AND   BUILDERS'   GUIDE.





Vol. I.]





SATURDAY, MAY 1«, 18G8.





[No. 9.





Published Weekly by
C.'W. .'sweet-;&.CO.,

Roo.v 25 AVoiiLD Bi;ii,niN-o,'No..37 Pauk Row.

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ABOUT OURSELVES.

Our readers will bear Av^itness that Ave have
done very little boasting so far; but Ave can
noAV announce, Avithout being open to that
charge, that our subscription lists by this time
embrace all.the reputable Real Estate dealers
and builders in Ncav York and Brooklyn.
Here and there, a slow or unenteiprising firm
has failed-to subscribe lor the Record, but
the concerns > who do any business cannot
now get al6ng;vvithdut it.   •,'

Our price' current and reports of building
material were quite a novelty at first^ and a
fcAV old fogy dealers, especially lumber mer¬
chants, objected to them. They said they did
not Avant builders to know all about the
markets. It made trouble. For when they
had all the data, they objected to the prices
asked, and demanded concessions. When
ignorance is profit to the lumber dealers, they
object to knoAvledge.

All this, of course, is absurd; the market
quotations, as all business shows, facilitate
trade, and in the end are as good for sellers as
buyerfs. We pay a great deal of attention to
our markets. They are lull and accurate,
No such markets Avere ever before published
in a New York paper; and Ave are pleased to
learn that our patrons appreciate our efforts.
E"or is our circulation confined to Real Estate
dealers and builders; the solid men of New
York, the large owners of Real Estate, the
people who invest their spare means in real
property, find our journal indispensable to
them. We have a well grounded hope that,
before our first year is over, we will have a
circulation of 10,000 among the best business
men in this city and Brooklyn.





IMPEOVEMENTS AT HELL GATE.
In our market reports, which Avill be found
elsewhere, we give a succinct account of the
appropriations and progress since 1846 in the
removal of obstructions from Hell Gate. The
improvements contemplated in this locaUty
are far-reaching in their character, constituting
the pioneers which are opening the way to
commercial results to Avhich our people seem





strangely oblivious.    This supineness and ap¬
parent indifference to the opening of a source
of business prosperity, may be attributable to
the unwillingness of merchant property-own¬
ers to give countenance to any scheme which,
though not; depreciating the present value of
their real estate, must prevent an increase of
its inflated price—a price much above intrinsic
value, and only sustained by the cramped
condition of our commercial locahties.   The
torrent cannot be stemmed much longer; and
business on the lower part of the Island must,
with the complete removal of obstructions at
Hell Grate, be transferred to the north-east
part. AAVonderful transformation will then be
effected in the waste districts along the East
river J and noble docks, stately warehouses,
and substantial wharves will spring up with
the rapidity of a Western city on the line of
the Union Pacific Railroad.   Many of the
sails which now whiten the Bay wiU be trans¬
ferred to the Sound, and business have more
space for its multifarious operations in bulky
goods   which  now   encumber   the narroAV
streets of ancient G-otham.   In addition to
this increase of accommodation, the lower
channel is easier of access from the ocean and
considerably nearer the city than the tortu¬
ous Narrows, so that the commerce of the
lower bay would find its way in by the Long
Island Sound.    This great desideratum may
not be effected by the merchants of the pres¬
ent generation, Avho, for reasons before stated,
cannot be expected to show much zeal in
changing business localities.    The effect on
prices of real estate in the upper part of the
city will be enormous, and water lots, which
may now be readily purchased for $700 or
$800, Avill be obtained with diflSculty at as
many thousands.    Railroad business will re¬
ceive a wonderful impetus, and the village
hamlet along the Harlem River will teem with
business activity and become a pre-eminently
business   locality.    The  Harlem  River  and
the neAV Hudson River railroads Avill, in order
to meet the increase of traffic, be obliged to
construct branch lines in that part of the city
where the Harlem debouches into the East
River.     The   citizens   of New York have
hitherto been too apathetic to these accessible
advantages, and this indifference is surprising
when a single ship channel of tAventy-six feet
depth could be sunk for le?s than $3,000,000.
As New York is the great commercial centre
of the country, this ceases to be a mere local
improvement, in  the national interests in¬
volved, and Congress should be immediately
memorialized to make all necessary appropria¬
tions; and it is to be hoped the East Side





Association will bring sufficient pressure to
bear so as to secure without fiiirther delay so
desirable a result.





We shall publish the mortgages up to date
shortly, the pressure of transfers Avas so
heavy about ihe first of May, that the mort¬
gages were croAvded out of last week's Record ;
nor have we been able to give them all this
week.   Next week will see us all right.





Mr. F. j. Tuomet, the Clerk of the Com¬
mon Council, who has had the preparation
of the finance reports of that body, has cer¬
tainly acquitted himself with a great deal of
credit. He makes one point in the finance'
report of 1868 which is certainly well taken.
It is this, that, of the sum total levied upon
the city of New-York, over $15,000,000 per
annum is for the support of officials, over
whom the people of this city have no sort of
control. Our city government is very wretch¬
edly managed, but Albany government of
city affairs is no improvement. There will be
no thorough reform until voting for financial
officials and municipal' taxation is confined
to property owners.                   . f





FEBSONAL  ITEMS.

Among the notable sales recently recorded
in our columns, are the following:

Horace B. Claflin sold to J. N. Barker, the
house and lot No. 340 Bowery, for $41,000
—a good price.

The house and lot No. 153 Broadway, was
sold to Mary E. Lydden for $50,000.

The north Avest corner of Broadway and
20th street, was sold to G-. H. Warren for!
$275,000.

The old church, corner of Broome and EUza¬
beth, was sold to the German Lutherans foi:
$115,000.

Ottenderfer Oswald, of the Staaiz Zeitung,
has bought the property on the corner of
Chatham St. and Tryon Row for $200,000.

John Hoey has bought the south west cor-.
ner of 5th Av.  and 22d St  for $115,000.
Express stocks must be lively.

Ered. Koneg has purchased the property
on the south west corner of Broadway and
Broome Street, for $320,000. The lot is 28x
200.

Wm. PhilUps has bought the property on
the south east corner of Broadway and
Bleecker, for $175,000.    Lot 25x196.

Matilda S. BartOAV is the purchaser of the
property No. 16 E. 42d St. The name was
erroneously printed Burton in our last issue. •