The American Architect and Building News,
VOL. xxxiv. Copyright, 1891, by Ticknor & Company, Boston, Mass. № 829
Entered at the Post-Office at Boston as second-class matter.
NOVEMBER 14, 1891.
Summary:—
The United States Customs and the Antiquaries. — Tools of Trade.— Moving General Grant’s Tomb.— The Award of the
Chanler Scholarship in Boston.— Strike of the Iron Moulders in San Francisco. —The Fine Art Building for the Chicago Exhibition. — A Horticultural Building best adapted for Permanent Use. — Death of Vincenzo Vela, Sculptor.— Boston not a fit Site for a National Museum. — Destruction
of Meiringen by Fire.—The Failure of Natural Gas. . . .93 Italian Architecture. — 1................................................................................95 The Boston Architectural Exhibition...........................................98 Theatrical Architecture. — III.......................................................99 J. Elie Delaunay...................................... 100 Report on Tests of Fire-resisting Materials. , . . . . 101 Equestrian Monuments. — XLIV.................................................................102 Illustrations : —
The Union League Club, Brooklyn, N. Y. — House for Patrick Moran, Esq., Pittsburgh, Pa.—House of Mr. C. M. Bartberger, Pittsburgh, Pa. — Harrigan’s Theatre, Thirty-eighth Street, New York, N. Y. — A Competitive Design for the First Baptist Church, Bridgeport, Conn. — Stable at Lancaster, Pa.
Additional: Chateau d’Ecouen, Seine et Oise, France. Projected Restoration.,— The Plan of the Same. — Portico of
Michael Angelo’s “Slaves,” of the Same. — Loggia on the Grand Terrace of the Same. — Pavilion on the Cour d’Honneur of the Same.— Details of the Seats in the Theatre of Bacchus, Athens, Greece.— Flank of the New Parliament
Houses, Vienna, Austria.............................................................105
Communications: —
The Calvert Memorial, St. Mary’s, Md. — Building Many Houses from one Plan. —The Commission on Mantels, etc. — The Limit of Cornice Projection. — Prizes Awarded in
Chicago.........................................................................................106
Notes and Clippings..........................................................................................107 Trade Surveys.......................................................................................................108
THE United States Customs law, relating to the importation of antiquities, gives the collectors, to say nothing of the
antiquaries, a good deal of trouble. Under the statute, “antiquities ” are admitted into the United States free; hut the line where antiquity stops, and modernism begins, is not sharply defined, and it is not unnatural that collectors should have some difficulty in giving an off-hand decision as to where it should be drawn. One collector ruled that antiquity “left off” at the year 1500, and that everything made before that date was to be admitted free, while works of art manufactured subsequently were modern, and dutiable. This vieiv seems to have been a very sensible one. Historians of art usually accept the year 1500 as the date of the beginning of the Renaissance age, and there has been no well-defined artistic epoch since, so that the close of the Mediaeval period may with great propriety be called the termination of antiquity in the custom-house sense. Some collectors, however, are much more strict. Mr. Henry G. Marquand, of New York, recently imported a statuette of Eros, of ancient Greek workmanship, and at least two thousand years old ; but the collector held that it was not entitled to free entry, and ordered a tax of fifteen per cent on the cost to be paid. About the same time, Mr. George F. Baker imported a Chinese jade vase, which was reputed very ancient; but the collector thought it was not ancient enough to satisfy the law, and demanded twenty per cent duty on it. As the object of making the exception in the statute was to favor the importation of works of classic art, for the advantage of students, it would certainly seem that a Greek statuette, at least, should have the benefit of it, and both Mr. Marquand and Mr. Baker appealed from the collector’s decision to the United States Circuit Court, which reversed it in both cases, and ordered the duty remitted.
THE United States Government, which declines to allow architects to import photographs as tools of trade, has, through its Board of General Appraisers of New York, promulgated a ruling which, in the eyes of some of the members of the profession — theatre architects we will say, may possibly be accepted as an offset to the unjust ruling we have protested against. The Board of General Appraisers has lately declared that tights are an actress’s “ tools of trade.”
I
N order to place the tomb of General Grant in the mausoleum, where it is to rest permanently, it has been necessary to “translate” it a distance of about thirty feet, to the spot selected for the site of the imposing structure which is to be built over it. The original tomb was of brick, on a foundation formed of a single slab of concrete, fourteen inches thick; and, by inserting timbers and jackscrews under the foundation, the whole affair, weighing about a hundred tons, has been raised about fifteen feet vertically from its original position, and then moved laterally to the central point of the new mausoleum, and lowered into its place; of course, without opening the tomb, or disturbing in any way the remains of the dead hero. With more sentimental people, this transfer of the tomb would have been marked by some ceremony, but the New Yorkers appear to have looked upon it simply as an engineering feat, and no one but the workmen and a few reporters seem to have witnessed it.
A GOOD deal of dissatisfaction is felt in Boston at the conduct of the Chanler competition for the five-year Paris
Scholarship. It will be remembered that the competition was announced as a double one. The first step was to submit drawings, and the authors of a certain number of the best drawings were to engage in a final competition, of which a detailed programme was given. Naturalljq as no restriction was placed on the character or number of the drawings to be submitted in the first trial, some sent mere sketches, sufficient, however, to show their skill of hand, while others sent several finished drawings. It is asserted that, instead of simply selecting the competitors for the second test, and then throwing all the drawings aside, so that all might start fair in the second contest, the drawings of the first set were considered in the final award. Of course, the result might have been the same, but it is impossible to be too careful in carrying out promises made in this way with scrupulous fidelity. Not only does proper respect for the time and labor spent by the competitors require that the slightest shadow of misunderstanding should be avoided, but the success of the admirable enterprise is dependent on the first impressions of it which circulate among students of art. If there is the slightest suspicion that victory in such a contest can, by any mistake, misunderstanding or carelessness fall to any but the one most worthy of it, its value as an incentive to exertion will be at an end, and the only candidates who will present themselves will be of that discreditable class which prefers to enter even the temple of Fame through the back door.
O
NE of tlie most remarkable strikes on record came to an end the other day. The Iron-moulders’ Union of San
Francisco, numbering only one hundred and forty members, has been on strike for two years, and on the second anniversary of the commencement of the strike, November 3, the union surrendered unconditionally, and declared the strike off. Forty core-makers joined the moulders in the strike and the surrender. The two years’ struggle has cost these one hundred and eighty poor men more than one hundred thousand dollars in money, or nearly six hundred dollars apiece, and three lives have been lost. We need not say that our sympathies are all with the men. How much anxiety and privation, how much fortitude, patience and resignation, the homes of these poor people have witnessed during the last twenty-four mouths, will never be known in this world ; and, after all, they return to their work under conditions worse, if possible, than those which they found intolerable two years ago. The most distressing part of the whole, to every thinking person, is that certain men are heartless enough to make a thriving business out of such strikes; to devise systematic and extensive schemes for gaining control over their victims, and for concocting pretexts for strikes, and to fill their pockets with money contributed, in return for their alleged leadership, by men who have not enough to buy bread for their children. Some time, we believe, a way will be found for settling industrial disputes without ruining either party to them, but no one can say how many innocent people must suffer before the way is discovered.
I
T is proposed to have the Fine Arts Building of the Chicago Exposition made a permanent structure, to be transferred to the municipality after the exhibition is over. The Tro
adero Palace was built in this way for an exhibition building,
VOL. xxxiv. Copyright, 1891, by Ticknor & Company, Boston, Mass. № 829
Entered at the Post-Office at Boston as second-class matter.
NOVEMBER 14, 1891.
Summary:—
The United States Customs and the Antiquaries. — Tools of Trade.— Moving General Grant’s Tomb.— The Award of the
Chanler Scholarship in Boston.— Strike of the Iron Moulders in San Francisco. —The Fine Art Building for the Chicago Exhibition. — A Horticultural Building best adapted for Permanent Use. — Death of Vincenzo Vela, Sculptor.— Boston not a fit Site for a National Museum. — Destruction
of Meiringen by Fire.—The Failure of Natural Gas. . . .93 Italian Architecture. — 1................................................................................95 The Boston Architectural Exhibition...........................................98 Theatrical Architecture. — III.......................................................99 J. Elie Delaunay...................................... 100 Report on Tests of Fire-resisting Materials. , . . . . 101 Equestrian Monuments. — XLIV.................................................................102 Illustrations : —
The Union League Club, Brooklyn, N. Y. — House for Patrick Moran, Esq., Pittsburgh, Pa.—House of Mr. C. M. Bartberger, Pittsburgh, Pa. — Harrigan’s Theatre, Thirty-eighth Street, New York, N. Y. — A Competitive Design for the First Baptist Church, Bridgeport, Conn. — Stable at Lancaster, Pa.
Additional: Chateau d’Ecouen, Seine et Oise, France. Projected Restoration.,— The Plan of the Same. — Portico of
Michael Angelo’s “Slaves,” of the Same. — Loggia on the Grand Terrace of the Same. — Pavilion on the Cour d’Honneur of the Same.— Details of the Seats in the Theatre of Bacchus, Athens, Greece.— Flank of the New Parliament
Houses, Vienna, Austria.............................................................105
Communications: —
The Calvert Memorial, St. Mary’s, Md. — Building Many Houses from one Plan. —The Commission on Mantels, etc. — The Limit of Cornice Projection. — Prizes Awarded in
Chicago.........................................................................................106
Notes and Clippings..........................................................................................107 Trade Surveys.......................................................................................................108
THE United States Customs law, relating to the importation of antiquities, gives the collectors, to say nothing of the
antiquaries, a good deal of trouble. Under the statute, “antiquities ” are admitted into the United States free; hut the line where antiquity stops, and modernism begins, is not sharply defined, and it is not unnatural that collectors should have some difficulty in giving an off-hand decision as to where it should be drawn. One collector ruled that antiquity “left off” at the year 1500, and that everything made before that date was to be admitted free, while works of art manufactured subsequently were modern, and dutiable. This vieiv seems to have been a very sensible one. Historians of art usually accept the year 1500 as the date of the beginning of the Renaissance age, and there has been no well-defined artistic epoch since, so that the close of the Mediaeval period may with great propriety be called the termination of antiquity in the custom-house sense. Some collectors, however, are much more strict. Mr. Henry G. Marquand, of New York, recently imported a statuette of Eros, of ancient Greek workmanship, and at least two thousand years old ; but the collector held that it was not entitled to free entry, and ordered a tax of fifteen per cent on the cost to be paid. About the same time, Mr. George F. Baker imported a Chinese jade vase, which was reputed very ancient; but the collector thought it was not ancient enough to satisfy the law, and demanded twenty per cent duty on it. As the object of making the exception in the statute was to favor the importation of works of classic art, for the advantage of students, it would certainly seem that a Greek statuette, at least, should have the benefit of it, and both Mr. Marquand and Mr. Baker appealed from the collector’s decision to the United States Circuit Court, which reversed it in both cases, and ordered the duty remitted.
THE United States Government, which declines to allow architects to import photographs as tools of trade, has, through its Board of General Appraisers of New York, promulgated a ruling which, in the eyes of some of the members of the profession — theatre architects we will say, may possibly be accepted as an offset to the unjust ruling we have protested against. The Board of General Appraisers has lately declared that tights are an actress’s “ tools of trade.”
I
N order to place the tomb of General Grant in the mausoleum, where it is to rest permanently, it has been necessary to “translate” it a distance of about thirty feet, to the spot selected for the site of the imposing structure which is to be built over it. The original tomb was of brick, on a foundation formed of a single slab of concrete, fourteen inches thick; and, by inserting timbers and jackscrews under the foundation, the whole affair, weighing about a hundred tons, has been raised about fifteen feet vertically from its original position, and then moved laterally to the central point of the new mausoleum, and lowered into its place; of course, without opening the tomb, or disturbing in any way the remains of the dead hero. With more sentimental people, this transfer of the tomb would have been marked by some ceremony, but the New Yorkers appear to have looked upon it simply as an engineering feat, and no one but the workmen and a few reporters seem to have witnessed it.
A GOOD deal of dissatisfaction is felt in Boston at the conduct of the Chanler competition for the five-year Paris
Scholarship. It will be remembered that the competition was announced as a double one. The first step was to submit drawings, and the authors of a certain number of the best drawings were to engage in a final competition, of which a detailed programme was given. Naturalljq as no restriction was placed on the character or number of the drawings to be submitted in the first trial, some sent mere sketches, sufficient, however, to show their skill of hand, while others sent several finished drawings. It is asserted that, instead of simply selecting the competitors for the second test, and then throwing all the drawings aside, so that all might start fair in the second contest, the drawings of the first set were considered in the final award. Of course, the result might have been the same, but it is impossible to be too careful in carrying out promises made in this way with scrupulous fidelity. Not only does proper respect for the time and labor spent by the competitors require that the slightest shadow of misunderstanding should be avoided, but the success of the admirable enterprise is dependent on the first impressions of it which circulate among students of art. If there is the slightest suspicion that victory in such a contest can, by any mistake, misunderstanding or carelessness fall to any but the one most worthy of it, its value as an incentive to exertion will be at an end, and the only candidates who will present themselves will be of that discreditable class which prefers to enter even the temple of Fame through the back door.
O
NE of tlie most remarkable strikes on record came to an end the other day. The Iron-moulders’ Union of San
Francisco, numbering only one hundred and forty members, has been on strike for two years, and on the second anniversary of the commencement of the strike, November 3, the union surrendered unconditionally, and declared the strike off. Forty core-makers joined the moulders in the strike and the surrender. The two years’ struggle has cost these one hundred and eighty poor men more than one hundred thousand dollars in money, or nearly six hundred dollars apiece, and three lives have been lost. We need not say that our sympathies are all with the men. How much anxiety and privation, how much fortitude, patience and resignation, the homes of these poor people have witnessed during the last twenty-four mouths, will never be known in this world ; and, after all, they return to their work under conditions worse, if possible, than those which they found intolerable two years ago. The most distressing part of the whole, to every thinking person, is that certain men are heartless enough to make a thriving business out of such strikes; to devise systematic and extensive schemes for gaining control over their victims, and for concocting pretexts for strikes, and to fill their pockets with money contributed, in return for their alleged leadership, by men who have not enough to buy bread for their children. Some time, we believe, a way will be found for settling industrial disputes without ruining either party to them, but no one can say how many innocent people must suffer before the way is discovered.
I
T is proposed to have the Fine Arts Building of the Chicago Exposition made a permanent structure, to be transferred to the municipality after the exhibition is over. The Tro
adero Palace was built in this way for an exhibition building,