Real  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.





Vol. XX.





NEW YORK, SATUEDAY, OCTOBEE 13, 1877.





No.  500.





Published Weekly by

C^e Seal €state %Haxis %^Baduixmx,

TERMS.
OJVE YEAR., in advance....$10.00.
Communications should be addressed to

C.  MSr.  SWEET,

Nos. 345 AND 347 Broadway.

EAST  SIDE   AND  WEST  SIDE.

Ifc is no longer a debafcable question which side
of the Park wiU take the fashionable growth of
the city. The solution of what was once a vexing
riddle has been constantly foreshadowed in these
columns, and the march of events has at length
stamped it with confirmation strong as holy Avrit.
In the early days of the discussion, before the
■growth of the city had advanced sufficiently to
define its probable course, the conflict of opinion
was strong and pronounced, and arguments ap¬
parently imauswerable were advanced in favor of
either side. The buUders at lasfc have crossed the
rubicon, and the developments of the past year
must be considered as setting the question forever
at rest, and as leaving no room for the smallest
skepticism as to the final result. In nearly every
street, from Fifty-ninth to Seventy-ninth, build¬
ings have been erected, or are in progress, and in
character, style, and cost, they compare in every
way favorably with structures in the older parts
of the city. The belt of territory between the
Second and Pifth avenues may be looked upon as
the accepted field of j,immediate activity, and with¬
in these limits the various grades of city resid¬
ence wUl, ere long, be offered for the election and
acceptance of our citizens. It is not imUkely that
the sharp gradations of locaUty and choice of posi¬
tions wiU be adhered to in this field with thesame
tenacity and predilection that have ever mai'ked
four earUer residence gi'owth. The line between
Madison and Fif th avenues will undoubtedly be
reserved for the most elaborate and costly man¬
sions, whUe that between Fourth and Madison
wiUtake a grade a trifle inferior. The better
class of plain dweUings may be looked for between
Lexington and Fourth avenues, whUe the blocks
between Second and Lexington will f lUfiU theu'
promise as already indicated below Sixty-fifth
stiieet, and furnish the accommodation known as
fche three-story dwelling.

These four zones will faithfully present the va-
a-ious scales of dwelUngs recognized and demand¬
ed by om- growing population, and it is no small
.consideration in the future harmony of the citv's
.growth that these several types of dweUing house
jnay be constructed coUateraUy without intermix¬
ing or confusion, and without any general mon¬
opoly of aU the sections by any one type to fche
exclusion of the rightful and appropriate ones.

The natural tastes of citizens ayg thus Ukely to
find their easy gratification md: ideals, with no
impassable barrier dividing therji, and with the
slightest possible Unes of ^efli^i^ibjon drawn be¬
tween them. The a^Y^ift^U mpye>d by all
^hese assorted lan^ gfrips pf prp^jmity to the
f^h ^^ spacioii| apd'fjjaished avenues, of easy





gi'ades and many lofty eminences, of partial, and
prospectively, of complete rapid transit, aU lend a
peculiar chariu to the new building district, and
promise to make it readUy popular with the
house buying pubUc.

The Avhole territory of the East side within the
past few years has been redeemed from the stigma
of unhealthf uUness by a complete system of under¬
ground di'ainage, to which is added the culvert
underneath the Fourth avenue tunnel, which fur¬
nishes the most complete guaranty of perfect
drainage that could be desired.

The West side, instead of entering as a factor into
the problem of the city's growth, has become a
separate problem of itself, if not a real anomaly,
A visitor to that section cannot help being im¬
pressed with the contrast between the predictions
once so recklessly uttered with regard to it, and
the condition in which it now stands.   Undoubt¬
edly the most pictm-esque portion of the whole
island, with natural advantages such as are sought
for in vain elsewhere, with every possible street
improvemenfc that can be desired, and an unstint¬
ed measure of artificial adornment laid upon it, it
stUl presents to-day as bleak, barren and unat¬
tractive an appearance as it did twenty years ago.
We readUy caU to mind the herculean efforts put
forth by municipal oflicers, who were also land
speculators, to render this section attractive and
desirable to citizens, the West side park drive be¬
ing made wider and more alluring in its approaches
and circuit than the East side, adorned with more
frequenfc and imposing gateways; the Eighth ave¬
nue circle being laid out on a far more magnificent
scale than the Fifth avenue plaza; and finaUy,
the grand Boulevard passing through the heart of
this section in a style of equipment designed to
sm-pass simUar models in Europe.   When we take
in view this retrospect and present results, we ai'e
naturaUy forced to inquire into the causes of this
serious miscalculation and miscai-riage. The buUd¬
ing improvements on the Wesfc side are too insig¬
nificant and few in number to be worth recount¬
ing.   One palatial residence adorns the Eighth
avenue side in lonely grandeur, waiting in vain
for companionship and neighborhood.    Besides
the completion of the Grand Boulevard, there are
many cross streets in a state of readiness for the
buUders' hands, a few of which have been mac¬
adamized and made to correspond with the Boule¬
vard itself.   And yet the value of this property
has steadUy depreciated since 1873, and current
values of lots are to-day f uUy as low as the prices
that niled fifteen or twenty years ago.   The West
side lofc specvUation must be ranked in the history
of our city as a peculiar and phenomenal develop-
mrait, without basis or substance, save only the
imaginations of the large numbers who partici¬
pated in it.   Even at this short distance from the
great excitement it puzzles the cool reviewer to
estimate the inducements and influences which
must have powerfuUy operated upon the minds of
those who spent their money so recklessly in this
' ,:^eculation.   No more magnificent, extensive or
^fijrsistent speculation was ever carried on in va-
pEit land in this city; and it may be added, no spec-
ujgifcion ever ended in a more complete and disas-
t%a-5 collapse and finale.   The gross exaggera¬
tion, of value?, which was f ogterecl by this specula¬





tion, seems to have determined the reaction that
iias carried those values to their present low level.
In this region, at least, the speculators held high
carnival, and they may now contemplate the bit¬
ter results of their f oUy with sadness and wisdom.
The day for realizing $30,000 and $35,000 for lots
on the Boulevard, and $12,009 to $18,000 on the
side streets, is not likely to retmn again in this
generation, and the speculator of the future wiU
doubtless seek a more, propitious field in which to
exercise his skUl and ingenuity.

What fate is reserved for the West side it now
puzzles us to determine. Rapid Transit is already
knocking at its doors and promises to extend far
into the interior of this section before the winter
is over. And yet there is no noticeable demand for
these lots by investor, bmlder, or speculator.

The present sti-iking antithesis that exists be¬
tween the East and West sides suggests two im¬
portant lessons :

1.  The impossibUity of the forcible diversion of
population from an accepted Une.

2.  The principle of continuity is the law of our
fashionable growth.

AU that wealth, courage, confidence and mimi-
cipal co-operation could do has been done to favor
the West side, but without any beneficial result.
Without any especial natui-al attractions, the East
side has carried off the palm, and is now rapidly
looming up in prominence and significance with
a new growth. What might have been the case
had Seventy-second street been taken as the
southerly boundary of Central Park, it is useless
now 1^0 consider. The lack of a connecting link
between the West side and the present fashion¬
able quai'ter, and easy connection befcween thafc
quarter and the East side has no doubt contributed
to the present result. If this lack of contimuty
and connection has been fatal in the past to the
acceptabUity of the West side, we are afc a loss to
see how that side can ever participate in the dis¬
tinction of fashionable patronage, uiUess a new
southerly boundary to the Park is fixed and a
clear point of contact thus established. Isolated
and detached as the West side now is from the
chosen residence portion of the city, we are led
to beUeve that its improvement and development
wUl natm'aUy continue to foUow the Unes and
assimilate to the traditions of Eighth avenue and
Broadway, and that the interior of this region as
eligible as it may appear to some for a superior
class of dwellings, wUl be fiUed up with the plain
sort of dweUings that characterize the lower West
side. In a word, the East side promises to be,
par exceUence, the fashionable quarter, and the
West side to be the cheap side of the city.

We are aware thafc these views wiU come in
direct conflict with those entertained by many
experienced and far-seeing operators; but we
shaU continue to hold them untU we can discover
the means of establishing a direct connection be¬
tween Fifth avenue and the West side. The day
may come, however, when owing to the scarcity
of avaUable buUding lots on this island, it will
become necessary to curtail the dimensions of
Central Park, and however sacrilegious such a
proposition may now seern, the possibility of such
a result need not seem astounding in a city sub¬
ject to such sudden and almost volcanic changes.