Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 80, no. 2061: September 14, 1907

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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-