Photo courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Historic American Engineering Record, Reproduction Number HAER 77-AKRO,6-31

Construction Began: April 20, 1929 Building Completed: November 25, 1929 Opened: August 8, 1931 Architect: Karl Arnstein of Wilbur Watson Engineering Co. Building Contractor: Goodyear Zeppelin Corporation Cost: $2.2 million Design:  No Style Listed

The length of the Goodyear Airdock is 1,175 feet with a width of 325 feet and a height of 211 feet. At each end of the building are identical semi-spherical doors, each weighing 600 tons. These doors are fastened at the top by hollow forged pins 17 inches in diameter and six feet long. The doors rest on 40 wheels set on curved railroad tracks.

On either side of the building, approximately 100 feet above ground level, is a row of 12 windows. At the top the building, at the northeast end, is a control tower and radio aerial. The airdock is mounted on rollers to compensate for expansion and contraction due to temperature changes. At the time it was built, it was the largest building in the world without interior supports.

Goodyear Airdock. Advertisement. Akron Topics July 1931.

 

Looking NE	Looking North	Looking South	East end, motor house for doors
Rooftop view looking East at left.	Westend, crane over door.	Westend elevation doors open.	Westend half open door. See the man on the top?
Aerial cranes and platforms.	Interior, looking east at construction	Inclined elevator car, west side of structure.	Interior, looking north.
Interior, motor house for doors.	Final drive gears for doors.	Inside of the door with tracks and wheels.

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division HABS OHIO,77-AKRO,6-1 to 6-30

 

 

2006©Jeri Holland