Omaha daily bee., 1899-05-28

I distributed by the system OF steel girders
which is familiar to all engineers. These
girders are from eight to forty seven feet in
depth. They are in effect big bridges placed
between the foundations and the footings
OF the vertical columns OF the building TO
carry the weight evenly. The heaviest OF
these, beneath one wall OF the building,
weighs over ffty-two tons.
Above the surface the method OF con-
structing the building has been the one that
must be tolerably familiar to all residents
of the larger cities who have seen tall
buildings in process of erection. 1t con-
sists of a steel framework, built span above
span, as is done in the building OF a
cantilever bridge. The walls are merely
the sheathng for this skeleton structure.
Having assurance of a sufficiently firm
foundation any engineer could sit down and
figure out in a few minutes how to build a
thirty-fve story building II it were neces-
sary The addition of a few more stories
to a steel building offers no great engineer
ing difficulties. The considerations that
finally will limit the height Of skyscrapers
will probably be rather of an economical
nature.
What IL Cost.
II is interesting to turn from the con-
sideration of the vast proportions OF the
building itself to the human interests that
it will serve. 1t was to accommodate the
constant demand for more room in the
busiest section Of the metropolis that this
expenditure of time, money and ehort,
amounting altogether to some $4,000, 900,
was made. And the addition which 1t makes
in this direction is by no means inslgnih-
cant
AS was said before. the dead weight OF
the building itself Is about 10000 tons.
But with the addition OF the maximum load
which the twenty nine floors are calculated
to carry the total weight of the structure
will amount to something like $4,000 tons.
There are $50 rooms in the building.
Counting four persons to each ONCE thls
will make the permanent population OF the
building nearly 1000, or equal to that OF
many fourishing county seat.
To this must be added large transient
population, amounting probably for one
person to each resident at any given time
during business hours This would make
an ordinary population, resident and tloat-
ing of 1900 for this one building! III twenty
persons visit each office during the day we
have the result of $4,000 persons using the
building every day. In other words an
army as large as that of the United States
will march in and out of the building every
day. The various elevators will have daily
passenger traffic of over 10000, or more
than that of many an important railway
line.
1t Is a curious reflection that IL the regu-
lar occupants of the building were placed
shoulder to shoulder the ground that it
occupies there would be barely standing
room for them while il all the persons who
visit the building during day were gath
cred on the ground site at one time they
| would make a group standing five feet deep
on one another's heads.
From the architects point OF view the
planning of a building nearly 400 feet high,
with a base of only 100 feet, offers many
difficulties. The necessity of facade nearly
$50 feet high Is apt to result In the bald.
staring appearance of a chimney or
tower, which is both ugly and painful to the
sight. The architects method OF relieving
| this tendency is by treating the stories in
groups of four Or five. This lessons the
effect of extreme height. At the same time
the width is made to seem greater than 1t
| really is by the addition of heavy cornices
and projecting balconies
While it is perhaps too much to expect
that a sky -scraper shall become an object
of beauty these various devices do much to
give the building personality and distinc-
tion and to lessen the effect of perfectly
| blank, staring walls. The architects aim is
| realized If the building can be made to look
less than it's real height without losing any
of the imposing character of it's true pro-
portions. r. H. ROBERTSON.