Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-05-25
FLORA'S NEW TEMPLE.
Contract Let for the Erection of the
e Phipps Conservatory.
WILL BE THE FINEST ON EARTH
4 Graceful Group Of Buildings, With
Latest Improvements.
WORK TO BE STARTED IMMEDIATELY

The contract for building the conserva-
tory at Schenley Park was let yesterday by
Chief Bigelow to the Lord & Burnham
Company, of Irvington-on-the-H Hudson,
the contract price being s1o1, 1884 4a. MI.
l. Pearson, the representative of the firm,
declared it would, when completed, be the
finest building of its kind anywhere in the
world and, SO far as his knowledge went,
the largest. Certainly nothing in the
United States can compare with it, the
nearest approach to anything like it being
In San Francisco, with much less area and
q very much less handsome building in ap-
pearance.
The plans of the Lord & Burnham Co.
are for a group of buildings, the general
length of which will be 454 feet The
apartments are divided as follows: Palm
house, 6Ox132; fern house, 52x52; plant
house, 35xs4; show house, 35xs4; hot orchid
house, 3Ox1O4; cold orchid house, 30x1O4;
tropical house, 35xS4; victoria regia house,
52x52; general office building, 30x50, di-
vided into work room, 18Hx30, an office,
1S1119k private Office 13k11411f, and a
corridor, 12x35 Underneath this building
Is room 7Ox30 feet, to be used as a cellar
for boilers, cold storage, etc.
A Group of Graceful Buildings.
There will be one central building with
wings on either end, which in turn will be
ianked by additional buildings, the whole
forming graceful group, the general height
of which will be 45 feet. The center build
ing will be adorned with dome-like roof
directly over the palm house. The dome
will be about 60 feet high, about three times
that of the Phipps conservatory in the Al
legheny Parks
There will be three entrances, approached
through handsome vestibules, one in the
main building and one in each of the two
side wings Each of the side wings will be
220 feet long, and each capped with q dome
about 80 feet high, one over the victoria
regia house and one over the aquatic
house, in the center of each. The founda-
tion walls will run up some four to six feet
in color that will be in keeping with the
general appearance of the buildings. The
corridors are to be laid in mosaic tile and
the walks in cement
Arrangement Of the interior.
The inside is to be finished in hardwood
and all the fittings for heating and ventl-
lating are to be Of the latest Improvements.
The sides of the palm house are to be of
American plate glass, while the roots of
all of them are to be of ground
glass. As far as possible all
the glass, iron and other material
used in the construction will be made in
this city and all the work given to Pittsburg
workmen.
Mr. Pearson and Chief Bigelow gill 60
out to the park this morning, locate the
spot for the buildings and take the required
measurements, and the work will be begun
at once and pushed to rapid completion. 1t
will be spring before it is all done, but some
part of the building will be ready for use
by the first of the year
Chief Bigelow expects to get a great
quantity of plants from all parts of the
globe from the horticultural building at
Chicago's Worlds Fair next summer.