Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/781

 1869.] Descriptions. 633 securely fastened on the outside. A few rooms, in each one-story building, have small windows, out of reach of their occupants, intended for the tem- porary seclusion of very violent or mis- chievous patients. In other parts, as well as in this, wire screens inside of the rooms are occasionally used to protect glass, and ornamental wire-work is adopted in some of the parlors, at tbe ends of corridors, and in other similar positions, as a guard outside of the win- dows. Doors. — The doors throughout are made of the best white pine lumber. In the wards they are If inches thick, 6 feet 8 inches high by 2 feet 7 inches wide. Each door has eight panels in it, one of which makes a hinged wicket, and what is commonty known as bead and butt, very substantially put to- gether; and, wherever special strength is required, it is obtained by transverse pieces of iron, let into the wood, or by plates of boiler-iron, screwed on and painted, so as to resemble an ordinary door. Each door has a good dead-lock to it, and occasionally a mortice-bolt is added. Over each door is an unglazed sash, 31 by IT inches, covered with fine wire on the inside, or a space 31 by 5 inches, which can be filled up at pleas- ure, by a tight board, or by wire. Lift hinges have been used for all these doors, which, for patient's lodging-rooms, always open into the corridors. Floors. — The floors throughout are of the best yellow pine, cut to order in Florida ; and piled up on the grounds two years, before it was used. The boards are oi.e inch and a quarter thick, vary- ing in width from two and a quarter to four iuches, and put down with secret nailing. Counter-ceiling is everywhere used. The only exception to this kind of flooring is in the two kitchens, the scullery, a space in the basement hall in front, the bake-room, all the sink, water- closet, and wash-rooms, the line between different wards, the entrance to the stairways, and the main wash-room in the engine-house, which are of brown German flagstones, laid on brick arches ; the engineer's work-room, which is paved with brick ; the front of the boiler-room, which is of iron and blue stone flagging: : and the engine-room, one sink-room, and all the ward stairways, which are of slate, admirably adapted to such a pur- pose — from the quarries of Eleazer Jones & Co., at East Granville, N. Y.— which has also been used extensively, for win- dow-sills, stairways, and other purposes. Stairways. — All the stairways, in those parts of the building occupied by patients, are fire-proof. The frame- work is of cast-iron — built into the brickwork on each side, and covered with slate — which has many advantages. The rise of these steps is only seven inches ; and there are platforms every five or six steps, with convenient hand- rails on both sides, from top to bottom. They are all well lighted from windows by day and from gas at night. The well, around which the stairs wind, is used for hat or coat-rooms, for the different stories. Plastering. — The inside plastering is what is called hard finish, composed of lime and sand, without plaster of Paris, except for ceilings, and well troweled. This finish admits of being scrubbed for }^ears without injury, and is at all times ready for painting. The outside of the building is roughcast, the material used being the pulverized stone, of which the house is built, and lime, to which an agreeable shade of color is given by sand obtained in Montgomery county, Pa. Hydraulic cement is used near the ground, in certain positions, in many of the sink and wash-rooms, in the kitchen and scullery, in the main wash- room, and, as a substitute for the ordi- nary wash-boards, in many of the ward corridors and patients' chambers. Roofing. — The roof is of Pennsylva- nia slate, fastened on lath, and plastered with hair mortar on the under side. The pitch is one-fourth of the span. The water from the roof is carried off, thi-ough