April 2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Mr. John Oxion Historic Preservation Commission of South Bend & St. Joseph County Re: Oliver Chilled Plow Works Buildings 46 and 47 - Forge 2 March 20, 2002 Page 2 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY The Oliver Chilled Plow Works is a collection -of over 25 buildings on a site of approximately 35 acres in the southwest quadrant of South Bend. The majority of the buildings are reported to have been constructed during the period of 1881 to 1912. This study focuses on Buildings 46 and 47 located in the extreme southwest corner of the site, which we understand originally served as Forge 2. Building 47 measures approximately 400 x 84 feet in plan view and was reportedly constructed in 1910. The roof is sloped with a clearstory extending the length of the building. Most of the windows within the clearstory have been removed and the space has been covered with sheets of corrugated fiberglass. The structure of the building is composed of steel, wood and brick masonry. Sloped steel trusses span between the east and west load bearing masonry walls. Wood joists are supported by the trusses and pocket into the masonry walls. The framing for the clearstory is also made of wood. Steel columns in line with the sides of the clearstory support the trusses at approximate 1/3 points. The roof deck is made of 1 -1/2 x 8 inch tongue and groove sheathing which is covered with an asphalt based BUR membrane. A concrete slab on grade extends throughout the building. The exterior walls are monolithic brick masonry ranging from 3 to 4 wythes in thickness. All of the original double and triple sash windows and doors appear to have b6en constructed of wood. Building 46 is also reported to have been constructed in 1910, however, it appears to have been an addition constructed at a later date. It measures 101 x 159 feet in plan view. The sawtooth roof is composed of both cast -in -place concrete and precast concrete channel slabs which are supported by a steel frame and the exterior masonry walls. There is a partial basement in the north end of the building which is reported to measure 67 x 90 feet. We did not verify these measurements. The I" floor structure over the basement is a 2 -way reinforced concrete flat slab spanning between the concrete columns. The south end of the I" floor is a concrete slab on grade. Approximately 1/3 of the. I" floor slab was depressed and was finished with wood blocking. This practice was commonly used in heavy industrial buildings of this vintage to absorb impact loads. Exterior views of Buildings 46 and 47 are shown in Photos 1 and 2 respectively. Plan and elevation drawings of the buildings are shown in Figure 1. Typical views of the exterior masonry and window systems are shown in Photos 3 and 4. RESULTS OF THE STUDY Two later additions to the original Building 46/47 facility are anticipated to be demolished as part of this work. The first are the remains of Building 47A as shown in Photo 5. This area was apparently used for steel storage. We have anticipated the steel structure would be removed as well as the raised portions of the concrete slab in this area. The concrete would be leveled with the remaining slab left in place. Photo 6 shows a second sheet metal clad addition on the south end of Building 47. It covers utility feeds which have been abandoned and should be removed. l i