Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-07-20
ABOUT sky SCRAPERs,

|
| of Tall Buildings.
From inc New York Times
How long is It since walls began to lie
panels and ceased to be the main support
Of buildings?'
well. not very long," replied Architect
Post. THE first step was the use of iron
| trusses as the support Of all the interior
| parts of building, the walls being self
| sustaining and built Independent Of the
| cage, though anchored to 1t by connections
| between the cage and the stone piers. Then
| architects began to incorporate the outer
| columns of the cages in the walls. From
| this II was short step to relieve the walls
! OF all serious carrying responsibility and
| make them simply panels in the outer lines
| of the cage.
Il think myself that this latter plan has
| some objections which may be urged
| steel beams when built into the walls are
removed from all possibility of examination
| without tearing the building down. In the
| second place, there is danger from the eff
| fects of large fires exterior to the building
| itself Suppose a big fire was to start oppo-
site building constructed with steel pill
| lars near the surface of the walls, the heat
might do incalculable damage by warping
| and twisting the pillars.
ITO avert these dangers, the most recent
| method of constructing cages is to place
| the steel uDrightS just inside of the outer
walls and push the ends of the horizontal
| beams out far enough to support the walls,
| cantilever fashion. This permits an eXami-
nation of every essential part of the cage,
and, at the same time, protects it from the
possibility of danger from exterior fires"
How high could a building be made from
a theoretical point Of view?' asked the re-
porter.
THE Eiffel tower in Paris is $50 feet
high" said Mr.. Post, land there is no en-
cheering difficulty in making an Office
building equally high, or even higher. The
commercial limit, however, will not be much
| 81 eater than 800 feet. The question of ele-
vator accommoda ton and light will step in
at this limit, even if the legislature does
not keep down the height to proper pro-
portion to the width Of the street. as it
ought to do next session.
I'VE find in practice that each elevator in
building will accommodate an average of
fifty offices. The higher the building, there
fore, the greater the amount of space which
must be taken up by the elevators. This
fact acts as restriction to very tall build
iGgs on small lots. The question of light Is
long as it is not surrounded by equally
lofty neighbors. AS soon as other buildings
of the same or greater height spring up
around it, many OF its previous advantages
disappear. The lower floors may still let
we'll for store purposes, and the upper floors.
which have good sunlight for offices. But
the intermediary floors. which have to use
electric light all day, will soon grow unde-
sirable, and there will be great trouble in
letting them at profitable rates, except, of
course, where the building faces on some
opposite church which is not likely to be
removed, like the new Havemeyer building,
at Ann street and Broadway"
What Will be the height Of the new
HaVemeyer butlding?" asked the reporter
1T will be about eO7 feet from the street
level to the top of tho main roof Then
there viii be roof house, equivalent to
another story, a basement subba se,nant
and cellar. 1t will have Twenty-Five com.
plete stories in the s07 feet. The plans are
not vet complete"
What will be the final end of the tall
| buildings now in New York city? VIII n
be earthquakes or the day of Judgment ?,'
suggested the reporter
Neither. Earthquakes are not common I'm
this part of the world. and the heaviest
buildings must yield to time" was Mr..
Posts reply. THE three dangers to these
buildings which may bring about their indi-
vidual demolition in the course of two or
work, heat from exterior fires and future
inadequacy to resist wind strains. 1 have
already spoken Of the danger from exterior
hres. The corrosion of the metal work is
serious matter, because 1t may come on
very gradually and because owners are SO
careless about keeping such details con-
stantly and carefully inspected. l do not
mean that looking at the steel framework,
every day is what should be done, because
II the framework itself Is to be properly
preserved 1t should be covered in with
damp-proof material to resist rust, and
with some non-conducting substance such
as hollow bricks, to resist interior fires.
"An stean,pipes and waterpipes should
be kept carefully apart from the upright
columns which carry the weight Of the
structure. Then these pillars should be SO
placed that any one Of them may be re-
moved in case it shows weakness, and re-
placed without disturbing the building In
the new Havemeyer building we are put
ting in asphalted felt between the cased
columns and the exterior walls, thus form
ing damp-proof course. Around the steel
columns we are placing four-inch case of
porous Vera Gotta, with air spaces on two
SIDES which makes an excellent insulation
against interior fires
suppose that building gets old, and
that its joints have been deeply corroded
by rust, its resistance to wind pressure will
&c greatly lessened. and then II 1t once be-
gins to rock 1t may injure itself SO serious
ly that 1t may have to be taken down"
VIII the grandsons of the engineers now
living appreciate the dangers in such
cases?" asked the reporter.
IT think they will,' replied Mr.. Post.
These great buildings are not likely to
come to pieces without giving competent
engineers ample warning, by acks in the
stonework or by the settling of beams, or
by some other sign of instability. The de-
termination Of causes for such defects rests
upon principles which never change, and
therefore will be equally good as q warning
to our descendants as to ourselves"