THE Ferryhouse now being built at the foot of West Twenty-third street, New York City, for the Lackawanna Railroad Company, will be the central structure of a group of three such buildings, others being contemplated for the Erie Railroad Company and the Central Railroad of New Jersey.
In an effort to present an appearance of architectural unity at such an important centre of traffic, one architect, Mr. Kenneth M. Murchison, Jr., was commissioned by the various companies to design and supervise the entire group
The aim of the architect has evidently been to express in his design the metallic character and structural forms of the Ferryhouse. The entire exterior is to be covered with heavy copper. The frieze is in the form of a deep girder, supported by the upright latticed column design of the piers. All the moldings and ornaments are of a distinctly metallic character, thin and sharp, the well-known stone forms having been abandoned.
Sheet metal as an exterior covering was adopted after an investigation into all other available materials had been made. Anything in the line of masonry or terra-cotta was out of the question, both on account of the settlement of the piles in the muddy bottom of the North river, and the severe shocks which these structures occasionally receive from the ferry boats.
