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178
^Record and guide
July 23, 190^
may he doubted whether a singjp : ■"
has been built either cw^^ FOT PolicC Hcadquartcrs.
tion of the jyYor the new headquarters building for the police,
^^ ^fech" is to be constructed on Centre 'St, between Broome and
Grand sts, were opened at the office of the Commissioner of
Police at 2 o'clock on Wednesday of this week, and were as fol¬
lows:
Starrett Co:; |ii--l'J'.000; T. B. Leahy, $935,544; The Thon^^sj^-
SiS19,450; J. H. ParK^; ,;M:urphy Bros., $939,00Q,l,^^iX); Murphy
Construction Co., $849,000; P. Sullivan, $873,000; Herman Probst
$874,700; Water & O'Connell, $775,000 (low bid).
The architects, Messrs. Hoppin. Koen and Huntington, hope to
see cons'truction work begun in September. The estimated cost
is $750,000. The materials to he used for the exterior walls have
not been definitely decided upon. This will depend upon the
amount of money available. The building will cover the entire
block, and will, therefore, be shaped like a fiatiron. It wili 'be
308 fe&t in length with an average width of 05 feet. The apex
1
symnaslum. The taBS and lockers for the police are to he on
"Therfwrn he <ort,-»ve dry, well lighted a,„d vejjUJated *^
prison cells on the Mth floor. Those detained w.il '= '"J"'*^
privacy. Brought thronsh an alley on the eastern ^«l» «'*''«
Lildins they will he^taken through »^<»;;;'J°; ",,^'„° tZ^";,
neither of__whicj\Qg^a^pjj''^j.'g studio, the rooms where the prison¬
ers will be measured and the bath Ajoms where they will be
washed,, are on this fioor. The dome will not be merely orna¬
mental. There is to be a signal tower. The quarters for the
Department telegraphers are directly below. They are isolated
so as to make them hard to reach. In the remote possibility of
the lower floors being occupied by others than those righJtfully
in power the telegraphers will still, for a time, be in touch-with
the world outside.
An, unusual amount of thought and labor has been given to
the design, which is of the Georgian period of English archi¬
tecture. Mr. Francis L. V. Hoppin, of Hoppin, Koen and Hun-
'^ ; ACCEPTED DESIGN FOR NEW POLICE HEADQUARTERS.
To occupy the block bounded by Centre, Grand and Broome sts and Centre Market pl.
Hoppin, Koen & Huntington, 244 Fifth av, architects.
of the dome will be 175 feet above the street. There is to be a
basement, a sub-basement, and five stories above ground. The
basement will probably be of grapite, and the facade of lime¬
stone. Brick may be used in the rear exterior wall. The archi¬
tects hope to use limestone throughout.
In the interior, the main entrance is to be of American mar¬
ble in panels. Maiible caps with bronze caps are to relieve the
bareness of the hall. There will be a railing of wrought iron to
the marble staircase which is to wind from the main entrance to
the base of the dome. The pavement of the entrance hall is to
be of marble. Marble tiling will be used in the north and south
corridors., marble terraza in the other corridors, PTcent in the
basement, for which cement will be specified. The interior trim-
mimg wil! be-of the simpleBt. The walls in general are to be of
plaster. Oak parmeling is to be used in the Court rooms and in
the Commissioner's room, The dome will be of gilded bronze,
the drum of the dome is of terra cotta, colored like limestone.
A porte-cochere on the north side is intended to insure that
privacy of approach which is frequentlV desirable, and, now
despite the best efforts, usually unobtainable.
An electric plant for power and lighting will be in the sub-
basement. The offices of the property clerk and a thoroughly
equipped assembly room for the detectives will be in the base¬
ment. There is also to be a shooting gallery 100 yards long,
the most extensive in New York, in this basement. The de¬
tective bureau, the records of this bureau, the Rogues' Gallery
and the rooms for the examination of witnesses and suspected
persons will take the first floor; the executive rooms of the de¬
partment, the Commissioner's room and the rooms of the Deputy
Commissioners, the Chief Inspector, the Borough Inspector and
the Chief Clerk will go on the second floor, that of the Com¬
missioner being in the northern end of the building.
The third floor will contain the offices of the Treasurer, the
Auditors and surgeons, and two large trial rooms for the ex¬
amination and decision of charges made against the members of
the force. The fourth floor will be given up for the most part
to a large armory and drill room and to a thoroughly equipped
tington, while working at it, traveled extensively to study build¬
ings used for police purposes. He has tried to create an ediflce
which should fulfill the purpose for which it was to be used, and
at the same time be thoroughly suggestive of municipal archi¬
tecture to design a building which should not only be the head¬
quarters of the police, but like our City Hall should stand for
dignity, repose and good tasite, Mr. Hoppin has striven to make
the building stately, but thoroughly digmfled in its simplicity.
The severe exterior will be relieved only by a terrace on the
fourth floor and by a group of five allegoi-ioal figures represent¬
ing tl;e five boroughs of New York. The coat-of-arms of the
city_ will be over the main entrance. A large clock with four
faces is to be placed below the dome.
Paris Prize of the Society of Beaux-Arts Arcliitects.
There is now on exhibition at ithe Fine Arts Society Building
the competition drawings for the Paris prize given by the So¬
ciety of Beaux-Arts Architects. This Society has, for some years
past, been doing a great deal for the education of architectural
draughtsmen, not only in New York, but all through the country,
having branclies in many of the large cities. It is composed of
men who have studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, and
imbued with the system pursued there, they have sought to find
and develop the talented men which this country produces, those
who are unable to profit by the courses in architecture given at
the universities, or who seek to study untrammelled by the pre¬
scribed courses of a college curriculum. The idea of the Society
in this prize has been to send a man to study at the Ecole des
Beaux Arts, who shall have been chosen from the country at
large, as is chosen the winnec of the Prix de Rome in France,
and who does not represent merely the traditions of some one
technical school. To accomplish this a series of competitions
were instituted, by which all competitors but five were elimi¬
nated, to work on a final design which is now on exhibition.
These five are Messrs. W. D. Crowell, E. H. Lebeis, W. T. L.
Armstrong, Lucian E. Smith and G. A. Licht.