January 26, '1967





RECORD  AND   GUIDE





2ii





A Block of Real Homes.

A BLOCK of private houses recently completed for tiie Clark
estate (Mr. Frederick Ambrose Clark), is situated in West
74t:h 1st, New Torli, numbere 18 to 52. In tiiat tlie houses are to
be leased instead of sold, the scheme marks a new departure in







THE CL.A.RK ESTATE HOUSES, VIEW LOOKING WEST.
West.  74tli   Street,   Manhattan,                                                               Percy   Griffin,   Architect.





real estate investment which cannot but be of advantage to
the community in general. In these houses it is the aim to
provide a better abode than can be obtained for an equal rental
in an apartment hotel; to provide something which shall be a
home in fact, a place where there may be real family life as
it used to exist before the city grew to proportions that forced
real estate values up so hi^h that now
only the wealthy can live in houses.

The block presents the appear¬
ance of a composite whole well
studied in its entirety for silhouette
fenestration and general composi¬
tion.

The houses, though parts of a whole,
preserve the individual quality that tbe
prospective tenant of such a house
would expect. Mr. Percy Griffin has
varied the individual facade treatments
to give to each bouse a distinctive char-
iLcter, yet lo preserve in its composition
certain hnes, which allow it to properly
take its place in the block. Each house
occupies a plot of about 25x85 ft., and
has a 3-sty rear extension, making a
fairly roomy establishment of seventeen-'
or nineteen rooms. By building these
houses at one time it has been possible
loi- the owners to obtain at a ivasonable
expenditure, many conveniences that to
the one-house builder would be . pro¬
hibitive in price.

.Speaking of fhe architectural scheme
as a whole, an appreciation in the
Archi tectural Record for November
says it is a laudable one, and if one
did not know how it came about, he
would be agreeably surprised to see in
New York a repetition, with certain
local modifications, it is true, but a
i-epetition. nevertheless, of what the
Par:Bians consider the proper treatment
of dwelling-house facades. Perhaps the
idea will appeal in the future, not only
to estates and the like, who, than'ks to
them, have done the good work in this
instance, but to men of moderate means,
who can afford to build themselves
modest city houses. If people in this
frame of mind can, by this successful
experiment be interested sufficiently to
co-operate before building, so that some
kind of uniformity of architectural
treatment may result, then the ex¬
periment of the Clark estate will have
accomplished a very important step in
the direction of rational and good archi¬
tecture in New York and other large
American cities. But this is perhaps
looking soniew'hat into the future, and
the law will, no doubt, have to acknowl¬
edge the practical as well as the artistic
necessity of such a step before any
definite results can be expected.





retary of the New Torli Metal Exchange, were favorable to
holders of the metal, as the total visible supply on October Sl,
11,162 tons, was 1,650 ton-s below that of the corresponding date
last year and 1,037 tons below that of a month ago. Stocks in
the United States were 3,260 tons, against 3,020 tons at the
end of September. In the middle of December sales were being
made at between 42 and 4i cents. Taking into consideration the
almost universal habit of allowing stocks to decline during De¬
cember, in preparation for stock taking, the amount of business
then prevailing was considered satisfactory. The London mar¬
ket is higher to-day, closing at £19l> 10s. for spot and
fl96  for  futures.

There has been good reason for tin to rise in price, for, al¬
though the production of 1905 was about the same as that of
1904, the consumption increased considerably, and stocks have
materially diminished. ■ Nevertheless, the highest prices are
probably due largely to speculation, from which cause the price
of tin has suffered violent fluctuations through many years.
In tin plates the increase last year over the record of 1905 was
not so pronounced as in sheet's. The roofing demand has been
larger, probably 1.5 to 20 per cent., due almost entirely to an
increased use of the better grades of plates.

Only 43,846 tons of foreign tin and terne plates came over
during the first ten months of 190G, as compared with 5S,778
in 1905. The present yearly rate is in sharp contrast with im-
poi-tations of 320,435 tons in 1890, and an average of 280,000
tons in the five years preceding. The contrast becomes more
marked when it is considered that the importations in the
years  mentioned  practically  represented  the  full  domestic  de¬





mand at that time. To-day more than double the above ton¬
nage is being worked up in the United States each year, as in¬
dicated by a home production in 190.J of 493,500 tons and an im¬
portation of 65,740 tons.

The production of sheets and tin plates by the United States
Steel Corporation in 1906 has been estimated at 1,200.000 gross
tons, which compares with 924.439 tons in 1905, 735,482 tons
in 1904, 763,670 tons in 1903 and 699,621 tons in 1902. The
difflculties outside producers of sheets and tin plates had had
throughout the year in securing a supply of steel would in¬
dicate that the output of such mills has at least not expanded,
and it is known that the building of new independent mills
in  these lines has not thrived in recent years.

THE ZINC MARKET.—Like all the metals, spelter enjoyed
the advantages of greatly stimulated consumption during 1900.
with prices at a fair level. At the opening of fhe year the price
was 06.62^^ cents (New York) to compare with 06.10 cents in
January, 1905, and in the 'middle of December. 1906, we find
it quoted at 6.65, in cargo lots for prime western. Prices
generally ran on a higher level in 1906 than in the previous
year.





—May a parlor in a flat house be constructed under the law so
that an alcove without windows may be curtained off and used
as a bedroom? This question will go before the Court of
Appeals some time within the next two weeks, and will be
argued by Corporation Counsel Ellison and lawyers representing
speculative builders of tenement houses.