--i











AND    BUILDERS'    GUIDE.





Vol. XIL                    NEW YORK, SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 1873.                        No. 283





Published Weekly by

'HE   REAL  ESTATE  RECORD ASSOCIATION.

TERMS.

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

All communications should be addi-ossed to

Whitino Builoixg, 345 and 347 Broadavat.





SPECIAL NOTICE.

While the problem of erecting fire-proof buildings is
far from being solved yet, the proprietor of the Bnena
Vista Freestone Works claims for the stone that comes
from his quarry in Scioto County. Ohio, a superiority-
over all other stone in ease of a fire. He also states
that the Buena Vista Freestone has been subjected to
repented tests, and stands a pressure of 2,000 pounds
more to the square inch than the broAA'n stone of Connec¬
ticut. The stone-yard and steam-mill are at the corner
of Eleventh Avenue and Sixtieth Street.

FRAUDULENT RECORDS-A PHILADELPHIA
WARNING.





The frauds perpetrated by one Leslie in
collnsion Avith a clerk in the oflice of the
Kecorder of Deeds in the city of Philadelphia
are of startling suggestion. Leslie prepared
searches, upon which the clerk iu question
was .authorized to affix a stamp ccrtifjing that
they Avere correct. In this way numerous
parcels of property were certified to be almost,
if not entirely, clear of incumbrance, and no
difficulty was therefore experienced in obtain¬
ing additional loans.

That such things should happen suggests
radical delects in the administration of tlie
ofiice of Recorder of Deeds, yet under the or¬
dinary pressure of business in sucli an office
it becomes impossible to the Recorder to make
personal examination, or to vouch for the reli¬
ability of the certificates, except upon the state¬
ments of his emploj'es. We do not know
the system in vogue iu Philadelphia for the
prevention of such frauds, but reflection and
a careful scrutiny of our OAvn method for the
record of deeds, mortgages, aiid other instru¬
ments affecting title to real property, convinces
us that even under the best management (and
none has been more capable than that of the
present Register of the county,) it is impossi¬
ble to prevent frauds if searchers aud clerks
are in collusion witli persons who seek to
vitiate the record. It sometimes happens that
forged deeds or mortgages enter upon the
record. This is a matter for which neither the
Register nor any of his assistants can be held
responsible. But false searches may be pre¬
pared, and equally false entries may be made
upon the books, and through the connivance
of a single subordinate. Again, the indiscrim¬
inate manner in which the records are left
open for examination by interested parties,
f without any precautionary measures for watch-
iug the books, affords another opportunity for
the mutilation or alteration.of the record.





Similar opportunities for fraud were offered
in the County Clerk's office, and still prevail
in a diminished degree. It was not many
years since that a County Clerk of this county
was called upon to pay certain damages in¬
curred by the fraudulent alteration of a judg¬
ment debtor's name upon the docket ot judg¬
ments. It is possible, nay probable, that thor¬
ough search throughout the records of the
Couuty Clerk's aud Register's oflices Avould
discover numerous discrepancies which, if
followed up and s3'-stematically traced, Avould
develop evidences of fraud. The lesson of
Pliiladelphia, therefore, teaches all real estate
buyers or lenders upon mortgages not to be
satisfied with an official search, but through
some competent and reliable source to verily
the official statement. In addition it suggests
the necessity for the invention of some plan
or device for the better protection of the rec¬
ord of titles to real estate and for the preven¬
tion of fraudulent entries or false certifica¬
tion.

The administration of the offices of Couuty
Clerk and Register by the present incumbents
is not the subject of criticism nor animadver¬
sion, for it is known that their duties are well
and admirably discharged; nevertheless Ave
cannot but sec that there is room for a more
rigid system of prot(3ctioii of records and ofli-
cial certification as a guarantee for'our people
Avhose protection is in^-^"-Ved in these legal

•' lO                                     °

safeguards.                Ta'a^





THE VALUATION OF UP-TOWN PROPERTY.





"We have heretofore given in the Reai, Es¬
tate Recokd a complete table shoAving the
assessments upon real and personal propertj'-
in the city of New York for the year 1873, and
to-day give the number of applications for
correction of assessments on real estate in
each ward, together with the disposition made
of the same:

■Wards.                Corrected.

First..................    41

Second................    40

Third.................   21

Fourth.................   30

Filth..................    GO

Sixth..................   21

Seventh...............    32

Eighth................   22

Ninth.................    10

Tenth.................   28

Ele\-enth..............   13

Twellth................   87

Thirteenth.............   20

Fourteenth............    38

Fifteenth..............    34

Sixteenth .............   2S)

Seventeenth...........   24

Eighteenth............    50

Nineteenth............  110

Twentieth............   34

TAventy-first...........    74

TAventj'-second........    87

Total................ 911               835             1,74(1

As to the excessive valuation in the upper
wards, the Tax Commissioners, under date of
August 1, state:







n firmed




Total





21




02





11




51





21




42





20




50





27




87





24




45





10




43





42




64





35




51





33




01





12




25





05




152





18




38





21




50





48




82





21




50





34




58





35




85





148




258





50




84





40




114





87




174





Veiy fcAV probably, bear in mind that the
Twelfth, Nineteenth, and TAventy-second
wards include 59 per cent, or three-fifths of
the entire area of the city. "Within three
wards, in the space of a few years, many mil¬
lions have been spent in splendid improve¬
ments, the expense of Avhich has been or has
to be borne by the tax-payers at large. The
whole number of buildings completed in this
city, according to the report of the superintend¬
ent of buildings, iu 1870, 1871, and 1872 (esti¬
mating for the first quarter of 1870) Avas 6,071;
of these 3,876 Avere in the three upper wards!
The aggregate increase of valuations in the
Av^hole city for these years Avas |118,546,478.
Granting for a moment, as has been claimed,
that the assessments should keep pace only
with the new buildhigs, or, in other words, that
the increase of buildings should be the sole
basis for increase of valuations, aud Ave have
the following result:

As the ncAV buildiugs in the whole city 6,071,
are to those, 3,870, in the tliree upper wards,
so should the total increased valuation $118,-
540,478, be to the increased valuation in those
wards $60,390,740. The actual increase in
valuation in these three wards is' $62,745,475,
or au excess of only $2,354,735. " Ought any¬
thing more be needed to shoAV how totally
unfounded are the complaints of discrimina¬
tion against the.^e upper wards ? The term of
three years is chosen for comparison for rea¬
sons Avhich Avill appear in referring hereafter
lo tlie assessments in the Nineteenth Ward.

THE I\IIsETEENTH AVARD.

The increase of $19,235,760, in the assessed
valuation of this Avard for 1873, above the
assessment for 1872, has been made the occa¬
sion of criticism, and it is due to those who
make complaints that this report should not
pass by those complaints Avithout observation.
This Avard is bounded hj Fortieth and Eighty-
sixth streets, and Sixth Avenue and the'East
River, and has for several years been the thea¬
tre of the most active operations in real estate,
and the area in Avhich the most stately and
costly mansions have been erected. For more
than tAVO miles, Avhat is at present the most
elegant avenue of the city, stretches tlirough
it. Within its limits capitalists discovered
" the potentiality of acquiring wealth beyond
the Avilde&t dreams of avarice." The advance
in value of its lots has been such as to almost
pai'alyze for the time the efibrts of the assessor
to keep pace Avith it. Many of the owners
themselves have doubted the actuality and
permaueuce of the constantly increasing
prices. Delegations of tax-payers holding
property there have pressed their vicAvs upon
the Commissioners. Some of the points the3'-
have presented may be briefly stated thus:

That prices had attained a point at which
they Avere not likely to be supported.

That those who had invented at high prices
ought to be treated Avith special lenienc}^ as
their purchases had helped to keep up the tone
of the market, and sustain prices generally.

That those Avho had erected buildings
should be considered as public benefactors,
who Avere ornamenting the city at their own
expense, and encouraging others to follow
their example, entitling them to exemptions
sometimes accorded to pioneers.

That many local assessments for paving,
&c., would yet be imposed upon the property.

That at least one year of grace shoukl be al- .
lowed, and any increase of assessment post¬
poned for that period.