Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-06-20
HOTEL UNDERGROUND
New York House with Five Stories
 Beneath the Surface.
Lack of Space Ovcrhead Leads to the Construction of Inverted Sl&y~
 Scraper-Some Odd .e.r Features.


 Having annexed all the land within reach as we'll as a considerable por- tion of the adjacent atmosphere in order to accommodate its overwhelrs- ing accessions in the way of popula- tion, New York has made a threat &ning advance on the interior of the earth. Having outdone itself in the construction of towering monstrosi- ties, the notion has been conceived, and carried out, of inverting a sky scraper and extending it's accumulat- ing stories into the earth.
 In the building of new hotel op- posite the Forty-second street station the designer found himself so circum- scribed by the Rapid Transit subway that he was compelled to resort to some ingenious methods in order to secure a necessary service front"
 The Rapid Transit subway runs through one corner of the lower stor- ies so as to take about one-ffth of the area of four of them and prac- ttcally incloses the east and north sides, says the Engineering Record, preventing access to the street and light there. This leaves no opportuni- ty for service entrances except on Forty-frst street, where the right has been purchased from the city to ex- tend the underground stories 30 feet from the curb line to the center of the street, thereby securing excellent and abundant facilities to receive SUD- plies. It was desired to provide for all storage, machinery installation, oper- ating plant and the general service of the house below the street level; and as much of the space was lost through the encroachments of the subway, it was necessary to carry the excavation down to great depth and build five stories below the sidewalk level.
 The lowest story, 60 feet below the curb, has bunkers on the south side for the storage of about 800 tons of coal, received from chutes in Forty first street. The remainder of this story is occupied with the power | plant, elevator, machinery, pipes, 1 ducts, etc. The enginea room is un- usually high, with a gallery on the west side at the level of and connect ing with mezzanine floor in the northi side of the building, occupied by the ventilating apparatus. The next floor above is at about the level of the sub way tracks and is devoted principally l to the laundry and to storage. The next story, which is two flights down from the street, has aN large area for the servants dining-rooms, kitch- ems, toilet rooms, etc., and from it Is an entrance to the subway station, ad- jacent to which there are barber shops, chiropodists and other offices 1 of public nature. The next story is one flight below the street, and has a kitchen for the main dining-room, a 6Ox125-foot restaurant, & cafe and bar l room, and passage to a gallery above the subway, by which guests of the hotel can reach the Grand Central de- | pot under cover.
 The rotunda floor, next above, is about at street level and contains the 5ox1o0-foot main dining-room and the spacious entrance lobby, which have heights of about 26 and 80 feet in the clear respectively. Adjacent to the dining-room is palm room with an elaborate domed roof, 30 feet in di' ameter, supported on columns. There is a mezzanine floor communicating with the dininG-room galleries and serving as an overflow for guests and for the smoking and writing rooms; and there are also service rooms with galleries, telegraph and telephone of fees, etc. The street floor is made with two levels conforming to the ddf- ferent grades of Forty y-hrst and Forty second streets, and corresponding offset in the floor is made in the story below. The second story Is devoted to state apartments, banquet rooms, par lors and few large suites. The third and succeeding stories are arranged 1T about 75o suites, each of which in cludes bathroom. The upper story is intended principally for servants lodgings.