Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-04
IN LINE.
Chicago's Lofty Structures May be
Duplicated in This City.
THE SAME CONDITIONS GOVERN.
A Pittsburger Inspecting the Windy City
For a Syndicate.
DRAWBACKS TO BIG BUILDINGS HERE
ESPECIAL rEIEGRAM TO THE D1srArcH.l

capitalist mas Deen spending SeVeraI udyS LII
the city looking carefully into the details OF
construction of Chicago's newest great office
buildings, of which more than a dozen are
now in process of erection, the steel for
them coming from Pittsburg. al have been
looking over your big buildings" he said
this afternoon, "and am surprised at what
have seen. They are certainly the most
architectural development that has been
witnessed in any city in the world within
the same length of time. Eighteen buildings,
covering from 80 feet to a block, the lowest
13 stories and the highest 20 stories, and all
within couple of years.
"The growth that it represents is amazing
One has to stop moment and think before
he can realize it, Yet strange as it is, 1 snail
not be surprised if see the same thing done
on even larger scale in the city OF Pitts
burg. -
Pittsburg Under Like Influence.
'The forces which have produced these
monster business buildings in the heart OF
Chicago are at work in precisely the same
way in Pittsburg, and, unless / am much
mistaken, the same results will follow there.
Your big buildings are the logical result OF
your improved means of local transit. Ten
years ago, when Chicago had not lg
better than horsecar lines, four-story
building was big enough, and when man
put on a fifth or sixth he was thought by
many to be makinga very unbusiness-likei in
vestment of his money. Since that time your
principal horsecar lines have been cabled,
and that has increased their carrying capac-
fty tenfold. Then scores of feeders andcross-
town lines have been added, and the terri
tory which they reach has been quadrupled
and quintupled. Besides that, the suburban
service on your railroads has been growing
better
"The result of all those things is td'bring
10 to 20 minutes riding for nearly 100000
people, and into the business center they
pour every day to do their trading. Pre-
cisely the same thing is taking place at Pitts
burg. We have just got rid of the horsecar
and taken the cable and electricity in its
stead. Competition between the Widener
Elkins syndicate and its rival has brought
line in Chicago reaches, almost AS low
as the rates charged by the great under
ground railways in London. The result is
that the business center of PittsbuTg is
brought more easily within reach of the
suburbs than it ever was before. 1t is thus
made the market for about half q million
people.
Pittsburg's Business Center Limited.
"Unlike the business center of Chicago,
that of Pittsburg is bounded by great rivers
and chain of hills, so that it cannot be ex-
tended. The result is that in the very near
future our Pittsburg architects will be at the
TASK WlCn WHICH IHe CQlcdSO dTcHlIecIS are
now engaged-that is to obtain the
utmost amount of available renting space
from o given piece of ground. The diff
culties in Pittsburg are greater than they
are in Chicago, because our streets are one
third narrower than those of Chicago. The
city ordinances do not permit any projec-
tions beyond the building line which are so
marked q feature of all the big Chicago
buildings, and in many instances the ground
| is not level" 80
Although the gentleman did not say so,
| there is good reason to believe that he was
| here in the interest of a syndicate of capital
lists Sho are hgTTns on duplicating
| big buildings, and are puzzled to know
| whether or not they can be made to pay in
| that conservative city. Here the upper
I purposes as offices of professional and busi-
/ hess men and. also for light business pur-
| poses, where the parties occupying them
\ are not dependent on transient trade, but
have custom that is brought in by adver-
| tising or otherwise The Pittsburg man
! seemed to be very doubtful whether the
demand for such. apartments was suf-
| ficiently active in Pittsburg to justify
such a building at present And
| he was, therefore, especially interested in
| the new Masonic Temple, at Randolph and
| State Streets which proposes to rent a large
| part of its upper floors to business men who
| are dependent on transient trade, such as
| drygoods, furniture, carpets and millinery
/ goods, for instance.
| Some StupendOuS structures.
| In view of the facts, some figures as to
| the recent new buildings here may be inter-
! esting The tallest, at present, is the Audi
torium; the tip of its flag pole is 296 feet
| above the sidewalk; its lantern is 265 feet
high; the top of the tower is 24O feet high (17
| stories), and the main building (ten stories)
! is AS feet high. The department store
| known as 'The FAIR is now erecting a
| building which will be 24l feet to the
| coping one foot taller than the Auditorium.
| The Masonic Temple will be "a feet high to
| the top of the coping and $50 feet from the
| sidewalk to the skylight.
| The Women'S Temple-an office building
which is being erected by ladies connected
| inches from the sidewalk to the coping and
266 feet to the top of its tallest spire. The
| Monodnock Office building will be 19i feet
| high to the coping-just four feet higher
| than the building which the Cook County
Abstract Company is about to erect on
| Washington street.
The Manhattan building on Dearborn
| street, near Van Buren,, is 1913 feet high to
| the coping, and the Henning and Speed
| building, on Clark street, near Van Bdren.
| 1872 feet high. to the coping The Ashland
block, to make way for which an old build,
| ing is now being torn down, at the corner of
Clark and Randolph streets, will be 2l0 feet
| high to the coping. The average height of
| IS buildings now just finished, or underway,
| is 1sS feet inches, and Of the highest "A, 200
| feet, 8 inches. -,
| Beyond Reach of Fire Engines.
| OF course, the upper floors of these build
ings are beyond the reach of the fire engines,
but that makes very little difference, be-
cause without single exception, they are of
| fire-proof construction-steel beams with
| terra Gotta filed in between and built
around the columns, so as to prevent warp
| ing by heat. In case of fire all that can
| burn is the wooden floors which are laid on
/ the terra Gotta in the rooms and almost
| necessarily the fire is confined to
| the room in which it originates.
| Fire-proof construction has been adopted,
| not because of its being required by law,
| but because of the greater security thereby
| Afforded to the capital invested. The ex-
| perience of the last ten years seems to have
| demonstrated that the danger from fire was
\ not worth considering. A more serious
danger is that in building so high the archi-
| tects may put more strain on the materials
| than they can stand and thus run serious
| risk of collapse.