^66





RECORD   AND    GUIDE





April 2$, 1906





convenience of the public, tbe closing room has been put on the
second floor. The reception part of the closing room is 22 ft. high.
Surrounding this are two stories of ordinary rooms in which the
titles of the company may be closed wilh absolute privacy.
Each room has a separate entrance, so tbat it is not necessary
to pass through another room to reach It.

The third fioor is likewise a double story, devoted to the ex¬
amination of titles. The part occupied by the examiners and
the clerical members of the force again has a eeiling 22 ft. high,
resulting in a perfect distribution of light and air. The rear
wdngs of this fioor have been divided into two stories of smali
rooms wdiere the attorneys who make a final disposition of the
examination of titles can do their work in private and without
interruption.

The fourth floor is devoted to the storage of the company's
plant, but the part occupied by clerks is again 22 ft. in height
and absolutely light. The flfth floor contains a handsome board
room, and the remainder of the fifth and sixth floors are de¬
voted to the surveying department and the clerical work of the
company. The building is lighted by a large rear court which
forms a series of skylights over the ground fioor, the best light
throughout the building. In connection with each floor, where
required, are extensive fireproof vaults in which the records
of the company can be safe from fire and yet be available for
instant consultation. The main security vault on the flrst
floor was built by the Tork Safe Co., of York, Pa., and is as near
burglar proof as such vaults can be made.





The Building O' It.





BY  THEODORE   STARRETT.

Merely as a feat in construction the Title Guarantee & Trust
Building is a most interesting operation. The methods used
mark a distinct advance beyond any similar work that I know
of.

During the building of this structure the entire sub-basement
was occupied by vai-ious kinds of hoisting and otber engines—
for boring tlie holes for the plunger elevators, for compressing
the air used in the carving, but nol a pound of coal was burned.
The hoisting engines and the boring machines were all electric;
the air compressor was run by gasoline. No coal smoke was
allowed to belch out and saturate tbe structure with blackness
and dirt.

A very interesting thing is the foundation. It was necessary
to go down eight feet below the foundations of the adjoining
buildings in order to get room for the boilers, which are in the
sub-basement. This was done without the use of any pneumatic
work. The boiler room space was surrounded by interlocking
Steel piling driven down six feet below the bottom of the foun¬
dation. This formed a water tight rim which sustained the
surrounding soil perfectly.

The work of installing tbe foundation was a very slow and
tedious one. Each part of the work was done with as much care
and caution as though the builders had five years in which to
do  the work instead of as many months.

q'he skeleton was not finished until the middle of January,
but owing to the forethought and the thoroughness used in the
preparation of the various parts of the finish, both interior and
exterior, the work of installation of these elements had ad¬
vanced so far that the upper portions of the building were ready
for the trim and finished fioors during the month of March.

Regarded as a machine, for such it is, the Title Guarantee &
Trust Building is  a  wonderful  structure.     From top  to  bottom





everything is specially designed for occupancy by the company's
own staff of employees, and the conveniences, not to say luxu¬
ries, that have been provided for the entire office force in the
way of perfect ventilation and temperature regulation equal
if they do not indeed surpass the refinements which only
Croesuses are supposed to enjoy. Such regard for the health
and comfort of the clerks is not a sentimental thing, but is
really induced by an enlightened spirit of enterprise which will
undoubtedly bo copied  by others.





Brooklyn    to   the   Fore





Best Real Estate Business Ever Known in the Borough
This Spring Season





BROOKLTN in its real estate interests at thia present time,
on the edge of May, is different from Brooklyn in any
previous springtime. To the discerning man active in
real estate and building one season is not exactly like any other
corresponding in the calendars of previous years. He notes
differences in the public feeling, in the kind of people buying,
diffei-ences in what is liked or disliked, greater or less financial
ability on the part of the people, more ambition, more enthu-
siam, or less, as seasons come and go. Sometimes there is
more willingness lo pay the price or the rent, or less content¬
ment and less satisfaction with houses and apartments—there
are various things which a specialist in real estate notes to
make one spring season very distinct from another in his recol¬
lections. This present spring has made a pleasant picture in
his mind.

He has noted less Irritation among the women house-hunters.
Last spring there were premonitions of a panic because of the
inability to supply the demand for rooins. Inquirers in great
number returned to Manhattan unsuccessful in finding homes
in Brooklyn. It will be remembered that South Brooklyn was
particularly congested. Agents report that this has been the
most satisfactory spring in the history of Brooklyn real estate.
Renters have been pretty well supplied, with some houses and
apartments left over for a later month. As a statement of
average fact, it can be said that rents have not been raised;
rather have they been for some classes of property made more
moderate, because of a lessening of pressure. On the other
hand, money being more plentiful, families have been better
able to consult their tastes for more refined living than at any
period since the long business depression which set in in the
year 1S93. More comfort and satisfaction in life is now being
taken in Brooklyn than in a great many years. In fact, one
need not be so very old to remember the weariness of the horse-
car and omnibus days, which circumscribed the population very
much. We were just entering, fifteen years ago, upon just such
a period as we are having now. when something happened to
financial affairs, and they went all to pieces. Since 189S busi¬
ness has been getting reorganized and regulated to new con¬
dilions, and families to new ways of living, so that the year
190G finds people with more money than ever before, full of
ambition to make more, and very desirous of having nice homes.

It is therefore true that more people in proportion to popula¬
tion are interested in real estate and less in stock gambling,
gold mines and distant swindling games, than ever.     They feel

(Continued   on   Page  769.)







BANQUET  OF  THE  REAL  ESTATE  CLASSES.
Under the auspices of the West Side T. M. C. A. at Reisenweber's,   April 17, 1906.