EAL Estate Record

AND   BUILDERS'   GUIDE.





Vol. yi.





NEW YOKK, SATUEDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1870.





No. 132.





Published Weekly by

THE REAL ESTATE RECORD ASSOCIATION.

TERMS.

One year, in advance......................§6 00

All communications should be addregsed to

106 Broaijw.vy. cok. OF Pine Street.

EUSOPEASr HOMES.

The class of bmldings known as "European
Homes," or houses buflt in separate suites of
apartments for families, and whicii w^e have so
often advocated in these columns, seems to- be
at last becoming quite popular. The prejudice
—if prejudice it was—which so long prevented
our capitalists from looking into the merits of
a style of residence so immediately adapted to
the wants of our people, entirely melted away
as soon as one or two enterprising owners of
property successfully inaugurated the fashion,
and now the system seems to have a chance of
being fairly tested among us. Not only has Mr.
Stuyvesant'sbuildiagonBighteenthstreetproved
an eminent success, but, doubtless led on by that
example, a large structure on a somewhat similar
principle, designed by R. M. .Hunt, is already
commenced on Twenty-seventh street, to run
all the way from Broadway to Fifth avenue ;
another great buUding of the kiud, 200 feet by 50
feet, from designs by J. R. Hajiilton, -will pro¬
bably be shortly commenced in the immediate
neighborhood of Central Park; while we hear
of other buUdiugs of the kind, on a grand scale,
which are contemplated for fine locations in this
city and suburbs.

But, strange to say, the class of people for
whom we supposed such buildings were pre¬
eminently intended (we mean that vast portion
of our population, of education and refinement
but United means, who cannot afford to pay
more than from |400 to $600 rental), are the
very ones for whom no pro-vLsion at all seems as
yet to have been made, while people of easier
circumstances, those who have been payihg
$3,000 and $4,000 a yearf or dwelling-houses, and
•wiio, it -was reasonably supposed, would be the
first to look down with contempt upon any ar¬
rangement that could savor—even so remotely
—of the so-caUed '' Tenement House " system,
are the ones who have most eagerly taken up
everything of the kind yet presented; paying
as high as $1,000 and even $1,500 per annum for
commodious suites of apartments. Perhaps it
is as well that the innovation has occurred
under such favorable auspices. It probably
needed the example of a few of the leaders of
our hoTb ton here to prove, what was already so
well understood iu all the leading capitals of
Europe, that people of the highest respectability
can live, with all the surroundings of comfort
and luxury, under the same roof with others,





and yet be as completely isolated as if each had
a dwelling-house of their OAvn.

While we heartily welcome this change which
has already been wa-ought among us, and -which
^vill prove so beneficial to large nnmbers, it is to
be hoped that the system will be still further
extended, so as to embrace similar accommo¬
dations for the still larger number of jiersons
who cannot afford to pay $1,500, or even f 1,000
for rental. Such families are to be counted by
thousands in our midst, and although their
purses are slender they are, by education, re¬
finement, and position in life, far above bemg
left to the tender mercies of crowded, promis¬
cuous and comfortless " Tenement Houses,"—
too frequently their only alternative. Since
ground rent is what so much enhances the cos-fc
of such buildings, less exi^ensive but still re¬
spectable locations might be selected for their
erection, where suites of rooms could be ob¬
tained at moderate prices, and yet sufficient to
amply remunerate the owner for his outlay.
The demand for such dwellings is almost un¬
limited in this city, and will so continue long
after we have any of the long-promised facili¬
ties of locomotion to the suburbs; for there will
always be thousands who—from choice or the
necessities of business—will continue to reside
in the most central and accessible portions of
the city. To meet the necessities of the case,
many old buildings have recently been trans¬
mogrified and christened " Eturopean," but they
necessarily fall very short of those important
and indispensable features which form the very
elements of the system we are alluding to, and
which can only be properly obtained when a
building is e3>pressly desir/ned for the purpose.
The complete isolation which prevents the possi¬
bility of one family intruding upon the privacy of
another—the rigid supertutendence of the en¬
trance, so as to keep off all unwelcome in¬
truders—the facilities for obtaining coal and
other suj)plies, and getting rid of all refuse,
without the necessity of going up and down
stau's,—these are all things that can only be
thoroughly compassed by a building originally
designed to meet them. Each plot of ground,
too, reqtdres a different treatment, for it is
e-vident that while one arrangement may suit a
space of 100 ft. X 50 ft., a totally different
plan would be applicable to a space of 100 ft. X
75 ft. or 100 ft. square. "We think it likely
that the coming year -will see a number of such
structures erected in New York and its imme¬
diate -vicinity, and it is certain that whole streets
of them are necessary to meet the present
pressiug demands of our population.





THE EQUALIZED VALXTATION.
The State Board of Equalization of the as¬
sessed valuation of real estate in the various





counties have just completed the equalization of
the amounts returned by the several Boards of
Supervisors, and the results of their labors is
sho'wn below. The bo'ard is composed of the
foUo-wing Commissioners of the Land Office and
State Assessors: Lieutenant-Governor AUen C.
Beach; Secretary of State, Homer A. Nelson J
Comptroller, Asher P. Nicols; State Treasurer,
Wheeler H. Bristol; Attorney-General, Marshal
B. Champlain; State Engineer, Van Rensse¬
laer Richmond; Speaker, Wm. Hitchman, and
Messrs. George Beach, Lorenzo Carryl, and
Charles W. Lawrence. The first column in the
following table contains the assessed valuation
of real estate as returned by the Supervisors of
the various counties; the second column con¬
tains the equalized valuation of real estate as
made by the Board of Equalization; and the
third column contains the returned valuation of
personal propei-ty, -with which the Board of
Equalization has nothing to do.

Assessed Valuation       Equalized       Personal

Coimties.        Ecal Estate.         Valuation.         Estate.

Albany.......     $35,345,497       $40,000,000      $7,069,87!)

Alleghany....        7.677;912           7,677,912           860,121

Broome.......        6,907,970           7,250,000          797,186

Cattaraugus...        6,018,335.         7,000,000          537,102

Cayuga.......       16,281,182         17,000,000        4,008.698

Chautauqua...       13,819,890         13.819,890        1.786;S75

Chemung......        7,066,738           7,.S09,141        i;i74.606

Chenango..  ..        9,010,554         10,000.000        1,346,922

Clinton.......        5.371,235           5,000,000      .    792,745

Columbia.....,      16;i46.S79         17,000.000        4,&53,412

Cortland......        5,310,459           6,200.000     -     753,909

Delaware.....        7,365,319           7,365,319       1,209,777

Dutchess......      20,927,018         21,465,278        8,325,233

Erie..........       41.462.863         41,462,863      11,431,680

Essex.........        4,080,858           4,680,858          450,400

Franklin......        5,015,601           5,015,601          785.513

Fultou........        3.260,472           8,000,000          483,'.3l6

Genesee.......      11,770,291         13,000,000        2,511,112

Greene........        5,275,626           4,-550,000        1,056,576

flaraiitou......          736,550             736.5.50            10,610

Herkimer......        8,2.58,206           7,5.50.000        1,539,064

Jefferson......      12,446,045         12,446,6-15        2,681,100

Kings.........     189,154,438       174.827.846      19,278,605

Lewis.........        3..583,205           3,58;:5.205          379,6»7

Livingston....      12,080,307         14,080,307        1.961,324

Madison......        8,641,165           9,400,165        i;828,185

Monroe........      23,666,624         33,006,624        2,739,692

Montgomeay..        6,109.230           6,109,230          554,772

New York.....     684,140,768        647,140,768     281,143,696

Niagara.......      12,210.634         13,000,000        2,081,938

Oneida........      14,581,949         26,,581,949        2,166,411

Onondaga.....       26,553,980         28,053,980        4,499,115

Ontario.......      14,749,920         1.5,249,920        3,174,764

Orance.......       23,.339,358         22,839,358        7,57.5,040

Orleans.......        8,970,415           9,476.415        1,150,816

Oswego.......       12,566.497         13.366,497       1,598,638

Ot.?ego........        9,599,626         11,000,000        1,674,303

Putnam.......        4,557,578           4,557.578        1,074,585

Queens........      18,274,350         18,792,195        5,769,450

Eensselaer ....      21,720,013         22,720,013        7,796,515

Bichmond.....        6,747,627           7,000,000          716,f).30

Bockland......        .5,692,415           5,582,415        1,336,115

Saratoga......        9,582,241         10,000,000        2,683,723

Schenectady..        4,666,779           5,000,000          .f;50,301

Schoharie.....        4,654,969           4,654,969          6-38,852

Schuyler.....        3,194,515           3,460,326          317,750

Seneca........        9,263,017           8,26-3,017        1,422,721

St. La^vrence..      14,946.943         14,446,943        1,558,-385

Steuben.......       12,191,305         12,191,305        1,546,822

Suffolk........        9,385,257           9,385,257        2,046,700

SuUivan.......        2,815,325           2,815,325          180,139

Tioga.........        4.745,707           4,745,707          788,822

Tompkins.....        .5,948,968           6.448,968       1,231,735

Ulster........      10,859,402         10,859,402        2,498,953

Warren........        2,170,389 .        2,300,389          492,908

Washington...      11,906,6-32         12,006,632        3,208,464

Wayne........       13,116,494         13,116,494       1,682,961

Westchester...      42,089,998         62,089,998       7,838,654

Wyoming.....        7,703.654           8,000,000        1,151,644

Yates.........        6,971,653           6,971,053          915,608

Total........§1,532,720,907 $1,532,720,907   $434,289,278

Total aggregate equalized valuation.......§1,967,001,183