Inter-Ocean Building II,
Life Span: 1880-
Location: 85 Madison
Architect: Mr. F. L. Crosby
Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1885
Inter-Ocean, daily semiweekly and weekly, W. P. Nixon, gen. manager; 85 Madison
Inter Ocean, May 29, 1880
The above cut represents the new Inter-Ocean Building, situated at 85 Madison street. It has been for some time the intention of the proprietors of the paper to remove the publication office from its old quarters on Lake street to some more desirable business location, and this removal has been the result of their deliberations. The present building is situated in the heart of the city, and, besides being one of the most convenient to the business men of of Chicago, and strangers sojourning therein, it is also one of the best adapted to the purposes of publication, being compact and well arranged for convenience. The business office is on the ground floor, at No. 85, having its own floor on a level with the sidewalk. It is uniquely and handsomely furnished in white maple, trimmed with cherry and ebony, and ornamented with colored glass panels. The work is from the famous manufacturing establishment of A. H. Andrews & Co., and is one of the most artistic that has come from their hands. The design is the work of Mr. F. L. Crosby, of that firm, who, besides being a cultivated gentleman, is an artist of excellent taste and judgment.
On the second floor is to be found the mailing rooms of the paper. On the third floor are the editorial rooms, which take up the space of half that flat. They all open upon a common vestibule, and are admirably situated so as to command the light. They are reached by two easy flights of stairs or by the elevator. It is on the fourth floor that the manuscript is prepared for the paper. On the floor immediately above is the composing room, occupying a space of about 72×80 feet. It has a high ceiling, is beautifully lighted, both by skylight and side windows, and is spoken of as one of the most convenient, best lighted, and best ventilated rooms for the purpose in the United States. Just off this room are the rooms for the proof-readers, the night and telegraph editors, also the stereotype rooms. The pages of the paper are made up in the composing room on trucks, and rolled from there directly into the stereotype room, where the matrices are made and the plates cast. The composing room is connected with the press-room, which is immediately in the rear of the business office, by one of W. E. Hale & Co.’s water-balance elevators, which has been approved by machinists as the best and safest now in use. The present press-room is in size 72×80 feet; it is fitted up with the latest and best of modern machinery and equipments, containing, besides boilers, engines, and other massive machinery, two Perfecting Bullock presses, with two of Scott’s Lightning Folders attached. Each press has a capacity for 15,000 papers per hour, so that they are capable of printing and delivering 30,000 papers each hour. The paper is printed from an endless roll of white paper, which enters the press at one end and comes out from the folding-machine at the other end cut, pasted, and folded, ready for the reader without having been touched by human hand. In the press-room also are rooms for the carriers, news-boys, and for the mailers and their attendants.
This description gives a bird’s-eye view of The Inter Ocean establishment, which is believed to be one of the most complete and compact and convenient in the country. The Daily Inter Ocean is printed at such an early hour in the morning that it would almost be a discourtesy to invite one to call at such an early hour to see our presses running, but on each Tuesday they are running all the forenoon, printing the weekly edition of The Inter Ocean, and we cordially invite our friends to call and see them in operation.