New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-09-22
word on .he Cnstoml,ouse.

Captain A. j. Sypher is now superinten-
| dent of the labor on the CHstomhouse build
! ing, in the absence of Colonel l. F. Morse,
and considerable work has been done in the
last few months towards rendering the old
granite quarry" habitable. Although
trifing changes have been made in the
second story of the building-the Custom
| house proper-material alterations have
| been made il the basement and in the third
story. Upon each side of the main en-
trance of the building on Canal street ele
CANT apartments have been finished and
arranged for the appraisers, and the carpen
ters are now extending the postoffice de
| partment along Old Levee street TO Custom
house street.
| At the further end, corner of Custom
house street, three rooms have been pre-
pared for the occupancy Of the special
agents and route agents of the Post
Office Department.. The next adjoining
room will be occupied by the carriers,
and adjoining that the newspaper depart
ment. All along the front of these depart
| ments will be erected lock boxes of the new
pattern recently ordered by the govern
ment, which will entirety supercede glass
| boxes in few months. On the third floor
and over the offices of the naval officer and
the district attorney, elegant, large and
airy rooms are provided for Messrs Barnard
and Hyatt of the United States Land Office.
| and Captain Rogers, the United States Sur
| veyor General. In the opposite corner, and
over the collectors office, Special Agent
! Kinsella and his assistants are estab-
| lished in pleasant quarters, while the
room adjoining is occupied by Colonel
Morse and Captain Sypher Beyond is
| located one of the most interesting features
| of the building, but about which.yery little
| is generally known, except as it is heard
| from daily in the morning papers-the
branch Office of the signal service bureau,
under the charge of Mr.. F. Mansfield, of the
| United States army. The peculiar business
| of this Office, and how he manages it, is
mystery to many. An anometer-a very
| simple instrument for measuring the cur
rents of air-sWings on pivot on the roof
| of the building; and as a mile OF wind passes
| over it the fact is communicated to dial,
| whereon it registers itself with more than
| the accuracy of clockwork. So accurate in
deed is this instrument that the velocity of
the wind is registered to a fraction of
| second. Another neat and simple con-
trivance is the casemate like wall overhead
which dcsignates the quarter from whence
the wind blows. and every deviation in the
current
Ascending a fight OF stairs, the fourth
fooB of the building shows the carpenters
and blacksmith's shops of the building;
immense piles OF material q steam Gle,
Tatog communicating with Che basement
floor: large Plumbers of workmen busy at
their various employmentso This floor,
once an open hall, has been cut up into
more than q score of apartments by two
feet thick brick walls intersecting the walls
around the corridor of the gotunda, and
inter-penetrated with iron trussese as an ad-
ditionaf support to the roofo
At the present time more chan seventy
laborers are employed on the building, in
addition TO some thirty carpenters and
bricklaYers, and everything is ready now 20
push the work rapidly through TO compile
ttono The casf-iron cernices foT the Old
Leyee front street Of the building have al
ready been receiyedo The staging is being
erected, and by She first of October the
work of placing them in position will com
menceo These iron castings are made in
imitation of grantee and VIII raise the |
frontage Of tho building a60uS nine and
halt feet higher than it is at present. They
are made in sections about six feet wide
each. and Constructed to key firmly to
gethege Tie flight of steps up the main en-.
trance from the street will be reconstructed
after handsomeg model than at present |
Arriving at the landing, two flights of steps
to the right AMI left continue on up to- the
third tfoors
It was at one time intended to erect a
dome ever the rotunda; this project has
been abandoned. however, and in lien
thereof chat portion of the building from
the inner walls of the corridor vii! be coy
cred by roof of hammered glass;