Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-10
TO DO ITS OWN WORK
|
Pennsylvania Company Will
Build Union Station.
FIFTY BIDS RECEIVED
A PHILADELPHIA CONTRACTING
FIRM WILL sUPERINTEND.
Some Of the Specifications for the
Structure, Which Will Be First
Of It's Class

cpecial DsopAtcu 10 Aue EVeniuS oSoH-
PHILADELPHIA. October 10.-The Penn
| sylvania Railroad Company has decided to
| be it's own builder in the matter Of the
construction of the magnificent $5.OOO.O0O
| terminal In Washington. d. c.. which It Is
| to erect and use In common with the Balti
| more and Ohio railroad and the Southern
| railway. A Philadelphia firm Of contract
| ors, Roydhouse, Arey & Co.. Is to supern-
| tend the construction of the new station
authorized by an act of Congress. which
specifies that the terminal shall be archl-
| tectually in harmony with the government
| buildings and cost not less than $4,000
The act expresses a preference for white
| marble. but this is not made mandatory.
The question Of face stone remains to be
finally decided. Granite may be substituted
| for marble if the consent Of the Commits
| sioners for the District Of Columbia can be
obtained. The substitution would mean a
saving to the railroad companies of almost
$2:IO.GO0 Bids were invited in July last by
| the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. and
| each bidder was required to submit esti-
| mates for construction of white marble,
granite and Indiana limestone. No bid
cetved after business hours on August 26
was scheduled or considered.
The number of general bids, that is. bids
which include the erection OF the great de-
pot IN Its entirety, numbered about fifty.
| New York, Chicago. Philadelphia, Boston.
Baltimore. Washington, and in fact. every
city of Importance from Maine to Callfor-
MIA. competed for the prize The figures
naturally varied. The bids of several firms
| were very slightly in excess of the 81. 100000
minimum set by Congress. but a majority
OF the estimates were above s.. 500. coo. and
several firms asked as high as $6,000,OO0-
D. II. Burnham Employed
To protect itself against possible excess
sive estimates. the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company had D. H. Durham of Chicago.
the worlds fair architect and the designer
of the proposed terminal. secure subbids
from the leading contractors of the coun-
try From these subbids Chief Engineer
William II. Brown and his assistants eSti-
mated the cost It which the Pennsylvania
| railroad could erect the terminal. with the
result that sum apprOXlmat1ng $i.2j0.UD
was agreed upon as fair and equitable, and
one that would permit the use of white
marble on the exterior of the big structure.
destined to be the finest and costliest of it's
kind in the world. This estimate provided
that minor changes should be made In the
plans. One of the changes. perhaps the
most important one, was the substitution of
platform coverings for the mammoth train
shed originally provided for.
After examining and considering the eSu
mates submitted both by general and sub
contractors. President A. J. Cassatt and the
board of directors OF the Pennsylvania rail-
road, which has from the first and will con-
tinue to be the dominant factor in the mat
ter. decided that the company should I'M
dertake the construction. assisted by Royd-
house. Arey & Co, in the dual capacity Of
contractor and superintendent. The last
named firm has for some years been large
| ly favored by the Pennsylvania railroad in
| the matter of contracts, and the knowledge
! confined to inner circles-that it IS to,
.superintend the building of the capital ter
minal is not a surprise. This firm built the
Pittsburg terminal, and, by contractors in
a position to know. is said to have had dur
ing the past two years practical monopoly
| of the Pennsylvania building work.
Expenditures by Bidders.
That Roydhouse, Arey & Co. was booked
to get the big contract became known when
1t. alone of the general bidders, was ask
ed to submit revised bid which it is now
preparing. A member of a we'll known
/ Philadelphia firm estimates that not less
than 100000 was spent by contractors of
| the country in the preparation of bids He
| stated that he and his partners alone had
| spent $1,000 and six weeks of valuable time
| on their estimate. No fewer than 200 draw
| ings We're submitted by the Pennsylvania
| railroad. They were in two sections, each
| four feet wide and twelve feet long. The
| printed specifications filed 1000 foolscap
pages.
| 4 significant feature of Architect Burn.
hams request for bids was that it contained
| no time limit. Not a few contra ctors con-
| strued the omission to mean that the Penn
Sylvania railroad intended to build the ter
minal in the end, was inviting bids merely
| to obtain information and for protective
| purposes, and did not bid
Columns of space would be required to
describe the proposed terminal as outlined
| In the drawings and specifications. Through
| the latter runs one unvarying demand for
| excellence. The materials. stone, steel,
wood, brass, terra Gotta bricks and cement
| must all be of the best
The drawings show that the terminal is to
be 75X250 feet, independent of the con
| course or train floor. which Is SOOx135 feet
The waiting room viii be 200X25O feet and
in ornateness will far eclipse any other of
| its class In height the terminal will be
| three and four stories. and the walls will
| vary In thickness from 10 rect to inches.
| No fewer than 30.0OO,00O bricks will be used
| in the construction. The bricks will be
| made in Washington yards. The outer, or
| face marble-if marble is decided upon-wilI
| be of an average thickness of inches. and
| viii be taken in the main from Georgia
quarries. In the event Of granite being used
| New England quarry owners will be the
! gamers. The interior walls of the terminal
J will be of marble. much of which will be i'm
ported from Italy.
Grained Varieties for Decorations.
Great quantities of beautifully grained
varieties, principally found in southern
| Quarries. will also be used. Columns Of
| veinef marble will also acorn the in
| terror, more especially the great waiting
| room for passengers. The estimated cost
| of the exterior marble is $1,000 900: that
| to be used on the interior 81 cor. 900 The
| bricks in the walls will represent AN out
| lay of at least s1,O00,O00. The structural
| iron and steel for which bids were not
| asked, and of which there will be about
| 5000 tons. will represent a value Of
! $750,000. Estimates were not asked on
| the structural steel and iron for the rea.
| son that the Pennsylvania railroad will
furnish it through the Pennsylvania ard
Cambria Steel Companies, which are
| closely allied with it.
| Twenty-Five railroad tracks will run
| into the termilIl. SIX If the number viii
| be laid in a tunnel, to be burrowed TWEEN
| ty feet beneath the basement of the
| building. These six tracks will be used
| by trains arriving from the south 1t
| was mainly for the purpose of provid-
| ing for the tunnel that 1t was decided to
| build the first floor of the terminal TWEEN
! ty feet above the street grade The
| plans furnished to contractors show
that $4,000 cubic yards of material must
be excavated. AS one cubic yard con-
stitutes a CARLOAD, $4,000 carts would
| be required to hold the diggings and the
carts. drawn by horses and in tandem