Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1930-09-21
BY DOM SUTTON
NEA Service Writer


NEW YORK, Sept. 20.-The black
skeleton OF a new mammoth of
stone and steel, one-fifth higher
than anything else ever built by
man, IS being reared on the Man
haitian skyline.
Alfred E. Smiths Empire State
guiding. with its l02 stories. its 81
passenger and freight elevators and
It's Subterranean business district
has begun It's rise TO a height Of
nearly q quarter OF q mile above
fashionable Fifth avenue.
Crowned by a glass-encased moor
ing mast, supported by the largest
steel columns ever nodded and
erected upon New York's solid rock,
this super-skyscraper will be opened
next spring TO 10000 to $4,000 pros
pective tenants, to cruising dirigi-
hles, and to clamoring s~ightseers.
Five Floors a Week
Meanwhile. approximately a floor
a day. five floors a week, are be-
ing magically added to the gigantic
structure by an army Of 1000 to 5000
workers. And from the windows of
an office near the site, former Gov
ernor Smith-president OF Empire
State, Inc.-watcheS progress on
the $55,000,000 building through a
pair Of powerful binoculars.
The Empire State building will
be, literally, a city in the clouds,
according 10 the plans Of its own
erS and builders. 1t will be a
metropolis within a metropolis.
with stores and arcades in the first
basement that would make 1t un-
necessary for a tenant to leave the
building In a lifetime so far as &C
tual Twin wants are concerned.
More than $4,000 kilowatts OF
electricity will be consumed by En-
pire State every minute after 1t is
complete and occupied. This is
more than sufficient power to light
all the houses and run the facto-
ries in a city the size Of Bridgeport,
Conn., There will be more than $780,
600 25-watt lamps in the building.
the largest aggregation Of electric
lights under one roof.
Has Own Fire Department
Enough steel will be used in the
skyscraper to build a standard size
railroad from New York to Mon
treal and back. And the steel Is be-
ing placed at the fastest pace ever
attempted, with the builders aim
ing at the speed record now claimed
by England.
Seventy-five miles Of w~ater-pipe
enough TO pipe water a distance
Of 30 miles into New York-have
been ordered for the building. The
structure Is to be fireproof, but
there viii be 400 completely equip
ped fire stations within its walls.
with a privately maintained corps
Of firemen, a fire alarm system sim
liar 70 that used by the New York
fire department, and several high
pressure fire pumps capable OF
pumping water 1900 feet high.
Empire State Is the largest sin
gle installing operation ever han
died by the New York Telephone
company, which is preparing to put
In more than 5000 station tele-
phones and 5000 trunk line switch
boards.
A new type Of self-cohtronec.
thermoStat radiator, entirely con-
cealed, viii be installed. It will re-
quire Lore than 5 miles Of radia-
tor pipe line to supply approximate
ly 1000 radiators with heat.
Giant Mooring Mast
Don't pity the scrubwomen who
must keep this monumental build
ing spic and span. The most mod
ern OF vacuum cleaning systems
will be installed on every floor. "A
profit OF $4,000 a year Is antici-
pated rom the sale OF wastepaper
which viii leave the building at
the rate of seven tons a day.
The recent announcement Of
plans for a public observation gall
lery atop the building viii extend
its heighth to l248 feet from the
street level.
The Bank Of Manhattan build
its closest rival. is 1860 feet
high; the Chrysler building, New
York, Is 1910 feet high: the Eiffel
Tower. Paris. 1000 feet high, and
the Woolworth building. long IA