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Source Collection
Alan Karchmer collection, Special Collections Department, University of Memphis Libraries
Identifier
9_29.E
Description
Commercial Buildings, 400 Block N. Main, Memphis, Tennessee. Built around 1885. Photographer: Alan Karchmer. © Alan Karchmer.
Cast iron columns are most often found supporting an upper mass of masonry.
Hidden behind fire escapes and dingy paint, Cast Iron Architecture may seem somewhat insignificant today, but in its time, with gleaming panes of glass and freshly painted facades, these structures were the pride of the city. Architecturally they represented one of the most important building innovations of the Nineteenth Century and provided a giant step toward the development of the modern skyscraper. The advantages of cast iron were many, allowing not only for a greater economy of construction, but ambitious aesthetics as well. Combining strength and lightness with facility of erection, building components were mass produced in great variety and sold through voluminous catalogues. Prefabrication of structures became a new possibility. The main problem to overcome was fireproofing. With structural advantages far beyond traditional masonry techniques, cast iron columns and beams allowed a drastic reduction in the mass of structural walls giving way to economically advantageous plate glass show windows at the ground floor. With the invention of the elevator the skyscraper was born. A number of Memphis foundries- including the Chickasaw Iron Works, Livermore Foundry, and W. C. Ellis Iron Works- supplied building components throughout this region.
Date Created
2021
Date
undated
Recommended Citation
"Commercial Buildings, 400 Block N. Main, Memphis" (2021). Images. 118.
https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/speccoll-mss-karchmera2/118
Keywords
Architecture--Tennessee--Memphis.
