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“BtS? S-J^kly Hammonton ' m^.,^uu LandUvilUj^^SS^^; The Ventnor News Has More PAID Annual SUBSCRIPTIONS Than Any Morning, Evening, Sunday, or Weekly Newspaper Published In Atlantic County ELDREDGE WAREHOUSE SECTIONVENTNOR, ATLANTIC CITY, N. J., WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8,1924 NATIONAL SECTION Eldredge Chelsea Fireproof Warehouse Marks New I Era In Providing Storage Facilities For the Shore; Structure Is Absolutely Fireproof and Moth-proof - 1 1 l Imposing Edifice, Beautiful In Its Architecture, Adds to Attractive Appearance of Chelsea’s Residential Section. Equipped With Every Modern Device For the Protection of Furniture, Rugs, Kanos, Automobiles, Silverware and Other Valuables Contained Within Its Walls. Beautiful in its architecture, im pressive in its proportions, a fitting monument in every way to one of Atlantic City’s most substantial in stitutions, the new structure of the Eldredge Chelsea Fireproof Ware house Company on Atlantic Avenue, near Hartford, directly opposite Chelsea Park, has been fully com pleted and is rapidly filling up with its store of valuable merchandise. Nowhere throughout the length and breadth of the land is there to be found a finer or more thoroughly equipped building for the purposes to which this magnificent structure is to be adapted. No expense has been spared, no effort left undone by owners, builders and architect to make the new warehouse conform in every way to the highest possible standard of safety and utility. Six stories in height, constructed throughout of reinforced concrete, skeleton frame, with enclosing walls of brick, the exterior follows closely the Florentine Renaissance period in design, the foreign motif being carried out in cream colored glazed terra cotta, with ornamental iron work of the Verdi antique type. The new warehouse is as notable for its character and beauty of architectural design as for the absolute protection afforded by every modern device for its contents. It was the aim of the owners to erect a structure that would be a genuine contribution to the • architectural triumphs of the resort, and \they have succeeded far beyond all expectations. a structure less attractive in ap pearance would be out of place in the locality chosen for the new ware house. Faced by the thing of beauty the Chelsea Park has become within the last few years, close to the Board walk, and the resort’s magnificent new High School in plain view, the setting for the handsome, imposing building is nothing short of ideal. Warehouses are usually dismal look ing structures, located in isolated sec tions, with no other idea than the practical reflected in their lines and contours. Not so with the new home of the Eldredge Chelsea Fireproof Warehouse Company. Within and without there is evident a faithful attention to all that is best in modern, artistic construction. Commodious, well lighted offices, occupying approximately half of the lower floor, are finely equipped for the large force required to keep accurate checks and balances on the great volume of business done annually by the Eldredge Company. The walls are of imported Caen stone; the floor of terrazzo, two-color effect, and the counter and wainscoting are of York fossil marble. An innovation strictly in accord with the mo$t modem ideas of interior arrangement is the eleva tion of the office flooring, bringing the clerical force while seated to the level of visitors and patrons. Both the ceiling and walls are done in panel effect. The color scheme in office decoration is a skillful blending of black and cream. Directly in the rear of the general offices is the silver vault, where are now stored articles of great value, the property for the most part of wealthy cottagers who have closed their shore homes for the winter season. Surrounding the vault are walls of impenetrable strength, and as an extra precaution it is equipped with a burglar proof door that guaran tees absolute protection for its con tents. On the first floor also is the private office of Willard Eldredge, president of the company. Lavatories are located in the rear, and employes may communicate to executives and mem bers of the clerical force through windows without the necessity of entering the offices. Further in the rear of the first floor is a huge trunk vault, also burg lar proof, and nearby an "access room,” where owners may examine the contents of their trunks privately and at their leisure. A packing room, always a source of great profit to the storage business, and an enclosed unloading room complete the space on the first floor, save for a large store on the lower side of the build ing which will be leased to a high grade mercantile concern. Two elevators, one a huge lift for freight and the othera finely equipped Otis elevator for passengers, travel between the first and sixth floors almost constantly during work ing hours. From the roof of the structure, which is reached by a stairway protected from the elements, is afforded a wonderful view of the entire resort and the open sea. In addition to utilizing the top floor for the storage of furniture, there is space available also for automobiles. This will provide facil ities for the storage of autos received during the busy sales season by shore dealers, guarding against the crowd ing of their show rooms. The fifth floor is an exact duplicate of the sixth and will be used for practically the same purposes. • On the fourth floor is a cold storage vault in which will be kept furs of rare value and rugs, absolutely pro tected through the temperature al ways'maintained from the ravages of moths and other destructive agencies. This is a service not heretofore placed at the disposal of shore residents and it gives promise of being one of the most popular features of the new warehouse. Two rooms for the storage of pianos, kept automatically at a tem perature that will assure preservation of the tonal qualities of the in •» ■Mv.'YjSS v;e' $£&& N M I Miller Studio. NEW ELDREDGE CHELSEA WAREHOUSE struments, are included in the build ing, one on the third and the other on the second floor. Costly draperies will be hung on the walls of these rooms, and most scrupulous care has been taken to keep the contents of these rooms free from dust and rust. From the fourth floor down to the first, the greater part of the warehouse interior is given over to private rooms, each of which is leased by the owners of the property stored with the Eldredge Company. The lessees of these rooms are provided with keys and they are as fully given into their possession as homes they might rent at the shore or elsewhere. The rooms vary in size, in accordance with the needs of the lessees; each is equipped with a fire door of standard, design, and all are heavily coated with paint to ward off the ravages of dust. Although the structure is ab solutely fireproof throughout, not a stick of lumber being used anywhere in its erection, all windows are equipped with automatic devices to insure their closing in the event of a temperature of 170 degrees, thereby shutting off the draft and preventing the spread of flames. But because of the fireproof nature of the building and of the individual rooms through out the building, fire could never reach more than the incipient stage and danger from this source any where throughout the structure is negligible. A large, well aired basement, ab solutely waterproof, is another feature in the high class construction ap parent throughout the warehouse. By means of an unusually rich mix ture of cement reinforced by steel, the danger arising from soil pressure has been overcome, with the result that the basement is always as dry as the proverbial bone. Here is located the cold storage plant, automatically controlled, which furnishes the tem perature for the fur and rug ware rooms and wards off the menace from moths and other destructive agencies. Two boilers for heating purposes are also located in the basement, each equipped with every modern device. There is also located in the basement a book vault in which are kept the voluminous records of the Eldredge Company. Among the other details of this completely equipped structure is a system of portable clocks to be used by the watchmen, assuring inspection of every foot of floorspace every hour of the day and night, and an auto matic clock, by which the hours for exterior lighting may be regulated. Within the great structure are 65,000 square feet of space, making it one of the largest of its kind in the State of New Jersey, and no more perfectly equipped building has ever been erected in the United States. Ihe cost of the structure and the site s estimated at $425,000. The structure was designed by George S'. Kingsley, an architect of wide ex perience in this type of building. Because of the extreme precautions observed against fire in the con struction and arrangement of the new warehouse, patrons of the Eldredge Company are given the advantage >f the lowest possible insurance •ates on their furniture, silverware ind other valuable property stored ;herein. A warehouse of this character has been vitally needed in Atlantic City for many years because of the re sort’s more or less transient popula tion. It will fill the requirements for residents who rent their homes during the summer months, as well as for visitors who own or rent shore homes which they occupy during the summer months and who are con fronted with the problem of disposing of surplus goods when they leave the shore at the close of the summer season. Hitherto many residents and vis itors have been compelled to send furniture and other household effects to other cities because of the lack of facilities for storing such property at the shore. All this business can now be bandied by the Eldredge Company at less expense than would be incurred in sending it out of the city, and with far greater assurances of safety. Every winter rugs worth many thousands of dollars have been left on the floors of vacant Atlantic City homes because storage space was not available, but the completion of the new warehouse sounds the knell for the continuance of this practice. The personnel of the Eldredge Chelsea Fireproof Warehouse Com pany is made up of Willard Eldredge, president; Curtis Eldredge, vice president; Harry G. Grant, secretary' and treasurer. In existence for nearly a half century, the Eldredge 1 Company has become more than a mere business concern—it is now an institution among shore residents and visitors. While storage is the principal business of the Eldredge Company, its activities in other lines are multitudinous. These include the transportation of objects ranging from trolley cars, exhibited annually in connection with electrical conven tions at the shore, to small machinery parts. On the payroll of the Eldredge Company are a half hundred em ployes, and a fleet of fourteen motor trucks, three tractors and a dozen trailers is kept in almost constant operation. The company has kept pace in every particular with the marvelous growth of the resort and is associated intimately with the prosperity and development of Atlan tic City and adjacent communities. The For and Rog Storage Room Undoubtedly one of the most interesting things in connection with the new warehouse is the large cold storage room for furs and rugs. This room con taining about 2500 square foot of floor space, together with the adjacent coil room, vesti bule and including the machinery room in the basement, con stitutes one of the largest plants of this type in the East, and cer tainly the -last word in modern construction. The principle of operation of this plant has been used for years, and is the safest .known. Clean, dry air is blown under pressure and travels at a high velocity into the storage room, where it circulates around the stored articles, keeping them al ways within the desired tempera ture limits. Government tests have shown that a daily variation of tempera ture from 17 to 34 degrees will produce most satisfactory results in destroying germ life or larva, or at least keeping them dormant and harmless. To carry out this principle, the room was heavily insulated with five inches of Nonpareil cork board on the walls, floor and ceil ing. This corkboard was finished with a hard portland cement finish, troweled smooth, making ' the room sanitary and fireproof. A vestibule or airlock equipped with heavy cold storage doors and burglar-proof steel fire doors provides entrance to the storage room from the main building. In the basement, a Jurick re frigerating machine is installed. This unit is of the latest auto matic type, capable of producing Beven and one half tons refrigera tion in twenty-four hours. The refrigerating medium is forced from the machine through pipes heavily insulated with Nonpareil cork covering, into a pipe or bunker room built next to the main storage room and insulated with six inches of corkboard, finished with a mastic waterproof protective coating.' Over one-third of a mile of two-inch pipe coils are located in his room. These coils are separat ed by two-inch wooden baffles hat guide the air over and around the pipes. The air passing over and around these pipes filled with low temperature refrigerating medium, is cooled and also re lieved of its moisture. This cold, dry air is then blown through large galvanized ducts from the pipe coil room running overhead into the storage room. Frequent outlets or registers in the supply ducts allow the cold air to be forced around the stored articles bringing them down to the desired temperature. The heavy insulation of the room pre vents the infiltration of heat and moist air from the outside. The air current after passing through the storage room is drawn up into a return duct which carries it back to the coil room, and again over the refrig erating coils where the heat col lected is removed, thus complet ing the circuit. - - An auxiliary -' duct running from the storage room to the outside atmosphere and equipped with an independent fan and motor, allows fresh air to be added to the air circulation when necessary. To operate this air circulation system, a No. 3 American blower v fan driven by a 5 h. p. motor is used. This fan is capable of handling 3800 cu. ft. of air per minute, when operating at a speed of 860 r. p. m. Both the fur and rug racks used were specially designed for this job and were built by the Market Forge company, of Boston, Mass. They are of heavy galvanized iron, and are so con structed that they allow furs and rugs stored on them to be in direct contact constantly with thn cold circulating air. The complete plant was design ed and built under the supervi sion of Mr. Kingsley, architect for the building, by John R. Liv» zey of Philadelphia, and repre sents years of study and opera tion by Mr. Livezey in this line of endeavor. No expense or pains were spared to make this room the safest place for the storage of furs and rugs. Years ago, the first fur storages were cooled by pipes erected on the insulated walls, but this method was found defective, owing to the dampness coming off the pipes, when the frost was very thick, and being absorbed by the articles in storage and caused damage. 0Continued on Page 18)