The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-07-26
GREAT BUILDINGS ON SAND.
Worlds Heaviest Structures stand on
Shifting Soils.
Chicago Inter Ocean.

Chicago Inter Ocean.
do YOU know" said a famous architect the
paradox? The heaviest and taliest buildings are
really houses built upon sander the mud. a. the
Then how do they stand7'' he was asked
oh. they are safe enough. Take the Park
Row building in New York 1t is the tallest COM
heaviest also. It weighs over 700 tons Which
means pressure Of nearly 1900 pounds on each
is designed to carry; And Yet this enormous
different from Qqickssnd AID about a hundred
1T is perfectly safe. Nearly 1000 large piles
were driven In 1t by 2,ooo-pound hammer fall
ing twenty feet. which compacted it until even
farther. and they could well carry their loads of
a2ooo pounds each. Groups of these piles were
we're built on that stse beams Mer Os'Gs s,d
the fiat pier tops to distribute the loads the
carry'as much as 1000. 600 pounds each.
Many OF our heaviest buildings are really
supported on stilts-that is to say on foundation
piles driven through sand or mud to the solid
In other cases heavy buildings are supported
on piles which neither reach to hard bottom nor
are driven in Arm soil. Long piles are driven
into very soft mud and silt. into which they sink
blows OF steam hammer. II they are driven
there thirty or nifty feet and left undisturbed a
tenacious mud Is so great that they can hardly
De started again, and may be safely trusted TO
Supported BY the sickness Of the n mud are really
The ST. Paul building In New York is sup
ported on very deep bed OF fine. wet sand
which was only excavated to a depth of-about
thirty-two feet. one-foot layer OF concrete was
spread over the bottom OF the pit and on This
were set the real foundations Consisting Of
crossed layers of steel beams and Orders
The Spreckels building in San Francisco
which weighs over $4,000. 900 pounds rests on
dense. wet sand. on which solid platform of
ton. This building has passed uninjured through
the test OF a severe earthquake shock
In another big building the columns are
seated on inverted arches, which distribute the,r
loads over all the space between them The
arches laid on long, wide concrete footings
the fine. wet sand on which they are built
Few, IL any, tall buildings are on worse soil
than those In Chicago. Here. only ten or fifteen
feet below the surface. is a crust OF clay no,
plastic mud from sixty to 100 feet deep. piles
more than 100 feet long would be required 10
reach the hard pan or bed rock, and most OF the
tall buildings there really stand on great ra ITS
built on the surface of the clay. II has beer
found that load of 1900 pounds per square FOO,
months After settling perhaps two inches n
will become stationary, and may be consldera hlv
increased with safety. No attempt Is made r.
prevent this settlement. -
Very often buildings are deliberately started
above grade. and 1t Is reckoned that they will
Huge structures built such foundations arr
perfectly safe" the architect Continued cal.
most any soft soil be successfully conouered
nowadays by an architect who knows his bust
THO build on the sand. The native architects q,
India have done for centuries sinking der
brick walls into their soft, wet aluviaI soil ~
serve as foundations" -