Free press., 1906-11-24
Wonder Works OF
the Metropolis
Continued from First Page


the encircling blue than the roof of the
Singer building And it is said that one
of the widest known proprietors of the
American newspaper world, just as soon
as these two buildings have been COM
pleted far enough to make change in
their plans out of the question, will com
nence building home for his various
metropolitan publications that will give
him free worldwide advertising as
owner of the worlds talIest Office
building.
It was only eighteen years ago last
June that there was erected in New
York the building that made the sky
scraper certainty. It was the first
building to have a skeleton frame; in
this case it was not steel, as nowadays,
but cast iron. How puny it looks to-
day surrounded by its mighty children,
crowding one another on both sides of
lower Broadway! But it will not be
looked upon much longer by its proud
and lofty offspring. 1t is to go the way
of all things earthly, and on its site is
to rise building that will be modern
tower in truth as well as in name. For
this original skyscraper, mere ten stor-
les in height, has borne the name of
Tower building all these years. When
gaping hundreds came to lower Broad
way to see it constructed and completed
it was a tower of commerce, indeed.
Hundreds of sllyscrapers have been
erected in Manhattan since that day; in
the two and half years beginning with
January, 1908, one hundred and eleven
buildings, each over ten stories in height,
were put up. Anything over ten stories
is known as a skyscraper to the builder;
under the old method of construction a
building ten stories in height could be
erected, but no more, hence the differ
entiation at this point. By far the vast
majority of these commercial towers
have been erected in the lower business
districts. Now lower Broadway is prac-
tically lane between two gigantic, un-
broken walls of "Scrapers." Many cross
streets to the east of Broadway are like
wise so lined; skyscrapers are being put
up in ever increasing numbers on the
cross streets west of Broadway. Real
estate dealers and the heads of sky
scraper construction companies declare
that the day is not far distant when all
that portion of the city which is known
as downtown" will be given over ex-
clusively to skyscrapers, barring, of
course, spots here and there where light
rights have been bought from adjoining
property owners, thereby keeping small
buildings on certain plots. This method
of securing light to a skyscraper is so
that it is not frequently
adopted; the city will thus be given over
to skyscrapers from the Battery to City
Hall, a distance of miles, and in
time, even for blocks beyond, say the
authorities on skyscrapers.
You have heard of New York's China
lOWli, piODdDly lIIS WlChSuSSI SSCIlOn III
the metropolis. Plans are now on foot
to raze the entire network of human
traps and turn their sites into a park.
Is not that wonder in itself, and espe-
cially when one considers how cramped
the city is for space for buildings?
When the writer came to New York |
four years ago, he saw block after block |
in his walks on Washington Heights that |
had no buildings other than squatters' |
nuts on them. Now they are being rap |
fdly covered with substantial brick and |
stone buildings six and more stories in
height. Some blocks are already built |
1p Over in that portion of the Borough |
IF the Bronx where the elevated exten- |
sion of the subway runs, similar de-
Velopment is taking place. What were
farms and old country homesteads yes
.erday are now solid blocks Of buildings |
And on all sides the frenzy of rearing /
Prick and stone walls goes on unabated. |
All this is the wonder of the fiat 1t |
S the result of earnest endeavor to fur |
1ish accommodations for the quarter OF /
4 million and more persons who hurry /
How to get Free this beau