ARCHITECTURE
AND
BUILDING
R CHARLES BATES
C

THE LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY
OF
REGENTS
THE
OMNIBUS ARTIBUS
සි
CLASS 720.4
BOOK B319
MINNESOTA

I
To Rev. Varnim d'incals


author,
Through
jhr
With regards of the
Reha's Bates
1
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Boston,
July 196.

Mantual preadolicy of
Shamas W. Silloway Architech.
Boston, Mass.
THE
ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES
OF
Architecture and Building
BY
R. CHARLES BATES
INSTRUCTOR IN ARCHITECTURE and GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT
OF MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES AT CLAFLIN UNI-
VERSITY, ORANGEBURG, S.C.
BOSTON
PRESS OF GEO. H. ELLIS, 141 FRANKLIN Street
1892
UNIVERSITY OF
COPYRIGHT
BY R. CHARLES BATES
1892
MAR 2 45
Meiliereg
72.0.4
B319
DEDICATION
To Rev. LEWIS MARION DUNTON, D.D., the honored
President of Claflin University, whose unceasing labor
for the good of the institution it has been my priv-
ilege for some years to observe, and in a humble
way assist, this volume is respectfully inscribed by his
friend and co-laborer.
1082724
ROBERT CHARLES BATES.
1
INTRODUCTORY.
THIS volume attempts to illustrate what its title
implies, to make a concise statement of the rudimen-
tary principles of architecture as an art, and impart
instruction in regard to what constitutes good build-
ing, being substantially the author's lectures before
his classes at Claflin University at Orangeburg, S.C.,
during the winter of 1891-92.
A conversational style was used in the lectures, and
they are passed to the press with only a few necessary
changes. Those parts of the lectures, however, that
were illustrated on the blackboard or elucidated by
extemporaneous remarks, have been qualified in the
printed work; and, in addition, it has been deemed
expedient to present a few thoughts which are so
associated with one department of construction as to
make this work incomplete without them. They are
rules for determining the strength of timber, and
tables of the weight of iron in its various forms.
That much has, by an arrangement with the owners
of the "Text Book of Modern Carpentry," been tran-**
scribed, and is of much value to the student and
mechanic.
Sir John Evelyn, in the dedication of his "Parallel
6
INTRODUCTORY.
**
of Ancient Architecture with the Modern," remarks
of his work, "It is, withal, the marrow and very sub-
stance of no less than ten judicious authors and almost
twice as many of the most noble antiquities now ex-
tant upon the bosom of the earth.”
The statement was made in 1664; and, with access
to the many valuable works produced since, it savors
but little of egotism to say that, although working on
a different line, the small volume now presented con-
tains what is of most value in Mr. Evelyn's work, as
well as the "marrow and substance" of many of the
large and pretentious volumes which, at the close of
the nineteenth century, are issuing from an ever
pregnant press.
It is anticipated that, while it is but a compend, it
will impart good knowledge, and assist in laying the
foundation for a more extended architectural educa-
tion.
It was our early intention to publish a list of all
works consulted in the preparation of the lectures,
and thereby give direction to the young architect's
studies; but the later thought was to give especial
advice of interest to students of limited resources and
inclinations.
The first recommendation is to subscribe for some
of the architectural weeklies or monthlies, and
thereby not only obtain information, but keep in
touch with what others are doing.
And first of the standard works is Gwilt's "Ency-
INTRODUCTORY.
7
clopædia of Architecture," a work of inestimable
value; and, if the student can possess but one book,
let him have this.
Next, "The Glossary of Architecture," by Parker,
of London, contains much valuable information, and
is second only to the Encyclopædia.
The most perfect work on Roman or Italian work
in detail is "The Decorative Part of Civil Architect-
ure," by Sir William Chambers; and the best edition
is that edited by Mr. Gwilt. It contains all relating
to the matter that can be desired.
For a general consideration of all styles, Fergus-
son's "History of the Architecture of all Nations" is
of remarkable interest; and, although the author's
prejudices are many and conspicuous, yet, for extent
of observation and illustration, the review has seldom
been equalled.
Grecian architecture has its best exponent in the
work of Stewart and Revett, originally published in
costly folios, but since produced in cheaper forms.
It is about needless to remark that works on
modern architecture abound, and are within the reach
of all. This work is now committed to those in
whose interests and for whose instruction it was
prepared, trusting it will inspire the genius and de-
velop the talent of those into whose hands it may
fall.
CLAFLIN UNIVERSITY,
ROBERT CHARLES BATES.
ORANGEBURG, S.C., 1892.
CONTENTS
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF ARCHITECTURE,
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN AND ORNAMENTATION, .
PAGE
11
23
34
45
55
•
STYLES AND ORDERS OF ARCHITECTURE,
DEVELOPMENT OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE,
BUILDING MATERIALS,
Brick, Marble, Granite, and Freestone.
BUILDING MATERIALS,
66
Lime, Cement, Sand, Woods, Seasoning Wood,
Slate, Iron, Copper, Tin, and Gravel Composition.
FOUNDATIONS,
BUILDING CONSTRUCTION,
•
88888
80
89
MISCELLANEOUS,
100
HEATING AND FIRE-PROOF Work,
106
VENTILATION,
114
SUPERINTENDENCE,
123
STRENGTH OF TIMBER,
132
•
IRON RODS IN TRUSSES,
141
TABLES ON IRON WORK.
143
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF
ARCHITECTURE.
HERE are but few facts more manifest than that
TH
the architecture of a people exhibits their nat-
ure, and defines the historical place they occupy
in civilization.
Before proceeding, it will be well to consider the
term "architecture." In a few words it means the
art of properly designing, and the science of well con-
structing buildings. The range is from the hut of a
barbarian to the palace of a person of the highest civ-
ilization. The inhabitants of England, at the time
of the Christian era, dwelt in very rudely constructed
buildings. They were simply mud hovels, and at
times were only caves in the side of a hill, and closed
at the front by a palisade or wall made of the trunks
of trees. The people being less than semi-civilized,
they exhibited this in their buildings, and as much so
as the subjects of Queen Victoria to-day illustrate their
culture and nature by the Parliament Building or St.
Paul's Cathedral.
If you examine the structures of Egypt, you find that
all are heavy, solid, and enduring. There was a broad
base to everything they built; and the columns of
their temples were the largest in diameter, in propor-
12
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT.
tion to their height, of any that a people have made.
The sides of their structures were pyramidal: all
were larger at the bottom than at the top. The Egyp-
tian mind was ponderous. It was slow to think and
act; and the people were not simply inclined, but de-
termined, to make everything permanent. They did
not hesitate to appropriate the entire side of a room
to perpetuate by rude pictures the remembrance of
some incident that we of the nineteenth century could
in five minutes tell the whole story of; and some men
could record all inside a circle as large as a ten-cent
piece. The Lord's Prayer has been well engraved in
less space.
They thought solidly, but always on a low plane,
and were contented with low temples. They never
thought high enough to build a cathedral with great
arches, or a steeple, high or low. In contrast with
these and I use the illustration of the later people
because it is striking — there is the light fantastical
thinking of the Turks, as manifested by their archi-
tecture at Constantinople.
Minarets and pinnacles abound, and they exhibit
the lack of weight or stability of the thought of that
people.
It has always been natural for human beings to
build themselves habitations and protection from sun
or cold or storm; and it has also been as natural, as
they have advanced and developed, to improve these
both as regards convenience and durability. And it
was but one step more, and a kindred one, to make
them more comely in design, and to beautify them, till
at the end of centuries we find the columns and
carved work and the ornamentation of a high grade,
and positive green and red and blue and yellow col-
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT.
13
ors, as well as an abundance of gilding used as deco-
ration.
The Greeks, who followed the Egyptians, were a
more refined people. Their thought was more æsthetic
and delicate, and as a result came the graceful build-
ings and the elegant sculpture and wonderful statuary
which to-day astonish the world.
Their architecture illustrated the advance, and they
produced the Doric temple called the Parthenon, and
the Ionic one called the Erectheum, and many struct-
ures, large or small, of Corinthian architecture,
among them the famed little choragic monument of
Lysicrates. The capitals of its columns are a marvel
of beauty, and for a thing of the kind but seldom
equalled and never excelled.
Their architecture was as far in advance of that of
the Egyptians as theirs was from that of the most
uncultivated people who had lived.
There is a thing I will speak of here in particular.
Egypt has been called — and not without propriety ·
"the cradle of art and science." In a sense it was,
but it was a cradle only; and, architecturally speak-
ing, only an infant was rocked in it. For, strange to
say, they did not know enough to make arches to span
openings. There is an example or two which suggest
the thing, but these are of doubtful origin; and, even
if they were constructed by Egyptians and from un-
derstood principles, they were never copied by others
of that people, nor could they have been appreciated
nor much of any known.
Large stone lintels were used to cover openings in
some instances, and in others they were covered by
stones projecting over each other as they rose towards
the centre in a series of inverted steps; and yet,
14
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT.
1
again, it is strange to contemplate that the Greeks
who followed them in that higher civilization seem to
have been quite as ignorant. They, too, did not use
the arch. All openings were straight at the top, and
spanned by one large stone or lintel. They, however,
made great advances in other directions, and invented
what are called the three first orders of architecture,
the Doric, the Ionic, and the Corinthian. Of these I
shail treat at another time. With these and a more
delicate and improved kind of decoration made of
mouldings and carvings they were content. Every-
thing they did was refined, and the elements of grace
and elegance inhere in all. In a word, they were
what, in the absence of a better word, we call
"classic": they were, however, speaking architectu-
rally, considerably barbaric.
They worshipped in low temples, and did not as-
pire nor think much higher than did the Egyptians.
They were a materialistic people, and material things
satisfied. Great in their opinion was Diana; and
they thought the best thing they could do would be
to build her a splendid temple. They built it, and
for a thing of the kind a splendid thing it was; but
it had no tower nor steeple, nor anything loftier than
the ridge of the roof, and they continuously thought
no higher than the roof-ridge over her.
We next consider the Romans who followed. They
had a good knowledge of what the Egyptians and
Greeks had done; and, taking these, they thought out
and on, just as the Greeks had before them. Egypt
and Greece were to the Romans great architectural
museums, and as much so as they are to us who live
the two thousand years later. They approved of some
of the things and condemned others, as we do.
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT.
15
They knew all about the Greek temples, and appre-
ciated them; but, not content to rest there, they
thought on and up, away from all that had preceded
them. They invented the arch, and used it freely, not
only for especially useful purposes, but for ornamental
ones as well. They made circular-headed windows
and doors; and they composed two new orders, the
Tuscan and the Composite. They made pedestals
to columns, and constructed balustrades.
The re-
sult was a radical and thorough revolution in the
designs of buildings; and then towers and even an
approach to spires were in order. They changed the
forms of mouldings from conic sections to those that
were parts of circles. This idea is one of the distin-
guishing features of Roman architecture.
So.
All Greek mouldings were sections of a cone; but
Roman ones, save with rare exceptions, were never
The Romans were an advanced people, but not
enough so to get away from mythology. As the
Greeks, before them, they had "lords many and gods
many."
It was reserved for Christianity to work the yet
greater change; and it is surprising to see how soon,
after people left the worship of fabled gods, their
thoughts aspired, and how readily they looked and
thought upward! Soon things which before satisfied
no longer pleased. The highest things that had been
built were too low; and the roof of a tower a com-
mon hipped roof, one sloping at a small inclination
from the four sides must be elevated; next, even
that must be made higher; and there we have the
early elements of a steeple. That was amended, and
additions and decorations were made, and finally
other embellishments were demanded; and next came
16
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT.
་
tall spires, and these and turrets kept the towers com-
pany.
No low-ceilinged temple could longer satisfy a
people advanced like that. They must finish up in-
side as high as the inclined roof would permit; and
then they decided that the round arches of the
Romans and Normans were too low, and nothing
short of the lofty Gothic or pointed ones would sat-
isfy. And so to-day, in sublime grandeur, they are
high and majestic in great cathedrals the civilized
world over.
It would be a pleasant work to pass in review all of
these elements and transitions, and show how the
Norman work grew out of the Saxon, and the Early
English out of the Norman; how also two more
stages of so-called Gothic grew out of the former, for
there were three quite distinctly marked stages.
First, beginning next after the Norman, about the
year 1150, there came the Early English, then the
Geometrical or Decorated, and finally, about the year
1400, and from then on to 1550, what is known as the
Perpendicular, which was the culmination of all.
The people had advanced, and their architecture had
advanced with them; and not only was this true of
ecclesiastical architecture, but it was so of civil and
domestic. The people then made more convenient
homes and more elegant palaces. They embellished
them without and within, using the best decorations
obtainable; and yet later, progressed and progress-
ing, in the hands of the then modern Italians, archi-
tecture took new forms, and there came piazzas
and balconies and arcades, and even an approach to
modern bay windows. In a word, the people were
wise enough to take and use the best things, wherever
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT.
17
found or by whomsoever invented; but I have to add
that Gothic architecture, with its solemn grandeur, was
never a success for civil or domestic buildings. It
is and ever has been at its best when used as church
work, and it is a miserable failure anywhere else.
Even at the grand Houses of Parliament at London
it is saved only by using the general forms and out-
lines of Italian work, and abandoning, to a large
degree, pointed arches, or at least those of much ele-
vation, for the more important parts of the work.
None but English people, who so highly prize the
Gothic of cathedrals, would in the middle of the nine-
teenth century have ventured to use it as they did for
their most important civil building. It is, however,
a wonder, and one of the most magnificent structures
conceived by the brain and wrought by the hands of
man.
We are thus led by easy steps to consider the fit-
ness of a design to the purpose for which the building
is erected.
A parish church would never be mistaken for a
castle, nor St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster
Abbey for hotels; nor would the magnificent Charing
Cross nor the Grand Savoy hotels be mistaken for
the Newgate and the Milbank prisons at London.
There is said to be "an everlasting fitness to
things," and nowhere is this truer than in the domain
of architecture. There are many modern structures
that cost much and pass for correct things, but are
only architectural monstrosities and abominations;
for they never tell what they are.
It has been named that the ponderous mind of the
Egyptians made a solid architecture. Durability and
fixedness are prominent features, and so, when these
18
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT.
elements are to be expressed to give especial charac-
ter to an edifice, Egyptian thought subserves a good
purpose; that is to say, while it need not be servilely
followed, its suggestions may be utilized and adopted.
It hints of what we should do.
In the façades of the high and elegant Ames Build-
ing at Boston may be seen how the architects wisely
adopted Egyptian thought when they designed the
stylobate, or base story, of the building. They were
to build very high, and an element or air of insecurity
would be generated; and, to neutralize this, they
made that first story sloping, or battering, and, al-
though there is but a foot, perhaps, of inclination in a
height of ten feet, yet the effect is perfect, and the
element of strength is evolved and partaken of by the
entire pile. Next, an equally good judgment was ex-
ercised when the large and strong arches were used in
the second and third stories above this, and so the
consistency continues; for, as the building progresses
in its great altitude, lighter work was used, and
finally all ends with a decoration about the eaves
casting grand and picturesque shades and shadows
on the elegant parts below.
A time has never before been when such buildings
as this, and the recent elegant ones of New York and
Chicago and Philadelphia, could have been designed.
There were no architects a half-century ago with the
peculiar taste and varied architectural knowledge that
would enable them to produce such edifices.
Great credit is often given to the architects of the old
cathedrals, and great credit is due; but we must re-
member that no single architect designed all the work
in any one of them. We see the handiwork of many,
and in the repairs that have been made they have
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT.
19
•
always followed the style prevailing at the time; but
the race has advanced. People to-day, by aid of the
press and the photograph, have all the examples of
the past as studies, and fine things to copy and re-
arrange; and great facilities for development every-
where exist.
At times, however, when people praise unduly the
old architects, they do it at the expense of those of
our own time; and unwise things are said and done.
Doubts are expressed whether or not such work can
be done now as was done when the great cathedrals
were built. It can be. The Roman Catholic Cathe-
dral of St. Patrick at New York is quite equal, so far
as its architecture is concerned, to any on earth.
While not so large as some, it is as good. Had it
been the desire of the bishop, and had he the means
at command, doubtless the same architect could have
made one as large and as elegant and of as correct
architecture as that at Cologne. The New York
building is a better one as a whole than that at Ant-
werp or Strasbourg, two of the noted ones of the
world, and of which travellers enthusiastically speak.
The new City Building at Philadelphia is the peer
of anything of the kind in the world. There is to be
built in New York a new Episcopal Cathedral, and, if
what the design promises or anticipates is well pro-
duced, it will be the equal of St. Patrick's Cathedral,
and, in irregularity of outline and a consistent har-
mony throughout will, in some particulars, tran-
scend it.
What is true of American artists is of course as
true of others the world over.
The facilities for reproducing drawings and circu-
lating them are great, and the exchange of thought is
20
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT.
practically unhindered and limitless. Architects are
now enabled to know what others are doing and have
done, and this tends to a variety and yet a unity of
design and a degree of perfection never possible
before.
In the earlier days each nation had its architect-
ural peculiarities, and they have them now; but the
difference to-day is that then they were fixed, now
they are flexible and subject to amendment, and
change is sure to follow change. All people, like the
English and French and the Germans, have had as
distinctly marked traits and peculiarities as the
Chinese or the Arabians have had, while not so prom-
inently marked. Yet the nationality of each kind
of mind has been indelibly stamped.
The old Gothic architecture in the hands of the
English was solid, with large buttresses, heavy window
tracery, and a general look of stability. In the hands
of the French and Germans, whose mind and tem-
perament were more elastic and æsthetic, a lightness
of moulding and tracery prevailed, and there was a
general delicacy of finish not common in the English.
The old French Gothic architects were satisfied
with a nice rose window at the cathedral's west end,
such as may be seen at the Paris cathedral of Notre
Dame. The Englishmen would have nothing of the
kind, but, instead, the comparatively colossal, high,
and wide pointed one, as appears in York Minster
and in nearly all their cathedrals. These are called
"the great west windows." It is interesting to the
stranger visiting an English cathedral to witness with
what enthusiasm the verger that is, the sexton -
speaks of one, if he has occasion to speak at all; and
times are not infrequent where an occasion to speak
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT.
21
is wanting to create one. It is but justice, however,
to say that more uniformity exists in the modern
work of all than has ever existed before.
I have thus been particular to try to show, in as
few words as I could, the great underlying principles
which have been at work and aiding in the develop-
ment of architectural ideas. Details could not be
given, for brevity of time precludes that; but you
must read and study examples, and you will find that
better architectural ideas develop as the intellect and
cultivation of the people do, and that it has ever
shown and shows in its various stages just what the
peoples have most appreciated and do appreciate.
The light angular, the almost fantastic designs of
the Chinese and the Japanese; the ponderous work of
the Egyptians; the finished, graceful, artistic produc-
tions of the Greeks; or the gorgeous displays of the
Arabians; or, yet again, the solemn majestic work of
the Christians as displayed in cathedrals,—often it is
true in their earlier stages barbaric and strangely
grotesque, and so on to our own times of commercial
life and activity, wherein a mosaic of all that is best
in the past is being made, and is in the ascendant,
marking this nineteenth century one of transition,— it
is really the prophecy of greater glories, and we are
but in the vestibule of a marvellous one to come. Be
you workers then, and as much as possible intelligent
ones in the great scheme. Try to be wise enough,
and intelligent, and architecturally learned enough to
do well your part; for a part you have, and as much
and truly as had Michael Angelo at St. Peter's at
Rome, or Sir Christopher Wren at St. Paul's at
London, or even William of Wykeham when he trans-
formed the great Norman nave of the cathedral at
22
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT.
Winchester into one of the most remarkable ones for
elegance of proportion and symmetrical finish of any of
the great English cathedrals.
You are in great company if you are an architect.
See that you do it honor. Your lot in life may be
humble; but, if you do good things, you will be as
much entitled to honor as have been the greatest
men of earth, who in their sphere did only their best,
and, because they were studious and conscientious
and in earnest, are to-day remembered and named as
examples worthy of imitation and whom it is not
simply wise, but best to follow.
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
AND
ORNAMENTATION.
THE
HE recognition of beauty, and to a certain ex-
tent an appreciation of it, are inherent in all
people; and therefore it was natural that
human beings should early make their buildings
more or less ornamental. The savage extracts the
juices of plants or he takes ochres from the earth,
to embellish his wigwam, his baskets, or his face.
Feathers about his head, or beads around his neck,
or decorations made of the teeth of animals, or fish,
or the claws of birds on his dress, are evidences of
this innate love of the beautiful. Not always nor
perhaps often refined or in what we call good taste,
but we must not lose sight of the fact that we judge
by our standards, and not his. Savages would be
healthy, and live as long with no such decorations;
but with them an æsthetic craving and desire are sat-
isfied, and they live more at ease and are happier.
This is equally true of people of high civilization.
It is not indispensable to our existence that we have
jewelry, or clothes of varied color, or paper or fresco-
ing on the walls of our rooms. We could exist with-
out statuary or paintings, but we are better for them.
24
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN.
Now this æsthetic element has manifested itself in
architectural productions as it has nowhere else.
The more refined the people, the more refined has
been their architecture, as I showed you in the preced-
ing lecture; and, to recapitulate and illustrate this, we
go back to a thought uttered before. Take the
venturing and fantastic brain of the Japanese, or that
of the Chinese, and how it runs riot in strange archi-
tectural decorations! Every house or temple they
build is peculiar. Nothing is very solid or massive,
but airy, and is gorgeous with positive colors as addi-
tional ornamentation. But, as soon as you talk of
Egypt, how quick all lightness has retired, as go the
unsubstantial mists of the morning! In Egypt we
have the massive columns and large stones resting on
them; but we have also a percentage of æsthetic ele-
ment, for there are carvings, and, when the archi-
tecture is at its best, there is ornamentation of every
brilliant color, and golden work intermingles, and is
often profuse.
The Greeks with their refinement made elegant
columned temples. Gracefulness and an exquisite
nicety marked every line and form of moulding and
bit of sculpture. To a certain degree, their archi-
tecture evinced the solidity of Egyptian thought, as
well as the nicer element engendered by their own
landscapes and sky and air, and so in that we have
the advanced beauty; and next in turn the Roman
intuitively put his bold conceptions and venturesome
aspirations into his work, and in that we have the
domical ceiling of the Pantheon, and all the great
company of arches, and many a thing else never
dreamed of by the Greeks.
There have been rises and declines in all peoples, as
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN.
25
there may be in the life of a family or an individual.
So there have come times of cessation of advance, and,
later, of decline. These came to Egypt and Greece
and Rome. But no good thing ever dies. The old
earth had resting on her bosom the great works of
these master-minds. She has them now. All you've
got to do is to go to Egypt or Greece or Rome, and
you'll find them waiting for you,—in decay, yet in a
condition good enough to inspire you as well as
millions who have looked upon them; and for cen-
turies afterward people will thus look, and be inspired,
and make attempts to do likewise.
The people of Saxony, and those of Normandy, and
of Lombardy, went to see them many centuries ago.
They carried home sketches and drawings, and told
their people what they had seen and what others had
done a thousand years before. They reported these
things as lecturers on travel tell of things now. The
hearers were interested to enthusiasm, and said, “We
will have some ourselves."
Each people made their own, and stamped their
temperament and mind upon it.
The Saxons made their work heavy and with com-
paratively few openings. They were somewhat
Egyptian in element, and in that single respect they
made Egyptianish things. The Arabians made what
we call the Arabesque, and so the Moors made a kind
of architecture peculiar in the extreme. Both of these
people were lighter-hearted than the Saxons. They
were more frivolous, and engendered a more fantastic
line of thought. A grand sunset, with brilliant
colors of vermilion and purple and gold, best suited
them. Probably the staid old Saxons liked heavy
clouds, and perhaps thunder-storms and tempests.
26
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN.
They certainly seemed to be more at home amid
sombre conditions, but minarets and spires and
singularly formed horse-shoe arches characterized the
strong architecture of the Turks.
None of these last-named people would have been
contented with Gothic cathedrals, but they have their
place and mission in history. They helped keep in
existence a taste for the gorgeous, and for the beauti-
ful as well.
The Saxon work was seen by the Normans, and,
being of a somewhat lighter turn of mind, they
lightened up their work and decorated it.
Both of these people, however, held fast the idea of
the Roman arch; but they despised anything and
everything like rules, and perhaps almost felt ill at
ease when they had to comply with one to strike a
circle. They were restive under such restraints as
the Orders and systems of the Greeks and Romans
imposed, and would have none of them. They were
an aggressive people, and must have their own way.
They were the ones, you know, who went over and in-
vaded England, and in turn each of them was its
governor, and as they thought owned the island and
were monarchs of all they surveyed. They did much
towards changing architecture the civilized world
over. Venturing thought produced the Saxon archi-
tecture and the Norman; and these, especially the
latter, were father and mother of the Gothic.
In Germany it took a form slightly peculiar, and so
it did in France generally, and in England it was the
same; but in each of these places the work was going
on at once.
People saw what others were doing; and, as each
had the Norman work as a study, their productions
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN.
27
were exceedingly alike. It is only by a close scrutiny
and nice criticism that Gothic architecture in the
hands of the Germans, or the French, or the English,
can be classified.
There was one style, however, that is unique and pe-
culiar to the French: it is what is called the Flam-
boyant. It means where the tracery of the windows
that is, the top divisions is curved and flowing in
outlines, so as to fairly well suggest flames.
Next, the English also were as much the author of
another style as unique and peculiar. It is what is
called the Perpendicular. That is, the filling of the
window work is anything but curved and flowing, or
flamish; but it is straight or perpendicular. I think
we ought to decide that Gothic architecture had now
arrived at its height of perfection; for there was not
after that simply a stand-still, but a decline.
The Italians never took kindly to Gothic archi-
tecture, nor, in fact, any people as did the Germans,
French, and English, and those allied to them. Others
have attempted to follow, but their efforts have been
failures. All architecture since has been revivals of
the old. Sometimes the Roman modernized has
come to the front, and been popular in Paris, Berlin,
Venice, London, and, in fact, in all the capitals of
Europe. Then came
a revival of Grecian work.
Stewart and Revett copied the lines and dimensions
of Greek buildings, and in 1762 published them; and
there came a new lease of the old Greek classic work
in London and Paris and America. In all our older
large cities, buildings public and private were built
with Greek columns and entablatures, and about as
good as any the Grecians ever saw. That at length
declined, and soon after the beginning of this century
•
28
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN.
people had better facilities for travel and exchange of
thought. Civilization was advancing. People inter-
mingled more and exchanged thought, by letter and
newspaper and books. And next there came a revival
of Gothic, which has been at times much better than
considerable of the old, though all details have been
copied from it,- that is to say, the new compositions
were, as a whole, better than the old. Trinity Church
at New York and St. Patrick's cathedral are better
than almost any examples complete of old work.
It is quite common to see good Gothic work now,
and so the Arabesque has been dealt with and utilized.
In New York are elegant Jewish synagogues built in
this style. The Alhambra, that magnificent palace
in Granada, only excels some of these interiors in
gorgeous displays of elegant design and extravagant
ornamentation of all the positive and brilliant colors
of paint and gold.
With the freedom born in this nineteenth century,
when railroads and steamboats and wonderful pro-
ductions of the press abound, what strides are made
and what variety of architectural design comes !
But, after all, it is only old work. There is not
much of anything new in the way of ornamentation.
There are thousands of new combinations and group-
ings of windows and doors, and balconies and roofs,
high and low. There is the Egyptian solidity, and
Grecian symmetry and gracefulness; Arabesque or
Moorish decorations and Mosaics; there is every ele-
ment that has been used before, and thus things once
strangely aristocratic get into very democratic neigh-
borhoods and companionships.
There is little or nothing in our time in the way of
• architecture that may be considered permanent save
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN.
29
a lack of permanency. There is a fashion in all. What
suits the taste of one person or time or community
does not suit that of another, and so we have variety
in abundance in one street or neighborhood; and this
is well. It is best to have variety. We could not en-
dure well the staidness of Egyptian work if it pre-
vailed, nor even the elegant classic Greek. The
Roman with its larger variety is the same, and so is
the Moorish. We cannot thrive on meat, nor bread,
nor confectionery alone. Each has its place.
The correct design is the one adapted to, and that
shows its purpose or reason for existence,— not
Chinese work for a bank, nor Gothic for a manu-
factory.
There is in architecture "a fitness of things"; and
as evidence of the truth, or perhaps I should say the
naturalness of it, we have the fact that in all the
transformations named the best architects have kept
the various styles in their own legitimate place. No
one worthy the name of architect has been inclined
or induced to put Gothic windows and doors in a
building designed in all other parts as a Greek tem-
ple. They do not put Saxon nor Norman intersect-
ing arches and their great mouldings and peculiarly
designed capitals in among Egyptian work. There is
always a recognition of propriety in these things, and
that is one of the important things a young architect
has to learn.
He is to become so well informed as regards the
styles that peoples have invented and used that he
will give each its place, and not rashly intermingle
them, any more than he would promiscuously use
capital letters or italic ones when he writes, or if he
were setting type for a book. A hoop skirt on a man
30
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN.
outside of his trousers would be no more incongruous
and reprehensible than a Gothic door or window would
be if put in among Grecian or Roman columns and
entablatures.
There is, however, a qualified propriety in the use of
each outside the lines of original surroundings; but
care must be used, just as intelligent women do when
they wear men's hats instead of bonnets. Some
venturesome architects, only strong-minded because
they are weak-minded, go outside the legitimate lines
of architecture; and then they are looked upon by in-
telligent architects as cranks, and that is what they are.
This subject is a large one; and as many lectures
relating to it could be given as you in this college year
have on all subjects, and then you would have only
the alphabet.
You must read carefully, and study Mr. Ferguson's
excellent works on the history of architecture. They
cover all the ground, and practically exhaust it. As
regards special ornamentation in architecture, it is in
infinite variety. Every style or system has its own
peculiar decorations. Often, as one has grown out of
another and is allied to it, you will find not only re-
semblances to each other, but actual copies of ideas
and transference from one to another.
Ornamentation here differs as a landscape painting
and a marine one, or as apples from oranges. Each
is fruit, but varies in kind. So the peculiar scroll
work and foliaged compositions of the Greeks, and
the eccentric, irregular, yet often unique geometric
work of the Japanese or the Arabian, the finished or
the grotesque Gothic, all have their identity and char-
acter, not to be encroached upon nor lightly dealt
with; but remember you this, architecture depends
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN.
31
for its ornamentation on the people who made and
used it, and is refined or grotesque, as the designer was.
To study architecture is to study history from an
æsthetic point of view. If you desire to design a
grotesque building, you must consult a people who
made grotesqueness a business, and to whom it comes
natural. No people have excelled the Chinese in
making comical and strange, unnatural wooden
images, and so may be said houses and temples.
They are a people of angular temperament, and ex-
ceedingly well can they make angular things. Their
architectural ornamentation is full of angles. They
seem to dislike circles or parts of them, and about all
the curves we find in their buildings are natural
bends in the wood or a sweep at the eaves of roofs.
If you want a thing refined, nice, full of grace and
an elegant symmetry, go to the Greeks. Their tem-
ples as buildings are graceful in the extreme. Every
detail has a like consistent finish. So perfect in their
estimation was all that no turret, steeple, or minaret
was needed to complete the work, but would, if pres-
ent, attract attention, and thus injure the building of
which it would be a part.
But, as before repeatedly stated, and I consciously
repeat it to impress the fact more indelibly,— as soon
as we leave the Grecians, and go among the Moors
or the Arabians, how as by magic the scenes change!
We then have great gorgeous pyrotechnic display,
dazzling, with nothing for the eye to rest upon; not
even the building itself; for that, as a whole, affords
no rest, but a continual labor of examination. One
is inclined as he thus observes to let the eye wander
about and rest nowhere. There is no repose. How
opposite to this unrest is the effect produced by the
32
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN.
:
solemn, stately Gothic! There is in a great cathedral
an inclination, and the invitation is always accepted,
to muse and be in a reverie.
A great edifice of the kind by its solemn grandeur
allures, and induces thoughtful moods. There is a
deal of worship-inspiring element in one and, so we
repeat again, in all the revivals of the styles spoken
of. They each and all tell of the reachings out of hu-
manity after best things; and, when those pursued
are overtaken and used, there again comes restless-
ness, and a query whether the older ones were not
all in all better, and from their repose they are called
back to do new service and live a new life. This rev-
olution is really a fashion; and it applies to buildings
and customs as much as it does to dress, with which
alone to the superficial observer what we call fashion
has only to do.
You see how impossible it would be to go on, and
in a limited course of lectures tell you the whole of
this large story. The most promised is to try to
instil into your minds the elementary principles in-
volved, and so start you well in the work of a fuller
investigation. The intelligent architect is he who
is conversant with the works of the past, and takes
such as best suits his purpose, forming new groupings,
compositions, and designs, as he makes up a letter
or a book by use of the twenty-six letters of the
alphabet.
There are but ten figures involved in arithmetical
calculations. The mathematician never considers
himself poverty stricken because he has no more, nor
does the scholar because he has but twenty-six letters.
The whole depends on the use that is made of them,
how the figures or the letters are arranged relative to
each other.
}
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN.
33
The architect can hardly expect to add much that
is new in the way of primary elements or details.
He has enough to do, and more, if he but confines
himself to what he has, and by new combinations,
made up of careful selections, maintains an honored
place in the architectural domain. There is a realm
large enough for him "to build castles in the air," to
give a considerably loose rein to the imagination, and
at the same time push on and help develop what is
possible in the way of new designs in architecture.
When no more books can be written with the letters
of the alphabet, and no more calculations made with
the ten figures, then he may suspect that the time has
come when no new architectural designs can be made,
but till then he may go on arranging and rearrang-
ing, designing and constructing. And he need not
fear exhaustion, nor an uninviting nearness of the
end; for, really, design and ornamentation in the ar-
chitectural domain are practically limitless, and so
will it continue, for the nineteenth century, of which
we so worthily boast, is but an early and developing
one in this as in all the companion arts.
*
THE STYLES AND ORDERS OF
ARCHITECTURE.
WE
E are now prepared to take a step more, and
go somewhat into detail concerning what we
have considered only in the aggregate.
a
The words "Style " and " Order," when used as ar-
chitectural terms, comprehend a great deal; and, so
far as the element we call "Design" is concerned, they
underlie the entire ground. The word "Style ” repre-
sents the genus architecture, and the word "Order
species of it. There are, however, many meanings to
the word. The definition of it, when applied to a
composition or system, is this: "The manner of its
make-up." And it applies to a method of writing,
speaking, singing, painting, or designing. We speak
of the style of Demosthenes or Daniel Webster or
John C. Calhoun as orators; of that of Addison or
Carlyle as writers; that of Titian or Rubens as
painters; and so of that of Bramante and Sir Christo-
pher Wren as architects. In the same manner we
speak of the architectural style of the Egyptians,
Grecians, Romans, of the Saxons and Normans, of
the Chinese, the Moors, or the people of India.
The special or particular system of design and
THE STYLES ANd orders.
35
decoration used by any people, and which is unique,
having an identity and character of its own, we call
the architectural style of that people; and so, in
speaking of any building, we say it is Norman or
Lombardic, Grecian or Roman, as the case may be.
All the people named, and many others, have had styles
emphatically their own, pure and comparatively un-
mixed; but it has been natural also that people who
went from country to country, and were interested in
things of the kind, were more or less influenced by
what they had seen. We find traces of the ar-
chitecture of one people introduced and incorporated
into that of another, and in given instances large ap-
propriations have been made. As a result, there has
been a blending together, so much so that it is
only an educated architectural eye that discovers where
one style begins and another ends; which is parent
and which is child. This fact is notably true of the
Chinese, Japanese, and to a marked degree in the
Norman and the earlier stages of the Gothic, or Pointed,
architecture, as it better suits Mr. Rickman to call it.
The Roman and the Greek are to a certain degree
thus allied. All this work of design, then, either
pure or mixed, is designated by that accommodating
word " Style"; and it applies as well as it does
to the cut of a coat or the make-up of an entire suit
of clothes, being, if you please, the Chinese method, or
the French fashion of garments, or, as before named, a
style of writing. It may be the elephantine, ponder-
ous one of Johnson, the uniquely rugged one of Car-
lyle, the clear-cut, assertive one of Macaulay, or the
flimsy gossipness of Samuel Pepys, as exhibited in
the composition of his diary.
We have had of late years something in the line of
36
THE STYLES AND ORDERS.
domestic architecture which has been dignified by
the name Queen Anne. Most of it is a nondescript
composition, or perhaps it should be said an archi-
tectural mélange such as the queen never saw, nor
any one in her day ever thought of. The word
"Style," as applied to designs in architecture, is a
very elastic one, and covers much ground.
The style of any building, then, is the general com-
position and finish, and the peculiar characteristic
ornamentation; and, as it is allied most to that
of any people who have had an architecture of its
own, it may be called by their name and said to be
their style.
I said early that the word "Order” means a spe-
cies of architecture. It is an assemblage of the mem-
bers of an architectural composition where a peculiar
and certain kind or variety of columns and horizontal
work resting on them, called an entablature, are used;
and, as a system like this was invented by the Greeks,
we call it classical architecture. The Romans bor-
rowed the idea from them; and the principle was in-
troduced and amended, and, as all was in the same
direction, it still retains the name classic.
You will remember that such things as pediments
that is, the gable ends of roofs enclosed in trian-
gular form by cornices, and the finish about doors
and windows-partook of the same nature and de-
sign, so far as mouldings were concerned, as agreed
with those of the order itself with which they were
associated.
In speaking of mouldings, I have to say that those
employed by the Greeks were sections of a cone, and
those of the Romans were parts of a circle. If you
take a cone,— that is, an article, say, of wood, round
}
THE STYLES AND ORDERS.
37
in its plan and tapering to a point,- let the diameter
be of any proportion relative to its height, and cut off
a piece at right angles with the base, we call the shape
of the cut presented to view an hyperbola, or the
whole a hyperbolic curve. If you cut it parallel to
the side, it is a parabolic curve; and one-half of the
outlines of either of these was used as a shape for the
mouldings of the Greeks. Two curves put together in
a reversed order make what is called a Cyma Recta,
or O. G. The shape of all such mouldings, therefore,
depended upon the height of the cone compared to
its diameter; and the variety is limitless.
The Greeks were scrupulously exact to use these
curves only, and the Romans were about as exact to
not use them; and one of the distinguishing features
of the architecture of each of these people is the one
named.
In passing, I call attention to a thing stated in an-
other place; and it is that the Romans invented the
arch, or it is certain they brought it into use, and by
its employment greatly changed the entire system of
construction and, in a sense, the composition of de-
signs.
But, to return to the theme of Orders, we find that
the Greeks were their inventors. Their refined intel-
lect and delicate sense of beauty and proportions of
parts found no rest in the ponderous architecture of
the Egyptians. They must have lighter work and
more horizontal lines with finer decorations. Their
sense of propriety was offended by the massive walls
and unadorned ones. They had a dislike to flat roofs,
which were in effect no roofs at all. And, in addition,
their climate demanded those which were higher, and
doubtless they gladly accepted the issue and neces-
x
38
THE STYLES AND ORDERS.
sity, and made them of more elevation; and thus ped-
iments became places for imposing ornamentation.
They made columns slenderer than the Egyptians
had made theirs; and they gave them more graceful
proportions, and decoration in the form of flutes.
The work over them which we call the entablature
that is, all that part from the top of the columns up
to the eaves of the building- they made of partic-
ular divisions, and embellished them. On these were
many horizontal lines of moulding, and an air of re-
pose or of delicate finish prevailed.
These systems or Orders were three in number, called
respectively the Doric, the Ionic, and the Corinthian.
These were made up of varieties of proportion; but
each example was consistent with itself throughout,
and all others of the same order were substantially
alike in their general character. The columns of the
first order were without bases, and were fluted with
twenty sinkages or flutes, with the incurvings ellip-
tical, and no fillets or plain surfaces between.
The great distinguishing feature of the order was
what are called triglyphs on the frieze of the entab-
lature; that is, vertical parts or members projecting
a little from the surface, and indented with two V-
shaped channels.
It should be named that all entablatures of the
orders, Grecian or Roman, are composed of three
parts. That resting on the columns and up to the
plain part is the Architrave; the next section and up
to the projecting mouldings is the Frieze; and all the
remainder, being the upper projections, is the Cor-
nice.
The most noted example of Grecian Doric is the
Parthenon at Athens. There are very fine examples
THE STYLES AND ORDERS.
39
at the custom-houses of New York and Boston, and
at the Patent Office in Washington. There are also
some very creditable specimens at our own Charles-
ton.
The second order is the Ionic. This differs from
the Doric in the absence of triglyphs, and often
there is in the bed moulding what are called
Dentils; that is, small, teeth-like blocks with spaces
between.
The columns were also provided with bases, and
the flutes have fillets or plain spaces between them.
The flutes are twenty-four in number and semi-circu-
lar in shape. The great or leading characteristic
mark, however, is what are called volutes; that is,
spiral members as conspicuous parts of the capitals of
the columns. These were at times quite plain and
simple, and at others more intricate and enriched by
additional spirals and members. The most noted
examples were the little Temple of Illisus and the
Erectheum.
The third is the Corinthian. This is the most
graceful and elegant of all, and is easily known by
the richly carved capitals of the columns and the
addition of what are called Modillions in the cornice,—
that is, projecting members at regular intervals of
half the diameter of the column,- and the leading
parts of the entablature were often highly wrought
and enriched.
There was a simple but very neat example of this
order at a little octagonal building in Athens, called
"The Tower of the Winds." In this example the
capital of the column consisted of a single row of
carved leaves a copy of the acanthus plant — at the
base of the capital, and another row of straight and
*
40
THE STYLES AND ORDERS.
lancet-like shape over them, surrounding the round,
inverted, bell-shaped capital, with its square abacus,
or top member.
The other noted example, and the most beautiful of
all, was at the choragic monument of Lysicrates; and
it is the acme of perfection for a thing of the kind.
There were many examples where the acanthus leaf
was copied and used in much profusion, but always
with that sense of delicacy for which the Greek mind
was celebrated.
We call all of this architecture the Greek style
when we speak of it as a whole; but, when we speak of
the divisions or species, we name the Doric, or Ionic,
or Corinthian, as the case may be.
There is a legend about the origin of the Corin-
thian capital that a description of this order would
hardly be complete without a consideration of. It is
that, a young woman having died, the nurse or some
friend carried some of her choice things out to her
grave, and accidentally the vase-shaped basket was
set on an acanthus plant just springing from the
ground. It grew up about it, and, on reaching the
tile that covered the basket, it curled and made a
volute. The story continues that Calimichus, a
sculptor, passing, saw it, was struck by its close
resemblance to the capital of a column, made a draw-
ing of it, and finally capitals were made re-
sembling it.
The story is fanciful, and doubtless contains little
or no truth, at least as origin of the Corinthian
capital; for the Greeks had seen many Egyptian ones
and some that were akin to this, and it required only
a gentle exercise of their refined and fertile imagina-
tion to substitute the acanthus for the lotus, and, by
THE STYLES AND ORDERS.
41
a very natural and easy transformation, the Greek
Corinthian came into existence.
The Romans, a more venturesome people, pleased
with the orders of the Grecians, adopted them,
amended the decoration, and added two orders: the
Tuscan, with a plain, solid element and an entire
absence of decoration, and the Composite, which
was simply a combination of the Ionic and the
Corinthian. They added a base to the Doric, and
also put fillets between the flutes of the columns,
making the former twenty-four in number and semi-
circular in form. They also at times made pedestals
to columns; and, possessing the arch, they made
circular-headed openings and arcade work, balus-
trades, etc., and so they added much to architecture,
adhering, however, with as great tenacity as the
Greeks had done to the Orders and all pertaining to
them. The proportions of columns to entablatures in
the Grecian Doric were quite varied. At times the
former were not more than four diameters high, and
they varied up to six or even more. In the other two
Grecian orders more uniformity prevailed, the Ionic
being about nine and the Corinthian ten diameters
high. The entablatures were quite variant, and
hardly two examples were alike as regards proportions.
In the best of them they were about one-fifth, or one-
quarter the height of the column supporting them.
The Romans being a more systematic people,
were content to work by rule. They generally made
the columns of the five orders respectively about
seven, eight, nine, and ten diameters high, the Com-
posite being like the Corinthian. In the use of this
work the later Italians often put one order over
another, always, however, the Tuscan under the
C
42
THE STYLES AND ORDERS.
Doric, and that under the Ionic, and that under the
Corinthian.
The masters, such as Vignola, Palladio, Scammozzi
and Alberti, were venturers, and made new composi-
tions, employing the orders; and later Bramante and
Michael Angelo and others, building St. Peter's at
Rome, Inigo Jones and Sir Christopher Wren and
James Gibbs in London, the Mansards, Perrault, and
their contemporaries in France, extended the work
and ventured yet more, and so others continued on the
same lines till came what is called the Renaissance,
good modern examples of which are seen in all the
principal cities of the Union, and perhaps as notable
as any is the post-office in Boston, the Army and
Navy building in Washington, and the great city
building at Philadelphia.
As we consider these styles and growths and in-
ventions, we incline to bow reverently before the
great men who have done the work. The famed
architecture of the Moors, and the solid yet strangely
elegant decorations of some of the architectural
triumphs at Salamanca, surprise us.
A splendid transformation that, which evolved the
graceful elegance of the Greek work from the Egyp-
tian, the magnificent Roman from that, and then we
are lost as we contemplate the gorgeous Arabesque,
the solemn Norman, the aspiring Gothic, and now the
grand consummation of all,- the time of reproduction
of each as by magic, at the command of the man of
wealth and taste. You live in a marvellous age.
Make much of your opportunities.
DEVELOPMENT AND NATURE OF
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.
N°
department of architecture is more difficult to
deal with in the space at command than the
one we are considering. The word "Gothic,"
as an architectural term, is a misnomer; for the Goths
had no hand in its invention, and, save as by their in-
vasions they opened doors for its dissemination, they
were not its advancers.
At a comparatively late day the name was applied
to it in England as one of reproach; for the leading
minds considered the architecture as barbaric, and
the outcome of a bad civilization, and strange to say,
in spite of the venerable English cathedrals, and
hundreds of wonderful specimens of like creative
genius, as manifested in fine examples the civilized
world over, Sirs Henry Wotton, John Evelyn, and
Christopher Wren spoke of it in derision, and con-
sidered it unworthy the attention of people of refine-
ment and taste.
By common consent, however, the word is now
generally considered to be a proper one; and there is
no valid reason why, in the absence of a better, it
should be discarded.
An attempt has been made to substitute the word
"Pointed," and also "Christian"; but the effort has
not been successful, and the old word, about which
44
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.
cluster high and unique associations, is yet in the
ascendant.
There would be a respectable degree of propriety in
using the word "Christian" if any substitution should
be made, for it is to Christians that the honor of
having created the style is due.
Im-
There was but little, if any, use of the arch outside
of Rome till after the first religious crusade.
mediately following that, in all countries where the
Christian religion was established and ecclesiastical
buildings were erected, the arch was freely used,
either in its original or amended form; and the prac-
tice extended till finally the lofty arches of cathedrals
and their towers and spires soared heavenward, or
at least in the direction where, in the people's opinion,
it was located.
The style, however, was only an evolved one, and
in process of constant development, so that there is
no particular time from which to date its nativity.
It was a growth of ideas, and the aggregate was as
much an invention as was Grecian architecture itself;
and while, practically speaking, it had its root in the
Roman, it was infinitely further removed from it
than the Roman was from the Grecian, and as much
or more than that was from the Egyptian.
It is as truly a new line of thought as any of the
styles, not excepting the Byzantine or the Arabesque.
It was the last great scheme the human mind has
conceived in the realm of architecture.
After all investigation, we must decide that it goes
back to old Rome for its initial element, and that the
round arch is its parent. As the latter became known
to the Arabians, it aided in developing what is known
as the Arabesque, and under Eastern influence it
assisted in producing the Byzantine.
GOTIIIC ARCHITECTURE.
45
In Saxony and Normandy it became, in its native
form, part and parcel of the architecture of these
places; and in each and every instance named the out-
come was a resultant of the habits and nature, and we
may say taste, of the respective people.
Gothic architecture proper, may, however, be traced
directly to the Norman treatment and influence as a
definite and unmistakable source or root; and from
it-in the hands of the French, the Germans, and
English came most of the remarkable developments
which culminated in the completely developed style.
The French work and the German were both of
them more or less influenced by both Byzantine and
Arabesque thought, and much more so than was the
English; for that adhered more closely to the Roman-
esque, and entertained a more solid and formal ele-
ment, though all even there was influenced by Oriental
thought. Cusps and foliations and window tracery
were inspired by element from the East.
It is an interesting fact that the work was in process
of géneration in each of the three countries, England,
France, and Germany, at the same time. It had a
less favored growth in Spain, and was weak and slow
of movement in Italy; and, when we quote an exam-
ple of Gothic architecture there, we cannot speak of
such a cathedral as Notre Dame at Paris, St. Stephen's
at Vienna, nor Westminster Abbey, nor King's Col-
lege chapel of England; and we do our best when we
name the Ducal Palace at Venice or some of the
many small buildings which are to be found in con-
siderable numbers throughout the country, but which,
generally speaking, were so influenced and controlled
by Italian thought and the inflexible rules of classic
architecture as to make them only fair specimens.
C
46
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.
They all show more or less the influence of Italian
formality and a dislike of doing anything architect-
urally not in accordance with established rules and
principles as handed down and long practised by
their own people. They were inclined to consider the
outside world as barbaric, and the architecture of
such a people partook of their lack of civilization;
and while they, at their earlier day, could not know of
the opinion of Wotton and Evelyn and Wren, they
would have indorsed the sentiment, and said "the
right thing had been done when the name Gothic was
given to the architecture, for the Goths well repre-
sented it."
It has been quite common for architectural writers
to assume that each people worked alone, on their
own lines, and by some unaccountable inspiration a
uniformity of action obtained; that they arrived at
like conclusions, and each of them produced the same
thing by having worked from a common root or
source. This, however, cannot be true. There was
more or less communication; and master minds in one
country knew what their contemporaries were doing,
and, in spite of themselves, each gave and received.
It could not be that traceries, and clustered col-
umns, and buttresses, and mullioned windows, and
clear-stories, and all their associates; unique outlines
of mouldings, crotchets, bosses, ribbed ceilings, and
groined ones,-things never thought of before,—could
be wrought out and associated as they were, making
buildings practically alike. These could not have
been produced by different, non-communicating per-
sons. No, the reverse is true; but each worked in
their own respective, peculiar way, and the educated
eye detects their peculiarities, but the grand whole
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.
47
is a unit. The cathedrals at Amiens, and Paris,
and Chartres, and those at Strasbourg, Antwerp,
Vienna, and Cologne, are kith and kin to those at
Salisbury, and York, and Lincoln, or even the little
Welsh one at Bangor, or St. Patrick's at Dublin.
Those, each and all, were great ventures. It was a
great thing for their architects to be not only willing
to be, but in spirit committed against the parent round
arch; and yet, in spite of all, the kinship was not
destroyed, for the Norman work at Durham and
Peterborough entertained the great Gothic cathedral
idea, and they also are as much Gothic in sentiment as
the most Perpendicular work is that ever graced Eng-
lish soil or Flamboyant that exhibits the Arabesque
influence on the French mind. The Norman element
planted on English soil made itself felt for a long
time. But it was never influential thus in controlling
the work in France and Germany. It had done
enough when it gave the pointed arch by its intersect-
ing ones, or at least re-enforced by them the idea of a
pointed arch, it may be, suggested by the domical work
so rare, but existent in Greece, and yet rarer, if
existing at all, in Egypt.
I said it was as truly a new line of thought as any
one of the styles, even the Grecian. As regards con-
struction, the work of the Gothic architects stands
high and excels all others. Sir William Chambers
says of them, "There is a lightness in their works,
an art and boldness in their execution, to which the
ancients never arrived, and which the moderns com-
prehend and imitate with difficulty."
Mr. Gwilt says,
"There is more constructive skill
shown in Salisbury and other of our cathedrals than
in all the works of the ancients put together.”
•
48
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.
Our time will not allow of a further pursuit of the
matter historically, although it would be a pleasant
service. We should have to give France the honor of
having developed work of the highest perfection com-
paratively early, and for setting an example to Ger-
many, who lingered in the race, and only, when at
Cologne they attempted to transcend the great cathe-
dral at Amiens, began their marked progress.
England, having much Norman work on her soil,
appreciated it; and with her the Gothic was of
slower development, and was only a systematic and
measured outgrowth.
English architects began by amending the Norman
work. About the year 1060 a transition was in
order; and the advanced and advancing thought,
acting between 1150 and 1180, gave preference to
the pointed arches made by the intersecting Norman
ones, and, transferring some of the Norman ornamen-
tation, they invented the simple Early English.
Continuing from that, they advanced in the line
of more mouldings about larger pointed arches,
and in making beautiful carved capitals for their
columns, and next came triplet windows, and vent-
ures in tracery for them; but all was geometric
and governed by rules. Next came higher towers
and spires over them, as at Salisbury, 404 feet high;
and, as a result, Norman work was lost sight of.
They were committed to the new architectural dispen-
sation, and from then to the year 1400, and still on,
finally culminating about the year 1546; and that was
the end of the race. Thus a period of 500 years was
employed, and it has been said by Mr. Britton, "The
development was so regular that it is not too much
to say that a well-informed architect or antiquary
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.
49
ought always to be able to give within ten or at least
twenty years the date of any however small portion of
mediæval architecture with almost absolute certainty
of being correct in judgment.”
Architecture afterwards in Germany, France, and
England, experienced stagnation, and then a decline.
So sincere and complacent were the English archi-
tects during the periods referred to, and they so well
appreciated their latest work, and so considered it a
finality, that, when they made repairs necessitating the
rebuilding of any part of much moment, as a door or
window or turret, it must be made in the style then
prevailing, no matter what the remaining parts were;
and so on many cathedrals we find all three of the
styles, including the Norman itself, and it ranges all
the way from the remarkable nave at Winchester,
as amended by Wykeham, back to the great and sub-
lime Norman work at Durham.
As before named, we trace all to Rome; and first
came debasement, and departure from original work,
and it is now known as the Romanesque. The de-
partures continued, till all that was governed by rule
was lost sight of; and, wherever the Roman Empire
extended, the same principles were planted and es-
tablished.
The Roman occupation of the north of France,
however, was most influential in laying the founda-
tions of the new style. They carried there the
round arch and columns, and vaulting of ceilings;
and the conversion of the natives to Christianity gave
them new aspirations and enthusiasm for the erection
of temples or places for religious purposes, and in
their construction they exercised their newest and
best thought. From the year 1000 to 1300 in France
C
50
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.
and up to 1550 in England were periods of invention
and new creation in architecture. Strange and mar-
vellous ones they were, and fraught with a power and
influence as great as any of the periods when the
three great preceding styles, the Egyptian, Grecian,
and Roman, were generating.
Nothing worthy of mention has been done since, or
in the intervening 340 years, save at times to revive
one of the four, permit them to have a temporary use
and transient popularity, and then retire and give
place to one of the others. To-day there are new
combinations and uses of the conceptions of the past,
but no successful results where attempts are made
for the creation of anything architecturally
under the sun." Only as fruit is improved by experi-
ments and labors of the pomologist has architecture
changed and as, in the first instance, after the change
it is fruit still, so in the second it is still architecture,
and simply a modified condition of the old.
66 new
Nothing actually new has in the 340 years been
created. The combinations of material, and the rela-
tive proportions and arrangement of parts, are all that
is new enough to entitle it to honorable mention.
The realm of Gothic architecture is a very large
one, and covers more ground than any of the styles
that preceded; for they were circumscribed by rules
and fixed principles, and the entire story was soon
told. They are a thing which, when once mastered
by the student, he will know all concerning them he
will wish or need to know; but the reverse is true of
the remarkable product of those who thought and in-
vented and labored during those eventful 500 years.
There was an ever constant searching for new and
best things. It involved venture, a free exercise of
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.
51
imagination, and an unfettered mind; and, to aid all,
there was time enough at disposal, for no nineteenth-
century civilization hurried them on.
There was
also sufficient control of the property of the devotees,
and enough command of their skill and genius, to
produce what never could have come where there was
less aspiration, expectation, authority, and desire.
Millions of new thoughts were born, and designs
and details conceived by monks in their cells, bishops
in their palaces, and pious ones, as they meditatively
paced the cloisters.
The great system was established once for all.
That work done, the world was ripe for a reformation
in religion itself. That came, and, alas for human
weakness! neglect of cathedral and elegant buildings
obtained, continuing to almost our own time, when,
awakened from their slumbers, the English bishops,
startled at the decline, arose in their might, and re-
pairs and restorations have been made, and a spirit
generated which, it is not too much to believe, can
never decline or die. Resting, as it does, on an en-
lightened, intelligent Christian basis, the spirit will
continue; and new structures, outglorying the old
ones, will come and do honor to the later generations,
and so indirectly to the early men as well, who made
the new work possible.
I note in closing a few points of interest that are
involved in, or at least suggested by, the older work;
and they relate to the great features of ecclesiastical
architecture. I use the word understandingly and
for a purpose; for in the humble and unpretending
parish churches of England and in her cathedrals, as
well as in the grander ones of Europe, best Gothic
work was done. In some few buildings, as the Town
1
52
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.
Hall at Brussels, and the castles at Kenilworth, and
the Houses of Parliament at Westminster, and in
thousands of small buildings for domestic purposes,
good work was done; for what was designed origin-
ally for church work has been copied and appropriated
for use in these, but never with the most happy influ-
ence or success. It has been only where the "storied
windows richly dight" have "cast a dim religious
light," or where the moon has through some "east oriel
shone through slender shafts of shapely stone," that
best inspirations are begotten and the work of severely
contemplative brains and cunning hands is to advan-
tage seen.
First, as regards the aggregate conception of a
Gothic cathedral. As the architecture had its root in
Rome and its dependencies, it relied upon and was
indebted to that for the idea of nave and aisles and
clear-story, and almost for the choir itself. The
Roman basilicas had all of these, and with arches
resting on the columns at that.
The campanile, with its low roof, suggested the
Norman tower, with a high one; and it was but one
step more to elevate or extend that, and finally crown
all with a tapering octagonal section. And here we
have not only the genesis of the "Broach Spire," but
the spire itself. The venturing thought of Bishop
Poore's architect, doubtless approved by the monar-
chical bishop, who had decided in 1218 to remove his
see from Old Sarum to Salisbury, gave us the fine
cathedral, with its spire 404 feet high, to keep com-
pany with those at Vienna and Strasbourg, and Ant-
werp so far away. The cathedral towers of Notre
Dame at Paris, and that at Rouen and Fribourg and
those at Brussels, in all their glory, are only incom-
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.
53
plete things. Cologne now is as complete as Chartres;
and the only six in England with spires, Salisbury,
Lichfield, Norwich, Chichester, Oxford, and the two
western tower-one at Peterborough, keep each other
company.
The lapse of centuries toned down especial aspira-
tion for great things of the kind, and the unthinking
world considers the venerable old towers a complete
work; but the new sentiment is simply a monument
commemorating departed desire and expectation.
The architects of the cathedrals at Worcester and
Hereford and Wells, and those of Ulm and Boulogne
and Brussels, all expected a completion of their work
by and by; and that completion would be a lofty and
majestic spire.
In early remarks it was said, the architecture of a peo-
ple exhibits their nature. Never can the peculiarities
of nationality be more apparent than in a few facts I
will here name. The elastic-minded, aspiring French-
man was satisfied only with a great height and width
to his cathedral. He cared comparatively little for
length. The roof ridge at Amiens is so high that the
turret of the lofty cupola, rising from the nave and
transept intersection, is as high as the spire at Salis-
bury, the highest in England.
The great width and height of a French cathedral
fill the beholder with reverent emotion, and create
in him a feeling of subordination and insignificance.
With the Frenchman what he did or produced was the
all in all. With the Englishman it was the man him-
self who was greater than the temple he had builded.
The low vaulting and narrow naves of an English
cathedral lacked charm to the Frenchman; but the
greater length of the English ones inspired the be-
*
54
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.
holder with the sensation of vastness, and awakened
an inspiration and adoration of the greatness.
The solid, matter-of-fact Anglo-Saxon element
sought repose and rest, not passionate activity of
mind. Their ideal was meditation, and a quiet, wor-
shipping mood as environment.
And, again, the Englishman was satisfied with a
square east-end work; but the Frenchman must have
the apsidal,— that is, one of more or less inclined sec-
tions. He was delighted with the picturesque effect
of the radiating chapels, as at Amiens; but I am ad-
monished of the fact that we cannot enumerate and
illustrate here what constitutes the details of Gothic
architecture. We must as quietly leave as we cau-
tiously entered the field. To know of the grand work
of groined vaulting and wonderful fan-traceried ceil-
ings, as at Henry VII.'s Chapel at Westminster, St.
George's at Windsor, and King's College chapel at
Cambridge; the flying buttresses that resisted the ceil-
ing and roof thrusts; the elaborate window traceries,
and clustered columns with their elegantly sculptured
capitals; corbels, crotchets, turrets, and triforiums,
or galleries,— to know of these and their companions,
you must study and read for yourselves. And the
great works of all commended to you are, first, "The
Glossary of Architecture," by Parker, of London, and
next Rickman's "Gothic Architecture," and last, but
by no means least, the works of Pugin, as illustrative.
As "there is no royal road to science," so there is
none to a knowledge of architecture. I can do for
you only what is promised in the title-page,-give the
rudimentary elements.
Guide-boards at the side of roads show you the
way: you must do the travelling yourself.
BUILDING MATERIALS.
BRICK, MARBLE, GRANITE, AND FREESTONE.
HA
AVING discussed the question of architecture
as our purpose demands, we next consider the
kinds and nature of the principal materials
used in building construction. Information concern-
ing these is of the first importance, for no architect
or builder can proceed intelligently without a good
knowledge of building materials.
Only incidental reference to their use will be made,
as that will be considered under the subject of con-
struction. Neither need we devote time to a discussion
of the process by which the materials were produced.
Books treating of botany, mineralogy, and geology,
and of the manufacture of bricks and terra-cotta, iron-
work, etc., must be your instructors. Make it your
aim to know much of what it is possible to know in
regard to the materials you use. With such knowl-
edge, you will have influence, and be recognized as an
especially intelligent person in the domain in which
you labor. There is a premium on a well-developed
brain. The public discovers it early; and, wherever
it exists, it is appreciated. "Knowledge is power";
and he is weak who has it not, and he passes at a dis-
count through life.
56
BUILDING MATERIALS.
Treatises concerning materials are to be readily
had. You can in these lectures obtain only the
salient points; but they are the great, underlying sub-
stratum of a practical building education.
The leading materials used in building construction
are brick, wood, stone, slate, marble, iron, and terra-
cotta; and lime, cement, and sand are worked into
mortar.
BRICK.
This is, of all the solid materials, of most impor-
tance, for the ease with which it can be provided,
and the simplicity with which it can be used, their
dimensions accommodating bricks to all situations ;
and, finally, their durability gives them easily the
first place. Well-burned bricks, made of proper ma-
terials, are practically indestructible, whether in the
open air, in damp places, or buried in the earth for
centuries, or as long submerged in water. Those
made by the Romans are as sound as when new,
though thousands of years old.
The bricks in common use are made of clay mixed
with sand. They vary in color, that being determined
by the materials composing them. The degree of
redness in the principal variety is in accordance with
the relative quantity of oxide of iron in the clay, and
also as they are burned hard or otherwise. Those in
the kiln nearest the fire are generally crooked and ill-
shaped, and are known as Bench Bricks.
Those next outside are called Hard Bricks. They
are the most valuable of the lot, and are used for
best work. Next outside of these are the Light Hards.
They are quite strong, and ring when struck, but are
BUILDING MATERIALS.
57
less solid than the preceding, and, being more porous
and of a less desirable color, are not used for good
outside work, or at least they ought not to be.
The next courses outward, and in fact all the out-
side ones, are called Soft or Pale Bricks, varying in
strength and departure from the natural color as they
were distant from the fire.
They are quite weak, but are valuable, or perhaps
best for common chimney shafts, where they are pro-
tected from the weather. Being poor conductors of
heat, they remain comparatively cool, and so do not as
much endanger the building by fire. There is yet an-
other kind known as Paving Bricks. These are made
of especial proportions of sand and clay, are burned
very hard, and are used for paving. They are of a
dark gray color, approaching black; and being to a
certain extent vitrified, that is glazed, approaching
glass, they are as indestructible as that material.
Next there are those for nice exterior work, and
sometimes for the inside, such as fire-places, etc.
These are of very perfect form and uniform tone of
color, and are call Pressed or Face Bricks. Nearly
the entire city of Philadelphia has buildings faced
with them.
Next there is a kind known as Moulded Bricks.
They are of various forms and sizes, and are used for
the ornamental parts of buildings. They are allied to
Terra-cotta, which we are to consider later. Both
moulded bricks and terra-cotta were made by the
ancients; and even in the early days of American
cities the moulded brick was often used, and fine
specimens in some of the old colonial buildings re-
main to this day. A decline, however, came, and they
went out of use; but a revival has come, and now they
are far from being uncommon.
כ.
58
BUILDING MATERIALS.
I name, in passing, that Christ Church in Philadel-
phia, a large and imposing edifice, erected in 1727 and
onward, has a large quantity and in great variety of
good moulded brick-work.
There is, how-
Fire Bricks are a variety made for the especial pur-
pose of lining furnaces, etc., and do not demand an
extended review. The bricks thus named are the
principal ones in use the country over.
ever, another kind, and in considerable variety, which
has lately come into use; and the prospect is these
bricks will be employed hereafter with much freedom,
for they are certainly a great acquisition in the build-
ing material domain. They are known by the gen-
eral name Fancy Bricks, taking, however, in given
cases an especial name, as given by the manufactu
or the place at which they are made.
They are in great variety of color and texture.
Some are cream-colored, some almost white, others
drab or gray, or mottled and variegated; and they are
of sizes and shapes varying greatly from or agreeing
with the old form and dimensions.
Next are the Glazed Bricks, having a procelain edge.
They are of great neatness and variety of color and
beauty, and are used for nice interior work of various
kinds.
TERRA-COTTA.
Next, and closely allied to brick, is Terra-cotta.
The name is made up of two Latin words, "Terra,"
meaning earth, and "Coctus," crooked; and so the
word Terra-cotta signifies ornamental or handsome
crooked work made of earth or clay, for terra-cotta
is simply baked clay, it having first been put into
BUILDING MATERIALS.
59
moulds, pressed, and next burned like earthen ware or
bricks. Sometimes in modern buildings, as well as
many ancient ones, all the decorative parts of the ex-
terior, such as cornices, beltings, and window and
door finish in all varieties of design and carving, are
made of it; and it should be added that in all large
buildings of consequence the designs and moulds are
made for the particular building. These are at times
very elaborate and rich in sculpture, with symbolical
emblems, bas-relief work, etc.
STONE.
Next we consider building stone; and here we enter
a wide field, and meet with much difficulty in the fact
that the kinds are so numerous, and there are so
many interesting facts connected with each, that it
would require an entire lecture to fully treat of even
a few of them in detail.
These
First we consider those used in foundations.
are such as are found as near as possible to the spot
where the building is to be erected, transportation
being an important item of expense. The material
may be cheap block Slate, or it may be Gneiss, a fine-
grained, indistinct kind of granite, or Mica Schist,
such as exists in great quantities at the upper part of
the city of New York.
It may be what is known as Pudding Stone or Con-
glomerate; that is, a natural stone composed of small
pebbles of varying size, cemented together in one
mass. Perhaps it will be Limestone, or even cheap
Marble, or Granite, as it generally is used in large
building foundations.
60
BUILDING MATERIALS.
This last word
GRANITE
is an indefinite one, for the stone exists in many
varieties; and, being one of the principal ones in use,
we pass in review and somewhat in detail its nature
and constituents.
It is composed of grains of other minerals, and so
gets its name granite or grain-ite. It is composed of
Quartz, Feldspar, and at times Mica. This last-named
is often found as a component part, although it is not
always present.
Quartz is the hard, glasslike, milk-and-water-col-
ored portion, the feldspar is the flesh-colored, and
the mica the one which glistens or sparkles. Large
pieces of the mineral last named may be split into
thin sheets, and is what is commonly known as Isin-
glass. It varies in color, and may be brown or black,
dark green, or clear, with no tint.
The general color of granite is determined by the
particular mineral that prevails in its composition.
Sometimes we find a large quantity of any of these
in lots by themselves, but in all best granite the
parts are uniformly mingled.
The hardness of the stone depends on the quantity
of quartz contained. The more quartz the harder,
and the more mica the softer it will be. Where they
are inordinately mingled, and make only a poor stone
for ornamental purposes, they are of use for founda-
tions.
There is another variety of granitic stone known as
Seyenite, or Seienite. It is composed of Quartz and,
perhaps, Mica, but is without Feldspar; and in its
stead is a mineral known as Hornblende.
BUILDING MATERIALS.
61
The Egyptian stone, of which the temples and
obelisks were made, was of this material; and it is
often a reddish stone, much like that found in parts of
Scotland, and notably at Aberdeen, and in this coun-
try known as Scotch granite. All the granitic stones.
are susceptible of a high polish; and they also have
what is termed a grain, making them susceptible of
being readily split, although this quality is not very
distinct, nor prominently visible to the casual ob-
server. As exterior wall stone for large buildings,
also for basement stories, steps, etc., it is a superior
stone.
All the varieties are greatly injured by fire. The
water it contains expands; and, in addition, the com-
posing minerals expand unequally, producing cleav-
ages and fractures. You would be surprised, were you
to experiment with it by weighing a piece, immersing
it in water for a time and re-weighing it. The extra
weight is that of the water absorbed.
At the North, in New England, where granite is
largely quarried and worked, if a block of the stone is
on a frosty morning left exposed to the sun, the ex-
pansion will cause water to drop from the ends, as
sap oozes from the end of wet wood when burning;
and, strange to say, the quartz, which is the hardest
of the component parts, is porous, and the principal
receptacle for the water.
The obelisk in the Place de la Concorde at Paris,
that on the embankment of the Thames at London,
also that at Central Park, New York, are of granite.
They are more than two thousand years old, and
known as the Cleopatra's needles. They were pre-
sented to the French, English, and Americans, and
were transported from Egypt.
2
62
BUILDING MATERIALS.
The art of quarrying as well as cutting and polish-
ing granite has arrived at great perfection. It can be
obtained in very large pieces. At Boston there are
column shafts of Grecian Doric architecture at the
Custom-house in good imitation of those at the Par-
thenon of Greece. Each is in one piece, and such is
known as a monolith. They are 5' 8" in diameter,
and about 35′ high. They were so heavy that thirty
yokes of oxen were employed to transport them on
very thick wooden wheels from Quincy, nine miles
away, where they had been quarried and finished for
use. A cubic foot of granite weighs from 160 to 166
pounds, varying in different kinds.
MARBLE.
The next material we consider is Marble. It exists
in much greater variety than granite, and is of all
colors, beginning with the pure white statuary of
Vermont or Italy, and passing on through the various
examples, clouded with darker veins, to the dove-
color, and on to deeper-tinted and to the dark
green or black or variegated of Italy; or it may pass
from white to cream-color and into the yellows of
Siena or Spain, or to the positive red or brown or
pink mottled of Pennsylvania.
There are thousands of varieties, and all are sus-
ceptible of high polish. I stop by the way long enough
to say that the little State of Vermont produces a
remarkable variety, and more than forty kinds are on
exhibition in the museum of the capitol at Mont-
pelier.
When used as interior finish or for any purpose of
BUILDING MATERIALS.
63
the kind, it is polished, but for pavements or the exte-
rior of buildings it is simply rubbed smooth with
wet sand. In the latter case it is cut into slabs four
or five inches thick, called Ashlering, and so used as a
facing to really brick walls, the marble being confined
to the brick-work by brass wire clamps " diameter,
only enough of the ashlering being clamped to give
permanency to the entire assemblage. The next in
order is
FREESTONE,
and this also exists in great variety of texture and
colors, all the latter, however, being subdued; and
the stone is not polishable like the marbles. Com-
pared with granite, it is easily or freely worked, and
thereby takes its name, freestone. The more cor-
rect name is Sandstone; for it is, generally speak-
ing, made of decomposed or disintegrated older
stones, and is, for the most part, sedimentary for-
mations or deposits of sand in water. For a history
of these, as other stones, you must study works on
geology and mineralogy.
The freestones are found in great quantity, and can
readily be wrought into any forms of moulding or
sculpture, like the marbles. It would be impossible
to enumerate even the principal kinds or varieties in
common use, and I will simply name that for a long
time about all in use in America were the brown or
red sandstones of Connecticut and New Jersey. But
the past quarter of a century has witnessed the de-
velopment of fine quarries of cream-colored and drab
stones in Ohio, and the varying grades of drab, olive,
and gray in Nova Scotia. And from these quarries
C
64
BUILDING MATERIALS.
the stone is used more or less the country over. At
Longmeadow, Mass., is a stone of solid grain and
pleasing red tint, which is very durable and popular.
It is quite common in buildings of much impor-
tance, where considerable carving is to be done, to
build the rough stones into their place in the wall
and afterwards carve them.
When used as ashlering, or a facing for walls, they
are in slabs six or eight inches thick, and confined
more or less to the brick backing by brass clamps, as
in the case of marble.
As the freestones are of sedimentary formation, and
deposited at intervals in thin layers, or laminæ, as they
are called, care should be used to lay them in the wall
as they were originally in their native bed; that is,
so that the edges, and not the sides, of a stone be ex-
posed to the action of the weather. Where care is
thus exercised, all the varieties are reasonably durable;
but, where they are laid with a side exposed, they are
liable to scale off and be destroyed early.
The side of any kind of stone selected to rest on
the earth or another is called the bed of the stone,
and top is the build. To lewis a stone is to cut a
mortice larger on its ends, at the bottom, and insert a
peculiarly formed set of irons, made in three parts;
and, in hoisting, the irons fill the hole in a wedging
form, and, while very simple in construction, they
render a very great service. The method was in-
vented by a Frenchman by the name of Louis, hence
the name of the implement.
There is yet one more stone in use for exterior wall-
work that should receive attention, for it is a very
valuable material; and that is limestone. In given
localities, notably at Montreal and some other parts
BUILDING MATERIALS.
65
of Canada, it is in common use. It can readily be
cut and wrought into any form of moulding or carv-
ing that the sandstones can be worked into, and serves
as good a purpose. It is of a whitish-gray color, when
cut or hammered, but is of a dark lead-color in its
natural state.
It is hardly necessary to name that all kinds of
stone are at times built into walls in irregular forms,
or in courses, or in squared stones of varying sizes;
but, as this matter comes under the head of con-
struction, we leave it for consideration there.
BUILDING MATERIALS.
LIME, CEMENT, SAND, WOODS, SEASONING Wood,
SLATE, IRON, COPPER, TIN, GRAVEL COMPOSI-
TION.
WⓇ
E next consider the ingredients used in lay-
ing brick or mortar-laid stone walls, and
first is
LIME.
The material is met with almost everywhere, either
native or carried to the place. Samples do not vary
much; but lime is of two kinds,- that made from
lime-stone and that made from oyster-shells. The
last-named is a strong and valuable variety, though
costlier than the other.
As lime readily absorbs moisture from even the
atmosphere, it must not be long exposed to the air
or any dampness, else it becomes air-slaked, and is
then only a powder, without strength or cementing
properties.
If the casks containing it are exposed to wet, the
lime slakes, bursts the casks, and at times so much
heat is generated as to set fire to the vessel carrying
or the building containing it.
BUILDING MATERIALS.
67
CEMENT.
The next article is cement, and there are two kinds
in common use. These are, first, a hydraulic one
from England called Portland Cement. It is of a
yellowish or olive hue, and, when newly mixed, ruus
freely and exhibits no cementing property; but it
finally sets to an inconceivable hardness, and as well
under water as in the air, and this element gives it a
peculiar value. It is a common practice, where espe-
cially strong work is desired, to mix it with the other
cement; and it gives additional cementing property
to the original.
All cements are the resultant of a burnt stone, as
lime is of limestone. The companion and much com-
moner cement is what is commonly known as Rosen-
dale. It is made in several places in this country, but
at present mainly in New Jersey and Ohio. Exam-
ples do not vary much in nature of quality. While it
is not the equal of Portland to set hard in very wet
places, it renders a good service, when mixed with it,
to aid in producing a quicker hardening or set; and,
for all uses except the cases named, it answers a good
purpose, as it sets very quickly and dries as hard as
most stones, with the exception of granite.
All cements are increased in value by the addition
of a certain proportion of clean sand. The mixture
is a stronger mortar, but the quantity of sand to be
added to a given kind of cement can be determined
only by experiment.
What is usually called Cement-mortar is common
lime-mortar with cement added. While the term
"mortar" may well enough be applied to a mixture of
cement and sand, yet the general usage does not so
68
BUILDING MATERIALS.
recognize it. And, if it is said that bricks were laid
in cement-mortar, it is understood that more or less
lime was an ingredient; and bricks are also said to
have been laid in cement, even if sand was mixed
with it, and comprised a part of the mixture.
SAND.
In selecting sand to make mortar or plaster, care
should be exercised to employ only such as is free
from dirt, and especially clay, for lime has no affinity
for it; and, if the sand has had clayish water run in
among it, only a weaker mortar can be made. The
particles or grains of sand would in such a case be
simply coated over by a thin film of clay, which,
being between, prevents an adhesion of the lime and
sand. Sand from the shore of a pond or fresh water
river is more likely to be clean than that from a bank
or hill, although that which is perfectly clean is often
found in such places. It is well, where any doubt
exists, to test the matter by putting some into a glass
of water. That which colors the water least is best.
Another point to be attended to is to be sure the sand
is not too fine-grained. It is only a fair-sized, sharp-
gritted sand that will make strong mortar or plaster.
WOODS.
Wood as a building material, so far as common use
is concerned, takes precedence over all others; and
there are but few of the common kinds not employed
BUILDING MATERIALS.
69
in building construction.
Each locality, however,
employs the variety most readily obtained. Almost
everywhere in the Southern States the heavy pines
are used for all work save the interior finish of costly
buildings; and in like manner the common woods of
the North and West, such as Spruce, Hemlock, White
Pine, etc., are used for the common parts as well as
the finish of most buildings.
Little need be said in relation to our Carolina
pine, for on that point you are fully informed. I will,
however, say that it is used at the North, almost to
the exclusion of other woods, for the framework of
heavy floors, also for the top floors of stores, halls,
and other places subjected to great wear and usage.
If kept dry, it is very durable; but, when laid on the
ground or exposed to continued alternations of wet
and dry conditions, there is no wood less durable.
Spruce. This is very common North, West, and
East, and is largely used for the frames of wooden
buildings, also for outside boarding and for the top
floors of common rooms. White pine having become
scarce and costly, spruce is coming into general use
for clapboards and finishing purposes; and its use is
about as general there as our Carolina pine is here.
While speaking of boarding and clapboarding, it is well
to say that, for the colder climates of the North and
West, buildings are constructed differently from ours.
The framing in each we call the same; but, instead
of a finished siding directly on the frame, all is
boarded over close, and on especially good buildings
the boarding is either matched or covered with stout,
rosined paper, and then covered with clapboards six
inches wide, and either four or six feet long, about
ŏ
70
BUILDING MATERIALS.
one-half inch thick at their lower and one-eighth at
the upper edge. They are laid so as to expose from
three and a half to four and a half inches to the
weather, the courses being usually governed by the
height of windows, and spaces between those of one
story and that above it.
Spruce is liable to be of a twisted grain, and its
boards and timber are therefore subject to winding or
warping, so that care should be exercised in the selec-
tion of only straight-grained sticks for framing lum-
ber.
Hemlock. This, so far as the market value is con-
cerned, is the cheapest of the building woods in lum-
ber markets North or West. For frames of common
buildings it is very good, and for boarding under
clapboards or shingies is the best in use; for it is
very durable, and holds nails with such tenacity that
it is a work of much difficulty to draw out a cut one
without breaking.
The wood is seldom used for outside finish; for,
while it has little tendency to twist like spruce, it has
an inclination to cleavage of the grain, and especially
is this true of the heart-wood. But once, however, in
its place, as a part of the building, it will retain origi-
nal conditions, and for all purposes for which it is
used is a very valuable wood.
White Pine. This wood comes next in order; and,
while not used for framing timber, for outside finish
it is the most valuable of all woods, being soft and
very easily worked. It is extremely durable, and, if
kept painted, will last for centuries. Having become
somewhat scarce, it is carried to the East and even the
BUILDING MATERIALS.
71
Middle States from great distances, the northern
parts of Canada and the Western States furnishing
the principal supply. It has increased in value more
than double inside of the last half-century.
White Cedar comes into free use, where it can be
readily obtained, for posts and shingles; and it is a
remarkably good wood for these purposes. More
shingles are made from it than from any other kind of
wood, though of late cypress is being largely used for
the same purpose, as well as for eaves-troughs, and
general outside finish. Great quantities are carried
North from Florida, and supplies demands that could
not otherwise be readily filled.
Red Cedar is used for clothes-chests, and finish.
ing closets for the protection of clothes from moths,
as the butterfly which lays the moth-producing eggs
entertains much dislike to the odor of the wood.
This variety of cedar is very fragrant, and is the kind
of wood usually employed in the manufacture of lead-
pencils. It is a remarkably durable wood, even in
damp places, and, when used as posts in the ground,
will last a century; and, after having been thus used,
the heart-wood will retain its odor as strong and
pungent as when first cut and used.
White Wood. This is another material which is
fast coming into use as a finish lumber. It is really
the wood of the tulip tree, and somewhat allied to
the linden or what is commonly known as Bass-wood.
It is really a variety of poplar. It works easily, and
readily takes stain so as to well imitate cherry, ma-
hogany, or black walnut, showing to fine advantage
*
72
BUILDING MATERIALS.
the grain of these woods. Being a wood of but lit-
tle comparative strength, it is not used as a framing
lumber.
There next come as interior finishing woods a series
which it is only necessary to name; and they are Oak,
Ash, Black Walnut, Mahogany, Chestnut, Cherry, Birch,
Maple, and a variety of those much less common, as
Ebony, Rosewood, Holly, etc.
Birch and maple, as well as oak and black walnut,
are used for nice floors; and at times two or more of
them are employed for inlaid work and parquetry.
In passing, I call attention to a single point; and it re-
lates to what is called Quartered Oak. When logs are
sawed into finishing lumber, they are usually sawed
through, using the entire width or diameter for the
board; but for quartered the wood is cut radiating
from the centre, and showing the grain of the wood
in a peculiar manner, exhibiting a great variety of
marking. It is this which gives it an increased
value for costly interior work.
SEASONING WOOD.
There is next a matter of interest to be treated be-
fore leaving the subject of woods; and it is the sea-
soning of lumber, that is,—the drying out of sap, or
water that may have been absorbed.
It is important that this be thoroughly done, to pre-
vent shrinkage after the work has been finished, as
well as to insure durability. There is in all trees,
when newly felled, more or less sap; and this contains
albuminous matter as a component part. If this ele-
BUILDING MATERIALS.
73
ment remains in the wood, it tends to
decay; and it
If the wood is
may take place in either of two ways.
exposed to dampness, the albumen dissolves, a fer-
mentation takes place, and a fungus growth begins,
which lives on the vital parts of the material, causing
it to rot, and proceed to entire destruction, or, if kept
in a very dry place, where there is not a circulation of
air, some kinds of wood will be liable to what is
called dry rot, and in another case or form to powder
post; that is, where the wood is resolved into a yellow
meal or powder, and often in such quantities as to
fall from the wood.
It is important to have as much of the albumen as
possible extracted.
This may to a good degree be done by simply dry-
ing the wood, provided it be done reasonably slow, as
quick drying closes the pores on the outside; and,
preventing the moisture from passing out, the albumen
is retained, and dries inside the wood.
To well season, the newly sawed lumber should be
placed in proper positions, and so apart that air can
pass freely about it. Care should be taken not to
place it in the rays of the hot sun with no protection,
lest the outside become closed as named, before the in-
side is dry. Better place it in the shade or cover it
with boards for protection.
Where the very best results would be obtained, it
is better to put the lumber into a pond or river, to
dissolve and soak out the sap, and afterwards dry the
lumber as named.
At navy yards and places where durable wood is
demanded, it is a common practice to confine the tim-
ber for weeks or even months under water; and often
this is done with the unworked logs, where in the
↓
74
BUILDING MATERIALS.
timber docks, as they are called, they remain for
years.
There is yet another practice made use of, and it is
to girdle trees before they are felled; that is, to cut
out the bark a foot wide and a short distance up from
the ground a year in advance. This method will in
a year or two kill the tree, and leave the wood practi-
cally devoid of sap. The latter passes up from the
roots through the pores of the wood, and returns
through the inner bark. In its downward passage it
meets the cut, and, flowing out, drains the tree.
When building timber is properly cared for and is
in right conditions, its durability is very great. I name
a few instances for illustration.
The piles of a bridge erected at the order of the
Roman Emperor Trajan, after having been in use
more than sixteen hundred years, were found to be
petrified four inches, while the remainder was in
original condition.
Under Old London Bridge, at the time it was de-
molished, elm piles were found in a good state of
preservation, although they had been there over seven
hundred years. Oak, elm, beech, and chestnut piles
were found in good condition under the old Savoy
Palace at London, after having been there six hun-
dred and fifty years. In taking down the walls of
Tunbridge Castle, Kent, Eng., a timber curb was
found in the middle of a thick stone wall which had
been thus enclosed over seven hundred years. The
roof of St. Paul's Basilica at Rome was built A.D.
816, and after a thousand years of service was still
sound; and the cypress doors were in use more than
six hundred years. They were free from decay, and
the wood retained its original odor.
BUILDING MATERIALS.
75
The dome at St. Mark's, Venice, has a framework
of oak yet good after a service of over nine hundred
years; and the roof of the Jacobin Convent at Paris
was executed more than five hundred years ago, and
is yet in good condition.
Many old white pine cornices and much colonial
door-work exist in our own country which are more
than a century and a half old; and St. Paul's steeple
at New York, erected nearly as long ago, finished
with pine, is yet in good condition, and bids fair to
complete a two century's existence.
There are next a series of materials that come up
for consideration, and first and prominent in the
group is
x
SLATE.
In some instances this is found in such composite
formation as not to admit of thin cleavages, but can
be quarried in block form, and, being very solid, is a
good material for either the walls or foundations of
buildings. It also may be sawed into slabs for side-
walks or interior paving, and many useful purposes;
and, as a building stone, it would more properly have
been considered in the preceding lecture, but it was
retained for consideration here as a roofing material,
for this is one of the great uses to which slate has for
centuries been used.
Formerly about all the roof slates used in America
were brought from Wales, and were known as Welsh
slates. Some are imported at present, but the traffic
is in great decline. As far as durability is concerned,
Welsh slates are perfect; but our own country has so
developed its resources that slate quarries have been
opened in many places, and the material exists in
76
BUILDING MATERIALS.
great profusion, variety, and value. American slates
are, in some cases, blue, like the Welsh ones, in others
a red or reddish-purple, a dull sea-green or black.
Some of the latter have a fine, satin-like surface, or
cleaveage, which shows quite sheen-like or glossy in
the sun. Slates are of value relatively, as they are
non-absorbents of water. The usual test is to weigh
them, immerse in water, and, after they have been
there for some hours, wipe them dry and reweigh
them. Those absorbing the least are best.
All slates that are fit for use should, when dry,
give out a distinct, clear, ringing sound when held
up by the corner and struck. Poor slates give a
dull, subdued sound; and a cracked one easily exhibits
such a defect.
IRON.
This material has within the last third of a century
come to be an important building material, and its
use is a great improvement over old methods of con-
struction.
Rolled iron beams are used to span openings where
once would have been used brick arches, starting at
the spring on what were termed skewbacks, and also
in places where stone lintels would have been used,
supported by piers or iron columns. They are also
much used as supports for segmental brick or terra-
cotta arches in floors for fire-proof construction.
At times cast iron is used for entire building fronts,
special patterns being made for the purpose. The
scheme of iron fronts has not become general; and
the practice, never having become popular, is now in
BUILDING MATERIALS.
77
decline. Sheet Iron, in corrugated forms, has been
used to a considerable extent; but its tendency to
destruction by corrosion prevents its general use.
Paint tends to its preservation; but, as it is not always
nor often possible to get at every part, these parts
gather moisture or it condenses upon them, which
soon produces an oxidation which is simply decay,
ending in entire destruction of the metal. Galvan-
ized Iron is another variety, and at one time it threat-
ened to largely supplant stone; but experience has
discerned defects allied to that last described, and
they prove to be a serious objection. Exposed to the
action of the atmosphere, it decays, and is only twice
as durable as the non-galvanized. Even to paint it
does not insure durability. Dampness accumulates
on inside surfaces, such as cornices, beltings, etc.
and a corrosion and decay begin which the outside
painting cannot prevent. Copper is coming into use
for such purposes as the iron has been used for, and
this is a perfect metal in all respects. Having be-
come comparatively cheap, the prospect is that it will
supplant iron; and in all cases, except where the
building is cheap and ordinary, the copper will
prevail.
TIN ROOFING.
Tin that is best for roofs is a kind called Roofing Tin,
and is lead-plated. Common tin is at times used,
and answers a good purpose; but that plated with lead
is preferred.
The tin of a roof should be painted on the under as
well as on the exposed side, and, if kept well painted,
1
78
BUILDING MATERIALS.
is one of our best materials for a roof. Unless tin is
painted on the underside, the dampness that gathers
on it condenses, forms drops which run down, and the
lower parts decay. The kind of atmosphere to which
tin is exposed largely governs the matter of dura-
bility. At Montreal and Quebec, places removed
from the influence of the salt atmosphere induced by
the ocean, it remains on roofs and steeples compara-
tively bright after an exposure of a third of a.cen-
tury; and these examples, shining in the rays of the
sun, early attract the attention of the visitor. The
contrary is the fact where near the ocean; for there
but a few weeks pass, when sheets are plated with tin,
before an actual rust is visible. But in even these
cases if well painted, it is durable and good for at
least half a century's service. Some of the tin on
the roof of the Huguenot church at Charleston has
rendered service for nearly, or quite, the period
named.
GRAVEL COMPOSITION ROOFING.
This kind of roofing is quite common on even
costly buildings in all large cities; and, when prop-
erly done, it is a cheap and desirable covering. It
requires a strongly timbered frame and matched
boards that incline three-quarters of an inch only to
the foot. A larger inclination tends to incline the
composition to move towards the eaves, and a less one
does not well turn the water. The boards are cov-
ered with stout or thick tarred paper, with at least
three thicknesses at the eaves, and continued in layers
parallel to them, and continued to the ridge, like
BUILDING MATERIALS.
79
courses of shingles, and only far enough apart to
admit of three thicknesses at the lap. This is the
cheapest kind, and is called a three-ply roof. Where
better work is done, the paper is put on so as to make
four-ply and better yet a five-ply. All is then con-
fined by strips of wood, extending from the ridge to
the eaves, and about two feet apart. The strips are
a quarter of an inch thick and one inch wide. The
whole is then covered with a thick coat of hot flowing
tar; and, as the tarring proceeds, a heavy coat of
clear, coarse gravel is put on. A gravel roof well
resists fire from without, and is, as a whole, a valuable
method of roofing.
We have thus passed in review at considerable
length, though in a very condensed form, the more
important articles that enter into the construction of
buildings. Some have been passed, such as lead and
zinc for flashings, paint, etc. These will, however,
receive the attention they need in the lectures on
building construction and its allied connections.
FOUNDATIONS.
O PART of a building is of more importance
than its foundations. If these are not well
N°
made, all will be insecure and a disgrace to
the persons who build them; for cracks in plastering
and brick-work will appear, joints open in wood-work,
floors settle, doors bind, and a general ill condition
prevail.
Do not be in so much haste to begin work above
that you neglect the more important part below.
A foundation is that part of a wooden building
below the sills, which are the lowest timber-work of
such a building, whether outside under the walls or
inside as main timbers of the floors.
Even posts or brick piers or simple stones for a
support of the sills and floor beams are as much foun-
dations as are the cellar stone walls.
In brick and stone buildings they are all of the stone
walls resting on the soil and extending up through to
the main walls themselves, which are above ground.
The exterior foundations may, and generally do, con-
sist of two parts. First, the stone wall from the cellar
floor up to near the surface of the ground about the
building. The finishing there is the grading, and the
surface of the finished ground around are the grade
FOUNDATIONS.
81
lines. Next, the work above these is another part of
the foundation, and usually called the underpinning.
This part may be of brick or stone. Where posts are
used under a wooden building, the space from the
sills down are at times boarded over or filled with
lattice or panel work. In that case, the underpinning
is of wood. Wooden posts are used only where the
work is temporary or the expense prevents more
durable construction.
Piers should be under all important parts, always
at corners and where cross timbers are framed into
others; and there should be as many intermediate
ones as are required to give permanency to the
structure. This, however, is a matter on which but
little instruction can be given, as buildings vary in
size and the uses to which they are put. They must
have their own particular and adequate support.
Observation will do much for you. Go where work
on good buildings is being done. Examine things of
the kind. Do not too much fear to ask questions con-
cerning it. Study the examples you meet. See what
other men do and have done. If the results of their
labors are good, follow them. If not, take warning
and do your work in a better way.
All posts must be plumb, and not lean in any
direction. Next, see to it that earth is rammed or
tamped hard around them; and, where the soil is soft
and yielding or the posts high out of ground, it will be
necessary to brace them with boards or planks well
spiked and placed diagonally. It is not well to pack
stones about a post. Better discard them, or, if you
use them, put them at the outside lines of the post
hole.
As regards the depth they should be put down,
1
C
82
FOUNDATIONS.
that is a matter of judgment, always remembering
that they must extend below the action of frost; for, if
it gets under them, they will be lifted, and conse-
quently all that rests on them will be raised and in-
jured. Much depends upon the nature of the soil.
In sand the tendency to heave is inconsiderable, in
gravel more, but more yet and greatest of all in clay.
These remarks apply in particular to what are called
TRENCH WALLS.
These are built of stone, in a trench around under
the outside walls of a building or part of one that
has no cellar nor basement. They are made of rough
stone, packed close, either dry or laid in mortar.
They must rest on a hard soil in the trench, into
which they will not sink.
Before building this or, in fact, any kind of wall,
after the excavations have been made, if any doubts
exist, the bed should be examined, so as to be sure it
is solid deeper down. This is done by taking a crow-
bar and sounding all, vigorously putting down the
bar. In important buildings borings are often made
to a great depth to ascertain the nature of the under-
soil. If the earth is found to be soft and yielding, it
must be excavated to a solid bearing. Where this can-
not well be done, other methods must be employed;
and these we will consider later.
Having decided that the bed is solid, the mason pro-
ceeds with his work. It may be simply a trench wall,
as named, or one faced on the cellar side. Large
stones are to be used as the bottom course, pro-
jecting well from the wall they support. If it is a
dry-laid wall, at a later day, the crevices must be
FOUNDATIONS.
83
}
filled out flush with the face line with small stones and
mortar. This work is called Pointing. The common
wall should be carried up nearly to the grade lines.
I would here re-impress a thought; and it is to keep
the rough wall six inches below the grade line, so that,
if the surrounding earth gets removed, the rough
stones will not be exposed, and, besides, it is often
desirable to have the soil deep enough to permit grass
to grow against the underpinning.
All bed stones of heavy walls should be laid or
bedded in cement mortar spread one inch thick over
the soil they rest upon. This takes care of their
rough surfaces, and prevents indentation and settle-
ment into the soil.
MORTAR WALLS.
A mortar wall is where mortar generally having
cement in it is used as the work progresses, and
small stones are driven in, making all solid and com-
pact. In brick and stone buildings this kind of
work should always be done; for it is never advisable
to build a brick or stone building on a dry-laid wall,
though at times this is done with some propriety in
ordinary buildings, where great care is used in laying
the dry wall, and the top part is laid in cement
mortar.
Q
MORTAR.
Mortar for these walls is made of sand and lime in
proper proportions; and, when reworked or tempered
for immediate use, cement is used in the proportion
84
FOUNDATIONS.
of one barrel to four barrels of lime used in making
the original mortar.
A very strong mortar may be made with one bar-
rel of cement and four of clean sand, without lime,
though the latter makes it easier to use, and is prefer-
able where extraordinary strength is not demanded.
In case of bridge piers or large abutments, the mor-
tar should be made of one barrel of cement and two
of sand. This is much stronger than it would be if
made entirely of cement.
CEMENT.
There is in general use two kinds of cement. One
is known as Rosendale, and the other as Portland.
The former is made in many places in the United
States, but principally in New Jersey and Ohio. The
Portland comes from England. It dries or hardens
very solid under water, and is used in places where
water is liable to remain or come before the cement
is thoroughly dry.
We have up to now considered only foundations
where the soil is solid enough to support them.
There are places where this is not so, and other means
must be resorted to. At times there will be particu-
lar spots where the soil is soft and spongy, but where
the adjoining is solid. In a case like that, where the
span is not large, it is the common practice to lay a
large stone across. Where it is larger, the better way
is to build a low segmental arch of stone or hard
brick laid in cement mortar.
We next consider foundations where the soil is
weak and yielding. This is the case in filled land
FOUNDATIONS.
85
where it was once low, as along the edge of a marsh
or river, and filled with alluvial deposit.
PILES.
Two methods are in such cases used. One is to
drive piles; that is, straight trunks of trees, from
seven to twelve inches at the larger diameter, and of
the proper length to reach a hard pan or unyielding
soil below.
They are driven by a pile-driving machine, and are
usually placed about two feet apart on centres for
ordinary buildings, and in larger numbers and closer
connection for heavier ones. They are sawed off at
a level where water will always stand around them.
Piles continued thus wet are practically indestruct-
ible. Some, taken up when the New London Bridge
was built, were sound, though they had been in use
over six hundred years. To cut off the piles, earth
is removed from about them, and, if need be, water
is pumped out of the trench. On the piles large block
stones are laid, and on these are built the foundation
walls.
CONCRETE.
The next method, and one practised where a pile-
driving machine cannot be had or introduced, is a sub-
foundation of concrete, and it is made as follows:
The earth is removed at least two feet wider than the
thickness of the wall that is to rest upon it, and two,
three, or more feet deep below the foundation, the
»
86
FOUNDATIONS.
depth being determined by the nature of the wall it
is to support.
Where the sides of the trench are soft, it is neces-
sary to temporarily plank and brace them, to prevent
caving.
When the trench has been excavated, and the
water, if there be any, has been removed, the place is
filled solid in layers, and well rammed down with
concrete, made with one barrel of cement, three bar-
rels of clean gravel, and four barrels of small stones,
the rougher, the better, machine-cracked ones being
preferred. Broken hard bricks are also of great value
for the purpose.
A foundation thus made is very
secure. Some of the best foundations for large build-
ings are made in this manner. Beneath the Custom-
house at New Orleans four thicknesses of timber
twelve inches square, crossing each other, were used.
But they did not well perform the service expected of
them, as they settled unequally.
Under piers there should in like manner, if required,
be either piles or concrete; but, where the soil is solid
and unyielding, a large flat stone answers all pur-
poses, and, where such stone cannot readily be had,
it is a good practice to build the base of hard bricks,
making it three or four courses out, and falling in as
a series of steps to the pier itself; but the base should
be of the very hardest bricks, and laid in strong
cement mortar. Care should be used to not build
too soon on a newly made foundation. Always give
time for the cement to set and dry hard.
Another matter of interest is to test cement before
much of it is used. Some appears good that will not
set, and is of no value.
The method of testing it is to mix it with about an
FOUNDATIONS.
87
equal quantity of clean sand, then add water to make
all of the consistency for use, and give it time to set.
Generally, a few hours will determine the matter. If
it remains soft, it is unfit for use, though it should be
remembered that Portland cement, which finally sets
the hardest, is much longer before it shows this
than is the Rosendale.
We next consider the matter of
CONCRETING OF CELLARS.
All good buildings which have cellars should have a
concrete floor. It prevents dampness and the intrusion
of rats, and also admits of being easily kept clean.
The earth floor is to be cleaned and evened off; and
should there be danger of leakage through the walls,
as in the case of wet soil and springy ground, the
concrete should incline from the centre, and the earth
be hollowed out as a gutter alongside the wall. Pro-
vision must be make in such case for a disposal of
the water by a drain out under the wall to a lower
place.
The floor thus prepared, a concrete should be made
of one part cement and four parts of clean, coarse
gravel. Mix them thoroughly in a common mortar-
bed, and add enough water to make the concrete work
easily. It is then to be spread two inches thick, and
continued thus till a strip two feet wide has been
laid along the wall. The whole is then to be smoothed
off with a common board float, another section is to
be put down in like manner, and so on till the whole
is complete. When the concrete is at a proper degree
of dryness, which can be determined only by frequent
examinations, it is to be smoothed off with the steel
.
88
FOUNDATIONS.
trowel, as is done with common plastering. A board
is used by the mason to kneel on, and removed back-
ward as he proceeds.
For cheap work one part more gravel may be used,
and for that where there will be hard usage one part
less should be employed.
Never put a thin coat of concrete over a first one,
for it is liable to scale off. The foregoing are the
leading points that need attention in general practice.
In the construction of works of more than ordinary
magnitude, the builder will, if he is wise, consult
such works as have been written on the subject as a
specialty. They are many, and a catalogue of them
can readily be obtained.
In closing this lecture, I recapitulate, and impress
upon you the necessity of looking well to the founda-
tions built under your supervision, whether they are
simple posts in the ground or blocks on it, or piers or
walls of any kind. Study, first of all, the soil under
them, and afterwards see that nothing but good work-
manship prevails. That done, you will have taken
important steps towards good construction of your
building.
BUILDING CONSTRUCTION.
Τ
THE
HERE is much more to the profession of archi-
tecture than making designs for buildings and
figures and detail drawings to enable workmen
to produce them.
Specifications are to be prepared, reciting what
kinds of materials are demanded, the quality of each,
how the work is to be done, and many things that can-
not well be shown by drawings.
Next, the work is to be superintended. The archi-
tect will have to explain his drawings and specifica-
tions, and insist that they be followed; and sometimes
it is his province to arbitrate between the contractor
and owner. The foregoing requires a knowledge of
what is desired by the owner and how to produce it,
both as regards labor and materials; and also the
workmen are to be managed, and, if possible, the
owner is to be satisfied. To well do this, a knowledge
of human nature is required. The architect must
somehow know what to say and how to say it, as
much and as truly what not to do or say; for there is
a time when a thing can be best said or done. The
architect must be a student, observing what men
more experienced than he is does. He must be
familiar with the books on architecture, not only as a
fine art, but as relates to construction; and they are
not a few. Everything involved has been well
な
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BUILDING CONSTRUCTION.
written about by some one, and the young architect
should make himself as familiar with these books as
the lawyer or physician does with his. You can be
taught here only the alphabet of the science. What
you will learn is simply like the four principal rules
of arithmetic. Those well understood, calculations
of any kind can be made.
Our subject is building construction. We are to
consider some of the salient points involved in the
work, and will let the discourse be a social, advisory
talk on the special things to do or to avoid doing.
DESIGNING.
In planning a house, you must use care that each
room is properly located, so that best views and other
desirable conditions are obtained for rooms most used.
Never put the parlor in that place. When such a
room is most in use, it is when company is present,
and less attention is given to things outside. Have
the pleasantest rooms for the living and dining ones,
and, in small houses, even the kitchen. Sometimes
your client will have preconceived opinions; and,
while you are not to discourteously assail them, if you
do your whole duty, you will remember that he has
employed you to tell him the best things in the
matter that you know, and to do what he cannot do
for himself. You will not have done your best till
you have called his attention to these points, and thus
made him take the responsibility, if he does not agree
with you; he cannot, later on, accuse you of hav-
ing heedlessly made a design which he, trusting too
implicitly in your silence, adopted.
BUILDING CONSTRUCTION.
91
GRADE LINES.
When you begin the construction of a building,—
that is, to stake out the cellar or basement,— consult
the "lay of the land," and decide whether the grades
are right or ought to be amended, so as to insure that
water will run off in all directions. If not, determine
where the highest lines ought to be, and work from
that, calling it the standard grade.
If you are to build on a street line, ascertain just
where that line is. In cities this is very important.
If there is a depression in the sidewalk or road, and
you think it will be raised at no distant day, then
assume the new grade, and work from that. When
you are not to build out, allow one inch rise to every
fifteen inches from the street up to the building.
Much more produces a walk unpleasantly steep, and,
while slippery in winter, if not paved, is liable to
wash in heavy rains in summer. The grade line thus
determined, keep the rough or foundation wall eight
inches below it; and let the underpinning begin there
or a mortar wall flush with the outside of it stand
upon it. This admits of soil being a sufficient depth
to permit grass to grow against it.
CELLAR.
Most buildings should have a cellar. It is a cheap
way of obtaining room for common purposes. The
floor should be concreted, as it prevents dampness
from arising, keeps out rats and other vermin, and is
easily kept clean.
92
BUILDING CONSTRUCTION.
In all buildings of importance the ceiling should be
lathed and plastered, as it makes the cellar lighter
and cleaner. There should be plenty of windows,
for a free circulation of light and air; and, where
it can be done, they should be under those of the
story above. The sashes should be hung with hinges
at the top, with hooks to hold them up when open.
We next consider the question of
CHIMNEYS.
Make no flue less than twelve inches square, where
much of any wood is to be used, as in an open fire-
place or a kitchen, else soot will reduce the space and
injure the draft. Do not plaster a flue, but fill the
joints flush with the bricks. If a coat of plaster or
mortar is put on, it is liable to curl off, and projecting,
as before named, interfere with the draft. Always
plaster the chimney shaft on its outside, up as high
as the roof boards, to make it secure from fire. In
cities, where there are building laws, this is de-
manded.
Avoid putting furring or any wood save the roof
boards against the chimney. There being but little
danger as high up as the roof boards, it is well to
permit them to come against it, to prevent swaying.
Always use hard bricks and well wet ones for the top
of a chimney, and have the mortar made a week in
advance, and for reasons that will be named when
brickwork is considered. It is well to add cement to
the mortar with which a chimney top is laid. No
great or fanciful projections should be made; for
BUILDING CONSTRUCTION.
93
such hold water, the mortar disintegrates, and loosens
the bricks. Do not consider that highly ornamental
and fanciful chimney tops are handsome and in good
taste. Nothing is in good taste or should be so con-
sidered which in our climate does not work well.
It is advisable to build an additional flue to the
kitchen chimney, eight by twelve inches, with a reg-
ister opening into it near the kitchen ceiling, for the
purpose of ventilation. The warm flue adjoining
produces an upward draft, carrying smoke and ill
odors from cooking, which otherwise insinuate them-
selves over the house. A good chimney ventilating
flue is a cheap but great luxury.
FRAMEWORK.
See to it that floor joists are strong enough to pre-
vent springing. If too light, they will tremble, and
cause windows to rattle and plaster to crack on ceil-
ings below.
In all framing, and notably roofs, where bolts and
rods are employed, the shrinkage of lumber tends to
loosen them. After the work has been subjected to
drying, the nuts should be set up hard anew. Never
use bolts or rods without good iron washers under
them, to prevent indentation into the wood. When it
can be done, put the bolt or rod so the nut can be
reached and set up after the work has been finished.
In all cases where floor joists are over door openings
the work must be trussed. This is best done by
making the door studs double, the inside ones being
of the proper height to admit of a cross-piece resting
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BUILDING CONSTRUCTION.
on them, and next put struts in the form of the letter
A from the centre of the space at the floor above
down to the two outside angles.
Always cross-bridge floor joists that are more than
twelve feet long, and also well bridge the studs of
partitions. Where they are more than ten feet high,
they should be bridged twice. All long ridges of
roofs, and also all large, flat ceilings, should be cam-
bered or raised at the centre, not only to allow for a
sagging that is more or less liable to take place even
in the best constructed work, but for a betterment of
optical effect. A long roof ridge, as a large, flat ceil-
ing, if absolutely level, presents the appearance of a
sag or depression.
BRICK-WORK.
All bricks laid dry absorb too much of the moisture
of the new mortar; and what is called the set or
hardening is destroyed, and only a meal-like prepara-
tion is left. We have evidence of this when brick-
work is taken down, and there is little or no adhesion
of mortar to the bricks. Always have them damp or
wet at the time of laying. The mortar should be
made in advance. There are small particles or lumps
of lime that do not readily slake, but by mixing the
mortar some days in advance and tempering it at the
time of use these lumps soften, and you have a
stronger mortar.
It was an old custom in the early settlement of this
country, and it is a common one now in many parts
of Europe, to slake the lime early, put it into a
planked excavation in the ground, and leave it for
BUILDING CONSTRUCTION.
95
weeks or even months; and, when taken out, the sand
is added, making the mortar ready for use. Work
thus done will continue strong and durable for a half-
century. As a result of haste in making mortar, using
it hot on comparatively dry bricks, we insure a loose
chimney top, often inside of a year. The item is an
important one, and I repeat it. If you would have
durable and strong brick-work, do not permit the use
of bricks that are too dry nor to be laid with mortar
made and immediately used; and in this connection it
is well to call attention to the fact that the other ex-
treme is to be avoided. Bricks that are too wet from
exposure to heavy rains or any cause, lacking the
property of absorption, the mortar will run; and there
is a tendency in the brick to slide or move out of
their proper place. Bricks should be kept protected
from the weather, and wet properly as they are used.
The practice of coloring mortar in which bricks are
often laid in outside walls, also the question of the
white efflorescence which often appears on brick-work,
will be attended to in another place.
FINISHING.
In finishing the exterior of a wooden building, great
care should be used to make joints water-tight. It is
well to use strips of zinc two inches wide, with half
the width back of and half outside the casings of
doors or windows, also at corner boards or pilasters.
Paper does not subserve a good purpose; for it soon
decays, and an open joint is left. These, with proper
flashings over the top parts, insure tight and durable
x
96
BUILDING CONSTRUCTION.
work. Another and very important thought I would
impress where any part of a building, especially a
roof, comes against an upright part, as at dormer win-
dows, do not depend upon turning the flashing up ou
the outside of the boarding, even if it is to be covered
with other work; for there may be a leak in some part
above, and water run down behind the flashing.
Carry it in, and turn it up and nail it on the back side
of the boarding or siding.
VALLEYS.
In constructing roof valleys, it is best to cut the
shingles or slates to the proper shape to fit them for a
close valley, then take zinc or thin copper, and cut it
into pieces nine inches square, bend diagonally — that
is cornerwise — to fit the valley, and insert a piece at
each course, the lower corner of the zinc being
covered a half-inch by the course of shingle or slate
over it. Water in heavy storms is thus prevented from
being blown in, as only the dead fall of water need be
provided for.
PRIMING.
Always paint exterior finish before it is exposed to
the weather. Tin roofs had better be exposed for a
time, as paint adheres better to such than to new and
clean tin. Always paint tin where it is turned up
back of finish or boarding, as it cannot be reached
afterwards.
*
BUILDING CONSTRUCTION.
97
PLASTERING.
In plastering, mix the plaster a week before it is
put on, pile it up, and retemper it as it is used. If
used as soon as made, small lumps of lime air-slake
later, and, swelling, produce blisters. If the hair is
put in too long in advance, there is danger that the
lime will destroy it. Better put it in at the time the
plaster is tempered for use.
Common plastering is what is called " one coat
work." It is dried to a certain degree, and then trow-
elled down with the steel trowel. This kind of work
is done only on cheap buildings, as there is a tendency
to sag between the laths and show ridges, which in
two coat work would be covered.
The more usual method is to plaster with one good
coat, float it roughly to an even or true surface with
the wooden float, and, when dried out white, finish
with a very thin skimming. This is called "two
coat work," and is done by mixing very coarse and
clean sand with lime putty and without hair. The
putty is made by slaking at once all the lime required
and mixing the sand as the skimming is used. This
is really the best common work that is done, as the
plaster is tough, yet elastic, and resists cracking,
which is quite sure to occur in even costlier work.
The third method, and that employed in costly
buildings, is to put on two coats of the common
plaster, making the surface perfectly true and even to
gauge lines, scoring or cutting into the new plaster
with the trowel to make channels or grooves to aid
in holding the last coat, which is made principally of
plaster of Paris. This is called Hard Finish, and
is the same kind of work as stucco centre pieces, cor-
.
98
BUILDING CONSTRUCTION.
=
nices, etc. This surface is quite brittle and smooth,
but it is liable to crack, and continue cracking as a
result of any tremble of the walls or floors above. It
is, however, used with this risk in all buildings of
note. There is another thing of importance to be
attended to in plastering; and it is where corner
beads of wood are used at angles to cut out the
plaster to a clean quirk along the bead, to prevent
disfigurement by scaling of the plaster where it ad-
joins the wood. It is important that windows be
closed with common cotton cloth, where there is
danger of plaster drying too fast, not only produc-
ing cracks, but making a weaker plaster. There
must be time for plaster to set if a strong and durable
work be produced.
DOORS.
In hanging doors much of any out of the ordinary
size, three pairs of hinges should be used, and much
care should be exercised to insure their being hung
on the proper side. Where it can be done, it is a gen-
eral rule to swing them into the corner of the room
instead of on the opposite side, so that a person pass-
ing through will not be compelled to open the door too
wide before he can pass. Those of closets, however,
should be hung so as to admit light to the closet, and
not when partially open obstruct it. Care should be ex-
ercised that those of bedrooms be so hung as to least
expose the bed, even if contrary to the advice given
in relation to those near the corner of a room. It is
well to always show how doors are to be hung by put-
ting a definite line designating them on the plan of
rooms.
BUILDING CONSTRUCTION.
99
GUTTERS AND CONDUCTORS.
It is a practice in many places to dispense with
eaves-troughs, or gutters, with conductors to carry off
the roof water. The practice is reprehensible; for,
where there are no gutters, water dripping alongside
the building creates dampness in the stone or brick,
and mildew is induced, also the soil is disturbed and
washed on to the underpinning. Always provide
gutters, and put them up so as to insure a flow of
water to the conductors. The front edge of them
should be some inches lower than the back side next
to the shingles or slates, to prevent water, when there
is ice in the gutters, backing up and flowing over the
back side. The connecting pipes or goose-necks should
be as large as the bore of the conductors. Never use
a small lead pipe instead.
PLUMBING.
Much of interest might be said in explanation of
good plumbing, and directions for its execution; but, it
not being a province of this work to be an exhaustive
treatise on any one department of construction, the
matter must be left for works especially devoted to
the matter. There is, however, a single point it may
be well to name; and it is that pipes of ample size be
provided for sinks and all places where grease will
pass through and adhere more or less to the pipe and
their stench-traps, for it greatly decreases their capac-
ity and much trouble often ensues.
MISCELLANEOUS.
T
HERE are many items of interest involved in
good construction, not especially treated in the
preceding remarks, which it has been deemed
best to retain for this place; and a few of them will
be considered. First among them is what is called
PUGGING.
This is done by placing strips of wood, an inch
thick and two inches wide, on the top of an under
floor over each of the floor joists, and filling the space
level with the top of the strips with cheap mortar, and,
before the top floor is laid, covering all with stout
paper. It is to prevent sound passing too freely to
rooms below.
Stairs of large buildings treated in this manner on
the space under the treads gives them a greatly in-
creased solidity.
CHURCH STEEPLES.
Where the steeple of a wooden church edifice is
either wholly or partially on the roof, it is impera-
tive that the main roof be continued entire under
MISCELLANEOUS.
101
the steeple as though the latter did not exist, and
the work be collared about the tower posts with lead
or zinc. Where the roof is carried in but little dis-
tance, leakages through parts above are likely to
find their way through. All should be made tight, and
openings left for water to pass out; and here it is
well to name that a bell frame should not rest
directly on the deck, but on cross timbers, which
should be bolted to the posts up some feet from the
bell deck. This admits of repairs which are fre-
quently needed.
Thick rubber or several thicknesses of cloth should
be put between the bell frame and cross timbers, and
bolted together. This prevents a swaying of the
steeple caused by concussion when the bell is being
rung. There should always be a ceiling over the bell,
to throw out sound and prevent reverberations in the
space above.
BLIND-ARCHES AND TIES.
In all places in brick walls for doors, windows, etc.,
where it is presumed more strength is needed than is
provided by lintels or stones spanning the openings,-
that is, where marble or freestone or even granite is
used for good effect on the outside, and yet the
material is not of sufficient strength to support the
work resting upon it,- blind-arches or light iron
beams should be built over them into the walls on the
inside.
The framework of floors and roof purlines should
be secured to brick or stone walls by iron clamps
fastened to the timbers, turned up at the ends, and
built into the walls.
102
MISCELLANEOUS.
TIMBER FLOOR SUPPORT.
Where floor joists are supported by partitions, there
should be no large beams, but the top of the partition
should be a plank, two inches thick, and in width the
thickness of the partition, and so in each successive
section or floor. Where large girders are employed,
the shrinkage of the various timbers combined makes
an inch or more on the third or fourth floor, and a
consequent settlement of that amount in the upper
one.
MARBLE TILING.
Where marble or any earthen tiling is laid on a
wooden floor, the framework should be low enough
to admit having the tiling at the proper level, when
finished and constructed, as follows. The frame
should be floored over in the usual manner, the
boards very thoroughly nailed to prevent warping;
and next there should be a course of bricks, laid flat-
wise and well bedded in mortar on the floor. On these
the tiles should be laid, with a half-inch thickness of
plaster of Paris mortar under them; and care should be
exercised that the framework be strong enough to
insure against settlement or any springing of the
mass.
CESSPOOL AND DRAIN-Trap.
There are two things of sanitary interest that should
be attended to in the construction of a cesspool and
drain from the building. One is that the former be
provided with a manhole for entrance, and a perfo-
MISCELLANEOUS.
103
rated cover, so that gas generated may pass off, and
not act as pressure on the drain, forcing ill odors into
the building; and the next item is that there be a
trap just inside the cellar wall, and with a movable
cover. It is not well to depend entirely on the traps
at respective divisions of the work.
SLATING OVER SHINGLES.
Where shingles are not too much decayed, and slat-
ing is desired, it is best to repair the shingles and
slate over them, using longer nails than are generally
used for slating. Shingles bind the roof-work solid,
and prevent dry snow being driven in, and also in
case of a broken slate there is less liability to leak.
To insure a perfectly tight and durable new roof, it
is advisable always to shingle with cheap shingles
and slate over them.
TRUSSED PARTITIONS.
Where a large and heavy partition with much rest-
ing on it comes over a room which must be kept clear
of columns, it is usual to truss work of the kind with
struts and rods; but a better way is to lay a joist on
the floor, and place another at the ceiling, stud be-
tween these and fur diagonally on both sides with
strips one inch thick and two inches wide, having the
strips cross each other on the two sides. The ends
of the furring strips are to be well nailed to the joists
named. The lathing would be diagonally. This
practice admits of doors in any desired place, and very
strong work is produced.
*
1
104
MISCELLANEOUS.
GAS-PIPE COLUMNS.
For the support of any work such as floor timbers,
where extraordinary strength is not required, wrought-
iron gas or steam pipe from three to five inches in
diameter, with a cast-iron flange six or eight inches
in diameter screwed on the ends, are preferable to
cast-iron columns. The flanges should be solid under
the beams, and rest on an iron plate on the brick pier
below.
A turned cap of wood sawed in two and confined
together and to the ceiling by nails will supply the
needed or apparent cap.
AREAS AT CELLAR WINDOWS.
Where stone or brick areas are built about cellar
windows, it is not well to cement the floor of the area
but excavate deeper than the window sills, and fill
with small pebbles or cracked stone, so that water
will drain through, and not flow in at the windows.
OUTSIDE PAINTING.
In mixing colors for painting outside wood-work,
it is best to avoid manufactured colors for tints, and
depend on the natural ochre, or stone yellow, and its
burnt condition, Venetian red, or what is known as
Indian red, and lampblack. These as tinting element
are practically fadeless; and what little bleaching
there is will be uniform, and not in spots. Combina-
tions of these with the white lead, using more or less
of either pigment, as may be required for the requi-
MISCELLANEOUS.
105
site shade, will produce about any color that can rea-
sonably be desired.
Where it is desired to sand outside work to imitate
stone, there should first be a good priming coat of the
requisite tint, and next the work repainted and clean
sand blown on or thrown against it, well covering all,
and, when dry, the loose sand should be swept off, and
another heavy coat of paint and sand put on.
When but one coat of sanding is done, it is soon
beaten off by storms; but with good two-coat work it
will be durable for many years.
BACK PLASTERING.
In wooden buildings where best work is anticipated
the boarding on the inside, between the studs, should
be furred, and lathed and plastered with common
plaster in the usual manner.
Another and more desirable method is to fill spaces
with common pale bricks laid in mortar. This pre-
vents not only the passage of cold air in winter, but
heat in summer. It also lessens the danger from fire,
and prevents the passage of rats over the building.
:
HEATING AND FIREPROOF WORK.
TH
HE subject of heating buildings, while not in-
volved in their construction, demands atten-
tion, and more especially as it is somewhat
related to ventilation. Little need be said in relation
to fireplaces, grates, or stoves, though it must be con-
fessed that, for the production of good cheer and the
ventilation of house rooms, a discontinuation of the
use of the two first named has been on the losing
side.
Doubtless the best scheme would be to retain the
open fireplace and wood fire in living rooms, and
supplement them by one of the other methods to be
hereinafter named.
The three principal methods are, the furnace, or
steam, or hot water.
FURNACES.
The first named is almost universal in its use, and
familiar to all. It is, however, at best only a partial
success; for much more is always expected of a fur-
nace than it will perform. Where there are but few
registers, and the furnace is of sufficient capacity, it
is, however, fairly reliable. The great trouble is that
cold air, coming in through crevices about doors and
HEATING AND FIREPROOF WORK.
107
windows at the windward side of the building, dis-
turbs the equilibrium of air in these rooms, and the
registers and pipes act as air-ducts to the furnace,
and, passing down through the hot-air chamber and
up the registers in rooms to the leeward or opposite
side of the house, the rooms most needing heat are
deprived of it, and to close the registers in rooms
where heat is not required does not often remedy the
difficulty; for, unless the heat and incoming air from
the cold air-duct are powerful enough to resist and
overcome the passage of cold air down, the operation
named will occur.
There are few things about furnace heating that
are more aggravating and which is oftener experi-
enced than what has been named. A large furnace,
and at that not overtaxed, is all that can be depended
upon to do reasonably satisfactory work. While
speaking of the cold-air flue, it may be well to name
that two ducts or inlets, and from opposite points of
the compass, are essential to best work. There should
be in each a pendent and freely acting valve or cur-
tain of tin hung in the horizontal flue, which, by air
pressure, will be opened or closed. We thus insure
a constant supply of fresh air from out-of-doors.
The drawback, however, is the danger of cold air
continuing to come into an apartment after the fire
has declined. Another thing is of interest, and it is
to supply moisture to restore the balance of oxygen
taken from the air as it has been overheated. This
is generally done by a small reservoir or pan of water
inside the furnace casing. This, as well as the cold
air duct, demands unremitting attention; but it is
generally continued only for a short time, and first
neglected, and finally abandoned.
108
HEATING AND FIREPROOF WORK.
It is often said, “The air is dry," or "burned air ”
is spoken of. In a sense, the remarks are true. The
philosophy is this: when air comes in contact with
iron heated to a certain degree,—a red heat in the
dark,—its oxygen unites with the iron, forming an
oxide, and, deprived or povertized thus, it passes into
the room unfit for use.
Where there is an iron fire-pot, unlined, which may
be heated to a red heat, this is always true.
As at first named, furnaces, at their best, do only
an imperfect work.
HOT WATER.
The next method is heating by hot water. Where
the works are properly designed and arranged, the
scheme is good; for it insures heat in every room
where provision is made for it. And here comes in
another question, and it relates to what is called
"direct or indirect radiation."
That is, whether the pipes shall be in the room
with no new air chamber, or placed in a general one,
and act, as in the case of a furnace, with hot-air pipes
leading to each room, or in separate iron boxes for
each room, with cold air to each box. This method
is known as "indirect radiation. "
It will be readily seen that, while danger from
burnt air, or that deprived of oxygen, is prevented,
all the troubles named regarding cold air coming in,
as in the furnace method, still exist. More or less
provision can be, and usually is, made for a control
of the boiler draught by automatic action, yet an ele-
ment of the old trouble exists, and is, to a good de-
gree, uncontrollable.
HEATING AND FIREPROOF WORK.
109
Unless very perfect work is done and unremitting
care exercised, there is involved in indirect radiation
the difficulty named. Hot water has its advocates
and supporters, and we are justified in saying that it
is a great improvement over any work of the hot-air
furnace nature.
STEAM HEATING.
The third and more general, if not the more satis-
factory, method is steam; and, with proper construc-
tion of the work, it is quite desirable, being very quick
of action, and it perfectly accomplishes its work.
What has been said about indirect radiation of hot
water applies to this work as well.
Given good radiators, properly enclosed, each with
its cold-air inlet and properly watched and controlled,
perhaps the best possible thing in the way of heating
has been done; but so many difficulties arise in
locating indirect radiators that, as a general thing,
only first or, at most, second floors, in addition, are
so heated. Where a cellar or basement affords a
place for the enclosed radiators, the work can readily
be done; and in such instances the other stories are
directly heated.
Steam heat is perfect so far as agreeableness, econ-
omy, and ease of management are concerned; and, of
all methods, it has fewest objections.
The general principles in use in steam heating are
very simple, and so alike as to be one and the same
thing in all systems. There are no intricate princi-
ples involved, and the matter of required radiating
surface has been so well considered that a good de-
gree of unanimity of sentiment prevails; but the
110
HEATING AND FIREPROOF WORK.
question of methods of generating the steam or the
kind and construction of boiler is an open one, and
each kind has its advocates.
There are, first, those of the horizontal, tubular
construction, set in brick-work. Next, there are quite
a variety of sectional, cast-iron ones, alike set in
brick; and the patentees of each produce evidence
of their own efficiency. It is, however, I believe, a
fact that, where extraordinary power is not required
and an economy of fuel is to be exercised, a horizon-
tal tubular boiler, with a square brick fire-pot, is to
be avoided.
The sectional cast-iron ones come next in order of
choice; for, as a general thing, they are so constructed
that a part of them, filled with water, is contiguous
to the fire, and thereby a saving of heat is made.
But even these do not utilize all; and they are not
free from a need of the exercise of the same care re-
quired for the management of a tubular boiler, with
its square fire-box and a simple feed-door.
Those boilers having the fire-pot entirely sur-
rounded by water, and the draught controlled auto-
matically, and with circulation pipes connecting the
lower with the upper section, do best work; and,
utilizing all the heat, perfection will be attained.
The size of a boiler must be determined by the
radiating surface required, and that by the dimensions
of rooms and their number; also, whether a church,
a business building, a school-house, or a dwelling-
house is to be heated; and incidentally it may be
named that it is common, in cases where an elevator
is run, to have the boiler of sufficient capacity to do
that work in addition.
HEATING AND FIREPROOF WORK.
111
FIRE-PROOF WORK.
The construction of fire-proof work has of late re-
ceived a new impetus, which promises to continue.
Formerly only buildings where great security was
imperatively demanded were made fire-proof, and it
was principally done by groined arches and iron doors
and window shutters, with either stone or iron stairs,
brick partitions, etc.; but at present other structures,
as hotels, commercial buildings, museums, libraries,
etc., are built in this manner, or, at least, a near ap-
proach to it.
A great improvement over old methods has taken
place. In fact, there has been a revolution by the use
of wrought-iron beams, either rolled or built in the
box form, and, supported by these, are built brick
segmental arches, or those composed of hollow blocks
of terra-cotta or a kindred material made into the
requisite forms. The space is filled level with the top
of the iron beams with brick or concrete.
Where a wooden floor instead of tiles or marble is
used, which of course destroys the absoluteness of
the fire-proofing,- wooden pieces are laid on each of
the iron beams, and the spaces filled with concrete
flush with the top of these; and on them the wooden
floor is laid.
Partitions are built of brick or of hollow terra-cotta
blocks prepared of the thickness of the walls, and the
plastering put directly on either, without wooden fur-
ring. As before named, iron shutters, stairs, and the
like are built, finish about doors and windows being
iron or marble. The roof would be of iron for the
trusses and all supporting parts, and slated on boards
covered with asbestos felting, and the under side
112
HEATING AND FIREPROOF WORK.
plastered on wire lathing or some fire-proof equiv-
alent.
The ceilings of such buildings are either plastered
on the under side of the arches or the work is furred
with light iron and lathed, as it may be termed, with
a proper wire netting. Where iron columns or piers
are a part of the exterior, it is not uncommon to build
brick around them for fire protection, to prevent
breakage by water when heated, and then cover all
with ornamental cast-iron work.
SLOW-BURNING CONSTRUCTION.
There is what is known as "the slow-burning con-
struction"; that is, where much wood is freely used
it is protected at such places as fire is most liable to
occur. It is so constructed as to make it impossible for
a fire to occur and burn with much rapidity, or make
much headway before being discovered.
This is done by an avoidance of wooden lathing,—
furring on brick walls, putting sheet iron on floors
under partitions, using asbestos felting under top
floors, etc., also covering beams by wire-work and
plaster; and, while speaking of this, it may be well
to name incidentally that brick-work should be laid
one foot high at all wooden partitions between the
studs, also on floors under the foot of stairs, where
the same is closed up. By this we not only increase
safety from fire, but prevent the passage of rats up
through the building. There is also what is known
as the "mill construction," which is the use of
heavier floor joists, and fewer of them, covered with
matched 2″ planks, instead of a double floor.
HEATING AND FIREPROOF WORK.
113
It would be useless to attempt a description in de-
tail of all methods of fire-proof work; for it is our
object here to simply consider what good building is,
and not to give full directions relating to the process
of producing it.
VENTILATION.
A
CONSIDERATION of architectural work would
be incomplete if it neglected the question of
ventilation; for, however much we are justified
in catering to æsthetic element, we should provide a
healthy atmosphere, and this science is called "the
art of ventilation." When stripped of scientific
phraseology, it means "getting rid of bad air and
obtaining good."
It will help to an understanding of the matter to
go somewhat into detail in relation to the need of
pure air.
First, I speak of the blood of our systems; for it is
with that, primarily, that air deals. It gives out an
element known as ozone. This is taken up by the
proper organs, and used to produce and continue life.
The constant drain deprives the blood of this ele-
ment; and, when so changed, it is dark in color, and
passes into one division of the heart and out through
the other. Emerging, it is red, and in proper condi-
tion to do its work. The change from blackish to
red is caused by oxygen that has been united with it.
To supply this, we must have fresh air from which to
extract it.
If many persons are in a room with no outlet for
vitiated air, they are uncomfortable, and in time
would be sick.
VENTILATION
115
If a single person is in a small room, with no open-
ings for air to freely circulate, he is affected in the
same way; and we call the air close or stived. It is
because the blood has absorbed the oxygen from the
air, and there is no new supply.
Oxygen, in quantity of proportion to common air,
is only one-fifth of the lot, and is, therefore, easily
exhausted. Air passes into the lungs, which are a
sponge reservoir, holding it for the heart to draw from
to reoxygenate or revitalize the blood.
We draw a breath and fill the lungs; the heart
instantly takes up the oxygen, or, rather, the blood
rushing through it does, and we expel the remainder;
and so all continues while we are awake or asleep, as
long as we live, and thus is produced what is known
as "short breath" in hastily climbing stairs or a hill
or running on level ground.
For any violent action of the body tending to wear
it out, there must be repair-material and ready for
use; and the heart, as though conscious of this, and
that it is the organ which must do the work of supply-
ing it, immediately beats stronger and quicker. As
this is doing, blood is driven faster through it; and,
that all may be oxygenated, the lungs must also work
quicker to supply the air, and we are breathing quick
and hard. We say the person is "out of breath.”
They are not so, but are simply breathing a good
deal and quickly in order to supply air fast enough,
and hence the violent action. Let the person be out
of doors, where the supply is ample, and he soon
recovers.
Practically, the same effect is produced when a per-
son is not excited by running, but where the supply
of fresh air is inadequate, and, the place being close,
116
VENTILATION.
he is compelled to rebreathe a larger lot of the par-
tially vitiated air, and as best he can get what little
oxygen there is left.
Next, we consider the question of foul air. The
lungs are to pump air in for the heart to use. It will
carry in such and such only as it has. If it is a gas,
like chloroform, sleep and insensibility will be pro-
duced. If the noxious air of a coal mine or a deep
well, death ensues. It may take in foul odors simply,
and then the person is nauseated or becomes dizzy.
There is an important thing to be considered, and it
is that we are constantly exhaling or giving off from
the body what is called carbonic acid.
Carbon is charcoal, or what is left after some mate-
rial, as wood, has been burned. When we eat, diges-
tion of the food is in a sense combustion, and carbonic
acid is given off from our bodies. It is passing off all
the time, and is a heavy gas which sinks toward the
floor. If we were to sleep on the floor instead of on a
bedstead, we should be injured by it.
I said, when I began, that ventilation means getting
rid of bad air and the obtaining of good.
To do these is what a system of ventilation at-
tempts to do. An open window does both; but it is
not always convenient nor proper to depend upon
that, and so other means must be resorted to.
It has long been and is a question of dispute
whether it is better to ventilate from the bottom or
the top of a room. The advocates of top ventilation
assume that the vitiated air, being light, rises and
passes out through the high ventilator, and that the
heavy carbonic acid gas, being heavy, is near the floor,
becoming heavier all the time, remains there to pass
out when a door is opened, or up a chimney, where
VENTILATION.
117
there is an open fireplace or grate. Those who ad-
vocate bottom ventilation instead, assume that the
vitiated air at the top, if there is no outlet, will crowd
the carbonic acid out through the lower ventilator,
and the action will produce a circulation, carrying off
all; and also that the impure air as it goes out makes
room for new and pure to come in its place.
Both theories are to a degree reasonable and a fact;
but there can be no real doubt that both top and bot-
tom ventilators at once are right. There is one thing
to be considered. When the air is warmer outside
than it is inside, there will be a downward draught
through any flue. Sometimes a room smells strong
of soot. This is where, the windows and doors being
closed, the inside air having become comparatively
cool, a sudden change in the atmosphere outside has
produced a downward draught through the chimney.
But even then we are getting ventilation; for no
new air can come in till an equal quantity of foul has
passed out, and a downward current in a chimney
flue argues of a pressure having been made towards
the crevices about doors and windows, and foul air
having passed out through them.
Windows are generally loose enough to permit this
circulation, which, together with opening them more
or less, especially in sleeping-rooms, affords ventila-
tion good enough for general purposes.
Care should be exercised to ventilate the kitchen,
else you will have ill odors over the entire house.
This is best done by a flue adjoining the range or
stove flue. Creating an upward current, we get per-
fect ventilation.
Halls, churches, school-rooms, etc., need, however,
especial arrangements for the work. In doing it, all
118
VENTILATION.
plans whereby manifest draughts are produced should
be avoided. To make an air-duct direct from the
ceiling out through the roof would cool off the room
too much in winter, and also produce a current direct,
which would be disagreeable to persons near a door
or window, where cold would come in; and more es-
pecially would this evil arise if there were ventiducts
and registers only near the floor. The currents of air
that would go to supply them would be felt by sen-
sitive persons. While speaking of ventilating flues
or ventiducts, as they are called, it may be well to
name that such flues in outside brick or stone walls
have, as a general thing, proved to be failures. As
the walls are usually cold, and more or less damp, the
air in them is heavy, and shows a reluctance to pass
through them. Where they have been made thus for
the ventilation of school-rooms and halls, they have
been abandoned, and others of wood in central parts
of the building made in their stead.
•
To avoid the disagreeable draughts before named,
it is well, in large rooms, to carry the foul air by a
duct or register to the attic as a reservoir, and next
ventilate that thoroughly. This system produces an
imperceptible circulation, which is constant, and in
a mild manner carries away the foul air without
draughts perceptible to persons in the rooms ven-
tilated.
Ventilators should be supplied with facilities for
closing them, when desired. In case of large hori-
zontal openings or registers in hall or church ceilings,
this may be done by a scuttle on the top of the regis-
ter, hung with hinges and controlled by a cord over
pulleys, leading to an entry or unimportant room
below.
VENTILATION.
119
In churches having steeples, or in school-houses or
town halls with cupolas or bell-towers, it is a good
practice to carry up a ventiduct to within a foot of
the ceiling over the bell. This, ending at so high a
point at its top and in the attic at the bottom end,
produces an upward circulation; and, if the venti-
duct is of sufficient capacity, it secures the requisite
circulation or ejection.
In instances where there is no steeple or cupola, it
is well to have an opening made high up in the
gable, with blind slats to fill it and boards put up on
a slant on the inside to prevent leakage in storms.
By leaving the boards short enough for air to pass
over them and down, out between the blind slats,
good ventilation is produced, and more especially
when an opening of the kind exists at both ends of
the attic.
Often an attic window is finished with the in-
clined boards on the inside, as described, and the sash
left open for circulation.
As regards inlets for fresh air, this is a matter that
has caused more trouble than the ejection of impure
air. Any direct inlet is for most of the time a
disagreeable thing, and to be avoided. While a door
or window may with propriety be left open, and with
no disagreeable effect, a smaller opening near the
floor, by its smallness, creates a violent movement of
air, and for the majority of the time is disagreeable in
the extreme.
Where furnaces or steam heat is used, arrange-
ments are readily made to heat the air admitted.
This is called "indirect radiation," and answers a
good purpose, when carefully attended to; but, if
neglected, and the heat declines, cold air is admitted
120
VENTILATION.
in too large quantities, and harm is done. As a gen-
eral thing, considerable air is naturally admitted
about doors and windows, especially if there are good
outlets for the foul air; and at most times, when the
weather is cold, this is enough. Provide an outlet
that will produce an upward movement, and you will
at the same time induce new air to come in.
Nature is said to abhor a vacuum; and, true to
itself, it early discovers a place demanding its atten-
tion. Generally, then, at times when weather is too
cold to admit of open windows, air enough will come
in as named, which, seeking the ventilators, drives
out the air that is vitiated. Where this is not so,
sufficient open windows in adjoining rooms or en-
tries will supply it.
I have referred to registers near the floor, and be-
fore leaving the subject would return and express a
thought more concerning them. They are of service
to carry off the heavy, foul air; but the ventiducts
must end at some high point or place where the air is
rare and light, or thin enough to receive and hold
what is pushed up from below. To have a ventilat-
ing flue end at too low a point would be worse than
nothing; for air would come down, and, ejecting itself
into the foul air, would stir and drive it up higher
in the room. As before stated, other things equal,
carbonic acid gas is near the floor, and does not
readily mingle with that over it.
There have been many foolish things said and done
in the work of ventilation, and by men who pride
themselves on their scientific attainments. Common
sense should rule. Let the person understand well
the common laws which govern air and its move-
ments, and he knows as much as the most scien-
VENTILATION.
121
tific man can know about the question we are con-
sidering; and, if he exercises discretion, he will do
much better work in this line than has been done by
men of large reputation who have ignored common-
sense. It is a disgrace to our nineteenth-century civ-
ilization that most of our public buildings of note are
badly ventilated, though vast sums have been ex-
pended and a deal of science, so called, has been
brought into requisition.
Do not, however, mistake me. We must have pure
air, or we sicken and are at a loss. This matter will
seldom or never take care of itself. Build a large
room and put many persons into it, as, for instance, a
hall or a church auditorium or a school-room, and pro-
vide no outlet for foul air, they will breathe and re-
breathe the air over and over, extract all the oxygen
from it, and not only that, but they will take into
their lungs, and through the blood circulation they
will incorporate into their systems, material that has
been part and parcel of other people, and to a degree
and of a kind such as they would tremble to think of,
could they see it as it really is.
It does not follow that because one cannot see or
even smell foul air that it does not exist. Electricity
cannot be seen, neither can common air. There may
be virulent poison in a glass of water, and by mate-
rial eyes unobserved; but it is there all the same, and
able and ready to do its work of death. Yellow fever
germs or those of cholera are not seen; but who doubts
their existence?
Air is none the less foul because not seen by the
naked eye to be such. Expect that it will be about
and at work where any large gathering of people is.
Anticipate it, and provide for its management, which
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VENTILATION.
It
is an expulsion of the bad tenant and intruder.
will be in bedrooms, and more or less throughout
entire houses. Take care of it as you would any
other pestilential thing. Ventilate as under the cir-
cumstances you can. Provide ample outlets. Have
them under control. Read scientific books treating
the question, and then use your own judgment. You
will find a great difference in opinion; but out of the
mass you can make an average, and that will aid you
in generating thought as good, if not better, than that
of any who have gone over the road before you. The
principles I have named comprehend about all there
is to the question. Study them, and make your own
deductions.
SUPERINTENDENCE.
T
O well superintend the erection of a building
of importance involves the exercise of good
judgment and attention. There was an adage
among the old Gothic architects, "An arch never
sleeps"; and so it is of building and the superintend-
ence of construction. There must be from first to
last a constant interest in the work proposed and in
progress. The person who supposes or assumes that
the principal part of an architectural life is making
drawings and pictures of buildings, greatly mistakes.
While drawings are necessary, and making them is
an important part of an architect's work, these are
only what ploughing and harrowing land is in the
domain of farming. It is simply a preparation to
plant, and steps toward the production of a crop.
Before drawings are carried into execution, the
scheme is only a "castle in the air."
The first move to be made in the production of a
building is to superintend this preliminary work. It
is to aid in determining the question, "What is de-
sired?" If it is a house for an individual, a school-
house for a town or city, a church, or a prison, the
use to which the building is to be nut must first be
considered and continued in view.
Second, we must consider the amount of money to
be expended and the kind of material to be employed,
124
SUPERINTENDENCE.
and, finally, the style of architecture it is best to
adopt. All of this comes inside the lines of architectu-
ral superintendence, or at least is related to it. As re-
gards adaptation, and the style best fitted for a par-
ticular case, there may be a great variety of opinion.
The owner himself or the committee may not know,
or at least may be undecided, or, it is quite true, they
may be the reverse, and reasonably or unreasonably
insist on especial things.
There are certain leading ideas that should always
be consulted, and one of these is to make the design
appropriate to the specific purpose for which the
building is to be used. At the risk of repeating a few
thoughts expressed in another lecture, I shall venture
what is to immediately follow.
A building should at first view suggest its use and
character. If it is a house, it should look like one.
A building, however humble, may be made to look
like a home; and one large and palatial may yet have
a domestic character.
Just how to do this you will have to learn by obser-
vation. Large columns and great windows, bold
finish and the like, suggest a public use. Gothic
architecture speaks of church work,- a steeple always
indicates it, and to a hotel there must be a fair per-
centage of both elements, public and domestic,— not
enough of the bold public work to entirely remove
domesticity, nor so much of the house element or ex-
tremely domestic look as to deprive it of a semi-public
aspect.
Observation and consultation of books exhibiting
modern designs must inform of what the public en-
tertains a favorable opinion of or demands. The gen-
eral acceptance of a thing is an argument for its ap-
(
SUPERINTENDENCE.
125
propriateness. Strange to say, there is a fashion in
these things as much as there is in dress.
There have been times when old colonial or an
Americanized English Italian architecture was in
vogue. All the best and most costly buildings of
large cities, built at that period, were of this kind.
Next there came a period when Grecian architecture
held sway, and was fashionable. James Stewart and
Nicholas Revett, as I have in another lecture named,
travelled in Greece, and returned to London. They in
1762 published a large work on Greek architecture. A
change in architectural designs resulted, and good cop-
ies of old Grecian work were made. These books were
brought to America a half-century later, and exerted
their influence here; for all places of note soon had
buildings of the then new architecture. Next came a
new fashion again, for an attempt was made to revive
Gothic architecture. It was not much of a success
in church work, and none was obtained in domestic
architecture; for, strange to relate, some houses in the
style were erected. It was not till a half-century later
that any correct Gothic work was produced. None
existed in the great metropolis, New York, till Trin-
ity Church on Broadway was built less than a half-
century ago. Later on came a flood of German and
French thought; and, finally, for domestic buildings
what is foolishly called Queen Anne, and now, Colo-
nial. The former would astonish the queen, and the
latter disgust good colonial architects; and they
would tremble at the thought of being held respon-
sible for some of the productions of our times.
You see there has ever been a fashion in architect-
And perhaps it is well there has been, for it
gives variety and prevents or destroys monotony.
ure.
126
SUPERINTENDENCE.
The architect has been called upon, and it is de-
manded of him to steer in between and through these
prevailing conditions. He is to superintend the work
of design for his client as much as he is the work the
design represents. He does some of the earliest work,
and must aid in deciding, if not himself decide, what
to make for outside design, as well as what plan of
floors to conceive or adopt. All comes under the old
rules of propriety and adaptability.
Having said thus much on the more æsthetic part,
I proceed, and try to help you to the more practical
part, the management of the work and the workmen,
as you have the owner of the property who employs
them. I am to be matter-of-fact in my talk; and first,
as best I can, I impress upon your mind the necessity
of giving your work personal attention. You must
somehow get into a mood that will enable you to talk
with the man or the committee who employs you as
though you were not employed by any one else nor
working for another person. You must be so inter-
ested that your clients will feel safe and at rest in
your hands, and entertain the feeling that you are
their friend as well as their architect. Dispossess
their minds of the idea that you are working for
others, and that they are getting only your spare
attention. And this carries us directly to the more
immediate part of our subject, the practical superin-
tendance of building construction.
I say, first, the theme is a large one. The two
words mean a great deal. It is to see that things are
done in the right way. Every part and portion is to
come under your eye for inspection, or of some one
associated with you for the specific work.
Workmen and contractors do not all of them readily
SUPERINTENDENCE.
127
understand what they have been employed to do.
They need explanations of drawings and interpreta-
tion of specifications.
They may be careless, not intending to do wrong;
but their chief defect may be negligence. They are
to be watched, and held to exercise care. Next, there
are those intending to do as little as possible, and
still get their work accepted.
In these days of severe competition there is much
of this operation. The architect is supposed to be on
the alert, and watch for these things, and to guard
the interests of his employers. He is paid for render-
ing a faithful service, and he wrongs his client if he
neglects.
This does not involve that he make any unreasona-
ble demands on the contractor, nor ask him to do
things he does not by contract have proper pay for.
When you let yourself as an architect, you do not
agree to render service as an assistant to any one who
would do wrong on either side,- not to your client
more than to his contractor.
Understand what the contract provides for and de-
mands, and, other things equal, expect it.
If the contractor is at a loss by reason of any act of
your client, on account of extra work or any cause,
see to it that he is properly paid, if it is in your power
to do so.
Now, all this involves what is called the exercise of
good judgment and tact and a knowledge of human
nature. No teacher can tell you how to do it. Mild
words should come first, and, perhaps, mild ones be
repeated; but all the time you must mean to do right,
and see that right between man and man is done, and,
finally, to never lose the point at issue till you have
accomplished what you undertook.
128
SUPERINTENDENCE.
Sometimes you will have to say no, and adhere to
it, when you would prefer to say yes, and at others yes
when you would of choice say no. It requires deter-
mination to do that, but a man resolutely attempting
to do just right can say either as may be required,
and do it with ease and civility. These things are
really what operative superintendence is.
More or less arbitration may be involved. The archi-
tect is presumed to be familiar with the value of
work done, and for which extra pay is demanded;
also, that he is judge whether the work is or is not
provided for by the contract; and, should there be a
disagreement between the owner and contractor, it is
the architect's province to decide the question.
It is well in such cases to first obtain from the con-
tractor his bill of extras; and, so far as can well be
done, it should be a detail of items. If on examina-
tion and a consideration of the work the architect
decides the bill correct, he should so declare it to
both contractor and owner. In case he does not con-
sider it just, it is well, before giving an opinion to the
owner, to confer with the contractor, and calmly con-
sider each item, measure the materials, decide upon
their market value, and next the labor value, and, if
possible, arrive at an agreement, and before any dec-
laration is made to the owner. If an arrangement is
not made, and such a one as can be defended, then so
pronounce your judgment, and be prepared to defend
it. If you cannot agree with the contractor, and are
compelled to differ, then do so, and inform your client
of it. Act with both parties as though all was sub-
ject to be re-examined by others, to whom it may
possibly be referred for final arbitration.
As much as in you lies, avoid and prevent suits at
SUPERINTENDENCE.
129
law. You reuder a good service to both contractor
and owner when you do thus.
There may be occasions where the contractor fur-
nishes for use materials not suitable, and as by con-
tract provided for. If an occasion like that occurs,
talk first and pleasantly with the contractor. Be de-
cided, however; and, if need be, let him know that
you are not to yield. Do not find fault with mate-
rials before workmen. If you do, you injure the con-
tractor and weaken his power over his men. If you
are not able to induce him to change the material,
then forbid its use; and do it in the presence of
some judicious person as witness. Next consult the
owner, and tell him what you have done. If he yields
the point, then so inform the contractor.
If he does not proceed with the work with such
despatch as you think he ought to, and promised by
the contract, remonstrate with him privately. If he
does not reform, consult the owner, and act as he ad-
vises or as the judgment of both approves.
While it is the province of the architect to be on
the watch for discrepancies, it is not well to be over-
exact and punctilious in small matters.
Unless it is of moment, do not cause the contractor
unnecessary trouble; for he may work on like lines,
and in the end both you and your client be a loser.
You will do well, though, to save the point and, as a
general thing, in some way, directly or indirectly, let
the contractor know that you are noticing what he
has done or is doing. Do not let him believe he is
deceiving you.
An architect can do much towards producing har-
mony and continuing it between the parties to a con-
tract. Best things are done when this condition
exists.
130
SUPERINTENDENCE.
*
Let courtesy of manner and gentlemanly bearing
mark all your work of superintendence. Be dignified,
and never frivolous with the workmen, lest you lose
the influence and respect you would have them enter-
tain towards you; but at the same time do not be
over-distant, nor so much as appear to be conceited.
Workmen are entitled to be treated well, for "labor
is honorable" the world over. So, while you keep
your place as superintendent, and are the one in au-
thority, yet be social and gentlemanly always.
There is yet another point we must consider, and
it is how much or how little of what is proposed to be
done should in advance be disclosed to workmen.
On this point superintendents and architects differ.
One class takes the ground that, if men are hired to
do certain things or parts of the work, it is enough;
and they should be content, and not encouraged to
meddle with or know much about other parts.
The other class assumes that workmen are entitled
to know all about every part and to a good degree
how all is to be done; for the knowledge enables
them to do their own part more understandingly, and
that to inquire, if they are moved to do so, should be
encouraged, and such investigation ought not to be
looked upon as meddling with affairs not their own.
The majority of this argument is doubtless correct;
and we may go further and say that a workman who
does not look beyond his own immediate work, and
cares for no part outside of it, is not likely to be a
very tractable or intelligent workman. He is like a
machine that works blindly. A little knowledge is
here, if anywhere, a dangerous thing. Encourage
workmen to desire to know all about the building
they are at work on. When they ask questions, re-
SUPERINTENDENCE.
131
spectfully answer them; and, if the opportunity is
favorable, and it does not too much interfere with
their more immediate work, go out of your way
to tell them more than they ask about. Let them
know what is to be done; and they will not only be
entertained by the information, but will the more
readily know if a mistake has been made, and
whether or not the part they are at work on will
agree with and conform to others. An intelli-
gent mechanic will call the attention of his master-
builder or foreman to a thing he thinks wrong; and
an intelligent and wise superintendent or master-
builder will not only be thankful for the discovery,
but express his thanks and satisfaction.
STRENGTH OF TIMBER.
T
discover rules which will in all cases determine
the exact strength of timber has for many years
been an object of interest with scientific men.
Mr. Tredgold, an eminent writer on the science of car-
pentry, has laid down at length the results of the
best investigations made by himself and others; but,
in summing up, he speaks as follows: "The age of
trees at the time of cutting, the natural defects, such
as knots, shakes, etc., also the mode of seasoning or
the comparative dryness, are the cause of some differ-
ence in the strength and stiffness of timber. All
these things considered, it is impossible to calculate
correctly its strength and stiffness." After reminding
the reader that the "precision which is so essential
to the philosopher is not absolutely necessary to the
architect and engineer," he says, "They content them-
selves with approximations that are simple and easy
to be obtained; and, provided that the limits which
cannot be passed with safety be pointed out, these
approximations are sufficient to direct their practice."*
Mr. Peter Nicholson (from whose works subsequent
authors have borrowed ad libitum) remarks as follows:
"On that subtile subject, the proportional strength
of timber, on which I gave some observations and
calculations in my 'Carpenter's Guide,-I was in
hopes that I should have been able to reduce the
*Tredgold's "Elementary Principles of Carpentry," Art.
68, p. 29.
STRENGTII OF TIMBER.
133
theory of scantlings to an arithmetical rule of conse-
quences certain and of general application. I have
to lament that all my endeavors, assisted by several
gentlemen well versed in mathematics, have hitherto
been unsuccessful."*
Experiments on the strength of timber have, until
a late day, tended but little to reform the science of
carpentry. Probably more has been done by bold
and perhaps rash experiments than by all the works
which have been written. It remains a fact, how-
ever, that the strength of any piece of timber may
be determined with sufficient accuracy for all practi-
cal purposes.
STRAINS.
Timber may be subjected to three kinds of strain :
1st. When the force tends to pull the piece in the
direction of its length: this is called tensile strain.
2d. When the force tends to bend it in the direc-
tion of its depth or across the fibres: this is com-
monly known as cross-strain.
3d. When it tends to compress it in the direction
of its length, or what is called compressive strain.
The following corollaries, in relation to the strength
of timber, have been established by experiments:
1st. A piece of timber should not be subjected to
a permanent strain of more than a fourth of the
power that would break it.
2d. A piece of perfect timber, while in a level posi-
tion and properly supported, is supposed to be of
ace).
*Carpenter and Joiner's Assistant, pp. vi and vii (Pref-
134
STRENGTH OF TIMBER,
equal tensile strength throughout; and, whether the
piece be long or short, it is liable to part in one place
nearly as quick as in another.
3d. A piece of perfect timber in a vertical posi-
tion is in tensile strength proportionate to its length,
a short piece being stronger, since a long one must,
in addition to the power applied to the lower end,
sustain its own weight, and hence, when it breaks,
will part near the top.
4th. In calculating the strength of any piece of
timber, only so much of the wood should be measured
as is continued throughout the entire stick. For
instance, a tie-beam measuring eight by ten inches,
having an inch and a half rod passing through it,
should be considered as measuring but six inches and
a half thick; and, if the ends of struts, or anything
of the kind, be cut down into and across the top of
the beam two inches, it would then measure but eight
inches deep.
5th. A rectangular beam supported at both ends,
with its diagonal placed vertically, will thereby be
reduced, in cross-strength, one-tenth.
6th. The tough and hard woods, as oak and chest-
nut, are about an eighth, and the soft ones, as spruce,
pine, and hemlock, from a sixteenth to a twentieth, as
strong when the power is applied at right angles to
the fibres as when applied to their length. This
power is that which a pin exerts on the wood of a
post through which it has been driven when the
tenon, which is pinned in, tends to drag it out, and
thereby split the wood.
STRENGTH OF TIMBER.
135
TENSILE STRAIN.
The following table exhibits the tensile strength of
an inch-square rod of each of the kinds of wood in
common use; or, in other words, the power each will
resist when so applied as to tend to tear it asunder in
the direction of its length:-
Kind of Wood
Black Spruce
Weight in Pounds.
White Pine
Carolina Pine
•
White Oak
Hemlock
Chestnut
10,260
8,300
12,000
13,200
9,100
10,500
PROBLEM I.
TO DETERMINE THE TENSILE STRENGTH OF A
RECTANGULAR TIMBER.
RULE.-Multiply the thickness of the piece in inches
by its depth * in inches, and the product by the weight set
against the kind of wood in the table. The product so
obtained will be the force in pounds the piece will resist.
EXAMPLE. What force will be required to pull
asunder a tie-beam of spruce, 7 inches thick and 10
inches deep?
Thickness, 7
Depth, 10
10.260 Breaking-power.
70
70 Ans. 718,200 lbs.
*The distance across the top of the beam, when it is in a
horizontal position, is commonly called its thickness, and that
of the side, from the top to the under part, its depth.
136
STRENGTH OF TIMBER.
PROBLEM II.
TO DETERMINE THE DIMENSIONS OF A A PIECE OF
TIMBER THAT WILL RESIST A GIVEN STRAIN, ONE
SIDE ONLY BEING GIVEN.
RULE.—Multiply the sum set against the kind of wood
in the table by the given side in inches, and divide the
force to be resisted by this product. The quotient will be
the dimension, in inches, of the side required.
EXAMPLE.-What must be the depth of a beam of
white pine, 4 inches thick, to resist a strain of 232,400
pounds?
8,300 Breaking-weight.
4 Thickness.
33,200
33,200)232,400(7 inches.
232,400
Ans. 4 by 7 inches.
CROSS-STRAIN.
When a piece of timber is supported only at the
ends, and a weight or power is applied at the centre,
it will, if the force is sufficient, bend or sag. If the
power of resistance be great, the wood is said to be
stiff; but, if it bends easily, it is said to be flexible.
Should it bend much without fracture, it is called
tough.
If a beam two feet long and an inch square will
support at its centre five hundred pounds, one of the
same length, two inches wide and an inch deep, will
support a thousand pounds. Hence we have as a
rule that beams of the same depth are to each other as
their thickness. Should the beam described be turned
upon its side, so as to make it an inch thick and two
inches deep, it will support two thousand pounds
STRENGTH OF TIMBER.
137
We therefore have as a second rule that beams of equal
thickness are to each other as the square of their depth.
If a beam an inch square and two feet long will
support at its centre five hundred pounds, one four
feet long will support but two hundred and fifty
pounds. A third rule, therefore, is that beams are to
each other inversely as their length.*
If a beam sixteen feet long, supported at the ends,
will support at its centre a weight of eight hundred
pounds, it will support equally well twice that amount
if eight hundred pounds be placed at points each four
feet from either side of the centre,- half-way between
the centre and the points of support. Again, it will
equally well support twice that amount (or 3,200
pounds) if sixteen hundred pounds be placed at
points each half-way from those last named and the
points of support (two feet). A beam, therefore,
that will support a thousand pounds at its centre
will support two thousand pounds if the weight be
distributed equally over its entire length.
A beam having but one end fixed in a wall will
sustain only a fourth as much weight when applied
to the end as will one of the same dimensions with
both ends in like manner supported and the weight
placed at the middle. When the weight is equally
distributed over the entire length of a beam which
has only one end supported, it will sustain twice the
amount that would break it if applied to the middle.
Should three beams be fixed at one end in a wall
and the other end left unsupported,— one of them in-
* Experiments made by Buffon tend to prove that the
strength of a beam does not decrease in exact geometrical
progression to its length, but that it will actually bear some-
thing more than half the amount which would break one of
half its length.
138
STRENGTH OF TIMBER.
clined upwards, one at the same angle downwards,
and the third level or at right angles with the wall,
that inclined upwards would sustain the least
weight, that inclined downwards the most, and the
horizontal one a mean between the two. In calcu-
lating the strength of an inclined beam, the distance
from the end of the beam at right angles with the
wall should be taken as the actual length of the
beam, which length, as a basis, will give the strength
of the beam if, instead of being inclined, it were
placed in a horizontal position.
From the foregoing data it will be seen that, by
the aid of tables and rules, it is easy to determine
the strength of inclined as well as horizontal timbers.
The following table exhibits the cross-strength of
each of the several kinds of wood, the pieces being
dry, an inch square, and twelve inches long between
the points of support:
Wood.
Spruce
White Pine
Carolina Pine
•
White Oak
Hemlock
Chestnut
Breaking-weight in lbs.
590
548
684
738
426
595
PROBLEM III.
TO DETERMINE THE Cross-strenGTH OF A STICK
OF TIMBER.
RULE.- Multiply the thickness of the stick in inches
by the square of its depth in inches, and divide the product
by the length of the piece in feet. With the quotient mul-
tiply the sum in the table that is set against the kind of
wood; and the product will be the breaking-weight in
pounds.
STRENGTH OF TIMBER.
139
EXAMPLE. What weight will a spruce beam, 18
feet long, 6 inches thick, and 8 inches deep, sustain?
t.
8 Depth.
Length.
18)384(21.3
Breaking-weight.
950
8
36
21.3
64 Square.
24
177.0
6 Thickness.
18
590
1180
384
60
54
12,567.0 lbs.
PROBLEM IV.
TO DETERMINE THE DEPTH OF A STICK OF TIMBER
THAT WILL SUSTAIN A GIVEN WEIGHT, THE
THICKNESS AND LENGTH BEING GIVEN.
RULE. Divide the weight to be sustained by the sum
set against the kind of wood in the table. Multiply the
quotient by the length of the stick in feet, and divide the
product by the thickness of the stick in inches.
square root of the quotient will be the depth of the stick in
inches.
The
EXAMPLE. What depth will be required to a stick
of chestnut, 19 feet long and 3 inches thick, that it
may sustain 27,251 pounds?
'Breaking-weight.
595)27251(45.8
2380
3451
2975
45.8
290.066(5.38
19 Length. 25
4122
458
103)400
309
4760 Thickness 3)870.2
1068)9166
4760
8544
290.066
100
Ans. 538 inches nearly.
:
140
STRENGTH OF TIMBER.
TO DETERMINE
PROBLEM V.
THE THICKNESS OF A STICK OF
TIMBER THAT WILL SUSTAIN A GIVEN WEIGHT,
THE LENGTH AND DEPTH BEING GIVEN.
RULE.- Divide the weight to be sustained by the sum
set against the kind of wood in the table. Multiply the
quotient by the length of the stick in feet, and divide the
product by the square of the depth in inches.
The quotient
will be the thickness of the beam in inches.
EXAMPLE.- What should be the thickness of a
hemlock beam, 21 feet long and 12 inches deep, that
it may sustain a weight of 19,170 pounds?
Breaking-weight.
426)19170(45
45
12 Depth.
1704
21 Length.
12
2130
45
144 Square.
2130
90
144)945(6.56
864
810
720
900
864
Ans. 6,5 inches nearly.
100
IRON RODS IN TRUSSES.
WE
HILE speaking of framing timber, there is a
matter that may be of interest to briefly con-
sider, and it relates to the use of iron rods
in large trusses instead of king or queen posts and
iron straps.
"There is no article," says the learned Ware, "in
the whole compass of the architect's employment
that is more important or more worthy of distinct
consideration than the roof; and there is this satisfac-
tion for the mind of the man of genius in that profes-
sion, that there is no part in which is greater room
for improvement."
The suggestions above quoted, although made in
the year 1756, remained quite unheeded till near the
close of the last century, when Mr. Peter Nicholson
made public the germ of an invention which has, in
process of time, brought about as great a revolution
in the art of carpentry as the introduction of the arch
did in that of masonry. The leading feature of the
invention is the substitution of iron rods for wooden
king and queen posts. The design by Mr. Nicholson
was published in 1797; but as late as 1828 Mr. Tred-
gold says in his excellent Treatise on Carpentry, “It
has been proposed to let the ends of the principal
rafters abut against each other, and to suspend the
king posts by straps of iron; but a piece of good
142
IRON RODS IN TRUSSES.
carpentry should depend as little on straps as possi-
ble." From the tenor of his remarks it is reasonable
to suppose that few, if any, successful experiments
had been made; for he afterwards refers the reader
to a design in his work, where the rafters abut against
each other, and the beam is suspended by planks
bolted to their sides. "This method," he adds, "is
perhaps the best in use." A valuable standard work,
entitled "Treatise on Architecture, Building, etc.,"
was published in Edinburgh in 1844. On page 154
of the work attention is called to the suggestion of
Mr. Nicholson, made forty-seven years before. The
writer (Dr. Thomas Young) says, "There is a very
ingenious project offered to the public by Mr. Nichol-
son ('Carpenter's Assistant,' page 68). He proposes
iron rods for king posts, queen posts, and all other
situations where beams perform the office of ties....
We abound in iron, but we must send abroad for
building timber. This is, therefore, a valuable
project. At the same time, however, let us not over-
rate its value." From the foregoing it appears that,
up to a late day, but little advance had been maue,
the old methods of construction being looked upon
with more favor than the new.
At what time or by whom the idea was first practi-
cally carried out in this country is uncertain. The
burden of evidence, however, indicates that it was
first published by Mr. Asher Benjamin, a Boston
architect, early in this century; and a reform com-
menced, which has steadily advanced until its great
value and economy are universally acknowledged.
TABLES ON IRON WORK.
A
S cast and wrought iron are used in all heavy
framing, a few pages of this work will be de-
voted to a consideration of its nature and
properties.
Iron is a metal found in nearly all parts of the
world. Its specific gravity is .7632, and it differs
from all metal in the fact that, while they are made
brittle by the action of heat, its malleability is thereby
greatly increased.
Iron shrinks so much in cooling that a pattern for
castings should be made an eighth of an inch larger
per foot than the piece is required to be when cooled.
It is heated so as to appear red in the dark at 752°
Fahrenheit, and in twilight at 884°. It is made
visibly red-hot by day at 1,077°, and is thoroughly
melted at 2,754°.
Cast-iron expands 162000 of its length in each di-
rection for every degree of heat; and its greatest
expansion is 10 of its length in the shade, and
10% of its length when exposed to the sun. It will
bear an extension of of its length without per-
manent or serious alteration.
of
Wrought-iron expands 10 of its length for each
degree of heat. It will bear an extension of
its length, and a pressure of 17,800 pounds to a square
inch without injury. Its cohesive power is diminished
з by every degree of heat.
The resisting power of cast-iron has been greatly
144
TABLES ON IRON WORK
►
overestimated. The best experiments show that a
force of 93,000 pounds to a square inch will crush
it, and that it will not bear more than 15,300 pounds
without visible alteration.
The tensile strength of wrought-iron rods has been
tested in a variety of ways. It has been decided that
no particular amount can be named as the actual
strain a rod will resist, as it has been repeatedly proved
that no rod is to be depended upon as uniformly per-
fect throughout, a lesser strain often parting a rod
of larger diameter. The cohesive power of cast-iron
is set down by most authors at 40,000, and of wrought-
iron at 60,000, pounds to a square inch. A vertical
rod, having a weight suspended at the lower end as
in the case of rods supporting a tie-beam, not only
supports the weight at the end, but must, in addition,
sustain its own weight from the point at which it
is suspended, so that a long rod will part near the
upper sooner than the lower end. A perfect rod,
therefore, decreases in strength as it is longer, and
vice versâ.
The following table shows the weight of a square
foot of cast or wrought iron plate, from a sixteenth
of an inch to an inch in thickness, advancing by
sixteenths:-
Dimens. Wrought. Cast.
Dimens. Wrought. Cast.
16ths.
lbs.
1bs.
16ths.
lbs.
lbs.
12345678
2.5
2.3
9
22.8
21.1
5.1
4.7
10
25.4
23.5
7.6
7.0
11
27.9
25.8
10.1
9.4
12
30.4
28.1
12.7
11.7
13
32.9
30.5
15.2
14.0
14
35.5
32.9
17.9
16.4
15
38.0
35.2
20.3
18.0
16
40.6
37.6
TABLES ON IRON WORK.
145
The following table shows the weight of a foot in
length of wrought or cast iron, either round or square,
from half an inch to three inches in diameter, advanc-
ing by eighths :-
WROUGHT.
CAST.
Side of
Square or
Diameter.
Circular. Square.
Side of
Square or
Diameter.
Circular. Square.
Inches.
lbs.
lbs.
Inches.
lbs.
lbs.
.65
.83
.61
.78
1.02
1.3
1.47
1.87
2
2 55
aly Atacks
.95
1.22
1.38
1.75
1.87
2.39
1
pa pi po pi AHHH~~~~~2223
2.61
3 33
11
1
1
1
1
Ar»Rockin-IKHIL
3 31
4.21
4 09
52
4.94
6.3
5.89
7.5
6 91
8.8
8 01
10 2
92
11.71
10.47
13.33
11 82
15.05
13 25
16.87
14.76
18.8
16.36
20.8
18.03
22.96
19.79
25.2
21.63
27.55
23.56
30.
HHHAAAAA2~~~~~~23
1
2.45
3.12
3.1
3.95
1
3.83
4.88
4.64
5.9
5.52
7.03
6.48
8.25
1
7.51
9 57
17
8.62
10.98
9.81
12.5
11.08
14.11
12.42
15 81
13.84
17.62
15.33
19.53
16 91
21.53
18.56
23.63
20.28
25 83
22 08
28.12
A cubic foot of cast-iron weighs 450.5 pounds; and
one of wrought, 486.8. A cubic inch of each weighs
respectively .260 and .281.
The accompanying table shows the weight of bar
iron from a quarter of an inch to an inch in thickness,
and from one to four inches in width, advancing by
an eighth :
146
TABLES ON IRON WORK.

Width of Thick.
Thick.
Thick.
Thick.
Thick.
Thick.
Thick.
Bar.
in.
& in.
in.
& in.
2 in.
} in.
1 in.
1 in.
.84
1 25
1.66
2.08
2.5
2.91
3.31
1급
​.93
1.4
1.87
2.34
2.81
3.28
3.75
11
1.04
1.56
2 08
2.6
3.12
3.64
416
1
1.14
1.71
2.29
2.86
3.4
4.01
4.58
HHHH~~~~~~~2333 ED AD AD EME
1
1.25
1.87
2.5
3.12
3.75
4.37
5.
1.35
2.03
2.71
3.38
4.11
4.73
5 42
1.45
2.18
2.91
3.64
4 37
5.1
5.83
1.66
2.34
3.12
3.90
4.73
5.46
6.25
1 77
25
3 33
4.16
5.
5 83
6 66
ALAIKINIKAIT
1.87
2.21
3 54
4.42
5.36
6 19
7.08
1.98
2.81
3.75
4.68
5.62
6 56
7 5
2.08
2.97
3.96
4 94
5 98
6 92
7.91
2.18
3.12
4.16
5.2
6 25
7.29
8.33
2.29
3.28
4 37
5.46
6 61
7.65
8 75
2.4
3.43
4.58
5.72
6.87
8 02
9.16
2.5
3 59
4.79
5 98
7 26
8 38
9.58
2.6
3 75
5.
6 25
7.5
8 75
10.
27
3.91
5.21
6.51
786
911
10.42
2.81
4.06
5.41
6.77
8.12
9.47
10.83
2.91
4.22
5.62
7.03
8.39
9 83
11.24
3.01
4 37
5.83
7.29
8.75
102
11.66
3.11
4 56
6.04
7 55
9.10
10 56
12.08
3.22
4 68
6.25
7.81
9 37
10.93
12.5
3.30
4 84
6 46
8 07
9 64
11.30
12 92
3.34
5.
6.66
8.32
10.
11.66
13.33
The weights in the foregoing tables are those of
English iron. American iron is a seventieth heavier;
and, therefore, in making calculations of its weight,
one pound should be added to every seventy pounds
as computed by the tables.
To ascertain the weight of any piece of cast-iron,
we have but to determine the contents in cubic inches,
and multiply it by the decimal .260; or in feet, and
multiply by 450.5. If it be of a shape or form that
will readily admit of measurement in superficial feet
as plates, we select the multiplier for the particular
thickness as given in the table, and the product is the
weight in pounds.
To determine the weight of a piece of wrought-iron,
we ascertain its contents in cubic inches, and multiply
TABLES ON IRON work.
147
it by the decimal .281; or in feet, and multiply by
486.8; or, if it admits of measurement as a plate,
multiply the amount of superficial feet by the figures
set against the particular thickness in the table. To
determine the weight of any piece of round, square,
or flat iron, we select the amount given in the table,
and multiply it by the number of feet in length of the
piece whose weight we wish to obtain.

พอ

wils
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
720.4 B319
Bates, Robert Charles.
The elementary principles of architectur
3 1951 001 589 758 O
WILSON
ANNEX
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