began to seek the country in the summer time, Connecticut became dotted with an ever-increasing number of costly cottages, for the construction of which stone was the best and most durable material. Then it was that the builders turned to the fences, from which stone could be obtained without the labor of quarrying. Contractors went about buying up stone fences, and farmers, eager to realize on this crop that their ancestors had tilled for them, found that even after new wire fences had been put up they had a good profit from the sale of the stones. Farmers like wire fences, too, because they take up practically no room and can be kept clean, whereas the stone fences were fringed by weeds and bushes that could never be mowed or ploughed out. In any other State the wire fences would not be unattractive, but here they seem strangely out of place, and to lovers of old-time Connecticut the absence of the stone fences will be a loss that the handsome modern country places cannot compensate for.— New York Sun.
Tubbing in the Eighteenth Century.— The most curious thing to be noted about the letters of Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu, one of the most noted of the eighteenth century blué-stockings, is that they should, after all, reveal so little of the manners and customs of her time. It is only occasionally that we come upon such odd glimpses as that of the Duchess of Portland’s stately mansion at Bulstrode, where, being ordered by her doctor to take a bath, Elizabeth “suffered great disappointment’’ on finding the bathing tubs so out of order that they would not hold water for what she calls “a souze.” It appears that it was the fashion to wear a special costume for a bath, even behind locked doors, for Elizabeth laments that her bathing-dress was at home, and that when the bath-tubs are ready she must extemporize a costume.—New York Tribune
Preservation of the Eiffel Tower.— Under the original agreement the Eiffel Tower is to become the property of the city of Paris in 1910. In some quarters the opinion prevails that the tower should then be pulled down. Scientists object that it is of great use as a meteorological station and that as a lightning-rod it protects a great part of Paris. Moreover, the military authorities find the structure useful as a station for wireless telegraphy. For all these reasons the city of Paris has decided to extend the agreement to 1915.—Echo dc Paris.
A Remarkable Schoolhouse.—Perhaps the strangest material ever used in building a school is that found cheapest in the town of New England, N. D. The structure is built entirely of agates. Of course we do not mean such agates as small boys use in playing marbles. It is wholly of petrified wood, which there is very plentiful upon the prairies. It is said that the material has been put together in most artistic fashion, so as to bring out its beauty, and that “when the sun shines the building glistens like crystal.” Where the schoolhouse is so hard probably the hardest of lessons will by contrast seem not really hard at all. But, on the other hand, with so bright a schoolhouse how dull must the brightest scholars appear!—St. Nicholas.
Stilts for Building Mechanics.—Mr. Kelman, son of a late master-plasterer at Peterhead, has, says the Fraserburgh Herald, invented a species of stilts, mounted on which the plasterer, plumber, painter, joiner, and paperhanger can pursue their work at varying heights, while saving the labor, expense, and trouble of flitting about, putting up and taking down a scaffold. The stilts are bamboo poles of four feet six inches and six feet high. They are fitted with thick wooden standards at the bottom end, by means of which the operator is made steady on his extended “pins,” and elevation is secured by means of further thick wooden soles which can be adjusted on the poles at the required height. Straps over the ankle and the toe fix the foot to these soles, and a further strap attached to a cast-iron hasp-clasp fastens the leg to the stilt at a point under the knee.—Building Nezvs.
The Western Pacific Railroad Tunnels.—The Western Pacific is perfecting plans to enter California, and when the road is completed it will be one of the greatest railroad-engineering feats in modern times. The engineers in charge have instructions to keep one object in view: the straightest line with the least grade. To accomplish this forty-five tunnels will be bored in eastern California between Oroville and Beckwith Pass. Instead of going around mountains the Western Pacific is going through them. The longest of the tunnels is that at the head of Soring Garden, twelve miles east of Quincy. This is cut under the nidge dividing the north and middle forks of the Feather River. It will be more than 7,000 feet in length when completed. The next longest tunnel on the road will be the one under Beckwith Pass. This will be over 4,000 feet in length, and it is being bored at both ends. The third tunnel will probably be the most difficult engineering feat of all, as it will be cut through solid rock for a distance of 1,200 feet. This will be north of Quincy on Spanish Creek.—Exchange.
BUILDING NEWS.
(The editors greatly desire to receive information from the smaller and outlying towns as well as from the larger cities.)
Atlanta, Ga.—The local lodges of Masons will erect a temple at a cost of $200,- 000. Morgan & Dillon are the architects.
Baltimore, Md.—The building committee, Isaac Strouse, chairman, northeast corner Lombard and Paca Streets, of the Hebrew Hospital and Asylum, Monument Street and Hopkins Avenue, has commissioned Louis Levi, architect, American Building, Baltimore and South Streets, to prepare plans and specifications for an additional hospital building to cost about $75,- 000.
Haskell & Barnes, architects, Central Savings Bank Building, are preparing preliminary plans for Ingram Memorial Chapel to be erected at McComas and Oliver Streets by the Church Extension Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Bible House, 8 East Fayette Street.
Plans are being prepared, according to reports, by Guy King, of Philadelphia, Pa., for an eight-story reinforced concrete fac
tory, 55x175 feet, to be erected here by Flick Bros. & Co.
Bellefontaine, O.—An election will be held, September 17, to vote on issue of $60,000 bonds for erecting a high school.
Beloit, Wis.—It is reported from Chicago that Fairbanks, Morse & Co. are negotiating for the lease now held by the Studebakers on Sixteenth Street, and will build a plant costing approximately $400,- 000.
Bethlehem, Pa.—Watson & Huckel, architects, 1211 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa., have plans under way for a large stone church to be erected for the Lutheran Congregation in this city.
Bloomington, III.—According to reports, a new brewery will be erected here by a company recently incorporated with a capital stock of $175,000. Attorney John Stapleton and William Courey are the incorporators.
Boston, Mass.—The Young Men’s Christian Association has purchased the property of the Boston Athenæum, at Newbury and Arlington Streets, as a site for theii new building.
Bowling Green, Mo.—The erection of a court house at Bowling Green, to cost $75,- 000, is reported under consideration.
Briar Cliff Manor, N. Y.—Guy King, architect, Philadelphia, Pa., has plans under way for a large addition to Briar Cliff Lodge at Briar Cliff Manor, for W. W, Law. The structure will be four stories high, of reinforced concrete, measuring 90x425 feet. It will contain 275 rooms. A large rotunda, dining rooms, library, exchange and office will be located on the first floor. The cost will be $150,000.
Bristol, R. I.—Work has been started 011 the erection of the new high school building on Bradford Street, Bristol. The building will be of brick and stone, two stories high, 160x80 feet. Approximate cost $200,000. Cooper & Bailey, 60 Congress Street, Boston, architects. Norcross Bros. Co., Tremont Building, Boston, contractors. No sub-contracts have been let.
Bristol, Tenn.—It is reported that Henry Roberts is planning to build a six-story office building of steel frame, stone and pressed brick.
Reports, state that several new buildings are to be -erected at Fort Hamilton at 3 cost of $350,000. Ten sets of quarters for bachelor offices in one building and two double barracks, barracks for a torpedo company, administration building, hospital, guard-house, bakery and machine shop.
The Army & Navy branch of the Y. M. C. A. will also erect a $50,000 building.
Brooklyn, N. Y.—Herts & Tallant, of 32 East Twenty-eighth Street, Manhattan, are now taking figures on tbe-general contract for the new Brooklyn Academy of Music, which is to be erected on Lafayette Avenue, extending from Ashland Place to St. Felix Street, Brooklyn As planned, it will contain an auditorium with a seating capacity equal to the Metropolitan Opera House. Its concert hall will seat 1,500, and measure 40x125 feet. It will also contain a large lecture hall and classrooms, which will be used by the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences.
Tubbing in the Eighteenth Century.— The most curious thing to be noted about the letters of Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu, one of the most noted of the eighteenth century blué-stockings, is that they should, after all, reveal so little of the manners and customs of her time. It is only occasionally that we come upon such odd glimpses as that of the Duchess of Portland’s stately mansion at Bulstrode, where, being ordered by her doctor to take a bath, Elizabeth “suffered great disappointment’’ on finding the bathing tubs so out of order that they would not hold water for what she calls “a souze.” It appears that it was the fashion to wear a special costume for a bath, even behind locked doors, for Elizabeth laments that her bathing-dress was at home, and that when the bath-tubs are ready she must extemporize a costume.—New York Tribune
Preservation of the Eiffel Tower.— Under the original agreement the Eiffel Tower is to become the property of the city of Paris in 1910. In some quarters the opinion prevails that the tower should then be pulled down. Scientists object that it is of great use as a meteorological station and that as a lightning-rod it protects a great part of Paris. Moreover, the military authorities find the structure useful as a station for wireless telegraphy. For all these reasons the city of Paris has decided to extend the agreement to 1915.—Echo dc Paris.
A Remarkable Schoolhouse.—Perhaps the strangest material ever used in building a school is that found cheapest in the town of New England, N. D. The structure is built entirely of agates. Of course we do not mean such agates as small boys use in playing marbles. It is wholly of petrified wood, which there is very plentiful upon the prairies. It is said that the material has been put together in most artistic fashion, so as to bring out its beauty, and that “when the sun shines the building glistens like crystal.” Where the schoolhouse is so hard probably the hardest of lessons will by contrast seem not really hard at all. But, on the other hand, with so bright a schoolhouse how dull must the brightest scholars appear!—St. Nicholas.
Stilts for Building Mechanics.—Mr. Kelman, son of a late master-plasterer at Peterhead, has, says the Fraserburgh Herald, invented a species of stilts, mounted on which the plasterer, plumber, painter, joiner, and paperhanger can pursue their work at varying heights, while saving the labor, expense, and trouble of flitting about, putting up and taking down a scaffold. The stilts are bamboo poles of four feet six inches and six feet high. They are fitted with thick wooden standards at the bottom end, by means of which the operator is made steady on his extended “pins,” and elevation is secured by means of further thick wooden soles which can be adjusted on the poles at the required height. Straps over the ankle and the toe fix the foot to these soles, and a further strap attached to a cast-iron hasp-clasp fastens the leg to the stilt at a point under the knee.—Building Nezvs.
The Western Pacific Railroad Tunnels.—The Western Pacific is perfecting plans to enter California, and when the road is completed it will be one of the greatest railroad-engineering feats in modern times. The engineers in charge have instructions to keep one object in view: the straightest line with the least grade. To accomplish this forty-five tunnels will be bored in eastern California between Oroville and Beckwith Pass. Instead of going around mountains the Western Pacific is going through them. The longest of the tunnels is that at the head of Soring Garden, twelve miles east of Quincy. This is cut under the nidge dividing the north and middle forks of the Feather River. It will be more than 7,000 feet in length when completed. The next longest tunnel on the road will be the one under Beckwith Pass. This will be over 4,000 feet in length, and it is being bored at both ends. The third tunnel will probably be the most difficult engineering feat of all, as it will be cut through solid rock for a distance of 1,200 feet. This will be north of Quincy on Spanish Creek.—Exchange.
BUILDING NEWS.
(The editors greatly desire to receive information from the smaller and outlying towns as well as from the larger cities.)
Atlanta, Ga.—The local lodges of Masons will erect a temple at a cost of $200,- 000. Morgan & Dillon are the architects.
Baltimore, Md.—The building committee, Isaac Strouse, chairman, northeast corner Lombard and Paca Streets, of the Hebrew Hospital and Asylum, Monument Street and Hopkins Avenue, has commissioned Louis Levi, architect, American Building, Baltimore and South Streets, to prepare plans and specifications for an additional hospital building to cost about $75,- 000.
Haskell & Barnes, architects, Central Savings Bank Building, are preparing preliminary plans for Ingram Memorial Chapel to be erected at McComas and Oliver Streets by the Church Extension Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Bible House, 8 East Fayette Street.
Plans are being prepared, according to reports, by Guy King, of Philadelphia, Pa., for an eight-story reinforced concrete fac
tory, 55x175 feet, to be erected here by Flick Bros. & Co.
Bellefontaine, O.—An election will be held, September 17, to vote on issue of $60,000 bonds for erecting a high school.
Beloit, Wis.—It is reported from Chicago that Fairbanks, Morse & Co. are negotiating for the lease now held by the Studebakers on Sixteenth Street, and will build a plant costing approximately $400,- 000.
Bethlehem, Pa.—Watson & Huckel, architects, 1211 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa., have plans under way for a large stone church to be erected for the Lutheran Congregation in this city.
Bloomington, III.—According to reports, a new brewery will be erected here by a company recently incorporated with a capital stock of $175,000. Attorney John Stapleton and William Courey are the incorporators.
Boston, Mass.—The Young Men’s Christian Association has purchased the property of the Boston Athenæum, at Newbury and Arlington Streets, as a site for theii new building.
Bowling Green, Mo.—The erection of a court house at Bowling Green, to cost $75,- 000, is reported under consideration.
Briar Cliff Manor, N. Y.—Guy King, architect, Philadelphia, Pa., has plans under way for a large addition to Briar Cliff Lodge at Briar Cliff Manor, for W. W, Law. The structure will be four stories high, of reinforced concrete, measuring 90x425 feet. It will contain 275 rooms. A large rotunda, dining rooms, library, exchange and office will be located on the first floor. The cost will be $150,000.
Bristol, R. I.—Work has been started 011 the erection of the new high school building on Bradford Street, Bristol. The building will be of brick and stone, two stories high, 160x80 feet. Approximate cost $200,000. Cooper & Bailey, 60 Congress Street, Boston, architects. Norcross Bros. Co., Tremont Building, Boston, contractors. No sub-contracts have been let.
Bristol, Tenn.—It is reported that Henry Roberts is planning to build a six-story office building of steel frame, stone and pressed brick.
Reports, state that several new buildings are to be -erected at Fort Hamilton at 3 cost of $350,000. Ten sets of quarters for bachelor offices in one building and two double barracks, barracks for a torpedo company, administration building, hospital, guard-house, bakery and machine shop.
The Army & Navy branch of the Y. M. C. A. will also erect a $50,000 building.
Brooklyn, N. Y.—Herts & Tallant, of 32 East Twenty-eighth Street, Manhattan, are now taking figures on tbe-general contract for the new Brooklyn Academy of Music, which is to be erected on Lafayette Avenue, extending from Ashland Place to St. Felix Street, Brooklyn As planned, it will contain an auditorium with a seating capacity equal to the Metropolitan Opera House. Its concert hall will seat 1,500, and measure 40x125 feet. It will also contain a large lecture hall and classrooms, which will be used by the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences.