THE TALLEST BUILDING IN THE WORLD.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLI, Issue 61, 13 March 1907, Page 5

THE TALLEST BUILDING IN THE WORLD.

To complete the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company's new skyscraper i offices in New York, plans have been approved for the building of a commodious tower, which will be the high--1 est business structure in the world, jit will be 658 ft high, and there is no i I?^er structure built by man except the Eiffel Tower, in Paris, 984 ft, which is not a business structure. Cologne i Cathedral is only 528 ft,: and the Pyra- ' of.£ he °Ps 452ft > St. Paul's Cathej ?™1 366,&. and *ne Nelson Monument St •,f extraprdmary. tower will ;be one of the architectural wonders of ■ JI BA W% d v lt T IU £ com Pris6 48 storeys, iSni tT 1 nbmldlng of the Metropo--1 ni = A l ie Com^ an >-- The main part ■u¥ wIU be 74ft square and will be 492 ft 9ain high, and^tWat on each of its sides. The tower will oe constructed ot a stool skeleton, w,,n ornamental brick and marble to match tho mam struct.irr. Above the main pomon will bo- ;)ia..-o<l a dome 94ft

high, with an octagonal cupola 70 additional feet high, decorated with lonic columns, and crowned with a "tjlass globe 4ft- in diameter. In t'sfeito.wer will be fixed six passenger lifts, and a fireproof staircase, with three landings to each storey, will extend from the ground to the top of the cupola. One of the lifts will be express, making the entire journey from basement to summit without stopping. The estimate cost of the tower is £600,000. These lofty steel buildings, which make passers-by dizzy to contemplate, arc built so scientifically that there is little danger of wind blowing them down. In stormy weather, however, so great is the velocity of the wind, with eddies always curving upward, which beats around the base, that experienced pedestrians avoid the skyscrapers as much as possible. During a gale it is one of the most pathetic spectacles of New York to see ii) experienced ladies from the country captured by the" eddying winds which sweep around the base of the skyscrapers, blowing their skirts over their heads, and hurling them pell-mell down the street, until they reach a less disturbed region. Nevertheless, the skyscrapers of New York are absolutely necessary to meet the demands of the business world.