Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/765

 1869.] Descriptions. 621 iron is crushing-proof, for a column must be ten miles in height, before it will crush itself by its own weight. Unlike wrought-iron and steel, it is not subject to rapid oxidation and decay by expo- sure to the atmosphere ; and whatever tendency it may have in that direction, can easily be prevented by a proper coating of paint. No other material is so valuable, after it has served its origi- nal purposes, as it may be re-cast into new forms and adapted to new uses. In business quarters, where blocks of stores are built up solid, whre each building measures about one hundred feet deep by twenty-five wide, rear al- most butting to rear, with window open- ings only at the front and back, light becomes one of the most important re- quirements. A chaste and airy edifice of iron may be safely substituted for the cumbrous structures of other substances, and ample strength secured, without the exclusion of da3iight. Iron, in this respect, presents peculiar fitness. It wants proper treatment, and asks not to be set up as a false jewel, colored and sanded in imitation of stone, or made flashy with over-ornamentation. This material — emphatically an ' American building material — has peculiarities of its own, and will preserve its own indi- viduality. Let an observer stand on any of the four corners of Stewart's immense drygoods store, and take in with his eye the frontage on two streets. Those plain round columns and moulded arches, and projecting cornices cannot be mistaken for stone. There is too much lightness and grace for anything but iron ; and both the expansive ele- vations are beautiful too, in being iron. As another example, take the large iron front just erected on the cor- ner of Eleventh street and Broadway. Or, as a greater marvel of simplicity in iron, with boldness and beauty, the front of Messrs. Cornell, on Centre street. And so of others. Iron fronts have been relieved from the thraldom of orna- mentation — over-ornamentation. Stew- art's store, in this respect, marks a new era in its use. Whatever moulding is good in stone, for projection, or general outline, is also good in iron. And iron, with its greater daylight openings, and airiness of struc- ture, and smooth surface painted with honest lead and oil paint, will proudly speak for itself. Long after a stone front has gone to decay and disappeared, the iron will be retained in its original fullness and sharpness in every line. Keep it painted ; and, after a thousand years of exposure to wind and weather, an iron front will be as perfect as on the da}' of erection. To paint iron costs much less than to paint wood or other materials, on account of its non-absorb- ent surface. The interest on the differ- ence in first cost, between a stone and an iron front, will easily pay for one coat of paint a year. More than that: allow the difference in cost to accumulate with legal interest, less the expense of one coat of paint a 3'ear, and by the time the stone is ruined, the iron will not only have cleared itself, and stand on the balance sheet at a profit, but be in prime condition for continued service. On any much-travelled street, a mar- ble front soon becomes rusty and dis- colored with dust and rain. An iron front, kept properly painted, appears periodically in a new dress, and is always clean and bright. Other things being equal, place two merchants respectively in a stone front and an iron front store, side by side, and he in the clean, bright, attractive front will do the most busi- ness, and can afford to pay the largest rent. Just above Grace Church, on Broadway, there are two stores erecting, adjoining each other, and pi"ecisely alike in eveiy detail, one front of iron and one of marble. These take a place in ihe history of building fronts. When iron fronts were first introduced it was strenuously asserted by some, that expansion and contraction would dislocate the joints, and render a build- ing unsafe. An examination of any of