Lewiston evening teller. [volume] (Lewiston, Idaho) 1903-1911, 1906-02-24
fine
TOLL HOUSE
New York's Custom
House Costly New
Structure.

New York, Feb. 24.-Cncle Sans
New York harbor, will soon be COM
pleted In this granite palace Of the
Italian renaissance lavisly carved and
embellished by sculptor. artist and ar
chitect, national tolls of something like
s200,000,000 a year will be collected on
American commerce. 1.-THE finest cary
ed granite building in the world" was
the verdict Of an eminent French ar
chitect after he had critically inspect
ed the imposing facades. stretching
nearly two hundred feet along Bowling
Green. and running $50 feet in depth.
The exterior walls are built Of mas
sive granite block backed by several
feet OF brick work and two inches of
fireproof terra Gotta, making a wall
nine feet thick. In the center OF the
building is a covered court. with its
highly ornamented dome surrounded
by colonnades rising to the height Of
four stories.
Structure 10 Fireproof.
heavy steel columns run around the en-
tire structure, thirty feet back from
the outer walls. One end Of the grid
ers carrying the floors rests upon these
columns and the other end Is embed
ded in the masonry wall. In this day
of "fireproof' buildings, which are not
fireproof at all. the architects gave
special attention to the form of con-
struction. 1t was felt that a building
OF such Importance should be absolute
cial study was a decision to fireproof
the entire building with hollow tile
blocks which in their manufacture had
been subjected to a temperature Of
5000 degrees for several weeks The
average building fire develops about
1900 degrees of heat. so it can be seen
that there is considerable margin of
safety here. Over windows and cor
nices, where the architectural effect re-
quired it, especially designed terra cot
ia blocks are placed. All the parti-
lions. inner wall Innings. and the man.
sard roof are constructed Of hollow tile
blocks, and every inch of the steel
frame work Is completely incased in
porous terra Gotta. The partitions are
Of the same material.
From the sub-cellar 30 feet below
the street. to the top floor run two fire.
proof staircases, constructed on the
Gustavino arch system of marble sup
ported by heavy slabs of tile.
In the colonnades running around the
building there are A. Corinthian COL
umns OF Fox Island granite. fifty feet
high and over Ave feet in diameter.
Special machinery had to be designed
to quarry these hugh masses Of stone.
Marbles of various hues, iron grill
work and bronze are used in different
rooms, starcases and corridors
Historic Groupes in Sculptor.
Sculptored groups of heroic proper
lions are placed at the several en-
frances. On the Battery side stand
America" and Europe: asia" and
africa" guard the State and White
hall entrances. These groups are the
work Of Daniel Chester French, and
represent an outlay by the government
Of $4,000 for the sculptor's services
alone. Twelve figures carved from
Maine granite rest upon the cornice Of
the sixth story. These represent the
great maritime nations Of the past, and
are the work Of ST. Gaudens, Elwell
and other famous sculptors. The man.
moth group over the main entrance
typifying the nation, is by Carl Bitter.
In some ways not even the finest OF
the government buildings at WASH
ington can compare with the New York
custom house. Architects prophesy
that long after many Of the Washing
ton buildings have crumbled or burned
up the custom house will stand as a
monument to the indestructibility of
the tile-protected steel structure, de-
veloped In perfection too late to be well
represented among the older govern
ment buildings Of the nation.