The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-26
WOULD BUILD FOR $4,000.
4 CONTRACTOR FIGURES ON THE
WHOEVER ACADEMY PLAN.

His Estimate About the Same ns That
of Nr. Witcover-WithOut Further
Calculations. He Says. He would
sign Contract Vow 10 Rebuild for
s3O,0OO-DimcuIty About the Ac-
ceptance of the Plan for the More
Modern Building Has Been That of
Noney-With This OTer From the
Contractor This Trouble would
Seem to He ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS VIII
Meet This Afternoon.
This afternoon at O'Clock the Board of
Trustees Of the Chatham Academy and the
Board of Education will meet At the ONCE
of Supt Otis Ashmore to receive the re-
port of the Joint Committee appointed TO
look over the plans for the restoration OF
the academy submitted by Mr.. Henry Ur-
ban and Mr.. H. w. Witcover, architects
Some of the members of both boards
favor the plan offered by Mr.. whoever
though the committee has agreed 10 re
port for Mr.. Urban, believing that the
cost of carrying out the work as designed
by Mr.. Witcover would be more than the
board of trustees could defray. In the
joint meeting an effort will be made to
induce the acceptance of the Witcover
plan.
When the Joint Committee met and con-
sidered both plans, that of Mr.. Witcover
was finally concluded to be out of The
question on account of its cost, the COM
mittee agreeing that something like $4,000
would be required to rebuild as he design
ed. Mr. Witcover submitted an estimate
of $4,000 as that upon which mis- building
Gould be erected
Mr.. witcover's plan contemplates but
three stories. In an interview a day or
two ago he explained how it would be less
costly to erect three-story building
even with the lines of the old changed,
than one of four stories. The gain he
says, is in distributing the material that
would be necessary for the fourth story
in the construction of the three stories.
The old walls are not lost for they are
utilized in his plan.
Convinced that he could not be so far
wrong in his estimate of the cost of the
building as he had designed It, Mr.. Wit
cover looked up a prominent builder to
whom he submitted his plan. He asked
was granted and ii was discovered that
the estimates were practically the same.
The builder further said that ne would
gladly undertake the contract, signing ii
without further calculations. to erect the
building in accordance with Mr. WitcoV
er's plan for $4,000.
This estimate of the builder will prob
ably put a different phase on the situa-
ton. The objection TO Mr.. Wbcover's
plan will in a measure be regarded as re-
moved Adherence to the old lines will
not be necessary. as it will be shown that
the work mapped out by Mr.. Witcover
can be done under actual contract for
the money involved in Mr. Urban's es'
innate.
The academy trustees, as well as the
members of the Board of Education Com
, mittee. fYave been convinced in their own
minds from their experience in school
house building. that Mr. Wbcover's esti
mate was far too low. They were gener-
ally in favor of Mr.. Witcover's PLAN and
If the building could be erected even for
a few thousand dollars more than the
plan submitted by Mr.. Urban calls for. 4,
is likely that they would accept it, pro-
vided some way could be devised for rails
ing the money more than the trustees
now have on hand.
The action of the joint meeting will be
awaited with interest. The public has be-
come interested in the question as to
whether the academy shall be rebuilt
upon its old lines or upon more modern
ones. 1t is generally desired the old build
Ing give way to another better suited to
school needs and more ornamental for
the central section of the city In which
the academy lot is located.