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The Sheffield Chemical Labora-
tory.
The Sheftield Chemical Laboratory
was completed in 1895 by Smith, Sperry
& Treat, whose work was not confined
to the work of academic dormitories.
This laboratory is generally regarded as
one of the most substantially built and
thoroughly equipped buildings of its
kind in the country. The cost of con-
struction was paid entirely from the
finances of the Sheffield Scientific School.
The architects were Cady, Berg & See,
of New York city, and the plans were
made under the supervision of Profes-
sors Mixter, Wells and Penfield. The
location is on Prospect street directly
north of North Sheffield Hall, and separ-
ated from it by a space of forty-seven feet
so as toafford plenty of light. The build-
ing is 60x125 feet in dimensions, three
stories high with basement, and built
on the slow-burning plan. The walls
are of brick, trimmed with terra cotta
and East Haven sandstone.
The roof is of three inches of spruce,
one inch of felt and a covering of cop-
per. The floors are of spruce and
maple, and the walls are plastered and
hard finished. The woodwork is of
hard pine throughout. The building is
heated from the plant in Winchester
Hall.
The third floor comprises.a general
chemical laboratory, which is used by
the Freshman class, a lecture room ac-
commodating one hundred, a recitation
room accommodating forty, and two
preparation rooms, one containing the
apparatus for the lecture room, and the
other, that for the laboratory. The lat-
ter has ten desks, each twenty by four
feet, and each accommodating eight
men, and having four sinks.
The re-agent shelves are of soap-stone.
The room has adequate locker space,
each man having two drawers and one
locker, supplying 320 men in four divi-
sions. The gas holders for chemical
work aré located in the eastern end of
the room on the wall, with a pneumatic
trough below. The drainage is through
the posts which support the flooring.
The second floor is devoted to a quali-
tative laboratory, furnished in a similar
manner to the laboratory of general
chemistry on the third floor, a supply
YATE ALUM MN wy ae
room for the laboratory, a private room
for Prof. Mixter and a balance room,
The first floor contains a qualitative
laboratory, which is somewhat smaller
than the other two, a balance room,
store rooms, and rooms for the work of
the students in the graduate depart-
ment. The basement is taken up by an
assay laboratory, furnished with fur-
naces and complete apparatus, and a
room for physical experiments.
Pierson Hall.
One of the most noteworthy pieces of
work done for Yale by this firm was the
building of Pierson Hall in 27 weeks.
On March 11, 1896, the Corporation de-
cided that another dormitory was a
necessity. In two weeks the plans
were ready, being made by Cady,
Berg & See. The twenty-seventh week
saw the completed dormitory accepted
by the college authorities.
It was during the erection of this
building, that the death occurred of Mr.
Smith, the senior member of this build-
ing firm, which has since been known as
Sperry & Treat.
Pierson Hall is on York street and is a
handsome and valuable addition to the
many buildings recently constructed by
the University. It is named after Yale’s
first President. The building is 122 feet
in length by 55 feet in breadth and
five stories in height, not including a
high-studded basement.
The main entrance is in the center of the
facade through a wide doorway, leading
to a vestibule and corridors. The mate-
rial used from the foundation to the sill
course of the second story is tool-faced -
red sandstone, laid in quoined courses.
The corner trimmings are of sandstone,
also laid in quoined courses. Above
the stone courses the building is of fine
red brick and terra cotta. To relieve
the monotony of the wall there are four
pilasters extending from the second to
the beginning of the fifth story. The
pilasters are of brick and are capped
with terra cotta capitals of handsome
design. The window arches and the
ones over the doors to the main en-
trance are flat.
At the fifth story, extending across
the entire facade, is a balcony. The
cornice, extending from just above the
fifth story windows and reaching to the
ANOTHER GROUP
OF SPERRY & TREAE (FORMERLY .
roof, isof terra cotta, executed in richly
designed bas-relief. The roof is of the
hip style of construction.
The main entrance is through heavy
oak doors and the vestibule and corri-
dors have floors laid with mosaic tiling.
The building accommodates one hun-
dred men and contains sixty single
rooms and twenty double rooms. The
former are arranged about the center of
the building; the latter at the ends.
The windows are larger than those of
the other dormitories and the arrange-
ments are such that all the apartments
receive the sunlight for a long time
each day. .
The rooms are wainscoted in polished
hard wood. In fact the entire cabinet
work of the interior is of polished hard
wood, mostly quartered oak. It is
heated by steam, and especial care was
taken in designing the ventilation and
plumbjng arrangements. The building
is on the slow-burning or mill style of
construction. |
The contract price was approximately
$85,000.
The Whitman Gate.
A very artistic and generally most
satisfactory addition to the Yale Cam-
pus is the Whitman Memorial Gate, be-
tween the Art School and the new
Library. This was erected in the
months of May and June, 1895, and its
cost, the sum of $3,500, was the gift of
Mrs. Henry Farnam. It was named the
Whitman Gate in memory of two an-
cestors of the donor, both of whom
were members of the Corporation in its
early days. With their terms of office
added together it will be seen that a
Whitman was a member for almost
fifty years, or one-fourth of the whole |
history of the institution.
The gates swing between two large
pillars of red sandstone which are joined
ovethead by a massive ironarch. The
gates themselves are of iron, and are of
the same design as the high iron fence
that extend from each of the stone posts
to the two buildings. On the left hand
pillar is a tablet with the following
inscription : ‘‘In Memory of Samuel
Whitman, Fellow of Yale College, 1724
to 1746. Erected by Ann Whitman
Farnam.” On the right hand pillar is
inscribed, ‘‘In Memory of Elnathan
Itt
Whitman, Fellow of Yale College, 1748
to 1774. Erected by Ann Whitman
Farnam, 1895.”
This structure was also the work of
Smith, Sperry & Treat.
Heating Plant.
Perhaps not so ornamental but none
the less useful and necessary is the new
steam heating plant built by Smith,
Sperry & Treat in 1893, situated just to
the rear of Pierson Hall. The boiler-
house is of brick, one story and a half
high and fifty-three by seventy-one feet
in dimensions. The chimney is one hun-
dred feet high and six feet in diameter,
inside measurement. The boiler-house
contains nine large Bigelow boilers, six
feet in diameter and seventeen feet
long. From the boiler-house a series of
brick conduits extends to the buildings
which are heated. These conduits are
five by four feet in dimensions and
through them all the pipes lead. All the
College buildings on and adjacent to
the Campus are heated by this plant,
while the old plant in the rear of
Alumni Hall is reserved entirely for
emergency work. |
This is the largest steam heating
plant in New England, and the system
is a new one, devised by Mr. Arthur C.
Walworth, °66, of Boston. By it the
water is condensed and pumped into
the boiler through a large receiver.
Yale and Brown are the only colleges
using this system of heating.
Turning the *‘Gym.” into Com-
mons.
The transformation of the old Gym-
nasium to adapt it to the requirements
of a dining hall is a not unimportant
change in the building history of Yale
during the last few years. The very
modest and simple structure which
served as the developer of Yale muscle
for so many years, is not of an early
date, but is nevertheless full of remi-
niscent interest and of course was
_always pointed out to visitors at New
Haven. It was originally erected in
1860. In 1892 the demand for a dining
hall, under the direct control of the
University, was: answered by the estab-
lishment of Commons, and the remodel-
ing of the Gymnasium to answer this
purpose was another of the services in
the way of building for Yale by the
firm of Smith, Sperry & Treat. Asnow
arranged, the hall accommodates 450
students, who are from the Scientific
and Academic Departments. The man-
agement is under a steward.
SMITH, SPERRY & TREAT) BUILDINGS.