The Oskaloosa herald., 1910-10-20
A 1911 IMPROVEMENT
The "K. Of p. Block" to be Com
menced Early in the Spring.


the signing OF contract between tn
knights OF Pythias Lodge and Charlie
Beadle for the building OF cornmod
Gus lodge and club quarters in a thir'
story to be erected over the Beadl
business block, Nos, 100, 122 and 10
High avenue west. The details o
the plans have not been worked ou
but the contracts as signed will re
quiTe practically new building OF
the site of the present property. Tn,
entire front of sixty feet viii be re
built on plans of modern design and
Work on the new structure is speci
fed to commence March /, 1911
The Pythians have disposed of the
lease they hold on their present quar-
tiers to the Homesteaders, a Local
lodge organization, together with son
tanned furniture and equipment The
Homesteaders take over the hall and
property April 1, 1911, permitting the
K. of p. orders the usual meeting
night for a stated time.
The Improvement has been under
contemplation for several months and
negotiations between Mr.. Beadle and
the lodge members have been pro-
crossing from time to time. Archi-
iects have been consulted, prelimi-
nary. plans submitted, the old build
ings subjected to closest scrutiny by
experts. .|.
Mr.. Beadle has stated that he viii
build for the Pythians the finest and
best, the most elaborate and complete
lodge and club apartments to be
found in Iowa or the west. The ex-
pense to Mr. Beadle will be between
twenty and thirty thousand dollars.
Added to this the Pythians propose
to have the best of lodge and club
equipment that can be obtained. The
cost OF the furnishings of the new
hall will be in the neighborhood of
three to five thousand dollars or more.
The Pythians will occupy the en-
tire third floor of the building, sixty
by one hundred and twenty feet, and
will have an entrance hall and wide
stairway on the first floor. The plans
now being drafted in the rough by S.
b. Sinclair, contemplate fine lodge
and dance hall, forty by sixty feet,
with a twenty foot beamed ceiling
and balcony at one end. The lodge
room may be augmented for audience
occasions by throwing into it large
banquet hall at one side, twenty by
forty or whereabouts. A large kitchen
and pantry will be located at the
rear Of the banquet hall. At the
front of the lodge apartments and the
front of the building will be great
recessed porch, about sixteen by forty
feet, and on the northwest corner a |
run room" twenty by twenty. Ladies /
and gentlemen's reception rooms com /
mittee rooms, general office apart |
ment for officers, smoking room, card |
room and billiard room, property clos |
cts. lockers, armory, stair landing and |,
hallway. The third story will extend !
about twenty-fOur feet above the cell !
ing of the second floor as now con- !
structed and the building will be !
some higher than the McGregor and |
Fitch buildings and the Williams
Brothers or Baldauf block on the east. !
The twenty-four feet gives Opportun-
ity for a double deck at the front of
the rooms for the accommodation of
some of the apartments, a plan sug-
gested by the arrangement Of the
Oskaloosa Elks' quarters.
The new front will be made a thing
of beauty. All of the old fronts will
be torn out from the ground up and
will be rebuilt. The third story will
be Of massive columns or pillasters
10 form the porch and the effect will
be imposing
The amount of construction neces-
sary to accomplish the plans is extern
sive. The foundation of the building
on the west is sufficient to sustain the
weight of an added story but the
walls of the other buildings are insult
ficient ana will be replaced. Steel
trusses will carry the roof weight.
The easements will be excavated the
entire length, one hundred and twenty
feet, and the footings and foundations
put down to depth sufficient to sus-
tain the weight and to accommodate
the making of basement rooms under
the entire building. The corner en-.
trance of the building now occupied
by the Perkins & G6sseiink store, No.
124 High avenue west, will be taken
out, the column removed and the wall
made solid TO the lot line on High
avenue. Heavy steel viii be employ.
ed ia the construction OF the front.
II Is likely that suspended canopy
will reach over the sidewalk to the
curb line at the entrance, similar to
those seen over hotel and public build.
ing entrances.
A special committee appointed by
the Pythian lodge has been away on
special trip Of inspection and in
quiry. Those making the trip were
r.. u. Walton, George True, Charles
le Brooke. accompanied by s. B. Sin
clair, architect. They visited the
Elks and Masonic buildings recently
constructed at Marshailtown, and the
new s60,00000 Pythian Temple al
Waterloo. A careful study was made
of features to be Incorporated in the
new building here. Mr.. Beadle win
afal taax~ a gnaofaf Trim IN nfhnF