April  20,   1901.





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ON THE PRESS.

■The NEW TENEMENT HOUSE LAW, edited by William J.
Fryer, with headings and complete cross reference index, etc.,
etc., will be published shortly by the Record and Guide, 14 and
16 Vesey St.. New Tork City.    Price, One Dollar.

Orders should now be sent in to secure prompt delivery. This
volume is an absolute necessity to every Architect, Builder, En¬
gineer,  Real Estate Owner,  Operator and Broker.





Review of the Week.

The real estate market during the week has been suffering
from certain excesses of the past and fearing certain dangers In
the future. Por nearly two months sales have unquestion¬
ably been unwholesomely swollen by the expectation of restric¬
tive tenement-house legislation, and, of course, the number of
buildings projected have from the same reason been still more
increased. It will undoubtedly take the market a long time to
recover from these unavoidable but not desirable excesses. At
any particular time there is only a limited number of men deal¬
ing in New Tork real estate, and they have only a limited
amount of capital under their control. When for some com¬
pelling reason, these men are all much engaged in one kind of
operation, and are loaded up with as much as they can carry of
one class of property or building contract, the general market
has to wait until this glut bas in the course of time been miti¬
gated. Such is the condition of the real estate market at present.
Operations have been active ever since the first of the year, but
they have been largely speculative. At the present time the
speculators are pretty well loaded up. They are carrying large
amounts of property, and are planning very considerable im¬
provements, and until they are enabled to unload, or until the in¬
vestment demand becomes stronger, the number of weekly sales
will in all probability continue to be somewhat smaller.

Other infiuences which also have been retarding, if not pre¬
venting, operations, are the danger now past of the passage of
the Mortgage Tax Bill and of disturbances with the labor unions
in the building trades. The threat of the mortgage tax bill was
peculiarly ominous. It was not so much that it would in the
long run increase the cost of loans upon real estate, for as soon
as conditions were readjusted, borrowers could have obtained
all the money they needed from institutions exempted from the
burden of the tax. But in the meantime many loans, at present
outstanding, would have been called in, and the borrower would
have been obliged either to pay more temporarily for his money,
or to replace his loan with one of the favored institutions. Such
readjustments would have caused the utmost inconvenience and
confusion, and as long as they hung over the real estate market,
operators were naturally disinclined to assume new responsibil¬
ities. The labor troubles also have tended to make the con¬
structors of tall buildings hesitate to go ahead, .Certain me¬
chanics have been going out on the Broad-Exchange Building,
at the very moment when it was most necessary to push the
work, not because they have any grievance against their employ¬
ers, but because they cannot come to an agreement among
themselves; and as long as this fight Is on between the two
separate labor organizations, builders will hesitate to incur the
responsibility of very definite contracts.

Hence it is not surprising that the sales which are reported in
our "Gossip" column are rather scattering, and are more than
usually difficult to group. One of the most interesting of them is
the purchase by tbe 23d st branch of the Toung Men's Christian
Association of a plot 93.9x200 on tbe north side of 23d st, west 01
7th av, as the site for its new building, Tbis is interesting, be¬
cause it may, perhaps, serve to put some life into a neighborhood
that has been inactive for many years. There has been very
little done on 23d st west of 7th av since the Chelsea apartment
house was constructed, and it would not be surprising to find
some of the activity which has been so remarkable in the retail
trade region near Oth av overfiow into the less active quarter
further wesL There have been several instances lately of neigh¬
borhoods which have been neglected for many years coming in
for a revival of interest. It was more than sixteen years ago,
for instance, that the Grammercy Park Hotel Was erected on
the square of that name, and during all these years no similar
improvement has been planned until recently Charles Buek has
proposed to build a bachelor apartment house on the opposite
side of the square. There is no pleasanter or more convenient lo¬
cation in New Tork for such a building. In the same way Madi¬
son av, between 34th st and Madison square, has been dull ever
since several large apartment houses were erected thereupon
late in the eighties. And now it is announced that an apartment
hotel will be constructed on the southwest corner of that avenue





and 29th st, the present site of Scottish Rite Hall. This neigh¬
borhood ought to be as good a location for such improvements
as the one along the line of Broadway, whieh has hitherto been
more popular. The underground road will create so much trafflc
between Broadway and 4th av, that there should be excuse
for more activity both on Madison av and on the side streets.

The Record and Guide noted recently that an attempt was be¬
ing made to acquire under one ownership the block front on the
east side of Long Acre square, between 45th and 46th sts. The
extent to which the attempt was successful has been divulged
during the past week. James W. Henning, who recently took
title to tbe stable property Nos. 1540 and 1542 Broadway and No.
171 West 45th st, has purchased the four houses adjoining on
45th st, Nos. 163 to 169, inclusive, whieh gives him a frontage <tf
45.2 on Broadway, and 91.9 on 45th st. A plot 00x75.5 on the cor¬
ner, with three houses thereon, are not included In the sale. The
purchase has been made apparently on the supposition that It Is
a good thing to control good-sized blocks of property Jn that
vicinity, for the purchaser states that he has no immediate plans
for the disposal or improvement of the property. The transac¬
tion suggests what is undoubtedly true, that the Long Acre
square movement has been as yet chiefly speculative, and it
would be reassuring to discern some actual flre emerge from out
the clouds of smoke. Even the theatre which Kirk Le Shelle
wants to build on 47th st. Tvith an entrance on Tth av, has been
held up by his inability to get possession of one of the houses for
which he has contracted. In this connection, it is interesting
that the Astor hotel, which has been planned for the block front
on 7th av, between 43d and 44th sts. will be begun in the fall,
the tenants having been given notice to vacate at that time.

There is still more smoke and also more flre about the rumors
which are current of a big deal in the vicinity of Herald square.
Certain statements now can be positively made. The block
front on the west side of 6th av, between 33d and 34th sts, has
been sold, and the buyer is the Central Realty Bond and Truat
Co. But, in addition to this, at least one other block front, and,
perhaps, two in the same vicinity, are the subject of negotiations.
Tbe first of these, that between 34th and 35th sts. has been pur¬
chased for [R. H. Macy & Co., who will erect a big department
store thereon. Whether these negotiations are all being made
in tbe same interest it is impossible to state, but it is reasonably
certain that they foreshadow important transformations In the
vicinity of Herald square.





Coming Auction Sales.

An advertisement of the sale at auction, by Richard V. Harnett
& Co,, of the dwelling No. 158 West 21st st, on Monday next, and
of the tenements Nos. 708 and 710 Ilth av, and'the fiats Nos. 226
and 228 West 25th st, on Wednesday next, will be found on page
701 of this issue. The auctioneers will supply maps, etc., at Nos.
71 and 73 Liberty st.





I





On Tuesday, April 23, Peter F, Meyer will sell at auction by
order of the executor of the estate of Daniel O'Farrel, deceased,
the three 5-sty brick tenements No. 420 West 26th st, No. 337
West 43d st, and No. 422 West 45th st. Maps and particulars
can be obtained from the auctioneer. No. Ill Broadway.





On Wednesday, April 24, Bryan L. Kennelly will sell by order
of the assignee, at 10 a. m., on the premises, the S-sty American
basement dwelling at No. 81 Riverside Drive, near SOth st. The
contents of the building will be sold on the same day at 10.30
a. m.





Broadway to the Front   Again.

PURCHASES   AND   REPORTED   PURCHASES   OF   BLOCK   FRONTS.

Broadway, from 33d st to 36th st, is the scene this week of
enormous real estate transactions. The Central Realty Bond and
Trust Co. have bought two of the blocks, those between 33d and
35th sts, and it Is rumored that they have secured options on
all of the property from SSth to 36th st, and that they are the
buyers of the Pekin and the Tivoli, sales of which are reported
elsewhere in this issue. The block front on the west side of
Broadway from 33d to 34th st, 200.1 on Broadway. 145 feet on
SSd and 79.1% on 34th st, has been sold by the Lawrence es¬
tate, through Richard M. Montgomery, for about .fl,500,000. In
addition to this property, it is stated that all the parcels on
33d st down to No 13S have been sold to the same buyers. If
this is so, it will make a plot fronting 450 feet on SSd st. Nos.
Ill to 135 are owned by the Aycraigg and Hegeman estates and
Frank Farrell.    The next block, that from 34th  to SSth st, on