Estate Record





AND   BUILDERS'   GUIDE.





Vol. VI.





JSTEW YORK, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1870.





No. 148.





Published Weekly by

THE REAL ESTATE RECORD ASSOCIATION.

......        TEEMS.

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All communications should be addressed to

106 Broauway, cor. of Pike Street.





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PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS.

One thing must be apparent to all who taJce
any interest in the gro-sving comeliness and
beauty of New York, and that is that never be¬
fore in her whole history has any body of men,
intrusted with the care of our parks and
thoroughfares, given better proofs of activity
and wen-directed taste in all their public im¬
provements than the present Commissioners of
Public Works. Turn where we may, we see
evidences of changes being effected which are all
calculated to alter for the better the aspect of
our city, and to add to the enjoyment of our
citizens. The institution of music in our differ¬
ent squares, during the summer and fall months,
was in itself a long-desired and most welcome
recreation, very simple in itself, but the refining
influences of which upon any large population it
is impossible to over-estimate. Then we have
the decoration of all our open spaces, by the
planting of trees, the laying down of agreeable
walks, etc., converting what were neglected eye¬
sores and blemishes into little, spots of interest
that one comes upon like oases in this great desert
of brick and stone. Taking, for instance, all the
small una,vailable spaces formed by the junctions
of Broadway, as it cuts diagonally across our
different avenues, we find these spots—^mere un¬
sightly wastes before—aU being newly planted
■with rows of trees which will, in.due season,
yield us their refreshing shade and delicious re¬
lief to the sight. The City Hall Square, which
every one dreaded to see become—especially by
the encroachment of the new Post Office—a
pell-mell jumble of buildings, blodring up one
of the few breathing spots we had in the city,
is, by the tasteful arrangement of broad and
handsome walks and terraces, reaUy becoming
so far a point of interest and pleasing appear¬
ance as to reconcile us to the displacement of
those old time-honored trees by public build¬
ings; and this -will be all the more so if the
Post Office turns out^as in Mr. Mtjllett's
hands we: believe it will—a structure that the
; ciiy will have cause to be proud of;   From the





Battery, at the extreme southern point,—^now
undergoing improvements tha,t will convert that
long-neglected spot into a delightful pleasure-
ground,—to the Central Park, around -which will
ultimately cluster all the grandest architectural
beauties of our metropohs, we trace that same'
well-directed energy towards its public embel¬
lishment which will one day place it on a level
with any of the proudest capitals of Christen¬
dom. If the Commissioners only continue n
this direction as well as they have begun, they
certainly -will have succeeded in more closely
identifying themselves -with the judicious and
profitable improvement and permanent adorn¬
ment of New York than any of their predeces¬
sors.





ARTIFICIAL STONE.

In describing Mr. Peter Gilsey's new ho¬
tel in our last issue, a passing allusion was made
to the material of which the grand staircase is
being erected, but which merits more specific
notice. This material, which goes by the name
of "The New York Stone " is formed of Port¬
land cement and pure silex, mixed in certain
proportions and in a certain maimer, which im¬
mediately combines chemically, forming a stone¬
like substance that hardens in a few days suffi¬
ciently for moving about in large masses, and
after that, continues the process of hardening
until it reaches very nearly the strength and
durability of thestrongest known granite. Its
crushing strength is fax superior to that of any
sandstone, and only one-third less than that of
best granite. When perfectly dry it is quite
impervious to water, and frost has no effect
whatever upon it. It is capable of being used
in any shape whatever for which stone is availa¬
ble,—from flagging for our sidewalks to the
finest productions of sculpture. Its natural
color is very pleasing, that of a pale slaty gray,
very closely riesembling the English Portland
stone and our granite; but it can be made to
assume any other color except pure white;—
indeed it .can even be marbleized.

It is a- remarkable fact,—giving additional
proof hovv slowly valuable ideas will sometimes
travel between civilized nations,—^that the ma¬
terial we are here describing as a novdty among
us should have been in constant use in Europe
for more than twenty years past, and with its
valuable properties just as well acknowledged
and recognized, in works of public consequence,
as granite or iron. The great sea-walls of Brest
and Cherbourg in France, those of Dover in
England, and the embankment of the Thames
in London, the sea-walls of Wflhebnshaven and
Stettin in Germany, large portions of the em¬
bankment to the Suez Canal, and many other
works of- h%hest importance, are constructed





of precisely the same material, and are to be
found to-day in perfect condition after years of
exposure to the effects of water and atmosphere.
Its hardness is such that in parts of Europe,
where it is used for pavements in barracks and
arsenals, it -withstands the constant wear of
horses' hoofs and hea-vy artillery passing over it.

And yet, vidth all these antecedents, it is
only some two or three years since this ma¬
terial was first introduced among us, and al¬
though many specimens of it may be found
which have been doing good service here for
two years past, it is stUl quite unkno-wn to a
large majority of our capitalists, builders, and
architects. Among other specimens there is a
sidewalk on Forty-eighth street, between Fifth
and Sixth avenues, that was laid do-wn over
two years ago, and is now as perfect as ever.
A dozen or more sugar-houses, breweries, and
similar institutions have been paved with this
material, on account of its durability and re¬
sistance to wet and damp; but they were,
necessarily, not the kind of works to attract
public attention to it. A more public exhibi¬
tion was afforded by the fine Tenrace Fountain
in Central Park, which is also formed of this
material. A good example of what can be ac¬
complished by it is to be found in the basement
of Steinway Hall, once so damp as to be all but
useless. The Artificial Stone was introduced
here, and the basement has ever since been so
dry that hundreds of pianos are now to be found
stowed away there, and even showing dust upon
them. But it seemed reserved for Mr. Peter
GiLSBY to bring this material forward into the
fuU publicity it merits, by largely introducing it
into his fine hotel now being erected at the cor¬
ner of Twenty-ninth street and Broadway, and
which we described in a recent issue. Here he
has not only laid down the whole sidewalk with
it—a work which attracts considerable attention
—but is using it for the steps and landings of
his grand central staircase. This staircase—
strange as it may sound—is probably the first
thing of the kind ever erected in America,
while in many parts of Europe such staircases
are in common use, and are to be found in per¬
fect condition after a constant use of twenty or
thirty years, in hotels and other places of public
resort. The success of this stone has been so
manifest that Commodore Vandebbilt has
decided to use it in the large TJnion Depot of
the Harlem and New Haven Raikoads.

Considering that this material can be pro¬
duced at a cost ranging considerably less than
stone, it is unquestionably destined to work a
great revolution in its use, not only in our dwell¬
ings, but for wharves, tanks, cisterns, railway
embankments, and wherever stone, as a mate¬
rial, is desirable; stUl more, where stone is not
easily obtainable, iiiasmuch as the substitute
can be manufactured on the spot.