EDISON'S HOUSE CONSTRUCTION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 14, 10 February 1909, Page 4

EDISON'S HOUSE CONSTRUCTION.

Not long ago Edison announced a new • schajne in house-building. The plan, n ■■-. substance, was to erect big moulds ia .;■■. the form of a house and then pour con- ;- crete into them. In this manner it was proposed to not only pour the walls, but the floors, door-frames, windowframes, andr everr other portion of tinhouse as well. There wag not to be a stick of wood in the entire structure. Since then there have heen all sorts ' . of plana proposed fa modification of the ■■' Edison scheme, most builders insistina ; ■ ■.' that the scheme isn't practical. TV "concrete pouring" idea doesn't seem *o have caught on very strongly yet. The -idea of getting along with the minimum amount of wood in a structure, however, takes well. Tn the Technical World Magazine an expert describes a ' - 'hew home idea as follows: "A house of cement: a house without a chimney; a house with plenty of ' artificial light and heat and yet without a bit of fire; a house without coal: without ashes: without dangerous gases; such is to be the house of tomorrow. • "This is. indeed, an ideal house, and it is not impossible to have, for with little trouble one has just heen completed at Cnrroltm, 111. While this home is wonderful, the average American home will, in a few years from now. be like it. "Wood is fast becoming too scarce ind 100 high in price to he used as (ommon building material, and the time is already here when, for economy's *ake. architects and contractors are figuring to construct all Imildinp's <>f steel and concrete. As the supply of coal diminishes the cost is advancing, so I tliat everything possible is being done to husband the supply and to see that none of the precious stored heat is wasted. Electricity generated by waterpower is even now taking the place «f coal as a source of power, and the time i- not far distant w-hen it will rank first as a source of heat. 'The model twentieth century home at Carrolton is 34ft x 30ft. two stories high, with attic and basement, and his ' tisht roQ*is on the two main floors. While Ediion's idea of a concrete house to be poitred into one big mould was £ not carried out in its construction, yet * the principal building material was nf concrete. The foundation and walls arc „ of concrete blocks. These blocks were j r, > moulded richt on the LTOiind as the-, ' were rewired, so there was no waste of '- material.' The floor.- nre of hardwood, i tnd the inferior is finished in plaster i ind oak. Such a house reouires but , Mtle -wood in its construction. The * sfvle of architecture is of plain, suhst'ii- , tial mission tvpe. this idea bei'iT crried £ out throughout the interior. The house \\ fronted with a large, porch, and the > , whole construction, or. rather, the en- "■ * tire cost, was less than C7OII.