The Portland daily press., 1889-10-17
THE VISION OF AN ARCHITECT
The Tower of Babel Would Be RIy.
allied at the Worlds Fair
When 800, 900 People Of ALL Nations
Met 500 Feet in Air.
Gotham Backward with Cash but
Monumental In Ideas

New YORK, October 16 While framing
the groined arches for All :Angles' Church,
now being erected at the corner of s1st street
and West End avenue the other day. A. De
Graft Hinsdale, designer for j. B. Shook &
Sons, the architects, of IL Chambers street,
was struck with an idea which he concluded
would settle the controversy over the main
feature for the Worlds Fair, and acting up
ON that idea he Immediately began work on
a design for mammoth structure, which, IL
erected. will throw the Eiffel tower COM
pletely into the shade. ir. Hinsdale's idea
is novel one, unlike anything that has yet
been proposed, and it is likely to attract con-
siderable attention. Mr.. Hinsdale said in
describing it yesterday:
my plan contemplates the construction of
an iron tower which from foundation to top
of dome will measure over 1900 feet. The
tower would only be the central figure OF the
plan. however. 1t would be surrounded by
four arches meeting at point on the tower
HOO feet above the earth. About 800 feet
above the ground would be what | team
midway arches, supporting an immense floor
that could be used as promenade aud for
diverse purposes, such as concerts, restaur-
ants. museums or anything Of that kind.
The floor would be so large that it would ac-
commodate at one time all the visitors who
would be likely to visit the exposition in a
day. l estimate the number at 100000. The
structure would be substantial and firm.
"Tne diameter Of the ground space to be
occupied by the tower-that is, from the
foot of one outer arch to the foot Of the
opposite one-would be $500 feet, giving
ample room between the bases OF the arches
and the tower for the construction OF ex-
each large arch would be depot. for
passengers, who would be conveyed from
the ground to the top of the arches, 100
feet up. in cars operated by means of a con-
tinuous cable system. In each arch there
would be two up and two down tracks.
The tracks will be above, necessitating the
suspension of the cars. They will be so
suspended that they will always remain
level.
coming to the edge Of platform several
hundred feet square. From this point the
top of the lookout tower can be reached by
sixteen special and independent elevators.
'The midway arches and grand promenade
will have six separate elevators at the end of
each arch, making forty-eight in all. In the
center of the tower there will be twenty ele-
vatOrs running from the ground to the high
est PLATFORM, 300 feet above.
"The symbolical part OF the design will be
found in the position of the feet of the
arches, which would be north. south, east
and west. In the northern quarter would be
placed the exhibit from the North, and so
on. At the top of the whole structure would
be a statue of Columbus, with its face to the
west, and at the base Of each arch would be
a small pedestal tower, with groups symbolic
of the quarters of the globe which they re-
spectively face. The whole structure would
be lighted by electricity at night. making
magnificent sight that would be visible for
miles.
zone great advantage this structure would
possess over all others would be the COM
pactness it would give tn the exposi-
tion. Visitors could 60 in from any
of the four points and spend day
in one of the departments Be-
ginning at the entrance they could examine
the exhibits, and when through they would
find themselves at the central tower. TAX
ing an elevator here they could reach the
upper sections Of the tower, and when they
were ready TO descend could go down in the
cars in the arch that would land them at the
point nearest their homes, hotels or other
points that they might desire to go to. Or If
they chose they could go down the center
again and view the exhibits in one of the
other departments. Around the whole
structure would be grand plaza or terrace,
in which trees and flowers might be placed.
The cost of the tower and the arches COM
plete, if built according to my idea, would
be about 50 100000.