Albuquerque weekly citizen. (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1891-19??, 1906-03-03
FINEST BUILDING
OF KIND IN WORLD
Uncle Sans Costly TOaI House
Has Almost Reached
Completion.
STRUCTURE IS FIREPROOF

New YORK. Fob g3 Uncle Sans
$4,000 900 custom house overlooking
New NOrk hnrhor Will soon Doe com.
p'ctDl ln this rrau.tc palace of tho
italian renaissance laylshly carved
and rmbellifhcd hy lculptor. artist
and architect national tolls 0t some
thing like f2,00000D "a wear viii ho
collected on American commerce
The finest carved granite mIdlnr m
The world was tine verdict OF an emil
nont French architect after be- had
critically Inspected me imposing ia
cadcs, stretching nearly 200 feet alons
Bowling Green. and running ESQ feet
ln depth
The exterior walls are built oi
massive granite block backed hy scy.
rral feet uf brick work and two inches
of nrcpf0of terra Gotta. making wall
nine feet thick In tho center Of the
building iH q covered court with Cos
highly ornamcuted dome surrounded
hy colunnados RISING 20 tine height 90
four stories.
Cannot BE Burned.
Inside the building two rows ni
heavy steel columns run around the
entire structure. thirty feet hack from
Che outer walls. ono end OF the grid
ers carrying the floors rests upon
these columns ana the other end is
embedded ln me masonry wall In
this day of "hfepfOOr buildings. which
are not hreproof ai an Che architects
gave special attention 90 the form OF
construction ~ was ton that a build
Ing OF such importance should De alb
HolutCly unhurnablU The result ui
this sppcial study was "a decision 10
hrppruuf the entire building with hOl
low iilu blocks which in their manufac.
iurU had been subjected t0 a temporn.
iurC of 5000 degrees for several
weeks The average building FIRE De-.
yclups adopt 1900 degrees ~ heat, SO
b. can bee seen that there D. con.
siderable margin 1f safety here over
window and cornicpa whore thp archi
fpciuraI effect required lt especially
designed terra Gotta blocks are placed
AN Che partitions. inner wall Innings
end the mansard roof are constructed
OF hollow tllc blocks and every inch
OF the steel frame work De- completely
incased lu porous terra GOTTA. The
partitions are IN the same material.
From thc suhceilar thirty feet bee
low me street 90 ihe TOP door run Two
nreproof stairCases. constructed on
the Gus.ayino arch system of marble
supported by heavy slabs of tie
Special Machinery Devised.
ln me Colcnnadcs running AROUND
tao building there are forty four Cor
lulhian columns OF Fox Island granite
hfty feet high aud over five feet In
diameter Special machinery had 10
be- designed 90 quarry these huge
mhHscH Of stone. Marbles OF various
huOs, iron griil work. and bronze are
used in different rooms staircaaos and
corridors
sculptured groups OF heroic proper
lions are placed at the several en-.
frances. On the Battery side stand
America" nnd Europe, Asia" and
Africa guard the State and Whho.
hall Unrances These groups arc the
work of Daniel Chester French. and
represent am outlay by the govern
ment az $4,000 Tor tho sculptor's ser.
vices alone. Twelve figures carved
| from Maine granite rest upon the
Cornico of the sixth story. These rop.
resent the great maritime nations of
the past, and are tho work Of g. Gau.
denH EiWoll and other famous aculp.
tors The mammoth group over the
main entrance typifylnE the nation, d
by Carl Bitter.
IN some ways not even the finest "a
che government buildings at Washing