Morning journal and courier., 1889-04-13
AN ELEGANT s1oo,ooo BUILDING.

AN ELEGANT $100,0O0 BUILDING. A Big Improvement For New Haven's
 Mercantile Center-EdWard Malley
 to Erect an Elegant New Business
 Structure on Chapel Street Opposite
 the old Green For Wm. Nicely & Co.s
 the Bry Goods NIerchants-Feafures
 of she Plana-A Visit to Leading New
 York and Brooklyn EmPorIumS-A
 Model Building In Every Respect
 Fronting Both on Chapel and Temple Street.
 Chapel street is to have big improve ment, one of the most notable that has ever been known in the history of this ancient and chief thoroughfare of New Haven which dates back to the earliest days of the old colony. A splendid new building is to be erected on Chapel street, which will cost $10O, 1000 and be 8 corresponding ornament
 to the street and city. It will be erected by Mr. Edward Malley for the noted dry goods firm of Wm. Neely & Go. Owing to the great increase of Mir. Neely's business larger establishment is required. Large as is MT. Neely's emporium, such success has attended
 him that more extensive quarters are an im- perative necessity, and the new building will
 be erected in accordance with contract that Mr. Malley made with Mir Nicely to furnish him with larger building when his business should require it. The new building as stated will be an ornament to Chapel street, and especially as 1t will face our fine old
 public square. It will stand immediately adjoining MT. .Malley's Kenwick House, which is on the corner of Chapel and Temple
 streets) and will occupy all the frontage be- tween the Kenwick and the land of Center church on which stands Center church chapel. This space includes the site of the stores where now are Phelps the photogra- pher, Enfajin, the Turkish rug dealer, Stod- dard's shooting gallery, Miss Kunz's hair
 dressing rooms, and other stores. This will give fine frontage on Chapel street, one of the largest in the city, and the big store will
 be two hundred feet deep and reaching around in L shape, will have a frontage of forty feet on Temple street. The Temple street entrance will be where the livery sta- ble is now, which will be torn down to make way for the improvement The new build ing will in other words flank and inclose the Kenwiok house on the west and south, ex- tending on the south to Rev. Dr. Harwood's residence. The preparation of plans for the new structure was intrusted to the able hands of D. R. Brown, the architect, and in company with MT. Malley - number of the leading New York and Brook lyn dry goods stores with reference to incor- porating into the plans the best features of those large metropolitan dry goods stores in order to render the new building unrivalled and perfect in arrangement for business. They visited the big dry goods houses of Brown & Walter, Stern Brothers, l.. Boute-
 Her Brothers, B. Altman & Company in New York city and Luberman & Dwings, Wechler & Abrams and Lozier's in Brooklyn. The visit was very satisfactory.
 The new building will be fifty feet front on Chapel street by two hundred deep and forty feet front on Temple street by one hun dred feet deep and three stories high. The front will be of the beautiful Boston pressed brick with gray granite trimmings, and of much handsome architectural beauty. A striking feature of the front will be an i'm posing recess twelve feet deep, and wide in proportion. A sort of man. moth vestibule, which will be handsomely foorsd with tiling in rich patterns. This re- cessed entrance will be hanked with elegant show windows of plate glass, while in front overlooking the sidewalk four feet back from the sidewalk line will be a large plate glass window on either side of the recess. The re- cessed entrance will reach upward to the
 base of the third story, where it is surmount- ed by an arch of much architectural beauty. The ladies will thus have an opportunity to gaze into all the front windows under shelter of the projecting architectural canopy above, while the commodious recess will afford the easiest of ingress and egress the big doors opening into the recess direct.
 Another imposing feature will be & big skylighted dome, thirty feet square, near the center of the big store, the brilliantly lighted opened opening reaching from floor to roof giving abundance of light to the in- terior of the emporium on each floor. Peo- pie on the upper floors will also thus com mand view of the floors below them, as un- der the dome will be clear space from the buildings roof to the main floor. The crown of the dome will also add much to the imposing appearance of the building. All around this opening on each floor will be
 railed off passageway, where people can view the crowds below on other floors. Another feature will be the big passenger elevator which will be located near the cen ter of the building, where the Chapel and Temple street stores join, and encircling this will be circular stairways of easy assent lead ing to every floor. Probably sn Otis eleva- tor run by water will be used, being perfect Iy safe and accomplishing all required pur- poses. There will be also freight elevator in the rear of the building, steam engine, boilers, etc.
 All the counters and furniture of the mann moth main store below will be of polished maple and all the shelving likewise. On the upper floors these equipments will be of ash. The main store will be eighteen feet high to the ceiling, the other floors sixteen and four- teen feet in the clear respectively, all the proportions being on liberal scale. All the side walls of the main store for it's entire length will be faced with white glazed Phila-
 delphia brick from floor to ceiling, giving the
 finish and effect of elegant white marble.
 The effect is magnificent as compared with
 white hard finished walls.
 In place of the usual fancy glass window lights over the front show window there will
 ,ao kod hras yrh very modern, stylish and beautiful. The big windows in front will reach upward to the bottom of the third story of the building, or about thirty four feet, which is higher than the tops of many of our city dwellings. The upper windows will have circular caps, and the buildings front will be generally orna- msnted in fancy stone work. The color of the pressed brick front will be deep garnet, which will contrast we'll. All the stairways of the upper floors will be of ash, and on the main floor will be of polished maple. Inside one of the main windows will be boudoir beautifully carpeted and upholstered and hung with elegant draperies, where ladies can view the most brilliant of millinery ef- fects and supplies to their hearts content.
 Another feature will be the convenience and comfort with which ladies can take the benefit of steam heat while examining and buying goods. The coils of steam pipe will be under the counters. The base of the counters externally will be of perforated brass through which the live steam will cir- culate, thus affording direct contact with it's warming influence. It is expected that work will be begun on the building early in July, in order that it may be completed ready for Nicely 6 Go. to remove there by May 1st, 1890. MT. Brown is sparing no pains under Mr. Malley's direction and sug- gestions from MT. Neely to render the build ing one of the most complete as to facilities for the business in the State and will render it architecturally 8 very fine and notable building, an honor to our business center and unsurpassed in its line in this part of New England.
 Large Fire Insurance Companies.
 The ten fire insurance companies doing business in this country having the largest amount of assets are as follows: