Trustees, or the working members of that board, excellent and effective as they may be in those walks of life with which they are really familiar, have in this matter shown a kind and amount of incapacity that may warrant intending subscribers in doubting whether men who have so bungled the preliminaries have any proper claim to be continued in control of this important undertaking. As to the action of the competing architects, it is equally plain that their conduct in face of the disagreeable conditions that confronted them stands out, on the whole, in gratifying contrast with that of their would-be employers. This action does not greatly fall short of all desirable earnestness of purpose and dignity and propriety of conduct. More than this, the designs submitted are, without exception, worthy of attentive study and consideration, for all are purposeful, conscientious and practicable solutions of the problem.
E
VER since the project for a cathedral in New York began to take tangible shape, the Trustees have had the benefit of the abundant suggestion and criticism which the secular, religious and technical journals have placed within their reach. Much of this matter was quite immaterial to the main issue, some of it was the work of unbalanced hobby-riders and some of it was incubated by unquestionable cranks. Some of the secular editorials were doubtless inspired by architects and, of course, professional criticism is the most to be desired, though whether the Trustees have been, or can be, influenced is a doubtful question, for, like building-committees generally, they are likely to have made up their minds already on every point, and are to be moved by no arguments any one can advance. Nevertheless, it occurs to us that something like an authoritative expression of professional opinion may be of assistance to the Trustees, and we therefore invite the subscribers to the International Edition, who now have placed before them the data for forming a fair comparative judgment, to notify us, before June 1, which of these four designs is, in their opinion, most worthy of the first place.
W
E were led, by trusting to the daily papers, into an error last week in speaking of the plans for the new showerbath houses in New York as having been made by Messrs. Brunner & Tryon. It appears that they were made by Messrs. J. C. Cady & Co. for the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor, and are now being carried into execution, the first being in process of erection in Centre Market Place, near Broome Street, on the east side of the city, in the midst of a poor and crowded population. The building is twenty-five feet wide, being planned for the ordinary New York lot. The walls are lined with white enamelled brick, and the floors are of slate, on iron beams and brick arches. The divisions between the baths are of metal. Eighteen shower-baths are arranged on the first floor, and seven in the basement, and there are five ordinary baths for those who do not like the shower. Under the sidewalk are the boilers, besides an engine, which drives the laundry-machinery, and the pumps and electric-light apparatus, and a fan for ventilation. Water is taken from an artesian well, in addition to the Croton supply, and it is estimated that five hundred baths can be given per day. The baths for men and women are separate, with separate entrances and reception-rooms. The cost of the building and lot will be nearly twenty-five thousand dollars, a part of which has been contributed, while the rest has been advanced, in order that the work might not be delayed. A portion of the bath-house is to be reserved for persons who can afford to pay a moderate charge, and it is proposed to require a nominal fee from bathers who use the other portions, but to distribute tickets gratuitously, through proper agencies, to those who need them, so that, at least for a time, the baths will be practically free to well-disposed persons.
THE investigation into the causes of the fall of certain stairlandings in Mr. Morton’s hotel, the “ Shoreham, ” in Wash
ington, has brought to light the fact that a considerable part of the main floors, which were, like the stair-landings, laid with wooden beams, filled-in with blocks of some sort of fireproof composition, apparently made of cinders and plaster, and covered with a tile floor, are so rotten that they will have to be taken out and rebuilt. According to Mr. Entwistle, the Inspector of Buildings for the City of Washington, the beams over which wood-flooring was laid are in good condition, the exclusion of the air by the tiles being, apparently, the cause of
the rotting of the timber in the tiled portions. By the owner’s direction, the building is to be at once thoroughly repaired; but the cost of the necessary changes is fifty thousand dollars, while, as the hotel must be closed during the operations, there will be a serious lost of rent in addition. With some clients, an occurrence of this kind would be followed by an interesting discussion as to whether the owner or the architect should pay all this expense. Apart from such considerations as the part which the architect and owner respectively took in deciding upon the construction to be employed, the decision would depend upon whether the architect ought reasonably to have known that a floor constructed in that way would rot. In regard to this, we should say, at present, that he could hardly have been expected to do so, as constructions of this sort are rather extensively used, and still more extensively advocated, by people interested in fireproof buildings; but this experience is not the first of the kind, and, before long, the stock of technical knowledge which every architect is presumed to possess is likely to be enriched by the observation that fireproof blocks in mortar, or heavy masses of mortar or concrete between wooden beams, are objectionable, and, if the floor above and the ceiling below should be at any time made nearly impervious to air, are likely to cause the beams to decay. If this conclusion should be established, architects will thenceforward plan or specify, or suffer to be constructed without protest under their supervision, such floors only at their own peril. Naturally, owners, who wish to save money, will prefer such a construction where it is safe; but architects ought, in honesty to their employers, as well as for protection to themselves, to explain, before it is adopted, that there are chances against it, and that it must be distinctly understood that it is used at the owner’s risk, and not at theirs.
MEDOUARD MARIETTE, in La Semaine des Con
structeurs, gives a little account of what is to be done by
the French Government at Delphi. The Government has already increased its original appropriation, so that one hundred thousand dollars are at the disposal of the French School at Athens, for paying the cost of removing the villagers of Castri, and excavating the rich mass of antique debris on which their houses are built. M. Mariette has not much hope of finding objects of intrinsic value in the ruins. Rich as Delphi once was, it has been too often and too thoroughly plundered to retain many objects that it would have been worth any one’s while to carry off. Including Xerxes, twenty generals or invaders have successively ransacked the place at their leisure, in search of booty. Sylla collected all the gold and silver he could find, and melted it, to coin into money for his troops, while Nero, with more taste, carried off five hundred statues at once. Finally, in some savage incursion, the whole place, including temples and houses, was burned. In one way, the final fire was an advantage to the archæologists of the present generation, as it buried in ruins the lower portions of the buildings, preserving them, perhaps, better than they would have been preserved if they had remained exposed to the depredations of the local lime-burners. It is to be hoped, M. Mariette thinks, on this account, that the substructure of the temples, and, possibly of the great Lesche, or conversation-hall, which was adorned with paintings by Polygnotus, may be found in sufficiently good condition to admit of restoring their forms, and some of their details. Besides these, it is almost certain that inscriptions of historical value, will be discovered in abundance. Even Theseus, when he cut off his golden curls, and hung them up in the temple, as the only thing he could offer to Apollo, probably scrawled on the wall beside them a dedicatory inscription, and there must have been thousands of tablets, or inscribed stones, which no one would have cared to take away.
THE “prize of the Americans, ” in the Paris School of Fine Arts, has this year been awarded to M. Chaussemiche, a
pupil of MM. Andre and Laloux. The subject was an Archæological Museum. Curiously enough, the subject of the competition for the Achille Leclére prize, which was held at the same time, was a Museum of Sculpture, and the first prize was awarded to M. Belesta, a pupil in the same atelier with M. Chaussemiche. The programme for the American competition, a model of clearness and good judgment, is said to have been written by M. Ginain. How many competitors there were we are not informed, but the number appears to have been very small, perhaps only two or three,
E
VER since the project for a cathedral in New York began to take tangible shape, the Trustees have had the benefit of the abundant suggestion and criticism which the secular, religious and technical journals have placed within their reach. Much of this matter was quite immaterial to the main issue, some of it was the work of unbalanced hobby-riders and some of it was incubated by unquestionable cranks. Some of the secular editorials were doubtless inspired by architects and, of course, professional criticism is the most to be desired, though whether the Trustees have been, or can be, influenced is a doubtful question, for, like building-committees generally, they are likely to have made up their minds already on every point, and are to be moved by no arguments any one can advance. Nevertheless, it occurs to us that something like an authoritative expression of professional opinion may be of assistance to the Trustees, and we therefore invite the subscribers to the International Edition, who now have placed before them the data for forming a fair comparative judgment, to notify us, before June 1, which of these four designs is, in their opinion, most worthy of the first place.
W
E were led, by trusting to the daily papers, into an error last week in speaking of the plans for the new showerbath houses in New York as having been made by Messrs. Brunner & Tryon. It appears that they were made by Messrs. J. C. Cady & Co. for the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor, and are now being carried into execution, the first being in process of erection in Centre Market Place, near Broome Street, on the east side of the city, in the midst of a poor and crowded population. The building is twenty-five feet wide, being planned for the ordinary New York lot. The walls are lined with white enamelled brick, and the floors are of slate, on iron beams and brick arches. The divisions between the baths are of metal. Eighteen shower-baths are arranged on the first floor, and seven in the basement, and there are five ordinary baths for those who do not like the shower. Under the sidewalk are the boilers, besides an engine, which drives the laundry-machinery, and the pumps and electric-light apparatus, and a fan for ventilation. Water is taken from an artesian well, in addition to the Croton supply, and it is estimated that five hundred baths can be given per day. The baths for men and women are separate, with separate entrances and reception-rooms. The cost of the building and lot will be nearly twenty-five thousand dollars, a part of which has been contributed, while the rest has been advanced, in order that the work might not be delayed. A portion of the bath-house is to be reserved for persons who can afford to pay a moderate charge, and it is proposed to require a nominal fee from bathers who use the other portions, but to distribute tickets gratuitously, through proper agencies, to those who need them, so that, at least for a time, the baths will be practically free to well-disposed persons.
THE investigation into the causes of the fall of certain stairlandings in Mr. Morton’s hotel, the “ Shoreham, ” in Wash
ington, has brought to light the fact that a considerable part of the main floors, which were, like the stair-landings, laid with wooden beams, filled-in with blocks of some sort of fireproof composition, apparently made of cinders and plaster, and covered with a tile floor, are so rotten that they will have to be taken out and rebuilt. According to Mr. Entwistle, the Inspector of Buildings for the City of Washington, the beams over which wood-flooring was laid are in good condition, the exclusion of the air by the tiles being, apparently, the cause of
the rotting of the timber in the tiled portions. By the owner’s direction, the building is to be at once thoroughly repaired; but the cost of the necessary changes is fifty thousand dollars, while, as the hotel must be closed during the operations, there will be a serious lost of rent in addition. With some clients, an occurrence of this kind would be followed by an interesting discussion as to whether the owner or the architect should pay all this expense. Apart from such considerations as the part which the architect and owner respectively took in deciding upon the construction to be employed, the decision would depend upon whether the architect ought reasonably to have known that a floor constructed in that way would rot. In regard to this, we should say, at present, that he could hardly have been expected to do so, as constructions of this sort are rather extensively used, and still more extensively advocated, by people interested in fireproof buildings; but this experience is not the first of the kind, and, before long, the stock of technical knowledge which every architect is presumed to possess is likely to be enriched by the observation that fireproof blocks in mortar, or heavy masses of mortar or concrete between wooden beams, are objectionable, and, if the floor above and the ceiling below should be at any time made nearly impervious to air, are likely to cause the beams to decay. If this conclusion should be established, architects will thenceforward plan or specify, or suffer to be constructed without protest under their supervision, such floors only at their own peril. Naturally, owners, who wish to save money, will prefer such a construction where it is safe; but architects ought, in honesty to their employers, as well as for protection to themselves, to explain, before it is adopted, that there are chances against it, and that it must be distinctly understood that it is used at the owner’s risk, and not at theirs.
MEDOUARD MARIETTE, in La Semaine des Con
structeurs, gives a little account of what is to be done by
the French Government at Delphi. The Government has already increased its original appropriation, so that one hundred thousand dollars are at the disposal of the French School at Athens, for paying the cost of removing the villagers of Castri, and excavating the rich mass of antique debris on which their houses are built. M. Mariette has not much hope of finding objects of intrinsic value in the ruins. Rich as Delphi once was, it has been too often and too thoroughly plundered to retain many objects that it would have been worth any one’s while to carry off. Including Xerxes, twenty generals or invaders have successively ransacked the place at their leisure, in search of booty. Sylla collected all the gold and silver he could find, and melted it, to coin into money for his troops, while Nero, with more taste, carried off five hundred statues at once. Finally, in some savage incursion, the whole place, including temples and houses, was burned. In one way, the final fire was an advantage to the archæologists of the present generation, as it buried in ruins the lower portions of the buildings, preserving them, perhaps, better than they would have been preserved if they had remained exposed to the depredations of the local lime-burners. It is to be hoped, M. Mariette thinks, on this account, that the substructure of the temples, and, possibly of the great Lesche, or conversation-hall, which was adorned with paintings by Polygnotus, may be found in sufficiently good condition to admit of restoring their forms, and some of their details. Besides these, it is almost certain that inscriptions of historical value, will be discovered in abundance. Even Theseus, when he cut off his golden curls, and hung them up in the temple, as the only thing he could offer to Apollo, probably scrawled on the wall beside them a dedicatory inscription, and there must have been thousands of tablets, or inscribed stones, which no one would have cared to take away.
THE “prize of the Americans, ” in the Paris School of Fine Arts, has this year been awarded to M. Chaussemiche, a
pupil of MM. Andre and Laloux. The subject was an Archæological Museum. Curiously enough, the subject of the competition for the Achille Leclére prize, which was held at the same time, was a Museum of Sculpture, and the first prize was awarded to M. Belesta, a pupil in the same atelier with M. Chaussemiche. The programme for the American competition, a model of clearness and good judgment, is said to have been written by M. Ginain. How many competitors there were we are not informed, but the number appears to have been very small, perhaps only two or three,