NOTABLE BUILDINGS DESTROYED.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 94, 20 April 1906, Page 3

NOTABLE BUILDINGS DESTROYED.

STANFORD UNIVERSITY.

Stanford University, reported to be demolished, was of little less importance than its .State-aided rival the University of California. Its average roll number was about 1000 student?, a very large staff of professors and lecturers being employed. It stood near Palo Alto, about 30 miles from San Francisco, and the report of the destruction shows bow far-reaching were the mighty effects of the enormous earthquake. The University included a series of magnificent stone buildings, of beautiful architectural design, each separately erected in the central portion of the extensive grounds. Its chapel was signally beautiful building, and contained several pictures of very great value. The university was endowed by Senator Stan-

ford. 4 statesman, with nearly the .yrholg of his iwZ mease fortune," and other noble gifts haye been.bequeathed to Stanford,' which took its name from its principal benefactor. Students 'attended from all parts of the West, while Eastern and colonial students =\vere <Dot..-unknon-n. The jUniy.ersity did hot 'confine itself to the classical sides, hut had ah excellent technical department • fitted up in the most complete .manner. for .the instruction of students. Professor JDavia Starr Jordan was president. ..He is a : -noted icthyoloigist, and has catalogued the fish in the .waters. o£ several areas of the United States. . ~ 7 THE MINT. : The.-U.S. Branch Mint, at Fifth and [Mission streets, in the business quarter, was a substantial three-storeyed buildj ing.: its architecture being a combination of Doric and'lonic. Its portico, flanked by six fluted columns, was approached iby a flight of granite steps. The base-ment-was of granite, and Ihe two upper storeys of a bluish grey sandstone, the building- occupying the whole of the end , of one block, thus fronting thf.ee streets. i It was the largest mint in-America, by reason of the large gold output of CaliI fornia, the annual value of coin turned lout being twenty-five to thirty-five million dc'iars. The coinage w»8 nearly

all silver "and gold, copper having "but a limited vise ["for- the purchase.bf postage stamps. Very little' paper .money is in circulation in' California., all business 4 beihg'conducted in'gold and, silver' coins.

•- - ST. IGXAT.IUS" CHURCH,

; The.Church of StT; Ignatius,:.-which stood -oa the-comer of VanOCess -Avenue aud: Haycs-strcct, was the. "largest- and most imposing of all the. sacred e.dilieeSi. of San Francisco. It. reared itself to a height of four huge storeys, witli a double spire in the main front, and a .second wing at the rear for college and general instruction purposes. The spires were 275 ft. high, and the organ,:the second largest -iv the United -States,, contained 5330-. pipes. It was a TRoman Catholic edifice, and exceeded in size and beauty the Cathedral St. Mary's.

A TOWX IX RUIXS.

Santa Rosa was a town of 11.000 inhabitants in the Sacramento Valley, near Napa, It lay in the middle-of a great vine; fruit and grain district. It lies towards Pefaluma. about 100 miles from San Francisco. Practically the whole town has been laid in ruins, since [the cable reports that ten thousand people ate homeless.

Cliff House, as its name implies, stood on the".cuffs outside the Golden .Gate; overlooking the ocean, its immense-pile forming "a .landmark visible for many miles : at sea; Its western windows overhung the (Pacific, w-hose huge breakers, thundered at its base-. $? was a well.known pleasure- resort*Tand" was daily visited by large numbers of holiday-:' makers. ' , ■■"- V." '~T: ' .■'* r .j

7\ OAKLAND. 7.7";

-Oakland is the largest city in the near neighbourhood of San Francisco, its population being about 80,000. It lies across the great Bay of San 'Francisco, six mile* by boat, and a like distance by train separating the two cities. Every 15 minutes during the tla.ylight a great ferry boat leaves the San Franciscan shore, passing a return vessel each. trip. These boiats accommodate up to 2000 peopiej and every day 40.000 people cross the bay,, while, on special occasions the' travel has been as great as- 100,000 a day.' Oakland is to a large extent a manufacturing town, and "with its estuary for deep water shipping, with shipyards for the building and repairing of vessels, and every facility for loading and unloading ships, it is peculiarly well located for a commercial centre. It is the metropolis of Alameda County, one of the most productive districts of a re-, markably productive State.

BERKELEY AND THE STATE UNIVERSITY.

Berkeley, the suburb repotted to be destroj-ed, lies on the hills opposite the Golden Crate. A, suburb of striking beauty, it contained some of the most artistic homes, in California. It commands a glorious prospect of rolling mountains and far spread bays, atiu its growth has been remarkable, new residences springing up on every hand with wonderful rapidity. , It has a climate softer even than that of San Frajjfiseo, the most truly temperate climate imaginable. Entirely a residential quarter, its beauty of view and climate have attracted people from all parts of the United (States, many of whom have made their home where they intended to pay but n brief visit. .Just where a beautiful canon in the Berkeley Hills descends, to the' plain, upon the gently rising slope which leads up from the Bay shore, two miles distant, a. tract of 253 acres, was set apart for the University of California. This university was, with the sole, exception of Harvard, the largest in point of numbers of students in the United States. In the past twelve years it has grown sixfold, with tlie result that in point of population California had more students within her confines than any state of the union. Mrs Hearst, wife of millionaire Wm. Hearst, the proprietor of numerous American "yellow" journals, has been a generous friend to the institution, several hundreds of thousands of dollars haying been placed at the disposal of the' governors of the university by Ikh\ 'The year before last the Hearst Mining Building, the first of a liew group of magnificent buildings designed to replace the many temporary buildings perforce erected, was erected, and work on other sections of the great series of structures was iv hand.

"NEWSPAPER ANGLE."

Just where the busiest life of San Francisco centres, in Market-street, at the comer of Third Kearny-strect and Geary-sStreet. the holocaust has been i #.w-£id:4l\ its .completeness. „ Here wejc 'clustered the tliree iriorning .papsr&i'tbe "Call.''' the and the.-'Ex-aminer.' and close beside stood the Palace Hotel, while the Grand Opera House was within striking distance of the "Call" tower. All these buildings, the costliest and most striking in San Francisco, lie in one confused general ruin, and "Newspaper Angle,*' the finest architectural feature of the business district, after being"'levelled by. earthquake, has gone up in smoke.

The "Chronicle"' building was a fine structure of red sandstone and brick, surmounted by a high clock tower. It was ten sf.oreys high, and formed a well-known city landmark. It occupied a commanding, corner position, overlapping its nearest neighbours by many storeys.

The "Examiner" building, owned .byMr Wm. Hearst, was built in the Spanish style with simple plaster walls, and deep-recessed portico at the top. It was nine storeys high, and was fitted up in the most up-to-date manner possible.

The "Gall" building was described yesterday. II stood 19 storeys high, the height to the top of the dome being 310 ft, while the main cornice was 210 ft above the street level. Its daily population was about 500 souls.

THE CHLNESE QUARTER.

The San Francisco Chinese had a city of their own within the city of the whites —right in the heart ofthat city, in fact. Practically all the buildings of ten blocks arc occupied by them. The boundaries of Chinatown were California, Pacific, Kearny and Stdcktou Streets, though not all of that area is occupied by the Mongols. In this city within a city the Chinese live much as ttiey do in China.

There was a deal of strong, bizarre i colour to be seen, much filth and the' wretchedness winch conies from . overcrowding. Lately the place was far, move cleanly than formerly, the health authorities having awakened to the danger of having so filthy a disease- ; breeding settlement in the city's midst. When Chinatown wa-s * crowded, the thrifty Chinese burrowed in the J earth and had several " stories" under the surface. Underground passages connected these chambers. Heavy oak I doors studded with iron were arranged so they could be closed and keep the police from the gambling and lottery \ dens. Murder by organised ruffians called Highbinders was frequent, and continued so to this day, the price paid for a murder being as low as' SOOdol. The murderers carefully planned their attacks, and then vanish from view over roofs, and through the underground ways, so that detection is extremely difficult. The Chinese themselves j shield the murderers, either through fear I or favour, and Chinese testimony in the I courts lias been found to be almost entirely unreliable, members of the rival Tongs or societies being as ready to swear away an innocent life a 9 to shield a guilty criminal. The Chinese " Six Companies" control all the Chinese and ebnie very near to making and executing the .laws for them. Each of these powerful, organisations represents' the Chinese from' a particular province, and Mie ; purpose of the organisation itself is' presumably: benevolent: ' But -a China- 1 fma,n will generally attempt; to obey, the I order of the companies rather than an order Ot the -white" man's court. ; So the Chinese bred then- own lives, en- j velbped in. a, sort of mjjsfcwj, jabbering ] their mnatrttigjtm* ,tMitfcUwM|aril dalipfe "^ t *tS^ i —-*^^ m mWm -m^BW^

Female slavery there right under the eyes of theTeagle <of Large -funds to be used, in .bribery.. have been up ,by the. gamblers add lottery /dealers, and ; there have "been many eruptions in the'police department on that; accounts •. In the past year." ortwo; /much had been to improve the general tone' of' Chinatown/ and -though it l»s been robbed of some of its squalid pietufesqueness and moral-filth, it will still be found a source of much amusement 'and" instruction. In *•■ the Chinese shops were many'fine silks and fabrics and much strange jewellery. The Cliineso artisans frequently worked with tlie queer tools they used in their native land. 7The Chinese markets were stuffy with dried, meats and fish in fantastic -forms. Here were to be found the opium dens, the gorgeous joss houses, where the grotesquely hideous heathen gods were worshipped; the glittering restaurants; where excellent tea aud unusual sweetmeats are served; the theatres, where the plays ran on continuously, where tlie female roles were taken by men, and where the gongs and cymbals, horns, tom-toms and squeaky fiddles kept up a wild revel of'souud. Some of the fan-tan and other gambling may possiblj- be seen, if the police are not at the time particularly vigilant. The painted women, Tfjith their little feet and strangely dressed hair, and the brilliantly attired children make a pleaar big sight,' even in the midst of the abominable smells. Not many Ohinfe.se I bring their -wives to America, though in later years sonic of the prosperous merchants have done so; but from the first Chinese girls have been imported for immoral purposes, and these poor creatures -were owned as slaves, each having a given value -just as the negroes of the South did before the U.S. Civil War.

ST. AGNEW.S ASYLUM.

St. Agnew's is near_ Los Gatos, between San Jose and Sante Cruz. It was the best known of the mental institutions of the West, and was a solidly built substantial building.

SANTA CRUZ.

S«nta Cruz stands about 100 miles to the southward of San Francisco, on the great Bay' of Monterey. It is a charmingly situated town, with a fair export trade.