The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1874-04-04
The Burning of the London Pantcch-
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According to the Saturday Regieao, the
building known as the Pantechnieon, re-
Gently burned, was built with view to
security against fire, and not only has it
perished, but it exposed the district in.
&hieh il stood to the danger of general
confagrati9n.ss Il 1t had retained, aniong
many mutations its. orr ginal .repu tatlon OF
being - the largest, the safest, and the,
most tire-proof warehouse in the meHopo-
lis.s 1t became the receptacle, during
some months Of the.vear. of the most val
liable part Of the contents of many of the
houses Of the nobility and Others, whose
resideneesin tewnedependsg on the Parlia-
mentary session. Thus, on Friday in last
week, the building was completely filled
with property of all kinds, of a value
which only the owners themselves aeeuld
estimate. The area of the building was
not much less than two acres, 1t was
built in 1880, and when finished was. said
to be the most complete thing of the kind
ever constructed. BY means efpeeuliaFly
formed and solid iron pillars, o Acomplete
iron support was produced from the
ground through the intervening floors to
the roof. The whole of the ceilings were
lathed with iron rods and covered With a
composition which, as was hoped, would
resist the fiercest fire, and would not crack
or fall down if water was thrown upon it
while hot. The boarded floors We're COW
cred with iron plates laid upon patent felt,
to preserve the, under side of the iron
from rust and to deaden the sound. The
rooms were separated from each otherby
brick walls and wrought-fron doors, and
the stairs Weresall of Stones All the CHM
ney flues were lined with cast-iron, and
there was not piece of wood exposed in
any part of the building. Many hundreds
of tons of iron were llsed in its erection.
These particulars have been extracted by
the Times from its own account of the
opening of the Panteehnicon, and they
show that belief prevailed forty years
ago in iron as a protection against fire.
This belief has been lamentably shaken,
andit has probably perished in the ruins
of the Pantechnicon. The danger of col
lecting. a vast quantity of infiamH1able
goods in a single building far outweighs
the security derived from any precautions
which skill or wealth can adopt. in con-
sts.uction. At four different points an iron
wall was built across the entire width OF
the building, from east to west, the theory
being that in case of fire the communicat-
ing doors could be shut, the progress OF
the fire stopped, and the damage confined
to portion of the building. 1t is to be
iamented that this theory has not held
good in practice, These compartments
were divided into warehouses, and these
again into blocks or rooms, each OF which
had thick iron walls and doors, and was,
or was supposed to. be, entirely isolated
from the rest. The renters of these. rooms
| had keys, and. as they and the pnapTietors
of the building believed, their goods ran
as little risk from fire as from theft. Elk
cept i'm the offices at the entrance, there
was not gas-light ON the premises. The
building was, as rule. closed at dusk,
and the lights allowed afterwards yere
safety lamps.