Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/93

 1868.] Miscellaneous. 73 places throughout. The girders of the building will be of iron, and the struc- ture will be entirely fire-proof. The towers on each end of the building will command most superb views of the city and the country around. In front of the windows on Broad street, which will be arched at the top, will be placed balconies and balustrades of granite. The building will be heated by means of steam generated in the cellar. Ample means of ventilation will be provided, and the different rooms so proportioned as to give the best acoustic advantages. The building in its general characteristics will be of such a descrip- tion as to enable a Mason who is a stranger in the city at once to detect its ownership and use by a glance. The ceremonies of laying the corner stone were most imposing. The architect is Mr. James Windrim, of this city, whose design was selected from amongst a number presented. It is estimated that it will take five j^ears to complete this temple, and that its cost will be $750,000. We are glad that the Freemasons of Philadelphia, now and for a long time back, greatly crowded in their present hall on Chestnut street, north side above Seventh, are to have a spacious, well- appointed and elegantly decorated tem- ple, on the future handsomest street of the city. —Eds. School op Design for "Women. — The following named gentlemen were, on the 23d ult., elected Directors of the Phila- delphia School of Design for Women : William J. Horstmann, P. P. Morris, James L. Claghorn, James H. Orne, David S. Brown, Redwood F. Warner, James A. Wright, George Whitney, E. W Clark, W. P. Wilstach, Jay Cooke, and John Sartain. Mr. Peabody's dwellings for the London poor have a population of 1,583, and more are to be erected. — Morning Post, April 18, 1868. The Proposed ISTew Bridge across the Schuylkill. — The Highway and Survey Committees of Councils, by in- vitation of a committee of citizens re- siding in the Twenty -fourth ward, vis- ited the site for the proposed bridge across the Schuylkill, on the 4th of April last. The Pennsylvania Railroad, which crosses Bridge street, renders travel to and fro extremely dangerous, and to obviate this the citizens residing in that section of the city have taken steps to insure safety to all who may be compelled to cross the wire bridge. The only feasible plan that suggested itself to the minds of those having the matter in charge is the erection of a bridge, which shall cross the Pennsylvania Rail- road, thus avoiding the danger of acci- dent by the approach of any of the numerous trains which pass over that road. It is proposed to construct the bridge over the Schuylkill on the line of Bridge street, as now laid out and used west of the Pennsylvania Railroad, above grade, striking grade at Callowhill street, on the east side of the river, at the inter- section of Biddle street. The following correspondence may be of interest to our readers: Philadelphia, March 24, 1863. No. 3300 Hamilton Street. J. Edgar Thomson, Esq., President Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Dear Sir: The dangerous crossing of the Pennsylvania Railroad, at Bridge street, in the Twenty-fourth ward, and the steep grades of Bridge and Haver- ford streets, being obstructions to travel, detrimental to the interests of the city, and injurious to property in that vicin- ity, it has become necessary to devise a method of avoiding the danger, reducing the grade, and giving a proper and much needed outlet to travel and traffic, and, at the same time, not interfere with the valuable interests of the corporation over which you preside. For this pur- pose it is proposed to construct a per-