Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1895-01-05
A DAZZLING DREAM.
twenty Thousand People May Live Under
One Roof.

chicago I1eTuiu. ituSbtSut
admit that it is possible TO put a com
olete city under n roof, and there arc
;ipns that before the century closes
such an architectural miracle Will be
attempted in the eastern metropolis
indeed, a rumor is printed in the New
York Journal that the entire block ut
,he corner of West Nineteenth street
md Fifth avenue, stretching east, mas
been bought up by u secret syndicate
Of b~enevolently speculative million
aires. 1t Is limited that Charles L.
Yerkes is one of tho guiding spirits In
This tremendous enterprise.
One thing is absolutely certain III
This connection. The real estate deal
for the property has been consum-
mated, and the former n or rent
ers of private houses in that block are
seeking new abodcs.
But what does the plan actually pro-
pose? According TO the best obtaina-
ole information from inside sources II
NAV, unless the magnificent intention
collapses, evcntuate something ike
this: Every building on the block VIII
DO tori down and an absolute open
space big enough for n foot ball am
phitheater will be thus laid open in the
fashionable heart of the city. The
foundations will be dug very deep ana
the main piles will be wrought IRON
Iron interspersed with aluminium, with
glass and with stone for pictorial elect
will be used chiefly in the construction
Of the building. This will be n huge
oval shell with q spacious court, hotel
theater and spiral driving park OF grad
ual ascent inside the central dome.
The arrangement will be such that
during summer the sides of this imper-
ceptibly ascending spiral venue can
he thrown open to natural air, while
in severe winter weather they can be
closed tight if necessary. The lower
part of the huge oval shell will oc ar
ranged chiefly for the management OF
wholesale businesses, and on the Sec
ond floor the employees and workmen in
the vast hive will nave their quarters.
There will be fifty floors with an av-.
erage height of thirty feet, but be-
tween some of the flats there will be.
floors hat will contain halls and ball
rooms leasable in turn by the neigh.
bors of the covered city, so that the
probable height Of the building will
be ovcr half mile. Each one OF these
fats will look out on the inner court,
and also on the street of the outside
world, and each will be arranged for n
family OF six or eight persons. They
(. will be so arranged iii building the
separate outside sections that none OF
their windows will look into those OF,
an opposite neighbor. The sections of
the apartment turrets or series of flats
will be fifty in number. Hence the
calculation is easy that about 10000
people can be accommodated in this
mammoth apartment palace.
The rentals Of these 900 most de-
sirable flats will not average less than
81, 900 a piece.
This item alone gives 49, 00, 900, or 5
per CEN interest on the original invest
ment of 500, 600. 600.
Consider now the food bills Of these
$500 families, who will be supplied
from the great central restaurant.
These food bills will not be less than
another IS, 900, 600 per annum, half OF
which, or more, may be reckoned as
sheer, clear profit. Consular next that
all the stores, Turkish baths, thcaters,
etc, in this place will be owned and
managed by the company, and that in
addition to the constant profit accruing
from those who live in the city will DO
the stream Of traffic from the oudside.
For is IL not clear that outsiders will
come in floods TO IA place where not
only everything is cheaper than else
where, according TO quality, but where
SO much tremendous architectural
beauty is set off by such unimaRinable
%splendor of electric lights, shifting
through all tints
1t should be added that besides the
spiral driving park, which will be
large enough for five ph~aetons to move
abreast, there will be several glass and
aluminium aerial lakes or reservoirs on
different floors of the central dome,
into which water from arteslan wells
will flow. These will be lined with
grassy banks flowers and trees, and
little bath houses, looking like kiosks,
will be sprinkled here and there on tho
borders. Some of these will be so ar
ranged that in sufficiently wiutry
weather they can be thrown open and
absolutely perfect skating Kinks thus
formed. In other parts Of the vast CEN
trail dome gymnasiuns and chapels
will be found, and, browning glory Of
the whole, a magnificent newspaper
like the Journal will probably be pub
lished.
Like the crystal palace ut Sydenham,
the entirety of this city in a city will
be rooted over with plate glass, but it
will be so constructed that at the
pressure Of n finger this prismatic
crown can be lifted and laid aside
to allow air from heaven free entrance,
and also for hygienic purposes there
will be various pumps and fans through
out the different compartments to In.
sure daily publication Of the atmos-
phere.
But the tremendous hygienic achieve.
ment Of the whole will be that q man
and his family can have q Floridan or
Bermudan climate in winter and can
also have as much GOODNESS as they
wish In summer. Everything, too, that
n can possibly desire will be obtain
able in this place, for there will be In
the corridors of the different floors
miles and miles of booths and bagaars.
For ladies II will be shopping not only
made easy, but transformed into a pic
torial, artistic delight. 1t Is believed
by some persons, notably King c. Gil
lette, author Of that remarkable archi-
t~ectural boob, 1.-The Human Drift
and by j. Pickering Putnam, one Of
the most celebrated practical architects
OF Boston, that the success Of O bust
ness experiment of this kind viii revo-
4 lutf0nfza nur citiaa far md xyida