December 24,1881





The Real Estate Record.





•1187.





mine, the Georgia Consolidated, is really doing
very well. Mr. Francis expresses every confi¬
dence in the future of the mine.

The Silver Cliff mine has stopped and shut
down, and the probabilities are that it will not
be reopened for some time, if ever. One of two
things is very certain. Either the average ore is
too low grade for working or some new process
is needed to save the chloride silver in the Silver
Cliff district. The people who claim to repre¬
sent the stock say that they cannot get any coal
to the mUl, due to a washout on the railroad.
They say they are taldng advantage of the pres¬
ent depression to buy the stock, but the proba-
bihties are that they are lying.

------------» ^ ♦ ■i .-----------

THE RIGHTS OF REAL ESTATE BROKERS.

In the case of Harper vs. Goodall, Judge Daly,
in the Common Pleas, makes a decision of vital
interest to real estate brokers and their cus¬
tomers.   The following is the decision:

J. F. Daly, J.—The plaintiff had no personal
transaction with defendant, neither had his clerks
and agents. The latter acted upon the assump¬
tion that defendant's wife and daughter had
authority to employ them. No authority can be
assumed in a case like the present. The employ¬
ment of a real estate broker to rent the premises
in which the family lives is not within the scope
of the ordinary agency of the wife, and special
authority or ratification must be shown. There
was no ratification, for defendant fs not shown to
have accepted the fruits of plaintiff's efforts with
full knowledge of the facts. The proper course
for the plaintiff would have been to secure a
direct employment from defendant, or direct
authority from him to treat with the latter's wife
or daughter on the subject.

It would be too severe to hold the head of a
family responsible for such admissions and de¬
clarations as a shrewd broker or his active clerk,
who is " working up the case" (return, pages 6
and 7), may be able to extort from a wife and
daughter or other members of the family.

The judgment should be affir-^ied.

Van fljesen, J., concurs.

Henry T. Dewey and George W. Brush for
appeUant; D. M. Porter and George H. Kracht
for respondent.

Decided November 5, 1881.





The aldermen have decided to lease the Stewart
building for the accommodation of the scattered
municipal offices, provided the rent is not un¬
reasonable.

The property oivners on Thirtieth street, be¬
tween Ninth avenue and the Hudson River, want
that thoroughfare paved with the granite or
block in place of the present cobble stone pave¬
ment. As it is the Central Road which uses this
block so much, it is a pity that corporation could
not be made to lay the pavement.

And now the Law Telegraph Company wants
to lay telegraph wires above and below the pave¬
ment.

There is to be a new ferry from the foot of
East Twenty-third street to Quay street, in the
eastern district of Brooklyn. It is also proposed
to have a ferry from the foot of Liberty street,
North River, to Communipaw. The city is grow¬
ing, and will have more ferries before we have
less.

The name of the Eighth avenue, from Fifty-
ninth street to One Hundred and Tenth, is to be
changed to Central Park West, that is. if the
wishes of the West Side Association are consulted.
A resolution to that effect has been introduced
in the Common Council.

The Manhattan Railway Company are improv¬
ing the Second avenue elevated track by erect¬
ing new stairways and establishing passenger
depots at Seventieth, Eightieth, Ninety-second,
One Hundred and Fifth and One Hundred and
Sixteenth streets.

The rumors that people who purchased lots at
the recent great sale in Brooklyn, had failed to
fulfil their contracts, is untrue. The Brooklyn
conveyances this week show that a number of
parties who bought have taken tittle.





A dispatch, dated Milwaukee, Dec. 16th, says:
D. W. Maxon yesterday sold 80,856 acres of land,
the hist of the Sturgeon Bay grant, located in
Wisconsin, to E. Maxiner, of this county, for
$88,000 eash. The sale is the largest ever made
u this state.





SURFACE  TRANSIT  ON  THE   WEST  SIDE.

A representative of The Real Estate Record, a few-
days since, called upon Mr. Janies Meehan, in his offi¬
cial capacity as a member of a committee of the West
Side Association on Surface Transit for the West
Side, to ascertain his views on this subject, as well as
the exact position of the matter at the present time.
Mr. Meehan said, in substance, on June 24th, 1873, a
private act was passed by the Legislature (chapter
825), whereby authority was given for the laying of
rails and running of cars thereon for the transfer of
passengers in certain streets and avenues in the upper
part of the City of New York. In pursuance of such
act, a route was laid out, commencing at the foot of
One Hundred and Thirtieth street, North Biver,
running through Manhattan street and St. Nicholas
avenue to the intersection of One Hundred and
Tenth street and Sixth avenue; thence to the East
River, but from the junction of One Hundred and
Tenth street and Tenth avenue another end of the
line ran down to Forty-second street, thence to Twelfth
avenue and down Twelfth avenue to the foot of Thir¬
ty-fourth street. From this it will be seen that this
road had three ends instead of two, as have the
other city roads. This road was to be completed
under the authority given by chapter 140 of the law
passed April 2d. 1850, which was " an act to authorize
the formation of railroads and regulate thesame."
Before they had taken any action they availed
themselves, however, of chapter 77 of an act of the
Legislature, passed March 29th, 1876, and of the
existence of which a large majority of our citizens
are not cognizant. By it the surface railroads
were enabled to materially change their route and its
termini by complying with certain conditions which
obligated them to obtain the consent of a majority of
the property owners in interest on the line of any
new proposed route, and the consent, also, of the
Board of Aldermen. They succeeded in obtaining
the consent of both not long ago. The contractor, a
Baltimore man, furnished with capital by a Rochester
man, commenced the road from one of its North
River termini at Forty-second street and Twelfth
avenue, and had completed the changed route as far
as Forty-second street and Fifth avenue, when he was
met at that point by an in j unction procured by Mr. Wil¬
liam H. Webb, the owner of the hotel on the northwest
corner of Forty-second street and Fifth avenue, since
which time the contractor has not been able to move
one step, as the injunction has been made permanent.
The new route was from the Fort Lee Ferry, foot of
One Hundred and Thirtieth street and the North
River, along Manhattan street to Eleventh avenue
down Eleventh avenue to One Hundred and Eighth
street, through the Broadway Boulevard to Fifty-
ninth street and Eighth avenue, then around the cir¬
cle and down Broadway to Forty-second street, along
Forty-second street to the East River on one side and
to Tenth avenne on the other, and from the junction
of Tenth avenue and Forty-second street, via the old
route, to the Thirty-fourth Street ferry. Since the
passage of the laws to which we have above referred,
article 3, section 18 of the amendments to the consti¬
tution of the state have been ado])ted, which prohibits
any more special legislation on this subject. It is
contemplated by West Side, and, in fact, by owners
of realty in all sections of the city, to ask the Legis¬
lature, at the coming session, to pass a general law
which will enable the Boulevard Railway Company to
continue their route to the East River.

This being done, the contractors, Iflnancial men,
directors and incorporators of the road, promise that
it will be running to Ono Hundred and Tenth street in
six months, along One Hundred and Tenth street to
the East River within a year, and finally to Fort Lee
ferry on the North river end. In this connection, it
may be mentioned, that the owners of property along
the Boulevard, hesitated to allow any.surface Iroad to
be built in front of their premises, thinking that it
■would be an injury to their interests, but time and
experience has demonstrated that they were mis¬
taken. The holding of unoccupied land in the best
part of our city, for a period of thirty or forty years,
shows that, no matter how desirable and choice the
lots are, when they are inaccessable, they are practi¬
cally of no benefit to the owner, and not at all desir¬
able to families as a place of residence. It is clear to
any one that the means of going to or coming from
a place with comfort and safety, and with a reason¬
able speed, does much to determine a man to pur¬
chase any piece of property, no matter where loca¬
ted, be it eity, town or country. Any inhabitant of this
city for the last fifty years knows very well-that a per¬
son could not reach the locality covered by this new
proposed surface road any quicker to-day than a half a
century ago were it not for the elevated railroad, and
this last road supplies the wants of the few who have
lately located themselve.s in its immediate neighbor¬
hood, leaving the large mass of the population in the
surrounding districts to reach their homes as best





they may. It is the unprejudiced opinion of gentle¬
men, who have millions of dollars invested in New
York realty, that one years operation of such road
through the aforesaid Boulevard would be of more
benefit to the West Side than five or perhaps ten
years of ordinary progress. It is to be hoped that, at
the coming session of the Legislature, the privileges
asked for may be accorded, to the projectors of this
railroad.

In speaking of the surface railroads, it may be well
to observe that the East Side to-day owes its prosper¬
ity to a variety of causes, among them may be men¬
tioned the fact that the ground was low or somewhat
level, with places hare and there to be filled up with
garbage, refuse, etc., and in general from its low site
and the easy excavation of its soil, presented induce¬
ments to contractors and builders that the rugged
West Side could not compete with. Yet the numer¬
ous city railroads on the East Side, constantly moving
along Avenues A, B, C and D, Second and Third ave¬
nues to Harlem, and Fourth and Madison avenues to
Eighty-sixth street, all lead population to the upper
districts and avenues of that side of our city. What
our steam railroads have done for our Western States
and Territories, the surface railroads have done for
ihe East Side. To-day, the railroad leads civilization,
ana were there not quick means of access to our
Western frontier, not one-half of the Western States
would be settled.

Mr. John D. Crimmins says that he would be wiliing
to build that portion of the new proposed surface
railroad from Fifty-ninth to One Hundred and Tenth
street, along the Boulevard, and accept the bonds and
stocks of the company in payment, without one dollar
in cash, provided he is strengthened by proper legis¬
lation on the subject, and which is to be asked for
from our Sfenators and Assemblymen during the pres¬
ent winter.





OCT AMONG THE  BUILDERS.

Messrs. Berger & Baylies are engaged upon the
plans for four four-story brown;stone flat ^houses, 20x
70 each, to be erected on the east side of Tenth
avenue, between Seventy-third and Seventy-fourth
streets, at a cost of $72,000.   Owners, Nutt & McCann.

Messrs. Berger & Baylies.have also just compl<»ted
the plans for the alteration of the four-story dwelling,
on the northeast corner of Bedford and Barrow
streets into aflat house, as well as the erection of
a brick and galvanized iron extension, 30x25. It will
be so arranged as to accommodate two families on
each floor, and the owner, Mr. J. F. Asmussen, expects
to expend S8,000 on this alteration.

H. J. Schwarzmann & Co. are engaged on the plans
for a six-story, basement and sub-celler store building
to be erected at 6-^8 and 030 Broadway. It will be 50x
200, extending through to Crosby street. The front
on Broadway will be of iron and the estimated cost of
this improvement is $100,000.

Mr. John E. Baker has completed the plans for four
cottages to be erected at Long Branch for Mrs. N. De
Peyster, of this city, at a cost of $16,000. The same
architect is also at work on plans for two private
houses to be erected on Clinton street, East Orange,
by Mr. H. B. Thistle, as well as a large house to be
erected at Bath, L. I.

Mr. Grange Sard. Jr., will erect a handsome resi¬
dence on the two lots recently purchased by him on
State street, below Knox, Albany.

An extension is to be built to each of the flve flat
heuses Nos. 502 to 510 West Eighty-third street. They
will be 7.8x10, built of brick, one story high, and cost
$1,500. Owner, Selig Steinhardt; architect, F. S.
Barus.

Messrs. Babcock & McEvoy are preparing the de¬
signs foran extensive .two-story frame concert hall,
75x100, to be erected on the south side of One Hun¬
dred and Fifty-fifth street. 100 west of Eighth avenue,
at a cost of $10,000    Owner, John Gerken.

Mr. A J. Smith will erect a hotel on Water Island,
opposite Patchogue. There will also be several cot¬
tages erected here next summer.

Messrs. Thom & Wilson have prepared the plans for
a flat house to be erected on the south side of Fifty-
fifth street, 225 east of Tenth avenue. Itwillbe25x
85, and flve stories high.   Owner, John M. Ruck.

On the property known as 314 and 316 East Forty-
fourth street, the Smith Brothers propose to erect two
flat houses, from designs drawn by Architect Camp.

It is said that James R. Sparrow is about to erect
twelve three-story brick flats, on the block of ground
just purchased by him on Nassau avenue, between
Leonard and Eckford streets, Brooklyn.

Since December 1st there has been considerable ac¬
tivity among the Staten Island builders, and a large
number of new buildings, have been started. William
Bowe is erecting six frame houses, 22.x34, on Sherman
and Madison avenues, corner of Fourth avenue. New
Brighton.   They will be completed about May 1st, at