The Wheeling Custom House of 1859: a Study in Skeletal Iron Framing
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Proceedings of the First International Congress on Construction History, Madrid, 20th-24th January 2003, ed. S. Huerta, Madrid: I. Juan de Herrera, SEdHC, ETSAM, A. E. Benvenuto, COAM, F. Dragados, 2003. The Wheeling Custom House of 1859: A study in skeletal iron framing Emory L. Kemp In the decade before the outbreak of the American construct buildings of noncombustible materials. It Civil War, The United States government built a was not the use of structural iron, a comparatively series of twenty-one custom houses to pro vide new material, which compelled Young and Bowman accommodations for the federal custom service, the to develop an interior skeletal frame work together postal department, and as the location for a federal with brick jack-arch floors, but lo insure the building court (Guthrie 1860, 8). was fireproof. The foeus of this paper, however, is on Although not a coastal location, Wheeling was the evaluation of the structural signifieance of the iron selected as one of the sites for a custom house, framing. The effort to achieve a fireproof structure because it was the confluence of three dominant became a eriterion for these federal buildings to be transportation systems: the head of summer constructed of noncombustible materials both inside navigation on the 981-mile Ohio River, the terminus and out. Thus, in order to understand the decisions of America's first trunk-line railway, the Baltimore made by the Treasury Oepartment, it is neeessary to and Ohio stretching from Baltimore to the Ohio River place the design in the eontext of what was then and reaehing Wheeling in 1852, and the coming of considered fireproofing ideas. the National Road, 1818, which later crossed over the famous Wheeling Suspension Bridges of 1849. Ouring the fury of the Civil War, the court-room in FIREPROOF STRUCTURES the Custom House witnessed the formation of a new state on June 20, 1863, to be ealled West Virginia. The concern to construct "fireproof' buildings arose The building is noteworthy in the series of custom not in the case of monumental public buildings, but houses in the Italianate Renaissance style designed by rather in textil e milis in England. The so called Ammi B. Young, 1798-1874, the first architect of the "slow-burn" construction using heavy timber U.S. Treasury. The construction manager was framing and flooring reduced, but did not eliminate, Captain Alexander Hamilton Bowman, 1803-1865, the fire hazard in textile milis, which were who was seeonded from the U.S. Army lo serve the illuminated with open t1ame lighting and devoid of Oepartment of the Treasury. It was Young and modern sprinkler systems. Although fire protection Bowman who introduced the use of skeletal iron was a concern in earlier times, the modern period for framing in response to a concern that these custom such buildings dates from the seminal work of houses and other federal buildings would be William Strutt, 1756-1830, and Charles Woolley constructed in a fireproof fashion. Fireproofing, in the Bage, ea. 1752-] 822 (Skempton 2002, 28-29 and minds of architects and engineers of the time, was to 670-72). ]226 E. L. Kemp WilJiam Strutt, long associated with the textile floor beams supported on a cruciform co]umns industry, and with Richard Arkwright witnessed, in (Robinson and Marsland 1996, 12-13). Such framing 178], the destruction of the family milI in systems utilizing cast-iron found widespread use in Nottingham, England. When Strutt designed a new Britain during the entire first half of the 19thcentury. milI, and later a warehouse, he was keenly aware of While cast-iron beams were largely replaced by mid- the vulnerability of large industrial buildings to fire, century, the use of cast-iron coIumns persisted into especially folIowing the destruction of the well- the early decades of the 20th century. known Albion Mili in London. which featured innovative production machinery. Strutt' s solution was to use t1at brick jack-arch t100rs supported by large timber beams sheathed in iron plates. Bage in partnership with the Benyon brothers and the flax spinner John Marshall served as designers for a new cotton milI in Derby completed in 1793. The designed called for the use of cast -iron beams instead of the traditiona] heavy timber girders used by Strutt, Figure I (Swailes 1998, 12-19). B~i,-k orch 9 fr \PO~ IrlChe. Figure 2 ~L--jR4 (1998) The Annley Mili, Leeds England (1804-5) featuring cast iron framework and a jack-arch floor system (Swailes, Tom and Joe Marsh, 16) A notable examp]e of fireproofing occurred across the Atlantic in an attempt by architect Robert Mill's PubJic Record Office in Charleston, South Carolina. Completed in 1823, the extant structure was erected without benefit of iron framing by using stone columns and walls and brick vaulting (Condit 1960, (di .b.EEDS 1803-04 26). 8AGE Buildings by Daniel Badger and James Bogardus took the process forward by featuring cast iron Figure I facades in the years prior to and just folIowing the (1958) Evolution 01' bcam design for "'fireproof' buildings, ] American Civil War, 186]-1865. Bogardus's Harper 792-1803 (Singer et al.. 477) and Brothers building was a landmark, a veritable essay in iron. At his New York foundry, Bogardus cast girders and columns for the iron framing. The The beams of cast-iron supporting 10 foot span partitions were brick, and most importantly, the floors brick jack-arch t100rs are explained by both Swailes consisted of t1at brick jack-arches supported on rolled and Fitzgerald, Figure 2 (Swailes 1995, 37-47; wrought-iron rail-beams supplied by the Trenton Iron Fitzgerald 1998, 127-45). The adaptive re-use of Works. It was this firm which played a leading role in such a milI at Huddersfield by ave Arup and partners the large federal government building program, and considered the load carrying capacity of the cast-iron especially the Wheeling Custom House. As a result, it The Wheeling Custom House 01' 1859: A study in skeletal iron framing 1227 set an important example in the building arts. It the Baltimore and Ohio, and the subsequent and should be noted in passing that this was the same celebrated race with the grey mareo The Tom Thumb period that the great Crystal Palace of 1851 was was, in a sense, a plan to secure business for his firm erected in London. It was so revolutionary, using with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to supply iron, glass and iron, that architects declared it non- particularly rails, for this expanding system. Because architecture, because it did not use traditional 01' the poor grade of iron ore available in the materials. In many ways, it was the most Baltimore area, Cooper decided to sell his Baltimore revolutionary and important building of the 19th iron works and relocated in the New York area by century. Thus, by mid-century, skeletal iron framing acquiring a foundry, which he subsequently was well established leading to the celebrated sky- upgraded. He pioneered the use of anthracite as the scraper. fuel, and also as a powerful reducing agent in the Recognizing the inherent weakness of cast-iron in production of pig-iron. It was also used in puddling tension, the girders supporting the floor system in the furnaces lo convert pig-iron to wrought-iron. His Harper and Brothers building were enhanced with contribution to the fledgling iron and stee] industry wrought-iron tie-rods, Figure 3. Such a system of included the production 01' America's wrought-iron augmenting the inherent weakness of cast-iron in "1" cross-section beams. It was his 9-inch 'T' beams tension was used earlier in Britain. The wrought-iron which were an integral part of the iron framing of the floor joists installed were the first 7-inch rail-beam Wheeling Custom House, and a plethora of rolled in the United States (Condit 196O, 35-36). government building s under construction at the time. Completed in 1854, the Harper building survived In an efforl to expand his company, he moved until 192O when it was demolished to be replaced by again to a location in the Lehigh Valley to have a newer building. access to anthracite coal and high quality iron ore, both 01'which could be transported by water, and later by the expanding rail network. For his rolling mili, he /Cast ¡ronweb relocated to Trenton on the Delaware River. This ~/~~ location was also served by the Delaware and Raritan LJ Wroughtiro~ie rod Canal, and in addition, by railway lines. Phillipsburg, "R '11 New Jersey, on the Delaware River, was selected for the production of pig-iron since it was close to the Figure 3. raw materials needed. 1960) Composite east and wrought-iron girder (Condit, 36) Peter Cooper planned to establish his son Edward in a managerial position, including prodnct development. Edward responded by suggesting a partnership arrangement with his tutor at Columbia Another memorable building contemporaneous College, Abram S. Hewitt (National Register with the Wheeling Custom House was the Cooper nomination for the Cooper Union Building). Like U nion building under construction from 1854-1859. partnerships such as Rolls and Royce or Boulton and Founded by Peter Cooper, the Union served as a free Watt, the Cooper-Hewitt pair were quite school for art and engineering for working class complementary with Hewitt exhibiting a force fuI students, both men and women. Again, Trenton Iron personality, which was essential in the development Works supplied the wrought-iron joists, their third of the firm, while Cooper, not a decisive decision such project employing rolled wrought-iron maker, had highly-developed mechanical skills members.