JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post
Here’s a very interesting engineering and building feat: placing the foundations for a new building to replace an older one while the older one was still (1) standing and (2) in use. The recipient of this effort was the McVickers Building in Chicago, a theater that opened in 1857 and came to it slow end in 1922. It looks like the last bit of currency was squeezed out of this old building, performances being given right to the very end while foundations for the new building were being constructed 24 hours a day. Int he world of cross sections this is a good one, and also pretty unusual. Also in the top left corner we see a photo of a caisson under construction–a shot I don’t see very often in my searches of old stuff.
Source: Popular Mechanics, February, 1922.