Salt Lake Telegram | 1915-10-03 | Page 36 | Wrecking New York,-and $100,000,000 Reason Why

r I I 1 in New the te Reason n Why 92 A Buildings Cover Manhattan Island and the Growing Town own Is Continually Seel SeeKing ing More Room On Top t a t r f. f 1 I d Ir r it r rY S e Y hG r f sh Q T it iI- iI S Where once Lester Laster thousands thousands tIle Hie wrecked t. t Theatre as seen from Thirtieth Street near Broadway t- t I. I r THE CIT CITy OF CONN CONTINUAL TI UAL CHANGE l J W. W D. D Howells in Harpers Harper's Magazine f r t It does not matter where you Sou go or stay quiet or or dreary you Jon sojourn In when you come back to New York it is with the r same awakening to a mighty change as if U you had bad been lolling on the ilia beach J or in the hills through the intervening months It is still New York but not the New hew York you left leU That has been pulled down or swallowed up so largely that only the inalienable topographical lines re re- main The terrible mysterious forces have haTe not yet effaced the Ule familiar streets there Were Is still Broadway vay and Fifth Avenue there Is long tong Acre Square and the numbered thoroughfares that cross the die avenues from east to west irest there is South Ferry Perry and there is Harlem but on all aU these while you yon were away the sleepless genii of enterprise and capital have been at at w work pork rk and nd made the city over Ter recreated it Jt i Where a meek little ten ten- ten story torr edifice cowered when you went away t an architectural geyser or now ow shoots into the e air the winter winfer skyline skyline sky sky- line Ms JutS been sawed into peaks and md chasms and the horizon has been lifted a hundred feet above aboTe the level where here it used to ke keep p the Ule beautiful Autumn sunset lingering low T down I l TEW EW YORK YORE is s the cIty NEW Once all the buildings were four stories or stories or less Then a lot of or these were torn down to make room Toom for buildings of ten den to twelve stories Now they are tearing down these to build towering piles of ot twenty to thirty stor- stor ies It is a metropolis made over three times C New I York is rebuilt every forty jT r years i t Demolition has has has' become a 3 science justas much as building t 51 o We are the City of continual change t it 1 Manhattan Island has build build- 4 1 iDes fags An average ot of ot about 1000 of 01 these are torn down every year In 21 their place go up about 60 new ones j t t Why Because Ma Manhattan hattan not Dot being able to grow sideways grows upward v So every Nry year worth of I new buildings go up while i t In old ones come down Last year was j js 4 K s f r an as off oft one onlY one only buildings buildIngs' were I i ii i i razed J They are building and wrecking New 4 York at one and the same time See T wh what t has has' happened in fn the last few r r weeks weeks The globe-famous globe Hoffman HolIman I 4 S lIo House se has come down and Theatre The house at Fifth Avenue v and third Forty-third Street where Tweed L j escaped es ped from the detective who came cameto II I i to arrest him and where he lied fled to toI II I Spain paID a and d Hammerstein's Victoria I both are gone the same way Gone Gonet t are aTe the Herald Sq Square are Theatre Theatre the i I 3 t t V v old ld Albemarle Hotel Thomas Thoma F. F Ryans Ryan's I F FUt Avenue Avenue mansion at Twelfth vr r 1 Street t the Calumet Club at at Twenty- Twenty ninth Street j A years few few years ye r ago the then modern modera Union Building stood at Nassau Nassan and Wall Streets famous as the office place of f Jay Gould They razed itIn it itIn In Its stead rose rose the spidery graceful Gillender Building to two twenty-two stories stories stor stor- ies with its cage bird tower tower tallest tallest office building on on Manhattan Island on once And lo lot down Il It came to too too after very few years because the Bankers' Bankers I Trust Company wanted the site to to add to another thereon to erect the great two thirty-two story granite pile surmounted surmount surmount- I ed by the tomb of in which the late J. J P. P Morgan took so I much pride It seems only the other J day that they tore down the old Hot man House to build a new Hoffman House And now the new Hoffman House is a thing of ot tt the a past too Ahole A Ahole Ahole hole in the ground merely marks the spot where spot where ano another he new business skyscraper skyscraper sky sky- scraper is is goIng up What at h happens when the owners want to wreck a building They send for one of the firms that make this their business Then Chen one of or three things comes to pass pass Jibe ike wrecker wreck wreck- er el buys the old building planning toge to ge get back what he has p paid ld out for labor by bythe the sale of at second-hand second material or gr orthe the owners pay pay for the razing and chuck in the second-hand second stuff for good measure or the wrecker is allowed to take down the old building for what he can get out of ot it Generally the owners pay for the job when it comes' comes to to demolishing a big building giving the job to the firm that puts in the lowest bid For example i I the job a new kind of proposition prop prop- I had llad the bid bidders ers all up in the theair i air aIr as as the job itself itsel was The varia varia- variation I Hon tion in the bids bIs ble AlbertA Albert iA A A. Volk wrecker of New v NewYork NewYork I York bid less than n anybody Ielse else and got the job The owners paid him and he got for the material or In all For labor Volk Yolk handed out 41 So he made pretty pretty good plucking for Q a ten weeks weeks' job For the Western Union demolition one demolition one ne of or the biggest b ever ever undertaken undertaken-he undertaken undertaken-he he got 12 beside the he be material Labor cost When the l last st of the lumber Jumber was gone Volk was an winner To Todo do this he had taken down fourteen stories of building on a a. plot by feet in just eleven weeks When it comes to smaller buildings the answer r is different For example Fred Witz who is F. F W. W Inc paid apiece the other day for five old-fashioned old flats on Park Avenue I which cost each thirty years I ago ago 1 I The largest single building ever fa taken ken down on on Manhattan Manhattan Island was WM the old Plaza Hotel at Fifty eighth and andI ninth Fifty-ninth Streets ts opposite Central I Park at Fifth Avenue just to make room for a taller and n newer Hotel Plaza Razing for Macys Macy's new Dew store at I Thirty fourth Street a and d Broadway was another huge contract because many buildings of all kinds had bad to zo come down The Equitable gutted by fire was the heaviest job job ever v r undertaken Everything had been gutt gutted d by fire fite and the task was dangerous And most of or the mat material rIal had bad to be betaken betaken betaken taken to the dump Only the metal junk was saleable The biggest area razed was on the site of the Grand Central Terminal and Park Avenue The first skyscraper to be torn down also the first er erected ted was the famous fa fa- I Tower Building put up in 1889 at No 50 Broadway It 1 bore ore a tablet re reciting that it was the first structure built in the modern method of ot skeleton skeleton t ton n steel construction Uon But it was not the first skeleton I steel b building to go That sad doom befell beten the Pabst Building at Forty Forty- I second second- Street Second Street and Broadway It was hardly uP up before It was was down Ido down n again to make room for for forthe the big flatiron I shape put up over the hole in the gro ground nd which is the the Times Square subway station The tallest skyscraper to go was the Gillender Building It It still sUll holds the record for demolition jobs on high I A of buildings buildings' were raz razed d to make a site for the Pennsyl Pennsyl- v nia railway y station on than han for fox any any other olber one building Two buildings have bave have been been been only halt half torn the down down the old Astor House which lost Jost its southern half for the new subway loop and the Windsor Arcade built bunt on the site of the fir fire fire- wrecked Windsor Hotel which Is half skyscraper and half naIf arcade to today to day Sixteen n three four and story five-story I I buildings and twelve story five-story stables were razed at one time for a anew anew anew new de department store The most difficult job I ever had had was the Gillender Building said Mr Volk because it was the first of ot its kind No building of that height height fe feet had feet had t-had had ever been taken down before before be be- fore That j job b developed a system of wrecking engineering which Is a new prot profession to We had to takedown take takedown down two twenty-two stori stories s of steel all riveted together as if for all aU time tim in forty live ve days The Western Union Building presented presented pre seated a wholly different problem problem- the wl walls 1 s were five and nc six feet tW thick k kand and laid in the hardest cement On I steel frame buildings the difficult feature tea fea feature fea- fea 1 ture is Is' getting apart the riveted iron whereas on a wall-bearing wall job the difficulty is in getting the masonry apart Yet we tore down clown the Hoffman House and the Albemarle in ten weeks i rot 4 J 7 t v pr y d I 1 j 1 we I r J d ff J Y wreck The of ens i VI Victoria at second Forty-second Street Street St and Seventh Avenue m I There l ere are about 1000 journeymen 1 wreckers in New York For a big I bu building d ng It wrecking crew of I about men to do the job cally More would get get In each others other's way For flats and residences from fifteen to twenty is s the the right number They can get away with such a a job jobIn jobIna jobin Ina In a week weck for each house One Ono man WI with h an oxy-acetylene oxy burning machine can melt off the rivets that bind steel buildings gs as fast fast as ten men can cut th them m off under the old methods IThe I- I The average average st story five ry b bunding will ring ingi jn about 1000 e es hand s. s h lIi material Se Second ond hand band bricks fetch letch 4 a load of ot 1500 They must be cleaned by hand with a a small axe before they can ii J be used x ag ain J. J b r tl j rings wh whatever th the h SWi pay Se Second hand stuff Is' Is pr preferred for some work because It is better ett r seasoned than new now Old brick goes goeson on the inside of walls faced with new brick These are in constant demand for flats and tenements Where do familiar landmarks of Manhattan go goat at the end Read The old National Academy of ot De De- De sign which was a Venetian Doges Doge's I p palace lace set at Twenty third Twenty third Street and Fou Fourth tb Avenue before the Metropolitan tan Lifo LitE Insurance came along and I gobbled it up is now a Roman CathI Catholic Cath Cath- I olic olie church In One Hundred and ninth Forty-ninth Street The facade of ot the historic Assay Office in Wall Street t. t next to the Sub Treasur Treasury Sub has be been n taken by Robert W. W De Forest for the Metropolitan Museum of ot Art Art- which wi It The old Lenox Library Is is scattered s all over the Bronx In info fo foundation n stories stones i J Th The The e famous Manhattan Beach Hotel at Coney ney Island Coney Island ha has s been born again as b bungalows ng lows at Sheepshead Bay Far rnear Long Island points The Th d dear ar arold old old Fifth A Avenue en e Hotel Is is' scattered catt r dl everywhere cre The limestone of or Hoffman Hoff Hoff- the old departed Hoffman Hoffman man House serves serves serves' as as foundation Stones for tenements tenements in East NewYork New NewYork NewYork York and Brownsville and the granite granite gran gran- ite and marble for monuments in Brooklyn cemeteries cemeteries Mrs Helen Hartley Jenkins bought for for 1200 t the c f famous Japanese room roomi i In Inthe the old Henry Henry HenryG G G Marquand mansion man man- sion slon at Sixty eighth Sixty Street and MadIson Madison Madison Madi MadI- son Avenue part part of half a block of residences where President Cleveland once once lived Jived She put it in her ber own i home though th though ugh Mr Marquand a connoisseur connoisseur connoisseur con con- of ot the foremost rank had Intended intended in- in tended tended it orthe Metropolitan Mu 1 Museum Ip- Ip s seum um at his death death UM Man Man n proposes The beautiful marble columns In Inthe inthe inthe the Yerkes Art Gallery in Fifth Firth Avenue Avenue Avenue Ave Ave- nue were sawed Into slabs and now Daw ti it their state adorn the floor or v palaces They c s' s 50 Fought Ev rs the thee time one-time r Milling i the way of ot all fie fie stone and which stood where the TrW Bu tv B 20 no r ris Is at No Nor Ill Broadway I Iff r famous entrance stands ove over in Je Jersey s City in a vacant lot patiently aw g a buyer In the same city the theold old fo foun foun- of ot the Washington Market make a first story for a French chalet which has been raised from its orIgInal lual Inal level Remember the beautiful and costly marble fence that guarded the A. A T T T. Stewart mansion at at Thirty fourth Street and Fifth Avenue once built for all time It now surrounds the country place of or A. A Lambert at West Shokan N. N Y a a pathetic reminder of days long sInce bygone The statues of Liberty and Britannia Britan 1 nia uIa which for forty years ears stood guard over oyer the theold old Drexel BuildIng at w Wailand Wall Wail Walland n and Nassau Streets where where the J. J P P P. Morgan offices were were and are yet In Inthe inthe the new pink p pile pile- pile now n ile now ow s stand and In Int tie the e eMorgan Morgan organ private private gar garden den at No Madison Avenue The six grant grani I II I II I i I I I I r I y F r r oe The Herald r Square Theatre and several time old old time buildings stood over OTer tim the hole bole In fo the fifth I g ground round at 01 Street and This TIlls Broadway only few skyscraper a days ds ago second Street was and Broadway a wo wn was s t n. n the he first one of its kind dod t to be e torn tom do down d J l 4 S r vr e t S 4 7 J a 4 1 1 a. a l i r i n t c V r y o F T R A F q j y t r 4 w Z 1 M As the wreckers ere demolishing the old Hoffman House and the Albe marie rIe Hotel at Twenty fourth we o fourth Street and Broadway C columns ns which stood stood on n eI either er SI side of tI e entrance to today day day adorn adorn the formal I l gardens of Pierson Hamilton at 1 Wrecking men have some ome weird ex ex- Also they meet some queer people people i ople M hr A. A Adams of Jersey City Is mak making log ing one of of the tha fluted pillars that guarded the st House Into a monument monument ment for himself Folks often come come round and pay a dollar doUar or so so for a brick from so some a old fashioned house hOlse going i into to the limbo o of forgotten n things The house hous where I was born was is the sen re reason son More than 2000 in r real aI gold was recovered from the sweepings of ot the theold theold theold old Ass Assay y Office and from the soot Inthe In inthe inthe the flue over the melting pot Every crevice gave up its modest store of or gold go dust and even coI coins s' s ancient of of an ancient mintage were found in other crannies crannies forgotten In the lapse of all all' all all' log ing time A bottle of whIsk whiskey Y still in in good condition and estimated at years of age was f found und In one foundation stone atone and sold for 25 to an enthusiastic enthusiastic enthusiastic collector of vintages When et Nos 2 and 4 Park Patk Street were torn down they unearthed the big tank of the Manhattan Company which is a bank ank and not Dot a a water vending concern to day It was put up in 1786 and supplied al all ali New York with water in those primitive days lu Iu the same building stood the foundations foundations foun foutI of an old fort fort- which had to tobe tobe tobe be blown apart The Sugar House at Rose nose and Duane Inane Streets owned by the Rhine Rhine-