Evening star., 1926-12-18
.'RESS CLUB TO GET
F|FTy-TON G|RDER
hammond Announces Last OF
Steel Work Is Now Being
Placed in Position.

he last of the steel work for the
tional Press Building, at Fourteenth
i F streets. now is being placed,
,'oln Hays Hammond, president OF the
-uilding corporation. today announced
This means that within a few days
60-ton proscenium girder. II feet
sh, with a fiange of IS inches and
an of 66 feet, will be put into posi-
n. The 5-foot girder spanning the
age opening will be hung to the
loscenium girder, but will be swung
10 position first.
Completion of the steel construction,
s ,olving about 5000 tons of metal
I'd millions of rivets. means that the
elrxt phase of constructing the build
IN that has been called "A national
- Jnument to the American press,
curing the concrete for other parts
"f the building, promptly will be start
L. This is expected to proceed at the
'tte of q floor or more a week.
Along the F street frontage of the
,uilding. which covers a lot having an
4raa of AZ 500 square feet, the concrete
8-ork already is well under way, hav-
;ng been erected to the height of the
%hird floor. AS soon as the crane and
other equipment being used to swing
he massive steel pieces into place are
Lismantled, the workmen will catch up
With this start on the west side of the
building.
Will Rush Interior.
Keeping pace with the concrete con-
Struction, the walls inclosing the the
2ter will be erected, and it is the eX-
Dectation of the architects, engineers
and contractors that the roof will be
on the theater by the first of the year.
This will make it possible to rush the
interior construction of this massive
place. The decorative plaster that will
1dorn the walls Is ready to be put on
IS soon as the preliminary stages that
must precede this work are completed.
Delivery of the proscenium girder to
the building lot attracted much atten.
ion, because 1t probably is the larg
est single piece of steel that has been
used in construction work in the Dis
rrict of Columbia. Every detail in con-
nection with its placing and riveting
personally is being supervised by War.
rem E. Gill, the representative on the
job of Rapp & Rapp, the architects of
the building; Frank r. Dunlap, assist.
ant construction manager for the
George A. Fuller CO., the builders, and
Maj. Ernest A. Graves, the owners
engineer.
THE girder weighs about SO TONS"
Mr.. Gill said, 'and will support a
weight of about I 200 tons. 1t has a
five-to.one factor of safety, more than
enough to carry any strain that con.
ceivabiy can be put upon it in the
building"
Besides this huge girder. the theater
roof, which will be at about the sew
enth floor level of the National Press
Building. will be supported by four big
trusses They are 112 feet long, Is
fee high and weigh It's tons. There
are about 5000 rivets In each. While
the p.oscenium girder will be swung
into place not later than Monday, 1t
will take the gang of riveters on the
job about two weeks to complete the
riveting. Some of the rivets used are
Inches long and have a proportion
ate diameter. b
There will be an average Of ,25, 900
square feet of floor space on each floor
of the building. Besides that part of
the Job which now is visible from the
street or from the windows of nearby
buildings, the subsurface construction