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RECORD ÂKD  GUIDE,





August  12,  1899.





THE    APARTMENT    HOTEL.

!" It is îllustrative of the pace at which we move in architecture
"ïhat so common a type of residential housing as the flat was
introduced into New York City only thirty years ago, The con¬
struction of the 'Stuyvesant was begun in 1S69 from designs by
Richard M. Hunt, and In the following year the Haight House,
better known as the Hanover, was converted from a private
dwelling into an apartment. Thèse and other early examples of
the new type proved for a time to be extremely profitable in-
■vestments, a fact which was not lost upon the gênerai body of
spéculative builders. In 1ST6 a writer made the assertion that,
Iq the case of the Haight House, "as much as 30 per cent, profit
■was made during the first three or four years. The Albany, the
Saratoga, the Knickerbocker. as well as twenty or thirty minor
establishments of the same kind, are all abundantly patronized,
and the lucky investors are making a higher rate of interest
ïipon their property than is obtainable in any other branch of the
fcuild:ng industry," Less than ten years later, owing to over-
production, flats realized, we learn, "much less proflt than other
real estate ventures."

The ef£ect of compétition on flats has been esssntially the same
B.S the resuit produced in the case of officesr-increasingly lux-
urious appointments and greater elaborateness of service, while
story after story has been added by means of the elevator, in
order to compensate for the larger cost of maintenancs. The
culminating product of this tendency towards elaborateness, or,
rather, concentration, of service is the apartment hotel. The
typical apartment hotel. like the flat, admits on'.y more or less
permanent tenant", and. in addition, coi:ducts a restaurant for
tlieir exclusive use, The spécial attractiveness of tbis arrange-
Oaent consists of the fact th3.t it solves the servant question, in-
fcludir.3 other problems that confrcnt lhe householder; reduces
living e;:penses: ar.d that it frees the mistress of the family from
the necessity of supervising a thousand and one petty détails
Incident to the management of an independent estab'ishment.
The charge for menial services and board, though, of course,
ïncluded in the ren', is materially smaller than if the tenant were
to deai independently with servants, butcher, grocer, and coal
dealer; and is, moreover, a f.xed, instead cf a variable quantity.

But, although the idea of the apartment hotel proved popular
with tenants, it was not v;ry promptly exploited by spéculative
builders. It requires la'-ger capital and a higher order of ability
to construct. equip. and or^anize a house of this description than
a common flat. The builder has to be not merely a builder. but
something of a holel man as well; otherwise, he will havï to dé¬
pend upon a hired ma',i,ic;er to organize and carry on the hotel
feature cf his house. The prosperity of the common flat is de¬
termined chiefly by location and architectural plan, both of which
éléments can be weljhed pretty accuratsly in advance. But thi
prosperity of an apartment hotel is determined piincipally by
purely personal qualif.es in the superintendent. As a conse-
<iuence spéculative builders found it extremely difficult to se::ure
loans for projections of this nature. Since last autumn, however,
tJie abundance of capital seeking emp;oym;nt, and the keenness
of compétition as regards common fiats, hâve combine! to pro¬
mote the construction on a comparatively large sca!e of the
hotel type of fiât.

Some idea of the intricacy and expensiveness of the organ'za-
tion of the apartment hotel may be obtained from the following
interview with the superintendent of a prosperous house opened
this spring. He said in substance: "I am a practical hotel man
.with 15 years' expérience, part of the time as proprietor, My
staff consists of a chef, sscond cook, roast cook, vegetahla cook,
ibalier, inside steward, two dishwâshers, flreman, head waiter and
3.0 waiters, Many of thèse were old employées of mine, as, for
example, the chef and the baker. We are feeding betw.en forty
and fifty guests, and allow one waiter to every five pers:ins.
Meals are $12 a week, with ?5 adiitional if served in the rooms.
mie dining-room will accomm.odate sixty per.-ions. With thirty-
Ëve guests I can pay for provisions, salaries, light and coal—
that is, pay expenses. With si::ty guests thera would bs a nice
profit. I was allowed to lay out the kitchen. and put in every
loiown Jabor-saving device. Ice cream is frozcn by motor.
îjniere is steam, everywhere to heep things hot and to cooli by,
My inside steward receives all goods, opens oysters.and clams.
BJid serves everything from the storeroom. He does the work
of pantryman and oysterman. The baker has no assistant, but
serves everything himself. The. chef is his own butcher. When
sve started we calculated two people to the apartment. But we
îound that many single persons wanted two and even three
rooms. One artist took two apartments, So that, while all ex¬
cept two 2-room apartments are rented. there are only forty-
seven people in the house, and ten of thèse eat on the European
plan. The demand for apartments has been so good that we
xiould easily hâve insisted upon renting 3-room apartments only
to families of three persons, instead of letting some of them to
families of two persons. The apartments are all either 2 or 3-
room apartments, each apartment wlth bath. In the front, on
each door, there are two apartments, one a 3-room and bath and
the other a 2-room and bath. The tw-o apartments can be con¬
nected. In the rear there are two 2-room and bath apartments.
[Which can be connected. The rent is ?1.000 for 2-room apart¬
ments. and $1,-500 for 3-room apartments, This rent includes
îieat, iight and attendance. Each apartment contains a brine
<ârculating refrigerator, an abundance of closets,  a hatrack and





an umbrella-stand In a little vestibule, a long and short distance
téléphone, matl chute, and communication with office, which
saves hall-boy service. The dining-room is small and cosy, and
we do not admit outsiders. The idea is to esclude the publicity
of hotel life."

So for the superintendent. Some builders, instead of per-
fecting the organizatlon of the house on their own aceount.
let the unfurnished building, a plan which does not prove uni-
formly successful, as was shown by the expérience of Thomr.s R.
White, the builder of the Cecil. Few hotel proprietors com-
mand much means, and the furnishing requires an outlay of
considérable capital, Mr. White made a loan to his lessee pro¬
prietor to get him started, and was subsequently compelled to
foreclose the mortgage. Having, in the meantime, filled the
house, he sold it to e-t-Mayor Hewitt, on condition of taking a
lease of it for a term of years. This lease he has since sold. It
has eight years to run, at ^15,000 a year, and the house is now
in a prosperous condition. Alva Walker, the builder of the Win¬
throp and the Beresford, claims that the former was the first
apartment hotel erected in New York City. It was put up with¬
out borrowed money, Completed in March, ISSG, it was fllled
by the following May, and was subsequently sold under a con¬
tract guaranteeing a return of G per cent, net for four years.
The most notable among the newer houses is the Martinique,
which ever since it was opened last year has had a long waiting
list of select tenants from to flil the occasional vacancies that
occur. This house w^as built by William R. H. Martin, of Rogers,
Peet & Co., as an investment, a purpose which it appears to hâve
answered beyond question.

Of apartments that, like the Martinique, maintain a restaurant
for tbe exclusive use of tenants, the number is very small indeed.
If, however, under the term apartment hotel we include those
that conduct a public restaurant, the list would probably com¬
prise some two dozen houses. But the managers of both those
houses that restrict their patronage and those that do not tell,
with practical unanimity, the same story—full tenantry and good
earnings.





BOROUGH    OF    QUEENS'    NEW    BUILDINGS,

George Kroppe is to build a 2-sty frame dwelling, 20x32, cost
.?2,0ÛO, on the east side of Vine st, 100 feet north of Beaufort av,

A 2-sty frame dwelling, 2GxoS. will be built by George W.
Zweig, on the west side of Woodhaven av, 40 feet north of Bran¬
don st;  cost. $1,700.

On the north side of Cherry st, 3,000 feet east of Little Neck
Bay, Douglaston. a 2-sty frame stable, 30x36, will be erected by
William P. Douglas; cost. $2,.500.

Thomas Orison is building a 2-sty frame dwelling, 22x3S, cost
$1,800, on south side of Riker av, 3S feet east of Woodsile av.

On the southwest corner of Riker av and l>th st, Woodside,
1-sty frame store, 25x60, cost $1,500, is being built for Lawrence
E. Wise,

Gilbert Monars is to build a 2-sty frame dwelling, 20x32, cost
$1,S00, on the south side of Shoe and Leather st, 25 feet west of
Park place, Wood.haven.





HOUSinO    OF    THE    LONDON    LABORING    CLASSES.

A mass-m.eoting of lodgers (persons renting parts of dwellings
frora tenants) and householders from all parts of the metropolis,
for the purpose of protesting against the '"ruinous rînts for rooms
and tenements in toiJing London," was held on Tuesday at the
People's Palace, Mr. J. Haysman presiding. Letters n'erë read
from a number of London members of Parliament, and from
members of the County Council, expressing sympathy with the
objects of the meeting. The Chairman said the question, which
was non-poiitical, was of the titmost importance to the présent
and future générations, Too much of the toilers' income was
consumed in rent. The only way to alter that was by modern-
îzing the Iand laws, increasing accommodation in districts where
it was required, affording spécial facilities for workers to travel
to and from the suburbs, and by compelling the removal to the
suburbs of factories and large workshops that were not forced by
the nature of their trade to remain within lhe area of the me¬
tropolis. On the sites of old buildings should ba erected build¬
ings on the flat principle, and to do that it was necessary that
the London County Council should hâve complète, simple and
compulsory purchasing powers. The Council's présent powers
were much too restricted,' and should be greatly simplified, After
a discussion a resolution was adopted condemning the high rents
charged for rooms and tenements in tlie W'Orking districts of
London, and urging the London County Council and the Local
Government Board not only to fully exercise the powers they now
possess. but aiso to seek further powers and means of providing
commodious and healthy dwellings for the toilers of London.—
London Times, July 27, ISOO.





WAR    TAX     RULIffG.

The Commissioner of Internai Revenue at Washington made
the following ruling under date given below;

"This office is in receipt of letter of ISth inst. from ------------,

in which this gentleman states that that part of Schedule A of
the War Revenue Law of 1S98, relating to conveyances of land