December 14, 1912





RECORD AND  GUIDE





1119





dent of the Equitable, maintained
strongly that by means of elevators
tenants could be attracted to the upper
floors, in which view Mr. Post coin¬
cided.               ^

Approval of this revolutionary inno¬
vation was not easy to obtain. A
prominent real estate firm was asked
to appraise the rents in such a build¬
ing, and when their report was read
to the directors Mr. Post, who was
present, offered to take the topmost
Broadway suite at the appraised rental.
"No," declared Mr. Hyde, "you will take
the suite at twice that figure," to which
Mr. Post agreed. The judgment of
both these pioneers was vindicated later
when Mr. Post was offered a bonus of
$6,000 for his lease within six months
after the building was opened. The
installation of the original elevators was
in charge of Mr. Post, and they were
the first commercial elevators used in
America.
Pioneer Work in Vault Construction.

The third important section of this
pioneering—for it was mostly pioneer
work on the Equitable building—en¬
trusted to Mr. Post was the building of
the fireproof safety vaults. When these
were decided upon as a feature of the
building, there were no such vaults in
existence. Plans for them were, there¬
fore, evolved entirely from Mr. Post's
brain. It stands to his great credit that
in these original vaults, after the fire
which destroyed the building had been
extinguished and they had been opened,
every bit of their contents was found to
be in perfect condition. This fact has
afforded Mr. Post more satisfaction than
anything else  in his  experience.

Shortly after the completion of the
first Equitable building, Mr. Post be¬
came the Equitable's official architect,
and so continued for over thirty years,
having charge of the expenditure of
many millions of dollars for the com¬
pany in that time.

Mr. Post became an architect as a re¬
sult of the great panic of 1857. He had
just graduated from New York Uni¬
versity as a civil engineer, but there
was no work for civil engineers. In
that year the eminent American archi¬
tect, Richard Morris Hunt, returned
from Europe where he had studied un¬
der Lefuel and had been connected
with many famous architectural works
abroad. Mr. Hunt gave instruction to
a few pupils in architecture at that time,
and Mr. Post was invited to be one of
the class. He consented, and afterward
devoted himself entirely to architecture.

Mr. Post is now seventy-four years
old, but his eye is keen, his hand steady
and his mind clear. He motors in from
Bernardsville, N. J., nearly every day
to oversee the work in his office on
Fifth avenue.





MEDAL  FOR W.  R. MEAD.





NEW-MODEL FIRE TOWERS.





Commissions on Subway Routes.

Three commissions have been named
by the courts to determine whether sub¬
ways should or should not be built along
certain routes in this city. One of the
commissions is holding its sessions in
Judge Leventritt's office at 111 Broad¬
way and two at the office of the Public
Service Commission. The several com¬
missions will report back to the courts
which constituted them and their deci¬
sion will be final. The commissions are .
composed as follows:

Park Place, William and Clark Street
Route—David Leventritt, Austin G.
Fox, Robert C. Morris.

Whitehall Street-Montague Street
Route—Edward L. Parris, Cambridge
Livingston, Julian N. Wright.

Steinway Tunnel and Queensboro
Plaza Route—James W. Prendergast,
William D. Steele, Robert F. Randall.





Institute of Arts and Letters Honors an
Architect.

The Institute of Arts and Letters has
presented to William Rutherford Mead,
of the firm of McKim, Mead & White,
the institute medal of honor for archi¬
tecture. The formal presentation was
made December 13 in the assembly hall
of the New York Historical Society,
Central Park West and 77th street,
where the National Institute and the
American Academy of Arts and Letters
had annual joint public sessions in the
morning and afternoon.
- The medal is awarded in a different
branch each year, and on its first pres¬
entation, four years ago, went to the
late Augustus St, Gaudens for sculpture.
The other medals went.to James Ford
Rhodes   for* history   and   James   Whit-







■MESSRS.    McKI.Al.    MEAD    AND    WHITE,

coujb   Riley   for   poetry.     Next   year's
award will be for drama.

Mr. Mead is the only surviving mem¬
ber of the original firm of McKim, Mead
& White, which was formed in 1880.
The contribution of the firm to Ameri¬
can architecture has been very large and
important. Columbia University, the
College of the City of New York, the
University of Virginia, Madison Square
Garden, Boston Public Library, the New
York Herald Building, the Washington
Arch in Washington Square, the Penn¬
sylvania Railroad Station, and the Madi¬
son Square Presbyterian Church are a
few examples from a very long list.





A New   Elevated Station Asked For.

Lord & Taylor and others have peti¬
tioned the Public Service Commission to
order the establishment of a new sta¬
tion on the Sixth avenue elevated rail¬
road at the intersection of 38th street.
At present there is no station on this
line between 33d street and 42d street.
The Interborough Rapid .Transit Com¬
pany, which operates the road, states
that it is willing to construct such a
station if the consents of property own¬
ers at the intersection can be obtained.
The .petitioners insist that a station is
so badly needed that the commission
should order it built, even if it is neces¬
sary to condemn the required easements.

A hearing on the petition will be held
December 18 at 2.30 o'clock.





The   New   Candler   Building   Has   One
with Reinforced  Concrete  Balconies.

The Candler Building, which is un¬
der construction in 42d street, west of
Broadway, has a fire tower constructed
on the Philadelphia principle. As far to
the south as one can see the great
cream-colored building over the tops of
ordinary skyscrapers, the reinforced con¬
crete balconies of the fire-towers are
visible, built in the corner formed by the
walls of the main building and the wing,
which extends back to 41st street.

Entrance to the tower is from the
outside of the building by means of the
balconies. The tower consists of a
staircase enclosed by four brick walls
that cut it off entirely from the interior
of the floors. In an emergency this
would be a refuge
from both smoke
and flame, as well
as a safe exit to
the ground.

In addition  to this
unusual device there
is   an   interior   fire¬
proof   staircase  and
a  battery  of   eleva¬
tor for each  end of
the building, so that
there   are  four  sep¬
arate  means of exit
from    the    building.
There    is    also    an
.automatic   sprinkler
system,      and      any
tenant    so    desiring
could   erect   a   fire¬
wall   to   divide   the
main   building  from
the Aving.
Since the fire in the Asche Building a
number  of  fire-towers  of  the   Philadel¬
phia  type  have   been   erected  here.    A
theatre which was opened a fortnight ago
is  provided  with  one,  and  several  fac¬
tories have towers  that contain the es¬
sential   principles   of   the   Philadelphia
type, but few if any office buildings can
compare  with  the   Candler   Building  in
all its fire-protection features.

With theatres on all sides of it, the
Candler Building can be seen from
miles around, as it is twenty-four stories
high. All four sides of the main build¬
ing are treated with cream-colored terra
cotta ashlar and ornament carried to the
roof line—a beautiful building, as busi¬
ness buildings go. No manufacturing
will be permitted in it, and the leases
will carefully define just what is meant
by the term "manufacturing." Asa G.
Candler, of Atlanta, the owner, has had
wide experience in erecting successful
buildings in various parts of the coun¬
try. In this instance he has had the co¬
operation of O. D. & H. V. Dike, agents;
Willauer, Shape & Bready, architects,
and the Cauldwell-Wingate Company,
builders. To these he gave the fullesA
discretion and confidence. Every dol¬
lar paid for the construction passed
through the hands of the Messrs. Dike.





—The Committee on City Plan of the
United Civic Associations of the Bor¬
ough of Queens, of which Williiam R.
Griffiths is chairman, is making an effort
to induce the wealthy property owners
of Queens to donate land for public
parks.





A Greenville Land Development.

The Berghoff Land Company, which
owns a large tract of land in the Green¬
ville section of Jersey City, is laying it
out in streets and planning for the erec¬
tion of one hundred and fifty houses.
The property is bounded by Garfield
avenue. Brown place. Gates avenue and
the Central railroad. Robert Hudspeth
is representing the land company in the
street opening proceedings.





—The Taxpayers' Association of the
Tenth, Eleventh and. Twelfth Wards has
been active for forty years.





—The Muiiicipal Building is now all
enclosed, and the tower lacks only the
finial  to   complete  it.