MEMOIR OF DANIEL TREADWELL. {1,1 



no means as "fire-proof." A strictly fire-proof building is one into which no wood 



floors, doo 



d xvvy lii fn 



# 



The stone for the foundations furnished by the contractors was a disintegrati 

 sienite. It had been used in the foundations of the meeting-house of the I 



Parish in Cambridge, and was already crumbling into a coarse gravel T 

 Professor Treadwell rejected, and substituted granite from a qnarry in Quincy own 

 by President Quincy- Subsequently the stone from the same quarry was select 

 for the whole building, for which it was eminently tilted. This drew from I 



Quincy the following letter, quite in keeping with his old-fashioned integrity. 



Q 



* Although not the architect, Mr. Treadwell felt the responsibility which rested upon him as superintendent of 

 building, and knowing that some points in the construction had not, after fifteen years, been carried oot, af In « .1 



the attention of the President to the facts in the following letter, dated Cambridge, May 28, 1852: 



"Dear Sir, — You may remember that several v n ago I called at your office and stand to j Q tli.it the 

 partitions of the alcoves over the Librarian's room in Gore Hall were fanned of tru- which wpp I the galhn 



that according to the original design of the building these trneeee were to be themselves supp ted by small Iron 



pillars, to rest upon the piers built in the basement, and pass through the Librarian's room to tin 1 ceiling. The « n- 

 struction of these pillars was neglected at the time the building w.ss finish I, from the pressun of other things, and 

 because it was well known that the trusses possessed ample Strength for the support of tie ir load so long .m tie wood 

 should remain sound, I furthermore stated to you, that I thought the pillars ought then no longer t<« 1>« m gl< ted : 

 that whenever the ends of the trusses which enter the walls and the Large main columns of tie building should heron 

 decayed, the trusses and partitions would fall, and might p ildy thrust the main pillars inwards. I'm destroy them 

 would bring down a portion of the iron roof of the building. Now as those who shall o. npy the building al r tl 

 present generation will not be likely to know that any pillars were designed or required for its support, ai longer 

 delay in eausing them to be made and put up may involve, not only a great injury to the building, hut a gr< it 

 destruction of life. 



u At the same time that I made the above relation, I furthermore stated to yon, that it had recently been found 

 that the smoke or products of combustion of anthracite had in many instances affected injuriously t! mortar of tie 

 flues through which it passed, and that therefore the main flue of G«»re Hall oti<rht to be thoroughly examined, and. if 

 found in the least wanting in adhesiveness or solidity, that the flue should be lined with i I iron or bronze, either of 

 which might be put in without any great cost, and would render it entirely seeure. I was aware that this might 

 seem like over-caution, but I thought that the character of the property at risk warranted it, as no money could 

 replace many of the books which would be destroyed if the building were burned. I have thought it my duty again 

 to call your attention to these subjects, and in this formal manner, and I beg you, if you do not think them worthy 

 of being acted upon, to file this letter with the Corporation, to make the matter so known to the Honorable and 

 Reverend the President and Fellows, that I may not in any case be considered responsible for what may conn 

 hereafter. 



" May I trespass upon your indulgence a few words more ? When Gore Hall was building, and befoi the tow. -< 

 were finished, I perceived that, if they were raised to the height shown in the model and plans, which had been made 

 and adopted before I had anything to do with the building, they would be inn. h too lofty for the body of tie i difice. 

 I compared them with the plates of King's College Chaj I, from which the d« gn was taken, and computed with 

 some labor the comparative proportions of the buildings, with the height of the towns of each, and found that those of 

 Gore Hall would be eight or ten feet above the true proportion of King's College Chaj I. Upon this, I procured a 

 meeting of the building committee with Mr. Bond, the architect of the building, to attend it, and proposed, for the 

 reasons above given, that the towers should be curtailed in the proposed h< ight This v opposed by Mr. Bond, 

 and, not a single member of the committee agreeing with me in my views, the towers were of course carried to the 



altitude given in the model and plans." 



When completed, it was obvious that Mr. Treadwell was right, and some years after the towers were reduced in 



height as he proposed. 



