437 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
W 
Crete, and the result is very satisfac- 
tory in both ways. I am sure you 
would be interested in seeing it.” 
C. G. Carpenter, Milwaukee: ‘‘I 
would like to speak of a piece of 
concrete work in Milwaukee which 
was done in the park this summer. 
It is a stairway in the stadium in 
our play ground at Lake Park. We 
are using for the foundation and the 
sides of the sairway common cement 
made up in the same way as the 
buildings we saw today. Instead of 
using any acid or doing anything to 
make the outside look rough, as Mr. 
Foster has done so nicely, we have 
used what plasterers call “rough cast” 
cement. We take cement and mix it 
to a certain consistency, then take a 
l)room or a little bundle and by dip- 
ping this bundle into the cement and 
striking it across a stick it will cast 
the cement against the wall, and a 
good workman will coat a wall with 
CONCRETE GARDEN HALL, ROSE GARDEN, HUMBOLDT PARK, CHICAGO. 
board and has to be plastered after- 
ward to make a smooth surface. But 
when the forms are taken down ycni 
see small particles of stone and no 
smooth surface. There was a visit 
of a commission of architects invited 
by the park commissioners to go with 
them and examine the buildings 
erected with concrete for the pur- 
pose of determining what we should 
use in the other buildings we are 
about to erect, and as a result of that 
visit the architects recommended and 
the commissioners unanimously ap- 
proved the selection of concrete 
erected in that way as the standard 
for all of our buildings. If none of 
you have seen that surface you can 
hardly appreciate it. The color and 
texture of it are interesting. The 
smooth surface is uninteresting, but 
this surface. I know you will agree 
with me, is most delightful. The 
effect in winter need not be dreaded 
at all. The tone is a greenish gray. 
The green is not noticeable, but it is 
felt; j'ou simply feel the touch of 
green in that gray, soft, velvety wall, 
and that is what you will see. I hope 
those of you who can, when this 
meeting adjourns, will come down 
to Chicago, and I will take pleasure 
in showing you the results we have 
obtained. We have also erected 
some concrete structures made with 
granite, coarse granite screenings 
used on the surface of columns and 
on the face of the walls, and after 
the wall was erected we submitted 
the ends of the columns and blocks 
to a bath of acid which removed all 
evidences of any smooth cement mor- 
tar, so the particles of granite stood 
out, and one knew at once it was 
granite concrete, not limestone con- 
CONCRETE BASIN IN ROSE GARDEN, HUMBOLDT PARK, CHICAGO. 
a coating of the finest grainy surface 
it is possible to give it. The balus- 
trade of this staircase is composed 
of a rail at the top and another at 
the bottom with a series of spindles 
between. The rail is about three feet 
high. This is composed of white 
sand mixed perfectly soft and poured 
in molds, and when these balusters 
come out of that white sand mold 
they are just as white as a piece of 
white marble. The contrast between 
the light and the dark gives a most 
beautiful effect. This was a flowing 
cement, not dry, but liquid, and mixed i' 
so soft it would run like water, and 1 
it was put into this mould and left J 
eight days, and that pure white sand |1 
would show up in the finished work . ! 
in a way that could scarcely be * 
equaled.” 
President Cowell: I think the city I 
of Chicago in its parks and in all its 
building operations has used more 
concrete than any other city in the ij 
country. In regard to the color which || 
concrete takes, I have again to refer ,, 
to what I saw in the tropics where* ! 
the algae gathers upon the walls and 
forms a very beautiful and always 
picturesque effect in various colors. 
Secretary Mulford: I wonder if it 
would not be possible for those who ■ 
have had experience in concrete con- i 
struction to get their ideas together i 
and publish them in the form of a 
pamphlet or bulletin so that we all : 
might have the benefit, just in that j 
particular phase of concrete construc- 
tion. I know I wanted that informa- i' 
tion and did not have it, but I went 
ahead with what experience I had, 
and the results were fairly satisfac- 
tory. However, I would have been 
better satisfied if I had this informa- 
tion from some one who had had ex- 
perience. 
