WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1, 1927.
A MARBLE DREAM.
THE BEAUTY AND PURITY OF THE TAJ MAHAL.
Agra is 843 miles by rail from Calcutta and 839 miles from Bam-
LOVELY HOMES.
}
SOME RELICS OF ́300 YEARS.
CHINA MAIL BUILDING SUPPLEMENT: {
can find. Consequently they have contrived to have all their rooms panelled with the beautiful work in yellow pine with which the eighteenth century-criticising in advance our modern love of pas-
PIONEER FIRM.> ·
SPECIALISTS IN REINFORCED CONCRETE.
Considering the number andİ
Many writers have noticed and sionate wall-paper-covered the importance of reinforced cou comniented on the fact that there walls of its homes. They have crete structures now existing in | bay. Shah Jahan was proclaim is in no other language a word rescued also fine staircases, stray the Colony it is amazing to re bits of iron railings, sections of flect that these represent the ed Emperor at Agra in 1628. It
one case, an entire room of an years. great aahitectural works in the word "home" means. The other Fort must be referred, though languages have words which ex- eighteenth-century cottage which
would be enough to make even commenced at an earlier date. Erent part, of the meaning of our Communist cobbler sit down and doubtless many of them had been press & part, and sometimes' a
per word, but there is always some thank God for the British Con
thing lacking. And although one
is to his reign that most of the/which means exactly what our moulding from ceilings, and, in development of less than ten}
The Moti Masjid, or Mosque," the Jama Masjid, or
It was only in the year 1918 that the first reinforced concrete building of any importance was commenced. This was the large
"Great Mosque" and the Khas would hardly care to assert that stitution and the long traditions Godown of the Hong Kong &
a
of our land.
Hluts for Cabinet-Makers,
Kowloon Wharf & Godown Co., the thing for which the word
Ltd. Shortly afterwards (in Mahal were ali completed under
stands is the exclusive copyright this magnificent Emperor.
In so far as they make any 1920) was begun the Stephen's The Taj Mahal, generally ac-of the British race, the fact re cepted as the most exquisite piece mains that our nation has always visitor aware of and cause him to Building (until a few months ago desire loveliness, all museums the Headquarters of the Fire: of Mohammedan architecture in cherished its homes with the world, commemorates his peculiar tenderness, has made of may, I suppose, be described as Brigade) which was the first wife, Mumtaz Mahal, In 1658 them dear, intimate, and in- useful. But the Geffrye Museum building on reinforced concrete dividual things, has sought to to which all are admitted with- piles, and is admittedly one of the Shah Juhan's third gon, Aurangzeb, rebelled and deposed express itself and its secret out charge has a more imme-most economically designed and him, but the ex-Emperor was dreame and happinesses in them diate usefulness. It stands in a constructed office blocks in the
Colony, permitted to live in imperial to an extent no other nation with district which is almost entirely
Although the principles and: in which I am acquainted can match, inhabited by cabinet-makers, and state at Agra, though
until his death (says a writer in the "Daily it was cheering to learn, as I did practice of reinforced concrete confinement,
from Mr. Hawkins, the curator, construction have been steadily seven years later. British rule Mail.") was set up in 1803, and re- It is fitting, then, that there that the workers of the neigh gaining ground elsewhere for the mained undisturbed until the should be among the treasures of bourhood go there over and over past twenty-five years, the Civil Mutiny in 1857. Since 1858 Agra our infinitely varied London a again to look at all those splendid Engineers responsible for the has become for administrative place designed to make manifest things, at those chairs and tables design and construction in Hong purposes only, the headquarters and to praise the loveliness of the and bureaux and bookcases and Kong of these first reinforced of a division and a district. English home. That place exists, bedsteads to gain from them concrete structures, had to over But the ancient capital stili as so many of London's jewels some guidance, some inspiration come a considerable amount of prejudice against the so-called maintains its natural supremacy exist, in a district where no un- for their own work.
indifference and apathy "new fangled" ideas as well as as the finest city of Upper India. jinstructed person would dream of North from
various quarters
in while the development of the looking for it.
from which railway system, of which it forms Shoreditch Church, which, in its
every encouragement should have a great centre, is gradually return, lies north of Liverpool
been forthcoming.
It Alled one with a hope for the future of furniture in Eng land and, seeing that so great proportion of one's life is spent
storing its commercial import- Street Station, runs Kingsland in intimate ance. The Taj Mahal, with its beautiful domes, "n dream in marble," rises on the river bank. It was created as a mausoleum for the remains of the wife of the Emperor Shah Jahan. She died in 1629, and the Taj; which was commenced soon after her death,! was not completed until 1648. The materials are white marble from Makrana and red sandstone from Fatehpur-Sikri. The com- plexity of the design and the de- licate intricacy of the workman- ship baffle description.
Purity, Silence, and Calm. The mausoleum stands on
raised marble platform, and at each of the corners rises a tal and slender minaret of graceful proportions and exquisite beauty. In the centre of the whole design the mausoleum occupies a square of 186 feet. The main feature of this central pile is the great dome, which is about two-thirds of a sphere and tapers at its extrem- ity into a pointed spire, crowned by a crescent. The internal de- corations consist of inlaid work in precious stones, such as agate! and jasper.
In regard to colour and design, the interior of the Taj may rank first in the world for purely de- corative workmanship, while the Road.
な
Bank of Canton in Des Voeux Road.
rising like marble bubbles into the brickwork enclosing a
a
association with
The advantages of reinforced concrete construction over steel frame construction may briefly be summarised as follows:--- (a) A reinforced concrete struc
lighter, 70 feet long (still in service in the Sunning dls- trlet).
Dairy Farm premises, Sha-
meen.
French Mission Properties in Canton-100 houses of 3 and 4 storeys with reinforced concrete frames and breeze concrete floors.
The foundations and structure
of the Queen's Theatre with its 30 feet cantilever Dress Circle and its, 50 feet roof trusses, the first of its kind in Hong Kong. The modern Ice Factory & Cold
Storage Bldg. at East Point of the Dairy Farm Company. The new offices of the "South China Morning Post" (rein- forced concrete structure), The Rutton Bufiding, Duddell Street. (reinforced concrete structure).
Peninsula Hotel - Foundations,
etc.
Exchange Building (Founda-
tions and structure). French Mission Nursing Home,
Causeway Bay.
CONCRETE PIRES
MADE BY CITIES HONCHONG ENGINEERING & CONSTRUCTION CO LTD
The Lee Theatre, Wanchai, Hongkong Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd.
with all its overhanging balconies, heavy trusses over the stage and dome (80 ft. wide) over the auditorium. The China Provident 5-storey Godown at West Point, in. cluding foundations Franki Piles, (built in 10 months actual working time.) and Construction Co. Ltd., (the The Hong Kong Engineering
original: "Construction Com-
ол
ture is not only monolithic Pany) is also the pioneer of cast- in-site foundation piling in this
St. George's Building, Chater Road,
Hong Kong.
1st June, 1927.
To the Architects, Civil and Sanitary.
but possesses elastic proper-district, having in 1928 introduced Engineers, and Public Authorities of Hong Kong. ties which enable it to with the now well-known "Franki
stand earth tremors or other disturbances.
Patent Compressed Concrete Piling System" which was adopt-
(b) It is permanent, fireproofed after exhaustive tests for the Gentlemen,
and weatherproof. (Intense foundations of the Peninsula heat tests carried out in the United States sometime ago
Hotel.
recorded a resistance of eight contracts have been carried out by Since then many foundation hours for reinforced concrete this firm with unvarying success. columns as against only They have recently completed in eleven to twenty-one minutes less than three months and in for steel columns under the spite of the disturbances in same conditions).
Shanghai the foundations of what'
(c) The materials for concrete is to be Shanghai's tallest struc-
(cement, sand and broken stone) are all obtainable, in Building of thirteen storeys on a the Arnhold Apartment! ture, the Colony, and stocks of site in the French Concession, steel bars for reinforcement being generally ample, work
It
the
This Company has also render- can be commenced withouted service to the Colony by delay, but in the case of a drain pipes, culverts, etc. made introducing, last year, concrete steel frame building there is by centrifugal process. As evi usually a waiting period of
several months until the dence of the extent to which these arrival of the steelwork pipes have been taken up in other from Europe or America.
countries it may be mentioned that in Australia one order alone was placed for 210 miles of 4" diameter pipes!
is not generally known that Specialist Engineers on the staff of the Hong Kong Engineer
Founded in 1922 the Hong
A little way up the road. furniture. It does not seem out of perfect symmetry of its exterior, on the right, there are gracious place to hope, or even to pray, for and the aerial grace of its domes, and homely buildings of mellow better furniture than so much of ing & Construction Co., Ltd., Kong Engineering & Construc- space the rubbish which, shaming all Mr. L. Gain, Civil Engineer, tion Co., Ltd., has, up to the clear sky, can never be forgotten.where tall trees, reign. These are our great tradition, is turned out Ecole des Travaux Publica de present, had a somewhat. peculiar |
Paris, and his assistants) justly claim to be amongst the mess, ie, that of reinforced con- can history. One side of its busi- of the factories to-day.
FO...THCOMING CANADIAN earliest pioneers of reinforced crete foundations and structures, concrete construction in Hong has been consistently successful, Kong and South China.
but, embarking on certain road In addition to the buildings making and other works for the
The lower walls and panels are the Geffrye Almshouses establish- covered with tulips, oleanders, and ed in the eighteenth century by full-blown lilies, in flat carving on Richard Geffrye, knight and white marble; and although the alderman of the City, and in a inlaid work of flowers, done in part of the buildings the London gems, is very brilliant when look- County Council has found a home
but little colour, and prevailing sentiment is one whiteness, silence, and calm.
ALL STEEL HOUSE.
FOR A SINKING. GROUND.
Relics of 300 Years.
+
CONSTRUCTION.
Construction contracts awarded
From 1921 to 1926,
French Bridge at Shameen, with a single apan arch of .. 120 feet.
+
ed at closely, there is on the whole for what is inadequately de- in all the cities, towns, villages already mentioned as having been Government, the Company sug escribed as a furniture museum, and rural districts throughout erected from 1918 to 1920, Mr. tained severe losses from which of The explorer passes through Canada during February, accord- Gain and his assistants have de-it is only just beginning to re-
dingy and dejected thoroughfares ing to figures compiled by Mac-signed and carried out the fol- cover.
Lean Building Reports, Ltd.,lowing important works some én- to a habitation of loveliness.
In view of the possibility of totalled 19,516,700 dollars tirely and others under the super-more settled conditions in the (£3,903,000), compared with vision of local firms
of near future it is to be hoped that This is a place where wise 16,771.800 dollars (23,354,000) in Architects:--
this progressive Company, with lovers of London and of England January and 13,477,600 dollars
its efficient organisation and have brought together a multitude (2,695,000) in February, 1926.
modern methods, will again take of the things which make London | The total for the first two months 86,288,500 dollars
a prominent part in the building not worshipful or marvellous or of 1927,
operations of the Colony and South China generally. Specialising in a particular tremendous-but merely lovable. (7,257,000), is an increase of design of all-steel house, William It is not concerned with celebrat-88.8 per cent, over the awards for so early in the Beardmore and Co., Ltd., of Glas- ing any meretricious splendours the same period of 1926. This gow, have on hand an order which of pomp and massive dignity. large increase strikingly illustrates what can be Proud London, which has been the year is attributable not only to chief market of the world, is not the very favourable winter build- done with this type of construc- considered or remembered within ing season in some portions of the these walls. The only concern is country, but also to the better It is for a house to stand on to display those things which tone for general business through- ground subject to subsidence Londoners have made during the out the year. Contemplated new owing to shallow mine-workings
prepared has been reported in ex- beneath the surface. The ground Past 300 years to honour and work, for which plans are being in question is the only space make beautiful their dwellings.
ceptionally large volume since the
tion.
KWONG LOONG.
This firm has been established
available for this purpose, and the So there are, gathered here, all beginning of the year, the total housing authority concerned looks sorts of intimate, friendly things. for the year to date being upon it as certain that the level You may find, for instance, In the 159,314,000 dollars (£31,862,000). will alter after the house has been first room you enter, a collection This is more than double the total built.
of those charmingly fantastic for the first two months of 1926, The concrete pillars on which knockers which the people of the and is indicative of a construc- this steel house is normally seventeenth century were accus-tion year well above the average. mounted are being employed as tomed to place on bedroom doors, usual, but interposed between together with a variety of those them and the framework of the cheery conceits in wrought iron house is a sub-frame of steel which they placed on the en- girders. Should the ground trances to their homes to welcome for over twenty years, and has carrying one or two of the pillars the visitor who came to hammer executed some very important subside, in the first place the on the door. Beyond these you contracts. They were the build. house is not entirely deprived of pass to a long series of illustra-ing contractors for those houses support on that spot; but what is tions of household interiors as situated at 88 to 132 Des Voeux others, more important, the whole struc- they were before furniture was Rond, besides many
Mesars. architects are ture may then be raised by made in bulk by machinery,, » means of jacka at that apot, 30 The people who work for the Hewitt and Siu. Inquiries are that the height of the pillar or Geffrye Museum are very wise invited from those intending to pillars affected may be remade up and watchful. They know when build or renovate property any to normal after which the bouse any venerable London house is where in the Colony, Their is, again lowered on them. about to be pulled down, and they address is 3 Gage Street. (tale-
go immediately to see what they phone Gi 8806).
STADIUM AT BLACKPOOL,
The Blackpool Corporation has granted to Mr. C. B. Cochran a site of 700 feet aquare on which to erect a stadium capable of ac- commodating 100,000 people on the new promenade at South Shore.
The
CONTRACTOR, CARPENTER AND BUILDER
A reinforced concrete motár
KWONG LOONG
WHITE WASHER," &c.;!"
Phone. C. 3800,
No. 3, Gage Street, Hong Kong,
Alexandra Buildingbat Junotion of Des Voeux Rond and
Chate
Roa
Concrete Drain Pipes, Culverts to.
CONTRACTORS
FOR CIVIL,
ENGINEERING
AND BUILDING
WORK.
SPECIALISTS
IN
REINFORCED
CONCRETE
FOUNDATIONS
AND
STRUCTURES
FOR FACTORIES,
GODOWNS, WHARVES,
BRIDGES, PIERS
EXC.
SOLE
LICENSEES
FOR
HONGKONG
AND 'CHINA
OF THE
PATENT
CONCRETE
PILING
STEM.
STER
AND PLACED
UNDER
ERVISION.
We feel sure you will be interested in our latest. typé of centrifugal concrete pipes, and therefore invite you to apply to us for sample pipes.
The pipes in question, are ooated with. a special bitumin- ous anti-corrosivė paint which provides an additional and complete protection against the possible effects of acids, fumes and extremes of tempera- ture, as well as bringing the general appearance of our pipes up to the standard of the best class of British made glazed products.
Even without the special coating as above described, dur pipes are guaranteed to be absolutely impervious for all. practical purposes; but in order to ** make assurance doubly sure!' we propose to adopt the above as our standard product without any increase in price.
There may be, however, clients who will prefer to con- tinue using the untreated pipes, of which we have supplied many thousands with-" out a single complaint), in which case ws, shall be happy to meet their wishes,
་་”
As
you are no doubt aware, centrifugal concrète pipes can be made with steel wire re- inforcement to any required resistance, and we would particularly draw your atten- tion to the economical advant- ages offered by the use of our larger diameter pipes (up to 39 inches) for storm-water general drainage work, ·
Extremely strong, yet light and easy to handle, they render possible the construction of ́powers and culverts by means of pre-cast elements of uniform- dimensions and homogeneous composition, which will answer to the highest conditions of quality and resistance at al cost below anything obtainable
methods. by
carry stocks of all usual diameters from 3 inches to 24 inches, in standard lengths 201 303 | Special oises and diame- ters up to 39 inches can be made at short notise,
We are Gentlemen”-
Yours faithf
(Signed)