308





RECORD   AND   GUIDE





March 3, 1917





The  "Silent  Watchman."

On February 8 a fire loss occurred at
the Hotel Endicott, Columbus avenue
and Slst to SJd streets, a building erected
twenty-eight years ago. Recently John
F. Garrety, general hotel manager, in¬
stalled an up-to-date sprinkler system of
the highest efficiency, bringing this old
hotel up to the present day methods of
fireproof buildings. The fire occurred
about 10.30 o'clock in the evening when
many of the guests were at the theatre,
and no one in the hotel knew that there
was a fire until two or three hours later,
when they noticed water dripping down
through from the ceilings.

Upon investigation, the hotel people
discovered that a large fire had occurred
within tliose rooms and that the "Silent
Watchman," to wit: the sprinkler, had
put out the fire without the knowledge or
assistance of any outsider.

The above was approved by the
New York Fire Insurance Exchange
through the office of William T. Ritch,
Inc. Insurance Specialists, Builders Ex¬
change, 34 W. 33d St., N. Y. City.

--------------♦-------------•

Manufacturers Aided.

At the meeting of the Queens Cham¬
ber of Commerce to be held on Thurs¬
day afternoon, March 8, Dr. Edward Ew¬
ing Pratt, Chief of the Bureau of Foreign
and Domestic Commerce of the United
States Department of Commerce, will
speak on the subject of "How Uncle
Sam Helps the Business Man." Dr. Pratt
will come from Washington to tell the
business men of Queens Borough how
the Government aids the manufacturer
and producer in the extension of both
their foreign and domestic trade.
--------------♦-------------

To Alter Harlem Hotel.

Extensive improvements are to be
made in the near future to the thirteen
story Hotel Theresa, which occupies the
entire block front on the west side of
Seventh avenue from 124th to 12Sth
street. This hotel was built four years
ago by the estate of Gustave Sidenberg,
as a monuir.ent to his wife, Theresa
Sidenberg. from plans by George and
Edward Blum, architects. On account
of the demand for accommodations, the
Estate has decided to devote the entire
second floor to suites of rooms and to
transfer the hotel office, lobbies a.uu
lounging rooms to the ground floor,
where stores are at present. They also
contemplate building an e.xtensive mez¬
zanine to be used for a barber shop,
manicure and haberdasher. The archi¬
tects, George and Edward Blum, ap¬
proximate the cost of the alteration at
$25,000.

Downtown Projects.

Improved conditions downtown are re¬
flected by the alteration of properties
managed by the Charles F. Noyes Com¬
pany for incoming tenants. The Charles
F. Noyes Company announces that ex¬
tensive improvements are to be made
at 28 to 30 Burling slip and at 175 Front
street by Joseph F. Cullman from plans
by .\ymar Embury, 2nd; the "Scott
Building" at 35 to 37 Frankfort street,
also owned by Mr. Cullman, is to be
altered from plans by Frederick Putnam
Piatt, and it is understood that negotia¬
tions are pending for the leasing of this
entire building containing 40.000 square
feet of space. No. 166 Front street is
being altered from plans by Frederick
Putnam Piatt for Miranda & Company,
who have taken a ten years' lease; 207
Pearl street is to be reconstructed from
plans by Frederick Putnam Piatt, and
extensive alterations are to be made fro']!
plans by James S. Maher at 14 Cliff
street. Mr. Maher is also making addi¬
tional changes including installation of
electric elevator at 50 Lispenard street,
owned by the Parmelee Realty Corpora¬
tion.





erty is 25.x200 feet 10 inches. The en¬
tire building will be fireproof in every
respect and will contain all the most
improved appliances. The residence on
the 69th street end will be six stories
high, and the garage on the 70th street
end will be two stories high. The roof
of the garage will be constructed in the
form of a roof garden, with a pergola.
The material of tlie facades on both
streets will be of red brick and marble
trimmings. Contracts have been award¬
ed for the construction and the site is
now  being excavated.





File Plans for Costly Dwelling.

C. P. H. Gilbert, architect, has filed
plans in the Department of Buildings for
the new residence and garage to be
erected for A. G. Paine. Jr., extending
through from 31 East 69th street to 40
East 70th street.   Tlie size of the prop-





Edison Co. to Build.

The New York Edison Company is
having plans prepared by William
Weissenberger, Jr., 32 Union square,
architect, for a six-story brick and rein¬
forced concrete store and office building,
to measure about 50x130, at 177th street
and Monterey avenue, Bronx. The pro¬
posed structure will cost about $100,000.





Designing  Brooklyn Theatre.

R. Thomas Short, 370 Macon street,
Brooklyn, architect, will draw plans for
the proposed two story brick and stone
moving picture theatre to be erected on
a plot 120x172, at the corner of Bedford
avenue and Brevoort place, Brooklyn, at
an estiir.ated cost of about $225,000, by
a company now being formed, of which
D. Herman, 2941 Broadway, Manhattan,
is president. The theatre will have a
seating capacity of between 2,500 and
3,000.





Costly   Bronx   Apartments.

The Frederick F. French Company,
Courtlandt avenue and 148th street,
builder, plans the erection of three five-
story brick apartment houses at the
northeast corner of Tinton avenue and
147th street, from privately prepared
plans. The houses will measure respec¬
tively 50x100, 75x100 and 75x100, and will
involve an outlay of approximately
$260,000.





New West End Avenue Project.

George F. Pelham. Inc., 30 East 42nd
street, is preparing sketches for a
twelve-story brick, stone and terra cotta
apartment house, to be erected at the
southeast corner of West End avenue
and 73rd street, by Jacob .'Axelrod, 200
West 72d street, owner and builder. The
building will measure 78x90 feet.







(PERSONAL AND TRADE
NOTES.

J. B. Wallach, architect, has opened
an oflice in the Foster Building, Madi¬
son avenue and 40th street.

Wright and Kremers, architects, have
moved their offices from 311 Falls street
to the Gluck Building, Niagara Falls,
N. Y.

Alva O. Greist has opened offices at
51 East 4Jd street, as consulting engi¬
neer, specializing in public utility prop¬
erties.

Joseph L. Burke & Co., general con¬
tractors, have opened offices in the Fos¬
ter Building, Aladison avenue and 40th
street.

International Engineering Company,
307 Sun Building. Detroit, Mich., wishes
to receive copies of manufacturers' cata¬
logues.

Thompson & Binger (Inc.), general
contractors, with main offices in Syra¬
cuse. N. Y., have opened an office at 280
Madison avenue, room  1204.

New York Blue Print Company, manu¬
facturer and importer of sensitized pa¬
pers and drawing materials, has moved
its offices to 102 Reade street.

Amsterdam Building Company, Iniilder
and general contractor, has taken addi¬
tional space at 140 West 42d street and
will now occupy an entire fioor.

Paul Gillespie, Earl W. Porter and Er¬
nest F. Schreiber announce the opening
of offices for the practice of architecture
under the firm name of Gillespie, Porter
& Schreiber, in the Brandeis Theatre
Building,  Omaha,  Nebraska.





A. Pearson Hoover, formerly con¬
tracting engineer, John W. Ferguson
Company, Paterson, N. J., and construc¬
tion engineer for C. T. Main of Boston,
Mass., is now an associate of E. P.
(ioodrich, consulting engineer, of 35
Nassau street.

Dwight D. Miller has joined the staff
of the Society for Electrical Develop¬
ment, New York City. He is a graduate
of Harvard University. He was for over
ten years with the Westinghouse Elec¬
tric and Manufacturing Company, as
sales  engineer.

Eric T. King has been appointed as¬
sistant secretary of the General Con¬
tractors' Association, New York City.
Mr. King, who is a graduate of Union
College, class of 1905, was for ten years
assistant engineer on the Catskill w'ater
system for New York City.

James McCreery Realty Corporation
purchased the Halter Building, 112-114
West 42d street, some years ago. Ex¬
tensive improvements are contemplated
to this property from plans by Alfred C.
Bossom, after which the structure will
be  known  as  tlie  McCreery   Building.

John C. Jay, Jr., formerly vice-presi¬
dent of the Pennsylvania Steel Co., and
chairman of the board of the Maxwell
Motor Co., has joined the firm of Jamie-
son, Houston & Graham, consulting en¬
gineers, 40 Wall street. The firm will
hereafter be known as Jamieson, Hous¬
ton, Graham & Jay.

Frank Yardley, formerly vice-presi¬
dent of Jenkins Brothers, manufacturers
of valves, packing, etc., 80 White street.
New York, was recently elected presi¬
dent of the company to fill the vacancy
caused by the death of Alfred B. Jenkins.
Frank T. Swain, general manager, was
elected vice-president. Samuel Laird,
manager of the Philadelphia business,
has been elected a director to fill the
vacancy in the board. With these ex¬
ceptions, the officers and directors were
re-elected.

National Brick Manufacturers' Asso¬
ciation will hold its annual convention at
the Hotel McAlpin, March 5-11. This
convention will be in connection with
the National Complete Building Exposi¬
tion and will include a number of inter¬
esting and instructive features. The so-
C'al events of the convention will in¬
clude a smokcrette, Wednesday evening,
at which ladies will have the privilege of
attending, and the annual banquet of the
association, which will take place Thurs¬
day evening.

Roscoe C. Briggs, of the Briggs Lum¬
ber Co.. Oneonta. was elected president
of the Lumber Dealers' Association of
the State of New York at the recent
convention in Syracuse. Other officers
elected were: First- vice-president, C. C.
Harper, Traders' Box & Lumber Co.,
Rochester; second vice-president, T. H.
Bennett. Post & Henderson Co., Os¬
wego; third vice-president. H. D. Gould,
Middletown; fourth yice-president, A.
G. Veeder, Veeder & Brown, Inc.,
Schenectady: directors for three years,
R. G. Pratt, Binghamton; John A. Wil¬
lard, Northville; William Hendricks.
BufTalo, and William A. Serven, Pearl
River.

The McGraw Publishing Company
and the Hill Publishing Company, New
York, have been consolidated as the Mc¬
Graw-Hill Publishing Company, Inc.
The new company acquires all the prop¬
erties and interests of the "two constitu¬
ents, including the following technical
journals: Electrical World. Electrical
Railwav Journal, Electrical Medchandis-
ing. Engineering Record, Metallurgical
and Chemical Engineering, The Con¬
tractor, American Machinist, Power,
Engineering News. Engineering and
Mining Journal, and Coal. Age.

Two of these papers. Engineering News
and Engineering Record, will be consoli¬
dated under the name. Engineering
News-Record, with Charles Whiting
Baker, now editor of Engineering News,
as editor-in-chief. James H. McGraw
will be president of the new company,
.Arthur T. Baldwin, now president of the
Hill Publishing Company, vice-president
and treasurer, and E. J. Mehren, vice-
, president and general manager.