Arizona republican., 1906-08-07
THE CIOUDPIERGER
 BEATS SKYSCRAPER
Description of New Forty One Story
 Office Building.

New "Cloudpiercer''-that is
 the name invented to describe the
 building for which the foundations are
 now being laid at the corner of Liberty
 street and Broadway. Skyscraper was
 too common- place a term for this
 forty -one story monster. It is in class by itself. a class far beyond any
 thing ever known before in the sky scraping' line Its forty-one stories will tower to a height of SIP feet, top ping the Washington monument by fifty-seven feet.
 The tallest building in New York city at the present time is the Park Row building which is made up of twenty nine stories with a height of 3S2 feet This great height was reached by a gradual evolution in building construc- ton which began in 1888 when the Tower building of 13 stories was put up at 50 Broadway under the direction of Bradford L. Gilbert. This was re-
 garded as a marvel in it's day and ev- erybody was skepticaI about the ability of the new wonder to stand alone. But the engineers and the architect triumphed and the building neither toppled over of it's own weight, nor snapped off when the winds blew When the race skyward reached twen- ty-nine stories it was thought that office buildings had reached their limit
 But now the Singer building with its forty-One stories, Again the old ques tions are brought back with renewed force How can the building be put up? Will it stand when once it is erected? What would happen to the inmates of the building in case it 2 nest Flagg, answers these questions confidently. It can be put up so that
 it will not come tumbiing down and it will be built so that it cannot burn. When it is borne in mind that the Singer building is to be but sixty feet square. the problem of securing a firm foundation for the 600 feet of steel and masonry towering aloft grows apace. According to a careful estimate by the engineer in charge of the building the steel skeleton alone will weigh 1O,0OO tons.
 Add to this the weight of the stone and brick forming the exterior of the
 building. the hollow tiling surrounding the steel skeleton, floors, walls, and the thousand other things found in a great office building, and a weight almost in- comprehensible is made up. Further more, the foundations must stand the pull and strain of the great building as it tugs at it's anchorage when its broad expanse of surface is struck by strong wind.
 With the engineering difficulties of
 getting the great Singer building up and then making it stay there. out of the way. the question of the fire hazard still remains If any of the great sky scrapers should go up in flames, 1t would necessarily mean the loss of great many lives. not to speak of dol lars and cents. The tenant of floor No. 40 will naturally want to know that | his cloud perch is unburnable. Con sequently as little wood and oher in i hammable material as possible is used. But even then there is always enough timber in any office building to create a terrible flame and generate such a
 heat that unless the steel structure of the building is protected in the most ] thorough fashion it will expand and 1 buckle in a manner that will bring down the whole structure.
 i In the really fireproof building, such