Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-24

waged as to whether the Tower building
was the pioneer, many claims for this honor
being made by the architects of other build
ings erected either shortly before or about
the time that Bradford L. Gilbert, as archi-
tect, filed the plans for the Tower building.
OF recent years, however, there has been
little or no disputation concerning the
Tower buildings right to the distinction.
This change was brought about largely by
the careful and thorough investigation con-
Quoted to settle this mooted question by
The Real Estate Record and Builders
Guide of New York city in 1895: This Is
what that publication, an authority broad
ly recognized, had to say:
Skyscraper's Origin.
Numerous claims have been made for
the invention of the system of skeleton con-
struction. The idea of using iron in some
form for the vertical support Of buildings
was in the air in the middle of the eighth
decade. Iron columns and beams had, of
course, been frequently employed in In
terror positions. The novelty embodied in
skeleton construction consisted in applying
iron to the exterior as well as the interior,
and developing the metal framework thus
arrived at into a consistent and radical
system of support
I'm 1854 W. L. B. Jenny of Chicago In
designing the Home Insurance Company
building in that city, employed system OF
cage construction-that is, the outer walls
were built staining while the foors
and roofs were carried on an independent
iron framework This, however was not a
thorough-going system of skeleton constrUc-
ton So far we know, the honor OF
making the first radical application Tor
the new method belongs to the New YORK
architect Bradford l.. Gilbert. who filed
plans on April Il. 1883, for the rover pulio-
ing so Broadway wherein he proposed 10
use the exterior cast-iron columns, eighteen
feet apart to carry the floors, instead of
the usual solid brick walls. For a time
there was some doubt as to whether the
building department would sanctoh TINS
novel method. Conservative views, now
ever were overcome, and the work OF con-
struction was allowed to commence June
81 1883 The building was completed hf-
teen months later. This is the pioneer
structure Of It's class, and nxes Tor US inc
eeginning of the really modern era OF the
office building
one of applicatio for the skeleton frame
from the mechanical point OF view. Is no tda
ing but a bridge set on end, and protected
externally from the weather by a curtain
wall of masonry. This new application,
however was revolutionary. 1t was adopted
with remarkable alacrity by architects and
owners and promptly resulted in an aver
age addition of five stories to the height or
office buildings. Within the last two or
| three years the tendency has been toward
greater altitude, and so far the net result
| of the skeleton construction has been to in
| crease the height of buildings to about
| double the limit made possible by the in
PRODUCTION of the elevator"
The practical height made possible by the
elevator, under the old system OF construc-
| ton, in which the exterior walls were made
| to support the weight of the floors, was
| nine stories. Between the date of the ap-
| plicaton of the elevator to office buildings,
| in the late sixties to the introduction of the
| skeleton system Of construction, the height
! of office buildings had increased gradually
| from five and six stories, as the elevator
| was improved and its possibilities more
| realized. But when the altitude of build
| fngs had been run up to $50 feet, approXf-
| mately, it was found that the walls, In
| order that the floors might be properly sup
| ported, would have to be considerably in
| creased in thickness, and they were SO
| thick already and taking up so much valu-
| able real estate that the owners were con-
| stantly complaining that the renting space
| was being cut down too much and the
| buildings were not the paying investments
| they should be- Hence, the casting about
| of architects to find way to overcome
| this difficulty, search which finally led
| to the standing of a bridge on end and In
| closing it with "a curtain wall of masonry
| as protection from the weather.
| New Light on Height of Skyscrapers.
| But though it has been highly practicable
| since the construction of the Tower build
| ing to run up buildings to heights undream-
| ed of before. and there are structures vary
| ing from twenty-five to thirty stories in
| altitude above the surface, it is note
worthy fact that the average height of all
| buildings above the practical limit possible
under the old system of construction is far
/ from being what one would naturally sup
| pose it to be after spending a day looking
| upward at the towering structures in the
| business centers Of such cities as New
| York. Chicago, Philadelphia and Pittsburg.
| 1t was during the three years immediate
/ ly prior to the outbreak of the war with
i Spain that there seemed to be mania in
/ New York for putting up record-breaking
| structures, in the point of altitude Then
i were constructed the Park Row building.
/ the highest Office building In the world;
| the st. Paul building. almost as tall: the
/ Empire building. and many others whose
i course of construction was followed pretty
| generally all over the country with much
wonder and comment, During these three