June 6, 1914





RECORD AND GUIDE





1027





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I               CURRENT  BUILDING OPERATIONS               I





Several Large Improvements in Course of Construction in the                         |

I                         New Midtown Printing Center—Model Structures Being Erected                         |

I                                      I

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THE printing and lithographing and to permit the maximum of natural light
kindred trades are rapidly moving J_'^^|;<^__;^'!}. 1^1_,"_'"!, ^J".*!'^. 1'^^?'.°''^
away from the section near the New
York terminal of the Brooklyn Bridge,
where they have conducted business for
many years past. They have migrated,
for the most part, into the territory
bounded by 30th to 40th streets. Seventh
ahd Tenth avenues. This district within
the last few years has become the new





arranged in banks of three cars each-
one bank on the_ easterly side, one in
the central portion, and one on the ex¬
treme westerly side of the building.
Some of these elevators are to be used
for passenger traffic exclusively, while
others have been designed as combina¬
tion freight and passenger cars, and will
have a lifting capacity of four tons each.





home of many of the largest publishing     This   building   will   represent   an   outlay





I





houses in the city, and shows every in
dication of becoming the center for many
years in the future of the printing and
allied trades in general.

A number of the larger of these con¬
cerns have erected for themselves, or
are leasing on long terms, buildings de¬
signed with a special regard to the na¬
ture of their particular business. Sim¬
ultaneously with the completion of the
new building for the Hill Publishing
Company, at the corner of 36th street
and Tenth avenue, comes the announce¬
ment of another projected building at
440 to 448 West 37th  street.    This  will

be  13  stories  in  height,  cover-_____

ing a plot 125x100 feet, and will Tl
be erected from plans and spe¬
cifications prepared by Hill and
Stout,   architects,   299   Madison   ;
avenue.                                            i

This building is to be erect- ;
ed for H. I. Underhill of South ;
Oranp-e, N. J., owner, who in- ;
tends to lease it for printing, i
lithographing and general pub- i
lishing purposes. The contract \
for the construction of this 'j
building has been awarded to ^
the Whitney Coinpany, 1 Lib- ;
erty street, New York City. A i
peculiar coincidence in connec- i
tion with the award of this con- i
tract is the fact that the first i
building erected for publishing |
purposes in this district, i. e., I
the David Williams Company i
building, at 239 West 39th j
street, was built in 1906 by A. i
R.     Whitney,     Jr.,     Company,  i_

which firm was the forerunner      k..........

of the Whitney Company.

Durinsr the last week ground
was broken for another build-
ino- to be erected in this section. It will
be at 406 to 426 West 31st street, oppo¬
site the open cut of the- Pennsylvania
Railroad Company. This building has
also been designed exclusively for oc¬
cupancy by the printing industry. The
architect is Edward L. Larkin, who pre¬
pared the plans and specifications for
the MfKeon Realty Company, 80 Mai¬
den  lane,  owners and builders





of about $1,100,000, exclusive of the cost
of land.

The American Book Bindery, for a
nuinber of years past located at Cherry
and Rutgers streets, has leased from
the plans the store, basement and first
four lofts for a term of 15 years, and
the rest of the lofts will be rented
wholly or in part to concerns doing busi¬
ness in the printing line.

A third project planned for this sec¬
tion will be located at 344 to 348 West
38th street. This will be a modern loft
structure, 13 stories in height, on a plot
approximately   75x98   feet,   which,   from





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Hill  and  Stout,
PLAN  OF  NBW UNDERHILL  BUILDING.

the very nature of its environment, will
no roubt be tenanted by concerns in the
publishing line, although no especial
effort toward this end has been made in
its design. The building has been plan¬
ned by Edward L. Larkin, architect, 80
Maiden lane, for George Kern, owner,
496 Ninth avenue, and it will cost about
$275,000.

With the completion of these contem-





This building will be the largest of     plated structures the future of this sec-
its kind in New York City, having a     tion, which has already become known
frontage of 250 feet, and a depth of 103     as the publishing district, seems assured
feet on the easterly line and 85 feet on     for many years to come.

the westerly  line,  with  a  floor area  of                         -----------*-----------

20,200 square feet. The building will
be 15 stories in height, with basement
and sub-basement, and will have a total
floor    area    of    approximately    325,000





COMPOSITION FLOORING.





With the dawn of the  twentieth cen-

- -                 .                     tury   new   and   better   flooring   material

square feet.    On account of the extreme     was  introduced  into  the  building  trade





height of the individual floors, the build
ing will have a total height of nearly
240 feet from curb to cornice. An esti¬
mate of the size of this project may be
gained when it is known that its cubical
contents will amount to approximately
■4,350,000 cubic feet.

In the layout of the floors, particular





of this country. Not until recent years,
however, has the manufacture and lay¬
ing of this material attained that degree
of perfection where it can be considered
a real success among leading architects
and builders.

Composition    flooring,    as    manufac¬
tured   and   installed   today   is   a   light





attention has been  devoted  to planning     weight,    resilient,,  non-slipping,    water

m regard to efficiency of light and the     repelling,  fire and  germ-proof covering,

future placement of presses and machin-     It  is  laid  in  a  plastic  state  in  one  or

ery.    The   columns   have    been    placed     several   colors   and   bonds   directly   to

about IS feet apart, and particularly high     wood, metal or concrete.    The material

and wide windows have been provided     i?   easily  installed  about  one-half  inch





thick and is trowelled td a smooth and
better finish. About twenty-four hours
is required for the composition to set
into   a   monolithic   mass.

While in a semi-hard condition the
composition may be scored or marked
to represent tiles, bricks, or marble
slabs, and may be laid in colors or com¬
binations of Colors varying from almost
pure white to jet black. Patterns, pan¬
els, monograms and other designs may
be worked out in the floor. A sani¬
tary cove base may be installed with
composition and run into the main floor
without joints or breaks. Some con¬
cerns have gone so far as to construct
wainscoting and partition work -with this
material.

Discovered in 1853.
Composition was first discovered in
1853 by Stanislaus Sorel, a French chem¬
ist. Later a number of promoters took
out patents upon certain products whose
basic ingredients were the bonding ma¬
terials of present-day composition, and
endeavored to market the goods for ex¬
terior building construction. It was
found, however, that these
products had not wear-resisting
properties essential for this
purpose. Even today it has
been found impractical to use
composition for stucco work,
building blocks, roofs or tanks.
Germans were the first to per¬
ceive the advantages of compo¬
sition for floor purposes, and
the Americans followed in their
footsteps. In America, until
about the middle of the nine¬
teenth century, wood formed
the standard building material,
and it was thought that no finer
floor surface could be obtained
than from tongued and grooved
matched maple or oak. Even
today these floors are perhaps
the best obtainable for resi¬
dences. City codes and insur¬
ance regulations have eliminat¬
ed one after another the classes
of buildings in which wooden
floors might be used, and own¬
ers of large structures in many
instances insist on having sani¬
tary and fireproof flooring.
From timber, architects and builders
turned to mosaic and encaustic tile; but
here it was found that the floor was
hard, slippery and difficult to install,
especially over an old wooden founda¬
tion. Terrazzo was next offered, but
objections in some instances were found
to this material.

Battleship Linoleum.
Next followed battleship linoleum,
and this formed the real advancement
toward a solution of the problem for
floors of this material, easily installed,
which were resilient, water-repelling and
non-slippery. Marble, cork, tile, and
many other sii-nilar materials have been
used; but in many instances objections
have been found.

Much of the composition flooring on
the market is of a cheap calibre, and it
is not contended for a moment that
every floor laid is a success. It can
be said that this material cannot be
properly installed by mechanics who
have not had at least several months'
experience in laying composition; in
fact, most reliable firms will not ship
their materials to outside contractors
but will maintain their own force of
experts to install floors of their own
manufacture.

Some- concerns lay their material in
a single operation, while others install
it in two  or more layers.    "The under





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Architects