ms







EAL Estate Record

AND   BUILDERSV GUIDE.





Vol. YIL





NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 1871.





No. 170.





Published Weekly by

THE REAL ESTATE RECORD ASSOCIATION.

TERMS.

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

AU comUiunicationB shonld he addressed to

7 AND 9 WARREN STRKET.





No receipt for money due the Real ESTATE RECORD
vrill be acknowledged unless signed by one of our regidar
collectors^'Hekry D. Sshth or Thomas P. Cummings.
AU bills for collection will be sent from the office on a regu¬
larly printed form.





TURKISH BATHS.

That most luxurious and effective of all ap¬
pliances for the promotion of health—the
Turkish Bath—has, within the last few years,
become so far established among us that we
may now consider it as a fixed " institution," re¬
quiring nothing more than further development
towards perfection. Although there are seve¬
ral places of the kind in New York, where one
can obtain a purifying bath on the most ap¬
proved Turkish principles, there can be no doubt
that these estabhshments yet fall short of what
are to be found elsewhere. What we need is
something upon a far grander scale than has
ever yet been attempted in this city;—a place
that would be frequented as much for its luxu¬
rious accompaniments as for its health-dis¬
pensing qualities, such an one, for instance, as
the celebrated " Hummaum Baths'," in Jermyn
street, London.

On descending into this splendid building and
paying for his ticket at the office,—about 80
cents of our money,—the visitor, after being
first divested of his shoes—so iscrupulously
clean must the floors be kept—is introduced
into a very spacious and lofty domed space or
chamber, dimly lighted from above with stain¬
ed glass, and built ia the Turkish style of archi¬
tecture. It is surrounded by large curtained
recesses for undressing, supplied with broad and
most luxurious sofas and pillows. AVhile in this
stately oriental compartment, the continual
cool splashing of water, the dim mysterious
light, the dusky and stalwart forms of the sham-
pooers, gliding noislessly about the polished
marble floors, and the swathed and turbaned
bathers lounging dreantiily in every direction, af¬
ter their ablution8,produce oifthe senses an inde¬
scribable effeist of repose and enjoyment. From
here the visitor passes into the various cham¬
bers provided" for sudatory purposes, aui heat¬
ed up to diffierpnt degrees of teinperature.

But it is after going through the processes of
purification, and when, wrapped up in huge
coarse sheets, the bather returns to the vault¬
ed space to cool off leisurely: that he' feels.





while reclining on his large lounge, smoking
or sipping his coffee or iced sherbet, the fulness
of bodily enjoyment. It is in this after ar¬
rangement that our baths are so deficient. This
particular establishment has been pronoimced,
by distinguished Turkish visitors, as not only
equal, but superior to anything of the sort in
Constantinople,—^the buUders having seized all
the salient good points of the Oriental Baths
and improved upon them. With the rapid tide
of local improvement on which this decade has
entered, let us hope that New York will very
soon, in this respect also, rival anything of the
kind to be found elsewhere.





POLYCHROMY.

Some months ago, and before anything of
the kind had been seen in New York, we drew
attention in these columns to the question of
decorating our buildings, externally as well as
internally, by the aid of varied colors, known
as Polychromy. We alluded to the fact that
the tasteful Greeks, in their palmiest days,
were in the habit of using it, and that even the
chaste Parthenon was not considered above
being in that manner. How much more reason
have we—especially in omamental iron struc¬
tures, now coming so much into use—for avail¬
ing ourselves of this simple mode of decora¬
tion. An iron front needs painting in any case,
to protect it from the weather; aM since the
material mi^i be painted, why no't-boldly treat
it by such artistic and varied combinations and
contrasts of color as shall delight the eye, in¬
stead of perpetrating a pretence and a sham,
by painting it aU of one color, in imitation of
stone or marble ?

Never was .a fairer field presented for carry¬
ing this art to perfection than in this city,
where we have not only largely entered upon a
style of building peculiarly adapted to such
treatment, but where the brightness of the
climate, added to the inherent love of gayety
and display in our people, would seem to spe¬
ciaUy invite it. Paris is far ahead of us in this
respect. Even in the murky atmosphere of
London the architects there have made use of
painting and gilding, in external decoration,
to an extent that never has been attempted
here.

How beautiful our main thoroughfares might
be made to look, by a larger use of Polychromy,
can be, seen by the only two specimens of any
consequence that have been yet attempted.
We allude to the store of D. Appleton & Co.,
on Broadway, and the more recent one of
Marshall, Johnston «fe Co., immediately ad¬
joining it. Both of these, if not perfect ex¬
amples, are certainly very pleasing objects to
look at, and far more satisfactory than if they
had been painted in imitation of stone or
marble. ' Such an edifice as Lord & Taylob's





upper store—^which we have always considered
the richest iron front in the city—^if well deco¬
rated in this maimer, might be made to produce
a really gorgeous effect. In unskiKul hands
such a mode of decoration can, doubtless, very
easily degenerate into meretricious vulgarity;
but no true artist in color could fail in making
it add immeasurably to the gay and beautiful
appearance of our city.





NewYork Island has an area of tweniy-two
square nules and twenty-nine miles of water
front, about three-fourths of which stretches
along the Hudson and East rivers, and the re¬
maining one-fourth upon the Harlem river and
Spuyten DuyvU creek. The streets, roads, and
avenues measure four hundred and sixty mUes.
Two hundred and ninety-one mUes of these are
paved; one hundred and.sixtyrnine mUes are
unpaved. Nineteen thousand gas-Ughts are
burned every night at the, public expense to
light this area, water front, and extent of
streets. Beneath the surface of the city there
are three hundred and forty. mUes of Croton
water pipes and two hundred and seventy-five
mUes of sewers. If we- accept the last Federal
census, the number of our constituents is nine
hundred and forty-two thousand two hnndred
and fifty-two. One thousand horse railway cars,
two hundred and sixty-seven omnibuses, about
twelve thousand licensed vehicles, and quite as
many more private vehicles continuaUy traverse
the thoroughfares, and subject them to increas¬
ing wear. It is claimed that forty thousand
horses are constantly stabled or used within,
the city limits. On the 26th day of May last,
relieving officers of the ordinance squad,
stationed on Broadway, opposite the City HaU,
were instructed to report the number of
vehicles that from seven o! clock a.m. untU
seven o'clock P.M. passed and repassed; and
they reported 16,246, exclusive of omnibuses.
These specimen statistics imply how great a
city we have to care for, keep in repair, sustain
by taxation, protect by policemen, firemen, or
sanitary regulations, and make provision for in
respect to its more important future. During
the ten months preceding May 1, 1871, two
hundred and eighty-four mUUon doUars' worth
of foreign inerchandise, exclusive of specie,
was imported into this city. During the same,
period. Nev/ York City paid the Govemment
one hundred and twenty millions of doUars for
duties on imports, and the value of exports,
exclusive of specie, was two hundred and fifty-
one TmHions.—Extract from Mayor HaU''s Mes¬
sage.                                                                   '





MECHANICS'   LIENS   AGAINST   BUILDINGS
IN NEW YORK CITY.

June.

10 Fifty-first. ST., s. s. (Nos.'18 and

20).    HenryPieringagt. J.P. 01m-

.    stead etal........................     $646 87

10 Fifty-seventh st., n. s., 206.5 e.

1st av.     Joseph. E. Redman agt.

Jas Flack....................____       95 5T

12  FOKTY-SIXTH  ST., S. S.   (NoS. 130 TO

144 W., inclusive).   Alva C. Mason

agt. R. R. Codling.._______.......       650 OO

13  Fifty-second st., n. s. (No. 443 W.).

AUan & Stevens agt. G. Ritz......       203 43:

13 Forty-sixth ST., N. s. (Nos. 305 and
307 E.). James Thompsoa agfc. —.
Arnen...........................    1,000 OO