The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-05-28
THE TALLEST BUILDING.
1T is THE NEW PARK ROW BUILD
ING IN NEW YORK.

The Architect who Designed IL
writes of How 1t Was Built, and
It's Dtmensfons-GeOrgi Pine at
the Bottom TO Make the FOuDda-
ton Secure-HOw the First sky
scraper Was Built.
New York, May 26.-The new Park Row
building in New York is undeniably the
talelst Office building in the world, and
with very few exceptions the tallest work
Of human hands to be found anywhere on
the earth's surface A passing glance at
the sky line of lower Manhattan shows
how decidedly IL towers above its near
neighbors and closest comprehensive st.
Paul building, which is sos feet high. and
the American Surety building, rising 312
feet above the street. The Manhattan
Life structure which was for long time
the highest in the city. is, tower and all,
nearly 80 feet below the summit of the
new building. How long the Park Row
building will enjoy its present pre-emi-
nence 1t Is, of course, impossible to say.
The very conditions that have made 1t
may cause 1t to be excelled within the next
few years.
The erection of a 4OO-foot office building
offers no engineering nor architectural
problems that have not been dealt with be-
fore in steel structures of lesser hight.
Ii is an evolution from the first steel
building just as the -mie-an-hour ex-
press Grain Is natural development from
the first use of steam for traction pur-
poses.
This is not saying that it is a simple mat
ter to put up a thirty-story building. It
is really wonderful achievement, not for
the particular architect or engineer en-
gagged in this one undertaking, but for
the constructive genius of the age which
has made such a feat possible.
The best idea of the magnitude of such
a structure as the Park Row building may
be obtained perhaps from a consideration
Of some of the startling and spectacular
statistics which 1t presents.
What the TaIIest building Really Is.
To begin with its hight from the side
walk is 800 feet. Thus il is over 100 feet
taller than the dome of the capitol at
Washington, IS feet above the statue OF
Liberty and within a very few feet of the
extreme hight of the pyramids, Even
these figures do not represent its full pro-
portions. The flag poles on top of the
building are 81 feet in hight The founda-
tons extend 81 feet below the surface
Therefore, from the base of it's foundations
to the top of its flag pole the new build
ing spans sol feet How great this dis
tance is one may realize by rejecting that
it is equal to the length of two city blocks
or by measuring off the distance horl-
zontally for himself.
While there are a few structures that ex-
coed the new building in vertical dmen-
sion it is by all odds the tallest inhabited
building in the world. The restaurant on
top of the main building is 3OS feet above
the street, while the topmost offices, large,
comfortable rooms, are $40 feet in air
Their windows command a view of over
forty miles. The two lofty towers of the
building may be seen from nearly the en-
| tire distance across the state of New
Jersey.
The new building has a frontage of 1853
feet on the street which 1t faces, of % on
| a side street, and of A feet on a rear al
| ley. II may, therefore, be said to look in
three directions. 1t is nearly four times
as high as its main frontage The diff
Guilty presented by that proportion is IN
architectural problem of some magnitude
| itself.
The lot on which the building stands
| contains 1900 square feet. Considering
this fact and the great hight of the struc-
| ture 1t need not be said that a vast
| amount of steel and stone and other ma
| terial enters into its construction. As
| a matter OF fact, II weighs about 20 600
| tons IL all the material were loaded up
on heavy street trucks il would require
| a procession of teams and wagons nearly
| three miles long 10 convey it, II would
| build oil the houses of an ordinary eu
| burban town. with enough left over to
| construct a good-siZed church.
II may surprise those who are not ia
miliar with the art of modern construc-
ton to know that this towering structure,
with all its weight, rests upon founda-
ton of sand 1t is as secure, however, as
] though its base rested upon the most SOL
id rock In fact, a foundation equal If
not superior to rock was made for it.
1t stands on Bridge.
This was done by driving timbers a foot
in diameter and forty feet long into The
| sandy soil which forms the site of the
| building by means of 20-ton pile driver
| These piles arc in rows two feet apart and
! l6 inches from center 10 center under the
vertical columns which support the struc-
ture There are some 1900 of them UNI
der the whole building. Several acres Of
| Georgia timber land We're denudd to fur
nish the foundations alone of this big
building.
The piles were driven into the ground as
! far as they would 70 under the blows of
the twenty-ton driver. They are thus pre-
pared TO sustain weight of twenty tons.
| AS the most that will be put upon them is
about seven tons it viii be seen that they
form a tolerabIy secure foundation More
over, they are below the water lice so
that they are indestructibe by the ordina-
ny process Of decay.
When the piles We're driven in their fun
length the sand was cleared away for a
foot down around their tops and concrete
was poured about them forming a solid
rock surface resting securely upon their
caps. On this concrete base Were laid