Real  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.





Vol. XXI.





NEW YORK, SATUiiDAY, JA>^UARY 12, 1878.





No. oia.





Published Weekly by

TERMS.
ONE YEAR, in advance....SIO.OO.
Coinmunications should be addressed to

C.  W.  SWEET,

Nos. 345 AND 347 Broadwa





CAPABILITIES OF THE WEST SIDE.
The extension of the Elevated Road, above Fifty-
ninth street, into the heart of the section distinct¬
ively termed the AA''est Side, will afford facilities
of access such as this quarter of the city has
never before known. Until quite recently, the
main dependence of travelers through this pictur-
esciue but benighted region was the old-fashioned
omnibus which still plods its way on the Grand
Boulevard. AVithin tw'o or three years the
Eighth avenue railroad commenced running
cars to One Hundred and Twenty-fifth street,
.and, finally, to Macomb's Dam. TVith the estab¬
lishment of steam transit we ma}- expect that
public attention will be particularly drawn to
this quarter of the city, aud, in the near futsre,
the most interesting subject among real estate
dealers and builders will be the capabilities of
the AVest Side. It is needless now to recall the
unparalleled speculation which once raged in this
property. The whole intensity and momentum
of the last speculative era in real estate were con¬
centrated in operations hi this section. Its results
have been in no wi.se dissimilar from those which
have .attended every great and spirited specula¬
tion that had previously occurred in New- York
real estate. It is not unlikely that hopes ma}^ be
now cheri.shed of an early revival of .speculative
interest in this quarter. Sales of lai-ge blocks
have receiitlj- been reported, at prices which in¬
dicate either a sudden appreciation in what was
lielieved to be current values, or else the transac¬
tions are put forth, as feelers, by interested par¬
ties to test the amount and degree of interest
which is taken iu such real estate. Advertise¬
ments are cropping out from time to time in
the dailj' jom-nals, either offeruig loi-ge parcels
for sale or soliciting the proffer of parcels for
purchase. These are well-known devices in the
manual of real estate speculation, and may or
may not be prompted in such interest. As an
offset to these speculative symptoms there are
constantly recurring foreclosure sales of property
scattered through this region, which seem to pro¬
duce no better prices than have been obtained in
similar transactions during the past four years.
A prominent operator recently purchased, for
one thousand dollars, a lot on Seventy-sixth street
near Eighth avenue which he had sold five j'ears
previously for seventy-five hundred dollars—the
then purchaser having cai-ried it and discharged
all liens upon it to the time of its recent voluntarj-
sale by him. This is but one of the many episodes
of speculation which receive fi-equent illustration,
aud is alluded to here more toj^point a moral than
to establish a criterion of value. Whether a fresh
speculation is to spread over this lamiliar field
again is a question difficult to deterniine at this
early day.   We naturally call to mind the com¬





mon saj-ing that birds rarely return to a region
where they have heard the crack of the sports¬
man's rifle.

The exceedingly low prices which are ruling in
this section, represent a true and complete reac¬
tion from former high prices of inflation and
specidation. That intrinsic value is above pres¬
ent levels must be cheerfully conceded; but
whether the iutert-ening margin is to be reaped
by builders—actual consumers of the lots;—or by
mere speculators is a vital and important ques¬
tion. AA'"ith the conser^-atism which now so
deeply imbues the minds of solvent builders, it
will be difficult to induce them to embark in
building enterprises after values have been stilted
by speculation. If speculators expect to find
their profit in the manipulation of this property,
they will be likely to lack the co-operation or
countenance of the building community, and may
in consequence suffer the penalty of having to
carry their land for an indefinite period.
AVhereas, if the present bona fdo ownei-s are
able to carrj' theii- holdings and await the appear¬
ance of acceptable master builders^with whom
they may deal directh-, without the intervention
of middlemen, the prospect is full of encour¬
agement that the improvement of this vast area
will be begun prompth' and in earnest.

The advantages possessed by this section at the
present time, above what it w^as po.ssible to claim
for it when the speculation iva.<? at its heighth, are
obvious. The leading avenues and cross streets
are regulated and graded, and two, at least, of the
avenues and a gi-eat number of the cross streets
are curbed, sewered and paved, thius i-endering
them quite ready for the operations of builders.
Besides, rapid transit is already within hailing
distance of a good part of it.

AA'e propose to offer a passing review of the sev¬
eral localities of the AVest Side and to try and
determine what cla.sses of improvements are .suit¬
able for them:

Eighth avenue.—This avenue extends in an
unbroken line to Harlem River. It is paved,
regulated mid ready for building as far as One
Hundred and Twenty-fifth street, and is regu¬
lated and graded as far as One Hundred and
Forty-fifth sti-eet, the extension to the Harlem
River being now under waj-. In any rational
contemplation of the subject, it would seem to be
quite an easy matter to foretell the use to which
Eighth avenue above Fifty-ninth street is likely
to be put in the future. The idea of attracting
fashionable residence to this side of the city at
all, and particularly to Eighth avenue, must be
set downi as a pure chimera,'and in subversion of
the obvious principle of our city's growth.
There has been no instance in the past history of
the city where a business street has germinated
into an avenue of permanent residences. The
attempts made on First and Second avenues to
reclaim the upper portions for first-class resi¬
dences have proved failures; and we doubt not
that the same result would attend any similar
effort on the West Side and particularly on
Eighth avenue. Notwithstanding the endless
I)ains and enormous expense whicli have been
undertaken to forestall and insure the destiny of
this quarter, wei think owners of Eighth avenue





lots will find their most profitable market and
their surest road to adequate income in encour¬
aging the erection of apartment houses of the
first class, or of stores and apartment hoiuses
combined, such as already embellish the line of
Eighth avenue at different points between Forty-
second street and Fiftj'-ninth street, particularl}-
in the neighborhood of the Park. These may be
taken as the tj-pical improvements which are
destined to force their way on Eighth avenue.
An intimate acquaintance with the taste and
temper ol the modern hou.se buyer prompts the
assui-ance that no speculative attempt at building
private residences, and, indeed, no further private
projection of them maj- be looked for on the
westerly side of the Park.

The Grand Boulevard.—This magnificent
monument of the era of fraud seems likely to be¬
come a standing menace and rebuke to corrupt
officials and daring speculators, besides an ex¬
pensive plague and constant distraction to prop¬
erty owners. The dreams and expectations of
its originators have, .so far, utterly- failed of any
adequate realization: aud, as if to dispel them
entirelj', the first .substantial improvements of
the Boulevard consist of stores and common
tenements, which have been erected within the
past year at the corner of Sixty-seventh street.
AA''e confess that this cla-ss of improvements is
altogether unworthy of this great avenue, and
can, in no wi.se, be taken as typical of what is to
come. Doubtless, we must reconcile ourselves to
the sun-ender of the Boulevard to mixed com¬
mercial pui-poses. We expect to see in our
daj' no erection of any notable private resi¬
dence on this avenue: but rather that the tradi¬
tion and character of lower Broadway will he
perpetuated and fulfilled on the Grand Boulevard,
which is, after all, nothing but a continuation of
our great main avenue. Doubtless, imjiosing
S2>ecimens of the apartment system will be here
projected; but, in everj'-case, we venture to as¬
sert, the first floor will be ultimately appropri¬
ated for business purposes.

Ninth .\\-enue.—As the avenue on which the
extension of the elevated i-oad is to be made,
property holders on this line may be regarded as
performing an act of vicarious sacrifice. Tlie
great benefit which will accrue to property hold¬
ers generally in this region by the completion of
rapid transit is likely to be enjo\-ed at the ex¬
pense of the owners on Ninth avenue. We can
cherish no expectation that the improvements on
this avenue, certainly as far as the elevated road
extends, will be other than similar to those in
lower Ninth avenue, that is, common stores and
plain tenements; and, doubtless, this character
will be maintained to the terminus of the avenue
at One Hundred and Tenth street.

Tenth a\'enue.—The common tenement has
gamed such complete possession of Tenth avenue,
and projection has advanced so far above Fifty-
ninth street already, that we cannot imagine its
career'can be checked. As the central avenue
in this great district, Tenth avenue may, in its
upper portion, take on a character of the fine
retail business mart similar to Sixth avenue and
portions of Fourth avenue. At the upper por¬
tions, in Manhattan-ville and Carmansville, it is