Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 July 1894 — ATALANTIS ON PILES. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ATALANTIS ON PILES.

A New Island O<T Long Island For Pleasure Seekers. New York Sun. Mr;C. M. Coon, of 3 Union Square, and some capitalists whose names he will not disclose, have a scheme for fputting an island somewhere out in the Atlantic ocean, near enough to !New York to afford a handy spot for” the tired business man, yet far enough away to make it seem really isolated. Appropriately the new place, when it is got there, is to be called Atalantis, and it is to stand on .piles made of steel cylinders of great (diameter filled with cement. This, iwhile prosaic, will be a very substantial foundation, it is thought, The exact location for Atalantis has been decided upon, Mr. Coen .says, but he is not ready yet to tell where it is. The island will be fourteen miles out from the Long Island coast, where it will catch the sea ■before it gets to Rockaway Beach and Coney Island and other plebeian resorts. This is considered essential, because Mr. Coen says it is the (intention of the Atalantis Company *to cater to a very superior class of people. ' Mr. Coen does not look for any difficulty in putting down the foundation. He acknowledges that it will be expensive—some $2,000,000 or $3,000,000 —but he thinks that when it is put there it will stay. The money is all ready, Mr. Coen says further, and operations will begin at once. There are plenty of spots along the coast where there is only from 200 to 500 feet of water. Upon one Of these the Atalantis will stand. Atlantis will he built purely for pleasure, a resort where you can go ‘ for a day or a week or the season, drink in the pure ocean breezes, and not get seasick. A series of build-, ings is in contemplation, but not 1 more than one will be built this summer, or until people say how,they like the idea. The first of the series will be a pavilion built in the formol a square, two stories high in the

main and three in the towers. The floor space of the two main stories, of the fishing pavilion below, and of the promenade on the roof, will contain 227,800 square feet. The building will be 400 feet square, constructed entirely of steel, iron, glass, and tiling, and it is designed,tO be en.tirely..flreproof. The Romanesque style of architecture will predominate, with elaborations of the Corinthian and lonic. The main floor of the building will be elevated about thirty feet above-the level of the sea, so as to be out of the reach of encroaching waves. It is thought that even the piazzas will never be sloppy. ■A large amphitheatre wi 11 be the main feature of the building, occupying the entire interior quadrangle. The lower floor is designed to accom-modate-10,000 people and the galleries about 7,000 more. An esplanade or roof garden will be on top, in which 3,000 people can be seated. There will be in other parts of the building 120 large rooms for hotel accommodation, a case, a restaurant, billard rooms, and other appointments of a modern hotel. In short, the scheme is to cover all the wants of the person looking for an island retreat within a short distance of New York.

Mr. Coen talks of his plan with the assurance and the satisfaction of a man who sees it already complet-| ed. He will not admit that contracts] have already been let for the work,; but he has said positively that Ata- ■ lantis will be built this summer. The other buildings,of which the one signed is the nucleus, will probably cluster around it on foundations of their own. In speaking of the plan Mr. Coen said: The names of the capitalists who, are with us I don't care to give out just at present. The engineers who have projected the island and will see that it is built properly, are Capt. R. D. Evans, of the United States navy, J. C. McGuire, and' Capt. Howard Patterson. Capt. Evans is “Fighting Bob” Evans, and he is now on the Lighthouse Board. He is consulting engineer to the Atalantis Company, and will be incharge of construction. Mr. McGuire is the Government Superintendent of Construction, and lives in Washington. Capt. Patterson is the well-known expert in naval construction. He was formerly professor of naval science at Brown’s College, principal of the New York Navigation School, and commandant of the Haytian navy. All are men of large experience and the most practical ideas. Of course, their names are a guarantee of how the island will be built. I myself have had large contracts for building electric light plants and works of similar industrial character. The Duke of Parma, father of the Princess of Bulgaria, has ten daughters and five sons

THE NEW ATALANTIS.