Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/314

 254 Sloan's Architectural Review and Builders' Journal. [October, presents a good appearance externally ; especially the principal front, which is two stories high, with an angular pedi- mented centre, on either side of which are semi-circular pediments of lesser proportion. Two similar pediments are on the sides, equidistant from the cor- ner. This centre is pierced with a large double or coupled window, beneath an arched recess, over which is set a mar- ble slab, and in the pediment, above it, another. On the upper one is the 3'ear of erection ; and on the lower and larger the names of the three Commissioners, appointed by the State to superintend the erection of the Market, and, also, the name of the Architect. This centre, of two stories, is covered with a semi- circular roof, from which rises a cupola, with a dome, furnished with a gilded weather-vane and the cardinal letters. This second story will be occupied by the officers of the Market : — a circular staircase of iron leads to it. The whole structure is covered with a roof divided, in its width, into three sections of segment-trussed girders of heavy timber, substantially framed to- gether and securely bolted, having iron tension-rods for ties, and these latter sustained by rods passing through and firmly bolted to the arched girders. These girders are placed 16 feet from each other, and are upheld by the two side walls, and two ranges of iron columns, throughout the length of the building, 34? feet. On each of these three great lines of roof rises a ventila- tor, 8 feet high and 15 feet wide, through whose continuous range of windows a plentiful supply of light aids the win- dows in the walls ; and, as the sashes are made movable, and under the sim- plest control from below, these give good ventilation to the building, and hence their name. The entire roof is covered with tin of a superior quality ; and the valley-gutters convey the rain water to the columns, which conduct it to the system of drain- pipes laid beneath the floor, which, again, discharge it in the river. The internal arrangement of this market is roomy, convenient and acces- sible, having: nine avenues, with 140 stalls, occupying about three-fifths of the area, for the retail trade. The other two-fifths belong to the wholesale de- partment; and through this are two drives, 12 feet wide, at right angles with each other. Viewed from either end, the interior presents a very light, pleasing appear- ance ; and the visitor is naturally led to hope, that this is but the initial build- ing of a fit and proper sy stem of market accommodation, which New Yorkers are justly entitled to, if it were only for their most exemplary patience in the past. DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE. HEREIN New York may well raise her head in proud pre-eminence ; for — although other cities in the new and the old world may surpass her, in single instances — where can be found so general a display of elegance, as meets the eye of the observer, in the numer- ous palatial streets of this princely me- tropolis ? Nor is this array of grand habitations confined to our day. No — the march has been a progressive one from the days of our Dutch predeces- sors down to the present ; and has now more and more the unabating progress of ambition in it than ever, — bidding fair to overshadow, in the future, the efforts of the present, as the present has bedimmed the once-admired structures of the past. Taking advantage of every novelty,