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New Zealand Graphic, Volume XL, Issue 1, 4 January 1908, Page 28

Piercing the skyline of New York far above all the other skyscrapers is the lofty Singer building, fast nearing completion. When the towering pile of steel and masonry is finished it will be 47 stories high and 612 feet from the pavement to the pinnacle. This giant will be the highest occupied building in the world, and will overtop all other existing structures except the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The foundation is set in solid bedrock 90 feet below the level of the street. On the bedrock were built caissons of cement. A heavy steel body laid over the caissons forms the underbody of the structure, 14 floors of which comprise the main section of the building. from which rises the tower up to 47 stories, with its scores of office-rooms. Eighteen lifts will carry the 2500 tenants to their offices. Fifteen thousand incandescent lights, sufficient, the engineers say, to light a town of 25,000 inhabitants, will illuminate the rooms and hallways for late office workers. Fifteen miles of pupe will be required for steam and water purposes. The “Builder” calls attention to the unparalleled activity which prevails at the present time in the projection of schemes for railway tunnels in Switzerland and adjoining countries. Seven or eight schemes are on foot, including those for the construction of a tunnel parallel to the Simplon, a similar work beneath the Jura, another througn Mont Blanc, and a new tunnel at lower level in place of the existing llauenstein tunnel. The second Simplon tunnel will be slightly wider than the first. It is probable that the total cost will be not less than one and a half millions. The projected tunnel under Mont Blanc is to be rather more than eleven miles long, and its highest point nearly 6500 ft above sea-level. This scheme has been formulated by a technical commission of the Turin municipality, and, if constructed, the tunnel will give direct railway communication between Aosta and Chamonix.