State

THE STATE Роде Three May 30, 1936 WORK HAS BEEN STARTED ON NEW SKYSCRAPER IN DURHAM Durham'* proposed new lowering skyscraper is about to heroine n real¬ ity. The Homeland Tnvcetnmnt Com¬ pany announced Saturday the award¬ ing of the contract for the conatruc- tion of the Home Bank Building, a* it will be called, to George W. Kane of Durham. Work will Ix-gin dune 1 to put into marble, limestone, and steel the floor plan* and elevator* designed bv George Watt* Carr, architect, in consultation with Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, architects of New York. This new seven teen-story edifice will arise out of the wreckage of the old Post Office, which has recently been razed. From the street level to the top of it* penthouse the structure will lower 200 feet. Its triple A construc¬ tion of reinforced steel and concrete with gigantic foundations sunk 30 feet below street levels will make the build¬ ing a bulwark against fire, earthquake, and tornado. Thoroughly modern, yet not modernistic, its architectural ef¬ fect will he pleasing with simplicity of design and emphasis on the vertical lines. The ground floor of the build¬ ing will be skirted with polished blaek granite with aluminum trim and the upper stories of limestone with satin- finished aluminum spandrel* above and below each window. The main body of the building, encircled by Main, Corcoran, and Parrish streets and by the Trust Building, will arise six stories to he topped with a flood¬ lighted tower with two set-backs, one at the fourteenth and another nt the sixteenth floor. Being very solidly and beautifully constructed the build¬ ing, weighing 43,000,000 pounds, will lie a monument to the skill of modern architectural science. Designed both for mercantile and banking purposes the first two floors and basement will contain modern air- conditioned quarters for the Durham Loan and Trust Company and Ellis Stone and Company, the city’s largest department store. In addition, there will bo two other air-conditioned, up- to-date stores facing approximately 21 feet on Main Street and 80 feet deep. Above the first two floors will be space for 220 offices of average size. To al¬ low for partitioning as tenants will want it placed, the office floors will !-• constructed with only hall partitions, the final office partitions being built in a* wished by the occupant of the *paee. The Durham Loan and Trust Com¬ pany'* air-conditioned quarters, en¬ tered from Corcoran Street, will . . •I.» fis-t on Corcoran nnd extend back 08 feet to the Trust Building along Parrish Street. The Trust Company will use the basement for its safety deposit vault, coupon Iwotlis, and bank storage, nnd the three offices on the second floor for its Trust Department. The Home Security Life Insurance space on the sixth floor will be sound¬ proofed against the noise of bookkeep¬ ing and tabulating machines. The ex¬ ecutive offices will Im* arranged at one end of the 9.000 square feet of space with the clerical force at the other end. The space occupied by them will lie nearly double their present cramped quarters. Mr. George Watts Carr, who has de¬ signed the Home Bank Building, i* well known in this city for hi# resi¬ dential work as well ns having been chosen from the South's best architect* to handle the work of the Morehead City Port Authority. He is a mem¬ ber of the American Institute of Ar¬ chitect* and has designed a number of office buildings, apartments, and city and County school buildings. He recently remodeled tbo Trust Build¬ ing. Mr. Carr employed as consultant Shreve, Lamb and Harmon of New York, designers of the Reynolds Build¬ ing in Winston-Salem, and of the Em¬ pire State Building, the world's tall¬ est, and Bankers Trust Building in Xew York. George W. Kane is well known in Durham, having constructed the private pavilion at Watts Hos¬ pital and several large Durham build¬ ings, ns well as the new college build¬ ing# nt Wnke Forest, many fine resi¬ dences in Winston-Salem and Roaring Gap, the Durham Y. W. C. A., the gigantic textile plant of Collins & Aik- man in Roxboro, Montgomery Ward's Greensboro store, and numerous other outstanding structures in and out of North Carolina. SHE'LL HE Ql IEEN Next week will be Straw licrry Fes¬ tival time in the town of Wallace, the world's largest strawberry market. It will lie an occasion of fun, festiv¬ ity and frolic. There’ll he a pageant, dance, crowning of beauty queens, in¬ teresting exhibits and many other fea¬ tures. Last year’s Strawberry Festival was attended by thousand* of visitors and everybody bad a grand time. Miss Kliznlieth Ward, whose pic¬ ture appear* above, has been selected as queen of the festival and will reign next week. She will have in her court some of the most beautiful girls in that part of the state. MAJVY COVVEYTIOYS ROOKED FOR R IEEfGn Raleigh this year has been enter¬ taining an unusually large number of conventions ami there are ninny more to take place during the summer nnd fall months. With its large auditorium and its many other facilities for taking care of huge crowds, Raleigh has n strong appeal for conventions and gatherings of various kinds. The last meeting to he held in the capital city was the Typographical convention over the past week-end. And the next big gathering will Ik* the Democratic State convention. In the meantime, many smaller meetings are being held from time to time. “We are endeavoring to make Ra¬ leigh really a convention city," said Mayor George Iseley recently. "We have every advantage to offer and it is because of this fact that we hope to get many more meetings in the future.”