398





RECORD  AND  GUIDE





September 14, 1907.





NEWEST  GREAT HOTEL





ABOUT a year and one-half ago Mr. H. S. Black, o£ the
United States Realty Company, proprietor of the Hotel
Plaza plant at 5th av and 59th st, tbîs city, approached Mr.
Fred Sterry with a suggestion that he look over the hotel at
the Park entrance with a view to whipping
it into line as a profitable proposition. Mr,
Sterry looked the plant over carefully and
reported that, ĩn his opinion, it would not
be a wise policy to attempt any extensive
improvements therewith, Tben followed
the overíures of a brand new hotel, provided
Mr. Sterry would run it. As a consequence,
on the expiration of F, A. Hammond's con-
tract, the old Plaza was closed, dismantled
and, as speedily as possible, razed. An in-
teresting discovery was made in the latter
work, Shortly after the completion of the
original Plaza it was discovered that its
foundations were inadequate and unstable,
In fact a large section o£ the nortbern wall
settled to such an extent that it was neces-
sary to close up the hotel and to expend a
large sum of money and much time in lower-
ing and solidĩfying the foundations. Ex-
"cavations for the new house's foundations
flisclosed that, while some of the hasic pil-
ing terminated in a quicksand-impregnated
hog, certain o£ the piles had been driven to
solid rock, where the ends had curled up
like   gigantic  hooks.

The new Plaza Hoteĩ, t"o he 'known simply
as "The Plaza," has one of the handsomest
foregrouuds of any metropolitan hostelry in
ex'istenee. It fronts on Central Park, tbe
main entranee being on 59th st.

The two great dining-rooms of the hotel
are on the eastern side, facing on the Plaza.
These connect directiy witli the tea room and
are separated hy a corridor opening upon
the Plaza. The sides of this passage are o£
glass, removahle at will, thus making it
easily possible to consolidate the separate
rooms into one vast dining hall. As one
enters the house from the 5Sth st side, a
women's reception room occupies a suitable
space at the right, with three elevators to
the top fioor, whereby any o£ the upper por-
tions of the hotel may he reached independ-
ently of the main office. Five marble stair-
cases also communicate from the street
with every floor.                                               ______

To the northward of the main dining-room is a restaurant
and cafe for men; this occupies the 5th av corner and
has its entrance directly from that avenue. Another dis-
tinguishing feature of the Plaza is its hallroom. It is a
handsomely decorated apartment, capable of affording ample
facilities for about tîve hundred people. One of the especial
items of this apartment, and one which appeals to one's sense
o£ the fitness of things, is the stage, applicable for a. speaker's
rostrum, an orchestra and tbe scenic settings of a theatrical pro-
duction. On oecasion of the floor space being all required for
danelng or otber purposes, tbe custodian of the apartment has
but to touch a button, the wbole strueture rises and assumes
its province as a baleony, connecting with those on two sides
of tbe apartment, thus forming a continuous gallery. It was
no mean feat of electrical instalĩation to lift bodily a steel-
frame platEorm of ihis character, several tons in weight, to a
height of 15 ft. without hitcb or friction.

A typieal fioor of the hotel is arranged with single sleeping
rooms with batlis, double chambers witb two beds and batbs;
and, from a parlor, one bedroom and bath, the sequence may
he extended to parlor, witb as many bedrooms and baths as
may be desired, The visitor is impressed with tbe subtle com-
biĩiation o£ solid elegance and delicate beauty, an effeet that
must bave required no small degree of skillful tact to accom-
plish.

The principal owners of the hotel, which will be opened on
September 23, are Harry S. Black, president of the U. S. Realty
and Improvement Company; John W. Gates, who îs to occupy
a forty-five thousand dollar a year suite in tbe new hotel;
Hallgarten & Co., bankers, and Eenjamin Beineeke, The
George A. Fuller Co, is the huilder, The hotel represents a total
investment of $12,500,000—of which $3,500,00 is capital stoek,
$5,000.000 on  mortgage and .f^.OOO.OOO  on  sbort  term   notes.





power. The high efficiency of these turbine engines, the ab-
senee of reeiprocating parts, vibrations and consequent strains
are expected to make this hattleship tbe speediest in the Navy.
The electrical apparatus on No, 29, and a sister shîp to be built
hy the Newport News Shíp Building Company, has heen con-
traeted for with tbe General Bleetrie Company. The gene-
rating sets for supplying ligbt and power on both the ships
will he driven by small Curtis turbines. Four 300 kilowatt
turbo-generating   units   will   be' installed   on   each   ship,     Ap-







THE  NEW  PLAZA  HOTEL,

Henry  J.  Hardenbergb,   Architect.

proximately IflO motors, of from 2 to 50 horsepower, will be
used to operate the auxiliaries, includĩng the forced draft fans,
hull ventilation, turret turning, ammunition hoists, winches,
cranes, laundry and workshop motors. The battleships will
also be equipped with four 36-inch and four 60-inch search-
lights. The Curtis steam turbine is hest known in the eleetrical
field in conneetion with the various types of General Blectric
turbo-generators, of which nearly a thousand units, aggre-
gating over a million horsepower, bave been installed úuring
tbe past four years.





-—The first hattleship to be propelled by turbine engines is now
in course of construction in tbe Fore River ship building
yards at Boston. This big battleship, No. 29, will be equipped
witb CurtJs gtgaĩĩj turblnes witb a total capacity of 25,000 horse-





Are Skyscrapers Dangerous?

COMMENTING upon the alarming propbecy by Mr. George
W. Eabb, president of the New Tork Board of Fire
Underwriters, that there is danger of tbe sltyscraper-district of
New Tork being destroyed by fire, Architect Fitzpatrick, the
executive offlcer of the International Building Inspectors' So-
ciety, says tbat while sueh a thing is not heyond the realm of
possibility, it is highly improbable under present conditions,
and could, at slight expense, be made an utter impossibility.
The skyscraper-district of New Tork cannot be compared to
anytbing tbere was at Baltimore or in San Francisco, ĩn both
conflagrations the tall buildings suffered by reason of the
vast amount of poor building there was all about them. Fire
found but comparatively ĩĩttle to burn within them, and in
a great many cases,' tbough damaged themselves, they served
as a bulwark, a protection to adjacent and more combustible
huildings, In Ealtimore, as a matter of fact, as soon as íbe fire
reacbed tbe skyscraper district, small as it was, it burnt itself
out in them, and tbey actually saved the city beyond tbem,
stopping the fire much as a dyke does the inrush o£ floodtide.
"In New Torlt the downtown dlstrict is immeasurably better
bullt general'y than is that of any other city. There are more
tall buildmgs, and these, serving almost exclusively as offlces,
contatn tbe minimum of combustible material, Their tall steel
frames, protectcd and enelosed with imperishable brick and hol-