Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-16

/. I N ing its mountain peaks into the
J I ~ hearts Of It's cities.
=Or-to put it more truthful1y-
it is rearing up new mountain
: peaks In these cities to vie with the masses Of
rock that nature hung skyward cons ago.
An Of which, In turn, Is just another way Of
saying that the skyscraper has only begun to
grow.
Within century, the average city dweller-
who WILL incidentally be vastly IN the major
tty-win have his home anywhere from 500 TO
500 feet above the ground.
He viii 60 to work under the same roof,
something like SO or 90 stories below his resi-
tence using speed elevator.
His wife will buy the household groceries at
corner store" on the forty-ninth floor, for
instance. and on Sunday the family win 60 to
church in the big cathedral which nils the
Sixty-fifth and sixty-sixth floors. And IN the
evenings there win be moving picture theaters
down at about the twenty fifth floor, or indoor
golf courses q few floors higher, or open parks
ON the terraces at the oOO-foot level.
An Of this. at any rate, is the picture that
modern architects are painting for you. You
may like y, or you may Shudder ct t-but
there is very strong possibility that you, or
your chperen, win eventually be living under
just suc'a conditions
JUST now New York City is holding "tallest
building" race. Walter p. Chrysler seems to
be In the lead at present, shooting Q great mass
Of steel and masonry up to height Of 1880
= teet-a NTH Of q mile-counting the very ex-
tensive flag pole
Hot on his heels comes the Bank OF Manlaat-
tan Co., whose new building win be Gas feet
tall. And the Empire State Building, being
planned by company whose head Is former
Gov. Alfred Z. Smith, insists that It viii put
up building 1900 feet tan with 2OO-foot
mOoring mast for dirigibles on top Of that.
Nor is this all. Charles F. Noyes, wealthy
New York realtor, has made plans for q mon
stef building that win cover two solid blocks,
span city street and rise to the incredible
height Of 1900 feet. And, on top Of all Of
this, New York's regional plan committee,
which has, in the past, had some very cauStic
remarks to make about the way skyscrapers
increase trafnc congestion, is now urging that
the City Of New York erect q civic center
building near its present city hall-a building
which the regional plan committee says should
be ut least 1000 feet In height, and should
cover two city blocksi
THUS, right at the present day, the architects
u are using New York as proving ground TO
demonstrate the skyscraper can be carried 10
heights far greater than anything now known.
And they are insisting that In shooting ND such
great towers they are simply preparing the
way for the city Of the future which win be
all towers-each housing as many people as q
fair sized city.
The Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., for
instance, has drawn plans for lOO-story
building. It Is starting now to build the FIRST
81 floors, and it will use foundations and sup
porting. columns OF such strength that the
other SO floors can be added later II desirable.
"a THIS building, II ever continued TO Its 100
- story height would house $4,000 employees.
It would have great battery Of moving stair
ways to carry people up to the first - floors,
with two banks Of 100 elevators each to serve
the 0ocrs above Its side walls would come
DIN flush to the curbs OF the surrounding
streetS-foF, Of course, it would cover whole
city block-andn the sidewalks would 60 in
arcades set inside the walls of the building.
Little stone would be used I'M the Buildings