The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-07-07
GorNa UP SOME.

uOAfN~ OA 0OAAAfe
 Is there to be no limit to the height of buildings in this country2 It is fast developing into something like mania, ana bears resemblance to the other mania, if we may so term it, of build ing big ships. in which each large one that is built calls for one little big ger. Something of the same kind act- uates architects and builders. It has not been many years since an office building one hundred feet high would have been regarded as . wonder, but xhat Is nothing now. It was argued that if a house one hundred feet high could be safely constructed. one of two, three, four or five might be put up. Then they reasoned that if it was prac- tieable to erect building i've hundred feet high why not go up to one thous- and feet?
 , That last feat has not yet been ac- complished but 1t is being pushed pret- ty close, if the plans filed by the New York Equitable Company are carried to completion. To put the case briefly. the plans call for building of sixty two stories, sos feet to the top of the tower, on which is to be placed a flag stan 16o feet higher. The top of the nagstar will be one-fifth of a mile above the pavement, and the highest part of the building itself will be over one-sixth of a mile high. This im- mensely tall structure is to be used as the company's offices. and is estimated to cost ten millions dollars.
 In connection with such a project as this there will naturally be two ques- tions asked: Will it be safe? and will it pay? The first. 1t may be said, can only be answered by experience, for there is involved the problem of whether a building of that height can be safely erected, and whether 1t will be safe for those who are to be its tenants. There were intelligent men WHO uOuDLcO IT AN NO4A0 M odLO " erect a building of thirty or forty stories. They argued that the found- ations might not sustain such an fn- mense weight. and gave various reas- ons to show that it would be in- prudent to attempt It. Those argu- ments have increased force when 1t iS proposed to go at least two hundred feet higher than any building already in existence or contemplated, which is the Metropolitan building, as we now remember. As to the occupants in the top stories perhaps they would be as safe at nine hundred feet as they would at half that height.
 The question of whether such an office building will pay is one that has no doubt been already calculated. Ten millions is an immense sum to invest in an oflce building, and it Is fair to presume that the projectors did not decide on 1t without first satisfying themselves that there would be profit in it. If it Is safe to build 1t, and If 1t will pay after it is built. there is nothing more to be said. according to the modern methods and ideas. Level headed business men with money to in- vest are not in the habit of putting 1t where there will be no prospect of re- turn. In New York the price Of land has reached such a figure that none but the wealthy can afford to buy it and. what is more, it is becoming almost impossible to obtain building sites. These are the main reasons why such tall buildings are becoming so popular.
 Speaking of high structures 1t will not be out of place to print some com parisons between these sky-scrapers and some other famous buildings, an' cient and modern. and we ind that The Hardford Courant sums them up as follows:
 Sir Henry Rawlinson estimated the eight stories of the tower of Babel to be i66 feet hlRn ana the towers alon8 the walls of Babylon are reported to have been 420 feet high. The dome of St, Pauls in London is 365 feet high and the cross surmounting the dome of St. Peters in Rome Is 430 feet high, The largest Egyptian pyra- mid is 4so feet high. The mass of the tall buildings now In use in New Work city run from 200 to 300 feet high, from any one of which one might look down on the tower of Babel without becoming confused In speech. while from two at least-the Singer building, 612 feet high. and the Metro-