The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-12-08
THE TALLEsT BUILDING.

New York is sufficiently cursed by
tall buildings, perhaps; but the end
is not yet. One is going up that
will belittle all the rest. 1t is thus
described in the Scientific Ameyscau
When the tall Office building, III
the course of its rapid evolution, had
attained the height of 900 feet, it
was freely predicted that the limit
had been reached, and that future
structures in New York City would
be of more reasonable vertical dimen-
sions. That prediction was made
not much more than a decade ago
and yet today there is in course of
construction in lower New York a
building whose summit will reach
heavenward for over twice 900 feet.
The new building, which will be in
the form of tower and will consti-
tute part of an extension of the pres
ent Singer building at the corner of
Liberty Street and Broadway, will
contain al stories, and the top of its
cupola will be 6I2 feet above street
level. Not only will the Singer tow
er be the loftiest inhabited building
in the world, but it will exceed in
vertical height the famous Washing
ton Monument on the banks of the
Potomac, which, with its total height
of SIS feet, is at present the tallest
masonry structure erected by man.
Although the Singer tower will lack
some 800 feet of equaling the famous
Eiffel Tower, it will be far more
difficult and costly structure to erect,
and because of its narrow base will
| involve more complicated and serious
engineering problems.
Although in plan the tower will
measure only 65 feet square, its total
uplift is so great that its floor space
added to that of the main building
will be greater, with single excep-
tion, than that of any other building
in New York City, the total area
amounting to oH acres. The eleva-
tor will be oblong in plan, and placed
in the center of the building. For
the service Of the lower portion of
the building, there will be sixteen
elevators, and, as the upper floors
are reached, they will decrease in
number, until there will remain four
elevators for the service of the top
most floors. It is estimated that
when the building is fully occupied,
it will accommodate about 5000
people.
The effect of this stupendous struc-
ture upon the already remarkable
sky line of New York City will be to
dwarf the immensity of surrounding
buildings and deceive the eye as to
their already lofty altitude. This
will be particularly true oftLe straug-
er who visits New York for the first
time, for he will find it difficult to
realize that the towering skyscrapers
which are dominated SO completely
by this tower are many of them be-
tween 800 and 400 feet in height.
The question of the future vertical
increase in the dimensions will de-
pend upon the financial success of
the Singer building. Should it prove
possible to realize an adequate return
upon an investment of this kind, it is
not unlikely that corporations with
whom the advertisement that is given
by a spectacular structure of this
kinds counts for something, will, in
future years, attempt to rival or sur
pass it.
1t is the confident expectation of
the engineers that, in spite of the
great height, there will be no percep-
tible sway in the Singer building
even in the heaviest storm.