Semaphore - April 1959

Semaphore

PIEDMONT AND NORTHERN RAILWAY MAGAZINE

[image of decorate fence in front of a bank building]

A GINGERBREAD FENCE

APRIL 1959

Semaphore

PIEDMONT & NORTHERN SERVICE WITH COURTESY [image of company logo]

VOLUME 15 NUMBER 4 APRIL, 1959

Published at Charlotte, N. C., by the Piedmont and Northern Railway Company, a 130-mile railroad extending in an arc through the rich Piedmont Carolinas and serving such thriving cities as Anderson, Greenville, Greenwood, and Spartanburg in South Carolina, and Charlotte and Gastonia in North Carolina. Address all communications to the editor, P. O. Box 480, Charlotte, N. C. Comments and suggestions are solicited.

EDITOR THOMAS G. LYNCH Director of Industrial Development and Public Relations

CORRESPONDENTS

Elizabeth N. Watt ........................... Anderson

Merle V. Goodman ......................... Charlotte

Jean Wilkinson .............................. Gastonia

Harry T. Campbell ......................... Greenville

Edwin T. White .............................. Greenville

Evelyn Williams ............................. Greenville

D. V. Sadler .................................... Pinoca

W. R. Page ..................................... Spartanburg

[image of decorative fence in front of a bank]

UNDER THE COVER

Workmen have begun the job of dismantling exsiting buildings on the site of the American Commercial Bank's planned 18-story bank and office building in Charlotte. See the story on page 5. Not one to let an opportunity pass, the bank's imaginative vice president, Arthur H. Jones, figured that the construction barricade was something they would be living behind for well over a year. So why not use it to the best advantage? An extra bit of gingerbread was added to the fence, including a Snow White dwarf theme, and the barricade emerged as a prime attraction along Charlotte's busy Tryon Street. It is probably the fanciest construction fence men ever worked behind.

NEWS AND VIEWS

The Railroad Retirement Board recently reviewed its benefit rolls to see how many females were confounding the actuaries by extending their longevity past the 100-year mark. The Board reported that it was still sending monthly checks to seven railroad widows or mothers who qualify as centenarians. The youngest is an even 100 and the oldest is 105. That should give wives of railroaders a distant goal worth trying for. Any pension plan is a bargain if you can collect monthly checks for 40 years after retirement.

* * * * *

It now seems to be a certainty that Interstate 85, which is fast replacing U. S. 29, will be routed north of Gastonia. That will mean the fourth crossing of the P & N's North Carolina Division within its 26-mile length - over near Charlotte, under the Belmont branch, over the McAdenville branch, and probably under again near Gastonia's city limits. In South Carolina there are only two crossings so far, both over.

* * * * *

It is surprising how scarce good industrial sites can become in the midst of thousands of acres of vacant land. Haphazard, unplanned growth has left some cities in P&N land with nothing of quality to sell site-seeking industries. This sad situation furnishes a good argument for revising zoning laws which permit the construction of houses in industrial and commercial zones but do not permit the construction of plants or warehouses in residential zones. Thus, the home owner has protection from industrial encroachment, but industry has no protection from residential encroachment. As a consequence a great deal of property best suited for industry because of its location near or along a railroad has been taken over for housing. The result: no good sites left for industry. Cities would do well to consider ways and means of protecting what sites they still have from going the way of so much other property which could have created hundreds or thousands of jobs and shared materially in carrying the property tax burden.

[image of artist's rendering for the American Commerical Bank]

THIS IS HOW THE AMERICAN COMMERCIAL'S NEW BUILDING WILL LOOK

4 SEMAPHORE

18-STORY BANK BUILDING

ANOTHER TALL ONE FOR CHARLOTTE

SITE preparation has begun on a structure which in the months ahead will sprout upwar 285 feet to become Charlotte's tallest office building.

The $5-million project is being undertaken by the American Commercial Bank which will utilize 158,000 square feet of the building's 260,000 square feet. The rest will be available for lease as office space. The huge structure will be 18 stories high and will have two basement levels. The 18th floor will be a penthouse equipped with lounge, kitchen, and dining room. The bank itself will occupy all of the four-story base and the first two floors of the tower section.

Old building disappearing

Late this month workmen began the task of dismantling the front part of the present bank building and an adjacent building to prepare the foundations for the tall section of the building. During this stage the bank will operate from the rear of the former structure and from the former Commercial Bank Building which was consolidated with the American Trust buildings when the two institutions were merged not long ago. Many of the bank's offices are temporarily situated in the old Commercial Bank building on the corner of S. Tryon and Fourth Street.

When the tower section of the handsome new structure has been completed the bank will transfer its operations to the new section and vacate the old one for demolition. Workmen will then demolish the old Commercial Bank Building and the Fourth Street annex of the former American Trust Building. Then the base section of the new structure will be extended to cover land previously occupied by the demolished buildings.

This scheule for demolition and construction will enable the bank to continue operating at its present site throughout the various phases of construction. In a sense, the bank will have its home built around and over it while it continues to occupy the premises.

Larger than first planned

Originally the bank had announced plans to construct a smaller building over a greater period of time. However, the encouraging and continuing demand for first-class office space in Charlotte's downtown area influenced officials to increase the proposed size by about 15 per cent and to accelerate the construction schedule.

The four-story base will be of marble and the tower section will have an exterior of aluminum and glass. Many modern innovations will be included in the design and decoration of the structure.

Plans for the building are being prepared by Walter Hook & Associates, Charlotte architects. The general contractor will be a company organized specifically for this purpose by four leading Charlotte general contractors -- Southeastern Construction Co., Goode Construction Co., McDevitt & Street Co. and F. N. Thompson Inc. The project will be under the supervision of Charles O. Mikell, vice-president of F. N. Thompson Inc.

APRIL 5