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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)