Omaha daily bee., 1902-06-25
RAISING A GREAT DOME.
Roof of a Chicago Skyscrnper to Ne
Lifted Six Feet.

Chicagos Masonic temple needs more
room. The twenty-one story structure Is
crowded. The management Of the building.
says the Record-Herald. is making plans for
the addition Of a new story to the structure.
The work involved In this contemplstes the
raising OF the immense dome Of the build
ing six feet and the lowering Of the theater
floor six feet, giving twelve feet more OF
perpendicular height The additional room
thus secured will be utilized for. the the
alter, which is to be enlarged in every way.
1t is expected that work will begin early
in October Of this year and It will be car
ried on without disturbance to the more
than 1000 occupants OF the building or the
$4,000 people who daily go in and out OF
the structure. The total amount Of iron
and steel to be moved in making the alter
atoms is 5000, 900 pounds. or about 1900
tons. The greater portion OF this is in the
observatory dome. The work will be done
354 feet in the air.
Beneath the dome Of the building at the
present time is the floor utilized for the
theater. The component parts Of the floor
and dome are iron, steel, hard wood, ce-
ment, mosaic and brick. When the whole
was put into position 1t was with a view
to permanency and endurance. The build
ers of the ~period-twelye years ago-had no
idea that any mechanical device could ever
be invented which could change the posi-
tion of this roof with safety to the tenants
OF the building or the public in the streets
below.
But twelve years ago is a long time in
the history Of the world these times.
Recently the builders took out the
central base column Of the Auditorium
Annex. the column which supported 25o
tons Of weight-removed It e~ntirely-with-
out closing the building or causing the
slightest Injury to It. Indeed. the build
ing was stronger poised after the work was
done than before. So that now the propo-
sition to raise the immense roof of the
Masonic temple six feet and lower the floor
beneath It six feet, thus enabling the build
ing TO acquire a new and additional story,
must be only a matter Of wonder to the
outside world. which keeps little apsce Of
what engineers are doing.
Next October the builders will come with
yards Of cable and chains, tackle and Jack
screws, and as unconcernedly as though
merely moving a frame shanty will hoist
up the largest DOM roof In the west. lower
a floor and create the new story desired.
The use Of compressed air and jacks to
change the structural character OF big
EullQlukA lb OF recent Qdlcr Dul since THEIR
application the improvements in the pro-
eesses used have been rapid. Fifty per cent
Of the big buildings of Chicago are on what
is called floating foundations. When their
foundations w~ere\placed they went down
only fourteen or fifteen feet below the
street datum and rested on the blue clay
base Of the city.
Now piling. both steel and wood, is driven
ninety feet dawn and ooncreta followa "a
in the case OF the new Marshall Field
building. and better foundations are pro-
vided. The old buildings with the floating
foundations have settled much and It is
here that the compressed air and Jacks
come as much into play as they do in hoist
ing domes skywsrd. It Is not necessary, for
legitimate financial reasons, to mention
titles, but there is a certain sky scraper in
Chicago that settles every spring and every
time that It does the builders must 90 in
and jack IL up.
As soon as the boiler basement room and
laundry begin to I'LL with mud and water
oozing up from the clay beneath the build
ers go in and raise the foundation to its
original base, clean out the muss and 20
away, not thinking that anything remark
able had been done. The building itself Is
not unsafe. not dangerous at all. It is a
paying piece Of property, but IL was con-
strueted before the days of modern founda-
lions and IL is paying the penalty Of the
ignorance Of an earlier time.
There Is another sky scraper Of Chicago
that went up on a floating foundation and
six months after IL was completed tilted
forward. sinking on one side. The builders
lacked II back into position aud made Il
permanently solid.