The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-05-11
WE copy the following meritorious notices
from the columns of Forneys Press of to-day
rhOuhEoo OF hMhFfChh UEhLOos
A NEW PHILADELPHIA MINISTRY

PROGRESS OF AMERICAN GENIUS.
A NEW PHILADELPHIA INDUSTRY.
In our local columns this morning we give
slight description of the opening of the new
Temple of Pharmacy" of DIR. a. T. Helmbold
which occupies the old reading-room of the
Continental Hotel. AS a rule, Philadelphia
merchants have until quite recently been singu-
larly averse to making the interior of their
stores attractive, and we are glad to observe
that better era is dawning, and they are be-
coming educated TO the necessity of SO doing
The employment in the fitting up of stores of
mechanics whose branches of business, we pre-
sumo, are usually catalogued as useful arts, but
which embrace beauty, richness of conception
aud deicacy of touch, speaks well for the increas-
ing aesthetic taste of our population, aud by the
encouragement of our architects and builders
Philadelphia may soon boast of being not only
the man nufacturing centre of the United States,
but the home of all those arts which so closely
approach the fine arts as to defy separation.
DR.. Helmbods new store is the most beautiful
in our city, and the taste displayed In its con-
cepton reflects great credit upon the architect
Mr.. John Stewart, to whose labor Philadelphia
is greatly indebted. Nothing has been neglected
that could add to the magnifcence of this em-
porium; and, what is very rare the finish of
even the most hidden parts of the store is COM
plete. What particularly attracted our atten-
tion was the fact that all the multifarious orna-
mental work which is seen in every direction is
composed entirely of papier-mache of Philadel-
phia manufacture, which exceeds In beauty of
finish and artistic merit anything of the descrp-
tion we ever examined.
The substitution of papier-mache for wood has
been the subject of much study, but there has
always been great difficulty in adapting IL to
ornamental work. In Europe 1t is much uses
in architectural enrichment, being preferred to
wood and similar materials; in Paris it had
attained such general use as to entirely super
sede plaster, which now is used only for walls
and plain work. In the manner of preparing
papier- r-mache followed in Europe 1t is found
necessary to carve over the surface and cover
it with a solution of whiting and gelatine, after
which it is sand-papered and finished up.
Although this makes it expensive it is, on ac-
count of its freedom from cracking, preferred to
wood.
About three years since Mr.. Edward s. Judge,
of Baltimore, took out patent upon papier-
mache work, by the use of which he is enabled
to take it from the moulds in a condition as fine
and sharp as plaster cast and of almost any
degree of strength. Six months later he came
to this city, to use it in the Ornamentation of
lookipg-glass frames for the most extensive
factory of that kind in the country, and so we'll
did the process succeed that in a short time the
enterprisiDg firm monopolized the trade in large
mirror frames. About year since, with Mr..
John X. White and Others, he formed the
Partisan Marble Company for the Introduction
of this industry into general use and
especially for architectural purposes, and its
success is already assured. Yesterday we visited
the office of the company, and were shown Or
naments OF pure paper with surface almost as
fine as polished marble, and of such strength
that fall of twenty or thirty feet on a stone
pavement would not break them. 1t takes the
finest impressions, and can be made
into the largest FORMS. We were shown
figures, FIVE feet in height, designed to
stand the weather; brackets in bronze,
superior to any non-metallic imitation we have
seen, and in walnut that cannot be distinguished
from the wood; pedestals enamelled the same as
slate, which appeared to be equally durable with
that article, and certainly as handsome. We
were informed upon inquiry that this material
has already been used in exposed architectural
ornamentation in Philadelphia, Baltimore, New
York, and Washington, in some instances for
over three years, without the slightest COM
plant.
DR.. Helmbold's establishment will long remain
a monument TO the beauty and finish of their
work, as we understand that, in connection with
their papier-mache ornaments, TO them and
their artists is due all the artistic encaustic
painting and gliding in which the cases and
woodwork have been finished. For this pur-
pose they employ the best talent among artists,
and the result is a harmony in architectural
finish which has hitherto been but too seldom
seen in our city.
The office of the company is No. 9l7 SAMSON
street, but in few days they will remove to
Nos. 432 and 434 North Twelfth street, their
rapidly increasing business demanding more
commodious establishment.