THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



DOUBLED AY, PAGE & COMPANY'S NEW BUILDING AT GARDEN CITY, LONG ISLAND 



THE WORKING OUT OF AN AMBITION 



Having just completed our first decade, 

 we purpose to celebrate the event by moving 

 our business into the country, following out 

 a plan which has long been in our minds. 



For eight out of the ten years of our existence, 

 we have been advocating country life in season 

 and out of season, and now we propose to 

 accept our own advice. Some wise philosopher 

 has said that when your inclination and your 

 duty seem to run side by side, it is time to begin 

 an investigation. 



The study of conditions has convinced us 

 that, for such a business as ours, New York is 

 not the ideal place, though we feel the need of 

 being in close touch with the commercial cen- 

 tre of the land. Each year, conditions in the 

 great city become more and more difficult; 

 land is so expensive that sunlight is available 

 only at a tremendous cost; the population 

 increases 100,000 annually; these people crowd 

 into the flats and homes available, forcing up 

 rents so that the average employee has to 

 travel an hour or more to get to his work, or 

 pay a very high rental, or live in dark, cramped 

 and unattractive quarters. 



These same circumstances apply to a busi- 

 ness. The best conditions for manufacturing 

 such products as Doubleday, Page & Company 

 devote themselves to require large floor spaces, 

 on one level, and plenty of good light. Five 

 years ago, we built our present home on Six- 

 teenth Street, New York: this building, which 

 has many attractive features, provided seven 

 times as much space as we occupied in our 

 original quarters. For several years it has not 

 ^been possible to make room for all our people 

 under one roof, a stock room had to be 

 rented outside, and much of our work dis- 

 tributed in a score of different places. 



The necessity for putting up a building in 

 which we could house all our various depart- 

 ments, developed the fact that a small space, 

 say, 100 ft. x 100 ft., would be the minimum 

 land that could be employed within the limits 

 of economy in New York ; for our needs this would 

 call for a structure of twelve or more stories, 

 and about half of the floors would even then 

 be more or less dark. Also, this would leave 

 us no space to grow, and we propose to grow 

 as rapidly as our customers will approve of our 

 enterprises. 



After a good deal of investigation, covering 

 all the pros and cons, we have decided that the 

 tendency must be away from the crowded city for 

 making those things which do not, for some good 

 reason, have to be made in the city itself. 



Looking far into the future, we have pur- 

 chased forty acres in Garden City, Long Island. 

 The Country Life Press will stand on a crescent- 

 shaped piece of land about half a mile long, 

 and five hundred feet deep in its widest part, 

 backed by our own railroad spur, where the 

 cars will be loaded with our books and mag- 

 azines. This piece covers about eighteen 

 acres, and will allow for all the expansion in 

 this direction we can reasonably expect. The 

 building will face Franklin Avenue, so named 

 by that great merchant, Alexander T. Stewart, 

 forty years ago, no doubt with our establish- 

 ment in his prophetic mind. 



At the back of this are seven or eight acres, 

 and across Franklin Avenue is a full block of 

 fourteen acres. We shall not attempt here to 

 give particulars of what we hope to plant and 

 grow in these spaces. It is perhaps sufficient to 

 say that they will be devoted to those country 

 things which we think will most interest our 

 readers, and particulars will be forthcoming 

 from time to time. 



By August, 1910, we expect to have the 

 building completed — the development of the 

 grounds we hope to work on for many years. 



The press will be reached from the new Penn- 

 sylvania Station, at Thirty-third Street, New 

 York, by tunnel under the East River, thirty 

 minutes by direct electric train, or, from down- 

 town by the subway. The firm will have a 

 New York Office in or near Thirty-fourth Street, 

 close to the station, for some of its selling 

 departments. Private telephone trunk line 

 wires will connect the two exchanges, one in 

 the New York office, and one at the press, so 

 that customers and friends in New York will 

 be within as quick and convenient reach of 

 every department as though the whole establish- 

 ment were in the city. 



While the plans outlined seem in many re- 

 spects to be novel and unusual, the whole idea 

 of the change has been thoroughly considered, 

 and founded upon what we consider to be 

 conservative business practice, with the view of 

 securing the greatest economy and efficiency, 

 as well as attractive and healthful surroundings. 



The architects of the building are Messrs. 

 Kirby and Petit. 



The materials used are brick, cement, steel, 

 and glass. It will be a thoroughly fireproof 

 structure, and abundantly lighted in every nook 

 and corner. With the exception of two small 

 sections, there is no place in the building more 

 than twenty-five feet from outside light and air. 

 The building will be about 400 feet long; it will 

 be 225 feet deep, built around a hollow square. 

 The entrance will be an arched opening of 



generous size, looking into the court which 

 will be planted as a large garden, with its 

 fountain, gravelled paths, rhododendron, laurel, 

 and evergreens, to keep it green and attractive 

 in winter. English ivy and other vines will be 

 planted everywhere on the building. 



The extensive grounds, carefully landscaped 

 and planted, will help to keep the general 

 appearance as much as possible unlike a com- 

 mercial building. The plan, as now laid out, 

 will eventually exhibit to the visitor those things 

 that the owner or builder of a country home 

 desires .to know about. In this the firm is 

 expanding and carrying out its "Sendee De- 

 partment," which each year answers thousands 

 of questions from readers on all sorts of subjects, 

 but chiefly connected with country life. So far 

 as is known, there is at present no place 

 where all that is necessary and desirable to 

 make rural life agreeable is exemplified in one 

 locality. 



Our entire printing and binding plant, stock 

 rooms, paper storage, packing, and plate 

 rooms will be on one floor. The paper 

 will be received directly from a railroad car in 

 the paper stock room; it will go from there to 

 the pressroom; then to the folding room, to 

 bindery, and to stock room and packing 

 room in uninterrupted progress. Thus it is 

 hoped to secure a great saving in what, in 

 manufacturing parlance, is called "unproduc- 

 tive labor." 



On the second floor, immediately over the 

 press room, will be the composing room, the 

 photo-engraving department, and the electro- 

 type foundry. The remainder of the second floor 

 will be devoted to the offices of the firm, edi- 

 torial rooms, cashier's and bookkeeping depart- 

 ments, subscription clerks, mail order de- 

 partments, etc. 



The new press is expected to be practically 

 complete in every department and to do all 

 the various parts of making a magazine or 

 a book. A separate electric motor will be 

 attached to every machine for its operation, 

 no matter how small. A driven well will 

 provide water, boilers will supply heat for 

 the building and greenhouses, and everything 

 will be done to make the press complete and 

 up-to-date. 



With the exception of some presses now used 

 in New York, and the composing room material, 

 new machinery will be installed throughout 

 in every department. The machinery now 

 ordered will manufacture our present output 

 of nearly 15,000 magazines and 5,000 books 

 a day, but the entire enterprise is planned for 

 an expected and logical growth. 





