The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1904-02-28

From this first great duel between {
modern skyScraper and a confiagratiOI
beyond all human control. the science o.
building. will learn some vital lessons. Il
Is now definitely proved that the elementa
structure, with brick walls and fireproofet
tiled floors. can be built to resist thu
fiercest of fires.
THE NEXT PROBLEM.
Granted this important @. E. D.. the
next problem to be solved is a method Of
keeping the fire from eating its way into
the infiammable interior.
No matter how carefully built. the mod.
ern office buildings must necessarily be
filled with highly infiammable furniture
and material.
Tho thought occurs at the very first
glance at che Quilted Continental Trust
Building that il the windows had been
az impervious to the heat as the outer
bricks. the whole structure. with its con-
tents, would have been saved.
easements. hermetically closed. might
have brought the great building 1n-
scathed through the ~f1ercest ordeal In the
history OF American fires. There is no
Known kind of glass or method Of setting
1t that could have resisted the heat.
Objections will be made that o never
can be sure Of having all the shutters
closed in time of fire.
The same criticism was made when
watertight bulkhead compartments were
proposed for ocean steamships.
improvements on the original bulkhead
idea. however. have saved many an ocean
liner. The bulkhead doors are controlled
from the steamship bridge. One lever
closes them instantly throughout the
possible to close every alright shutter
In the skyscraper.
The shutter problem is perhaps as vital
to the life of our abnormally tall CITY
buildings as the bulkhead is to the ocean
flyer OF 2C.0W tons.
The Baltimore fire showed that in a
general c~onfiagration the tall buildings
bear the brunt of the attack.
All OF the new one-story banks, such
as the Union National, Alexander
the International Trust and
the fire with comparatively little loss.
The fire passed over them, as It were,
and where 1t could not force in the win
doWs. left them practically unframed.
The most remarkable instance of this
Is In the escape of the Safe Deposit Com
pany. on South street.
It's home is a two-story brick building,
tensions to absolute fireproof qualities.
Every building within a block of it is
literally in ashes, but the Safe Deposit
glass windows behind its iron shutters.
After pumping the water out of the cell
lar the clerks opened their desks and went
to work. 1t was. we'll built and had shut
ters. Moreover. being low. it did not nave
to meet the terrific heat that ravaged the
Continental Trust and its taller neighbors.
PROGRESS IN BUILDING.
No one can view the shell of the Cont
mental Trust building without feeling that
We ave made solid progress toward pro-
lection from fife. 1t seems but a step to
the goal long claimed. but never attained
the fireproof building.
This progress is ~singularly illustrated
by the fate of the Sun building. a block
east of the Continental Trust building. at
Baltimore street. and holding the same
relative position to the advance of the
fire.
The Sun Building was the first fireproof |
building erected in America, and so great
was the respect Of Baltimoreans that even
to this day they never call II anything but
the Suniron building, ~pronouncing Sun and
iron as one word. |
Soon after moving into its present loca-
ton. in 1888. Mr.. Abel. proprietor Of the !
Sun. determined to erect the most sub
stantial newspaper house that could be
built. James Bogardus. who had been try |
ing for years in vain to interest New York |