The American Architect and Building News,
VOL. XXXIV. Copyright, 1891, by Ticknor & Company, Boston, Mass. №824
Entered at the Post-Office at Boston as second-class matter.
OCTOBER 10, 1891.
summary: —
The Examination for the American Architect Travelling- Scholarship.— The Course of Instruction at the Brooklyn Institute. — Characteristics of Good Slates. — A new System of Centering for Arches of Wide Span.—A Warning to Architects who use Tiled Roofs.-—Formula for making Hectographs. — The New Paris Metropolitan Railway.
— The Character of Modern Architectural Carving. ... 17 ijIBRARJES.— I................................................................... ..................................19
Letter from London............................................................................................21 The Temple of Theseus.....................................................................................23 English and French Cathedrals..................................................................25 A New Motive Power — Heated Air and Steam..........................27
The Management of an Architect’s Office.—IV.......................27 Theatrical Architecture. — 1.......................................................................29 Books and Papers........................................................................................ . 30 Illustrations : —
Residence of Col. William Fellows, Montclair, N. J. — Unsuccessful Competitive Design for Mount Vernon Church, Boston, Mass.— Apartment-house, Boston, Mass.— Capitals from the Cloister at Moissac, France. — Six Hexastyle Porticos. — Design for a House.
Additional: Sixteenth-Century Carved-Doors —House in the Augustenstrasse, Vienna, Austria. — House on Schwarzemberg Platz, Vienna, Austria. — Works in Metal.— Design for Chalice Veil.— New Tower, St. Clement’s, Bournemouth,
Eng.— New Premises, London, Eng...........................................31 Communication : —
To Protect Armor from Rust................................... ... 31 Note8 and Clippings............................................................................................31 Trade Surveys........................................................................................................32
THERE can but a few weeks intervene between this date and the time when we must announce the date for holding
the examination to select the holder of the American Architect Travelling-Scholarship for the year 1892, and yet our record shows the names of but two would-be contestants who have stated their intention of taking part in the examination. This is another rather impressive reminder of the lack of enthusiasm which possesses, or rather does not possess, the draughtsmen of the present day, who take up the profession as a business and not as an art.
THE Department of Architecture of the Brooklyn Institute, as we have already mentioned, proposes to furnish instruc
tion in technical subjects to draughtsmen and students, and has entered upon its work with a winter course, which is to begin Tuesday, October 27, and continue twenty-four weeks. The sessions will be from 7.30 to 10 o’clock, on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday evenings. On Tuesday evenings the instruction will be in free-hand drawing in its various branches, and will include drawing from the cast, drawing of ornament, shading in pencil, pen-and-ink, sepia and India ink. On Thursday evenings the instruction will be in water-color painting, and the more technical parts of drawing, including perspective, shades and shadows, descriptive geometry and stereometry. On Friday evenings there will be instruction in algebra and geometry for the first hour, and the remainder of the time will be devoted to lectures, by architects and others, on technical topics. The instruction in drawing is not elementary, but is intended for those who have had considerable experience as draughtsmen. The courses in algebra and geometry are optional. All the courses are given in the rooms of the Brooklyn Art Association, 174 Montague Street, one block from the City Hall. The tuition fee is ten dollars, one-half payable on admission, and the balance January 1, 1892. Students should understand that this small fee does not by any means cover the cost of the instruction given, and that the remainder is furnished by generous friends of the profession and of the young; and, in order that the advantages offered may not be wasted on the idle and indifferent, no student will be received who does not intend to be regular in attendance. Those who wish to know more of this excellent scheme of instruction for draughtsmen, should address Professor Franklin W. Hooper, 502 Fulton Street, Brooklyn; and applications for admission may be sent either to Professor Hooper, or to Mr, Louis De Coppet Berg, 111 Broadway, New York.
LA SEMAINE EES CONSTRUCTEURS says that a
contractor was sued last year, in Vienna, for having, among other things, covered a block of houses with slates of bad quality. The courts appointed a distinguished chemist, as expert, to examine the slate, and in his report some observations were made in regard to tests of the quality of slate, which have a general interest for architects and builders. One observation, which is, we think, new, is that nearly all slates show flue lines, all running in the same direction, parallel to the planes of stratification. On examining the surface of a slate closely, at a certain angle with the light, these lines can be seen; and, in good slate, they should run parallel with the long side of the slate. If their direction is parallel with the short side, the slate will be likely to break across, whatever may be its quality in other respects. Of the tests commonly employed by builders, those by sound, and by dipping in water, are both good, although incomplete. The test of weight, sometimes used, is worthless, as heavy slates are by no means always good; but if two slates, when struck together, give out a clear, ringing sound, they are likely to be strong and non-absorbent. If a slate, after standing for some hours partly immersed in a pail of water, shows the line of moisture only a small fraction of an inch above the surface of the water, the slate is nonabsorbent, and probably good, while a slate in which the water rises by capillary attraction an inch or more should be rejected. Not all non-absorbent slates are, however, good. Certain sorts, which appear of excellent quality, slowly decompose under the action of the air. These sorts can be detected by soaking in sulphuric acid, which slowly corrodes the objectionable kinds, while those fitted for use in building resist its action indefinitely. Slates containing lime or iron pyrites also crumble in the air. These can be distinguished by pulverizing a piece, and exposing a portion of the powder to the action of muriatic acid, while the rest is heated in a glass tube. If the slate contains lime, the powder in the acid will effervesce strongly; if it contains iron pyrites, the portion of the powder heated will give off fumes of sulphurous acid, easily recognized by its smell.
M.
TARAVANT, an architect of Morlaix, in Brittany, is writing a series of articles in La Construction Moderne
on the construction of arches of wide span, by means of a new system of centering which he describes. In his introduction, he calls attention to what is undoubtedly true, that the wider an arch is, the stronger it is, if the foundations are secure. It, is evident, to any one accustomed to masonry, that a viaduct consisting of a series of arches of small span, supported on high piers, will be more likely to shake and disintegrate than one consisting of a single wide arch, springing directly from the rock abutments at each side, without intermediate piers of compressible stonework ; and the experience of two thousand years shows that, of the Roman aqueducts and similar works, those having arches of the widest span have been the ones which have descended to us in good condition; while, where arcades of this sort have fallen, examination shows that the failure has almost always been in the foundation, and not in the arch itself. There is no doubt that our future railway bridges will be mostly of stone, and the problem of spans of two or three hundred feet is sure to present itself soon, so that all information on the subject is of importance. Hitherto, very few stone arches have been built of more than two hundred feet span. There is, we believe, but one in this country, the “ Cabin John Bridge,” at Georgetown, D. C., which carries the aqueduct supplying the city of Washington with water. The span of this is two hundred and twenty feet, and it seems likely to last for at least a thousand years; and, as Mr. Taravant says, there need be no pressure in such au arch, or even in one of three hundred, or five hundred feet span, exceeding that which rock abutments, or voussoirs of good stone, can sustain indefinitely. The main difficulty about their construction is in the arrangement of the centering. With a very wide arch of masonry, the weight to be sustained by the wood centering before the arch becomes self-supporting, on the setting of the keystones, is enormous, and the false works must be very well designed, and strongly built, in consequence; while it is often inconvenient and expensive to get proper footings for the false works in the bottom of the valley to he crossed, What M, Taravant may
VOL. XXXIV. Copyright, 1891, by Ticknor & Company, Boston, Mass. №824
Entered at the Post-Office at Boston as second-class matter.
OCTOBER 10, 1891.
summary: —
The Examination for the American Architect Travelling- Scholarship.— The Course of Instruction at the Brooklyn Institute. — Characteristics of Good Slates. — A new System of Centering for Arches of Wide Span.—A Warning to Architects who use Tiled Roofs.-—Formula for making Hectographs. — The New Paris Metropolitan Railway.
— The Character of Modern Architectural Carving. ... 17 ijIBRARJES.— I................................................................... ..................................19
Letter from London............................................................................................21 The Temple of Theseus.....................................................................................23 English and French Cathedrals..................................................................25 A New Motive Power — Heated Air and Steam..........................27
The Management of an Architect’s Office.—IV.......................27 Theatrical Architecture. — 1.......................................................................29 Books and Papers........................................................................................ . 30 Illustrations : —
Residence of Col. William Fellows, Montclair, N. J. — Unsuccessful Competitive Design for Mount Vernon Church, Boston, Mass.— Apartment-house, Boston, Mass.— Capitals from the Cloister at Moissac, France. — Six Hexastyle Porticos. — Design for a House.
Additional: Sixteenth-Century Carved-Doors —House in the Augustenstrasse, Vienna, Austria. — House on Schwarzemberg Platz, Vienna, Austria. — Works in Metal.— Design for Chalice Veil.— New Tower, St. Clement’s, Bournemouth,
Eng.— New Premises, London, Eng...........................................31 Communication : —
To Protect Armor from Rust................................... ... 31 Note8 and Clippings............................................................................................31 Trade Surveys........................................................................................................32
THERE can but a few weeks intervene between this date and the time when we must announce the date for holding
the examination to select the holder of the American Architect Travelling-Scholarship for the year 1892, and yet our record shows the names of but two would-be contestants who have stated their intention of taking part in the examination. This is another rather impressive reminder of the lack of enthusiasm which possesses, or rather does not possess, the draughtsmen of the present day, who take up the profession as a business and not as an art.
THE Department of Architecture of the Brooklyn Institute, as we have already mentioned, proposes to furnish instruc
tion in technical subjects to draughtsmen and students, and has entered upon its work with a winter course, which is to begin Tuesday, October 27, and continue twenty-four weeks. The sessions will be from 7.30 to 10 o’clock, on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday evenings. On Tuesday evenings the instruction will be in free-hand drawing in its various branches, and will include drawing from the cast, drawing of ornament, shading in pencil, pen-and-ink, sepia and India ink. On Thursday evenings the instruction will be in water-color painting, and the more technical parts of drawing, including perspective, shades and shadows, descriptive geometry and stereometry. On Friday evenings there will be instruction in algebra and geometry for the first hour, and the remainder of the time will be devoted to lectures, by architects and others, on technical topics. The instruction in drawing is not elementary, but is intended for those who have had considerable experience as draughtsmen. The courses in algebra and geometry are optional. All the courses are given in the rooms of the Brooklyn Art Association, 174 Montague Street, one block from the City Hall. The tuition fee is ten dollars, one-half payable on admission, and the balance January 1, 1892. Students should understand that this small fee does not by any means cover the cost of the instruction given, and that the remainder is furnished by generous friends of the profession and of the young; and, in order that the advantages offered may not be wasted on the idle and indifferent, no student will be received who does not intend to be regular in attendance. Those who wish to know more of this excellent scheme of instruction for draughtsmen, should address Professor Franklin W. Hooper, 502 Fulton Street, Brooklyn; and applications for admission may be sent either to Professor Hooper, or to Mr, Louis De Coppet Berg, 111 Broadway, New York.
LA SEMAINE EES CONSTRUCTEURS says that a
contractor was sued last year, in Vienna, for having, among other things, covered a block of houses with slates of bad quality. The courts appointed a distinguished chemist, as expert, to examine the slate, and in his report some observations were made in regard to tests of the quality of slate, which have a general interest for architects and builders. One observation, which is, we think, new, is that nearly all slates show flue lines, all running in the same direction, parallel to the planes of stratification. On examining the surface of a slate closely, at a certain angle with the light, these lines can be seen; and, in good slate, they should run parallel with the long side of the slate. If their direction is parallel with the short side, the slate will be likely to break across, whatever may be its quality in other respects. Of the tests commonly employed by builders, those by sound, and by dipping in water, are both good, although incomplete. The test of weight, sometimes used, is worthless, as heavy slates are by no means always good; but if two slates, when struck together, give out a clear, ringing sound, they are likely to be strong and non-absorbent. If a slate, after standing for some hours partly immersed in a pail of water, shows the line of moisture only a small fraction of an inch above the surface of the water, the slate is nonabsorbent, and probably good, while a slate in which the water rises by capillary attraction an inch or more should be rejected. Not all non-absorbent slates are, however, good. Certain sorts, which appear of excellent quality, slowly decompose under the action of the air. These sorts can be detected by soaking in sulphuric acid, which slowly corrodes the objectionable kinds, while those fitted for use in building resist its action indefinitely. Slates containing lime or iron pyrites also crumble in the air. These can be distinguished by pulverizing a piece, and exposing a portion of the powder to the action of muriatic acid, while the rest is heated in a glass tube. If the slate contains lime, the powder in the acid will effervesce strongly; if it contains iron pyrites, the portion of the powder heated will give off fumes of sulphurous acid, easily recognized by its smell.
M.
TARAVANT, an architect of Morlaix, in Brittany, is writing a series of articles in La Construction Moderne
on the construction of arches of wide span, by means of a new system of centering which he describes. In his introduction, he calls attention to what is undoubtedly true, that the wider an arch is, the stronger it is, if the foundations are secure. It, is evident, to any one accustomed to masonry, that a viaduct consisting of a series of arches of small span, supported on high piers, will be more likely to shake and disintegrate than one consisting of a single wide arch, springing directly from the rock abutments at each side, without intermediate piers of compressible stonework ; and the experience of two thousand years shows that, of the Roman aqueducts and similar works, those having arches of the widest span have been the ones which have descended to us in good condition; while, where arcades of this sort have fallen, examination shows that the failure has almost always been in the foundation, and not in the arch itself. There is no doubt that our future railway bridges will be mostly of stone, and the problem of spans of two or three hundred feet is sure to present itself soon, so that all information on the subject is of importance. Hitherto, very few stone arches have been built of more than two hundred feet span. There is, we believe, but one in this country, the “ Cabin John Bridge,” at Georgetown, D. C., which carries the aqueduct supplying the city of Washington with water. The span of this is two hundred and twenty feet, and it seems likely to last for at least a thousand years; and, as Mr. Taravant says, there need be no pressure in such au arch, or even in one of three hundred, or five hundred feet span, exceeding that which rock abutments, or voussoirs of good stone, can sustain indefinitely. The main difficulty about their construction is in the arrangement of the centering. With a very wide arch of masonry, the weight to be sustained by the wood centering before the arch becomes self-supporting, on the setting of the keystones, is enormous, and the false works must be very well designed, and strongly built, in consequence; while it is often inconvenient and expensive to get proper footings for the false works in the bottom of the valley to he crossed, What M, Taravant may