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GREAT GREENHOUSE 



WRECKED BY SNOW 



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•' Heavy snowfall on the north Atlantic coast brought disaster a second 

 time to the largest greenhouse in the world, at North Wales, Pa. Just six 

 years after a collapse on St. Valentine's day, a loss of $25,000 to $35,000 was 

 suffered when the glass gave way February 5. 



LMOST six years to the day 

 after a like mishap, ths 

 largest greenhouse in the 

 world went down under 

 the weight, of a heavy 

 snow February 5 at 9 a. m. 

 The big house of the Flo* 

 rex Gardens, at North 

 Wales, Pa., which col- 

 lapsed February 14, 1914, 

 last week suffered a similar acci- 

 dent. This time, however, merely the 

 glass gave way. The structural work, 

 it is asserted, is uninjured. The next 

 largest house at the Florex Gardens, 

 which is older, went down at the end, its 

 structure being injured. 



The big house, 172x750 feet, shown 

 in the illustration below, is planted to 

 roses, all in ground beds. It was be- 

 lieved that the stock in this house may 

 be saved. Only the glass, which was 

 put in the 24-inch way, gave way under 

 the weight of snow, and men were at 

 work repairing the damage next day. 

 The loss was roughly estimated at from 

 $25,000 to $35,000. The next largest 

 house at Florex Gardens, which col- 

 lapsed at the end, suffered more severe- 

 ly, and it was thought the plants in this 

 house would be lost. 



Storm Sweeps Atlantic Coast. 



The blizz^d which last week swept 

 down the Ailantic coast, tying up traffic 

 and burying roads under drifts of snow, 

 caused much anxiety to greenhousemen, 

 who propped their houses and cleaned 



the roofs to avoid catastrophes. There 

 was a heavy snowfall at North Wales 

 February 3. The following day it 

 changed to rain, and February 5 changed 

 back to snow again. The weight was 

 too great for the wide, flat roof of the 

 big greenhouse at Florex Gardens. The 

 glass gave way, as can be seen in the 

 accompanying illustration, reproduced 

 from a photograph taken at 2 p. m., 

 February 6, showing the south side of 

 the house after the men had begun to 

 repair the damage. 



Six Years Ago. 



On St. Valentine's day, in 1914, both 

 the great house at North Wales and Wil- 

 liam H. Elliott 's famous house, 60x1,360, 

 the longest in America, at Madbury, 

 N. H., collapsed. On that occasion a 

 great gale of wind, attaining a velocity 

 of sixty miles an hour, added to the 

 strain caused by the weight of the snow. 

 One third of the quarter-mile long house 

 of William Elliott collapsed, falling 

 from the ridge. The fall at Florex Gar- 

 dens at that time seemed also to be at 

 the ridge, as may be seen from the illus- 

 tration on the following page, depicting 

 the accident in 1914. The south side 

 gave way for about half its length. 

 There were about 70,000 rose plants in 

 the house. 



At that time heavy financial loss re- 

 sulted, not only to these two firms, but 

 also to many other greenhousemen on 

 the Atlantic seaboard, where the snow 

 was exceptionally heavy and the wind 



extraordinarily high on that St. Valen- 

 tine's day. Just as is true this year, 

 the fall in that section of the country 

 was much greater than in other parte 

 and the resulting damage along the 

 north Atlantic coast was exceedingly 

 severe. 



Wide, Flat Roof. 



The wide, flat roof of the big house 

 at Florex Gardens proved not strong 

 enough to bear the strain of an ex* 

 cessive snowfall. The removal of the 

 snow by steam pipes overhead seeme 

 not to have been successful. The plan 

 of David Fuerstenberg in building such 

 a house, while commendable in many 

 ways, particularly for its economy in 

 construction, has the occasional heavy 

 snowfalls of that latitude against it. 

 The size of the house is not so much 

 responsible as the low pitch of the roof. 



The builders, the King Construction 

 Co., carried out the original ideas of 

 David Fuerstenberg exactly as he di- 

 rected, assuming no responsibility for 

 the pitch of the roof. 



David Fuerstenberg retired from the 

 Florex Gardens two or three years ago. 

 The present officers are: President, 

 Raymond C. Mayhew; vice-president 

 and treasurer, William A. Geiger; secre- 

 tary, Eugene Bernheimer. 



Construction Plans. 



In this connection it will be of inter- 

 est to note the description by R. O. 

 King, of the King Construction Co., of 









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South Side of Big House at Florex Oatideos, with Men at Work Repairing Damage from Heavy Snow. 



