East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1906-02-24

New York, Feb. 23.-Uncle Sans
S5,OOO,OOO custom house. overlooking
New York harbor, will soon be COM
pleted. In this granite palace of the
ltallan renaissance, lavishly carved
and embellished by sculptor. artist
and architect, national tolls of some
thing like 100000, 600 a year will be
collected on American commerce.
Ihe finest carved granite building in
'he world was the verdict of an emf
hent French architect after he had
critically inspected the imposing fa-
caues' stretching nearly 200 feet along
Sowing Green, and running ESQ feet
in depth.
me exterior walls are built of mas
slNe granite block backed by several
Ieet OF prick work and two inches OF
iire proof terra Gotta making a wall
hine feet thick. In the center of the
building is a covered court. with its
hlghly ornamented dome surrounded
by colonnades rising to the height of
four stories.
inside the building two rows of
heaNy steel columns run around the
entire structure, 80 feet back from
the outer walls. one end of the grid
ers carrying the floors rests upon
these columns and the other end is
embedded in the masonry wall. In
this day of fire proof" buildings.
which are not fire proof at all. the
architects gave special attention to
the form of construction.
1t was felt that a building of such
Importance should be absolutely un-
burnable. The result of this special
study was decision to fire proof the
entire building with hollow tile
blocks which in their manufacture
mad 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 a considerable margin of
safety here
over windows and cornices. where
the architectural effect required it,
especially designed terra Gotta blocks
are placed. All the partitions, inner
wall Innings. and the mansard 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, 80 feet below
the street, to the top floor run two
fire proof staircases. constructed on
the Gustavino arch system of marble
supported by heavy slabs of tile.
In the colonnades running about
the building there are A Cornthian
columns of Fox Island granite, so feet
high and over five feet in diameter.
Special machinery had to be designed
to quarry these huge masses of stone.
Marbles of various hues, iron grill
work, and bronze are used in differ
ent rooms, staircases and corridors.
Sculptured groups of heroic propor-
tions are placed at the several en-
tracnes. on the Battery side side
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 govern
ment of $4,000 for the sculptors
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, Ell
well and other famous sculptors. The
mammoth group over the main en-
trance typifying the nation, is by Carl
Bitter
In some ways not even the finest of
the government buildings at Washing
ton can compare with the New York
custom house. Architects prophesy
that long after many of the Washing
ton buildings have crumblea or
burned up the custom house will stand
as monument to the indestructibility
of the tile-protected steel structure,
| developed in perfection too late to be
well represented among the older gov
ernment buildings of the nation.