Show seyl Sky skylines lines 1 nes upset by travel trap vel in in air architecture of cities to change with growing use of plane washington A few days ago a factory chimney feet in height was dynamited and brought crashing to the ground the reason was that the towering spire was located near the site of the new airport of newark N J and that its presence was a menace to navigators of the air seeking to make a landing on the held field bird lovers tool took especial note of the fact thattie that the chimney a rather old one had for long been the home of a large number of chimney swifts and of such other birds as nest in lofty places paces I 1 their convenience was sacrificed to protect human bird men who especial ly at night might crash into the structure in seeking the ground the incident sharply emphasizes what influence the development of lying flying especially of the establishment of regular commercial air lines Is having and Is going to have on the architectural features of cities particularly in the neighborhood of municipal airports when the airplane first was beginning to demonstrate its potentialities a favorite subject for illustrators of imaginative stories was the possible appearance of cities of the future when navigation of the air should become a matter of course F for or the most part the drawings portrayed vast and lofty edifices with landing platforms on top of them and with all manner of aircraft landing and taking oft off they were reminiscent of the fantastic pictures which nearly a generation ago depicted in sunday newspaper stipple supplements ments the adventures of little nemo on mars then general navigation of the air seemed about as far distant in time as a mars Is in space dreams coming true but the fantasy has come it has turned into reality plans already have been al drawn rawn for a building to constitute one of the many airports tor for new york city they call for a structure STO S TO feet in height nothing which little nemo encountered could be more fari fantastic tustle the building would be a u cylinder rising from the ground the lower floors doors would be occupied by stores there would be business offices in various parts of it auditoriums and many other features largo large modern structures have other floors would be given over to hotel accommodations and atop of all an aa enormous landing field 1000 feet in diameter runways for landing and taking off would be provided so that more then 40 planes could be either cither alighting or taking night flight at the same val time e rising ye yet t above the root roof would bo be a mooring I 1 n 9 mast for dirigibles this la Is not a dream of little nemo architects and en engineers inders actually are working on the final plans and the project of financing the project Is occupying the time of stil skilled lied men tiie the department of commerce has listed 1000 cities and towns which have arranged for tile the construction of airports and has in its hies files correspondence relating to plans of another 1000 places looking forward to the same sort oi 01 enterprise it appears certain that architecture will be greatly affected because two types of field are to be built one for large cities would partake of the nature of the vast building already designed this would be necessary to obtain sufficient space for ports anywhere near the centers of such cities as for example chicago which Is many miles from one extremity to another the time gained by flying dying would be lost in transmission of mall mail and transportation by other means of passengers from a suburban port to the center of town so for the large cities the present generation may fully expect to see municipalities re sem dembling bling something more fantastic than any castles in spain or dreams of a has heesh eater change in skylines Sky lines the second type Is to be employed by lesser communities they will be on the ground but here too the architecture of the cities must be changed it will not be convenient to have tall buildings in the neighborhood of the fields and thousands will be razed sa so the skylines sky lines of american cities of the near future will take on entirely new aspects the great cities will have peaks higher than any of the surrounding buildings while the smaller places will have skylines sky lines revealing depressions from the general level the effect being undulating du lating practical aspects of construction are not being neglected A plan has been worked out and has received the approval of postmaster general new providing tor for plane facilities slightly resembling the scenic railways or shoot the chutes of amusement parks for planes taking off there will be inclined runways down which they will travel on their wheels or skids and then soar off into space for landing planes similar runways will be built the plane will land on the level but the runway being built to incline upward will speedily bring it to a halt these facilities will con serve space and enable a field to accommodate more planes airport engineers and architects already have drawn plans for such ports and have made models giving a clear visual idea den of how they will ivill appear one of the ilie greatest problems of any great constructing enterprise Is that of finance but it seema unlikely thal thai difficulty will be encountered there some municipalities have donated land tor for ports port some locations have been purchased four hundred cities and towns already are listed as having airports mos alos of these have been built in the last 18 months and a competent estimate Is that has been expended upon them existing plans call for the expenditure of au additional 3 0 in the next 12 months with the rate augmenting every succeeding year the investment bankers of theroun the country are friendly to airport projects and we are expecting to handle large bond issues to take care of their cost for they believe they will be profitable at e excellent authorities have declared that the country la Is due for a tremendous investment in real estate enterprises and the construction of bf airports would come under this head local governments also may bo be expected to contribute money subsidies |