In the new Leaden Hall and
Metropolitan Fruit and Vegetable Markets, cast-iron fronts have
been largely employed, consisting of stanchions cast in the form of
pilasters, with horizontal connections and other architectural members.
Regarding the more constructive aspects of cast iron, the employment of
it in fronts having numerous points of support and small bearings is
clearly within the capabilities of the material. So long as it is used
in positions in which its resistance to compression is the chief office
it has to fulfill, cast iron is in its right place. In the fronts of
buildings, therefore, where it is made to carry the floors and rolled
joists, and the lintels of openings, either as piers, pilasters, or
simply as mullions of windows, it is strictly within its legitimate
functions. So with regard to lintels and heads of openings where short
spans exist, cast iron is free from the objection that can be urged
against it for long girders. In fact, no position is better fitted for a
brittle, granular material than that of a vertical framework to receive
windows and ornamentation, and for such purposes cast iron is, to our
minds, admirably suited.
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