Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1900-10-04
Taller Than the Pyramids.

est Office building in the world. To
be erected and ready for occupancy
in just u months, Those are the
striking features of the Obelisk Of
Herald Square, to be set up at the
southeast corner of Broadway and
Thirty-third street.
The elevator wells in this building
will be 435 feet deep. Allowing IS
feet clear between the sxles of tbe
wheels supporting the elevator cables
(the usual free space) and the roof
and the total height from Broadway
sidewalk to the top is $50 feet. Add
the thickness of the roof and the rail-
ing and ornaments thereon and to-
tai height of ass feet is secured. Old
Cheops, mightiest Of the pyramids o.
Egypt, was originally 40 feet above
the sands Of the desert, but latterly it
has measured only 45l feet from base
to topmost point.
Cheops' sides at the base are 755
feet long, giving the ancient landmark
an area of 57O,025 square feet. The
plot of ground on which the newest
8kyscraper in the world is to be built
measures 90 feet on Broadway and
90 feet on West Thirty-third street,
extending backward so as to form an
irregular parallelogram, with an area
of about 1000 square feet. There
fore this building will be less than
one-eightieth as broad as the biggest
Pyramid, but several feet higher, and,
owing to its slimness, will appear to
be much loftier.
None can tell how long it took to
pile up the great oblong blocks OF
stone which form Cheops, how many
laborers worked on the task, nor how
much it all cost or was worth, reck-
oned in money, but of this gigantic
structure we know this: The land
on which it will stand is valued now
at 81 100000. The building will cost
about 81, ,25O,000, and rentals will
bring in annually 100000.
Rents thereabouts are so high that
vacant lots cost heap to the own
ers, and when a building is torn down
or altered the utmost speed is main
tained in preparing the promises for
tenants again. So it is planned to
tear down the buildings on the site
of the new obelisk Of Herald Square,
erect the new structure and have rent
payers settled within its walls by one
year from the day the last tenant
moves out. Steam drills, hydraulic
powers, electricity and every modern
agent serving to speed the work of
builders and contractors must be en-
ployed in order to accomplish this
Herculean task.
Cheops is really only single-storied
affair. The obelisk Of Herald Square
will be divided and subdivided hori-
zontally by 80 floors. Today the tall
est Office building in the world, the
Syndicate, or Park Row Building, in
this city, is 26 stories high, counting
the four-storied towers.
The view from the upper stories Of
the Park Row Building is superb, but
marred somewhat by the nearest Of
the lesser skycraperS abOunding down
town. From the pinnacle Of the
obelisk Of Herald Square, at least 80
feet higher, the outlook will be even
grander. The nearest high building,
right beside the obeliSk, is only a pal
try l6 stories tall. For miles and
miles in every direction the spectator
will be able to view the busy haunts
Of men, and afar off the quietude Of
the country lanes, the majestic Hud-
son, the Sound, the ocean beyond the
Narrows and the hills Of New Jersey
will appeal to all the finer sensibili-
ties.
The structure proper, technically
the dead load, will weigh 2l,0O0
tons. Besides this, Of course, the
builders must prepare the foundation
for tenants, furniture, safes and the
ike, technically the "live load,
amounting to 5000 tons. About sew
en- and quarter millions Of bricks
will be used, about 800 tons Of iron
and steel and 1900 tons of stone
NetO York Herald.
A colonial volunteer officer, Cap