LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 014 314 856 7 P 158 .8 .P8 P43 Copy 2 THE t nhlit §mU\n\p, PENN SQUARE, IN THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA. DESCRIPTION OF THE BUILDINGS. STATISTICS AND PROGRESS OF THE WORK UP TO JANUARY I, i88i. THE BILL PROVIDING FOR THE ERECTION OF NEW PUBLIC BUILDINGS FOR THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PASSED BOTH BRANCHES OF THE STATE LEGISLATURE IN APRIL, 1870, AND ON THE 5TH OF THE FOLLOWING AUGUST THE GOVERNOR AFFIXED HIS SIGNA- TURE THERETO. PRINTED FOR THE COMMISSIONERS. PHILADELPHIA; 1881. tAjy^ COMMISSIONERS ^ov th( (^ration of the ^^ublic guildinn^f. THOMAS J. BARGER, WILLIAM BRICE, ISAAC S. CASSIN, JOSEPH L. CAVEN, SAMUEL W. CATTELL, MAHLON H. DICKINSON, THOMAS E. GASKILL, JOHN L. HILL, WILLIAM S. STOKLEY. HIRAM MILLER, RICHARD PELTZ, SAMUEL C. PERKINS, GEORGE A. SMITH. OFFICERS. President— SAMUEL C. PERKINS. Secretary— FRANCIS DE HAES JANVIER. Treasurer— J. J. iMARTIN. Solicitor— CHARLES H. T. COLLIS. Architect— JOHN McARTHUR, Jr. Assistants— JOHN ORD, Jr., THOMAS U. WALTER. Superintendent— WILLIAM C. McPHERSON. DIMENSIONS OF BUILDINa, From North to South, " East to West, Area, .... Height of Main Tower, Width at Base, Centre of Clock Face, . Diameter of Clock Face, Height of Upper Balcony, Total Number of Rooms in Building, Total Amount of Floor-room is Height of each centre Pavilion, " corner Towers, " Basement Story, " Principal Story, " Second Story, " Third Story, centre Pavilion> " " " Wings, " " " Curtains, " Attic of centre Pavilions, " Attic of corner Towers, " Crowning Statue, . " Figures on centre Dormers, " " corner Dormers, 4S6 feet 6 inches. +70 feet. 4.3 acres. 535 feet. 90 feet. 361 feet above pave- ment. 20 feet. 296 feet. 520. 14^ acres. 202 feet 10.^ inches. 161 feet. iS feet 3] inches. 33 feet 6 inches. 35 feet 7 inches. 26 feet 6 inches. 24 feet 3 inches. 20 feet 5 inches. 15 feet. I 3 feet 6 inches. 36 feet. 17 feet 6 inches. 12 feet 10 inches. COST. Total expenditures to January i, 1S81, $6,922,007 50. ^) ^ Description of the Buildings. THE EXTERIOR. A tendency exists in the public mind to seek to classify every con- siderable architectural design under the head of some "order" or " style ;" but modern genius and taste deal so largely in original adapt- ations of classic and other forms that we often find no small difficulty in deciding under which, if any, of the heretofore established orders or styles many of the most important structures of the present day can properly be classed. The architecture of the New Public Buildings is of this character. It is essentially modern in its leading features, and presents a rich ex- ample of what is known by the generic term of the " Renaissance," modified and adapted to the varied and extensive requirements of a great American municipality. It is designed in the spirit of French art, while at the saine time its adaptation of that florid and tasteful manner of building is free from servile imitation, either in ornamentation or in the ordonnance of its details. This immense architectural pile is located on the intersection of Broad and Market Streets, in the City of Philadelphia. It consists of a single building, under one roof, occupying, inclusive of the court-yard, an area of nearly 4J acres. The horizontal dimensions of the structure are a square of 428 feet, with added projections for convenience and architectural effect, making its extreme length 470 feet from east to west, and 486!^ feet from north to south. The four fronts are similar in design. In the centre of each an en- trance pavilion, of 89 feet in width, rises to the height of 202 feet io|- inches, flanked by receding wings of 53 feet in length by 128 feet loj inches elevation, and receding curtains 119 feet i^ inches high and 65 feet 6 inches long, terminating at each of the four corners of the build- ing with towers or pavilions ot 51 feet square and i6i feet high. The whole exterior is bold and effective in outline and rich in detail, being elaborated with highly ornate columns, pilasters, pediments, cor- nices, enriched windows, and other appropriate adornments, wrought In artistic forms, expressing American ideas and developing American genius. The main entrances open through the centre pavilions on the four fronts, affording passages for pedestrians up and down Broad and Market Streets, directly through the basement story. Each of these entrances is 1 8 feet wide and 36 feet high, finished with ornamented archivolts and richly sculptured spandrels. In addition to the main entrances through the central pavilions, there are two in each of the four corner pavilions, communicating with each floor by broad and easy flights of stone stairways extending from the pavement line to the roof. The basement story is 18 feet 3} inches high, and stands entirely above the line of the pavement. Its exterior is composed of fine white granite of massive proportions, forming a fitting base for the vast super- structure it supports. The exterior of the building, above the basement, includes a principal story of 33J feet, and a second story of 35 feet 7 inches ; the centre pavilions having each an additional story of 26 feet 6 inches surmounted by an attic ot 15 feet, crowned with a massive dormer window in marble, of 37 feet in height, flanked by marble caryatides 17 feet 6 inches high between cap and base, or 21 feet 6 inches over all. The third story of the wings is 24 feet 3 inches high to the top of the marble dormers, while the roof structure, rising with gradual curve from the stylobate, gives an additional height of 17 feet 3 inches, making the full exterior height of this story 41 feet 6 inches. The third story of the curtains, which connect the wings of the centre pavilions with the corner pavilions, is 20 feet 5 inches high to the top of the marble dormers, including the height of the stylobate, which is 5 feet ; while the roof structure, rising from the stylobate with a gradual inclination, gives an additional height of 1 1 feet 4 inches, making the full exterior height of this story upon the curtains 31 feet 9 inches. All the dormers in the building project from the roof structure in continuation of the perpendicular line of the elevation. The corner pavilions have each an attic of 13 feet 6 inches, termin- ated by dormers 27 feet 9 inches high, with caryatic supporters 12 feet 10 inches in height between the cap and base. The entire superstructure, including all its mural embellishments, is composed of white marble from the quarries at Lee, in Berkshire county, Massachusetts. A court-yard of i86 feet north and south by 220 feet east and west is located in the centre of the structure, which, together with two additional open areas, each measuring 45 feet north and south by 69 feet east and west, afford abundance of light and air to all the adjacent por- tions of the building. The principal stories facing the court-yard are, for the most part, each divided by a mezzanine or half story, affording increased space for smaller rooms. From the north side of the central court-yard rises a grand tower of 90 feet square at the base, gracefully falling off at each story until it becomes, at the spring of the dome (which is 395 feet 2 inches above the level of the court-yard), an octagon of 56 feet in diameter, tapering to the height of 103 feet 10 inches, where it is crowned with a statue of the founder of Pennsylvania, 36 feet in height, thus completing the extraordinary altitude of 535 feet, making it the highest artificial con- struction in the world, while at the same time it possesses the elements of firmness and stability equal in degree to those of any known struc- ture of like character. The foundations of this tower are laid on a bed of solid concrete, eight feet thick and ninety feet square, at the depth of 20 feet below the sur- face of the ground, and its walls, which at the b%se are 22 feet in thick- ness, are built of dressed dimension stones, weighing from two to five tons each. THE INTERIOR. The entire structure will contain 520 rooms, affording ample, con- venient, and stately accommodations for the immediate wants of all the Departments of the City Government included under the heads of Legislative, Executive, and Judicial ; besides which, an amount of sur- plus room remains for use in the classification and preservation of the archives of the city, for storage and for increased accommodations, which will undoubtedly be required from time to time by the natural increase of the public business and the accumulation of the public records. The actual floor room included within the walls amounts to 631,438 superficial feet, or 14^ acres, inclusive of the sub-basement, which ex- tends under the whole structure. The several stories will be approached by four large elevators^ located at the intersections of the leading corridors, so as to facilitate the inter- course of the citizens with the public offices, courts, and other branches of the Government. In addition to these means of approach there will be large and convenient stairways in the four corner pavilions and a grand staircase in each of the centre pavilions, on the north, south, and east fronts. Every room in the building will be well lighted, warmed, and venti- lated, upon a thorough, effective, and approved system, and every part of the structure will be absolutely firepoof. The heating and ventilating apparatus for the eastern half of the work is now virtually completed, and in operation. The system adopted to accomplish these objects consists in drawing a given quantity of pure external air from the court-yard into passages 15 feet wide and 11 feet high, constructed for the purpose, under all the corridors of the base- ment story, and forcing it, by means of a steam fan, among and around stacks of radiators heated by steam boilers, into all the rooms and corridors of the basement and superstructure of the eastern half of the building. The fan is located in the southern portion of the sub-basement. It has a disc of 12 feet in diameter, with 16 wings on each side, and is capable of delivering 855 cubic feet of air per each revolution. It is driven by a horizon^pl engine of 20 horse power, and admits of being run up to 120 revolutions per minute, which will deliver throughout the eastern half of the building at the rate of 102,564 cubic feet of air per minute. The warm air is generated by 6 half-tubular boilers, 60 inches in diameter and 14 feet long, each containing 43 four-inch tubes, and a steam dome 30 inches in diameter and 30 inches high. The boilers are each 65I- horse power, making an aggregate of horse power amounting to 3942- They are set in nests of three^ and the pipes and connections are so arranged that each boiler may be used independently or in con- nection, as may be required. This process of heating produces a forced ventilation, inasmuch as the air introduced into the rooms of necessity displaces an equal quan- tity of vitiated air, which escapes through ventilating registers open- ing near the floor in every room, and connecting with large exhaust shafts which discharge at the height of 170 feet above the level of the ground. None of the apparatus for heating and ventilating the western half of the huildii)g is \ct provided for. The following materials have been used in the foundations and in the portions of the superstructure already executed, to wit: — 80,325 cubic feet of concrete foundations. 824,865 cubic feet of foundation stone, from Conshohocken, Pa. 190,703 cubic feet of dressed granite, in the exterior of the base- ment and sub-basement, from Concord, N. H., and Blue Hill, Maine. 467,086.05 cubic feet of marble, from Lee, Mass. 73,739.05 cubic feet of buff" and blue sandstone, from Ohio. 2,552 cubic feet red sandstone, from Hummelstown, Pa. 14,360 cubic feet of polished granite, from the quarries on the Magaguadavic River, near St. George, N. B., and from Quincy and Cape Ann, Mass. 8,772 cubic feet of hammered granite, from Concord, N. H. 12,500 cubic feet of polished marble, from Pennsylvania and from Rutland, Vt. 46,210,150 hard bricks. 171,300 pressed bricks. 135,000 white bricks. 85,931 enamelled bricks. 1201 tons 1679 lbs. of wrought iron beams for floors and roofs. 74 tons 667 lbs. of wrought iron clamps, tie-rods, bolts, braces, com- pound girders, &c. 757 tons of cast iron ceilings, lintels, plates, askewbacks, iron bricks, cast iron door and window trimmings, &c. 23,750 square feet of bond slate. The excavations for the cellars and the foundations required the removal of 145,870 cubic yards of earth. The preparation of the ground for excavations involved the change of the gas pipes, and of the two water mains of 20 and 30 inches in diameter, from their course through the centre of Broad Street, to a circuit around the site of the buildings. The tracks of the West Philadelphia Passenger Railway were changed from the centre of Market Street and laid around the site ; and the Freight Railroad owned by the city, and which ran through Market Street, was entirely removed after it had ceased to be of use in the transportation of materials for the buildings. These changes involved a heavy outlay, which was charged to the Commissioners. The entire ornamentation of the stone work of the exterior, and also the decorative work of the dressed stone for interior finish, has been carved in this city from models specially prepared by Alexander M. Calder and his assistant, James G. C. Hamilton. A large room in the basement on the western side of the southern entrance has been used as a modelling room since October, 1877. The Supreme Court of the State has had its accommodations since January i, 1877 (including the Prothonotary's Office), on the first story of the south front, occupying all the rooms on the south side of the corridor west of the centre pavilion. The addresses delivered at the opening of the session, Monday, January i, 1877, are reported in Vol. 82 of Pennsylvania State Reports (i Norris). The Highway Department was opened for business in the New Buildings December 10, 1878, occupying rooms on the first story of the eastern front, south of the central pavilion. The Survey Department removed July i, 1879, to rooms south of the central pavilion, on the same floor and front with the Highway Department. The Head-Quarters of the Division, and of the First Brigade of the National Guard of Pennsylvania, were provided with- convenient rooms adjoining those intended for the Department of Markets and City Property, and on November i, 1879, Major-General John F. Hartranft and Brigadier-General George R. Snowden, commanding the Division and Brigade, took possession of their respective quarters. Since January i, 1880, the following Departments have removed to rooms fitted up for their accommodation in the new buildings : Boiler Inspectors, January 17, 1880. Board of Revision of Taxes, March i, 1880. Markets and City Property, April 21, 1880. Receiver of Taxes, May 3, 1880. It is expected during the year 188 1 to complete the rooms for the City Treasurer, City Controller, City Commissioners, and Commission- ers of Fairmount Park. LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS I III'" III" II' '" 014 314 856 7 % LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 014 314 856 7