Talk:Milam Building

Page contents not supported in other languages.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Former good articleMilam Building was one of the Art and architecture good articles, but it has been removed from the list. There are suggestions below for improving the article to meet the good article criteria. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.
Article milestones
DateProcessResult
August 28, 2016Good article nomineeListed
March 7, 2023Good article reassessmentDelisted
Did You Know
A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on January 9, 2016.
The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that the Milam Building was both the tallest brick and reinforced concrete structure and first office building with built in air conditioning in the United States when it opened in 1928?
Current status: Delisted good article


Namesake[edit]

We nBeed to put in something about the source of the building's name. Also, I have read that only Lone Star flag flies above the building. 7&6=thirteen () 17:01, 12 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

 Done 7&6=thirteen () 16:12, 14 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Possible source[edit]

Master’s Thesis. University of Texas at Austin, 1988 Milam Building Architect George Willis 7&6=thirteen () 17:26, 12 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

NRHP nomination[edit]

As indicated in the article, there is a pending request for National Registry of Historic Places designation with the City of San Antonio. If you go there, you will find a 52 page attachment in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) that is a rich source of additional information, including many pages of photographs. Future editors and readers should definitely take a look. 7&6=thirteen () 03:15, 14 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Requested a general copy edit from some experts. I'll also continue to do some improvements as time allows. After some upgrading we could submit for GA.--Doug Coldwell (talk) 13:27, 27 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, it has already been submitted for GA. But I welcome whatever improvements that GCE may offer. 7&6=thirteen () 14:52, 27 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Consider withdrawing the GA nomination until AFTER these Copy Editors have done their work. Meanwhile both of us can also make improvements. Then re-nominate.--Doug Coldwell (talk) 15:04, 27 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Doug Coldwell and "User: 7&6=thirteen", I note that one editor has requested abstaining from nomination until after a GOCE edit is complete, I can do one of three things here, proceed with the review and complete it fully, proceed with the review but abstain from GA 1a and b until after the GOCE edit, or put the review on hold and give a week or two for somebody from GOCE to do their copy-edit (currently the article is 22nd in line for GOCE so I doubt that anybody will see it in a week or two). I'm tempted to just proceed normally as I won't quick-fail an article for prose issues; it's the content, sources and depth of coverage that are usually my main concerns and I'd only quick-fail if there were serious problems with 2c, 2d, and/or 3a. Mr rnddude (talk) 06:45, 6 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Mr rnddude and "User: 7&6=thirteen" Thanks for your response. That would be kind of you if you would continue as normal, as you mention above of what you feel is best at this point. Thanks.--Doug Coldwell (talk) 12:31, 6 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Wilco, I'll be going forward with the review as normal in that case. It's rather late for me to start today (11pm) but I'll try get a couple things up before tomorrow. Mr rnddude (talk) 12:41, 6 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]


GA Review[edit]

This review is transcluded from Talk:Milam Building/GA2. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Mr rnddude (talk · contribs) 15:30, 5 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]


Hey there, I will be doing the GA review for this article, expect my full review to be up by tomorrow. Mr rnddude (talk) 15:30, 5 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]


Rate Attribute Review Comment
1. Well-written:
1a. the prose is clear, concise, and understandable to an appropriately broad audience; spelling and grammar are correct. Refer to comments below, some things need addressing and will affect any review of 1a. No further issues.
1b. it complies with the Manual of Style guidelines for lead sections, layout, words to watch, fiction, and list incorporation. Neatly laid out, section headings appropriate, words to watch being dealt with under criterion 4. Otherwise no issues here.
2. Verifiable with no original research:
2a. it contains a list of all references (sources of information), presented in accordance with the layout style guideline. All sources of information have been provided in an appropriate format.
2b. reliable sources are cited inline. All content that could reasonably be challenged, except for plot summaries and that which summarizes cited content elsewhere in the article, must be cited no later than the end of the paragraph (or line if the content is not in prose). I have no qualms with any of the sources.
2c. it contains no original research. Fine
2d. it contains no copyright violations or plagiarism. No apparent copyvio's detected, Earwig rates it unlikely with 16.7% confidence as well.
3. Broad in its coverage:
3a. it addresses the main aspects of the topic. This is a relatively short article, it's main feature is indeed it's use of air conditioning throughout, however, in keeping with summary-style writing on Wikipedia the shortened and more focussed approach to that section is much better. I've looked at the sources used in the article and haven't noted any glaring omissions and am thus happy to pass this article on to GA.
3b. it stays focused on the topic without going into unnecessary detail (see summary style). The issue with over analysis of the air conditioning unit has been cleared up.

The article is focussed on the building throughout and doesn't stray off unnecessarily, however, it goes way to deep when discussing the air conditioning unit;

  • Most specifically this;

"In designing and executing this installation, and creating an artificial building climate, at least nine competing problems had to be accommodated:

  • Air-Conditioning system: the necessity for a system that would carry the full load, and deliver year round climate control adjustments.
  • Calculating the "comfort zone": local user's relative tolerance to heat/cold humidity/dryness, which varied from those of persons from other climes (e.g., New Yorkers).
  • Radiant heat and the "traveling" sun: balancing out various and variable needs, due to radiant heat gain from a moving sun.
  • Air distribution: considered to be 70% to 80% of the task by experts.
  • Return air: efficiently reusing already—cooled air, such as in the bathrooms.
  • Air leakage: losing cooled air to the surrounding environment, particularly as the "tide" of moving air changes with the seasons.
  • Air delivery: the extent to which humidification was used, a controversial issue.
  • Refrigeration and cooling equipment: using available technology, trying to minimize power demand.
  • Controlling the system: developing a system of manual and automatic controls, which would be run by the building engineer.[10]"

The above section needs to be summarized, and avoid the pitfalls of weasel words such as "by experts" <- which ones and who says their an expert, credentials, etc?

4. Neutral: it represents viewpoints fairly and without editorial bias, giving due weight to each. Problem phrases have been sorter.

Some problem phrases (apologies for the random ordering);

  • "When built, the building was a blend of state of the art technology and Gothic architecture." <- contentious claim, citation needed at the end of the sentence and also fails WP:Peacock, needs a rephrase.
  • "[10][11][12][13][14][2][15][16][4]" <- WP:OVERLINK, these citations should be moved to specific sentences really, even if all nine of them state the same thing, in which case move some and delete the others.
  • "The air conditioning covered the building basement, cafeteria, penthouse and over 700 offices in between throughout all 21 floors." <- advertisey, it's not a clear vio of anything but just reads like you're selling me the product.
  • "The Milam Grill cafeteria received patrons daily who stood in long lines around the building in anticipation for the comfort of the restaurant's refrigerated air. The air conditioning was advertised as having a "health benefit."" Trivial, not needed and not really encyclopaedic content.
  • "series of well known downtown" <- so much for well known if I don't know which ones. Even then, I don't know the buildings of San Antonio anyway. Weasel.
  •  Done Addressed above issues.--Doug Coldwell (talk) 14:07, 27 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]
5. Stable: it does not change significantly from day to day because of an ongoing edit war or content dispute. The article is in a stable condition, there is a request for a GOCE editor to do a copy-edit of the article, if the GOCE editor gets to the article before I complete my GA review I will make a note of their changes and if they get to it after my review, if the article has already passed GA, then that is out of my hands and really a non-issue.
6. Illustrated, if possible, by media such as images, video, or audio:
6a. media are tagged with their copyright statuses, and valid non-free use rationales are provided for non-free content. The image has an appropriate CC-by 2.0 license.
6b. media are relevant to the topic, and have suitable captions. The image has an appropriate caption and is relevant to the article.
7. Overall assessment. A relatively short article but well focussed with deep coverage where it is needed. The outstanding issues have been sorted and this article is good to go for GA.

I thought I'd add this here; there is the obviously glaring omission of an infobox, I personally believe that this is a stylistic choice and will not impose my opinion on the article on this matter. If a broader discussion is ever called on it, then, and only then, may I render some opinion on this discussion.


I will be using the above table to complete the review. Mr rnddude (talk) 15:30, 5 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Update; expect a couple days delay as I am currently busy IRL, hopefully it'll be up by the tenth. Mr rnddude (talk) 15:09, 7 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]
<no wiki> "User: 7&6=thirteen" </no wiki>, my sincerest apologies for this long delay, I have taken a look and reviewed the article. There are some issues that I have with 3b and 4. For the time being because of this I am abstaining from 1a and 3a as they will necessarily be affected by any changes to the article. Feel free to ping me if you need any help or explanations. And again, sorry for the long wait. Mr rnddude (talk) 12:37, 26 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]
@Mr rnddude: Thanks for the review. We will work on those improvements suggested.--Doug Coldwell (talk) 13:46, 26 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified (January 2018)[edit]

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Milam Building. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

checkY An editor has reviewed this edit and fixed any errors that were found.

  • If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
  • If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 22:48, 30 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]