Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-12

stat. ons of this character III the county.
For some Years Congress has ha" uh-
der consideration the erection of centrai
station for furnishing heat, ilghi anu
nover 10 that group of public buildings
known as .'the congressional buildings,
which includes the Capitol, House
office buiidins, Senate office building.
New Congressional Library and the pro-
posed new structure which is TO mouse
the United States Supreme Court anu
some of the minor courts TINS ehtlre
aggregation of buildings is embraced IN
an area OF probably not more than Tour
acres ard is approximately ',oUo Ieet
distant from the new central power sta
ton. The principal idea is economy en-
abIing the doing away with the separate
power plants at the Capitol, Library ana
office buildings: reducing the cost Oh re-
pairs. the consumption OF coal ana Inc
use of soft coal at about IS per ton III
stead of the hard coal now used at about
S6.5u per ton; besides great reduction
in the amount of labor
This handsome building is three
story modern steel frame structure built
of red brick and cement. after the ora
mission style. with gracefully sloping red
tiled roof and twin ornamental bun brick
stacks The building is eighty feet IN
height and reinforced concrete has been
used throughout for all boiler, turbine
and generator supports, HUBS anu looA-
ing. and the entire structure rests on
concrete pile foundation.
*
In connection with the plant there is
a pumping station located on the river
front, about 4, 400 feet distant from the
main station, for furnishing water for
condensing purposes, and IS also TIE out
let for the overflow fiume.
For the present there are four subSta-
tons, one III each of the buildings FORM
Ing the congressional group, and each Is
connected to the main station by COM
prehensiye system Of concrete constructed
tunnels.
1t has been uppermost in the minds of
the engineers IN charge of the construc-
ton of this plant that our United States
Senators and Representatives shall at no
time be without a proper heating and
lighting service, and to this end IT has
been SO arranged that all machinery,
boiler capacity and other apparatus be in
duplicate in so far as is consistent with
economical engineering and expense, so
that in case of breakdown from any
cause to any part of the system the other
part is Immediately available. There are
checks and counter checks throughout
the entire system SO as to make it almost
q certainty that it will never be neces-
sary to suspend operation of the entire
plant.
The foundation OF the building consists
of $50 concrete piles, or about 1900 linear
feet covered with a concrete surface to
the depth of several feet. The building
is shaped like the letter IT, the vertical
stem running north and south being the
boiler section. and the top OF the IT.
abutting en- the north the turbine and
generator section. The boiler section is
leo by 81 feet and the turbine section
H. by 81 feet. The boilers are on the second
floor. fourteen feet above street grade
tl,t.- tod fr,.,x
the coal storage loft. The ash handling
apparatus is of the very latest mechanical
device Of its kind and is located i'm
mediateiy under the boilers on the base