May 4, 1912





RECORD   AND   GUIDE





929





also mean a good deal for the shops and
places of amusement in the vicinity ot
42d slreet. Of course the traffic devel¬
oped will be comparatively small until
tile two ends of the tunnel are connected
with otlier parts of the Boroughs of Man¬
hattan and Queens; but even so it will
make Queens temporarily llie most ac¬
tual centre of real estate operations in
the city.

It is worth considering, liowever,
whether the Public Service Commission
has nol made a mistake in extending the
Belmont Tunnel to Long Acre Sciuare
instead of to Greeley Square or the Penn¬
sylvania Terminal.        The latter route
would have a num-ber of advantages over
the former. Tn the first place the ex¬
tension to Long Acre Square would prac¬
tically duplicate the part of the present
subway, which runs through 42d street.
Passengers in the Belmont Tunnel who
wanted to I'eacli the theatres and res¬
taurants near 42d street and Broadway,
could do so by transferring to a 42d
slreet train. OI course they would pre¬
fer to reach Long Acre Square witnoui
any change, but it is a question whether
they are entitled to this convenience, ars
long as there is already provided a poor¬
er, but still fairly satisfactory metliod of
reaching this particular destination. On
the other hand the extension of the Bel¬
mont Tunnel lo G-reeley Square or tlie
Pennsylvania Terminal would provide a
connection which is intrinsically just as
valuable, but which would not duplicate
any existing means of transit, A diag¬
onal subway from 42d street and Park
avenue to Seventh avenue and 33d street
would constitute, both an extremely valu¬
able extension for the Belmont Tunnel,
and a real addition to the transit sys¬
tem of Manhattan, particularly In view ot
the fact that Mr. McAdoo has abandoned
for an indefinite peiiod the construction
of his extension to the Grand Central sta¬
tion. The proposed connection would
probably develop more traffic than a con¬
nection with Long Acre Square. It would
enable the passenger to reacli more con¬
veniently all the large department storer?
and places of business on or near 34tli
street; and it would develop in all prob¬
ability a good deal of local traffic be¬
tween the Grand Central Station and
Herald iSquare, A diagonal subway has
a similar value to a diagonal street. It
creates an unusually large percentage of
new business, because it opens up new
means of communication and economizes
time.





Need of a Business Man's Hotel.

Complaints are being frequently heard
that New York is lacking in a satis¬
factory business man's liotel; that is, a
hotel which contained a large number
of sniall and moderate priced single
rooms, and which was convenient to tiie
wholesale retail and amusement districts.
These complaints are justified. During
the past ten years a persistent process ot
specialization has taken place in the New
York liotels, but the type of an essentially
business man's hotel has not yet been de¬
veloped. In the meantime destiiiction
has overtaken a large number of small
hotels on Broadway and Fourth avenue,
many of whicii were patronized chiefly
by business men. In spite of the multi¬
plication of large and luxurious cara¬
vansaries in New York, the man who
wants a small, convenient and moderate-
priced room is probably worse offi than he
has been for'many years. There is un¬
questionably a real need of this par¬
ticular kind of hotel accommodation. Last
year a syndicate acquired some land on
Seventh avenue and 35th slreet, os¬
tensibly for the purpose of erecting pre¬
cisely a business man's refuge, but no
attempt has ever been made to carry the
project out, except in the newspapers.
The location was a good one, and it is a
/Aty that the enterprise was or had to be
abandoned. More promising are the rum¬
ors that the large railroad companies are
interested in the idea of buildmg such a
hotel. They would have an obvious in¬
terest in financing the project of build¬
ing a busmess man's hotel near their
terminals. It is stated that the New
York Central is reserving the site of the
hospital on tlie corner of Lexington ave¬





nue and 42d street for the accommodation
of its business patrons; and it is also
hinted that the Pennsylvania R. R. Co, is
considering a similar plan for a hotel over
the private street which it has cut through
from 33d to 34th streets, between Tth
and Sth avenues. The first of these
rumors is better authenticated than the
second, but both may well be true. And
if one of these companies tries to tempt
traveling business men by economical and
pleasant accommodaEioiis, it would look
as if the other company would be obliged
to   follow   suit.





The Week in Real Estate.

There were some signs this week of
growing activity in the Manhattan mar¬
kel. The sales reported by brokers were
rather more numerous than those of the
preceding two weeks. Although there
were few notably large transactions,
there were several deals of more than
average size in sections whicii have been
inactive for some time. One such section
was represented by the sale of tlie north¬
west corner of Hudson and Horatio
streets. The site wil! be improved with
a   mercantile   building.

The midtown section continues to be
the most active in the borough. An in¬
teresting sale was concerned with prop¬
erly in the residential district about Gra¬
mercy park. The Sage Foundation ac¬
quired three old dwellings next door lo
the Princeton Club, on wliich to erect a
building for its own tise. This is the first
institutional building of its kind project¬
ed here, and it is no more than likely
that other philanthropic organizations
will look for sites in the vicinity.

The Pennsylvania section contributed
a sale at 115 to 125 West 30th street
which foreshadows a new twelve-story
building.

The number of mercantile buildings in
the course of construction along Fifth
avenue was assured of further additions
by the sale of the premises at 17 to 25
East 24th street and of the three old
dwellings  at  123   to   126  West  26th  street.

The section just north of 42d street,
near Fifth avenue, produced two rather
interesting transactions which go to show
tlie steady expansion of this district for
business purposes. A new five-story
building is to be erected at S to 14 East
47tli street, whicii has been leased from
the plans by a firm of well known archi¬
tects. The sale of 16 and IS West 4Gth
street will be followed by the alteration
of the premises for business purposes. It
is rumored that the premises have been
leased for a long lerm of years by the
new owner. Several other sales were
made in this vicinity, the most important
of which was that of 36 West 56th street,
Tliis property is to be used for business
pui-poses.

On tlie West Side several dwellings and
aparlment houses changed ownership.
The most important sales took place on
72d streel. The apartment house recent¬
ly constructed to meet the demand of
five and six-rooni suites at 164 to 16S
West 72d street was exchanged for a
dwelling at 50 West TOth street and a
country place at Cedarhurst, L, I. An¬
other flne dwelling at 172 Wesl T3d street
was sold and will be altered for busi¬
ness purposes. Several property own¬
ers who sometime ago formed a sort of
combination to hold out for good prices
may be willing to dispose of their prop¬
erty now that business is starting to
creep in between Broadway and Colum¬
bus avenue. The sale of the two apart¬
ment houses, the Monte Vista and the
Aqua Vista, for whicii the buyer gave a
Yonkers residence and a steam yacht,
was the largest deal of the week, in¬
volving about S1,000,000. The other im-
pprlant sale was that of 214S and 2150
Broadway, adjoining the southeast cor¬
ner of 76th street; the present buyer now
controls a plot fronting 127 feet in Broad¬
way and 110 feet in T6th street. Both
plots are occupied by garage buildings,
and it is likely that the owner will hold
them for some time  as an   investment.

The Bronx furnished a fair volume of
well distributed vacant plot sates. At the
meeting of the Harbor Board this week,
the general impression was left that the
extension of the pier and bulkhead line
of the Bronx River at Hunts Points would
soon be brought aboul. The extension, if
authorized, will result in tlie formation of
a mercantile colony at Hunts Point simi¬
lar to  the Bush Terminal in Brooldyn.

The number of sales reported from
Brooklyn were considerably below the re¬
cent weekly average. The most inter¬
esting transaction was the purchase of
a plot at the northeast corner of Ocean
avenue and Beverley road, wiiich will be
improved with a modern apartmeni
house.     The   other   sales   were   well   dis¬





tributed, with the Park slope, Bedford
and Eastern parkway making the best
showing.

The building activity continued on the
same scale in Queens as in the past week.
An ever increasing number of home¬
seekers have given encouragement to tho
builders to complete their work as quick¬
ly as possible. A new theatre is fore¬
shadowed by the purchase of 22 Main
street. Flushing, and it is rumored that
the adjoining property will be included
in the site. Several other projects of this
nature are intended for the north shore
of Long Island,

The cost of fireproof construction may
be seriously increased, according to the
hollow lile interests, if the proposed new
building code is approved by the Board
of* Aldermen. Henry M, Keasbey places
the probable increase al about 20 per
cent, for Kew York construction, and
adds that the most serious aspect of the
situation is that it directly affects the use
of the smaller blocks for suburban home
construction.

The suburban buyer naturally will ask
wiiether it is safe to build a residential
or industrial structure of more than three
stories of hollow tile. The provisions
of the new code say "no." Construction
experts and laboratory tests say "yes."
It is therefore argued that the prospec¬
tive builder will be more inclined to lean
lo the opinion of the framers of the build¬
ing code than to reports of tests and in¬
vestigations conducted by interested par¬
ties. Hence the highly nervous condition
of the lioUow tile flreproofing market this
week.

Other departments developed strength¬
ening features. Hudson River common
brick developed a fiimi tone, with a very
heavy call from New Jersey interests.
Prices changed from weak to strong at
S6.75 top when it became known that ad¬
verse weather conditions had prevented
manufacturers from reopening their
plants. Karitans are moving strong into
Newark and Brooklyn, and are bringing
$6.50 top on the Exchange.

The steel situation is strong, prices are
rigid and are likely to remain so, for the
preseni, at least. Lumber is easier, con¬
cessions being obtainable by buyers of
rating on seconds in pine, spruce and
some firsts on hardwoods and parquetry.
These concessions are only lemporary,
however, and are made to facilitate
clearance of congestion at mills.

Likelihood of an advance in the price
of cement in the near future is more re¬
mote as the prospects of an early settle¬
ment of coal miners and railroad engi¬
neers'  demands become clearer.

Taken as a whole, the building material
situation is stronger to-day than it has
been at any time this year. Labor in
the entire district is about TS per cent,
employed, with bricklayers leading with
63 per cent, of lotal union membership
engaged.





The Buiiding Code Commission.

Editor oi llic Record  and  Guide:

My attention has been called to the
statement [by H. M. Keasbey, vice-presi¬
dent of the National Fireprooflng Co.]
printed in the Record and 'Guide of the
27th ult., in opposition to the terra cotta
provisions of the proposed new building
code. The quotation says: "It is evi¬
dent that the committee that drew the
code is made up in such a way that an
impartial treatment of fireprooflng could
hardly have been expected," etc, and
further on, "it certainly must be admitted
they (the members of the commission) are
not in a position to be entirely unbiased."

As a member of the commission that
drew up this code, I feel that a statement
of this character unchallenged might ex¬
ert considerable influence and probably do
much   harm.

To begin with, twenty-four members
of the commission and advisors out of a
total of tliirty-llirce are gentlemen whose
only interest in building matters is pro¬
fessional. A statement that they were
not impartial in connection wilh tiiis code
is not only not in accordance with facts,
but reflects severely on the motive of the
critic for the reason that it imputes to
the seventeen practising archilects and
the seventeen practicing architects and
engineers, independent of the representa¬
tives of the Building Trades Employers
Association an inability to detei'mine what
is a fair treatment or what is necessary
for a proper material of construction and
if a set of reputable professional men can¬
not be trusted in a matter of this kind,
no one else can.

The requirements of this code with ref¬
erence to flreprooflng are identical with
the requirements of any first-class archi¬
tectural or engineering office at the pres¬
ent time and to insist upon the matter
becoming a law was only lo insist that our