The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 40

os Ctngeles Daily (Etmes, 26 July 5, 1898. THE LAUGHLIN BUILDING, CALIFORNIA'S FINEST OFFICE STRUCTURE AS IT IS. The device is of Mr. Laughlin's own conception, and signifies the 'triumph of American plastic art over England's boasted product. The figures are the eagle rampant tearing the lion supine, 'which lies prone upon his back.

The main decorative features of the front facade are centered in the cornice. This, though simple in conception, is most effective and pleasing in design. It is simply an elaboration of the idea of the capital of the pure Corinthian column as though a series of the latter were placed side by side across the entire front of the building. The effect is as beautiful as it is novel. The interior construction and finish of the building will supply many features heretofore lacking in office structures altogether, or found only in the best structures of New York or Chicago.

All offices will have vaults and electricity and gas, for mechanical and lighting purposes, and all will be outside rooms. A spacious court, 20x102 feet in dimensions, will give light and air for all floors as far down as the second. Hot and cold water, mail chutes, dust flues and closets are provided for each floor. Wash basins are in each room, while messenger call and telephone connections reach every apartment. The interior finish of the building far surpasses that of any structure of the entire Pacific Coast.

The main corri- All floors are made of a composition of Portland cement, sand and cinder, over expanded steel, and fortified from beneath by Alpine plaster upon suspended expanded steel ceiling. All doors, window sash, casings, picture strips and bits of finishing, usually made of wood, are, lit the Laughlin, metalic armored. No wood Is used for any structural purpose that is not either inclosed in Alpine plaster and metalic sheeting, far beyond the pos-sibiltiy of being influenced by heat. The floor, construction of the building throughout, as well as that of the roof, does not contain so much as a single piece of wood for any purpose. With these salient features combined, which are of particular interest to owners and occupants of commercial buildings, Is still another which relates to the economical phase of the subject.

The expanded metal cessible, the lavatories being upon elevated decks twenty-one inches above the corridor floor level, and reached by marble steps. These apartments are finished in white vitrous tile floors and pink Tennessee marble wainscot, lift. 6in. high, with a molding of antique brass. The wash basins are made of vitrous china, set into and surrounded with Tennessee marble slabs.

All waste traps are of the whirlpool, self-cleansing pattern, a late invention. As with the plumbing, so with the roof drainage, all of which is readily accessible in the attic, where it connects the perpendicular lead pipes. Every lavatory, office and corridor is ventilated to 'the roof. The former have extra large windows and ventilators, 3 feet square. Steam for heating is supplied through large pipes, which lead from the boilers to the attic and thence to the radiator3 from above, thus preventing all pounding in the pipes.

The system is a complete circuit, without dead ends. All hardware in the building is of polished brass, of monogram design, and made by the Yale Town Co. The electrical fixtures will be as complete as in any modern commercial structure upon the continent. All wires are carried in iron-armored conduits, all 'to be drawn to place after the building is complete, thus affording easy access to wires at all times for repairs. The elevators are of the improved Sqrague electric pattern, two in number, capable of raising 4000 pounds each and of giving a regular service of 350 feet per minute.

The horizontal multiple shire system is substituted in these for the drum construction, which latter is not so suitable for first-class passenger service. The new Astoria Hotel of New York has these new machines. All glass used in the Laughlin building is plate, or crystal sheet. All corridor and connecting doors have chipped glass. The finishing of the first story of the building has been the subject of particular attention, and will embrace some features which are distinct departures from previously-accepted standards.

The plate glass of this story will be placed flush with the street line within independent bronze frames, so as to inclose the main supporting columns of steel within the window area. These columns will be fire-proofed and inclosed in seamless mirrors, which will entirely conceal their presence. The window frames, door frames, door3 and other features of the front will be of uniform design in bronze. The platforms of the show windows will br of cement on steel girders. The hardware of the front will be elaborate, de.

signed especially for the building. Th windows will be the largest in the city, and each) supplied with 250 incandescent lamps, connected to eight separate and independent circuits. A feature of the building which will, add greatly to its interior beauty and attractiveness, is the style of the electric lighting They will be, fo: the con'Ttf'oTsT-B'lobe- pattern In holo-phane spheres, set close to the ceiling and adorned with brass filigree. The office cha.ndoliers will carry out the globe idea, though the lights will be borne upon suspended fixtures. The erection of a building like th Laughlin is not omly a distinct credit to the building trades, but is an especially fortuitous circumstance in the iuujjim mjili, BIl EBB 111 ED PH: RHH' Hilll MM won, mmm mrnm mm EBB BMW IiM BH qgHlJggiBal Bast THE approaching completion of the Laughlin building in this city will mark a distinct triumph in the building art of the world.

The new structure will be the first to combine all the latest devices in fire-proof construction, which has as yet been produced. With the rapidly-increasing value of urban commercial property, and the consequent necessity of utilzing space to the utmost practical limit, by carrying buildings to great and unprecedented heights, has come an imperative demand for Increased assurance, through fire-proof construction, of Immunity from loss by fire. The urgency of this demand has been constantly augmented by the enormous expense of modern high buildings, on account of their luxuriant appointments, and accessories. Every feature of construction has become the subject of careful study, with a view of reducing insurance charges, and to subserve safety. The present status of the building arts may truthfully be said to be such as to admit of the construction of a building scientifically perfect from the standpoint of non-combustibility, as well as from the standpoint of equable distribution of strain, economical use of material, and perfection of all sanitary requirements.

In many of the leading buildings of late construction, located in Now York, Chicago and Syracuse, these features have been singly introduced, some of the structures utilizing one or more of the late features, but none of them, thus far having combined all of the latest and best features of modern scientific building. It has remained for Mr. Homer Laughlin of this city to give to the world the latest and best exemplification of the highest ideals of correct construction in his new building. The structure is 120 feet square in ground dimensions, and six stories in height, above a high basement. An area of seventy feet in depth in the rear affords amrle space for shipping and receiving, artd connects with, an ample private way back to Hill street All partitions are made upon expanded steel and covered with Alpine fire-proof plaster.

I SB EBB I PR fipip I n.mm. 'BMIb PEE 1131 igLBBJBEtel fig growth and development of Southern California. It reflects great credit upon the architect, Mr. John Parkinson, and also upon the proprietor and projector. Mr.

Homer Laughlin. A thorough knowledge of all the requirements of modern office buildings, together with entire familiarity with the latest and best productions of mechanics and elec trical science are requisite to the production of such a structure. These re quirements were amply met in Mr. Parkinson, whose acquaintance wltl building," both in Europe and America, and whose intimate and particular knowledge of the latest and best work? of American construction, qualifies him preeminently for the task. Mr.

Laughlin has spent a lifetime in building up an industry which bears the unmistakable evidence of his genius, and which signalizes a triumph of American pluck, enterprise and artistic instinct. These qualifications have inured to the public benefit in the production of the Laughlin building, as is abundantly evinced by many useful, unique and artistic features of it. Its polished cement office floors are only elsewhere to be found in the splendid Commercial Cable, Postal Telegraph and Gillander buildings of New York. The Chapman Receptacles are a devise for conveying electric current from inclosed pockets, upon opposite sides of the offices, by flexible cable, to the Interior of office desks, so as to have light in the correct place before the occupant, or to utilize the current at any convenient place in the office, for any purpose. This latest Invention was brought out for the new Ivens thirty-story building of New York, the tallest building in the world Bicyclists are provided with stalls for 150 wheels in the basement, while an ample seventh-story area contains five magnificent apartments for artists' studios.

Upon the roof are two huge tanks, each containing 5000 gallons of water. Two iron stand pipes traverse the rear wall to the top, as do also two steel fire escapes. Hose reels are projected at Intervals through the corridors, upon swinging brackets. All steel supporting columns of the building are double fireproofed from foundation to roof, with inclosed air spaces, while every square inch of structural steel in the tnUding will be thoroughly fir proofed LAIGIILIN BFILDIXG. partition is only about one and one-half inches thick, thereby effecting a saving in floor space amounting to more than 7 per cent.

The Laughlin building is supported by a riveted steel frame no bolts being used except in the roof section a provision for the possible addition of four more stories, as the future shall demand. No part of the weight of the building is borne by the inclosing walls. Indeed, these latter are supported, at each floor, by the girders which they inclose, and could have been as readily built from the top down as from the ground up. The main facade of the building is constructed of cream-colored pressed brick, with a cornice of terra cotta. The order of architecture employed is classic, the details being carried out in the Corinthian order.

The motif is to preserve the purity and simplicity of the adaptation. The second and sixth stories bear the greater portion of the decorations, classic columns of terra cotta being introduced in the wide window spaces. Flanking the main entrance are two magnificent granite columns, of purest Ionic model, bearing an entablature somewhat ornately carved. At the third-story level, and directly above the main entrance, the portal feature terminates in an- elaborate scroll design bearing the trade mark of the world-famous Homer Laughlin china, which latter defeated all competition at the World's Fair. dor below is divided Into a vestibule and entrance hall, the former in front.

Both are spacious apartments, the latter being over fifty feet in Iengith. and containing the elevator shafts and main stair route adjacent to the entrance doors. The flooring is of ceramic mosaic, and the entrance hall wainscoted to the ceiling in Inyo marble, a California product which rivals the rarest Italian in beauty and delicacy of tint, and surpasses all others in hairrinpsa nnrt rinmhilitv Thaea call ings are richly paneled in fire-proof i i mi i iua.ieria.1. ine comaors aoove are all floored in white vitrous tile, with olive-green figures, and pure white wainscots of the same material capped virh antique brass molding. The walls Mid ffkilinira QfR jlol irQ fol Hnin All u.w LIU IV V.

All office apartments have, in addition to mie uoors opening upon cornaors, two large windows, adjoining the doors. One of the distinguishing features of this building is the substitution of an tique brass for wood in all doors, door ana winaow casings and molding. All stair stringers, risers, facias sYid banisters, elevator inclosures and cages, are made from this material. which readily lends itself to the most artistic treatment, especially In all lighting fixtures, grills and moldings. All stair treads are of white Inyo Cal ifornia marble.

An especial feature of the construction is the perfection of the system of plumbing; drainage ard ventilation. All plumbing tl ac.