Evening star., 1897-08-17

amined the concrete and you ought to know
whether it is or is not in good condition "
said Mr.. Kemper. when he was asked
whether he considered the job a good one
"There is superintendent Of construc-
ton down at the building who has charge
foreman and inspectors are there to
watch such things. I have been so
busy here that 1 have not been in the place
for long time The concrete was laid
under the former superintendent, who was
followed by Mr.. Stuart, the early part of
June"
A Local Contractors Views.
A local contractor has this to say on the
subject of the concrete:
THAT something was radically wrong
with the concrete put in over the terra
Gotta arches of :he post otIice building has
long been a known fact. not only to the
experienced eye of the builders, but to
every person of ordinary sense, Including
the superintendent, foreman, inspectors and
others employed in and about the build
ing, as well as the officials in the SUPER
vising architects Office.
The purpose Of this concrete is to fill
In the space between the top of the arches
and the top of the iron beams. and it was
TO be composed of cement, sand and cinders
In certain proportions. Upon this are to
lie laid the tile and wood floors and when
the tile floors are 10 be laid it will require
one inch or more of cement rortar to be
laid upon this concrete filling. and the tile
will be imbedded in this while yet in a
plaster state
For this purpose the concrete should be
all that its name implies-hard, durable a
homogeneous mass. In rooms where wood
floors are to be laid there should first be
laid scantling on sleepers, strips of wood
two inches thick and four inches wide
and OF sufficient length to reach from
wall Wal to r wall of each room or cor
ridor. These sleepers are then to be
hlied in between with the same filling as
over the terra Gotta arches and finished
level with the under side of the wood floor
which Is to be nailed to the sleepers. For
TINS purpose almost any kind of concrete
filling would answer, as its only use is n
MI up all space between floor and arch So
mat rats, reaches and mice will have mo
pace 10 secrete themselves.
Where Does the Fault Lie:
NOW, the question is, whose fault is IT
tnat TINS concrete is In such bad condi-
tieh' the contractors CT the architects Of
nee! claim that the fault is about equal
~ divided. The contractor used a nateria al
tEat he must have known at the time was
not mt and proper and the architect in
corporated in his specifications a formula
'hat mas been abandoned by good archi
tects and careful engineers for the past
ten years.
Mr. kemper, the acting supervising ar
chitect Is quoted as saying that this for
mula has given entire satisfaction for the
past fifteen years. Right here is where ali
the difficulty lies. The supervising aren't
teCt once Is just about fifteen years be-
i.lhd the times and until they make a re-
organization Of the entire Office and place
Ii on a business plane they will never b.
able 10 catch up. Mr.. Kemper laws no
claim TO being an architect, nor do the
Il h,,I 1t
sors call for the service of an architec
as the duties performed by the so-caIled
supervising architect of the treasury are
those of clerk. His time is so taken IN
win such matters as reports from his
superintendents. signing mail opening bids
ana attending to other routine work in
connection with the clerical branch of the
Office that he actually has no time 10
supervise the work of the draughtsmen
anu artlsts employed in the designing Of
our pubic buildings, and as a result we
are today constructing buildings of a stere-
otyped form that not only far behind
thc times, but disgrace to the high stan
dard of architectural work obtained by the
American artists of this date.
seriously question if many of the
plans that bear the names of some of our
recent supervising architects on large pub
lie buildings have ever received even a
casual examination by that official. the
pace that. supervising architect seldom
sees is the very place where he should
speHu tle HsoSt Oh MS t1me-1n the draught-
ing room. where his assistants are en-
pioyed. AS consequence of this enforced
neglect OF the watchful eye of their chief
the government has poor class of build
ings and all for lack of a proper system of
reducing the Office to business principles,
and of not keeping up with the constant
improvements being made in the building
line.
AS far as this concrete is concerned, l
can testify that from the very day 1t was
put down-now nearly year ago-until
the day they commenced to take it up,
there has been no time that you could not
scrape 1t up with the toe of your boot, and
this is the formula that has given salts
faction for fifteen years! No wonder that
the tile floors in of the buildings
erected by the supervising architect of the
treasury rattle when you walk over them
like the dried bones of dead men when
shaken in their box. No wonder that un-
der this system they will put tinder roof
on an otherwise fircproof building, and call
it combustible fireproof roof. And yet
they have sufficient force, If properly dis
tributed and handled, to turn out the finest
buildings in the world