Evening star., 1909-02-24
PREPARING BALL ROOM
Riggers Busy in the Pension
Building Court.
BRIDGES between PILLARS
Scores of Slender Lines High in the
Air.
WORKING AT DIZZY ATTITUDES
scaffolding Built for the Draperies to
Hang From-False Ceiling
to, Be Suspended.

1t Is hard to realize how big and lofty
are the great pillars in the court of the
pension office until one sees the riggers
at work there preparing the decorations
for the inaugural ball. A mans leg hangs
over the capital at the top of one of the
big pillars. but the rest of him is out of
sight behind the edge and the foot and
leg seem to be about the size of those on
five-cent doll-so small, in fact, that
they escape notice till one follows up the
rope leading to the airy perch.
The big court of the pension Office is a
fine place to decorate, and 1t is a job re-
quiring the services of an expert rigger.
for temporary scaffolding has to be
thrown across the dizzy upper spans for
the draperies to hang from. The men are
at work there now swinging the scores Of
slender lines from which will hang the
false ceiling of cream-colored bunting
that will roof in the court.
Bridges Between the Pillars.
Between the eight big pillars in the CEN
ter there have to be bridges from which
to drop the collars that are part of the
scheme of decoration around the columns.
These are being put in place now by a
force of accomplished riggers and steeple-
jacks unQer command or Wlllldm SOnner-
man of the Knox Express Company, who
has done this work ever since the PEN
sion Office has been used for the inaugural
ball. In fact, he has crawled around the
upper lodges of the big building a good
deal longer than that, for he was in the
force that helped to erect the building and
swing the big roof girders into place.
There are three other riggers in the
party and a force of laborers. When the
decorations are all finished their handi-
,-lr ,x-tn - I,,t hoN
the satisfaction of knowing that their
aerial work is the part on which all the
rest of the decorations depend. Bridges
of 3 by 10 scantling are being thrown
from the top of one column to the other
and each of these has to be hoisted into
place from the floor. There is travel
ing block on an almost invisible steel
cable high in the air. by means of which
the bridge pieces are sent up to the roof.
One after the other the arches between
the columns are being spanned seventy
five feet above the tiled floor of the court.
There is no landing net at the bottom
to catch rigger In case of fall, but the
men on the job are used to this sort of
work and after the 1O-inch pieces are in
place they can run across them like
squirrels. looking. in fact, little bigger
than squirrels from the ground below
Pension Building Statistics.
1t is twenty-four years since the pen
Slon OIlCc WdS hTSl OCCuPieu ny tic gov
ernment. 1t is one of the biggest Office
buildings in the country, and experts say
that 1t is an almost ideal building of
the sort from the standpoint of light and
ventilation. Some OF the facts about it's
dimensions are worth remembering. They
are as follows:
Outside measurement, 200 by 400 feet,
and 1511e feet tall.
Four stories throughout, and a cellar
under one-half.
Number of rooms, including basement,
175.
Entire contents of outer skin of walls.
s.211.5O cubic feet.
Floor areas. 1ss.o5S square feet.
Ground plan, $1,000 square feet (about
9-10 acres).
In it were used IS, 500 tons of material,
including 15,5OO.OOO bricks.
The hall contains 4.OU,OOO cubic feet
of air space. The whole space to be
cellar. 6,17O. 200 cubic feet.
Heated by four tubular boilers, situated
in the southwest basement rooms
Fuel consumed in heating and running
elevators, about 1.20O tons per year.
First partially occupied by the pension
office in May, 1885: at that time the walls
were not completed. the roof had not
been erected, and the floor of earth in the
hall had not been paved.
Floors of the court and galleries go $3.50
square feeD tiled at a cost of S2O,OOO.34.
Total cost of building, $500 J69. 49,
The height Of the large columns in the
court from floor to top Of capital Is Is
at base, feet. Number Of bricks in each,
%, 700. Number OF square yards of plaster
on each. ISL. Estimated weight of each,
1873 tons.