A SAN FRANCISCO HOTEL.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 210, 10 February 1875, Page 3

A SAN FRANCISCO HOTEL.

They are building in San Francisco a magnificent hotel called the “ Palace,” which is so stupendous in its proportions that, according to the Bulletin, a sort of belief has grown up that a fortress, and not a place of public entertainment, is being erected : —“ Modern military teaching would not impel one versed in the science of war to select a flat section of land in the centre of a populous city as the site for a fortress, and yet there are those who say that the Palace, despite its seemingly unfavorable location on this score, possesses military advantages of no mean order. The edifice covers a superficial area of OP.OOO square feet, and commands four thoroughfares, wherefore an assaulting party would hazard exposure to a sharp fire from whichever point it advanced. The foundation walls are 12ft and 6in thick at the base, and 10ft Pin thick at the top, and they extend 27ft below the level of the street. The stones and bricks are laid wholly in cement, and the latter, through the hardening process, finally becomes tenacious concrete. The basements is strengthened with inverted arches, and is specially adapted for magazine purposes. Under some cases, it would afford an excellent retreat for noncombatants unavoidably within the walls at the time of an engagement. In case the suggested emergency arises, the basement will lie used as such a retreat and for a temporary hospital. A due regard for the sanitary requirements of the basement has already been discovered in the plans by a person of an inquisitive turn of mind. The grand court in the centre of the hotel contains 12,006 square feet, and is specially adapted to the assembly and drill of infantry, affording space for movements which cannot be executed in any armoury of the city. Again, referring to the stability of the edifice, we find that thus far 17,000 barrels of lime, 15,000 barrels of cement, several hundred tons of iron, in the shape of girders, and 50 tons of nails have been used in its construction. The bricks used are represented by the figures 17,000,000. These cement-laid, ironbound bricks would certainly withstand the recoil of very heavy ordnance.