  of 
Philadelphia,  and  published  with  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society. 


The   American    Architect  and  Building   News.      [VoL.  XXIII.  —  No.  650. 


through  which  I  propose  to  pass.  But  this  will  not  present  an 
insurmountable  difficulty.  Having  crossed  the  mountain,  the  Lake 
Garda  is  only  twelve  miles  distant." 

The  venerable  Doge  and  the  august  members  of  the  Council 
listened  in  profound  silence  to  the  proposition.  At  first  the  thought 
occurred  that  the  proposer  must  be  mad,  but  on  finishing  his  state- 
ment, he  drew  forth  from  a  small  box  which  he  had  brought  with 
him  the  model  of  a  galley,  and  before  the  view  of  the  whole  assem- 
bly, placed  it  upon  a  cradle  of  the  kind  he  proposed  to  construct,  on 
which  to  transport  it  overland.  The  plan  was  so  simple  that  the 
doubts  of  the  members  of  the  College  were  entirely  and  at  once 
swept  away.  The  keel  of  the  ship  was  fastened  upon  a  small  plat- 
form furnished  with  wheels,  and  from  the  projecting  sides  of  the 
vessel  there  dropped  pieces  of  wood,  which  were  fastened  to  other 
pieces  fixed  at  right  angles  in  the  frame-work  of  the  keel.  Where 
these  two  pieces  of  timber  joined  to  each  other  wheels  were  placed, 
so  that  the  whole  mass  could,  by  the  appliance  of  sufficient  power, 
be  drawn  along  the  ground. 

Sorbolo  was  dismissed  with  compliments  by  the  Doge  and  the 
whole  matter  was  afterward  laid  before  the  Grand  Council,  by  whom 
it  was  ultimately  adopted,  and  the  necessary  instructions  given  for 
the  preparation  of  a  fleet  suitable,  for  the  enterprise.  The  mode  of 
conveyance  was  kept  a  profound  secret,  and  no  soldier  knew  the 
plan  until  fifty  miles  from  the  coast  Sorbolo  first  put  it  in  use.  The 
Senate  had  given  instructions  for  the  preparation  of  six  galleys,  two 
of  which  were  first-rate  ships  and  the  remaining  four  second-rate. 
In  addition  to  these  were  twenty-five  light  barques,  forming  a  most 
useful  flotilla  for  the  purpose  designed.  The  galleys  were  fitted 
with  all  the  appliances  necessary  for  a  naval  combat  —  with  heavy 
cannon,  with  stone  balls,  with  large  stores  of  cross-bows,  arrows, 
lances  and  all  the  usual  munitions  of  the  period  necessary  for  con- 
flict with  the  enemy. 

The  command  of  the  fleet  and  armament  was  given  to  Pietro  Zeno, 
and  it  sailed  from  Venice  in  the  middle  of  December,  1438.  On 
reaching  the  mouth  of  the  Adige,  ample  water  was  found  to  float 
the  vessels,  but  the  current  was  so  strong  that  it  was  necessary  not 
only  to  make  use  of  the  sails  and  rowers,  but  also  of  men  with  ropes 
to  assist  in  drawing  the  vessels  against  the  stream.  This  portion  of 
the  journey  consumed  one-half  the  time  occupied  in  reaching  the 
lake,  and  at  the  end  of  six  weeks  only  fifty  miles  of  water  had  been 
traversed. 

Then  began  the  labor  of  transporting  the  ships  across  the  land. 
The  soldiers  and  mariners  were  astounded  when  they  were  informed 
by  Zeno  and  their  captains  that  the  ships  were  to  be  transported 
overland.  They  were  incredulous,  but  Sorbolo's  measures  were  com- 
plete. While  the  platforms  with  wheels  which  they  had  brought 
from  Venice  were  being  put  together,  a  channel  was  dug  in  the  bed 
of  the  river,  in  which  the  frame-work  was  placed,  and  then  the  gal- 
leys were  towed,  one  after  the  other,  on  their  new  cradles,  and  oxen 
attached  to  them  drew  them  without  difficulty  to  the  level  ground. 
Sorbolo  had  dispatched  agents  beforehand,  and  when  the  expedition 
arrived  at  the  point  chosen  for  the  overland  route,  they  found  the 
fields  filled  with  oxen  which  had  been  brought  for  the  use  of  the 
Republic.  It  required  the  united  strength  of  six  hundred  oxen  to 
draw  each  galley  out  of  the  water,  but  when  they  were  fairly  landed 
and  on  their  ways,  the  largest  of  them  were  moved  with  ease  by 
three  hundred,  and  under  the  direction  of  the  peasants  who  came 
with  them,  the  oxen  did  their  work  in  splendid  style.  Galley  after 
galley  was  drawn  from  the  river  to  the  plain,  and  when  the  six 
largest  ships  stood  in  a  row,  the  appearance  which  they  presented 
was  most  curious.  Their  masts  towered  far  above  the  tops  of  the 
trees  in  their  vicinity,  and  their  huge  hulks,  bolstered  high  and  dry 
upon  the  land,  were  objects  of  astonishment  and  curiosity  to  all  who 
beheld  them.  The  ground  for  nearly  thirty  miles  of  the  remaining 
fifty  was  quite  level,  and  a  hard  frost  had  turned  the  fields  into 
roads  over  which  the  ships  passed  without  difficulty.  .  .  . 

Nearly  three  thousand  oxen  were  engaged  in  drawing  the  vessels, 
and  of  these  one  thousand  eight  hundred  were  attached  to  the  six 
largest  galleys.  The  barques,  mounted  upon  small  wooden  carriages 
of  great  strength,  fitted  with  substantial  rollers,  gave  very  little 
trouble.  The  fields  were  covered  with  snow  and  a  sharp  frost  pre- 
vailed, but  the  air  was  calm  and  the  active  operations  in  which  the 
men  were  engaged  kept  them  in  excellent  health  and  spirits. 

The  first  day  passed  without  the  slightest  mischance.  In  the 
evening,  at  sunset,  a  halt  was  called,  and  the  preparations  made  for 
a  substantial  meal  before  resting  for  the  night.  Then  Zeno,  in  the 
name  of  the  captains,  congratulated  Sorbolo  upon  the  complete  suc- 
cess with  which  his  plans  were  working.  Day  after  day  passed  in 
the  same  way,  without  accident  of  any  kind.  The  passage  of  the 
ships  caused  the  greatest  excitement  among  the  peasants,  who  were 
profoundly  impressed  with  the  appearance  of  the  great  hulks  moving 
over  their  fields  with  as  much  ease  as  if  they  had  been  a  string  of 
carts.  In  the  daytime  the  creaking  of  the  wheels,  as  they  revolved 
over  the  frozen  surface  of  the  ground,  was  the  only  noise  caused  by 
progress  of  the  expedition,  and  at  night  the  numberless  lights  and 
camp-fires  and  the  occasional  tread  of  the  sentinels  and  patrols  were 
the  only  noises  to  be  heard.  There  was  no  shouting,  no  hurrying  to 
and  fro,  such  as  usually  attends  the  movements  of  large  bodies  of 
men.  All  this  had  been  provided  for  and  the  quiet  of  a  well-disci- 
plined camp  observed  throughout. 

So  long  as  the  level  ground  lay  before  them  all  went  well,  but 
after  crossing  the  small  lake  which  Sorbolo  had  spoken  of  to  the 


Doge  and  his  counselors,  and  the  almost  perpendicular  sides  of 
Mount  Peneda  presented  themselves,  the  soldiers  looked  upon  the 
impediment  with  consternation,  if  not  dismay.  To  drag  thu  ships 
up  such  a  place  appeared  to  them  a  task  of  ridiculous  absurdity. 
But  Sorbolo's  plans  had  compassed  every  difficulty.  They  anchored 
the  fleet  at  a  point  where  a  little  mountain-stream,  like  a  silver 
thread,  ran  in  a  narrow  gully  to  the  lake.  The  bed  of  this  gully 
was  so  small  that  only  two  men  could  walk  abreast  in  it.  The  path 
was  also  obstructed  by  the  growth  of  lofty  pines  and  the  mountain 
sides  were  thickly  covered  with  giant  trees.  Sorbolo  laughed  when 
he  saw  the  blank  looks  on  the  countenances  of  the  men. 

Peasants  from  the  surrounding  country  had  been  summoned  in 
large  numbers  with  pick-axes  and  spades.  They  were  separated 
into  detachments  and  worked  together  with  the  soldiers  and  mari- 
ners, under  the  direction  of  captains  selected  for  the  task  by  Zeno 
and  Sorbolo.  In  the  first  place,  the  base  of  the  mountain  had  to  be 
levelled  because  it  rose  precipitately  from  the  ground.  Then  the 
bed  of  the  mountain-torrent  had  to  be  widened,  and  finally  the  gal- 
leys and  the  barques  had  to  be  drawn  up  the  causeway  so  constructed. 
No  portion  of  this  work  daunted  the  men  as  soon  as  they  compre- 
hended the  plans  of  their  leaders.  Hundreds  of  men  with  pick-axes 
soon  dislodged  the  broken  ground  on  the  mountain  sides  in  sufficient 
quantity  to  fill  up  the  space  between  the  base  of  the  rock  and  the 
shore  with  a  sloping  causeway,  while  hundreds  of  others  were 
employed  cutting  down  the  trees  in  the  bed  of  the  little  stream  and 
from  the  sides  of  the  mountain  in  sufficient  quantity  to  form  a  con- 
tinuous causeway  one  mile  in  length  to  the  summit  of  Peneda.  All 
these  several  operations  were  accomplished,  and  after  the  lapse  of 
a  few  days,  preparations  were  finally  made  for  the  experiment. 
The  levels  of  the  roadway  were  pronounced  perfect,  and  then,  by 
direction  of  Sorbolo,  earth  was  strewn  upon  the  fallen  trees  and 
snow  was  shovelled  upon  it,  which,  freezing  in  the  night,  consoli- 
dated the  foundation  over  which  it  was  designed  the  ships  should 
pass.  The  oxen  were  of  no  use  in  this  work  and  they  were  driven 
around  the  small  lake  and  up  the  mountain-paths  to  the  summit,  there 
to  await  the  arrival  of  the  ships.  In  place  of  them  a  large  number  of 
windlasses  were  fixed  at  regular  distances  from  each  other  on  each 
side  of  the  roadway.  By  a  proper  distribution  of  the  men  in  the  tran- 
sit of  each  vessel,  the  journey  up  the  mountain  was  performed  without 
any  accident.  The  ropes  which  were  attached  to  the  windlasses  and 
the  ships  were  made  for  the  purpose,  under  the  direction  of  Sorbolo, 
in  the  rope-walks  of  the  Arsenal.  As  each  vessel,  mounted  upon  its 
carriage,  started  up  the  incline,  six  windlasses  were  brought  to  bear 
at  a  time,  and  as  the  vessel  moved  upward,  foot  by  foot,  it  was  care- 
fully wedged  so  that  it  could  not  by  any  mischance  slip  back  again. 
Then,  when  each  set  of  windlasses  had  performed  their  work,  the 
ropes  were  carried  on  and  attached  to  a  fresh  set  of  windlasses  in 
advance.  .  .  . 

When  the  first  galley  appeared  upon  the  crown  of  Mount  Peneda, 
the  men  could  not  resist  a  hearty  shout  of  triumph,  which  was 
echoed  again  and  again  by  the  sharp  rocks,  until  it  died  away  in  a 
whisper  upon  the  face  of  the  lake  below.  The  course  of  action  pur- 
sued by  the  whole  was  the  same.  The  small  barques  gave  the  men 
little  trouble,  and  when  the  whole  was  finished  and  the  fleet  rested 
triumphantly  upon  the  crest  of  the  mountain,  the  oxen  took  their 
places  again  and  the  ships  were  moved  majestically  to  the  mountain- 
side, from  whence  the  soldiers,  sailors  and  peasants  could  see  plainly 
far  below  them  the  clear  waters  of  the  lake.  Never  before  or  since 
had  such  a  feat  been  accomplished,  and  for  the  first  time  in  the 
world's  history  a  fleet  of  war  ships  had  ascended  to  the  summit  of  a 
mountain.  The  spot  chosen  for  the  descent  was  one  where  the 
granite  rock  had  been  in  antediluvian  ages  polished  by  the  passage 
of  icebergs  down  into  the  lake  below ;  but  in  the  course  of  ages 
masses  of  granite  falling  from  above  had  broken  the  face  of  the  de- 
cline, and  Sorbolo  found  it  necessary  to  bring  his  peasants  and 
soldiers  upon  the  scene,  with  their  pick-axes  and  spades,  in  order  to 
make  a  level  road  to  the  ground  below.  The  face  of  the  rock  was 
so  precipitous  that  the  workmen  found  no  track  or  path  upon  which 
even  a  goat  could  stand.  But  the  work  was  accomplished  in  due 
time  —  masses  of  loose  granite  were  dislodged  and  hurled  below, 
trees  were  cut  down  and  earth  was  shoveled  upon  them,  as  in  the 
ascent.  When  all  was  ready  the  ships  were  carefully  placed  upon 
the  causeway,  but  the  work  which  the  windlass  men  had  now  to  per- 
form was  exactly  the  reverse  of  what  it  was  on  the  other  side  of  the 
mountain ;  for  whereas  it  was  by  their  efforts  previously  that  the 
great  ships  were  drawn  up  the  steeps,  now  it  required  their  utmost 
skill  to  prevent  the  huge  weights  from  being  precipitated  to  the 
bottom.  But  Sorbolo  had  fitted  the  windlasses  with  an  appliance 
which  greatly  assisted  the  men.  The  wheels  were  taken  from  under 
the  galleys,  and  as  soon  as  the  wedges  were  removed  and  the  brakes 
applied  to  the  windlasses,  each  ship  moved  steadily  downward, 
slowly  and  majestically  descending  the  steep  incline,  until  at  the 
foot  of  the  mountain  it  glided  quietly  upon  the  rollers  placed  to  re- 
ceive it,  and  the  oxen  proceeded  with  it  as  before,  about  twelve 
miles  to  the  border  of  the  lake. 

The  abrupt  descent  was  the  only  portion  of  the  journey  attended 
with  misfortune ;  one  ship,  overbearing  the  windlasses,  obtained  such 
a  momentum  as  to  snap  all  the  ropes  asunder,  and  dashing  madly 
from  side  to  side,  fell  to  pieces  on  the  ground  at  the  bottom.  With 
this  exception,  the  whole  flotilla  traversed  the  land  and  crossed  the 
mountain  in  safety;  and  in  February,  1439,  every  ship  floated  in 
peaceful  triumph  in  the  harbor  of  Torbolo,  on  the  northeast  corner 


JUNE  9,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


273 


of  the  lake,  three  months  only  having  been  consumed  in  the  journey. 
Zeno  now  took  command,  and  in  order  that  he  might  complete  his 
arrangements  for  a  conflict  with  the  enemy,  he  ordered  the  haven  to 
be  strongly  defended  by  piles,  so  as  to  prevent  a  surprise. 

Several  weeks  elapsed  before  the  Milanese  discovered  the  presence 
of  the  Venetian  ships.  A  light  barque  which  had  been  dispatched 
from  the  opposite  side  of  the  lake  to  reconnoitre,  first  saw  the  flotilla. 
The  men  on  the  little  vessel,  when  they  saw  the  towering  sides  of  the 
great  galleys  floating  in  the  harbor  of  Torbolo,  could  not  believe  their 
own  senses.  They  fancied  at  first  that  they  beheld  a  mirage  of  the 
Milanese  fleet  which  they  had  just  left,  and  therefore  sailed  straight 
on  until  they  came  to  the  mouth  of  the  haven  and  found  it  effectually 
blocked  with  piles,  from  which  they  could  distinctly  see  the  Venetian 
soldiers  on  the  decks  of  the  ships,  and  the  flotilla  of  light  barques 
anchored  around.  They  were  filled  with  astonishment  and  awe  at 
what  they  supposed  was  a  miraculous  interposition  of  Providence, 
for  they  were  convinced  that  to  no  human  agency  could  such  a 
phenomenon  be  attributed.  The  Milanese  barque  hastened  back  to 
the  fleet  and  reported  to  the  commanders,  Vitaliano  and  Giovanni 
Gonzaga,  the  discovery  they  had  made.  The  commanders  con- 
sidered the  report  incredible,  but  nevertheless  ordered  another 
barque  to  reconnoitre,  and  upon  its  return  with  a  confirmation  of  the 
news,  made  immediate  preparations  to  fit  their  vessels  for  battle. 
This,  however,  occupied  many  weeks,  and  in  the  meantime  Zeno, 
having  completed  his  arrangements,  sent  out  his  barques  to  recon- 
noitre. In  the  course  of  a  few  weeks  more  the  barques  of  the  oppos- 
ing commanders  met,  and  encounters  took  place  which  most  frequently 
resulted  in  favor  of  the  Venetians. 

Meantime  the  arrival  of  a  Venetian  fleet  upon  the  lake  was  com- 
municated by  spies  to  the  citizens  of  Brescia.  But  the  news  was  re- 
ceived with  incredulity  when  the  messenger  declared  that  the  fleet 
had  crossed  the  mountain  of  Peneda,  and  the  man  was  put  into  prison 
until  the  arrival  of  a  succession  of  spies  confirmed  his  story.  Two 
serious  obstacles,  however,  still  presented  themselves  before  any 
attempt  could  be  made  to  relieve  the  city ;  one  was  the  fleet  of  Gon- 
zaga and  the  other  the  army  of  Piccinino,  which  was  encamped 
between  the  lake  and  Brescia.  But  the  presence  of  the  Venetian 
fleet  operated  with  great  fear  upon  both  commanders,  and  until  it 
was  removed  very  little  progress  could  be  made  by  either  the  Mil- 
anese fleet  or  army. 

The  condition  of  Brescia  was  at  this  time  very  serious.  The 
food  which  they  had  was  becoming  exhausted,  and  scar.ty  supplies 
only  could  be  obtained  from  the  surrounding  country,  owing  to  the 
presence  of  the  enemy.  Still  every  week  a  certain  quantity  of  fresh 
food  was  obtained,  and  this,  combined  with  the  presence  of  the  Vene- 
tians in  their  immediate  vicinity,  sustained  the  hopes  of  the  besieged. 
Dispatches  announcing  the  success  of  the  expedition  across  the 
country  to  the  lake  were  duly  received  in  Venice,  and  in  the 
beginning  of  spring  preparations  were  made  for  the  renewal  of  the 
conflict  on  land.  .  .  .  The  reduction  of  the  fortress  of  Tenna,  then 
in  the  possession  of  the  Milanese,  was  absolutely  necessary,  and 
while  the  army  was  making  the  approaches  necessary  to  its  invest- 
ment, the  flotilla  under  Zeno  was  holding  the  Milanese  in  check 
upon  Lake  Garda.  On  the  26th  of  September  he  determined  to  give 
them  battle,  and  leaving  his  anchorage  at  Torbolo,  was  soon  sur- 
rounded by  the  superior  forces  under  Gonzaga  and  his  fleet  utterly 
destroyed.  During  the  conflict,  however,  hundreds  of  the  Venetians 
escaped  to  the  shore,  and  under  cover  of  the  darkness  succeeded  in 
penetrating  to  the  city  of  Brescia,  taking  with  them  a  portion  of  the 
stores  which  they  had  brought  with  them. 

The  captured  ships  were  burnt  by  the  Milanese,  and  thus  perished 
that  fleet  which  had  performed  a  journey  unparalleled  in  the  history 
of  the  world.  The  news  of  the  disaster  was  carried  to  Venice  by 
Sorbolo  and  others,  and  the  Senate  gave  immediate  orders  for  the 
preparation  of  another  fleet  to  take  its  place,  which  Sorbolo  had 
undertaken  a  second  time  to  carry  across  the  country  and  over 
Peneda  to  the  lake.  But  the  successes  of  Sforza's  troops  rendered 
the  immediate  repetition  of  the  feat  unnecessary.  .  .  . 

Meantime  Sorbolo  had  been  busy  at  Venice,  and  early  in  the 
spring  of  1440  the  Venetians  managed  to  dispatch  another  fleet, 
larger  and  more  powerful  than  the  first,  to  the  Lake  Garda,  under 
the  command  of  Stefano  Contarini.  He  opened  the  campaign  in 
April  by  destroying  the  fleet  of  the  Milanese,  and  in  the  month  of 
June  Sforza  utterly  crushed  the  army  under  Piccinino;  and  Brescia, 
after  sustaining  a  siege  of  three  years,  was  permanently  relieved. 

But  it  is  not  the  military  or  strategic  success  which  finally  attended 
these  engineering  operations  of  Sorbolo,  but  the  operations  them- 
selves, to  which  we  invite  attention  —  the  fact  that  more  than  four 
hundred  years  ago  two  formidable  fleets,  fitted  out  by  the  leading 
maritime  power  of  the  day,  loaded  with  a  complete  armament  for 
active  aggressive  operations,  were  successively  carried  over  land  and 
over  a  formidable  mountain  barrier,  some  ninety  miles  from  the 
waters  of  the  Adriatic  to  the  Lake  Garda.  Nor  was  this  accom- 
plished by  the  aid  of  any  of  our  modern  appliances  —  there  was  no 
carefully  graded  railway,  securely  ballasted  and  bridged,  provided 
with  rails  of  steel  and  skilfully  constructed  locomotives.  The  means 
at  hand  were  cordage  and  windlasses,  oxen  and  manual  force  alone, 
and  the  roadway  the  most  primitive  imaginable. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  consul's  letter  that  some  of  the  vessels 
transported  overland  were  of  no  inconsiderable  size.  The  displace- 
ment of  the  largest  class,  as  near  as  can  be  estimated,  was  over  300 


tons,  or  a  gross  register  of  1 75  tons.  They  were  manned  by  at  least 
150  sailors,  with  probably  a  contingent  on  board  of  at  least  150 
marines. 


THE   TURKISH   BATH:  ITS   DESIGN   AND  CONSTRUC- 
TIONS 


TITHE  features  peculiar  to  the  bath  are  those  requiring  careful  con- 
J I »  sideration.  It  is  upon  the  design  of  the  hotrrooms,  the  cooling- 
rooms,  and  the  washing-rooms  that  the  success  or  non-success  of  a 
new  bathing  establishment  depends,  and  too  much  study  cannot  be 
given  to  these  apartments. 

THE    SUDORIFIC    CHAMBERS. 

These  are  now  generally  required  in  a  suite  of  three  —  "1st,  2d, 
and  3d  Hot."  The  first  is  the  tepidarium,  and  must  be  by  far  the 
largest  of  the  three,  since  in  it  the  greater  number  of  bathers  will 
assemble  at  one  time.  The  last  must  be  the  hottest  room  —  the 
laconicum  —  and  need  only  be  a  very  small  one,  as  but  few  bathers 
use  it,  and  that,  generally,  for  a  very  short  time.  The  second  hot- 
room  should  be  about  midway  in  size,  and  the  temperature  between 
the  first  and  the  third.  Of  a  given  area  allotted  to  the  hot-rooms, 
from  one-half  to  two-thirds  may  be  devoted  to  the  tepidarium,  and 
from  one-half  to  one-third  to  the  super-heated  rooms,  always  re- 
membering that  it  is  well  to  err  on  the  side  of  providing  a  large  and 
roomy  tepidarium.  Of  the  space  allowed  for  the  smaller  rooms,  one- 
third  to  one-quarter  may  be  given  to  the  hottest,  and  the  remaining 
space  to  the  2d  hot-room,  or  calidarium. 

The  hot-rooms,  it  should  be  remembered,  are  strictly  bath-rooms, 
and  must  be  treated  as  such ;  that  is  to  say,  the  whole  of  the  floors, 
walls,  ceilings,  partitions,  and  fittings,  must  be  capable  of  being 
frequently  cleansed  with  water.  The  choice  of  materials  to  be  em- 
ployed for  lining  the  walls,  etc.,  is  therefore  limited.  And  in  two 
ways.  For  not  only  must  they  be  of  this  washable  nature,  but  they 
must  be  of  a  character  to  resist  the  influence  of  the  heat.  Happily, 
this  is  an  age  of  glazed-ware  and  virtrified  goods  of  every  descrip- 
tion. Glazed  and  fire-burnt  bricks  and  tiles,  terra-cottas,  faience, 
and  pottery  generally  are  now  so  extensively  manufactured  that 
there  is  little  excuse  for  not  constructing  a  bath  throughout  of 
materials  at  once  washable  and  unaffected  by  high  temperatures. 
Still,  in  baths  where  rigid  economy  must  be  studied,  and  lowness  of 
cost  is  the  great  object,  plaster  may  be  placed  upon  the  walls  of  the 
hot-rooms,  and  in  its  way  will  answer  admirably,  and  be  fairly  wash- 
able. It  has  even  one  advantage  —  it  does  not  become  unbearably 
hot  to  the  touch  should  the  bather  lean  against  the  walls,  whereas, 
with  a  highly  glazed  surface  the  walls  become  burning  hot,  and  need 
lining  with  a  dado  of  felt  or  other  non-conducting  substance.  But 
since  this  latter  method  overcomes  the  objection  named,  the  best 
possible  material  for  lining  the  walls  is  glazed  brickwork.  In  cases 
where  elaboration  is  aimed  at.  they  may  be  lined  with  marbles  and 
faience.  With  a  judicious  selections  of  colors,  however,  a  very 
pleasing  appearance  can  be  given  by  the  employment  of  simple 
glazed  brickwork,  and  at  a  very  moderate  cost.  The  less  heated 
rooms,  again,  may  be  lined  with  glass  in  panels  arranged  in  stiles 
and  rails  of  wood  affixed  to  the  rough  brickwork. 

The  flooring  in  cheap  baths  is  admirably  formed  by  simple  unglazed 
tile  pavement  over  concrete.  A  slight  roughness  is  very  agreeable  to 
the  feet.  Glazed  tiles  are  inadmissible,  as  they  become  too  hot  for 
the  naked  feet ;  and  if  the  slightest  moisture  come  upon  them  they  are 
rendered  dangerously  slippery.  In  elaborate  baths,  marble  and 
marble  mosaics  may  be  used,  but  the  surface  must  not  be  too  smooth. 
In  providing  floorings  the  greatest  care  should  be  taken  to  avoid 
anything  liable  to  become  slippery  to  the  tread. 

The  ceilings,  of  the  fire  and  heat  proof  floors  which,  when  there 
are  other  apartments  above  must  be  provided  over  the  hot-rooms, 
may  be  of  plaster.  But  the  heat  at  the  ceiling  level  is  very  great, 
and  the  plaster  here  rapidly  darkens  and  blackens,  and  in  this  state 
looks  anything  but  attractive  in  a  place  where  the  mere  suspicion  of 
uneleanliness  is  nauseating.  If  employed  (and  this  remark  also 
applies  to  plaster  on  walls),  it  should  be  used  in  the  simplest  manner 
possible,  without  the  slightest  attempt  at  modelling  the  surface. 
Glass  may  be  employed  for  ceilings  in  the  same  way  as  for  walls,  as 
also  may  enamelled  iron.  The  best  method  of  ceiling  would  be  by 
vaults,  but  is  an  impracticable  one,  as  floors  of  iron  and  concrete  are 
generally  adopted.  The  little  laconicum,  however,  is  best  covered 


1  A  paper  by  R.  Owen  Altaop,  published  In  Building  ffevt. 


274 


The   American   Architect  and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  650. 


with  a  flat  arch,  the  soffit  being  of  glazed  bricks,  and  the  springing 
being  brought  down  below  the  main  ceiling  level. 

When  the  hot  rooms  are  in  a  basement  in  the  open,  they  may  be 
top-lighted,  and  the  ceiling  above  need  not  be  a  heavy  fireproof  con- 
struction. A  sufficient  air-space,  however,  must  be  provided  between 
the  ceiling  and  roof,  to  prevent  irradiation  of  heat- — a  remark  that 
applies  also  to  anything  in  the  shape  of  a  window  to  the  sudatorium. 
They  must  be  double  or  look  into  an  area  covered  with  pavement 
lights.  In  the  case  of  a  top-lighted  room  there  must  be  a  ceiling- 
light  and  a  sky-light. 

Where  the  hot  rooms  are  constructed  quite  above  ground,  consid- 
eration must  be  given  to  prevention  of  loss  of  heat  from  radiation. 
This  may  be  effected  by  providing  thick  hollow  walls,  the  cavity  be- 
ing usefully  employed  for  the  extraction  of  the  vitiated  air. 

The  space  allotted  to  the  sudatory  chambers  may  be  divided  into 
the  various  rooms,  either  by  solid  brickwork  or  by  framed  and  glazed 
partitions  ;  or  again,  they  may  be  formed  by  a  combination  of  solid 
brickwork  and  glazed  woodwork.  Any  piers  in  these  rooms  must  be 
of  brickwork,  iron  columns  being  inadmissible.  Masonry,  too,  must 
be  discarded  throughout,  or  used  with  caution.  Some  stones  —  such 
as  red  Mansfield  —  become  black  with  exposure  to  the  heat,  and 
others  fare  still  worse.  The  employment  of  porous  and  absorbent 
materials  of  any  sort  must  be  guarded  against  throughout  this  portion 
of  the  bath,  as  it  should  be  remembered  that  effete  matters,  particles 
of  waste  tissue,  and  possibly  the  germs  of  disease,  are  continually  be- 
ing given  off  by  the  perspiring  bathers,  and  must  be  prevented  from 
finding  a  lodgment. 

The  best  woods  for  use  in  the  hot-rooms  are  close-grained  and  free 
from  essential  oils.  Mahogany  is  excellently  adapted  for  the  purpose. 
If  price  were  not  preventive  teak  would  be  the  best.  Pitch  pine 
must  be  discarded  altogether.  Deal,  when  employed,  should  be  per- 
fectly seasoned,  and  may  then  give  trouble  from  the  exudation  of 
turpentine. 

The  partitions,  and  the  doorways  in  them,  must  be  placed  to  gov- 
ern the  flow  of  hot  air.  So  long  as  the  main  divisions  be  planned 
with  this  aim  in  view,  the  separate  rooms  may  be  divided  and  broken 
up  as  the  architect  may  fancy.  But  the  constant  flow  of  the  heated 
air  from  the  so-called  "  radiating  chamber "  in  the  hottest  rooms 
towards  the  lavatorium  must  not  be  interfered  with  by  recesses, 
nooks  and  corners,  or  anything  that  would  cause  the  current  to  stag- 
nate. And  here  we  may  see  the  practical  advantage  possessed  by  a 
bath  where  the  hot  rooms  are  en  suite,  and  in  a  line  with  one  axis. 
For  here  the  air  sweeps  uninterruptedly  through  the  different  cham- 
bers without  eddying  around  corners  and  stagnating  in  recesses  far 
out  of  the  main  stream. 

The  doorways  in  the  partitions  should  be  lofty.  They  should  not 
be  hung  with  doors,  as  anything  necessary  in  this  way  will  be  amply 
supplied  by  depending  curtains. 

No  provision  for  draining  the  hot  rooms  is  necessary,  as  they  must, 
when  in  use,  be  kept  free  from  moisture.  The  floors  may,  however, 
if  thought  desirable,  be  laid  with  an  imperceptible  fall  the  way  the 
water  would  be  swept  when  cleansing,  viz.,  towards  the  lavatorium. 

As  the  best  position  for  a  bather  to  assume  in  the  sudatorium  is 
the  horizontal,  a  bath  cannot  be  considered  complete  unless  a  liberal 
number  of  marble-slabbed  benches  be  provided.  These  should  run 
round  the  solid  walls,  the  risers  of  the  benches  being  formed  of  brick- 
work, glazed,  faced  with  tiles,  or  plastered,  and  white  marble  slabs 
set  thereon.  These  slabs  cannot  be  less  than  24  in.  wide,  and  must 
be  of  the  ordinary  seat  height  —  not  lower.  In  the  risers  must  be 
provided  a  liberal  number  of  "  hit-and-miss  "  ventilator  gratings,  the 
vitiated  air  finding  its  way  from  the  space  beneath  the  slabs  in  the 
way  allowed  for,  which  may  be  into  surrounding  areas,  into  hollow 
walls,  or  into  flues  running  the  whole  height  of  the  buildings. 

The  air  at  the  floor  line  and  that  at  the  ceiling  level  being  of 
vastly  different  temperatures,  it  follows  that  an  arrangement  might 
be  designed  whereby  the  benches  might  be  stepped  in  three  or  four 
rows,  and,  by  ascending,  the  bather  could  select  any  temperature  he 
might  choose.  Such  an  arrangement  was  often  designed  in  the  baths 
of  the  ancient  Romans,  and  has  been  tried  in  modern  institutions ; 
but  it  should  be  avoided.  The  expirations  from  the  lungs  and  the 
exudations  from  the  bodies  of  the  bathers  fall,  and  it  therefore  fol- 
lows that  all  below  the  first  tier  would  be  breathing  air  polluted  by 
those  above  them.  The  system,  therefore,  stands  condemned. 

As  regards  height,  the  sudorific  chambers  should  not  be  too  lofty, 
or  they  cannot,  on  the  modern  plan,  be  heated  with  due  economy. 
The  vastness  of  the  old  Roman  tepidarium  would  have  been  imprac- 
ticable under  our  system ;  but  with  the  heat  radiating  direct  from 
the  walls  and  the  floors  there  was  no  difficulty.  It  is  better  to  have  a 
comparatively  low  chamber  with  a  constant  stream  of  freshly-heated 
air  passing  through  it  than  a  lofty  one  with  a  sluggish  current. 
From  10  to  15  or  16  ft.  maybe  taken  as  moderate  extremes  of  height 
in  a  commercial  bath.  The  small  third  hot  room  will  be  less  lofty  if 
as  is  ordinary  and  most  convenient,  the  heating-chamber  be  placed 
under  it.  For  by  raising  the  floor  of  the  laconicum  a  few  feet  so  as 
to  necessitate  ascending  to  it  by  a  few  steps  from  the  level  of 
the  tepidarum,  one  can  more  economically  construct  the  furnace- 
chamber.  , 

This  latter  should  be  so  placed  that  an  abundant  supply  of  fresh 
pure  cold  air  can  be  obtained  from  the  furnace,  which,  when  heated, 
can  be  delivered  into  the  hottest  room  above,  not  less  than  5  ft.  from 
the  level  of  the  floor  of  that  chamber,  and,  also,  where  a  smoke-flue 
of  ample  section  can  be  constructed.  The  heated  air  may  be  deliv- 


ered through  gratings  in  the  walls  of  the  laconicum,  or  a  shaft  of 
rectangular  section  of  glazed  brickwork  may  be  constructed  against 
the  end  wall  and  coped  at  the  required  level,  5  ft.  or  more  above  the 
floor  line.  Should  the  exigencies  of  the  site  separate  the  furnace- 
chamber  from  the  immediate  connection  with  the  hottest  room,  the 
heated  air  must  be  conducted  from  the  former  to  the  latter  by  means 
of  a  large  shaft  or  shafts  of  glazed  brickwork.  Similar  means  may 
have  to  be  employed  to  bring  the  cold  air  to  the  heating-chamber, 
and  at  the  mouth  of  this  shaft  some  provision  must  be  made  for  fil- 
tering the  air  before  it  is  brought  into  contact  with  the  heating-sur- 
faces of  the  furnace. 


6UILLAUME-SULPICE  CHEVALLIER  was  essentially  a 
Paris  gamin.  Entering  upon  life  on  the  21st  Nivose,  an  XII 
(13th  January,  1804)  in  the  gloomy,  smutty  house  of  a  copper- 
smith in  the  Rue  des  Vieilles-Handriettes,  he  seems  to  have  passed 
his  life,  and  pursued  his  art  in  the  manner  unto  which  he  was  born. 
His  father  had  served  as  a  national  guard  during  the  Revolution ;  his 
mother  was  the  sister  of  G.  Thiemet,  who  was  both  an  actor  in  the 
buffoonery  line  of  business  and  a  caricaturist  —  the  author  of  "  Les 
Moines  Gourmands."  When  a  mere  boy,  Gavarni  was  placed  with 
an  architect  named  Dutillard ;  but  all  he  seems  to  have  learned  was  to 
scribble  a  little  as  so  many  artists  have  done  in  their  youth,  without 
showing  any  particular  talent.  Later  on  he  went  to  a  small  school 
in  the  Rue  de  Clichy,  where  he  learned  a  little  arithmetic.  At  thir- 
teen he  entered  the  shop  of  an  instrument-maker,  and  at  sixteen  or 
seventeen  he  studied  mechanical  drawing  at  the  school  of  the  Con- 
servatoire des  Arts  et  Metiers.  Of  positive  artistic  training  this  was 
all,  and  cannot  be  called  much;  but  during  all  his  youth  he  was 
laying  up  a  store  of  knowledge,  which  later  on  he  was  able  to  turn 
to  good  account.  With  little  or  no  money,  he  ran  about  the  streets, 
a  mere  vagabond ;  seeing  everything  and  noting  everything ;  and  so 
upon  entering  on  manhood,  he  was  possessed  of  quick  observation, 
good  health,  a  desire  to  succeed,  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  worst 
side  of  Parisian  life  and  an  uncontrollable  love  of  pleasure  —  this  was 
the  mainspring  of  his  life.  Not  desiring,  or  not  being  able  to  make 
his  parents  pay  for  his  dissipations,  he  began  to  work  with  a  will, 
knocking  off  little  drawings  for  which  he  received  a  few  sous.  A 
lucky  chance  sent  him  to  Bordeaux  to  make  some  drawings  for  one 
of  his  patrons,  for  which  he  was  to  receive  1,200  francs  a  year  ;  but 
arriving  in  the  South,  and  discovering  the  work  to  be  uncongenial  to 
him,  he  quarrelled  with  his  employer  and  found  himself  without 
friends  or  money.  Here,  again,  his  vagabond  spirit  served  its 
master ;  for,  wandering  about,  apparently  without  purpose,  he 
arrived  at  Tarbes,  with  only  two  shirts  and  forty-two  sous,  to  find  a 
friend  in  M.  Leleu,  the  Public  Registrar  of  the  Department,  who, 
taking  a  fancy  to  him,  offered  him  board  and  lodging.  A  fac-simile 
of  a  drawing  by  Gavarni  of  his  room  at  Tarbes  is  given  by  the 
author,  which  shows  that  love  and  care  for  detail  which  may  be 
found  in  pre-Raphaelite  work.  For  two  years  the  caricaturist  seems 
to  have  amused  himself  by  running  about  the  South,  joining  on  to  the 
circus  of  Gavarnie  (from  which  he  took  his  nom  de  brosse)  and 
otherwise  vagabondizing ;  always  promising  his  parents  to  return. 
However,  once  in  Paris,  he,  always  putting  off  the  day,  established 
himself  in  a  studio  and  set  to  work  upon  various  series  of  drawings, 
such  as  the  "  Cris  de  Paris  "  and  the  "  Costumes  des  Pyrenees," 
besides  four  little  water-colors  of  no  merit  whatever.  In  1830 
Gavarni  was  fortunate  enough  to  meet  with  de  Girardin,  who  invited 
him  to  illustrate  his  journal  La  Mode ;  and  it  was  in  the  office  of 
that  paper  that  he  met  many  of  his  later  friends,  Balzac,  Eugene 
Sue  and  other  literary  celebrities  of  the  day.  Balzac  asked  him  to 
illustrate  his  "Peau  de  Chagrin;"  but  it  was  mainly  as  a  satirist  of 
the  dandyism  of  the  day  that  the  success  of  Gavarni  was  greatest. 
It  is  curious  to  find  this  gamin  who  was  given  to  all  the  sang  gene  of 
low  Parisian  artistic  life,  who  filled  his  letters  to  his  friends  with 
cutting  remarks  about  the  ennui  that  the  respectables  caused  him, 
gaining  a  reputation  by  his  perfectly-clad  men  of  fashion,  and  his 
femmes  a  la  mode  full  of  coquetry  and  chic.  He  was  a  sort  of  Worth 
au  crayon,  designing  dresses  for  women  of  the  world,  and  arranging 
colors  and  costumes  for  Dejazet  and  Mme.  Georges. 

In  1832  Gavarni  was  a  success,  working  for  the  Musee  des 
Families,  I'Arliste,  and  a  little  later  for  the  Charivari.  Un- 
fortunately, he  was  ambitious  to  shine  as  a  literary  man,  and  after 
publishing  one  or  two  poor  specimens  of  fiction,  lie  launched  the 
Journal  des  gens  du  Monde ;  but  in  spite  of  the  collaboration  of  such 
men  as  Chariot,  De  Vigny,  the  Johannots  and  Dumas,  it  struggled 
through  only  six  months  of  existence  and  nineteen  numbers,  leaving 
its  parent  with  a  deficiency  of  25,000  francs,  and  not  a  sou  to  pay 
the  debts.  Then  came  the  dismal  journeys  to  the  mont-de-piete,  the 
humiliating  interviews  with  creditors,  and,  finally,  a  lodging  in  the 
Clichy  goal  for  debtors.  All  this  mixed  up  and  intermingled  with 
various  kinds  of  dissipations,  which  M.  Forgoes  excuses  on  the  plea 
that  Gavarni  was  a  "  true  artist,"  and  that  his  immoralities  were 
simply  a  part  of  his  ajsthetic  feeling  which  prevented  him,  in 

1 "  Gavarni,"  par  M.  Eugene  Forgues.  Librarie  de  1'Art,  Eouam:  Cite  d' Anton, 
Paris. 


JUNE  9,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


275 


company  with  the  great  army  of  artists,  from  acting  like  an  ordi- 
nary, honest,  moral  human  being. 

In  1*14  (iavarni  married  Jeanne  de  Bouabry,  who  was  a  clever 
musician  ;  but  neither  her  beauty  nor  her  talents  prevented  the  hus- 
band from  wearying  himself  in  his  new  position,  married  life  was  too 
prosaic  fur  him  — he  liked  change  in  all  things;  and  so,  after  three 
years  of  her  society,  more  or  less  interrupted,  he  set  off  for  Eng- 
land, and  so  rid  himself  of  his  self-imposed  restraints.  M.  Forgucs 
is  eloquent  upon  Gavarni's  failure  in  pleasing  the,  London  fashion- 
ables ;  they  were  too  reserved  or  phlegmatic,  too  full  of  le  cant  ttfficiel 
to  appreciate  the  artist,  and  he  relates  an  anecdote  which  seems  a 
witness  to  Gavarni's  ill-manners  more  than  to  British  "cant."  Hav- 
ing accepted  the  commission  to  do  a  portrait  of  the  Queen,  lie 
failed  to  appear,  and  did  not.  even  send  a  word  of  excuse  or  apology. 
M.  Forgucs's  comment  upon  this  specimen  of  ill-breeding  deserves 
to  IK'  given  in  full.  "  De  pareilles  f aeons  fj-plii/nent  suffisamment 
V antipathic  qu'eveilla  longtem/>i<  le  leul  nmn  de  Gavarni  en  Anglr.- 
terre,  et  les  protestations  peu  intelliyentei  qui  accueillirent  sen  succes  a 
ton  relour  en  France."  After  his  return  to  Paris,  Gavarni  began  to 
travel  the  downward  path  —  always  in  pecuniary  trouble,  disgusted 
with  his  art,  semi-maniac,  passing  his  time  mostly  in  his  garden  at 
Auteuil  (his  last  passion)  with  his  two  boys.  In  1852,  he  was 
offered  the  cross  of  the  legion  de  honneur,  and  there  is  something  ex- 
ceedingly touching  in  his  comments  upon  what  came  too  late  to  be 
appreciated  :  "J'ai  desire  ires  vivement  la  croii  quand  je  portals  des 
habits,  main  maintenant.  .  .  .  Et  <T  vn  coup  d'<eil  il  tlexignait  la 
blouse  bleue  dont  il  s'ajflublait  daim  son  jardin."  In  his  last  years 
Gavarni  seems  to  have  lost  his  philosophy,  and  worried  by  debts,  he 
shut  himself  away  from  the  world,  eternally  changing  the  face  of  his 
garden,  forming  banks  and  cascades,  but  never  finishing  it.  In  1862, 
the  circular  railway  appropriated  this,  his  last  love,  and  he  was 
obliged  to  move  in  spite  of  the  intervention  of  the  Princess  Matilde 
with  Louis  Napoleon.  He  died  soon  after  this  misfortune,  almost 
torgotten  amidst  the  political  troubles  and  passions,  which,  towards 
the  end  of  the  Emperor's  reign,  were  stirring  the  French  nation. 

Gavarni  was  not  only  a  draughtsman,  but  his  work  was  gener- 
ally supplemented  by  his  text;  and  perhaps  one  of  the  best  of  his 
drawings  is  the  impudent  street  arab  with  his  hands  in  his  pockets 
and  his  head  tosssd  up:  "Si  man  pince-nez  m  '  empeche  de  roir,  ca 
ne  regarde  personne!"  Many  of  his  drawings  are  grotesque,  but 
without  the  humor  of  Jacques  Callot,  or  the  satire  of  Hogarth. 
Gavarni  painted  the  disreputable  side  of  human  nature  in  the 
manner  of  Zola  —  witness  his  two  figures  "  Le  gin ; "  his  rollicking 
"  Jalouret,  vous  etes  un  polisson  !  "  and  "Man  epouse,  terait  elle  legere  J  " 
which  are  repulsively  humorous,  but  are  certainly  not  moral  satires. 
Gavarni  does  not  teach,  as  Hogarth  does,  the  results  of  depravity. 
But  for  dexterity  and  facility  with  pen,  pencil,  and  brush,  there  is 
no  one  perhaps  his  equal.  What  Daumier  did  for  the  law,  Gavarni 
did  for  Parisian  low-life ;  but  whether  a  caricaturist  of  this  nature 
will  survive  our  generation  is  questionable.  Hogarth  lives  and  will 
live  in  spite  of  his  satires  being  out  of  date ;  but  Hogarth  was 
above  all  things  a  fine  painter.  Whether  his  reputation  would  have 
survived  until  the  present  day,  had  it  depended  only  upon  his 
engraving*,  is  a  matter  upon  which  there  can  scarcely  be  two 
opinions:  On  the  other  hand  the  reputation  of  Gavarni  rests 
almost  entirely  upon  his  printed  works,  and  many  of  these  are  now 
considerably  out  of  date.  Fashions,  which  are  not  old  enough  to  be 
picturesque,  are  not  particularly  interesting. 

It  ought  to  be  stated  that  the  author  of  this  life  of  Gavarni,  is  the 
son  of  the  artist's  great  friend  ;  which  accounts  for  and  excuses 
M.  Forgues's  somewhat  excessive  partiality  for  the  clever  caricaturist. 

S.  BEALB. 


CHANCES  FOR  THE   MORALLY-INFIRM. 

JOUBT,   1 1. 1.. 

To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  I  enclose  you  three  letters  recently  received  which 
offer  a  commission  to  architects  for  whatever  goods  may  be  specified 
of  these  particular  manufacturers.  It  occurs  to  me  that  the  proper 
disposition  of  such  letters  addressed  to  any  architect  is  to  send  them 
as  once  to  a  publication  like  the  American  Architect,  who  should  pub- 
lish the  full  text  and  the  firms'  names.  By  so  doing  they  would  readily 
meet  the  eyes  of  architects  who  desire  to  do  business  in  that 
way  and  those  that  do  not  would  as  readily  know  what  firms  to 
avoid.  This  commission  (or  boodle)  business  of  architects  is  en- 
tirely illegitimate  and  is  at  present  the  greatest  standing  shadow 
over  the  profession ;  the  sooner  it  can  be  done  away  witli  the  better 
for  the  profession  at  large,  and  I  see  no  better  way  of  doing  it  than 
mentioned  above.  Very  truly  yours,  F.  S.  ALLKN. 


CHICAGO,  April,  23,  1888. 
Mit.  F.  S.  ALLEN:  — 

Dear  Sir, —  We  shall  be  pleased  to  figure  on  any  Stained  Glass  you 
may  have,  and  in  consideration  of  its  being  less  expense  to  solicit  out- 


side orders,  I  will  offer  you  10  per  cent  on  all  orders  you  may  send  us. 
We  will  inbuilt  designs  and  hope  to  receive  your  orders. 

Yours  truly,  MAX  SUEZZ,  Manager. 


CUICAOO,  April  24,  1888. 
F.  8.  ALLEN,  KHO.  :  — 

Dear  Sir,  —  Will  you  kindly  examine  our  circulars,  and  OH  any 
Counter  you  may  cause  to  be  sold  we  will  allow  ten  per  cent  on  selling 
price.  Our  counters  are  better  finished  than  anything  on  the  market 
at  present,  as  this  work  is  done  before  the  counter  U  put  together,  and 
by  a  special  process  of  our  own  invention.  The  counter  ships  at 
almost  lumber  rates,  while  a  bright  boy  can  get  it  up.  Where  we  have 
put  this  counter  it  has  pleased  every  one,  whether  owner  or  customer 
at  store.  It  is  neat  and  cleans  perfectly  with  a  duster  as  there  is  nut  a 
point  where  dust  can  collect.  We  make  this  in  hard  wood  at  81.75  to 
13.50  per  running  foot  as  per  circular  measure.  On  Store  S:ools  will 
allow  20  percent  from  list  except  on  No.  1,  which  will  lie  ten  per  cent ; 
however,  we  do  not  suppose  you  will  recomend  the  poorest  on  the  list. 
These  "  Noiseless  Stools  '  have  displaced  others  in  many  instances,  owing 
to  this  desirable  feature.  We  enclose  a  postal,  trespassing  on  good 
nature  to  request  a  brief  reply  to  our  lines. 

Yours  very  truly,  DUN  LAP  &  Co. 


MB.  F.  S.  ALLEN:  — 


UTICA.N.  Y.,  M»jr  5,188*. 


Dear  Sir,  —  We  mail  you  to-day  under  separate  cover  our  new  com- 
plete illustrated  catalogue  for  1888.  After  an  examination  of  the  many 
superior  points  and  merits  of  the  Carton  Warm  Air  Furnace,  you  think 
you  can  conscientiously  specify  the  same  in  your  specifications  for  new 
dwellings  and  buildings,  we  would  feel  well  disposed  to  compensate 
you  for  your  labors  in  our  behalf.  We  hope  this  request  may  receive 
your  attention,  and  that  we  may  have  the  pleasure  of  hearing  from  you 
in  relation  to  the  same. 

Yours  respectfully,  Carton  Furnace  Co., 

E.  A.  CAKTOH,  Sec.f-  Treat. 

A  CORRECTION. 

IX>NDON.  Elto.,  May  25,  1888. 

To  THE  EDITOKS  OK  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs, —  Will  you  let  me  correct  a  misprint  on  page  222  in  my 
"  Paris  Churches  "  V  The  curious  ceremony  of  the  pain  benit,  is 
made  more  so,  by  the  statement  that  "  the  donor  is  presented  with  a 
pat  and  a  kins,"  which  ought  to  read,  "a  pox  to  kiss." 

Yours  faithfully,  S.  BEALE. 

TO  CURE  A  DOOR  IN  WIND. 

PHILADELPHIA,  May  25,  1WI8. 
To  THK  KDITOKS  OK  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs, —  Can  any  of  your  readers  suggest,  or  inform  me  if 
they  are  cognizant  of  any  method  by  which  a  twisted  door  can  bo 
made  straight?  In  considering  an  answer  to  the  above  query  I  ap- 
prehended that  correspondents  will  conjecture  the  kind  and  situation 
of  the  doors.  The  doors  I  have  in  mind  when  asking  the  question 
are  veneered  with  the  same  kind  of  wood  upon  Ijoth  sides,  and  have 
since  first  they  were  hung  been  subject  to  ihe  same  temperature 
upon  each  side,  if  there  is  such  a  thing  as  Ihe  possible  straightening 
of  a  door  out  of  "wind"  I  have  no  doubt  it  will  interest  a  greal 
many  of  your  readers  to  know  of  it.  ARCHITECT. 

[A  uooa  may  often  be  taken  out  of  wind,  temporarily  at  least,  by  clamp- 
ing in  a  frame  aud  allowing  it  to  remain  for  a  time.  —  EDS.  AMERICAN 
ARCHITECT.] 


BRITISH  INTEREST  IN  OUR  STRIKES.— According  to  a  report  from  the 
Br.tUh  Minister  at  Washington,  which  has  just  been  laid  before  Parlia- 
ment, since  the  beginning  of  1887  there  have  been  1,01)0  strikes  in  the 
United  States,  anil  of  the  KM), (MM)  men  engaged  in  them  2f>,000  to  50,000 
are  still  out.  The  most  serious  was  that  of  the  New  Jersey  coal-hand- 
lers, which  involved  a  loss  in  wages  to  those  engaged  of  more  than 
£500,0<J<>.  The  cost  to  the  workers  of  the  Pennsylvania]]  coke-workers' 
strike  of  the  Spring,  in  which  18,000  men  were  engaged  for  10  weeks 
was  about  £200,000  in  wages  More  than  two-thirds  of  the  strikes  be- 
tween January  and  July,  1887,  were  fruitless  and  only  brought  loss  and 
suffering  to  those  engaged  11  them.  As  a  whole,  about  38  per  cent., 
or  more  than  a  third  of  the  strikers  in  1887,  succeeded  in  getting  their 
demands,  against  20  per  cent  in  18W.  It  is  calculated  that  nearly 
10,000,000  days'  work  and  wages  were  lost. —  Pull  Hall  tiazttte. 

DONE  IN  A  MINUTE.  — "  Well,  well,  don't  frut ;  I'll  be  there  in  a 
minute." 

But,  my  friend,  a  minute  means  a  good  deal,  notwithstanding  you 
affect  to  hold  it  of  no  consequence.  Did  you  ever  stop  to  think  what 
may  happen  in  a  minute  ;  No.  Well,  while  you  are  murdering  a  min- 
ute for  yourself  and  one  for  me,  before  you  get  ready  to  sit  down  to 
the  business  we  have  in  hand,  1  will  amuse  you  by  telling  you  some 
things  that  will  happen  meantime. 

In  a  minute  we  shall  be  whirled  around  on  the  outside  of  the  earth 
by  its  diurnal  motion  a  distance  of  13  miles.  At  the  same  time  we  shall 
have  gone  along  with  the  earth,  in  its  grand  journey  around  the  sun 


276 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.       [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  650. 


1,080  miles.  Pretty  quick  travelling  you  say  ?  Why,  that  is  slow  work 
compared  with  the  rate  of  travel  of  that  ray  of  light  which  just  now  re- 
flected from  that  mirror  made  you  wink.  A  minute  ago  that  ray  was 
11,1(50,000  miles  away. 

In  a  minute,  over  all  the  world,  about  eighty  new-born  infants  hare 
each  raised  a  wail  of  protest  at  the  fates  for  thrusting  existence  upon 
them,  while  as  many  more  human  beings,  weary  witli  the  struggle  of 
life,  have  opened  their  lips  to  utter  their  last  sigh. 

In  a  minute  the  lowest  sound  your  ear  can  catch  has  been  made  by 

000  vibrations,   while   the   highest    tone    reached    you   after   making 
2,228,000  vibrations. 

In  a  minute  an  express  train  goes  a  mile  and  a  Cleveland  street-car 
32  rods  ;  the  fastest  trotting  horse,  147  0-1:5  rods,  and  an  average  pedes- 
trian of  the  genus  homo  lias  got  over  16  rods. 

In  each  minute  in  the  _ United  States,  night  and  dayF>  all  the  year 
round,  twenty-four  barrels  of  beer  have  to  go  down  12,00(3  throats,  and 
4,830  bushels  of  grain  have  come  to  bin. 

If  there  were  a  box  kept  at  the  City  Hall  in  the  city  of  Cleveland 
into  which  every  minute  a  sum  sufficient  to  pay  the  interest  on  the  city 
debt  had  to  be  dropped,  the  sum  so  dropped  each  minute  of  the  whole 
year  would  be  87  cents. 

How  about  national  finances  .'  Well,  sir,  in  the  same  way,  each 
minute,  night  and  day,  by  the  official  reports  for  the  year  188H,  the 
United  States  collected  §(339  and  spent  §461  ;  $178  more  than  necessary. 
The  interest  on  the  public  debt  was  $96  a  minute,  or  just  exactly  equal 
to  the  amount  of  silver  mined  in  that  time. 

Now,  in  the  residue  of  figures  I  give,  you  will  remember  that  they 
represent  so  much  for  every  minute  in  the  year.  All  the  preceding 
figures  should  be  so  considered.  And  remember,  also,  that  we  are  all 
the  time,  hereafter  talking  about  facts  connected  with  the  whole  United 
States. 

The  telephone  is  used  595  times  the  telegraph  130  times.  Of  tobacco, 
025  pounds  are  raised,  and  part  of  it  has  been  used  in  making  6,673 
cigars,  and  some  more  of  it  has  gone  up  in  the  smoke  of  2,292  cigar- 
ettes. 

But  I  am  afraid  that  you  will  forget  that  we  are  talking  about  a  min- 
ute, sixty  seconds  of  time.  No  ?  \Vell,  then,  every  minute  600  pounds 
of  wool  grow  in  this  country,  and  we  have  to  dig  sixty-one  tons  of  an- 
thracite coal  and  300  tons  of  bituminous  coal,  while  of  pig  iron  we  turn 
out  twelve  tons  and  of  steel  rails  three  tons. 

In  this  minute  you  have  kept  me  waiting,  fifteen  kegs  of  nails  have 
been  made,  twelve  bales  of  cotton  from  the  fields,  and  thirty-six  bushels 
of  grain  gone  into  149  gallons  of  spirits,  while  .$66  in  gold  should  have 
been  dug  out  of  the  earth.  In  the  same  time  the  United  States  mint 
turned  out  gold  and  silver  coin  to  the  value  of  §121,  and  forty-two  acres 
of  the  public  domain  have  been  sold  or  given  away.  —  Cleveland  Press. 

RUSKIN'S  GUILD  OF  ST.  GEORGE.  —  The  enthusiastic  beginning  and 
the  rather  sad  decline  of  Ruskin's  "  Guild  of  St.  George,"  which  was  to 
elevate  manual  labor  and  the  taste  of  the  British  public  in  literature 
and  art,  is  narrated  by  Philip  G.  Hubert,  Jr  ,  in  the  current  number  of 
Lippincalt' s  Magazine.  The  idea  of  the  guild  was  given  in  "  Fors 
('taviyera  "  in  1874.  A  community  was  to  be  formed  in  which  the  work 
should  be  done  with  tools,  —  no  machinery  being  permitted  except  for 
tasks  beyond  human  strength.  Museums  of  mineralogy  and  art  were 
to  be  provided,  and  it  was  expected  that  they  would  serve  as  a  refresh- 
ment to  the  laborer  after  his  toil  was  done.  Children  were  to  be  edu- 
cated in  bravery  and  beauty,  and  the  birthdays  of  heroes  were  to  be 
observed  with  morning  and  evening  services.  There  was  to  be  no 
rivalry,  but  each  member  of  the  guild  bound  himself  to  use  his  efforts 
"  for  the  help,  delight  and  honor  of  others."  The  guild  started  out 
with  Ruskin  as  master  and  thirty-two  "companions."  It  has  at  pres- 
ent not  more  than  sixty  members  Land  on  which  the  experiment 
could  be  carried  out  was  not  obtained  for  several  years,  and  when  it  was 
secured  the  plan  did  not  work.  As  Mr.  Hubert  says  :  "  Farm  laborers 
who  could  grow  good  cabbages  proved  to  be  deaf  to  the  teachings  of 
poetry  and  art ;  poets  who  saw  much  in  the  simple  primrose  were  too 
much  taken  up  in  its  contemplation  to  find  time  for  the  cabbages." 
So  part  of  the  land  is  now  used  as  a  market  garden,  and  other  small 
tracts,  obtained  by  gift  at  various  times,  are  leased.  The  chief  work  of 
the  members  of  the  guild  consists  in  collecting  money  and  material  for 
a  little  museum  at  Sheffield  founded  by  the  guild,  and  in  the  encour- 
agement of  hand-weaving  and  spinning  and  of  handiwork  of  various 
kinds.  The  last  report  issued  by  Ruskin  was  nuu'.e  in  January,  1886, 
and  in  it  he  shows  much  discouragement.  The  lack  of  support  given 
his  scheme  he  attributes  to  "the  hard-hcartedness  incident  to  the  pur- 
suit of  wealth,"  and  says  that  "  from  the  whole  continent  of  America, 
which  pirates  all  my  books  and  disgraces  me  by  base  copies  of  the 
plates  of  them,  I  have  never  had  a  sixpence  sent  to  help  me  in  anything 

1  wanted  to  do." —  Springfield  Republican. 

\  LONG  TUNNEL.. —  A  contract  has  been  entered  into  between  the 
Board  of  Direction  of  the  Valley  of  Mexico  and  Mr.  J.  Gladwyn  Jebb, 
representing  the  London-Mexican  Prospecting  and  Finance  Company, 
limited,  for  the  execution  of  the  work  known  as  the  Toquixquiac  Tun- 
nel. The  work  is  to  cost  82,350,000,  covered  by  7  per  cent  city  bonds, 
issued  at  82  ^  and  running  for  at  least  ten  years,  the  ultimate  period  of 
liquidation  being  fixed  at  thirty  years.  A  sinking  fund  of  1  per  cent, 
per  annum  on  the  total  issue  is  provided  for.  The  limit  fixed  for  the 
completion  of  the  work  is  two  and  a  half  years,  counting  from  the  date 
of  the  formal  transfer  of  the  tunnel  to  the  company,  but  practically 
three  years  are  allowed,  as  it  is  stated  that  each  day  over  three  years 
employed  by  the  company  on  the  work  shall  cause  a  fine  of  $300  to  be 
deducted  from  the  amount  due  the  company  on  final  liquidation.  On 
the  other  hand,  for  each  day  less  than  two-and-a-half  years  saved  by 
the  company,  a  premium  of  §300  shall  be  awarded  them.  It  is  dis- 
tinctly stipulated  that  tiie  money  raised  by  the  emission  of  the  bonds 
shall  be  devoted  exclusively  to  the  tunnel.  The  total  length  of  the  tun- 
nel is  9.520  miles,  of  which  there  is  already  completed  a  trifle  less  than 
1.000  miles.  There  are  to  be  23  shafts,  of  which  5  are  already  sunk. 
The  tunnel  will  be  brick-lined  throughout,  with  an  inner  cement  coat- 


ng,  and  the  stipulations  of  the  tunnel  contract  call  for  first-class  work. 
—  N.  Y.  Evening  Post. 


MANUFACTURERS  and  builders  are  once  again  taking  their  trade  bear- 
ings, with  a  view  of  arriving  at  some  sort  of  an  opinion  as  to  the  probabili- 
ties of  the  coming  six  months.  The  facts  surrounding  the  market  are  as 
follows:  Money  is  in  abundant  supply  and  the  rate  of  interest  low;  in- 
vestors feel  about  as  much  confidence  in  the  general  situation  as  they  have 
done  at  any  time  this  season:  there  are  no  indications  of  coming  disaster; 
there  is  less  apprehension  now  than  at  any  time  for  months  of  any  upset- 
ting tariff  legislation;  financial  questions  will  be  left  to  take  care  of  them- 
selves, and  as  little  legislation  as  possible  will  be  enacted:  all  vexing  issues 
will  be  left  for  the  consideration  of  future  Congresses.  Manufacturers  in  a 
general  way  are  restricting  production,  and  fighting  the  downward  ten- 
dency in  prices  us  well  as  they  ean.  Jobbers  are  distributing  goods  only  to 
meet  the  actual  market  requirements,  and  are  making  no  efforts  to  unload 
stocks  as  they  did  in  former  years,  regardless  of  prices  or  the  ability  of  pur- 
chasers to  pay.  The  volume  of  "paper"  is  a  little  larger  than  it  has  been 
for  some  time,  but  has  not  reached  dangerous  proportions,  and  the  greatest 
care  is  taken  by  merchants  and  manufacturers  as  to  the  extension  of  credits. 
Just  at  this  time  a  good  deal  of  apprehension  is  felt  by  investors  and  dealers 
in  bonds  and  securities,  lest  railroad  matters,  which  have  been  thus  far  kept 
pretty  well  in  hand,  for  some  reason,  should  become  unruly.  The  troubles  in 
the  railroad  situation,  when  reduced  to  our  level,  are  these:  There  is  a  falling 
off  in  the  volume  of  traffic  and  a  consequent  increase  in  the  competition  for 
traffic:  the  railroad  war  in  the  Northwest  has  not  abated;  Dominion  lines 
are  still  monopolizing  a  good  deal  of  the  freight  traffic;  in  fact,  nearly  all  of 
the  railroad  companies  between  the  Mississippi  River  and  the  Pacific,  are 
as  hastily  as  possible  readjusting  freight  rates,  lest  the  Inter-state  Com- 
merce Commission  come  down  on  them  with  heavy  hands.  One  of  the 
favorable  features  of  the  situation  is  the  large  amount  of  money  that  is 
anxiously  awaiting  investment,  despite  the  fact  that  prices  have  been  point- 
ing downward,  railway  traffic  diminishing,  freights  lower  than  a  year  ago, 
there  is  to-day,  if  the  truth  were  known,  more  money  awaiting  investment 
than  last  year.  This  is  not  difficult  to  explain,  from  the  fact  that  any  one 
who  has  any  knowledge  of  business,  firmly  believes  that  during  the  next 
twelve  mouths,  wide  and  more  abundant  opportunities  will  be  opened  for 
capital  and  enterprise  than  there  have  ever  been  A  great  deal  of  money  is 
seeking  investment  in  Mexico  and  Central  America;  a  few  long-headed  men 
are  now  engaged  in  schemes  involving  the  outlay  of  a  considerable  capital  in 
South  America.  A  few  months  ago  a  good  deal  of  apprehension  was  ex- 
pressed over  these  lavish  expenditures  of  the  people's  earnings,  and  the  pre- 
diction was  made  that  the  outcome  would  be  financial  stringency;  this  pre- 
diction lias  proven  false.  There  is  as  great  a  volume  of  money  now  in 
bank,  if  not  greater;  the  surplus  reserve  in  New  York  is  larger,  and  every- 
thing goes  to  show  that  the  opportunities  for  investment  will  be  seized  just 
as  soon  as  the  depressing  influences  which  control  the  market  at  present 
shall  have  disappeared.  Quite  a  number  of  prominent  architects  in  the 
West  have  given  it  as  their  opinion  that  the  present  lull  in  activity  will  be 
followed  by  a  healthful  revival,  although  not  of  sufficient  dimensions  this 
season  to  make  the  volume  of  business  up  to  that  of  last  year.  Plans  are 
being  made  this  year,  which  will,  in  their  opinion,  be  carried  out  next  year. 
Throughout  the  West  all  kinds  of  building  material  are  in  abundance  and" 
cheap.  The  demand  for  lumber  in  all  Western  markets  is  very  heavy; 
prices  have  declined  recently,  and  may  drop  a  little  more.  The  iron  trade 
is  in  an  unsettled  condition,  and  competition  in  the  crude  product,  between 
Alabama  and  Pennsylvania,  is  causing  a  great  deal  of  disquietude.  Con- 
sumers are  profiting  by  it,  and  the  producing  interests  themselves  will  be 
benefited  by  it  in  the  long  run.  Steel-rails  have  dropped  to  $30  — the 
lowest  point  for  two  years  —  in  the  East.  Large  contracts  cannot  be  had 
even  at  this  price.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  new  mileage  projected,  and  the 
probabilities  are  that  when  everything  is  rounded  and  evened  up,  there  will 
be  a  steady,  healthy  demand  for  all  kinds  of  mill  and  furnace  products;  but 
for  the  present  iron  and  steel  makers  must  be  content  with  what  they  are 
able  to  do.  The  leading  spirits  in  the  iron  trade,  show  their  confidence  in 
an  ultimate  satisfactory  outcome,  by  projecting  new  furnaces  and  building 
additions  to  their  mills.  Several  large  steel-mills  are  under  contract  at 
this  time;  this  can  be  accounted  for  on  the  grounds  that  steel  is  rapidly 
taking  the  place  of  iron  for  a  large  number  of  uses.  As  soon  as  railroad 
earnings  show  an  improvement  there  will  be  large  outlays  for  engines,  cars, 
rails  and  track-supplies  generally.  The  spirit  of  economy  has  seized  the 
management  of  a  good  many  systems;  but  it  will  not  rule  very  long.  A 
very  interesting  industrial  feature  of  the  present  time,  is  the  migratioa  of 
the  industries  from  one  point  to  another  where  economy  in  manufacture 
and  better  traffic  facilities  can  be  secured.  Northern  industries  are  moving 
South;  some  Southern  establishments  are  coming  North;  Eastern  indus- 
tries are  going  West  to  take  advantage,  in  mo.«t  cases,  of  natural-gas  fuel; 
some  Western  concerns  have  come  farther  East.  Glass-makers  from  all 
sections  are  flocking  from  old  established  centres  to  Ohio  and  Indiana,  to 
use  Natural  gas.  Large  industries  located  in  cities  are  moving  into  country 
places,  and  a  variety  of  changes  are  being  made,- which  show  that  the  new 
forces  which  have  come  into  play,  viz..  abundant  and  cheap  fuel  in  new 
sections  and  new  transportation  facilities,  are  bringing  about  a  readjust- 
ment and  rearrangement.  In  addition  to  this,  the  host  of  little  industries 
springing  up  in  the  far  West,  are  creating  new  markets.  This  spreading 
of  the  industries  into  new  fields,  is  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  one  of  the 
largest  steel-works  in  the  country  is  being  built  near  Chicago.  Large  cast- 
ing and  stove  works  are  projected  far  West  of  the  Mississippi.  One  of  the 
largest  blast-furnaces  in  the  country  is  being  erected  at  Diiluth ;  flonring- 
mills  are  projected  there,  on  a  larger  scale  then  even  in  Minneapolis.  A 
multitude  of  machine-shops  are  going  up  along  the  lines  of  new  railroads. 
A  decentralization  of  industries  is  in  progress,  which  will  soon  make  the 
far  West  and  South  as  thoroughly  industrial  in  character  as  the  New  Eng- 
land and  Middle  States  have  been  for  thirty  years  past.  This  is  a 
strengthening  process.  Our  weakuess  in  past  decades  was,  that  one  section 
made  iron;  another  produced  coal;  one  grew  cotton  and  another  wheat. 
These  conditions  are  changing  rapidly;  hereafter  there  will  be  no  purely 
agricultural  or  cotton,  or  manufacturing  section.  The  diversification  in 
progress  will  result  in  an  enormous  multiplication  of  exchanges  that  will 
expand  the  need  for  commercial,  financial,  railroad,  and  all  kinds  of  busi- 
ness and  professional  services. 

S.  J.  PARKHILL  &  Co.,  Printers,  Boston. 


THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  AND  BUILDING  NEWS. 


VOL.  xxiii. 


Copyright,  1888,  by  TICK.VOB  ft  COMPANY,  Bo*ton,  Man. 


No.  651 


JUNE  16. 1888. 


Entered  at  the  Po«t-Offlce  at  Boston  mn  »econj-claw  matter. 


SUMMARY:  — 

Independent  Work  done  by  Draughtsmen  Out  of  Hours.  — 
One  of  the  Dangers  of  the  Bath.  —  German  Methods  of 
Mixing  and  Finishing  Cement  Concrete.  —  Ix'ad  vs.  Iron  ffer 
Soil-pipes. — The  Possibilities  of  obtaining  better  Iron  Soil- 
pipe. —  A  New  Form  of  Hospital  Pavilion 277 

SOME  AMERICAN  MONUMENTS.  —  IV 278 

ILLUSTRATIONS  :  — 

Tin-  Bank  of  Montreal,  Montreal,  Canada.  —  Competitive 
Design  for  the  City-hall,  Cambridge,  Mass.  — Tower  of  the 
New  Station  for  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railroad,  Montreal, 
P.  Q.  —  New  Premises  for  the  United  States  Trust  Company, 
Wall  St.,  New  York.  —  Design  for  Dedham  Inn,  Dcdham, 
Mass.  —  Design  for  a  Country  Club-house  ami  a  Country 

House.  —  House  at  Washington,  Pa 282 

MEDIEVAL  HOUSES.  —  1 282 

ExilIIIITION  FOR  THK  PREVENTION  OF  ACCIDENTS 284 

NOTES  FROM  GERMAN  SOURCES 286 

BOCKLIN  ANI>  HIS  NEW  PICTURE 280 

NOTES  AND  CLIPPINGS 287 

TRADE  SURVEYS 288 


?  1 1 E  British  Architect  entirely  approves  the  measure  now 
under  consideration  by  the  Illinois  State  Association  of 
Architects,  by  which  it  is  made  an  offence,  to  be  punished 
by  expulsion  from  the  Association,  for  any  member  to  allow 
draughtsmen  in  his  office  to  do  work  as  architects  in  their  own 
name,  either  in  or  out  of  office  hours.  Although  the  adoption 
of  this  rule  will  seem  rather  harsh  to  a  good  many  ambitious 
assistants,  who  entertain  dreams  of  rising  to  sudden  fortune 
through  the  winning  of  some  great  competition  by  designs 
made  out  of  office  hours,  there  can  be,  as  it  seems  to  us,  no 
doubt  that  it  would  in  the  end  be  advantageous  for  assistants 
as  well  as  architects.  Mr.  Wightwick,  in  his  invaluable  book, 
"  Hints  to  Yvung  Architects"  lays  down,  as  a  maxim  to 
be  kept  in  mind  by  every  young  man  employed  in  an  archi- 
tect's office,  that  "  the  better  he  serves  his  master,  the  better 
he  will  serve  himself ; "  and  this  is  true  to  an  extent  which 
even  architects  hardly  realize.  There  are,  or  were  in  our  day, 
certain  draughtsmen  who  maintain  a  sort  of  chronic  belligerency 
toward  their  employers  in  particular,  and  all  employers  of 
draughtsmen  in  general.  These,  when  they  can  get  an  audi- 
ence of  assistants  around  them,  indulge  in  long  harangues  about 
the  injustice  of  those  architects  who  object  to  having  their 
draughtsmen  do  what  they  see  fit  out  of  office  hours,  and  en- 
courage the  discontented  ones  to  try  to  "  better  themselves  " 
by  surreptitious  outside  work.  We  have  known  cases  where 
seed  of  this  kind,  falling  on  congenial  ground,  has  blossomed 
into  the  purloining  of  quite  a  gallery  of  photographs  of  the 
master's  work,  to  be  reproduced  at  a  small  scale,  and  sent 
about,  with  the  name  of  the  .enterprising  draughtsman  attached 
to  them  ;  or  into  a  private  arrangement  between  an  unscrupu- 
lous client  of  the  architect  and  an  unprincipled  draughtsman, 
by  which  an  important  commission  was  withdrawn  from  the 
office,  on  a  flimsy  pretext,  and  handed  over  to  the  draughtsman, 
who  resigned  his  position  just  in  time  to  carry  out  his  former 
employer's  design ;  but  even  where  a  young  man  shrinks  from 
such  gross  rascality  as  this,  he  will  often  spend  many  hours, 
when  he  ought  to  be  in  bed,  in  pursuing  some  ignis  fatuus  of  a 
competition,  with  no  better  result  than  unfitting  him  for  his 
regular  duties,  and  exposing  kim  to  the  suspicion  of  his  em- 
ployer, who  is  sure  to  notice  his  lukewarm  zeal  in  his  service, 
and  his  languid,  sleepy  way  of  doing  his  work,  and  to  mark 
him  silently  as  the  first  to  be  discharged,  if  it  should  be  neces- 
sary to  reduce  the  office  force.  It  must  never  be  forgotten 
by  draughtsmen  who  hope  to  advance  in  their  profession  that 
the  way  to  make  themselves  valuable  is  to  enter  thoroughly 
and  heartily  into  their  employer's  plans ;  to  see  that  their  own 
work  goes  on  smoothly,  quickly  and  with  due  regard  to  that  of 
others ;  to  remember  that  an  hour's  delay  in  the  completion  of 
their  part  of  a  set  of  drawings,  or  neglect  to  deliver  them  to 
the  proper  person  when  completed,  is  likely  to  cause  serious 
loss  and  annoyance,  and,  so  far  as  possible,  to  try  to  under- 


stand just  how  their  master  wishes  the  office  work  to  be  con- 
ducted, and  then  to  do  their  part  to  have  it  move  along  in 
exactly  this  way.  with  the  care  and  zeal  which  he  would  him- 
self devote  to  it.  This  may  seem  like  unreasonable  faithful- 
ness ;  but  any  architect  will  testify  that  the  ability  to  carry  on 
an  office  with  smoothness  and  economy  is  the  most  profilahlr 
of  all  professional  accomplishments.  Without  it,  neither 
colossal  genius,  nor  unlimited  employment,  will  enable  an  ar- 
chitect to  earn  a  comfortable  living;  with  it,  a  small  business 
will  lead  surely,  though  perhaps  slowly,  to  fortune ;  and  this 
accomplishment  can  only  be  acquired  through  the  sort  of 
practice  in  which  a  faithful  head-draughtsman  is  trained. 


N  extraordinary  accident  is  reported  to  have  occurred  re- 
cently  in  London,  and  the  attention  of  architects  is 
publicly  called  to  the  dangers  which  follow  from  their 
well-known  ignorance,  carelessness  and  so  on.  It  appears  that 
an  old  gentleman  was  recently  found  dead  in  his  bath-tub ;  and 
the  inquest  showed  that  death  had  resulted  "  from  syncope  due 
to  the  excessive  heat  of  the  bath-room,  and  the  effect  of  the 
moist  vapor  which  had  accumulated  in  it."  The  coroner,  in 
reporting  upon  the  case,  asserted  that  such  occurrences  are  not 
rare.  The  moral  which  the  Lancet  draws  from  the  circum- 
stance is  that  architects  are  to  blame  for  expending  less  study 
upon  the  proportions  of  bath-rooms  than  of  their  state  apart- 
ments. A  bath-room,  it  says,  ought  rather  to  exceed  than  fall 
below  the  capacity  of  seven  hundred  cubic  feet  which  "  hygiene 
recognizes  as  the  minimum  allowable  for  an  inhabited  room ;  " 
and  "ventilators,  with  perhaps  hoods,  should  always  be  pro- 
vided to  carry  off  the  excess  of  vapor."  It  is  rather  surprising 
to  find  an  Englishman  ascribing  to  baths  those  fatal  qualities 
which  the  imagination  of  the  Polish  Jew  attributes  to  any 
method  of  applying  water  to  the  skin ;  but  we  must  remember 
that  in  this  case  it  is  not  the  cold  douche  of  the  portable  hat- 
tub  which  is  referred  to,  but  the  warm  bath,  a  much  less 
familiar  affair  in  England.  As  our  readers  know,  the  ordinary 
method  of  preparing  for  the  enjoyment  of  one  of  these  luxuries 
in  England  is  to  fill  a  tub  with  cold  water,  and  attach  a  little 
lamp,  and  then  wait  quietly  until  the  water  is  warmed  to  the 
taste.  Most  people's  patience  gives  out  long  before  the  water 
is  more  than  lukewarm,  and  in  any  case  there  is  little  danger 
of  syncope  from  excessive  heat  or  vapor  likely  to  be  generated 
by  this  contrivance ;  but  it  might  possibly  happen  that  an 
overfed  old  gentleman,  meeting  with  some  more  powerful 
apparatus  than  usual,  would  go  to  sleep  after  setting  it  in  oper- 
ation, and  wake  to  find  himself  surrounded  by  vapor.  Under 
such  circumstances  the  impulse  of  an  American  would  be  to 
extinguish  the  lamp,  or  turn  off  the  hot  water,  as  the  case 
might  be ;  but  Englishmen  seem  to  suffer  a  sort  of  paralysis  in 
a  warm  atmosphere,  and  the  only  thing  which  the  numerous 
victims  of  these  accidents  seem  to  think  of  is  to  lie  down  at 
once,  and  die  in  peace. 


FT  II.  E.  DYCKERHOFF,  a  firsts-ate  authority  on  the  sub- 
Jol'ject,  has  written  in  the  Deutsche  Bauzeitung  a  series  of 
articles  on  cement  and  concrete,  which  are  valuable,  as 
containing  the  result  of  long  and  intelligent  study  and  practice. 
So  far  as  theory  is  concerned,  Mr.  Dyckerhoff's  observations 
do  not  differ  from  those  of  other  writers.  To  mix  the  matrix 
and  the  aggregate  well  together,  so  that  every  particle  of  sand 
or  stone  shall  be  completely  surrounded  by  cement  or  mortar, 
is  the  essence  of  his,  as  of  all  other  good  methods  of  preparing 
concrete.  For  this  purpose  he  employs,  in  making  concrete  for 
foundations,  one  part  Portland  cement,  with  six  to  eight  parts 
sand,  and  six  to  eight  parts  screened  pebbles,  or  eight  to  tea 
parts  of  broken  stone.  For  walls,  piers,  and  vaulted  floors,  or 
other  constructions  subject  to  a  cross  strain,  one  part  cement  is 
used  to  five  or  six  parts  sand,  and  five  or  six  parts  screenings, 
or  seven  to  eight  parts  broken  stone.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to 
say  that  such  concrete  as  this,  containing  less  than  half  the 
usual  proportion  of  cement,  can  only  be  made  suitable  for  use 
by  very  careful  and  thorough  mixing,  and  the  principal  lesson 
to  be  learned  from  Mr.  Dyckerhoff's  paper  is,  in  fact,  that  care 
and  skill  in  manipulation  will  generally  take  the  place,  with  ad- 
vantage, of  at  least  half  the  cement  in  most  processes  where 
cement  is  employed.  In  determining  whether  six  or  eight 
parts  of  sand  shall  be  used  to  one  of  cement,  Mr.  Dyckerhoff 


278 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.    [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  651. 


leaves  nothing  to  chance.  Where  the  sand  is  of  unknown 
quality,  samples  are  mixed  with  varying  doses  of  cements,  and, 
after  setting,  tested  both  for  tensile  and  crushing  resistance, 
and  the  proportions  found  to  be  most  suitable  for  that  particu- 
lar sand  are  rigidly  followed.  Nothing,  as  he  says,  can  be  told 
about  the  quality  of  sand  from  its  appearance,  provided,  of 
course,  that  it  is  free  from  clay  or  loam  ;  and  samples  of  doubt- 
ful aspect  will  often  give  a  concrete  surpassing  in  strength  that 
made  from  much  brighter  and  better  looking  sand. 


FTER  the  best  proportions  of  the  materials  are  determined, 
they  are  maintained  with  a  precision  unknown  to  the  prac- 
tice  of  the  average  builder.  The  cement  is  never  meas- 
ured, for  the  reason  that  it  settles  more  or  less  closely  in  the 
measure,  according  to  the  rapidity  with  which  it  is  filled,  and 
the  actual  quantity  contained  in  a  given  volume  will  thus  vary. 
Instead  of  this,  a  bag  of  cement,  which  always  contains  a  cer- 
tain weight,  and  thus  a  standard  volume,  is  taken,  and  the  re- 
quisite amount  of  sand  and  pebbles  for  mixing  with  this  quan- 
tity of  cement  is  then  laid  out  by  means  of  a  measure,  which, 
for  these  materials,  gives  sufficiently  accurate  results.  The 
pebbles  are  piled  separately,  and  the  sand  is  spread  out  in  a 
"  pen  "  of  clean  close-jointed  planks,  and  the  cement  spread 
over  it.  The  whole  is  then  thoroughly  turned  over,  dry,  three 
or  four  times,  according  to  the  character  of  the  sand;  and, 
after  adding,  in  one  dose,  the  necessary  quantity  of  water,  the 
mortar  is  turned  three  times  more,  forming  a  uniform, 
slightly  damp  mass.  The  pebbles  or  broken  stones,  which  have 
meanwhile  been  well  washed,  and  left  a  little  moist,  are  then 
added,  and  the  whole  turned  two  or  three  times  more,  as  may 
be  necessary  to  coat  all  the  stones  completely  with  mortar. 
This  point  is  regarded  as  of  the  utmost  importance,  and  even 
during  the  transportation  of  the  concrete  to  the  place  where  it 
is  to  be  used,  the  workmen  are  required  to  watch  it,  and  push 
the  stones  that  may  be  shaken  to  the  surface  by  the  jolting  of 
the  cart  back  again  into  the  soft  mass,  before  they  have  time 
to  dry.  On  reaching  their  destination,  the  carts  are  unloaded 
as  near  as  possible  to  the  intended  position  of  the  concrete, 
which  is  then  placed  carefully  in  the  trenches,  by  experienced 
workmen,  in  layers  about  eight  inches  deep,  the  men  keeping 
always  careful  watch,  to  see  that  all  the  pebbles  are  completely 
surrounded  by  mortar ;  then  strong  laborers  compress  the  lay- 
ers with  wooden  rammers,  shod  with  iron,  until  a  film  of  water 
appears  on  the  surface.  In  all  cases,  in  Mr.  Dyckerhoff 's  prac- 
tice, the  work  is  done  by  thoroughly  experienced  men,  under 
the  constant  supervision  of  an  expert,  this  care  being,  in  his 
opinion,  necessary  to  success. 

WHERE  the  concrete  is  used  for  building  above  ground,  it 
is  generally  necessary,  after  the  walls  are  completed,  to 
give  them  a  finishing  coat,  to  cover  the  roughnesses  in- 
cidental to  the  first  moulding.  This  is  done  with  a  mixture  of 
one  part  Portland  cement  with  two  or  two  and  one-half  parts 
of  sharp  sand,  to  which  is  added, -unless  the  sand  contains  fine 
particles,  about  one-tenth  of  a  part  of  fat  lime,  in  the  form  of 
whitewash,  or  thin  "putty,"  in  order  to  make  the  mortar  work 
smoothly  and  easily.  After  thoroughly  washing  the  concrete 
walls  with  water,  applied  with  a  broom,  and  hacking'  any 
smooth  places,  the  mortar  is  applied  in  two  or  three  layers,  to 
a  total  depth  of  about  three-eighths  of  an  inch,  straightened 
with  a  straight-edge,  and  rubbed  down  carefully  with  a  wooden 
float.  When  this  has  set,  a  thin  coat  of  clear  cement  is  applied 
with  a  wooden  tool,  and  rubbed  down  with  a  float  covered  with 
felt.  All  smoothing  with  iron  or  steel  trowels  or  floats  is 
avoided,  as  it  is  found  that  these  dispose  the  mortar  to  blister 
and  crack.  For  surfaces  exposed  to  water,  the  last  application 
is  omitted,  and  dry  cement  is  sprinkled  over  the  damp  surface 
of  the  smoothing  coat,  and  rubbed  down  with  a  polishing  trowel, 
or  with  a  burnisher. 


•TT  LECTURE  was  recently  delivered  before  the  Architec- 
rj[  tural  Sketch-Club  of  Chicago  by  Mr.  Martin  Moylan,  on 
'  "  Practical  Plumbing,"  which  has  attracted  a  good  deal  of 
attention  in  the  trade,  as  well  as  among  the  architects  of  the 
city.  As  reported  in  the  Sanitary  News,  the  lecture  was 
devoted  mainly  to  waste  and  ventilation  pipes,  which,  as  Mr. 
Moylan  truly  said,  are  the  least  satisfactory  of  the  plumbing 
appliances  at  present  in  use.  It  will  surprise  a  good  many 


architects  to  hear  that  Mr.  Moylan  greatly  prefers  lead  for  soil- 
pipes,  and  in  the  model  drainage-system  which  he  described, 
all  the  waste-pipes  were  to  be  of  lead,  extra  thick,  carried 
straight  up  in  partitions  set  with  six-inch  studs  for  the  purpose, 
and  attached  to  the  studding  by  means  of  brass  lugs,  soldered 
to  the  pipe,  and  supported  by  pipe-rests,  fastened  to  the  studs, 
leaving  the  portion  of  the  pipe  passing  through  the  floor  always 
free  for  inspection.  With  waste-pipes  of  this  sort,  tested  by 
hydrostatic  pressure,  and  back-vents  rather  restricted  in 
number,  and  carefully  planned  to  avoid  "  by-passes,"  Mr. 
Moylan  thinks  the  drainage  of  his  model  house  would  be  as 
perfect  as  the  present  condition  of  the  plumbing  art  admits ; 
and  he  called  upon  his  hearers  to  eliminate  from  their  specifica- 
tions all  mention  of  iron  soil-pipes,  which,  as  he  says,  are  of 
very  jnferior  quality,  apt  to  contain  sand-holes  or  cracks,  and 
liable  to  fill  with  rust,  even  if  the  plumber  succeeds  in  putting 
them  together  so  as  to  make  them  temporarily  tight. 

IT  is  probably  true,  as  Mr.  Moylan  says,  that  iron  pipe  for 
plumber's  use  is  of  very  inferior  quality,  but  at  present 
prices  for  such  pipe  the  manufacturers  are  certainly  not 
obliged  to  turn  out  bad  pipe  to  save  themselves  from  loss,  and 
we  should  rather  prefer,  instead  of  going  back  to  the  lead  soil- 
pipes  of  fifty  years  ago,  to  try  whether  the  united  efforts  of 
architects,  plumbers  and  inspectors  of  plumbing  could  not  bring 
about  a  change  in  the  morals  of  iron  pipe  makers.  In  Boston 
and  San  Francisco,  for  instance,  soil-pipes  must,  by  law,  be 
tried  by  the  hydrostatic  test,  and  if  this  is  faithfully  applied, 
filling  the  pipes  completely  from  cellar  to  roof,  sand-holes  and 
cracks  have  a  small  chance  of  escaping  detection,  and  the 
manufacturer  of  pipes  containing  them  is  likely  to  lose,  as  a 
customer,  any  plumber  who  finds  himself  compelled  to  take 
down  a  stack  of  pipes  to  remove  a  defective  length.  In  regard 
to  the  other  objection  which  Mr.  Moylan  brings  forward,  that 
iron  pipes  soon  fill  with  rust,  we  think  he  may  have  been  un- 
fortunate in  the  sort  of  coating  applied  to  the  pipes  which  he 
has  used.  It  is  certainly  the  general  opinion  among  architects, 
if  not  among  plumbers,  that  a  pipe  well  coated  with  asphalt 
will  remain  free  from  rust  for  many  years,  and,  in  our  own  ex- 
perience, while  we  have  seen  both  iron  and  lead  pipes  corroded 
entirely  through,  we  have  never  seen  a  cast-iron  pipe  choked 
by  rust.  If  iron  pipe  can  be  properly  made,  and  protected, 
either  by  asphalting  or  by  one  of  the  magnetic  oxide  processes, 
it  has  certainly  many  advantages  over  lead.  A  long  lead  soil- 
pipe,  even  if  supported  as  Mr.  Moylan  advises,  must  suffer 
from  expansion  and  contraction,  which,  it  should  be  remem- 
bered, is  greater  with  lead  than  with  any  other  metal ;  while 
its  softness  exposes  it  to  injury  if  any  alteration  should  be 
made  in  its  vicinity.  We  have  seen  a  lead  soil-pipe,  apparently 
cased  over  securely,  battered  almost  beyond  recognition,  and 
the  gradual  carbonization  of  the  interior  decreases  its  resist- 
ance. Moreover,  according  to  Mr.  Moylan,  the  lead  pipe 
should  be  suspended  from  the  studding,  which  is  liable  to 
settlement,  while  iron  pipe  may  be,  and  often  is,  supported 
from  the  cellar  floor,  like  a  column,  by  means  of  a  base 
specially  fitted  to  it ;  and  even,  in  the  worst  cases,  is  usually 
hung  to  the  comparatively  immovable  brick  walls  instead  of 
being  supported  by  timbers. 


'7T  NEW  sort  of  hospital-building  is  described  in  Le  Genie 
j\  Civil,  which  seems  to  have  many  advantages.  The  prin- 
ciple of  construction  seems  to  be  the  formation  of  an  iron 
shell,  to  which  is  attached  a  wooden  lining  capable  of  being 
readily  removed  and  replaced.  The  lining  keeps  the  room  cool 
in  summer  and  warm  in  winter,  while  steam  and  water  pipes 
can  be  carried  through  it,  and,  by  means  of  a  ridge-ventilator, 
air  can  be  withdrawn  from  the  room  at  any  desired  point  by 
cutting  openings  into  the  space  between  the  two  shells.  After 
being  used  for  a  sufficiently  long  time,  the  structure  may  be 
taken  to  pieces,  the  ironwork  sprayed  with  carbolic  acid,  and 
painted,  and  the  wooden  lining-strips  disinfected  by  baking  or 
by  washing  with  carbolic  acid  or  bichloride  of  mercury,  after 
which  the  whole  can  be  put  together  again  for  renewed  service. 
The  expense  of  this  complete  disinfection  is  estimated  at  five 
per  cent  on  the  original  cost  of  the  structure,  which,  in  Paris, 
is  about  five  hundred  dollars  for  each  bed,  for  a  twelve-bed 
pavilion,  including  all  the  iron-work,  carpentry,  painting  and 
glazing,  plumbing,  gas-fitting  and  steam-heating,  together  with 
the  beds  and  mattresses. 


JUNK  16,  1888.] 


Tlie   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


279 


SOME    AMERICAN    MONUMENTS.1  — IV. 

TO   MAJOR-GENERAL    ISRAEL    PUTNAM. 

1 1  f  II E  fi rst  memorial 
JJJ.  erected    to    Put- 
nam, was  an  old- 
fashioned  briek  tomb, 
covered  with  a  stone 
slab,  and  placed  over 
his  grave  in  the  town 
>.  of    Brooklyn,    Wind- 

ham  County,  Connec- 
ticut.    It  is  believed 
to  have  been  erected 
.Q—_    by   his    family.     The 
IM   1O/O.  sione    sian   tare    the 

BROOKLYN    CORM.  following  inscription, 

prepared  for  the  purpose,  by  Timothy  Dwight,  President  of  Yale 
College : 

SACRED   BE    THIS    MONUMENT 
TO    THE    MEMORY 

OF 

ISRAEL    PUTNAM,    ESQUIRE, 
SENIOR    MAJOR    GENERAL   IN    THE    ARMIES 

•OF 
THE    UNITED    STATES   OF    AMERICA, 

WHO 

WAS    BORN    AT   SALEM, 

IN    THE    PROVINCE    OF    MASSACHUSETTS, 

ON    THE    7TII   OF   JANUARY 

A.    D.    1718, 

AND    DIED 

ON   THE    19TH    OF    MAY 
A.    D.    1790. 


PASSENGER, 

IF  THOU  ART  A  SOLDIER, 
DROP  A  TEAR  OVER  THE  DUST  OK  A  HERO 

WHO 

EVER   ATTENTIVE 
TO    THE   LIVES   AND    HAPPINESS    OF   HIS    MEN, 

DARED    TO    LEAD 
WHERE   ANY    DARED   TO    FOLLOW; 

IF    A    PATRIOT, 
KEM EMBER   THE   DISTINGUISHED    AND   GALLANT   SERVICES 

RENDERED    THY    COUNTRY 

BY   THE    PATRIOT    WHO   SLEEPS    BENEATH    THIS    MARBLE; 

IF    THOU    ART    HONEST,    GENEROUS    AND    WORTHY, 

RENDER    A    CHEERFUL   TRIBUTE   OF    RESPECT 

TO    A    MAN 

WHOSE   GENEROSITY   WAS    SINGULAR, 
WHOSE    HONESTY   WAS    PROVERBIAL  j 

WHO 

RAISED    HIMSELF    TO    UNIVERSAL   ESTEEM, 

AND   OFFICES   OF    EMM1NENT    DISTINCTION, 

BY   PERSONAL    WORTH 

AND    A 
USEFUL   LIFE. 


Until  1875  the  tomb  was  in  a  good  state  of  preservation,  but  at 
the  end  of  the  succeeding  eleven  years  it  showed  the  desolating 

marks  of  the  sacrilegious  rel- 
ic-hunter. 

On  one  occasion  Mr.  D.  P. 
Tyler,  sought  to  preserve  the 
slab  by  taking  it  to  his  home, 
but  it  was  afterwards  replac- 
ed. 

Recently,  Mr.  W.  H.  Put- 
nam, a  descendant  of  the 
General,  has  signified  his  de- 
sire to  present  it  to  the  Con- 
necticut Historical  Society. 
Near  the  tomb  are  two  slabs, 
resting  over  tiie  remains  of 
Putnam's  wife  and  two  young 
sons. 

THE   PUTNAM    STATUE. 

Judge  Joseph  P.  Allyn,  of 
Hartford,  Connecticut,  who 
died  in  1869,  left  by  his  will 
five  thousand  dollars  in  trust 
to  his  father  "Timothy  M. 
Allyn,  Charles  Dudley  'War- 
ner and  Marshall  Jewell,  for 
the  purpose  of  procuring  a 
piece  of  statuary  to  be  placed 
in  the  Park  at  Hartford."  And  he  added,  "  should  others  be  willing 
to  add  to  this  sum  with  the  design  of  securing  a  more  valuable  speci- 
men of  art,  that  would  adorn  our  city,  these  trustees  are  at  liberty 

'Continued  from  page  270,  l{o.  660. 


AS  IT  APPEALED 
IH     1S86. 


to  unite  with  them  in  accomplishing  the  object."  The  father  of 
Judge  Allyn  also  gave  five  thousand  dollars,  and  the  subject  to  be 
executed,  as  chosen  by  the  trustees,  was  a  bronze  statue  of  General 
Putnam.  The  order  for  the  statue  was  given  directly  to  Mr.  J.  Q. 
A.  Ward,  of  New  York.  It  was  dedicated  June  17,  1874,  with  ex- 
tensive military  and  civic  ceremonies.  The  statue2  is  eight  feet  high, 
standing  upon  a  pedestal  of  granite  ten  feet  high,  designed  by  Mr. 
R.  M.  Hunt,  of  New  York.  The  latter  cost  two  thousand  dollars, 
and  was  paid  for  by  the  city  of  Hartford.  In  presenting  the  statue 
to  the  city,  at  the  time  of  its  dedication,  Mr.  Warner  said,  "  Perhaps 
it  is  pro|Hjr  for  me  to  add  that  Mr.  Ward,  working  without  other 
authentic  portrait  than  a  mere  sketch,  and  yet  obliged  to  conform  to 
the  popular  idea  of  Putnam  in  the  traditional  likeness,  has  sought  to 
reproduce  the  hero  of  the  people,  and  at  the  same  time  to  attain  a 
dignified  expression  of  the  spirit  and  gallantry  of  the  Revolutionary 
time.  His  figure  is  that  of  Putnam  the  soldier."  The  Hartford 
Courant,  of  which  Mr.  Warner  is  editor,  of  June  18th,  gave  the  fol- 
lowing description  of  the  statue :  "  The  figure  is  clad  in  the  uniform 
of  a  Major-General  of  his  time.  The  costume  is  closely  studied  from 
uniforms  of  the  period,  and  it  happens  to  be  as  well  adapted  to  an 
heroic  figure  as  any  classic  drapery.  The  soldier  stands  erect,  and 
in  an  attitude  of  motion,  about  to  step  forward,  as  if  he  had  just 
been  summoned.  In  his  right  hand,  and  by  his  side,  he  holds  his 
military  chapeau;  in  his  left  he  has  grasped  his  sword  and  belt, 
which  he  presses  to  his  left  side  as  if  in  some  haste.  The  sword,  with 


Philip  the  Good.  Charlei  the  Bold. 

From  the  Tomb  of  Mtximil'ian,  Innspruck. 

its  lion-headed  hilt,  is  a  study  from  Putnam's  own  sword  now  de- 
posited in  our  Historical  rooms. 

"  The  weight  of  the  figure  is  mostly  thrown  upon  the  right  foot,  with 
the  left  almost  lifted  as  for  a  step,  the  position  of  the  sword  and  the 
uplifting  of  the  head,  as  if  in  excited  attention,  all  suggest  that  the 
repose  of  the  figure  is  about  to  be  broken  by  motion,  and  give  a  most 
animated  character  to  the  whole.  The  head,  in  form  and  pose,  with 
the  leonine  locks,  is  majestic,  and  the  face  is  lighted  up  with  a  most 
noble  expression.  It  is  the  face  of  old  Putnam,  in  a  moment  of  in- 
spiration ;  it  is  old  Putnam  in  figure,  but  face  and  figure  are  both 
somewhat  exalted,  and  seem  to  be  informed  with  all  the  glory  and 
enthusiasm  of  the  coming  struggle.  This  is  not  the  place  to  enter 
into  any  detailed  criticism  ;  but  we  cannot  but  congratulate  our  city 
upon  the  possession  of  a  work  of  art  which  would  adorn  any  capital 
in  the  world." 

Before  the  arrival  of  the  statue  in  Hartford,  and  during  its  execu- 
tion, the  Courant  had  anticipated  its  coming  and  extolled  its  merits 
by  several  complimentary  articles,  and  many  persons  expected,  with 
reason,  to  see  a  masterpiece.  It  was  not,  however,  greeted  by  the 
public  generally,  or  by  private  individuals  of  taste  and  acquaint- 
ance with  sculpture,  as  wholly  satisfactory.  A  proper  feeling  of 
delicacy  toward  the  father  of  «Judge  Allyn,  prevented,  during  his 
lifetime,  any  public  expression  of  dissent  from  the  warm  praises  of 


'  See  the  American  ArcHittcl  for  September  4, 1886. 


2SO 


The  American   Architect  and  Building  News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  651. 


the  Courant.  Private  criticism  declared  that  the  statue  failed  to 
give  the  slightest  idea  or  impression  of  "  the  man  who  went  into  the 
wolf's  den,  the  soldier  who  galloped  down  the  rocks,  who  hung  the 
spy,  who  wrote  the  famous  letter,  and  who  left  his  plow  in  the 
furrow,  when  the  news  from  Lexington  was  brought  to  him,  mounted 
his  horse  and  hurried  off  to  the  scene  of  war,  without  stopping  to  say 
good-by  to  his  wife." 

"  The  judgment  of  reliable  persons,"  they  affirmed,  "had  declared, 
and  the  character  of  Putnam's  acts  all  his  life  had  substantiated  it, 

that  '  Old  Put '  was 
an  impulsive,  cour- 
ageous, dare-devil  of 
a  fighter,  and  not 
the  attendant  of  a 
court  in  the  act  of 
caring  for  his  mas- 
ter's accoutrements. 
A  hero,  always 
ready  to  lead,  sword 
in  hand,  where  any 
dared  to  follow." 

Artists,  as  well  as 
the  public,  have  crit- 
icised, justly,  the 
position  and  char- 
acter of  the  statue. 

PROPOSED  PUTNAM 
MONUMENT  OF 
1853. 

At  a  meeting  of 
the  leading  mem- 
bers of  the  Wind- 
ham  County,  Con- 
necticut, bar,  held 
in  the  winter  of 
1852,  the  late  Judge 
A.  T.  Judson,  sug- 
gested the  formation 
of  an  association,  for 
the  purpose  of  erect- 
ing a  monument  to 
Putnam.  The  com- 
mittee appointed  on 
this  occasion  issued 
a  call  for  a  meeting 
of  the  citizens  of 
the  county  to  be  held 
in  Brooklyn  on  the 
13th  of  December, 

King  Arthur.     From  the  Tomb  of  Maximillian,  Innspruck.      IO^Q      f (  r    fV-p     nnr 

pose  of  organizing  a  County  Putnam  Monument  Society.  The  meet- 
ing was  held,  an  organization  formed,  officers  chosen,  consisting  of  a 
president,  executive  committee  and  a  vice-president  from  each  town 
in  the  county.  The  Executive  Committee  entered  upon  the  literary 
part  of  its  duty  with  vigor  and  promptness,  by  publishing  a  report  of 
the  meeting,  accompanied  by  a  lengthy,  forcible  and  eloquent  address, 
setting  forth  the  claims  of  the  Society  to  public  support. 

With  the  issuance  of  this  address,  the  officers  of  the  Association, 
with  one  exception,  "  rested  from  their  labors."  In  the  following 
January,  the  President  of  the  Society,  Hon.  C.  F.  Cleveland, 
addressed  a  Putnam-monument  meeting  at  Willimantic.  But  neither 
his  address,  nor  the  above-mentioned  efforts,  brought  a  dollar  to  the 
hands  of  the  treasurer. 

No  call  was  made  upon  the  State,  and  thus  ended  the  scheme. 

A  feeble  effort  was  also  made  under  Governor  Ingersoll's  admin- 
istration, 1873-74,  to  awaken  interest  in  Putnam's  memory,  but 
without  avail. 

EQUESTRIAN  STATUE  OF  PUTNAM. 

The  monument  over  "  Old  Put's  "  grave  had  become  so  near  an  in- 
distinguishable ruin  by  the  wear  of  time  and  mutilation  of  visitors, 
that  in  the  autumn  of  1885,  Mr.  N.  W.  Kennedy,  the  editor  of  the 
Windham  County  Standard,  made  an  humble  and  repeated  appeal  to 
all  thoughtful,  charitable  and  appreciative  citizens  to  contribute 
their  sums  or  mites  toward  the  erection  of  a  deserved  statue  or  monu- 
ment over  the  old  hero's  dilapidated  grave. 

He  also  called  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Brooklyn,  and  the  ad- 
joining towns,  to  further  the  object  of  his  appeals.  The  result  was  that 
a  Putnam  Monument  Association  was  formed  in  that  town,  and  a 
general  committee  of  the  citizens  selected  for  the  purpose  of  raisino- 
ten  thousand  dollars.  It  was  also  decided  that,  if  this  sum  could  not 
be  raised  by  subscription,  the  National  Congress  or  the  State  Legisla- 
ture should  be  asked  to  assist. 

At  a  subsequent  meeting  of  the  town  an  appropriation  of  $500, 
was  made,  but  as  the  other  towns  in  the  county  had  taken  no  steps 
in  the  matter,  it  was  finally  decided  to  ask  the  Legislature  for  $10,- 
000,  with  the  expressed  hope  that  g±  least  $5,000  could  be  raised  by 
private  subscription.  Accordingly,  a  committee  from  the  Associa- 
tion presented  a  petition  to  the  Legislature  of  1885-86,  asking  for 
the  above  sum,  and  it  was  promptly  appropriated. 


The  resolution  making  the  appropriation  required  that  the  monu- 
ment should  be  placed  over  the  grave  of  Putnam. 

A  single  negative  vote  was  cast  against  the  appropriation,  by  an 
independent  member,  who  claimed  that  his  constituents  would  not 
approve  an  expenditure  by  the  State  which  the  nation  should  pay. 

A  committee  of  seven  leading  citizens  of  the  State  was  appointed 
by  Governor  Harrison,  "To  procure  a  monument  for  the  grave  of 
the  Revolutionary  hero,  Israel  Putnam,  in  the  town  of  Brooklyn,  the 
cost  not  to  exceed  S10,000."  Their  names  were  :  Henry  M.  Cleve- 
land, of  Brooklyn;  Henry  C.  Robinson,  of  Hartford;  Colonel  Heman 
A.  Tyler,  of  Hartford  ;  S'enator  George  P.  McLean,  of  Simsbury  ;  ex- 
Lieutenant-Governor  George  G.  Summer,  of  Hartford ;  George  F.  Hoi- 
comb,  Mayor  of  New  Haven,  and  Morris  VV.  Seymour,  of  Bridgeport. 

They  immediately  issued  the  following  curious  circular : 

"Commission  to  procure  Monument    to  the  Memory  of  General  Israel 

Putuam. 

HAHTFOBD,  CONN.,  Febninry  19,  ]88fi. 

At  a  regular  meeting  of  the  commission  appointed  by  the  State  of  Con- 
necticut to  procure  a  monument  to  the  memory  of  General  Israel  Putnam 
in  the  town  of  Brooklyn,  Conn.,  held  at  the  State  Capital,  February  lit, 
A.  p.  1880,  the  entire  commission  being  present,  it  was  voted  to  invite 
designs  for  a  monument  to  he  erected  in  Brooklyn,  Conn.,  to  the  memory  of 
General  Israel  Putnam,  said  designs  to  be  submitted  to  the  secretary  of  the 
commission  on  or  before  the  15th  of  May.  A.  i>.  1886.  No  restriction  is 
made  upon  the  nature,  style  or  character  of  the  monument  except  that  its 
cost  must  not  exceed  the  sum  of  ten  thousand  dollars. 

The  commission  will  allow  the  sum  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  for 
any  design  w  hich  they  may  choose  to  accept. 

Voted  That  the  secretary  is  hereby  directed  to  advertise  for  designs  in 
conformity  with  the  foregoing  vote."  Signed  by  the  Commissioners. 

Appended  to  the  above  were  these  two  sentences : 

"  In  pursuance  of  the  foregoing  votes,  all  persons  desiring  to  compete  for 
paid  monument  will  present  their  designs  or  models  properly  sealed  on  or 
before  the  15th  day  of  May,  A.  D.  188<;.  There  being  no  limitation  as  to  the 
style  or  character  of  the  design  (provided  the  entire  expenses  of  erecting 
the  monument  does  not  exceed  §10,000,  ten  thousand  dollars),  every 
designer  may  rest  assured  that  his  claim  shall  have  a  fair  and  impartial 
consideration.  Yours  respectfully,  Heman  A.  Tyler,  Secretary  of  the  Com- 
mission to  procure  a  Monument  to  the  Memory  of  General  Israel  Putnam. 
Office,  274  Main  Street,  Hartford,  Conn." 

And  here,  also,  as  with  the  statue  of  Nathan  Hale,  the  story  of 
this  monument  might  well  stop  so  far  as  art  or  the  credit  of  the 
State  are  concerned.  The  necessity  of  some  account  of  it,  as  a 
matter  of  history,  is  the  only  excuse  for  continuing. 

In  response  to  this  circular,  twenty-five  designs  were  sent  in,  not 
one  of  which,  as  might  have  been  expected,  came  from  an  artist  of 
any  professional  reputation. 
AH  but  four  were  returned  to 
their  fabricators  without  being 
exhibited  to  the  public.  The 
four  retained  for  further  con- 
sideration were  submitted  by 
George  Keller,  E.  S.  Woods, 
Karl  Gerhardt  and  the  Smith 
Granite  Company,  of  Wes- 
terly, R.  I.  During  the  period 
set  apart  for  the  competition, 
the  idea  of  an  equestrian  stat- 
ue was  suggested,  Gerhardt's 
design  being  of  this  character. 
As  a  matter  of  course,  the  re- 
jected competitors  complained 
that  the  commissioners  had 
not  acted  honorably.  This 
was  denied  as  something  far- 
thest from  the  facts,  "  the  men 
composing  the  commission  be- 
ing of  the  best  reputation  for 
honor." 

In  the  meantime,  also,  the 
question  of  site  became  a  mat- 
ter of  consideration.  The 
cemetery  where  Putnam's 
ashes  had  reposed  in  peace 
for  nearly  a  century  was  gen- 
erally regarded  as  an  unfit  lo- 
cality for  a  State  monument 
costing  $10,000.  There  were 
those,  however,  who  thought 
that,  for  all  reasons,  the 
ground  sanctified  by  both  the 
humble  and  the  famous  dead, 
the  General,  his  family  and 
his  neighbors,  was  the  prop-  ^JSf^P^? 

er  and    fitting   place   for   his  »£,;,'•„;  *" 

•  i  i-          T       ;      tli'""c 

memorial,  no  matter  now  dis- 

tinguished  its  origin  might  be 
or  imposing  its  price.  Con- 
siderations like  these  had  no 
weight,  either  with  the  com- 
missioners or  the  town  of  Brooklyn.  In  keeping  with  the  character  of 
the  circular,  the  kind  of  artistic  enterprise  represented  by  the  de- 
signs and  the  public  idea  conceived  of  the  significance  of  the  monu- 
ment by  the  citizens  of  Brooklyn,  the  question  of  site  soon  became  a 
subject  of  disgraceful  wrangle,  jealousy  and  private  recrimination. 


Frederick  de   Bouillon. 
From  the  Tomb  of  Maximillian,  Innspruck. 


JUNE  1C,  1888.] 


The    American   Architect  and  Ttuildmg   News. 


281 


It  embraced  tin-  various  elements  of  iiilluenee  in  the  vfltage  of  Brook- 
K  ii,  including  the  churches.  Charges  and  countercharges  were  made 
by  the  parties  interested,  uiilil  it  became  almost  impossible  to  tell 
who  was  rinht  and  who  wrong.  The  Hartford  correspondent  of  the 
New  York  Tri/ninn  wrote  as  follows  on  August  7,  188G : 

"No  coiiiiiiis>.ioii  established  by  the  State  for  a  number  of  years 
lias  had  a  morn  uncomfortable  time  it-aching  conclusions  than  the 
commission  on  the  Putnam  statue.  Jn  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  Act 
of  the  Legislature  provided  for  the  erection  of  a  monument  '  over 
the  '^rave  '  of  the  Revolutionary  patriot,  the  commission  and  the 
friends  of  the  Putnam  family  immediately  began  the  series  of  efforts 
heretofore  detailed  to  establish  a  site  for  the  monument  in  some  con- 
spicuous place  in  the  town  of  Brooklyn,  agreeing  to  dig  up  the  bones 
of  General  Putnam,  and  thus  create  a  new  grave.  After  several 
meetings  and  two  journeys  to  Brooklyn,  the  commission  selected  the 
post-office  site,  or  the  point  just  north  of  the  Mattateo  House,  not 
far  from  the  Congregational  Church.  This  should  naturally  have 
had  the  effect  of  settling  all  trouble  on  that  score,  but  it  has  had  the 
opposite  effect,  and  the  factions  of  the  town  are  very  busily  engaged 
in  an  effort  to  have  the  decision  changed  or  ratified,  according  to 
which  party  they  belong.  The  Congregational  Society  has  erected 
an  unsightly  boanl  fence  just  at  the  rear  of  the  proposed  site,  and 
Mr.  Thomas  S.  Marlor  is  busy  trying  to  get  the  society  to  remove 
the  fence,  while  others  are  endeavoring  to  have  all  obstructions 
placed  in  the  way  of  the  site  and  to  make  it  as  unpleasant  for  the 
commission  as  possible.  Then,  agaui,  in  the  matter  of  selecting  a 
statue :  the  twenty-five  designs  submitted  to  the  commission  were 

as  miscellaneous  a  lot  of  monu- 
ments, statues  and  designs  as  ever 
•were  gotten  together.  It  was  the 
desire  of  the  commission  to  secure 
an  equestrian  figure,  but  it  neg- 
lected to  so  stipulate  in  their  call 
for  designs,  and  as  there  was  only 
one  equestrian  model  submitted, 
after  weeks  of  delay,  the  competi- 
tion has  been  reopened  on  an 
equestrian  basis.  Meanwhile,  the 
commission  lias  accomplished  ab- 
solutely nothing  satisfactory  to  it- 
self or  those  most  interested. 

"  Hon.  Thomas  S.  Marlor  offer- 
ed to  give  to  the  commission  eight 
eligible  lots  in  the  cemetery  as  a 
site  for  the  monument.  The  offer 
was  refused.  The  town  of  Brook- 
lyn itself  did  nothing  in  the  way 
of  offering  sites.  It,  however, 
held  a  meeting,  the  largest  ever 
held  in  the  town,  and  ardently 
recommended  that  one  of  the  two 
sites,  offered  free  of  expense  to 
the  town  by  one  of  its  citizens, 
should  be  adopted  by  the  commis- 
sion." 

Mr.  Marlor  made  several  other 
offers  of  localities  for  placing  the 
monument,  one  of  which,  called 
the  "  Mortlake  house  site,"  was 
eventually  accepted.  The  Mort- 
lake house  derives  its  name  from 
the  original  title  of  the  society, 
which  itself  was  so  called  by  its 
Anglo  American  purchaser  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, after  Mortlake  in  Sur- 
•  rey  England,  his  old  home. 
Leopold  in.  From  the  Tomb  of  Max!-  Near  by  the  site  selected  is 

the  Congregational  Church,  which 

Putnam  helped  to  build,  and  whose  bell  he  himself  rang  whenever 
he  was  at  home,  it  being  an  honor  accorded  him  as  first  among  the 
townsmen.  It  was  in  this  edifice  that  the  Rev.  Samuel  J.  May,  the 
nholitionist,  preached,  as  a  Unitarian.  As  another  characteristic  of 
the  town  of  Brooklyn,  it  may  be  added  that  several  years  ago,  when 
a  monument  on  the  common  to  May's  memory  was  suggested,  it 
failed,  because  it  was  "  feared  that  it  would  cumber  the  green."  It 
it  any  wonder  then  that  Putnam's  tomb  should  go  to  ruin,  and  that 
the  town  that  is  honored  by  his  ashes  should  consent  to  their  removal 
from  the  side  of  his  wife  and  children  for  the  purpose  of  gratifying 
a  vulg.ir  public  display. 

Another  and  interesting  historic  site  was  spoken  of.  It  was  the 
identical  spot  where  Putnam  left  his  son  Daniel  to  unhitch  the  oxen 
from  the  plough  when  he  received  the  news  of  the  skirmish  at  Lex- 
ington, jumped  on  bis  horse  and  hurried  to  Cambridge. 

Another  interesting  spot  in  connection  with  Putnam  is  the  house 
in  which  he  lived  after  his  return  from  the  War,  a  paralytic,  and 
where  he  died.  It  is  about  two  miles  from  the  centre  of  the  village 
of  Brooklyn  and  is  now  occupied  by  the  town  poor.  The  house  in 
which  Putnam  was  born,  in  Salem,  is  also  still  standing. 

In  the  meantime,  the  site  having  been  disposed  of  and  the  ashes 
of  the  old  warrior  removed  to  it,  what  of  the  monument  '.' 

After  much  consultation  and  the  consideration  of  various  influ- 
ences, the  committee  decided  in  the  latter  part  of  June  that  the 


monument  should  take  the  form  of  an  equestrian  statue.  In  order 
to  meet  the  objection,  vital  under  most  circumstances,  that  one  of 
projier  size  and  quality  could  not  be  obtained  for  the  gum  appropri- 
ated, a  sub-committee  wan  appointed,  Messrs.  Simmer  and  Holcomb, 
to  ascertain  for  what  sum  an  appropriate  design  could  be  procured. 
They  reported  that  the  above  objection  had  no  weight,  and  that 
Mr.  Uerhardt  would  furnish  an  equestrian  statue  as  large  as  the 
Washington  in  Union  Square,  New  York,  provide  the  pedestal,  and 
erect  them  in  Brooklyn  for  the  ten  thousand  dollars  appropriated  by 
the  Legislature. 

Agreeably  to  this  report,  the  committee  invited  all  the  former  con- 
testants to  take  part  in  a  competition  for  an  equestrian  statue,  adding 
another  surprising  section  to  the  scheme.  They  decided  that  the 
monument  must  be  dedicated  on  the  17th  of  June,  1888,  or  in  about 
a  year.  On  August  31st,  five  designs  were  received  and  placed  in 
the  Secretary  of  State's  office.  It  appears,  however,  that  but  three 
were  considered  by  the  committee,  those  of  Woods,  Gerhardt  and 
Bissell.  That  of  Gerhardt  was  selected.  As  one  among  many 
amusing  facts  in  the  history  of  this  affair,  I  quote  this  from  the 
Hartford  Times: 

"  The  commission,  in  trying  to  reach  a  fitting  conclusion,  invited 
the  three  competing  artists  to  view  the  three  works,  at  separate 
times,  and  furnish  their  opinion.  This  gave  each  an  opportunity  of 
criticising  his  competitor,  of  which  they  were  not  slow  to  avail 
themselves." 

The  same  paper  gave  an  appropriate  summing  up  of  the  solemn 
work  of  the  committee  : 

"  The  commission  appointed  by  the  State  was  empowered  to  pro- 
cure a  monument  to  General  Putnam,  but  forgot  the  most  important 
part,  i.  e.,  his  horse.  The  Legislature  forgot  that  this  brute  had 
ploughed  with  him  and  earned  his  bread,  taken  him  to  Bunker  Hill 
and  made  him  famous,  carried  him  down  Morse  Neck  and  saved 
his  life,  inspired  him  on  Long  Island  and  cheered  him  in  the  long 
vigils  by  the  Hudson,  and  finally  followed  him  in  his  retirement  to 
the  peaceful  shades  of  Brooklyn,  and  that  this  horse  had  thus 
become  a  link  in  the  life  of  the  hero  that  could  not  be  broken.  But 
the  horse-sense  of  the  commission  remedied  this  oversight,  and  when 
they  looked  over  the  field  of  entries  in  the  first  competition  and  did 
not  see  the  horse  which  hail  filled  the  void  within  them,  they  felt 
aggrieved  and  ordered  that  the  artists  put  their  talent  and  creative 
abilities  in  a  horse.  When  the  equine  show  wag  opened  and  five 
full-Hedged  beasts  burst  upon  their  vision,  it  may  readily  be  surmised 
that  they  rejoiced. 

"One  deluded  sculptor  had  still  taken  the  portrait  of  General  Put- 
nam for  his  model  and  placed  him  upon  a  spirited  charger ;  but 
although  '  the  commission  were  a  unit  in  favor  of  the  portrait,'  the 
horse  did  not  fill  the  ideal  of  their  imagination.  '  Horse  Neck ' 
suggested  a  long  neck ;  many  battles  must  mean  a  lean,  lank  and 
cadaverous  body;  torturous  paths  must  bring  disjointed  limbs  and 
broken  bones ;  and  all  these  qualities  were  combined  in  another 
design.  The  neck  was  very  long,  the  body  very  lean,  his  legs  very 
weak  and  decrepit.  What  matters  it  if  the  hero's  face  resembled  an 
over-ripe  tomato,  or  the  arm  stretched  out  in  a  very  straight  and 
angular  way,  or  that  the  neck  was  short,  and  the  body  terribly  dis- 
proportioned  ?  The  commissioners  had  yearned  for  a  horse,  and 
although  the  resting  place  of  this  Brooklyn  animal  had  been  mislaid 
and  his  name  forgotten,  the  sight  of  this  poor  wind-broken  beast  will 
bring  tears  to  the  eyes  of  any  beholder. 

"  Whatever  fault  the.  world  at  large  may  find  with  this  model,  the 
commissioners  will  ever  deserve  the  gratitude  of  the  people  for  their 
disinterested  efforts  in  behalf  of  a  poor,  friendless  and  entirely  for- 
gotten horse :  and  when  the  solemn  wilds  of  Brooklyn  wake  with  the 
din  and  pomp  of  an  inauguration,  as  they  will  next  June,  beside  the 
high  board  fence,  and  the  friends  and  neighbors  of  Old  Put  come  to 
do  him  reverence,  let  there  be  no  whisper  of  surprise  or  voice  of 
disapproval.  Let  them  simply  behold  and  marvel." 

It  is  to  be  said  in  favor  of  the  committee  that  they  refrained  from 
any  extravagant  assertions  in  regard  to  art.  They  conducted  the 
enterprise  in  the  cvery-day  business  way,  striving  to  get  the  largest 
amount  of  metal,  in  the  shape  of  a  horse,  for  the  money  they  had  at 
their  disposal.  On  many  points  their  conduct  was  freely  criticised, 
though  in  no  way  affecting  the  result.  Political  ami  personal  influ- 
ence were  in  favor  of  the  person  who  received  the  commission.  It  is 
affirmed,  by  some,  that  this  fact  put  a  stop  to  all  private  subscrip- 
tions, and  it  is  certain  that  several  gentlemen  of  large  means  who 
proposed  to  give  generously  in  aid  of  raising  the  additional  five 
thousand,  refused  to  give  anything.  This  is  not,  curiously  enough, 
a  very  vital  point,  for  it  is  pretty  certain  that  the  Legislature  can  be 
relied  on  to  make  up  losses  or  provide  other  appropriations  in  case 
of  need.  In  fact  the  contract  had  hardly  been  signed  before  the 
suggestion  was  made  that  it  was  not  fair  to  permit  the  maker  of  the 
Putnam  to  suffer  loss. 

The  transactions  of  the  Hale  and  Putnam  Monument  Committees 
do  not  seem  to  show  that  the  art  of  statue  and  monument  making 
has  made  much  progress  in  Connecticut  since  the  committee  on  the 
Groton  structure  made  their  modest  appeal  to  the  Legislature  in 
1825.  Nor  do  they  indicate  that  the  |>ersons  who  have  had  op|x>r- 
tunities  of  seeing  and  studying  good  statues  and  monuments,  and 
who  served  on  these  committees,  were  actuated  by  any  higher 
motives  or  more  delicate  sensibilities,  than  their  associates  who 
swung  the  hammer,  or  followed  the  plow.  In  fact,  if  the  different 
conditions,  existing  in  1825  and  1886,  were  contrasted,  it  would  be 


282 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News,     [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  651. 


found  that  the  character  of  committees  has  very  much  deteriorated. 
The  Groton  monument  was,  so  far  as  known,  free  from  political 
jugglery,  and  an  honest  unpretentious  piece  of  work.  Jt  is  a  pity 
that  the  same  cannot  be  said  of  the  Hale  and  Putnam  statues. 

T.  II.  BAUTLETT. 
LTo  be  continued.! 


[Contributors  are  requested  to  send  with  their  drawings   full  and 
adequate  descriptions  of  the  buildings,  including  a  statement  of  cost.'} 

THE    BANK    OF   MONTREAL,    MONTREAL,   CANADA. 
[Gelatine  print,  issued  only  with  the  Imperial  Edition.l 

A  DESCRIPTION  of  this  building  will  be  found  in  the  American 
Architect  for  April  9,  1887. 

COMPETITIVE     DESIGN     FOR     THE     CITY-HALL,    CAMBRIDGE,    MASS 
MESSRS.  CHAMBERL1N  &  WHIDDEN,  ARCHITECTS,  BOSTON,  MASS. 

TOWER  OF  THE  NEW  STATION  FOR  THE  CANADIAN  PACIFIC 
RAILROAD,  MONTREAL,  P.  Q.  MR.  BRUCE  PRICE,  ARCHITECT, 
NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. 

DURING  the  early  spring  the  original  and  revised  designs  for  this 
building  were  published  in  Building. 

NEW  PREMISES  FOR  THE  UNITED  STATES  TRUST  COMPANY,  WALL 
ST.,  NEW  YORK.  MR.  R.  W.  GIBSON,  ARCHITECT,  NEW  YORK 
N.  Y. 

DESIGN    FOR     DEDHAM     INN,     DEDHAM,     MASS.        MESSRS.   WHEEL- 
WRIGHT   &   HAVEN,   ARCHITECTS,   BOSTON,    MASS. 

DESIGN     FOR   A   COUNTRY     CLUB-HOUSE   AND   A   COUNTRY   HOUSE. 
MR.    HUBERT   WESTELL,   ARCHITECT,   NEW   YORK,   N.   Y. 

HOUSE  AT   WASHINGTON,  PA.      MR.  E.  G.  W.  DIETRICH,   ARCHITECT, 
NEW   YORK,   N.   Y. 


Fig.   I. 


MEDIAEVAL  HOUSES.1  — I. 

TT  PRIMARY  classification  of  the  dwell- 
rH  ings  of  Mediaeval  times  into  country 
/  houses,  city  houses,  manors  and  palaces 
or  hotels,  suggests  itself  to  the  student.  The 
real  country  house  was  that  of  the  peasant-far- 
mer living  upon  the  seignorial  lands.  Among 
the  city  houses  those  of  the  nobles  are  distin- 
guished as  palaces  or  hotels.  Until  the  twelfth 
century,  however,  few  of  the  nobles  dwelt  in 
the  towns,  the  old  customs  of  the  conquerors 
of  Gaul  being  followed  by  many  generations 
of  their  descendants. 

Modifications  in  the  Gallo-Romanic  dwellings 
followed  slowly  upon  the  invasions  of  the  fifth 
and  sixth  centuries.  The  conquerors  occupied 
the  Roman  "villas,"  living  in  the  country  rath- 
er than  in  cities.  They  built  houses  for  their 
farmers  and  serfs,  these  houses  necessarily 
conforming  to  the  plans  already  in  use.  The 
manners,  tastes  and  habits  of  a  people  are  re- 
corded in  their  domestic  architecture.  The 
plan  of  the  dwelling  is  modified  almost  imper- 
ceptibly, and  even  the  greatest  tyranny  hardly 
goes  so  far  as  to  attempt  any  radical  change 
in  the  homes  of  a  conquered  race.  The  invader,  on  the  contrary, 
yields  at  first  in  those  matters  to  the  customs  of  the  vanquished 
people,  especially  if  the  latter  be  the  more  civilized,  but  by  slow 
degrees  he  moulds  their  habits  into  the  direction  of  his  own  charac- 
teristics and  traditions,  making  compromises  between  opposing  cus- 
toms, which  in  a  century  or  two  transform  the  dwelling  of  the  first 
possessor  of  the  soil,  not  so  radically,  however,  but  that  some  very 
apparent  traces  of  the  old  customs  and  of  the  primitive  structure 
remain. 

During  the  Carlovingian  epoch  the  country  houses  of  France  were 
of  a  defensive  character,  while  in  the  town  houses  the  spacious 
breadth  of  ground-floor  which  had  characterized  the  older  dwellings 
was  supplanted  by  the  system  of  piling  story  upon  story,  the  defence 
of  the  towns  by  circumvallation,  now  well  recognized,  necessitating 
a  more  circumscribed  ground-plan.  Although  the  Romans  in  Gaul 
never  used  wood  to  any  extent  in  their  own  construction,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  the  Gauls  never  quite  ceased  to  use  it,  and  that  while 
during  the  Roman  domination  they  gave  greater  importance  to 
masonry,  their  skill  in  wood-construction  was  soon  regained  under 
the  impetus  of  the  Northern  invasions.  The  art  'of  carpentry 
employing  exclusively  wood  in  construction  belongs  only  to  the  Indo- 
Germanic  races.  Wood  enriched  by  painting  played  an  important 
part  in  constructions  of  the  Merovingian  epoch,  and  the  frequent 
fires  which  destroyed  entire  cities  during  the  first  centuries  of  the 

1  Translated  from  the  French  of  Viollet-le-Duc,  by  Mr.  A.  B.  Bibb. 


Middle  Ages  attest  the  almost  exclusive  use  of  carpentry  in  private 
dwellings. 

Of  houses  built  prior  to  the  eleventh  century  nothing  remains,  and 
we  can  only  form  an  idea  of  what  they  were  from  the  laconic  docu- 
ments of  the  period,  some  very  imperfect  sketches,  and  a  few  bas- 
reliefs.  But  these  writings,  though  vague,  are  sufficiently  conclusive 
as  to  the  important  fact  that  the  early  Mediaeval  houses  were  made 
of  wood,  with  a  mixture  of  carpentry  and  of  the  piling  up  of  timbers 
joined  at  the  angles. 

There  were  two  ways  of  building  in  wood  :  the  simple  piling  up 
of  the  trunks  of  trees  squared  where  they  joined  at  the  corners ; 
and  the  more  or  less  ingenious  systems  of  using  wood  for  supports, 
for  ties  and  for  fittings  in  the  erection 
of  wooden  buildings,  which  were  ex- 
tremely solid,  very  light,  and  some- 
times carried  up  to  a  great  height. 

The  first  of  these  methods  was  not 
used  by  builders  of  any  degree  of  in- 
telligence, while  the  second  belongs  to 
the  white  races  and  was  practised  by 
all  the  peoples  coming  from  the  North- 
ern plains  of  India,  by  the  Scandina- 
vians, the  Francs  and  the  Normans. 
The  accounts  that  have  been  found  of 
houses  of  the  Merovingian  and  Carlo- 
vingian epochs  show  traces  of  the 
method  of  wood-construction  by  pil- 
ing, of  a  well-developed  knowledge  of 
building  in  wood  by  timber-work,  and 
of  Gallo-Romanic  traditions.  In  the 
oldest  remains  of  French  houses  dat- 
ing from  the  end  of  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury, we  still  perceive  the  strength  of 
these  different  influences  and  discover 
the  Gallo-Romanic  traditions  in  more 
or  less  purity.  The  architecture  of 
France  in  the  Middle  Ages  made  sin-  Fie-  2- 

gular  movements  backward  and  forward,  swayed  bv  the  predominance 
of  the  Gallic  or  German  character  over  the  relics  of  Latin  civilization, 
or  of  local  traditions  and  the  tastes  of  the  Trans-Rhenish  invaders. 
Thus,  as  late^as  the  twelfth  century,  during  the  greatest  develop- 
ment of  the  Clunisian  and  Cistercian  monastic  orders  in  cities  domi- 
nated by  their  influence,  the  house  was  constructed  in  masonry,  the 
Roman  traditions  resisting  the  influence  of  those  of  the  North,  while 
in  the  more  independent  cities,  or  in  those  under  the  royal  power, 
the  wooden  house  supplanted  day  by  day  the  house  of  stone.  The 
more  or  less  abundance  of  either  of  these  materials  near  the  centres 
of  population  does  not  seem  to  have  had  a  decisive  influence  on  the 
system  of  construction  adopted,  a  singular  fact  which  may  be  found 
explicable  after  further  study. 

CITY  HOUSES. 

The  scarcity  of  ground  in  cities  or  walled  towns  obliged  builders 
to  raise  several  stories  above  the  ground-floor.  The  houses  of 
ancient  Rome  had  a  number  of  stories,  but  it  does  not  seem  that  this 
method  was  followed  in  their  provincial  towns.  In  Pompeii,  with 

very  few  excep- 
tions, houses  were 
only  one  story 
high,  and  ancient 
paintings  rarely 
show  them  of 
greater  height.  In 
the  Merovingian 
epoch,  city  houses 
had  several  sto- 
ries above  the 
ground-floor;  con- 
temporaneous au- 
thors mention 
this,  and  their 
sculptures  or 


Fig.  3. 

paintings  show  them  to  us  more  often  in  the  form  of  towers  or  liiijh 
pavilions  than  as  houses  next  to  one  another.  Gregory  of  Tours  thus 
incidentally  mentions  them :  "  Priscus,"  said  he,  "  had  ordered,  at  the 
beginning  of  his  episcopate,  that  they  should  carry  up  the  walls  of 
the  episcopal  house."  "  The  Duke  of  Beppolen  beino-  at  table  in 


a  house  of  three  stories,  the  floor  fell  in. 


651 


HHGHITKGT  ,flND  ^ITTLDING'^FWS,  JUNK  16  1555. 


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Heliotjpe  Printing  Co  .Boston. 


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IRGHITEGT  ^ND  BUILDING  $EWS»  JUNE.  16  1555 


'.OFIEISHT  1866  BY  TICIHOR  IC« 


651 


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COPYRIGHT  188»/BY'HCKKOH  S,  C» 


Seliotype.  Printing  Co.Boston 


Office  oP  ( 


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ipHITIiGT  flXD  BUILDING  $KVVS,  JlTXK.l  G  1555,       $O.  6  •  >  I 
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'•WYSISHT1  188B  BT  TICIIIOR  IC» 


JONE  16,  1888.] 


T/ic   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


283 


The  Merovingian  houses,  of  which  there  are  many  traces  to  be 
found  in  the  north  of  France,  consisted  generally  of  a  stone  cellar, 
not  arched,  and  surmounted  by  a  wooden  building  of  small  perimeter, 
the  rooms  being  necessarily  one  above  the  other.  Figures  1  and  2 
are  houses  built  after  this  plan. 

Figure  1  shows  evident  wood-construction.  It  is  from  the  carving 
on  a  capital  of  the  first  church  of  Vezelay,  antedating  the  establish- 
ment of  the  corporation  and  the  reconstruction  of  the  church  early 
in  the  twelfth  century.  In  the  same  locality  numerous  fragments  of 
stone  houses  are  still  found,  dating  from  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth 
century.  Aug.  Thierry,  in  his  "Letters  on  the  Hittory  of  France," 
speaking  of  the  changes  made  by  the  establishment  of  a  corporation 
in  Vezelay,  mentions  the  tendency  of  free  citizens  to  surround  them- 
selves with  exterior  signs  of  their  independence.  "They  raised 
around  their  houses,  each  according  to  his  wealth,  battlemented 
walls.  .  .  .  One  of  the  most  important  among  them,  named  Timon, 
laid  the  foundations  of  a  large  square  tower." 

Figure  2  shows  one  of  those  exterior  stairways  which  were  some- 
times of  circular  form  and  are  often  found  in  the  houses  of  the 
eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries.  On  the  Bayaux  tapestry,  Harold 
and  his  companions  are  depicted  banqueting,  on  the  day  of  his 
departure  for  Normandy,  in  a  great  hall  on  the  first  story  of  a 
building,  which  has  a  ground-floor  of  arcades  and  an  outside  circu- 
lar stairway  descending  from  the  salon  to  the  shores  of  the  sea. 
The  ground-floor  is  evidently  of  stone,  while  the  story  above  looks 
Jike  woodwork.  The  outside  stairway  is  found  in  the  Greek  manu- 
scripts of  the  eighth  century  (see  "perron"),  and  its  use  survived  as 
late  as  the  sixteenth  century. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  in  France,  during  the  first  period  of  the 
Middle  Ages  and  as  late  as  the  twelfth  century,  private  dwellings 
still  followed  the  ancient  Gallo-Homanic  traditions  for  the  ground- 
floor,  while  they  had  adopted  the  northern  models  for  the  upper 
stories.  The  northerners  doubtless  spared  many  of  the  Gallo- 
Romanic  city  houses  and  country  places,  which  were  of  one-story 


T3    I 

i    -** 


D 


D' 


Flf.  4. 

only,  and  built  wooden  houses  upon  their  walls.  They  could  thus 
have  rationally  developed  a  system  of  construction  from  the  two 
methods,  engrafted  upon  one  another  by  the  mixture  of  the  two 
civilizations.  In  stone-work  the  Gallo-Komanic  influence  was  felt 
very  late,  but  the  wooden  buildings  had  from  the  first  a  character 
which  belonged  unquestionably  to  the  northern  races  and  bore  no 
resemblance  to  Roman  carpentry. 

This  combination  of  the  constructive  systems  of  two  opposing 
civilizations  was  a  slow  process,  and  the  twelfth  century  hardly  saw 
the  intermarriage  completed. 

The  lay  school  of  the  thirteenth  century  may  be  said  to  have  en- 
tirely abandoned  the  Roman  traditions,  and  it  was  only  at  this  period 
that  private  buildings  became  truly  French,  homogeneous  and  logical 
in  the  use  of  material. 

The  Western  manuscripts  of  the  ninth,  tenth  and  eleventh 
centuries,  the  ivorv  carvings  of  the  period,  and  the  Bayeux  tapestry, 
define  the  Gallo-Romanic  influence  in  the  stone  ground-floors  of 
houses  of  the  times,  the  Indo-Germanic  methods  appearing  in  the 
superimposed  wood-construction. 

Meanwhile  the  churches  remained  consistently  Latin  or  Byzantine. 
While  the  nobles  and  burghers  allowed  the  monks  to  arrange  th% 
architecture  of  their  monasteries  according  to  their  customs  (and 
these  were  Latin  by  tradition),  they  still  controlled  the  building  of 
their  own  dwellings,  and  despite  the  antipathy  existing  between  the 
conquering  tribes  from  the  other  side  of  the  Rhine  and  the  old 


Latinized  Gauls,  it  would  seem  that  in  contact  with  these  purer  races, 
the  Gallo-Roman  remembered  his  origin,  recovering,  little  by  little 
his  native  tastes,  shaking  off  the  influence  so  long  felt  of  the  Roman 
arts,  and  struggling  to  found  an  art  of  hi?  own.  So  that  even  in  the 
twelfth  century  the  domestic  and  monastic  styles  had  widely  separated 
in  their  art  and  in  their  methods  of  construction. 

Civil  architecture  was  born  with  the  establishment  of  municipali- 
ties, and  it  at  once  took  on  an  independent  form,  as  much  so  as  did 
the  feudal  castle  which  departed  more  and  more  from  its  model,  the 
Roman  villa,  to  whose  traditions  the  abbeys  alone  remained  faithful. 
It  is  always  interesting  to  note  that  among  a  people  left  to  its  in- 
stinct?, the  arts,  and  especially  that  of  architecture,  reflect  the  ten- 
dencies of  the  popular  mind. 

In  the  twelfth  century  monastic  architecture  reached  the  fullness 
of  its  glory  and  entered  upon  its  decadence.  Saint  Bernard  tried  to 
restore  the  meaning  which  it  had  gradually  lost,  by  requiring  sim- 
plicity as  a  first  condition,  but,  after  his  time,  the  rigid  art  which  ho 
had  tried  to  set  up  as  a  type  for  religious  establishments  was  drawn 
into  the  common  torrent. 

Feudal,  military  and  domestic  architecture,  on  the  contrary, 
developed  with  wonderful  activity,  the  old  remains  of  Roman  arts 
were  ignored,  and  nobles  and  people  alike  began  to  build  in  a  stylo 
sufficiently  flexible  to  satisfy  all  the  varying  needs  and  changing 
habits  of  society. 

As  soon  as  the  power  of  the  religious  establishments  was  weakened 
the  municipal  and  political  spirit  revealed  itself,  and  before  the 
century  was  past  the  industrial  arts  were  solely  in  the  hands  of  those 
men  of  the  towns,  who  fifty  years  earlier  had  gone  to  the  convents 
for  everything,  from  the  plan  of  a  palace  to  the  lock  of  a  door. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  nothing  is  left  to  us  of  those  city  houses  of 
the  eleventh  century,  in  which  the  Gallo-Romanic  traditions  were 
mixed  so  strangely  with  the  forms  of  architecture  brought  in  by  the 
North  German  tribes  and  by  the  Normans.  Very  imperfect  accounts 
of  the  times  are  found  in  the  manuscripts,  from  which,  however,  we 
can  prove  the  existence  of  woodwork  analogous  only  to  the  old 
woodwork  of  Denmark,  of  the  Tyrol  and  of  Switzerland. 

The  French  city  house  of  the  end  of  the  eleventh  and  the  com- 
mencement of  the  twelfth  centuries  was  no  longer  Roman.  The 
windows  did  not  open,  as  in  ancient  houses,  upon  an  interior  court, 
but  upon  the  public  street;  the  court,  if  it  existed,  was  reserved  for 
domestic  uses.  The  entrance  from  the  street  was  directly  into  the 
principal  room,  and  nearly  always  raised  several  steps  above  the 
ground.  If  the  dwelling  was  of  some  importance,  this  first  room,  in 
which  they  received  and  held  their  banquets,  was  supplemented  by  a 
back  room,  which  served  as  a  kitchen,  or  on  ordinary  days  as  a 
dining-room.  Th#  chambers  were  on  the  first  story. 

Figure  3  gives  the  plan  of  a  house  of  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth 
century.  From  the  street  the  entrance  to  the  salon  (A)  is  by  a 
winding  staircase,  having  a  first  landing  with  a  seat  and  a  second 
landing,  before  the  wide  entrance  door,  carried  on  a  corbel  or 
supported  at  the  outer  angle  by  a  small  column.  Beneath  this  land- 
ing was  the  descent  to  the  cellars,  which  were  generally  spacious, 
well  built  and  vaulted,  with  central  columns  and  double  arches. 
Two-storied  cellars  were  sometimes  built  in  the  wine  countries. 

Beside  the  entrance  door,  which  was  wide  and  heavily  bound  with 
iron,  was  a  small  opening  from  which  to  reconnoitre  any  one  knock- 
ing. From  the  first  salon,  which  was  not  generally  lighted  except 
by  a  window  at  the  back  and  by  the  door  in  fine  weather,  the 
passaae-way  B  leads  to  the  "  snail "  staircase  which  ascended  to  the 
first  story,  and  under  which  was  the  entrance  to  the  small  interior 
court  I),  common  sometimes  to  several  dwellings  and  having  a  well. 
From  this  court  the  back  room  C,  used  as  a  kitchen,  was  lighted. 
On  the  first  story  the  arrangement  was  the  same,  the  front  room 
serving  as  a  bed-chamber  for  the  family,  and  the  back  room  for  the 
servants.  This  first  story  was  very  often  of  wood.  More  than  half 
the  front  was«pierccd  by  generous  fenestration  and  was  shielded  by 
a  projecting  roof,  the  walls,  double  at  this  period,  seldom  showing  a 
gable  to  the  street. 

The  panelled  front  of  the  first  story  was  framed  of  large  timbers 
carried  upon  very  strong  joists,  the  other  end  of.  which  rested  upon 
the  partition  wall,  the  spaces  between  the  timbers  being  filled. in  with 
rough-cast.  Upon  the  surface  of  the  stucco  were  traced  incised  de- 
signs. The  soffit  of  the  projecting  roof  and  the  panels  were  painted 
in  striking  colors,  yellow  and  black,  white  and  brown  or  red,  or  red 
and  black.  At  the  side  of  the  plan  is  a  view  of  the  front  of  this 
Romanesque  house. 

[To  be  continued. 1 


THE  DETHOIT  RIVER  TUNNEL. —  A  dispatch  from  Detroit  announces 
that  a  syndicate  lias  been  formed  to  tunnel  the  Detroit  river  from 
Canada  to  the  Michigan  shore ;  that  engineers  have  investigated  the 
matter  and  find  that  the  tunnel  can  be  constructed  with  ease,  and  that 
a  company  with  $100,1)00.00  capital  has  been  formed  in  Canada  to  carry 
out  the  project.  Among  the  projectors  are  Messrs.  D.  O.  Mills  and 
George  Bliss,  of  Morton,  Bliss  &  Co.,  of  this  city,  together  with  prom- 
inent California  capitalists  and  the  officers  of  the  Michigan  Central 
Railroad.  Mr.  D.  O.  Mills  was  seen  at  his  office  in  the  Mills  Building 
and  admitted  his  connection  with  the  scheme,  but  said  the  business  ar- 
rangements had  not  yet  been  so  completed  as  to  enable  him  to  say 
much  about  it  for  the  present.  He,  however,  expressed  a  belief  that 
the  tunnel  would  be  constructed,  and  thereby  complete  a  railroad  sys- 
tem from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  by  way  of  Detroit.  Mr.  Bliss  de- 
clined to  talk  on  the  subject.  —  Mail  iind  Ei\>nst. 


284 


The    American    Architect  and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  G51. 


I 


OLP    CHAPEL. 
HOTEU  PlEU     :  PARIS 


EXHIBITION   FOR   THE  PREVENTION  OF  ACCIDENTS. 

former  reports  I 
have  called  atten- 
tion to  certain  laws 
of  the  German  empire 
insuring  working 
people  against  acci- 
dents. To  make  these 
laws  more  effective  and 
particularly  to  show 
practically  how  acci- 
dents may  be  prevented 
the  project  of  an  exhi- 
bition is  near  its  realiz- 
ation. The  exhibition 
is  to  take  place  from 
April  to  June,  1889, 
and  the  Prussian  gov- 
ernment has  permitted 
the  gratuitous  use  of 
the  large  exhibition 
place  in  Berlin  near  the 

Thiergarten  and'thc  Lehrte  railroad  depot  for  that  purpose.  The 
invitation  to  participate  in  the  exhibition  is  extended  to  all  nations, 
and  I  deem  the  project  of  sufficient  importance  to  make  it  the  subject 
of  a  report  to  the  Department  of  State. 

Permit  me  to  give  you  from  circulars  and  pamphlets  before  me, 
and  from  personal  inquiry,  a  detailed  statement  regarding  the  objects 
and  purposes  of  the  exhibition. 

The  articles  to  be  exhibited  shall  consist  in  machinery,  apparatus 
of  all  kinds  now  in  use  to  guard  against  accidents,  in  tools,  working 
pieces  and  working  materials,  in  models ;  in  plans,  drawings,  photo- 
graphs and  specifications  ;  in  copies  of  regulations,  rules  for  factories, 
statutes  and  printed  matter  relating  to  accidents  and  to  their  pre- 
vention, as  far  as  they  come  under  the  province  of  trades  and 
factories  defined  by  the  German  accident  insurance  acts  (Unfallver- 
sicherungs  gesetze  des  Deutschen  reiches).  All  articles  that  relate 
generally  to  the  protection  of  laborers  and  to  the  promotion  of  their 
welfare  and  safety  at  the  works  insured  will  be  admitted. 

As  a  rule  the  exhibition  of  articles  in  natural  size  and  of  models 
will  be  prepared.  Machines  should,  as  much  as  possible,  be  exhibi- 
ted in  operation.  Since  not  only  protective  contrivances  but  also 
complete  machines  and  apparatus  with  protective  devices  are  to  be 
exhibited,  the  exhibition  will  have,  to  some  extent,  the  character  of 
an  industrial  exhibition,  with  the  difference  only  that  objects  which 
serve  solely  for  technical  purposes,  and  cannot  be  classed  as  con- 
trivances for  the  protection  of  working  people  against  accidents,  are 
excluded.  It  is  not  intended  to  show  merely  the  efficiency  of  any 
machine,  but  rather  the  efficiency  of  the  same  in  connection  with  de- 
vicesfor  the  prevention  of  accidents.  The  best  protective  device  does 
not  render  a  bad  machine  recommendable ;  but  a  machine,  good  in 
itself,  furnished  with  model  equipment  for  the  purpose  of  preventing, 
as  much  as  possible,  accidents,  must  in  future,  considering  the  burden, 
under  the  accident  laws,  cast  upon  the  trade  associations,  of  neces- 
sity deserve  preference  over  a  like  good  machine,  being,  however, 
without  satisfactory  appliances  for  protection.  The  exhibition  will, 
therefore,  offer  an  opportunity  particularly  to  all  manufacturers  of 
machines  who  hitherto  have  taken  a  special  interest  in  the  question 
of  such  perspective  measures,  or,  in  future,  intend  to  do  so,  to  intro- 
duce their  productions  to  the  members  of  trade  associations. 

But  not  only  the  participation  of  manufacturers  of  machinery  and 
of  persons  who  construct  protective  devices,  the  exhibition  is  also  in- 
tended to  familiarize  all  parties  interested  with  the  character  and 
technical  merits  of  all  protective  devices  in  use,  and  to  give  them  an 
opportunity  to  judge  of  their  value  and  effectiveness.  U  is  therefore 
considered  of  great  importance  that  owners  of  factories  and  others 
who  use  or  who  are  to  use  such  protective  devices,  and  not  merely 
manufacturers  or  constructors  of  such,  should  send  models,  drawings, 
photographs  and  specifications  to  the  exhibition. 

Groups  1  to  1 2  contain  detailed  suggestions  to  enable  manufacturers 
and  masters  to  answer  for  themselves  the  question,  how  far  their 
p  rticipation  in  the  exhibition  may  be  conducive  to  valuable  results. 
No  one  should  incline  to  the  idea  that  any  device  he  has  intro- 
duced for  the  protection  of  laborers  is  too  insignificant  to  deserve 
exhibition.  The  prospectus  says:  "To  this  exhibition  the  motto 
applies,  '  No  thing  is  of  so  very  little  value  as  not  to  serve  to  protect 
and  preserve  human  life."  " 

In  the  classification  of  the  articles  to  be  exhibited  the  point  of 
view  was  taken  that  many  machines,  apparatus,  etc.,  are  of  so  gen- 
eral a  nature  —  such  as  motors,  transmitters,  elevators,  steam  boilers 
—  that  they  and  the  protective  measures  to  be  applied  tc 
them  might  be  regarded  as  a  feature  common  to  all  works  anc 
factories  insured.  The  division  into  groups  provides,  therefore,  for 
a  department  A  (groups  1  to  10),  which  embraces  these  interests  in 
common,  while  an  additional  department  B  (groups  11  to  21),  takes 
into  consideration  the  special  interests  of  single  trades.  A  third  de 
partment,  C  (group  22),  embraces  literature  in  relation  to  all  these 
subjects. 

If  the  division  into  groups  does  not  precisely  define  the  limits  o 
the  prevention  of  accidents,  but  considers  also  the  protection  o 


aborers  generally  and  their  well-being  at  works  insured,  the  follow- 
ng  reasons  may  be  cited  for  so  doing : 

Prevention   of   accidents   and   prevention    of    disease  cannot  be 
lasily  separated.     The  sudden  action  of  poisonous  gases  produces 

apon  the  human  organism  frequently  an  injury  which  is  denoted  as 
'  accident  "  ;  while  in  case  of  gradual  action  of  the  identical  gases  in 
he  course  of  years  an  injury  is  caused  which  is  designated  as  "  in- 
lustrial  disease."  Yet,  doubtless,  all  that  is  done  towards  the  pre- 
ention  of  such  diseases  must  be  likewise  considered  as  a  measure  for 
he  prevention  of  accidents.  Thus  in  some  instances  the  removal  of 
team  and  dust  must  directly  be  regarded  as  a  measure  to  prevent 

accidents,  since,  as  experience  teaches  in  workshops  which  are  filled 

with  dust  masses  or  opaque  steams,  accidents  more  frequently  happen 
han  in  places  with  pure  air  and  free  outlook.  But  an  additional 

argument  may  be  adduced.  A  laborer  who  works  in  a  good,  whole- 
iome  air  will  meet  imminent  danger  with  a  much  clearer  head  than 
lie  person  whose  head  is  affected  by  bad  air,  in  which  he  is  com- 
piled to  perform  his  day's  work.  Nor  will  the  healthy,  strong 
aborer  as  easily  succumb  to  the  consequences  of  many  accidents. 
m  these  and  other  cognate  reasons  devices  for  the  ventilation  of 
vorkshops  and  many  other  things  which,  at  the  first  glance,  may  ap- 
iear  as  extraneous  and  hardly  appurtenant  to  an  exhibition  for  pre- 
ention  of  accidents,  have  been  embodied  into  this  division  of  groups 

as  subservient  to  the  ends  of  the  exhibition. 

Special  attention  has  been  bestowed  upon  the  protective  measures 

on  movable  machine  parts,  as  official  statistics  compiled  for  the  year 
.886,  at  the  imperial  insurance  office,  show  that  irrespective  of  the 

prevalence  of  various  occasions  for  accidents  in  the  several  trades  in 
he  entire  sphere  of  "insurance  in  case  of  accidents,"  such  accidents 

as  were  caused  by  movable  machine  parts,  occupy,  among  the  more 

severe  cases,  the  first  place  in  number.  Not  less  than  one  hundred 
housand  cases  of  accidents  were  reported  in  the  year  1886  ;  10  per 

cent  of  the  laborers  injured  under  the  insurance  laws  being  entitled 

to  an  indemnification. 


DEPARTMENT   A — GROUP    III. 

Protective  measures  in  the  working  of  elevators,  derricks,  cranes, 
and  lifters.  —  Safety  casings  for  approaches  to  elevators  and  lifters  ; 
self  acting  shutters;  basket  roofs  for  protection  against  falling  bodies  ; 
devices  for  securing  (holding  in  place)  the  raising-box  in  loading  and 
unloading. 

Driving,  stopping,  and  breaking  devices  ;  catching  devices  ;  signal 
system  for  indicating  the  motion  of  the  elevator  ;  signal  boards,  and 
aoards  of  warning ;  work  instructions ;  hydraulic  and  pneumatic 
lifters  ;  elevators ;  cranes  of  all  sorts ;  safety  cranks  and  windlasses, 
winches,  safety  chains,  cords,  and  belts ;  exhibition  of  entire  sets  of 
elevator  arrangements. 

GROUP  VI. 

Preventire  measures  against  and  saving  means  in  case  of  fire  in 
works  insure/I .  —  1.  Fireproof  building  constructions  generally  ;  con- 
struction and  material  of  partition  walls  and  ceilings;  roofing,  fire- 
escape  doors,  etc. 

Safe  storage  of  supplies  and  waste  :  Measures  against  spontaneous 
ignition  of  materials ;  incombustible  curtains  for  the  prevention  of 
the  spreading  of  fire  generally  at  working  places ;  fireproof  impreg- 
nation of  wooden  parts,  stuffs,  and  working  implements;  asbestos 
and  its  application  for  fireproof  devices ;  measures  of  precaution  for 
heating ;  apparatus  for  dangerless  boiling  of  varnish,  pitch,  and 
other  easily  inflammable  matters. 

Spark  catcher.  —  Lightning-rod  constructions  : 

2.  Apparatus  indicating  too  high  temperature  in  drying-rooms  and 
the  out-break  of  fire. 

Automatic  quenching  devices  :  Hydrants,  system  of  pipe  conduits  ; 
use  of  boiler  steam  for  quenching ;  use  of  existing  driving  gears  for 
the  operation  of  quenching  apparatus;  water  reservoirs  ;  quenching 
tubs;  hand,  steam,  gas  fire-engines;  extinguishers;  quenching  bombs. 

3.  Fixed   and   movable   saving   or   escape   ladders,  escape   nets, 
clothes,  and  hose,  cords. 

Organization  of  fire  brigades;  equipment  of  firemen:  Representa- 
tion of  spaces  and  arrangements  tor  keeping  ready-quenching  and 
escape  implements ;  directions  of  service. 

GROUP  VII. 

Provision  for  good  lighting  and  prevention  of  accidents  from  light- 
ing devices. — 'Apparatus  and  articles  of  all  kinds  which  serve  for 
lighting  closed  working  spaces,  and  of  working  places  in  the  open  air; 
lamps,  lanterns,  etc. 

Devices  for  lighting  from  outside  spaces  presenting  danger  of  fire 
and  explosion  :  Safety  lamps  and  lanterns;  safety  fire-lighters  ;  elec- 
tric gas-lighters ;  use  of  phosphorescent  colors. 

Safety  receptacles  for  working  establishments  for  the  reception  of 
larger  supplies  of  petroleum  and  burning  oil  :  Apparatus  for  danger- 
less  and  cleanly  taking  small  quantities  of  oil  out  of  the  receptacles 
(retail  distribution  for  daily  demand). 

,  Devices  for  dangerless  self-manufacture  of  lighting  gas  (from  coal 
oil  and  waste)  :  Electric  lighting  constructions  for  works,  especially 
with  a  view  of  utilizing  existing  working  forces.  Organization  of 
the  lighting  system  and  works;  provisions  (rules)  as  to  filling,  light- 
ing, and  extinguishing  of  oil  lamps ;  as  to  the  management  of  g;is 


JUNE  1(5,  1888.] 


TJie   American   Architect  and  Building  News, 


2R5 


conductors;  as  to  the  procedure  in  case  of  imminent  gas  explosion; 
as  to  the  attendance  of  electric  lighting  machines  and  conductors. 

OUOUP  VIII. 

Prevention  of  accidents  from  poisonous  and  corrosive  svlatancei 
from  obnoxious  [/axes,  etc. —  Apparatus  for  safe  storage  of  poisonous 
and  corrosive  substances  used  at  works ;  litters  and  hand-cam  for 
daiiL'erless  moving  of  vessels  containing  arid- ;  devices  for  dangerless 
taking  of  smaller  <|iiantities  of  acids  out  of  vessels  and  receptables. 

Devices  to  prevent  a  rise  of  ]>oisonous  fumes  at  the  openings  of 
charging  furnaces  and  apparatus  ;  closures  of  retorts  and  the  like; 
mechanical  devices  by  which  obnoxious  substances  are  worked  instead 
of  by  working  men ;  communications  as  to  the  use  of  non-injurious 
materials  instead  of  poisonous  raw  materials  and  products,  or  of  such 
detrimental  to  health. 

Ventilators,  exhausters,  and  exhausting  arrangements  generally 
for  the  absorption  of  poisonous  or  injurious  gases  for  the  freeing  of 
working-rooms  from  dust  manses  and  steam. 

Devices  of  every  description  for  airing  and  heating  work-rooms ; 
devices  for  moistening  and  cooling  the  air  in  workshops;  apparatus 
for  the  examination  of  the  working  air  in  relation  to  any  gases,  dust, 
moisture,  etc. 

Washing,  bathing,  and  privy  arrangements  for  working  establish- 
ments ;  articles  of  equipment,  for  the  working-people's  clothing,  and 
eating,  of  work  kitchens. 

OROUl'  IX. 

Personal  equipment  of  working  people.  —  Work  dresses  suited  to 
use  for  transmission  attendants,  as  well  as  for  male  and  female 
laborers  near  machines  generally. 

Protective  eye-glasses  and  masks  of  every  description  for  protection 
against  pieces  of  working  materials  scattered  round  ;  gloves  for  use 
in  handling,  pushing,  and  sharp-edged  work  pieces;  leather  apron 
and  gaiters  of  leather  furnished  with  iron  plate;  shoe  coatings  and 
special  shoes  and  boots  for  like  purpose. 

Work  dresses  affording  protection  against  unusual  temperatures 
or  wetness  ;  diver's  clothing  ;  articles  of  equipment  for  the  handling 
of  glowing  masses,  hot  or  corrosive  liquids ;  use  of  asbestos,  glimmer, 
etc. 

Respirators  of  every  description  for  protection  against  dust  and 
gases  when  at  work. 

Helmets  or  cask  apparatus  with  devices  for  the  admittance  of  fresh 
air ;  equipment  of  men  who,  for  the  saving  of  persons,  met  with  an  ac- 
cident, repair  to  places  filled  with  fumes,  steam,  or  fatal  gases 
(building  on  fire,  canals,  pits,  wells,  etc.) 

Detailed  communications  as  to  the  experiments  made  especially 
with  the  various  systems  of  protective  spectacles  and  respirators  at 
the  works  insured  ;  for  the  elimination  of  the  really  useful  informa- 
tion from  the  unavailable.  , 

Devices  for  the  protection  of  laborers  attached  to  simple  tools ; 
for  instance,  protective  baskets  to  chisels  for  catching  chips  and 
splints  in  riveting  works  ;  hilt  baskets  on  blades  and  on  hooks  for 
getting  extraneous  bodies  out  of  roller  pairs,  etc. 

Improvements  in  tools  of  every  description  with  a  view  of  pre- 
venting accidents  —  for  instance,  safety  guards  in  fastening  hammer 
handles. 

GROUP  X. 

Provision  for  injured  laborers.  —  Instructions  for  the  first  as- 
sistance in  accidents  for  the  use  of  the  persons  employed  at  the 
works  insured  ;  suitable  material  and  boxes  for  dressing  wounds ; 
litters,  transportation  caskets,  and  cars  and  the  like;  providing  for 
rooms  to  dress  wounds  at  works  and  for  houses  for  sick  and  invalid 
laborers ;  artificial  limbs  for  mutilated  persons,  and  mechanical  ar- 
rangements for  the  assistance  of  mutilated  persons  in  lighter  works 
—  for  instance,  clock  movements  which  make  an  artificial  arm  auto- 
matically to  perform  certain  work. 

Information  as  to  the  occupation  of  invalid  laborers. 

DEPARTMENT  B. 

Protective  measures,  chiefly  of  interest  for  several  tratles  or  groups 
of  trades.  —  Here  the  following  points  of  view  must  be  considered  : 
Motors  of  the  several  trades,  or  models,  drawings,  and  photographs 
of  motors,  with  model  equipment;  surrounding-guards  of  movable 
parts;  expedient  disengaging  and  lubricating  devices;  devices  against 
the  out-springing  of  rotary  tools ;  devices  (near  machines)  for  the 
protection  of  laborers  against  parts  of  work  pieces  splintering  off  and 
against  materials  flung  away,  against  dust  developing  during  work, 
against  obnoxious  fumes,  etc. ;  automatic  feeding  devices,  as  well  as 
machines  and  mechanical  appliances  of  every  description  performing 
work  in  the  place  of  laborers  —  for  instance,  automatic  introduction 
of  stuffs  and  materials  into  stamping,  kneading,  pulping,  and  rolling 
works;  substitution  of  hand-work  near  lixiviating-vats  by  automatic 
stirring  and  scooping  works,  etc.  —  with  or  without  protective  de- 
vices ;  apparatus  under  pressure  and  other  apparatus  peculiar  to  the 
several  trades  with  model  equipments,  with  a  view  of  preventing  ac- 
eidents  and  of  protecting  laborers ;  protective  measures  near  or  on 
furnaces,  stoves,  or  hearths;  on  basins  and  deepings;  against  falling 
bodies ;  in  the  treatment  of  explosive,  inflammable,  corrosive  sub- 
stances, and  other  preventive  measures  of  every  description  for  the 
protection  of  life  and  health  of  laborers,  according  to  the  peculiarity 
of  the  several  trades ;  instructions  of  service  in  relation  thereto, 
notices  of  warning,  directions ;  representation  of  entire  working  es- 


tablishments or  departments  of  whole  standard  establishments 
(models,  plans,  photographs,  s|>ecifications)  ;  situation,  construction 
(building,  material,  style)  ;  judicial  total  disposition  of  the  working 
places  and  working  arrangements  with  a  view  of  preventing  acci- 
dents: location  of  In.iler  shiiiis;  mounting  of  motors,  transmitters ; 
grouping  of  motors  and  working  apparatus  ;  location  of  stain -a^--, 
Ufting  and  raising  apparatus,  the  storing-nxmis,  and  magazine*,  the 
railways.  junction-rails,  water  canals,  etc.;  lighting,  heating,  airing; 
charity  and  humane  arrangement*  for  lalmrers;  designs  of  model 
establishments  for  the  several  trades;  collcetive  exhibition*,  all  of 
which  is  to  apply  to  the  subsequent  groups : 

Group  11  :   Metal  indu-try. 

Group  12:  Wood  industry. 

Group  16  :  Chemical,  glass,  and  ceramic  industries. 

Group  17:  Mining  and  quarry  industries. 

Group  18  :  Building  trades. 

Industries  and  trades  carried  on  on  account  of  either  of  the  states 
or  of  the  empire  are  to  be  annexed  to  groups  to  which  they  naturally 
belong : 

1.  For  exhibition  arc  admitted  all  articles  which  are  qualified  to 
promote  the  ends  of  the  exhibition  (compare  sections  1  and  2  of  this 
report).     Foreigners  are  invited  to  exhibit. 

2.  Articles  to  be  exhibited  must  be  reported  on  a  special  form  in- 
tended for  that  purpose,  and  obtainable  from  the  secretary  of  the 
exhibition.     The  bill  of  application  must  be  transmitted  in  d'uplicatc 
at  latest  by  July  1,  1888,  to  the  secretary  of  the  exhibition,  Director 
Max  Schlesinger,  No.  8  Koch  Street,  Berlin,  S.  W.     Whether  nidi 
application  has  been  accepted,  would-be  exhibitors  will  receive  notice 
as  soon  as  possible  upon  receipt  of  their  application. 

3.  Every  exhibitor  has  to  pay  a  fee  of  admittance  of  25  marks,  and 
a  rent  for  the  place  allowed,  viz :  Per  square  meter  ground  surface 
within  the  exhibition  premises,  20  marks;   per  square  meter  wall 
surface  within  the  exhibition  premises,  10  marks;  per  square  meter 
ground  surface  within  the  arches  of  the  city  railroad,  15  marks ;  per 
square  meter  wall  surface  within  the  arches  of  the  city  railroad,  7.50 
marks;   per  square   meter  ground    surface  in  open  air,  10  marks. 
The  fee  of  admittance  is  to  be  remitted  with  the  application  to  the 
secretary  above  named.     Of  rent  for  the  place  in  every  instance  at 
least  the  price  for  1  square  meter  must  be  paid.     Payment  of  place 
rent  has  to  be  made  within  four  weeks  after  the  allowance  of  space. 
This  applies  also  to  cases  in  which  the  grant  ensues  at  the  same  time 
with  the  acceptance  of  the  application.     Only  full  square  meters  are 
given-     In  case  of  articles  of  exhibition  for  the  library  neither  a  fee 
of  admittance  nor  space  rent  will  be  collected.     The  same  applies  to 
drawings  and  models,  inasmuch  as  they  are  exhibited  by  owners  of 
works  who  do  not  make  it  a  business  to  sell  or  dispose  of  such. 

The  managers  and  the  committee  reserve  to  themselves  the  right 
to  exclude  improper  objects,  and  in  this  case  fees  and  rents  paid  will 
be  returned.  Applications  made  after  July  1,  1888,  will  be  consid- 
ered only  if  any  vacant  space  remains. 

The  exhibition  is  to  be  opened  early  in  April,  1889,  and  is  to  con- 
tinue three  or  four  months. 

Objects  for  the  exhibition  must  be  forwarded  free  of  cost  between 
the  1st  and  15th  of  March,  1889.  All  expenses  incurred  must  be 
paid  by  the  exhibitor.  Upon  application,  tables,  cases,  etc.,  will  be 
furnished  at  net  cost  by  the  committee.  All  articles  sent  to  the  ex- 
hibition must  be  removed  within  eight  days  after  the  close  of  the 
same. 

The  committee  will  secure  cheap  transportation,  freight  and  cus- 
tom-house facilities.  The  result  of  its  endeavors  in  that  direction  will 
be  shortly  published. 

It  is  further  provided  that  no  object  exhibited  can  be  removed  be- 
fore the  close  of  the  exhibition.  Exhibitors  may  distribute  circulars, 
and  sell  articles,  but  not  to  remove  any  unless  replaced  previously 
by  another  article  of  the  same  make  and  character.  The  committee 
will  see  to  the  insurance  of  articles,  but  take  no  other  guaranty. 
Exhibited  articles  will  be  carefully  guarded,  but  all  other  expenses 
must  be  paid  by  exhibitors.  Steam  power  will  be  provided,  and  the 
price  for  its  use  published.  A  wards  for  eminent  achievements  are 
intended.  If  an  exhibitor  wants  to  be  treated  as  hors  de  concours  he 
should  so  state  in  making  his  application.  The  admission  fee  for 
visiting  the  exhibition  will  be  fixed  by  the  business  committee.  Ex- 
hibitors enjoy  free  admittance.  Reduced  rates  of  admission  to  the 
exhibition,  as  well  as  railroad  fares,  will  be  made  for  the  benefit  of 
working  people.  A  catalogue  will  be  issued,  and  special  terms  for  the 
insertion  of  advertisements  in  the  same  will  be  published. 

After  the  close  a  complete  illustrated  report,  with  a  full  description 
of  the  articles  exhibited,  is  under  consideration.  It  therefore  lies  in 
the  interest  of  exhibitors  to  file,  in  the  library  of  the  exhibition, 
suitable  sketches  and  descriptions  of  the  articles  exhibited. 

The  plan  to  arrange  an  exhibition  of  this  kind  originated  with  the 
Institute  for  Brewing  ("  Verneehs  und  Lehr-Austalt  fiir  Brauerei  ") 
in  Berlin,  which,  on  the  occasion  of  a  general  meeting  in  May,  1887, 
subjected  the  question  of  preventing  accidents  to  laborers  to  a  care- 
ful discussion.  The  Mailers  and  Brewers'  Association  of  Berlin  ac- 
cepted approvingly  the  project,  which  at  once  received  additional 
encouragement  on  the  part  of  the  Imperial  Insurance  Department, 
and  the  Prussian  Ministers  of  Instruction  and  of  Commerce.  The 
exhibition  place  was  offered  gratuitously  by  the  Government  to  the 
committee  constituted;  and  the  press,  as  well  as  philanthropists, 


286 


The   American   Architect  and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  651. 


directed  attention  to  the  project  as  being  particularly  appropriate  at 
a  time  when  social-political  legislation  claimed  general  attention.  A 
committee,  consisting  of  ten  members,  was  formed,  and  a  guarantee 
fund  of  100,000  marks  subscribed.  Any  surplus  produced  by  the 
exhibition  is  to  be  given  to  purposes  of  public  good  —  for  instance, 
for  a  "  permanent  exhibition  of  articles  for  the  prevention  of  acci- 
dents," and  for  the  erection  of  a  hygienic  museum. 

In  view  of  the  circumstance  that  the  plan  has  been  matured  only 
of  late  and  full  information  was  not  procurable  at  an  earlier  date, 
doubts  may  arise  whether  the  Berlin  Exhibition,  limiting  applications 
to  the  1st  of  July,  1888,  will  facilitate  the  participation  of  manu- 
facturers of  the  United  States.  But  it  suggests  itself  that  an  exhi- 
bition of  this  kind,  as  proposed  to  be  held  in  Berlin  has  the  merit  of 
a  practical  step  towards  solving  to  some  extent  the  problem  of  social 
reform  and  betterment  of  the  condition  of  the  working  classes  now 
occupying  the  minds  of  so  many  of  our  statesmen  and  political  econ- 
omists. F.  RAINE,  Consul-Genei-al. 
Uerlin,  May  4, 1888. 

NOTES  FROM  GERMAN  SOURCES. 


APTBP, 

"RAGUEHET 


T?1 


lEFEHIUNG 
to  an  article 
**•  \  on  the  Wash- 
ington  National 
Library  Building, 
published  s  o  m  e- 
time  ago  by  the 
American  Archi- 
tect ami  Building 
News,  the  Deut- 
sche Bauzeitung  of 
April  21,  says : 

Mr.  S  m  i  t  h- 
ineyer  claims  that 
among  recently 
erected  buildings 
on  both  h  e  m  i  - 
1  spheres,  none  ap- 
proaches in  magni- 
tude his  design  for 
a  National  Libra- 
ry. We  would  like  to  call  Mr.  Smithmeyer's  attention  to  three 
buildings  quite  recently  completed,  of  which  the  one  equals  his 
library  in  size,  whilst  the  other  two  surpass  it  very  considerably. 

The  Berlin  Technical  High  School  Building,  completed  but  four 
years  ago,  covers  an  area  of  111,000  square  feet,  which  is  just  equal 
to  the  Washington  Library.  The  new  Hotel  de  Ville  of  Paris, 
measures,  without  court-yards,  123,800  square  feet,  and  finally  the 
Palais  de  Justice,  at  Brussels,  covers  a  lot  of  200,000  square  feet 
(not  counting  the  court-yards),  and  if  you  add  the  projecting  terraces 
and  steps  leading  up  to  the  entrances,  this  enormous  lot  is  increased 
to  215,000  square  feet,  almost  double  that  on  which  the  Library  at 
Washington  is  to  be  erected. 

The  Brussels  Palais  de  Justice,  therefore,  would  seem  to  be  the 
largest  of  all  edifices  of  more  recent  date,  unless  the  permanent  stone- 
and-iron  building  erected  for  the  Vienna  International  Exhibition  in 
1872,  covering  323,000  square  feet,  be  accorded  that  distinction. 


Professor  Jordan,  in  the  Vienna  Bauindustrie  Zeitung,  tells  of  a 
chimney-stack  near  Marseilles,  France,  which,  during  a  violent  gale, 
showed  oscillations  which  by  observing  its  shadow  were  found  to 
measure  twenty  inches.  The  height  of  the  stack  was  115  feet,  its 
outer  diameter  four  feet  at  the  top.  After  each  attack  by  the  force 
of  the  gale,  the  stack  was  observed  to  oscillate  from  four  to  five  times 
until  it  came  to  a  halt.  Some  observations  taken  in  Vienna,  by 
means  of  a  theodolite,  showed  a  stack,  164  feet  high  and  six  and  one- 
half  feet  inside  diameter,  to  move  during  a  high  wind  six  and  one- 
fourth  inches.  Again,  an  officer  of  the  Prussian  Corps-de-Ge"nie, 
who  had  been  detailed  to  make  some  geodetic  observations  from  the 
gallery  of  the  St.  ^gidius  tower,  at  Hanover,  Germany,  found  him- 
self unable  to  do  any  work  during  a  brisk  wind,  because  the  tower 
(being  230  feet  high)  swung  merrily  to  and  fro  under  the  breeze. 
Professor  Jordan  concludes  by  inviting  his  professional  brethren  to 
aid  him  in  collecting  observations  of  a  similar  nature  as  throwing 
light  upon  the  reliability  to  be  placed  on  towers  as  points  of  observa- 
tion. The  matter  is  besides  of  importance  as  regards  the  stability 
of  buildings  of  great  height. 

The  King  of  the  Netherlands  has  placed  the  portfolio  of  his  most 
important  ministry,  that  of  Waterways,  Commerce  and  Industry, 
into  the  hands  of  Mr.  J.  P.  Havelaar,  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Cana'ls 
and  Waterways  of  the  province  of  Drenthe,  an  excellent  and  most 
fitting  appointment  when  it  is  considered,  that  Mr.  Havelaar  brings 
to  his  new  office  not  only  great  technical  and  administrative  ability, 
but  also  a  familiarity  with  all  the  needs  of  that  complex  network,  the 
Dutch  waterways,  obtained  through  years  of  diligent  work  in  their 
service.  The  estimate  for  this  department,  which  exceeds  those  for 
the  war  and  educational  departments,  figure  as  twenty-four  million 
llorins  in  the  budget  for  1887,  equal  to  ten  million  dollars. 

The  reign  of  the  late  Emperor  William  of  Germany  was  a  pro- 


pitious one  for  the  development  of  architectural  art  in  that  country 
to  a  remarkable  degree.  There  can  hardly  be  any  doubt,  but  that 
the  historical  events  which  made  the  German  people  once  more  a 
solid  nation,  have  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  the  revival  and  sub- 
sequent prosperity  of  the  arts  and  industries  which  we  note  in  Ger- 
many during  the  last  twenty  years.  The  national  idea  sought  to 
take  shape  in  a  variety  of  ways,  furnishing  poets,  musicians,  painterti, 
sculptors  and  architects  with  tasks  grand  and  splendid  enough  to 
satisfy  the  highest  wishes  of  artists. 

Since  1860,  when  William  assumed  the  regency  of  Prussia,  says 
the  Wochenblatt  filr  Buukunde,  a  number  of  edifices  of  the  first  rank 
were  planned  and  erected,  whilst  others  commenced  earlier  were 
by  him  carried  to  a  glorious  completion.  It  filled  the  aged  Emperor 
with  proud  satisfaction  to  be  present  at  the  opening  festivities  of  the 
famous  Cologne  Cathedral,  to  complete  which  he  had  contributed  so 
liberally  from  his  private  purse.  The  project  of  erecting  a  grand 
Protestant  Cathedral  in  his  capital  was  through  him  advanced  by  in- 
viting the  leading  masters  of  the  nations  of  Europe  to  an  open  com- 
petition which  was  largely  participated  in.  It  was  perhaps  the 
thought  that  his  life  might  not  be  spared  long  enough  to  carry  out 
this  favorite  project  that  caused  Emperor  William  to  leave  it  for  his 
successor  to  accomplish. 

The  erection  of  the  German  Parliament  Building,  in  whose  prog- 
ress he  took  a  deep  interest,  we  find  to  be  going  on  with  rapidity. 
It  is  but  a  few  years  since  he  himself  laid  the  corner-stone  for  this 
vast  edifice,  and 'already  we  hear  of  its  masonry  being  finished  in  the 
rough. 

Another  majestic  structure,  the  Imperial  Palace  of  Justice,  at 
Leipsic,  for  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  German  Empire,  will  soon 
rise  above  ground. 

William  unveiled  the  great  National  Monument  upon  the  Nieder- 
wald  erected  by  a  reunited  people  in  memory  of  the  uprising  of  the 
nation  and  glorious  victory  over  the  common  enemy,  France,  in  1870. 

The  grand  Column  of  Victory,  on  the  Koenigsplatz,  at  Berlin,  owes 
its  existence  to  his  initiative.  He  gave  the  order  for  the  erection  of 
an  imperial  palace  at  the  city  of  Strasburg  in  Alsace,  which  is  now 
approaching  completion. 

Liberal  appropriations  were  granted  under  William's  reign  for  the 
restoration  of  the  old  Marienburg  Castle  in  East  Prussia,  probably 
the  most  valuable  relic  of  the  Romanesque  style  of  the  thirteenth 
century  to  be  found  anywhere,  also  for  the  restoration  of  the  Im- 
perial Residence  at  Goslar,  at  the  foot  of  the  Hartz  Mountains,  first 
built  in  the  year  of  920,  where  the  emperors  of  the  Saxon  and  Fran- 
conian  dynasty  held  court  during  two  centuries  and  more. 

But  his  generosity  was  not  limited  to  works  of  national  glorifica- 
tion; his  Government  granted  still  larger  sums  for  enterprises  in- 
tended to  benefit  the  whole  civilized  world.  We  refer  to  the  ex- 
plorations and  excavations  the  late  Emperor  had  carried  on  upon  the 
classical  soil  of  Olympia  in  Greece,  and  Pergamos  in  Asia  Minor, 
which,  the  world  knows,  have  yielded  so  rich  a  harvest. 

He  fostered  the  German  Archaeological  Institutes  established  at 
Rome  and  Athens,  and  all  over  the  broad  field  of  architectural 
activity,  his  influence  was  stimulating  and  highly  beneficial. 

With  keen  understanding  he  approached  questions  of  an  artistic, 
as  well  as  technical  nature.  So  we  are  told  by  architects  whose  duty 
it  was  to  report  to  him  upon  professional  matters.  When  com- 
paratively young  in  years,  he  manifested  sound  judgment  when 
from  various  plans  submitted  for  his  new  palace  "  Unter  den 
Linden  "  he  selected  the  best  plan  presented  by  the  best  master  for 
execution. 


BOCKLIN  AND  HIS  NEW  PICTURE. 

BOCKLIN  has 
often  before  been 
called  the  Gabri- 
el Max  of  landscape 
painters.  Since  the 
"  Pieta "  has  taken 
its  place  in  the  pro- 
cession of  remarkable 
paintings  that  wend 
their  slow  way 
through  the  exhibi- 
tion-galleries of  Eu- 
rope and  the  press 
has  been  occupied 
with  the  artist,  the 
comparison  of  his 
work  with  that  of 

Cathedral  at  Brechin,   Scotland.  Max     js    ma(je    again_ 

The  feeling,  as  one  can  discern,  is  that  the  talent  of  both  belongs  to 
the  same  extraordinary  morbid  type.  In  the  case  of  the  "  Pieta," 
there  is  also  to  be  reckoned  the  striking  resemblance  of  treatment  of 
the  Virgin's  hand  with  Max's  group  of  wringing,  writhed  and  folded 
fingers  in  "  Ecce  Homo."  I  inclin j  to  think  that  Bb'cklin  may  have 
had  his  late  young  friend's  pietui  e  in  mind  when  deciding  upon  this 
point  of  the  composition.  As  for  the  comparison  in  the  main,  it  is 
to  be  remembered  while  using  it  that  whereas  Max  selected  the  hor- 
rible in  tragic  human  fate  and  imbued  each  personage  with  intense 
spiritual  life  and  concentration  of  passion,  Bb'cklin  diffuses  the  tragic 
by  means  of  his  coloring  over  the  whole  scene.  The  parallel,  in 


JUNE  16,  1888.] 


The.   American   Architect  and  ftuilding  News. 


287 


short,  lacks  significance  in  proportion  as  we  retire  from  the  habit  ol 
conceptian  common  to  the  two  artists  to  the  details  of  their  picto- 
rial expression  and  technical  execution. 

Bocklin  of  late  years  has  painted  chiclly  figures.  He  possesses 
rnnii- 1 1  skill  as  a  draughtsman  and  modeller  when  he  chooses  to  cxerl 
himself,  but  his  superiority  of  knowbdn  lies  i"  the  early  and  favor- 
ite direction  of  his  genius.  In  his  landscape  paintings,  his  choice  ol 
suliject  was  often  felicitous.  Nature  has  her  objects  of  vast  dimen- 
sions and  of  historic  dignity,  her  dire  and  weird  aspects.  All  are 
fitting  themes  for  morbid  fancy,  fitting,  too,  for  the  supernatural  in 
Hix'klin's  tone  of  coloring.  This  light-transfused,  moisture-laden 
blue  is  a  blue  for  out-of-doors,  a  blue  of  which  (iocthc  would  sav, 
"  it  conveys  a  feeling  of  coolness,  it  has  a  singular  and  inexpressible 
influence,  it  attracts  us  strangely,  not  by  intruding  upon  our  sight, 
but  by  drawing  us  after  itself."  ' 

What  a  satisfactory  piece  is  his  "Ruined  Castle  by  the  Sea! 
and  I  think  of  that  other,  "  The  Shrine  of  Hercules,"  where  three 
pirate  warriors  are  represented  as  come  upon- a  holy  shrine,  on  a 
bright  night,  near  the  sea.  One  stands  out  upon  the  rocks  on  guard; 
the  two  others  creep  round  the  encircling  high  wall  to  the  edge  of 
the  opening  and  sink  on  their  knees  to  mutter  their  quick  prayers. 
A  tree,  that  to  have  attained  such  dimensions  in  a  spot  like  this  must 
be  of  an  untold  age,  grows  within  the  enclosure  and  stands  out  a  solid 
mass  against  the  night  sky,  while  flowers  are  discerned  hanging  over 
the  wall.  If  here  the  red  of  the  cappa  of  the  warrior  on  the  watch 
is  a  bit  of  color  flung,  as  we  know,  with  a  mere  artistic  purpose 
against  the  shimmering  blue  of  the  salt  water,  we  forgive  it,  for  we 
are  easily  done  with  it.  We  turn  from  the  shrine  and  the  warriors 
kneeling  in  superstitious  fear  to  the  stiff,  archaic  figure  on  its  high 
pedestal,  a  figure  that  is  lost,  as  we  feel  are  the  sentiments  of  these 
men  of  blood,  in  funest  and  shadowy  maze.  A  suggestion  of  solitude 
and  vastness  is  in  the  scene,  without  any  attempt  having  been  made 
by  the  artist  to  depict  extent  and  emptiness,  while  the  human  emo- 
tion natural  in  such  surroundings  is  embodied  by  a  choice  of  means 
that  is  direct  and  highly  satisfying.  We  are  free  from  the  suspicion 
upon  looking  at  these  canvasses  of  having  to  do  with  a  self-opinion- 
ated artist.  We  can  think  instead  that  originality  has  enriched,  not 
only  the  schools  by  proofs  of  latent  power  and  astonishing  technical 
mastery,  but  Nature  herself,  by  an  unaffected  interpretation  of  an 
earnest  mood. 

In  the  "Pieta,"  a  division  is  made  of  the  composition  into  an 
upper  and  lower  portion.  The  latter  contains  the  figures  of  the 
crucified  Christ  and  Virgin  Mary.  The  lifeless  body  lies  stretched 
out  in  stiff  lines  upon  a  marble  tomb.  The  whole  is  bathed  in  the 
blue  grotto-like  tone  which  Bocklin  loves  to  employ,  while  a  blending 
white  light  streams  through  a  suspended  cloud.  The  upper  portion 
is  filled  by  a  group  of  consoling  angels.  Such  is  the  composition. 
So  far  nothing  is  discomforting.  The  corpse  of  Jesus  is  realistic, 
but  the  old  masters  have  accustomed  us  to  realism  in  this  theme,  as 
well  as  to  the  division  of  pictures  into  upper  and  lower  portions. 
Where  our  composure  and  traditional  opinions  are  startled  is  at  the 
fact  that  nothing  of  the  Virgin  besides  the  wide  dark-blue  mantle 
that  envelopes  her  and  one  hand  is  visible.  By  degrees  the  pros- 
trated form  grows  distinct,  together  with  the  whole  wonderfulness  of 
the  tender,  white,  delicately-veined  hand  pulsating  with  violently- 
agitated  blood.  It  furnishes  a  touching,  almost  an  overwhelming 
contrast  to  the  rigidness  of  the  dead  body  on  which  it  lies. 

We  have  here,  no  doubt,  the  tour  tie  force  of  the  painting.  The 
lowermost  angels  are  beautiful.  They  are  painted  moreover  care- 
fully, whereas  the  remaining  ones  are  depicted  with  sketchy  hasti- 
ness. The  flowers  that  adorn  the  tomb,  while  overspread  with  the 
blue  glow  that  fills  the  place,  retain  a  splendid  richness  of  native 
color.  Bocklin  is  not  only  a  master  in  glazing  of  the  true  Munich 
type ;  he  also  employs,  it  is  said,  certain  secrets,  that  he  has  dis- 
covered of  encaustic  painting.  Perhaps  they  were  here  put  in  use  ; 
it  was  impossible  to  get  near  enough  the  canvas  for  inspection.  The 
whole,  as  well  as  particular  parts,  conveyed  the  impression  of  unmis- 
takable power.  But  in  this  instance  it  is  a  power  which  impresses 
us  more  than  it  delights.  COUNTESS  v.  KROCKOW. 


FIRE  RISKS  OF  ELECTRIC  LIGHTING. —  M.  Mascart  recently  performed 
before  the  French  Physical  Society  a  number  of  experiments  illus- 
trating the  possible  dangers  of  fire  from  electric  light.  In  introducing 
the  subject,  he  stated  that  it  was  necessary  in  electric-light  installations 
to  take  precautions  against  the  undue  heating  of  the  conductors,  and 
to  avoid  the  risk  of  materials  being  ignite!  by  the  heat  generated  in  the 
lamps.  In  the  case  of  insulated  wires  laid  beneath  mouldings,  the  heat 
generated  was  generally  dissipated  by  conduction  which  kept  down  the 
temperature  of  the  wire  and  its  covering.  But  an  excessive  current 
might  destroy  the  insulation  and  inflame  the  wood.  An  experiment 
was  made  with  a  wire  of  1.2  mm.  in  diameter,  laid  on  a  block  of  wood 
and  covered  with  another  block.  This  wire  would,  in  ordinary  prac- 
tice, carry  a  current  of  4  amperes,  but  in  this  experiment  a  current  of 
40  amperes  was  passed  before  it  commenced  to  carbonize  the  wood. 
With  a  much  greater  current  the  wood  was  inflamed  at  a  point  where  the 
wire  was  uncovered,  as  between  the  boards  the  lack  of  air  prevented 
ignition.  In  order  to  see  what  amount  of  danger  was  to  be  expected 

1  Zur  Farl/entehre. 


from  the  lamps  themselves  the  following  cx|>crimcnts  were  made:  1. 
The  globe  of  an  arc  lamp  was  covered  with  several  thicknesses  of  a 
light  fabric  of  green  tarlatan.  2.  A  glow  lump  of  :W  candle-power  wag 
covered  in  11  similar  manner,  the  folds  of  the  fabric  being  pressed  on 
the  lamp  li\  an  india-rubber  band.  8.  An  incandescent  lamp  was  cov- 
ered with  a  cotton  InMid.  4.  A  glow  lamp  was  covered  with  a  similar 
hood  of  black  silk,  which  was  surrounded  by  another  of  velvet,  ft.  A 
lamp  was  covered  with  a  layer  of  white  wadding,  the  gummed  surface 
of  which  had  been  removed.  0.  Two  glow  lamps  were  covered  with 
layers  of  wadding,  white  in  one  case  and  black  in  the  other.  7.  A  lamp 
of  '-'.'2  candle  -power  was  placed  in  a  vertical  fold  of  an  old  theatrical 
scene,  and  finally,  8.  A  lamp  of  :>m  can.il. --power  was  laid  on  a  Mmilar 
scene.  In  cases  1,2,  6,  and  7  no  carbonization  nor  excessive  heating 
was  caused  for  twenty  minutes.  In  case  8,  the  icene  commenced  to 
carbonize  without  flame  at  the  end  of  1  1-2  minutes,  and  at  the  end  of 
2  minutes  the  envelope  of  the  lamp  in  5  hurst  into  flame,  and  in  alxiut 
(1  minutes  the  velvet  calotte  in  experiment  I  commenced  to  burn  slowly  ; 
this  experiment  was  prolonged  without  breaking  the  lamp,  but  the  globe 
was  deformed.  The  cotton  hood  in  H  was  partially  carbonized  at  tin- 
end  of  10  minutes,  but  was  not  set  on  fire.—  Engineering. 

A  CASK  or  TRESPASS.—  William  and  Ferdinand  Setzke  are  cousins 
and  arc  the  respective  owners  of  adjoining  lots  at  Thirty-first  and  Fox 
Sts.  Some  years  ago  Ferdinand  built  a  house  on  his  lot,  which  en- 
croached two  feet  and  two  inches  upon  his  cousin's  land.  William  veri- 
fied this  by  a  survey  of  the  land  after  he  and  his  cousin  had  had  a 
falling  out,  and  at  once  instituted  suit  for  possession  of  the  strip  pre- 
empted by  Ferdinand.  He  recovered  judgment  for  possession  and 
refused  to  compromise  except  by  getting  his  land.  The  case  was  fought 
bitterly.  The  Supreme  Court  decided  that  William  was  entitled  to  his 
land  and  an  order  was  entered  directing  the  issue  of  a  writ  of  possession. 
The  writ  was  issued,  but  Sheriff  Matson  failed  to  execute  it,  and  Wil- 
liam secured  a  rule  by  Judge  Baker  to  show  cause  why  he  should  not  be 
attached  for  contempt  of  court.  The  sheriff  answered  the  rule  by  say- 
ing it  was  impossible  for  him  to  execute  the  writ  without  tearing  down 
a  portion  of  the  house  built  by  Ferdinand  Setzke,  or  trespassing  on  his 
property.  While  it  was  admitted  by  the  sheriff's  attorneys  that  the 
plaintiff  was  entitled  to  undisturbed  possession  of  as  much  of  the  de- 
fendant's building  as  encroached  upon  his  land,  the  trouble  seemed  how 
to  get  there.  The  door  of  Ferdinand's  house  was  on  hit  own  land,  and 
the  sheriff  had  no  right  to  go  through  it  without  the  owner's  permission, 
which  he  could  not  get.  Jf  he  entered  the  door,  Ferdinand  could 
legally  defend  his  own  property,  and  if  need  be  shoot  the  officers,  and 
the  sheriff  did  not  think  the  court  would  require  him  to  take  his  life  in 
his  hand  and  make  him  attempt  to  enter  the  premises.  The 
court  cited  a  case  in  New  York,  where  one  man  infringed  upon  another's 
land  by  building  a  brick  wall  an  inch  and  three-quarters  over  the  line. 
The  other  man  secured  a  judgment  for  possession,  hut  the  trespasser 
coolly  told  the  sheriff  to  go  and  take  an  inch  and  three-quarters  from 
the  brick  wall,  but  defied  him  to  trespass  another  eighth,  or  even  a  six- 
teenth of  an  inch.  "  The  defendant,"  said  Judge  Baker,  "  has  the  right 
to  live  in  that  part  of  his  house  which  does  not  rest  upon  the  plaintiff's 
land,  and  to  live  there  his  allotted  three-score  years  and  ten,  but  the 
plaintiff  certainly  has  the  right  to  do  what  he  pleases  with  the  portion  of 
the  building  on  his  land.  He  may  saw  off  two  feet  and  two  inches,  pro- 
vided he  stays  on  his  own  land  and  does  not  trespass  on  the  other's  land  ; 
or  he  may  cut  a  hole  in  the  side  of  the  house  and  enter  upon  so  much 
of  the  premises  as  is  built  upon  his  land.  You  may  hold  that  this  would 
be  a  trespass,  but  I  hold  that  it  would  not  be,  if  he  doeo  not  infringe  on 
the  defendant's  property.  The  demurer  of  the  sherriff  is  overruled  " 
—  New  York  Tribune. 


ARTISTS  SHOULD  DISCARD  TURPENTINE.  —About  a  dozen  years  ago 
the  collected  works  of   Landsecr  were    exhibited  in  London.      I   was 


shocked  on  observing  that  some  of  his  finest  works  were  miserably 
liis  was  notably  the  case  with  "The  Sanctuary,"  a  picture  of 

r    1 1 1  :i  I     h;t  i !    inst    i • )-( 1-.-.I  •(  1     -i     1  '.i  L  i.    •*  i  n  I    woo    n*n  !•>.•«•. , .    .    • .  i      .  i 


«7  *  mj  •  ^<i  M  i  L  i  j<i  i  \  ,       H,  picture    Ol 

i  red  deer  that  had  just  crossed  a  lake  and  was  emerging  with  the 
rater  dripping  from  its  fur.  When  this  was  first  exhibited  at  the 
Academy  I  admired,  among  other  details,  the  sparkling  brilliancy  of 


faded.    Tl 
a 

water 

Academy  .  ..•.,,.,!.•.,  ..,,,..11^  . MM>  i  m  i.m>,  m^  spumiiug  oriinancy  ot 
the  water  drops,  and  the  general  suggestion  of  cool  freshness  through- 
out the  picture.  At  the  later  exhibition  all  this  had  gone.  In  naming 
this  I  am  not  selecting  an  exception,  but  a  typical  example  of  the  early 
fate  of  the  pictures  of  the  majority  of  modern  artists ;  some  become 
faded,  others  wrinkled  and  reticulated  with  a  network  of  cracks  even 
during  the  lifetime  of  the  painter,  while  the  works  of  the  old  masters 
remain  with  very  little  decay  during  many  generations.  My  opinion  is 
that  the  turpentine  of  the  medium  is  the  chief  offender,  and  that  the 
true  artist  should  discard  it  altogether  as  fitted  only  for  the  work  of  the 
house  painter,  of  whom  rapid  drying  and  flatting  are  demanded.  Care- 
ful examination  of  the  surface  of  the  works  of  the  older  of  the  old 
masters  has  led  me  to  doubt  whether  they  used  turpentine  at  all,  and 
to  conclude  that  their  medium  was  linseed  oil  pure  and  simple,  used  so 
freely  that  the  drying  of  their  pictures  must  have  demanded  days  or 
weeks  and  a  studio  free  from  dust.  With  such  a  medium  every  indi- 
vidual particle  of  the  pigment  matter  is  enveloped  and  sealed  in  a 
curiously  imperishable  transparent  skin,  which  dries  by  gaining  some- 
thing, namely,  oxygen,  and  therefore  swells  a  little  in  thus  drying 
thereby  compacting  itself  and  embracing  more  firmly  with  loving 
aesthetic  hug  the  precious  color  particles  that  constitute  by  their 
arrangement  the  artist's  pleasure-giving  legacy  to  his  fellow-creatures. 
Not  so  the  turpentine-diluted  medium.  In  this  case  half  of  the  medium 
evaporates,  leaving  the  poor  particles  of  pigment  half  naked  to  their 
enemies.  Some  painters  have  mixed  varnishes,  such  as  copal  or  mastic, 
with  the  oil  medium,  or  have  even  used  these  as  the  sole  medium! 
The  result  of  this  is  peculiarly  disastrous,  especially  if  the  color  is  laid 
>n  thickly,  as  is  likely  with  such  a  viscous  and  quick-drying  medium. 
As  the  solvent  of  the  varnish  evaporates  the  whole  contracts  and  leaves 

a  network  of  cracks  or  wrinkles,  practically  destroying  the  picture. 

W.  ifatthiea  WiUiamt,  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine. 

GROWTH  OF  NATURAL  GAS  BCHINBM.  —  Some  idea  of  the  extent  of 
the  use  of  natural  gas  in  Pittsburgh,  Allegheny  and  vicinity,  and  the 


288 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.       [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  651 . 


profits  of  the  business,  may  be  had  from  the  report  of  one  of  the  com- 
panies just  presented.  It  states  that  on  February  29  the  last  of  the 
treasury-stock  had  been  sold,  so  that  the  entire  capital  stock  of  $7,- 
500,000  is  now  subject  to  dividends.  Rents,  operating  expenses,  inter- 
est and  taxes  for  the  year  amounted  to  40.05  per  cent  of  the  earnings, 
or  $1,709,702.74.  Monthly  dividends  of  1  per  cent,  amounting  to 
$842,026.50,  have  been  paid.  The  number  of  house-connections  made 
from  the  lines  of  the  company  during  the  year  1887  was  4,612.  A  year 
ago  the  company  contracted  to  operate  the  lines  of  two  other  compan- 
ies. The  united  business  of  these  three  companies  amounted  on  March 
1  to  the  supplying  of  678  manufacturies  and  11,955  dwelling-houses, 
and,  through  other  distributing  companies,  the  supplying  of  113  factor- 
ies and  10,961  dwellings,  or  a  total  of  23,707  contracts.  —  ,/V.  Y.  Com- 
mercial Advertiser. 

EFFECT  OF  AMMONIA  ON  ANIMAL  LIFE. —  An  explosion  of  an  ammo- 
nia tank  occurred  May  6,  at  the  Buckeye  Brewery  with  a  very 
strange  result.  Almost  immediately  after  the  explosion  every  bird  in 
the  neighborhood  fell  dead.  Chippies,  English  sparrows,  and  canaries 
all  suffered  alike,  and  after  the  shock  dead  birds  could  be  seen  lying 
about  the  sidewalks  in  that  locality  in  great  numbers.  The  explosion 
caused  an  alarm  of  fire  to  be  sent  in,  and  the  horse  attached  to  the  Hose 
Reel  No.  5,  which  responded,  came  near  being  killed  by  the  ammonia. 
The  animal  dashed  towards  the  supposed  fire  with  all  the  speed  he  pos- 
sessed, but  when  the  strong  odor  of  the  ammonia  struck  his  nostrils  he 
was  completely  overcome  and  could  not  move.  The  horse  was  at  once 
withdrawn  from  the  place  and  restoratives  applied.  John  Loder, 
George  Kotts,  Laborers,  and  Fireman  Ross  were  in  the  room  at  the  time, 
but  escaped  uninjured.  Besides  the  injury  done  to  the  tank  the  com- 
pany will  lose  $500,  the  value  of  the  ammonia. —  Cincinnati  Enquirer. 

A  SAGACIOUS  ENGLISH  WORKMAN.  —  There  is  a  good  deal  of  the  much 
esteemed  "get  there"  quality  in  your  genuine  Englishman.  His 
methods  are  sometimes  crude,  but  he  sticks  to  it  and  "  gets  there."  A 
good  many  years  ago  a  gentleman  whose  name  stands  at  the  head  of 
the  largest  wire  manufacturing  establishment  in  the  world  —  it  was  a 
very  modest  concern  then  —  went  to  England  and  bought  some  steel 
rods  to  be  shipped  to  this  country  and  drawn  into  wire.  A  workman 
there  saw  them,  and  made  up  his  mind  that  wherever  they  were  going 
there  was  work  for  him.  He  asked  no  questions,  but  made  up  his  mind 
to  follow  the  rods.  He  saw  them  loaded  on  freight  cars  in  Birmingham, 
made  friends  with  the  train-hands  and  accompanied  them  to  Liverpool. 
He  saw  them  unloaded  at  the  dock  there  and  kept  his  eye  on  them.  He 
saw  them  put  aboard  ship,  and  took  passage  for  America  in  that  vessel. 
He  saw  them  landed  in  Boston,  and  again  kept  his  eye  on  them  until 
they  were  again  put  on  freight  cars.  Again  he  followed  them  till  they 
reached  their  destination,  presented  himself  to  those  who  received  them, 
told  his  story,  got  a  job  and  kept  it  until  a  year  or  so  ago,  when  he  died, 
leaving  sons  behind  him  who  are  employed  in  the  same  establishment. 
He  knew  enough  to  "follow  the  rods"  and  ask  no  questions  and  he 
"  got  there  " —  Boston  Herald. 


LONDON  THEATRES  IN  TUB  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY. —  Dr.  Gadertz  of  the 
Royal  Library,  Berlin,  has  found  a  valuable  manuscript  and  drawing 
relating  to  a  theatre  of  Shakespeare's  time.  Although  drawings  of  the 
exteriors  of  several  ancient  London  theatres  have  been  preserved,  the 
oldest  representation  of  the  interior  of  such  a  theatre  is  that  of  the  Red 
Bull,  dated  1672,  and  therefore  not  belonging  to  Shakespeare's  epoch. 
The  date  of  the  original  papers  which  Dr.  Gadertz  has  fortunately 
discovered  is  1596,  and  they  contain  important  news  concerning  the  old 
English  stage,  especially  the  Swan  Theatre.  A  learned  Dutchman, 
John  de  Witt,  Canon  of  St.  Mary's  Church  in  Utrecht,  visited  London 
in  1597,  and  noted  many  remarkable  sights,  and  he  describes  Westmin- 
ister Abbey,  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  and  other  buildings.  But  the  most 
curious  of  his  reports  is  that  on  the  theatres.  There  were  four  large 
and  splendid  play-houses  in  London  about  1596,  the  Theatre  and  the  Cur- 
tain, towards  the  north,  the  Rose  and  the  Swan.  We  learn  that  each 
of  these  was  an  oval,  beautiful  structure,  not  of  wood,  but  built  or 
faced  with  flint  and  marble,  and  of  considerable  size,  the  boxes  and  gal- 
leries containing  3,000  seats.  John  de  Witt's  sketch  is  also  highly  in- 
teresting, and  neatly  drawn.  We  see  the  actors  on  the  stage,  in  the 
costume  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  age,  the  audience,  the  "lords'  rooms," 
the  doors,  and  the  "  tiring-house  "  in  the  background.  Dr.  Gadertz 
has  just  published  de  Witt's  documents  and  drawing.  His  book,  en- 
titled "  The  Old  English  Stage,  and  other  Shakespearian  Essays " 
(Bremen,  Mtiller),  with  two  illustrations,  will  undoubtedly  create  some 
excitement  in  the  literary  world.  —  London  Times. 

PILE  DWELLINGS  IN  AFRICA.  —  "In  the  Kedebu  country,"  says Emin 
Pasha,  in  his  journal,  "we  come  upon  the  pile-dwellings.  A  platform 
supported  upon  over  300  stout  piles,  each  one  six  feet  high,  stood  with- 
in a  broken-down  bamboo  fence.  It  had  a  length  of  ninety  feet,  a 
width  of  eighty  feet,  and  was  made  of  timber  and  brushwood,  and  cov- 
ered with  clay  and  cow-dung,  to  form  a  level  flooring.  The  ground-floor 
among  the  piles  serves  as  a  kitchen  and  storehouse ;  the  water- jars  and 
the  murhakka  (grindstone)  are  placed  in  it,  and  the  servants  sleep  there. 
A  square  hole  in  the  centre  of  the  platform  provides  this  lower  room 
with  light,  and  ladders  lead  through  the  hole  to  the  platform.  This 
latter  is  divided  by  a  reed  fence  into  an  outer  and  inner  compartment, 
the  former  containing  two  large  huts,  each  about  fifteen  feet  in 
diameter,  with  neat  mud  walls  about  three  feet  high,  and  a  lofty  conical 
roof.  These  two  huts  serve  as  a  dwelling-place  for  the  master  of  the 
house.  The  inner  compartment,  or  harem,  contains  six  smaller  huts. 
The  whole  arrangement  is  really  curious,  especially  here,  where  the 
ground  is  not  swampy,  and  where  termites  [white  ants]  are  only  seldom 
found,  so  that  there  appears  to  be  no  real  reason  for  such  a  method  of 
house-building."  Around  each  homestead  is  a  garden,  in  which  are 
grown  maize,  onions,  beans,  egg-apples,  banannas,  lemons,  bitter 
oranges,  etc.  —  Chambers' s  Journal. 


CANOPY  FOR  WASHINGTON.  —  Greenough's  colossal  statue  of  Wash- 
ington being  injured  by  exposure  to  the  weather,  the  Senate  adopted  on 
May  7,  a  resolution  directing  the  Library  Committee  to  inquire  into  the 
expediency  of  moving  it  from  its  present  location,  ji  st  east  of  the  Capi- 
tol, to  some  other  place  in  the  grounds,  and  of  having  it  protected 
by  a  canopy.  This  statue  was  purchased  in  1832  at  an  expense  of 
$20,000,  and  the  total  cost  of  its  several  removals,  including  the 
original  transportation  from  Italy,  was  $29,000. 


DISCOVERY  OF  ROMAN  STATUES.  —  Three  statues  of  Roman  art  were 
discovered  and  seized  yesterday ;  one  of  the  Emperor  Hadrian,  another 
of  Antoninus,  and  the  third  a  small  Bacchus.  All  three  arc  well  pre- 
served, and  of  excellent  workmanship.  —  London  Dally  News. 


COMPETITION  is  still  straining  every  nerve  in  manufacturing  and  trade 
circles,  and  according  to  commercial  reports,  from  twenty  to  thirty  traders 
are  daily  being  crowded  down  or  out.  This  competition  has  received  con- 
siderable momentum  since  the  opening  of  spring,  and  at  this  time  it  is  mov- 
ing with  a  force  which  no  possible  combination  can  arrest.  Under  no  condi- 
tions could  legislation  accomplish  what  competition  is  now  doing,  and  it  is 
probable  that  when  the  force  of  the  present  movement  is  exhausted,  there  will 
be  much  less  occasion  or  need  of  National  or  State  legislation  to  protect  the 
interests  of  the  general  body  of  consumers.  Business  is  as  active  as  could  be 
expected  under  the  circumstances,  but  still  it  hangs  about  ten  per  cent  below 
the  corresponding  weeks  of  last  year.  Restriction  is  the  rule  in  all  channels 
of  trade;  manufacturers  are  providing  only  for  actual  present  or  well-cal- 
culated requirements.  No  matter  what  line  of  trade  is  taken,  we  find  the 
same  circumspection  and  conservatism.  Accumulations  of  stock  are  care- 
fully avoided ;  indebtedness  is  avoided,  and  credits  are  guarded  as  carefully 
as  possible.  In  fact,  a  more  conservative  business  is  now  being  done  than 
ever  before.  Manufacturers,  financiers  and  the  controllers  of  business 
generally  are  taking  a  long  and  careful  look  into  future  probabilities,  and 
acting  in  such  a  way  as  to  save  themselves  from  complications,  no  matter 
what  turn  affairs  may  take.  All  the  iron  and  steel  manufacturers,  it 
appears,  have  resolved  to  ask  their  workmen  to  consent  to  a  ten  per  cent 
reduction  in  wages;  if  this  request  is  persisted  in,  it  will  probably  lead  to  a 
strike  which  may  last  three  or  four  months  unless  the  employers  surrender. 
The  iron  and  steel  workers  have  the  strongest  combination  in  the  United 
States,  but  it  is  not  so  strong  but  that  it  may  be  defeated.  It  has  stubbornly 
and  successfully  resisted  any  reduction  in  the  rate  of  wages  for  several 
years,  but  now  there  seems  to  be  good  reason  for  a  reduction,  and  if  they 
oppose  it,  they  will  be  on  the  wrong  side.  The  Eastern  and  Western  nail- 
makers  have  united  upon  a  classification  which  will  prevent  friction  and 
result  in  greater  harmony.  The  steel  manufacturers  have  also  harmonized 
and  are  acting  together.  In  the  various  branches  of  the  iron  trade  there  is 
more  harmony  than  formerly,  but,  at  the  same  time,  greater  competition 
than  ever.  The  steel-rail  makers  have  lowered  their  prices  to  thirty  dol- 
lars, and  it  is  now  rumored  that  less  money  will  be  taken  before  the  close 
of  the  month  if  orders  can  be  had.  The  coal  production  is  ahead  of  last 
year's  output,  and  in  the  anthracite  trade  producers  are  maintaining  prices 
at  a  high  point.  In  the  bituminous  regions  more  mines  are  being  opened, 
and  preparations  are  being  made  for  .1  considerable  increase  in  production 
next  year.  The  car-builders  throughout  the  country  are  still  loaded  up 
with  orders  and  have  their  capacity  engaged  for  a  long  time  ahead.  There 
is  great  activity  among  the  locomotive-builders  and  in  all  the  ship  and  boat 
yards  of  the  country.  In  the  boat-yards  along  the  Lakes,  a  great  deal  of 
craft  is  being  contracted  for  on  account  of  the  business  developed  from  the 
operation  of  the  Long  and  Short  Haul  clause  of  the  Inter-State  Commerce 
Law.  Domestic  exchanges  are  steadily  increasing  and  the  volume  of  busi- 
ness done  at  interior  points  is  growing  more  rapidly  than  along  the  Atlantic 
Coast.  That  is  to  say,  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  are 
losing  relatively  as  to  Chicago,  Cincinnati,  St.  Louis,  Kansas  City,  and  two 
or  three  other  Western  points.  The  great  Mississippi  Valley  is  rapidly 
filling  up  with  a  thrifty  population,  and  from  the  diversification  of  indus- 
tries going  on,  it  is  creating  great  commercial  centres  throughout  the  inte- 
rior, which  promise  in  time  to  rival  those  of  the  Atlantic  Coast.  The 
architects  and  builders  throughout  the  West  report  a  little  falling  off  in 
building  activity.  The  chief  activity  is  in  the  direction  cf  small  house 
building  in  cities  and  towns.  A  great  deal  of  work  of  this  kind  will  bo 
done  during  the  fall.  In  fact,  the  probabilities  are  that  next  year,  no 
matter  what  else  may  happen,  an  immense  amount  of  building  in  the  way 
of  small  houses  will  be  undertaken.  The  capitalists  and  manufacturers 
who  have  entered  into  this  work  as  an  experiment  have  been  greatly 
pleased  at  their  success  and  the  returns  and  will  enter  upon  still  larger 
schemes  for  house  construction  next  year  unless  a  serious  setback  should 
be  given  to  general  business.  The  lumber  trade  is  slackening  up  through- 
out the  New  England  and  Middle  States,  but  maintains  itself  well  through- 
out the  far  West  and  in  the  South.  The  textile  capacity  throughout  the 
East  is  fairly  employed,  but  taking  the  industry  as  a  whole.  North  and 
South,  there  is  not  as  much  activity  as  last  year,  nor  are  the  margins  as 
encouraging  to  new  concerns.  The  Southern  textile  interests  are  under 
excellent  management  and  generally  have  abundant  capital  behind  them 
and  are  able  and  evideutly  willing  to  stand  any  reasonable  amount  of  dis- 
couragement which  competition  may  develop.  All  of  the  smaller  indus- 
tries are  struggling  along  under  healthful  conditions.  Narrowing  margins 
are  making  it  necessary  to  invest  capital  in  larger  blocks  than  years  ago; 
yet  there  are  better  opportunities  to-day  than  ever  before  in  the  history  of 
the  country  for  persons  of  small  capital,  provided  they  are  wise  in  their 
selection  of  a  location  and  the  particular  avenues  upon  which  they  enter. 
The  glass-makers  everywhere  are  busy.  The  makers  of  brick  are  oversold, 
excepting  in  New  York  and  New  Jersey.  Manufacturer  of  building  mate- 
rial generally  are  busy,  with  a  fair  prospect  of  employment  throughout  the 
year.  The  builders  of  machinery  have  nearly  as  much  business  as  twelve 
months  ago  and  in  some  directions  more.  A  large  amount  of  engineering 
machinery  and  appliances  will  be  contracted  for  this  fall.  Should  the  rail- 
road-builders conclude,  late  in  the  fall,  to  renew  railroad  building  on  a 
large  scale  next  spring,  which  some  financiers  think  they  will  do,  it  will 
result  in  the  placing  of  a  large  number  of  orders  for  the  winter,  which,  in 
turn,  will  stimulate  business  in  all  directions  and  help  the  iron  trade  out  of 
the  slough  into  which  it  has  gradually  slipped. 

S.  J.  PAKKHILL  &  Co.,  Printers,  Boston. 


THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  AND  BUILDING  NEWS. 


VOL.  xxiii. 


Copyright,  1888,  by  TlCKXOR  A  COMPANY.  Bottou,  Man. 


No.  652. 


JUNE  23,  1888. 

utereil  at  the  Poet-Office  at  Boston  u  leoond-elau  matter. 


SUMMARY : — 

An  Architect's  Suit  for  his  Commission.  —  The  Danger  sur- 
rounding Klectric  Wires. — Continuous  and  Intermittent 
Kleetric  Currents.  —  The  Materials  used  for  House  Hard- 
ware.—  Bronze  Metals.  —  Some  Ancient  Tunnels. — The 
Tunnel  at  Samoa.  —  The  finds  of  M.  and  Madame  Dieulafoy 

at  Susa,   Persia 289 

LETTKK  I-HOM  CANADA 291 

I, Kin.it  i  UOM  CIIK  \c;o 202 

LKTTKK  FROM  WASHIXOTON 292 

LETTKK  KROM  PHILADELPHIA 293 

ILLUSTRATIONS:  — 

Doorway  of  House  of  Nathaniel  Thayer,  Esq.,  Boston,  Mass. — 
Old  Stone  Portals,  Stockholm,  Sweden.  —  House  for  T.  C. 
I. cake,  Ksq.,  Richmond,  Va. — House  at  Carpenter  Station, 
1*.  R.  R. —  House  of  James  Hackett,  Esq.,  Carpenter 
Station,  1*.  R.  R.  —  Accepted  Design  for  the  Review  Club, 
Chelsea,  Mass.  —  Tomb  of  Cardinal  Richelieu  in  the  Sor- 
bonne,  Paris.  — Tomb  of  Leonardo  Bruni  in  the  Church  of 
Santa  Croce,  Florence.  —  Competitive  Design  for  the 

Masonic  Hall,  Pittsburgh,  Pa 294 

LETTER  FROM  CINCINNATI 294 

LETTER  FROM  LONDON 295 

PARIS  GOSSIP 290 

THE  MARIA  THERESA  MONUMENT 297 

THE  CORINTH  CANAL 298 

ALUMINIUM 299 

COMMUNICATIONS  :  — 

A  Really  Good  Suggestion.  —  "Diamond  cut  Diamond."  — 
Reporting  Building  News. — To  take  a  Door  out  of  Wind.  .  299 

NOTES  AND  CLIPPINGS 300 

TRADE  SURVEYS 300 


WELL-KNOWN  New  York  architect,  Mr.  Charles  W. 
Romeyn,  recently  had  trouble  in  collecting  his  bill  from 
an  eccentric  client,  whom  he  was  finally  obliged  to  summon 
before  the  courts.  The  bill  was  for  professional  services  in 
preparing  plans  for  altering  the  country  house  of  the  defendant, 
who  spends  his  winters  in  Paris,  and  his  summers  on  an  estate, 
comprising  some  five  hundred  acres,  near  the  Hudson  River. 
The  alterations  were  designed  to  make  the  house  resemble 
Speke  Hall,  a  celebrated  noble  mansion  in  England,  and 
among  the  other  incidentals  to  the  establishment  was  a  dog- 
kennel  which  cost  fifteen  hundred  dollars.  After  the  plans 
were  made,  Mr.  Roineyn  sent  in  a  bill  amounting  to  seventeen 
hundred  and  twenty  (Collars.  His  client,  who  is  a  German, 
refused  to  pay  it,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  excessive,  and 
deputed  his  wife  to  represent  him  in  court.  The  lady  testified 
to  the  services  rendered,  concluding  with  some  rather  singular 
answers  to  still  more  singular  questions  propounded  by  the 
plaintiff's  counsel ;  and  the  jury  promptly  brought  in  a  verdict 
in  favor  of  the  architect,  for  the  full  amount  claimed,  with 
interest  and  costs. 

T  TR.  HAROLD  P.  BROWN,  an  electrical  engineer,  writes 
I  XL  t°  tne  New  York  Evening  Post  a  long  and  sensible  letter 
•^  about  dangerous  electric  wires.  The  occasion  of  the 
letter  seems  to  have  been  the  death,  within  a  short  time,  of 
three  citizens  from  accidental  contact  with  wires  used  for 
electric-lighting,  and  the  writer  gives  an  interesting  description 
of  the  different  sorts  of  current  employed,  with  the  peculiar 
dangers  of  each,  and  of  the  defects  of  the  wire  ordinarily  used 
for  conveying  the  current.  As  most  architects  know,  the  sorts 
of  insulated  wire  now  employed  for  supplying  electric-lights 
may  be  reduced  to  two,  the  best  being  of  copper  wire  buried  in 
a  blnck,  resinous  paste,  and  protected  by  a  braided  covering  of 
black  cotton  thread,  while  the  commonest  is  covered  with  white 
cotton  thread,  braided  on,  with,  it  is  said,  a  layer  of  asbestos 
between  it  and  the  copper,  and  painted  on  top  of  the  cotton. 
This  is  known  as  "  underwriters'  wire,"  from  the  fact  that  it  is 
usually  accepted  as  safe  by  the  insurance  companies,  but, 
according  to  Mr.  Brown,  the  line-men  indicate  their  opinion  of 
its  safety  by  calling  it  commonly  among  themselves  "  under- 
takers' wire."  This  "  underwriters'  wire,"  while  reasonably 
serviceable  under  cover,  soon  loses  its  insultation,  as  Mr. 
Brown  says,  when  exposed  to  the  weather.  The  paint  dries 


and  burns  away,  the  cotton  is  loosened  by  ice,  or  by  contact 
with  other  objects,  and  soon  hangs  from  it  in  shreds,  leaving 
the  exposed  metallic  surface  of  the  wire  free  to  transmit  its 
deadly  stroke  through  any  object  which  may  come  between  it 
and  the  ground.  As  scores  of  "  tramp-wires,"  owned  or  cared 
for  by  nobody,  hang  loose  over  the  streets  and  roofs  of  all  our 
"arge  cities,  there  is  almost  always  a  medium  at  hand  by  which 
the  flash  from  an  exjwsed  electric-light  wire  can  be  conveyed  to 
some  telephone  wire,  or  near  enough  to  the  ground  to  come  in 
contact,  at  the  proper  moment,  with  a  victim. 

IT  seems,  however,  that  the  sort  of  current  passing  through 
the  wires  is  quite  as  important,  in  regard  to  the  danger 
from  them,  as  the  condition  of  their  insultation.  Most 
people  have  heard  a  good  deal  recently  about  the  system  of 
alternating  currents,  which  is  said  to  have  so  great  advantages 
in  point  of  economy  that  a  combination  has  been  formed  to 
unite  all  the  patents  for  electric-lighting  in  which  this  system  is 
employed.  Mr.  Brown,  however,  informs  us  that  alternating 
currents  are  terribly  dangerous;  that  the  renowned  firm  of 
Siemens  &  Halske,  after  years  of  experiment  with  them,  have 
entirely  abandoned  the  system,  as  too  hazardous  for  use,  saying 
that  it  should  be  proscribed  by  law ;  and  that  the  Board  of 
Electrical  Control  of  Chicago  has  already  forbidden  its  in- 
troduction into  that  city.  Next  to  alternating  currents,  those 
which  are  made  to  pulsate  by  the  use  of  "  open-circuit 
armatures  "  on  the  dynamo  are  most  dangerous.  According  to 
Mr.  Brown,  the  succession  of  shocks  from  a  current  of  this 
kind,  which  are  produced  at  the  rate  of  several  thousand  a 
minute,  is  much  more  fatal  than  the  passage  through  the  body 
of  a  continuous  current  of  the  same  intensity ;  and  he  says  that 
within  his  knowledge  only  four  deaths  have  ever  occurred  from 
wires  belonging  to  electric-lighting  companies  employing  con- 
tinuous currents,  while  the  victims  of  wires  conveying  pulsating 
currents,  which  are  used  by  two  important  companies,  "are 
counted  by  scores."  Moreover,  as  he  tells  us,  there  is  no 
great  difference  in  the  danger  between  arc  and  incandescent 
lighting  systems  employing  currents  of  this  kind.  It  is  well 
known  that  the  current  used  in  the  Edison  system  for  incan- 
descent lights  is  quite  harmless,  and  we  have  seen  an  amateur 
separate  two  portions  of  a  conductor  supplying  four  hundred 
lamps,  and  allow  the  whole  current  to  pass  through  his  body, 
without  inconvenience ;  but  this,  Mr.  Brown  says,  is  the  result, 
not  alone  of  its  low  tension,  but  of  its  steadiness ;  and  the  cur- 
rents supplying  incandescent  lights  on  some  of  the  other 
systems,  which,  it  must  be  remembered,  often  supply  arc-lights 
at  the  same  time,  may  be  among  the  most  dangerous  of  all. 
So  far,  architects  are  hardly  expected  to  be  experts  in  the  new 
science  of  electricity,  as  well  as  in  all  the  older  sciences,  but 
all  of  them  like  to  learn,  and  a  knowledge  of  the  character  of 
various  systems,  sufficient  to  warn  them  against  the  dangerous 
ones,  would  be  a  useful  acquirement,  to  their  clients  as  well  as 
to  themselves. 


IT  seems  to  us  that  it  is  quite  time  for  some  improvement  to 
be  made  in  the  material,  if  not  the  design,  of  house  hard- 
ware. In  all  the  other  arts  alloys  are  now  employed  which 
possess  a  tenacity,  and  unchangeable  brilliancy,  of  color  appar- 
ently unknown  to  the  manufacturer  of  builder's  hardware, 
while  non-metallic  materials,  beautiful  and  well  fitted  for  the 
purpose,  might  be  found  without  great  effort.  One  of  the 
pleasantest  materials  to  the  touch,  for  such  objects  as  door- 
knobs, is  celluloid,  which  is,  it  is  true,  employed  for  them,  but, 
so  far  as  we  know,  only  in  the  form  of  a  thin  film,  held  to  the 
metallic  knob  which  forms  its  foundation  by  a  band  of  brass, 
encircling  the  middle  of  the  knob,  and  subject  to  an  ugly  dis- 
coloration which  soon  spoils  the  beauty  of  the  knob.  Many 
years  ago  an  extremely  pretty  knob  was  in  use  in  England, 
consisting  of  an  ivory-like  composition,  formed  with  twelve  or 
fifteen  smooth  lobes,  like  a  mango,  and  showing  only  a  small 
metallic  rosette  in  front,  which  served  as  a  sort  of  head  to  the 
spindle,  and,  not  being  touched  by  the  hand  in  opening  and 
closing  the  door,  preserved  its  polish  for  a  long  time.  A  knob 
of  this  kind  could  be  made  in  ivory-colored  celluloid,  as  it 
already  has  been  in  red  and  black  vulcanized  rubber,  which 
would  be  admirably  suited  to  the  ivory-white  and  gold  decora- 
tion which  is  yet  fashionable ;  and  if  the  metallic  rosette  in  the 


290 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.    [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  652. 


centre  were  retained,  as  it  probably  would  be,  on  account  of  its 
richness  of  effect,  it  might  be  made  of  aluminium  bronze,  which 
would  never  tarnish. 

IIE  same  alloy  might  with  very  great  advantage  be  used 
for  other  metallic  objects.  As  now  made,  the  brass  hard- 
ware, which  is  sold  in  many  very  pretty  patterns  in  imita- 
tion of  the  work  of  the  last  century,  is  extremely  troublesome 
to  the  housekeeper.  For  exhibition  in  the  shops,  it  is  gilt,  and 
keeps  its  lustre  so  long  as  it  is  not  handled ;  but  the  film  is 
very  thin,  and  by  the  time  the  house  with  its  hardware  comes 
into  the  owner's  hands,  the  gold  has  disappeared  in  patches, 
and  the  "  colonial "  knobs  present  a  parti-colored  aspect,  very 
unsuitable  to  a  fine  new  mansion,  until  the  gold  has  so  far  gone 
that  the  housekeeper  makes  up  her  mind  to  remove  it  entirely ; 
and  thenceforth  th.e  neatness  of  the  knobs,  hinges  and  other 
metal  furniture  is  dependent  upon  daily  rubbing  with  rotten- 
stone  or  "  putz-pomade,"  which  quickly  soils  the  paint  about 
them.  At  the  enormous  prices  charged  for  the  fashionable 
brass  hardware,  aluminium  bronze  could  probably  be  used  at  a 
profit,  and  would  never  change  its  color  or  lustre,  while  this 
quality  would  adapt  it  for  use  in  delicate  designs,  which  are 
unsuitable  to  any  metal  dependent  for  its  beauty  upon  daily 
polishing.  Where  a  more  sober  color  is  desirable,  use  might, 
we  should  think,  be  made  of  the  "  steel  bronzes,"  made,  as  we 
understand,  by  subjecting  brass  to  the  action  of  antimony,  and, 
although  this  finish  would  hardly  be  durable  upon  door  knobs, 
it  seems  to  be  permanent  enough  for  hinges  and  escutcheons. 
It  would  appear,  also,  to  be  quite  possible  that  some  form  of 
Spence's  metal  might  be  used  for  knobs.  This  compound  of 
various  metals  with  sulphur,  although  it  might  be  brittle,  could 
hardly  be  more  so  than  the  glass  shells  often  used,  while,  as  it 
is  said  to  have  the  property  of  expanding  in  cooling,  it  ought 
to  give  very  sharp  casts,  producing,  with  good  moulds,  hand- 
some work  at  a  low  price.  For  the  richest  class  of  houses 
something  might  certainly  be  devised  more  interesting  in  the 
way  of  metal-work  than  the  cast  brass  or  bronze,  in  patterns  of 
questionable  elegance,  roughly  finished  on  a  wheel,  and  touched 
up  with  black  enamel.  Under  the  direction  of  an  accomplished 
architect  these  objects  should  contribute  in  a  considerable 
degree  to  the  sentiment  of  high-bred  courtesy  which  a  great 
mansion  ought  to  express.  Imagine,  for  instance,  a  knob  of 
aluminium  bronze,  with,  as  we  have  seen,  a  beautiful  mono- 
gram, or  the  crest  of  the  owner,  in  the  centre,  and,  perhaps, 
around  the  rim  a  circlet  of  moon-stones,  or  cats-eyes,  or  spar, 
or  any  other  of  the  multitude  of  semi-precious  stones  at  the 
service  of  the  designer,  cut  en  cabochon,  and  set  with  some 
pretty  chasing  to  give  preciousness  to  the  rim  which  is  to  be 
honored  by  the  touch  of  one's  guests'  fingers.  Such  door- 
handles as  these,  or,  let  us  say,  knobs  of  carved  ivory,  enriched, 
perhaps,  with  garnets  set  in  little  gold  rosettes,  would  not  seem 
too  costly  to  people  who  can  spend  forty  thousand  dollars  on  a 
single  piece  of  furniture,  or  five  thousand  dollars  a  pair  for  lace 
curtains  for  the  parlor  windows,  or  who  set  their  dinner  tables 
with  complete  services  of  solid  gold,  as  several  New  York 
families  are  said  to  do  now  ;  and  they  might  be  made  to  convey, 
what  gold  soup-plates  do  not,  that  expression  of  delicate  hospi- 
tality, of  the  endeavor  of  wealth  to  interest  and  please  its 
guests,  rather  than  to  dazzle  and  humiliate  them,  which  is 
every  day  becoming  better  understood  among  us. 


HE  Wiener  Bauindustrie  Zeitung  gives  us  some  information 
in  regard  to  ancient  tunnels,  which  will  be  new  to  most 
readers.  The  most  remarkable  tunnel  of  antiquity  which 
is  still  serviceable  is  the  one  known  as  the  Tunnel  of  Posilippo, 
or  Grotto  of  Puteoli,  by  which  the  highway  from  Naples  to 
Capua  passes  for  a  distance  of  thirty-nine  hundred  feet,  or 
nearly  four-fifths  of  a  mile,  under  the  volcanic  hill  of  Posi- 
lippo. This  extraordinary  work  was  completed  in  the  year  27 
B.  c.,  and  was  connected  with  the  great  network  of  Neapolitan 
highways  by  Marcus  Agrippa,  the  Minister  of  Public  "Works 
to  Aug'ustus  Cossar.  Knowing,  as  we  do,  how  little  use  the 
Romans  could  have  made  of  instruments  of  precision  such  as 
we  possess,  it  is  rather  surprising  to  find  that  the  Posilippo 
tunnel  was  built  on  what  we  call  the  modern  system,  by  sink- 
ing a  shaft  in  the  middle  and  working  each  way  from  this,  as 
well  as  from  each  end,  making  four  headings  at  once  in  opera- 
tion. It  was  long  supposed  that  the  central  shaft  was  sunk, 
for  some  unknown  purpose,  by  King  Alfonso  I,  in  the  fifteenth 
century,  but  this  idea  seems  to  have  had  no  foundation  except 


in  the  assumption  that  the  Romans  were  not  sufficiently  scien- 
tific engineers  to  think  of  working  a  tunnel  from  a  central  shaft, 
which  is  sufficiently  disproved  by  the  fact  that  three  other 
tunnels,  unquestionably  of  Roman  workmanship,  have  been 
discovered  in  the  neighborhood  of  Naples,  every  one  of  which 
was  driven  from  a  central  shaft,  as  well  as  from  the  ends. 
The  great  Posilippo  work,  which  was,  of  course,  cut  entirely 
by  hand,  was  admirably  lined  and  supported,  and  has  been 
open  continuously  for  traffic  for  nineteen  hundred  years,  with- 
out showing  any  signs  of  deterioration. 


NOTHER  antique  tunnel  which  has  been  recently  ex- 
plored  is  that  at  Samos,  which  is  described  in  Herodotus 
as  having  been  a  mile  long,  and  as  being  used  as  a  conduit 
to  bring  water  to  the  city.  For  centuries  this  account  of  the 
Greek  historian,  who,  it  must  be  confessed,  is  a  little  given  to 
startling  stories,  was  discredited,  but  in  1882,  the  superior  of  a 
convent  in  the  neighborhood,  in  removing  some  stones,  dis- 
covered the  entrance  to  the  tunnel,  and  a  German  expedition 
was  sent  to  explore  it.  The  work  was  thoroughly  done,  and 
resulted  in  the  tracing  of  a  covered  conduit,  about  three-quar- 
ters of  a  mile  long,  portions  of  which,  however,  were  deep  cut- 
tings, covered  with  a  barrel  vault,  while  the  rest  was  drilled 
through  hard  limestone  rock.  The  longest  continuous  rock- 
tunnel  measured  twelve  hundred  and  thirty-five  feet,  and  was 
driven  from  each  end,  without  a  central  shaft.  •  Near  the  city 
end  of  the  tunnel  branches  were  taken  off  on  each  side,  for  the 
better  distribution  of  the  water  to  the  different  quarters  of  the 
town,  and  remains  of  a  huge  covered  reservoir  were  found  at 
the  upper  end  of  the  conduit.  This  surprising  piece  of  ancient 
Greek  engineering  seems  to  date  from  the  reign  of  Polycrates, 
the  period  of  the  greatest  prosperity  of  Samos,  about  530  B.  c., 
fifty  years  before  Asia  Minor  was  ruined  by  the  hordes  of  Per- 
sian soldiers,  who  came,  driven  by  whips  in  the  hands  of  their 
officers,  to  cover  with  their  flint  arrow-heads  the  battle-fields 
of  Marathon  and  Thermopylae. 

T  T  MARCEL  DALY  gives  us,  in  La  Semaine  des  Con- 
I  u-lt  structeurs,  some  archaeological  statistics  of  a  novel  kind, 
gathered  from  his  examination  of  the  interesting  col- 
lection of  objects  discovered  by  M.  and  Mme.  Dieulafoy  in  the 
mounds  which  cover  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  city  of  Susa, 
and  now  arranged  in  the  Louvre.  The  city,  as  their  investi- 
gations have  shown,  occupied  both  sides  of  the  river  Choaspes, 
near  its  confluence  with  the  Tigris.  On  one  side  was  situated 
the  winter  palace  of  the  Persian  kings,  with  its  enclosures  and 
subsidiary  buildings,  including  temples  and  fortifications,  while 
the  other  bank  of  the  river  was  occupied  by  the  populous 
quarters  of  the  town.  M.  Dieulafoy's  expedition  attacked  the 
royal  quarter  only.  On  this  side  of  the  river  are  several 
mounds,  occupying  an  area  of  about  three  hundred  acres,  and 
containing,  as  estimated  by  the  engineer  of  the  party,  about  fif- 
teen million  large  loads  of  debris.  Of  this  the  expedition 
removed  in  three  years  forty-two  thousand  loads,  or  about  one- 
fourth  of  one  per  cent,  and  recovered  and  brought  home  fifty  tons 
of  antiquities,  at  a  total  cost  of  less  than  eleven  thousand  dollars, 
or  about  nine  cents  a  pound.  Now,  taking  large  and  small  objects 
of  ancient  Persian  art  together,  it  must  be  admitted  that  nine 
cents  a  pound,  delivered  in  Paris,  is  a  low  price ;  and  if  the  re- 
mainder of  the  debris  should  yield  as  rich  a  return  as  the  first 
portion,  which  seems  altogether  probable,  the  tumuli  of  the 
royal  quarter  at  Susa  still  contain,  at  the  same  price,  more  than 
four  million  dollars'  worth  of  valuables,  easily  reached,  and 
ready  for  immediate  sale.  Whether  the  market  would  be  over- 
stocked if  the  whole  amount  should  be  thrown  upon  it  at  once 
is  not,  perhaps,  certain,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
United  States  offers  to  the  collectors  of  antiquities  of  real  value 
a  rich  and  very  intelligent  public,  possessed  of  imagination 
enough  to  take  great  pleasure  in  interesting  curiosities,  and 
almost  destitute  of  museums  where  such  curiosities  can  be 
studied  without  expense.  We  remember  being  accosted  once, 
in  some  public  place,  by  a  bright-looking  countryman,  who 
wished  to  inquire  into  the  history  of  the  editorial  scarf-pin, 
which,  as  he  said,  "  looked  as  if  it  might  be  old,"  and  the  exhi- 
bition of  the  Greek  coin  out  of  which  it  was  made  drew  an  in- 
terested crowd  to  examine  the  first  work  of  human  hands 
counting  its  age  by  centuries  which  most  them  had  ever  seen. 
Such  people  as  these  would  absorb  a  large  amount  of  archaeologi- 
cal material,  with  much  benefit  to  themselves,  and  correspond- 
ing encouragement  to  the  devoted  persons  who  are  willing  to 
spend  their  time  in  digging  for  it. 


JUNE  23,  1888.] 


Tlie,   American    Architect   and  Jiuilding   News. 


291 


;  CANADA  •• 


MONTREAL  AND  ITS  FKKNCII  AND  ENG- 
LISH INHABITANTS.  —  TORONTO.  — 
THE  TORONTO  COURT-IIOU8K  COMPE- 
TITION. —  LAPSE  OF  A  VALUABLE 
LEASE.  —  THE  CONSERVATORY  Or 
MUSIC  AND  TIIK  ART  GALLERY. 


I 


T  would  be  hardly  possible  to  find  any- 
where in  the  world  two  cities  of  eom- 
Farativcly  modern  dates  of  foundation 
Toronto,  in  the  same  country,  under 

the  same  government.  The  nationalities  of  their  populations  and 
their  characteristics,  the  Provincial  Governments,  and  the  very 
laws  of  the  two  provinces  in  which  they  are  situated  arc  as  unlike  as 
they  can  well  be.  Toronto  is  decidedly  English,  while  in  Montreal 
the  French  population  numbers  more  than  half  as  many  again  as 
the  English.  As  an  inland  city,  Montreal  has  advantages  such  as 
no  other  city  in  the  world  can  boast.  At  a  distance  of  700  miles 
from  the  seaboard,  the  ocean  steamers,  passenger  and  merchantmen, 
come  into  the  heart  of  the  country  to  discharge  and  take  on  their 
cargoes.  The  rapids  just  above  Montreal  prevent  their  farther 
progress.  Toronto  has  its  water  communication  with  Montreal  one 
way,  with  the  States  and  the  north-west  of  Canada  the  other. 

"  A  Day  in  Montreal  "  appeared  in  this  journal  at  the  end  of  last 
year,  written,  no  doubt,  by  some  one  very  tired  with  his  journey  to 
that  place,  and  with  spirits  very  much  damped  by  the  weather  he  ex- 
perienced. He  took  a  most  dismal  view  of  things  generally,  and  de- 
scribed what  he  saw  through  rain  and  "  the  blues  "  to  be  such  as  few 
residents  find  Montreal  to  be.  It  is  anything  but  a  dreary  place  to 
live  in,  and  is  really  very  interesting.  Its  foundation  dates  from  300 
years  ago  when  the  Sulpician  monks  pitched  their  tents,  or  made 
their  huts  of  branches  and  brambles,  in  that  particular  square  of 
land  which  is  still  owned  by  them,  and  in  which  stands  the  Roman 
Catholic  parish  church.  Montreal  was  the  base  of  operations  for  the 
fur  trade  between  Canada  and  Europe,  and  the  round  towers  still 
standing  witness  to  the  defense  of  settlers  against  the  Indians.  It 
was  from  Montreal  that  the  ever  famous  La  Salle  started  on  his  dis- 
coveries of  Central  North  America,  and  it  formed  for  years  the  link 
between  civilization  and  the  savagery  of  unknown  America.  Geo- 
logically it  is  interesting,  for  in  its  comparatively  small  area  are  to 
be  found  all  kinds  of  soils,  from  the  hardest  of  rocks,  the  firmest  of 
sands,  to  the  worst  of  shifting  blue  clays.  It  is  interesting  from  its 
beautiful  "  mountain,"  (a  hill  of  800  feet  to  the  eyes  of  all  but  Mont- 
realers)  very  luxuriant  in  trees  and  shrubs,  the  summit  commanding 
a  most  extensive  views  to  all  points  of  the  compass.  Its  one  draw- 
back, great  and  almost  overwhelming,  is  its  Frenchiness.  French  in 
tongue,  French  in  its  inaction  and  content  with  things  as  they  are. 
The  French  population  have  no  ideas  of  progress,  and  fatally  im- 
pede the  English.  As  to  its  opportunities  of  being  a  beautiful  city 
architecturally  there  can  be  no  doubt.  There  has  been  no  lack  of 
the  "needful"  when  churches  were  required  and  business  and  private 
buildings  were  to  be  erected,  but  there  has  been  and  still  is  a  very 
sad  deficiency  in  the  conception  of  the  beautiful  in  the  art  of  archi- 
tecture. Mark  Twain  says  of  Montreal  that  he  could  not  throw  a 
stone  without  breaking  a  church  window ;  and  certainly  one  meets  a 
church  at  every  corner,  and  passes  others  in  the  streets,  or,  if  not 
actually  churches,  religious  establishments  of  one  kind  or  another. 
As  a  general  rule  the  warehouses  and  business  blocks  are  poor  in  the 
extreme,  although  by  degrees  they  are  being  improved.  The  princi- 
pal banks  are  large  and  heavy  buildings,  which  would  sgem  to  en- 
deavor to  impress  on  the  public  mind  the  dignity  of  money  and  the 
solemnity  of  money  transactions ;  its  temples  must  be  entered  with  a 
due  sense  of  submissive  awe.  The  principal  street  has  for  some 
time  been  looking  very  dismal  and  desolate  from  the  ravages  of  fire. 
Four  large  buildings  in  as  many  hundred  yards  in  ruins,  blackened 
and  half  pulled  down  make  a  stranger  ask  if  there  is  such  a  thing 
as  a  fire-brigade,  and  suggest  it  would  be  well  to  get  one.  To  be 
sure,  there  is  one,  but  until  the  very  recent  change  in  its  organization 
it  was  almost  worse  than  useless.  Montreal  has  several  open  squares 
planted  with  trees  and  turfed,  giving  a  foreign  appearance,  but  add- 
ing a  l>eauty  to  the  city. 

Toronto,  as  has  been  said,  is  English,  and  decidedly  so.  English 
in  its  bull-dog  fashion  of  slowly  but  surely  making  its  way,  and  it  bids 
fair  to  become  the  chief  city  of  the  Dominion.  Not  having  so  old  a 
foundation  as  Montreal,  and  therefore  forming  its  character  and 
habits  by  degrees  instead  of  having  to  alter  and  change  those  of 
former  generations  to  suit  the  spirit  of  the  age,  there  are  fewer  im- 
pediments to  its  improvement.  It  is  "  going  ahead  "  at  a  great  pace 
now,  and  several  large  and  important  buildings  have  been  begun  this 
year.  One  in  particular,  because  the  history  of  its  conception  is  so 
diverting  and  instructive,  shall  be  described  more  particularly.  This 
is  the  new  Court-house  and  City-hall,  which  competition  adds  an- 
other case  of  the  abominable  treatment  of  the  profession  by  corpora- 
tions. Perhaps  there  has  been  no  case  in  wh'ch  architects  were 
worse  treated.  In  the  year  1884  the  competition  was  advertised, 


and  regulations  and  lists  of  requirements  were  sent  to  inquiring  ar- 
chitects. These  were  drawn  up  by  an  architect  who  for  years  has 
been  practising  in  the  city,  and  contained,  among  other  iti'iiis,  a  list 
of  the  various  rooms,  courts,  vaults,  etc.,  required,  with  the  necessary 
superlirial  area  for  each.  Designs  were  sent  in,  and  nothing  more 
was  heard  for  some  time.  At  last  all  the  desif/Hs  were  thrown  out  on 
the  plea  that  the  only  ones  in  any  way  suitable  could  not  be  carried 
out  for  the  stipulated  sum,  but  no  one  was  allowed  to  prove  his  eiti- 
niate.  No  premiums,  therefore,  were  awarded,  and  for  a  time  the 
matter  stopped,  although  a  slight  attempt  was  made  to  unite  the 
competing  men  in  action  against  the  corporation,  and  to  force  them 
to  award  the  premiums,  but  nothing  came  of  it.  The  special  com- 
mittee of  the  corporation,  finding  they  had  come  out  of  the  matter 
with  whole  skins,  and  had  not  spent  a  cent,  thought  they 
would  go  in  for  another  competition,  out  their  consulting  archil"  t 
before  mentioned  threw  them  over,  and  would  not  countenance  their 
dealings.  Finally  the  matter  was  put  into  the  hands  of  an  architect 
who  had  carried  out  works  for  the  then  mayor  previous  to  this  competi- 
tion. But  the  city  council,  having  conceived  in  bad  faith,  was  des- 
tined to  suffer  considerable  labor-pains,  and  it  will  be  years  before 
the  Court-house  and  City-hall  is  brought  to  the  birth.  It  transpiri-d 
that  the  accommodation  required  in  the  first  place  was  considered 
to  be  too  great,  and  because  of  this  they  thought  they  were  justified 
in  throwing  out  the  designs,  or,  in  other  words,  because  they  had 
changed  their  minds,  they  would  not  give  premiums  promised  for 
what  they  did  not  now  want.  Tenders  were  asked  for  and  received, 
opened  before  the  committee,  when  behold  they  totted  up  to  very 
much  higher  than  the  ultimate  figure,  and  these  without  tenders  for 
heating  and  such  things,  which,  as  the  architect  remarked,  would  be 
well  to  leave  for  the  present,  as  it  would  be  three  years  before  they 
were  necessary,  and  by  that  time  there  might  be  considerable 
improvements  upon  present  systems.  The  work  must  be  cut  down, 
and  the  prices,  too.  Then  the  worthy  committee,  and  not  till  then, 
struck  the  idea  that  it  would  be  well  to  find  a  stone  with  which  to 
build.  So  they  went  on  an  excursion  with  their  architect,  and  hav- 
ing found  a  stone  to  their  satisfaction,  asked  for  tenders  on  it.  Was 
there  ever  anything  more  bungling,  unbusinesslike,  and  altogether 
disgraceful  ?  Now  comes  the  final  touch  —  the  agreement  between 
the  architect  and  the  council,  although  half  the  work  of  the  office  was 
already  completed,  —  and  it  is  this  :  The  architect  to  receive  as  com- 
mission 4  per  cent  on  the  outlay  up  to  $40,000,  and  3  jier  cent  for  the 
rest,  which  at  least  will  be  $200,000.  And  the  architect  accepts  this. 
Such  a  proceeding  on  the  architect's  part  needs  no  comment  from 
me,  the  matter  is  so  often  before  us  in  professional  journals,  and  has 
so  often  been  criticized  in  these  pages  that  the  opinion  of  competent 
judges  is  well  known,  and  the  general  feeling  also.  But  this  is  not 
the  only  matter  to  be  commented  on  at  the  present  moment  in  which 
this  corporation  are  so  honorably  distinguishing  themselves. 
Toronto  is  a  youthful  city  and  is  buying  its  experience,  but  at  a 
rather  unusually  high  price.  Citizens  have  recently  had  sprung  upon 
them  the  astounding  fact  that  the  Queen's  Park  and  approaching 
avenues  (the  only  park  in  the  city)  leased  by  the  University  of  Tor- 
onto to  the  corporation,  had  been  seized  by  the  University  for  non- 
compliance  of  the  corporation  with  certain  conditions  of  the  lease  as 
regards  fencing  and  such  things.  The  council  wakes  up  to  find  the 
lease  hopelessly  cancelled.  Of  course  the  corporation  cat  is  alone  to 
blame,  but  it  does  not  lessen  the  disaster.  A  compromise  is  now  being 
attempted.  The  University  offer  to  lease  it  again  at  something  like 
$25,000,  or  about  half  its  value  to  them,  but  a  fearful  addition  to  the 
sum  previously  paid. 

But  let  us  turn  to  something  more  pleasant  than  the  sickening  deal- 
ings of  corporations.  Minerva  has  found  a  more  welcome  reception 
in  Toronto  than  elsewhere  in  Canada.  Her  devotees  are  alive  to 
her  charms,  and  do  their  utmost  to  advance  her  rightful  claims,  and 
it  is  to  be  hoped  that  they  will  succeed.  Two  temples  to  her  honor 
are  contemplated,  a  conservatory  of  music  and  an  art  gallery.  The 
Art  Association  are  holding  an  art  fair  among  sixteenth  century -booths 
and  embattled  walls  very  neatly  and  prettily  got  up.  The  collection 
of  pictures  is  good,  and  may  be  taken  as  typical  of  Canadian  art: 
a  feature  of  the  fair  is  the  costuming  and  fancy  dresses ;  among  these 
is  a  gorgeous  group  of  sixteen  female  gypsies  in  brilliant  gala  attire. 
Unhappily  the  expenses  have  been  so  great  that  it  is  feared  the  sur- 
plus will  be  small. 

The  long  winters,  when,  until  recently,  no  building  at  all  was  done, 
make  the  "  building  season  "  a  busy  one,  and  because  the  summer  is 
short  the  workmen  do  their  worst,  and  are  always  striking.  If  it  is 
the  bricklayers  one  season  it  is  the  carpenters  next.  And  it  is  the 
carpenters'  turn  this  year.  Wages  are  very  high,  38  cents  an  hour  for 


good 


age' 


ngly 
-»   „• 


demned,  and  yet  that  is  what  this  proposed  carpenters'  strike 
amounts  to.  In  Montreal  the  men  do  not  strike  so  much,  but  then 
they  do  not  work  so  much ;  the  building  season  is  even  shorter  there 
than  in  Toronto.  A  great  building,  or  series  of  buildings,  is  soon  to 
be  begun  in  Montreal,  namely,  the  general  hospital  for  all  denomina- 
tions, for  which  two  wealthy  citizens  each  gave  $500,000.  Mr. 
Saxon  Snell,  of  London,  has  been  out  about  it,  but  there  is  still  a 
disagreement  about  the  site  owing  to  the  propinquity  of  a  reservoir 
to  the  site  chosen  by  the  donors. 

Both  cities  are  well  supplied  with  building  materials,  stone  of  good 
quality  and  color  being  obtained  at  short  distances  from  either  city. 


292 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  652. 


The  "  mountain  "  limestone  at  Montreal  is  very  hard,  but  does  not 
weather  well,  and  is  of  a  coarse  grain,  but  there  are  excellent  stones 
of  any  size  to  be  obtained  from  quarries  a  few  miles  out.  Toronto 
has  its  Credit  Valley  stones,  red  and  white  sandstone,  very  hard,  but 
a  great  deal  is  imported  from  the  States,  and  stone  is  to  be  shipped 
from  Europe  and  put  into  our  markets  at  the  price  of  local  stone 
(according  to  the  agents.)  Stone  is  used  far  more  in  Montreal 
than  in  Toronto,  and  that  gives  Montreal  a  more  substantial  appear- 
ance. 

It  is  greatly  to  be  regretted  that  architects  do  not  associate  more 
than  they  do  in  Canada.  In  Montreal  the  jealousy  between  them  is 
extreme,  but  in  Toronto  attempts  have  been  made  to  draw  them  to- 
gether, but  although  more  warmly  appreciated  than  in  Montreal, 
none  have  proved  successful.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  system  of 
instruction  for  pupils.  A  boy  comes  into  an  office  and  expects  a 
salary  and  pays  no  premium.  He  is  taught  enough  to  make  him  of 
use,  and  off  he  goes  to  some  one  who  will  pay  him  a  dollar  a  week 
more  than  he  is  being  paid.  There  is  a  want  of  a  proper  class  of 
pupils,  a  bad  look-out  for  the  art  in  another  generation,  except  that 
perhaps  owing  to  the  large  number  of  architects  and  "  architects"  so- 
called,  already  practising  in  both  cities  it  would  be  as  well  if  the 
ranks  were  thinned  out  a  little  before  there  is  any  addition  to  their 
numbers. 


EXHIBITION   OF    AMERICAN    PAINTINGS   AT 

THE     ART    INSTITUTE. —  THE     PRIZES. 

POSSIBILITIES    ATTENDING     AN     EXHIBI- 
TION  OF   ARCHITECTURAL   DRAWINGS. 

TTTlIE  important  art  event  of  the  past  month  has  been  the  opening 
•  I »  of  the  first  annual  exhibition  of  American  pictures  at  the  Insti- 
tute. This  is  intended  to  be  henceforth  the  great  feature  of  the 
year,  and  is  expected  to  be  especially  a  stimulus  to  American  artists, 
whose  pictures  are  the  only  ones  entitled  to  compete  for  the  prizes. 
Artists  have  responded  en  masse  to  the  invitation,  and  the  committee 
has  had  no  lack  of  material  to  select  from.  The  catalogue  shows 
three  hundred  numbers,  while  the  rejected  efforts  were  said  to  make 
an  even  longer  list.  Pictures  were  sent  from  all  parts  of  the  country, 
several  coming  from  the  Pacific  slope,  and  one  or  two  from  the  South, 
but  by  far  the  greatest  number  are  from  New  York.  Boston  and 
Philadelphia  have  responded  in  a  much  less  degree  than  would  have 
been  expected  from  their  supposed  artistic  population. 

The  prizes  are  two  (though  it  is  hoped  to  eventually  increase  this 
number)  :  the  first  known  as  the  Ellsworth  Prize,  and  established  by 
Mr.  J.  W.  Ellsworth,  consists  of  three  hundred  dollars  for  the  best 
oil  painting  by  any  living  American  citizen ;  the  picture  to  have 
been  painted  in  the  United  States,  and  not  previously  exhibited  in 
Chicago  or  vicinity.  No  competitor  can  take  this  prize  a  second 
time.  The  other  recompense  is  the  Art  Institute  Prize  of  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars  for  the  next-best  oil  painting  by  any  living 
American  citizen  ;  the  picture  not  to  have  been  previously  exhibited 
in  Chicago  or  vicinity. 

A  view  of  the  pictures  at  once  shows  that  this  exhibition,  like  all 
other  purely  American  displays,  is,  as  a  whole,  not  strong  in  pictures 
of  the  human  figure,  but  in  landscape  work  there  is  an  extremely  high 
standard.  By  reason  of  the  low  general  average  of  figure  paintings, 
those,  however,  who  are  skilful  shine  with  greater  brilliancy  by  com- 
parison. As  usual  the  odd,  bizarre  and  pre-Raphaelite  have  a  strong 
representation,  and  to  do  the  "  proper  thing "  one  should  go 
into  raving  ecstacies  over  at  least  one  of  these.  Undoubtedly  the 
women  in  these  pictures  are  homely  and  scrawny,  and  the  angels' 
wings  look  so  thin  and  bedraggled  as  to  have  suggested  to  one  critic 
the  absolute  necessity  of  the  immediate  use  of  tar  soap ;  but  still  the 
effect  is  striking,  and  the  fervor  is  correspondingly  great.  There  are 
landscapes  taken  at  all  hours  of  the  day  and  night,  and  at  all  seasons 
of  the  year ;  views  of  the  ocean,  views  of  meadows  and  views  of 
mountains  abound,  and  very  many  of  them  are  such  charming  bits 
that  one  longs  to  be  the  fortunate  possessor  of  one  of  them. 

One  objectionable  feature  of  the  exhibit  is  the  large  number  of 
pictures  under  glass,*  so  that  the  light  is  reflected  in  a  disagreeable 
manner.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  great  majority  of  these  pictures 
that  are  thus  announcing  to  every  one  how  very  choice  they  are,  are 
not  the  canvasses  that  are  attracting  the  most  attention.  The  prizes 
will  be  awarded  about  the  time  this  letter  goes  to  press  by  a  commit- 
tee composed  of  Mr.  Thomas  B.  Clarke,  of  New  York,  Prof.  Halsey  C. 
Ives,  of  St.  Louis,  and  Mr.  Chas.  L.  Hutchinson,  president  of  the 
Chicago  Art  Institute. 

Notwithstanding  the  catalogue  title,  which  calls  this  an  exhibition  of 
American  pictures,  one  notes  with  satisfaction  that  there  are  several 
works  from  the  sculptors'  hands,  and  nearly  all  of  them  are  well 
worthy  of  more  than  a  casual  glance.  But  one  looks  in  vain  for  any- 
thing from  the  hands  of  the  architects.  Probably  their  exhibit  would 
fall  more  strictly  within  the  lines  of  a  water-color  or  a  black-and- 
white  exhibition.  However  this  may  be,  assuredly  at  some  time  dur- 


ing the  year  the  authorities  of  the  Art  Institute  should  make  an 
earnest  endeavor  to  have  an  exhibition  of  this  class  of  work.  The 
architects  of  Chicago,  with  the  assistance  of  the  Architectural 
Sketch-Club,  could  alone  certainly  every  year  fill  one  wall  with  cred- 
itable productions.  Judging  from  the  reports  of  the  New  York  exhi- 
bition, when  the  architects  took  part,  not  only  the  profession  enjoyed 
and  profited  by  the  display,  but  the  general  public  (who  assuredly 
with  us  in  the  West  need  art  education  in  architecture  now  more  than 
in  any  other  branch)  took  a  much  keener  interest  than  was  antici- 
pated. Without  question,  to  get  such  a  display  together  would,  the 
first  time,  require  much  labor  on  the  part  of  some  one.  Many  of  the 
finest  pieces  of  work  executed  by  an  architect  are  done  after  draw- 
ings made  in  pencil  on  brown  paper,  and  not  more  than  half  finished 
up. 

Naturally  architects  feel  some  diffidence  in  displaying  in  such  a 
public  manner  drawings  of  this  character,  yet  they  often  show  the 
real  spirit  of  a  designer's  work,  and  are  infinitely  more  enjoyable  and 
instructive  than  more  carefully  finished  drawings  and  photographs  ; 
but  as  for  photographs,  they  should  have  no  place  in  such  an  ex- 
hibition. 

Just  now  that  the  Art  Institute  is  receiving  somewhat  of  an  im- 
petus on  account  of  this  exhibition,  an  effort  is"  being  made  to  pay 
off  the  debt  which  was  incurred  for  the  new  building.  Several  pub- 
lic-spirited gentlemen  are  said  to  have  offered  to  subscribe  one  thou- 
sand dollars  each  towards  it.  Should  this  worthy  object  be  accom- 
plished the  Institute  will  at  once  find  itself  in  a  condition  to  carry  on 
the  collection  of  fine  works  of  art  of  all  kinds  on  a  much  larger  scale 
than  has  hitherto  been  possible. 


THE     EFFECT     ON    PUBLIC     BUILDINGS     OF 
ARMY-ENGINEER  INTERFERENCE. 

HE  opinion  expressed  in  one  of  my 
former  letters,  that  "  engineers  should 
not  be  commissioned  to  design  public 
buildings  even  if  they  are  given  charge  of 
the  construction  thereof,"  has  given  me  food  for  consideration,  and  I 
conclude  that  they  should  neither  design  nor  have  charge  as  super- 
intendents, except  as  subordinate  to  the  architect.  The  profession 
as  well  as  the  public  should  lay  to  the  account  of  engineer  [army  en- 
gineer] interference  much  of  the  lack  of  artistic  feeling  shown  in  some 
of  our  late  public  buildings.  As  such  interference  cannot  be  too 
much  deprecated,  I  have  taken  pains  to  look  the  matter  up.  One 
evil  is  that  the  engineer  frequently  gets  the  credit  of  the  design  and 
construction,  and  the  architect  fails  to  get  his  due  amount  of  honor ; 
another  is  inartistic  work.  It  only  needs  a  few  illustrations  to  show 
its  bad  effects. 

In  some  newspaper  clippings  which  have  come  under  my  notice, 
the  wings  and  dome  of  the  Capitol  —  for  which  our  lamented  Ex- 
President  A.  I.  A.,  T.  U.  Walter  deserves  the  whole  credit —  are  enum- 
erated, among  other  things,  as  the  work  of  Gen.  Meigs.  Such  a 
claim  is  made  at  least  by  implication  in  a  pamphlet  which  is  quoted  be- 
low. The  only  foundation  as  far  as  I  can  find  out  is  that  the  General 
had  at  the  time  a  general  supervisory  charge,  particularly  financial, 
and  nothing  more  to  do  with  design  or  construction  than  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury  has  to  do  with  the  Supervising  Architect  of  the 
Treasury  Department  in  his  designs  for  the  post-offices  and  court- 
houses. 

The  same  engineer  was  called  in  as  consulting  engineer  by  the 
committee  who  had  charge  of  the  erection  of  the  National  Museum, 
but  the  claim  that  he  was  the  architect  was  so  persistently  circulated 
that  it  was  difficult  to  find  out  who  deserved  the  title,  the  claim  being 
made  with  Meigs's  authority  in  the  pamphlet  quoted  below,  the  com- 
mission Sherman,  Parker,  and  Baird  apparently  finding  it  necessary 
to  insert  in  their  report  that  they  "  selected  Messrs.  Cluss  & 
Shultze,  whose  plans  for  the  new  building  were  those  approved  by 
the  Congress,  as  the  superintending  architect."  This  settled  the 
question.  Some  of  the  advice  given  by  the  consulting  engineer  is 
curious,  showing  the  complications  likely  to  arise,  and  the  architects 
found  themselves  much  hampered  in  consequence. 

They  made  sketch  plans  and  put  the  cost  at  about  $250,000,  a  very 
small  amount  for  such  a  large  building.  The  engineer  informed  the 
committee  in  writing,  and  the  letter  is  extant,  that  such  a  building 
could  be  erected  for  $100,000  in  a  plain  manner  and  $112,000  in  an 
ornate  manner.  The  sequel  demonstrated  the  error.  The  building 
cost  about  $250,000  without  heating,  and  even  this  limited  cost 
precluded  the  use  of  stonework  and  carving  which  would  have  ad- 
ded materially  to  the  effect. 

The  Pension  Office  is  really  the  product  of  the  same  engineer. 
In  a  brief  for  claimant  M.  C.  Meigs  i's.  the  United  States,  published 
in  pamphlet  form  and  possibly  written  by  himself,  as  no  counsel's 
name  appears,  reasons  are  given  why  he  should  be  paid  for  the  Pen- 
sion Building  in  addition  to  his  pay  as  a  retired  army  officer.  I  take 


JUNE  23,  1888.] 


TJie    American   Architect  and  Building   News. 


293 


several  extracts  :  "  The  fact  that  he  enjoyed  a  pension  he  recognized, 
and  he  proposed  as  being  therefore  able  to  work  for  a  less  professional 
remuneration  than  an  architect  who  depended  entirely  upon  his  pro- 
fessional earnings,  viz.,  $10  per  diem,  instead  of  the  usual  5  per  cent, 
on  cost."  ..."  In  constructing  the  wings  and  legislative  halls  of  the 
Capitol,  the  dome  of  the  Capitol,  the  General  Post-office  building,  he 
never  charged  or  received  a  dollar  of  compensation  l>eyond  his  pay 
and  allowance  as  a  Captain  of  Kngineers.  Nor  has  he  received  any 
compensation  for  the  projects  and  designs  which  he  supplied  while 
Quartermaster-  General  which  lead  to  the  construction  by  Congress 
of  the  National  Museum." 

The  design  of  the  Pension  Building  is  a  slavish  copy  of  the  Farnese 
Palace  with  just  enough  variation  in  proportion  and  detail  to  destroy 
its  beauty.  I  have  before  me  lithograph  plates  "  Parties  Principales 
de  1'Elevation  du  Palais  Farnese,"  and  lithographic  sheets  from  the 
Pension  Building,  and  a  comparison  sheet  for  sheet  shows  the  evident 
copy.  The  one  for  the  first,  second,  third  story  windows  and  main  cor- 
nices being  so  nearly  identical  with  the  other  that  it  could  only 
have  been  copied.  In  general  proportions  the  building  is  flattened 
and  lengthened.  The  ornaments  on  the  fritze  are  original;  they  con- 
sist of  a  bursting  bomb  and  a  cannon  "  standant,"  alternating,  instead 
of  the  beautiful  Greek  acanthus  and  llcur-de-lis  which  alternate  on 
the  original. 

All  iicknowledge  the  unfortunate  character  of  the  design,  but  some 
of  the  most  glaring  faults  are  in  its  plan  and  structural  features 
where  an  engineer  is  supposed  to  tie  strong.  The  enormous  interior 
court  116  by  316  feet  is  good  for  one  thing,  an  Inauguration  ball. 
The  rooms  are  deep,  so  deep  that  the  back  portions  of  them  are  prac- 
tically useless  for  want  of  light,  being  36  to  38  feet  from  the  windows. 
The  openings  on  the  court  bein"  screened  by  the  balconies  are  only 
of  small  use.  This  large  central  hall  was  intended  to  be  as  warm  as 
the  rest  of  the  building  and  the  rooms  were  to  have  no  doors.  As 
soon  as  it  was  occupied  this  was  found  impracticable,  as  the  draughts 
were  unbearable  to  the  ollieials  and  the  doors  were  put  in  as  an  ex- 
tra. But  as  the  only  communication  between  these  rooms  is  by  a 
passage-way  through  this  interior  court,  it  must  be  heated  at  all 
times  as  nearly  to  the  temperature  of  the  rooms  as  possible.  In  other 
words  the  Government  must  pay  for  heating  this  court  at  tne  cost 
of  about  seven  tons  of  coal  a  day,  I  understand,  so  that  tint  politi- 
cians may  have  an  inaugural  ball-room  one  night  in  four  years,  to 
which  the  usual  admission  fee  is  five  dollars. 

The  architect's  fee  would  be  a  small  item  when  this  heating  ex- 
pense is  taken  into  consideration.  Other  large  buildings  approxi- 
mating this  in  size,  if  the  central  court  is  left  out,  take  one  ton  or 
less  per  diem. 

The  walls  run  down  deep  enough  to  allow  for  cellar  room  beneath 
the  whole  building.  The  only  additional  cost  would  have  been  in 
excavating.  No  such  cellar  was  provided  for  originally,  but  ori  the 
south  where  the  walls  went  down  some  sixteen  feet  below  the  surface 
a  cellar  was  put  in. 

The  third-story  rooms  had  a  ceiling  of  28  feet  high,  required,  Gen. 
Meigs  claimed,  for  the  exterior  architectural  effect.  As  there  were 
12  feet  to  13  feet  from  the  windows  to  the  ceiling,  an  extra  appro- 
priation was  asked  to  put  a  fourth  floor  in,  which  the  report  says 
will  give  thirty-six  large  rooms  well  lighted  and  ventilated.  This 
upper  tier  of  rooms  had  no  exterior  light.  Recently  they  have  been 
lighted  by  small  hipped  skylights,  one  to  each  room,  placed  in  the 
roof  —  and  a  row  of  small  skylights  does  not  materially  add  to  the 
exterior  beauty  of  the  building. 

The  appropriation  to  complete  the  building  was  $250,000  first,  then 
$190,000  to  complete,  then  to  finally  complete  $266,559.62,  then  in 
the  last  report  before  me  $41,000.  This  does  not  include  tiling  main 
hall,  plastering  and  decorating  main  hall,  elevators,  etc.,  which  have 
been  paid  for  since  the  last  report  1  have  in  hand  or  are  yet  to  be 
paid.  I  understand  that  the  actual  cost  when  completed  will  be 
close  to  a  $1,000,000. 

This  spring  a  commission  consisting  of  J.  C.  Black,  N.  H.  R. 
Dawson,  C.  I).  Wright,  J.  E.  Johnson  and  others  were  appointed  to 
examine  the  Pension  Building  in  reference  to  moving  in  additional 
bureaus.  Their  report  among  other  things  says  that :  "  the  upper  new 
floor  is  not  adapted  to  and  cannot  safely  oe  used  by  clerks  of  the  Gov- 
ernment on  account  of  the  great  heat  and  lack  of  ventilation.  The 
basement  and  court  floors  are  not  fit  nor  safe  for  the  use  of  such 
clerks.  The  clerks  might  almost  as  well  be  placed  in  an  open  street 
as  far  as  health  is  concerned  as  in  this  court." 

This  is  enough  to  show  the  remarkable  inconsistency  of  Congres- 
sional effort  to  save  a  part  of  the  legitimate  fees  of  a  well  qualified 
architect. 

The  steps  of  the  large  stairway  are  of  brick  laid  in  cement.  They 
are  already  wearing  appreciably,  and  the  entrance  consists  of  four 
doorways  about  five  feet  wide,  truly  insignificant  for  such  a  building 
and  almost  destroying  the  utility  of  the  interior  court  for  its  quad- 
rennial use  as  the  inaugural  ball-room. 

The  drawings  of  one  section  of  the  War,  State  and  Navy  Depart- 
ment were  made  in  the  Supervising  Architect's  office  under  A.  B. 
Mullett,  the  other  sections  are  practically  duplicates,  but  the  work  for 
years  has  been  entirely  in  charge  of  Col.  Casey  an  Army  Engineer. 
The  Monument  and  the  Army  Medical  Museum  [the  plans  being 
made  by  Messrs.  Cluss  &  Shult/e,]  were  put  under  the  same  engineer. 
The  public,  I  think,  invariably  attributes  the  design  as  well  as  the 
construction  of  the  War,  Navy  and  State  Department  to  Col.  Casey. 
The  remodelling  of  the  Soldiers'  Homcforwhich  Poindcxter  &Co. 


made  the  plans  has  also  been  put  in  the  hands  of  an  engineer,  as  far 
as  supervising  construction  is  concerned. 

A  Mr.  Greene,  assistant  to  Col.  Casey  on  the  War,  Navy  and  State 
Department,  has  been  put  in  charge  of  the  construction  of  the  Con- 
gressional Library  building.  Mr.  Smithmeyer  furnishes  the  plans 
and  drawings. 

The  reason  for  this  business  usually  seems  to  be  a  niggardly  effort 
of  Congress  to  save  the  fees  of  an  architect  at  the  cx[>cnse  of  artistic 
and  effective  work.  If  such  superintendents  were  put  in  charge  un- 
der the  sujHjrvision  of  the  architect  possibly  no  objection  could  bo 
raised,  but  this  is  not  the  case.  The  engineers  have  entire  charge  of 
construction,  they  can  change  methods  of  construction  and  design  for 
that  matter,  and  even  worse  for  the  credit  of  the  architect,  they  can 
put  their  own  interpretations  on  the  architect's  designs  and  details. 

It  is  well  understood  that  the  man  that  makes  the  design  should 
have  entire  charge  of  the  execution  thereof,  or  much  of  his  work  will 
be  put  up  contrary  to  his  expectation  and  usually  to  the  detriment 
of  good  architecture. 

I  n  this  connection  it  would  be  well  to  add  that  the  selection  of  de- 
sign; for  all  public  buildings  should  undoubtedly  be  given  to  a  com- 
mittee of  non-coin  |>e  ting  experts,  as  the  average  Congressional  com- 
mittee-man knows  little,  I  might  say  nothing,  about  such  tilings. 


NEW     OFFICE      BUILDINGS.  —  A      RF.CKNT 
DEFEAT   OK    DISCONTENTED     M  U.I.I  I 
CUTTKR8. 


r 


N  spite  of  much  talk  to  the  contrary 
there  is  no  visible  decrease  either  in 
the  number  or  in  the  size  of  the  office 
buildings  that  are  being  erected  this  year. 
Office  rents  have  fallen  enormously,  of 
course,  wliich  may  be  a  legitimate  source 
of  satisfaction  to  many  people,  but  unfortunately  there  is  very  little 
cause  for  congratulation  from  the  point  of  view  of  architecture,  for 
with  two  or  three  notable  exceptions  the  designs  of  the  new  build- 
ings arc  either  entirely  commonplace  or  obtrusively  vulgar.  A 
building  that  stands  forth  in  the  most  delightful  contrast  to  these 
contemptible  designs  is  for  the  City  Trust  Safe-Deposit  and  Surety 
Company.  The  site  has  no  particular  advantages,  t  he  front  is  indeed 
very  narrow  and  the  treatment  of  it  in  no  known  style  except  that  it 
vaguely  suggests  Gothic,  yet  its  simple  limestone  face  pierced  with 
handsome  windows  and  broken  only  by  a  three-story  oriel  growing 
naturally  out  of  the  wall  and  by  a  very  small  copper  one  in  the  gable 
makes  as  satisfactory  a  front  (if  we  except  a  few  reproductions  of 
Classic  temples)  as  may  be  seen  from  one  end  of  Chestnut  Street  to 
the  other.  Next  to  the  soaring  gable  bounded  by  curved  lines  that 
spring  without  abruptness  from  the  party-walls,  the  most  charming 
detail  about  it  is  the  border  of  carving  exquisitely  designed  and 
sympathetically  executed  that  follows  down  each  side  and  makes  a 
frame,  as  it  were,  to  the  front.  Followers  of  Mr.  Kuskin  object 
to  the  delicacy  and  elaboration  of  the  carving,  any  ornament  that  is 
not  of  the  simplest  character  being  in  their  opinion  eminently  out  of 
place  on  a  business  building.  A  just  criticism  is  made  by  some 
people  who  maintain  that  the  lower  story  of  blue-veined  marble 
columns  (in  color  very  like  what  the  columns  of  the  Ducal  Palace 
must  have  been  before  time  had  stained  and  polished  them)  is  of  a 
weaker  looking  material  than  the  white  wall  above  it.  Yet  we  can 
but  congratulate  ourselves  when  we  think  how  much  weaker  looking 
the  lower  story  might  have  been  and  how  fortunate  it  was  that  the 
owners  did  not  stipulate  that  the  building  should  have  the  air  of 
standing  on  a  sheet  of  plate-glass.  By  far  the  most  important  build- 
ing now  nearing  completion  is  the  Drexel  Building.  Its  design  is 
calm  and  dignified  ;  ml  the  simplicity  with  which  the  huge  mass  is 
treated  gives  it  much  impressiveness.  The  construction  is  one  that 
is  not  very  usual  here,  the  weight  of  the  floors  and  roof  being  entirely 
received  by  an  iron  frame-work  while  the  white  marble  walls  support 
nothing  but  their  own  weight.  It  was  during  the  erection  of  these 
walls,  by  the  way,  that  a  characteristic  strike  occurred  which  helped 
considerably  toward  the  breaking  up  of  the  Society  of  the  Knights  of 
Labor.  The  contracts  for  the  marble-work  amounted  to  about  a  mil- 
lion dollars  and  were  divided  between  two  well-known  firms.  The 
"Union"  marble-cutters  seized  the  opportunity  to  strike.  Theie 
was  no  question  of  wages  in  the  matter.  The  contractors  were 
merely  informed  that  if  all  non-Union  men  were  not  discharged  every- 
body else  would  stop  work.  The  "  bosses  "  replied  that  they  would 
not  discharge  men  simply  on  the  ground  that  tney  did  not  belong  to 
the  Union,  and  ordered  all  marble  to  be  finished  in  Maryland  and 
Vermont,  at  the  quarries.  A  Union  meeting  was  held  ami  a  dele- 
gation instructed  to  visit  the  quarries  and  compel  the  marble-cutters 
to  stop  work.  When  this  committee  arrived  at  the  Vermont  quar- 
ries and  ordered  every  man  to  throw  down  his  tools  it  was  informed 
that  the  Vermonters  cared  nothing  whatever  for  the  Philadelphia 
Labor  Union  and  would  give  its  delegation  four  hours  to  leave  the 
place.  The  walls  of  the  Drexel  Building  have  been  excellently 


294 


TJie   American   Architect  and  Building   News.     [VoL.  XXIII.  —  No.  652. 


built  without  help  from  the  dictatorial  Union  many  of  whose  mem- 
bers have  unfortunately  lost  about  a  year's  wages  by  their  ill-advised 
action. 

In  speaking  of  the  well-designed  fronts  of  some  of  the  buildings 
now  in  course  of  erection  it  would  seem  unjust  not  to  mention  one 
that  has  just  been  finished,  the  Insurance  Company  of  Pennsylvania's 
on  Fourth  Street.  The  cornice  and  gable  are  undoubtedly  heavy, 
some  details  of  the  ornament  are  larger  than  necessary  and  much  of 
the  carving  is  very  bad,  but  taking  the  front  all  in  all  there  is  a  pur- 
pose about  the  design  of  it  and  a  beauty  that  makes  men  who  take  an 
interest  in  such  things  stop  in  the  street  and  look  twice  at  it.  And 
now  at  the  risk  of  dipping  into  the  interminable  list  of  buildings  that 
have  been  finished  for  a  year  or  more  I  must  mention  the  delightful 
change  that  the  new  office  building  for  Brown  Brothers  &  Co.,  has 
made  in  the  appearance  of  the  busy  corner  of  Fourth  and  Walnut 
Streets.  The  graceful  structure  with  its  steep  roof,  its  tall  bays  and 
its  delicate  detail  looks  a  perfect  combination  of  strength  and  light- 
ness and  its  pleasant  buff  tone  contrasts  charmingly  with  the  Wood 
Building  opposite,  that  pioneer  among  the  successful  office-buildings 
of  Philadelphia. 

If  so  very  few  of  the  newest  office  buildings  here  are  up  to  the 
standard  of  excellence  that  one  finds  in  New  York  and  Chicago,  the 
latest  buildings  for  the  use  of  large  wholesale  firms  are  even  less 
worthy  of  notice.  With  scarcely  any  exception,  these  are  little  bet- 
ter than  the  aimless  fa9ades  of  thirty  years  ago.  They  are  more 
varied  and  more  startling  but  (with  the  exception  of  a  growing  tend- 
ency to  show  that  ironwork  is  ironwork  and  not  to  try  to  disguise  it  as 
stone)  show  no  improvement  over  the  execrable  cast-iron  productions 
that  have  for  so  many  years  made  parts  of  Market  Street  hideous 
beyond  compare. 


[Contributors  are  requested  to  send  with  their  drawings  full  and 
adequate  descriptions  of  the  buildings,  including  a  statement  of  cost.] 

DOORWAY  OF  HOUSE  OF  NATHANIEL  TUAYEB,  ESQ.,  BOSTON,  MASS. 

MESSRS.  STURGI8  &  BRIGHAM,  ARCHITECTS,  BOSTON,  MASS. 

[Helio-chrome,  issued  only  with  the  Imperial  Edition.! 

OLD   STONE    PORTALS,    STOCKHOLM,    SWEDEN.        SKETCHED   BY   MR. 
M.   BORGSTEDT. 

TTFlIE  city  of  Stockholm,  Sweden,  which  after  the  lately  prevailing 
J|»  building-boom  will  show  the  stranger  a  good  many  buildings  of 
modern  architecture  of  great  merit,  has  yet  some  very  old  ex- 
amples of  architecture  left  which  are  worth  attention.  They  consist 
principally  of  high-pitched  gables  and  portals,  in  style  showing  the 
influence  of  old  German  baroco  and  are  applied  to  fronts  perfectly 
plain  for  the  rest,  an  arrangement  which  makes  a  good  effect  by  the 
contrast.  The  portals,  of  which  sketches  are  here  shown,  are  about 
250  years  old,  but  yet  are  among  the  best  preserved.  They  were 
erected  at  a  time,  when  Sweden  was  involved  in  war  in  Germany. 
The  long-continued  war  made  its  impression  on  everything  and  even 
on  these  portals,  as  shown  by  the  emblems,  put  on  here  and  there. 
On  the  larger  sketch  we  see  at  the  top  two  harnesses  with  helmets 
and  lances  and  on  one  of  the  smaller  ones  guns,  put  upright  against 
the  side-pilasters.  The  other  one  shows  two  warriors,  placed  on  top 
of  cornice,  and.  below  the  same  two  angels,  as  symbols  of  peace, 
holding  wreaths  of  laurels  in  their  hands  in  order  to  crown  the  vic- 
torious warrior.  The  fruits  and  the  bags,  on  top  of  the  heads  are 
reminders  of  the  riches,  acquired  by  the  war. 

HOUSE    FOR   T.   C.   LEAKE,    ESQ.,    RICHMOND,   VA.        MR.    M.   J.    DIM- 
MOCK,    ARCHITECT,    RICHMOND,    VA. 

THE  materials  used  are  sand  stock  brick  with  brownstone  in  the 
rough  and  portions  to  be  dressed,  terra-cotta  panels,  etc.,  and 
the  roof  ornaments  and  gutters  of  copper,  slate  roof.  The  in- 
terior of  principal  rooms  to  be  in  hard  woods  polished ;  dining-room 
and  hall,  quartered  oak ;  parlor  and  library,  mahogany,  and  cham- 
bers in  cherry,  white  walnut  and  yellow  pine.  Lot  90'  wide,  150' 
deep. 

HOUSE   AT   CARPENTER   STATION,  P.  R.  R.      MESSRS.    COPE    &    STEW- 
ARDSON,    ARCHITECTS,    PHILADELPHIA,   PA. 

HOUSE   OF   JAMES    HAOKETT,    ESQ.,     CARPENTER   STATION,    P.    R.    R. 
MESSRS.  COPE  &  STEWARDSON,    ARCHITECTS,  PHILADELPHIA,  PA. 

ACCEPTED   DESIGN  FOR  THE  REVIEW   CLUB,    CHELSEA,  MASS.      MR. 
W.    A.   NORRIS,    ARCHITECT,    BOSTON,   MASS. 

TOMB      OF      CARDINAL      RICHELIEU      IN     THE      8ORBONNE,     PARIS. 
GIRARDIN,    SCULPTOR. 


TOMB    OF    LEONARDO  BKUNI    IN    THE     CHURCH    OF    SANTA      CROCE, 
FLORENCE.      BERNARDO   ROSSELLINO,   SCULPTOR. 

COMPETITIVE    DESIGN    FOR    THE   MASONIC    HALL,    PITTSBURGH,  PA. 
MESSRS.    BICKEL    &    BRENNAN,    ARCHITECTS,    PITTSBURGH,    PA. 


BOYCOTTED   BUILDER    OBTAINS   RE- 
LIKELY    TO    OBTAIN 

TITHE  matter  of  "boycotting"  in  this 
•  I'1  locality  had  grown,  up  to  very 
lately,  to  be  almost  a  curse,  its 
practices  had  grown  so  that  a  man  really  did  not  own  the  business 
he  was  endeavoring  to  carry  on :  a  man  would  take  large  contracts, 
make  all  necessary  and  proper  arrangements  for  carrying  the  same 
to  a  successful  issue,  would  be  largely  responsible  for  debts  incurred 
on  account  of  these  contracts,  and  then,  without  warning,  as  a  thief 
in  the  night,  this  boycott  would  steal  in,  and  utterly  destroy  the  care- 
fully arranged  plans  which  took  so  much  time  and  trouble  to  prepaie. 

The  time  has  about  come,  however,  when  it  will  be  lawful  and 
proper  and  right  for  a  man  to  pursue  his  business  methods  without 
let  or  hinderance,  at  least  from  outside  parties,  without  having  out- 
siders say  how  the  business  shall  be  carried,  who  shall  be  employed 
and  where  he  shall  get  the  material  with  which  to  carry  out  his  con- 
tract. Both  the  Common  Pleas  and  Superior  Courts  of  this  city 
have  recently  held  that  "  boycotting  "  must  stop.  The  case  was  sub- 
stantially as  follows  :  In  January,  1887,  the  Journeymen  Bricklayers' 
Union  and  the  "  bosses  "  (so-called)  had  their  usual  agreement  as  to 
the  wages  to  be  paid  and  the  number  of  hours  to  the  day ;  this 
agreement  was  to  stand  for  a  year  and  there  was  to  be  no  strike. 
Along  in  the  early  spring  of  the  year,  it  appears  that  the  hod-car- 
riers had  a  grievance  against  the  bosses,  inasmuch  as  they  were  em- 
ploying what  the  hod-carriers  were  pleased  to  call  "  scab-labor,"  »'.  e., 
men  who  did  not  belong  to  the  Hod-Carriers'  Union,  but  who,  never- 
theless, could  carry  the  hod  and  "  more  mort "  with  as  much  grace 
and  ease  as  could  the  oldest  member  of  the  Union.  Because  the 
bosses  would  not  agree  to  discharge  this  alleged  scab-labor  the  Union 
hod-carriers  all  went  out  on  a  strike ;  and  then  the  members  of  the 
Bricklayers'  Union,  who  had  no  cause  of  action  against  the  bosses 
whatever,  took  up  the  cause  of  the  hod-carriers  and  went  out  on  a 
strike  that  lasted  perhaps  six  weeks. 

The  bosses  could,  no  doubt,  have  come  off  victorious  in  the  fight 
had  not  one  of  their  number  backed  down  and  discharged  all  non- 
Union  men,  and  promised  to  never  more  employ  any  but  Union  men. 
As  this  "  boss  "  was  one  of  the  largest  contracting  bricklayers  in  the 
city,  his  action  caused  a  termination  of  the  strike,  except  in  the 
case  of  Messrs.  N.  &  C.  Parker,  who  held  that  the  bricklayers 
were  wrong  in  going  on  a  strike  when  they  had  agreed  not  to  do  so, 
and  now  comes  the  case  in  hand. 

Messrs.  Parker  were  left  to  fight  the  battle  alone.  The  Brick- 
layers' Union  instituted  a  complete  and  systematic  boycott;  they 
issued  a  circular  which  was  sent  to  owners  of  buildings  where  the 
firm  had  any  contracts,  and  these  owners  were  informed  that  the 
Messrs.  Parker  were  not  doing  good  work  inasmuch  as  they  were 
employing  "scab-labor;"  the  circular  was  also  sent  to  all  material- 
men  informing  them  that  their  material  would  not  be  worked  in  any 
building  whereon  the  said  Parkers  were  doing  the  brickwork.  At 
this  point  in  the  performance,  Messrs.  Parker,  through  their  at- 
torneys, Messrs.  Bateman,  Harper  &  Bailey,  brought  suit  for  libel, 
which  was  sustained  by  the  court.  Their  second  cause  of  action  was 
for  an  injunction  to  restrain  the  Union  from  further  interfering  with 
their  affairs,  and  to  stop  this  boycott.  Judge  Kumler,  of  the  Common 
Pleas,  and  Judge  Taft,  of  the  Superior  Court,  very  plainly  told  the 
Union  men  that  they  must  stop  this  boycott  business.  Notwith- 
standing the  above  injunction,  some  of  the  men  persisted  in  their 
evil  ways  and  were  brought  into  court  for  contempt,  but  pleaded 
that  they  were  not  informed  as  to  the  injunction,  and  the  court  let 
them  off  with  the  admonition  that  a  repetition  would  be  dealt  with 
very  severely 

Another  cause  of  action  was  for  damages  caused  by  this  un- 
toward interference  by  the  Union  with  their  (Parker  Bros.)  busi- 
ness ;  making  it  much  harder  for  them  to  get  labor  or  materials,  and 
in  several  cases  the  owners  of  buildings  becoming  alarmed  had  to 
annul  existing  contracts ;  this  cause  of  action  has  not  been  heard  yet, 
but  comes  up  soon.  Taking  the  case  altogether  it  is  one  wherein 
those  who  expend  their  time,  brains  and  money  have  every  reason 
for  congratulation  that  they  will  be  allowed  to  carry  on  their  enter- 
prises without  such  interferences  as  this  case  showed  has  heretofore 
existed. 


THE  HOTEL  BRIGHTON  FINALLY  IN  PLACE.  —  The  Hotel  Brighton,  at 
Coney  Island,  was  finally  placed  on  its  new  foundations  April  28th. 
The  cost  of  the  moving  was  over  §30,000. 


f  O.  6  52        I  MEHIGfl  X  I  RGHITlvGT  HND  gUILDING  fEWS,  JlTNE.23-1 55  5. 

J»\5 


rt.-pYTJTT.HT  iftJO  BYTICKHOR  i  fi 


>0.  652 


flN  SiKtoHITEGT  flND  BUILDING  ffiEWS,  JUNE.  25  1555 


AHfriujf" 


Heliotype  fmtingCo.Boston. 


to.  652 


IRGHITEGT  .«ND  BUILDING  HEWS,  JUNK.  23.1  55  5. 


COranSHrl8883YTIC10IOB  1C? 


Old 


Heliotype  Printing  Co. Sostor.. 


,1MEI11GJIN  lUGHITEGT  .flXD  jglTILDING  $EWS((?JlTNE.231555        Ro.  652 


uruimi  MM  ir  IJBBUCT 


TOME.  OF  CARDINAL  R1CHELEV  IM  THE 


.  PAR  15 


TOME)  OF  LEONAftPO  MVTir  in  THE  CHVRCU  OF  iAHTA  CftCCE  FLORErfCE 


<>.  652 


GT  flNI)  BUILDING 


• 
T  "v.'v-^T' 


IK«1HTECST  flND  RUILDING  RjEWS,  JtTNE.23.I555        Ro/652. 


JUNE  23,  1888.] 


American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


295 


FATE  OF  THE  ARCHITECTS'  REGISTRATION 
HILL.  —  THE  NEW  PRESIDENTS  OF  THE 
INSTITUTE  AND  ASSOCIATION.  —  AFFILIA- 
TION OF  PROVINCIAL  WITH  MF.TROPOLI- 
TAN  SOCIETIES. —  OKEEK  OUTLINES. — THE 
HYDE  PARK  APARTMENT-HOUSE.  —  THE 

ADMIRALTY  AND  WAR  OFFICE. TEMPLE 

BAR.  —  THE     LIVERPOOL     CATHEDRAL. 

THE   EXHIBITIONS. 


1IFIIE  ignominous  reception  which  the  Architects'  Registration 
•I*  Bill  met  with  in  the  House  of  Commons  on  April  17,  when  it 
came  up  for  discussion,  has  been  a  matter  of  no  little  surprise  to 
everybody  here.  Considering  that  the  knowledge  of  members  of 
Parliament,  unprofessional  as  they  are,  of  this  subject  is  necessarily 
crude  and  imperfect,  yet  we  certainly  expected  the  bill  to  make  a 
better  fight  than  it  did.  With  the  exception  of  a  Parncllite,  named 
Murphy,  not  a  single  member  had  a  good  word  for  it.  Sir  W. 
Foster,  a  prominent  Gladstonian ;  Sir  Lyon  Playfair,  whose  opposi- 
tion, seeing  that  he  carried  through  a  similar  bill  for  the  medical  pro- 
fession, was  extremely  significant ;  the  Attorney-General  and  other 
well-known  men  all  spoke  against  the  bill,  and  Colonel  Duncan,  per- 
ceiving the  inherent  weakness  of  his  position,  like  the  good  ofhcer 
that  he  is,  "retired  for  strategic  purposes,"  or,  in  other  words,  with- 
drew his  bill  and  did  not  even  press  for  a  division.  So  far  as  I  can 
gather,  the  withdrawal  of  this  ill-advised  measure  has  been  received 
with  general  satisfaction,  but  at  the  same  time  there  exists,  I  believe, 
a  widespread  hope  that  some  action  in  the  direction  of  registration 
may  be  taken  by  the  Iloyal  Institute  of  British  Architects  as  recog- 
nixed  head  of  the  architectural  profession  in  the  British  isles. 

We  have  been  busy  at  Conduit  Street  lately,  electing  new  officers 
and  putting  our  house  in  order  generally  for  the  conclusion  of  the 
session  which  is  now,  both  at  the  Royal  Institute  of  British  Archi- 
tects and  at  the  Architectural  Association,  drawing  near  its  close. 
The  Institute  has  elected  as  its  President  Mr.  Alfred  Waterhouse, 
R.  A.,  and  the  Association,  Mr.  Herbert  D.  Appleton.  Mr.  Water- 
house  holds  an  exceptionally  high  position  among  English  architects. 
The  National  History  Museum,  the  City  and  Guilds  of  London 
Technical  Institute,  Owen's  College,  Manchester,  the  National 
Liberal  Club  and  the  well-known  offices  of  the  Prudential  Assurance 
Company  in  Holborn,  are  all  memorials  of  his  genius,  and  bear  the 
unmistakable  stamp  of  his  individuality.  To  Mr.  Waterhouse  is  due, 
to  a  considerable  extent,  the  great  amount  of  interest  which  is  now 
bestowed  upon  terra-cotta  as  a  constructive  material,  and  many  other 
innovations  in  construction  have  also  emanated  from  his  office.  Mr. 
Appleton  is  chiefly  remarkable  for  the  ceaseless  energy  and  persever- 
ance which  he  has  unstintingly  devoted  to  the  Association,  and  which 
has  certainly  been  one  of  the  principal  causes  of  the  great  progress 
that  the  Architectural  Association  has  made  during  the  past  few 
years. 

There  has  been  a  very  good  competition  for  the  Architectural 
Association  and  Aldwinckle  Travelling  Studentships  this  year.  The 
former  has  been  gained  by  Mr.  D.  J.  Blow  for  a  very  refined  and 
painstaking  set  of  drawings  of  a  church  near  Canterbury.  A  very 
showy  set  of  sketches,  in  a  bold,  flourishing  style,  was  submitted  by 
Mr.  II.  P.  Burke  Downing,  and  I  also  noticed  some  neat  artistic 
drawings  by  Mr.  Agutter.  The  Aldwinckle  student  is  Mr.  H.  V. 
Lanchester,  who  achieved  his  success  with  some  really  excellent 
sketches  in  color  of  a  late  oak  screen,  etc. 

Now  that  the  registration  bogey  has  disappeared  —  for  a  time,  at 
least — there  is  a  movement  among  the  principal  provincial  associa- 
tions in  favor  of  alliliation  with  the  central  metropolitan  societies.  A 
new  association  has  been  formed  at  Halifax,  Yorks,  affiliated  with  the 
Architectural  Association.  I  need  hardly  point  out  what  an  im- 
mensely powerful  organization  these  affiliated  societies,  especially 
those  devoted  to  education,  will  become  if  they  all  work  together  in 
one  common  spirit  of  unity,  and  we  may  be  quite  certain  that  one  of 
the  ultimate  results  of  this  union  will  be  to  fix  a  definite  educational 
course  for  every  architectural  student  to  pass  through,  before  he  is 
eligible  to  enter  his  name  for  the  examination  in  architecture. 

The  Association  soire'e  took  place  shortly  after  Easter,  and  was 
eminently  successful.  The  large  hall  in  which  it  was  held  was 
crowded,  and  the  audience,  being  largely  composed  of  students, 
applauded  the  various  topical  references  as  only  students  can. 

We  have  been  reclining  in  a  sort  of  classical  atmosphere  lately,  so 
to  speak.  At  the  Institute  the  other  night,  Mr.  F.  C.  Penrose, 
M.  A.,  so  well-known  as  the  Director  of  the  British  School  at 
Athens,  gave  us  a  very  interesting  account  of  "  Some  Recent  Ex- 
cavations at  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  Olympius,  at  Athens."  This 
school  —  to  which  you  remember  I  told  you  that  the  Institute  sent 
out  a  travelling  student  some  short  time  ago  —  is  now  engaged  upon 
further  excavations  which  cannot  but  prove  to  be  of  great  interest. 


At  the  Architectural  Association  Mr.  Farrow  analytically  considered 
the  contours  of  Greek  mouldings,  confining  himself  more  particularly 
to  the  Doric  capital.  He  demonstrated  how  the  Greeks,  commencing 
with  the  parabolic  curve,  gradually  develoi>cd  a  more  refined  and 
graceful  outline  which  he  showed  to  be  a  sharp  form  of  the  hyper- 
bolic curve  in  combination  at  either  end  with  osculating  circles,  one 
example  of  which  Mr.  Farrow  statetl  that  he  had  ascertained  to  have 
a  radius  of  not  less  than  fifty-three  feet.  As,  however,  the  mathe- 
matic  properties  of  the  conic  sections  were  not  investigated  till  after 
the  construction  of  the  Doric  capital,  one  is  forced  to  the  opinion  that 
the  Greeks  merely  sketched  in  their  curves,  and  did  not  set  them  out 
with  the  painfully  mathematical  accuracy  that  Mr.  Farrow  described. 
Mr.  Statham  took  up  the  subject  of  cornices  and  string-courses,  and 
gave  us  a  very  logical  and  interesting  discourse  upon  this  most  im- 
portant subject.  The  string-course,  said  Mr.  Statham,  entirely 
differs  in  principle  from  the  cornice,  and  it  is  a  grave  grammatical 
error  to  make  the  one  a  simply  subordinate  form  of  the  other.  His 
lecture  appears  very  fully  in  the  Builder. 

Some  architects  have  recently  designed  a  vast  pile  of  rcsidental  flats 
to  be  erected  overlooking  Hyde  Park,  near  Albert  Gate.  The 
height  was  stated  to  be  somewhere  about  one  hundred  and  eighty 
feet,  and  there  has  been  a  frantic  public  outcry,  partly  on  the 
ground  that  the  immense  shadow  which  this  building  will  throw  on 
the  Park  will  be  intensely  injurious  to  it.  Questions  have  been 
asked  in  Parliament  night  after  night,  and  one  evening  the  First 
Commissioner  of  Works  gravely  announced  that  he  hod  informed  the 
architects  that  unless  the  building  were  reduced  in  height  he  would 
erect  on  the  borders  of  the  Park  a  wall  to  block  out  the  light  from 
their  proposed  buildings.  Fancy  a  huge  blank-wall  nearly  two 
hundred  feet  high.  The  matter  has,  however,  been  mutually 
settled  by  concessions  by  either  side.  While,  however,  the  public  is 
only  too  ready  to  strain  at  a  gnat,  it  is  prepared  to  digest  the 
proverbial  camel  with  the  greatest  readiness.  Tin1  drawings  of  the 
proposed  new  Admiralty  and  War  Offices  have  been  published,  and 
I  really  think  that  if  England  erects  such  edifices  as  her  national 
buildings,  she  ought  to  be  thoroughly  and  heartily  ashamed  of  her- 
self. Surely  she  ought  to  be  quite  satisfied  with  the  National 
Gallery  and  the  Iloyal  Courts  of  Justice,  without  making  herself  a 
further  laughing-stock  to  humanity  by  housing  her  chief  Administra- 
tive Departments  in  the  buildings  whose  designs  have  recently  been 
published.  Again,  the  priceless  collection  of  national  portraits, 
termed  the  "  National  Portrait  Gallery,"  is  still  a  homeless  wanderer. 
When  the  fire  took  place  at  South  Kensington,  a  momentary  panic 
ensued,  and  the  paintings  were  all  carted  down  to  a  picture  gallery 
at  Bethnal-Green,  in  the  East  End.  There  they  still  remain,  and 
there,  to  all  appearances,  they  seem  likely  to  stop  until  the  crack  of 
doom.  We  all  so  well  know  the  way  in  which  the  beautiful  Burling- 
ton colonnade  was  suffered  to  lie  on  the  river  bank  at  Battersea 
neglected  and  uncared-for,  until  it  was  quite  ruined ;  therefore,  we 
are  mildly  thankful  that  Old  Temple  Bar  has  passed  into  the  hands 
of  a  private  individual  rather  than  it  should  remain  under  the  tender 
mercies  of  public  bodies.  Like  the  woman  before  Solomon,  we  prefer 
to  see  our  child  given  over  to  a  stranger,  rather  than  destroyed.  Eng- 
land has  been  termed  a  nation  of  shopkeepers,  but  unless  she  shows  a 
little  more  national  spirit  in  these  matters,  she  will  earn  for  herself 
a  greater  reproach  —  a  nation  of  barbarians. 

In  ecclesiastical  matters,  the  reredos  at  St.  Paul's  is  provoking 
some  very  bitter  theological  disputes,  the  Low  Church  party  being 
very  angry  at  what  they  are  pleased  to  call  "  the  Crucifix  in  our 
Metropolitan  Cathedral."  Of  course,  here,  I  have  nothing  to  do 
with  theological  questions,  and  I  really  do  not  see  that  much  fault 
can  be  found  with  the  reredos  per  se.  The  apsidal  wings  strike  me 
as  a  mistake.  They  are  weak  and  meaningless,  and  the  competition, 
so  to  speak,  of  the  two  apsidal  curves  of  the  reredos  and  of  the  church 
itself,  is  positively  distressing,  and  still  it  is  not  much  use  criticising 
it,  as  it  is  never  likely  to  be  altered.  Rather  a  joke  occurred  lately 
about  the  Liverpool  Cathedral.  You  know,  that  some  time  ago,  the 
Cathedral  Committee  advertised  for  designs,  and  eventually  chose 
Mr.  Emerson's.  But  they  had  put  the  cart  before  the  horse,  and 
when  they  came  to  look  for  the  motive  power,  or,  in  other  words,  the 
necessary  cash  for  building,  it  was  not  to  be  found.  Well,  one  Satur- 
day evening,  all  the  papers  came  out  with  great  flaring  placards  with 
"Munificent  gift  of  a  Cathedral  for  Liverpool,"  in  large  letters,  and 
stated  that  Sir  A.  B.  Walker  had  given  a  sum  of  £250,000  to  Liver- 
pool for  its  Cathedral,  and  "  was  awaiting  with  some  impatience  the 
completion  of  the  plans  "  (as  if,  by  the  way,  the  plans  for  a  cathedral 
could  be  "turned  out"  in  a  day).  This  formed  a  subject  of  warm 
congratulation  among  churchmen  on  the  following  Sunday,  but  the 
gilt  was  rather  taken  off  the  gingerbread  when  Monday  morning's 
papers  announced  that  the  whole  thing  was  a  hoax. 

Now,  how  am  I  to  even  give  you  a  faint  account  of  the  various 
picture  galleries  and  exhibitions  that  I  have  been  to  during  the  past 
month?  We  seem  to  be  in  a  regular  fever  over  here  about  this 
sort  of  thing  this  year.  On  the  site  of  the  American  Exhibition, 
we  have  a  representation  of  Italy  in  London :  there  is  to  be  found 
the  Colosseum  and  Forum,  etc.,  all  complete  for  the  sum  of  one 
shilling  I  The  Director-General  very  kindly  favored  me  with  an 
order  for  the  private  view,  and  I  have  taken  several  notes  which  I 
hope  to  be  able  to  put  into  readable  form  and  send  over  to  you 
shortly.  At  South  Kensington,  we  have  a  Danish  Exhibition ;  at 
Olympia,  the  wrongs  of  Ireland  are  to  be  brought  vividly  before  the 
British  public  by  means  of  a  representation  of  an  Irish  village,  in 


29G 


The   American    Architect  and  Building   News.      [VoL.  XXIII.  —  No.  652. 


which  the  Irish  round  tower  figures  prominently,  while  at  West- 
minster the  art  and  science  of  France  will  be  on  view. 

As  regards  the  picture-galleries,  here  is  the  concentrated  essence 
of  my  opinions :  The  Academy  is,  in  most  respects,  a  good  collec- 
tion; to  be  sure  there  are  no  pictures  which  can  be  called  absolute  1 
striking,  but  the  quality  of  the  general  run  is  decidedly  above  the 
average  ;  that  is,  except  the  architectural  room  which  is  bad,  bad,  bad. 
The  Grosvenor  has,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  disappointed  me.  Its  in- 
dividuality, I  had  almost  said,  its  raison  d'etre  has  gone  and  it  has 
sunk  to  the  level  of  an  ordinary  picture-gallery.  I  hope  for  its  own 
sake  that  it  will  recover  itself  ere  long,  but  at  present  the  scar  left  by 
the  schism  is  unquestionably  apparent.  The  new  gallery  must  be 
counted  an  undoubted  success.  The  general  effect  is  very  like 
what  the  Grosvenor  was.  The  pictures  are  cleverly  arranged,  and 
the  gallery  itself  is  very  conducive  to  comfort. 

I  am  sorry  to  have  to  tell  you  .that  the  inquiry  into  the  conduct  of 
the  Metropolitan  Board  of  Works  is  provoking  some  very  painful 
disclosures.  I  send  you  a  copy  of  the  evidence  at  Friday's  sitting  of 
the  Commission,  but  do  not  propose  to  comment  on  it  while  the 
matter  is  sub-judice.  CHIEL. 

PARIS  GOSSIP. 

THE    SALON.  —  EXHIBITS    OF    THE    DECORATIVE    PAINTERS.  —  THE 
BEST   OF    THE    PORTRAITS. 


FROM  RAGUBHBT 


/~f OMPLAINT  was  made  last  year  of  the  great  number  of  exhibits 
li  received  at  the  Salon.  The  number  was  then  5,318,  and  this 
year  it  is  5,523,  the  paintings  alone  being  represented  by  2,586 
canvases.  If  this  thing  goes  on,  where  will  it  stop?  In  all  these 
thousands  of  works  how  is  it  possible  for  one  to  be  sure  that  some  in- 
teresting work,  hidden  in  the  multitude  of  mediocre  neighbors,  does 
not  escape  notice?  The  evening  before  the  day  of  opening  — 
varnishing  day — -the  Parisian  journals  give,  room  by  room,  the 
titles  of  the  paintings  that  every  Parisian  ought  absolutely  to  see. 
The  public  follows  these  indications,  and  run  after  the  artists  who 
are  in  vogue.  The  others  wait  patiently  for  a  more  serious  criticism, 
aided  by  chance,  to  discover  them  and  signalize  their  existence,  or 
more  impatient,  they  take  steps  to  draw  attention  by  any  means 
whatever.  The  one  most  generally  adopted  is  to  treat  at  a  large 
scale  some  subject  proper  only  for  an  easel  painting.  The  genre  subject 
nowadays  takes  on  the  importance  and  dimensions  of  the  historical 
painting;  just  as  in  a  crowded  room  one  raises  his  voice  to  make 
himself  heard,  so  the  artist  increases  the  size  of  his  painting  in 
order  to  attract  public  attention  and  cause  himself  to  be  remarked.  The 
critics  have  greatly  deplored  the  evil  which  this  does  to  art;  but 
after  all,  is  the  evil  so  great  ?  Surely  the  generosity  with  which  the 
commonplace  works  are  received  encourages  perhaps  too  many 
young  men  to  adopt  painting,  and  others  who  are  not  quite  so  young 
to  keep  on  painting.  Everybody  nowadays  in  France  of  the  bou£ 
geois  class  practises  or  wishes  to  practise  painting.  Everybody  pre- 
tends to  have  the  right  to  the  title  of  artist.  It  is,  then,  necessary 
for  real  painters  to  give  proof  of  their  superiority  by  a  greater  dis- 
play of  talent ;  and  the  great  canvases,  and  even  the  commonplace 
ones,  which  are  presented  this  year,  give  proof  of  serious  work  and 
interesting  effort. 

Decorative  painting  has  been  held  in  great  honor  for  several 
years.  The  public  buildings  reserve  much  space  for  artists  to 
decorate ;  chateaux  and  private  hotels  indulge  themselves  more  and 
more  in  the  luxury  of  decorative  mural  painting.  We  find  in  this 
year's  Salon  a  continuation  of  the  decorations  which  are  destined  for 
the  new  Sorbonne  :  unfortunately  the  great  composition  of  M.  Puvis 
de  Chavannes,  whose  cartoon  was  shown  last  year,  and  which  it 
would  have  been  interesting  to  see  in  its  completeness  and  in  color, 
is  not  shown.  M.  Fra^ois  Flameng,  whose  triptych  at  the  last 
Salon  attracted  too  much  attention,  sent  this  year  his  subject  for  the 
decoration  of  the  great  staircase  of  the  Sorbonne,  which  is  also  a 
triptych,  and  of  the  same  size  as  that  shown  last  year,  and  which  will 
be  perfectly  in  harmony  with  that.  M.  Flameng  seems  to  have  done 


this  one  more  rapidly  and  with  less  care  in  the  details  and  the 
rendering.  The  middle  motive,  the  most  important,  represents 
Cardinal  de  Richelieu  laying  the  corner-stone  of  the  Sorbonno  in  the 
presence  of  the  architect,  Lemercicr,  May  1,  1635.  The  composi- 
tion is  interesting :  the  principal  and  essential  group  forming  the 
ubject  of  the  painting  is  not  found  in  the  first  plane  of  the  picture  ; 
Cardinal  Richelieu  and  his  corteye  appear  in  the  distance,  and  are 
seen  from  the  top  of  a  scaffolding  which  occupies  the  foreground, 
and  upon  which  are  grouped  workmen  and  subordinate  personages. 
The  effect  is  very  happy  and  very  truthful.  From  the  point  of  view  of 
composition  and  mise  en  scene,  so  to  speak,  the  ability  of  M.  Flameng 
is  great;  but  as  I  said  just  now,  many  of  the  details  are  sacrificed : 
the  scaffold  is  badly  rendered,  and  one  of  the  workmen,  who  is  very 
prominent  in  the  foreground,  has  a  head  far  too  small  for  his  body. 
The  perspective  of  old  Paris,  running  off  into  the  background,  is 
less  attractive  than  that  shown  last  year.  The  right-hand  motive  of 
the  triptych  shows  the  Rector  Galland,  accompanied  by  the  deans  of 
the  faculty,  going  on  the  night  before  the  Fete  of  the  Purification  to 
offer,  according  to  ancient  custom,  a  wax  candle  to  Henry  IV.  The 
prince  announces  his  intention  of  reforming  the  university.  In  the 
left-hand  subject  Etienne  Dolet,  Jacques  Amyot,  Rabelias,  etc., 
symbolize  the  Renaissance.  The  backgrounds  of  these  two  paint- 
ings, particularly  that  of  the  right-hand  one,  representing  the  Tour 
de  Nesles,  are  perfectly  charming.  M.  Theobald  Chartran  lias  been 
entrusted  with  a  fragment  of  the  decoration  for  the  same  grand  stair- 
case. His  Louis  IX  and  Vincent  de  Beauvais  at  the  Abbey  of 
Royaumont  is  rather  cold  as  a  composition,  but  its  tonality  is  in  per- 
fect harmony  with  that  of  M.  Flameng  —  a  very  appreciable  quality 
for  the  good  effect  of  the  combination  in  the  same  monument. 
These  two  artists  have  kept  to  a  gamut  of  soft  grays  which  har- 
monizes capitally  with  the  architecture. 

Very  pretty  is  the  decoration  of  Raphael  Collin  for  the  rector's 
dining-room  at  the  Sorbonne.  A  young  girl's  figure,  symbolizing  the 
close  of  summer  and  holding  in  her  hands  a  garland  of  wild  flowers, 
is  passing  through  a  landscape  of  charmingly  decorative  effect.  It  is 
idealized  after  the  fashion  of  Corot,  and  is  in  a  gamut  of  blueish  tones. 
To  make  an  end  of  the  decorations  of  the  Sorbonne,  it  is  necessary 
to  speak  of  the  large  triptych  of  M.  Benjamin  Constant,  which  is 
destined  to  cover  the  panels  of  the  hall  of  the  Academic  Council.  I 
fear  that  the  artist  has  deceived  himself,  and  that  even  when  in 
place  his  work  will  add  nothing  to  his  glory. 

First  of  all  one  is  surprised  at  the  enormous  dimensions  of  this 
decoration,  and  it  is  allowable,  without  waiting  till  the  finished  work 
is  in  place,  to  discover  that  it  is  too  large  in  scale.  It  is  developed 
in  fact  between  pilasters,  which  figure  on  the  canvas  at  full  size  and 
represent  a  colonnade  which  forms  a  rotunda  in  the  middle  panel. 
Now,  these  Ionic  columns  which  must  necessarily  pass  behind  the 
pilasters  of  the  hall  are  of  a  diameter  equal  if  not  greater  than  these 
pilasters  themselves.  Moreover,  their  loud  reddish  tone  brings  them 
still  farther  forward  and  makes  them  appear  enormous.  The  columns 
have  a  bad  effect,  while  the  arrangement  of  the  personages  and  the 
composition  does  not  better  the  impression :  women  symbolizing 
Literature  are  seated  all  in  the  same  plane  upon  the  left ;  others, 
also  seated,  on  the  right  symbolize  the  Sciences ;  at  the  centre,  in 
the  rotunda  of  the  colonnade,  still  seated,  are  portraits  of  the  princi- 
pal personages  of  the  Academy  of  Paris  in  voluminous  red  robes, 
and  seemingly  posing  before  a  camera.  All  this  is  cold.  All  the 
heads,  save  two,  being  at  the  same  height,  make  an  extremely  dry 
and  disagreeable  horizontal  line.  One  need  not,  after  seeing  the 
decoration  of  M.  Benjamin  Constant  go  and  see  that  of  Paul  Dela- 
roche  in  the  hemicycle  of  the  Ecole  des  Beaux-Arts,  but  could  M.  Benja- 
min Constant,  before  he  definitely  settled  his  composition,  have  ever 
cast  an  eye  upon  it?  The  point  of  departure  is  not  without  its  analo- 
gies :  personages  are  grouped  in  a  colonnade,  but  what  movement ! 
what  variety  of  attitude !  what  admirable  science  of  arrangement ! 
without  confusion  and  without  complications.  In  the  triptych  of  M. 
Benjamin  Constant  we  find  also  a  singular  anomaly  ;  the  back- 
ground of  this  portico,  which  is  continuous  through  the  three  por- 
tions, is  different.  In  the  centre  we  see  the  silhouette  of  the  Church 
of  the  Sorbonne,  while  upon  the  left  and  right  are  bossy  woods.  A 
little  more  consistency  and  regard  for  truth  would  not  have  hurt  it. 
In  spite  of  its  faults,  the  decorative  painting  of  M.  Benjamin  Con- 
stant is  superior  to  that  of  M.  Duez  for  the  Salle  des  Actes  —  still  at 
the  Sorbonne.  M.  Duez,  whose  contribution  last  year  was  not  very 
good,  has  sent  one  this  year  which  is  quite  had.  His  Virgil,  prome- 
nading in  the  midst  of  violet-colored  trunks  of  trees,  is  very  unplea- 
sant. 

Decorative  art  is  still  further  represented  by  M.  Emile  Bastien- 
Lepage,  the  brother  of  the  painter  who  died  in  1884,  with  a  canvas 
whose  general  tone  is  agreeable,  but  whose  aspect  is  cold  and  flat ; 
by  M.  Lucien  Berthault,  with  a  composition  called  "Love's  Ques- 
tion," where  there  are  certain  good  qualities  of  drawing,  —  a  naked 
woman  standing  is  very  well  done.  M.  Ehrmann,  in  a  decorative 
subject  for  tapestry,  represents  the  official  art,  mythological  and 
allegorical,  well  drawn,  well  composed,  although  somewhat  confused, 
in  which  are  found  as  figures  Virgil,  Homer  and  other  serious  peo- 
ple. This  is  very  well,  very  neat,  but  without  sentiment.  Finally, 
M.  Dubuffe  Jils  evokes  in  the  same  glory  the  names  of  the  three 
great  poets,  Victor  Hugo,  Mussel,  Lamartine.  Winged  females  flit 
through  the  air  in  the  midst  of  bluish  smoke,  through  which  can  be 
distinguished  the  Arc  de  Triomphe  and  even  the  mounted  horse- 
guards  of  Paris.  The  composition  is  perhaps  a  little  "jeune,"  but 


JUNE  23,  1888.] 


TJie   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


297 


there  are,  nevertheless,  good  qualities  from  the  decorative  point  of 
view. 

A  canvas  which  lias  hail  much  success  and  gives  evidence  of  an 
interesting  effort  in  the  field  of  great  painting,  is  that  of  M.  Albert 
Maignan,  which  represents  the  "  Voice  of  the  Tocsin."  From  an  enor- 
mous bell,  revolving  at  full  speed,  escape  clouds  of  naked  figures,  a 
sort  of  demon,  precipitated  howling  into  space  or  clutching  the  bell- 
ropes,  and  announcing  by  ihcir  frightful  cries  the  misfortunes  which 
the  tocsin  generally  foretells.  In  the  background  at  the  bottom  of 
the  picture  is  the  sinister  glow  of  the  conflagration  and  the  flag,  to 
tin-  defence  of  which  the  voice  of  the  tocsin  is  calling.  The  figures, 
hurried  along  in  their  disordered  fall,  are  mingled  in  an  extremely 
able  manner  and  the  difficulties  are  overcome  without  effort.  It  is  an 
interesting  attempt  at  a  style  of  work  abandoned  years  ago  and  testi- 
fies to  serious  study  anil  the  accuracy  of  the  painter's  draughtsman- 
ship. It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  medal  of  honor  will  be  decreed  to 
]\I.  Albert  Maignan. 

Before  speaking  of  architecture,  I  wish  to  mention  the  most 
remarkable  of  the  paintings,  the  likeness  of  Cardinal  Lavigerie,  by 
Ldon  Bonnat ;  two  very  beautif ul  portraits  by  Carolus  Duran,  one 
very  remarkable  of  his  own  daughter,  the  other  of  M.  Louis  Fran- 
cais  ;  a  beautiful  painting  by  Edouard  Detaille  styled  "  The  Dream." 
In  it  sleeping  soldiers,  stretched  out  on  the  ground,  are  enveloped  in 
their  blankets.  The  officers,  with  swords  stuck  upright  in  the 
ground,  lend  themselves  also  to  sleep.  The  guns  are  stacked,  the 
stillness  of  night  envelopes  the  scene,  and  on  the  clouds  unrolls  itself 
(indicated  in  luminous  transparency)  the  common  dream  of  these 
men  —  victory,  lofty  deeds  of  arms,  glory  of  the  Fatherland.  The 
idea  is  good  but  very  difficult  to  render  in  painting.  It  is  rather  a 
subject  for  the  poet,  but  M.  Ddtaille  has  interpreted  it  in  a  very  able 
manner.  M.  Fernand  Pelez,  in  a  painting  called  "  Grimace  and 
Misery,"  has  depicted  in  a  cruelly  truthful  manner  those  street 
mountebanks,  so  miserable  in  their  tawdry  apparel  and  so  poignantly 
sorrowful  under  the  factitious  gaiety  of  their  skylarking. 

Finally,  I  wish  to  bear  witness  to  the  continued  progress  of  the 
landscapists  and  to  unite  in  the  same  eulogy  the  names  of  these 
masters :  Pelouse,  Rapin,  Appian,  Damoye,  Petitjean,  Nozal,  Japy. 

On  reading  over  my  notes  on  the  architecture,  I  continually  come 
upon  the  expression  of  regret  at  seeing  this  portion  of  the  exhibition 
so  deserted  and  neglected.  Last  year  I  questioned  if  this  was  not 
somewhat  the  fault  of  the  architects.  I  ask  the  same  question 
again,  and  yet  in  spite  of  the  too  great  number  of  too  serious  and 
technical  contributions,  there  are  many  pretty  things  this  year  which 
ought  to  interest  everybody.  I  am  decidedly  of  the  opinion  that  the 
public  distrusts  itself,  and  much  more  time  will  be  necessary  to  per- 
suade it  that  architects  are  artists  who  exhibit  works  of  art  and  not 
mere  "machines"  for  the  masons  and  carpenters.  The  public 
always  turns  back  to  the  painting.  That  is  their  idol  and  amuse- 
ment. There  are  images  to  the  nand  of  everybody  and  which  the 
crowd  will  always  prefer,  even  if  commonplace,  to  the  other  produc- 
tions of  art.  It  is  as  much  as  ever  that  anybody  goes  to  look  at 
water-colors  or  engravings.  Our  poor  architecture  is  entirely 
neglected  and  sculpture  itself  owes,  perhaps,  a  large  portion  of  its 
success  to  the  place  which  it  holds  in  the  garden,  where  it  is  very 
pleasant  to  go  and  get  a  breath  of  fresh  air. 

In  spite  of  my  special  reservation  in  the  matter  of  the  large  re- 
storations of  Roman  monuments  by  the  pupils  at  the  Academy  of 
France,  I  ought  to  cite,  first  of  all,  the  restoration  of  the  Palace  of 
the  Cassars,  by  M.  Henri  Degland,  and  of  Hadrian's  Villa,  by  M. 
Charles  Girault.  I  formerly  took  occasion  to  speak  of  the  envois 
from  Rome :  I  will  only  return  to  the  subject  for  the  sake  of  men- 
tioning the  recompense  awarded  to  their  authors.  The  medal  of 
honor  was  decreed  by  unanimous  vote  to  M.  Deglane,  M.  Girault 
obtaining  a  first  medal. 

M.  Jean  Gonvers  sent  a  very  attractive  study  of  the  churches  at 
Dieppe.  Here  is  something  to  interest  everybody.  Architects  dis- 
cover just  what  they  asked  for  in  the  sketch-plans  discreetly  included 
on  the  sheet,  and  the  pen-work,  united  with  the  charming  water- 
color,  ought  to  attract  the  public.  They  are  very  good.  M.  Henri 
Rapine,  in  able  water-color  drawing,  presents  the  fireplace  of  the 
Chateau  de  Cadillac.  One  of  the  most  interesting  contributions  is 
unquestionably  that  of  M.  Ruprich-Robert,  who  sends  some  very  in- 
teresting studies  of  the  half-timber  construction  of  the  Normans,  not 
only  shown  in  complete  restoration,  but  with  numberless  details,  of 
the  manor-house  at  Creve-Cceur ;  of  the  farm-house  at  Coin  ;  that  at 
Pipardiere,  and  the  Chateau  de  Granchamp  —  all  these  are  very 
well  presented.  They  are  useful  documents  on  the  curious  construc- 
tions of  Normandy,  which  do  not  address  themselves  exclusively  to 
architects.  Every  artist  and  every  intelligent  person  ought  to  be  in- 
terested in  these  works  of  M.  Ruprich-Robert.  Here,  at  last,  is  an 
architect  who  has  discovered  that  it  is  possible  to  send  something 
which  is  likely  to  attract  the  populace  into  the  deserted  halls  of 
architecture ;  but,  unfortunately,  he  is  surrounded  by  the  ordinary 
drawings,  beautiful  geometrical  studies,  very  neatly  rendered,  but 
cold,  always  cold.  Ah,  if  we  only  followed  the  example  of  some  one 
like  Ruprich-Robert,  we  could  have,  at  least,  one  room  made  attrac- 
tive with  the  always  charming  original  composition  of  M.  Robert 
Massy,  and  the  charming  studies  for  interior  decoration  of  M.  Alex- 
andre  Sandier.  These  are  veritable  works  of  art:  these  designs 
composed  for  the  Revue  Illustree. 

I  can  now  only  cite  like  a  catalogue  the  drawings  or  water-colors 
which  depart  a  little  from  the  dry  and  dull  renderings  of  architect- 


ural drawings.  Such  are  the  pretty  waU-r-colors  of  M.  Lueien  Roy, 
M.  Theo  Landry,  M.  Louis  Bonnier,  and  M.  Ghcsquier;  the  re- 
storation of  the  Chateau  1'olignac,  by  M.  Petit  grand;  that  of  the 
Chateau  de  Montsoreau,  by  M.  Rene  Sallcron,  etc. 

Finally,  among  interesting  studies  of  modern  architecture,  is  the 
project  of  transferring  the  present  hall  of  the  Kden  Theatre,  an  open 
hall  with  promenade  about  it,  into  a  hall  lit  for  lyric  and  dramatic 
representations.  M.  Henri  Sch  in  it  has  acquitted  himself  admirably 
in  this  task.  He  could  perhaps  be  reproached  with  not  having  taken 
advantage  of  the  present  hall.  There  is  not  much  of  the  original 
left ;  and  after  all  while  mitigating  in  large  measure  the  distressing  ill 
taste  of  the  present  decoration,  a  little  more  perhaps  of  the  general 
scheme  might  have  been  preserved.  Except  for  this  slight  criticism 
(and  criticism  is  always  easy),  this  study  is  very  interesting. 

The  reeonstruction  of  the  Opera  Comique  hag  occupied  M.  Joseph 
Peigney,  who  has  studied  it  on  its  ancient  site  with  its  t'aeade  on  the 
Boulevard  des  Italicnnes,  and  the  result  is  not  very  successful.  The 
plans  are  awkward,  and  the  facade  with  a  rotunda  at  the  angle  is 
not  very  happy  ;  but  it  is  conscientious  work  and  not  wit  In  ml  merit. 

And  then  to  this  list  must  be  added  the  list  of  all  of  the  school 
projeta,  which  are  deplorable  and  commonplace,  and  all  the  public 
competition  drawings  which  can  be  placed  in  the  same  category.  I 
should  prefer  not  to  mention  any  names,  not  even  that  of  M.  Bar- 
tholdi,  who  has  sent  to  the  architectural  section  a  little  model  of  a 
very  inferior  sepulchral  monument  to  Paul  Bert. 

At  the  moment  of  closing  this  letter,  the  result  of  the  vote  for  the 
medal  of  honor  for  painting  are  known.  M.  Edouard  Ddtaille  has 
obtained  it,  in  competition  with  M.  Benjamin  Constant,  one  proof 
more  that  the  medal  of  honor  is  awarded  rather  to  the  artist  than  to 
his  work.  M.  BKINCOURT. 

THE  MARIA  THERESA  MONUMENT. 

work  of  our  time,  probably,  has  been 
planned  with  more  anxious  regard  to 
plastic  and  architectural  greatness  than 
the  Maria  Theresa  Monument,  which  has  just 
been  unveiled  in  Vienna.  The  services  and 
advice  of  the  foremost  native  architects,  sculpt- 
ors,  critics  and  historians  were  made  use  of. 
Zambusch,  the  sculptor  who  came  off  success- 
ful in  the  competition,  had  to  remodel  his 
sketch  three  times ;  to  consult  with  Semper, 
and  after  Semper's  death,  with  Hasenauer, 
in  respect  to  its  architectural  features  and 
their  relations  with  the  style  of  the  edifices 
in  the  ncighlwrhood  ;  his  Excellency  von  Ar- 
neth  was  appointed  to  furnish  historical  and 
antiquarian  data,  while  the  details  of  cast- 
ing the  bronze  and  of  chiselling  and  oxydiz- 


AChimneX 
"The  Buil<ier 


ing  parts  of  the  ornamental  reliefs  were  prepared  for  and  carried 
out  with  unexampled  carefulness.  What  either  South  German  art 
or  industry  can  do  has  been  accomplished.  The  monument  is  not 
only  the  ideal  embodiment  of  a  past  historic  period,  it  is,  at  the 
same  time,  an  example  of  modern  efficiency  in  metal-working  and 
artistic  creation. 

The  plan  for  the  memorial  dates  fifteen  years  back,  to  1873. 
Professor  Zambusch,  with  his  advisers  and  assistants,  worked  twelve 
years  in  carrying  it  out,  the  chisellers  and  smiths  one  year  and  a 
half  —  a  short  enough  period  for  such  great  results. 

The  monument  consists  of  the  colossal  portrait  figure  of  the 
Empress  on  a  colossal  pedestal  a  hundred  feet  high,  and  of  a  base  of 
proportionate  dimensions.  Both  are  adorned  with  accessory  figures. 
The  cornice  of  the  pedestal  is  surmounted  by  four  allegorical  figures 
and  its  four  sides  with  portrait  groups  and  reliefs  in  bronze ;  the 
base  by  single  standing  statues  below  and  in  front  of  the  reliefs, 
and  equestrian  statues  at  the  corners.  The  base  that  would  show  in 
plan  an  almost  roccoco  manifoldness  of  curve  in  circumference, 
is  oblong  in  section.  In  the  first  model  the  lines  were  simpler. 
Semper  criticised  them  as  being  too  stern  to  harmonize  with  the 
style  of  the  new  museums,  and  described  the  pedestals  as  standin" 
"  like  a  square  tower,  with  an  open  doorway  in  the  middle  of  each" 
wall  out  of  which  figures  emerge."  I  quote  the  criticism  because  it 
conveys  a  plain,  if  somewhat  rough  idea  of  the  skeleton  of  the  monu- 
ment. In  its  finished  condition,  the  expanse  of  base  rises  from 
iteps  in  concave  lines  to  the  bronze  equestrian  statues.  The  pedes- 
tal is  decorated  with  a  pair  of  green  serpentine  pillars  at  the  corners, 
and  the  "doorways"  are  set  in  rich  frames  that,  besides  the  figures, 
are  filled  out  with  perspective  backgrounds  in  bronze  relief. 

The  market  was  flooded  with  prints  of  the  statue  of  Maria  Theresa 
before  the  monument  was  unveiled.  It  was  known  to  be  a  seated 
figure,  and  the  patriotic  Viennese  did  not  fail  to  call  the  attention  of 
Berlin  to  the  fact  that  she  sits  on  her  chair,  not  helplessly  in  it,  like 
the  two  Humboldt  statues  in  Unter  den  Linden.  She  is  represented  as 
having  laid  the  sceptre  and  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  in  her  left  hand 
and  arm  for  the  nonce,  to  extend  the  right  to  the  people.  The 
statue  shows  her  as  she  was  in  the  early  fulness  of  mature  beauty  and 
kindly  majesty.  It  is  more  pleasant  to  look  at  than  the  run  of  simi- 
lar effigies,  besides  being  superior  in  artistic  life  and  movement. 
She  >urmoniits  the  great  monument,  not  only  physically  by  position, 
but  with  an  essential  architectural  solidity  that  is  admirable.  The 
allegorical  figures  could  be  removed,  the  horsemen  prance  off  and 
the  groups  walk  away,  but  without  the  queen,  the  monument  as  such 


298 


TJie   American   Architect  and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  652. 


could  not  subsist.     She  thus  not  only  gratifies  the  taste  ;  the  statue 
fulfils  the  highest  architectural  demands  which  we  can  make. 

In  respect  to  plastic  excellence,  the  ideal  figures  are  the  best 
Two,  those  representing  "  Steadfastness  "  and  "  Wisdom,"  are  genu- 
ine masterpieces,  not  only  the  best  Zambusch  has  created,  but  as 
good  as  any  our  times  have  seen.  The  first  embodies  less  the  per- 
sistent, obstinate  side  of  steadfastness  than  the  watchful  and  self- 
reliant.  If  the  Empress  had  defended  the  Province  of  Silesia  against 
Frederick  the  Great  with  success,  and  observed  further  aggressive 
movements  of  the  enemy,  the  figure  would  represent  the  episode.  It 
is  a  powerful  female  in  helm  and  cuirass,  seated,  the  body  bent  to  one 
side,  the  right  hand  on  the  drapery  of  her  lap,  holding  a  sword,  the 
left  resting  upon  a  low  shield  at  her  side.  "  Wisdom  "  holds  the  mirror 
of  conscience.  Like  "  Steadfastness "  and  the  two  other  figures, 
"  Mercy  "  and  "  Justice,"  the  embodiment  is  that  of  maturity  and 
power ;  the  eye  is  sharp  and  observant,  the  head  slightly  bent  in 
calm  reflection ;  the  flow  of  line  is  highly  pleasing.  But  in 
"  Steadfastness,"  the  contours,  besides  being  of  sober  beauty  in 
themselves,  add  to  the  ornamentation  of  the  monument  by  an  exqui- 
site assimulation  in  their  lower  part  to  the  repose  of  the  base,  and 
above,  to  the  life  and  action  of  the  sovereign  statue. 

Native  critics  find  that  the  horsemen  are  somewhat  too  far  out 
from  the  pedestal.  A  detail,  which  the  Viennese  are  too  used  to  the 
sumptuous  and  Baroque  to  observe,  is  the  dressing  of  the  lower  third 
of  the  pillars  by  bronze  laurel  wreaths  that  mount  up  spirally.  That 
the  effect  of  the  monument  should  be  made  luxurious  by  the  ensigns, 
drapery  and  paraphernalia  of  war  and  sovereignty  is  fitting;  the 
period  was  one1  of  war,  and  Maria  Theresa  and  her  court  devoted  to 
pomp.  This  spiral  dressing  to  the  pillars,  however,  is  a  touch  in 
decoration  too  much.  It  is  not  mature  exuberance.  It  is  wilful 
fantasy,  and  should  least  of  all  have  found  a  place  on  the  supports 
of  the  chair  of  state.  COUNTESS  v.  KKOCKOW. 


THE  CORINTH  CANAL. 


of  tor  L'Anhittdvr«. 


0NE  of  the  most  interesting  as  well  as  difficult  engineering  under- 
takings of  our  times  is  that  of  cutting  a  ship-canal  through  the 
Isthmus  of  Corinth,  and  thus  opening  a  new  era  in  the  trade 
relations  of  the  whole  Levant.  This  enterprise  takes  a  peculiar 
interest  to  itself  from  the  fact  that  the  idea  is  such  an  old  one  and 
that  it  has  been  left  to  our  day  to  carry  out  a  project  which  inter- 
ested the  Greek  republics  and  which  troubled  the  brain  of  a  Roman 
Emperor.  The  Isthmus  of  Corinth,  which  is  about  three  miles  wide 
at  its  narrowest  place,  connecting  from  time  immemorial  two  busy 
seas,  has  always  provoked  the  attention  of  shrewd-minded  men. 
The  old  Greeks,  with  their  small,  flat-bottomed  boats,  quickly  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  a  portage  from  sea  to  sea,  and  they  facilitated 
this  by  constructing  a  rude  sort  of  track,  along  which  they  dragged 
their  boats  on  heavy  trucks.  The  Romans,  with  their  larger  boats, 
saw  the  inconvenience  and  the  waste  of  labor  involved  in  alt  this  and 
thought  of  a  cutting  through  the  isthmus.  We  know  now  that  with 
their  implements  it  would  have  been  the  most  herculean  labor  of 
antiquity  had  they  carried  out  the  design.  Even  in  our  day  of  <*un- 
powder  and  dynamite,  the  task  has  proved  a  most  serious  one. 
Your  correspondent  lias  had  the  satisfaction  of  looking  over  these 
interesting  works  and  of  talking  with  those  who  know  most  about 
them,  and  he  is  largely  indebted  for  the  following  statements  to  Mr. 
Edward  Rosenbush,  the  inspector  of  the  Eastern  Telegraph  Com- 
pany at  New  Corinth.  Mr.  Rosenbush  is  a  Hanoverian  by  birth, 
who  has  spent  most  of  his  life  in  the  Levant,  having  been  at  Malta 
for  twenty-five  years.  He  lias  won  many  distinctions  and  medals 
for  services  in  the  past  and  was  especially  serviceable  to  an  Ameri- 
can astronomical  expedition  sent  out  some  years  ago  to  witness  a 
solar  eclipse  in  the  Levant. 

While  the  canal  of.  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth  will  be  of  the  utmost 
benefit  to  Greece,  and  while  all  the  country  is  most  interested  in  the 
undertaking,  especially  King  George,  the  whole  affair  is  in  the  hands 


of  a  French  company.  De  Lesscps  is  getting  to  be  a  name  to  con- 
jure by.  The  French  company  that  has  undertaken  to  pierce  the 
Isthmus  of  Corinth  was  organized  in  1881  under  the  honorary  presi- 
dency of  M.  de  Lesseps  and  with  General  Turr  as  president  and 
resident  manager  of  the  work.  The  technical  name  of  the  company 
is  "  Socie'td  Internationale  du  Canal  Maritime  de  Corinthe."  The 
Greek  government  gave  sanction  to  the  undertaking  and  conceded 
the  land  for  the  canal,  as  well  as  all  the  uncultivated  land  on  either 
side  of  the  survey,  with  the  single  condition  that  the  work  should  be 
carried  through  to  its  completion  by  the  company,  and  that  the 
Greek  government  should  never  be  called  upon  for  a  subsidy.  The 
actual  work  of  digging  began  with  appropriate  ceremonies  in  the 
month  of  May,  1882.  The  capital  of  the  company  is  30,000,000 
francs.  The  president,  General  Turr,  is  a  man  of  great  energy.  He 
is  a  Pole  by  birth  and  fought  under  Garibaldi. 

When  the  work  was  begun  it  was  not  looked  upon  as  a  very  seri- 
ous matter,  but  after  several  years  of  digging  they  came  upon  the 
solid  rock  that  connects  the  Peloponnesus  with  the  mainland.  This 
proved  to  be  a  very  hard  quality  of  schist  or  granite,  and  very  soon 
the  contractors,  who  had  not  reckoned  on  this,  were  obliged  to  throw 
up  their  contracts  and  retire.  This  occasioned  some  delay,  but 
those  who  had  the  matter  in  hand,  nothing  daunted,  made  a  new  es- 
timate and  secured  new  contractors,  and  in  February  last  the  work 
began  again  with  renewed  vigor.  They  are  now  making  great 
progress,  when  we  take  into  consideration  the  difficulties  found  m  the 
materials  they  are  at  work  upon.  They  are  extracting  7,500  cubic 
metres  of  rock  each  day.  They  employ  a  corps  of  2,800  men  and 
fifteen  engines,  each  drawing  from  sixty  to  seventy  trucks.  They 
are  at  work  from  one  end  to  the  other  of  the  cutting,  which  stretches 
exactly  6,300  metres  from  sea  to  sea.  The  width  is  forty  metres, 
and  they  intend  to  go  down  eight  metres  below  sea  level,  giving  the 
canal  the  same  depth  of  water  as  is  found  in  the  Suez  Canal.  °  But 
the  difficulties  of  cutting  this  canal  are  much  greater  than  those  that 
were  found  in  constructing  the  Suez  Canal.  In  that  case  it  was  a 
matter  of  digging  out  the  sand  of  the  desert ;  here  it  is  a  question  of 
blasting.  All  night  long  explosions  can  be  heard,  and  the  day  is 
spent  in  removing  the  ddbris.  Gunpowder  is  found  to  be  the  best 
for  blasting  purposes,  and  dynamite  for  shattering  the  rocks.  The 
highest  point  of  the  cutting  at  La  Calotte  is  ninety-seven  metres 
above  water  level.  At  this  point  the  engineers  have  found  their 
hardest  nut  to  crack.  On  the  average  they  have  got  down  to  a  point 
fourteen  metres  above  sea  level,  and  hence  the  task  before  them  is  to 
go  down  through  solid  granite  twenty-two  metres  more  for  a  length 
of  6,300  metres.  It  will  take  three  years  at  a  most  moderate  estimate 
to  accomplish  this. 

One  of  the  satisfactory  things  about  this  work  is  that  there  is  com- 
paratively no  sickness  among  the  workmen,  and  the  terrible  experi- 
ences of  the  Suez  undertaking,  and  the  even  more  awful  ones  at  the 
Panama  are  not  repeated-  Of  course  there  are  many  accidents,  as 
there  are  in  any  large  quarry,  and  many  cases  of  amputation.  But 
the  company  has  done  everything  it  can  to  care  for  the  sufferers. 
There^  is  a  regularly  established  hospital  and  a  good  physician  resi- 
dent. The  2,800  men  are  made  up  mostly  of  Montenegrins,  Italians, 
and  residents  of  Asia  Minor.  There  are  very  few  Greeks  employed. 
As  Mr.  Rosenbush  said,  the  Greeks  are  too  lazy  to  work,  and  their 
Highest  ambition  is  to  lounge  around  with  cigarette  in  mouth,  and  let 
others  do  the  hard  work.  This  seems  to  be  a  rather  extreme  state- 
ment, and  your  correspondent  has  seen  many  indications  of  industry 
during  his  investigations  in  Greece,  but  it  is  certainly  a  telling  argu- 
nent  against  Greek  labor  when  such  a  large  company  has  to  go  so 
rar  to  get  good  workmen.  It  is  true  the  Greek  prefers  to  live  by  his 
wits  rather  than  by  manual  labor,  and  has  no  conception  of  the  dig- 
nity of  such  labor. 

At  the  western  end  of  the  canal,  on  the  Gulf  of  Corinth,  about  two 
miles  north  of  New  Corinth,  a  town  of  about  3,500  inhabitants,  are 
situated  all  the  large  depots  and  offices  of  the  canal  company.  Here 
a  new  town  is  growing  up  called  Isthmia,  and  in  future  will  probably 
stretch  all  along  the  shore  of  the  isthmus  to  New  Corinth.  The 
Jepth  of  water  a  short  distance  from  the  shore  is  thirty  fathoms,  and 
here  are  no  drifting  sands  to  obstruct  the  canal  or  the  docks.  There 
f/ill  be  no  such  difficulty  here  as  is  found  at  Suez.  The  sides  of  the 
canal  will  be  solid  granite,  and  there  will  be  no  washing  away  nor  ne- 
cessity of  dredging.  The  largest  docks  will  be  at  the  eastern  end. 
The  tariff  of  the  canal  will  be  put  down  at  a  low  figure,  so  as  to 
catch  all  the  coasting  trade,  and  it  is  fully  expected  that,  in  spite  of 
he  great  expense  of  the  work,  it  will  pay  well  in  the  end.  Certainly 
ihe  world  will  have  a  new  debt  to  French  enterprise,  and  especially 
o  the  genius  of  M.  de  Lesseps,  without  whose  influence  this  difficult 
)iece  of  engineering  would  not  have  been  undertaken,  certainly  not 
without  the  precedence  of  the  Suez  Canal.  —  New  York  Tribune. 


How  FRENCH  is  UNDERSTOOD  AT  THE  POST-OFFICE.  — "  The  fol- 
owing  amusing  incident  may  give  something  of  a  shock  to  those  who 
o  loudly  vaunt  the  quick  intelligence  of  our  post-office  authorities," 
ays  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette.  "A  few  months  ago  the  Council  of  the 
loyal  Institute  of  Painters  in  Water  Colors  elected  a  foreign  lady  —  the 
lower-painter  to  the  Queeji  —  as  an  honorary  member,  and  the  Secre- 
ary  duly  sent  her  notification  of  the  fact.  About  six  weeks  ago  the 
ady,  who  lived  abroad,  wrote  to  accept  the  honor,  addressing  her 
etter  to  '  M.  Everill,  Secretaire  de  la  Socie'te'  Koyale  des  Aquareliistes.* 
>nly  the  other  day  it  reached  its  destination,  being  covered  buck  and 
front  with  post  marks  and  endorsed,  '  Not  known  at  the  Eoval 
Aquarium.'  " 


JUNE  23,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Jiuilding  News. 


299 


ALUMINIUM. 


5TM 


w-yj    •  Leicester  .  Engh 


llfllK  relief  that  the  Kmperor 
J|^  Frederick  is  sa'ul  to  have 
experienced  from  the  suli- 
stitiitinii  of  a  respiratory  tube  of 
aluminium  for  the  previous  ap- 
paratus  made  of  silver  1ms  called 
public  attention  throughout  Kn- 
rope  to  the  characteristics  of 
what  may  almost  be  .termed  a 
new  metal.  Of  course  it  is  need- 
ful to  remember  the  caution  that 
post  hoc  is  not  necessarily  propter 
hoc;  but,  in  point  of  fact,  the 
bulletins  have  given  better  ac- 
counts of  the  august  sufferer 
since  the  change  was  effected. 
And  it  may  be  readily  understood, 
eyen  fo&m  who  have  neither 
surgical  nor  mechanical  knowl- 


edge, that  the  saving  of  three-fourths  of  the  weight  of  any  apparatus 
artificially  introduced  into  the  human  body  cannot  fail  to  afford 
relief  to  the  patient.  The  objectionable  character  (owing  to  its 
weight)  of  silver  for  the  purpose  is  indeed  admitted  by  the  occa- 
sional use  of  vulcanite  for  similar  tubes.  But  here,  while  weight  is 
saved,  bulk  is  increased.  Again,  aluminium  is  practically  inoxidiz- 
al>le,  even  at  high  temperatures,  except  by  hydrochloric  acid;  and 
the  oxide  when  formed  is  harmless  and  inert,  being  nothing  but  a 
very  pure  clay. 

Next  to  silica,  alumina  (which  is  the  oxide  of  aluminium)  forms  in. 
combination  the  most  abundant  constituent  of  the  crust  of  the  earth  ; 
namely,  clay,  which  is  a  hydrated  silicate  of  alumina.  Lavoisier, 
the  French  chemist,  first  suggested  the  probability  of  a  metallic  basis 
of  each  of  the  alkalis  and  earths.  Twenty  years  later  Sir  Humphrey 
Davy  verified  the  theory  by  producing  the  metals  sodium  and  potas- 
sium, and  afterwards  obtaining  the  bases  of  lime,  strontium  and  bary- 
tes.  But  the  inert  earth  alumina  resisted  the  action  of  the  voltaic  pile 
and  the  other  agencies  which  Davy  could  control,  and  twenty  years 
more  passed  before  the  chloride  of  aluminium  was  obtained  by  Oer- 
stadt.  At  last,  in  1846,  Wohler  succeeded  in  obtaining  minute  beads 
or  globules  of  aluminium  by  heating  a  mixture  of  chloride  of  alumina 
and  sodium.  Deville  afterwards  conducted  some  experiments  for 
obtaining  the  metal,  at  the  court  of  Napoleon  III,  and  an  expendi- 
ture of  £  1,500  was  awarded  by  the  fabrication  of  two  bars  of  alum- 
inium. The  process  of  manufacture  was  afterwards  so  simplified  as 
to  allow  of  the  production  of  the  metal  at  about  eight  shillings  an 
ounce.  It  was  manufactured  from  common  clay,  about  one-fourth  of 
the  weight  of  which  consists  of  the  metal.  In  1855,  Rose  announced 
that  aluminium  could  be  obtained  from  cryolite,  a  mineral  found  in 
large  quantities  in  Greenland.  It  was  imported  into  Germany  under 
the  name  of  mineral  soda,  and  used  in  the  manufacture  of  soap,  and 
also  for  washing  purposes.  Cryolite  consists  of  a  double  fluoride  of 
aluminium  and  sodium.  When  mixed  with  an  excess  of  sodium  and 
heated,  the  metallic  aluminium  separates.  It  costs  by  this  process 
about  sixteen  shillings  a  pound  —  half  for  materials  and  half  for  the 
labor  and  expense  of  the  process.  In  the  same  year  the  American 
Journal  of  Science  contained  an  account  of  what  was  called  the  elec- 
trical furnace,  in  which  a  continuous  high  temperature  was  obtained 
by  introducing  a  material  of  high  resistance  to  conductivity  into  the 
circuit  of  an  electric  current.  After  many  trials  coarsely  pulverized 
carbon  was  selected,  both  for  maintaining  resistance  and  as  a  reduc- 
ing agent  for  the  oxides  operated  on.  When  a  mixture  of  carbon 
with  the  oxide  to  be  reduced  is  made  part  of  an  electric  current  in  a 
fire-clay  retort  and  subjected  to  the  action  of  a  powerful  dynamo,  so 
high  a  temperature  is  obtained  that  the  whole  contents  of  the  retort 
are  completely  fused.  Lumps  of  lime,  sand,  and  corundum  were 
melted,  and  crystallized,  on  cooling,  in  well-defined  forms. 

By  what  is  called  the  Cowles  process  (from  the  inventor  of  the 
electric  furnace  thus  described)  aluminium  is  now  produced  at  the 
net  cost  of  Is.  8d.  per  pound.  Owing  to  its  bulk  being  three  times 
as  much  for  equal  weights,  aluminium  at  Is.  2d.  per  pound  would  be 
cheaper  than  copper  at  5d.  per  pound.  Possessed  of  the  rare  quali- 
ties of  indestructibility,  freedom  from  tarnish,  strength,  and  fight- 
ness,  the  purposes  to  which  aluminium  will  be  applied,  if  it  can  be 
obtained  at  a  lower  price,  are  innumerable.  And,  as  we  have  al- 
ready seen,  its  cost  has  been  reduced  from  eight  shillings  an  ounce 
to  twenty  pence  a  pound,  and  it  may  be  hoped  that  we  are  far  from 
having  reached  the  lowest  limit  of  cheapness  in  production.  As  the 
electric  agency  has  now  been  satisfactorily  yoked  to  the  retort,  we 
may  hint  that  Scotland,  or  some  other  district  where  water-power 
may  be  economically  applied  to  the  driving  of  the  dynamo,  is  not  un- 
likely hereafter  to  form  the  scene  of  a  new  metallurgic  industry. 

The  Oriental  ruby  consists  of  nearly  pure  alumina  in  a  crystalline 
form,  containing  but  1  per  cent  of  oxide  of  iron,  and  J  per  cent  of  any 
other  substance.  The  specific  gravity  of  this  precious  stone  is 
higher  than  that  of  many  other  gems,  ranging  from  3.9  to  4.2.  It  is 
remarkable  that  the  same  chemical  element  should  form  one  of  the 
heaviest  of  gems  and  one  of  the  lightest  of  metals.  Pure  aluminium 
has,  when  cast,  a  density  of  2.56;  when  forged,  of  2.67  —  or  only 
one-third  of  that  of  forged  steel,  or  a  fourth  of  that  of  silver.  The 
melting  point  is  at  about  1,300  degrees  Fahrenheit.  The  metal  is 


the  best  conductor  of  heat  and  of  electricity  that  is  yet  known  ;  so 
it  may  be  considered  that  it  approaches  more  nearly  to  some  of 
the  most  important  characteristics  of  the  structure  of  the  animal 
skeleton  than  any  uther  metal.  Its  tensile  strength  is  much  greater 
than  i hat  of  steel ;  so  that  it  is  jtossible  not  only  to  reduce  the  weight 
of  an  apparatus  to  one-fourth  of  that  of  one  of  corresponding  size  in 
silver,  but  to  effect  a  further  reduction  by  using  a  thinner  plate  of 
metal  for  the  same  purpose. 

As  an  alloy  for  other  metals  aluminium  (assesses  qualities  no  less 
valuable  than  when  pure.  Mixed  with  10  percent  of  tin  it  can  be 
readily  soldered,  and  takes  a  fine  polish.  Mixed  with  copper  and 
nickel,  under  the  name  of  aluminium-silver,  it  makes  excellent  cut- 
lery, which  will  take  an  edge  like  steel.  Added  to  ordinary  brass  up 
to  the  proportion  of  10  per  cent,  it  improves  the  color,  the  durability, 
the  tensile  strength,  and  the  resistance  to  corrosion  of  the  alloy. 
Mixed  with  bronze  in  the  same  proportions,  it  gives  a  rich  gofd 
color ;  and,  with  a  specific  gravity  of  20  per  cent  less,  the  alloy  has  a 
tensile  strength  of  30  per  cent  more  than  the  steel  specified  for  guns 
by  the  Knglish  and  German  governments.  Combined  in  smaller 
quantities  with  steel  or  iron  it  produces  extraordinary  effect,  tripling 
tlieir  tensile  strength,  and  increasing  their  resistance  to  rust.  Ad- 
ded, in  the  low  proportion  of  OIK;  part  in  a  thousand,  to  Siemens- 
Martin  steel,  it  reduces  the  melting-point,  increases  the  fluidity,  and 
consequently  enables  the  founder  to  produce  sounder  castings.  It 
has  been  announced  that  the  age  of  iron  is  to  be  followed  by  an  age 
of"  steel ;  but  there  is  sound  reason  for  anticipating  that  the  twentieth 
century  may  prove  the  age  of  aluminium.  —  St.  James's  Gazette. 


A   REALLY  GOOD   SUGGESTION. 

PHILADELPHIA.  PA.,  June  14,  1888. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  We  beg  leave  to  thank  you  for  the  article  published 
in  your  issue  of  June  9th  in  the  shape  of  a  letter  from  F.  S.  Allen, 
architect,  and  we  trust  that  all  honorable  architects  will  take  the 
same  course  in  future,  and  thereby  do  a  great  service  to  that  class  of 
material-men  who  have  straight  goods  to  sell,  and  who  desire  to  put 
them  honestly  on  the  market. 

We  read  all  architectural  journals  carefully,  and  we  do  not  know 
when  we  were  more  pleased  than  in  reading  a  recent  article  in  the 
Real  Estate  Guide,  of  Philadelphia.  We  wish  that  every  architect  in 
the  land  would  find  time  to  read  and  inwardly  digest  the  statements 
there  made,  as  we  find  in  our  intercourse  with  architects  so  many 
are  fearful  of  using  a  good  thing  by  itself,  simply  from  the  fact  that 
wrong  motives  may  be  imputed  for  so  doing :  others  claim  that 
"  they  have  no  right  to  use  a  single  article  that  would  tend  to  create 
a  monopoly." 

Our  experience  in  the  past  five  years  has  been  very  great  with  the 
architects  throughout  the  country,  and  we  believe  that  they  will 
compare  most  favorably  with  any  other  profession  in  the  country ;  at 
the  same  time  we  know  that  they  could  better  themselves  and  tlieir 
clients,  if  they  would  take  a  little  more  care  to  look  into  the  matters, 
and  find  out  not  only  what  they  can  of  the  article  that  is  presented 
to  them,  but  of  the  character  of  the  house  presenting  the  same.  We 
do  not  wonder  that  architects  as  a  rule  are  disgusted  at  their  time 
being  taken  up  by  some  classes  of  material-men.  But  were  they 
to  close  their  doors  to  new  inventions  and  improvements,  they  would 
finally  find  themselves  out  of  business.  Many  of  them  do  give 
a  great  deal  of  valuable  time,  when  their  time  may  be  saved  to  them- 
selves and  their  clients  by  adopting  a  different  course  of  business.  It 
has  suggested  itself  to  us  that  were  we  to  call  at  an  architect's  office, 
he  could  easily  inform  our  representative,  that  he  had  no  time  in 
business  hours  to  give  to  material-men  in  his  own  city,  hut  if  the 
architects  as  a  body,  would  appoint  one  or  two  evenings  a  month,  or 
give  notice  once  every  three  months,  that  they  would  all  want  to  re- 
ceive suggestions  or  information  from  the  representatives  of  the 
different  classes  of  material  which  enter  into  the  construction  of 
buildings,  this  would  bring  before  them  all  those  who  had  any- 
thing to  say  in  their  special  line,  and  what  might  be  said  by  one 
against  the  material  of  another,  would  be  openly  done  and  in  the 
presence  of  the  whole  body.  Hence  statements  would  be  much 
more  carefully  made,  and  questions  could  be  asked  and  the  archi- 
tects as  a  body  could  more  easily  discover  the  true  value  of  the 
material  under  discussion.  We  think  that  if  some  arrangement  of 
this  sort  should  be  adopted  and  these  meetings  were  generally  known, 
and  the  architects  should  refuse  admittance  at  their  offices  to  material- 
men,  that  it  would  bring  about  the  most  excellent  results,  and  the 
architect  and  property  owner  would  be  largely  the  gainers.  These  sug- 
gestions, it  seems  to  us,  might  be  easily  carried  out,  and  we  fully  realize 
that  it  is  more  difficult  for  the  architect  to-day  to  decide  which  material 
is  best  in  many  cases,  as  every  one  claim  theirs  "  to  be  the  best." 

This  letter  is  not  written  by  us  with  any  desire  to  dictate,  or  with 
any  view  to  publication,  but  knowing  the  many  difficulties  that  arch- 
itects lie  under,  we  trust  that  these  suggestions  will  meet  with  your 
approval  in  some  way.  Yours  very  truly,  MERCHANT  &  Co. 

[IN  everything  but  the  implied  suggestion  that  architects  should  regu- 
larly act  as  audiences  at  a  disputing  match  between  dealers  in  kindred  ma- 
terials, we  consider  this  a  most  admirable  suggestion  which  could  be  put 


300 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.       [You  XXIII.— No.  652. 


into  operation  by  the  many  architectural  societies  to  the  great  benefit  of 
their  members.  The  architect  who  churlishly  refuses  to  allow  a  commercial 
traveller  to  exhibit  his  specimens  or  to  give  him  a  reasonable  chance  to 
exercise  his  loquacity  is  false  to  his  own  interests  and  those  of  his  clients. 
As  a  rule,  architects  are  willing  to  be  courteous  and  give  an  agent  a  fair 
hearing  ;  but  unfortunately  there  are  many  agents  who  do  not  appreciate 
that  they  are  dealing  with  men  who  do  not  require  a  torrent  of  useless 
words  poured  over  them  before  they  can  see  the  merits  of  the  device  or 
material  offered  for  examination.  A  public  hearing  would  be  as  useful  to 
the  manufacturer.;)  and  much  less  wasteful  to  the  architects.  —  EDS.  AMERI- 
CAN ARCHITECT.] 

"DIAMOND  CUT  DIAMOND." 

CHICAGO,  June  12.  1888. 

To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs, — In  your  issue  of  June  9,  you  publish  an  article 
"  Chances  for  the  Morally-Infirm,"  in  which  F.  S.  Allen,  archi- 
tect, encloses  you  letters  from  three  firms  which  offer  him  a  commis- 
sion. We  enclose  a  written  postal  card  in  which  a  discount  to  archi- 
tects is  solicited.  You  are  at  liberty  to  publish  the  enclosed  postal, 
also  our  letter,  if  you  wish.  Yours  truly,  McCuLLY  &  MILES. 

STREATOR,  ILL.,  March  17,  1884. 

Gents.,  —  lam  in  want  of  nearly  2000  feet  of  stained  glass  this 
year.  Please  send  me  your  pattern-sheets,  price  lists  and  state 
lowest  possible  discount  to  architects.  What  is  your  lowest  price 
for  irregular  work  in  cathedral  glass  (not  stained). 

Yours  respectfully,  F.  S.  ALLEN,  Architect. 


REPORTING  BUILDING  NEWS. 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y.,  June  12,  1888. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  :  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  Is  it  considered  a  desirable  thing  by  the  profession 
in  general  to  fill  up  blanks  of  trade  newspapers  with  information  as 
to  projected  buildings?  I  frequently  have  agents  call  upon  me  to 
do  so  and  do  not  wish  to  be  discourteous  but  have  an  idea  that  it  is 
likely  to  make  trouble  for  both  owner  and  architect  in  some  cases, 
by  irresponsible  men  forcing  themselves  upon  the  owner  through 
obtaining  advance  information.  Yours  truly,  INQUIRY. 

[IN  a  general  way  we  believe  that  men  who  seek  to  surround  their  affairs 
with  an  impenetrable  "Chinese  Wall"  are  likely  to  find  it  encloses  too 
circumscribed  a  field  for  them.  At  the  same  time  we  quite  sympathize  with 
any  one  who  feels  tempted  to  make  a  practical  protest  against  that  friend  of 
the  public  but  too  often  foe  of  the  individual,  the  interviewer.  A  wise  dis- 
cretion such  as  an  architect  exercises  in  other  cases  should  enable  him  to 
withhold  from  publicity  facts  which  for  one  reason  or  another  ought  to 
be  withheld. — EDS.  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT.] 


TO  TAKE  A  DOOR  OUT  OF  WIND. 

NEW  YORK,  June  19, 1888. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs,  —  In  answer  to  Architect's  query  relative  to  taking  ve- 
neered doors  out  of  wind  I  would  suggest  to  him  one  of  the  following 
simple  methods : 

1.  To  rip  each  stile  in  the  centre  in  the  direction  of  its  length  and 
after  jointing  the  sawn  edges  glue  the  pieces  on  reversed  or  end  for 
end.  If  the  rails  be  not  crooked  or  twisted  this  may  straighten  the 
stiles. 

"  2.  Take  the  veneering  off  the  hollow  side  of  the  crooked  stile  and 
make  an  incision  with  the  chisel  or  saw  half  way  through  and  across 
the  core.  Then  put  a  pressure  on  each  end  of  the  stile  and  straighten 
it  and  insert  a  hard  wood  wedge  in  the  incision.  A  similar  treat- 
ment will  straighten  any  of  the  rails  or  mullions  but  the  veneering 
must  be  removed.  Might  I  add  that  a  difference  between  the  natures 
of  the  veneer  might  cause  the  warping  your  correspondent  mentions. 
If  new  mouldings  be  cut  in  tight  to  the  panels  afterwards  they  will 
serve  to  retain  the  door  in  position. 

Yours  truly,  OWEN  B.  MAGINNIS. 


VERSAILLES  IN  DECAY. —  M.  and  Mine.  Carnot  had  thought  of  going  to 
spend  the  Summer  at  Rambouillet,  but  as  they  find  it  would  take 
£4,000  or  £5,000  to  make  the  chateau  there  habitable  they  have  de- 
cided to  rusticate  at  the  Grand  Trianon,  which  they  visited  yesterday 
to  ascertain  to  what  extent  it  was  habitable.  Versailles  is  falling  into  a 
state  of  ruin.  The  statues  there  are  moss-grown,  water  infiltrates  into 
the  arches  of  the  orangery  from  the  terrace  above.  The  southern  wing 
of  the  palace  has  so  gone  to  decay  that  large  stones  often  tumble  from 
the  cornice  and  the  roof  is  hardly  a  protection  from  rain.  The  cost  of 
thorough  repair  would  be  too  great  for  the  Budget  Committee  to  enter- 
tain it.  All  that  for  the  present  can  be  done  is  to  cheek  the  progress  of 
ruin.  —  London  Daily  News. 

BURNING  [BRICK  WITH  OIL.  — Many  experiments  in  burning  brick 
witli  oil  in  place  of  wood  are  being  made  by  manufacturers  of  brick 
along  the  Hudson  River.  If  the  new  method  proves  to  be  practical  it 
is  estimated  that  there  will  be  a  saving  of  40  per  cent  effected.  The 
main  difficulty  is  in  the  "drying  off"  process.  One  result  of  using  oil 
instead  of  wood  will  be  the  preservation  of  thousand  of  acres,  of  forests 
in  the  counties  of  Greene,  Sullivan,  Delaware,  and  Ulster. 


BUILDING  activity  has  rather  suddenly  subsided  somewhat  from  its  spring 
proportions  in  a  number  of  Western  cities.  In  towns  and  in  many  country 
places  there  is  no  cessation.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  new  work  in  progress 
and  contemplated  this  season  along  the  lines  of  the  Northwestern  and 
Southwestern  railroads.  The  railway  companies  themselves  are  deeply  con- 
cerned over  dividends,  but  the  people  are  enjoying  lower  freight  rates  and 
feel  contented  at  the  prospect  for  permanent  reductions.  State  railroad 
authorities  are  using  their  statutory  powers  in  the  same  direction.  One 
trouble  on  much  of  the  Western  mileage  is,  that  it  has  been  built  with 
capital  paying  six  or  seven  per  cent  interest.  The  people  feel  that  this  is  an 
indirect  tax  upon  them,  and  hence  their  position  of  apparent  antagonism  to 
the  railroads.  But  be  this  as  it  may,  the  expansion  of  building  and  of 
manufacturers  in  these  new  sections  is  creating  a  demand  for  money-enter- 
prise and  manufactured  products  which  is  helping  to  keep  the  wheels  turn- 
ing faster  in  the  farther  East.  The  wheat-growing  area  of  the  Northwest 
possesses  a  vitality  which  no  ordinary  influences  can  restrain.  The  situa- 
tion of  the  Northwestern  lumber  markets  carries  out  the  statement.  Large 
supplies  are  being  pushed  Westward.  Extensive  supplies  of  iron  and  other 
material  are  being  hurried  forward,  and  as  far  West  as  Omaha  there  are 
indications  of  building  activity  that  are  encouraging.  Houses  are  going  up 
rapidly  in  Western  Pennsylvania,  and  in  Ohio  and  Indiana.  In  localities  in 
Iowa,  Missouri  and  Arkansas  builders  are  busy.  The  prosperity  of  the 
South  calls  for  no  qualification.  Lumber  stocks,  North  and  South,  are 
kept  low.  Planing-mills  and  shingle  factories  also  have  been  busy,  but  the 
Western  supply  of  shingles  is  now  extraordinary,  and  prices  have  broken. 
The  woodworking-machinery  establishments  are  not  overrun  with  work, 
but  machinery-makers,  in  general,  are  busy.  Car-builders  are  now  running 
out  of  work,  and  competition  for  new  work  is  very  active.  Locomotive- 
builders  are  beginning  to  feel  less  pressure  for  forward  work,  yet  no  gen- 
eral disemployment  of  mechanical  labor  is  probable.  Nearer  home  it  is 
evident  that  there  is  cause  for  complaint  only  in  spots.  The  paper-makers 
are  realizing  good  prices  for  a  maximum  output,  and  there  is  a  quite  gen- 
eral movement  in  the  direction  of  .in  enlargement  and  improvement  of 
capacity.  The  boot  and  shoemakers  are  all  busy,  and  have  excellent  trade 
prospects.  Textile-goods  manufacturers  In  cottons  are  doing  well.  Hosiery 
interests  are  flat,  woolen  dnll.  Southern  textile-mill  dividends  continue  to 
attract  new  capital.  Southern  iron-makers  are  shouting  lustily  over  the 
position  they  find  themselves  occupying  with  reference  to  Northern  com- 
petition; freight  rates  on  iron  have  declined  twenty  per  cent  on  several 
thousand  miles  of  railroad.  Southern  lumber  interests  have  been  crowding 
their  advantages  perhaps  a  little  too  earnestly,  and  there  is  a  weakening 
tendency  in  prices  resulting  from  the  large  supplies  precipitated  upon  a 
moderate  market.  Architects  in  commenting  upon  the  probable  course  of 
buildfng  activity  in  the  newer  sections  of  the  country  say  It  will  be  only  a 
short  time  before  the  services  of  architects  will  be  in  much  more  general 
request.  The  bnlk  of  existing  contracts  are  for  common  work,  calling  for 
no  special  or  technical  skill,  but  the  Northern  investors  are  more  in  the  habit 
of  consulting  and  following  engineering  and  architectural  talent  in  all 
kinds  of  work  than  the  native  Southerners.  Just  at  present  legislative  and 
political  influences  are  scattering  the  attention  of  business  men  from  work 
in  sight.  Authorities  among  builders  assert  that  when  disquieting  in- 
fluences have  subsided  an  active  building  season  will  set  in.  This  refers 
more  particularly  to  the  region  West  of  the  Alleghenies.  East  of  that 
dividing  line  very  few  new  enterprises  of  magnitude  will  be  entered  npon. 
There  is  some  dulneas  in  Chicago  and  St.  Louis,  but  this  is  compensated  for 
by  greater  activity  in  country  districts.  The  production  of  coal  is  steadily 
increasing  East,  West  and  South.  New  enterprises  are  flocking  to  Natural 
gas  centres  and  to  cheaper  fuel  points.  New  coal  mines  are  being  opened 
West  of  the  Mississippi,  and  the  managers  of  most  of  the  railroads  of  this 
section  are  completing  preparations  for  enlarged  machine-shops  and  repair- 
ing facilities.  The  Pennsylvania  Company  will  discharge  some  few  thou- 
sand of  its  employes  gradually.  The  New  York  Central  is  reducing  its 
force,  and  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  has  already  done  so.  The  Western  iron- 
workers have  offered  to  quit  work  for  three  months,  but  this  offer  will  be 
declined  as  it  would  help  to  build  up  competing  iron  centres  farther  West 
and  farther  East.  The  iron  trade  shows  no  signs  of  improvement.  The 
more  or  less  serious  trade  depression  throughout  the  country  is  doing  no 
pronounced  harm.  Even  the  tariff  discussion  has  its  favorable  aspects,  and 
the  necessary  trimming  will  not  be  done  until  the  people  can  have  had 
abundant  opportunity  to  decide  what  changes  should  be  made.  The  people 
believe  some  general  remodification  is  demanded,  but  so  far  the  Congres- 
sional Kilkenny  discussions  furnish  them  with  scant  material  out  of  which  to 
weave  conclusions  that  will  command  cool  approval.  The  evidences  of 
harm  do  not  abound  sufficiently  in  the  popular  judgment  to  warrant  sweep- 
ing reforms,  especially  when  "they  suspect  the  motives  to  be  as  much 
political  as  anything  else.  Failures  are  not  multiplying,  indebtedness  is  not 
piling  itself  iuto  mountains,  taxation  is  not  felt  to  be  onerous,  and  hence  the 
masses  are  inclined  to  act  with  deliberation  in  the  readjustment  of  duties. 
The  pressure  for  a  more  enlightened  system  of  revenue  getting  will  not  be 
realized  until  the  elements  of  weakness  and  injustice  in  the  present>ystem 
are  eradicated,  whatever  they  are  and  wherever  they  may  be  found  to  exist. 
So  far  whatever  repressive  influences  have  accomplished  have  been  in  the 
right  direction.  The  railroad-builders  many  months  ago  became  frightened 
at  their  rapid  railroad  construction.  The  evil  was  not  and  is  not  in  the  ex- 
tent of  mileage,  but  in  the  high  cost  of  borrowed  money.  Manufacturing 
has  not  been  any  more  overdone  than  has  railroad-building,  nor  will  it  be 
for  years  to  come.  The  problem  underlying  uninterrupted  production  in 
all  channels  of  industry  is  not  in  greater  cheapness,  but  in  a  more  scientific, 
and,  therefore,  more  equitable  distribution  of  products.  Great  Britain, 
which  relies  on  cheapness,  is  being  slowly  beaten  on  one  hand  by  the 
cheaper  labor  of  Continental  Europe,  and  even  of  India  on  one  hand  and 
by  the  more  highly  paid  and  finer  labor  of  America  on  the  other.  Every 
healthful  influence  at  work  is  broadening  demand,  increasing  consumptive 
capacity,  decreasing  cost,  improving  quality  and  is  opening  more  avenues 
for  all  kinds  of  activities.  Capital  is  going  a-begging.  The  people  of  the  Old 
World  are  seeking  homes  in  new  quarters  of  the  "lobe.  Latent  enterprise 
is  developing  itself  in  wealth-getting  directions  which  were  not  dreamed  of 
two  years  ago.  The  real  significance  of  this  outflow  of  peoples  from  old  to 
new  lands  is  not  fully  recognized.  It  involves  the  correction  of  hoary 
abuses  enjoyed  under  the  cloak  of  prescriptive  right,  and  the  liberation  of 
the  mind  from  the  invisible  confines  which  the  spirit  of  cash  has  built  up. 
In  a  decade  or  two  the  outflow  will  have  assumed  such  proportions  as  will 
make  the  republicanization  of  three-quarters  of  Europe  a  theme  for  editors 
and  writers  to  contemplate  as  possible.  The  practical  and  material  prog- 
ress which  the  world  has  made  during  the  past  thirty  or  forty  years  will 
soon  be  paralleled  by  an  intellectual  development  that  will  lift  it  onto  a  wider 
and  higher  platform. 


THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT  AND  BUILDING  NEWS. 


VOL.  xxiil. 


Copyright,  1888,  by  TICKJCOK  &  COMPANY,  Boston,  Man. 


No.  653. 


JUNE  30.  1888. 

Entered  at  the  {'net-Office  at  Boston  ae  eeeond-olau  matter. 


Si    MM*  HI      

Threatened  Stoppage  of  Work  on  the  Congressional  Library. 
—  Tin-  Consideration  due  to  the  Designer  of  the  New  Build- 
ing.—  Tin-  Matter  of  Electric  Currents. — The  Currents 
used  for  Incandescent  and  Arc  Lights. —  More  facts  relating 
to  the  Heal  Estate  Panic  at  Koine. —  A  Black- Walnut  Stain.  301 

Nun.- or  TRAVEL. —  VI. — Cincinnati 303 

Wn.vi    in  i!    Ai:<  IIITF.I  II  KK    LACKS 804 

Arn  M\  .)<>i  HXF.YX  IN  MEXICO.  —  I. — From  the  Capital  to  Vera 

Cruz 305 

ILLUSTRATIONS: — 

House  of  Nathaniel  Thayer,  Esq.,  Boston,  Mass.  —  The  Hath- 
Haus,  Breslau,  Germany.  —  New  Kent  House  at  Lakewood, 
Clmutauqua,  N.  Y. — Design  for  a  Town-hall.  —  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  Building,  Utica,  N.  Y.  —  Com- 
petitive Design  for  House  for  Little  Wanderers,  Boston, 

Mass 300 

MEDIEVAL  HOUSES.  —  II 307 

MR.  PETRIE'S  FINDS  IN  THE  FATUM 300 

BOOKS  AND  PAPERS 310 

COMMUNICATIONS  :  — 

Should  Architects  Guarantee  the  Cost  of  Buildings  I  —  Paying 

Premium  for  a  Partnership 812 

NOTES  AND  CLIPPINGS 312 

TRADE  SURVEYS 312 


FIIE  National  House  of  Representatives  the  other  day  fell 
into  a  discussion  on  the  Civil  Appropriation  Bill,  one  of 
the  largest  items  in  which  was  an  appropriation  of  half  a 
million  of  dollars  for  continuing  the  work  on  the  Congressional 
Library  Building.  After  a  long  debate,  in  which  the  cost  of 
the  building  as  now  designed  seems  to  have  been  complained 
of,  a  resolution  was  adopted,  striking  out  the  intended  appro- 
priation from  the  bill  under  consideration,  ordering  the  work  to 
be  stopped,  the  Library  Commission  to  be  dissolved,  and 
directing  the  Senate  and  House  Committees  on  Public  Grounds 
to  invite  competitive  plans  from  "  five  eminent  architects  "  for 
a  Library  Building,  the  cost  of  which  should  not  exceed  three 
million  dollars.  It  is  hardly  likely  that  the  Senate  will  concur 
willingly  in  this  resolution,  but,  as  the  House  has  by  tradition 
the  right  of  originating  appropriation  bills,  it  can,  by  persistent 
refusal  to  vote  means  for  completing  the  present  building,  per- 
haps coerce  the  Senate  into  some  sort  of  compliance  with  its 
new  scheme,  which  involves  oppression  and  injustice  only  to 
a  profession  limited  in  numbers,  and  of  no  political  influence, 
and  will  probably  seem,  to  the  Senatorial  mind,  not  worth 
quarrelling  about.  The  profession  in  question  will  do  well, 
therefore,  to  seize  the  opportunity  to  define  its  own  rights,  and, 
by  courageous  action,  to  call  public  attention  more  sharply  and 
effectively  than  ever  before  to  the  costly,  discreditable  and 
tyrannical  system  which  now  prevails  in  regard  to  the  design 
and  construction  of  public  buildings.  When  the  time  comes, 
as  it  vcrv  probably  will,  for  inviting  "  five  eminent  architects  " 
to  scramble  for  a  chance  of  having  something  to  do  with  the 
new  Library,  the  Committee  on  Public  Buildings  and  Grounds 
ought  to  be  totally  unable  to  find,  not  merely  "  five  eminent 
architects,"  but  a  single  decent  member  or  attache  of  the  pro- 
fession willing  to  pay  any  attention  to  the  dishonorable  pro- 
position. All  architects  will  remember,  if  the  officers  of  the 
Government  do  not,  that  Mr.  Smithmeyer,  the  present  archi- 
tect of  the  Congressional  Library,  won  his  position  in  fair  com- 
petition, that  he  has  done  his  best  to  do  justice  to  his  great 
commission,  by  devoted  study  of  the  problem,  and  attention  to 
the  execution  of  his  plan,  so  far  as  it  has  been  carried  out,  and 
is  morally  entitled  to  all  the  honor  and  profit  to  be  derived 
from  its  complete  execution.  If  he  had  been  employed  by  a 
private  individual  he  could  undoubtedly  only  be  dismissed  or 
superseded  by  paying  him  the  full  commission  of  five  per  cent 
on  the  estimated  cost  of  the  building,  less  a  fair  estimate  of  his 
actual  necessary  outlay  for  draughtsmen's  services  in  preparing 
his  plans,  and  it  is  only  through  his  misfortune  in  having  to 
deal  with  a  body  perfectly  irresponsible,  amenable  to  no  laws, 
and  as  careless  of  its  own  reputation  as  of  the  rights  of  the 
citizens  whom  it  is  supposed  to  represent,  that  it  has  been  pos- 


sible for  him  to  be  subjected  to  so  gross  an  injury.  The  com- 
plicity of  any  reputable  architect  in  such  a  scheme  would  be 
taken  as  a  declaration  that  such  treatment  as  is  proposed  for 
Mr.  SmitluiH  \> T  would  be  considered  satisfactory,  as  applied 
to  themselves,  by  the  rest  of  the  profession,  and  the  ignorant 
Congressmen  and  scheming  contractors  who  combine  to  make 
the  life  of  an  architect  in  the  public  service  miserable  would  be 
filled  with  exultation. 


IT  is  time  to  give  these  gentry  a  lesson,  and  a  better  chance 
to  do  so  has  never  presented  itself  in  the  history  of  Ameri- 
can art,  for  architects  now,  by  dictating  the  treatment  which 
shall  be  accorded  to  Mr.  Smithmeyer,  can  fix  the  treatment 
which  the  Government  of  the  United  States  shall  for  all  future 
time  accord  to  the  profession.  No  quibbling  or  pretence  can 
disguise  the  fact  that  Mr.  Smithmeyer  is  morally  entitled  to 
have  the  work  for  which  he  was  employed  completed.  If  Con- 
gress chooses  to  employ  another  architect  in  his  place,  or  to 
suspend  for  an  unreasonable  time  the  execution  of  his  plans,  it 
can  honestly  do  so  only  by  paying  him  the  full  sum  that  he 
would  have  earned  if  they  had  been  completely  carried  out 
The  assertion,  which  we  have  known  made,  that  Mr.  Smith 
meyer's  design  is  not  "  artistic,"  does  not  alter  the  question  in 
the  least.  Whether  it  is  artistic  or  not,  it  was  chosen  by  the 
authorities.  If  they  wish  now  for  something  else,  let  them 
make  the  change  at  their  own  expense  —  not  at  his.  We  are 
quite  ready  to  believe  that  a  Congressional  Committee,  too 
ignorant  to  know  a  bad  design  from  a  good  one,  and  too  con- 
ceited to  take  the  advice  of  better-instructed  persons,  may  have 
selected  the  worst  plan  instead  of  the  best,  but  this  is  anything 
but  a  reason  why  architects,  after  suffering  one  such  wrong  as 
this,  should  abet  the  Government  in  covering  up  its  mistake 
by  sacrificing  one  of  themselves,  and  beginning  afresh.  On  the 
contrary,  by  insisting  on  Mr.  Smithmeyer's  rights,  and  holding 
aloof  from  all  attempts  to  violate  them,  the  Government  will 
be  placed  in  the  position  of  being  compelled  either  to  pay  two 
architects  for  the  same  work,  or  to  keep  to  its  first  choice, 
which  it  appears  to  wish  to  abandon.  In  either  case  the  ques- 
tion will  certainly  be  asked,  whether  it  is  not  better  policy,  as 
well  as  better  ethics,  to  choose  architects  more  carefully,  and 
treat  them  more  decently,  than  has  hitherto  been  the  rule ; 
and  the  answer,  in  the  present  state  of  general  dissatisfaction 
with  the  management  of  Government  building  work,  is  likely 
to  be  a  very  favorable  one  for  the  profession.  It  would  not  be 
too  soon,  we  think,  for  the  great  professional  societies  to  make 
themselves  plainly  heard  on  the  subject;  and  if  their  warning 
is  disregarded,  it  should  not  be  necessary  to  remind  individuals 
that  there  is  a  question  of  right  and  wrong  in  such  matters,  and 
that  no  proposition  is  so  frequently  and  unanimously  affirmed 
in  the  profession  as  the  one  which  brands  as  a  contemptible 
scoundrel  the  man  who  intrudes  himself  into  employment 
promised  to  another;  while,  as  a  point  of  policy,  architects,  by 
united  and  honorable  action,  have  now  an  opportunity  for 
establishing  themselves  in  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the 
public,  such  as  will  not  soon  occur  again. 


TITHE  letter  of  Mr.  Harold  P.  Brown  to  the  Evening  Pvtt  on 
J_  the  subject  of  alternating  currents  for  electric  lights, 
which  we  mentioned  the  other  day,  seems  to  have  attracted 
great  attention,  and  has  ]>een  copied  into  many  newspapers. 
Moreover,  its  publication  has  been  followed  by  several  letters 
from  other  electrical  engineers,  denying  Mr.  Brown's  assertion 
that  alternating  currents  are  more  dangerous  than  others,  and 
claiming  that  he  has  a  selfish  motive  in  condemning  them. 
Standing  a  little  aloof,  yet  with  a  certain  interest  in  the  sub- 
ject, as  architects  do,  it  may  assist  their  appreciation  of  the 
merits  of  the  discussion  to  remember  that  the  struggle  between 
the  continuous  and  the  alternating  current  is  really  one 
between  two  companies,  or  rather,  groups  of  companies,  who 
are  engaged  in  the  business  of  furnishing  light  for  houses  and 
other  oaQdiDgt  by  means  of  incandescent  electric  lamps.  Of 
those  employing  continuous  currents  the  Edison  Company  is 
the  principal  representative,  and  its  incandescent  lamps  are  fed 
by  a  current  directly  from  a  dynamo  arranged  to  give  elec- 
tricity of  low  tension,  or  "  pressure,"  as  the  electricians  call  it, 
but  in  great  quantity.  Currents  of  this  sort  require  heavy 


302 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  JNews.    [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  653. 


wires  as  conductors,  to  avoid  the  loss  which  would  be  caused 
by  resistance  in  trying  to  force  them  through  a  small  wire  ; 
but,  with  conductors  of  suitable  size  they  are  very  little  inclined 
to  seek  escape  through  other  bodies,  and,  even  if  they  should, 
they  are  harmless  to  living  beings  through  which  they  may 
accidentally  pass. 


0F  the  corporations  supplying  incandescent  lights  on  the 
other  system  the  Thomson-Houston  Company  is  the  most 
widely  known,  but,  as  we  understand  it,  the  Westinghouse 
Company,  and  perhaps  others,  use  the  same  method  and  work 
in  harmony  with  the  Thomson-Houston  corporation.  However 
that  may  be,  the  companies  which  use  the  Thomson-Houston 
principle  are  able,  by  a  very  ingenious  contrivance,  to  supply 
incandescent  lights  from  the  same  current,  dynamo  and  system 
of  wires  that  supplies  their  street  arc  lights,  although  arc  lights 
are  always  fed  by  a  current  of  very  high  intensity,  while  incan- 
descent lights  require  one  of  low  intensity.  The  Edison  Com- 
pany has  never  tried  to  supply  arc  lights,  its  currents  being 
entirely  unsuitable  for  them,  and  the  Thomson-Houston  plan  of 
conversion,  whether  it  is  dangerous  or  not,  is  a  very  interesting 
piece  of  science.  To  illustrate  the  difference  between  currents 
of  high  tension  and  those  of  low  tension,  we  may  recall  a 
scheme  once  gravely  proposed  in  Connecticut,  where  a  com- 
pany was  organized,  we  think,  to  draw  lightning  from  the 
clouds  during  the  summer  and  lay  it  up  in  huge  storage  bat- 
teries for  use  in  incandescent  lights  during  the  winter.  This 
idea  seemed  reasonable  enough,  until  some  electrician  pub- 
lished a  note  saying  that  the  amount  of  electricity  developed 
in  a  flash  of  lightning  would  not  keep  an  incandescent  lamp 
burning  more  than  a  few  seconds,  and  that  the  terrifically 
destructive  effects  of  a  lightning  stroke,  which,  for  example, 
we  have  known  to  plough  up  some  two  acres  of  ground  in  an 
instant,  were  due  to  the  high  tension  or  pressure  of  the  cur- 
rent, which,  if  reduced  to  the  low  pressure  of  the  Edison 
incandescent-light  currents,  would  hardly  be  perceptible  to  a 
person  through  whom  it  passed.  How  near  the  exact  truth 
this  explanation  may  have  been,  we  cannot  say,  but  it  seems 
to  illustrate  the  difference  between  the  old  or  Edison  system, 
which  employs  only  mild  and  tame  currents,  and  the  Thomson- 
Houston,  which  harnesses  lightning  and  subdues  it  to  the  gen- 
tleness requisite  for  domestic  service.  This  taming  is  done 
separately  for  each  house  by  the  "  converter."  Most  people 
know  that  any  current  of  electricity  passing  through  a  conduc- 
tor which  lies  near  another  conductor,  but  insulated  from  it, 
induces  in  the  second  conductor  an  electric  current.  The 
character  of  the  induced  current  may  be  quite  different  from 
that  of  the  current  which  induces  it,  and  a  primary  current  of 
high  tension  may  give  an  induced  current  of  low  tension,  or 
vice  versa.  In  the  Thomson-Houston  system,  the  arc-light  cur- 
rent is  taken  through  "  converters,"  of  which  one  is  allotted  to 
each  house  where  incandescent  lamps  are  to  be  supplied.  In 
the  converter  the  arc-light  current  runs  near,  but  not  in  con- 
tact with,  a  loop  of  wire,  which  supplies  the  incandescent  lamps 
in  the  house.  By  induction  from  the  arc-light  current,  a  cur- 
rent of  low  tension  is  set  up  in  the  incandescent  circuit,  suita- 
ble in  every  way  for  supplying  the  lamps.  According  to  Mr. 
Brown,  this  system  is  dangerous,  for  the  reason  that  the  pri- 
mary current,  which  is  not  only  of  very  high  tension,  but  alter- 
nating, and  thus  more  likely  to  jump  off  the  wires  which 
conduct  it,  may,  in  his  opinion,  sometimes  burst  through  the 
barrier  of  insulation  which  separates  it  from  the  incandescent 
circuit,  and  find  its  way  to  the  ground,  with  fatal  effect,  through 
any  inmate  of  the  house  who  happens  to  touch  the  incandes- 
cent lamp.  It  is  only  fair  to  say  that  neither  Mr.  Brown  nor 
any  one  else  asserts  that  this  accident  has  ever  really  happened, 
and  in  the  converters  the  two  sets  of  wires  are  separated  by  a 
thorough  and  careful  insulation,  protected  so  that  it  is  very 
unlikely  to  be  injured,  and,  as  an  additional  safeguard,  "light- 
ning arresters  "  are  put  on  both  sets  of  wires,  which  will,  if 
they  act  properly,  prevent  any  excessive  current  from  entering 
the  house.  As  currents  under  high  tension  can  be  forced  along 
a  smaller  wire  than  those  of  low  tension,  the  cost  of  installing 
the  Thomson-Houston  system  is  less  than  that  of  the  Edison, 
while  the  opportunity  which  it  gives  for  operating  both  arc  and 
incandescent  lamps  with  the  same  plant  is  commercially  valua- 
ble. Nevertheless,  there  is  a  strong  prejudice  against  it.  As 
we  mentioned,  the  Board  of  Electrical  Control  of  Chicago  will 
not  allow  any  alternating-current  systems  to  be  used  in  the 
city,  and,  although  the  Thomson-Houston  representatives  claim 


that  this  prohibition  is  simply  the  result  of  an  unreasonable 
whim,  they  acknowledge  freely  that  good  insulation  is  neces- 
sary to  safety  with  their  system.  Of  course  they  conscien- 
tiously try  to  secure  such  insulation,  but  it  may  be  desirable 
for  architects  occasionally  to  remember  its  importance,  and  to 
see  that,  where  the  Thomson-Houston  or  similar  systems  are 
used,  the  wires  are  not  only  of  the  proper  kind,  but  are  so 
placed  that  the  insulating  covering  will  not  get  worn  off  or 
injured. 


OOMETHING  more  is  told  us  about  the  great  real  estate 
L^  crash  in  Rome  by  La  Semaine  des  Conslructeurs.  It  is 
•  notorious  that  Rome  has  been  within  the  past  few  years 
greatly  over-built,  and  hundreds  of  houses  stand  empty,  for 
want  of  either  purchasers  or  tenants.  There  is,  however,  a 
still  more  deplorable  side  to  the  story.  In  Paris,  although  two 
years  ago  building  had  so  far  exceeded  the  demand  that  there 
are  said  to  have  been  whole  streets  in  the  new  quarter  of  the 
city,  lined  with  beautiful  houses,  without  a  single  inhabitant, 
the  houses  were  at  least  well  designed  and  planned,  and 
thoroughly  built,  and,  although  the  necessities  of  the  buildi.-rs 
and  mortgagees  often  forced  them  to  sell  or  let  their  property  at 
low  rates,  it  was  still  valuable  property,  sure  in  time  to  command 
a  reasonable  interest.  In  Rome,  however,  at  the  time  when  the 
great  speculation  commenced,  there  was  no  proper  building-law, 
or  other  efficient  mode  of  regulating  construction,  and  in  the  fever 
to  build  cheaply  and  quickly  the  ordinary  rules  of  sound  practice 
were  neglected,  and  huge  blocks  of  houses  put  up  with  such 
wretched  material  and  workmanship  that  many  of  them  came 
to  pieces  before  they  were  done,  and  many  others  hold  together 
precariously.  In  these  enterprises  an  amount  of  money  was 
sunk  which  seems  to  us  almost  incredible.  The  Italians  are 
quite  conscious  of  the  advantage  of  combining  capital  in  finan- 
cial operations,  and  immense  building  corporations  were  formed, 
which  raised  money  by  the  sale  of  stock,  and  undertook  the 
purchase  and  improvement  of  real  estate  on  a  gigantic  scale. 
As  the  fury  of  speculation  began  to  wane,  and  the  owners  of 
new  houses  found  themselves  with  their  property  idle  on  their 
hands,  and  mortgage  interest  to  pay,  the  smaller  operators,  who 
had  no  resources  for  carrying  the  load,  soon  succumbed.  The 
larger  capitalists,  and  the  incorporated  companies,  held  out 
longer,  and  the  banks  from  which  they  had  borrowed  the  money 
for  building,  dreading  lest  the  useless  property  should  be  thrown 
on  their  hands,  strained  their  resources  to  advance  more  money, 
so  that  the  builders  might  pay  off  their  more  pressing  debts, 
and  carry  the  houses  along  until  tenants  or  purchasers  appeared. 
When  the  funds  of  the  banks  were  exhausted,  an  appeal  was 
made  to  the  Italian  Government,  which  lent  the  banks  nearly 
eleven  million  dollars,  to  be  used  in  keeping  the  speculators  on 
their  feet.  This  lasted  only  a  few  weeks ;  then  failures  began 
again.  The  richer  class  of  private  builders  were  now  the  ones 
to  succumb ;  the  great  corporations,  helped  partly  by  their  own 
command  of  funds,  and  still  more  by  the  banks,  which  knew 
that  their  own  ruin  would  in  many  cases  be  involved  in  that 
of  their  principal  customers,  held  out  longer,  but  the  collapse 
came  at  last,  and  two  immense  corporations  suspended  payment 
almost  at  the  same  moment,  one  with  unsecured  liabilities  of 
more  than  ten  million  dollars,  outside  of  its  enormous  mortgage 
obligations,  which,  at  the  ratio  of  builders'  mortgages  to  their 
equity  common  in  this  country,  would  be  at  least  twice  as  much 
more,  and  the  other  with  an  indebtedness  which  is  not  stated, 
but  which  may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  at  the  moment  of 
its  suspension  it  had  eighty  large  buildings  in  process  of 
erection,  work  on  which  was  summarily  stopped.  The  first 
company  alone  employed  at  the  time  of  its  suspension  five 
thousand  men,  who,  with  their  families,  were  deprived  of  their 
living  by  a  stroke  of  the  pen,  and  the  number  thrown  out  of 
employment  by  the  failure  of  the  second  company,  that  of  the 
Esquiline,  could  not  have  been  much  smaller. 


WE  find   in   La  Semaine  des   Constructeurs  a   recipe   for 
staining  pine  wood  in  imitation  of  black  walnut,  which  is 
simple,  and  may  have  a  certain  value.     All  that  is  neces- 
sary is  to  apply  to  the  pine  a  coat  of  extract  of  walnut  bark, 
dissolved  in  six  parts  of  water.     AVhen  this  is  about  half  dry, 
the  wood  is  to  be  treated  with  a  solution  of  bichromate  of  pot- 
ash in  water.     This  completes  the  operation,  and  the  color  so 
obtained  is  said  to  imitate  that  of  black  walnut  so  closely  that 
only  an  experienced  eye  can  perceive  the  difference. 


JUNE  30,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


803 


NOTES   OF   THAVK!,.1  —  VI. 

<  1NCINNATI. 

K  was  a 
time,  before 
people  had  IK-- 
gun  to  appreciate 
tin-  poMtbilitiei  in- 
volvcil  in  the  use  of 
natural-gas,  when 
Pittsburgh  could 
claim  for  itself  the 
unenviable  title  of 
being  the  dirtiest 
city  in  the  country. 
But  we  have  changed 
all  that  now,  and  the 
Athens  of  America 
holds  the  first  palm 
for  sc  mi  iness  and 
dirtiness,  in  all  that 
pertains  to  atmos- 
pheric influences. 
There  are  abundant 
compensations,  how- 
ever, for,  along  with 
its  sooty  blackness, 
and  its  dark  clouds  of  perpetual  coal  smoke,  Cincinnati  can  claim  what 
is  in  some  respects  the  finest  natural  situation  in  the  country.  The 
city  is  built  along  the  right  bank  of  the  Ohio,  on  a  tract  of  land 
rising  somewhat  above  the  river,  but  surrounded  on  three  sides  by 
steep  hills.  There  is  everything  that  could  be  wished  for  in  the 
way  of  natural  advantages.  The  soil,  to  be  sure,  is  sandy  or  apt  to 
run  to  very  tenacious  and  very  disagreeable  mud,  but  in  summer,  it 
would  be  hard  to  find  a  more  beautiful  city  or  one  more  closely  sur- 
rounded with  attractive  suburbs  than  Cincinnati.  Some  day  natural- 
gas  may  reach  Cincinnati  as  it  has  reached  Pittsburgh,  and  then  we 
fancy  its  inhabitants  will  wonder  why  they  were  so  long  blind  to  the 
natural  beauties  about  them.  At  present,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  ob- 
tain a  general  view  of  the  city  from  any  point.  If  one  ascends  the  hill 
and  looks  down  from  the  Observatory  (sarcastically  so  named,  no 
doubt)  nothing  can  be  seen  but  a  vast  cloud  of  dirty  yellow  smoke, 
through  which  the  observer  gets  occasional  fragmentary  glimpses  of 
the  buildings  below,  looming  up  in  a  manner  that  is  very  weird  and 
interesting  to  the  imagination,  but  most  disappointing  to  one  who 
seeks  to  photograph  the  aspect  of  the  city  on  his  mind.  On  the  other 
hand,  when  the  wind  is  in  certain  directions  the  smoke  is  so  dense 
over  the  city  that  from  below  one  can  see  nothing  of  the  hilltops. 
With  such  conditions  it  would  seem  almost  impossible  to  expect  that 
any  architectural  effort  should  be  possible.  The  soot  from  the  soft 
bituminous  coal  is  everywhere,  and  is  no  respecter  of  materials  or 
fabrics,  so  that  the  tendency  in  later  years  seem  to  have  been  to  dis- 
regard any  attempt  at  fineness  of  materials  for  exterior  design,  and 
to  use  simply  the  commonest  kind  of  brick,  and  employ  it  in  the 
simplest  possible  manner. 

It  must  not  be  inferred,  however,  that  Cincinnati  is  lacking  in 
architectural  effort.  The  city  has  claimed  the  title  of  the  Athens 
of  America.  Bostonians  might  not  be  entirely  ready  to  admit  the 
justness  of  the  appellation,  but  there  is  nevertheless,  a  very  decided 
art  influence  in  dirty,  smoky  Cincinnati,  and  its  existence  is  best 
proved  by  the  attempts  to  battle  with  the  oppressive  atmosphere, 
and  to  produce  architectural  beautv.  One  of  the  most  notable  of  the 
commercial  blocks  is  the  Shillito  tiuilding,  erected  some  years  since 
from  the  designs  of  Mr.  McLaughlin,  a  structure  which  does  a  great 
deal  of  credit  to  the  profession  and  the  city.  Drawings  of  this 
building  have  been  published  in  the  past  in  the  American  Architect, 
and  we  fancy  many  of  our  readers  are  not  unfamiliar  with  its  ap- 
pearance. It  is  quite  pleasing  in  its  proportions,  and  for  a  per- 
fectly simple  design  is  one  of  the  best  in  the  West.  A  design  of 
this  sort,  that  is  to  say,  a  store  for  a  large  dry-goods  establishment, 
is  always  difficult  to  treat;  the  complication  being  increased  by  rea- 
son of  the  necessity  for  large  openings  in  the  lower  story,  which 
generally  destroy  any  feeling  of  solidity  in  the  design,  and  give  the 
building  the  appearance  of  being  raised  on  stilts.  A  certain  stilted 
look  is  so  universal  a  feature  of  such  structures,  that  we  come  to 
look  upon  it  as  almost  necessary,  and  do  not  realize  how  objection- 
able it  is  until  we  find  a  building  like  this  one,  where  the  construc- 
tion is  carried  clear  down  to  the  grade  and  emphasized  so  as  to  give 
solidity  to  the  design,  without  materially  obstructing  the  required 
amount  of  light  called  for  in  the  first  story.  Fome  portions  of  this 
building  are  unworthy  of  the  general  design,  and  the  cornice  is 
weak  in  its  details ;  but  there  is  a  great  deal  of  breadth  of  treat- 
ment in  the  massing  of  the  windows  and  in  the  arrangement  of  the 
piers ;  and  while  such  features  as  the  cornice,  the  belt-course  over 
the  second  story  and  the  mullions  and  transoms  of  the  second  story 
windows  are,  perhaps,  unfortunate  in  their  treatment,  the  effect  of 
the  whole  is  very  successful  and  pleasing. 

Strangely  enough,  the  best  commercial  work  in  the  city  judged 
from  an  artistic  standpoint  is  that  wherein  brick  has  been  used. 
The  majority  of -the  business  buildings,  certainly  those  which  are 


'  Continued  from  page  148,  No.  R40, 


the  most  pretentious  in  design,  have  l>cen  erected  in  stone;  but  had 
half  the  work  in  these  U-en  omitted  and  the  quantity  of  good, 
honest  brickwork  increased,  with,  at  the  same  time,  a  nicer  feeling  in 
style  and  proportion  infused  into  the  work,  and  a  more  complete  dis- 
regard of  what  we  are  pleased  to  call  practical  considerations,  the 
Cincinnati  public  architecture  would  easily  rank  with  the  best  in  the 
country,  for  there  has  been  no  stint  in  the  expenditure  of  money, 
and  where  good  materials  were  lavished  so  freely,  it  seems  a  pity 
that  they  were  not  justified  by  a  better  design  united  to  less 
extravagance  in  work. 

The  new  Chamber  of  Commerce  which  is  being  erected  from  the 
designs  of  the  late  Mr.  II.  II.  Hichardson,  promises  to  be  a  great 
addition  to  the  architectural  wealth  of  the  city,  and  it  is  so  emphati- 
cally different  from  anything  Cincinnati  now  possesses  and  so  origi- 
nal in  both  its  massing  and  its  style  that  it  cannot  fail  to  have  a 
decided  influence  upon  the  architecture  of  the  city.  Possibly  we  are 
not  justified  in  saying  so,  but  we  somehow  fancy  that  Cincinnati  is 
inclined  to  be  very  conservative  in  its  art  growth,  and  to  look  with 
not  very  favorable  eyes  upon  any  importation  of  talent  from  the  out- 
side, even  though  it  came  in  the  form  of  such  decided  genius  as  Mr 
Richardson  brought  to  his  work.  However  that  may  be,  there  are 
few  buildings  in  Cincinnati  that  do  not  owe  their  origin  to  home 
talent,  and  it  is  only  right  that  it  should  be  BO.  There  is  small 
satisfaction  in  going  to  a  strange  place  to  study  the  local  architecture 
only  to  find,  as  is  the  case  in  several  Western  cities,  that  all  the 
best  work  has  been  done  by  Eastern  architects.  Not  that  the  work 
done  in  this  way  is  not  intrinsically  satisfactory  in  everv  respect, 
but  one  has  a  feeling  that  it  is  better  for  a  city  to  stand  upon  its 
own  merits,  and  abide  by  the  artistic  merit  of  its  own  efforts,  than 
to  engraft  foreign  stock  on  the  slower  growth  of  home  talent. 

A  number  of  years  ago  a  wealthy  citizen  of  Cincinnati  in  a  fit  of 
ill-guided  enthusiasm  presented  the  city  with  a  monumental  fountain 


which  now  stands  in  the  principal  square  of  the  city.  The  Tyler- 
Davidson  fountain  does  not  seem  to  us  worthy  of  the  praise  which 
has  been  at  times  bestowed  upon  it.  It  is  a  very  elaborate  design 
rising  in  a  wide  basin  from  a  basement  of  stone,  adorned  with  single 
figures ;  above  are  four  smaller  basins  flanked  by  groupi  of  statues, 
with  a  crowning  figure  of  Plenty  rising  over  the  whole  and  sprinkling 
a  fine  shower  on  the  lower  parts  of  the  fountain  from  her  outstretched 
palms.  The  conception  lacks  dignity  and  the  proportions  are  not 
altogether  pleasing,  nor  are  the  relative  scales  of  the  groups  of  statues 


304 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  653. 


satisfactory.  We  fancy  Cincinnati  could  do  better  than  this  again  if 
it  tried,  nor  are  we  at  all  sure  that  the  popular  feeling  that  once  rated 
the  Tyler-Davidson  fountain  so  highly  has  not  subsided  to  the 
pleasant  contemplation  of  a  piece  of  work  which  might  be  a  great 
deal  worse,  but  was  the  best  afforded  by  the  times  in  which  it  was 
erected. 

If  any  one  will  take  the  trouble  to  climb  the  steep  bluff  at  the  rear 
of  the  city,  he  will  be  well  repaid  for  the  pains  by  finding  a  most  ex- 
cellent art  museum,  perched  upon  the  highest  ground  and  command- 
ing a  magnificent  view  in  all  directions,  sun,  smoke  and  wind  per- 
mitting. The  collections  of  the  Art  Museum  are  quite  restricted  in 
so  far  as  relates  to  the  fine  arts,  but  there  are  some  most  excellent 
collections  of  industrial  art,  fabrics,  faiences,  metal-work,  etc.,  which 
have  been  selected  with  nice  discrimination,  and  apparently  are  used 
to  good  profit  by  the  Cincinnati  art-workers.  The  building  of  the 
Museum  itself  is  a  very  pleasing  construction.  It  was  erected  from 
the  drawings  of  Mr.  J.  W.  McLaughlin. 

The  Art  Museum  is  a  good  starting-point  from  which  to  survey 
the  suburbs  of  Cincinnati.  It  would  be  impossible  in  so  brief  an 
article  as  this  to  notice  a  tithe  of  the  many  handsome  villas  and 
residences  scattered  about  the  city.  They  are  so  far  superior  to  any 
.  of  the  work  in  the  city  proper  that  one  must  see  them  in  order  to 
appreciate  the  art  influence  which  exists  in  Cincinnati.  There  are 
also  a  few  old  Colonial  residences  within  a  few  miles  of  the  city,  one 
of  which  was  published  in  this  journal  a  short  time  since.  In  the 
city  itself  there  is  comparatively  little  old  work,  though  here  and 
there  one  runs  across  a  pleasing  bit.  The  building  occupied  by  the 
Liverpool,  London  and  Globe  Insurance  Company  is  a  good  example 
of  what  might  be  achieved  with  English  Classic  of  the  style  of  Sir 
William  Chambers,  and  is  the  sort  of  thing  which  could  be  developed 
into  something  a  great  deal  better.  As  it  is,  the  design  is  far  above 
the  average.  It  consists  of  a  lower  colonnade  of  heavy,  rusticated 
Doric  columns,  and  three  stories  above,  each  following  the  same 
arrangement  of  windows  spaced  regularly  across  the  front  and  as 
close  together  as  possible,  while  over  every  second  window  is  a  well 
proportioned  pediment,  the  intermediate  window  being  treated  as  a 
panel,  a  device  which  has  often  been  used  where  the  number  of 
windows  is  too  great  for  individual  treatment  of  each  bay,  and  where 
an  appearance  of  solidity  is  desired.  The  building  is  crowned  with 
a  heavy  cornice  and  balustrade.  The  proportions  of  the  fa9ade  are 
rather  pleasing,  but  the  earners  are  weak,  just  as  such  a  design  is 
apt  to  be,  there  being  no  wide  piers  or  wall-spaces  to  terminate  the 
design.  It  is  rather  curious  to  notice  that  the  device  of  putting  pedi- 
ments over  the  alternate  windows  was  adopted  by  Mr.  Richardson, 
in  a  very  much  modified  form,  for  the  new  Chamber  of  Commerce 
Building. 

There  are  a  number  of  buildings  in  the  same  style  as  the  Liver- 
pool, London  and  Globe  Building  in  Cincinnati,  but  they  need  to  be 
sought  out,  as  they  have  been  rather  overshadowed  by  the  more 
modern  creations.  There  are  also  a  few  very  good  granite  church 
spires  among  the  many  which  dot  the  city,  such  as  that  of  St.  Peter's, 
not  unlike  the  spire  of  Park  Street  Church  in  Boston,  though  with  a 
rather  less  pleasing  effect.  There  is  a  church  on  Fourth  Street 
worked  out  in  very  good  Gothic  in  the  style  of  the  Strasburg 
Cathedral,  if  one  may  compare  the  little  with  the  great. 

One  misses  in  Cincinnati  a  certain  measure  of  the  busy  rush  and 
roar,  the  continual  excitement  which  is  such  a  marked  characteristic 
of  most  of  the  trans-Appalachian  cities.  This  does  not  imply  any 
cessation  of  growth  or  lack  of  potent  and  absorbing  industries,  but 
there  seems  to  be  a  quieter  feeling,  possibly  a  reflection  of  the  con- 
servative element  previously  noted.  It  has  not  been  in  vain  that  the 
great  Music  Hall  was  built,  and  the  Art  Museum  founded  on  the  hill- 
top. Cincinnati  may  be  moving  slowly,  but  the  civic  taste  is  moving 
surely,  and  the  people  give  evidence  of  a  greater  measure  of  aesthetic 
appreciation  than  is  found  in  some  cities  which  make  far  more 
artistb  uproar.  There  is  the  opportunity  to  do  the  best  of  work  in 
the  Ohio  metropolis.  It  remains  with  the  local  architects  to  show  if 
they  are  equal  to  the  emergency.  B. 


WHAT  OUR  ARCHITECTURE  LACKS. 


HOUDON'S  BUST  OF  WASHINGTON.  —  The  original  model  of  the  bust 
of  Washington  made  by  Houdon  at  Mount  Vernon  in  1785  has  for 
fifteen  years  been  the  property  of  Mr.  Wilson  McDonald,  the  New  York 
sculptor.  The  patrons  of  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art  in  that  city 
are  anxious  to  have  it  placed  there ;  but  it  has  been  deemed  proper  to 
give  the  Congressional  Committee  on  the  Library,  which  purchases  works 
of  art,  the  refusal  of  the  bust.  The  great  French  sculptor  Houdon 
was  sent  by  Franklin  and  Jefferson  to  America  in  1785,  and  was  com- 
missioned by  the  State  of  Virginia  to  execute  a  perfect  likeness  of 
Washington,  the  marble  of  which  is  now  in  the  State-house  at  Rich- 
mond. Competent  authority  in  art  and  on  the  portraits  of  Washington 
have  pronounced  Houdon's  life-cast  bust  to  be  the  greatest  relic  of 
Washington  now  extant.  The  only  really  valuable  original  picture 
of  Washington  is  a  likeness  owned  by  the  Government  is  the  Peale 
portrait,  now  in  the  room  of  the  Vice-president  at  the  Capitol.  The 
original  head  of  Washington,  by  Stuart,  is  in  the  Boston  Athenceum 
and  is  valued  at  $76,000.  It  has  been  suggested  that  Congress  could 
do  nothing  more  worthy  of  the  centennial  of  the  inauguration  of  Wash- 
ington as  President,  than  to  order  the  execution  from  the  lines  of 
Houdon's  life-cast  of  a  gigantic  bronze  bust,  to  ornament  the  grounds 
around  the  Washington  Monument.  The  probability  is  that  the 
original  bust  will  remain  in  New  York,  and  become  the  property  of  the 
Museum  of  Art.  —  Boston  Transcript. 


WHA 
mcr 


is 


-  Porch   • 
Gloucester- 


A  T  E  V  E  R 

meritorious  i  n 
our  modern  arch- 
itectural work  does  not 
long  remain  unobserved 
and  unknown,  there  be- 
ing writers  enough  on 
art  in  this  country 
waiting  to  proclaim  all 
the  virtues  of  its  latest 
phases.  The  foreign 
visitor,  also,  has  of  late 
passed  so  many  encom- 
iums on  our  work  that 
there  is  some  danger  of 
our  becoming  exalted 
above  measure.  There- 
fore a  critical  introspec- 
tion now  and  then  may 
be  both  wholesome  and 
profitable  in  its  effect 
on  our  future  labors  as 
building  artists. 

We  derive  a  certain 
complacent  satisfaction 
from  the  general  admis- 
sion of  the  foreign 
critics  that  our  modern 
architecture  i  9  better 


than  the  modern  architecture  of  any  other  nation,  but,  after  all,  is 
this  a  high  standard  with  which  to  measure  our  progress  ?  Our  best 
efforts  have  been  put  forth  in  civil  and  domestic  architecture.  As  a 
nation  we  have  inherited  the  English  rather  than  the  French  idea  of 
a  "  home,"  and  we  have  felt,  in  some  degree,  the  influence  of  that 
movement  towards  beautifying  the  dwelling,  which  can  be  traced  to 
the  English  artist  painters.  And  yet  great  as  our  progress  has  been 
it  must  be  admitted  that  a  large  proportion  of  our  country  houses 
are  far  from  being  beautiful.  Our  use  of  wood  as  a  building  material 
does  not  compare  favorably  with  the  half-timber  work  of  Europe 
done  in  the  sixteenth  century.  Our  detail  has  too  often  a  thin,  card- 
board look  about  it  and  we  seem  afraid  to  use  much  carving  on  the 
exteriors,  some  critics  say,  lest  we  be  thought  affected  I  But  the 
chief  fault  is  a  lack  of  something  interesting  In  the  whole  work. 

When  we  can  venture  to  compare  our  art  with  some  of  the  older 
and  admittedly  noble  work  of  Europe  then  will  we  see  truly  our 
position. 

In  ecclesiastical  architecture  our  progress  towards  good  work  has 
been  insignificant.     The  greater  part  of  American  church  building  is 
poor  in  the  extreme.     It  appears  as  if  the  religious  idea  has  never  — 
so  far  as  temples  or  churches   are   related   to   it  —  been    decently 
habited.    Unfortunately,  we  need  not  look  far  beneath  the  surface  for 
an  explanation.     The  result  is  only  what  might  be  expected  from  a 
people  largely  indifferent  to  religious  thought  and,  as  a  corollary, 
without  reverence.     Let  me  illustrate  this  from  personal  experience. 
Some  months  ago  I  read  in  the  American  Architect  a  portion  of  a 
paper  delivered  at  a  church  conference  by  a  well  known  architect. 
He  gave  his  views  quite  definitely  and  forcibly  on  church  architecture. 
A  church  he  argued  should  be  a  church  and  not  a  secular  meeting- 
house, a  place  of  worship  not  a  place  of  entertainment.     I  was  much 
struck  at  the  time  with  the  force  of  his  remarks,  but  I  hardly  ex- 
pected so  soon  to  find  a  commentary  on  his  discourse.     Only  the  day 
following   1  went   to  the  morning  service   in  a   new  church  in  the 
fashionable  Back  Bay  district  of  Boston.     Behind  the  comfortable 
seat  to  which  I  was  shown  were  some  people  talking  evidently  about 
secular  matters.     There  was  handshaking  and  much  general  conver- 
sation.  Finally,  the  service  began.    The  music  seemed  quite  a  feature 
and  was  chiefly  confined  to  the  choir  of  three  or  four  young  people 
who,  nattily  dressed,  occupied   a  very  prominent  position  directly 
over  the  pulpit.      They  warbled  sweetly  and  frequently,  so  that  a't 
times  one  could  almost  imagine  that  a  concert  of  sacred  music  was  in 
progress,  especially  as  the  congregation  were  only  once  permitted  to 
have  any  share  in  the  vocal  part  of  the  service.      The  clergyman 
read  a  long  string  of  notices,  and  made  a  mild  attempt  at  a   joke 
about  one  of  these.    He  next  suggested  that  a  committee  be  appointed 
to  transact  some  business,  and,  to  my  surprise,  a  bald-headed  gentle- 
man arose  and  named  three  or  four  persons.     I  felt  apprehensive 
lest  there  might  be  a  debate,  but  fortunately  there  was  no  dissent. 
Another  member  of  the  congregation  seconded  the  nomination  :   it 
was  put  to  the  meeting,  and  carried.     The  choir  followed  with  more 
songs,  after  which  came  a  sermon  of  average  merit. 

Now  the  point  I  wish  to  bring  out  is,  that  the  whole  service  was 
devoid  of  any  reverential  spirit.  A  hall  would  have  seemed  as  ap- 
propriate a  place  in  which  to  hold  it,  as  a  church.  The  sentiment 
voiced  was,'then  :  "  The  old  idea  of  a  church  being  sacred  to  the  public 
worship  of  God  has  passed  away,  and  we  mean  to  let  you  know  that, 
by  transacting  secular  business  or  doing  anything  we  like  in  it;  we 
have  no  respect  for  old  traditions."  And  the  architecture  of  the 
building  seemed  something  of  an  echo.  The  open-timber  roof  was 
fussy  in  the  extreme.  A  modern  painter  had  "  decorated  "  the  in- 
terior, but  there  was  nothing  in  his  work,  either  suggestive  or 


JI-NB  30,  1888.] 


The    American   Architect  and  Building   News. 


805 


symbolic  of  an v connection  with  Christianity,  nor  did  it  add  one  whit 
to  ilu-  Churclily  feeling  of  this  house  of  prayer. 

In  speaking  of  Carlvle's  ideas  on  religion,  hi?  biographer  Fronde, 
tells  us  the  word  God  WM  too  awful  for  common  use  with  him,  and 
lie  veiled  his  meaning  in  metaphors  to  avoid  it.  But  what  shall  he 
paid  of  some  American  preachers,  who  ean  talk  of  God  in  one  breath, 
and  in  I  he  next,  say  something  that  will  set  the  whole  congregation 
in  a  roar  1 

An  American  actress  goes  to  England,  and,  in  a  certain  play,  dances, 
singing  as  an  accompaniment  the  well-known  hymn  "  We  shall  meet 
in  the  sweet  hye-and-bye."  Why  do  the  audience  show  signs  of 
disapproval?  Because  the  English  people  have  still  some  sense  of 
propriety,  some  sense  of  respect,  and  object  to  the  mixing  up  of 
sacred  or  religious  things,  with  what  is  frivolous  and  secular. 

Reflecting  on  the  service  in  this  Boston  church  brings  to  remem- 
brance as  opposite  things  will  do,  another  service  I  had  seen  years 
ago.  On  a  Sunday  evening,  in  the  autumn  season,  the  great  nave  of 
an  English  Cathedral  is  filled  with  people.  The  dull  gray  interior  is 
lighted  by  rows  of  gas-jets,  but  the  lofty  vault  is  dark,  ending  in 
deeper  darkness  as  it  stretches  towards  the  central  tower  and  choir. 
There  is  no  color  here  save  the  old  glass  in  the  clerestory  windows, 
now  faintly  lighted  by  the  twilight,  —  mere  patches  of  colored  glass, 
tangled  and  mysterious  in  this  light.  From  the  high  pulpit,  against 
one  of  nave  piers,  the  archbishop  preaches  an  eloquent  and  impres- 
sive sermon.  But  the  effect  of  the  music,  simple  as  it  is,  is  perhaps 
the  most  lasting  in  one's  memory.  Led  by  the  choristers  the  final 
hymn  is  sung  heartily  by  the  vast  assembly.  Each  vaulted  aisle 
seems  to  reverberate  with  sound,  as  the  last  verse  is  sung  — 

"Finding,  following,  keeping,  straggling 
Is  HE  sure  to  bliss?" 

Above  the  voices  the  trumpet-like  notes  of  the  organ,  in  one  grand 
crescendo,  swell  the  refrain  — 

"  Salnti,  apostle*  prophets,  martyrs, 
Answer '  Yes.' " 

In  such  a  service  as  this  the  whole  seems  harmonious :  the  archi- 
tecture is  in  accord  with  the  form  of  praise,  the  esthetic  sense  is  sat- 
isfied. An  artist  would  love  to  paint  such  a  scene.  Of  how  many 
church  interiors  and  church  services  in  this  country  can  the  same 
be  said  ? 

The  spirit  of  the  times  is  indeed  lethargic  in  things  spiritual  and 
religious',  and  perhaps  we  may  not  have  a  noble  church  architecture 
until  Christianity  is  endowed  with  new  fervor,  or  crystallized  into  a 
new  form. 

Much  has  been  said  in  disparagement  of  modern  church  architec- 
ture in  England;  —  "Merely  an  archaeological  revival"  says  the 
superficial  critic,  who  probably  did  not  give  a  week's  observation  to 
the  subject  when  abroad.  A  more  thorough  examination  would  show 
that  there  is  much  excellent  work  in  this  class  of  buildings.  We 
find  in  the  work  of  the  best  architects  not  only  a  dignified  style,  but 
in  planning,  the'  conditions  of  the  site  and  the  requirement  of  the 
various  church  societies  have  been  honestly  met  and  faithfully 
worked  out.  If  to  the  mind  of  the  critic  the  details  are  too  closely 
modelled  after  the  old  work,  the  variety  in  plan  and  arrangement, 
the  stained  glass  and  the  furniture  of  the  church,  are  enough  to  atone 
for  any  lack  of  invention  in  mouldings.  In  the  best  work  of  modern 
Classical  architecture,  do  not  our  architects  repeat  again  and  again 
the  same  Classic  mouldings  ? 

I  have  in  mind  a  certain  modern  church,  in  the  suburbs  of  a  city 
in  Massachusetts,  built  from  the  designs  of  an  architect  who  had 
been  educated  in  France.  He  evidently  had  resolved  to  do  some- 
thing "  original,"  but  the  result,  as  most  of  his  confreres  admit,  is  a 
failure.  There  are  hundreds  of  old  parish  churches  in  France  and 
England,  and  we  should  have  felt  grateful  if  he  had  used  any  one  of 
them  simply  as  a  model. 

The  changed  attitude  of  modern  thought  towards  morals  and  re- 
lioion  is  most  strikingly  seen  in  the  general  exclusion  from  the  walls 
of  our  building  of  any  words  that  express  moral  or  religious  senti- 
ments. The  builders  of  the  Alhambra  in  Spain  wrought  among  their 
elaborate  ornamentation  verses  from  the  Koran — the  bible  of  the 
Mohammedans.  On  many  an  old  house  on  that  ancient  street,  the 
Cannongate  in  Edinburgh,  we  often  come  upon  such  lines  as  these 
carved  on  a  tablet  outside  the  "Shoemaker  Close:"  "Behold  how 
good  a  thing  it  is  for  brethren  to  dwell  together  in  unity."  Amidst 
the  present  squalor  and  unsanitary  surroundings  of  the  locality,  the 
words  seem  like  mockery,  and  though  history  reminds  us  that  in  the 
early  days,  when  these  houses  were  built,  cruel  and  unbrotherly 
deeds  were  common,  still  there  must  have  been  a  reality  to  the  re- 
ligious beliefs  of  the  people.  If  any  one  in  these  days  were  to  revive 
this  ancient  custom,  it  would  be  looked  upon  as  a  mild  form  of  lunacy. 
Imagine,  for  a  moment,  the  effect  on  a  Bostonian  (of  the  very  proper 
type),  returning  from  summer  travel  to  find  that  the  decorator,  left 
to  complete  his  city  house,  had  painted  in  the  frieze  of  his  library, 
such  lines  as  these  :  "Whatsoever  things  are  just,  whatsoever  things 
are  pure,  whatsoever  things  are  amiable,  whatsoever  things  are  of 
good  report,  if  there  be  any  virtue  and  if  there  be  any  praise,  have 
these  in  your  mind,  let  your  thoughts  run  upon  these." —  Phillipians, 
iv,  8. 

This  repugnance  to  any  outward  expression  of  religion  or  morality 
is  often  extended  to  any  poetic  sentiment  in  line  or  verse,  and  it  is 
the  more  suprisins;  to  meet  this  in  a  city  like  Boston  —  "  the  Athens  of 
America  "  —  which  is  supposed  to  foster  the  muses  Can  it  be  possi- 
ble, that  the  poetry  is  confined  to  a  cult  wherein  all  is  enthusiastic 


niviii'j,  whilst  the  souls  without  this  circle  live  in  a  state  of  starvation, 
never  reading  poetry,  nor  considering  it  in  the  least  needful  for  their 
growth  humanly?  There  must  lie  some  truth  ill  this  supposition  for 
such  writers  as  Edgar  Fawcett  in  >|n-:ikini;  of  poetry  say,  in  the  par- 
lance of  the  store-keepers,  "  there  is  no  dcnrind  for  it." 

I  once  had  in  charge  an  architect's  pupil,  in  an  English  town,  who 
had  a  great  penchant  for  writing  verses  and  reciting  dramatic  plavs 
in  the  ollice,  to  the  neglect  of  his  drawing,  but  he  became  a  good 
architect  after  all.  A  London  architect  in  a  recent  article  descrip- 
tive of  Cornwall,  its  landscape  and  its  old  churches  is  quite  imbued 
with  poetic  feeling.  His  architectural  work,  chiefly  ecclesiastical,  is 
most  excellent. 

The  late  Edward  W.  Godwin,  another  English  architect, 
used  to  speak  much  of  the  pleasure  derived  from  reading  Spenser's 
"  Fcerie  Queene."  Lastly,  one  of  the  test  and  most  successful  of 
English  workers  in  the  decorative  arts  was  first  known  to  fame  as  a 
poet. 

In  making  comparisons,  one  can  only  speak  from  personal  know- 
ledge and  experience.  So  far  as  this  extends,  duringa  period  of  eight 
years  in  this  country,  meeting  daily  persons  in  the  ranks  of  archi- 
tectural work  and  practice,  or  in  the  arts  associated  with  it,  I  have 
met  few,  if  any,  who  showed  sympathy  or  taste  for  poetry.  This 
absence  of  poetic  feeling  impresses  one  as  if  the  practice  of  archi- 
tecture, viewed  as  a  fine  art,  were  altogether  too  much  dominated  by 
the  commercial  spirit,  with  its  unlovely  life,  its  haste  and  worry, 
than  which  nothing  can  be  more  at  variance  with  the  ideal  artistic 
life :  so  that  the  poetic  sense,  if  it  even  exist  in  a  germ,  is  soon 
crushed  out. 

We  may  have  fine  buildings,  a*  far  as  design  and  technical  skill 
can  carry  us,  but  never  great  art,  for  without  some  infusion  of  the 
poetic  element,  and  in  religious  art,  without  the  sense  for  reverence, 
such  works  will  pass  to  our  descendants  as  the  soulless  creations  of  a 
utilitarian  age.  K.  BROWN,  JR. 


AUTUMN  JOURNEYS  IN  MEXICO.  — I. 

FROM   THE   CAPITAL   TO   VERA    CRUZ. 


Ulna,    A"*  Cruz. 

TITHERE  are  weighty  reasons  why  these  should  be  autumn  jour- 
•  Jj-  neys.  In  Uie  first  place,  some  of  them  lead  us  down  into  the 
tierra  caliente,  the  hot  lands,  where  vomits  and  kindred  diseases 
prevail  and  where  the  unacclimated  can  visit  with  safety  only  dur- 
ing the  autumn  or  winter  months.  Secondly,  at  the  close  of  the  rainy 
season,  about  the  first  of  October,  there  are  apt  to  be,  more  than  at 
any  other  time  of  the  year,  a  succession  of  bright,  clear  days,  delight- 
ful for  travelling  both  in  the  highlands  and  low-lands  of  Mexico.  No- 
vember, most  unlike  a  November  in  the  more  Northern  latitude,  was 
the  month  in  which  most  of  these  journeys  were  taken. 

A  very  good  motive  with  which  to  have  wandered  from  town 
to  town  in  Mexico  would  have  been  to  put  to  the  test  of  personal 
observation  the  truth  of  the  saying  often  heard  in  the  Mexican 
capital,  "  Saliendo  de  Mexico,  todo  es  Cuauhtitlan,"  (all  outside 
of  the  city  of  Mexico  is  like  Cuauhtitlan),  or  there  is  nothing 
worth  seeing  outside  of  the  Mexican  capital.  Cuauhtitlan  is  a 
little  Indian  village  about  thirty  miles  from  the  capital,  so  much 
like  hundreds  of  other  Indian  villages  in  the  Republic  that  no  one 
would  ever  think  of  visiting  it  were  it  not  that  the  bull-fights,  now 
prohibited  within  the  Federal  district  to  which  the  capital  belongs, 
are  still  to  be  seen  at  Cuauhtitlan.  And  of  late  years  a  favorable 
place  for  the  bull-fights  has  been  found  nearer  the  city,  so  that  the 
fame  of  Cuauhtitlan  now  rests  solely  upon  the  oft-repeated  maxim 
which  I  have  quoted.  I  confess  I  was  sorely  tempted  to  visit 
Cuauhtitlan  myself  once,  attracted  solely  by  its  musical  name,  but  I 
withstood  the  temptation  and  have  never  yet  seen  the  town  which 
stands  for  all  that  is  ugly,  dull  or  uninteresting  in  Mexico.  But 
while  my  chief  motive  in  making  these  autumn  journeys  had  little  to 
do  with  the  maxim  of  the  locally-conceited  residents  of  the  capital, 
I  succeeded  in  disproving  it  to  my  own  satisfaction  upon  my  first 
journey  from  that  city.  Yet  nothing  of  beauty  or  interest  which  I 
found  in  other  cities  of  Mexico  could  be  to  the  disparagement  of  the 
capital.  After  having  explored  every  nook  and  corner  of  it,  I  find 
myself  even  more  appreciative  of  that  city  than  many  of  its  proud- 
est residents. 


806 


The  American   Architect  and  Building  News.     [VOL.  XXIII. — No.  653. 


The  journey  from  the  capital  to  Vera  Cruz,  over  the  Mexican 
railway,  has  been  justly  described  as  the  most  magnificent  railway 
ride  of  a  single  day  to  be  found  anywhere  in  the  world.  Leaving  a 
city  elevated  seventy-live  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  s< 
with  two  mountains,  snow-covered  throughout  the  year,  in  plain 
view,  the  road  first  ascends  one  or  two  thousand  feet,  then  descends, 
passing  through  a  temperate  climate  upon  the  mountain  sides,  and 
finally  reaches  the  tropical  lands  of  the  Gulf  coast.  In  descending 
the  Eastern  slope  of  the  mountain  range,  the  road  exhibits  some 
interesting  specimens  of  engineering  skill,  and  the  scenery  on  all 
sides  is  grand  beyond  description.  The  attention  of  the  traveller  is 
wholly  taken  up  by  the  varied  scenes  through  which  he  is  passing, 
The  tunnels  (seventeen  in  number)  and  bridges  (almost  innumerable) 
are  principally  located  within  about  fifty  miles  of  track,  upon  the 
mountain  side.  All  the  tunnels  are  built  upon  curves  and  one  is 
upon  a  double  curve  of  the  road.  Often  the  road  is  upon  a  narrow 
shelf  midway  of  the  perpendicular  side  of  a  rock  of  immense  height. 
The  names  of  the  various  localities  is,  somehow,  suggestive  of  their 
wildness;  Maltrata,  Metlac,  Infernillo  (literally  "Little  Hell"), 
Chiquihuite,  all  these  names  are  given  to  barrancas,  or  rugged  can- 
yons, around,  over  and  through  which  the  road  winds.  But  it  would 
be  folly  for  me  to  attempt  to  describe  this  portion  of  the  ride. 

The  departure  from  the  city  of  Mexico  is  made  about  six  o'clock 
in  the  morning.  The  building  containing  the  depot  and  general 
offices  of  the  Mexican  railway  in  the  city  of  Mexico  is  a  fine  speci- 
men of  modern  Mexican  architecture.  It  is  of  the  fine,  light-colored 
stone  so  commonly  used  in  building  there.  It  is  a  two-story  building, 
with  lateral  wings  of  one  story,  and  it  unfortunately  exhibits  the 
character  of  the  soil  upon  which  the  Mexican  capital  is  built.  The 
two-story  building  has  settled  several  inches,  drawing  down  the 
inner  ends  of  the  wings  with  it.  The  whole  valley  of  Mexico  is 
composed  of  a  marshy,  spongey  soil,  and  large  buildings  invariably 
settle  in  this  "manner.  Several  of  the  old  churches  are  considerably 
out  of  plumb.  Were  it  not  for  this  unfortunate  accident  to  the 
depot  building  of  the  Mexican  railway,  it  would  be  an  imposing 
structure. 

The  journey  is  made  by  a  "mixed"  train  —  freight  cars,  third- 
class  passenger  coaches,  and  a  coach  divided  into  first  and  second 
class  accommodations,  the  difference  between  the  first  and  second 
class  accommodations  being  cushioned  seats,  a  little  better  company, 
and  three  dollars  and  a  half  between  Mexico  and  Vera  Cruz.  A 
few  Anglicanisms  are  noticeable  in  the  management  of  the  road  even 
to  the  casual  observer.  It  is  only  a  few  years  since  the  English  com- 
partment coaches  were  withdrawn  from  the  main  line  and  they  are 
still  used  on  the  Puebla  branch,  as  we  shall  have  occasion  to  observe 
before  these  autumn  journeys  are  over. 

Leaving  the  city,  the  road  passes  down  a  causeway  built  by  an 
ecclesiastical  viceroy  towards  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
and  having  been  designed  for  the  use  of  pilgrims  to  the  holy  city  of 
Guadalupe,  there  are  fifteen  beautiful  monument-like  structures  at 
intervals  along  one  side,  dedicated  to  the  "  fifteen  mysteries  of  the 
rosary."  They  are  now  rather  dilapidated,  but  were  originally 
exquisitely  carved.  This  causeway  is  only  a  few  yards  distant  from 
and  nearly  parallel  with  the  ancient  causeway  leading  from  the 
island-built  Aztec  capital  to  the  mainland.  The  second  station  from 
the  capital  is  San  Juan  Teotihuacan,  and  the  train  passes  within 
plain  sight  of  the  two  pyramids  which  make  the  town  of  San  Juan 
feotihuacan  famous.  So  far  as  known,  these  two  pyramids  are 
entitled  to  the  names  generally  given  to  them,  "th«  Sun  "  and  "  the 
Moon."  San  Juan  is  only  twenty-seven  miles  from  the  capital  and 
is  one  of  the  many  points  to  which  interesting  excursions  of  a  day 
can  be  made,  and  many  such  excursions  are  taken  by  amateur 
archaeologists  for  the  purposes  of  independent  exploration.  A  visit- 
or to  San  Juan  has  already  contributed  an  exctedingly  interesting 
paper  to  the  American  Architect,  and  it  would  be  unnecessary  to  do 
more  in  this  paper  than  present  a  view  of  the  two  subjects  of  so 
much  archaeological  research,  the  only  remaining  specimens  of  the 
architecture  of  a  race  older,  according  to  one  of  the  greatest  authori- 
ties on  such  subjects  (Senor  Orozco  y  Berra)  than  the  Toltecs  or 
the  Acohuas. 

Proceeding  to  Esperanza  the  scenery  is  uninteresting  and  the  dust 
is  apt  to  be  extremely  disagreeable.  The  guard  calls  out  the  name 
of  each  station  and  the  number  of  minutes  the  train  will  stop  there. 
Men  and  women  are  on  hand  when  the  train  stops  with  various 

articles  for  sale.     There  seem  to  be  fruits  peculiar  to  each  station, 

some  of  them  are  seldom  seen  in  the  Capital  even,  and  most  of  them 
retain  their  old  Indian  names.  The  stations  of  Ometusco  and  Apam, 
produce  the  best  pulque  of  Mexico,  better  than  any  to  be  found  in 
the  capital.  As  the  train  passes  through  these  towns  the  traveller 
can  look  out  upon  magnificent  fields  of  the  maguey  (American  agave 
or  aloe),  from  which  the  pulque  is  made.  And  if  he  has  lived  Ton" 
enough  in  Mexico  to  learn  to  like  pulque,  (for  it  is  wholly  an  ac° 
quired  taste  to  any  but  Mexicans),  he  can  try  a  glass  at  each  of 
the  two  stations,  for  the  venders  will  be  on  hand.  At  Apizaco  there 
is  an  opportunity  to  take  breakfast  at  ten  o'clock,  and  at  Esperanza 
dinner  is  served  at  one  o'clock,  for  the  traveller  will  have  to  leave 
Mexico  with  only  a  cup  of  coffee  and  a  roll.  But  the  coffee  of  Mex- 
ico is  delicious  and  well  sustains  the  traveller  until  the  train  reaches 
Apizaco.  There  is  chance  for  another  dinner  at  four  or  five  o'clock 
at  Orizaba.  Before  Esperanza  is  reached,  the  interest  of  the  trav- 
eller will  be  taken  up  principally  by  his  fellow  passengers,  who  will 
be  Mexicans  of  the  better  class,  intelligent  and  sociable,  experienced 


travellers  in  Europe  but  with  scarcely  any  knowledge  of  the  United 
States,  —  or  rather  an  inclination  to  regard  it  as  a  semi-civilized 
land.  The  popular  feelings  in  this  country  regarding  Mexico  are 
pretty  generally  reciprocated  by  the  Mexicans.  Both  are  founded 
upon  lack  of  knowledge.  Before  the  train  has  been  underway  for  an 
hour  the  conversation  in  the  train  becomes  general,  so  that  the  first 
one  to  leave  the  train  has  to  shake  hands  and  embrace  all  around  and 
bid  each  traveller  "  good  bye  "  and  wish  him  a  pleasant  journey. 
Nor  will  the  Mexican  gentleman  who  has  provided  himself  with  an 
elaborate  luncheon  to  be  eaten  upon  the  train,  consent  to  partake  of 
a  single  mouthful  until  he  has  invited  each  person  on  the  train  to  join 
him.  This  politeness  is  characteristic  of  the  Mexicans  of  every 
class. 

At  Esperanza  the  snow-clad  peak  of  Orizaba  is  in  full  view,  and  it 
remains  in  full  view  during  all  the  journey  which  follow  this  for  the 
next  seven  or  eight  days.  At  Boca  del  Monte  (the  mouth  of  the 
mountain),  a  few  miles  beyond  Esperanza,  the  really  interesting  part 
of  the  journey  begins.  The  elevation  is  about  eight  thousand  feet. 
A  descent  of  twenty-four  hundred  feet  must  be  made  to  reach 
Maltrata,  distant  twelve  miles  by  road,  less  than  nine  miles  in  a 
straight  line.  In  the  same  way  the  road  descends  to  the  elevation  of 
fifteen  hundred  feet  in  fifty-three  miles.  Reaching  the  foot  of  the 
mountains  it  passes  through  tropical  jungles  by  a  gradual  descent  to 
the  gulf.  Orizaba  is  the  principal  town  passed  in  this  descent. 
From  the  train  one  can  look  out  over  its  roofs  of  red  tile,  and  see  its 
graceful  domes  and  spires.  Cordova  is  in  the  midst  of  the  coffee  and 
fruit  country.  There  luscious  pineapples,  bananas,  oranges  as  well  as 
other  fruits  peculiar  to  that  country  can  be  bought  for  a  trifle.  The 
locomotives,  —  Fairlie's  double  engines,  —  which  draw  the  trains  up 
and  down  these  steep  grades  are  a  curiosity  in  themselves,  and  are 
worth  the  traveller's  notice.  They  are  used  nowhere  else  in  Amer- 
ica, I  believe. 

Passing  through  the  tropical  country,  —  the  lierra  caliente, —  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  sights  to  greet  the  eyes  is  a  coffee  plantation. 
Not  that  the  coffee  plant  is  at  all  attractive  or  anything  else  than  an 
insignificant  shrub,  but  because  the  young  coffee  plants  are  set  out 
between  rows  of  broad  leaved  banana  trees,  for  the  sake  of  the  shade 
they  yield.  Thus  the  beauties  of  a  coffee  grove  are  really  due  to  the 
banana  trees. 

Vera  Cruz  is  reached  about  eight  o'clock  at  night,  so  that  the  last 
part  of  the  ride  is  made  after  dark.  This  is  probably  fortunate,  as 
the  country  for  many  leagues  back  of  Vera  Cruz  is  flat  and  sterile, 
and  would  be  likelv  to  disgust  the  traveller  after  the  magnificent 
scenery  of  the  mountain  sides.  ARTHUR  HOWARD  NOLL. 


[Contributors  are  requested  to  send  with   their  drawings  full  ar,d 
adequate  descriptions  of  the  buildings,  inclining,  a  statement  of  cost.] 

HOUSE    OF    NATHANIEL     THAYER,    ESQ.,    BOSTON,    MASS.       MESSRS. 

STURGI8    &   BKIGHAM,    ARCHITECTS,    BOSTON,    MASS. 
[Gelatine  Print,  issued  only  with  the  Imperial  and  Gelatine  Editions.] 

THE    RATH-HAU8,    BRESLAU,    GERMANY,   AFTER     AN   ETCHING      BY 
BERNHARD    MANNFELD. 

IIIS  fine  old  Mediaeval  town-hall  stands  in  the  Grosser  Ring  of 
Breslau,  a  large  and  busy  city  situated  on  the  river  Oder  in 
Prussia.  Its  exterior  dates  from  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth 
century ;  the  interior  is  in  the  florid  Gothic  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
The  whole  has  recently  been  restored.  The  "Princes  Hall,"  die 
ancient  assembly-room  of  the  Silesian  princes  and  their  councils,  is 
judiciously  redecorated.  Beneath  the  Rath-haus  is  a  room,  now  used 
tor  a  beer-cellar,  which  is  also  architecturally  interesting.  The 
Staupsaiileor  "  scourging-column  "  erected  in  1492  in  front  of  the 
building  and  surmounted  by  a  figure  wielding  sword  and  rod,  recalls 
the  ancient  modes  of  administering  justice.  Mannfeld,  whose  print 
of  Cologne  Cathedral,  was  published  in  the  American  Architect  for 
April  25, 1885,  has  etched  several  other  large  plates,  among  them  be- 
ing one  ot  Albrechtsburg,  another  of  the  "  Artus  Hof  "  at  Dantzic, 
and  a  third  of  the  tomb  of  Frederick  the  Great  in  the  Garrison 
Church  at  Potsdam.  He  has  also  executed  some  series  of  views  on 
the  Rhine  and  elsewhere  in  Germany,  a  large  part  of  his  work  being 
of  architectural  subjects.-  He  was  born  at  Dresden  in  1 848,  his  grand" 
Father,  Karl  Scheinert  the  glass  painter,  being  director  of  the  drawing- 
school  connected  with  the  porcelain  manufactory  at  Weissen.  From 
him  and  from  Georgi,  a  Dresden  painter  of  Oriental  scenes,  he  ru- 
:eived  his  first  artistic  impulses,  though  he  is  mainly  self-taught. 
He  has  worked  in  a  stained-glass  manufactory  and  as  an  illustrator 
and  painter  in  water-colors.  He  travelled  all  over  Silesia  making 
drawings  of  old  tombstones  for  Count  Hoverden  —  a  work  which  oc- 
cupied him  five  years. 

NEW    KENT   HOUSE   AT   LAKEWOOD,     CHAUTAUQUA,   N.   Y.        MR.    E. 
A.    KENT,    ARCHITECT,    BUFFALO,   N.   Y. 

THE  old  house  was  burned  Oct.  1887.  The  new  house  has  about 
150  bed-rooms.  Dining-room,  25'  x  150';  seats  800.  The  office  is 
designed  as  an  assembly-room,  and  has  a  promenade  deck-roof 


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The   American   Architect  ana  Building  News. 


307 


(between  the  wings  as  shown),  facing  the  north  lias  little  sun,  and  to 
have  trees,  shrubs,  etc.,  and  a  iouniaiii  in  the  centre.  'llie  water 
i'rum  latter  by  a  simple  gravity  pressure  operates  a  fountain  in 
ofhce,  ilining-room  and  on  front  lawn  with  pumping  one  lot  of  water. 
House  is  150'  x  112';  cost  about  $50,000  by  day  labor,  no  contracts, 
fin-escapes,  gas  in  all  rooms,  ten  bath-rooms,  uo  plumbing  in  slee|>- 
ing-roouis,  lias  elevator  and  Turkish  baths.  All  frame,  with  hard- 
wood interior  in  part.  Is  five  miles  from  Jamestown. 

DESIGN    FOR    A    TOWN-HAIL.         MESSRS.    RAND    &    TAYLOR,    ARCHI- 
TECTS,   BOSTON,    MASS. 

YOUNG  MEN'S  CHRISTIAN   ASSOCIATION   BUILDING,  UTICA,  n.  Y. 

MR.    W.     11.     SYMOND8,     ARCHITECT,     UTICA,    N.     Y. 

COMPETITIVE      DESIGN      FOR      HOUSE      FOR      LITTLE      WANDERERS, 
BOSTON,  MASS.      DESIGNED  BY  MK.  E.  C.  FISHER,  BOSTON,  MASS. 


MEDIAEVAL   HOUSES.1  — II. 


LTD 


Fig.  4. 

1ITIIE  interior  arrangements  of  the  Romanesque  dwellings,  differed 
J I «  essentially  from  those  of  Gallo-Romanic  and  Merovingian  houses. 
In  the  latter  the  separation  of  the  women's  apartments  was  still 
in  vogue,  while  the  common  use  of  rooms  was  the  rule  in  the  houses 
of  the  eleventh  century.  Gregory  of  Tours  mentions  the  women's 
rooms  :  "  Septimine  can  be  seen  in  the  domain  of  Marlheim  turning 
the  grindstone  to  prepare  the  flour  necessary  to  nourish  the  women 
gathered  in  the  women's  room."  In  the  Romanesque  houses  of  the 
twelfth  century  the  family  assembled  together  in  the  hall.  On  the 
ground-floor  the  largest  space  was  used  as  a  shop,  if  the  proprietor 
were  a  merchant,  the  salon  being  on  the  first  story.  This  salon 
served  as  a  bed-room  and  as  a  gathering-place ;  it  was  large  and  con- 
tained the  beds  of  father,  mother  and  children  under  age.  The 
apprentices,  or  servants,  slept  in  the  garret  above  the  first  story. 
1  he  kitchen  of  that  period  was  separated  from  the  principal  apart- 
ment by  a  small  court,  and  was  reached  by  a  covered  gallery.  A 
passage-way  with  a  straight  stairway,  on  one  side  of  the  store,  led 
directly  from  the  street  into  the  salon  on  the  first  floor.  From  this 
salon  a  gallery  led  to  the  floor  above  the  kitchen.  Houses  in  the 
town  of  Cluny  were  built  after  this  plan  (Figure  4).  The  ground- 
plan  A  shows  the  straight  stair  C,  the  store  D,  the  gallery  E,  the 
court  F,  the  kitchen  H,  with  the  large  chimney  /  and  a  well  at  G. 
The  first  floor  Ii  shows  the  landing  of  the  stairs  K,  the  salon  L,  the 
windowed-gallery  N,  with  a  little  stair  to  the  garret  and  a  chamber 
O.  The  general  section  ab.  is  shown  in  Figure  5  at  A,  and  the 
elevation  of  the  front  of  the  house  at  B.  This  front  is  still  preserved 
to  the  level  C,  the  garret-floor  only  having  been  destroyed.  Of  the 
rear  walls  but  little  remains. 

The  thirteenth-century  houses  of  Cluny  had  party-walls  common 
to  two  proprietors,  and  while  this  was  an  ordinary  custom  in  most  of 
the  French  cities,  there  are  some  places,  particularly  in  Burgundy, 
where  the  houses  of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  are  separated 
by  a  straight  alley  and  had  independent  sidewalls.  This  custom  ex- 
isted generally  in  most  of  the  bastilles,  or  small  walled  towns,  built  at 
the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century  under  the  reign  of  Edward  I  in 
Guienne. 

1  Translated  from  the  French  of  Viollct-le-l>uc,  by  Mr.  A.  B.  Bibb.  Continued 
from  fmga  '2(<3,  No.  651. 


The  rules  for  the  building  of  houses  in  French  cities  during  the 
Middle  Ages,  their  projections  over  the  street,  the  manner  of  obtain- 
ing light,  the  supply  ot  water,  ete.,  were  infinitely  varied,  each  lord 
establishing  peculiar  customs  in  the  territory  committed  to  his  juris- 
diction. 

Occasionally  two  houses  joined  by  a  party-wall  and  under  one 
roof  had  two  drains  to  two  side-alleys.  There  can  still  be  seen  in  the 
little  town  of  Montreale  (Yonne)  several  houses  built  on  this  system, 
and  there  is  one  near  the  side-gate  of  Avallon  still  in  very  good 
preservation.  Figure  6  gives  a  plan"  of  this  double  house,"  which 
seems  to  belong  to  the  first  years  of  the  thirteenth  century.  The 
street-front  of  this  double  hou?e  is  given  in  Figure  7.  The  front 
piers,  with  their  corbellings,  carry  a  balcony  at  the  level  of  the  first 
story,  and  the  two  roofs,  sloping  from  a  common  gable,  project  far 
enough  to  shelter  the  porches,  cellar  stairs  and  balconies.  The 
small  gardens  behind  the  houses  were  reached  by  alleys.  It  is  not 
clear  whether  the  gardens  were  common  to  several  houses  or  belonged 
only  to  one,  for  their  walls  are  long  since  thrown  down.  The  alleys 
between  single  and  double  houses  had,  as  a  matter  of  course,  led  to 
the  building  of  guttered  walls  on  the  alleys  and  gables  on  the  street, 
lu  the  Gascon  tongue  they  were  called  endronnes,  and  were  found 
even  where  there  were  continuous  porches  or  covered  ways  on  the 
street,  an  arrangement  quite  frequent  in  the  French  and  knglith 
towns  of  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  on  the  Garonne, 
the  Dordogne,  the  Lot  and  in  the  Southern  provinces. 

It  is  obvious  that  this  system  suggested  joining  lots  and  building 
two  houses  under  one  roof,  with  the  partition-wall  in  the  peak  of  the 
gable,  a  scheme  which  permitted  an  increased  width  for  the  alleys. 

At  Montpazier,  a  city  of  perfectly  regular  plan,  the  alleys  are  very 
narrow,  and  houses  fronting  upon  streets  of  ten  metres  in  width  had 
alleys  three  metres  wide  in  the  rear. 

In  the  article  on  "Construction,"  Figures  115,  116,  117  and  118, 
are  the  elevations,  plans  and  sections  of  another  such  house  in  Cluny, 
built  near  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century. 

Already  the  windows  were  larger,  the  stories  higher,  the  stone- 
construction  of  more  importance  and  of  greater  elegance.  In  'many 
walled  cities  of  the  thirteenth  century  houses  of  several  stories  were 
built  with  entire  fronts  of  stone. 

On  the  "  place  "  of  the  little  city  of  St.  Antonin  (Tarn  et  Garonne) 
where  there  is  a  famous  town-house,  may  still  be  seen  a  number  of 
thirteenth-century  houses  of  a  monumental  character,  very  spacious 
and  deep,  and  with  wide  fronts  of  remarkable  construction.  'J  he 
ground-floor  is  occupied  by  stores  or  stalls,  the  first  and  second 
floors  having  a  large  salon  on  the  street  in  the  front,  and  a  staircase 
and  small  room  at  the  back,  opening  upon  the  alley  as  at  Mom- 
pazier's  (Figure  8).  The  arcades  on  the  ground-floor  served  as  win- 
dows, as  is  still  the  case  in  some  localities,  and  curtains  were  hung  in 
them  to  separate  the  merchants  from  their  customers  in  the  street. 
The  large  salons  of  the  first  and  second  floors  were  lighted  mainly  by 
the  succession  of  arches,  in  which  were  four  windows  separated  by 
narrow  piers. 

The  servants  lived,  or  provisions  were  kept,  in  the  garret  under 
the  roof.  The  window-jambs  of  the  firtt  and  second  stories  were 
provided,  at  the  spring  of  the  arch,  with  iron  rings  with  hooks,  in- 
tended to  hold  rods  to  which  were  fixed  awnings,  such  as  are  still 
used  in  the  South  of  France,  in  Italy  and  in  Spain.  Figure  9  shows 

the  arrangement  of 
these  awnings.  At 
A  is  a  hook-ring 
fixed  in  the  stone. 
The  awnings  are 
separated  by  rails, 
the  rods  fitting  into 
one  another  (See 
detail  B).  The 
rods  C  held  out  the 
foot  of  the  hang- 
ings which  were 
raised  and  lowered 
by  cords  passing 
below,  in  the  form 
of  a  St.  Andrew's 
Cross,  and  fastened 
through  the  rings 
to  the  hooks  l>.  A 
large  gathered  val- 
ance fell  over  the 
front,  and  by  its 
weight  served  to 
keep  the  rods  C' 
properly  inclined. 
In  the  little  city  of  Cordes,  between  St.  Antonin  and  Gaillac, 
many  houses  dating  from  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centurii  s 
have  been  preserved,  and  in  their  architecture  and  interior  arrange- 
ments they  are  very  like  those  we  have  just  described. 

The  cities  of  the  Garonne,  the  Tarn,  the  Lot  and  the  Aveyrpn  were 
profoundly  imbued  with  the  communal  spirit,  and  had  never 
abandoned  the  municipal  traditions  of  the  Gallo-Romanic  epoch. 
Most  of  them  have  preserved  Mediaeval  dwellings  which  indicate  the 
existence  of  a  well-developed  local  administration,  great  interior 

1  [Too  late  to  replace  them  we  discover  that  the  cuts  for  Figs.  6,  7  and  8  have 
IH-.'II  mislaid.  —  EIIS.J 


Fig.  9. 


The   American   Architect  and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII. -No.  653. 


p.-osperity  and  habits  of  good  living,  even  of  luxury,  which  have  dis- 
appeared since  the  religious  wars  of  the  sixteenth  century.     _        _ 
It  has  been  said  that  the  houses  of  the  Middle  Ages  were  inferior, 


second  or  third  order,  rich  and  prosperous,  though  not  great  centres 
of  population  in  the  Middle  Ages),  if  compared  with  modern  houses 
in  the  same  localities,  will  be  found  superior  to  the  latter  in  construc- 
tion, plan  and  appearance,  and  they  prove  the  existence  of  a  more 
advanced  and  solidly  established  social  status,  a  less  fugitive  pros- 
perity and  stronger  municipal  institutions. 

A  comparison  between  one  of  the  houses  of  the  little  city  of 
Cordes  and  a  great  hotel  of  modern  Paris  would  be  absurd,  but 
compare  an  old  house  of  St.  Antonin  with  one  of  those  built  to-day 
in  the  same  locality ;  compare  the  hotel  of  modern  Paris  with  the 
hotel  of  Sens,  of  Trdmouille,  of  Saint-Pol,  of  Cluny  or  even  the 
house  of  Jacques  Cceur  at  Bourges,  still  almost  entire,  and  it  is  the 
modern  house  which  suffers  in  the  comparison. 

It  is  a  mistake  in  discussing  art,  to  confound  civlization  with  in- 
tellectual development.  Society  may  be  perfectly  polished  and 
luxurious  in  habits  even  to  its  lowest  caste,  yet  totally  without  in- 
tellectual expansion. 

From  the  twelfth,  and  during  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth 
centuries,  great  edifices  were  builded  and  great  artists  thronged  in 
Paris,  Rouen,  Lyons,  Rheims,  Chartres,  Bourges,  Tours,  Toulouse. 
In  the  smallest  town,  in  the  smallest  village  of  France,  we  find  an 
art  proportionately  ennobled.  Not  so  to-day  !  We  build  magnificent 
pala;  es  at  Paris,  at  Lyons  or  at  Marseilles,  but  what  are  they  doing 
in  the  provinces?  Poor,  tottering  constructions,  hideous  of  aspect, 
while  affecting  a  certain  air  of  luxury,  inconvenient  houses,  hardly 
habitable,  hiding  the  ignorance  of  the  builder  or  the  absurdities  of 
the  proprietor  under  cover  which  every  winter  threatens  to  demolish, 
houses'  having  the  merit  of  showing  neither  art  nor  good  sense. 
Puerile  vanity  only  is  apparent  in  the  symmetrical  front  and  meanly 
luxurious  interiors. 

We  are  astonished  to  find  in  a  little  ancient  town  like  Pompeii 
cheap  brick  houses,  full,  however,  of  examples  of  a  charming  art. 
In  the  Middle  Ages  the  same  gift  of  putting  art  into  everything  is 
observable.  The  houses  of  Pompeii  would  not  be  comfortable  for 
us  of  the  nineteenth  century;  those  of  the  thirteenth  century  in 
France  would  be  hardly  more  so,  but  what  has  that  to  do  with  the 
question  of  their  art?  The  houses  of  Pompeii  charm  us  because 
they  are  indeed  the  homes  of  the  people  of  the  Campagna  ;  those  of 
Cluny  and  Cordes  have  the  same  quality,  but  what  would  ours  be  to 
the  people  who  came  to  them  after  six  centuries,  should  any  of  them 
last  so  long?  Comfort  is  the  rule  to-day,  it  is  said.  Let  us  see  how 
the  rule  works.  Does  comfort  demand,  for  instance,  that  we  build 
houses  at  Marseilles  after  the  model  of  those  at  Paris,  and  fronts 
exposed  to  the  north  like  those  which  look  to  the  south?  Is  it 
comfortable  to  light  all  rooms,  large  or  small,  by  windows  of  the 
same  size,  too  narrow  for  the  salon  and  too  wide  for  the  closet? 
Are  porches  on  the  street  upon  which  the  sun  and  the  rain  beat 
down  unchecked  particularly  comfortable?  Is  the  multiplying  of 
small  rooms  in  a  contracted  space  where  one  must  spend  his  life 
opening  and  shutting  doors,  and  where  there  is  hardly  room  for  the 
most  indispensable  articles  of  furniture  conducive  to  comfort?  Are 
stories  less  than  three  metres  high  healthy  and  comfortable  ?  Are 
thin  walls,  zinc  roofs  which  subject  the  interior  to  all  the  changes  of 
temperature,  and  the  absence  of  eaves,  which  leaves  the  openings 
exposed  all  day  to  the  rays  of  the  sun,  to  be  termed  comfortable  ? 
In  the  country  things  are  even  worse.  The  little  white  house  with 
walls  of  cardboard,  roofs  of  zinc,  windows  badly  set,  the  ground 
floor  damp,  stairs  that  shake,  floors  that  creak,  kitchen  distribut- 
ing nauseous  odors  through  the  interior,  such  a  beautiful  little  square 
pavillion,  so  brilliant  in  the  sun,  is  this  comfortable?  Is  the  modern 
chateau,  with  its  towers,  its  ornamented  roofs,  its  veneering  of  brick 
and  stone,  pretending  to  imitate  ancient  construction,  the  home  of 
comfort?  Not  at  all.  All  this  is  for  show.  The  towers  are  hung 
upon  iron,  the  complicated  roof,  covered  with  economy,  but  glittering 
from  crest  to  gutter  with  zinc,  lets  water  into  the  interior; "the  thin 
walls  crack  and  the  floors  bend  under  weights  too  heavy  for  them. 
The  water-spouts  are  insufficient ;  the  chimneys  smoke  because  large 
fireplaces  are  the  thing  for  a  chateau  and  the  flues  must  be  small 
enough  to  pass  through  the  thin  walls.  There  are  always  large 
rooms  on  the  ground-floor,  while  the  upper  floors  are  divided  by 
numerous  partitions,  and  sometimes  chimneys  are  carried  upon  the 
middle  of  the  floors.  But  it  would  be  an  endless  task  to  enumerate 
all  the  miseries,  more  or  less  concealed,  of  the  modern  "  chateau," 
miseries  which  reveal  themselves  from  time  to  time  to  the  public 
through  legal  processes  aimed  against  the  obliging  architect,  who, 
after  all,  has  only  done  what  was  demanded  of  him  and  what  there 
would  have  been  ten  others  to  do  had  he  refused. 

Mediajval  houses  were  made  to  suit  the  habits  of  those  who  built 
them;  moreover,  they  were  wisely  and  simply  constructed.  Every 
want  was  met  by  a  particular  arrangement.  The  door  was  not  made 
to  please  the  eye  of  those  who  passed,  but  for  those  who  went  into  the 
house.  The  windows  were  not  symmetrically  arranged,  but  they 
lighted  the  place  they  were  intended  to  light  and  were  of  a  size 
suitable  to  that  place.  The  stairs  were  not  concealed.  The  fronts 


were  sheltered  where  it  was  necessary.  Carving  was  rare,  but  the 
floors  were  good  and  solid,  the  walls  of  a  substantial  thickness.  In 
the  Southern  provinces  the  windows  were  small ;  in  the  North  they 
were  numerous  and  large.  In  the  houses  of  the  common  people  the 
arrangement  sel- 
dom varied.  There 
was  always  the  hall 
on  every  floor,  with 
an  interior  stair- 
case, or,  more  fre- 
quently, one  at  the 
back,  and  a  small 
court.  The  plan 
would  not  have 
suited  us  we  must 
admit,  but  it  suited 
the  habits  of  those 
times  when,  even  in 
the  chateau,  the 
family,  that  is  to 
say  the  relatives 
and  servants,  as- 
sembled together  in 
one  room  about  the 
master. 

At  Beauvais,  So- 
issons  and  Amiens, 
cities  of  the  com- 
mercial and  popu- 
lous North,  we  find 
some  remains  of 
houses  badly  shat- 
tered, but  still  suffi- 
ciently whole  to 
give  a  perfect  idea 
of  their  scheme  of 
construction,  which 
was  the  same  as 
that  of  the  Louses 

built  at  Saint  An-  , ts  a 

tonin,   Cordes  and 

Sarlat      between  fig.  9  bit. 

1230  and  1300,  an  invariable  feature  of  which  was  the  "  grandesalle  " 
upon  the  street  front  of  each  story.  The  civil  architecture  of  the 
Northern  cities  was,  however,  of  a  more  monumental  character  and 
displayed  the  spirit  of  a  free  peoplo.  The  beautiful  ruins  of  a  house 
in  the  Rue  SaintrMartin  at  Amiens,  resembling  in  style  the  houses  of 

Beauvais,  Soissons 
and  Saint-Antonin 
built  between  the 
years  1280  and 
1240,  may  be  cited 
as  an  example. 
There  is  a  certain 
majestic  air  in  this 
architecture  which 
is  wanting  in  that 
of  the  South.  In 
the  illustration 
(Fig.  9  Jis),  we 
have  restored  the 
gable  and  the 
ground-floor  from 
other  remains  of 

Lg  I  iz^^^Zlgsascr^r^S^nfnf:::^!!^         an^   locality,  these 
^SBliB^iH^lIilnSSli  parts  having   been 

destroyed  or  modi- 
fied in  the  house  of 
the  Rue  Saint- 
Martin. 

The  marked  dif- 
ference between 
the  styles  is  more 
striking  if  we  make 
a  comparison  be- 
tween the  stone 
houses  of  the  North 
and  those  built  for 
the  most  part  of 
brick  in  certain 
Southern  cities. 

j f       ,       ,       ,       ;        a  v  Figure    10    is    a 

.  house   at  Caussade 

PJ      |Q  (Tarn  et  Garonne) 

contempor  a  n  e  o  u  s 

with  those  of  Saint  Antonin  and  Amiens  and  dating  from  the  middle 
of  the  thirteenth  century.  The  bases  of  the  piers  of  the  ground-floor, 
the  small  columns  of  the  windows  and  the  band-courses  above  are  of 
the  hard  stone  of  Caylus ;  the  rest  is  of  brick.  The  stalls  in  the 
lower  part  were  repaired  and  the  windows  of  the  first  story  changed 
during  the  fifteenth  century,  but  the  plan  and  shape  of  the  original 


JUNE  30,  1888.] 


TJie   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


309 


There  still  lingers  about  this 


windows  can  still  be  perfectly  seen.  Those  of  the  two  upper  storied 
have  been  preserved.  In  plan,  this  house  has  on  the  first  and  second 
tloors  a  large  fti/un,  almost  square,  with  a  chimney,  a  staircase  and  a 
small  room  with  windows  opening  upon  a  garden.  The  third  floor  is 

divided  l>y  a  partition  into  two  rooms.      ''" ":n  >"••'•—  •'•"•"  •'"« 

house  an  air  of 
being  in  a  small 
fortified  town ;  it 
is  a  relic  of  the 
southern  munici- 
palities so  sorely 
tried  in  the  wars  of 
the  Albigenses. 

A  more  recent 
northern  house, 
built  Ix'twcen  1240 
and  1250,  or  there- 
abouts, and  one  of 
the  richest  and  lar- 
gest  of  that  time, 
is  the  house  called 
the  "Musicicns"  in 
Tambour  Street, 
Rheims.  This 
house,  of  which  the 
ground-floor  is 
much  mutilated,  has 
preserved  intact  its 
first  story  on  the 
public  street.  Above 
this  was  the  roof 
with  its  mansards, 
only  a  few  traces  of 
wliieh  are  to  bo 
found  under  the 
modern  covering. 
The  front  had  four 
windows,  high  and 
large,  on  the  first 
story,  with  five 
niches,  in  which 
were  placed  sitting 
figures  of  musicians 
more  than  lifc-si/.e. 

The  first  musician,  commencing  on  the  left,  plays  the  tambour 
and  a  kind  of  wind-instrument,  the  second  plays  the  bag-pipe, 
the  third,  in  the  middle,  holds  a  falcon  on  his  clenched  hand, 
the  fourth  plays  the  harp,  and  the  fifth  the  violin;  this  last 
statue  is  crowned  with  a  chaplet  of  flowers  (Fig.  11).  Only  the  small 
arches  and  the  door-jambs  of  the  ground-floor  shops  shown  in 
the  drawing  remain.  A  large  porte-cochere,  opens,  near  the  op- 
posite end,  upon  a  court  formerly  surrounded  by  buildings  of  the 
same  epoch,  of  which  only  fragmentary  ruins  are  left.  The 
broad  street  front  was  divided  into  two  salons  of  nearly  equal  size 
and  the  stairway  was  on  the  court  side.  The  house  probably 
belonged  to  a  band  of  minstrels  of  Rheims  who  were  famous  in  the 
thirteenth  century,  not  only  in  Champagne,  but  throughout  the 
North.  The  construction  is  simple,  the  ornamentation  rich,  and  the 
sculpture  in  the  best  style. 

LTo  be  continued.! 


MR.  PF.TRIK'S  FINDS  IN  THE  FAYUM. 


Fig,   II. 


MANCHURIA'S  GOLD  MINES. —  The  attention  of  the  Chinese  Govern- 
ment having  been  directed  to  the  gold  fields  in  the  Amoor  regions  by 
recent  disorders  there,  a  commission  was  appointed  to  examine  and 
report  on  the  best  means  of  working  these  deposits.  An  official  who 
was  sent  to  the  spot  gives  a  doleful  account  of  the  desolation  of  the 
region  in  question  and  the  difficulty  of  procuring  food.  The  country, 
he  says,  is  covered  with  snow  in  winter  to  the  depth  of  ten  to  twelve  feet, 
"  and  in  summer  and  autumn  there  is  a  species  of  insect  which  fills  up 
people's  noses,  making  life  unbearable."  There  are  no  roads,  and  to 
supply  military  protection  for  the  miners  would  be  a  serious  matter. 
Notwithstanding  this  unfavorable  report  the  Foreign  Board  at  Pekin 
has  strongly  urged  that  mining  operations  under  the  control  of  the 
Government  be  undertaken  without  delay.  Li  Hung  Chang,  who  was 
also  consulted  in  the  matter,  has  drawn  up  a  series  of  sixteen  sugges- 
tions for  working  the  Manchurian  gold  mines.  He  proposes  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  joint-stock  company,  and  is  willing  himself  to  advance 
by  way  of  loan  a  considerable  part  of  the  capital;  the  earliest  opera- 
tions should  take  place  on  the  ground  from  which  the  Russian,  Chinese 
and  Corean  "gold  marauders"  were  expelled  by  Chinese  troops  two 
years  ago  and  foreign  mining  engineers  should  be  engaged  to  superin- 
tend the  work.  Two  steamboats  are  being  built  to  carry  supplies  up 
the  Amoor  to  the  mines  and  four  others  to  cruise  on  the  rivers  and 
keep  order.  The  question  of  labor  is  a  difficult  one,  for  "  men  contem- 
plate going  to  this  region  with  dread";  but  it  is  thought  that  the 
Chinese  who  were  hunted  out  two  years  ago,  and  who  took  refuge  in 
Russian  territory,  might  be  willing  to  come  back  and  resume  work, 
and  should  be  invited  to  do  so.  The  troops  should  be  employed  in 
clearin"  a  road  from  Tsitsihar  across  the  mountains,  and  arrangements 
must  lie  made  to  increase  the  garrisons  in  this  part  of  Manchuria. 
These  proposals  appear  to  have  been  accepted,  and  accordingly  t 
mines  will  now  be  worked  with  the  aid  and  under  the  control  of  the 
Chinese  Government,  though  no.niiuilly  by  a  joint-stock  company.— 
The  London  Timet. 


AVIXG  liegiin  work 
with  the  first  day  of 
tin'  year  anil  carried 
it  on  through  the  almost 
intolerable  heat  of  the 
fiercest  Kgyptian  spring 
known  for  at  least  the  last 
decade,  Mr.  \V.  M.  1  lin- 
den Petrie  has  at  length 
brought  his  arduous  Fay- 
iim  campaign  to  a  close. 
The  last  report  on  Mr. 
Petrie's  explorations  left 
him  at  Beyahmu,  where 
he  had  succeeded  in  iden- 
tifying not  only  the  shat- 
tered remains  of  the  two 
colossi  described  by  Her- 
odotus, (chapter  \\'->, 
Book  II,)  but  also  the 
twin  pedestals  upon  which 
stood  and  the; 


they  i 


sloping 


inclosure  walls   by  wl. 


ping 
hich 

each  statue  was  surround- 
ed, thus  solving  the  prob- 
lem of  their  apparent,  but 
impossible,  position  on 
tin1  tops  of  a  pair  of  pyr- 
amids. From  Beyahmu 
Mr.  Petrie  moved  on  to 

Ilawara,  about  four  miles  distant  in  a  southeast  direction,  and  it  is 
from  this  point  that  we  again  take  up  the  thread  of  his  adventures. 
At  Ilawara  there  is  a  dilapidated  brick  pyramid  which  enjoys  the 
reputation  of  never  having  been  opened,  and  an  extensive  area  of 
level  ground  thickly  honeycombed  with  the  foundations  of  brick 
buildings.  These  foundations  and  this  pyramid  were  conjecturally 
identified  by  Lepsius  nearly  fifty  years  ago  with  the  remains  of  the 
Labyrinth  and  the  tomb  of  the  founder.  The  meanness  of  the  ruins 
and  the  poverty  of  the  material  have,  however,  caused  his  identifica- 
tion to  be  received,  at  all  events,  of  late  years,  with  considerable 
mistrust,  and  it  was  with  a  view  to  settling  this  interesting  Question 
that  Mr.  Petrie  migrated  to  Hawara  on  the  24th  of  last  January 
with  a  following  of  fifty-three  men  and  boys,  and  pitched  his  teut  in 
the  shadow  of  the  pyramid.  As  far  as  the  Labyrinth  was  concerned, 
a  first  glance  at  the  ruins  in  the  plain  was  enough.  His  practical 
knowledge  of  epochs  of  building  in  the  Nile  Valley,  and  of  the  date 
of  bricks  as  determined  by  their  dimensions  and  quality,  showed  him 
at  once  that  these  foundations  represented  an  extensive  village  of 
the  period  of  Roman  rule  in  Egypt.  He  hesitated,  nevertheless, 
before  entirely  rejecting  Lepsius's  hypothesis.  The  general  aspect 
of  the  site  corresponded  fairly  well  witli  the  descriptions  of  the 
Labyrinth  in  Herodotus  and  Strabo  ;  and  this,  at  all  events,  could 
be  said  of  no  other  place  in  the  Fayum.  Strabo  pays  :  "  We  have 
here  in  the  Labyrinth  a  work  equal  to  the  pyramids,  and  adjoining 
it  the  tomb  of  the  King  who  constructed  the  Labyrinth.  After  pro- 
ceeding beyond  the  first  entrance  of  the  canal  about  thirty  or  forty 
stadia  there  is  a  table-shaped  plain  with  a  village  and  a  large  palace 
composed  of  as  many  palaces  as  there  were  formerly  nomes.  ...  At 
the  end  of  this  building,  which  occupies  more  than  a  stadium,  is  the 
tomb,  which  is  a  quadrangular  pyramid,  each  side  of  which  is  about 
four  plethra  in  length  and  of  equal  height."  (Chapter  1,  section  37, 
Book  XVII.)  So  also  Herodotus,  at  the  end  of  his  famous  descrip- 
tion of  this  marvellous  building,  which,  in  his  opinion,  surpassed  all 
the  greatest  works  of  the  Greeks,  expressly  says  :  "  At  the  corner  of 
the  Labyrinth  stands  a  pyramid  forty  fathoms  high  with  large  figures 
engraved  on  it,  which  is  entered  by  a  subterranean  passage."  (Chap- 
ter 148,  Book  II.) 

Here,  then,  was  the  table  land,  and  here,  on  the  verge  of  the  table- 
land, was  the  pyramid.  Stripped  of  the  stone  casing  with  which  it 
must  have  been  covered  when  Herodotus  saw  it  engraved  with 
"  large  figures,"  it  still  answered,  without  more  discrepancy  than 
might  be°  allowed  for  surface  loss,  to  the  measurement  given  by 
Strabo.  That  is  to  say,  the  four  plethra  of  the  Greek  geographer 
equal  400  feet,  and  the  present  dimensions  of  the  square  of  the 
pyramid  are  about  348  feet  each  way.  So  Mr.  Petrie  decided  to  lay 
si'ege  to  the  place  by  opening  the  pyramid,  and  excavating  below  the 
Roman  remains  in  the  "  table-land."  The  results  of  this  last  test 
were  extremely  interesting.  The  Roman  houses  proved  to  have  been 
built  upon  a  foundation  composed  of  a  mass  of  the  finest  white  lime- 
stone chips,  clearly  the  de"bris  of  some  vast  building.  Digging 
through  this  de'bris,  Mr.  Petrie  everywhere  discovered,  below  the 
chipa,  a  most  carefully-prepared  foundation  —  such  a  foundation  as 
was  never  dreamed  of  in  Raraesside  times  —  consisting  in  some 
places  of  a  kind  of  concrete  made  of  rammed  stone  chips,  and  in 
other  places  of  clean,  levelled  sand,  lie  then  tracked  out  to  the 
edges  of  the  site,  and  ascertained  that  the  building  must  have 
covered  an  immense  area  of  some  forty  or  fifty  acres  in  extent. 
Fragments  of  the  original  pavement  were  also  found  here  and  there 
in  situ.  Having  sounded  these  depths  of  ruin  —  sounded,  and 
dredged,  and  brought  up  nothing,  not  the  merest  scrap  of  inscription 


810 


The   American   Architect  and  Building   News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  653. 


or  moulding  — he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  not  even  the  most  thor- 
ough sifting  of  the  whole  "  table-land "  was  likely  to  produce 
anything  mtire.  As  for  the  stone  chambers  discovered  by  Lepsius, 
and  byliim  identified  as  part  of  the  Labyrinth,  Mr.  Petrie  testifies 
that  they  were  constructed  in  a  pit  dug  through  the  great  bed  of  the 
concrete,  and  are  therefore  undoubtedly  subsequent  to  the  original 
building.  They  also  closely  resemble  some  tombs  of  Roman  epoch 
which  are  found  in  the  same  neighborhood.  To  sum  up,  Lepsius 
was  correct  as  to  the  site,  but  wrong  as  to  the  ruins,  and  it  is  now 
clear  that,  after  having  served  for  many  centuries  as  a  quarry  for 
the  architects  of  Medinet-el-Fayum,  the  most  renowned  building  of 
all  antiquity  has  so  utterly  perished  that  only  its  foundation  remains 
to  preserve  the  measure  of  its  greatness. 

The  opening  of  the  pyramid  (the  traditional  sepulchre  of 
Amenemhat  1 1 1,  the  "  Moeris  "  of  the  Greek  writers)  was  a  longer 
and  a  far  more  arduous  undertaking  than  the  exploration  of  the 
Labyrinth,  of  which  that  I'haraoh  was  the  builder.  The  stone 
casing,  as  before  mentioned,  is  entirely  gone,  and  all  that  now 
remains  is  a  crumbling  structure  of  sun-dried  bricks,  to  which 
Lepsius  half  a  century  ago,  and  Vassal!  some  twenty-five  years  later, 
did  much  damage  without  discovering  the  entrance.  A  vast  number 
of  bricks  have  been  knocked  away  on  the  north  and  east  faces,  while 
on  the  south  side  the  pyramid  presents  the  appearance  of  a  mere 
mound  of  ruin.  Unpromising  as  it  looked  Mr.  Petrie  decided  to 
attack  it  scientifically,  not  wrecking  the  mass  like  his  predecessors, 
but  tunneling  patiently  to  the  centre  from  the  north  face.  His 
method  is  best  shown  by  the  following  extract  from  one  of  his 
private  journals  written  a  few  days  after  the  work  was  begun : 
"  The  pyramid  tunnel  goes  on  at  the  rate  of  five  feet  per  diem.  The 
bricks  are  all  laid  with  beds  of  loose  sand,  which  runs  out  freely  at  a 
touch,  and  I  was  much  afraid  that  it  would  continue  to  dribble  out 
of  the  joints  and  let  down  all  the  bricks  around  the  tunnel ;  but  it 
holds  up  very  well  with  my  roof  boarding.  The  man  who  works  it 
is  so  confident  of  its  security  that  he  lives  in  the  tunnel  day  and 
night,  being  the  warmest  and  most  sheltered  lodging  he  can  find. 
Three  times  a  day  I  go  in  and  put  up  two  roof  boards,  one  under 
the  middle  of  a  line  of  bricks,  and  another  under  a  joint.  I  tried 
putting  the  boards  under  the  joints  only,  but  then  a  brick  drops  out 
before  I  can  board  up  the  end  of  it  at  the  next  joint.  We  get  three 
bricks'  length,  (about  five  feet),  with  joints,  done  daily.  The  whole 
tunnel  is  six  feet  high  and  two  and  one-half  feet  wide." 

Creeping  forward  in  this  wise,  foot  by  foot,  the  roof  and  sides  con- 
stantly threatening  to  cave  in,  and  the  dust-laden  air  becoming 
hourly  more  and  more  irritating  to  eyes,  throat  and  lungs,  the  miner 
probed  his  way  till  the  centre  was  so  nearly  reached  that  Mr.  Petrie 
hourly  expected  to  strike  the  walls  of  the  sepulchral  chamber.  Then 
came  the  first  of  a  series  of  disappointments.  He  discovered  that  his 
tunnel  was  skirting  a  dense  brick  wall,  built  without  sand  joints,  and 
entirely  different  from  the  mass  through  which  he  had  hitherto  been 
working.  This  wall  descended  at  a  rapid  slope  into  the  native  rock, 
which  had  evidently  been  excavated  to  receive  the  core  of  the  build- 
ing. Following  it,  Mr.  Petrie  presently  found  that  it  went  below  the 
base  of  the  outer  structure,  and  then  turned  due  west,  at  right 
angles  to  the  former  direction ;  he  accordingly  turned  the  course  of 
his  tunnel,  and,  still  hugging  the  wall,,  reached  a  large  brick  arch, 
which  he  at  once  recognized  as  the  vaulting  above  the  stone  roof 
of  the  chamber.  The  work  had  now  become  so  exciting  that  he  put 
on  relays  of  men  for  both  night  and  day  tunneling,  and  offered  re- 
wards to  the  one  who  should  first  reach  the  stone  masonry  and  the 
one  who  should  first  get  into  the  chamber.  The  former  prize  was 
won  that  same  night.  At  1.30  in' the  morning  a  couple  of  boys  who 
helped  in  the  night  work  came  running  to  the  tent,  crying,  "  El 
ha«ar  telat !  El  odeh  gai!"  ("The  stone  appears!  the"  room  is 
come !  ")  This  stone  proved  to  be  one  of  the  roofing  blocks  of  the 
chamber  which,  as  Mr.  Petrie  had  expected,  was  constructed  like  the 
chamber  in  the  recently-opened  pyramid  of  Pepi  Merira  at  Sakkarah, 
with  a  pent  roof  made  of  enormous  stone  beams  tilted  against  each 
other  at  an  angle  of  forty-live  degrees.  Now,  the  roof  of  Pepi's 
chamber,  which  consists  of  three  layers  of  stone  beams,  is  fifteen  feet 
thick,  and  as  it  seemed  improbable  that  the  Pharaoh  of  the  Laby- 
rinth should  have  erected  for  himself  a  tomb  less  massive  than  that 
of  Pepi,  Mr.  Petrie,  who  had  no  proper  quarrying  tools  and  no 
skilled  quarrymen,  naturally  hesitated  before  the  difficulties  of  so 
heavy  a  task.  The  next  day's  work  showed  these  difficulties  to  be 
even  greater  than  he  had  anticipated.  The  stone  wall  supporting 
the  roof  was  found  to  be  ten  feet  in  thickness,  the  roof  itself  being 
strengthened  by  a  bank  of  enormous  stone  beams  stacked  on  edge! 
To  get  through  such  a  mass  was  all  but  impossible,  and  to  sink"  a 
shaft  through  a  roof  fifteen  feet  thick  was  almost  as  bad.  Yet  this 
last  was  the  only  way,  and,  nothing  daunted,  Mr.  Petrie  resolved  to 
attempt  it. 

The  heat  by  this  time  had  become  tremendous.  It  was  close  upon 
the  end  of  April,  and  in  less  than  three  weeks  the  great  Moham- 
medan fast  of  Ramadan  would  be  at  hand,  when  no  man  works  and 
all  things  are  at  a  standstill.  Yet,  with  skilled  labor,  if  skilled  labor 
could  be  had,  the  thing  might  surely  be  done.  So  our  explorer 
started  off  to  Medinet-el-Fayum,  and  engaged  the  services  of  certain 
masons,  who  undertook  to  pierce  the  roof  for  him  at  the  rate  of  five 
shillings  per  cubic  metre.  As  they  were  accustomed  to  making  rock- 
cut  wells  and  cisterns,  and  reported  of  themselves  as  doing  °on  the 
average  one  metre  a  day,  Mr.  Petrie  now  constantly  hoped  to  get 
into  the  chamber  in  less  than  a  week.  But  alas  for  the  vanity  of 


human  expectations,  especially  in  Egypt !  Two  days  went  by  and 
no  masons  came.  At  last,  on  the  third  day,  a  couple  of  workmen 
made  their  appearance,  expecting  to  meet  their  master  on  the  spot. 
The  master  mason,  however,  never  came  at  all,  and,  after  hanging 
aimlessly  about  the  place  for  some  twenty-four  hours,  the  workmen 
went  their  way.  Meanwhile  three  or  four  of  his  own  men  and  boys 
had  been  down  with  sunstroke,  and  Air.  Petrie,  seeing  the  utter 
hopelessness  of  the  position  found  himself  reluctantly  compelled  to 
defer  the  boring  of  the  roof  till  next  season.  The  disappointment, 
of  course,  is  "real;  but  it  is  a  mere  disappointment  of  delay,  and  not 
of  failure.  Much  is  already  achieved.  The  tunnel  is  made ;  the 
sepulchral  chamber  is  found ;  and  within  a  fortnight  after  Mr. 
Petrie's  return  to  Hawara  next  season  "we  may  expect  to  receive  full 
particulars  of  the  opening  of  the  tomb  of  an  Egyptian  Pharaoh  — 
an  event  unparalleled  in  the  records  of  modern  explorations.  Nor 
is  this  all.  The  Pyramid  of  Hawara,  like  the  Pyramids  of  Ghizch 
and  Sakkarah,  had  a  funerary  chapel  adjoining,  and  among  the 
ruins  of  this  chapel  Mr.  Petrie  has  found  fragments  of  several  hiero- 
glyphic inscriptions,  containing  the  cartouches  of  Amenemhat  1 1 1. 
There  can  therefore  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  this  pyramid  is  the 
tomb  of  that  famous  King,  or  that  his  mummy  yet  reposes  in  its  in- 
violate sepulchre. 

While  the  pyramid  tunnel  was  in  progress  Mr.  Petrie  was  actively 
engaged  in  the  exploration  of  a  vast  cemetery,  hitherto  unknown  and 
untouched,  which  he  discovered  in  the  immediate  neighborhood.  It 
proved  to  be  entirely  of  the  Greek  and  Grajco-Roman  period,  and 
must  have  been  the  necropolis  of  the  town  built  over  the  site  of  the 
Labyrinth.  The  graves  reach  to  no  great  depth  below  the  surface 
—  that  is  to  say,  it  does  not  consist  of  successive  strata  of  tombs  like 
the  great  burial  fields  of  Sakkarah,  Abydos  and  Thebes  —  but  it  ex- 
tends over  a  surface  of  something  like  one  hundred  acres.  The 
superficial  character  of  the  intermines  made  it,  however,  very  easy  to 
work,  and  Mr.  Petrie  has  consequently  been  able  to  exhaust  the 
richest  quarters  in  a  single  season.  He  has  exhumed  many  hundreds 
of  mummies,  and  found  an  extraordinary  number  of  interesting 
objects  buried  with  the  dead,  as  funerary  vases  in  alabaster,  terra- 
cotta and  glass ;  toilet  ornaments,  tools,  toys,  coins  (chiefly  Roman  ;) 
amulets,  mirrors,  beads,  moulds,  a  casket  with  panels  of  carved  ivory, 
hundreds  of  fragmentary  papyri,  consisting  mainly  of  lists  and 
accounts ;  a  great  store  of  funerary  wrappings  of  beautiful  em- 
broidered and  woven  textiles,  such  as  have  lately  been  found  in  the 
Roman  and  Coptic  quarters  of  the  great  cemetery  at  Ekhmeem,  and, 
most  interesting  of  all,  a  splendid  fragment  of  the  Second  Book  of 
the  Iliad,  written  on  papyrus  in  the  finest  Greek  hand,  before  the 
rounded  uncial  or  cursive  scripts  came  into  use.  This  precious  docu- 
ment was  found  rolled  up  under  the  head  of  a  mummy  which  was 
buried  simply  in  the  sand,  without  the  protection  of  a  tomb.  Mr. 
Petrie  has  not  yet  ventured  to  unroll  it,  but  it  measures  apparently 
from  three-and-one-half  feet  to  four  feet  in  length.  The  depth  of 
the  papyrus  sheet  is  eleven  inches,  with  twenty-two  lines  of  horizontal 
writing  between  two  wide  margins  at  top  and  bottom.  The  date  of 
the  manuscript  is  about  the  second  or  third  century.  It  will  be 
edited  by  Professor  Sayce. 

The  mummies  found  in  the  cemetery  are,  as  usual,  of  all  classes, 
some  parts  being  crowded  with  poor  interments  and  others  reserved 
for  the  tombs  of  the  rich.  These  last  are  for  the  most  part  of  a  style 
elsewhere  known,  being  inclosed  in  elaborately-gilded  cartonnages, 
inlaid  upon  the  stuccoed  surface  with  imitation  jewelry  incrusted 
with  cut-jaspers,  cornelians,  onyxes  and  other  precious  stones.  But 
by  far  the  most  valuable  possessions  which  these  good  Egyptians  of 
Roman  time  carried  with  them  to  their  graves  were  their  portraits  — 
portraits  painted  on  panel,  the  pigments  being  laid  on  with  a  wax 
medium,  and  in  many  instances  as  fresh  as  the  day  when  they  left 
the  easel  of  the  artist.  Of  these  Mr.  Petrie  has  found  no  less  than 
sixty  —  men  and  women,  youths  and  maidens,  and  children  of  both 
sexes ;  some  admirably  free  and  bold  in  treatment,  some  delicately 
and  even  minutely  finished,  others  stiff  and  hard,  thus  showing  the 
work  of  various  hands,  and  testifying  to  the  existence  of  a  local 
school  of  art  in  this  remote  provincial  town  of  Upper  Egypt  which 
can  have  been  little,  if  at  all,  inferior  to  the  contemporaneous  schools 
of  Rome  and  Pompeii.  Twelve  of  the  finest  of  these  portraits  have 
been  claimed  by  M.  Gre"baut  for  the  Boulak  Museum;  but  among 
the  forty-eight  which  Mr.  Petrie  brings  to  England  are  some  very 
beautiful  specimens.  The  best  of  these,  together  with  a  large 
number  of  the  richest  gilded  mummies  and  many  hundreds  of  in- 
teresting antiquities  from  the  Hawara  Cemetery,  will,  it  is  under- 
stood, be  exhibited  in  London  during  the  present  season.  —  London 
Times. 


\VO  English  architects,  Messrs.  Graham  &  Ashbee,  have  made 
a  pleasant  book  of  travels,1  composed  in  agreeable  proportions  of 
general  description  of  country,  people  and  manners,  on  the  one 

hand,  and  of  architectural  observations  and  research  on  the  other. 

No  specialty  perhaps  is  so  excellent  a  stimulant  to  the  interest  of 


^^"^.'"iS^ffel'Sft  a  map'  a  8'oss!"-y,  a  bibliography 
FraKTs     Udoi^T  '  F'  *•  J>  B"  A"  and  N'  S'  As 


and  fifty  illus- 


JUNE  30,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect   and  Jinlfding  News. 


311 


foreign  travel  as  that  of  architecture ;  and  where  the  man  of  general 
education  and  culture  passing  through  a  region  but  ill-provided  with 
the  conveniences  and  comforts  which  the  modern  tourist  requires, 
linds  the  balance  between  pleasure  and  the  price  paid  for  it  to  in- 
cline slightly  in  the  wrong  direction,  the  architect's  enjoyment  is  re- 
inforced by  "an  artistic  intere-t  which  rises  easily  superior  to  all  the 
discomforts  and  privations  of  the  way. 

From  an  immemorial  antiquity,  the  southern  shore?  of  the  Medi- 
terranean Sea  have  shared,  not  the  darkness  and  barbarism  of  the 
ui-c.ii  Continent  to  which  they  belong  geographically,  but  the  most 
advanced  civilization  of  the  governing  races  of  the  earth.  As  the 
star  of  empire  has  taken  its  westward  way,  these  [-bores  have  lain 
full  in  its  track.  Of  the  Plwnician  civilization  we  know  but  little, 
but  that  little  is  enough  to  show  us  the  traces  of  a  power  which  was 
able  to  defy  for  centuries  the  conquering  pride  of  Rome.  Its  time 
came  at  last,  and  Carthage  disappeared  from  the  lace  of  the  earth  so 
completely  that  even  the  imagination  and  enthusiasm  of  the  archae- 
ologists have  been  unable  to  reconstruct  its  splendors.  The  Romans 
entered  into  possession,  and  over  the  whole  of  this  vast  region  for 
eight  hundred  years  the  pulse  of  Roman  life  beat  stn.n;.;  and  full. 
Great  cities  arose  with  their  solid  and  enduring  monuments  — 
temples,  aqueducts,  roads,  —  a  teeming  population  covered  the  fertile 
plains  with  farms  and  villas,  and  cultivated  the  arts  of  peace  and 
war.  Then  came  in  their  turn  the  Arabian  hordes,  sweeping  west- 
ward with  the  banner  of  the  Prophet,  bringing,  first  desolation,  and 
then,  anew  civilization  on  the  ruins  of  the  old  —  a  civilization  in 
which  the  most  delicate  and  fragile  forms  of  art,  and  the  habits  of 
the  most  luxurious,  most  enervating  indolence  were  set  alongside  a 
fanaticism  and  warlike  energy  capable  of  going  all  lengths  in  the 
direction  of  ferocity  and  barbarism.  The  wave  of  Mahommedanism 
passed  on  and  reached  on  the  hills  of  Granada  and  in  the  valley  of 
the  Guadalquivir  its  breaking  point.  For  seven  hundred  years  the 
Moorish  power  maintained  itself  in  Spain,  and  recruited  itself  from 
the  great  storehouse  of  Northern  Africa.  But  the  Moorish  civiliza- 
tion was  out  of  touch  with  that  of  Europe,  and  when  it  was  expelled 
from  Spain,  it  lost  its  last  hope  of  taking  a  place  among  the  perma- 
nent and  progressive  civilizations  of  the  modern  world.  The  shores  of 
Northern  Africa  received  back  the  exiles  of  Cordova  and  Granada, 
but  the  tide  was  ebbing  fast.  The  later  history  of  the  Moors  has 
been  the  history  of  a  relapse  into  barbarism  and  obscurity,  and  the 
regions  which  they  conquered  and  colonized  with  unprecedented 
rapidity  have  lain  broad  open  to  the  first  comer  who  cared  to  make 
a  serious  effort  to  possess  himself  of  them. 

The  first  comer  turned  out  to  be  France,  a  nation  never  much 
given  to  colonial  enterprise,  but  which  has,  during  the  last  fifty  years, 
set  herself  resolutely  to  the  work  of  rehabilitating  this  much  worn- 
out  country,  building  her  fringes  of  Parisian  streets  and  stately  terraces 
along  the  sea-front  of  the  old  Moorish  towns,  driving  her  long  lines  of 
railway  along  the  coast  and  far  into  the  interior,  and  establishing 
her  comprehensive  system  of  provincial  and  municipal  administra- 
tion all  over  the  country.  England  has  been  the  great  colonizer,  but 
it  would  be  difficult  to  find  any  English  colony  which  has,  in  the  first 
half  century  of  its  existence,  taken  on  so  much  of  the  aspect  and 
character  of  an  English  community  as  Algeria  has  acquired  of  the 
aspect  and  character  of  a  French  community. 

The  Kienchman  has  his  fine  estate  well  under  his  eye,  and  from 
the  great  port  of  Marseilles  the  cities  of  the  African  coast,  Oran, 
Algiers,  Bone,  Tunis  and  the  rest,  are  reached  by  daily  steamers 
more  easily  and  quickly  than  many  portions  of  France  itself. 

That  a  region  occupying  such  a  central  position  on  the  map  of 
Europe  (for  to  all  intents  and  purposes  these  countries  are  not 
African  but  European)  with  a  history  so  well  filled  with  romance 
and  connected  with  the  history  of  the  foremost  peoples  of  all 
the  ages,  should  be  so  almost  wholly  an  unknown  land  to  the 
hordes  of  European  and  American  travellers  who  every  winter  over- 
run the  northern,  eastern  and  western  shore*  of  the  Mediterranean 
-  who  look  westward  from  the  cities  of  Sicily,  or  eastward  from  the 
cities  of  Spain,  oblivious  of  the  vast  region  almost  within  their  vision, 
appears  at  first  thought  incomprehensible.  Especially  when  one 
remembers  that  Algiers  has  become  during  these  last  years,  by 
virtue  of  its  climate,  a  winter  resort  scarcely  less  crowded  and 
fashionable  than  the  towns  of  the  Riviera,  does  it  seem  singular 
that  in  Constantine  and  Tunis  an  English  or  American  face  is  as 
rare  as  in  the  Sandwich  Islands. 

Yet  if  one  is  asked  what  are  the  attractions  which  should  induce 
the  stream  of  pleasure  travel  to  turn  itself  into  the  abandoned  ways 
of  the  Barbary  States,  he  will  not  improbably  find  himself  somewhat 
at  loss  for  a  satisfactory  reply.  The  general  aspect  of  the  country  is, 
it  must  be  confessed,  not  alluring.  Scorched  by  the  southern  sun 
and  bv  the  hot  breath  of  the  desert,  shut  off  from  the  sea  by  the 
long  chain  of  the  Atlas  Mountains,  it  stretches  itself  out  in  vast  arid 
plains,  treeless,  houseless,  vacant  of  every  living  thing,  save  where 
one  comes  upon  an  encampment  of  wandering  Arabs  with  their  white 
tents,  their  grazing  camels,  their  majestic  white-robed  figures,  with 
swarthy  faces  and  fierce  eyes  glowing  under  the  shadow  of  the  hood. 
The  blessed  steam-train  takes  you  over  these  desolate  wastes  none 
too  quickly.  There  are,  of  course,  exceptions.  One  may  make  most 
intcrestin'}  excursions  northward  into  the  valleys  of  the  Atlas,  or  to 
their  seaward  slopes  where  the  Kabyles  dwell,  or  he  may  travel 
southward  to  the  edge  of  the  great  desert,  and  luxuriate  amonq;  the 
palms  and  the  fountains  of  Biskra  or  of  Gabes.  But  these  are 


epi-odes   which   involve  certain   privations,  not   to  sav  hardships,  to 
which  the  modern  tourist  is  little  disposed  to  subject  himself. 

The  interest  centres  in  the  towns,  of  which  Algiers,  Constantine 
and  Tunis  may  lie  confidently  said  to  surpass  in  pictorial  effect  any 
of  the  cities  of  Europe,  an  effect  altogether  apart  from  any  archi- 
tectural pictiircs"|iiencss,  but  due  to  the  fact  that  the  traveller  is 
here  brought  face  to  face  with  the  people,  the  dress,  the  customs  of 
the  East,  unchanged  by  time  or  by  contact  with  the  conquering 
Franks.  In  the  narrow  streets,  in  the  bazaars,  in  the  cafes,  in  the 
mosques  (for  in  Algiers,  though  not,  we  believe,  elsewhere,  a  Chris- 
linn  e\cn  i»  suffered  to  enter  the  sacred  gates),  the  pictures  and  the 
scenes  one  witnesses  are  the  pictures  and  the  scenes  of  Oriental  life, 
and  full  of  the  color,  the  movement,  the  strange  remoteness  of  the 
East.  Not  in  Cairo  or  Damascus  does  one  see  more  characteristic 
types  or  feel  himself  more  steeped  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  "  Arabian 
Nights  "  than  in  Tangier,  Algiers  or  Tunis.  But  if  the  traveller  looks 
beyond  this  pictorial  aspect  and  seeks  for  any  splendor  of  monu- 
mental art,  any  imposing  remains  of  the  old  greatness,  either  of 
-Moorish  or  of  Roman  dominion,  he  is  doomed  to  disappointment. 
When  one  reflects  how  little  is  left,  even  in  Spain,  of  the  art  of  the 
Moors,  how  little,  even  in  Italy,  of  the  art  of  the  Romans,  one  will 
think  it  less  surprising  that  in  Africa,  where  the  life  of  the  people 
has,  since  the  Arabian  conquest,  been  for  the  most  part  nomadic,  so 
nearly  nothing  remains  of  the  fragile  structures  of  the  Moors  or  of 
the  more  enduring  monuments  of  Rome. 

Of  the  latter,  however,  there  is  left  one  striking  example,  which, 
in  spite  of  neglect  and  abuse,  remains  to  this  day  in  a  tolerable  state 
of  preservation.  This  is  the  great  amphitheatre  at  El  Djem,  some 
hundred  miles  south  of  Tunis,  near  the  sea.  El  Djem  is  the  ancient 
Thysdrus,  a  city  of  which  little  or  nothing  seems  to  be  accurately 
known.  But  the  size  and  magnificence  of  this  theatre  is  striking 
evidence  of  the  importance  of  the  community  for  which  such  a 
structure  was  thought  fitting.  All  other  traces  of  the  Roman  city- 
have  disappeared  —  temples,  basilicas,  baths,  aqueducts  —  nothing 
is  left  but  this  majestic  amphitheatre,  which,  as  at  Rome,  Aries, 
Verona,  Nismes,  has  stood  while  all  around  it  crumbled  and  sank 
beneath  the  soil.  In  size  this  monument  approaches  more  nearly 
the  dimensions  of  its  great  prototype,  the  Colosseum  of  Rome,  than 
any  other  of  the  provincial  amphitheatres  except  Verona,  which  it 
very  nearly  equalled,  its  major  axis  being  489  feet,  its  minor  axis 
403,  while  in  design  it  followed  the  Colosseum  more  closely  than 
any  other  rival,  having  three  stories  of  open  arcades,  surmounted  by 
a  solid  attic  broken  by  pilasters.  The  attic  is  gone,  if,  indeed,  ft 
was  ever  finished;  a  great  breach  equal  to  one-quarter  the  perimeter 
of  the  building  was  opened  two  hundred  years  ago  by  Turkish 
artillery.  "The  ranges  of  seats  in  the  interior  have  long  since  dis- 
appeared and  the  arena  is  choked  with  earth  and  a  confused  mass 
of  stone  and  rubble." 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  French  occupation  of  these  regions  has 
now  lasted  for  upwards  of  fifty  years,  and  that  so  little,  so  nearly  noth- 
ing in  fact,  has  yet  been  done  in  the  way  of  intelligent  and  scientific 
exploration  of  the  sites  of  Roman  cities.  It  must  not  be  supposed 
that  the  architecture  of  which  such  scanty  remains  now  exist  alx>ve 
ground,  was,  on  account  of  its  provincial  situation,  inferior  in 
character  to  that  of  the  capital.  The  drawings  and  measurements 
of  Bruce  indicate  that  the  details  and  proportions  of  the  orders  were 
practically  the  same  as  at  Rome  and  Messrs.  Graham  and  Ashbee 
confirm  his  authority.  In  their  account  of  the  Temple  of  Dong«a, 
they  remark  that  "for  elegance  of  design  this  portico  will  compare 
favorably  with  any  of  the  better-known  examples  of  Rome  or  else- 
where." But  the  interest  of  the  French  in  the  antiquities  of  their 
new  province  has  not  yet  been  awakened,  and  whatever  may  be  said 
of  the  abuse  of  the  ancient  monuments  by  the  Arabs,  it  must  be 
acknowledged  that  the  French  have  shown  them  quite  as  little  rever- 
ence, while  they  have  proved  more  active  in  destroying  what 
remained  of  the  ancient  buildings  whenever  their  materials  could 
profitably  be  made  use  of  in  new  structures. 

No  really  important  work  of  Arabian  architecture  can  be  said  to 
exist  in  Northern  Africa.  Messrs.  Graham  and  Ashbee  have  amply 
described  the  best  that  can  be  found  in  Tunis,  in  Kaironan,  in  Susa, 
but  beside  the  exquisite  remains  at  Seville  and  Granada  they  are 
insignificant  indeed.  The  most  notable  among  them,  as  it  is  also  the 
most  ancient,  is,  doubtless,  the  mosque  of  Sidi  Okbar  at  Kaironan. 
It  was  built  as  we  are  told,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  after 
the  Hegira,  or  late  in  the  eighth  century.  It  is  in  plan  and  gene- 
ral design,  much  like  the  greater  mosque  at  Cordova,  which,  how- 
ever, is  much  more  recent.  An  open  quadrangle  is  surrounded  by 
an  arcade  on  three  sides,  the  fourth  being  occupied  by  the  praver- 
chamber  or  interior  mosque,  with  seventeen  aisles,  separated  by 
marble  shafts  of  various  colors,  to  the  number  of  five  hundred  or 
more,  "  with  capitals  and  bases  mostly  of  white  marble,  the  spoil  of 
the  chief  buildings  of  Roman  Carthage  and  other  towns  in  North 
Africa.  .  .  .  Above  the  shafts  rise  horse-shoe  arches,  and  these  carry 
a  flat  trabcated  ceiling  enriched  with  gold  and  color." 

The  account  of  Keronan.  the  sacred  city,  until  lately  quite  inac- 
cessible to  all  but  true  Moslems,  is  very  interesting.  So  is  the 
account  of  the  remains  of  the  Roman  city  of  Sufetula,  consisting 
mainly  of  "a  range  of  three  temples,  placed  side  bv  side  and  partly 
attached,"  and  surrounded  by  an  enclosing  wall,  ft  is  encouraging, 
in  view  of  the  French  neglect  of  the  antiquities  under  their  control, 
to  be  told  that  "  the  Societ^  des  Monumens  Ilistoriques  is  keeping  a 
watchful  eye  over  these  remarkable  ruins,  and  that  several  inscribed 


812  The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.       [You  XXIII.  — No.  653. 


stones  tin-owing  much  light  on  the  history  of  Sufetula  have  recently 
been  unearthed."  "•    **    "• 


SHOULD     ARCHITECTS    GUARANTEE    THE    COST    OF 
BUILDINGS? 

OTTAWA,  ILL.,  June  23, 1888. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs.  —  A  few  weeks  since  I  was  invited  to  compete  (by 
special  request)  in  a  competition  for  a  court-house  in  California, 
the  amount  set  being  $75,000.  My  design  received  the  indorsement 
of  the  commission,  but  the  Board  of  Supervisors  refused  to  appro- 
priate more  than  $50,000,  and  I  have  been  again  requested  to  present 
plans,  but  am  informed  in  the  notice,  that  the  statutes  of  California 
require  a  bond  of.  $5,000  that  the  building  can  be  constructed  within 
the  estimate  presented.  Now  I  have  no  objection  to  executing  such 
a  bond,  but  it  occurs  to  me,  that  if  such  is  the  statute,  it  is  a  very 
ridiculous  one,  for  in  no  case  could  an  architect  foresee  the  nature  of 
the  estimates  of  the  ordinary  builder  of  the  country,  as  the  follow- 
ing would  show :  I  have  just  contracted  a  building  upon  which  the 
bids  ran  from  $16,000  to  $25,000  and  in  my  opinion  the  former 
bid  was  exactly  what  the  structure  was  worth,  and  the  contractor 
will  make  a  far  better  job  of  it  than  the  higher  bidder,  again,  I  have 
no  record  that  in  any  competition  that  has  taken  place  anywhere 
where  a  committee  has  acted  on  it,  that  the  accepted  plan  was  just 
right,  or  in  other  words,  was  not  changed  after  acceptance  on  the 
order  of  the  committee ;  in  such  a  case  the  bond  would  be  void. 
What  is  your  ideas  of  such  a  requirement. 

Respectfully,  WM.  A.  YOUMANS,  Architect. 

[WE  agree  with  our  correspondent  that  there  is  something  absurd  in  com- 
pelling an  architect  to  guarantee  that  a  building  can  be  erected  for  a  given 
sum,  a  matter  which  often  depends  mainly  upon  local  and  transitory  cir- 
cumstance!', such  as  labor  agitations,  corners  in  material*  in  that  particular 
market,  and  last,  but  not  least,  the  hopefulness,  or  inexperience,  or  state  of 
exhilaration,  of  the  contractors  who  make  tenders.  At  the  same  time,  as 
it  is  very  common  and  proper  to  guard  the  expenditure  of  public  money  by 
reqmiring  security  from  all  those  who  may  be  in  a  position  to  waste  it,  we 
see  no  serious  objection  to  the  furnishing  of  such  a  bond  by  the  architect, 
while  the  fact  that  he  has  furnished  it  gives  him  a  control  over  the  work 
which  may  be  often  of  great  use  to  him  in  checking  the  unauthorized  in- 
terference of  official  persons  with  his  duties.  The  most  important  point  to 
be  made  is,  we  think,  that  the  architect  ought  to  be  suitably  paid  for  as- 
suming this  additional  burden.  By  giving  a  bond,  he  takes  upon  himself 
a  risk  of  loss  from  strike?,  labor  troubles,  bankruptcies,  unexpected  fluctu- 
ations in  the  price  of  materials,  and  so  on,  which  ordinarily  falls  on  the 
owner,  while  if  fortune  should  bring  lower  instead  of  higher  prices,  Hie 
profit  falls  to  the  contractors,  not  to  him.  If  he  were  allowed  to  recompense 
himself  for  his  risk  by  keeping  all  that  he  could  save  out  of  the  allotted  sum, 
he  would  still  be  no  better  off  than  brokers  or  merchants  who  guarantee 
prices  ;  but  this  would  be  considered  very  objectionable  in  the  case  of  an 
architect,  and  the  proper  alternative  is,  where  bonds  are  required,  to  pay 
him  for  his  guarantee  by  a  suitable  percentage  on  the  intended  cost  of  the 
building.  What  this  percentige  should  be,  we  should  hardly  wish  to  say 
definitely,  but  it  could  hardly  be  fairly  less  than  ten  per  cent  on  the  in- 
tended cost.  —  EDITORS  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT.] 

PAYING   PREMIUM   FOR  A   PARTNERSHIP. 

June  21, 1888. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT:  — 

Dear  Sirs.  —  I  should  be  very  much  obliged  if  you  will  tell  me 
what  is  the  custom  as  regards  payment  of  a  premium,  by  an  archi- 
tect about  to  join  another  in  partnership.  A  case  in  point  is  as  fol- 
lows :  A  wishes  to  join  with  15  who  appears  to  have  established  a 
fairly  good  business,  B  demands  $2,000  premium  and  gives  a  guar- 
anty of  $1,000  for  three  years,  the  $2,000  premium  to  be  paid  to  B 
and  A  to  have  no  share  in  it  except  in  the  event  of  dissolution  of 
partnership  by  B  who  then  returns  a  portion  of  it.  Partnership  to 
run  for  three  years.  The  business  turns  out  to  be  worth  next  to 
nothing.  For  two  years  B  makes  up  the  guaranteed  sum  and  in  the 
following  yeargives  the  required  six  months'  notice  and  returns  about 
four  months'  proportion  of  the  $2,000  for  the  six  months.  A  has  for 
two  years  really  been  drawing  out  his  $2,000  again  and  all  that  he  has 
made  of  the  business  is  about  eight  months'  allowance  of  the  last  or 
third  year  of  the  partnership.  Can  this  be  considered  fair  and  just? 
A  signed  the  agreement  believing  B  to  know  more  about  the  matter 
than  he  (A)  did  and  supposed  it  was  all  right.  He  has  his  doubts 
now.  Yours  truly,  EXPERIENCE. 

[Tuis  is  a  matter  about  which  it  would  be  impossible  to  give  an  opinion 
without  knowing  all  the  circumstances.  We  never  knew  a  premium  to  be 
given  for  entering  such  a  partnership  before.  In  most  cases  two  architects 
who  join  forces  either  bring  about  equal  amounts  of  business  to  the  common 
fund,  or  one  of  them  exchanges  his  Hilary  as  draughtsman  for  what  is  esti- 
mated to  be  nearly  an  equivalent  income,  to  be  derived  from  a  share  in  the 
business.  If  B  intentionally  made  false  representations  to  A  in  regard  to 
the  value  of  the  busine-s,  in  order  to  get  his  two  thousand  dollars,  he  might 
perhaps  be  made  to  pay  damages,  but  nothing  is  more  uncertain  than  an 
architect's  income,  and  a  series  of  bad  years  may  have  come  just  after  a 
long  period  of  prosperity.  —  EDITOHS  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT.] 

THE  KATE  OF  FILTRATION*.  —  A  limit  to  the  rapidity  of  filtration  has 
been  generally  adopted  by  the  London  water  companies ;  it  is  repre- 
sented by  the  passage  of  about  540  gallons  of  water  through  each 
square  yard  of  the  upper  surface  area  of  the  filter  in  twenty-four  hours, 
or  two  and  a  half  gallons  through  each  square  yard  of  surface  per  hour. 
Water  passed  through  well-constructed  filter-beds  at  a  rate  not  exceed- 
ing this  becomes  under  ordinary  conditions  bright  and  clear. —  Exchange. 


ANCIENT  BATH  DISCOVERED  —  Prof.  Lanciani  reports  a  most  inter- 
esting find  at  Os .ia,  where  the  work  has  been  resumed  since  his  return 
from  America.  A  bath  has  been  opened  which  seems  to  have  been 
struck  by  some  disaster,  apparently  an  earthquake,  while  in  full  use, 
and  to  have  been  so  completely  buried  as  never  to  have  been  visited 
again.  The  statues  found  are  broken  as  if  by  the  fall  on  them  of  the 
masonry  from  above,  being  split  vertically,  and  the  fragments  being 
found  at  some  distances  from  the  bases.  Lanciani  hopes  for  most  in- 
teresting results  from  this  excavation  when  complete. 

THE  EFFECT  OF  MANGANESE  ON  STEEL.  —  Among  the  inventive  pro- 
cesses shown  in  the  Glasgow  Exhibition  is  one  by  a  Sheffield  firm,  which 
demonstrates  that  steel,  when  mixed  with  manganese  to  the  extent  of 
24  per  cent,  becomes  almost  non-susceptible  to  the  influence  of  a  magnet. 
As  the  non-susceptibility  goes  on  increasing  proportionally  to  the  per- 
centage of  manganese,  it  is  just  possible  that  the  proportion  of  2(i  or  27 
per  cent  leaves  the  steel  wholly  non-magnetic  in  the  sense  that  the  poles 
of  a  magnet  would  fail  to  take  up  any  fine  particles.  For  watch-mak- 
ing and  nautical  purposes  this  will  be  a  very  valuable  contribution  to 
the  discoveries  of  the  day.  —  Court  Journal. 


BUILDF.RS,  small  manufacturers,  and  small  business  men  throughout  the 
interior  of  the  country  have  been  encouraged  within  the  past  few  months 
to  believe  that  the  operation  of  the  Inter-State  Commerce  Law  is  having  and 
will  continue  to  have  a  favorable  effect  upon  their  interests  It  is  too  soon  to 
express  an  opinion  on  a  matter  concerning  which  there  is,  as  yet,  so  little 
statistical  material  from  which  to  draw  conclusions.  It  seems  reasonable, 
however,  to  suppose  that  the  Long  and  Short  Haul  Clause  will  do  good  to 
small  places  and  small  industries  It  was  apparent  for  years  prior  to  the 
enactment  of  that  law  thnt  the  railroads  favored  commercial  and  manufac- 
turing centres  and  competitive  points  at  the  expense  of  non-competitive 
points.  This  evil  grew  to  very  large  dimensions,  but  the  general  public  did 
not  fully  comprehend  its  extent  at  that  time.  Now  that  it  has  been 
removed,  the  beneficial  effects  of  uniformity  in  rates  is  being  felt.  This 
has  given  rise  to  a  decentralization  of  industries,  which  will  probably  con- 
tinue. Taxes  are  lower  in  small  towns  than  in  cities;  wages  are  lower, 
living  is  cheaper  and  more  comfortable,  and  there  are  many  other  advan- 
tages, to  enjoy  which  many  manufacturers  are  being  attracted  from  the 
larger  cities.  Within  the  past  twelve  months",  scores  of  large  enterprises 
have  been  removed  from  larger  cities  to  small  towns  and  comparatively 
country  places.  The  effect  of  this  will  be  felt  for  a  long  time  to  come;  it 
has  helped  and  will  continue  to  help  the  building  interests.  Building  opera- 
tions are  multiplied  where  none  were  before  known.  Houses  are  now  pro- 
jected at  obscure  points  in  numbers  of  from  ten  to  two  hundred  in  a  lot. 
which,  but  for  the  advantages  which  uniform  freight  rates  secure,  would 
not  be  thought  of.  It  may  be  said  that  the  same  amount  of  building  would 
have  been  done  in  the  larger  cities,  but  this  is  scarcely  true,  and  even  were 
as  much  business  done,  it  is  quite  probable  that  the  labor  employed  would 
have  been  compelled  to  put  up  with  crowded  and  inconvenient  quarters 
near  at  hand.  Reference  is  made  to  this  point  to  show  that  what  some 
builders  and  manufacturers  have  recently  said  concerning  the  expansion  of 
building  activity  throughout  the  country'  U  true  and  has  a  solid  basis.  The 
lumber  manufacturers  of  the  Northwest  have  recently  spoken  of  this  ten- 
dency, and  credited  it  with  a  large  share  of  the  improved  demand  for  lum- 
ber. A  little  reference  to  the  lumber  trade  at  this  time  will  be  of  special 
interest.  It  has  been  supposed  by  a  great  many  that  lumber  is  accumulat- 
ing in  quantity  and  declining  in  price.  Statistics  show  this  to  be  an  error. 
Taking  the  Chicago  market  as  a  sample,  the  stocks  from  January  1st  to 
June  20th  are  given  at  56tt.052.000  feet  as  against  545.fi35.000  feet  for  the 
same  period  in  1887,  showing  an  increase  of  over  20,000,000  feet.  Stocks 
of  shingles  show  a  decrease,  while  the  supply  of  hard  wood  remains  about 
the  same.  In  other  words,  the  extraordinary  demand  for  lumber  through- 
out the  sparsely-settled  sections  of  the  country,  for  general  building 
requirements,  has  kept  stocks  low,  and,  in  fact,  has  absorbed  an  enormous 
supply  of  lumber,  which  at  the  opening  of  the  year  seemed  to  threaten  a 
gorge  in  the  market.  This  is  not  a  mere  local  condition,  but  extends 
throughout  the  country.  The  enormous  supply  of  yellow  pine  fiom  the 
Gulf  and  South  Atlantic  States  has  been  promptly  marketed  at  good  prices. 
All  Northern  markets,  from  Boston  to  the  Lakes,  and  as  far  south  as  Haiti- 
more,  are  liberal!  v  supplied  at  this  time,  but  there  is  no  large  accumulation, 
and  the  distribution  of  stocks  from  week  to  week  throughout  the  interior 
is  very  encouraging  to  wholesale  as  well  as  retail  dealers.  Extraordinary 
preparations  are  being  made  in  the  interior  for  increased  supplies  of  hard 
woods;  architects  are  liberal  in  their  recommendations  of  these  woods  and 
builders  are  keeping  almost  a  lock-step  with  them  in  this  respect.  The 
Southern  hard-wood  interests  are  organizing.  Within  the  past  few  months 
six  or  seven  conventions  have  been  held  for  the  purpose  of  regulating  pro- 
duction, inspection,  prices  and  general  trade  interests.  The  effect  of  this 
will  be  that  the  production  of  both  Northern  and  Southern  lumber  will  be 
kept  within  the  market  requirements,  which,  for  the  next  few  years  will 
undoubtedly  increase  in  a  regular  and  steady  way.  The  car-building 
demand  has  slightly  fallen  off;  house-building  demand  is  steady;  railroad 
consumption  is  light;  manufacturing  requirements  are  not  as  urgent  as  a 
year  ago.  Still,  taking  it  all  in  all,  the  lumber  trade  of  the  country  is  in  a 
healthier  condition  than  ever  before  in  this  respect.  It  is  now  so  managed 
that  its  interests  are  under  a  sort  of  centralized  control,  not  for  the  purpose 
of  advancing  pi  ices,  but  of  maintaining  harmony.  Other  branches  of 
industry  are  creeping  along  on  their  hands  and  knees,  so  to  speak,  feeling 
their  way,  and  avoiding  anything  like  over-production.  The  tendency  of 
prices  is  still  downward.  It  is  impossible  to  select  an  industry  wherein  it 
can  be  said  that  there  is  an  upward  tendency  in  prices,  excepting  it  be  in 
two  or  three  branches  of  the  texti.e  trade.  The  demand  for  machinery  of 
nearly  all  kinds  is  exceptionally  active.  The  industrial  condition,  in  a 
general  way,  is  healthy.  In  former  periods,  over-production  would  have 
resulted  before  this.  The  fact  that  the  channels  of  trade  are  not  over-sup- 
plied is  due  to  the  organizations,  which,  in  some  cases,  have  taken  the 
forms  of  trusts  and  in  others  of  syndicates.  These  out-croppings  of  combina- 
tions are,  on  the  whole,  beneficial  and  could  not,  even  were  the  managers 
fo  disposed,  compass  the  injury  of  the  general  public.  Legislation  is  pok- 
ing its  nose  into  many  forms  of  combinations,  with  a  view  of  protecting  the 
public  interests;  it  is  perhaps  a  little  too  soon  to  assert  it,  but  it  is  safe  to 
make  the  assertion  that  the  real  interests  of  the  general  public  will  not  be 
damaged  by  trusts,  syndicates  or  combinations  of  any  kind. 

S.  J.  PARKHILL  &  Co.,  Printers,  Boston. 


Tlje  ^njericarj  ^rcljitect  and  Buildiqg  Qews,  guue  30,  1555.       IJo.  655. 

Copyright,  1888,  by  TICKNOK  &  Co. 


HOUSE  OF  NATHANIEL  THAYER,  ESQ.,  FAIRFIELD  STREET,  BOSTON,  MASS. 

STURGIS  &   BRIGHAM,  Architects. 


JANUARY  7    1888.] 


The    American   Architect   and  Building   News. 


HOUSE  AT  •  THE  :  UPLANDS  "-  WILTON 


PoTCH  •  y  •  TILDEN  -"ARCHITECTS  KUTON 


THE  exterior  of  this  house  is  stained  with 
Cabot's  Creosote  Stain,  for  Shingles,  Fences. 
Clapboards,  Etc.  These  Stains  are  very  dura- 
ble and  give  a  much  more  artistic  effect  than 
paint,  .while  they  are  cheaper,  and  very  easy  to 
apply. 

Prices   are    30,    50,    and    75    cents    per   gallon, 
according  to  color. 

Send  for  Samples  on  Wood,  and  Circulars. 
SAMUEL  CABOT, 

70   Kilby  St.,   Boston,   Mass, 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News.      [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  628. 


Design  f^ 
CARNEGIE  LIBRARY: 


••:*»OW{ 

Dormer  Nuremberg. 


DORMERS, 


JANUARY  14,  1888.] 


The    American   Architect  and  Building   News. 


IX 


HOUSE  AT  •  THE  :  UPLANDS  "•  MILTON 
CTA"yf™  (&BOT.S  (&E050TE 


C.H  •  <T  •  TILDEN  -"ARCHITECTS  KWTOK  • 


""HE  exterior  of  this  house  is  stained  with 
Cabot's  Creosote  Stain,  for  Shingles,  Fences. 
Clapboards,  Etc.  These  Stains  are  very  dura- 
ble and  give  a  much  more  artistic  effect  than 
paint,  while  they  are  cheaper,  and  very  easy  to 
apply. 

Prices   are    30,    50,    and    75    cents    per   gallon, 
according  to  color. 

Send  for  Samples  on  Wood,  and  Circulars. 
SAMUEL  CABOT, 

70   Kilby  St.,   Boston,   Mass. 


The  American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


JANUARY  21,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


HOUSE  -  AT  •  THE  :  UPLANDS  "•  AMLTON 


V  •  T1LDEN  "ARCHITECTS  •  SOJTOK 


THE  exterior  of  this  house  is  stained  with 
Cabot's  Creosote  Stain,  for  Shingles,  Fences. 
Clapboards,  Etc.  These  Stains  are  very  dura- 
ble and  give  a  much  more  artistic  effect  than 
paint,  while  they  are  cheaper,  and  very  easy  to 
apply. 

Prices   are    30,    50,    and    75    cents    per   gallon, 
according  to  color. 

Send  for  Samples  on  Wood,  and  Circulars. 
SAMUEL  CABOT, 

70  Kilby  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News.        [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  630. 


/8\ 


Old          ai       ,„  tt,r 
-  'til  prim  'Hotel.  Pro  /inre 


A  A  /Kt 


CHAIRS. 


JANUARY  28,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Bitilding  News. 


IX 


HOUSE  -  AT  •  THE  :  UPLANDS  "•  MILTON  . 


PoTCH  •  <ff  •  TILPEN  -"XHCHITBCTS  •  tonon-  • 


THE  exterior  of  this  house  is  stained  with 
Cabot's  Creosote  Stain,  for  Shingles,  Fences. 
Clapboards,  Etc.  These  Stains  are  very  dura- 
ble and  give  a  much  more  artistic  effect  than 
paint,  while  they  are  cheaper,  and  very  easy  to 
apply. 

Prices   are    30,    50,    and    75    cents    per   gallon, 
according  to  color. 

Send  for  Samples  on  Wood,  and  Circulars. 
SAMUEL  CABOT, 

70  Kilby  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News.        [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  631. 


• 

H  ^! 
^  % 


FEBRUARY  4,  1888.] 


The    American    Architect   and  Building   News. 


IX 


RpTOH  •  V  •  TILDEN  -"ARCHITECTS  •  ixxnon-  • 


'THE  exterior  of  this  house  is  stained  with 
Cabot's  Creosote  Stain,  for  Shingles,  Fences. 
Clapboards,  Etc.  These  Stains  are  very  dura- 
ble and  give  a  much  more  artistic  effect  than 
paint,  while  they  are  cheaper,  and  very  easy  to 
apply. 

Prices   are    30,    50,    and    75    cents    per   gallon, 
according  to  color. 

Send  for  Samples  on  Wood,  and  Circulars. 
SAMUEL  CABOT, 

70  Kilby  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 


The   American   Architect   ana   JJuilaing   ±\ews.        [VOL.  AAIIJ. —  MO.  632 


FEBRUARY  11,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  Newt. 


IX 


HOUSE  -AT  •  THE:UPLANDS 


PoTCH  •  V  •  TILDEN  -"AKCHITBCTS  •  tomn-  •  • 


THE  exterior  of  this  house  is  stained  with 
Cabot's  Creosote  Stain,  for  Shingles,  Fences. 
Clapboards,  Etc.  These  Stains  are  very  dura- 
ble and  give  a  much  more  artistic  effect  than 
paint,  while  they  are  cheaper,  and  very  easy  to 
apply. 

Prices   are    30,    50,    and    75    cents    per   gallon, 
according  to  color. 

Send  for  Samples  on  Wood,  and  Circulars. 
SAMUEL  CABOT, 

70  Kilby  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 


The  American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


I 


< 

<y 


FEBRUARY  18,  1888-1 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  New*. 


THE  exterior  of  this  house  is  stained  with 
Cabot's  Creosote  Stain,  for  Shingles,  Fences. 
Clapboards,  Ejc.  These  Stains  are  very  dura- 
ble and  give  a  much  more  artistic  effect  than 
paint,  while  they  are  cheaper,  and  very  easy  to 
apply. 

Prices   are    30,    50,    and    75    cents    per   gallon, 
according  to  color. 

Send  for  Samples  on  Wood,  and  Circulars. 
SAMUEL  CABOT, 

70  Kilby  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.       [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  634. 


FEBRUARY  25,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building 


PpTTH  '<"  •  TILDEN  -"ARCHITECTS  -  torron • 


THE  exterior  of  this  house  is  stained  with 
Cabot's  Creosote  Stain,  for  Shingles,  Fences. 
Clapboards,  Etc.  These  Stains  are  very  dura- 
ble and  give  a  much  more  artistic  effect  than 
paint,  while  they  are  cheaper,  and  very  easy  to 
apply. 

Prices   are    30,    50,    and    75    cents    per   gallon, 
according  to  color. 

Send  for  Samples  on  Wood,  and  Circulars. 
,-  I  SAMUEL  CABOT, 

70  Kilby  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 


The  American   Architect  and  Building  News.       [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  686. 


air 


TURRETS. 


8,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  New*. 


^HE  exterior  of  this  house  is  stained  with 
Cabot's  Creosote  Stain,  for  Shingles,  Fences. 
Clapboards,  Etc.  These  Stains  are  very  dura- 
ble and  give  a  much  more  artistic  effect  than 
paint,  while  they  are  cheaper,  and  very  easy  to 
apply. 

Prices   are   30,    50,   and    75    cents    per   gallon, 
according  to  color. 

Send  for  Samples  on  Wood,  and  Circulars. 
SAMUEL  CABOT, 

•    70  Kilby  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  Newt.       [VOL.  XXIII.— No.  636. 


i,£»M  4&L  & 
NMy^2*F4i'  « 

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C/3 

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MARCH  10,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  Newt. 


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GABOT5  CRECtfoTE 


hlii^t,  wl)i1e 

•  _ 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.       [VOL.  XXIII.— No.  687. 


A 


MARCH  17,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  New*. 


iz 


GABOT'5  CREOjoTE  STAIN 


-  CABOT?- 

70  KIL  BY-6  T -- BOSTON - 


The  American   Architect  and  Building  jVem       [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  638. 


MARCH  24,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  New9. 


IX 


GABOT5  CBEQSoTE  STAIN 


Shinle?.  Ffence«,CfanVoaT*  Eli 


CABOT?* 


The  American 


lean   Architect  and  Building  NH*.       [VOL.  XXIII. -No.  639. 


MAKCH  31,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


ix 


ior  of  H)i 


GABOT'5  COEOJoTE  STAIN* 


efrecf 


-  CABOT 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News.        [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  640. 


IAKOGAI 


Mur«i:P«intingi  from    Mt.  Athos,   no*  in  the   Louvra. 


APRIL  7,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  New*. 


GABOT'5  CBEOjoTE 


6T- -BOSTON 


The  American   Architect  and  Building  News.       [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  641. 


W 
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APKIL  14,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News. 


C   14*      1  •          1.     • 

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GABOT'5  CREOjoTE  5TAIN 


indies,  FeT»cc?. 

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,  Wr)ne  rnc    are 


-  CABOT* 


The  American  Architect  and  BuMing  New*.       [Voi,  XXIII.- 


APRIL  21,  18*8.1 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  Newt. 


Jor  of  fbi 


CABOTS  CREOJoTE  5TAIN 

Eti 


Very 

n?u<cfy  more 

rp  YidiWh  wTjile  rnev  are 
Very 

no  waller 


CABoTj 
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The  American  Architect  and  Bwtding  New.       [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  648. 


r? 

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- 
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(._  _?    : 

*- 


From  Normtndy. 


APRIL  28,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  Newt. 


TOT1  of  Fhi 


GABOT'5  CREOSOTE 


$EW  I§<®B  $AWHtl3>  ®N  W®©P,£ 

^  '    •— 

t  S  AMVEL-  CABOT ; 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  Newt.       [VOL.  XXIII. — No.  644. 


_j;      s^f 


'ri^Si'S^iL^S*-^-     ---Kl    " 


DOORWAY  or  AbrhE 
x-  LE-PW?   FXA,VCE- 


DOORWAYS. 


MAT  6,  1888.] 


The    American   Architect  and  Building 


ix 


CABOT 

BosioH 


ALSO  SOLt  MArlTd  CKEOSOTE5WCLC5TAIH5. 


The  American  Architect  and  Building  Newt.       [VOL.  XXIII.- 


MAT  10,  1888.] 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  New*. 


iz 


5AAULL-  QABOT 


BOSTON  •  A\A5S- 


ALSO  SOLE: 


The  American   Architect  and  BwUdmg  News.        [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  647 


*• 
Mo*.-  if'oot 


:  I          •.-•ll-p 


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[1.1^.1. 


KNOCKERS. 


MAY  2(5,  1888.] 


7 lie    American   Architect  and   Building   JVeto*. 


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The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.       [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  648. 


CO 

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JUNK  2,  1888.J 


The   American   Architect   and  limhlimj 


CVJ 

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I 


What  are  the  Best  Sanitary  Appliances? 


Client:  What  kind  of  plumbing  fixtures  shaft  [  put  in  niv  house  1 

.drcAiVect:  That  is  a  pretty  broad  question.  '  Yon  want  those  not  only  the  best  in  theory  but  the  best 
in  practice. 

Client:  Of  course;  but  the  question  remains,  —  what  are  the  best? 

Architect:  Water-closets  are  the  most  important  item.  Personally,  I  think  I  have  the  best  I  have  yet 
seen  here  in  my  office. 

Client:  Of  course,  cost  is  some  object;  I  suppose  a  wash-out  closet  is  good,  and  it  is  certainly  cheap. 

Architect:  Some  closets  which  are  very  cheap  as  to  first  cost  are  the  most  expensive  by  the  time  they 
are  set  up  .Especially  is  this  true  of  the  wash  outs.  Very  cheap  as  they  appear  in  the  lists  they 
are  required  by  law  to  be  back-venled  to  prevent  siphonage,  and  this  inevitably  brings  their  cost 
higher  than  that  of  the  best  siphon  closets.  Then,  too,  their  contained  water  is  very  shallow  and 
the  seal  of  the  trap  is  seldom  as  much  as  two  inches.  But  see  this.  [Shows  closet.] 

client:  That  works  well;  there  seems  to  be  a  powerful  suction  there,—  and  how  clean  it  i>! 

Architect:  Yes;  1  think  so.  I  like  it  because  it  is  so  simple.  It  requires  uo  bar.k-  renting  lifts  but  one 
supply-pipe  and  no  valve,  and  its  depth  of  water  in  the  bowl  is  seven  inches. 


fieiit:  [Noticing  name.]     How  do  you  pronounce  that  name? 
•  •I,;/,,  -i:  Dr-M'ko.     Wooiler  what  the  word  means!    Now  it  is  possible  tH^Pflfc  cfosAis  eel 
exceptionality  favorable  ciraunwtanues,  or  that  it  is  a  selected  eloiof.     You  ?;iy  v.,u  ;,n>  K"!I<K  <» 
by  the  i'ull  Uiver  Line  to-night  ;   well,  there  are  some  twenty  odd  "  Deri-cm,"  on  the  /,'    -'.",  /V- 

ami  nlil  Colony  lioiits.  :  Suppose  you  take  a  look  at  th 
working. 

6U)|(:  I'll  do  so.  and  now  I  must  be  off.    Good-bye. 


at  them  to-night,  and  sec  Imw  th, 


The   American   Architect  and  BuiWng  News. 


'    JU=±^%MU'Al® 

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Ifoi 


JUNE  2,  1888.] 


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xi 


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muc    vnore 


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The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.       [VOL.  XXIII. No.  649. 


,vm  i     Mi 

M&P-M^i^  1 

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JUNE  9,  1888.] 


The  American  Architect  and  Huildnuj  News. 


XI 


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more  arffrc 
tll*,  wliiile  M)ev  are 

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The  American  Architect  and  tiuilding  News.       [VOL.  XXIII.  — No.  650. 


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Detail  Oketch 
plover. 


TOWELS  AND  TURRETS. 


JUNE  16,  1888.] 


Tin'    Ai/iirn-i/n    Arc/ii/ict    ami    H/ii/i/i////    News. 


What  are  the  Best  Plumbing  Appliances? 


Jl    DISCUSSION. 

<  'Heat :  I  see  that  the  Dececo  Company  claims  to  have  a  device  that  obviates  the  stopping  up  of  drains 
but  I  don't  understand  just  what  it  is.  I  had  a  regular  monkey-and-parrot-timc  with  my  kitchen 
drain  last  winter.  It  proved  to  be  plugged  as  tight  as  a  drum. 

Architect:  Of  course,  the  trouble  is  an  almost  universal  one.  It  comes  from  the  coagulation  of  the 
grease  which  gets  so  largely  into  sinks.  The  usual  remedy  hag  been  to  place  in  the  course  of  the 
drain  a  "grease-trap,"  i.e.,  a  vessel  with  an  outlet  higher  than  the  inlet,  which  allows  the  grease 
to  settle  to  the  bottom,  while  the  liquid  only  over-flows.  Of  course,  as  soon  as  the  grease-trap 


gets  full  of  the  solid  matter,  it  has  to  be  emptied,— which  is  a  more  or  less  expensive  and  always 
'.     While  this  operation  is  going  on,  it  is  inevitably  a  very  active  little  nuisance. 


'. 


a  nasty  job.      r „ 

fact,  it  is  simply  a  small  cesspool,  and  is  open  to  all  the  objections  that  apply  to  such. 

<  liml :  I  know  all  that;  but  how  does  the  Dececo  Company  get  around  it? 

J.T/nVec/;  They  do  it  by  a  device  whose  principle,  like  that  of  most  flrnt-rate  inventions,  is  ali.-unlly 
simple.  Il  is  called  a  Hush/iot.  It  is  simply  a  pear-shaped  pot  of  iron  or  brass,  hoi. ling  ahum 
seven  gallons,  which  if  placed  immediately  under  the  sink  (which  may  be  of  iron  or  wood  or  soap- 
stone).  Its  outlet  is  connected  with  the  drain  and  is  closed  by  a  plug  of  brass  attached  to  the  ni'l 
of  a  spindle  which  reaches  up  through  the  usual  strainer  and  terminates  in  a  knob.  In  use,  tin- 
outlet  of  the  flushpot  is  closed,  and  the  sink  is  used  in  tlie  ordinary  manner  until  the  pot  has  be- 
come filled  with  water.  Then  the  plug  is  lifted  by  the  spindle,  and  the  whole  volume  of  seven 
gallons  rushes  out,  acting  as  a  powerful  flush  and  scour  to  the  wautcpipe  and  drain,  carrying 
>  ything  with  it,  and  preventing  any  accumulation  by  its  force.  For  pantry  sinks,  where  not 
so  much  water  is  used,  a  smaller  flushpot  is  made  of  brass,  working  in  the  same  manner. 

'•Unit:  That's  enough;  put  down  both  kinds  of  Dececo  sink  and  flushpot.     \\V11  divide  Inter  what 
sizes  to  have. 


VI 


The   American   Architect  and  Building  News.     [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  651. 


f^/TV;- 
JffWSoXg^Ot. 


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JUNE  16,  1888.] 


The  American  Architect  and  Kuilding  News. 


XI 


ejcfertor  of  FK»<;  f^ov^e  is 


GABOT'5  CREQ5oT&  5TAIN 

,  Fences. 


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The  American  Architect  and  Building  News.       [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  651. 


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JUNE  23,  1888.]  The   Annrn-an,   Architect  and  Building  News. 


What  are  the  Best  Plumbing  Appliances? 

J3.    DISCUSSION.    (COJ^TIN~UE<D.) 

Architect:  Before  we  forget  it,  let  us  return  to  water-closets  a  moment  and  decide  how  the  Dececef 
shall  be  set,  —  that  is,  in  wood  or  tile  or  slate  or  marble. 

Client:  I  want  either  tile  or  marble.  I  saw  a  closet  set  in  New  York  in  a  sort  of  compartment,  with 
floor,  back  and  sides  eacli  of  one  piece  of  marble.  A  trunnion  was  cut  on  the  seat  which  fitted 
in  a  depression  in  the  top  of  the  marble  sides.  It  was  rery  neat,  but  on  the  whole,  I  believe  I 
like  the  sides,  whether  of  wood  or  marble,  a  little  higher,  and  in  that  case  I  don't  see  how  I  can 
have  the  swinging  seat  because  — 

Architect :  Yes  you  can.  The  Dececo  people  made  what  they  call  a  "  seat  support "  of  nickle-plated 
brass ;  also  a  seat  of  different  kinds  of  wood  handsomely  made  and  arranged  to  work  with  the 
supports  just  as  you  have  described.  These  supports  (See  ad.  in  American  Architect  of  June  2) 
are  made  with  bolt  fastenings  for  marble  sides  and  with  screws  for  wooden  side*. 

Client:  But  I  don't  know  just  how  much  room  I  shall  have. 

Archtect:  That  makes  no  difference.     They  make  the  seats  to  order  of  any  required  length. 

Client:  AH  right.  I  want  to  have  the  seats  turn  back  because  I  am  going  to  use  my  closet*  for  slop- 
hoppers.  In  his  "  How  to  Drain  a  Howe  "  Col.  Waring  says  one  does  not  need  a  slop-hopper  with 
a  modern  water-closet,  that  they  entail  a  useless  expense  and  a  complication  of  the  plumbing 
work. 

Architect:  I  am  glad  you  have  read  the  book.  If  our  clients  would  even  in  a  general  way  try  to  make 
themselves  acquainted  with  the  principles  of  house-making,  we  architects  would  have  a  much 
smoother  road  to  travel.  It  is  a  duty  which  each  man  owes  to  himself.  OtherwUe  he  is  liable  to 
be  hurt,  not  "in  the  house  of  a  friend,"  but  in  his  own,  perhaps  even  without  knowing  it. 


The    American    Architect  and  Building   News.     [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  652. 


W 


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C/3 

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JUNE  30,  1888.] 


The    American    Architect   and  liuildiwj   News. 


What  are  the  Best  Sanitary  Appliances? 


^L    DISCUSSION.    (COJ?TIN~tJE<D.) 

Client:  I  was  reading  in  an  old  Century  the  other  day  an  article  by  Col.  Waring  in  which  lie  gives 
the  ordinary  set  wash  bowl  a  very  bad  character.  Ha*  the  Deoeco  Company  anything  better  to 
offer,  or  have  we  got  to  go  back  to  the  hand  bowl  and  pitcher  ? 

Architect:  I  think  it  has  answered  the  just  objections  to  the  ordinary  bowl,  with  its  plug  and  chain, 
its  tiny  half-clogged  outlet  and  dirty  hidden  overflow,  very  completely. 

Client:  How  so? 

Architect:  With  a  recessed  bowl,  made  in  different  tints,  either  round  or  oval,  with  a  plated  standing 
pipe  that  stands  in  the  recess  out  of  the  way.  This  pipe  is  raised  from  its  seat,  by  turning  a 
spindle  that  sets  into  its  open  top  and  projects  up  through  the  marble  slab.  One  third  of  a  turn 
raises  the  pipe  and  holds  it  there  until  the  bowl  empties  ;  reversing  the  motion  returns  it  to  its 
seat.  The  outlet  is  large  giving  a  good  scour  to  the  waste  pipe. 

Client:  Isn't  it  difficult  to  get  this  to  work  up  and  down  smoothly  1 

Architect:  No.  The  pipe  is  not  suspended  from  above,  which  method  is  Apt  to  allow  it  to  hang  out 
of  plumb  and  bind,  but  slides  up  two  inclines  inside  the  outlet  and  always  remains  plumb,  even 
though  careless  setting  gets  the  spindle  to  one  tide  (as  is  often  done),  it  has  no  regulating  screws 
for  there  is  nothing  to  regulate;  and  for  cleaning,  can  be  instantly  taken  out  by  simply  raising 
the  spindle. 

Client  :  Have  you  a  cut  showing  fin's  ? 

Architect:  Yea.     Here  in  a  very  good  cut  of  the  OVAL  PUBO. 


VI 


The   American    Architect   and  liuildiny   News.     [VOL.  XXIII.  —  No.  653. 


Gravestone  at  New  London,  Conn. 


Herse  over  Tomb  of  Earl  of  Warwick  in  Buauiharnp  Chapel. 


Col.  Ledyard's  Gravestone, 
Groton,  Conn. 


Monument  to  Henry  Clay,  Lexington,  Ky.     Built'by  John  Heale 


The    Ledyard  Monument, 
Groton,  Conn. 


Tomb  of  Juarez. 


SEPULCHRAL 


BINDING  SECT!. 


NA 

1 

A322 
v.23 


American  architect  and 
architecture 


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