The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-10-03
WALL R LIKES ITS NEW BAZAAR
ERECTED BY STANDARD OIL COMPANY

The Standard Arcade on lower Broad
way. which was formally turned over
to the STANDARD Oil Company on Friday.
is nothing short OF the department store
Of the financial zone. II IL "A bazaar, two
tiers of stores occupied by retailers of
wear for men and women. musical in
strumcnts and other things which until
recently could not be secured anywhere
near the Wal Street district. Besides
being the shopping centre ~ the down
town business district II holds other dis
tinctions. II is the FIST building opera.
tion that has been launched by the
Standard Oil since the erection Of the
headquarters of the company at IS
broadway: IL ie the first arcade in Sew
York and covers property more -xpcn-
sivc tina any building Of its kind II. is
on the site of the famous Tower Buitl-
Ing, the first skyscrapcr In the country. /
n building whose height dazzled the
country whom II was built IN the '90s.
Tho Stlldard OH Company bought
the old 0wer Building. IA few doors
north OF o. ~company's headquarters.
so rs ~ control the development OF the
property. which was in the market for
sale. The company took the property
adjoining tie former "skyscrapeI" for
the same reasons. What to do with
them was a problem which perplexed Z
the standard Oil officers for a long
time. Some were for the erection OF a
tall office building others wcr, against 7
a tall office building but would agree to
a building of medium height None Of
them thought Of an arCade The arcade
IL the idea of Burton Thompson. man
aeer Of the property I
He went before the board Of directors
or the Standard oil Company. and told
them that the downtown district had
more orice space than was needed aNd
suggested that the property he improved
with an arcade. From statistics, Coz
lected from arcddes and bazaars In thi-i
country and on the other side he con.i
WINGED the board after i've months I'll
argument that the logical Improvement
Tor the site was an Arcade buildiI Z, such
as was turned over to them last Friday \
The statistics showed that arcades have :
been very successful from Il rcntinSi
standpoint. Cleveland. Iittsburg, De.
trOt and Cincinnati are the only cities
in the United States which have arcades
Cleveland has several. the construction
ot which was begun years ago. The
Emery arcade tn Cincinnati il said TO be-
the finest in the world. with the eNcep.
ton Of jhe one at Milan. which cc~;
$4,000. 900. The Emery arcade was bull !
in 1876 and il the longest IN the ccuu-
try. being 400 feet long. 1t is run in
connection with the Emer, hotel. and
traverses the centre Of an entire block
In Europe arcades are popular build
ings. Their popularity reaches back
many centuries. In the early DAYS they
were known as bazaAts. The only gem
eral difference bet the bazaars of
times and the arcades OF To-.
day Is that the former were unroofed Z.
were opened at both ends. Time de-
velOped the idea that il blziars were
rooted traders would he protected from
the weather. 50 roofs We're put OF. In
the same way doors came to be put -
the ends of these piSsagcNaNs.
"The Straight Road of Damascus Is
the Oldest arcade, or bazaar. In the
world. having been established i,o"r
years u. &. Paris. Moscow. p.trograd.
London and other large cities uf Europe
nave many arradcs. which Jominatc the
sections IN which they are located. In
many sections the arcade is the centre
Of all trade. other parts Of the distric;
being devoted to residences OF business
buildings.
The Standard arcade cost about S2.5.-
900 to build. which j. y small uirt Of
the value Of the site it occupies 1t was
designed by II. Craig Severance and
william Van Allen and is considered a
building of architectural merit. II is
practically a house Of glass. The ia
cades OF the building are glass and IN.
arcade is two walls of the same material
spanned bv bridges. Though the build
tnc H. substantially constructed and
much time was given Ia Is architectural
details II Is not to %" considered per
II has been erected by the stan
dard oil Company to carry the prop-
erty until such tim" rs thu section de
mands "A different TIP Of building. For
that reason leases are limited tn ten
years. About 20 per cent. of the thirty
Ave stores and Offices in the building
have been rented. The deman' ha~ been
chiefly for stores. The prices asked
range from q, TO ST. a square foot.
In the basement At Tn" Broadway end
OF the building Is a restaurant Of 1000
feet. with an entrance to Broad
way. At the rear end Of the basement
FOO are two stores which are on q
level with New street. On the arcade
level are ten stores, five on zach side
Of the passaGewaN Eleven stores are
on the second or third level. and on the