December lo, 1910.





RECORD   AND   GUIDE





1005





NEWS   CULLED   FROM   THE  WEEK'S   DOINGS





PROPERTY OWNERS WORRIED.





By Labor and Building Department Orders
—Test Case on Fire-Prooling Dumb¬
waiter Shafts.
An   interesting-   meeting   of   the   Harlem
Property-Owners'    Association   was     held
on Thursday  evening.     This  organization
is   taking   a   prominent   part   not   only   in
the  affairs  of  the  district  but  its  mem¬
bers   are   also   interested   in   all   matters
affecting real  estate  generally.

A committee was appointed to investi¬
gate the strenuous efforts of the Latior
Department inspectors who are con¬
tinuing their efforts to force loft owners
to increase the number of lavatories in
their lofts. It was agreed at the meet¬
ing that in such cases the lessees should
he ordered to install the additional
lavatories, not the owners. It generally
happens, it was said, that when a lessee
takes a loft, he has in his employ a
certain number of workmen. As his
business increases, he- hires additional
help. After a certain period inspectors
of the Labor Department call, and flnd
that owing to the increased number of
employes additional lavatories should be
installed. When the lease was made,
however, the lessee did not have as many
employes as he had when the inspectors
called. The landlord, it was claimed, is
not to blame for this increase, and it
was contended that he should not bear
the  additional  expense.

Some of the members declared that
the Labor Department was too stringent
in its dealings with loft owners, that
many of them were, for that reason,
going over to New Jersey. A committee
was appointed to interview uommissioner
Williams   on   tbe   subject.

It was announced that a test case is
now pending concerning the fire-proofing
of dumb-waiter shafts in buildings
erected prior to 1901. Early in the year.
Fire Commissioner Waldo attempted to
force owners of such buildings to make
the dumb-waiter shafts fire-proof. The
Hariem Association took the matter to
the courts, contending that the Fire
Commissioner had no authority in the
matter, and that furthermore his action
■was contrary to law. Fire Commissioner
Waldo took the matter to the Corpora¬
tion Counsel who suggested that the
former take it up with the Building De¬
partment.

Superintendent Miller has issued over
2,500 orders to owners to fire-proof their
dumb-waiter shafts, and it is this ac¬
tion which has resulted in the making
of  a   test   case.





The Title Guarantee Sc Trust Company
loaned to J. Frederick Menke $180,000 on
the 7-sty brick elevator apartment at
the corner of Lenox av and 141st st. The
mortgage is for three years at 5 per cent.

Wm. Pawley, 37 Nassau st, who has
been home ill for the past ^veek, is again
back at his offlce.

Wm. E. Baker has moved from 111
Broadway to his new oflice at 503 5th av,
where he will conduct a general broker¬
age business, Mr. Baker was associated
with the late Wm. Buhler and is now
managing his estate.

Edward P, Meany, who is interested in
several coal mining companies, is the
buyer of the new S-sty building at the
southeast corner of,Morton and Green¬
wich sts, jKe sale of.which by Pease &
Eilimaii for James H. Cruikshank was
recently reported. The building occupies
a' plot^ 100x102, and is leased for a term
of years to the General Electric Com¬
pany, which will occupy it about March 1,





Bronx Water Front Inspected.
The Barge Canal Terminal Commission
of the State of New Tork last Thursday
were shown the water Iront of The
Bronx by a delegation from the North
Side Board of Trade. Assembling in the
Board rooms, ISSth st. and 3d av., the
members and guests were addressed by
President J. Harris Jones, Dock Commis¬
sioner Calvin Tomkins and Chairman
Frank M. Williams of the Commission.
Commissioner Tomkins said his depart¬
ment was preparing plans for the de¬
velopment of The Bronx waterfront.
Commissioner Williams said his commis¬
sion were seeking a site for a terminal
i\'here the barges from the new State
canal could discharge their cargoes for
convenient transhipment by rail.

Leaving the Board rooms at 11.45 a.
m. the party proceeded to Trimmer's
dock, loSth St. and the Harlem river,
where the U. S. Revenue cutter "Guide"
was boarded, and proceeded up the Har¬
lem for an inspection of both banks as
far as the Hudson. At Morris Heights
John J, Armory, president of the ship¬
building industry at that point was taken
on. The party expressed interest in the
Webb Shipbuilding Home at Fordham
Heights.

Passing down the Harlem and through
Hell Gate to the East river attention was
called to the great saving in time which
would be effected if the Bronx Kills were
rendered navigable.

The Commission seemed favorably im¬
pressed with the deep water front and
other advantages of Port Jlorris and ex¬
amined Barretto's Point and the water
front just beyond Fort Schuyler on Long
Island Sound. Returning by way of the
Long Island Shore, Flushing Bay was
inspected. The plan to connect that bay
with Jamaica Bay by a canal across the
island did not seem to find favor. The
party disembarked at 13Sth st. and Har¬
lem river at 4.45 p. m.

Among those on the trip were Messrs,
Frank M. Williams, Alexander R. Smith,
Fred C. Stevens, Edward A. Bond, and
Harvey J. Donaldson of the Commission;
■ Congressman Joseph A. Goulden, Al¬
derman Lawrence J. Fagan, Congressman-
elect Steven B. Ayres, Borough Secretary
George T. Donnelly, President J. Harris
Jones, ex-presidents Albert E. Davis, Olin
J. Stephens and John F. Steeves, Secre¬
tary Charles E. Reid, Treasurer Charles
W. Bogart, Commissioner Alphonse
Weiner, Samuel Trimmer, Wesley Trim¬
mer, John J. Armory, Louis A. Risse.
John J. Bell, Francis N. Howland, Louis
Meekes and Chas F.  Mehltretter.





Two important resolutions were intro¬
duced and passed by the Board of Esti¬
mate at last Tuesday's session for the
benefit of City Islanders. First, more
lighting on all streets of City Island, and,
second, the, petition of the Union Railway
Company for a franchise on Eastern
Boulevard.

Work on the temporary bridge at the
Boston Post road over the Hutchinson
River is progressing slowly.

The staff of employees in the various
departments of the Bronx Borough Hall
now "close down" at 4.30 p. m. on account
of darkness, as the building is being re¬
wired and the electric current has been
cut off. The' work is to be complete by
the end of this week. A 30-minute lunch
is the temporary rule to make up the dif¬
ference lost in the afternoon.

William A. Cokeley, a real estate dealer
of Westchester, was the first to arrive
with his sleigh at Woodmansten Inn after
the snow storm of Monday. The man¬
ager opened a bottle of w'ne.





BRONX   OWNERS  BADLY   AD¬
VISED.

Advantage Not Taken of the New Cession

Law Which Saves Time and Money.

Editor of the Record and Guide:

The indifference of the average prop¬
erty owner to matters which directly af¬
fect his material welfare was never
illustrated more forcibly than recently by
his attitude toward the new cession law,
which permits the individual owner to
deed to the City of New York that part
of his land which is to be taken for
street purposes and by so doing avoiding
the assessments usually levied by Com¬
missioners of Estimate and Assessment
when title to the street is to be acquired.
A short time ago 4,000 circular letters,
from the Borough President, bearing on
this subject, were distributed through¬
out the Borough of The Bronx, calling
the attention of the property owners and
various property owners' associations to.
the beneflts to be derived under the pro¬
visions of the new law. It was shown
that assessments for acquiring title to
the street would not be levied against
those who ceded; that the time (from two
to three years) usually taken to have
title v-ested in the city, would be short¬
ened by one-half, and that physical im¬
provements, for which the property own-.
ers are clamoring throughout the year,
would be accomplished speedily. Pro¬
gress in procuring these improvements,
however, is prevented because title to the
streets has not been acquired legally.
This opportunity would have saved the
property owners of The Bronx a million
dollars. On one street, where regulating,
grading and sewering are needed badly,
these circular letters were delivered by
messenger to the owners personally and
only two owners responded. On other
streets some of the owners were willing
to cede, but asked the Borough authori-
ties to inform them first which of their
neighbors had done so already.

The large real estate corporations and
owners of many parcels of land on a
street have taken advantage of the new
cession law and whole streets on the west
side of The Bronx, in the Van Cortlandt
section, have come into possession of the
City of New York without expense to
the property owners, thus insuring the
speedy vesting of title to the streets and
hastening public improvements. But in
the Van Nest and Unionport sections,
many real estate brokers have advised
their' clients against ceding and in conse¬
quence improvements are, retarded in lo¬
calities where they are needed badly. It
is not to be expected that a property own¬
er wil! cede his land for street purposes
when a building or part of a building or
costly fence is to be taken or when the
owner will be left with a very short lot, _
but under ordinary conditions it would be
prudent to cede and avoid the expense
of condemnation proceedings.

As these improvements must go on, it
is the intention of the Borough President
to request the Corporation Counsel to
make application for the appointment of
Commissioners to condemn the land to be
taken   for  street  purposes.

Public notices are now posted on six¬
teen streets, giving property owners sixty
days in which to cede before Commis¬
sioners  are appointed.

Damage  maps,   showing the exact lines '
of  the  streets  and   the   extent   to  which
property will be affected, may be seen at
the Bureau of Information, Borough Hall,
The Bronx.

The following is a list of those streets:
Adams St., Cottage P!., Fillmore st., Gar-