New-York tribune., 1902-01-12
AN UNDERGROUND CITY.
THE HUGE CELLARS OF NETWORK
SKYSCRAPERS, THEIR USES AND
CONTENTS.
CONTENTS

The attention OF visitors 10 the city is always
attracted &c the high buildings They gaze In
wonder at the immense masses Of masonry and
steel that tower skyward. and treat themselves
to rides in the huge elevators that rise for hun
dreds Of feet above the street surface where il
the view be unobstructed IN the immediate vi
cinity, they may gaze at the sides and sometimes
the roofs Of other magnificent buildings that
provide. far above the height to which ordinary
buildings rise, room for thousands OF busy
workers.
There IS, however. another city that does not
meet the eye. 1t is the electric light city OF
New-York. the underground city, and none the
less large and important because few see II or
admitted through it's portals Below the
surface Of the streets It lies. where the light
Of day never penetrates, and where only the
lights Of electric lamps make 1t possible for
men to live and work.
The electric city is mostly downtown now Of
course. but wherever large buildings are being
erected it is extending and soon. from the Bat
terry to Harlem and beyond. there will be
an underground city which. although it can
never rival in size the one that is above ground
will surpass in acreage many Of the secondary
cities of the United States.
Under each side of Broadway extending with
ramihcations to the side streets and those that
parallel this great tnoroughfare, is a great area
OF cellars that average about thirty feet in
depth. Under the old buildings from twenty to
twenty-five feet is the usual depth of a cellar
but where the great skyscrapers have been
reared It has frequently been necessary to go
deeper TO find a stable foundation for the i'm
mense weight that is superimposed. Some of
these cellars extend for forty feet below the
surface Instead of being the dark holes that
cellars usually represent, they are well lighted
well ventilated places
Fittingly. perhaps. the beginning of the city
and the place it was first established is the
largest Of these holes IN the ground. This is the
excavation that has been completed for the new
Custom House in Bowling Green. 1t is said to
be the biggest hole that was made In this
city over which to erect a building The ex-
cavation is in the shape of a trapezoid, with its
narrowest side facing Broadway. The average
length is 336 feet, the average width 262 feet
and the average depth - feet From il has been
taken no less than 100000 cubic feet of ma
terial. To the ordinary mind unaccustomed to
estimating the size of excavations In cubic feet,
thls may not mean much. But few words of
comparison VIII serve to illustrate its i'm
inefsity. The. average size Of three story and
basement dwelling house is 40 feet high, 90 feet
rsep ana 20 feet wide. This means 10000 cubic
Ieet. In this mighty excavation, therefore,
Could De placed hfty-hve three story and base
nent houses Of these dimensions. Laid fat in
the excavation could be placed forty such build
lngs' and there would remain average of
tHtAFe IetL on the W nllenal-St. side and sixteen
!set on the side facing Broadway, assuming
the trapezoid to be squared, and an untitled
poruon f1Ve feet deep over the entire area If
the entire area of the excavation were moulded
INTO the shape Of three story and basement
houses there would be enough TO fill one side
oi G your ordinary city blocks figuring twenty
blocks to the mile
Large as this excavation is, considered by
ltseli. IL becomes a dwarf when compared with
t.e united areas OF the component parts of the
city OF electric light. To mention the largest
OF them would he only to print a list of the
greatest of the big buildings and TO commute
their combined size would be a work either i'm
possible or which would necessitate many weeks
or search and compilation of a vast amount of
hgures. One example, therefore, will suffice both
10 indicate the space under a large building and
az the same time TO emphasize the enormous size
OF the cellar Of the new Custom House
The Park Row Building the tallest structure
IN New-York has cellar thirty feet deem II
rs irregular in shape, but contains annroxi
niately All, 100 cubic feet of space, cut up into
roons for the accommodation of the machinery
ana boilers that heat the building and run the
Elevators and other mechanical appliances of
the building -
. In some OF the large buildings the space under
eAe surface is not used exclusively for work.
ioons- OF course, all the safe deposit vaults
&c under ground, but there are papers that
SeetYetlTneS much more valuable than many
81 ~ me articles deposited in these vaults. Under
, ,e Equitable Assurance Building, for instance,
=. .eh h room is devoted TO the storage OF records
Cshe she company. The New-York Life Insurance
,r.npany also has large vaults that are appro-
staaeec 10 this use. Many other sections of the
,oS ,S or electric lights hold secrets that are not
at tIse eye or the ordinary mortal.
ana completion OF the rapid transit subway
4 nnd % me projected tunnels from New-Jersey
sdS manhattan to Long Island will of course
xssk, ''''''eA'S area 10 Underground New