The daily gazette., 1882-12-21
RE NEW YORK roMns.
Origin Of the Architectural style Of the
HuifdIng.


Origin Of the Architectural style Of the
BuiidEng.
New York Times.l
One of those inventive gentlemen who
figure a. the New York correspondents Of
provincial newspapers has recently under
taken 70 give an account Of the building Of
the City Prison, and how Il got It's title OF
the Tombs, In historical letter which ia con-
splcuous for It's vastness and variety of Its
misinformation. There are very few now
living, perhaps, who are aware that the plan
of the structure was substantially supplied
by the late John l.. Stevens OF Hoboken,
who, about the year 1880, returned fiom
long residence In the East, embracing Egypt
and the Holy Land, and soon after published
an elaborate narrative OF his wanderings,
embellished with numerous illustrations.
The book was generally known 70 the
fathers of the present generation as
"stevens' Travels" and copies of II are now
procurablc with difficulty, but II is OCCASION
ally seen in collections OF rare
volumes. It's interest lay In the
cuts of rare and curious things with which
Its pages were decorated, and among these
cuts was picture of an ancient Egyptian
tomb, with description of the plan given
at length In the letter press. When In 1888
the Committee appointed by the Common
u
City Prison entered upon its labors, desirous
of doing something original and striking To
perpetuate their names, the mem',ers agreed
to introduce the Egyptian style; and had re-
course to the book published by Stevens TO
| give them an idea OF what was meant by
| Egyptian. Very naturally they stumbled
upon the cut adverted TO In the pre-
ceding sentence, and as the letter
presses contained full description OF the
building they decided TO adopt II with very
| trifi!ng notifications TO that effect, sug.
gesting that the city prison should be called
the Tombs. The report was adopted, and
| work was begun at once but when the
City Fathers had gone little way In tn,
progress of their enterprise, as is often thG
case when decision is rather hastily and
| ignorantly arrived at, they discovered that
| the nature of the ground was badly adapted
| to sustain so massive a structure and Il
WAS found necessary to sink the piles upon
| which the foundation of the building
| now rests. The work was finished
in 1888, and while IL Is nc
doubt q faithful copy of the Egyptian
tomb illustrated and described by Dir
Stevens, and while the name proposed by IT.
projectors possesses certain grim signiR
cance, It can hardly be said 10 add greatly
TO the attractions OF the city, although Il
will probably perpetuate the memory of 4
now forgotten volume of travels for mauy
years 10 come. The massveness OF tn,
structure, considering the nature ofthe soil
| 10 however, its worst enemy, and must ulti
mately bring about Its destruction. Nor,
than once the building has been declared
unsafe, aud in several places the walls have
settled 10 considerable extent. Some year.
ago crack large enough for the insertion
OF ones arm was discovered in one of thu
main walls. 1t extended from the top Il
the bottom, and was caused by the irregular
sink ng OF the foundation. The fissure wa
repaired with masonary, but the oceasiona
settling of the piles, which are overweighte'
by the superintendent structure, will SOM
day probably produce 3 catastrophe tha
may furnish fresh illustration of the nam
proposed by the Common Council Com
mittee.