AND   BUILDERS'   GUIDE.





Vol. X.                    NEW YORK, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1872.                     No. 245.





9 Puiillihed Weekly bu ■

THE REAL ESTATE RECORD ASSOCIATION.

TERMS.

One year, in advance......-................SB 00

All communications should he addressed to

C.   ^STV.   S^VKKT.
-7 AND 9 Warrkn Strkkt.





No receipt for money due the RE.VTi EsT.vrE Record
will be acknowledged unless signed by one of onr regular
oollectors. HENRY D. SMITH or TrroJiAS F. CmnilNGS.
All bills for collection will bo sent from the offloe on a regu¬
larly printed form.





Special Notice.

' Whatever may have been the preconceived notions gen¬
erally entertained as to the relative merits of the different
makes of safes, there can be no doubt that the severe and
thorough test of the late Boston fire cstahlished the superi¬
ority of those manufactured bj' the American Steam Safe
Co. Steam seems to be the reliance of all the various kinds
of safes, but this company applies the principle mnch more
extensively than others and, on this ground, assumes its
distinctive designation. The destruction of any safe, if
subjected long enough- to fire, is only a. que.stion of time.
When, however, one hundred and fifty firms, who suffered
by the Boston calamity, in which all sorts of .safes were tried,
come forward gratefully to testify to the exceptional excel¬
lence of the Steam Safes, is is a conclusive test of their su¬
periority and a matter of such general interest as to require
. special attention.





TESEA COTTA.

The recent fire at Boston is having the good
effect of putting all building materials upon
trial. The undivided testimony of all who
have witnessed the effects of the conflagration,
goes to prove that the material upon which was
placed the greatest reliance for durability and.
strength—^hard granite—utterly failed in the
terrible test to which it was subjected, that all
other natural stones did the same, and that
bricks alone seemed capable of passing safely
through such an ordeal; the only effect of the
fire upon them having been to glaze their sur¬
faces. This experience -will go far to recommend
the more abundant use of this comparatively
homely but reliable material, owing to so
recent and prominent an exposition of its
qualities; but. it needed not even this last
demonstration to prove the value and durability
. of what had already stood the test of ages.
The fact is that brick, when properly made and
burnt, is all but indestructible by the ravaging
of time, water or fire. Boston has just proved
the last, and as to the two first we need only
state the fact that the Cloaca Maxima, the
great public brick sewer built in the time of
the Kings of Rome, is still extant, and partly
performing the functions for which it was
constructed 3,000 years ago in the Italian
capital.

If clay thoroughly burnt in one shape can
thiis prove its strength and durability, there is
no reason why it should not, if produced in any
other shape,  and this is where Terra, Gotta





brings in its  claim for consideration.     This j
material which,   as its name  denotes—terra \
cotta in Italian, and terre cuite in French—^is ■
nothing but baked earth or rather clay, has \
been known and in use from the earliest ages. \
It was produced by the ancient Egyptians and
Greeks in the form of  vases, water-jars and
other useful implements, many of which are .
still in existence.    Later, the E,omans made it.
of finer quality, and moulded it into lamps,
urns, etc., which they ornamented with raised j
and depressed figures upon the surface.    It was !
not until the end of the'llth century that its j
use appears to have been discovered for larger
purposes, and from the 12th to the 17th cen¬
tury   it was extensively   used   in   Italy   for
architectural ornaments.     The stranger who
visits the ancient city of  Ferrara, and unac-
quaiated -with this material, is amazed to see
the sumjituous brick buildings there, with the
most elaborate ornamentations, which look like
brick but are made of  terra cotta.    The  art
was introduced into England about the latter
part of the last century, and became quite an
important branch of industry.    It was largely
used for public statues and decorative sculpture
in architecture, and many of the old Coats of
Arms to be seen over the doorways of dingy
shop fronts in the ancient quarters of London,
to this day, are of this material.    From that
time to this it has been in constant use, and in
many cases is found as perfect as the day it
was made, when all the surrounding stone has
crumliled to decay.

Terra Cotta has also been- considerably used
in this country, and in this city,—the window
finishings of the St. Denis Hotel being an
instance that occurs at the moment,—and if it
has failed to reach the popularity it merits, it
is simply because the public have not been
made sufficiently acquainted with its merits.
It is capable of assuming any form into which
stone or other material can be shaped by the
hand of man, and in this respect has a great
advantage over Cast-iron Castings. .In the
latter case, ornaments can only be made of a
certain shape, in order to admit of their dra%ving
from the mould, but with Terra Cotta, after
being taken from the mould, the clay can be
so manipulated and undercut as to admit of all
those deep hollows and shadows which formi
the soul of sculptured ornaments, and in which
respect cast-iron always has such a poor and
shallow appearance.

Terra Cotta is made of the purest clays, and
fine quartz, sand or calcined flints with pulver¬
ized old pottery. These are thoroughly mixed
together, and subjected to the most intense
heat. One proof of the power of ordinary
brick to -withstand fire is to be found in the fact
that in furnaces in which terra cotta is baked,
the supports on-vvMch the ^models are placed





have to be of brick, as any known stone [sub¬
jected to such intensity of heat would calcine
to powder. The value of Terra Cotta as a
building material, when well made, can scarcely
be over-estimated, as it is capable, being
plastic, of assuming a magnificence of appear¬
ance, which if attempted in stone, would cost
from double to even ten times as much, accord¬
ing to the elaborateness of the details.

It is surprising that our architects and builders
have not paid more attention to this material,
especially in cases where a grand effect is
required out of comparatively small means.
Mb. Eidlitz, has shown us, in the Produce
Exchange, Academy of Music at Brooklyn, and
other buildings, what a very pleasing and even
rich effect can be produced by the artistic use
of brick alone. By the legitimate aid of Terra
Cotta—which is, after all, nothing bnt moulded
brick made almost imperishable by burning—
the most sumptuous effects might be reached,
at a comparatively small cost, that would be so
expensive if -wrought in stone, as to place them
utterly beyond attempt.





A EEVOLUTIOlir Ilf CHURCH AECHI-
TECIUSE.

A REMAEiCABLE change is now going on in
England respecting the opinions which have
for the last thirty years prevailed as to the
most appropriate form of Protestant church-
building ; a change which is very likely to take
place also on this side of the Atlantic. Dur¬
ing the last three decades, the architects of
England have been servilely folio-wing the
patterns of the Grothic mediaeval. churches 5
buildings originally designed for another and
totally different form of worship. Before the
outbreak of this Gothic lever, this beautiful
style of architecture, which had commenced
declining as far back as the reign of Elizabeth,
and was completely transformed and disfigured
by absurd Greek and Italian innovations in the
time of her successors, seemed at last to have
utterly vanished from sight. A so-called '' class¬
ical " taste had come to pervade the public
mind, through the teachings of Stuart and
Revett and other archasologists, respecting the
pure and glorious productions of ancient
Athens. > Flat roofs had completely superseded
pointed gables, columns and pilasters were
everywhere to be seen instead of buttre.sses and
fihials; and often the most costly and beauti¬
ful piece of mediaival workmanship in carved
stone was to be found covered over, by some
mangy imitation, in plaster,, of what was con¬
sidered Grecian high art. Indigenous art was
at a discount, and the glories of Tork Jilinster
or Salisbury Cathedral faded before the newly-
imported pretensions of the Parthenon and the"
Erecthseum.     Like   many other things,  this