The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1904-12-05
James CreeIman on POSSibiIi :
ty of Its Construction.
PROBABLY In NEAR FUTURE
Limit Of Skyscrapers Now Determined
Only by Cost Progress
Made in Beautifying
Tail Structures.

metropolis, pregnant with possibilities
of city life, that the car, the German
emperor and the king Of Italy this year
sent their architects across the ocean
to consult a distinguished New Yorker
who has designed some Of the tallest
buildings in America, says James Creel.
man in the New York World
/ A fifty story building, with a height
Of COO feet, Is said to be not merely a
feasibility in New York. but an actual
4 probability in the near future. Such Il
building. covering a ground area. say,
200 by 400 feet, would provide about
5000 offices Of sixteen feet square
each, accommodating, at the rate OF
1--WE persons to an Office, $4,000 persons,
nearly equal to the whole population OF
4 Fort Worth, Tex; Jackson, Mich, or
! Gloucester, Mass. At the present aver
age cost Of steel frame buildings ia
New York such structure could be
built for about $25000,O00.
One of the most eminent architects
matter Of engineering it would be per-
fectly safe now to construct building
quarter Of mile high within the
area of New York city block. such
an edifice would have 40 stories and
on ground space Of 200 BY 400 feet
total floor area OF 100000 square feet
capable OF accommodating an Office
population Of 10000 persons.
The total weight of the building
would be 100000 pounds, and the
steel foundation pillars would have to
be five feet thick. It would cost about
$G0.000000 aside from any special fea-
lures. A masonry building OF such di-
mansions would require foundation
walls fifteen feet thick and would be
from an engineering standpoint an alb
solute impossibility.
All this Is Of course at present out of
the range OF commercial practicability,
but 1t illustrates the nature and posi-
BILE scope Of the steel frame construc-
ton in New York, which is interesting
and astonishing not only the architects
but also the governments Of Europe.
1t is $50 feet from the deepest cellar
to the highest roof in New York. That
fact has fired the Imagination OF the
older civilizations. No one can say how
high the buildings of New York may
vet be. The scientific limits are as yet
unnamable. 1t is practically question
Of money, Of the relative cost Of con-
struction and operation as compared
with earning power Then. too, the ele-
yator problem has to be considered
The question of fire in tall buildings
has already been solved In New York
by laws compelling the use OF tireproof
materials, including chemically treated
woodwork and the installation Of com
plete fire fighting apparatus. The up
per floors Of many high buildings are
In that respect supposed to be beyond
the reach and therefore independent Of
help from the fire department
The thing that puzzles New York ar
chitects is the question OF new style
to meet the aesthetic problem present
ed BY the lengthening perpendicular
lines of tall buildings The problem,
governed BY the necessity for windows
in Office buildings, Is TINT Of checker
board.
Thus far the tail building has been
treated in a large sense as a column,
with the idea of base, shaft and capital
controlling the external architectural
design. The introduction Of obiique
lines would seriously Interfere With
the window spaces. Some progress has
been made in the Identifying Of tall
structures BY adding massive stone
ratings to the sky lines and an elabora.
ton Of classical ornamentation lit the
main entrances, but as the distance be-
tween the street and the roof grows
greater the more these details become
unrelated and therefore insignificant.
What is needed is a style of archI- |
lecture that viii make the ''skyscrap-
en-" a pleasing whole rather than d |
monstrosity with beautiful details
which simply serve to emphasize the
formidable ugliness OF the mass.
A famous New York architect thinks
that the only thing TO be done until
time develops a grand style, is to in
troduce lines To express the idea that
the tall building rests upon steel
skeleton and not upon the inclosing
walls. That at least would tend to-
ward the unity which must underlie all
true art, whereas the present motive
Of base. shaft and capital bears no &c. |
tual relation I'd the real structure and
is an architectural lie