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Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 90, no. 2325]: October 5, 1912

Real Estate Record page image for page ldpd_7031148_050_00000799

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4^ ^^111 OCTOBER 5, 1912 THE WHITEHALL BUILDINGS AT GREYSTONE, R. I. A Mode! Block of Tenements and Stores Erected by Joseph Benn & Sons of England, in the Village of Detached Cottages Adjacent to Their American Mills. By F. P. SHELDON & SONS, Architects. GREYSTONE, formerly an obscure village of Rhode Island, was in 1904, chosen as the site for the Araerican branch of the manufacturing concern of Joseph Benn & Sons, Inc., of England, manufacturers of textile fabrics. Besides possessing all of the more practical re¬ quirements of a manufacturing site, it is in itself a very attractive landscape, on the edge of a river, surrounded with wooded hills. In 1904 there was an in¬ significant number of cottages there, but since that time there has been developed along with the material progress and growth of the manufacturing business, a niodel village of over 100 detached cot¬ tages, each with bath rooms, hot and CQld -water, the best of sanitary equip¬ ment, electric lights, new streets, etc. Up to a year ago the village still lacked a proper collection of stores and shops. Mr. Benn decided to supply this want and, at the same time a tenement bloclc tion; and flnally, the structure should be made tolerably pleasing to the eye on the exterior, and substantially built. To make the building flreproof, we eliminated the uses of wood to a great ex¬ tent, although we did not go to the ex¬ pense of metal windows, doors, and trim. This seemed hardly necessary, consider¬ ing the other non-combustible features of the building, and the fact that it was so completely divided into sections by flre walls and flreproof floors. One of the un¬ usual stipulations of our client was that there should be no posts or supports un¬ der the flrst tier of balconies on either the front or rear. This made it necessary to adopt cantilever piazzas, to which re¬ inforced concrete lent itself admirably, by simply extending the floor slabs through the walls. Of course, the design¬ ing of these cantilever piazzas required very careful study, and the building of them required very careful workmanship and although it is now a year since com¬ pletion, and the piazzas have been sub« ject meantime to the summer's hot suns, no cracks have appeared. The structure is four stories above the ground in the rear, but only three In front, determined by the contour of the building site. This made possible rear tenements in the basement. Back of these basement tenements are the cellars for the use of the basement tenants and the storekeepers and the flrst floor tenants. The tenements in the basement are ex¬ actly like the tenements in the flrst story, the cellars being located underneath the stores on the front of the building. The tenements in the rear of the stores and the basement tenements were laid out primarily for the use of the shop keepers. These basement tenements and the tene¬ ments above them on the flrst floor have flve rooms each, in addition to the cellar room, consisting of a living room or kit- End and Side -View from Street, Showing Store Front with Gallery above aad Ramp from Grade to Main Floor. Rear Elevation, Showing the Architects' Use of Existing Grades, with Ramp to Gallery and Double Tiers o£ Living Porches. to house the shopkeepers and better paid operatives in the mills. We should at the beginning state that it was not contem- plMed as an investment in the sense of providing a fair return on the ccst, but ■was rather a philanthropic enterprise for the betterment of tenement conditions, and the particular needs of this village. The rent of the tenements and stores* was, of course, limited by the amount the operatives could afford to pay. The same building in other locations could easily command much more rent for both, and it -would then give a good return on the money invested. It still could have been a paying proposition even with low rents, had many of the decorative fea¬ tures been omitted such as the battle¬ ment wall and limestone trimming, the white pressed brick, the wrought iron piazza rails, etc., and still retain all of the flreproof features. The first requisite for a building hous¬ ing many people is that it should be fire¬ proof, although there are no building laws in Greystone that would require it. Sec¬ ond, the sanitary equipment should be of the best, not only for the comfort of tiie tenants, but also as a prevention against disease. Next, the arrangement of rooms should be compact and convenient, and the rooms well supplied with windows for ample daylight, sunshine, and ventila¬ te insure the proper placing of reinforce¬ ment and the concrete, as any defect in either design or workmanship would cause disastrous results. The general dimensions of the building are readily seen in the accompanying plans, and the photographs give a fair idea of the exterior appearance. Wc should say here that the form, size, and dimensions of the structure were limited and prescribed by the building site. The interior arrangement was largely worked out by our client, as best suited to the usual requirements and tastes of English operatives. Architecturally speaking, the overhanging piazzas may be criticized, and from a utility point of view, no doubt many will criticize the fact of having only one main entrance to the building, that Is, the incline at one end, but this and other unusual features were desired by our client ,and the plans were there¬ fore developed along these lines. As a further point of Interest, it might be aded that most of the reinforced con¬ crete was laid during the months of De¬ cember, January, and February; and proper precautions having been taken, not the slightest defect has developed in the -work done in freezing weather, un¬ der the severest conditions of snow and ice. To prevent cracks, the piazzas were thoroughly reinforced against expansion, chen, pantry, bath room, and two bed rooms. On the next two floors are tenements of more rooms than those mentioned above, but they have no cellars or communica¬ tion with the cellars in the basement. Ueing one story above the ground, they are reached by the incline shown at one end of the building, which incline is con¬ structed of concrete. This broad incline to the flrst tier of piazzas on the front is really the main thoroughfare to the tenements on the second floor. A flre escape on the rear furnishes a second means of egress. The second floor tenements, having no cellars, are supplied with a coal and wood room out of each Kitchen or living room. The coal rooms were designed to carry from four to five tons of coal, which is dumped into them through cast iron coal chutes in the rear wall. For the removal of ashes and garbage boxes are provided on two projections of the rear balconies. Passing through these two projections is an 18-inch pipe runningi from the second tier piazza in the rear to the ground, with a Y-branch near the ground for diverti|ig the ashes into a cart. When the ash cans and garbage boxes are filled, the contents are dumped down one of these two pipes into a cart below and taken away. There is also a 7^#t''