Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 May 1895 — SKY SCRAPERS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SKY SCRAPERS.

Thirty-Five Storiea th* P>*obabla Limit In Tall Buildings. “The height of a building is limited only by the convenience of its tenants,” said the architect who designed the skyscraper in course of tion at the corner of Broadway and Pino street, New York. “This convenience is dependent more or less upon the speed of elevators. When the time comes that the journey from ground floor to top story becomes too long for comfort, then the distance will have to be lessened; that’s all. “The strength of material has nothing to do with the case. We could build a good part of the distance to the moon if we could get persons to rent the upper floors. Practically, though, under existing conditions, I imagine that thirty-four or thirty-five stories will be about the limit. This is only a guess on my part, however.

“The steel construction so much used now in tall buildings is surprisingly simple and wonderfully strong. It is nothing, in fact, but plain truss work, like a bridge. The iron mills have helped us wonderfully, too. It is now possible to get steel beams for girders thirty inches in diameter. The steel work is much quicker and easier to put up and makes a more substantial building than masonry. “My building at Pine street would, I am sure, stand an earthquake that would shatter a much lower stone structure.. To make such a building fall it would have to be tipped over beyond its center of gravity. Then it would all fall together like a log and would not crumble until it struck the earth. * “ If this building were of masonry its walls at the base would have to be seven feet thick. They are now less than three. The steel construction lessens the cost of building very greatly and the time even more. As each story is supported on girders, and nothing on the walls, it is not necessary to wait for the cement to set. “The elevator people are keeping up with us nobly. The newer elevators are very fast. There are more elevators now th New York than there are street cars.”