April 13, 2008

Biggest Post Office TO BE BUILT IN CHICAGO (Aug, 1931)

Filed under: Architecture, Communications — @ 10:43 pm
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1931
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Biggest Post Office TO BE BUILT IN CHICAGO

CHICAGO is to have the largest post office in the world. The fifty-acre, twelve-story building will be completed and ready for occupancy within about a year and a half, according to a recent announcement of the United States Post Office Department. It will be able to care for the 19,000.000 letters a day expected by 1943, in addition to the parcel post packages and newspapers. Read the rest of this entry »

April 6, 2008

First All-Glass Building Soon to Rise in City of New York (Jun, 1930)

Filed under: Architecture — @ 10:10 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jun, 1930
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Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright no less.

First All-Glass Building Soon to Rise in City of New York

FROM designing the Imperial Hotel in Tokio, Japan—the only structure of any importance that stood up under the earthquake a few years back—to building the first all-glass house in the heart of New York City is a pretty long step. But it is being taken by Frank Lloyd Wright, world-famed architect, who proposes to erect a building along the lines of that shown in the illustration, at Second Avenue and 11th Street. It is the first of several that Mr. Wright plans to build within the next few years.
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Pleasure-Tower Half Mile High (Jul, 1933)

Filed under: Architecture, Impractical — @ 10:09 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jul, 1933
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Pleasure-Tower Half Mile High

Towering almost half a mile above the ground, dwarfing such gigantic structures as the Empire State Building and the Eiffel tower, a huge concrete tower 2300 feet high, surmounted with a beacon and built with a spiral ramp for autos to climb up its sides, stuns the imagination with its vastness. It is the design of the French engineer, M. Freyssinet, intended for the 1937 Paris Exhibition. Read the rest of this entry »

April 4, 2008

Windows in Builders’ Fence Permit Public to Watch (Aug, 1938)

Filed under: Architecture — @ 8:47 pm
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1938
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This would be cool. When I was a kid, I loved looking through the cracks in the wall to watch the construction on new buildings.

Windows in Builders’ Fence Permit Public to Watch
Recognizing the interest which the public takes in watching others work, a construction company built windows into the fence around the job on which its employes were working recently. The windows permit passers-by to watch, in complete safety.

March 30, 2008

TIED DOWN HOUSE IS HURRICANE PROOF (Mar, 1933)

Filed under: Architecture — @ 9:58 pm
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Mar, 1933
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I’d say these people drastically underestimate the power of a hurricane.

TIED DOWN HOUSE IS HURRICANE PROOF
Even the force of a hurricane will not unroof the house of one Florida home owner, or sweep it from its foundations, for the house is tied down. After witnessing the disastrous experiences of some of his neighbors in wind storms, this man passed steel cables over his roof and anchored their ends securely in the ground. Turnbuckles provided a means of taking up the slack in the cables and making them taut. The photograph above shows the owner putting the finishing touches to his installation.

Giant Figure of Christ in Odd Church Design (Nov, 1936)

Filed under: Architecture — @ 12:58 am
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Nov, 1936
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Giant Figure of Christ in Odd Church Design

Patents have been issued for an odd architectural design for churches. The plan calls for a giant figure of Christ, to be constructed of burnished copper, which would dominate the church building made of cement in natural stone color. The design has Christ seated on a rock at Gethsemane, with the church entrance in the rock, beneath the flowing robes of the figure. A halo for the figure and illumination for the entire structure would be provided by a system of floodlights.

March 25, 2008

TOURIST CAMP HAS CONCRETE “TEPEES” (Jul, 1936)

Filed under: Architecture — @ 10:31 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jul, 1936
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TOURIST CAMP HAS CONCRETE “TEPEES”

Cleverly constructed to look like a small Indian village, a novel tourist camp near Lawrence, Kans., has concrete shelters closely resembling Indian tepees. Cement stucco, laid over wire mesh on a foundation of three slantingpoles, forms the walls of the odd overnight cabins. Each “tepee” is equipped with comfortable beds, running hot and cold water, cooking stove, and other conveniences.

March 13, 2008

KEEPING AHEAD of the JONSES (Mar, 1941)

Filed under: Architecture — @ 2:00 am
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Mar, 1941
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KEEPING AHEAD of the JONSES

ONE sure sign of spring is that annual urge to “do something” about the house and furniture.

Perhaps it’s because we stay at home more in the cold season and get a bit tired of looking at the same walls, floors and furnishings. Whatever the reason, the recent growing demand for change in the home has stimulated the invention and manufacture of more and different furnishings, gadgets and building materials than ever. Hundreds of these innovations will be found in your favorite department store, furniture showroom or building supply house this spring with possibly one exception, and this exception is likely to produce the greatest change of all in the home when it is ready for market. Read the rest of this entry »

March 12, 2008

Manhattan’s $300,000 Roof Dwellings (Nov, 1929)

Filed under: Architecture — @ 12:30 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Nov, 1929
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Manhattan’s $300,000 Roof Dwellings

By ORVILLE H. KNEEN

The Story of the Penthouse Apartment

Roofs of metropolitan skyscrapers are now the most sought-after and expensive sites for exclusive apartment dwellings. Rentals for some of the roof houses range around $2000 per room per year!

I HAVE heard much about New York penthouses lately. Thinking of a penthouse as a little shack on a dingy roof, I asked a realty friend to show me one.
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A VISIT INSIDE UNCLE SAM’S New Gold Vault Fortress (Jun, 1934)

Filed under: Architecture — @ 12:28 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jun, 1934
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A VISIT INSIDE UNCLE SAM’S New Gold Vault Fortress

Built to withstand fires, bombs and the raids of super criminals, the nation’s newest treasure house is the last word in safety. Here are the reasons why.

by JAMES NEVIN MILLER

UNCLE SAM’S new gold vault is the greatest and strongest fortress in the world. No fire can harm it. No bomb can damage its mighty walls. The most brilliant cracksmen cannot penetrate its baffling defenses.

Built of steel and concrete whose strength is unbelievable, this giant treasure house is equipped with mysterious passageways, secret doors and an automatic alarm system whose scale is the largest ever conceived by the mind of man.
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March 10, 2008

“COURTS” offer Luxury for MOTORISTS (Nov, 1936)

Filed under: Architecture — @ 1:50 am
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Nov, 1936
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“COURTS” offer Luxury for MOTORISTS

YOU can see the world through a windshield today and live in your own private home each night while you’re doing it. Not the dwelling you started from, of course, but one offering similar comforts, luxuries and privacy.

You’ll find these overnight homes in motor courts, and if you’ve never spent a night in a court cottage, a pleasant surprise awaits you. The motor court is a recent development of the motor age, an individual type of accommodation designed specifically for motorists, entirely unlike any form of “night lodging” heretofore available.
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March 9, 2008

World’s Tallest Building (Sep, 1939)

Filed under: Architecture — @ 3:01 am
Source: Mechanix Illustrated ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Sep, 1939
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World’s Tallest Building

In this drawing, the artist has shown how the “Palace of the Soviets,” now under construction in Moscow, will compare in height with the Empire State building, in New York City, at present the world’s tallest structure, and with Europe’s tallest, the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The Palace of the Soviets will be completed in 1942 and, including the stainless steel statue of Lenin ©n top, will be the world’s tallest and most spacious building. The main hall will seat 25,000 and another hall will seat 6,000. The ceiling of the interior dome will be 300 feet high. The building will be serviced by 120 elevators, 60 escalators, and will contain halls, clubs, galleries, museums, and will house government archives.

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