Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1915-06-09
$4,000 PEOPLE LIVE AND
WORK UNDER ONE ROOF
From the Hrooklyn Eaxle


Broadway. covering the entire block from
Pine to Cedar street. is filled with ten
ants. which is rapidly becoming a fact.
IL VIII house a population OF over lo.ooo,
equal to half of that of Galveston, Tex.
Its regular tenants with their employees
will exceed the citizens OF Cripple Creek.
Colo, or Tarrytown. y. y. each of which
is a full f1edged city. according to the
latest census returns.
Hugh M~cAtamney, in his office in the
Woolworth building, told of the CON
struction and capacity Of this stupendouS
structure in a matter of fact manner AS
one who deals daily with figures that a
generation ago would have been deemed
eXtraNagant.
The old Equitable building, which was
built about 40 years ago. was. at its com
pletion. the tallest office building in
lower New York, and as such was used
by the United States weather bureau.
In it was out the first elevators used by
such "A building in the city. Its destruc-
ton by fire on January IS. 1872. was
spectacular. Although constructed by the
best method of tireproofing at the time.
the interior was entirely destroyed. The
excavation for the new building on the
site of the old one began in December.
1913. The construction began in June.
1914, and was completed in February of
this year. TIL value of the land on which
it is built is s14. 900. 900.
The completed building is valued at
sl5. 00o. 900. making so, 900. 900 in all. The
ground area is 1000 square feet and its
cubical contents 20. 900. 900 cubic feet. 1t
has hut one street number. l20 Broad
way. The height. from the sidewalk to
the pent house roof. is 40 stories. making
90 feet. The actual number OF stories
SHOWN OH the exterior is 80. The space
of each floor is 30. 900 square feet and
the center tower rises to 555 feet. Below
the ground are three easements and the
weight of the steel frame hpiNR the SEa1-
eton OF the building. is 80, 500 tons. The
weight of the granite, brick and marble
built around this weighs go. 600 pounds.
Under all is a rock bed foundation So
feet below the curb. On this rests an
outer wall or foundation. a cofferdam of
concrete sin feet wide and So feet deep
from curb TO solid rock. strengthened by
steel rods. Eighty steel and concrete
piers go to the solid rock. and resting
on these piers are granite columns exc
ployed each working day an average of
1000 workers in the conception OF the
building.
49 Elevators to Handle Crowd.
The elevator system of this great
structure is marvellous in it's complete
ness. and may we'll be likened to the troll
ley system of a city. There are AS ele-
vators in six banks OF eight. each to &C
commodate those who live and work
above ground and two sidewalk lifts to
care for those below ground. The total
elevator trackage. so to speak. will be
2O,24o feet. or nearly four miles. They
will run at a speed of about seven and
one-half miles an hour, which Is greater
than the speed of an average trolley car.
There are so of them in all, capable of
carrying with safety and ease 1000 per-
sons every ID minutes to the height of
the building. 3S stories. At least SO. 900
use them daily. One REGULARITY OF the
Elevator GE0fanN 10 Tint tha ,.% 49,
built around it. for it is a known fact
that a large percentage of tenantcy
rests on the speed with which one may
get to and from his place of business. A
mar may spend many moments on the
street watching matters of trivial inter
est, but he can't wait one second for an
elevator.
Managed on Plan Of a City.
Managed on the plan of a city. which
~ Is, IN fact. the Equitable has it's police
department, fire department and other de-
partments which go to make up a great
successful civic corporation. and the fire
department is simple and efficient. There
is a fire alarm station and four powerful
INES of hose on each floor, with compe-
tent men to manage them should occa-
sion demand. though the building is as
nearly fireproof as the ingenuity of man
can accomplish. 1t is realized that the
contents of the offices cannot be made
anu II ~ IOT CnGlr DrOteCtlOn that
this elaborate system has been estab-
lished.
Ihere are few cities which can boast
OF a power plant like that which. located
50 feet below the curb line, furnishes the
power for the manifold activities of this
great building. On a floor space of 145x1sO
feet are seven great boilers generating
heat. which is transformed into $500 horse
power OF energy, eating up SIS tons of coal
dairy. Much OF this energy is transformed
into electricity by six enormous dynamos
with a capacity of 1900 kilowatts.
Makes Own Ice and Light.
1t is interesting to know that the Euuit-
able will be absolutely independent Of the
weather or the ice crop, as 1T will have a
complete artificial ice plant of it's own.
capable of turning out all the ice OF the
purest quality that its tenants can possi-
bly, use. From the center of the engine
room rises the smokestack. In itself an
object of awe. 1t Is a great steel cylinder.
IS feet In circumference and nearly 600 feet
tall.
Thomas Morch, the renting manager. ia
kept busy deciding upon applications and
apportioning space to applicants. Coop
Grating with him Is an efficiency depart
ment. created to aid prospective tenants in
making the most economic and efficient
layouts to save space, rent. and ct the
same time secure the best possible results.
The Equitable Life Assurance Society oc-
cuptes several floors of the building. but.
IL needed. there can be supplied for a ten
an entire floor. with the ~rangeme
OF stairs. elevators and other utilities.
which Will give him continuous unbroken
daylight space on all sides of the build
Ing, and all properly connected with the
central lobby. Above the NTH floor the
Equitable assumes the appearance of a
twin building. 80 that all the tenants have
equal light and air.