Original Building Contract The Arsenal, New Orleans Louisiana

The following is the text of the building contract for The Arsenal between the State of Louisiana and Dakin and Dakin.

Be it known that on this first day of the month of July, in the Year of Our Lord, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-nine, and the Independence of the United States of America the Sixty-third . . . . .

Before me, Felix GriJna, a notary public duly sworn and commissioned, in and for the Parish and City of New Orleans, State of Louisiana, and in the presence of witnesses hereinafter named and undersigned ......

Personally came and appeared His Excellency, Andre Bienvenu Roman, Gorvernor of the State of Louisiana, herein acting in his said capacity in the name and on behalf of the said State of Louisiana, and being duly authorized hereto by: 1st. . . An act of the Legislature of this State entitled: "An act authorizing the Governor to purchase arms for the use of the State; and for other purposes" approved on the twenty-fifth day of February, Eighteen Hundred and Thirty-six" and: 2nd: ... by an act supplementary to that above referred to, approved on the fourteenth day of March last past,
Party hereto of the first part;
And James Harrison Dakin, of this city, herein acting as the surviving partner of the firm known and established in this city under the name and style of DAKIN & DAKIN, architects and builders, which firm was oomposed of him, this appearer, and of Charles Bingley Dakin, deceased; the said James Harrison Dakin being authorised and empowered to continue and to carry on the business of said firm under the said style of "Dakin & Dakin", by virtue of an act of partnership between him and the said late Charles Binglet Dakin, made under private signature under the date of the twenty-fourth of December, eighteen hundred and thirty-five and duly registered in the office of Hilary Breton Cenas, notary in this city, by an act bearing date of the sixteenth day of August, eighteen hundred and thirty six ....
Parties hereto of the second part ....

And the said James Harrison Dakin, in his said capacity, declared that he does by these presents oovenantm contract and agree with the said party of the first part, to provide, furnish and supply all the materials to execute and perform all the work for the erection of a building to be called the "STATE ARMORY", on a certain lot of ground situate in the first municipality of this City, fronting on St. Peter & Orleans Streets, between Chartres and Royal Streets, and measuring thirty feet, eleven inches and seven eighteenths front on each of said St. Peter and Orleans Streets, by one hundred and seven feet, seven inches, six lines on the other side; The said buildings to be erected in conformity with four plans or drawings signed and paragraphed "ne varietur", by said appearers, in the presence of and together with the notary and witnesses undersigned, and handed and delivered to said James Marrison Dakin, who, in his capacity aforesaid, does hereby acknowledge the receipt and delivery of the same; And also in accorddance with the following specifications, viz,:

The style, form and dimensions and arrangement of the aforesaid building will be such as are represented by the various drawings above referred to. The ground upon which said building is to be erected will be cleared of its old buildings and rubbish, and the foundations dug and prepared in the best usual manner, with double thickness of flat boat planks, to all the required depths and widths for the reception of the various footings or foundations of the walls and piers or columns.

The foundations of all parts will be of. the form and dimensions of the figured drawings, and laid with the best country or lake bricks, and grouted at every third course in the same manner that is practices by the United States engineers, and with rich lime and sand grout ....

On the second course of bricks above the ground will be laid a course of slates in cements to prevemt the moisture from rising in the walls.

The superincumbent walls will be of such heights and thicknesses as are represented by the figured dimensions on the aforesaid plans, and built of the best country or lake bricks laid in the best lime and sand mortar composed of one part river sand and one part of sharp of Katohez sand, with a proper proportion of the best Thomaston stone lime; the top of the walls will be covered with slates cemented.

There will bo six flues built in the main flank walls for ventilation in each story; the yard walls will be carried up two stories high.

Bond timbers are to be placed in all end walls over the openings running the entire length of the walls.

The walls will be anchored with iron to the floor timbers at every seven feet distance apart, and at every pier in the ends of the building.

The roofs will be covered with best slates and the angles finished with tiles.

The roof of the main building will be finished with thirty inch, and that of the rear with twenty inch copper gutters and five inche conductors, and fancy heads to the front of the rear or small buildings on Orleans Street.

There will be a dormer skylight on the main roof, as shown by the section, fifteen feet long with the sashes fixed to swing up and down for the purpose of ventilation.

All of the first floor and the yard and passage will be paved with asphaltum, making proper gutters to convey the water into the street.

There will be eight east iron six inch columns placed in the first and second stories to support the floors, as represented by the drawings; those of the first story to be based upon suitable granite blocks set upon brick piers of such dimensions as are shown by the drawings.

Over the columns of the first story will be placed a range of girders ten by eighteen inches square, and over those of the second story range, ten by sixteen inches square for the support of the floor timbers.

The first tier of teams of the main building will be four by twelve inches, and the seoond four by ten inches, placed eighteen inches from centers. The roof tie-beams will be three by nine inches and the rafters three by eight inches placed thrity-four inches from the centres; each tie beam will be supported in the centre by an iron rod running through the tie beams and the head of the rafter, and finished with nuts and screws and a quarter inch in diameter.

The floors of the seoond and third stories will be laid with dressed one and a quarter inch yellow pine planks laid in narrow courses and blind nailed.

The ceiling of the upper story of the main building will be lathed and plastered in three coats hard-finished and neatly finished around the sky-light.

There will be a best patent hoist wheel with all the necessary fixtures over each hoist way, and the hoist ways will be guarded by strong shifting railings.

There will be a rack fixed along the plank walls of the second story for guns and intakes, and wooden pins in the third story to hang accoutrements to. In the first story there will be wooden pins and hooks fixed along the walls to hang the harnesses and the implements belonging to the artillery.

There will be a flight of stairs from the second to the third story as shown by the aforesaid plans, built in every respect suitable for the purposes of the building, with strong railings and balusters of wood. There -will be a proper step ladder and ample scuttle to the roof and well fastened inside with hooks and chains.

The front door on St. Peter Street will be made four inches thick in double thickness and the outside lined with iron or zinc, and the whole bolted together with strong iron bolts with neat fancy oast heads of two inch projection, and hung in two folds with six trap hinges three feet six inches long, each end fastened on the inside with a strong iron bar and face bolts in the most substantial manner.

The front windows will be made as represented by the elevation with sashes one and three quarters inches thick, hung in boxed frames with lines and weights and glazed with long cylinder glass* There will be an iron screen or guard in front of each window, as represented by the drawings with frames or margins three inches wide by three quarters inch thick, filled with net work or diagonal bars one and a quarter by three eights inches rabated together at every intersection, and the whole secured to the wall or front of the sash frame in the most substantial manner. The small .... of the center window will be made of wood, and the lintel between the door and the window of bricks.

The attic or friese windows will be made with glased sashes hung to swing on the inside of the wall, properly fastened, and the front of the openings will be filled with such ornaments as are shown by the drawings, neatly carved in wood.

In the centre tablet above the cornice will be placed the arms of the State of Louisiana, made of cements, or some other suitable and durable material in the most tasty manner and style. All the other ornaments oftthe front and the . . . and entablature and blocking or attio above the cornices will be rough formed with bricks and stone work and finished with cement in imitation of white marble.

The base of the front four feet high and the door and two long window sills of the front and the door and window sills of the first story in the rear of the main building, and the door and window sills of the first story of the small buildings on Orleans Street will be of granite, likewise the door lintels and sills of all the openings of the front of the small building on Orleans Street.

The front of the small building will be faced up with bricks common and eemented to imitate marble, and the jamb of the door three feet high will be cased with granite or oasr iron fixed firmly into the brick work.

The rear windows of the main building will be made with arched heads, and the centre window with transoms and mullions, and glazed with strong cylinder glass in one and three quarters' inch sashes hung with lines and weights, and all the openings of the windows secured with iron bars outside of the window frames.

The doors will be made with arched heads and transom lights secured by iron bars outside, and three inches thick in two thicknesses, well nailed together, and lined on the outside with sheet iron or zino and fastened inside with flat iron bars except one of the small doors, which will be fastened with a strong French look of the best kind.

The timbers of the rear building on Orleans Street will be three by ten inches, nine by seven inches for the second and third floors and the tie-beams of the roof rafters three by six inches, and the gallery timbers three by nine inches and ten inches, and all placed at proper distances apart. The floors above the first one will be laid with one and one quarter inch dressed yellow pine; the second story will be lathed, plastered and hard finished in three coats, and also the ceiling of the upper story. The second and third stories will be finished with wooden chimney pieces and iron grates to the fire places; the inside doors will be made and finished in a plain, neat style, and fastened with zinc locks, as also the outside doors of the front next the yard. The first story windows on the Orleans Street front will be finished with strong iron or zinc lined shutters. The door to the passage will be made in two folds three inches thick and the outside lined with zinc or iron, and fastened with a fourteen inch French lock and hung with strap hinges; the first story windows on Orleans Street will be protected by iron bars outside. The outside doors next the yard and passages will be made in two thicknesses, hung with strap hinges and fastened with Frenoh locks. The second and third story windows will be finished with green Venetian blinds and the sashes made with twelve by eighteen inch glass. The inside doors and windows will be trimmed with six inches moulded architraves and a suitable base fixed to the second story. There will be a case of common but durable stairs at one end of the yard, as shown by the drawings, with round rails and square balusters. There will be a gallery to the third story across the yard front of the small buildings, and one across the end of the yard on the second story, with square rails and balusters and as as shown by the plans. The stairs will be covered with a roof. A step ladder will be built to coromunicate with the roof of the small building. There will be a privy built under the stairs, with two seats. All proper woodwork will have three coats of best English white lead paint; the iron work will be painted green, as also the wooden rails of the stairs, and the shutters of the outside doors. All the brick walls inside and next to the yard that are not plastered will be neatly white washed.

The whole of the hereinbefore described works is to be done and completed in the best substantial workmanlike manner in every respect, and under the supervision of the Adjutant General of the State of Louisiana, within the"term of five months from the date of this contract.

The whole of the aboveirentioned works is to be made and well finished for and in consideration of the sum of Nineteen Thousand, five hundred dollars, which the said Dakin and Dakin will be entitled to when the armory aforesaid shall have been entirely finished and completed, and when the above mentioned works shall have been received and certified to in conformity with the plans thereof, and the hereinbefore written soecifications by the Adjutant General of the State of Louisiana, upon whose certificate the Governor shall deliver unto the said James Harrison Dakin warrants on the Treasurer of the State for the payment of said sum of Nineteen thousand, five hundred dollars.

And whereas the said firm of Dakin and Dakin have a claim against the State of Louisiana for the sum of Five hundred dollars due them for the drawing of all the plans and sketches relative to said buildings, for the estimate of the above mentioned works and for the professional services rendered by them previous to this contract. His Excellency, the said Governor, shall likewise upon due presentation made to him by said James Harrison Dakin of a certificate from the said Adjutant General of this State, authorize the payment of said claim, deliver unto said James Harrison Dakin warrants on said Treasurer of this State for that sum of Five Hundred Dollars above mentioned.

To these presents came and intervened Benedic Baggott, of this City, who, asfter having taken cognizance of the foregoing building contract, declared and said that he does hereby bind and obligate himself, his heirs and assigns jointly and in solido with the said James Harrison. Dakin, acting as aforesaid, to have the above mentioned workds done and finished in the said term of five months from the date hereof, in conformity with the herein before recited four plans or drawings, and in aooordance with the hereinbefore written specifications. The said Benedict Baggett hereby renouncing all benefit of divisions and discussion granted to him as security by the laws of the State of Louisiana.

Thus has the whole been agreed upon and contracted by and between the parties hereto.

Done and passed in my office, at the City of New Orleans aforesaid on the day, month and year frist before written, in the presence of Messrs. Jacques Anatole Courtin and Pierre Amedee Bernard, both competent witnesses hereto required, who have signed these presents with the parties and me, notary, after reading the whole.